The interview took place before his Vietnam visit on March 19th-20th at the invitation of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh.

Lavrov said the leaders of the two countries at various levels have always maintained their contacts.

During the visit, he said he will discuss with Vietnamese officials preparations for the Year of Russia in Vietnam and the Year of Vietnam in Russia scheduled for 2019 on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of a treaty on basic principles for bilateral friendship.

Education, cultural exchange and humanitarian cooperation are traditional cooperation fields, he said.

Foreign Minister of Russia Sergey Lavrov (Source: VNA)



As regards bilateral cooperation potential, Lavrov said two-way trade surpassed 35 percent to over USD5.3 billion in 2017  a record since 1991, partly thanks to the signing of a free trade agreement between Vietnam and the Eurasian Economic Union in 2015 which took effect in 2016.

In order to further lift bilateral economic-trade ties, he suggested encouraging regular contacts between industrialists and businesses to explore win-win opportunities or holding round-table seminars, exhibitions and fairs.

Apart from the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, he introduced the Eastern Economic Forum held annually in Vladivostok since 2015 where Vietnamese firms could join to seek opportunities.

He said Vietnam and Russia established a high-level working group which is tasked with monitoring specific investment projects and expanding economic ties among firms working in mining, petroleum processing, energy, materials, transport, infrastructure, and information  communications.

Asked about what Russia will do to further promote its position and role in the Asia-Pacific region, Lavrov said Russia together with Vietnam, ASEAN member states and their partners will step up an agenda to ensure sustainable and stable security architecture and development cooperation.

Russia highly values ASEANs central role in facilitating the annual ASEAN forum on ensuring regional security, the ASEAN defence ministers meeting with counterparts of their partner countries, a series of meetings between ASEAN and dialogue partners, including Russia, and particularly the East Asia Summit (EAS) with key partners such as Russia, China, the US, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Australia.

Within the EAS framework, Russia has so far underscored the need to launch an open security and cooperation system in Asia-Pacific based on the principles of equality and undivided security among the member countries, ensuring that not any country attempts to ensure its security at the expense of other nations, he said./.Indian Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba will be visiting the US from March 19-23, an official statement said.

The visit is aimed at consolidating the cooperation between the armed forces of both countries and also to explore new avenues of defence cooperation.

During his visit, the Navy Chief will hold bilateral discussions with US Defense Secretary James Mattis, Secretary of the Navy Richard V Spencer, Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph F Dunford Jr, and other senior ranking officials.

He would also hold meetings with Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John M. Richardson, Pacific Command chief Admiral Harry Harris, Pacific Fleet commander, Admiral Scott Swift, and Naval Sea Systems Command chief Vice Admiral Thomas J Moore.

Admiral Lanba will be visiting the Pacific Command Headquarters at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, the Naval Surface Warfare Centre (NSWC) Dahlgren, the Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery in Washington.

India and USA have traditionally maintained close and friendly relations, including defence relation, wherein both countries have concluded major agreements in the recent past, including the Defence Framework Agreement, signed in 2015, which lays a blueprint for collaboration between their defence establishments and the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) signed in 2016, which is a foundational agreement, facilitating reciprocal logistics support between their armed forces.

India has also been accorded Major Defence Partner status during by the US.

The Indian Navy cooperates with the US Navy on many issues, which include operational interactions such as the Malabar, and RIMPAC series of exercises, training exchanges, exchange of White Shipping Information and Subject Matter Experts in various fields through the medium of Executive Steering Group (ESG) meetings. Warships from both navies have also been regularly visiting each other's ports.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Budget carrier IndiGo Airlines announced on Sunday that it A320 Neo aircraft that operated on the Bengaluru-Delhi route earlier in the day was withdrawn here for a maintenance check to attend to a reported defect.

The airline, in a statement, described the exercise as a maintenance check that was conducted as part of a programme of early detection.

"An A320 neo aircraft that operated Bengaluru-Delhi today morning was proactively withdrawn in Delhi for a maintenance check to attend to a pilot-reported defect. These maintenance checks are part of a comprehensive program of early detection," it said.

"During the maintenance check, metal chips were observed on 1 Engine, 3 Bearing Chip detector, which is a known concern on the Neo engine."

Meanwhile, IndiGo and GoAir cancelled 48 flights on Wednesday as almost a third of their A320 Neo aircraft fleet remained grounded for the third day following a safety directive by the aviation regulator DGCA. Of these flights, 42 are of IndiGo and six belong to GoAir.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Rappers Kanye West and Drake are reportedly teaming up in Wyoming for new music.

Both rappers are staying at the Amangani luxury hotel and resort under an alias, and have each brought a huge crew with them. Drake's team includes his engineer, songwriter and his personal photographer/videographer, sources told tmz.com.

Big names like hip-hop artiste Lil Uzi Vert are there too along with a slew of major producers who work with Kanye and Drake.

Sources said the rappers brought a ton of audio and recording equipment with them, most likely to set up their own studio at Kanye's place because he is staying at a separate house at the resort away from the main hotel.

Chef Paul Zlatos is also on hand for the group to keep them well fed.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Former Karnataka Police officer Anupama Shenoy on Sunday said her newly-launched Bharatiya Janashakti Congress (BJC) will contest 15 legislative assembly seats in the upcoming state polls.

"The Election Commission has approved our party's symbol to be a 'lady's finger'. We are looking to contest from at least 15 assembly seats in the state," Shenoy told IANS.

Shenoy, who had resigned as the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) of Kudligi in Ballari district in June 2016 over a reportedly abrupt transfer, had announced the formation of BJC in November last year.

She said that she will most likely be contesting from Kaup constituency in Udupi district.

The party is currently working on appointing office bearers at all the 30 districts of the state, she said.A

"BJC's aim is to work towards communal harmony, peace, eliminate corruption and make a fearless society. Our approach will be pro-women and pro-sustainable development," Shenoy said.

In the long term, our party also aims to ban liquor in the state, she added.

The assembly elections in the state are likely to be held late April-early May.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Chinese Prime Minister on Sunday was re-elected for his second five-year term at the ongoing parliament session.

Li is the second ranking leader in China after President Xi Jinping who has emerged as the most powerful leader after Mao Zedong.

Li was nominated for the premiership by Xi.

Li, who became premier in 2013, heads the State Council, China's Cabinet.

The annual meeting of the National People's Congress -- China's ceremonial parliament - is on during which a major reshuffle in the government was announced.

Besides Li, Xu Qiliang and Zhang Youxia were elected as the Vice Chairmen of the Central Military Commission headed by Xi. The body controls the Chinese Army.

Yang Xiaodu was appointed as the chief of new and super powerful anti-graft body, the National Supervisory Commission.

The body was set up by merging the Communist Party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) and various other government anti-corruption units.

Until last year, CCDI was headed by Wang Qishan, trusted aide of Xi.

Wang arguably became the most feared man in China due to the massive crackdown by the agency.

Over 1.5 million including top politicians and generals have been punished in the drive launched by Xi in 2013.

On Saturday, Wang was appointed the Vice President while Xi was re-elected President.Stressing that Modi government has no roadmap and its Pakistan policy was a disaster, the Congress on Sunday said the government has made the policy towards Islamabad as a "divisive domestic issue".

The Congress, in its resolution on foreign policy, recognised that the key foreign policy challenges include managing India's relations with China and Pakistan.

"The nexus between the two neighbours poses a challenge to regional balance and stability," the resolution said.

The party noted that Pakistan continued to be a challenge and there was no discernible shift in its use of cross-border terrorism as an instrument of state policy.

The foreign policy resolution was moved by Congress leader Anand Sharma at the party's 84th plenary session.

"There is a disturbing increase in hostile actions, including shelling by Pakistani armed forces along our borders and the LoC. There cannot be two opinions, that these actions require an appropriate response.

"Confronting cross-border terrorism with a robust security response has enjoyed across the board consensus. Regrettably, this is being undermined by the government by making policy towards Pakistan a divisive domestic issue," said the resolution.

"The claims of a more effective and assertive policy towards Pakistan are boastful and have not yielded any positive results," it added.

The party noted that under the Congress-led UPA Government, the long-standing India-Pakistan hyphenation in international perception was successfully removed.

"It is a matter of concern that there is a danger of that hyphenation being revived as a result of renewed international focus on Indo-Pakistan tensions."

The resolution said: "The Congress is of a considered view that the BJP government has no roadmap and its Pakistan policy has been a disaster.

"Review of the policy is overdue, and any successful policy can only be based on a consensus with a focus on both current and long term objectives," it added.Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not fighting corruption but was "corruption himself" and under him, the country is controlled by "corrupt and powerful".

"The name Modi symbolises the collusion between India's biggest businessmen and the Prime Minister," Gandhi said while addressing the Congress's plenary session.

Referring to the former Indian Premier Leagure (IPL) chairman Lalit Modi and diamond jeweller Nirav Modi, who are accused in different cases of fraud, he said that "Modi gives Modi Rs 30,000 crores (300 billion) of your money and in turn, Modi gives Modi money for marketing Modi and fighting elections".

Hitting out at the government over the Rafale fighter jet deal with France, Gandhi said: "Modi personally changed Rafale deal and bought 36 aircraft for the same price that we the Congress negotiated for 126."

"We paid Rs 570 crore (5.7 billion) per plane and Modi paid Rs 1,670 crore (16.7 billion) for the same plane. He paid Rs 1,100 crore (11 billion) more per plane.

"Forget fighter planes you cannot trust such a man to buy vegetables. Modi is not fighting corruption as Modi is corruption," he said, adding that under Modi, the "country is being controlled by the corrupt and the powerful".

Gandhi also equated the BJP and RSS with the "Kauravas" of the Hindu epic Mahabarata, saying they were designed to "fight for power".

"Centuries ago, there was huge battle on the field of Kurukshetra. The Kauravas were powerful and arrogant, while the Pandavas were humble and they fought for the truth

"Like the Kauravas, the BJP and the RSS are designed to fight for power, but like the Pandavas, the Congress is designed to fight for truth," he said.

Gandhi also said that people will accept that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is drunk with power "because they know what it is designed for".

Taking a potshot at BJP President Amit Shah without naming him he said: "They (the BJP) will accept a person with the murder charge as their party President."

"But in Congress... they know that its an organisation of truth," he said.

"India accepts the truth," the Congress President added.

Gandhi also alleged that the "BJP is a voice of an organisation" while the "Congress is the voice of the nation".

Taking a potshot at the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), the Congres leader said: "(Mahatma) Gandhi spent 15 years in jail and died for the nation. But India must never forget that while our leader slept on the floor in jail, (Vinayak Damodar) Savarkar wrote a letter to the British begging for mercy and clemency," he added.The Congress on Sunday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for pursuing a "personalised foreign policy", which was "confused and bereft of focus and direction", stressing "grand events and photo opportunities cannot be a substitute to effective diplomacy".

The party further said that diplomacy must have depth and gravitas, while adding that BJP-led government has disrupted foreign policy.

In its 84th Plenary session, the party noted that the Modi's tendency to disparage his predecessors and diminish India's achievements since Independence has undercut the country's credibility abroad.

Moving the resolution on foreign policy, senior Congress leader Anand Sharma said the Prime Minister was known for his "propaganda" and condemned his actions of showing disrespect to the party's predecessors saying: "It is not an insult to the Congress party or its leaders, but an insult to the nation.

"It is unbecoming of the Prime Minister to abuse the platform of overseas Indians for propaganda, to insult his predecessors. Congress condemns the Prime Minister for portraying India in poor light and belittling the achievement of Indian people since Independence."

The party also expressed concern over the conduct of foreign policy in a cavalier manner, "which has damaged India's profile globally and undermined national interest".

"Foreign policy has always been marked with continuity with the backing of a strong national consensus. Unfortunately, the BJP government has disrupted it, and its ill-advised actions have unravelled the national consensus.

"The government is carried away by its own propaganda, and has mismanaged India's relations with major partner countries. Its foreign pplicy is confused and bereft of focus and direction.

"The Prime Minister has pursued a personalised foreign policy. The foreign policy engagements and (Modi's) visits abroad, have been reduced to being purely transactional," it said.

The resolution also said that India's approach to China must not only be marked with pragmatism, but also realism. "It should remain our endeavour to work for peaceful resolution of all outstanding issues."

Noting both countries had reached a broad consensus in taking the relationship forward, it said:

"This was enshrined in the strategic and cooperative partnership established between the two countries and the adoption of a set of political parameters and guiding principles for the settlement of India-China boundary question.

"These should be reaffirmed and continue to be the basis on which, India should engage China."

The resolution also said that India should remain committed to concerted international cooperation for curbing terrorism.

"There is an urgent need to re-calibrate equations with the US, arrest the slide in relations with Russia and improve communication and trust with China. There should be credibility and a ring of sincerity in India's international engagements.

"Strengthening of India's relationship with the Russian Federation, should remain central to Indian Foreign Policy," it added.

The resolution noted that under the BJP government, the Indo-US relations have narrowed to being transactional.

"It is important, that India and United States remain focused on a multi-dimensional partnership between the two large democracies. The government has failed to respond to the move restricting H1B visas and free movement of skilled professionals, and in ensuring, that there should be no discrimination against our citizens."

--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.)Charging the Narendra Modi-led government with messing up the Indian economy, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday said that it has also mismanaged the Jammu and Kashmir dispute and its talk of fighting two-and-a-half wars was yet another "hollow promise".

He also accused Prime Minister Modi of resorting to another 'jumla' by promising to double farmers' income and generating two crore jobs.

Addressing the Congress plenary session here, Manmohan Singh said: "The BJP government has messed up the economy. When Modiji was campaigning (in 2014), he made lots of tall promises. Those promises have not been fulfilled.

"The BJP government talks in terms of fighting two and a half wars, but when it comes to providing adequate defence expenditure support, the task appears to be yet another hollow promise.

"One finds today that the defence expenditure of our country is no more than 1.6 per cent of our GDP (Gross Domestic Product), far too inadequate to meet the challenges that our security apparatus faces and needs."

About the foreign policy, he said: "First and foremost, is the problems with regard to our neighbours... India is destined to remain a neighbour for many countries and it is our task to find pathways and to create an environment of support, friendship and moving ahead together."

He said that the Congress worked in that direction, "whether it is Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka or other countries including China".

"We have problems but these problems are to be sorted out peacefully and not in an atmosphere of hostility and shouting at each other," he said.

Condemning the cross-border terrorism support provided by Pakistan, Manmohan Singh also said that India must warn it against this path and to instead sort out issues peacefully.

"With regard to Pakistan, we must recognise that it is our neighbour. We are worried about the support that country provides to the cross-border terrorism. That certainly is not acceptable to us.

"We must, therefore, warn Pakistan that this is a path, which is mutually destructive of peace and prosperity in the subcontinent. And the two countries must sort out all problems sitting together peacefully and give up this path of support of terrorist elements emanating from across our border," he said.

Slamming the government's record on the Jammu and Kashmir issue, he said: "We also must recognise that the Modi government has mismanaged the J&K problem as never before.

"They have installed a government, where the two wings of the government are working against each other. The atmosphere in the state is deteriorating day in and day out."

Citing the reasons for the problems in the state, Manmohan Singh said that "it is obvious from the fact that our borders are not secure, whether it is the cross-border terrorism or internal terrorism, internal insurgency.

"Issues which are the source of great worry to all our citizens and the Modi government has not found ways and means of tackling with this problem, which probably feel that these issues can probably be sorted out by themselves. That's not going to happen."

Slamming demonetization and the way the Goods and Services Tax (GST) was implemented, he also said the BJP had promised to create two crore jobs every year but "we have not seen even two lakh jobs".

"Instead, the ill-thought and ill-considered move with regard to demonetization and hastily put forward legislation of GST has destroyed many jobs.

"Modiji himself said we will double farmers income in six years. Now if you have to double farmers incomes in six years, you need a growth rate of 12 per cent at the minimum. And that is unthinkable. Therefore it is one of those statements which is a jumla-type statements, which is not likely to be achieved and Modiji himself recognises that these are tall promises.

"Two crore jobs per annum is one of those promises, which again is a pipe dream mooted by the Modi government," he added.

The three-day plenary ended on Sunday with address by Congress President Rahul Gandhi.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)It is not a bad thing for us, that the route known as the Goldene Strae or the Golden Road as we will get to know it- has escaped the attention of so many. It has been spared being overrun by hordes of tourists and as you will discoverA child has been killed and 16 others wounded following a blast in Afghanistan's eastern province of Khost, police said on Sunday.

"The blast occurred on Saturday evening in the vicinity of a religious school in Spin Kaan locality, Nadir Shah Kot district. Khost provincial police have launched an investigation into the incident," Xinhua quoted provincial police spokesman Basir Bina as saying.

Bina blamed enemies of peace and stability, a term referring to Taliban militants, for the attack.

More than 3,430 civilians were killed and over 7,000 others injured in conflict-related incidents in 2017, according to figures released by the United Nations mission in the country.

Out of the casualties more than 850 children lost their lives and over 2,300 children were injured last year.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Stung by a very strong response from the Catholic Church to its liquor policy, the Kerala government on Sunday made it clear that they are open to any sort of discussion on it to make their stand clear.

Talking to media persons here, state Excise Minister T.P.Ramakrishnan said that he is willing to speak to any person or organisations who have doubts about the new liquor policy.

"We are going forward on the liquor policy that we spelled out in our manifesto. We assure all that we will not open a single new bar, liquor vend or toddy shop. All what we did was to follow the Supreme Court's directives, which we are bound to do.

"No one need to have any concern and our policy on liquor is to follow the policy of abstinence and not head towards prohibition... that's what we have said in our election manifesto," he said.

On Saturday, heads of various churches attached to the Kerala Catholic Bishops Conference (KCBC) slammed the Left Democratic Front government's liquor policy, threatening it would work against its candidate in the upcoming Chengannur by-poll.

Various Church leaders accused the Vijayan government is operating on sly to open new liquor vends, bars and toddy shops, riding on court verdicts.

In 2016, when the Oommen Chandy-led Congress government demitted office, there were two dozen bars that operated in five-star hotels, while around 700 bars in the three- and four-star hotels were shut down.

Chandy's policy envisaged prohibition in Kerala by 2023.

In the Vijayan government's tenure so far, under Supreme Court directives, there are close to 200 outlets, including four-star hotel bars and wine and beer parlours open in the state.

"We assure all that not a single new one would be opened and whatever is going to be opened are those which were open before. We will not dilute our policy in any manner and we are prepared to discuss with anyone on this," said Ramakrishnan.

The state government's offer for dialogue came, as along with the KCBC, both the Congress and the BJP began attacking the the Left government ahead of the Chengannur assembly by-election, winning which is a prestige issue for the government.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Pakistan's National Security Adviser Naseer Khan Janjua, who held talks with top Afghan leaders in Kabul on Saturday, reiterated on Sunday the country's full support to President Ashraf Ghani's recent dialogue offer to the Taliban insurgents.

Janjua said he had elaborate and successful meetings with Ghani, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, his counterpart Haneef Atmar and other senior officials on key issues, particularly the peace offer made by Ghani, Xinhua reported.

The Afghan President unveiled his peace strategy on February 28, offering recognition of the Taliban as a political party, allowing it to open office in Kabul, issue passports to its members and remove the names of senior commanders from the UN blacklists.

Janjua's office said he appreciated the long-awaited peace offer made by Ghani and termed it the "light on the other side of the tunnel in a war which had become rather perpetual".

"Use of force only injures people, wars are however virtually won politically," he added, assuring of Pakistan's full support for the vision of peace. He, however, highlighted that isolated, blamed and coerced Pakistan is of lesser use to Afghanistan.

Ghani also invited Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to visit Kabul as soon as possible to initiate "comprehensive dialogue" between the two countries.

"The world has started to look at and undermine Pakistan through the prism of Afghanistan which is not correct. We need to commit to each other and invest in bilateral relationship and Afghanistan needs to stand with Pakistan and both need to win peace together," Janjua said.

"We have made a sincere and serious offer of peace and together we have to make the best of it by rising beyond past. Let's not remain prisoners of past and let's secure our future with the aim not to win the war but to end it for which Pakistan should help," Ghani added.

He also expressed strong support for regional connectivity with the Central Asian republics to reap the benefits of ideal geo-strategic locations of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Saturday dismissed as "an antic" his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal's apology to Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia.

He said the apology not only reflected the Aam Aadmi Party national convenor's political inexperience but also appeared to be a desperate attempt to reduce the burden of defamation cases against him before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

In conversation with journalist Vir Sanghvi at Rising India Summit here, Amarinder Singh said that Kejriwal was always "jumping here and there".

"I don't know why he does that but this is no way for a Chief Minister to behave, irrespective of his lack of experience," he said.

No government can function in isolation but Kejriwal had completely isolated himself, said the Chief Minister, adding that the AAP had completely lost ground in all states.

Kejriwal seemed to have apologised to Majithia over drug charges possibly to prepare for next year's polls but the fact was that things had changed for the worse for him, he added.

On the AAP future in Punjab, the Chief Minister said the party's legislators were totally disappointed and were reportedly looking for alternatives in order to safeguard their own future, adding the decline in the AAP had taken place over a period of time and its MLAs were completely disillusioned with their leadership.

Citing the change in public mood, Amarinder Singh expressed the optimism that the Congress would form the next government at the Centre, either on its own or in a coalition with like-minded parties.

Asked about the mood in the Congress following the Tripura results and the subsequent bypoll results in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, he said all political parties had their ups and downs.

The Congress might be down at the moment but that did not mean it would always remain down, he said, expressing the confidence that there would be a change in 2019.

"The TDP decision to disassociate themselves from NDA a year before the Lok Sabha elections showed the disenchantment in the ruling coalition and the prevailing mood of the nation, which was looking at a UPA sort of alliance as an alternative," he added.

On Congress President Rahul Gandhi as the prospective Prime Minister, Amarinder Singh said he saw this to be an absolute possibility and that Rahul would make a good Prime Minister.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)"Winter will go, snow will melt to make way for warmth of spring again". Raabta, a Facebook page, begins on this optimistic note to re-establish broken links between Kashmiri families, friends, classmates and neighbours divided by decades of insurgency, civil strife and social acrimony.

Almost a month since the page with over 21,000 followers was created, Raabta -- which translates into "connection" -- has been able to connect five Kashmiri Hindu Pandit and Muslim families who live far away from each other.

Sameer Bhat, a Dubai-based journalist, hails from Sopore -- known for its red, juicy apples and also once a militancy hotbed. Bhat wanted to connect with his Pandit neighbour Bunty "bhaiya" (elder brother). The page admin sounded out to all its followers if they could locate or tag Bunty from Sopore. And suddenly, there he was. And the virtual reunion was highly emotional.

Bunty bhaiya's real name turned out to be Arun Koul, who is now based in Chandigarh. The two spoke for the first time in 28 years.

"It felt like 28 days ago, not even 28 weeks," Bhat said, recalling how Bunty bhaiya and his family left the Valley and how all these years he missed "Herath" or "Shivratri" celebrations amid spring rains and soaked walnuts that Bunty's mother would give him.

On March 8, the page posted a message from Anis Maqbool, looking for his Hindu friend Anil Moti. The two studied in Srinagar's famous missionary school Tyndrale Biscoe till 1973. They never spoke to each other after leaving school. Presuming that Moti may have also left the valley at the height of militancy in early 1990s, Maqbool put out a search note for other Pandit friends too -- Ramesh Kalposh and Prithvi Raj.

He was lucky to connect with Moti. Now based in Gurugram, near Delhi, Moti spoke with Maqbool over phone and the two discussed their lives and families. They also invited each other to their houses.

Moti "recalled the day when he was forced to leave and tear drops trickled down uninterrupted at both ends, like spring rains at home", the page said in a post, reporting the re-union.

There are others who have posted lookout messages but not all have been as lucky. Suhail Naqshbandi, a Kashmiri cartoonist, wanted to speak to his school teacher "Mujju Ma'am" -- who boosted his confidence when he had problems with understanding mathematics.

"It was at that nadir of crisis that an angel in the form of Miss Mujju came in my life. She asked us to (solve) a mathematical (problem). I hesitantly tried (but) my fear was not letting me do it. I felt a pat on my shoulder. I looked up and saw Miss Mujju smiling and telling me that it is O.K."

"Her assurance and guidance gave wings to my confidence. My parents considered her a godsent guide for me," the cartoonist wrote. But like many others, he has not been able to reconnect with his teacher -- yet.

The brain behind the initiative is a Kashmiri advertising professional based in Gurugram named Jaibeer Ahmad.

"Despite polarisation, we continue to share bond as individuals. Bound together by our common heritage, culture, music, poetry, food and the phiran (the Kashmiri traditional overcoat)," Ahmad, 43, told IANS.

He said the migration of Pandits -- this is how Kashmir's native Hindu Brahmin community was traditionally known because of their erudition -- did not just displace people but it tore apart friends, neighbours, teachers and colleagues. Pandits left the Valley in large numbers following the insurgency when they were targeted by mercenary militants who came across the border in Pakistan on the pretext of aiding Kashmir's "freedom".

Ahmad recalled the composite culture Kashmir's Hindu Pandits and Muslims shared before the onset of militancy in the late 1980s.

"Today, there is bitterness, anger and animosity between the two communities. On social media, this hatred gets played out every day in the form of abuse and slander, dragging the communities further apart.

"Despite several efforts by the government and the civil society, there hasn't been much progress. Most of these efforts are seen with suspicion from both sides," he said, hoping that the initiative that he runs along with other Kashmiri friends -- both Muslims and Hindus -- bridges the gap between the divided communities that together made "Kashmiriyat" -- or Kashmir's unique composite culture.

(The weekly feature series is part of a positive-journalism project of IANS and the Frank Islam Foundation. Nivedita Singh can be contacted at nivedita.singh@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.)Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday dubbed Congress President Rahul Gandhi's speech at Congress' plenary session the "rhetoric of a loser".

She also questioned Rahul Gandhi's Pandava-Kaurava analogy, and accused the Congress of mocking Hindu rituals.

"Rahul Gandhi's speech sounds like rhetoric of loser devoid of substance. But although devoid of substance, will counter some points....

"Who are Pandavs, who are Kauravas... It (the Congress) is a party that chooses to mock Hindus and Hindu rituals," she said.

Sitharaman also said that the Congress was responsible of anti-Sikh riots 1984, and accused the party of corruption.

"This is a party which had to be thrown out of power because they were involved in Rs 12 lakh crore corruption," she said.

Sitharaman also called Gandhi's remarks "a light hearted comment that goes abysmally low in making mockery".

Slamming Gandhi for his comments on recent loss suffered by the Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, she said: "Let us not miss the point... Congress (candidates) lost their deposits in these places."

Gandhi, while addressing the Congress's plenary session here on Sunday, said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not fighting corruption but was "corruption himself" and under him, the country is controlled by "corrupt and powerful".

Gandhi also equated the BJP and RSS with the "Kauravas" of the Hindu epic Mahabarata, saying they were designed to "fight for power".

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Congress President Rahul Gandhi will begin a two-day tour across the coastal districts of poll-bound Karnataka from Tuesday, a party official said on Sunday.

In his third visit to the state after taking over as party chief, Gandhi will be visiting Udupi, Dakshina Kannada, Chikmagalur and Hassan districts where he will be addressing various public meetings, Congress leader M. Ramachandrappa told IANS.

He will interact with the party leaders and cadres during his visit. The Congress chief will also inaugurate the Rajiv Gandhi Political Institute in Udupi, named after his late father and former Prime Minister, and will also visit temples, dargahs and churches in the four districts.

Gandhi had visited the state for the first time after becoming the party chief in December, and then twice in February, covering Koppal, Ballari, Raichur, Yadigir, Kalaburgi and Bidar districts in his first visit and Belagavi, Vijayapura, Bagalkot and Dharwad districts in the second.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Greek citizens, migrants and refugees took to the streets of Athens to protest against racism and fascism ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination which is commemorated annually on March 21.

Holding banners with slogans such as "Freedom of movement" and "Unity", demonstrators on Saturday, representing various groups confronting racism shouted for the end of wars, chaotic social inequalities, far-right violence and all forms of discrimination, Xinhua reported.

"We convey the message that we will not stand idle in front of the fascists who return 70 years after the Holocaust. If we are all united, we can stop them," Petros Konstantinou, director of the local anti-fascist group Keerfa told Xinhua, pointing to the rise of the ultra-right and the dozens racist attacks against migrants in Greece and across Europe in recent years.

"We send the message to the EU that we will not tolerate the images of women and children drowning in the Mediterranean. We demand the re-opening of the borders," he added.

The Athens rally was part of a series of protests held in 70 cities across 15 countries on Saturday to protest the second anniversary of the EU-Turkey deal and the similar EU-Libya agreement, he explained.

"We are here against fascism and racism all over the world. We send the message to the world that we are here to live in peace, because you know the situation, the conditions in our countries," Samir, a Palestinian protester, said.

"All refugees as one from Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, South Africa, all people and immigrants send the message... stop the bloodshed everywhere in the world," he said.

Javed Aslam, the President of the Pakistani Community in Greece union, asked for more measures to support migrants.

"There should be support to immigrants to live with dignity. Here in Greece they should legalize all workers," 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.)The decomposed body of a 70-year-old woman was recovered from her central Kolkata residence on Sunday after neighbours complained that the son was living with his mother's dead body for days without taking any steps to perform her last rites, police said.

The police broke into the house at Sash Bhusan Dey Street in Bowbazar and recovered the corpse of the septuagenarian woman on Sunday afternoon after the neighbours complained of foul smell coming from the house since the last few days.

"The body of Tapati Das was recovered from her house in a decomposed state. It has been sent for autopsy to identify the time and reason of death," an officer from Muchipara police station said.

Police said the son was allegedly living with the dead body and stopped the neighbours from getting in the house when they wanted to check onto his mother's health.

He has been detained and sent to a hospital for treatment.

"The son Abhishek Das seems to be mentally unstable. He was living with his mother's dead body and refused to let anybody in. He has been taken to NRS Hospital for treatment," the officer added.

The incident brought back the grim memory of central Kolkata's Rabinson Street, where a middle-aged man had lived for months with the skeletons of his sister and two pet dogs, while his father's charred body was found inside a bathroom.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The good old "tapri wali chai" -- tea from a roadside seller -- is not going out of fashion any time soon, even if fancy tea variants continue to flood the cafes, chai bars and vending machines.

Be it those quick breaks in between office hours or a unifying agent for college students, tapri chai -- traditionally made with milk and sugar -- has had a different charm.

Tea experts and owners of different cafes and tea brands maintain that tapri chai might be reinvented with style, but the flavour that it gets in its original setting will never go out fashion.

"Tea as a subject is gaining a lot of interest amongst the evolving consumers. Tapri chai continues to be the mainstay and preferred morning cup of tea. It will continue to be so for a long time considering the depth and volume of our population," Subrata Mukherji, Business Head at Typhoo India, told IANS.

However, Mukherji said the younger and new-age consumers are also exploring new tastes, healthy brews and are looking for exotic varieties.

Raghav Verma, co-founder, Chaayos, believes the tea industry is witnessing a lot of innovation.

Citing hygiene as one of the bankable factors, Verma said: "Before chai cafes came into the picture, tapri chai was the only option. There were so many chai lovers who never had an option beyond home. But now with cafes, they can enjoy their cup of tea at a good cafe and be sure about hygiene."

On the contrary, Rishav Kanoi, tea expert and founder at Tea Trove, believes that now people are more aware and conscious about their well-being, and have "realised the harmful effects of the milk-based tapri chai and the health benefits/positive effects of liquor teas - be it pure or flavoured".

"When whole-leaf teas are blended with real, natural ingredients that add to the flavour, the whole experience gets elevated to a whole new level as you not only get the health benefit of the tea but also of the ingredients that have been added to the tea," he added.

It is often said that good quality tea is exported out of the country.

However, in Mukherji's opinion, the Indian tea market is approximately 1,275 million kg, of which only 200 million kg is exported. The balance is consumed domestically, and that is a huge share of the volume.

"Tea's main consumption in India is with milk and sugar, more like the tapri chai. With the addition of a large portion of milk and sugar, the real taste of tea gets compromised or stays hidden.

"So, the best varieties are still enjoyed by the connoisseurs and mostly overseas.

"Some of the best teas are also exported directly as the prices they are sold at there are far more remunerative. Given the growth of specialty and loose-leaf teas, quality teas are being consumed locally as well now," he added.

Kanoi said 90 per cent of good quality tea is exported and what remains is what is sold in the domestic market for consumption. But as consumers have got evolved over the years, the market dynamics have undergone change.

"With players like us who are willing to buy and sell good quality tea, now a lot of the export grade teas are being sold in the domestic market as well," Kanoi said.

The general belief in the tea market is that the tea inside tea-bags is inferior and of a very low cut and grade. So the experts said the best way to drink tea is to steep it in hot water.

"Tea bags, though more convenient to use, are a compromise on the taste of Indian palate," said Verma.

(Kishori Sud can be contacted at kishori.s@ians)

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Three doctors of the AIIMS were killed and four seriously injured when their car rammed into a stationery vehicle near the Maant toll plaza in Uttar Pradesh's Mathura district on Sunday, police said.

The injured were immediately shifted to the Niyati Hospital and the bodies to the district hospital, a police officer said.

The police said there were several people in the car which was headed from New Delhi to Agra to celebrate the birthday of one of them.

Later, the injured were shifted to Delhi for treatment, police sources said.

Since its opening in August 2012, the Yamuna Expressway has taken a heavy toll of lives and is now widely called the "Bloody Highway".

According to details made available through an RTI query, since the Expressway opened, 2.3 crore vehicles violated speed limits but only 18,000 were penalised.

Agra Development Foundation Secretary K.C. Jain said even if Rs 300 had been collected from each defaulter for speed limit violation, around Rs 700 crore could have been raised and many lives could have been saved in the process.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Representatives from the US and North Korea will hold unofficial talks here on Sunday, Finnish media reports said.

According to the reports, Choe Kang Il, who is responsible for relations with the US at the North Korea Foreign Ministry, will arrive here on Sunday on a two-day visit, reports Xinhua news agency.

The Finnish Foreign Ministry has confirmed the visit, describing it as "unofficial".

Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat reported that Choe would meet Kathleen Stephens, a former US ambassador to South Korea.

News agency STT said the talks would take place at the Japanese Embassy in Helsinki.

Kimmo Lahdevirta, head of the Asia desk at Finnish Foreign Ministry, told STT that the talks would be "academic" and "from the perspective of international relations".

On Saturday, the Swedish government said North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho concluded his three-day visit to Stockholm for talks on the security situation on the Korean Peninsula.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Valencia provisionally moved into third place in the Spanish-league standings with a 3-1 victory here over Alaves on Matchday 29.

Valencia dominated the contest at the Mestalla Stadium from start to finish, getting a pair of first-half goals from forwards Rodrigo (19th minute) and Simone Zaza (33rd minute) on Saturday, reports Efe.

Alaves pulled one back three minutes into the second half on a score by forward Ruben Sobrino, but Valencia seized a two-goal advantage once again on defender Victor Laguardia's own goal in the 54th minute.

The final score could have been even more lopsided if not for a strong performance by Alaves net minder Fernando Pacheco.

Valencia now provisionally occupy the third spot in La Liga standings with 59 points, two ahead of defending champions Real Madrid, while Alaves remain stuck in 16th place out of 20 teams with 31 points.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Actress Rose McGowan, who alleged that Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein had raped her, says she is sure that the "sociopath" would prefer if she was dead.

"I'm sure he would prefer it if I were dead. He's a sociopath. I am not afraid - but I should be. The people I find worse than him are his lawyers. The way they are acting has been disgusting," the actress told mirror.co.uk.

"The people around him, that have supported him in his attempt to dominate and abuse women, are monsters, just as much as he is.

"There is no rehabilitation for that type of soul. They just need to fall off the planet. He doesn't believe he has done anything wrong."

In October last year, the "Charmed" star claimed Weinstein had stripped off her clothes, forced her into a Jacuzzi and sexually assaulted her.

McGowan said she will be taking further action against the disgraced producer whom she believes has employed an Israeli spy company to intimidate her.

"What they did by hiring a spy company to come after me, it was incredibly violating," she said.

"It was violation on top of violation. I believe they hacked my computer, released photos -- they have done everything they can to ruin my life."

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)From spending her childhood in the lanes of Lahore to starting her journey as a radio artiste, Kamini Kaushal has a very special place in her heart for the cultural capital of Pakistan. The veteran actress, 91, says she would love to go back to her "land" for work, but in a "secure" environment.

The actress was born in Lahore and came to India after partition back in 1947. She might have opted to migrate, but her relationship and fondness for the place remain the same.

With the calls to ban Pakistani talent from working in Bollywood erupting every now and then, the actress says actors have no boundaries.

"Ban Pakistani actors from working in Bollywood? I would say no. If the work to be done has 'integrity', then there is no need for limits or restrictions. It makes no difference where the actor comes from," Kamini told IANS in an email interview.

"I know it would give me great pleasure to be asked to return to Lahore and do some good work," she added.

The actress, whose real name is Uma Sood, recalled the time she spent in Lahore before partition.

"I have fond memories of acting in the lovely amphitheatre in Lahore's Simla Hill. Or on Lahore's local radio. That was my land! But, in the same breath, I also know that if I was to go back to work I would need to feel secure doing it," she said.

Should art have no boundaries?

"In an ideal world, art should not have boundaries... But do we live in an ideal world?" she wonders.

Kamini has had a successful career, starting from her debut movie "Neecha Nagar", directed by Chetan Anand, winning the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film at the Cannes International Film Festival in 1946.

She ruled the silver screen in the 1950s and 1960s, delivering hits like "Do Bhai", "Biraj Bahu", "Jailor" and "Shaheed". She also acted opposite leading stars Dev Anand in "Ziddi" and Dilip Kumar in "Nadiya Ke Paar" and "Shabnam".

Her last big screen appearance was with superstar Shah Rukh Khan in 2013's "Chennai Express".

Looking back at her journey, she said: "I feel extremely lucky to have been able to enter Bollywood and leave Bollywood at will. When I wanted. Stop acting so as to raise a family.

"Get roles that were appropriate to my age when I was ready to resume acting. And, for the record, all these offers came to me without my ever having a manager or PR agency."

Kamini worked on her own terms and never tried to hide her marital status -- she got married to B.S. Sood, her brother-in-law, after the demise of her sister.

Together, they share five children -- her sister's daughters Kumkum and Kavita; and three sons Rahul, Vidur and Shravan.

The actress asserts that she never placed her family ahead of her profession.

"I would call it more of a 'balance' between the two: When I worked in the film industry, I did not ignore my family, but when I was not working in the industry I guess I did focus on my family.

"In fact, when I was working as an actress, I would use the time taken every day in the physical journey from home to the studios (typically in Mumbai's suburbs) -- first when I took the train and later when I got driven -- to transition psychologically from being a mother and a homemaker to being an actress.

"And vice versa: Segway back to being a mom and homemaker when I returned home after a day's work."

Will we see her back on the big screen?

"For this I would first need to regain my health and stamina. At my present age of 91 years, this is a tall order!

"Nevertheless, in the unlikely event this was to happen, then I would surely grab a role that upheld the positive norms of society. For example, where I can show some genuine warmth towards others."

(Sugandha Rawal can be contacted at sugandha.r@ians.in)

--IANS

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Digital EditorFormer prime minister on Sunday said that the current state of economy shows that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government failed to fulfil promises it made.

"The BJP government has messed up the economy. When Modi ji was campaigning, he made lots of tall promises, those promises have not been fulfilled. He said that BJP- if it comes to power- will provide two crore jobs, we have not seen even two lakhs of jobs," Singh said on the final day of the two-day Congress Plenary Session.

"The ill thought and ill-considered legislation in regard to demonetisation, and the legislation on GST hastily put forward have destroyed many jobs," he added.

The senior Congress leader further said that the promises being made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the run up to the 2019 general elections, were infeasible under the economic conditions.

"Modi ji himself said we will double farmers' income in six years' time. Now if you have to double farmers' income in six years' time, you need a growth rate of 12 per cent per annum as the minimum and that is unthinkable. Therefore it is one of those statements, which is merely a 'jumla' like statement, which is not likely to be achieved," Singh said.

Singh also touched on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, "Modi Government has mismanaged Jammu and Kashmir like never before. The two wings of the government there is working against each other, the atmosphere is deteriorating day in and day out that is obvious from the fact that our borders are insecure, be it cross-border terrorism or internal terrorism."

The 84th Congress Plenary Session is being held at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Delhi.The Congress on Saturday expressed its willingness to ally "with all like-minded parties" with a "pragmatic approach" to defeat the Narendra Modi government in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections with party chief Rahul Gandhi stating that the country was feeling tired and seeking a change.

The party's 84th plenary saw party leaders making strident attacks on the Modi government on a range of issues including corruption, problems of farmers and unemployment with UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi terming the ruling alliance as "arrogant", "power-drunk", "dictatorial" and only working to finish the Congress in the nearly four years of its rule.

Sonia Gandhi sought to enthuse party rank and file for the challenging battles ahead, including the Karnataka assembly elections later this year, saying Congress' victory was the country's victory.

In an indication of how the party plans to defeat to BJP-led coalition in the 2019, she recalled the flexibility shown by the party in favour of alliances ahead of 2004 Lok Sabha polls to hand out an unexpected thrashing to the then NDA government.

She accused Modi of indulging in "dramabaazi" (gimmicks)" to earn votes.

Rahul Gandhi set the tone of the plenary with his brief but succinct speech, saying that the meeting was aimed at setting the future direction not only of the Congress but of the entire country.

Seeking to tap into the perceived rural distress and growing need of jobs for youth, he said various sections were feeling disenchanted under the BJP.

"The crores of youth, who are feeling tired today, when they look towards Modi, they are unable to see a way forward. They do not know from where will they get employment, when will farmers get proper price for their crops. The country is in a way tired, is seeking a way out.

"And I say from my heart that only the Congress can show the path to the country," Gandhi said to loud cheers.

"The aim of plenary is to show the path forward to the Congress and the country. It is talking of the future, it is talking of change," he said.

The plenary, which will conclude on Sunday, adopted a political resolution and another on agriculture, employment and poverty alleviation.

"Congress will adopt a pragmatic approach for cooperation with all like-minded parties and evolve a common workable programme to defeat the BJP-RSS in the 2019 elections," the political resolution said, but also noted that "a resurgent Congress alone" shall win back the idea of India as envisioned by the nation's founding fathers.

It said all sections have been "betrayed" by the BJP-led government and core constitutional values were under attack.

The resolution also claimed that the Indian tradition and the essence of Hinduism has been all encompassing and upholder of composite culture. "It is distinct and must not be confused with Hindutva, which is essentially a political ideology."

Sonia Gandhi, in her hard-hitting 15-minute speech, asked party workers to again make the Congress a party that sets the fundamental agenda of the country.

"In the last four years, to destroy the Congress, the arrogant and drunk-with-power Modi government has left no stone unturned. There is open play of allurement, money, repression and discrimination but the Congress has never bowed to arrogance of power and will never bow in the future.

"Rather, the Congress is putting up a struggle to expose the dictatorial ways of the Modi government, its neglect of Constitution, disrespect of Parliament, false cases against the opposition and its harassment of the media," she said.

She said Modi's 2014 slogans of "development for all" and "no tolerance for graft" were only gimmicks to grab power.

The resolution also targeted the government on the issue of corruption, referring to over Rs 13,000 crore PNB bank fraud case.

It accused the BJP, Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) and their affiliates of creating an environment of distrust, fear and intimidation.

Citing apprehensions on the misuse of the electronic voting machine (EVMs), the Congress on Saturday said that the Election Commission should revert to the old practice of paper ballot and slammed BJP's move for simultaneous elections.

The party said the party would impose a five per cent cess on incomes of top one per cent richest Indians to create Poverty Alleviation Fund.

The plenary,being held after eight years, had stamp of Rahul Gandhi with several party workers and young leaders speaking on resolutions. Unlike past plenaries, the leaders did not sit on the dais. There were panel discussions on several themes.A former Army chief today said the 21st century belongs to India, provided all the institutions in the country rise up to the challenges and deliver.

General (retd) N C Vij said the political leadership of the country, the legislature, judiciary, bureaucracy and armed forces, besides the people of the country, would be responsible for the rise of India.

He was addressing the first convocation of Central University Jammu (CJU) during which 14 students were conferred on PhD, 20 M Phil and 885 PG degrees.

Besides, 45 gold medals including two recently instituted 'Jammu and Kashmir bank gold medals', and merit certificates were also awarded to the students.

Vij, who along with Union Minister Jitendra Singh was conferred upon Doctor of Philosophy degree (Honoris Causa) from the university, said, "The 21st century belongs to India provided all these institutions rise up to the challenges and deliver."



"You will find the defence and armed forces rock solid as far as security and defence of the country are concerned ... You cannot certainly grow without security, and armed forces are ensuring that security," he said.

He said the 21st century is predicted to be the Asian century and it is because more than 50 per cent of the global output and more than 60 per cent of the business is going to be from the region.

"Three of the five economies of the world will be from Asia these are China, India and Japan. So that the world is looking towards Asia and the world is specifically looking at India because, by 2020, we will be the youngest nation in the world," he said.

The former Army chief said the country would have the single largest English speaking population and skilled force in the world.

"Of course our economy is rising very fast and at a good pace. The only other competitor will be China but the world is sceptical about the country ... India has been traditionally a non-expansionist state while China is competing with the US," he said.

He said India is confronted with maximum challenge along the borders.

"The western and northern side and coastal line, which is around 8000 km long, are under pressure so we have to safeguard that," the former Army chief said.

Vij said he is sure of the success of "Make in India" mission, especially in the defence sector.

In his address, Union Minister Singh said more than 70 per cent population of the country is of youth and exhorted them to work towards fulfilling the "New India" dream of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Prime Minister Modi keeps talking about New India. Have you ever asked yourself who is going to build that New India? It is to be built by the people of India. More than 70 per cent population of the country is that of youth," he said.

"...you have an opportunity to contribute to it and live to tell that I was the architect of New India. It is up to you to best use this opportunity," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Three AIIMS doctors, one of them woman, died early today and four others of the same institute were injured in an accident on the Yamuna Expressway near here, police said.

The seven doctors including three women, posted as resident doctors in Emergency Medicine department of the AIIMS, were travelling to Agra from Delhi in an SUV to celebrate birthday of Dr Harshad Wankhade, who was among those killed in the accident.

The SUV rammed into a canter around 2.30 AM, they said.

While three doctors died on the spot, the other four were rushed to a private hospital here. They were then referred to the AIIMS Trauma Centre in New Delhi, Superintendent of Police (Rural) Aditya Kumar Shukla said.

They were admitted to AIIMS Trauma Centre at 9.30 AM.

The speeding SUV rammed the canter and got mangled, he said.

The deceased have been identified as Dr Yashpreet Kathpal (25), who hailed from Fazilka in Punjab, Dr Himbala (about 25), a resident of Haryana's Yamunanagar, and Dr Wankhade (35), a native of Akola district in Maharashtra.

According to the police officer, Dr Abhinava Singh (Bihar), Dr Cathreen Halam (Tripura), Dr Mahesh Kumar (Bihar) and Dr Jitendra Maurya (Madhya Pradesh) were undergoing treatment.

Dr Wankhade was senior resident doctor, while the rest were junior resident doctors (non-academic).

According to doctors at the AIIMS, all the four injured are stable.

One of the two injured women suffered a facial bone fracture and hips dislocation and was operated upon. A male doctor suffered a wrist fracture.

The other two suffered minor injuries including fractures in the spine, ribs and hips, they said.

The SP said immediate help was provided as the information about the accident reached the police through emergency number Dial 100.

The canter driver abandoned his vehicle and fled, the police officer said.

AIIMS director Randeep Guleria has expressed his condolences on the "untimely and unfortunate" demise of young resident doctors, according to a statement from the premier health institute. The director has also constituted a team to provide care to the injured and assistance to the families of the deceased, the statement added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Three AIIMS doctors, two of them women, died early today and four others of the same institute were injured in an accident on the Yamuna Expressway near here, police said.

The seven doctors were travelling to Agra from Delhi in an SUV which rammed into a canter around 2.30 AM, they said.

While three doctors died on the spot, the four others were rushed to a private hospital here. They were then referred to the AIIMS trauma centre, SP (Rural) Aditya Kumar Shukla said.

The speeding SUV rammed the canter and partially entered into it, he said, adding three of them succumbed to injuries on the accident spot, while four injured doctors were rushed to a nearby private hospital for first aid.

The deceased have been identified as lady doctors Dr Yashprit (25) and Dr Hembala (about 25), and Dr Harshad (35).

According to Shukla, Dr Jitendra, Dr Mahesh, Dr Abhinav and lady doctor Dr Catherine were later rushed to the AIIMS.

The SP said immediate help was provided as the information reached the police through dial 100.

The canter driver abandoned his vehicle and fled, the police officer said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Nearly 40 per cent of crimes against senior citizens in the country between 2014 and 2016 were reported from two states of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, government data shows.

According to a home ministry statistics, the national capital was still among the top seven states in such crimes though it recorded a decline in 2016.

As many as 7,419 cases of such crimes were registered in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh taken together in 2014, which is 39.64 per cent of the total 18,714 cases filed in the country that year, the statistics show.

In 2015, out of 20,532 cases of crimes against senior citizens across India, 39.04 per cent were filed in the two of the geographically largest states, a home ministry official said, quoting the statistics incorporated in the report 'Crimes in India'.

The number of such cases further increased in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh in 2016 with 40.03 per cent of the total 21,410 cases in the country were registered there.

A total of 8,571 cases of crimes against senior citizens were registered in the two states in 2016, an increase of more than 500 compared to 2015 when 8,017 cases were registered, it said.

Individually, Maharashtra topped the list with 3,981, 4,561 and 4,694 cases in 2014, 2015 and 2016 respectively.

The state accounted for more than one-fifth of the cases of crimes against elderly persons with 21.27 per cent of total cases in 2014, 22.21 per cent in 2015 and 21.92 per cent in 2016.

Its neighbour, MP, followed it with 3,438, 3,456 and 3,877 cases in 2014, 2015 and 2016 respectively. Among all such cases in the country in 2014, 18.37 per cent cases were registered in MP, the statistics said.

In 2015, 16.83 per cent of all the cases were registered in the central state while 18.10 per cent of all such cases filed the next year were in Madhya Pradesh.

Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana followed Madhya Pradesh with most number of cases registered against senior citizens.

In Delhi, 1,021 such cases were registered in 2014, 1,248 cases in 2015 and 685 cases in 2016. The cases in Delhi were 5.45 per cent of all such cases registered in 2014, 6.07 per cent of the total cases in 2015.

The figure drastically decreased in 2016 with just 3.19 per cent of total cases registered being from Delhi.

No cases of crime against senior citizens were registered in Jammu and Kashmir between 2014 and 2016, the data show.

Uttarakhand and northeastern states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland reported less than 10 such cases in the said three years.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Five members of a family, including three children, allegedly drowned in a tank today during a visit to attend the marriage of one of their relatives in neighbouring Medak District, police said.

40-year old Mohammed Imtiyaz, hailing from Hyderabad, his 28-year old wife and three children - aged between 8 and 16 -- drowned in the tank in Ahmednagar Kannaram village, they said.

The family members came to the village, located about 55 km from Hyderabad, to attend the wedding of a relative and went to the tank for a swim in the afternoon when the mishap occurred.

The bodies of the couple and their daughter and two sons had been recovered and sent to a government hospital, police said adding further investigation was on.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Pakistani troops targeted border villages in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district with mortar bombs today, killing five members of a family including three minor brothers and injuring five Army personnel and two civilians, officials said.

The "unprovoked and indiscriminate" shelling of civilian areas almost three-four kilometres from the Line of Control (LoC) by the Pakistani troops, in violation of a ceasefire agreement, lasted nearly four hours this morning, they said.

Five Army personnel, including a junior commissioned officer, suffered injuries and were rushed to a military hospital in Udhampur. Two sisters were critically injured in the shelling and were airlifted to Jammu for treatment, they said.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti expressed anguish over the loss of lives and stressed the need for peace if we want to save the people of the state.

Army PRO Lt. Col. Devender Anand said the mortar shelling from across the LoC was "unprovoked and indiscriminate" and lasted from 0745 hours to 1130 hours. Indian troops guarding the border retaliated strongly and effectively, he added.

Director General of Police S P Vaid in a tweet said, "Due to shelling from across (LoC) in Balakote sector of Poonch, 5 civilians of a family died & 2 are injured who are being shifted to hospital."



The civilian casualties occurred in forward village of Devta Sargloon, approximately 200 kilometres from here, when a shell hit the mud house of Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan (35), a police official said.

The deceased were Ramzan, his wife Malika Bi (32), their sons - Abdul Rehman (14), Mohammad Rizwan (12) and Razaq Ramzan (seven).

Ramzans two daughters -- Nasreen Kouser (11) and Mahreen Kouser (five) -- were critically injured in the incident and were airlifted to Jammu for specialised treatment, the police official said.

An army official, on condition of anonymity, said five soldiers including a junior commissioned officer were also injured in the Pakistani shelling.

Anguished to hear of 5 people losing their lives in the crossfire along the LoC in the Balakote sector of Poonch. My deepest condolences to their family, the chief minister said in a tweet.

Peace is the only way forward. Initiatives were started by (former Prime Minister A B) Vajpayee Ji with his Lahore bus journey & were later carried on in the same spirit by PM @narendramodi (Prime Minister Narendra Modi). Sadly they were sabotaged at Pathankot. We need to get on the right track if we want to save the people of J&K, she said in another tweet, referring to the scene of the 2016 terror attack on an Air Force Station in Punjab.

The Army PRO said today's ceasefire violation by Pakistan was a serious issue of concern as civilian localities much deep inside Indian territory -- almost three-four kilometres from the LoC -- were targeted despite the fact that there was no Army deployment or any installation or even no equipment installed.

Lt. Col. Anand said Pakistani troops used small arms, 81 mm and 120mm mortar shells.

Pakistan continues in its cowardly design of targeting innocent civilians, their homes and livestock in villages close to the LoC. The deliberate provocation has resulted in loss of five precious and innocent civilian lives, the Army PRO said.

He said the crew of an Army helicopter quickly swung into action and landed at nearby Rajouri at 1200 hours and were airborne with the injured girls within the next two minutes.

They landed at Jammu at 1239 hours whereon the casualties were shifted to civil hospital. They were escorted by their uncle Inzaman, he said.

Inspector General of Police of Jammu, S D S Jamwal, said the civil administration was "alive to the situation" and appropriate precautionary actions would be taken to ensure safety of civilians.

The firing has stopped and the local administration has reached the area. We have rushed bullet proof vehicles to the affected villages, he told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.

Meanwhile, a team headed by Poonch Deputy Commissioner Tariq Ahmad Zargar visited the spot and other vulnerable areas in Balakote sector to provide relief and to ascertain the situation in the aftermath of the shelling.

The team visited the house which was completely gutted due to shelling and handed over Rs 1 lakh as immediate financial relief in favour of the girls who survived with critical injuries in the shelling, an official spokesman said.

The deputy commissioner said financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh would be processed soon. He appealed to the people of vulnerable areas to shift their families to safer places identified by the district administration.

The deputy commissioner said the process of construction of 40 community bunkers for the safety of the border villagers are at finishing stage, and the process of constructing individual household bunkers in targeted areas would be started very soon.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Pakistani troops targeted border villages in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district with mortar bombs today, killing five members of a family including three minor brothers, officials said.

The "unprovoked and indiscriminate" shelling of civilian areas almost three-four kilometres from the Line of Control (LoC) by the Pakistani troops, in violation of a ceasefire agreement, lasted nearly four hours this morning, they said.

Two sisters were critically injured in the shelling and were airlifted to Jammu for treatment.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti expressed anguish over the loss of lives and stressed the need for peace if we want to save the people of the state.

Army PRO Lt. Col. Devender Anand said the mortar shelling from across the LoC was "unprovoked and indiscriminate" and lasted from 0745 hours to 1130 hours. Indian troops guarding the border retaliated strongly and effectively, he added.

Director General of Police S P Vaid in a tweet said, "Due to shelling from across (LoC) in Balakote sector of Poonch, 5 civilians of a family died & 2 are injured who are being shifted to hospital."



The civilian casualties occurred in forward village of Devta Sargloon when a shell hit the mud house of Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan (35), a police official said.

The deceased were Ramzan, his wife Malika bi (32), their sons Abdul Rehman (14), Mohammad Rizwan (12) and Razaq Ramzan (seven).

Ramzan's two daughters -- Nasreen Kouser (11) and Mahreen Kouser (five) -- were critically injured in the incident and were airlifted to Jammu for specialised treatment, the police official said.

Anguished to hear of 5 (five) people losing their lives in the crossfire along the LoC in the Balakote sector of Poonch. My deepest condolences to their family, the chief minister said in a tweet.

Peace is the only way forward. Initiatives were started by (former Prime Minister A B) Vajpayee Ji with his Lahore bus journey & were later carried on in the same spirit by PM @narendramodi (Prime Minister Narendra Modi). Sadly they were sabotaged at Pathankot. We need to get on the right track if we want to save the people of J&K, she said in another tweet, referring to the scene of the 2016 terror attack on an Air Force Station in Punjab.

The Army PRO said today's ceasefire violation by Pakistan was a serious issue of concern as civilian localities much deep inside Indian territory, almost three-four kilometers from the LoC, were targeted despite the fact that there was no Army deployment or any installation or even no equipment installed.

Lt. Col. Anand said Pakistani troops used small arms, 81 mm and 120mm mortar shells.

Pakistan continues in its cowardly design of targeting innocent civilians, their homes and livestock in villages close to the LoC. The deliberate provocation has resulted in loss of five precious and innocent civilian lives, the Army PRO said.

Inspector General of Police, Jammu, S D S Jamwal said the civil administration was "alive to the situation" and appropriate precautionary actions would be taken to ensure safety of civilians.

The firing has stopped and the local administration has reached the area. We have rushed bullet proof vehicles to the affected villages, he told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Seven militants, including neo-JMB terror group's regional chief, were sentenced to death today in Bangladesh for killing a Sufi shrine caretaker in 2015.

The militants hacked Rahmat Ali, the caretaker of a shrine, and slit his throat on November 10, 2015.

The militant group is ideologically opposed the moderate Sufi philosophy, which calls for universal fraternity and interfaith harmony.

Police filed charges against 15 people in the case. The court indicted the suspects on August 16 last year.

A court in Rangpur has sentenced seven militants, including neo-JMB regional commander Masud Rana, to death for the murder.

"Six of the seven convicts faced the trial in person and were present on the dock as Judge Naresh Chandra Sarker pronounced the verdict. . . the rest is on the run," a prosecution lawyer told PTI as he was reached in Dhaka by phone.

He said four of the convicts were also sentenced to death by another Rangpur court for murdering a Japanese national Kunio Hoshi last year.

The court officials said, the tribunal, however, acquitted a suspected leader of the Neo-JMB and five others finding their no involvement to the murder of Kawnia shrine caretaker Rahmat Ali.

The JMB has been held responsible for a wave of extremist attacks on religious minorities and bloggers in the past five years.

In July 2016, JMB militants stormed a Dhaka cafe and massacred 22 hostages, including an Indian.

Bangladesh has been waging a campaign against JMB and other homegrown militant outfits after the attacks.

Hundreds of militants were also arrested as part of a crackdown. Many of them have already been sentenced to death for the attacks.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Budget carrier IndiGo, whose 11 A320neo aircraft powered by Pratt & Whitney (P&W) engines are grounded due to safety concerns, today had to pull out one more such aircraft from service.

The A320 neo aircraft, bearing registration number VT-ITX, has not flown since 8:45am today after landing at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi international Airport (IGIA), according to FlightRadar24, a flight-tracking website.

According to a source, the airline was forced to ground the aircraft after metal chip particles were detected in the jet's engine oil after it completed the Bengaluru-New Delhi flight this morning.

This is the third incident of an IndiGo A320neo, fitted with P&W engines, facing a glitch since the grounding of 11 aircraft on March 12.

IndiGo, however, in a statement said that the aircraft was "proactively withdrawn" in Delhi for a maintenance check to attend to a defect reported by the pilot.

"These maintenance checks are part of a comprehensive programme of early detection. During the maintenance check, metal chips were observed on engine number 1, (and) number 3 bearing chip detector, which is a known concern on the Neo engine," the airline said.

Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had on March 12 ordered the grounding of 11 A320Neo planes fitted with P&W1100 engines beyond ESN 450 series due to recurring problems, including mid-air shutdowns.

Of these, eight belong to IndiGo and the rest are of GoAir. Another three A320Neos of IndiGo are already on the ground since February.

Today's incident comes ahead of the submission of an affidavit by the DGCA next week to the Bombay High Court, in response to a PIL, on the steps taken by it to quell the anxiety of passengers over issues related to these engines.

A city resident, Harish Agarwal, in his PIL has sought appropriate directions to the civil aviation authorities over recent reports that certain 'Pratt & Whitney (P&W) engines', which power A320neo planes, were more susceptible to engine failures.

Concerns over the safety of such planes increased with another engine failure forcing the emergency landing of an IndiGo flight at Ahmedabad airport on March 12.

This had forced the regulator to crack the whip saying that there was no concrete proposal in place at this stage to address the issue.

On March 16 too, oil chip was detected on engine 2 of the VT ITE (A320neo) at Hyderabad and the plane had to be ferried to Delhi after obtaining the DGCA's nod.

On March 13, IndiGo aircraft VT-ITH operating on the Mumbai-Delhi route had confronted the same problem.

"Both IndiGo and GoAir have been told not to refit these engines, which are spare with them in their inventory," the DGCA had said at the time of grounding the fleet.

Consequently, both IndiGo and GoAir have cancelled over 600 flights this month, with 488 flights by IndiGo alone.

On February 9, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) had issued an emergency airworthiness directive for A320neo planes fitted with P&W1100 engines having a particular serial number.

The directive followed instances of the engines shutdown during flights and rejected take-offs involving the A320neo aircraft.

On February 13, DGCA had said that it was monitoring engine glitches to ensure that safety was not compromised.



India has imposed anti-dumping duty on import of Chinese pharma product, used in treatment of certain infections, to protect domestic producers from below-cost shipments.

The duty on import of 'Ofloxacin' from China will be in the range of USD 2.58 to USD 9.48 per kilogram for three years, said a notification issued by the revenue department in the finance ministry.

The levy has been slapped following the recommendations of the Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD).

Aarti Drugs had approached the DGAD for initiation of anti-dumping investigation and imposition of the duty concerning imports of Ofloxacin, originating in or exported from China.

After a probe into the imports, the Authority concluded that the product has been exported to India from China below its normal value, "resulting in dumping".

"The domestic industry has suffered material injury due to dumping of the product...," the DGAD said while recommending the levy.

Ofloxacin is used to treat certain infections including bronchitis, pneumonia and infections of the skin, bladder, urinary tract, reproductive organs, and prostate (a male reproductive gland).

Ofloxacin is in a class of antibiotics called fluoroquinolones. It works by killing bacteria that cause infections.

Countries carry out anti-dumping probe to determine whether their domestic industries have been hurt because of a surge in imports which are below the cost of producing them.

As a counter measure, they impose duties under the multilateral regime of WTO.

The duty is aimed at ensuring fair trading practises and creating a level-playing field for domestic producers with regard to foreign producers and exporters.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Several Asian leaders among many heads of state and government today congratulated Xi Jinping on his re-election as China's president for life.

Xi was unanimously elected by the rubber stamp parliament National People's Congress (NPC) yesterday, days after it ratified a proposal to remove the two-term limit for president paving the way for him to remain in power lifelong.

In his message of congratulations, Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain said Xi's election as Chinese president reflects the Chinese people's confidence in his leadership.

Hussain said China has made remarkable achievements in the past five years, which has not only enhanced its international status and image, but also brought great changes in people's lives, state-run Xinhua agency reported.

He added that he believes the China will continue to move forward and achieve the goal of national rejuvenation.

Pakistan and China are all-weather strategic partners, and the two countries will continue to commit themselves to comprehensively strengthening bilateral relations and benefiting the two peoples, Hussain said.

In his message, Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen said Xi's election is a full recognition of the great achievements China has made under his leadership in the past five years, and reflects the people's firm confidence in him to lead China in realising the Chinese dream.

Yameen said he is confident that under Xi's leadership, China will make greater achievements and create more opportunities for other countries to achieve common development.

Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid said under Xi's leadership, China has made huge achievements in the great cause of building a community with a shared future for mankind adding that Bangladesh-China relations will be consolidated and deepened.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also praised Xi's "wise and far-sighted leadership".

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said he wishes that under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) with Xi at the core, the Chinese people will make greater achievements in the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era.

He said he believes North Korea-China relations will develop toward the direction that conforms to the common interests of the two peoples.

Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang said he believes that Xi, as the core of the CPC Central Committee, president of China and chairman of the CMC, will lead the Chinese people to realize the goal of building a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful.

Japanese Emperor Akihito wished Xi good health and China prosperity.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said this year marks the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and China, as well as the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up policy.

During the past 40 years, China has made remarkable progress, and the two countries have developed extensive cooperation, Abe said.

He hoped to take this year as an opportunity to improve the Japan-China relationship, taking it to a new level of development.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said he hoped under Xi's leadership, China realises the Chinese dream as soon as possible and makes greater contribution to peace and development in Northeast Asia and the world at large.

With this year marking the 10th anniversary of the establishment of South Korea-China strategic cooperative partnership, Moon said he would like to make efforts with Xi to steer bilateral relations toward maturity and into a new era.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Even as the nearly Rs 13,000-crore scam involving diamond trader Nirav Modi has led to public lenders to curtail their overseas presence, Axis Bank today announced a new representative office in Sharjah.

The third largest private sector lender said the representative office in Sharjah, its third in the UAE, will focus on remittances business.

Axis Bank has disclosed indirect exposure, passed on because of the scam that originated at Punjab National Bank. Following the discovery of the scam, the Government asked a slew of state-run lenders to consolidate their foreign presence starting with 35 locations.

In a statement, Axis Bank said the representative office can be used by the diaspora in the northern emirates.

There are over 3 million NRIs in the UAE which makes it an interesting business proposition, it said.

The bank has 20 per cent market share in the USD 12 billion dollar-a-year inward remittances market from the UAE.

"Personal banking transactions, including remittances...have been growing continuously. Opening of the representative office in Sharjah will further extend our presence in the UAE," the bank's executive director Rajiv Anand said.

The bank has branches at the Dubai International Financial Centre, Singapore, Hong Kong and Colombo, a subsidiary in London and a representative office in Dhaka.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)While female foeticide due to preference for boys is an issue that is plaguing India, there is a community in Madhya Pradesh that actually celebrates the birth of a girl child, albeit for not so positive reason.

Members of Banchhada community, who operate family-based prostitution for livelihood, consider the birth of a girl auspicious as it means another breadwinner for the family.

For the community, which is mainly settled in Ratlam, Mandsaur and Neemuch districts of Madhya Pradesh, prostitution is a way of life, passed down generations and young girls are groomed to become prostitutes as male members mostly live off their earnings.

"This belt- Ratlam, Mandsaur and Neemuch- although notorious for opium cultivation, is also known for Banchhada community, in which prostitution has been given a societal approval," Akash Chouhan, coordinator of Nai Abha Samajik Chetna Samiti, an NGO that works for the uplift of this community, told PTI.

"As the members of the community are dependent on the women of the family for livelihood, they always celebrate the birth of a girl child with pomp, unlike others. For earning their bread, the male members allow their women to indulge in prostitution, although it is illegal in the eyes of law," he added.

Citing a census report, Chouhan said, "The total population of Banchhada community, which is spread over 75 villages in the three districts, is about 23,000, of which at least 65 per cent are women."



A survey conducted by the Madhya Pradesh Women Empowerment Department in 2015 in 38 villages in Mandsaur, showed that their population in the district was 3,435, with 2,243 women and 1,192 men. "It means as compared to men, the population of women is almost the double," Chouhan said.

A similar exercise conducted in 2012 in Neemuch's 24 Banchhada-dominated villages also showed that the number of women is more than the men-- 3,595 women and 2,770 men.

"All this shows that they give importance to women, but for the wrong reasons," Chouhan said.

Prostitution has led to the menace of human trafficking in the community.

In order to improve the financial condition of the family, Banchhada members buy girls from different parts of the state or country.

"They indulge in human trafficking by purchasing newborn girls from different areas. Once the girls grow up, they are pushed into prostitution," Chouhan said.

Lawyer Amit Sharma, who is also an RTI activist, said, "This is a serious issue as the rise in the number of women in the community is mainly because they purchase girls from different parts of the state."



He said that during a raid in Neemuch district in July 2014, a 6-year-old girl was found in the house of a Banchhada family.

"The woman of the family later revealed that they had purchased the girl in 2009 from Nagda (In Ujjain district) and the deal was sealed on Rs 500 stamp paper," he said.

The woman was later booked for human trafficking and arrested, Sharma added.

"The entire process of purchasing and selling a girl in Banchhada community is done in a very organised manner, with the help of middlemen. Unfortunately, the community looks at it as an investment," he said.

He claimed that the members of the family, who purchase the girls, do not take proper care of them. "They think they have bought the girl by paying money, which is generally in the range of Rs 2000 to Rs 10,000," he said.

Police say that although measures were being taken by them to curb the prostitution and human trafficking in the community, social awareness was required to eliminate these malpractices.

"All the steps that police take on the issue prove insufficient as in order to end these evils from the community, there is a need for awareness," Neemuch District Superintendent of Police (SP), T K Vidyarthi, said,



"We have initiated steps in this direction by conducting a survey of the community and ensuring that their children go to school. They have started getting jobs and our officials also take their classes, especially of the educated kids, to prepare them for competitive exams," the SP said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Banaras Hindu University (BHU) did not allow a play glorifying Nathuram Godse to be staged at its annual cultural festival, a probe committee has found.

Trouble had erupted on the BHU campus last month when a group of students claimed that a play which showed Mahatma Gandhi in a poor light and celebrated his killer, Godse, had been staged at the festival.

They had approached the police demanding a sedition case be filed after a video clip of the performance went viral on social media. They had also complained to the university authorities, after which the varsity had formed a fact-finding committee to investigate the issue.

The committee in its recent report said the BHU authorities had disqualified a participant who performed a mono-act on Godse when cultural performances were being screened for the university festival.

"During the screening process meant for selection of participants for the annual cultural festival, the participants presented performances based on the topic of their choice for a maximum of five minutes," it said.

The organisers or judges did not have prior information on the topic chosen by the participant, the report said.

"During the screening, a participant performed a five-minute long mono-act on Godse and was disqualified for selection for the festival by judges," it added.

The probe panel reiterated that the performance was "merely found to be a part of screening procedure and the organisers and judges had no prior information on the subject".

BHU, one of the 43 central universities in the country has been at the centre of controversy since last year when students, including women, and two journalists were injured in a baton-charge by the police after a protest against an alleged sexual harassment incident turned violent.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Recalling the two warring sides of the epic Mahabharat, Congress president Rahul Gandhi today said the BJP, like the Kauravas, fought for power, while his party, on the lines of the Pandavas, battled for truth.

Taking the ruling BJP on, Gandhi said the party sought to divert people's attention from issues such as unemployment and farm distress with "fancy events".

"Instead of acknowledging the challenges facing the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi diverts our attention from our problems. We are being told that our problems only exist in our imagination," he said.

The BJP-RSS's goal was power, Gandhi stressed at the Congress party's plenary session here.

"Like the Kauravas, the BJP and RSS fight for power. Like the Pandavas, the Congress fights for truth," he said.

Gandhi held that his party spoke on behalf of the country.

"The BJP is the voice of an organisation, Congress is the voice of a nation," he said.

The Congress leader added that the corrupt and powerful today "control conversation" in the country and the "name Modi symbolises the collusion between crony capitalists and the prime minister".

Gandhi voiced the hope that India would in the next decade play an all-important role on the global stage.

"There are two visions in the world -- of US and China. In 10 years, I want to see India's vision there," he said.

In his address, he assured party workers that he would break walls between them and leaders and vowed to fill the Congress stage with "talented youngsters".

He stressed the need for discipline, and said, "Let us put all differences aside and work together to ensure victory for the party".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today launched an all-out attack on the Modi Government, saying that while it had "messed up" the economy, it was spouting "jumla" (rhetoric) with pipe dreams about generating 20 million jobs and doubling farm incomes.

Addressing the 84th session here, he also accused the BJP-led government of having "mismanaged" the dispute in Jammu and Kashmir and said the government's talk of fighting two and a half wars was yet another hollow promise.

From foreign policy and defence to the economy, the former prime minister spoke on a range of issues, and was accorded a thunderous applause and a standing ovation by party leaders.

Singh lamented that only about 1.6 per cent of the country's GDP was spent on defence expenditure, which, he said, could not meet the challenges that the security apparatus posed.

He also alleged that there were many issues on the foreign policy front that had been poorly handled by the Modi government.

We also must recognise that the Modi government has mismanaged the Jammu and Kashmir problem as never before," he said.

He said the two wings of the government in the state were working against each other and the atmosphere was deteriorating day in and day out.

That is obvious from the fact that our borders are not secure, whether it is cross-border terrorism or internal terrorism, internal insurgency. There are today issues which are a source of great worry to all our citizens," he said.

The Modi government, he said, possibly feels that these issues will get sorted out on their own.

"That's not going to happen, he added.

Noting that Jammu and Kashmir was an integral part of India, he said the country needed to recognise the state's special problems and we must deal with those problems with all seriousness.

Highlighting issues that had come up between India and its neighbours under the Modi dispensation, the former prime minister said it was the task of the country to create pathways for an "environment of support, friendship and moving ahead together".

The Congress moved in that direction, he said, whether it was with Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka, or countries such as China.

"These problems are to be sorted out peacefully and not in an atmosphere of hostility and shouting at each other, he said.

On Pakistan, Singh said India must recognise it as a neighbour but expressed concern over Islamabad's support to cross-border terrorism.

That certainly is not acceptable to us. We must, therefore, warn Pakistan that this is a path which is mutually destructive of peace and prosperity in the sub-continent," he said.

"It is as much in the interest of Pakistan as in the interest of India that our two countries must sort out all problems sitting together peacefully and give up this path of support of terrorist elements emanating from across the border, he noted.

On the economy, which he claimed grew by 7.8 per cent under the UPA regime led by him, Singh rued that at a time the world economy had grown from 2.8 per cent to 3.8 per cent from 2014 to 2018, the Indian economy had "decoupled itself" from the world economy.

Quoting the Economic Survey, the former prime minister said it brings out the inadequacies of the BJP government's approach to solving social and economic problems.

Those were the challenges that the Congress had to take up again, he stressed.

The BJP government has messed up the economy. When Modi ji was campaigning he made lots of tall promises. Those promises have not been fulfilled, he said.

Singh said the BJP claimed in 2014 that if it came to power it would provide 20 million jobs.

"But we have not seen even two lakh jobs," he said.

The ill-thought and ill-conceived demonetisation and hastily put forward legislation for GST had destroyed many jobs and created problems for the small and medium industry and the informal sector, both in terms of production and providing jobs, he said.

He also pointed out that Modi had talked of doubling farmers' incomes in six years.

If you have to double farmers' incomes in six years' time, you need a growth rate of 12 per cent per annum as the minimum. And that is unthinkable," he said.

Therefore, it is one of those statements ... merely a jumla-type statement, which is not likely to be achieved," he said.

"Modi ji himself recognises that these are tall promises. Two crore jobs per annum is one of those promises which is again a pipe dream mooted by the Modi government, he said.

Recollecting the history of the Congress, the former prime minister said it was the party that "made India what it is today, that led the freedom struggle and which guided India in the path of development after it became free".

At a time when the Congress is seeking to get back to power and to create alliances with like-minded parties to oust the BJP in 2019, the former prime minister said the Congress party was once again being "invited and challenged to play a similar role".

He also exuded confidence that the party would play the same historic role in the years to come under Congress president Rahul Gandhi's leadership and former party chief Sonia Gandhi's guidance, to carry forward the "process of sustained growth, development and social justice of the people of India".An attacker dressed in a school uniform set off a grenade amid a group of hundreds of university students in Afghanistan's capital on Sunday, killing himself and wounding five students, according to the district police chief.

Nasir Nadery said the attacker, who slipped past two guards, was wearing an explosives vest that failed to explode.

The students were inside a private compound where they were taking classes to prepare for university exams.

The attack took place in a Kabul neighborhood dominated by ethnic Hazaras, a Shiite minority frequently targeted by the Sunni extremists. No one immediately claimed the attack, which resembled previous assaults carried out by the Islamic State group.

Yesterday, a sticky bomb attached to the motorcycle driven by a retired Pakistani army officer exploded in southern Zabul province's Shahjoy district, killing the officer and his guard, according to the provincial government spokesman, Gul Islam Seyal.

Pakistan has been criticised by both the United States and Afghanistan for aiding Taliban insurgents, a charge it denies. Seyal said the retired officer was aiding the Taliban, although he did not provide any proof of his claim.

A Pakistani military official said they have no knowledge of any retired officer killed in Afghanistan. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Meanwhile Taliban attacked security positions northwest of Kabul, killing at least five police and setting off a two-hour gunbattle, according to Mohammed Zaman, the police chief for Ghazni province.

The Taliban have stepped up attacks across Afghanistan since the U.S. and NATO formally concluded their combat mission at the end of 2014.

In the western Ghor province, meanwhile, a roadside bomb killed a young shepherd and wounded five others. Police spokesman Iqbal Nizami said the Taliban planted the bomb in order to target security forces.

In the eastern Khost province, police spokesman Basir Bina said a roadside bomb killed two children and wounded another nine. Both bombs went off on Saturday.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Britain's foreign secretary said Sunday that the trail of blame for the poisoning of a former spy "leads inexorably to the Kremlin," after a Russian envoy suggested the nerve agent involved could have come from a UK lab.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said Britain has evidence that Russia has been stockpiling nerve agents like the one used against Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

Johnson told the BBC that officials from the Netherlands-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons would arrive in Britain on Monday to take samples of the nerve agent used to poison the Skripals.

Britain says it is Novichok, a class of powerful nerve agent developed in the Soviet Union toward the end of the Cold War.

"We actually have evidence within the last 10 years that Russia has not only been investigating the delivery of nerve agents for the purposes of assassination but has also been creating and stockpiling Novichok," Johnson said.

Vladimir Chizhov, Moscow's EU ambassador, said Russia has no chemical weapons stockpiles and was not behind the poisoning.

"Russia had nothing to do with it," Chizhov told the BBC. Chizhov pointed out that the UK chemical weapons research facility, Porton Down, is only eight miles from Salisbury, where Sergei Skripal a former Russian intelligence officer convicted in his home country of spying for Britain and his daughter were found March 4. They remain in critical condition.

Asked whether he was saying Porton Down was responsible, Chizhov replied: "I don't know."



The British government dismissed the ambassador's suggestion as "nonsense." Johnson said it was "not the response of a country that really believed itself to be innocent."



Britain and Russia have each expelled 23 diplomats and taken other measures in the escalating tit-for-tat dispute.

Johnson said Britain's National Security Council will meet this week to discuss "what further measures if any" the country will take.

Opposition lawmakers are calling on the government to clamp down on the illicitly gained money of wealthy Russians in Britain.

Critics say UK authorities have been slow to investigate the origins of the wealth invested in London's financial district and property market.

Russia's ambassador in London, Alexander Yakovenko, called for "cooler heads," telling the Mail on Sunday that the dispute is "escalating dangerously and out of proportion.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A protein-rich breed of chicken, popularly known as 'Kadaknath', has virtually become a bone of contention between Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh states, with both staking claim over its nativity.

The two neighbouring states have filed applications with the Geographical Indication registry office in Chennai to obtain the 'GI tag' for this black-winged chicken variety.

'Kadaknath' is known for its high iron content and much lower cholesterol than other breeds, and sells at a much higher price than other varieties, say experts.

"Madhya Pradesh is likely to get the GI nativity tag for the tan-blooded bird, which has its origin in the state's Jhabua district," MP animal husbandry department's additional deputy director Dr Bhagwan Manghnani told PTI.

"The Gramin Vikas Trust of Jhabua applied for the GI tag in 2012 on behalf of the tribal families involved in breeding it," he said.

Chhattisgarh too staked its claim for the GI tag of 'Kadaknath' recently.

Global Business Incubator Private Limited (GBIPL), Chhattisgarh, chairman Srinivas Gogineni said the bird is reared in the state's Dantewada district in a unique way, and in a homely atmosphere.

GBIPL, a private company, has been roped-in by the Dantewada district administration for helping the tribals in livelihood generation in the area, under the public-private partnership model.

"The Dantewada administration, while taking assistance of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), an industry body, applied last month for the GI tag owing to the uniqueness and high production of Kadaknath in the district," Gogineni said.

The bird variety is reared in a natural environment in Dantewada and not fed with the ready-made fodder, he claimed.

The state government-supported self help groups of tribal women, running over 160 poultry farms in Dantewada, are engaged in the production of about four lakh chickens of the Kadaknath variety for meat annually, Gogineni said.

Other private poultry farmers are also engaged in rearing the bird in Chhattisgarh, he added.

Meanwhile, Manghnani said the government-run hatcheries in Madhya Pradesh produce about 2.5 lakh chickens of the Kadaknath variety annually.

MP had set up the first poultry farm for this breed of chicken in 1978 in Jhabua, but Chhattisgarh excelled in its production in a shot span of time.

Birbal Sahu, a senior scientist at the Krishi Vigyan Kendra in Kanker district of Chhattisgarh, brought about 1,000 Kadaknath chicks from Jhabua in MP in 2013.

"I remember that summer when I brought 1,000 chicks in an air-conditioned vehicle to Kanker. Around 300 of them died enroute due to the rise in temperature. The remaining were safely brought and bred in Kanker," Sahu said.

In a period of just five years, the tribal state has now been producing the chicken variety in abundance and claiming the GI tag.

Gogineni says the GI tag gives an advantage in marketing a product nowadays.

"Take the case of 'Kaja sweets' made in East Godavari of Andhra Pradesh. After the GI branding, its sales have shot up globally. The GI tag doesn't give the patent right, but the standardisation of the product counts globally," he said.

Meanwhile, according to Manghnani, the cholesterol level in Kadaknath meat is about 184 mg per kg while in other chicken it is around 214 mg per kg.

The lean bird's blackish grey meat has 25 to 27 per cent protein content, while in other birds this nutritional component is about 16 to 17 per cent, he said.

Kadaknath has just about 1 per cent fat, as against 5 to 6 per cent found in other chicken breeds, he said, claiming that the meat of this variety is also helpful for people suffering from respiratory problems.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Chinese Premier Li Keqiang was today endorsed for a second five-year term by the country's rubber-stamp parliament after he was nominated by President Xi Jinping.

Li, 63, a second ranking leader in the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC), has completed the first five-year tenure along with Xi who is now regarded as the "core" leader of the party placed along with party founder Mao Zedong.

Xi, 64, was yesterday re-elected unanimously by 2970 deputies of the National People's Congress (NPC), days after it ratified constitutional amendment to remove the decades old two-term limit for the president and vice president posts.

Xi was also re-elected as the Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) which is the overall high command of the two million strong Chinese military. He heads all powerful organs of power the CPC, the military and the Presidency.

Li, who maintained a low profile under Xi mainly looking after economy, was endorsed as premier for his second tenure. But significantly he was nominated by Xi, state-run Xinhua agency reported.

Other officials who got elected included was Yang Xiaodu director of the national supervisory commission, a newly formed anti-corruption body with statuary powers.

Xu Qiliang and Zhang Youxia were elected as vice chairmen of the Central Military Commission (CMC) headed by Xi.

The NPC which has approved a complete overhaul of the Chinese government is also expected to nominate a host of new officials including a new foreign minister and governor of the central bank, the People's Bank of China.

The NPC deputies also elected president of the Supreme People's Court, procurator-general of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and members of the 13th NPC Standing Committee.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi's remarks at the Congress's plenary session, the BJP on Sunday said that the party which questioned the "fundamental existence" of Lord Ram today wants to be identified itself with the Pandavas.

Giving a point-by-point rebuttal of Gandhi's speech, senior BJP leader and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman termed his address as the "rhetoric of a loser" and "devoid of substance."



Recalling the two warring sides of the epic Mahabharat, Gandhi had earlier said the BJP, like the Kauravas, fought for power, while his party, on the lines of the Pandavas, battled for truth.

"The party which questioned the fundamental existence of Shri Ram today wants to identify itself with Pandavas," Sitharaman said, in an apparent reference to the Congress stand on the issue of construction of a Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya.

"I have never heard of a Congress' priest and a BJP' priest, but Rahul Gandhi has narrated a whole story on that, just a way to mock Hindus and Hinduism," she said.

Earlier in the day, Gandhi had narrated a story about his meeting and conversation with priests during his visit to a temple.

Taking on Gandhi over his attempt to link Modi with fugitives Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi, she termed it as "a fake narrative".

"Mr Gandhi who himself is out on bail in the Herald case shares a surname with the Father of the Nation, is that a reflection on the Mahatma," Sitharaman said.

Hitting back at the Congress chief over his attack on Amit Shah, Sitharaman said that it was astonishing that the Congress president chooses to make allegations against the BJP chief even though he has been cleared by a court.

"Gandhi himself is out on bail in Herald case, whereas our party President Amit Shahji, has been cleared by court," she said.Expressing concern over rise in crime against women in the national capital, a Delhi court has said the judiciary should sternly deal with issue of stalking as the perpetrator, "if not treated", becomes dangerous over time and poses threat to the lives of women.

The court said the Indian society has been struggling to find ways to deal with the crime of stalking, which was made an offence in 2013, but there have been several shortcoming in the existing law and a stalker cannot be allowed to roam around freely as his activities could be dangerous for others.

Special Judge Kamini Lau lamented that the society often blames women saying they failed to wear "modest clothes". However, it has been observed that even those wearing dresses which "society claims are decent", are also not spared but teased to a greater extent.

"Eve teasing has not to be judged by men by their own parameters but by women as to how they feel about the same. To a pervert mind, it does not matter how a woman is dressed, how old she is, how pretty she is, where she is -- whether in a public transport or hospital etc.

"Eve Teasing is almost institutionalised in public transport and public places and what these perverts look for are easy preys and vulnerable victims so that they are not got caught," the court said.

The court made the observations while dismissing the appeals of two convicts in a stalking case and upholding their six month's jail.

It said there was no reason to disbelieve the statement of the 21-year-old woman, who was stalked in 2013 by her two classmates. There was no reason for her to falsely implicated them in the case, it added.

Stalking is an offence where a person willfully, maliciously and repeatedly follows or harasses another person and it entails a maximum punishment of three years jail for first offence and five years for subsequent crime.

It said refusal to act on the testimony of a victim of sexual assault in the absence of corroboration as a rule amounts to "adding insult to injury" and asked why should the evidence of the woman who complained of stalking or molestation be viewed with doubt, disbelief or suspicion?



Terming Delhi one of the "most dangerous" cities for women in recent times, the court said the acts of rude and continuous staring of body parts, ogling, lewd remarks and gestures, filthy jokes and brushing against a female's body are the things which women in the city face all the time.

The court further said while stalking essentially reflects a personality disorder of the perpetrator, it tends to put the victim and his/her family at a high mental and physical risk at the hands of the offender.

"A potential stalker if not treated in time can cause serious physical and mental harm to the victim and any kind of soft approach by the court can be dangerous and fatal for the victim," it said.

"Usually instances of stalking which do not involve physical assault go unreported. It is only when a stalker poses a potential threat to the victim that the family approaches the law enforcement agencies and the courts."



The judge further said that keeping in view the rise in number of reported cases in the recent past, the courts were expected to seriously and sternly deal with it since there was ample evidence in the studies conducted internationally which show that behaviour of perpetrator often tends to escalate and he becomes more obsessed and dangerous resulting into many a women being wounded or murdered.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Delhi Police have arrested a wanted criminal, accused in a double murder case of April last year, from Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh.

Adil, the sharpshooter of a notorious gang based in north-east Delhi and carrying a reward of Rs 50,000 on his arrest, was held yesterday by a Special Cell team of the Delhi Police which had been after him and his accomplices who were involved in the double murder of a rival gang's members, a senior officer said.

Adil and around six others of his gang had on April 19 last year shot down two members of a rival gang and injured a third in the Jaffrabad area, the officer said, adding all of them went into hiding after the crime.

The team was tracking the movements of the prime accused's wife, a lawyer whom he married while in hiding, and apprehended him when he had gone to meet her, the officer said in a statement released by the police to the media.

The other accused in the case were yet to be apprehended, it said.

Police said it was revealed through sources that all of them were hiding in western UP and changing their hideouts frequently.

Apart from the double murder case, Adil is also accused in a 2012 homicide as well as several cases of attempt to murder in Jaffrabad and Seelampur areas of north east Delhi, police said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu today said he was disturbed at the 'unruly behaviour' and 'unparliamentary language' in legislatures and stressed the need to move away from the current environment of settling scores and to make a new beginning.

Expressing anguish over the events (frequent disruptions) in Parliament and state legislatures, Naidu, quoting Mahatma Gandhi, said there was no place for violence in legislatures.

"Let us recall Gandhiji's wise words:No perfect democracy is possible without perfect non-violence at the back of it. So let us abjure violent emotions, violent speech and violent actions. Let us discuss, debate and decide in a dignified manner," the Vice President said.

Though Naidu, who is also chairman of the Rajya Sabha,did not refer to any particular legislature, his comments today come in the backdrop of the logjam in Parliament and the recent incidents in the Telangana assembly.

In the joint session of the Telangana assembly on March 12, an object flung at the dais by main opposition Congress members hit the legislative council chairman in his eye, injuring him.

The slogan-shouting Congress members had earlier accused the TRS government of being "anti-farmer", torn papers and flung them in the air.

Addressing the first National Consultation Conference on 'Swarajya to Surajya: Taking Forward the Good Governance Agenda" here, Naidu, according to an official release, urged legislators to argue with the force of logic and conviction, rather than stall the proceedings through brute force.

Stating that he was disturbed at the trends of unruly behaviour and unparliamentary language in legislatures, Naidu said "We should move away from the current environment of settling scores in which each party adopts the strategy of "I disrupt because you have done it before."



"Can we not end this spiral? I think we can and we should. Let us make a new beginning", the Vice President said.

Naidu reminded MPs and MLAs of their responsibility of ensuring the accountability of the executive, which includes good governance.

"Colonial rulers used to be blamed for everything going wrong then. There is no such excuse under own rule, i.e Swaraj, except blaming ourselves for such things."



Parliament needs to emerge as a role model by setting high standards of performance and ensuring good governance, Naidu said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Dinesh Karthik did a Javed Miandad with a last-ball six as India pulled off an incredible chase beating Bangladesh by four wickets in the Nidahas T20 Tri-series final, in Colombo on Sunday night.

Needing five off the final delivery, Karthik smashed Soumya Sarkar over extra-cover as a second-string Indian side held its nerve in a tense situation to chase down a target of 167 in 20 overs. It would count as one of India's famous last ball sixes -- something that Pakistani legend did against India 32 years back in Sharjah.



"I have been practising these shots - having a strong base and then hitting from there," Karthik said after the match.

"Happy to be where I'm and thanks to the support staff who have kept on supporting me for the last few months," he added.

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) acting president CK Khanna congratulated the Indian team for an "amazing" four-wicket victory in the final of the

Khanna told the media, "What an amazing win. Shows the strength of our good domestic cricket. I congratulate everyone for this victory as it shows the hard work done by every individual involved in BCCI."



The BCCI acting president also applauded Dinesh Karthik's cameo that helped India register a four-wicket win against Bangladesh.

"Dinesh Karthik played very well under pressure," he said.

Karthik's gem of a cameo got him 29 off 8 balls with two boundaries and three sixes -- the last of them which will be forever be etched in the memory.

Skipper Rohit Sharma's (56 off 42 balls) dismissal set India's inexperienced middle-order in panic mode and Vijay Shankar's four dot balls off the 18th over by Mustafizur Rahaman made it very difficult for India.

Karthik came at the start of the19th over and hit Rubel Hossain for 22 including two sixes and two fours to bring down the equation to 12 off the final over before finishing it off in style.



'Nagin' dance

A partisan Sri Lankan crowd, who were upset by Bangladesh's behaviour did the now famous 'Nagin Dance' (Sbnake Dance') along with Indian supporters leaving the Tigers distraught.

Rohit started with a lofted boundary over long-on off his opposite number Shakib. Young off-spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz then got a taste of what world class batsmanship is as he was hit for two huge sixes -- one over deep mid-wicket and other over long-on along with another boundary.

Shikhar Dhawan (10) and Suresh Raina (0) were out in quick succession but the Indian captain was in his element as Bangladesh's ploy of using spinners in the Powerplay didn't prove to be as effective as India.

Rohit hit left-arm spinner Nazmul Islam over mid-off for a boundary and then an inside out lofted shot over long-off fetched him a six.

He square cut Mustafizur Rahaman for a boundary as India seized control scoring 56 in the Powerplay overs.

KL Rahul (24, 14 balls) once again looked in fine touch during a 51-run stand with his skipper but failed to make it count as his mistimed pull off a Rubel Hossain delivery landed into safe hands of Sabbir at deep square leg.

Earlier, Indian pacers undid the hardwork of their spinners as Bangladesh scored a competitive 166 for eight, riding on Sabbir's 50-ball 77 after batting first.

Off-spinner Washington Sundar (1/20 in 4 overs) and leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal (3/18 in 4 overs) were brilliant in the Powerplay but the duo of Vijay Shankar (0/48 in 4 overs) and Shardul Thakur (0/45 in 4 overs) leaked 93 runs between them on a good batting surface.

While the Washington-Chahal duo bowled 20 dot balls between them with only one boundary, Shankar and Thakur conceded 10 boundaries and four sixes.

Jaydev Unadkat (2/33) did come back well in his final over but Sabbir cleverly waited for the spinners to finish their quota as he launched a furious assault on the pacers during the back-10.

Skipper Rohit taking a gamble by introducing both spinners inside the Powerplay overs instead of using an effective part-timer like Suresh Raina when Thakur and Shankar were being hit, came as a surprise.



Bangladesh's batting

The last six overs of the Bangladesh innings yielded 66 runs -- mostly coming from Sabbir's blade.

The 17th over was the one when Shankar fluffed his lines with the back of the hand slower deliveries as Sabbir hit him for a six over deep mid-wicket followed by one over long-on.

Shardul, whose knuckleball has been a hit was picked up by Sabbir in the next over for two cheeky boundaries.

Earlier, Washington, who has grown from strength to strength again stifled the batsmen in the Powerplay overs.

Bangladesh openers Tamim Iqbal (15) and Litton Das (11) started off in a whirlwind fashion but Washington forced the latter to play a slog sweep and the ball ballooned for Raina to complete a lovely catch.

The dangerous Tamim was more of a fielder's wicket as Chahal flighted one altering the length. The left-hander jumped out at the invitation and his lofted shot had elevation but couldn't clear the distance. Shardul maintained his balance beautifully at the long-on boundary rope to cling onto the catch.

Chahal got his second wicket when an out-of-form Soumya Sarkar (1) tried to slog sweep a fuller delivery from Chahal with Shikhar Dhawan taking a simple catch at square-leg.

The wiry-framed leg-spinner got his third wicket when an in-form Mushfiqur Rahim (9) tried to hit inside out but was caught smartly by Shankar covering some distance on his right.

Sabbir, however, continued to play his strokes -- some cheeky, a few streaky and some confident ones in between.

In Mahmudullah Riyadh (21), he found a steady ally and added 36 runs before a miscommunication saw the vice-captain getting run-out by Vijay Shankar.

Shankar then had a hand in getting rival captain Shakib Al Hasan run-out with a direct throw from cover region. But Sabbir's big-hitting prowess helped them post a challenging total.



Sachin, Sourav jubilated

Legendary Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar tweeted, "Amazing victory by #TeamIndia. Superb batting by @DineshKarthik. A great knock by @ImRo45 to set the platform.What a finish to a final!! #NidahasTrophy2018 #INDvsBAN."

"@DineshKarthik @BCCI .. what a knock .. super", former India captain Sourav Ganguly shared on Twitter.

Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh on Twitter wrote," You beauty! @DineshKarthik ????????"

"Top inn @DineshKarthik very well done.. special hitting.. #indvsBang @BCCI congratulations #TeamIndia captain @ImRo45 ??????", Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh posted on twitter.

Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah said, "What a finish!!! Well played big guy @DineshKarthik. Outstanding effort by the team. #INDvBAN #topstuff."

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Gujjar body in Jammu and Kashmir today said their community members are Indians and they do not need a certificate of nationalism and patriotism from anyone, remarks that come against the backdrop of some groups demanding their eviction from the region.

"We have sacrificed our blood for this nation and do not need certificates of being Indian from any group or people," the Tribal Research and Cultural Foundation said in a statement after a meeting here.

It said, the meeting, presided over by noted Gujjar scholar Javaid Rahi, was held to discuss the prevailing situation in Jammu region in relation to issues of tribal Gujjars and Bakerwals.

"Gujjars constitute the second largest group in Jammu region after Dogras and have immensely contributed to the overall peace and prosperity of the region and the state," it said, adding people of Jammu are very kind to Gujjars but some "divisive forces" must be identified and separated at the earliest.

Several groups have been demanding eviction of Gujjars and Bakerwals, accusing the PDP-led government of taking no action against them for encroaching to change the demography of the region.

"In extremely testing times we stand with the people of our region but there are some forces who are now hell bent to break this age-old unity and brotherhood," the foundation said.

Referring to the frequent Pakistan firing being faced by Gujjars living in border areas of Jammu region, it said, "Every year dozens of Gujjars and their livestock get killed near the border, hundreds are injured and thousands of people migrate every year to safer places during the heavy gunfire, but in this side of our country, we need a certificate of being nationalist.

"This is completely disgusting and unfortunate," it said, adding during the 1947, 1965 and 1971 wars, the Gujjars faced the major brunt as they were killed in large numbers along the Line of Control and International Border but today "we are facing hardship as tolerance level towards our community is going downward day by day."



It said communal forces in the region have wrongly given a chance to separatists to react on Gujjar affairs in Jammu and "this is not in the interest" of the state and the country.

Separatists in Kashmir have issued statements in recent times, threatening agitation if the Muslims of Jammu were harmed.

The foundation appealed leaders and intellectuals of both communities to bind them together.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A group of Mexican tourists here had an unexpected meeting with the Dubai ruler who helped them when their vehicle got stuck in the desert while off-roading in the dunes outside the city.

Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rahid Al Maktoum, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, initiated the move to help pull them out of the dunes, where their vehicle was stuck while off-roading.

A Mexican woman, tweeted yesterday and shared photos following their rescue.

She wrote that Sheikh Mohammad was passing by along with team when he saw them stranded in the dunes. He promptly ordered his associates to help the family to pull the vehicle.

"My friend and I got stuck on the desert of Dubai, and we have been rescued by His Highness Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid," she tweeted.

The stranded vehicle was pulled out of the sand and the tourists took a souvenir picture with the ruler.

This is not the first time that residents in Dubai have been through the same circumstances and received help from Sheikh Mohammad.

A few months ago, three foreign women revealed that Sheikh Mohammad rescued them after their motorbike experienced breakdown in the desert of Dubai.

Last year, a post on social media went viral after the Crown Prince of Dubai lent a helping hand when he came to the aid of a lorry driver stuck in the desert.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Economy has to be the most important agenda for the Saarc nations despite political challenges and compulsions, businesses leaders said here at Saarc CII Conclave today.

"Economic agenda has to be the foremost important agenda for the political parties (in the region). Unfortunately in our region it is not the top priority, somehow due to all ours thought process.

"Thrusting the economic agenda foremost should be all ours guiding force for our relationships. Our political agendas are never ending. We really need to come out of this and see how economic agendas can be prioritised," said Shekhar Golcha Senior Vice President, FNCCI (Nepal) on the concluding day of three-day Saarc Business Leaders Conclave here.

Shobana Kamineni, President CII (India), said the Saarc region will continue to grow for another 25 years with 30-35 per cent of its population as young with India alone nearly 60 per cent of the people under the age of 35 years, so it is imperative that they stay healthy and eligible for jobs.

To give jobs to millions and millions people is the most fundamental thing that the industry and governments must understand, she noted.

"We have the youngest people in the world. The Saarc region will continue to grow for another 20-25 years so we have to make sure that our youth are healthy people, people who are qualified to assume job not only for our countries but also for our region," Kamineni said while speaking on 'Turning Setbacks into Comebacks: Role of Private Sectors' at the conclave.

Stressing on the challenges related to education in the region, she said the private sector can play a key role in creating jobs in the region, skilling the educated to help them get jobs as well as healthcare, as only if the youth are healthy they can add value to the economy.

Besides, tourism is also another important area that the Saarc nations can work together with, she said.

The representative from FPCCI (Pakistan) said the private sector has all the power to find ways to make businesses happen despite political challenges.

"We have undermined the power of private sector. We have been performing in the economic sector... We do have political differences but that has to be resolved through dialogue.

"This region is rich in natural resources but nearly 40 per cent of our population are living below poverty line. We as a private sector of Pakistan have been very vocal and told our government very clearly that the closing of borders every other month is not acceptable," said Zubair Ahmed Malik, Executive Committee Member of Saarc CII and former President of FPCCI.

BCCI (Bhutan) Secretary General Phub Tshering said the region has its own setbacks and stressed on the need of Saarc nations to come together to beat the challenges.

"We only have about 5 per cent of the global trade happening in Saarc region, but population wise we are very big. It means there is some problem. Connectivity, integration and infrastructure are the issues of hindrance for growth," Former President of Saarc CII Bhutan Dasho Ugen Tsechup Dorji said.

The participants raised host of issues, including connectivity between people to people as well as for goods and services and called for a single integrated market force for the region that will help bolster the economic prospects when the world is seeing rising protectionism nowadays.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)An eerie silence has descended on the villages in the iron ore-rich belt in Goa with the implementation of the Supreme Court order on closure of mines, which were abuzz with activities till three days back.

The mining trucks, which used to criss-cross the region kicking up dust as they moved, are now parked along the roads, while the machinery is lying untouched near the entrance of the mining leases. The picture is now more or less same in every mining village.

In the main market areas in these villages and towns, worried faces are now seen discussing the fate of the mining industry.

The five-decade-old mining industry in the state came to a grinding halt from Friday with the Supreme Court order of a ban on iron ore extraction.

The apex court had last month quashed the second renewal of iron ore mining leases given to 88 companies in Goa in 2015. It had set March 15 deadline for the miners to manage their affairs.

"This is going to be a major economic disaster as it will impact the lives of around three lakh people in North Goa alone. It is a question of life and death for those dependent on the industry," Vishnu Rama Naik, former MLA of Sankhalim, said.

Shivdas Madkar, a truck owner who is among the several hundred people in this belt who are solely dependent on the industry for livelihood, said, "This is more serious than last time (2012). People had a hope that mining has resumed and hence they got their trucks repaired with the money taken on loan from the banks. Now the problems have grown."



Madkar was referring to the SC ban on mining activities across 90 mines in Goa from October 2012, which was lifted in April 2014. However, the mining operations could only resume in August 2015.

The areas of Velguem, Pali, Sonshi, Honda up to Pissurlem in Bicholim and Sattari talukas were once farmlands, where paddy was the main source of income.

"There was little mining happening around here since the 1960s. But the China boom fuelled the demand for ore and the entire situation changed. Now, every alternate house is now dependent on mining activity," says Suryakant Gawas, a school teacher.

Gawas now feels that his decision to choose teaching despite getting a lucrative job offer from a mining company, turned out to be wise.

"I was offered a handsome salary by a mining firm, which took over our fields. That was the compensation that they wanted to pay to me in the form of employment. But I decided to teach and I am happy that I didn't fall for that salary offered by the mining company," he said.

Sandip Pawaskar, sarpanch of Sanvordem village, which represents the mining hotbed, feels the closure of the mining activity would adversely impact the economic condition of the people in the state.

"People will now live on a shoe-string budget. They will have no money to buy, which will ultimately hit the markets in the mining belt. Overall, it will dent the state's economy," he said.

BJP MLA Nilesh Cabral, who represents Curchorem constituency, which also has a heavy concentration of the mining leases, said that people are in a pitiable condition.

"Whether auctioning (of mining leases) or formation of a corporation or any other mode, mining activities should resume immediately. The current ban will have a far-reaching impact on the people, who are dependent on this activity," he said.

For the industry, this is a second huge blow by the SC within a span of six years, he said.

The industry stakeholders, including truck owners and ship operators, are now gearing up to hold a protest in Panaji tomorrow. It is aimed at putting pressure on the state and the central governments for resumption of the mining activity.

Union minister Gadkari is scheduled to visit Goa on Tuesday to hold talks with the state government and the stakeholders over the mining crisis.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Actor-model Elizabeth Hurley has shared that her nephew "remains in great pain" after being stabbed in Battersea, South West London.

The 52-year-old star, who is currently in India, was left heartbroken when she found out her 21-year-old nephew Miles had been injured after he was targeted by four men.

"Wishing everyone a peaceful weekend. Thank you to all who sent such kind messages following the that my nephew @mileshurley1 was viciously stabbed last week. His wound is shocking, he remains in great pain and he can hardly move, but he is slowly recovering.

"My sister is an amazing mother and is looking after him and his friend - who was also stabbed. I have just reached India but am receiving updates throughout the day. We need to make our streets safer and I want to be part of the movement to achieve that. I hope you will join me. (sic)" she wrote.

Hurley had earlier thanked the police and hospital staff for being "fantastic.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Union Ministry has barred Hyderabad-based consultant B S Envi Tech Pvt Ltd for one year for preparing impact assessment for thermal power projects without any permission.

The consultant has been barred for "misguiding" the ministry by not sharing earlier details, while submitting a fresh application seeking 'Terms of References' for a coal-based thermal project of Odisha-based SPI Ports Pvt Ltd.

In a latest order, the ministry said SPI Ports Pvt ltd had earlier submitted a proposal for the same project way back in 2015 but the proposed locations and alternative sites were not agreed and the same was communicated to the company in early 2017.

The consultant re-submitted the proposal in January 2018 without mentioning the details of the earlier developments. It has "deliberately misled the ministry by suppressing the facts....," it said.

"The ministry hereby debars the B S Envi Tech from participating in the EIA ( impact assessment) process in thermal power for one year for misguiding the ministry as well as project proponent," the order added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The assailants attacked under cover of darkness, slaughtering Nguli Nzafi's wife and three children with machetes and arrows.

The 71-year-old, who also lost all 40 of his cattle in the violence, was forced to flee on foot some 90 kilometres (56 miles) to safety in the town of Bunia.

"I have lost everything because I no longer have my wife nor my children," he says. "I cannot eat nor sleep. I'm afraid that this fighting is as bad as the war in 1996-2002."



Violence between Nzafi's Hema community and the Lendu ethnic group in Congo's northeast has now killed at least 150 people and has forced more than 32,000 people to flee to Bunia, where humanitarian assistance is strained and the suffering are eager for improved conditions.

Another 28,000 have also fled into Uganda, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

There is a long history of tensions between the Lendu and Hema groups, whose ongoing battles since 1999 already have killed thousands and led the UN to deploy a peacekeeping force in the area.

Much of it is rooted in economic tensions over land, as the Lendu historically have been farmers on stationery plots of land while the Hema have raised animals and moved throughout the year to good grazing areas.

Once those disputes erupted into violence, the cycle of tit-for-tat attacks caused a mounting death toll.

The instability here in Ituri province presents yet another challenge for the Congolese military and UN peacekeeping force who are already grappling with the threats posed by rebel groups, and with ongoing unrest in the Kasai provinces.

The latest round of fighting began in December, Djugu deputy administrator Willy Maese told The Associated Press.

"The Lendu had asked the Hema to give them part of their crops. Following their refusals, the Lendu launched attacks directly on the Hemas," he said.

Despite a reprieve when authorities came, fighting intensified in February leading to a wave of displacements, he said.

Kpadyu Londri, a 26-year-old from Djugu, said the Lendu came to steal cows and ravage fields. They killed his five brothers and a woman, he said.

He has found safety in Bunia, 75 kilometers (47 miles) from his home village, but he said conditions are bad.

"There are no tents so the rain falls on us, no beds, blankets ... we have already lost seven displaced (people), who have died as a result of starvation and dirty hands disease," he said, referring to outbreaks of cholera.

Beatrice Ngave, 23, lost her daughter to malaria. She called on international organizations to build more latrines and accommodations to prevent the spread of cholera and other diseases. Right now, she said, the camp has only two latrines.

Last week, youths in Bunia invaded the office of the governor of the Ituri province, with sticks and machetes, demanding the government to take action, said youth leader Joseph Tibasima.

Celestin Tawara Angaika, the president of the Lendu community in Bunia, last week asked the Congolese government for the protection of its members.

Congo's Deputy Prime Minister of Interior Security Henri Mova Sakanyi has promised "to strengthen the presence of the Congolese army and the police" in the Djugu and Blukwa villages.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)In her six-year-long Bollywood career, Ileana D'Cruz has been a part of a fair amount of successful films but the actor says that has not lessened her insecurity as an actor, owing to the highly competitive and unsparing ways of the film industry.

Ileana, who has been a part of films like "Barfi!", "Happy Ending" and "Rustom", says many times she looks at others' work and doubts if she will ever get "such good stuff".

"I am trying to keep myself positive because this industry can sort of engulf you and pull you down and cause so much of negativity where it can just cause you to doubt yourself as an actor, doubt yourself whether you are worth having those offers come your way, because there are so many other people," the actor told PTI.

"It is such a competitive place and sometimes you see films come out and you feel, 'Am I ever going to get a film like that? Or a role like that?' It's like grass is always greener on the other side. You always feel the other person is getting better stuff..." she added.

The actor's recent release is Ajay Devgn-starrer "Raid". Ileana says she is in no rush and would not pick anything and everything that comes her way.

"I am not willing to do just anything and hence, I am waiting for a good role or a good script to come my way. I have got some really interesting offers. The question is... 'Am I ready to take risk?' because some offers (require me) to be in difficult space."



The 30-year-old actor says she is happy she never had "massive expectations" as it could have made things tough for her.

"I don't have expectations of what I wanted to be or where I wanted to be in five years ago. In a way, it helped because if I had these massive expectations and if I didn't reach there it would have been fairly disappointing.

"I didn't have any such goals. I just wanted to do good films and not be written off, which is good because I haven't been written off and have got good roles."



The fear of being written off, as Ileana says, is due to "the unpredictability of the industry" which keeps her on her toes.

"It is like every Friday that your film comes out, it is like a test, that have I passed this one or not. Everything that you have done in the past may not matter anymore, it is just this one film. So, I feel like you have to constantly improve yourself and it is great, it is a good drive that keeps you going but at the same time it is a little stressful."



For her, however, the biggest struggle is not in the professional space but more personal and physical health issues, that she has been battling for some time now.

"My biggest struggle would be dealing with my personal issues, like I have had major body and mental health issues and that's something I continue to work upon and I have gotten better and I do feel the little breaks I take from my work, from this world help. I continue to work on being healthy from within," she adds.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Film maker Neeraj Pandey has provided 200 Carvaans -- a portable music system pre-loaded with 5,000 songs -- to the BSF for the recreation of the personnel posted along the border.

The music systems were made available to the Border Security Force (BSF) by Pandey, during his recent visit to border areas in Jaisalmer, Deputy Inspector General (DIG), BSF, Amith Lodha said today.

The film maker took the initiative moved by the harsh conditions personnel face during duty, the officer said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A fire broke out today in a slum cluster at Yamuna Khadar following action by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) against an unauthorised nursery in the area, police said.

We are trying to ascertain the cause of fire, they said, adding it may be a case of sabotage.

A senior police officer said they were informed about the incident at 1.50 pm, adding the locals were not allowing the fire tenders to enter the area.

Police said some representatives of the Bhartiya Kisan Union were also present at the spot.

On investigation, it was found that the DDA had recently sent a notice to the residents running nurseries in the area to vacate the place since it was unauthorised.

"Since then, the residents had been sitting in protest against the move. Today, when the DDA team finally arrived, locals tried to stop them," the police officer said.

Police have registered a case in the matter.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)People in Saharan Africa started cultivating and storing wild cereals 10,000 years ago, according to a study which shows that hunter-gatherers developed an early form of agriculture by harvesting and storing crops.

The research may also be a lesson for the future, if global warming leads to a necessity for alternative crops.

Researchers from University of Huddersfield in the UK and the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in Italy have been investigating findings from an ancient rock shelter at a site named Takarkori in south-western Libya.

It is desert now, but in the Holocene age, some 10,000 years ago, it was part of the "green Sahara" and wild cereals grew there. More than 200,000 seeds - in small circular concentrations - were discovered at Takarkori, which showed that hunter-gatherers developed an early form of agriculture by harvesting and storing crops.

However, an alternative possibility was that ants, which are capable of moving seeds, had been responsible for the concentrations.

Researchers showed that insects were not responsible and this supports the hypothesis of human activity in collection and storage of the seeds.

The research provided the first-known evidence of storage and cultivation of cereal seeds in Africa. The site has yielded other key discoveries, including the vestiges of a basket, woven from roots, that could have been used to gather the seeds.

Also, chemical analysis of pottery from the site demonstrates that cereal soup and cheese were being produced.

Researchers found that although the wild cereals, harvested by the people of the Holocene Sahara, are defined as "weeds" in modern agricultural terms, they could be an important food of the future.

"The same behaviour that allowed these plants to survive in a changing in a remote past makes them some of the most likely possible candidates as staple resources in a coming future of global warming," researchers said.

"They continue to be successfully exploited and cultivated in Africa today and are attracting the interest of scientists searching for new food resources," they added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Social media is often blamed for recurrent unrest and violence in Kashmir, but many youngsters in the valley are using various online platforms to realise their entrepreneurial dreams fashioning inspirational success stories.

In a place where generation of employment for a growing number educated youths is one of the biggest challenges in view of limited opportunities in both government and private sectors, the youth are carving out a niche for themselves by taking the entrepreneurship route and realising their dreams.

The trend is increasing by the day and several youngsters are shaping their destinies by honing their creative skills and turning ideas into actions.

While many of them take to conventional entrepreneurship, the new-age entrepreneurship using new technologies and social media is fast picking up among the young in Kashmir.

Several youths here have taken to social media to give wings to their dreams and started online marketing of their produce, brands, fashion labels and other stuff using business to consumers sales model.

Hundreds of online stores have come into existence in the valley in the past few years, most of which primarily deal with fashion, clothing and accessories.

Tul Palav is one such store. Started in 2015 by 26-year-old Iqra Ahmad, a resident of uptown Sanat Nagar locality of the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, it is one of the first online fashion stores of Kashmir.

Iqra says she always wanted to follow her passion and was not made for a government job.

I wanted to do fashion designing, but there was no institute in Kashmir where I could opt for such a course and I did not want to go outside the valley as I was too attached to Kashmir. So, I took Linguistics. Then, like others, I too was compelled to go job hunting, even as a job was never my target. This idea came to me then. I knew what I had to do. So, that is how I started, she told PTI.

Iqra said when she thought of the business, a shop in the city was unaffordable for her, so she took the social media route.

I could not think of (opening) a shop as one needs a large amount of money for it and I did not want (to take) a loan and also, I could not sustain the rent because most of the times the shops remain closed due to the situation (in the valley).

I had a personal page on Instagram, so I started by uploading pictures there and I received a huge response within one hour, which boosted my morale. Now, whenever I upload my collections online, I sell them off within an hour, an ecstatic Iqra said.

She puts up pictures of suits, dresses and accessories on her page, her 21.2 thousand followers go through the collection and she receives orders, after which she starts working on those.

I work right from the scratch from procuring material to designing and embroidery everything is done by me here, she said.

When I started, I was the only one (online fashion store). Now, if you open Instagram, you will find many such pages. So, it feels proud that people are learning and that I was the one who started this, she added.

However, while she was supported by her family all the way and business has been good, it is not a smooth ride often.

I always got full support from parents and everything went smoothly. The biggest challenge is the strikes and disruption in Internet services. Whenever Internet is banned in the valley, uploading pictures and accessing Instagram is affected, which also impacts customer orders and thereby my business, Iqra said.

Another success story is of two teacher-friends who turned their skills into a thriving business model.

Omaira Qayoom and Binish Bashir, who met each other while studying at a college here, took teaching jobs at a private school and started an online venture together - Craft World Kashmir.

With over 14 thousand followers on Instagram, the duo make and sell hand-made crochet items.

They attracted fame and the orders started pouring in.

People were interested in our work and we started getting orders. We had to quit our teaching jobs to focus on the business, one of them said.

It is not just fashion products that are selling like hot cakes in the valley through social media. There are other businesses as well like crockery and other kitchen appliances, ornaments, products of art and even services such as bridal makeup which use social media to project their ventures.

Haris Rehman (26) has a Masters in Computer Networking, but he never wanted to go with the crowd. Immediately after his studies, and while others kept looking for a job, Haris and his brother Burhan struck an idea of transforming their family's small-time crockery shop into a booming online venture.

If we see today, everyone accesses social media - children and adults alike. Social media is a new tool for us. It has transformed everything..., Haris said.

However, like others, Haris also believes Internet shutdowns and gags on social media are challenges one has to keep in mind.

There are challenges. While my whole focus is on my business using social media, frequent Internet gags or social media bans affect it. That is a huge drawback and one has to be wary of it, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Former West Bengal minister Pratim Chatterjee , who held the Fire Services portfolio for 15 years till 2011, passed away today, family sources said.

Chatterjee, president of Left Front constituent Marxist Forward Bloc, was suffering from breathing trouble and had undergone treatment at a private hospital in Salt Lake for a month and was released from there on March 14, his son in-law Dibyojyoti Ghosh said.

"He complained of uneasiness this morning and was admitted to the same facility, where he died of a cardiac arrest at 10.15 am," Ghosh said.

The former minister, a widower, is survived by a daughter, Kuheli Ghosh.

Chatterjee, who represented Tarakeswar Assembly constituency, was the state Fire Services minister during the Left Front regime from 1996 to 2011.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she was saddened at the passing away of Chatterjee.

"Condolences to his family and well wishers," Banerjee said in a tweet.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Former Goa chief minister Ravi Naik was admitted to a hospital in Delhi today after he collapsed on a flight, a senior Congress leader said here.

Leader of Opposition in Goa Assembly Chandrakant Kavlekar said that Naik was in Delhi to attend the AICC convention, and was returning to Goa when he collapsed.

"The flight had to make an emergency landing in Delhi and Naik was immediately shifted to a hospital," Kavlekar said, adding that his condition was now stable.

Naik (70), is currently the MLA from Ponda constituency in Goa.

Another Congress MLA, Antonio Fernandes, said that Naik's condition was stable now and he could be discharged from the hospital tomorrow.

"I spoke to him over phone and he was better," Fernandes said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Global events will be crucial in deciding the trend for the equity market coming week amid rising concerns of trade headwinds, say experts.

are currently reeling under global trade worries and domestic political concerns.

"Q3 results have given some signs of improvement in corporate earnings. The long term outlook for the domestic market continues to be strong. However, rising concerns of global trade headwinds, domestic NPA issues and upcoming state elections will keep market on tenterhooks. US FED policy meet this week is the key event," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

"The FOMC meet, lined up this week, will be important to watch out from the global view point," said Vikas Jain - Senior Analyst, Reliance Securities.

SAMCO Securities, Founder & CEO, Jimeet Modi said, "Global headwinds are negative and will decide the direction in the short-term".

Over the last week, the Sensex recorded a fall of 131.14 points, or 0.39 per cent, and the NSE Nifty lost 31.70 points, or 0.30 per cent.

On Friday alone, the benchmark index slumped 509.54 points or 1.51 per cent.

"The fall can largely be attributed to both domestic as well as international factors. Globally, trade war concerns have emerged and are worried that it could deteriorate the just improving global growth rate. Domestically, since Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has pulled out of NDA, political uncertainties have resurfaced," said Arun Thukral, MD & CEO, Axis Securities.

(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.)The Congress today slammed the Modi government's foreign policy, saying it was "confused" and conducted in a "cavalier manner" which has damaged India's profile globally.

The party, in a resolution adopted at its 84th plenary session, accused the NDA government of pursuing a foreign policy "bereft of focus and direction.

The resolution, moved by senior party leader Anand Sharma and seconded by party MP Gaurav Gogoi, said the prime minister has pursued a personalised foreign policy and his foreign engagements have been reduced to merely being transactional.

"Congress expresses its concern over the conduct of foreign policy in a cavalier manner, which has damaged India's profile globally and undermined national interest," the resolution on foreign policy said.

"Foreign policy has always been marked with continuity with the backing of a strong national consensus. Unfortunately, the BJP government has disrupted it, and its ill-advised actions have unravelled the national consensus," it said.

The resolution also alleged that the government was carried away by its own propaganda, and has "mismanaged" India's relations with major partner countries.

"Its (government's) foreign policy is confused and bereft of focus and direction," it said.

Sharma said that the BJP government has pursued a foreign policy away from the Nehruvian vision. He also claimed that the government's foreign policy has lacked coherence and a futuristic vision.

The Prime Minister of India is making disparaging remarks against his predecessors and expects us not to question or challenge what is being done. He is the first prime minister who has undermined the country," Sharma said, while proposing the resolution.

It is a matter of shame that the present government did not acknowledge India's achievements on foreign policy front in the past before he came to power. I condemn the prime minister for this, who has insulted the country. This is not an insult of the Congress, but of the country, which will never forgive him, he said.

Sharma said the time had come for India to think and go in for course correction.

The resolution said that India has a strategic relationship with its major partner countries and each relationship was special, and must remain independent.

Relations with one country should not be at the cost of India's relations with another strategic partner. India's strategic outlook must be shaped by the rapidly unfolding political and economic changes across the world," the resolution said.

"Given its size, resources and being a large economy, India is a significant power pole in the multi-polar world. Its ambition to become a leading power, rather than a mere balancing power, is legitimate, the resolution said.

It also said that the present power configuration and the government's handling of ties with major capitals of the world, does not create the necessary space to assert India's leadership position globally.

There is an urgent need to re-calibrate equations with the US, arrest the slide in relations with Russia and improve communication and trust with China, the resolution said.

Congress remains of a firm view, that diplomacy must have depth and gravitas. Grand events and photo opportunities cannot be a substitute to effective diplomacy. There should be credibility and a ring of sincerity in India's international engagements, the resolution said.

It also said that India has long enjoyed international respect as a country deeply committed to multilateralism and a rule-based world order, even while zealously safeguarding its vital interests.

Sharma said the time has come to correct things and asserted that "India shall change".

"India will correct its foreign policy, India will return to the enlightened world view of Nehru under Congress and its allies and that charge will be led by Rahul Gandhi," Sharma said.

"We shall remove the incompetent government which has damaged our international engagements, damaged our policy, damaged our credibility and we reassure our friends that we stand with you as Congress always did," he said.

The resolution said that the plenary session of the Congress conveys its concern, that the broader vision of India and its humanist responses have "dimmed" in the recent past.

The concept of enlightened self-interest, that was Nehru's legacy, must be upheld and strengthened, the resolution said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Four persons including a five-year-old girl were killed when the car in which they were travelling was hit by a speeding truck in Sabarkantha district of Gujarat today, police said.

The accident took place near Deriya village in Talod tehsil, police said, adding that all four victims died on the spot.

"A speeding truck rammed a Honda City car near Deriya village head-on, killing all four persons in the car, while the truck driver sustained minor injuries," a Talod police station official said.

The car was coming from Ahmedabad and was on the way to Dhansura in Aravalli district.

The deceased were identified as Nanjibhai Patel (58), Leelaben Patel (55), Shardaben Patel (51) and Honey (5).

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar today said that while has done very well in industrialisation, it will need to do some catching-up in the health and education sectors.

Kumar met Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and senior state officials here.

"Gujarat's achievements in education and health are not like those in other areas like industrialisation, infrastructure and energy....it lags behind in these two (health and education). I talked about this with the state government," he said, speaking to reporters after the meeting.

He was happy to learn from the government that budgetary allocations for health and education have been increased for 2018-19, Kumar said.

He was told that the state is planning "big success this year itself" in the health sector, and district collectors have been asked to pay special attention to child malnutrition and the maternal mortality ratio, he said.

The Niti Aayog will help set up the proposed Coastal Economic Zones which aim to spur economic activities along the state coast, he said.

"The issue of Coastal Economic Zones between Kandla and Jamnagar was raised, and I believe this can be a very good initiative. If these (Zones) are formed, I can talk to relevant departments of the Central government to take it forward," Kumar said.

"The chief minister laid a lot of emphasis on the need to take up (creation of) Zones, and I will see how this can be made possible. It will be a big step towards industrialisation in the state," he said.

Kumar further said that the Niti Aayog will help the state government in disposal of around 8.5 lakh tons of groundnut procured from farmers at a price higher than the Minimum Support Price (MSP).

The Aayog has also requested the state government to share details of its desalination plant project, so that it can be replicated in other coastal states, he said.

"We will see how it can be improved further in and implemented in other coastal states to make it cost-effective. If the desalination plant runs on solar energy, the cost will drop further," he said.

The Aayog will offer a three-scheme package to the states and each state will be free to adopt one of the three schemes to ensure that farmers get an MSP which is at least 1.5 times the production cost (as assured by the prime minister yesterday), Kumar said.

The Niti Aayog is committed to ensure that farmers get MSP as per this formula from the Rabi season itself, so that it is fully implemented from the coming Kharif season, he said.

He also expressed satisfaction over the implementation of the Centre's apprenticeship scheme in Gujarat, and said the Aayog is trying to ensure that the stipend under the scheme is increased from the existing Rs 1,500 per month.

"We are trying to increase the stipend of Rs 1,500. If it is increased, Gujarat will increase the number of apprentices to two lakh from (existing) one lakh," he said.Swedish fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) plans to hire 800 people this year as part of expansion plans of its sales network, said a top company official.

Besides, H&M group, which has a total of nine labels in its umbrella, will not introduce any other brands in India under the current single brand FDI retail policy due to the sourcing requirements.

"We have 3,500 people working for the retail company and we would hire 800 more this year," Country Manager Janne Einola told PTI.

He added that the new hirings would be for the new stores which the company intends to open in India.

However, Einola did not share the number of stores, which H&M may open this year but said that it would maintain its pace.

"Last year we have opened 17 store and I would continue the same pace this year. It would also depend on the availability of real estate at the locations where we want to go," he added.

The Stockholm-based company owns brands which includes - H&M, H&M Home, COS, & Other Stories, Monki, Weekday Cheap Monday and ARKET. It has only introduced H&M here in 29 stores which it is operates across the country.

As part of its growth strategy here, H&M will continue to open stores in new cities like Mysore and Ahmedabad and also expand store counts in the existing metro markets such as Mumbai and maintain a balance in that.

"If I am looking at our journey, it would be tier I & tier II - 50:50 - stores. We would grow in both sides.... we see lot of potentials in both," Einola said.

Moreover, H&M has also started online sales last week, aiming to track the customers from the places where it does not have any physical presence.

When asked if H&M group would bring more brands in India, he said:" There are still eight brands which are to enter into the market and the reason is very simple is only because of sourcing ... They would not come (till the time there is restrictions)".

H&M, which has achieved break even in the its very first year of operation here, is confident to achieve better numbers.

"We have become profitable in the first year of operations. The way figures are coming, we would put a new bench mark for the profit. 5-6 per cent is nothing," he added.

On being asked about the expectations this year, Einola said: "For the global, we are saying that we would grow 15 per cent and off course India would grow more because its a growing market and we have just started here... A lot of expansion is coming from new stores".

Moreover, H&M is also in talks with the government to ease out the local sourcing conditions for the companies, which source from here for their global operations.

"We have conversation with the government on the issue. We would also try to explain as how it would be mutual benefit to all of us," he said.

On the five years relaxation over 30 per cent local sourcing norms, Einola said:"We think that it should not be for 5 years. It should be always open for global sourcing. This should be simple and more fair".

The company is focusing on the affordability here and its ladies range starts from Rs 399 and denim with Rs 699.

H&M, which follows December-November financial year, had posted nearly two-fold increase in sales in India to 1,179 million Swedish krona (over Rs 9.55 billion) for the fiscal ended November 2017. It was among its one of the fastest growing markets.The Bombay High Court has sought a reply from the Maharashtra government after the state human rights commission approached the court with a rather odd request.

The commission, which has been urging the state government for years now to allocate an adequate office space for its day-to-day work, requested the HC that it be permitted to continue operating from its current office space.

The commission's counsel told HC that while the government, in compliance with a 2016 order of the court, has finally allotted a 6,000 sqft office space in the Cuffe Parade area for its operations, it would like to continue working from its current, small office space near the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus.

The reason being that though the state finally allotted the office space, it remained silent on who will pay the whopping monthly rent of Rs 17.4 lakh for the said office premises.

The commission claimed that it could hardly make ends meet from the budget allocation and funds it received from the state.

Therefore, paying such high rentals for the new office space from its own pockets was implausible, it told the court.

The commission also said while it had already written to the government on the issue, it was yet to receive a response.

In a hearing conducted on March 15, a bench of Justices Shantanu Kemkar and M S Karnik took a serious note of the submissions made by the commission.

It directed the Maharashtra government to file a detailed affidavit responding to the submissions and also, to provide details of the total funds allocated to the commission.

The bench also directed the government to inform the court of the steps taken to appoint adequate staff members and to regularise the appointments of the existing staff members of the commission.

The state, meanwhile, submitted that of the existing 14 employees, five had been regularised by the law department and the remaining applications were under consideration.

The state also assured the court that it will soon fill up the 39 vacant positions in the commission.

It said that the appointments for 15 of the 39 vacancies had already been sanctioned.

"Let all these aspects be made clear on affidavit by the Maharashtra government within four weeks," the bench said.

"A detailed affidavit must be filed by the state in regard to compliance of all earlier directions of the court, including release of requisite funds," it said.

Various benches of the high court have been hearing a bunch of petitions filed in 2013, drawing the court's attention to the inadequate funds and infrastructure provided by the government for the State Human Rights Commission.

On a previous hearing, the court had observed that "despite recording increasing instances of human rights violations, and unsolved custodial deaths in the state, the Maharashtra government probably didn't care about the human rights commission," for it did not show any will to extend even basic facilities to the latter.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Following are the top at 2030 hours:



DEL42



LD RAHULRahul assails PM over crony capitalism, says poor living in "Modi maya"New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi mounts a blistering attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of symbolising crony capitalism, and saying the poor of the country continue to live in "Modi maya" (illusory world) of the promised good days.

DEL43



POL-RAHUL LD BJP



Cong questioned existence of Lord Ram, now identifying itself with Pandavas:



BJP



New Delhi: Taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi's remarks at the Congress's plenary session, the BJP says that the party which questioned the "fundamental existence" of Lord Ram wants to be identified with the Pandavas.

DEL25



MANMOHAN-LD-PLENARY



BJP messed up economy, mismanaged J&K, gave 'jumlas' and pipe dreams:



Manmohan Singh



New Delhi: Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launch an all-out attack on the Modi Government, saying that while it had "messed up" the economy, it was spouting "jumla" (rhetoric) with pipe dreams about generating 2 crore jobs and doubling farm incomes.

DEL17



MALDIVES-INDIA-KASHMIR



Kashmir an Indo-Pak issue: Maldivian envoy, says New Delhi, Male should let



'bygones be bygones'



New Delhi: Seeking to minimise the damage caused by a senior Maldivian minister's remarks on Kashmir, the country's ambassador here Ahmed Mohamed says it was a bilateral issue that should be "resolved amicably" between India and Pakistan, as he pitched for enhanced engagement between New Delhi and Male. By Priyanka Tikoo



DEL41



JK-2NDLD SHELLING



5 of family killed, 5 Army men among 7 injured in Pak shelling



Jammu: Pakistani troops target border villages in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district with mortar bombs, killing five members of a family including three minor brothers and injuring five Army personnel and two civilians, officials say.

DEL44



CONG-PLENARY-RAHUL-PRESS



Press under threat: Rahul Gandhi



New DelhiL: Congress president Rahul Gandhi says the press was facing threats under the current government, and asserted his party would protect it on coming to power.

DEL45



CONG-PLENARY-SIDHU-MANMOHAN



Manmohan's silence did what BJP's uproar could not: Sidhu



New Delhi: Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu was full of praise for a reticent Manmohan Singh and says the former prime minister's silence did what the ruling BJP's uproar could not.

DEL35



POL-RAHUL-IRANI-GST



Rahul slams GST citing WB report, Irani says he is quoting selectively



New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi says"terror" of the GST was now "globally acclaimed" and cited a World Bank report, prompting a rebuttal from Union minister Smriti Irani who asserted that the Congress president was "selectively" quoting from the study to "berate India's progress".

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INDOPAK-NOTE VERBALE



India issues 13th Note Verbale to Pak on harassment of its HC staff



New Delhi: India gives yet another Note Verbale to Pakistan through its high commission in Islamabad protesting the "intimidation and harassment" of mission officials, the 13th such diplomatic note in less than three months.

DEL38



AIIMS-DOCTORS-3RDLD ACCIDENT



3 AIIMS doctors en route to Agra killed in accident on Yamuna e-way



Mathura (UP): Three AIIMS doctors, one of them woman, die and four others of the same institute were injured in an accident on the Yamuna Expressway near here, police say.

DEL34



POL-RAHUL PLENARY



BJP like Kauravas, Cong like Pandavas: Gandhi



New Delhi: Recalling the two warring sides of the epic Mahabharat, Congress president Rahul Gandhi says the BJP, like the Kauravas, fought for power, while his party, on the lines of the Pandavas, battled for truth.

DEL33



MHA-LD SENIOR CITIZENS-CRIME



40 pc of crimes against senior citizens in 2014-16 in Maha, MP



New Delhi: Nearly 40 per cent of crimes against senior citizens in the country between 2014 and 2016 were reported from the two states of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, government figures show. By Dipankar Mukherjee



DEL31



CONG-PLENARY-ECONOMY



'Incompetent economic managers' have destroyed economy: Cong



New Delhi: The Congress accuse the Modi government of destroying the economy and says growth can be achieved only if the country is rescued from "incompetent economic managers".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Housing sales declined by around 40 per cent last year to 2,02,800 units in seven major cities from the average sales of 2013 and 2014 mainly due to sharp fall in the Delhi-NCR market, according to property consultant ANAROCK.

The consultant, in its latest research, analysed housing sales during the last five years in seven cities -- National Capital Region (NCR), Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), Pune, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.

"From observing residential market trends over the past five years, it clearly emerges that 2013 and 2014 were the last years where things still looked vibrant for the sector. Housing sales began plummeting after that, and there is no clear revival in sight as yet," ANAROCK Property Consultants Chairman Anuj Puri said.

ANAROCK said that an average of 330,000 units were sold annually during 2013 and 2014.

However, sales dropped significantly during the 2015-2016 period and only an average 270,000 units were sold annually, a drop of 17 per cent from the average sales of 2013-14. In 2017 calendar year, housing sales stood at 2,02,800 units.

"Residential unit sales have dropped by around 40 per cent from the average of 2013-2014 to 2017," ANAROCK said.

During the period under consideration, larger cities such as NCR and MMR, which were heavily driven by investor activity, recorded a massive drop of 68 per cent and 27 per cent, respectively, in average sales.

In Delhi-NCR, sales fell to 37,600 in 2017 from average annual sales of 1,16,250 units during 2013-14.

Bengaluru and Chennai, which too are on investors' radar, saw average sales decline by 17 per cent and 45 per cent, respectively.

Pune, which has also witnessed exponential growth due to significant interest from investors and NRIs who purchase houses only for financial gains, also witnessed a decline of 29 per cent in average sales of 2013-14 over 2017.

The housing sales fell by only 12 per cent in Kolkata as compared to average sales of 2013-14 as demand in this city is driven by end-users.

Hyderabad was the only city which saw any kind of growth with sales growing by 32 per cent from the average of 2013-2014 period.

"A recurring element in the above findings is investor activity or, to call a spade a spade, speculator activity. While both investors and speculators buy property for profit - as opposed to end-users, who buy homes to live in - the two terms are not interchangeable," Puri said.

Puri said that speculators primarily target short-term profits, and usually lack any real knowledge about as an asset class and the performance of different markets.

On the other hand, he said investor tend to have a much better understanding of the property market and put in the right amount of analysis of different markets and the trends that drive them.

"Speculation has played havoc with the Indian market, and the fallout of speculative activity in previous years is still being felt today," he added.

However, Puri said the new market dynamics and strengthened regulatory environment have now more or less eliminated this unwholesome dynamic from Indian real estate.

Stating that irrational project delays and diversion of capital also contributed significantly to the decline in housing sales, he said the new realty law RERA is now gradually reversing this aspect.Students Union of the University of Hyderabad today condemned the alleged rape attempt on a 19-year-old girl on the campus by four juveniles and demanded that the varsity ensure their security and safety.

The union also said it would soon hold a general body meeting to discuss about the "increasing instances of sexual harassment and assaults" on the campus.

"We, the Students Union 201718, University of Hyderabad, strongly condemn the increasing instances of assault and abuse inside the campus and demand strengthening the boundary walls, installation of street lights, orientation with the security...," the release said.

Terming the incident "a shame" on the part of the university administration, the union also sought improvisation of internal mechanisms in order to improve the status of security and to ensure that the campus remained "a free space that it has been for all the students."



Four juvenile boys were yesterday arrested for allegedly attempting to rape the girl student on the previous night after entering the campus reportedly to steal copper wires.

The incident occurred near a lake on the campus when the woman and her male classmate, bothpost-graduate students, were chatting.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Action star Arnold Schwarzenegger has said he does not feel his age and still has a "great" life.

The 70-year-old actor said he is as energetic as he was two decades ago because he is still working hard.

"I feel the same way (now at 70) as I did 20 years ago. It's only on my passport or my driver's licence, but I feel the same way as I did 20 years ago. I feel good about myself. I work out. I make my movies. Life is great. I feel useful and productive," Schwarzenegger said.

The "Terminator" star added he still has early morning workouts every day.

"I lift all the time, I go every day to the gym. I bicycle, I lift, I ski, I do everything else. I get up at 5am and I ride the bike to the gym. I work out there for an hour, then I ride home and have breakfast. My day starts like that. Before I ever get to the office, I've already done my workout for the day. I've done something," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) will invest "over proportionally" on new products, technologies and facilities to match rivals in the luxury space, according to the company's chief executive Ralf Speth.

The maker of SUVs such as Range Rover and Discovery, and sedans like XE and XF, plans to invest 4.3 billion pounds on various activities, including development of new engines and technologies, in the current financial year.

"It is quite clear it (investment) goes up as we are also committed to spend over-proportional. Over-proportional because we are still in catch up mode," JLR chief executive Ralf Speth told PTI on the sidelines of Geneva Motor Show.

He was responding to a query on whether the company planned to invest more going ahead.

"Other companies have developed critical mass of volume and critical mass of products...They have the facilities...we are just going to start a new plant in Slovakia, that means we will go on stream this year," Speth said.

Over the last few years, JLR has invested in the range of 2.5-3.5 billion pounds a year.

When asked if the enhanced investments on engines and electric vehicles would impact profitability, he said: "Yes. There will be impact on margins".

Commenting specifically on JLR's plans regarding Indian market, Speth said: "It depends on the market, whenever you sell more cars you also expand. We are assembling six cars already in India".

The company is witnessing encouraging developments in the country in terms of GDP growth, which is in the range of 6-7 per cent, he added.

Speth said JLR also needs to develop new powertrains and technologies going ahead, which requires a lot of investment.

"It is also a challenge for us...we have to develop refined conventional engines. So, conventional internal combustion engines on one hand and the on the other hand the new ones and that stretches an organisation unbelievably. It is not only a question of manpower or skills but also money," he added.

Speth said although electrification and hybridisation will play a very important role in the future, internal combustion engines (ICE) will also continue to play a key role going ahead.

"By 2030 everybody predicts a level of electrification between 20-30 per cent. Now, that sounds a lot. Indeed its a very good progress...Even then, 60-70 per cent (ICE) will remain, which we have to take care. It also means that internal combustion engine has to play a big role in modern mobility," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)India today gave yet another Note Verbale to Pakistan through its high commission in Islamabad protesting the "intimidation and harassment" of mission officials, the 13th such diplomatic note in less than three months.

Official sources said that in the communication to the Pakistan foreign ministry, the Indian high commission specifically highlighted three cases of harassment, including one in which the second secretary at the mission was aggressively followed today by unidentified people in a car in close proximity in an intimidating manner while he was going to a restaurant.

Videos were made using a mobile phone, the sources said.

They said that in the second incident today, four high commission officials travelling in an official vehicle were aggressively followed while going to Aabpara market by two unknown persons on motorcycles in an intimidating manner.

Also, the website of the Indian high commission continues to be intermittently blocked causing inconvenience and affecting the normal functioning of the mission, the sources said.

"We have asked the Pakistan government to investigate these incidents and ensure that such incidents do not recur and share the result of the investigation with us," a source said.

The Note Verbale was sent today to Pakistan's Foreign Ministry "protesting against the intimidation and harassment" of Indian High Commission officials. This was the 13th Note Verbale this year on the subject, the sources said.

Yesterday also, India had sent a Note Verbale to Pakistan through its high commission and in the communication, it had specifically mentioned two incidents of harassment -- one yesterday and the other on March 15.

The 13th Note Verbale to Pakistan foreign ministry comes days after Islamabad called its High Commissioner home for consultations, which was termed by India as "routine" and "normal".

Pakistan had said it called home its envoy in India Sohail Mahmood for consultations after repeated incidents of "harassment" of its diplomatic staff in New Delhi.

External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar had said that the Indian High Commission in Islamabad was also facing a "litany of issues" which have not been resolved for several months by that country.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The first two-plus-two dialogue between India and the US has been postponed for now due to uncertainty over the confirmation of Mike Pompeo as President Donald Trump's new Secretary of State, according to an official.

The two-day dialogue, announced last summer when Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a successful meeting with President Trump at the White House, was tentatively scheduled for April 18-19.

"It has been postponed for now," an informed US official said.

The official wishing anonymity, however, quickly pointed out that it would have no impact on the bilateral relationship as the meetings this week by the foreign and defence secretaries decided to continue with their agenda.

There was no official announcement of the high-level dialogue involving the foreign and defence ministers from the two countries.

India's foreign and defence secretaries were here early this week for preparatory talks with their American counterparts.

The Indian delegation landed in Washington DC amidst the firing of Rex Tillerson as the Secretary of State by Trump.

The delegation continued with their meetings both at the State Department and at the Pentagon as scheduled, during which it was decided to hold the dialogue at a later date, which appears unlikely before the summer.

The dialogue was seen as a vehicle to elevate the strategic relationship between the two countries.

After June last year, the two countries have tried at several other dates for the dialogue to take place, including sometime in November and December.

Officials also checked for a time in January this year, but both sides were having a tough time in finding a day when all the four leaders - External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman from India and Defence Secretary Jim Mattis and the fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, would be available.

It was finally in February this year that two days in mid-April was zeroed in for the talks.

However, the plans had to be scuttled as on March 13 Trump announced that Tillerson had been fired and nominated Pompeo, who is currently the CIA director, to replace him as the Secretary of State.

Pompeo needs to be confirmed by the Senate. Spring recess of the Congress begins on March 22 and lawmakers would resume their legislative business on April 2. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which hold the confirmation hearing, has not scheduled it on its calendar yet.

Once Pompeo's nomination process breezes through this committee, then it would go to the Senate floor for a vote.

Given the sharp differences between the Republicans and the Democrats in the Senate, officials decided not to take any chance by going ahead with the mid-April date for the two-plus-two talks.

The new dates will now be determined after Pompeo occupies the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department and settles down as the top American diplomat.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The first Indo-US two-plus-two dialogue has been postponed due to the uncertainty over the confirmation of Mike Pompeo as the new Secretary of State, an American official said after President Donald Trump fired Rex Tillerson.

The two-day dialogue, announced last summer when Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a successful meeting with President Trump at the White House, was tentatively scheduled for April 18-19.

"It has been postponed for now," an informed US official said.

The official wishing anonymity, however, quickly pointed out that it would have no impact on the bilateral relationship as the meetings this week by the foreign and defence secretaries decided to continue with their agenda.

There was no official announcement of the high-level dialogue involving the foreign and defence ministers from the two countries.

India's foreign and defence secretaries were here early this week for preparatory talks with their American counterparts.

The Indian delegation landed in Washington DC amidst the firing of Tillerson as the Secretary of State by Trump.

The delegation continued with their meetings both at the State Department and at the Pentagon as scheduled, during which it was decided to hold the dialogue at a later date, which appears unlikely before the summer.

The dialogue was seen as a vehicle to elevate the strategic relationship between the two countries.

After June last year, the two countries have tried at several other dates for the dialogue to take place, including sometime in November and December.

Officials also checked for a time in January this year, but both sides were having a tough time in finding a day when all the four leaders - External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman from India and Defence Secretary Jim Mattis and the fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, would be available.

It was finally in February this year that two days in mid-April was zeroed in for the talks.

However, the plans had to be scuttled as on March 13 Trump announced that Tillerson had been fired and nominated Pompeo, who is currently the CIA director, to replace him as the Secretary of State.

Pompeo needs to be confirmed by the Senate. Spring recess of the Congress begins on March 22 and lawmakers would resume their legislative business on April 2. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which hold the confirmation hearing, has not scheduled it on its calendar yet.

Once Pompeo's nomination process breezes through this committee, then it would go to the Senate floor for a vote.

Given the sharp differences between the Republicans and the Democrats in the Senate, officials decided not to take any chance by going ahead with the mid-April date for the two-plus-two talks.

The new dates will now be determined after Pompeo occupies the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department and settles down as the top American diplomat.An Indian American businessman has donated a whopping USD 5 million to the University of Chicago to help aspiring entrepreneurs in their pursuit of innovation.

Rattan L Khosa, 79, gifted the amount to the varsity to launch a student entrepreneurs programme after his name at the Polsky Center.

"The day I wrote the check for this new programme, I sat down, closed my eyes, and thought about my first day in this country and how little I had," he said.

"I'm extremely humbled and equally grateful to be able to give back and help support the next generation of Booth entrepreneurs," he told PTI.

Khosa, a Kashmiri who came to the US in 70's and secured a research fellowship from the University of Maryland, had just USD 3 in his pocket when he joined the varsity.

He started his company AMSYSCO in 1981 from the basement of his home. After nearly four decades, Khosa has grown it into a highly profitable venture that provides post-tensioning systems on commercial structures and occupies a 55,000 square foot facility.

"Starting a business from a scratch is like jumping off a cliff in the middle of the night while blindfolded, hoping that there is a safety net down below," Khosa said.

"I know from personal experience that everyone needs help at some point in their lives. No one has succeeded on their own," he said.

When more than 80 per cent of companies fail within the first year even those with ample funding it's clear that there is much more to a startup's success than just money, Khosa said.

"I don't simply want to provide the money for this new programme, I plan to serve as a thought leader, mentor and guide for these aspiring entrepreneurs, so that my years of experience, my struggles and my successes may serve as an additional resource to help them succeed," he said.

"Rattan's leadership, generosity, and success will serve as an inspirational example to our most promising entrepreneurial students," said Madhav Rajan, Chicago Booth Dean and George Pratt Shultz Professor of Accounting.

He said the "transformational commitment" will greatly support the school's mission to influence and educate current and future leaders.

"His new gift will enhance Booth's reputation as the destination for aspiring entrepreneurs," said Starr Marcello, executive director of the Polsky Center and adjunct assistant professor of entrepreneurship at Chicago Booth.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)India needs to have a comprehensive relook at its sector to prepare its youth which comprise over 50 per cent of the 1.3 billion population for the future, educationists and experts have suggested.

Speaking at the sixth Global and Skills Forum (GESF) in Dubai, the experts called for a shift in the policy to meet the challenges of the changing times.

"A relook at the Indian sector is inevitable given that the current system was developed in the pre-Independence era for just five per cent of the population and that too for clerical roles, with no room for creativity or promoting social reorganisation," said Aditya Nataraj, Founder director Kaivalya Education Foundation, a social change organisation working in the field of education.

He suggested a shift from a system of "monitoring, inspection and suspension" to one that "enables, empowers and inspires" young people.

Kavita Sanghvi, Principal MET Rishikul Vidyalaya, said the biggest challenge before policymakers was to bring on par all three tiers of schools state boards, national and international education providers.

She also called for stronger synergies between industry and educational providers.

Bikkrama Singh, Associate Director of policy think tank Central Square Foundation, called for big bang reforms that include establishing rigorous sample-based assessment of the children and their skills.

He asserted that children were ill-prepared for school, with the learning gap progressively surfacing as they move to secondary and senior secondary levels.

Shaheen Mistri, CEO of non-profit organisation Teach for India called for inclusion of 'love' factor, saying it was central to revolutionising the sector.

"This includes a five-step approach of creating safe spaces for voices, promoting the spirit of partnership between educators and kids, view children as change-makers of today, driving regional and national dialogue on equity in education, and encouraging experiments in reimagining education," Mistri said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Jammu and Kashmir government has informed the Supreme Court that it has provided X category security cover to a Youth Congress leader, who complained of threat to his life.

The top court directed the state government to keep providing security cover to Abid Imitaz Bhat alias Abid Kashmiri, who is a national secretary of the All India Youth Congress, unless there is a change in threat perception.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud also said the state government should give due notice to Bhat before his security cover is withdrawn.

Advocate Shoeb Alam, appearing for the state government said that high-level Security Review Coordination Committee (SRCC) has taken a decision to provide X-2 level security cover, which comprises one personal security officer round the clock with him.

The X-2 level is one of the subcategories of the X level security.

Earlier, Bhat had moved the Delhi High Court seeking direction to the state government that it provides security to him and his family members on the ground that he faced threat to his life.

The Delhi High Court had summoned the chief secretary of the state after its counsel failed to inform the court about the next date of meeting of the high-level Security Review Coordination Committee.

The Jammu and Kashmir government had moved the apex court challenging the orders of the high court summoning the chief secretary on February 13.

It had said the high court was not justified in directing the chief secretary to be personally present, when the prayer of granting security to Bhat had already been provisionally accepted.

Alam said the Delhi High Court lacked the territorial jurisdiction to direct the state government for providing security cover to a permanent resident of the state seeking security within Jammu and Kashmir.

To this, the apex court bench directed senior advocate Salman Khurshid, appearing for Bhat, to approach the appropriate high court, in the event of any grievances.

The top court took on record the statement of Alam and said that nothing remains to be adjudicated in the appeal filed by the state government against the Delhi High Court order by which it had summoned the Chief Secretary.

"In view of the aforesaid, nothing remains to be adjudicated in the special leave petitions, and the same are disposed of. Consequently, writ petition pending before the High Court of Delhi shall also stand disposed of by virtue of the present order," the bench said.

The apex court had on February 12, stayed two orders of the Delhi High Court summoning the chief secretary of state in a matter related to the grant of security to Bhat.

The SRCC comprises senior officials of the state and the Centre. The panel assesses the threat perception and level of security cover required for citizens, including VIPs.

The state government had earlier informed the apex court that the meeting of SRCC is scheduled to be held on February 19 to consider security perception of Bhat.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Renowned lawyer Ram Jethmalani today called for formation of a third front led by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to "oust Prime Minister Narendra Modi" in the next Lok Sabha elections.

Both Congress and BJP governments have been deliberately apathetic to recovery of black money stashed in "Germany and other countries", Jethmalani said, speaking to reporters here.

"They have committed a joint crime of cheating people. Therefore, a third front of honest leaders is needed," the former Union Law Minister said.

"I want Mamata Banerjee to lead the third front to oust prime minister Narendra Modi in the next general elections. Mamata has the ability to be the prime minister," said Jethmalani, a one-time Modi supporter who later became the prime minister's bitter critic.

The senior lawyer also criticised Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and the NDA government over their policy on black money. The NDA government has no right to stay in power, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Jammu and Kashmir government has terminated the services of a doctor here for "violating" an order that bars its employees from using their social media accounts for any activity which may be "prejudicial" to the state, officials said.

The doctor, Amit Kumar, posted as registrar in the Government Medical College (GMC) Jammu on a contract basis for three years was sacked on Thursday for defying the government order by posting anti-government content through his Facebook account, a government official said.

The government had in December last year barred its employees from using their social media accounts for any "political activity" by amending the conduct rules for them, drawing strong condemnation from different quarters and opposition parties.

Yes, the registrar has been dismissed for defying the government order. The action was initiated as per rules, Principal,GMC Jammu, Sunanda Raina told PTI.

According to the statutory regulatory order (SRO), no government employee shall engage in any criminal, dishonest, immoral or notoriously disgraceful conduct on social media which may be prejudicial to the state.

The gag order had also echoed in the state assembly during the budget session which ended early last month with opposition parties terming the move as draconian and demanding revocation of the order.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Group is exploring investment opportunities in Macedonia, according to a source.

However, the person did not elaborate on the investment plans of the group.

"Its all in very initial phases. The company is exploring possibilities of investing in Macedonia," the source privy to the development said.

Steel tycoon Sajjan Jindal also met the Prime Minister of Macedonia Zoran Zaev in this regard earlier this month, the person added.

JSW Group is a multi-billion-dollar conglomerate with presence across India, USA, South America and Africa.

The group is a part of the O P Jindal Group with strong footprints across core economic sectors namely steel, energy, infrastructure, cement, ventures and sports.

JSW Steel owns a pipe and plate making steel mill in Baytown, Texas in the US.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Jammu and Kashmir BJP president Sat Sharma today said that Kashmiri Pandits had been forced out of Kashmir nearly 30 times in the past few centuries, and asserted that the state government was committed to their return to and rehabilitation in the valley.

He was addressing a meeting, organised by the Panun Kashmir to mark the birth anniversary of 15th century legendary saint-physician Shri Bhat here.

"Kashmiri Pandits have been forced out of Kashmir nearly 30 times (in the past few centuries). But the forced migration in 1990 will be the last," Sharma said.

"The BJP-PDP government is committed to their return to and rehabilitation in Kashmir Valley. Thereafter, there will be no migration of Hindus from Kashmir," he added.

BJP leader Ashok Kaul, in his speech, said the Kashmiri Pandit community had proved its resilience over the last three decades and the BJP always had a soft corner for the displaced people.

"It will be the endeavour of the party to take Kashmiri Pandits into confidence while taking a decision having far reaching impact," Kaul said.

Panun Kashmir president Ashwani Kumar Chrungoo, in his concluding remarks, said Shri Bhat made a great contribution to the history of Kashmir by resettling the indigenous people of the place, the Kashmiri Pandits, in the fifteenth century.

He said that the Kashmiri Pandit community eagerly awaited the actions of the government on major issues concerning their survival.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)On the backfoot over tendering an apology to former Punjab minister and Akali leader Bikram Singh Majithia, the AAP today sought to pacify its party MLAs from the northern state to avert a split in the state unit.

Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal's apology letter to Majithia for accusing him of being involved in drugs trade, had taken everyone by surprise, especially the AAP's Punjab unit.

The party's Punjab president Bhagwant Mann and its co-president Aman Arora had recently resigned from their posts in protest against Kejriwal's apology.

Of the 20 AAP MLAs from Punjab, 10 lawmakers along with state unit leaders met Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia at his residence here today where Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was also present.

The chief minister is said to have given an explanation behind his apology to Majithia.

Majithia had slapped a defamation case against Kejriwal and other AAP leaders for accusing the former of drug trade during the 2017 Punjab Assembly polls campaign.

According to party sources, the Punjab AAP MLAs present in the meeting are believed to have been convinced with Kejriwal's explanation.

However, only half of the dissenting party MLAs were present in the meeting, with the remaining legislators still miffed with the party leadership.

"Anyhow, it rules out any split in the party in Punjab, as of now. Forming a separate group or splitting the party would require the consent of two-third of the 20 AAP MLAs," the sources said.

Among the prominent absentees were Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Assembly, Sukhpal Singh Khaira and Bhagwant Mann, AAP MP from Sangrur.

There have been different demands by the AAP MLAs and party leaders from Punjab after Kejriwal's apology letter went public, ranging from giving them more autonomy to forming a different group in protest.

Aman Arora, AAP MLA from Suna, who had attended the meeting said there was some "miscommunication.

The reason he (Kejriwal) had apologised is because he has several cases against him in many parts of the country. And some of them are in the fast track courts, he told reporters after the more than two hour-long meeting.

Arora said the AAP MLAs present in the meeting were convinced with the explanation given by Kejriwal as the legal battle was draining him and the party in terms of resources.

This, he said, was also consuming the party supremo's time which could be used for focusing on governance in Delhi.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Former US President John F Kennedy's personal 'victory map' of Cuba - used during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 - is expected to fetch over USD 20,000 at an auction in the US.

The map, consisting of two sheets once taped together at the centre, features eight types of sticker symbols applied to the surface, representing Soviet MiG fighter jets, Komar-class missile boats, IL-28 bombers, SS-4 missiles, SSM-Cruise missiles and nuclear storage sites.

The intelligence represented by the map was supplied by U-2 spy planes, confirming Kennedy's worst fears of an increasing Soviet military presence just one hundred miles away from the American coast.

The map is marked "Secret" in the lower left and upper right corners, according to the US-based RR Auction.

A two-page key paper-clipped to the upper right corner, headed "MRBM-IRBM Status of Cuban Missiles," dated October 27, 1962, summarizes the Soviet military buildup, listing sites, enumerating number of launchers and missiles, and completion status.

The map shows the position of every Soviet missile, bomber and fighter jet and nuclear storage facility in Cuba as of noon on Saturday, October 27, 1962.

This was the most dangerous moment of the Cuban Missile Crisis. October 27 was the day the crisis came within hours, even minutes, of triggering a war between the US and Soviet Union.

That morning, a Soviet anti-air missile shot down a U-2 spy plane on a photo reconnaissance mission over Cuba.

Many years later, the Cubans claimed Fidel Castro himself pushed the button to fire the missile.

Later that afternoon, two US destroyers dropped depth charges on a Soviet submarine. At last minute, the Soviet captain surfaced his submarine, his other option being to launch his missiles against the US mainland.

When the sun set that evening, Robert McNamara, the secretary of defense during the Cuban Missile Crisis, wondered if he'd be alive to see the following Saturday's sunset.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff pushed for an air strike against the Soviet missile sites and other targets. Had Kennedy given the order, this map shows the nine Soviet targets U.S. warplanes would have bombed. However, everything changed overnight.

Relying on a letter from Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to President Kennedy, Attorney General Robert Kennedy and Soviet ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin hammered out a deal.

The Soviets agreed to withdraw their missiles and other offensive weapons in return for the US pledging not to invade Cuba. The US secretly promised to remove obsolete missiles from Turkey.

The nine targets on the map became the weapons the US forced out of Cuba. When Kennedy presented the map to McNamara, he called it the victory map.'



In the annals of the Cold War, no event is more talked about and debated than the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 16, 1962 to October 28, 1962, RR Auction said.

It is considered the closest the world has ever come to nuclear war. This amazing map dates to the penultimate day of the crisis - October 27, a day that saw an American pilot shot down over Cuba.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)At a time when social development of the tribal population still a cause of worry, the Kerala government is gearing up to impact a change in their lives through a comprehensive literacy programme.

Instead of appointing outsiders as teachers, tribals, with minimum qualifications, would be roped in as 'instructors' after given them expert training.

The trained persons would play the role of instructors under the Kerala Literacy Mission in their respective settlements and impart training to their fellow people there, official sources said.

As many as 370 tribal instructors, including those handpicked from 100 most educationally-backward hamlets across the state, would took part in the 'social literacy training' programme to be held here this week end.

The Mission's 'preraks' (instructors), deployed in Attappady in Palakkad district and settlements inWayanad would also be among participants for the training, they said.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan would inaugurate the two-day drive here at a function on March 24.

It is for first time in the history of the state education sector that tribals themselves have been roped in as instructors to bring their fellow beings under the government's literacy programme, a top Mission official said.

"Our comprehensive literacy programme is aimed at bringing the tribal population to the forefront of society," Literacy Mission director P S Sreekala told PTI.

"It is for the first time that educated tribes are identified and invited to take part in such an initiative in the state. It is a reformative step," she said.

During the two-day training programme, the selected instructors would take part in group discussions on 17 topics, including law, higher education, health, gender equality, secularism, cinema, employment, food, democracy and so on.

It would not be just the usual literacy training programme, the official detailed.

"They will get a big exposure in all these topics and a chance to attend classes of experts. It will change not only the participant's life, but make a big impact in those of their fellow beings," Sreekala added.

The Literacy Mission had already conducted a survey in tribal settlements in Kerala to identify illiterates and bring them under the initiative.

Of the total of 100 hamlets, where the programme is being implemented, 25 each were selected in Palakkad and Wayanad districts, 14 in Idukki and five in Thiruvananthapuram and the rest in other districts.

According to the 2001 census, the Scheduled Tribe population in Kerala is 3,64,189, which constitutes 1.14 per cent of the total population.

Wayanad has the highest number of tribals (1,36,062), it said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Crime against children in India has increased by a sharp 11 per cent between 2015 and 2016 , according to the latest data released by the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB).

Going by absolute numbers, it's an increase of 12,786 reported crimes against children across the country.

The total number of crimes against children reported in 2016 was 106958, while 94172 crimes were recorded in 2015.

This, however, does not come as a surprise, as a cumulative analysis done by an NGO, 'CRY Child Rights and You', shows a steady upward trend with a significant increase of more than 500 per cent over a period of the past one decade (1,06,958 in 2016 over 18,967 in 2006).

Further retrospective comparison within the mentioned timeframe points at a sharper rate of increase in the latter quadrennium (2012 to 2016) than that recorded in the former lustrum (2006 to 2011).

Quoting these NCRB data, Komal Ganotra, Director Policy and Advocacy at CRY told PTI, "While this steep rise in numbers might have been the result of increased awareness among the people at large and the law enforcing agencies in recording crimes, it also indicates that children have become increasingly exposed to the risk of becoming victims in recent years."



Looking at the concentration of reported incidents across the states, more than 50 per cent of crimes against children have been recorded in just five states -- Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and West Bengal.

While Uttar Pradesh tops the list with 15 per cent of recorded crimes against children, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh closely follow with 14 per cent and 13 per cent respectively.

Going by the nature of crimes and categories as registered with the police, kidnapping and abduction clearly tops the lists with almost half of the total crimes (48.9 per cent, number of crimes 52,253) as recorded in 2016.

The next biggest category of crime against children in terms of number is rape, amounting to more than 18 per cent of all crimes against children, while all crimes under POCSO Act constitutes around 33 per cent of the total crimes.

Crimes under POCSO Act include primarily rape, sexual assault against children, sexual harassment and child pornography amongst others.

Further analysis suggests that Uttar Pradesh recorded maximum number of crimes under the categories of 'kidnapping and abduction' and 'POCSO Act', while Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh stand in the second and third slot respectively in both these categories.

A new chapter on 'Missing Persons and Children' which has been included in this year's NCRB release in compliance with the Supreme Court directives, shows that a total of 1,11,569 children (41,175 boys and 70,394 girls) were reported to have been missing. The maximum cases were reported from West Bengal (15.1 per cent) during 2016.

A total of 55,944 children were traced at the end of the year 2016 in the country.

Ganotra said, "Going by the current trend reflected in the Government data, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh along with some other states continue to show worrying trends in the magnitude of crime against children.

"Also, this is a grim reminder of the fact that we, as a country, do not have proper prevention mechanisms in place to address the issue of child protection, nor are we keen on building more empathetic understanding and intervention plans adequately backed up by sustained investment on child security," she said.

Elaborating on the way forward on tackling increasing crimes against children, Komal added, "Child protection in our country cannot be ensured with just having legislations and numerous guidelines."



"We as a country need to commit in cultivating a culture of zero tolerance to violence against children. We should be vigilant and cognizant of the fact that children are at risk with gaps in infrastructure, processes and systems," she said.

Komal also urged the governments and all law enforcing agencies to equip themselves in recognising these risks and put robust systems and processes to assess and eliminate the same without compromising with them.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Supreme Court has directed a Dehradun-based novelist to give a reasonable offer to film director Rakesh Roshan for settling a case related to alleged copyright violation in the 2013 Bollywood blockbuster 'Krrish 3'.

Novelist Rupnarayan Sonkar had filed a police complaint in 2016 accusing Roshan of copyright violation and claimed that some scenes of the movie were based on his novel 'Suardaan'.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra asked Roshan as to why he does not pay the amount and finish the case against him in which charge sheet has been filed.

Senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, who is appearing for Roshan, said that he has not got any offer for settlement from the novelist side.

"First let the offer be made from the other side. If it is reasonable we would certainly look into it," Jethmalani said.

The bench, also comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, listed the matter for April 9 to enable the novelist to furnish a proposal to Roshan'a counsel.

"We expect that the respondent No 3 (Sonkar) shall put forth his claim which would be reasonable so that the petitioner (Roshan) can be asked to accept the same," the bench said.

It, however, clarified that the present order has been passed without prejudice to the points raised in the petition.

Roshan had moved the apex court against an Uttarakhand High Court order of July 20 last year which dismissed his plea seeking stay on his arrest in a case of alleged copyright violation.

The high court rejected his plea on the ground that a charge sheet had already been filed against him in the case.

Sonkar had claimed that his novel was published in 2010 and hence, the case was filed against Roshan.

In the charge sheet, Roshan has been accused of plagiarising portions of a story written by Sonkar and using it in 'Krrish 3'.

An FIR was registered at the Dalanwala police station of Uttarakhand in 2016 on the complaint of Sonkar, who had accused Roshan of copyright violation.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Sri Lanka's President Maithripala Sirisena on Sunday lifted a nationwide state of emergency imposed on March 6 for the first time since the civil war following days of communal violence between majority Sinhala Buddhists and minority Muslims in the country.

President Sirisena, who returned to Sri Lanka last night from an official visit to India and Japan, removed the state of emergency as the situation in the country returned to normal.

"Upon assessing the public safety situation, I instructed to revoke the State of Emergency from midnight yesterday, he twitted on Sunday.

The government imposed a state of emergency on March 6 and blocked Facebook, WhatsApp and other social media sites following anti-Muslim violence in the island's central hills Kandy and Ampara districts in which three people were killed and hundreds of Muslim-owned properties, including mosques, were damaged.

Facing flak from the Opposition for not lifting the blockage on social media despite improvement in the situation, the government lifted the ban on Facebook on March 15 after officials from the US social media giant agreed to step up efforts to remove hate speech posted on its platform during the anti-Muslim violence.

The communal violence was triggered by the death of a Sinhalese man at the hands of a mob.

The government had deployed thousands of troops to restore peace and protect the minority Muslims and their property.

"The President decided to revoke the order in view of the improved security situation," a presidential official said.

The police arrested more than 200 people for violence against Muslims.

It was the first time in seven years Sri Lanka had imposed the measure. The country was under a state of emergency for nearly three decades when the government fought Tamil rebels LTTE in the civil war that ended in 2009.

Violence has risen in the Buddhist-majority country since 2012, with some hardline Buddhist groups accusing Muslims of forcing people to convert to Islam and vandalising Buddhist archaeological sites.With Paris Saint-Germain struggling to find inspiration, veteran defender Dani Alves did a surprising impersonation of injured compatriot Neymar to score the winner in Nice today.

With eight minutes left and after better-known attacking talents had squandered a string of chances, Alves, who is just 1.72 metres (5-foot-6) ghosted into the centre forward position and outleaped the defence to head in a cross from Adrien Rabiot to seal a 2-1 victory.

A rare Sunday lunchtime kick-off was part of the developing French league strategy of emulating more succesful European leagues and targeting Chinese viewers.

The two teams provided a lively spectacle which ended with PSG stretching their lead to 17 points over Monaco.

Allan Saint-Maximin gave the home team the lead after 17 minutes with a deft finish which was just the fifth touch of a breathtaking move that began on the Nice goal line.

Angel di Maria quickly replied, speeding through a suddenly uncertain Nice defence and swerving in a shot that squirmed past Walter Benitez.

In the absence of Neymar, the two best known strikers on display almost gave the Chinese prime-time audience goals to cheer.

Edinson Cavani of PSG hit a post from close range in the first half after hesitation in the Nice defence.

Mario Balotelli forced a flying save from PSG keeper Alphonse Areola and later hit the bar with a header.

Saint-Maximin's pace repeatedly troubled PSG, but he was unable to repeat his cool finish, though he came close with one shot that clipped the knee of the sprawling Areola.

At the other end, Di Maria forced a full-stretch save from Benitez with a daring volleyed back flick.

Kylian Mbappe, who seemed out of touch, wasted a glorious close-range chance with 12 minutes left.

Alves also forced a leaping save from Benitez with a bold overhead kick.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A leopard today attacked and seriously injured two persons at Andhiyari village, some 100 km from here, a forest official said.

Rajkumar Gujjar (38) and Brijmohan Lodhi (22) have been rushed to Bhopal for treatment, Gairatganj forest division ranger AK Jhawar said.

He said that the leopard, hiding in a thicket, first attacked Gujjar who was on his way to the field.

"When he shouted for help, people rushed in but the leopard attacked and injured Lodhi, one of those who had come forward to help," Jhawar said.

Efforts were on to track down the leopard, he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A group of Lingayat seers today met Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and urged him to implement the report of an official committee that recommended conferring a spearate religious and minority status to their community.

The seers, led by Gadag-based Tontadarya Mutt's Siddalinga Swami, called on Siddaramaiah at his official residence here and wanted him to consider and implement the Nagmohan Das Committee's report which has said "Lingayats in Karnataka may be consideredas religious minority."



"Our fight is not new, it has been a 900-year-old fight and it has taken a shape now. The Chief Minister should implement the report and accord separate status to Lingayat community, the Tontadarya math swamiji told reporters later.

The Karnataka Cabinet, which is meeting tomorrow, is expected to deliberate upon the matter as discussions in the last meeting on March 8 remained inconclusive, amidst reports of differences between Ministers belonging to both Veerashaiva and Lingayat faiths.

The demand for a separate religion tag to Veerashaiva/ Lingayat faiths has surfaced from the numerically strong and politically-influential community, amidst resentment from within over projecting the two communities as the same.

While one section led by Akhila Bharata Veerashaiva Mahasabha has demanded separate religion status, asserting that Veerashaiva and Lingayats are the same,the other wants it only for Lingayats as it believes that Veerashaivasare one among the seven sects of Shaivas, which is part ofHinduism.

Lingayat leader Mate Mahadevi, who also spoke today, expressed confidence that Siddaramaiah would meet their demand and recommend to the Centre grant of separate religious status and minority status to their community.

The demand of Lingayat seers come a wee after Veerashaiva pontiffs hadexpressed their displeasure over the report as it excluded Veerashaivas.

They had also urged the government not to make any recommendation to the central government till the completion of assembly polls expected to be held soon and warned of an agitation.

A week after the expert committee submitted its report, ministers Eshwar Khandre and S S Mallikarjuna, son of veteran Congress leader and All India Veerashaiva Mahasabha president Shamanur Shivashankarappa, have asked Siddaramaiah to reject it.

The BJP and several sections of the Hindu community have maintained a cautious stance, keeping away from the move to give Veerashaiva/Lingayat separate religion status.

They have accused the Siddaramaiah government of dividing society to draw political mileage ahead of the assembly elections.

Lingayat strongman and state BJP chief B S Yeddyurappa has been saying that his party would not allow efforts to "divide" the community.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A man possessing sophisticated telecom equipment was today arrested by security forces from Rahimpur, a village near Indo-Bangla border in Sonamura sub-division of Sipahijala district, police said.

Acting on a tip-off, a joint team of state police, BSF and BSNL officials raided the house of one Abdul Chhalam this morning and arrested him, Superintendent of Police (Control) Pradip De told reporters.

Several high-end equipment including mobile signal booster, illegal call diverting systems and mobile antenna were recovered from his possession.

Kulwinder Kumar, Deputy Director General of North East, Department of Telecommunication, Government of India had filed an FIR at Kalamchoura police station yesterday saying Abdul Chhalam and his two sons were possessing the illegal equipment.

However, the two sons of the accused fled during the raid.

Police is investigating the case and trying to find out if he had any terror links.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A man has moved the Delhi High Court seeking direction to the Centre to remove the name of his wife, a Ukrainian national, from the blacklist to enable her to apply for a spouse visa to stay in India.

The man claimed the Foreigner Regional Registration Office (FRRO) has blacklisted his wife without giving any reason from granting visa, which, he said, violated his rights to enjoy his marital life and fundamental rights.

According to the plea, the woman is presently staying in Nepal as the couple was told by FRRO officials that it would be easier for them to get a spouse visa from a neighbouring country.

Justice Rajiv Shakdher issued notices to the Centre and the FRRO and sought their responses on the plea. The court listed the matter for further hearing on April 24.

Advocate Manish Tiwari, appearing for petitioner Abhay Khanna, said the man's wife Olga Khmelevska was not a threat to the security of the country and she has no criminal record.

The Central government's standing counsel Ajay Digpaul said he will file a detailed reply to the petition and as per the procedure, the man should first give a representation to the Ministry of Home Affairs which will decide it on the basis of facts of the case. He also said the foreigner woman has overstayed in India twice.

Khanna's counsel submitted before the court that his wife has been to India several times on tourist visa and they got married in December 2017 in India after which she applied for a spouse visa.

Instead of a spouse visa, the woman was given an exit permit on January 17 this year, he said.

The counsel said the woman's tourist visa expired on October 13, 2016 but due to an illness she was unable to travel out of India and she obtained an exit permit from the authorities and left for Ukraine in November 2016.

She again came to India after obtaining a tourist visa which was expired on May 23, 2017, but she could not travel as she was unwell and applied for an exit permit on May 31 last year, the plea said.

It added that despite repeated enquiries, the application for exit permit was not processed by the authorities and when she applied for a spouse visa, she was instead given an exit permit in February this year and was told that she has been blacklisted.

The plea said she was the one who used to take care of her mother-in-law, a cancer patient.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A 21-year-old man is in police custody on suspicion of attempted murder after he rammed his car into a nightclub in south-east England in anger over being denied entry to the venue that left at least thirteen people injured.

Kent Police said 13 people had been injured in the incident late last night at Gravesend, Kent, which was not being treated as terror-related.

This was a frightening experience for everyone involved and it is a miracle that nobody was killed, said Detective Chief Inspector David Chewter, the investigating officer from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate.

He confirmed that none of the injuries suffered by the 13 victims are described as life-threatening or life-changing after the suspect drove his Suzuki Vitara into Blake's nightclub on Queen Street in Gravesend.

Officers attended and arrested a 21-year-old man on suspicion of attempted murder. He is believed to have been asked to leave the club earlier in the evening following an altercation. The man suffered minor injuries and was taken to hospital as a precaution but is currently in custody, a Kent Police statement said.

Witnesses at the scene said the 4x4 had been driven into a tented area full of people. It is believed the car drove along an alleyway alongside the club before crashing into it. Footage posted on social media appeared to show a car inside a tented area with people being led to safety by police.

In a statement, Blake's nightclub thanked the "heroic actions" of door staff and guests who it said apprehended the man "before further harm was caused".

The club said it was "deeply saddened that injuries occurred" but was "grateful that no-one was fatally hurt".

It added: "We strive to create a safe and positive environment for all. Last night however, the unpredictable actions of one individual ruined a great occasion for all."



Gravesham Borough Council praised the response of the emergency services in a tweet.

The Blake's nightclub incident last night (Saturday, 17 March) was shocking for all involved, but was handled very well by the emergency services and the staff at the nightclub. The incident is not terrorism related, the Twitter statement said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Modern humans not only co-existed and interbred with the Neanderthals , but also with the mysterious Denisovans - a species of archaic humans, a study has found.

While developing a new genome-analysis method for comparing whole genomes between modern human and Denisovan populations, researchers discovered two distinct episodes of Denisovan genetic intermixing, or admixing, between the two.

This suggests a more diverse genetic history than previously thought between the Denisovans and modern humans.

Scientists at the University of Washington in the US determined that the genomes of two groups of modern humans with Denisovan ancestry - individuals from Oceania and individuals from East Asia - are uniquely different, indicating that there were two separate episodes of Denisovan admixture.

"What was known already was that Oceanian individuals, notably Papuan individuals, have significant amounts of Denisovan ancestry," said Sharon Browning, a research professor at University of Washington.

"The genomes of modern Papuan individuals contain approximately 5 per cent Denisovan ancestry," said Browning.

Researchers also knew Denisovan ancestry is present to a lesser degree throughout Asia.

The assumption was that the ancestry in Asia was achieved through migration, coming from Oceanian populations.

"But in this new work with East Asians, we find a second set of Denisovan ancestry that we do not find in the South Asians and Papuans," Browning said.

"This Denisovan ancestry in East Asians seems to be something they acquired themselves," she said.

The study, published in the journal Cell, sequence the genome of over 5,600 individuals from Europe, Asia, America, and Oceania and compared them to the Denisovan genome.

Researchers found that the Denisovan genome is more closely related to the modern East Asian population than to modern Papuans.

"We analysed all of the genomes searching for sections of DNA that looked like they came from Denisovans," said Browning.

"When we compared pieces of DNA from the Papuans against the Denisovan genome, many sequences were similar enough to declare a match, but some of the DNA sequences in the East Asians, notably Han Chinese, Chinese Dai, and Japanese, were a much closer match with the Denisovan," she said.

What is known about Denisovan ancestry comes from a single set of archaic human fossils found in the Altai mountains in Siberia.

That individual's genome was published in 2010, and other researchers quickly identified segments of Denisovan ancestry in several modern-day populations, most significantly with individuals from Oceania but also in East and South Asians.

"The assumption is that admixing with Denisovans occurred fairly quickly after humans moved out of Africa, around 50,000 years ago, but we do not know where in terms of location," Browning said.

Perhaps the ancestors of Oceanians admixed with a southern group of Denisovans while the ancestors of East Asians admixed with a northern group.

Researchers plan on studying more Asian populations and others throughout the world, including Native Americans and Africans.

"We want to look throughout the world to see if we can find evidence of interbreeding with other archaic humans," said Browning.

"There are signs that intermixing with archaic humans was occurring in Africa, but given the warmer climate no one has yet found African archaic human fossils with sufficient DNA for sequencing," she said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Dwarka Peeth Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati today claimed that a mosque had never existed at Lord Ram's birthplace in Ayodhya and that the structure demolished by right-wing activists in 1992 was a temple.

"A masjid never existed at Lord Ram's birthplace in Ayodhya," the Shankaracharya told reporters here on the Ram Temple-Babri Mosque dispute.

"Kar Sevaks demolished the temple, not a masjid," he claimed.

He said that a grand Ram Temple would be rebuilt at the site once a stay order given by court is vacated.

The Supreme Court is currently hearing the petitions in the politically-sensitive Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute case.

The Shankaracharya also said that corruption poses a "real challenge" for the country.

Politicians, right from the level of village panchayat members, spend huge amounts of money on elections, he said.

"Even for registering a First Information Report, bribe is given to police," he said.

"When I speak against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, I am called a Congressman. I was a Congressman when the freedom struggle was on. Then only the Congress was fighting the British rule. Today, I am a religious leader," he said.

"I am a Shankaracharya. My duty is to safeguard the Sanatan Dharm," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Members of Parliament from BJP as well as Congress have expressed concern over delays in mobile network rollout in uncovered villages of the sensitive North East region.

In a letter to telecom minister Manoj Sinha, Congress MP from Arunachal Pradesh Ninong Ering said that despite north eastern states signing memorandum of understanding in January over installation of mobile towers in uncovered villages, nothing has been implemented on ground.

He has called for immediate installation of mobile towers in Bishing and Tuting area of Arunachal Pradesh where China has reportedly attempted to build road on Indian territory.

"It is my earnest request to you that the connectivity on all Chinese border is very important. As you must have witness during the last incursion of the Chinese in Bishing, in Tuting area of Arunachal Pradesh. The information received by the army personnel was very late. If the mobile tower had been installed the incursion could have been stopped," Ering said.

The Cabinet in 2014 had approved Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan for the north-eastern region to provide 2G mobile coverage in 8,621 uncovered villages and areas along with national highways in the North-East with an outlay of Rs 5,336.18 crore. However, the project is yet to be rolled out.

Bharti Airtel has also been entrusted to set up over 2004 mobile towers to connect about 2,128 villages in Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, parts of Assam and national highways in north-eastern States. Besides, BSNL has been assigned to install 2,817 mobile towers to provide coverage in 4,119 uncovered villages in the region.

BJP MP Nishikant Dubey had also approached the telecom minister last December expressing concern over the 3-year delay in the project. He alleged that senior officers in Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) department are "deliberately delaying" the project.

"They are responsible for criminal delay of the project. Either they are incompetent or they have some ulterior motives," Dubey alleged.

When contacted, a Department of Telecom (DoT) official said that the Telecom Commission has already approved the project and the roll out has been delayed due to pending of network testing on ground.

He said: "BSNL has been awarded project on the nomination basis. There have been complaints against telecom network deployed by BSNL in naxal affected states. BSNL plans to deploy same technology in North East.

"The Telecom Commission in September has desired to conduct test at the site to check if BSNL network works without any glitch in North East states before final approval is accorded."



A BSNL official has said network in area affected by left wing extremism (LWE) was based on specifications approved by DoT.

"The network came as relief for those areas which never had any connectivity and was appreciated by all initially. Over the years network carrying traffic capacity has reached its limit. Therefore it needs further upgrade for which DoT is considering various measures.BSNL will upgrade as soon as approvals are received," the BSNL officer said.

The DoT officer said that BSNL vendors agreed for network test in North East at the location in mid-February.

"We are just waiting for them to get the testing done, after which the mobile tower roll out can be carried out as per BSNL's convenience," the officer said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba will begin a five-day visit to the US tomorrow during which he will hold extensive talks with the top military brass of the Trump administration to consolidate bilateral naval cooperation, including in the Indo-Pacific region.

Admiral Lanba will hold discussions with Defence Secretary James Mattis, Secretary of the US Navy Richard V Spencer, Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph F Dunford Jr, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John M Richardson and Commander of Pacific Command Admiral Harry Harris, a senior Navy official said.

The Navy chief will also meet Commander of Pacific Fleet Admiral Scott Swift and Commander of Naval Sea Systems Command Vice Admiral Thomas J Moore.

"The visit aims to consolidate cooperation between the Armed Forces of both India and USA and also to explore new avenues of defence cooperation," the defence ministry said.

Sources said China's growing military presence in South China Sea and its rising assertiveness in that region may figure in the talks that Admiral Lanba will have with top US military officials.

The US has been pushing for a broader role for India in the strategically important Indo-Pacific region.

In November last year, India, the US, Australia and Japan gave shape to the long-pending Quad to develop a new strategy to keep the critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free from Chinese influence.

India, the US and several other nations have been calling for freedom of navigation in the disputed South China Sea. The US has been periodically sending naval ships and planes to assert freedom of navigation to the critical sea lanes, much to the chagrin of China.

In addition to holding bilateral discussions, Admiral Lanba will also visit the Pacific Command Headquarters at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, the Naval Surface Warfare Centre (NSWC) in Dahlgren, the Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery in Washington DC.

The defence and security ties between India and the US have been on an upswing in the last few years as both the countries have concluded a number of major agreements to further bolster strategic ties.

The pacts include the Defence Framework Agreement, signed in 2015, which lays a blueprint for collaboration between the defence establishments of both countries, and the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) signed in 2016. The LEMOA provides for facilitating reciprocal logistics support between the armed forces of the two countries.

In addition, India was accorded Major Defence Partner status by the US in 2016, bringing New Delhi on par with Washington's closest allies for defence-related trade and technology transfer.

The Indian Navy cooperates with the US Navy on several fronts which include operational interactions such as the Malabar naval exercise and exchange of white shipping information. Warships from both navies have also been regularly visiting each other's ports.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Women members of the Nationalist Congress Party today shouted slogans against Amruta Fadnavis, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' wife, during a programme in Solapur.

The programme was organised to promote products manufactured by Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurved.

The women, during their protest outside the venue, demanded to know why a market was being made available for Patanjali products when the same was not being done for items made by women's self-help groups (SHGs).

Police said that the women protesters were detained for a brief while and then released.

"No case was taken against any of them," an official said.

Earlier Fadnavis, during her speech at the function, claimed that people had "blind faith" on Patanjali products and the revenue generated from them was helping the nation.

Actor-turned-politician and Lok Sabha MP Hema Malini was also present at the function.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan today asked the NDA leaders to desist from making off-the-cuff remarks and be "more tactful" during elections, in the wake of the party's poor showing in the recent bypolls in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

He expressed concern over some leaders of the ruling NDA at the Centre occasionally making remarks that created an impression of the alliance being against certain sections of the society.

Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) is an important ally of the BJP in the NDA.

While campaigning for BJP during the Araria bypoll on March 9, Bihar party unit president Nityanand Rai had allegedly said that if the RJD candidate won the election, Araria would become a safe haven for the ISIS.

An FIR was lodged against Rai for violating election code.

Similarly, Union minister Giriraj Singh's utterance a day after the party's loss in the bypoll that Araria would become a "hub of terrorism" also drew sharp criticism.

Paswan said social arithmetic is known to be a solid poll plank in states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar than talking about development, adding that was the reason behind the BJP's "shocking" defeat in the bypoll in its traditional stronghold of Gorakhpur.

The bypoll results in Bihar were not at all surprising. One Lok Sabha and two assembly constituencies had fallen vacant upon the death of the incumbents whose close family members retained the seats for the respective parties. The respective tallies of the RJD and the BJP remained unaltered, Paswan told reporters here.

But, it is in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh where we received shock. The party lost both the seats despite running popular governments at the Centre and in the state", he said.

It was in this backdrop that LJP parliamentary board chief Chirag Paswan spoke about the need for a course correction. There was no anti-incumbency against the BJP in UP, yet it lost because arch rivals BSP and SP joined hands," Paswan said.

The food minister was referring to a recent tweet by Chirag Paswan, his son and the MP from Jamui Lok Sabha seat in Bihar.

We ought to look carefully at how Congress remained in power in the country for so long, enjoying the support of Dalits, Brahmins and Muslims without actually doing anything for them," Paswan said.

The BJP-led NDA governments, headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee or Narendra Modi, have made tireless efforts to improve the condition of these communities, he added.

That the NDA works for the progress of all is a fact. This fact needs to be coupled with a bit of tact. Leaders ought to be more tactful and avoid blunders like speaking against reservations during assembly elections," he said.

He was referring to a comment by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on reservation in jobs during the Bihar assembly polls in 2015, which is widely believed to have queered the pitch for the BJP-led alliance.

About TDP in Andhra Pradesh walking out of the NDA and moving a no-confidence motion against the Narendra Modi government, Paswan remarked, The party (TDP) has acted keeping its prospects in the next assembly polls in the state, due next year, in mind. Their demand for special status is, however, not possible for any government to fulfil.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who is our ally, has been raising the demand for granting special status to the state for so long. Bihar would have been thrown into turmoil upon grant of special status to Andhra Pradesh. Moreover, the new system of special packages has done away with the need for grant of special status as it involves a lot of ifs and buts in providing central assistance to needy states, he said.

About former Bihar chief minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha founder Jitan Ram Manjhi also quitting the NDA and joining the RJD-Congress combine, the Union minister said, The NDA is like an ocean to which a few drops do not matter".

"Moreover, Manjhi is a Mahadalit and his exit from the NDA coincided with former state Congress president Ashok Chowdhury who belongs to the same social group joining the coalition along with three other MLCs of his party," he pointed out.

Paswan also dismissed claims by RJD leaders that Rashtriya Lok Samata Party chief and Union minister Upendra Kushwaha was feeling uneasy in the NDA and may quit the alliance soon.

"He (Kushwaha) has himself categorically denied the same. He is firmly with the NDA. The RJD-Congress combine is going overboard," the LJP leader added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Nepal's Left alliance government will maintain a "mutually beneficial" relationship with India and China to seek economic benefits from both the Asian giants, the country's newly-appointed Foreign Affairs Minister said today.

Pradeep Gyawali, who was inducted on Friday, also said that the Nepal government had started preparations as it expects both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit the country this year.

"We want to build a mutually beneficial relationship with both in the changed context," Gyawali said, adding that Nepal needs support from both the countries.

"Chinese President Xi was supposed to visit Nepal in 2016, which could not be materialised possibly due to frequent government changes," he said.

Speaking to reporters here, Gyawali said similar high-level visits will take place from Nepal's side also.

He said the government was making necessary preparations for the foreign trip of Nepal Prime Minister K P Oli.

"Prime Minister will make foreign trip soon and we are making necessary preparations to that end. But we have not yet decided from which country he will begin his foreign trip with," he said.

Meanwhile, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has congratulated Gyawali on his appointment to the post of Foreign Minister of Nepal.

She made a phone call to congratulate the newly-appointed Foreign Minister on Friday, Indian embassy officials said.

In her congratulatory letter, Swaraj expressed confidence that India-Nepal partnership will be further strengthened during his tenure. She also extended an invitation to Foreign Minister Gyawali to visit India, they said.

Oli expanded his Cabinet and inducted 15 new ministers in his Council of Ministers, including the daughter-in-law of Maoist chief Prachanda, on Friday.

Nepal concluded three phase of provincial, local and parliamentary elections as part of its efforts to implement the new Constitution that was promulgated in September 2015.

The new government led by Left parties convened its first parliament session on March 5 following the elections.

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.

The ethnic Madhesi group, mostly of Indian-origin, protested for months, saying they were not getting enough territory in one of the states and were also facing discrimination.

Violent clashes not only killed 50 people, but also left the country with severe shortages of fuel and medicine because protesters blocked the borders with India.

The protesters finally agreed to the elections after some amendments were made to the Constitution.Barely two weeks into his new role, 40-year-old Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma says he has realised running the government would be a tough job, but asserts he is "here to take over and do my best" to spur development.

In a state that faces pressing financial and administrative challenges, Sangma, in an exclusive interview to PTI, said the priority of his government would be to bring about administrative discipline and a new work culture for faster delivery of services to the people.

"There are a lot of challenges ahead," he said, "financial, implementation challenges, administrative challenges. And there are some issues that require immediate attention."



Sangma, son of former Lok Sabha speaker P A Sangma, was sworn in as the 12th Chief Minister of Meghalaya on March 7.

He is heading a coalition government of his National People's Party (NPP) with the BJP and a clutch of regional outfits like the UDP, the PDF, the HSPDP. He enjoys the support of an Independent MLA as well.

He said the first thing he was trying to do as the chief minister was to bring about a disciplined system in the office, at the secretariat and in the government as a whole.

As part of efforts to usher in a new work culture, he himself is setting an example by reaching the office everyday at 10 am or even before that and remaining there till 7 pm.

"The chief minister checks in at the secretariat office 10 am dot. If not at 10 am, he reaches office before that. His office timing is between 10 am and 7 pm," a senior staff at the CM's secretariat told PTI requesting anonymity.

"We are adapting and many are appreciating the new work culture," she said.

Sangma said, "I don't want to be seen as a person who is forcing people but I think it is important that we as leaders lead by example."



The new government came to power ending 10 years of Congress rule in the northeastern state.

Asked about role of the BJP in the government, Sangma said, "This is NPP led government and all other parties are stakeholders and equal partners in it."



The new Meghalaya CM, who is presently the Lok Sabha member from Tura and has to be elected into the state Assembly in near future, refused to make any adverse remarks on the Congress government.

"I am not here to blame anybody in the past. I am here to take over and I will do my best."



Implementation of the Fifth Pay Commission benefiting nearly one lakh government employees will be one of the immediate challenges confronting the NPP-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government, he said.

He said revenue sources have been going down in the recent times with the National Green Tribunal banning mining of coal and the High Court tightening export of minerals like limestone.

Implementation of central government schemes has not been up to the mark and that was one of the reasons why money that should have come in did not arrive, he said.

Other immediate financial challenges the new government has identified are completion of the Assembly building and holding the National Games 2022 which coincides with 50th year of the state's formation.

He stressed that there was an urgent need to "plug the loopholes" in the revenue collection which, he said, would help increase revenue.

"This way," he said, "the Central government and everybody will realise that this government is serious about development business."



He said he found out that implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) was "quite bad" in the state.

"We want to create necessary manpower and cells within the public works department to strengthen the PMGSY wing apart from trying to get other projects through which we can focus on road connectivity in the rural areas."



When asked about the difference between the NPP and the Congress, which his father P A Sangma was originally a member of, Sangma said, "The Congress has a top-to-bottom approach. We truly believe not in high command but in a command that is going to be decided by a majority."



Reacting to the two churches rejecting Union tourism ministry's Swadesh Darshan Scheme earlier this year, he said, "I think it is my responsibility, the state and the central government's responsibility to raise this issue and find out ways to clarify the concerns and how to move forward."



Defending the government's offer to uplift the surroundings in the Church under the scheme, he said, "This is not any particular organisation giving you (church) money. It is the Government of India that is giving money. I feel that we should take it positively and any developmental work meant for our people should be welcomed."



He said he would take it up with the Centre and the Churches and end the stalemate.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A day after the Catholic Church in Kerala hit out against the re-opening of the closed liquor bars, the government today clarified that no new liquor outlets, beer and wine parlours would be opened in the state.

Reports that new outlets would be opened in the light of the Supreme Court verdict was baseless", Excise Minister T P Ramakrishnan, told reporters at Kozhikode.

On the basis of the apex court verdict relating to the matter, the government had issued the order allowing re-opening of liquor outlets, bars, beer and wine parlours to re-open in panchayats with a population of 10,000 from April two.

"No new liquor outlets and bars will be opened following the supreme court verdict, the minister said, adding, "the Left Democratic government's policy is abstinence and not prohibition", he said.

The Government has launched 'Vimukthi' (Kerala state mission for de-addition) to conduct awareness campaigns against alcoholism and drug abuse and that was showing results, he said.

On the basis of the apex court order, 171 beer and wine parlours, six retail outlets, three defence canteens and 499 toddy shops will be opened, he said.

The Catholic Church in the state had taken strong objection to the government decision, saying it was "anti people".

Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy of Thamarassery, Mar Remigiose Inchananiyil, had said yesterday that the government decision was another 'Ockhi disaster' in the making.

The bishop had said the coming Chengannur assembly byelection would be a referendum of the LDF government's decision on the new liquor policy and the move was a violation of poll promises given by the front during the assembly polls in 2016.

The opposition Congress led UDF and BJP had also criticised the government for its decision to re-open closed liquor outlets.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)North Korean officials wrapped up three days of talks with Swedish counterparts with no indication their efforts cleared the way for a mooted nuclear summit between US President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, as a senior Pyongyang diplomat headed to Finland today for further meetings.

The North's state KCNA news agency said Sunday the Stockholm talks had discussed "bilateral relations and other issues of mutual concern", without providing further detail.

The meetings in Sweden came a week after Trump agreed to a summit proposal relayed by South Korean envoys who met Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang.

His response triggered a race to set a credible agenda for what would be historic talks between the two leaders.

But no specific time or venue has been set and North Korea has yet to confirm it even made the offer to meet.

Choe Kang Il, deputy director for North American affairs at Pyongyang's foreign ministry, was seen at Beijing airport Sunday departing for Finland, where he is expected to hold talks with former US ambassador to Seoul Kathleen Stephens, multiple media reports said.

Earlier reports had listed Choe among the North's delegation to Sweden.

Choe, experienced in negotiations with the US, is expected to meet the retired US diplomat as well as other retired South Korean diplomats, the South's Yonhap news agency said, citing an unnamed diplomatic source.

"But no current US or South Korean officials will be there," Yonhap quoted the source in Seoul as saying.

In Stockholm, the Swedes were seeking to pave the way for talks which could end a threat of nuclear war, using the leverage of their longstanding ties with Pyongyang, where its diplomatic mission opened in 1975, the first Western embassy to be established in the hermit country.

The embassy today represents US, Canadian and Australian diplomatic interests, giving Sweden a key liaison role and facilitating the talks in Stockholm between Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom and counterpart Ri Yong Ho.

Ri also met with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, who Friday said Sweden hoped to be a summit "facilitator".

A senior US administration official told AFP Friday no US government staff would be meeting with the North Koreans in Sweden, where Ri was stationed as a diplomat for three years in the mid 1980s.

Wallstrom had earlier said the talks extended into Saturday given the "constructive atmosphere" of the first two days.

No concrete announcements emerged Saturday, as the Swedish foreign ministry stated that "the talks focused primarily on the security situation on the Korean peninsula, which is high on the UN Security Council agenda."



Noting Sweden's "consular responsibilities as a protecting power" for the United States, Canada and Australia, the statement indicated the "foreign ministers discussed opportunities and challenges associated with continued diplomatic efforts to reach a peaceful solution to the conflict."



The ministry added that "Sweden underlined the need for North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons and missile programmes in accordance with Security Council resolutions."It also stated that "other discussions centred on the humanitarian situation in North Korea, sanctions, and regional cooperation and security issues for countries including South Korea, Japan, Russia, China and the United States."Obesity paradox," - the idea that overweight or obese people are not always at increased risk of heart disease - may be a myth, according to a study of nearly 300,000 people.

The research, published in the European Heart Journal, shows that the risk of heart and blood vessel problems, such as heart attacks, strokes and high blood pressure, increases as body mass index (BMI) increases beyond a BMI of 22-23.

Furthermore, the risk also increases steadily the more fat a person carries around their waist.

The study was conducted in 296,535 adults of white European descent who are taking part in the UK Biobank study, and who were healthy at the time they enrolled with the study.

UK Biobank recruited from 2006 to 2010, and follow-up data on participants were available up to 2015 for this latest analysis.

Researchers at the University of Glasgow in the UK found that people with a BMI between 22-23 had the lowest risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD).

As BMI increased above 22, the risk of CVD increased by 13 per cent for every 5.2 increase in women and 4.3 in men.

Compared to women and men with waist circumferences of 74 and 83 cm respectively, the CVD risk increased by 16 per cent in women and 10 per cent in men for every 12.6 cm and 11.4 cm increase in waist circumference for women and men respectively.

Similar increases in CVD risk were seen when the researchers looked at waist-to-hip and waist-to-height ratios and percentage body fat mass - all of which are considered reliable ways to accurately gauge the amount of fat a person carries, also known as adiposity.

It is already known that being overweight or obese increases a person's risk of CVD, as well as other diseases such as cancer.

However, there have been studies suggesting that being overweight or obese may not have any effect on deaths from CVD or other causes, and may even be protective especially if people maintain a reasonable level of fitness.

This is known as the "obesity paradox." However, the new study refutes these previous, conflicting findings.

"Any public misconception of a potential 'protective' effect of fat on heart and stroke risks should be challenged," said Stamatina Iliodromit, who led the study.

"This is the largest study that provides evidence against the obesity paradox in healthy people," said Iliodromit.

"It is possible that the story may be different for those with pre-existing disease because there is evidence that in cancer patients, for instance, being slightly overweight is associated with lower risk, especially as cancer and its treatments can lead to unhealthy weight loss," she added.

"By maintaining a healthy BMI of around 22-23, healthy people can minimise their risk of developing or dying from heart disease," she said.

The researchers suggest that the previous confusion over the "obesity paradox" may be due to many factors that can confound results of studies.

For instance, smoking changes the distribution of fat in the body, smokers may have lower weight as smoking depresses appetites and so BMI tends to be lower.

Another reason could be that some people have existing but undiagnosed disease, which can often lower their weight but also makes them more likely to die prematurely.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah today called upon India and Pakistan to uphold the ceasefire on the Line of Control (LoC), saying innocent lives were being lost to border skirmishes.

Ceasefire was the best gift India and Pakistan gave to the areas near the border and the LoC, but since the last few years, we are continuously seeing that it has remained confined to paper only. It is not being implemented. I request both New Delhi as well as Islamabad to please follow the ceasefire as part of the CBMs (confidence building measures)," Abdullah said.

Innocent lives are being lost, he said and referred to the killing of five members of a family in Pakistani shelling today. The former J&K chief minister added that two girls were in hospital.

"This is too much. We want there should be peace on the border and the LoC, Abdullah said.

The National Conference (NC) working president was speaking to reporters after a party convention at Damhal Hanjipora in south Kashmir's Kulgam district on the occasion of the 23rd death anniversary of NC leader and former speaker Wali Muhammad Itoo.

Taking a dig at Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, Abdullah asked what happened to her announcement of an inquiry into the allegations of nepotism in the recruitment in Khadi Village and Industrial Board (KVIB).

The chief minister, three weeks before, had assured the youth of the state that an inquiry will be conducted into back-door appointments in KVIB. But, even as three weeks have passed, we have not got a copy of the order from the secretariat. Are her directions not be implemented or has she befooled the youth? he said attacking the ruling party.

The former chief minister said the chief minister stood relegated by her allies as erstwhile exclusive jurisdictions of the chief minister and the state government had been effectively shifted to the central government and the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.

Mehbooba Mufti has summarily surrendered her power to take decisions and has precious little to offer to the people beyond photo-ops and press statements, he alleged.

Just yesterday Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh exposed the duplicity and disingenuous modus operandi of the chief minister and her party when he revealed that the idea to offer amnesty to stone-pelters came from the Central Government and not the state government, he said.

This initiative till now was marketed by the PDP as Mehboobas initiative but it turns out she had nothing to do with the decision. Similarly, recently the chief minister tried to tell us how magnanimous and reconciliatory she was in seeking relief for a detained photojournalist who had been arrested by the NIA. The NIA came out at rubbished all such claims and said they would continue to oppose bail to the individual and had received no such instructions from the government or the Union Home Minister. Fortunately for the family of the young photojournalist, the honourable courts granted him bail despite opposition from the prosecution, he said.

He claimed the PDPs faustian bargain with the BJP was not an electoral compulsion as the chief minister would like us to believe today.

It was a pre-determined, pre-planned tactical and strategic coming together of the PDP and the BJP to reap dividends of a simultaneously divisive, insular and deceitful in both regions of the state, he alleged.

Omar said his party, after the election results of 2014, offered unconditional support to the PDP to form the Government with an intention to keep BJP at bay as their divisive campaign rhetoric and inherent of polarization did not auger well for the state's stability and welfare.

He claimed that J&K had been pushed into the throes of renewed militancy, turmoil and division. While the situation in Kashmir is volatile and unstable, Jammu is on the brink due to BJPs of polarization, he alleged.

The situation was especially volatile in south Kashmir where the youth stand alienated and disenchanted because of PDP's complete u-turn after 2014. In 2014 mainstream activities in Shopian, Pulwama, Kulgam and Anantnag could be conducted freely without any apprehensions. Today, the situation is such that the very idea of the mainstream stands questioned because of PDPs deceitful preference to power over ideology," he alleged.

The same young men who were exploited by the PDP in 2014 through its stentorian rhetoric are now being pushed towards militancy as all promises stand broken, he said continuing his attack.

Abdullah said parents in south Kashmir were weary about the future of their young children as the law and order situation deteriorates further in the complete absence of constructive, reconciliatory and sincere politics.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.): City-based Osmania University (OU) will start offering dual degree courses in partnership with University of Missouri-St Louis (UMSL) by June this year.

OU Vice Chancellor Prof S Ramachandram had an early morning video conference today with UMSL officials to firm up the subjects that will be part of the programme, a release from the University said.

The conference is a follow-up to a meeting the Vice Chancellor had with officials of the University of Missouri-St. Louis in May last year.

Forty students, 10 each from the four courses,will get an opportunity to study in Missouri University, the release said, adding that Osmania University was working on the modalities.

University of Missouri was also interested in bringing its courses in criminology and criminal justice and in optometry to Osmania, it said.

UMSL currently has a partnership with about 75 universities in nearly 50 countries. Most are student-exchange relationships, some more active than others, the release said.

The Deepak Vyas Foundation will partially fund the students and is also keen on setting up an Endowment fund, it added.

Thomas F George, Vice Chancellor of the University of Missouri-St. Louis, Neeta Bhushan Consul General of India



Chicago, were among those who participated in the video conference.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)In a strong message, US Vice President Mike Pence has told Pakistan's Prime Minister Shahid Khaqani Abbasi that his country "must do more" against Taliban and other terror groups, the White House said today.

Pence said this to Abbasi, who was on a personal trip this week to see his ailing sister. They met at the Naval Observatory residence of Pence on Friday. The meeting was held at the request of Abbasi.

"Vice President Pence reiterated President Trump's request that the Government of Pakistan must do more to address the continued presence of the Taliban, Haqqani Network, and other terrorist groups operating in their country," the White House said in a statement of the meeting.

"The Vice President stated that US efforts to eliminate terrorist groups who threaten US security and the stability of the region will continue and noted that Pakistan could and should work closer with the US," the White House said.

According to the Dawn newspaper, which reported first reported about the meeting, Pence told the Pakistani Prime Minister that the Trump Administration could take unilateral actions if there was no satisfactory counter-terrorism action from Pakistan.

During the 30-minute meeting, Pence also emphasised the need for immediate action from Pakistan to stop cross-border attacks, the Dawn reported.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Goa Chief Minister is "responding positively" to the medical treatment in the US and is expected to return to India in the second week of April, a senior BJP leader said on Sunday.

Parrikar had left from Goa for Mumbai in the first week of March. He later went to USA for further treatment of a pancreatic ailment.

"Parrikar is responding positively to the treatment in the US. His all parameters are normal and he would be taking treatment for another fortnight there before coming back to India in the second week of April," the BJP Goa unit leader said.

However, he said, there is no clarity on whether the chief minister would continue with his check-up at the Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai after his return or he would come to Goa.

Parrikar was initially admitted to the Lilavati Hospital after being diagnosed with mild pancreatitis last month. He was discharged after a few days and returned to Goa to present the budget on February 21.

After spending a couple of days at home, he was admitted to the Goa Medical College and Hospital near here.

Later, he again went to the Lilavati Hospital on March 5 and from there he was taken to the US.

Before leaving Goa, Parrikar had formed a cabinet advisory committee to guide the state administration on governance and other issues, in his absence.

The committee comprises Sudin Dhavalikar (of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party), Francis D'Souza (of the BJP) and Vijai Sardesai (of the Goa Forward Party).

The MGP and the Goa Forward Party are allies of the ruling BJP in the coastal state.

The Goa BJP had yesterday said that there was no question of a change in leadership in the state due to the illness of Chief Minister

Union AYUSH minister and North Goa Member of Parliament Shripad Naik had ruled out the possibility of a leadership change in Goa.Philippine President today urged other nations to follow his move to quit a treaty underpinning the Criminal Court which is examining his deadly drug war.

Duterte lashed out at the war crimes tribunal two days after his government officially notified the United Nations of his decision to pull the Philippines out of the Rome Statute.

"I said withdraw simply because to announce to the world and I will convince everybody now who (is) under the treaty: get out, get out. It is rude," Duterte said in a speech before Philippine Military Academy graduates.

"It is not a document that was prepared by anybody. It's an EU-sponsored (treaty)," he added, as he criticised the court for going after "blacks".

The Hague-based ICC announced last month it was launching a "preliminary examination" of Duterte's bloody anti-drug crackdown that has drawn concern.

Duterte, 72, won elections in mid-2016 vowing to launch an unprecedented drug war in which tens of thousands of people would die.

Police say they have killed nearly 4,100 drug suspects as part of the campaign, while rights groups claim the toll is around three times the numbers given by authorities.

Opened in 2002, the ICC is the world's only permanent war crimes court and aims to prosecute the worst abuses when national courts are unable or unwilling.

On Friday, the Philippines formally notified the UN that it was withdrawing from the ICC saying the stand was against "those who would politicise and weaponise human rights".

The tribunal had urged Manila to reconsider its decision, with the president of its governing body saying he deeply regretted the move.

"A state party withdrawing from the Rome Statute would negatively impact our collective efforts towards fighting impunity", said Assembly of State Parties president O-Gon Kwon.President Ram Nath Kovind today released commemorative coins in denominations of Rs 10 and Rs 1000 on Lord Jagannath's Nabakalebar festival.

The President, who is visiting Odisha, released the coins during the centenary celebration of Rastriya Sanskrit Sansthan here.

Addressing a function held on the occasion, Kovind described the pilgrim town of Puri as the Vidya Nagri (education hub) for its connection with knowledge and science since ancient times.

He said Puri was one of the four 'dhams' for Hindus, where the saints and spiritual leaders like Adi Shankaracharya, Ramanuj, Chaitanya and Guru Nanak visited and established their mutts to be in services of Lord Jagannath.

Puri is also called the Kashi of eastern region in India. Adi Shankaracharya chose Puri to establish his 'peeth'. This is the place where Ramanujacharya, Madhvacharya and Nimbarkacharya had visited. It is told that Guru Nanak, Santh Kabir and Chaityanya Mahaprabhu also made their visits here. Puri is the integrated place of various thoughts and schools of religion, Kovind said.

Stating that Lord Jagannath temple is the centre for art and culture, the President said the Lord's Rath Yatra has a significant place in the hearts of Indians.

"I am impressed with the tradition of Rath Yatra when Lord Jagannath comes out of temple for devotees. All the devotees, irrespective of caste and religion, witness and participate in the event. This festival strengthens equality, peace, goodwill, progress and values of universal brotherhood. It also describes the value of labour and significance of creator as Gajapati Maharaja used to sweep the chariots during the festival, he said.

While acknowledging the significance of Sanskrit, Kovid said even Adi Shankaracharya, who belonged to Kerala and whose mother tongue was Malayalam, learned Sanskirt and established four peeths in Uttarakhand, Puri, Dwarka and Rameswaram at four dhams in the country.

The President said that his father had visited Puri Temple on October 9, 1947, when he was around 8-9 years old.

I am fortunate to visit here and had darshan of Lord Jagannath in Puri where my father had visited in 1947, he said.

First Lady Savita Kovind, Odisha Governor S C Jamir, Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Jual Oram, Odisha Higher Education Minister Ananta Das, Puri King Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingha Deb and others were present during the ceremony.

Earlier in the day, the President visited the 12th century Lord Jagannath shrine here.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)President Ram Nath Kovind today paid obeisance to the deities at Shree Jagannath Temple here and sought blessings amid tight security.

Kovind, who is on his maiden visit to Odisha after becoming President, was welcomed at the Singhdwar, the Lion's Gate of the 12th century shrine, by Gajapati King of Puri Dibyasingha Deb and senior servitors.

Accompanied by wife Savita Kovind, the President was escorted inside the sprawling temple complex among others by the Gajapati King of Puri, officials of Shree Jagannath Temple Administrtaion (SJTA) and his family priest.

The President went inside the sanctum sanctorum of the temple and offered prayers before the sibling deities of Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannath during a special darshan, said a senior priest.

Kovind also paid obeisance at the temples of Devi Bimala and Mahalaxmi and went around the sprawling complex spending around 45 minutes inside.

Elaborate arrangements were made by the district administration and the officials of SJTA for the Presidents visit to the temple.

A tight security net was thrown around the temple which remained closed for the public for two hours in view of the visit of Kovind, a senior official said.

Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Odisha Revenue Minister Maheswar Mohanty and Puri Collector Aravind Agarwal were present on the occasion.

The President arrived in Bhubaneswar yesterday on a two-day visit to Odisha.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Admitting that there was a delay in finding a solution to the mining crisis in Goa, the state BJP today said Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had initiated a process to resolve the issue, but it got stuck due to his ill-health.

BJP Goa unit chief Vinay Tendulkar and Union AYUSH minister Shripad Naik said that Union minister Nitin Gadkari, who will be on a two-day visit to Goa from tomorrow, would try to find a solution to the problem.

"We admit that there was a delay in finding a solution to the mining crisis because of CM's sudden health issues. On February 14, the chief minister had summoned the MPs and legislators from the mining belt. But on the same day his health deteriorated," Tendulkar said.

Naik said, "It is unfortunate that Parrikar fell ill, due to which the entire issue went on the back-burner. But now, attempts are being made to find a solution to the crisis."



Holding the BJP-led state government responsible for the crisis, people whose livelihood depends on the mining industry, have decided to hold a protest here tomorrow.

However, the ruling party today made an appeal to the protesters to withhold their agitation.

"I appeal to people who are dependent on the mining industry not to hold a protest as all attempts are being made to bring out a solution," Tendulkar said.

The mining industry had to stop operations from Friday, as per the deadline set by the Supreme Court. The apex court had last month quashed the second renewal of iron ore mining leases given to 88 companies in Goa in 2015 and given the miners time till March 15 to manage their affairs.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri has said he proposed the Delhi metro to evolve a mechanism to offer special or discounted fares for students and senior citizens to offset the burden of fare hike on them effected last year.

The housing and urban affairs minister said technology has to be developed to implement the scheme and ensure it is not misused.

"At least, there should be some special fares for senior citizens and students. We have already proposed that to the Delhi metro. I've asked the Delhi metro chief to find out some way. We will do it," he told PTI.

Puri, however, said the initiative should not be considered as "populist" and that it would be within the framework of the law.

Stressing that technology was a great tool to prevent corruption, Puri said a solution would be found out through technology that would assure that benefits reach the targeted group and is not misused.

Currently, there has been no discount on fares for any category of passengers travelling on the Delhi metro.

The former bureaucrat, however, did not specify any time-frame for implementation of the special tariffs for students and senior citizens.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is a 50:50 joint venture between the Centre and the Delhi government. Its fare are revised on the recommendation of a Fare-Fixation Committee (FFC).

Metro fares were hiked by up to 100 per cent across multiple distance slabs last year after two-phase fare hike effected in May and October on recommendation of the FFC, chaired by Justice (Retd) M L Mehta, which also had the Delhi chief secretary and the additional secretary of the Ministry of Urban Development on board.

On November 24, the DMRC's response to an RTI application found that metro lost three lakh commuters per day following the October-10 hike, triggering a slugfest between the Kejriwal government and the Centre.

Kejriwal said the fare hike was "killing" the metro and pushing commuters away from it, while Puri had maintained the fall in ridership could not be solely attributed to the fare hike and factors such as an extra Sunday, Diwali and Chhath Puja may also have been responsible.

Speaking on the issue, Puri said it was not his ministry's decision but the FFC's which hiked the fare as the tariffs were not revised for 8-9 years.

"I didn't do it (fare hike) and neither I nor Kejriwal could stop it," he said, adding the Delhi metro has to repay the loan it has taken for carrying out its projects.

"If you do not increase the fare then what will you do? How will you return the money? If you are not able to repay the loan, will anybody give you money next time you need it?"



Puri said it was wrong to say that the fare hike led lower footfall and stressed that there have been "definite" increase in the number of passengers.

An official said that since the last year's fare hike, there has been an increase in the number of travellers taking long journey on the Delhi metro, while a decline in short-distance travels.

Puri also suggested a number of ways to increase the revenue of the Delhi metro that included advertisements and commercial exploitation of the land.

The Union minister said Kejriwal would meet him on Monday to discuss various issues related to Delhi, including the phase-IV of the metro project and ongoing sealing drive.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Russians were voting today in a presidential election set to hand Vladimir Putin a record fourth term, with officials reporting strong turnout but the opposition crying foul.

The Kremlin needs high voter numbers to give greater legitimacy to a new mandate for Putin as Russia faces increasing isolation over a spy poisoning in Britain and a fresh round of US sanctions.

Putin is running against seven other candidates, but his main challenger Alexei Navalny has been barred for legal reasons and the outcome is in little doubt.

About 107 million Russians are eligible to cast ballots, but some analysts say that after 18 years of Putin's leadership -- both as president and prime minister -- fatigue may be setting in.

Turnout was nearly 52 per cent by 1400 GMT, electoral officials said.

But Navalny charged that the poll has been staged and voter numbers rigged.

Since first being elected president in 2000, Putin has stamped his total authority on the world's biggest country, muzzling opposition, putting television under state control and reasserting Moscow's standing abroad.

The 65-year-old former KGB officer has sought to use the campaign to emphasise Russia's role as a major world power, boasting of its "invincible" new nuclear weapons in a pre-election speech.

Casting his ballot in Moscow, Putin said he would be pleased with any result giving him the right to continue as president.

"I am sure the programme I am offering is the right one," said the man who is already Russia's longest-serving leader since Stalin.

Most people who spoke to AFP said they voted for Putin, praising him for lifting the country out of the post-Soviet quagmire.

"Of course I'm for Putin, he's a leader," said Olga Matyunina, a 65-year-old retired economist.

"After he brought Crimea back, he became a hero to me."



Sunday marks four years since Putin signed a treaty declaring Crimea to be part of Russia in a move that triggered a pro-Kremlin insurgency in east Ukraine, a conflict that has claimed over 10,000 lives.

At many polling stations the atmosphere was festive, with patriotic songs blasting out of speakers, cheap food available to voters and entertainers organising games for children.

But Navalny, who risks 30 days in jail for organising illegal protests, urged a boycott.

"We do not recognise these elections," he said, claiming turnout was being rigged.

Navalny has deployed more than 33,000 observers, with his team branding the vote "a staged procedure to reappoint Putin".

"Those who said there would be fewer falsifications during these elections because Putin has already won over everyone have made a mistake."



Navalny's team and non-government election monitor Golos reported ballot stuffing and multiple voting, with voters also being bussed to polling booths against the law.

"I will not go to vote. What for?" Boris Limarev, a 39-year-old manager, said as he walked his dog near a polling station in Saint Petersburg.

"It's clear to everyone who will be elected."



"And the rest of the candidates are clowns," interjected his wife Anna, 35.

"Another six years of slavery," said a piece of paper made up to look like a ballot which was spotted on a Moscow street -- in an apparent reference to Putin's next term.

Ahead of the poll, a new crisis broke out with the West as Britain implicated Putin in the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal with a Soviet-designed nerve agent.

In response, London expelled 23 Russian diplomats, prompting a tit-for-tat move by Moscow. Also this week, Washington hit Russia with sanctions for trying to influence the 2016 US election.

Putin's previous Kremlin term was marked by a crackdown on the opposition after huge protests, the Ukraine conflict, military intervention in Syria and the introduction of Western sanctions that contributed to a fall in living standards.

But he seems certain to extend his rule to 2024 despite a lacklustre campaign and a litany of domestic problems such as widespread poverty and poor healthcare.

In Saint Petersburg, Antonina Kurchatova, 40, said she voted for Putin but was hoping things would not get worse.

"As far as the economy is concerned, everything is terrible."



In the town of Istra some 60 kilometres northwest of Moscow, Valeriya Ivanova, 23, and her husband also voted for Putin.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Global accountancy firm PwC has suggested "timebound" resolution of disputes under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) to make the new indirect tax regime more business friendly.

One-time dispute resolution schemes were introduced under the erstwhile regime, but industry has been rigid about adopting such measures for various reasons, PwC said in a report.

The government should "seriously look" look at business-friendly measures to put to rest long pending litigations, it said.

India rolled out GST on July 1 last year thus subsuming most of the other indirect taxes both at the central as well as states' level.

PwC also said the government needs to focus on strengthening the advance ruling process to ensure minimal litigation and improved tax regime.

"...there is a need for a mandate to ensure that disputes under the GST are closed in a timebound manner," it said.

The report noted that the implementation of GST is a "truly a remarkable" achievement for India and all the stakeholders, and the government, industry and consumers deserve "to be applauded for this".

"It's now time to consolidate and let the regime stabilise, while continuing to explore structural changes to bring it closer to what we had all visualised," the report said.

It further said that 2018 may see the expansion of the tax base in India with real estate and petroleum products being brought under the ambit of the GST.

As per the report, inclusion of real estate under the GST may be more difficult and require a constitutional amendment.

On bringing petroleum products under the GST, PwC said the real bottleneck is in building a consensus among the states.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Launching a scathing attack on the BJP-led NDA government, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray today called for opposition unity and a "Modi-mukt Bharat" by 2019.

Addressing party workers at a rally at Shivaji Park in central Mumbai, Thackeray said, "The country is fed up with the false promises made by Narendra Modi and his government."



All opposition parties should come together to get rid of the BJP-led NDA government to ensure "Modi-mukt Bharat", he said, reminding the audience of BJP's "Congress-mukt Bharat" slogan.

"India got its first Independence in 1947, second in 1977 (after the post-Emergency elections), and 2019 can bring a third Independence if India becomes 'Modi-mukt'," the MNS chief said.

If the Modi government was ousted and an inquiry is ordered into demonetisation, it (the note-ban) may turn out to be the biggest scam ever since 1947, he said.

Quoting a report of ISRO, Thackeray said, "A large scale desertification of Maharashtra is going on due to depletion of groundwater. After Rajasthan, our state has reported the second highest rate of desertification in country."



Saying this, he went on to question Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's claim of digging of 56,000 wells in the state.

He was in favour of building a Ram temple in Ayodhya, but it should not be used as an election issue, he said.

"The Babri Masjid demolition case is in the Supreme Court and it will be deliberately discussed in the coming days to instigate communal riots," he said.

"Ram Mandir should be built, but it should not be used as an election plank to divide the society and win votes," he said.

In a dig at prime minister Modi's foreign tours, Thackeray said Modi was apparently visiting foreign countries to get "flour for Pakoda" as his tours haven't fetched any investments.

The MNS chief also said that films such as "Toilet Ek Prem Katha" and "Padman" were a covert propaganda for government schemes.

Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar, who starred in both the films, was trying to walk in the footsteps of yesteryear actor Manoj Kumar, popularly known as 'Bharat Kumar', he said.

"But Akshay Kumar is not even an Indian citizen. He holds a Canadian passport and his Wikipedia profile describes him as Indian-born Canadian actor," Thackeray said.

Taking a potshot at chief minister Fadnavis, who recently featured in a video song about river conservation, the MNS chief said, "There are so many problems in the state, but apparently the CM is busy singing songs."



Thackeray also questioned the government's decision to accord state funeral to Bollywood actor Sridevi after her death last month.

"Sridevi was a great actor, but what had she done for the country so that her body should have been wrapped in the tricolour?" he asked.

Media may have covered her funeral extensively at government's behest to divert people's attention from the Nirav Modi-Punjab National Bank scam, he said.

The government is trying to control media, judiciary and institutions like CBI, Thackeray said, alleging that media is under tremendous pressure from the government.

Incidentally, Raj Thackeray had met Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar yesterday ahead of today's rally.

He, however, described the meeting at Pawar's residence in south Mumbai as a courtesy call.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Union minister Piyush Goyal said today the budget allotted for railways in Uttar Pradesh had been increased from Rs 1,100 crore last year to Rs 3,600 crore this year.

Goyal also announced several projects including re-development of Charbagh railway station, Lucknow Junction and Gomti Nagar stations , over bridge at Malhaur (in Lucknow) and development of passenger amenities at Alamnagar station, an official statement said.

"The budget outlay for Uttar Pradesh has been increased to Rs 3,600 crore as against Rs 1,100 crores in the previous year," the minister said.

He added the total budget for the projects announced today alone will be Rs 3,600 crores.

The minister said he was very pleased with the cleanliness standards of Lucknow station. The standard now was better as compered to his previous visit, the minister said.

Goyal said that Indian Railways are working relentlessly on speed, safety, security and passenger amenities being provided over all the stations across the length and breadth of the country.

The Northern Railway in a statement said that as a major step towards strengthening the rail infrastructure and for betterment of passenger services, it is providing upgraded facilities especially focusing on the state capital and its neighbouring areas.

"The facilities that are being offered are: two escalators and a lift at Lucknow Station (NR), three lifts at Platform nmber 1, 2/3 and 4/5 at Lucknow Junction (North- Eastern Railway), over-bridge at Lucknow Jn.(NER), foot over bridge at Utraitia, electronic interlocking at Ajgain, Amausi & Harauni stations, renovated circulating area and new station building of station entry at Aishbagh station and dedication of heritage steam locomotive stabled at Lucknow station (NR)," it added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The CPI has said that the realignment of political forces in the country is possible in the run-up to the general election next year, in the backdrop of BJP's defeat in the recent Lok Sabha bypolls in Uttar Pradesh.

The results of the by-elections in UP, Bihar and Rajasthan have indicated that BJP's stock was decreasing and the people were disillusioned with the lead party of the NDA, party General Secretary S Sudhakar Reddy said.

"There is a possibility of realignment. This realignment is the policy which the CPI has been talking about from the beginning. There should be a one-to-one contest, if not an all India understanding between all the parties," the party General Secretary S Sudhakar Reddy told PTI.

"So, I hope in most of the (LS) seats, it takes place. We now believe after the bypoll results in Uttar Pradesh, it is the beginning of the end of the BJP rule in the country," he said.

The votes of Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have increased marginally, but the BJP's vote share has come down considerably, he said.

"It is very interesting to note that the vote share of the SP and BSP showed little increase, only five to six per cent, whereas the votes of BJP have dropped from five lakh to three lakh in the Gorakhpur constituency. In Phulpur also, a substantial number of votes of BJP have been lost," he said.

The BJP last week lost the Lok Sabha bypolls in Gorakhpur and Phulpur constituencies in Uttar Pradesh and Araria in Bihar.

The Gorakhpur seat was won by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in 2014. He later resigned when the BJP came to power in the state.

The Telugu Desam Party and former Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's party pulling out of NDA government at the Centre would also impact the course of developments, he said.Jailed AIADMK leader V K Sasikala's husband M Natarajan has been admitted to a hospital here with "severe" chest infection and his condition is said to be "critical", an official said.

The 74-year-old was admitted to Gleneagles Global hospital here.

"Natarajan Maruthappa was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU), Gleneagles Global (Hospital), on March 16 with severe chest infection," the hospital said in a statement today.

Natarajan is on "ventilator support" and his condition is "critical," the hospital's chief operating officer, Shanmuga Priyan, said.

In October last year, Natarajan was admitted to the hospital, where he underwent a liver and kidney transplant.

He was discharged after having completely recovered from the operation with good liver and kidney graft function.

Sasikala, serving a four-year imprisonment in a disproportionate assets case in the central prison in Bengaluru, had visited her husband after obtaining emergency parole last year.

Natarajan had worsening liver and kidney failure and lung congestion, ahead of the twin organ transplant.

Tracheostomy was performed on October 6, 2017, and he was on ventilator support for sometime, the hospital had said then.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)BEIJING, March 17 (Xinhua) -- Congratulations are pouring in from around the world after Xi Jinping was elected Chinese president by a unanimous vote on Saturday morning at the ongoing session of the 13th National People's Congress.

Xi, 64, was also unanimously elected chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC).

In their congratulatory messages, leaders of foreign countries, political parties and organizations expressed confidence that under Xi's leadership, China will achieve greater prosperity and make more contributions to world peace and development.

The following is an edited version of some of the messages.

Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un said he wishes that under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) with Xi at the core, the Chinese people will make greater achievements in the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era.

He said he believes that DPRK-China relations will develop toward the direction that conforms to the common interests of the two peoples.

Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang said he believes that Xi, as the core of the CPC Central Committee, president of China and chairman of the CMC, will lead the Chinese people to realize the goal of building a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful.

He said he also believes that China will make important contributions to the peace, stability and prosperity of the region and the world at large.

The Vietnamese party, state and people attach great importance to the development of good-neighborly friendship and comprehensive cooperation with China, and regard it as the strategic choice and top priority of Vietnam's foreign policy, he added.

Lao President Bounnhang Vorachit said he believes that under the leadership of the CPC with Xi at the core, the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics will make comprehensive and historic achievements.

Bounnhang said China will definitely realize the goal of building a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful.

Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain said Xi's election as Chinese president reflects the Chinese people's full confidence in his leadership.

Hussain said China has made remarkable achievements in the past five years, which has not only enhanced China's international status and image, but also brought great changes in people's lives.

Hussain added that he believes the great Chinese nation will continue to move forward and achieve the goal of national rejuvenation.

Pakistan and China are all-weather strategic partners, and the two countries will continue to commit themselves to comprehensively strengthening bilateral relations and benefiting the two peoples, Hussain added.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said he wishes that under Xi's leadership, China realizes the Chinese dream as soon as possible and makes greater contribution to peace and development in Northeast Asia and the world at large.

With this year marking the 10th anniversary of the establishment of South Korea-China strategic cooperative partnership, Moon said he would like to make efforts with Xi to steer bilateral relations toward maturity and into a new era.

Japanese Emperor Akihito wished Xi good health and China prosperity.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said this year marks the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and the People's Republic of China, as well as the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up policy.

During the past 40 years, China has made remarkable progress, and the two countries have developed extensive cooperation, Abe said.

He hoped to take this year as an opportunity to improve the Japan-China relationship, taking it to a new level of development.

[ Editor: Xueying ]Seven militants, including neo-JMB terror group's regional chief, were sentenced to death today in Bangladesh for killing a Sufi shrine caretaker in 2015, according to a media report.

The militants hacked Rahmat Ali, the caretaker of a shrine, and slit his throat on November 10, 2015, Daily Star reported.

Police filed charges against 15 people in the case. The court indicted the suspects on August 16 last year.

A court in Rangpur has sentenced seven militants, including neo-JMB regional commander Masud Rana, to death for the murder.

But neo-JMB leader Jahangir Alam and five others have been acquitted, the report said.

The verdict was announced by Rangpur Special Judge Naresh Chandra Sarkar.

The JMB has been held responsible for a wave of extremist attacks on religious minorities and bloggers in the past five years.

In July 2016, JMB militants stormed a Dhaka cafe and massacred 22 hostages, including an Indian.

Bangladesh has been waging a campaign against JMB and other homegrown militant outfits after the attacks.

Hundreds of militants were also arrested as part of a crackdown. Many of them have already been sentenced to death for the attacks.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Political parties in West Bengal will use the social media extensively for the first time to woo rural voters in the panchayat polls slated for later this year, given the rise in the number of smart phone users in the state, leaders of various parties said.

With 70 per cent of the Lok Sabha seats of the state being in its rural areas and the general election due next year, the panchayat polls and its results have assumed greater importance, they said.

The ruling Trinamool Congress and the BJP are way ahead of its rivals in terms of presence on the social media and are followed by the CPI(M) and the Congress.

The TMC leadership has asked its district leaders to ensure maximum use of social media to reach out to young voters. Its students wing, the Trinamool Chatra Parishad, has engaged its cadres in various colleges of the districts to create awareness about the developmental work of the Mamata Banerjee government.

"Apart from the traditional mode of election campaigning, social media will also be used to reach out to the people as almost 99 per cent of the youths use WhatsApp and Facebook," a senior TMC leader told PTI.

The TMC leadership has also asked its party workers to remain active on social media in order to counter any "misuse of social media to foment trouble in the state".

"The BJP and the RSS are for a long time trying to foment trouble in the state by circulating fake posts and rumours on Facebook and WhatsApp. We are cautious about it," said another TMC leader.

The state had witnessed incidents of communal violence last year triggered by inflammatory posts on social media.

A BJP leader said a dedicated team of the party's leaders and workers are working 24x7 to ensure that messages, video clips of speeches of its important leaders and the development work by the Narendra Modi government at the Centre are communicated to the people over the social media.

"Apart from going to the people physically, social media will play a vital role in reaching out to masses especially youths," BJP state president Dilip Ghosh said.

The party plans to run 50 WhatsApp groups in each block of the state so that all the 77,000 booths can be covered by using social media, said another BJP leader.

"In many places of the state, the opposition is not being allowed to hold a rally or a press conference. In those places social media will play an important role in reaching out to people," he said.

With smart phones getting cheaper, many people in the rural areas have access to them and are regular users of WhatsApp and Facebook, he added.

The Congress too is trying to woo the youth through the social media - a move party leaders said would help it counter the campaigns by the BJP and the TMC over the Internet.

The state unit of the party has recruited social media coordinators for each Assembly segment.

State Congress president Adhir Chowdhury stressed that the party could not lag behind the aggressive social media campaigns by the BJP and the TMC.

"Social media is one of the best tools to reach out to the youth of the state who are well versed with it - be it Facebook or WhatsApp. To reach out to the youth, a strong social media presence is a must," Chowdhury told PTI.

The Congress plans to highlight the "failures" of both the BJP government at the Centre and the Trinamool Congress government in the state on Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp as well as its own election manifesto, party sources said.

The CPI(M)-led Left Front, which is facing a tough time in the state and is staring at the possibility of losing its opposition status to the BJP, is actively training hundreds of its cadres on proper use of social media platforms.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Southeast Asian leaders and Australia's prime minister today called on North Korea to end its nuclear program and urged UN countries to fully implement sanctions against the country.

Leaders at the first summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to be held in Australia issued a joint statement with the host country that also called for non-militarisation and a code of conduct in the contested waters of the South China Sea, where China has become increasingly assertive.

ASEAN leaders also said they were working to provide humanitarian assistance for the continuing crisis involving Muslim Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Myanmar's leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, addressed the matter "comprehensively" in meetings today.

On North Korea, the ASEAN-Australia joint statement urged North Korea to "immediately and fully comply with its obligations under all relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions," and called on all countries to implement sanctions.

Turnbull went further at a closing conference, saying ASEAN and Australia had affirmed their commitment to respond strongly over the "grave concerns we share about North Korea's reckless and illegal nuclear missile programs." President Donald



Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who are both planning to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un this spring, pledged last week to maintain "maximum pressure" on Kim's authoritarian regime and seek action to force him to give up his nuclear weapons.

Singapore's prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, the current chair of ASEAN, said the bloc had been encouraged by negotiations for the summits and had "noted reports of North Korea's commitment to denuclearization and its pledge to refrain from further nuclear missile tests during this period."



On territorial conflicts with China, which like Australia is not a member of ASEAN, the statement said, "We emphasize the importance of non-militarization and the need to enhance mutual trust and confidence, exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities and avoid actions that may complicate the situation."China and the five countries that have conflicting territorial claims over the South China Sea which include four ASEAN members plan to negotiate a code of conduct for the busy waterway aimed at reducing the risks of armed confrontations in the contested areas.

Lee said this was an issue for all ASEAN countries as it was "a security and stability question" that would "affect all ASEAN countries if it goes wrong."



He also said ASEAN policy meant it was "not able to intervene and to force an outcome" over the Rohingya crisis, in which more than 700,000 refugees have fled to neighboring Bangladesh amid a Myanmar military campaign that the UN has called "ethnic cleansing."



But Lee said the matter was a cause of concern for all of ASEAN, whose members would be anxious "if there is any instability or any trouble" in fellow member countries.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said Saturday that the crisis was no longer solely a domestic issue for Myanmar, with fleeing Rohingya potential targets for terrorist radicalisation.

Turnbull said the Rohingya issue was discussed by the leaders "very constructively" Sunday. "Aung San Suu Kyi addressed the matter comprehensively at some considerable length herself," he said.

The ASEAN nations are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Britain's banks, energy and water companies are all said to be on high alert against the threat of a possible Russian cyber-attack amid an escalating diplomatic row between the two countries over the poisoning of a former Russian double agent on British soil.

Fears that Moscow could target Britain's critical national infrastructure came as Russia's ambassador to the European Union (EU) suggested a UK research laboratory could be the source of the deadly nerve agent used in the attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

When you have a nerve agent or whatever, you check it against certain samples that you retain in your laboratories. And Porton Down, as we now all know, is the largest military facility in the United Kingdom that has been dealing with chemical weapons research. And it's actually only eight miles from Salisbury," Vladimir Chizhov told the BBC.

He stressed that Russia had nothing to do with the poisoning and that it did not stockpile the poison. Chizhov's comments came as a Russian foreign ministry spokesperson also tried to lay the blame on Britain, saying the UK was one of the most likely sources of the nerve agent, along with the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Sweden or possibly the US.

Meanwhile, officers from Britain's Special Branch of intelligence and security services are investigating death threats against another Russian dissident living in the UK, who has received a series of threatening emails linking his fate to Skripal.

Valery Morozov, 63, who claimed political asylum in the UK after blowing the whistle on Kremlin corruption, received a series of emails last week, warning: They came for Sergei, they will come for you.

According to The Sunday Times', Morozov received threats from an anonymous encrypted email address and immediately reported them to Surrey police. When he did not reply, Morozov received a second email, warning: Do you not care what will happen to you? Waiting for your confirmation.

Scotland Yard has issued a renewed appeal for information from anyone who may have seen a burgundy red BMW owned by 66-year-old Skripal, the former Russian spy who was found unconscious on March 4 in Salisbury along with his daughter, Yulia. The pair remain critical but stable in hospital.

British Prime Minister Theresa May informed Parliament earlier this week that the poison has been identified as being part of a group of military-grade nerve agents known as Novichok developed by the former Soviet Union.

Soon after she announced the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats identified as undeclared intelligence officers, the Kremlin expelled the same number based in Russia and also announced the closure of the British Consulate-General in St Petersburg as well as the British Council in Moscow.

Today, the UK government said that independent investigators from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will arrive in Britain tomorrow to kick off their investigation into the nerve agent used in the attempted assassinations of the Skripals.

The team from The Hague will meet with officials from the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory in Porton Down and the police to discuss the process for collecting samples, including environmental ones.

The Foreign Secretary (Boris Johnson) revealed this morning that we have information indicating that within the last decade, Russia has investigated ways of delivering nerve agents likely for assassination.

"And part of this programme has involved producing and stockpiling quantities of Novichok. This is a violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, a Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) statement said.

The results of the OPCW investigation are expected to take a minimum of two weeks.

Meanwhile, Johnson is set to meet his EU counterparts and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg for talks in Brussels tomorrow to deliberate on joint action against Russia.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Tata Motors plans to bring in new products in order to have presence in around 95 per cent of Indian passenger vehicles market by 2020, besides working on offering "electric solution" on most of its portfolio going forward.

The company currently sells a range of vehicles from hatchback to SUVs playing in about 70 per cent of the market in India.

"Our resolve is that by 2020, we will cover 95 per cent of the market with various kinds of products," Tata Motors President, Passenger Vehicles Business Unit, Mayank Pareek told PTI on the sidelines of Geneva Motor Show.

With the addition of new products and enhanced play in the segment, the company would be able to ramp up its market share, which currently stands at around 7 per cent, he added.

Commenting on drive for electric vehicles (EVs) in India, Pareek said the company believed that there was a need to strongly back electric mobility.

"It is a very good solution for a country like us. We are energy starved and our cities are polluted," Pareek said.

Speaking about Tata Motors' plans for EVs, he said,"We are committed that most of the products we have should have an electric solution going forward. It will happen".

Currently, Tata Motors offers only Tigor with electric powertrain in passenger vehicles segment. It is also planning to come out with an electric version of its compact hatchback Tiago.

When asked about company's sales outlook for the next fiscal, Pareek said that the company would grow better than the industry.

"According to our estimate, industry (PV segment) will grow by 7-9 per cent and we will certainly grow better than the industry," he added.

The company has already done better in terms of sales in the current fiscal as compared with 2016-17, Pareek said.

On sales network expansion, Pareek said the company aims to almost double its sales outlets by 2020.

"Three years back we had around 400 outlets. Now, we have around 800. By 2020 we will go up to 1,500," he added.

Besides, physical outlets the company would also expand the new format for sale which is based on digital technology, Pareek said.

In order to bring in more customers to the company's fold, the company is in the process of revamping its dealer network currently, he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A group of teachers from Mumbai today put up a black 'gudhi' outside the house of Maharashtra education minister Vinod Tawde as a mark of protest against the alleged delay in payment of their salaries.

The protest came on the day of 'Gudhi Padwa', when the Maharashtrians celebrate the commencement of the Hindu New Year by putting up colourful gudhis at their houses.

A gudhi is made of a silver, copper or bronze urn covered in auspicious red, yellow or saffron cloth and hoisted upside down at the entrance of the house. It is a sign of prosperity and good things to come.

As a mark of protest against the alleged delay in disbursement of salaries of teachers, Anil Bornare, the head of the Mumbai unit of Maharashtra Rajya Shikshak Parishad, and some other teachers reached outside Tawde's bungalow in the Vile Parle area here today and put up the black gudhi there.

"There are around 27,000 teachers in Mumbai, whose salaries got delayed due to the flawed policies of the state government," Bornare alleged.

"The black gudhi is a form of protest to draw the minister's attention towards the issue," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)As part of his move to form a non-BJP and non Congress alternative, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao is all set to meet his West Bengal counterpart and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata tomorrow.

Rao, president of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), will be accompanied by TRS Parliamentary Party leader and party's Secretary-General K Keshava Rao during his visit, party sources told PTI today.

After Rao recently proposed formation of a non-Congress and non-BJP front at the national level, ahead of the next years Lok Sabha polls, Banerjee had spoken to him over phone, extending her support.

"The discussions will focus on creating some kind of regional formation for setting up a political front with like-minded parties and for creating an agenda for the country's growth," they said.

Nizamabad MP K Kavitha, Rao's daughter, is also likely to take part in the discussions.

Sources in the Telangana Chief Minister's Office had said last night that Rao would meet and hold discussions with Mamata Banerjee on March 19 in the backdrop of him calling for a qualitative change in

Rao would meet Banerjee, (who had recently extended her support over his remarks) in Kolkata at around 4 PM,they said.

However, the Telangana BJP unit today said the proposed meeting clearly highlighted his 'desperate attempts' to make himself relevant in national

Mooting the alternative,Rao had called for a "qualitative change" in and had also announced that he was ready to take on the mantle of leading a political front.

On March 4, Banerjee spoke to Rao over phone and conveyed her complete support on his statement that he was keen to participate in national politics to bring about "qualitative changes" in governance.

"Ham aap se ek-mat hain. Aap ke saath rahenge" (I am in agreement with you. I will work with you)," Banerjee had told Rao.

Alleging that successive governments ruled by both the Congress and BJP at the Centre have miserably failed to ensure development of the country, Rao had earlier said he will talk with all like-minded parties and leaders for creating an agenda for the country's growth.

The Chief Minister's Office had also earlier said Rao is chalking out a programme to hold series of meetings at all India level with various organisations, associations and individuals shortly.

Telangana BJP spokesperson Krishna Saagar Rao today alleged that Rao's travel to Kolkata to meet the West Bengal Chief Minister also 'exposes the lies' planted by his office few weeks ago that Mamata Banerjee called him in support of his plan for forming the new front.

"KCR is seriously suffering from trust deficit with other regional parties in India. No one trusts his style of politics, as we see he will end up with Congress led UPA.He is only trying to increase his bargaining capacity with Congress party by manufacturing the 'national front' idea, the BJP leader claimed.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, who is rallying support for establishment of a non-BJP and non-Congress alternative, will meet his West Bengal counterpart in Kolkata on Saturday.

Rao had recently said a non-Congress and non-BJP front should be formed in the country, as he called for a "qualitative change" in and had also announced that he was ready to take on the mantle of leading a political front.

"In the backdrop of Chief Minister calling for a qualitative change in politics, he will meet and hold discussions with West Bengal Chief Minister on March 19," sources in the Chief Minister's office (CMO) told PTI last night.

Rao would meet Banerjee in Kolkata at around 4 PM, they said.

On March 4, Banerjee spoke to Rao over phone and conveyed her complete support on his statement that he was keen to participate in to bring about "qualitative changes" in governance.

"Ham aap se ek-mat hain. Aap ke saath rahenge" (I am in agreement with you. I will work with you)," Banerjee had told Rao.

Alleging that successive governments ruled by both the Congress and BJP at the Centre have miserably failed to ensure development of the country, Rao had earlier said he will talk with all like-minded parties and leaders for creating an agenda for the country's growth.

The Chief Minister's Office had also earlier said Rao is chalking out a programme to hold series of meetings at all India level with various organisations, associations and individuals shortly.Thirty bloggers from various countries, including France, the U.S. and Germany today embarked on a journey to travel across the state to promote Kerala's rich tourism potential.

State Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran flagged off the journey, an annual blogger outreach campaign, which holds aloft the 'Trip of a Lifetime' tag.

The bloggers from 28 countries, including Italy, Spain, Bulgaria, Romania, Venezuela and Peru commenced the two-week long journey as part of the fifth edition of 'Kerala Blog Express'.

During the course of the journey,they would also document their experiences while travelling across the hills, beaches, backwaters, villages and various city life experiences in Kerala as part of the campaign, which will culminate in Kochi on April 1.

Places, including Alappuzha, Kumarakom, Thrissur, Munnar, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kannur and Kasaragod will be covered during the sojourn.

Photos, videos and articles will be uploaded by the travellers and shared among their followers all over the world.

Kadakampally Surendran said Kerala was the only state that has combined social media campaign, familiarisation trip and bloggers meet in one grand event.

"Around 400 blogs were generated from last year's edition alone. We can can see the results in terms of the increase in tourist arrival to the state in the past one year', he added.

The Kerala Blog Express, which focuses on various aspects like social media campaign, familiarisation trip, bloggers' meet, has emerged as a stalwart campaign for Kerala tourism, helping it set a new benchmark in destination marketing.

Over 100 Brand Ambassadors have collectively participated in previous editions of Kerala Blog Express, all of whom have shared their mesmerising 'Trip of a Lifetime' experience through blogs.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Police have stepped up security for CPI(M) Kannur district Secretary P Jayarajan following an intelligence input about a threat to his life.

The Kannur district police chief has sent a circular to all police stations in the city to increase the CPI(M) leader's security in the light of this intelligence input, police sources said.

According to the circular, which was sent yesterday, a 'quotation gang' led by Pranub, a murder case accused who is absconding, had been given money and a vehicle for this.

Jayarajan, who arrived in the state capital this morning to attend the party's state committee meeting, however, refused to react when media personnel asked him about the death threat.

Police sources said Jayarajan had been receiving such threats for some time.

Meanwhile, BJP alleged that the "death threat script has been written by CPI(M) and police in an attempt to glorify' Jayarajan and to create tension in Kannur".

BJP National council member and former state President V Muralidharan told reporters at Kozhikode that this was an attempt by the CPI(M), which had lost its face following the murder of Youth Congress worker Shuhaib, by its party workers last month, to regain its lost glory.

Kannur, the politically volatile northern district, has witnessed frequent clashes between the CPI(M) and BJP/RSS workers.

The Marxist leader had escaped an attempt on his life in 1999 while he was at home.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)In a meeting with Australias leading enterprises in the finance, banking, agriculture and construction sectors in Sydney on March 17, during his official visit to Australia, PM Phuc expressed his hope that more Australian investors would be interested in Vietnamese seafood imports, as Vietnam holds huge potential in this sector.

Representatives from the Australian groups lauded Vietnams efforts in improving its business climate and investment promotion, as well as promoting connections between enterprises from the two countries in order to bolster their bilateral collaboration.

The same day, PM Phuc hosted a reception for Rohan Garnett, Executive Manager at Qantas Airways - the national flag carrier of Australia, in which he congratulated Qantas Airway on its success in regional and international markets, including Vietnam.

He highlighted that the establishment of the strategic partnership will serve as a boost to enhance the cooperation between the two countries. To that end, he asked Qantas Airways to further its collaboration with Vietnamese airlines in improving flight safety and reducing costs.Denying a media report that alerts of the Forest Survey of India (FSI), in connection with the recent Kurangani forest fires in Tamil Nadu, did not reach the state's forest department, the ministry today said two such alerts were issued.

In a statement, it said on March 13, a Chennai-based publication, quoting the Director General, Forests and Special Secretary of the ministry, had reported that the Tamil Nadu forest department did not receive the FSI fire-alerts.

Refuting the report, the office of the DG, Forests and Special Secretary had stated that the facts were "misrepresented" in it, the statement said.

"DG, Forests and Special Secretary Siddhanta Das said he was only saying that he was not aware of the factual position as to whether the alerts were properly received by the state forest department and that he would be able to confirm the dispatch of such alerts only after speaking to the DG, FSI, from where the alerts are generated," the statement said.

The Kurangani forest fires have claimed more than 10 lives.

The statement said two e-mails, providing the co-ordinates of the forest fires, were sent to the nodal officer of Tamil Nadu Forest Department at 2.29 pm and 3.37 pm on March 11.

"The alerts pertaining to two satellite passes (MODIS and SNPP) were auto-processed after receiving information from the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Hyderabad, and e-mail alerts were sent to the nodal officer of Tamil Nadu Forest Department," it said.

The DG, FSI had informed the ministry that in collaboration with NRSC, Hyderabad, it always sent forest fire alerts to the state forest departments through e-mails and text messages, the statement added.

It said the automation of the whole process, including night-time fire alerts, was carried out by the FSI, which had led to a significant reduction in the time taken for data processing and sending alerts.

The ministry also gave the details of the automated alerts pertaining to the Kurangani forest fires, disseminated by the FSI on March 11 to the nodal officer, Tamil Nadu Forest Department.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)In an effort at building bridges of friendship between the Indian and US Navies,Svetla Walsh and Tyler Beck of the United States Naval Academy, Maryland, paid a week long visit to the Indian Naval Academy at nearby Ezhimala from March 11.

The two midshipmen were given an insight into the ab-initio training of naval officers and the training infrastructure at INA, a defence press release said.

The visit also gave INA an opportunity to learn and understand the training processes of the United States Naval Academy.

The USNA Midshipmen were given ample opportunities to not only understand the functioning of INA, but to form bonds of friendship with INA cadets, the release said.

They also visited some places of historical and cultural interest in and around INA.

Naval cooperation between India and US epitomises the strong and resilient relationship between the two democracies, encompassing a wide span,which includes port calls,operational nteractions, training visits along with capacity building and capability augmentation initiatives, the release said.

The visit of the USNA Midshipmen was a mutually satisfying and enriching experience for the young officers of both Navies and reaffirmed the universal truth that Oceans unite all nations, it said.

They left the INA yesterday.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Ugadi, the Telugu new year day, was today celebrated with traditional fervour and gaiety across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Panchagam' reading (recitation of almanac) sessions were organised at temples and at different events organised in the two states.

People thronged various temples and also decorated their homes with mango leaves and flowers and consumed the Ugadi Pachadi made with neem flowers, jaggery, pepper or green chillies, salt, tamarind juice, small pieces of raw mango.

It signifies that life is a mixture of happiness, sadness, anger, disgust, fear and surprise which should be accepted with equanimity throughout the year.

The official Ugadi function was held in Vijayawada where Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu led the celebrations.

Reading of almanac, cultural programmes and distribution of awards to various persons marked the celebrations.

Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu extended his Ugadi greetings to the people of the two states.

Naidu, along with Union Ministers Raj Narendra Singh Tomar and Hardeep S Puri, participated at an event to celebrate Ugadi festival in Hyderabad.

Governor of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana E S L Narasimhan extended his greetings to the people of the states of Rural Development and Panchayat and to Telugu people living elsewhere.

Chief Ministers of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh K Chandrashekhar Rao and Chandrabau Naidu respectively conveyed their Ugadi greetings to the people.

In Chennai, Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit and Chief Minister K Palaniswami extended their Ugadi greetings to the people.

"I am very happy to convey my heartiest greetings and best wishes to you, your wife and all the members of your family on this auspicious occasion of 'Gudi Padwa'", Purohit said in his message.

'My heartiest wishes on the auspicious occasion of Ugadi for a year of prosperity", Palaniswami said in his greetings.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A UK parliamentary committee examining the issue of disinformation and fake has accused Facebook of misleading MPs by downplaying the risk of users' data being shared without their consent and said it



wanted Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg to explain allegations.

Damian Collins, chair of the House of Commons' Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) committee, said Zuckerberg or a senior executive from the social media company must provide answers to the committee after a newspaper investigation claimed that Cambridge Analytica, a British political campaigns firm, acquired and kept information about users without consent.

"Someone has to take responsibility for this. It's time for Mark Zuckerberg to stop hiding behind his Facebook page, the Conservative MP said in a statement.

"Data has been taken from Facebook users without their consent, and was then processed by a third party and used to support their campaigns. I will be writing to Mark Zuckerberg asking that either he, or another senior executive from the company, appear to give evidence in front of the committee as part our inquiry," he noted.

A joint investigation by the Observer' and The New York Times' used information provided by a whistleblower to reveal that 50 million, mostly American, profiles were harvested in one of Facebook's biggest data breaches.

Last month, both Facebook and Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix had told the DCMS inquiry that the company did not have or use private Facebook data, or any data from data collection firm Global Science Research (GSR). Collins said Nix had "deliberately mislead" the DCMS committee by denying his company had received information from GSR.

GSR, which is owned by Cambridge University academic Aleksandr Kogan, collected information on up to 50 million people through a personality-testing app. Thousands gave permission for their data to be collected for academic use by the app, but it also collected information about their Facebook friends, reports found.

The UK Information Commissioner's Officer has also said that it would investigate the potential breach after former Cambridge Analytica employee



Christopher Wylie revealed Cambridge Analytica had used personal information to build a system that profiled US voters to target them with political ads. Earlier this week, Facebook suspended the company, which worked for Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, after it emerged it had not deleted information about Facebook users.

In a blog post, the social network said Kogan had violated its rules by passing on user data to a third party, and that both he and Cambridge Analytica had failed to delete the information despite providing assurances they had done so.

Cambridge Analytica responded to the newspaper expose on Twitter: We refute(s) these mischaracterisations and false allegations.

Reality Check: Cambridge Analytica uses client and commercially and publicly available data; we don't use or hold any Facebook data. When we learned GSR sold us Facebook data that it shouldn't have done, we deleted it all system wide audit to verify.

The ongoing parliamentary inquiry into fake news, which has been hearing oral evidence this month, said it has repeatedly asked Facebook about how companies acquire and hold on to user data from their site, and in particular whether data had been taken from people without their consent. The committee said the answers that have been given so far have consistently understated the risk.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A UK-based genomics data platform and an American genetics company today collaborated to create the world's largest project of its kind to study Indian population.

Cambridge-headquartered Global Gene Corp (GGC) said its new multi-year tie-up with Regeneron Genetics Center (RGC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of New York-based Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc, is aimed at finding innovative diagnosis and therapies for rare diseases.

"We believe that genomics will help India achieve a paradigm shift in healthcare," said Deepak Bagla, managing director and CEO of Invest India, the country's investment promotion and facilitation agency which is supporting GGC to build world-class capabilities in Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

Invest India said the latest collaboration marks a step forward in the Indian government's "Healthcare for All" plans, particularly with the Ayushmann Bharat initiative announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Genomic technology is important to achieve this mission. This investment by Global Gene Corp and Regeneron will create infrastructure, jobs and opportunity for the future in India," Bagla said.

Genetic evidence has revolutionised scientific discovery and drug development in recent years by providing clear links between certain genes and disease.

Sumit Jamuar, chairman and CEO of GGC, explained that this "genomics revolution" is crucial to the delivery of improved healthcare for all.

His company is working to solve the problem of genomic data bias where 81 per cent of genomics data comes from Caucasian populations of European ancestry; India with 1.3 billion people represents 20 per cent of the world's population, yet its population contributes less than 1 per cent of genomic data and insights.

"We are proud that we are collaborating to create the largest programme in India to generate genomic understanding of populations in the Indian sub-continent. We are delighted to be partnering with the RGC as we have a shared commitment to improve the lives of patients," Jamuar said.

The new tie-up with RGC will sequence the exomes of people from the Indian subcontinent in order to gain insights into allelic (alternative forms of genes) architecture and specified diseases.

Genomic sequencing data generated by the RGC will be paired with de-identified medical records from consenting patients to examine links between human genetic variations and disease in these populations.

"A deeper understanding of the genetic architecture and disease burden in populations throughout the Indian sub-continent will enable the identification of novel genes associated with many rare and common diseases, potentially facilitating therapeutic development, diagnosis and delivery of precision medicine," said Alan Shuldiner, managing director, vice-president and head of Founder and Special Populations at RGC.

He believes the centre's "extraordinary highthroughput automated gene sequencing and data analysis capabilities" present a great opportunity in India and other under-explored populations.

According to figures collated by the companies, currently an estimated 90 per cent of the potential medicines entering clinical trials fail to demonstrate the necessary efficacy and safety, and never reach patients.

Many of these failures are due to incomplete understanding of the link between the biological target of a drug and human disease.

By contrast, medicines developed with human genetic evidence have had substantially higher success rates and patient care has benefited.

Exome sequencing records every letter in the DNA of the exome, the 1-2 per cent (30 to 40 million basepair letters) of the genome that encodes all known proteins and that is believed to have the most direct relevance for therapeutic development and understanding of inherited disease.

GGC was set up with a vision to democratise healthcare through genomics. It is focused on building a longitudinal, genomics data foundation and insights for under-explored patient populations in Asia, Middle East, Latin America and Africa.

The company's research and development facility is located in the Wellcome Genome Campus in Cambridge, UK, with offices in Boston, Singapore and India.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Uttar Pradesh government is working on a war footing to increase the processing capacity of state's milk brand 'Parag' to at least eight lakh litres of milk per day, a state minister has said.

Uttar Pradesh Minister for Dairy, Wakf, Minorities Welfare and Culture Laxmi Narain Chaudhary also said that to ensure round-the-year availability of fodder at a cheaper rate, a scheme to set up "Bhusa" Bank (fodder bank) is under consideration.

Counting the achievements of his ministry, Chaudhary said that the existing capacity of Parag has been increased to six lakh litres per day from 1.75 lakh litres per day when the Yogi Adityanath-led government came to power in the state.

"Either new dairies are being started or existing dairy plants are renovated to achieve the goal", Chaudhary said, touting the achievements of his ministry over the last one year.

The Adityanath government completes one year in the office tomorrow.

He said that new dairies are being made functional to increase the milk processing capacity.

"While the trial run of one lakh litres per day milk capacity of Kannauj dairy, slated to start in full swing in April is on, new dairies at Noida, Meerut, Kanpur, would become functional by forthcoming June," he said.

Chaudhary, who also holds portfolios of Wakf, Minorities Welfare and Culture, said subjects like science and Maths have also been introduced in Madarassa syllabus.

He also said efforts are on to utilise funds to attract international tourists to UP. This, he said, would help open employment avenues for students in the state.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Patients with prostate, bladder or kidney cancers are five times more likely to commit suicide, a survey led by an Indian-origin scientists has found.

The analysis also showed that cancer patients are about three times more likely to commit suicide than the general population.

The proportion of attempted suicides which result in a completed or successful suicide was higher in cancer patients, with a higher proportion still in patients with urological cancers.

Severe psychological stress is one of the main side-effects of both a diagnosis of cancer and cancer treatment, with depression affecting between 5 and 25 per cent of cancer patients: many are also affected by Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Previous research has shown that the vast majority of cancer patients who have symptoms of depression often go untreated.

The study shows a substantial increase in suicide attempts and successful suicides in cancer patients.

It is the largest UK study looking at suicide in cancer patients. The research team led by Prashant Patel at the University of Birmingham in the UK examined the records from the England and Wales Hospital Episode Statistics database, from the period 2001 to 2011.

They linked this with cause of death statistics.

This is also the first time that a major study has examined suicidal intent in cancer patients - which they defined as the ratio of successful suicides to the rate of attempted suicides.

They found that this rate was far higher (1 to 7) in patients with prostate cancer than in the general population (1 to 25), which may show a greater determination to commit suicide in cancer patients.

"This is important as we know that people who attempt suicide are at higher risk of subsequently being successful in completing a suicide," said Mehran Afshar from St George's Hospital in London, UK.

"We have shown this 'intent' to commit to be far higher in our cancer population, thus confirming a real need to address psychological issues early on in the management of these patients," said Afshar.

Previous research has shown that a vast majority of cancer patients who have symptoms of depression go untreated.

The study also showed significant differences between the time to a successful suicide, which means that some cancer patients are more vulnerable in certain periods.

The researchers identified a total of 980,761 (493,234 males and 487,094 female) cancer patients which meant that 13.4 million-person years were included in the final data analysis. The team identified 162 suicides and 1,222 suicide attempts.

In the general population, the suicide rate is 10 per 100,000 people. The team found that the all-cancer suicide rate was 30 per 100,000 people.

In the urological cancers the figures are 36 per 100,000 people in kidney cancer, 48 suicides per 100,000 in bladder cancer, and 52 per 100,000 people in prostate cancer.

In the general population, there is an average of 25 suicide attempts for each successful suicide. In kidney cancer this ratio is 1 suicide for every 10 attempts.

In bladder and prostate cancer, this ratio drops to one suicide for every 7 attempts.

The time taken to commit suicide also varies substantially. Median time to suicide is 175 days from diagnosis for kidney cancer, 846 days for prostate cancer, and 1037 days for bladder cancer.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)US President Donald Trump "will not succeed" in dividing European nations against one another over trade, German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier warned today ahead of a visit to Washington.

In the European Union "we are a customs union and act collectively. It cannot be in the interest of the US government to divide Europe, nor will it succeed," Altmaier told German business daily Handelsblatt.

For the close ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel, top of the agenda at meetings in the US capital will be Trump's planned tariffs of 25 percent on imported steel and 10 percent on aluminium.

The US leader says the shock measures are in response to "unfair" trade practices, but the EU has vowed to retaliate -- including with levies on imports of whiskey or motorcycles -- raising the spectre of a tit-for-tat trade war.

"Companies and consumers on both sides would foot the bill if the US and Europe tumble into a trade war," Altmaier said.

Meanwhile, countries like China that stand accused of flooding global markets with cheap steel would be "laughing on the sidelines", he added.

In a statement Saturday, Merkel's office said the German leader had spoken with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The two backed continuing talks among the G20 group of industrialised and emerging nations on cutting steel overproduction which have so far had little impact.

Altmaier allowed that "global free trade is certainly not perfect yet," adding that if Washington is unhappy "we have to talk about it rather than acting unilaterally."



Responding to Trump's threat to slap tariffs on German car imports if the EU retaliates over his metals levies, Altmaier added that "German cars are successful in all world markets because they're so good. Higher border taxes would be the wrong response to that.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu today stressed the importance of effective local governance and urged states to strengthen the rural and urban local bodies for quality service delivery to the people.

Addressing the first national consultation conference on 'Swarajya to Surajya: Taking Forward the Good Governance Agenda' here, he said service delivery was poor in primary health, primary and secondary education, drinking water and sanitation, rural roads, electricity and housing.

Even after 70 years of Swarajya', governance was not upto the expectation, he said calling for a change for which Parliament shall take the lead.

"It is time to harness all the powers we have within our system. It is time for honest introspection. It is time for a change... that change must begin in Parliament, the crucible of democracy,"Naidu, who was a former union rural development minister, was quoted as saying in an official release.

Naidu and other speakers at the conference, held on the occasion of 25 years of enactment of 73rd and 74th Constitution Amendments related to local self-governance, voiced concern over the less than desired progress towards empowerment of rural and urban local bodies.

The theme of the first of the six conferences being organised by the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), of which Naidu is the President, was 'Strengthening of Local Self-governments.'



Speaking on the occasion, Union Minister of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Narendra Singh Tomar said self-reliance and effective local governments were crucial for building a new India.

He expressed happiness over the good work done by village panchayats to make rural areas open defecation-free.

The Minister said Rs 2.29 lakh crore was being transferred to villages during 2015-2020 as against only Rs 60,000 crore in the previous five years.

He urged the state governments to employ enough staff in the administration of village panchayats for effective utilisation of the funds and pressed for improved accounting and reporting systems.

Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep S Puri said the resource base of urban local bodies was poor. He said devolution of finances to urban local bodies was a frustrating experience. 'This is hindering the implementation of new urban missions,' he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)"Star Wars" actor John Boyega says he completely supports inclusion rider and is excited about "redefining and reshaping" the film industry.

The inclusion clause aims to promote diversity in casting and crew memberships. The term became popular after Frances McDorrmand sparked interest in it when she concluded her Oscars best actress acceptance speech by saying, "I have two words to leave with you tonight, ladies and gentlemen: inclusion rider."



"We are redefining and reshaping the industry at the moment. A lot of the secret rules of Hollywood are unfounded and unlawful so to start including them (inclusion riders) makes our industry better. Those who wish to defy (using inclusion riders), they're held accountable. So for me, I love that it's happening," Boyega told Newsbeat.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The DRVN stated on March 16 that the automatic system has been rolled out at 19 toll stations and another six will come into operation in the near future.

The directorate also requires that all of Vietnams 2.8 million automotive vehicles are installed with electronic tags, which it said have only been fit onto 500,000 cars.

DRVN General Director Nguyen Van Huyen said that all of the toll booths on National Highway 1 and National Highway 14 will go cashless by the end of 2018, therefore if cars are not installed with the electronic tags, the toll collection will encounter problems.

According to Vu Van Toan, head of the DRVNs department of international cooperation, the electronic toll collection system is beneficial in many ways, especially in making the fees more transparent and reducing traffic congestion.

He added that the investors and the DRVN can also access the system at any time to check the toll collection.

Meanwhile the electronic tags will make it easier to detect the vehicles that use fake license plates or fail to renew their registration.

The electronic toll collection system was first piloted in Vietnam in 2010 and began to be officially rolled out in 2016.The Jammu and Kashmir government today said it would take full care of two injured sisters after their entire family, including their parents and three brothers were killed in Pakistani shelling along the LoC in Poonch district.

"The government will take full care of the two minor girls, who have no one left to look after them in the family, said state works minister Naeem Akhtar, who is also the government spokesperson.

The minister visited the Government Medical College Hospital (GMCH) to enquire about the condition of the girls - Naureen and Mehreen - who were airlifted here for treatment.

Akhtar asked the doctors at GMCH Jammu to provide the best available medical treatment to the girls. He said the government is taking all the administrative measures to reach out to the affected population in the area.

The hospital authorities told Akhtar that the injured girls are being provided best possible treatment and one of them had to undergo surgery and is now recuperating.

The minister expressed deep anguish over the loss of lives on the borders during cross-border firing.

Five members of their family were killed when Pakistani troops resorted to heavy mortar shelling in Balakote sector of Poonch this morning.

There has been spurt in ceasefire violations along the LoC and International Border (IB) in the state this year.

With latest killings, the death toll in the cross-border shelling has risen to 26. The dead included 12 security personnel, while over 80 others were also got injured.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)One worker was burnt to death early today and skeletal remains were found while seven others sustained injuries in a major fire which broke out in three units of a chemical factory in Sonepat's Rai industrial area today, police said.

Several fire tenders were pressed into service. The fire has been brought under control, SHO of Rai police station Inspector Rishikant said.

The fire broke out in a chemical factory located in the Rai industrial area.

Body of one worker was pulled out while 6-7 others who sustained injuries had been hospitalised, he said.

"Skeletal remains have also been found, which have been sent for forensic examination," he said.

However, it was not clear that the skeletal remains were of one person or more.

Most of the workers who worked in the factory hailed from Uttar Pradesh, the officer said.

A case has been registered under relevant provisions of the law against some functionaries of the chemical factory, the SHO said.

The cause of the fire was being investigated, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Aiming to give a tech-boost to the traditional tailor-made clothing, a young entrepreneur has set up a new startup D For Darzi that will cater to the poor tailoring community across the Indian subcontinent.

Set up by journalist turned entrepreneur Saira Aslam, the startup has already collaborated with renowned beauty expert Blossom Kochhar, while designer and activist Sanjana Jon also today promised a future collaboration.

After a community event held here today, D For Darzi said it will launch its e-commerce website later this month to make custom tailoring affordable and easy to order.

It invited public participation from women of all ages, backgrounds and colour to model for it and received response from many small and big cities across India.

Aslam recalled how an NGO worker had told her 5-6 years ago about the tailors in the interior areas of Bihar and Bengal where they were paid some 25 paise for the stitching of one blouse. And they used to stitch nearly a hundred blouses a day.

"I kept thinking what amount they actually took home. The figure of 25 rupees for stitching a hundred blouses was outrageous and kept haunting me. Even if the figure improved in these past few years, it wouldn't have improved dramatically.

"We all know about Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh and the crammed conditions under which many tailors work even in India. Through D For Darzi, we want to identify and partner with this poor tailoring community and improve their standards of living," she said and invited NGOs and investors for collaboration.

Hayat Rafique, Director-Planning and Operation, said that they are trying to fit into small, medium and large size of clothes rather than clothes that should be made to fit them.

The startup also conducted a photo shoot as a celebration of the natural beauty of women and to encourage them to shed inhibitions around their body type and pose as models.

"I thought having community ambassadors for the photo shoot was a great idea as it would ensure participation of women and men from diverse backgrounds. The students and trainers from Blossom Kochhar College of Creative Arts and Design did the make up hair of all participants of the community initiative. I wish D For Darzi that seeks to help the poor tailoring community of the Indian subcontinent, all the best in future," Kochhar said.

Designer Jon interacted with all the participants and expressed her support for the initiative. She also assured a future collaboration to help D For Darzi reach the people at the bottom of the pyramid. The participants also shared a life challenge they faced and how they overcame it.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The YSR Congress and the Telugu Desam Party will pitch for taking up their notices of no-confidence motion against the Modi government when the Lok Sabha meets tomorrow amid no signs of a let-up in the deadlock in its proceedings.

Y V Subba Reddy of the YSR Congress has written to the Lok Sabha secretariat to put his notice for the motion in the revised list of business for tomorrow. The TDP has also moved a notice for a no-confidence motion.

When their notices were not taken up last week, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar had argued that they could not be due to the House being not in order, with members of several parties raising slogans in the Well.

With the Telangana Rashtra Samithi and the AIADMK, which have often cooperated with the government on its legislative business, protesting over a host of issues, it remains uncertain if order is restored tomorrow.

While the first two weeks of the last phase of the Budget Session have been a virtual washout, the government has managed to get some key bills and the budget passed amid a din through a voice vote without a debate.

The YSR Congress was the first to give a notice last week for a no-trust motion after the Centre made it clear that it would not grant Special Category Status to Andhra Pradesh.

Not to be outdone by its main rival in the state, the TDP, a longtime BJP ally, then decided to break its ties over the issue and brought a no-confidence motion of its own.

Both parties have been lobbying with opposition parties for support to their respective notices. A no-confidence motion notice has to be supported by at least 50 MPs to be taken up in the House.

The government has expressed confidence that the notices, even if they are admitted, will be defeated given its strength in the Lok Sabha.

The current strength of the Lok Sabha is 539 and the ruling BJP has 274 members, more than the majority mark of 270, and enjoys the support of several allies.

With the 16-member TDP quitting the BJP-led NDA, the ruling alliance strength has reduced.By Francesco CanepaBUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Germany and Argentina want to uphold a pledge to keep international trade free at a summit of the world's 20 largest economies in Buenos Aires this week, the countries' finance ministers said on Sunday.A multi-decade-old international consensus over trade has come under threat from U.S. President Donald Trump's protectionist stance, which includes plans to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium.But representatives from Europe's largest economy, Germany, and host country Argentina will stand by free trade at a G20 summit on March 19-20, where they ...SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China has selected American-trained economist Yi Gang to become the country's new central bank governor, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Sunday, citing unnamed people with knowledge of the matter.The WSJ said the nomination of Yi, who is currently deputy to incumbent central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan was reviewed by the nearly 3,000 delegates attending the National People's Congress on Sunday afternoon.It said his appointment to the top post at the People's Bank of China was set to be approved when the legislature reconvenes on Monday morning. Zhou, the ...Facebook Inc faced new calls for regulation from within US Congress and was hit with questions about personal data safeguards on Saturday after reports a political consultant gained inappropriate access to 50 million users data starting in 2014. Facebook disclosed the issue in a blog post on Friday, hours before media reports that conservative-leaning Cambridge Analytica, a data company known for its work on Donald Trumps 2016 presidential campaign, was given access to the data and may not have deleted it. Facebook has suspended Cambridge Analytica, even as the company ...ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP)  Authorities say a missing Pennsylvania teenager and a 45-year-old man who frequently signed her out of school without her parents permission have been located in Mexico, and the man has been arrested.

The Allentown <a target=blank href=http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-nws-yu-found-20180317-story.html>Morning Call</a> reports U.S. and Mexican authorities found Kevin Esterly and 16-year-old Amy Yu in Playa del Carmen on Saturday. They are being returned to the U.S.

Esterly was taken into custody and will face a charge of interference with the custody of a child when he arrives in Pennsylvania.

The newspaper reports police have told Amys mother that her daughter was found unharmed.

Esterly and Amy had been missing since March 5. Police issued a missing person alert and filed a warrant for Esterlys arrest.

They believe the teen went willingly with him.



Information from: The Morning Call, <a target=blank href=http://www.mcall.com>http://www.mcall.com</a>THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (AP)  The Latest on a fatal shooting at a Southern California mall (all times local):

7 p.m.

Authorities say a man shot and killed his former wife at a Southern California mall and then turned the gun on himself.

Police say the 33-year-old gunman was taken to a hospital Saturday. The <a target=blank href=http://www.vcstar.com/story/news/local/communities/conejo-valley/2018/03/17/shooting-reported-oaks-mall/435497002/>Ventura County Star newspaper</a> reports that the Los Angeles-area resident is in critical condition.

Ventura County sheriffs Sgt. Eric Buschow says the man went to a store at The Oaks mall in the city of Thousand Oaks and argued with the 30-year-old victim before shooting her.

He says the couple have children, who have been found and are safe.

Buschow says initial indications show that the shooting was a murder and attempted suicide.



4 p.m.

Authorities say a man shot and killed someone at a Southern California mall and then turned the gun on himself.

Ventura County fire Capt. Steve Swindle says the shooter was wounded Saturday and taken to a hospital.

Swindle says theres no threat to the public, but firefighters opened up a nearby fire station as a safety zone for shoppers.

The shooting occurred at The Oaks mall in the city of Thousand Oaks, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) west of Los Angeles.



3:55 p.m.

Jeffrey Simpson was inside a department store at a Southern California mall when it suddenly went into lockdown.

The 17-year-old says he was buying pants at Nordstrom on Saturday afternoon when an announcement came over the intercom that there was a threat outside and all the doors would be locked.

Simpson, who was with his mother, says he didnt hear any gunfire but saw emergency vehicles outside. He says they are both a little shaken and have been in the store for an hour.

Authorities say one person was killed and one injured but there are no outstanding suspects.

Simpson says he cant believe something like this happened just a few minutes from his home.



3:35 p.m.

Authorities say one person was killed and one injured after a shooting at a Southern California mall.

The Ventura County sheriffs department says on Twitter that Saturdays incident has been contained and theres no threat to the public.

The county fire department says the victim who was injured at The Oaks mall in Thousand Oaks, California, was being taken to a hospital.

Authorities are setting up a safety zone across the street.

A message left for the sheriffs department wasnt immediately returned.WARSAW, Poland (AP)  Polands leading archbishop deplored on Sunday comments by a senior conservative priest who had wished Pope Francis a quick death if he does not open to wisdom.

Krakow Archbishop Marek Jedraszewski said he heard about the comments with great pain and regret and has discussed them face-to-face with Msgr. Edward Staniek, who made them in a Feb. 25 church speech in Krakow.

Krakow was the seat of Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, the late Pope St. John Paul II. Polands church remains attached to John Pauls conservative stance, which largely differs from Francis inclusive message. A majority of Polands bishops see their mission as preserving the traditional Catholic values from the pressure of secularization.

In his speech, Staniek, who is a prominent theologian, said he was praying for wisdom for Francis and a heart open to the Holy Spirit, and if he does not do that, for a quick passage to the House of the Father, meaning death.

He said that Francis has departed from the teaching of Jesus and was wrongly interpreting mercy as opening up to Muslims and allowing communion for divorced Catholics, who, according to the church, live in mortal sin and are not allowed communion.

A former seminary rector, Staniek suggested Francis was an alien body in the Catholic Church and said his words were used by media that are hostile to the church.

His superior, Archbishop Jedraszewski, insisted in his statement that the full Krakow diocese was praying ardently every day with the best intentions for Francis.Their meeting took place in Sydney on March 16 (local time) as part of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phucs trip to Australia to attend the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit.

For his part, Minister Anh highly values the potential of the Australian market, especially New South Wales, as well as the prospects and opportunities for stronger collaboration in economy, trade and investment between Vietnam and the state.

The two ministers introduced a number of leading businesses which want to seek business opportunities in their respective countries, such as the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam), the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), the Vietnam National Coal-Mineral Industries Holding Corporation Limited (Vinacomin), the Vietnam National Shipping Lines, Sovico Holdings and VietJet Aviation JSC on the Vietnamese side, and Sunrise Group on the New South Wales side.

Stressing the states cooperation potential in the field of coal, Minister Anh suggested that the Australian side introduces Vinacomin to coal suppliers in New South Wales, and urged Minister Blair to lead a delegation of New South Wales businesses to visit Vietnam.

He proposed that Australia uses the services of Vinalines to transport coal from Australia to Vietnam.

The minister called on Australia to promptly approve the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) so that the deal comes into force at an early date, bringing many new opportunities for cooperation in economy and trade between the two countries.

Minister Blair agreed with his Vietnamese counterparts proposals, and pledged to notify the relevant Australian agencies in order to intensify the cooperation activities between the two sides.

At the working session, the ministers also discussed cooperation opportunities in the sphere of aviation, including collaboration between VietJet Air and airports and airlines in New Castle and Brisbane cities.MOSCOW (AP)  Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday dismissed British accusations of Russias involvement in an ex-spys poisoning as nonsense, but added that Moscow is ready to cooperate with London in the investigation.

In his first comments on the incident, Putin referred to the poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter as a tragedy, but added that if the British claim that they were poisoned by the Soviet-designed nerve agent were true, the victims would have been killed instantly.

Skripal, a former Russian intelligence officer convicted in his home country of spying for Britain, and his daughter have remained in critical condition following the March 4 poisoning.

Its quite obvious that if it were a military-grade nerve agent, people would have died on the spot, he said. Russia doesnt have such means. We have destroyed all our chemical weapons under international oversight unlike some of our partners.

Putins comments came a few hours after British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said he has evidence that Russia has been stockpiling a nerve agent in violation of international law very likely for the purposes of assassination.

Johnson said the trail of blame for the poisoning of Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English city of Salisbury leads inexorably to the Kremlin.

Johnson told reporters that Britain has information that within the last 10 years, the Russian state has been engaged in investigating the delivery of such agents, Novichok agents  very likely for the purposes of assassination.

He said they have been producing and stockpiling Novichok, contrary to what they have been saying.

Putin dismissed the British accusations, emphasizing that an attack on Skripal would make no sense.

Any reasonable man would understand that its just sheer nonsense, complete rubbish to think that anyone in Russia could do anything like that in the run-up to the presidential election and the World Cup, he said. Its simply unthinkable.

At the same time, Putin, who won another six-year term in Sundays election, said that Moscow is open for taking part in the probe together with Britain.

We are ready for cooperation. We said it right away, he said. We are ready to take part in the investigation, but its necessary that the other side shows interest in that too. We havent seen that, but we dont exclude the possibility of joint work.

Johnson said he will brief European Union foreign ministers on the case Monday before meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

He also said officials from the Netherlands-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons would arrive Monday in Britain to take samples of the nerve agent used to poison the Skripals.

Britain says it is Novichok, a class of powerful nerve agent developed in the Soviet Union toward the end of the Cold War. Tests to independently verify the British findings are expected to take at least two weeks, Britains Foreign Office said.

Vladimir Chizhov, Moscows EU ambassador, said Russia has no chemical weapons stockpiles and wasnt behind the poisoning.

Russia had nothing to do with it, Chizhov told the BBC.

Chizhov pointed out that the U.K. chemical weapons research facility, Porton Down, is only eight miles (12 kilometers) from Salisbury.

Asked whether he was saying that Porton Down was responsible, Chizhov replied: I dont know.

The British government dismissed the ambassadors suggestion as nonsense.

Johnson said it was not the response of a country that really believed itself to be innocent.

Britain and Russia have each expelled 23 diplomats, broken off high-level contacts and taken other punitive steps in the escalating tit-for-tat dispute, which clouded the run-up to Sundays presidential election in Russia.

Western powers see the poisoning of the Skripals as the latest sign of increasingly aggressive Russian interference in foreign countries.

Johnson said Britains National Security Council will meet this week to discuss what further measures the country might take.

He said these could include defending ourselves against cyberattack, (and) looking at any economic measures that could be taken against Russians who corruptly obtained their wealth.

Opposition lawmakers are calling on the British government to clamp down on the illicitly gained money of wealthy Russians in Britain. Critics say U.K. authorities have been slow to investigate the origins of the wealth invested in Londons financial district and property market.

The spy dispute has sent U.K.-Russia relations to Cold War-levels of tension.

Russias ambassador in London, Alexander Yakovenko, called for cooler heads, telling the Mail on Sunday that the dispute is escalating dangerously and out of proportion.



Jill Lawless reported from London. Associated Press writer Angela Charlton in Moscow contributed to this report.| BY Ricki Green |

Independent agency Hatched Media has today announced the merger and acquisition of fellow independent FRANk Media.

FRANk, which was established in 2000 and is owned and run by well-respected industry veteran Martyn Thomas (right), has transitioned all staff and clients across to Hatched to bolster the overall agency offering under the one roof.

Says Jack Byrne (left), owner and founder, Hatched Media: I have long admired Martyn and the FRANk teams approach to their clients business, and not only will their experience and strong strategic offering across communications be a welcome addition to the current offering, but culturally we are naturally aligned due to the high value we place on our people and level of care to our clients, which has ensured a seamless transition as a merged entity thus far.

Says Martyn Thomas, founder of FRANk: After 18 years of FRANk I am thoroughly delighted to have joined forces with such a like-minded company. Hatched is a very special and talented company that all of us at FRANk are now proud to be part of. Jack and his team are down to earth, honest, trustworthy, forthright, open and candidall very FRANk.Speaking at the event, VOV Director General Nguyen The Ky, said that the establishment of VOVs 11th foreign office in the country comes from the fact that Australia plays a strong role in the relationship with Vietnam, ASEAN and within the Indo-Pacific region.

The country currently hosts more than 300,000 Vietnamese people, he added.

Stating that Australia has had a good tradition of friendship with Vietnam over the past four decades and is now an important partner in Vietnam's comprehensive foreign policy and international integration, Ky expressed his hope that the VOV correspondents operations in Australia would contribute to spreading VOV channels, along with other press agencies, to create a synergy in promoting information about the relationship between Vietnam and Australia, Vietnam and New Zealand, as well as about the Vietnamese community in the two nations.

The inauguration took place at a critical juncture as PM Phuc and his high-level delegation are paying a visit to Australia to attend the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit from March 16-18.

It is also an important occasion as Vietnam and Australia are celebrating the 45th anniversary of diplomatic ties this year (February 26, 1973) and announced the establishment of the Strategic Partnership.

VOV is one of Vietnam's leading State-run media agencies, producing news in all four types of media, broadcasting on eight radio channels, 17 television channels, and one printed and two online newspapers.

It has set up six domestic resident offices and 11 in foreign countries. Its radio programmes are broadcast in 12 ethnic minority and 12 foreign languages besides Vietnamese for the overseas audience.| BY Ricki Green |

Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney has appointed Rebecca Carrasco as deputy executive creative director, effective immediately. She will work alongside deputy executive creative director Sesh Moodley and chief creative officer Mike Spirkovski.

In 2015, Carrasco was lured away from her role as creative director at Clemenger BBDO Sydney to become head of Creative Shop for Facebook and Instagram, Australia and New Zealand. Prior to Clemenger, Carrasco was co-founder and executive creative director at Colman Rasic Carrasco.

Carrascos work has won an impressive number of Best In Show and Campaign of the Year awards. She has won Creative of the Year, an Asia Pacific Child Rights Award for her MTV Exit Foundation campaign and a United Nations Award. Her work has been awarded globally at Cannes, One Show, Clios Awards, New York Festivals and AWARD.

Her own agency, Colman Rasic Carrasco, was AdNews Emerging Agency of the Year 2008 and she has received an Australia Day Award for studies in Visual Communication. Carrasco has been a director on the Australasian Writers & Art Directors (AWARD) Committee and served as the National AWARD School head.

Says Spirkovski: Rebecca is an inspiring creative leader who has accomplished much in her career and Im thrilled to have her join Saatchi & Saatchi.

Her work is outstanding, as is her passion for helping nurture the aspiring future talents of our industry. Above all, Rebecca is brave, highly optimistic and shares our passion for making work that matters.Notice for the Postmedia Network

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The Australian Federal Police ignored the recommendation of a psychologist not to clear an anti-child abuse taskforce member for work. In a report tabled in parliament earlier this month the Australian National Audit Office found major deficiencies in the mental health services provided to members of the Joint Anti-Child Exploitation Teams. It also found one member of JACET was not cleared for work by an AFP psychologist, but this was ignored by the AFP. The audit office found a lack of compliance with AFP mental health policy across JACET, whose employees are exposed to explicit material like child pornography and face a high risk of psychological injury. Do you know more? Contact finbar.omallon@fairfaxmedia.com.au. Protection Operations, the AFP branch which includes JACET, is one of the four branches in the AFP with the highest number and cost of compensation claims for mental health injuries. The audit office said the AFP "did not accept" the recommendation of the psychologist and it was unclear to them whether the employee remained in the team . An AFP spokeswoman said those who didn't complete the clearance process weren't allowed to continue work in the team but wouldn't comment on the particular employee. The report found 13 of the 38 current JACET employees had no record of a psychological clearance before beginning work in JACET recorded in the AFP's mental health database. Upon review it was revealed four employees' clearances hadn't been recorded due to error, four had joined the team before the database was established, three had not received a final sign off from an AFP psychologist, one had withdrawn from the process but it was unclear if they were still in the team , and another had their recommendation not to be cleared ignored. The mandatory clearance process includes a psychological assessment and a graduated exposure to explicit materials before employees begin work. The report also found the JACET employees had not been receiving their mandated annual psychological assessment, with three having never been assessed. Of those who had been assessed, at least half hadn't been assessed for over a year, with three having had no assessment for nearly two years. "Mental health assessments are supposed to occur annually, and a mental health screening test take places at the six month point between annual mental health assessments," the report said. The audit office warned non-compliance with the AFP's mental health policy could expose employees to mental health injuries, leaving the AFP open to compensation claims. "The ANAO suggests that the AFP monitor long-term exposure of its employees and implement workforce planning for specialist roles," the report said. It pointed to an internal AFP report from March last year, which stated "the removal of regionally based psychologists combined with the 30 per cent increase in operations over the past 12 months has reduced the resilience of members to deal with this exposure". The audit office said AFP employees had a responsibility under work safety laws to report negative psychological experience, but "self-reporting is a mechanism of limited effectiveness". Through interviews, the auditors were told the required assessments did "not occur routinely, particularly in relation to exit assessments". Employees leaving the team are to be assessed to help provide closure, assist with career transitions and ensure they continue using support services. Follow Finbar O'Mallon on Twitter.news, latest-news

An Australian National University law student who insisted on including comment on Australia's "inhumane" refugee policies in a proposed profile piece was told she would no longer appear in a marketing booklet for fear of upsetting the federal government. Odette Shenfield, from Melbourne, was one of three students in the ANU College of Law to receive three awards, including the Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department and Australian Government Solicitor Prize, at the college's 2017 prize ceremony. The awards came on top of a University Medal and the prestigious Tillyard Prize, awarded in part for her refugee advocacy. Initially reluctant to appear in marketing materials, the 24-year-old figured she could use the platform to encourage students who felt law may be too difficult to give it a go by sharing her struggles in completing her degree. Ms Shenfield also wanted to demonstrate her learnings - in her words, "the vital importance of speaking out on issues and of critical thinking". So she included in her response what she had been taught: "Public Interest Clinical Program gave me new insights into the human reality behind the government's inhumane refugee policies." Ms Shenfield said it was not intended as a political statement. But the ANU saw it differently, telling her marketing material was "politically neutral" and suggesting she instead submit an opinion piece to student newspaper Woroni. "I hope you can appreciate that the Commonwealth government is the donor for one of your prizes, and that should never stop you from speaking out against policies that you feel strongly about, but part of our job within the college is to maintain donor relationships to ensure it is available to future students," a marketing staffer wrote. "The publication of this booklet is aimed at fostering those relationships." When Ms Shenfield pushed back she was told she had been removed from the booklet. Speaking last week, Ms Shenfield - whose mother's family arrived in Australia as Jewish refugees - said she was "really disappointed" by the ANU's decision. "The ANU College of Law prides itself on being a social justice college and the university prides itself on social responsibility and academic freedom, and I couldn't believe that a sentence that small that was answering what I'd learnt in a subject was going to be removed because a government department was giving a prize to one student," Ms Shenfield said. Questioned on Ms Shenfield's experiences, an ANU spokesman said the university actively encouraged free speech among staff and students. "Academic independence is a core ANU value which underpins our global reputation and standing in research excellence," he said. "The university has a long history of managing donations and gifts from a range of private and public donors and will not seek or accept gifts which are inconsistent with the university's mission." A spokesman for the Attorney-General's department said the department played no role in determining who received the prize, with the award criteria related only to the student's academic achievements. "There are no further conditions imposed by the department on the awarding of the prize," the spokesman said. The incident is the second to raise concerns about the ANU's independence in the past several months. Students and staff have been quietly questioning the university's decision to negotiate with the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation on a proposed Bachelor of Western Civilisation. Former prime minister John Howard chairs the Ramsay Centre board, with Tony Abbott also counted among its ranks. In a press release in December, the Ramsay Centre said the proposed degree was "intended to promote a deeper appreciation of the manner in which the legacy of Western civilisation, in all its aspects, has shaped the successful nation that Australia is today". Ms Shenfield said her experience had heightened her concerns about the ANU's relationship with the Ramsay Centre. "No other centre at the ANU has that explicit ideological purpose," she said. The ANU spokesman said: "Vice-chancellor Professor Brian Schmidt and Dean of the ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences Professor Rae Frances have given a commitment that the academic independence would be a fundamental part of any new course or agreement with the Ramsay Centre. "A new program would add to the university's suite of undergraduate programs that includes European studies, Arab and Islamic studies, Asian studies and Pacific studies along with courses in Australian Indigenous studies." Ms Shenfield, who finished her degree last year, will donate the Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department and Australian Government Solicitor Prize winnings to the Canberra Refugee Action Committee.

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Deahnne McIntyre nearly pulled out of Canberra's citizens' jury on compulsory third party insurance because she felt too "dumb" to take part. McIntyre - a former public servant, elite sportswoman, Paralympic gold medallist, and Order of Australia recipient - is anything but. And now, as the deliberative democracy pilot draws to a close, McIntyre said she's grateful to have had the chance to use her personal experience to advocate for people with physical and psychosocial disabilities within the jury. "I'm very proud that I've been able to do that on behalf of the disadvantaged in Canberra," McIntyre said. The 50 jurors are set to meet for the final time this weekend to vote on which of the four CTP schemes best meets the priorities they set out in their first meeting. The models will be released to the public on Monday although the jurors have been mulling over them since last week. The jury has been controversial since its inception, for its "boring" subject matter and "flawed design", with calls for an inquiry into the process before it was even finished. The exercise at times bordered on farcical, with accusations of bias because of political donations, and even a second "jury" funded by CTP lawyers. But jurors say it's been worthwhile and are open to more exercises like this being run in Canberra. While she would have liked to see more people with disabilities on the jury, McIntyre said she felt empowered by the process. "It's been really worthwhile and very rewarding," McIntyre said. "I'm not into the political side of things because I'm a very sporty person and the Commonwealth Games are my focus at the moment. "But this process has given me the confidence to actually go and talk to you [elected] people, I felt confident to go up to the Chief Minister at the end of the year to have a chat to him about to jury." Mark Dickerson, 73, said he had a "mixture" of feelings about democracy before joining the jury. "I was in a sense disengaged from the political process in a way," Mr Dickerson said. "I thought, 'if I actually want to be engaged, this is my chance'." However, Mr Dickerson will reserve his full judgement on the process until the government legislates on the jurors' preferred model, as promised. He also thinks there are some decisions that politicians should not abdicate responsibility for. "I think and example of where you don't want to vote on something is something like Brexit, which was bizarre," Mr Dickerson said. "[Equity of marriage] was the responsibility of our elected politicians and they ducked it. Some decisions, they should lead the way. We don't want a referendum on, say, capital punishment because it always tends to drift back to reinstating it. But nonetheless, there is clearly some things that I think are well worth doing that way." Mr Dickerson said the CTP citizens' jury worked because they were asked to make a judgement on human values, not the nuances of each scheme. "To say, 'how on earth could 50 people off the street know how to design an insurance scheme' [is wrong]. That's not what we're doing. We're asking what human outcomes to want from an insurance scheme, if these things happen. And in that sense, many of the questions seem to be no-brainers," Mr Dickerson said. Those who want to watch the final citizens' jury session in action on Saturday and Sunday can RSVP at: yoursay.act.gov.au/ctp.

/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/f4caa5c0-76df-4cae-8ebc-cd05c976a985/r0_129_1999_1258_w1200_h678_fmax.jpgThemed Enhancing Regional Security and Prosperity, the event is an important platform for the ASEAN and Australian leaders to discuss the directions to enhance the strategic partnership set up between the two sides in 2014.

In his speech, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull welcomed the presence of the ASEAN leaders at this event, organised for the first time in Australia under his initiative.

Later the day, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, the other ASEAN leaders and the Australian PM participated in numerous activities, including a meeting with former scholarship recipients of the new Colombo Programme in Southeast Asian countries and witnessed the signing of the ASEAN-Australia Memorandum of Understanding on counter-terrorism cooperation.

The MoU is considered as a historic breakthrough which will contribute to strengthening the two sides collaboration in ensuring regional security. Via the signed framework agreements, ASEAN and Australia have agreed to enhance their counter-terrorism cooperation in terrorist financing and violent extremism.

The document features various initiatives and framework agreements covering engineering, anti-terrorism law building, regional dialogues and seminars on electronic evidence, financial intelligence and ways to tackle online radicalisation.

The same day, PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc and the other ASEAN leaders attended a reception hosted by PM Turnbull.

The Summits plenary session and a retreat meeting are scheduled to take place on March 18.

The International Counter-Terrorism Conference and the ASEAN-Australia Business Summit were held ahead of the Summit with the participation of officials, experts and representatives of the leading businesses in the region.Preliminary Fact Sheet on FIU pedestrian bridge collapse

* The Florida International University pedestrian bridge was a local agency project, not a Florida Department of Transportation project.

* The bridge collapsed onto a state road, Southwest 8th Street in Miami, near FIUs campus.

* FDOT is currently offering expertise and all necessary resources to local and federal partners to respond to this tragic bridge failure and will proactively release all state records related to this project as soon as possible.

* The designer, contractor and the Construction Engineering & Inspection are all under contract with FIU.

* The designer is Figg Engineering and the contractor who both built and installed the structure is MCM. The CEI is Bolton Perez and Associates.

* Under the terms of the procurement issued by FIU and due to the unique characteristics of the design of the bridge, an independent, secondary design check was required. Under this project, it is the responsibility of FIUs design build team to select the firm used to conduct the independent, secondary review. The firm selected, Louis Berger, was not FDOT pre-qualified for this service, which is required under FIUs agreement with the state. FIUs design build team is responsible for selecting a pre-qualified firm and ensuring this process is followed.

* This pedestrian walkway was built at an off-site location by MCM and moved into place on March 10. The walkway was set in place on top of two piers which were constructed on-site. Again, this is not an FDOT project. FDOTs role is to administer funding and perform a preliminary review for general compliance with the agreement between FIU and the state. FIUs design build team is responsible for the proper and safe completion of this project and for compliance with all applicable laws and engineering and construction standards. Additionally, any testing done to the structure following its installation was the responsibility of the FIU design build team.

 FDOTs involvement was limited to:

* issuing a permit for traffic control during installation of the structure last Saturday;

* acting as a pass-through for federal funding and providing $57,000 in state funding for this $16.5 million project;

* conducting a routine preliminary review to ensure this project complied with the terms of the agreement with the state. This is a standard process FDOT conducts for projects like this; and

* authorizing FIU to utilize the aerial space above the state road to build a structure, which FIU and its contractors are solely responsible to inspect and maintain at the universitys sole expense.

Source: FDOT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.Comrade Phan Van Khai experienced revolutionary struggles and leadership posts of all levels andmade great contributions to the cause of the Party and people. In every position, he always put the interests of the country and the people first and committed himself to the national revolutionary cause.

He was born in Cu Chi district, Ho Chi Minh City and joined the revolution in Gia Dinh in 1947. He then moved to North Vietnam and studied foreign languages and economics in Moscow, in the former Soviet Union.

In the first phase of Doi moi (renewal), as a senior leader, comrade Phan Van Khai had a very creative mindset and thought of seeking investment to develop Ho Chi Minh City, opening up breakthrough opportunities for international integration.

During his term as Prime Minister, he made considerable contributions to the cause of national renewal and development, helping the country to become self-confident and secure in its process of international economic integration. Phan Van Khai is remembered as a Prime Minister that made every effort to help the country to overcome the difficulties caused by the monetary crisis in Asia.

In addition, he also contributed to promoting the normalisation of the relations between Vietnam and the US, the abolition of the embargo and economic encirclement of the US and powerful Western countries, and Vietnams entry into the World Trade Organisation, lifting the country to a new level.

Besides making strategic national-level decisions, former PM Phan Van Khai also actively held dialogues with enterprises and solved numerous problems in the private sector in order to boost the socialist-oriented market economy. The former PM also attached great importance to hunger eradication and poverty reduction through various policies and mechanisms in a bid to improve the living standards of millions of farmer households across the country.

He was an excellent successor to the renewal cause led by the Party and fully brought into play the important achievements made by previous PMs. Besides the outstanding achievements in socio-economic development, the former PM also left his precious experience on macroeconomic management.

Comrade Phan Van Khai was a loyal Party member and a shining example of the revolutionary morality of communist soldiers, who dedicated himself to the revolutionary cause of the Party and nation. Although he passed away, the image of a PM that devoted himself to national renewal and international integration will forever live in our hearts.

With great compassion for comrade Phan Van Khai, we vow to continue the revolutionary cause of the Party, while promoting comprehensive renewal and international integration for national construction and defence, in order to rapidly turnVietnam into an industrial country towards modernisation.The Vietnamese delegation at the event was led by Nguyen Anh Dung, Vice Chairman of the National Border Committee under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, while the Chinese delegation was headed by Zhou Jian, the representative for boundary and ocean affairs under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The two sides discussed various issues related to the working group on the sea area off the mouth of the Gulf of Tonkin and cooperation for sea development between Vietnam and China.

They also affirmed to seriously follow the common perceptions agreed upon by the two countries senior leaders, including the agreement on basic principles guiding the settlement of sea-related issues, while promoting the negotiations on the demarcation of the waters outside the Gulf of Tonkin and cooperation for mutual development on the seaaccording to international laws, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of which both Vietnam and China are members.

Vietnam and China also agreed to promptly organise the 10th round of negotiations of the working group on the sea area beyond the mouth of the Gulf of Tonkin and the seventh round of negotiations of the working group on sea development cooperation in China.

At the end of the talks, the two sides signed the meetings minutes.Photo: Contributed

Join our wine writer, Allison Markin, every week for a wine review complete with food and music pairings. Featuring Okanagan and Canadian wines, with an occasional international bottle, Castanet celebrates the bottles of our Valley and the diversity of the Canadian wine industry and influences from around the world. For current availability and pricing, consult the winery. Unless indicated, international selections are generally available at government liquor stores or private wine shops.

Wine: Viognier, 2016

Winery: Township 7, Penticton

Why drink it? As we put away our snow boots in hopeful anticipation that spring is approaching, an aromatic Viognier like this one will lead the nose towards honeysuckle, freshly-picked stone fruits, and memories of warm days. But it also has enough body and elegance to be sipped next to the fireplace for the last few evenings that still require a light sweater. Clean and crisp, youll find subtle flavours of apricots and peaches with just a hint of creaminess. A good bottle for Easter dinner, and to transition from the big red wines of winter to the white wines of spring.

Price: $23

Pair with: Fresh prawn salad rolls, your favourite sushi, or scallops served with a fragrant rice as a side. If ambitious, hit up Pinterest for mild curry recipes that include apricots or mangoes, or the classic coronation chicken salad with a spicy mayo.

Music pairing: Baby Come Back by Player

Have a wine to suggest? Email Allison at [email protected]The sixth plenary meeting of the first session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) is held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 18, 2018. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)Congratulations are pouring in from around the world after Xi Jinping was elected Chinese president by a unanimous vote on Saturday morning at the ongoing session of the 13th National People's Congress.

Xi, 64, was also unanimously elected chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC).

In their congratulatory messages, leaders of foreign countries, political parties and organizations expressed confidence that under Xi's leadership, China will achieve greater prosperity and make more contributions to world peace and development.

The following is an edited version of some of the messages.

Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un said he wishes that under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) with Xi at the core, the Chinese people will make greater achievements in the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era.

He said he believes that DPRK-China relations will develop toward the direction that conforms to the common interests of the two peoples.

Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang said he believes that Xi, as the core of the CPC Central Committee, president of China and chairman of the CMC, will lead the Chinese people to realize the goal of building a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful.

He said he also believes that China will make important contributions to the peace, stability and prosperity of the region and the world at large.

The Vietnamese party, state and people attach great importance to the development of good-neighborly friendship and comprehensive cooperation with China, and regard it as the strategic choice and top priority of Vietnam's foreign policy, he added.

Lao President Bounnhang Vorachit said he believes that under the leadership of the CPC with Xi at the core, the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics will make comprehensive and historic achievements.

Bounnhang said China will definitely realize the goal of building a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful.

Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain said Xi's election as Chinese president reflects the Chinese people's full confidence in his leadership.

Hussain said China has made remarkable achievements in the past five years, which has not only enhanced China's international status and image, but also brought great changes in people's lives.

Hussain added that he believes the great Chinese nation will continue to move forward and achieve the goal of national rejuvenation.

Pakistan and China are all-weather strategic partners, and the two countries will continue to commit themselves to comprehensively strengthening bilateral relations and benefiting the two peoples, Hussain added.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said he wishes that under Xi's leadership, China realizes the Chinese dream as soon as possible and makes greater contribution to peace and development in Northeast Asia and the world at large.

With this year marking the 10th anniversary of the establishment of South Korea-China strategic cooperative partnership, Moon said he would like to make efforts with Xi to steer bilateral relations toward maturity and into a new era.

Japanese Emperor Akihito wished Xi good health and China prosperity.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said this year marks the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and the People's Republic of China, as well as the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up policy.

During the past 40 years, China has made remarkable progress, and the two countries have developed extensive cooperation, Abe said.

He hoped to take this year as an opportunity to improve the Japan-China relationship, taking it to a new level of development.Heynckes, who had called up Bayern under-19 midfielder Meritan Shabani to the senior squad for the first time, sent Lewandowski on for the last 20 minutes but the Poland striker was unable to add to his league-leading tally.Commemorating the story of Exodus from Egypt, this holiday lasts a week long. The traditions and foods served all symbolize something significant from the biblical story of Passover, told at every Seder around the world. As a sign of sacrifice and to commemorate ancestors who, according to the story, baked bread without yeast on hot desert stones, those celebrating Passover often give up leavened bread during this time. Of course, there is plenty of wine passed around and an abundance of storytelling, quality time with family, and overall joy. Who needs leavened bread to have a good time?Haden's Scaramucci was predictably animated, tossing off exaggerated Italian-sounding exclamations and delivering "Godfather"-style kisses on the forehead to Armisen's Wolff. Wolff was skewered for his boasting about his access to the White House and questions about some of the sensational claims in his recent book "Fire and Fury" about chaos behind-the-scenes of the Trump administration. "It's all in my new book," Armisen's Wolff sniffed to Moffat's Anderson Cooper. "I have a new source that tells me everything."The other man, the driver, is 27 and the cousin of the man who died, police said. He was shot in the hand, which gave him a graze wound, officials said. He was in good condition at Stroger Hospital, according to a statement from the Chicago police.Li Keqiang was endorsed as Chinese premier Sunday morning at the ongoing first session of the 13th National People's Congress, the country's national legislature.

Newly-elected Chinese President Xi Jinping signed his first presidential decree to appoint Li Keqiang as premier Sunday morning during the ongoing session of China's national legislature.As the driver escorted him outside, Grier refused to leave and punched the 55-year-old driver in the face, injuring his nose and lip, according to prosecutors and Chicago police. As the two struggled, two additional CTA employees came to restrain Grier and also suffered injuries, prosecutors said.Kostouros also denied that Washington abducted the children, saying his client had parental and visitation rights for both children. They plastered his picture all over the press, all over the TV, all over Facebook, all over Twitter, anywhere you look you saw a picture of Lynn Washington for some Amber Alert for kids that were already in his custody. So that makes no sense, Kostouros told reporters after the hearing.Authorities believe there were 10 incidents in which the man went up to a girl or woman and touched her without her consent. Most recently, a 15-year-old girl on her way to school was on the subway platform at 1167 S. State St. about 7:25 a.m. Thursday when the man approached her, wrapped his arms around her and held her for several seconds before letting her go and walking away, police said.Democratic candidate J.B. Pritzker, a billionaire heir to the Hyatt Hotel fortune who has put a record $69.5 million into his bid, has spent nearly $33.5 million on TV advertising, according to a study by Advertising Analytics for NBC News. He has used the spots to try to introduce himself to voters in his first statewide campaign and attack his lesser-funded opponents.In 2015, the university established an internship in Gadkes name, as a way to help offer undergraduate students paid experience in a chosen field. David Bottorff, the librarys head of collection management and circulation, called Gadke a consistently kind and generous soul, whether as a colleague, a mentor to his student employees or to the countless library patrons he assisted over the decades. His warmth, humor and compassion, as well as his intellectual curiosity and dedication, will be sorely missed.A word of caution regarding politicians who promote the idea that a progressive income tax in Illinois is more fair. Remember that fair is often just a personal opinion, and its possible that not everyone would agree. The Illinois Constitution calls for a flat income tax rate for all citizens. If your Illinois taxable income is $10,000, you pay $495. If you earn $100,000, you pay $4,950. If you earn $1,000,000, you pay $49,500. So, someone who makes 100 times more pays 100 times more tax. I suspect that the person who makes $1,000,000 is not getting back $49,500 of benefits from the state of Illinois.Wyatt, who at the time was the Foss Park District board president and a member of the North Chicago Public Library board, was appointed to the seat in June following the death of Audrey Nixon, the longest-serving member on the Lake County Board who, in 1982, became the first African American woman to serve in that role.But Murray said aspects of the case do not support Rudd's claims that the petition errors were a mistake. If the case had gone to trial, one of the witnesses would have testified that he collected several of Rudd's nominating signature pages and was asked afterword "not to sign them," Murray said."By this communication, you are advised to cease and desist from using the name, logo or any other reference to the Illinois Education Association in your campaign advertising," attorney James Nally wrote in a March 9 letter to the leaders of Friends of [Candance] Chow, one of the candidate's campaign committees.You are here: Arts

The 12th Asian Film Awards were announced in China's Macao Special Administrative Region on Saturday night, with Chinese movie "Youth" winning the Best Film.



Chinese actress Sylvia Chang was awarded Best Actress for her role in "Love Education," and Chinese actor Louis Koo was awarded Best Actor for his role in "Paradox."

Japanese director Ishii Yuya won Best Director for his film "The Tokyo Night Sky Is Always the Densest Shade of Blue." Chinese director Dong Yue won Best New Director for "The looming Storm."

Chinese film "Legend of the Demon Cat" won four awards, including Best Supporting Actress (actress Zhang Yuqi), Best Costume Design, Best Production Design and Best Visual Effect.

South Korean actor Yang Ik-june was awarded with Best Supporting Actor for his role in "Wilderness."

Indian play writers Mayank Tewari and Amit V Masurkar were awarded with Best Screenplay for their film "Newton." Japanese musician Hisaishi Joe was awarded with Best Original Music.

Meanwhile, Sylvia Chang was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award. South Korean actress Lim Yoon-a was awarded Next Generation Award, and Chinese film "Wolf Warrior 2" won the 2017 Top-Grossing Asian Film Award.Minister of Environmental Protection Li Ganjie (center) takes questions from journalists at a news conference on Saturday during the first session of the 13th National People's Congress. [Photo/Xinhua]

The newly approved Ministry of Ecological Environment, which will oversee regular anti-pollution inspections nationwide, will help China protect its environment more effectively, a senior official said.

On Saturday morning, deputies to the 13th National People's Congress, the top legislature, approved the government's institutional reform plan, which includes transforming the Ministry of Environmental Protection into a more powerful Ministry of Ecological Environment.

The new ministry will absorb duties held by other authorities that relate to river, marine and soil pollution as well as climate change.

Li Ganjie, minister of environmental protection, said at a news conference in Beijing that the move will better serve the country's environmental protection efforts.

"There are two major obstacles in the previous environmental protection system: the difficulty of making responsible decisions due to the overlapping duties among different departments; and blunted supervision power, as some supervisors also are in charge of management," Li said in response to a China Daily reporter's question about the functions of the new ministry.

"Under the reform, such problems will no longer exist and supervision power will be guaranteed," he said. "Also, under the management of the new ministry, China's ecological environment will be protected as an integrated system."

The new ministry plans to set up a nationwide inspection system, which will give responsibility for regular checks on polluting companies and factories to local authorities in addition to the central government, he said.

The central government launched its first round of national environmental inspections in December 2015. As of January, 31 provinces and regions had received feedback, according to Li, who said the inspections had played an effective role in solving a large number of environmental problems.

"We will get to the bottom of the problems discovered during the inspections, which were led by the central government," he said.

The minister added that 1,048 more officials, including three at or above vice-ministerial level, will be punished for failing to fulfill environmental protection duties during the process, signaling a stronger desire to hold officials accountable.

Although China has made remarkable progress in containing and preventing air pollution in the past five years, the country still faces a severe situation in its air quality and is aware of the long road ahead before the air becomes clean enough, according to Li.

"We need to stop relying on the help from favorable weather conditions to get rid of pollutants in the air," he said, adding that the current measures to curb air pollution have proved to be working.

He said the new targets for the concentration of PM2.5tiny, toxic particulate matterfor the next three years will be stricter than those in the country's current five-year plan, due to end in 2020.

Occupying a vast area of 29,000 square meters in Beheira province north of the Egyptian capital Cairo, the newly-established factory of China's agribusiness giant New Hope Group tells a good story about the growing ties between the two countries.

The sprawling animal feed producing factory, New Hope's third in Egypt, consists of four premises: an administrative building with a residential area, two storehouses for raw materials and final products, and a workshop where animal feed is made.

"Share Success with the Customers. Develop with the Society. Advance with the Society" is a theme painted in large white characters on the blue wall of New Hope's final products storehouse, while "New Hope Brings New Life" is the slogan written under the green-and-red logo of the company.

"We started this branch in August 2016 and reached ideal production rates in October 2017. We invested about 100 million yuan (15.8 million U.S. dollars) in this project," said Wu Qianfeng, general manager of the New Hope Alexandria Co., Ltd in the industrial city of Housh Eissa.

The Sino-Egyptian ties have been elevated to the level of comprehensive strategic partnership with growing economic and cultural cooperation in light of China's Belt and Road Initiative proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013.

"The rapid development of our firm in Egypt is a result of the development of the trade relations and industrial cooperation between Egypt and China," Wu told Xinhua at the new factory, stressing that New Hope's expansion in Egypt is part of its greater expansion in Africa in general.

Beheira Governor Nadia Abdou recently visited the New Hope factory to inspect the work process and its final products.

Abdou, accompanied by a member of the parliament and local council officials, hailed the growing Sino-Egyptian relations, while vowing to ease all procedures for Chinese investment in the industrial zone in Beheira.

Chinese investment projects are present in nearly all major regions in Egypt, especially the Suez Canal industrial zone, Abdou told Xinhua.

"We as Egyptian people feel friendship and understanding with the Chinese people," she said.

"Egypt has become an investment attractive state because our local currency has become very encouraging for investors, the raw materials are mostly available and cheap, and the new investment law has been approved to facilitate business establishment," she added.

New Hope's expansion in Egypt is just one example of China's growing investment in the most populous Arab state.

Other major Chinese investors in Egypt include the TEDA corporation, one of the oldest and largest industrial developers of the Suez Canal Economic Zone in Ismailia, and China's fiberglass giant Jushi, a tenant company of TEDA.

"It's not the first New Hope factory in Egypt, as the firm has been present in the country for five years. This is the third after the first was built in Sadat city in Minufiya province and the second in Beni Sweif province," said Mahmoud Abdel-Nasser, a deputy administrative manager of New Hope Alexandria.

Abdel-Nasser told Xinhua that a new New Hope factory for fish feed will soon be established in Gamasa city in the coastal province of Damietta in addition to New Hope's increased investment in poultry farming in El Alamein city in Matrouh province.

Like many other Chinese businesses operating in Egypt, New Hope has created hundreds of job opportunities to Egyptian youths.

Rana Sherif, a fresh graduate from a Chinese-learning college in Cairo's Ain Sham University, has been working as an Arabic-Chinese interpreter for New Hope for a few months.

Sherif said she learned punctuality, diligence and the spirit of hard-working during her work and communication with Chinese colleagues at New Hope.

"They work so hard all the time and working hours for them are so sacred. For the Chinese, business is business and leisure is leisure," she told Xinhua.You are here: Business

Ping An Bank, a Shenzhen-listed lender controlled by Ping An Insurance, posted a mild profit increase in 2017.

The bank saw net profits rise 2.6 percent to 23.2 billion yuan (3.7 billion U.S. dollars) last year, according to a statement filed to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

Revenue slipped 1.8 percent to 105.8 billion yuan, with net income from service charges and commissions climbing 10.1 percent due to credit card service growth.

The bank attributed the profit increase to a shift to retail banking, which contributed 67.6 percent to total net profits last year.

Income and net profits from retail banking surged 41.7 percent and 68.3 percent, respectively.

More mobile and smart technology was applied in banking services and risk monitoring, supporting the bank's business growth, the statement said.

Non-performing loan ratio dropped 0.04 percentage points from a year earlier to 1.7 percent at the end of 2017.

This year, the bank will continue to create new business models to develop retail banking and smart banking, the statement said.

Huang Xiaobin, a masters graduate from the College of Medicine of Zhejiang University in east China, was supposed to be a doctor. However, after studying medicine for 7 years, Huang instead decided he wanted to bake his own bread.

Huang is the only son from an average family in Xinchang County in the eastern Zhejiang Province. His parents have always been proud of their son's excellent academic achievements, especially in 2006, when he was admitted to Zhejiang University with a score of 634 points from his college entrance examination.

While he was preparing to study abroad during his final year in school, he discovered a love for baking bread. A documentary called "Paul teaches you to make bread" inspired him to take this further.



"I studied medicine because I like research. I still like what I was learning at the time. But my interests are no longer necessarily in line with scientific research. As for being a doctor, I could never even consider it," Huang said.

It was in 2015 that Huang opened his first bakery within a 20-square-meter facade of a ground-floor space. Huang suffered many pitfalls in the early days. On the first day, the store assistant burned the whole day's products and they didn't have a float to provide customers with any change. They were also attracting very little custom.

After three months without much improvement, a famous Weibo blogger came to try Huang's bread and later posted about it on his blog. After this, business began to improve and he started making over 300 loaves of bread per day.



An entrepreneur, who specializes in low-energy health food, will cooperate with Huang on a new project, to supply bread to two primary schools in the city.

"I haven't made much money because I'm not very good at business. But I have had a lot of experience which is going to help me in the future," Huang said that if he was given the opportunity to choose between medicine and baking again, he would still choose baking.



It is hardly surprising when global media outlets react negatively to announcements of Chinese spending figures on issues of regional and international importance. China's uptick in its defense budget for 2018 was no exception.

Following the announcement of an intended military spending increase of 8.1 percent, or up to $175 billion, made by Premier Li Keqiang in his annual government work report, opinion articles and analyses swept the internet warning of China's intention to join an arms race against the U.S.

Indeed, a clearer comparison with Washington may indicate whether or not China is in fact interested in an arms race, or whether it is too premature to determine at this stage.

China claims that it will prioritize turning its army into a "world-class" modernized and mechanized force, investing in high-tech systems and advanced equipment at the expense of size. Troop numbers have recently been reduced by 300,000, putting China's military force at 2 million.

Xu Guangyu, a retired general and senior consultant with the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association in Beijing, was quoted in Sputnik saying that "China would focus on competing against the United States on quality" rather than quantity. In essence, this will mean upgrading the accuracy and strength of its missile, aircraft and aircraft-carrier technologies in order to protect its interests in the Asia-Pacific region and the South China Sea.

China is now at the point of launching its second aircraft carrier and integrating stealth fighters and advanced missiles into its military force.

The increase in China's military budget, up from 7 percent in 2017 and 7.6 percent in 2016, is perhaps predictable given the reduction in its number of troops as well as its reallocation of resources for the modernization of equipment.

On the contrary, the U.S. shows aggressive determination to build a superior unrivaled military power in alignment with its National Security Strategy, National Defense Strategy and Nuclear Posture Review, which cite China as a primary threat.

The U.S. budget proposal for the fiscal year 2019, submitted to the Congress in February, asked for $716 billion for national security, including $686.1 billion in military spending, a double-digit growth up 13 percent from the previous fiscal year. A 2.6 percent increase of U.S. military personnel was also requested.

The U.S. aims at advancing its nuclear arsenal, bolstering its missile defenses and investing in military hardware.

Funding has been requested for countering Russian influence in Europe, Eurasia and the Middle East as well as China's influence in the Indo-Pacific region. Other funds are requested for enhancing space resiliency, overseas contingency operations for war areas like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan and enhancing programming for North Korea.

In 2017, U.S. military expenditures reached $603 billion, four times higher than China's $151 billion, according to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.

China's military outlay has kept pace with the nation's economic performance, having been holding a steady 2 percent share of China's annual GDP for the past 30 years, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

This year, China's budget increase is coordinated with the 6.9 percent economic growth of 2017, the first acceleration of the country's economy since 2010. Zhang Yesui, a spokesman for China's National People's Congress, stated that the budget comes to around 1.3 percent of the nation's 2017 GDP, lower than that of other major nations.

SIPRI figures show that the U.S. defense budget's share of the nation's GDP has been 3.3 percent in recent years.

While an arms race with the U.S. is not on China's strategic agenda, "safeguarding national sovereignty, security and development interests," in the words of Premier Li, are top priorities prompting China's increased military buildup.

Chief among those are securing its strategic interests along the Belt and Road trade routes, including establishing military cooperation with participating countries (its naval base in Djibouti now is an example), warding off threat of terror infiltration, and addressing the increasingly serious possibility of a military conflict between North Korea and the U.S.

China's slight increase in its defense budget is neither alarming nor an overreaction, especially given the clear gap between the military budgets of China and the top spender, the U.S. China's main priorities are to boost regional strength and protect its interests in the Asia-Pacific region. The U.S.'s strategy is to establish global dominance, which makes the U.S. defense budget increase the worrying one.

Haifa Said is chief editor of the English Department at the Syrian Arab News Agency.





Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.



 Flash

Chinese President Xi Jinping held a phone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday, saying China and Germany should set an example of win-win cooperation.

Xi extended his congratulations to Merkel on her election as German chancellor for the fourth time, and Merkel congratulated Xi on his election as Chinese president by a unanimous vote on Saturday at the ongoing session of the 13th National People's Congress.

Xi said China and Germany should set an example of win-win cooperation, align their strategies, make a plan together for mutually beneficial cooperation in the next stage, push forward cooperation within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative and achieve common development.

China and Germany should also lead the development of China-European Union (EU) relations, and play constructive roles in promoting China-EU strategic mutual trust and cooperation, he added.

The two countries should become advocates for new-type international relations, and be dedicated to maintaining economic globalization and multilateralism. They should support free trade, oppose trade protectionism and strengthen cooperation within the Group of 20 (G20). Jointly, they should maintain and improve the international order and the economic governance system, Xi said.

China and Germany should become cooperation partners despite ideological differences, Xi said. The two countries are partners, not rivals, he added. One side's development will bring opportunities to the other side, not challenges.

China-Germany relations will steadily proceed far as long as they adhere to equality and mutual respect, understand and care for each other's core interests and major concerns, and properly control and handle their differences, Xi said.

Merkel said Germany's new government is committed to developing closer ties between China and Germany. It will strengthen high-level contacts and institutional dialogue with China and boost cooperation in various fields.

Germany has always supported the Belt and Road Initiative and regarded it as a strategic bridge for Eurasia, she said, adding that Germany will contribute to the joint construction of the initiative through project cooperation.

The German chancellor also said Germany backs deeper EU-China relations, and will step up its cooperation with China within the framework of multilateral forums, such as the G20.

The two leaders also exchanged views on issues of common concern, such as the international trade order. Flash

Cambodia and China launched the second joint drill on counter-terrorism and humanitarian rescue at a training field in the Maras Prov Mountains on Saturday.



Some 280 soldiers of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) and 216 soldiers of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) are involved in the drill dubbed "Dragon Gold 2018," which will last till March 31.

RCAF commander-in-chief Gen. Pol Saroeun said the exercise is part of the activities the two countries have organized to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between the two countries.

"The exercise is vital to exchange experience and further strengthen bilateral cooperation on anti-terrorism and humanitarian work," he said in a speech during the opening ceremony.

He said Cambodia highly values the drill with China which will importantly contribute to increasing capacity for the RCAF.

It will increase China-Cambodia readiness and responsiveness to challenges in the fight against terrorism and in the humanitarian tasks, he said.

Zhang Jian, army commander of the Southern Theater Command of the Chinese PLA, said the exercise is designed to bolster cooperation and friendship between the two armies.

The drill plays a very important role in further developing the relations between the two armies, he said in his opening speech.

It will further enhance cooperation between the two countries on terrorism fighting and humanitarian rescue, and contribute to maintaining peace, stability and development in the two countries, the region, and the world, he added.

The participating troops will carry on training of professional subjects such as anti-terror equipment operating, live-fire practice, unarmed wrestle, simulated airborne landing, man hunting, searching and rescuing.

Cambodia and China conducted the first joint drill in December 2016, focusing on humanitarian rescue and disaster relief at the Army Institute in southwestern Kampong Speu province.You are here: World

 Flash

Representatives from the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) will hold unofficial talks in Helsinki on Sunday, Finnish media reported Saturday.

Finnish commercial television MTV reported that Choe Kang Il, who is responsible for relations with the United States at the DPRK Foreign Ministry, would arrive here for a two-day visit.

Finnish foreign ministry confirmed the visit to the MTV and described it as "unofficial."

Newspaper Helsingin Sanomat reported that Choe would meet Kathleen Stephens, a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea.

Finnish news agency STT reported that the talks would take place at the Japanese Embassy in Helsinki.

Kimmo Lahdevirta, head of the Asia desk at Finnish Foreign Ministry, told the STT that the event in Helsinki would be "academic" and "from the perspective of international relations."

Earlier on Saturday, the Swedish government said DPRK Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho concluded his three-day visit to Sweden for talks on the security situation on the Korean Peninsula.You are here: World

 Flash



At least four people were killed and 14 others injured as a fire swept through a casino in a Manila hotel on Sunday morning, authorities said.



According to Johnny Yu of the Manila Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, four people, who had been critically injured during the fire, did not make it to the hospital.

Yu said earlier that the four injured were "unconscious" when rushed to the hospital.

The fire gutted the casino's mezzanine up to the third floor.

The Bureau of Fire Protection in Manila said the fire produced flames and thick smoke plume that engulfed the casino of the Manila Pavilion Hotel and Casino along United Nations Avenue in Manila City.

Firefighters were still trying to control the blaze that continued to rage as of past noon.

The cause of the fire was still unknown.You are here: World

 Flash

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Australia on Sunday agreed to enhance cooperation in security, trade and business at a special summit in Sydney.

During the two-day summit that ended Sunday, the two sides signed the ASEAN-Australia Joint Declaration for Cooperation to Combat International Terrorism, targetting terror financing, online radicalization and looking to streamline legislation and policing protocols across Southeast Asia.

Australia and ASEAN have also agreed to boost trade, investment and business links through economic integration and new initiatives in infrastructure development and digital standards.

The Australian government announced they would commit 23 million U.S. dollars over the next five years for training and technical assistance to help ASEAN nations develop smart and sustainable cities.

With over 90 million people in Southeast Asian expected to move to urban areas by 2030, trade and economic growth is set to increase rapidly during that time.

"To harness these opportunities, cities need innovative solutions, smart planning and good governance," Australian Foreign Minister Julie bishop said.

ASEAN and Australia will also work together on a new initiative the Colombo Plan, giving Australian undergraduates the opportunity to take internships across the ASEAN region in order to promote greater academic collaboration.To share with friends and brethren The Gospel of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (the Everlasting Gospel), and to prepare a people to stand when He returns to redeem His remnant. Also, to share relevant information of current events, and to show how they relate to prophecy; By means of articles, editorials, opinions, scripture readings, and poetry.

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Endrtimes does not necessarily endorse or agree with every opinion expressed in every article/video posted on this site. The information provided here is done so for personal edification; It's up to the reader to separate truth from error, and to examine everything (like the Bereans) from a Biblical perspective. Let the Holy Scriptures be you guide! - - - FAIR USE NOTICE: These pages/videos may contain copyrighted () material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available to advance understanding of ecological, POLITICAL, HUMAN RIGHTS, economic, DEMOCRACY, scientific, MORAL, ETHICAL, and SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUES, etc. It is believed that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior general interest in receiving similar information for research and educational purposes.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Egyptian expatriates began voting in the 2018 Egyptian presidential elections on Friday morning in embassies in 118 countries around the world.

All Egyptians living abroad will be able to cast their votes in this year's presidential elections  16, 17, 18 March  regardless of their legal status in host countries.

Deputy Foreign Minister Hamdy Loza has called on Egyptian expatriates to turn out and vote in the presidential elections, in which President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi is running for a second term against Ghad Party chief Moussa Mostafa Moussa.

Expatriate voting in Egypt's presidential elections is being held in 124 countries around the world, with 139 election committees in embassies and consulates, between 16 and 18 March.

Supervising the voting process are 786 members of the Egyptian missions.

Loza highlighted the successful coordination between the Egyptian embassies, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Electoral Authority in Cairo on organizing the voting process.

Expatriates will need a national ID card or valid computerized passport to be eligible to vote.

Polling stations are open from 9am to 9pm on each of the three election days.

Votes will be collated inside embassies and diplomatic missions and the results sent to the National Electoral Authority.

NEA says process smooth

Egypt's National Elections Authority (NEA) said in a press conference on Friday afternoon that thousands of Egyptians have started voting in embassies and consulates in 118 countries around the world at 9am local time to choose the country's next president.

The vote will start in the remaining 6 countries at 9am local time.

In the Arab Gulf countries of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait and Qatar, where large numbers of Egyptians work and live, voters used tablets to cast their ballots, the NEA spokesperson Mahmoud El-Sharif told reporters.

"According to Egyptian law, all Egyptians abroad, regardless of residence status and regardless of type of visa, have the right to vote in the elections," El-Sharif stressed.

The NEA said Egyptian diplomats in Qatar have coordinated with Qatari officials to ensure a smooth voting operation for Egyptians who work in the Gulf country.

"We are monitoring the elections in 16 countries via audio and video conference," El-Sharif added.

"There was heavy voter turnout in countries such as Saudi Arabia, but this is still the first day in the polls, which will last till the 18th."

Saudi Arabia

In Saudi Arabia, where the more Egyptian expatriates reside than anywhere else, a large number of citizens cast their ballots in the Egyptian consulates in Riyadh and Jeddah, lifting banners of "Long Live Egypt."

Nasser Hamdi, Egypt's Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, affirmed a very high turnout in the voting process since the polling stations opened their doors at 9am.

Hamdi said during a phone call with ONTV channel's morning program that lines of voters extending for one kilometre could be seen since 8am.

"People came in groups and from very long distances to cast their votes for the sake of Egypt," the ambassador said, noting that a large number of women were among the voters.

About 3 million Egyptians reside and work in Saudi Arabia, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), Egypt's official statistics agency.

Kuwait

In Kuwait, where nearly 600,000 Egyptian reside, thousands of citizens headed to the Egyptian embassy in Kuwait City, casting their votes while singing the famous Egyptian Special Army Forces anthem What Did They Say while waiving the Egyptian flags.

Lines extending for three kilometres were seen in front of Kuwait's polling station.

The Egyptian Ambassador to Kuwait Tarek El-Kouny saluted voters, praising their patriotism and civil behaviour.

Iraq

Egyptian expats have been voting at the Egyptian embassy in Baghdad amid a festive atmosphere, Egyptian ambassador to Iraq Alaa Mousa said in a statement, state news agency MENA reported.

Private Egyptian TV channel CBC Extra news reported on Friday that Egyptians in Iraq were keen on participating in the poll, travelling to Baghdad from several cities despite the unrest in the country.

There were around 22,000 Egyptians in Iraq in late 2016, according state statistics agency CAPMAS.

Lebanon

The deputy head of the Egyptian Community in Lebanon Tawfik Helmy said that there has been a high turnout by Egyptian expats in Lebanon at the Egyptian embassy in Beirut.

In late 2016, Egyptian expats in Lebanon were estimated at 40,000.

Jordan

In Jordan, where 1.5 million Egyptians reside, polling stations in Amman received crowds of voters early on Friday to express their will, carrying Egyptian flags and singing patriotic Egyptian songs.

Egypt's ambassador in Jordan, Tarek Adel, said in a press statement that all technical, logistical and organizational preparations are facilitated to Egyptians in Jordan to cast their votes on Friday and over the upcoming days.

The UAE

In large numbers as well, Egyptian citizens living in the United Arab Emirates headed on Friday morning to the Egyptian Consulate in Dubai to vote in the presidential elections.

The embassy and consulate opened at 9 am UAE time, and voting is scheduled to continue until 9 PM on each of the three days of voting.

Egyptians in the Emirates comprise 12 percent of Egyptians living in Arab countries, numbering 765,000.

Voting in Abu Dhabi and Dubai has been extended due to the high voter turnout, according to the Egyptian ambassador.

Qatar

Meanwhile in Doha, the Head of Egypt's Diplomatic Mission in Qatar, Ahmed Ezzat, said in special statements to Ahram Online that Egyptian citizens turned out in unprecedentedly large numbers to cast their votes since polling stations opened their doors on Friday early morning.

"A large number of citizens came along with their children to express their will," Ezzat added, praising voters' civil behavior and keenness on practicing their democratic right.

Around 300,000 Egyptians reside and work in Qatar, according to statistics compiled by the Egyptian Ministry of Immigration and Expatriate Affairs 2017.Back home in Egypt, the voting will be held between 26 and 28 March.

No voting in Yemen and Libya

Estimated in the hundreds of thousands, Egyptian citizens in Yemen and Libya were not able to cast their votes due to the deteriorated security situations in those countries.

Europe

In Britain, despite the fact that Friday is a working day, private satellite TV channel Al-Ghad reported the presence of dozens of Egyptian expats voting at the embassy in London.

Some 26,500 Egyptian expats live in the UK, according to a 2016 CAPMAS report.

In the Netherlands, the Egyptian ambassador in Amsterdam said that the embassy has been receiving large numbers of voters since morning.

Some 45,000 Egyptians were registered as living in the Netherlands in late 2016.

The Egyptian embassies in Rome, Berlin and Paris were the first Egyptian missions in Europe to open for the polls.

Japan

Egyptian ambassador to Tokyo Ayman Kamel said that Egyptians are participating in the vote despite bad weather, MENA added.

Around 1,840 Egyptians live in Japan.

New Zealand

The Egyptian embassy in New Zealand was the first to open its doors to voters on Friday morning (Thursday 9 PM Cairo local time).

The US and Canada

On Friday afternoon, Egyptian embassies in Washington and Ottawa opened their doors for Egyptian expats to cast their ballots on the first of three days of voting in the 2018 presidential elections.

Egyptian expatriates in the US are estimated at 981,000, while in Canada there are some 600,000 Egyptians.

Run offs

For expatriates, run-off voting, if necessary, is scheduled between 19 and 21 April, and in Egypt between 24 and 26 April. If no run-off is necessary the winner will be announced on 2 April.

In the 2014 presidential election 317,109 Egyptians abroad voted, with more than 90 per cent casting ballots for Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi against his sole contender, leftist figure Hamdeen Sabahi.

CAPMAS announced in 2017 that 9.5 million Egyptians live outside the country.

Around 6.2 million live in Arab countries, while 1.6 million are located in North and South America. 1.2 million are in Europe and 340,000 reside in Australia.

Short link:

S. Africa ex-president Zuma to be prosecuted for taking kickbacks

China Daily | Updated: 2018-03-18 08:06

PRETORIA, South Africa - Former president Jacob Zuma will face prosecution on corruption charges that haunted much of his term in office, South Africa's chief prosecutor said on Friday.

Zuma is accused of taking kickbacks from the $5 billion purchase of fighter jets, patrol boats and other arms, manufactured by five European firms, including British military equipment maker BAE Systems and French company Thales.

National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Luvuyo Mfaku confirmed that Thales would also face prosecution, alongside Zuma. Thales declined to make any immediate comment.

"After consideration of the matter I am of the view there are reasonable prospects of a successful prosecution of Mr Zuma on the charges listed in the indictment," National Director of Public Prosecutions Shaun Abrahams told a media briefing in Pretoria.

Zuma will face one count of racketeering, two counts of corruption, one of money laundering and 12 counts of fraud - all of which can carry lengthy custodial sentences on conviction.

"I am of the view that a trial court would be the most appropriate forum for these issues to be ventilated and to be decided upon," said Abrahams.

Prosecutors declined to confirm what charges Thales would face.

Last year, a court ruled against a decision by prosecutors in 2009 to drop the corruption charges against Zuma just months before he became president, laying the path to Friday's announcement.

Zuma's criminal charges relate to an arms procurement deals struck by the government in the late 1990s and from which he is accused of profiting corruptly to the tune of 4 million rand ($345,000).

Zuma resigned as president last month after the ruling African National Congress party threatened to remove him from office.

The ANC noted Friday's decision and called in a statement for "Comrade Zuma to be presumed innocent until, and if, proven guilty".

The opposition party Democratic Alliance welcomed the charges against Zuma.

Afp - Xinhua

(China Daily 03/18/2018 page9)The SAR can offer hard and soft skills to GBA Updated: 2018-03-19 06:17 By Christine Loh(HK Edition)

Christine Loh says HK should be more proactive contributing to bay area and can offer expertise in environmental protection

The level of political excitement about the Greater Bay Area has certainly gone up a notch.

Recent discussions at the National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in Beijing confirmed its importance from a political and economic standpoint, with top level backing.

The GBA consists of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. Officials from these three places have been contributing to such a plan for some time, where the authorities exchanged ideas and considered drafts.

Guangdong Governor Ma Xingrui said the State Council was expected to announce the plan soon with emphasis on infrastructure connectivity to further facilitate the flow of people, information, goods and capital.

Shenzhen Mayor Chen Rugui suggested the creation of a national-level coordination mechanism to facilitate the implementation and the on-going development of the plan; and that there should be a special innovation and technology cooperation area.

Indeed, Guangdong and Shenzhen have been given the political mission to work with the two special administrative regions to turn the GBA into a world-class economic and business hub. President Xi Jinping's expectation is for the GBA to nurture and attract talents to help the country realize its industrial and technological ambitions.

Some delegates to the NPC-CPPCC meetings have even suggested the creation of a special structure under the central government to promote and implement the GBA plan since it is not just a locally focused project but is meant to serve a bigger goal for the nation.

Hong Kong's response at the meetings is naturally positive but could be more proactive in emphasizing how it can contribute to the success of the GBA. Suggestions from delegates have generally followed expected lines, such as helping to solve the land supply problem and expediting development of Qianhai in Shenzhen.

Hong Kong can consider other ideas too. Apart from focusing on promoting the exchanges in talents, logistics, capital and information, there should also be a focus on environmental protection. After all, they should not miss President Xi Jinping's expressed desire that development of the GBA should be sustainable and environmentally conscious.

Hong Kong can offer a vision that involves enhancing ordinary people's ecological consciousness. Environmental protection cannot be achieved by technology and infrastructure, even government mandates, without a change of behavior by citizens. An area where Hong Kong can take the lead is in food waste reduction and treatment. After all, the GBA is one of China's premier culinary centers and tourism spots.

Hong Kong's most recognizable icon happens to be "Big Waster" created by the Environment Bureau to encourage local people to reduce food waste. About 40 percent of the city's municipal solid waste is related to food. Campaigns have successfully involved hundreds of stakeholders in the food and hospitality sector for the last few years. Moreover, Hong Kong's first food waste-to-energy processing plant will be commissioned soon. It has already attracted a lot of attention from the mainland and Asia, since the technology is of interest to others.

Big Waster could play a social and environmental ambassadorial role for the GBA, which can also be promoted nationwide. The first step is for Hong Kong authorities to introduce Big Waster to their counterparts in the GBA and offer to share it as the region's icon. Suitable artistic adaptations can be made should they be needed.

After all, all of China has a serious waste problem and food waste constitutes a significant part of it. Experts have estimated that food waste makes up about half of the municipal solid waste in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, while the percentages are even higher in Shanghai and Beijing.

It's easy to imagine a new eating experience in the GBA would involve careful decisions on ingredients, quantity and mode of preparation which would cut wastage, and yet tasty, satisfying, healthy and also environmentally friendly. The whole dining experience can be designed to make customers feel positive. It will no longer be the old "eat as much as you want" restaurant promotion slogans of the past. It should be replaced with "Gluttony is out, smart eating is in" with the economy of resources and environmental concern in mind.

Beyond the tourism experience, ordinary people of the GBA can be involved together in community activities to reduce food waste. Schools can help by raising the awareness of students and through them, their families, to achieve the long-term goal of waste reduction at the source.

Big Waster has a message beyond food waste. With suitable adaptation, Big Waster is already spreading the message of resource and energy saving in Hong Kong. The adaptability of the icon is what can turn it into a national symbol created in Hong Kong which unites the GBA in an important socio-environmental mission with the potential to become an effective icon in the era of Beautiful China.

An international role for Big Waster? Why not? Icons such as Mickey Mouse and Hello Kitty can gain world renown, why not one with an important social message for the world! Our adorable Big Waster is fast proving to be a crowd puller and a natural photo op. It would not look out of place at our favorite tourist locations such as Hong Kong Disneyland, Ocean Park and other high tourist concentration districts spreading its positive message.

(HK Edition 03/19/2018 page10)Saint 'Fitz'patrick's Day 2018

ATHENS, Tenn., March 17, 2018 / Christian Newswire / -- Quoting from Andrew McCabe's cleaned-up, still menacing rant: "We get Flynn, then we get Trump," what happened is that we righteously got McCabe instead.

Now it's time to get Bob Mueller.

Mueller's indictment of President Trump is a certainty unless the Sessions Justice Department interdicts.

Jeff Sessions can stop Mueller from running amuck further in the moment Sessions holds Mueller to the criminal consequences deriving from " The MADISONVILLE HOAX ."

Consider this sequence of events:

Friday, 2 March 2018: Eric Holder telegraphs Mueller's certain indictment of President Trump.

Saturday, 10 March 2018: President Trump meets with Counselor Emmett Flood , an attorney practiced in presidential impeachment proceedings.

Thursday, 15 March 2018 -- on the anniversary Brutus, joined by fellow Roman senators, stabbed Julius Caesar to death -- the Ides of March: News breaks Mueller issued subpoenas for Trump Organization financial records

Thursday, 15 March 2018: Adam Schiff telegraphs Mueller's indictment of President Trump:

"We can't simply rely on Bob Mueller cause his job is different than ours," Mr. Schiff , California Democrat, said on CNN. He was referring to special counsel Robert Mueller who is leading the investigation into collusion claims between the Trump campaign and Russia.

"It's not his job to tell the country what happened, and outside of an indictment, he may not be able to speak. That's what the Congress is supposed to do," Mr. Schiff said.

These two miscreants, Schiff and Mueller, are working hand-to-glove.

Thursday, 15 March 2018: SAME DAY, IDES OF MARCH.

"Former Obama Attorney General Eric Holder used violent anti-GOP rhetoric in a campaign stop in Wisconsin challenging Republicans to a knife fight ."

Thursday, 15 March 2018: Late afternoon: Within the tick of the tock, wherein Mueller subpoenas The Trump Organization for financial records, Vanessa Trump files for divorce.

Offered here to consider: Mrs. Donald Trump, Jr. seeks to distance herself from any Trump Organization financial dealings she perceives Mueller is going to use in a criminal filing against her father-in-law and soon-to-be former husband.

Mueller the home-wrecker.

17 March 2018: Today -- Disgraced John Brennan is shootin' his mouth off, again, signaling, yet again, Mueller's approaching indictment of President Trump which, Brennan offers, will dispatch the president "in the dustbin of history."

Mueller intimidated George Papadopoulos (Oct. 2017), Mike Flynn (Dec. 2017), and Rick Gates (Feb. 2018) into guilty pleas in what are clearly selective, malicious prosecutions.

Anybody fogging a mirror can hear the "Impeachment" war drums pounding louder and louder.

The hopes of all those striving to remove President Trump from office are pinned on the miscreant Mueller.

The strategy leading into the midterm elections is to exploit Mueller's indictment to incite the need for Democrats to recapture a House majority necessary to impeach President Trump.

"Auntie" Mad Maxine will lead the "March to 6 Nov" screaming "IMPEACH 45," a slogan which becomes the war chant for all those with their knives out the instant Mueller criminally accuses President Trump. Eric Holder threatens: "You want a knife fight? We're gonna do it."

Instantly seeking to promote Mueller's witch-hunt, McCabe is crying today he's being discredited as one of Mueller's witnesses and fired by Sessions as an attempt to undermine Mueller. McCabe, who's promised to take others down with him, reports "private memos" McCabe kept are now turned over to Mueller.

Sessions's deep-sixing McCabe enrages and emboldens Mueller to work harder and faster to make good on McCabe's threat to illegally unseat a constitutionally, duly elected sitting president.

Mueller is moving in for the kill shot. Holder thinks Mueller's charges are already prepared. Mueller is likely going to advance to his grand jury's accusations against President Trump of obstruction of justice and conspiracy to defraud the government

Mueller is going to invent a crime stemming from President Trump's business past. Rick Gates is forecast as one who will bear false witness.

Holding Mueller accountable for his conduct in perpetrating "The MADISONVILLE HOAX." stops Mueller cold in his tracks.

The time is now to act.

Mueller is formally accused of TREASON , based upon the theory and precedent set in The Whiskey Rebellion Trials (1791  1794).

Eric Holder also bears the label "treasonous outlaw" in that Holder was Mueller's primary criminal facilitator.

It's time to get Mueller.

Contact: Sharon Rondeau, Editor, The Post & Email , 203-987-7948, editor@thepostemail.comThe magic returns; the strains of our music will once more ring forth. Consortium Aurora Borealis is back in action after the silence imposed on so many arts organizations by COVID-19.Voting for expatriates in the Egyptian presidential elections concluded in embassies and consulates around the world on Sunday, one week before polls are set to open domestically.

Voting in Los Angeles and Canada will close on Monday due to the time zone difference.

President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and Moussa Mostafa Moussa, the head of Ghad Party, are the two candidates on the ballot in the 2018 presidential elections.

Voting abroad took place in 124 countries from 16 to 18 March, with Egyptians at home due to vote from 26 to 28 March.

Polling facilities in most countries opened for voting at 9am local time on Sunday and closed at 9pm.

Mahmoud El-Sharif, spokesman for Egypts National Elections Authority (NEA), said on Saturday that there had been no early indicators of the turnout, but he revealed that Egyptian communities in Arab Gulf countries turned out in large numbers.

El-Sharif said that no complaints had been received over the first two days of voting, adding that the elctoral process had been well organized.

On Saturday, the NEA said that the voting process abroad had been satisfactory thus far.

Vote counting is due to begin immediately after polling stations close on Sunday, in the presence of representatives of the candidates, election monitoring bodies and some embassy staff.

However, the tallies for expat votes will be announced as part of final results on 2 April.

In a press conference on Saturday, Deputy Foreign Minister Hamdi Loza called on Egyptian communities worldwide to continue participating in the elections.

Since the start of the vote on Friday, several videos have been shared online from embassies worldwide showing Egyptian men and women celebrating while voting, playing patriotic songs and wearing clothes in the colours of the Egyptian flag: red, white and black.

According to Egyptian law, all Egyptians abroad can vote in the 2018 elections, regardless of their visa status, whether residents, non-residents or tourists.

Around 9.5 million Egyptians out of a population of 104 million are living abroad.

All Egyptian expats can vote in March presidential elections regardless of legal status in host countries.

There are no official figures on how many expats are eligible to vote.

The total number of eligible voters in the national voter database is 59 million, according to NEA statistics.

In Egypt's 2014 presidential poll, which El-Sisi won by a landslide, around 318,000 Egyptian expatriates cast their votes.

Short link:

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.CLEVELAND, Ohio - Ninety years after the first tenants moved in, the Terminal Tower clearly remains the city's most prominent architectural symbol.

Sure, Cleveland has other points of pride and affection, including the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Severance Hall, and the 23 on LeBron James's jersey.

The city also has other buildings as beautiful as the Terminal Tower, if not even more so, and others that are certainly more innovative in terms of design.

But none of Cleveland's other symbols or iconic structures match the role played by the Terminal Tower.

A new exhibition that opened last Friday at the Cleveland State University Art Galleries at 1307 Euclid Ave., celebrates the impact of the tower on the city's psyche.

It explores the building through posters, magazine covers, newspaper articles, large-scale models, t-shirts, videos, photographs, etchings, watercolors, pastels, and blueprints and architectural renderings, plus tchotchkes including cups, commemorative plates, a snow globe, a letter opener and a cigarette lighter.

Logo for a city

For decades, if you wanted to say "Cleveland" visually in a way that instantly communicated the city's pride, vigor and ambition, or if you wanted to critique on its failings, you used an image of the tower to symbolize the city.

Conceived by William Barrow, head of special collections and coordinator of the Cleveland Memory Project and the Michael Schwartz Library at CSU, the show is an open love letter to a piece of architecture that has long defined Northeast Ohio's biggest city.

Before construction of the Sohio Building, now 200 Public Square, in 1981, and the Key Tower in 1991, the Terminal Tower had the skyline all to itself.

Published sources indicate that the tower, at 708 feet, was the second-tallest building in the world outside of New York City, until completion of the Prudential Center in Boston in the mid-1960s.

But as Barrow pointed out Wednesday in a tour of the exhibition, which opened Friday March 9 and is on view through Saturday, April 21, Terminal Tower lost that position in 1953.

That's when the 32-story central tower of Lomonosov Moscow State University, which resembles the Terminal Tower stylistically, topped out 773 feet.

So prominent

"It was just so immensely prominent," Barrow said of the Terminal Tower. "For a while it was something you could see from all over the region. It announced to all of us: There was downtown."

The special collections at CSU's library include 400 boxes of construction records and 5,000 photographs documenting the rise of the Terminal Tower complex, officially dedicated in 1930 but occupied as early as 1928.

Barrow said he's been mulling a special exhibition on the Tower for some time. Circumstances aligned with an opening on the CSU gallery calendar this year, nine decades after the tower's offices first began welcoming occupants.

In memory of Leedy

The show is dedicated to the late Walter Leedy Jr., the CSU architectural historian who donated his vast personal collection of architectural postcards to the library, and who documented the Terminal Tower and other important Cleveland buildings in his writing before his death in 2006 at age 64.

Designed by Donna Stewart, media technician in the digital production unit at the CSU library, the show is organized as a series of 52 sections, or "stories," one for each floor in the tower.

In many ways, the show is a kind of visual trivia test about the tower's origins and impact.

It includes a poster of the Moscow State University tower, whose style and form strangely echoes that of the Terminal Tower.

There are photographs of the tower under construction, plus etchings of the project by artist and architect Louis Conrad Rosenberg.

The show includes a blow-up of Margaret Bourke-White's famous 1928 photo of the tower surrounded by swirling clouds and smoke.

Lego model

Several models of the tower in the show include one made in Lego blocks by Beachwood math teacher Arthur Gugick.

Also on view is a photo by Cleveland architectural photographer Jennie Jones of the 1986 United Way Balloon Fest that launched 1.5 million balloons from Public Square in front of the tower.

The show even includes the stuffed Buckeye the Falcon, posed as if to take flight from a piece of architectural stonework mounted on a gallery wall.

On loan from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Buckeye was one of the falcons that still zoom and swoop from a roosting spot on the 12th floor of the tower, under the watchful eye of the museum's "Falcon Cam."

Antiquarians may lament the relative paucity of original material in the show, given that many images are photographic reproductions. But the stories told by the exhibition are compelling.

The story begins

The show's chronological sequence begins with the civic battle over whether the city's railroad and rapid transit lines would converge at the southwest corner of Public Square or at the north end of the downtown Mall, as proposed in 1903 by the Group Plan Commission led by Chicago architect Daniel Burnham.

The reclusive and eccentric developers and railroad tycoons, brothers Oris and Mantis Van Sweringen, who were building the extensively planned suburb of Shaker Heights, wanted to strengthen their development with a rapid rail connection downtown.

They campaigned hard to build the Cleveland Union Terminal at the site off Public Square, and won a 1919 referendum that determined the issue.

The brothers, as the show points out, originally conceived of the terminal building at Public Square as a neoclassical building echoing the style of the Cleveland Hotel, now the Renaissance, built south of Superior Avenue at the west side of Public Square in 1918.

From a stub to a tower

The developers also first imagined their new building as having a short, stubby tower. But they soon became convinced they could make more money with a taller spire.

The Van Sweringens knew Cleveland was yearning for a symbol of some kind, Leedy said in an ideastream video documentary that's part of the CSU exhibition.

But as Leedy also said: "It was an economic decision to build the tower and the terminal, not a gift to the city."

As Barrow put it in his interview, the "Vans" wrapped their rail terminal with as many amenities as possible to "separate" rail and rapid riders "from their dollars," while providing services and office space.

Conservative to a fault

The exhibition gently indicates that the stylistically conservative architecture of the tower, designed by the Chicago firm of Graham Anderson Probst & White, was derivative and rendered instantly out of date by New York's more adventurous Art Deco towers.

Precedents for the tower, as the show indicated, included the 12th-century Giralda, or bell tower, of Seville Cathedral in Seville, Spain.

The tower also bears perhaps too strong a resemblance to McKim Mead & White's Manhattan Municipal Building in New York, completed in 1914, and to Chicago's Wrigley Building, also designed by Graham Anderson Probst & White and completed in 1920.

In a sense, the Terminal Tower could be considered the first major example of an out-of-town architecture firm foisting recycled ideas on Cleveland.

Nevertheless, the Terminal Tower still feels far more like the heart of downtown than the taller Key Tower, designed by architect Cesar Pelli, which rises catty corner across the recently revamped Public Square, reaching 888 feet without its spire, and 947 feet with.

The Vans went bust in a big way when their real estate and railroad empire collapsed in the Depression. But give them credit. They left a durable and laudable mark on the skyline that for better or worse embodies the soul of Cleveland like no other.

Note: This story has been corrected to indicate that the height of the Terminal Tower was tallest outside New York from its completion until 1953.

Review

What's up:

"Cleveland's Endearing Symbol: 52 Stories of the Terminal Tower"

Venue:

The Galleries at CSU"

Where:

1307 Euclid Ave., Cleveland

When:

Through Saturday, April 21

Admission:

Free. Call 216-687-2103 or go to csuohio.edu/class/art-gallery/art-galleryCLEVELAND, Ohio - HempStaff, specializing in medical marijuana recruiting and dispensary training, is selling out on training classes nationwide for the burgeoning legal marijuana industry, and Cleveland is no exception.

But some experts say it may be too early to get excited. With just more than a dozen medical marijuana licenses recently awarded in Ohio and unsuccessful applicants filing lawsuits, it's going to take some time for state-licensed medical marijuana facilities to get growing.



In the rapidly evolving world of legalized marijuana, later this fall some of Ohio's sickest residents should be able to use state-issued identification cards to shop at local dispensaries for medical marijuana products including oils, tinctures (alcohol-based cannabis extracts), plant material, edibles and patches.



In the past two years, hundreds of new regulations have been crafted and dozens of entrepreneurs have invested millions for their chance to break into the budding industry. Meanwhile, a new effort is afoot to make the drug legal for recreational use -- a reality in eight other states.



But one thing is certain, no matter who you talk to - from pundits and opponents to experts studying various parts of the marijuana business - Ohioans can expect to see new business opportunities and jobs.



James Yagielo, a North Ridgeville native and CEO of HempStaff, is hosting two four-hour crash courses on March 30 at the Embassy Suites in Independence. He said his sold-out training classes indicate that people are eager to be part of this new industry.

Students, who pay $250 each, learn the basics about what kind of cannabis products would match up best with each patient's ailments. So far, he said, the company has trained 3,900 students in 18 states.

And while participants range from medical professionals seeking more information, to career changers and college students, many are interested in becoming "budtenders," a dispensary's version of a bartender, interacting with customers and handing over goods.



The course covers what jobs in the cannabis industry are the most popular vs. the most difficult to fill, which upcoming cannabis markets are expected to grow the fastest, and which cannabis industry positions tend to earn the highest salaries.

While entry level jobs that include watering plants and taking soil samples generally pay about $15 an hour, a master grower in Ohio can earn between $100,000-$120,000 a year, according to HempStaff.

"First and foremost, we cover the science of cannabis and how it works with the body, and then state-specific rules and regulations," he said. "Many people think, 'I've been smoking for years I'm qualified.' But that's not what this is about; especially in Ohio where they don't even allow you to sell plant material for smoking."

For newer states with legalized medical marijuana, Yagielo said, products are generally listed on paper or displayed using iPads.



"If you're lucky it will be on a glass shelf," he said. "New states have stricter laws. Minnesota, New York, Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio don't even allow any product to be smoked. They do allow vaping, which similar to e-cigarettes using nicotine, contains cannabis oil that is heated and turned into vapor to be inhaled."

"When the medical marijuana industry started, it was more like a head shop, and now it's turned into more of a pharmacy setting," said Yagielo, 42.

The company, which describes itself as an "industry leader in medical marijuana recruiting and job training," reports that while the afternoon class in Cleveland is sold out and only a few spots are left for the morning seminar, future classes are planned later this summer in both Cleveland and Columbus.



PROJECTIONS

Patient counts in Ohio who could use marijuana for medical purposes are expected to reach 10,000 this year and are forecast to quickly grow to 50,000 by 2019, according to data published by Arcview in partnership with BDS Analytics.

Medical cannabis sales are forecast to reach $30 million by year end. The first full calendar year of sales will be in 2019 with the total expected to reach $154 million, growing to $226 million in 2021, BDS analytics show.

Doug Berman, a law school professor at Ohio State University, said he's participated in seminars such as the one offered by HempStaff, and while they provide useful information, he's concerned that participants tend to get too excited about opportunities for a new field that only offers a limited number of grow facilities in Ohio.

"It's not like it's a field like real estate where there's a lot more opportunity. Right now there's only going to be 60 dispensaries that are going to be open. That puts a cap on growth, at least at the beginning ... Nobody says there can only be 60 restaurants," he said.



Berman cautions that similar to other states new to embracing medical marijuana, it will take some time for businesses to find their footing, for doctors to start getting involved and to determine how many patients will end up being in Ohio's medical program. Doctors will have to sign off. A patient's physician must certify in writing that a patient has one of about 20 qualifying conditions, and that they have discussed the benefits and risks to using medical marijuana.

"Right now there's zero patients, but the program starts in the fall, and I've seen estimates that range from as low as 40,000 patients to as high as 400,000 patients. It's a gigantic range," he said, noting that he believes the initial number will end up being around 200,000 patients.



"At times I worry that people get too excited at the beginning, and it's not clear how many jobs there will be until these businesses get started and we see how well they're doing," Berman said.



At the same time, Berman said he's convinced that companies like HempStaff believe that they provide value for good reason. Not only are an increasing number of states legalizing medical marijuana, but now, several states have legalized recreational marijuana. And the economic impact for those states is phenomenal.

"That kind of optimism about the future of this market isn't foolish given that other states have moved from medical to recreational or adult-use," he said.

The pattern for states such as Colorado and Nevada, he said, was that it took years for the medical marijuana businesses to flourish, but everything changed once voters passed ballots for recreational dispensaries.



CONTROVERSY



Les Hollis, former CEO and current board member of Illinois Grown Medicine, agrees with Berman that the process for Ohio's new industry is going to take some time. While every state is different, he said that Pennsylvania didn't face challenges such as states like Maryland and Ohio.

But as a business owner, he's concerned about the process. Hollis is currently consulting aspiring dispensary applicants in both Ohio and Pennsylvania.



Illinois Grown Medicine, describes itself as "the only minority-owned, locally based, Chicago firm that provides medical cannabis dispensary services regulated under the Illinois Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program." The company has both a dispensary on the far South Side of Chicago and a grow site in Elk Grove Village.

In Northeast Ohio, a maximum of 18 provisional dispensary licenses are expected to be granted this spring, including up to three in Summit County. Certification of physicians is also expected to begin this spring, according to the State of Ohio Medical Board.

"We in the business community hope that the roll out of of those licenses go smoother, so that we all can properly participate and plan for the opening of the dispensaries," he said. "The state of Ohio announced the (processing and cultivation) licenses in November, and it's been shrouded in controversy from that date, continuing with scores of appeals and at least one lawsuit."

Hollis said any industry is threatened when there's uncertainty, and the medical marijuana industry is no different, considering dispensaries can't operate without products.

"Unfortunately, the process has been mired in controversy since the Nov. 30 announcement and that leaves a lot of uncertainty in the business community about if and when the grow licensees will be validated or confirmed," he said. "The industry is uncertain right now."

"It will be interesting to see what guidance the state gives to the impending dispensary license awards when its not clear who will be providing the medicine to them," he said.



HEMPSTAFF



Meanwhile HempStaff's Yagielo is extremely encouraged about prospects for the medical marijuana industry nationwide. His team travels the country training both established businesses and novices on products, dosing and state regulations, and he's far from alone.



Last March, New Frontier Data, a company that specializes in providing insights into the cannabis industry, projected total market sales for cannabis will reach $24 billion nationwide by 2020. The Washington, D.C., based firm also projected the industry will create about 283,000 jobs over the next three years.



At the upcoming Cleveland seminar, 120 people will be attending the course in order to get a training certificate. The idea is to learn about a wide range of topics, from biology to law and medicine.



With a course aimed at teaching people the basics about cannabis and the state's Cannabis laws, the material is presented in a fast paced way, that's strictly meant to boost a resume. The course is designed to help people to speak intelligently for an interview for an opening at a dispensary in the future.



Some of the people who have completed the HempStaff crash course have received jobs working as trimmers and cultivation site workers, positions that include duties such as watering the plants and taking soil samples.



"They're great entry-level jobs," Yagielo said. "Employers like to see training on the resumes because they get about 100 resumes for every job. They like to see people who have taken the initiative to get some training."

-- This is the first in an occasional series about the business side of Ohio's medical marijuana industry.CLEVELAND, Ohio - Amber and Elliott Ash, Bay Village.

Kristine and John Brickel, Bay Village.

Kate and Jeremy Plants, a western suburb of Cleveland.

And about 700 other hopeful patients received heartbreaking news during the past two weeks: A temperature fluctuation in one of the freezers at University Hospitals' fertility clinic March 3-4 caused damage to the eggs and embryos inside.

Since The Plain Dealer first learned of the incident last week, we've tried to piece together what happened, get answers for those affected and tell the stories of patients who were willing to share their pain.

UH has not commented publicly since March 8, when officials there fielded initial questions.

Here's what we know - and what we don't:

What happened?

Sometime after staff left the fertility center at UH's Ahuja Medical Center the afternoon of Saturday, March 3 and returned the morning of the following day, the temperature rose in one of the facility's two liquid nitrogen freezers containing eggs and embryos, UH officials said.

This was problematic because specimens need to be stored at -196 degrees Celsius to remain viable. The eggs and embryos were stored as part of in vitro fertilization procedures, a costly and emotionally taxing process many infertile couples undergo in the hopes that it will one day result in a pregnancy.

We don't know if the temperature fluctuation was caused by human error or mechanical malfunction.

How many patients were affected?

About 700, according to UH. The hospital said that as many as 2,000 eggs and embryos, some from as far back as the 1980s, may have been damaged in the incident.

In 2015, the fertility center reported that it oversaw 625 IVF cycles, which resulted in 197 births. A typical round of IVF costs $12,000 without insurance.

What we don't know is exactly how many of the specimens were compromised, but many patients said the staff there told them all of the eggs and embryos are unviable.

What is UH's response?

UH mailed a letter dated March 7 to patients notifying them of the incident.

"Over the weekend, an unexpected temperature fluctuation occurred at our tissue storage bank, where frozen eggs and embryos are stored," the letter stated. "We are investigating all of the facts to better understand the cause of this issue."

The letter, signed by Patricia DePompei, president of UH MacDonald's Children's Hospital and president of UH Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital, urged patients to call a dedicated phone line: 216-286-9740, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday.

"We are very sorry that this has happened in any part of our health system," wrote DePompei.

We don't know how the hospital plans to compensate the patients affected. In addition, UH has said it does not comment on lawsuits, and on separate occasions did not respond to an exhaustive emailed list of Plain Dealer questions.

How are patients reacting?

Those who received bad news are reeling from the realization that they may never have biological children or will have to undergo more fertility treatments. Some UH patients may not be able to try fertility treatments again, due to their age, medical conditions or inability to afford the cost.

Some decided to file lawsuits against UH and spoke out to the press. Kate Plants told her story on "Megyn Kelly Today" this week. Kate and her husband Jeremy Plants lost five frozen embryos, and they are in the process of filing suit.

"We do feel a great loss," Kate Plants told The Plain Dealer. "We called them (the embryos) our time traveling babies. We did have great hopes for those embryos. We prayed for them. They were a part of us."

We don't know yet if the 12 individual lawsuits, as of Friday afternoon, will be combined into a class action.

What happened at the fertility clinic in San Francisco?

On the same day UH discovered the temperature fluctuation in one of its fertility center freezers, the Pacific Fertility Center in San Francisco also found one of its storage tanks leaked liquid nitrogen, and eggs and embryos had been damaged.

"We do know that there is viable tissue from that tank," the California clinic said in a statement.

PFC said they have brought in independent experts to conduct an investigation.

"We are truly sorry this happened and for the anxiety that this will surely cause," PFS said.

What we don't know is why the tank there leaked.

Is there a connection between the facility in San Francisco and what happened here?

It's likely to be a coincidence, said Keith Whitacre, an embryologist with Fertility Unlimited, a fertility clinic in Akron. Since all IVF labs are locked facilities, Whitacre said he would be surprised if an unauthorized person could have entered the clinics.

What about sabotage, perhaps carried out by a person or group who objects to embryos being created in a lab?

"It's unlikely that somebody could sabotage two programs," Whitacre said. "That didn't even cross my mind."

We don't know if the two facilities experienced the same problem with machinery or even have the same type of equipment.

Are changes being made to try to prevent this from happening again?

Dr. Nicholas Spirtos, who runs the medical office associated with Whitacre's lab, has never heard of an incident like the one at UH in his 30 years as a reproductive endocrinology and infertility specialist.

Spirtos expects the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology, a professional organization for in vitro fertilization clinics, to come up with new quality control guidelines for alarm and tank monitoring in light of the recent incidents.

"We will all learn from it," said Dr. Kevin Doody, immediate past president of SART. "We will all do a better job of ensuring this type of thing is not likely to happen again."

Already, two national accreditation organizations and the Ohio Department of Health are investigating the UH fertility clinic.

We don't know what investigators have found or what changes might come from this.

How does a hospital's insurance work for issues like this one?

It depends on the hospital system's insurance plan, said Brad Cosgrove, a partner with Clifford Law Office in Chicago. The firm specializes in medical malpractice lawsuits.

Many hospitals are self-insured, which means that they pay legal settlements themselves, Cosgrove said.

UH, a not-for-profit hospital system, which means their records and investigations are not public, reported total operating income of $104.3 million in its 2016 annual report.

We don't know if UH has insurance, who its provider would be, or if it is self-insured.

What is IVF?

IVF is a series of procedures used to treat infertility. Mature eggs are harvested from a woman's ovaries and combined with sperm in a lab. The fertilized egg, or embryo, is implanted in the woman's uterus.

The procedure can be done with a couple's eggs and sperm, or genetic material from donors. Usually, more than one embryo is implanted in the uterus to increase the chances that at least one will develop into a fetus; this increases the possibility of multiple births.

During each cycle of IVF, the woman receives drugs that stimulate her ovaries to produce more eggs than normal. Embryos that are not implanted are frozen for future rounds of IVF.

How are eggs and embryos stored?

They are placed in secure containers under liquid nitrogen cooled to a temperature of -321. Some freezers immerse the samples in liquid nitrogen. In other types of freezers, the liquid nitrogen is at the bottom of the freezer and the tissue samples are cooled by the liquid nitrogen's vapor. Large freezers can hold up to 7,000 specimens.

We don't know the size or type or manufacturing brand of the affected freezer at UH.BEACHWOOD, Ohio -- Police are investigating a second incident at Beachwood Place where a 17-year-old girl was taken to the hospital after a shot was fired, a short time after a man was shot outside of the shopping mall.

Investigators are working to determine the specifics and if the two incidents are related.

The second incident happened near the main entrance of the mall, according to a news release from Beachwood police, after a man was shot in the leg about 3 p.m. near Saks Fifth Avenue.

The girl was was taken to a local hospital where she has since been treated and released, police said.

Police have taken a man into custody in connection with the first shooting. The man shot was taken to a hospital and is also in police custody, police said. Preliminary indications show that the men knew each other and the shooting resulted from an altercation between the two, police said.

A handgun and cash were recovered from the scene, police said.

Police anticipate the mall will be open Sunday.

If you'd like to comment on this story, visit Saturday's crime and courts comments section.CLEVELAND, Ohio - A man in a wheelchair was shot in the hand and robbed early Sunday on the city's West Side, police said.

The incident happened about 1:30 a.m. near the intersection of West 65th Street and Colgate Avenue in the Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood, according to a Cleveland police report.

A 37-year-old man told officers that he was leaving a friend's home when an unknown person approached him. The robber demanded that the victim hand over his belongings while pointing a gun in the victim's face, the report states.

The victim told police that he "instinctively" swatted the gun away before hearing a loud bang, the report says. The man was doubled over in his wheelchair in pain when the robber took his fanny pack, which contained his wallet and Social Security card.

The 37-year-old man called his nephew to drive him to MetroHealth. At the hospital, doctors saw that the man suffered a gunshot wound to his right hand, according to the police report.

The man could not give police a description of the robber, and no arrests have been made.

If you'd like to comment on this post, please visit the cleveland.com crime and courts comments section.Egypt will not abandon justice for an Egyptian student who died Wednesday of injuries sustained in an attack by a group of girls outside a shopping mall in the UK last month, Immigration and Expatriates Minister Nabila Makram said in a statement on Saturday.

Makram said she is following the investigation into the death of Mariam Moustafa, an 18-year-old Egyptian Central College student who was attacked by a group of girls on 20 February outside Nottingham's Intu Victoria Shopping Centre.

'The minister stressed she is following the case closely with Egypts envoy in the UK Nasser Kamal, and has mandated her deputy for Egyptian communities abroad Samir Taha with following up on the incident with the Egyptian Embassy in London.

According to Makram, Taha is currently in London to follow up on the investigation.

The statement added that the Egyptian minister has contacted Mariams father to pursue legal action against the hospital where Mariam had been admitted if medical negligence took place.

Makram called for Mariams killers to be held accountable for their heinous crime, asserting that the country will not abandon justice for the teenager.

The minister said Mariams family has asked that the girls body be sent home, adding that the Egyptian embassy has finalised all procedures related to their request, but is waiting for a British judicial decision to release the body following the completion of investigations.

Makram's statements come one day after footage surfaced online showing the moments before the attack, where one of the alleged attackers can be heard saying "she needs to be beaten up."

I want justice for my daughter, not just for my daughter, but also so this does not happen to another girl or another boy. My daughter was like an angel, Mariams father, Mohamed Moustafa told the British Daily Mail newspaper.

Mariam's 16-year-old sister Malak has said that her sister was attacked by the same group last August because she was staring at them.

Nottinghamshire Police said they were keeping an open mind on whether the attack may have been due to a case of mistaken identity.

Mariam's death has sparked anger at home, with Egyptian MPs denouncing investigations by the British police and alleging medical negligence that led to her death.

On Friday, the British Embassy in Cairo expressed sadness and shock over the incident, adding that Nottingham Police were committed to bringing those responsible to justice through a meticulous enquiry.

Short link:

CLEVELAND (AP) -- Former federal prosecutor and outspoken White House critic Preet Bharara said he decided to raise money in Ohio on Sunday for Democrat Steven Dettelbach, a former U.S. attorney running for state attorney general, because both men understand the rule of law and how it applies to everyone.

"When I see someone like Steve Dettelbach doing the very difficult work of running for office, the least I can do is come out and support him any way I can," Bharara said in telephone interview on Sunday while traveling from Columbus to Cleveland, where he was headlining the day's second Dettelbach fundraiser.

Bharara said it was only the second time he has helped raise money for a candidate since being fired by President Donald Trump as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York in March 2017. Bharara and Dettelbach's stints as U.S. attorneys mostly overlapped. They said they worked together on U.S. Justice Department advisory committees during that time.

"My foray into politics is limited," Bharara said. "But I think I know enough about Steve to speak about him."

The appearances come in a contest for attorney general being closely watched nationally. Dettelbach is viewed as among Democrats' best shots at claiming a top cop spot from Republicans.

He faces Republican Auditor Dave Yost, a former county prosecutor, for the post currently held by Republican Mike DeWine. DeWine is term-limited and running for governor.

"This campaign is about something pretty simple," Dettelbach said. "There's one set of rules that applies to everybody."

During the last reporting period, Dettelbach said he raised nearly $1.1 million to Yost's roughly $650,000 -- although Yost had $2 million in the bank to Dettelbach's $1.5 million.

Bharara and Dettelbach both served as U.S. attorneys during the Democratic administration of President Barack Obama. While they both pursued high-profile public corruption cases against both Democrats and Republicans, the Republican Attorneys General Association painted the relationship as more evidence that Dettelbach was a Washington insider.

"Steve Dettelbach's extensive time in Washington, D.C., career climbing, made him some high profile liberal friends, like Hillary Clinton and Preet Bharara," said association spokesman Zack Roday. "They don't understand Ohio values and neither does Steve Dettelbach."

Dettelbach, 52, served as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio from 2009 to 2016. He previously worked as an attorney at the Justice Department, the Senate Judiciary Committee and served on the Ohio Ethics Commission.

As U.S. attorney, Bharara prosecuted Wall Street insiders and New York politicians along with cases involving organized crime, terrorism and gang violence. He took office in 2009 and was fired after refusing to resign as part of a housecleaning of U.S. attorneys by the Trump administration. His dismissal would not have been unusual except that he said he had been told by Trump that he would be kept on.

Bharara said Sunday that he is not political, although Trump and his administration are the primary targets of his criticism. He said that puts him on the same page as a lot of people, including prominent Republicans.

"I think it's important for people to say what they think," Bharara said. "I know how law enforcement works and how it's supposed to work."

Yost campaign spokesman Kevin Servick said of the visit, "DC Dettelbach wants to be in Washington, not here in Ohio. He's already shown he doesn't understand Ohio law, and hopes his liberal DC buddies can help him get into office, so he can do their bidding."Scott Peterson is executive director of Checks and Balances Project.

ARLINGTON, Virginia -- The wave of stories about sexual harassment and assaults in the workplace reveals a tragic pattern at a growing list of institutions. In too many cases, leadership learned of bad conduct, but chose not to investigate if it was part of a larger pattern. These organizations, running the gamut from Michigan State University to Ford Motor Co., NBC's Today Show to Uber, are paying a steep price in public trust because they did not ask the hard questions.

The Ohio Legislature can avoid adding its name to that list because the opportunity to ask tough questions is before House Speaker Clifford Rosenberger. He was at the now-infamous goodbye celebration for his chief of staff on Jan. 23 in Columbus at which House Majority Leader Bill Seitz and state Sen. Matt Huffman made vulgar comments about female legislators.

According to multiple reports, Huffman, acting as emcee, called a female Republican candidate requesting support for her campaign a vile slang for female genitalia. He also referred to a female colleague in the legislature as "very unpopular," demeaning her effectiveness in the male-dominated legislature.

When Seitz took the podium, he joked about former state Sen. Cliff Hite, who resigned last October after admitting that he had "sometimes asked for hugs and talked with [a state employee] in a way that was not appropriate for a married man, father and grandfather like myself." Yet a complaint by the employee said she had rejected Hite's advances more than a dozen times over two months. Seitz, at the microphone, declared that Hite's story could be set to Marvin Gaye's song, "Let's Get It On." Pausing for laughter, he added, "Or better yet, 'The Answer Is Blowing in The Wind.'" He demeaned another female colleague in the legislature, saying she wears a "tin-foil hat."

At least one female legislator in attendance walked out. An Ashtabula County Republican candidate for state treasurer, along with four female Democratic legislators, have called for Seitz to resign. The husband and campaign manager for a female Republican state Senator called Seitz and Huffman "drunken bullies."

Senate President Larry Obhof said consequences for Huffman are under review. But Speaker Rosenberger accepted a public apology from Seitz.

This puts the Ohio House of Representatives on the same path as other institutions who treated over-the-top harassment as one-offs.

After Sen. Hite resigned, three more legislators and an aide were revealed to have engaged in harassment. "Welcome to high school," Speaker Rosenberger was quoted as saying. "I think it's a dangerous place when we're just throwing innuendo and rumor out there without any substantial facts or backing to those things... I'm sure there's a lot of things that happen, but if we don't know about them, we can't address them."

I agree and think Speaker Rosenberger's promise to create a bipartisan working group is good, but it does not substitute for tough questions.

The Ohio public deserves to know if this was the first and only time behavior like this from Seitz has been brought to the Speaker's attention. Was Seitz accused of sexual harassment or degrading conduct toward women while a member of the Ohio Senate? Ohioans and people across America have lowered their tolerance for business as usual. They would like to know what steps Rosenberger is taking to determine if the conduct he personally witnessed is or is not part of a pattern of inappropriate behavior from Seitz.

The best news would be that this was a one-time occurrence, and that Seitz follows the Ohio Ethics Commission standards that require all members "shall conduct themselves at all times so as to reflect credit upon the member's respective chamber of the General Assembly."

But given the wave of scandal at every type of major institution, now is not the time to assume that - particularly in the face of conduct that Speaker Rosenberger said he's not comfortable with and that has drawn national news attention.

Institutions err when they assume incidents of bad behavior by powerful individuals are one-time events. The Ohio House need not make that mistake. They can have a credible, outside party make a determination for its leadership.

Seitz's comments took place the same week state House members attended a seminar on avoiding sexual harassment. That tone deafness alone says a deeper examination should be undertaken.

Let's hope the Speaker does it and finds nothing.

Scott Peterson is executive director of Checks and Balances Project, an investigative blog that seeks to hold government officials, lobbyists and corporate management accountable to the public.

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Have something to say about this topic? Use the comments to share your thoughts. Then, stay informed when readers reply to your comments by using the "Follow" option at the top of the comments, and look for updates via the small blue bell in the lower right as you look at more stories on cleveland.com.Egypt's prosecutor-general Nabil Sadek ordered on Saturday his international cooperation department to collect from UK authorities all investigative and medical reports on the case of 18-year-old Egyptian student Mariam Moustafa, who died on Wednesday of injuries sustained in an earlier attack by a group of girls outside a shopping mall in the UK.

Sadek ordered the department to collect all information on the nature of the medical treatment Moustafa received following the attack.

The 18-year-old Egyptian engineering student was attacked by a group of girls on 20 February outside Nottinghams Intu Victoria Shopping Centre.

Earlier this month, Sadek ordered the opening of a judicial investigation into the attack on Mariam, who was still in a coma at the time.

Immigration and Expatriates Minister Nabila Makram said in a statement earlier today that she is following the case closely with Egypts envoy in the UK Nasser Kamal, and has mandated her deputy for Egyptian communities abroad Samir Taha with following up on the incident with the Egyptian Embassy in London.

The ministers statement added that the Egyptian minister has contacted Mariams father to pursue legal action against the hospital where she had been admitted if medical negligence took place.

Makram called for Mariams killers to be held accountable for their heinous crime, asserting that the country will not abandon justice for the teenager.

Mariam's death has sparked anger at home, with Egyptian MPs denouncing investigations by the British police and alleging medical negligence that led to her death.

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This CoolSocial report was updated on 2021-09-12, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want.Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi will meet Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir in Cairo on Monday to discuss bilateral relations, El-Sisi's office said in a statement on Sunday.

Al-Bashir is visiting the Egyptian capital as part of "continued consultations between the two presidents," presidency spokesman Bassam Rady said in the statement.

The two leaders will discuss "bolstering brotherly ties between the two countries in all areas in a manner that contributes to serving the interests of the Egyptian and Sudanese peoples."

El-Sisi and Al-Bashir last met in January on the sidelines of the African Union Summit in Ethiopia, where the two leaders agreed on forming a quadrilateral committee comprising the foreign ministers and intelligence heads of both nations.

The quadrilateral committee, which had its first meeting in Cairo last February, aims to "remove any flaws that could hamper this brotherly relationship, solidarity and unified destiny in the face of mutual challenges."

Last week, Egypt's acting intelligence chief Abbas Kamel visited Sudan, where he met with Al-Bashir, foreign minister Ibrahim Al-Ghandour, and other Sudanese officials.

Kamel expressed Egypt's determination to create the circumstances that would allow for a return to normal relations between the two countries.

Relations between Egypt and Sudan were strained in recent months over Sudan's claims of sovereignty over Egypt's southern Halayeb Triangle region and its harbouring of members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, as well as other differences related to the construction of the Ethiopian Renaissance dam.

In January, Sudan recalled its ambassador to Cairo for consultations.

However, recent meetings between the countries' presidents and discussions held by top officials have eased tensions.

The Sudanese ambassador returned to Cairo in early March to resume his duties.

"The major challenges facing the region force us to communicate and respond rapidly to different issues in order to resolve them, so they don't become obstacles affecting the relationship between the two countries," Kamel said, according to a statement by the Sudanese armed forces last week.

Sudanese defence minister Awad Mohamed Ahmed bin Awaf said during the meeting with Kamel that Egyptian national security is key to the security of the Arab world, and "it is a duty to preserve it."

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Word of Faith Fellowship

Peter Prengaman, Sarah Dilorenzo and Mitch Weiss

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MARCH 9, 2018The Egyptian embassy in Somalia delivered two tonnes of medical supplies to the Somalian health ministry on Friday, Egypt's ambassador to Somalia Walid Ismail said in a statement on Sunday.

The humanitarian aid shipment was donated by the Egyptian Agency of Partnership for Development (EAPD), which is part of the Egyptian foreign ministry.

Ismail said the aid was donated as a matter of "brotherly relations" between the two countries, as Egypt helps a partner to combat drought and related diseases, as well as severe injuries resulting from terrorist atacks.

Somalia is suffering from a prolonged, devastating civil war between the government and radical militant groups.

Egypt has been providing aid to help the Somali government cope with the consequences of the conflict.

In May 2017, the Egyptian Armed Forces sent a military transport plane with food and medical supplies to Somalia.

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Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and his Emirati counterpart Abdallah Ben Zayed Al-Nahian stressed in a joint press conference Sunday in Cairo that there are no developments concerning the issue of Qatar, unless the Qatari government would change its policies.

"One of the challenges before the region is the expansion of extremism and terrorism. One of the platforms of terrorism is Qatar," Ben Zayed said.

The UAE official had attended Joint Economic Committee meetings held in Cairo Saturday, where an Egyptian-Emirati business forum was held on the sidelines, reaching a new partnership between Dubai Ports and the Suez Canal Economic Zone, which will lead to new fields of cooperation, a foreign ministry spokesperson said in a statement.

Ben Zayed stressed that relations between the two countries are strengthening, as "Egypt has recovered from the several crises it faced."

He also spoke about challenges threatening the region, especially from Iran, Turkey and Israel, saying that Egypt and Saudi Arabia has a historic responsibility facing these challenges and that the UAE is supporting both countries' efforts.

Ben Zayed met earlier Sunday with President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi where they discussed strategic bilateral relations as well as several regional issues, Egyptian presidency spokesman Bassam Rady said in a statement.

The meeting was also attended by Shoukry, acting head of Egyptian Intelligence Abbas Kamel, and UAE Ambassador to Egypt Jumaa Mubarak Al-Juniby.

Among the challenges highlighted by the two foreign ministers in the press conference was Libya.



Shoukry underlined ongoing Egyptian efforts to support a political solution, combat terrorism, and facilitating elections soon in the country. As part of this, Shoukry said, Egypt is supporting the unification of the Libyan army.

Regarding the situation in Syria, the two ministers underlined the complexity of the Syrian crisis, saying the political path is the only solution, rejecting all recourse to military solutions whether through armed militias or foreign intervention.

Ben Zayed also underlined his country's support for Egyptian efforts regarding inter-Palestinian reconciliation.

During Ben Zayed's meeting with El-Sisi, the latter received a message from his UAE counterpart Sheikh Khalifa Ben Zayed and other UAE top officials expressing their appreciation for the "distinguished ties between the two countries, and their commitment on boosting bilateral cooperation and coordination in areas of common interest".

"El-Sisi affirmed the special nature of Egyptian-Emirati relations and the ongoing discussions on regional challenges. Both sides agreed on the need to stand united and face all threats to the security and stability of Arab states," presidency spokesman Rady said.

The two sides also discussed ways of boosting economic and investment relations, Rady added.

The United Arab Emirates is one of the strongest allies of El-Sisi, and like Kuwait and Saudi Arabia has provided the Egyptian government with billions of dollars in aid to stimulate the country's ailing economy.

El-Sisi last visited Abu Dhabi in February.

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An Egyptian prosecution has ordered the four-day detention pending investigation of a man who climbed to the top of the Great Pyramid of Giza with the intention of committing suicide by jumping off.

The prosecution charged the unnamed worker, who is in his 20s, with endangering himself and others as well as climbing the 4,500-year-old Pyramid of Khufu, which is prohibited by law.

According to the prosecution, the tourism police arrested the man on Saturday after they  with the help of the man's father and sister  were able to talk him out of committing suicide.

Investigators say the man suffered a psychotic break triggered by problems with his neighbours, which sparked his suicidal thoughts.

Egypt has strict rules against scaling pyramids, which is punishable by up to three years in prison.

In February 2016, Egypt's antiquities ministry sent an official notice to the German embassy in Egypt informing them that a German citizen had been banned from visiting Egypt after he scaled a pyramid to shoot a collection of photographs and videos of the Giza Plateau.

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Is THIS a warning? In the past few days I have begun to sense a dangerous and dark new intolerance in the air, which I have never experienced before. An unbidden instinct tells me to be careful what I say or write, in case it ends badly for me. How badly? That is the trouble. I am genuinely unsure.

I have been to many countries where free speech is dangerous. But I have always assumed that there was no real risk here.

Now, several nasty trends have come together. The treatment of Jeremy Corbyn, both by politicians and many in the media, for doing what he is paid for and leading the Opposition, seems to me to be downright shocking.

Now, several nasty trends have come together. The treatment of Jeremy Corbyn, both by politicians and many in the media, for doing what he is paid for and leading the Opposition, seems to me to be downright shocking

I disagree with Mr Corbyn about many things and actively loathe the way he has sucked up to Sinn Fein. But he has a better record on foreign policy than almost anyone in Parliament. Above all, when so many MPs scuttled obediently into the lobbies to vote for the Iraq War, he held his ground against it and was vindicated.

Mr Corbyn has earned the right to be listened to, and those who now try to smear him are not just doing something morally wrong. They are hurting the country. Look at our repeated rushes into foolish conflict in Iraq, Libya, Syria and Afghanistan. All have done us lasting damage.

Everyone I meet now thinks they were against the Iraq War (I know most of them werent, but never mind). So thats over.

But Libya remains an unacknowledged disgrace. David Cameron has not suffered for it, and those who cheered it on have yet to admit they were mistaken.

I disagree with Mr Corbyn about many things and actively loathe the way he has sucked up to Sinn Fein. But he has a better record on foreign policy than almost anyone in Parliament

Yet we pay for it, literally, every day. Along with our clinically insane covert intervention on the side of Al Qaeda in Syria, the Libyan adventure created the unending migration crisis across Europe which, in my view, threatens the stability of the whole continent.

Yet I recall a surge of anger from the audience when I doubted some crude war propaganda about mass rapes in Libya on the BBCs Question Time. War is strangely popular, until it comes to your own doorstep.

I sense an even deeper and more thoughtless frenzy over Russia, a country many seem to enjoy loathing because they know so little about it.

I have already been accused, on a public stage, of justifying Moscows crime in Salisbury. This false charge was the penalty I paid for trying to explain the historical and political background to these events. I wonder if the bitterness also has something to do with the extraordinarily deep division over the EU, which has made opponents into enemies in a way not seen since the Suez Crisis.

In any case, the crude accusation, with its implication of treachery, frightened me. I expect, as time goes by, I will be accused of being an appeaser and of being against British values. And then what? An apparatus of thought policing is already in place in this country. By foolishly accepting bans on Muslim extremists, we have licensed public bodies to decide that other views, too, are extremist.

Mr Corbyn has earned the right to be listened to, and those who now try to smear him are not just doing something morally wrong

Because the authorities are terrified of upsetting Islam, nothing much will happen to Muslim militants. But conservative and Christian views such as mine will suffer.

Christian and Jewish schools, especially ones which have conservative views on marriage and sex education, increasingly find themselves in trouble. Even mainstream Catholic and C of E schools are under stealthy attack, with attempts made to stop them discriminating in favour of pupils from Christian homes.

Ofsted now says that all schools have a duty to actively promote fundamental British values, which sounds totalitarian to me. This includes so-called mutual respect and tolerance of values different from their own. Actually, there is nothing mutual about it. The sexual revolution fanatics demand submission, and offer no tolerance in return. Now the freedom to educate children at home, always a barometer of liberty, is being seriously threatened for the first time in our history. The pretext for this is supposed fears of child abuse or extremism. The real reason is that so much home education rejects the so-called British values of multiculturalism and sexual liberation.

What next? British values over foreign policy, war, immigration? I expect so. TV and the internet have for years been promoting a leaden conformism, whose victims are actually shocked  and often angry  when anyone disagrees.

Theres no real spirit of liberty left in this country.

Yes, I am scared, and I never have been before. And so should you be.

War, or the danger of war, is always an opportunity to silence troublemakers.

It will be a funny old world without Ken Dodd

How I wish I had been to see Ken Dodd before he died. He was a historical monument to a Britain of backyards, milkmen, brown ale, teatime biscuits, rent collectors, town clerks, vicars and mothers-in-law, all now endangered species. When everyone who remembers these things has gone, his humour will become a mystery, like a Cro-Magnon cave painting.

How I wish I had been to see Ken Dodd before he died. He was a historical monument to a Britain of backyards, milkmen, brown ale, teatime biscuits, rent collectors, town clerks, vicars and mothers-in-law, all now endangered species

Nato is the real barrier to peace

If Nato was dissolved tomorrow, youd be amazed how peaceful Europe would become. The reason for its existence  the USSR  vanished decades ago. We dont keep up a huge alliance to protect us from the Austro-Hungarian empire, the Ottomans, or any other powers that have disappeared. So why this one? It was preserved to save the jobs and pensions of its staff. It was only expanded because American arms manufacturers were afraid they would lose business when the Cold War ended.

So they spent huge piles of cash lobbying the US Senate to back eastward expansion, as the New York Times uncovered. Having survived and expanded, it needed something to do, and began to infuriate the Russians, and so that is where we now are. If you look for trouble, you get it.

Heres a true story from the days when we were bringing feminism and comprehensive schooling to Afghanistan, or whatever it was we were trying to do by sending troops there.

It is Christmas Day in a forward position. A young, idealistic officer, recently arrived from Sandhurst, says to a grizzled sergeant: Its jolly quiet today. Surely the Afghans dont observe Christmas? And the sergeant replies: No sir, its quiet because were not going out there and annoying them.

Im sure theres a lesson in there somewhere.

I couldnt care less if they melt down all the hideous one and two cent coins wrongly known as pennies and two pence pieces. Australia and New Zealand got rid of their equivalents nearly 20 years ago, and nobody seems to have suffered much.

I couldnt care less if they melt down all the hideous one and two cent coins wrongly known as pennies and two pence pieces

I was genuinely sad to see our real coinage go, proper heavy money that was worth something and a history lesson in your pocket. But these cheap, ugly, useless steel discs just remind me of how far we have fallen.

Last week there was a mugging on the secluded, picturesque path I often take on my way home. It wasnt the first. For me, such places, away from crowds and noise, are one of the great joys of life. And, for all the time since I was born until very recently, it never crossed my mind that seclusion might also mean danger. Now it does. How very dispiriting and sad.

The Bishop of Chichester, Martin Warner, admitted last week it had been a mistake not to give the late Bishop George Bell a defending counsel at the kangaroo court which wrongly convicted him of child abuse

The Bishop of Chichester, Martin Warner, admitted last week it had been a mistake not to give the late Bishop George Bell a defending counsel at the kangaroo court which wrongly convicted him of child abuse. When will he admit that he has made a similar mistake by refusing to allow Bells niece, Barbara Whitley, to pick a lawyer to defend him against the mysterious second allegation now levelled against him in secret? Too late, for sure.

If you want to comment on Peter Hitchens click here.Sydney model Sarah Marie Summer has had three breast augmentations and filler in her lips and cheekbones.

In total she's spent $30,000 on cosmetic surgery and injectables - and she's only in her 20s.

Since undergoing the procedures, Sarah bears a striking resemblance to Australian rapper Iggy Azalea.

'The comparison took me by surprise to start with but it's definitely a compliment, she's stunning and unique. I also get told I look like Christina Aguilera,' Sarah told FEMAIL.

In total she's spent $30,000 on cosmetic surgery and injectibles, bearing a striking resemblance to Australian rapper Iggy Azalea in the process (Sarah to the left, Iggy to the right)

'I've just always been a fan of big lips and a doll like aesthetic in general and wanted to be an enhanced version of myself,' the 26-year-old continued.

Most women bring in a selection of photographs to their surgery appointment in order to explain the look they're after.

And while some choose American sweethearts like Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Aniston to replicate, more Australian celebrities like Iggy Azalea are being picked as 'goal' bodies and faces.

FEMAIL spoke to cosmetic surgeon Dr Naomi McCullum from The Manse Clinic about which A-listers have made the cut and why it's important to remember that most celebrity pictures are photoshopped.

Most women bring in a selection of photographs to their surgery appointment in order to explain the look they're after (Sarah pictured)

And while some choose American sweethearts like Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Aniston to replicate, more Australian celebrities like Iggy Azalea (pictured) are being picked as 'goal' bodies and faces

'For many years we have been getting a lot of patients who have been inspired by Nicole Kidman for freckle removal,' she said.

'But the biggest Aussie celeb that cosmetic patients are inspired by right now is Margot Robbie. She is 'goals' as they say. Her face is immaculate.'

Clients at Dr Naomi's clinic are also talking about Sia who has dramatically transformed her face over the years.

But it's important when you're looking for inspirational photos not to get hung up on the idea that you need to be that celebrity (Sarah to the left, Iggy to the right)

Sydney model Sarah Marie Summer (pictured) has had three breast augmentations, filler in her lips and cheekbones, and injectables in her masseters

'People are more focused on individual facial areas, for example they might say, "I really want Margot Robbie's jawline" or they might say, "What has Iggy Azalea done to her eyes? I need that".

'Often cosmetic patients try and find celebs who have the same "flaws" as they do and then discuss getting them improved,' she said.

But it's important when you're looking for inspirational photos not to get hung up on the idea that you need to be that celebrity.

Sarah wasn't aiming to look like any one celebrity, but finds the comparisons to Iggy charming

'The one thing I always have to remind patients about is the serious editing that goes on with celeb images. The images that they are looking at are not even true representations of what the celeb looks like in real life.

'I tell them to follow @celebface on Instagram, as this outs all the celebs for their extreme editing. It seems that every celeb is guilty of slimming their already small waists and arms, and fixing facial imperfections, even editing their hair volume.'

Specialist plastic surgeon Dr Scott Turner agrees that the easiest way to know how a change will look on a patient is with 3D imaging.

'But the biggest Aussie celeb that cosmetic patients are inspired by right now is Margot Robbie. She is 'goals' as they say. Her face is immaculate,' Dr Naomi said

'Pictures are often useful to get an idea in general but the 3D images are much more helpful,' she said, citing Sia's transformation as an inspiration to clients

'We can manipulate on a screen what your nose, for example, will look like. Often people who bring in photos just think the celebrity is attractive overall, but they can't pinpoint what is so special about any one feature,' he told FEMAIL.

'Pictures are often useful to get an idea in general but the 3D images are much more helpful.'With expensive educations and expansive homes in one of the countrys most exclusive postcodes, the cast of the reality show Made In Chelsea pride themselves in living the champagne-fuelled high life on national television, a world of pouting, squabbles and illicit relationships.

But what they really like, of course, is money  lots of it  and thats why most of them are cashing in on their new-found celebrity with commercial ventures of their own.

As last weeks high-profile collapse of Millie Mackintoshs fashion brand made clear, though, business is not quite as easy as it looks.

So as MiC returns to our television screens once again, we ask which of the posh gang can give a thumbs-up to the real world.

Whos making real dough? And which wannabe tycoons are only show?

WINNERS

Hugo Taylor

Once romantically linked to Princess Eugenie, suave Hugo, 31, was an original member of the show. Rumoured finally to be engaged to long-term on-off girlfriend Millie, Hugo has an edgy sunglasses brand, Taylor Morris, stocked in stores including Harvey Nichols and Bloomingdales in New York. Thanks to 232,000 Instagram followers, he is hired as an influencer by various lifestyle brands.

Hugo popped the big question to fiance Millie Mackintosh in July this year, a year after they rekindled their relationship following Millie's divorce from Professor Green, 34

Oliver Proudlock

Eton-educated Proudlock, as he likes to be known, founded Serge DeNimes designer clothing and has collaborated with jewellery designer Theo Fennell. Gym-obsessed Proudlock, 29, says: The perception of Made In Chelsea is that were all minted. But I work hard and Ive been earning money since I was 17.

Oliver Proudlock joined the series in season two and is still a regular fixture on the show

Amber Atherton

Former model Amber, 24, quit MiC in 2014, but her two-year stint in the limelight was enough to publicise her jewellery brand, My Flash Trash, which is sold in branches of Topshop across the UK. Fans include the Duchess of Cambridge and Rihanna. Last year, Amber sold it to a Hong Kong conglomerate for 2 million.

Atherton appeared on the BBC's Young Dragon's Den show

Jamie Laing

Heir to the McVities fortune, Jamie, 29, is great-great-grandson to the man who invented the digestive biscuit in 1892. So it was in keeping with family tradition when Jamie  known for his outrageous confidence  launched the gourmet and gluten-free sweet brand Candy Kittens. The adult treats are sold in stores from Selfridges to Tesco. Theres even home delivery with a monthly subscription. Jamie and business partner Edward Williams have now made it into the prestigious Forbes 30 under 30 list.

Jamie Laing pictured with his 'Candy Kittens' van in Golden Square

Francis Boulle

Flash Francis Boulle is regarded as a decent bloke  a rare quality among the MiC crowd. Hes heir to a family diamond fortune and flogs rocks to the rich. His latest project is Fundmine.com, an online venture capital and investment platform which has attracted 8.7 million backing.

Francis runs a YouTube channel and is writing his second book

Binky Felstead

Highly strung Binky is one of MiCs busiest stars, translating reality TV fame into commercial success with her clothing ranges Lipstick Boutique and InTheStyle as well as Binky London cosmetics.

She gave birth to daughter India last June, but the ambitious 27-year-old still finds time to be a fully paid-up ambassador for Reebok, boosting her income by an extra six figures. Binky proved so popular on MiC that she and boyfriend Josh Patterson won a contract to star in their own spin-off show, Born In Chelsea, on E4.

Binky Felstead looks chic at the Pride of Britain Awards

Lucy Watson

Strict vegan Lucy Watson comes from the family that owns swanky Chelsea gastropub The Phene, a popular filming location for the show. Pouty Lucy, 26, launched successful jewellery line Creature in 2014. And with 1.4 million Instagram followers, her earnings are increased hugely with endorsements by a vegan cereal brand, upmarket watches and protein powders.

Strict vegan Lucy Watson attends the Animal Hero Awards 2017 at The Grosvenor House Hotel, London

LOSERS

Millie Mackintosh

Her family is famous around the world for inventing Quality Street sweets, but Millies business interests are memorable for the wrong reasons.

Just a few days ago, Cammac Venture Limited, her fashion business, went bust owing 548,000. Millie herself lost 178,000.

She started the company four years ago amid a blaze of press and social media publicity, but it struggled to survive.

Millie, 29, is among the most high-profile of the MiC gang, thanks partly to her short-lived marriage to musician Professor Green.

Millie Mackintosh's own business ventures have been rather unsuccessful

Chloe Green

Her parents, Philip and Tina, own the Topshop retail chain and are worth 2.787 billion, but Chloe does not appear to have inherited her fathers business acumen.

Following a one-series stint on MiC, the 27-year-old tried her hand at designing shoes  complete with, geddit, GREEN soles. But six in-house buyers and designers plus an unspecified budget from her dad could not keep the venture afloat. Widely criticised, they floppedafter two collections.

The heiress has embarked on a relationship with 'hot felon' Jeremy Meeks

Spencer Matthews

Spencer, 28, currently engaged to Irish TV presenter Vogue Williams, is famed as a ladies man.Reality shows seem to like him, and he has appeared on The Jump and Im A Celebrity.

But the former MiC regular - once regarded as its biggest star - has not so far found business success: his TV company Pug Productions Limited shut down last year after failing to make any shows.

Spencers older brother James is now married to Pippa Middleton.

Spencer Matthews attend the wedding of his brother James Matthews and Pippa Middleton

Caggie Dunlop

Her mother Dr Sarah Rutherford is a feminist academic and diversity expert, but Caggie, 28, has chosen a different route to fame.

Never backwards in coming forwards, she left MiC to pursue a music career in Los Angeles where she released a single.

That didnt do so well, neither did her fashion brand ISWAI  It Starts With An Idea  which has just gone into liquidation, struck off the register of companies and owing 72,360 to Caggies mother.

The company website now reads: ISWAI is taking a break.........Thank you to all our lovely customers.'She is the fashion queen who clothed the punk revolution, but these days Dame Vivienne Westwood sees herself in rather more expansive terms.

Today, she is no mere dressmaker but an environmental warrior waging battle on climate change, fracking and the growing tide of plastic pollution. So you might expect the once flame-haired designer to be looking forward to a major new documentary about her work, which is released in cinemas on Friday.

The fly-on-the-wall film, flatteringly titled Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist, follows a two-year collaboration with the producers. Yet it seems the opposite is the case.

The fly-on-the-wall film, flatteringly titled Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist, follows a two-year collaboration with the producers. Yet it seems the opposite is the case (Dame Vivienne with Kate Moss in 2009)

Indeed, the grande dame of British fashion has taken such grave exception to the film that  much to the bemusement of her 419,000 Twitter followers  she has urged them not to watch it at all.

The film is mediocre, and Vivienne and [her partner] Andreas are not, she stated in characteristically pretentious style.

What is it, then, that she does not wish her followers to see?

Is it, as Dame Vivienne claims, that the movie contains not even five minutes of activism  or is it the 80 minutes of unadulterated fruitcake behaviour on view?

Here, to help you make up your mind, is an exclusive preview of the colourful expose that Dame Vivienne would rather you ignore...

NEVER MIND THE B******S

In one of the opening scenes of the documentary, Dame Vivienne explains that she aims to spread kindness to others, a habit she acquired in childhood.

I felt like I had to be like a knight to stop people doing horrible things to one another, she says.

Yet minutes later, she is seen launching a foul-mouthed rant at one of her young female assistants.

The film is mediocre, and Vivienne and [her partner] Andreas are not, she stated in characteristically pretentious style (Dame Vivienne pictured with husband Andreas in her studio)

Filmed on the eve of a recent London Fashion Week, the assistant appears stunned after an acid-tongued tirade, apparently provoked because she made a cardigans hem too big. Next time you make a judgment, dont make a judgment, Dame Vivienne roars. I dont like the size of this rib, its crap. I dont know if want to show any of this s***, I dont know what the f*** it is.

It is not an isolated incident. Her marketing team is also on the receiving end of Dame Viviennes rage.

I dont know what the heck theyre doing, she splutters. They are doing damage.

Guests invited to view her collections are similarly treated to expletive-filled invective.

Before one showing, she squeals: Either come or go, sit down or f*** off yourselves.

NO LOVE LOST

Her love life has proved as colourful as her catwalk collections. So Dame Viviennes barbed appraisals of her relationships for the camera are well up to expectation.

Referring to the traditional household she ran with her first husband, Derek Westwood, the father of her eldest son Ben, Dame Vivienne is dismissive: We were living the American Dream, [I was] the housewife. And somehow thats it.

I just realised, no, no, this is a load of old rubbish, what a load of old b******s that is.

I had to explore, I wasnt fulfilling my potential.

Former husband Derek Westwood and Vivienne lived together in a council flat in Clapham, had son Joe in 1967, and are credited with creating the music and style which underpinned the subversive politics of punk (pictured: Vivienne in 1977)

The marriage ended when she met music mogul Malcolm McLaren in 1965. It was to prove her best-known and most tumultuous relationship. McLaren, of course, would later manage the Sex Pistols.

They lived together in a council flat in Clapham, had son Joe in 1967, and are credited with creating the music and style which underpinned the subversive politics of punk.

Yet he, too, is attacked on camera. He became very jealous of me when I went into the fashion business, she sneers. And he would always pretend everything was him.

I stayed with him because I respected him, then I got to a point. His thinking had stayed where it was, I got intellectually bored with him.

MOTHER LOVE

Viviennes youngest son, Joe Corre, launched the luxury lingerie brand Agent Provocateur. But in the film, Vivienne admits he nearly didnt make it into the world at all.

Discussing her tumultuous relationship with McLaren, she reveals: Malcolm was ill so I looked after him and thats how it all began.

I didnt want him at all, I felt like I had misled him. When I had Joe, I wanted to have an abortion, she adds, implying further profound dissatisfaction with McLaren.

Vivienne sacked Joe from her business after realising that he and the companys CEO, Carlo DAmario, could not work together.

Joe tells the documentary: I decided I couldnt work with Carlo. It had to be one or the other of us. My mum had decided that she needed him which hurt a bit.

MATCH MADE IN FASHION

In 1992, Vivienne married her Austrian former fashion student, Andreas Kronthaler, who is 25 years her junior. Yet the unusual partnership has been her most enduring, with Andreas both a muse and collaborator in her business. Previously unseen footage of their marriage  broadcast for the first time in the film  reveals the unlikely pair posing in flamboyant style.

In 1992, Vivienne married her Austrian former fashion student, Andreas Kronthaler, who is 25 years her junior (the couple pictured in 1992)

Andreas and Dame Vivienne are shown to have matching flowered dresses in their respective wardrobes. The designers appraisal of her husband is esoteric. The biggest compliment I can pay Andreas is I actually like living with him as much as I like being on my own, she tells the film.

But her son Joes perspective is more informative. I have to be honest, at first I was quite suspicious of Andreas, because, who is this f****** guy? he admits. He looks a bit gay and he wants to marry my mum and hes half her age. Whats that all about?

MOSS BE LOVE

As one of the most well-connected people in fashion, Dame Vivienne counts supermodel Naomi Campbell, designer Bella Freud and musician Chrissie Hynde among her closest friends.

But perhaps her ultimate muse is Kate Moss.

The supermodel appears on the documentary to reveal her admiration for queen Vivienne.

As one of the most well-connected people in fashion, Dame Vivienne counts supermodel Naomi Campbell, designer Bella Freud and musician Chrissie Hynde among her closest friends - but perhaps her ultimate muse is Kate Moss (Dame Vivienne and Kate Moss pictured in 2009)

And the feeling, she implies, was most certainly reciprocated.

Recalling one particular encounter, Kate says: We were backstage. And she went, Kate, you know Ive never been into girls but I could have got into you and then she hugged me.

She adds, with a celebratory fist pump: I could have been her only lesbian lover  ker-ching!

WHAT ROT

They may have stood side-by-side in the punk movement during the 1970s. But Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon, known as Johnny Rotten, is dismissed with one of Viviennes catty backhands. He was quite a phenomenon back then, Vivienne demurs, and he hasnt changed from that. He should have changed into something else by now.

It seems, in the end, she found him Pretty Vacant.

OFF WITH THEIR HEADS

She has dedicated herself to a plethora of causes, including the Campaign For Nuclear Disarmament and the Green Party.

But above all, she says, the route to a better world lies in dismantling the current financial system, a fight she describes  in suitably learned terms  as akin to slaying the Lernaean Hydra, a beast from Greek mythology. (In the myth, Heracles slices off the Hydras head, only for two more to grow from the stump.)

She is proud of this analogy.

Above all, she says, the route to a better world lies in dismantling the current financial system, a fight she describes  in suitably learned terms  as akin to slaying the Lernaean Hydra, a beast from Greek mythology (Vivienne pictured in 1983)

This is the most amazing thing Ive ever thought of or said, she tells the film-makers.

The total, rotten financial system is the enemy, its like the Hydra, dont start chopping off, I shouldnt mention chopping heads. Youve got to kill the machine that is destroying us.

Not that her charity work always impresses her staff or, indeed, Andreas. One assistant moans about the pressure that her absences place on everyone else in her team. Here, there are so many things going on, meetings, bags, meetings, shoes, meetings, but Vivienne, she keeps herself busy with her NGOs, blogs.

Maybe the collection can be done in three days.

CUT!

Former model Lorna Tucker, the films director, established a rather tumultuous relationship with her subject.

I was told off a lot by her, Lorna said. She would tell me to go away. I would go away and then she would say, Why did you go away, youve just missed this amazing thing.

Former model Lorna Tucker (pictured left), the films director, established a rather tumultuous relationship with her subject.

There were many days when Id email to say I was coming to film and they would be like, Oh, for f***s sake, can you just f*** off. 

While Dame Viviennes reaction to the film was not unexpected, Lorna has defended her decision to proceed without the fashionistas endorsement.

It has got me into trouble, she admits, but Im a film-maker, a storyteller.

I wanted to tell an intimate portrait, I wanted to show her personality so I had to keep filming.

THE BARE TRUTH

There is some footage, however, that viewers will not see  and for good reason.

I would be on train journeys with her and Vivienne would be drinking wine out of a bottle because she wont use a plastic cup, said Lorna.

And, she will lick the tiniest little bit of hummus out of the plastic tub, then wash it out and use it for two years. It wasnt just her eating habits which caused consternation. She would be sitting there, with her legs wide open, without any knickers on, not understanding why people were taking pictures of her, says Lorna. It was eventful and I will release a directors cut one day.

Dont rush.An artist is out to change the way women perceive themselves following a 'shocking' conversation with her five-year-old niece about her body.

Wellington-based Mandi Lynn, 45, revealed inspiration for her photographic project came after she was standing in her kitchen on Christmas Day in 2016 when her niece walked and asked her 'am I fat?'.

'Of course she wasn't,' Ms Lynn told FEMAIL. 'But the fact she was concerned about it, really shocked me.

'It made me wonder about what has happened in society where a five-year-old is actually worried about this?'

Photographer Mandi Lynn (pictured) revealed that a shocking conversation with her five-year-old niece, as well as her own experience, was the catalyst for the project

Touching on her background, Ms Lynn said she had undergone a personal journey that involved her learning to love her body as it was.

Additionally, she said her mother and sister had also struggled with body image issues and that these sorts of problems appeared to spread like a 'virus' among families.

'I wanted to know if this was something isolated to our own family, or if this was something on a broader scale,' she said.

Ms Lynn explained this encounter, along with her own experience, became the catalyst for a photography project aimed at promoting body positivity among women.

Ms Lynn's project is aiming to capture images of 600 women and once this is complete the work will be shaped to represent a 'great big heart'

'Every day we see between 400 - 600 photoshopped images, she said. 'So what if we had a collection of images that showcased 600 real women?

'The aim of this exhibition is for you to be able to look at these images, see what is underneath, and go "this is okay".'

When she completes the project, Ms Lynn revealed the multi-image work will be shaped to represent a 'great big heart'.

The aim of this exhibition is for you to be able to look at these images, see what is underneath, and go "this is okay",' Ms Lynn said

The artist said the process was a cathartic one for many woman who had long struggled with body image issues

According to a report by Dove, in Australia almost 90 per cent of women suffer the effects of low self-esteem as a result of how they feel about their bodies.

The US-born Ms Lynn, a former Navy lieutenant, nurse and now-turned award-winning photographer, said the aim of her project was to help women of all ages see themselves in a better light.

'It's a cathartic experience because so many women are walking around feeling ashamed about their bodies.'

Women taking part spread gold clay on their torsos before posing bare-chested for the photographer

She explained the process her subjects underwent before being photographed for the series:

'First I ask women to write down three words they associate with their body,' she said.

'I then give them a make up pencil and ask them to write these words on their body, which we then discuss.'

'I am filming women while they are doing this for a documentary and I'm in tears almost the whole time,' she continued.

'There are women coming to this who have mastectomies, who have had severe surgery and some with an incredible disability - and they are all learning that a body is just body'

'I give them wet wipes to wipe off what they have written and I give them a golden marker to write new words they want to have associated with their body.

'Then I cover them in golden clay, and take their photo.'

Since the project's beginning close to a year ago, Ms Lynn has aimed to share one image per day via social media using the hashtag #everybodyisatreasure.

The images that are shared on social media feature an 'every body is a treasure' word-strip.

The images that are shared on social media feature an 'every body is a treasure' word-strip

'There are women coming to this who have mastectomies, who have had severe surgery and some with an incredible disability - and they are all learning that a body is just body.

'Instead of treating it [the body] like it's something that has to be shamed, instead, becomes seen as something to be treasured.'

'And that's why the exhibition is called 'Everyone is a treasure', and that's the message I am trying to get out.'

The artist said: 'Instead of treating it [the body] like it's something that has to be shamed, instead, becomes seen as something to be treasured'

As well as her work as an artist, Ms Lynn offers 'mojo' makeovers' - a service where she styles women from hair through to make up so they look their best before taking their photo.

'In these sessions, what I often found was there was a lot of hesitation around being photographed,' she said.

'The women are coming to me because it's a safe space to honour them but we have to work through a lot of body shame to get them to the point where they relax enough to take the better photo, to really showcase their inner beauty.

'They are so worried about their outside, the inside has a hard time coming out.'

Ms Lynn revealed that it can take a lot of work to get women to relax enough to allow their inner beauty to shine through

So far the photographer has taken 200 images for her 'Everyone is treasure' project and travels to parts of New Zealand offering free workshops on body positivity.

There are also pop up exhibitions of the collection as it stands, where members of the public are invited to see the photographs.

Those who have viewed the images have expressed mixed opinions, Ms Lynn said.

'Some people say it's awesome, and some people walk in and say that was more than I anticipated.

According to Ms Lynn, reactions to her work have been mixed: 'Some people say it's awesome, and some people walk in and say that was more than I anticipated'

'I have had people stand there and say "wow, I'm not alone" and some stand there and judge.

While she said she tries not to put too much stock into people's reactions, she said hearing what some have to say indicates to sizism is, and continues to be, an issue.

'Sizism is very similar to how racism was 50 years ago where people had absolutely no problem making horrible racist comments out loud and in public,' she said.

'It's the same with those who feel they can make really nasty comments about women's bodies in public.

There are those that think this is all about celebrating fat when it's not it's about celebrating our bodies and taking a more reality-based view, said the photographer

'It seems so pointless, and they are totally missing the point of the whole project. Would they say that to their mother, or their sister or their best friend's daughter?'

'They think this is all about celebrating fat when it's not it's about celebrating our bodies and taking a more reality-based view.

'In the end, it's about health at every size, and it's about being kind.'

More information about Ms Lynn's project can be found hereTwo mothers who find their outfit inspirations from Kate Middleton have offered a glimpse into their royal wardrobe.

Brooke Nurthen and her friend Rachael Tagg have been sharing pictures of their copycat looks to social media, where they are part of a trend called 'replikating'.

The pair, from Sydney, met when they were pregnant at the same time - and they quickly bonded over their love of the Duchess of Cambridge's coveted style.

So the royal super fans went on to launch Cambridge Mum - an Instagram page dedicated to emulating a designer wardrobe identical to Kate's.

Brooke Nurthen (left) and her friend Rachael Tagg (right) have been sharing pictures of their copycat looks to Instagram, where they are part of a Kate Middleton trend called 'replikating'

The royal super fans went on to launch Cambridge Mum - an Instagram page dedicated to emulating a designer wardrobe identical to Kate's (Rachael wearing a Jaeger yellow dress)

And Meghan Markle's glamorous outfits have also caught the attention of the pair.

'There will always be some cross over of women who love royal style in general, and naturally gravitate toward duplicating the style of a new Duchess,' Brooke told Whimn.

'But there will also be women who are newly drawn to Meghan's style. I'm sure there are people out there now who have just fallen deep, like we did all those years ago.'

The friends - who have more than 3,500 followers - said their natural sense of style gravitates more towards the former Suits star while they find Kate's wardrobe aspirational.

'With Meghan I have bought things because I like them and see myself wearing them. With Kate's wardrobe, sometimes it's just nice owning an item even if it doesn't get worn much. There's a totally different appeal,' Rachael said.

Brooke dressing like Kate for a fraction of the glamorous Duchess' budget in a pink ASOS dress

Meghan Markle's glamorous outfits have also caught the attention of the pair (Rachael wearing the same attire - a J Crew chambray shirt and vest, and a pair of Everlane jeans)

Brooke replicating Kate's look in a h&M blouse, black pants and a white blazer from Zara

And while the pair admit they have purchased the exact outfits as Kate, they also noticed they already had a few pieces similar to the princess.

The Australian friends started the social media account in May last year.

We are two Australian mums brought together over a mutual love of the Duchess of Cambridge and stripes, plus some extraordinary coincidences,' they said.

'Here we chronicle our wardrobe adventures in #replikate, #copyKate and #Kateinspired outfits for us.'

Twinning: Rachael rocking Kate's bohemian maxi-dress from UK Glamorous

Brooke wearing an ASOS black-and white spotty dress - a must-have maternity nursing staple

US lawyer Mallory Bowling, 29, (left) who is known for replicating Kate's wardrobe at a fraction of the price, has been getting her inspiration from Meghan as well

The two friends are part of a popular trend sweeping social media around the world with their 'replikate' outfits.

US lawyer Mallory Bowling, 29, has been dressing like Kate for a fraction of the glamorous Duchess' budget.

And since Meghan stepped into the royal limelight, Mallory said she has also found her outfit inspirations from the star.

'I am very much living vicariously through Meghan. She is living the fairy tale dream,' Mallory said.Have you noticed how fashion stores have become the sartorial equivalent of sweet shops?

The more I look at the spring collections, the more the new designer-approved palette reminds me of Mini Eggs, marshmallows and macaroons.

Quelle horreur! What 6ft, pale Anglo-Saxon in her right mind is going to lust after a vanilla jumpsuit by Joseph? Covet Victoria Beckhams pink trouser suit if it transforms her into a stick of rock? Or hanker after that Parma Violets-coloured blazer and sherbet lemon skirt by Celine, knowing its going to make her resemble a blancmange?

Me. The least likely wearer of ice cream shades is, weirdly, developing a taste for them.

I dont know about you, but Im over winter. Im sick of wrapping myself up in so many dark bulky layers that I walk about like the Michelin Man. Pastels say: Its spring! Hit wardrobe refresh! Wear me and Ill recharge your batteries!

Sweet style: Moschino recently showcased pastel hues on the runway during Milan Fashion Week last month

But theyre a minefield. Pastels conjure up an image of rows of old ladies under beehive hairdryers in Nestas, the hairdressers in the village where I grew up. Hours later, theyd emerge with rock-solid blue and lilac rinses.

Pastels are the preserve of weddings. Mothers of the bride in head-to-toe peach, from fascinator to court shoe.

I have memories of me, aged ten, in frilly pale apricot, holding cousin Susys train. And again at 16, parading down the aisle after my sister Sara in frosted pink Shantung silk  it was the mid-Eighties.

Pastels are the colours of Disney princesses and Easter chicks. They stereotype the very old and the very young.

They are also the terrain of any royal. The Queen has mastered every pastel shade.

I saw her recently. In real life. She made a surprise appearance at London Fashion Week to give designer Richard Quinn the inaugural Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design. She was the star of the show in her powder-blue suit.

Then theres the Duchess of Cambridge, who loves pastel.

So, surely they cant be cool? Well, thats the shocker about modern pastels. They are cool, as they do not resemble anything wedding-y. No meringue dresses, ruffles or bows here.

Pastels: the rules The new pastels need clean lines and sharp shapes.

FAIR SKIN? Try pastels with white, never black.

DARKER skin tones look terrific in multiple pastels  all in one outfit.

ICE cream-hued accessories are the best way to try the trend. Advertisement

The ice cream palette has sharp, chic tailoring  smart jackets and coats, slim trousers, neat dresses. Its all about the silhouette. Clean lines and graphic shapes are a must.

On the High Street, Marks & Spencer has nailed it with Autographs duck egg blue coat (149, marksandspencer.com) and its Limited Edition lavender trouser suit (blazer, 35, trousers, 28).

Zaras crisp lilac polo shirt (39.99, zara.com) is a perfect example of how sharp shapes make pastels ping.

The question is, how many pastels to wear at once? When it comes to delicious looks that splice lemon sorbet with raspberry ripple and mint chocolate, the darker your skin the better. You are blessed. This ice cream parlour is for you.

Fairer complexions beware! I wouldnt advise wearing too much sweetness at once, and Id steer clear of mixing them with black. Use flashes of white to give your complexion zing.

The most I could manage is a pale pink blazer with a white shirt. I love the idea of a white T-shirt with slouchy lavender trousers, too. Know the shades that work for you. Im not bad in pinks, but pistachio is a horror. And I wont be swayed by pale yellow, unless life becomes one long beach holiday.

The best solution is to go for pastel accessories: just a slice of lemon, like the Maje clutch bag (229 maje.com). I also like how unexpected pastel footwear is. Mauve suede boots? Yes. Rose-hued loafers? Youll put your best foot forward whatever the weather.

Rebecca Lowthorpe is Fashion Director of Grazia.As I close the door behind me my heart starts thudding. My hands shake as I turn the key, carefully double-checking the front door is locked. The bare floorboards creak as I walk down the narrow hallway, but otherwise the house is silent, almost eerily quiet.

Its the first night in my new home and I am surprised and shocked at how wobbly I feel.

Id been desperate to have my own place for years. However, like one in six estranged couples in the UK, my husband Adrian and I had been forced to stay living together after our split due to financial constraints.

Now, finally, three years after we decided to separate, following 25 years of living as a couple (23 of them married), I had a place to call my own  a terraced house in Exeter.

Jane Alexander found herself living alone after 25 years of living as a couple (23 of them married) after deciding to separate from her husband Adrian (pictured: Jane at her home in Exeter, Devon)

I should have been overjoyed but, as my moving-in date approached, I found myself increasingly anxious about the thought of living alone.

My son James, 19, had left for university last October, so I was not only a middle-aged singleton, but an empty-nester, too.

Adrian travelled a lot for his work as a journalist, so I was used to being without his company, but I hadnt officially lived on my own for nearly 30 years.

The last time I had my own home, my life was wildly different. I was in my 20s, working in a busy newspaper office in London, with a wide and supportive network of friends and family close by.

Now Im in my late 50s, freelancing from home in Exeter. My parents died several years ago, and my friends and remaining family are scattered all over the world. Im far more isolated  and far, far older.

Im not the only one launching into mid-life aloneness, not by a long shot. Figures from the Office for National Statistics show nearly a third of households of people aged 45 to 64 are living solo.

Divorce in general is increasing, but its the over-50s who are leading the separation stakes. Almost a quarter of the 107,000 divorces recorded in 2016 involved women over 50  the silver splitters.

That first night, I lie in bed  any notion of sleep dancing a million miles away. Little noises make me jump: the grumble in the radiator as the boiler switches off; the wheeze of a floorboard as it eases back into place; a motorbike revving in the street. I dont nod off until dawn.

The last time Jane had her own home, her life was wildly different. She was in her 20s, working in a busy newspaper office in London, and had a wide and supportive network of friends and family close by

When it isnt outside distractions, its my thoughts playing hooligans in my head. Will I be able to pay the bills? Will the ancient boiler last another year? How can I fix the damp in the kitchen? Is my son OK at university?

All those worries that are shared in a marriage shout louder when youre facing them on your own.

I also feel vulnerable for the first time. Im not the type who scares easily  Ive lived in big old spooky houses, in extremely isolated rural spots, in tough London neighbourhoods  none of them worried me.

Yet one night Im woken by a thud from downstairs. Then sounds of movement. My heart pounds as I edge my way downstairs, turning on all the lights.

Whos there? I yell, hoping any would-be burglars would scarper. I hear scrabbling and then another crashing thud. Realisation dawns. A cat had obviously muscled its way in through the old cat flap and then panicked its way out. I heave a sigh of relief.

Adrian and I share custody of our dog, Dan, and I immediately decide I need him as a sidekick for back-up on a more regular basis. A barking dog is a good deterrent  for cats and burglars.

Changing lightbulbs, putting out the rubbish, taking the dog to the vet. There are so many things that dont even cross your mind when youre a couple.

You fall into the habit of sharing tasks; you let someone else take charge of chunks of your life. I realise that, over the years of our marriage, Adrian had taken over most of the practical side of our shared life  paying bills, sorting out insurance, getting cars serviced.

Her husband Adrian did all the cooking at home and now she's lost her cooking mojo entirely. She added: 'Im aware of silence, too, in a way thats new. When I lived with Adrian, everything seemed so noisy'

I look at my pristine new cooker and opt for plonking a piece of toast in the toaster. Doubtless Ill plump for another ready-made salad from the supermarket for lunch.

Adrian did all the cooking in our home (hes passionate about it) and Ive lost my cooking mojo entirely.

Now, as I try  and fail  to twist off the lid from the marmalade jar, I suddenly feel deeply pathetic.

When it comes to the house itself, I realise Im even more helpless.

The Victorian terrace I fell in love with hadnt been touched since the Seventies and, while I was game for stripping wallpaper and sanding floors, I couldnt turn my hand to plastering and replacing pipes.

Fortunately, I lucked out with my builder. He not only pulled off a pretty extensive renovation on an extremely tight budget, he has also given me the confidence to do things for myself.

Theres a video for everything on YouTube, you know, he says.

I sit on the floor staring at a tube of caulk (the stuff you use to fill gaps; something I didnt know until recently) and an application gun. How on earth do you even get the tube in the gun? I check on YouTube and, sure enough, theres a how to . .. video.

Tips for mid-life singletons 1 Join local groups to meet people with similar interests (meetup.com is good) or who live in your neck of the woods (nextdoor.co.uk). 2 Get to know your neighbours. You dont have to be best friends, but its good to have their details in case of emergencies. 3 Consider a pet if your circumstances allow. If not, maybe join BorrowMyDoggy (borrowmydoggy.com) for a part-time step-pet. 4 Redecorate your home to make it your own. Even a quick coat of paint will freshen up the place and provide a brighter backdrop. 5 Invest in the right level of security. Ensure all doors and windows have good-quality locks. An alarm system gives further reassurance. Your local police can give advice. Sign up for their Alert two-way community messaging system (neighbour hoodalert.co.uk). Also join your Neighbourhood Watch (ourwatch.org.uk) 6 Get rid of anything that brings back bad memories or ties you to the past in a negative way. 7 Background music can make a home feel welcoming  and take the edge off the silence. Advertisement

I hire a big sander for the floors and, yes, there are any number of videos for that, too.

Its easy to become lazy in a relationship, I realise. And its easy to fall into the ridiculous idea that there are man jobs and woman jobs. Im ashamed of my old self.

Nonetheless, my physical shortcomings still frustrate me. I pinch a nerve sanding the floors. I nearly pitch off a ladder as I try to fix a light. I actually sob with frustration as I battle to move furniture on my own. I even manage to trap myself in my own bedroom when the door jams.

When I last lived alone, I lugged mattresses and even sofas up and down stairs on my own. Now, aged 58, and with a dodgy shoulder, I can barely wrangle a duvet.

Its not just physical, of course. My friend Denise, who was widowed a few years back, warns me about the loneliness. You need to throw yourself into things, she says. Join everything. Dont turn down a single invitation, she says.

I dont feel ready for that. Not yet. I need some time and space to adjust to being on my own.

I go to bed earlier and earlier. Every time I try to sit and read a book, I find I cant relax  I keep jumping up to fix something. My home has never been cleaner.

Im aware of silence, too, in a way thats new. When I lived with Adrian, everything seemed so noisy. His music crashed through the space and, bless him, he kept up a running commentary, a pretty much non-stop stream of consciousness, whether in front of the TV, driving the car or pottering around the kitchen. I was longing for peace.

Now, however, I can see why my mother used to play the radio when my father died  the house sometimes seems too quiet, as if its listening to me. My own thoughts are way too loud. Its a period of readjustment, I realise. When you live with someone for 25 years, you can lose track of your identity.

All relationships involve compromise and I wonder if I compromised too much, if I lost sight of who I am. To be honest, Im not even entirely sure what I like any more. I start questioning everything  from the food I buy, through the work I do, to the way I spend my weekends.

I paint my entire house white  a blank canvas that I hope will give me the clarity I need. I clear out books I no longer read, the furniture and knick-knacks that no longer feel right. I cancel my gym membership (I havent been for months).

Maybe I need to find a new hobby? Volunteer for a local charity? Check out adult learning classes? My son calls to talk about the societies hes joined at university, the people hes met, and I feel like a Fresher myself.

Theres a whole new world out there and I need to figure out what Im going to do with it; who Im going to be in it.

Right now Im taking things slowly, testing the water. I have joined my local Meetup group (that puts you in touch with local activities) and Nextdoor (that connects you with your neighbourhood), but Im holding fire on committing to anything.

Im not racing into filling my life with new people, just as Im not hurtling into filling my home with new stuff.

I sit in my living room, sipping a glass of wine (do I even like wine?), wondering what happens next. My new home is a work in progress and so, it seems, am I.Im in London, in a gap between meetings, trying on jeans. Ive decided that Im going to become more my old self, given that, having consulted two renowned psychics, this is going to be MY YEAR. So I have to abandon the Paper, Denim & Cloth skinnies I purchased in 2003. I bought them when I started my job as a fashion editor on a daily newspaper and my second piece was how to buy the perfect pair of jeans. This pair was indeed perfect. They might have cost 175 in Selfridges, but look how long theyve lasted! Now, though, they are living up to their name and are, indeed, paper thin, and the knees have crumbled. Which is why I am now in Primark on the shabby end of Oxford Street, which I guess is appropriate. I join a melee and find my pair. I hold them against me, as I never try on clothes: changing room mirrors are as bad for a womans sense of self as a powerful man. Size six, in a toothpick shape, and 13. I used to buy loaves of bread that cost more! But at least Im now two sizes smaller than I was in 2003. One small victory, I suppose.

Im feeling buoyant, as I have just left an appointment with a hearing consultant. I had a test, an examination and then I sat before the doctor as he told me the results. You have severe hearing loss, he said. It probably happened when you were ten or 11 as those tiny microphone cells have been destroyed. Because you are not using your ears, your hearing has got worse. I have no idea how you have been able to function, let alone cope. It must have been exhausting.

I welled up. At last, someone was being nice to me. Someone understood. Everyone is so rude to me because I cant hear, I told him. Even my boyfriend would tut and roll his eyes.

Thats horrible, the doctor said.

Yes, he is, I replied.

I am to have a hearing aid made for each ear, which I pick up in two weeks time. Each tiny, transparent device will be able to tell if I am in a cinema, theatre, at an awards ceremony (nah; all my peers hate me), on a dinner date (fat chance!) or next to a busy road. In Switzerland on a work assignment a few weeks ago, I had thought the village was car free, as thats what it said in the brochure. I stepped out of the hotel, straight into the road. A buggy, going really fast, missed me by millimetres.

I am to have dinner tonight with my best friend Sue Needleman, who is treating me to The Ivy Soho Brasserie on Broadwick Street. Just walking along that road brings back so many memories: Id worked, from 1981 until nearly the 1990s on the corner, at the National Magazine Company. At the time, I was lovesick for David, poor, anorexic, renting a bedsit with no cooking facilities. I was a virgin in more than one sense of the word: Id never dyed my hair, or had a breast reduction, or a face-lift, or veneers on my teeth, soon to be ruined by four Cox apples a day, bought from the market at lunchtime on Berwick Street, to stave hunger pangs. Id thought I had to be thinner to bag David. Turned out even being a toothpick wasnt enough. But boy, looking back, how happy I should have been. I had youth, a future, potential.

So, given I realise I have to seize the day, stop wallowing, especially as my decade of torture is about to finish (I will be discharged from bankruptcy at the end of April, which means I can start over), I have done something else monumental. Ive been along to the Urban Retreat atop Harrods and had a patch test. Shamefully, it has been so long since my last hair dye and lash tint that Ive expired  in the beauty world at least  so need to be re-inducted. As I stood in reception, a therapist in a white coat dabbed behind my ear with a dot of black dye. She gave me a wink. Welcome back, Liz, she said, giving my arm a squeeze. Weve missed you.Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi discussed bilateral relations in a phone call with his Cypriot counterpart Nicos Anastasiades on Sunday evening, the Egyptian presidency said in a statement.

The two leaders discussed boosting bilateral ties as well as cooperation between Egypt, Cyprus and Greece.

President Anastasiades expressed appreciation for the "positive developments in his countrys relations with Egypt", presidency spokesman Bassam Rady said.

Egypt, Cyprus and Greece have been holding annual presidential summits in the capitals of the three countries since 2014 to boost economic and political relations.

Short link:

Catkins are nodding, lambs are skipping and  apparently in tune with natural rhythms  babies are popping out all around me. As I dont have children, I asked my young-mum colleagues to name their top lifesavers.

1 Cuskiboo, 17.99, cuskishop.co.uk. An award-winning, soft, suckable comforter made of organic bamboo yarn; also Miniboo for premature babies, 24.98 for two. For free p&p, enter the code SMILES at the checkout (valid until 15 April).

2 Lamaze Play & Go Freddie The Firefly, 15, jojomamanbebe.co.uk. A soft, bendy, textured toy made of velour, polyester and plastic (but safe to chew), designed to stimulate a babys senses from birth to crawling.

The Cuddledry towel, an apron-style towel design with a hooded sling made of soft, absorbent unbleached cotton and bamboo

From left: Cuskiboo comforter; Organic Babies Soothing Baby Salve; Baby Feeding Journal

Poppy Convertible Backpack Changing Bag. This great-looking, capacious satchel-style backpack/shoulder bag in black or inky blue is great for babies and useful for toddlers, too

3 Hello World: Baby Feeding Journal, 10, kikki-k.com. This log is useful for new mothers with the inevitable baby brain for recording feeding times and length.

4 Cuddledry Hands-Free Baby Bath Towel, 29.99, cuddledry.com. An apron-style towel design with a hooded sling made of soft, absorbent unbleached cotton and bamboo. It was voted a bathtime lifesaver by one mum.

5 Green People Organic Babies Soothing Nipple Balm, 10 for 50ml. With healing herbs plus shea butter and beeswax, this 100 per cent natural, scent-free balm can be applied before, during and after breastfeeding. The brands Organic Babies Soothing Baby Salve, 10.50 for 100ml, cares for babies hands, faces, bodies and bottoms.

6 Kit & Kin nappy subscription, from 29.99 a month, kitandkin.com. Eco-nappy company, launched by former Spice Girl Emma Bunton, which was unanimously applauded by the mums; it also offers wipes and skincare, including certified-natural Stretch Mark Oil, 9.99 for 100ml.

7 At-home massage gift voucher Ask friends for local recommendations or, if the mother lives in London or Manchester, consider soothe.com, which offers gift vouchers from 60 for 60 minutes.

8 Poppy Convertible Backpack Changing Bag, 89, storksak.com. This great-looking, capacious satchel-style backpack/shoulder bag in black or inky blue is great for babies and useful for toddlers, too.

9 Cook frozen meals voucher, from 10, cookfood.net. The most thoughtful gift, said one mother: I didnt have time to even think about what to eat. Vouchers can be redeemed at Cook shops nationwide, or online for home delivery.

Many readers ask for recommendations for natural deodorants. Top of the bunch trialled by the YOU team are two low-alcohol, roll-on versions by Dr Hauschka, an impeccably natural German brand. Sage Mint Deodorant (13) promises long-lasting control and is great if youre rushing about and wearing synthetic fabrics  which tend to be more whiff-producing. The Rose version (13, both drhauschka.com), which really does smell of the flower, is more gentle but effective for lower temperatures and less activity. Both avoid using pore-constricting aluminium salts. But remember, these are deodorants not antiperspirants.

Among the many homeopathy supporters who wrote in about my recent article The Case For Homeopathy (4 February) was Devon farmer Steve Day who chooses to treat his cows, horses and dogs with natural medicine. Some vets prescribe homeopathy, although the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons advises that it must not be used as first-line therapy as it does not have a recognised body of evidence for its useand is not based on sound scientific principles. Steve, who often consults a homeopathic vet, responds: You have to keep an open mind. Ive had great success with these remedies.

Dyslexia Is My Superpower (Most of the Time)

Book of the week

Dyslexia Is My Superpower (Most of the Time)

by Margaret Rooke, Jessica Kingsley Books, 12.99*

By the mother of a teenager with dyslexia, this collection of interviews with eight-to 18-year-olds reflects her determination to convince readers that dyslexic brains are different but not less intelligent or creative. The poignant stories testify to the importance of early diagnosis followed up by knowledgeable and sensitive teaching, which sweep aside the limitations too often put on children with dyslexia.

*to order a copy for 10.39 until 1 April, go to mailshop.co.uk/books or call 0844 571 0640; p&p is free on orders over 15.

Always consult your doctor if you have a medical problem.In her first interview since her acrimonious divorce was finalised, PETRA ECCLESTONE opens up about being a single mother, the personal heartache behind her new charity venture and why life isn't panning out quite how she expected

PETRA WEARS JACKET, Michelle Mason. JEWELLERY, Jaimie Geller Jewelry

Petra Ecclestone, daughter of former Formula 1 billionaire Bernie, looks every inch the spoilt daddys girl as she arrives at the swish Chelsea gym where weve arranged to meet in a convoy of black Range Rovers (one for her, one for the bodyguards) with personalised number plates.

She may be in the mum uniform of hoodie and leggings, but the former is clearly designer and the latter are edgy PVC. Thick blonde locks tumble over her shoulders and her fingers, decorated with henna tattoos, are enhanced by inch-long nails and stacks of diamonds.

Yet, as soon as she starts talking, I find myself warming to Petra, who comes across as controlled but friendly, with an appealingly dry sense of humour. Shes certainly a far more understated figure than her elder sister Tamara, whose reality show Tamaras World treated viewers to glimpses of her 57-room mansion containing a three-storey soft-play area, which reportedly cost 50,000, for her four-year-old daughter Sophia.

Being a single mother is hard. theres no day off. Its draining

I get asked to do that kind of programme all the time, but theyre just not me, Petra says. I find the idea quite cheesy.

At only 29, Petra  now the single mother of Lavinia, five, and two-year-old twins James and Andrew after her divorce from her husband of six years James Stunt  has founded two fashion lines and supported meningitis charities (at 14 she nearly died from viral meningitis).

She has funded cards for new mothers informing them about symptoms, and a campaign to raise awareness among students, who are more vulnerable to the condition. Now shes throwing herself into a new project: Petras Place, a centre that is due to open in July near her London home to provide treatment for young children with autism and other developmental disorders.

Its to Petras credit that she has found time for the centre, given the challenges of the past couple of years. In 2016, her stepmothers mother was kidnapped and threatened with decapitation in Brazil (she was rescued); her brother-in-law Lee Stunt died of an accidental drug overdose, and her 100 million Chelsea home was attacked with a petrol bomb.

Petra with her father Bernie and sister Tamara

That was quite dramatic  things like that normally dont happen in Chelsea, were not in Baghdad, Petra says in her soft, mid-Atlantic tones. Luckily we were at our home in Los Angeles because it exploded literally outside my boys window.

Then, last year, news emerged of her acrimonious divorce from entrepreneur James, 36, whom shed married in a 12 million ceremony in Rome that even Bernie, 87, deemed excessive.

The couple, who had been together since she was 18, split amid allegations of Jamess drug-taking and abusive and violent behaviour (which he denies). Bernie had already revealed how during a row his son-in-law had threatened to blow her head off.

James was ordered by a judge to leave the family home, while Petra was granted sole custody of the children. Since then he has hit back with digs about his ex and her family, calling 5ft 2in Bernie a dwarf, his ex-wife Slavica Lady Macbeth and Petra a C-list celebritys daughter.

The Ecclestones jumped to Petras defence, with Bernie saying that he felt sorry for him. More angrily, Tamara announced unless he stops telling lies about my family, we will have to start telling the truth about him.

Petra wont comment on the infighting (and manages to avoid even using her exs name during our interview) but her calm aura is one of someone who is relieved to have moved on.

Its been a bad year, she says. But its getting better. Once you have kids theres no option but to be strong. You cant feel sorry for yourself, you just have to do whats right for them.

DRESS, Dolce & Gabbana

Since late last year Petra has been photographed with Sam Palmer, a vintage car dealer who is friends with 33-year-old Tamaras husband Jay Rutland.

Its very early-on dating, she says. The whole thing is quite strange because my life didnt pan out the way I expected it to. I thought I wasnt the type who believed in divorce. I go to church and I got married thinking I would be with that person for the rest of my life. But things happen for a reason and, whatever that reason is, Ive now got my three kids.

Its easy to roll your eyes when one of the wealthiest women on the planet tells you how exhausting her children are, but theres no doubt that Petra is a hands-on mother.

She only employed a nanny  whom she prefers to call an extra pair of hands; I dont like the idea of nannies, Im too much of a control freak  after the twins were born eight weeks premature and were in hospital a lot.

Being a single mother is hard, she continues. Theres no day off. You cant take your eyes off them  its draining. Things like going on holiday are tough. Last week we were in Dubai and I had a nanny, but its not the same. Youre not a family.

Tamara was also there. Yes, but she was preoccupied with Sophia, so she wasnt much help, Petra laughs.

Shes up with the children every morning at 6am, does the school and nursery run, then  after meetings and possibly exercise  returns to nursery for a noon pick-up. Basically Im a chauffeur, she smiles ruefully. At night, she says, Ive got into a rut of collapsing and watching TV in bed. I have to force myself to go out. When I actually do it I feel great.

Petra with her mother Slavica, left, and, right, with Tamara

In that spirit, shes putting her all into Petras Place. My mum says, You dont have time to be dealing with this, but when you have kids youre in such a bubble, and I feel I want to use my brain to focus on something else. I want the kids to be proud of me, to know that their grandad was really successful but that their mum made a difference.

The idea for the centre came to her from her experiences with Lavinia, who was slow to start talking. It was so hard. She was three and Id never heard her say Mama  thats heartbreaking, she says.

At the time, Petra and James were living in Los Angeles in their 123-room house The Manor, which they bought for 61 million in 2011. We saw several speech therapists, so we had some intervention before Lavinia reached the age of two. At that point we had to move back to London, where I was shocked at how few services they had for families. Im lucky I can pay for the best doctors but even then they didnt really offer that much support.

Eventually Lavinia was diagnosed with global developmental delay, the term used for children who take longer than their peers to reach certain developmental milestones. Shes doing OK. She has had to learn how to position her tongue when she talks. Its so hard with parenting; its like a competition with other people saying, My child can talk better, or read more.

Wanting more children to be able to access such help, Petra approached various doctors about setting up a centre. Did they not dismiss her as a ditsy heiress? No, they were excited. Its so hard here even to get a diagnosis for autism at a young age and while youre on the waiting list youre missing a crucial window.

Indeed, the centre  funded largely by her charity, The Petra Ecclestone Foundation  boasts an impressive advisory team, headed by Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, the director of Cambridge Universitys Autism Research Centre.

Each year it hopes to cater for 96 children aged between 18 months and four years, 80 per cent of whom will be selected by Petras local council, Kensington and Chelsea, the remainder being private patients. The plan is to roll out a group of centres nationwide.

Benefits of early intervention for autism The advisory board for Petras Place, headed by Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, explains How common is autism in the UK? Autism is diagnosed in one in 100 children. Why do we need early intervention services for autism in the UK? Autism is partly genetic and how a childs brain is wired from before birth and during development. But if a child receives early intervention they can learn to socialise and communicate more easily, cope better in a world they otherwise find overwhelming and become less anxious, so that they can fulfil their potential. What does early intervention for autism involve? The best therapy centres offer a range of approaches. These might include speech and occupational therapies, the arts (music, art and drama), fun activities (cooking, play) and family therapy for parents. What are the signs of autism in young children? Not making eye contact, very rigid behaviour and not showing reciprocal social action, such as taking turns in play. But none of these are diagnostic. Concerned parents should discuss with their GP, who can decide if the child needs a full assessment. Advertisement

Early intervention for autism is a hot potato, not least because many in the community are fighting for acceptance and dislike the idea that their condition can be trained out of them.

Is Petra  who is promoting World Autism Awareness Week  ready for flak? I am. With anything to do with parenting, people have some sort of opinion, she says; she doesnt look worried.

Theres a low-key but steely confidence to Petra, who turned down a place at the prestigious Central Saint Martins art school to launch her menswear brand Form, only for it to fold two years later.

It was really hard to make a success of a smaller brand, she says with candour. I probably could have gone begging to my dad for more money, but I have some dignity.

She later launched a handbag line, Stark (which she dissolved this year, after it ran up debts of more than 4 million). But then I got pregnant and I wanted to give 100 per cent to Lavinia. I didnt see the point in having a business just for the sake of having a business.

Soon she is hoping to relocate the family to LA, lured by warmer weather and what she thinks is a less pressured atmosphere for children to grow up in. But then again, my family and friends are here, she sighs.

She has tried to persuade Tamaras family to move with her. But she wants Sophia to have an English education.

SUIT, Gabriela Hearst. TOP, Givenchy. SANDALS, Gianvito Rossi

Growing up, she says, the sisters fought constantly, but now are really close, with Sophia and Lavinia seeing each other virtually every day. Tamara has announced she will breastfeed Sophia, with whom she still shares a bed, for as long as possible.

Petra chuckles wryly. Before she had Sophia she was, like, Why would you breastfeed? Just leave the baby at home with a nanny, go out and have a life!

I said you cant judge until youve been in that position. I breastfed the twinsuntil they were two, but then they didnt want it any more. At the time I was heartbroken. Looking back its pathetic.

PERFECT FOR PETRA Describe yourself in three words Funny, sensitive, caring. What makes you laugh? My kids. Style icons Gigi and Bella Hadid  relaxed but edgy. Favourite feel-good song Any 80s music. Reading About how to get your child to sleep through the night. Last film you saw A movie about Jeffrey Dahmer  I really like serial-killer movies. Favourite food Spaghetti with tomato sauce, pizza, Chinese. Nothing healthy. Beauty essentials Dr Barbara Sturm Face Cream, Olaplex for my hair, Dr PawPaw lip balm. Whats in your bag? My purse, phone, lip balm and sunglasses. Breakfast of choice Coco Pops. I have the worlds worst diet. On your bedside table Vitamins, water, phone charger. Last thing you do before going to sleep Floss and watch TV. Motto Live for today and dont think about tomorrow. What would surprise people about you? People think Im arrogant but its mostly shyness. Your perfect day On weekends, go to the park, take the boys to the London Aquarium, go for a nice lunch, take the kids to the movies. When they are at school, being at home having some peace and quiet. Advertisement

She is staunchly nonjudgmental of her sister, even though their approaches to life are very different. Tamara parades her family life on television and social media, while Petra has a private Instagram account.

The idea that other people can see your kids freaks me out. There are so many sick people in this world. But I dont talk to Tamara about it; wed only have an argument.

The sisters are devoted to their mother Slavica, 59, a Croatian former model and daughter of a market trader (Petra says she feels more Croatian than English), who famously eschewed having a nanny and did all the washing-up herself  Ive no problem with having a dishwasher! Petra laughs.

Having divorced Bernie nine years ago, today Slavica lives in Switzerland  but we see her all the time. Shes so good with the kids and is the only person I completely trust with them.

Bernie, she says, is besotted with the twins, his first grandsons. Hes fascinated by them. They have quite similar personalities to him.

You see such happiness in him because of them, Petra says. She doesnt talk about her fathers second wife, Brazilian Grand Prix marketing executive Fabiana Flosi, who is 46 years his junior, but, when discussing the difference between sons and daughters, she remarks tellingly:

Boys are much less independent than girls. Men cant really care for themselves. A man always remarries or finds a new girlfriend as soon as possible, whereas a single woman just gets on with it and sorts herself out.

Still, Petra is definitely not ruling out future romance for herself. She would like  eventually, she says  to have more children. Right now the process is so overwhelming, but it has always been my dream to adopt, so maybe I will in the next five or six years, you never know. If youre in love I guess its unfair not to give a partner a child of their own. But first Id like to be able to breathe a bit and have a shower on my own.

Shes planning to mark her 30th birthday in December with a huge 1980s-themed bash. Maybe in my 30s I can have my life semi-back, she muses. Maybe Ill have a midlife crisis and start dancing on tables. With that Ecclestone drive embedded in Petras DNA, I somehow doubt it.

For more information on Petras Place, visit petrasplace.co.uk. World Autism Awareness Week runs from 26 March-2 April; autism.org.uk

Styling: Siham Aiachi. Make-up: Lo Dias using Lancome. Hair: Harry Casey using Kerastase. Producer: Ester Malloy.As the search begins for 2018s WellChild Award nominations, Catherine OBrien meets three of last years winners, whose exceptional courage won over the judges and the charitys patron Prince Harry

Erin with fellow award-winner Finley Green, Gaby Roslin, Prince Harry and Ashley Banjo at last years ceremony

Winner: Inspirational Child 4-6 years

Erin Cross

Erin describes herself as one of a kind and it is hard to imagine that anyone who has met her  including Simon Cowell, Ant and Dec and Amanda Holden  would disagree. The cancer specialists who have witnessed her battling for survival against all odds can certainly vouch for Erins indomitable spirit.

Erin, now aged seven, was just two when she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and she has come close to losing her life several times. Erin is a superstar, says nurse Claire Bunny, one of the team that helps care for Erin at the Countess of Chester Hospital in her home city. Shes a role model to other children  and she shows us all that there is hope. Erins courage made her a clear winner at last years WellChild Awards, where she added Prince Harry to her roll call of famous encounters.

Erin, seven, has acute lymphoblastic leukaemia

Erins parents Sarah, 43, a former GP surgery receptionist, and her teacher husband Antony, 41, endured eight years of fertility treatment before their only child was conceived via IVF. After Erins birth in August 2010, there was no inkling of ill health until November 2012, when she suffered from a series of chest and ear infections that wouldnt clear with antibiotics. Then one evening, Erin started gasping for breath. Sarah and Antony rushed her to A&E, where a blood test indicated that leukaemia was likely.

Further tests confirmed the diagnosis and Erin was admitted to Alder Hey Childrens Hospital in Liverpool for an intensive course of chemotherapy, which offered an 80 per cent chance of a cure. Her hair fell out and she couldnt walk because the steroids she had to take inflamed her joints, Sarah recalls. Yet her infectious laughter and positivity kept us going. During her treatment, Erin became an ambassador for the hospital and helped to raise 24,000 for the oncology unit. She was also involved in raising awareness of blood donation, having by then benefited from many transfusions herself.

Shes a role model to others  she shows us all that there is hope

In April 2015, Erin was declared cancer free and the family enjoyed almost a year of respite. However, in March 2016, her monthly blood test showed abnormalities. She was relapsing and needed to undergo more chemotherapy to get rid of the cancer cells before she had a bone-marrow transplant. The trouble was, the chemotherapy didnt clear the leukaemia, says Sarah. We were on the brink of being told there could be no transplant and palliative care was the next step, but we couldnt accept that as the only option.

Through online research, Sarah discovered that an experimental treatment called CAR T-cell therapy  in which the patients T-cells are re-engineered in a lab to attack cancer cells before being re-infused  was getting more than 90 per cent of children like Erin back into remission. Trials in the UK are in their infancy, but Erin could be treated in Seattle  at a cost of 140,000.

Erin playing with her mum Sarah

Thanks to a crowdfunding effort via social media and through their local community, the Crosses raised the cash. The support we had was unbelievable, says Sarah. Still, Erins treatment was taking a toll on her body and she suffered a stroke that left her temporarily paralysed. She recovered enough to make it to Seattle to undergo the therapy, but then suffered a seven-hour seizure, which left her in a coma for almost a week. We were told that Erin would very likely be brain damaged and may not survive, says Sarah. So when she came round and was laughing and talking within a couple of hours, it felt like a miracle.

Thankfully, the CAR T-cell therapy was successful and Erin had a bone marrow transplant in December 2016. She faced more hurdles last year after developing GvHD (graft versus host disease), which meant six weeks back in hospital. Amid that setback, a high point was receiving her WellChild Award (sponsored by GSK). We tell Erin how brave she is, but to receive that endorsement from others spoke volumes, says Sarah. She had the time of her life and its that happy memory, rather than thoughts of all the tough times, that has stayed with her.

Winner: Inspirational Child 7-10 years

Marni Ahmed

Like many other ten-year-old boys, Marni enjoys watching American wrestling, playing Pokemon games and listening to hip-hop. But his life is far from normal.

From birth, Marni has been fighting harlequin ichthyosis, a rare, life-threatening condition that makes his skin red raw and cracked. He has to have cream applied at two-hourly intervals; even at night, his skin is moisturised every four hours and his exposed face and hands need applications several times an hour.

Marni, ten, in his bedroom

Marni is funny and cheeky and just wants to be like any other kid, but it has been hard for some to see beyond his appearance, says his mother Gulzeab. All that changed, however, when Marni won a WellChild Award and attended the star-studded awards ceremony in London last October. Now everyone knows about me and I dont get comments, he says. Gulzeab adds: The award is the best thing that has happened to Marni. He tells people now that hes cool and brave  and that is exactly what he is.

Marni lives in Leeds with Gulzeab, 42, a former nursery nurse, dad Zaheer, a 44-year-old marketing manager, sister Aleena, 20, and brother Zayyan, 18. When he was born prematurely after a difficult pregnancy, it was evident from his torn and bleeding skin that he was seriously ill. The skin was so tight across his chest, he couldnt breathe properly, Gulzeab says.

He often shrugs off pain in his hands and feet that would make others weep

Harlequin ichthyosis is caused by a genetic defect  if both parents are carriers, their children have a one-in-four chance of having the condition. Its extremely rare  affecting around five children born in the UK every year  and is so called because the skin forms diamond-shaped thickened plates.

At six weeks, Marni had plastic surgery on his cracked eyelids. Since then he has had countless hospital admissions  for surgery and to help fight the infections he suffers because his skin lacks the fats that protect against bacteria. His clothes have to be changed three times a day, his bedding once a day and his room is cleaned daily. At times he has been so unwell, we thought he wouldnt make it, says Gulzeab. But he often shrugs off pain in his hands and feet that would make others weep.

Marni was nominated for the WellChild Award by Caroline James, his Childrens Continuing Care case manager in Leeds, but Gulzeab was initially hesitant about it. Marni has many caring friends, but on bad days when children have called him names at school, he just wants to withdraw so we worried that any attention could backfire.

Marni with mum Gulzeab and dad Zaheer

Instead, the award has had the reverse effect. Marni met Prince Harry before spending the evening sitting with grime star Stormzy, who now sends him WhatsApp messages. That recognition has been the boost that Marni needed, says Gulzeab.

Marni is currently managing 90 per cent attendance at Beeston Primary School and recently gave a presentation to fellow pupils explaining that although he looks different, he still wants to play and try his best, just like them. Although I wouldnt wish what we have been through on anyone, says Gulzeab, our family is better and stronger for having Marni in our lives.

Winner: Inspirational Child 15-18 years

Olivia Windle

As a little girl, Olivia was a dancing queen who enjoyed regular ballet and tap classes and was incapable of sitting still when music was playing. Today, she still shimmies to Jessie J and Rihanna, but any steps she takes are tentative.

Olivia has juvenile Batten disease, a degenerative condition that has made her blind and is now robbing her of her ability to walk and talk. We live in the moment because we never know what next week is going to bring, says her mother Michelle. But Olivias smiles and determination make us so proud to call her our daughter.

Olivia, 17, with her parents and brothers Harrison and Findley

Batten disease is a rare and devastating neurological disorder caused by a mutated gene. Children are born healthy before developing symptoms and there is no cure.

For Michelle, 42, and her husband Russell, a 43-year-old RAF aircraft engineer, the first signs that Olivia was unwell were barely perceptible. She had a lazy eye and needed glasses from the age of three, but it wasnt until she started school that her vision really deteriorated, recalls Michelle.

Around the age of seven, tests found that the signals between Olivias eyes and brain were not working. Further blood tests confirmed Batten disease. The consultant gave us a leaflet and said wed need time to take it in, says Michelle. And when I started reading about it, it seemed unbelievable that all these things were going to happen to our beautiful, vivacious girl.

She has to put such effort into starting her day, but never says, Why me?'

Although distraught, the Windles resolved to be positive. They went on holiday to Florida and, back home in Sheffield, ensured that Olivia remained active through school, dancing lessons and her weekly youth group. We realised we could play a waiting game, or we could do our best to build memories. And Im glad we had all those good times, because Olivia still talks about them, Michelle says.

Olivias diagnosis had wider implications for the family. If two parents are carriers, as Michelle and Russell have since discovered they are, their children have a one-in-four chance of being affected. There was a risk that Olivias brother Harrison, then aged three, also had the disease, but we decided against testing him, says Michelle, partly through fear and partly through being aware that nothing we could do would change what was meant to be. Harrison is now 13 and well. The Windles have since had a third child, Findley, aged five, and tests during pregnancy showed that he was an unaffected carrier.

Olivia with Prince Harry at the 2017 awards

Before completely losing her sight at the age of 11, Olivia, a diehard Harry Potter fan, learned to read using the Moon touch system, an alternative to Braille, and practised walking with a cane. We were able to prepare her while keeping life as normal as possible, says Michelle. Today, at the age of 17, Olivia faces new challenges. Her mobility and speech are declining and she needs medication to control seizures. Yet she attends her special school and still goes to freestyle dance classes at the club she first joined aged five.

Every morning, she has to put such effort into starting her day, but she never says, Why me? Shes an inspiration and that is why we nominated her for a WellChild Award, says Michelle. Attending the ceremony and meeting Prince Harry has given her a huge boost. He made her feel special and it was a chance for us to tell Olivia just how amazing she is, too.Investment trusts, like bank branches, are a little old school. Many have been around since the late 19th Century, are steeped in history and have names that once meant something to someone but now appear a little archaic and ridiculous.

Am I being a little Cruella De Vil? No. Think Mid Wynd International. Think Foreign & Colonial (the oldest at 150 years). Brunner, Law Debenture, Scottish Mortgage, Temple Bar and Witan. Que?

But their old age, their fuddy-duddy aroma and strange names should not put you off. Far from it.

Many of these long-established trusts continue to do a fantastic job of creating long-term wealth for shareholders, either by investing globally or exclusively in the UK stock market.

Jeff Prestridge says investment trusts, like bank branches, are a little old school

In addition, a select 21 have extraordinary records of dividend growth going back at least 20 years, in four cases more than 50 (Alliance, Bankers, City of London, Caledonia).

An up-to-date list of these dividend-friendly trusts can be seen here on This is Money, where we reveal all 21 dividend heroes.

More data on them and where they invest is available by visiting the website of the Association of Investment Companies at theaic.co.uk.

They make an ideal bedrock for an Isa portfolio.

One particular feature of investment trusts that stands them apart from the investment madding crowd  and makes them consumer friendly as a result  is their low charges.

These stem in large part from the way trusts are set up, with the investment managers required to report to an independent board.

These boards can fire the managers if they fail to deliver the investment returns expected of them (such firings are now more commonplace).

They also determine the charges that managers can levy for running the trust's assets. Increasingly, good strong boards are demanding lower fees.

The board of Monks (yes, Monks, a global trust) has just announced a revamping of charges that should result in more of the trust's pot ending up in the hands of investors, not the managers.

An up-to-date list of dividend-friendly trusts is available by visiting the website of the Association of Investment Companies at theaic.co.uk

From May, the fees that manager Baillie Gifford collects will drop provided the trust's assets remain above 1.75 billion (they currently stand at 1.78 billion).

At present, Baillie Gifford receives 0.45 per cent on the first 750 million of assets and then 0.33 per cent on any surplus.

From May, the 0.33 per cent fee will apply to all assets between 750 million and 1.75 billion. Any further assets will then attract a lower charge of 0.3 per cent.

On assets of 1.78 billion, the fee change makes little difference  Baillie Gifford's annual cut of Monks' pie falls by less than 10,000 to just under 6.8 million (still a mighty big sum).

But if Baillie Gifford keeps managing the trust effectively, and stock markets do not fall out of bed, Monks's assets should keep growing  resulting in the lower 0.3 per cent fee applying to a bigger slice.

Monks is not alone. From the start of next month, both Fidelity European Values and Henderson Alternative Strategies will also introduce lower charges  more dramatic on the Fidelity trust.

Indeed since 2013, more than a third of investment trusts have reduced charges. All we need now is for the majority two thirds to follow suit.

More Monks please  if you know what I mean.

Pensions pickle

Will pension auto-enrolment become compulsory enrolment? According to a majority of British businesses surveyed by workplace pension provider Now: Pensions, the answer is yes.

Currently, few workers are opting out of a pension offered by their employer under auto-enrolment.

But with employee contribution rates jumping next month from one to three per cent and then to five per cent in April 2019, there is a fear that more workers will decide enough is enough.

This will especially be the case if wage growth remains subdued. Some people will see the hike in contributions more as a tax on pay than an investment in their future retirement finances.

Employers also face an increase in their contribution rates, so they in turn may encourage workers to opt out. After all, auto-enrolment is nothing but another cost for employers to absorb.

Compulsion may well be the only answer.Millions of holidaymakers preparing for a getaway this year are warned to look out for a devilish detail in their travel insurance cover  one that could result in a claim being harshly rejected.

Failing to tell insurers about routine visits to the doctor  even after buying a policy  could mean a claim being denied if a medical issue disrupts a person's travel plans.

This problem mostly affects people who buy annual multi-trip policies and is a stark example of how people with medical conditions are routinely disadvantaged by the insurance industry.

Let down: Pam and Doug Simpson feel badly let down by their travel insurer because a failure to disclose visits to a doctor meant a claim for holiday cancellation costs was rejected

Most know to be upfront about health issues when buying a policy. But few will know, or remember, to contact their insurance provider about medical appointments that seemed trivial.

James Daley is founder of consumer website Fairer Finance. He says: 'People who buy an annual travel policy would probably not think to contact their insurer to update them about their latest doctor's appointment.

'There are so many caveats built into travel insurance. They are justified if they are made really clear to the customer but most insurers breeze through the sales process.'

If customers do update their insurer about ongoing medical issues, the insurer will often respond by charging an additional premium or changing the policy's terms to exclude any emerging condition.

Daley adds: 'Customers should get a price for the year and that is it. Insurers should not have the right to review premiums because someone's medical circumstances change during a policy's term.'

Insurance traps to watch out for DRINKING: Claims linked to holiday overindulgence will be denied. AGE: Some insurers will not cover travellers aged over 75. DANGEROUS ACTIVITIES: Some policies cover banana boat rides but not hydrospeeding; hockey, not lacrosse; and riding an elephant but not an ostrich. COUNTRY: You cannot assume European cover includes all of Europe. The US may also be excluded in some worldwide policies. Double check your destination is approved. SCHEDULED AIRLINE FAILURE: If your airline goes bust the cost of the flight might not be included, though add-on cover can be purchased. TERRORISM: In the unlikely event of being caught up in an act of terror, insurers do not routinely cover medical or repatriation costs. But it is possible to buy cover as a separate add-on.

OUT-OF-POCKET THANKS TO CANCER

Keen travellers Pam and Doug Simpson feel badly let down by their travel insurer because a failure to disclose visits to a doctor meant a claim for holiday cancellation costs was rejected.

The couple, from Witney in Oxfordshire, had two holidays booked last year  including a trip to Thailand on Christmas Day. In late October, 72-year-old Doug learned he had bladder cancer.

Treatment needed to begin soon after so they cancelled the Thailand trip with Emirates Holidays. The company levied a 30 per cent cancellation fee of 2,700.

Hopeful of recovering this lost sum from their insurer, they contacted Staysure to make a claim under their annual multi-trip policy. But it was denied, partly because Doug had not disclosed his visits to the doctor.

Pam, 67, says that when Doug originally visited the doctor they thought it was a straightforward medical issue  not the cancer it was later diagnosed to be.

She says: 'I did not realise we had to contact Staysure every time we visited our doctor.

'We feel badly let down. Doug having cancer is bad enough but we are out of pocket too.

'If we had the slightest inkling my husband had cancer, I would have cancelled the holiday earlier so we only lost our deposit.'

After The Mail on Sunday asked Emirates Holidays to review the Simpsons' case, it waived the cancellation fee.

A spokesman said: 'We are sorry to hear about the Simpsons' situation.

'We encourage all holidaymakers to purchase comprehensive travel insurance when booking a holiday.'

DESTINATIONS DENIED

Pam and Doug were also told their Staysure policy did not cover them for Thailand, which came as a surprise.

Thailand is a popular holiday destination for British holidaymakers and not a typical exclusion on worldwide travel policies. Fairer Finance's Daley says the exclusion is 'bizarre'.

Martyn John, of GoCompare, says those who have suffered from serious illness 'receive a double blow'

A Staysure spokesman says the Simpsons were asked if they planned to visit any high-risk countries, to which they answered no.

The list of excluded countries spelt out in the policy documents include Thailand as well as Bermuda, Canada, Hong Kong and Mexico.

Many rival insurers exclude the United States in worldwide cover because of high medical costs.

Countries where the Foreign & Commonwealth Office advises against all but essential travel are also likely to be excluded from cover.

In relation to Thailand, the Foreign Office currently advises against travel to selected provinces on the Thai-Malaysia border.

Some European travel insurance deals now exclude popular destinations such as Spain, the Canary Islands and Cyprus, because hotels and resorts there automatically send guests to private hospitals when they need treatment.

'Double blow' of illness... and increased premiums Spotlight: Our story on how customers are let down Research by Co-op Insurance shows that one in five people cannot afford travel insurance because they have illnesses such as cancer and diabetes  which drive up premiums to unaffordable levels. As a result, many travel uninsured or lie about their medical history, taking a major risk should they need to claim. Last month, The Mail on Sunday revealed how banks and insurers are routinely letting down vulnerable customers who struggle financially because of serious illness. High premiums that punish cancer sufferers and survivors  as well as those with conditions under control  are another example of how the industry abandons those most in need. Martyn John, of GoCompare, says: 'Those who have suffered from serious illness receive a double blow. 'They go through hell with their condition and then, when it comes to a well-earned holiday, travel insurance is priced against them.' Anyone impacted by ill health and who needs travel cover should seek help from a broker. Visit biba.org.uk or call 0370 950 1790.

HOW TO BUY TRAVEL INSURANCE

James Daley says travellers should take their time in buying insurance because it is easy to miss exclusions that could affect them. He says: 'All the insurer's focus is on a quick sale and before you know it your card details are taken.

'This goes against a greater need to help customers understand what they are buying and what the limitations are.'

Customers who auto-renew their policies every year should also be aware of how changes to their health and age can impact adversely on a claim.

Martyn John, travel spokesman for comparison website GoCompare, says: 'Insurers usually ask customers to update them about changes to health  which can include doctor's appointments.

'But if a customer is auto-renewing they are likely to forget about this requirement.'

You can find travel insurance ratings, based on quality of cover and customer experience, on the Fairer Finance website.

Anyone who believes a claim has been unfairly rejected should take their dispute to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Its impartial service settles fallouts between customers and financial companies.

Latest figures show the Ombudsman upholds two-fifths of travel insurance complaints in favour of customers  higher than for car, home and pet insurance.

Visit financial-ombudsman.org.uk or call 0800 023 4567.Visionary: Simon Edelsten is constantly looking for stocks underpinned by strong global trends

The search for investment themes that will deliver returns irrespective of the state of the global economy is the mission of Simon Edelsten.

Along with colleagues Alex Illingworth and Rosanna Burcheri, he runs 700million of assets for fund management house Artemis.

Portfolios that are all worldwide in their scope, are built with a determination to preserve investors' capital, but provide the opportunity to deliver more than half-decent investment returns.

Although some of the money is run for big institutions, the team looks after two investment funds that retail investors can tap into  Artemis Global Select and investment trust Mid Wynd International.

The two funds are managed in similar fashion although Edelsten can use borrowing facilities available through Mid Wynd if he believes there are outstanding investment opportunities.

At the moment, the trust has no borrowing  reflecting Edelsten's view that share valuations worldwide are on the pricey side.

Mid Wynd is a trust that Artemis took over the management of from rival investment house Baillie Gifford in spring 2014.

It is invested in 65 stocks with only two being UK listed  insurer Prudential and National Grid.

He holds these because of their attractive dividends and, in Pru's case, its business interests in the Far East.

While the trust's portfolio is skewed towards the United States, it is what a number of Japanese companies are doing in the automation space that excites Edelsten the most.

It is this theme and that of tourism  especially in the expanding economies of the Far East  that underpin a big chunk of the trust's stakes.

For example, in July last year he bought shares in Daifuku, a world leader in automated warehouses.

They have since nearly doubled in value on the back of strong earnings growth and he believes there is more growth to come.

Shares in Nabtesco were bought at the same time. Edelsten believes this Japanese manufacturer of reduction gears  used, for example, in trains to slow down the pace at which doors close  will boom as robotics is introduced across swathes of industry.

He adds: 'There are only three companies worldwide that operate in this field of robotics. Nabtesco's technology helps make robots clever and gives them more articulations.

'It enables them to pick up an egg without cracking the shell and it will make inroads into automotive processes in food, textiles and surgery.

'To go out to Japan and see what this company is doing as I did last October is the fun part of my job.'

The team's belief that tourism is a strong global investment theme  but especially in Asia with the emergence of a cash-rich middle- class determined to travel  is reflected in its portfolio.

Key positions include Japan Airport Terminal Company (owner of Haneda Airport in Tokyo), Airports of Thailand and Beijing Capital Airport.

It also has a stake in baggage maker Samsonite, a company that Edelsten says is using cutting-edge technology to design ever lighter and stronger bags.

As for themes yet to establish themselves, he is interested in the science of immunology.

Provided his holdings are generating plenty of cash and are not patently overvalued, he will run with them.

But if they start looking too pricey, he will not hesitate in taking gains and investing in new possible future winners from strong global trends.A giant Russian gas company controlled by the Kremlin used the City of London money markets to raise nearly 700million on the same day as Theresa May delivered a key speech threatening sanctions.

Gazprom completed the deal despite rising tensions between the British government and Moscow.

In a separate deal, the Russian finance ministry also completed a 2.9billion issue of bonds - a way of raising cash from financial markets using IOUs - which included almost 1billion from London investors.

Gazrpom: The gas giant used London money markets to raise 700m

May said on Tuesday it was 'highly likely' that Moscow ordered the attempted murder of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury.

The speech was delivered amid an escalating war of words between Parliament and president Vladimir Putin and speculation Britain may seek to curb Russian financial activity in London.

But the Russian embassy in London wrote a series of goading tweets aimed at British politicians.

One said: 'Successful @GazpromEN bonds sales in London with demand three times higher than the placing (750 mln). Business as usual?'

Gazprom used five banks including three Russian institutions with London offices to help drive the process.

They included VTB Capital, the European arm of state-backed Russian bank VTB which is currently under sanctions from the US.

VTB Capital has a City of London office in Cornhill just minutes from the London Stock Exchange.

The Tweet:

Successeful @GazpromEN bonds sales in London with demand three times higher than the placing (750 mln). Business as usual? pic.twitter.com/oJWa5J5Fut  Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) 15 March 2018

'The timing is fairly deliberate as a show of strength,' Kieran Curtis at Aberdeen Standard Investments in London told Bloomberg when asked about the finance ministry's bond deal.

In November Russian energy giant En+ raised 1 billion through the sale of its shares on the London Stock Exchange.

Its founder Oleg Deripaska is believed to have close links to Putin. In February, it emerged that MI6 was investigating the fundraising.

More than 50billion has been raised in similar deals since 2005.

One former Russian banker, Roman Borisovich, now an anti-corruption campaigner, said: 'I think it is completely ironic that just as the Prime Minister is threatening Russia with all sorts of nasty things, they are issuing a bond on the UK capital markets for three quarters of a billion euros.'

Borisovich said the Government should seek to 'expel' Russian state-run companies which are currently operating in the City.

'Depriving Gazprom of the convenience of using London as its financing centre would hurt,' he said.

He added that the effect on the City of proposed curbs may be less severe for the City than many imagine.

'I think the importance of Russian money to London has been completely exaggerated,' he said.The over-60s must remain on their guard and brush up on their detective skills  to avoid falling foul of a tidal wave of financial scams.

New figures show this age group is now being targeted by conmen. One in five say they have been approached more than ten times by tricksters in the past year with resulting losses amounting to an average 400 each.

Two thirds of older people are anxious about the threat of fraud and admit they are vulnerable because of illness or disability, lack of financial awareness or living alone.

Campaign: Strictly Come Dancing judge Len Goodman is supporting special 'anti-scam' classes

Almost one in ten of those who fall for scams blame illness for allowing them to be caught out. Nearly one in five say new technology is making them susceptible to fraud.

From tomorrow, bank Santander will be running special classes in its 806 branches to help customers fight back against the tide of fraudsters.

Its campaign  Scam Avoidance School  is supported by former Strictly Come Dancing judge Len Goodman. In a video, the 75-year-old warns about fraudsters' tactics  including stealing information via so-called phishing emails, phone calls and texts.

He also gives advice on how to spot a cashpoint machine that has been modified to steal cards or personal details.

Goodman says: 'People of my age have got to have their wits about them and be more alert to scams.'

Charity Age UK has just launched a pilot programme in London in partnership with national fraud information gathering service Action Fraud to raise awareness among the elderly.

Tips for beating the fraudsters PHONE: Never give out personal information. If asked, slam down the receiver. ONLINE: Never click on unsolicited emails or give personal information unless you are certain the company is genuine. MOBILE: Beware SMS scams where text messages are used to dupe people into providing key details of their online bank accounts to fraudsters. PAYMENTS: Double check a destination bank account if making payment by bank transfer. Always be suspicious if an email arrives asking you to pay into a different account from usual.

The charity says fraud is not just about losing money but the adverse impact it has on a person's dignity.

It says many who are defrauded feel shame, embarrassment, depression and social isolation. Some become so ill they end up moving into care.

Consumer organisations welcome all steps to raise awareness about scams but want financial companies to do more, especially on bank transfer scams  officially known as 'authorised push payment scams'.

Panic: Pat Brackenbury, from Central London, nearly fell for a bank scam last year

This is where bank customers are fooled into sending large sums to a fraudulent bank account  which are then immediately withdrawn by the scammer.

All the major banks have customers who have lost money this way.

Although scammed consumers who pay using a credit card or cheque have the strong protection of the law on their side, this is not the case when making a bank transfer.

Figures published last week show that 44,000 people lost 236million this way last year.

Money is only retrieved if a bank acts fast to stop the payment being made or requests the receiving bank to freeze the cash.

These actions only managed to retrieve about 60million of the losses last year.

Gareth Shaw, a money expert at consumer group Which?, says: 'It is positive to see Santander raising awareness of scams among vulnerable customers. But banks should also be doing more to protect customers in the first place.

'People are still losing life-changing sums of money to bank transfer scams with no protection. About 70million bank transfers are made each month. You can see how this has become a scammer's hunting ground. Banks need to keep ahead of them.'

Plans are under way for a much-needed customer reimbursement scheme to be introduced this year.

Pat Brackenbury, from Central London, nearly fell for a bank scam last year.

She says: 'I answered a phone call from someone who said he was from my bank's head office.

'He asked if I had made a recent purchase for 98. I had not done so. Alarmed, I gave them remote access to my computer.'

The fraudster displayed her bank statement on the screen and showed purchases she knew she had made, interspersed with false ones. Pat says: 'I was taken in.'

Shortly afterwards, the screen went blank. She recalls: 'They told me not to discuss the matter with anyone and they would call me in the morning to put matters right.

'The next day I woke in a panic.'

Pat, 75, rushed to her bank, Lloyds. She says: 'A member of staff made some phone calls and helped me sort things out.'

Details about Scam Avoidance School are available from Santander branches. Non-customers can attend.Barbara Judge has put plans to launch a homewares and fashion business on the backburner after quitting the Institute of Directors amid allegations of bullying, racism and sexism.

Lady Judge  known for her pie-crust collar shirts and bespoke tailored skirt suits  had been in the early stages of launching a fashion and soft furnishing company with the possible name of Lady Barbara.

The 71-year-old businesswoman registered Lady Barbara as a trademark for a range of goods including luggage, handbags, cushion covers, bedspreads, shoes, hats and curtains.

On hold: Barbara Judge has put plans to launch a homewares and fashion business on the backburner after quitting the Institute of Directors amid allegations of bullying and sexism

Her planned new business had the backing of two Chinese partners  Hua Xia, based in Beijing, and Tengbo Yang, a director of the UK-China Business Leaders Club.

The partners each own 40 per cent of the business and Lady Judge owns 20 per cent.

Lady Judge resigned as chair of the bosses' organisation, the IoD, earlier this month after law firm Hill Dickinson filed a report accusing her of more than 40 episodes of unreasonable behaviour.

She has since been suspended as a trustee of charity Dementia UK and has stepped down as a fundraiser for Historic Royal Palaces. Lady Judge has also quit the boards of the Royal Academy and tech start-up Hibob.

The University of Oxford's Said Business School, where she is a visiting fellow, has put her position under review.

Lady Judge strongly denies the IoD allegations.Rewards: GKN chief Anne Stevens could reap millions

Bosses of engineering giant GKN could pocket up to 70million of bonuses if they fend off a hostile 8billion takeover bid from Melrose, we can reveal.

The revelation comes amid concerns that, as part of its defence against the bid, GKN is selling off its automotive arm Driveline on the cheap.

Documents released by GKN show it has quietly cut the price tag previously placed on the business by 800million.

Revelations of the incentives at GKN are likely to expose top bosses to accusations of hypocrisy.

Its supporters have slammed Melrose for short-termism and for high pay.

Tucked away in the documents setting out its defence against the Melrose bid, GKN disclosed a 70million share bonus plan for around 400 managers if they beat off the takeover and then hit three-year targets.

The payout for GKN chief executive Anne Stevens has not been set out, but it is likely to be worth several million pounds.

The Mail on Sunday revealed in January that Melrose's four executives could share a bonus pot of around 300million if they succeed in taking over GKN and doubling its value.

Unions and MPs have condemned Melrose for what they see as its short-term approach. Jeremy Corbyn has accused it of being out to 'make a quick buck'.

The GKN bonus scheme runs over three years, meaning it pays out two years earlier than Melrose's.

Stefan Stern, director of the High Pay Centre, said: 'It is not as much as the people from Melrose are in line to receive, though 70 million is still an awful lot of money. But the real issue is the short-term time horizon.

'The people running GKN are not following through the logic of their own position.

'If they really want to make the point that they are all about long-term stewardship they should have put their money where their mouth is and made a longer commitment for their own bonus scheme to run for at least five or preferably ten years.

'That would have shown an unequivocal commitment to creating value for shareholders in the long-term.'

GKN: Driveline is set to sold to US firm Dana

GKN plans to keep its aerospace division but sell its automotive and powder metallurgy arms. Ms Stevens wants to sell Driveline to US firm Dana for 4.5billion.

In the original defence document sent to shareholders in January, GKN put a valuation of around 5.3billion on the Driveline business, based on recent sector deals.

That is 800million higher than the price agreed with Dana, fuelling concerns that the sale is being rushed through at a discount in an effort to defeat the takeover.

Melrose chairman Christopher Miller last week described the Dana sale as 'hasty and ill-thought-through.'

GKN argues the value of the Dana transaction is lower than the previous estimate because it is actually carrying out a merger, rather than a takeover which would have commanded a higher price tag.

The deal is this weekend hanging in the balance. Melrose has been canvassing GKN shareholders directly in the hope of winning their support ahead of the March 29 deadline.

It increased its final offer to 8 billion last Monday. The GKN board rebuffed the improved offer, made up of cash and shares.

It was worth the equivalent of around 4.60 a share when markets closed on Friday. GKN shares ended the week at 426.9p.

The offer has won support from Aviva and another major shareholder but was rejected by the GKN board.

Two asset managers, Jupiter and Lancaster Investment Managers, have lined up publicly behind GKN.

The approach has sent the shares soaring to the highest level since 2007.*As the world celebrates the World Water Day on 22 March the Ahram Online republishes the latest issue of the UNChronicle (Vol. LV No. 1 2018). The Quest for Water focuses on ensuring availability and sustainable management of water for all. This issue of the United Nations digital magazine marks the launch of the International Decade for Action, Water for Sustainable Development, 2018-2028.

Water is life. The successful implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) and its water-related targets is at the heart of the entire 2030 Agenda, and it will be crucial for its realization. Yet sustainable management of water and sanitation is currently under enormous pressure.

Water is also a threat to life. The toll of water-related disasters on lives and livelihoods has been immense, along with many other damaging short-term and long-term social and economic consequences. Unless action is taken soon, the combined effects of water-related disasters, climate change, growing populations and urbanization will negatively affect societies and economies in many regions, spur migration and spark conflict.

The issue of water, sanitation and disasters must be urgently addressed if we hope to make sustainable development a reality. Damages attributed to water-related disasters account for up to 15 to 40 per cent of annual gross domestic product for certain countries. Moreover, climate change has been exacerbating the extremes in hydro-meteorological events. Together with other global drivers under change, such as population growth, rapid urbanization and increased asset values, this may result in an increased frequency and greater impacts of water-related disasters.

Two fundamental challenges must be addressed with regard to water, sanitation and disasters: (a) provision of water and sanitation during and after disasters and emergencies, and (b) water-related disaster risk reduction. These are the two key issues that the High-level Experts and Leaders Panel on Water and Disasters (HELP) has been discussing since its establishment in 2007. In my capacity as the Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction and Water and as Chair of HELP, I have been working on these two core subjects for some years.

Water and sanitation provision systems are often severely impacted by the onslaught of disasters. Intakes and water treatment plants are flooded, and water pipes and canals are washed away. It takes a long time to remove mud and silt that bury plants and canals, paralyzing entire water systems for weeks and months. Earthquakes rupture joints of water and sewage pipes and can suspend water and sanitation services for thousands or even millions of people. Interruption of water and sanitation provision threatens the lives and livelihoods of a massive number of people. Societies experience shock due to outbreaks of diseases, social anxiety and political unrest.

All societies and countries must be prepared in order to avoid the worst of these scenarios. Preparedness and resilience are the key.

After the mega disasters, such as the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake and the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, Japan embarked upon systematic efforts to replace rigid pipes and joints with elastic ones. Water and sanitation provision systems were planned and built with redundancy so that the services will be continuously provided, even when multiple pipelines are destroyed by disasters. Wells were dug in schools and community centres in order to provide safe water to evacuees. A huge million-litre plastic bag that can be towed by a tugboat was also developed.

Good practices and lessons like these should be shared among countries and communities in order to better prepare and ensure water and sanitation services, even when they are hit by unprecedented disasters. The international community, however, still lacks a framework and mechanisms to share knowledge, exchange opinions and agree on collaborative action on water-related issues. Global water architecture is needed to bridge, inter alias, the SDGs, the Sendai Framework, and the International Decade for Action, Water for Sustainable Development, 2018-2018, and address water-related challenges in a more collaborative manner.

The human right to water is challenged during wars and conflicts. Interruption of access to water and sanitation in conflict zones may threaten thousands of peoples lives. Inhumane acts of intentionally contaminating and even poisoning water have been attempted in extremely hostile conditions. Yet until recently, the United Nations has not had a chance to discuss water and sanitation issues during conflicts, although they are directly related to human rights and security. The first discussion on water and sanitation at the United Nations Security Council took place in November 2016. The session broke the ice and opened a pathway to further discussion on the means of preventing such threats during future conflicts.

Most countries agreed that water and sanitation are of the highest importance for regional stability and human security, and that the discussion should continue in the Security Council. They also recognized that water can be an agent for peace and regional prosperity through transboundary cooperation. I highly commend the Security Council for initiating such political dialogue and hope that it will lead to shared understanding and even an agreement to prevent disruption of water and sanitation provision for conflict-affected populations. The recently-launched Report of Global High-Level Panel on Water and Peace, entitled A Matter of Survival, may help the Security Council proceed with effective discussion and reach an impactful agreement on the subject.

During the past decade, water-related disasters have not only occurred more frequently but have also been more severe. Global annual economic losses from natural disasters are estimated at between $250 billion and $300 billion. Although death tolls from disasters have been contained due to global efforts and the advancement of science and technology, the number of affected people and, particularly, disaster-induced economic losses have been skyrocketing.

Nearly 90 per cent of the global disaster risk reduction budget is increasing year by year, while the amount disbursed for disaster prevention and preparedness is limited to approximately 10 per cent.

Although drought is a slow onset disaster, it affects millions of people in various ways, as it can disrupt social, economic and even political situations in disaster-stricken areas. Compartmentalized water use and management often aggravate already devastating impacts, but the complex causes of droughts should not be an excuse for non-action.

Climate change is exacerbating extreme hydro-meteorological events. Nearly 80 per cent of climate change impacts are channeled through water. Action is needed now. We must share our experiences and lessons learned, strengthen regional coordination and collaboration, and set common goals and targets to lay a foundation for weathering future water-related disasters, and make progress towards creating a better-prepared and more resilient society.

As we have seen, there are a number of actions that the international community should take to address this critical and complex water, sanitation and disasters issue. An advisory function is needed for the international community to prioritize actions, establish a framework, and ensure coordination among actors and partners. A promotional function is also needed to raise political awareness and keep interest and motivation for actions at the highest levels.

HELP set its own target under its Action Strategy and took voluntary actions to fulfil its mission as recommended by the United Nations Secretary-Generals Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation (UNSGAB). It has initiated dialogues and co-organized a number of workshops, as well as biennial Special Thematic Sessions on Water and Disasters, which took place in 2013, 2015 and 2017. The Panel has also launched two Flagship Documents, comprising a compilation of good practices and lesson cases on the past mega disasters, as well as position papers on key subjects such as climate change and water-related disasters.

Currently, HELP is compiling Principles on Investment and Financing for Water-related Disaster Risk Reduction in order to aid the effective utilization of financial resources for water-related disasters. HELP also supports the development of Alliance of Alliances, established in September 2017 as an academic research partnership on water and disasters, which aims to encourage the creation and use of resources and tools, facilitate decision-making, and promote the application of related innovative technology.

Urgent actions are needed for ensuring the provision of water and sanitation services during disasters and conflicts, and for reversing the trend of increasing losses caused by water-related disasters. Which actions should be prioritized to reverse the current situation in a global scheme? And what would help us to achieve the goals and targets on water, sanitation and disasters under the 2030 Agenda?

The High-level Panel on Water (HLPW), which was convened by the United Nations Secretary-General and the President of the World Bank Group, and which consists of 11 Members and one Special Advisor, has discussed priority actions for the international community since its establishment in April 2016. Water and disasters have been positioned high in its agenda.

I have led the discussion on water and disasters as the Special Advisor to HLPW in partnership with HELP. The resulting recommendations on key actions include:

Raising disaster risk reduction and resilience to a higher level on the political agenda

- Special Thematic Sessions on water and disasters should be organized biennially in the United Nations General Assembly.

- Disaster risk prevention and increasing resilience should be integrated into long-term planning.



Doubling investment on disaster risk reduction

- Financing and investment for water-related disaster risk reduction should be doubled globally within the next five years with a focus on disaster risk reduction and preparedness. The proportion of financing aimed at disaster risk reduction and preparedness, and that for emergency response and rehabilitation should shift from 10:90 per cent to 90:10 per cent by 2030, at least for the international development aid.



- Principles on Investment and Financing for Water-related Disaster Risk Reduction should be developed, adopted at the global level, and widely used in countries to provide Member States with practical guidance to effectively utilize financial resources in line with the Sendai Framework.

Development of education, science and technology in disaster risk reduction and resilience spheres

- Alliance of Alliances on disaster risk reduction research networks should be promoted.



- The disaster database on a global scale should be developed to enable assessing and announcing direct and indirect loss from disasters immediately after the events.



- Good practices and lessons on these and other key issues on disaster risk reduction should be widely shared by governments and stakeholders through, inter alias, compilation and publication of such cases and practices on water-related disasters.



- Higher education covering policy studies and natural science and technology in an integrated manner should be promoted. A Platform on Water and Disasters involving all stakeholders should be formulated in each country.

I sincerely hope that the international community joins hands, expands partnership and enhances coordination to jump start the actions stated above.

We will inevitably face many uncertainties in terms of climate change, economic instability, societal challenges and political issues if we are to take bold decisions and actions to address risks related to water, sanitation and disasters. Yet uncertainties are no excuse for inaction. We have to turn uncertainties into opportunities to pursue a more sustainable future. Let us work together to build a disaster-free, water-secure world for the next generation.

*Han Seung-soo is Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction and Water, and Chair of the High-level Experts and Leaders Panel on Water and Disasters (HELP).

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One of the Chinese suitors behind a bid for House of Fraser has issued a profit warning a fortnight before the deal is expected to be finalised.

Fullshare, controlled by billionaire Ji Changqun, has issued a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange that it expects profit to be 30 per cent less than previous forecasts.

It said an energy firm it acquired in 2016 has yet to contribute to group profit.

One of the Chinese suitors behind a bid for House of Fraser has issued a profit warning a fortnight before the deal is expected to be finalised

Fullshare owns 45 per cent of Wuji Wenhua, the company trying to buy a majority share in House of Fraser.

There are at least two other Chinese investors in Wuji Wenhua.

Fullshare hit the headlines last year when a US investment firm claimed its stock price was being 'manipulated', an allegation firmly denied by the company.

The troubled House of Fraser recently said it would ask some landlords for rent reductions. Chinese firm Sanpower bought House of Fraser in 2014 for 155 million. It planned 50 stores in China but has opened only two.Space age: Jeff Bezos, with wife MacKenzie, is investing in slowing the ageing process

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, whose hobby is launching rockets into space, is the world's richest man with a 90billion fortune, a Gulfstream jet and a string of mansions dotted across America.

Who could blame him for wanting to live for ever?

The 54-year-old internet tycoon and a handful of Silicon Valley billionaires are investing chunks of their vast wealth in efforts to extend life by slowing the ageing process.

They include PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, Oracle founder Larry Ellison and Google billionaires Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

The excitement about longevity is on a par with the buzz surrounding the internet in 1995, according to Jim Mellon, one of Britain's most successful investors who is leading the anti-ageing race on this side of the Atlantic.

Mellon, who has been dubbed Britain's Warren Buffett, has set up his own company, Juvenescence, to invest in drugs to extend life  also known as biogerontology.

Last year, he was appointed to the Biogerontology Research Foundation's board of trustees.

He predicts that medical breakthroughs in age-related diseases such as cancer, new drugs and healthier lifestyles will drive the average life expectancy up to between 110 and 120 years over the next three decades.

In 20 years' time, the race to extend life will be the biggest business in the world and 'much more important than the trivial uses of the internet like Facebook and Snapchat', he said.

The 61-year-old's biggest financial success to date was setting up uranium miner UraMin with $100,000 capital in 2005.

He sold it two years later to French nuclear power giant Areva for around 1.6billion.

Google has been quietly spending big on anti-ageing drugs through a project called Calico. When it was founded in 2013, Larry Page said it would focus on 'health, well-being, and longevity'

Jim Mellon, one of Britain's most successful investors, is leading the anti-ageing race on this side of the Atlantic

He has also invested heavily in property in Germany and the Isle of Man, where he is based, but has more recently turned his attentions to biotech.

His influence is wide. He reputedly introduced Nigel Farage to Arron Banks, who subsequently became Ukip's biggest donor.

But he sees problems down the road with rising longevity. He claims politicians around the world are not doing enough to plan for the consequences, such as rising pressure on pensions.

Mellon, whose wealth is estimated at 920million, suggests the coming changes will see people working way past the current retirement age.

'The trajectory of life is going to change and no governments are taking account of this,' said Mellon, who yesterday gave a talk on the subject at his Master Investor show in London.

'So many aspects of our lives are going to be up-ended, most importantly pension funds. There will be no one  companies or governments  who will be able to support a retirement age of 65 if people are going to live that long.'

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, whose hobby is launching rockets into space, is also investing chunks of his vast wealth in efforts to extend life by slowing the ageing process

He compares 20th Century Britons who worked most of their lives with subsequent generations that could be 'only working for about a third of their life'.

He warns: 'No one can support that. Someone's got to promulgate this because otherwise there's going to be an economic disaster.'

But he said investment opportunities are about to go mainstream.

'As soon as Silicon Valley and rich people in America start getting involved in this, you'll get companies going public,' he said, referring to firms selling shares on the stock market.

It is still early days for Juvenescence. It hopes to carry out human trials 'in the next two or three years' and has plans for a stock market float.

'It's not in a state to go public yet but it will be by the end of this year,' he said.

In the US, Unity Biotechnology, the company that Bezos has backed through his firm Bezos Expeditions, has a $150million (107million) war chest to develop drugs that 'prevent, halt, or reverse numerous diseases of ageing'.

Unity also counts Thiel, who is a life-extension enthusiast, as an investor. It has further, more traditional, investment from asset management giants Fidelity and Edinburgh-based Baillie Gifford.

Google has also been quietly spending big on anti-ageing drugs through a project called Calico.

When it was founded in 2013, Larry Page said it would focus on 'health, well-being, and longevity'.

Along with its partner AbbVie, the pharmaceutical giant, it plans to invest up to $1.5billion to find cures for diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's, but it has so far kept quiet on its progress.

Closer to home, Mellon is hoping Juvenescence can play a role in prolonging life.

'If we can be a small part of something enormous, that's pretty exciting,' he said.The marriage of a ghost-hunting couple wouldn't be complete without a beyond-the-grave experience - and that's exactly what Jason King delivered when he arrived in a coffin to his own wedding.

Mr King, 45, married his wife Julia, 48, at the Hawkesbury Function Centre in Londonderry, north-west of Sydney on Sunday.

Their wedding was a Halloween-themed affair, and Mr King told Daily Mail Australia he was eager to leave an impression on his guests.

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Ghost hunter Jason King arrived at his wedding in a coffin, much to the surprise of his guests

Mr King, 45, married his wife Julia, 48, at the Hawkesbury Function Centre in Londonderry, north-west of Sydney on Sunday

Their wedding was a Halloween-themed affair, and Mr King told Daily Mail Australia he was eager to leave an impression on his guests

'Me and my fiancee were talking about how I would make an entrance - we're both paranormal investigators, with was the second marriage for both of us so we wanted to do something different,' he said.

'I'd never heard of anyone turning up to their wedding in a coffin before.'

He managed to find someone who was experienced at transporting coffins to ceremonies - although they were usually to funerals rather than weddings.

'He said he'd never done it before but he was keen to do it for us.'

He managed to find someone who was experienced at transporting coffins to ceremonies - although they were usually to funerals rather than weddings

Guests at the King wedding pose with their drinks while dressed up in the Halloween theme

A guest dressed up as Beetlejuice at the wedding of Jason and Julia King on Sunday

Mr King said he was eager to have a wedding with a difference, hence the Halloween theme

When the big day rolled around Mr King was sealed in the coffin without air for 'about eight minutes' as he was taken to his wedding via motorcycle

When the big day rolled around Mr King was sealed in the coffin without air for 'about eight minutes' as he was taken to his wedding via motorcycle.

'We went through a drill just in case I did freak out, we had a safety plan. There was no air in there.'

Mr King said he regulated his breathing and managed to stave off both pre-wedding and claustrophobia-induced nerves.

Many of the guests at the wedding had their faces painted for the occasion

Mr King said he regulated his breathing and managed to stave off both pre-wedding and claustrophobia-induced nerves

Julia (centre) arrived at the ceremony before he did, and was reportedly expressing mild concerns that her groom may have been suffering from more than just cold feet

'I really wanted to pull it off and say I did it.'

Julia arrived at the ceremony before he did, and was reportedly expressing mild concerns that her groom may have been suffering from more than just cold feet.

'She was a bit worried, apparently she was saying 'God, will he be okay'.'

Mr King actually had to travel in the coffin with his shoes off, as leaving them on would've added to the intense heat

Only a handful of his guests were in on the stunt beforehand, meaning many of them were surprised to see Mr King emerge from the casket

Mrs King's bridesmaids also got dressed up in the Halloween theme

Mr King actually had to travel in the coffin with his shoes off, as leaving them on would've added to the intense heat.

Only a handful of his guests were in on the stunt beforehand, meaning many of them were surprised to see Mr King emerge from the casket.

'It was a spin out for sure. When I arrived and got out of the coffin everyone was clapping and laughing, they were loving it,' he said.Where Australians once chose to smoke and drink to relax, they now prefer to gorge on cheap fast food.

The country's waistlines have ballooned over the last two decades, coinciding with a national crackdown on cigarette smoking using both advertising and heavy taxation.

Quit smoking campaigns blanketed TV screens throughout the 1980s and 90s, after the nation's smoking obsession peaked at almost 40 per cent in the late 1970s.

It then moved to a whole new level with the imposition of plain-packaging laws and a series of draconian taxes, as part of the Government's push to make a cigarette pack cost $40 by 2020.

As smoking rates have plummeted, obesity rates continue to rise, with almost 30 per cent of the population now overweight compared to just seven per cent in the 1970s.

But the Australian Medical Association told Daily Mail Australia it doesn't believe the correlating data is credible proof, and that a drop in one had led to a rise in the other.

Where once we wanted to smoke or drink, Australians now gorge themselves on fast food. The graph above shows how obesity and smoking have gone in the opposite direction since 1977

In 1977, just seven per cent of the population was obese - today that number is up to almost 30 per cent (pictured)

Where once advertisements depicting smoking as 'cool' filled newspapers, today all cigarette packaging must be covered in graphic health warnings.

In 1977, some 37 per cent of Australia's population were smokers - today that is down to less than 15 per cent.

Laws targeting cigarettes, including where they can be smoked, have made lighting up tougher in recent years but by stark contrast fast food has become easier to access.

Tony Bartone, vice president of the Australian Medical Association, says drawing the conclusion that smoking less has made us fatter is not necessarily correct.

'Just on the data alone you might be motivated to draw a conclusion but I'm unaware of anything that draws the two together,' he said.

'Obesity has been on a trend and the data around that shows its been trending down for a number of years and for that you can draw a number of parallels.

'From a lack of exercise and day- to-day activity in terms of walking to school, to size of portions, what foods we're eating... there's many factors.'

Heavy taxing has also seen cigarettes spike in price, from $11.20 on average in 2000 to between $25 and $30 for a pack today.

Over the same period, the percentage of Australia's population who smoke has dropped from 37 per cent to less than 15 per cent

Smoking was once seen as 'cool', but today all packaging in Australia must contain graphic health warnings

Taxing has also seen cigarettes spike in price, from $11.20 on average in 2000 to as much as $40 for a carton today

The price of tobacco has been marked to rise by 12.5 per cent annually by the Federal Government, who wants a pack of smokes to cost $40 by 2020.

According to Simon Breheny, director of policy at The Institute of Public Affairs, cost of living increases such as this are dramatically reducing people's enjoyment of life.

He claims smokers and drinkers are being forced to pay, because such activities are not considered to be 'elite' by the government.

'I guess what I'm saying is that too often politicians and bureaucrats are failing to put themselves in the shoes of their constituents... and it's showing,' he said.

'They say: "We would much rather you eat caviar and cheese rather than having a Big Mac and a coke".

'You've also seen laws tighten and people become much more sensitive about what they can and can't say.

Simon Breheny, director of policy at The Institute of Public Affairs, says smokers and drinkers have to pay extra because such activities are not considered to be 'elite' by the government

Tony Bartone, vice president of the Australian Medical Association, claims there's no clear link between reduced smoking numbers and increasing obesity levels

'And then on the social side of things you don't feel you have a way to alleviate those costs the old fashion way - having a beer or just putting some money in the pokies.'

While it's often the poorest parts of society being forced to pay more, that's actually a good thing according to Mr Bartone.

He says no matter how much it hurts the hip pocket, luxury taxes are good as long as it means the number of smokers reduce.

'In terms of biggest killers, lung cancer is still up there across all age groups and it is a massive risk factor,' Mr Bartone told Daily Mail Australia.

'Whatever it takes to drive smoking down is necessary. If it's unfair and people think it's unfair they can stop smoking, it's that simple.'They are the jobs lazy Aussies  or Lozies - don't want to do: picking fruit, scrubbing pans and baking bread.

Even holding up a stop-go sign is too hard for many Australians who would prefer to bludge on the dole.

Employers complain Australian workers don't want to fill what they see as menial roles, that many are unreliable and they expect too much too soon.

They are also often unwilling to travel or move for a good job.

The problem was highlighted this month when a Queensland dairy farm could not attract local interest in a job that paid $50,000 and came with free accommodation.

Many Australian workers are unwilling to take on menial jobs such as kitchen hand positions

Picking fruit is just too hard for many Australians who leave such jobs to foreign workers

Stop-go traffic control jobs are among those dominated by foreign workers, or 'lollipop lasses'

Hairdressing salons are always looking out for suitable, qualified employees (stock image)

Jobs in fruit and vegetable picking are also unpopular with Australian workers, as are many roles within meat processing such as abattoir labour.

James Whiteside, CEO of AUSVEG, the industry body for vegetable growers, said producers relied heavily on foreign workers as a source of labour, especially during peak seasonal periods.

'Australian vegetable growers always have a preference to employ Australian workers, but the reality is that our industry has a substantial need to hire foreign workers, as local workers are often unwilling to work on vegetable farms or are an unreliable source of labour,' Mr Whiteside said.

'These workers work alongside local workers in all areas of the farm, including in the field and in the packing shed, to ensure that produce makes it to consumers.'

Apart from primary production, other businesses which rely heavily on foreign workers include the restaurant, cleaning and traffic control industries.

Hairdressers are also constantly seeking to fill positions with suitable staff.

A pub operator with more than two decades in the food and beverage industry said while he did not discriminate against Australian workers his life was made easier hiring foreigners.

'I love employing foreigners who appreciate their job,' he said.

Seasonal work such as fruit picking often requires travel, as well as hard physical labour

One publican says he hires foreign kitchen hands because they are more reliable (stock image)

'I find the reliability and the tenure of employment much more stable.

'I find them very appreciative of a good work environment. And they come with less baggage. They bring less problems to work.

The publican, most of whose kitchen staff are foreigners, said Australian workers tended to 'bring a little bit more complication from outside of work.'

'Foreign workers, they're here on their own or with a very small family base,' he said. 'They seem more single-minded on their task, there's not as much to distract them.'

The publican says the more menial the role the less likely he is to receive Australian applicants and those he hires don't last long.

'I tend to turn over more Australian staff when it comes to more basic roles,' he said.

Foreign workers, in his experience, did not call in sick after a night on the drink or because they fancied a day at the beach.

The meat processing industry relies heavily on foreign workers because Australians won't do it

The restaurant industry can demand working long hours in hot conditions (stock image)

'In 20 years of doing this I can't think of a time I've been let down by foreign employees,' he said.

'With Australian workers you get a lot more nuisance excuses.

'If I could sum it up, it's generally a pleasant experience employing foreign workers because they really appreciate their role no matter how small it is.

'Because they love living in Australia. They just love living here and they work extremely hard.'

Restaurant & Catering Industry Association research on the positions that cafes and restaurants reported hardest to fill indicated that 40.4 per cent of businesses found it 'very difficult' to recruit for the position of chef.

It was also 'very difficult' for 33.9 per cent of businesses to recruit for the position of cafe and restaurant manager.

Many Australian cafes and restaurants report it is 'very difficult' to recruit chefs and managers

One traffic control firm employed 85 Irish women in its 100-strong workforce (stock image)

Sydney master baker Andreas Rost said he had advertised a job last year and there was not a single Australian applicant for the position.

'At the moment I'm trying to recruit people and it's almost impossible,' Mr Rost said. 'It's really, really hard to recruit staff.'

For those who were not pursuing a passion, baking just seemed too hard.

'I think for Australians, if you can find an easier job, you'll find an easier job,' Mr Rost said.

Even when Mr Rost has hired Australian workers, they did not last long in the job.

'I find a lot of local staff if they stay six or nine months, that's all you get.'

Many prospective employees were not keen on bakers' hours, which often meant starting at 1am.

'Hard work is hard work,' Mr Rost said. 'That's all it comes down to.'

Master baker Andreas Rost finds it almost impossible to hire Australian staff (stock image)

The Australian Hairdressing Council says the industry finds it 'almost impossible' to hire staff

Then deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce said Australians don't want to 'bone out skulls'

Sandy Chong, chief executive officer of the Australian Hairdressing Council, said the current visa system was not allowing salons to fill the jobs local workers would not.

'All salons looking for staff find it almost impossible to find a qualified and capable employee,' Ms Chong said. 'We are not listed under skills shortage and we need to be.'

Traffic management firm Australian Retro owner Peter Karlsson told Fairfax Media five years ago that of almost 100 traffic controllers employed by his company, 85 per cent were Irish women.

'They are reliable and are willing to work hard and on Sundays,' Mr Karlsson said back then.

A spokesman for the company, now called Retro Traffic, said he did not wish to add to those comments.

Fruit and vegetable growers rely on an army of foreign visa holders to harvest their crops

The job advertisement for a dairy hand which received no applications from local job seekers

Sourcing labour is always a challenge for Australian fruit and vegetable growers (stock image)

Last year the then deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, said there were still jobs Australians simply did not want to do, 'whether it is packing offal in an abattoir or boning out skulls.'

Earlier this month a farming couple in Far North Queensland was finding it impossible to hire a dairy hand, despite the job paying $50,000 a year with free accommodation.

Malcolm and Jane McGregor placed an advertisement on Seek looking for a senior dairy farm hand at their property in Malanda, about 90 minutes drive from Cairns.

The couple initially received plenty of interest  from the Philippines, the Middle East and India  but no applicants from Cairns or other parts of Australia.

Cairns has an unemployment rate of 6 per cent which soars to 14.5 per cent for youth.

Queensland farmers Malcolm and Jane McGregor could not find a senior hand for their dairy

Cairns has an unemployment rate of 6 per cent and youth unemployment rate of 14.5 per cent

Local MP Warren Entsch told Daily Mail Australia at the time backpackers would have filled this job a long time ago.

Mr Entsch even claimed he knew someone who rejected the job because he would be paid only $200 more than he was being paid on the dole.

'It's all very well for Australians to complain, but the reality is, Australian's have got to do the work,' he said.

'Social security is not meant to be life support.'

Mr Entsch said he started off cleaning toilets in a railway station.

'It may not be the job you want but you've got to start somewhere,' he said.

The Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, announced last year the 457 visa for foreign workers would be scrapped and replaced with a new Temporary Skill Shortage visa.

The McGregors eventually filled the job after their plight received widespread publicity.A seven-year-old girl's brain tumour was diagnosed after her worried parents noticed her smile was crooked.

Megan Evans was enjoying Halloween when parents Jason and Charlene noticed her smile had changed.

The youngster from Glasgow was taken to hospital, and later a tumour was found in her brain.

Megan Evans was enjoying Halloween when parents Jason and Charlene noticed her smile had changed

Megan underwent a 12-hour operation in November to remove the mass and was left with just three per cent vision and uses a white stick to get around.

Jason, 34, explained how quickly their nightmare unfolded: 'I noticed that her smile was a bit different. There was something just not quite right.

'Megan went through 12 hours of an operation and once she came out the other side she was not speaking.' reports the Daily Record.

Megan underwent a 12-hour operation in November to remove the mass and was left with just three per cent vision and uses a white stick to get around

After a while, she began to speak in baby talk, before she began speaking normally again.

He added that he and wife Charlene were amazed at how their daughter has taken the illness in her stride, as she learns braille: 'She has had to take in an awful lot and adapt. We are so proud of her because of the way she has reacted.'

Now the family are hoping to get Megan restorative surgery to improve her sight - but the surgery is not available in the UK so they are trying to raise money for the treatment in Germany.

A Facebook page has been set up to raise the necessary 5,000.

Now the family are hoping to get Megan restorative surgery to improve her sight - but the surgery is not available in the UK so they are trying to raise money for the treatment in Germany

In a post, Megan wrote: 'Hi, My name is Megan Evans and I am 7 years old and live in Glasgow, Scotland.

'On the 31st October 2017 like all other children I was enjoying halloween with my family, then the next day on the 1st of November 2017 my life changed dramatically.

'I was rushed to hospital and was diagnosed with a brain tumor and had to go through a gruelling 12 hour operation to try and remove the tumor. Since the operation my vision has been significantly affected, and I am now using a cane to move around.

'I am finding the changes in my life really hard to adapt to and I'm hoping with all your help i can raise some funding to travel to Berlin to see Dr Federov and his team at the Centre for vision restoration.

'Dr Federov and his unique team have a course of therapeutical electrical stimulation, this treatment has worked on several people from all ages to restore their vision from 5% to 100%.

'This treatment is not available in the UK so I am asking everyone if they would be so kind in helping me get to Berlin, to have a course of treatment as its really expensive courses starting at 4,500.

'My family cant manage on their own and we all would be very grateful as it could help change my life for the better thank you soo much for any support or donations. I'd also like to help raise awareness and support brain tumor awareness week 21st October 2018 to 28th October 2018.'

Those who would like to donate to Megan's cause can do so here.The private operator of Sydney's scandal-plagued Parklea prison will not have its contract extended after a spate of violent and bizarre incidents involving stabbings, assaults and drug seizures, the NSW Government has confirmed.

The prison was privatised in 2009 in a controversial decision which saw GEO Group become the first private operator to manage a publicly-run correctional centre.

Since then the prison has been dogged by problems, from widespread smuggling to violent assaults and security lapses.

The private operator of Sydney's scandal-plagued Parklea prison will not have its contract extended after a spate of violent and bizarre incidents

Parklea prison has been dogged by problems with inmates managing to smuggle drugs, weapons and mobile phones. Corrective Services officers search inmates (pictured)

NSW Corrections Minister David Elliot confirmed GEO would not have its contract extended amid calls on the state government to hand back the prison to public management.

A video taken by an inmate wielding a knife and boasting about his stash of drugs emerged in December last year, raising concerns about the prison's security.

In the same month an inmate was stabbed, while another set fire to a blanket in his cell in January.

In one week alone a female officer was allegedly caught smuggling tobacco behind bars, and an inmate was caught with smuggled illustrations of a building being constructed on the site.

Inmate Carl Walton (pictured) took footage of himself holding a knife at Parklea Correctional Centre on a mobile phone, raising concerns about prison security

The Public Service Association has called on the state government to hand back the prison to public management.

'Gladys Berejiklian and David Elliott should have learnt their lesson from the Parklea experiment, prisons in NSW should not be run for private profit,' PSA general secretary Stewart Little said in a statement.

Parklea is one of Australias busiest correctional centres with 34,224 prisoner movements in 2016 and 31,692 in 2017, according to the 2018 Inquiry into Parklea Correctional Centre.

The Public Service Association has called on the state government to hand back the prison to public management

The prison management contract will instead be taken over by either G4S, Serco or joint venture partners MTC/Broadspectrum in March 2019.

A parliamentary inquiry was launched last year to investigate the operation of Parklea.

'The Corrective Services NSW intervention team spent five weeks at the centre overseeing all major decisions made by GEO management and also reviewing practices,' a Corrective Services spokeswoman said.

Despite the 34 recommendations made to GEO and the development of a remediation plan, the seven-year contract will not be renewed.

One prison officer, who worked at Parklea for three years, told the Daily Telegraph there were times when three officers were left in charge of 1,000 inmates and two female officers had been taken hostage after an inmate's cell door had been left open.

The inmates allegedly used handmade knives to threaten the officers into handing over the keys of other cells in the wing where about 46 maximum security inmates were housed.

Corrective Services officers raid cells at Parklea Correctional Centre in July. A former prison officer said there were times when three officers were left in charge of 1,000 inmates

Another prison officer who worked as part of a transition team claimed other security breaches regularly took place including keys being lost and cell doors left open.

'Lost keys, cell doors left open, inmates moved around after lock-in hours, inmates segregated after their time had elapsed the initial 14-hour period,' the former officer said.

In January it was reported an inmate had stolen a set of keys as he was being released from the facility, leading to locks having to be changed.

A Corrective Services spokeswoman said at the time that the department and operator GEO Group Australia were 'investigating security measures including key control and management processes within the centre'.

'Lost keys, cell doors left open, inmates moved around after lock-in hours, inmates segregated after their time had elapsed the initial 14-hour period,' a former officer said

One prisoner, former Bandido bikie associate Carl Walton, claimed officers were responsible for bringing drugs inside in an infamous video he uploaded brandishing a makeshift blade and what is believed to have been the drug ice.

'Recording inside of Parklea Correctional Centre,' he said.

'On a day-to-day basis this place is a dead set joke.

'Why am I carrying around a knife? Why have I got a slasher? That there alone will rip skin, damage ya,' he said.

He then displayed a small plastic bag which he said contained the drug ice.

'Why have I got it?' he asked. 'Because I can.'

Carl Walton holding a blade in the video he made of himself at Parklea Correctional Centre

An officer holds a makeshift weapon located at Parklea Correctional Centre in October 2015

Corrections Minister David Elliott said he was 'appalled' by the contents of the video.

'Our experienced team will be shadowing staff at the centre and monitoring all major decisions, as well as undertaking a complete review of security and safety,' Mr Elliott said.

In raids following publication of the video officers found nine illegal mobile phones hidden in toilet systems, food packages and television sets.

Three phone charges were also found as well as 60 green and white capsules, 11 heart-shaped tablets, one strip of buprenorphine and 50 grams of tobacco.

Seven inmates were placed in segregation.

In raids following publication of the video officers found 60 green and white capsules, 11 heart-shaped tablets, one strip of buprenorphine and 50 grams of tobacco

A Corrective Services officer locates what are believed to be drugs at Parklea prison in July

A mobile phone was found in this toilet in a cell at Parklea Correctional Centre in July

'Inadequate' numbers of prison officers and poor security measure have been blamed for the series of incidents at the Parklea prison.

Corrections Minister David Elliott said the new operator would be held 'much more accountable'.

'Lessons learned during the almost 12 years since the Parklea contract was signed have informed a new contract for Parklea's operation beginning March 2019,' he told the Daily Telegraph.

'This will hold the new operator much more accountable for achieving best practice outcomes, including for inmate safety, security and rehabilitation.'

Corrective Services Commissioner Peter Severin with Corrections Minister David ElliottSydney's housing bubble may be set to burst as prices fell by up to 30% in some suburbs.

A steep fall in buyer demand, a crackdown on investor loans and a curbing of tax benefits are all reasons behind the drop, experts say.

The drop, which is the largest since 2008, is a welcome relief for buyers looking to enter the world's second most expensive property market, 9News reported.

Sydney's housing bubble is experiencing a burst as prices in some suburbs fall by 30 per cent. This house in Palm Beach sold for $350,000 less that its original $2.8 million asking price

In Australia's most expensive city the median house price copped it's largest hit since August 2008

In the three months leading up to December Sydney's median house price fell 1.3 per cent and by another 2.5 per cent in the following months to March,

It's the steepest drop in a decade and puts the average price of a home at $880,743. Property experts CoreLogic, are saying the price drop may not be over, forecasting another 5% cut over the course of the year.

The inner city suburb of Darlinghurst saw the biggest drop with buyers seeing a 30.6 per cent fall in some prices.

Bellevue Hill also saw a massive fall with prices being 16 per cent cheaper and in Vancluse the adjustment was 13 per cent.

Sydney's southern suburbs of Sutherland and Alfords Point saw a drop in prices of 15 per cent respectively.

Experiencing a smaller cut of 10 per cent were Narrabeen, Matraville, Cammeray, Tempe, Coogee, Mascot and Belfield.

This house in Palm Beach, was listed at $1.55 million but sold for almost $100,000 less

CoreLogic's Kevin Brigan says there's no cause for concern from sellers

CoreLogic's Kevin Brogan says sellers should not be concerned as the market moves to correct itself.

'At the moment it's trending towards being a buyer's market, but I think what we're seeing is quite a gradual adjustment to the market,'he said.

Experts say a crackdown on investor loans, increased stock and the curbing of tax benefits has contributed.

'I think the market has certainly been corrected. We've got vendors now that are genuine about selling and meeting the market,' auctioneer Sebastian Bonaccorso said.

Compared to this time last year there are 25 per cent more homes on the market and there's been a twenty per cent drop in buyers, industry figures reveal.

Over the last fortnight the auction clearance rate dropped to just 56.1 per cent. At the same time last year 78 per cent of homes were selling.

Each one of Australia's five major cities have been rated 'severely un-affordable' but Sydney is the second most expensive city globally, coming in just behind Hong Kong.The polling data company said to be behind the pro-Brexit campaign was last night being investigated over claims it had used the private details of millions of Facebook users without permission.

Cambridge Analytica is said to have exploited 50 million social media profiles to build a powerful software program to predict and influence choices at the ballot box. The London-based data firm  which worked with the Trump election team to secure the presidency  was last night suspended by Facebook over what the web giant called a serious abuse of the rules.

A whistleblower told how Cambridge Analytica  owned by US hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer, and headed at the time by Trumps key adviser Steve Bannon  used personal information taken without authorisation in early 2014 to build a system profiling individual US voters, so they could be targeted with personalised political adverts.

Cambridge Analytica is accused of using 50 million Facebook profiles to build a software program to predict and influence the choices of people at the ballot box. As a result, Facebook has suspended the London-based firm from their social network

Prior to Donald Trump's election, Cambridge Analytica was headed by Steve Bannon, pictured

Christopher Wylie, pictured, has blown the whistle on Cambridge Analytica and the extent to which they exploited Facebook to harvest millions of people's profiles

Canadian data analytics expert Christopher Wylie, who worked with Cambridge Analytica, said: We exploited Facebook to harvest millions of peoples profiles and built models to exploit what we knew about them and target their inner demons. That was the basis that the entire company was built on. Documents show that by late 2015 Facebook had discovered that information had been harvested on an unprecedented scale. However, at the time it failed to alert users and took only limited steps to recover and secure the private information of more than 50 million individuals, the Observer newspaper claimed.

The claims raise questions over the 2016 Brexit referendum as Cambridge Analytica, which claims it only pitched to work on the Leave.EU campaign funded by Ukip backer Arron Banks, is already part of an investigation by the Information Commissioners Office.

Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said: We are investigating the circumstances in which Facebook data may have been illegally acquired and used. Its part of our ongoing investigation into the use of data analytics for political purposes.

The data was collected through an app called thisis yourdigitallife, built by academic Aleksandr Kogan. In collaboration with Cambridge Analytica, hundreds of thousands of users were paid to take a personality test and agreed to have their data collected for academic use. But the app also collected the data of the test-takers Facebook friends  accumulating tens of millions of users details.

Last night Cambridge Analytica said they reject the claims made by Mr Wylie in what is patently a malicious attempt to hurt the company.

A spokesman added: We dont even hold or use Facebook data. We were forced to take action against Mr Wylie to prevent his misuse of the companys intellectual property and he is the subject of restraining undertakings in this regard. It is clear that he has a grudge to bear and appears set on trying to damage the company.

Facebook denies that the harvesting of tens of millions of profiles was a data breach.

It said in a statement that Kogan gained access to this information in a legitimate way and through the proper channels but did not subsequently abide by our rules.

Mr Kogan denies all wrongdoing.Actress Asia Argento has slammed Monty Python star Terry Gilliam after he compared the #MeToo movement to 'mob rule'.

The Italian actress and filmmaker, herself a Harvey Weinstein accuser, said she was 'disgusted' by the Monty Python member's controversial remarks in which he suggested the campaign had led to a 'world of victims'.

While describing disgraced producer Weinstein as a 'monster' in an interview with AFP, he added: 'Harvey opened the door for a few people, a night with Harvey  that's the price you pay.'

Actress Asia Argento took to Twitter to blast Terry Gilliam for his remarks claiming Harvey Weinstein's accusers created a 'world of victims' (pictured with Anthony Bourdain in 2017)

'Angered, disgusted by Terry Gilliam's views on #metoo,' said the girlfriend of Anthony Bourdain on Saturday

'I think some people did very well out of meeting with Harvey and others didn't. The ones who did, knew what they were doing. These are adults; we are talking about adults with a lot of ambition,' Gilliam told the news agency.

'The mob is out there, they are carrying their torches and they are going to burn down Frankenstein's castle,' he said.

Gilliam had lashed out at the #MeToo movement, calling it a 'mob rule' and claiming some actresses' 'did very well out of meeting with Harvey'

Argento  who was one of the first actresses to go public with her Weinstein allegations  wrote on Twitter: 'Angered, disgusted by Terry Gilliam's views on #metoo.'

The girlfriend of Anthony Bourdain revealed the pair shared the same director of photography, Nicola Pecorini, adding: 'I hope Gilliam hasn't forgotten how Weinstein hated Nicola's cinematography (he considered it too dark) and how the monster subsequently fired him.'

She added: 'Gilliam went on shooting his sh**.'

'Loyalty, loyalty, loyalty,' she added in another post.

In October, Argento alleged she was assaulted by Weinstein while working on the 1998 film B. Monkey.

The film was distributed by Miramax, a company co-founded by Weinstein.

Weinstein has 'unequivocally denied' all allegations of non-consensual sex.

Earlier, director Judd Apatow labelled Gilliam's comments 'idiotic and dangerous'

'He wasn't in those rooms. He doesn't know how aggressive and violent and terrifying he (Weinstein) was. Who is he to say it was some sort of offered deal? He should be ashamed of himself,' Apatow wrote on Twitter

Earlier, director Judd Apatow labelled Gilliam's comments 'idiotic and dangerous'.

'He wasn't in those rooms. He doesn't know how aggressive and violent and terrifying he (Weinstein) was. Who is he to say it was some sort of offered deal? He should be ashamed of himself,' Apatow wrote on Twitter.

'I think Terry Gilliam is spewing nonsense. These were not transactions.

Other celebrities took to the social media platform to share their thoughts on Terry Gilliam following his comments

'His comments about that aspect of this are shameful,' Apatow added.

Gilliam had lashed out at the #MeToo movement, calling it a 'mob rule' and claiming some actresses' 'did very well out of meeting with Harvey'.

'Some people paid the price, other people suffered for it,' said the Monty Python member.

While Gilliam, 77, called Harvey a 'monster', he saved his harshest words for the more than 84 women who have accused the producer of sexual assault and harassment.

Gilliam lashed out at the #MeToo movement, claiming some actresses' 'did very well out of meeting with Harvey Weinstein' (pictured together in 2005)

While Gilliam, 77, called Harvey a 'monster', he saved his harshest words for the more than 84 women who have accused the producer of sexual assault and harassment

Gilliam also claimed during the interview that he knew 'enough girls who were in Harvey's suites who were not victims and walked out'.

As stories regarding Weinstein came out last September, a clear pattern emerged of aspiring and working actresses who were asked to take business meetings in his suites.

Ashley Judd, Angelina Jolie, Lupita Nyong'o, and Gwyneth Paltrow are just a few of the stars who said they were propositioned by Weinstein in one of his suites.

Rose McGowan and Asia Argento are among two of the actresses who said they were raped by Weinstein after being summoned to his hotel room.

'Harvey opened the door for a few people, a night with Harvey - that's the price you pay,' said the Monty Python member (pictured this week in Paris)

Gilliam likened #MeToo to a 'mob rule' and said he felt sorry for Matt Damon, who was criticized after speaking out against the movement (pictured together with Weinstein in 2005)

Meanwhile, the NYPD has since said it is 'ready to go with an arrest' after investigating five different allegations against the disgraced producer in New York.

Gilliam specifically mentioned Matt Damon, who he described as a 'decent human being'.

'I feel sorry for someone like Matt Damon,' he said. 'He came out and said all men are not rapists, and he got beaten to death. Come on, this is crazy!'

Gilliam said his wife Maggie Watson has told him to 'keep my head a bit low' since the movement has swept up Hollywood

Damon came under fire in December when he likened #MeToo to a 'culture of outrage' and said there was a 'difference between patting someone on the butt and rape or child molestation'.

'Both of those behaviors need to be confronted and eradicated without question, but they shouldn't be conflated,' he added in the ABC News interview.

He was met with swift criticism from a number of women, including Alyssa Milano.

'We are not outraged because someone grabbed our a***s in a picture,' she tweeted.

'We are outraged because we were made to feel this was normal. We are outraged because we have been gaslighted. We are outraged because we were silenced for so long.'

Ashley Judd and Lupita Nyong'o are just a few of the stars who said they were propositioned by Weinstein in one of his suites

Rose McGowan and Asia Argento (pictured) are among two of the actresses who said they were raped by Weinstein after being summoned to his hotel room

Gilliam believes the #MeToo reckoning has wiped away 'intelligence' and that now 'people seem to be frightened to say what they really think.'

'Now I am even told by my wife to keep my head a bit low,' he added.

While the director believes it is men who are currently afraid to walk through the world, he concedes there are still plenty of people like Weinstein in Hollywood.

'There are plenty of monsters out there,' he said. 'There are other people still behaving like Harvey.'

But Gilliam believes that abuse will always come with the power of the industry, and that human beings will always be 'touching' and 'grabbing'.

'I don't think Hollywood will change,' he said. 'Power always takes advantage, it always does and it always has.'

'It's how you deal with power - people have got to take responsibility for their own selves.'

Gilliam has not been without his own controversies when it comes to actresses.

Sarah Polley revealed in the nineties that she swore off big budget films forever after working with the director on Adventures of Baron Munchausen.

Just eight years old at the time, Polley recounted how Gilliam had her lean closer and closer to an explosive during one of the action scenes.

Polley had to go to the hospital because she lost her hearing for two days.

Ten years later, on the set of a Miramax film, the actress said she was propositioned by Weinstein.An explosion Tuesday morning in the Gaza Strip targeted the convoy of Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah. Minutes later, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused the Islamist resistance group Hamas of being responsible for the incident.

President Abbass office said the explosion targeted Mr Hamdallah and the head of intelligence, Majed Faraj  both senior members of Fatah. Hamas called the attack an ugly crime and said it had launched an investigation. Hamdallah was unharmed.

According to witnesses, a passenger on a motorbike threw an explosive device at the last car in the prime ministers convoy shortly after it entered Gaza through the Erez Crossing with Israel.

Meanwhile, the Gaza Strip is suffering unprecedented economic conditions. Unemployment rates soar at 40 per cent among youth and 62 per cent of families live below the poverty line. Both threaten unpredictable repercussions.

Observers and analysts believe stunted conciliation between Fatah and Hamas (which would partially ease hardship) is making the situation worse, especially since the Jerusalem issue is adding pressure to an already very volatile situation after US President Donald Trump announced he will relocate the US embassy to Jerusalem on 14 May, the day marking the 70th anniversary of Israels creation.

The Palestinian street reacted with anger to the announcement, and widespread Palestinian protests are anticipated, the largest being at the wall between Israel and the Gaza Strip.

This could cause a serious security problem for Israel, which is why it is allowing visits by officials from the West Bank to Gaza, to help reach a deal with Gazans, under Egyptian auspices, that defuses the anger and prevents further escalation despite Qatars attempts to fund secession between Gaza and the West Bank.

IMF data shows that the Palestinian economy is on the verge of collapse. Karen Ongley, leader of the IMF mission to the West Bank, said last month that deteriorating economic conditions are due to the stalemate in the peace process and political tensions.

The IMFs report last year noted that the Palestinian economy is close to inertia, and that Gaza is on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe.

Adnan Abu Amer, an expert on Israeli affairs, said that some are counting on Palestinian conciliation to bring in international support and large Arab funding to rebuild the Gaza Strip and revive the economy after the siege is lifted.

Abu Amer continued that this support would save the national economy from collapse and the Gaza Strip from exploding, but cautioned that prospects are bleak since conciliation is moving very slowly.

Azzam Al-Ahmed, leader of Fatahs conciliation and national relations delegation, concurred.

So far, Egyptian efforts have failed to end quarrels between the two sides, despite an urgent visit by an Egyptian security delegation to the Gaza Strip and consecutive trips by Hamas and Fatah members to Egypt.

Hamas still controls Gaza, sanctions by the Palestinian Authority (PA) against Gaza remain in place, and conciliation does not to exist on the ground.

Meanwhile, it is unlikely there will be a breakthrough in the peace process with Israel any time soon, even if Binyamin Netanyahu were to resign as prime minister of Israel and early elections held, since opinion polls show no changes in Israels political map.

No political miracle is on the horizon, neither in Israel where the opposition is rudderless, nor in the international community led by the Trump administration.

Trump has shown his disregard for the rights of the Palestinians, undermining a just settlement and two-state solution.

Economic analyst Nasr Abdel-Karim, professor at the Arab American University in Ramallah, said that revisiting inter-Palestinian conciliation gives a glimmer of hope amid Gazas gloom.

Five months ago, there was talk about an imminent merge, the return of the PA to Gaza, and Hamas dissolving the Administrative Committee.

But steps towards conciliation remain shaky and there is debate about the governments mandate. A portion of the 2018 budget for Gaza hinges on the government taking control in Gaza.

Abdel-Karim warned about the slow pace of conciliation, saying it is harmful because it confuses citizens because of perpetual controversy, tensions, polarisation and increasing negativity, which leads to rejection not only of the government but also the PA.

Some citizens believe the government wants to take advantage of the Gaza Strip more than serve the people.

They cite increasing taxes going to the PA in Ramallah through formal trade with Israel and that taxes are higher than previously agreed, allowing the West Bank to benefit from the Gaza Strip. This claim is surrounded by many rumours.

Abdel-Karim believes if a timeline is reached for applying conciliation mechanisms, even if it takes some time, Gazans will begin to feel they are on the right track.

Even if the timeline extends for several months, he said, that is not a problem as long as we know that in the end it will lead us out of this dark tunnel. He added that the 11-year rift cannot be eliminated in one day.

The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) warned against rising crime rates in Gaza, including homicide.

Suicides have also increased, along with illegal migration. Conditions worsen by the day as Israels unjust siege continues, PA sanctions remain in place, and Hamas collects taxes from Gazans.

We cannot remain silent about the catastrophic and painful conditions in Gaza resulting from high levels of poverty, unemployment, hunger, lack of food security, power disruptions, scarce water, prohibitively high prices and high taxes, stated the DFLP.

Also, there are substandard health services, education problems, scarce construction materials, deplorable economic and social conditions, and limitations and violations of democratic freedoms. This warns of a mass explosion which primarily falls on the shoulders of Israeli occupation, followed by the consensus government which is procrastinating on taking over control in Gaza, and Hamas which is in charge of managing Gaza.

The DFLP added that inter-Palestinian division is a crime against the Palestinian people which has made the Israeli siege of Gaza Strip worse and compounded desperate living conditions there. It also warned that crises are being managed rather than resolved.

The DFLP called on the national consensus government to take over Gaza and end the humanitarian and living crisis by adopting an emergency national plan. It called on the government to shoulder its responsibilities, meet the needs and interests of the people, and end punitive measures.

It should also find solutions for problems facing university graduates, high rates of poverty, unemployment, water problems, sewage problems, electricity cuts and abysmal economic and social conditions.

It is noteworthy that Hamass control of Gaza was a pretext for many countries not become involved in reconstruction projects or reviving the Gazan economy.

Foreign aid and relief for the Gaza Strip declined as Israel maintained a stranglehold through the siege, and amid stiff restrictions on the movement of goods, raw materials, people and trade.

*This story was first published in Al-Ahram Weekly

Short link:

A Queensland teacher is facing charges over repeated sexual assault on female students at a primary school he taught at in the late 1990s.

Two victims spoke of their abuse from the teacher who took them behind his desk and sexually assaulted them in front of their class at Ferny Hills State School.

They described how the set up of his desk was used to facilitate the abuse without being seen.

The 62-year-old Brisbane teacher charged over claims of sexual abuse in the late 1990s

Two victims said the man took them behind his desk to sexual assault them in front of the class

'It's honestly something that has been on my mind ever since it happened. It's never really left. I guess I just didn't really know the channels to go through, to get help and to find out how to get him and make a complaint,' one woman said.

'It happened in the classroom in front of everyone, so you'd walk back to your seat, looking at people,' another woman told Seven News on Friday.

He was suspended from teaching in 2014 after he was accused of sexually assaulting female students.

A year later he pleaded guilty to nine counts of indecent treatment of girls under 16 in the Brisbane District court.

The Eaton's Hill resident was sentenced to three years and six months in jail for preying on seven of his students in the 1980s which was suspended after 12 months.

The abuse took place at Ferny Hills State School in the 1990s - he has worked across ten schools in Brisbane.

The 62-year-old has taught in ten schools across Brisbane with fears growing he has abused many other students over his 30 year career.

He began his career in regional Queensland and at the time of his arrest he was working at a private school in Brisbane's north side.

The man is currently on watch house bail and is expected to face court next month.A Revenue & Customs official has been jailed after being exposed as a 40,000 tax cheat.

Amjad Khan, 37, dodged paying the correct income tax and fiddled his tax credits between 2002 and 2015.

The father-of-three also pocketed 24,000 in tax credits which he wasn't entitled to over a nine-year period between 2006 and 2015.

Amjad Khan, 37, dodged paying the correct income tax and fiddled his tax credits between 2002 and 2015 (stock image)

Bradford Crown Court, West Yorkshire, heard today while Khan was working as a tax advisor at the HMRC premises in Bradford City centre, he had two other jobs.

Khan was also earning money through a property rental business and his work as a self-employed gas and heating engineer.

Prosecutor Howard Shaw said that while Khan, of Burnett Avenue, Bradford, did submit a tax return for the year 2014/15, he claimed both his businesses had made losses even though later analysis of his bank accounts showed they were profitable.

Mr Shaw said: 'He was working as an advisor in the HMRC contact centre helping members of the public with queries in relation to PAYE and self-assessment tax returns and therefore the prosecution say he had a good knowledge of the tax system.'

Khan, who worked for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs between 2004 and 2014, pleaded guilty last year to offences of fraudulently evading income tax and fraudulently obtaining tax credits.

Barrister Emma Downing, for Khan, said his gas and heating business would now be lost if he went to prison and his family home could be put in jeopardy because the mortgage would not be paid.

She submitted that a constructive alternative to immediate custody could include unpaid work for the community

However, the Recorder of Bradford Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC said all the time Khan had been working for HMRC advising people about their 'rights and wrongs' he had been committing fraud against the state.

He worked for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs between 2004 and 2014 (stock image)

'You were evading income tax over a 13-year period,' said the judge.

'You were using your knowledge in this matter.'

Although Khan was a man of previous good character who had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity, Judge Durham Hall said he had committed 'appalling and blatant' frauds in a determined and persistent way.

The judge said the 20-month prison sentence would have to be served and the public would be outraged if the court did not deal with Khan in a robust way.

He said: 'The effect on your family will be dire.'

'I and others find that very regrettable but you have brought it on your family.'

Khan is expected face a further hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act legislation later in the year in bid to get back the money he obtained through the frauds.I imagine we are all supposed to be feeling shaken by the latest tumbril-rumbling revelations about Prince Charles, but I confess  having just gobbled a delicious account of the outrageous caprices of the late Princess Margaret  I cant get enough of this stuff.

So whats the best the renowned giant-slaying specialist Tom Bower has got in his sizzling new shocker about the heir to the Throne?

Well, Chas was once invited to stay somewhere in the North East. In precaution, he sent a pantechnicon containing all of his bedroom furniture  and I mean everything from orthopaedic bed to organic food to his required rolls of Premium Comfort loo paper and two landscapes of the Scottish Highlands  a day early so that his flunkeys could refit the guest room down to his exacting and princely spec.

A new book by Britain's top investigative author has revealed Charles's remarkable travel demands including bringing his entire bedroom, complete with orthopaedic bed, on trips

He once took 43 pieces of luggage to stay on Mt Athos, a pure, male-only precinct of holy austerity in Greece. His personal policeman carries a pre-mixed martini for him wherever he goes.

Moving on, when I read (or re-read?) his supposed utterances, from nobody knows what utter hell it is to be Prince of Wales to calling his life an intolerable burden and complaining that he pulled the short straw to King Constantine of Greece, I know what Im supposed to think too.

Just as Jacob Rees-Mogg has been dissed as the barmaids idea of a gentleman, the heir to the Throne is being framed as the commoners idea of a pampered prince, who goes around complaining that he didnt ask to be born to be King. Boo hoo.

The problem is, from where I sit in my tracksuit bottoms in my basement kitchen eating my Alpen from a mug, I can only marvel at the continuous superhuman efforts and resources that the Prince devotes daily to maintaining his own stratospheric standards of luxe.

And the important thing is, this eccentric, almost psychotic level of commitment extends to his causes and not just to his own comfort. You wont, I expect, be reading the following in selected extracts, but since 1976, Charless charity, The Princes Trust, has helped 870,000 disadvantaged young people.

His travelling staff include a butler, two valets, chef, private secretary, typist and bodyguards

Last year, he raised 170 million for charity and carried out 600 engagements. Last week alone, he hosted nurses in Buckingham Palace, launched a charity to boost heritage skills in this country, even went to the seventh circle of Hell (i.e. Heathrow) to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Terminal Five, and met Al Gore to talk about the environment, which you will agree is beyond the call even for a member of The Firm.

BUT no, you wont be reading that because its far more fun to read about his travels with his own loo seat. (Ancient fiction, a Royal source told me. The toilet seat story has been following him around for years even though it was a joke birthday present from his sister.)

Its obvious that Prince Charles is less thrifty and stiff upper lip than his parents. But has he ever pretended otherwise? Extravagant, petulant, self-indulgent, self-pitying  whats not to like?

Call me a fawning lackey till the cows come home (and dont get me started on Camilla, who is down to earth, fun, unpompous etc), but Charles is also thoughtful, dutiful, driven and a man who has done more for others and the environment than any member of the Royal Family.

If the revelations do manage to stir your Republican blood, remember this: just think if Air Miles Andy had been born first, not the pampered prince.

In this picture one of Prince Charles's flunkies is revealed to be the 'keeper of the royal cushion'

Stunned by the news that John Bercows Land Rover squats in a reserved space in the Palace of Westminster, sporting a laminated B******s to Brexit sign on the windscreen. The Speaker is supposed to be impartial. In fact, I am so speechless I can manage only this in response: Where can I get one?

A Loose Woman off the telly thinks ladies in mid-change should wear big M (for menopause) badges on public transport  shudder  to warn folk we may need to fling windows open to fan ourselves with icy blasts of Beast From The East at any moment. Not feeling it one bit. Like Sharon Stone, who has turned 60 and looks about 16, one of my main purposes in life is to pretend Im not heavily middle-aged at all. Even though only the other day someone tried to give me their seat on the Tube (and I dont think it was because they thought I had a baby on board). I refuse to advertise publicly on my own lapel that I am in my prime.

The Queen was paid less than the Duke of Edinburgh in The Crown shock! And? Your point? When the show was being cast, it was Matt Smith/Doctor Who and Claire Foy  who? Now, of course, she is the supernova queen of all she surveys and stares down at us from the sides of buses. The best revenge is outperforming your male co-star. Thats all, folks.The first non-white Serjeant at Arms in Parliament's history has alleged he has been the victim of racism in the House of Commons.

The appointment by Speaker John Bercow of Moroccan- born Mohammed Amal (Kamal) El-Hajji to the ceremonial role in 2016 was greeted as a breakthrough for British Muslims.

But The Mail on Sunday has been told by sources that Mr El-Hajji has been subjected to racist comments, stripped of his responsibilities and is being booted out of his grace and favour home. He is said to have claimed his experience shows the Commons remains a 'white people's club'.

The claims place renewed pressure on Mr Bercow, who is already facing accusations  which he strongly denies  that he bullied one of his aides.

Mr El-Hajji, 59, is said to be speaking to the union for senior civil servants, the First Division Association (FDA), alleging racism and unfair treatment. A source said: 'He's being singled out because he is not white.'

Moroccan- born Mohammed Amal (Kamal) El-Hajji, the first non-white Serjeant at Arms in Parliament's history, has alleged he has been the victim of racism in the House of Commons

But one MP, who chose to remain unnamed, said: 'Mr El-Hajji can't really do the job, struggles with English and blames his troubles on racism.'

The MP also pointed out that the much diminished Serjeant at Arms role no longer entailed the security details it once did.

Mr El-Hajji started in his 80,000 position with a team of around 12 and a grand office. A year later, he was told his whole team was being subsumed into a new In-House Services department and he was told to leave his office and move to a 'cupboard-sized' one while the windows were refurbished. When Mr El-Hajji complained, a manager allegedly said: 'If you don't like the changes, then leave.'

In 2016, he had also received a three-bedroom residence next to Parliament's Derby Gate, where he lives with his wife and three children. The source said Mr El-Hajji has received an official letter saying he has to leave his home by next January.

Recently, Mr El-Hajji also received his annual appraisal from the head of the new In-House Services department. But unlike previous years, he has been told that he is 'not fully effective'. Sources said he complained about the appraisal to the FDA and also to Parliament's personnel bosses.

Sources have also said that one junior female colleague had made 'racist' comments about him behind his back.

The source added: 'Over the years he has heard comments, like 'He won't last six months here' and 'You can't trust people like that'. He feels he is in a white people's club.'

A House of Commons spokesman said: 'Due to essential maintenance work it has been necessary to move a number of staff offices and plan to vacate the small number of residences on the Parliamentary Estate and appropriate support is being provided to those affected. The role of the Serjeant at Arms changed during the tenure of the previous Serjeant as part of a wider restructure and these changes were reflected in the job advertisement for the current post holder.'

Mr El-Hajji said: 'Mr Speaker has supported and helped me and kindly gave me the opportunity to be the Serjeant. I am very grateful to him for all the kindness and for the time he has given to mentor me since I got this appointment.'The most seriously wounded British soldier from the war in Afghanistan is to sue the Army after claiming that defence chiefs cut his pay, put vital medical treatment in jeopardy  and failed to provide him with wheelchairs.

Lance Bombardier Ben Parkinson, 33, who suffered devastating injuries when he was blown up by the Taliban, is to bring the legal action after what his family last night described as years of broken promises and deception by top brass over his care.

The former paratrooper was not expected to survive after losing both legs and suffering brain damage when his Land Rover hit an anti-tank mine in Helmand Province in 2006. His recovery, which has included learning to walk and talk again, has astounded doctors.

Ben Parkinson was severely injured in a bomb blast in Afghanistan and lost both of his legs, as well as suffering brain damage

He was allowed to stay in uniform and has been held up as an example of the Armys commitment to wounded troops.

But today The Mail on Sunday can reveal the shocking story of Bens struggle for basic equipment and specialist care. Now, his furious family is suing the Ministry of Defence for Breach of Statutory Care.

As a serving soldier, Ben is not allowed to talk to the media. Speaking on his behalf, his mother Diane Dernie, 60, said: Under an agreement reached with us and the NHS in 2016, the MoD is supposed to provide Bens wheelchairs, prosthetic limbs and specialist medical services not available to us locally on the NHS.

We have learned, contrary to what the Army has told us, that charities have provided two of Bens wheelchairs from funds donated by the public. This was a deception on their part.

Mr Parkinson (pictured before the explosion) lost both his legs and sustained grievous damage to his spine, skull, pelvis, hands, spleen and ribcage, leaving him in a coma for months

We cannot suffer in silence any longer. We need a long-term care plan in place for Ben now.

Under a 2007 agreement, Ben and other severely wounded soldiers were permitted to stay in the Army. This meant that Ben continued to be paid. However, top brass have gradually cut his wages. His mother said he was earning several hundred pounds a month less than when he was blown up in 2006. This was not denied last night by the MoD.

Mrs Dernie said: Issues like his pay being reduced, the Armys failure to sign up to an agreement for Bens lifelong care needs and his wheelchairs being paid for by military charities, has been very distressing.

She said that in 2013 one of Bens chairs, which last three years, had been provided by Help For Heroes. Senior officers suggested to us that theyd provided the chair. How could the Army palm off the responsibility for providing it on to a charity? Thats not right. Then in 2016 they admitted there was no budget for wheelchairs. Ben waited 15 months for a new one which, as I understand, also came from a charity.

Last night, the MoD did not dispute Mrs Dernies account.

Mr Parkinson is now suing the MoD after saying that his wages were cut and his care was neglected, despite promises after the explosion

Help for Heroes issued a statement saying it was proud to be supporting Ben Parkinson and his family. Mrs Dernie said NHS England had fulfilled its obligations and would not be included in any legal action.

Last night, former head of the Army Lord Dannatt, who initially arranged for Ben to stay in the Army after he was blown up, expressed his sadness over the dispute. He said: While mistakes have been made, a lot of people in the Army have worked very hard on Bens behalf. I hope these issues can be settled without the need for a court case.

An MoD spokesperson said: We can assure Lance Bombardier Parkinson and his family that we are working hard to establish his new care package as quickly as we can.

Yogi Amin from lawyers Irwin Mitchell said: Mr Parkinsons position is that the MoD breached its statutory responsibility to provide him with the care he requires.

Princess Anne pictured meeting Afghanistan veteran Mr Parkinson at the annual Not Forgotten Association Garden Party at Buckingham Palace on June 11, 2015The race to become the next general secretary of the Labour Party was hit by a row last night after the favourite for the post was backed by party activists who have been accused of anti-Semitism.

Jennie Formby, the frontrunner to succeed moderate Iain McNicol as the powerful figure who controls the partys purse-strings and membership, is being supported by Labour Against the Witch-hunt (LAW), which wants to end the partys investigations into the issue.

Ms Formby was herself at the centre of an anti-Semitism row two years ago when she was accused of questioning the suitability of senior peer Baroness Royall to lead an investigation into claims of anti-Semitism among Labour-supporting students  objecting on the grounds that she had previously visited Israelwith the Labour Partys Friends of Israel.

Ms Formby denied she had objected to Baroness Royalls appointment.

Jennie Formby, the frontrunner to succeed moderate Iain McNicol as the powerful figure who controls the partys purse-strings and membership, is being supported by Labour Against the Witch-hunt (LAW), which wants to end the partys investigations into the issue

Ms Formby, South-East England regional secretary for the Unite union, has also been accused of employing a woman suspended from the Labour Party for saying Jews had big noses. Former leader of the National Union of Teachers Christine Blower is now the only rival to Ms Formby, the preferred candidate of Jeremy Corbyns inner circle and clear favourite for the job.

Her campaign attracted controversy last night because the LAW group, chaired by Jackie Walker of the hard-Left group Momentum, has hailed her as the best choice to take over from Mr McNicol.

It singled out her backing for the rights of Palestinian people, and said: We hope that her tenure would mark the beginning of the end of the witch-hunt, which has caused such disunity in the party.

Ms Formby was herself at the centre of an anti-Semitism row two years ago when she questioned the suitability of senior peer Baroness Royall to lead an investigation into claims of anti-Semitism among Labour-supporting students  objecting on the grounds that she had previously visited Israel with the Labour Partys Friends of Israel

However, critics point out that Ms Walker was in the past suspended from Labour  and ousted as Momentums vice-chair  for remarks which included referring to Jewish people as financiers of the sugar and slave trade. She was later reinstated.

Last night, a Unite spokeswoman insisted Ms Formby had not sought support from anyone. She added that Ms Formby believes all allegations of anti-Semitism should be properly investigated and disciplinary action taken where a case is upheld. Ms Formby also faced claims she had employed Vicki Kirby last year in Unites South-East region despite Ms Kirby having been suspended from Labour in 2014 over a series of anti-Semitic Twitter posts.

Unite said Miss Kirby had done some temporary organising work for the union but had never been employed by the organisation. It also emerged yesterday that Ms Formby went to the same school later attended by Samantha Cameron  the now private St Helen and St Katharine in Abingdon. But Unite insisted that Naval officers daughter Ms Formby had a free place at the school, adding: It was not a private school, which it is now.A Labour peer has told how he was the victim of Jewboy taunts in the House of Lords.

Lord Levy, Tony Blairs main party fundraiser, said the jibe was made when he accompanied a new peer to the Lords.

He told a conference on combating anti-Semitism in Monaco earlier this month: People say the House of Lords is the bastion of democracy. Having been there 20 years, Ive taken in a number of new peers. On one occasion there were mutterings: Whos the Jewboy bringing in now?

Lord Levy, Tony Blairs main party fundraiser, said the jibe was made when he accompanied a new peer to the Lords

Lord Levy told The Mail on Sunday: I tried very hard to find out who it was but was unable to do so. Had I done so, I may be a small guy, but I would have sorted them out. I am not the kind of person who wakes up and sees anti-Semites in every closet but that kind of behaviour is totally unacceptable. I felt angry and disgusted.

The peer made the claim at a meeting of the European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation.

The organisation is chaired by Mr Blair, who was present at the conference.A young stroke victim is taking legal action almost two years after she was sent home by two Queensland hospitals because clinicians thought she was drunk and had her drink spiked.

Amalia Young was paralysed down her left side and face, blind in her left eye and unable to stand without support during a night on the town in May 2016 and was rushed to Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, where emergency ward clinicians sent her home without a diagnosis.

Tests later revealed that she suffered a brain haemorrhage that night before suffering another three mini strokes in the following four months.

Brisbane woman Amalia Young told Daily Mail Australia her life changer forever when doctors failed to diagnose a haemorrhage she suffered in May 2016

Now 26, Ms Young is suing the hospital for the misdiagnosis after the haemorrhage left her with vision impairment and memory loss.

She also still suffers pins and needles down her left side.

'All the symptoms were there,' Ms Young told Daily Mail Australia.

'It changed my life and set me back a few years. I lost my licence and had to step down from my role at work as a 2IC.'

Ms Young was discharged after a few hours and went home.

She woke up later in the day with a massive headache and couldnt put any pressure on the right-hand side of her head.

Her partner rushed her to Greenslopes Private Hospital where doctors didn't think there was anything wrong with her and told her that she was 'faking illness'.

'I don't blame them as they were only going on the discharge papers from Royal Brisbane,' Ms Young told Daily Mail Australia.

She is not taking legal action against Greenslopes Private Hospital.



'I want the hospital to look into their processes. I also want to get rid of the stigma that only old people get strokes. Young people do get them,' Amalia Young, pictured with her partner, said

Almost two years on, Ms Young has since regained her licence but is yet to return to full-time work with her employer, which she has been with for seven years.

'I don't want this to happen to anyone else,' she said.

'I want the hospital to look into their processes. I also want to get rid of the stigma that only old people get strokes. Young people get them as well.'

She took her ordeal to Shine Lawyers, which are in the process of lodging the statement of claim.

'Ms Young did the right thing going to emergency when she had a sudden onset of symptoms that she knew were serious,' Shine Lawyers medical law expert Clare Eves said.

'The pain and weakness in her left arm, her loss of vision and her drooping face are all symptoms that any of us would be concerned about in a healthy 24-year-old woman. She was somehow discharged home without sufficient investigations being performed.'

Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital is being sued for negligence

She said Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital failed Ms Young.

'Her stroke and resultant brain injury was not diagnosed for a further 11 days and only detected because she followed up her symptoms with a GP,' Ms Eves said

'Over the course of that time damage occurred to the brain that is irreversible. Sending patients home who may have a serious health complaint, that in some cases could be life threatening, needs to be addressed, and hospitals need to be held accountable when this happens'.

Amalia Young was also turned away from Gleenslopes Private Hospital but is not taking legal action against the private hospital

A Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia it was unable to comment on the case.

'We do not have signed consent from the patient to talk about their case and therefore due to patient privacy we are are unable to address these allegations,' she said.

'However what we can say is no patient requiring treatment is ever turned away from our hospital.'Police insist they have discovered no connection between the strangling of former businessman Nikolai Glushkov (pictured) and the nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal

The Kremlin was behind the murder of a Russian exile in London as well as the poisoning of a former double agent, a friend of both men has claimed.

Police insist they have discovered no connection between the strangling of former businessman Nikolai Glushkov, 68, at his London home last Monday and the nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury a fortnight ago.

But Alex Goldfarb, a friend of both men as well as a prominent critic of Russia, insisted Vladimir Putin must have ordered both hits.

Mr Goldfarb told BBC Radio 4: There is no connection in a forensic sense probably, but if you look at the larger picture of politics, I am convinced that no murder of this sort could have happened without the personal approval of Putin or some of his immediate deputies. Mr Goldfarb was also close to former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, who was murdered with radioactive polonium-210 in London, and exiled tycoon Boris Berezovsky, who was found dead at his Surrey home in suspicious circumstances.

All of these in my view have the common denominator of Mr Putin flexing his muscle, said Mr Goldfarb, a scientist who lives in New York.

Residents near Mr Glushkovs home in New Malden, South West London, believe he was strangled with a dog lead  possibly belonging to his pet.

Russian dissident Vladimir Ashurkov, 46, said: I know somebody who knew him and who was at his home shortly after he was found dead. He told me he had no doubt he had been strangled and the instrument of death was a dog leash.

Mr Glushkovs body was discovered late on Monday by his daughter Natalia (pictured), 34, a socialite and student. Last night, Natalia was said to be under police protection. It is understood she went to her fathers home after failing to contact him by phone

Police officers yesterday removed a Land Rover from outside Mr Glushkovs home. The vehicle was transferred to a flat-bed truck and driven off by forensics officers, who had earlier been searching the house for clues.

Mr Glushkovs body was discovered late on Monday by his daughter Natalia, 34, a socialite and student.

Last night, Natalia was said to be under police protection. It is understood she went to her fathers home after failing to contact him by phone.

Natalia frequently posted party pictures of herself on Facebook, said a former friend.

But she suddenly stopped posting anything after the Salisbury incident  I assume she was worried that her father was on a hitlist.

Police warn Londons oligarchs: YOU could be next  so step up your security

Russian exiles in Britain are to be warned that their lives may be at risk.

Police and security services are believed to have reassessed their view that Vladimir Putins critics are safe here, given the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, and the murder of Nikolai Glushkov.

If officers receive intelligence of a credible threat to anyones life, but not enough evidence to prosecute, they can issue a letter known as an Osman warning, so the supposed target can take measures to protect themselves.

It has been suggested that Mr Skripal may have received one.

Former Aeroflot boss Glushkov was top of a list of 22 alleged fugitives from justice who were accused of embezzlement and fraud by the Russian Embassy in London a year ago. Next on the wanted list were several Russian bankers, including Andrey Borodin who owns Britains most expensive home, the 140 million Park Place mansion in Henley-on-Thames.

...but in salisbury all they want to secure is some free parking!

Forget a Cold War  whats riling the people of Salisbury is the citys lack of free parking. Council deputy leader John Thompson was heckled at a residents meeting on Thursday when he said he would not drop charges on market days each Tuesday and Saturday.She's the South Australian farm girl with a Harvard education who left a successful law career for the halls of Canberra.

And now Australia's foreign minister, Julie Bishop, has opened up about children, saying she always wanted them but it never happened.

In an interview with Kidspot Ms Bishop, 61, said she always expected to have kids but the opportunity just never arose.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has opened up about how she always wanted children but never had them

The deputy leader, pictured here with partner David Panton says she expected herself to have children but the opportunity never arose

The deputy Liberal leader, who had a successful career as a lawyer before entering politics, has held four ministerial positions, represented Australia on the UN security council and attended Harvard Business School for a course in advanced management.

She says that looking back over her career, she feels she did not miss out.

'The window closes pretty quickly at 40. So politics is pretty much my life,' she said.

'I feel incredibly lucky that I've had the kind of career that is so consuming that I don't feel I have a void in my life.'

'At 37, that's when I decided to go off to Harvard and did all these things, and it was very much about what I wanted to achieve in my life,' she said.

'It can be challenging either way.'

Ms Bishop's partner David Panton, a property developer, has three adult children from his previous marriage and they share a close relationship with the Foreign Minister.

She has an accomplished career in law before leaving it to walk the halls of power in Canberra

Ms Bishop enjoys a close relationship with Mr Panton's three adult children

Panton's two daughters, Laura and Sally, were seen dining with the couple in 2014 at the Melbourne Cup, sparking questions about the romance.

Beforehand Ms Bishop was married to property developer Neil Gillon, but the couple divorced in 1988.

She then dated the former Mayor of Perth Dr Peter Nattrass for at least 12 years before publicly stepping out with Mr Panton in 2014.

When asked in 2013 about not having children, Ms Bishop said she didn't dwell on the issue, choosing instead to focus on her life's achievements.

'I've never been though a grieving process and now I wouldn't, because what's the point?' She told News Corp.

'I'm not having kids, there's no point lamenting what was or what could have been.'

She has been dating Mr Panton since 2014 when the couple were spotted having dinner with his two daughters

While she's admitted in the past that not having children has given her freedom to pursue roles including Foreign Minister, she's also made a point of highlighting that women with children are more than capable of doing the job.

In 2015 she was asked by an audience member on Q&A if her ability to pursue a successful career as Foreign Minister would have been compromised if she had children.

'Well, I don't have children and so I have been able to pursue the role of Foreign Minister without that responsibility,' she said.

Mr Panton has a close relationship with his three children

The Foreign Minister says that when she looks back on her career she feels grateful about her successes

'But I'm not suggesting for a moment that a woman with children couldn't be Australia's Foreign Minister. But it is an extremely demanding role, because it takes you overseas at a moment's notice.'

'We've had plenty of Foreign Ministers who have been males with children.'

Ms Bishop has said many successful women have balanced children and careers but has said for her some moments in her life had been about children.

She said she focuses a lot of energy on being an inspiration for her nieces and nephews, like her mother had been to her.

'I'm in the Anne-Marie Slaughter school - women can't have it all. They can have plenty of choices, but at the end of the day, they choose something which means they can't have something else,' she said in 2013.Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday the centre of Afrin was "entirely under control" and Turkish flags had been raised in the northern Syrian town, a stronghold of Kurdish YPG forces.

Turkish-backed Syrian rebel fighters took control of parts of the town of Afrin on Sunday after Kurdish YPG forces pulled out, a spokesman for the Free Syrian Army rebel fighters said.

Mohammad al-Hamadeen said the fighters entered Afrin shortly before dawn, from the north, east and west of the town, and had not encountered any resistance.

"They have taken control of parts of the town," Hamadeen told Reuters. "They are combing the streets and the houses".

Ankara, which launched its military offensive against the Kurdish YPG forces in Afrin on January 20, supported by FSA rebel factions, says the YPG is an extension of a Kurdish militant group which has been waging an insurgency in southeast Turkey since the 1980s.

More than 150,000 people have been displaced in the last few days from Afrin town, a senior Kurdish official and a monitoring group said on Saturday.

Short link:

A feud between New York power players has some fearing that the world famous St. Patrick's Day Parade may go broke if the conflicts aren't resolved.

The clashes have led to hundreds of thousands of dollars being paid out in legal fees instead of being reinvested in the parade and community outreach, according to The New York Post.

At the center of the conflict is John Lahey, president of Quinnipiac University, who allegedly grabbed control of the non-profit organization that runs the annual march.

At the center of the conflict is John Lahey (middle), president of Quinnipiac University, who allegedly grabbed control of the non-profit organization

Lahey became chairman of the board for The St. Patrick's Day Parade Inc. in June 2015, engendering multiple lawsuits from fellow board members John Dunleavy and Brendan Lynch who viewed the move as a coup.

Since then, the parade has incurred about $328,000 in legal fees, the Post reported after reviewing an internal audit.

Brian Sharkey, the former president of The Grand Council of United Emerald Societies, told the Post that the problem simply stems from a 'battle of egos.'

Lawyers say that Lahey is also acting in bad faith by not revealing financial documents pertaining to the non-profit, and fear that he may have cost the organization an addition $200,000 in legal fees.

Following Lahey's ascension to chairman, multiple lawsuits from fellow board members including John Dunleavy (pictured) were filed against the university president

'He's not sharing the financials with anybody,' Dunleavy's attorney, Frank Young, told the New York publication. 'He's keeping everybody in the dark... We fear the corporation may go bankrupt.'

Tax filings show that the parade lost an estimated $275,000 last year, collecting $696,864 in contributions, grants and other revenue, but spending $971,711.

An 'audited financial statement has been completed and will be presented to the board in April,' said St. Patrick's Day Parade Inc. spokesman Pat Smith.

In court filings, Dunleavy asserts that Lahey has 'conspired' with board member Frank Comerford to oust him as chairman during a June 2015 meeting while he was away on business.

Dunleavy adds that the University president 'stacked' the board with supporters including a Quinnipiac liaison with NBC.

Comerford later negotiated a contract with the major broadcast network, despite being chief revenue officer and president of commercial operations for NBC-owned TV stations, according to the Post.

The lawsuit remains inert for more than two years, with Bronx Judge Robert Johnson failing to act on the motion so it can proceed. Johnson claims that a backlog of cases is keeping the suit delayed.Rogue bosses who try to line their own pockets at the expense of company pension schemes face jail in a new government crackdown.

They would be liable to up to two years in prison for risking the pension savings of their employees.

In the wake of a series of scandals over mismanagement of final-salary pension schemes, Theresa May unveiled plans for a new criminal offence, saying she was determined to give the Pensions Regulator the powers it needs to crack down on the minority of businesses who shirk their responsibilities.

She said the responsible majority will no longer have to bail out the irresponsible few.

Plans for a new criminal offence mean bosses would be liable to up to two years in prison for risking the pension savings of their employees. Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey (pictured) said: We will clamp down on and, where appropriate, punish directors who wilfully or recklessly put pension schemes at risk

Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey added: We will clamp down on and, where appropriate, punish directors who wilfully or recklessly put pension schemes at risk.

The promise of action comes with thousands of Carillion workers reportedly facing cuts to their retirement benefits following the firms collapse.

Carillion has been fiercely criticised for rewarding shareholders with dividend increases as its pension deficit soared last year.

The Governments move also follows calls for the Pensions Regulators powers to be strengthened after the collapse of retailer BHS in 2016 with a huge hole in its pension fund.So it wasnt all fake news after all. Jeremy Corbyn is not a paid Russian agent. But as the events of last week proved, he is most certainly an agent of Russia.

Within minutes of Corbyns election as Labour leader in 2015 , Conservative HQ issued a campaign poster that made the incendiary claim that he was a threat to our national security. At the time it was roundly condemned as a sensationalist smear. But as we now know, it was merely a statement of fact.

Or indeed, a model of understatement. Not even the most malign practitioner of the dark political arts would dream up a scenario where the Leader of the Opposition stood at the House of Commons despatch box in the wake of a chemical weapons attack on the United Kingdom, and began mimicking the obfuscation and evasion of its perpetrators.

So it wasnt all fake news after all. Jeremy Corbyn is not a paid Russian agent. But as the events of last week proved, he is most certainly an agent of Russia

Jeremy has always been on the right side of history, his supporters like to boast. Well, it will be interesting to see how the history books record the moment their hero asked the Prime Minister if she was planning to let Vladimir Putin run tests to ascertain whether his own murderous hand had been behind the release of a deadly nerve agent in the middle of Wiltshire. Or gave his spokesman licence to publicly rubbish the findings of the Governments own weapons experts. Or gave similar licence to his allies to spread crazed conspiracy theories about the nature of the attack, and brand as enemies any Labour MP who backed Theresa Mays proportionate and measured response.

In reality, Corbyn is not on the right side of history. He has transcended history. There is no historical precedent for the events of the past seven days.

NEVER has the nation been subject to an attack from a foreign state without the leaders of the main British political parties uniting in clear, unequivocal condemnation of the aggressor. Attlee stood alongside Churchill. Foot stood alongside Thatcher. But Corbyn has chosen to turn his back on May. And in line with his long-standing personal ideology  and that of his most senior advisers  face towards Moscow.

Which means British politics is this morning in a state of limbo. The primary role of any government is the security of the nation. And the primary role of the official Opposition is to be a viable alternative government. It is binary. Any party unable to guarantee the former cannot fulfil the duties of the latter. Which in turn leaves Corbyns Shadow Cabinet, MPs and party activists confronting a stark choice.

In the wake of his victory in the second leadership election, Labour moderates tried to maintain an uneasy co-existence with their Corbynite overlords. They justified this strategy to themselves on the basis of three arguments. First, that Corbyn could not conceivably win a General Election. Second, that in the unthinkable circumstances he did manage to win an election, it would only be because he had significantly moderated his extremist positions. And finally, that even if he somehow managed to win without moderating his positions, they themselves would be able to moderate them from around the Cabinet table, and from the backbenches.

The first of those self-justifications was shattered last June. The second was shattered by Corbyns craven performance in the House on Tuesday and Wednesday. And the third was shattered when a handful of Labour MPs rose to take issue with their leader.

In the aftermath of the statement, an Early Day Motion was drafted by Labour MP John Woodcock, distancing himself from Corbyn.

At the time of writing, more than 30 Labour MPs have signed it out of a total of 259  the only ones prepared to formally register their protest at the spectacle of their own leader parroting the talking-points of Europes most dangerous, homophobic despot.

And if they are not prepared to take a unified stand against the loser in June, what chance would there be of them standing up to him in the wake of a future General Election triumph?

In any case, we are beyond Early Day Motions now. This is not a game. Vladimir Putin represents the greatest threat to European peace since Hitler. Forget the talk of attacks on our cyber-infrastructure or energy supplies. If there were to be a moment where Jeremy Corbyn and Donald Trump were to find themselves simultaneously in power, the temptation for Putin to test Natos resilience and effectiveness would be virtually irresistible.

It may well be that Corbyn has finally tested the tolerance of the British people to destruction

A real war  not a cyber war or a Cold War, but an actual shooting war  would become a genuine, if not inevitable, prospect.

Which brings us to the choice facing Labours moderates.

It may well be that Corbyn has finally tested the tolerance of the British people to destruction.

The first polls since his pusillanimous performance have shown a significant and negative public reaction. But we have been here before. And foreign policy issues rarely stick in the public consciousness for long. So now the moderates must finally align their actions and their principles. If, as they have stated, they believe Corbyn threatens the nations security, then they cannot continue to serve under him. They cannot continue to support him via their membership of his party.

And most importantly, they cannot continue to actively work to get him and his pro-Russian fellow travellers into Downing Street.

RESIGNING the whip. Setting up a new party. Tearing up their membership cards. These are no longer options facing Labour moderates. They have become the duty of every Labour moderate.

It is often stated the anti-Corbyn elements within Labour are impotent. But the opposite is true. In reality, Corbyn cannot secure power without them.

Even a small moderate split in the Labour vote would be terminal for him. They essentially exercise a veto over his ascent to power. And the time has come to exercise it.

Tribalism. Party loyalty. Genuine anger at the perceived injustices of the May government. These are all real. But they cannot supersede the primary responsibility of any party that aspires to govern. And that is to protect the nation state from external aggression.

There is no longer any doubt or ambiguity. Last week the charge was validated. Jeremy Corbyn is indeed a threat to our national security. And Labours moderates are now our final line of defence.Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix is pictured. The company was banned from Facebook on Friday over its handling of user data

A data analysis firm employed by President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign tapped the Facebook profiles of more than 50 million users without their permission.

The move allowed Cambridge Analytica to capitalize on the private social media activity of a large portion of the U.S. electorate, developing techniques that underpinned its work on President Trumps campaign in 2016, according to two major reports on Saturday.

One of the largest data leaks in Facebook history allowed Cambridge Analytica, which had ties to Trump campaign strategist Steve Bannon, to develop techniques that formed the basis of its work on the Trump campaign, The New York Times and The Guardian reported.

Facebook said it has suspended Cambridge Analytica- it has also suspended University of Cambridge psychology professor Aleksandr Kogan who created the harvesting app in question; and another individual, Christopher Wylie of Eunoia Technologies (previously employed with Cambride Analytica), who also allegedly received user data from the app.

Wylie, former Cambride Analytica worker, turned whistleblower has become a focal point in the illegitimate acquisitions of the 50million Facebook profiles and user data.

Whistleblower: Christopher Wylie says he assisted in harvesting Facebook users data while working for Cambridge Analytica and they used the data to analyze political proclivities

Trump's campaign hired Cambridge Analytica. The company insists that none of the information it got from Kogan was used for the president's 2016 campaign and that it deleted it all

Wylie, who is now just 28-years-old, and arguably a tech prodigy, told the Guardian he has a paper trail of the harvested 50million-user data, along with receipts, invoices, emails and legal letters  that all support how between June and August of 2014 the Facebook accounts and data had been compromised.

Most damning of all, in 2014, he had a letter from Facebook's own lawyers admitting that Cambridge Analytica had acquired the data illegitimately.

By opening up his records during the time of his employment with Cambridge Analytica, he is breaking a non-disclosure agreement and risks being sued.

Additionally, he is breaking the confidence of Steve Bannon and Robert Mercer, the CEO of Cambridge Analytica.

In 2014, Bannon had become a board member for Cambridge Analytica, and went on to become Trump's chief campaign strategist.

Facebook said it suspended Cambridge Analytica over allegations that it kept the improperly obtained user data after telling Facebook it had been deleted.

In a blog post, Facebook explained that Cambridge Analytica had years ago received user data from a Facebook app that purported to be a psychological research tool, though the firm was not authorized to have the information.

In 2014, the company hired Cambridge professor Dr. Aleksandr Kogan. He obtained information legally from 270,000 Facebook users but then shared it with Cambridge Analytica which was against the rules

Cambridge Analytica later certified in 2015 that it had destroyed the information it had received, according to Facebook, although the social network said it received reports 'several days ago' that not all the data was deleted.

Facebook says it is investigating.

Cambridge Analytica denied wrongdoing in a statement. It said the parent company's SCL Elections unit hired Kogan to undertake 'a large scale research project in the U.S.,' but subsequently deleted all data it received from Kogan's company after learning that Kogan had obtained data in violation of Facebook policies.

According to Cambridge Analytica's parent company, SCL Elections, the firm said none of Kogan's data was used in its 2016 election work for the 'avoidance of doubt.'

Kogan did not immediately reply to an emailed request for comment. Wylie could not immediately be located.

The Facebook blog post, written by deputy general counsel Paul Grewal, cited the 'public prominence' of Cambridge Analytica, called the alleged data retention an 'unacceptable violation of trust' and said the social network will take legal action if necessary to hold all parties 'responsible and accountable for any unlawful behavior.'

Cambridge Analytica is still probably best known for its political work during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. The company claims to build psychological profiles based on personal details from millions of Americans that can categorize individual voters.

It worked for both the primary campaign of Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, and Trump's general-election campaign.

Trump's campaign Saturday denied using the firm's data, saying it relied on the Republican National Committee for its data.

'The campaign used the RNC for its voter data and not Cambridge Analytica,' the campaign said in a statement. 'Using the RNC data was one of the best choices the campaign made. Any claims that voter data were used from another source to support the victory in 2016 are false.'

Cambridge Analytica is backed by the family of billionaire donor Robert Mercer, a hedge fund manager who also supported the Trump campaign and other conservative candidates and causes, including Bannon, the Trump campaign strategist.

Trump campaign officials have downplayed Cambridge Analytica's role, saying they briefly used the company for television advertising and paid some of its most skilled data employees.

The firm had secured a $15 million investment from Mercer and wooed Bannon with the promise of tools that could identify the personalities of American voters and influence their behavior.

Cambridge Analytica did not have the data to make its new products work. So the firm harvested private information from the Facebook profiles of more than 50 million users without their permission.

A representative for Bannon did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment by the Associated Press.

The company has surfaced in the U.S. probes into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. British officials are also investigating the firm in connection with the June 2016 EU referendum.

Steve Bannon became a board member for Cambridge Analytica in about 2014 under it's American shell company

Trump's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, disclosed an advisory role with Cambridge Analytica last August.

SCL later said that position never materialized.

Flynn is cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election interference after pleading guilty to a felony charge.

Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix also disclosed last November that the company reached out to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange during the campaign to request emails related to the campaign of Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Nix said Assange denied the request, which came after Assange had said publicly that he had the emails. Clinton campaign emails stolen by Russian agents are one focus of the election-interference probes.

Nix has denied any involvement in Russian election meddling.

Revelations that Cambridge Analytica misused social media data could also be of interest to Mueller's investigation.

The Conservative mega-donor father-daughter duo Robert and Rebekah Mercer created Cambridge Analytica and also touted Steve Bannon for Trump's campaign

While much of the thrust of special counsel's investigation has been tightly held, Mueller has requested that the firm turn over the emails of any employees who worked on the campaign, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal last year.

Mueller is also looking at the role Wikileaks played in acquiring and making public the stolen Clinton campaign emails.

In 2015, Facebook discovered that Cambridge professor Dr. Kogan had given the information to the company after obtaining it legitimately through an app of his own.

Kogan had an app that had access to 270,000 Facebook profiles which were in fact obtained legally. But the number was too low to adequately gather the psychological profiles of voters.

The app was called This Is Your Digital Life and was downloaded by Facebook users once they had already logged in.

Users willingly submitted their information to This Is Your Digital Life but were unaware what Kogan would do with it next, the site claims.

When Facebook learned that he had shared it with the Cambridge Analytica, they asked both to destroy it.

All assured that they had erased it and they continued using the site.

However several days ago, Facebook claims it received reports that not all of the information was erased.

'We are moving aggressively to determine the accuracy of these claims. If true, this is another unacceptable violation of trust and the commitments they made.

Cambridge Analytica denies the allegation and insisted on Friday that none of the information it received from Kogan was used in the Trump campaign.

'Cambridge Analytica deleted all data received from GSR,' the company said in a statement. GSR stands for Global Science Research, Kogan's company.

'We worked with Facebook over this period to ensure that they were satisfied that we had not knowingly breached any of Facebook's terms of service and also provided a signed statement to confirm that all Facebook data and their derivatives had been deleted.

'No data from GSR was used by Cambridge Analytica as part of the services it provided to the Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign,' its spokesman added.

Last month, Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller requested Cambridge Analytica turn over documents for his probe into potential Russian interference in the election.The mystery of the Salisbury poisoning deepened last night as police admitted they do not know where the Russian spy and his daughter were for four crucial hours.

A fortnight on from the nerve agent attack that shocked the world, dozens of detectives are still trying to establish the movements of Sergei Skripal and daughter Yulia before they were discovered collapsed on a bench.

Scotland Yard issued the first clear photograph of the former double agents car, a burgundy BMW, and asked for the publics help in working out where it was between 9.15am and 1.30pm on Sunday, March 4.

A fortnight on from the nerve agent attack that shocked the world, dozens of detectives are still trying to establish the movements of Sergei Skripal and daughter Yulia before they were discovered collapsed on a bench

Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, Britains counter-terrorism chief, said: We are learning more about Sergei and Yulias movements but we need to be clearer around their exact movements on the morning of the incident. We need to establish Sergei and Yulias movements during the morning, before they headed to the town centre.

About 250 specialist counter- terror officers are working on the case and have taken statements from 400 witnesses, recovered 762 exhibits and trawled through 4,000 hours of CCTV footage. A timeline produced by the Met shows that they know Skripals daughter arrived at Heathrow on a flight from Russia at 2.40pm on Saturday, the day before the attack.

One theory is that the nerve agent Novichok was somehow hidden in her luggage by a hit squad acting on the orders of President Vladimir Putin, so that it would strike Skripal when his daughter unpacked.

At 9.15am the following day, Skripals car was seen on London Road in the north of Salisbury, as the pair visited the cemetery where his wife Liudmila is buried.

Another possibility is that the deadly substance was added to a bouquet of flowers he left at the graveside. That site is now being pored over by forensic experts.

But the car was not seen again until 1.30pm when it was driven along Devizes Road  not far from Skripals home  towards the town centre. Police do not know where Skripal, 66, and his 33-year-old daughter were in the intervening hours  and so do not know if it was then that they were exposed to the nerve agent.

From 1.30pm onwards, there is more evidence about their location.

They left the BMW at the Sainsburys car park in the Maltings shopping centre at 1.40pm, went to the Bishops Mill pub in the town centre and arrived at the Zizzi restaurant at 2.20pm.

Scotland Yard issued the first clear photograph of the former double agents car, a burgundy BMW, and asked for the publics help in working out where it was between 9.15am and 1.30pm on Sunday, March 4

They left at 3.35pm and it was at 4.15pm when emergency services were called after a member of the public saw them slumped on a bench in the mall and having convulsions. Yulia and her father  a military intelligence officer in Russia who was jailed for selling secrets to MI6 but who moved to Britain after being freed in a Cold War-style spy swap  remain in a critical but stable condition in Salisbury District Hospital. However, Sergeant Nick Bailey, one of the first policemen who attended to them and who was also exposed to the nerve agent, is no longer in a critical condition.

Lorna Wilkinson, director of nursing at Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust, said: The news about the improvement in Sergeant Baileys health is very welcome.

I want to thank all our staff who have been working tirelessly to give outstanding care to him, as they do with all our patients.

Salisbury hit by Russian cyber attack

Council officials have been blocked from accessing their emails amid fears that Russian hackers are trying to infiltrate and disrupt the police probe into the Salisbury nerve agent attack.

Wiltshire County Council  which provides all IT services to Wiltshire Police  last night confirmed it had taken the drastic action after seeing increased activity from hackers.

Two well-placed sources told The Mail on Sunday the councils IT system has been probed repeatedly since Wednesday.

A spokesman for the National Cyber Security Centre, which is part of the Governments intelligence agency GCHQ (pictured), said it was providing security advice to the council

A spokesman for the National Cyber Security Centre, which is part of the Governments intelligence agency GCHQ, said it was providing security advice to the council.

A police spokesman said: We have been kept fully informed of the planned maintenance work. There has been no data breach to our forces IT system.

One senior council official said: There have been repeated cyber attack attempts since Wednesday.

On Friday, our IT people shut down all mobile phone and tablet access to our emails and the suspicion is that we have come under attack from Russian hackers. Another source said: Its a nightmare trying to get work done if youre not in the office because you cant access your emails. Various systems have been shut off to protect us from hackers.

Last year officials at the Houses of Parliament took the same action to block remote access to staff emails when hackers made repeated attempts to guess the passwords of 9,000 accounts.

Wiltshire Council receives 5 million a year to operate and manage all of Wiltshire Polices IT systems. The deal has been in place since 2012.

A council spokesman said it had been planning to introduce new security measures, but had brought them forward because of the Salisbury attack.A Canadian computer expert who studied fashion trends in university created the powerful software tool which harvested 50 million Facebook profiles and is credited with electing Donald Trump and passing Brexit.

Christopher Wylie, 27, developed software for London-based Cambridge Analytica which was able to use the data gleaned from the social media giant to target the users and manipulate their prejudices.

Speaking to the Observer, Wylie said: 'We exploited Facebook to harvest millions of people's profiles. And built models to exploit what we knew about them and target their inner demons. That was the basis the entire company was built on.'

Christopher Wylie, pictured, has blown the whistle on Cambridge Analytica and the extent to which they exploited Facebook to harvest millions of people's profiles

Cambridge Analytica is accused of using 50 million Facebook profiles to build a software program to predict and influence the choices of people at the ballot box. As a result, Facebook has suspended the London-based firm from their social network

Prior to Donald Trump's election, Cambridge Analytica was headed by Steve Bannon, pictured

Wylie, when aged 21, worked for the Liberal Democrats while studying at the London School of Economics and pitched them his software for targeting voters. He said he had developed a way for the party to find new supporters.

He said the party, which was still in coalition with the Conservatives, listened to his pitch, but thought he was 'too pessimistic' about their chances at the 2015 election.

He predicted they would lose half of their seats at the subsequent election, when they only returned to Westminster with eight.

After being rebuffed by the party, a contact in the Lib Dems put Wylie in contact with a company which went on to form Cambridge Analytica - which was funded by US right wing hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer.

According to The Observer, Wylie was first introduced to Steve Bannon in autumn 2013. Bannon who was editor-in-chief of Breitbart at the time was sent to the UK by Robert Mercer to assist Nigel Farage in removing Britain from the European Union.

Bannon met with Wylie to assess his product.

'He [Bannon] got it immediately. He believes in the whole Andrew Breitbart doctrine that politics is downstream from culture, so to change politics you need to change culture. And fashion trends are a useful proxy for that. Trump is like a pair of Uggs, or Crocs, basically. So how do you get from people thinking "Ugh. Totally ugly" to the moment when everyone is wearing them. That was the inflection point he was looking for.'

After meeting Bannon, Wylie was flown to New York and introduced to Mercer and his daughter Rebekah in her Manhattan apartment.

He said: 'In politics, the money man is usually the dumbest person in the room. Whereas it's the opposite way around with Mercer. He said very little, but he really listened. He wanted to understand the science. And he wanted proof that it worked.'

Bannon was sent to London by Robert Mercer in 2013 to meet with Nigel Farage to assist him in securing a Brexit referendum to remove Britain from the European Union

The company claimed they could target ads at individual people based on their social media profiles and play on their prejudices.

The claims raise questions over the 2016 Brexit referendum as Cambridge Analytica, which claims it only pitched to work on the Leave.EU campaign funded by Ukip backer Arron Banks, is already part of an investigation by the Information Commissioners Office.

In an interview with Channel 4, Mr Wylie told the broadcaster: 'Imagine I go and ask you: I say, "Hey, if I give you a dollar, two dollars, could you fill up this survey for me, just do it on this app", and you say, "Fine".

'I dont just capture what your responses are, I capture all of the information about you from Facebook, but also this app then crawls through your social network and captures all that data also.

'By you filling out my survey, I capture 300 records on average.

'And so that means that, all of a sudden, I only need to engage 50,000, 70,000, 100,000 people to get a really big data set really quickly, and its scaled really quickly.

'We were able to get upwards of 50 million-plus Facebook records in the span of a couple of months.'

He added that 'almost none' of the individuals knew about how their data was used.

Chief Executive of Cambridge Analytica Alexander Nix, pictured, denied his firm worked along with Leave.EU during the Brexit referendum although said they did hold talks

Cambridge Analytica could then tailor specific political adverts to small groups of people, already knowing what their likes and interests were, it is alleged.

Cambridge Analytica denied working on behalf of Nigel Farage's Leave.EU organisation.

Addressing MPs last month, the company's chief executive Alexander Nix admitted the firm held exploratory meetings with the campaign.

Appearing before the Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, he said: 'We didnt get hitched. We dated each other. We had a couple of dinners but we didnt get married.'

However, Leave.EU co-founder Arron Banks, who wrote in his book on the referendum campaign that they had 'hired' Cambridge Analytica in 2015 to 'develop messages' for target voters.

Writing on Twitter as the hearing was ongoing, Mr Banks said: 'CA wanted a fee of 1m to start work & then said they would raise 6m in the states. We declined the offer because it was illegal.'

However, Arron Banks, pictured, who bankrolled the Leave.EU campaign claimed in his book, The Bad Boys of Brexit, he had 'hired' Cambridge Analytica to 'target voters'

Asked about his online comments by the committee chairman Damian Collins, Mr Nix said they were 'absolutely incorrect'.

'Mr Banks is at liberty to say what he likes but I dont have to agree with it. That is totally untrue,' he said.

Mr Nix told the committee  which is inquiring into 'fake news'  that Cambridge Analytica had been linked with Leave.EU as a result of a statement issued 'erroneously' by a 'slightly over zealous PR' saying they would be working together on the referendum.

He said: 'Unfortunately and ironically this was an example of fake news that got disseminated virally. By the time it had penetrated the internet it became a matter of fact even though there was no fact behind it.'

Mr Nix was repeatedly challenged by MPs over the claims in Mr Bankss book, The Bad Boys Of Brexit, and about the appearance of a Cambridge Analytica employee at a Leave.EU press conference, but insisted they had never worked together.

'We did not work for Leave.EU. We have not undertaken any paid nor unpaid work for them,' he said.

He said that he was unaware Leave.EU had included Cambridge Analytica in its unsuccessful bid to the Electoral Commission to be designated the lead the Leave campaign in the referendum.

'I can only assume that they felt by associating themselves and aligning themselves with Cambridge Analytica that would give them extra credibility and leverage in trying to compete in a bid where they were clearly the underdogs,' he said.

Cambridge Analytica is also credited with targeting US social media users with specific adverts promoting Donald Trump's candidacy as president during the 2016 election

Commissioner Elizabeth Denham told The Mail on Sunday: We are investigating the circumstances in which Facebook data may have been illegally acquired and used. Its part of our ongoing investigation into the use of data analytics for political purposes.

According to The New York Times and The Guardian, one of the largest data leaks in Facebook history allowed Cambridge Analytica, which had ties to Trump campaign strategist Steve Bannon, to develop techniques that formed the basis of its work on the Trump campaign.

Facebook said it suspended Cambridge Analytica over allegations that it kept the improperly obtained user data after telling Facebook it had been deleted. It has also suspended Wylie's access to the network.

In a blog post, Facebook explained that Cambridge Analytica had years ago received user data from a Facebook app that purported to be a psychological research tool, though the firm was not authorized to have the information. Roughly 270,000 people downloaded and shared personal details with the app.

Cambridge Analytica later certified in 2015 that it had destroyed the information it had received, according to Facebook, although the social network said it received reports 'several days ago' that not all the data was deleted. Facebook says it is investigating.

Cambridge Analytica is probably best known for its political work during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. Although, it was also involved in the Bexit campaign, according to Wylie.

The company claims to build psychological profiles based on personal details.

Wylie has passed on his information about Cambridge Analytica's alleged involvement in the Brexit referendum to the National Crime Agency's cybercrime unit and the Information Commissioner's Office.

A spokesperson for Cambridge Analytica told MailOnline: 'Cambridge Analytica fully complies with Facebooks terms of service and is currently in touch with Facebook following its recent statement that it had suspended the company from its platform, in order to resolve this matter as quickly as possible.

'Cambridge Analytica's Commercial and Political divisions use social media platforms for outward marketing, delivering data-led and creative content to targeted audiences. They do not use or hold data from Facebook profiles.

'In 2014, we contracted a company led by a seemingly reputable academic at an internationally-renowned institution to undertake a large scale research project in the United States.

'This company, Global Science Research (GSR), was contractually committed by us to only obtain data in accordance with the UK Data Protection Act and to seek the informed consent of each respondent. GSR was also contractually the Data Controller (as per Section 1(1) of the Data Protection Act) for any collected data. GSR obtained Facebook data via an API provided by Facebook.

'When it subsequently became clear that the data had not been obtained by GSR in line with Facebooks terms of service, Cambridge Analytica deleted all data received from GSR.

'We worked with Facebook over this period to ensure that they were satisfied that we had not knowingly breached any of Facebooks terms of service and also provided a signed statement to confirm that all Facebook data and their derivatives had been deleted.

'No data from GSR was used by Cambridge Analytica as part of the services it provided to the Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign.

'Cambridge Analytica only receives and uses data that has been obtained legally and fairly. Our robust data protection policies comply with US, international, European Union, and national regulations.'

MailOnline has approached Facebook for a comment.Sunbathers flocked to Sydney's beaches amid a sweltering autumn heatwave.

The CBD, Parramatta, Blacktown, Canterbury and Campbelltown saw the mercury creep above 40C this afternoon.

The scorching temperatures are 15C above average for autumn and made Sunday the hottest March day in Sydney for 14 years.

Even the eastern beaches saw temperatures as high as 39C as north-westerly winds counteract any sea breeze.

Sydney experienced 40C heat on Sunday afternoon. Pictured: Bondi Beach

Sun-seekers pose on Bondi Beach as they enjoy the sweltering temperatures in Sydney

Busy: Hundreds of swimmers took to the waves to cool off in the extreme temperatures

Sunbathers flocked to Sydney's beaches amid a sweltering autumn heatwave. Pictured: Sun-seekers on the beach

Having a splash: Hundreds took to the waves to cool off amid scorching autumn temperatures

Smile: Sunbathers took selfies on the beach as others played in the waves at Bondi

Safety first: Sunbathers applied plenty of cream to avoid being burnt in the scorching heat

The CBD as well as Parramatta, Blacktown, Canterbury and Campbelltown will see the mercury creep above 40C this afternoon. Pictured: Revellers enjoying the heat

Swimmers splash in the waves on Bondi Beach as the mercury tips 40C on Sunday

The scorching temperatures are 15C above average for autumn and make Sunday the hottest March day in Sydney for 14 years. Pictured: Beach-goers out in the sun

This map shows the extraordinary temperatures forecast for NSW on Sunday

This map shows how hot air from the north is bringing searing temperatures across the country

Glorious: Sunbathers are flocking to Sydney's beaches amid a sweltering autumn heatwave

On duty: Life guards had a busy day ahead as they patrolled the beach on Sunday morning

Two lifeguards look out at the water's edge as hundreds of revellers play in the waves on Bondi

One woman played in the waves at Bondi Beach while another posed next to a sign

Normally there's a big difference between the CBD and western Sydney because of the sea breeze, but the north-westerly winds are expected to be so strong on Sunday that there will be no sea breeze felt anywhere

That's the idea! One woman was sprawled out on top of some surf boards on the Bondi sand

'Normally there's a big difference between the CBD and western Sydney because of the sea breeze, but the north-westerly winds are expected to be so strong on Sunday that there will be no sea breeze felt anywhere,' Weatherzone meteorologist Jessica Miskelly told news.com.au.

Brisbane will see highs of 30 degrees with the remnants of tropical cyclone Linda causing dangerous surf and high tides along the Queensland coast.

Melburnians are also in for some high temperatures with a max of 27 degrees on Sunday.

Adelaide is set for relatively mild 22C along with some showers. Canberra will see the mercury hit 33C while Hobart will enjoy 27C and Darwin will roast in 31C heat.

The west coast is not enjoying such heat with Perth foretasted to sit in the low 20s - welcome relief after recent hot spells.

There is also a storm warning for the northern coast of WA as Tropical Cyclone Marcus makes its way down from Darwin where it brought 130km/h winds and left 25,000 homes without power.

Packed: Umbrellas could be seen all over Bondi Beach as people tried to create some shade

Even the eastern beaches could see temperatures as high as 39C as north-westerly winds counteract any sea breeze

A woman paddles in the water while enjoying the hot autumn temperatures on Sunday

Two dogs play with a tennis ball in the sea. Brisbane will see highs of 30 degrees with the remnants of tropical cyclone Linda causing dangerous surf and high tides along the Queensland coast

Melburnians are also in for some high temperatures with a max of 27 degrees on Sunday

Strong winds along with high temperatures and lack of rain will also increase the bushfire danger across NSW, Victoria, and South Australia. Pictured sunbathers at the beach

Western Sydney will be particularly hard hit with temperatures reaching 39 degrees on Sunday

Bondi Beach was packed on as sunbathers enjoyed the late summer heat

The beaches were packed with sunbathers as revellers enjoyed the hot autumn temperatures

Three women posed by the railings at Bondi Beach in the extreme heat on Sunday

Strong winds along with high temperatures and lack of rain will also increase the bushfire danger across NSW, Victoria, and South Australia.

Authorities are so worried about bushfires they have put in place a total fire ban in parts of Victoria and New South Wales on Sunday.

CFA State Duty Officer Greg Christison said 'the declaration should act as a reminder that the summer fire season is not over and that we need to remain vigilant and be prepared.

'Hot and windy conditions could make it difficult for firefighters to suppress a fire should one start, therefore we are asking people to take heed of the Total Fire Ban conditions,' Mr Christison said.

'People need to be aware of the increased fire danger and ensure your fire plan covers all possible contingencies.'

Strong winds along with high temperatures and lack of rain will also increase the bushfire danger across NSW, Victoria, and South Australia. Pictured: Victoria fire warning map

. Authorities are so worried about bushfires they have put in place a total fire ban in parts of Victoria and New South Wales on Sunday. Pictured: NSW fire warning map

The hot temperatures and fine weather are expected to last all weekend. Pictured: Sunbathers on Bondi BeachPolice officers investigating the child sex abuse scandal in Telford have revealed that courts orders against more then 20 suspects were discarded.

The victims of the abuse were failed because the cases were allegedly 'too much trouble'.

The horrified officers also believe that more convictions would have been made if the abuse cases in Telford were linked to each other at the time.

The officers revealed the 'huge' scale of the abuse, coming forward after Superintendent Tom Harding, of West Mercia Police, cast doubt on reports that victims could number 1,000.

It comes as West Mercia Police confirmed a 'small number of victims' have come forward in the wake of the reports.

The mother of Becky Watson (pictured) said she gave police a list of more than ten suspects but claims the list was handed back to her

One whistleblower told the Sunday Mirror: 'I don't think it's beyond the realms of possibility at all.

'I wouldn't be surprised. It was the tip of the iceberg.'

The officers said police were overwhelmed by the scale of the abuse and that, in one case, a derelict building near Birmingham was filled with women that were abused by men brought in by mini buses.

They also said that they were frustrated that so few of the predators, predominantly from the town's Pakistani Muslim community, were jailed.

The officer said: 'At one point we had 70 cases and one victim had close to 100 offenders.

'Many officers were frustrated because the CPS was treating the cases as separate when we knew they were linked.'

The officers have come forward after Supt Tom Harding of West Mercia Police (pictured), disputed that the number of victims were more than 1,000

The mother of an abused girl who died supported the officers' claims after she revealed that she had given police a three-page list of suspects.

She also claimed that nothing was done with her list.

She said that her daughter and 13-year-old were in a car driven by abusers that was allegedly stopped by police before being allowed to continue.

In response, Assistant Chief Constable Martin Evans denied court orders were stopped because they'd be too much work.

However, one of the whistleblowers said that police had 'lots' of people they suspected of abuse but didn't put them before court.

They said that the Sexual Risk Orders, which would cause suspects to be tightly monitored, were considered too much work.

The officer said: 'It would have been a lot of work but what price do we put on protecting these kids?'

Becky Watts is one of five people linked to the abusers who has died, including Lucy Lowe (pictured) who died in a house fire at the age of 16

The court orders were considered for suspects identified by cops as part of a 2012 investigation called Operation Chalice which saw just seven people jailed.

West Mercia's Assistant Chief Constable Martin Evans explained that the orders were not pursued because they didn't want the victims to face their abusers in court, among other reasons.

These latest claims come after the mother of Becky Watson, 13, said she gave police a list of more than 10 abusers months before her daughter died in a car accident.

But she says the police handed the list back to her, leaving her angry and frustrated.

One staff member allegedly told her 'she's not being battered or anything like that'.

Becky Watts was among five people linked to the abusers who has died, including Lucy Lowe who died in a house fire alongside her mother and sister.A 22-year-old drug using father-of-one died of a heroin overdose as he sat next to his own dad while watching television, just weeks before his baby daughter was born.

Jordan Anderson had told family and friends he was longing to meet his 'princess' baby daughter but was found dead on his father's sofa in west Hull last October.

Mr Anderson had spent the evening watching films with his father before falling asleep. Despite his father's desperate attempts to wake him the next morning, he was pronounced dead.

Jordan Anderson had told family and friends he was longing to meet his 'princess' baby daughter but was found dead on his father's sofa in west Hull last October. The 22-year-old father-of-one died of a heroin overdose as he sat next to his own dad while watching television

Mr Anderson's father, John Mellors, said his son had a history of drug taking but had limited himself to mephedrone and cannabis.

He said his son had come to his house with the relaxant drug Valium but did not know his son had also taken heroin as they sat down to watch a film.

He said: 'I could see him falling asleep so I asked him if he wanted to go to bed but he said he was fine on the sofa. I went to bed about 3.30am and got a blanket for him.'

The next morning at about 10am, Jordan's lifeless body was discovered by his father, who said he desperately tried to revive his son.

His father said: 'I slapped him and said to get up. I tried again but felt he was stiff.

'I tried to call 999 but I struggled because my phone is new and I tried with his phone but it was locked. I ran to my neighbours and they called 999 for me.'

Mr Anderson had spent the evening watching films with his father before falling asleep. Despite his father's desperate attempts to wake him the next morning, he was pronounced dead

Pathologists said he died from a heroin overdose. None of his family at the inquest said they knew he had taken the drug.

The inquest heard Mr Anderson, of Fountain Road, Hull, was a good dad to his young son, Jordon Junior, and tributes poured into him after his death, with friends saying he 'always had a smile on his face'.

His partner of seven years, Lauren Gowen, previously told the Hull Daily Mail: 'Jordan was so loving and respectful.

'He was a brilliant dad to our little boy and he would have been the same to our daughter. Both of our children are going to grow up knowing all about him.'

Pathologists said he died from a heroin overdose. None of his family at the inquest said they knew he had taken the drug

In a statement read out to court, Mr Anderson's mother, Linda Armstrong said: 'Jordan was a happy little boy and loved going to nursery and school. At first, we moved around a lot because of the abusive relationship me and his father had, which he saw.

'It hit him hard when my dad died and he started taking weed and M-Cat. He had been diagnosed with ADHD, anxiety and depression.

'The last time I saw him before his death was when I had bought him a new tracksuit. I was in town with my daughter when I got a call from Lauren from her parents.

'My first thought was that he was at the hospital but when I got there there was no record of him, a lady there called a taxi for me and when we got to the flat a policeman told me he had died.

'He would do anything for his friends and family and couldn't wait to meet his daughter.'

Linda, who is also mum to Shannon, 15, and Jayden, eight, previously paid tribute to her eldest son.

'Jordan liked to party with his mates, but when he found out they were having a little girl, he told me, "I have to calm down a bit now. I need to look after her," what Jordan said, he meant.'

In a post shared to Facebook, his sister said: 'He always had a massive smile on his face and always knew how to make a bad situation good.

'It doesn't seem real, I feel like he is gonna walk through the door. Every time I close my eyes I see you there with your cheeky smile and your chip in your tooth.'

Other family members told how Jordan's death had left 'a big hole' in the lives of his family and many friends.

Summarising, HM area coroner, Rosemary Baxter said: 'There were no suspicious circumstances involved in his death. He died after taking a fatal heroin overdose.

'I have listened to the evidence carefully in this sad case and have recorded on balance a conclusions that his death was drug-related.

'My last word, as always is with the family and I would like to extend to them my own personal condolences.'A protester has planted a note inside a Sydney supermarket urging shoppers to 'refuse plastic.'

The note was spotted by a customer at Summer Hill IGA, in Sydney's inner west, on Saturday afternoon.

'A moment on the lips a lifetime on the planet. REFUSE PLASTIC,' the note reads.

A protester has planted a note inside a Sydney supermarket urging shoppers to 'refuse plastic'

The note was spotted by a customer at Summer Hill IGA, in Sydney's inner west, on Saturday afternoon

The vigilante style note was found in the bakery section, on top of cookies in plastic containers.

It was placed in plain sight of hundreds of shoppers. It is not known how long the handwritten note had been there.

In response, a spokesperson for IGA said: 'IGA Stores are independently owned and operated. As such, each store will manage its own recycling program.

'That's why Metcash and IGA are phasing out the use of single use plastic shopping bags across all our Distribution Centres and IGA stores by 30 June 2018. We are also conducting food and general waste audits across our NSW stores to identify the source of waste and implement strategies to reduce it.

'We will continue to reduce and eliminate plastic across all our operations in an ongoing effort to minimize our environmental impact.'

The overuse of plastic in supermarkets has been a source of contention among Australian consumers.

An image of the bananas, stacked on pallets inside the Australian supermarket, was posted to Reddit and quickly attracted comments

Just last week Woolworths was slammed for packaging bananas in plastic

Just last week Woolworths was slammed for packaging bananas in plastic.

An image of the bananas, stacked on pallets inside the Australian supermarket, was posted to Reddit and quickly attracted comments.

'Bananas now need packaging it seems,' the user posted online.

'They come already pre-packaged by nature!' someone replied.

Many lamented the overuse of plastic packaging, claiming the packaging had nothing to do with freshness and more to do with the supermarket giant maximizing profits.

Both Woolworths and Coles said they use the plastic packaging to ensure the food stayed in fresh conditions on the shelves.Tunisian police used tear gas on Sunday to disperse dozens of protesters demanding jobs and development in a mining town in the centre of the country, an AFP correspondent said.

"Work, freedom, national dignity," protesters chanted in Mdhilla, demanding that a portion of revenues produced from phosphate mining in the region be allocated to its development.

Tensions began on Friday following a ministerial meeting aimed at finding solutions to the mining basin's economic crisis.

On Saturday night, police fired tear gas at protesters who tried to block trains that were transporting phosphate.

Sunday's protest, attended by many young men and women, broke down into clashes after some demonstrators threw stones at police, who again used tear gas to disperse the crowd.

Although rich in phosphate -- which is used to make fertilisers -- Tunisia's mining basin is one of the poorest regions in the country, and social unrest is common.

Phosphate production, a key sector of the Tunisian economy, resumed earlier this month after protests blocked exports at mines for nearly six weeks.

Friday's ministerial meeting in Tunisia's Gafsa region, attended by Finance Minister Ridha Chalghoum, came in response to accusations by residents that the state was "absent".

But the measures announced at the end of the meeting, including the construction of a power station, were deemed insufficient by protesters, who reacted with road blocks.

The Gafsa Phosphate Company (GPC) is one of the world's leading phosphate producers. Its chief mines are in the towns of Metlaoui, Redeyef, Om Laarayes and Mdhilla.

The mining basin was the theatre of a 2008 insurrection brutally put down by former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Short link:

The BBC has cancelled plans to switch off FM radio broadcasts and force millions of listeners to tune into digital transmissions.

The corporation is set to announce FM will remain as part of a 'hybrid' future that will operate alongside DAB and the internet.

Bob Shennan, the director of BBC radio and music, will confirm the scrapping tomorrow, The Daily Telegraph reports.

He will also urge broadcasters to work together to ensure the survival of radio, saying Government plants to switch of analogue broadcast could restrict listeners' choice.

The corporation is set to announce FM will remain as part of a 'hybrid' future that will operate alongside DAB and the internet

'We all once thought that DAB was the only digital future of radio, but audiences want choice,' Mr Shennan will tell a radio industry conference in Vienna.

'We now know DAB is important, but only part of the story, along with FM and the internet. We need to do more before we consider a switchover in the UK, and for that to be genuinely audience-led.'

Analogue radio was originally set to begin turning off in 2015 under Government plans.

Mr Shennan will add that broadcasters should keep transmitting analogue signals to protect traditional strongholds of radio listening, such as in cars

But a weak take-up of DAB meant the plans were scrapped and ministers said a switchover would begin after digital audiences accounted for half of overall listening.

That threshold has already passed - with DAB accounting for 36 per cent and the internet leading digital audience with more than 50 per cent.

Last year commercial stations gained a higher shared of the population than the BBC for the first time.

Mr Shennan will add that broadcasters should keep transmitting analogue signals to protect traditional strongholds of radio listening, such as in cars.

Mr Shennan's appeal for commercial rivals in the radio industry to work together indicates an increasing fear at the BBC over the ever-widening choice for audiences online

Newer cars offer online streaming to apps including Spotify and Apple Music and are also connected to mobile internet.

The proliferation of faster 5G intenet 'has the potential to transform radio again', Mr Shennan will add.

Mr Shennan's appeal for commercial rivals in the radio industry to work together indicates an increasing fear at the BBC over the ever-widening choice for audiences online.

It comes after BBC deputy director general Anne Bulford asked the commercial television industry for greater collaboration to tackle the threat from Netlfix and Amazon.

Rare letters written in Charles Dickens's own hand may reveal the true inspiration for Wackford Squeers, the cruel headmaster of Dotheboys Hall in Nicholas Nickleby.

Scholars have argued over the teacher's inspiration. But this Thursday a revealing letter, stamped with Dickens's seal, will go up for sale in New York.

Detailing his research into the character who would become Squeers, Dickens describes his inspiration for the barbaric head teacher.

The newly uncovered letter reveals a new inspiration for the fictitious Wackford Squeers

He suggests a Mr Twycross of Winton Hall in Westmoreland, an area now in Cumbria.

The letter was addressed to a Lord Robert Grosvenor and was sent in July 1838.

In the communication Dickens writes: 'Mr Squeers and Dotheboys Hall were originally suggested to [Dickens] by such advertisements as Lord Robert Grosvenor has had the kindness to enclose.'

Dickens adds he had visited the neighbourhood of Mr Twycross 'in the course of a little tour among the Yorkshire schools' he made the previous winter, reported The Guardian.

This balks the academic consensus that William Shaw of Bowes Academy in Yorkshire was the true inspiration for the dastardly figure.

Historically Shaw has been seen as the mostly likely candidate in part because he shares initials with the fictional man.

Jim Broadbent plays the cruel headmaster in a 2002 version of Nicholas Nickleby

There is also evidence Dicken met him during a trip to Yorkshire before starting the novel.

Moving undercover, he visited Bowes Academy near Barnard Castle, County Durham, and met Shaw - who had previously been convicted of negligence in 1823 after eight boys in his care went blind.

The letter is written in Dickens's handwriting and features his personal stamp

Another letter published at the time, addressed to the Irish novelist Anna Maria Hall, seems to support this theory.

In it Dickens explains how he deliberately watered down the horror of the story in his new novel 'rather than disgust and weary the reader with its fouler aspects'.

In another twist, 17 years ago the great-great-grandson of Shaw, an engineer called Ted, tried to get to the bottom of his relative's somewhat unfortunate connection to the fictional headmaster.

He argued his forebear was in fact not the inspiration for the man depicted in Dickens' novel - even though he also wore a patch over one eye.

He contended the suggestion Shaw's school was as bad as Dotheboys ruined the man's life.

Despite these glimpses into the inner workings of Dickens's mind, it seems doubtful the true inspiration will ever be clear.

The letter addressed to Lord Grosvenor is due to go on sale at Swann Auction Galleries with an estimate of $3,500-$5,000.A data company with ties to the Trump campaign had previously undisclosed business ties with Russian entities before the 2016 presidential election, it has been claimed.

Company documents and interviews with individuals working at the data firm Cambridge Analytica made the revelation to The New York Times.

During a hearing at the British parliament last month, Alexander Nix, head of SCL Group, a British political and defense contractor, and chief executive of its American offshoot, Cambridge Analytica, denied that it consulted with Russian government officials or individuals before the election.

During a hearing at the British parliament last month, chief executive of Cambridge Analytica Alexander Nix (pictured) denied that it consulted with Russians

The logo of OAO Lukoil on display outside the company's headquarters in Moscow, Russia

'We've never worked in Russia,' Nix told UK lawmakers. 'As far as I'm aware, we've never worked for a Russian company.

'We've never worked with a Russian organization in Russia or any other country, and we don't have any relationship with Russia or Russian individuals,' he added.

But former employees at the firm told the Times that contact was made in 2014 and 2015 with executives from the Russian oil giant Lukoil, including head of the Vagit Alekperov.

Lukoil is not a state-owned company, but Vagit Alekperov (pictured) is known to have contacts with the Kremlin and has met with Russia's president on numerous occasions

According to the Times report, senior officials at Lukoil were interested in how data was used to target American voters, and held at least three meetings with the top brass of Cambridge Analytical in London and Turkey.

In response to the accusations, SCL and Lukoil denied that the meetings were political in nature. Moreover, SCL denied any meetings were held in the UK capital.

At the time of the alleged contact, Cambridge Analytica was busy collecting the online information of 50 million Facebook users while building a roster of Republican clients.

The online profiles, Cambridge Analytica said, would be used to diagnostically assess the voting behavior of American citizens.

Surveys conducted by the data firm in 2014 on American focus groups also asked extensive questions on Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Times reported.

America's newspaper of record also said that it has reviewed two SCL promotional documents that say it does business with Russia.

At the time of the contact, Cambridge Analytica was busy collecting the online information of 50 million Facebook users

Cambridge Analytica had ties with the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election

SCL later said that an employee had done 'commercial work' about 25 years ago 'for a private company in Russia.'

Earlier this month, Democrats on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence said it needed more information on the company after Nix turned over a number of documents pertaining to the firm's work during the election.

'It is imperative to interview a broader range of individuals employed by or linked to Cambridge Analytica,' Democrats said in a report.

Lukoil is not a state-owned company, but Alekperov is known to have contacts with the Kremlin and has met with Russia's President Vladimir Putin (pictured) on numerous occasions

Christopher Wylie, who help launch Cambridge Analytica off the ground and developed its voter targeting technology, told the Times that Lukoil was primarily interested in how to craft messages to American social media users.

'I remember being super confused,' Wylie, who took part in a number of meetings, said.

'I kept asking [Nix], 'Can you explain to me what they want?' he continued. 'I don't understand why Lukoil wants to know about political targeting in America.'

'We're sending them stuff about political targeting  they then come and ask more about political targeting... just didn't seem to be interested' in how the techniques could be used commercially, he added.

Wylie left the company while talks with Lukoil were still being conducted after a falling out with SCL executives. A second person with knowledge of the discussions confirmed to the Times Wylie's version of events, but demanded anonymity because of a confidentiality agreement.

Lukoil is not a state-owned company, but Alekperov is known to have contacts with the Kremlin and has met with Russia's president on numerous occasions.David Carroll, a professor at the New School's Parsons School of Design, filed his request on Friday to have Cambridge Analytica UK hand over their data on him

A professor from New York has filed a claim in a British court against a data company that worked for Donald Trump during his presidential campaign, which could potentially provide insight into how online propaganda was used on the American people.

David Carroll, a professor at the New School's Parsons School of Design, filed his request on Friday to have Cambridge Analytica hand over all the data they have on him.

Last year, Carroll used a British data protection law to obtain data the UK branch of the company had on him.

He claims the file that Cambridge has on him was unsettling and raised numerous concerns. The data ranked Carroll's views on a scale of one to 10, looking to determine where he stood on relevant issues including 'traditional social and moral values.'

'If you just go by the topics, they are ranked in a way that demographics alone can't explain,' Carroll explained to CNN about how the company wouldn't disclose how they got to those conclusions.

A registered Democrat, the company scored him nine out of 10 on a 'traditional social and moral values importance rank.' But he feels like the rank could have caused him to be fed information that 'negatively affected my sentiment about [Clinton's] candidacy'

'Just by using my age and gender and zip code, they can't get such an accurate list. There has to be more.'

He wants all of the data and the source of the data.

In December, the company stated that Carroll's claims 'are unfounded, and unfortunately, he is wasting other people's money with this spurious legal action,' Mother Jones reported.

'Cambridge Analytica abides by all relevant data protection laws and, just as importantly, the company's core values of integrity, respect and honesty. Data privacy is a fundamental right and one that Cambridge Analytica takes very seriously.'

The request at the British courts also includes Cambridge Analytica's parent company, Strategic Communication Laboratories.

Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix claimed that Americans are required to have that information shared with them

'In particular, I am concerned that I may have been targeted with messages that criticized Secretary Hillary Clinton with falsified or exaggerated information,' he said in a written statement to the court, adding that then 'negatively affected my sentiment about her candidacy and consequently discouraged me from engaging with the Clinton campaign as a formal or informal volunteer.'

His lawyer, Ravi Naik, added on Friday: 'Our client has every confidence that the court will order disclosure so that he and the American electorate can begin to understand how their data was used in the 2016 election. The recent wider revelations about Cambridge Analytica/SCL show how crucial it is for our client to have a full understanding of what these companies were doing.'

British law allows for persons to submit 'subject access' requests that must be acknowledged by the company in 40 days.

The organization in question has to provide a copy of the data, the source of the data and if that information was given elsewhere.

Facebook announced, on Friday, that both Cambridge Analytica and Strategic Communication Laboratories were suspended after reports brought into question how the two handled the social media platform's data

'It was pretty experimental at the beginning,' Carroll explained, ' I was studying the practice of ad targeting from the primaries and through the campaign because it was interesting to me from an academic perspective.'

The professor was surprised to find that the company responded to his own request, a few weeks after he sent it on January 2017.

Carroll touts himself as a registered Democrat and added that the company did correctly infer what some of his views was.

He says the company scored him nine out of 10 on a 'traditional social and moral values importance rank.' But he's determined to find how that rank was deduced.

A company spokesperson for Cambridge denied violating terms for Facebook and added that they are in talks with the social media site to rectify the problem. They added that there was no data obtained from Global Science Research that was given to Trump's campaign

Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix explained, earlier this month, that there was no legislation in the United States that offered support for what Carroll and many Americans would like to know.

But that sentiment was soon shattered when UK's data commissioner concluded that Americans could obtain information pertaining to themselves if the data was processed in United Kingdom.

Facebook announced, on Friday, that both Cambridge Analytica and Strategic Communication Laboratories were suspended after reports brought into question how the two handled the social media platform's data.

A company spokesperson for Cambridge denied violating terms for Facebook and added that they are in talks with the social media site to rectify the problem.

They added that there was no date obtained from Global Science Research that was given to Trump's campaign.More than 50 firefighters have been tackling a large fire at a mill in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester.

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service were called to Ray Mill at 11.43pm on Saturday.

It is not yet known what may have caused the fire.

Emergency: Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service were called to Ray Mill in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester, at 11.43pm on Saturday

Ray Mill is owned by Universal Garments International, a company which supplies clothes for major high street retailers, according to their website.

Incident Commander Billy Fenwick told Manchester Evening News: 'This mill is well alight but our firefighters are working hard to bring it under control.'A London-based company accused of 'harvesting' 50 million Facebook profiles may have targeted voters ahead of the Brexit referendum.

A whistleblower who developed software for Cambridge Analytica - which worked with Donald Trump on his 2016 election campaign - said Steve Bannon flew to London in 2013 to meet with Nigel Farage to help secure a Brexit vote.

Christopher Wylie, 27, developed software for the company which was able to use the data gleaned from the social media giant to target the users and manipulate their prejudices.

Cambridge Analytics whistleblower Christopher Wylie, pictured, said Steve Bannon flew to the UK in 2013 to meet Nigel Farage to discuss working towards forcing a Brexit vote

However, Arron Banks, pictured, who bankrolled the Leave.EU campaign claimed in his book, The Bad Boys of Brexit, he had 'hired' Cambridge Analytica to 'target voters'

Prior to Donald Trump's election, Cambridge Analytica was headed by Steve Bannon, pictured

Speaking to the Observer , Wylie said: 'We exploited Facebook to harvest millions of people's profiles. And built models to exploit what we knew about them and target their inner demons. That was the basis the entire company was built on.'

Christopher Wylie, pictured, has blown the whistle on Cambridge Analytica and the extent to which they exploited Facebook to harvest millions of people's profiles

Cambridge Analytica is accused of using 50 million Facebook profiles to build a software program to predict and influence the choices of people at the ballot box. As a result, Facebook has suspended the London-based firm from their social network

Wylie, when aged 21, worked for the Liberal Democrats while studying at the London School of Economics and pitched them his software for targeting voters. He said he had developed a way for the party to find new supporters. He said the party, which was still in coalition with the Conservatives, listened to his pitch, but thought he was 'too pessimistic' about their chances at the 2015 election. He predicted they would lose half of their seats at the subsequent election, when they only returned to Westminster with eight.

After being rebuffed by the party, a contact in the Lib Dems put Wylie in contact with a company which went on to form Cambridge Analytica - which was funded by US right wing hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer.

According to The Observer, Wylie was first introduced to Steve Bannon in autumn 2013. Bannon who was editor-in-chief of Breitbart at the time was sent to the UK by Robert Mercer to assist Nigel Farage in removing Britain from the European Union.

Bannon met with Wylie to assess his product.

'He [Bannon] got it immediately. He believes in the whole Andrew Breitbart doctrine that politics is downstream from culture, so to change politics you need to change culture. And fashion trends are a useful proxy for that. Trump is like a pair of Uggs, or Crocs, basically. So how do you get from people thinking "Ugh. Totally ugly" to the moment when everyone is wearing them. That was the inflection point he was looking for.'

After meeting Bannon, Wylie was flown to New York and introduced to Mercer and his daughter Rebekah in her Manhattan apartment.

Bannon was sent to London by Robert Mercer in 2013 to meet with Nigel Farage to assist him in securing a Brexit referendum to remove Britain from the European Union

He said: 'In politics, the money man is usually the dumbest person in the room. Whereas it's the opposite way around with Mercer. He said very little, but he really listened. He wanted to understand the science. And he wanted proof that it worked.'

The company claimed they could target ads at individual people based on their social media profiles and play on their prejudices.

Bannon was sent to London by Robert Mercer in 2013 to meet with Nigel Farage to assist him in securing a Brexit referendum to remove Britain from the European Union

The claims raise questions over the 2016 Brexit referendum as Cambridge Analytica, which claims it only pitched to work on the Leave.EU campaign funded by Ukip backer Arron Banks, is already part of an investigation by the Information Commissioners Office.

In an interview with Channel 4, Mr Wylie told the broadcaster: 'Imagine I go and ask you: I say, "Hey, if I give you a dollar, two dollars, could you fill up this survey for me, just do it on this app", and you say, "Fine".

'I dont just capture what your responses are, I capture all of the information about you from Facebook, but also this app then crawls through your social network and captures all that data also.

'By you filling out my survey, I capture 300 records on average.

'And so that means that, all of a sudden, I only need to engage 50,000, 70,000, 100,000 people to get a really big data set really quickly, and its scaled really quickly.

Chief Executive of Cambridge Analytica Alexander Nix, pictured, denied his firm worked along with Leave.EU during the Brexit referendum although said they did hold talks

'We were able to get upwards of 50 million-plus Facebook records in the span of a couple of months.'

He added that 'almost none' of the individuals knew about how their data was used.

Cambridge Analytica could then tailor specific political adverts to small groups of people, already knowing what their likes and interests were, it is alleged.

Cambridge Analytica denied working on behalf of Nigel Farage's Leave.EU organisation.

Chief Executive of Cambridge Analytica Alexander Nix, pictured, denied his firm worked along with Leave.EU during the Brexit referendum although said they did hold talks

Addressing MPs last month, the company's chief executive Alexander Nix admitted the firm held exploratory meetings with the campaign.

Appearing before the Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, he said: 'We didnt get hitched. We dated each other. We had a couple of dinners but we didnt get married.'

However, Leave.EU co-founder Arron Banks, who wrote in his book on the referendum campaign that they had 'hired' Cambridge Analytica in 2015 to 'develop messages' for target voters.

Writing on Twitter as the hearing was ongoing, Mr Banks said: 'CA wanted a fee of 1m to start work & then said they would raise 6m in the states. We declined the offer because it was illegal.'

However, Arron Banks, pictured, who bankrolled the Leave.EU campaign claimed in his book, The Bad Boys of Brexit, he had 'hired' Cambridge Analytica to 'target voters'

Asked about his online comments by the committee chairman Damian Collins, Mr Nix said they were 'absolutely incorrect'.

'Mr Banks is at liberty to say what he likes but I dont have to agree with it. That is totally untrue,' he said.

Mr Nix told the committee  which is inquiring into 'fake news'  that Cambridge Analytica had been linked with Leave.EU as a result of a statement issued 'erroneously' by a 'slightly over zealous PR' saying they would be working together on the referendum.

He said: 'Unfortunately and ironically this was an example of fake news that got disseminated virally. By the time it had penetrated the internet it became a matter of fact even though there was no fact behind it.'

Mr Nix was repeatedly challenged by MPs over the claims in Mr Bankss book, The Bad Boys Of Brexit, and about the appearance of a Cambridge Analytica employee at a Leave.EU press conference, but insisted they had never worked together.

'We did not work for Leave.EU. We have not undertaken any paid nor unpaid work for them,' he said.

He said that he was unaware Leave.EU had included Cambridge Analytica in its unsuccessful bid to the Electoral Commission to be designated the lead the Leave campaign in the referendum.

'I can only assume that they felt by associating themselves and aligning themselves with Cambridge Analytica that would give them extra credibility and leverage in trying to compete in a bid where they were clearly the underdogs,' he said.

Cambridge Analytica is also credited with targeting US social media users with specific adverts promoting Donald Trump's candidacy as president during the 2016 election

Cambridge Analytica is also credited with targeting US social media users with specific adverts promoting Donald Trump's candidacy as president during the 2016 election

Commissioner Elizabeth Denham told The Mail on Sunday: We are investigating the circumstances in which Facebook data may have been illegally acquired and used. Its part of our ongoing investigation into the use of data analytics for political purposes.

According to The New York Times and The Guardian, one of the largest data leaks in Facebook history allowed Cambridge Analytica, which had ties to Trump campaign strategist Steve Bannon, to develop techniques that formed the basis of its work on the Trump campaign.

Facebook said it suspended Cambridge Analytica over allegations that it kept the improperly obtained user data after telling Facebook it had been deleted. It has also suspended Wylie's access to the network.

In a blog post, Facebook explained that Cambridge Analytica had years ago received user data from a Facebook app that purported to be a psychological research tool, though the firm was not authorized to have the information. Roughly 270,000 people downloaded and shared personal details with the app.

Cambridge Analytica later certified in 2015 that it had destroyed the information it had received, according to Facebook, although the social network said it received reports 'several days ago' that not all the data was deleted. Facebook says it is investigating.

Cambridge Analytica is probably best known for its political work during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. Although, it was also involved in the Bexit campaign, according to Wylie.

The company claims to build psychological profiles based on personal details.

Wylie has passed on his information about Cambridge Analytica's alleged involvement in the Brexit referendum to the National Crime Agency's cybercrime unit and the Information Commissioner's Office.

A spokesperson for Cambridge Analytica told MailOnline: 'Cambridge Analytica fully complies with Facebooks terms of service and is currently in touch with Facebook following its recent statement that it had suspended the company from its platform, in order to resolve this matter as quickly as possible.

'Cambridge Analytica's Commercial and Political divisions use social media platforms for outward marketing, delivering data-led and creative content to targeted audiences. They do not use or hold data from Facebook profiles.

'In 2014, we contracted a company led by a seemingly reputable academic at an internationally-renowned institution to undertake a large scale research project in the United States.

'This company, Global Science Research (GSR), was contractually committed by us to only obtain data in accordance with the UK Data Protection Act and to seek the informed consent of each respondent. GSR was also contractually the Data Controller (as per Section 1(1) of the Data Protection Act) for any collected data. GSR obtained Facebook data via an API provided by Facebook.

'When it subsequently became clear that the data had not been obtained by GSR in line with Facebooks terms of service, Cambridge Analytica deleted all data received from GSR.

'We worked with Facebook over this period to ensure that they were satisfied that we had not knowingly breached any of Facebooks terms of service and also provided a signed statement to confirm that all Facebook data and their derivatives had been deleted.

'No data from GSR was used by Cambridge Analytica as part of the services it provided to the Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign.

'Cambridge Analytica only receives and uses data that has been obtained legally and fairly. Our robust data protection policies comply with US, international, European Union, and national regulations.'

MailOnline has approached Facebook for a comment.Robert Mercer, 71, poured $15million into the data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica

New reports about the data harvesting practices of Cambridge Analytica have drawn fresh attention to the firm's financial backer, secretive billionaire Robert Mercer.

Mercer, 71, made his fortune running the hedge fund Renaissance Technologies on Long Island, and is a staunch conservative who poured millions into President Donald Trump's campaign.

A sizable chunk of that support came in a $15 million investment Mercer made in Cambridge Analytica, the New York Times reported.

Facebook suspended the company from their platform on Friday, following reports it had harvested the profile information of more than 50 million users without their permission.

In the drama that was the 2016 election, perhaps no key figure is as little known as Mercer, who also played a critical role in Brexit by donating data analytics services to Nigel Farage.

Along with his daughter Rebekah, Mercer has backed a number of conservative causes, including as a major investor in right-wing site Breitbart News.

Mercer and his daughter Rebekah (together last April) have backed a number of conservative causes, including as a major investor in right-wing site Breitbart News

Mercer poured millions into supporting Donald Trump's campaign in the general election

According to the Times, Mercer first became involved with British data analytics firm SCL in 2013, when the hedge funder agreed to help finance a $1.5 million pilot project to poll voters and test psychographic messaging in Virginia's gubernatorial race.

Though the Republican candidate lost to Democrat fund-raiser Terry McAuliffe, Mercer saw promise in the technology and agreed to move forward with it.

Brilliant in his own right, Mercer has a PhD in computer science, and was an early pioneer in artificial intelligence, using his knowledge to build trading algorithms that minted millions for his fund and its clients.

Mercer has plowed much of that cash into libertarian causes, backing maverick Republican candidates in an attempt to re-shape the party.

'He despises the Republican establishment,' former Democratic pollster Patrick Caddell, who worked as a contractor for Mercer, told the New Yorker last year.

Mercer is said to favor the gold standard as monetary policy and is an avid gun collector, with what is said to be a massive collection of machine guns and historical weapons.

His strong politics have also drawn detractors. Last February, David Magerman, a senior employee at Renaissance who is a strong supporter of Jewish and Democrat causes, spoke out about what he regarded as Mercer's worrisome influence and support for the so-called 'alt-right'.

Mercer's superyacht Sea Owl is seen passing under Tower Bridge in 2013. The true size of the secretive hedge funder's fortune is unknown, but is believed to be massive

Mercer called Magerman and said, 'I hear you're going around saying I'm a white supremacist. That's ridiculous,' according to the Wall Street Journal.

Magerman insisted that he hadn't used those words, but told Mercer: 'If what you're doing is harming the country, then you have to stop.'

Mercer has also drawn criticism over support for conspiracy theories about Bill and Hillary Clinton that some consider to be fringe.

He helped fund the book and film Clinton Cash, which investigates an alleged connection between Hillary Clinton's work at the State Department and foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation.

Mercer also believes the Clintons were involved with murders, former employee Nick Patterson told the New Yorker.

Mercer insisted at a Renaissance staff luncheon that Bill Clinton had participated in a cocaine smuggling operation that is known to have operated out of the airport in Mena, Arkansas while he was governor of the state, according to Patterson.

After drug kingpin Barry Seal turned DEA witness and was assassinated in 1986, rumors persisted that the Mena smuggling operation was connected to the CIA, and that then-Governor Clinton was involved - rumors that Mercer apparently found credible.

Steve Bannon became a board member for Cambridge Analytica in about 2014

In early 2014, Mercer agreed to invest $15million in a joint venture with UK-based SCL's elections division, to create a US-based entity that could legally advise on election campaigns without running afoul of foreign influence laws.

Steve Bannon, who became a board member and investor in the new US venture, chose the name: Cambridge Analytica.

In November of last year, Mercer announced that he would leave Renaissance as co-CEO and sold off his stake in Breitbart to his daughters.

In a letter to his employees, he said he was a believer in limited government, and lamented how he had been portrayed in the press since Trump's election.

'Of the many mischaracterizations made of me by the press, the most repugnant to me have been the intimations that I am a white supremacist or a member of some other noxious group,' he wrote in the letter.

'Discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, creed, or anything of that sort is abhorrent to me. But more than that, it is ignorant,' he continued.

'I believe that individuals are happiest and most fulfilled when they form their own opinions, assume responsibility for their own actions, and spend the fruits of their own labor as they see fit.'The 45-year-old man that ran off to Mexico with a 16-year-old Pennsylvania girl has been arrested and the girl has been located by authorities.

Kevin Esterly and Amy Yu were detained Friday in Playa del Carmen, the Allentown police said. An Amber Alert had been issued for the duo by Mexican authorities on Thursday.

'Esterly was placed into custody by Mexican authorities. Amy is unharmed and in good health,' Allentown police said in a statement, according to WFMZ.

Kevin Esterly and Amy Yu were detained Friday, the Allentown police said. An Amber Alert had been issued for the duo by Mexican authorities on Thursday

'Esterly was placed into custody by Mexican authorities. Amy is unharmed and in good health.,' Allentown police said in a statement

'They will be escorted back to the United States to Miami Florida by Homeland Security Investigations agents and United States Marshall Service deputies. Once back in the United States, arrangements will be made to get Amy back to Allentown to be reunited with her mother. Esterly will be turned over to the Miami Police Department and then the extradition process will begin to bring him back to Allentown.'

Esterly will face a charge of interference with the custody of a child.

Mexican authorities on Thursday issued an Amber Alert saying that police believe Amy Yu and Kevin Esterly are in the country, and the teen may be in danger.

The two vanished on March 5, shortly after authorities were notified the pair may have been involved in a romantic relationship. Yu's family previously said the two met at church years ago, and the girl is friends with one of Esterly's daughters.

Bulletin: Mexican authorities on Thursday issued an Amber Alert saying that police believe missing Amy Yu, 16, and Kevin Esterly, 45, are in the country

Yu (left) has not been seen since March 5 when she is believed to have disappeared with Esterly (right), the father of one of her friends, from Allentown, Pennsylvania

School records show Esterly signed Yu out of school 10 times between November 13 and February 9. Police say the teen had changed school documents to list him as her stepfather.

Her mother, Mui Luu, said she feels betrayed. Esterly and Yu had gotten so close she often went on his family's vacations and Esterly had gone to Luu's home for meals.

Luu says she also found text messages suggesting Esterly and her daughter where in a romantic relationship.

'I want to tell her: 'Amy, can you come back to me? I love you. I just hope you come back',' she told CBS News.

Yu's brother, John (pictured), said it seemed Esterly wanted to help his sister. 'We never knew. Now I think he's a very bad guy and Amy's not hanging out with the right person,' he said

The girl had altered her student records to list Esterly as her stepfather, said Gary Hammer, of the Colonial Regional Police

When Yu's mother came to pick her daughter up from school on February 9, the school said her stepfather had already signed her out.

'The mom explained she is a single mother,' Hammer told ABC News. 'There is no stepfather.'

Esterly was subsequently warned to stay away from the teen.

Yu and Esterly were in a 'secretive relationship' which was laid bare in text messages between them which her mother discovered on her phone.

It is not clear if she found them before or after they went missing together.

On March 5, the pair are believed to have left Allentown in a 1999 Red Honda Accord with Pennsylvania plates.

Amy was last seen by her brother, John, who said she fled after being dropped off with him by their mother at their school bus stop.

Esterly had signed Yu out of Lehigh Valley Academy school 10 times between November and February 9 after she changed school records to say he is her stepfather

Esterly and his wife Stacey befriended Yu's family through the church they both attend. She is friends with one of his daughters, seen with him above

Stacey told police that her husband withdrew $4,000 in cash from their accounts before he vanished with Amy on March 5

He told CBS's Meg Oliver he was upset: 'Why would a 45-year-old man and a 16-year-old girl  like, that's disgusting!'

Before fleeing, Esterly withdrew $4,000 from his bank accounts, his wife Stacey told police.

Luu discovered after her daughter vanished that she had taken some of jewelry, her passport and cash.

She said that the family met the Esterly family through church.

Luu discovered after her daughter vanished that she had taken some of jewelry, her passport and cash (Pictured, Esterly with Yu and his children)

Prosecutors have charged Esterly with interference of custody of children. Yu's charter school has also banned him from school grounds since last month (Pictured, Esterly with Yu and his children)

They had them over for dinner at least once and Yu's brother said it seemed the man wanted to help his sister.

'We never knew. Now I think he's a very bad guy and Amy's not hanging out with the right person,' John told WFMZ.

'We need her to come back.'

Prosecutors have charged Esterly with interference of custody of children. Yu's charter school has also banned him from school grounds since last month.Alexa Duran was killed in the collapse

As crews removed bodies from beneath a collapsed pedestrian bridge Saturday, a victim's uncle raged against what he called the 'complete incompetence' and 'colossal failure' that allowed people to drive beneath the unfinished concrete span.

'Why they had to build this monstrosity in the first place to get children across the street?' said an anguished Joe Smitha, whose niece, Alexa Duran, was crushed in Thursday's collapse at Florida International University. 'Then they decided to stress test this bridge while traffic was running underneath it?'

Smitha told the Associated Press that can't help but believe that this tragedy could have been avoided.

'This was a colossal failure of the system,' he said. 'This was complete incompetence from the top ... I want someone to step up and say, 'The buck stops with me.''

The family of the 18-year-old college freshman told The Miami Herald earlier this week that she was killed incident as she drove her Toyota SUV to school, but police have yet to confirm the information.

'Why they had to build this monstrosity in the first place to get children across the street?' said an anguished Joe Smitha (pictured)

The bodies of Oswald Gonzalez (L), 57, and Alberto Arias (right) were pulled from the rubble on Saturday morning

Truck driver Rolando Fraga Hernandez (L) and bridge worker Navaro Brown, 37, (right) are among the six victims of Thursday's fatal pedestrian bridge collapse

'This is going to be the longest and saddest trip of my life... I don't want to return,' Orlando Duran, Alexa's father, said as he was traveling back from London following a short trip.

Meanwhile, shocking new footage emerged on Saturday showing pedestrians run towards the area where at least eight cars were trapped under the rubble from the collapsed bridge.

The clip, shot from across the street from the incident by a witness, shows the terrifying aftermath of the collapsed walkway as bystanders look helplessly on desperately trying to assist in the situation.

And in a new development, officials at Florida International University said that engineers talked about the structural integrity of the walkway just hours before it collapsed, according to CNN.

Experts were brought in by FIU to examine a crack in the bridge reported days earlier at around 9am on Thursday, saying in a statement that there were 'no safety concerns' pertaining to the structure.

The bridge collapsed around 1:30 p.m. that day.

'The... engineer of record delivered a technical presentation regarding the crack and concluded that there were no safety concerns and the crack did not compromise the structural integrity of the bridge,' the statement said.

Officials in Florida said on Saturday that they have identified five of the six people killed in the incident.

The bodies of Rolando Fraga Hernandez; Oswald Gonzalez, 57; and Alberto Arias were pulled from the rubble on Saturday morning, while all six bodies have been recovered, according to CNN.

Navaro Brown, 37, an employee with Structural Technologies VSL, also died in the incident, which was confirmed by company spokesman Michael Biesiada Friday.

'Our thoughts and prayers are with Mr. Brown's family and with the other affected employees,' Biesiada told the Herald.

'We really appreciate the work of the first responders who immediately offered their help.'

The remains of one of eight cars was pulled out from the bridge's twisted concrete and steel

The remains of this car are barely reconcilable with just the wheels and chassis remaining

Originally from Cuba, Hernandez, 60, was a a systems technician at ITG Communications and worked as a truck driver. He frequently used the turnpike on his way to work near the school.

'Nothing is forever. Coffee gets cold, people leave, time passes and people change,' Fraga shared a quote in Spanish on his Facebook page just hours before his death.

Marisol Gonzalez told the Miami Herald that her brother Oswald's body was in the morgue shortly after his remains were recovered from a white van that was crush by the collapsing bridge.

'Imagine, his car was as flat as a cracker,' she said.

Alberto Arias, another Cuban native, studied at the University of Havana before coming to America, according to his Facebook profile.

'What is it about life that I was yesterday praying to God for the people who were there [at the collapsed bridge] without knowing that one of ours was there. R.I.P, cousin. A great human being,' Elizabeth Morales wrote in a social media post Saturday night.

Rescue workers have spent two days trying to break down and remove the concrete to get to the vehicles in order to positively identify the victims and finalize the death count.

Shortly before dawn two crushed vehicles were removed by using massive inflatable straps just before 7 a.m.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Arthur Holmes Jr. says crews won't leave until all the vehicles that were trapped under the bridge are retrieved.

The first vehicle, a crushed Jeep Grand Cherokee, was pulled out just after 6am.

Almost an hour later a second vehicle was pulled out as crews used spotlights to help them with the operation.

There are still at least four other vehicles underneath the carnage which have yet to be retrieved.

The cars are just two of possibly eight vehicles that were crushed beneath it the concrete bridge as it fell to the ground.

Authorities were carefully trying to get to remaining victims. At least six people were killed when the structure fell onto a busy highway Thursday.

'Right now we're just chipping away,' said Miami-Dade Police Director Juan Perez.

Recovery operations continue at the site of the collapsed pedestrian bridge

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Arthur Holmes Jr. says crews won't leave until all the vehicles that were trapped under the bridge are retrieved

First responders started pulling cars and bodies from the rubble of the Florida International University pedestrian bridge collapse early Saturday morning

First responders held a moment of silence for each body when it was removed from the remains of the bridge, after which the bodies were taken to the medical examiner's office

Crews hope to have every body removed by the end of the day Saturday

The retrieval of the vehicles was done very respectfully under spotlights in the early hours

The crushed Chevy van seen above belongs to Structural Technologies, a national company that offers engineering services

The collapse caught everyone by surprise as this was the very latest construction in the area

Meanwhile, it has emerged that an engineer left a voicemail two days before the catastrophic bridge failure to say some cracking had been found at one end of the concrete span, but the voicemail wasn't picked up until after the collapse.

The voicemail left on a landline wasn't heard by a state DOT employee until Friday because the employee was out of the office on an assignment.

In a transcript released Friday night, Denney Pate with FIGG Bridge Group says the cracking would need repairs 'but from a safety perspective we don't see that there's any issue there so we're not concerned about it from that perspective.'

Workers stand by a section of a collapsed pedestrian bridge as they work out what to do next

On Saturday, FIU released a statement saying representatives from the university and DOT met with a FIGG engineer for two hours Thursday morning to discuss the cracking and determined there wasn't a safety issue. The bridge fell soon afterward.

'The FIGG engineer of record delivered a technical presentation regarding the crack and concluded that there were no safety concerns and the crack did not compromise the structural integrity of the bridge,' FIU said.

Scheduled to open in 2019, the bridge would have provided safe passage over a canal and six lanes of traffic and created a showpiece architectural feature connecting the campus of FIU with the community of Sweetwater, where many students live.

The $14.2 million project was supposed to take advantage of a faster, cheaper and safer method of bridge-building promoted by the university.

In a Facebook post, Chelsea Brownfield said she was awaiting any information about her husband, Brandon. According to a Go Fund Me page set up for the family, Brandon Brownfield was driving home from work when the collapse happened.

'The outpouring of love we have received is incredible,' Chelsea Brownfield wrote. The post ended with the hashtag 'praying for a miracle.'

Brownfield declined to comment in a message to The Associated Press.

Crushed cars are shown under a section of a collapsed pedestrian bridge near Florida International University in the Miami area

Workers use a front loader to clear debris from a section of a collapsed pedestrian bridge

FIU's pedestrian bridge was on schedule to open to foot traffic in 2019. It was installed last Saturday even though it had no central support tower or stay cables in place

The bridge was under construction and collapsed onto a Miami highway on Thursday crushing vehicles beneath massive slabs of concrete and steel, killing and injuring several people

A worker uses a saw next to a crushed car as the twisted wreckage of rubble and steel is removed



Tobacco tycoon Tavers Beynon is suing Vice Australia after his party documentary 'Freaks Unleashed' was cut short because it 'lacked plot and characters'.

Hoping to use the fly-on-the-wall style documentary to land a reality TV deal in the lucrative U.S market Beynon now claims Vice 'engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct under consumer law.'

The 'Freaks Unleashed' party documentary was intended to be used as a 30 minute documentary on SBS Viceland but the company said it could not stretch their material further than 12 minutes.

The Candyman hoped the fly-on-the-wall style of documentary would help land him a reality television deal in the U.S

The 'Freaks Unleashed' doco was cut short by Vice because it 'lacked characters' and 'subplot'

Instead the party documentary was cut to a 12-minute online video.

The tobacco tycoon launched legal action against Vice to block them using the footage from the Candy Shop Mansion party claiming the media company has 'engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct under consumer law.'

According to the Bulletin, the general manager of Beynon's tobacco company Freechoice, Bryn Sharp, told the court they had struck an exclusive deal with Vice and allowed them to film 'behind the scenes' of the party.

The tobacco tycoon launched legal action against Vice in an attempt for them not to use the footage from the Candy Shop Mansion party on the Gold Coast

Vice Australia producer Andrew Kavanagh said the documentary was 'on hold indefinitely'

The crew filmed a 'behind-the-scenes' footage of a party in December last year where the tycoon interviewed 'potential models' with Beynon hoping it would be his ticket into the lucrative U.S television market.

Mr Sharp said he has been in correspondence with an American networks for a reality show and 'held off on further discussions' until the SBS documentary was released.

Vice Australia's producer, Andrew Kavanagh told Mr Sharp they weren't going to continue with the 30 minute documentary, explaining later in an email the footage lacked 'characters' and a 'subplot'.

The 'Freaks Unleashed' party documentary was intended to be used as a 30 minute documentary on SBS Viceland

'We initially aimed to make the piece half-an-hour but were unable to cut it that long,' he told Mr Sharp.

But the Candyman claims Vice at no point warned him the piece was slated to be produced on a much smaller scale than originally arranged.

Mr Kavanagh has since said the documentary is 'on hold indefinitely'.

The case is due back in Brisbane Supreme Court on April 11.Southeast Asian countries and Australia said on Sunday they held "grave concerns" about escalating tension caused by North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes and urged "irreversible" denuclearisation.

North Korea is pursuing its weapons programmes in defiance of UN Security Council sanctions and has boasted of its plans to develop a missile capable of hitting the US mainland.

It defends the programmes as a necessary deterrent against perceived plans by the United States, which stations 28,500 troops in for invasion - a plan the United States denies.

"We strongly urge the DPRK to immediately and fully comply with its obligations under all relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions," the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Australia said in a joint declaration, using the initials for North Korea's official name.

The country's nuclear and ballistic missile development "threaten regional and global security" the declaration added, calling for the "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation" of the nation.

Tensions have eased in recent weeks, coinciding with North Korea's participation in the Winter Olympics held in the South last month.

U.S. President Donald Trump also announced surprise plans to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un before May, after Kim "committed to denuclearisation", according to South Korea's National Security Office.

"We are cautiously encouraged by these developments," Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsein Loong told reporters in Sydney after the publication of the ASEAN declaration.

"The situation on the Korean peninsula is a complicated problem which will take time to resolve, and we hope these recent steps will contribute to lasting peace and stability."

Australia hosted ASEAN meetings this weekend, despite not being a member of the 10-nation bloc, as it seeks to tighten political and trade ties in the region amid China's rising influence.

The summit focused on fostering closer economic and security ties among ASEAN and Australia, with the nations also railing against protectionist sentiment and calling for "self-restraint" in the disputed South China Sea, a regional flashpoint.

Short link:

A man has died in a tragic accident while coming to the aid of a bogged driver in north Queensland.

The freak accident occurred at Dingo Creek on the banks of the Gregory River halfway between Prosepine and Bowen when a vehicle got stuck in a mud bank at around 7pm on Saturday night.

A Strathdickie man, 51, offered to help the bogged motorist and was using a towing strap to pull the vehicle free when it suddenly snapped.

The tragedy occurred on the Billy creek boat ramp on the Gregory River, 150 km north of Mackay

The strap smashed through his rear window before it hit the Good Samaritan in the head.

A Queensland Ambulance spokesman told Daily Mail Australia that witnesses performed CPR on the unconscious man until emergency services arrived.

Paramedics desperately tried to revive the man but he was unable to be saved.

Queensland Police will prepare a report for the Coroner.

The Good Samaritan was using a towing strap to pull the vehicle free when it suddenly snapped and hit him in the head

It's the second fatal accident involving a towing strap in North Queensland within a year.

In June last year, 26-year-old Chris Poulsen died at Farnborough Beach near Yeppoon, the Whitsunday Times reports.

He was trying to rescue a friend's 4WD after it became bogged in the sand when the strap broke off the bull bar and hit him in the head.A notorious gangster who was acquitted of six armed robberies could face a retrial after police secretly recorded him telling a friend how he spent the proceeds.

More than $6million was stolen from armoured vans delivering cash to ATMs in six hits between January 12 and June 22, 2009.

One of Sydney's most feared criminals, who has done time in Goulburn's Supermax Jail, was acquitted with three others after a five-month trial in 2012.

But now the gangster, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has been caught telling a friend that he built up a $1.2million fortune before his arrest over the robberies.

A notorious gangster (pictured, right) who was acquitted of six armed robberies could face a retrial after police secretly recorded him telling a friend how he spent the proceeds

In two conversations while visiting an inmate in Lithgow Jail (pictured) on February 24 and March 10, 2013, the criminal revealed how he lied in court and how he spent his money

In two conversations while visiting an inmate in Lithgow Jail on February 24 and March 10, 2013, the criminal revealed how he lied in court and how he spent his money.

He said he lent $600,000 to neighbouring Asian crime figures who paid him $8,000 a month in interest, spent $22,000 on a police scanner and $40,000 on a Ford Territory.

He said he lent $100,000 to another man also accused of the armed robberies and spent $200,000 on legal fees for him and his brother.

'I had $1.2 million when I went to jail and I'm coming out now with f**king four hundred, three hundred thousand,' he said in the recordings obtained by The Daily Telegraph.

He added: 'I was a millionaire when I was out. You know if I didn't come to jail I would've had $5million right now.'

The criminal then told of his love for rapper Fifty Cent, saying: 'Have you heard that Fifty Cent album, Get Rich or Die Trying? That's what I live my life by. I love him man, I love him.'

The criminal also said he loved his time in Goulburn's Supermax Jail (pictured), that he didn't want to leave and that he had compiled a 'revenge list' of people he wanted to kill

The criminal revealed how he wrote letters to notorious gangster Bassam Hamzy (pictured) to arrange a fight while they were in jail before the pair finally had a showdown on March 17, 2013

The gangster said he loved his time in Goulburn's Supermax Jail, that he didn't want to leave and that he had compiled a 'revenge list' of people he wanted to kill.

He also revealed how he wrote letters to notorious gangster Bassam Hamzy to arrange a fight while they were in jail before the pair finally had a showdown on March 17, 2013.

The police stumbled upon the admissions after they had bugged the visitors' room at Lithgow Jail to listen to the inmate whom they suspected of a murder.

The criminal appeared in court last week charged with perjury for allegedly giving false evidence in the September 2012 trial.

If convicted, the the Director of Public Prosecutions can consider a retrial over the armed robberies due to 'tainted acquittal'.A police dog almost had its day when he collapsed in a critical condition after giving chase to track down two burglary suspects.

Police Dog Kane, a six-year-old German Shepherd, gave pursuit for three kilometres following an incident in the Adamstown Heights area of Newcastle on Saturday night.

He was rushed to vets in a serious condition, NSW Police said on Sunday morning where he was taken in for treatment.

Police dog Kane, a six-year-old German Shepherd, is recovering after he fell critically ill during a chase in Newcastle

The dog and his handler chased after the suspects through bushland before catching up with them and detaining them.

But shortly after, Kane collapsed prompting him to be rushed in for emergency medical care.

The dog's condition has improved significantly throughout the day and he could be released later on Sunday afternoon, a spokesman for NSW Police told Daily Mail Australia.

Two men men aged 22 and 27 were arrested at the scene and police will allege the pair had tried to break into the 84-year-old man's home.

NSW Police allege two men attempted breaking into an 84-year-old man's house in Stayton Street, Adamstown Heights, in Newcastle's south

NSW Police said they had tried to enter the house through an open window.

A spokesman said: 'Police will allege in court an 84-year-old man was in a home on Stayton Street, Adamstown Heights, when two men allegedly attempted to climb through a window about 11.30pm on Saturday, March 17.

'Officers attached to Newcastle City Police District established a crime scene and with assistance from police dog Kane and his handler, tracked two men who fled the scene into nearby bushland.'

Both men were taken in for treatment at the Mater Hospital in Newcastle after their arrests, police confirmed.

The 27-year-old man was later charged at Newcastle Police Station with five offences - break and enter with intent, enter enclosed lands, resist arrest, goods in custody and possess house breaking implements.

He was due to appear in court on Sunday and was refused bail, police said.

The 22-year-old man arrested is expected to be charged when he is discharged from hospital, police added.Around a dozen homes have been destroyed by bushfires, likely caused by lightning in 'dynamic' weather conditions, in southwestern Victoria.

Hundreds of beef and dairy cattle, and farm buildings, have also been destroyed, and 40,000 hectares of land burnt.

Authorities are warning the threat is still not over, and may continue throughout Sunday.

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Around a dozen homes have been destroyed by bushfires, likely caused by lightning in 'dynamic' weather conditions, in southwestern Victoria

Authorities are warning the threat is still not over, and may continue throughout Sunday

Hundreds of beef and dairy cattle, and farm buildings, have also been destroyed, and 40,000 hectares of land burnt

Residents are being told to flee to relief centres as a number of grass and bush fires burn out of control in Victoria's south-west, putting lives and homes in danger

'We have hundreds of people on the ground, in the air, fighting these fires,' Deputy Premier James Merlino told a briefing on Sunday afternoon.

'These fires continue and will continue through the course of day. The wind will remain in place for the course of the day, so we are in the middle of this firefight.'

Emergency Management Commissioner Craig Lapsley said not all of the homes destroyed were occupied, and there had been no deaths or major injuries reported.

However, 800 people had been forced to seek shelter at relief centres.

Authorities issued 51 emergency warnings, the highest level of warnings, and 29 advice messages.

'I think the community has responded exceptionally well,' Mr Lapsley said.

'(There have been) no significant injuries, no death, a very dynamic environment, I would say they have done exceptionally well.'

A helicopter dumps water on to a bluegum forest that's burning south of Cobden in Western Victoria

Several towns have been asked to evacuate as the blazes burn in warm and windy conditions on Sunday morning while others have been told it's too late to leave

A Bed and Breakfast at Gembrook destroyed by fire

Firefighters and the communities faced a number of challenges because the fires started at night.

'The challenges is you can't get fire trucks into some areas in the darkness; we are unable to fly aircraft, and that means our suppression activity is suppressed somewhat,' Mr Lapsley told the briefing.

'But we were able to issue warnings that mantle the community could make decisions about what they needed to do, particularly through the night.'

Police and fire investigators are looking into the causes of the fire, but authorities say it's likely they are the result of lightning strikes that went through the region.

Emergency warnings have been issued for about 50 towns between Hamilton and Port Campbell, across an area of more than 160km

Dramatic video footage shows massive flames and explosions emerging from a substation in Terang, while a grassfire burns out of control in Boorcan, 199km west of Melbourne

The major grass and bushfires began on Saturday, raged through the night and continue to burn on Sunday.

'The community's done really well overnight to work a fire through the night, understand the warnings and look after themselves,' he said on Sunday.

'But there have been significant losses. We've lost homes, farm machinery and sheds, and that's a huge impact on the community.'

Warnings have been issued for about 50 towns, stretching from Hamilton to Port Campbell, an area of more than 160km.

There are four major fires burning, the worst being a huge blaze at Terang, which is threatening the town of Cobden.

More than 22,000 homes are without power in the region amid the strong winds.

Authorities are asking locals to stay tuned to emergency messages and act when required.

Two fires in Melbourne are being investigated as deliberately lit as 31 fires burn across Victoria

Fire crews tackled blazes earlier on Saturday before they could reach nearby homes and shopping centresOleg Mitnik filed the $20million lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court

A millionaire shipping executive has sued his estranged wife and father-in-law, claiming they were behind a plot to hire a notorious mobster to kill him.

Oleg Mitnik filed the $20million lawsuit against his socialite wife Ronit Mitnik and father-in-law Anatoly Potik in Manhattan Supreme Court, claiming emotional distress and defamation.

Mitnik was the target of a hit-turned-extortion in 2015, when one-time Russian mafioso Boris Nayfeld, now 70, told him a contract had been taken out on his life.

Mitnik negotiated with Nayfeld, who said he'd been paid $100,000 for the assassination, by agreeing to pay that amount plus an additional $25,000 sweetener.

Now the shipping magnate says he's still looking over his shoulder, and that the suit and publicity on his case could save him from another attempt on his life.

'The man who was supposed to kill me is out after 16 or 17 months, and the guy who ordered my murder, he's walking free. So that's justice,' Mitnik told the New York Post.

Oleg Mitnik claims wife Ronit Mitnik and father-in-law Anatoly Potik (pictured) went in on a hitman who later extorted $125,000 from him to call off the assasination

Russian mobster Boris Nayfeld, 70, admitted to his role in the plot and is out on probation now

'He's a very dangerous man. Somebody who smiles in your face and stabs you in the back,' Oleg Mitnik said. 'Every time I walk out of my building, I have to look left and right, and take different exits and take different roads.'

Mitnik alleges that Ronit and her dad Potik were after his $7million life insurance.

The couple were also in the midst of a messy divorce fight, battling over custody of their teenage children and Mitnik's fortune, including $9million in property holdings, with a tony Upper East Side apartment and vacation home on Long Island.

Once upon a time the pair, along with their children, were regulars on the Hamptons social scene, before their marriage unraveled.

Mitnik runs TRT International, a freight-shipping company in Newark.

Aging mobster Nayfeld admitted his role and served two years in prison, but the feds dropped charges against Potik.

Mitnik believes the feds let Potik walk in exchange for information that assisted with other cases.

'They basically sold me out for cases. I think it sends the wrong message,' Oleg Mitnik said of federal prosecutors.

Mitnik alleges that Ronit (left and right) and her dad were after his $7million life insurance

The couple were also in the midst of a messy divorce fight, battling over custody of their teenage children and Mitnik's fortune, including this vacation home on Long Island

Mitnik also owns an apartment in this Upper East Side building. 'Every time I walk out of my building, I have to look left and right, and take different exits and take different roads,' he said

The same may have happened with Nayfeld, whom Judge Katherine Forrest gave a lighter sentence with 'some discomfort' based on the government's recommendation, according to a transcript of the proceeding.

Nayfeld was dubbed an 'organizer, enforcer and narcotics distributor' for the Russian mafia in a 1997 US Customs intelligence report.

Prosecutors claimed the 'hit' was actually an extortion attempt, with Nayfeld leaning on his fearsome reputation to squeeze money from Mitnik.

Nayfeld was freed on bail in October, and complained that the terms of his probation wouldn't let him return to Russia in an interview with the Associated Press.

'I lost everything,' Nayfeld grumbled. 'I lost job, I lost my time for stay in prison. I lost my wife. This is enough punish for me.'

Oleg Mitnik is currently embroiled in a nasty divorce battle with his wife, Ronit Mitnik (pictured), which included custody of the couple's two teenage children

Mitnik claims in the new suit that Potik and Ronit have been spreading rumors that he framed Potik by cooking up false allegations of a murder plot and by paying off federal agents.

'I think it will clear my name,' Oleg Mitnik told the Post. 'I think it's important for justice to be served at least at some angle.'

Ronit Mitnik's lawyer, Robert Wallack, told the newspaper that the allegations were 'total fiction' and 'utter garbage.'

Meanwhile, says Oleg Mitnik: 'I am terrified.'

'He's a very dangerous man,' Mitnik said of father-in-law Potik. 'Somebody who smiles in your face and stabs you in the back.'A mum has slammed cops for shutting down an 'out-of-control' house party with riot police on horseback.

Whitley Turner hosted the party she advertised on Facebook at her home in Gosnells, south east Perth, on Friday night.

Mounted police, officers and police dogs packed the street after concerned neighbours said hundreds of teens were descending on the neighbourhood.

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Mounted police, officers and police dogs packed the street in Gosnell, in Perth, to shut down the 'out of control party'

Ms Turner, a mother-of-four who lives at a housing authority unit, described the police response as 'overkill and ridiculous', she told Seven News.

The crazy party was abandoned before midnight after police were called at around 9.30pm when revellers were seen arriving from the train station.

She charged $5 for entry which included a DJ to help raise money so she could move house but gatecrashers swelled the numbers.

'It was controlled. I don't know why they shut it down,' Ms Turner said.

Whitley Turner hosted the party at her home in south east Perth on Friday night before it was shut down by police

'They just walked to the back door and said 'there's too many people'. They didn't even walk through the back yard and stood there and said 'it's out of control'.'

Police spread out across the suburban street and along with the mounted officers, dozens of vehicles and riot vans were brought in.

The party was closed about 11pm but police did not seize the cash Ms Turner made.

Officers remained at Gosnells train station for much of the evening to ensure groups of teens hanging around left the area.

Dozens of officers escorted hundreds of teens from the party to the nearby train station

A spokesman for Western Australia Police said: 'Officers attended the address and spoke to the party host who was compliant when asked to turn down the music.

'Officers observed the numbers of party-goers increasing with an estimated 100 people at the house and more seen arriving.

'Just after 11pm the party host was advised that the party declared as likely to become and Out of Control Gathering was being shut down.

'The party-goers left the house and were directed to Gosnells Train Station by police.

'There were no significant incidents of damage or anti-social behaviour.'Sydney has sweltered through its hottest autumn day in 78 years, with temperatures soaring past 40C on Sunday.

The mercury hit 40.5C at Sydney Airport in the city's inner-south, a staggering 16C higher than the average March temperature of 24C.

Even the eastern beaches saw temperatures as high as 39C as north-westerly winds counteracted any sea breeze.

Weatherzone meteorologist Graeme Brittain told Daily Mail Australia the scorching temperatures were 'highly unusual'.

Sydney experienced 40C heat on Sunday afternoon. Pictured: Bondi Beach

Sun-seekers pose on Bondi Beach as they enjoy the sweltering temperatures in Sydney

Busy: Hundreds of swimmers took to the waves to cool off in the extreme temperatures

Mr Brittain said wind gusts in excess of 90km tore through the New South Wales coastline, but brought little reprieve from the heat.

He warned temperatures would likely remain high overnight.

Sunbathers flocked to Sydney's beaches on Sunday amid the sweltering autumn heatwave.

Bondi beach was packed with revellers in search of some relief from the scorching hot temperatures.

Meanwhile, an emergency warning was issued to residents in Bega, in New South Wales' south-east.

An out-of-control bushfire tore through Tarraganda and Tathra near Bega on Sunday.

Residents were told to evacuate the area as a number of homes were damaged.

A total fire ban was enacted in 11 areas in NSW on Sunday, as the state battled hot and windy conditions.

Sunbathers flocked to Sydney's beaches amid a sweltering autumn heatwave. Pictured: Sun-seekers on the beach

Having a splash: Hundreds took to the waves to cool off amid scorching autumn temperatures

Smile: Sunbathers took selfies on the beach as others played in the waves at Bondi

Safety first: Sunbathers applied plenty of cream to avoid being burnt in the scorching heat

The CBD as well as Parramatta, Blacktown, Canterbury and Campbelltown will see the mercury creep above 40C this afternoon. Pictured: Revellers enjoying the heat

Swimmers splash in the waves on Bondi Beach as the mercury tips 40C on Sunday

The scorching temperatures are 15C above average for autumn and make Sunday the hottest March day in Sydney for 78 years. Pictured: Beach-goers out in the sun

This map shows the extraordinary temperatures forecast for NSW on Sunday

This map shows how hot air from the north is bringing searing temperatures across the country

Glorious: Sunbathers are flocking to Sydney's beaches amid a sweltering autumn heatwave

On duty: Life guards had a busy day ahead as they patrolled the beach on Sunday morning

Two lifeguards look out at the water's edge as hundreds of revellers play in the waves on Bondi

One woman played in the waves at Bondi Beach while another posed next to a sign

Normally there's a big difference between the CBD and western Sydney because of the sea breeze, but the north-westerly winds are expected to be so strong on Sunday that there will be no sea breeze felt anywhere

That's the idea! One woman was sprawled out on top of some surf boards on the Bondi sand

Brisbane saw highs of 30 degrees with the remnants of tropical cyclone Linda causing dangerous surf and high tides along the Queensland coast.

Melburnians also enjoyed high temperatures with a max of 27 degrees on Sunday.

Adelaide escaped the heatwave, with temperatures hitting only 22C with some showers. Canberra saw the mercury hit 33C while Hobart enjoyed 27C.

Darwin residents also roasted in 31C heat.

On the west coast, Perth temperatures sat in the low 20s - welcome relief after recent hot spells.

There was also a storm warning for the northern coast of WA as Tropical Cyclone Marcus makes its way down from Darwin where it brought 130km/h winds and left 25,000 homes without power.

Packed: Umbrellas could be seen all over Bondi Beach as people tried to create some shade

Even the eastern beaches could see temperatures as high as 39C as north-westerly winds counteract any sea breeze

A woman paddles in the water while enjoying the hot autumn temperatures on Sunday

Two dogs play with a tennis ball in the sea. Brisbane will see highs of 30 degrees with the remnants of tropical cyclone Linda causing dangerous surf and high tides along the Queensland coast

Melburnians are also in for some high temperatures with a max of 27 degrees on Sunday

Strong winds along with high temperatures and lack of rain will also increase the bushfire danger across NSW, Victoria, and South Australia. Pictured sunbathers at the beach

Western Sydney will be particularly hard hit with temperatures reaching 39 degrees on Sunday

Bondi Beach was packed on as sunbathers enjoyed the late summer heat

The beaches were packed with sunbathers as revellers enjoyed the hot autumn temperatures

Three women posed by the railings at Bondi Beach in the extreme heat on Sunday

Strong winds along with high temperatures and lack of rain will also increase the bushfire danger across NSW, Victoria, and South Australia.

Authorities are so worried about bushfires they have put in place a total fire ban in parts of Victoria and New South Wales on Sunday.

CFA State Duty Officer Greg Christison said 'the declaration should act as a reminder that the summer fire season is not over and that we need to remain vigilant and be prepared.

'Hot and windy conditions could make it difficult for firefighters to suppress a fire should one start, therefore we are asking people to take heed of the Total Fire Ban conditions,' Mr Christison said.

'People need to be aware of the increased fire danger and ensure your fire plan covers all possible contingencies.'

Strong winds along with high temperatures and lack of rain will also increase the bushfire danger across NSW, Victoria, and South Australia. Pictured: Victoria fire warning map

Authorities are so worried about bushfires they have put in place a total fire ban in parts of Victoria and New South Wales on Sunday. Pictured: NSW fire warning map

The hot temperatures and fine weather are expected to last all weekend. Pictured: Sunbathers on Bondi Beach

AUSTRALIA'S WEATHER: THE FORECAST IN YOUR CITY SYDNEY Max 40. Hot and sunny CANBERRA Max 33. Sunny PERTH Max 25. Sunny BRISBANE Max 30. Partly cloudy Source: Bureau of Meteorology MELBOURNE Max 27. Windy ADELAIDE Max 22. Cloudy HOBART Max 23. Early showers DARWIN Max 31. Possible storm Advertisement

Sydney temperatures are expected to drop significantly by the end of the week and into the weekend.

The mercury will likely dip to 19C on Wednesday, paired with a 70 per cent chance of rain.

Showers are likely to continue on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, as temperatures hover around the low twenties.

Showers are also likely to fall over Melbourne at the weekend, with 90 per cent chance of 10-20mm on Saturday.A six-month old boy has died of invasive meningococcal disease in regional South Australia.

South Australian Health offered their 'sincere condolences' to the parents at the 'distressing time'.

The department is concerned about others who may have been in contact with the boy before he died.

'SA Health is currently in the process of confirming the cause of death,' the department said in a statement.

'We have also identified a number of people who had contact with the boy and will direct them to receive clearance antibiotics.'

A baby boy, six months old, has died of invasive meningococcal disease in regional South Australia

The department insisted there was no increased public health risk as a result of the death because the disease was only spread by close or lengthy contact.

The case is the second in regional South Australia in a month after a 16-year-old boy was admitted to hospital in a stable condition with the disease in February.

The news comes as concerned parents are worried that a shortage of a meningococcal vaccine may see their babies at risk of several dangerous strains of the disease.

Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline is experiencing a short-term supply constraint of Menveo, due to a recent increase in notifications of the meningococcal W strain, which is driving increased demand.

The department said there was no increased public health risk from the death because the disease was only spread by close or lengthy contact

'This supply constraint is due to manufacturing disruption combined with high demand,' the company states on its website.

'Recently there has been an increase in cases of Meningococcal W strain in some areas of Australia leading to the introduction of state and territory-based vaccination programs to protect those most at risk.'

'We regret the inconvenience this may cause people and their families who want the vaccine, as well as pharmacists and doctors. We are working to re-establish supply as a matter of urgency.'Putin said Russia has 'destroyed all chemical weapons' as he gave a victory speech in Red Square during which he also pledged to work with British police over Salisbury

Russian president Vladimir Putin has said claims his country was behind the Salisbury poisoning are 'drivel, rubbish, nonsense' as he won a landslide victory in yesterday's election.

He also contradicted Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson's claims earlier today that Russia has been stockpiling Novichok - the nerve agent used in the attack.

Putin said Russia has 'destroyed all chemical weapons' as he gave a victory speech in Red Square, during which he also pledged to work with British police over Salisbury.

Johnson yesterday claimed Russia has kept producing Novichok as the row over the Salisbury attack escalated.

He added: 'With regards to this tragedy, the first thing that came to my mind: If this was a military substance, they would have died straight away. You have to understand that. Second, we don't have chemical weapons.

'We've gotten rid of that, unlike some of our international partners.'

Russia is 'ready to cooperate,' he explained, stressing: 'We are ready to take part in the necessary investigations, but for that there needs be a desire from the other side, and we don't see that yet. But we are not taking it off the agenda, joint efforts are possible.

'As a whole, of course, I think any sensible person would understand that it would be rubbish, drivel, nonsense, for Russia to embark on such an escapade on the eve of a presidential election. It's just unthinkable.'

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On the BBC's Andrew Marr show today, Boris Johnson said the UK had evidence that development of the nerve agent had continued over the past 10 years - despite Moscow's claims to have destroyed it

Mr Johnson also revealed that chemical experts will be coming to the UK tomorrow to check the samples from the scene of the attempted murder of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia (pictured)

Vladimir Putin, pictured voting in Moscow for presidential elections today, has denied Russia was involved in the 'hit' but made thinly-veiled threats at 'traitors'

He told an audience in the capital's Red Square that Russia has a great future ahead of it provided its people stayed united. Before leaving the stage to applause, he led the crowd in a chant of 'Russia, Russia!'

Theresa May (pictured with husband Philip on the way to church in her Maidenhead constituency today) says the government is considering its next move in the diplomatic spat

Interviewed on the BBC's Andrew Marr show, Vladimir Chizhov said the military-grade Novichok poison might have originated at Porton Down as it was only eight miles from the scene in Salisbury

The Foreign Secretary said the UK had evidence that development of the nerve agent had continued over the past ten years - despite Moscow's claims to have destroyed it.

Mr Johnson also revealed that chemical experts will be coming to the UK tomorrow to check the samples from the scene of the attempted murder of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr show, Mr Johnson said: 'We actually have evidence within the last ten years that Russia has not only been investigating the delivery of nerve agents for the purposes of assassination but has also been creating and stockpiling Novichok.'

The news came as Mr Johnson warned that only Russians would suffer due to Moscow's expulsion of 23 British diplomats and the closure of the British Council.

Mr Johnson said the UK was in the 'Kremlin's crosshairs' because Britain is the country that has 'time and again called Russia out'.

The US, Germany, France and the Baltic countries had all experienced 'Russian meddling, malign, disruptive, Russian behaviour', he said.

'They can see a country that is going in the wrong direction and that's why they are so inclined now not to give Russia the benefit of the doubt and to stand shoulder to shoulder with the UK.'

Mr Johnson said experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will arrive in the UK tomorrow.

The team from the Hague will meet officials from the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory and police to discuss the process.

Samples will then be despatched to international laboratories selected by the OPCW for testing. Results are expected to take at least two weeks.

Mr Johnson made clear that the government's evidence on Russia suggested it had broken the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Moscow is said to have investigated ways of delivering nerve agents for assassination, and part of the programme involved producing and stockpiling quantities of Novichok.

Branding Vladimir Putin a 'bully', Mr Johnson jibed that his regime was 'isolated'. 'We have friends across the world and he does not,' he said.

Mr Johnson also took aim at Jeremy Corbyn over his unwillingness to condemn Russia over the outrage, saying: 'He let down his party and country by seemingly aiding the efforts of the Russian propaganda machine by casting doubt over what is obvious to any objective onlooker.'

What is the Novichok nerve agent used against the Skripals? The Novichok nerve agent used against former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia is among the most deadly poisons ever created. They were secretly developed by the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold war in the 1970s and 1980s. Communist scientists developed the poison so it would not be able to be detected by Nato's chemical detection equipment. They come in the form of a ultra-fine powder, Novichok is up to eight times more potent than the deadly VX gas. Victims who are poisoned by the powder suffer muscle spasms, breathing problems and then cardiac arrest. There is a known antidote to the nerve agent - atropine can block the poison. But doctors find it very tricky to administer the antidote because the dose would have to be so high it could prove fatal for the person. Novichok poisons are highly dangerous to handle, requiring the expertise of skilled scientists in a sophisticated lab. Dr Vil Mirzayanov, former Chief of the Foreign Technical Counterintelligence Department at Russias premiere, was among the team of scientists who helped develop the agent. Advertisement

Theresa May has said Britain and its allies are considering their next move and the national security council will meet again this week.

Former double agent Mr Skripal, 66, and his 33-year-old daughter remain in a critical condition in hospital, while Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, who was exposed to the Novichok nerve agent while responding to the incident, is no longer considered critical.

Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced yesterday that it had ordered the British diplomats to leave within a week and indicated it could take further action should there be what it called more 'unfriendly' moves.

Writing in the Sun on Sunday, Mr Johnson said: 'These futile measures will only punish ordinary Russians by depriving them of harmless opportunities to learn English and apply for UK visas.

'Today Russia stands alone and isolated.

'That fact demonstrates the most telling difference between Britain and Putin: we have friends across the world and he does not.'

Mr Johnson added: 'We knew there would be risks in opposing the Kremlin - resisting a bully is always risky.

'But we did it anyway because we knew it to be right.'

Speaking at the Conservative Spring Forum yesterday, Mrs May said the Government had 'anticipated' a response to her decision to expel 23 Russian 'spies' from London.

She said: 'Russia's response doesn't change the facts of the matter  the attempted assassination of two people on British soil for which there is no alternative conclusion other than that the Russian state was culpable.

'It is Russia that is in flagrant breach of international law and the Chemical Weapons Convention.'

Mrs May also received support from Labour former PM Tony Blair and her old foe George Osborne.

Asked at the Global Education and Skills Forum (GESF) in Dubai about the British response to the Salisbury nerve agent attack, former prime minister Tony Blair said: 'I think the Government has done the right thing in relation to it.

'It can't allow such a thing to happen and not take action.

'But I think there's a bigger question underlying that, because over the years there's been periodic action taken.

'What this shows is the importance of the alliance and the importance of having the allies in conversation with each other where they are able to work out the strategy for keeping the West strong, because you are defending certain values.'

Bodies of exiles who died suddenly could be exhumed One is Alexander Perepilichny, 43, who collapsed while out jogging at his home in the St Georges Hill area of Weybridge, Surrey, in 2012 The bodies of two Russian exiles who died suddenly in Britain could be exhumed and tested for nerve agent poisoning, it emerged last night. One is Alexander Perepilichny, 43, who collapsed while out jogging at his home in the St Georges Hill area of Weybridge, Surrey, in 2012. He had provided evidence of fraud perpetrated by Kremlin-linked officials. The other is Badri Patarkatsishvili, who died suddenly at his mansion in Leatherhead, Surrey in 2008  seven years after fleeing his homeland. The 52-year-old was a business partner of Boris Berezovsky, an enemy of Vladimir Putin who was also found dead in his Surrey home in 2013. Another business partner, 68-year-old Nikolai Glushkov, was murdered a week ago at his home in south London. Police said he was strangled. Friends of both Perepilichny and Patarkatsishvili have called for their remains to be exhumed for further testing, according to the Daily Telegraph. One source, who wished to remain anonymous over fears of retaliation, said: The Home Office must consider exhuming Badris body. They never did the toxicological report. Surrey Police just said he had a bad heart and had a heart attack. But I had seen him before his death and he was absolutely fine. Home Secretary Amber Rudd has called for a fresh probe to be conducted by MI5 and police into 14 unexplained deaths, including Perepilichny, Patarkatsishvili and Berezovsky. Yvette Cooper, the Labour chairman of the Commons home affairs committee, said: It is clear that further criminal investigations are needed into the activities of the Russian state on our soil. The Metropolitan Police said it could not comment while the Salisbury investigation was still underway. The Home Office declined to give more details at this stage. Advertisement

Appearing on stage at the Global Education and Skills Forum with Mr Blair, Mr Osborne said Russian interference on British soil was 'staggering'.

'No state can tolerate that. No alliance of western states can accept that,' he said.

'People in Britain will know I'm not a completely enthusiastic support of Mrs May, but I think she has done a pretty good job.

'She has ratcheted up the response, she has expelled Russian diplomats and she has got to think... how do I react to the Russian reaction?

'So she has got to keep further options in her locker to make sure that you can increase the pressure.

Meanwhile, counter-terrorism police renewed their appeal for sightings of Mr Skripal's burgundy BMW 320D saloon car, registration HD09 WAO, in Salisbury on the morning of Sunday, March 4.

Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said: 'We are learning more about Sergei and Yulia's movements but we need to be clearer around their exact movements on the morning of the incident.'

Detectives have still not said how Sergei and his daughter were poisoned - and may not even know - as they follow the poison trail (pictured)Spy chiefs have urged power companies to bolster their security amid fears Kremlin cyberattacks could cause blackouts across Britain.

The National Grid has been put on alert and electricity, gas and water firms warned to prepare for the possibility of hacking as the diplomatic row with Russia escalates.

Government departments, the NHS, Sellafield nuclear plant, and other key organisations have also been told they could face attempts to steal data or 'denial of service' attacks.

According to the Sunday Times, the National Cyber Security Centre, National Crime Agency and MI5's Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure have all been providing advice to defend potentially vulnerable assets

Sellafield nuclear plant (pictured) is said to be among the key infrastructure that spy chiefs fear could be targeted by the Kremlin

There are concerns about the potential for 'denial of service' attacks against service providers like the NHS

A Whitehall security source said: 'They're contacting all the critical national infrastructure operators. They've been in touch with National Grid with guidance.'

Paul Chichester, the NCSC director of operations, said: 'It is absolutely right that we give advice to sectors on defending themselves from cyber-attacks.

'We are vigilant to cyber-threats wherever they come from and are ready to defend against them.'

The fears came as Boris Johnson lashed out at the Kremlin over its 'futile' tit-for-tat in the poison attack row.

The Foreign Secretary said only Russians would suffer due to Moscow's expulsion of 23 British diplomats and the closures of the British Council.

Branding Vladimir Putin a 'bully', Mr Johnson jibed that his regime was 'isolated'. 'We have friends across the world and he does not,' he said.

Mr Johnson also took aim at Jeremy Corbyn over his unwillingness to condemn Russia over the outrage, saying: 'He let down his party and country by seemingly aiding the efforts of the Russian propaganda machine by casting doubt over what is obvious to any objective onlooker.'

Theresa May has said Britain and its allies are considering their next move and the national security council will meet again this week.

Former double agent Sergei Skripal, 66, and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia remain in a critical condition in hospital, while Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, who was exposed to the Novichok nerve agent while responding to the incident, is no longer considered critical.

Boris Johnson (pictured at an event in Uxbridge on Friday) has lashed out at the Kremlin over its 'futile' tit-for-tat in the poison attack row

Vladimir Putin, pictured at a hospital in St Petersburg on Friday, has denied Russia was involved in the 'hit' but made thinly-veiled threats at 'traitors'

Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced yesterday that it had ordered the British diplomats to leave within a week and indicated it could take further action should there be what it called more 'unfriendly' moves.

Writing in the Sun on Sunday, Mr Johnson said: 'These futile measures will only punish ordinary Russians by depriving them of harmless opportunities to learn English and apply for UK visas.

'Today Russia stands alone and isolated.

'That fact demonstrates the most telling difference between Britain and Putin: we have friends across the world and he does not.'

Mr Johnson added: 'We knew there would be risks in opposing the Kremlin - resisting a bully is always risky.US President Donald Trump took the world by storm earlier this month when he pushed forward with plans to impose import tariffs of 25 per cent on steel and 10 per cent on aluminium entering the United States.

The new tariffs are due to come into force 15 days after the order was issued on 8 March. Trump said the levies were necessary for national security reasons and to stop the foreign assault on the US.

However, he exempted Canada and Mexico from the tariffs and held out the possibility of excluding other US allies by signalling that the tariff policy was open to more exemptions.

The US is the worlds largest steel importer, buying about 35 million tons of foreign steel in 2017. The decision could harm the Egyptian steel industry, since while Egypt does not export aluminium to the US it does export steel.

Egypt exported 170,000 tons of steel to the US in 2017, Hassan Al-Marakby, deputy head of the Metallurgical Industries Chamber (MIC) at the Federation of Egyptian Industries, said.

This represented a large increase over 2016, he said, adding that if Egypt was not exempted from the new tariffs, it would likely lose these exports.

Al-Marakby also said that the figure had been expected to increase as Egypt has good production capacities and several Egyptian steel companies have potential regarding possible steel exports to the US.

Only two Egyptian companies currently export steel to the US, Ezz Steel and Kandil Steel, he said.

Egypt should push for asking the US for an exemption on the new tariffs, he said, explaining that were this to be granted it could represent an opportunity for Egypt to boost its steel exports to the US by filling the gap created by other countries not likely to be exempted, including Turkey.

Al-Marakby said that Turkey had exported 2.5 million tons of steel to the US in 2017.

This could give Egypt the chance to boost its steel exports to the US and increase its market share, he said.

The chamber will be holding talks with the trade ministry, he said, in order to push towards exempting Egypt from the tariffs. Egypts steel exports to the US represented three per cent of total US steel imports in 2017.

The decision to exempt Egypt from the new tariffs would likely be a political one, Al-Marakby said. If Egypt did not receive the exemption, it could lose up to 170,000 tons of exports and the potential to boost its steel exports to the US in the coming years, he said.

Egypts steel exports to the US were worth some $102 million last year, according to figures from the General Organisation for Import and Export Control.

Trade Minister Tarek Kabil said recently that steel exports did not represent more than six per cent of Egypts total exports, and that the US share did not exceed three per cent of these.

Egypts trade with the US stood at $5.5 billion in 2017, compared to $4.7 billion in 2016, an increase of 13 per cent.

Al-Marakby said he was optimistic about the possibility of exempting Egypt from the new tariffs, even though Egypt was included on a list of 12 countries drawn up by the US Department of Commerce recommending that Trump impose at least 53 per cent tariffs on their steel imports.

Other countries on the list include Brazil, China, Costa Rica, India, Malaysia, Russia, South Korea, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam.

The recommendation on tariffs came as part of a list of remedies drawn up by the US Department of Commerce to address the problem of steel imports.

In a report entitled The Effect of Imports of Steel on National Security, it said that the US steel industry had closed six oxygen furnace facilities and idled another four since 2000 because of foreign competition, representing more than half such plants in the US.

It also said that employment in the industry had dropped by 35 per cent since 1998.

Other countries are seeking to be exempted from the US tariffs. The European Union and Japan urged the US last week to grant them exemptions from metal import tariffs.

The EU is also threatening counter-measures that could target US imports into Europe ranging from maize to motorcycles. Under World Trade Organisation rules, the counter-measures have to be in place within 90 days of the US tariffs coming into effect.

European steel and aluminium associations have warned that the US tariffs could mean their sectors shedding thousands of jobs.

Even within the US, experts said that higher US tariffs on imported steel could leave some US steel workers jobless.

*This story was first published in Al-Ahram Weekly

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An entire town is under threat of being completely wiped out by an out-of-control bushfire with an emergency warning in place.

A high number of fires are burning across New South Wales but the blaze in Tathra, has authorties most concerned.

NSW Rural Fire Service Deputy Commissioner Rob Rodgers told 9 News the situation around Tathra was dire.

Late this afternoon residents were warned that it was too late to evacuate as roads could be blocked by fire and that they should instead try to find shelter.

Hundreds of residents were able to evacuate before the announcement, with fears held for those left behind.

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An entire town is under threat of being completely wiped out by an out of control bushfire with an emergency warning in place

NSW Rural Fire Service Deputy Commissioner Rob Rodgers said the situation around Tathra was dire

Two dozen fire crews are battling the blaze which is affecting the area from Tathra to Tarraganda as strong winds pushed the fire into Tathra after crossing the Bega River

'It is changing quite rapidly and it's very dangerous conditions,' Mr Rodgers.

People who are south of the Bega River are being advised to seek shelter, with many of the roads in and out of the area already blocked.

Residents north of the river have safe passage towards the north in the direction of Bermagui.

An evacuation centre has been set up at the Bega Showground.

There has been an influx of fire-related injuries according to a South East Regional Hospital.

David Lamb posted to Facebook they had been 'crazy busy'.

'Lots of smoke inhalation cases but no burns so far, thank God. Some of the nurses here have lost their homes but they are still working helping others,' he said.

Up to 40 homes have already been destroyed in the small coastal town

The NSW RFS stated that during the day a total of 26 bush and grass fires were burning across the state, 12 of them were not contained

Paul Brunton, 59, made contact with his family after they were unable to reach him when he was last seen going to check on neighbours

Family of Paul Brunton, 59, posted on social media after he was last seen leaving Kianinny Bay to check on his neighbours.

He made contact with his family soon after the alert was put out, a reminder of how important it is to remain in contact with family and friends if possible.

Two dozen fire crews are battling the blaze which is affecting the area from Tathra to Tarraganda as strong winds pushed the fire into Tathra after crossing the Bega River.

The full extent of the damage in Tathra won't be known until the Building Impact Assessment Teams arrive.

Two dozen fire crews are battling the blaze which is affecting the area from Tathra to Tarraganda as strong winds pushed the fire into Tathra after crossing the Bega River

The full extent of the damage in Tathra won't be known until the Building Impact Assessment Teams arrive

However News.com are reporting that up to 40 homes have already been destroyed in the small coastal town.

It is also believed that a school in the area has been destroyed by the fire.

Bega Valley Shire Council mayor Kristy McBain confirmed that number earlier this evening.

'It was a shock at how quickly the conditions changed and how quickly the emergency unfolded,' she said.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull spoke of the situation in his closing address at the ASEAN Summit this afternoon, urging everyone in fire-ravage areas to follow the advice and direction of the emergency management authorities.

'Our thoughts and prayers are with all of those who have been affected,' he said.

'Obviously its a very dynamic situation. There is no reports at this stage of casualties but there are thousands of hectares that have been burnt and a very large number of stock of sheep and cattle have been destroyed as well.

'I want to thank all of the state emergency services, the firefighters, the volunteers who are working tirelessly. I urge everyone to follow the advice and direction of the emergency management authorities. Your safety is their first priority.'

People who are south of the Bega River are being advised to seek shelter, with many of the roads in and out of the area already blocked

Up to 35 homes have already been destroyed in the small coastal town

Spokesman for the NSW RFS Greg Allen said fire crews were being assisted by water bombing aircraft ABC News reported.

'There is a southerly change expected, this could push the fire in a different area,' he said.

Most of Tathra was evacuated as it is feared the fire could burn through the entire town which has a population of 1622 people.

Twiiter user Avon Perera's wife took these photos as the family evacuated Tathra as fire raged around them

The view from the road out of Tathra as residents evacuated this afternoon

He said the entire population of Tathra would likely be impacted by the out of control blaze with power cut to most of the town and residents told earlier it was too late to leave The Guardian reported.

The New South Wales Rural Fire Service's Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers said the bushfire had managed to burn all the way into the town, destroying a number of homes.

The NSW RFS stated that during the day a total of 26 bush and grass fires were burning across the state, 12 of them were not contained.

So far there are no reports of any major injuries or fatalities.

Other areas that could at risk of bushfires include the Greater Hunter and Greater Sydney area, North Western and Lower Central West Plains.

Spokesman for the NSW RFS Greg Allen said fire crews were being assisted by water bombing aircraft

Most of Tathra was evacuated as it is feared the fire could burn through the entire town which has a population of 1622 people

As well as the Southern Slopes and Eastern Riverina, Illawarra/Shoalhaven, Far South Coast, Monaro Alpine, Southern Ranges, Central Ranges.

Any residents in these areas can call the Bush Fire Information Line on 1800 679 737.

If you are worried about family or other loved ones in the area you can call the Public Information Inquiry Centre on 1800 227 228.Advertisement

Marilyn Monroe re-imagined as a zombie and torsos decorated with tributes to Native American and other cultures were among the walking works of art that descended on the capital yesterday.

The London Tattoo Convention welcomed 150 artists to The Old Truman Brewery in the east end's Brick Lane, where people gathered to celebrate their extensive needle work.

Along with a full-length sleeve depicting celestial scenes above an open road, full back-pieces and garish horror movie-inspired monsters.

The two-day festival kicked off yesterday as studios from across the UK and Ireland came together to showcase their art.

Traditional Sailor Jerry styles were set against intricate tribal patterns as art exhibitions as artists exhibited limited edition prints in what used to be London's largest brewery.

Performance group The Fuel Girls entertained punters with fire and acrobatics and Gretsch G2622 Streamliner guitars were given makeovers by painter Nikole Lowe.

The Old Truman Brewery in East London's Brick Lane - now famed for its curry restaurants - is hosting 150 tattoo artists this weekend as enthusiasts gathered to show off their needle work in the now regenerated space. As well as traditional Sailor Jerry swallow such as the one picture on this man's waist, cultural heritage was also honoured

A woman displayed her full back-piece at the former brewery in the capital yesterday, as the two-day festival continues to celebrate needlework today. The Tattoo Collective also displayed Gretsch guitars with tattoo-inspired makeovers and punters were entertained by acrobatic performance group The Fuel Girls

As well as full sleeves, enthusiasts flaunted full-length leg pieces at the weekender, which prides itself on displaying the work of the finest flesh artists in Britain and Ireland. Rather than the traditional designs displayed by other fans yesterday, this man opted for extensive skeletal ink work not only snaking from his upper thigh to his ankle, but on his fingers and arms too

This Sailor Jerry design was among the more subtle pieces showcased during the festival's first day. The style was popularised by US Navy recruits and would later work its way into various subcultures, becoming a hallmark of the rockabilly resurgence in the 1980s as well as the off-shoot psychobilly scene pioneered by the London-based band The Meteors

Among the more bizarre works on show was this depiction of the actress Marilyn Monroe, set against a zombie-like re-imagining of the pop culture icon, with another face thrown in for good measure. Since her death in 1962, the Hollywood starlet has become a subject of fixation for subversives, most notably by Marilyn Manson, who combined her name with the world's most notorious serial killer to create his band name

Full sleeves covering every inch of the arm were flaunted in the capital yesterday as the festival enters its final day today, welcoming more than 100 artists as well as enthusiasts to show off their skin art and enjoy exhibitions in The Old Truman Brewery in London

This tattoo fan combined her tasteful neck design with dyed eyes, darkening the whites around her iris into a deep purple while a barbed wire pattern can be seen poking out underneath her fringe

A demonic goat chewing on wheat while being straddled by a vulture was among the more unsettling chest pieces displayed during the convention's first day. The goat is often associated with Satanism and the religion's founder Anton LaVey famously had an inverted pentagram hanging in his home which incorporated a goat's head into the design

A tattoo fan shows off a garish skull, with a lego man in place of the brain at the convention, which celebrates the country's best artists as enthusiasts gather for two days in the former brewery to watch performances and add to their already extensive skin art

Miki Vialetto (pictured) is the man behind the weekender, organising it annually to the delight of ink work enthusiasts. True to the cause, he is pictured here showing off his full chest piece and sleeves, which incorporate a variety of traditional styles including a South American tribal design that takes up his entire stomach

The regenerated former brewery welcomed artists and enthusiasts alike as they descended on the capital to share their designs and attend exhibitions celebrating both contemporary and historical, vintage takes on tattoo styles from cultures across the world

This back-piece draws on ancient Japanese art to depict two warriors in battle. The tribal design appears alongside two full sleeves and was one of many pieces nodding to the cultural heritage of other cultures during day one of the the convention, which will also welcome fans today

This attendee opted for an ambiguous, water-themed take as opposed to some of the more garish designs that were exhibited alongside artwork at The Old Truman Brewery in East London yesterday

An ethereal celebration of the heavens over an open highway shows the Milky Way hovering over a desolate road as part of a full-sleeve design at the convention, which was attended by 150 artists, some of whom were on-hand to provide new needlework for the two-day festival's customers

A grinning Cheshire cat's eyes gleam as Alice tumbles into Wonderland in the this full leg piece paying tribute to Lewis Carroll's most famous novel, in which a young girl is thrown headlong into a world filled with strange creatures including a Mad Hatter and an eccentric, capricious Queen who demands the removal of white roses in favour of red throughout her kingdom

James Dean, who became a cult hero after his starring role in Rebel Without a Cause, is remembered in this full sleeve. The young actor's anguished portrayal was followed by his untimely death after he was involved in a car crash in 1955 aged just 24 and forever immortalised as a symbol of youthful rebellion and angst

Horror-inspired tattoos depicted skulls alongside sinister and tortured characters were showcased at the former brewery as the festival's first day got underway this weekendThe critically-ill daughter of poisoned Russian spy Sergei Skripal was dating a secret service agent, it was revealed today.

Yulia Skripal, 33, was with her father when the pair were attacked with a nerve agent in Salisbury, Wiltshire, two weeks ago.

The pair collapsed in the city and are still fighting for their lives in hospital following the incident which shocked the world.

And it has now emerged that Yulia was in a stormy relationship with a man who is believed to have been working for Vladimir Putin.

It has now been revealed that Yulia (pictured with her father Sergei) was in a relationship with a secret service agent

Yulia (pictured with her father) was not liked by her boyfriend's mother who was also a security agent in Russia

According to The Sun on Sunday, the unnamed man's mother was also a 'high ranked' security agent working in Moscow.

The revelation that he was working for the Russian president's security network adds weight to any suggestion she was deliberately targeted along with her father.

Meanwhile, it is also believed that Yulia worked in the US Embassy in Moscow while she was in the on-off relationship with her boyfriend.

It comes as Moscow retaliated by expelling 23 British diplomats on Saturday - just days after Theresa May authorised the same sanction.

According to Russian media, her boyfriend was not introduced to her friends and was a 'shadowy' character.

Newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda added: 'Her friends we managed to talk to say that they have only seen him in photographs.

'A couple mentioned that he allegedly works for Russian special services.'

And images of the pair which Yulia uploaded to social media have since been deleted.

Police officers were wearing protective suits and masks close to the scene where Yulia and Sergei were found

Sergei, 66, (pictured) enjoyed drinking in Salisbury and was attacked with a nerve agent in the city with his daughter

On Sunday, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said that experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons will come to the UK.

They will arrive in Britain on Monday to test samples of the nerve agent used in the poisoning.

The Sun on Sunday reports that the woman who bought the family's flat in Moscow for 165,000 said the former Holiday Inn employee had 'issues in her love life'.

The woman, named Tamara, said: 'She complained about her on-off boyfriend and said she struggled to make their relationship work.'

Yulia worked in the information centre at US Embassy which is thought to have angered her boyfriend's mother who was not pleased her son was dating the daughter of Mr Skripal.

She 'did not accept her' and thought that she would end up betraying her son because she is the 'daughter of the traitor', according to Mr Skripal's 45-year-old niece Victoria.

She also claimed that her boyfriend's mother may have planned the Novichok gas attack, according to the newspaper.

A spokesperson of the US Embassy to Russia told MailOnline: 'The US Embassy to Russia has no record of Ms Skripal ever working there.'

Scotland Yard issued the first clear photograph of the former double agent's car, a burgundy BMW (pictured) and are trying to piece together where it was on Sunday 4

Police set up a forensic tent close to where the pair were found collapsed in Salisbury city centre

Yulia worked at a private school in her hometown of Moscow before moving to Southampton where she worked at Holiday Inn.

She later returned to the Russian capital to work for huge global brands Nike and PepsiCo.

Around 250 specialist counter-terror officers are working on the case and have taken statements from 400 witnesses, recovered 762 exhibits and trawled through 4,000 hours of CCTV footage.

A timeline produced by the Met shows that they know Skripal's daughter arrived at Heathrow on a flight from Russia at 2.40pm on Saturday, the day before the attack.

One theory is that the nerve agent Novichok was somehow hidden in her luggage by a hit squad acting on the orders of President Vladimir Putin, so that it would strike Skripal when his daughter unpacked.

And Labour shadow attorney general Shami Chakrabarti today called for 'economic measures' to target dirty money in the wake of the Salisbury poisoning.

Ms Chakrabarti, appearing on BBC One's Andrew Marr Show, reaffirmed Labour's position that the incident was either a 'loss of control' or a 'malevolent attack' by the Russian state.

The Labour peer also refuted claims her party was divided on the issue, saying the frontbench was united.Spain has turned up the heat in the simmering row over Gibraltar by warning that the territory might not be included in any Brexit transition deal.

Theresa May is hoping to shake hands on the terms of an 'implementation' period at a crucial EU summit later this week.

But Madrid is holding out the prospect of vetoing the Rock's inclusion in the arrangements.

The threat could mean months more uncertainty for the British territory - amid fears Spain is trying to exploit its leverage to reopen the question of sovereignty.

The European Council sparked anger last year by granting Spain a veto over the territory's fate after Brexit.

There have been fears that Spain is seeking to exploit Brexit to reopen the question of Gibraltar's (pictured) sovereignty

Theresa May (pictured with husband Philip on the way to church in her Maidenhead constituency today) has flatly ruled out alowing Gibraltar to be excluded from the implementation deal or any future trade agreement

The move raised the prospect of the UK being forced to choose between the Rock and a potential deal with the EU.

The EU and Britain are thought to be on the verge of agreeing the terms of a transition deal that would run until the end of 2020, with relations staying almost identical while preparations are made for the split.

But the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was still an open question whether the arrangements would apply to Gibraltar.

'If the UK wants any agreement between the EU and UK - including the transitional agreement - to apply to Gibraltar after its withdrawal on March 29 2019, it will need the agreement with Spain,' a spokesman told the Sunday Telegraph.

Mrs May has flatly ruled out alowing Gibraltar to be excluded from the implementation deal or any future trade agreement.

Gibraltar's chief minister Fabian Picardo has threatened to take legal action if Spain tries to shut the Rock out.

Mr Picardo said earlier this month that Gibraltar's parliament holds its own veto, with the power to decide which parts of the final Brexit agreement will apply to the 30,000 inhabitants of the Mediterranean outpost.

He insisted there was no question of reopening discussions on its future status.

'Sovereignty is something which is settled. It was settled in the Helsinki accords and in Utrecht that the sovereignty of Gibraltar belongs to the UK and the people of Gibraltar,' he said,

'We don't barter with sovereignty today as if we were in the 17th century, with kings passing around sovereignty of pieces of land.

'What we do is look at the interests of the people. What we do is talk to people and ask them what matters.

'We are very linked to the UK, we see the world through British eyes and we don't want to change that.'

Gibraltar's chief minister Fabian Picardo has said there must be no question of the Rock being shut out of the Brexit deal

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable has urged the Government to be firmer in its defence of Gibraltar's links to the UK after Brexit.

Sir Vince told the BBC: 'It is an issue of fundamental principle. This has been attached to the UK for two centuries.

'We have seen off repeated demands by Spain to have control over the Rock, which has been a fundamental part of British interests.

'We shouldn't allow Brexit to be used as a cloak for giving away what is a substantial British commitment. 'Let's not forget that all of these people want to remain in the UK just as much as the majority of people in Northern Ireland.'Russia's ambassador to the EU was accused of talking 'nonsense' today after he claimed the nerve agent used against an ex-spy could have come from a British laboratory.

Vladimir Chizhov said the military-grade Novichok poison might have originated at Porton Down as it was only eight miles from the scene in Salisbury.

But Boris Johnson dismissed the 'satirical' suggestion that British agents could have been to blame for the attempted murder of double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

Interviewed on the BBC's Andrew Marr show, Vladimir Chizhov said the military-grade Novichok poison might have originated at Porton Down as it was only eight miles from the scene in Salisbury

Boris Johnson dismissed the 'satirical' suggestion that British agents could have been to blame for the attempted murder of double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia

Mr Chizhov told the BBC's Andrew Marr show that Mr Skripal could 'rightly be referred to as a traitor'.

But he pointed out that he had been pardoned as part of a spy 'swap', adding that 'from the legal point of view the Russian state had nothing against him'.

Asked how he thought the nerve agent came to be used in Salisbury, he said: 'When you have a nerve agent or whatever, you check it against certain samples that you retain in your laboratories.

'And Porton Down, as we now all know, is the largest military facility in the United Kingdom that has been dealing with chemical weapons research.

'And it's actually only eight miles from Salisbury.'

Pressed on whether he believed Porton Down was 'responsible' for the nerve agent, Mr Chizhov said: 'I don't know. I don't have any evidence of anything having been used.'

He added: 'I exclude the possibility of any stockpiles of any chemical weapons fleeing Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union, but there were certain specialists, including some scientists who today claim to be responsible for creating some nerve agents, that have been whisked out of Russia and are currently residing in the United Kingdom.'

The poisoning of Yulia, left, and her father Sergei Skripal, right, sparked a huge investigation and clean-up operation (file picture)

Vladimir Putin, pictured voting in Moscow for presidential elections today, has denied Russia was involved in the 'hit' but made thinly-veiled threats at 'traitors'

A Foreign Office spokesman dismissed the claims as 'nonsense'.

'It's just another futile attempt from the Russian state to divert the story away from the facts - that Russia has acted in flagrant breach of its international obligations,' they said.

Boris Johnson today lashed out at the Kremlin over its 'futile' tit-for-tat in the poison attack row.

The Foreign Secretary said only Russians would suffer due to Moscow's expulsion of 23 British diplomats and the closure of the British Council.

Branding Vladimir Putin a 'bully', Mr Johnson jibed that his regime was 'isolated'. 'We have friends across the world and he does not,' he said.Pictures show some eco-zealots from the group - who are demanding the Government pay for insulation in social housing - have attended at least three of the five protests carried out by the group over the past nine days. It comes as Priti Patel and Grant Shapps last night instructed officials to seek an injunction against Insulate Britain, which, if granted, means protesters will face arrest and a potential instant jail term for contempt of court. One repeat protester is retired reverend Mark Coleman, who stepped down as vicar and borough dean of Rochdale last year. Reverend Sue Parfitt was back among the protesters on the M25 yesterday. The retired family therapist, 79, from Bristol was spotted being led away by police with blue paint on her hands. Ms Parfitt, who was once arrested as part of the 2019 Extinction Rebellion protest in London, was seen at Insulate Britain's first M25 protest on September 13. Last night Priti Patel and Grant Shapps instructed officials to seek an injunction against Insulate Britain. They are said to be 'furious' at the eco-activists who ran in front of traffic during yesterday morning's rush hour.Rough sleepers were 'denied the chance of a warm bath and bed' after a homeless charity refused two free rooms offered on a freezing cold night (file photo)

A homeless charity in London turned down two free rooms in a four-star hotel on a freezing cold night due to fear of 'favouritism'.

Celebrity lawyer Nick Freeman, also known as Mr Loophole, offered the rooms at a hotel after he was unable to travel due to the severe conditions.

As temperatures plummeted to around -4C in London on February 28, homeless charities across the city struggled to find enough beds for the homeless people sleeping on the streets.

Mr Freeman had booked and paid for two rooms at the Copthorne Tara Hotel in Kensington in order to attend a reunion dinner of his old public school.

But not wishing to see them go to waste he asked his daughter Sophie, who lives in London, to give them to a homeless charity.

When she called one charity, Glassdoor in Chelsea, she was told that they couldn't accept the offer of two hotel bedrooms as they couldn't show 'favouritism'.

The decision would have meant that two rough sleepers missed out on the chance of a warm hotel room and instead spent the night in sub-zero temperatures.

Mr Freeman said: 'I was absolutely staggered when my daughter told me this. On one of the coldest nights for many years, two homeless people could have had the luxury of a hot bath, comfortable bed and then breakfast in the morning.

The rooms were offered by celebrity lawyer Nick Freeman also known as 'Mr Loophole'

'The rooms were all booked and paid for and I told the hotel in advance so there would be no problems on their arrival.

'Surely it can't have been too difficult to call send two rough sleepers down the road to take advantage of the offer - instead the two rooms went to waste.

'No doubt they were following rules, but it would appear common sense has no place in our society at the moment.'

Mr Freeman added: 'The charities' polices have stolen from two deserving, but unfortunate individuals, a warm night that no doubt they would have remembered for a long time to come.'

His daughter said: 'I was stunned by the response. They said it would show favouritism to offer two rough sleepers the chance of a hotel room.

'It really defies common sense as it would have helped them find more beds for the night for people on the streets on one of the coldest nights of the year.'

Glassdoor works with several partner churches across London to provide shelter for rough sleepers in winter months.

A spokeswoman for Glassdoor said: 'It was incredibly thoughtful and generous gesture. In some ways it makes perfect sense: we know who needs shelter and people let us know of alternative forms of shelter that is available.

'But matching up these two is actually more complicated than one might realise. There are safeguarding concerns and logistical challenges.

The two rooms were available in four-star hotel Copthorne Tara Hotel in Kensington, London which Mr Freeman booked in order to attend a reunion dinner of his old public school

'For example, how can we send a vulnerable individual off to a hotel where we don't know what they'll find at the other end?

'What if the individual has to travel far only to find a hotel that needs passports or other forms of proof that someone who is sleeping rough might not have?

'Rough sleepers often struggle to hold onto important documents, which sometimes get stolen or go missing. We found it to be a better and more practical strategy to take as many people as we could safely hold into our existing church shelters.

'The number of individuals finding shelter that week swelled to 150 guests one night across four churches, up from our usual maximum capacity of about 120.'

She said: 'Our expertise is in working with churches to get people off the streets in winter, and I think our limited resources are better used maximizing this strategy.

'We always encourage individuals in need of shelter to work with our casework team to help them find a more stable way off the streets.

'While helping a couple of people into a hotel room for a night might be a treat, the offer of a space in a vetted church shelter is a route that ties them into our services in a more stable and sustainable way.'Police investigating the alleged sexual assault of a 17-year-old girl have released a comfit of a man who may be able to help with their investigations.

The assault took place on Wednesday, March 14, at Alexandra Headlands when at about 11.15am the girl was approached by a man on the access path to Alexandra Beach.

The girl ignored the man as he approached and continued along the access path to Alexandra Beach.

Police investigating the alleged sexual assault of a 17-year-old girl have released a comfit of a man who may be able to assist with their investigations

It's alleged that at this point the man continued to follow her before he started to grab her inappropriately.

The girl was able to push the man away and continue along the beach access.

The man was last seen getting into a new model silver 'sports type' sedan (possibly a Holden Commodore) before driving southbound along Alexandra Parade.

He is described as being Caucasian, in his late twenties to mid-thirties, approximately 187cm, with a large build and scruffy, dirty blonde hair.

Anyone who may be able to identify the man or who has any information that may be able to help with their inquiries is urged to contact Policelink on 131 444.A 93-year-old former nurse honoured for her services to the NHS was left in a hospital corridor in urine-soaked clothes for six days.

Enid Stevens was taken to A&E in St James's Hospital in Leeds, West Yorkshire, with a spinal fracture.

After a six-hour wait, the MBE nurse was left in a cubicle on her own for another five hours in soaking wet clothes after becoming incontinent.

Enid Stevens, 93, was taken to A&E in St James's Hospital in Leeds, West Yorkshire, with a spinal fracture. Pictured: She was wheeled out into a corridor and left in front of store cupboards for six days

The MBE nurse who worked for the NHS for 41 years said the ordeal was the 'most degrading thing she's ever experienced'

The great-grandmother-of-five was unable to move on the trolley and had no way of alerting nurses so she was left helpless and wet from her 'waist down to her knees'.

She eventually got a bed on a ward for three days - but was then wheeled out and left in the corridor for a further six days.

Widow Enid, who worked for the NHS for 41 years, said: 'What happened to me was the most degrading thing I've ever experienced.

'I worked in the NHS from the age of 18 until I retired when I was 59 and every second of that time I was stood up on my feet - I didn't get an MBE for nothing.

The great-grandmother-of-five lay in urine-soaked clothes after being left in a bed for five hours unattended. After shuffling herself onto a chair she managed to change her clothes herself

'But I'm not blaming the hospital or the staff there - you have to see it for yourself.

'The place was absolutely heaving - as soon as you ask a nurse to do one thing she's stopped by someone else to do something else.

'There used to be convalescent homes for elderly patients to recover after hospital treatment but the government got rid of them years ago.

'It's all in A&E and there's nowhere to put people except in the corridor. I'm just lucky I had my daughter to go backwards and forwards for everything.'

The long-serving Leeds nurse had first arrived at the hospital on March 6 at 7.30pm after suffering from back pain.

She said: 'It was the most terrible thing that has ever happened to me. I was soaked-through with urine in my clothes - it was like a nightmare.

'A nurse passed by so I asked her for some clean clothes but she never came back so I sat there for five hours wet-through.'

Eventually the pensioner managed to 'shuffle' to the end of the trolley which was left with its sides up and got onto a chair where she changed into a clean nighty she had brought with her.

The former nurse was supported day and night through her ordeal by her 61-year-old daughter Barbara Brook (pictured)

After having an MRI scan and being given morphine for her pain she was taken back to the ward so doctors could monitor her while she recovered from her injury.

It was suspected she had fractured her spine bending over to put her slippers on.

But she was woken at 2am three days later to find herself being wheeled down a corridor.

The pensioner was being moved to a different ward but when she arrived she was told there were no beds available and so was left between two doors in a corridor.

She said: 'That's where I was left for six days.

'I was blocking the entrance to a doctor's consultation room so I had to be shoved out of the way when the doctors brought patients' families in to speak with them.'

Mrs Stevens said the hospital staff were ran off their feet so she doesn't blame the nurses

The grandmother was supported day and night through her ordeal by her daughter Barbara Brook, 61.

Mother-of-two Barbara said: 'Mum was right next to where they kept the apron and mask dispensers and the staff had to lean over her to get them. It was so upsetting for her - just awful really.'

Mrs Stevens, who was awarded an MBE in October 1983 for her work in charge of theatre at Leeds' Seacroft Hospital, was finally discharged on Friday March 16.

Julian Hartley, Chief Executive of the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: 'Our communication with Mrs Stevens and her family during her stay should have been better and I sincerely apologise for her experience of care.

Widow Enid said: 'There used to be convalescent homes for elderly patients to recover after hospital treatment but the government got rid of them years ago'

'Mrs Stevens was cared for in a non-designated bed space for longer than is acceptable and I am sorry that we weren't able to move her to a dedicated bed space during her stay.

'Unfortunately there are pressures across the whole health and social care system which impact on our ability to discharge some patients who need further non-hospital support or care.'

'Regrettably we sometimes have to move some patients to a non-designated bed space for a temporary period of time.

'This is so we can meet the needs of patients who require closer clinical observation and monitoring.'The prime minister was spotted petting a dog this morning in the latest instance to cast doubt on her robotic reputation.

Theresa May stroked the border collie while sporting a Russian-style hat as she made her way to church near her constituency of Maidenhead, Kent, with husband Philip today.

It comes just three days after the smiling Conservative leader was pictured fist-bumping a teenager in Salisbury, Wiltshire, in the aftermath of the nerve agent attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter.

Theresa May was seen stroking the border collie as she attended church in Kent with her husband Philip this morning

During her visit to Salisbury, Wiltshire, Mrs May fist-bumped a teenager and thanked a boy who expressed his 'love' for her as she dealt with the aftermath of the nerve agent attack

Nicknamed the Maybot by critics of her slogan-heavy General Election campaign last year, Mrs May has been ridiculed ever since she employed the now infamous 'strong and stable' tagline.

But fans have seen a warmer side to the prime minister in recent days, as she was also seen cradling six-day-old Ted Young while opening a new council estate in Wokingham, Berkshire.

The Tory leader was seen smiling with her husband on the way to church after previously being slammed for a robotic use of slogans

The prime minister was praised for a more personable approach after she was pictured cradling this baby while opening a new council estate

The 61-year-old former home secretary, who does not have children of her own, was so marred by her impersonal reputation that author John Grace last year released I, Maybot: The Rise and Fall last year, aping Isaac Asimov's classic sci-fi novel.

She was heavily criticised in the aftermath of the Grenfell fire in Kensington, West London, for not meeting locals when she visited the site, while Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was pictured hugging a woman after she told him her 12-year-old was missing.

By contrast, she was heard thanking a boy who shouted 'I love you, Theresa' as she was leaving Salisbury.

The possibility of a fresh image for the Tory comes after a poll found voters were responding positively to her stance against Russia.

Theresa May and her husband were spotted smiling this morning as they attended church near her Maidenhead constituency

After announcing it was 'highly likely' Russian president Vladimir Putin approved the use of Novichok agent, she expelled 23 of the country's diplomats from the UK.

A YouGov poll for The Times found more than half of voters believed she was handling the attack well, with just 23 per cent saying she was not.

Meanwhile Jeremy Corbyn came under fire for failing to blame the Kremlin, suggesting the Mafia might be responsible.

Of those polled, 18 per cent said the Labour leader had performed well in the aftermath of the incident, with 39 per cent saying he was doing badly.During its weekly meeting last Wednesday, the cabinet approved an agreement to establish a new Russian Industrial Zone in Egypt, part of the government s ongoing efforts to attract foreign as well as domestic investors to the Suez Economic Zone where an international logistics hub, industrial areas for different sectors, and commercial and residential projects are being developed.

Following the cabinets approval, Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade Tarek Kabil said the agreement would be submitted to the State Council and parliament for review.

The new Russian Industrial Zone is planned to be established in East Port Said on the Suez Canal Economic Axis on an area of five million square metres in an investment worth more than $7 billion.

In accordance with the Industrial Zones Law, the land will be granted to the new zone for 50 years.

The law also stipulates that 90 per cent of the workforce in projects or industrial complexes inside the zone should be Egyptian.

The Russian zone is expected to generate 35,000 jobs in a wide array of industries, including sensors, air-conditioners, engines, construction and medical equipment, glass, ceramics, wood, paper and feeding industries for vehicles and tyres.

This is a win-win agreement, Farid Ahmed Abdel-Aal, an expert at the National Planning Institute in Cairo, said, explaining that Russia would benefit from Egypts location as a gateway for its products to reach African and European markets in addition to making use of the Egyptian labour force.

On the other hand, establishing an industrial zone in cooperation with a developed country like Russia should help in the transfer of technology to the Egyptian industrial sector.

It should also attract international companies to invest in Egypt, particularly from the Russian-led Eurasian Customs Union [ECU] which includes Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, Abdel-Aal added.

Economic cooperation between the two countries is expected to increase when negotiations to establish a free-trade area between Egypt and the ECU are finalised.

The agreement will give Egyptian products access to a larger number of countries, with more members possibly joining the ECU in the future.

It will allow the customs-free export of Egyptian agricultural and industrial goods to the ECU, boosting Egypts trade, Mustafa Khalil, a member of the Egyptian-Russian Business Council, said.

The volume of trade between Egypt and Russia came in at $5.5 billion in 2017.

According to Khalil, the establishment of the new industrial zone should add to economic cooperation and increase political ties between the two countries. It should also attract further investment to the Suez Canal Economic Axis.

For the past two years the government has been promoting the Suez Canal Zone in a bid to attract international investors and boost job creation and economic growth, according to Abdel-Aal.

The Suez Canal economic area stretches through the three governorates of Suez, Ismailia and Port Said. When it is complete, the zone will include six maritime ports. It is set to be completed by 2045.

People should be able to reap the fruits of these efforts within the coming few years when the services and infrastructure have been improved and income increases, Abdel-Aal said.

The construction work on the new zone will be carried out in three stages, which are expected to be finished by 2031 when Russian companies will start operations.

During the negotiations, which started in 2014, Egypt and Russia agreed to establish a company called the Moscow Economic Zone that would be responsible for the zones operations and construction work, while both governments would supervise the project as a whole.

The zone is funded by the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and a number of Egyptian banks.

Khalil explained that bilateral cooperation between the two countries had been extended to include Russias assistance in building Egypts first nuclear power plant at a total cost of $35 billion in the city of Dabaa.

This project will renew Egypts cooperation with the former Soviet Union on building the former Anshas nuclear research reactor in Egypt.

Russian investment in the Egyptian market presently amounts to some $62.8 million in 417 projects in the areas of tourism, construction and communications, according to figures from the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

*This story was first published in Al-Ahram Weekly

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Carol Howard, 39, is alleged to have called her ex-husband 'tight, white Scottish trash'

A former Met police poster girl who is suing the police watchdog over claims of institutional racism has been accused of sending a racist text.

Carol Howard, 39, is alleged to have called her ex-husband 'tight, white Scottish trash'.

The text was discovered after she was arrested three times for ABH between August 2013 and April 2014.

No action was taken over the arrest and it is believed bosses 'covered up' the crimes.

Last month, Ms Howard was hailed as a whistleblower when she took the the Independent Police and Crime Commission to employment tribunal accusing it of being 'institutionally racist and corrupt'.

She is seeking 144,000 in compensation from for racial discrimination in an ongoing tribunal.

Ms Howard previously took the police to a tribunal and won 37,000 on the ground of sexual and racial discrimination, accusing her boss of being 'vindictive and spiteful' toward her.

But now lawyers acting for her then-boss David Kelly are demanding the Met explain why the text was never disclosed, arguing that her 'apparently racist views of white people' mean her comments about Mr Kelly should be disregarded.

Ms Howard was hailed as a whistleblower when she took the the Independent Police and Crime Commission to employment tribunal accusing it of being 'institutionally racist and corrupt'

There are further claims that the Deputy Met Commissioner Craig Mackey knew of the text but it was 'kept quiet', according to the Sun of Sunday.

Her solicitor said of the text was 'repeating to him his description of himself.'

Last week, she told an employment tribunal that the watchdog frustrated inquiries in order to protect accused officers and the reputation of forces.

Ms Howard is a former firearms officer, who famously appeared as a Scotland Yard poster girl - complete with Heckler & Koch semi-automatic rifle - promoting efforts to protect London during the 2012 Olympics.

The Met quit the Met in 2015 after 14 years experience in the police force.

She won a 37,000 tribunal payout in a high-profile race discrimination case and went on to join the IPCC as an investigator the following year.

Ms Howard won a 37,000 tribunal payout in a high-profile race discrimination case and went on to join the IPCC as an investigator the following year

Ms Howard, of Coulsdon, Surrey, is now seeking a further 144,000 payout for alleged racial discrimination and victimisation during her six-month stint at the IPCC.

She told Central London Employment Tribunal that the IPCC, while probing misconduct and racism, was itself riddled with corruption and discriminatory practices.

She alleged that some IPCC investigators secretly supported the racist police officers whom they were investigating.The Labour leadership was scrambling today to limit the damage from Jeremy Corbyn's refusal to condemn Russia.

Senior frontbenchers took to the airwaves to insist they 'agree with the Prime Minister' amid fears that Mr Corbyn has appeared to be an apologist for Vladimir Putin.

The veteran left-winger was heavily criticised by MPs from all parties last week after he pointedly failed to accept that Moscow was behind the attempted murder of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury.

Mr Corbyn's spokesman inflamed the row further by arguing that the British security services might not be trustworthy enough to draw a conclusion on the involvement of Russia.

But in an apparent attempt to shift the party's position as poll suggested it is way out of line with public opinion, Mr Corbyn's cose allies John McDonnell and Baroness Chakrabarti stressed that Russia is culpable and endorsed the government's reprisals against Moscow.

In an apparent attempt to shift the party's position, Mr Corbyn's cose allies John McDonnell (left) and Baroness Chakrabarti (right) endorsed the government's reprisals against Moscow

Jeremy Corbyn (pictured in the Commons last week) was heavily criticised by MPs from all parties after he pointedly failed to accept that Moscow was behind the attempted murder of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury

The poisoning of Yulia, left, and her father Sergei Skripal, right, sparked a huge investigation and clean-up operation (file picture)

Mr McDonnell said the Salisbury incident is 'highly likely' to have been a state execution.

Appearing on ITV's Peston on Sunday, Mr McDonnell said: 'We support exactly what the Prime Minister said and we condemn Russia for this, condemn them. I believe this is a pattern of behaviour we have seen.'

The shadow chancellor said it was important to base judgements on the evidence but added: 'There's a pattern of people being murdered here, therefore it leads you to the conclusion that Putin has questions to answer because this is highly likely this could have been a state execution.'

Mr McDonnell added: 'He is responsible whichever way you look at it, he is responsible and all the evidence points to him.'

Reacting to Labour divisions over Mr Corbyn's response to the incident, Mr McDonnell said the Labour leader had given a 'constructive critique' and others 'had misread that'.

Shadow attorney general Lady Chakrabarti told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show: 'What I think is what Theresa May has said, which is that there's a responsibility of the regime either in relation to having lost control of this chemical weaponry or even more serious and it's a malevolent directed attack.

On the BBC's Andrew Marr show today, Boris Johnson said the UK had evidence that development of the nerve agent had continued over the past 10 years - despite Moscow's claims to have destroyed it

Theresa May (pictured with husband Philip on the way to church in her Maidenhead constituency today) says the government is considering its next move in the diplomatic spa

'That's the important distinction going forward.

'You're not going to get co-operation from a state that's deliberately targeted you but you might get co-operation even from a slightly embarrassed state if its lost control of its stock of chemical weapons.'

Lady Chakrabarti said Labour's position was that the incident was either a 'loss of control' or a 'malevolent attack' by the Russian state.

What is the Novichok nerve agent used against the Skripals? The Novichok nerve agent used against former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia is among the most deadly poisons ever created. They were secretly developed by the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold war in the 1970s and 1980s. Communist scientists developed the poison so it would not be able to be detected by Nato's chemical detection equipment. They come in the form of a ultra-fine powder, Novichok is up to eight times more potent than the deadly VX gas. Victims who are poisoned by the powder suffer muscle spasms, breathing problems and then cardiac arrest. There is a known antidote to the nerve agent - atropine can block the poison. But doctors find it very tricky to administer the antidote because the dose would have to be so high it could prove fatal for the person. Novichok poisons are highly dangerous to handle, requiring the expertise of skilled scientists in a sophisticated lab. Dr Vil Mirzayanov, former Chief of the Foreign Technical Counterintelligence Department at Russias premiere, was among the team of scientists who helped develop the agent. Advertisement

'We must condemn Russian responsibility, whether it is negligent or whether it is even more serious,' she said.

Asked if she trusted the conclusions of the British security services, Lady Chakrabarti said: 'I do.'

She also called for 'economic measures' to target dirty money in the wake of the Salisbury poisoning.

Poll have suggested the public rejects Mr Corbyn's handling of the crisis - and is happy with Mrs May's response.

YouGov research for The Times found some 75 per cent of people believed that Russia was responsible for the attempted murders, while just 5 per cent thought they were not.

Support for Tories was up one point on 42 per cent, while Labour was down four on 39 per cent.

Some 53 per cent approved of Mrs May's handling, while 23 per cent said she had performed badly.

Just 18 per cent thought Mr Corbyn had fared well and 39 per cent thought he had done badly.

Former chancellor George Osborne today added his voice to criticism of Mr Corbyn.

'Jeremy Corbyn's behaviour has frankly been disgraceful. He has ended up sounding like an apologist for the Russian regime,' he said at a conference in Dubai.

'He's perfectly entitled to raise questions about the Government's response. He is the opposition leader and we have an opposition in a democracy precisely to raise questions.

'But to appear as a kind of apologist for the Russian regime or to suggest Russia somehow was framed in some kind of elaborate conspiracy involving MI6 and the CIA and all that, is just nonsense and has further reminded people of his unsuitability to be prime minister in my view.'

Meanwhile, Boris Johnson today claimed Russia has kept producing Novichok as the row over the Salisbury attack escalated.

The Foreign Secretary said the UK had evidence that development of the nerve agent had continued over the past 10 years - despite Moscow's claims to have destroyed it.

Mr Johnson also revealed that chemical experts will be coming to the UK tomorrow to check the samples from the scene of the attempted murder of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr show, Mr Johnson said: 'We actually have evidence within the last ten years that Russia has not only been investigating the delivery of nerve agents for the purposes of assassination but has also been creating and stockpiling Novichok.'

Mr Johnson said experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will arrive in the UK tomorrow.

The team from the Hague will meet officials from the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory and police to discuss the process.

Samples will then be despatched to international laboratories selected by the OPCW for testing. Results are expected to take at least two weeks.

Reacting to Labour divisions over Mr Corbyn's response to the incident, Mr McDonnell said the Labour leader had given a 'constructive critique' and others 'had misread that'

Lady Chakrabarti said Labour's position was that the incident was either a 'loss of control' or a 'malevolent attack' by the Russian state

Mr Johnson made clear that the government's evidence on Russia suggested it had broken the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Moscow is said to have investigated ways of delivering nerve agents for assassination, and part of the programme involved producing and stockpiling quantities of Novichok.

Branding Vladimir Putin a 'bully', Mr Johnson jibed that his regime was 'isolated'. 'We have friends across the world and he does not,' he said.

Mr Johnson also took aim at Jeremy Corbyn over his unwillingness to condemn Russia over the outrage, saying: 'He let down his party and country by seemingly aiding the efforts of the Russian propaganda machine by casting doubt over what is obvious to any objective onlooker.'A devastated woman has revealed how a stalker hired a British marketing firm to smear her reputation online causing her so much stress that she suffered a miscarriage.

Laura Jane Tait, 28, has been the subject of more than 12,000 tweets posted by an army of bots, along with pictures of her, since July 2017 that branded her, among other things, 'a criminal' and 'a narcissistic psychopath.'

The charity worker, from Sydney, Australia, told the Sunday Times that she has had to move house after her stalker enlisted a UK-based firm called Retweets Pro to ruin her reputation.

Laura Jane Tait (pictured) has revealed how a stalker who unleashed a bot army to smear her reputation online caused her so much stress she suffered a miscarriage

She doesn't know why she's being targeted but the sheer volume of tweets  40 were posted in a 12-hour period last week, according to the newspaper  means that it's now near impossible to find any genuine information about her online.

Last year, the stress of the online abuse, which also included her being bombarded with nasty emails and posts on other social media platforms, was so much for her that she and her partner lost their first child.

Ms Tait was three months pregnant and at the hospital to celebrate the birth of her sister's baby when she miscarried.

'It was horrible and I was devastated,' she told the Times.

'My sister gave birth that day and I turned up to the hospital with balloons and someone tapped me on the shoulder and said: 'You are covered in blood.'

Twitter shut down some of the accounts posting about Ms Tait this weekend, but admitted there was 'more to do'

She added: 'This is torture. I haven't done anything wrong.'

Twitter shut down some of the accounts posting about Ms Tait this weekend, but admitted there was 'more to do.'

It came after Ms Tait reported her stalker to police in New South Wales and her family repeatedly reported the abusive posts to Twitter.

Some of the tweets have come from accounts liked to a British social media firm called Retweets Pro, which offers customers a service that allows messages to be posted up to 50,000 times for a fee.

Retweets Pro is based out of a Suffolk farmhouse and run by Jamie Robertson, who insisted the Times that he found 'no evidence' that messages about Ms Tait were shared through his website.

However, the Times reports he shut down Retweets Pro after being exposed by the newspaper.Prince Harry blew Taliban extremists to pieces in a helicopter rescue mission while he was serving in Afghanistan.

The royal's role in saving US soldiers after they were ambushed was revealed in a new biography detailing his time in the Army.

He co-piloted an Apache as it flew in to rescue injured servicemen who were then airlifted to safety in 2012.

The prince is pictured on an Apachi, the kind of helicopter he co-piloted to save US servicemen and spray the Taliban with bullets

The prince is understood to have sprayed the fundamentalist forces with bullets, allowing the soldiers to escape, The Sun reports.

One of those rescued was Christopher 'Tripp' Zanetis, whose 73-year-old father John said: 'Prince Harry came in with his protection squadron and blew the enemy to pieces.'

His 63-year-old mother Sarah, from Indiana, added: 'They provided enough cover for Tripp to get his men loaded on the helicopter. I believe there were Taliban members killed.'

The royal served two tours in Afghanistan, where he helped rescue soldiers in a mission revealed in a new biography

Harry - who was stationed at Helmand Province's Camp Bastion at the time - said 'see you at New Year's' to the soldiers when they were saved.

Tripp was killed aged 37 on Thursday when his helicopter hit a power line and crashed at the border between Iraq and Syria, killing seven.

His mother described her son as 'remarkable' and said that although he did not talk about his service a lot, he did talk about Prince Harry's rescue after he had dinner with the royal.

Called Captain Harry Wales by fellow servicemen, the 33-year-old completed two tours of Afghanistan, from 2007 to 2008 and then 2012 to 2013.

Tripp (pictured, left) was killed on Thursday along the Iraq Syria border. He was rescued by Prince Harry (pictured during his service, right) in 2012

He has talked previously of killing Islamic extremists while he was serving in his second tour, saying: 'Take a life to save a life. The squadrons been out here. Everyones fired a certain amount.'

Deployed with the Household Cavalry in 2007, he was first employed as a forward air controller watching out for heat signatures that would give away the positions of enemy fighters.

His surveillance led to a Taliban bunker being destroyed as Allied forces dropped a 500 lb bomb on the base.Russian scientists killed and tortured thousands of animals while carrying out tests on the nerve agent which poisoned a spy and his daughter.

Experts at the Chemical Research Institute near Nukus, Uzbekistan, would make the dogs wear gas masks and walk on treadmills during the experiments.

They would give the animals Novichok, which was used to attack former double agent Sergei Skripal, 66, and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia in Salisbury.

The centre was built by the Soviets to create the nerve agent and it was abandoned by the Red Army in 1992.

Thousands of dogs were subjected to the nerve agent Novichok during experiments carried out by Russian scientists

A man works in a laboratory to research physiology in high temperatures and under high pressure at the Shikhany research centre

Early versions of Novichok were sent to the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology in Moscow before it was finally returned to Nukus for the experiments.

The Sun on Sunday reports that thousands of animals died after they were exposed to the potent nerve agent in.

Meanwhile, scientists also tested chemical weapons, including Novichok, on dogs at the Shikhany Institute in south eastern Russia.

US expert Judith Miller recalled her memories of seeing the dogs on the 25 treadmills in Nukus.

She went to the centre after the Soviet Union collapsed and said: 'I saw hundreds of small cages where the dogs were held and 25 miniature treadmills.

'The dogs were strapped to them and crammed into gas masks. Thousands died from exposure to the agent.'

Thousands of dogs were forced to walk on treadmills and were given Novichok at the Shikhany Institute in south eastern Russia (pictured)

Double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia (pictured together) are still fighting for their lives in hospital

Mr Skripal and his daughter are still fighting for their lives in hospital following the incident which shocked the world.

And it has now emerged that Yulia was in a relationship with a man who is believed to have been working for Vladimir Putin.

Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson today said that experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons will come to the UK.

They will arrive in Britain on Monday to test samples of the nerve agent used in the poisoning.



Russia was accused of 'trolling' today after it jibed that Hercule Poirot should be brought in to investigate the Salisbury nerve agent attack.

Moscow's embassy posted a photograph of the fictional Belgian detective as it mocked Britain's efforts to get to the bottom of the outrage.

But MPs accused them of 'trolling' and failing to take the incident 'seriously' - even as former spy Sergei Skripal and daughter Yulia fight for their lives in hospital.

Alongside an image of David Suchet playing Agatha Christie's creation on TV, the embassy wrote: 'In absence of evidence, we definitely need Poirot in Salisbury!'

Yvette Cooper, the Labour chair of the Home Affairs Committee, said: 'They are effectively trolling us on this.

Moscow's embassy posted a photograph of the fictional Belgian detective as it mocked Britain's efforts to get to the bottom of the outrage

Interviewed on the BBC's Andrew Marr show, Vladimir Chizhov said the military-grade Novichok poison might have originated at Porton Down as it was only eight miles from the scene in Salisbury

Labour MP Stella Creasy voiced disbelief at the flippant response from the Russian embassy

'They are not responding in a way that is serious and statesmanlike.'

Fellow Labour MP Stella Creasy said: 'Theres three people seriously ill in hospital, hundreds worried they may have been contaminated and international concern about what may happen next. The Russian embassy responds like this  #nowords'

Tory Party vice-chair James Cleverly said: 'The Russian Embassy is laughing at the fact that three people are critically ill after an assassination attempt.

'The unanimity of voice from the international, rules based, community sends a powerful message that this is unacceptable.'

The flippant message was issued as a senior Russian diplomat tried to argue that the Novichok nerve agent used against the Skripals could have come from a British laboratory.

Vladimir Chizhov said the military-grade Novichok poison might have originated at Porton Down as it was only eight miles from the scene in Salisbury.

But Boris Johnson dismissed the 'satirical' suggestion that British agents could have been to blame for the attempted murder of double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

Mr Chizhov told the BBC's Andrew Marr show that Mr Skripal could 'rightly be referred to as a traitor'.

But he pointed out that he had been pardoned as part of a spy 'swap', adding that 'from the legal point of view the Russian state had nothing against him'.

Asked how he thought the nerve agent came to be used in Salisbury, he said: 'When you have a nerve agent or whatever, you check it against certain samples that you retain in your laboratories.

'And Porton Down, as we now all know, is the largest military facility in the United Kingdom that has been dealing with chemical weapons research.

'And it's actually only eight miles from Salisbury.'

Boris Johnson dismissed the 'satirical' suggestion that British agents could have been to blame for the attempted murder of double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia

Pressed on whether he believed Porton Down was 'responsible' for the nerve agent, Mr Chizhov said: 'I don't know. I don't have any evidence of anything having been used.'

He added: 'I exclude the possibility of any stockpiles of any chemical weapons fleeing Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union, but there were certain specialists, including some scientists who today claim to be responsible for creating some nerve agents, that have been whisked out of Russia and are currently residing in the United Kingdom.'

A Foreign Office spokesman dismissed the claims as 'nonsense'.

'It's just another futile attempt from the Russian state to divert the story away from the facts - that Russia has acted in flagrant breach of its international obligations,' they said.

Boris Johnson today lashed out at the Kremlin over its 'futile' tit-for-tat in the poison attack row.

The Foreign Secretary said only Russians would suffer due to Moscow's expulsion of 23 British diplomats and the closure of the British Council.

Branding Vladimir Putin a 'bully', Mr Johnson jibed that his regime was 'isolated'. 'We have friends across the world and he does not,' he said.

The poisoning of Yulia, left, and her father Sergei Skripal, right, sparked a huge investigation and clean-up operation (file picture)He added all police officers that want a Taser should be allowed to have one

He has said he would not like to serve on the frontline without a Taser today

Simon Chesterman is the firearms lead for the National Police Chiefs' Council

Simon Chesterman said he would not want to be on a frontline patrol without a Taser

All police officers should be allowed to carry Tasers, according to the man in charge of armed police in England and Wales, in a move that would end two hundred years of unarmed policing in the UK.

Simon Chesterman, firearms lead for the National Police Chiefs' Council said he would not want to be on a frontline patrol without a Taser.

Mr Chesterman, who is also deputy chief constable of Civil Nuclear Constabulary said he hopes for a roll out of the weapon and 'if an officer wants to carry it and they can meet the standard, they should be allowed to carry it'.

His comments come a year after the terrorist attack on Westminster.

Speaking to the Sunday Times, he stressed the decision was for individual chief constables but it would serve as protection for police officers.

The Taser works by firing two 50,000-volt needle-tipped darts to incapacitate its target.

The use of the weapon has been controversial and police use of Tasers has previously killed people in the UK.

Jordan Begley died in 2013, aged 23, after being Tasered by Greater Manchester Police officer.

His death led to a safety review of Tasers by police forces.

Despite this, Tasers are still regularly used in the UK.

In 2016, Tasers were used 11,294 times, although in most cases the officers only had to draw or aim the gun rather than fire it.

All police officers should be allowed to carry Tasers, according to the man in charge of armed police in England (file photo)

Tasers were introduced in England and Wales in 2003 in a 12-month trial for firearms officers in five police forces.

Four years later police were told they could use them on under-18s, leading to 27 recorded cases in which they were employed.

In 2008, Tasers were rolled out across the country, and were no longer limited to specialist officers.

Supporters say the weapons offer a vital tool for police to defuse dangerous confrontations without the use of live ammunition.

But critics are concerned that Tasers are being drawn in everyday situations to bully and intimidate members of the public.

Mr Chesterman said that some people see the Taser 'as an instrument of torture' but said it has 'saved many lifes' and is less abrasive than a baton.A Youtube dare devil who filmed himself climbing the Severn Bridge and Blackpool's Big One rollercoaster has added another famous site to his bucket list - Barcelona's Sagrada Familia.

Footage of Ally Law scaling the Antoni Gaudi-designed temple with friends despite a high-level terror alert has already been viewed more than 460,000 times online.

The crazy stunt has also prompted an internal investigation by site managers as well as a police probe into how the men managed to breach security and get away without being caught.

The video Ally posted on his YouTube channel showed he and two friend inside the Sagrada Familia enclosure for nine minutes and were able to outsmart and outrun security guards who spotted them as they scaled metal scaffolding around the temple before having to abort their climb to avoid arrest.

Southampton-born Ally, filmed fist-bumping his friends after they made it to safety in a nearby park, says on the video: 'That felt like pure mission impossible right there.

'We tried it, we gave it our best bet. I was scared. We bumped into a fan who watches the videos. I should have videoed him.

Ally Law as he begins to climbs Sagradia Famila in Barcelona

'He told us, 'If you run from security or the police you will get beaten and he's Spanish so he knows his stuff.

'He said, 'Either run really fast or don't run at all.' Obviously we ran really fast.'

A friend known only as Alex, recounts how he came within inches of being caught and thrown behind bars after security guards jumped in a lift to try to reach them, added: 'It was coming up.

'I was higher up and I was standing there watching it come up.

'I didn't know what to do, I was so scared.

'As it came up I run round the corner to hide. The security guards both run round me and somehow don't see me and run off. It didn't make any sense.

'I've waited a bit and then sneaked off and then climbed back down the lift shaft to meet you two and then we're out of there.

Ally replied to camera: 'I'm so glad you didn't end up in a cell in Spain.'

The climb - posted online under the title 'INSANE SECURITY ESCAPE (CLIMBING Sagrada Familia) WE GOT LUCKY - is thought to have taken place in the early hours of March 10.

Police launched an investigation the day after the footage was posted online on Tuesday.

The daredevil has previously climbed the Severn Bridge and Blackpool's Big One rollercoaster - but has now added the Sagrada Familia to his list

Footage of Ally Law scaling the Antoni Gaudi-designed temple with friends despite a high-level terror alert has already been viewed more than 460,000 times online

Sagrada Familia's head of security Marc Martinez admitted in a radio interview 'the speed of reaction and the number of security people was not sufficient' and said security measures were now being reviewed.

He also claimed local city hall-employed police - the Guardia Urbana - took 40 minutes to arrive after they were called.

A spokesman for the Mossos d'Esquadra, the regional police force tasked with investigating the complaint filed by the Sagrada Familia's managers, said: 'We have opened an investigation to identify these youngsters.

'The incident we're talking about would be an administrative pubic order infringement.'

A source added the men would probably face a fine, although it was unclear today if it would be sent to their homes in the UK and whether they could face problems next time they try to enter Spain.

Spain is currently on terror alert level number four.

The crazy stunt has also prompted an internal investigation by site managers as well as a police probe into how the men managed to breach security

The terrorists behind last August's deadly attacks in Barcelona and nearby Cambrils had planned to use butane gas cylinders to blow up iconic landmarks including the Sagrada Familia.

Last month Mr Law uploaded video of him walking up suspension cable to the top of one of the Severn Bridge's 446-ft towers with nine other daredevils.

Avon and Somerset Police confirmed afterwards officers attended the scene and gave the trespassers 'words of advice' but no arrests were made.

A spokesman for Highways England said at the time it would be liaising with police to pursue a prosecution for criminal damage.

YouTuber Ally also famously broke into the set of Channel 5's Celebrity Big Brother during filming of a live episode, managing to reach the top of the structure by walking up the cables.

As well as the Blackpool Tower, he has also scaled the O2 Arena and the Ethiad Stadium, the home of Manchester City.

Last September he climbed Scotland's tallest building - the 417ft Glasgow Tower - with a friend without safety gear.

Ally branded his Sagrada Familia 'the most intense video I've ever made' on his YouTube channel.

The footage shows Ally and two friend inside the Sagrada Familia enclosure for nine minutes and were able to outsmart and outrun security guards

Fan Toby Skinner suggested: 'Carry a parachute with you, so if you need to escape, you can BASE jump it.' US-based Jonathan Pitchford said: 'Come to the US and do an overnight challenge in the White House.' Nicole Slytherin added; 'I'm so glad you all made it down because the Spanish security definitely wouldn't hesitate to shoot you.'

US-based Jonathan Pitchford said: 'Come to the US and do an overnight challenge in the White House.'

Nicole Slytherin added; 'I'm so glad you all made it down because the Spanish security definitely wouldn't hesitate to shoot you.'An Australian mechanical engineer has made the bizarre claim that he has found doomed Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 using Google Earth.

Peter McMahon, who has a background in crash investigations, said he used Google Earth to locate the wreckage of the flight which went missing in 2014, The Daily Star reported.

According to Mr McMahon's claims, the wreckage of the flight is located 16km south of Round Island, which is 22.5km north of Mauritius, in an area of the ocean that has not been searched before.

An Australian mechanical engineer claims to have found doomed Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 using Google Earth, the first picture (above) shows what looks like a plane

The second picture shows what looks to be the front end of a plane and the cabin just below the water's surface

He took his claims one step further by saying he also believed US officials were refusing to search the area.

Four American investigators had been sent to Australia to work on the MH370 case but he believes they are keeping crucial information hidden.

'They have made sure that all information received has been hidden from the public, even our government, but why,' he said.

'...(they) do not want it found as its full of bullet holes, finding it will only open another inquiry.'

Mr McMahon also made the sensational claim that the wreckage of the plane is full of bullet holes.

In one of the two images what looks to be the outline of an aircraft can be seen just below the water's surface while the second picture shows what looks to be the front end of a plane.

According to Mr McMahon the wreckage of the flight is located 16km south of Round Island (pictured) which is 22.5km North of Mauritius, an area that has not been searched before

The prevailing theory on the whereabouts of the plane (pictured) is that it crash landed in the Indian Ocean about six hours after take off

Mr McMahon said he sent the information to the Australian Transport and Safety Bureau (ATSB) and they where unable to rule out completely that it wasn't the missing plane.

The prevailing theory on the whereabouts of the plane is that it crash landed in the Indian Ocean about six hours after take off.

Radar imaging at the time showed the flight taking a sharp change in course less than 60 minutes after take off before vanishing form radar completely.

The flight had 239 passengers on board plus the flight crew.On Sunday President Trump charged Andrew McCabe, the newly-fired former FBI deputy director, with creating 'fake memos' of their conversations, while suggesting James Comey, the fired former FBI director, with lying under oath.

'Spent very little time with Andrew McCabe, but he never took notes when he was with me. I dont believe he made memos except to help his own agenda, probably at a later date. Same with lying James Comey,' Trump tweeted. 'Can we call them Fake Memos?'

Early Saturday morning, the president had called it a 'great day for democracy' when Attorney General Jeff Sessions made the decision to fire McCabe, a little over 24 hours before his 50th birthday  the date he was expected to retire, and eligible to start receiving his pension.

President Trump took to Twitter Sunday morning to lash out at Andrew McCabe, who was fired on Friday after serving as the FBI's No. 2. Trump also criticized former FBI Director James Comey, who he fired in May, and Special Counsel Robert Mueller who is handling the Russia probe

President Trump charged that former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who was fired on Friday, 'never took notes' when the two spoke, and so his memos - which have been turned over to Special Counsel Robert Mueller - were likely 'fake'

Andrew McCabe, the former FBI deputy director, was fired on Friday, with a little more than 24 hours left before his 50th birthday, the date he was planning to retire, and would be eligible for his government pension

President Trump accused former FBI Director James Comey of lying under oath. During a May 3 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Comey answered 'never' and 'no' to Sen. Chuck Grassley when asked if he'd ever been an anonymous media source or ever authorized other officials to be one

Ex-FBI Director James Comey, seen at a Congressional hearing after his firing, knew that Andrew McCabe had green-lit two FBI officials to talk to the Wall Street Journal about the Clinton investigation, McCabe said. Comey testified in May he never authorized anyone to be an anonymous source

Trump continued beating this drum on Saturday writing, 'The Fake News is beside themselves that McCabe was caught, called out and fired.'

'How many hundreds of thousands of dollars was given to wifes campaign by Crooked H friend, Terry M, who was also under investigation? How many lies? How many leaks? Comey knew it all, and much more!' Trump charged.

For months the president had suggested that McCabe was biased because his wife had taken a campaign donation from the political action committee associated with ex-Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat and a longtime ally of both Bill and Hillary Clinton.

The justification for firing McCabe was that he directed FBI officials to speak to the media about an investigation into the Clinton Foundation and then misled investigators about it, charges he denies.

The Associated Press reported that McCabe had kept personal memos detailing his interactions with the president, much like the memos Comey had kept on Trump.

He's since handed those memos over to Mueller, who is investigating Russian inference in the 2016 presidential election and looking into whether there was collusion with the Trump campaign.

On Sunday, the president also charged Comey with lying to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee when he testified before the panel in May 2017.

President Trump also tweeted about Special Counsel Robert Mueller on Sunday morning, alleging that his team was made up of more Democrats than Republicans

'Wow, watch Comey lie under oath to Senator G when asked have you ever been an anonymous source...or known someone else to be an anonymous source...? He said strongly never, no. He lied as shown clearly on @FoxandFriends,' Trump wrote.

The exchange in question was between Comey, at the time still the head of the FBI, and Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley.

Comey first answered 'never' when asked by the Iowa Republican whether he had been an anonymous source in media reports related to the Clinton emails investigation.

In a follow-up, Grassley asked if Comey ever authorized someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source.

'No,' Comey said.

That runs counter to what McCabe told the media this weekend, as he talked to outlets about his ouster.

'It was not a secret, it took place over several days, and others, including the Director were aware of the interaction with the reporter,' McCabe said, referencing how he authorized two FBI agents to speak to a Wall Street Journal reporter about the Clinton email investigation and a probe into the Clinton Foundation.

'It was the type of exchange with the media that the Deputy Director oversees several times per week,' McCabe continued. 'In fact, it was the same type of work that I continued to do under Director Wray, at his request,' McCabe said, name-dropping Trump's chosen replacement for Comey, FBI Director Christopher Wray.

In a third tweet Sunday morning, the president swatted at Mueller's team yet again.

'Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans? Another Dem recently added...does anyone think this is fair?' the president asked.

'And yet, there is NO COLLUSION!' he added.Related The UN and Egypt united for a sustainable future

Egypt and the United Nations signed in Cairo Sunday a $1.2 billion agreement focusing on inclusive economic development, social justice, women's empowerment and sustainable management of natural resources.

The Partnership Development Framework Agreement 2018-2022 was signed by Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Sahar Nasr and UN resident coordinator in Egypt Richard Dictus.

The main objective of the agreement is to support the Egyptian government in its quest to achieve national development.

According to Nasr, the agreement was developed through consultations with approximately "400 stakeholders" representing Egyptian ministries, governmental departments, members of the Partnership Steering Committee, UN agencies operating in Egypt, civil society and the private sector.

Nasr indicated that the economic component of the agreement will be focused on achieving agreed goals of inclusive and sustainable economic development and job creation.

This will be achieved through more effective use of public resources and incentives, support for entrepreneurship, creation of an environment conducive to sustainable investment, and increased access of young people and women to employment and expansion in the SME sector.

The area of social justice will support national efforts to control population growth and ensure access to public services for all, including social protection, health, nutrition and education services.

As for women's empowerment, the agreement aims at increasing womens capacity and participation in leadership positions and in many other economic activities, in addition to their access to education and employment.

Finally, the area of environmental sustainability and natural resource management focuses on effective and productive management of Egypt's natural resources and the mitigation of environmental risks as well as the risks of climate change.

This will be achieved through integrated urban communities; upgrading poor neighbourhoods and slums; use of limited water resources more efficiently, and use of renewable energies.

Short link:

Thomas Phelan, a former firefighter who evacuated hundreds of people from Lower Manhattan during the September 11 attacks, has died at the age of 45.

The unsung hero, who worked as a ferry captain, died of cancer on Friday.

Phelan's illness was believed to be related to his exposure to the toxic fumes swirling around Ground Zero, officials and friends said according to the Daily News.

Thomas Phelan, a former firefighter who evacuated hundreds of people from Lower Manhattan during the September 11 attacks, has died at the age of 45

He was working as a Statue of Liberty ferry captain when terrorists crashed two airplanes into the World Trade Center.

Phelan played a vital role in what's been described as the largest evacuation in city history.

'He brought supplies, rescue workers & was a huge part of the operation,' the NYC Fire Wire Facebook page stated.

'I'm so sad! A true hero and gentleman,' Maura Buckley wrote on Facebook.

The unsung hero, who worked as a ferry captain, died of cancer on Friday

'He would help anyone and everyone any chance he could. I just can't believe this and honestly don't understand why it's always the good ones we lose way to early.'

Paul Lannizzotto worked with Phelan at Engine 55 and said: 'Always a stand up guy, always doing the right thing, and will be sorely missed. Rest easy brother.'

Edward Fahey said: 'I was just talking to my old man and he said even at a young age you were the best boat captain he had ever seen.'

The September 11 attacks took place in 2001 and killed 2,996 people. The terrorist attack caused at least $10 billion in infrastructure and property damage.

Phelan's illness was believed to be related to his exposure to the toxic fumes swirling around Ground Zero, officials and friends said

It's estimated that 400,000 people who survived the fatal attacks are now fighting deadly diseases as a result of exposure to Ground Zero, Newsweek reported.

Doctors with the World Trade Center Health Program have linked nearly 70 types of cancer to Ground Zero.

'The diseases stemming from the World Trade Center attacks include almost all lung diseases, almost all cancerssuch as issues of the upper airways, gastroesophageal acid reflux disease, post-traumatic stress, anxiety, panic and adjustment disorders,' Dr. David Prezant, co-director for the Fire Department of the City of New Yorks World Trade Center Medical Monitoring Program, said.

Mark Farfel, director of the World Trade Center Health Registry, said: 'Many people dont connect the symptoms they have today to September 11.'The Commons Brexit committee has descended into open warfare after Remainer MPs forced through a report calling for the transition period to be extended.

Bitter divisions erupted over whether the committee should warn that the two-year implementation period was not long enough to resolve a 'host' of issues.

Tory and DUP MPs were outvoted by pro-EU members, but demanded that rival recommendations were included within the official text.

Conservative backbencher Jacob Rees-Mogg attacked the 'high priests of Remain' for pushing through a 'partisan' report.

Conservative backbencher Jacob Rees-Mogg (pictured right) attacked the 'high priests of Remain' for pushing through a 'partisan' report. Labour committee chairman Hilary Benn (pictured left) denied trying to delay Brexit indefinitely

But Labour committee chairman Hilary Benn denied trying to delay Brexit indefinitely.

He told BBC One's Sunday Politics: 'That is not the case. This is not about undermining the referendum result.

'It is about this problem that we face. There are seven months to go until the Article 50 negotiations are due to end. There's a whole host of issues that haven't yet been addressed.'

Mr Benn added: 'What we are saying is, if there are a whole load of things that have not yet been negotiated, then the Government could ask for an extension to the Article 50 process.'

The committee split on a series of votes over the content of its report on the progress of withdrawal negotiations.

Mr Rees-Mogg and fellow Conservatives Sir Christopher Chope, Andrea Jenkyns, Craig Mackinlay, and John Whittingdale, along with the DUP's Sammy Wilson refused to sign off the final version.

They used parliamentary procedures to ensure a 'minority' report was included in the publication of the main text, a move rarely used.

Committee member Mr Rees-Mogg, chairman of the Brexiteer Tory European Research Group, said: 'The committee's majority report is the prospectus for the vassal state.

'It is a future not worthy of us as a country, and I am sure that Theresa May will rightly reject a report by the High Priests of Remain.

'The majority report would keep us in the customs union and the single market which is an attempt to keep us in the EU by sleight of hand.

Theresa May (pictured at church in Maidenhead with husband Philip today) is hoping to seal the terms of a transition deal with the EU this week

'Those of us who respect the instructions the people gave us in the referendum could not support so partisan a text.

'The majority report relies upon discredited economic models and makes no acknowledgement of past analytical failures. It appears to have been written in the slough of despond, despairing and defeatist.'

The minority report said a 21-month transition arrangement is 'ample' time and warned a prolonged period 'would be difficult for the UK and would not respect the referendum result'.

It says the UK would still be bound by EU rules and would have to hand over cash with no say on how it is spent if the implementation arrangements are extended.

Mr Whittingdale, vice chairman of the committee, said: 'I am very disappointed that the committee was unable to produce a unanimous report and instead divided along the same lines as in the referendum campaign.

'For a number of us the chairman's report was far too negative and we do not believe that its conclusions are borne out by the evidence we heard.

'The report's recommendations essentially ignore the wishes of the people and would delay Brexit by an indefinite period.

'This disrespects the referendum result, and it ignores the manifesto commitments of the parties pledged to honouring it, who between them got more than 80% of the popular vote.'

The Department for Exiting the European Union insisted a 'great deal of progress' had been made since the negotiations began last year, including securing citizens' rights, agreeing a financial settlement and setting out the approach to the Northern Ireland border.

'Importantly, the UK and the EU are equally committed to ensuring that our departure does not lead to a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland,' a spokesman added.

'We are currently discussing the terms of an implementation period and are confident we can reach an agreement by the European Council next week. Doing so will provide businesses and citizens with the certainty they need as we prepare for exit.

'It remains a shared aim to get the withdrawal agreement agreed by October and we will continue to work closely with the commission to achieve that.'Samantha Knowles doesn't have a license, a job, or a high school degree. She can't even get into an R-rated movie.

But the 15-year-old Kansas teen is legally married.

Samantha and her partner Dylan, 17, are among the thousands of teens who have turned Missouri into a destination for child brides and grooms.

The state has the most lenient marriage laws in the country when it comes to age, allowing teen couples to say 'I do' as long as they each a parent's permission.

It was Samantha's parents who actually encouraged her to get married to the boy who once told her he liked his women like his coffee - 'white, thick, and sweet.'

Samantha, 15, and her partner Dylan, 17, (pictured together) are among the thousands of teens who have turned Missouri into a destination for child brides and grooms

It was Samantha's parents who actually encouraged her to get married to Dylan five months after they officially began dating

The pair had met at a Leavenworth restaurant, where Dylan worked and Sammy - who was 13 at the time - started an internship as part of her homeschooling.

While Dylan's first line didn't do much to impress his new co-worker, the teens formed a quick bond, they told the Kansas City Star.

But Sammy wasn't allowed to date. When her parents found out she was talking to a boy, she was forbidden any phone, laptop, or internet access for six months.

The pair crossed paths months later and, after a memorable date under the stars, Sammy convinced her parents to let her date Dylan.

Five months later, they were married.

Joy and Doug Bradford, who adopted Sammy out of foster care when she was four years old, could tell their daughter was going to 'become more sexually intimate'.

Dylan had already told the Bradfords he wanted to marry Sammy when she turned 17. They didn't believe in sex before marriage, and thus didn't see a reason to delay.

'Samantha...she's very mature for her age. He's a stand-up guy. He's very mature for his age,' Joy told the Kansas City Star.

Joy and Doug Bradford could tell their daughter was going to 'become more sexually intimate' with Dylan and believed they should get married first

'And they have found each other in a world that is full of a lot of people who don't give a crap about other people. What's the point of making her wait?'

'You're ignoring thousands of years that were different,' she added.

Dylan had already told the Bradfords he wanted to marry Sammy when she turned 17. They didn't see a reason to delay

'It used to be that girls were wives and mothers at 13, 14, 15, 16. The only reason that seems so young now is that we don't expect our kids to grow up.'

Sammy and Dylan got engaged with toy Star Wars rings and, with their parents' signatures in tow, headed to Missouri to exchange vows.

It took Dylan's father, James Knowles, a month to think things through before he signed off on the wedding.

'I think they can have a bright and happy future, as long as they get themselves established in the adult world before they have kids,' he said.

Dylan's mom was upset by the marriage at first, but has since come around as well.

But his grandmother, Patricia Eismann, still believes it's a mistake - especially as Dylan has since enlisted in the Navy.

'He's going off. He's going to experience different places, different things, people, women,' she said.

'I just feel like there's a long road ahead of them.'

Sammy and Dylan got engaged with toy Star Wars rings and, with their parent's signatures in tow, headed to Missouri to exchange their vows

There are still the questions. Sammy said everyone asked if she was pregnant when she announced the news, and plenty of people have told Joy she was 'crazy' for letting her daughter get married so soon.

The young couple cannot afford their own home yet, bouncing between their parents' residences, and Sammy isn't even old enough to get her GED

The young couple cannot afford their own home yet, bouncing between their parents' residences, and Sammy isn't even old enough to get her GED.

But the pair, who will get $1,600 a month from the military once Dylan finishes training, are determined to make it work.

'We're going to be together through the bad, through the good, through everything,' Sammy said. 'Divorce is not an option.'

'We said those vows. We said through sickness, health, everybody knows it.'

'As soon as things get hard, if you're just immediately going to turn back on that and decide, "No, never mind", what's the point of getting married?'

Dylan agreed, saying the teens weren't scared of the commitment that a marriage entails.

'I guess what marriage is, is deciding right here, right now, 10 years, 20 years, 30 years down the road, that this is the person you want to be with,' he said.

'This is the life you want. No matter what happens next, you're with that person through it all.'Shane Pinder (pictured) was found alive and well after he went missing on Friday

A 12-year-old boy who went missing in the freezing cold weather has been found alive and safe two days after he disappeared.

Shane Pinder's heavily pregnant mother Selina Tonge, 29, launched an appeal for him after he went missing on Friday and said he was without his phone after she took it away because of his bad behaviour.

Speaking two days after she last saw him she said it is 'the worst feeling in the world' not knowing where he is and that she had not slept since his disappearance.

This evening West Midlands Police tweeted to confirm that the boy had been found.

The tweet read: 'Great news tonight! Missing Shane Pinder, aged 12, has returned home and is safe and well. Thanks to everyone for sharing.'

The schoolboy failed to return from lessons at Wheeler's Lane Technology College in Kings Heath, Birmingham.

He was spotted at 11.30am on Sunday in the Hawkesley and Kings Norton area of Birmingham but the desperate hunt to find him continues.

Speaking before he was spotted, Miss Tonge said: 'As a mum, it's the worst feeling in the world not knowing where your child is. Nobody knows what this feels like.

'I'm praying he is with friends. He is not in any trouble, I just want him back home with me.'

West Midlands Police were alerted after Shane failed to return to their home in Birmingham by his usual time of 4.30pm.

Miss Tonge added: 'He is always home without fail by 4.30pm. I was concerned when he wasn't back at that time.

'Shane's dad wanted me to call the police but I thought he must be out with friends. But, when we came to 7pm and he still wasn't home, I felt sick.

'Shane is a very sociable, chatty boy. He will speak to anyone. Someone must have seen him.

'He is very street-smart and knows all the bus routes in the area but he doesn't like to be away from home  not even at weekends.'

Miss Tonge lives with her partner, Shane's father Warren Pinder and the couple have four other children and she is due to give birth in May.

She said Shane had been angry on Friday because she had confiscated his phone as punishment for bad behaviour at home.

Miss Tonge added: 'He had been playing up so we took his phone away.

Selina Tonge (pictured) Speaking two days later she said it is 'the worst feeling in the world' not knowing where her son

'So at first I thought he was just sulking but it's well over 24 hours now and I'm scared.

'His brothers and sisters are asking me so many questions. They miss him badly and so are we.

'We just want him to know he's not in any trouble, we just want him home.'

Miss Tonge said police had contacted all Shane's known friends.

Shane was last seen at Hockley Circus at around 4.10pm on Friday.

He is 5ft with light brown, short hair, a fair complexion and freckles on his cheeks.

Shane was wearing a black school uniform with a white shirt and grey tie, a dark blue parka coat with fur around the collar and blue Nike Airmax trainers with white soles.Homeless people are finding it harder than ever to shelter as the Beast from the East topped cardboard boxes and trolleys with snow.

With up to 12 inches expected to fall in certain areas by the end of today, belongings of rough sleepers were seen topped with powder in Windsor, Berkshire, where Prince Harry will marry Meghan Markle in May.

The market town on the River Thames has an average house price of 581,781 - more than double the average cost of properties bought through mortgages last year, which was 250,987.

Snow was pictured on piles of cardboard the homeless of Berkshire attempt to shelter under this afternoon as the Beast From the East returns

Temperatures are set to drop to -2C tonight in Windsor, whose council was criticised last month for announcing fines of up to 1,000 for rough sleepers.

The Conservative-run Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead - which also includes Eton and Ascot - announced Public Space Protection Orders banning begging.

Breaches under the proposal would have been punished with a 100 fixed penalty notice, reduced to 50 if paid early.

But fines could rise to 1,000 if the offender failed to pay and rough sleepers faced summary convictions. The plans were dropped last month after public outcry.

A trolley piled with a homeless person's belongings is pictured smothered in snow in Windsor, where the council dropped plans to fine rough sleepers

Council leader Simon Dudley demanded police remove homeless people from the streets ahead of the royal wedding.

Prime minister Theresa May - whose constituency is Maidenhead - spoke out against his comments in January, saying she 'did not agree' with the proposal.

Cllr Dudley apologised after saying 'detritus' resulting from homelessness could constitute a security risk and accusing rough sleepers of exploiting residents as well as tourists.

The prime minister took steps to distance herself from Simon Dudley (pictured) after he called for the police to clear the streets of homeless people ahead of the royal wedding

In January a government report announced that Windsor had suffered a 38 per cent rise in homelessness.

Weather will hit severe levels across the country, with 'risk to life' warnings issued across the south-west of England.

Yellow warnings are also in place for most of England and Wales as well as south-west Scotland and parts of Northern Ireland.Cambridge Analytica is now being accused of allowing non-US citizens to work in roles that allowed significant influence over American voters after being advised in 2014 that it would be illegal to do so; Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix, a British citizen, is pictured

A technology firm headquartered in the United Kingdom is accused of knowingly violating elections laws by having non-US citizens work in significant ways on American political campaigns.

Legal counsel to Cambridge Analytica reportedly drafted a memo in July 2014 advising the company that it needed to adjust staffing in order to carry out data services and targeting for those types of clients, which would later include the general election campaign for then-presidential candidate Donald Trump.

But it's now being reported that the company, whose vice president at the time was Steve Bannon, seemingly ignored that advice.

More than a dozen non-Americans, including Canadian and British citizens, held strategic roles in election campaigns that spanned across the entire US, an employee told the Guardian.

Former employee turned whistleblower Christopher Wylie described what Cambridge Analytica does as not only figuring out how to change a person's mind, but also creating whatever content it needed to create in order to do it.

The company said that it 'adheres to FEC [Federal Election Commission] regulations.'

Cambridge Analytica could not immediately be reached by DailyMail.com to comment on the role played by non-American citizens in its US election campaign projects.

The company was started by CEO Alexander Nix of Britain, as part of his already existing company called Strategic Communications Laboratories.

Legal counsel to Cambridge Analytica reportedly drafted a memo in July 2014 advising the company that it needed to adjust staffing in order to carry out data services and targeting for those types of clients, which would later include the general election campaign for then-presidential candidate Donald Trump (seen here with first lady Melania Trump)

The legal memo reportedly outlining responsibilities of the company is alleged to have been presented to Nix, Bannon in his role as vice president of Cambridge Analytica, and Rebekah Mercer, who is the daughter of billionaire investor Robert Mercer.

The memo said:

'The prohibition against foreign nationals managing campaigns, including making direct or indirect decisions regarding the expenditure of campaign dollars, will have a significant impact on how Cambridge hires staff and operates in the short term.'

It called for Nix to remove himself from working on US election projects.

'In order for Cambridge to engage in such activities, Mr Nix would first have to be recused from substantive management of any such clients involved in US elections,' the memo said.

The company said that Nix, a Brit, had never been in charge of work on any US election campaigns.

However, current and former employees tell a different story.

Two people who worked on US campaign projects told the Guardian that they answered to Nix throughout mid-term elections that ended in November 2014.

Employee said that dozens of foreigners held strategic positions on teams working on political campaigns throughout America.

'We were really speaking directly to the voters in a number of states,' said one former employee who was part of a group of workers that included several non-US citizens and individuals without green cards.

Wylie further described what these teams, allegedly consisting of many non-Americans in violation of US election laws, did.

It's the difference between standing in the public square and stating your opinion and letting your voice be heard, he said.

Instead, Cambridge Analytica was 'whispering into the ears' of targeted individuals, in ways that the company knew would be effective to manipulating the views of that person based on secretly harvested data, and doing so as much as needed and in exactly the manner thought to be most effective, in order to change that person's viewpoints, Wylie said.

In 2014, the company hired Cambridge professor Dr. Aleksandr Kogan. He obtained information legally from 270,000 Facebook users but then shared it with Cambridge Analytica which was against the rules

The application used to collect the data, and essentially build Cambridge Analytics into what Wylie called a 'psychological warfare weapon,' was created by University of Cambridge psychology professor Aleksandr Kogan.

In 2015, Facebook discovered that Kogan had given information to Cambridge Analytica after obtaining it legitimately through an app of his own.

Kogan had an app that had access to 270,000 Facebook profiles which were in fact obtained legally. But the number was too low to adequately gather the psychological profiles of voters.

According to Wylie, data was then somehow acquired from accounts that were 'friends' with those who used Kogan's app, knowingly.

The app was called This Is Your Digital Life and was downloaded by Facebook users once they had already logged in.

Users willingly submitted their information to This Is Your Digital Life but were unaware what Kogan would do with it next, the site claims.

The application was found by Facebook to have harvested data from more than 50million users in ways that violated its terms of service, and Cambridge Analytica was supposed to delete that data, which it said it did.

Now, Facebook has suspended the company, the professor, and Wylie, as it reviews whether terms were violated.

In 2015, Facebook discovered that Cambridge professor Dr. Kogan had given the information to the company after obtaining it legitimately through an app of his own

Cambridge Analytics has responded in a statement on Saturday that they did delete what was required of them, at the time they found out they had data that was collected in violation of Facebook's terms of use.

The company acknowledged hiring an organization called Global Science Research ran by the professor in 2014 to collect data.

'Global Science Research (GSR), was contractually committed by us to only obtain data in accordance with the UK Data Protection Act and to seek the informed consent of each respondent. GSR was also contractually the Data Controller (as per Section 1(1) of the Data Protection Act) for any collected data. GSR obtained Facebook data via an API provided by Facebook,' the statement read.

'When it subsequently became clear that the data had not been obtained by GSR in line with Facebooks terms of service, Cambridge Analytica deleted all data received from GSR.'

Robert Mercer and Rebekah Mercer attend the 2017 TIME 100 Gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 25, 2017 in New York City

Nix previously denied to UK parliament that he received any data from GSR, or Facebook, according to a statement released on Sunday by Member of Parliament, Damian Collins, Chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee.

'Alexander Nix denied to the Committee last month that his company had received any data from the Global Science Research company (GSR). From the evidence that has been published by The Guardian and The Observer this weekend, it seems clear that he has deliberately mislead the Committee and Parliament by giving false statements,' Collins said.

'We will be contacting Alexander Nix next week asking him to explain his comments, and answer further questions relating to the links between GSR and Cambridge Analytica, and its associate companies.'

Wylie will also be asked to testify before the committee in the coming weeks, Collins said.

This is beside the point that Cambridge Analytica may have impermissibly allowed foreigners to work in roles that influenced US elections.

Mercer, who is based in New York and is a US citizen, gave Cambridge Analytics $15million to further its data mining and content targeting mission, prior to the time the legal memo about its operation under US election law requirements was reportedly drafted and delivered.

He's also the man behind the funding of Breitbart, a website that has called itself in the past the destination for the 'Alt-Right,' a term that has come to be synonymous with white supremacists.

Wylie said that it was Bannon, then-editor of Breitbart News and later adviser to President Trump, who said the company needed to be named something that reflected a more academic mission, and so the name Cambridge Analytica was born.

The company now has offices in New York, Washington, DC, London, Brazil and Malaysia, according to its website.

Whistleblower: Christopher Wylie says he assisted in harvesting Facebook users data while working for Cambridge Analytica and they used the data to analyze political proclivities

Cambridge Analytica worked for both the primary campaign of Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz, and Trump's general-election campaign

According to Cambridge Analytica's parent company, SCL Elections, the firm said none of Kogan's data was used in its 2016 election work for the 'avoidance of doubt.'

Kogan did not immediately reply to an emailed request for comment. Wylie could not immediately be located.

The Facebook blog post, written by deputy general counsel Paul Grewal, cited the 'public prominence' of Cambridge Analytica, called the alleged data retention an 'unacceptable violation of trust' and said the social network will take legal action if necessary to hold all parties 'responsible and accountable for any unlawful behavior.'

Cambridge Analytica is still probably best known for its political work during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. The company claims to build psychological profiles based on personal details from millions of Americans that can categorize individual voters.

It worked for both the primary campaign of Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz, and Trump's general-election campaign.

Trump's campaign Saturday denied using the firm's data, saying it relied on the Republican National Committee for its data.

'The campaign used the RNC for its voter data and not Cambridge Analytica,' the campaign said in a statement. 'Using the RNC data was one of the best choices the campaign made. Any claims that voter data were used from another source to support the victory in 2016 are false.'

Trump campaign officials have downplayed Cambridge Analytica's role, saying they briefly used the company for television advertising and paid some of its most skilled data employees.

A representative for Bannon did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment by the Associated Press.

Special counsel Robert Mueller has requested that Cambridge Analytica turn over the emails of any employees who worked on Trump's campaign.A 12-year-old girl was raped by a masked man armed with a knife in her New York home, police say.

The unidentified man entered the home in Canarsie, a borough in Brooklyn, New York, through what was suspected to be an unlocked door.

He reportedly hid behind a shower curtain and attacked the girl when she walked into the room.

Police say the man threw her to the ground, forced her clothes off and then raped her.

A 12-year-old girl was raped in her Brooklyn home on March 5. A masked man entered the home with a knife, police say. Pictured is the area of Brooklyn where the rape occurred

The 12-year-old girl was taken to a hospital nearby where she was treated for a cut on her hand.

The assault happened on March 5 at approximately 7.30pm and police are still looking for the culprit.

A sketch has yet to be released, but police say they are looking for a heavyset black man who is between 5-feet-4 inches and 5-feet-8 inches tall.

He has a Caribbean accent, and was last seen wearing a black ski mask and winter gloves.

Police are asking anyone who might have information to contact Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS.It was a sight that could even leave a sheriff shaken: 25 dead horses, spread across a 2-acre farm, so desperate for food they had eaten aluminum siding off the house.

That was what Wicomico County Sheriff Mike Lewis discovered when he checked on the farm in Quantico, Maryland, which belongs to Barbara Pilchard.

The horses' bodies were strewn across the farm, in varying states of decay. Some had rotted all the way to the bone. Others were being feasted on by vultures.

'Those horses were so hungry, they had broken the glass sliding doors on the back of the house, trying to get in and find something to eat,' Lewis told The Daily News of Salisbury.

Scroll down for video

At least 25 dead horses were discovered on a 2-acre farm in Quantico, Maryland (pictured)

Authorities even found a dead foal just steps away from the front door of the farm (pictured), which belongs to Barbara Pilchard

'There's mud and broken glass all around the back of the house.'

Lewis also came across a young dead horse lying just a few feet from Pilchard's doorstep.

The sheriff said Pilchard claimed she had tried to 'nurture' the foal, but that it only lived for four hours.

'She said she dragged it near her front steps, where it's been decaying for two weeks,' he added.

Authorities arrived at the farm on Friday morning, after fellow Quantico resident Nicole Constante made a shocking discovery.

Constante was taking a walk on Thursday night when she came across a small, dead horse lying on the ground by the farm.

Wicomico County Sheriff Mike Lewis said the horses were so hungry, they had eaten the aluminium siding off the building

They had also broken through the glass doors of the house, trying to find something to eat

She decided to contact the media instead of the police, saying reports about Pilchard's farm have gone ignored by police in the past.

'The sheriff hasn't done anything,' she told WMDT. 'Any authorities, animal control.'

'I don't know what it's going to take, but I'm not going to stop until I know that these horses are out of there.'

Constante got her wish. After Lewis made the grim discovery on Friday morning, he decided to do everything he could to get the surviving horses off the property.

'I'm shocked at what I saw,' Lewis said. 'I was absolutely appalled at the living conditions, not just of the horses and the animals, but also the homeowners.'

'I'm shocked that anyone could live like that.'

After Lewis made the grim discovery on Friday morning, he decided to do everything he could to get the surviving horses off the property

Lewis said most of the horses had been living in the back of the property, which is why their carcasses couldn't be seen from the main road

Pictured is a large group of vultures feasting on a dead horse's decomposing body on the farm

Lewis said most of the horses had been living in the back of the property, which is why their carcasses couldn't be seen from the main road.

He returned to the property on Saturday with Balsamo and Wicomico County Executive Bob Culver, who discovered a mare giving birth outside the house.

The foal had to be delivered stillborn after it got stuck in the mother's birth canal.

'The mother, she threw her head up and just wailed,' Culver recalled.

'I looked at her and I could see the hurt in her eyes. She kept nudging the foal, trying to help it get up. But it was dead. It was so sad, and there was nothing we could do.'

It remains unknown just how many surviving horses are on the property and what condition they are in, but there are believed to be at least 100.

It remains unknown just how many surviving horses are on the property and what condition they are in (Pictured is a cat ripping apart a dead horse)

Authorities said Pilchard was cooperating with the sheriff's rescue efforts. An investigation with the Wicomico County Animal Control has also been launched

But more than 5,000 pounds of grain, and 25 bales of hay, were donated to the farm on Saturday morning to help the surviving horses.

Lewis said all of the live horses will be seized, 'starting with the mares and foals'.

They will be taken to an undisclosed location and the sheriff hopes to keep them all together.

Authorities said Pilchard was cooperating with the sheriff's rescue efforts. An investigation with the Wicomico County Animal Control has also been launched.

Lewis told WBOC that police have been called to Pilchard's property 'numerous times' in the past, but it was usually because her horses were on the loose in the road or in neighbors' yards.

More than 5,000 pounds of grain, and 25 bales of hay, were donated to the farm on Saturday morning to help the surviving horses

Police have been called to Pilchard's property 'numerous times', but often it was because horses were on the loose in the road on neighbors' yards

Authorities did investigate the property once for animal neglect, but found 'insufficient evidence' to press charges.

'We had experts on horses who said they believed the horses were being properly cared for and receiving the care necessary to live,' Lewis said.

'The condition of both the horses and the property looked unacceptable to us, but we had insufficient evidence.'

Pilchard was charged with 100 counts of animal neglect in 1995 when more than 200 cats were removed from the same farm.

But she was never prosecuted and the charges were made inactive by the court.

Lewis said Pilchard believes there's nothing wrong with leaving the horses' bodies out to decay in the middle of the field.

'She told me she had every right by state law to allow the animals to decompose,' he said.A Commons committee today demanded Mark Zuckerberg 'stop hiding behind his Facebook page' and give evidence to their inquiry.

Culture committee chair Damian Collins made the call after it emerged the social media giant has suspended a British data firm amid allegations it harvested personal details from more than 50million users.

Mr Collins also accused the chief executive of Cambridge Analytica, Alexander Nix, of 'deliberately misleading' Parliament following claims it was passed individuals' personal data from Facebook apps without their consent.

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg has been accused by MPs of 'hiding' as they urged him to give evidence to a Commons inquiry

Facebook's vice president and deputy general counsel Paul Grewal said in a blog post that University of Cambridge professor Dr Aleksandr Kogan had passed on information to Cambridge Analytica and others after launching a Facebook app called thisisyourdigitallife.

Assurances were apparently given in 2015 that the data had been destroyed, but the social media company was informed in recent days that this had not happened, prompting the suspension of the firm.

Whistleblower Chris Wylie, a former research director at Cambridge Analytica, told Channel 4 News a so-called data grab had been carried out on more than 50 million profiles in 2014.

Dr Kogan is alleged to have been involved in this, using his company called Global Science Research (GSR) to accrue information.

Mr Collins said Mr Nix had denied to the committee that his company had received any data from GSR, adding: 'From the evidence that has been published by The Guardian and The Observer this weekend, it seems clear that he has deliberately misled the committee and Parliament by giving false statements.

'We will be contacting Alexander Nix next week asking him to explain his comments and answer further questions relating to the links between GSR and Cambridge Analytica, and its associate companies.'

Mr Collins also said the committee had 'repeatedly asked' Facebook about how companies acquire and hold on to user data from the site, and whether information had been taken from people without their consent.

'Their answers have consistently understated this risk and have also been misleading to the committee,' he said.

'I will be writing to Mark Zuckerberg asking that either he, or another senior executive from the company, appear to give evidence in front of the committee as part our inquiry.'

Culture committee chair Damian Collins (pictured) made the call after it emerged Facebook has suspended a British data firm amid allegations it harvested personal details from more than 50million users

He added: 'We need to hear from people who can speak about Facebook from a position of authority that requires them to know the truth.

'The reputation of this company is being damaged by stealth because of their constant failure to respond with clarity and authority to the questions of genuine public interest that are being directed to them.

'Someone has to take responsibility for this. It's time for Mark Zuckerberg to stop hiding behind his Facebook page.'

Cambridge Analytica played a key role in mapping out the behaviour of voters in the run-up to the 2016 US election and was also used during the EU referendum campaign earlier that year.

Mr Wylie alleged that the data grab involved users being offered a small amount of money to complete a survey on the condition they consented to share personal details through Facebook.

This, it is claimed, allowed researchers to build personality and psychological profiles on millions of users.

He told Channel 4 News: 'Imagine I go and ask you: I say, 'Hey, if I give you a dollar, two dollars, could you fill up this survey for me, just do it on this app', and you say, 'Fine'.

'I don't just capture what your responses are, I capture all of the information about you from Facebook, but also this app then crawls through your social network and captures all that data also.

'By you filling out my survey, I capture 300 records on average.

'So that means that, all of a sudden, I only need to engage 50,000, 70,000, 100,000 people to get a really big data set really quickly, and it's scaled really quickly.

'We were able to get upwards of 50 million-plus Facebook records in the span of a couple of months.'

He added that 'almost none' of the individuals knew about how their data was used.

Cambridge Analytica could then tailor specific political adverts to small groups of people, already knowing what their likes and interests were, it is alleged.

The firm said in response to the claims that it was 'quite obvious' the former employee 'had a grudge to bear' and dismissed his accusations as 'pure fantasy'.

Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said she would investigate the circumstances 'in which Facebook data may have been illegally acquired and used'.

Cambridge Analytica is accused of using 50 million Facebook profiles to build a software program to predict and influence the choices of people at the ballot box. As a result, Facebook has suspended the London-based firm from their social network

It will form part of an ongoing inquiry into the 'use of data analytics for political purposes'.

She added in a statement: 'It is important that the public are fully aware of how information is used and shared in modern political campaigns, and the potential impact on their privacy.

'We are continuing to invoke all of our powers and are pursuing a number of live lines of inquiry. Any criminal and civil enforcement actions arising from the investigation will be pursued vigorously'.

In a response to its suspension from Facebook, Cambridge Analytica said it fully complied with Facebook's terms of services.

It added: 'Cambridge Analytica?'s commercial and political divisions ?use social media platforms ?for outward marketing, delivering data-led and creative content to targeted audiences. They do not use or hold data from Facebook profiles?.'

The statement continued: 'No data from GSR was used by Cambridge Analytica as part of the services it provided to the Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign.

'Cambridge Analytica only receives? and use?s? data that has been obtained legally and fairly. Our robust data protection policies comply with US, international, European Union? and national regulations.'

Facebook said Dr Kogan, Cambridge Analytica, parent company Strategic Communication Laboratories and Mr Wylie's accounts would all be suspended 'pending further information'.A Manhattan Assistant District Attorney resigned after a colleague said he groped her at a bar near the courthouse.

Charles Kee, 37, left his job on January 24 after the woman reported the alleged abuse, Daily News reported.

District Attorney Cy Vance Jr.'s spokesman Danny Frost said on Friday: 'We will decline to comment on personnel matters.'

Manhattan Assistant District Attorney, Charles Kee, 37, resigned after a colleague said he groped her at a bar near the courthouse

All of the cases he had been working on have now been reassigned.

Before his resignation Kee was in charge of a case involving an anti-aging doctor (Eric Braverman, 60) who allegedly sexually assaulted a patient in his office during a massage

Ironically before his resignation Kee was in charge of a case involving an anti-aging doctor who allegedly sexually assaulted a patient in his office during a massage.

Eric Braverman, 60, was charged in November for forcible touching and third-degree sex abuse after allegedly inserting his fingers inside of a patient for 'no legitimate purpose.'

Braverman's case has been turned over to an assistant district attorney in Kee's former unit, Trial Bureau, 30.

Kee previously prosecuted shakedown artist Teresa McCoy, who lured men with racy photos and then threatened to expose them.

Kee has not responded to comment at this time.To mark Egyptian Womens Day, a three-day caricature exhibition titled Tales by Egyptian Womens Fingers opened on 14 March at the Cairo Public Library in Zamalek.

The opening was attended by the former Minister of Culture Emad Abou-Ghazy; head of the Cairo Library Yasser Othman; chairwoman of the Egyptian Society for Libraries, Information and Archives Amany Megahed; as well as gifted cartoonist Said Badawy.

The exhibition featured artwork by a number of Egyptian female artists and members of Egypts Union of Women Cartoonists from different governorates shedding light on the disadvantages of early marriage among young girls.

It is good to find such union for female cartoonists in Egypt, said Badawy, because they would be more credible and experienced in expressing their own issues through their artwork; genital circumcision, divorce, harassment and violence against women.

Badawy believes that caricatures are not just funny cartoons, but rather an idea, belief and the reflection of an issue.

The most wonderful thing is that those female cartoonists are creative; most of them attended workshops and have their own attitude and enlightened perspective, he added.

About the exhibition, Howeida Ibrahim, a cartoonist at Al-Massriya newspaper and head of the union, said, this is the 10th of the unions exhibitions.

Our union is the largest all over the world, as it comprises 60 women cartoonists. This years exhibition focuses on marriage among teenagers. We dedicated a part of the artworks to depicting those Egyptian actresses who played the roles of teenagers in Egyptian cinema, such as Souad Hosni, Faten Hamama, Samah Anwar, Sherihan, and Magda.

At the end of the exhibition, Abou-Ghazy, together with Othman, Badawy and Megahed, honoured the artists by granting them certificates of appreciation.

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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Six people have been arrested including a grandmother, a grandfather, and a construction worker in a drug sting across Sydney's southwest last week.

Kelly Grono, 40, is accused of supplying 0.19g of ice in Camden and allegedly had a further 8.4g of the drug on her.

Grandfather Mark Colduck, 64, and excavation worker Aaron Young, 25, have been charged with three counts each of supplying a small quantity of a prohibited drug and supplying a prohibited drug on an ongoing basis.

Six people have been arrested including a grandmother, a grandfather, and a construction worker in a drug sting across Sydney's southwest last week

Colduck had worked in finance although experienced bad health in recent years.

Police say the ice Grono had in her possession was 81 per cent pure and she has been charged with taking part in supplying a small quantity of a prohibited drug, possession of a prohibited drug, and driving while disqualified.

Only last year Grono she had said on social media she wanted to get back into the workforce, maybe in a role helping the elderly or disabled.

The three appeared in Campbelltown Local Court last week with none applying for bail and will appear again later this month.

Young was arrested by plain clothes police last week and charged with supplying 0.55g of methamphetamine over three separate deals on February 27, February 28, and March 2.Thieves have raided Watches of Switzerland in Westminster, central London, this afternoon.

Police remain at the scene in Regent Street, where the robbers were interrupted as they ransacked the store using knives, sledgehammers and a Samurai sword-style blade.

A number of weapons were recovered from the pavement outside, with a picture on Twitter showing a blade resembling a samurai sword lying outside the shop.

This was the scene on Regent Street today after a gang of Samurai sword-wielding robbers targeted a jewellers. A blade is pictured lying on the pavement outside the store

The windows of the store were smashed and one witness described the blade outside the jewellers as like something 'from a medieval museum'

Motorist James Whiting said he saw a 'proper length sword' lying outside as he drove past, adding it 'looked like something from a medieval museum'.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed officers attended a raid at 2.09pm today, adding a number of 'high-value items' were stolen.

'No one is believed to be injured during the course of this smash and grab raid,' a spokesman added,

'A number of weapons used in the attack - including sledgehammers and knives - were recovered from outside the store.

'No arrests have been made and enquiries continue. Detectives from the Flying Squad and police in Westminster continue to investigate.'

Police remain at the scene where robbers on mopeds hit the Regent Street jewellers in central LondonVladimir Putin's feared FSB secret service has launched a scare campaign to force Russians in Britain to urgently return home.

Wives and children of wealthy expats are being told that MI5 or MI6 will stage sting operations to compromise and blackmail them.

They risk being subjected to 'holy inquisition' court cases orchestrated by Theresa May, says the FSB.

This chilling warning comes as relations between Moscow and London have sunk into the deep freeze over the chemical weapons poisoning of double agent Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, and the suspected murder of Nikolai Glushkov.

Vladimir Putin's FSB is urging wealthy Russians to urgently come home because MI5 or MI6 will stage sting operations

Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, (pictured) are critically ill after they were attacked with a nerve agent in Salisbury

The extraordinary FSB campaign will be seen in London as evidence that Moscow was indeed behind the nerve agent poisoning of the Russian pair, with the aim of forcing oligarchs to bring home their money to prop up the cash-strapped Putin regime.

Hawkish retired FSB major-general Aleksandr Mikhailov, 67, a former spokesman for the counter-intelligence service, publicly warned Russians living in Britain they face dangerous 'provocations' in the new climate.

He claimed May was seeking to unite Britons around 'enemy' Russia.

He said: 'I have an impression that some ancestor of Theresa May's was in the Inquisition because witch hunts have became normal for the UK - and its only target is Russia.'

As for Skirpal 'neither us nor the British need him, he's wasted sl**.'

It was vital for prominent Russians hiding their wealth abroad - with their children in elite British private schools - to return home, he stressed.

Otherwise British secret services will 'recruit and blackmail' these people.

'British justice follows the principles of the Holy Inquisition,' warned Mikhailov.

He aimed his words at senior Putin officials and politicians who secretly keep their families and fortunes in Britain.

They risk being subjected to 'Holy inquisition' court cases orchestrated by Theresa May, says the FSB

Skripal (pictured) was found collapsed on a bench in Salisbury after he was attacked with a nerve agent

'There is a real danger not only for children and families but also for the politicians themselves - because they will become objects of blackmail,' he stated.

'People who have not closed bank accounts, whose relatives live abroad, children and wives, are the most vulnerable.'

Their sons or daughters will face arrest in Britain - then the secret services will seek to blackmail wealthy Russian parents.

They can be forced to 'act in the interests of the enemy' - Britain, he warned.

He added: 'But also his money can be proclaimed to be of "criminal origin".

'Apart from taking money, they will also open a criminal case against the wealthy Russian politician.

'It's obvious. A similar situation with property. Let me repeat, all the children are spied on.

'Intelligence are monitoring them very carefully. Very carefully.'

He insisted Russia had 'eliminated' all its chemical weapons - an assertion disputed in London.

On Skripal, he alleged: 'If the English have the British have the technology to synthesise sinister 'Novichok' and use it.

'They could have poisoned him,' he said.

Mikhailov previously headed the press service of the Soviet-era KGB and later the FSB.

His warning comes after a candidate in today's Russian election, Boris Titov, led a campaign reporting to Putin to get London-based Russian businessmen to sign up to return to Moscow with their money.The Houses of Parliament have spent 50,000 rebranding the Portcullis logo - only for the new version to look almost identical.

The authorities at the Houses hired consultants to make the famous emblem less 'confusing and inconsistent'.

But the changes appears to be limited to removing some dots and replacing the words 'Houses of Parliament' with 'UK Parliament'.

The changes appears between the old logo (left) and the new one (right) appear to be limited to removing some dots from the crown and replacing the words 'Houses of Parliament' with 'UK Parliament'

Parliamentary officials said previous versions of the portcullis logo were being consolidated into one

Parliamentary officials said previous versions of the portcullis logo were being consolidated into one.

The branding had 'previously used a confusing and inconsistent range of identities', they argued.

'The visual identity of the UK Parliament has been reviewed and updated by the administrations of both houses because the current version does not work successfully on digital channels,' a spokeswoman said.

'The new version works with mobile responsive websites, and is more accessible and readable.'

The Sunday Times said the overall cost of the rebrand was 50,000.

The crowned Portcullis has been used on House of Commons documents since 1967, and is deployed widely online and across the estate.

But the symbol has a much longer history.

According to the parliamentary website, it probably came to be associated with the Palace of Westminster through its use as decoration in the rebuilding of the Palace after the fire of 1512.

The portcullis was the badge of Henry VII and his son Henry VIII.

In 2012 an adviser to Speaker John Bercow caused an outcry by calling for the Portcullis logo to be ditched altogether.

Professor Jonathan Drori, chairman of the Speaker's Advisory Council on Public Engagement, said it was is seen by the public 'as a gate to keep them out'.

He said Parliament must make more effort to be 'welcoming' to visitors.A blind psychic who predicted the September 11 terror attacks also foretold that Vladimir Putin would rule the world one day.

Bulgarian Baba Vanga, who died at the age of 85 in 1996, was known as the 'Nostradamus of the Balkans.'

In 1979, Vanga - who reportedly had an 85 per cent success rate with her predictions - told writer Valentin Sidorov that Russia would become 'lord of the world' after Europe became a 'wasteland.'

'All will thaw, as if ice, only one remain untouched  Vladimir's glory, glory of Russia,' she said, according to the Birmingham Mail.

Bulgarian Baba Vanga, who died at the age of 85 in 1996, prophesised that Vladimir Putin would rule the world one day

'Too much it is brought in a victim. Nobody can stop Russia.'

She added: 'All will be removed by her from the way and not only will be kept, but also becomes lord of the world.'

Putin, who first became president just over 18 years ago, is set to remain in power for another six years after Sunday's presidential election.

He assumed the role of acting president of Russia in December 1999 and has gone on to dominate the Russian political landscape since.

In 1979, Vanga told writer Valentin Sidorov that Russia would become 'lord of the world.' Pictured, Russian president Vladimir Putin

Vanga, who was born Vangelia Pandeva Dimitrova in a village in Strumica, also foretold of Brexit decades ago.

She also claimed Europe as we know it would 'cease to exist' by the end of 2016.

The mystic said the continent would be turned into a 'wasteland almost entirely devoid of human life.'

Although not entirely accurate, Britain did vote to leave the European Union on June 23 of that year.

Vanga mysteriously lost her eyesight at the age of 12 during a massive storm.

Her family allegedly found her several days later on death's door  with her eyes sealed shut and covered with dirt.

She later claimed to have experienced her first vision when she was missing and believed she had been given the power to predict the future and heal others.A grandfather was revealed as the paedophile who sold children for sex in a 'Rape House' where perverts queued down the stairs to abuse youngsters.

Shahzad 'Keith' Khan ran the peadophile ring from an ex-council house in Telford, West Midlands, where he sold girls for up to 2,000 a night.

Police were tipped off about him in 1996, but he continued to run his depraved business, taking a 14-year-old's virginity and picking up one of his sex slaves from outside a police station.

Khan (pictured) ran the paedophile ring out of a terraced house in Telford, Shropshire, but was described as bird-loving local man powering past cancer in his local paper as two chances to jail him were missed

Police were tipped off about him in 1996, but he continued to run his depraved business, taking a 14-year-old's virginity and picking up one of his sex slaves from outside a police station. Pictured: Victoria Avenue, where children were abused

Another chance to catch Khan fell through in 2013, when a police case against him collapsed, Mirror Online reports.

Today brave survivors of his abuse exposed the terrifying ordeals he put young girls through.

One victim described feeling 'dead inside' as she was sold for up to 2,000 in the house, where Khan's nephew and son would regularly stay. Both have been jailed for sex offences.

The brazen paedophile was described as a 'generous' bird enthusiast who'd overcome cancer in the local paper as he ran his ring.

A female neighbour approached police in 1996 with fears that he was selling youngsters for sex after she claimed to witness him picking up a 12-year-old from a children's home.

She added that the grandfather had offered her brother the chance to have sex with underage girls but says 'nothing was done' and police ruled out prosecution 'as they'd never have enough evidence'.

No charges were filed against Khan even after he was later reported again to police.

Mubarek Ali, 34, (left) and his brother Ahdel Ali, 27, (right) from Telford were also both jailed after sexually abusing young girls in a child sex abuse ring

But testimony from victims reveal the teenager whose virginity Khan took was abused within hours of undergoing an abortion.

She said she didn't understand what grooming was and was snared by Khan after he approached her in the street.

'He told me because I had a reputation anyway I might as well get paid for it,' she said. 'He told me about all of these older girls I knew from school and how they were doing it too and making loads of money.'

The girl was abused for three years and left in a suicidal state after being forced to have sex with men in fast food takeaways, restaurants and houses.

Now a woman in her 30's, she said she was 'forced to have sex with nine men in a row' one night and was even trafficked to Birmingham to be abused.

One girl, who was conceived when her mother Lucy Lowe (pictured) was just 14 and her father 26, this week called for him to be banned from Telford when he gets out of prison

She said as one man raped her, others would be queued up on the stairs and Khan would approach winners in betting shops offering them sex with children.

He would hand his victims 30 of what he made after charging them for petrol expenses.

Girls would be punished if 'clients' failed to finish quickly as Khan waited in his Mercedes outside.

When the girl turned 18, she fled to Birmingham after an unsuccessful suicide attempt.

Another victim was left hooked on heroin after she was abused by Pakistani men who got her into drugs, which Khan would later supply her with.

Azhar Ali Mehmood (pictured) was jailed for murdering the mother of his child, Lucy Lowe, her mother Eileen and sister Sarah by setting fire to their house in 1997

The woman - who is also aged in her 30s now - is has overcome her heroin addiction but says she is still traumatised by what happened in the house, where Khan's then teenage son Shahmeel would watch porn and perform sex acts in from of the girls.

He was jailed for raping an A-level student and for armed robbery. Khan's nephew nephew Mohammed Ali Sultan sold the girl's number to other men. He was caged for seven years after admitting abusing two girls, one of whom was just 13 years old.

After he was jailed in 2012, he was locked up for another six years in 2015 for two rapes and one attempted rape.

But Khan died aged 61 in 2015, without ever facing justice over the sex abuse ring he ran.

After moving to the UK from Pakistan, he targeted girls as early as 1981 when he was in his 20s.

He raped a 15-year-old and even had a child with her after hooking up with another alleged sex offender.

In 2010, the girl who was sold for 2,000 a night spoke to officers linked to Operation Chalice, which found about 100 victims.

Despite nearly 200 suspects being identified, just seven men were jailed in 2012.

The girl was assigned her own team under the investigation Operation Signal due to the level of detail she gave on abuse including more than 100 paedophiles. But her case collapsed before it could be brought to court.An attempted theft from a Costco in Seattle on Wednesday was stopped short when shoplifters ran right into the arms of police on their way out the door.

When loss prevention officers recognized individuals who they suspected of a previous theft where shoplifters took merchandise without paying for it and ran out the fire exit, they called 9-1-1.

Police arrived on the scene and blocked the path of a car that was backed up to the same exit that was used for the previous theft, and were soon face to face with two people holding armfuls of goods.

An attempted theft from a Costco in Seattle on Wednesday was stopped short when shoplifters ran right into the arms of police with their hands full of merchandise

Police said when they arrived on the scene, they found an 18-year-old woman seated in the driver's seat of a black Toyota, staged at the fire exit at the Costco.

At around 6.04 pm Pacific, police said a 30-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman burst through the doors after kicking them open.

The two exiting the Costco reportedly tried to get away, but the cops were ready for them.

At around 6.04 pm Pacific, police said a 30-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman burst through the fire exit doors after kicking them open

Police said when they arrived on the scene, they found an 18-year-old woman seated in the driver's seat of a black Toyota, staged at the fire exit at the Costco

One officer was quite amused by the whole scene, narrating what happened with a giddy smile on his face, while talking to a person video recording the incident.

The officer first described arriving at the scene and seeing a woman seated in the Toyota, parked at the door where previous shoplifters made their escape.

'So we block her [car] in, and then as we get out, we pull her out [of the car],' he said.

The police blocked the path of the Toyota, so the woman seated at the wheel could not leave

Officers took the woman into custody just as the two additional suspects burst onto the scene

Then, he described the moment just before the two additional suspects burst onto the scene.

'You hear them trying to kick that door open from the inside, so these guys all standing there waiting,' he said.

'[The] door goes [sound effect of door opening, and] they're all standing there with all the tvs.'

'They had the property with them?' the person videoing the incident asked.

'Oh yeah, and their hands are all like [officer mimmicks their hands stretched out, palms up], "Uh oh," drop it and try to take off and they [the other officers] just grab them.'

The two women were taken into custody on suspicion of theft

The man was taken into custody on suspicion of robbery, as police said they found a 7-inch knife on the male suspect

The two women were taken into custody on suspicion of theft. The man was taken into custody on suspicion of robbery, as police said they found a seven-inch knife on the male suspect.

The same suspects are also believed to be responsible for a shoplifting incident at another Costco, earlier on that same day. The stolen property is valued at $2,200.

The call to 9-1-1 came in from the Seattle Costco store at about 5.30 pm Pacific on Wednesday.Gen. Barry McCaffrey, a retired four-star Army general, said he was shocked that President Trump hasn't done more to oppose Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian government's threats to U.S. interests.

'The situation is simply astonishing,' McCaffrey said Sunday during an appearance on MSNBC. 'There is no question that Mr. Putin, in particular, is an active threat to U.S. national security as well as those of our NATO allies.'

McCaffrey made headlines Friday for calling President Trump a threat to U.S. national security due to the president's inaction against Putin.

General Barry McCaffrey (left), a retired four-star Army general, told MSNBC's Joy Reid that the 'situation is simply astonishing' that President Trump won't do more to criticize Russian President Vladimir Putin

On Friday, retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey sent out this tweet, dubbing President Trump 'a serious threat to U.S. national security' for refusing to protect the United States from the Russia threat

Gen. Barry McCaffrey, at a speaking engagement in 2008, said he couldn't figure out why members of Trump's team could take a harder line with Russia, but then Trump didn't. He suggested Friday that Trump is 'under the sway of Mr. Putin'

'Reluctantly I have concluded that President Trump is a serious threat to US national security. He is refusing to protect vital US interests from active Russian attacks,' McCaffrey wrote on Twitter Friday afternoon.

'It is apparent that he is for some unknown reason under the sway of Mr. Putin,' McCaffrey added.

On the MSNBC show AMJoy on Sunday, McCaffrey wouldn't hazard a guess as to why Trump wasn't acting.

'I don't know what's going on,' the retired four-star general said.

McCaffrey pointed out how other Trump administration officials, including U.N. Amb. Nikki Haley, National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster and Secretary of Defense James Mattis, seem to be able to take a tougher approach with Russia.

'The other voices in the administration have been sensible, but I cannot understand why President Trump simply won't respond to this guy,' McCaffrey said, as he charged Putin with running an 'active criminal oligarchy' that is hostile to U.S. interests.

McCaffrey pointed to the latest disturbing episode  the nerve agent attack in Britain on a former Russian spy and his daughter.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said it was 'overwhelmingly likely' that Putin personally ordered the attack against Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in Salisbury, England.

Both the father and daughter remain critically ill in the aftermath of the March 4 attack, in which they were found slumped on a bench in Salisbury.

'That was a signature assassination,' McCaffrey commented. 'Putin is apparently saying to the world I'll come kill you wherever you are if you oppose me.'

In light of that, McCaffrey said the U.S. 'must confront Russian threats to U.S. national security.'



A 21-year-old student attends one of the most prestigious public colleges in America, yet the California housing crisis has forced him into a cramped trailer with no heat or proper sewage.

Ismael Chamu goes to school at the University of California, Berekely and is the son of a migrant worker from Mexico, the Los Angeles Times reported.

He lives in a small trailer with his three siblings where they have to share one bed to sleep.

Before school every day, the student helps get his two sisters off to school before he attends his own classes at UC Berkeley.

But Ismael is one of tens of thousands of college students in California who are impacted by the state's housing crisis.

Although financial aid typically covers tuition for low-income students, it does not include housing, which leaves students like Ismael scrambling to make ends meet.

Ismael Chamu, 21, (pictured right) attends one of the most prestigious public colleges in America. But the student currently lives in a small mobile trailer with his three siblings. He stays up late at night to study for his classes

The University of California, Berkeley student broke down after one of his classes on March 1, 2018. The student struggles to make ends meet as he cares for his younger siblings

Ismael works a student job, runs a club and is attempting to graduate with a bachelor's degree in sociology all while supporting his younger siblings.

His two sisters, Jocelyn, 14, and Yazmin, 17, moved into his trailer in January after their parents experienced financial difficulties and had to move into their vehicle.

Ismael owns a 20-foot-by-8-foot mobile home with his brother Edward, 20.

They have lived in the home since November and have parked it in a Hayward, California, driveway.

But the home comes with no heat or proper sewage.

A storage tank is attached to the mobile home, so the family has to head to a nearby gas station every time they need to dump it.

This can cause a horrible stench to linger in the air before they are able to empty the filled tank.

After living in the trailer since November, the family now faces eviction as Hayward has outlawed people living in residential trailers.

'You do what you gotta do,' he told the Los Angeles Times.

Pictured is Ismael's 20-foot-by-8-foot mobile home. It has no heating or proper sewage. He has to drive the trailer to a nearby gas station to unload the sewage every couple of days

Ismeal is studying to get a bachelor's degree in sociology. He was accepted into the university after earning stellar grades even though his family was constantly moving

Ismael was born in San Diego to migrant workers and has since moved more times than he can count.

When he was 14, his family moved to Hayward because there were potential lucrative jobs within construction.

But they continued to move around and Ismael ended up attending three high schools before he graduated.

Despite the constant moving, Ismael was able to excel in school and was accepted into the prestigious UC Berkeley in 2014.

'My dad is so proud,' Ismael said. 'He always says, 'My son is at Berkeley'.'

Ismael is unable to graduate this spring because he is a few credits short after having to drop a couple classes to take care of his sisters.

Ismael shares a small bed with his three siblings in their trailer. He and his brother both work but are only able to earn about $1,000 per month. This barely covers their costs of rent, food and other necessities

Before class every day, Ismael helps get his younger sisters ready and walks them to their high school. He then attends his own classes

The University of California, Berkeley offers financial aid to most low-income students. But the aid typically does not cover the cost of housing

The family's monthly income, which is earned through Ismael and his brother, only racks up approximately $1,000 per month.

This barely covers the fee of the rented trailer, food, sewage disposal and other necessities.

'I try to do the best I can, but I still don't get ahead,' Ismael said. 'You take one foot forward and a giant leap backwards. You can't live off of that.'

While his income is low, he is still unable to apply for food stamps because he doesn't have a permanent address.

Instead, the student relies on his campus food pantry among places to get food for his family.

The luxurious campus and top-rated facilities has earned the college one of the best research universities in the country. Yet an estimated 13,000 students across the University of California's campuses have struggled with unstable housing

A University of California study found that an estimated 13,000 students out of 260,000 have struggled with unstable housing.

Since 2015, UC President Janet Napolitano has set aside more than $4million for campuses to help with food security for students.

But there is still more to be done as the housing market continues to skyrocket across the state.

Ismael is hoping to graduate soon from college and become a teacher.

He is committed to providing for his siblings as he continues to follow his dream of graduating from the prestigious college.Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was spotted smiling and chatting with troops as he visited the front lines of the latest conflict in the country.

The photos come after weeks of brutal fighting in eastern Ghouta, near the capital Damascus, where a government offensive has been underway for the past month.

In the images, Assad can be seen standing near a tank while being surrounded by cheering and fist-pumping soldiers.

Photos of Syrian President Bashar Assad were posted to his official Facebook page and showed him visiting front line troops

The photos were broadcast on state media and on several pro-Assad websites.

They were also posted on the President's official social media accounts with a comment reading: 'On the front lines in eastern Ghouta, President Assad with the heroes of the Arab Syrian Army.'

Assad was standing in a street in eastern Ghouta, though it is unclear exactly where he was.

The soldiers could be seen taking selfies and chatting with Assad in a street in newly captured areas of eastern Ghouta

The troops could be seen cheering and fist-pumping as they met Assad, who was all smiles while greeting the soldiers

He wore a suit with no tie, flashed smiles and stopped for chats with soldiers with some posing for selfies with him.

It was his first visit to the former rebel enclave in a number of years.

Earlier today, state media reported that Syrian troops had entered Saqba, a town in a southern pocket of eastern Ghouta.

It iss the latest town to be captured by the Syrian troops and allied militia in a swift advance over the last few days.

The photos come as reports suggest that the government forces are now in control of more than 80 per cent of eastern Ghouta, which has been a rebel stronghold since 2012

Al-Ikhbariya TV, which carried the photos of Assad, hailed the offensive as a 'major victory.'

Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Syrian government is now in control of more than 80 percent of the area, which has been a rebel stronghold since 2012.

Over the last week, Syrian troops and allied fighters divided the sprawling eastern Ghouta region into three parts, isolating residential areas and facilitating the military advance.

It was Assad's first trip to the former rebel stronghold, which is outside Damascus, in years according to reports

Tens of thousands of residents have fled southern parts of the eastern Ghouta.

On Sunday, after days of relative calm in the northern pocket, the Observatory reported new intense shelling on Douma, the largest town in eastern Ghouta.

Earlier this week, 20,000 people escaped through a 'corridor' carrying belongings in plastic bags and suitcases following the ferocious assault by Assad's forces.

At the same time, observers say some 30,000 have fled from Kurdish-controlled Afrin city in northern Syria in a separate front of the complex war amid chaotic scenes reminiscent of the floods of refugees trekking across Europe in late 2016.On Friday, a large crowd gathered at the GrEEK Campus in Downtown Cairo waiting for the concert of the critically acclaimed Lebanese musician Tarek Yamani.

This was the second concert in the music segment of the ongoing Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival (D-CAF, 8-29 March).

The first segment of the festival and its opening act celebrated women through a concert held at Al-Azhar Park on 9 March and that featured Moroccan diva Samira Said, Pink Oculus from The Netherlands, elbi from France and Shahira Welnas Elkhatira from Egypt.

The 16 March concert gave GrEEK Campus's stage to Yamani, whose music is "full of poetry and mysticism," as promotional material put it. "Tarek Yamani explores classical Arabic music and revisits the traditions of the Khaleeji region through the complex rhythms and harmonies of African-American jazz."

Performing on piano and quarter tone keyboard, Yamani was accompanied by Elie Afif on accoustic bass, Yassine on drums and Saifeddine Helal on percussions.

Yamani's concert was followed by other musicians taking the stage, Out Of Nations from Germany, performing alt-world music, and an Egyptian group El-Sawareekh representing the mahraganat genre.

The upcoming and last component of D-CAF's music segment will take place on 22 March at GrEEK Campus featuring Lebanese/French Bachar Mar-Khalife, Bit-Tuner (Switzerland), Andro El-Hawy, EL-Sweasy, Teklife (USA), Islam Chipsy and Sadat.

Check the D-CAF's complete programme here.

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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It has been revealed that officials wanted Nikolas Cruz, 19 - who was responsible for the Parkland shooting last month, to be forcibly committed as they were so concerned about his mental stability.

However, the recommendation was never acted upon.

A commitment under the law would have made it more difficult if not impossible for Cruz to obtain a gun legally.

Nikolas Cruz is lead out of the courtroom after an arraignment hearing at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Wednesday

Cruz killed 14 students and three school employees at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland on February 14. In addition, 17 people were wounded.

But more than a year earlier, documents in the criminal case against Cruz show school officials and a sheriff's deputy recommended in September 2016 that Cruz be involuntarily committed for a mental evaluation.

The documents, which are part of Cruz's criminal case in the shooting, show that he had written the word 'kill' in a notebook, told a classmate that he wanted to buy a gun and use it, and had cut his arm supposedly in anger because he had broken up with a girlfriend.

He also told another student he had drunk gasoline and was throwing up. Calls had even been made to the FBI about the possibility of Cruz using a gun at school.

Cruz killed 14 students and three school employees at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland on February 14. In addition, 17 people were wounded

The documents were provided by a psychological assessment service initiated by Cruz's mother called Henderson Behavioral Health.

The documents show a high school resource officer who was also a sheriff's deputy and two school counselors recommended in September 2016 that Cruz be committed for mental evaluation under Florida's Baker Act.

That law allows for involuntary commitment for mental health examination for at least three days.

Rescue workers deal with a victim near Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during the shooting incident in Parkland

Such an involuntary commitment would also have been a high obstacle if not a complete barrier to legally obtaining a firearm, such as the AR-15 rifle used in the Stoneman Douglas massacre.

There is no evidence Cruz was ever committed. Coincidentally, the school resource officer who recommended that Cruz be 'Baker Acted' was Scot Peterson - the same Broward Sheriff's Office deputy who resigned amid accusations he failed to respond to the shooting by staying outside the building where the killings occurred.

David S. Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor, said that an involuntary commitment would have been a huge red flag had Cruz attempted to buy a firearm legally.

'If he had lied, hopefully the verification of the form would have pulled up the commitment paperwork,' Weinstein said.

This news comes after National Walkout Day which took place on Friday where students left class at 10 am in each time zone for at least 17 minutes - one minute for each person killed at the Florida school (pictured here are students in Washington D.C.)

Senior Rutik Shinglot speaks to students during a walkout at San Luis Obispo High School on Wednesday

The documents do not say why Cruz was not committed under the Baker Act or whether he may not have qualified for other reasons.

The law allows a law enforcement officer such as Peterson to initiate commitment under the Baker Act.

An attorney for Peterson did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Sunday.

Cruz has been charged in a 34-count indictment with killing 17 people and wounding 17 others in the attack.

He faces the death penalty if convicted, but his public defender Melisa McNeill has said he would plead guilty in return for a life prison sentence.

Students from Harvest Collegiate High School stand in Washington Square Park on March 14, 2018 in New York to take part in a national walkout to protest gun violence, one month after the shooting in Parkland, Florida, in which 17 people were killed

Students in Glenwood Springs, Coloroado take part in the nationwide walkout on Wednesday morning

In the Henderson Behavioral Health documents, Cruz's mother Lynda is quoted as saying she had fresh concerns about her son's mental state after he punched holes in a wall at their home in Parkland.

The clinicians at Henderson came to the home for interviews and said Cruz admitted punching the wall but said he did so because he was upset at a breakup with his girlfriend.

Cruz also admitted cutting his arm with a pencil sharpener.

After a September 28, 2016 interview, the documents say Cruz 'reports that he cut his arms 3-4 weeks ago and states that this is the only time he has ever cut.

High school students gather at the Board of Education building during a walkout to support gun legislation in the wake of the school shootings in Parkland, Florida on Wednesday

He said he cut himself because he was lonely and he had broken up with his girlfriend. Reports say his grades had fallen.

He also told the clinician he owned only a pellet gun and was not capable of doing 'serious harm' to anyone.

The recommendation to commit Cruz was made by Broward County Sheriff's Deputy Scot Peterson, who was accused of cowardice for failing to enter the school

Someone posted this horrifying photo on Snapchat saying the school 'is getting shot up'

The documents show that Cruz was very much on the radar screen of mental health professionals and the Broward County school system, yet very little appears to have been done other than these evaluations.

Other red flags have also surfaced, including calls to the FBI about Cruz's potential to become a school shooter and numerous visits by county law enforcement officials to his home - both before his mother died in November and after, when he lived briefly with a family friend in Palm Beach County.

Peterson was spotted this week in nearby Boynton Beach

It's not clear from the documents who the recommendation was forwarded to or why it was not followed up.

This news comes after National Walkout Day which took place on Wednesday where students left class at 10 am in each time zone for at least 17 minutes - one minute for each person killed at the Florida school.

'Change is coming, change is here and change is here to stay,' David Hogg, a Stoneman Douglas student who survived the shooting, told CNN's Anderson Cooper.

'It shows that we have a national movement of young people, future voters ... coming out and standing together with us.'The death of a migrant street vendor in Madrid sparked violent clashes between police and protesters.

Six people were arrested during demonstrations in the Spanish capital after Mame Mbaye Ndiaye, a 35-year-old man from Senegal, suffered cardiac arrest reportedly following a police chase.

Protesters set fire to dustbins and motorbikes and threw stones at riot police.

Protesters took to the streets of Madrid following the death of a migrant street vendor. Video taken from the scene shows demonstrators running over cars and smashing windows

A masked rioters jumps onto the bonnet of a van in Madrid before kicking in the window. The trouble was sparked by the death of Mame Mbaye Ndiaye, a 35-year-old man from Senegal

Video taken from the scene shows dozens of demonstrators running through the streets and over cars with smashed windows.

At least 10 police officers were injured in the unrest, police said, while emergency services said four people were slightly hurt.

Candles had been lit on the street where Mr Ndiaye died on Thursday.

Mr Ndiaye is one of many street vendors in Madrid who lay out items like perfume or hats on white sheets, which they can quickly pick up and take away when the police arrive.

While illegal, the trade is often the only way to make a living for migrants struggling to find other employment.

According to city councillor Jose Javier Barbero Gutierrez, Mr Ndiaye had been selling his wares on the central Puerta del Sol square, which attracts scores of tourists daily, when police intervened.

At least 10 police officers were injured in the unrest, police said, while emergency services said four people were slightly hurt

A smashed car window following unrest in Madrid

Following the trouble, civic leaders have called for calm across the Spanish capital

Fellow vendors said police chased him through the streets, forcing him to run with his heavy merchandise wrapped in a sheet.

He died of cardiac arrest in a street close to his home in Lavapies some 15 to 20 minutes later, Barbero said. He added that Mr Ndiaye did not appear to have been tracked by police for at least the last part of the way home.

When Mr Ndiaye suffered the cardiac arrest, he was with a friend who called the police. Several officers arrived and tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate him.Actress Ellen Barkin has slammed director Terry Gilliam following his controversial #MeToo comments.

The Animal Kingdom star also warned that she would never want to be alone with Gilliam in an elevator.

'My hard won advice: never get into an elevator alone with terry gilliam,' Barkin tweeted after the Monty Python star compared #MeToo to 'mob rule'.

She brought up the comment again while replying to one man who had called out the director.

Actress Ellen Barkin (right) has slammed director Terry Gilliam (left) following his controversial #MeToo comments

The Animal Kingdom star also warned that she would never want to be alone with Gilliam in an elevator, and warned others to avoid him as well

'Any many who belittles the #MeToo campaign or defends the likes of Harvey The Weener is a dangerous fool,' Timothy John wrote.

'Dangerous like you'd never wanna be stuck in an elevator with him. That kind of dangerous,' Barkin, 63, replied.

The actress, who worked with Gilliam on the 1998 film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, also said his recent interview turned her stomach.

'Terry Gilliam is the last man to admonish a movement that is trying to protect women from abusive men,' Barkin tweeted.

She brought up the comment again while replying to one man who had called out the director

Barkin, who has worked with Gilliam in the past, said his recent interview turned her stomach

When actress Lisa Catara responded that Gilliam 'sounds nervous', Barkin retorted 'he should be'.

This isn't the first time Barkin has spoken up against Gilliam.

After the director made comments about the #MeToo movement in January, Barkin tweeted: 'Oh Terry Gilliam, why couldn't you keep your mouth shut and stay gone'.

'Unfortunately I don't have the skills to separate a fawning article about a "super cool director" from his actions,' she added.

Barkin played the Waitress at North Star Cafe in Gilliam's 1998 film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (pictured)

When actress Lisa Catara wrote that Gilliam 'sounds nervous', Barkin retorted 'he should be'

Actress Asia Argento also recently slammed Gilliam for his comments.

The Italian actress and filmmaker, herself a Harvey Weinstein accuser, said she was 'disgusted' by Gilliam's remarks in which he suggested the campaign had led to a 'world of victims'.

While describing disgraced producer Weinstein as a 'monster' in an interview with AFP, Gilliam added: 'Harvey opened the door for a few people, a night with Harvey  that's the price you pay.'

'I think some people did very well out of meeting with Harvey and others didn't. The ones who did, knew what they were doing. These are adults; we are talking about adults with a lot of ambition,' Gilliam told the news agency.

'The mob is out there, they are carrying their torches and they are going to burn down Frankenstein's castle,' he said.

Actress Asia Argento took to Twitter to blast Gilliam for his remarks claiming Harvey Weinstein's accusers created a 'world of victims' (pictured with Anthony Bourdain in 2017)

'Angered, disgusted by Terry Gilliam's views on #metoo,' said the girlfriend of Anthony Bourdain on Saturday

Argento  who was one of the first actresses to go public with her Weinstein allegations  wrote on Twitter: 'Angered, disgusted by Terry Gilliam's views on #metoo.'

The girlfriend of Anthony Bourdain revealed the pair shared the same director of photography, Nicola Pecorini, adding: 'I hope Gilliam hasn't forgotten how Weinstein hated Nicola's cinematography (he considered it too dark) and how the monster subsequently fired him.'

She added: 'Gilliam went on shooting his sh**.'

'Loyalty, loyalty, loyalty,' she added in another post.

In October, Argento alleged she was assaulted by Weinstein while working on the 1998 film B. Monkey.

The film was distributed by Miramax, a company co-founded by Weinstein.

Weinstein has 'unequivocally denied' all allegations of non-consensual sex.

Earlier, director Judd Apatow labelled Gilliam's comments 'idiotic and dangerous'

'He wasn't in those rooms. He doesn't know how aggressive and violent and terrifying he (Weinstein) was. Who is he to say it was some sort of offered deal? He should be ashamed of himself,' Apatow wrote on Twitter

Earlier, director Judd Apatow labelled Gilliam's comments 'idiotic and dangerous'.

'He wasn't in those rooms. He doesn't know how aggressive and violent and terrifying he (Weinstein) was. Who is he to say it was some sort of offered deal? He should be ashamed of himself,' Apatow wrote on Twitter.

'I think Terry Gilliam is spewing nonsense. These were not transactions.

'His comments about that aspect of this are shameful,' Apatow added.

During the controversial interview, Gilliam claimed that some actresses' 'did very well out of meeting with Harvey'.

'Some people paid the price, other people suffered for it,' said the Monty Python member.

While Gilliam, 77, called Harvey a 'monster', he saved his harshest words for the more than 84 women who have accused the producer of sexual assault and harassment.

Gilliam lashed out at the #MeToo movement, claiming some actresses' 'did very well out of meeting with Harvey Weinstein' (pictured together in 2005)

While Gilliam, 77, called Harvey a 'monster', he saved his harshest words for the more than 84 women who have accused the producer of sexual assault and harassment

Gilliam also claimed during the interview that he knew 'enough girls who were in Harvey's suites who were not victims and walked out'.

As stories regarding Weinstein came out last September, a clear pattern emerged of aspiring and working actresses who were asked to take business meetings in his suites.

Ashley Judd, Angelina Jolie, Lupita Nyong'o, and Gwyneth Paltrow are just a few of the stars who said they were propositioned by Weinstein in one of his suites.

Rose McGowan and Argento are among two of the actresses who said they were raped by Weinstein after being summoned to his hotel room.

'Harvey opened the door for a few people, a night with Harvey - that's the price you pay,' said the Monty Python member (pictured this week in Paris)

Gilliam likened #MeToo to a 'mob rule' and said he felt sorry for Matt Damon, who was criticized after speaking out against the movement (pictured together with Weinstein in 2005)

Meanwhile, the NYPD has since said it is 'ready to go with an arrest' after investigating five different allegations against the disgraced producer in New York.

Gilliam believes the #MeToo reckoning has wiped away 'intelligence' and that now 'people seem to be frightened to say what they really think.'

'Now I am even told by my wife to keep my head a bit low,' he added.

While the director believes it is men who are currently afraid to walk through the world, he concedes there are still plenty of people like Weinstein in Hollywood.

'There are plenty of monsters out there,' he said. 'There are other people still behaving like Harvey.'

But Gilliam believes that abuse will always come with the power of the industry, and that human beings will always be 'touching' and 'grabbing'.

Gilliam said his wife Maggie Watson has told him to 'keep my head a bit low' since the movement has swept up Hollywood

'I don't think Hollywood will change,' he said. 'Power always takes advantage, it always does and it always has.'

'It's how you deal with power - people have got to take responsibility for their own selves.'

Gilliam has not been without his own controversies when it comes to actresses.

Sarah Polley revealed in the nineties that she swore off big budget films forever after working with the director on Adventures of Baron Munchausen.

Just eight years old at the time, Polley recounted how Gilliam had her lean closer and closer to an explosive during one of the action scenes.

Polley had to go to the hospital because she lost her hearing for two days.

Ten years later, on the set of a Miramax film, the actress said she was propositioned by Weinstein.Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh came to the US in 1981 to build a commune in Oregon, pictured above arrested for poisoning 700 people

An Indian spiritual guru moved to Oregon to bring his enlightenment to the American people, but his movement spiraled into the largest bioterror attack in US history in a plot to take over a town.

Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh created a name for himself in India based on his spiritual teachings of open love and higher awareness.

His practices included naked meditation, group sex, and dancing.

In 1981 he created a utopia for his Western followers, purchasing a sprawling 64,000-acre ranch for $5.75million next the small town of Antelope, Oregon.

Rajneesh and his 1,600 disciples - many of them wealthy professionals - created a world for themselves on the camp with their own homes, stores, and police force.

They took over the area with their communal living style, their daily dancing and singing routines, and stuck out in the red and orange clothing.

However their world clashed with that of the sleepy Antelope town next door, home to just 45 residents and stretching less than a square mile in size, according to the NY Post.

Tensions between the cult and the town's citizens heightened and three years later it came to a crash.

The spiritual teacher, pictured above, had a massive following in India, many of them Westerners, which inspired him to create a utopia in Antelope, Oregon on a 64,000-acre ranch

The ranch, pictured above, cost $5.75million and housed 1,600 followers. The commune built their own stores, homes, and police force

His followers donned red and orange and are seen waiting to greet Rajneesh on the ranch who is driving a Rolls Royce car, his favorite car of which he owned 93

His following was pictured playing music and singing in a meditation session

The cult followed an ideology of open love and dancing every day, something that Antelope residents found bizarre

'At first, they were seen as strange  not as a threat. Then they started buying property,' Antelope resident John Silvertooth said to the NY Post.

'They moved enough people in to get a majority on the town council . . . which changed the name of Antelope to Rajneesh. Main Street turned into Bhagwan Boulevard,' he added.

The commune's growing influence took over the town's local council and adopted its own policies, igniting fury in the Antelope residents.

Video interviews collected from the 80s for a Netflix docu-series on the cult entitled Wild Wild Country reveal citizens' outrage towards the Rajneesh followers.

'I want that guru and his evil influence out of my city,' one woman in the Netflix program.

Another local described the ashram as 'run by satanic power'.

A former ranch resident said the daily dancing and strange practices 'just struck fear in me. It was a cult.'

Locals - and doubtful ashram members - found the practices such as group sex therapy sessions that released repression to be bizarre.

'Everyone was so crazy for enlightenment . . . [that they] took part in sexual encounters, emptied their pockets and proved their devotion [through] expensive gifts,' Rajneesh's spokesperson Sheela 'Ma Anand' Silverman wrote.

Rajneesh was indeed so wealthy from decades of donations in his mystic career that he had a taste for flashy items and boasted a collection of 93 Rolls-Royce automobiles.

Another former cult member told the NY Post that the 'free love' ideology created an unbridled sex environment.

Silvertooth said he once met a teenage hitchhiker escaping the ranch who said 'he was sick of being raped'.

The madness of the Rajneesh community culminated in 1984 when the cult hatched a plan to win the November 1984 town council elections to drown out the Antelope residents' dissent.

Rajneesh pictured above with a diamond watch revealing insight into his flashy taste, speaking at a conference

The cult practices spanned sing and dancing during meditations and group sex session, group also pictured in Germany

The commune in Oregon above where hundreds of followers take to picnic tables for a meal

Meditation and higher consciousness was a major theme in the cult's practices

Rajneesh, above, greeting followers. He is the subject of the Netflix docu-series Wild Wild Country

Rajneesh, right, did not last long in the Antelope ranch. He fled in 1985 and was arrested

He along with his followers sought to overtake the town of Antelope by winning the local town council elections through devious tactics including poison

Their tactics included busing in thousands homeless people from New York City, Phoenix, and San Diego to register to vote in the small town in order to win a Rajneesh majority.

County authorities sniffed out the plan and refused to register the vagrants.

Then came a vicious bioterror attack that scarred the city.

The commune put salmonella in the salad bars of 10 restaurants in an effort strike sickness and fear among the residents.

A total of 700 people became sick from the restaurant stint, causing the Center for Disease Control and Prevention to come in to stop the damage.

The salmonella plot was the largest bioterror attack in the United States.

The restaurant plot was a test run for the real plan of poisoning the citys water supply, but the group never carried it out.

'They put salmonella in the salad bars of 10 [local] restaurants; 700 people got sick. Then the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] got involved and they backed off [from the poison water plan],' says Wild Wild Country co-director Maclain Way.

The election came and went, without a single Rajneeshee making it onto the commission.

'That whole episode with the poisoning  it showed the extreme nature of some of the people there,' a former cult member said.

The following year in 1985 a disciple burnt down a Wasco County Planning Office because it reportedly contained documents relating to a real estate investigation of the cult.

Rajneesh's followers poisoned 10 restaurant salad bars, infecting 700 people with salmonella, the leader pictured above with one of his prized cars

A glimpse at his 93 Rolls-Royce collection above at the Oregon ranch camp site

Followers lifted their hands and sang whole-heartedly during sessions with the leader

A disciple is pictured crying out on the cult during a meeting. Many followers left the cult appalled with its practices that caused one boy to claim he was repeatedly raped

Rajneeshs spokeswoman Silverman plotted the poisoning of the gurus doctor, saying he was keeping him on drugs.

The cult also conspired to kill presidential appointee Charles Turner, who was investigating the ranchs illegal activity spanning smuggling and immigration fraud.

The nations eyes were turned to the cult's chaos that took over a once-quiet town, causing Rajneesh to flee.

He boarded a Learjet business aircraft to escape to India, but was caught and detained during a gas stop in Charlotte, North Carolina on October 28, 1985.

He was charged with immigration fraud in connection with the arranged marriages he set up for followers to gain American citizenship.

He agreed to stay out of the country and returned to India where he changed his name to Osho and his teachings continued.

He died in 1990 at the age of 58.

Now the site that was once the peak of the Rajneesh movement is home to a Christian camp.Hillary Clinton provided an explanation for some recent comments she made that she understood 'upset or offended' some Americans  statements that drew criticism from fellow Democrats and the Trump White House alike.

'I understand how some of what I said upset people and can be misinterpreted. I meant no disrespect to any individual or group,' she said in a Facebook post. 'And I want to look to the future as much as anybody.'

Clinton, on a trip to India, had talked about how her voters came from economically advantaged places in comparison to Trump voters, and also noted how white women often voted the same way as their husbands.

Hillary Clinton posted a note to Facebook in which she explained some comments she made on her recent trip to India, which she realized 'upset or offended' some Americans

Hillary Clinton, on a trip to India, said that white married women were pressured to vote for President Trump by their husbands. She also talked about how areas that voted for Trump were less economically advantaged than those that voted for her

A number of Democrats were critical of Clinton's remarks because they didn't like how she portrayed red states and female voters.

The Trump White House again called her out of touch.

'She is completely disconnected from the American public and certainly I think shows her disdain for the millions and millions of Americans who came out and voted and supported President Trump and still support him today,' Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on Thursday.

On Saturday Clinton explained that in India she was asked if Trump was a 'virus' or if his election was a 'symptom' of something deeper going on in the United States.

'Like most Americans, people overseas remain shocked and dismayed at what they are witnessing daily,' she began. 'My first instinct was to defend Americans and explain how Donald Trump could have been elected.'

She told those in India that the places doing better economically tend to vote Democratic, while those doing worse off vote Republican.

'That doesn't mean the coasts versus the heartland, it doesn't even mean states,' she said. 'In fact, it more often captures the divisions between more dynamic urban areas and less prosperous small towns within states.'

'I did not realize how hard it would hit many who heard it,' Hillary Clinton said of comments she made in India suggesting that white female voters followed the lead of the men in their lives to vote for Donald Trump in larger numbers than the first female major party nominee

Recent comments Hillary Clinton made in India about President Trump's voters and the states that he won are a 'perfect example of why Hillary Clinton is not in the White House,' Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on Thursday

On the same India trip, Hillary Clinton suggested that the places that voted for her were more economically advanced than those that voted for President Trump. In a new Facebook post, Clinton said she didn't mean for that to seem like she was attacking full red states

Her comments had been interpreted as an assault on red states, with one former senior Clinton aide telling the Hill newspaper that 'she puts herself in a position where [Democrats] from states that Trump won will have to distance themselves from her even more.'

'That's a lot of states,' the ex-aide pointed out.

In her Facebook note, Clinton also addressed what she had said about Trump's campaign message.

'As I said throughout the campaign, Trump's messages was dark and backwards looking. I don't need to list the reasons, but the foundation of his message, "Make America Great AGAIN" suggests that to be great we have to go back to something we are no longer,' Clinton said. 'I never accepted that and never will.'

In India, her comments about Trump and his voters were harsher than how she characterized them on Facebook Saturday, with her saying Trump's call to his supporters was: 'You didn't like black people getting rights, you don't like women getting jobs, you don't want to see that Indian-American succeeding more than you are, whatever your problem is, I'm going to solve it.'

Clinton, the first female presidential nominee from a major political party, also noted how she mentioned 'something in passing that's gotten a lot of negative attention.'

'That there is anecdotal evidence and some research to suggest that women are unfortunately more swayed by men than the other way around,' she said.

When she made her comments in India, they were specifically about voting, as she suggested white women had followed their husbands' lead in voting for Trump.

'I did not realize how hard it would hit many who heard it,' she said.

'Do I believe that some women look at a powerful woman and question whether she can lead, maybe voting for the man their husband is voting for instead?' she mused. 'It may not be universally true or easy to hear, but yes, its a dynamic still at play in our society.'

'I know this because even I spent parts of my life wondering if I could achieve the same as male leaders, and a lot of that insecurity stemmed from my gender and how society views women,' Clinton added.

She also pointed out that she was always more popular when she was working for or defending a man, compared to when she was doing something by herself.

'Thats the point I was making, in an effort to explain to an audience some of the many dynamics that have gone into these tumultuous last few years,' Clinton said.

In her note, Clinton suggested she realized that her comments had become a political distraction for the Democrats yet again.

'So to those upset or offended by what I said last week, I hope this explanation helps to explain the point I was trying to make,' she said. 'And I hope now that we can get back to the real business before us: Protecting our democracy and building a future we can all share,' she concluded.

Even after her apology was posted to the web, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat, Sen. Dick Durbin, called what Clinton had previously asserted 'wrong.'

Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, a Democrat from North Dakota, answered 'not soon enough' when asked when Hillary Clinton would 'ride off in the sunset'

'Thirty per cent of the people that voted for Donald Trump had voted for President Obama. Why? Durbin asked on Fox News Sunday. 'The same people who looked for change with President Obama thought there wasn't enough, as far as their personal lives were concerned, and they supported Donald Trump.'

'That is a reality the Democrats acknowledge,' Durbin added.

Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, also called Clinton's comments 'not helpful at all' going into this year's midterm election cycle.

Former Ohio state Rep. Nina Turner, who supported Clinton's rival Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary in 2016, said on CNN's State of the Union Sunday that it was 'very hurtful' for the former secretary of state to talk about Ohioans like that.

'In politics, we should not criticize the voters,' Turner acknowledged.

Other Democrats had made similar complaints, with Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, a North Dakotan Democrat who's facing a tough re-election bid ,saying on a radio program hosted by her brother that the ex-nominee's exit from politics could come 'not soon enough.'

Joel Heitkamp had asked his sister when Clinton would 'ride off in the sunset.'

'I don't know, not soon enough, I guess,' the Democratic senator first replied, before repeating her answer in a more definitive tone.

Other Democrats and aides spoke out anonymously against Clinton too.

'She's annoying me. She's annoying everyone, as far as I can tell,' one unnamed 2016 Clinton surrogate told the Hill on Tuesday. 'Who let's her say these things?'

A former Obama White House official said, 'If these statements are a form of catharsis, it would be in the Democratic Party's best interest for her to get these out of her system soon.'

'We need leaders like her to look forward to 2020 and how to unify the party, not continue to re-litigate the past,' the official said.

In her note, Clinton vowed that she was looking ahead.

'I want us to be free to focus on the future,' she promised.

'A future in which I hope to be fighting for Democratic values of equal opportunity, social inclusion, and strong communities; for an economy that works for everyone; and for lifting up the next generation of leadership, particularly women,' she said.Sen. Jeff Flake, a Republican from Arizona, said Sunday that he'd like to see a member of his party take on President Trump in the 2020 cycle.

'Well, all I can say is, I hope that somebody does challenge the president,' Flake said on CNN's State of the Union on Sunday, adding that there is a 'crying need out there for some Republicans to stand up and say, this is not normal, this is not right.'

Flake, who announced his retirement in October  in part so he could become a thorn in Trump's side  said while he believed that Trump may look unbeatable now, a bruising 2018 midterm may be able to shake the Republican Party away from the president's grasp.

Sen. Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican, said Sunday on CNN that he hoped a member of his party would challenge President Trump in 2020

'I'm not ruling it out, but I certainly am  I think the odds are long that I would do it,' Sen. Jeff Flake (right) told CNN's Jake Tapper (left) of his own presidential prospects

'Well, certainly right now, nobody would defeat the president, but, two years from now, we could have a completely different scenario,' Flake said. 'Nothing focuses the mind like a big election loss, and what might happen in the midterms is a big election loss.'

Flake noted how Rep. Charlie Dent, a retiring Pennsylvania Republican, called last Tuesday's likely win by Democrat Conor Lamb in what had been a safe GOP district a 'five-alarm fire.'

'And so, who knows what will happen, but it would be extremely difficult to defeat the president right now if the election were held in a Republican primary,' Flake said. 'This is the Trump party right now. I just am not sure that it will be two years from now.'

Flake looked to be prepping to challenge the president himself by giving a speech Friday in New Hampshire, the state that holds the nation's first presidential primary.

But on CNN, Flake told Jake Tapper that it wasn't likely he would jump in the race.

'I'm not ruling it out, but I certainly am  I think the odds are long that I would do it,' Flake said.

He said that, 'People want to remember the Republican Party as a decent party.'

'And it is not right now,' the senator said. 'And so what I'm seeing is, there's a crying need for that. I don't know who will step up in the end. I hope somebody does.'

Flake also mentioned that, for him, it's a mix of Trump's behavior and policies that are the problem, pointing to the president's recent tariff announcement as not being in line with the conservatives in the party.

The Arizona senator also instructed the president not to touch Special Counsel Robert Mueller, as Trump again tweeted his annoyance with Mueller's team Sunday morning saying, 'Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans? Another Dem recently added...does anyone think this is fair?'

'And yet, there is NO COLLUSION!' the president added.

Tapper asked Flake if he thought Republicans in Congress, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan, would actually stand up to the president and tell Trump that he can't fire Mueller.

'I hope so,' Flake replied.

'I mean, talking to my colleagues all along, you know once he goes after Mueller, then we will take action,' Flake added.

'I think that people see that as a massive red line that can't be crossed,' the Arizona Republican said.

Flake said he hoped enough people would come out and encourage the president not to fire Mueller

'Don't go there. Don't go there,' Flake implored. 'We have confidence in Mueller. I certainly do.'The Massachusetts attorney general announced her office will investigate Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, a data analysis company hired by President Donald Trump during the 2016 election run.

Attorney General Maura Healey made the announcement Saturday on Twitter after it was revealed Cambridge Analytica allegedly tapped more than 50million Facebook profiles without the users' permission.

'Massachusetts residents deserve answers immediately from Facebook and Cambridge Analytica. We are launching an investigation,' Healey said in a tweet.

This decision comes after the social media network suspended its relationship with Cambridge Anaylitca on Friday over the claims it violated its user policy.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said her office was going to investigate the claims made against Facebook and Cambridge Analytica

She announced Saturday on Twitter that the residents 'deserve answers immediately'

President Donald Trump's campaign used Cambridge Analytica for the 2016 election. The data analysis app is being accused of tapping into more than 50million Facebook profiles without permission from the users or the social media network

One of the largest data leaks in Facebook history allowed Cambridge Analytica, which had ties to Trump campaign strategist Steve Bannon, to develop techniques that formed the basis of its work on the Trump campaign, The New York Times and The Guardian reported.

Besides suspending Cambridge Analytica, Facebook has also suspended University of Cambridge psychology professor Aleksandr Kogan who created the app.

Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix is pictured. The company was banned from Facebook on Friday over its handling of user data

Christopher Wylie of Eunoia Technologies, a former employee of Cambridge Analytica, has also been suspended for allegedly receiving user data for the app.

Wylie, who has since turned whistleblower, admitted to helping with some of the illegitimate acquisitions of the 50million Facebook profiles and user data.

Now, Massachusetts is leading the charge stating it will investigate Facebook and Cambridge Analytica to determine if legal measures are necessary against the companies.

Wylie, told the Guardian he has a paper trail of the harvested 50million-user data, along with receipts, invoices, emails and legal letters  that all support how between June and August of 2014 the Facebook accounts and data had been compromised.

Most damning of all, in 2014, he had a letter from Facebook's own lawyers admitting that Cambridge Analytica had acquired the data illegitimately.

By opening up his records during the time of his employment with Cambridge Analytica, he is breaking a non-disclosure agreement and risks being sued.

Additionally, he is breaking the confidence of Steve Bannon and Robert Mercer, the CEO of Cambridge Analytica.

Whistleblower: Christopher Wylie says he assisted in harvesting Facebook users data while working for Cambridge Analytica and they used the data to analyze political proclivities

Steve Bannon became a board member for Cambridge Analytica in about 2014 under it's American shell company

In 2014, Bannon had become a board member for Cambridge Analytica, and went on to become Trump's chief campaign strategist.

In a blog post, Facebook explained that Cambridge Analytica had years ago received user data from a Facebook app that purported to be a psychological research tool, though the firm was not authorized to have the information.

In 2014, the company hired Cambridge professor Dr. Aleksandr Kogan. He obtained information legally from 270,000 Facebook users but then shared it with Cambridge Analytica which was against the rules

Cambridge Analytica later certified in 2015 that it had destroyed the information it had received, according to Facebook, although the social network said it received reports 'several days ago' that not all the data was deleted.

The data analysis company is best known for its political work during the 2016 US presidential campaign. The company claims to build psychological profiles based on personal details from millions of Americans that can categorize individual voters.

It worked for both the primary campaign of Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, and Trump's general-election campaign.

Trump's campaign last Saturday denied using the firm's data, saying it relied on the Republican National Committee for its data.

'The campaign used the RNC for its voter data and not Cambridge Analytica,' the campaign said in a statement.

'Using the RNC data was one of the best choices the campaign made. Any claims that voter data were used from another source to support the victory in 2016 are false.'Trevor Weldom Ingram, 26, was arrested for allegedly threatening to bomb the SXSW music festival in Austin, Texas

A 26-year-old has been arrested for allegedly threatening to bomb the SXSW music festival in Austin, Texas.

Suspect Trevor Weldom Ingram was arrested on Saturday and charged with making a terroristic threat.

Austin Police said the bomb threat was sent via email to Live Nation Music.

The email received at 4:23pm on Saturday targeted a venue space where the band The Roots was scheduled to perform, according to Dallas News.

The SXSW event was the Bud Light x The Roots & Friends Jam, which was scheduled to take place at 1100 East 5th street on Saturday night.

Fox 7 reported that police deployed to the site monitored the threat but found none.

The Bud Light event was cancelled at 9:40 on Saturday as a precaution.

'The safety of all fans at SXSW is our most important priority,' Bud Light said on Twitter.

'The Bud Light x The Roots SXSW Jam at Fair Market has been canceled. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your understanding. #SXSW,' the festival organization also tweeted.

The music festival was alerted to the threat after Ingram emailed Live Nation about the attack at 4:23pm Saturday

Bud Light was hosting the event where the band The Roots were scheduled to play and canceled the show out of security concern

The Roots drummer Questlove took to Twitter to tell his followers 'we cant risk our lives if we are told there was a bomb threat. I'm sure we will return to Austin ladies and gentlemen

Questlove apologized to his followers about the cancelled performance, promising to return

The Roots, above, performed at the music festival last year, performance pictured above

Ludacris, Dermot Kennedy, Jessie Reyez, Rapsody, Tank & the Bangas, Moon Tasxi and other guests were scheduled to perform at the concert as well.

Despite the threat police say there is no broader security threat for other festival attendees.

The Roots, a band famous for playing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, took to Twitter to apologize to fans for the sudden cancellation.

'No one is Mr "show must go on" than me. But we cant risk our lives if we are told there was a bomb threat. Im sure we will return to Austin ladies and gentlemen. Thanks for understanding,' Bandmember Questlove wrote.

Ingram's motivation for the e-mail threat is not clear.

The news follows the killing of two people in three package-bomb explosions in Austin this past month.

The package-bomb cases have not been solved.The alarming spread of the airborne plastics we eat and inhale can be revealed today.

A Daily Mail investigation found that tiny potentially dangerous plastic particles have become 'part of the air we breathe' as the Chief Medical Officer for England warned the health consequences were 'unquantified'.

It had been thought the risk to health was largely limited to eating fish from oceans polluted with plastic.

But the leading scientist who oversaw our investigation said microplastics had become 'part of the air we breathe'.

MPs said the findings  from the first UK study into airborne plastic food contamination  were shocking. Experts warn that ingesting the particles can damage lungs, poison kidneys and interfere with hormones.

The microplastics can even travel across a mother's placenta.

A Daily Mail investigation has revealed the shocking extent of plastic contamination in fish bought from UK supermarkets

A report from four parliamentary committees demanded action against our 'poisonous air'.

Leading microplastics experts said that 'we just don't know' how dangerous the particles may be.

The Mail's research follows the ten-year anniversary of this newspaper's first campaign against plastic pollution.

Dr Welden, who has studied microplastics for six years, said: 'I wouldn't be surprised if they're not building up in the air in the same way as in the oceans. They will be fragmenting and still not going away.

'We have no knowledge on what a healthy level of airborne microplastics contamination would be. Some of the stuff that we're putting out there may have a detrimental effect.'

She compared airborne microplastics to the CFC carbons in fridges that caused the hole in the ozone layer.

'Originally nobody really cared until it was traced back to having a negative impact on human health and all of sudden everybody got really active', she said.

Professor Sally Davies, the Chief Medical Officer, warned in her annual report this month of the dangers of humans ingesting microplastics  whether by inhaling them or eating contaminated food.

In her comments, which have not been reported until today, she said there was a risk of gut blockages and hormone problems from chemicals leaking out of the microplastics and into the body.

'The human consequences of exposure to these microplastics are largely unquantified,' said Dame Sally. 'It is unknown if [microplastics ingestion] translates into meaningful exposure in the population. 'Nevertheless, the burden in the environment should not be further increased.'

Zac Goldsmith, a Tory member of the Commons environmental audit committee, said: 'This shocking investigation by the Daily Mail shows that this is not a remote problem when microplastics are found in the air we breathe and the food we eat.

'We have seen some initiative on plastic bags, microbeads and other single use plastics, but that is a start, not the end. We need to wage war against plastic pollution.

'Every department of government has a role to play.'

Mary Creagh, the Labour chairman of the committee, said: 'Our inquiry into microplastics recommended research into their impact on people's health.

'The work by the Chief Medical Officer is ongoing and needs to look at these disturbing new results. Ministers must act swiftly to tackle plastic pollution from every source.'

Frank Kelly, an expert in environmental health at Kings College London, gave evidence to MPs on airborne microplastics last year.

He told them: 'If you can breathe them in, they could potentially deliver chemicals to lower parts of our lungs, maybe even across into our circulation in the same way we worry about vehicle emissions.'

Our laboratory study found airborne particles on every sample of fish from the eight major supermarkets.

It means food from any open counter, including delis, bakeries and market stalls, is vulnerable to contamination.

For the study, we supplied fresh fillets of cod and salmon to a laboratory at the University of Portsmouth.

Eight supermarkets were sampled in the study with traces of plastic particles found on fillets

On one sample, scientists found a worrying 139 pieces of plastic for every 240g of fillet. The average for salmon was 75 pieces and for cod 72.

The particles were too large to have passed from the gut into the flesh of the fish. The Portsmouth scientists concluded instead that the plastics came from airborne contamination  something shops have no control over.

They said that while the oceans remained the overall 'sink' for microplastics, there might be even more of them in the air.

Dr Natalie Welden, who led the research, said the findings had major implications for any uncovered food.

'Having food exposed to particles in the air for an extended period will result in a higher amount of plastic,' she added.

'Organisms that are exposed to air and are either not cleaned or rinsed as part of the packing process are exposed. The pool of plastics that's out there forming airborne particles is huge.

'It's a symptom of endemic plastic use throughout our culture as a whole.'

Dr Welden said washing the fillets prior to cooking might help. But she added: 'They will also be exposed to microplastics in the home.'

The particles recovered from the fish fillets were between 0.25mm and 1mm long. They were mainly fibres from textiles used in clothing, carpets or furniture.

The results of the investigation revealed the shocking spread of contamination, with airborne plastics discovered in every sample

Professor Kelly told the Mail that research into microplastics-contaminated food 'has not yet taken place but is urgently needed given the ubiquitous nature of microplastics in society'.

He added: 'Observations from the marine environment suggest harmful effects do occur.' The supermarkets we purchased the fish fillets from directed our inquiries to the British Retail Consortium, saying it was an industry-wide issue.

'Food safety is a top priority for UK retailers,' said a BRC spokesman last night.

'The presence of microplastics is a global issue and involves all parts of the supply chain. More work is necessary to fully assess the risk and determine suitable control measures.'

Earlier this week MPs on four Commons committees  including transport and health  said they wanted a new clean air act, declaring pollution 'a national emergency'.

And the World Health Organisation has launched a review into airborne plastic contamination of bottled water after microplastics were found in samples from nine countries across 11 different brands.

In his spring statement last week Chancellor Philip Hammond pledged 20million for the development of green technologies to combat the menace of plastic waste.

How lab revealed cod and salmon is tainted

We bought cod and salmon fillets from the open fishmonger counters of Sainsbury's, Asda, Morrisons, Tesco and Waitrose in London. We also purchased packaged fillets from Lidl, Aldi and M&S, which do not have such counters.

The samples were hand-delivered the same day to the Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of Portsmouth.

In a laboratory proofed against air pollution, researchers extracted 45g from each fillet using a device like a hole punch. The samples were placed in potassium hydroxide, which dissolved the flesh and all biological matter.

Scores of microplastics were found when the remaining mixture was put through filter paper 48 hours later. As the pictures below show, most were tiny fibres or fragments.

Because the samples were fillets, rather than whole fish, the microplastics must have come from airborne pollution. They were too large to have passed into the fish muscle tissue from the gut after having been ingested in the ocean. The fillets from fishmonger counters were more contaminated than those from closed packets.

Microplastics are created when manmade materials break down through friction or the effect of heat or light. But instead of disintegrating completely they accumulate in the oceans, the earth and in the air.

The plastic fibres and fragments found on our fish samples came from a variety of airborne sources including clothing and cleaning materials. The contamination is thought to have taken place at some stage during the handling, filleting, packing and display process.

The air also contains microplastics from litter, tyres and packaging such as water bottles. Another source is the fibre from synthetic clothing. It is estimated that 1,800 plastic particles can be produced every time such garments are washed.

Research shows that plastic fibres that float around in the air come down to the ground either through rainfall or as plain dust.

How the plastics could endanger your health

The health implications of ingesting microplastics are not clear cut and leading science and medical experts have called for further research into the risks. But a range of studies shows the potentially harmful effects around the body.

LUNGS: When inhaled, microplastics can lodge deep in the lungs for weeks without disintegrating. This could lead to respiratory problems including coughing, wheezing and breathlessness, and eventually to lung damage, inflammation or scarring. A study has shown that people suffered from asthma, chronic bronchitis and pneumonia after working with airborne microplastic fibres.

DIGESTIVE SYSTEM: Fibres from microplastic-contaminated food or drink would arrive in the stomach before travelling to the intestine. They could also disintegrate and pass through the lining of the gut.

BLOODSTREAM: Experts warn that microplastics could enter the blood stream or the lymph nodes  essentially transporting them anywhere inside the body. Microplastics have been shown to cause tissue damage and scarring.

KIDNEYS: There is potential for microplastics to accumulate in the kidneys, possibly blocking or poisoning them.

HORMONES: Chemicals in microplastics can leak out into the body. Studies have linked endocrine-disrupting chemicals found in them with an increase in testicular and breast cancer and a decrease in sperm counts.

FOETUS: A study has shown microplastics can travel across a mother's placenta.

PROFESSOR FRANK KELLY: Why we should worry about plastic in the air

History is littered with examples of developments which seemed a great idea at the time but have subsequently been discovered to have unfortunate consequences for our health.

The list includes smoking cigarettes, putting lead in petrol and using asbestos in building materials. And in years to come, we may well look back and wonder why we ever tolerated the presence of plastic in everything from water bottles to carrier bags.

We already know that microplastics consumed by fish and other marine creatures can find their way into the human food chain. But this latest Mail investigation adds to a growing body of evidence that demonstrates they are contained in the very air that we breathe.

Professor Frank Kelly told the Mail that more research needed to be done 'urgently' on microplastic-contaminated food and water

This is an issue I have been worried about for some time. In 2016, I presented my concerns over airborne microplastics to Parliament's environmental audit committee. The concerns were based on two possible routes of transmission.

Global production of plastic exceeds 320million tons, around 40 per cent of which goes into single-use packaging. A substantial proportion of that makes its way into our oceans where it becomes brittle under the sun's rays and breaks into microscopically small fragments.

To give you an idea of how tiny they are, the diameter of a human hair is 50 micrometers (millionths of a metre). A particle of microplastic is less than ten micrometers and can easily be swept into the air and transported great distances by the wind.

Until they were banned at the beginning of this year a major source of inhalable microplastics were the microbeads previously used as exfoliants in cosmetics such as face scrubs.

While these may be on the way out, household effluent still contains the minuscule fibres released when clothes made of popular materials such as polyester and nylon are washed.

Swept away with the household's waste water, they contribute to the slurry that sewage farms spread over agricultural land. As this dries out, the microplastics are released into the atmosphere and  just as is happening in our oceans  are carried many miles by the wind.

When I appeared before the parliamentary committee, there was no firm evidence that any microplastics had found their way from seas and sewage farms into our towns and cities but it was not long in coming.

Later that year, a team of French researchers placed a container full of water on top of a university building in Paris and left it exposed to the air for about a week.

Careful analysis revealed a wide array of microplastics that can only have been deposited in the water by the surrounding atmosphere.

We have since followed up this work at King's College London where we operate the London Air Quality Network, with more than 100 monitoring stations measuring pollution from traffic and other sources in the capital's 33 boroughs.

Since 2016 we have also been looking out for microplastics and, although we can't yet give reliable indicators about their concentration, or what type of plastic they are, they seem to be present in the atmosphere in surprisingly high numbers.

So how concerned should we be? Although no definitive studies on the health effects have been conducted, one indication comes from the problems caused by the plastics used in hips and knee implants.

The erosion resulting from wear and tear of implants causes inflammation in surrounding tissues, leading to the death of cells and scarring.

It's easy to surmise the damage such particles may inflict in the most sensitive recesses of our lungs, which is where they have been found in patients suffering from lung cancer.

Just to be clear, there is no evidence of a link between the microplastics and lung cancer. But these biopsies show us two disturbing characteristics of microplastics.

The first is that they are small enough to penetrate deep into the lungs, avoiding the usual methods of dislodging foreign bodies, including coughing and the actions of our mucous membranes. The second is that they exhibit very little deterioration, suggesting that they can persist in our bodies for a lifetime after exposure.

Apart from the possible effects of the microplastics themselves, another concern is that these tiny bullets entering the body act as carriers for a range of different chemicals added by manufacturers to give them properties such as malleability. Because these chemicals are not chemically bound to the plastic particles, they can leach out and transfer to surrounding tissue.

For example, the chemicals used to make all furniture and carpets fire-retardant, as is required by law, include a group known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers.

These have been associated with a number of serious health issues, with some shown to be carcinogenic if present in sufficient quantities.

Tyres are another source of airborne microplastics and these are laced with zinc, a highly toxic metal if it accumulates in the body. As these examples suggest, the problem with microplastics may go far beyond ensuring that we dump less household waste in our seas.

Plastics are everywhere, and in our measurements at King's College, we have been particularly struck by the high levels of clothing fibres in the atmosphere.

They are clearly not something you would want to breathe in, judging by the respiratory problems found in clothing industry workers who have inhaled 'flock'  microfibres thrown off during the manufacture of the materials we wear.

Symptoms of these workers have included coughing, wheezing, breathlessness and increased phlegm production. And although the levels of microplastics encountered in such factories are far greater than those in our everyday environment, this indicates their potential to trigger a number of undesirable bodily responses due to the ease with which they enter the lungs and their persistence once inhaled.

Far more research is needed to establish what problems may arise in ordinary homes. Only last week the World Health Organisation announced a review into the potential risks of plastics in bottled water after analysis of some of the world's most popular brands found that more than 90 per cent contained microplastics, one theory being that the contamination resulted from fragments breaking off from the caps.

That WHO initiative is to be welcomed. But let's not lose sight of the problem of airborne microplastics.

Are they poisoning or slowly killing us? And, if so, might they even explain the growing prevalence of conditions such as chronic obstructive lung disease and dementia?

It was once believed that our chances of developing these diseases were primarily down to genetic background  and this is partly true. But now it is thought that at least 70 per cent can be explained by our environment in the widest sense of the word: the food we eat, the chemicals we come into contact with and, of course, the air we breathe.

Microplastics are a potential piece of that jigsaw. Whether it's a big piece or a small piece remains to be seen and while it would be wrong to be alarmist about airborne plastics, we have every right to be extremely wary.An Oregon man said he was brutally attacked in his own home by three robbers after he opened his door to aid a woman who was frantically screaming for help.

Josh Morrison, 45, said he getting ready to fire up his grill on March 11 when he heard a loud knock on the front door of his Portland home.

A woman was screaming and urging him to open the door saying she was trying to get away from danger, according to a GoFundMe page set up for Morrison.

When he opened the door, the 'female charged into him, striking him repeatedly in the face'.

Josh Morrison (pictured in the hospital), 45, of Portland, was brutally attacked in his own home by three robbers after he opened his door to aid a woman who was frantically screaming for help

Morrison said a woman was screaming and urging him to open the door on March 11, saying she was trying to get away from danger. When he opened the door, the 'female charged into him, striking him repeatedly in the face'

According to Morrison's account, two men then rushed into his home behind the woman and they also assaulted him

Courtesy of KOIN 6

According to Morrison's account, two men then rushed into his home behind the woman and they also assaulted him.

Morrison said he was knocked unconscious 'hog-tied at the wrists with his arms behind him'.

One of the attackers then allegedly put Morrison in a headlock and yelled at him to tell them where his money was hidden.

According to the GoFundMe account, Morrison was threatened that Watson, his 15-year-old cat, would be killed if he failed to give them money.

His own life was then threatened when one of the culprits allegedly put a shotgun to his head.

But Morrison didn't give up the money and he was then repeatedly struck with the shotgun in the head.

According to the GoFundMe account, Morrison was threatened that Watson (pictured), his 15-year-old cat would be killed if he failed to give them money. His own life was then threatened when one of the culprits allegedly put a shotgun to his head

Morrison also said that the suspects actually hurt his cat, Watson (pictured) who he found days later with a broken shoulder

He was later found outside his front door when Portland police responded to his home near Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard and Liebe Street (area pictured). Police are still investigating the attack and no suspect descriptions have been provided at this time

'As they were hitting me with the shotgun, I could hear bones crushing and I literally thought I was going to die,' Morrison told KPTV.

Morrison said his attackers managed to find his savings before they fled the scene.

He was later found outside his front door when Portland police responded to his home near Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard and Liebe Street.

Morrison underwent surgery and stayed in the hospital for days.

He now has a metal plate in his forehead. Horrific photos of Morrison show his bloody head and face. He also has burns on his hands from the zip ties.

Morrison also told KPTV that the suspects actually hurt his cat, who he found days later with a broken shoulder.

Portland police are still investigating the attack and no suspect descriptions have been provided at this time.Even relatively clean coastal waters are likely to harbor microbes that raise the risk of stomach aches, ear infections and diarrhea for those who venture in, according to a review of over 40 previous studies.

Researchers looked at rates of illnesses among beach bathers and those who stayed high and dry, and found that people exposed to seawater were 86 percent more likely to experience any type of illness and more than twice as likely to have an earache.

There have been lots of studies looking at the links between bathing in the sea and experiencing a variety of symptoms of ill health, said lead author Anne Leonard from the European Centre for Environment and Human Health, University of Exeter Medical School, in Truro, UK. These have been summarized mostly for gastrointestinal complaints such as diarrhea and vomiting, she added in an email.

SponsoredFor their analysis, the researchers reviewed nearly six decades worth of studies done in what are considered high-income, developed countries such as the U.S., UK and Australia.

Its common to think the risks of swimming in these parts of the world are minimal, Leonard and her colleagues write in the International Journal of Epidemiology. Standards to maintain clean seawaters and compliance to set regulations are considered to be much higher than in other, lower-income countries.

I know that water quality testing around the Rio Olympics in Brazil revealed pathogen and indicator bacteria levels that were orders of magnitude higher than what we see in the U.S., said Ben Arnold, a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health, who wasnt involved in the study.

So, in settings that may not have the same level of regulatory guidelines or sewerage infrastructure, the health risk associated with seawater exposure could be considerably higher, he said in an email.

Overall, Leonards group found that gastrointestinal illnesses were less commonly reported, with an increased risk of 29 percent among bathers.

These findings dont necessarily mean people need to steer clear of the sea, Leonard said.

There are many health benefits from swimming in the sea, such as improved physical fitness and an increased sense of wellbeing and the above ailments are likely to be minor in the majority of bathers, probably resolving without medical intervention in a few days.

Still, Arnold noted, some individuals should take caution, in particular children and those with weakened immune systems.

In the U.S., a large pooled analysis . . . of 84,411 beachgoers found that children 0 to 4 years old were at much higher risk of gastrointestinal illness compared with adults following contact exposure, he said.

Children lack a fully developed immune system, tend to spend more time in the water and are much more likely to swallow it than adults, Arnold added.

And all swimmers should avoid seawaters after heavy rainstorms, as exposure within three days of a storm is associated with much higher rates of acute illness across a range of symptoms, he advised.

We would recommend that bathers avoid going in the sea after it has been raining heavily, as this is when water quality is likely to be poorer and the risks of getting sick may increase, Leonard said.

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This is the moment Ant McPartlin leaves the wreckage of his car, looking shaken and unsteady on his feet, following the three-vehicle smash which led to his arrest, in exclusive footage obtained by the MailOnline.

The TV presenter appears dazed as he climbs out of his 26,000 John Cooper black Mini, which smashed into two other cars and injured a three-year-old girl.

The incident in Richmond, west London, saw McPartlin arrested on suspicion of drink-driving after failing a breathalyser test.

This afternoon his agent revealed that Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway  the ITV show he co-hosts with lifelong friend Declan Donnelly - is cancelled so McPartlin can 'check into rehab'.

The video shows a passer-by approach and speak to the startled McPartlin. The telly favourite appears to nod as he stumbles and holds on to his car door.

The 42-year-old looks down at the damage to the front of his car, before he walks out. Both front seat airbags appear to have been triggered by the impact of the crash. Other pedestrians look on in shock after witnessing the smash, which involved the celebrity's black Mini, a green Mini and a maroon BMW.

McPartlin, who is worth 60million, spent most of the night in police custody, before he was released under investigation and returned home at 3am today.

The star has endured a troublesome year with his battle with painkillers addiction and the breakdown of his marriage to Lisa Armstrong.

The TV presenter, 42, is seen appearing dazed as he climbs out of his 26,000 John Cooper, which smashed into two other cars and injured a three-year-old girl

The video shows the passers-by asking a startled McPartlin if he is OK. The telly favourite appears to nod as he stumbles and holds on to his car door

This is the moment Ant McPartlin leaves the wreckage of his car, looking shaken and unsteady on his feet, following the three-vehicle smash which led to his arrest, in exclusive footage obtained by the MailOnline

The 42-year-old looks down at the damage to the front of his car, before he walks out. Both front seat airbags appear to have been triggered by the impact of the crash

McPartlin, who is worth 60million, spent most of the night in police custody, before he was released 'under investigation and returned home at 3am today

A statement on behalf of Ant & Dec confirmed McPartlin was taking a break from his on-screen duties, where he hosts on ITV with Declan Donnelly.

It said: 'Ant has decided to go back into treatment and step down from his current TV commitments.

'He has spoken with Dec and ITV today and asked for time off for the foreseeable future. As such "Saturday Night Takeaway" will not be going ahead this Saturday.'

An ITV spokesman said: 'ITV has taken a joint decision with Ant and Dec's team not to broadcast Saturday Night Takeaway this weekend.

'We will be reviewing options for the last two episodes of the series (March 31 and April 7) which would not feature Ant who is taking time off to seek treatment. We very much hope that he gets the help that he needs.'

A witness to the crash told MailOnline: 'There were two cars travelling along Lower Richmond road - a green Mini Cooper and an X5 which was about much further back.

'A black Mini Cooper shot round the corner but instead of turning left went straight across the road and smashed into the green Mini.

'It was a bad crash but the black Mini Cooper still travelled on and crashed into the BMW behind which had done an emergency brake. There was a woman and her young son in there.

'Airbags deployed in the black Mini and a lady came out of the passenger seat. No one came out of the driver seat initially.

A witness told MailOnline: People were checking that everyone was alright. There was a lot of confusion cos the horn remained blaring on the car for ages. Everyone was dazed by it all'

'The lady in the BMW came out but her son stayed in the car. The family in the Mini Cooper also came out and an Asian lady ran and screamed at the driver of the black Mini who was still inside. A passerby was asking her to calm down and checked on everyone to see if everyone was OK.

'People were checking that everyone was alright. There was a lot of confusion cos the horn remained blaring on the car for ages. Everyone was dazed by it all.

'When the driver came out, he just shouted intermittently at his mother but didn't speak to anyone else until the police arrived shortly. There were two dogs in the Mini.'

The CCTV footage captures McPartlin driving along Sheen Lane towards a roundabout where he allegedly lost control and crashed

A CCTV camera captured the TV star four minutes before he was involved in a three-car smash that led to his arrest

Just seconds before the crash, McPartlin was seen driving his John Cooper special edition car along Sheen Lane, after taking his dog for a walk in Richmond Park, southwest London, just before 4pm yesterday.

CCTV footage captured the TV presenter just seconds before he reached a mini roundabout on Lower Richmond Road and crashed into a green Mini and maroon BMW - injuring a three-year-old girl.

The video emerged shortly after his mother, Christine Woodhall, was seen for the first time, leaving his London home, after the arrest.

McPartlin failed a roadside breathalyser test - just 20 hours after appearing live on TV hosting Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway. He was arrested by police and spent 10 hours in custody.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed the TV presenter, who has had a troublesome year with an addiction to painkillers and the breakdown of his marriage, had been released 'under investigation'.

He was spotted arriving home just before 3am this morning, following his arrest.

His mother, Ms Woodhall, who is believed to have moved in with her son when the troubled star was struggling with painkillers, was seen today getting into the back of a black Mercedes van which parked as near to the house in Chiswick, west London, as possible.

A driver was seen removing several bags from the boot before Ms Woodhall, looking tired and shaken, jumped in the back before she was whisked away.

The troubled television personality allegedly crashed his black Mini after losing control of his vehicle on a roundabout, which veered into the opposite side of the road and collided with a green Mini, which had a young girl and couple inside.

Ant McPartlin's mother, Christine Woodhall, has been seen for the first time (pictured today), leaving his London home, after her son's arrest

Ant McPartlin arrives back at his west London home at around 3am today after his alleged drink-drive car crash

Pictured is Ant McPartlin arriving home at 3am today after he was arrested on suspicion of drink-driving following a crash

TV star Ant McPartlin was seen arriving home (pictured, just before 3am today) after he was arrested on suspicion of drink-driving

The green Mini (pictured today), in which a young girl and a couple were in, that was involved in the three-vehicle collision in southwest London which saw McPartlin arrested on suspicion of drink-driving

The pieces of another black vehicle, possibly Ant McPartlin's Mini, which was involved in the three-vehicle collision pictured today near the scene of the crash

A three-year-old girl was taken to hospital after the I'm A Celebrity presenter lost control of his black Mini and crashed into two cars at around 4pm yesterday in Richmond, southwest London. Pictured is the smashed green Mini, which the young girl was in

Celebrity publicist Simon Jones visited the home of McPartlin today. Jones, who is known to represent Little Mix, One Direction stars and McFly, spent around 90 minutes at the home for crisis talks.

He arrived in a Range Rover with two of his team members and refused to answer questions about how McPartlin was.

Several hours earlier an Audi A5 arrived at the car and a suited man spent around 30 minutes in the home.

The I'm A Celebrity star has not left the 2million house since arriving home at 2.40am after spending ten hours in police custody.

A woman is seen opening the door of one of the cars involved in the crash, today. McPartlin's car has been covered up by police

McPartlin's distinctive black with red stripes Mini can be seen covered in a blue tarpaulin at the scene on the A3003 Lower Richmond Road, Twickenham

Pictured is Lower Richmond Road in south west London, where Ant McPartlin crashed into two cars

Ant McPartlin's agent, Simon Jones, visits him at his Chiswick home together with some other friends after the telly star's arrest

Ant McPartlin's agent, Simon Jones, visits the TV star at his home in Chiswick, west London, this afternoon

Witnesses described McPartlin as being 'furious' when he got out of the car and he was seen shouting at his mother, Christine.

The incident sparked a number of fans to call for him to be axed for this weekend's Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway - before the former Byker Grove star announced earlier today that he was temporarily stepping down.

But Stanley Johnson, former politician and father of foreign secretary Boris, said McPartlin 'will come roaring back'.

Speaking to ITV News tonight, he added: 'He already, I think, has lots and lots of shows - I think they [Ant and Dec] have been TV personality of the year for, like, 12 or 13 years.

'They will come roaring back and all our hearts go out, of course, to anybody who suffered in this incident in West London.'

The crash is the latest in what has been a troublesome year for the telly favourite, after he went to rehab for his painkiller addiction and the breakup of his marriage to Lisa Armstrong.

McPartlin, who is worth 60million, spent most of the night in police custody, before he was released 'under investigation and returned home at 3am today. Pictured: The tyre belonging to Ant's car is taken away by a recovery team

A statement on behalf of Ant & Dec confirmed McPartlin was taking a break from his on-screen duties, where he hosts on ITV with Declan Donnelly. Pictured: The wheel of Ant's car is taken away

Saturday Night Takeaway is CANCELLED so Ant McPartlin can check back into rehab after arrest Saturday Night Takeaway has been pulled from TV schedules this week following Ant McPartlin's arrest on suspicion of drink driving. The decision could spell the end of the long-running TV duo's stellar career on the nation's TV screens. An ITV spokesman said: 'ITV has taken a joint decision with Ant and Dec's team not to broadcast Saturday Night Takeaway this weekend. 'We will be reviewing options for the last two episodes of the series (March 31 and April 7) which would not feature Ant who is taking time off to seek treatment. We very much hope that he gets the help that he needs.' McPartlin's publicist said in a statement: 'Ant has decided to go back into treatment and step down from his current TV commitments. Ant McPartlin presents the show with co-host Dec Donnelly (pictured on Saturday night) and was arrested on Sunday morning 'He has spoken with Dec and ITV today and asked for time off for the foreseeable future. As such Saturday Night Takeaway will not be going ahead this Saturday.' The crash and Ant's ensuing absence will also be a disaster for Dec Donnelly, who will struggle to appear on TV without his long-time partner. Fans went online this afternoon to express their worries for the future of the show and others which Ant and Dec present. Saturday Night Takeaway is sponsored by Suzuki in a 20million deal and Ant and sidekick Dec are also paid to appear in adverts for the car maker. But marketing bosses at the Japanese motor giant will be furious that troubled Ant was involved in the crash after allegedly being over the drink drive limit. Ant also appears in adverts for gambling firm 32Red and was recently the face of supermarket chain Morrisons with Dec in a multi-million deal. But after a girl was injured in Sunday's smash his once squeaky-clean image  that has allowed him to amass a 60million fortune  is now in tatters. The firms could decide to pull the plug on future deals if he goes on to be convicted of drink driving and the smash has led fans to demand he be given the boot from the ITV1 show until the conclusion of legal proceedings. Ant is also an ambassador for a host of charities  including the Prince's Trust, ChildLine, the NSPCC. And he is a patron of Cash for Kids and the Children's Heart Unit Fund. Some fans want Stephen Mulhern  who also appears on the show  to partner Dec as co-host. Others suggested that Scarlett Moffatt could end up replacing Ant if he does not appear on Saturday. Advertisement

Amy Cassie, 23, who helped McPartlin's mother get out of the car, told the Daily Mirror: 'Ant seemed furious after crashing the car and was shouting at his mum who was also in the car. She was trying to get him to calm down.

'The couple in the green Mini were really shaken up and their child, who was a girl, could only have been about three years old.

'Ant and his mum didn't seem to have any injuries, but the mum in the green car had split her lip and the side of her face was very red.'

Ant McPartlin had presented 'Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway' just a day before his arrest in Richmond

After the immediate impact of the crash, McPartlin's Mini then spun around and hit a maroon BMW before eventually coming to a halt on the opposite side of the road.

His mother Christine was in the car at the time and the pair are thought to have been heading home after walking his dog, a chocolate Labrador called Hurley.

Charges and penalties Ant McPartlin could face after crash If Anthony McPartlin is charged and found guilty of driving while unfit through drink or drugs the maximum sentence he could receive is six months and a 5,000 fine and at least a two-year ban from the roads. Dangerous driving carries a sentence of up to five year and a minimum two-year driving ban. Careless and inconsiderate driving alone has a 5,000 fine and three to nine penalty points. Advertisement

The collision comes after a tumultuous few months for the I'm A Celeb star, who booked himself into a rehab clinic last year after becoming hooked on painkillers and is now divorcing his wife Lisa Armstrong.

The divorce from his wife of 11 years is believed to be costing the star around 30m of his estimated 60m fortune.

But Armstrong has said she is 'not interested' in talking about her former husband in the wake of his arrest.

She spoke over the intercom of the plush four-bedroom house in Chiswick, west London, which she used to share with Ant before their divorce announcement.

Asked this afternoon whether she would discuss the incident, Lisa said: 'I'm sorry, I'm not interested.'

There was also no answer at the intercom of the home of Ant's telly partner Declan Donnelly, who lives in a similar detached house just two doors away.

Neighbours, meanwhile, refused to talk about the illustrious figures living in their area.

Just hours before the collision, Ant had been hosting his ITV show 'Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway' with co-host Declan Donnelly.

A witness said Ant was 'argumentative' with a female police officer as she arrested him on suspicion of drink-driving.

Jake Spencer said Ant rowed with officers as they tried to put him in the police car following the incident.

Ant McPartlin outside ITV studios in London after Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway on Saturday

Anthony McPartlin holding a cigarette outside ITV Studios in London after Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway

Ant McPartlin was live on TV just 20 hours before his crash and arrest Ant McPartlin was live on TV screens across the country just 20 hours before his crash. The 42-year-old co-hosted Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway with his longtime telly partner Declan Donnelly at 7.30pm on Saturday night. He was later seen that night relaxing at ITV studios in London with friends and other colleagues the show. The presenter, dressed in a white shirt, was pictured enjoying a drink and a smoke and chatting with pals. The 42-year-old co-hosted Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway with his longtime telly partner Declan Donnelly at 7.30pm on Saturday night Anthony McPartlin holding a cigarette outside ITV Studios in London after Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway on Saturday night On Sunday afternoon he had walked his dog, Hurley, with his mother, Christine, near Richmond Park - a place he often likes to take his pooch for a stroll. It was at 4pm that day, on his way back from walking with Christine and Hurley, that things took a dramatic turn for the worse. The troubled television personality allegedly crashed his black Mini after losing control of his vehicle on a roundabout, which veered into the opposite side of the road and collided with a green Mini, which had a young girl and couple inside. After the immdediate impact of the crash, McPartlin's Mini then spun around and hit a maroon BMW before eventually coming to a halt on the opposite side of the road. His mother Christine was in the car at the time and the pair are thought to have been heading home after walking his dog, a chocolate Labrador called Hurley. Amy Cassie, 23, who helped McPartlin's mother get out of the car, told the Daily Mirror: 'Ant seemed furious after crashing the car and was shouting at his mum who was also in the car. She was trying to get him to calm down. The presenter, dressed in a white shirt, was pictured enjoying a drink and a smoke and chatting with pals The green Mini, in which a young girl and a couple were in, that was involved in the three-vehicle collision in south-west London which saw McPartlin arrested on suspicion of drink-driving Pictured is Lower Richmond Road in south west London, where Ant McPartlin crashed into two cars 'The couple in the green Mini were really shaken up and their child, who was a girl, could only have been about three years old. 'Ant and his mum didn't seem to have any injuries, but the mum in the green car had split her lip and the side of her face was very red.' McPartlin, who is worth 60million, failed a roadside breathalyser test and was arrested by police and spent 10 hours in custody. The Metropolitan Police confirmed the TV presenter had been released 'under investigation'. He was spotted arriving home just before 3am this morning, following his arrest. Advertisement

Pictured is the green Mini, which had a young girl and couple inside, with a smashed side and wheel

The car, which had the young girl and couple in it, has lost a wheel and both shock absorbers

Anthony McPartlin walks his dog with his mother, Christine, in Richmond Park, on January 18

Ant McPartlin walking his dog in January this year. He has been going through a tumultuous time in the past few months, after he went into rehab and is now going through a divorce

The crash took place on Lower Richmond Road in southwest LOndon at around 4pm yesterday afternoon, which is pictured above

Fellow TV star Lorraine Kelly backs Ant McPartlin and says he WILL present Saturday Night Takeaway this weekend Television presenter Lorraine Kelly today said that Ant McPartlin will be on Saturday Night Takeaway this weekend despite getting arrested. McPartlin, 42, failed a breathalyser test in south west London on Sunday afternoon and was arrested on suspicion of drink driving. Fans of the show were today divided over whether ITV should keep him on the show but Ms Kelly was quick to back him. Speaking on her show on ITV today, she said she was certain he will be presenting the show alongside his co-host Dec Donnelly. Lorraine Kelly was speaking on her show this morning and said that Ant will be presenting Saturday Night Takeaway this weekend She said: 'Poor guy, he will be there on Saturday night, a lot of people are speculating he won't be there for Saturday Night Takeaway. He will. 'Unless there's more to it than we all think, I'd be very surprised, he's such a worker. 'But I would be astounded - because he's such a professional - if he wasn't there.' Advertisement

'Ant looked in a right state and was acting argumentatively towards a policewoman,' he told The Sun. 'I couldn't believe it when I saw who it was.

'The woman was trying to arrest him and get him in the police car but he clearly wasn't having it. '

Motorcyclist Nicholas McNicol told The Sun: 'I came on the scene moments after it happened and he was being escorted to the police car to be put in the back.

'Everyone was in a state of shock at who it was.

'I was driving past very slowly and Ant looked straight at me and I thought he looked tired. I was only about 3ft from him.'

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: 'Police in Richmond were called to Lower Richmond Road, SW14 at 15:59hrs on Sunday, 18 March following reports of a road traffic collision involving three vehicles.

'Officers, London Ambulance Service and London Fire Brigade attended.

'A number of individuals were treated at the scene for minor injuries only. A child passenger from one of the cars has been taken to hospital for a check up as a precaution.'

A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman confirmed he has since been released 'under investigation'.

'His eyes looked very heavy and he had a solemn face  it looked like his world had just ended.

'He was the only one being put in a police car. One of the Minis had obviously come straight across the road because it was facing the wrong way.'

Other witnesses described hearing a 'huge bang' which they mistook for a train crash.

One said: 'As soon as I opened my front door I heard the horn of a car blaring non-stop and ran towards the sound.

'Near a bend in the road there were two badly damaged Minis which looked as though they'd collided and a BMW X5  and people wandering around in shock.

'A family had been in the green Mini which had its front end completely smashed in.'

The witness added that a little girl was crying and that her mother was trying to calm her down.

They described Ant as looking 'awful' and 'unsteady on his feet' following the collision, which had left his Mini in a 'wreck'.

Ant McPartlin, 42, (left) was arrested on suspicion of drink driving in Richmond this afternoon

The divorce from his wife of 11 years is believed to be costing the star around 30 million of his estimated 60 million fortune

If McPartlin is charged and found guilty of driving while unfit through drink or drugs, the maximum jail sentence he could receive is six months, with a 5,000 fine and at least a two-year ban from the roads.

Dangerous driving carries a sentence of up to five years and a minimum two-year driving ban.

Careless and inconsiderate driving alone has a 5,000 fine and three to nine penalty points.

Did you see the crash? Do you know the family involved? Email anthony.joseph@mailonline.co.uk or tips@dailymail.comResidents of a seaside town devastated by a massive bushfire had no warning the blaze was coming due to a collapsed mobile phone tower.

Furious homeowners in Tathra, near Bega on the New South Wales far south coast, said they were not warned until it was too late to evacuate.

ABC Radio was broadcasting an NRL game, and sent out no emergency alerts, residents claimed.

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Residents of a seaside town devastated by a massive bushfire had no warning the blaze was coming due to a collapsed mobile phone tower (pictured is fire damage in Tathra)

'It probably would have helped if we had mobile phone coverage, but apparently we don't deserve mobile phone coverage,' said a local resident (pictured is the fire in Tathra)

Furious homeowners in Tathra, near Bega on the New South Wales far south coast, said they were not warned until it was too late to evacuate (pictured is fire damage in Tathra)

Shaun Kenny-Dowall of the Newcastle Knights in action during the round two NRL match between the Canberra Raiders and the Knights in Canberra, a game which was being broadcast on ABC Radio as the fire approached Tathra

The seaside town of Tathra is located south of Bega on the New South Wales south coast

'Tathra 2018. Power goes out. No internet no TV. Smell smoke. Helicopter starts water bombing behind the house,' one resident said on Twitter.

'There is no mobile coverage in Tathra. It's a black spot. Radio is playing NRL. Decide to leave.'

Tathra residents Bev and Val said on Monday they believed their house had been destroyed.

'I got evacuated three times,' Val told Sunrise.

'I got told to leave Thompson's... went to a friend on the street in Tathra, got told to leave there... went down to the beach and got told to come here.'

'It probably would have helped if we had mobile phone coverage, but apparently we don't deserve mobile phone coverage,' said Bev.

ABC Radio was broadcasting an NRL game, and sent out no emergency alerts, residents claimed (pictured is fire damage in Tathra)

As a small coastal town burns questions are being asked about the lack of warning given to residents before it was too late to evacuate

'Tathra 2018. Power goes out. No internet no TV. Smell smoke. Helicopter starts water bombing behind the house,' one resident said on Twitter

Tathra Beach House apartments owner Rob White said Tathra was a 'black spot' for telecommunications, The Australian reported.

Mr White said he had no power, no phone lines and no internet connection, which hindered attempts to get the word out to residents about the need to evacuate.

Up to 70 homes have already been destroyed in the blaze, which forced the majority of Tathra's population to evacuate on Sunday.

The entire town is under threat of being completely wiped out by the out-of-control bushfire with an emergency warning remaining in place.

A large number of fires are burning across New South Wales but the blaze in Tathra has authorities most concerned.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted the ABC for comment.

How the Tathra bushfire disaster unfolded SATURDAY - New South Wales residents warned of dangerous fire conditions for Sunday SUNDAY - Total fire bans enforced for more than half the state - Five bushfires begin burning near Bega, 20km northwest of Tathra - Fires spread quickly in extremely hot, windy conditions - One fire begins at Tarraganda, east of Bega, about midday and is soon out of control - Driven by 50 to 60km/h winds, gusting to 90km/h, it burns towards the coast - Tracts of bushland are consumed and the fire front reaches the Bega River - In 30 minutes it jumps the river in two places - Tathra residents are warned it's too late to leave at 5pm as flames take hold on Tathra's northern outskirts - Tathra was the 'epicentre' of the fire, the Rural Fire Service said - Flying embers set properties alight well ahead of the fire front - Properties just metres from the shoreline are destroyed - Spot blazes take hold in the sand dunes and fire ravages the Tathra headland - A southerly change arrives in the evening and conditions ease MONDAY - Early assessment by the Rural Fire Services reveals up to 70 homes and other buildings have been destroyed - That figure is expected to rise as assessment teams move in - No-one has been reported missing so far - Many residents at an evacuation centre at the Bega Showground, 16km inland, and Tathra schools are closed - Fire crews are gaining ground in the fight to contain the fire - 150 firefighters battled the blaze overnight - So far it has burnt more than 1000 hectares Source :AAP Advertisement

An entire town is under threat of being completely wiped out by an out of control bushfire with an emergency warning in place

Tathra Beach House apartments owner Rob White said Tathra was a 'black spot' for telecommunications (pictured is the fire on Sunday)

Authorities began to assess the area at first light on Monday.

'Our early indications are that the number of buildings impacted is likely to climb above 70,' RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said on Monday.

'But we will confirm that with the work of the building impact assessment teams this morning.'

'It's an awful situation throughout the community of Tathra, where we have damaged buildings, damaged homes, and infrastructure,' he said.

He described the blaze as a 'firestorm'.

Two dozen fire crews are battling the blaze which is affecting the area from Tathra to Tarraganda as strong winds pushed the fire into Tathra after crossing the Bega River

Two dozen fire crews are battling the blaze which is affecting the area from Tathra to Tarraganda as strong winds pushed the fire into Tathra after crossing the Bega River

'It was raining fire embers through the township - there were spot fires starting all throughout the streets of the town,' he told 2GB Radio.

The blaze burned through several kilometres of bushland and crossed a river before reaching the township and is still out of control.

Hundreds of residents in the town, which has a population of about 1600, slept in a Bega evacuation centre or in their cars.

As well as hampering evacuation efforts, the collapsed mobile pone towers has made it difficult to determine how many people remained in the town.

The full extent of the damage in Tathra won't be known until the Building Impact Assessment Teams arrive

Up to 70 homes have already been destroyed in the small coastal town of Tathra (pictured)

Twiiter user Avon Perera's wife took these photos as the family evacuated Tathra as fire raged around them

Late on Sunday afternoon residents were warned that it was too late to evacuate as roads could be blocked by fire and that they should instead try to find shelter.

Hundreds of residents were able to evacuate before the announcement, with fears held for those left behind.

People south of the Bega River were being advised to seek shelter, with many of the roads in and out of the area already blocked.

Residents north of the river have safe passage towards the north in the direction of Bermagui.

Spokesman for the NSW RFS Greg Allen said fire crews were being assisted by water bombing aircraft

An evacuation centre was set up at the Bega Showground, and there was an influx of fire-related injuries according to a South East Regional Hospital.

David Lamb posted to Facebook they had been 'crazy busy'.

'Lots of smoke inhalation cases but no burns so far, thank God. Some of the nurses here have lost their homes but they are still working helping others,' he said.History is littered with examples of developments which seemed a great idea at the time but have subsequently been discovered to have unfortunate consequences for our health.

The list includes smoking cigarettes, putting lead in petrol and using asbestos in building materials. And in years to come, we may well look back and wonder why we ever tolerated the presence of plastic in everything from water bottles to carrier bags.

We already know that microplastics consumed by fish and other marine creatures can find their way into the human food chain. But this latest Mail investigation adds to a growing body of evidence that demonstrates they are contained in the very air that we breathe.

Investigation adds to a growing body of evidence that microplastics have contaminated the air that we breathe

This is an issue I have been worried about for some time. In 2016, I presented my concerns over airborne microplastics to Parliaments environmental audit committee. The concerns were based on two possible routes of transmission.

Global production of plastic exceeds 320million tons, around 40 per cent of which goes into single-use packaging. A substantial proportion of that makes its way into our oceans where it becomes brittle under the suns rays and breaks into microscopically small fragments.

To give you an idea of how tiny they are, the diameter of a human hair is 50 micrometers (millionths of a metre). A particle of microplastic is less than ten micrometers and can easily be swept into the air and transported great distances by the wind.

Until they were banned at the beginning of this year a major source of inhalable microplastics were the microbeads previously used as exfoliants in cosmetics such as face scrubs.

While these may be on the way out, household effluent still contains the minuscule fibres released when clothes made of popular materials such as polyester and nylon are washed.

Swept away with the households waste water, they contribute to the slurry that sewage farms spread over agricultural land. As this dries out, the microplastics are released into the atmosphere and  just as is happening in our oceans  are carried many miles by the wind.

When I appeared before the parliamentary committee, there was no firm evidence that any microplastics had found their way from seas and sewage farms into our towns and cities but it was not long in coming.

Later that year, a team of French researchers placed a container full of water on top of a university building in Paris and left it exposed to the air for about a week.

Careful analysis revealed a wide array of microplastics that can only have been deposited in the water by the surrounding atmosphere.

We have since followed up this work at Kings College London where we operate the London Air Quality Network, with more than 100 monitoring stations measuring pollution from traffic and other sources in the capitals 33 boroughs.

Microplastics seem to be present in the atmosphere in surprisingly high numbers, although it is difficult to differentiate between them

Since 2016 we have also been looking out for microplastics and, although we cant yet give reliable indicators about their concentration, or what type of plastic they are, they seem to be present in the atmosphere in surprisingly high numbers.

So how concerned should we be? Although no definitive studies on the health effects have been conducted, one indication comes from the problems caused by the plastics used in hips and knee implants.

The erosion resulting from wear and tear of implants causes inflammation in surrounding tissues, leading to the death of cells and scarring.

Its easy to surmise the damage such particles may inflict in the most sensitive recesses of our lungs, which is where they have been found in patients suffering from lung cancer.

Just to be clear, there is no evidence of a link between the microplastics and lung cancer. But these biopsies show us two disturbing characteristics of microplastics.

The first is that they are small enough to penetrate deep into the lungs, avoiding the usual methods of dislodging foreign bodies, including coughing and the actions of our mucous membranes. The second is that they exhibit very little deterioration, suggesting that they can persist in our bodies for a lifetime after exposure.

Apart from the possible effects of the microplastics themselves, another concern is that these tiny bullets entering the body act as carriers for a range of different chemicals added by manufacturers to give them properties such as malleability. Because these chemicals are not chemically bound to the plastic particles, they can leach out and transfer to surrounding tissue.

For example, the chemicals used to make all furniture and carpets fire-retardant, as is required by law, include a group known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers.

These have been associated with a number of serious health issues, with some shown to be carcinogenic if present in sufficient quantities.

Tyres are another source of airborne microplastics and these are laced with cadmium, a highly toxic metal which helps make them hard and durable but has been linked to lung cancer in those working in tyre manufacturing plants. As these examples suggest, the problem with microplastics may go far beyond ensuring that we dump less household waste in our seas.

Plastics are everywhere, and in our measurements at Kings College, we have been particularly struck by the high levels of clothing fibres in the atmosphere.

They are clearly not something you would want to breathe in, judging by the respiratory problems found in clothing industry workers who have inhaled flock  microfibres thrown off during the manufacture of the materials we wear.

Symptoms of these workers have included coughing, wheezing, breathlessness and increased phlegm production. And although the levels of microplastics encountered in such factories are far greater than those in our everyday environment, this indicates their potential to trigger a number of undesirable bodily responses due to the ease with which they enter the lungs and their persistence once inhaled.

Far more research is needed to establish what problems may arise in ordinary homes. Only last week the World Health Organisation announced a review into the potential risks of plastics in bottled water after analysis of some of the worlds most popular brands found that more than 90 per cent contained microplastics, one theory being that the contamination resulted from fragments breaking off from the caps.

That WHO initiative is to be welcomed. But lets not lose sight of the problem of airborne microplastics.

Are they poisoning or slowly killing us? And, if so, might they even explain the growing prevalence of conditions such as chronic obstructive lung disease and dementia?

It was once believed that our chances of developing these diseases were primarily down to genetic background  and this is partly true. But now it is thought that at least 70 per cent can be explained by our environment in the widest sense of the word: the food we eat, the chemicals we come into contact with and, of course, the air we breathe.

Microplastics are a potential piece of that jigsaw. Whether its a big piece or a small piece remains to be seen and while it would be wrong to be alarmist about airborne plastics, we have every right to be extremely wary.Conservative columnist Ann Coulter has said she doesn't believe porn star Stormy Daniels' affair allegations, and thinks President Donald Trump is secretly an 'absolute gentleman'.

Coulter, 56, had a laugh when a TMZ papparazzo ambushed her and a male friend outside of Nate N' Al's Deli in Beverly Hills, California on Saturday, but stuck to her guns as always.

'No,' she replied when the cameraman asked if she believed Daniels.

'I think the truth is Trump - and I'm going to destroy his reputation with this - is an absolute gentleman, but he would rather have people think that he is a cad than a nerd,' Coulter continued.

Conservative columnist Ann Coulter (left) said that she doesn't believe the allegations about Trump having an affair with porn star Stormy Daniels (right), adding that Trump's a gentleman

Asked why Trump would want anyone to think he is a cad, she replied: 'He's an unusual man.'

Daniels has claimed in a lawsuit that she was paid $130,000 to remain quiet about an affair she alleges she had with Trump in 2006. The president has denied the affair.

Coulter is the author of 12 bestselling books including Adios America! and In Trump We Trust.

She also told the TMZ cameraman she approved of Attorney General Jeff Sessions firing former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe on Friday, just two days before he was set to get a full pension.

'I might've waited until a few hours before,' she said when asked about the move.

Coulter (left) is the author of 12 books including Adios America! and In Trump We Trust

Asked if she thought the firing was petty, she replied: 'Ask Michael Flynn if it was petty.'

Flynn, who was fired last year as national security advisor, pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents. Sessions said an FBI and DOJ investigation suggested that McCabe had lied under oath.

Coulter also responded to a question about Rex Tillerson, who reportedly found out he'd been sacked as secretary of state over Twitter. It later emerged he'd been on the toilet when John Kelly called to break the news, according to Kelly.

'All this business about Trump firing people in tweets, there is a point to that,' Coulter said.

'I think he should fire them at rallies. Wouldn't that be fun,' she added, raising her eyebrows and flashing a smile at the papparazzo.They are the jobs lazy Aussies  or Lozies - don't want to do: picking fruit, scrubbing pans and baking bread.

Even holding up a stop-go sign is too hard for many Australians, who would prefer to bludge on the dole.

Those working as lollipop workers can earn a whopping $130,000 for a job that requires just two day's training.

'Lollipop lady' Amy Dowsett is raking in the handsome salary, roughly double that of a nurse's annual income, thanks to the construction boom and the industry's union.

'When I tell other people how much I earn, they say: ''Where do I sign up''?' the 30-year-old told The Daily Telegraph.

Employers complain Australian workers don't want to fill what they see as menial roles, that many are unreliable and they expect too much too soon.

They are also often unwilling to travel or move for a good job.

Many roles Aussies won't take don't offer a salary as high as those working as lollipop workers, but the pay on offer is still much higher than the $269 a single person receives on Centrelink each week.

The problem was highlighted this month when a Queensland dairy farm could not attract local interest in a job that paid $50,000 and came with free accommodation.

Many Australian workers are unwilling to take on menial jobs such as kitchen hand positions

Picking fruit is just too hard for many Australians who leave such jobs to foreign workers

Stop-go traffic control jobs are among those dominated by foreign workers, or 'lollipop lasses'

Hairdressing salons are always looking out for suitable, qualified employees (stock image)

Jobs in fruit and vegetable picking are also unpopular with Australian workers, as are many roles within meat processing such as abattoir labour.

James Whiteside, CEO of AUSVEG, the industry body for vegetable growers, said producers relied heavily on foreign workers as a source of labour, especially during peak seasonal periods.

'Australian vegetable growers always have a preference to employ Australian workers, but the reality is that our industry has a substantial need to hire foreign workers, as local workers are often unwilling to work on vegetable farms or are an unreliable source of labour,' Mr Whiteside said.

'These workers work alongside local workers in all areas of the farm, including in the field and in the packing shed, to ensure that produce makes it to consumers.'

Apart from primary production, other businesses which rely heavily on foreign workers include the restaurant, cleaning and traffic control industries.

Hairdressers are also constantly seeking to fill positions with suitable staff.

A pub operator with more than two decades in the food and beverage industry said while he did not discriminate against Australian workers his life was made easier hiring foreigners.

'I love employing foreigners who appreciate their job,' he said.

Seasonal work such as fruit picking often requires travel, as well as hard physical labour

One publican says he hires foreign kitchen hands because they are more reliable (stock image)

'I find the reliability and the tenure of employment much more stable.

'I find them very appreciative of a good work environment. And they come with less baggage. They bring less problems to work.

The publican, most of whose kitchen staff are foreigners, said Australian workers tended to 'bring a little bit more complication from outside of work.'

'Foreign workers, they're here on their own or with a very small family base,' he said. 'They seem more single-minded on their task, there's not as much to distract them.'

The publican says the more menial the role the less likely he is to receive Australian applicants and those he hires don't last long.

'I tend to turn over more Australian staff when it comes to more basic roles,' he said.

Foreign workers, in his experience, did not call in sick after a night on the drink or because they fancied a day at the beach.

The meat processing industry relies heavily on foreign workers because Australians won't do it

The restaurant industry can demand working long hours in hot conditions (stock image)

'In 20 years of doing this I can't think of a time I've been let down by foreign employees,' he said.

'With Australian workers you get a lot more nuisance excuses.

'If I could sum it up, it's generally a pleasant experience employing foreign workers because they really appreciate their role no matter how small it is.

'Because they love living in Australia. They just love living here and they work extremely hard.'

Restaurant & Catering Industry Association research on the positions that cafes and restaurants reported hardest to fill indicated that 40.4 per cent of businesses found it 'very difficult' to recruit for the position of chef.

It was also 'very difficult' for 33.9 per cent of businesses to recruit for the position of cafe and restaurant manager.

Many Australian cafes and restaurants report it is 'very difficult' to recruit chefs and managers

One traffic control firm employed 85 Irish women in its 100-strong workforce (stock image)

Sydney master baker Andreas Rost said he had advertised a job last year and there was not a single Australian applicant for the position.

'At the moment I'm trying to recruit people and it's almost impossible,' Mr Rost said. 'It's really, really hard to recruit staff.'

For those who were not pursuing a passion, baking just seemed too hard.

'I think for Australians, if you can find an easier job, you'll find an easier job,' Mr Rost said.

Even when Mr Rost has hired Australian workers, they did not last long in the job.

'I find a lot of local staff if they stay six or nine months, that's all you get.'

Many prospective employees were not keen on bakers' hours, which often meant starting at 1am.

'Hard work is hard work,' Mr Rost said. 'That's all it comes down to.'

Master baker Andreas Rost finds it almost impossible to hire Australian staff (stock image)

The Australian Hairdressing Council says the industry finds it 'almost impossible' to hire staff

Then deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce said Australians don't want to 'bone out skulls'

Sandy Chong, chief executive officer of the Australian Hairdressing Council, said the current visa system was not allowing salons to fill the jobs local workers would not.

'All salons looking for staff find it almost impossible to find a qualified and capable employee,' Ms Chong said. 'We are not listed under skills shortage and we need to be.'

Traffic management firm Australian Retro owner Peter Karlsson told Fairfax Media five years ago that of almost 100 traffic controllers employed by his company, 85 per cent were Irish women.

'They are reliable and are willing to work hard and on Sundays,' Mr Karlsson said back then.

A spokesman for the company, now called Retro Traffic, said he did not wish to add to those comments.

Fruit and vegetable growers rely on an army of foreign visa holders to harvest their crops

The job advertisement for a dairy hand which received no applications from local job seekers

Sourcing labour is always a challenge for Australian fruit and vegetable growers (stock image)

Last year the then deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, said there were still jobs Australians simply did not want to do, 'whether it is packing offal in an abattoir or boning out skulls.'

Earlier this month a farming couple in Far North Queensland was finding it impossible to hire a dairy hand, despite the job paying $50,000 a year with free accommodation.

Malcolm and Jane McGregor placed an advertisement on Seek looking for a senior dairy farm hand at their property in Malanda, about 90 minutes drive from Cairns.

The couple initially received plenty of interest  from the Philippines, the Middle East and India  but no applicants from Cairns or other parts of Australia.

Cairns has an unemployment rate of 6 per cent which soars to 14.5 per cent for youth.

Queensland farmers Malcolm and Jane McGregor could not find a senior hand for their dairy

Cairns has an unemployment rate of 6 per cent and youth unemployment rate of 14.5 per cent

Local MP Warren Entsch told Daily Mail Australia at the time backpackers would have filled this job a long time ago.

Mr Entsch even claimed he knew someone who rejected the job because he would be paid only $200 more than he was being paid on the dole.

'It's all very well for Australians to complain, but the reality is, Australian's have got to do the work,' he said.

'Social security is not meant to be life support.'

Mr Entsch said he started off cleaning toilets in a railway station.

'It may not be the job you want but you've got to start somewhere,' he said.

The Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, announced last year the 457 visa for foreign workers would be scrapped and replaced with a new Temporary Skill Shortage visa.

The McGregors eventually filled the job after their plight received widespread publicity.



Suspending Cambridge Analytica and SCL Group from Facebook

By Paul Grewal, VP & Deputy General Counsel

Update on March 17, 2018, 9:50 AM: The claim that this is a data breach is completely false. Aleksandr Kogan requested and gained access to information from users who chose to sign up to his app, and everyone involved gave their consent. People knowingly provided their information, no systems were infiltrated, and no passwords or sensitive pieces of information were stolen or hacked.

Originally published on March 16, 2018:

We are suspending Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL), including their political data analytics firm, Cambridge Analytica, from Facebook. Given the public prominence of this organization, we want to take a moment to explain how we came to this decision and why.

We Maintain Strict Standards and Policies

Protecting peoples information is at the heart of everything we do, and we require the same from people who operate apps on Facebook. In 2015, we learned that a psychology professor at the University of Cambridge named Dr. Aleksandr Kogan lied to us and violated our Platform Policies by passing data from an app that was using Facebook Login to SCL/Cambridge Analytica, a firm that does political, government and military work around the globe. He also passed that data to Christopher Wylie of Eunoia Technologies, Inc.

Like all app developers, Kogan requested and gained access to information from people after they chose to download his app. His app, thisisyourdigitallife, offered a personality prediction, and billed itself on Facebook as a research app used by psychologists. Approximately 270,000 people downloaded the app. In so doing, they gave their consent for Kogan to access information such as the city they set on their profile, or content they had liked, as well as more limited information about friends who had their privacy settings set to allow it.

Although Kogan gained access to this information in a legitimate way and through the proper channels that governed all developers on Facebook at that time, he did not subsequently abide by our rules. By passing information on to a third party, including SCL/Cambridge Analytica and Christopher Wylie of Eunoia Technologies, he violated our platform policies. When we learned of this violation in 2015, we removed his app from Facebook and demanded certifications from Kogan and all parties he had given data to that the information had been destroyed. Cambridge Analytica, Kogan and Wylie all certified to us that they destroyed the data.

Breaking the Rules Leads to Suspension

Several days ago, we received reports that, contrary to the certifications we were given, not all data was deleted. We are moving aggressively to determine the accuracy of these claims. If true, this is another unacceptable violation of trust and the commitments they made. We are suspending SCL/Cambridge Analytica, Wylie and Kogan from Facebook, pending further information.

We are committed to vigorously enforcing our policies to protect peoples information. We will take whatever steps are required to see that this happens. We will take legal action if necessary to hold them responsible and accountable for any unlawful behavior.

How Things Have Changed

We are constantly working to improve the safety and experience of everyone on Facebook. In the past five years, we have made significant improvements in our ability to detect and prevent violations by app developers. Now all apps requesting detailed user information go through our App Review process, which requires developers to justify the data theyre looking to collect and how theyre going to use it  before theyre allowed to even ask people for it.

In 2014, after hearing feedback from the Facebook community, we made an update to ensure that each person decides what information they want to share about themselves, including their friend list. This is just one of the many ways we give people the tools to control their experience. Before you decide to use an app, you can review the permissions the developer is requesting and choose which information to share. You can manage or revoke those permissions at any time.

On an ongoing basis, we also do a variety of manual and automated checks to ensure compliance with our policies and a positive experience for users. These include steps such as random audits of existing apps along with the regular and proactive monitoring of the fastest growing apps.

We enforce our policies in a variety of ways  from working with developers to fix the problem, to suspending developers from our platform, to pursuing litigation.Just before 8 a.m. on December 7, 1941, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii.

The attack killed over 2,000 Americans soldiers and sailors and wounded 1,000 others. Nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight enormous battleships, and more than 300 airplanes were destroyed. The next day President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan to which they agreed.

Three days later, Japanese allies Germany and Italy also declared war on the United States, and again Congress reciprocated. More than two years into the conflict, America had finally joined World War II.

America's fight with Japan prompted what is considered one of the biggest ever civil rights violations in the country's history.

Two months after Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt as commander-in-chief, issued Executive Order 9066, which had the effect of relocating all persons of Japanese ancestry, both citizens and aliens, inland, outside of the Pacific military zone.

The Executive order was designed to prevent espionage and to protect persons of Japanese descent from harm at the hands of Americans who had strong anti-Japanese attitudes, although the latter has been contested by prisoners.

Roosevelt's order affected some 117,000 people of Japanese descent, two-thirds of whom were native-born citizens of the United States. The Colorado government claims that even those of 1/16 of Japanese origin were also forced in the camps.

Relocation centers were situated many miles inland, often in remote and desolate locales. Sites included Tule Lake, California; Minidoka, Idaho; Manzanar, California; Topaz, Utah; Jerome, Arkansas; Heart Mountain, Wyoming; Poston, Arizona; Granada, Colorado; and Rohwer, Arkansas.

In 1943 and 1944 the government assembled a combat unit of Japanese Americans for the European theater. It became the 442d Regimental Combat Team who fought in Europe against Nazi Germany, become highly decorated, in World War II.

The Supreme Court upheld the legality of the relocation order in Hirabayashi v. United States in 1943 and Korematsu v. United States in 1944.

Early in 1945, Japanese-American citizens of undisputed loyalty were allowed to return to the West Coast, but not until March 1946 was the last camp closed.A source close to Karl Stefanovic's team confirmed to Daily Mail Australia that the Today show co-host is 'heading to court over a leaked Uber tape'.

The 43-year-old is said to be 'issuing legal proceedings' for a 'breach of contract and privacy' after an alleged phone conversation was sold to New Idea magazine.

The audio is claimed to involve a 'b*tchy' and frank discussion on Georgie Gardner and other network talent, between Karl and brother Peter Stefanovic.

Scroll down for video

EXCLUSIVE: 'He's taking Uber to court!' Karl Stefanovic is said to be 'suing travel company for a breach of contract' as more details of THAT 'b*tchy' audio about co-host Georgie Gardner emerge

A source close to Karl's team told Daily Mail Australia: 'Karl is heading to court over the leaked Uber tape - which is set to be made public on Monday'.

'The Nine frontman will issue legal proceedings against the global rider-share scheme.'

The insider went on to confirm that by the 'end of the next week, documents should be filed in court,' with an understanding that the claims 'would centre around a breach of contract and privacy'.

'I don't know how she is going to be able to continue to sit opposite him': Claims things are going to be VERY awkward between Karl Stefanovic and Georgie Gardner as more details of THAT 'b*tchy' Uber audio emerge

It's been alleged that one of Uber's independent drivers recorded a conversation between Karl and his brother Peter, 36.

Peter was a passenger at the time and talking to his brother on loud speaker.

Speaking to 6PR Breakfast on Friday, journalist Peter Ford alleged that Georgie Gardner would struggle to sit next to Karl on the Today show, after what he reportedly said about her during the conversation.

'It's going to be an ugly week in there at Channel Nine next week,' Ford told hosts Steve Mills and Basil Zempilas.

Explosive conversation: Earlier this week, reports emerged that an Uber driver was allegedly shopping around details of Peter Stefanovic speaking to Karl on loud speaker

According to Ford, New Idea will run details of the 'highly embarrassing' conversation on Monday, however says there is no recording - the conversation is a recollection of the Uber driver's memory.

Speaking to 6PR, Ford alleged that the contents of the conversation would 'pull apart' Karl and Georgie's already difficult relationship.

'One that people are going to focus on is Georgie Gardner, because that is a very testy relationship anyway,' he claimed.

'I don't want to quote things because I don't have it front of me either, but this relationship - I don't know how Georgie is going to be able to continue to sit opposite him as of next week.'

'One that people are going to focus on is Georgie Gardner, because that is a very testy relationship anyway': Ford alleged that the contents of the conversation would 'pull apart' Karl and Georgie's already difficult relationship

Highly embarrassing: Karl's Today co-host Richard Wilkins is believed to be another person mentioned in the conversation

Ford claimed the conversation also covered other people Peter and Karl worked with at Channel Nine.

'It is going to be highly embarrassing for both the Stefanovic brothers as of next week when this magazine is on the shelves, because they give serves to not only on-air talent including Richard Wilkins and Georgie Gardner, but to a number of major executives at the Channel Nine Network,' Ford alleged.

The siblings also allegedly spoke about Nine News and Current Affairs head honcho Darren Wick, Today's Mark Calvert and 60 Minutes' Kirsty Thomson during their chat, which took place when Peter was in an Uber and speaking to his brother Karl on loudspeaker.

The plot thickens: On Wednesday, The Daily Telegraph reported the pair had spoken about their Nine bosses and allegedly complained about working with Georgie during the talkDon't expect any sympathy from Gordon Ramsay over news that his father-in-law Chris Hutcheson has gone bankrupt  the chef is incensed that hes publishing a tell-all-book about life with the star.

The pair were inseparable for 12 years while Chris managed Gordon Ramsay Holdings  but fell out spectacularly in 2010 when Gordon accused Chris of plundering 1.4million from his business.

At the time, Hutcheson called Ramsay a monster, adding: I know where Gordons bodies are buried. Take me up on the Moors and I could show you where.

Ramsay hit back, calling his father-in-law a dictator, and talking of his manipulation and controlling of so many lives.

Gordon Ramsey (left) and his father-in-law were inseparable for 12 years while Chris Hutcheson (right) managed Gordon Ramsay Holdings  but fell out spectacularly in 2010 when Gordon accused Chris of plundering 1.4million from his business.

Now I can reveal that Hutchesons wife Greta has set up a company called Artafallie. It describes its business as book publishing, and sources tell me that a tome about Gordon will be its first project.

As a bankrupt, Hutcheson, who was jailed for six months last June for hacking Ramsays computer, is unable to start a company himself.

A source said: The timing is significant now that Chris is out of prison and it makes sense for it to be under Gretas name as if he profited from any book, he could be liable under law to pay some back to the Government for profiting from his crime.

Ramsay, 51, is going to fight this hard but it will all be incredibly stressful for his wife Tana, 44, mother of his four children, who is caught in the middle.

She famously once told a court that she had stopped speaking to her father over the original feud.

The source said: All Tanas siblings have sided with their father. So there must be another side to all this  and it may be revealed in the book.

'If you think youve seen Gordon angry on TV, its nothing on his reaction to this.

Hutcheson, 69, and wife Greta, 74, stayed together despite discovering that he had a secret second family with a mistress.

A spokesman for Ramsay said he was aware of the book but would not elaborate on his reaction.

Ed Sheeran is fighting residents to fit tall railings between the pavement and his Victorian pile in a conservation area  to stop fans peering at him through two floor-to-ceiling windows

Hes performed in front of millions all over the world but Ed Sheeran is not keen on an audience at his 8 million West London home.

The ginger pop star, 27, is fighting residents to fit tall railings between the pavement and his Victorian pile in a conservation area  to stop fans peering at him through two floor-to-ceiling windows.

COUNT ON KATE TO JOIN THE ELITE

Kate Moss with her young beau Count Nikolai von Bismarck to the wedding of Prince Christian of Hanover

Money cant buy you into the aristocracy, but a titled boyfriend will  as Kate Moss learned last week when she went with her young beau Count Nikolai von Bismarck to the wedding of Prince Christian of Hanover.

Despite spending a lifetime running in the worlds most exclusive showbiz, music and fashion circles, high society is the one elite club that has always eluded Croydon-born Kate, 44  until now.

Typically, she looked effortlessly graceful, above, playing plus one on the arm of Count Nikolai, 30, for Prince Christians nuptials to Alessandra de Osma at Basilica San Pedro in Lima, Peru, on Friday.She insists shes not engaged to her Hot Felon boyfriend Jeremy Meeks, but Chloe Green clearly isnt hanging around for the formalities  she plans to move in with him and wants to start a family as soon as possible.

I hear Chloe has given up booze and is shopping for a family-sized apartment in Monaco, where she lives with Topshop tycoon Sir Philip and his wife Tina.

They were cool on model Meeks, who has spent time in a US jail for firearms offences.

But my source says: Chloe wants to get pregnant right away. Shes off the booze already.

I hear Chloe has given up booze and is shopping for a family-sized apartment in Monaco, where she lives with Topshop tycoon Sir Philip and his wife Tina

Meeks has an eight-year-old son from his nine-year marriage to estranged wife Melissa. They are divorcing

'Her parents have recently done an unexpected U-turn on Jeremy, and are now embracing him as one of the Greens.

'They are resigned to the fact hell be a part of their lives for ever.

This month Chloe turned 27 and Jeremy, 34, surprised her with scores of red roses, a gesture she shared on Instagram, left, and a cake.

She posted Thank you for loving me the way you do, and he posted a lovey-dovey snap, left, of them together.

Meeks has an eight-year-old son from his nine-year marriage to estranged wife Melissa.

They are divorcing.

Lord Lucan's moth-eaten top hats quietly sold for next to nothing at auction house

Lord and Lady Lucan's children have spent hours putting together a high-ennd auction of Lucan Memorabilia

They were cut out of their mothers will in humiliatingly public fashion, but that hasnt stopped Lord and Lady Lucans children spending hours putting together a high-end auction of Lucan memorabilia at Bonhams.

Though they wont be making any money  I revealed previously that Lady Lucan decreed in her will that all profits must go to Shelter  her three children have assisted solicitors cataloguing highly collectible items from her home.

Theyre said to include a Dominick Elwes oil painting of Lord Lucan, designer jewellery and antique furniture.

Some less valuable items including Lady Lucans tatty old Chanel suits and one of Lord Lucans moth-eaten top hats were quietly flogged for next to nothing at an auction house in Banbury last month.The title of a current exhibition at the Antiquities Museum of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Alexandria was peculiar enough to arouse the curiosity of this writer.

Through a friend of a friend I got in touch with the curator of the Chapels of the Sacred Horizon exhibition, who explained that the horizon referred to was where the Ancient Egyptian afterlife began or ended.

I decided I had to find out more about the enchanting world of the Ancient Egyptians who even today still mesmerise the globe.

Ahmed Awad, the exhibition curator, is a researcher and professor at the Faculty of Engineering Department of Architecture at 6 October University.

His exhibition at the Antiquities Museum investigates the phenomenon of solar alignment where the sun illuminates the faces of statues of the Ancient Egyptian gods at different times of the year. Awads academic thesis also discussed the symbolism of architecture in Ancient Egypt.

Awad has investigated the suns relationship to Ancient Egyptian religion, dividing his research into four main parts.

The first looks at the sun in Ancient Egyptian religion, it being seen as a sacred celestial body embodying the creator.

The Ancient Egyptian religion contains material on the genesis of the universe and the beginning of sun worship, and its myths recount the daily journey of the sun across the sky and its three sacred phases.

According to Awad, the sun is the dominant god in Ancient Egyptian religion.

The second part of his research looks at the theological status of the temple in Ancient Egyptian religion, as well as the religious symbolism of its main architectural components.

He thinks that Ancient Egyptian temples and chapels represented a celestial isthmus which the sun god took as a passage to the afterlife lest he got lost in the underworld.

Thirdly, in his research Awad rejects the findings of previous researchers, especially those of an Egyptian-Spanish mission in 2007 which used religious beliefs in Ancient Egypt to identify the direction of sacred buildings.

Previous research has not tackled Seshat, the goddess of architecture, wisdom and astronomy, he says.

Fourthly, Awads research relates the astronomical phenomenon of the sun to the Ancient Egyptian belief that on certain festival days the spirit of the god or the Pharaoh returns to a statue.

In the exhibition he has provided photographs of temples and chapels where solar alignment takes place, such as the Deir Al-Bahari temples, Deir Al-Shalweit, the Temple of Hibis, the Temples of Dendara, Philae and Edfu where annual rites of birthing were once held, as well as Gabal Al-Selsela, the Temple of Al-Ghweita and Deir Al-Hagar.

I have made a detailed study of the direction of Ancient Egyptian temples and chapels. My conclusion is that all of them face the sun either in a direct way related to the three sacred phases of the sun  sunrise, noon and sunset  or in a symbolic way that relates to the theological idea of sunrise in Ancient Egyptian religion, Awad told Al-Ahram Weekly.

Light and darkness had great importance in Ancient Egyptian beliefs.

Light represented life, and darkness death. Therefore, strong sunlight signified the power of the god Ra, whose sun rays descend from the sky to the earth to give it life. Sunlight was seen as the creating power that erases darkness and renews creation.

When the sun god dies and descends into the underworld, he is reborn when the sun touches his body. In Ancient Egyptian myth, Osiris came alive again when he was touched by the sun, and along with him all good people whose deaths were related to Osiris, Awad added.

Strong sunlight was directly related to the return of the spirit to the dead, which is why Ancient Egyptian temples contain statues and images of those who built them.

During annual festivals when the solar alignment takes place, the statue or inscribed images become vessels that host the return of life into the person, be he a king or a god. An example of this can be found at the Dendara and Edfu temples, where there are inscriptions depicting a winged solar disc arriving along with the spirits of the gods, Awad said.

In Search Of Sunlight

Varying climatic conditions may lead to the sun being hidden, like when it did not shine on the Abu Simbel Temple on 22 February 2016 even though this day has been designated as the annual sun festival since ancient times.

Ancient religious beliefs explained solar eclipses as a temporary victory for the forces of darkness and chaos. Ancient scriptures mentioned that the enemies of the sun were three natural forces: storms, which affect the sunrise and sunset; clouds, which hide the sun; and the cold, which affects all creatures and angers the god of the sun.

The enemy of the sun was often depicted in the form of a snake, Awad explained.

From there comes the importance of the sun in Ancient Egyptian theology, also explaining the importance the Ancient Egyptians gave to solar alignments when the sun illuminates the faces of gods in temples and chapels.

The architecture of a temple or chapel is a representation of the celestial isthmus that connects the world and the underworld. The structure of the building is a manifestation of the transportation of the sun god and his sacred convoy between the two worlds, across the two dimensions of time and space, Awad said.

Ancient texts prove how entrenched this solar phenomenon was in the creed of the Ancient Egyptians. Some texts and inscriptions depict rituals of unity with the solar disc or the chapels of the sun god.

The walls of temples in Thebes carry inscriptions saying that it is the will of the sun god to rise in the east after his disappearance in the underworld.

On the walls of the Temple of Amenhotep III in Luxor, there is a message from Amun Ra, for example.

My son from my body, Neb-Mat Ra, Amenhotep III, I am your father who loves you. Your face is beautiful, and your heritage is great. I celebrate my achievements. My heart is happy to see your beauty resembles Ra on the horizon You speak like the king of Lower Egypt and are reborn as the king of Upper Egypt and rule what the sun disc has in the house of your father Amun Ra, master of the two worlds, who stands in front of Karnak, whose coronation took place on the throne of Hur for the living, just like Ra, forever, it says.

This text refers to the presence of the god Ra in front of the Karnak Temple in Luxor at sunrise, indicated by the illumination of the temple when the sun is perpendicular to it. This happens annually on 21 December, the day of the winter solstice, Awad explained.

Head of the Antiquities Museum at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Hussein Abdel-Bassir said that astronomical phenomena in Ancient Egypt played an important role in the lives of its people.

The Ancient Egyptians didnt work haphazardly. Everything was planned and systematised, whether in administration, engineering or astronomy.

When Awad discovered how the phenomena of solar alignment work in a scientific and organised manner in many of the temples and chapels of the Western Desert and in Qena, Luxor and Aswan, it was like a revelation. It proves that we have laid our hands on the scientific methods the Ancient Egyptians used for constructing their buildings, just like in the case of the Giza Pyramids, Abdel-Bassir said.

The Pyramids lie at a central point on the Giza Plateau, with temples and the ramp road surrounding them. This indicates that the Ancient Egyptians excelled in the fields of astronomy and engineering and that the solar alignment that takes place at the Abu Simbel Temple is not by chance or simply a coincidence, he added.

Some archaeologists have dismissed Awads findings over the past three years.

But his study leaves no room for doubt that the phenomenon of solar alignment has taken place annually on a certain day from Ancient times until today. Even when the Abu Simbel Temple was moved, the sun still illuminated it on a certain day, though this happened some days earlier.

The different date is because the temple was moved and not relocated at the same angle, he explained.

As archaeologists, we are always thrilled to work with engineers and astronomers, because their findings complement our own. Their contributions to the study of different aspects of Ancient Egyptian society helps us to draw a more accurate picture of the lives of the Ancient Egyptians, Abdel-Bassir said, adding that some aspects of these remain unknown.

This is why research in other fields such as medicine and pharmacology is still needed to understand medical papyri the secrets of which have yet to be revealed, he added.

We want to know how the Pharaohs lived and died and how they were treated for illnesses. The main quality of the Ancient Egyptians, however, is that their work was always accurate and systematic. They must have strongly believed in its value, he said.

According to Mona Dabbas, deputy director of the Antiquities Museum, attendance at the exhibition has been overwhelming.

It presents something unusual, even for archaeologists and specialists in the field. Everybody is aware of the solar alignment at the Abu Simbel Temple, but few knew about all the other places where the suns rays fall on the faces of the gods on other days, she said.

This is sure to have a positive effect on tourism, especially at the places Awad presents in the exhibition.

Awad himself said of his research that it is not the first conducted in this field, but it has reached better results in identifying the solar alignments in the Ancient Egyptian temples and chapels.

Maybe others will continue researching in this area and reach more accurate measurements. It depends on what technology has to offer in the future to better probe into the secrets of the Ancient Egyptians.

Solar alignments at Ancient Egyptian temples

The famous phenomenon of the suns rays falling on the face of a statue of the Pharaoh or a god at particular times of the year, in other words solar alignment, is not restricted to the Abu Simbel Temple in Upper Egypt.

Deir Al-Hagar Temple

The suns rays fall twice annually on a rock platform at the Deir Al-Hagar Temple on 9 March 6:25 am and 5 October 6:03am. The platform is inscribed with a royal cartouche, indicating that the text within it is a royal name. Some have suggested there may be a statue of Amun Ra under the platform.

The Temple of Hibis

On 7 April 5:50am and 6 September 5:46am the suns rays fall on an image of the god Amun Ra at the Temple of Hibis.

Kalabsha Temple

Also known as the Temple of Mandulis, on 14 February 6:27am and 29 October 5:56am every year the sun illuminates images of the sun god Mandulis and the sun goddess Isis on her solar throne at the Kalabsha Temple.

The Mamisi at the Dendara Temple

The suns rays fall on the mamisi, or birth chapel, at the Dendara Temple twice annually on 4 February 6:38am and 8 November 6:07am and on a false door that connects to the other world. Images on this door include three winged sun discs and a line of cobra snake figurines crowned by the sun.

Edfu Temple

The suns rays are aligned with the Edfu Temple on 21 June 11:50am every year to illuminate a statue of the god Horus and his solar boat and offering table.

Gabal Al-Selsela Chapel

The suns rays fall on statues of the gods Horemheb and Amun Ra on 29 September 5:43am and 15 March 6:02 every year at the Chapel of Gabal Al-Selsela.

*This story was first published in Al-Ahram Weekly

Short link:

Bachelor In Paradise had to be paused when she was at the center of a scandal during filming.

But that hasn't stopped Corinne Olympios laying into Meryl Streep for her response to the Harvey Weinstein scandal.

The 25-year-old reality television star said she was going to 'kill' the three-time Academy Award winner, on her latest podcast episode on Thursday.

Seeing red! Corinne Olympios (left) laid into Meryl Streep (right) for her response to the Harvey Weinstein scandal on Thursday on her podcast

'I'm definitely going to kill Meryl Streep,' said Olympios during a segment called Kill, Make Love, Marry on So Random.

She was given the option between Whoopi Goldberg, Wanda Sykes and Meryl, and Olympios didn't hold back as she slated the screen legend despite her co-host and publicist, Keira, sounding shocked.

'Sorry,' explained Olympios, before addressing the question forcefully.

'[I'd kill]Meryl Streep. She was supporting Harvey Weinstein! Yes. She was, she knew about it. She knew about everything that was going on. And lied about it twice. She lied about it twice though.

'And then she went back on her word. It's messed up. It's messed up. I'm gonna kill you Meryl.'

Getting vocal: Olympios attacked Streep over her connections to Harvey Weinstein

Streep struck out at Harvey Weinstein's lawyers last month for using her name in an attempt to get a class action lawsuit against the disgraced movie mogul dismissed.

In a statement, Streep said: 'Harvey Weinstein's attorneys use of my (true) statement  that he was not sexually transgressive or physically abusive in our business relationship  as evidence that he was not abusive with many OTHER women is pathetic and exploitative.

'The criminal actions he is accused of conducting on the bodies of these women are his responsibility, and if there is any justice left in the system he will pay for them  regardless of how many good movies, made by many good people, Harvey was lucky enough to have acquired or financed.'

On the town: The star was seen strolling in Beverly Hills with her pink phone

Lawyers Phyllis Kupferstein and Mary E. Flynn wrote this would include actresses such as Streep and Jennifer Lawrence who have not made allegations of sexual misconduct.

They pointed to Streep saying Weinstein had always been respectful with her during their collaborations in a statement to the press.

They did not mention that Streep also praised the 'heroes' who made allegations about his behavior, which she said was 'inexcusable' and an 'abuse of power'.

Weinstein, 65, has been accused of sexual harassment and assault by dozens of women. He denies all allegations of non-consensual sex.

Corinne - who was on season 21 of The Bachelor as well as on the most recent season of Bachelor In Paradise - was recently linked to Kim Kardashian's BFF Jonathan Cheban after they were spotted dining together.

New beau? Corinne - who was on season 21 of The Bachelor as well as on the most recent season of Bachelor In Paradise - was recently linked to Kim Kardashian's BFF Jonathan Cheban after they were spotted dining together

She was spotted on Friday with a mystery man in Tulum, Mexico, and she explained on her podcast that she was recording it whilst on vacation in the area during Spring Break.

Bachelor in Paradise USA abruptly ceased filming after an alleged sexual misconduct incident involving misuse of alcohol during last year's season in Mexico, with producers releasing an official statement explaining the decision at the time.

'We have become aware of allegations of misconduct on the set of Bachelor in Paradise in Mexico,' the statement read.

Producers supposedly witnessed contestants Corinne Olympios and DeMario Jackson 'getting extremely sexual in the swimming pool'.

It was later alleged that Corinne was drunk while naked in the island's hot tub.

'They could have seen that she was drinking too much and that (DeMario) was taking advantage,' a contestant of the show reportedly said.

Olympios and Jackson have apparently moved past what happened over the summer, forming a friendship and happily hanging out on occasion.She became a household name in 1999's, American Pie.

And on Saturday, Mena Suvari paid homage to '90s in a set of cropped, wide leg denim.

For her outing, the actress, 39, was joined by a handsome male companion.

Meal for two! On Saturday, Mena Suvari, 39, grabbed lunch alongside a male companion

The Apparition actress layered a white top with her outwear.

Mena accessorized with a set of pink-rimmed shades and earrings.

The pretty, strawberry blonde star wore her hair back in a tight bun, and completed her look with white sneakers.

Flashback style: The actress paid homage to '90s in a set of cropped, wide leg denim, paired with a classic trench coat

Mena's dapper male companion paired a black T-shirt with a set of gray skinny jeans and brown boots.

It is unknown if the two are simply friends, or are indeed dating.

Mena was previously married twice before; once to Robert Brinkmann from 2000-2005, and another to concert promoter Simone Sestitio from 2010-2012.

Are they or aren't they? Mena's dapper male companion paired a black T-shirt with a set of gray skinny jeans and brown boots. It is unknown if the two are simply friends, or are indeed dating

Mena is set to star in two projects this year.

In June, the Newport, Rhode Island native will take the lead in the comedic show, American Woman.

She'll also star in the horror film, Apparition.She will wed her long-term boyfriend Jack Brooksbank in a romantic ceremony at Windsor Castle the autumn.

And Princess Eugenie looked positively radiant as she headed to a lavish cocktail party with her sister Beatrice in Peru on Friday, as they continued celebrating the wedding of Alessandra de Osma and Prince Christian of Hannover.

The newly-engaged royal, 27, and her older sister, 29, appeared in high spirits, beaming for the cameras as they headed into the swanky venue at Berckmeyer house.

Party time: Princess Eugenie looked positively radiant as she headed to a lavish cocktail party with her sister Beatrice in Peru on Saturday

Eugenie looked in the party mood as she slipped her svelte figure into a multi-coloured patterned dress, which accentuated her lithe limbs.

She teamed the look with blue velvet heels and styled her bruentte locks in loosely tumbled waves and enhanced her glowing complexion with deftly touches of make-up.

Beatrice also put on a leggy display, donning a gold pleated mini-skirt which she teamed with a navy blue jumper.

Cocktail time: Eugenie looked in the party mood as she slipped her svelte figure in a multi-coloured patterned dress, which accentuated her lithe limbs

Chic: Beatrice also put on a leggy display, donning a gold pleated mini-skirt which she teamed with a navy blue jumper

The sisters proved they had a similar taste in fashion, with the Princess of York adding a boost to her petite 5ft 3ins frame with closed-toe blue velvet court shoes.

Beatrice and Eugenie joined a host of stars for the glitzy wedding of Christian and Alessandra - who officially tied the knot five months ago in a small but stylish affair at Chelsea and Westminster Registry Office.

Guests including several members of European royalty and Kate Moss decamped to the bride's native Peru, where the Prince and designer kicked off a weekend of festivities with the cocktail party on the eve of the ceremony.

The happy couple: Peruvian Alessandra de Osma and her husband Prince Christian of Hanover can't help but smile as they arrive at their second wedding

Sweet: Alessandra arrived alongside her father Felipe de Osma who looked delighted

Eugenie is expected to walk down the aisle in the coming months with her fiance Jack, who popped the question in Nicaragua in January with a unique padparadscha sapphire surrounded by diamonds.

The sparkler bears a striking similarity to the one Eugenie's mother, Sarah Ferguson, was presented with by her ex-husband Prince Andrew, when they became engaged back in 1986 - although Fergie's ring was set with a pink Burma ruby.

Eugenie and Jack are now set to exchange vows at Windsor Castle - in the same chapel that will play host to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's nuptials in May.It looks like Kathy Griffin's legal battle with her Bel Air neighbor is nearing an end.

A judge rejected a request for a restraining order filed by the comedienne's neighbor, American businessman Jeffrey Mezger, earlier this week according to TMZ.

Griffin had her own restraining order dismissed several weeks ago.

Denied: Kathy Griffin had a win in her legal battle with neighbor Jeffrey Mezger this week, as his request for a restraining order against the actress/comedian was denied in court. Above the star is seen March 13

Mutual: Griffin had her own restraining order against Mezger (above) dismissed several weeks ago

The original dispute stems from noise complaints made by Griffin and her boyfriend Randy Bick.

Mezger, who is the CEO and president of KB Homes, has allegedly been caught screaming epithets at Griffin in past audio recordings.

Reportedly, the Emmy winner recorded audio of Mezger saying: 'Hey Randy, go f*** yourself ... Now you're calling the cops? F**k you and f**k Kathy.'

A judge previously tossed out her request to keep her neighbor at a distance.

The start of the feud: The original dispute stems from noise complaints made by Griffin and her boyfriend Randy Bick, seen together after a February 21 court date above

The comic had previously claimed the businessman had thrown trash into her yard, blared Johnny Cash tunes towards her home and yelled profanities at her.

Her boyfriend had also contacted the LAPD to complain about the neighbor's grandchildren for being too loud.

The very public feud began after Griffin and Bick moved into the area in 2016.

Back in the spotlight: Kathy's planning to return to the public stage, nine months after a photo of her holding a model of President Trump's decapitated head made waves (above)

Kathy's planning to return to the public stage, nine months after a photo of her holding a model of President Trump's decapitated head made waves.

Last week Griffin announced that she had just booked upcoming shows at New York's Carnegie Hall and at Washington DC's Kennedy Center during an appearance on HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher.

'I'm dipping my toes into touring again,' Griffin said.

The shows are already full of buzz, with her Carnegie Hall date selling out in just 1 day.It's the question that fans of Married At First Sight have been asking for weeks - will Tracey Jewel stay with Dean Wells after the experiment?

And ahead of the show's highly-anticipated season finale, Tracey has hinted that she is set to reject Dean at the last hurdle.

In a new promo video shared to the MAFS Instagram page, Tracey is seen engaging in a heartfelt discussion with her biological mother Patricia Gaugg at a cafe.

'I can't trust that he's never going to hurt me again': Tracey Jewel has hinted that she's set to reject Dean Wells in new promo video for Married At First Sight's upcoming finale week

'My biggest concern was he hurt you Tracey, and the two times he hurt you, that wasn't little things that he did. They were quite big,' a concerned-looking Patricia said.

'And I just want to ask you really deep down, now, have you got over it?' she added.

Tracey sighed: 'I have very deep feelings for Dean. I've seen moments between us where I've thought 'yeah', I'm really falling in love with this guy. And that's really hard.'

Concerned mother: In a new promo video shared to the MAFS Instagram page, Tracey is seen engaging in a heartfelt discussion with her biological mother Patricia Gaugg at a cafe

'Do you really believe that this is a man that you could really fall in love with and trust and really know deep down within your heart that he will never hurt you again?' Patricia pried.

Tracey responded pensively: 'That's what I'm struggling with, because I can't 100 per cent sit here and say: 'I 100 per cent trust that he's never going to hurt me again. And I can't be hurt again.'

It comes as the show enters its final week, with plenty of shocks in-store with the return of Brisbane bikini model, Davina Rankin.

Shocking! It comes as the show enters its final week, with plenty of shocks in-store with the return of Brisbane bikini model, Davina Rankin

A promotional video for the upcoming episodes shows Dean and Tracey watching footage of Dean's secret rendezvous with Davina.

Dean and Tracey are also seen pledging their love for each other during their 'final vows' ceremony, with Dean shedding tears as he finally tells the brunette that he's in love with her.

Married At First Sight continues Sunday night on Nine.Drake and Kanye West are said to be collaborating on the West's new album - and the team-up looks to be quite a star-studded affair.

They have been joined in Jackson Hole, Wyoming by Nas, The-Dream, Kid Cudi, Travis Scott and Lil Uzi Vert, TMZ reports.

Using assumed names, Drake and Kanye are pitched up in the swanky Amangini Resort - Drake at the hotel proper and Kanye at a 'separate house at the resort,' as TMZ described it.

What a team: It appears Drake (left) and Kanye West (right) are collaborating on the latter's new album - and the team-up looks to be quite a star-studded affair

Drake's songwriter, photographer/videographer and engineer are part of what TMZ calls the 'huge crew' he has brought to Wyoming.

Several big producers have traveled up to the mountain retreat as well, and so has 'a ton of audio and recording equipment.'

Oprah Winfrey's onetime personal chef Paul Zlatos is said to be rendering his culinary services to this big-name group.

Kid Cudi and Drake have infamously feuded, with Cudi dissing Drake for relying on songwriters and Drake mocking Cudi's mental health problems.

Star power: They have been joined in Jackson Hole, Wyoming by Nas (pictured), The-Dream, Kid Cudi, Travis Scott and Lil Uzi Vert, TMZ reported

However, it appears the trouble between them has subsided to the point that that they can collaborate with each other.

There is also a family connection between two of the rappers involved - Kanye is married to Kim Kardashian, whose half-sister Kylie Jenner just had Travis' baby.

Kim and Kanye themselves recently welcomed their third child, a daughter called Chicago who was brought into the world via surrogacy.

All better?: Kid Cudi (pictured) and Drake have infamously feuded, with Cudi dissing Drake for relying on songwriters and Drake mocking Cudi's mental health problems

Keeping it in the family: Travis Scott just had a baby with Kanye's sister-in-law Kylie Jenner

The couple affectionately known as Kimye also share a four-year-old daughter named North and a two-year-old son named Saint.

Kanye's latest album, Life Of Pablo, was his seventh and was released on Valentine's Day of 2016.

He went on tour that year to promote the record, but canceled it suddenly with 21 dates left. Shortly thereafter, he was hospitalized after suffering what his doctor told police was 'temporary psychosis,' according to TMZ.On Sunday, it was reported that former Today Show weatherman Steve Jacobs had split from his wife, Rose.

And the couple, who have been married for seven years, have certainly had a colourful union.

In the wake of a friend's claim to Confidential that the pair have 'grown in different directions', Daily Mail Australia takes a look back at their relationship.

A colourful marriage: Amid claims Steve Jacobs and his wife Rose have split, Daily Mail Australia takes a look back at their union, which includes two daughters, career changes and a drastic relocation to Vanuatu

Prior to his relationship with Rose (nee Kelly), Steve was married to his childhood sweetheart, Alison.

The pair's twenty-year union came to end in 2006, with Steve meeting Rose the following year.

While Steve rose to national fame as Today Show's weather presenter, Rose herself became a high-profile meteorologist, scoring a plum role with The Weather Channel.

High profile pair: While Steve rose to national fame as Today Show's weather presenter, Rose herself became a high-profile meteorologist, scoring a plum role with The Weather Channel

Loved-up: Becoming engaged in 2009, the couple tied the knot in an intimate wedding ceremony in Bali in May 2010

Becoming engaged in 2009, the couple tied the knot in an intimate wedding ceremony in Bali in May 2010.

The low-key nuptials were attended by only a small number of family and friends, with Rose rocking a relatively simple strapless wedding dress.

She walked down the aisle to David Grey's ballad 'Sail Away'.

A little over a year later, the pair welcomed their first child, daughter Isabella.

Jet setting couple: The pair's television work took them travelling far and wife

Speaking with Woman's Day shortly after the birth, Steve gushed: 'I just couldn't get over how beautiful she was  and how lucky we are. During the surgery, we took in an iPod and played the music we had at our wedding. And just as she was born, our wedding song came on. It was total coincidence, but it couldn't have been more magical'.

The couple welcomed a second daughter, Francesca, in April 2013.

Life appeared perfect for the high-profile couple, who resided in a mansion in Sydney's affluent beach side suburb of Coogee.

Brood: Steve and Rosie with their two young daughters , Isabella and Francesca

Changes: In December 2016, Steve announced he was scaling back on his work with The Today Show to focus on family

In December 2016, Steve announced he was scaling back on his work with The Today Show, swapping his weekday role to become the weather presenter on the weekend edition of the program.

Then, partway through last year, the couple shocked fans by announcing they were leaving Australia and relocating to Vanuatu.

Explaining their drastic international sea change, Rose penned a column for news.com.au in May of last year, stating: 'I was living by all appearances a fantastic life full of enviable traits... but my gut told me something was missing'.

'I was living by all appearances a fantastic life full of enviable traits': Rose penned a confessional for news.com.au

Sea change: The couple shocked fans by announcing they were leaving Australia and relocating to Vanuatu

'Something was missing': Rose described her situation in Sydney as a 'toxic life'

She went onto detail that four-year-old Francesca was being 'bullied' in day care, and described her situation in Sydney as a 'toxic life'.

The clan appeared to relish in their new tropical surrounds, with both Steve and Rose sharing dozens of photos of their new life in Vanuatu.

Their popular Instagram pages were full of photos showing the family lazing under palm tress and swimming crystal blue waters.

My island home: Doting dad Steve in Vanuatu with Isabella and Francesca

On Sunday, an insider told Confidential: 'Steve and Rosie had such a public image of the perfect happy family but behind the scenes there were struggles that would put a strain on even the best marriage.'

In an exclusive statement to Daily Mail Australia, Rose said she 'would not be commenting on the story at this stage'.He will take a second shot at finding love when Bachelor In Paradise Australia returns to our screens next week.

And it seems Michael Turnbull will clearly have no trouble attracting female attention on the show judging by his appearance in a steamy campaign for the bed brand Wenatex.

The hunky Bachelorette alumni showed off his impressive muscular physique as he stripped down to his boxers and cosied up to a lingerie-clad model.

PICTURE EXCLUSIVE: Michael Turnbull strips down to his boxers for steamy bed campaign... ahead of his Bachelor In Paradise debut

Kneeling on the bed in a pair of blue printed boxers, the hunk showed off his numerous inkings for the revealing shoot.

In a black and white snap, he was seen sitting on the edge of the bed while a sultry model placed an eye-mask over his face.

The reality star certainly took centre-stage as he worked his angles for the new line of Wenatex beds, which can be electrically moved into position and have sleep-inducing herbs built into the mattress.

'I knew I had found the one for me after just one night. The best sleep I have had in a Wenatex bed,' Michael exclusively told Daily Mail Australia.

Racy: The hunky Bachelorette alumni showed off his impressive muscular physique as he cosied up to a lingerie-clad model

Pillow talk: The reality star certainly took centre-stage as he worked his angles for the new line of Wenatex beds

'I have never been so excited to get into bed with a Wenatex,' he cheekily added.

Michael shot to fame when he competed for Sam Frosts' heart on The Bachelorette Australia in 2015 alongside Davey Lloyd.

And he will no doubt become the series heartthrob once again when he appears in Bachelor In Paradise, filmed in Fiji, next Sunday.

Exciting: Michael (fifth from left) will take a second shot at finding love when Bachelor In Paradise Australia returns to our screens next week

Last month a dramatic preview for the new series was finally released, revealing the show will feature tantrums, tears, and a proposal.

The two minute-long clip, which aired during The Project, shows a crying Keira Maguire begging to be loved, as the other contestants clash over a love triangle and 'love square'.

Meanwhile, a female contestant - possibly Tara Pavlovic or Florence Alexandra - is seen getting hot and heavy with The Bachelorette star Jake Ellis under a waterfall.

The Paradise cast are seen enjoying a series of romantic dates including snorkelling, swimming in waterfalls and horseback riding along the beach.Tina Malone has been seen for the first time after claims she is facing a police investigation and possibly prison after reportedly identifying child killer Jon Venables.

The former Shameless star, 55, looked to be in high spirits as she arrived at the James Bulger Charity Ball at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Liverpool on Saturday night.

Tina certainly made an impression in a semi-sheer glittering dress which she teamed with a brown faux-fur coat.

Out and about: Tina Malone has been seen for the first time after claims she is facing a police investigation and possibly prison after reportedly identifying child killer Jon Venables

Tina couldn't wipe the smile from her face as she posed up a storm at the event in her eye-catching dazzling dress which fell at midi-length level.

She teamed the coat with the statement outerwear and embellished black and gold shoes.

Tina opted for a glamorous slick of make-up, which consisted of a red slick of lipstick and lashings of mascara on her eyes.

Glam: The former Shameless star, 55, looked to be in high spirits as she arrived at the James Bulger Charity Ball at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Liverpool on Saturday night

Showstopper: Tina certainly made an impression in a semi-sheer glittering dress which she teamed with a brown faux-fur coat

Her sighting come after claims she is facing a police investigation and possibly prison after reportedly identifying child killer Jon Venables online.

Police are reported to be 'ready to investigate' posts made by the star after she was accused of breaking a court injunction.

The court order bans photos of Venables or Robert Thompson from being published by anyone in the world.

The actress reportedly told the Daily Star Sunday: 'I didn't have a clue it was illegal. What are you going to do... prosecute me for posting a picture?

In trouble: It is claimed police are now 'ready to investigate' posts made by the star after she was accused of breaking a court injunction

'I didn't realise. I am not au fait with the law.'

Malone has previously said she is friends with murdered two-year-old James Bulger's mother, Denise Fergus.

She was also an ambassador for The James Bulger Memorial Trust.

Both Venables and Thompson's new identities are secret and their anonymity is funded by the taxpayer.They have been happily dating since summer of last year.

But it appears actor Ryan Thomas is ready to take the next step in his relationship with Lucy Mecklenburgh, after he reportedly purchased an expensive diamond ring.

A source told The Sun that Ryan, 33, spent thousands on the ring to show his commitment to Lucy, 26, as their romance heats up.

Wedding bells? Actor Ryan Thomas, 33, has fuelled engagement rumours after reportedly purchasing a diamond ring for girlfriend Lucy Mecklenburgh according to The Sun

The source said: 'He has spent a lot of time, trouble and cash.

'When a man buys a diamond ring for his girlfriend, it usually means one thing  marriage.

'It is clear they are in love and have a lot of fun when they are together.'

MailOnline has contacted representatives for Ryan Thomas and Lucy Mecklenburgh for comment.

Loved-up: A source told The Sun that Ryan and Lucy are very much 'in love' and the actor wanted to show his commitment to her with the expensive purchase

Ryan and Lucy first met on Bear Grylls' Celebrity Island, 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.

New romance: Ryan and Lucy first started dating last summer, making their first public appearance together in July

Ryan and Lucy were later 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.

The couple have also been going the distance after ex-Coronation Street star Ryan landed a role on Aussie soap Neighbours, and has been filming scenes Down Under since the autumn.

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.The grand imam of Egypt's Al-Azhar, Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayeb, arrived on Saturday at the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott in the first visit of its kind, upon an invitation to participate with Mauritanian clerics in an open dialogue on violence and extremism, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported.

The head of Al-Azhar  the world's foremost institutions of Sunni Islamic learning  is also set to meet with top government officials in Mauritania, including the head of state and the prime minister.

El-Tayeb is also expected to sign memorandums of understanding between Al-Azhar University and scientific institutions in the majority-Muslim west African country.

El-Tayeb arrived at Nouakchott from Portugal, where he was attending a ceremony celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Islamic Association in Lisbon.

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She has been at the vanguard of a drastic culture change in Hollywood.

And Rose McGowan has discussed the alleged assault at the hands of disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein in a candid interview with the Mirror.

The American actress, 44, defiantly admitted she is 'not afraid' to speak out, after claiming she has been intimidated and followed by an Israeli spy company employed by the movie mogul, 65, in a bid to counteract her story.

Speaking out: Rose McGowan, 44, has discussed the alleged assault at the hands of disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein in a candid interview with the Mirror

'I'm sure he would prefer it if I were dead, he's a sociopath,' she told the publication.

'I am not afraid  but I should be.

'The people around him, that have supported him in his attempt to dominate and abuse women, are monsters, just as much as he is'.

The Charmed star added there was no 'rehabilitation' for the film boss and that he 'needs to fall off the planet.'

Brave: The actress defiantly admitted she is 'not afraid' to speak out, after claiming she has been intimidated by a spy company employed by the movie mogul (pictured together in 2007)

Rose, who has previously spoke out about her alleged assault in a candid memoir Brave, also accused Harvey Weinstein of enlisting the help of a spy company to 'ruin her life' by hacking her computer and releasing photos.

The New York Times published excerpts, in which she recounted the alleged assault she suffered at the hands of the disgraced movie producer at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival.

In the book, she claims she had an appointment with Weinstein on the day of the incident but arrived to learn her breakfast meeting had been moved to his hotel suite.

'I am not afraid': The Charmed star added there was no 'rehabilitation' for the film boss and that he 'needs to fall off the planet'

Once she got to the suite, she claims that Weinstein tore off her clothing, made her sit on the edge of the Jacuzzi in his suite and proceeded to perform oral sex on the actress while masturbating himself to completion.

Soon after this alleged assault, McGowan received a $100,000 settlement from the disgraced mogul.

Through his lawyers, Weinstein denied the incident.

It's been an emotional time for McGowan, who recently spoke out following the death of her former manager Jill Messick, who took her own life last month.

Rose said, 'For Jill: May your family find some measure of solace during this pain.'She has just returned from an envy-inducing South African getaway.

And back home in London, Demi Rose continued the saucy display with her latest Instagram snap on Saturday.

The model, 22, set pulses racing as she showed off her curves and eye-popping assets in a semi-sheer nude coloured dress.

Saucy: Demi Rose, 22, set pulses racing as she showed off her curves and eye-popping assets in a semi-sheer nude coloured dress on Instagram on Saturday

The dress, which also flaunted her tiny midriff, covered Demi's modesty with aptly placed white beaded detailing which.

She looked every inch the vision with a glamorous slick of make-up and her lossy brunette tresses tumbling down her front.

Her sexy snap comes after her South African holiday where she paraded her curves in a series of barely-there bikini snaps.

Panning the camera around to show off her sun-kissed surroundings in a racy clip, the Birmingham born stunner showcased her busty cleavage in a minuscule frilled khaki bikini.

Sexy: Demi Rose, 22, showcased her busty cleavage in a minuscule frilled khaki bikini as she soaked up the sun in South Africa

Ensuring the camera angle was placed above her head, Demi looked absolutely smoking hot as she displayed her eye-popping cleavage.

The tiny bikini top also put focus on the rest of her sensational curves and toned legs.

Adding a flirty element to the clip, Demi added filtered bunny ears onto her raven tresses for the short clip.

On Saturday, Demi once again put on an incredibly busty display for an Instagram snap shared from Clifton 3rd Beach, in South Africa.

She's got front! Ensuring the camera angle was placed above her head, Demi looked absolutely smoking hot as she displayed her eye-popping cleavage

Barely-there: The tiny bikini top also put focus on the rest of her sensational curves and toned legs

The curvy model struggled to contain her gravity-defying cleavage in her perilously plunging swimsuit which caressed every inch of her figure.

Keen to draw further attention to her sensational curves, the British beauty wore her raven tresses down to her waist in a loosely-tousled style.

Tyga's ex also showcased her very slender waistline as she wrapped a Union Jack flag around her curvaceous physique.

'I belong in the sunshine,' the reality star captioned the social media picture which she shared with her legion of loyal fans.

She's the breast attraction! On Saturday, Demi once again put on an incredibly busty display for an Instagram snap shared from Clifton 3rd Beach, in South Africa

Busty: The curvy model left little to the imagination as she flaunted her eye-popping assets in a racy crochet bikini in another racy post

Days before, Demi treated her Instagram followers once again when she left little to the imagination as she flaunted her eye-popping assets in a racy crochet bikini top.

Gazing seductively at the camera, the model upped the skin-flashing ante as she showed off her playful side in a pair of butterfly wings and a skimpy pink tutu.

She captioned the post: 'My Spirit animal definitely had to be a butterfly. Had the most wonderful week and feel so blessed to have made some amazing memories with the crew for Charleys birthday'

The busty model appeared in high spirits as she partied with her friends, who also donned an array of colourful outfits.

Kylie Jenner lookalike Demi was first propelled into the spotlight when she was linked to the reality star's ex, rapper Tyga, after they split.

Her spirit animal: Gazing seductively at the camera, the beauty upped the skin-flashing ante as she showed off her playful side in a pair of butterfly wings and skimpy pink tutu

The star has since gained a huge following on Instagram and she is known display her incredible curves in a number of risque ensembles.

So of course she was more than happy to divulge the secrets to her sensationally curvy figure in an exclusive chat with MailOnline.

In September, Demi told us: 'I try to keep as healthy as I can. With travelling, it's hard to work out, I travel across the world but try to keep my routine. Everyone says I'm the healthiest person they know. The fattiest thing I will ever eat is nuts and peanut butter.'

'My figure just gains weight so fast. Any bad thing I eat my body isn't used to it and just puts on the weight. That means no birthday cake!

Eye-catching: Demi ensured all eyes were on her enviable cleavage and washboard abs, as she protected her modesty with strategically-placed jewel flowers on the tiny halterneck bikini top

'All I've eaten today is nuts. I've managed to eat a whole pot. I feel guilty as there's a lot of fat in the nuts. That's my treat! So I'm happy!'

Confident in her sex appeal, the former beauty student claimed her curvaceous figure rivals the Kardashians in an interview with The Sun.

The model told the publication: 'I have an amazing life travelling the world and showing off curves to rival the Kardashians.

'I love the best parties, yachts and fast cars  but deep down Im just a kid from Sutton Coldfield who got lucky.'He treated himself to a haircut and shave during a pampering session on Friday.

And later that day Nasser Sultan turned barber as he gingerly cut off a young girl's long locks during an appearance at a high school for World's Greatest Shave.

In an exclusive video provided to Daily Mail Australia, The Married At First Sight reject, 50, beamed as he chopped off the student's ponytail with a pair of a scissors during an event to support cancer charity Leukaemia Foundation.

'No turning back now!' Married At First Sight's Nasser Sultan turned hairdresser as he chopped off a girl's long locks for World's Greatest Shave

Wincing as he stood behind the student, he held the scissors reluctantly aloft before declaring 'No turning back now!' and cutting through her ponytail.

He donated his time at Pennant Hills high school to the charity event, which involves cutting, shaving or colouring your hair to raise money towards treating blood cancers like lymphoma, leukaemia and myeloma.

Nasser's hairdresser Anthony Papaluca said: 'He was a hit with the students and teachers posing for photos. His haircutting skills where impressive.

'He really enjoys community based activities and had a real soft spot for the special needs kids. He really made everyones day!'

Kicking back: The personal trainer, 50, has been making the most of his freedom after his stint on Married At First Sight

Mane attraction: Wincing as he stood behind the student, he held the scissors reluctantly aloft before declaring 'No turning back now!' and cutting through her ponytail

Getting stuck in! He donated his time at Pennant Hills high school to the charity event, which involves cutting, shaving or colouring your hair to raise money towards treating blood cancers like lymphoma, leukaemia and myeloma

Earlier that day Nasser couldn't resist getting his own transformation as he enjoyed a haircut and a shave.

The photos showed Nasser kicking back and relaxing as he got a shave and had his hair trimmed.

The Sydney-based personal trainer looked pleased as punch as he showed off the result of their pampering session.

Nasser makes no secret of the lengths he goes to look good, previously revealing he has an extensive skincare regime.

Breakover! It comes after he got pampered at a hair salon after detailing his 45 minute moisturising regime

Needed some me time? The photos showed Nasser kicking back and relaxing as he got a shave

Pamper session: Nasser's hairdresser Anthony Papaluca shared photos of him giving the 50-year-old a shave and haircut on Friday

'Day and night [I moisturise],' Nasser told Daily Mail Australia last month. 'Night is the deep one because your face is relaxed. Works better, trust me.'

Despite fan speculation his smooth visage could be down to anti-wrinkle injections, Nasser denied ever getting cosmetic work.

'I swear I have never ever ever had any Botox,' he said. 'I am lucky my mother was so beautiful and my sister was a model.'

Looking good! The Sydney-based personal trainer looked pleased as punch as he showed off his haircut

Split: Matched on Married At First Sight with single mother and model Gabrielle Bartlett, the pair left the show last week after failing to connect on a romantic leve

Matched on Married At First Sight with single mother and model Gabrielle Bartlett, the pair left the show last week after failing to connect on a romantic level.

Gabrielle held a sobbing Nasser in her arms as they made the joint decision to leave the experiment.

'It's okay babe,' she soothed as Nasser clung to her.

'It's hard, I came in this to find love,' said a heartbroken Nasser.They are two of the most famous siblings in Hollywood.

And on Saturday, Paris Hilton showed her support for sister Nicky, at the Kitson Kitross launch of her clothing collaboration line, Nicky Hilton X Tolani.

The Mommy And Me capsule collection was modeled by social media sensations, Mila and Emma Stauffer.

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Rooting for her! On Saturday, Paris Hilton, 37, showed her support for sister Nicky, 33, at the Kitson Kitross launch of her clothing collaboration line, Nicky Hilton X Tolani, in LA

Nicky, 34, and Paris, 37, looked ready for a Moroccan vacation.

Paris wore a breezy, lilac dress paired with close-toe, suede heels. The recently-engaged beauty accessorized with a large, floppy hat, shades, rings and stud earrings.

Nicky modeled a blue, tribal print dress and lace-up, heeled sandals. The mother-of-two accessorized with large, statement earrings and her wedding ring.

Ready for a holiday! The women looked ready for a Moroccan vacation

Cute companions: The Mommy And Me capsule collection was modeled by social media sensations, Mila and Emma Stauffer

Spring style: Paris wore a breezy, lilac dress paired with close-toe, suede heels. The recently-engaged beauty accessorized with a large, floppy hat, shades, rings and stud earrings

Her take: Nicky modeled a blue, tribal print dress and lace-up, heeled sandals. The mother-of-two accessorized with large, statement earrings and her wedding ring

Joining the famous siblings were tiny internet sensations, Mila and Emma Stauffer.

The social media stars, who's viral videos have been shared by the likes of Paris and Kris Jenner, wore the children's versions of the brand's styles.

Also along to support his future sister-in-law, and his wife-to-be was Chris Zylka, 32.

Keeping their audience engaged! The sisters kept their fans updated via social media

Dog mom: Paris of course brought along her precious puppy

What could come: Parish showed her motherly instincts as she knelt down to the level of the tiny models

Handsome plus one: Also along to support his future sister-in-law and his wife-to-be, was Chris Zylka, 32

Paris and Chris became engaged over New Year's, having first made their relationship public in February 2017.

The handsome actor proposed with a $2 million, 20-carat ring.

In a recent interview with ET, Paris shared her excitement over her engagement, and said that she's 'never felt happier.'

'I just have never felt happier in my life and I feel like I'm glowing and just feel, I don't know, just like a woman, just like an adult. I feel like my life is finally just starting.'Scream Queen Emma Roberts took advantage of the post-rainy weather on Saturday by strolling with her gal pal on the payroll - stylist Brit Elkin - on the streets of Beverly Hills.

The 27-year-old niece of Julia Roberts wore a chambray shirt over a pale yellow mid-length sleeveless sundress featuring ruffled shoulders, bright yellow sandals, and a clashing black purse.

The New Balance brand ambassador wore her blonde bob down and covered her alabaster complexion with translucent-framed sunglasses for her outing.

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BFFs: Scream Queen Emma Roberts (L) took advantage of the post-rainy weather on Saturday by strolling with her gal pal on the payroll - stylist Brit Elkin (R) - in Beverly Hills

Emma's sighting came 10 days after she signed on to star as an 'unpopular 16-year-old' in Dan Mazer's haunted cave comedy Anyas Ghost for EOne - according to Deadline.

Patrick Ness (A Monster Calls) adapted the screenplay based on the 2011 graphic novel by Russian writer and illustrator Vera Brosgol.

Last week, Roberts paid $4.02M for a three-storey, three-bedroom Laughlin Park home in trendy Los Feliz, after selling her $1.65M Laurel Canyon abode to AHS co-star Sarah Paulson in 2016 - according to Variety.

Clashing black purse: The 27-year-old niece of Julia Roberts wore a chambray shirt over a pale yellow mid-length sleeveless sundress featuring ruffled shoulders and bright yellow sandals

Natural beauty: The New Balance brand ambassador wore her blonde bob down and covered her alabaster complexion with translucent-framed sunglasses for her outing

In demand: Emma's sighting came 10 days after she signed on to star as an 'unpopular 16 -year-old' in Dan Mazer's haunted cave comedy Anyas Ghost for EOne

The Who We Are Now actress will next attend the world premiere of Sam Boyd's romance In a Relationship happening April 20 at the Tribeca Film Festival in her native New York.

In the flick about two couples, the Prada spokesmodel plays a woman on the verge of a break-up called Hallie alongside Michael Angarano, Patrick Gibson, Dree Hemingway, and Melora Walters.

March impressively marks a full year since Emma and her co-curator Karah Preiss founded their book-of-the-month club, Bellatrist.

Home sweet home: Last week, Roberts paid $4.02M for a three-bedroom Laughlin Park home in trendy Los Feliz, after selling her $1.65M Laurel Canyon abode to Sarah Paulson in 2016

Gig: The Who We Are Now actress will next attend the world premiere of Sam Boyd's romance In a Relationship happening April 20 at the Tribeca Film Festival in her native New York

Flick about two couples: The Prada spokesmodel plays a woman on the verge of a break-up called Hallie alongside (from L-R) Michael Angarano, Patrick Gibson, Dree Hemingway

Missing from Roberts' side Saturday was her on/off fiance Evan Peters, whom she split with twice after first meeting on the 2012 set of Adult World.

It's hard to believe the Sarah Lawrence drop-out was once arrested for domestic violence during a 2013 Montreal quarrel with the 31-year-old Pirates of Somalia star, but he declined to press charges.

'We can't wait for you to read along with us!' March impressively marks a full year since Emma and her co-curator Karah Preiss founded their book-of-the-month club, BellatristScandal wrapped its seventh and last season in the small hours of Saturday morning.

And its leading lady Kerry Washington, who plays the canny Washington fixer Olivia Pope, bid the show a fond farewell on social media.

Kerry, 41, wrote on Twitter: 'Heading home. This was the most unforgettable FRATURDAY ever!!!!!!!! #Scandal Im overwhelmed with gratitude.'

Star turn: Scandal's leading lady Kerry Washington, who plays Washington fixer Olivia Pope, bid the show a fond farewell on social media after it wrapped on the small hours of Saturday

Shonda Rhimes, who created Scandal as well as such series as Grey's Anatomy and How To Get Away With Murder, tweeted a snapshot of the show's set.

'And thats a series wrap on #Scandal. Could not be prouder. Here is a shot of the Truman Balcony created by our amazing production crew. Thank you to every single person in our #scandalfam who helped bring this show to life,' she wrote.

She had earlier tweeted: 'And thats a wrap on #Scandal. A lot of tears. A lot of love. Forever grateful for every second.'

'Forever grateful for every second': Shonda Rhimes, who created Scandal as well as such series as Grey's Anatomy, tweeted a fond farewell to her brainchild

'SO MUCH LOVE': Katie Lowes, who plays fixer Quinn Perkins, tweeted a photo of the door to her on-set trailer, all lit up because it was a night shoot

Darby Stanchfield, who plays crisis management expert turned White House Chief Of Staff Abby Whelan, paid tribute to Kerry and Shonda on Twitter.

'And thats a #scandal series wrap. Best cast & crew in the biz. Phenomenal #1 @kerrywashington. Thank you @shondarhimes for this sweet rollercoaster ride,' Darby effused, buttoning the tweet with a heart emoji.

Katie Lowes, who plays fixer Quinn Perkins, tweeted a photo of the door to her on-set trailer, all lit up because it was a night shoot.

'Sweet rollercoaster ride': Darby Stanchfield, who plays crisis management expert turned White House Chief Of Staff Abby Whelan, paid tribute to Kerry and Shonda on Twitter

'And by "super-emotiona'" I mean worried about money': Joshua Malina, who plays the U.S. Attorney General David Rosen, was charmingly forthright in his farewell

'Gettin down to it, as the final night on set becomes the final morning...couple scenes left. SO MUCH LOVE on this set right now. Thinking about you, #gladiators. #Scandal,' ran her message accompanying the snapshot.

Joshua Malina, who plays the U.S. Attorney General David Rosen, was charmingly forthright in his farewell: 'I am super-emotional on this last day of #Scandal. And by super-emotional I mean worried about money.'

Cornelius Smith Jr., who plays civil rights activist turned White House Press Secretary Marcus Walker, wrote on Twitter in Saturday's wee hours: 'Its gettin real over here. Last scene of @ScandalABC goin down right now... #ScandalFam'.

Real time: Cornelius Smith Jr., who plays civil rights activist turned White House Press Secretary Marcus Walker, posted on Twitter as the 'Last scene' was being filmed

'That's a WRAP on @scandalabc,' wrote one of its stars Bellamy Young, who posted a video of cast and crew applauding rapturously as the show wrapped.

''ll love this family forever. That means YOU too. Thank you for being a part of this incredible ride! I'm profoundly grateful for every, every moment. With so much love.'

Scott Foley, who portrays National Security Agency director Jake Ballard, tweeted simply: 'To my #Scandal cast and crew, thank you. Thank you. Thank you.'

This last season began airing in October of last year, and has two episodes left to broadcast - one airing March 29 and the next on April 5.

Washington chic: 'That's a WRAP on @scandalabc,' wrote one of its stars Bellamy Young, who posted a video of cast and crew applauding rapturously as the show wrappedAs a model, she's known for high-fashion style.

But on Saturday Sofia Richie toned it down a bit for an outing with her current beau Scott Disick.

The 19-year-old LA native kept most of her outfit refreshingly simple.

Dynamic duo! On Saturday Sofia Richie toned it down a bit style-wise for an outing with her current beau Scott Disick

On top she went with a slate grey hoodie, while a pair of long straight fit jeans with several rips emphasized her long legs.

She then switched things up, and went for some very chic, sky-high stiletto boots.

Accessories included a fancy deep plum colored purse strapped across her body, and her favorite rectangular shades.

Her brunette tresses were parted in the middle and fell straight down her back, while nude lipstick adorned her otherwise make-up free visage.

Contrast! She then switched things up, and went for some very chic, sky-high stiletto boots

Reality star Scott, 34, looked very relaxed in his outfit as well.

He too opted for a hoodie, though his was cornflower blue, and paired it with some olive trousers and black sneakers.

A navy blue beanie no doubt provided some extra warmth on a rather chilly day in Los Angeles.

Nothing fancy: Reality star Scott, 34, looked very relaxed in his outfit as well

It seems the pair wasn't that concerned with the temperature though, as they both seemed to be enjoying some frozen yogurt.

The day date comes as there there may be trouble in paradise for Sofia and boyfriend Scott, who is no longer following his significant other on Instagram.

Moreover, Sofia escaped to Las Vegas earlier in the week without her squeeze, instead accompanying friend Lottie Moss on a private jet.

Disick and Richie became linked back in May when they were seen getting cozy on a yacht in Monaco.Saturday Night Live alum Bill Hader (2005-13) could not control his giggles as he triumphantly returned 'back home' to host the late-night NBC sketch show.

The 39-year-old Emmy-winning producer was helped out with surprise appearances by fellow returning SNL greats Fred Armisen and John Mulaney - as well as actor John Goodman returning with his impression of newly-fired Rex Tillerson.

But despite bragging about how he has appeared on 210 episodes over eight seasons, the Oklahoma-born funnyman repeatedly broke down into uncontrollable laughter as he hosted.

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Home sweet home: Saturday Night Live alum Bill Hader (2005-13) could not control his giggles as he triumphantly returned 'back home' to host the late-night NBC sketch show

'Live from New York!' The 39-year-old Emmy-winning producer was helped out with surprise appearances by fellow returning SNL greats Fred Armisen (2-L) and John Mulaney - as well as actor John Goodman (R) returning with his impression of newly-fired Rex Tillerson

Bill was met with loud screams as he reprised many of his most famous characters from his time on the show - with him losing it with laughter as he brought back flamboyant New York City correspondent Stefon on Weekend Update.

Asked to give tourists tips on how to celebrate St Patrick's Day, Hader hilariously broke character discussing clubs called Goosh, Off to Church Mother, and Stand Clear of the Closing Doors Please.

Ed Hardy-clad Stefon later consulted with his kinky 'attorney and conceptual p*** artist' Shai played by former SNL writer John Mulaney, who originally co-created Hader's character.

But the Power Rangers star had an even tougher time keeping it together as Horace, an elderly man in a wheelchair called whose wife Jeannie straddled him to have sex in front of her friends at a girls' game night.

He's ba-ack! The Oklahoma-born funnyman brought back flamboyant New York City correspondent Stefon on Weekend Update

Cracking: Asked to give tourists tips on how to celebrate St Patrick's Day, Hader hilariously broke character discussing clubs called Goosh, Off to Church Mother, and Stand Clear of the Closing Doors Please

Legal advice: Ed Hardy-clad Stefon later consulted with his kinky 'attorney and conceptual p*** artist' Shai played by former SNL writer John Mulaney (L), who co-created Hader's character

The other women were already annoyed when Jeannie (Cecily Strong) brought along her husband, with Bill in a bald cap with gray hair on the sides.

But they then insisted they had to have sex as they were desperate to have children and had to take advantage of his dose of erectile dysfunction medicine Cialis kicking in.

'We have to, you guys know how bad I want to have a baby,' she told her friends, with a small 'courtesy blanket' covering her lap.

'It's like breastfeeding in public, it's about accomplishing a task. It's not a sexual thing.'

Everyone broke: But the Power Rangers star had an even tougher time keeping it together as Horace, an elderly man in a wheelchair called whose wife Jeannie straddled him to have sex in front of her friends at a girls' game night

'Courtesy blanket': The May-December couple insisted they had to have sex as they were desperate to have children and had to take advantage of his dose of erectile dysfunction medicine Cialis kicking in

Giggling: The women finally apologized after Bill's pensioner shamed them for not supporting their friend who just wants to be a mom

After her friends initially kicked them out in horror, Bill's elderly man decided to stand their ground - with his wheelchair backing up into the table the other women were at as he tried to confront them.

Bill and Cecily, already giggling at maneuvering in the wheelchair with her on his lap, then burst out laughing, with Bill trying to hide behind Cecily's back as she also struggled to regain her composure as well.

The women finally apologized as Bill's pensioner shamed them for not supporting their friend who just wants to be a mom - with him letting out a sexual gasp just after they said sorry.

During Hader's opening monologue, he proudly recalling his eight seasons and 210 episodes on SNL, insisting: 'I was nervous for every one of them and I'm nervous now!'

During Hader's opening monologue, he proudly recalling his eight seasons and 210 episodes on SNL, insisting: 'I was nervous for every one of them and I'm nervous now!'

Separated from wife Maggie Carey in July: Bill made sure to give a shout out to his three daughters Hannah, 8; Harper, 5; and Hayley, 3

Quick change: He mentioned his girls were watching in California just as staff quickly got him into costume as soap star Devon for his popular recurring sketch, The Californians

Take the 405 to the 10! Armisen (L) returned as Stuart for the Valleyspeak soap where missing character Rosa had been deported

He also pretended to be shocked that most hosts only go on to promote something, saying that 'when they asked me to host I said I would love to but I have this new show called Barry on HBO premiering March 25th.'

After joking that he had no idea the skits that were fake TV ads were not for real products and that celebrities who surprised the hosts were not walking by coincidentally, he also said he knew the opening monologue can be 'as short as you want.'

Bill made sure to give a shout out to his three daughters Hannah, 8; Harper, 5; and Hayley, 3.

The Scottsdale Community College drop-out legally separated from their mother Maggie Carey in July after a decade of marriage - according to People.

Who's the lucky lady? The Documentary Now star also played a contestant on an Irish dating show, Kiss Me I'm Irish, on RTE One that prided itself on being 'the only channel on the telly not controlled by the bleeding British!'

Related: But it turns out two of the three contestants - Eileen and Siobhan - were both his first cousins

He mentioned his girls were watching in California just as staff quickly got him into costume as soap star Devon for his popular recurring sketch, The Californians.

Fred Armisen returned as Stuart for the Valleyspeak soap where Rosa was being deported - just for Pete Davidson to come on as 'Rosa's long-lost son, she told me my father would be here, his name is Devon.'

The Documentary Now star also played a contestant on an Irish dating show, Kiss Me I'm Irish, on RTE One that prided itself on being 'the only channel on the telly not controlled by the bleeding British!'

The other contestants were shocked when one of the three women, Siobhan, played by Cecily, turned out to be a cousin - with Bill smiling that that 'she's definitely off to an early lead.'

Auditioning: Later, Bill reprised his impersonations of Alan Alda and Clint Eastwood (pictured) pretending to be screentesting for Steven Spielberg's 1993 blockbuster Jurassic Park

Hooo-ah! As Al Pacino, Hader relished referring to cocaine and talking like the Oscar winner in Scent of a Woman

Nineties impressions: The SNL cast pulled together to play a cast of major supposedly screening, including Adam Sandler, O.J. Simpson, and Whoopi Goldberg

She later admitted the had even hooked up in an 'alley behind the fishmongers' -- with Cecily's lady saying at the shocked response:

'Calm down, we didn't have sex. Okay, we just had sex, we didn't get married or nothing.'

The one Irish-American in the running, Molly, played by Aidy Bryant, was then shocked further when the other woman, Eileen, played by Kate McKinnon, turned out to be a cousin as well.

Outraged, she asked if they feared 'deformities' of any offspring, with Bill's character Niall reeling off a long list of possible problems, then smiling: 'Great advice, but you're about 500 years too late.'

Welcome to Sedona! Bill also played a gray-haired Reiki healer who claimed to have been anally probed with a turkey baster by aliens who 'wanted my DNA for their little babies'

Daddy: As the tourists he told his story to ignored him, he was seen with an alien coming down and handing him a green baby

Later, Bill reprised his impersonations of Alan Alda, Al Pacino, and Clint Eastwood pretending to be screentesting for Steven Spielberg's 1993 blockbuster Jurassic Park.

The SNL cast pulled together to play a cast of major supposedly screening, including Alex Moffat as a spot-on Hugh Grant, as well as Ellen DeGeneres, Wesley Snipes, Whoopi Goldberg, Pee Wee Herman, Drew Barrymore, Gwen Stefani, Jodie Foster, and Eddie Vedder.

The skit got in a dig at the newly surfaced interview with O.J. Simpson which is being viewed as a 'confession' to the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ron Goldman, in a 'hypothetical' account of the deadly day.

Kenan Thompson played O.J. who said: 'If I did let the dinosaurs out, let me tell you how I would have done it. Hypothetically.'

'You're fired!' In another skit, he played a boss who fired Beck Bennett's character after he collected office utensils that were actually all an 'Undercover Office Potty'

'What is that smell?' Bill was caught with too many lamp-shaped toilets in his cubicle

He then smiled: 'Man, 1992: it is good to be O.J. right now. Ain't nothing gonna slow this train down.'

Bill also played a gray-haired Reiki healer who claimed to have been anally probed with a turkey baster by aliens who 'wanted my DNA for their little babies.'

As the tourists he told his story to ignored him, he was seen with an alien coming down and handing him a green baby.

In another skit, he played a boss who fired Beck Bennett's character after he collected office utensils that were actually all an 'Undercover Office Potty' - with Beck spilling his urine from them as he finally left.

'The Canadian Harvey Weinstein': Bill also pretended to be a super-polite Toronto producer named Thomas Logan who admitted telling women 'you look nice today'

He said in a CBC interview: 'It's all true, I definitely abused my power, so I just went ahead and resigned'

Band cameo: Joking on Canada's reputation for politeness, Canadian musical guests Arcade Fire also all came on to individually say 'sorry' for doing a soundtrack with the producer, with frontman Will Butler saying: 'Not Canadian, but still sorry'

Solid gold! Earlier the band had came out all dressed in metallic suits to start with the band's rousing hit Creature Comfort, following up later performing with slot machines near the front of their stage for Put Your Money on Me

Bill also pretended to be 'the Canadian Harvey Weinstein,' a super-polite Toronto producer named Thomas Logan who admitted telling women 'you look nice today' and praising their sweaters or sunglasses.

'It's all true, I definitely abused my power,' he said in an interview, adding: 'So I just went ahead and resigned.'

Joking on Canada's reputation for politeness, Canadian musical guests Arcade Fire also all came on to indivivually say 'sorry' for doing a soundtrack with the producer, with frontman Will Butler saying: 'Not Canadian, but still sorry.'

'Homer Is Where the Art Isn't': Bill will next voice seventies detective Manacek (R) in this Sunday's episode of Fox animated sitcom, The Simpsons

'Make Your Mark': Hader executive-produced, directed, and stars as low-rent hitman Barry Berkman in the dark comedy series Barry - which premieres March 25 on HBO

Earlier the band had came out all dressed in gold suits to start with the band's rousing hit Creature Comfort, following up later performing with slot machines near the front of their stage for Put Your Money on Me.

Bill will next voice seventies detective Manacek in this Sunday's episode of Fox animated sitcom The Simpsons, titled 'Homer Is Where the Art Isn't.'

Hader also executive-produced, directed, and stars as low-rent hitman Barry Berkman in the dark comedy series Barry - which premieres March 25 on HBO.They're two Hollywood mainstays with resumes dating back more than 40 years.

Bill Murray and Jeff Goldblum were together Saturday at the Paramount Theater in Austin, Texas for the 25th SXSW Film Festival to debut their animated film Isle of Dogs, the latest project from filmmaker Wes Anderson that was slated to close the annual cinematic extravaganza.

Murray, 67, wore a quirky ensemble of spruce fisherman's overalls with a plaid patch and suspenders over a light blue button-up shirt. He rounded out the ensemble with a cedar brown jacket, multicolored fisherman's cap and sneakers to the premiere.

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Double trouble: Jeff Goldblum, 65, and Bill Murray, 67, were together Saturday at the Paramount Theater in Austin, Texas for the 25th SXSW Film Festival to debut their animated film Isle of Dogs

Goldblum, the 65-year-old star of movies such as The Big Chill, Jurassic Park and Independence Day, kept things monochromatic in a black button-up short with black jeans and eyeglasses with thick black frames. He rounded out the dark ensemble with black boots.

Both Murray and Goldblum have collaborated with Anderson over the years, working together on projects such as The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou and The Grand Budapest Hotel.

Anderson recruited an all-star cast alongside the Tinseltown veterans for Isle of Dogs, as other notable names lending their voice to the production included Scarlett Johansson, Bryan Cranston, Liev Schreiber and Edward Norton.

The tandem of stars and the enigmatic director drew a number of starstruck responses on social media, as some took to Twitter to express their jubilation over their presence in Austin.

Fan favorite: Goldblum's popularity has surged in recent years, as he has a large online following

Gone fishin': The What About Bob? actor wore a fisherman's cap with matching overalls

Starry night: Goldblum was trailed by a throng of paps as he made his way onto the red carpet

One-of-a-kind: The comedy veteran posed for photographers amid the fanfare of the event

Creator: Director Wes Anderson hit the red carpet in a matching cider brown ensemble

Fan frenzy: People took to Twitter to share their excitement over the presence of stars at the screening

'Wow Jeff Goldblum & Bill Murray & Wes Anderson in the same room,' one person wrote, while another said, 'I just saw Wes Anderson, Bill Murray, and Jeff Goldblum all in a matter of minutes and Im NOT OKAY.'

Murray ventured out in Austin earlier in the day where he emerged on the city's Sixth Street, Austin360 reported, and read a poem to a gathering of fans, most of whom broke out their smartphones to record the spontaneous public appearance.

Isle of Dogs hits theaters March 23.

Quirky: The Ghostbusters star ventured out in Austin earlier Saturday where he emerged on the city's Sixth Street and read a poem to a gathering of fans - with musical accompaniment, to boot!

Enigmatic: Murray's career has been strong for more than 40 years, amid a stream of interesting projectsShe embarked on an intense health kick ahead of her appearance on Dancing On Ice, which helped her drop a stone in 12 weeks.

And runner-up Brooke Vincent reaped the rewards of the gruelling training that went into the ice-skating show as she flashed her enviable abs in a ruched off-the-shoulder black crop top on Saturday night.

Stepping out onto the streets of Manchester with three of her girlfriends, the 25-year-old looked to be in high spirits as she and her pals braved the bitter British weather by partying the night away.

Brooke Vincent showed off her killer abs in a black crop top as she enjoyed a girls night out on Saturday after she adopted a healthier lifestyle for Dancing On Ice training

Brooke looked incredible as she slipped her lithe legs into bell-bottom trousers that featured a fun yellow flower-power print, and was cinched at her waist to highlight her slender frame.

The brunette beauty's locks cascaded across her shoulders, and despite the strong winds on the night her hair continued to be styled to perfection as it stayed straight and framed her face beautifully.

The Coronation Street star brushed on simple yet glamorous make up, including just a touch of lipstick and mascara, as she made sure that her natural features were put on full display for the evening.

Flower power: Brooke looked incredible as she slipped her lithe legs into bell-bottom trousers that featured a fun flower print, and was cinched at her waist to highlight her slender frame

Great run: Brooke returned to her Manchester home after reaching the Dancing on Ice final despite believing she had been 'awful' at skating during her first few weeks on the show

The actress offset her all-black ensemble by adding a pop of colour with quirky red, orange and blue fringed earrings that helped make her stand out from the crowd.

Brooke returned to her Manchester home after a successful run on Dancing on Ice, which saw her reach the final despite believing she had been 'awful' at skating during her first few weeks on the show.

While she didn't take home the crown she did come in second place in the audience vote, and at the time she joked with the show's hosts, Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, about the result as she quipped: 'Are you sure it's not a fix?'

In January, Brooke revealed that she had lost a stone thanks to the show, which she achieved through her training, and by ditching cigarettes and junk food.

Healthy lifestyle: In January, Brooke revealed that she had lost a stone thanks to the show, which she achieved through training, and by ditching cigarettes and junk food

Speaking to the Mirror about her impressive weight-loss, the actress, discussed the hard work she had put in to the show, both fitness-wise and on the ice.

Reflecting on her new lifestyle, the Coronation Street star revealed she kicked her smoking habit for good, after banning cigarettes during training.

She said: 'It was definitely nice to come into [the show] prepared and strong and ready. But to still not have had a cigarette, that was massive for me.'

When asked if she would have acted differently if she had been smoking, she said: 'I would have definitely have been a lot more snappy,' before vowing: 'Im definitely not going back to cigarettes.'The latest trailer for her next outing as Gamora in the hotly anticipated Avengers: Infinity War was released on Friday.

And Zoe Saldana took on her favourite role as mum as she attended a party with adorable one-year-old son Zen in Los Angeles on Saturday.

The 39-year-old actress pulled together an effortlessly glam look as she strolled with the youngster, styling a chic black button-up blouse and matching cardigan combo.

Doting mum: Zoe Saldana cuts a sophisticated look in a black blouse and artistic skirt as she takes her adorable son to a party in in Los Angeles on Saturday

Zoe's demure look continued with a knee-length skirt adorned with a patchwork of different artistic designs.

The Marvel beauty heightened her statuesque frame with a pair of black kitten heels as she enjoyed the Californian sunshine with her little one and a male companion.

Zoe completed the glamorous ensemble with a classic black quilted bag over her shoulder, while an assortment of rings gave a hint of sparkle.

With her signature raven tresses kept in its naturally straight style, the Star Trek actress amplified her ensemble with a vibrant red lip and a hint of mascara.

Zoe - who is mum to three-year-old twins Bowie and Cy and one-year-old Zen - shares her parent duty with husband Marco Perego, 39.

Yummy mummy: Zoe's demure look continued with a unique A-line skirt adorned with a patchwork of different artistic designs

The showbiz couple met in May 2013 and were married three months later in London after their whirlwind romance.

A year later, Zoe announced the birth of their twin boys, and welcomed son Zen in February 2017.

Previously opening up about her family to People, Zoe admitted she was 'very meticulous' about how she and Marco discussed the way they completed their brood, until their youngest son is older.

Natural beauty: With her signature raven tresses kept in its naturally straight style, the Star Trek actress amplified her ensemble with a vibrant red lip and a hint of mascara

Happy couple: Zoe - who is mum to three-year-old twins Bowie and Cy and one-year-old Zen - shares her parent duty with husband Marco Perego, 39 (Pictured July 2016)

She explained: 'When were there, when the time comes and our third baby is a little older, and all the forces that helped us have him with us are comfortable, then we will share it because we know it would be very positive and inspiring to many families that are looking to complete themselves and are not able to do it in the conventional way.

'Seeking alternative ways to start a family should be encouraged, should be empowered and I think we should spread that education, that information out there, when the time is right.'

Zoe can next be seen on the big screen for the latest Marvel sequel Avengers: Infinity War as assassin Gamora, who's Guardians Of The Galaxy team link up with The Avengers to try and stop intergalactic despot Thanos from destroying the universe.She recently said her marriage was over, only to share an image of 'the morning after pill' online.

And at the weekend, Lisa Oldfield joked about her love life with husband David Oldfield, taking to Instagram to share a shot of a medical form she had filled out.

The Real Housewives star - who has just appeared on I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! - joked on the form that the contraception she uses is 'my husband's personality'.

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'The doctor and nurses certainly appreciated my candour': Lisa Oldfield jokes her and husband David's contraception is his 'PERSONALITY'...after declaring their marriage was 'over'

'Well the doctor and nurses certainly appreciated my candour,' Lisa captined the post.

'That's gold,' one person commented underneath the post.

Lisa also revealed on the form that she had two miscarriages.

Keeping her fans up-to-date: She took to Instagram to share a shot of a medical form she had filled out

Making headlines: She recently said her marriage was over, only to share an image of 'the morning after pill' online

Last week, Lisa shared a snap of emergency contraception - the 'morning after pill' - hinting her and David's love is completely fine, after saying their marriage was 'over.'

The outspoken reality star posted a photo of her hand holding the Postrelle-branded medication.

She then described a pretend scenario with her pharmacist, writing they had said to her: 'Before I can prescribe this medication, was there any violence involved?'

The mother of two joked she had replied: 'Well, I did nudge him in the ribs pretty hard to wake him up.'

She's not shy! Last week, Lisa shared a snap of emergency contraception - the 'morning after pill' - hinting her and David's love is completely fine, after saying their marriage was 'over'

One of Lisa's followers didn't appear to appreciate the gag, writing in the comments section: 'Stupid joke for women who actually need it' and adding the tag 'idiot'.

'I actually did need it you f***ing idiot,' Lisa quickly responded.

After her eviction from the I'm A Celebrity jungle, she told the show's co-host Julia Morris her marriage to David was 'over'.

After calling her husband a 't**t', she confirmed she 'will be speaking to a divorce lawyer' upon returning to Sydney.

'I feel like he is a boat anchor around my neck, and after 17 years I've had a revelation,' she said.They've had one of the rockiest relationships on Married At First Sight this season.

And on Sunday's installment, Dean Wells and 'wife' Tracey Jewel split.

Tracey decided to part ways with Dean at the vow renewal ceremony, after he admitted: 'I think I've found the one.'

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'You don't deserve me!' Married At First Sight's Tracey Jewel SPLITS with 'husband' Dean Wells at the vow renewal ceremony after his 'affair'...after he called her 'the one'

Tracey broke Dean's heart when she told him: 'You don't deserve me!'

'This experiment has reminded me that when I love a person, I must not forget to take care of myself, too - that I trust too easily,' Tracey said.

'This experiment has shaken me awake and helped me see what I'm worth. And unfortunately, Dean, you don't deserve me,' Tracey said, as Dean looked shocked and got teary.

'I have too many doubts': Tracey said she simply couldn't overcome his 'affair' with bikini model Davina Rankin

Controversial: Pictured is Davina Rankin

Tracey said she simply couldn't overcome his 'affair' with bikini model Davina Rankin.

The mother of one added: 'I'm so sorry, Dean. But I have too many doubts to trust you.'

'I want to believe you have truly changed and we have so much murky water under the bridge between us...I just can't continue this relationship with you.'

Dean couldn't believe what he was hearing, after he told Tracey in his vows that he 'loved' her and wanted to have a 'future' with her.

'I don't know what to say, I thought everything was okay,' he told her, as he started to walk off.

Ouch: 'I want to believe you have truly changed and we have so much murky water under the bridge between us...I just can't continue this relationship with you'

Walking away: Dean couldn't believe what he was hearing, after he told Tracey in his vows that he 'loved' her and wanted to have a 'future' with her

'I have to be true to myself, too,' Tracey said.

Dean got emotional and said how heartbroken he was.

'It's hard to think straight right now. I just told her that I love her. I just committed my whole life to her and now she's just gone.'

Tracey then hopped into the wedding car she had arrived in, saying if Dean hadn't 'betrayed' her trust, they could be together.

'I came into this wanting a relationship and wanting a husband. All I ever wanted was someone to love me,' she said.

Done: Tracey then hopped into the wedding car she had arrived in, saying if Dean hadn't 'betrayed' her trust, they could be together

'If he hadn't betrayed my trust, then I would have loved him back, too. And that's really sad. That's really sad for us. But I can't get over it. I've tried.'

Meanwhile, Patrick and Charlene also had a vow renewal ceremony on Sunday night.

The couple decided to stay together.

Smitten: Meanwhile, Patrick and Charlene also had a vow renewal ceremony

In his vows, Patrick said how much he has enjoyed his time with Charlene and how he admires her for being such a strong woman.

'You are, without a doubt, the best thing that's happened to me in a very long time,' Patrick said.

'And there is nothing I want more than the future with you. I don't want to say goodbye to us. I'm not ready to let you go,' he said.

Charlene then read her vows, misleading him a little when she sounded like she was about to break up with him.

'The best thing that's happened to me': In his vows, Patrick said how much he has enjoyed his time with Charlene and how he admires her for being such a strong woman

'Is that person you?' Charlene then read her vows, misleading him a little when she sounded like she was about to break up with him

'I've also felt my strength has often left you scared,' she said.

'For me, it's really important to be with someone that can meet my strength. It was this side of our relationship that I felt we both struggled with and, as a result, it left a hole on the physical side of our relationship.'

'Standing here at the end of the experiment, I've been questioning how our worlds would work together and where we're heading.'

She continued: 'Patrick...I came into this experiment wanting to meet someone -a lifetime partner, my forever love. The question is, is that person you?'

Making him smile, she said: 'But there's only one way to find out. So let's do this. Let's see where this takes us beyond the experiment and find out what our future holds.'She's constantly turning heads with her sartorial elegance.

And Gwyneth Paltrow worked her red carpet magic alongside fellow actress Kate Bosworth at the 2018 Sun Valley Film Festival in Idaho on Saturday.

The 45-year-old made a callback to an eighties trend as she rocked a monochrome tweed jumper with dramatic padded sleeves as she was named Vision Award winner at the cinematic bash.

Retro vibes: Gwyneth Paltow, 45, gave a nod to the 80s in a vintage tweed jumper with padded shoulders as she joined Kate Bosworth at the Sun Valley Film Festival on Saturday

Gwyneth braved the wintry weather in her layered ensemble by teaming her chic cropped jumper with a delicate white lace shirt underneath.

The Iron Man actress opted for a more professional look with form-fitting black slacks paired with sheer embellished Roger Vivier booties.

Gwyneth beamed on the red carpet for the star-studded event, leaving her signature blonde locks boasting a natural curl.

Stylish ensemble: Kate Bosworth rocked a sophisticated black ensemble for her close up moment at the star-studded event

Snow angel! Gwyneth braved the wintry weather in her layered ensemble by teaming her chic cropped jumper with a delicate white lace shirt underneath

Letting her eye-catching ensemble do all the talking, the lifestyle guru kept the accessories to a minimum, with an array of dainty rings and minimalist earrings.

Gwyneth had lots to celebrate recently after launching her first podcast under her Goop lifestyle brand - her first guest being the iconic TV host Oprah Winfrey.

The mother-of-two shared a photo of herself with the 64-year-old talk show queen to Instagram on Thursday, showing the pair engaged in uproarious laughter.

Office chic: The Iron Man actress opted for a more professional look with form-fitting black slacks paired with sheer embellished Roger Vivier booties

Proud: Gwyneth beamed on the red carpet for the star-studded event, leaving her signature blonde locks boasting a natural curl

Hollywood darling: Letting her eye-catching ensemble do all the talking, the lifestyle guru kept the accessories to a minimum, with an array of dainty rings and minimalist earrings

Gwyneth announced in January that she was engaged to Glee producer Brad Falchuck, who also works on American Crime Story.

He presented her with an engagement ring which she has been wearing ever since.

In July 2016 she divorced Chris Martin, with whom she has two children: Apple, 13, and Moses, 11.

Gwyneth proudly held her accolade on the red carpet, where she also rubbed shoulders with gal pal Kate Bosworth.

Successful evening: Sun Valley Film Festival Director Candice Pate beamed alongside Gwyneth as they posed together on the red carpet

Gal pals: Gwyneth gladly threw her arm around fellow actress Kate as both winners enjoyed the evening

The Blue Crush star, 35, couldn't take her eyes off director husband Michael Polish as the pair packed on the PDA on the red carpet.

Clearly smitten with each other, Kate couldn't help but smile at her beau while she rocked a unique black jumper with peplum hem and exaggerated sleeves.

Kate slipped her lithe pins into a pair of chic black cigarette pants, before stepping out in killer black heels.

Sultry pose: The star's golden tresses were left naturally straight, while a nude make-up palette accentuated her soft facial features

Sweet couple: The Blue Crush star, 35, couldn't take her eyes off director husband Michael Polish as the pair packed on the PDA on the red carpet

The star's golden tresses were left naturally straight, while a nude make-up palette accentuated her soft facial features.

Kate's sparkling wedding ring was her only accessory as she let her sophisticated garb do the leg work.

Unable to get enough of his love, Michael sweetly kissed Kate before posing together on the red carpet.

The Californian director wrapped up warm against the snowy climes in a quilted jacket and scarf teamed with dark jeans and mountain trainers.

PDA moment! Unable to get enough of his love, Michael sweetly kissed Kate before posing together on the red carpet

Kate picked up the prestigious Pioneer Award at the Sun Valley Film Festival for her work producing and starring in Michael's sex-trafficking drama Nona - the showbiz couple's sixth film collaboration together.

'My husband and I heard a story on NPR that spoke to the number of known sex houses in the Los Angeles area,' Kate said of the inspiration.

'It was shocking because some were not so far from our house...It's one of the world's biggest epidemics. For Michael and me, it was important to make a movie that is first and foremost about humanity.'

The couple's outing comes after announcing she'll next play Sharon Tate in her husband's fully-authorized biopic, Tate.

Proud husband: The Californian director wrapped up warm against the snowy climes in a quilted jacket and scarf teamed with dark jeans and mountain trainersHe welcomed his first son Revel James in October with wife Renee.

And Matthew Morrison proved he's taking life as a new dad in his stride as he took his five-month-old son out for a shopping trip in Los Angeles on Saturday.

The 39-year-old actor swaddled the youngster in a colourful cartoon baby carrier while he took a casual stroll with wife Renee.

Like father like son: Doting dad Matthew Morrison, 39, carried mini-me son Revel James on his chest as he embarked on a family shopping trip with wife Renee is Los Angeles on Saturday

The Glee actor rocked a crisp white shirt for the outing, teamed with relaxed blue jeans and tan leather boots.

Matthew did a good job of shielding his eyes from the bright Californian sunshine as he donned a sharp cream trilby with a fun feather accent for his family day outing.

With baby Revel in toe, the Broadway star did most of the heavy lifting, placing Revel in a cloth baby carrier later on while the tot dozed off.

Wife Renee pulled off some serious retro vibes for the shopping trip, opting for a vintage patterned cardigan and bootcut blue jeans.

Family time: Matthew did a good job of shielding his eyes from the bright Californian sunshine as he donned a sharp cream trilby with a fun feather accent for his family day out

Having bounced back from her pregnancy, the Exes actress added height to her lithe pins in a pair of wicker-style heeled boots that perfectly matched her tan baby bag.

Renee beamed as she walked alongside the musical hunk, as she tied her hair into a loose braid and rocked a navy blue sun hat.

Accessorised with an elegant drop pendant, the smitten couple walked side-by-side for their day out together.

Doting dad: With baby Revel in toe, the Broadway star did most of the heavy lifting, placing Revel in a cloth baby carrier later on while the tot dozed off

Their outing comes after Matthew condemned the producers of Chinese film Crazy Alien for their treatment of animals on the film set.

Matthew was shocked to learn of the animal abuse on the set of his latest flick after seeing footage of a puppy being locked into a cage and suspended 20 feet into the air, before being violently spun around, and dumped into a freezing river.

A whistleblower on set captured the horrific moment on tape in November, alerting PETA to the animal abuse that saw a young German Shepherd bark madly, then go silent in fear once the traumatizing stunt began.

'Outrage': The star voiced his concern on Twitter yesterday saying he is heartbroken over the stunt

Taking to Twitter to express his concern on Friday, Matthew said he was outraged by the video adding: 'I've just been made aware and seen a video from the set of a film I worked on in China. My heart is broken to see any animal treated this way.

'Had I been on set or known about this, I would have made all efforts to stop this. I've called the producers to express my outrage,' he added.

PETA is calling for the scene to be cut from the Crazy Alien film - directed by Hao Ning - and is asking the cast, including Morrison, to donate their salaries to animal-protection charities in China.She's just returned from the warmer climes of Australia while filming the latest series of Geordie Shore.

And Chloe Ferry wasted no time getting back out into the Newcastle party scene as she let her hair down with boyfriend Sam Gowland at clubbing hot spot Bijoux in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The 22-year-old reality star didn't appear to need to adjust to the freezing weather as Chloe barely wrapped up for her night out, with clear strappy sandals leaving her feet exposed to the snow.

Chilly climes! Snow good footwear! Chloe Ferry defies the freezing weather in a curve hugging mini-dress and clear strappy heels as she parties the night away in Newcastle on Saturday

Chloe poured her curvaceous frame into a skin-tight black mini-dress the plunging neckline barely able to contain her eye-popping cleavage.

Clearly having a bit of trouble with her lacy ensemble, the Celebrity Big Brother star attempted to hitch up the top before she almost suffered an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction.

With the aid of a gal pal, Chloe braved the slippery pavements in her clear strapped killer heels as she carried her belongings in a pastel pink clutch bag.

Oops! Clearly having a bit of trouble with her lacy ensemble, the Celebrity Big Brother star attempted to hitch up the top before she almost suffers an wardrobe malfunction

Ouch! Chloe exposed her toes to the frosty weather outside wearing barely-there perspex sandals despite the snow on the ground outside

Chloe's long platinum locks were straightened far past her shoulders, while the MTV starlet opted for a dramatic smokey eye and striking pink lipstick.

Chloe added hints of shimmer with her sparkling ring and wrist watch, but didn't mind letting all the attention go on her sizzling outfit.

Boyfriend and fellow Geordie Shore member Sam Gowland attempted to keep up with the girls but lurked far behind in his eye-catching salmon pink shirt.

Chloe's outing comes as the showbiz couple revealed they got each other's names tattooed on them in an intimate bath selfie, after five months of dating.

Worse for wear: Chloe's long platinum locks were straightened far past her shoulders, while the MTV starlet opted for a dramatic smokey eye and striking pink lipstick

Yet, their fans went wild on social media after the platinum-haired beauty shared a shirtless snap of her beau and his 'Chloe' inking on Instagram on Thursday.

In the candid snap, Sam proudly showcased his new tattoo on his collarbone, which spells her name, as he smiled towards the camera.

Opting to stay off camera, the reality star flashed her statement watch and dark manicure in the photo simply captioned: 'Chloe'.

Beaming: In the candid snap, Sam proudly showcased his new tattoo on his collarbone, which spells her name, as he smiled towards the camera

And after nearly five months together Chloe and Sam have admitted they are already talking about tying the knot.

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline in January Chloe said: 'We've both talked about it, I've said I never want to be with another man in my life, Sam is definitely the one.'

Revealing she is in no rush to tie the knot however, she added: 'in the future', as Sam confessed: 'I'm the same'.

The hunk added: 'Chloe is a good looking girl but there's just something else there as well, she's just on my level, we've both got the same crack, it's just very easy-going to be honest.

'I'm a bit mad myself, she's like the girl version of me. I like her for the way she is. I don't want to stop her being the way she is.'She's the famed block star who has three shows, a thriving interior design business and still manages to be crowned mother of the year by her two industry-following children.

And television personality Shaynna Blaze has unveiled the secrets to her career success  embarrassing her children included.

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, the 55-year-old revealed: 'Probably what drives me is that I don't want to be boring and I don't want to be bored. I always need a project.'

Trifecta! Famed block star Shaynna Blaze has three shows and a thriving interior design business, unveiled the secrets to her career success  embarrassing her children included

The star is gearing up to hit Nine's new property series, Buying Blind, her latest reality housing show that will sit next to Lifestyle's Selling Houses and The Block in her credit list.

Shaynna said that when she first applied to be part of Foxtel's Lifestyle production alongside Andrew Winter and Charlie Albone 11 years ago, her kids begged her not to embarrass them on television.

'The whole time my son just kept saying 'mum, just don't embarrass me,' and I just thought 'that's every parent's revenge, isn't it?' The talented interior designer shared.

Golden age! The television face is gearing up to hit Nine's new property series, Buying Blind, with will tick off as her third reality housing show, sitting next to Lifestyle's Selling Houses and The Block

After separating from her children's while they were young, the presenter shared that reinventing herself and starting her flourishing interior business, Blank Canvas, helped her thrive and succeed.

Admitting that raising her children as a single parent had its difficulties, she said she channeled her frustrations into a will to succeed.

'I never travelled when I was younger, so being able to sink your teeth into projects that take you all around the country, now they're taking me all around the world, it's an adventure,' she shared.

Travel bug! 'I never travelled when I was younger, so being able to sink your teeth into projects that take you all around the country, now they're taking me all around the world, it's an adventure,' the 55-year-old mother-of-two shared

Following her mother's death from a torturous demise with Alzheimer's disease, the go-getter turned the tragic personal experience into a positive one.

Creating a wellness centre in the Greek Islands, the jet-setter founded the concept on the premise of creating a positive environment for those suffering and their families alike, while simultaneously embracing her inner travel bug.

With her positive attitude placing first and foremost, deriving beneficial concepts to help others and utilising her passions have proved to be the secret to Shaynna's glistening career success.He sparked rumours of a secret wedding on Friday night when he was spotted wearing a wedding ring, mere few months after his divorce from Petra Ecclestone.

But now James Stunt's new girlfriend - identified on Sunday as former Hollyoaks actress Samantha Rowley - has been seen brandishing a huge sapphire ring.

The dazzling blue rock was worn on her engagement finger as they stepped out together in London on Saturday night, and is believed to be worth 1.5million.

My, that's a big rock: James Stunt has reportedly given Hollyoaks actress girlfriend Samantha Rowley a 1.5million sapphire ring, which she was seen brandishing on a night out with the Playboy on Saturday in London

While the ink from his tumultuous divorce from Formula One heiress is barely dry, insiders say James has gifted the Petra lookalike the stunning ring.

MailOnline can now reveal that the beauty on James' arm is Samantha Rowley, a one-time soap actress who enjoyed a fleeting role in Channel 4's Hollyoaks.

Samantha played devious Clare Devine in 2005, but when the character returned to screens in 2006, she was curiously replaced by lookalike actress Gemma Bissix.

During her time in the limelight, Samantha was featured in the reality show Make Me A Supermodel on Five in March 2005, in which she came fourth.

Stepping out: James was still wearing a ring on his wedding finger, two days after prompting speculation that he had secretly wed again

Quite some ring: The Petra lookalike flashed the huge sapphire for all to see during a night out on Friday

This is only the third time that Samantha and James have been pictured together, despite James choosing a number of glamorous female companions for his nights out in London.

James was last seen with the blonde in January, before they reunited for two consecutive nights out this weekend.

On Friday night, when Samantha and James headed to Nobu in Mayfair, he raised eyebrows with a ring worn on his wedding finger.

The billionaire gold dealer was also seen bizarrely handing out wads of cash to beggars before making calls on a satellite phone.

Samantha looked every inch the bombshell as she sported an immaculate blowdry and a glamorous coat of make-up, while dressing her slender figure in an all-black rocker inspired look.

Has he married? It appears as though James Stunt has tied the knot again, as he sported what looked like a wedding ring while enjoying the company of a Petra Ecclestone lookalike at Nobu in Mayfair on Friday

Finances: The 35-year-old billionaire gold dealer was also seen continuing his bizarre behaviour as he gave out wads of cash to beggars

Stunt's divorce to ex-wife Petra proved to be incredibly bitter and he also went as far as labelling her billionaire father Bernie Ecclestone an 'evil dwarf' and a 'C-list celebrity'.

Having wed in a lavish, 12 million Italian ceremony in 2011, the couple enjoyed an extraordinarily extravagant life together, splashing out on a 100 million Chelsea mansion and a 123-room, 158 million home in LA.

But their marriage hit the rocks, sparking a bitter divorce battle last summer.

During a bad-tempered hearing, details of their marriage were laid bare, including hotly disputed allegations that Mr Stunt was abusive, violent and took overdoses.

Bitter: Stunt's divorce to ex-wife Petra proved to be incredibly bitter and he also went as far as labelling her billionaire father Bernie Ecclestone an 'evil dwarf' and a 'C-list celebrity' (pictured together in 2014)

Familiar face: Samantha is best known for a brief stint on Hollyoaks, on which she played the character Clare Devine

The divorce proceedings were not short of controversy and Mr Stunt was even accused of making a 'gun gesture' to Petra's father Bernie Ecclestone at one point.

While no details of the settlement were released, it was reported that James signed a 16 million prenuptial agreement, with Petra also awarded sole custody of the couple's three children in January.

Since late last year Petra has been photographed with a new man, Sam Palmer, a vintage car dealer who is friends with 33-year-old Tamaras husband Jay Rutland.

Its very early-on dating, she told Mail On Sunday's YOU magazine this weekend. The whole thing is quite strange because my life didnt pan out the way I expected it to. I thought I wasnt the type who believed in divorce.

Glamorous: The actress wore a sophisticated quilted jacket with black trousers and heels

Chilly toes: The star wore peep toe heels that exposed her feet to the cold

New look: The beauty was seen heading out for dinner at C London restaurant

Familiar face: Samantha (here in October 2006) enjoyed a brief time in the limelight in 2005

Time in the spotlight: Pictured here in April 2006, Samantha was also a star of reality show Make Me A Model

'I go to church and I got married thinking I would be with that person for the rest of my life. But things happen for a reason and, whatever that reason is, Ive now got my three kids.

In her first interview since the divorce, Petra also spoke about being a single mother to their children.

Being a single mother is hard, she continued. Theres no day off. You cant take your eyes off them  its draining.

'Things like going on holiday are tough. Last week we were in Dubai and I had a nanny, but its not the same. Youre not a family.

Glamorous arrival: The beauty showed off the ring as she tucked her hair behind her earsIt seems his son hasn't apologized to his dad for punching him in the face.

But even if Brandon had said sorry for knocking Tommy Lee unconscious on March 5, it's too late for the ex-Motley Crue drummer to withdraw battery charges against him.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is wrapping up its probe into the incident and the case is headed to the DA's office, TMZ reported on Sunday citing law enforcement sources.

Swollen lip: Tommy Lee showed off his injuries on Instagram earlier this month after getting into a fight with his son Brandon, 21. Now his battery case against him could end up in court

Brandon, 21, who has been cooperating in the investigation, will find out what, if any, charges he faces once the Sheriff kicks the case to the DA's office.

Tommy, 55, claims he got sucker-punched, but his son says it was self-defense.

It was Tommy's fiancee, Internet star Brittany Furlan, 31, who called 911 asking for help after Brandon knocked Tommy out.

Her scared voice can be heard on a recording of the emergency call, that TMZ has obtained, as she tended to the unconscious drummer.

Mother and son: Brandon's fight with his dad was over his mother, Pamela Anderson, seen at an event in Beverly Hills in June. He will find out whether he faces charges once the Sheriff sends the case to the D.A.'s office

Her own troubles: Pamela, seen earlier this month, will be questioned by the FBI about her relationship with Julian Assange in London

Tommy's ex-wife Pamela Anderson, who is mother to Brandon and their younger son Dylan, 20, claims the rocker's heavy boozing was to blame for the altercation.

The source added Brandon lashed out because his dad called-out Pamela on Twitter, after she discussed domestic abuse during her marriage on Piers Morgan's Life Stories.

Brandon later acknowledged in a statement that the social media attack regarding his mother was the cause of their argument.

They clean up well? Nikki Sixx, Mick Mars, Lee, and Vince Neil all done up in their rocker costumes while Motley Crue announces final European Tour announcement at The Law Society in London in 2015

'I'm devastated at the events of the last several days that have been a result of my father's alcoholism,' he said.

'I've worked tirelessly organizing an intervention and it's incredibly upsetting that it never came to fruition.

'I wanted my dad's hopeful sobriety and recovery to be a private family matter but, as a result of his accusations on social media, I feel forced to speak out.'

Trying to make a point? It's unusual that Lee has leaned on the police instead of getting counseling with his son; seen in June in LA with drink in hand

Meanwhile, Pamela will be questioned by the FBI about her relationship with Julian Assange in London, it has been claimed.

According to US website Radar Online, the 50-year-old faces a grilling over her visits to Assange who has been holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London since 2012 after being accused in Sweden of rape and sexual assault by two women.

Assange feared that if he went to Sweden to defend himself he would be extradited to America where he is wanted over Wikileaks releases of US military documents. Sweden dropped the sex charges last year.She's carved out a quiet rural life in the heartland of the Kentish countryside.

But Kelly Brook still enjoys the luxuries of a first-class getaway, evident with her enviable list of holidays over the last 12 months.

Between March last year until her most recent beach retreat in Thailand this week, the 38-year-old pin-up has been on a staggering 13 holidays, seven of which occurred in the last three months.

Holiday babe: Globe trotter Kelly Brook racked up an impressive holiday album after a whopping 13 holidays in the last year...with SEVEN in the last THREE months

From St Tropez to Honk Kong, Kelly has filled up the pages in her passport with several exotic locations with handsome beau Jeremy Parisi.

Most recently, the cute couple jetted to Hong Kong and explored the inner workings of the bustling city, before stopping to take an adorable selfie together with the glistening cityscape lights behind them.

Prior to their Hong Kong exploration, Kelly and Jeremy soaked up the sun in Phuket, Thailand last week, where the British babe shared an array of sizzling bikini snaps to tantalise her 865k Instagram followers.

Loved up: From St Tropez to Honk Kong, Kelly has filled up the pages in her passport with several exotic locations with handsome beau Jeremy Parisi

Muscle bound: Boyfriend Jeremy enjoyed his moment in the spotlight, flexing his rippling muscles in one of many loved up shots in Kelly's enviable Instagram holiday album

Lapping it up: In one saucy pic, Kelly enjoyed some local delicacies in a plunging tropical bikini top that could barely contain her perky assets.

In one saucy pic, Kelly beamed as she leapt out of the water in a plunging tropical bikini top that could barely contain her perky assets.

Boyfriend Jeremy enjoyed his moment in the spotlight, flexing his rippling muscles in one of many loved up shots in Kelly's enviable Instagram holiday album.

In February, it was all about the city of love for Kelly and her beau, as they retreated to Paris, France for a romantic getaway.

Legs for days: Kelly flaunted her curvaceous figure once again as she lounged on a Parisian hotel chair in a decadent black embellished robe, with her endless legs on full display

Together: In February, it was all about the city of love for Kelly and her beau, as they retreated to Paris, France for a romantic getaway

The Celebrity Juice regular flaunted her curvaceous figure once again as she lounged on a Parisian hotel chair in a decadent black embellished robe, with her endless legs on full display.

It wasn't in Paris where the couple saw in Valentines day though, as they spent the romantic holiday in Los Angeles, California, where Kelly bared it all in white lacy lingerie with an an assortment of Valentines treats surrounding her.

The day before, the TV personality topped up her tan in Miami, Florida, where a fresh-faced Kelly donned a neon tasseled silk robe with just a teasing glimpse of her famously eye-popping cleavage.

Super sweet: Kelly spent the romantic holiday in Los Angeles, California, where Kelly bared it all in white lacy lingerie with an an assortment of Valentines treats surrounding her

Beach babe: Kelly topped up her tan in Miami, Florida, where a fresh-faced Kelly donned a neon tasseled silk robe with just a teasing glimpse of her famously eye-popping cleavage

Taking a step outside the States, Kelly and Jeremy traveled to Caribbean island Antigua at the beginning of February, and the TV queen made sure to flaunt her ample assets in her turquoise and magenta bikini top, with her signature brunette tresses styled with beachy waves.

The were no January blues for Kelly and her other half, who jetted to Iceland's capital Reykjavik, to take a dip in the famed Blue Lagoon.

Kelly made sure to soak up all the goodness from the geothermal spa in her low cut floral one-piece, before wrapping up in winter-ready pastel bobble hat and quilted jacket to steal a smooch from Jeremy.

Tanning: Kelly and Jeremy traveled to Caribbean island Antigua at the beginning of February, and the TV queen made sure to flaunt her ample assets in her turquoise and magenta bikini top

Sweet moment: Kelly wrapped up in winter-ready pastel bobble hat and quilted jacket to steal a smooch from Jeremy

In the blue: Kelly made sure to soak up all the goodness from the geothermal spa in Iceland in her low cut floral one-piece

Jet setting couple: While Christmas was spent surrounded by friends and family at her countryside retreat in Kent, November boasted another loved-up trip to Paris

Life of luxury: The model enjoyed a lavish Parisian hotel room during her November stay

City of culture: Next on the couple's travel list was Italy in September, which featured mouth-watering pasta dishes and an arty black and white selfie of the rich surroundings

While Christmas was spent surrounded by friends and family at her countryside retreat in Kent, November boasted another loved-up trip to Paris, where the model enjoyed a lavish Parisian hotel room.

Next on the couple's travel list was Italy in September, which featured mouth-watering pasta dishes and an arty black and white selfie of the rich surroundings.

Back in full colour for August when the couple enjoyed the sun-drenched beaches of Turkey, where Kelly's hourglass figure really shone in a skintight leopard print halter swimsuit.

Eye popping: Back in full colour for August when the couple enjoyed the sun-drenched beaches of Turkey, where Kelly's hourglass figure really shone

Pose it up: Saint Tropez and the French Riviera came calling in in July, where a sultry Kelly showed off her playful side in a delicate babydoll dress and rustic cowboy hat

Perfect in pink: The Loose Women panelist's love of all things French continued when she took a trip to Provence in the South of France earlier that month

Disney date: One more destination on the list included a magical trip to Disneyland with Jeremy in April, where Kelly revisited the childhood dream and donned Mickey Mouse ears

Saint Tropez and the French Riviera came calling in in July, where a sultry Kelly showed off her playful side in a delicate babydoll dress and rustic cowboy hat.

The Loose Women panelist's love of all things French continued when she took a trip to Provence in the South of France earlier that month.

One more destination on the list included a magical trip to Disneyland with Jeremy in April, where Kelly revisited the childhood dream and donned a pair of Mickey Mouse ears for her Parisian day.

It may have been a work call, but Kelly still enjoyed some screen time with ITV's daytime favourite This Morning back in the French Capital in March, having just kicked off her whirlwind jet-setting year with a family trip to Oxford.

Sight seeing: It may have been a work call, but Kelly still enjoyed some screen time with ITV's daytime favourite This Morning back in the French Capital in March 2017She has won critical acclaim for her feisty portrayal of Princess Margaret in Netflix series The Crown.

And Vanessa Kirby oozed elegance as she made a glittering arrival to the 2018 Empire Awards in London on Sunday.

The blonde beauty, 29, flaunted her lithe physique in a shimmering patterned gun-metal grey high-neck top, which clung to her slender waist and taut midriff.

Glittering: Vanessa Kirby oozed elegance as she made a glittering arrival to the 2018 Empire Awards in London on Sunday

She paired the dazzling top with a midnight blue sequinned skirt which featured silver and navy blue floral pattern on the hem.

Adding height to her look, she slipped on a pair of Rupert Sanderson Malory Heels in stardust brocade, adorned with a gemstone.

Her blonde locks were slicked back from her face while her sparkling peepers were enhanced with feline flicks of liner and fluttery lashes.

The BAFTA nominee completed her make-up look with peachy blusher, highlighter and a slick of rose lipstick.

Shimmer: The blonde beauty, 29, flaunted her lithe physique in a shimmering patterned gun-metal grey high-neck top, which clung to her slender waist and taut midriff

Wow factor: She paired the dazzling top with a midnight blue sequinned skirt which featured silver and navy blue floral pattern on the hem

Sparkle: Adding height to her look, she slipped on a pair of black, floral stilettos adorned with a gemstone

Flirty gaze: Her blonde locks were slicked back from her face while her sparkling peepers were enhanced with feline flicks of liner and fluttery lashes

Empire Awards 2018 WINNERS Best Film Call Me by Your Name Get Out Star Wars: The Last Jedi - WINNER Thor: Ragnarok Wonder Woman Best British Film Darkest Hour Dunkirk God's Own Country - WINNER Paddington 2 The Death of Stalin Best Director Patty Jenkins - Wonder Woman Rian Johnson - Star Wars: The Last Jedi - WINNER Jordan Peele - Get Out Taika Waititi - Thor: Ragnarok Edgar Wright - Baby Driver Best Screenplay Armando Iannucci, David Schneider, Ian Martin and Peter Fellows - The Death of Stalin James Ivory - Call Me by Your Name Francis Lee - God's Own Country Martin McDonagh - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Jordan Peele - Get Out - WINNER Best Actor John Boyega - Star Wars: The Last Jedi Armie Hammer - Call Me by Your Name Hugh Jackman - Logan - WINNER Gary Oldman - Darkest Hour Andy Serkis - War for the Planet of the Apes Best Actress Gal Gadot - Wonder Woman Tiffany Haddish - Girls Trip Frances McDormand - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Daisy Ridley - Star Wars: The Last Jedi - WINNER Emma Watson - Beauty and the Beast Best Male Newcomer Timothee Chalamet - Call Me by Your Name Ansel Elgort -Baby Driver Daniel Kaluuya - Get Out Josh O'Connor - God's Own Country - WINNER Fionn Whitehead - Dunkirk Best Female Newcomer Emily Beecham - Daphne Dafne Keen - Logan - WINNER Florence Pugh - Lady Macbeth Tessa Thompson - Thor: Ragnarok Kelly Marie Tran - Star Wars: The Last Jedi Best Comedy Girls Trip The Big Sick The Death of Stalin - WINNER The Disaster Artist Toni Erdmann Best Horror Get Out - WINNER It mother! Split The Autopsy of Jane Doe Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy Blade Runner 2049 Logan Star Wars: The Last Jedi Thor: Ragnarok Wonder Woman - WINNER Best Thriller Baby Driver John Wick: Chapter 2 Kingsman: The Golden Circle - WINNER The Handmaiden Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Best Animated Film Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie Coco - WINNER My Life as a Courgette The Lego Batman Movie The Red Turtle Best Documentary An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power City of Ghosts I Am Not Your Negro - WINNER I Called Him Morgan Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond Best Production Design Baby Driver - WINNER Dunkirk Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Star Wars: The Last Jedi Thor: Ragnarok Best Soundtrack Baby Driver - WINNER Beauty and the Beast Call Me by Your Name Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Logan Lucky Best Visual Effects Ghost in the Shell Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Star Wars: The Last Jedi - WINNER Thor: Ragnarok War for the Planet of the Apes Best Costume Design Alexandra Byrne - Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Michael Kaplan - Star Wars: The Last Jedi - WINNER The Death of Stalin Ellen Mirojnick - The Greatest Showman Mayes C. Rubeo - Thor: Ragnarok Best Makeup and Hair Styling Beauty and the Beast - WINNER Ghost in the Shell Murder on the Orient Express The Greatest Showman Thor: Ragnarok Best TV Series Big Little Lies Stranger Things The Crown - WINNER The Handmaid's Tale Twin Peaks Best Actor in a TV Series Jason Isaacs - Star Trek: Discovery - WINNER Kyle MacLachlan - Twin Peaks Alexander Skarsgard - Big Little Lies Matt Smith - The Crown Dan Stevens - Legion Best Actress in a TV Series Millie Bobby Brown - Stranger Things Claire Foy - The Crown Nicole Kidman - Big Little Lies - WINNER Elizabeth Moss - The Handmaid's Tale Reese Witherspoon - Big Little Lies Empire Legend of our Lifetime Award Steven Spielberg Empire Visionary Award Edgar Wright Empire Inspiration Amma Asante Empire Icon Mark Hamill Advertisement

Vanessa is due to leave her acclaimed role in The Crown for the show's upcoming third series, with Oscar-nominee Helena Bonham Carter set to step into her regal role.

A number of the stars, including protagonists Claire Foy and Matt Smith, are being replaced by older actresses and actors for authenticity as the third season moves into the later years surrounding the royals' lives.

Vanessa admitted she was 'gutted' and she joked she was so 'desperate' to continue the role that she was willing to 'smoke a million cigarettes' to 'age' herself.

Luminous: The BAFTA nominee completed her make-up look with peachy blusher, highlighter and a slick of rose lipstick

Waving it up: Vanessa looked stunning as she waved at her fans upon arrival

Banter: The star took time to chat with a pal as she prepared to head inside

Toned: The star showed off her toned frame in the figure-hugging ensemble

Jaw-dropping: The star looked radiant as she posed like a pro on the red carpet

New venture: Vanessa is due to leave her acclaimed role in The Crown for the show's upcoming third series, with Oscar-nominee Helena Bonham Carter set to step into her regal role

'I was desperate to carry on,' she told The Telegraph in November 2017. 'I was like, 'Right, Peter Morgan, The Crown creator, what do you want me to do? I'll smoke a million cigarettes in real life, I'll do anything to age myself

'I'm gutted. There hasn't been a part that's made me happier on-screen, and I really hope it has changed people's minds about her.'

The Netflix series  rumoured to have cost an estimated 100million for the first season alone  will be recast every two series as the central characters age.

Icon: Vanessa won fans the world over with her portrayal of Princess Margaret in The Crown

According to The Evening Standard, recasting Vanessa, who played the part in the first two seasons, came in order to continue the story and timeline.

The award-winning star was being eyed up to play Elizabeth in the show following the departure of Claire Foy but bosses decided she'd be better suited to Margaret while Olivia Colman will play the matriarch.

Following the red carpet, Vanessa took to the stage during the ceremony to accept Best TV Series for The Crown, which she admitted to nearly missing as she took a visit to the bathroom.

She said: 'I nearly missed this because I was in the loo,' before going onto say about the acclaimed drama: 'I genuinely thought my gran would watch it and that would be it.'Karl Stefanovic, 43, described his commitment ceremony with Jasmine Yarbrough, 33, as 'lovely' after the couple exchanged vows this month.

But the intimate affair was not without drama, with the Today host's children allegedly having little to no part in the ceremony.

An insider has claimed to Woman's Day this week that his oldest son Jackson, 18, 'has been estranged for some time' and subsequently was not invited.

Estranged? An insider has claimed to Woman's Day this week that Karl's Stefanovic's oldest son Jackson, 18, 'has been estranged for some time' and subsequently was not invited to the Today star's commitment ceremony this month

Karl shares his three children, including River, 11 and Ava, 12, with ex-wife of 21 years Cassandra Thorburn, 47, who he divorced last year.

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Karl Stefanovic for comment.

Karl and his shoe designer fiancee Jasmine recently exchanged vows at a $13 million Palm Beach mansion.

Smitten: Karl and his shoe designer fiancee Jasmine recently exchanged vows at a $13 million Palm Beach mansion

According to The Sunday Telegraph, the luxury property is owned by Rob Rankin, a former chairman of Crown resorts.

Billionaire James Packer and Karl's friendship goes back a long way, with the casino magnate previously offering the Channel Nine personality refuge in his Bondi pad following his split from wife Cassandra Thorburn in 2016.

'We are very much in love. We clicked right from the start,' Karl told publication after exchanging vows.

'It's a commitment ceremony. It was lovely.'

'Jasmine looked beautiful, but the whole vibe was very, very casual and low-key.'

Jasmine's sister Jade, parents Cheryl and Bob and even her 91-year-old nan were in attendance, as was Karl's brother, Peter Stefanovic and his wife Sylvia Jeffreys.

Blossoming romance: Karl and Jasmine have enjoyed a whirlwind romance since meeting at a Sydney boat party in December 2016

Delta Goodrem is also said to have scored an invite to the 'low-key affair.'

Karl and Jasmine have enjoyed a whirlwind romance since meeting at a Sydney boat party in December 2016.

The couple confirmed their engagement last month, with New Idea reporting Karl had popped the question to Jasmine during a holiday in Fiji.

Celebration: The couple confirmed their engagement last month, with New Idea reporting Karl had popped the question to Jasmine during a holiday in Fiji

In late February, after his bride-to-be flashed her $150,000 engagement ring, Nine's million dollar man confirmed the pair would likely get married this year.

Last year, Karl responded to criticism regarding how quickly his relationship with Jasmine has moved following his split with Cassandra.

'It was lovely': Karl gushed about his special day after the ceremony, telling The Sunday Telegraph - 'It's a commitment ceremony. It was lovely'

'I certainly did not expect to meet someone five months after I broke up with my wife,' he told Stellar magazine.

'That was not planned. I did not know her before. I met her on a boat in Sydney.

'We have a really lovely relationship, but it's got to be slow for a variety of reasons.'They are notorious 'frenemies' who never miss a chance to trade playful insults or challenge one another.

And Lord Sugar has pledged 50,000 to charity if his 'nemesis' Piers Morgan appears on the next series of Strictly Come Dancing, after the Good Morning Britain host hinted he would consider it.

The Apprentice mogul, 70, challenged the Good Morning Britain co-host, 52, after Piers gave an interview to The Mirror saying he would get involved if he could face-off against rival presenter Dan Walker.

Banter: Lord Sugar has pledged 50,000 to charity if his 'nemesis' Piers Morgan (above) appears on the next series of Strictly Come Dancing, after the Good Morning Britain host hinted he would consider it

Jibe: The Apprentice mogul, 70, challenged the Good Morning Britain co-host, 52, after Piers gave an interview to The Mirror saying he would get involved if he could face-off against rival presenter Dan Walker

He said: 'I would seriously consider it if it meant giving Walker a lesson in how to dance in front of nine million people.

A source added to the outlet: "Piers and Dan make Twitter digs at each other. It caught the attention of Strictly bosses, who want to tap into this rivalry. They think itd be a ratings hit.'

Galvanised by the star's words, Amstrad billionaire Lord Sugar tweeted:'I would pay 25K to charity to see this plonker in tight pants dancing and another 25K if he makes it past the first 5 weeks.

'@piersmorgan he is as agile as a pregnant donkey.'

Challenge: Galvanised by the star's words, Amstrad billionaire Lord Sugar tweeted:'I would pay 25K to charity to see this plonker in tight pants dancing and another 25K if he makes it past the first 5 weeks'

Banter: A whimsical Piers responded: 'Not the first time you've paid to see a man in tight pants dance for you, is it, Shuggsy...'

A whimsical Piers responded: 'Not the first time you've paid to see a man in tight pants dance for you, is it, Shuggsy...'

And it wasn't long before his GMB co-star, weatherman Alex Beresford got involved, tweeting Lord Sugar: 'With the greatest of respect he hasn't got the balls @Lord_Sugar. Week 2 tops, and that's only because you can't get voted out week 1.'

Lord Sugar responded in kind, saying: 'Yes Alex you are right. I hope the fellow at the BBC takes up the challenge then @piersmorgan is stuck for opening his big mouth.

'Force him to do it, embarrass him on @GMB @susannareid100 its up to 50K to charity.'

Dynamic: And it wasn't long before his GMB co-star, weatherman Alex Beresford got involved, tweeting Lord Sugar: 'With the greatest of respect he hasn't got the balls @Lord_Sugar. Week 2 tops, and that's only because you can't get voted out week 1'

Are you there Piers? The veteran journalist could follow in the footsteps of last year's contestants

Taking aim at Piers once more, Lord Sugar said he would donate the 50k to Great Ormond Street Hospital, saying: 'Come on Piersy you have opened that big mouth of yours now agree to do it.

'I am willing to pay up to 50K for charity to those poor kids at @GreatOrmondSt.'

This isn't the first time tempestuous pals have engaged in a challenge, in October, the pair took part in a weight loss contest.

And it was revealed that The Apprentice star had beaten Good Morning Britains anchor, leaving competitive Piers a little red in the face.

The duo had agreed that the person who lost the least weight would donate 5,000 to Great Ormond Street Hospital.

'Im going to have the biggest fry up you've ever seen!'This isn't the first time tempestuous pals have engaged in a challenge, in October, the pair took part in a weight loss contest

On Tuesday's weigh-in, it was revealed Lord Sugar had lost a whopping 19lbs, while Piers had lost 8lbs.

Despite Piers trying to claim his loss was due to an increase in muscle, resident doctor Dr Hilary revealed Lord Sugars percentage loss was also higher, 9.54% to Pierss 3.48%.

After chanting 'loser' repeatedly at Piers, Lord Sugar proved a worthy winner, opting to donate his 5,000 to Great Ormond Street as well - making it a 10,000 donation overall.

Weighing in: On Tuesday's weigh-in, it was revealed Lord Sugar had lost a whopping 19lbs, while Piers had lost 8lbs

Piers conceded defeat: 'Well played Lord Sugar, you win, I lose Im staggered, Ive lost any weight. Ive lost 8lbs. Im quite happy about that. Itll probably get me a dvd deal to lose weight'

He told the charitys representative: 'Im so pleased, bring me my cheque also you can have that one also.'

Piers conceded defeat: 'Well played Lord Sugar, you win, I lose Im staggered, Ive lost any weight. Ive lost 8lbs. Im quite happy about that. Itll probably get me a dvd deal to lose weight.'

He then admitted: 'Im going to go straight and have the biggest fry up youve ever seen.'

It was Dr Hilary who delivered the final blow to the pair however, adding: 'Can I give you some bad news? Youre both still overweight.'

He told the charitys representative: 'Im so pleased, bring me my cheque also you can have that one also'

Albeit for a good cause, their challenge wasn't without its fair share of insults, as Piers and Lord Sugar entertained viewers by bringing their playful spat onto the small screen in October.

Show host Piers had mocked Lord Sugar over his weight and asked the star if he had put on a few pounds, leaving his co-host Susanna stunned and quizzing whether it was 'appropriate' for Piers to comment on his guest's appearance.

Piers had joked to Lord Sugar: 'Are you chunking up a bit?' prompting the businessman to confess he had 'indulged' over the summer, as he replied:' I have put on 18lbs.'

Although, Lord Sugar didn't seem fazed by Piers' abruptness and hit back by branding the news reporter a 'beached whale'.

Frenemies: Lord Sugar, 70, and Piers Morgan, 52, brought their sparring to Good Morning Britain, as they playfully traded insults about each other's weight

At loggerheads: It wasn't just their weight that provided means for teasing, as Lord Sugar couldn't resist poking fun at Piers over his claims he is pals with Donald Trump

'Never you mind about me son,' he said, before teasing: 'Pot kettle, I saw you prancing around in the summer.'

Adding further insult, Lord Sugar then suggested that Piers' wife, Celia, wants him to lose weight, before then challenging his frenemy to an impromptu weigh off.

Piers and Lord Sugar bravely decided to take to the scales live on air to record their weight.

Lord Sugar had weighed 14st 3lbs, Piers was revealed to be 16st 6lbs, with him claiming his total was 'about right for my huge frame'. And of course, the weigh-in provided only more room for the pair to mock each other, with Piers branding Lord Sugar a 'blubber boy', only to be called a 'chubster' in return.Her effortless poise as the young Queen Elizabeth II earned her a Golden Globe award and international acclaim.

But The Crown actress Claire Foy showed off a very modern new look as she stepped out with a bowl haircut in London last week.

The 33-year-old actress, who recently announced her separation from her husband Stephen Campbell Moore, debuted the daring crop cut complete with shaved sides as she enjoyed a spot of shopping.

New look: The Crown actress Claire Foy showed off a very modern new look as she stepped out with a bowl haircut in London last week

The bowl-like cut, complete with a blunt black fringe, was shaved underneath - a trendy, alternative style called an undercut.

A world away from her perfectly coiffed bob in the hit Netflix drama, the star's brunette locks barely touched her ears as she completed her tomboy look with baggy jeans and white trainers.

She slipped on a chic navy blue coat and accentuated her pretty features with a light dusting of make-up.

The unusual new style comes just weeks after she announced her separation from husband Stephen Campbell Moore, months after he underwent crucial surgery to remove a brain tumour.

Transformation: A world away from her perfectly coiffed bob in the hit Netflix drama (R), the star's brunette locks barely touched her ears

Edgy; The 33-year-old actress, who recently announced her separation from her husband Stephen Campbell Moore, debuted the daring crop cut complete with shaved sides as she enjoyed a spot of shopping

The couple, who originally met while working on 2011 film Season Of The Witch, revealed they had parted ways long before the news was made public.

We have separated and have been for some time, they said. We do however continue as great friends with the utmost respect for one another.

A source claimed the couple are desperate to keep the split amicable for the sake of their daughter, two-year old Ivy Rose.

While the exact date of the break-up is not known, on the red carpet at Januarys Golden Globe awards in the US the actress kept her ring finger hidden in her pocket as she posed for pictures.

Style chameleon: Claire rocked strawberry blonde locks in November 2016

Caramel: She worked softer caramel flecked brunette locks and beachy waves in January 2017

Campbell Moore, who starred in the 2006 film The History Boys as well as the BBCs The Child In Time alongside Benedict Cumberbatch, has had two operations to remove brain tumours.

Five years ago, doctors found a benign tumour on his pituitary gland and removed it.

Last week, the star became embroiled in the gender pay debate after it was revealed she was paid less than her co-star Matt Smith, who plays Prince Philip in The Crown.

Changes; Claire rocked a blonde bob in May 2017 (L) before switching it over to chestnut in October 2017

The shows producer Suzanne Mackie said this would change in future series, saying: Going forward, no one gets paid more than the Queen.

She earned a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Awards for best actress following the first season. She also received nominations at the BAFTA and Primetime Emmy Awards.

Claire is due to leave her acclaimed role in The Crown for the show's upcoming third series, with Olivia Colman set to step into her regal role.

A number of the stars, including Matt Smith and Vanessa Kirby are being replaced by older actresses and actors for authenticity as the third season moves into the later years surrounding the royals' lives.She's been filming for the 22nd series of TOWIE in Barcelona all week.

And mere hours upon her return to the UK, Chloe Meadows was already pining for the Spanish sunshine, sharing a throwback snap from the beachfront location.

The blonde beauty, 25, showed off her incredible figure in a bright yellow bikini in the seductive snap, striking a pose on a rock.

Buxom beauty: Mere hours upon her return to the UK, Chloe Meadows was already pining for the Spanish sunshine, sharing a throwback snap from the beachfront location

Chloe put her long legs and flat stomach on display in the sultry snapshot, which saw her gazing into the distance as she peered out from behind a pair of shades.

The striking star displayed a liberal amount of cleavage in the neon yellow two-piece, with a peekaboo cut-out at the bust offering a glimpse of her cleavage.

The natural beauty captioned the picture: 'Barcelona days Bikini @misspap'.

Last week, Chloe was topping up her tan in a chic blazer mini-dress while the cameras were rolling.

All the way up! Chloe flaunted her sensational physique in a thigh-skimming blazer mini-dress as she joined Chloe Lewis for TOWIE filming in Barcelona

The reality beauty poured her statuesque frame into the pearl-encrusted thigh-skimming number, with a perilously low neckline flaunting her eye-popping cleavage.

Chloe complemented her endless pins with a pair of striking pastel heels with a flamboyant tangerine wing feature to catch the eye.

The Essex fashionista let her leggy frame do all the talking as she added hint of sparkle with her delicate silver necklace and matching time piece.

Chloe's glossy golden locks were styled in a glamorous wave, while her natural beauty shone through with barely-there nude make-up.

Blonde beauty: Chloe's glossy golden locks were styled in a glamorous wave, while her natural beauty shone through with barely-there nude make-up

Saucy 70s: Chloe Lewis joined her gal pal in a 70s inspired black ensemble, putting her ample cleavage on full display in a plunging vest top - with a just a glimpse of her lacy bra

It was the tale of two Chloes for the evening as Chloe Lewis joined her gal pal in a 70s inspired black ensemble, putting her ample cleavage on full display in a plunging vest top - with a just a glimpse of her lacy bra peeking out.

Chloe amplified her tiny waist with her chic Gucci belt strapped onto her retro flared jeans.

Keeping up with the vintage vibes, the cosmetics queen teamed her look with platform heels, while she offset her sartorial choices with a white leather bag resting on her shoulder.

Going full Disco Era, Chloe ramped up her ensemble with her mousy blonde hair styled in a bouncy perm.

Flying high: Chloe complemented her endless pins with a pair of striking pastel heels with a flamboyant tangerine wing feature to catch the eye

The model accentuated her natural glow with a smokey make-up palette, while she complemented her statement look with shimmering gold chains.

Only a handful of castmembers were lucky enough to be picked for the trip, including Essex beauties Courtney Green, Amber Turner, Yazmin Oukhellou and Lauren Pope making the holiday cut.

Those back home in Brentwood include bad boy Pete Wicks and his new flame Shelby Tribble, who will make her TOWIE debut in the latest season.

A number of familiar faces weren't seen filming since seven regulars, including Amber Dowding and Chris Clark, have been axed.

Retro: Keeping up with the vintage vibes, the cosmetics queen teamed her look with platform heels, while she offset her sartorial choices with a white leather bag resting on her shoulder

Sultry: Going full Disco Era, Chloe ramped up her ensemble with her mousy blonde hair styled in a bouncy perm

The pair - who recently moved in together - left the show alongside Mike Hassini, Jack Rigden, Jordan Brook, Maddie Hooper and Ruby Lacey last month, following claims that 'boring' characters have been chopped out of the line-up.

The shock shake-up, confirmed by the channel on Thursday, also comes amid a format reshuffle which will see the ITVBe series aired just once a week instead of twice.

A TOWIE spokesperson told MailOnline: 'There are a number of cast who have mutually agreed their time on the show has come to a natural end for now.

'We wish them well and look forward to another exciting year ahead for TOWIE.'Two Queensland men have been charged with a total of 28 offences, including car theft and drug possession.

On Saturday afternoon, a police patrol noticed a car with stolen number plates at a bowser in the Toowoomba suburb of Drayton. As officers approached the driver took off on foot. The two passengers in the car were arrested.

The driver then threatened a 60-year-old man at a home down the street from the bowser and demanded his car keys and took his car. As police caught up with him, he reversed at a police car before crashing into a fence. He was arrested after a scuffle with officers.

The 23-year-old Chinchilla man was charged with 16 offences while one of the passengers arrested earlier, a 28-year-old Toowoomba man, was charged with 12 offences. Some of the charges relate to alleged offences committed at an earlier date.Treasurer Scott Morrison isn't worried that Labor can claim it has a big policy war chest to fight the next election because the money is coming out of voters' pockets.

Last week Labor announced it will end cash handouts on tax refunds on share dividends that will raise $59 billion over the medium term to be directed towards income tax cuts.

"He is pillaging your pocket to pursue his political interests. That is not a good sign for the Australian people under a Shorten government if they are ever allowed to," Mr Morrison told Sky News on Sunday.The sister of a man who was murdered in his Sydney housing commission unit has appealed for the public's help to catch the killer.

Mark Allan Russell was found stabbed to death in his Surry Hills unit on Sunday, February 25.

The 53-year-old had only recently moved into the unit after spending almost two decades living rough on the city's streets.

Homicide squad commander Scott Cook says Mr Russell - a huge Cronulla Sharks fan who was often called "Sharky" - was a well-known member of the community.

Many people visited his unit on the Saturday before his body was found and there was an argument about 10pm that night during which male and female "raised voices" were heard.

"We know that Mr Russell was brutally murdered," Detective Superintendent Cook told reporters at NSW Police's executive offices in Sydney.

"I'd like to ask members of the community to come forward and provide information to us particularly if they were in the vicinity of Clisdell Street."

Investigators had spoken to some - but not all - of those who visited Mr Russell's unit on the day before his body as found.

Police haven't found the murder weapon yet.

"We don't have any particular suspect at the moment," Det Supt Cook said.

"Mr Russell was not engaged in any disputes as far as we can tell with anyone. He didn't owe anyone any money. For all intents and purposes, there's no real explanation about motive."

His sister, Julia Ann Stewart, farewelled her sibling at a memorial service in Woolloomooloo on Saturday alongside Mr Russell's children Shane and Abbey.

"This has been heart-breaking for our family and if anyone knows anything could you please contact the police," Ms Stewart said on Sunday, adding her bother was a "loving and fun person".

"We had the service yesterday and it was evident how many people like him. All the people that came ... it was amazing."

Police have some CCTV and other video evidence but need more from dash cams or mobile phones.Vincent Tarzia won't receive any special role after he fended off a challenge from Nick Xenophon to hold his seat for the Liberal party, incoming premier Steven Marshall says.

After celebrating Mr Tarzia's crucial win in his victory speech on Saturday night, Mr Marshall on Sunday shifted the focus to the efforts of his entire team.

"I just really want to emphasise there is no one person or group of two or thee people, I'm extraordinarily grateful to every person in the team," he told reporters on Sunday.Sam Burgess has become the second player to be sanctioned for a cannonball tackle in round two after he was hit with a dangerous contact charge by the NRL.

Burgess will escape suspension for the grade-one charge with an early guilty plea, after he was penalised for his chopping down the legs of a stationary Reagan Campbell-Gillard in the Rabbitohs' 18-14 loss on Saturday.

Burgess' prior history means the charge attracts 120 demerit points, however that can be reduced to 90 if he opts to skip the judiciary with an early plea.

It comes after Canterbury prop Aaron Woods copped the same charge for a hit on Sydney Roosters' Isaac Liu in the Bulldogs' loss on Friday night. He too can escape suspension for the hit.

Burgess was the only player charged from Saturday's three matches.Voters have given the minor parties the flick in two key elections this weekend.

In the end, Nick Xenophon failed to make much impression on the South Australian state election when pollsters and commentators had predicted he would hold the balance of power.

When he first stepped down from the Senate to lead SA Best, there was even talk of him becoming premier.

Instead, the Liberals, led by Steven Marshall, look to have won sufficient seats to govern in their own right, ending 16 years of Labor rule.

Departing Labor premier Jay Weatherill conceded it was always going to be difficult for Labor to win a fifth straight election.

However, Labor still held on to a rump of seats and it wasn't the usual landslide associated with the end of a long-term government.

In the inner-Melbourne seat of Batman, Labor unexpectedly held off another attempt by the Greens in the by-election caused by sitting MP David Feeney being forced to step down over his citizenship.

Labor candidate and former ACTU president Ged Kearney actually managed a swing towards her party.

In both cases, it could be seen as another vote of confidence for Opposition Leader Bill Shorten after being attacked on all sides for announcing a risky policy that will end cash handouts on non-taxpaying shareholders just days out from the elections.

It puts Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on course for an inevitable 30 consecutive Newspolls showing the coalition behind Labor - one benchmark he set on rolling Tony Abbott for the leadership.

This weekend's results may also be a sign that the minor parties are losing their appeal having made a big impression on the 2016 federal election.

It was the sixth attempt by Greens candidate Alex Bhathal to try an secure Batman.

Such a disappointing outcome from what was seen as an "unloseable" election came hot-on-the-heels of the party's poor showing in the Tasmanian election earlier this month, the strong-hold of the Green vote.

Friction within the party - such as between Lee Rhiannon on the extreme left and traditional Green voters of the Bob Brown ilk - may put pressure on Richard Di Natale's leadership.

But it's not just the Greens.

Pauline Hanson's One Nation also flopped in both the Western Australian and Queensland state elections last year, and again in SA, having promised so much after scoring four Senate seats in the 2016 federal poll.

And SA Best, aka the Nick Xenophon Team, having nothing to shout about either.

Could it be that rather than holding the big parties to account, voters realise that other than griping from the sidelines, the minor parties will never actually govern and would rather put their cross against someone who perhaps will?

The next test will be the Victorian state election in November, unless there are further federal by-elections from the dual-citizenship fiasco or in the unlikelihood Turnbull bites the bullet and goes for an early election.Luke Foley is taking to the road in a campaign bus to spruik NSW Labor's opposition to the state government's $2.5 billion plan to knock down and rebuild three sporting stadiums in Sydney.

The red bus - emblazoned with the slogan "schools and hospitals before stadiums" - left Sydney on Sunday for a week-long trip that will see Mr Foley visit the far north coast, Myall Lakes, the Hunter Valley, Barwon, Dubbo, Bega, Queanbeyan and finally key western Sydney seats.

"People in regional and rural NSW are being neglected quite offensively by the Berejiklian-Barilaro government which is obviously counting on their good manners not to object," Mr Foley said in a statement.

"I have news for the premier and deputy premier - they're objecting and I'm on their side."

More than half of NSW voters are opposed to the state government spending more than $2 billion to demolish and rebuild Allianz Stadium at Moore Park and ANZ at Homebush, according to a poll released late last week.

The ReachTEL poll, commissioned by Fairfax Media, suggested nearly 60 per cent of voters oppose or strongly oppose the plan.

The Berejiklian government is also spending about $300 million to redevelop Parramatta Stadium which is due to be completed by 2019.The political mood of Australians is reflected in Labor's win in the Batman by-election, Bill Shorten says.

The Labor leader has been buoyed by former union boss Ged Kearney's win on Saturday despite his party's loss in South Australia, bringing a 16-year reign to an end.

While Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called the Liberal win an endorsement of the federal government's energy policy, Mr Shorten doesn't seem worried about what the result means for him or his party federally.

"I have heard very loudly the message of the voters of Batman and I think the voters of Batman reflected the mood of the nation," Mr Shorten said on Sunday afternoon.

"They are willing to give Labor a chance so long as we keep working on our policy agenda."

For Labor to have won a fifth term in South Australia would have been a big ask, but Jay Weatherill - premier since 2011 - came close, he said.

"I think he leaves South Australia better than when he found it and I think that South Australian Labor over the past 16 years have left it better than before they got elected," Mr Shorten said.

But Mr Turnbull suggested it was Mr Weatherill's position on the National Energy Guarantee that may have cost him the win.

He said Mr Weatherill was a "ferocious" and most vocal opponent of the plan.

"Jay Weatherill said this was a referendum on energy policy," he said in Sydney.

"The people have spoken in favour of our policies which is to support affordable and reliable energy to ensure that we can meet our Paris commitment, and at the same time ensure we can keep the lights on and indeed afford to keep the lights on."

Labor's climate and energy spokesman Mark Butler played down that claim, saying it was the "time for change force" that proved too strong.Queensland police have released a sketch of a man after a 17-year-old girl was sexually assaulted on the Sunshine Coast.

The teen was walking on a path from Alexandra Headland beach just after 11am on Wednesday when he inappropriately grabbed her.

She pushed him away before leaving the scene, while the man was seen getting into a silver sedan.

He is described as being Caucasian, aged in his late 20s to mid-30s, about 187cm tall, with a large build and dirty blond hair.Two fishermen have been rescued and 2700 people were without power after gale-force winds batter Tasmania.

But it isn't over yet, with residents warned of further damaging winds topping 120 km/h due to cross the state on Sunday night and Monday morning.

Winds gusts on Sunday morning reached 141 km/h on Mount Wellington, 128 km/h on Mount Read and 102 km/h at Hobart, the weather bureau said.

Heavy seas and onshore winds reaching 100 km/h forced a boat carrying two men to run aground at Fishers Point, near Cockle Creek, about 5.30am on Sunday, police say.

The men were uninjured but needed to board a water police boat to get back to land.

Fallen trees and other damage left almost 2700 homes and businesses stretching from Miena to New Norfolk without power at midday on Sunday, Tas Networks said.

The weather bureau warned a "vigorous" cold front could from Sunday night bring damaging winds of 40-60 km/h across Tasmania, bar the Bass Strait islands.

Peak gusts of up to 120 km/h in exposed locations were possible, it said.

Winds are expected to ease early Monday afternoon behind the cold front.Treasurer Scott Morrison is heading to Buenos Aires for a meeting with his counterparts from the world's wealthiest economies.

The G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting will be the first such gathering under Argentina's 2018 presidency of the group.

Mr Morrison said while there were signs strong global economic growth should continue, there were risks, including a retreat to inward-looking policies.

"International trade and economic openness have been vital to growth, job creation and development," he said in a statement on Sunday.

"I will stress to my counterparts the importance of keeping our doors to global trade open because there are no winners from trade restrictions."

A key priority of the meeting will be a focus on taxation of the digital economy and ensuring the large multinationals involved pay their fair share of tax.

On the sidelines of the meeting on Monday and Tuesday, Mr Morrison will be holding discussions with US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and UK Chancellor Philip Hammond, as well as with his counterparts from Canada, France, Italy and Singapore.

Mr Morrison will return via London where he will be addressing an international FinTech conference at the invitation of Mr Hammond.

"As I have done on other international visits, I will be promoting the success of Australian firms in providing innovative financial services that meet the needs of consumers no matter where they live," Mr Morrison said.

Mr Morrison will also hold a number of meetings with UK business leaders and government representatives.Outspoken Nationals MP George Christensen hit out at his own government for its funding of abortion services in Australia and around the world.

The federal Member for Dawson was joined by incoming Queensland senator Amanda Stoker on Sunday as they addressed hundreds of pro-lifers at a rally outside state parliament in Brisbane.

Mr Christensen said he would write to Treasurer Scott Morrison this week to urge him to divert funding from an international planned parenthood agency to pregnancy, crisis and counselling services for young Australian mums.Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his 10 ASEAN counterparts have re-emphasised to China the importance of freedom of navigation in the disputed South China Seas as they wrapped up a special summit in Sydney.

After three days of talks, the leaders on Sunday agreed to intensify their response to regional challenges including North Korea's nuclear missile program, cross-border terrorism, and ensuring international law is maintained in the South China Sea.

The leaders emphasised in a joint statement the importance of non-militarisation in the South China Sea, where Beijing has been building artificial reefs to use as defence bases, and said there was a need to avoid "actions that may complicate the situation".

However the statement shied away from directly mentioning Myanmar's Rohingya refugee crisis, despite Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak warning the summit on Saturday the crisis could explode into a serious security threat for the region.The NSW Waratahs have burst the Melbourne Rebels' bubble to revive their Super Rugby season with a dazzling 51-27 comeback win over the Australian conference leaders.

The Waratahs overcame searing heart and a 17-point deficit with a spectacular second-half try-scoring blitz to abruptly end the Rebels' unbeaten start to 2018.

The Tahs piled on five unanswered tries in 20 minutes to stun the Rebels and snap their own two-game winless run in front of their enraptured home fans at Allianz Stadium.

Israel Folau led the fightback, the Wallabies superstar setting up crucial five-pointers for Rob Simmons, Bryce Hegarty and Taqele Naiyaravoro after leaping high to collect three midfield bombs following his move to the wing on Sunday.

Lalakai Foketi and debutant halfback Mitch Short also crossed as the hosts' big win kept the Waratahs within touch of the runaway Rebels in the keenly-contested Australian conference.

A loss would have been disastrous for Daryl Gibson's side.

And defeat looked very much on the cards after the Rebels charged to a 20-3 lead through first-half tries to Tom English, Amanaki Mafi and Jack Maddocks.

But, after a sloppy start in temperatures in excess of 35 degrees, Foketi's strike a minute before the break ignited the Waratahs' comeback.

Naiyaravoro completed it with his second five-pointer of the half in the final minute.Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi has reached out to Australia and her fellow ASEAN leaders for help in dealing with the Rohingya refugee crisis.

Ms Suu Kyi has faced international condemnation over her muted response to atrocities against Rohingya people in Myanmar's troubled Rakhine state, from where 700,000 people have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh following a military crackdown.

Now the Nobel Peace Prize winner has turned to leaders from ASEAN's nine other member countries for help during talks at a special summit hosted in Sydney by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull this weekend.

"She seeks support from ASEAN and other nations to provide help from a humanitarian and capacity-building point of view," Mr Turnbull told reporters after the three-day summit wrapped up on Sunday.

"Everyone seeks to end the suffering.

"Our goal is to support a peaceful and speedy resolution of the humanitarian disaster that has resulted from the conflict."

ASEAN chair, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, said all member countries would do their best to help the Myanmar government re-establish stability.

"And yet ASEAN is not able to intervene and to force an outcome," he said.

"But we are working together in consultation with Myanmar to provide humanitarian assistance so that the affected communities can rebuild their lives."

The calls for help from Myanmar come after Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak warned that thousands of desperate Rohingya people could easily be potential recruits for Islamic State.

Mr Lee said while he didn't have specific intelligence supporting Mr Najib's fears, "these are possibilities which you cannot rule out".

Mr Najib's comments on the Rohingya crisis marked a departure from ASEAN's usual protocols that ensure leaders don't raise concerns about controversial domestic issues in member countries.

In a joint statement released at the end of the summit, there was no specific mention of the Rohingya people, but the leaders said they had renewed their resolve to promote and protect the human rights of their people.

They also reaffirmed their "mutual respect" for non-interference and political independence of all nations.

The Rohingya crisis is expected to come up again during bilateral talks Mr Turnbull is due to hold with Ms Suu Kyi in Canberra on Monday.

The United Nations has dubbed the violence against the Rohingya people by Myanmar's military as a textbook case of "ethnic cleansing" and warned their actions could amount to genocide.

Ms Suu Kyi has not denounced military action or addressed genocide claims.

Myanmar is a majority Buddhist country and Rohingya Muslims face discrimination and are denied citizenship.Today's Birthday, March 19: Harvey Weinstein, US film producer, (1952 - ).

Embroiled in one of Hollywood's biggest open secrets and described as a 'monster' by more than one A-list actress, allegations from more than 60 women accusing Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct at the end of 2017 became the catalyst for worldwide movements #Metoo and Time's Up.

As the former Hollywood mogul sought treatment in an Arizona sex rehab centre, stars including Rose McGowan, Salma Hayek and Uma Thurman came forward with detailed accounts of his predatory behaviour.

Four months after the scandal broke, New York's top prosecutor has filed a civil rights case on behalf of the state of New York against Weinstein and his former film production company - saying the film studio knowingly tolerated his alleged sexual assaults for years.

Born in 1952 in Queens, New York, Weinstein grew up with his younger brother Bob. The pair shared a passion for movies and sport.

In the 1970's the Weinstein brothers produced rock concerts with Corky Burger, as Harvey & Corky Productions. They bought a theatre and hosted rock concerts for the likes of Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne.

In 1979 the brothers used their profits from concert promotion to create a small distribution company named after their parents, Miriam and Max; Miramax.

Following the release of modest commercial successes like Sex, Lies and Videotape, and The Crying Game, Disney acquired ownership of the company but left the brothers at the helm.

In 1994 Miramax released their first blockbuster, Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction.

Over the years Weinstein and his brother received numerous awards and accolades including an Oscar for 1999's Shakespeare in Love , a Tony in 2001 for the musical The Producers, and in 2013 were awarded the Producers Guild of America Milestone Award.

On the side Weinstein was influential in the fashion world, producing Project Runway and helping revive fashion label Halston alongside Sarah Jessica Parker and Rachel Zoe.

He was a longstanding Democratic Party supporter, donating more than $1 million to various candidates over the years.

After sexual harassment allegations surfaced in October 2017, Weinstein was officially banned from the Producers Guild of America and stripped of his Academy membership, while the British Film Institute withdrew its highest honour award from 2002, for outstanding contribution to cinema.The South Australian coroner is about to open an inquest into the death of a construction worker on the site of the new Royal Adelaide Hospital in 2014.

Jorge Castillo-Riffo was crushed while working on a scissor lift on the then construction site.

The 54-year-old's widow, Pam Gurner-Hall has lobbied for the inquiry, which will open on Monday, amid concerns she may never find out exactly what happened.

She says the inquest will also be able to look at other issues including the culture that surrounds workplace safety on construction sites.

In February last year, Safework SA dropped workplace safety charges against the hospital's contractors just before the start of a trial.Outspoken Nationals MP George Christensen will this week urge his federal government colleagues to direct funding away from pro-abortion services.

The Queensland politician told a pro-life rally in Brisbane on Sunday he would ask Treasurer Scott Morrison to funnel future money for an international planned parenthood agency to counselling and other services for young mums.

Mr Christensen said he felt ashamed when he learned his own government had given $9.5 million to the organisation, which he claimed profited from terminations.

"I've got to say that was a disgraceful act. It was a very low point I think for our nation," he said.

The rogue MP also mobilised the crowd to take action against the state Labor government, which will re-introduce legislation to decriminalise abortion once it receives recommendations from the Law Reform Commission.

"I think we're about to get a tsunami of bad laws here," he said.

"We might even be seeing something that makes Victoria and the draconian regime they've got there look like a walk in the park."It won't be much of a heroes' welcome when Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi returns to Canberra for the first time in five years.

She is due to hold bilateral talks with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Monday, following the Australia-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders special summit in Sydney over the weekend.

Ms Suu Kyi last visited Canberra in 2013 on a five-day Australian tour, before she was allowed to stand for parliament, following her release from almost 15 years of house arrest in 2010.

The then prime minister Tony Abbott described her as an "icon of democracy" and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said it was Ms Suu Kyi who inspired her to get into politics.

University of Sydney and University of Technology awarded Ms Suu Kyi with honorary doctorate degrees.

Fast forward to 2018, and Ms Suu Kyi is facing international condemnation over her muted response to atrocities against Rohingya people in Myanmar's troubled Rakhine state.

An estimated 700,000 Rohingya people have poured across the border into Bangladesh refugee camps since last August following a military crackdown.

Among the atrocities, villages were burned, women raped and babies murdered.

The United Nations has dubbed the violence a text book case of "ethnic cleansing".

Last December, the UN human rights boss Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein would not rule out genocide charges against Ms Suu Kyi and slammed her failure to use the term "Rohingya".

Ms Suu Kyi has not denounced military action or addressed genocide claims.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner has turned to leaders from ASEAN's nine other member countries for help during talks at the special summit hosted by Mr Turnbull.

"She seeks support from ASEAN and other nations to provide help from a humanitarian and capacity-building point of view," he said on Sunday.

"Everyone seeks to end the suffering.

"Our goal is to support a peaceful and speedy resolution of the humanitarian disaster that has resulted from the conflict."

Mr Turnbull has vowed to raise the situation in Rakhine state with Ms Suu Kyi during their Canberra meeting.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak told the leaders summit on Saturday, the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar and Bangladesh could explode into a serious security threat for the region.

He fears Islamic State militants could use the atrocities against the Rohingya people as a breeding ground for radicalisation.

Meanwhile, Attorney-General Christian Porter has ruled out a bid by Melbourne lawyers to prosecute Ms Suu Kyi on crimes against humanity.

Ms Suu Kyi will receive a ceremonial welcome and 19-gun salute during her visit to Canberra and also meet Opposition Leader Bill Shorten.Speed demons staying in Melbourne for the Formula One Australian Grand Prix will make their Airbnb hosts more than two million dollars richer.

For the 13,000 guests booked on Airbnb - including 8200 Australians - gearing up for the March 22-25 event, they'll bring in about $800,000 more to hosts than if they'd visited the week before, Airbnb says.

Airbnb's Australia country manager Sam McDonagh said major events meant "big business" for those willing to rent out or share their home through the platform.

"Melburnians are making the most of the increase in demand for accommodation during the race to make a little extra income to pay the mortgage, bills or take a holiday themselves," he said.

"Without the cost or delay of building new hotels, Airbnb is giving Melbourne extra capacity to host more travellers. Airbnb's supply is elastic; it can quickly be turned on or off in response to demand."

Hosts are expected to gain $2.2 million during the event up from $1.4 million during the same days the week earlier.

Airbnb guest spent more than $625 million in Victoria in 2015/16, Deloitte Access Economics found.

FAST FACTS (comparison of the week before March 15-18 to F1 race weekend March 22-25:

* Host payout: $1.4m / $2.2m

* Typical host earnings: $280 / $350

* Occupancy: 38 per cent / 52 per cent

* Average guest stay length: 2.5 days / 2.7 days

* First time hosts: 0/ 40

* Listings booked for the first time: 0/ 50More than 700 firefighters will tackle bush and grass blazes in Victoria's southwest in an attempt to bring them under control after homes and farm buildings were destroyed over the weekend.

Incident controller in Warrnambool Russell Manning said the aim for his team on Monday was to bring the eastern edge of the fires under control with six fire bombing apparatus and two helicopters to help.

He said a team of 16 vets would also work in the area to assist animals.

The Colac Incident Control Centre will keep tackling the fires from Terang, Garvoc to Camperdown with more than 400 personnel helping and 47 vehicles due to respond.

About a dozen homes have been destroyed by fires across the state and hundreds of beef and dairy cattle killed, with about 40,000 hectares burnt out.

Farm buildings have also been ruined with some of the hardest hit areas including Cobden and Terang to Camperdown.

It comes after 800 people sought seek shelter at relief centres with many still there on Monday.

Emergency Management Commissioner Craig Lapsley told reporters on Sunday not all of the homes destroyed were occupied, and there had been no deaths or major injuries reported.

The state government will provide immediate personal hardship payments, worth about $1900 per household, to use for food, clothing and shelter with assessment for further support.

Police and fire investigators are yet to determine the causes of the fire but authorities say it's likely to be due to lightning strikes.

The major grass and bushfires began on Saturday, raged through the night and continued to burn on Sunday into Monday.

Homeowners with insurance caught in the fires will be given priority for their claims after the Insurance Council of Australia declared the fires a catastrophe on Sunday night.

Another out-of-control fire is still raging just over the New South Wales border with Reedy Swamp and Bega issued an emergency warning on Sunday.A six-year-old boy has has head and leg injuries after being hit by a car in Sydney's southwest.

Emergency services were called to Rickard Road in Bankstown at 8.15am on Monday and rushed the boy to Westmead Children's Hospital in a serious but stable condition.

A 30-year-old woman who was also hit has abdominal injuries and was taken to Westmead Hospital in a stable condition, a NSW Ambulance spokesman told AAP.

Meanwhile, in the city's north, an eight-year-old boy has been hit by a vehicle on Broughton Road, Artarmon, with first reports from the scene suggesting he is conscious and breathing.The new South Australian government has been warned Labor could use its numbers in the upper house to block legislation to deregulate shop trading hours.

Outgoing treasurer Tom Koutsantonis said new Liberal premier Steven Marshall had set "a very, very dangerous precedent" when he blocked the former Weatherill government's state banking tax in last year's budget.

"I think when leaders of the opposition have rushes of blood to their head and make decisions overturning decades of precedent in this state, I think there will be consequences for it," he told ABC radio in Adelaide on Monday.Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, seen here during a March 2017 meeting in the White House, are to meet again in Washington

Donald Trump will host Saudi Arabia's crown prince in Washington Tuesday, giving the president a receptive audience to denounce rival Iran and a chance to take stock of significant changes the prince is engineering in the kingdom.

Ten months after the last face-to-face meeting between Trump and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in Riyadh, the 71-year-old president and the 32-year-old strongman prince are expected to deepen an already warm and congenial relationship.

But they are also expected to take up major developments for Saudi Arabia, both internally and externally: the end of a ban on Saudi women driving, the unprecedented detention of dozens of people that was billed as a high-level anti-corruption purge, Saudi involvement in the war in Yemen, and the crisis with the Gulf state of Qatar.

"It's jaw-dropping how many policy changes the Saudis have pursued at home and in the region since that last meeting," said Lori Plotkin Boghardt, a former CIA analyst now with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "Many of these changes have touched US security interests."

One example is the summit that the administration had hoped to host this year with the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which could be difficult to arrange given the continuing crisis with Qatar.

In June, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) began an air and sea boycott against Qatar, which they accuse of financing terrorism and being overly friendly with Iran.

Prince Mohammed, known by his initials MBS, was named crown prince that month by his father, King Salman.

Early on, the prince announced an ambitious "Vision 2030" initiative to build an economy less dependent on oil, while luring more foreign investment.

Toward that end, Riyadh wants to greatly accelerate the pace of its civilian nuclear energy program. The goal: to build 16 reactors over the next 20 years, at a cost of some 80 billion euros ($98 billion), according to officials and analysts.

As the Saudis pursue the technology needed to undertake the ambitious project, they are expected to play potential rivals against one another, reminding their American counterparts that China, Russia and France are also capable of filling their needs.

"It would be virtually impossible for the Saudi government to accept terms that are less than what Obama gave the Iranians -- the possibility of future enrichment," a source close to the Saudi government told AFP, referring to the nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers that was completed when Barack Obama was still president.

In an interview with CBS broadcast on Sunday evening, the prince defended at length his anti-corruption purge which saw many of the kingdom's princes detained for several weeks inside Riyadh's luxurious Ritz-Carlton hotel.

"What we did in Saudi Arabia was extremely necessary" and legal, he said. One goal of the operation, which was marked by physical abuse according to a New York Times investigation, was to recover an amount exceeding $100 billion.

"But the real objective was not this amount or any other amount," he said. "The idea is not to get money, but to punish the corrupt and send a clear signal that whoever engages in corrupt deals will face the law."

- Bloody war in Yemen -

The United States and Saudi Arabia are historic allies. Ever since Franklin Delano Roosevelt met with King Abdul Aziz ibn Saud on a US naval ship in the Suez Canal in 1945, every American president has carefully nurtured relations with the Saudi royal family.

But the unstinting support Trump offered when he chose Riyadh as the destination of his first overseas trip as president brought the relationship to a new level.

While Barack Obama said in 2015 that it was important "not to perpetuate any long-term confrontation with Iran, or to even marginalize Iran," Trump, who has repeatedly threatened to withdraw from the nuclear deal reached that year with Tehran, has chosen a very different path.

"Everywhere we go in the Middle East it's Iran, Iran, Iran," he said a few days ago. "Every problem is Iran."

Even before setting foot on American soil, Prince Mohammed struck a scathing tone toward Iran in an interview with CBS, comparing the territorial ambitions of that country's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to those of Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany.

And he warned that if Iran were to develop a nuclear bomb, Saudi Arabia would do the same "as soon as possible."

But critics are cautioning the White House not to blindly embrace every stance taken by the Saudi prince, particularly as concerns its role in the bloody civil war in Yemen.

Fighting between the Huthi movement, supported by Iran, and Yemeni government forces, backed by the Saudis and the UAE, has claimed nearly 10,000 lives and left the country on the verge of a disastrous famine.

In an opinion column early this month in the New York Times, Thomas Friedman, writing in the form of an open letter to Trump, urged the president not to give in to Prince Mohammed's "bad impulses" as he seeks to modernize Saudi Arabia's "economy and religious/social structure."

He then adds: "If you think you can just applaud his anti-Iran stance and religious reforms and all will work out fine, you're wrong."US President Donald Trump chose Saudi Arabia for his first foreign trip after taking office, arriving in May 2017 to much fanfare and ceremony

The longstanding relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia, its main Middle East ally, is founded largely on the exchange of American security for Saudi oil.

As Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman heads to Washington for talks with President Donald Trump, here is a look over the partnership.

- Partners since 1945 -

The discovery of vast oil reserves beneath Saudi sands in the late 1930s secured the kingdom's place as a vital partner for the energy-hungry United States.

The two countries initiated diplomatic relations in 1940 during World War II.

The partnership was sealed in 1945 at a historic meeting between then-king Abdul Aziz ibn Saud and US president Franklin D. Roosevelt on board the USS Quincy as it cruised the Suez Canal.

The agreement promised the kingdom military protection in exchange for access to oil.

- Cooperation -

When Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, then-US president George H.W. Bush launched Operation Desert Storm that soon liberated the country. The United States used airbases in Saudi Arabia as vital staging posts, sending thousands of American troops into the kingdom.

It was "a moment of unparalleled cooperation between two great nations," Bush said.

In the years that followed, US-led coalition planes took off from Saudi bases to enforce no-fly zones in Iraq.

- September 11 -

The 9/11 attacks that killed almost 3,000 people in the United States tested the US-Saudi relationship, with 15 of the 19 Al-Qaeda attackers from Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia condemned the attacks but was accused of secretly financing extremist militants.

It refused to take part in retaliatory strikes on Al-Qaeda bases in Afghanistan in late 2001; Riyadh was also not part of the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq that led to Saddam Hussein's downfall.

Washington pulled most of its remaining troops from the kingdom from 2003 and transferred its regional military headquarters to Qatar, while continuing military cooperation with Riyadh.

- Obama: a crisis of confidence -

Simmering tensions between the administration of US president Barack Obama and Saudi Arabia came to a head when Riyadh refused in October 2013 a seat on the UN Security Council.

It was an unprecedented act aimed at protesting inaction over the Syrian conflict, then in its third year.

Riyadh, which backs rebels fighting against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was angry that Obama pulled out of strikes against the Syrian regime a month earlier.

The 2015 agreement over Iran's nuclear program further rattled the Sunni kingdom's confidence as it feared Washington was tilting towards its regional Shiite rival.

- Total support under Trump -

Riyadh has issued a series of laudatory comments about the Trump administration, which echoes its concerns about Iranian regional influence.

Trump chose Saudi Arabia for his first foreign trip after taking office, arriving in May 2017 to much fanfare and ceremony.

The partners announced major contracts worth more than $380 billion -- including $110 billion for the sale of American arms to Saudi Arabia, aimed at countering what they see as a threat from Iran and radical Islamists.

The allies also both accuse Iran of involvement in the Yemen conflict on the side of Huthi rebels.

At the head of an Arab military coalition, Riyadh has since March 2015 deployed forces against the rebels, who captured the capital Sanaa in 2014.A month-long campaign of strikes and protests on the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte has shone a light on the simmering resentment in some of France's tropical outposts over perceived neglect by the state

A month-long campaign of strikes and protests on the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte has shone a light on the simmering resentment in some of France's tropical outposts over perceived neglect by the state.

Supplies of fuel, drugs and other essentials are running dangerously low on the island of 250,000 people off southeast Africa as protesters dig in for more funding -- and empathy -- from Paris.

The spice island in the Comoros archipelago, which has been governed by France since the mid-1800s, is the fourth overseas territory to be paralysed by strikes over living conditions in the past decade.

An attack by a gang on a school lit the fuse on frustration over mass migration and growing lawlessness in France's poorest department, which many link to the influx of arrivals by sea from neighbouring non-French Comoran islands.

Visiting minister for overseas territories Annick Girardin failed to convince the demonstrators to abandon the barricades this week, despite a promise of police reinforcements to combat crime and a clampdown on illegal migration.

"They made the same promises to our parents and grandparents," Toto Amachebane, head of a striking transport company, said dismissively.

France's collection of overseas territories stretch from the islands of Wallis and Futuna in the South Pacific to Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the northwest Atlantic to Reunion island off Madagascar.

Attachment to the former colonial mothership is generally strong, particularly in the five overseas departments of Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Mayotte and Reunion island.

But many in the scattered parts of overseas France complain of being made to feel like an afterthought.

A month-long campaign of strikes and protests on the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte has shone a light on the simmering resentment in some of France's tropical outposts over perceived neglect by the state

The development gap with the mainland is particularly striking in Mayotte, which broke ranks with the three other Comoros islands in voting against independence in the 1970s but was only fully integrated into France in 2011.

Unemployment of 25.9 percent is over double that in France as a whole and public services are woefully deficient: Mayotte had 18 doctors per 100,000 inhabitants in 2012, compared to an average of 201 in the rest of France.

"There is a lot of impatience in Mayotte. Some people expected things would be settled in six months, but it's going to take a generation or two," Olivier Sudrie, an economist at BDE consultancy on governance told AFP.

While poor in French terms, Mayotte is a beacon of prosperity for residents of the severely impoverished, coup-prone Comoros.

In scenes reminiscent of the Mediterranean, thousands of Comorans pile into rickety boats to make the 70-kilometre (44-mile) crossing to Mayotte each year, including large numbers of pregnant women.

- Migrant baby boom -

"Mayotte has become an open-air Sangatte," Said Hachim, one of the protest leaders, told Le Monde newspaper this week, referring to an infamous migrant camp in northern France that was closed in 2002.

Some 9,600 babies were delivered in Mayotte's hospital last year -- a record for a French hospital -- of which 70 percent were born to migrant parents hoping to secure French citizenship for their child.

A month-long campaign of strikes and protests on the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte has shone a light on the simmering resentment in some of France's tropical outposts over perceived neglect by the state

Schools are also bursting at the seams, creating resentment among locals who fear being further pauperised by the situation.

The government this week suggested giving Mayotte's hospital special "extra-territorial" status so that children born there would not automatically qualify for French passports.

Half-way around the world, a wave of illegal immigrants has also piled pressure on public services in French Guiana, a vast, forested territory with an acute lack of schools and paved roads.

Protesters shut down Kourou spaceport, a major launchpad for European satellites, for several weeks last year to demand a "takeoff plan" for the area.

- 'Not Father Christmas' -

During a visit in October President Emmanuel Macron promised to limit benefits for newcomers "to reduce the attractiveness" of the territory.

But he also declared he was "not Father Christmas" accusing previous governments of making "too many unkept promises."

In 2009, the then right-wing government agreed to a system of salary top-ups to offset high living costs in Guadeloupe and Martinique which were ground to a standstill by month-long general strikes.

The people of Mayotte insist they are not looking for handouts.

"The Mahorais (Mayotte residents) fought to be French and to be free," Hachim, the protest leader told Le Monde.

"We are not beggars," he said.

For Claude-Valentin Marie, a sociologist at the French Institute for Demographic Studies, they just want what those on the mainland take for granted.

"They want to be like other French departments in terms of education, economic activity, health and security," he told AFP. "They no longer want to be the exception."Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said the Taiwan Travel Act bill's clauses "severely violate" the one China principle

China has called on the United States to "correct its mistake" after President Donald Trump approved new rules allowing top-level US officials to travel to Taiwan to meet with their Taipei counterparts.

US representatives can already travel to democratic Taiwan and Taiwanese officials occasionally visit the White House, but meetings are usually low profile to avoid offending China.

The "Taiwan Travel Act", which Trump signed on Friday following its passage in the US Congress, encourages visits between US and Taiwanese officials "at all levels".

Washington cut formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1979 in favour of Beijing under the "one China" policy. But it maintains trade relations with the island and sells it weapons, angering China.

China sees Taiwan as a renegade province and has long stated its desire for reunification.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said the bill's clauses, while not legally binding, "severely violate" the one China principle and send "very wrong signals to the 'pro-independence' separatist forces in Taiwan."

"China is strongly opposed to that," Lu said in a statement issued on Saturday.

"We urge the US side to correct its mistake, stop pursuing any official ties with Taiwan or improving its current relations with Taiwan in any substantive way," he said.

In a separate statement, Chinese defence ministry spokesman Wu Qian said the act "interferes in China's internal affairs".

China urges the US to "stop pursuing any US-Taiwan military ties and stop arms sales to Taiwan, so as to avoid causing serious damage to the bilateral and military relations between China and the US, and to the peace and stability in the Taiwan strait," the statement said.

The new US law describes Taiwan as "a beacon of democracy" in Asia, and states that "Taiwan's democratic achievements inspire many countries and people in the region."

Trump's signature, announced late on Friday -- when the White House usually tries to bury news -- comes amid increasing tensions between the mainland and the self-ruled island.

Beijing has cut off official communications with Taipei because President Tsai Ing-wen refuses to acknowledge the democratic island as part of "one China".

The travel act also comes amid trade tensions between the United States and China as Trump mulls fresh measures that have raised fears of a tit-for-tat trade war.China's Premier Li Keqiang was re-appointed with 2,964 votes in favour and two against during the annual session of the National People's Congress at Beijing's Great Hall of the People

China's rubber-stamp parliament gave Premier Li Keqiang a second five-year term on Sunday, but he faces a tenure deeper in the shadow of the country's powerful leader Xi Jinping.

Li was re-appointed with 2,964 votes in favour and two against during the annual session of the National People's Congress at Beijing's Great Hall of the People, one day after Xi was unanimously given a second term.

Appointed in 2013 to oversee the day-to-day management of the world's second-largest economy, Li, 62, has seen Xi consolidate power, accumulate titles and surround himself with powerful allies.

In another sign of Li's diminishing stature in government affairs, Xi's former anti-graft buster and trade negotiator, the economist Wang Qishan, was appointed vice president on Saturday.

Xi has also turned to his top economic aide, Liu He, to deal with US trade frictions, dispatching him to Washington earlier this month, though it has not stopped President Donald Trump from considering new punitive measures against China.

For his part, Xi now has a clear path to ruling the country indefinitely as the parliament voted last week to abolish the two five-year terms limit for the president.

Li "was sidelined from the premier's traditional economic policy bailiwick early on in his tenure," Jonathan Sullivan, director of the China Policy Institute at Nottingham University, told AFP.

"The most influential figures around Xi are allies that he has manoeuvered into central positions," Sullivan said, referring to Wang and other officials.

"That does not leave a lot of room for Li Keqiang to exert much influence, to the extent that his progressive marginalisation would not be a big surprise."

- 'Subordinate position' -

When he took office five years ago, Li promised "fair treatment" to foreign firms, a larger role for the market and structural reforms in favour of the private sector.

But the United States and Europe say foreign firms still face hurdles to break into and thrive in China's huge market, as they are forced to work in joint ventures with local firms and share their technology.

The EU Chamber of Commerce in China summed up the exasperation last year as "promise fatigue" -- a complaint that challenges Xi's image as a champion of globalisation.

Li's first term has also been marked by increasing concerns about China's growing debt load, which analysts warn could erupt into a financial crisis with global repercussions.

The government has rolled out a series of measures to prevent a financial calamity.

On Saturday, the parliament approved the biggest government shakeup in at least a decade, which includes the merger of the banking and insurance regulators to control risks.

"(Li) is acquiescing to Xi's personalist power," said Sam Crane, a Chinese history expert at Williams College in the US.

While Li has not been completely sidelined, "he has accepted a secondary, subordinate position," he said.

"Li might still have some influence in terms of economic policy but that influence is premised on the prior recognition that Xi is the supreme leader."At the Moudallal cafe, collectors carefully follow the auction of momentos from the nearly four decades of monarchic rule that ended with a bloody coup in 1958

At the heart of a Baghdad flea market, nostalgia for Iraq's royal past is on full display as collectors and investors gather to buy relics from a bygone era.

Inside the Moudallal cafe, Arabic for "pampered", a hundred men from across the country carefully follow the auction of momentos from the nearly four decades of monarchic rule that ended with a bloody coup in 1958.

"There is a feeling of nostalgia among the customers. Take the banknotes, their manufacture and quality were much better before, that's why the prices go up," says 52-year-old auctioneer Ali Hikmat.

With a booming voice, the towering man who has worked in the covered market since 1992 offers his goods up for to the highest bidder.

All sorts of keepsakes are up for grabs: banknotes, coins, stamps and decorations.

Most date back to Iraq's royal era, but there are also a few items from the early days of the republic that followed after general Abdel Karim Kassem toppled the monarchy.

Nothing is on offer from the decades of dictatorship under Saddam Hussein.

- 'It was better before' -

For the Iraqis hunting out their own souvenir of the past, the period of royal rule represents a golden age for their country.

The founding of the Kingdom of Iraq under Faisal I -- who fought alongside T.E Lawrence during World War I -- marked the emergence of the modern state after the fall of the Ottoman empire.

Iraqis nostalgic for the royal era seek out items from that period such as this 10 dinar banknote issued in 1947 bearing the image of King Faisal II

The country gained independence in 1932 and the monarchy lasted until Faisal II was executed during the coup.

"Of course we are nostalgic for the royal period. All the main structures in this country were built during that period, be it bridges, dams and the rest," says 53-year-old Ahmad Kamal, who owns a real estate agency in Baghdad.

"The royal era marks the beginning of the Iraqi state," he says. "If we compare it to today, it was much better before."

The comparison between the past and present is a potent one -- as Iraq recovers from its latest round of devastation and bloodshed following the campaign against the Islamic State group.

That violence is just the latest to roil the country that has been through war with Iran, the US-led invasion and a brutal sectarian conflict since the 1980s.

Saad Mohsen, a professor of modern history at the University of Baghdad, insists that back under the constitutional monarchy Iraq was "more democratic and cleaner than today".

For the Iraqis hunting out their own souvenir of the past, the period of royal rule represents a golden age for their country

"We were far from the blood and fighting that we have come to know," he says.

For clothing merchant Hussein Hakim, searching out souvenirs from previous epochs helps him to delve into Iraq's rich heritage.

"The past fascinates me," he says.

"I'm interested in the history of my country through the objects I collect from the Ottoman period up until the republic, but it's the royal era that I prefer most," the 43-year-old adds, proudly displaying two effigies of King Ghazi and King Faisal II.

- Market of memories -

The weekly auction in this small cafe is exceptional not only because of the sheer number of items on sale, but also because everything must be sold regardless of the price, allowing a lucky few to do snap up some bargains.

But the desire for all things connected with the era of royalty does not mean Iraqis are looking to bring back the monarch.

Despite the nostaglia, for many scouring for relics appears to have more to do with financial gain than historical interest

Sharif Ali Ben Hussein, who claims to be the legitimate heir to the Iraqi throne, has never managed to get elected to parliament.

In the wake of the 2003 US invasion, he returned to Baghdad after 45 years in exile but his claim that "a clear majority" of people wanted the monarchy back failed to gain traction.

For Adel Karim Sabri, who runs the magazine "My Hobby" specialising in stamps and old bank notes, "the past is always more beautiful because it is made of memories".

And for many of those shopping at this market of memories, scouring for relics appears to have more to do with financial gain than historical interest.

"They buy because they have money and it's a good investment," the 76-year-old says.For Australia's Rohingya community, there is little belief that Aung San Suu Kyi will change

The long journey to find peace for Rohingya refugee Kobir Ahmed can be told through the different birth countries of his eight children -- Myanmar, Malaysia and Australia -- although they remain citizens of no nation.

He now helps run a grocery store in suburban Australia where he lives in a small community of Rohingya, the persecuted Muslim minority who have fled army-led violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state in their hundreds of thousands.

"They are not like other militaries of the world. Killing people is nothing for them," the 44-year-old told AFP of the army's hardline tactics against his people.

Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi was in Sydney Sunday for a special Australia-ASEAN summit, with her presence seen as a crushing reminder of lost hope.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull vowed to address human rights issues at the Sydney summit, also attended by Myanmar's State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi

She is among nine leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations holding talks, including Cambodian strongman Hun Sen and Vietnam's Nguyen Xuan Phuc -- both accused of oppression.

Their attendance sparked human rights protests, with thousands making their feelings known, particularly about Aung San Suu Kyi's perceived inaction to halt what the UN says bears "the hallmarks of genocide".

"The situation in Burma wasn't this bad before Aung Sung Suu Kyi came in power," said Ahmed, who arrived in Australia on a rickety boat crammed with more than 100 people in 2013.

"Before, we were tortured, we weren't allowed to work or move independently -- we were under a lot of scrutiny -- but we could at least live there. But after she emerged, we were all forced to leave the country."

A bid by Australian lawyers to prosecute Suu Kyi for "crimes against humanity" was rejected Sunday after the country's attorney general said she had immunity from prosecution.

- Community pulling together -

Nearly 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh since Myanmar launched a crackdown on insurgents six months ago, with many describing arson, murder and rape at the hands of soldiers and vigilante mobs in the majority Buddhist country.

Myanmar has vehemently denied allegations of ethnic cleansing, insisting it was responding to attacks by Muslim militants in late August.

A poster referring to de facto Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi is displayed at a protest during the ASEAN-Australia summit in Sydney

The Rohingya in Australia number in the thousands, with many arriving over the years by boat seeking some form of citizenship status they were denied in Myanmar and could not attain in transit countries.

Their struggle for "status" remains uncertain under Canberra's tough immigration policies.

For most citizenship is disallowed, advocates say, under strict conditions that sees the Rohingya applying for bridging visas every few years in the hope that Australia relaxes its hardline stance on asylum-seekers designed to discourage boatpeople.

Many who attempted the dangerous journey after Canberra further tightened its borders languish in Pacific island camps, where those trying to enter Australia by boat are now sent.

"We are very much happy to obey the rules and the law... just give us a chance to prove that we are a good citizens," Shawfikul Islam, from the Australian Burmese Rohingya Organisation, told AFP.

Despite the uncertainty, many Rohingya are resilient and the community tight-knit. They often lack formal education, with the opportunity of schooling for their children one of their biggest hopes.

"For myself, my chance is over as I didn't go to school and when I grew up in Myanmar I lost all my rights," refugee Jumabi, who arrived via boat with her family six years ago, told AFP. "But here, these children have a great chance, and a future."

- 'Crimes against humanity' -

Under Myanmar's complex political system the military maintain control of the security forces, but Aung San Suu Kyi has been at the centre of worldwide condemnation for failing to use her influence to change attitudes among the majority-Buddhist Bamar.

Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi was in Sydney Sunday for a special Australia-ASEAN summit, with her presence seen as a crushing reminder of lost hope

Australia, which was elected to the UN Human Rights Council last year, has been under pressure to take a stronger stand on Myanmar.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull vowed to address human rights issues at the Sydney summit, although that will likely be behind closed doors and not in public.

Amnesty International has accused ASEAN leaders of being "shamefully silent" on Myanmar.

"Myanmar's regional neighbours -- including Australia and ASEAN -- must send a signal that crimes against humanity are unacceptable and will not go unpunished," said Amnesty's director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific James Gomez.

For Australia's Rohingya community, there is little belief that Aung San Suu Kyi will change.

"We thought she was very good when we were young," said 25-year-old Mohamed Younis, who arrived in Australia by boat five years ago.

"As soon she came into power, she is doing nothing for our people -- it is like she is blind."India is predicted to overtake Britain as the world's third-largest air travel market by 2025 and will have 478 million fliers by 2036

India's airports are struggling to cope with a massive surge in passenger numbers and billions of dollars must be spent to boost their capacity, analysts have warned.

The country is witnessing a huge boom in air travel as its growing middle class increasingly takes to the skies but experts say infrastructure is failing to keep up.

"There's an urgent need for capacity building in major Indian airports as they are bursting at the seams and close to saturation," Binit Somaia, South Asia Director at the Centre for Aviation (CAPA), told AFP.

India has witnessed a six-fold increase in passenger numbers over the past decade as citizens take advantage of better connectivity and cheaper fares thanks to a host of low-cost airlines.

Indian airports handled 265 million domestic passengers in 2016 and will cross 300 million this year, according to CAPA. The country's entire airport network is only capable of handling 317 million passengers, it says.

According to data compiled by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), an Indian regulatory body, there were just 44 million Indians travelling by plane in 2008.

Now CAPA predicts India will overtake Britain as the world's third-largest market by 2025 and will have 478 million fliers by 2036.

Aviation experts say the government faces a race against time to build the infrastructure to handle the soaring congestion.

"Some top airports have reached saturation. In the next five to seven years, the top 30 to 40 airports in India will be performing beyond their capacity," said Somaia of the Sydney-based CAPA.

Flights have increased by around 20 percent every year over the last three years, stretching many airports to breaking point.

Travellers can snap up tickets sometimes for as little as 1,000 rupees ($15) -- cheaper than many fares on the country's rickety train network.

Ten Indian airports -- including Dehradun, Jaipur, Guwahati, Mangalore, Srinagar and Pune -- are already operating beyond their capacity, CAPA said in a report released last month. Others are nearing their limit.

The aviation body predicts that New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport and Chennai's International Airport will reach their handling capacity within four to six years.

- 'World record' -

Domestic travellers flying into India's financial capital Mumbai regularly complain of flights having to circle for up to half an hour sometimes before the plane is given a slot to land

The situation is even more pressing at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA). CAPA says it is at 94 percent capacity and is "close to saturation".

Earlier this year, the airport said it had broken its own world record for handling the most number of arrivals and departures on a single runway in one day. Some 980 flights landed and took off within a 24-hour period.

Domestic travellers flying into India's financial capital regularly complain of flights having to circle for up to half an hour before the plane is given a slot to land.

The airport is surrounded by slum settlements, making it impossible to increase the number of runways and highlighting the problem of acquiring space for infrastructure projects in India's heavily congested cities.

The government is building a new airport at Navi Mumbai, 30 kilometres away, to ease the burden. It has been repeatedly delayed due to land disputes and is currently scheduled to open in 2023.

"The situation at CSIA will worsen until the new airport is operational," Amber Dubey, India head of aerospace and defence at global consultancy KPMG, told AFP, describing the delays as "unacceptable".

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made making air travel accessible to all a key priority since his election in 2014. He recently launched a scheme to connect remote regions of the country by air.

In the budget last month, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley allocated $613 million to the Airports Authority of India to expand facilities.

CAPA estimates that India needs to invest $45 billion by 2030 to keep up with demand.

"The government needs to ensure we have infrastructure to manage (the) growth rate," Manish Agarwal, an infrastructure expert at PricewaterhouseCoopers, told AFP.Now pumping more than 10 million barrels per day, the US has become the second biggest oil producer in the world behind Russia and ahead of Saudi Arabia

Boosted by surging output, the United States is becoming a significant exporter of crude oil, a shift that is remaking American infrastructure and altering the global petroleum market.

Now pumping more than 10 million barrels per day, the US has become the second biggest oil producer in the world behind Russia and ahead of Saudi Arabia. The bounty is the result of the shale oil boom due to new drilling and production techniques.

Eyeing this jump, the US at the end of 2015 scrapped its embargo on exports, a policy in place since the 1970s oil shocks. Energy companies have seized on the opening, exporting 1.1 million barrels per day to 37 countries in 2017.

Canada is the leading destination of American crude, but the US has also been exporting more to Asia, long a major market for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia.

China is the second biggest market for US exports, data shows.

Over the last decade, US crude imports have fallen from 10 million barrels a day to eight million barrels a day.

But the US remains a major importer of crude oil, in large part because American oil refineries are not designed for the lighter-weight crude that comes out of shale fields. Rather, many plants are built to run on heavier oils from Canada, Mexico or Venezuela that are cheaper to procure and result in lofty profit margins after they are processed into gasoline.

"The choice was made to invest in a more expensive, more sophisticated refinery that is a lot more costly to run, with the view that you are getting crude oil to a discount," said Harry Tchilinguirian, senior oil market strategist at BNP Paribas global markets.

"Considering that it takes five to seven years to build a refinery, you cannot just switch."

- Rethinking infrastructure -

Prior to the shale boom, which dates to 2010 or 2011, the US had been planning new pipeline capacity to allow greater crude imports from Canada. But the shift in the US oil production picture has also altered the outlook for energy infrastructure.

US companies are now focusing on adding domestic pipelines and export terminals in the Gulf Coast region to ship American oil abroad.

"The US cannot become completely independent of foreign oil," Tchilinguirian said.

In this context, President Donald Trump's idea of "energy dominance" or "the golden era of American energy" means not only reducing the role of imports, but "also being able to actively capture market share abroad," he said.

Perhaps the most emblematic project is the reinvention of the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, the only terminal in the US capable of servicing supertankers. The facility was used for oil exports instead of imports for the first time in February.

Farther west, the port of Corpus Christi, Texas is expected to become a bigger venue for crude exports and plans a $327 million project to widen and deepen the port's channel.

Experts think US oil exports could grow to as much as four to five million barrels a day in the medium term, prompting questions on which markets will buy the additional oil.

In the near-term, John Coleman of consultancy Wood Mackenzie expects much of the crude to reach Europe, given the compatibility of the oil with the continent's refineries.

But beyond 2022, the outlook is cloudier, in part because of new refineries coming on line in Africa and the Middle East, thus limiting their exports.

If the US manages to keep the price competitive enough to compensate for the extra time and cost of transportation, it could turn to Asia.

The question of oil infrastructure in the US "is still very much up in the air," Coleman said. "It's the hot topic of the day, even though there are substantial investments that have been announced, there are more needed."At the clinics in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, a nurse or paramedic examines the patient and sends all the information to the doctor, who then consults with the patient via Skype before making a diagnosis

In a remote Pakistani village surrounded by lush green hills, Mohammad Fayyaz brings his two-year-old son to a clinic so that a female doctor sitting hundreds of kilometres away can examine him.

Healthcare in rural Pakistan and the careers of women doctors are being revolutionised as internet access grows across the country, allowing people with limited mobility because of geography or culture to interact online.

Previously, Fayyaz would have had to travel for hours from his village of Bhosa, in northern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, only to spend hours queuing at overcrowded clinics in cities like Abbottabad or Peshawar for medical help.

Women doctors more than 1,500 kilometres (930 miles) to the south in the port of Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, face their own challenges, with their careers often put on ice once they marry and become mothers in the conservative, patriarchal country.

Now, a Karachi-based health tech startup, Sehat Kahani, has deployed Skype to solve both problems at once by bringing work to the doctors and medical advice to the villages.

"My son took just one dose of medicine and he feels much better now," Fayyaz told AFP after paying a nominal fee of 100 rupees (90 cents) to visit the Sehat Kahani clinic in his village and speak face-to-face via video conferencing to a doctor in Karachi.

Convenience is everything in a place where women must walk for miles to fetch water from a spring and power cuts can last up to 12 hours a day, the low hum of generators a constant backdrop to village life.

The remote doctors offer a fresh solution to Pakistan's struggling healthcare sector.

The country has one of the world's highest infant mortality rates and just 0.5-0.8 percent of its GDP has been spent on the health sector in the past decade.

"It is very helpful, particularly for female patients because it is close to all of us," Fayyaz says.

"That's why I am here," agrees Bibi Mehrunisa, one of the many women clustered in the clinic's waiting room, some with children in tow.

- Marriage vs career -

Pakistani doctor Nadia Rasheed speaks during an interview with AFP via Skype at a government-run online treatment centre

It's also important for the women on the computer screens.

At her Karachi home, doctor Benish Ehsan was multitasking, caring for her child as he sat on her lap, even as she began her online examination of a young patient in Bhosa.

"Is he using the bathroom, has the vomiting stopped or not?" she asks through the computer screen, advising the worried mother to feed her child more fruit and vegetables.

"He has lost some weight, so I am prescribing some medicines for that too," she says.

Later, speaking to AFP, Ehsan says the programme is empowering for stay-at-home mothers who also happen to be doctors, like her.

"It suits us, we don't need to go outside and can continue our practice even sitting at home," she says. "We are enjoying our family life and can also take care of patients."

Raheel Tanvir, a Sehat Kahani representative at the clinic in Bhosa, says roughly 80 percent of women doctors quit the profession after they get married.

"So the basic aim was to bring back those female doctors... They can continue their profession, can examine the patients while sitting at home and can also take care of their family," says Tanvir.

The Bhosa clinic opened last September and since then has seen hundreds of patients each month, demonstrating the need for the female doctors' skills.

"It's a huge waste," says Javed Akram, vice chancellor of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in Islamabad, lamenting how women end up using their medical degree "to get married".

"Men prefer to have doctors as wives rather than receptionists or hair stylists," he explains. "They are not giving anything back to the country... Let them work."

- Helping remote areas remotely -

A Pakistani resident carries his sick son as they arrive at an online treatment clinic in the remote Bhosa village of Mansehra district

The clinic in Bhosa operates simply: a nurse examines the patient and sends all the information to the doctor, who then consults with the patient via Skype before making a diagnosis.

The local government is also tuning in to the trend, setting up an e-ilaj, or e-treatment, centre in a village called Bilahi, with plans to expand in other remote areas of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

At Bilahi, where women clad in traditional shawls await their turn at the clinic surrounded by rolling hills, a four-year-old named Zehwish Azeem is examined remotely by physician Nadia Rasheed in Islamabad.

Rasheed said the government initiative works with a local internet provider to bring medical advice to some 15 villages with a population of more than 27,000 people in a rural area where doctors are few.

Over the last five years, more than 50,000 patients have been treated in such clinics in the Punjab, Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provinces, and in a remote village in the Margalla Hills bordering Islamabad, said Rasheed.

"This area is remote, people are poor and they had to travel a long time for treatment," Mian Badar Jan, an official in the Bilahi clinic told AFP.

"Now this system with modern facilities is helping them."Many people in the Democratic Republic of Congo rely on rapidly dwindling woodland for their livelihoods

The only UN-approved financial mechanism to curb deforestation, a key driver of global warming, has bulldozed the rights of forest-dwelling peoples on three continents and needs to be fixed, experts say.

The latest sign that these schemes -- which pay to restore tropical forests rather than cut them down -- are falling short comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where 20 pilot projects in Mai-Ndombe province have upended indigenous communities, according to a detailed report from the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), a Washington DC-based research group.

Backed by the DRC government and international financing, private companies that manage huge tracts of forest have ignored the land rights of local peoples, engineered displacements, and avoided prior consent requirements, the report says.

They have also failed to share the windfall such programmes can bring, said lead author Marine Gauthier, who has monitored the projects in the western province of Mai-Ndombe since 2012.

"Indigenous peoples simply do not benefit from REDD+ because there is no benefit-sharing plan in place," she told AFP, using the UN acronym for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation.

So far, more than $90 million (73 million euros) have been disbursed or committed in the province for forest-related climate change projects.

Funding from Norway, France, Britain, the European Union and the United States, along with private sources and NGOs, is funnelled through the World Bank's Forest Carbon Partnership Facility.

Destroying forests intensifies global warming in two ways.

Losing a wooded area the size of Greece each year not only reduces Earth's capacity to absorb carbon dioxide, it releases huge amounts of the planet-warming gas into the atmosphere, accounting for nearly a fifth of global emissions.

- Tension unresolved -

Tropical forests provide livelihoods and anchor the cultural identities of at least 250 million indigenous people.

Research has shown that stewardship by local communities significantly slows the pace of deforestation.

Map of the Democratic Republic of Congo

"Unfortunately, REDD+ projects in the DRC -- as currently structured -- are channelling money to private sector actors who do not have the same incentives to protect the forests," said Alain Frechette, RRI's director of strategic analysis.

Negotiated under the UN's 1992 climate change treaty, REDD+ projects began a decade ago, but many are on hold until 2020, when the mechanism's "strategic framework" will be finalised.

In the meantime, it is a work in progress.

Indeed, pilot programmes in dozens of countries in Latin America, Asia and Africa have, all too often, shortchanged local communities and underperformed as a bulkhead against climate change -- their primary goal.

"REDD+ is evolving in a context of rights abuses, displacement and dispossession, threats and harassment over territories, and the repression and assassination of environmental activists by state and private forces," the non-profit Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) found in a 2017 review of academic literature.

More than 200 environmental campaigners, nearly half from indigenous tribes, were murdered around the world in 2016 alone, according to watchdog Global Witness.

- Corruption a key concern -

"It is unclear how indigenous peoples will benefit from REDD+," the CIFOR review concluded.

"The tension between conserving carbon stocks" -- the CO2 locked in standing forests -- "and providing rights and livelihoods has not been solved."

Corruption in countries with weak governance has been a major concern.

In the DRC -- home to 50 percent of Africa's tropical forests -- abuses related to land tenure conflicts have also turned violent, though not, so far, within REDD+ projects, Gauthier said.

As far back as the 1970s, some 6,000 Batwa Pygmies were forcibly expelled from the Kahuzi Biega National Park -- collateral damage to a conservation project.

In Mai-Ndombe, another group of pygmies were recently barred by foreign concession holders with a REDD+ contract from using traditional slash-and-burn agriculture because their ancestral forests had already been severely degraded by industrial logging operations.

"The situation is highly conflictual," said Gauthier.

By design, REDD+ pays to reduce CO2 emissions from deforestation, but not for keeping healthy forests intact.

This, critics say, can create perverse incentives.

A company in Mai-Ndombe, for example, recently cleared a wooded area under a logging concession, and then applied for a "conservation concession" on the same tract.

"After getting money from harvesting the trees, in other words, they want to get REDD+ money to plant some more," Gauthier said.

The solution, many experts say, is not to scrap REDD+.

"REDD+ has brought unparalleled attention to the importance of forests in the global strategy to fight climate change," said Frechette.

"But there are fundamental flaws in its conception, especially the lack of importance given to rights of indigenous peoples. It needs to be fixed."North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho will stay in Stockholm till Sunday, according to some media reports

North Korean officials wrapped up three days of talks with Swedish counterparts with no indication their efforts cleared the way for a mooted nuclear summit between US President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, as a senior Pyongyang diplomat headed to Finland Sunday for further meetings.

The North's state KCNA news agency said Sunday the Stockholm talks had discussed "bilateral relations and other issues of mutual concern", without providing further detail.

The meetings in Sweden came a week after Trump agreed to a summit proposal relayed by South Korean envoys who met Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang.

His response triggered a race to set a credible agenda for what would be historic talks between the two leaders.

But no specific time or venue has been set and North Korea has yet to confirm it even made the offer to meet.

Choe Kang Il, deputy director for North American affairs at Pyongyang's foreign ministry, was seen at Beijing airport Sunday departing for Finland, where he is expected to hold talks with former US ambassador to Seoul Kathleen Stephens, multiple media reports said.

Earlier reports had listed Choe among the North's delegation to Sweden.

Choe, experienced in negotiations with the US, is expected to meet the retired US diplomat as well as other retired South Korean diplomats, the South's Yonhap news agency said, citing an unnamed diplomatic source.

"But no current US or South Korean officials will be there," Yonhap quoted the source in Seoul as saying.

- Summit 'facilitator' -

In Stockholm, the Swedes were seeking to pave the way for talks which could end a threat of nuclear war, using the leverage of their longstanding ties with Pyongyang, where its diplomatic mission opened in 1975, the first Western embassy to be established in the hermit country.

The embassy today represents US, Canadian and Australian diplomatic interests, giving Sweden a key liaison role and facilitating the talks in Stockholm between Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom and counterpart Ri Yong Ho.

Ri also met with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, who Friday said Sweden hoped to be a summit "facilitator".

A senior US administration official told AFP Friday no US government staff would be meeting with the North Koreans in Sweden, where Ri was stationed as a diplomat for three years in the mid 1980s.

Wallstrom had earlier said the talks extended into Saturday given the "constructive atmosphere" of the first two days.

No concrete announcements emerged Saturday, as the Swedish foreign ministry stated that "the talks focused primarily on the security situation on the Korean peninsula, which is high on the UN Security Council agenda."

Noting Sweden's "consular responsibilities as a protecting power" for the United States, Canada and Australia, the statement indicated the "foreign ministers discussed opportunities and challenges associated with continued diplomatic efforts to reach a peaceful solution to the conflict."

The ministry added that "Sweden underlined the need for North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons and missile programmes in accordance with Security Council resolutions."

Hwasong-15 ballistic missiles seen at a military parade Pyongyang in January

It also stated that "other discussions centred on the humanitarian situation in North Korea, sanctions, and regional cooperation and security issues for countries including South Korea, Japan, Russia, China and the United States."

In line with previous sessions of talks, Ri made no comments to the media.

The Swedes added Ri also visited the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute global security think tank for "off the record" talks with chairman Jan Eliasson and other senior officials on the situation in the Korean peninsula.Sri Lanka imposed a state of emergency to quell anti-Muslim riots, mainly in the central Kandy district

Sri Lanka's president announced Sunday he is lifting a nationwide state of emergency imposed 12 days ago to quell anti-Muslim riots in which three people died and hundreds of shops were destroyed.

Maithripala Sirisena said improvements in the security situation prompted him to end the emergency, under which security forces and the police had sweeping powers to detain suspects.

"Upon assessing the public safety situation, I instructed to revoke the state of emergency from midnight yesterday," Sirisena said on Twitter as he returned to the island after a tour of Japan.

Much of the anti-Muslim violence was concentrated in the central district of Kandy, 115 kilometres (72 miles) northeast of the capital Colombo.

Police said the situation in the picturesque hill resort has returned to normal. Security forces have been deployed to help rebuild damaged homes and businesses, officials said.

Over 300 people have been arrested in connection with the riots, and they have been remanded in custody till the end of this month.

The state emergency also allowed Sirisena to call in the military after police initially failed to control the riots that spread to several suburbs of Kandy. There were a few isolated incidents elsewhere on the island too.

The unrest started after a Sinhalese man beaten up by four Muslim men in a road rage incident died at a hospital in Kandy earlier this month. The following day, Sinhalese mobs set fire to Muslim-owned homes and businesses.

The body of a 24-year-old Muslim man was pulled out of a burnt home, raising tensions further. The next day, a Sinhalese man died when a hand grenade he was carrying exploded before he could attack a mosque.

This was the first state of emergency imposed in Sri Lanka since the end of a decades-long Tamil separatist war in 2009.

Sri Lanka's parliament issued an apology to its Muslim minority, which constitutes 10 percent of the country's population of 21 million. Sinhalese account for about three quarters of the population.

Last November, riots between the Muslims and the Sinhalese -- who are largely Buddhist -- in the south of the island left one man dead and homes and vehicles damaged.Philippine's President Rodrigo Duterte lashed out at the ICC two days after his government officially notified the United Nations of his decision to pull the Philippines out of the Rome Statute

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday urged other nations to follow his move to quit the International Criminal Court, which is examining his deadly drug war.

Duterte lashed out at the war crimes tribunal days after his government notified the United Nations of his decision to withdraw the Philippines from the Rome Statute which set up the court.

"I said withdraw simply because to announce to the world, and I will convince everybody now who (is) under the treaty: get out, get out. It is rude," Duterte said in a speech to Philippine Military Academy graduates.

"It is not a document that was prepared by anybody. It's an EU-sponsored (treaty)," he added, as he criticised the court for allegedly going after "blacks".

The Hague-based ICC announced last month it was launching a "preliminary examination" of Duterte's anti-drug crackdown that has prompted international concern.

Duterte, 72, won elections in mid-2016 vowing to launch an unprecedented drug war in which tens of thousands of people would die.

Police say they have killed 4,100 drug suspects as part of the campaign, while rights groups claim the toll is around three times the numbers given by authorities.

The ICC, which opened in 2002, is the world's only permanent war crimes court and aims to prosecute the worst abuses when national courts are unable or unwilling.

The Philippines on Thursday told the UN it was withdrawing from the ICC, triggering warnings from a top tribunal official that it would harm global efforts to end impunity for the world's worst crimes.

Officially quitting the court requires a year's notice and does not stop the ICC from continuing its examination of the killings.

However Duterte on Sunday insisted the ICC could not prosecute him since the treaty was not published locally, in violation of domestic laws.

"That treaty, if you read it, it's all bull," Duterte said.

He added that the ICC was part of efforts of "white idiots in the EU" to "atone" for wrongdoings in Africa and the Middle East.

"These people when they went to Africa, they killed the Arabs.... it is really an atonement for their sins. And then they run after either the blacks, when there are so many problems but they still meddle," he said.

Should the Philippines fully withdraw from the court it would follow the African nation of Burundi, which in October 2017 became the first country to leave.A Palestinian man checks the site of an Israeli air strike in Gaza on March 18, 2018

Israel's military carried out an air raid overnight against an underground Hamas facility in the Gaza Strip and destroyed a separate tunnel under construction that could be used for attacks, it said Sunday.

No casualties were reported in either operation, which came after an explosive device was detonated near the Gaza border with Israel, the latest in a string of such incidents.

Israel's military said the operation to destroy the tunnel involved new technology it has been developing to detect them.

"Our policy is to act resolutely against any attempt to harm us and systematically eliminate the terror tunnel infrastructure, and we will continue doing so," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.

Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs the Gaza Strip, called Israel's actions an attempt "to scare the people" and head off planned protests along the border beginning later this month.

Israel "bears all the consequences of the escalation," Hamas spokesman Fawzy Barhoum said.

Beginning on March 30, Gazans are planning to erect hundreds of tents near the Israeli border in a six-week show of support for Palestinian refugees.

Regarding the overnight operations, Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conricus said Hamas had been digging the tunnel to link up with an older one in the south of the Palestinian enclave.

The new tunnel had not reached Israeli territory but was within a few hundred metres of the border fence, near the Kerem Shalom goods crossing and in the area of the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip, he said.

The older tunnel did "partially" reach into Israeli territory, but had been discovered and cut off in 2014.

According to Conricus, the recent Hamas work was an attempt to link up with the part of the older tunnel that "they thought could still be usable."

- 'Military complex' -

Israel had been monitoring the work before the operation, said Conricus.

An unspecified material was injected to thwart the work and explosives were not used, he said, declining to elaborate further.

Israeli soldiers carried out the operation from the Israeli side of the border fence, he said.

Conricus also did not describe in more detail what he said was an underground facility struck in the air raid in the central Gaza Strip.

"It was a subterranean complex, a military complex," he said.

Resident Amal Malaka spoke of her fear during the strike in Gaza City.

"We heard the sound of shelling, the whole of the house shaking and the windows too," she told AFP.

"My children were afraid and the girls fell down from the bed."

Late Saturday, an explosive device went off in the northern Gaza Strip near Israel's border fence, the army said in an earlier statement, with no casualties reported.

Israel had already retaliated once in the immediate aftermath of the explosion, with tanks targeting a Hamas observation post.

According to Palestinian sources, the tank fire slightly injured one person.

Two explosive devices were detonated Thursday along the border, which had already provoked Israeli attacks on Hamas positions.

On February 17, four Israeli soldiers were wounded by an improvised explosive device on the border, sparking intense military retaliation.

It was not clear who was behind the blasts, but Israel held Hamas responsible as the de facto power in the Palestinian enclave.

Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza have fought three wars since 2008. The strip has been under an Israeli blockade for around a decade.

jlr-yh-sa-mjs/parIndia deploys hundreds of thousands of troops in disputed Kashmir

Five members of a single family were killed Sunday when a mortar bomb fired by Pakistani soldiers landed on their home in Indian-administered Kashmir, police said.

The incident happened in the southern Poonch sector in the disputed Himalayan region.

Police said a 35-year-old man, two children aged seven and 12, a teenage boy and a woman were killed.

"The five were killed inside their home when a shell fired from Pakistan side of the border hit it," director general of police, Shesh Paul Vaid, told AFP.

Two girls, including a five-year-old, were injured and taken to hospital, a police statement said.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British colonial rule in 1947. Both claim the former kingdom in full and have fought two wars over it.

There have been intense skirmishes this year along the de facto border, known as the Line of Control.

Last month more than 1,000 villagers were evacuated to safer places in the northern Uri sector amid a heavy exchange of fire.

Tensions are already high after India and Pakistan last week accused each other of harassing diplomats in New Delhi and Islamabad.

New Delhi regularly accuses Pakistan of initiating border firing in an attempt to help insurgents infiltrate India.

Islamabad denies the allegations, saying it only provides diplomatic and moral support to Kashmiris seeking the right to self-determination.

India deploys hundreds of thousands of soldiers in the territory, where rebels demand either independence or a merger with Pakistan.Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull poses with ASEAN leaders, who agreed to work more closely to tackle the growing menace of violent extremism and radicalisation

Australia and its ASEAN neighbours vowed to boost defence ties while stressing the importance of non-militarisation in the disputed South China Sea Sunday at a summit where the "complex" Rohingya crisis took centre stage.

Leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, at the three-day meeting in Sydney, also agreed to work more closely to tackle the growing menace of violent extremism and radicalisation.

But while a final communique noted a resolve to "protect the human rights of our peoples", it failed to condemn member state Myanmar's treatment of the Muslim-minority Rohingya.

Nearly 700,000 Rohingya have fled the troubled Rakhine state for Bangladesh since authorities launched a brutal crackdown six months ago that the UN has called "ethnic cleansing".

Myanmar, whose de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi was in Sydney, has vehemently denied the allegations.

"We discussed the situation in Rakhine state at considerable length today," Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said at a closing press conference.

"Aung San Suu Kyi addressed the matter comprehensively, at some considerable length herself," he said.

"It's a very complex problem ... Everyone seeks to end the suffering that has been occasioned by the events, the conflict."

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, said the crisis was "a concern for all ASEAN countries, and yet ASEAN is not able to intervene to force an outcome".

- Security threat -

Tensions in the South China Sea remain a big worry for regional leaders, as Beijing continues to build artificial islands capable of hosting military installations -- much to the chagrin of other claimants to the area.

Vietnam remains the most vocal in the dispute with the Philippines backing off under China-friendly President Rodrigo Duterte. Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei also have claims.

Canberra and ASEAN reaffirmed "the importance of maintaining and promoting peace, stability, maritime safety and security, freedom of navigation and overflight in the region", without naming Beijing.

The leaders added they wanted to see an "early conclusion of an effective code of conduct in the South China Sea".

"We will uphold our commitment to the rules-based order and international law in the region, including the South China Sea," stressed Turnbull.

With China flexing its muscle, they also committed to enhancing "the scope and sophistication of defence cooperation", while expressing "grave concern" about escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula.

Day two of the summit on Saturday was devoted to counter-terrorism, with an agreement to work together to tackle extremism amid growing concern about the use of the "dark web", or encrypted messaging apps, by terrorists to plan attacks.

Fears have been heightened by jihadists now being forced out of Syria and Iraq with the Islamic State caliphate mostly crushed, and into other countries.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak cited the flow of the displaced Rohingya as a potential new security threat, with desperate people more susceptible to radicalisation.

Human rights issues were a key focus of protests during the summit, with thousands denouncing Aung San Suu Kyi, Cambodian strongman Hun Sen and Vietnam's Nguyen Xuan Phuc, who are accused of oppression.

With the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact, without the United States, now signed, Turnbull urged leaders to get behind a "high quality" Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership deal.

Australia, the full ASEAN bloc, as well as China and India are among countries still negotiating that deal.

Singapore's Lee said there was hope it could be finalised this year.

"This is a historic opportunity to establish the world's largest trade bloc," he said.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, with Australia, a dialogue partner since 1974.Friends of Rabbi Itamar Ben Gal mourn during his funeral in the West Bank settlement of Har Bracha on February 6, 2018, after he was killed the previous day in a stabbing attack

An Arab Israeli suspected of having stabbed to death a rabbi near a settlement in the occupied West Bank last month has been arrested, Israeli authorities said Sunday.

Abed Hakim Assi, born in 1998, is believed to have stabbed to death Itamar Ben Gal, 29, near the settlement of Ariel on February 5 before going into hiding in the northern West Bank.

Israel's Shin Bet domestic security agency announced the overnight arrest in a statement.

Palestinians who were with Assi during his arrest were also taken for questioning, the statement said.

Ben Gal, of the Har Bracha settlement, was seen in a video waiting for a bus while a man Israei authorities identified as Assi crosses the road and stabs him in the chest.

Assi's mother is an Arab Israeli and his father a Palestinian from the West Bank, the Shin Bet said.

According to media reports, he was living in Tel Aviv prior to the attack and had a background of drug abuse and social problems.

The arrest comes on the heels of a car ramming attack by a Palestinian near Jenin in the northern West Bank on Friday that killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded two others, according to the army.

Tensions were high after Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas called for a day of rage on Friday to commemorate 100 days since US President Donald Trump's controversial recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Palestinians also see the city as their capital and Trump's recognition broke with decades of US policy that Jerusalem's status would be negotiated between the parties.

At least 31 Palestinians and four Israelis have been killed since Trump's announcement, which set off major protests.Protesters demonstrate against Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi during the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in Sydney

Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi was pressed about the Rohingya crisis at an ASEAN summit in Sydney Sunday, but the regional bloc stressed it could not intervene and "force an outcome".

Suu Kyi has been under intense global criticism for her public silence amid a brutal military crackdown that has forced nearly 700,000 of the Muslim-minority Rohingya to flee Myanmar's Rakhine state for Bangladesh.

The humanitarian crisis was one of the key topics at a three-day special summit between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Australia.

"We discussed the situation in Rakhine state at considerable length today," Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said at the closing press conference.

"Aung San Suu Kyi addressed the matter comprehensively, at some considerable length herself.

"It's certainly an issue that has been discussed and it is fair to say... very constructively, in our meeting."

Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who is this year's ASEAN chair, said Myanmar's neighbours were concerned about the ongoing situation but could not "force an outcome".

"It is of concern for all ASEAN countries, and yet ASEAN is not able to intervene and to force an outcome," Lee said alongside Turnbull.

Both leaders said they would back efforts to reach a long-term solution to end the crisis, and were supporting humanitarian efforts to help those displaced.

The 10-nation ASEAN prides itself on consensus diplomacy and non-interference in each other's affairs.

But the exodus has sparked rare tension within the association, and Muslim-majority Malaysia has called for an independent ASEAN-led investigation into allegations of army abuse.

Malaysia's leader Najib Razak increased the pressure on Suu Kyi Saturday, saying the Rohingya issue could threaten regional security as he warned those affected could fall prey to extremist groups like Islamic State.

Lee said Singapore had no "specific intelligence" on whether there were terrorist groups in Rakhine state, but said "these are possibilities that you cannot rule out and which you have to keep on being on the watch out for".

Suu Kyi is due in Canberra on Monday for talks with Turnbull before an address to Sydney's Lowy Institute on Tuesday.

She has not commented publicly since arriving in Australia on Saturday for the summit, but is scheduled to take questions at Tuesday's media event.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Australia has been a dialogue partner since 1974.Turkish-backed Syrian Arab fighters stand in the back of a vehicle as they drive in the Kurdish-majority city of Afrin

Turkish-backed Syrian rebels have taken "total" control of the centre of Afrin, a Kurdish-majority city in northern Syria, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday.

"Units of the Free Syrian Army, which are backed by Turkish armed forces, took control of the centre of Afrin this morning at 8:30 am (0530 GMT)," Erdogan said, adding that de-mining operations were under way.

Taking Afrin has been the main objective of Turkey's operation Olive Branch, a deadly ground and air offensive launched on January 20 with the aim of ousting the People's Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish militia group.

Erdogan said a "large number" of Kurdish fighters had "fled with their tails between their legs".

He added Turkish special forces had deployed in the city.

News of Afrin's capture was also confirmed by the Turkish military, which released a statement saying the city centre was "under control".

"Search operations to locate mines and other explosives are under way," it said.

On Twitter, the military posted a video of a soldier putting a Turkish flag on a balcony.

"Now the Turkish flag will fly over there! The flag of the Free Syrian Army will fly over there!" said Erdogan who was speaking at a ceremony marking the battle to open the Dardanelles during World War I.

As the Turkish operation intensified, more than 200,000 civilians fled the Kurdish-majority city in less than three days and dozens have been killed in the area, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The monitor said Sunday that more than 1,500 Kurdish fighters have been killed in the two-month assault by Turkish forces and allied Syrian rebels on Afrin.

Most died in air strikes and artillery fire, the group said adding that more than 400 pro-Ankara rebels had been killed since January 20

Ankara sees the YPG as a Syrian offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been waging an insurgency inside Turkey since 1984.

But Washington has provided weapons to the YPG, which it sees as a key ally in the fight against jihadists in Syria and Turkey, with Ankara's military operation hiking tensions between the two NATO allies.

According to figures released by the Turkish army, 46 Turkish soldiers have been killed since the start of the Afrin offensive.

Afrin is one of several fronts in the Syrian war which has left 350,00 people dead and displaced millions of people since 2011.Turkish-backed Syrian rebels gather in the city of Afrin in northern Syria on March 18, 2018

Turkey's flag was flying over Afrin on Sunday after its troops and Ankara-backed rebels chased out Kurdish militia forces to seize control of the Syrian city.

In a major victory for Ankara's two-month operation against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria, Turkish-led forces pushed into Afrin apparently unopposed, taking up positions across the city.

The advance came as Syria's civil war entered its eighth year this week with heavy fighting on two fronts -- around Afrin and in the rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta near Damascus.

Hundreds have been killed and thousands forced from their homes by the ferocious assault in Ghouta, where President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday visited troops battling to retake the last rebel enclave close to the capital.

Turkish forces and their rebel allies reported in control of the Kurdish-majority city of Afrin

In Afrin, AFP correspondents saw Turkish forces and their Syrian allies in all neighbourhoods of the city after they made a lightning advance inside on Sunday.

Rebels fanned out across the city, giving victory signs and taking pictures with Turkish tanks parked outside official buildings.

But celebration soon appeared to turn to retribution and looting as pro-Ankara rebels began pillaging goods and a statue of a Kurdish hero was torn down.

Fighters were seen breaking into shops, restaurants and houses, before hauling off foodstuff, electronic equipment, blankets and other goods in trucks.

- 'Tails between their legs' -

A Turkish-backed Syrian rebel drives past a burning shop in the city of Afrin in northern Syria on March 18, 2018

As Turkey and its allies forces arrived to cement control over Afrin, civilians continued to flee the city.

Around 250,000 civilians left in recent days after pro-Ankara fighters took the surrounding region and all but encircled the city, fleeing southwards to territory still held by the YPG or controlled by the Syrian regime.

On Sunday 13 pro-Turk fighters were killed by landmines during search operations in Afrin, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that Turkish-backed fighters had taken control of the city centre and said a "large number" of Kurdish fighters had "fled with their tails between their legs".

The Turkish leader has said the operation could move on to other Kurdish-controlled areas of northern Syria.

"Our work is not finished.... but terrorism is finished in Afrin," Turkish government spokesman Bekir Bozdag said.

Residents said it appeared that YPG units had withdrawn from the city without a fight.

But Kurdish authorities vowed to retake Afrin, one of three semi-autonomous Kurdish "cantons" in northern Syria.

"Resistance... will continue until every inch of Afrin is liberated," authorities representing the Afrin canton said in a statement.

Turkish-backed Syrian rebels loot shops after seizing control of the northwestern Syrian city of Afrin from the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) on March 18, 2018

"In all of Afrin's sectors, our forces will become a permanent nightmare" for pro-Ankara fighters, the statement said, promising "a switch from direct confrontation to hit-and-run attacks."

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, says more than 280 civilians have been killed since the campaign began on January 20.

Ankara has denied the reports and said it takes the "utmost care" to avoid civilian casualties.

The Observatory said Sunday that more than 1,500 Kurdish fighters had been killed since the start of the offensive, most of them in air strikes and artillery fire.

More than 400 pro-Ankara rebels have also been killed, it said. The Turkish military says 46 Turkish soldiers have died.

Turkey sees the YPG as a "terrorist" offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state.

But the Kurdish militia has also formed the backbone of a US-backed alliance that successfully expelled the Islamic State jihadist group from large parts of Syria.

- Rebel evacuation deal? -

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (C) talks with regime forces in Eastern Ghouta on March 18, 2018, in the leader's first trip to the former rebel enclave outside Damascus in years

On another front near Damascus, thousands of civilians continued to stream out of Eastern Ghouta for a fourth day as the regime's Russian-backed air and ground assault appeared to have eased up.

Regime fighters have retaken more than 80 percent of the former rebel bastion since the offensive was launched on February 18, the Observatory says, slicing what remains into three pockets each held by different rebel groups.

More than 1,400 civilians have been killed in the offensive, including 274 children, and at least 65,000 civilians are reported to have fled the area in recent days.

On Sunday, bombing of the rebel areas of Eastern Ghouta killed six people, according to the Observatory.

Earlier Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP that "the area is awaiting the announcement of a deal between Faylaq al-Rahman and Russia on an evacuation of rebels to northern Syria."

Syrians return to the Eastern Ghouta town of Saqba on March 18, 2018 after regime forces took control of the southern pocket from rebels

Buoyant Assad on Sunday paid a first visit in years to battered East Ghouta to congratulate his troops for the gruelling assault to oust rebels from near Damascus.

Syrian state television broadcast photos of the president dressed in a shirt and jacket surrounded by soldiers, some perched on a tank behind him.

"The inhabitants of Damascus are more than grateful and they will maybe tell their children in the coming decades how you saved the capital," he said.

Syria's conflict broke out in 2011 with protests against Assad.

He has maintained his grip on power despite global calls to step down and outrage at the brutal offensives he has waged to retake towns and cities from rebel fighters.

burs-mm/del/bocSyrian civilians leave the town of Jisreen in Eastern Ghouta, heading for areas under government control, on March 17, 2018

As Russia-backed Syrian regime forces chip away at what remains of the last opposition bastion outside Damascus, experts say the future looks bleak for rebels there.

What is likely to happen to these opposition fighters, most of whom hail from the area, as well as tens of thousands of civilians still inside the besieged enclave?

- How do things stand on the ground? -

Government forces have retaken 80 percent of the former rebel bastion since launching a blistering air and ground assault to retake it on February 18, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says.

They have split the remaining areas under rebel control into three separate pockets, each held by different opposition factions, the Britain-based monitor says.

The rebel Jaish al-Islam group is isolated in a northern pocket around the main town of Douma, while hardliners from Ahrar al-Sham control a small area around the town of Harasta to the west.

In the south, Faylaq al-Rahman holds the town of Arbin and surrounding territory.

Syrian pro-government fighters pose in front of a wall bearing the legend "Faylaq al-Rahman, department of morale", in the town of Jisreen in Eastern Ghouta, on March 17, 2018

When fighting stops, negotiations are likely to determine the fate of opposition fighters and civilians there, analysts say.

"Fighting will stop at some point and they will negotiate," geography expert Fabrice Balanche said, adding that such talks could be prolonged.

As it seeks to win back control of the country, the Assad regime has often sought evacuation deals in rebel-held areas after brutal bombardment campaigns or suffocating sieges.

This was the case in the central city Homs in 2014 and in the northern city of Aleppo as regime forces retook full control of it in late 2016.

These so-called "reconciliation" deals saw rebels evacuated to other parts of the country under opposition control, including the northwestern province of Idlib.

- Will Ghouta see an evacuation? -

Eastern Ghouta's rebels have said they reject any evacuation, but on Friday announced they were prepared to hold direct United Nations-backed ceasefire talks with regime backer Russia.

Thomas Pierret, another Syria analyst, said the rebels stood little chance against the onslaught, which the Observatory says has claimed more than 1,400 civilian lives in a month.

However "excellent in urban warfare" Eastern Ghouta's rebels are, they "can't do much faced with the regime's fire power", he said.

When fighting stops, talks will decide what becomes of the rebels -- most of whom, Pierret said, originate from the region.

Syrian civilians evacuate the town of Jisreen in Eastern Ghouta towards areas under government control on March 17, 2018

Aron Lund, a fellow with the Century Foundation, said that makes evacuations particularly devastating.

"The rebels in Ghouta are overwhelmingly from that area, which makes it especially painful and difficult to have fighters leave the area," he said.

"The Syrian government and the Russians are hoping to get some rebels to lay down their arms, while those who won't do so will be forced to evacuate to northern Syria," said Lund.

"Russia has offered to guarantee safe passage for surrendering fighters, who can bring their personal weapons and their families," he said.

The Observatory has said talks between local dignitaries or rebels on one side and the regime and its Russian ally on the other have yet to produce results.

The negotiations were on Jaish al-Islam possibly remaining in Douma and Russian military police being deployed there.

Those who refuse to put down their weapons could also head to rebel-held areas in the southern province of Daraa, the monitor said.

Faylaq al-Rahman rebels could head to territories held by the group in the northern province of Aleppo and neighbouring Idlib.

Balanche says Jaish al-Islam counts an estimated 6,000 fighters in its ranks, while Faylaq al-Rahman has some 3,000 fighters.

The Observatory says Ahrar al-Sham is several hundred fighters strong.

- What fate for civilians? -

Before the regime offensive started, the United Nations said 400,000 people lived in Eastern Ghouta, under a crippling government siege since 2013.

A Syrian man holds up the national flag as he leaves the town of Jisreen in Eastern Ghouta towards areas under government control on March 17, 2018

But as government forces advanced in recent days, 50,000 civilians have streamed out of the enclave into areas under regime control, according to the Observatory, despite their fears of their fate there.

When rebels surrendered in the past, Lund said, civilians who chose to stay were sometimes allowed to do so.

"Many people in Syria are just interested in surviving, saving their families, and getting on with their lives, whoever is in charge of their hometown," he said.

But "the question is how much of the Ghouta enclave's non-combatant population would be displaced in this way, and to what extent there can be a genuine choice about leaving or staying."

"Regime opponents and relatives of rebel fighters will fear revenge attacks, arrest and torture, and military-age men will fear being drafted to the army," he said.

"Their families may feel compelled to go with them."An armed Myanmar border guard stands near an excavator clearing land near the Bangladeshi border, where the government is building repatriation centres for Rohingya

Rohingya holed up in a border "no man's land" after fleeing Myanmar will only accept repatriation to their home villages, a local leader said Sunday, rejecting any move to transit camps for fear of long-term confinement.

Some 700,000 Rohingya have been driven into neighbouring Bangladesh since last August by a major army crackdown -- purportedly intended to "clear" northern Rakhine state of militants from the Muslim minority.

The UN describes it as a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Muslim Rohingya, an allegation staunchly denied by mainly Buddhist Myanmar.

Overwhelmed by the influx, Bangladesh wants Myanmar to take them back and the neighbours agreed to start repatriating refugees in January. But so far no Rohingya have returned.

Since August several thousand of the Rohingya have been living in tents beyond a barbed-wire fence which roughly demarcates the border zone between the two countries, reliant on NGO food handouts.

Myanmar authorities are pressing hard for their return and have increased troop numbers on their side of the fence, accusing Rohingya militants of infiltrating the camp.

But despite the apparent show of force and looming monsoon rains, a camp leader told reporters they would not bow to pressure to return or to move forward into Bangladesh.

"We have no intention to enter Bangladesh. We are not Bengali... we are Myanmar original citizens," Dil Mohamed, 51, told reporters through barbed wire in an interview in "no man's land", during a government-steered trip through the Maungdaw border district.

Dil said the villagers -- who number around 6,000 -- would return to Myanmar only if they are guaranteed safety, compensation for the homes burned down in the army clearance and permission to resettle in their old villages.

"We don't want to go to the transit camps. We need to go directly to our homes," he said, referring to sites set up by Myanmar authorities to process returning refugees.

The international Red Cross currently provides supplies to the group, who collect it by crossing a creek and reaching the Bangladesh side.

Fears abound that transit camps and resettlement villages being built for returnees will effectively become long-term detention centres.

More than 120,000 Rohingya are already confined to squalid camps further south in Myanmar following earlier bouts of communal violence, with their movements strictly controlled.

Myanmar denies any plan to hold Rohingya.

"We don't have any vision or intention to keep them long," Ye Htut, the administrator of Maungdaw district, told reporters on Saturday as they were chaperoned around northern Rakhine by government minders.

But the repatriation process appears to be in disarray, with the international community saying continuing insecurity precludes a swift return for the refugees.

Myanmar continues to show off new reception centres and camps for refugees who do eventually return as a sign of its apparent good faith over repatriation.

Development schemes led by the army, powerful Myanmar businessmen and donor-funded ethnic Rakhine groups are abundant across the north of Rakhine, the scene of the worst violence.

One of several newly constructed shelters in a resettlement site is seen near a charred village (background) in Maungdaw near the Bangladeshi border

Critics say the projects are shaped by military and economic priorities and are often sited on commandeered Rohingya land, effectively excluding the minority from the future of the state.

Myanmar brands the Rohingya as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. It has systematically dismantled their legal rights and access to basic services in Rakhine, a state where many have lived for generations.Airbags contain a chemical propellant which can inflate a bag within 0.0005 seconds

The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened an investigation into a series of deadly crashes in which airbags in Hyundai and Kia cars failed to inflate.

The administration's Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) "is currently aware of six crashes with significant collision-related damage events involving Hyundai and Kia models where airbags failed to deploy in frontal crashes," which four people died and six were hurt, its website said.

The "failure of the airbag control unit (ACU) may prevent the frontal airbags from deploying in the event of a crash," it said.

Hyundai filed a report on the issue at the end of February that led to a recall, but the firm said it had not yet "identified a remedy."

The recall involved 155,000 Hyundai Sonata vehicles produced between December 2009 and September 2010 at their plant in the southern state of Alabama.

"Hyundai is aware of three rare and unique accidents where airbag control circuitry was confirmed to be damaged and a fourth accident is under investigation," the South Korean automaker said.

"We are actively investigating what exactly causes the airbag control unit to become damaged in these specific types of accidents," it said.

Kia is partially owned by Hyundai, and together they form the world's fifth largest automaking group. A Kia spokesperson was unavailable for comment.

The ODI investigation, which was opened Friday, will evaluate the scope of the recall, will determine if Kia and other manufacturers are using the same or similar airbag control unit as Hyundai, and review factors that may be causing the failures, it said.

An estimated 425,000 cars may be affected by the issue.Civilians flee explosions in the city of Afrin in northern Syria on March 18, 2018, after Turkish forces and their rebel allies took control of the Kurdish-majority city

Turkey's army launched a major operation in northern Syria on January 20 in a bid to oust a US-allied Kurdish militia that Ankara sees as a terror group.

The offensive followed an announcement by a US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group that it would create a thousands-strong border force in northern Syria.

Around half of that force would be retrained fighters from the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, which is mainly made up of fighters from the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia.

Here is a timeline of the main events since:

- Major incursion -

A tank belonging to Turkish-led forces is parked in the Kurdish-majority city of Afrin in northwestern Syria after they seized it from Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) on March 18, 2018

On January 20, Turkey launches operation "Olive Branch" into Syria, aiming to oust the YPG militia from its enclave of Afrin.

War planes and artillery back a major ground incursion including Ankara-backed Syrian rebels.

Turkey considers the YPG to be a "terrorist" group and the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) which has waged a bloody three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad condemns "brutal Turkish aggression".

Assad ally Russia withdraws troops from the zone in question "to prevent potential provocation".

The Kurdish militia say they will hold Russia as well as Turkey responsible for the attacks.

- 'Legitimate' concerns -

On January 21, Turkish tanks and soldiers enter the Afrin region.

Ankara says it aims to create a security zone 30 kilometres (18 miles) deep inside Syria.

The US State Department calls on Turkey to "exercise restraint", but Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says Ankara has "legitimate" security concerns and had warned Washington prior to the operation.

- 'Agreement' with Russia -

A fighter mans a checkpoint in the Kurdish-majority city of Afrin in northwestern Syria after Turkish-backed Syrian rebel forces seized it from Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) on March 18, 2018

"We spoke about this with our Russian friends. We have an agreement," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says on January 22.

Kurdish forces urge their Western allies to act, saying Turkey's operation amounts to support for IS.

On January 24, rockets are launched from Syria at the Turkish border town of Kilis. Turkish forces respond with artillery fire.

- US-Turkey tensions -

In a telephone call with Erdogan, US President Donald Trump urges Turkey "to de-escalate, limit its military actions" and "avoid any actions that might risk conflict between Turkish and American forces", according to the White House.

However, on January 25 Turkish official sources dispute the American account of the conversation, saying Trump did not share any concerns regarding "escalating violence".

On January 26, Erdogan threatens to expand Turkey's offensive in Syria, vowing to "clean up" the YPG-held northern city of Manbij, where the US has a military presence.

On February 16, the US and Turkey agree to "work together", notably in Manbij.

- Turkish army enters Afrin -

On February 20-21, pro-regime forces enter Afrin, only to come under fire from Turkish forces.

Turkish-backed Syrian rebels help evacuate an elderly woman following explosions in the city of Afrin in northern Syria on March 18, 2018, after Turkish forces and their rebel allies took control of the Kurdish-majority city

Turkey says it will consider a "legitimate target" any group that comes to the aid of Kurdish militia in Afrin.

On February 26, it sends special forces into Afrin in anticipation of a "new fight".

On March 8, Turkish forces and allied Syrian rebels take control of the key northern town of Jandairis from the Kurdish militia.

"Today we are in Afrin and tomorrow we will be in Manbij. And the next day we will ensure that terrorists are cleared east of the Euphrates River up to the Iraqi border," Erdogan says.

On March 18, Turkish forces and their rebel allies take control of Afrin. More than 1,500 Kurdish combattants have been killed over the past two months, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor.

Erdogan says Turkish rebels have taken "total" control of the centre of Afrin.Mayor of Beijing Chen Jining (2nd-R) waves the Paralympic flag next to President of the International Paralympic Committe Andrew Parsons (2nd-L) during the closing ceremony of the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Paralympic Games

International Paralympic Committee (IPC) president Andrew Parsons on Sunday declared the Pyeongchang Winter Paralympics closed, and paid tribute to late British physicist Stephen Hawking as an "inspiration".

At a spectacular ceremony that featured dancing, music and light shows, the curtain was officially brought down on nine days of sporting action.

"The time has come for me to declare the Pyeongchang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games closed," Parsons said.

Hawking, who died last week aged 76, is fondly remembered by Paralympians as he opened the 2012 London Paralympics.

Parsons paid tribute to the scientist as "a genius of a man, a pioneer and inspiration to us all".

"While Hawking tested the limits of his imagination, Paralympians, you have once again pushed the boundaries of human endeavour," he told the audience.

Towards the end of the ceremony, the Paralympic flag was handed over to the mayor of Beijing -- which will host the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.Ivory Coast story-teller Ahuie Olivier Philo performs in Abidjan during the Market for African Performing Arts (MASA)

Very modern tales of religious intolerance, Islamist terrorism and illegal immigration are being heard as African story-tellers tackle the burning issues of today far from the traditional bedtime stories for children.

Story-telling had top billing this week at the 10th edition of the biannual Market for African Performing Arts, known by its French acronym MASA.

About 1,000 artists from over 50 countries gathered in Ivory coast for a week-long festival of music, theatre, dance, comedy, slam poetry and story-telling that wrapped up Saturday.

Francois Moise Bamba addressed religious intolerance in his performance "No one has a monopoly on God".

"We have done nothing wrong except say like you that there is only one God," the story-teller from Burkina Faso says.

"Faith only has value if it leaves room for doubt."

The leading character in the tale constantly shifts happily and with ease from one religion to another, Catholicism to Islam and Protestantism.

The show struck a chord coming just after eight soldiers were killed on March 2 in the Burkina capital Ouagadougou.

Story-telling had top-billing this week at the 10th edition of the biannual Market for African Performing Arts. A thousand artists from over 50 countries gathered in Ivory coast for a week-long festival

"The inspiration... came well before that," Bamba admits.

"Every family has stories similar to mine in which my father was a Muslim before becoming a Christian and I've lived with Christian uncles, Muslim uncles and that's not caused any problem.

"When things such as 'Islamist', 'fundamentalist' terrorism started I thought 'you have to do something, you have to say something'," he says.

"I did not think it possible that someone from Burkina could follow such philosophies, but unfortunately today we see it can happen."

- Odyssey of illegal immigration -

For Bamba and his team "Murmurs at the Blacksmith's", it became clear there had to be a story on the subject or face living life in an intolerant society.

"I was afraid for a while, but my fear went when I saw they (jihadists) find people having breakfast, peacefully using public transport. They do not choose" who they kill, he says.

Murmurs at the Blacksmith's perform stories across a range of modern-day issues.

"We try to address topical things, things about the lives we lead today. The stories have a wisdom that transcends time. You have to use words and actual facts to reach" people," says Bamba.

Obin Manfei who ran the story-telling programme at MASA, analyses the story.

"A tale is not just an old story. It's about adapting the story to society through words," he says.

"There's the skeleton (of the story) on which to hang the message you want to convey.

About 1,000 artists from 50 countries gathered in Ivory Coast for a week-long festival of music, theatre, dance, comedy and slam poetry

"The themes are very modern," he says quoting another Burkina story-teller known as KPG.

KPG's performance called "Kossyam" after the name of the presidential palace in Ouagadougou evokes democratic aspirations and the popular uprising that overthrew the regime of Blaise Compaore in 2014.

During MASA week one of the best-known story-tellers, Ahmed Bouzzine, turned to something of a classic about a Tuareg prince.

- Writing the legends of today -

But he does not hesitate to address the big issues of the day and has penned a tale on illegal African immigration to Europe.

"We try to write the legends of today and what will be told in 100 or 1,000 years," he says.

"I have worked on everything to do with illegal, everything to do with migrants. If we are not there for the story of these people who drown in the Mediterranean or these people who are forced to hide day and night.

"In 1,000 years, we will perhaps be able to tell of this odyssey in an artistic way, because we are talking of an odyssey."

The role of women in society, corruption, economic development without social progress, youngsters with nothing to do -- the subjects are numerous.

But as Bouzzine points out, in any story, however modern, there is always a common initiatory thread.

"In any initiation, you teach your neighbours to have values that are always beautiful values, loyalty, goodness, generosity, keeping your word.

"Because if not, very quickly barbarity returns."Critics accuse Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza of seeking to stay in power for life

Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza has set May 17 as the date for a referendum on a controversial constitutional reform that could keep him in power until 2034, according to a decree signed Sunday.

Critics accuse Nkurunziza of trying to stay in power for life and say a personality cult has developed around the former rebel chief who has led the central African country since 2005.

The government in October drafted reforms that would enable Nkurunziza to serve two seven-year mandates from 2020, but they have come under fire from the opposition and the international community, particularly the African Union.

The opposition says the changes could sign the death warrant for the Arusha peace accord of 2000, which helped end a 1993-2006 civil war that claimed more than 300,000 lives.

Critics also point out that constitutional reform is already provided for under the existing text, which may be approved by a four-fifths majority in parliament and two-thirds in the senate.

Nkurunziza ran for a third five-year term and was re-elected in 2015 despite a two-term limit under the constitution, triggering violence that left at least 1,200 people dead and sent more than 400,000 Burundians fleeing abroad.

The government had previously announced that the referendum would take place in May but had not announced the exact date.

The reforms will be adopted if 50 percent plus one vote cast ballots in favour.

Sunday's decree said those wanting to take part in the official campaign must register with the Independent National Election Commission (CENI) between March 23 and April 6, but no-one is yet allowed to publicly declare themselves for or against the reforms.

The opposition has denounced what it describes as double standards, saying that ministers and officials with the ruling CNDD-FDD have openly campaigned for a Yes vote, while several dozen opposition activists have been arrested for pushing for a No vote.

The election commission announced last month that more than five million people had registered for the referendum and for the next election in 2020.North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (L) is said to be "taking stock" of US President Donald Trump's agreement to meet

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is "taking stock" of US President Donald Trump's surprise decision to accept his invitation for talks on denuclearizing the Korean peninsula, South Korea's foreign minister said in an interview that aired Sunday.

There has been no public North Korean response to Trump in the nearly two weeks since he stunned the world by agreeing to meet with Kim, a diplomatic gambit with huge stakes for both countries.

"We believe the North Korean leader is now taking stock," South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said on CBS's "Face the Nation."

"We give them the benefit of the doubt, and the time that he would need to come out with some public messaging."

North Korean officials on Saturday concluded three days of talks with Swedish officials in Stockholm, and further meetings were expected in Finland. Sweden provides consular services for the United States in North Korea.

- 'Back and forth messages' -

But the officials gave no indication where the summit invitation stands.

Kang said a channel of communication has been established, adding, "I'm sure there are back and forth messages."

"But, I think the North Korean leader would also need some time, given the readiness with which President Trump has accepted the invitation to talks."

The invitation was relayed to Trump at an impromptu White House meeting March 6 by South Korean national security adviser Chung Eui-yong, who previously had met with Kim.

Chung told Trump that Kim had agreed to discuss denuclearization, and would suspend all missile and nuclear tests until the talks were held.

Trump accepted on the spot, catching his own top advisers off guard.

"I think we were all quite surprised by the readiness of that decision," Kang said.

She said Kim had "given his word" on his commitment to denuclearization, a key condition for the unprecedented leader-to-leader talks.

"But the significance of his word is quite, quite weighty in the sense that this is the first time that the words came directly from the North Korean supreme leader himself, and that has never been done before."

She said nothing has been offered to the North Koreans to engage in negotiations, and South Korea made it clear "there will be no reward for dialogue."

Asked if South Korea trusted Kim, Kang said: "It's not a matter of trusting. It's a matter of discussing, and pressing for action. And once you see those actions, then you move forward further."US President Donald Trump has stepped up attacks on special counsel Robert Mueller's probe of Russia election meddling

President Donald Trump Sunday intensified his attacks on Robert Mueller's Russia investigation as biased against him, but stopped just short of targeting the special counsel -- whose ouster lawmakers warned would cross a "massive red line."

In a morning flurry on Twitter, Trump insisted that Mueller's team of investigators is staffed with "hardened" Democrats biased against him.

"Does anyone think this is fair? And yet, there is NO COLLUSION!" Trump wrote. The night before, he had tweeted, "The Mueller probe should never have been started."

The salvo was the latest in a growing confrontation over Mueller's investigation, which is probing whether Trump's campaign colluded with Russian attempts to sway the 2016 election in his favor, but also whether the president sought to obstruct justice.

It prompted warnings from several lawmakers including from Trump's own Republican party to not fire Mueller, which led by evening to a denial from a White House lawyer that the president was contemplating such a move.

Trump also took aim at former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, who was sacked on Friday two days before his retirement, and former FBI director James Comey, who was fired by Trump last year over the Russia probe. McCabe had an early role in the Russia inquiry and has knowledge of Trump and Comey's interactions.

McCabe's lawyer, Michael Bromwich, offered a scathing response to the attacks on his client, saying on Twitter, "We will not be responding to each childish, defamatory, disgusting & false tweet by the President... But the tweets confirm that he has corrupted the entire process that led to Mr. McCabe's termination and has rendered it illegitimate."

- A 'violation' -

It remains unclear when Mueller will conclude his investigation, but as it moves steadily closer to the president, his inner circle and his business interests, he has lashed out ever more sharply.

Trump had warned last July that if Mueller broadened his inquiry to include the finances of the Trump Organization, it would be a "violation."

But Mueller's team has now subpoenaed Russia-related documents from the president's business, the New York Times reported Thursday.

Until now, the president has steered clear of directly attacking Mueller, the former FBI director who took over the Russia probe after Comey's firing May 9, 2017.

But he has taken aim at the special counsel's large team of lawyers, who were selected for their experience in financial fraud, money laundering, corruption, bribery and organized crime.

"Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans? Another Dem recently added," Trump said.

Republican allies of the president have seized upon the fact that some of Mueller's team -- seven out of 17 lawyers, according to The Washington Post -- previously donated money to Democratic political candidates.

The conservative website Daily Caller reported last month that 13 of the team were registered Democrats.

But Mueller defenders say he, and more broadly the FBI, have safeguards in place to avoid letting any investigation be tainted by politics.

Mueller, who is widely respected in both political camps, was appointed FBI chief by the Republican president George W. Bush, and kept on under the Democrat Barack Obama.

- Pointed warnings -

Lawmakers, including heavyweights from Trump's own Republican Party, issued pointed warnings Sunday that any attempt by the president to oust Mueller as special counsel would have grave consequences.

"Special Counsel Mueller has served our country with honesty and integrity," Republican Senator John McCain said on Twitter, insisting it is "critical he be allowed to complete a thorough investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election - unimpeded."

The Republican senator and frequent Trump critic Jeff Flake likewise warned on CNN that ousting Mueller was seen as "a massive red line that can't be crossed."

Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told ABC that firing Mueller "would undoubtedly result in a constitutional crisis."

On Sunday evening, White House lawyer Ty Cobb denied that Trump is considering firing Mueller.

"In response to media speculation and related questions being posed to the Administration, the White House yet again confirms that the President is not considering or discussing the firing of the Special Counsel, Robert Mueller," he said.Israeli security forces stand guard at the site of a stabbing attack by a Palestinian assailant, who was shot dead, in Jerusalem's Old City on March 18, 2018

A Palestinian stabbed an Israeli security guard to death in Jerusalem's Old City on Sunday before being shot dead by a police officer, Israeli officials said.

The stabbing came with concerns over the potential for an upsurge in unrest in the coming weeks as the United States prepares to move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

The security guard was taken to hospital in serious condition suffering a stab wound to his torso, medics said.

The hospital later announced he had died from his wounds. Israeli media reported that he was in his 30s, with some reports saying he was off-duty at the time.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld confirmed the assailant had been shot dead.

Israel's Shin Bet domestic security service identified the assailant as Abdul Rahmani Faddal, 28, and a father of two from Aqraba near Nablus in the north of the occupied West Bank.

The attack comes after a Friday car ramming by a Palestinian near Jenin in the northern West Bank that the army said killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded two others.

Tensions were high after Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas called for a day of rage on Friday to mark 100 days since US President Donald Trump's controversial recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Palestinians also see the city as their capital and Trump's recognition broke with decades of US policy that Jerusalem's status would be negotiated between the parties.

Palestinian leaders have boycotted Trump's administration over the declaration, though the White House says it still plans to push ahead with its efforts to restart peace talks.

At least 32 Palestinians and four Israelis have been killed since Trump's announcement, which set off major protests.

The United States is planning to open its new embassy in Jerusalem in May to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israel's founding.

Palestinians commemorate May 15 as the Nakba, or "catastrophe," marking when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians either fled or were expelled in the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation.

- Gaza tensions -

There have also been tensions along the border between Gaza and Israel in recent days.

Israel's military said Sunday it had carried out an air raid overnight against an underground Hamas facility in the Gaza Strip and destroyed a separate tunnel under construction that could be used for attacks.

No casualties were reported in either operation, which came after an explosive device was detonated near the Gaza border with Israel, the latest in a string of such incidents.

Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, called Israel's actions an attempt "to scare the people" and head off planned protests along the border beginning later this month.

An Israeli ambulance is seen at the site of a stabbing attack by a Palestinian assailant, who was shot dead, in Jerusalem's Old City on March 18, 2018

Israel "bears all the consequences of the escalation," Hamas spokesman Fawzy Barhoum said.

Beginning on March 30, Gazans are planning to erect hundreds of tents near the Israeli border in a six-week show of support for Palestinian refugees.

Two explosive devices were detonated Thursday along the border, which had already provoked Israeli attacks on Hamas positions.

Also on February 17, four Israeli soldiers were wounded by an improvised explosive device on the border, sparking intense military retaliation.

It was not clear who was behind the blasts, but Israel held Hamas responsible as the de facto power in the Palestinian enclave.

Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza have fought three wars since 2008. The strip has been under an Israeli blockade for around a decade.A handout picture released by the official Facebook page of the Syrian Presidency on March 18, 2018, shows Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (C) talking with government troops in Eastern Ghouta, in his first trip in years to the former rebel enclave

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday paid a first visit in years to battered East Ghouta to congratulate his troops for a gruelling assault to oust rebels from near Damascus.

Syrian state television broadcast photos of the president dressed in a shirt and jacket surrounded by soldiers, some perched on a tank behind him, in an unspecified part of Eastern Ghouta.

Rebels have held out in Eastern Ghouta since 2012, but a regime assault in the last month has retaken more than 80 percent of the former opposition bastion.

"The inhabitants of Damascus are more than grateful and they will maybe tell their children in the coming decades how you saved the capital," Assad told soldiers in a video released by his office.

The ferocious air and ground campaign against Eastern Ghouta has killed over 1,400 civilians since it was launched on February 18, a Britain-based monitor says, and sparked international outrage.

In that time some 50 civilians, including 10 children, have been killed by rebel shelling of Damascus, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.The Lay Coordination Committee, which has held marches against President Joseph Kabila, said it was asking the UN for "more resources to the UN mission in Congo for the protection of civilians during the pre-electoral and post-electoral period"

A body linked to the powerful Catholic Church in Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday called on the United Nations to strengthen its role during December elections.

The Lay Coordination Committee (CLC), which has held marches against President Joseph Kabila, said it was asking the UN for "more resources to the UN mission in Congo for the protection of civilians during the pre-electoral and post-electoral period".

In a letter to UN chief Antonio Guterres, the CLC said it also wanted Kabila's government to implement a string of measures such as the release of political prisoners and dropping of legal proceedings against opponents by April 30.

It would suspend its protests until that date but would be "obliged to resume and intensify them" if they were not forthcoming, it added.

The CLC also called for bans on demonstrations to be lifted. The authorities have banned the three marches it has called since the end of last December.

In February, the main opposition party, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), backed one of the marches against Kabila who took over from his assassinated father in 2001.

His regime, widely criticised for corruption, repression and incompetence, faces mounting protests over his refusal to leave office after his term expired in December 2016.

The Catholic Church brokered an accord under which Kabila could remain in power provided new elections were held in 2017 -- a deal that fell through after the electoral authorities said it needed more time to compile a voters' register.

It wants him to pledge to stand aside in the presidential vote set for December 23 this year, and to respect fundamental freedom.SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) - The Latest on Vice President Mike Pence's visit to Savannah (all times local):

10:30 a.m.

Vice President Mike Pence has joined the sprawling St. Patrick's Day celebration in Georgia's oldest city.

Pence and his wife, Karen Pence, strolled onto the second-floor balcony of Savannah's City Hall late Saturday morning. They were accompanied by Savannah Mayor Eddie DeLoach.

Crowds behind barricades across the street cheered and chanted "U-S-A" as Pence waved and gave a thumbs up sign.

Plenty of parade goers gave up folding chairs, coolers and other creature comforts to welcome Pence inside the portion of downtown Savannah secured for his visit.

But crowds were leaner than normal in the secure zone, with ample room on some sidewalks and in two nearby squares.

___

9:45 a.m.

Vice President Mike Pence's motorcade has arrived at City Hall in Savannah.

A St. Patrick's Day crowd behind barricades across the street cheered and waved Saturday morning as the line of black SUVs pulled up. There was no immediate sign of Pence. One of the vehicles pulled behind a security screen in front of the building.

Security measures for Pence's visit have resulted in crowds that are more sparse than normal on St. Patrick's Day. There were gaps of a few feet between some people along one sidewalk barricade near City Hall. Crowds are often elbow-to-elbow in the heart of downtown Savannah on St. Patrick's Day.

___

9:30 a.m.

Turnout for Vice President Mike Pence's visit is looking sparse compared to a normal St. Patrick's Day in Georgia's oldest city.

Organizers of the Savannah parade Saturday estimate about 500,000 will celebrate. But the 12 square blocks secured for Pence's visit remained largely empty with only 20 minutes left before access was to close for Pence's arrival Saturday morning.

Erin Perry said "it's a ghost town" as she smoked a cigarette on a sidewalk with plenty of elbow room. Normally she said there would be standing room only.

Erich Kriesnes and his family had no competition to claim a spot next to the parade route in Wright Square. Neighboring squares outside the secured zone were packed.

Kriesnes said people nearby should behave when Pence arrives because "there's a 2-to-1 police-to-parade watcher ratio."

___

7:13 a.m.

Vice President Mike Pence is heading down to Georgia for the South's largest St. Patrick's Day parade.

Pence was scheduled Saturday to join an expected 500,000 gaudy green revelers packing the sidewalks and oak-shaded squares of historic Savannah, where the parade marking the March 17 holiday is a 194-year-old tradition.

A giant American flag and star-spangled bunting decorated the second-floor balcony at Savannah City Hall, where Pence was expected to meet Mayor Eddie DeLoach to greet parade participants and spectators.

Authorities secured a dozen square blocks of downtown Savannah for Pence's visit. Spectators in that area couldn't bring items such as coolers and folding chairs. City officials initially said signs and posters would also be banned, but backed off after the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Friday.

___

7 a.m.

A visit by Vice President Mike Pence got Alexis Hazzard of Savannah to turn out for the city's St. Patrick's Day parade for the first time in seven years.

She was among only about 20 people waiting Saturday morning to pass through one of the six security checkpoints set up for Pence. Sidewalks and squares outside the secure zone were already filled with chairs and party tents.

Hazzard said: "If I'm going to come down here, I'm going to see the vice president."

She said she was surprised more people weren't lined up to be in the same area as Pence, but added "I'm fine with less crowd. Less chaos."

___

6:45 a.m.

Downtown Savannah is filling up for St. Patrick's Day, except for the portion of the city's parade route secured for Vice President Mike Pence.

Johnson Square near City Hall remained empty at 7:30 a.m. Saturday. A nearby security checkpoint with metal detectors was at least a half hour late opening.

Sidewalks and public squares outside the parade route outside the secure zone were filled with party tents and folding chairs before dawn.

Ray Landin and his brother set up their tent, chairs and several coolers just outside the secure zone, which Landin called "the demilitarized zone." Such items were banned on the other side.

Landin said of Pence: "We'll welcome him and show him a good time. But it does seem a little restrictive."GUATEMALA CITY (AP) - Guatemalan police say a mayor in eastern Guatemala has been ambushed and killed.

National Civil Police spokesman says Zacapa Mayor Julio Alberto Enriquez Sanchez was in his car when he was attacked on Saturday. No suspects have been arrested.

National mayor's association president Edwin Escobar told local reporters that Enriquez had been looking for help, complaining of escalating political rivalries.

Police also say the region suffers from a high level of drug trafficking.

At least four Guatemalan mayors have been killed since the start of 2016.ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) - Authorities say a missing Pennsylvania teenager and a 45-year-old man who frequently signed her out of school without her parents' permission have been located in Mexico, and the man has been arrested.

The Allentown Morning Call reports U.S. and Mexican authorities found Kevin Esterly and 16-year-old Amy Yu in Playa del Carmen on Saturday. They are being returned to the U.S.

Esterly was taken into custody and will face a charge of interference with the custody of a child when he arrives in Pennsylvania.

FILE - This combination of photos provided by the Allentown, Pa., Police Department shows Amy Yu, left, and Kevin Esterly. On Saturday, March 17, 2018, authorities said the missing Pennsylvania teenager and the 45-year-old man who frequently signed her out of school without her parents' permission have been located in Mexico. (Allentown Police Department via AP)

The newspaper reports police have told Amy's mother that her daughter was found unharmed.

Esterly and Amy had been missing since March 5. Police issued a missing person alert and filed a warrant for Esterly's arrest.

They believe the teen went willingly with him.

___

Information from: The Morning Call, http://www.mcall.comNEW YORK (AP) - Jose Ramirez left the comforts of California to chase his title shot across the country.

When he goes back home, he'll take a championship belt with him.

Ramirez won his first world title Saturday night with a unanimous decision victory over Amir Imam to win the WBC's vacant 140-pound belt.

Jose Ramirez, right, punches Amir Imam during the 11th round of a WBC super lightweight championship boxing match Saturday, March 17, 2018, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Ramirez pulled away in the late rounds, swelling Imam's right eye in the process to take the title that became open when Terence Crawford moved up to welterweight.

Ramirez relentlessly pressured Imam and pounded away with hard left hooks, and Imam just couldn't keep him off for all three minutes. Ramirez won the final three rounds on all three scorecards after Imam had gotten back into the bout with some good work in the middle rounds.

"There was a point in the fight that I said to myself 'Jose what are you doing?'" Ramirez said. "That's why I caught my second wind and I gave it my all in the championship rounds."

Ramirez, a 2012 U.S. Olympian, won by scores of 120-108, 117-111 and 115-113. He improved to 22-0 with 16 knockouts.

"Two judges need to be investigated and one judge was being honest. He won every single round," trainer Freddie Roach said. "A hometown fight for Jose next would great, but New York was great to us tonight. By the end of the fight, everyone was on our side."

The Associated Press scored it 118-110 for Ramirez.

Ramirez is an Avenal, California, native who has done most of his fighting around home, and his first title defense will likely be back there. Promoter Bob Arum said they would look to do something in an outdoor stadium in the Fresno area, where Ramirez has a loyal fan base because of his talent and also his commitment to help the farming community.

Imam fell to 21-2.

"I should have done more to the body," he said. "And I needed to. I just keep thinking about all the things I should have done."

The WBC's 2,000th world title fight was the first time promoters Arum and Don King went against each other since March 12, 2011, when Miguel Cotto stopped Ricardo Mayorga in a WBA super welterweight fight.

King, wearing a giant button of President Donald Trump on his glittery denim jacket, boasted big as always leading into the fight but had to acknowledge that his fighter lost it afterward.

"The kid was relentless. ... Just relentless," King said. "Imam made him miss a lot but he didn't throw enough punches back. He just didn't throw enough punches."

Ramirez did most of his damage with left hooks in the early rounds but hurt Imam with a right to the head in the sixth. He went back to the left hooks in the seventh, ripping Imam with at least three or four, but Imam came right back with a strong eighth.

But Ramirez quickly regained control and wobbled Iman late in the 10th. Imam, who was the WBC's No. 1 rated contender, had a swollen right eye in the 11th and any chance of rallying to win the bout ended when Ramirez drove him back into his own corner with a hard combination moments after the 12th began.

"Every round that he fought was full speed," Arum said.

The crowd really heated up following the main event, when former Irish Olympic bronze medalist Michael Conlan delighted a St. Patrick's Day crowd decorated in green with a second-round TKO of Hungarian David Berna (15-3). Conlan (6-0, 5 KOs) also made his pro debut at Madison Square Garden last year on St. Patrick's Day.

Oleksandr Gvozdyk of Ukraine beat Mehdi Amar of France by unanimous decision to become the WBC's interim light heavyweight champion. Gvozdyk (15-0, 12 KOs) had knocked out his last eight opponents and 12 of his 14 overall by stoppage, but had to go the distance against Amar (34-6-2, 16 KOs), who was fighting for the first time in the U.S.

And in an undercard upset, Puerto Rican lightweight Felix Verdejo (23-1) lost for the first time in his pro career when he was stopped by Mexico's Antonio Lozada Jr. (39-2, 33 KOs) with 23 seconds left in the 10th and final round.

Verdejo, ending a 13-month layoff, was hurt in the middle of the fight and never fully got his legs back, and finally was knocked down in the 10th. Lozada landed another flurry of punches later in the round and the referee stopped the fight right in front of Verdejo's incensed corner men.

Jose Ramirez, left, and Amir Imam trade blows during the 11th round of a WBC super lightweight championship boxing match Saturday, March 17, 2018, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Amir Imam, right, punches Jose Ramirez during the 10th round of a WBC super lightweight championship boxing match Saturday, March 17, 2018, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Jose Ramirez, left, follows through on a left to Amir Imam during the third round of a WBC super lightweight championship boxing match Saturday, March 17, 2018, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - An attacker dressed in a school uniform set off a grenade amid a group of hundreds of university students in Afghanistan's capital on Sunday, killing himself and wounding five students, according to the district police chief.

Nasir Nadery said the attacker, who slipped past two guards, was wearing an explosives vest that failed to explode. The students were inside a private compound where they were taking classes to prepare for university exams.

The attack took place in a Kabul neighborhood dominated by ethnic Hazaras, a Shiite minority frequently targeted by the Sunni extremists. No one immediately claimed the attack, which resembled previous assaults carried out by the Islamic State group.

On Saturday, a sticky bomb attached to the motorcycle driven by a retired Pakistani army officer exploded in southern Zabul province's Shahjoy district, killing the officer and his guard, according to the provincial government spokesman, Gul Islam Seyal.

Pakistan has been criticized by both the United States and Afghanistan for aiding Taliban insurgents, a charge it denies. Seyal said the retired officer was aiding the Taliban, although he did not provide any proof of his claim.

A Pakistani military official said they have no knowledge of any retired officer killed in Afghanistan. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Meanwhile Taliban attacked security positions northwest of Kabul, killing at least five police and setting off a two-hour gunbattle, according to Mohammed Zaman, the police chief for Ghazni province.

The Taliban have stepped up attacks across Afghanistan since the U.S. and NATO formally concluded their combat mission at the end of 2014.

In the western Ghor province, meanwhile, a roadside bomb killed a young shepherd and wounded five others. Police spokesman Iqbal Nizami said the Taliban planted the bomb in order to target security forces.

In the eastern Khost province, police spokesman Basir Bina said a roadside bomb killed two children and wounded another nine. Both bombs went off on Saturday.

___

Associated Press Writer Zarar Khan in Islamabad, Pakistan contributed to this report.MOSCOW (AP) - A look at some of the significant dates in Vladimir Putin's 18 years in power as Russia's president and prime minister:

Dec. 31, 1999 - In a surprise address to the nation, President Boris Yeltsin announces his resignation and makes Putin, the prime minister he appointed four months earlier, the acting president.

May 7, 2000 - After winning election with about 53 percent of the vote, Putin is inaugurated for his first four-year term.

Russian President and Presidential candidate Vladimir Putin arrives to vote at a polling station during Russia's presidential election in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, March 18, 2018. Putin's victory in Russia's presidential election Sunday isn't in doubt. The only real question is whether voters will turn out in big enough numbers to hand him a convincing mandate for his fourth term, and many Russian workers are facing intense pressure to do so. (Yuri Kadobnov/Pool Photo via AP)

May 11, 2000 - Tax police raid the offices of NTV, a popular independent channel noted for critical coverage of the Kremlin. It is the first salvo in moves against prominent independent media that have characterized the Putin era.

Aug. 12, 2000 - The Kursk submarine sinks with 118 people aboard, setting off the first widespread and sustained criticism of Putin. News media take him to task for remaining on vacation during the early period of the crisis and waiting five days before accepting Western offers of help.

Oct. 23, 2002 - Chechen terrorists take some 850 people hostage at a Moscow theater. Three days later, Russian special forces pump an unidentified gas into the theater to end the crisis, killing at least 130 hostages along with the terrorists. Putin defends the operation as having saved hundreds of lives.

Oct. 25, 2003 - Russia's richest man, oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, is arrested. Khodorkovsky was seen as a potential challenger to Putin. Khodorkovsky is later sentenced to 10 years in prison for tax evasion and fraud and his Yukos oil company dismantled, most of it acquired by state oil company Rosneft.

March 14, 2004 - Putin is elected to a second presidential term.

Sept. 1, 2004 - Islamic militants seize a school in Beslan. More than 300 people die in the chaotic explosions and shootout that end the siege two days later. Putin blames regional leaders' incompetence and announces that governors will be appointed figures rather than elected.

April 25, 2005 -- Putin alarms international observers by describing the collapse of the Soviet Union as "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century." Although Putin referred to the economic chaos and ethnic conflicts that followed the collapse, the statement is seen by many as revealing a neo-Soviet mindset.

Feb. 10, 2007 - In a speech at a conference in Munich, Putin turns away radically from earlier attempts to develop closer ties with the United States.

June 5, 2007 - Russia is chosen to host the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, a pet project of Putin. His personal presentation to the International Olympic Committee is seen as key to winning the prestigious event.

May 8, 2008 - Barred by the constitution from running for a third consecutive term, Putin is appointed prime minister by new President Dmitry Medvedev. He effectively remains the country's political leader.

Aug. 8-12, 2008 - Russia fights a short war with Georgia, gaining full control of the separatist Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions.

Sept. 24, 2011 - Medvedev calls for Putin to be nominated for a third term as president.

March 4, 2012 - Putin elected to a new presidential term, which is now six years long. Protests by tens of thousands before the election and on the eve of his inauguration lead to legislation harshening penalties for unauthorized political protests.

June 6, 2013 - Putin announces on Russian state television that he and his wife, Lyudmila, are divorcing.

March 18, 2014 - Russia annexes Crimea from Ukraine, after the Kremlin sends in troops without insignia following the ouster of Ukraine's Russia-friendly president and stages a quick referendum on splitting from Ukraine. Although Russia denied involvement at the time, Putin admits a year later that he planned the annexation weeks previously, taking advantage of Ukraine's political chaos.

April 2014 - Fighting between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatist rebels begins in eastern Ukraine, starting a war that has killed more than 10,000 people to date. Russia denies its troops are involved.

July 17, 2014 - A Malaysian airliner is shot down over Ukraine, killing all 283 aboard. Russia promotes several theories, but other investigators point to a Russian mobile missile-launcher.

Feb. 27, 2015 - Boris Nemtsov, a top figure of Russia's beleaguered political opposition, is gunned down on a bridge a few hundred meters from the Kremlin. Nemtsov was working on a report about Russian soldiers in eastern Ukraine.

Sept. 30, 2015 - Russia begins airstrikes in Syria. Putin says the action is necessary to destroy terrorist groups, but critics note it also helps Syria's President Bashar Assad hold on to power.

July 7, 2017 - Putin and President Donald Trump meet for the first time. Putin says he believes Trump accepted his denial of allegations that Russians meddled in the election that brought Trump to power.

March 1, 2018 - Putin says Russia has tested an array of new nuclear weapons invulnerable to enemy intercept.BEIRUT (AP) - The Latest on the Syria conflict (all times local):

5:05 p.m.

Syrian state-run TV is carrying images of President Bashar Assad visiting troops on the front line in the newly captured areas of eastern Ghouta, near the capital Damascus.

This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows a Syrian government forces soldier, left, helping a civilian who fled from fighting between the Syrian government forces and insurgents, near Hamouria in eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus, Syria, Saturday, March. 17, 2018. Government airstrikes on a rebel-held town east of the capital Damascus killed dozens and wounded scores on Friday, opposition activists said, as thousands of people left the besieged areas known as eastern Ghouta. (SANA via AP)

Al-Ikhbariya TV broadcast the still images Sunday of Assad standing near a tank and surrounded by soldiers on a street in eastern Ghouta, the region near Damascus where a Syrian offensive has been underway over the past month. It was not clear where in eastern Ghouta Assad was. He was talking to the troops.

Earlier, state media said Syrian troops had entered Saqba, a town in a southern pocket of eastern Ghouta. It was the latest town to be captured by the Syrian troops and allied militia in a swift advance over the last few days. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Syrian government is in control of over 80 percent of the area, which has been a rebel stronghold since 2012.

___

3:35 p.m.

A Syrian Kurdish official says the war with Turkey has now entered "a new phase" of guerrilla warfare after Turkish troops and allied forces entered the Syrian town of Afrin.

Turkey announced Sunday it has entered the town of Afrin, nearly two months after it began its offensive on the district with the same name. Tens of thousands of residents fled the advancing Turkish troops and allied Syrian fighters backed by intense airstrikes.

Kurdish officials and a war monitor say some pockets of resistance remain in the town of Afrin but the Kurdish militia, known as YPG, has largely withdrawn.

Othman Sheikh Issa, an official from the town of Afrin, said in a press conference Sunday that the Turkish offensive aims to clear the town of its Kurdish population.

Speaking from near Afrin in a press conference, Issa said the war against "the Turkish occupation" will change from a direct confrontation to guerrilla warfare, "hit and run tactics," until the liberation of Afrin. He said the Kurdish militia remains present in Afrin area and will target the Turkish military and its allied Syrian troops at every chance.

"Our troops will turn into a continuous nightmare for them," Issa said.

___

A spokesperson for the U.S-backed Kurdish-led forces fighting Islamic State militants says the battle against the extremists in northeastern Syria is on hold given the Turkish offensive on a Kurdish enclave to the area's west.

Lailawa Abdullah said in a statement Sunday that the campaign against IS in northeastern Deir el-Zour province has been halted because fighters from the U.S-backed Syrian Democratic Forces have pulled out to join Kurdish fighters in the northwestern district of Afrin. Turkey has been waging an offensive against Afrin since January and announced on Sunday that it has seized the town center.

Abdullah says IS is still present in a small area of the oil-rich northeastern Deir el-Zour, and that the fight in Afrin will prolong the group's presence in the country's north. She added that IS has already carried out a number of attacks on SDF posts previously liberated in the province.

US officials have said they fear the Afrin offensive may divert attention from the anti-IS battle.

___

1:50 p.m.

A senior Syrian Kurdish official says Kurdish fighters have withdrawn from Afrin after Turkish troops and allied forces pushed into the town center.

Salih Muslim, a senior official living in exile in Europe, tweeted Sunday that the withdrawal from Afrin doesn't mean his group has given up, saying "the struggle will continue and the Kurdish people will keep defending themselves."

Turkey said its forces and allied Syrian fighters have seized full control of Afrin, the target of a two-month-old offensive. Turkey views the Kurdish militia as a terrorist group because of its links to outlawed Kurdish insurgents inside Turkey.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said pockets of Kurdish fighters refused to pull out with the rest of the militia and are still fighting.

___

12:45 p.m.

A Syrian rebel group says it is in negotiations with the United Nations to arrange for a cease-fire and ensure the evacuation of wounded and ill civilians from the besieged eastern Ghouta region just outside the capital.

Wael Olwan, spokesman for the Faylaq al-Rahman group, said Sunday the "serious" talks are not aimed at evacuating able-bodied civilians from the region, something the Syrian opposition views as forcible displacement.

Syrian government forces launched a major offensive in eastern Ghouta on Feb. 18 and now control over 80 percent of the regions. Tens of thousands of civilians have fled in recent days.

Syria's state-run Al-Ikhbariya TV on Sunday broadcast footage of government forces rolling into Saqba, a town in eastern Ghouta controlled by Faylaq al-Rahman.

___

11:45 a.m.

The Russian military says more than 25,000 people have fled Syria's besieged eastern Ghouta region in single day.

Maj. Gen. Vladimir Zolotukhin is quoted by Russian news agencies as saying they left Sunday through the town of Hamouria.

The departures add to tens of thousands who have left in the past few days as Russian-backed Syrian troops have squeezed the rebel bastion just outside Damascus. Some 1,400 people have been killed in the past month.

Zolotukhin works with the Russian center for reconciling Syria's warring parties. He said the center is distributing bedding and food to those fleeing, who are being forced into government-held regions.

Russia has been waging an air campaign in Syria on behalf of President Bashar Assad's forces since 2015.

___

11 a.m.

A senior Syrian Kurdish official has denied Turkey's claim to have captured the northern Syrian town of Afrin, saying fighting is still underway.

Hadia Yousef told The Associated Press on Sunday that the Kurdish militia evacuated civilians from the town because of ongoing "massacres" by Turkish and allied forces. Tens of thousands have fled Afrin in recent days as Turkish forces and allied Syrian fighters have advanced.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey-backed Syrian forces have taken full control of the town. Turkey's military said it is combing the town for land mines, and tweeted a video showing Turkish soldiers in the town's center.

___

10:15 a.m.

Turkey's president says allied Syrian forces have taken control of the town center of Afrin, the target of a nearly two-month offensive against a Kurdish militia.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the Syrian fighters, supported by Turkish armed forces, seized control of the town center early Sunday. He says many of the Kurdish fighters have fled.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the Turkey-backed forces have taken control of half the town, with heavy fighting still underway.

Turkey views the Kurdish forces in the Afrin enclave along the border as terrorists because of their links to the Kurdish insurgency inside Turkey.

Turkish troops along with Syrian opposition fighters launched a cross-border offensive on Jan. 20. Thousands of civilians have fled in recent days amid heavy airstrikes.

___

10 a.m.

A Turkish news agency and Syrian activists say Turkey-backed forces have reached the center of the Syrian town of Afrin, the target of a nearly two-month-old Turkish offensive against a Syrian Kurdish militia.

Turkey views the Kurdish forces in the Afrin enclave along the border as terrorists because of their links to the Kurdish insurgency inside Turkey.

Turkey's private Dogan news agency on Sunday reported that the Turkish-backed Syrian fighters "established control" in the town center. Footage showed armed men walking among derelict buildings amid sporadic gunfire.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the Syrian fighters entered the town with Turkish forces amid intensive airstrikes. Thousands of residents have fled in recent days.

This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows Syrian government forces soldiers, helping civilians who fled from fighting between the Syrian government forces and insurgents, near Hamouria in eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus, Syria, Saturday, March. 17, 2018. Government airstrikes on a rebel-held town east of the capital Damascus killed dozens and wounded scores on Friday, opposition activists said, as thousands of people left the besieged areas known as eastern Ghouta. (SANA via AP)

This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows Syrian government forces soldiers, helping civilians who fled from fighting between the Syrian government forces and insurgents, near Hamouria in eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus, Syria, Saturday, March. 17, 2018. Government airstrikes on a rebel-held town east of the capital Damascus killed dozens and wounded scores on Friday, opposition activists said, as thousands of people left the besieged areas known as eastern Ghouta. (SANA via AP)

This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows Syrian government forces soldiers, helping civilians who fled from fighting between the Syrian government forces and insurgents, near Hamouria in eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus, Syria, Saturday, March. 17, 2018. Government airstrikes on a rebel-held town east of the capital Damascus killed dozens and wounded scores on Friday, opposition activists said, as thousands of people left the besieged areas known as eastern Ghouta. (SANA via AP)

This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows a Syrian government forces soldier, right, helping civilians who fled from fighting between the Syrian government forces and insurgents, near Hamouria in eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus, Syria, Saturday, March. 17, 2018. Government airstrikes on a rebel-held town east of the capital Damascus killed dozens and wounded scores on Friday, opposition activists said, as thousands of people left the besieged areas known as eastern Ghouta. (SANA via AP)

This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows a Syrian government forces soldier, helping a civilian who fled from fighting between the Syrian government forces and insurgents, near Hamouria in eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus, Syria, Saturday, March. 17, 2018. Government airstrikes on a rebel-held town east of the capital Damascus killed dozens and wounded scores on Friday, opposition activists said, as thousands of people left the besieged areas known as eastern Ghouta. (SANA via AP)DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - The state oil company of the energy-rich capital of the United Arab Emirates says it has signed a deal worth $1.45 billion with French oil giant Total SA granting it stakes in offshore fields.

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. made the announcement in a statement Sunday.

It said Total would be granted a 20 percent stake in the Umm Shaif and Nasr concessions and a 5 percent stake in the Lower Zakum concession, paying participation fees of $1.15 billion and $300 million, respectively.

The oil firm says the deals have a 40-year term.

Lower Zakum produces some 450,000 barrels of oil per day, while the Umm Shaif and Nasr fields produce some 460,000, as well as some 500 million standard cubic feet per day of natural gas.WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on the dismissal of Andrew McCabe, a former FBI deputy director, and the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election (all times local):

8:30 p.m.

The White House says President Donald Trump isn't thinking about or talking about firing special counsel Robert Mueller.

FILE - In this June 21, 2017, file photo, special counsel Robert Mueller departs after a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

That's the late word from White House lawyer Ty Cobb, who released a statement late Sunday after a series of Trump tweets led members of Congress and others to speculate that the president may be considering orchestrating Mueller's firing.

Mueller has been investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election - a probe Trump believes is politically motivated. Mueller is also looking at Trump for possible obstruction of justice related to his decision last May to fire James Comey as FBI director.

Cobb's statement says: "In response to media speculation and related questions being posed to the Administration, the White House yet again confirms that the President is not considering or discussing the firing of the Special Counsel, Robert Mueller."

___

3:25 p.m.

Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe's attorney is criticizing President Donald Trump's weekend tweets as evidence that McCabe's firing was improper.

In a tweet Sunday, Michael Bromwich says McCabe won't be responding to Trump's "childish, defamatory, disgusting & false" tweets. But he says the tweets confirm a "corrupted" process in which McCabe was fired by Attorney General Jeff Sessions last Friday. Bromwich promises the "whole truth will come out in due course."

Over the weekend, Trump called McCabe's firing "a great day for democracy" and blasted special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe as politically biased.

McCabe has been a frequent target of Trump's anger and criticism. The Associated Press reported that McCabe's memos have been provided to Mueller, who's investigating possible collusion between Trump's campaign and Russia.

___

1:25 p.m.

Two Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee say they want to review whether Attorney General Jeff Sessions' firing of FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe was justified.

Sen. Lindsey Graham says the committee should hold a public hearing so Sessions can "come forward with whatever documentation he has about the firing and give Mr. McCabe a chance to defend himself."

Sen. Jeff Flake says he's "very surprised" that McCabe was fired before an inspector general's report was released. That report is expected to conclude McCabe was not forthcoming about matters related to the FBI investigation of Democrat Hillary Clinton's emails.

Addressing the Russia probe, Graham says if President Donald Trump attempted to fire special counsel Robert Mueller, it would be "the beginning of the end of his presidency."

The senators spoke on CNN's "State of the Union."

___

1 p.m.

A Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee is criticizing the firing of former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe as premature.

Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida tells NBC's "Meet the Press" that he doesn't like "the way it happened" because it came just two days before McCabe had planned to retire.

Rubio suggests that Attorney General Jeff Sessions may not have had full justification to fire McCabe because an inspector general report expected to be critical of McCabe in the Hillary Clinton email investigation has yet to be released.

McCabe has been a frequent target of President Donald Trump's anger and criticism. The dismissal was made on the recommendation of FBI disciplinary officials, but McCabe has suggested it was part of the Trump administration's "war on the FBI."

___

12:35 p.m.

A top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee has strong words for John Dowd, President Donald Trump's personal lawyer: "If you have an innocent client, Mr. Dowd, act like it."

A Dowd statement Saturday called on the Justice Department official overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation to "bring an end" to it. Dowd made the request after the firing of onetime FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe.

But a leading congressman, South Carolina's Trey Gowdy, says Trump's lawyer "does him a disservice." Gowdy says it's wrong to suggest Mueller is only looking at potential Trump campaign collusion with Russia.

Gowdy tells "Fox News Sunday": "Russia attacked our country. Let special counsel Mueller figure that out ... take all the time, and have all the independence he needs to do his job."

___

11:30 a.m.

The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee is acknowledging that Attorney General Jeff Sessions' decision to fire former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe "may be justified."

But Rep. Adam Schiff of California is also raising the question of whether it may be "tainted" because of McCabe's potential role in a probe investigating ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Schiff said Sunday on ABC's "This Week" that it's difficult to know whether the firing was legitimate because it happened before the release of an inspector general's report that's expected to conclude McCabe was not forthcoming about matters related to the FBI investigation of Democrat Hillary Clinton's emails.

Schiff notes that McCabe could be a relevant witness in the Russia probe as investigators look into whether Trump sought to thwart the FBI probe.

___

10:20 a.m.

The Senate's top Democrat is calling on congressional Republicans to stand behind special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into ties between Russia and Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.

In a statement Sunday, Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York condemned Trump's suggestion that Mueller's investigation be shut down.

Schumer says "Republican colleagues, particularly the leadership" need to make it clear that "firing Mueller is a red line for our democracy that cannot be crossed."

Trump complained anew in a tweet late Saturday that the Mueller probe was a "witch hunt" and "should never have been started in that there was no collusion."

___

10:10 a.m.

A Republican senator is dismissing President Donald Trump's suggestion that special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into ties between Russia and Trump's GOP campaign be immediately concluded.

Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma says he believes the probe needs to "bring out the facts."

He tells ABC's "This Week" that Trump is clearly frustrated, but the "best thing the special counsel can do is finish the investigation and gather all the information that's needed to come to a conclusion, so the American people can make their own decision."

In a tweet Saturday, Trump complained the Mueller probe "should never have been started in that there was no collusion."

Lankford says that the Mueller probe has uncovered meaningful information about Russian interference in the 2016 election and that Mueller appears be to acting appropriately.

___

9:30 a.m.

President Donald Trump is reviving concerns that the special counsel team investigating Russian election interference may be biased against him.

Trump tweeted Sunday: "Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans? Another Dem recently added...does anyone think this is fair? And yet, there is NO COLLUSION!"

The tweet marks one of the first times that Trump has mentioned special counsel Robert Mueller by name.

Trump allies previously have questioned whether Mueller can lead an unbiased probe because some of his investigators have made campaign contributions to Democratic candidates, including Hillary Clinton. Mueller is a former FBI director appointed by Republican President George W. Bush.

Other Trump backers have noted that Mueller interviewed with Trump to serve another term as FBI director. Trump instead nominated Christopher Wray to lead the bureau.

___

8:35 a.m.

President Donald Trump is raising doubts about whether former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe kept personal memos outlining McCabe's interactions with the president.

McCabe was fired Friday by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The Associated Press is reporting that McCabe's memos have been provided to special counsel Robert Mueller, who's investigating possible collusion between Trump's campaign and Russia.

Trump tweeted Sunday: "Spent very little time with Andrew McCabe, but he never took notes when he was with me. I don't believe he made memos except to help his own agenda, probably at a later date. Same with lying James Comey. Can we call them Fake Memos?"

McCabe has been the object of Trump's ire over McCabe's role in the Hillary Clinton email investigation.

Comey - the FBI director who was fired last year by Trump - also kept memos of his dealings with Trump.

___

12:25 a.m.

The onetime FBI deputy director who's a James Comey confidant has been fired by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

And The Associated Press has learned that Andrew McCabe kept personal memos detailing interactions with President Donald Trump, and that those memos have been provided to special counsel Robert Mueller's office.

The AP reports that the memos are similar to the notes compiled by Comey, who was fired last year as FBI director.

McCabe's memos could factor into Mueller's investigation as his team examines Trump campaign ties to Russia and possible obstruction of justice.

McCabe's memos include details of his own interactions with the president. They also recount different conversations he had with Comey, who kept notes on meetings with Trump.

That's according to a person with direct knowledge of the situation who wasn't authorized to discuss the memos publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

- By Associated Press writer Eric TuckerTHESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) - Greek police say they have arrested three migrant traffickers, a Turk and two Iraqis near the Greece-Turkey border.

The traffickers were arrested after bringing 45 Syrian and Iraqi men, women and children across a river that forms the border between the two countries at that point. The traffickers used an inflatable motor boat and were on their way back to Turkey when arrested.

In other unrelated cases, Greek police said Sunday they arrested an Afghan and a Pakistani attempting to travel to Germany from Kavala airport in northern Greece using a stolen German passport and a forged Pakistani passport, respectively.SASABE, Ariz. (AP) - Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is defending his use of a Japanese greeting when responding to a question from a congresswoman of Japanese descent.

The Arizona Republic reported Sunday that Zinke was asked about his use of the word "konnichiwa" while touring the U.S-Mexico border in Arizona on Saturday.

Zinke told reporters: "How could ever saying 'good morning' be bad?"

FILE - In this file photo from March 13, 2018, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke testifies before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on Capitol Hill in Washington. Zinke is drawing criticism for his use of a Japanese greeting when responding to a question from a congresswoman of Japanese descent during a hearing on March 15, 2018.( File AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, of Hawaii, asked Zinke on Thursday whether he would continue a program that preserves sites where Japanese-Americans were interned during World War II.

Zinke replied with "konnichiwa" - a Japanese greeting typically spoken in the afternoon. The Democratic congresswoman corrected him and used the Japanese phrase for good morning.

In a statement Saturday, Hanabusa said "this is precisely why Japanese Americans were treated as they were more than 75 years ago. It is racial stereotyping."

___

Information from: The Arizona Republic, http://www.azcentral.comBERLIN (AP) - Germany's economy minister is heading to Washington with the message that American tariffs on European steel and aluminum could prompt a trade war, which would be in nobody's interest.

Before leaving Sunday, Economy Minister Peter Altmaier told ARD television he wanted to prevent a "spiral" of measures and countermeasures.

He says "I don't want a trade war to develop between Europe and the USA."

FILE - In this Jan 17, 2018 file photo then German Finance Minister Peter Altmaier attends a news conference in Berlin. Germany's new economy minister is heading to Washington with the message that American tariffs on European steel and aluminum could prompt a trade war, which would be in nobody's interest. Before leaving Sunday March 18, 2018, Economy Minister Peter Altmaier told ARD television he wanted to prevent a "spiral" of measures and countermeasures. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

The European Union has already published a list of American products it plans to tax if it is not exempted from the tariffs announced by President Donald Trump.

The EU says it follows fair trade practices and the problem is with China's overproduction.

Altmaier said Germany and the U.S. should both be able to produce steel competitively without others selling it at "dumping prices."BOSTON (AP) - The battle over the proposed sale of dozens of works of art by a Massachusetts museum is headed to the state's highest court.

A single justice of the Supreme Judicial Court is scheduled to hear from both sides of the dispute Tuesday.

The Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield says it needs to sell the 40 pieces of art, including works by Norman Rockwell, to stay open and refocus its mission.

Several people opposed to the sale say the art is a public resource.

Lawyers for both sides will be given 10 minutes to speak to the court.

The museum last month won the support of Attorney General Maura Healey to petition the court for permission to allow the sale, expected to raise up to $60 million.ROME (AP) - The Italian news agency ANSA says a Spanish non-governmental organization's migrant rescue ship has been sequestered in Sicily by prosecutors' orders.

The seizure took place Sunday in Pozzallo port, where a day earlier the Proactiva Open Arms' vessel brought 216 migrants it had rescued last week in the Mediterranean north of Libya.

ANSA says Catania Prosecutor Carmelo Zuccaro is investigating three people for suspected criminal association for illegal immigration, including the commander of the boat.

Officials of the NGO couldn't immediately be reached for comment. ANSA quoted lawyer Rosa Emanuela Lo Faro, representing the commander, as saying "I guess they've instituted the crime of solidarity."

The NGO has said a Libyan coast guard vessel threatened to shoot its rescue dinghies if they didn't offload the migrants rescued in international waters.Students should be taught at school how to think critically about celebrity culture to combat its damaging influence on society, the former head of Eton has said.

Tony Little warned the image of the get-rich-quick or reach for the stars in one single leap celebrity was harmful for young people and called for better education on the issue.

Speaking at the Global Education and Skills Forum (GESF) in Dubai, Mr Little said: I think this is a significant area for the school curriculum, not just something we try and tackle on the side.

He added: One way to deal with celebrity culture and its issues is to ensure that our young people have really finely honed skills of discernment, critical thinking, in an age of fake news and all the rest of it.

It isnt just about celebrity, its part of a bigger picture.

Mr Little, who was a headteacher at Eton between 2002 and 2015 and is now chief academic officer at GEMS Education, said he had witnessed first-hand the damage caused by celebrity culture.

While he acknowledged celebrities can be good role models, he said in the last two decades he had seen a spike in eating disorders and unhappiness generated by an inability to match images of material perfection.

Mr Little told the GESF audience: Its an awful thing to see. It can lead to loss of identity, loss of self-worth and loss of life.

Now you can dismiss that and say these are some tragic, sad cases on the periphery.

But the same influences that influence those extreme cases influence all young people to some degree, particularly the vulnerable and poorly educated.

Norms are shifted, the landscapes change. Weve pulled down an edifice and in its place erected a flimsy tent.

(Barry Batchelor/PA)

Mr Little, who was speaking at a debate titled Is celebrity culture harming young people?, said society has become obsessed by fame since he first entered the teaching profession.

We also have a culture in which it doesnt really matter what you do in order to achieve that fame and this worries me deeply, he said.

And this, I think, does have a marked deleterious effect on young people.

He added: In a culture which venerates the famous, the celebrity, the un-famous take perverse and cruel delight in the public humiliation of the famous.

Its a painful, violent thing.A special remembrance installation of 600,000 crouching clay figures will open to the public soon in Ypres, Belgium, seeking to help visitors reflect on what happened during the First World War a century ago.

Belgium will honour its civilian and military dead with the figures, each about the size of a large fist.

Volunteers pull carts full of clay figures in a field that was once a no-mans-land between the German and British lines of the First World War in Ypres, Belgium on Monday, Feb. 12, 2018. 600,000 clay figures, each one representing a civilian or military death in the First World War, will fill the field for an exhibition of remembrance beginning in the Spring. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

The figures have already begun to fill a no mans land between what was once a German and British trench.

Since 2014 students, tourists and others have been creating the pieces in mobile workshops around the world and in the city of Ypres, the site of much carnage during the war.

A British schoolchild makes the finishing touches on a piece of clay at the Coming World Remember Me workshop in Ypres, Belgium on Monday, Feb. 12, 2018. Clay figures in the shape of a crouching person and molded in the workshop will form part of an exhibition which will be placed in a World War I no-mans-land in the early spring. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Each individual piece comes complete with a dog tag which includes the name of the casualty and the name of the artist who created the piece.

In a sense, it connects the past with the present.

Dog tags lay on a table at the Coming World Remember Me workshop in Ypres, Belgium on Monday, Feb. 12, 2018. The dog tags will be placed on clay figures, in the shape of a crouching person, which will form an exhibition in a World War I no-mans-land in the early spring. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Making these pieces is a good way to remember the soldiers who fought in the war. It wasnt very pleasant for them, said 12-year-old Bethany Kibutu, a student at the clay workshop in Ypres who lives in Sheffield.

I know it had to happen, but if we can learn from our mistakes the world could maybe be a better place.

The installation opens on March 30.

Clay figurines dry in boxes at the Coming World Remember Me workshop in Ypres, Belgium on Monday, Feb. 12, 2018. Clay figures in the shape of a crouching person and molded in the workshop will form part of an exhibition which will be placed in a World War I no-mans-land in the early spring. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Belgian rain and mud will weather the figures for eight months before they are finally removed in November and given away.

The last two surviving First World War soldiers who knew the horror first hand  Frank Buckles, from the United States, and Claude Choules, from the UK  both died in 2011.

A British schoolchild stamps a logo into a piece of clay at the Coming World Remember Me workshop in Ypres, Belgium on Monday, Feb. 12, 2018. Clay figures in the shape of a crouching person and molded in the workshop will form part of an exhibition which will be placed in a World War I no-mans-land in the early spring. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

The last year of the centenary commemorations is wrapping up in November.

When that is over, current and future generations have to find a way to try to keep remembering beyond the November 11 Armistice Day.

A volunteer places clay figures in a field that was once a no mans land between the German and British lines of the First World War in Ypres, Belgium on Monday, Feb. 12, 2018. 600,000 clay figures, each one representing a civilian or military death in the First World War, will fill the field for an exhibition of remembrance beginning in the Spring. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Just the creation of these pieces has already brought people together, said Lotte Moeyaert, co-director of the project.

Weve had individuals, families, team-building groups and students all coming in to create the figures in the workshop.

Moulded clay figures, shaped like a crouching person, are placed in a field that was once a no-mans -land between the German and British lines of the First World War in Ypres, Belgium on Monday, Feb. 12, 2018. 600,000 clay figures, each one representing a civilian or military death in the First World War, will fill the field for an exhibition of remembrance beginning in the Spring. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Getting their hands in the clay has made many of them believe they are part of a bigger thing, she said.Boris Johnson labelled Russias counter-measures futile as the diplomatic row over the nerve agent attack on a Russian ex-spy rumbled on.

The Foreign Secretary said the Kremlins tit-for-tat expulsion of 23 British diplomats and the closures of the British consulate in St Petersburg and the British Council would only impact Vladimir Putins compatriots.

Mr Johnson said: He let down his party and country by seemingly aiding the efforts of the Russian propaganda machine by casting doubt over what is obvious to any objective onlooker.

Theresa May earlier said Britain and its allies would consider their next move and that the national security council would meet early next week.

Former double agent Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, remain in a critical condition in hospital, while Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, who was exposed to the Novichok nerve agent while responding to the incident, is no longer considered critical.

Early on Saturday, Russias Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced it had ordered the British diplomats to leave within a week and indicated it could take further action should there be what it called more unfriendly moves.

Speaking at the Conservative Spring Forum, Mrs May said the Government had anticipated a similar response to her action earlier this week to expel 23 Russian diplomats from London.

She said: But Russias response doesnt change the facts of the matter  the attempted assassination of two people on British soil for which there is no alternative conclusion other than that the Russian state was culpable.

It is Russia that is in flagrant breach of international law and the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Meanwhile, counter-terrorism police renewed their appeal for sightings of Mr Skripals burgundy BMW 320D saloon car, registration HD09 WAO, in Salisbury on the morning of Sunday, March 4.

Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said: We are learning more about Sergei and Yulias movements but we need to be clearer around their exact movements on the morning of the incident.A fortnight on from the Salisbury spy poisoning and the crisis continues to unfold on Sundays front pages.

Russia responded to Theresa Mays expulsion of 23 Kremlin diplomats from Britain by ejecting the same number of UK officials, shutting the British consulate in St Petersburg and halting work by the British Council in the country.

Detailed conversations have since been taking place in London over Britains next steps, a UK Government source told The Sunday Telegraph.

What the papers say - March 18

The front page of tomorrow's Sunday Telegraph: 'Britain to punish Putin's cronies' #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/GuB7KEFmkD  The Telegraph (@Telegraph) March 17, 2018

The Mail on Sunday leads with expectations the Prime Minister will launch further action with a crackdown on Russian dirty money in London.

Tomorrow's front page: Blackout threat to Britain as Putin hits back #tomorrowspapertoday pic.twitter.com/PrO694BHEI  The Sunday Times (@thesundaytimes) March 17, 2018

According to the Sunday Express, 1,000 oligarchs face a travel ban.

SUNDAY EXPRESS: May stands up to Putin #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/LytzIPKz9D  Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) March 17, 2018

Striking a different tone, The Independent has heard from a former British ambassador to Moscow, who rebuked senior ministers for making much too wild public comments on the crisis.

In other news, a whistleblower has told The Observer how a data analytics firm used by Donald Trumps presidential campaign allegedly collected information from millions of Facebook profiles to develop vote prediction software.

The Observer front page, Sunday 18 March 2018: Revealed: 50m Facebook files taken in record data breach pic.twitter.com/P728OcKLPT  The Guardian (@guardian) March 17, 2018

The Sunday Mirror follows up its investigation into sex abuse gangs in Telford, Shropshire.

US actress Rose McGowan has told the Sunday People about her experience speaking out about Harvey Weinstein.Boris Johnson labelled Russias counter-measures futile as the diplomatic row over the nerve agent attack on a Russian ex-spy rumbled on.

The Foreign Secretary said the Kremlins tit-for-tat expulsion of 23 British diplomats and the closures of the British consulate in St Petersburg and the British Council would only impact Vladimir Putins compatriots.

Russias ambassador to the UK warned the dispute was escalating dangerously and out of proportion and the country reserved the right to take further retaliatory measures if more sanctions are implemented.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson (Tolga Akmen/PA)

British diplomats expelled pic.twitter.com/tL2AM4jk64  Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) March 17, 2018

Writing in the Sun on Sunday two weeks after the March 4 incident, Mr Johnson said of Saturdays expulsions: These futile measures will only punish ordinary Russians by depriving them of harmless opportunities to learn English and apply for UK visas.

Today Russia stands alone and isolated.

That fact demonstrates the most telling difference between Britain and Putin: we have friends across the world and he does not.

He said the reaction across the Government, Parliament and the wider country had been hugely encouraging but he hit out at Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who came under fire on Wednesday after failing to offer explicit support for the Prime Ministers approach in the House of Commons.

Mr Johnson said: He let down his party and country by seemingly aiding the efforts of the Russian propaganda machine by casting doubt over what is obvious to any objective onlooker.

Theresa May earlier said Britain and its allies would consider their next move and that the national security council would meet early next week.

I spoke with our Ambassador in Moscow & staff this morning. They do a great job in difficult circumstances and we should be proud of their tireless commitment to serving UK interests overseas. My priority now is supporting those staff @UKinRussia returning to the UK  Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) March 17, 2018

In an interview with the Mail on Sunday, Russian ambassador Alexander Yakovenko accused Mrs May of using the crisis to improve her image at the expense of relatons with Moscow.

In case of further unfriendly actions against Russia, the Russian side reserves the right to take further retaliatory measures  this is what the British Ambassador was told on Saturday, he said.

Mr Yakovenko called for restraint and cooler heads, telling the paper: This dispute is indeed escalating dangerously and out of proportion.

Lavrov: Britains failure to cooperate on Skripal poisoning is a major violation of Chemical weapons convention. The situation will rest on the conscience of those who started this reckless gamble. pic.twitter.com/mXN7IZfUJg  Alexander Yakovenko (@Amb_Yakovenko) March 16, 2018

Former double agent Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, remain in a critical condition in hospital, while Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, who was exposed to the Novichok nerve agent while responding to the incident, is no longer considered critical.

Russias ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, prompted a strong rebuttal when he suggested the poison may have come from the Porton Down laboratory, which is around eight miles from Salisbury.

He told the BBCs Andrew Marr Show that Russia had nothing to do with the incident, however his comments were rejected as nonsense by UK officials.

Early on Saturday, Russias Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced it had ordered the British diplomats to leave within a week and indicated it could take further action should there be what it called more unfriendly moves.

Senior Russian Diplomat Vladimir Chizhov, @RusMission_EU suggests in an interview with @AndrewMarr9 that Porton Down could be the source of nerve agent used in #Salisbury. Well be putting that to the Foreign Sec @BorisJohnson at 9am. #marr pic.twitter.com/gwbBHVWK3b  Hugh Milbourn (@Hugh_Milbourn) March 18, 2018

Speaking at the Conservative Spring Forum, Mrs May said the Government had anticipated a similar response to her action earlier this week to expel 23 Russian diplomats from London.

She said: But Russias response doesnt change the facts of the matter  the attempted assassination of two people on British soil for which there is no alternative conclusion other than that the Russian state was culpable.

It is Russia that is in flagrant breach of international law and the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Meanwhile, counter-terrorism police renewed their appeal for sightings of Mr Skripals burgundy BMW 320D saloon car, registration HD09 WAO, in Salisbury on the morning of Sunday, March 4.

Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said: We are learning more about Sergei and Yulias movements but we need to be clearer around their exact movements on the morning of the incident.Russia has been stockpiling the nerve agent used in the Salisbury spy attack for a decade, Boris Johnson has claimed.

Independent inspectors will arrive in the UK on Monday to test the substance used in the attack, but the results will take at least two weeks.

The Foreign Secretary said Moscow has investigated ways of delivering nerve agents for assassination over the last 10 years in a breach of international rules.

Police in protective suits at The Maltings shopping centre, where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found critically ill, as the investigation into the suspected nerve agent attack continues (Ben Birchall/PA)

He told BBC Ones The Andrew Marr Show: We actually have evidence within the last 10 years that Russia has not only been investigating the delivery of nerve agents for the purposes of assassination, but has also been creating and stockpiling Novichok.

Investigators from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will visit the UK to take samples of Novichok, the substance used to attack former double agent Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33.

I spoke with our Ambassador in Moscow & staff this morning. They do a great job in difficult circumstances and we should be proud of their tireless commitment to serving UK interests overseas. My priority now is supporting those staff @UKinRussia returning to the UK  Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) March 17, 2018

The team from The Hague will use international laboratories to carry out tests on the nerve agent.

Mr Johnson will travel to Brussels to brief foreign ministers from across the European Union at a meeting on Monday on the attempted assassinations before holding talks Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg.

.@johnmcdonnellMP argues that @UKLabour have been clear and consistent in condemning Russia for their actions in Salisbury #Peston pic.twitter.com/HpB4tDBMpZ  Peston (@itvpeston) March 18, 2018

Labour has faced intense criticism for its response to the attack after leaving open the possibility that Russia was being framed.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said the Salisbury incident is highly likely to have been a state execution, and Russian president Vladimir Putin is responsible for the attack whether directly or through negligence.

He told ITV Ones Peston on Sunday: He is responsible whichever way you look at it, he is responsible and all the evidence points to him.

He added: We support exactly what the Prime Minister said and we condemn Russia for this, condemn them. I believe this is a pattern of behaviour we have seen.

Russias ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, suggested the nerve agent may have come from the Porton Down laboratory, which is about eight miles from Salisbury.

Sweden and the Czech Republic denied Russian suggestions they may have been the source of the nerve agent.

Forcefully reject unacceptable and unfounded allegation by Russian MFA spokesperson that nerve agent used in Salisbury might originate in Sweden. Russia should answer UK questions instead.  Margot Wallstrom (@margotwallstrom) March 17, 2018

Labour former prime minister Tony Blair said Theresa May has done the right thing in relation to the attack.

Speaking at the same event in Dubai, Tory former chancellor George Osborne, attacked Labour leader Jeremy Corbyns response.

Jeremy Corbyns behaviour has frankly been disgraceful, he said at the Global Education and Skills Forum.

He has ended up sounding like an apologist for the Russian regime.

The national security council will meet early next week to discuss Moscows tit-for-tat response to the UKs expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats.

Foreign Secretary @BorisJohnson says experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons will come to the UK on Monday to test samples of the nerve agent used in Salisbury #marr pic.twitter.com/EOCTJnJniL  The Andrew Marr Show (@MarrShow) March 18, 2018

Russias ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, prompted a strong rebuttal when he suggested the poison may have come from the Porton Down laboratory, which is around eight miles from Salisbury.

He told the BBCs Andrew Marr Show that Russia had nothing to do with the incident, however his comments were rejected as nonsense by UK officials.

Senior Russian Diplomat Vladimir Chizhov, @RusMission_EU suggests in an interview with @AndrewMarr9 that Porton Down could be the source of nerve agent used in #Salisbury. Well be putting that to the Foreign Sec @BorisJohnson at 9am. #marr pic.twitter.com/gwbBHVWK3b  Hugh Milbourn (@Hugh_Milbourn) March 18, 2018

In an interview with the Mail on Sunday, Russian ambassador Alexander Yakovenko accused the Prime Minister of using the crisis to improve her image at the expense of relations with Moscow.

In case of further unfriendly actions against Russia, the Russian side reserves the right to take further retaliatory measures  this is what the British Ambassador was told on Saturday, he said.The minister who tended to a mortally wounded police officer at the climax of the Westminster Bridge attack has described how the killing still haunts him.

Tobias Ellwood was hailed a hero for rushing to the side of fallen constable Keith Palmer after a knife-wielding jihadist stormed the Parliamentary estate last March.

Khalid Masood murdered five people during the rampage, including the 48-year-old officer, whom he stabbed at the Palace of Westminsters gates.

A picture of the defence minister  his face mottled with blood  trying to save the dying Pc Palmer was one of the days defining images.

Tobias Ellwood at the scene of the attack (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Nearly a year since the attack became a grim overture to a spate of outrages on British soil, the MP said he was plagued by the fear that he could have done more.

He told the Sunday Times: He was alive when I arrived on the scene. Thats what haunts me when I arrived he was alive and there was a pulse and when I left there wasnt.

I didnt succeed that day and I have to live with that every day, he added.

I still rack my brains about what more we could have done.

Five people were murdered in the March 22 atrocity (Yui Mok/PA)

Mr Ellwood had already experienced the tragic consequences of terrorism, having lost his brother, Jon, in the 2002 Bali bombing.

On March 22, the horror unfolded closer to home  just yards from his place of work.

Masood had accelerated through pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before darting to the carriage gates of Parliament, armed with two knives.

Here he encountered PC Palmer  and dealt him a knife wound to the neck and torso.

The killer was then shot dead in a hail of police gunfire.

Khalid Masood was shot dead by police (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Mr Ellwood, who is a Conservative MP for Bournemouth East, recalled how he had performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on the injured officer.

He said: I vividly remember the quietness in contrast to the usual busyness, then the helicopter landing, which was really noisy. And then the guys in red turned up  the ones with doctor on their uniform  a huge relief.

I expected the helicopter to take him away, but clearly they needed to stabilise him before they could move him. I expected at that point to be told to move away, but I was instead told to continue with compressions.

He added: I didnt know when to stop, even when the doctor said he thought we had done everything we could do for him. I said, You are going to have to tell me to stop because I am delivering the oxygen to his brain. And he looked at me and called the time of death and said, Thank you. We have done all we can. And then, as the true professionals they are, they picked up all their things and went to help the people on Westminster Bridge.

It was the first in a string of terror attacks last year (Victoria Jones/PA)

Another victim of the attack that day, Keith Chapman, said he was living proof the terrorists had not won.

The 62-year-old grandfather from Stevenage, Hertfordshire, had been run down by Masood on the bridge, suffering a snapped vertebrae, broken right arm and smashed left leg.

He told The Sun on Sunday: The night before the attack I was discussing with my wife Linda how rough my last year had been with all the people close to me who had died.

Linda told me things would soon get back to normal and I thought, Youre right, things cant get much worse. The next day, I get whacked by a terrorist.

He hit me at 76mph in a 44 and Im still alive. Im living proof Masood and his hate didnt win.

My life has been changed for ever by what he did but I try never to think of one evil man. Instead, I focus on the dozens of brilliant people who helped me.Model Vogue Williams and Made In Chelsea star Spencer Matthews are expecting their first child.

The couple  who met in early 2017 while filming Channel 4 show The Jump  recently announced that they were engaged.

Williams, 32, has now told fans on Twitter: Couldnt be more delighted to announce that we are expecting our first baby!

Vogue Williams and Spencer Matthews are expecting their first child (Ian West/PA)

Being with you Spencer Matthews is the best thing that has ever happened to me, you are the dream.

Matthews, 28, wrote: Im going to be a father! Couldnt be happier to be sharing these times with the love of my life Vogue Williams. We feel truly blessed.

Williams, who is four months pregnant, told Hello! magazine that the couple found out she was expecting while in the south of France over Christmas and we were just like, Wow'.

Regardless of how long you plan it for or how long youve wanted it, its still like, Oh my God! Its such exciting news, she said.

I think we were more taken aback by how quickly it had worked as opposed to the fact were having a kid.

She added: Ive always tried to keep a toned stomach, well, thats gone! I want to have the full bump now already because I sort of look like I just had a big meal last night.

Matthews told the magazine: We were heading down that matrimonial road anyway, so now we feel doubly blessed.Anas Sarwar has urged Labour to make a decision on a party member who made an Islamophobic comment about the transport minister.

Dumfries and Galloway councillor Jim Dempster has been suspended from the party pending an investigation into his remark about Humza Yousaf.

Mr Dempster reportedly said that if Mr Yousaf had visited the region, he may have been at Springholm but no-one would have seen him under his burka.

Anas Sarwar urged Labour to come to a quick decision on the Islamophobia investigation (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Solidarity with @HumzaYousaf.



This comment was crass, stupid, offensive & unacceptable.



Right to call this out & challenge it, no matter who or where it is from.



Everyday racism and Islamophobia is real. Our society & institutions are not immune to it. Lots of work to do. https://t.co/if1h0Z4aFA  Anas Sarwar (@AnasSarwar) March 16, 2018

Speaking on the BBCs Sunday Politics Scotland, Labour MSP Mr Sarwar said: Dinosaurs make crass, stupid, offensive, unacceptable remarks.

Its right he apologises. Its right that Labour has suspended him but I think the Labour Party has got to make a decision in the long-term based upon on how we want to reflect in terms of society, whether hes truly remorseful or not.

Its one thing after an incident saying you are sorry, but its about changing yourself and changing your behaviour and how that reflects on wider society.

He added: I think the Labour Partys got to make a decision, and got to take one very quickly.

Mr Sarwar appeared on the programme with Mr Yousaf to discuss the racism and Islamophobia they have both experienced, including death threats.

The transport minister has called for Mr Dempster to resign and refused to accept an apology the councillor offered for his remark.

I appreciate @LabourRichard contacting me to tell me Dempster has been suspended pending an investigation. However, it should be a pretty short investigation as he has admitted making the remarks. Only expulsion from Scottish Labour will do.  Humza Yousaf (@HumzaYousaf) March 16, 2018

Speaking about his own experience of racism and Islamophobia, Mr Sarwar said: People will send threats about burning down my offices, which obviously has an impact on my staff. Targeting me, targeting my family.

Questioning my loyalty to Scotland, questioning my loyalty to the UK. Saying that Im part of some undercover mission to impose Sharia law on Scotland or the UK. Questioning whether we belong.

Mr Yousaf said he had faced similar abuse.

Mr Sarwar is heading a campaign to tackle everyday racism and has drawn up an eight-point plan to about how his party can deal with the issue.

Davie McLachlan, former leader of the Labour group on South Lanarkshire Council, was suspended by Scottish Labour in January pending an investigation after allegedly making a racist remark about Mr Sarwar, which he denies.

Last month, Labour MP Hugh Gaffney apologised for using deeply offensive language during a Burns Supper speech.Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley has said she will not impose a framework deal or a timetable to resume negotiations on Stormonts deadlocked parties.

Mrs Bradleys comments to the Press Association come after Taoiseach Leo Varadkar last week called for a re-intensification of the stalled talks after Easter and suggested one way to break the impasse would be for the UK and Irish governments to table their joint view of what an agreement to restore powersharing might look like.

While the Secretary of State said she was considering all options, she insisted her role was to facilitate not impose and said she had to be careful not to do anything that might make the process go backwards.

I cannot tell two grown-up parties in the DUP and Sinn Fein, who are the two parties that need to make an agreement, to reach an accommodation and come to an accommodation to form a devolved government, I cannot impose on them what that accommodation looks like, she said.

They have to do that themselves.

DUP leader Arlene Foster (right) and Sinn Feins Northern Ireland leader Michelle ONeill (Owen Humphreys/PA)

Ms Bradley said she did not agree with the time frame Leo Varadkar announced of after Easter.

No, I dont want to put a timeframe on it, she said.

Putting artificial deadlines, putting barriers in the way, putting things that that stop the parties back together in place is not what were about.

She added: That doesnt mean were sitting on our hands and hoping it all goes right. Absolutely not.

Ms Bradley was in Washington DC and New York for 48 hours to mark St Patricks Day.

She said one of the things she had learned from the conversations she had had in the US was the real desire to help.

She said not having the institutions in Northern Ireland functioning as the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement loomed made it a rather hollow celebration.

Whilst the unique power sharing arrangements that the Good Friday Agreement introduced have been ground-breaking and have delivered peace and prosperity that no one could have imagined in Northern Ireland, not having devolved government at the point of the 20th anniversary is, as Senator George Mitchell, who Ive just seen, said, makes it a rather hollow celebration, she said.

Mrs Bradley said she has spent the past nine weeks trying to get devolved government up and running, since she was appointed to the role.

Weve reached a point where the two parties dont feel theres a lot to be gained from them continuing to talk to each other, the Conservative MP said.

She said the UK government has been looking at what is needed to be done to ensure that things like public finances can keep running and keep functioning without the institutions and also get the parties back around the table.

The ultimate aim was devolved government, she said.

The Secretary of State said there was constant work being done across all levels of government in the UK Government to get the parties back together.

Parliament Buildings at Stormont in Belfast (Michael Cooper/PA)

I dont think its right to try to speculate on timeframes, she said.

She described her US trip as an exhausting but very rewarding and productive couple of days and it had given her a real determination to restore devolved government at Stormont.

We need to find a way to get there.

She said she is going to reflect on whether the reinstallation of a US envoy might help the impasse.

Its something Im considering, she said.

I want to reflect on some of the conversations Ive had this week, thoughts on what a representative could do, an economic role maybe, and come to a determination.

But she added: I dont think we should assume that something worked in the past its going to work now.

Weve got to look at the situation we face today.

The Secretary of State will visit Belfast this coming week.Former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia may have been exposed to a deadly nerve agent through his cars ventilation system, US media has reported.

The pair are still fighting for their lives after being exposed to Novichok in Salisbury two weeks ago.

ABC News is reporting that intelligence officials said the nature of the substance, described as dusty, is now clear.

Police teams bag up swabs from railings outside The Maltings shopping centre, where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found critically ill (Ben Birchall/PA)

The US news outlet said UK officials now have a clearer picture of how the attack was carried out and that the Skripals may have been exposed to the substance through his BMWs ventilation system.

The development comes as counter-terrorism police renewed their appeal for sightings of Mr Skripals burgundy BMW 320D saloon car, registration HD09 WAO, in Salisbury on the morning of Sunday March 4.

Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said: We are learning more about Sergei and Yulias movements but we need to be clearer around their exact movements on the morning of the incident.

Scotland Yard would not comment on the ABC News report.

ABC also reported that intelligence officials said that up to 38 individuals in Salisbury have been identified as having been affected by the nerve agent, but the full impact is still being assessed, and more victims sickened by the agent are expected to be identified.

This is not the first time the US media has reported updates from intelligence officials about incidents in the UK.

British police temporarily suspended intelligence-sharing with the US in the wake of the Manchester Arena bombing last May following a series of leaks to American media.

CBS disclosed the name of the bomber, Salman Abedi, citing US sources, at a time when the British authorities were asking media to withhold the information to protect the investigation.

The New York Times then published detailed photographs taken from the bomb scene which had been taken by British investigators.

Meanwhile, The Sun on Sunday reported that Yulia Skripals boyfriend was a Russian secret service agent.

The newspaper also said that Ms Skripal had worked in the US Embassy in Moscow.California will see history made on Wednesday as Toni Atkins becomes the first woman and first lesbian to hold the top job in its senate.

A former Assembly speaker, Ms Atkins is taking over the post of senate president for the time being from fellow Democrat Kevin de Leon as the chamber gears up for election season and faces thorny challenges.

These include a reckoning over sexual misconduct, a loss of the Democratic super-majority and an icy relationship with the state Assembly.

Sen Atkins, right, talks with Sen Holly Mitchell at the Capitol in Sacramento, California (Rich Pedroncelli/AP)

Ms Atkins, whose colleagues describe her as measured, said she is not focused on making headlines.

I think youre going to see my focus will be internally so youre not going to get any big pronouncements, she said.

Senate Democrats lost their super-majority last month when Los Angeles-area Senator Tony Mendoza resigned rather than face a very rare expulsion vote over sexual misconduct allegations, although he is running again for the same seat.

Critics have said that with sexual misconduct, the statehouse culture values the protection of lawmakers over justice for victims.

They said incidents of inappropriate behaviour are swept under the carpet, and an inconsistent, haphazard investigation process leads victims to suffer in silence for fear that coming forward would only harm them.

Sharp disagreements over handling sexual misconduct investigations, a single-payer health care bill and other issues of style and substance have driven a wedge between the Senate and Assembly.

Ms Atkins said her early work will be focused on running the Senate, including developing a process to deal with sexual harassment allegations.

Other efforts to put her stamp on the senate, like reshuffling committee assignments, will come later.

Mr De Leon took control of the Senate in 2014 but is barred by term limits from seeking re-election and is challenging Democratic US senator Dianne Feinstein.

Ms Atkins will have an unusually long run in the senates top job if she keeps the support of fellow Democrats, as she is not term-limited until 2024.

Ms Atkins, who has pushed forward groundbreaking legislation on health care, LGBT rights and housing, is described by colleagues as kind, measured and compassionate but steadfast in her commitment to fighting for people and ideas she believes in.

When people first interact with Toni, what they see is a very unassuming, low-key person who has a bit of an earth mother effect about her, said Senator Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat.

People sometimes mistake that for weakness. But what they dont see is right underneath that surface is pure steel. She is tough as nails. But she has a huge heart.

Ms Atkins, 55, is in her first four-year term as a senator after six years in the Assembly, where she also set a milestone as the first openly gay woman to serve as speaker.

Mr Wiener, who is gay, said having a member of the LGBT community in one of the states most powerful positions will ensure that issues they face do not take a back seat now that same-sex marriage is legal.

Originally from Appalachian Virginia, Atkins moved west and was a health care administrator in San Diego before turning full time to politics.

Last year, Ms Atkins was a driving force behind a successful push to raise money for subsidised housing by charging 75 dollars (54) for many real-estate transactions.

She was also the co-author of a contentious bill that would replace traditional health insurance companies with a single government-funded health care plan for everyone in the state.

She wrote a bill signed by Governor Jerry Brown to create a non-binary gender option on drivers licenses for people who do not identify themselves as male or female.

Sen Pat Bates, a Republican from Laguna Niguel and the Senate minority leader, said she is hopeful Ms Atkins will give Republicans more say in which committees they are assigned to and more notice before taking up legislation on the floor.

Sen Holly Mitchell, a black Los Angeles Democrat, said: Im thrilled that after over 100 years, when I walk down that corridor leading to the Senate floor that there will be a womans portrait there on the wall.

Im really excited to be a sitting member of the senate when we make history.An exiled Russian businessman was among anti-Putin protesters at the countrys London embassy as voters queued to vote in the presidential election.

Yevgeny Chichvarkin, 43, a mobile phone tycoon who left Russia for the UK in 2008, said he believes the Kremlin is behind the incident in Salisbury, adding that a change is needed.

Mr Chichvarkin, who now runs a wine shop in the capital, said the current relationship between the UK and Russia is worse than relations during the Cold War.

Russian citizens queue outside the Russian embassy in London on the day of their presidential elections (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

The businessman led anti-Putin chants in front of the Russian Embassy in Notting Hill, and was joined by about 30 other protesters.

He said he left Russia due to serious pressure from Russian authorities, and on the subject of whether he was afraid about being so vocal just a few metres from the embassy, he said: I feel that I have to.

Asked if he thinks he is being watched, he said: Of course, a lot of people who work for FSB are around, of course.

But the entrepreneur added: We need change. We, as the world, we need change.

Mr Chichvarkin said the Kremlins reaction to the Salisbury incident is the normal reaction of criminals, and asked if he believes the Kremlin is behind the incident, he said: Yes. For sure.

Among the protesters standing opposite the embassy was Victoria, who moved to the UK from Moscow.

I believe that the current elections are fake. I feel like my vote has been taken away from me. And this is the only way I can be honest to myself, she said.

Victoria said she feels Britain should take more serious measures against Russia, adding that she believes it is highly likely that the Kremlin was behind the Salisbury attack.

Commenting on a tweet posted by the UK Russian Embassy on Sunday  a picture of Poirot with the caption In absence of evidence, we definitely need Poirot in Salisbury!  she said that joking about an incident in which people almost lost their lives was very inappropriate.

Protest outside the Russian embassy in London (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

She described the state-backed RT TV channel as a propaganda machine, and said Britain should limit RTs presence.

Also among the protesters was Paulina Konkina, 23, who is originally from Moscow.

She said: Obviously Russia is my country, its my home country, so I really want whats best for it, and I dont think Putin is what is best for it.

Ms Konkina said she thinks Russias reaction to the Salisbury incident has been a form of bravado.

Meanwhile, a woman queuing to vote, who gave her name as Julia and said she was 56, spoke up for Mr Putin, crediting him with building Russia from scratch.

She said Russia is acting according to international law, adding: It is disrespectful to make accusations which are complete lies and slander.

Julia said she does not think the Kremlin was behind the Salisbury incident, adding: Who wants to do such a thing before the election? Its like to put a gun to your head basically before an election.

Asked about what she thinks of what the British government is saying about Russia, she said: I think its disgusting. Its unprofessional. Its not according to international standards.

Another woman in the queue, who gave her name as Vera and said she was 53, said: I just feel that the accusations are so completely unsubstantiated and ridiculous.

She mentioned Boris Johnson and referred to Gavin Williamsons shut up and go away comment, adding: I just think its completely unacceptable and its double standards all over the place.

And I just feel its important to be here.

Vera said it would be really nice if the British media included the other point of view, adding: Its just all one narrative, which I think is Russophobia and its some part of a big plan and nobody knows what this big plan is.

Valeria Karpova, 47, originally from Moscow, was also at the embassy to vote, and said: Number one, Im a Russian citizen and I totally agree with whats happening in Russia at the moment.

I totally disagree with all lies produced by British press without any evidence, accusing a man personally, and the country altogether  this is appalling, absolutely appalling.

Ms Karpova, who is married to an English man, said they are both really sorry to see relations between the two countries deteriorate.David Davis will hold Brexit talks in Brussels on Monday ahead of a crunch meeting of European Union leaders later this week.

The Brexit Secretary is meeting counterpart Michel Barnier amid warnings from senior Tories that the UK must be allowed to formally sign trade deals during any transition period.

Britain will become a joke nation if the EU stops it agreeing new trading terms outside the bloc as it withdraws, Jacob Rees-Mogg claimed.

File photo dated 17/2/2016 of the EU and Union flags (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Mr Davis is in Brussels to thrash out details of transition arrangements that would come into force when Britain leaves in March 2019.

The Brexit Secretary has said he can live with an implementation period of under two years if it helps to secure an early deal.

Prime Minister Theresa May will head to Brussels on Thursday for a meeting of the European Council where she is hoping a deal on the arrangements will be signed off.

In an article for The Daily Telegraph Mr Rees-Mogg, who chairs the Brexit supporting Conservative European Research Group, wrote: Britain has to decide if it is a serious country or a joke nation.

It would be humiliating for others to have cause to think thus of us.

The United Kingdom will not accept being a subservient state.

In the case of tariffs, once we have left the EU, it is non-negotiable that our trade minister should be able to respond to any threat of increased tariffs from other nations as suits our national interest, not the EUs.

We must be able to negotiate and sign trade deals.

Yet this does not depend just on our legal ability to do so.

It depends on how other countries view us.A young Emirati man is winning hearts online with his heartwarming gesture for his Sri Lankan nanny - after she lost her husband.

When an Emirati man was told that his nanny's husband had passed away and she was not aware of it, he didn't know how to divulge and share the tragic news with the Sri Lankan woman. He was afraid that she would feel devastated on hearing it.

So, he quietly arranged her air tickets telling her that her husband had fallen sick and she should go back to her country, according to reports on social media.

In a viral video, the young Emirati can be seen bidding her a warm send-off, the man ensured that the nanny, Sally, felt relaxed and content as she left.

The concerned woman can be seen inquiring about her husband's health, but the man consoles her by kissing her forehead and telling her that God's will is supreme.

He said that Sally, who lived with them for 36 years, treated him and his brothers as her own children (she didn't have kids of her own).

Recounting a childhood memory, he reminisces about the time when she used to secretly give him and his siblings money to cheer them up, when they were small.

It cannot be confirmed when the video was recorded, but since being posted a day back, it had garnered nearly 230,000 views.

The Emirati said that he would invite her back to live with them - if she wishes to - as a family member and not as domestic help. The invitation is merely a way to acknowledge the love she has showered on us, the he pointed out.(Khaleej Times)Sexual assault cases involving child victims rose to over one lakh in 2016 across the country and only 229 of them were adjudicated upon by trial courts in that year, the Supreme Court has been informed.



The figure were brought recently to the notice of a bench, headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, which asked the Registrar Generals of high courts across the country to collect and collate data on pending cases of sexual offences against children as victims lodged under stringent Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The Act provides that such cases have to be decided within a year after the trial court takes cognisance of the charge sheet.

Lawyer Alakh Alok Srivastava, who has filed a PIL in a rape case of an eight-month-old girl by her adult cousin, referred to the 2016 data of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) and said 229 cases, out of the total of 1,01,326 POCSO cases, were decided by trial courts that year.

He said 70,435 POCSO cases were carried forward from previous years and in 2016, 30,891 fresh cases came before trial courts for adjudication and hence the total number of pending cases became 1,01,326.

The bench, also comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, considered the submission and said it would take a holistic view of the pendency of such cases and try to find out ways to deal with the problem. It sought the report from HCs within four weeks.

The plea has also sought framing of guidelines to ensure that investigation and trial of cases involving rape of children below the age of 12 years, under the POSCO Act, should be completed within six months from the date of lodging of the FIR.

The POCSO Act, as said earlier, provides that such cases be decided within a year after the trial court takes cognisance of the charge sheet.

The top court also directed its Registry to communicate the order to the registrar generals of the high courts seeking a district wise detailed report on the pendency of cases and posted the matter for hearing on April 20.

Earlier, the Centre had told the court that an FIR has already been registered in connection with the rape of the baby and the accused cousin was in judicial custody.Demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, which have been counted and processed for genuineness, are shredded and briquetted before being disposed of through a tendering process, the RBI has said.



The central bank had earlier estimated the value of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes received, as on June 30, 2017, at Rs 15.28 trillion.

Old currency notes which include demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes are counted and processed in sophisticated currency verification and processing system. The notes processed are shredded and briquetted in the shredding and briquetting system installed in various RBI offices, the RBI said in reply to an RTI query filed by a PTI correspondent.

Once compressed into bricks', the shredded notes disposed of through a tendering process, according to the reply.

RBI does not recycle such processed notes, the RBI said.

At least 59 sophisticated Currency Verification and Processing (CVPS) machines are in operation in various branches of RBI across the country to process demonetised notes for their arithmetical accuracy and genuineness.

The government had on November 8, 2016 banned the use of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes and allowed the holders of these currency bills to deposit them with banks or use them at certain notified utilities.

In its annual report for 2016-17 released on August 30 last year, the RBI said Rs 15.28 lakh crore, or 99 per cent of the demonetised notes, had returned to the banking system.

The central bank said in the report, for the year ended June 30, 2017, that only Rs 16,050 crore of the Rs 15.44 lakh crore in old high denomination notes had not returned.

As on November 8, 2016, there were 1,716.5 crore pieces of Rs 500 and 685.8 crore pieces of Rs 1,000 notes in circulation, totalling Rs 15.44 lakh crore, it had said. PTI AKV MIN DIP DIPDOHA, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Qatari and Italian naval forces started a joint exercise on Saturday in Qatar's territorial waters, state-run Qatari news agency (QNA) reported Sunday.

Qatar's missile boat Al Debal and Italy's frigate Carlo Margottini participated in the drills, QNA said.

The joint exercise was conducted as part of the ongoing Doha International Maritime Defense Exhibition and Conference (DIMDEX) in the capital.

"The methodology of exercises and training among the forces evolves as strong relations between the two friendly countries develop," said Brig. Gen. Mubarak Rashid Al Sulaiti, commander of the Naval Operations Center Marine.

The exercise focuses on the maneuver and defense of a ship in the event of an external attack, as well as the exchange of experience in maximizing benefits and training officers and personnel.

On March 16, Qatari Armed Forces with Italian aerospace and defense company Leonardo signed deals on purchasing 28 NH90 helicopters and automatic simulators of these helicopters.

Last August, Qatar signed a 5-billion-euro (5.9 billion U.S. dollars) deal to purchase seven naval vessels from Italy.

Last June, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic, trade and transport links to gas-rich Qatar, accusing the gas-rich Gulf state of supporting terrorism and establishing close ties with Iran against Arab interests, which Doha has repeatedly denied.Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today launched a scathing attack on the NDA government, accusing it of having "messed up" the economy and mismanaging the dispute in Jammu and Kashmir.



At the 84th plenary session of the Congress, Singh described the government's demonetisation move as "ill-considered" and GST as "hastily implemented".

"The BJP-led government messed up the Indian economy. The ill-considered demonetisation and hastily implemented GST have destroyed small-scale enterprises," he said.

"The government mismanaged the Jammu and Kashmir dispute like never before. The atmosphere in the state has been deteriorating day by day," he said.

Singh also dismissed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's comment about farmers' incomes being doubled.

"Modi said farmers' income will be doubled in six years. It is a 'jumla'-type (rhetorical) statement unlikely to be achieved," he said addressing the session.

Asserting that the UPA government achieved a "lot" under then Congress president Sonia Gandhi's guidance, Singh exuded confidence that the plenary session would chalk out the future path for the country and the party would play a "historic" role.Former West Bengal minister Pratim Chatterjee, who held the Fire Services portfolio for 15 years till 2011, passed away today, family sources said.



Chatterjee, president of Left Front constituent Marxist Forward Bloc, was suffering from breathing trouble and had undergone treatment at a private hospital in Salt Lake for a month and was released from there on March 14, his son-in-law Dibyojyoti Ghosh said.

"He complained of uneasiness this morning and was admitted to the same facility, where he died of a cardiac arrest at 10.15 am," Ghosh said.

The former minister, a widower, is survived by a daughter, Kuheli Ghosh.

Chatterjee, who represented Tarakeswar Assembly constituency, was the state Fire Services minister during the Left Front regime from 1996 to 2011.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she was saddened at the passing away of Chatterjee.

"Condolences to his family and well-wishers," Banerjee said in a tweet.Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Sunday launched a sharp attack on Prime Minister Narenrdra Modi accusing him helping his namesakes Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi carry out the biggest theft in the history of India.

Addressing the 84th AICC Plenary, Gandhi also outlined his vision for rebuilding the 133-year-old party where he intended to give prominence to ordinary workers over leaders.



A combative Gandhi also hit out at the BJP for appointing a murder accused as its President and asserted that the country would never allow the Congress to behave in a similar way.



India expects much more from the Congress. India will never let us behave like the RSS and the BJP.  BJP is the voice of an organisation, while Congress is the voice of the nation, the Congress president said.



Gandhi accused the Prime Minister of distracting the nation from the real problems and indulging in crony capitalism.



The Prime Minister is oblivious to the problems faced by the farmers and the young people of the country. There are no jobs, the farmers are dying. The Prime Minister says 'Let's go do yoga', he said referring to the International Yoga Day celebrations at the Rajpath.



Playing on the similar surnames of the Prime Minister and that of controversial businessmen Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi, Gandhi said it reflected the collusion between the BJP government and crony capitalists.



The name Modi symbolises the collusion between India's biggest crony capitalists and the prime minister of India. Modi gives Modi Rs 30,000 crores of your money and in turn, Modi gives Modi money for marketing Modi and fighting elections, he said.



Spelling out his vision for change in the Congress, Gandhi said he intended to break down the wall between the leadership and the party worker who has the energy to bring about a change in the organisation.



My first job will be to breakdown that wall, but not through anger. We will do it with proper respect to the senior leaders. We will bring down the wall with love, the Congress President said amid loud cheers among the workers gathered at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium here.Renowned lawyer Ram Jethmalani today called for the formation of a third front led by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to "oust Prime Minister Narendra Modi" in the next Lok Sabha elections.



Both Congress and BJP governments have been deliberately apathetic to the recovery of black money stashed in "Germany and other countries", Jethmalani said, speaking to reporters here.

"They have committed a joint crime of cheating people. Therefore, the third front of honest leaders is needed," the former Union Law Minister said.

"I want Mamata Banerjee to lead the third front to oust prime minister Narendra Modi in the next general elections. Mamata has the ability to be the prime minister," said Jethmalani, a one-time Modi supporter who later became the prime minister's bitter critic.

The senior lawyer also criticised Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and the NDA government over their policy on black money. The NDA government has no right to stay in power, he said.Country

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"The Counter-terrorism Department members managed to take down fighters of Al-Nusra Front with an ambush in the Kufra desert after they were trying to infiltrate the Libyan territories," the department of the army said in the statement.

The arrested militants are Syrian and Sudanese fighters involved in the Syrian war, it added.

According to the statement, preliminary investigations showed they were flown from Syria to Turkey, and then to Sudan and Libya.

"Initial investigations confirm that Turkey sends fighters to Sudan and then they are smuggled into Libya, specifically to Sirte, to join al-Qaeda in Libya which is known as the Shura Council of Fighters, and the Libyan Fighting Group and its political arm the Muslim Brotherhood," the statement revealed.

Al-Nusra Front is a Syrian terrorist branch of al-Qaeda in Syria and Iraq. The group was formed in 2012 to fight against the Syrian regime.

In May 2013, the UN Security Council put Al-Nusra Front on the list of international sanctions of al-Qaeda entities and individuals.Boeing's F/A-18 Super Hornets suddenly in race for IAF as Centre shifts goalposts

Boeing, considered the frontrunner in the race to supply the Indian Navy with new fighter jets, is now in contention for a much bigger $15-billion order after the government abruptly asked the Indian Air Force to consider Boeings the twin-engine planes, Reuters reported.

Boeings twin-engine F/A-18 Super Hornet

Until recently, Lockheed Martin Corps F-16 and Saab ABs Gripen were the only manufacturers in the fray to supply at least 100 single-engine jets to build up the IAFs rapidly-depleting combat fleet. Both had offered to build the planes in India in collaboration with local companies under theMake in India programme to build a domestic industrial base and cut back on arms imports.

But last month the government asked the IAF to open up the competition to twin-engine aircraft and to evaluate Boeings F/A-18 Super Hornet, a defence ministry source told Reuters. That jet is a finalist for the Indian Navys $8 - $9 billion contract for 57 fighters.

In the next few weeks, the defence ministry plans to issue a request for information (RFI), the first stage of a procurement process, for a fighter to be built in India. The competition will be open to both single and twin-engine jets, the official said, but both Lockheed and Saab said they had not been informed about the new criteria.

The latest change of stance is a major opportunity for Boeing, whose only foreign Super Hornet customer so far is the Royal Australian Air Force.

Though the need for new fighters has been known for nearly 15 years, but after many announcements and about turns, the IAF has only three-quarters of the aircraft it needs.

An indigenous light combat aircraft, the Tejas, is still not operational 35 years after it was first proposed.

An Indian Air Force source said fighter procurement was urgent  the branchs operational strength has fallen to just 33 squadrons, its weakest level in four decades, as it decommissions Soviet-era MiG-21s.

The IAF wants the RFI issued within weeks and get the process started, said the source, who declined to be identified because he was not authorised to speak to the media, Reuters reported. The problem is that government keeps shifting what it wants.

Over the next decade, 13 more squadrons will be retired as aircraft age out of service, parliaments standing committee on defence said in a December report.

The defence ministry declined to comment on the air forces aircraft modernization programme.

Lockheed, which had offered to shift its F-16 production line from the US to India, said it had not been told of any change to the Indian plan for single-engine fighters. Our proposed F-16 partnership with India stands firm, the company said in an email.

Last year it picked Tata Advanced Systems as its local partner and said it was in talks with dozens of firms to build up the supplier network.

The government of India has not yet issued formal requirements but we are continuing to support government-to-government discussions and engage with Indian companies about F-16 industrial opportunities, Lockheed said.

Swedens Saab was also caught off guard.

We have seen the reports in the Indian media, but no new formal communication has been made to us regarding the fighter program, said Rob Hewson, Saab Asia Pacifics head of communications.

Frances Dassault Systemes SEs Rafale, the Eurofighter Typhoon and Russian aircraft are also potential contenders under the new requirements, the air force source and industry analysts said.

Admiral Harry Harris, the head of US Pacific Command, told the U.S. House Armed Services Committee last month that India was considering the F-35 stealth fighters, among other options. But the Indian Air Force said no request had been made to Lockheed for even a briefing on the aircraft.

The Indian air force competition has echoes of a 2007 tender for 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft, for which Dassault was selected for exclusive negotiations. But the talks quickly bogged down over local production and prices, and in the end, the government ordered just 36 Rafales in 2016 for $8.7 billion.

The air force ideally would like a combination of lighter single-engine and twin-engine jets, as well as stealth aircraft, but cannot afford such a range of foreign systems, analysts said.

A twin-engine foreign fighter would perhaps offer the best value while the Tejas finishes development, they said.

Indias annual defence capital procurement budget of $14 billion to $15 billion has to be spread over the Army, Navy, Air Force and the indigenous defence research organization DRDO.

The operational costs are going up with increased manpower, higher wages and general inflation. The ministry of defence doesnt have the luxury to go for too many platforms despite the rapidly falling squadron strength of the Air Force, said Amber Dubey, partner and India head of aerospace and defence at global consultancy KPMG.

Boeing India President Pratyush Kumar said the company was ready to respond to any request from the Air Force, and said it had offered to help with Indias plans to develop its own advanced medium combat aircraft.Kathmandu, March 18

A joint delegation from the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and visiting Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Sunday called on Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.

During the meeting that took place in Baluwatar, the Prime Minister stated that Nepal had made headway towards the path of prosperity. Saying this, he urged the CII for increasing joint venture investment in Nepal.

The delegation comprised FNCCI President Bhawani Rana and CII President and Apollo Hospital Enterprises Limited executive vice chairperson Shobana Kamineni, among other representatives from both organisations.

Stating that progress and prosperity of the nation were the top priorities of his government, the PM, urged the FNCII and CII, the representative bodies of private sector of both countries, for support to enhance joint venture in Nepal, the FNCCI said in a press statement.

In response, the FNCCI chief said preparations were underway for the Nepal-India Investment Conference to be jointly organised by the FNCCI and CII in Kathmandu coming April.

The CII President congratulated the PM on behalf of the Indian private sector for his appointment on the post, stating that the they were excited to be part of the Nepals campaign for economic development, underlining the need of moving ahead with a substantive action plan for the expansion of Nepal-India joint venture in Nepal with the identification of potential areas of investment.

RssNSW businesses can now apply for matched grants of up to $250,000 under the NSW-Israel Research and Development (R&D) Tech Innovation Program.

The program which is jointly run by the NSW Government and State of Israel was established to support innovation and strengthen ties between NSW and Israel.

According to Minister for Trade & Industry, Niall Blair, interested businesses must apply before 7 June.

The NSW Government is offering matched financial grants of up to $250,000 for project costs for participating businesses, he said.

Encouraging technology collaborations through government programs such as this, is a wise investment in a better future.

We are committed to supporting innovation to create the businesses and jobs of tomorrow. In partnering with Israel, an innovation leader, we are putting our best technology companies on the world stage.

Sydney-based company Blue River Group is already working between NSW and Israel to develop and commercialise new agriculture and food technologies.

CEO Craig Shapiro welcomed the NSW-Israel R&D Tech Innovation Program which he said has great potential to nurture R&D connections.

Israel is a leader in innovation across several sectors, including agricultural areas like irrigation, plant genetics, horticulture, dairy productivity he said.

The NSW-Israel R&D Tech Innovation Program encourages applications from all sectors but will prioritise projects focusing on cyber security, water management or agri-technology.

In support of the program, the Department of Industry will contribute an extra 10 per cent funding towards R&D projects that focus on priority sectors; for projects based in regional and rural areas outside Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong; or for start-ups or high growth companies.

For further information on the program and its guidelines and to apply, visit http://www.industry.nsw.gov.au/israelresearchprogramSome years ago, I was advising two of the most impressive entrepreneurs in the country. They had built an amazing national brand and were going from strength to strength in terms of geographic coverage, revenue and customer numbers. But, they were having challenges managing the business now that it was so large.

They explained: Were not having fun anymore. Running a business from this stage onwards isnt what were good at. They ended up selling the business and embarking on a startup journey in a different sector. I was shocked, but I came to realise they knew who they were and had made exactly the right choice.

Recognising your strengths and weaknesses as a leader is vital to the success of any entrepreneur, and knowing what kind of leadership skills are required for each stage of your business is central to this.

The five stages of business development

While selling wont be the right decision for every entrepreneur, businesses tend to move through five, healthy stages.

Firstly, there is emergence. This is simply about having a vision, something you care about creating. At this stage, you dont even need proof that the business can succeed. Passion and imagination are enough.

The second stage is viability. This is all about winning enough revenue and bringing in enough cash to cover your ever-mounting, short-term liabilities. It is essential at this stage to sharpen your customer value proposition, and have the energy and hunger to go out chasing customer growth.

Then comes the sustainability stage. Matters such as organising, human resources and capital often become very important at this stage.

The fourth stage is maturity. The dominant concerns here are budget, and ensuring that everything is underpinned by robust systems and processes.

The fifth is less obvious, but faced by most organisations  reinvention. This comes from the recognition that the company is at risk of moving from maturity to decline or decay. In a sense, it is a return to the stages of emergence and viability  creating new vision and new customer value.

As your business evolves through each stage, your centre of gravity moves and there are new requirements for leadership. Emergence requires visionary leaders. Viability requires adventurous leaders with a hunger for customer acquisition. Sustainability needs explorers and builders, the kind of people who can design something for ongoing health. And maturity requires administrators  people who can make things safe, smooth and efficient.

When you move to reinvention, you may need to shed some administrators to make room for visionaries. When Apple fired Steve Jobs, they were essentially abandoning his visionary nature for the organisations stage of maturity. This was a mistake. There is a need for visionaries at every stage of business life  its more a question of what centre of gravity you need. When Apple re-hired Steve Jobs, they recognised that it was time to reinvent. This required applying the defibrillators to an almost dead patient  in other words, replacing some of the administrators with an exceptionally visionary person, and shocking the organisation back to the style of business associated with emergence and viability.

Knowing when to take a step back

Some entrepreneurs can go all the way on this journey. The likes of Bill Gates and Richard Branson are visionaries who also have the versatility to embrace other leadership styles, and to ensure they update their leadership team to match the next stage of maturation for their leadership.

Some entrepreneurs can stay with the business, but should stop at being the CEO. A business colleague of mine was the CEO of a tech startup. He had been the mastermind of the core software, and was a compelling speaker to customers and international private equity firms. But the more the company grew, the more it needed strengths associated with managing systems, processes and tasks that were difficult, but required little by way of vision. He and his funders realised that while he would remain the leader of the organisation, someone else should be brought in to be the centre. This was central to the eventual, global success of the business.

Finally, some entrepreneurs should leave the company altogether. This is not a failure. This is a recognition that very few of us are suited to running a company in every stage of its life.

Working out when you should stay or go requires awareness in two ways. First, you need empathy for your business. You need to understand that its requirements are not static. Your business is your child and you need to appreciate that the way you raised it as an infant must change as it becomes a child, an adolescent and finally an adult. You may not like administration, but there are essential systems and processes for an organisation with 5,000 employees, that werent required for your start-up. Failure to appreciate this will either constrain or doom the company.

The second is self-awareness. You must understand what life stages of a business you are suited to leading and how narrow or broad your range is. There is no shame in recognising that your style means you can go all the way as CEO, but will need complementary members of your leadership team, or that you should move sideways so that a CEO can come in, or that you should leave altogether. Some great business creators just arent CEOs. And some who are great small/young company CEOs are lousy large/mature company CEOs. (Its also true the other way around.)

Recognising who you are as a leader and what your company needs for its prosperity, then implementing the most suitable leadership team for those circumstances, is a mark of wisdom and self-insight. It is doing what is best for both your business and yourself.

About the author

Anthony Mitchell is the co-founder and Chief Potential Officer of Bendelta, focusing on designing organisations and leaders for the cyber-physical age. He is also Chairman of the Aurora Education Foundation, providing accelerated development opportunities for Australias most promising Indigenous scholars, and a member of the Amnesty International 2020 Council.Secretary of Education and Saturday Night Live fixture Betsy DeVos is fond of saying that picking a school should be as easy as choosing an Uber or a Lyft. She bases this belief on the economic theories that buttress much of the neo-liberal and conservative approach to education reform:

As economist Milton Friedman had theorized decades earlier, Ohio legislators believed that increased choice and competition would boost education outcomes across the board. Competition in the words of Stanfords Caroline Hoxby, would be the proverbial rising tide that lifts all boats.

The problem is that Sec. DeVos is right: the choice to send your child to a private or charter school instead of your neighborhood public school is as easy as calling a Lyft or an Uber instead of a taxiand thats not necessarily a good thing

To really understand what school choice means, we need to pull apart the two major components of school choice initiatives: the ability to choose ones school from an array of public, charter, private, and religious options; and the use of vouchers to subsidize these choices with public tax dollars that have historically, and constitutionally in many places, been intended to support public education.

In Michigan, where Sec. DeVos has had a major influence on education policy and funding for the past two decades, school choice has been one of her pet projects, and has also been the law of the land for 24 years now. Schools of choice legislation allows families to send their children to any school they choose, with state funding of at least $7,176 follow(ing) the student, whether they enroll in their home district or in a school of choice.

But despite the best efforts of Sec. DeVos and her husband, Dick, their attempts to pass private school voucher legislation have failed spectacularly both times bills were introduced in the state legislature. To the DeVos, these failures have been not only personally humiliating, but have limited the impact of school choice provisions they have worked so hard to implement in the state. To their critics, the failure to pass voucher legislation has been a matter of defending the states constitution, and protecting public education from the efforts of school privatizers and union-busters, like the DeVos and the Republican legislators they have funded with millions in cash contributions over the years.

If choice was the panacea that Sec. DeVos says it is, we should have seen a huge improvement in education in the state by now, right? As Lee Corso might say, Not so fast my friend!!! The facts just dont support DeVos contention that school choice has a positive impact on the states educational landscape:

Choice has given families more freedom to enroll their children where they think theyll get the best education, but critics of the program say its also wreaked havoc with district budgets, as schools struggle to determine how many students will show up in their classrooms each fall. State funding of at least $7,176 follows the student, whether they enroll in their home district or in a school of choice.

So, if choice isnt helping school budgets, it must be good for student learning, right? Again, not so fast

In a study from the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute on Ohios private school voucher program, the authors, David Figlio and Krzysztof Karbownik, found that not only did students using vouchers to attend private schools not do better academically, these negative results were long-lasting, and not merely a result of changing schools. The authors wistful comments at the end of the quote below are especially illuminating:

The students who use vouchers to attend private schools have fared worse academically compared to their closely matched peers attending public schools. The study nds negative effects that are greater in math than in English language arts. Such impacts also appear to persist over time, suggesting that the results are not driven simply by the setbacks that typically accompany any change of school. Let us acknowledge that we did not expector, frankly, wishto see these negative effects for voucher participants; but its important to report honestly on what the analysis showed and at least speculate on what may be causing these results.

So, if school choice isnt good for educational finances at either the state or local levels, and doesnt help kids learn more or better, arent there other benefits to parents and students having options when it comes to selecting the schools they attend? Shouldnt families have the right to choose their schools just as travelers in need of a ride have the right to choose an Uber or Lyft instead of a taxi?

Heres the thing about choices: in the real world, its only worth having options when all of those options offer equivalent services or benefits. And in Sec. DeVos ideal world of choice, where selecting the school your child will attend is no more important than deciding which ride sharing service to call to get to the airport, there are troubling parallels between ride sharing and school choiceLatest News

NIOS releases admit cards for practical exams; check details here The cards will be generated only if the students have paid the exam fee for October- November 2021 public

Skills for a pandemic-proof career Technical skills are essential, but you need to continuously upgrade yourself with changing times to stay

JEE Advanced registration fee payment window to close today The exam is scheduled to be held on October 3Erdogan: Turkish Army took full control of the city

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan: Turkish Armed Forces entered Afrin and established full control over the city.

Turkish Armed Forces and the Free Syrian Army, entered Afrin city in northwestern Syria. According to the Turkish General Staff, the operation aims to establish security and stability along Turkey's borders and the region as well as protect Syrians from terrorist cruelty and oppression.

ERDOGAN INFORMED ABOUT OPERATION

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, today attended 103rd anniversary of Gallipoli Campaign. He made statements about operation.

"TURKISH ARMED FORCES TOOK THE FULL CONTROL"

Erdogan, Today at 8.30 a.m. FSA units supported by the Turkish Armed Forces entered Afrin. They established full control over the city. Most of the terrorists fled. Our servicemen and the Syrian opposition are de-mining the booby trap bombs left by them. The [FSA] flag is waiving there." said. He added that Ankara would do its best to fix the infrastructure in the region.YPG mines left an Afrin family fatherless

World media doesnt utter a word about casualties YPG terror organization caused.

Seven years on, the war in Syria continues. Thousands of innocent people have lost their lives and had to leave their countries, took refuge in neighboring countries. Women and children became the most affected ones.

Since the launch of the operation, the Turkish military and FSA have liberated 270 locations, including five town centers, 224 villages, 44 strategic mountains and hills, and three YPG/PKK bases. Turkish and Free Syrian Army forces liberated the village of Durakli in northern Afrin on Thursday, as part of Turkeys ongoing Operation Olive Branch.

Syrian Sheik Hassan family of six were torn to pieces in an explosion while they were trying to flee from terror forces caused by mines YPG had planted earlier. Sheik Hassan family members brought to Turkeys Kilis borderline by Free Syrian Army fighters for medical treatment.

Father Abdullah Sheik Hassan has lost his life despite of medical intervention. While three children were discharged from the hospital, mother Offa Sheik Hassan and her 8 year-old are still under medical attention.

Offa Sheik Hassan said that before their escape from Afrin, they couldnt leave their houses so they were almost living as prisoners. Hassan expressed that YPG terrorists took everything they had.Hello everybody,



I have got a full-time in a diplomatic mission inside NZ. this diplomatic mission represents a country from the middle east. Can I claim points for such kind of contract?The Fauquier Times is honored to serve as your community companion. To say thank you, we are excited to offer 4 weeks FREE Digital & Print access to all subscribers new and returning alike.

We are dedicated to continuing providing reliable, high quality journalism. This is possible with the trust and support of our subscribers in the community we are proud to serve.Rose McGowan says Harvey Weinstein would probably "prefer" her "dead" after she accused him of rape.

Rose McGowan

The former 'Charmed' star has spoken out repeatedly to slam the disgraced producer - who a New York Times expose claimed paid her $100,000 in 1997 to "avoid litigation and buy peace" over sexual misconduct allegations - and now she has called the 'Tulip Fever' filmmaker a "sociopath" and anyone who continues to support him, including his lawyers, "monsters".

The 44-year-old actress says Weinstein is beyond help and going to sex addiction rehab won't change him.

Speaking to the Sunday People newspaper, McGowan said: "I'm sure he would prefer it if I were dead. He's a sociopath. I am not afraid - but I should be. The people I find worse than him are his lawyers. The way they are acting has been disgusting.

"The people around him, that have supported him in his attempt to dominate and abuse women, are monsters, just as much as he is.

"There is no rehabilitation for that type of soul. They just need to fall off the planet. He doesn't believe he has done anything wrong."

McGowan says her life has been ruined as she claims Weinstein has spies working for him to follow her every move, and alleges they've "hacked" into her computer and shared images from her device.

She said: "What they did by hiring a spy company to come after me, it was incredibly violating.

"It was violation on top of violation. I believe they hacked my computer, released photos - they have done everything they can to ruin my life. "

The 'Death Proof' star detailed the horrific ordeal she went through, and how Weinstein removed her clothes and forced her into a Jacuzzi, before carrying out the sexual assault, in a book called 'Brave'.

McGowan claimed Weinstein raped her last October, and since the New York Times expose, a number of high-profile stars, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Cara Delevingne, and Angelina Jolie, have come forward with their own stories about the producer.

A spokesperson for the movie mogul has previously said he "unequivocally denied" allegations of "non-consensual sex".

In the wake of the scandal, Weinstein has been sacked from The Weinstein Company and his wife of 10 years, fashion designer Georgina Chapman, has left him.The Script were playing a live show in Brussels last night, and whilst they were away from Ireland, that didnt stop them from celebrating St. Patricks Day in one of the most exciting ways possible. Asking every one of the fans in the 8,000 capacity venue to join them in toasting the occasion, they broke a World Record by giving every attendee a token for a free drink, making it the biggest round of drinks ever bought.

The Script bought a round of 8,000 drinks

During their third song of the night, Paint The Town Green, the band asked everyone to raise their glasses for St. Patricks Day. Not only celebrating the day, the crowd were happy to see Danny ODonoghue back in action after battling bronchitis earlier on in the week.

Who better to buy the biggest round of drinks in history than us lot? the band had previously asked.

Not content in just breaking a World Record for St. Patricks Day, the group also surprised their fans with the release of a new version of Crazy World, on which they collaborated with Christy Dignam.

Recorded during their sold out run at Dublins 3Arena earlier this year, when the group were joined on stage by Christy for a surprise duet, the song is the first tease of their upcoming acoustic EP, set for release in just a few weeks.

As one of the worlds most successful bands, The Script have sold over 29 million records to-date, scoring three multi-platinum albums in the process and hitting number one in the UK Albums Chart with each LP release. Also breaking America with four platinum-selling singles to their name, theyve clearly got a lot still to give, despite their long run in the industry. We cant wait to see what they do next!

by Daniel Falconer for www.femalefirst.co.uk

find me on and follow me onPete Wicks says his dog Ernest dying was the first time he's ever felt like he's "lost" anything.

Pete Wicks

The 'The Only Way is Essex' star's beloved French Bulldog - who he got from a breeder - sadly died in 2016, and the reality star has admitted that not has comes close to how he felt when his canine friend passed away.

The hunk - who broke up with his girlfriend Megan McKenna last October and is now dating Shelby Tribble - told the Daily Star: "I'm not really one for talking about things that affect me too much.

"I know people will say, 'It's just a dog', but he wasn't just a dog for me.

"It was the first time I've really had the responsibility of anything else's life in my hands and he taught me an awful lot about myself and changed me as a person.

"So it's the first time I've really lost anything that meant an awful lot to me."

Ernest died after suffering with a heart murmur and the organ gave up.

Pete - who is the author of the book 'For The Love of Frenchies' - said previously: "Ernest was from a breeder and I ended up paying a lot of money for Ernest because he just looked amazing and that's what people do. He ended up having a heart murmur and then a heart attack. I thought they were quite good breeders, I went and saw the mum and the dad, but I think a lot of people don't look into the breeders properly."

Although French Bulldogs are known for having breathing problems due to their flat noses, the 29-year-old hunk's other dog Eric is "good as gold" - but he does try to limit how excited he gets because he doesn't want him to pant too much.

He explained: "Eric is a puppy that was smuggled in from Eastern Europe and, touch wood, he's good as gold ... I've done quite a lot of work with different charities ... there are so many dogs that need homes and I think a lot of people just go out and get these dogs from top-class breeders rather than worrying about giving a dog a proper home."Category Select Category Apparel/Garments Textiles Fashion Technical Textiles Information Technology E-commerce Retail Corporate Association Press Release

SubCategory Select Sub-Category

SEOUL (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. has launched a probe into faulty air bags in certain Hyundai Motor Co. (HYMLF.OB) and Kia Motors Corp. (KIMTF.PK) vehicles that failed to deploy after crashes in which four people were killed and another six injured.



The National Highway Safety Traffic Safety Administration or NHTSA said it is investigating problems related to the faulty airbags that affect an estimated 425,000 2012-2013 Kia Forte and 2011 Hyundai Sonata cars. The agency is also investigating whether vehicles made by other carmakers used similar air bag control units and if they may be at risk.



The NHTSA noted that failure of the air bag control unit may prevent the frontal air bags from deploying in the event of a crash.It is currently aware of six crashes with significant collision-related damage events involving Hyundai and Kia models, where the air bags failed to deploy in frontal crashes.



Four such crashes involved Hyundai Sonata cars and two others involved Kia Fortes cars. The Forte crash occurred in Canada and the Forte was a Canadian market vehicle. All six crashes were reported to the NHTSA between 2012 and 2017.



According to the NHTSA, Hyundai has indicated that post-collision inspections of the air bag control units or ACUs showed that an electrical overstress condition of an ACU electronic component occurred in three of the crashes, while the fourth ACU is under evaluation for the same concern.



However, Hyundai has not identified a remedy for this recall and has stated it was investigating the cause of the electrical overstress with the product supplier, ZF-TRW.



The NHTSA said it 'will determine if any other vehicle manufacturers used the same or similar airbag control units, as supplied by ZF-TRW, and if so, evaluate whether the field experience of these vehicles indicates potentially related crash events.'



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de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.Regulatory News:

Total (Paris:FP) (LSE:TTA) (NYSE:TOT) has signed two new 40-year concession agreements with the Supreme Petroleum Council of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC). In the frame of these agreements, Total is granted a 20% participating interest in the new Umm Shaif Nasr concession and 5% in the Lower Zakum concession, effective March 9th, 2018, for a total participation fee of 1.45 billion dollars, which represents an access cost of around 1 dollar per barrel of reserves. These interests bring to Total a production of 80,000 barrels of oil per day in 2018.

Located about 135 and 65 kilometers off the coast respectively, Umm Shaif and Lower Zakum are two of the major fields offshore and counting for around 20% of Abu Dhabi production. In addition to the huge oil reserves and the potential to grow oil production beyond 450,000 barrels per day (including Nasr the present production being at around 300,000 barrels per day), Umm Shaif also contains a giant gas-cap, which is to be developed in the scope of the concession with a gas production target of 500 mmscfd. ADNOC Offshore (100% owned by ADNOC) will be the operator of all concessions offshore Abu Dhabi, to which Total, as a partner in the concessions, will bring its expertise by providing personnel and carrying out studies.

"These agreements represent another major milestone in our long-standing partnership with Abu Dhabi and ADNOC that dates back to 1939. Following the signing of the ADNOC Onshore concession in 2015, they confirm our commitment to ADNOC for the next 40 years," said Patrick Pouyanne, Chairman and CEO of Total. "With a 25% overall participating interest in two concessions, we are honored that ADNOC chose Total as its main partner on these offshore concessions that contain giant reserves with low technical costs and offer significant growth potential. In particular, we are delighted with the trust that ADNOC demonstrated by granting us a 20% participating interest in the Umm Shaif Nasr concession, and therefore to be the leading partner on this asset. We intend to bring all of our competencies in order to make the most of the upside coming from the gas reserves, while we develop the oil production in the most effective way."

"For nearly 80 years, Total has partnered with Abu Dhabi in the development of our oil and gas resources and has closely collaborated with ADNOC across various stages of our value chain," stated Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, ADNOC Chief Executive Officer. "Today's announcement marks an important step to further strengthen our mutually beneficial and value-adding partnership with one of the world's largest integrated upstream and downstream companies."

In addition, as part of this partnership, Total has also extended its concession with ADNOC in the offshore Abu Al Bu Koosh field, operated by Total with a 100% interest, for three more years. This field produces approximately 10,000 barrels per day.

Total in the United Arab Emirates

Total has been present in the United Arab Emirates for almost 80 years and has built a strong presence, reflected by the size and diversity of its assets and partnerships. The Group's equity production in 2017 in the Emirates was 290,000 boe/d.

Total held a 13.3% interest in the 65-year ADMA concession that expired on March 8, 2018.

In partnership with ADNOC, Total holdsin addition to the new Umm Shaif Nasr (20%) and Lower Zakum (5%) participating interests:

10% in the 40-year ADNOC Onshore concession (former ADCO)

15% in ADNOC Gas Processing (former GASCO)

5% in ADNOC LNG (former ADGAS)

5% in the National Gas Shipping Company (NGSCO)

33.33% in ADNOC Fertilizer (former FERTIL)

In partnership with Mubadala, a company owned by the government of Abu Dhabi, Total holds a 24.5% stake in Dolphin Energy Ltd.

In addition, Total owns 100% stake and operates the Abu Al Bu Koosh field.

In the power production sector, Total is also a partner in the Shams project, the world's largest concentrated solar power plant in operation (100 MW), inaugurated in 2013, and since 2001 in the Taweelah water desalination and power plant, which produces around 20% of Abu Dhabi's water and power consumption.

The Group also has a leading position in the manufacturing and marketing of a wide rangeof automotive and industrial lubricants with a blending plant in the Emirates, supplying the whole region.

About Total

Total is a global integrated energy producer and provider, a leading international oil and gas company, a major player in low-carbon energies. Our 98,000 employees are committed to better energy that is safer, cleaner, more efficient, more innovative and accessible to as many people as possible. As a responsible corporate citizen, we focus on ensuring that our operations in more than 130 countries worldwide consistently deliver economic, social and environmental benefits.

Cautionary note

This press release, from which no legal consequences may be drawn, is for information purposes only. The entities in which TOTAL S.A. directly or indirectly owns investments are separate legal entities. TOTAL S.A. has no liability for their acts or omissions. In this document, the terms "Total" and "Total Group" are sometimes used for convenience where general references are made to TOTAL S.A. and/or its subsidiaries. Likewise, the words "we", "us" and "our" may also be used to refer to subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them.

This document may contain forward-looking information and statements that are based on a number of economic data and assumptions made in a given economic, competitive and regulatory environment. They may prove to be inaccurate in the future and are subject to a number of risk factors. Neither TOTAL S.A. nor any of its subsidiaries assumes any obligation to update publicly any forward-looking information or statement, objectives or trends contained in this document whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180318005042/en/

Contacts:

Total

Media Relations:

+33 1 47 44 46 99

presse@total.com

@TotalPress

or

Investor Relations:

+44 (0)207 719 7962

ir@total.comABU DHABI, UAE, March 18, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Total contributes AED 5.3 billion participation fees for stakes in Umm Shaif and Nasr, and Lower Zakum concessions

Oil and gas major will play a critical role in supporting the development of Umm Shaif's giant gas cap, as ADNOC drives a more sustainable and economic gas supply

40-year agreements support ADNOC's long-term growth plans and strategy to enhance cooperation across the value chain

Deal strengthens the relationship between ADNOC and Total, one of Abu Dhabi's longest international oil and gas partners, with interests across the value chain

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) today signed agreements with Total of France, awarding them stakes in two of Abu Dhabi's new offshore concessions. Under the terms of the agreements, Total has been awarded a 20% interest in the Umm Shaif and Nasr concession and a 5% interest in the Lower Zakum concession. The signing took place at the Abu Dhabi Louvre, a cultural landmark and powerful symbol of the bi-lateral relationship between the United Arab Emirates and France.

(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/650975/ADNOC_Logo.jpg )



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Total is ADNOC's largest and one of its longest international partners, active in Abu Dhabi's oil and gas sector since 1939. Today, the French super-major collaborates with ADNOC across the value chain, from offshore and onshore exploration, development and production, to processing, products and shipping.

Total contributed a participation fee of AED 4.2 billion (US $1.15 billion) to enter the Umm Shaif and Nasr concession and a fee of AED 1.1 billion (US $300 million) to enter the Lower Zakum concession. Both concessions are operated by ADNOC Offshore, a subsidiary of ADNOC, on behalf of all concession partners.

The agreements, which have a term of 40 years and an effective date of March 9, 2018, were signed by His Excellency Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, ADNOC Group Chief Executive Officer, and Patrick Pouyanne, Chairman and CEO of Total.

H.E. Dr Al Jaber said: "For over 75 years Total has partnered with Abu Dhabi in the development of our oil and gas resources and has closely collaborated with ADNOC across various stages of our value chain. Today's announcement marks an important step to further strengthen our value-adding partnership with one of the world's largest integrated upstream and downstream companies.

"Total brings deep knowledge and understanding of Abu Dhabi's offshore oil and gas fields, as well as specialist expertise and technology that will help accelerate the development of the giant Umm Shaif gas cap. ADNOC has recently seen encouraging results from the first gas cap production pilot well at Umm Shaif, which will play an important role in delivering our 2030 smart growth strategy and a sustainable and economic gas supply. At the same time, we both see tremendous opportunities, through this partnership, to create greater value and generate higher returns across our joint activities."

Total is the fourth largest global oil and gas company. Its businesses cover the entire oil and gas chain, fromcrude oiland natural gas exploration and production topower generation, transportation,refining, petroleum product marketing, and international crude oil and product trading. Total is also a large scalechemicalsmanufacturer.In 2017 it produced 2.5 million barrels of oil per day.

Patrick Pouyanne said: "Today's announcement marks a new chapter in Total's long and successful partnership with Abu Dhabi and ADNOC. These agreements ensure Total secures long-term access to significant and competitive hydrocarbon resources that we already know very well. We are committed to working alongside ADNOC and the other concession partners, utilising our experience gained from the former ADMA offshore concession, to fully realise the potential of both of these new concession areas."

The Umm Shaif and Nasr concession and the Lower Zakum concession have been created from the former ADMA offshore concession, which Total has been a partner in since 1953. It has been divided into three separate concession areas with the aim of maximising commercial value, broadening the partner base, expanding technical expertise, and enabling greater market access.

In the Umm Shaif and Nasr concession, Total joins Italy's Eni, which was recently awarded a 10% stake. The Umm Shaif field's Arab reservoir is characterised by a huge gas cap - one of the largest in the region - with reserves rich in condensates. Based on ADNOC's development and initial piloting activities in the gas cap, the concession partners will further pursue the technical and economic evaluation of the development. The gas cap overlays an oil rim which, in combination with Nasr, has a crude production capacity of 460,000 bpd. ADNOC plans to process 500 million standard cubic feet of gas per day from Umm Shaif's gas cap to help meet Abu Dhabi's growing domestic demand for energy and reduce reliance on imported gas. The condensates, from the gas cap, will be refined to extract higher value products that can be used in a variety of petrochemical applications.

In the Lower Zakum concession, Total joins an Indian consortium, led by ONGC Videsh, Japan's INPEX, as well as Eni as stakeholders. ADNOC is finalizing opportunities, with potential partners, for the remaining 10% of the available 40% stake in the Lower Zakum concession, and for the remaining 10% stake in the Umm Shaif and Nasr concession. ADNOC retains a 60% majority share in both concessions.

Note to editors

Total has been present in the UAE for 78 years. As well as its offshore concession interests, Total has a 10 per cent interest in the ADNOC Onshore concession until 2055. Total's business relations with ADNOC include a 15% stake in ADNOC Gas Processing; a 5% stake in ADNOC LNG; a 5% stake in the National Gas Shipping Company, and a 33.33% interest in ADNOC Fertilizers.

The current ADMA offshore concession, which expired on 8 March 2018, has been split into three separate offshore concessions. These are operated by ADNOC Offshore. Offshore concessions awarded or to be awarded are:

Concession Name ADNOC Share Partner Share Target Production Oil Gas Lower Zakum 60% 10% - ONGC 450,000 bpd Nil Videsh-led consortium 10% - INPEX CORPORATION 5% - Total 5% - Eni 10% - to be announced Umm Shaif & Nasr 60% 20% - Total 460,000 bpd 500 million scfd 10% - Eni 10% to be announced SARB & Umm Lulu 60% 20% - Cepsa 215,000 bpd Nil 20% - to be announced

About ADNOC

ADNOC is a major diversified group of energy and petrochemical companies that produces about 3 million barrels of oil and 9.8 billion cubic feet of raw gas a day. Its integrated upstream, midstream and downstream activities are carried out by 14 specialist subsidiary and joint venture companies. To find out more visit http://www.adnoc.aeAccessory Dwelling in Los Angeles

SANTA MONICA, CA / ACCESSWIRE / March 18, 2018 / Jerry Brown, the governor of The Golden State, California, in September approved a bill intended to slow the astronomical rise in renting prices in Los Angeles County. The bill acts as a potential solution to the lack of supplies in certain areas within the county. The bill gives most single family homeowners the option to build additional dwelling units, sometimes referred to as back houses, granny flats or in-law units on their property, Neil Shekhter points out.

Last February it was determined that Los Angeles homeowners had been, for years, constructing these back houses using improper permits. The February ruling left residents in a legal purgatory of sort. The Los Angeles City Council had agreed, based on the February ruling, they would allow already constructed back houses to be grandfathered in, while forcing any new construction to abide by the new February ruling.

On December 30th the Department of City Planning, who is responsible for the preparation, maintenance and implementation of General Plans for the development of Los Angeles, released a memo stating the February ruling is direct conflict with the state law and should not be applicable, according to Neil Shekhter founder and CEO of Santa Monica-based NMS Properties.

Now the question for homeowners is, 'what should we be doing moving forward?' Based on the Department of City Planning's memo, homeowners should be able begin or continue new construction on back house additions. The memo not only shows last February's ruling is no longer applicable, it also requires as of January 1st, homeowner's back houses must meet state mandated requirements before successfully applying for permits.

While this is definitely a win for homeowners, and Los Angeles residents collectively, the Los Angeles Department of City Planning announced that they plan to implement much stricter requirements for the construction of these back houses than those outlined in the February ruling. The Los Angeles Department of City Planning in December released their recommendations for new regulations for the construction of back houses to the Los Angeles City Council, Neil Shekhter notes.

Per Neil Shekhter, the new requirements state accessory dwellings (back houses) to be 640 square feet or 50 percent of the square footage of the total square footage of the 'main house' or which of the two are the largest, up to 1,200 square feet. The problem for residents is this arbitrary 1,200 square foot limitation automatically limits the maximum size for the back houses. In addition to the restrictive limitation on the size of the back houses, it is looking like homeowners in Hillside Areas will be restricted altogether from construction of any sort.

Launching NMS Properties in 1988, Neil Shekhter assumed the role of CEO in January 1995. The real estate management company focuses on multi-family and mixed-use properties in the Greater Los Angeles area and in Santa Monica. At present, NMS properties manage more than 70 properties.

Over the course of 2017, NMS deployed 40 furnished units in Los Angeles, and Neil Shekhter plans to increase that number in 2018. The company currently manages some of its properties while testing a pilot with MY SUITE.

Neil Shekhter - Founder and CEO of NMS Properties

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SOURCE: NMS Properties, Inc.Two senior Bihar BJP leaders contradicted claims by the local police and Sushil Kumar Modi in a case involving the beheading of a 65-year-old man in Darbhanga.

Two senior Bihar BJP leaders contradicted claims by the local police and Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi in a case involving the beheading of a 65-year-old man in Darbhanga, Bihar. Bihar BJP president Nityanand Rai and Union Minister Giriraj Singh both insisted linking the incident to a property dispute was incorrect, said media reports.

Rai was quoted by NDTV as saying, "The dispute that escalated (and led to the murder) had started due to this chowk being named Modi Chowk." Singh, who also met the victim's family, accused the police of hiding the facts of the case. He said the police "did not allow the truth to reach the government". "I don't know why the police want to hide the facts... but the dead man's wife told me that when they were threatened by the police when they mentioned the Modi board," Singh said.

The family of the victim has been insisting that the murder took place over the Modi board.

The murder was due to me naming the chowk after Modi ji. There is absolutely no other reason. Police is misleading and even pressurizing my injured brother. I am now contemplating leaving this place: Tej Narayan Yadav,son of victim #Darbhanga #Bihar pic.twitter.com/S98bcWn0Lp  ANI (@ANI) March 18, 2018

Rajiv Ranjan of the JDU told ANI, "what their (BJP) leaders are saying is not important here, we will go by the official report and the report says it was a case of enmity between two families."

Unidentified persons had hacked to death the father of a BJP worker in Darbhanga allegedly over a tiff over naming of a square on the outskirts of the city after Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Police had however, claimed that murder of 65-year-old Ramchandra Yadav, whose BJP activist son Kamlesh Yadav sustained injuries in the attack, was the fallout of a "personal enmity". His son Kamlesh Yadav, who was undergoing treatment at a hospital, had told reporters "a chowk (square) at our native village of Bhadavan in Sadar police station area had been named after Narendra Modi two years ago".

"On Wednesday, local RJD supporters, who had been opposed to naming of the square after Modi, tried to remove the plaque bearing the name of the square. When we protested, they said that the RJD's victory in bypolls to one Lok Sabha and an assembly seat marked their party's resurgence and hence they wanted to rename the square after Lalu Prasad", Yadav had alleged. "The RJD supporters went away after we resolutely opposed them. However, in the night, a group of 20-25 persons came to our house riding on motorcycles, attacked my father with a sword, severing his head", Yadav, whose arm was slashed by a sword carried by the assailants, had said.

Additional SP, Darbhanga, Dilnawaz Ahmad had said "as per our information, the attackers had some personal enmity with Kamlesh Yadav and his family. We are not aware of any dispute over naming of the square, though all angles would be investigated".

Later Sushil Modi had tweeted, "Totally false that the murder in Darbhanga case was due to naming Modi Chowk. It was a case of land dispute. The board was put long back, murder has nothing to do with board."Stressing that the Modi government has no roadmap and its Pakistan policy was a disaster, the Congress said the government has made the policy towards Islamabad as a 'divisive domestic issue'.

New Delhi: Stressing that the Modi government has no roadmap and its Pakistan policy was a disaster, the Congress on Sunday said the government has made the policy towards Islamabad as a "divisive domestic issue".

The Congress, in its resolution on foreign policy, recognised that the key foreign policy challenges include managing India's relations with China and Pakistan. "The nexus between the two neighbours poses a challenge to regional balance and stability," the resolution said. The party noted that Pakistan continued to be a challenge and there was no discernible shift in its use of cross-border terrorism as an instrument of state policy.

The foreign policy resolution was moved by Congress leader Anand Sharma at the party's 84th plenary session. "There is a disturbing increase in hostile actions, including shelling by Pakistani armed forces along our borders and the LoC. There cannot be two opinions, that these actions require an appropriate response. Confronting cross-border terrorism with a robust security response has enjoyed across the board national consensus. Regrettably, this is being undermined by the government by making policy towards Pakistan a divisive domestic issue," said the resolution.

"The claims of a more effective and assertive policy towards Pakistan are boastful and have not yielded any positive results," it added.

The party noted that under the Congress-led UPA Government, the long-standing India-Pakistan hyphenation in international perception was successfully removed. "It is a matter of concern that there is a danger of that hyphenation being revived as a result of renewed international focus on Indo-Pakistan tensions."

The resolution said: "The Congress is of a considered view that the BJP government has no roadmap and its Pakistan policy has been a disaster. "Review of the policy is overdue, and any successful policy can only be based on a national consensus with a focus on both current and long term objectives," it added.A day after Congress MP Ripun Bora moved a resolution in the Rajya Sabha to replace the word 'Sindh' in the National Anthem with 'North East', Haryana health minister Anil Vij on Saturday joined the fray by suggesting the word 'Adhinayak' be removed from the anthem altogether.

A day after Congress MP Ripun Bora moved a resolution in the Rajya Sabha to replace the word 'Sindh' in the National Anthem with 'North East', BJP leader and Haryana health minister Anil Vij on Saturday joined the fray by suggesting the word 'Adhinayak' be removed from the National Anthem altogether.

Speaking to ANI, Vij said, "Adhinayak means dictator and in India, we dont have dictatorship but democracy. Hence, it should be thought about to remove the word Adhinayak."

Vij had also supported Bora's resolution to replace the word "Sindh".

Bora, who is also the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president, on Friday had moved a private member resolution in the Rajya Sabha to replace the word "Sindh" in the National Anthem with the "North East" saying there is no point "glorifying" a place of a hostile nation.

He also said when the National Anthem was adopted in 1950, the then-president Rajendra Prasad had said if required the anthem would be amended in future.

"There is no mention of the North East in the National Anthem but has the mention of Sindh, which is now part of Pakistan. Why are we glorifying a place of a hostile nation? There is no point," he had told PTI.

The resolution is expected to be taken up in the Rajya Sabha next week.

With inputs from PTIHyper-nationalistic sentiments extolling the Indian Armys glory and supreme valour cannot place an iron shield on the truth that the defence forces are low on ammunition.

Hyper-nationalistic sentiment extolling the Indian Armys glory and supreme valour cannot place an iron shield on the truth that the defence forces are low on ammunition. A CAG Audit Report on Ammunition Management in Army presented on 8 May, 2015 states: "In disregard of the approved authorisation of 40 (I) days, AHQ procured ammunition based on the basis of Bottom Line or Minimum Acceptable Risk Level (MARL) requirements which averaged to 20 (I) days i.e. 50 percent of the War Wastage Reserve that is intended to meet the requirements for the expected duration of war."

Nearly two years after that report became public, Punjab chief minister Capt. Amarinder Singh painted a grim picture of Indias ammunition arsenal at the News18 Rising India Summit. The minister, who served in the infantry in the 60s and 70s, said that we need 42 squadrons of Air Force for a collision with Pakistan and China but we have only around 21 or 22: Of which seven squadrons are obsolete. He went on to share that as many as 66 regiments of the army didnt have ammunition and were using practice ammunition that has been lying around for far too long.

Amarinder revealed that his regiment, currently posted in Kashmir, just lost a major and three jawans. He added that young men on Indias borders are being made to use the 5.56 mm assault rifles against their wishes and are quickly losing confidence in their weapons, and as a result, feel more comfortable using AK-47s seized from terrorists.

Until now, about one lakh AK-47s have been seized by the Indian forces. Every day, we are losing a soldier in Kashmir. I know because I pay Rs 12 lakh compensation for every soldiers body that comes back to Punjab, said Amarinder, adding that 68 percent of the armys equipment is vintage and modernisation of weaponry wont happen unless adequate funds are pumped into the nerves of the army.

Sources within the forces, speaking on the condition of anonymity, revealed that there is a dearth of 155 mm guns and regiments are being equipped with 105 mm guns instead. They expressed the need for more TNT explosives which can be delivered to enemy locations and more ammunition for rockets such as Pinaka and Smerch. They also shared that the programme to equip infantry with state-of-the-art navigation system, night fighting capability and bulletproof jackets is far behind schedule.

On the penultimate session of the final day of the News18 Rising India Summit, Defence Minister Niramala Sitharam was asked to address Amarinder's concerns. Regarding the preparedness of the armed forces, Sitharaman said, "We have addressed the issue of low reserves of ammunition. Chiefs have been given enough power to take a call on the need of equipment."

Speaking about budget allocation for defence, Sitharaman first separated allocation for pensions and modernisation and added she is happy that the defence ministry got both. Both my predecessors and myself reviewed pending projects and took action. I understand a lot more funds are required for modernisation, but everything has been done after consultation, said Sitharaman, the first female defence minister with full charge of the ministry (for former prime minister Indira Gandhi, defence was an additional charge).

Less than a week ago, Vice Chief Lt Gen Sarath Chand, told a parliamentary panel that the defence budget dashed the hopes of the army. Allocation of Rs 21,388 crore for modernisation is insufficient even to cater for committed payments of Rs 29,033 crore for 125 ongoing schemes, emergency procurement and other requirements, he said. The vice chief further indicated that one of the results of this could possibly be the foreclosure of 25 Make in India Defence projects in the pipeline.

Sitharaman said she did not wish to comment on the vice chiefs remarks on outdated weaponry while Parliament is in session, but said she would speak on it in Parliament at the appropriate time.

Asked whether Make in India has succeeded, Sitharaman said the government is now extremely confident that defence procurement will be smoother and procedures will be simpler.

She added that nearly 21 projects have been given out to Indian private sector. If one wants to invest, you can come and tell us suo motu and we will consider it. Under the Arms Rules, 2016, government opened up the ammunition manufacturing to the private sector, which was, until quite recently, restricted to the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) and Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSU). The annual ammunition market size in India exceeds $1 billion and there is scope of additional annual capacity of approximately $250 million in the private sector.

Earlier this week, Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in association with Centre for Joint Warfare Studies (CENJOWS) a military policy think-tank, held an event entitled Ammo India 2018 - an International Conference on Military Ammunition: Make in India Opportunities and Challenges.

The literature about the event on the website makes it clear that a push is being given to developing domestic production and reducing reliance on imports. It states that the present policy of ammunition manufacture juxtaposed with the volumes provides unique opportunities to the private industry to develop the capacity and capability and engage in Joint Ventures with foreign OEMs. Several overseas defence companies, are already negotiating with private Indian companies to provide cutting-edge technology for manufacture of multiple ammunition programs.

The same sentiment reverberated on the stage at the News18 Rising India Summit with Sitharaman saying that the focus should be on making India a manufacturing hub of defence equipment with the mission being a reduction of dependence on imports and at the same time boosting India's defence preparedness.

Is India war ready? I am glad to say we have addressed the issue and have enough ammunition for 10(I) or ten days of intensive war. The vice chiefs have been given enough power and enough financial limits have also been sanctioned, the defence minister stated.

Whether the machinery is being made in India or abroad, the soldier is waiting.Five members of a family were killed and two others injured in heavy shelling by Pakistani troops along the LoC in Balakote sector of Jammu and Kashmir.

Five members of a family were killed and two others injured in heavy shelling by Pakistani troops along the Line of Control (LoC) in Balakote sector of Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district on Sunday, a senior police officer said. The injured are being shifted to the hospital.

Army PRO Lieutenant Colonel Devender Anand said the ceasefire violation by Pakistan in Bimber Gali started around 7.45 am. "They are specifically targeting civilian areas," he said.

Director General of Police SP Vaid said, "Due to shelling from across (LoC) in Balakote sector of Poonch, five civilians of a family died & two are injured who are being shifted to the hospital".

Due to shelling from across in Balakote sector of Poonch 5 civilians of a family died & 2 are injured who are being shifted to hospital.  Shesh Paul Vaid (@spvaid) March 18, 2018

The civilian casualties occurred in Devta Dhar village when a shell hit the house of Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan, a police official said.

The dead include the house owner, a woman, a boy and a minor girl, he said.

The police official said heavy shelling was going on from both the sides. Army troops retaliated strongly and effectively to silence Pakistani guns, he said.

Sources told IANS that the district administration has started shifting the civilians living close to the LoC to safer places.

SD Singh Jamwal, IGP Jammu, told ANI that helicopters have been sent to retrieve the injured for specialised treatment in Jammu.

In village Devta 5 people died, 2 injured. We're assessing situation. Our teams are already on spot. Helicopters sent to retrieve the injured for specialised treatment in Jammu. Firing is going on: SD Singh Jamwal, IGP Jammu on ceasefire violation by Pakistan in Balakote sector pic.twitter.com/SHMTDkMOcz  ANI (@ANI) March 18, 2018

With inputs from agenciesPolice have stepped up security for CPM Kannur district Secretary P Jayarajan following an intelligence input about a threat to his life.

Kannur/Thiruvananthapuram: Police have stepped up security for CPM Kannur district Secretary P Jayarajan following an intelligence input about a threat to his life.

The Kannur district police chief has sent a circular to all police stations in the city to increase the CPM leader's security in the light of this intelligence input, police sources said.

According to the circular, which was sent on Saturday, a "gang" led by Pranub, a murder case accused who is absconding, had been given money and a vehicle for this.

Jayarajan, who arrived in the state capital Sunday morning to attend the party's state committee meeting refused to react when media personnel asked him about the death threat.

Police sources said Jayarajan had been receiving such threats for some time.

Meanwhile, BJP alleged that the "death threat script has been written by CPM and police in an attempt to glorify Jayarajan and to create tension in Kannur".

BJP national council member and former state President V Muralidharan told reporters at Kozhikode that this was an attempt by the CPM, which had lost its face following the murder of Youth Congress worker Shuhaib, by its party workers last month, to regain its lost glory.

Kannur, the politically volatile northern district, has witnessed frequent clashes between the CPM and BJP/RSS workers.

The marxist leader had escaped an attempt on his life in 1999 while he was at home.The transport wing of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena has called for a strike of drivers of cab aggregators Uber and Ola starting Sunday midnight.

Commuters in Mumbai relying on cab aggregators Ola and Uber could be inconvenienced on Monday as over 45,000 cabs are likely to go off the roads, after the transport wing of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) called for a strike of drivers.

The strike has been called by the Maharashtra Navnirman Vahtuk Sena in Mumbai as well as other Metro cities. The party claims that over 80,000 drivers across India are supporting the strike. It said that the strike was called because drivers are not being able to cover costs due to falling business.

"Ola and Uber had given big assurances to the drivers, but today they are unable to cover their costs. They have invested Rs 5-7 lakh and were expecting to make Rs 1.5 lakh a month. But drivers are unable to make even half of this because of the mismanagement by these companies," Sanjay Naik of Maharashtra Navnirman Vahatuk Sena told PTI.

Cab fairs skyrocketed early Monday morning. According to The Times of India, the few cabs which are plying on road in Mumbai, specially Uber, are charging surge price which is nearly two times the normal fare.

A ride, via the Uber Economy Pool service, from Lower Parel to Andheri, was priced at Rs 362 while for Uber Go service, it showed Rs 572. The fare for the Uber Premier service was Rs 786.

Other taxi unions, including the Mumbai Taximens Union, have also extended their support to the strike. Union leaders also said that drivers in other cities like New Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Pune, among others will also be participating in the strike.

Earlier, Naik had told The Indian Express that at least 80,000 drivers will support the strike.

If we find any cab on the road after Sunday midnight, we will request the driver with folded hands. If he does not listen, we may handle the issue MNS-style, Naik was quoted as saying by The Times of India.

Naik further alleged that these taxi-hailing companies were giving first priority to company-owned cars rather than driver-owned vehicles, causing a slump in their business.

If their demands were not met they would be going ahead with the strike as expected, he had indicated.

The drivers demands include deciding fares according to cost of the vehicle, reinstating blacklisted drivers who have been given low ratings by passengers, according to The Economic Times.

Meanwhile, the police issued notices to leaders of the union under Section 149 of CrPC relating to unlawful assembly.

"Notices of Section 149 of CrPC have been issued to Sanjay Naik, president, Arif Shaikh and Nitin Nandgaokar of the Maharashtra Navnirman Vahatuk Sena as preventive action. If they violate any orders, they are liable to be prosecuted," said Pandit Thorat, senior inspector of the Andheri police station.

In Mumbai alone, there are over 45,000 such cabs but a slump in business has seen a drop of about 20 percent in their numbers.

Cab-hailing companies have so far stayed away from interfering in the matter. "We have been informed by the Mumbai Police that they have proactively taken all the necessary steps to ensure the safety of commuters during the cab rides in the city," said an Ola spokesperson.

With inputs from PTI.A group of teachers from Mumbai on Sunday put up a black 'gudhi' outside the house of Maharashtra education minister Vinod Tawde as a mark of protest against the alleged delay in payment of their salaries.

Mumbai: A group of teachers from Mumbai on Sunday put up a black 'gudhi' outside the house of Maharashtra education minister Vinod Tawde as a mark of protest against the alleged delay in payment of their salaries.

The protest came on the day of 'Gudhi Padwa' when the Maharashtrians celebrate the commencement of the Hindu New Year by putting up colourful gudhis at their houses.

A gudhi is made of a silver, copper or bronze urn covered in auspicious red, yellow or saffron cloth and hoisted upside down at the entrance of the house. It is a sign of prosperity and good things to come.

As a mark of protest against the alleged delay in disbursement of salaries of teachers, Anil Bornare, the head of the Mumbai unit of Maharashtra Rajya Shikshak Parishad, and some other teachers reached outside Tawde's bungalow in the Vile Parle area on Sunday and put up the black gudhi there.

"There are around 27,000 teachers in Mumbai, whose salaries got delayed due to the flawed policies of the state government," Bornare alleged.

"The black gudhi is a form of protest to draw the minister's attention towards the issue," he added.A 37-year-old Pakistani national, who was illegally staying in India since he was about 10 years of age, has been deported to the neighbouring country.

Mumbai: A 37-year-old Pakistani national, who was illegally staying in India since he was about 10 years of age, has been deported to the neighbouring country, a police official said.

Siraj Khan, the Pakistani national, was staying in the Antop Hill area in Mumbai. He had also got married to an Indian woman some years ago and the couple have three children, the police official said.

"Since all the cases against Khan were disposed of by the court and one case of violation of a detention order was withdrawn by the government, he was deported to Pakistan on 12 March," Bhagwat Bansod, senior inspector at the Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Marg police station, said.

A police team took Khan to the Attari border at Amritsar in Punjab, from where he was deported after the completion of all the formalities at the foreign regional registration office, he added.

The Indian government had informed the Pakistani authorities about Khan's deportation and after obtaining a no-objection certificate, he was handed over to them, an official said. The police had also informed about Khan's deportation to his wife Sajida Khan, who accompanied her husband till the Bandra Terminus in the western suburbs, from where he and the police team boarded the train for Amritsar on 10 March, he added.

Before Khan's departure, his wife took selfies with him at the railway station, a police official said.

In June 2014, a division bench of the Bombay High Court had put a month's stay on Khan's deportation to Pakistan. The court had then observed that since Khan's application, seeking Indian citizenship, was pending before the Ministry of External Affairs, his detention must be stayed until the issue was decided.

Khan's wife had filed the plea, seeking a stay on her husband's deportation. She had also sought that Khan be released from detention as his family's financial, physical and mental condition was worsening.

Khan's wife approached the Bombay High Court again, seeking a stay on his deportation. However, a bench of Justice RM Savant and Justice SV Kotwal held that since Khan had been convicted under the Foreigners Act, his deportation was inevitable. The court has kept the petition for hearing on 20 March.

As per the plea of Khan's wife, the Pakistani national had accidentally entered India in 1996 when he was 10 or 11 years of age.

In 2009, however, he had tried to visit his native village in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). When he approached the police for help to get to his village, he was asked to furnish legal documents, showing that he was a Pakistani national.

He was subsequently arrested by the Crime Branch for staying in India without a valid permission, according to the petition. Khan was released after serving a six-month jail term, but in January 2014, a court here convicted him under the Foreigners Act, 1946 and ordered that he be deported to Pakistan.

He had been in custody since his conviction.

A police official said it was now up to Khan to get a passport and visa and come to India or take his wife and children to Pakistan on valid documents.Rajasthan has introduced the death penalty for rape of girls below 12 years of age. However, several child rights experts believe this is not the solution.

The Rajasthan government in a legislation passed last week has introduced the death penalty for rape of girls below 12 years of age. Through this law, the government is attempting to portray itself as taking a tough stand on crimes against women and girls. Ironically, the same state government had, only recently, vociferously supported centuries-old patriarchal ideas of community honour, in which it was considered better for women to kill themselves rather than be captured by an enemy army.

The Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment) Bill, 2018, is to an extent rooted in the same concept. By introducing capital punishment for rape of minors, it suggests that victims of the crime suffer a fate similar to death. However, the provision for death penalty completely sidesteps important changes needed to make the justice system sensitive to survivors of sexual assault and to avoid victim shaming.

Systemic changes needed

For instance, a Human Rights Watch report from December 2017 points out that the standard form used in hospitals in Rajasthan still has a column which seeks information on the status of the hymen, and that doctors continue to practice the two-finger test in rape cases.

The two-finger test attempts to ascertain whether a girl or woman has a sexual history, with the assumption that if she consented to sex at some point earlier, her claim that she was raped is suspect. The Supreme Court in 2013 had held that the two-finger test on a rape survivor violates her right to privacy, and asked the government to provide better medical procedures to confirm sexual assault.

In any case, as is well documented, there is no connection between the status of the hymen or the width of the vagina with sexual history, neither can the tests prove whether sexual abuse took place.

A social worker who has guided several minor survivors of sexual abuse through legal procedures points out that the criminal justice system often ends up further traumatising them in many ways. "During medical examinations, survivors sometimes have to wait for hours outside the room where the examination is to take place. The room is clearly marked out as such, and thus passers-by identify the girl or woman as having suffered sexual abuse." She recounts another instance where the examination-in-chief of a child in court was repeatedly delayed as the judge was reluctant to hold an in-camera hearing, as is mandated by the law in such cases.

Thus, the child was made to remember and recount her ordeal several times over, which is against the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.

A large number of people continue to associate an incident of sexual assault with stigma for the victim, the social worker remarks. They may fear that she may be socially ostracised or that no one would marry her. Additional victimisation by authorities during the investigation of a rape only heightens these fears. Several cases of sexual assault go unreported for this reason.

Perpetrators are known to survivors in most cases

Rajasthans decision to make a legislative provision for death penalty for rape of minors may also have an effect on reporting of cases to the police. A study conducted in 2007 by the Ministry of Women and Child Development is instructive in this regard. According to this study, in 31 percent of cases where children faced sexual assault, the perpetrators were uncles or neighbours. In 29 percent cases, the perpetrators were friends or classmates, 10 percent were cousins and 9 percent were employers.

Thus, in most of the cases, offenders are known to the childs family. One has to keep in mind that a child below 12 years of age would ordinarily not be able to approach the police on her own and would need her familys help. In many cases where the offender is known, families may find it difficult to file a complaint with the police given the possibility that he may be sentenced to death.

A more recent study conducted by the Centre for Child and the Law, National Law University of India-Bengaluru in five states on the POCSO Act has also shown similar findings. According to it, the percentage of cases where the perpetrator was known to the child was above 70 percent in all the five states surveyed. Swagata Raha, one of the researchers, says, "A high percentage of children in all states turned hostile when the accused was their father, step-father, brother, or otherwise known to them. Therefore, the conviction rate in such cases was also extremely low."

Raha adds, "Introduction of the death penalty for rape of children will invariably have the effect of silencing victims as they will be burdened with the guilt of sending someone they know well or are related to, to the gallows. Such punishment will also endanger victims as the perpetrator may not want the child to testify in court or disclose the abuse."

Advocate and child rights activist Maharukh Adenwalla says, "Rather than introduce the death penalty, measures in the POCSO Act intended for the protection of children who have faced sexual assault need to be implemented. Also, preventive measures should be taken so that such incidents do not occur in the first place."

In sum, several child rights experts agree that putting in place the death penalty for rape of minors is not likely to make any contribution towards making children safer. All it will do is to give expression to the instinct to pin the blame for a larger social problem on some individuals.The Rajasthan Police is exploring the possibility of using Aadhaar data for verifying the identity of criminals, suspects, complainants and missing persons in the state.

Jaipur: The Rajasthan Police is exploring the possibility of using Aadhaar data for verifying the identity of criminals, suspects, complainants and missing persons in the state.

For this, the State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB) has requested the state Information Technology Department to procure biometric machines to be kept in police stations and would start process to seek the access of Aadhaar data from agencies concerned, a senior police official said.

We have recently sent the requisition to the department of IT for 1,000 biometric machines which would be installed in police stations across the state and other offices of the state police. The machines would be used to fetch the Aadhaar details of suspects or criminals through finger prints, SCRB Superintendent of Police Pankaj Chaudhary said.

He said the department would now seek access to Aadhaar data so that the details of the suspects/criminals having Aadhaar number could be fetched through their finger prints.

Chaudhary also informed that Aadhaar details of all such suspect or criminal would be maintained at the police stations.

Police catch many suspects and criminals but sometimes they manage to mislead them about their identity. The move will help police in authenticating the identity of such persons, he said.

More than that, the SP said, this will help the police in identifying such children who go missing and are found or rescued in the state but they lack proper identification details.

There have been cases where kids were abducted from a railway station or while playing or from any other location in the country and were forced into illegal trades.

When they are rescued by police, ascertaining their identity becomes a challenge. The use of biometric data can help track their roots through authentic details, provided they have Aadhaar number, he said.

And since majority of the people now have Aadhaar number, it will be easier for the police to execute this plan, the officer said, adding, this can also be used for verifying the identity of any complainant.

There are 859 police stations under 10 police range in the state.It is imperative that public policy professionals and policymakers examine Aadhaar from an access-to-resources perspective, and not just from a data protection one.

Another interim order extending the deadline for compulsory linkage of Aadhaar numbers to various private sector services was passed by the Supreme Court. The new deadline is now after the court disposes off the petitions challenging the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) over its constitutional validity.

The Constitution Bench consisting of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AK Sikri, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan passed the order that, however, is not applicable to the availing of services and subsidies under Section 7 of the Act.

Attorney-General KK Venugopal asked the bench not to extend the deadline for Subsidies, Benefits and Services under Section 7, and the bench, in its order honoured this request  On a query being made, Mr. K.K. Venugopal, learned Attorney General for India submitted that this Court may think of extending this interim order. However, the benefits, subsidies and services covered under Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act, 2016 should remain undisturbed. We accept the same. This means that the 31 March deadline still holds for access to many critical government welfare services, including the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, the Mid-day Meal Scheme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, amongst others. Therefore, access to 139 government schemes will be available post 31 March only if Aadhaar is linked.

The Supreme Court's order was a relief, but it was also temporary. It should be noted that the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar Act has been in dispute since it was passed in 2016. And therefore the Supreme Court order making an exception to Section 7 is problematic, when the matter is sub judice.

Lawyer Gautam Bhatia, who is part of the team that is working on multiple challenges to the Aadhaar Act, said that the order makes the challenge to section 7 effectively infructuous, and validates the 139 schemes for which Aadhaar has been made mandatory, even while the challenge to its constitutional validity before the Court is in progress. What merit does the Supreme Court order have now that a provision of the Aadhaar Act has been implicitly declared constitutionally valid or legally tenable, while the rest of the law continues to be vetted for constitutional validity?

The Supreme Court order is elitist  it has only allayed the concerns of the privileged who dont necessarily access the public distribution system, and were only concerned with the Aadhaar linkage with bank accounts and mobiles. The Section 7 exception in the order is a direct violation of the citizens' fundamental freedoms and constitutional rights because for the most marginalised, Aadhaar has been made mandatory.

What the Supreme Court did was protect the interests of the elite who are debating the privacy aspects of the Aadhaar Act, while denigrating the needs of the most vulnerable. The Indian Express notes that Failing to provide relief to the most vulnerable citizens of the country, the poor and marginalized, for whom access to these welfare services is a crucial lifeline, the order is ultimately a disappointment.

In September 2017, Santoshi Kumar, an 11-year old girl from Jharkhands Simdega district died of starvation after her familys ration card, under the National Food Security Act, was cancelled because it was not linked to their Aadhaar. This was a shock that perhaps no Right to Food activist could recover from and some journalists even called it a death by data. In fact, in Jharkhand, it has been reported that 11 lakh ration cards have been cancelled, and this has affected close to 25 lakh people who are otherwise eligible for food aid and subsidies. And this is not an isolated incident  three Dalit brothers in Gokarna, Karnataka also died of starvation in July 2017. The family was refused rations for nearly six months because they did not have an Aadhaar card. In Bareilly, a 50-year-old woman starved to death after her family was denied rations because her biometric data for Aadhaar authentication had not been completed. The Supreme Court order does not bring up any of these incidents and provides no mechanism to help the most vulnerable.

Another problem that the Supreme Court causes is perpetuating discrimination against the most marginalised. The people most affected by the Section 7 exception are the lower castes, the hungry, the impoverished. In essence, the Supreme Court just went ahead and entrenched a digitised e-governance system to further exploit the exploited  This means a poor person can only access food through a ration shop based on the availability of an Aadhaar card, a ration card, a linked database of the two, a functional biometric-enabled POS machine, uninterrupted supply of electricity and the internet; and unquestionable ability to recognise humans from their data. Once all these requirements are met, the fair price shop must have adequate supply of ration to distribute among the beneficiaries.

Indias concerns about the Aadhaar Act have so far been about privacy and data protection, but there is an objective that Aadhaar set out to achieve: offsetting information asymmetry while improving access to government welfare and benefits. It has been unable to do this despite integration of databases and linkages to the public distribution system. The system that is supposed to work towards inclusion, is itself causing exclusion of the most vulnerable, and this is a grave concern.

It is imperative that public policy professionals, lobbyists and policymakers examine Aadhaar from an access-to-resources perspective, and not just from a data protection one. At this point, the vision of Digital India and a centralised social security system is built on the lives of the marginalised and the impoverished.The first two-plus-two dialogue between India and the US has been postponed for now due to uncertainty over the confirmation of Mike Pompeo as Donald Trump's new Secretary of State,

Washington: The first two-plus-two dialogue between India and the US has been postponed for now due to uncertainty over the confirmation of Mike Pompeo as President Donald Trump's new Secretary of State, according to an official.

The two-day dialogue, announced last summer when Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a successful meeting with President Trump at the White House, was tentatively scheduled for 18-19 April.

"It has been postponed for now," an informed US official said. The official wishing anonymity, however, quickly pointed out that it would have no impact on the bilateral relationship as the meetings this week by the foreign and defence secretaries decided to continue with their agenda.

There was no official announcement of the high-level dialogue involving the foreign and defence ministers from the two countries.

India's foreign and defence secretaries were here early this week for preparatory talks with their American counterparts. The Indian delegation landed in Washington DC amidst the firing of Rex Tillerson as the Secretary of State by Trump. The delegation continued with their meetings both at the State Department and at the Pentagon as scheduled, during which it was decided to hold the dialogue at a later date, which appears unlikely before the summer.

The dialogue was seen as a vehicle to elevate the strategic relationship between the two countries. After June 2017, the two countries have tried at several other dates for the dialogue to take place, including sometime in November and December.

Officials also checked for a time in January 2018, but both sides were having a tough time in finding a day when all the four leaders  External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman from India and Defence Secretary Jim Mattis and the fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, would be available. It was finally in February 2018 that two days in mid-April was zeroed in for the talks.

However, the plans had to be scuttled as on 13 March Trump announced that Tillerson had been fired and nominated Pompeo, who is currently the CIA director, to replace him as the Secretary of State. Pompeo needs to be confirmed by the Senate. Spring recess of the Congress begins on 22 March and lawmakers would resume their legislative business on 2 April. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which hold the confirmation hearing, has not scheduled it on its calendar yet.

Once Pompeo's nomination process breezes through this committee, then it would go to the Senate floor for a vote. Given the sharp differences between the Republicans and the Democrats in the Senate, officials decided not to take any chance by going ahead with the mid-April date for the two-plus-two talks.

The new dates will now be determined after Pompeo occupies the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department and settles down as the top American diplomat.The Congress plenary on Sunday authorised party president Rahul Gandhi to constitute the Congress Working Committee (CWC)

The Congress plenary on Sunday authorised party president Rahul Gandhi to constitute the Congress Working Committee (CWC).

The proposal was adopted with a consensus by raising of hands. Taking up the proposal, party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said that in the history of the Congress, election to the CWC had been held only about a dozen times.

Most of the times, it has been left to the Congress president to constitute the CWC. The Congress president had formed a steering committee to function instead of the Congress Working Committee for the plenary session.

According to NDTV, party leaders believe that Gandhi preferred elections over a nomination for the CWC, which is the Grand Old Party's top decision-making panel. The report adds that the Congress' constitution stipulates half of the CWC, which has about 20 members, must be elected. The remaining half can be nominated by the party president.

The party's 84th plenary session began in New Delhi on Saturday. Seeking to halt the BJP's juggernaut led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress rolled out a roadmap for reversing its downward electoral journey and restoring its past glory ahead of the upcoming elections.

The plenary, Gandhi's first such session since his elevation to the chief designation, will focus on workers as part of the leader's bid to strengthen party "organisationally". According to IANS, workers who got a chance to speak in front of party's top leadership even expressed their gratitude to Gandhi for making the event "worker-centric".

Besides the functioning of the CWC, Congress discussed a slew of other issues at the two-day session. The party slammed the Modi government's foreign policy, saying it was "confused" and conducted in a "cavalier manner" which has damaged India's profile globally. The party, in a resolution adopted at the plenary, accused the NDA government of pursuing a foreign policy "bereft of focus and direction.

The foreign policy resolution was moved by Congress leader Anand Sharma. It slammed the Centre for its "disastrous" Pakistan policy. The resolution also stated, "The claims of a more effective and assertive policy towards Pakistan are boastful and have not yielded any positive results."

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh also launched a scathing attack on the NDA government, accusing it of having "messed up" the economy and mismanaging the dispute in Jammu and Kashmir.

"The BJP-led government messed up the Indian economy. The ill-considered demonetisation and hastily implemented GST have destroyed small-scale enterprises," Singh said. "The government mismanaged the Jammu and Kashmir dispute like never before. The atmosphere in the state has been deteriorating day by day," he added.

At the plenary, Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram described demonetisation as the "greatest lie" and said it ended up destroying jobs. He also accused the Centre of pushing people into poverty by implementing a flawed Goods and Services Tax (GST).

Rahul Gandhi will be presenting the party's vision document at the session, which will set the tone for its poll strategy in the Lok Sabha and state Assembly elections where it seeks to oust the BJP from power. Referring to the Congress' symbol of the hand, Gandhi has said on Saturday, "This is the symbol that holds the country together, shows us the way, and will take India forward."

The BJP has already slammed the speeches of Congress president and his predecessor Sonia Gandhi at the plenary, calling it "stale rhetoric" which has been "rejected repeatedly" by the people.

With inputs from agenciesThe BJP on Saturday night slammed the speeches of Congress president Rahul Gandhi and his predecessor Sonia Gandhi at the party's plenary session as 'stale rhetoric'

New Delhi: The BJP on Saturday night slammed the speeches of Congress president Rahul Gandhi and his predecessor Sonia Gandhi at the party's plenary session as "stale rhetoric" which has been "rejected repeatedly" by the people.

BJP spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao said the Congress is incapable of mounting a political challenge against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He said Modi has helped BJP expand its reach with "his positive, people centric transformational politics".

"What Congress leaders like Rahul and Sonia spoke at the plenary today (on Saturday) is the same old stale rhetoric which people of the country have rejected repeatedly," he said in a statement.

"It seems the Congress does not learn lessons and does not adapt itself to the emerging political challenges," he said.

Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, in her address at the party's 84th plenary session, launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying his government was power-drunk and the pre-poll promises of combating corruption and ensuring inclusive development were mere "dramebaazi".

In his brief inaugural address, Rahul Gandhi said the country is in a way "fatigued" under the Modi dispensation and is looking for a way out. He asserted that his party alone can show the path forward.Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav said that the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has 'not done anything significant' so far, as he targeted the BJP, which will be completing its one year in power in the state on Monday

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav said that the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has "not done anything significant" so far, as he targeted the BJP, which will be completing its one year in power in the state on Monday.

He said that deviating from the "real issues" was the character of the BJP and only the regional forces "can stop its march", according to a statement issued by his party.

The former chief minister, who was attending a programme organised by a news channel, said, "The government of Yogi Adityanath has spent its first year in office by removing the word 'Samajwadi' from various schemes."

"The BJP has divided the society in the name of religion and festivals. It has duped the people after making a number of promises in its election manifesto. Deviating from the real issues is the character of this party (BJP), and only the regional forces can stop its march," he said.

He claimed that farmers, traders, youth and women were facing difficulties in the BJP rule. "The BJP government has zero sensitivity. This government has virtually destroyed helpline services like Dial-100, 1090 women power line besides 108 and 102 ambulance service," he alleged.

"The public is disenchanted with the BJP governments - both at the Centre and in the state. This effect was seen in the outcome of the recently-held Lok Sabha byelections in Gorakhpur and Phulpur. The people have rejected the BJP and this will be visible in 2019," Yadav said.The YSR Congress and the Telugu Desam Party will pitch for taking up their notices of no-confidence motion against the Modi government on Monday.

New Delhi: The YSR Congress and the Telugu Desam Party will pitch for taking up their notices of no-confidence motion against the Modi government when the Lok Sabha meets on Monday amid no signs of a let-up in the deadlock in its proceedings.

YV Subba Reddy of the YSR Congress has written to the Lok Sabha secretariat to put his notice for the motion in the revised list of business for Monday. The TDP has also moved a notice for a no-confidence motion.

When their notices were not taken up last week, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar had argued that they could not be due to the House being not in order, with members of several parties raising slogans in the Well.

With the Telangana Rashtra Samithi and the AIADMK, which have often cooperated with the government on its legislative business, protesting over a host of issues, it remains uncertain if order will be restored.

While the first two weeks of the last phase of the Budget Session have been a virtual washout, the government has managed to get some key bills and the budget passed amid a din through a voice vote without a debate.

The YSR Congress was the first to give a notice last week for a no-trust motion after the Centre made it clear that it would not grant Special Category Status to Andhra Pradesh.

Not to be outdone by its main rival in the state, the TDP, a longtime BJP ally, then decided to break its ties over the issue and brought a no-confidence motion of its own.

Both parties have been lobbying with Opposition parties for support to their respective notices. A no-confidence motion notice has to be supported by at least 50 MPs to be taken up in the House.

The government has expressed confidence that the notices, even if they are admitted, will be defeated given its strength in the Lok Sabha.

The current strength of the Lok Sabha is 539 and the ruling BJP has 274 members, more than the majority mark of 270, and enjoys the support of several allies.

With the 16-member TDP quitting the BJP-led NDA, the ruling alliance strength has reduced.Chandrababu Naidu has successfully used people's discontent over Centre's refusal to confer special status to Andhra Pradesh as an instrument to avoid the sporadic disgruntlement over the non-implementation of several promises made by TDP in 2014

In the wake of Chandrababu Naidu leaving the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), an intense war of words broke out between BJP and TDP. The BJP claims that everything possible under the law has been implemented for Andhra Pradesh and that Naidu's crusade is primarily a political ploy to divert the attention of people from his own failures.

A deeper analysis suggests that BJP's claims are unfounded as far as implementation of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act and the promises therein are concerned. However, TDP's latest rebellion on Modi government is more symbolic than substantive. It's more political than a protest against the hurt caused to the pride of the Telugu people.

The Centre has certainly faltered on the promise of conferring special status to Andhra Pradesh. BJP failed to convince the people who look at the special status as a sentiment. Meanwhile, several other aspects of the bifurcation act and the special package promised in lieu of the special status like bridging the revenue deficit, setting up of a railway zone, steel plant, port, supporting the construction of greenfield capital, development of infrastructure in backward districts, construction of Polavaram project, 90 percent central funding, industrial incentives similar to the entitlements in case of special category states, satisfactory funding for national educational institutions, etc, remain unimplemented or unsatisfactorily executed.

But, quite interestingly, Naidu for a long time has not only disowned the special status and praised the worthiness of special package, he also expressed satisfaction in the manner in which the Centre is assisting the state. It's only in the recent past that the TDP sharpened its attack, and the acrimony became shriller since the presentation of Union Budget 2018.

The ruling TDP finds it difficult to answer why the party which has been more or less content with the Centre, except a few occasional expressions of discontent, has suddenly turned hostile.

The growing disenchantment among the people over the special status and the moves of the Opposition YSR Congress have certainly precipitated the differences between TDP and BJP. However, the TDP has successfully used the discontent on special status as an instrument to avoid the sporadic disgruntlement over the non-implementation of several promises made by TDP in 2014, and prevent it from galvanising into anti-incumbency.

The Amaravati-centred development model has led to a sense of alienation in the backward regions of North Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema. Except for some movement on projects like Handri Neeva, there has been precious little done to address this discontent.

Rayalaseema has been a stronghold of YSR Congress. The special package for development of Rayalaseema and north coastal Andhra was elusive. To placate the people away from the state capital, Naidu announced a detailed development and industrialisation plan for every district in the state Assembly. Though partnership and investment summits were held periodically, and the chief minister held many foreign tours to lure investment, not much has happened in terms of industrialisation especially in terms of providing jobs for the unemployed. Despite the lofty talk of rebuilding the Information Technology landscape in the residuary Andhra Pradesh, the state has a long way to go.

The controversial Janmabhoomi committees constituted solely with TDP activists have only established their supremacy, and favoured party sympathisers in the rural areas. They weakened the elected local bodies and turned out to be a major political embarrassment for Naidu. This forced the chief minister to scrap these committees, revealing the gravity of people's ire with such parallel partisan bodies that interfered with the distribution of welfare benefits under a host of government schemes.

The demarcation between the party and the government has blurred quite contrary to the Naidu administration of the united Andhra Pradesh. This might have satisfied the party apparatus but has caused resentment in the general electorate.

The TDP also promised unconditional waiver of loans to farmers and Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA) groups. Learning from his partys defeats in 2009, Naidu did not lag behind in making several populist promises. More significantly, his promises of a loan waiver for farmers and women workers with the DWCRA certainly influenced voters in 2014 elections. Nearly 20 percent of the DWCRA groups did not repay the loans in April 2014 in some banks. This increased to as high as 80 percent in May indicating the impact of Naidus promise of a loan waiver in the run-up to the elections.

The government partly waived the loans of farmers and DWCRA members and banks were reluctant to grant them loans in view of the mounting interest on uncleared loans. Anecdotal evidence from several villages reveals that the phased manner in which the scheme was implemented left many beneficiaries disappointed.

The TDP in its election manifesto promised a job for every household. "If you want job, vote for Babu" was, in fact, the poll plank of TDP in 2014.

The promised 'Udyoga Mitra' scheme, a recruitment calendar for government jobs, remained a non-starter. More significantly, the promise of Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 as unemployment allowance remained an election jumla.

Land acquisition in Andhra Pradesh became controversial and even led to periodic violent protests in different parts of the state. As land prices shot up, there have been a stiff resistance to land acquisition from farmers. The landless agricultural labourers were the worst hit.

Social engineering was a critical component of Naidu's successful poll management in 2014. Kapus constitute a significant share of voters in more than 40 Assembly constituencies. This section of society was not so loyal to TDP historically. In a bid to attract this social segment, who play a decisive role in scripting mandate in many seats, the TDP in its election manifesto promised that a time-bound plan will be executed to accord reservations without hurting the interests of OBCs. After dilly-dallying for long and suppressing the Kapu quota agitation, Naidu government finally recommended five percent quota and threw the ball into the Centre's court knowing well that the Modi government is not in favour of reservations going above the Supreme Court-prescribed limit of 50 percent.

Besides, the demand for Scheduled Caste categorisation has remained unaddressed again, with the TDP blaming it on the Centre. The TDP fears a possible political fallout as the Opposition will campaign on these issues among affected social groups.

As the simmering discontent over the loss of sprawling capital city of Hyderabad pervaded the political discourse in 2014 in the Seemandhra region that constitutes present Andhra Pradesh, Naidu could successfully convince the people that he, with the active support of NDA, which was expected to come to power, would unveil a capital better than Hyderabad and a city which even Delhites will be jealous of. Despite showing a scintillating vision of a capital in the lines of Singapore, nothing much has been achieved on the ground.

All this is not to say that anti-incumbency is building against the Naidu regime. The TDP is still successful in effectively marketing the doomsday bifurcation narrative and the fascinating dream of rebuilding the state among the people of Andhra Pradesh. The correlation of political forces seems to have not significantly altered since 2014. But, with the estrangement of BJP and the poll fever gripping Andhra Pradesh, TDP is not ready to leave any scope for this sporadic discontent to spill over into any sort of strong anti-incumbency. This is much more essential given the slender margin of victory in 2014.

Thus, TDP was desperate to vilify someone for whatever may be the lapses of Naidu rule. The Centre's intransigence to the just demands of the people has come in handy for TDP. The party's exit from NDA is a clever political ploy to convert a threat into an opportunity, a management lesson which Naidu is quite fond of.Manmohan Singh on Sunday launched a scathing attack on the government, accusing it of having 'messed up' the economy and mismanaging the dispute in Jammu and Kashmir

New Delhi: Former prime minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday launched a scathing attack on the NDA government, accusing it of having "messed up" the economy and mismanaging the dispute in Jammu and Kashmir.

At the 84th plenary session of the Congress, Singh described the government's demonetisation move as "ill-considered" and GST as "hastily implemented".

"The BJP-led government messed up the Indian economy. The ill-considered demonetisation and hastily implemented GST have destroyed small scale enterprises," he said.

"The government mismanaged the Jammu and Kashmir dispute like never before. The atmosphere in the state has been deteriorating day by day," he said.

Singh also dismissed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's comment about farmers' incomes being doubled.

"Modi said farmers' income will be doubled in six years. It is a jumla-type (rhetorical) statement unlikely to be achieved," he said addressing the session.

Asserting that the UPA government achieved a "lot" under then Congress president Sonia Gandhi's guidance, Singh exuded confidence that the plenary session would chalk out the future path for the country and the party would play a "historic" role.Sonia Gandhi launched a scathing attack on Modi, saying his govt was power-drunk and the pre-poll promises of combating corruption were mere 'dramebaazi'

New Delhi: Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying his government was power-drunk and the pre-poll promises of combating corruption and ensuring inclusive development were mere "dramebaazi".

In her address at the 84th Congress Plenary Session, she accused the Modi government of using all tricks in the trade to wipe out the Congress and asserted that the party would never bow down.

She exhorted Congress workers to support new party chief Rahul Gandhi and be ready for any kind of sacrifice to strengthen the organisation.

Sonia Gandhi also asked the workers to free the country of "discrimination, vendetta politics and arrogance".

We are exposing Modi and his colleagues' false claims, frauds and corruption with proof.

"People have now understood that the 2014 promises of 'sab ka saath, sab ka vikas' and 'na khaoonga, na khaane doonga' and his Mann ki Baat' on radio are only 'dramebaazi' (theatrics) and a trick to grab votes and electoral power," she said, referring to Modi's promises of inclusive development and corruption-free governance.

She claimed that the Congress was fighting a "tyrannical" government and the people have begun to realise that the promises made by the BJP in 2014 were hollow.

In the last four years, this arrogant and power-drunk government has left no stone unturned to destroy the Congress. They have used every trick in the trade, but Congress has neither succumbed before this arrogance of power nor will it succumb in future, she said.

The UPA chairperson said the party is waging a struggle against the Modi government's "dictatorial" ways, "disregard" for the Constitution, "denigration" of Parliament and their "divisive ideology", besides "political vendatta and conspiracies like intimidating the media".

She recalled how the Congress had changed its plan of going alone as per the 'Panchmarhi Declaration' in 1998 to aligning with like-minded parties at the Shimla Declaration in 2003 and then successfully formed governments in various states and at the Centre in 2004 and 2009.

Sonia Gandhi said the governments under Manmohan Singh formulated many schemes for the welfare of the people and the economy grew fastest during that time.

"Under the leadership of former prime minister Manmohan Singh, the economy of this country flourished. Our government formed policies which lifted millions of people from poverty. And today, the Modi government is weakening these policies," she said.

The Congress leader claimed that the party was "exposing the frauds of the Modi government".

The party, she said, was making efforts to win back the trust of the people and would work with like-minded parties to oust the BJP.

Reflecting on the party's recent impressive show in Assembly polls in Gujarat, and bypolls in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, she said that those who want to throw the very identity of the Congress out of the political arena of the country do not know how much love and affection the people have towards it.

"There is only one priority today and that is how to make Congress party stronger. Congress is not just a political party, but an ideology," she said, adding that there is a need to bring the Congress back on centre-stage of the political and public discourse.

She called upon party workers to put aside egos and aspirations and work for strengthening the Congress.

"The time has come when each of us should see what we can do for the party," she said.

Sonia Gandhi said the aim would be to strengthen the party with which all have an age-old attachment.

The party's win will be nation's win and the party's victory will be our victory, she said, adding that the most important thing was to see how the Congress sets the new agenda of the country under the new leadership.

She also recalled the Chikmanglur bypoll victory of Indira Gandhi 40 years ago and asked party workers to emerge victorious like the former prime minister.

Under the leadership of new party chief, the Congress should once again become the party that frames the basic agenda and should represent the diversity in society and should come up to the expectations and aspirations of the people, she said.

She also urged the party workers to extend all support her son Rahul Gandhi who took over the reigns of the Congress in "such difficult times".

Sonia Gandhi's fiery speech in Hindi drew loud applause from the party workers.

The Congress is seeking to ally with like-minded parties to stop the BJP from coming back to power in 2019 general elections.Congress president Rahul Gandhi took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the party's 84th plenary meeting on Sunday, calling him a leader who knows how to divert people's attention.

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The Congress's top leadership on Friday gave a final shape to the party's political roadmap and vision for the next five years that will be unveiled at its plenary session on Saturday

The party's focus at the conclave would be to highlight the failures of the Narendra Modi government and deciding on the vision and path forward for the next five years.

Former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar with Ambika Soni at the venue on Saturday

Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh at the AICC plenary meet on Saturday

The difference between the Congress and other parties is that while they use force and hatred to advance their goals, we employ love: Congress president Rahul Gandhi

Only Congress can take the country forward, says the Congress president amid cheers of 'Rahul Gandhi zindabaad'

After Rahul Gandhi, Meira Kumar and other senior Congress leaders address the gathering

"What as the Congress done in the last 70 years?" This is the only question the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi keep asking. They oversee Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's and Congress' role in helping the nation stand on its feet: Mallikarjun Kharge, INC leader

The BJP doesn't see Congress' contribution to the nation: Congress

Narendra Modi had big statements to make on corruption before corruption. He had said, Na khaunga, na khaane dunga. But what do we see now, with Nirav Modi and others looting the country at their own will? : Mallikarjun Kharge

 I would appeal to the youth in the Congress party to stand up for what is right and voice their concerns when they see something wrong happening around them. Only then we will get back to winning ways, says Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge

The young must be proactive now, says Mallikarjun Kharge

The way BJP and RSS cadres go from house to house campaigning for the party, we must also step up our campaigns in Karnataka to remain in power, says Mallikarjun Kharge

Modi and RSS chant BR Ambedkar's name all day long these days, but do not respect the values of the Constitution: Mallikarjun Kharge

'Congress party belongs to everyone who lives in this nation'

This country has regressed into darkness in only four years of BJP rule, says Kamal Nath

Now we're winning bypolls under Rahul Gandhi, soon we will be winning states: Sachin Pilot

After multiple other speeches from leaders like Shashi Tharoor and panel discussions involving party workers, former Congress president Sonia Gandhi addressed the gathering late on Saturday afternoon

Sonia Gandhi begins address by congratulating Rahul Gandhi for taking on the responsibility as Congress president at a 'very challenging time'

Rahul Gandhi says there is a 'wall' between Congress leaders and workers

Rahul Gandhi on the press conference held by the Supreme Court judges

We have to change Congress. There is a wall between our leaders and workers. My first task will be to break that wall. I will consult senior leaders to destroy that wall with love: Rahul Gandhi #CongressPlenarySession pic.twitter.com/ZtWHKI6LW8

Rahul Gandhi says there is a 'wall' between Congress leaders and workers

Manmohan Singh accuses NDA govt of 'messing up' economy, mismanaging Kashmir Earlier today, former prime minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday launched a scathing attack on the NDA government, accusing it of having "messed up" the economy and mismanaging the dispute in Jammu and Kashmir. "The BJP-led government messed up the Indian economy. The ill-considered demonetisation and hastily implemented GST have destroyed small scale enterprises," he said. "The government mismanaged the Jammu and Kashmir dispute like never before. The atmosphere in the state has been deteriorating day by day," he said. Read the full story here

Manmohan Singh accuses NDA govt of 'messing up' economy, mismanaging Kashmir Earlier today, former prime minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday launched a scathing attack on the NDA government, accusing it of having "messed up" the economy and mismanaging the dispute in Jammu and Kashmir. "The BJP-led government messed up the Indian economy. The ill-considered demonetisation and hastily implemented GST have destroyed small scale enterprises," he said. "The government mismanaged the Jammu and Kashmir dispute like never before. The atmosphere in the state has been deteriorating day by day," he said. Read the full story here

Modi personally changed Rafale deal & bought 36 aircraft for the same price that we the Congress negotiated for 126. #CongressPlenary #ChangeIsNow pic.twitter.com/8AuMCvXiQ0

Narendra Modi was personally involved in the Rafale deal, says Rahul Gandhi

BJP has spread fear. People from press are scared, for 1st time we saw 4 SC judges running to public for justice.There is a difference b/w RSS &Congress, we respect the country's institutions whereas they want to finish them.They only want one institution,that is RSS:Rahul Gandhi pic.twitter.com/EEkShJMk9z

Rahul Gandhi on the press conference held by the Supreme Court judges

To every youngster in India, we are your instrument. The Congress Party belong to you. We want to open our doors to your talent your bravery and your energy. This country is struggling and it needs you. #CongressPlenary #ChangeIsNow pic.twitter.com/qim0QlkMr6

Congress will take the country forward, but we are humans, we make mistakes. Modi ji thinks he is not human but an incarnation of God: Rahul Gandhi #CongressPlenarySession pic.twitter.com/nvArFl9Gpt

Narendra Modi thinks he is an incarnation of God: Rahul Gandhi

Let us put all our differences aside and work together to ensure victory for the party: Congress President Rahul Gandhi #CongressPlenary #ChangeIsNow pic.twitter.com/xiODwVEdZa

#RahulGandhi takes aim at #AmitShah , says #BJP president stands accused of murder | @MANJULtoons Follow #LIVE updates of the #CongressPlenarySession here: https://t.co/m2px57TwVn pic.twitter.com/lVj3HuL1qx

Congress president Rahul Gandhi took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the party's 84th plenary meeting on Sunday, calling him a leader who knows how to divert people's attention.

Gandhi said that instead of making India face its truth, the prime minister diverts people's attention jumping from demonetisation, Yoga, to Gabbar Singh Tax.

"Farmers are dying, people have no work, and he wants the people to do yoga," Gandhi said.

Gandhi also criticised the government stating that there's huge disparity between the growth in economy and what's visible on the ground.

"On the one side you have the fastest growing economy, on the other side you have crores of unemployed youth," Gandhi said criticising the economic policy of the Narendra Modi-led govt at the Centre.

The Congress president also said that despite all efforts BJP will never be able to silence Congress. "No matter how powerful, no one can silence Congress from seeking justice for India, no one can silence Congress from speaking the truth," he said.

Gandhi was one of the several speakers who spoke at the two-day 84th plenary of the party.

On Saturday, several leaders including former Congress president Sonia Gandhi has criticised the ruling party at the Centre, saying the BJP is "drunk on power".

The Congress, in a resolution adopted at its 84th plenary session, also accused the NDA government of pursuing a foreign policy "bereft of focus and direction.

The resolution, moved by senior party leader Anand Sharma and seconded by party MP Gaurav Gogoi, said the prime minister has pursued a personalised foreign policy and his foreign engagements have been reduced to merely being transactional.

"Congress expresses its concern over the conduct of foreign policy in a cavalier manner, which has damaged India's profile globally and undermined national interest," the resolution on foreign policy said.

Congress leader Anand Sharma at the AICC plenary in New Delhi. Twitter @INCIndiaCongress leader Anand Sharma at the AICC plenary in New Delhi. Twitter @INCIndia

"Foreign policy has always been marked with continuity with the backing of a strong national consensus. Unfortunately, the BJP government has disrupted it, and its ill-advised actions have unravelled the national consensus," it said.

The resolution also alleged that the government was carried away by its own propaganda, and has "mismanaged" India's relations with major partner countries.

"Its (government's) foreign policy is confused and bereft of focus and direction," it said.The Congress on Sunday slammed the Modi government's foreign policy, saying it was 'confused' and conducted in a 'cavalier manner' which has damaged India's profile globally

New Delhi: The Congress on Sunday slammed the Modi government's foreign policy, saying it was "confused" and conducted in a "cavalier manner" which has damaged India's profile globally.

The party, in a resolution adopted at its 84th plenary session, accused the NDA government of pursuing a foreign policy "bereft of focus and direction.

The resolution, moved by senior party leader Anand Sharma and seconded by party MP Gaurav Gogoi, said the prime minister has pursued a personalised foreign policy and his foreign engagements have been reduced to merely being transactional.

"Congress expresses its concern over the conduct of foreign policy in a cavalier manner, which has damaged India's profile globally and undermined national interest," the resolution on foreign policy said.

"Foreign policy has always been marked with continuity with the backing of a strong national consensus. Unfortunately, the BJP government has disrupted it, and its ill-advised actions have unravelled the national consensus," it said.

The resolution also alleged that the government was carried away by its own propaganda, and has "mismanaged" India's relations with major partner countries.

"Its (government's) foreign policy is confused and bereft of focus and direction," it said.

Sharma said that the BJP government has pursued a foreign policy away from the Nehruvian vision. He also claimed that the government's foreign policy has lacked coherence and a futuristic vision.

The Prime Minister of India is making disparaging remarks against his predecessors and expects us not to question or challenge what is being done. He is the first prime minister who has undermined the country," Sharma said, while proposing the resolution.

It is a matter of shame that the present government did not acknowledge India's achievements on foreign policy front in the past before he came to power. I condemn the prime minister for this, who has insulted the country. This is not an insult of the Congress, but of the country, which will never forgive him, he said.

Sharma said the time had come for India to think and go in for course correction.

The resolution said that India has a strategic relationship with its major partner countries and each relationship was special, and must remain independent.

Relations with one country should not be at the cost of India's relations with another strategic partner. India's strategic outlook must be shaped by the rapidly unfolding political and economic changes across the world," the resolution said.

"Given its size, resources and being a large economy, India is a significant power pole in the multi-polar world. Its ambition to become a leading power, rather than a mere balancing power, is legitimate, the resolution said.

It also said that the present power configuration and the government's handling of ties with major capitals of the world, does not create the necessary space to assert India's leadership position globally.

There is an urgent need to re-calibrate equations with the US, arrest the slide in relations with Russia and improve communication and trust with China, the resolution said.

Congress remains of a firm view, that diplomacy must have depth and gravitas. Grand events and photo opportunities cannot be a substitute to effective diplomacy. There should be credibility and a ring of sincerity in India's international engagements, the resolution said.

It also said that India has long enjoyed international respect as a country deeply committed to multilateralism and a rule-based world order, even while zealously safeguarding its vital interests.

Sharma said the time has come to correct things and asserted that "India shall change".

"India will correct its foreign policy, India will return to the enlightened world view of Nehru under Congress and its allies and that charge will be led by Rahul Gandhi," Sharma said.

"We shall remove the incompetent government which has damaged our international engagements, damaged our policy, damaged our credibility and we reassure our friends that we stand with you as Congress always did," he said.

The resolution said that the plenary session of the Congress conveys its concern, that the broader vision of India and its humanist responses have "dimmed" in the recent past.

The concept of enlightened self-interest, that was Nehru's legacy, must be upheld and strengthened, the resolution said.Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao is likely to meet his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee on Monday amid efforts to form a formidable non-BJP front of Opposition parties ahead of the crucial 2019 Parliamentary poll.

Kolkata: Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao is likely to meet his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee on Monday amid efforts to form a formidable non-BJP front of Opposition parties ahead of the crucial 2019 Parliamentary poll.

Rao, who is also Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president, is likely to meet Banerjee in her office, official sources said.

The meeting assumes political significance as Rao recently floated the idea of forming a "Third front" against BJP and the Congress for 2019 general election.

Banerjee, who is also Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief, is playing an instrumental role in bringing together Opposition parties against the BJP-led NDA to throw them out of power in the coming national poll.

The TRS chief had recently floated the idea to form a Third Front.

Rao claimed that Mamata Banerjee had called him and backed his proposal.Telangana CM Chandrashekhar Rao, who is rallying support for a non-BJP and non-Congress alternative, will meet his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee

Hyderabad: Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, who is rallying support for establishment of a non-BJP and non-Congress alternative, will meet his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee on Monday in Kolkata.

Rao had recently said a non-Congress and non-BJP front should be formed in the country, as he called for a "qualitative change" in politics and had also announced that he was ready to take on the mantle of leading a political front.

"In the backdrop of the Telangana chief minister calling for a qualitative change in politics, he will meet and hold discussions with West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on 19 March," sources in the Telangana Chief Minister's office (CMO) told PTI on Saturday night.

Rao would meet Banerjee in Kolkata at around 4 pm, they said.

On 4 March, Banerjee spoke to Rao over phone and conveyed her complete support on his statement that he was keen to participate in national politics to bring about "qualitative changes" in governance.

"Ham aap se ek-mat hain. Aap ke saath rahenge (I am in agreement with you. I will work with you)," Banerjee had told Rao.

Alleging that successive governments ruled by both the Congress and BJP at the Centre have miserably failed to ensure development of the country, Rao had earlier said he will talk with all like-minded parties and leaders for creating an agenda for the country's growth.

The Chief Minister's Office had also earlier said Rao is chalking out a programme to hold series of meetings at all India level with various organisations, associations and individuals shortly.In a state that faces pressing financial and administrative challenges, Sangma said the priority of his government would be to bring about administrative discipline

Shillong: Barely two weeks into his new role, 40-year-old Meghalaya chief minister Conrad K Sangma says he has realised running the government would be a tough job, but asserts he is "here to take over and do my best" to spur development.

In a state that faces pressing financial and administrative challenges, Sangma, in an exclusive interview to PTI, said the priority of his government would be to bring about administrative discipline and a new work culture for faster delivery of services to the people.

"There are a lot of challenges ahead," he said, "financial, implementation challenges, administrative challenges. And there are some issues that require immediate attention."

Sangma, son of former Lok Sabha speaker PA Sangma, was sworn in as the 12th Chief Minister of Meghalaya on 7 March.

He is heading a coalition government of his National People's Party (NPP) with the BJP and a clutch of regional outfits like the UDP, the PDF, the HSPDP. He enjoys the support of an Independent MLA as well.

He said the first thing he was trying to do as the chief minister was to bring about a disciplined system in the office, at the secretariat and in the government as a whole.

As part of efforts to usher in a new work culture, he himself is setting an example by reaching the office everyday at 10 am or even before that and remaining there till 7 pm.

"The chief minister checks in at the secretariat office 10 am dot. If not at 10 am, he reaches office before that. His office timing is between 10 am and 7 pm," a senior staff at the chief minister's secretariat told PTI requesting anonymity.

"We are adapting and many are appreciating the new work culture," she said.

Sangma said, "I don't want to be seen as a person who is forcing people but I think it is important that we as leaders lead by example."

The new government came to power ending 10 years of Congress rule in the northeastern state.

Asked about role of the BJP in the government, Sangma said, "This is NPP-led government and all other parties are stakeholders and equal partners in it."

The new Meghalaya chief minister, who is presently the Lok Sabha member from Tura and has to be elected into the state Assembly in near future, refused to make any adverse remarks on the Congress government.

"I am not here to blame anybody in the past. I am here to take over and I will do my best."

Implementation of the Fifth Pay Commission benefiting nearly one lakh government employees will be one of the immediate challenges confronting the NPP-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government, he said.

He said revenue sources have been going down in the recent times with the National Green Tribunal banning mining of coal and the High Court tightening export of minerals like limestone.

Implementation of central government schemes has not been up to the mark and that was one of the reasons why money that should have come in did not arrive, he said.

Other immediate financial challenges the new government has identified are completion of the Assembly building and holding the National Games 2022 which coincides with 50th year of the state's formation.

He stressed that there was an urgent need to "plug the loopholes" in the revenue collection which, he said, would help increase revenue.

"This way," he said, "the Central government and everybody will realise that this government is serious about development business."

He said he found out that implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) was "quite bad" in the state.

"We want to create necessary manpower and cells within the public works department to strengthen the PMGSY wing apart from trying to get other projects through which we can focus on road connectivity in the rural areas."

When asked about the difference between the NPP and the Congress, which his father PA Sangma was originally a member of, Sangma said, "The Congress has a top-to-bottom approach. We truly believe not in high command but in a command that is going to be decided by a majority."

Reacting to the two churches rejecting Union tourism ministry's Swadesh Darshan Scheme earlier this year, he said, "I think it is my responsibility, the state and the central government's responsibility to raise this issue and find out ways to clarify the concerns and how to move forward."

Defending the government's offer to uplift the surroundings in the Church under the scheme, he said, "This is not any particular organisation giving you (church) money. It is the Government of India that is giving money. I feel that we should take it positively and any developmental work meant for our people should be welcomed."

He said he would take it up with the Centre and the Churches and end the stalemate.Slamming the Congress, the BJP said that the party which questioned the 'fundamental existence' of Lord Ram today wants to be identified with the Pandavas.

New Delhi: Taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi's remarks at the Congress's plenary session, the BJP on Sunday said that the party which questioned the "fundamental existence" of Lord Ram today wants to be identified with the Pandavas.

Giving a point-by-point rebuttal of Gandhi's speech, senior BJP leader and defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman termed his address as the "rhetoric of a loser" and "devoid of substance."

Recalling the two warring sides of the epic Mahabharat, Gandhi on Sunday said the BJP, like the Kauravas, fought for power, while his party, on the lines of the Pandavas, battled for truth.

"The party which questioned the fundamental existence of Shri Ram today wants to identify itself with Pandavas," Sitharaman said, in an apparent reference to the Congress stand on the issue of construction of a Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya.

"I have never heard of a Congress' priest and a BJP' priest, but Rahul Gandhi has narrated a whole story on that, just as a way to mock Hindus and Hinduism," she said.

Earlier in the day, Gandhi had narrated a story about his meeting and conversation with priests during his visit to a temple.

Taking on Gandhi over his attempt to link Modi with fugitives Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi, she termed it as "a fake narrative".

"Mr Gandhi who himself is out on bail in the National Herald case shares a surname with the Father of the Nation. Is that a reflection on the Mahatma?," Sitharaman said.

Hitting back at the Congress chief over his attack on Amit Shah, Sitharaman said that it was astonishing that the Congress president chooses to make allegations against the BJP chief even though he has been cleared by a court.

"Gandhi himself is out on bail in the Herald case, whereas our party President Amit Shahji, has been cleared by the court,"Renowned lawyer Ram Jethmalani called for formation of a Third Front led by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee to 'oust Prime Minister Narendra Modi' in the next Lok Sabha elections.

Indore: Renowned lawyer Ram Jethmalani called for formation of a Third Front led by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee to "oust Prime Minister Narendra Modi" in the next Lok Sabha elections.

Both Congress and BJP governments have been deliberately apathetic to recovery of black money stashed in "Germany and other countries", Jethmalani said, speaking to reporters.

"They have committed a joint crime of cheating people. Therefore, a third front of honest leaders is needed," the former Union law minister said.

"I want Mamata Banerjee to lead the third front to oust prime minister Narendra Modi in the next general elections. Mamata has the ability to be the prime minister," said Jethmalani, a one-time Modi supporter who later became the prime minister's bitter critic.

The senior lawyer also criticised Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and the NDA government over their policy on black money.

The NDA government has no right to stay in power, he said.Unlike the previous elections which slogans like Achhe Din Aane Wale Hain and Congress Ka Hath Aam Aadmi Ke Sath, campaigning for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls anything but positive with both BJP and Congress gearing up to make the most of past lessons

What will be the issue that the 2019 Lok Sabha polls will be fought on? The polls are about a year away and in a few months from now, the parties and alliances will have finished positioning themselves. They will go to advertising agencies and polling agencies and marketing specialists to figure out how to package and distribute the most effective message. The advertising company Ogilvy & Mather was hired by BJP for its successful 2014 campaign while Congress had hired Dentsu. As far as I can remember, the first time an advertising agency was used in Indian politics was in 1985, when Rajiv Gandhi hired Rediffusion.

This time again, politicians will be in meetings with men in suits making powerpoint presentations that attempt to frame a message that appeals the most to the citizen. Just like Yeh Dil Mange More and Yeh Andar Ki Baat Hai and Achche Din Aane Wale Hain, marketing geniuses will produce catchy slogans to dominate the narrative.

The lessons learned from 2014, like the reward of large investments in social media and technology, will be seen in the 2019 campaign as well. A lot of people will make a lot of money from the elections.

The BJP reported to the Election Commission that it spent Rs 714 crore on the 2014 campaign. The Congress spent Rs 516 crore. Single state parties like Sharad Pawars NCP reported spending Rs 51 crore. Expect these numbers to double or triple in 2019. And this does not include what will be spent in cash by candidates or spent by companies on behalf of the parties (a common practice in India).

The major candidates will easily spend Rs 15 crore each and that doesnt include the cost of the ticket.

All in all, my guess is that at least Rs 25,000 crore will change hands before May 2019. If you think this number is incredible, The Economic Times quoted a study which estimated that Rs 5,500 crore was spent on the Uttar Pradesh election of 2017.

Newspapers and television news channels will get additional income from political advertising, much of it pretending to be news. Many deals will be done and as the Nirav Modi scandal shows, corruption does not begin or end with a non-corrupt leader.

Political parties will also unemotionally assess and work out what alliances will give them maximum advantage. Some leaders will leave their options open, giving up advantage in the beginning in anticipation of greater benefit and flexibility later.

The results from four states going to elections before 2019  Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh  will help many regional parties decide how close or how distant to be from Rahul Gandhi. The reasons for the spectacular electoral successes of the Bharatiya Janata Party over the last six years will now be fully understood by its rivals who have sized the party up properly. That is what has made the most unlikely of partnerships, such as the one we saw in Uttar Pradesh between Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav, possible.

To return to the question we started with, the issues that will dominate the election will depend on who will control the narrative.

In 2014, it was the Opposition leader that controlled the narrative and not the ruling party. The Congress was forced to defend its record on corruption and BJP batted from the front foot on the presumed capacities of its leader.

In 2009, BJP hired two agencies Frank Simoes-Tag and Utopia to produce a campaign projecting LK Advani as a strong leader. The slogan was 'Majboot Neta, Nirnayak Sarkar', to show Manmohan Singh as indecisive, which of course he was not. The Congress in that year hired J Walter Thompson, which produced the Aam Aadmi slogan, which was later of course appropriated by Arvind Kejriwal.

Sometimes the dominant narrative of the campaign does not result in a victory. Atal Behari Vajpayee's 2004 campaign  'India Shining', designed by the agency Grey Worldwide  resulted in a defeat nobody predicted and for reasons nobody still fully understands.

It does not appear to me that the campaign of 2019 will be positive. By that I mean it is unlikely that there will be an 'achche din' style slogan either from the government or the Opposition. The economy is not doing anything particularly special and I do not think our lives as citizens are in any noticeable way different than they were in 2014.

I was speaking to a BJP leader a few days ago and was told that the Ayodhya issue will be brought into focus sharply. At the moment, BJP is not touching it but that could change very soon. The Supreme Court is hearing the case and it is possible a verdict will come soon. A few days ago, the court dismissed the applications of individuals like Subramaniam Swamy who were seeking to intervene in this matter. The court also dismissed the idea of a settlement and wisely said: How can a middle path be found in a land dispute?

A verdict of any kind will likely become the issue of our next election, and I shudder to think of what the campaign messaging will be.Union Minister Jitendra Singh took a swipe at the Congress on Sunday, saying it is perhaps for the first time in the world that a political party is dancing and singing at the outcome of an election, unmindful of the fact that its candidates have lost their security deposits.

Jammu: Union minister Jitendra Singh took a swipe at the Congress on Sunday, saying it is perhaps for the first time in the world that a political party is dancing and singing at the outcome of an election, unmindful of the fact that its candidates have lost their security deposits.

Singh, a senior BJP leader, was referring to the bypolls to Gorakhpur and Phulpur parliamentary constituencies.

Speaking to mediapersons on the sidelines of the Jammu Central University Convocation, where he was conferred an honorary doctorate degree, Singh said for the Congress, it seemed no longer important to win an election, because the party derived greater pleasure if the BJP lost an election.

Can the Indian nation live with such a political party which has such pervert mindset? he asked.

Singh said the Congress under its president Rahul Gandhi has lost the plot and out of confusion, it has resorted to the "pervert practice" of celebrating the loss of its security deposits, according to a press release issued by the minister's office.

Taking a dig at Gandhi, he said why did the Congress not find fault with electronic voting machines (EVMs) when it was in government for 10 years.

"What they say now is a tacit admission of their eminent defeat in 2019 Lok Sabha election," said Singh, Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).

In response to a query about the opposition trying to project 2019 Lok Sabha election as "Modi versus All", he said that the BJP takes it as a compliment.

Let someone remind Rahul Gandhi that in early 1970s, the opposition had made a similar reference to his grandmother by describing it as Indira Gandhi vs All', he said.

The BJP lost the bypolls to Gorakhpur and Phulpur parliamentary constituencies to the Samajwadi Party.The results of all polls that have taken place after the 2014 Lok Sabha election indicate that whenever the Narendra Modi-led BJP decides to hold the parliamentary elections, it's going to lose seats

This piece is not primarily about the recently concluded by-elections in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Nor, in fact, is it about the various Assembly by-elections and elections and parliamentary by-elections held in various states since this Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government came to power in May 2014. It is primarily about the next round of parliamentary elections, slated to be held a little over a year from now (though the possibility of it being brought forward exists) and secondarily the major Assembly elections that are to be held this year: in Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh.

A couple of caveats are in order at the outset. First, though the focus is on the approaching elections, fairly extensive space will be dedicated to what has happened as background, without which the rest of this analytical excursion and prognostications will be incomprehensible. Second, this political commentator/observer is neither a psephologist nor a pollster, thus, what will appear in this article is personal analysis, albeit one informed by fact and, hopefully, a simulacrum of logic.

Lets begin with the latest round of by-elections, which no one will doubt is extremely significant. In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP lost two parliamentary seats: Gorakhpur, held by Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath (and the party for close to a quarter of a century); and Phulpur, held by deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya. Both the losses were incomprehensible to the party and, by and large, the commentariat.

Three causes were adduced, all specious, partial or vacuously true. First, it was argued that the low turnout, compared to 2014, was a major factor; second, most people, especially party functionaries, argued that it was the consolidation of the votes of Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party, not anticipated by BJP, which resulted in the fiasco; and, third, as a corollary, the consolidation of the Muslim vote (as far as BJP leaders go almost in an accusatory tone).

In Gorakhpur, the turnout fell by about 8 percent and in Phulpur by 12 percent. The main reason being attributed is an apathetic campaign not overseen by party president Amit Shah or much involving Prime Minister Narendra Modi but left to Chief Minister Adityanaths devices. That could be true; it could also be the case that the Uttar Pradesh governments performance and the BJPs general political and policy trajectories did not enthuse voters to turn up at the booths.

Similarly, as the pundits have noted, arithmetically adding Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party votes would not have overturned the huge margins achieved in 2014, when BJP polled almost 550,000 votes in Gorakhpur and 500,000 in Phulpur. The corresponding figures for Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party put together were 360,000 and 400,000. Given that Samajwadi Party polled correspondingly 456,513 and 342,922 votes this time, arithmetically the BJP should have cruised. Clearly, a significant section of BJP votes swung: it would not be a stretch to hypothesise that the non-Jatav Dalits and non-Yadav OBCs switched their allegiance, given BJPs attitude to especially the former, and especially in Uttar Pradesh.

Given an anti-BJP Dalit consolidation is happening on the ground, this is no surprise. Finally, a no-brainer: with Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party coming together an anti-BJP Muslim consolidation is something by way of a vacuous truth.

The Bihar results went more by the form book: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), shorn of the politically opportunistic baggage that goes by the name of Nitish Kumar, won the Araria parliamentary seat by a reduced margin, giving the Bharatiya Janata Party-Janata Dal (United) no quarters, and the Jehanabad Assembly seat by an increased margin.

The BJP retained the Bhabua Assembly seat. Not too many theories have been doing the rounds in the Bihar case, except for the patently fatuous one that RJD leader Lalu Prasads incarceration generated a sympathy wave. To this writers way of thinking, its certainly possible that a lot of people in Bihar, especially the OBCs and extremely backward castes (EBCs) were seriously put off by the chief ministers repudiation of the mandate given to the alliance of Rashtirya Janata Dal and Janata Dal (United) alliance and the latters more than obviously orchestrated reconciliation with BJP. That, for Kumar, it was political suicide, is really his problem.

But let us also go back a bit  to election and by-election results since 2016 mainly, by which time Modi and his government had had some time to establish their bona fides, although I am putting in some additional data for greater contextual depth. First, let us take a look at the results of the state Assembly elections in the following table.

Table 1

Year State/Union Territory Winning Party 2014 Jharkhand, Haryana, Maharashtra, J&K BJP in each state 2015 Bihar RJD-JD-U alliance, Delhi Aam Aadmi Party 2016 Assam BJP West Bengal Trinamool Congress Kerala Left Front Puducherry Congress Tamil Nadu AIADMK 2017 Goa BJP Gujarat BJP Himachal Pradesh Manipur BJP Punjab BJP, with BJP as an adjunct Uttarakhand Congress Uttar Pradesh, BJP BJP 2018 Meghalaya Alliance, with BJP as an adjunct Nagaland Alliance, with BJP as an adjunct Tripura BJP

One thing is obvious from this table: though the BJPs winning streak has only slightly been diluted  Bihar, Delhi, West Bengal, Kerala, Puducherry and Tamil Nadu  the character of BJPs victories has changed over time, quite apart from the fact that other than in Bihar and Delhi, it didnt have the slightest glimmer, to begin with. Just after storming to power with a single-party majority for the first time in 30 years, electoral matters began proceeding smoothly.

Thus, 2016 onwards, it won 10 out of 14 state elections. But the quality of the victories, the tactics used and the partys role in the governments that followed have become skewed. Of the 10 states won, only four count as significant: Uttar Pradesh most obviously; Tripura, because it was a Left bastion no one believed would be swept away the way it was; Assam, because it is the gateway to the North East and BJP has been trying to crack it for a while; and Gujarat, because it is Prime Minister Narendra Modis home state, which set the template for his particular brand of governance, with a subsequent accent on development and taking credit for developmental achievements when none was due (like developing Gujarat, which was one of the most developed states anyway under various, mostly Congress, regimes).

But then, Gujarat was not an unqualified victory, which is not to suggest that somehow BJP lost morally even though they won electorally. The bottom line is it won and formed a government, but that does not hide certain important indicators. Shah had claimed in the run-up to the elections, after its sundry attempts at subverting the Opposition, including the barely constitutional gambit of having the Election Commission postpone the announcement of dates even after notifying the elections so that the government could announce freebies for certain sections of voters, that it would win 150 seats. At least one exit poll put the figure at 116; almost all other pollsters predicted that the ruling party would increase its tally. In the event, the party got only 99 seats: there was a considerable shock and awe.

Two things the Oppositions unexpected showing proved, inter alia, were that Congress had started getting its act together and that the alliance with mass movements  mainly Hardik Patels Patidar movement and Jignesh Mevanis Dalit mobilisation could work.

More to the point, Gujarat showed that time has come when genuine mass movements can cross the border into the realm of elections and make a difference in the formation and conduct of governments (a sort of nav nirman redux, not really replicated in about half a century.

The other victories were hardly BJP victories, as the party piggy-backed on local formations, which usually prefer to ally with the party at the Centre, especially one with highly developed financial muscle: thus, Manipur, Meghalaya, and Nagaland. Goa was a similar case.

Before getting to the nub, lets take a look at another set of statistics, set out in the following table, relating to parliamentary by-elections, which are randomly selective and significant; for instance, the All India Trinamool Congress winning a by-election in West Bengal is not significant.

Table 2

Year Constituency/State Winning party 2016 Shahdol/Madhya Pradesh BJP, retained 2017 Chitrakoot/Madhya Pradesh Congress, retained Ater/Madhya Pradesh Congress, retained 2018 Gorakhpur/Uttar Pradesh SP, wrested from BJP Phulpur/Uttar Pradesh Araria/Bihar SP, wrested from BJP RJD, retained Ajmer/Rajasthan Ajmer/Rajasthan INC, wrested from BJP INC, wrested from BJP

So, let me sum up, BJP has made no gains in by-elections in key states; in fact, in the last three years, it has lost seats in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, while a status quo seems to prevail in Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. This is not a comprehensive list, which would show that BJPs strength in the Lok Sabha (excluding the nominated members) has gone down from 282 to 273. This means that their single-party majority will be skating on thin ice until the parliamentary elections are held, which is scheduled about a year from now.

More trouble is brewing for BJP. The Telugu Desam Party has quit the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and tabled, following the YSR Congress, a no-confidence motion against the government. The motion is symbolic because NDA still has the numbers to sail through it  around 315.

The Shiv Sena with 18 seats has been restive for a while, sniping at BJP on a regular basis in its mouthpiece, Saamana, and other public platforms. It has also declared its intention to contest the 2019 parliamentary and simultaneous Assembly elections solo, but its members remain in the Union and the state council of ministers. With Shiv Sena, its difficult to figure out what exactly is going on, so this may just be a bargaining ploy. But it has clearly hinted it might abstain during a no-confidence vote, prompting Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to meet a Sena MP in camera to seek support during a no-trust vote.

Bihars Lok Janshakti Party, headed by Dalit leader and Cabinet minister Ram Vilas Paswan, which has six seats in the lower house is also not in a happy frame of mind. One of its MPs expressed concern about BJPs spate of by-election losses. A couple of smaller allies, including Bihar EBC leader Jitan Ram Manjhi, have also quit. All NDA allies have one complaint in common: that the ruling party ignores them, does not hold consultations with them and some feel that the BJP leadership treats them with disrespect.

It is in this context that the four impending state elections this year and, if schedules are adhered to, the parliamentary elections next year must be viewed. Karnataka will hold elections in a month or so. Most opinion polls suggest that the likely result is a hung Assembly, so the Janata Dal (Secular), predicted to make major gains, will get to pull the strings. At the end of the year, Rajasthan is almost certain to witness a regime change, given the by-election results, the chief ministers unpopularity even within her own party, a curious style of governance, and the fact that Congress organisation there has begun to cohere.

Madhya Pradesh will also hold elections at the end of the year. The results at this point are too close to call, but while Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan has some kind of a track record, factors like the Vyapam scam and anti-incumbency may complicate the issue. But then the Congress organisation in the state is not in great shape either.

BJP has a greater chance of retaining Chhattisgarh, given Chief Minister Raman Singhs popularity, but there is no BJP wave and we must remember that in 2013 Congress gave Singh a good enough workout, and anti-incumbency will be a factor.

What has preceded is not just background, but its primary purpose is to try to figure out what will happen in the parliamentary elections in, say, 2019. My thesis is simple. To put it in one sentence, the BJP is bound to lose a substantial number of seats, exactly how many will depend on how political trajectories proceed. Ill pull out a few numbers presently. But the basic argument is that in 2014, the BJP maximised its returns from the states where it has real bases and can only lose seats; and the possibility that they will somehow make this up in new states is remote.

It is understandable that Shah reiterates the mission 400 claim. Part of his job, and that of other politicians, is making optimistic or absurd statements of intent, depending on how you look at it, to galvanise the party cadres (and leaders) and pull in voters. But it is incomprehensible that many media organisations have been saying till recently that BJP could reach 350 in 2019. So, lets take a look at the figures.

Let us assume, not unreasonably, that the BJPs core big states are in the north and the west. The number of seats the BJP won and the total number of seats in each of these states are presented in the following table:

State Total number of seats Seats won by BJP Bihar 40 22 Chhattisgarh 11 10 Haryana 10 7 Gujarat 26 26 Jharkhand 14 12 Karnataka 28 17 *Madhya Pradesh 29 27 Maharashtra 48 23 *Punjab 13 2 *Rajasthan 25 25 Uttar Pradesh 80 71

Disclaimer: Above table is based on data sourced from PRS India and Election Commission (*includes only those seats which were contested in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls)

Adding up the numbers, BJP won 242 seats out of 324 in its core areas. If you add two Apna Dal seats in Uttar Pradesh, which are BJPs in all but name, and those of its ally in Punjab  Shiromani Akali Dal (4)  and the Shiv Sena (18); and the substantial seats it got in an outlier like Karnataka, ie, Assam, where they got seven out of 14 seats, the numbers change to 273 out of 338.

The question is: how will the BJP increase seats in these areas? In Rajasthan and Haryana, it is bound to lose a majority of seats held, and a substantial number in Gujarat. It is difficult to see a replication in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand, where again they are bound to lose seats. In Karnataka, they could increase a couple of seats at best; the bigger chance is BJP will lose a few.

The party could win a few seats in Punjab, but not much is on offer. Given that the ruling party is bound to lose out in the states mentioned above, the scale of the debacle will depend on its performance in three other states  Maharashtra, Bihar, and UP.

If the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance gels, as it did at an incredibly rapid pace in the two seats, BJP will be in big trouble. There is a lot of time to put it together; the only problem is that unlike the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar, which involved an alliance between two parties with competitive caste bases (Yadavs and Kurmis), in Uttar Pradesh, a Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance will involve bringing together caste groups involved in social contradictions. That said, it can be pulled off.

In Maharashtra, if the Shiv Sena irrevocably decides to sever its connection with BJP and contests independently, BJP will be gasping for breath, given that Congress and Nationalist Congress Party have already started negotiating a fresh alliance. Bihar is difficult to call, but it is just about possible that a BJP-JD(U) alliance can pick up a few extra seats, though the recent byelections dont suggest that is a done deal.

Outside the core areas, BJP will pick up nothing substantial: in the east, all indications are that the bastions of Odisha and West Bengal will remain completely intact. And there is hardly room to grow seats in Assam (see figures above). The North East combined does not have enough seats for them to arithmetically make a difference, and the BJP wont win them anyway.

In the south, its much the same story. Which state will BJP break into? Its not going to make any headway in Telangana, Tamil Nadu or Kerala. It may pick up a few seats in Andhra Pradesh if there is a four-way contest, but dont bet on it. And in Karnataka, it is most unlikely to add to its 17 seats.

Everything taken together, whenever the ruling party decides to hold the parliamentary elections, its going to lose seats: it's simple arithmetic and simple arithmetic is usually right. I wont go so far as predicting a number, but I would be very, very surprised if BJP (as opposed to the NDA) gets within touching distance of 200 seats.IANS

A Soyuz capsule carrying two NASA astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut is set to blast off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on a two-day trip to the International Space Station on March 21.

The future Expedition 55-56 crew members, NASA Flight Engineers Ricky Arnold and Drew Feustel, along with Oleg Artemyev of Russian space agency Roscosmos, will join the three Expedition 55 crew members already in space, NASA said in a blog post this week.

The Soyuz spacecraft that will carry the three individuals is scheduled to arrive at the space station on March 23.

Waiting for the trio are Expedition 55 Commander Anton Shkaplerov and Flight Engineers Scott Tingle and Norishige Kanai.

Meanwhile, the Expedition 55 crew reconfigured the JEM Airlock in support of an upcoming experiment: Materials on ISS Experiment - Flight Facility (MISSE-FF) payload operations.

The study exposes sample plates containing a variety of surface materials to the harsh environs of space outside the station for varying durations.

Data collected will inform satellite designers how different materials can degrade over time -- a topic of great importance when it comes to designing and building spacecraft and structures to withstand a journey through the cosmos, NASA said.Reuters

Facebook Inc faced new calls for regulation from within U.S. Congress and was hit with questions about personal data safeguards on Saturday after reports a political consultant gained inappropriate access to 50 million users data starting in 2014.

The scrutiny presented a new threat to Facebooks reputation, which was already under attack over Russians alleged use of Facebook tools to sway American voters before and after the 2016 U.S. elections.

Its clear these platforms cant police themselves, Democratic U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar tweeted.

They say trust us. Mark Zuckerberg needs to testify before Senate Judiciary, she added, referring to Facebooks CEO and a committee she sits on.

Facebook said the root of the problem was that researchers and Cambridge Analytica lied to it and abused its policies, but critics on Saturday threw blame at Facebook as well, demanding answers on behalf of users and calling for new regulation.

Facebook insisted the data was misused but not stolen, because users gave permission, sparking a debate about what constitutes a hack that must be disclosed to customers.

The lid is being opened on the black box of Facebooks data practices, and the picture is not pretty, said Frank Pasquale, a University of Maryland law professor who has written about Silicon Valleys use of data.

Pasquale said Facebooks response that data had not technically been stolen seemed to obfuscate the central issue that data was apparently used in a way contrary to the expectations of users.

It amazes me that they are trying to make this about nomenclature. I guess thats all they have left, he said.

Democratic U.S. Senator Mark Warner said the episode bolstered the need for new regulations about internet advertising, describing the industry as the Wild West.

Whether its allowing Russians to purchase political ads, or extensive micro-targeting based on ill-gotten user data, its clear that, left unregulated, this market will continue to be prone to deception and lacking in transparency, he said.

With Republicans controlling the Senates majority, though, it was not clear if Klobuchar and Warner would prevail.

The New York Times and Londons Observer reported on Saturday that private information from more than 50 million Facebook users improperly ended up in the hands of Cambridge Analytica, and the information has not been deleted despite Facebooks demands beginning in 2015.

Some 270,000 people allowed use of their data by a researcher, who scraped the data of all their friends as well, a move allowed by Facebook until 2015. The researcher sold the data to Cambridge, which was against Facebook rules, the newspapers said.

Cambridge Analytica worked on Trumps 2016 campaign. A Trump campaign official said, though, that it used Republican data sources, not Cambridge Analytica, for its voter information.

Facebook, in a series of written statements beginning late on Friday, said its policies had been broken by Cambridge Analytica and researchers and that it was exploring legal action.

Cambridge Analytica in turn said it had deleted all the data and that the company supplying it had been responsible for obtaining it.

Andrew Bosworth, a Facebook vice president, hinted the company could make more changes to demonstrate it values privacy. We must do better and will, he wrote on Twitter, adding that our business depends on it at every level.

Facebook said it asked for the data to be deleted in 2015 and then relied on written certifications by those involved that they had complied.

Nuala OConnor, president of the Center for Democracy & Technology, an advocacy group in Washington, D.C., said Facebook was relying on the good will of decent people rather than preparing for intentional misuse.

Moreover, she found it puzzling that Facebook knew about the abuse in 2015 but did not disclose it until Friday. Thats a long time, she said.

Britains data protection authority and the Massachusetts attorney general on Saturday said they were launching investigations into the use of Facebook data.

It is important that the public are fully aware of how information is used and shared in modern political campaigns and the potential impact on their privacy, UK Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said in a statement.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healeys office said she wants to understand how the data was used, what policies if any were violated and what the legal implications are.Britain should consider postponing Brexit because there may not be enough time to strike a deal with the European Union before the UK leaves the bloc a year from now

London: Britain should consider postponing Brexit because there may not be enough time to strike a deal with the European Union before the UK leaves the bloc a year from now, a key committee of British lawmakers said on Sunday.

The House of Commons Exiting the EU Committee said if major aspects of the future relationship with the EU remain unsettled by October, Britain should seek a "limited extension" of its EU membership.

Britain and the EU want a deal on future relations settled by the fall so national parliaments can approve it before Britain officially leaves the 28-nation bloc on 29 March 2019.

In a report published on Sunday, the lawmakers said a proposed transition period of about two years should be able to be extended if needed. The two sides have agreed in principle that Britain will continue to remain part of the bloc's structures and rules until the end of 2020.

Seven pro-Brexit members of the 21-member, all-party committee refused to back the report, preparing an alternative version that took a more uncompromising tone toward the EU.

The majority-backed report said it is worrying that there has been "little progress" in solving the key issue of how to maintain an open border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland after Brexit.

Britain and the EU agree there must be no customs posts or other infrastructure along the all-but-invisible border, but the committee said Britain has yet to put forward credible proposals for how this could work.

"We know of no international border, other than the internal borders of the EU, that operates without checks and physical infrastructure," said the committee's chairman, Labour lawmaker Hilary Benn.

The pro-Brexit dissenters' alternative document accused the EU of taking an unhelpful approach to the border issue. They suggested that new technology and "streamlined" customs arrangements can deliver a frictionless border.

Rather than having Britain seek to extend its EU membership, the minority group said the UK should walk away without a deal if talks bog down.Britain's exit from the European Union (EU) weakens its position economically and politically in the world, former Prime Minister Tony Blair said

Dubai: Britain's exit from the European Union (EU) weakens its position economically and politically in the world, former Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Sunday.

Speaking at a panel discussion on day two of the 2018 Global Education and Skills Forum, Blair noted that Brexit "for sure diminishes Britain's standing," Xinhua reported.

Blair said the impact of Brexit must also be seen in the light of geopolitical shift to the east.

The impact of Brexit would also be a watershed from a global perspective as the EU is not the sole powerful bloc in the world, said Blair.

"In Asia, you have ASEAN, then you've got the African Union, in South America you have Mercosur. This is the way the world is," Blair added.

Under Blair's government, the EU went through a deep political crisis at that time when in 2003, Britain joined the US in the Iraq war, while two major EU powers -- Germany and France -- opposed the invasion.

Britain will leave the EU on 29 March, 2019 after being a member for 46-years.

The divorce is based on a referendum on June 23, 2016 in which 51.6 percent of Britons voted in favour of withdrawing from the EU.China has called on the US to 'correct its mistake' after Donald Trump approved new rules allowing top-level US officials to travel to Taiwan to meet with their Taipei counterparts

Beijing: China has called on the United States to "correct its mistake" after President Donald Trump approved new rules allowing top-level US officials to travel to Taiwan to meet with their Taipei counterparts.

US representatives can already travel to democratic Taiwan and Taiwanese officials occasionally visit the White House, but meetings are usually low profile to avoid offending China.

The "Taiwan Travel Act", which Trump signed on Friday following its passage in the US Congress, encourages visits between US and Taiwanese officials "at all levels".

Washington cut formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1979 in favour of Beijing under the "one China" policy. But it maintains trade relations with the island and sells it weapons, angering China.

China sees Taiwan as a renegade province and has long stated its desire for reunification.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said the bill's clauses, while not legally binding, "severely violate" the one China principle and send "very wrong signals to the 'pro-independence' separatist forces in Taiwan."

"China is strongly opposed to that," Lu said in a statement issued on Saturday.

"We urge the US side to correct its mistake, stop pursuing any official ties with Taiwan or improving its current relations with Taiwan in any substantive way," he said.

The new US law describes Taiwan as "a beacon of democracy" in Asia, and states that "Taiwan's democratic achievements inspire many countries and people in the region."

Trump's signature, announced late on Friday  when the White House usually tries to bury news  comes amid increasing tensions between the mainland and the self-ruled island.

Beijing has cut off official communications with Taipei because President Tsai Ing-wen refuses to acknowledge the democratic island as part of "one China".

The travel act also comes amid trade tensions between the United States and China as Trump mulls fresh measures that have raised fears of a tit-for-tat trade war.Donald Trump slammed the FBI as he hailed the firing of a veteran Bureau agent as a 'great day for democracy,' a move his attorney said he hoped would bring an end to a probe into alleged collusion between the president's campaign and Russia.

Washington: Donald Trump slammed the FBI as he hailed the firing of a veteran Bureau agent as a "great day for democracy," a move his attorney said he hoped would bring an end to a probe into alleged collusion between the president's campaign and Russia.

Critics described the axing of Andrew McCabe  the deputy of former FBI director James Comey  as a "dangerous" ploy to discredit the top US law enforcement agency as well as the work of Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating Russian influence in the 2016 election.

McCabe is a potential key witness in the Russia probe.

Trump on Saturday via Twitter blasted the alleged "tremendous leaking, lying and corruption at the highest levels of the FBI, Justice & State."

He also reiterated long-running criticism of the Mueller investigation, terming it a "witch hunt" and saying that it "should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime."

The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime. It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC, and improperly used in FISA COURT for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2018

McCabe job offer

Earlier, Trump's personal attorney, John Dowd, told the Daily Beast that he hoped Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein would follow the lead of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility and "bring an end to alleged Russia Collusion investigation manufactured by McCabe's boss James Comey based upon a fraudulent and corrupt Dossier."

Dowd told the Daily Beast he was speaking for the president. But in a subsequent statement he said he had been "speaking for myself, not the president."

McCabe, who has endured a year of withering attacks from Trump, was fired by the Justice Department late Friday, just two days before he was to retire after 21 years with the FBI.

Critics say the firing is a step in Trump's plan to engineer Mueller's dismissal, potentially sparking a constitutional crisis. Mueller is also examining whether Trump might have obstructed justice, including by firing Comey last May.

One Democratic lawmaker, Mark Pocan of Wisconsin, announced Saturday that he offered McCabe a job in his office so he can complete the time necessary to retire with full federal benefits. "My offer of employment to Mr. McCabe is a legitimate offer to work on election security," Pocan said in a statement.

McCabe spokeswoman Melissa Schwartz was non-committal. "We are considering all options," she told the Washington Post.

'War' on the FBI "

Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI - A great day for Democracy," Trump tweeted soon after the firing.

Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI - A great day for Democracy. Sanctimonious James Comey was his boss and made McCabe look like a choirboy. He knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2018

McCabe denied any impropriety and said he was the victim of a Trump administration "war" against the FBI and the special counsel.

McCabe kept memos of his interactions with Trump, US media reported Saturday, adding that the documents could bolster his version of events.

Comey pushed back as well. "Mr President, the American people will hear my story very soon. And they can judge for themselves who is honorable and who is not," he tweeted.

Mr. President, the American people will hear my story very soon. And they can judge for themselves who is honorable and who is not.  James Comey (@Comey) March 17, 2018

The Justice Department said an internal investigation had found that McCabe made unauthorised disclosures to the media, and had not been fully honest "on multiple occasions" with the department's inspector general.

"The FBI expects every employee to adhere to the highest standards of honesty, integrity and accountability," Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement.

Lack of candour under oath is a firing offense at the FBI, but the politically-charged context of the move raised questions among McCabe's backers.

Former CIA chief John Brennan lost his patience with Trump. "When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history," he tweeted.

'Not political appointees'

Trump, in an early afternoon tweet, belittled the media for its coverage of the story, saying: "The Fake News is beside themselves that McCabe was caught, called out and fired..."

In a second tweet he again denied any collusion with Russia.

Details of the inspector general's probe were not made public, but it involved the FBI's handling of the 2016 investigation into Trump's election rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Trump has repeatedly accused McCabe and Comey of protecting Clinton from prosecution, including over her misuse of a private email server while she was secretary of state.

The inspector general's probe was "part of an unprecedented effort by the administration, driven by the president himself, to remove me from my position, destroy my reputation, and possibly strip me of a pension that I worked 21 years to earn," McCabe said in a statement.

"It is part of this administration's ongoing war with the FBI and the efforts of the special counsel investigation."

But one law professor defended the Justice Department's investigators.

"These are not political appointees," Jonathan Turley of George Washington University told CNN.

"They clearly concluded that McCabe misled them - and that he misled them on one of the core issues they were investigating."

The White House has shown mounting frustration with the collusion probe, as it focuses ever more closely on the president's inner circle.Israeli military aircraft carried out a raid against a Hamas target in the Gaza Strip overnight after an explosive device detonated near the border with Israel, the military said

Jerusalem: Israeli military aircraft carried out a raid against a Hamas target in the Gaza Strip overnight after an explosive device detonated near the border with Israel, the military said on Sunday.

"The Hamas terror organisation is held accountable for all occurrences in and from the Gaza Strip," the Israel Defence Forces said.

Hamas is the main Palestinian Islamist movement controlling the Gaza Strip.

"The IDF will continue to operate for the safety of Israeli civilians, by all means at its disposal," the Israeli military said, without giving further details.

According to Palestinian sources, the raid did not cause any casualties.

An explosive device went off late Saturday in the northern Gaza Strip near Israel's border fence, the army said in an earlier statement, with no casualties reported.

Israel had already retaliated, with tanks targeting a Hamas observation post.

According to Palestinian sources, the retaliatory fire slightly injured one person.

Two explosive devices were detonated Thursday along the border, which had already provoked Israeli attacks on Hamas positions.

No group has claimed responsibility for the blasts, but Israel held Hamas responsible as the de facto power in the Palestinian enclave.

Israel, Hamas and its allies are observing a ceasefire since the 2014 war, the third in the enclave in six years.

The truce is regularly shaken, particularly by fire from the enclave into Israel, which systematically retaliates by targeting Hamas positions, even if the attacks are carried out by other groups.

On 17 February, four Israeli soldiers were wounded by an improvised explosive device on the border, sparking intense military retaliation.

Israel warplanes attacked 18 "terror targets belonging to Hamas" in Gaza in response to the blast, which severely wounded two of the soldiers, and a subsequent Palestinian rocket attack on southern Israel.Seeking to minimise the damage caused by a senior Maldivian minister's remarks on Kashmir, the country's ambassador in New Delhi Ahmed Mohamed has said it was a bilateral issue that should be 'resolved amicably' between India and Pakistan

New Delhi: Seeking to minimise the damage caused by a senior Maldivian minister's remarks on Kashmir, the country's ambassador in New Delhi Ahmed Mohamed has said it was a bilateral issue that should be "resolved amicably" between India and Pakistan, as he pitched for enhanced engagement between New Delhi and Male.

Admitting that there was an "environment of mistrust" between India and Maldives caused by a host of issues in recent years, the envoy said, "lack of engagement" was responsible for the current state of affairs, but asserted that the two countries should let "bygones be bygones".

In an interview to PTI, Mohamed also maintained that while there has been a steady stream of high-level visits from the island nation, the same was not reciprocated, an issue which many in Male feel is one of the factors for the drifting away in the relations.

Asked about the recent comments of a senior Maldivian minister bracketing the Kashmir situation with the current state of affairs in the Maldives, the ambassador said, "It was a remark to emphasise the stand that the Maldives has been taking continuously and consistently since the 1970s. We have always maintained the position that it is a bilateral issue that needs to be resolved amicably between the two countries."

He further said, "We have always maintained the position that there needs no intervention by a third country. Hence, a reiteration of our position and an example from the local context to state that the existing crisis in the Maldives is an internal issue which needs no foreign intervention."

Mohamed Shainee, a senior minister in President Abdulla Yameen's government, had reportedly told a group of visiting Indian reporters, "Why haven't we gone into the Kashmir issue...and asked to be (an) intermediary? Because they are internal matters...India should stay away from our issue.

"We are independent and capable of dealing with the situation. If we need help, we will let India know."

Reacting sharply, Indian officials had termed the remarks as "unfortunate".

Asserting that the two situations were not comparable, a senior official had said, "While the situation in Kashmir is due to state(Pakistan)-sponsored terrorism, the other is due to subversion of democracy."

Currently, India and Maldives have a strained relationship that has been caused by a number of issues, including the signing of an FTA between Maldives and China amidst increasing proximity between Male and Beijing, and the imposition of emergency by the Yameen government.

On why there was an "environment of mistrust" between India and Maldives, two neighbours that were once very close, the envoy said that though there was an understanding that there were issues which need to be resolved, but lack of engagement was responsible for current state of affairs.

"The need now is to start with a clean slate and let bygones be bygones," the envoy stressed while making a strong pitch for a high-level visit from India. "It will make a lot of difference."

The Maldivian President has visited India twice apart from visits by other leaders, including the Maldivian foreign minister, he noted.

Mohamed also described India's strong statement on the emergency situation in the Maldives as "disappointing".

While the initial reaction, including the travel advisory, was expected, but the fourth statement from New Delhi was not expected and Maldives' "displeasure" was conveyed to the Indian side, he said.

The Ministry of External Affairs, in a statement, had said, "We are deeply dismayed that the Government of Maldives has extended the State of Emergency for a further 30 days. The manner in which the extension of the State of Emergency was approved by the Majlis in contravention of the Constitution of Maldives is also a matter of concern."

India has also been asserting that it was important to ensure that all democratic institutions in the Maldives are allowed to function in a fair and transparent manner in accordance with the Constitution.US vice-president Mike Pence told Pakistan's prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi that his country 'must do more' against the Taliban and other militants, the White House said on Saturday.

Washington: US vice-president Mike Pence told Pakistan's prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi that his country "must do more" against the Taliban and other militants, the White House said on Saturday.

"Vice-President Pence reiterated President (Donald) Trump's request that the Government of Pakistan must do more to address the continued presence of the Taliban, Haqqani Network, and other terrorist groups operating in their country," the White House said in a statement on the Friday call.

"Pakistan could and should work closer with the United States," Pence said.

According to Washington, there is little sign that Islamabad has made a decision to end its support for the Taliban, which the country's powerful security services see as safeguarding its interests and as a bulwark against Indian influence in Kabul.

Afghan president Ashraf Ghani last month proposed peace talks with the Taliban, which could eventually be recognized as a political party if it observes a ceasefire and officially recognises the Afghan government and constitution.

The Taliban has stopped short of rejecting the proposal, but its response has been muted.Sri Lanka president Maithripala Sirisena said on Sunday he had lifted a nationwide state of emergency imposed on 6 March after Buddhist-Muslim clashes.

Colombo: Sri Lanka president Maithripala Sirisena said on Sunday he had lifted a nationwide state of emergency imposed on 6 March after Buddhist-Muslim clashes.

"Upon assessing the public safety situation, I instructed to revoke the State of Emergency from midnight yesterday (Saturday)," Sirisena said on his Twitter feed.

Returned from a very successful tour of Japan, that brings many short and long terms benefits to us. Upon assessing the public safety situation, I instructed to revoke the State of Emergency from midnight yesterday.  Maithripala Sirisena (@MaithripalaS) March 18, 2018

He declared a state of emergency to rein in the spread of communal violence after Buddhists and Muslims clashed in the Indian Ocean islands central district of Kandy.

Two people were killed and hundreds of Muslim-owned properties and more than 20 mosques were damaged, media reported.

Tension has been growing between the two communities over the past year, with some hardline Buddhist groups accusing Muslims of forcing people to convert to Islam and vandalising Buddhist archaeological sites.

Some Buddhist nationalists have also protested against the presence in Sri Lanka of Muslim Rohingya asylum-seekers from mostly Buddhist Myanmar, where Buddhist nationalism has also been on the rise..              .                 .      16  21,    16.     ""            (). ... :              

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: , ,    .  .  -.Top diplomats of S. Korea, U.S., Japan to hold talks in New York U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will hold trilateral talks with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York this wee...Jim Carrey faced swift backlash Sunday after the actor tweeted a painting that apparently showed White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders in a terrifyingly garish light.

This is the portrait of a so-called Christian whose only purpose in life is to lie for the wicked. Monstrous! Carrey wrote in his tweet accompanying the portrait Saturday.

Though Carrey didnt mention Sanders by name, many Twitter users knew right away who it was, The Wrap reported.

But not all on Twitter were amused.

James Woods, do you have a comment about Jim Carrey and the insulting portrait he has presented of Sarah Sanders? tonguepiercer wrote.

JIM CARREY PAINTS IMAGE OF BLOODY SCHOOLGIRL ON AMERICAN FLAG IN RESPONSE TO SCHOOL SHOOTING

Michael Gatza tweeted: What a disgraceful thing to do. Jim Carrey Paints Sarah Huckabee Sanders - It's Not a Pretty Picture.

Twitter user Delaine Gordon B added: This is just one more example of how Hollyweird empowers women! #JimCarrey is just doing his portion, right Jim? He's a has been!!

Last month, Carrey tweeted the image of an original painting depicting a seemingly dead schoolgirl sprawled out on the American flag soaked in blood, following the school shooting in Parkland, Fla.

The Ace Ventura star has been taking a break from films to devote more time to painting.

He told a magazine last year that creating political art isnt a new concept for him.A White Castle customer was caught cooking meth in the fast food chain on Friday, authorities have said.

Just before 11 am Friday, four officers responded to a White Castle in Hobart, IN, after employees called about a customer using a one pot method to cook methamphetamine, the Miami Herald reports.

A one pot meth lab is basically just a bottle filled with chemicals, Leslie Earhart from Sullivan County Sheriffs Office in Tennessee told WCYB about the fast technique.

Some people use Powerade bottles, Gatorade bottles or any type of soda bottle, Earhart said.

WHITE CASTLE LAS VEGAS HOLDS 'ROYAL' WEDDING FOR FAST-FOOD LOVING COUPLE

The dangerous one pot system can result in explosions, fires and potentially leave the cook with burns, as one inmate at the Sullivan County Jail describe to WCYB of the method. The inmate said she had three fires in three months when using one pot to make meth. The last fire left her with burns, the Miami Herald reports.

The man responsible for the portable meth lab was arrested while sitting at a booth inside the fast food restaurant. Indiana State Police transported the one pot to a safe location.

According to ABC7, the responding officers had to be treated for chemical exposure after the meth lab was discovered.

The incident remains under investigation as police say other people may be involved in the alleged crime, NWI Times reports.

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS

White Castle vice president Jamie Richardson said he was proud of his teams response.

We are proud of our White Castle team members who alerted local authorities about a suspicious customer, and thankful for the Hobart Police Departments rapid response, he said in a statement released to WGN-TV. We are grateful to be part of a community where everyone looks out for one another, and works together to keep our neighborhoods safe.

The fast food chain opened up by 6 pm Friday evening after a thorough search. There were no reported health code violations from the incident.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

Those who know me know I love and support this president. They should also know I love Americas greatest natural treasure our public lands. This includes our spectacular national parks and national monuments.

I was blessed to grow up on the Central Coast of California just a few hours away from Sequoia National Forest, swimming off The Worlds Safest Beach in Carpenteria, enjoying the regions natural bounty at the strawberry and avocado festivals of Lompoc and Santa Barbara and hiking through the stunning hills of Santa Maria.

When I was growing up, I spent a majority of my time around nature appreciating the remarkable diversity of Californias public lands. From eight years old and beyond my life was active and adventurous, using the gorgeous beaches and parks as my playgrounds. Id imagine myself an explorer finding new worlds in the fresh air and greenery of camping in the Mendocino forests, learning survival skills and gaining physical strength hiking paths, climbing trees and rolling on grassy hills.

Our wide, open spaces are the basis of American culture, their beauty captured in our music, art and literature. Nature inspired me to write the poetry and music I make today. Like our Constitution these shared landscapes are characteristically and beautifully American.

Our national monuments honor our past and our future but now that is all in jeopardy.

President Trump has a remarkable opportunity to honor our history, our national treasures and our culture. I urge him in this vital time to leave protections for our national monuments in place and to use the Antiquities Act to preserve our lands and waters.

Republican President Theodore Roosevelt designated the first national monuments as a gift to future generations with the Antiquities Act, and in the last hundred years, fifteen other presidents -- Republicans and Democrats alike -- have used it to conserve iconic landscapes.

President Franklin Roosevelt said, "There is nothing so American as our national parks.... The fundamental idea behind the parks...is that the country belongs to the people, that it is in process of making for the enrichment of the lives of all of us."

Without the Antiquities Act we wouldnt have the Grand Canyon, the Statue of Liberty or the Giant Sequoia National Monument.

Now, however, we are seeing an attempt by egotistical politicians to weaken the Antiquities Act, a landmark law, and strip protections from some of the most valuable lands, a birthright owned by all Americans.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke recently advised the president to significantly shrink two national monuments in Utah, and the beautiful Cascade-Siskiyou is likely next on the chopping block. I love President Trump and truly believe in Making America Great Again, but Secretary Zinke is wrong to think we can do that by weakening one of the bedrocks of our countrys heritage.

Among other monuments, Secretary Zinke previously announced recommendations to strip acreage from Cascade Siskiyou protected public land which runs from Oregon to California and open it up for potential extraction and corporate development. And it doesnt stop there. At least ten more national land and ocean monuments across the nation are at risk to be given up for corporate interest.

Does taking away our lands benefit the American people and their children? Not at all.

Secretary Zinke has been influenced by special interests and out of touch career politicians. I can assure you that Zinke cant pull the wool over the presidents eyes; many have tried and many have found themselves without a job.

Late last year, over one thousand American military leaders from all ranks and branches signed a letter to President Trump asking him to reconsider his plans to shrink the monuments. Our veterans fight to protect our freedoms and our public lands, places that define American heritage and history.

My family is a strong military family, my father was a Vietnam War Army veteran, my aunt was a Marine captain and many of my cousins and close friends served their country proudly. They and countless other heroes fought to protect our nation from sea to shining sea and I am joining their fight to continue this protection.

President Trump has a remarkable opportunity to honor our history, our national treasures and our culture. I urge him in this vital time to leave protections for our national monuments in place and to use the Antiquities Act to preserve our lands and waters.

I was fortunate enough to grow up in wondrous natural beauty and we cant let our legacy fade. Lets ensure Americas children continue to know that this land is our land and it is worth protecting.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

There is increasing attention on the issue of online harassment and abuse. In the past week alone, London Mayor Sadiq Khan called it out during the first speech of a British political leader at SXSW, and first lady Melania Trump announced that she will host tech leaders at the White House as part of her anti-cyberbullying campaign.

While anyone active online has the potential to be targeted with abusive comments, new research we released this week exposes how it impacts one group that often bears the brunt of harassment: women politicians.

Across a range of categories of gendered or derogatory conversation  from quips about their clothing to expletive-laden threats  the data showed that women politicians received more comments than their male counterparts. The difference was particularly stark when it came to commentary about politicians appearance or marital life, nearly three quarters of which were directed at women rather than men. While male politicians received only slightly fewer derogatory comments, women were three times more likely to have those comments specifically reference their gender.

Its tempting to see this as just a technological problem that social media companies bear the responsibility to address. However, what is said online reflects what people think and feel offline. The toolset we used for our research  BrandsEye  was used to accurately predict the outcomes of both the Brexit vote and the 2016 presidential election, illustrating the power of online sentiment mining to expose underlying public opinion.

Given the dismal representation of women in government globally, the last thing we need is yet another barrier keeping women from running for office or succeeding in politics.

For our report, we also interviewed a number of women politicians and campaign consultants about how the level of abuse and threats they receive has changed with the rise of social media, and the impact it has on their ability to do their jobs. Those who served in government before the ubiquity of social media told us the type of threats they receive now are nothing new, but the volume and speed has increased significantly. Social media has simultaneously made it easier than ever to access them, while distancing people from viewing them as real human beings.

Many of the women we spoke with told us that the harassment has a detrimental effect on both their professional and personal lives. From delegitimizing them as leaders, to curbing what they say and share online, to forcing them to implement new security measures in the face of credible threats, it takes a heavy toll. And, for women who havent yet stuck their head above the parapet, the prospect of online abuse and threats can make them think twice.

Online sexism and abuse doesnt just impact the women who are targeted. It also has an effect on voters who see it. A recent study showed that when voters read objectifying content about female political leaders online, they are much less likely to view those leaders as credible or serious.

Its clear that this problem is undermining both women politicians and our democratic process, and addressing it is going to take more than just implementing better content filters on social media platforms. We need a collective approach in which governments, political parties, police, and male politicians all play their part. From more and better training for female candidates, to pushing back against sexism and abuse when we see it, we can all play a role in addressing this problem.

Given the dismal representation of women in government globally, the last thing we need is yet another barrier keeping women from running for office or succeeding in politics. While it may often feel like an uphill battle to tackle online harassment and threats, its one worth fighting for the sake of our democratic systems and the benefit of the next generation of female leaders.Andrew McCabe has long been under fire, specifically by Republicans who have voiced conflict-of-interest complaints over McCabe's ties to the Democratic Party. Now, a bombshell report released by the Justice Department, reveals the former FBI director misled investigators multiple times about his role in a news media leak, though McCabe denies the allegations.

"DOJ just issued the McCabe report - which is a total disaster," Trump said in an April 13 tweet. "He LIED! LIED! LIED! McCabe was totally controlled by Comey - McCabe is Comey!! No collusion, all made up by this den of thieves and lowlifes!"

McCabe says that when he believed his answers to the inspector general were misunderstood, he went back and tried to correct them. His lawyer says the inspector general unfairly tried to conclude its work before McCabe could retire with a full pension.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe on March 16 -- two days short of his retirement and receiving a full pension. The firing was followed by reports that McCabe kept personal memos detailing interactions with President Trump.

Spent very little time with Andrew McCabe, but he never took notes when he was with me, Trump tweeted on March 18. I dont believe he made memos except to help his own agenda, probably at a later date. Same with lying James Comey. Can we call them Fake Memos?

"[W]e concluded that McCabes decision to confirm the existence of the CF Investigation through an anonymously sourced quote, recounting the content of a phone call with a senior Department official in a manner designed to advance his personal interests at the expense of Department leadership, was clearly not within the public interest exception," the report says.

Here's what you need to know about McCabe's FBI career and the controversies -- including his wife's having received donations for a failed 2015 Senate run from a group tied to former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe -- that have followed.

What should I know about McCabes FBI career?

McCabe started at the FBI in 1996 as a special agent and has held leadership positions in the Counterterrorism Division, the National Security Branch and the Washington Field Office, the FBI said.

In July 2015, a press release announced that then-FBI Director James Comey had appointed McCabe associate deputy director. Comey named McCabe the bureaus deputy director in January 2016.

Andys 19 years of experience, combined with his vision, judgment and ability to communicate, make him a perfect fit for this job, Comey said in a statement at the time.

After Trump fired Comey, McCabe was acting director of the FBI from May 9, 2017, until Aug. 2, 2017. Trumps pick to replace Comey, Christopher Wray, was sworn in the same day.

What about his handling of the Clinton email probe?

The inspector general's office, which for more than a year investigated the FBI's handling of the Clinton email investigation, concluded that McCabe authorized FBI officials to speak with a journalist for an October 2016 story in The Wall Street Journal, according to The New York Times.

Though Trump has called McCabe biased, the story in question suggested that FBI officials wanted to more actively probe the Clinton Foundation but were discouraged from more aggressive steps by the Obama Justice Department.

The DOJ's April report found that McCabe authorized a leak to a Wall Street Journal reporter about the contents of a telephone call in August 2016.

"Among the purposes of the disclosure was to rebut a narrative that had been developing following a story in the WSJ on October 23, 2016, that questioned McCabes impartiality in overseeing FBI investigations involving [Clinton], and claimed that McCabe had ordered the termination of the [FBI's Clinton Foundation investigation] due to Department of Justice pressure," the report says.

In January, The Journal reported that McCabe knew of thousands of emails related to the Clinton investigation for at least a month before Comey told Congress about them.

The day he was fired, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement that "the FBI expects every employee to adhere to the highest standards of honesty, integrity, and accountability."

In response, McCabe said that his firing was a part of the Trump administration's "war on the FBI," adding that he was being singled out because of the "role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of James Comey."

What is the Andy text message?

FBI agent Peter Strzok was dismissed from Muellers Russia probe after being linked to a number of anti-Trump text messages, including those calling Trump a menace and a loathsome human.

An Aug. 15, 2016, text message Strzok sent to FBI lawyer Lisa Page apparently references an insurance policy against Trump winning the 2016 election.

I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andys office - that theres no way he gets elected - but Im afraid we cant take that risk, Strzok said in the text message. Its like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before youre 40.

The Andy mentioned in the text was possibly a reference to McCabe.

What about his wifes State Senate campaign?

McCabes wife, Dr. Jill McCabe, ran for a Virginia State Senate seat in 2015. The political action committee for then-Virginia Governor McAuliffe, a Democrat and Clinton ally, donated $467,500 to her campaign, while the Virginia Democratic party gave $207,788, The Journal reported. Andrew McCabe was associate deputy director of the FBI at the time.

McCabe played no role, attended no events, and did not participate in fundraising or support of any kind, the FBI told The Journal in a statement. Months after the completion of her campaign, then-Associate Deputy Director McCabe was promoted to Deputy, where, in that position, he assumed for the first time, an oversight role in the investigation into Secretary Clintons emails.

Trump has been critical of the donations.

Dr. McCabe later lost the race to her Republican opponent, incumbent Dick Black.

Fox News Jake Gibson, Barnini Chakraborty, Madeline Farber, Lukas Mikelionis, Joseph Weber and The Associated Press contributed to this report.Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy on Sunday split with President Trump and lawyer John Dowds apparent efforts to try to end the special counsels Russia investigation, saying Dowd did the president a disservice and that investigators need the time, independence and resources to complete the probe.

I think the presidents attorney, frankly, does him a disservice when he says that and when he frames the investigation that way, Gowdy told Fox News Sunday. If you have an innocent client, Mr. Dowd, act like it.

Dowd, Trumps personal attorney, on Saturday called for Special Counsel Robert Mueller to end the investigation into whether Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election and if the Trump campaign colluded with Moscow in such efforts.

Dowd expressed hope that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein would decide to end the investigation, after Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Friday night fired former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe based on findings from the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility.

Trump tweeted Sunday minutes before Gowdy spoke: Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans? Another Dem recently added...does anyone think this is fair? And yet, there is NO COLLUSION!

Gowdy, chairman of the House Oversight committee and a former federal prosecutor, expressed hope that Trump and Dowd were not trying to strong-arm an end to the investigation and argued that the probe goes beyond trying to find or prove collusion.

Give Bob Mueller the time, independence and resources to do his job, Gowdy, of South Carolina, said Sunday. And if you are innocent, act like it.  If youve done nothing wrong, you should want the investigation to be as fulsome and thorough as possible.Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul on Sunday blasted former CIA Director John Brennan for suggesting that President Trump will be remembered as a disgraced demagogue, saying that Brennan spying on Americans while running the agency was disgraceful.

This man had the power to search every Americans records without a warrant, Paul tweeted Sunday. Whats disgraceful is attacking the Bill of Rights and the freedom of every American.

Pauls professional dislike for Brennan is epic and goes back years.

In 2013, he staged a historic, 13-hour filibuster on the Senate floor to block President Barack Obamas nomination of Brennan to lead the CIA, demanding answers to such concerns as whether the administration would execute a drone strike on an American on U.S. soil.

Then, 18 months later, Paul joined in a bipartisan call to have Brennan removed as the CIA chief, following revelations that the agency had spied on Senate Intelligence Committee staffers.

The most recent criticism follows Brennans response to Trump on Friday night after Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired FBI official Andrew McCabe two days before his retirement and eligibility for a full pension.

Sessions said he fired McCabe, the FBIs onetime deputy director, following an FBI report and an inspector generals report on McCabes handling of the investigation into Hillary Clintons use of private email servers while she was secretary of state.

When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history, tweeted Brennan, who on his Twitter page declares himself non-partisan. You may scapegoat Andy McCabe, but you will not destroy America...America will triumph over you.

Conservatives on social media also criticized Brennan's attack.

A year ago, media narrative was that intel chiefs were a bunch of apolitical boy scouts, tweeted Mollie Hemingway, an editor for the online magazine The Federalist and a Fox News contributor. As Brennan's increasingly unhinged tweets show, a year later, that narrative (and push by compliant media) looks patently absurd.

Samantha Power, a U.N. ambassador for Obama, this weekend defended the ex-CIA director, tweeting, Not a good idea to piss off John Brennan, then had to send a follow-up tweet in an attempt to quell the backlash.

Whoa! Just home & see much misinterp. of earlier tweet. Its testament to polarized times that it cd be misread as referring to something other than Brennans indignation, Power tweeted. So will translate: not a good idea to upset @JohnBrennan bc/ he will raise an angry (& eloquent) voice.Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., said Sunday that he had not met with or spoken to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan since 2013 -- despite the anti-Semitic minister's claim that the congressman visited him in Farrakhan's Washington D.C. suite more recently.

Ellison, the deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee, wrote in a blog post on Medium that "I do not have and have never had a relationship with Mr. Farrakhan, but I have been in the same room as him." According to Ellison, he and Farrakhan attended the same New York meeting with Iran President Hassan Rouhani "and nearly 50 others."

NATION OF ISLAM CALLS 3 BLACK MEMBERS OF CONGRESS 'SELLOUTS' FOR DENOUNCING FARRAKHAN

Ellison said he used the meeting to push "for the release of an American political prisoner," whom he did not name. The congressman added that he "didnt know Mr. Farrakhan would be there and did not speak to him at the event."

"Contrary to recent reports, I have not been in any meeting with him since then, and he and I have no communication of any kind," Ellison wrote.

Ellison's article contradicts claims made by Farrakhan in an interview published on the minister's Facebook page in December 2016. At the time, Farrakhan told interviewer Munir Muhammad that Ellison and Rep. Andre Carson, D-Ind., "visited my suite and we sat down talking like you and I are talking."

Farrakhan did not specify when the meeting with Ellison and Carson took place. The Indianapolis Star reported that Carson met with Farrakhan in 2015. The Washington Post reported that Carson had met with Farrakhan in 2016 "to discuss critical issues that are important to my constituents and all Americans."

GOP RESOLUTION CONDEMNING FARRAKHAN PUTS PRESSURE ON DEMS

A spokeswoman for Carson did not immediately respond to questions from Fox News about the meeting, including when it took place, whether Carson and Ellison met with Farrakhan together or separately, and whether Ellison's article was true or false.

Farrakhan drew backlash after a speech in Chicago last month, when he said such things as powerful Jews are my enemy and the Jews were responsible for all of this filth and degenerate behavior that Hollywood is putting out turning men into women and women into men. Afterwards, the conservative publication The Daily Caller reported that seven congressional lawmakers  all Democrats and all part of the Black Caucus, including Ellison -- had current or past ties to the minister.

Ellison also disavowed what he called Farrakhan's "intolerant and divisive language" toward Jewish people.

"I believe my long record of fighting and condemning all prejudice, including anti-Semitism from whatever source, should speak for itself," he wrote. "But those who aim to make me guilty by false association have made themselves hard to ignore."

In the 2016 Facebook video, Farrakhan critized Ellison for distancing himself from Farrakhan when he ran for Congress and when he sought the chairmanship of the DNC following the 2016 election.

"If [Ellison] has to bash me in order to get a job, help yourself, brother," Farrakhan said. "Say whatever you think will get you your DNC job. But you have not diminished me one atoms weight. What hes done is diminished himself. He cannot say that he didnt follow me at one time  He cannot say that we did anything to harm him or his aspiration."

Fox News' Elizabeth Llorente contributed to this report.President Trump responded Sunday to reports that fired FBI official Andrew McCabe took notes of their conversations, saying he never saw McCabe write down messages and suggesting the purported notes be called fake memos, like those purportedly taken by lying James Comey -- the FBI director fired by Trump.

McCabe, the onetime FBI deputy director long scorned by Trump, was fired Friday evening, two days short of his retirement and receiving a full pension.

The firing was followed by reports that McCabe kept personal memos detailing interactions with the president. The memos reportedly have been provided to the office of the special counsel conducting the Russia investigation and are similar to the notes compiled by Comey.

Spent very little time with Andrew McCabe, but he never took notes when he was with me, Trump tweeted. I dont believe he made memos except to help his own agenda, probably at a later date. Same with lying James Comey. Can we call them Fake Memos?

The memos could factor into Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation as his team examines Trump campaign ties to Russia and possible obstruction of justice.

McCabe's memos include details of his own interactions with the president, according to a person with direct knowledge of the situation who wasn't authorized to discuss the notes publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Trump on Sunday also tweeted: Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans? Another Dem recently added...does anyone think this is fair? And yet, there is NO COLLUSION!

McCabes memos also recount different conversations he had with Comey.

Trump on Saturday tweeted that McCabe's firing by Attorney General Jeff Sessions was "a great day for Democracy" and asserted without elaboration that McCabe knew "all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels off the FBI!"

In the past year, Trump has repeatedly condemned McCabe as emblematic of an FBI that he insists is biased against his administration.

Sessions said he acted on the recommendation of FBI disciplinary officials who said McCabe had not been candid with a watchdog office investigation.

An upcoming inspector general's report is expected to conclude that McCabe, who spent more than 20 years with the FBI, had authorized the release of information to the media and was not forthcoming with the watchdog office as it examined the bureau's handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation.

McCabe has vigorously disputed the allegations and said his credibility had been attacked as "part of a larger effort not just to slander me personally" but also the FBI and law enforcement.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.The White House announced Sunday that it intends to seek the death penalty for certain drug traffickers "where appropriate under the law" in a bid to slow down the country's opioid epidemic.

The White House also said that President Trump would call on Congress to pass legislation lowering the amount of drugs that would invoke mandatory minimum sentences for traffickers.

Trump was expected to formally announce the plan on Monday during a visit to New Hampshire. He will be accompanied by first lady Melania Trump, who has shown an interest in the issue, particularly as it pertains to children.

The president had promised to make fighting the drug crisis a priority during the campaign. At a rally in Pennsylvania last weekend, Trump suggested mandating the death penalty for drug dealers in the United States and claimed the American justice system was too soft on traffickers.

"You kill 5,000 people with drugs because you're smuggling them in and you are making a lot of money and people are dying. And they dont even put you in jail," Trump said at the time. "That's why we have a problem, folks. I don't think we should play games."

Trump made similar comments at a recent White House summit on opioids. "Some countries have a very, very tough penalty -- the ultimate penalty. And, by the way, they have much less of a drug problem than we do," Trump said. "So we're going to have to be very strong on penalties."

The Justice Department said the federal death penalty is available for several limited drug-related offenses, including violations of the "drug kingpin" provisions of federal law.

The White House plan amounts to a three-pronged attack on the opioid crisis: bolstering law enforcement against smuggling and trafficking, building up a campaign to educate Americans about the dangers of opioid abuse and over-prescription and improving funding for treatment through the federal government.

The plan's objectives include reducing opioid prescriptions by one-third within three years and ensuring that all government healthcare providers adopt best practices for prescribing such drugs within five years. The White House has also called for increased research and development through public-private partnerships between the federal National Institutes of Health and pharmaceutical companies.

Opioids, including prescription opioids, heroin and synthetic drugs such as fentanyl, killed more than 42,000 people in the U.S. in 2016, more than any year on record, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Trump has declared that fighting the epidemic is a priority for the administration but critics say the effort has fallen short.

Last October, Trump declared the crisis a national public health emergency, short of the national state of emergency sought by a presidential commission he put together to study the issue.

"We call it the crisis next door because everyone knows someone," said Kellyanne Conway, a Trump senior adviser. "This is no longer somebody else's community, somebody else's kid, somebody else's co-worker."

Fox News' Jennifer Bowman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.Politicians on both sides of the Atlantic criticized Facebook on Sunday after a former employee of data firm Cambridge Analytica went public with claims that the company had harvested information from 50 million users of the social network.

The employee, Chris Wylie, told Britain's Channel 4 that Cambridge used the data to build psychological profiles so voters could be targeted with ads and stories. Wylie added that the data was obtained from an app developed by an academic that vacuumed up data from Facebook users who agreed to fill out a survey, as well as their friends and contacts  a process of which most were unaware.

Facebook announced Friday that it had suspended Cambridge Analytica, best known for its work on Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. On Sunday, Facebook announced that it was conducting a "comprehensive internal and external review" of Wylie's allegations.

In Washington, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee told ABC News' "This Week" that Cambridge Analytica's work deserved further scrutiny by the panel.

"We need to find out what we can about the misappropriation of the privacy, the private information of tens of millions of Americans," Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said.

Schiff pointed out that the committee had only done one interview with Alexander Nix, the head of the U.K.-based firm.

"Even then it was by a video conference at the GOP's insistence," he said.

In a separate statement, Schiff said Facebook must "answer important questions about why it provided private user information to an academic, how they have informed users in advance of these kinds of data transfers, and whether it can demonstrate that this data has indeed been destroyed. They must also answer questions about how they have notified users about this breach of their personal data."

Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., told CNN's "State of the Union" that it was important to find out "who knew what when?"

"This is a big deal, when you have that amount of data," Flake said. "And the privacy violations there are significant. So, the question is, who knew it? When did they know it? How long did this go on? And what happens to that data now?"

In London, Conservative Member of Parliament Damian Collins said he would ask Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg or another Facebook executive to appear before the media committee, which he chairs.

Collins said Facebook has "consistently understated" the risk of data leaks and gave misleading answers to the committee.

"Someone has to take responsibility for this," he said. "It's time for Mark Zuckerberg to stop hiding behind his Facebook page."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.Airlines have standards to meet for the safe transport of animals, but technology may put pet owners more at ease.

Technology company Unisys has developed a new way for pet owners to track and even keep in touch with their furry family members when flying. The new Digi-Pet system, unveiled during the Cargo World Congress of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in Dallas last week, uses sensors and the Internet of Things (IoT) to keep animals safe.

Sensors monitor environmental factors like temperature, oxygen levels, vibration and light. The Digi-Pet system will automatically send alerts to pet owners and airline staff if there are any issues while the animal is traveling in the hold.

Through a subscription service, Digi-Pet also allows pet owners to keep in touch with their pets through live video streaming, photos and voice exchanges, via an app that works on smartphones and tablets.

We are emotionally attached to our pets and it can be distressing to be separated from them when traveling by air, said Venkatesh Pazhyanur, senior industry director of Freight Solutions for Unisys. Large pets  whether accompanied or not  must travel in the cargo hold. Unisys Digi-Pet uses IoT sensors to provide pet owners with full visibility of their pets comfort and the environmental conditions, as well as enabling them to talk to their pet  calming both the pet and owner.

Despite recent incidents of mishandling, airlines have standards they have to meet in the care and transport of live animals. IATAs Live Animals Regulations (LAR) are enforced by local governments. Airlines have taken action to improve their handling of pets and live animals. In 2015, Delta Air Lines introduced a pet-tracking system which uses GPS to determine the exact location of pets, and also monitors environmental conditions.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) monitors airlines performance and publishes consumer reports which offer all sorts of helpful information, including airlines records of mishandling animals. Consumers can review these reports to evaluate an airlines record before booking a ticket. USDOT also has a dedicated page for pet owners offering helpful travel tips.

IATA also has a pet-corner with helpful information for flyers.

The Animal Welfare Institute also has a good backgrounder on the laws governing the safe transport of animals by air.The seven airmen who died after their HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter crashed near the Syrian border in Iraq have been identified by the Department of Defense.

The Department of Defense announced late Saturday that among the seven fatalities was Capt. Mark K. Weber, 29, from Colorado Springs, Colo. He was assigned to the 38th Rescue Squadron at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia.

Four members of the 106th Rescue Wing at the Francis S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base in New York were also killed.

They were Capt. Andreas B. O'Keeffe, 37, of Center Moriches, N.Y.;Capt. Christopher T. Zanetis, 37, of Long Island City, N.Y.; Master Sgt. Christopher J. Raguso, 39, of Commack, N.Y.; and Staff Sgt. Dashan J. Briggs, 30, of Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.

NAVY F/A-18 JET CRASH OFF KEY WEST LEAVES 2 AVIATER DEAD

Master Sgt. William R. Posch, 36, of Indialantic, Fla., and Staff Sgt. Carl P. Enis, 31, of Tallahassee, both from the 308th Rescue Squadron, Air Force Reserve, at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida, were also killed in the chopper crash, which took place on Thursday.

Defense officials said that the episode is under investigation but that it does not appear to be a result of enemy activity.

This is the first deadly crash for the U.S. military in the war against ISIS in Iraq and Syria since 2014.

Fox News Jennifer Griffin and Nicole Darrah contributed to this report.The uncle of one of the victims of Thursday's bridge collapse in Miami blasted what he called the "complete incompetence" and "colossal failure" of the decision to allow people to drive under the bridge while it was still under construction.

"Why they had to build this monstrosity in the first place to get children across the street?" said Joe Smitha, whose niece, Alexa Duran, 18, was among those killed. "Then they decided to stress test this bridge while traffic was running underneath it?"

"Why they had to build this monstrosity in the first place to get children across the street? Then they decided to stress test this bridge while traffic was running underneath it?"  Joe Smitha, uncle of Florida bridge collapse victim

Smitha spoke Saturday as crews worked to recover the last of the victims crushed by 950 tons of debris when the bridge fell Thursday afternoon.

Police in Miami say they have now recovered all six victims from the collapse of a planned pedestrian bridge that was to connect Florida International university to the city of Sweetwater.

We finally got the last victim out, Miami-Dade police Director Juan Perez said at an evening news conference, adding that the identities of the final two victims had not yet been confirmed.

The cause of the bridge failure is still being investigated, including by officials from the National Transportation Safety Board.

The NTSB has confirmed that crews were applying what's known as "post-tensioning force" on the bridge before the failure. Authorities are investigating whether cracking that was reported just before the span fell contributed to the accident.

FLORIDA BRIDGE COLLAPSE SEEMED LIKE A BOMB HAD EXPLODED, WITNESS SAYS

Miami-Dade police previously released the names of three people who were killed in the sudden midday collapse of the span, which was being installed to connect Florida International University to the City of Sweetwater. The victims were identified as Oswald Gonzalez, 57; Alberto Arias, 54; and Rolando Fraga Hernandez, 60.

Navarro Brown, 37, also was identified as a victim early Saturday, but police said he died at a hospital shortly after the accident.

SECOND FIU BRIDGE COLLAPSE VICTIM IDENTIFIED AS WORKER

Brown was an employee of Structural Technologies VSL, although it remained unclear what work he was doing on the bridge at the time of its collapse.

The first victim identified was Duran, who was a student at FIU. She died after the structure came crashing down on her vehicle.

In a tweet Friday, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., wrote that Duran's death "hits close to home," because she was studying political science -- which Rubio teaches at the university.

FIRST FLORIDA BRIDGE COLLAPSE VICTIM IDENTIFIED AS FIU STUDENT, 18

At Saturday's news conference, Rubio praising the NTSB investigation for already making progress in just 24 hours. He noted, however, that the investigation could last several months as it will examine the engineering of the bridge and the decisions made behind its construction.

"These are not quick reports," Rubio said, according to the Miami Herald. "These are not three-month to four-month processes."

This was no easy task, police director Perez said, referring to the recovery of the bodies. Now we get into evidence-recovery mode and the investigation  We will continue to work hand-in-hand with the NTSB.

In a statement Saturday, FIU President Mark Rosenberg said the university would hold a moment of silence at 1:47 p.m. Monday, coinciding with the time the bridge fell.

I have met family members and friends of the victims. My heart goes out to them," Rosenberg wrote. "There is nothing I can say to ease their pain but we are putting our arms around them and doing everything in our power to support them. ... It will take time for our community to heal.

Fox News Kathleen Joyce, Matt Richardson and the Associated Press contributed to this report.A missing Pennsylvania teen who was believed to have run away to Mexico with a 45-year-old man has been located unharmed and in good health by authorities and was escorted back to the United States, according to police. The man she was traveling with was taken into custody.

The teenager, Amy Yu, 16, was located in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico, by Homeland Security Investigations agents, the Policia Federal Transnational Criminal Investigative Unit and the United States Marshals Service on Saturday, according to a press release from the Allentown Police Department. As for the man she was with, Kevin Esterly, he was placed in custody by Mexican authorities.

The victim and suspect were escorted from Mexico back to the United States on Saturday, ICE officials told Fox News, adding that Esterly would be extradited to Pennsylvania.

Police said Friday that they believed Yu left willingly with Esterly, and that the pair were already headed to Mexico by the time she was reported missing on March 5.

Esterly is facing a felony charge in the third degree.

Yu and Esterly reportedly had a romantic relationship and met at church a few years ago.Austin police are reminding residents to remain "vigilant" after announcing a suspected "serial bomber," identified as a 24-year-old white male, died after a confrontation with police overnight Wednesday. Officials warn the suspect could have set up other explosive devices prior to his death.

Over the past three weeks, a string of package deliveries left at least two people dead and several others injured after explosions rocked their homes.



The first explosion unfolded on March 2, killing 39-year-old Anthony Stephan House after a "device" exploded on the front porch of his Austin home. The blast was investigated initially as a suspicious death, and later as a homicide.

Ten days later, a similar incident was reported just 12 miles from House's home. A 17-year-old, identified as Draylen Mason, was killed and his mother was injured after a package exploded inside their home.

Hours after the second explosion occurred, police reported a third blast, confirming that at least one elderly woman was injured.

The night of March 18, around 8:30 p.m., a fourth explosion -- possibly triggered by a trip wire -- occurred. Two men in their 20s suffered non-life threatening injuries in the blast, including one who had nails in his leg, according to KVUE-TV.

"If this explosion was the result of a bomb using trip wire technology, that is showing a different level of skill above that we were already concerned that this suspect or suspects may possess," Austin Police Chief Brian Manley told ABC's "Good Morning America" on March 19.

Another device exploded early March 20 at a FedEx ground distribution facility in Schertz, Texas, injuring one person.

Schertz Police Lt. Manny Casas told Fox San Antonio a medium-sized package, which was heading to Austin, was on the conveyor belt when it exploded. A female employee was treated for a possible sound injury and was released.

All of the explosions are believed to be linked, according to investigators, and officials said they were not ruling out any possible motives.

Here's a timeline (in Central Daylight Time) of the deadly package explosions shaking Austin -- and what police are advising residents as they continue to investigate the incidents.

March 2

6:55 a.m.

Austin police receive reports of an explosion and find a critically-injured House. The 39-year-old victim is then transported to nearby Round Rock Hospital.

7:48 a.m

House is declared dead at the hospital nearly an hour later. Authorities announce House's death is being investigated as "suspicious."

10:45 a.m.

The Austin Police Department holds a news conference in House's neighborhood.

10:50 a.m.

Austin police say they've determined the device was inside a package, and are working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to reconstruct the item and learn who may have created it.

Right now, we're trying to determine how did the package get there and who was the intended target? We do feel that this was targeted at somebody. We're still trying to figure out whether that was the individual who died or not, Assistant Chief Joseph Chacon with the Austin Police Department tells reporters at a news conference.

Police say it is "an isolated incident and that there is no continuing threat to the community," adding that there is no reason to believe it is terror-related.

Anytime we have a bomb go off like that and somebody dies, the first thing people think is terrorism. While we cannot completely rule it out at this point, we do not believe that terrorism is a motive in this death, said Chacon.

House had also faced previous charges in Travis County, according to Fox 7.

March 12

6:45 a.m.

Austin Police received a call about an explosion in a neighborhood on the northwest side of the city after a 17-year-old resident found a package on the front step, brought it inside and opened it in the kitchen, where it exploded.

9:30 a.m.

Authorities confirm a teenager is dead and a woman in her 40s is seriously injured after a package explodes at a home in Austin, marking the second such explosion in the city within two weeks.

Police say the teen died at the scene, while the woman was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries.

The FBI offers to assist Austin police with the investigation.

10:45 a.m.

The Austin Police Department holds a press briefing in the neighborhood where the second package bombing occurred.

10:50 a.m.

Authorities say they believe the package bomb that killed the teenager and wounded the woman is linked to the deadly package sent to House's home earlier this month because they were both left on the front doorstep and not delivered by a mail service.

Manley said the U.S. Postal Service does not have a record of delivering a package to the Austin home where the explosion occurred Monday.

Police reclassify House's death as a "homicide investigation," instead of a "suspicious death," as the two incidents may be related.

Manley says investigators hope to collect surveillance video and evidence from nearby homes to identify a suspect.

"We're doing a canvas of the neighborhood right now," Manley says.

11:50 a.m.

Another explosion is reported in the Montopolis neighborhood, located southeast of downtown Austin.

The Austin Police Department confirms police are reponding to an "urgent" call.

12:08 p.m.

Austin-Travis County EMS officials declare a "trauma alert," announcing they are transporting at least one patient to the hospital following a reported explosion.

12:16 p.m.

Austin-Travis County EMS confirm in a tweet that a woman in her 70s has "serious, potentially life-threatening" injuries. A second woman from that address had an unrelated medical issue and was not taken to the hospital.

2:45 p.m.

Police hold another press briefing to update reporters on a third blast in Austin.

2:50 p.m.

Police identify the victim of the third bombing as a 75-year-old Hispanic woman, who is currently in "critical, but stable condition."

Based on evidence gathered at the scene, police say they believe the third incident is related to the two previous ones involving package bombs.

"We do not have a specific victimology ... at this point, we are willing to investigate any avenue that may be involved behind these attacks," Manley says.

Manley says it's not yet clear whether these victims were "intended targets," but asks the community to be vigilant.

"We are having innocent people getting hurt across the community," he adds.

March 18

8:32 p.m.

Austin police are dispatched to a southwest Austin neighborhood after reports of a "bomb hotshot" explosion.

9:16 p.m.

Austin police confirm two males were injured after another explosion -- possibly triggered by a trip wire -- occurred in an Austin neighborhood known as Travis Country.

10:27 p.m.

Police hold a news briefing to update residents on the latest explosion, which officials believe may be related to the three others.

"Not only do not touch any packages or anything that looks like a package -- do not even go near it at this time," Manley warns.

March 19

1:33 a.m.

Austin police hold another news briefing, with Manley at the mic.

"There have been reports in the media that this device was triggered by a trip wire, and we're here to say that's a possibility," Manley says. "So that changes things."

Manley then asks community members to have an "extra level of vigilance."

4:05 a.m.

Police ask residents in the Travis Country neighborhood to remain in their homes until the area has been properly cleared.

6:43 a.m.

Emergency alerts are sent out to residents in Travis Country, asking them to stay in place until police clear their neighborhood of "any hazards."

10:00 a.m.

During a morning press conference, Manley warns residents to look for "anything that looks out of place," including suspicious bags, backpacks or packages, especially if they notice a wire poking out.

"We [are] not willing to classify this as terrorism, as hate, because we just don't know enough," Manley says.

Manley says officials have noticed a change in the method this suspect is using, which reveals a "higher level of sophistication."

However, Manley adds, there are "similarities" between all of the recent explosions.

March 20

12:30 a.m.

A device explodes at a FedEx ground distribution facility outside of San Antonio, injuring one person. The pacakage was apparently addressed to Austin and is likely linked to a string of bombings that have rocked the state's capital this month, federal officials said.

6:07 a.m.

Officials with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) confirm they are at the scene of the explosion.

March 21

4:57 a.m.

The suspect in the bombings blew himself up during the early morning of March 21, Manley said at a news conference.

Authorities had tracked down the suspect to a hotel parking lot in Round Rock, Texas  about 20 miles north of Austin. The suspect drove away from authorities before the car stopped in a ditch on the side of the road, according to the police chief. When a SWAT team approached the vehicle, the suspect then detonated an explosive device inside of the car, he said.

One officer suffered minor injuries in the blast, while a second officer fired his weapon, Manley said.

Authorities identified the suspect as a 24-year-old white male. Officials did not say if he is from Austin or reveal a motive.

ATF agent Fred Milanowski said it was hard to say if the suspect acted alone.

Manley encouraged the community to be alert -- authorities arent sure of the suspects whereabouts before his death and he could have left behind more packages.

5:28 a.m.

In a tweet, President Trump acknowledged the suspect had died and praised law enforcement officials for tracking him down.

Great job by law enforcement and all concerned! Trump said.

Police warn residents to beware of suspicious packages

Federal law enforcement officials told Fox News the packages were made to look like mail.

Police warned residents who found any suspicious packages to call 911, and to send tips to Austin Crime Stoppers at (512) 472-8477 or Texas Crime Stoppers at 1-800-252-8477.

Fox News' Nicole Darrah, Travis Fedschun, Kaitlyn Schallhorn and The Associated Press contributed to this report.A man argued with his former wife at a Southern California mall before fatally shooting her then turning the gun on himself -- and frightening weekend shoppers.

The gunman, who was hospitalized in critical condition, had gone to a store inside the Oaks mall in the city of Thousand Oaks, about 40 miles west of Los Angeles. While there, he argued with the 30-year-old victim before shooting her, police said.

It was not immediately clear why they were arguing, the Los Angeles Daily News reported.

Police responded to calls of a shooting at the Oaks Mall around 2 p.m. local time. According to Capt. Garo Kuredjian, public information officer for the Ventura County Sheriff Department, a female victim was dead when police arrived and a male victim was transported to a hospital with a gunshot wound.

The suspect was reportedly seen chasing the woman, police said, adding that the divorced couple's children, were found safe.

Jeffrey Simpson, 17, was shopping with his mother when an announcement came over the mall's intercom about a threat outside the mall.

"I went to Nordstrom to get pants, and the next thing I know, the doors are being sealed," Simpson said, adding that he and his mom were "a little shaken" but OK. Police kept shoppers in the mall for more than an hour, but the shoppers were free to move around and employees were helping people stay comfortable and calm.

Matt Lemieux told the newspaper that he was using his computer inside a coffee store when he suddenly saw "a whole group of people" running by.

"It was creepy," he said.

The Los Angeles-area gunman, 33, was taken to a hospital in critical condition, the Ventura County Star newspaper reported.

People evacuating the mall were being asked to go to a fire station across the street for safety. The Thousand Oaks police tweeted out that the situation is contained and there is no threat to the public."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.A Cirque du Soleil aerialist with 15 years of experience died after falling to the stage during a high-flying performance Saturday night in Florida, the company confirmed in a statement.

"The entire Cirque du Soleil family is in shock and devastated by this tragedy. Yann Arnaud had been with us for over 15 years and was loved by all who had a chance to know him," Cirque du Soleil said in a statement.

Video of the Tampa incident that had been posted online showed Arnaud hovering approximately 15 feet above the audience before swinging back over the stage and then falling onto his side. Colleagues quickly rushed to his aid.

Witnesses told WFTS he was unresponsive when medical personnel rushed to attend to him.

Cirque du Soleil said it is currently gathering more information about the incident and working with authorities who are looking into what happened.

The show, known as Volta, ended following the incident and guests were given notices that their tickets would be refunded, Fox 13 reports.

The acrobatic show has been held in a tent at the Tampa Greyhound Track since mid-February.

MICHIGAN SHERIFF DEPUTY AND FATHER OF 11 LOSES FINGER IN FREAK ACCIDENT

A spokesperson for Cirque du Soleil previously released a statement saying that the show had been canceled.

This isnt the first time a Cirque du Soleil performer has been injured or killed on the job.

Former Olympian Lisa Skinner lost her grip during a solo aerial hoops act in November 2016 and plummeted about 16 feet to the floor. She had to be put in a neck brace before being transported to the hospital.

In October 2013, veteran acrobat Sarah Guyard-Guillot fell 94 feet to her death during the conclusion of a performance, which marked the first onstage fatality in Cirque du Soleil's history.Dead and dismembered goats, chickens and other animals were found in a San Antonio-area home Friday night after police responded to calls of a suspected animal sacrifice ritual, authorities said.

At least a dozen people were arrested and charged with animal cruelty, the San Antonio Express-News reported.

"There's a misunderstanding but we're not going to talk about it," a woman at the home told Fox 29 San Antonio.

Bexar County sheriff's deputies found the group inside a garage where a woman was cutting up animal parts and another person was draining the blood of a chicken into a container, Sgt. Elizabeth Gonzalez said.

"It appears that they were having some sort of unknown ritual," Gonzalez said.

Officers found 11 of the suspects gathered in a circle, officials told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Deputies additionally found multiple dead and mutilated animals in the residence, including goats and chickens.

As many as 14 people, men and women ages 23 to 65, were arrested and will face misdemeanor charges of cruelty to non-livestock animals, authorities said. The offense is a Class A misdemeanor, unless it is enhanced because of previous related offenses, they said.

Bexar County Animal Control Services removed several live animals from the scene, the report said.

Authorities identified 11 of the suspects: Alexander Gene Campos, 23; Ivan Felipe Gonzalez, 24; Carmen Maria Gonzalez-Trujillo, 41; Cynthia Gabriell Martinez, 29; Liza Mercado, 46; Marie Galan Murcia, 65; Ramon Patino Jr., 65; Luiz Rodriguez Ortiz, 41; Robert Talamantez, 55; Irma Garza Talamantez, 64; and Arteaga Ariel Torres, 39.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.A Disneyland security guard who for years has personally thanked veterans for their service at the theme parks daily Flag Retreat Ceremony has been silenced.

The voice of Marine Corps Sgt. Ernie Gunny Napper has been gagged in favor of a recorded message thanking veterans for their time in the military, the Los Angeles Daily News reported Thursday.

To all who stand here today and have served our nation, on behalf of Disney Resorts and our grateful nation, thank you for your faithful service to America, the 68-year-old Napper would say after he lowered the flag.

But starting about three weeks ago those thanks have been coming out of a loudspeaker, the paper reported.

Disneyland told Fox News that Napper still regularly takes part in the ceremony, along with two dozen other cast members. The resort made the change to provide a more consistent guest experience, and more important, to ensure all guests can hear the remarks.

A Disneyland spokesman continued, We understand that he has personally told his leader that he thinks it is better now that everyone can hear what is being said.

Still, Napper himself told the newspaper: A recording doesnt speak with passion from the heart.

Other visitors said they weren't happy.

Theyre sterilizing a very personal, powerful part of that ceremony where Gunny connects with the veterans, Susan Emslie told the paper. She is a self-proclaimed first-generation Disney kid who was in the park the first week it opened in 1955.

It breaks his heart to know he has to stand there silent now, she said, referring to Napper.

"Progress is great, but sometimes sad when traditions are changed -- Gunny Ernie Napper was one sharp dude, but he's a Marine and Marines are totally sharp," California military vet Gary Washburn wrote on Facebook Saturday.

Napper, who served 21 years as a gunnery sergeant from Vietnam to the Gulf War, has been a part of the Flag Retreat Ceremony since 1992, when he started working at Disneyland in Anaheim.

Back then hardly anyone was around when the flag was taken down for the night.

The paper reported that the crowds grew after Napper convinced the VIPs  Mickey and Minnie, Cinderella and Snow White, Donald Duck and Alice in Wonderland  to stop by the flagpole at sunset and bring the kids and their families with them.

The ceremony includes a band performing the "Star-Spangled Banner" and "America the Beautiful."

Click for more from the Los Angeles Daily News.A New York City firefighter, who heroically aided in the evacuation of hundreds of people in Lower Manhattan on Sept. 11, 2001 as the deadliest terror attack in U.S. history unfolded, has died.

Thomas Phelan, 45, of Brooklyn, died on Friday, according to the Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York. Phelan, family and friends told the New York Daily News, died from cancer linked to the toxic fumes at Ground Zero.

He is one of more than 170 firefighters who have died as a result of an illness related to the attacks at the World Trade Center in 2001, according to the association.

Phelan was working as a Statue of Liberty ferry captain on Sept. 11 when he helped evacuate lower Manhattan & rescue many people to the other side of the river, NYC Fire Wire wrote on Facebook. He brought supplies, rescue workers & was a huge part of the operation.

The ferry captain joined the Fire Department of New York in May 2003, where he was assigned to Engine Co. 55, the Daily News reported. Phelan later joined Marine 9 in Staten Island, where he worked as a pilot.

Mayor Bill de Blasio wrote that Phelan, whose heroism saved hundreds of lives ... in our city's darkest hour, would never be forgotten.

[Phelans] work during the evacuation of Manhattan on 9/11 will not be forgotten, the association stated. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family. This has been a hard week for firefighters.

Phelan's death came a day after two FDNY firefighters  Lt. Christopher J. Raguso and Fire Marshal Christopher T. Zanetis  died in a U.S. Air Force helicopter crash in western Iraq.The body of a missing Nashville firefighter was found Saturday, nearly two weeks after his vehicle plunged into the Tennessee River, authorities said.

The lengthy search ended when a fisherman found the body of 32-year-old Jesse Reed, Fox 17 Nashville reported.

The Humphreys County Sheriffs Department confirmed that the body was that of Reed, who had been missing since March 6, when his vehicle plunged into water near a local boat dock in Waverly, Tenn., the report said.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation told the Tennessean that an autopsy will be performed to confirm the body is Reeds.

A woman later identified as Reeds wife was also in the car, but escaped unharmed, officials told the newspaper.

Nashville Mayor David Briley commented on the search via Twitter.

"Our hearts are with his family and his brothers and sisters at @NashvilleFD," the mayor wrote.

The Nashville Fire Department (NFD) said its staff was heartbroken at the loss of their team member, the Tennessean reported.

My heart is heavy and I grieve for the loss of our brother Firefighter Jesse Reed," Nashville Fire Department Director Chief William Swann said in a statement. "I want to commend and thank the Humphreys County Sheriffs Office and all the volunteers from near and far who came to search for Jesse."

Reed joined the NFD in 2013. He was an advanced emergency medical technician and was trained in various rescue operations, the NFD told Fox 17.

"Every day Jesse came on shift he put his life on the line to serve the people of Nashville and to make sure that his fellow firefighters were safe," Swann said. "Our prayers go to Firefighter Reeds wife and his entire family. A newly-constructed pedestrian bridge collapsed on March 15 at Florida International University in Miami -- killing six people.

The victims included a college student driving a friend to doctors appointment, business partners running errands together and a father of three heading home from work, according to names released by the Miami-Dade Police Department several days after the tragic accident.

Read on for a look at the victims involved in the deadly incident.

Alberto Arias

Alberto Arias, 53, owned a party rental and decoration business with his friend, Osvaldo Gonzalez, also a victim of the bridge collapse.

Life is really something, Elizabeth Morales, Arias cousin, posted on Facebook in Spanish, according to the Miami Herald. Just yesterday, I was praying to God for the people who were there [at the collapsed bridge] without knowing that one of ours was there. R.I.P, cousin. A great human being.

Arias was reportedly helping his mother move, friends told WTVJ-TV.

He went out of his way to help anybody. He was a business owner and he just took a lot of pride in his work and family, Ismael Segovia, his cousin, told WTVJ.

Arias had studied at the University of Havana in Cuba, the Miami Herald reported.

Navaro Brown

Navaro Brown, a 37-year-old construction worker, was the second victim to be identified in the bridge collapse. He worked for Structural Technologies VSL, a company that strengthens bridges.

Brown died at the hospital.

Its unclear what work Brown was doing on the bridge at the time of its collapse, but a spokesman for the company told the Miami Herald that Structural Technologies VSL was providing installation support for our products.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Mr. Browns family and with the other affected employees, Michael Biesiada, a spokesman for the company said. We really appreciate the work of the first responders who immediately offered their help.

Two other employees with the company were also reportedly injured in the collapse.

Appleonia Brown, who identified herself as Browns cousin, said on Facebook that he was from Jamaica, according to the Herald.

Brandon Brownfield

A father of three, Brandon Brownfield died Thursday, his wife of nearly four years confirmed in a Facebook post.

Its a pretty magical thing to find your soulmate in this world, Chelsea Brownfield said. Like pieces to a jigsaw puzzle, our crazy curvy edges matched and we fit together like no one else could.

The coming days are going to be excruciating, as we dig deep to find the strength we need to heal. Please keep us in your prayers, as I now have to find the words and answers to tell my girls that their Daddy is not coming home, Chelsea Brownfield said.

The couple moved to Florida only a few years ago for Brownfields job in the crane industry, a GoFundMe page said. They had also recently bought a house in Homestead, Florida.

The Brownfields daughters are between the ages of 10 months and five years, a pastor at the First United Methodist Church in Homestead, where the family attended, told the Miami Herald.

Brownfield, 39, was driving home from work when the bridge collapsed. He was a member of the International Union of Operating Engineers, according to the fundraising page, which had raised nearly $70,000 by March 19.

Alexa Duran

A freshman at FIU, Alexa Duran, 18, was driving under the bridge when it collapsed.

Her father, Orlando Duran, told el Nuevo Herald that his daughter died after the bridge fell on top of her car.

My little girl was trapped in the car and couldnt get out, he said, according to the Miami Herald.

Durans friend, Richard Humble, was in the passenger seat of the car when the bridge fell. He told The Associated Press that they had been stopped at a traffic light when he heard the bridge creak. Humble was able to get out of the car  and reportedly needs a neck and leg brace due to his injuries  but couldnt get to Duran.

I was screaming her name so loud cause I just wanted her to hear it and she just wouldn't respond, the sophomore said.

Duran had taken Humble, who called her the nicest person he knew, to the doctors office to get medication that day.

The way the bridge fell, it fell on the drivers side, FIU student Manny Perez told the Miami Herald.

Lynnet Gomez, also a FIU student, also told the newspaper that Duran was an awesome person and the funniest person she knew.

Duran was studying political science at FIU, according to the newspaper. She was a member of Alpha Xi Delta sorority.

Osvaldo Gonzalez

Osvaldo Gonzalez was just days away from a planned trip to his hometown in Cuba to celebrate parrandas, a carnival-like celebration, according to the Miami Herald.

Gonzalez, 57, was in the car with his business partner, Alberto Arias, when the bridge collapsed. Arias was also killed.

Marisol Gonzalez remembered her brother as the best thing in the world and very cheerful, with a desire to live life to the fullest.

He was a family man, friend Amauri Naranjo told the Miami Herald. He had many friends because he was very communicative and he would help a lot of people here and he would also help with decorating the floats for the parrandas.

According to Naranjo, Gonzalez, nicknamed Ozzie, moved to the U.S. from Cuba in the 1980s and helped Arias leave Cuba as well.

Rolando Fraga Hernandez

Rolando Fraga Hernandez, 60, was killed when the bridge collapsed on top of his Jeep Cherokee, relative Carol Fraga told the Miami Herald.

Originally from Cuba, he reportedly worked as a systems technician for ITG Communications and as a truck driver.

The day before the bridge collapse, Fraga Hernandez shared a quote on his Facebook page that, in Spanish, said, Nothing is forever. Coffee gets cold, people leave, time passes and people change, according to a translation from the Miami Herald.

Fox News Paulina Dedaj, Madeline Farber and The Associated Press contributed to this report.A Michigan man will return to court later this month to face first-degree murder charges related to the fatal shooting of his estranged wife, a mother of four children.

"I just killed my wife," Shaun Wheeler, 39, of Rochester Hills, told deputies when he walked into an Oakland County Sheriffs Office station Monday, Fox 2 Detroit reported.

His 41-year-old spouse, Cory Ann Ehlers, was found lying on a bloody couch earlier that morning, the report said.

"This was a bombshell," family friend Larry Chalcraft told Fox 2. "I saw him back out of the driveway and he went on down the road. I guess he went from here to the police station and turned himself in."

"This was a bombshell. I saw him back out of the driveway and he went on down the road. I guess he went from here to the police station and turned himself in."  Larry Chalcraft, family friend

Wheeler reportedly told Oakland County sheriffs deputies the couple had been going through a bad divorce, MLive.com reported.

The suspect is stepfather of Ehlers children, according to the Oakland Press. He was being held without bond, facing the possibility of life in prison.

Rebecca Bezemek, a high school teacher of Ehlers oldest child, set up a GoFundMe account to support the family, Fox 2 reported.

Remember that these kids, that this family, will not only need assistance now but two weeks from now, but two years from now, Bezemek said. Its going to continue.

Tim Ciotti, another friend of the family, has set up an additional GoFundMe page.

A memorial service for Ehlers is scheduled for April 7 at Rivercrest Banquet Hall in Rochester Hills.An hourslong standoff in Clarksville, Tenn., between police and a man linked to a woman's disappearance ended Friday with police fatally shooting the man, who had fired at SWAT officers while barricaded inside his apartment complex, authorities said.

An investigation into the womans disappearance led authorities to the residence of James Vaughn, 49, of Clarksville, whom the Tennessee Bureau of investigation had identified Vaughn as the ex-boyfriend of the missing woman, FOX 17 reported.

Authorities have not identified the woman or disclosed details about the disappearance, but family members have identified the missing woman as Letitia Lane.

Vaughn reportedly refused to cooperate with authorities and barricaded himself in the apartment complex for several hours. SWAT officers attempted to break through the door but were fired upon. TBI said the SWAT officers did not shoot back.

Neighbors were evacuated and no one else was injured, the Leaf-Chronicle reported.

Police deployed tear gas and SWAT officers breached the door. According to TBI, Vaughn pointed two guns at the officers. The officers then fired upon Vaughn, striking him several times, killing him, a TBI news release read.A Michigan police officer is recovering after losing a finger during a freak accident on the job.

Oakland Country Sheriff Deputy Tom Kangas, a 29-year veteran of the force who works on arson investigations and as a canine handler, lost his finger when an excavator grapple bucketmade of steelclosed on his hand.

I think a week after the second surgery, when they took the cast off, he told Fox 2. And I tried to move my finger and it was a big disappointment for me when I realized it didn't work.

He lost his right trigger finger, his middle finger was severely crushed and his dominant hand, his right, has extensive nerve damage. Hell have to learn to shoot with his left hand.

They say the biggest challenge will just be learning how to draw from the holster, Kangas, who has already undergone two surgeries, said.

Even everyday tasks, like brushing his teeth and washing himself, require help from his wife Rebecca.

The hardest thing is his pain," she told Fox 2. "Taking care of him, is okay. It's his pain.

The injury not only sidelined Kangas, it's making it harder to keep up with five of his 11 children's medical conditions. They suffer from Chiari malformation and hydrocephalus, which can require a number of surgeries every year.

Kangas is receiving 80 percent of his base pay thanks to workers comp, but money is tight.

"I mean you're comfortable getting along with what you had and that comes to a halt," he said.

A fellow Oakland County Sheriff's Deputy started a GoFundMe campaign that has already raised more than $10,000 to help the family stay on its feet.A Florida sheriff's lieutenant was arrested and charged with driving under the influence Sunday after deputies found her driving her vehicle in reverse and honking her horn.

The Tampa Bay Times, citing the Pinellas County Sheriff's Department, reported that 41-year-old Christi Ruhtz was fired from the department after her arrest. The paper reported that Ruhtz was first hired by the department in December 1998 and worked in the Public Records Processing Unit at the time of her arrest.

Authorities said a Largo resident called police shortly before 2 a.m. Sunday to report that a vehicle was honking its horn. Ruhtz was the only person in the vehicle when deputies arrived.

It was not immediately clear why Ruhtz was honking her horn or driving in reverse at the time.

The sheriff's office told the Times that Ruhtz's eyes were bloodshot and glassy. The deputies also said that she performed poorly on field sobriety tests and a breathalyzer test showed blood alcohol levels of 0.14 and 0.13. The legal limit under Florida law is 0.08.

According to the Times, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office had been conducting a DUI crackdown on Saturday alongside local police. Twelve drivers were charged in the effort.

Click for more from Fox13News.com.A New York boy who became the youngest member of the Ithaca Police Department as an honorary officer at the age of 10, has died.

Colin Hayward Toland died at St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital on Saturday after a long battle with cancer, his family wrote on Facebook.

At age two, Toland was diagnosed with an ependymoma brain tumor. And while "he had many wonderful years of remission from the tumor, it returned in early 2015 and spread."

Toland's dream was to become a police officer. Despite his illness, the Ithaca Police Department welcomed him to the force on Sept. 12, 2016, where he had been involved with "ongoing training and community policing work."

The 10-year-old's first arrest came in December 2016 when he nabbed "The Grinch" at a holiday event in Ithaca for "stealing Christmas."

"We are all so proud of Colin's determination and positive spirit as well as the many officers who have embraced Colin, particularly Chief [John] Barber, to whom Colin reported directly until the chief's retirement in March 2017," Toland's family wrote on Facebook.

"His passing was more peaceful and gentle than we could have imagined. On his last day, he went outside and felt the sun on his face and the wind in his hair," his family said.

Eric Trump mourned Toland's passing on Twitter, sharing a photo of them and writing that he "will forever remain in our hearts  you are the reason we will continue to fight so hard for @StJude."

The Tompkins County Sheriff's Office thanked Toland for his service, writing that the department was "so appreciative of the positive impact Lt. Colin has had on our community. Thank you for your service. Rest in Peace."

The Cayuga Heights Fire Department, sharing similar sentiments, posted that "Colin and his family taught us all what true love and courage are."The assailants attacked under cover of darkness, slaughtering Nguli Nzafi 's wife and three children with machetes and arrows.

The 71-year-old, who also lost all 40 of his cattle in the violence, was forced to flee on foot some 90 kilometers (56 miles) to safety in the town of Bunia.

"I have lost everything because I no longer have my wife nor my children," he says. "I cannot eat nor sleep. I'm afraid that this fighting is as bad as the war in 1996-2002."

Violence between Nzafi's Hema community and the Lendu ethnic group in Congo's northeast has now killed at least 150 people and has forced more than 32,000 people to flee to Bunia, where humanitarian assistance is strained and the suffering are eager for improved conditions.

Another 28,000 have also fled into Uganda, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

There is a long history of tensions between the Lendu and Hema groups, whose ongoing battles since 1999 already have killed thousands and led the U.N. to deploy a peacekeeping force in the area. Much of it is rooted in economic tensions over land, as the Lendu historically have been farmers on stationery plots of land while the Hema have raised animals and moved throughout the year to good grazing areas.

Once those disputes erupted into violence, the cycle of tit-for-tat attacks caused a mounting death toll.

The instability here in Ituri province presents yet another challenge for the Congolese military and U.N. peacekeeping force who are already grappling with the threats posed by rebel groups, and with ongoing unrest in the Kasai provinces.

The latest round of fighting began in December, Djugu deputy administrator Willy Maese told The Associated Press.

"The Lendu had asked the Hema to give them part of their crops. Following their refusals, the Lendu launched attacks directly on the Hemas," he said.

Despite a reprieve when authorities came, fighting intensified in February leading to a wave of displacements, he said.

Kpadyu Londri, a 26-year-old from Djugu, said the Lendu came to steal cows and ravage fields. They killed his five brothers and a woman, he said.

He has found safety in Bunia, 75 kilometers (47 miles) from his home village, but he said conditions are bad.

"There are no tents so the rain falls on us, no beds, blankets ... we have already lost seven displaced (people), who have died as a result of starvation and dirty hands disease," he said, referring to outbreaks of cholera.

Beatrice Ngave, 23, lost her daughter to malaria. She called on international organizations to build more latrines and accommodations to prevent the spread of cholera and other diseases. Right now, she said, the camp has only two latrines.

Last week, youths in Bunia invaded the office of the governor of the Ituri province, with sticks and machetes, demanding the government to take action, said youth leader Joseph Tibasima.

Celestin Tawara Angaika, the president of the Lendu community in Bunia, last week asked the Congolese government for the protection of its members.

Congo's Deputy Prime Minister of Interior Security Henri Mova Sakanyi has promised "to strengthen the presence of the Congolese army and the police" in the Djugu and Blukwa villages.Greek police say they have arrested three migrant traffickers, a Turk and two Iraqis near the Greece-Turkey.

The traffickers were arrested after bringing 45 Syrian and Iraqi men, women and children across a river that forms the border between the two countries at that point. The traffickers used an inflatable motor boat and were on their way back to Turkey when arrested.

In other unrelated cases, Greek police said Sunday they arrested an Afghan and a Pakistani attempting to travel to Germany from Kavala airport in northern Greece using a stolen German passport and a forged Pakistani passport, respectively.A top North Korean diplomat is headed to Finland on Sunday for talks with the United States and South Korea.

Choe Kang Ils trip comes amid a heightened push to find a diplomatic solution to the problem of North Koreas nuclear weapons arsenal and ahead of a possible May meeting between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

According to South Koreas Yonhap news agency, Choe was seen at a Beijing airport before boarding a flight to Finland, where diplomatic sources told Yonhap that he would meet with former U.S. diplomats  including former U.S. ambassador to South Korea Kathleen Stephens  and South Korean security experts.

The gathering reportedly will be similar to the Track 2 dialogue that has involved North Korean officials and ex-U.S. diplomats and experts.

NORTH KOREA'S FOREIGN MINISTER VISITS SWEDEN AMID TALKS OF KIM-TRUMP SUMMIT

Choe was also in the delegation that North Korea sent to last months Winter Olympics in South Korea.

On Saturday, Sweden's foreign minister concluded three days of talks in Stockholm with her North Korean counterpart, saying they discussed the opportunities and challenges for continued diplomatic efforts to reach a peaceful solution to the Koreas' security dispute.

Sweden, which has had diplomatic relations with the reclusive regime since 1973 and maintains an embassy in North Korea, has been rumored as a possible site for a U.S.-North Korea summit.

According to CNN, Sweden is aiding in negotiations regarding the release of American citizens Kim Hak-song, Kim Sang-duk and Kim Dong Chul, who are being held by the North Korean government.

TRUMP SHOULD BEWARE NORTH KOREA'S PEACE OVERTURES -- KIM JONG UN CAN'T BE TRUSTED

Trump has agreed to meet Kim by May. However, North Korea has yet to comment publicly on what it hopes to gain from the talks.

Senior South Korean officials who traveled to the North Korean capital of Pyongyang this month and met with Kim say he is willing to discuss the North's nuclear weapons program.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.Straight off his controversial presidential election win, Vladimir Putin is calling accusations of Russia's involvement in the poisoning of an ex-spy as "nonsense."

Putin, who was re-elected to another six-year term as president on Sunday, said that it was "nonsense" to think that anyone in Russia could have coordinated the attack, which left former double agent Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter, 33-year-old Yulia, in critical condition.

EX-RUSSIAN SPY SERGEI SKRIPAL POISONED: WHAT TO KNOW

It's believed the two were poisoned by a nerve agent in a "targeted" act in Salisbury two weeks ago, investigators said. British Prime Minister Theresa May said it was "highly likely" Russia was responsible for the poisoning.

This attempted murder using a weapons-grade nerve agent in a British town was not just a crime against the Skripals, it was an indiscriminate and reckless act against the United Kingdom, putting the lives of innocent civilians at risk, May said last week.

May also said the nerve agent used against the former spy and his daughter is called Novichok, a weapon that was developed in the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War.

Putin said that Moscow would cooperate with the U.K. in an investigation of the poisonings, calling them a "tragedy." However, Putin said that if the claims that they were poisoned by the Soviet-designed nerve agent were true, the victims would've died instantly.

"Russia does not have such [nerve] agents," Putin said, according to The Guardian. "We destroyed all our chemical weapons under the supervision of international organizations and we did it first, unlike some of our partners who promised to do it, but unfortunately did not keep their promises.

Putin added that he thinks "any sensible person would understand that it would be rubbish, drivel, nonsense, for Russia to embark on such an escapade on the eve of a presidential election."

Fox News' Travis Fedschun, Katherine Lam and The Associated Press contributed to this report.Russian President Vladimir Putin won re-election with more than 75 percent of the vote Sunday, according to exit poll data.

The Russian strongman's election win keeps him as Russia's leader for another six years and allows him to claim the mantle of the vast country's longest-serving ruler other than Joseph Stalin.

Speaking to a crowd who attended a pop concert near the Kremlin marking his victory, Putin hailed those who voted for him as a "big national team," adding that "we are bound for success." He said that the nation needed unity to move forward and urged the audience to "think about the future of our great motherland." He then led the enthusiastic crowd to chant "Russia!"

Results from more than half of precincts showed Putin winning over 75 percent of the vote, with Communist candidate Pavel Grudinin and ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky trailing far behind with about 13 and 6 percent, respectively.

The eight presidential candidates were barred from campaigning Saturday, but the message to voters was clear from billboards celebrating Russian greatness  a big theme of Putin's leadership  and Kremlin-friendly media coverage.

TRUMP AND THE RUSSIA PROBE: WHAT TO KNOW

The last time Putin faced voters was in 2012, when he was up against a serious opposition movement. But since then he has boosted his popularity thanks to Russian actions in Ukraine and Syria.

Yevgeny Roizman, the mayor of Yekaterinburg, Russia's fourth-largest city, says local officials and state employees have all received orders "from higher up" to make sure the presidential vote turnout is more than 60 percent.

"They are using everything: schools, kindergartens, hospitals  the battle for the turnout is unprecedented," said Roizman, one of the rare opposition politicians to hold a significant elected office.

A doctor at one of the city's hospitals told The Associated Press how one kind of voting pressure works.

The doctor, who gave her name only as Yekaterina because of fears about repercussions, said she and her co-workers were told to fill out forms detailing not only where they would cast their ballots, but also told to give the names and details of two "allies" whom they promise to persuade to go vote.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SANCTIONS RUSSIA FOR 2016 ELECTION INTERFERENCE

"It's not something you can argue about," she said at a cafe Saturday. "People were indignant at first, said 'They're violating our rights' ... but what can you do?"

Yekaterina said she isn't sure what she'll do with her ballot, musing that "maybe I'll just write 'Putin is a moron.'" But she clearly understands that not showing up at the polling place Sunday will not only endanger her job, but will reflect badly on her boss, whom she likes.

The Russian doctor said she wouldn't go to vote if she wasn't forced to.

"What's the point? We already know the outcome. This is just a circus show," she said.

More than 1,500 international observers joined thousands of Russian observers to watch the vote. A Russian election monitoring group said Saturday it registered an "alarming" rise in recent days in complaints that employers were forcing or pressuring workers to vote.

IN JOINT STATEMENT, WORLD LEADERS AGREE RUSSIAN BEHIND NERVE AGENT ATTACK ON FORMER SPY

As U.S. authorities investigate alleged Russian interference in President Trump's 2016 election, Moscow has warned of possible meddling in the Russian vote.

Election observers and local media have reported threats and coercion of voters to re-register at their place of work and report later that they have voted.

Ella Pamfilova, chairwoman of the Central Election Commission who was appointed to clean up Russia's electoral system, vowed to respond to complaints about being coerced to vote.

"No manager has the right to tell them where to vote," she said recently.

Putin has pledged to raise wages, pour more funds into the country's crumbling health care and education and modernize dilapidated infrastructure.

Putin's main foe, opposition leader Alexei Navalny, was barred from the race because of a criminal conviction widely seen as politically motivated. Navalny has called for a boycott of the vote.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.The Italian news agency ANSA says a Spanish non-governmental organization's migrant rescue ship has been sequestered in Sicily by prosecutors' orders.

The seizure took place Sunday in Pozzallo port, where a day earlier the Proactiva Open Arms' vessel brought 216 migrants it had rescued last week in the Mediterranean north of Libya.

ANSA says Catania Prosecutor Carmelo Zuccaro is investigating three people for suspected criminal association for illegal immigration, including the commander of the boat.

Officials of the NGO couldn't immediately be reached for comment. ANSA quoted lawyer Rosa Emanuela Lo Faro, representing the commander, as saying "I guess they've instituted the crime of solidarity."

The NGO has said a Libyan coast guard vessel threatened to shoot its rescue dinghies if they didn't offload the migrants rescued in international waters.A Turkish news agency and Syrian activists say Turkey-backed forces have reached the center of the Syrian town of Afrin, the target of a nearly two-month-old Turkish offensive against a Syrian Kurdish militia.

Turkey views the Kurdish forces in the Afrin enclave along the border as terrorists because of their links to the Kurdish insurgency inside Turkey.

Turkey's private Dogan news agency on Sunday reported that the Turkish-backed Syrian fighters "established control" in the town center. Footage showed armed men walking among derelict buildings amid sporadic gunfire.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the Syrian fighters entered the town with Turkish forces amid intensive airstrikes. Thousands of residents have fled in recent days.Sunday is Election Day in Russia, and the Golos call-in center is a beehive of activity. Volunteers at this election monitoring organization are taking calls from voters reporting on irregularities. Lawyers are on hand. There is a group of analysts hunched over laptops in a small secluded room, crunching numbers to see if there are any suspicious trends as information starts trickling in.

For Golos, it has been a game of cat and mouse.

Its workers are periodically evicted or say landlords are pressured at the last moment to not honor agreements to let the organization move in. So, they had to hedge themselves and hold a few spaces in reserve for the big day, election day, moving into their office on Saturday night to avoid having much chance to get kicked out.

But they say they do think they are getting some protection from the head of the Central Electoral Commission, which is important.

Golos representatives say the biggest issue with this election is not bold-faced ballot stuffing, but the fact that voters have been under huge pressure to vote.

It has been drummed into their heads, according to Golos, that their nation is under siege and it is a patriotic duty to vote. They reportedly face pressure from teachers and employers. And, they dont necessarily understand what the consequences of not voting might be. They just get that they need to tick a box. And there are reports of groups being bussed to polling stations.

Golos Roman Udot said the other problem is the now-repeated scenario of not having real choice in Russian elections. He criticized President Vladimir Putin for not even taking part in the campaign.

Hes actually a coward. He was not taking part in those debates, even those castrated, Russian-style debates. It was not interesting. He was just doing a militaristic bombast thing.

Dozhd TV commentator Mikhail Fishman told Fox News, The only real issue Putin cares about is power. This issue is solved. There is no menace, no threat, to his authority from anywhere.

People in fact have been talking this week about the militarization of the political debate here. Some say it is about Russia craving respect.

In that regard, there are a lot of Russians who feel offended that the United Kingdom instantly accused their government of the attempted assassination of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, who remain in a coma. Those Russian voters may feel that Putin is the only one to stand up for them.

Candidate Ksenia Sobchak sounded a warning about that on Sunday. She said though Putin would win re-election, she worried a particularly strong mandate for him would only make his policies harder.

You see what is happening between us and Britain. We dont have any improvements, everything is only getting worse. And this will continue, because this is our foreign policy: very aggressive and very unpleasant.

At the time of writing, preliminary results have come out and Putin appears to have taken 75 percent of votes. That is more than his team even hoped for.

Putin addressed the poisoning of the Skripals for the first time Sunday night, saying, when asked, In regards to the tragedy you mention, I found out about it through the media and the first thing that comes to mind is that if this was a military-grade poisonous substance, then of course, people would have died there and then. This is obvious and people need to understand this.A Russian ex-spy and his daughter may have been exposed to the deadly nerve agent that nearly killed them through his cars ventilation system, according to a report Sunday.

Former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, are still struggling to live after being poisoned with Russian-produced Novichok in Salisbury two weeks ago.

ABC News reported that U.K. officials believe that the toxin was used in a dust-like powdered form and that it circulated through the vents of Skripals BMW.

Three intelligence officials said that the Russian military origin and the nature of the dusty substance are clear to them, according to the station.

It is a Cold War substance, something they claimed never to have, one senior intelligence official told ABC News, referring to Russia.

ABC also reported that intelligence officials said that up to 38 individuals in Salisbury have been identified as having been affected by the nerve agent and that more victims sickened by the agent are expected to be identified.

Also Sunday, the U.K. government said it has evidence Russia has spent the last decade secretly developing nerve agents to use in assassinations in violation of interntional law, The Wall Street Journal reported.

We have evidence that Russia has been investigating delivery of nerve agents and has been creating and stockpiling Novichok, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said, according to the paper.

The Associated Press reported that Johnson told reporters Sunday that Britain has information that within the last 10 years, "the Russian state has been engaged in investigating the delivery of such agents, Novichok agents ... very likely for the purposes of assassination."

We have evidence that Russia has been investigating delivery of nerve agents and has been creating and stockpiling Novichok.  British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson

Johnson added that Russia has been producing and stockpiling Novichok, contrary to what they have been saying."

Vladimir Chizhov, Moscow's ambassador to the European Union, said Russia has no chemical weapons stockpiles and was not behind the poisoning.

"Russia had nothing to do with it," Chizhov told the BBC.

Chizhov pointed out that the U.K. chemical weapons research facility, Porton Down, is only eight miles from Salisbury.

Asked whether he was saying that Porton Down was responsible, Chizhov replied: "I don't know."

The British government dismissed the ambassador's suggestion as "nonsense."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.Free Freightnet Membership

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Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.H-2B visas in Galveson County for 2017

The seafood industry and the landscape industry use the most H-2B labor in Galveston County. Companies can apply more than once for the visa slots during the year, so some companies have more than one entry.

Boyds Seafood, Texas City, seafood processors, 20

Captain J Seafood, Texas City, deckhands, 124

Coastal Employment, doing business as Prestige Oysters, San Leon, warehouse oyster shuckers, 50

Coastal Employment, doing business as Prestige Oysters, San Leon, warehouse oyster shuckers, 80

Coastal Employment, doing business as Prestige Oysters, San Leon, oyster boat deckhands, 84

Coastal Employment, doing business as Prestige Oysters, San Leon, warehouse oyster shuckers, 200

Galveston Shrimp Co. LLC, Galveston, shrimp processors, 75

Gulf Coast Oyster Inc., Dickinson, oyster shuckers, 15

Kaly Inc., Bacliff, deckhands, 23

Landscape Art Inc., League City, landscape laborer, 39

Mishos Oyster Co., San Leon, deckhand, 109

Mishos Oyster Co., San Leon, shucker, 76

Plant Process Equipment, League City, welder, 62

Source: Office of Foreign Labor CertificationLast Tuesday, EDF Renewable Energy representative Jake Salisbury updated the Winnebago City Council on the upcoming Oza Tanka Wind Project which will be affecting their area.

Regions of Prescott, Barber, and Walnut Lake townships will all be included in the wind farm project. Salisbury indicated Barber Township would be at the center of the projects, while Walnut Lake falls on the far east side of the construction plans.

The 200-megawatt wind farm will consist of approximately 80 wind turbines, and would likely be completed by 2021. Salisbury mentioned the wind power group is in the midst of pursuing land leases for their large scale project.

Upcoming environmental and wind resource studies, as well as biological surveys are also on the horizon for EDF.

Salisbury also cited possible economic developments opportunities for Winnebago as a result of the wind power project. EDF estimates Faribault County will be able to generate $800,000 annually from the projects production tax.

Additionally, Salisbury said EDF spends an average of $10 million during construction. He added that these funds have a positive impact on local communities where construction is taking place.

Winnebago is really one of the larger towns in the area, so I think this community has a higher chance to thrive with the amenities we have here, Salisbury explained. We typically bring about 250 to 300 workers to build these projects, so thats going to be people needing to buy your food and gas.

During the meeting, Salisbury also addressed growing concerns from residents who are opposed to the power project. The land acquisition specialist said he thinks there is a silent majority of residents who support the project.

I think some are a little nervous about coming out and expressing that they do want it, Salisbury said. Dealing with the opposition is just a matter of respect because they have an opinion that is also valued.

Other items from the meeting included:

CEO of United Hospital District Rick Ash updated the council on the state of rural healthcare in the area. Ash said he was pleased with the overall growth of UHDs expanded roster of medical specialists, as well as the upgrades in facility equipment.

Were continually looking at growing. Weve spent a significant amount of dollars on upgrading equipment and getting our facility current to make sure we remain competitive.

The council accepted a special ordinance to create and dedicate a new city street to be named Seventh Avenue SW. Dollar General, which donated the land to the city, has paid for the engineering and improvements to the street, which can now provide an adequate entrance to the store from Highway 169.

In a 2-1 vote, the council passed a motion to apply for a Public Facility Authority (PFA) loan from the Clean Water Revolving Fund in the estimated amount of $6,222,000.

The funds from the loan application would be used for improvements to the citys drinking water, municipal wastewater collection, and storm water systems. Meanwhile, council member Rick Johnson opposed the loan application, citing rising taxes as a main concern.

I disagree with it until we figure out how were going to pay the bill. To drop this on the very few taxpayers we have, not knowing how this is going to work, I cant support this, Johnson explained.

At the recommendation of the Utility Committee, the council approved the existing street sweeping policy.Microsoft Teams quickly became the business application of choice as state and local governments raced to equip remote teams and maintain business continuity during the COVID-19 lockdown. But in the rush to deploy Teams, many organizations overlook, ignore or fail to anticipate some of the administrative hurdles to successful adoption. As more organizations have matured their use of Teams, a set of lessons learned has emerged to help agencies ensure a successful Teams rollout  or correct course on existing implementations.Before the start, on the starting grid, Francesco Bagnaia said in a calm and tranquil voice: Were taking a gamble with a tyre choice different than the others, but we are sure about what we are doing.

And so it was: Pecco started from the third spot on the grid and braked late  hurling his VR46 Kalex into the lead  and an irresistible dance ensued, making a spectacular, yet clean ride. The hard Dunlops held out, just as he and the team and predicted, until Baldassarri arrived.

In fact, on the last lap, Francesco and Lorenzo found themselves in a battle for the win. After an initial successful pass, the team Pons rider yielded space to number 42, who exploited and won his first Moto2 Grand Prix race: It was a very long race  Pecco recounted  I had to push from the start and resist in the finale. I did it and I am truly happy, especially for the overall standings.

Baldassarri was also happy. After a dark 2017, the 2018 season is off to a brilliant start: And I had fun too he added with a smile after the race.

After a record pole position, Alex Marquezs Italian nightmare continues. After playing second fiddle to Morbidelli all last year, today he had to settle for third, leaving the glory to the two wild Italians, partially conditioned by a problem with his rear brake which turned incandescent orange after running long on a braking section.

Just metres behind the Catalan was Mattia Pasini, who settled for a fourth place finish. Between the Italtrans rider and Luca Marinis ninth place  making a strong comeback ride  the KTM machines ridden by Binder and Oliveira crossed the line ahead of German Marcel Schrotter and Xavi Vierge, all battling for fifth.

Moto3 champion Joan Mir finished his debut race in the category eleventh ahead of specialists the likes of Barbera  making his return from MotoGP  Simone Corsi and Dominique Aegerter.

In the opening laps, Romano Fenati was in the points zone, but then he lost speed and consistency until sliding back to a twenty-fourth place finish between Pawi and Joe Roberts. Sam Lowes return was not so good  in fact, it was pretty bad: a crash in the sand spelled an end to his Grand Prix race in Qatar.

Rider standings: Bagnaia 25, Baldassarri 20, Alex Marquex 16.Security, safety and peace of mind. That is what the Blue Earth Police Department provides for its citizens.

In addition to six-year police chief veteran Tom Fletcher, the citys police force consists of four full-time officers; Josh Crofton, Chad Bonin, Tharen Haugh and the longest tenured full-time officer, 11-year veteran Missy Felion.

The Blue Earth Police Department also employs a total of 11 part-time officers. Together, this unit is responsible for keeping a watchful eye on the roughly 3.5 square mile town, 24 hours a day, and seven days a week.

As Fletcher explains, he mixes in patrol work with administrative duties at the departments office located on South Walnut Street. Although the police chief works a 10-hour work shift starting at 7 a.m., there is still plenty of work to do after hours.

I do get calls and text messages in the office or at home, whether its 12 at night or seven in the morning, thats kind of how my day goes, Fletcher says.

Despite the quaint appearance of the rural Minnesota town, Blue Earth had its share of crimes in 2017. Fletcher revealed the Blue Earth Police Department made 109 arrests last year.

A total of 20 traffic-related arrests were made by the department, followed by 19 narcotic arrests, 18 assault arrests, and 17 theft and burglary arrests were made in 2017. According to Fletcher, these statistics are fairly normal yearly totals for the area.

Some years, there might be 115 arrests, other years it might be 102, but were always over 100, the police chief says. You would think if you live in a small town, there would be nothing going on, but there is. Theres always something going on.

One statistic the Blue Earth Police Department is extremely proud of happens to be their clearance rate, or the percentage of cases that have been solved. In 2016, the department recorded a 76 percent clearance rate. While the data for 2017s clearance rate has not yet been tabulated, Fletcher says his unit works extremely hard to ensure a large number of cases can be solved.

Thats a really important thing that we do. If youre a victim of a crime, theres nothing more important to you than catching the person who committed that crime. To have 76 percent of our cases solved is really an amazing number.

Each time the Blue Earth Police Department is presented with the challenge of tracking down a perpetrator, the unit follows a simple, but important protocol. By gathering evidence to determine who was involved, what happened, when the incident occurred, where it took place, why did it happen and how, it allows the police to narrow down a list of suspects for the crime.

Once the detective work has been completed, Fletcher says the odds of solving the crime increase dramatically. However, the perpetrator may walk free if just one of those questions remains unanswered.

Its always kind of done the same way. You have to figure out who, what, where, when, why and how, Fletcher shares. If you can figure out all those steps out, you can solve the crime. If you cant figure out one of those steps, you are going to have a hard time.

Ironically, chief Fletcher comes from a proud line of law enforcement officers in the area. His father Roger, and grandfather Earl, both served as sheriff of Faribault County.

At the urging of his wife, Mandy, Fletcher now displays a sign in his office which was taken from the old sheriffs building where his father once worked.

There was nothing that tied me into this office. It drove my wife crazy that I wouldnt move into an office or do something to make it mine, so now I have this, Fletcher chuckles.

The Blue Earth native, husband, and father of two, feels a special sense of pride to carry on the family tradition of protecting the community.

Its nice to work in the town youve cared about your entire life. Its nice to be in a place with people you care about because it makes the job so much more fulfilling, he adds.I had a chance to get away for a few days earlier this month and I ended up in Disneyland of all places. You know, the one in California, as opposed to Disney World, the one in Florida.

I have to confess, I have been to both of them a few times.

Growing up in San Diego, California, it was an annual event for my family. Disneyland opened up when I was six-years old, and I am sure I was there when I was seven, and several times afterwards, including when I was 10. I have the Super 8 home movies to prove it.

This time my wife Pam and I were there to celebrate my daughter-in-law Sues 40th birthday and we were there with Sue, my son Nate, my granddaughter Lauren who is seven (and was born here in Blue Earth) and my grandson Andrew who is 10.

The grandkids found it hard to believe that I had been there when I was their age. I explained that some of it was the same as it was 60 years ago. Some of it was not.

The train ride, Main Street, the castle, the teacup ride, the Matterhorn, all the same. The submarine ride that had been Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea with Captain Nemo was now updated to Finding Nemo. Not the captain, but the fish.

There are many new rides, of course. And what had been a massive parking lot when I was a kid (think National Lampoons Vacation movie and arrival at Wally World) is now another theme park called California Adventure.

And, just in case you are a Star Wars fan (and who isnt) Disney is building another massive theme park next to Disneyland that will be 17 acres of Star Wars. It was under construction when I was there and will open in 2019. We got a little preview of it and I have to say it could be something else. Amazing doesnt even come close to describing it.

Even though I have been to Disneyland/World quite a few times, I dont know if I was ever a huge fan. I always thought of it as hours of standing in line, hot and humid, way too many people and exorbitant prices. I think entrance fees once were $7 and you bought a booklet of ride tickets. Now a two day pass to both theme parks is over $200.

But, I changed my mind this trip. Perhaps it was because it was not that hot and humid, there still were lots of people, with way too many strollers, but it seemed manageable. Both of these things may have been because it was March and not summer vacation time. There still were lines, but with the use of Fast Passes, we zipped through a lot of them.

However, it may have been because my grandkids talked me into going on every ride and we had a lot of fun.

The highlight of the Disneyland adventure, however, came at night when they have something called Fantasmic. I dont even know if I can describe it. It is outdoors, along the river that has Tom Sawyers rafts. It suddenly transforms into a full-scale production that includes water jet fountains, fireworks, live actors, animation projected on the water spraying, a 30-foot dragon, full musical production and so much more. The Pirates of the Caribbean schooner and the Mark Twain Riverboat are all involved.

Mickey Mouse emcees the whole show, which is called Mickeys Imagination.

If you ever get to Disneyland, stay late and catch this show. It is almost worth that $100 alone you paid to get into the park. It is fantasmic. I mean fantastic.

But I digress.

Here is another observation. Every employee at Disneyland is happy, smiling, accommodating and makes you know that their one main goal is to make your Disneyland experience a fun and magical one. And they will do whatever it takes to make sure that happens. They are so well trained and Happy. Not a Grumpy one in the lot.

After all, Disneyland/World is billed as the happiest place on Earth.

I think we should have put Walt Disney in charge of a lot of the rest of the United States. Maybe he could have trained those employees of ours in Washington that we call politicians on how to get along.

In fact, if Walt Disney were still alive, maybe he should have been president, or at least Secretary of State. Just think, if he was entertaining foreign leaders or negotiating nuclear disarmament deals, he could have invited them to Disneyland instead of the White House.

Who could be nasty, mean and crabby at the happiest place on Earth?

After a day with Mickey, the politicians and world leaders would sign any agreement and leave with a big huge smile on their faces.

It couldnt hurt to try it. After all, government is sometimes a real Mickey Mouse operation.



Haiti - Security : Armed threats in the Maternity Isaie Jeanty !





In a note, Mary Greta Roy Clement Minister of Health and Population, said she learned with dismay the verbal and physical abuse suffered by the Medical Director of the Maternity Isaie Jeanty (MIJ) said "Chancerelles" in Port-au-Prince, by ill-intentioned individuals with handguns.



"This in a hospital environment is unacceptable and can not in any case solve the many problems faced by this establishment which was beginning to find a regular mode of operation."



She pointed out that the Ministry had recently undertaken a series of administrative reforms at the University Hospital Center, which was too often the victim of strikes, and that since then staff and patients had had a more relaxed working environment.



Continuing "[...] The latest protest movements that caused the closure of the Maternity, were orchestrated by former contract workers who have endangered the lives of hospitalized patients as well as staff forced to vacate the premises.



These unspeakable acts can not be used as an excuse to force the Ministry to recruit staff in a health institution whose vocation is to provide quality obstetric and gynecological health care in addition to its vocation of university training.



The Ministry condemns the acts perpetrated and recalls that health institutions are inviolable spaces and that no one has the right to enter armed, and even less to harm the lives of patients, caregivers and officials."



HL/ S/ HaitiLibre

















WHEN you sell flowers for a living, it makes sense to try to look after the environment.

But one Henley florist shop has come up with a novel way to cut its carbon footprint after starting to deliver bouquets by bicycle.

Staff from White Gdn in Hart Street can now be seen astride a bright orange bicycle on their way to and from deliveries in town, although the business still uses its van to reach customers further afield.

Owner Annette March said: It reduces our carbon footprint if we dont take the van out when we dont need to. Pollution in Henley is high as it is so every little helps. Parking is also limited so thats another benefit to using the bike as well as allowing the staff to get some exercise!

A few of the staff already ride in to work because its more convenient.

The bike is a Holland model without gears and has a basket to carry packages.

Annette said: Its a nice vintage bike. It gets quite a lot of attention when we go around town on it. It reminds people of what traditional florists are all about.

Deborah Coates, a member of staff who owns the bike, says it is something of a boneshaker. It was bought for her by her late father Peter 10 years ago when she lived in Italy and she had it shipped over when she moved back to the UK.

Deborah said: In Italy a lot of people ride bikes and I think there there needs to be more cycle lanes here  we are not bike friendly.

She came up with the idea of delivering bouquets on her bike to reduce the shops carbon footprint.

She said: By the time youve got in the car and started the engine you could have gone round the corner.

Using the bike seems a lot more logical and you can go down the towpath all the way to Marsh Meadows rather than sitting in traffic for 10 minutes waiting to go over the bridge.

People look and smile when they see me and its invigorating to be on the bike as you get fresh air.

Other members of staff, including Sheila Murphy, have done deliveries on their own bikes.

Annette said: Weve had vans beeping their horns at us when we are out on the bikes and everyone has appreciated it for sure!

Deborah said she might even customise the bikes basket with White Gdn branding, although the bodywork is too valuable to touch.

She said: Its a very special bike. You wont find one like it in the UK.As an existing print subscriber it is easy to get FREE access to all our online content.

When you click get started below it will walk you through creating an online account to attach your print subscription number to.

After your account is created it will ask you to either add a subscription for online access or click on the print subscriber button. Click the print subscriber button header and it will open a dropdown, now click on get started. The page will reload and you will be prompted to enter an account number and a zip code.

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO USE THE NUMBER OFF OF THE MOST RECENT ISSUE OR ANYTHING AFTER JANUARY 28, 2019 TO GAIN ACCESS!

OLD ACCOUNT NUMBERS WILL NOT WORK

The account number and zip code are easily available on your most recent issue of the High Plains Journal or Midwest Ag Journal in the address fields as is shown here. Sometimes the account number has extra zero's in front of it, just ignore those.Subscribing to our services is a three step process. First you have to create an account and then you have to pick if you want to subscribe to digital and or print.

Some people only want to be a digital subscriber to get access online and others want to also receive the print edition.

If you are already a print subscriber and want online access, it is free, you simply have to create an online account and then attach your print subscription account number to the online account you create.Israeli Man Killed in Jerusalem Terror Stabbing

The Fellowship | March 18, 2018

Just days after two IDF soldiers were killed in a car-ramming attack, terror has taken the life of another young Israeli man. The Times of Israels Judah Ari Gross reports that a 32-year-old father of four has died after being stabbed by a Palestinian terrorist in Jerusalems Old City:

A terrorist stabbed an Israeli man to death in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalems Old City on Sunday, officials said. The victim, who was critically injured in the afternoon attack, died of his wounds in the hospital on Sunday evening.

He was later identified as Adiel Kolman, a 32-year-old father of four from the Kochav Hashachar settlement.

The attacker was quickly shot dead at the scene by an Israel Police officer, police said.

Kolman was evacuated to a Jerusalem hospital where doctors tried in vain to save his life

[Kolman] sustained multiple stab wounds to the upper body and was taken to Jerusalems Shaare Zedek Medical Center for treatment, where officials said he was in very serious condition. He was treated in the hospitals trauma center, but died of his wounds despite efforts to revive him and life-saving treatment, a hospital spokesperson said.

The stabbing attack occurred along Hagai Street in the Old City.

In order to get the victim out of the narrow alleyways of the Old City, Magen David Adom used a specially designed buggy, medic Pinchas Balsberg saidImperial Valley News Center

On the Occasion of St. Patrick's Day

Washington, DC - John J. Sullivan Deputy Secretary of State: "As we celebrate St. Patricks Day, I would like to recognize Irelands remarkable contributions to the United States and reaffirm the strong bonds of friendship between our two nations and people.

"Throughout American history, men and women of Irish descent have had a deep and lasting impact on our country. Since our founding, these men and women have helped shape and strengthen America, including as signers of the Declaration of Independence, presidents, military leaders, authors, business titans, and much more. Irish fortitude, leadership, creativity, and entrepreneurship are woven into the very fabric of the United States.

"While we honor the contributions of past generations, we continue today to write the Irish-American story through a shared embrace of progress and a mutual quest to secure a more prosperous and peaceful future. Together, Ireland and the United States are forging new connections in the areas of security, trade, investment, research, and cultural exchanges.

"As communities across our two countries celebrate St. Patricks Day, I offer warm wishes for a safe and happy holiday."Imperial Valley News Center

Chief Executive and Four Associates Indicted for Conspiring with Global Drug Traffickers by Providing Encryption Services to Evade Law Enforcement and Obstruct Justice

Washington, DC - Vincent Ramos, the chief executive of Canada-based Phantom Secure, and four of his associates were indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday on charges that they knowingly and intentionally participated in a criminal enterprise that facilitated the transnational importation and distribution of narcotics through the sale and service of encrypted communications.

This is the first time the U.S. government has targeted a company and its principals for knowingly and intentionally conspiring with criminal organizations by providing them with the technological tools to evade law enforcement and obstruct justice while committing transnational drug trafficking.



With one American dying of a drug overdose every nine minutes, our great nation is suffering the deadliest drug epidemic in our history, said Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Incredibly, some have sought to profit off of this crisis, including by specifically taking advantage of encryption technologies to further criminal activity, and to obstruct, impede, and evade law enforcement, as this case illustrates. The Department of Justice will aggressively prosecute not just drug traffickers, but those who help them spread addiction and death in our communities. I want to thank the FBI, DEA, Customs and Border Protection, Homeland Security Investigations, Washington State Police, the Bellingham and Blaine Police Departments, and all of our law enforcement partners around the world, including Australia, Canada, Panama, Hong Kong, and Thailand for their hard work on this case. Today's indictment sends a clear message that drug traffickers and criminals cannot hide, because we will hunt them down and find them wherever they are.



When criminals go dark, and law enforcement cannot monitor their phones or access evidence, crimes cannot be solved, criminals cannot be stopped and lives can be lost, said U.S. Attorney Adam Braverman. As a result of this groundbreaking prosecution, we will disable the communication infrastructure provided by a criminal enterprise to drug traffickers and other violent criminals. Phantom Secure was designed to profit off of criminal activity committed by transnational criminal organizations around the world. We are committed to shutting these criminals down.



The indictment of Vincent Ramos and his associates is a milestone against transnational crime, said FBI Director Christopher Wray. Phantom Secure allegedly provided a service designed to allow criminals the world over to evade law enforcement to traffic drugs and commit acts of violent crime without detection. Ramos and his company made millions off this criminal activity, and our takedown sends a serious message to those who exploit encryption to go dark on law enforcement. I want to thank our partners at the Department of Justice, as well as our Australian and Canadian law enforcement partners, for their incredible work on this case.



Ramos was taken into custody in Bellingham, Washington, on March 7. Ramos made his first appearance in the Western District of Washington and will face charges in San Diego. The remaining four defendants are fugitives.



According to court documents, Phantom Secure advertised its products as impervious to decryption, wiretapping or legal third-party records requests. Phantom Secure also guaranteed the destruction of evidence contained within a device if it was compromised, either by an informant or because it fell into the hands of law enforcement.



The indictment alleges that as a result of its efforts to facilitate international crime, Phantom Secure has generated approximately $80 million in annual revenue since 2008 and facilitated drug trafficking, obstruction of justice, and violent crime around the world.



The international operation to arrest the companys chief executive and seize Phantom Secures infrastructure involved cooperation and efforts by law enforcement authorities in the United States, Australia, Canada, with additional assistance from U.S. and foreign law enforcement in Panama, Hong Kong, and Thailand.



Over the past two weeks, in cooperation with Australian Federal Police and Royal Canadian Mounted Police, more than 250 agents around the globe conducted approximately 25 searches of houses and offices of Phantom Secure associates in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Miami, and in Australia and Canada, seizing Phantom Secure devices, assets, and evidence of the charged crimes. The coordinated effort led to the seizure of servers, computers, cell phones, and Phantom Secure devices used to operate the Phantom Secure network, as well as drugs and weapons.



Ramos and the others - Kim Augustus Rodd, Younes Nasri, Michael Gamboa and Christopher Poquiz - are charged with participating in and aiding and abetting a racketeering enterprise and conspiring to import and distribute controlled substances around the world. The defendants have been charged with Conspiracy to Commit RICO in violation of 18 U.S.C.  1962 and Conspiracy to Aid and Abet the Distribution of Controlled Substances in violation of 21 U.S.C.  841 and 846.



Authorities have seized Phantom Secures property, including more than 150 domains and licenses which were being used by transnational criminal organizations to send and receive encrypted messages. Authorities also seized bank accounts and property in Los Angeles, California and Las Vegas, Nevada.



This case stems from an investigation in the Southern District of California of a Phantom Secure client who used Phantom devices to coordinate shipments of thousands of kilograms of cocaine and other drugs throughout the globe. According to court documents, there were an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 Phantom devices in use worldwide before the authorities dismantled the company. This coordinated action means Phantom Secures clients can no longer use these devices to commit crimes.



According to Timothy OConnor, Executive Director of the Criminal Investigations Division New South Wales Crime Commission, The disruption of the Phantom Secure platform has been one of the most significant blows to organized crime in Australia.



In addition to our foreign law enforcement partners, the U.S. Attorneys Office further recognizes the support and assistance of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; Customs and Border Protection; the Department of Homeland Security; Seattle and Las Vegas field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Washington State Police Department; the City of Bellingham, Washington Police Department; the City of Blaine, Washington Police Department; and the Canada Border Services Agency, among others, without whose help this prosecution could not have been possible.



Speaking on behalf of Australian law enforcement authorities, Australian Federal Police (AFP) Assistant Commissioner Organised Crime, Neil Gaughan said today Australias role in this complex and unique investigation began in early 2017 following an exchange of intelligence with the FBI and Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).



As a result, Australian authorities executed 19 search warrants across four states last week as part of the international action, where more than 1,000 encrypted mobile devices were seized.



The action taken in the U.S. directly impacts the upper echelons of organized crime both here in Australia and offshore, who until now have been able to confidently control and direct illicit activity like drug importations, money laundering and associated serious criminal offending, said Assistant Commissioner Gaughan.



Our thanks go to our international partners  the FBI and RCMP  who have been outstanding in working methodically around the clock together with us on this unique investigation. Without their cooperation, commitment and shared singular drive, Australian law enforcement agencies would not be announcing this significant result today.



Australian agencies involved in this investigation include the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, the New South Wales Crime Commission, state police from New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia, the Australian Tax Office and financial intelligence agency AUSTRAC.



This investigation is a prime example of law enforcement agencies from around the world working together to identify, investigate and charge people involved in transnational criminal activity, says Assistant Commissioner Jim Gresham, RCMP Criminal Operations Officer, Investigative Services and Organized Crime. We remain committed to investigating and disrupting these illegal activities that adversely affect each of our communities.



This case is the result of ongoing efforts by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), a partnership that brings together the combined expertise and unique abilities of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, dismantle and prosecute high-level members of drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations and enterprises.



The charges and allegations contained in an indictment or complaint are merely accusations, and the defendants are considered innocent unless and until proven guilty.





DEFENDANTS



Vincent Ramos (1) Richmond, British Columbia Canada

aka CEO

aka Business



Kim Augustus Rodd (2) Phuket, Thailand

aka Visith Vongthai

aka Snowstar

aka Global



Younes Nasri (3) Dubai, United Arab Emirates

aka Maestro

aka Jesse



Michael Gamboa (4) Los Angeles, CA

aka Chino



Christopher Poquiz (5) Los Angeles, CA

aka Caddy

aka Cad





SUMMARY OF CHARGES



Racketeering Conspiracy to Conduct Enterprise Affairs (RICO Conspiracy), in violation of 18 USC 1962(d)

Maximum Penalty: Life in prison



Conspiracy to Aid and Abet the Distribution of Narcotics, in violation of 21 USC 841 and 846; Title 18 USC 2

Maximum Penalty: Life in prisonImperial Valley News Center

Border Patrol Agents Arrest Convicted Child Molester

Quartzsite, Arizona - Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents working near Quartzsite, Arizona arrested a convicted child molester and three other Mexican nationals Sunday.

Early Sunday morning, Blythe Station agents began tracking a group of four subjects who walked around the Highway 95 Immigration Checkpoint. The agents located the subjects and determined them all to be Mexican nationals illegally in the United States. They were arrested and transported to Blythe Station for processing.

During routine processing and records checks, one of the subjects was identified as 36-year-old Alonzo Bustos-Trujillo, a previously deported Mexican national convicted of child molestation in Bellflower, California, in 2011. He was sentenced to 365 days in jail and five years of probation for that crime. It was also determined during the interview process that Bustos-Trujillo was headed from Yuma to Los Angeles.

Bustos-Trujillo is being prosecuted for re-entry after deportation. The other three Mexican nationals were processed for immigration violations.

Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents effectively combat smuggling organizations attempting to illegally transport people and contraband through southwestern Arizona and California. Citizens can help the Border Patrol and U.S. Customs and Border Protection by calling 1-866-999-8727 toll-free to report suspicious activity. Callers can remain anonymous.Doctor who Illegally Distributed Prescription Painkillers and Laundered Proceeds Sentenced to 160 Months in Federal Prison

Santa Ana, California - A San Gabriel Valley doctor who pleaded guilty to a federal drug trafficking charge for illegally distributing the powerful opioid best known by the brand name OxyContin was sentenced today to over 13 years in federal prison.

Dr. Daniel Cham, 49, a Covina resident who formerly operated a clinic in La Puente, was sentenced Wednesday by United States District Judge Andrew J. Guilford.

As he was sentencing Cham today, Judge Guilford expressed concern that other doctors havent gotten the message of the seriousness of this activity.

Cham pleaded guilty in April 2016 to one count of distribution of oxycodone, a powerful and addictive painkiller marketed under various names, including OxyContin, Vicodin and Norco. Cham also pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering.

In documents filed in relation to todays sentencing, prosecutors wrote that Cham stands before the court for selling prescriptions for massive amounts of oxycodone to persons he well knew were drug dealers and addicts, in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash. Defendants illegal prescriptions killed at least two addicted youths, including a 22-year-old woman and 28-year-old man.

The young woman, who was a resident of Oregon, died after ingesting narcotics prescribed by Cham to members of Oregon-based drug trafficking conspiracy. Cham issued prescriptions in the names of the Oregon drug traffickers  many of whom he had never met  and Cham created fake paperwork to make it falsely appear he had examined the patients. Investigators in Oregon identified over 12,000 pills of oxycodone that Cham illegally prescribed to the drug traffickers in that state.

There is an opioid-abuse epidemic in this nation, and some of that drug abuse is fueled by unscrupulous doctors like this defendant, said United States Attorney Nicola T. Hanna. The lengthy sentence imposed in this case is the direct result of this defendants profiting from prescribing narcotics to persons he knew to be addicts and drug dealers  actions that led to fatal overdoses for two people.

In a plea agreement filed in this case, Cham admitted that he unlawfully prescribed oxycodone to an undercover agent posing as a patient in March 2014 in exchange for $300 in money orders, which Cham then deposited into a bank account held in the name of another business. Cham made the deposit knowing that the transaction was designed to conceal and disguise the nature and source of the money orders, according to the plea agreement.

Acting on tip about a pharmacy that was filling a large number of prescriptions written by Cham, special agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration discovered a large-scale criminal operation in which Cham was writing thousands of prescriptions for powerful painkillers, often in combination with alprazolam (often sold under brand name Xanax) or carisoprodol (often sold under the brand name Soma), according to court documents. The combination of these drugs is particularly dangerous, and is associated with the majority of overdose deaths, according to a sentencing memorandum filed in court.

A doctor who specializes in pain management and addiction reviewed Chams history of writing prescriptions and found gross and overwhelming evidence of inappropriate prescribing of narcotics and controlled drugs. The expert also reviewed recordings made by undercover operatives who obtained prescriptions from Cham and found that the doctor was essentially at that point dealing drugs.

An affidavit previously filed in this case discussed how an undercover officer made three visits to Chams La Puente office in 2014, and how Cham wrote prescriptions for controlled substances in exchange for $200 or $300 in cash or money orders. As discussed in the court document, Cham issued a prescription for oxycodone even though the undercover operative said he had been high and drunk while receiving controlled substance prescriptions previously from Cham. On another occasion, Cham prescribed oxycodone even though the undercover law enforcement officer presented, in lieu of photo identification, a written notice that his license had been suspended for driving under the influence.

Dr. Cham broke the Hippocratic Oath he swore to uphold when he became a physician  instead of serving the public good, his actions caused harm and death, said DEA Special Agent in Charge David J. Downing. Cham was no longer functioning as a healer but a common drug dealer, and his sentence should serve as a cautionary tale to other physicians who would choose this path for the sake of greed.

Not only did defendant Cham abdicate his oath as a physician, he deliberately caused harm by continuously drugging addicts who were in need of rehabilitation, said Paul Delacourt, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBIs Los Angeles Field Office. The FBI will continue to work with our partners to end illegal drug networks operating out of doctors offices.

In his plea agreement, Cham also agrees to forfeit to the government more than $60,000 in cash that he admits are proceeds of illegal activity.

While exploiting his patients addictions for his own personal gain, Cham laundered tens of thousands of dollars in cash and money orders through bank accounts held in fake business names such as Good Life 2 LLC. The good life Cham created for himself was fueled by a callous disregard for his patients well-being, stated R. Damon Rowe, Special Agent in Charge for IRS Criminal Investigation. IRS Criminal Investigation contributes our financial expertise in an effort to stop criminals who profit from the illegal trade of dangerous narcotics and take away any financial benefit they receive from their criminal activity.

The investigation into Cham was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation Los Angeles and Portland Field Offices, IRS Criminal Investigation, the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Departments Health Authority Law Enforcement Task Force, the California Medical Board, and the Los Angeles Police Department.

The case against Cham was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Benjamin Barron of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force.Former Nashville Judge Indicted on Additional Federal Obstruction and Theft Charges

Nashville, Tennessee - A federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment against a former Nashville, Tennessee judge on obstruction and other charges stemming from a scheme in which he abused his official position for personal gain. Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the Justice Departments Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Don Cochran for the Middle District of Tennessee made the announcement.

Cason Casey Moreland, 60, of Nashville, Tennessee, was originally indicted in April 2017 on five counts of obstruction of justice. The superseding indictment returned yesterday adds five additional counts: two counts related to theft from a program receiving federal funds; two additional obstruction of justice counts relating to witness tampering and destruction of documents; and one count of committing an offense while on pretrial release. Moreland was arrested again on March 1, 2018, pursuant to a criminal complaint charging him with obstruction charges.

According to the superseding indictment, Moreland was a General Sessions Judge in Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee and heard civil, criminal and traffic cases. Moreland also presided over the General Sessions Drug Treatment Court, which was a specialized court program designed to provide alternatives to incarceration for certain defendants. The work of the Drug Treatment Court was supported by a nonprofit entity called the Davidson County Drug Court Foundation (the Drug Court Foundation). Although Moreland did not have an official position with the Drug Court Foundation, he exercised de facto authority over the Drug Court Foundations operations. Beginning in Spring 2016, Moreland is alleged to have begun embezzling cash from the Drug Court Foundation. According to the indictment, Moreland directed the Drug Court Foundations director to deliver envelopes of the Drug Court Foundations cash to his office in exchange for allowing the director to increase the compensation that she received from the Drug Court Foundation.

According to the superseding indictment, Moreland became aware that he was a target of an investigation being conducted by the FBI and a federal grand jury in February 2017. The superseding indictment alleges that after learning of the investigation, Moreland took steps to obstruct and interfere with the investigation by directing the Drug Court Foundations director to destroy documents that would show the amount of cash that had been paid to the Foundation and ultimately stolen by Moreland. In February 2018, Moreland is alleged to have attempted to tamper with a witness by suggesting that she lie to the grand jury investigating his conduct.

An indictment is merely an accusation. The defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

This case was investigated by the FBI and is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Lauren Bell and Andrew Laing of the Criminal Divisions Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Cecil VanDevender of the Middle District of Tennessee.Historic St. Helena Parish, Louisiana, Public School Desegregation Case Successfully Resolved

Washington, DC - Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice and United States Attorney Brandon Fremin for the Middle District of Louisiana announced today the successful resolution of the oldest current school desegregation case in the State of Louisiana, involving the St. Helena Parish Public School District.

In 1952, Robert Carter and others filed this action asserting that the St. Helena Parish School Board was operating in a racially dual system in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The Justice Department subsequently joined the litigation as a plaintiff-intervenor in 1961. The case predated the United States Supreme Courts decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. The complaint under which this historic lawsuit was commenced was signed by Thurgood Marshall before he was seated on the Supreme Court.

On May 20, 1960, the Court entered an order enjoining the State of Louisiana, including the St. Helena Parish School Board, from excluding African-American students from public schools because of their race. Since then, the U.S. District Court has overseen the school districts efforts to comply with the 1960 order and further orders mandating the desegregation of its schools. Such oversight would continue until the school district achieved unitary status, a milestone it recently reached.

Judge James J. Brady issued a ruling on April 5, 2016, declaring that St. Helena Parish Public School District had obtained unitary status in all areas except student assignment. On Feb. 15, 2018, all parties to the litigation filed a joint motion seeking dismissal of the action and a declaration that the school district has achieved full unitary status. This morning, Chief U.S. District Judge Brian A. Jackson granted the joint motion, dissolving all injunctions emanating from the action and dismissing the matter with prejudice.

We commend the St. Helena Parish School District for satisfying its remaining obligations in this case and ensuring equal educational opportunities for all students, said Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore of the Civil Rights Division. We have been pleased to work with the district to resolve outstanding issues and bring the case to a successful close.

Today is a historic day for all the people of St. Helena Parish," said U.S. Attorney Brandon Fremin. "The road to desegregating our schools has undoubtedly been challenging and marked by great difficulties, but it is a road that had to be traveled, both legally and morally. I commend Chief Judge Jackson and his predecessors, including the late Judges Brady and Parker, as well as the parties and their attorneys, for their collective dedication to this important and historic matter.

This matter was handled by Franz Marshall and Christopher Awad of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice as well as Assistant United States Attorney John Gaupp, who serves as the Chief of the Civil Division of the United States Attorneys Office.Former Siemens Executive Pleads Guilty To Role in $100 Million Foreign Bribery Scheme

Washington, DC - The former Technical Manager of the Major Projects division of Siemens Business Services GmbH & Co. OGH (SBS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Siemens Aktiengesellschaft (Siemens AG), pleaded guilty today to conspiring to pay tens of millions of dollars in bribes to Argentine government officials to secure, implement and enforce a $1 billion contract to create national identity cards.

Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the Justice Departments Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman of the Southern District of New York and Assistant Director in Charge Andrew W. Vale of the FBIs Washington, D.C. Field Office made the announcement.

Eberhard Reichert, 78, of Munich, Germany, was employed by Siemens AG from 1964 until 2001. Beginning in approximately 1990, Reichert was the Technical Manager of the Major Projects division of SBS. Reichert pleaded guilty today in the Southern District of New York to one count of conspiring to violate the anti-bribery, internal controls and books and records provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and to commit wire fraud. Reichert was arraigned last December on a three-count indictment filed in December 2011 charging him and seven other individuals. He will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Denise L. Cote of the Southern District of New York, who accepted his plea today.

Far too often, companies pay bribes as part of their business plan, upsetting what should be a level playing field and harming companies that play by the rules, said Acting Assistant Attorney General Cronan. In this case, one of the largest public companies in the world paid staggeringly large bribes to officials at the uppermost levels of the government of Argentina to secure a billion-dollar contract. Eberhard Reicherts conviction demonstrates the Criminal Divisions commitment to bringing both companies and corrupt individuals to justice, wherever they may reside and regardless of how long they may attempt to avoid arrest.

Eberhard Reichert tried to sidestep laws designed to root corruption out of the government contracting process, said U.S. Attorney Berman. As he admitted in Manhattan federal court today, Reichert helped to conceal tens of millions of dollars in bribes that were paid to unfairly secure a lucrative contract from the Argentine government. Todays plea should be a warning to others that our office is committed to bringing corrupt criminals to justice, no matter how long they run from the law.

In 1998, the government of Argentina awarded to a subsidiary of Siemens AG a contract worth approximately $1 billion to create state-of-the-art national identity cards (the Documento Nacional de Identidad or DNI project). The Argentine government terminated the DNI project in 2001. In connection with his guilty plea, Reichert admitted that he engaged in a decade-long scheme to pay tens of millions of dollars in bribes to Argentine government officials in connection with the DNI project, which was worth more than $1 billion to Siemens. Reichert admitted that he and his co-conspirators concealed the illicit payments through various means, including using shell companies associated with intermediaries to disguise and launder the funds.

Reichert also admitted that he used a $27 million contract between a Siemens entity and a company called MFast Consulting AG that purported to be for consulting services to conceal bribes to Argentine officials.

In 2008, Siemens AG, a German entity, pleaded guilty to violating the books and records provisions of the FCPA; Siemens Argentina pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the books and records provisions of the FCPA; and Siemens Bangladesh Limited and Siemens S.A.  Venezuela each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery and books and records provisions of the FCPA. As part of the plea agreements, the Siemens companies paid a total of $450 million in criminal fines. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also brought a civil case against Siemens AG alleging that it violated the anti-bribery, books and records and internal controls provisions of the FCPA. In resolving the SEC case, Siemens AG paid $350 million in disgorgement of wrongful profits. The Munich Public Prosecutors Office also resolved similar charges with Siemens AG that resulted in a fine of $800 million. In August 2009, following these corporate resolutions with U.S. and German authorities, Siemens AG withdrew its claim to the more than $200 million arbitration award.

The FBIs International Corruption Squad in Washington, D.C. is investigating the case. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Michael Culhane Harper of the Criminal Divisions Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Niketh Velamoor of the Southern District of New York. The Criminal Divisions Office of International Affairs, the SEC, Croatian authorities and the Munich Public Prosecutors Office also provided significant assistance.

The Criminal Divisions Fraud Section is responsible for investigating and prosecuting all FCPA matters.MPs sitting on an influential environment committee are considering an investigation after it emerged millions of poultry are being slaughtered without an effective stun.

Around 180 million chickens and other poultry were killed last year using an electric shock vets deem insufficient to guarantee unconsciousness because of a loophole in the law, Government figures suggest.

Experts said the shocking figures called into question Britains claim to be a world leader in animal welfare.

Stunning ensures animals are dead or unconscious at the moment their throats are cut, meaning they do not feel pain.

Slaughterhouses can only use stunning methods exempt from EU regulations because of religious rites, where animals are not stunned in the usual way because of religious conventions.

But figures show that while 20 per cent of chickens were slaughtered under religious rites rules last year, less than five per cent of the population  followers of Islamic and Jewish law  need to buy meat produced this way.

Kerry McCarthy, who sits on the Environmental, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, told The Independent she planned to raise the issue as part of an investigation into allegations of malpractice at 2 Sisters, the UKs biggest food company.

Paul Flynn, who also sits on the committee, said the very worrying figures were something he would certainly consider raising at future committee meetings.

The shocking figures come as animal welfare has come under increased scrutiny as the UK prepares for Brexit.

Despite Environment Secretary Michael Goves insistence Britain could have higher standards of animal welfare outside the European Union, in July an influential parliamentary committee warned Brexit could do the opposite.

The Governments wish for the UK to become a global leader in free trade is not necessarily compatible with its desire to maintain high animal welfare standards, the House of Lords subcommittee on EU energy and environment found.

Animal cruelty on wool farm

Gudrun Ravetz, senior vice-president of the BVA, said: This increase in the number of poultry that are not stunned or not stunned effectively before slaughter is a grave concern. Millions of individual animals are affected, making this a major animal welfare issue.

The lack of evidence-based parameters for waterbath stunning of poultry means English regulations are simply not for fit for purpose, and could call into question our claim as a leader in high animal welfare.

Government figures show a massive 91 million poultry were either stunned ineffectively, or not stunned at all because of religious rites between April and September 2017  and that 180 million chickens, turkeys and other poultry are estimated to have been slaughtered this way over the course of the year.

The only other year for which FSA figures are available, 2015, shows around 167.5 million were killed without effective stunning  though the FSA urged caution when comparing the 2015 and 2017 numbers, saying they were calculated using different methodologies.

According to the FSA, stunning under exemption from EU regulations is shown by research not to be effective stunning... as it is not possible for an official veterinarian to determine if the bird is effectively stunned or simply immobilised.

It suggests most poultry slaughtered in this way are not being killed for religious purposes at all, and are suffering avoidably painful deaths.

The British Poultry Council failed to explain why a disproportionate number of chickens were being killed without effective stunning when approached by The Independent.

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John Fishwick, president of the BVA, suggested it could be down to a demand from overseas consumers, and big UK retailers who want a single supply chain solution, which would bring down costs.

Figures on the numbers of animals slaughtered without stunning suggest that meat from these animals is outweighing demand and entering the mainstream market, he said.

Vets, as an animal welfare focussed profession, believe that people should be able to decide whether or not to eat meat from animals that were not stunned before slaughter.

He added: This means people may be eating non-stun meat without being aware they are doing so.

The Veterinary Policy Research Foundation (VPRF) speculated it could be because non-stun meat can be eaten by religious and non-religious communities alike, whereas stunned meat cannot.

A Peta spokesperson told The Independent: Every aspect of slaughter is alarming  including the huge numbers of chickens who are improperly stunned and therefore go to the blade and even into the scalding tanks fully conscious.

They endure agonising pain and die slowly in a terrifying and miserable way. And the final moments of these birds lives are just one part of the long and cruel process of modern meat production  from the cramped and filthy cages to the gruelling journeys to the abattoir in all weather extremes.

It is understood Environment Department is working with the industry in an attempt to work out the reasons behind the figures.

Under Islamic law, most livestock are slaughtered using a type of stunning  called reversible stunning  that ensures the animal is not dead before its throat is cut. Other, stricter interpretations of halal slaughter demand there is no prior stunning at all.

Although the FSAs figures fail to reveal the number of animals killed without being stunned at all, it is estimated only 10 per cent of Halal meat is produced without any form of stun.

The method used by the Jewish community, Shechita, requires all animals to be conscious at the point of slaughter. Around 70 per cent of all meat produced by the Shechita method is sold on the general market, according to the VPRF.

Shimon Cohen, campaign director for Shechita UK, told The Independent the Shechita process is humane, efficient and conforms with the EU definition of stunning.

He said it produced a proper and effective stun that ensures the animal is instantly insensible to pain followed by death without delay.

The BVA is pushing for all meat produced using non-stunning methods to be clearly labelled in UK shops so consumers can make an informed choice about where their food is coming from.

Asked in the House of Lords earlier this month if the Government would introduce labelling, animal welfare minister Lord Gardiner of Kimble said it would be considering the issue in the context of our departure from the EU.

But Mr Cohen said labelling which distinguished between stun and non-stun meat could amount to a deception of the consumer and an affront to faith communities.

If we want to ensure true consumer information, they should be told the method of stunning administered; captive bolt shooting, gassing, electrocution by tongs or water or any of the other approved methods.

A Defra spokesperson told The Independent: We would prefer to see all animals stunned before they are slaughtered but accept the right of Jewish and Muslim communities to eat meat killed in accordance with their religious beliefs.

We have no intention of banning religious slaughter. The Government respects religious freedoms and expects the industry, whether food producer or food outlet, to provide consumers with all the information they need to make informed choices.Cast your mind back to when there was last a hugely emotive takeover bid in Britain, one that had a treasured national icon in its sights. It was November 2009, when Kraft Foods of the US made a formal 9.8bn approach for Cadbury.

The UK media, politicians and unions erupted. It was an outrage. Cadbury! The glorious purveyor of Dairy Milk  how dare they!

The then-Business Secretary, Peter Mandelson, was powerless to intervene. All he could do was to warn Kraft not to try to make a quick buck from the chocolate-maker.

If anyone made a quick buck, however, it was the Cadbury shareholders. Just two months after Kraft made its move, they accepted a higher price of 11.5bn.

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In truth, Mandelson and the government were unable to resist. All they could do, from day one, was to insist upon Kraft upping its offer. And thats immediately what the City predicted would happen.

While the press, flag-waving patriots and workers went into overdrive, all but trying to hoist the Union Jack over Cadbury headquarters and manning the ramparts, the financial realists shrugged and said it was all in the price.

If Kraft raised the offer, and at the very outset they were forecasting correctly what that killer level would be, the great British company was heading to new, foreign owners.

The institutional shareholders and the board members knew that, too. They didnt say so in public, but they were powerless to fight off the American invader, provided Kraft paid what the investors regarded as a fair sum.

Roll forward to last year, when Kraft Heinz (Cadburys buyer itself subsequently succumbed to consolidation) indicated it would like to form an agreed merger with Unilever. In the end, Kraft Heinzs interest came to nothing, but the courtship severely rattled the mighty Unilever, so much so that the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods company took a hard look at itself and how it was structured.

The lesson from Cadbury, though, was that there was no defence. Nothing could be done to ward off a predator waving wads of cash.

Many quoted companies are prepared to live with that knowledge, ready to take their chance. This is business, right, and everything has its price? Indeed, there are plenty in the investor community who rest easier at night, aware that the share prices of the companies in which they invest have an amount factored in for takeover speculation.

But Unilever is not like that. Unlike the others, it is able to do something about it. As a business that is structured across two countries, the UK and Holland, it can compare their respective takeover laws, and see if one affords a get-out from future unwanted advances.

The Netherlands rules are much tighter than Britains  they can build in poison pills to fend off the aggressor. It made sense for Unilever, if it wanted to retain its independence, to base its headquarters in the Netherlands and become one Dutch legal entity.

No matter that the move had other advantages. Unilever could save money by being unified in one place, and scrap its complicated, twin boards, twin this, twin that, management framework. And the Dutch were looking to introduce lower corporation taxes.

There was the thorny issue of Brexit, however. By relocating to another EU country, Unilever was bound to be accused of running away from Britain, as it headed towards exiting the common bloc. Remainers would inevitably claim it was a vote of no confidence in the UK economy, post-EU membership.

By basing itself in Holland, Unilever would become better placed to trade with the EU, without any of the strictures that might be imposed on the UK.

Of course, the Brexit argument entered into Unilevers calculations  it would have been inconceivable for it not to have done so. But the counter to deserting the UK  such a vital part of its heritage, going back to Lever Brothers foundation in 1885  as it would be interpreted, were the overtures Unilever would have to make to show that was really not the case.

And these had to be more than gestures; they had to amount to genuine jobs, promises to maintain a large presence, to grow and develop in the UK. Expensive, in other words.

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.

The deciding factor, though, was those fiercer takeover laws. Unilever was safer, unified in Holland, plain and simple. If it had been a company with feet in Britain and another EU nation with merger laws that did not favour the defender so much, would it have voted to go? Would Brexit have swung the day? Perhaps I am naive, but I doubt it.

Unilever has made its choice. What happens, now, though, is arguably more significant for the City and Britain going forward. The company has to keep its FTSE premium listing.

That depends upon the discretion of a committee that has to decide, whether a company registered abroad, can have its shares listed on the London Stock Exchange. Fortunately, there are precedents, notably IAG, the owner of British Airways, and Tui, the parent of Thomson holidays.

But if the committee decides against, that really would signal the disappearance of a great British name. More importantly, it would show our stock market, and with it the City, is shut to globalisation. Unilever can go, but its shares cannot leave the FTSE.

Chris Blackhurst is a former editor of The Independent, and executive director of C|T|F Partners, the campaigns and strategic communications advisory firm.A number of new child sexual exploitation (CSE) victims have contacted police in Telford following claims that hundreds of girls may have been sexually abused by grooming gangs.

It comes after Lucy Allan, the Conservative MP for Telford, said she had been inundated with reports from people saying this has happened to me.

An investigation by the Sunday Mirror estimated up to 1,000 girls could have been sexually abused over the last 40 years.

Since the 1980s, children as young as 11 are reported to have been the victims of sexual predators who drugged, beat and raped them.

However, police have significantly disputed the figure, calling it sensationalised.

Superintendent Tom Harding, of West Mercia Police, argued the town was no worse than other areas of England and Wales.

I am confident that, in the main, we do know the scale of CSE, Supt Harding told the BBC. Therefore, I significantly dispute the 1,000 plus figure and do feel it is sensationalised.

Allegations are said to have been mishandled by authorities, with many perpetrators going unpunished, while it is claimed similar abuse is continuing in the area.

The Sunday Mirror called it Britains worst known abuse scandal proportionate to Telfords size, comparing the scale to the grooming of 1,500 victims in Rotherham.

Ms Allan told the BBC she had been inundated with emails saying, This has happened to me.

She added: I have also spoken to a consultant psychiatrist who has had many patients who have experienced this issue, and are dealing with the mental health consequences of this terrible crime.

It is clear this has been going on for many years and that a significant number of girls have been affected.

Assistant Chief Constable Martin Evans said a small number of victims had come forward following the recent media coverage.

He said the towns CSE team had arrested 56 people and issued 26 charges since 2016, with a number of investigations still ongoing.

The CSE reports we have received this week relate to non-recent child sexual exploitation offences, and we will be reviewing them alongside any other available information, ensuring those reporting abuse are fully supported, Mr Evans said.

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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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ACC Evans urged victims, or anyone who suspects a child is being exploited, to contact police.

Any incident or information that is reported to us as child sexual exploitation is investigated as such and taken very seriously, regardless of whether or not the victim is engaged with authorities.

We will always pursue any lines of enquiry whilst at the same time looking to support these people in any way possible.

Our message to offenders who perpetrate these horrific crimes is that we will robustly investigate any reports we receive, and go wherever the evidence takes us to secure a conviction against you, he added.

It comes after Theresa May said it is important that inquiry into child exploitation in the Shropshire town gets under way as quickly as possible.

The Prime Minister said we have all been shocked by the horrific case.

Lucy Allan MP urged Theresa May to ensure this inquiry starts without delay and leaves no stone unturned

During Prime Ministers Questions last week, Ms Allan, the MP for Telford, said: Like many towns and cities across the country, Telford has had some experiences of distressing cases of child sexual exploitation.

The authorities in Telford have now agreed to conduct an independent inquiry to find out what happened and to give victims answers.

Will Ms May join me in congratulating two brave women  campaigner Holly Archer and Sunday Mirror journalist Geraldine McKelvie  for their work in bringing this about, and will she agree to do everything possible to ensure this inquiry starts without delay and leaves no stone unturned?

Ms May replied: I think we have all been shocked by the horrific case that we have seen in Telford, of some of the most vulnerable in our country being preyed upon by ruthless criminals.

Sadly, of course, this is not the first example that we have seen taking place across our country.

Im very happy to join Ms Allan in congratulating Holly and Geraldine for the work that they have done  this is not easy, but it is right that they have brought this to light and that action can be taken.

I am pleased that the authorities are now going to conduct an inquiry: it is, as Ms Allan says, important that it begins its work in order to get to the truth and does that as quickly as possible.

Several men were jailed in 2013 as part of Operation Chalice, a police inquiry into CSE in the Telford area. Among those imprisoned were Mubarek and Ahdel Ali, brothers who were convicted of controlling child prostitution and trafficking girls.

Mubarek Ali was convicted of four charges of controlling child prostitution and two of trafficking in the UK for sexual exploitation.

Ahdel Ali was sentenced to 18 years in prison after he was found guilty of one charge of rape, 11 charges of sexual activity with a child and three charges of controlling child prostitution.The chief executive of Cambridge Analytica has been accused of deliberately misleading Parliament by denying allegations of harvesting personal data from Facebook users.

Alexander Nix told members of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee last month the company had not collected personal information from individuals without their consent through Facebook apps.

The company also denies it used the information to aid Donald Trumps 2016 US presidential run, when it was hired by his campaign in order to target potential swing voters.

Recommended Investigation promised into Trump campaign data firm

The committees chairman, Conservative MP Damian Collins, now says Mr Nix gave false statements during the session, amid claims that Cambridge Analytica carried out a data grab on more than 50 million people.

In a statement, Mr Collins said the committee would contact Mr Nix in light of the allegations and ask him to explain his previous comments.

It seems clear that he has deliberately misled the Committee and Parliament by giving false statements, the Folkestone and Hythe MP added.

Data has been taken from Facebook users without their consent, and was then processed by a third party and used to support their campaigns.

Facebook knew about this, and the involvement of Cambridge Analytica with it, and deliberately avoided answering straight questions from the committee about it.

Whistleblower Christopher Wylie, a former research director at the firm, alleges information on Facebook users was collected by Cambridge University professor Dr Aleksandr Kogan through an app he created in 2014, called thisisyourdigitallife.

Facebook claim that Dr Kogans company, Global Science Research (GSR), then broke the sites privacy rules by passing the data onto third parties, including Cambridge Analytica.

The app, which offered users a small sum of money to take a personality test, was downloaded by 270,000 people.

However, it is claimed those who did sign up unwittingly gave GSR access to their friends information  meaning tens of millions of people could have had their data harvested.

Mr Collins also said the committee had repeatedly asked Facebook if companies acquired and held data taken from users without their consent, adding the social media giant had consistently understated the potential risk.

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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. 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He called on Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg to give evidence to the committee as part of its inquiry.

The reputation of this company is being damaged by stealth, because of their constant failure to respond with clarity and authority to the questions of genuine public interest that are being directed to them, he said.

Someone has to take responsibility for this. Its time for Mark Zuckerberg to stop hiding behind his Facebook page.

Meanwhile, Mr Wylie claimed Facebook had suspended his account on the site as a result of his allegations.

Suspended by Facebook. For blowing the whistle. On something they have known privately for 2 years, he tweeted, coupled with a screenshot of a notification reading account disabled.

Facebook has now suspended Cambridge Analytica and parent group Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL) from using its platform, over the reports of potential privacy violations.

The company said it had it had contracted GSR to undertake a large-scale research project in the United States, obtaining data and seeking the informed consent of each respondent.

It added it had deleted all the data it had received from GSR when it was clear that information was not obtained in line with Facebooks terms of service, and that it complies with all of Facebooks data rules.

The Information Commissioners Office (ICO) has said it continues to investigate the circumstances in which Facebook data may have been illegally acquired and used.

The ICO had previously said it had concerns over the alleged work Cambridge Analytica carried out for the Leave.EU campaign during the Brexit referendum, but the companies denies this took place.The founder of far right anti-Islam group Pegida has been barred from entry to the UK and deported from Stansted airport.

Lutz Bachmann, who has led anti-immigration marches of tens of thousands of people, landed at Stansted airport on Saturday night.

He was detained and subsequently expelled from the UK on Sunday morning.

The Home Office told The Independent Bachmann was refused entry on grounds his presence in Britain was not in the interest of the public good.

Border Force has the power to refuse entry to an individual if it is considered that his or her presence in the UK is not conducive to the public good, said a spokesperson.

Supporters say Bachmann was due to speak alongside Tommy Robinson  the former English Defence League leader who founded a subsidiary branch of Pegida in the UK  at Speakers Corner in Hyde Park on Sunday.

The 45-year-old founded Pegida, which stands for Patriotic Europeans against Islamisation of the West, in October 2014 to demonstrate opposition to plans for 14 refugee centres in Dresden, Germany.

Branded Nazis in pinstripes, the group has been widely accused of racism, fascism and xenophobia.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 17 September 2021 Hugo, 7, from London rides past a 4x7 metre rainbow arch, made entirely of recycled aluminium cans, which has been installed by recycling initiative 'Every Can Counts', in partnership with The City of London Corporation in front of St Paul's Cathedral in London, to encourage members of the public to recycle their drinks cans ahead of recycling week, which starts on 20 September PA UK news in pictures 16 September 2021 Sheikeh MOhammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, leader of Abu Dhabi, leaves Downing Street after meeting with Boris Johnson PA UK news in pictures 15 September 2021 Children pose by ice sculptures depicting people collecting water by charity Water Aid to show the fragility of water and the threat posed by climate change in London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 14 September 2021 Heavy rain covers the A149 near Kings Lynn in Norfolk PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2021 Luke Jerram's 'Museum of the Moon' at Durham Cathedral PA UK news in pictures 12 September 2021 Inspirational young fundraiser Tobias Weller crosses the finish line, near his home in Sheffield, as he completes his latest epic feat where he swam and triked his way to the end of his awesome year-long Ironman Challenge. This is the third challenge Tobias, who has cerebral palsy and autism, has completed, raising more than 150,000 for his school and Sheffield Children Hospitals charity PA UK news in pictures 11 September 2021 British player Emma Raducanu, holds up the US Open championship trophy winning the women's singles final of the US Open in New York AP UK news in pictures 10 September 2021 People paddle board during a misty morning in Ullswater, the second largest lake in the Lake District, Cumbria PA UK news in pictures 9 September 2021 Troops from Wiltshire based 4 Armoured Close Support Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during final inspection at Wellington Barracks in London, ahead of providing troops for the Queens Guard PA UK news in pictures 8 September 2021 Workers cross London Bridge during the morning rush hour in London Reuters UK news in pictures Mixing it up: Painting it up press view in London A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled Prairie by British artist, Louise Giovanelli during the exhibition 'Mixing it up: Painting it up' at the Hayward Gallery in London EPA UK news in pictures 6 September 2021 Traders in the Ring at the London Metal Exchange, in the City of London, after open-outcry trading returned for the first time since March 2020, when the Ring was temporarily closed due to the pandemic PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2021 South Africa's Ntando Mahlangu (centre) wins the Men's 200 metres T61 Final ahead of second placed Great Britain's Richard Whitehead at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2021 A young common seal on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, as hundreds of pregnant grey seals come ashore ready for the start of the pupping season. PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA UK news in pictures 21 August 2021 People take part in a demonstration in solidarity with people of Afghanistan, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 20 August 2021 People zip wire across the sea from Bournemouth pier towards the beach. PA UK news in pictures 19 August 2021 Supporters of Geronimo the alpaca gather outside Shepherds Close Farm in Wooton Under Edge, Gloucestershire PA UK news in pictures 18 August 2021 Former Afghan interpreters and veterans hold a demonstration outside Downing Street, calling for support and protection for Afghan interpreters and their families PA UK news in pictures 17 August 2021 Military personnel board the RAF Airbus A400M at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, where evacuation flights from Afghanistan have been landing Reuters UK news in pictures 16 August 2021 Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer takes part in a minute's silence at Wolverhampton police station for the victims of the Plymouth mass shooting last week PA UK news in pictures 15 August 2021 2Storm, a ten-metre tall puppet of a mythical goddess of the sea created by Edinburgh-based visual theatre company Vision Mechanics, makes its way alongside the seafront at North Berwick, East Lothian, during a performance at the Fringe By The Sea festival PA UK news in pictures 14 August 2021 A woman and two young girls look at floral tributes in Plymouth where six people, including the offender, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident PA UK news in pictures 13 August 2021 Forensic officers in the Keyham area of Plymouth where six people, including the shooter, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident on Thursday evening PA UK news in pictures 12 August 2021 Children ride horses in the River Eden in Appleby, Cumbria, during the annual gathering of travellers for the Appleby Horse Fair PA UK news in pictures 11 August 2021 Stella Moris (left) reacts after talking to the media outside the High Court in London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal, n London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal. The US government has won the latest round in its High Court bid to appeal against the decision not to extradite Julian Assange on espionage charges PA UK news in pictures 10 August 2021 Students react after they receive their A-Level results at the Ark Academy, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 9 August 2021 The final athletes from Great Britain arrive home including Jason Kenny, Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald (front left-right) at Heathrow Airport, London following the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games PA UK news in pictures 8 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny during the closing ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic stadium in Japan PA UK news in pictures 7 August 2021 People from the Glasgow Southside community take part in the Govanhill Carnival, an anti-racist celebration of pride, unity and the contributions immigrants have made to the community in Govanhill, at Queen's Park, Glasgow PA UK news in pictures 6 August 2021 Chijindu Ujah of Britain, Zharnel Hughes of Britain, Richard Kilty of Britain and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake of Britain celebrate winning silver as they pose with Asha Philip of Britain, Imani Lansiquot of Britain, Dina Asher-Smith of Britain and Daryll Neita of Britain after they won bronze in the women's 4 x 100m relay during Olympic Games Day 14 Getty UK news in pictures 5 August 2021 A protester places flowers on a photograph of an executed man during a demonstration organised by supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) to protest against the inauguration of Iran's new president Ebrahim Raisi in central London AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 4 August 2021 England's Joe Root looks on as India's KL Rahul doesn't make it to a catch during day one of Cinch First Test match at Trent Bridge, Nottingham PA UK news in pictures 3 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny and Jason Kenny with their silver medals for the Women's Team Pursuit and Mens Team Sprint during the Track Cycling at the Izu Velodrome on the eleventh day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan PA UK news in pictures 2 August 2021 Great Britains Charlotte Worthington competes during the Womens BMX Freestyle Final at the Tokyo Olympics PA UK news in pictures 1 August 2021 EPA 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

Bachmann stepped down from his official role as leader in January 2015 after a picture of him dressed as Hitler surfaced on Facebook  something he dismissed as a joke. However, he then capitalised on a resurgence of concerns around a migration influx and returned to his post after the outcry had subsided a few months later.

According to the Sachsische Zeitung newspaper, Bachmann has several criminal convictions  16 burglaries, driving drunk or without a licence and dealing cocaine.

In 1998, after Bachmann was sentenced to a number of years in prison, he fled to South Africa but was deported back to Germany.

A spokesperson for anti-racism campaign Hope Not Hate told The Independent they were not surprised Bachmann was refused entry to the UK.

Bachmann is a multiply convicted racist, drug dealer and burglar who, like Tommy Robinson, has made his name as a prominent Islamophobe, they said.

Far from being denied a chance to air their views, as they often like to falsely claim, these extremists have abused freedom of speech and social media platforms to spread and push toxic views which, as Britains most senior anti-terror police officer has warned, are akin to how jihadi hate preachers like Anjem Choudary pushed their vile beliefs in the past.

These extremists are two sides of the same coin and need each other  which we, the ordinary Britons, do not.

In the wake of the Governments decision to refuse entry to Lauren Southern, Brittany Pettibone and Martin Sellner last week, we warned that Bachmann  with his extreme history  could also be turned away. It appears that today that is the case.

The decision to bar Bachmann comes after Canadian far-right activist Lauren Southern was detained in Calais and banned from entering the UK earlier in the week.

Ms Southern, who worked for far-right Canadian site The Rebel Media, was held by Border Force in Coquelles on Monday.

Ms Southern, who supported a seaborne mission seeking to hamper the rescue of refugees, claimed British authorities had told her she was officially banned from UK for racism after being detained.

They just locked me out and said au revoir ... Officially banned from UK for racism ... Doing fine though, all the cool people are being banned anyway, the far-right provocateur tweeted.

Writing in a Facebook post last week, Generation Identity, a British white supremacist group, said Austrian far-right activist Martin Sellner and his American girlfriend Britanny Pettibone, who is a YouTuber and author, had been detained by the British Government.

The couple were refused entry at Luton airport on Friday, also on grounds their presence was not conducive to the public good. Mr Sellner and Ms Pettibone were detained and subsequently removed from Britain on Sunday.Emergency shelters have opened across London to provide refuge for homeless people as a wintry snap dubbed the mini beast from the East tightens its grip.

Following weather warnings from the Met Office, Mayor Sadiq Khan announced 24/7 services providing shelter for rough sleepers would open up in the capital, in line with a policy he introduced in December requiring them to open whenever temperatures fall below zero.

Previously, such services were only available for people when three consecutive days of freezing temperatures were forecast.

Mr Khan said on Friday: No one should be faced with sleeping rough on our streets, and as the temperature drops, we're opening emergency cold-weather shelters across London.

As Mayor, Ive changed City Hall policy to open emergency cold-weather shelters more often than they were before.

They are now open whenever temperatures in London fall below zero so that everyone in need has a warm place to stay, and all 33 London boroughs are now operating their own shelters in the same way too.

The Mayor urged Londoners to keep giving to a coalition of 18 homeless charities working with him to support rough sleepers in the capital, and to let StreetLink know if they see anyone sleeping rough.

It comes days after after a judge ruled that a squat housing more than 150 homeless people in a derelict London office block must be evicted, prompting anger and fear in scores of rough sleepers for whom the shelter had become a source of comfort and support.

People who had been sleeping in the building, dubbed the Sofia Solidarity Centre by the volunteers who converted it, told The Independent the consequences of being evicted could be fatal.

Recommended Homeless fearful after court supports eviction from derelict building

They remain in the building, but are likely to be cleared out of the makeshift shelter on Monday.

The freezing temperatures that have swept across the country this winter have been of particular concern after figures revealed the number of people sleeping rough across England hit the highest level on record.

A homeless man died in his snow-covered tent near a church earlier this month, weeks after being discharged from hospital with pneumonia. Another rough sleeper died yards from the Houses of Parliament several weeks before.

On Friday, the Met Office issued weather warnings for north-west England, Yorkshire, the Midlands, London and south-east England.

Road, rail and air travel have been affected by snow and ice and airports including Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted have urged travellers to check flight information before travelling.U.S. House of Representatives(WASHINGTON) -- The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said Sunday that congressional members need to speak out now about the importance of the special counsels Russia investigation, before theres a constitutional crisis.



Rep. Adam Schiff of California was responding to a question from ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos on "This Week" Sunday.

What would happen if the president fired special counsel Robert Mueller? Stephanopoulos asked.



Schiff responded, I would hope that it would prompt all Democrats and Republicans in the House to pass an independent counsel law and reinstate Bob Mueller, Schiff said. This would undoubtedly result in a constitutional crisis, and I think Democrats and Republicans need to speak out about this right now.



The White House has repeatedly said there are no plans to fire Mueller, but President Donald Trump tweeted Saturday night that the investigation should have never been started.

The presidents latest tweets criticizing the Russia investigation came after Fridays firing of former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, leading to speculation that the president may act to remove the special counsel.



Asked whether McCabes firing was justified, Schiff said, "You know, his firing may be justified. There's no way for us to know at this point, but even though it may have been justified, it can also be tainted."



Stephanopoulos asked Schiff about the president's tweets and a statement by Trump attorney John Dowd to The Daily Beast on Saturday suggesting that the Justice Department official who appointed Mueller end the probe.



I pray that Acting Attorney General Rosenstein will bring an end to alleged Russia Collusion investigation," Dowd said, calling the probe "manufactured."



Schiff said, "I think, George, you just pointed to the single most important development of the week and that is at the same time it's revealed that the special counsel is looking at business records of the Trump Organization," referring to a New York Times report Thursday that Muellers team has subpoenaed Russia-related records from president's business, the Trump Organization. ABC News has confirmed this report with multiple sources familiar with the matter but has not seen the subpoenas.



"I've always thought the money laundering issue was the most serious," Schiff said. "You have the president through his lawyer trying to shut down the Mueller investigation and speaking out against special counsel."



Stephanopoulos also asked about this week's announcement by the Republican majority on the House Intelligence Committee that they are ending their probe of Russia's meddling in the 2016 election after concluding there was no collusion by the Trump campaign.



"I know you dispute that," Stephanopoulos said to Schiff. "But will a report by the Democrats [on the committee] be able to demonstrate that collusion did, in fact, take place?"



"Well, it certainly would be able to show the facts supporting the issue of collusion and the secret meetings, all the lies about the secret meetings, and putting them in their important context, the timing of these secret meetings," the California representative said. "But there's still a lot of investigative work to find the remaining pieces of the puzzle and the most significant part of the Republicans shutting us down is they're preventing us from doing so."





Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

Congress needs to 'speak out' in support of Russia probe, 'dont wait for crisis': Leading Democrat*see the GIS data section for Greece for the data sources.

The archaeological data, basemap, shapefiles, and optional layer files ( see bottom of page for use of layer files ) can be downloaded and assembled into a dynamic map using GIS software. The Corinth material is our work. It is followed by redistributed copies and modified versions of regional data with sources noted.

Corinth archaeological data: cover the Corinthia, the ancient city of Corinth, or the central archaeological site (WGS 84, zone 34N). We will add to these shapefiles when possible.

Historical maps of the Corinthia: These raster images are rubberheeted and georeferenced to modern control points in UTM, zone 34N. Each zipped file contains a TIF and a TFW world file. Francesco Morosini map of central Corinthia, 1687: 720Mb, Dated on Christmas day several months after his army made it's "fortunate shot" destroying the Ottoman powder magazine (the Parthenon) during the seige of Athens. It was drawn with south oriented to the top and split over six linen sheets. In this file it is reoriented north to the top and reassembled in one image before georeferencing. Ancient features, contemporary buildings and roads, fountains and springs, fortifications and towers, and topographic features are highlighted on this map. The area to the east of the Isthmus still has quite a bit of distortion. : 720Mb, Dated on Christmas day several months after his army made it's "fortunate shot" destroying the Ottoman powder magazine (the Parthenon) during the seige of Athens. It was drawn with south oriented to the top and split over six linen sheets. In this file it is reoriented north to the top and reassembled in one image before georeferencing. Ancient features, contemporary buildings and roads, fountains and springs, fortifications and towers, and topographic features are highlighted on this map. The area to the east of the Isthmus still has quite a bit of distortion. Pierre Peytier map of Ancient Corinth, 1829: 122Mb, a small but accurate survey by the Morea Expedition shows that the lines of many roads in the village remain unchanged. : 122Mb, a small but accurate survey by the Morea Expedition shows that the lines of many roads in the village remain unchanged.





Greece shapefiles with optional layer files: Coverage is the entire country or greater (various UTM). Sources and versions noted below. The layer files are optional, created by us, to enrich the visualization of the data.

Basemap, contours, and ASTER DEM: Coverage is 36-39 degrees latitude and 20-26 degrees longitude. ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA. Bathymetry derived from EMODnet data

*Note that the rivers and place name data may seem repetitive but each dataset has strengths and weaknesses.A Russian official has suggested the nerve agent used in the Salisbury spy poisoning could have come from a research laboratory in the UK.

Russias EU ambassador claimed Russia had "nothing to do" with former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia being poisoned with military grade Novichok nerve agent in the Wiltshire city.

Vladimir Chizhov told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show Russia did not stockpile the poison and that the Porton Down lab - Britain's military research base - was only eight miles from the cathedral city, insinuating that may have been the source.

However the government has rebuffed his comments as nonsense - the Foreign Office said there was "not an ounce of truth" in his implication the nerve agent could have been linked to Porton Down.

"It's just another futile attempt from the Russian state to divert the story away from the facts - that Russia has acted in flagrant breach of its international obligations, a spokesperson said.

Theresa May told MPs Porton Down identified the substance used on Mr Scribal and his daughter - who remain in a critical but stable condition - as being part of a group of military grade nerve agents known as Novichok developed by Russia.

Earlier in the week, UK defence secretary Gavin Williamson pledged an additional 48m for a new chemical warfare defence centre at Porton Down in the wake of the poisoning.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 17 September 2021 Hugo, 7, from London rides past a 4x7 metre rainbow arch, made entirely of recycled aluminium cans, which has been installed by recycling initiative 'Every Can Counts', in partnership with The City of London Corporation in front of St Paul's Cathedral in London, to encourage members of the public to recycle their drinks cans ahead of recycling week, which starts on 20 September PA UK news in pictures 16 September 2021 Sheikeh MOhammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, leader of Abu Dhabi, leaves Downing Street after meeting with Boris Johnson PA UK news in pictures 15 September 2021 Children pose by ice sculptures depicting people collecting water by charity Water Aid to show the fragility of water and the threat posed by climate change in London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 14 September 2021 Heavy rain covers the A149 near Kings Lynn in Norfolk PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2021 Luke Jerram's 'Museum of the Moon' at Durham Cathedral PA UK news in pictures 12 September 2021 Inspirational young fundraiser Tobias Weller crosses the finish line, near his home in Sheffield, as he completes his latest epic feat where he swam and triked his way to the end of his awesome year-long Ironman Challenge. This is the third challenge Tobias, who has cerebral palsy and autism, has completed, raising more than 150,000 for his school and Sheffield Children Hospitals charity PA UK news in pictures 11 September 2021 British player Emma Raducanu, holds up the US Open championship trophy winning the women's singles final of the US Open in New York AP UK news in pictures 10 September 2021 People paddle board during a misty morning in Ullswater, the second largest lake in the Lake District, Cumbria PA UK news in pictures 9 September 2021 Troops from Wiltshire based 4 Armoured Close Support Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during final inspection at Wellington Barracks in London, ahead of providing troops for the Queens Guard PA UK news in pictures 8 September 2021 Workers cross London Bridge during the morning rush hour in London Reuters UK news in pictures Mixing it up: Painting it up press view in London A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled Prairie by British artist, Louise Giovanelli during the exhibition 'Mixing it up: Painting it up' at the Hayward Gallery in London EPA UK news in pictures 6 September 2021 Traders in the Ring at the London Metal Exchange, in the City of London, after open-outcry trading returned for the first time since March 2020, when the Ring was temporarily closed due to the pandemic PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2021 South Africa's Ntando Mahlangu (centre) wins the Men's 200 metres T61 Final ahead of second placed Great Britain's Richard Whitehead at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2021 A young common seal on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, as hundreds of pregnant grey seals come ashore ready for the start of the pupping season. PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA UK news in pictures 21 August 2021 People take part in a demonstration in solidarity with people of Afghanistan, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 20 August 2021 People zip wire across the sea from Bournemouth pier towards the beach. PA UK news in pictures 19 August 2021 Supporters of Geronimo the alpaca gather outside Shepherds Close Farm in Wooton Under Edge, Gloucestershire PA UK news in pictures 18 August 2021 Former Afghan interpreters and veterans hold a demonstration outside Downing Street, calling for support and protection for Afghan interpreters and their families PA UK news in pictures 17 August 2021 Military personnel board the RAF Airbus A400M at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, where evacuation flights from Afghanistan have been landing Reuters UK news in pictures 16 August 2021 Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer takes part in a minute's silence at Wolverhampton police station for the victims of the Plymouth mass shooting last week PA UK news in pictures 15 August 2021 2Storm, a ten-metre tall puppet of a mythical goddess of the sea created by Edinburgh-based visual theatre company Vision Mechanics, makes its way alongside the seafront at North Berwick, East Lothian, during a performance at the Fringe By The Sea festival PA UK news in pictures 14 August 2021 A woman and two young girls look at floral tributes in Plymouth where six people, including the offender, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident PA UK news in pictures 13 August 2021 Forensic officers in the Keyham area of Plymouth where six people, including the shooter, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident on Thursday evening PA UK news in pictures 12 August 2021 Children ride horses in the River Eden in Appleby, Cumbria, during the annual gathering of travellers for the Appleby Horse Fair PA UK news in pictures 11 August 2021 Stella Moris (left) reacts after talking to the media outside the High Court in London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal, n London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal. The US government has won the latest round in its High Court bid to appeal against the decision not to extradite Julian Assange on espionage charges PA UK news in pictures 10 August 2021 Students react after they receive their A-Level results at the Ark Academy, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 9 August 2021 The final athletes from Great Britain arrive home including Jason Kenny, Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald (front left-right) at Heathrow Airport, London following the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games PA UK news in pictures 8 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny during the closing ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic stadium in Japan PA UK news in pictures 7 August 2021 People from the Glasgow Southside community take part in the Govanhill Carnival, an anti-racist celebration of pride, unity and the contributions immigrants have made to the community in Govanhill, at Queen's Park, Glasgow PA UK news in pictures 6 August 2021 Chijindu Ujah of Britain, Zharnel Hughes of Britain, Richard Kilty of Britain and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake of Britain celebrate winning silver as they pose with Asha Philip of Britain, Imani Lansiquot of Britain, Dina Asher-Smith of Britain and Daryll Neita of Britain after they won bronze in the women's 4 x 100m relay during Olympic Games Day 14 Getty UK news in pictures 5 August 2021 A protester places flowers on a photograph of an executed man during a demonstration organised by supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) to protest against the inauguration of Iran's new president Ebrahim Raisi in central London AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 4 August 2021 England's Joe Root looks on as India's KL Rahul doesn't make it to a catch during day one of Cinch First Test match at Trent Bridge, Nottingham PA UK news in pictures 3 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny and Jason Kenny with their silver medals for the Women's Team Pursuit and Mens Team Sprint during the Track Cycling at the Izu Velodrome on the eleventh day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan PA UK news in pictures 2 August 2021 Great Britains Charlotte Worthington competes during the Womens BMX Freestyle Final at the Tokyo Olympics PA UK news in pictures 1 August 2021 EPA 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

Mr Chizhov said Mr Skripal could "rightly be referred to as a traitor" but "from the legal point of view the Russian state had nothing against him.

Asked how the nerve agent came to be used in Salisbury, he said: "When you have a nerve agent or whatever, you check it against certain samples that you retain in your laboratories.

"And Porton Down, as we now all know, is the largest military facility in the United Kingdom that has been dealing with chemical weapons research. And it's actually only eight miles from Salisbury."

Pobed about whether he was signalling Porton Down was "responsible" for the Novichok toxin employed in the attack, Mr Chizhov said: "I don't know. I don't have any evidence of anything having been used."

He added: "I exclude the possibility of any stockpiles of any chemical weapons fleeing Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union, but there were certain specialists, including some scientists who today claim to be responsible for creating some nerve agents, that have been whisked out of Russia and are currently residing in the United Kingdom."

Mr Chizhov's remarks come in the wake of a Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman saying the UK was one of the most likely sources of the nerve agent, along with Slovakia, Czech Republic, Sweden or possibly America.

Maria Zakharova said a large number of ex-Soviet scientists had relocated to the West - "taking with them the technologies that they were working on".

On Saturday, Russia ordered 23 British diplomats to leave Moscow within a week in response to Britain's decision to expel 23 Russian diplomats amid an escalating row between the two countries over the nerve agent attack.

Russia has also said it will close the British Council in Russia - which promotes cultural links between the countries - and the British Consulate in St Petersburg.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has said Britain possesses evidence Russia has been exploring nerve agent based assassinations and that the country has been stockpiling deadly chemical weapons in the last decade.

Mr Johnson specifically claimed Britain has reason to believe Moscow has been collecting novichok.

"We actually have evidence within the last ten years that Russia has not only been investigating the delivery of nerve agents for the purposes of assassination, but has also been creating, stockpiling, Novichok," Mr Johnson told the Andrew Marr show on Sunday.

This comes after Mr Johnson said it was "overwhelmingly likely" Russian president Vladimir Putin directed the use of the nerve agent on Britain's streets.

Speaking during a visit to the Battle of Britain Bunker museum in Uxbridge alongside the Polish foreign minister, Jacek Czaputowicz, Mr Johnson said: "Our quarrel is with Putin's Kremlin, and with his decision - and we think it overwhelmingly likely that it was his decision - to direct the use of a nerve agent on the streets of the UK, on the streets of Europe, for the first time since the Second World War.

Mr Johnson's move to publicly blame Mr Putin was understood to have been an intentional choice rather than an off-the-cuff gaffe. It is believed Mr Johnson may have seen information which enabled the government to reach that conclusion.

However, the Russian government has denied any involvement in the attack. The Foreign Secretary's comments were rebuked by Mr Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who said: "We have said on different levels and occasions that Russia has nothing to do with this story. Any reference or mentioning of our president is nothing else but shocking and unpardonable diplomatic misconduct."The Met Office has extended a risk to life weather warning into Monday as the so-called mini Beast from the East ushers in more heavy snow and freezing temperatures.

Motorists have been urged to stay off the roads as an amber warning is extended into Monday morning for the south west, with a yellow severe weather warning in place elsewhere in the UK.

Travel chaos has ensued, with cars stranded overnight in parts of Cumbria and Yorkshire. Airports have also been shut and hundreds of flights have been cancelled.

Three snowploughs have been dispatched to the M62 after bad weather brought traffic to a standstill.

Greater Manchester Polices traffic unit said conditions were bleak on the trans-Pennine route, with a video showing blizzard-like conditions.

Residents of seaside homes in Hemsby, Norfolk, were forced to leave as the area braced for snow and ice.

The county is covered by a yellow weather warning issued by the Met Office and it is thought that five properties are at risk of coastal erosion.

Mini beast from the East hits the UK Show all 19 1 /19 Mini beast from the East hits the UK Mini beast from the East hits the UK Cars sit covered in snow in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. PA Mini beast from the East hits the UK Horses are covered in snow on the hills surrounding Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. PA Mini beast from the East hits the UK A man digs a Landrover out of a snow drift in Coalville. Reuters Mini beast from the East hits the UK A man pulls a child along in a sledge in Salisbury. PA Mini beast from the East hits the UK A stranded coach on Blackstone Edge near Littleborough in Greater Manchester. PA Mini beast from the East hits the UK Scottie Dog Douglas in the snow in Glasgow. PA Mini beast from the East hits the UK A man walks down a hill on the Island of Portland during a weather front that has been dubbed the 'mini beast from the East'. The Met Office has issued amber weather warnings for many parts of the country as another cold weather front blows in from the east bringing snow, ice and temporary blizzard conditions. Getty Mini beast from the East hits the UK A woman walks through the snow in the village of Marsden, east of Manchester. AFP Mini beast from the East hits the UK Gardner Chris Orton tends to the Crocus garden at Wallington Hall in Northumberland. PA Mini beast from the East hits the UK A snow-covered tent covering a bench at The Maltings shopping centre in Sailsbury where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found collapsed two weeks ago. PA Mini beast from the East hits the UK Staff from Whatton Manor Stud in the Vale of Belvoir. PA Mini beast from the East hits the UK A man pushes his bicycle past cars stuck in the snow in Coalville, Britain. Reuters Mini beast from the East hits the UK Snow covers the woodland at the National Trust's Dunham Massey Park. Getty Mini beast from the East hits the UK Horses are covered in snow on the hills surrounding Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. PA Mini beast from the East hits the UK Teams walk out during a snow shower ahead of the match between Birmingham and Hull. Rex Features Mini beast from the East hits the UK Fans make their way through a Snow shower to Molineux Stadium ahead of the Sky Bet Championship match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Burton Albion. PA Mini beast from the East hits the UK A man runs as snow falls in Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park. Getty Mini beast from the East hits the UK Staff at Colchester United do all they can to ensure the match against Yeovil Town goes ahead after heavy snow fell. Rex Mini beast from the East hits the UK A woman pushes a shopping trolley in the snow PA

The Met Office said snow showers were expected to continue until the early hours of Monday and a chilling wind factor will make the below zero temperatures feel even colder.

Travel delays on roads are likely, stranding some vehicles and passengers. Delays and cancellations to rail and air travel are likely, the Met Office said in a statement.

There is a good chance that some rural upland communities could become cut off. Disruption to power supplies is possible.

Additional reporting by agencies Close UK weather: The latest Met Office forecast

Severe weather has caused travel disruption in parts of the UK as a wintry snap dubbed the mini beast from the East tightens its grip.

Road, rail and air travel have been affected by snow and ice and airports including Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted have urged travellers to check flight information before travelling.

Drivers have been advised to take care in the treacherous conditions and police have warned there are no safe routes across the Pennines into Cheshire.

The Met Office has issued weather warnings for north-west England, Yorkshire, the Midlands, London and south-east England.

Snowploughs have been dispatched to the M62 after the weather brought traffic to standstill.

A number of train companies have warned of possible service disruptions, including on CrossCountry, Gatwick Express, Great Northern, Heathrow Connect, Southern and Thameslink services.

Follow for live updatesWiltshire Police has denied reports it suffered a cyber attack in the aftermath of the Salisbury nerve agent incident.

Questions surrounding a potential attack had been raised after staff at Wiltshire Council, with which the force shares an integrated IT service, found parts of the network had been shut down.

Council workers were unable to access emails on certain devices, leading to reports the measures were being taken due to an attack from Russian hackers.

Wiltshire Police said the outage was caused by maintenance work and there had been no intrusion into its IT network.

The Wiltshire Police IT system is a shared system with Wiltshire Council and we have been kept fully informed of the planned maintenance work, a spokesman for the force said.

There has been no data breach to our forces IT system.

Cllr Ricky Rogers, leader of the opposition Labour group on Wilshire Council, told The Independent he was aware of problems on the local authoritys IT network this week.

There have been problems receiving emails on certain iPads and mobile phones, Cllr Rogers said.

You have to use a computer to access them, I have had no problems doing that but I have not been able to read them on my iPad.

It has not stopped the normal day-to-day running of the council, but there are a lot of people who work from home and they have not been able to get service.

Wiltshire Council said it had not been a victim of a cyber-attack, adding routine security work to switch off access to emails from certain devices had been brought forward as a sensible precaution.

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), which is part of government intelligence agency GCHQ, said it had not been asked to provide support to the council in relation to a cyber attack.

GCHQ or NCSC have not been asked to provide support to Wiltshire Council into any probe in their IT systems, NCSC said in a statement.

Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Scene of attack Members of the emergency services in hazard suits fix the tent over the bench where Sergei and Yulia Skripal were found unconscious on a park bench in Salisbury in March 2018. Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Victim - Sergei Skripal The retired Russian colonel and former double agent for MI6 was in a critical condition in hospital for more than two months after being exposed to novichok in Salisbury. He was given refuge in the UK after being jailed in Moscow for treason. Mr Skripal came to Britain as part of a high-profile spy swap in 2010 in which four men were exchanged for ten Russian "sleeper agents" in the US. In this image he is speaking to his lawyer from behind bars in Moscow in 2006. AP Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Victim - Yulia Skripal Yulia Skripal was struck down by a novichok poison alongside her father Sergei. Facebook Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Scene of attack A police officer stands guard outside a branch of the Italian chain restaurant Zizzi where the pair dined at before falling ill. It was boarded off whilst investigators worked on the building and later found traces of the chemical weapon within it. AFP/Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Scene of attack Large areas of central Salisbury were cordoned off by police following the discovery of the Skripals. Traces of nerve agent were also found in The Mill pub. PA Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Victim - Nick Bailey Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, rushed to the aid of the Russian ex-spy and his daughter who were targeted with a nerve agent. He was hospitalized after aiding them and didn't leave until three weeks after the attack. Wiltshire Police/Rex Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Police investigation - Skripals home Police believe they were poisoned at home, and detectives found the highest concentration of novichok on the front door of Mr Skripals house. Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Theresa May visits scene of attack Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May spokes with Wiltshire Police's Chief Constable Kier Pritchard near where the Skripal's were found. Britain expelled 23 Russian diplomats over the nerve agent poisoning and suspended high-level contacts, including for the World Cup on March 14. Theresa May told parliament that Russia had failed to respond to her demand for an explanation on how a Soviet-designed chemical, Novichok, was used in Salisbury. AFP/Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Skripal days before attack Sergei Skripal days before he was exposed to Novichok, that has left him fighting for life. ITV News Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Police investigation - military involvement British soldiers were deployed soon after the attack to help a counter-terrorism investigation into the nerve agent attack. One of the places they were asked to help out with was Skripal's home and it's surrounding. They were asked to remove a vehicle connected to the agent attack in Salisbury, from a residential street in Gillingham. AFP/Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Police investigation Personnel in protective coveralls and breathing equipment cover an ambulance with a tarpaulin at the Salisbury District Hospital. AFP/Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Police investigation The investigation extended to the grave of Sergei Skripal's son Alexander in London Road cemetery. Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Police investigation The Counter Terrorism Policing Network requested assistance from the military to remove a number of vehicles and objects from Salisbury. EPA Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Home Secretary visits scene of attack Home Secretary Amber Rudd visited the scene of the nerve agent attack at the Maltings shopping centre on 9 March. Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Yulia Skripal speaks for the first time Yulia Skripal, speaking for the first time, said she felt lucky to have survived the nerve agent attack in Salisbury which left her fighting for life. Ms Skripal said her life had been turned upside down by the assassination attempt. But the Russian national added she hoped to return to her homeland one day, despite the Kremlin being blamed for the attack. Reuters

As the UKs technical authority on cyber security, a key part of the NCSCs mission is ensuring that public and private sector organisations are protected against cyber threats.

To that end, we routinely provide public bodies around the UK with general advice and guidance about how to protect their IT systems.

Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, remain in a critical condition in hospital after they were poisoned in Salisbury two weeks ago by the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has said the UK has evidence the Russian government has been exploring chemical-based assassinations and stockpiling deadly nerve agents for the past decade.

Russia denies any involvement in the attempt on the Skripals' lives.Boris Johnson has said the UK is in possession of evidence that Russia has been exploring nerve-agent based assassinations and that the country has been stockpiling deadly chemical weapons in the last decade.

The Foreign Secretary in particular claimed Britain has reason to believe Moscow has been collecting the military grade Novichok nerve agent that the UK Government says was deployed in the Salisbury attack.

He made the comments moments after a senior Russian diplomat claimed his country has no stockpile of any nerve agent, and even suggested the source of the chemical used in Salisbury was the UKs Porton Down military laboratory.

It comes as the war of words escalated over the 4 March incident, which left ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal, his daughter and a British policeman in serious conditions, with UK insiders promising further economic sanctions against Vladimir Putin and his allies.

Speaking to BBCs Andrew Marr show, Mr Johnson said: We actually have evidence within the last ten years that Russia has not only been investigating the delivery of nerve agents for the purposes of assassination, but has also been creating, stockpiling, Novichok.

With international chemical weapons experts coming to the UK to begin independent testing of samples from Salisbury, the Foreign Office indicated this line of investigation could form part of a probe into what it claimed is a breach of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

But Russias ambassador to the EU Vladimir Chizhov had denied moments earlier on the same programme, that his country had any nerve agents in its military arsenal, saying there are, no stockpiles whatsoever.

 Theresa May warns Russia UK will 'never tolerate threat on life of British citizens'

He also excluded the possibility of any chemical weapons fleeing Russia after the collapse of the USSR, but added that there are specialists who left his country and travelled to the UK.

Mr Chizhov then went on to suggest the nerve agent used in Salisbury may have come from the Porton Down laboratory, which is not far from the English cathedral city  though he admitted he had absolutely no evidence for it.

He told Marr: When you have a nerve agent or whatever, you check it against certain samples that you retain in your laboratories.

Porton Down, as we now all know, is the largest military facility in the United Kingdom that has been dealing with chemical weapons research. Its actually only eight miles from Salisbury.

Asked directly whether Porton Down was responsible for the attack, Mr Chizhov said: I dont know. I dont have any evidence of anything having been used.

The Foreign Office out out a statement warning against Russian attempts to muddy the waters over Salisbury, meanwhile Mr Johnson confirmed experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons will arrive in the UK on Monday to begin testing samples of the nerve agent identified by British scientists.

Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Show all 20 1 /20 Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin is pictured with a horse during his vacation outside the town of Kyzyl in Southern Siberia on August 3, 2009. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin aims at a whale with an arbalest to take a piece of its skin for analysis on the Olga Bay, some 240 kilometres north-east of Nakhodka on August 25, 2010. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin plunges into the icy waters of lake Seliger during the celebration of the Epiphany holiday in Russia's Tver region AFP/Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin (top) takes part in a judo training session at the "Moscow" sports complex in St. Petersburg, on December 22, 2010. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin works out at a gym at the Bocharov Ruchei state residence in Sochi on August 30, 2015. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin fishes in the remote Tuva region in southern Siberia. The picture taken between August 1 and 3, 2017. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin (L) and the leader of the Night Wolves biker group, Alexander Zaldostanov (R), also known as the Surgeon, ride motorcycles on August 29, 2011 at a bikers' festival in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, Russia. Putin described leather-clad bikers as brothers and boasted of the "indivisible Russian nation" after roaring into a biking rally on a Harley Davidson. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin wears glasses as he visits the Technology Park of the Novosibirsk Academic Town in Novosibirsk on February 17, 2012. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin rides a horse during his vacation outside the town of Kyzyl in Southern Siberia on August 3, 2009. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin holds a pistol during his visit to a newly-built headquarters of the Russian General Staff's Main Intelligence Department (GRU) in Moscow, 08 November 2006. ?Some countries are seeking to untie their hands in order to take weapons to outer space, including nuclear weapons,? Putin said at the Chief Military Intelligence Department on Wednesday. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin sits inside a T-90AM tank during a visit to an arms exhibition in the Urals town of Nizhny Tagil on September 9, 2011 Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin wears a helmet and the uniform of the Renault Formula One team before driving a F1 race car on a special track in Leningrad region outside St. Petersburg on November 7, 2010. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin guides a boat during his vacation in the remote Tuva region in southern Siberia. The picture taken between August 1 and 3, 2017. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin hunts fish underwater in the remote Tuva region in southern Siberia. The picture taken between August 1 and 3, 2017. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin is seen at the Russian boxing team training club after casting his vote for the Russian Presidential election, 14 March 2004 in Moscow. Putin coasted to a landslide victory with 69.0 percent of the vote in Sunday's election, according to the first exit poll aired on Russian television moments after voting ended across the country's 11 time zones. AFP/Getty Images Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Russian President Vladimir Putin poses for a picture inside the Tupolev-160 strategic bomber jet at the Moscow's Chkalovsky military airport, 16 August 2005. President Vladimir Putin took off from Moscow for a supersonic flight in a cruise-missile carrying Tupolev-160 bomber jet, the latest in the Russian leader's action-packed public appearances. After a health check, Putin donned a flight suit and took the commander's position in the strategic bomber, which was piloted by Major General Anatoly Zhikharev, with a colonel and a lieutenant colonel in charge of navigation, Russian media reported. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? A picture released on March 6, 2010 shows Vladimir Putin look through binoculars in the Karatash area, near the town of Abakan, during his working trip to Khakassia, on February 25, 2010. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin measuring a polar bear on the island Alexandra Land, part of the Franz Josef Land archipalego in the Arctic Ocean. Putin, better known in the West for his tough-guy image, expressed concern for the fate of Arctic polar bears threatened by climate change. "The polar bear is under threat. Their population is currently only 25,000 individuals," Putin was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin carries a hunting rifle during his trip in Ubsunur Hollow Biosphere Reserve in Tuva Republic in this undated picture released on October 30, 2010 by RIA Novosti news agency. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Russian President Vladimir Putin pilots a motorized hang glider while flying with cranes as he takes part in a scientific experiment as part of the "Flight of Hope", which aims to preserve a rare species of - cranes on September 5, 2012. At the helm of a motorized hang glider that the birds have taken as their leader, Putin made three flights - the first to get familiar with the process, and two others with the birds. AFP/Getty

The team from The Hague will meet with officials from the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down and the police to discuss the process for collecting samples, including environmental issues.

Samples will then be dispatched to highly reputable international laboratories selected by the OPCW for testing with results expected to take a minimum of two weeks.

A statement from the Foreign Office repeated Mr Johnsons claims about Russia stockpiling Novichok in the last decade, adding: The start of the investigation by the international chemical weapons watchdog comes as the Foreign Secretary travels to Brussels to brief foreign ministers from across the European Union on the attempted assassinations in Salisbury before meeting with the NATO Secretary General.

As the Foreign Secretary noted this morning, we have been encouraged by the international support we have received to date. More than 20 countries across 6 continents have expressed their solidarity with us and we will continue to work with our European partners and allies around the world to tackle the threat posed by Russia to our collective security.An influential Commons committee has become mired in a bitter row after Leave members refused to back its report recommending a potential delay to Brexit and extending the transition period afterwards.

After they fell out with Remain backing members of the Brexit Committee, the group was forced to publish two sets of recommendations on Sunday.

Prominent Conservative Jacob Rees-Mogg, who is a member, attacked others in the group as the high priests of Remain, claiming they had attempted to force through a partisan document.

The committees Labour chair Hilary Benn said the divisions demonstrated just how difficult achieving an agreement on Brexit will be.

The group was set to call for an "extension to the Article 50 time", which dictates the UK will formally leave the EU in March 2019, in order to ensure a comprehensive agreement can be reached.

Their report was also due to back a provision in withdrawal arrangements to allow the transition period after departure, to be extended beyond the 21 months currently set, if necessary.

Mr Benn highlighted that the extension would likely be needed because with just seven months left to reach an agreement, a host of highly complex issues remain.

 Brexit Secretary David Davis hasnt visited Brussels for Brexit talks yet this year

He said: While the committee welcomes the progress that has been made in some areas, the Government faces a huge task when the phase two talks actually begin.

The Government must now come forward with credible, detailed proposals as to how it can operate a frictionless border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland because at the moment, the committee is not persuaded that this can be done at the same time as the UK is leaving the single market and the customs union.

But the committee split on a series of votes over the content of its report on the progress of withdrawal negotiations.

Mr Rees-Mogg and fellow Conservatives Sir Christopher Chope, Andrea Jenkyns, Craig Mackinlay, and John Whittingdale, along with the DUPs Sammy Wilson refused to sign off the final version.

They used parliamentary procedures to ensure a minority report was included in the publication of the main text, a move rarely used.

Mr Rees-Mogg, chairman of the Brexit-supporting Tory European Research Group, said the committees majority report was effectively a prospectus for the vassal state.

 Donald Tusk on Brexit negotiations: Ireland first

He went on: It is a future not worthy of us as a country, and I am sure that Theresa May will rightly reject a report by the high priests of Remain.

The majority report would keep us in the customs union and the single market which is an attempt to keep us in he EU by sleight of hand. Those of us who respect the instructions the people gave us in the referendum could not support so partisan a text.

The minority report said 21 months is ample time and warned a prolonged transition period would be difficult for the UK and would not respect the referendum result.

It says the UK would still be bound by EU rules and would have to hand over cash with no say on how it is spent if the implementation arrangements are extended.

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

Mr Whittingdale, vice chairman of the committee, said: I am very disappointed that the committee was unable to produce a unanimous report and instead divided along the same lines as in the referendum campaign.

For a number of us the chairmans report was far too negative and we do not believe that its conclusions are borne out by the evidence we heard.

It follows an earlier report this week from the Commons Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, which concluded Ms Mays pledge of no hard border after Brexit can only be achieved if the UK remains aligned with EU rules for the foreseeable future.

It said there is no evidence of a technical solution to allow Northern Ireland to break free from the customs union and single market without the return of border posts and checks.Britain has accused Russia of breaching international law by secretly manufacturing and stockpiling the deadly nerve agent used in the Salisbury attack over the past decade, despite having claimed to have destroyed its arsenal.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said he had information demonstrating that Russia has not only continued to accrue chemical weapons, but is exploring how they can be used for targeted assassinations.

British officials are likely to share evidence with international chemical weapons experts who arrive in the UK on Monday to assess samples from the Salisbury attack, which the UK says involved a Russian-made Novichok nerve agent.

Recommended Putin poised for huge winning margin in Russian election

If the Kremlin is found culpable for transporting the nerve agent to Salisbury, or to have lied about previously destroying chemical stockpiles, the experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) can impose penalties.

It comes as Vladimir Putin is on course to retain the presidency until 2024, following Russian elections characterised by rising anti-West sentiment.

Mr Johnson indicated on Sunday that the UK has intelligence showing Russia lied when in declared to the OPCW last year that it had destroyed all of its 40,000 metric tons of chemical weapons.

He said: We actually have evidence within the last 10 years that Russia has not only been investigating the delivery of nerve agents for the purposes of assassination, but has also been creating and stockpiling Novichok.

 Boris Johnson: We have evidence that Russia has been creating and stockpiling Novichok

The team of OPCW investigators from The Hague will meet experts from Porton Downs Defence Science and Technology Laboratory and the police to discuss the process for collecting samples linked to the Salisbury attack, which left former spy Sergei Skripal, his daughter and a British policeman in serious conditions.

The samples will then be dispatched to highly reputable international labs selected by the OPCW for testing with results expected to take a minimum of two weeks.

We actually have evidence within the last 10 years that Russia has not only been investigating the delivery of nerve agents for the purposes of assassination, but has also been creating and stockpiling Novichok Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson

The Foreign Office said Ms Mays invite to the OPCW reflects the UKs commitment to comply with obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which demands the independent assessment of scientific work.

But one well-placed government source told The Independent it was also about highlighting how Russia was violating the convention.

The source said: The approach from the start has been to build the case in international law to maximise the possibility of multilateral action, and the strength of action that might be taken.

 Theresa May warns Russia UK will 'never tolerate threat on life of British citizens'

If you want people in the EU or UN to stand up to Russia, you have to give them the ground on which to do it.

Thats why she has focussed on Salisbury being an unlawful use of force, which speaks to the UN charter, and [the CWC] is another element to increase pressure.

The convention is an international treaty that bans chemical weapons, requires their destruction within a specified period of time and is overseen by the OPCW.

Both the UK and Russia are signatories, with Moscow having signed the convention in 1993 and declared all its stockpiles of chemical weapons destroyed under OPCW supervision in 2017.

Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Show all 20 1 /20 Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin is pictured with a horse during his vacation outside the town of Kyzyl in Southern Siberia on August 3, 2009. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin aims at a whale with an arbalest to take a piece of its skin for analysis on the Olga Bay, some 240 kilometres north-east of Nakhodka on August 25, 2010. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin plunges into the icy waters of lake Seliger during the celebration of the Epiphany holiday in Russia's Tver region AFP/Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin (top) takes part in a judo training session at the "Moscow" sports complex in St. Petersburg, on December 22, 2010. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin works out at a gym at the Bocharov Ruchei state residence in Sochi on August 30, 2015. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin fishes in the remote Tuva region in southern Siberia. The picture taken between August 1 and 3, 2017. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin (L) and the leader of the Night Wolves biker group, Alexander Zaldostanov (R), also known as the Surgeon, ride motorcycles on August 29, 2011 at a bikers' festival in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, Russia. Putin described leather-clad bikers as brothers and boasted of the "indivisible Russian nation" after roaring into a biking rally on a Harley Davidson. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin wears glasses as he visits the Technology Park of the Novosibirsk Academic Town in Novosibirsk on February 17, 2012. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin rides a horse during his vacation outside the town of Kyzyl in Southern Siberia on August 3, 2009. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin holds a pistol during his visit to a newly-built headquarters of the Russian General Staff's Main Intelligence Department (GRU) in Moscow, 08 November 2006. ?Some countries are seeking to untie their hands in order to take weapons to outer space, including nuclear weapons,? Putin said at the Chief Military Intelligence Department on Wednesday. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin sits inside a T-90AM tank during a visit to an arms exhibition in the Urals town of Nizhny Tagil on September 9, 2011 Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin wears a helmet and the uniform of the Renault Formula One team before driving a F1 race car on a special track in Leningrad region outside St. Petersburg on November 7, 2010. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin guides a boat during his vacation in the remote Tuva region in southern Siberia. The picture taken between August 1 and 3, 2017. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin hunts fish underwater in the remote Tuva region in southern Siberia. The picture taken between August 1 and 3, 2017. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin is seen at the Russian boxing team training club after casting his vote for the Russian Presidential election, 14 March 2004 in Moscow. Putin coasted to a landslide victory with 69.0 percent of the vote in Sunday's election, according to the first exit poll aired on Russian television moments after voting ended across the country's 11 time zones. AFP/Getty Images Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Russian President Vladimir Putin poses for a picture inside the Tupolev-160 strategic bomber jet at the Moscow's Chkalovsky military airport, 16 August 2005. President Vladimir Putin took off from Moscow for a supersonic flight in a cruise-missile carrying Tupolev-160 bomber jet, the latest in the Russian leader's action-packed public appearances. After a health check, Putin donned a flight suit and took the commander's position in the strategic bomber, which was piloted by Major General Anatoly Zhikharev, with a colonel and a lieutenant colonel in charge of navigation, Russian media reported. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? A picture released on March 6, 2010 shows Vladimir Putin look through binoculars in the Karatash area, near the town of Abakan, during his working trip to Khakassia, on February 25, 2010. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin measuring a polar bear on the island Alexandra Land, part of the Franz Josef Land archipalego in the Arctic Ocean. Putin, better known in the West for his tough-guy image, expressed concern for the fate of Arctic polar bears threatened by climate change. "The polar bear is under threat. Their population is currently only 25,000 individuals," Putin was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin carries a hunting rifle during his trip in Ubsunur Hollow Biosphere Reserve in Tuva Republic in this undated picture released on October 30, 2010 by RIA Novosti news agency. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Russian President Vladimir Putin pilots a motorized hang glider while flying with cranes as he takes part in a scientific experiment as part of the "Flight of Hope", which aims to preserve a rare species of - cranes on September 5, 2012. At the helm of a motorized hang glider that the birds have taken as their leader, Putin made three flights - the first to get familiar with the process, and two others with the birds. AFP/Getty

If states are found by the OPCW to have engaged in prohibited actions, such as lying about what stockpiles they have, the organisation can find it in breach and impose penalties, including bars on trading certain chemical products.

The OPCW can also bring the issue before the UN Security Council and General Assembly, where the UK has already begun a drive to isolate Moscow.

Russias ambassador to the EU Vladimir Chizhov denied on Sunday that his country had any nerve agents in its military arsenal, saying there are, no stockpiles whatsoever.

In claims branded nonsense by British officials, he went on to suggest the nerve agent used in Salisbury may have come from the UKs own Porton Down laboratory.

 Salisbury spy attack: Russian official suggests nerve agent could have come from UK lab Porton Down

He said: When you have a nerve agent or whatever, you check it against certain samples that you retain in your laboratories.

Porton Down, as we now all know, is the largest military facility in the United Kingdom that has been dealing with chemical weapons research. Its actually only eight miles from Salisbury.

Asked directly by the BBC whether Porton Down was responsible for the attack, Mr Chizhov said: I dont know. I dont have any evidence of anything having been used.

On Sunday Ms May had a call with the Polish Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, with the pair agreeing on a determined response from the European Union towards Russia.

Mr Johnson travels to Brussels on Monday to brief foreign ministers from across the bloc on the attempted assassinations in Salisbury before meeting with Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

The European Council is set to meet at the end of this week and is expected to offer further international support to Theresa Mays push to hold Russia to account.

Ms May joined forces with US President Donald Trump, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron to issue an unprecedented joint statement last week pointing the finger of blame at Russia for Salisbury and demanding a halt to a pattern of unacceptable behaviour, while the Foreign Office says more than 20 countries have expressed their solidarity with the UK.One of Jeremy Corbyns closest allies has rebuffed accusations that he failed to take a tough line on Russia over the Salisbury nerve agent attack, claiming the leaders position had been misread.

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said it was the role of the opposition to offer a constructive critique of Government policy, but that Labour agreed with Theresa May that Russias to blame.

It follows a Labour row sparked by Mr Corbyns comments and subsequent briefings from his spokesman, which avoided directly blaming Moscow for the incident in which a Russian-made nerve agent was released in the English city.

Recommended Johnson says UK has evidence of Russia stockpiling deadly nerve agent

Both Shadow Cabinet ministers and Labour backbenchers spoke out in the wake of Mr Corbyns words to differentiate themselves from his position.

But speaking to ITVs Peston on Sunday, Mr McDonnell said: Its the role of a responsible opposition to ensure that they have an honest critique of the Government and what theyre doing.

Support them when theyre right, thats what Jeremy did, he said I support and condemn these actions, supported the Prime Minister on her conclusions.

He added: It is a constructive critique, I think others have misread that.

 Boris Johnson: We have evidence that Russia has been creating and stockpiling Novichok

Earlier in the week, Mr Corbyn failed to directly blame Russia for the attack during a debate in the House of Commons, while his spokesman raised question over the reliability of the Governments interpretation of British intelligence.

In response, a group of Labour backbenchers laid an early day motion, a sort of parliamentary petition, setting out how they backed the Prime Ministers approach and did blame Russia for the attack.

Shadow Defence Secretary Nia Griffith did an interview in which she also said Russia was behind the incident, which left ex-spy Sergei Skripal, his daughter and a British police officer in hospital.

Clarifying Labours position, Mr McDonnell said on Sunday: The Prime Minister is right, whatever they say Russias to blame, so now weve got to build, exactly as she is doing, the international coalition that takes effective action.

He added: Theres a pattern of people being murdered here, therefore it leads you to the conclusion that [Vladimir] Putin has questions to answer because this is highly likely this could have been a state execution.

Mr McDonnell called for the introduction of an oligarch levy to strengthen the UKs hand in imposing effective sanctions on Russia.

Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Show all 20 1 /20 Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin is pictured with a horse during his vacation outside the town of Kyzyl in Southern Siberia on August 3, 2009. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin aims at a whale with an arbalest to take a piece of its skin for analysis on the Olga Bay, some 240 kilometres north-east of Nakhodka on August 25, 2010. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin plunges into the icy waters of lake Seliger during the celebration of the Epiphany holiday in Russia's Tver region AFP/Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin (top) takes part in a judo training session at the "Moscow" sports complex in St. Petersburg, on December 22, 2010. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin works out at a gym at the Bocharov Ruchei state residence in Sochi on August 30, 2015. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin fishes in the remote Tuva region in southern Siberia. The picture taken between August 1 and 3, 2017. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin (L) and the leader of the Night Wolves biker group, Alexander Zaldostanov (R), also known as the Surgeon, ride motorcycles on August 29, 2011 at a bikers' festival in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, Russia. Putin described leather-clad bikers as brothers and boasted of the "indivisible Russian nation" after roaring into a biking rally on a Harley Davidson. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin wears glasses as he visits the Technology Park of the Novosibirsk Academic Town in Novosibirsk on February 17, 2012. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin rides a horse during his vacation outside the town of Kyzyl in Southern Siberia on August 3, 2009. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin holds a pistol during his visit to a newly-built headquarters of the Russian General Staff's Main Intelligence Department (GRU) in Moscow, 08 November 2006. ?Some countries are seeking to untie their hands in order to take weapons to outer space, including nuclear weapons,? Putin said at the Chief Military Intelligence Department on Wednesday. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin sits inside a T-90AM tank during a visit to an arms exhibition in the Urals town of Nizhny Tagil on September 9, 2011 Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin wears a helmet and the uniform of the Renault Formula One team before driving a F1 race car on a special track in Leningrad region outside St. Petersburg on November 7, 2010. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin guides a boat during his vacation in the remote Tuva region in southern Siberia. The picture taken between August 1 and 3, 2017. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin hunts fish underwater in the remote Tuva region in southern Siberia. The picture taken between August 1 and 3, 2017. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin is seen at the Russian boxing team training club after casting his vote for the Russian Presidential election, 14 March 2004 in Moscow. Putin coasted to a landslide victory with 69.0 percent of the vote in Sunday's election, according to the first exit poll aired on Russian television moments after voting ended across the country's 11 time zones. AFP/Getty Images Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Russian President Vladimir Putin poses for a picture inside the Tupolev-160 strategic bomber jet at the Moscow's Chkalovsky military airport, 16 August 2005. President Vladimir Putin took off from Moscow for a supersonic flight in a cruise-missile carrying Tupolev-160 bomber jet, the latest in the Russian leader's action-packed public appearances. After a health check, Putin donned a flight suit and took the commander's position in the strategic bomber, which was piloted by Major General Anatoly Zhikharev, with a colonel and a lieutenant colonel in charge of navigation, Russian media reported. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? A picture released on March 6, 2010 shows Vladimir Putin look through binoculars in the Karatash area, near the town of Abakan, during his working trip to Khakassia, on February 25, 2010. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin measuring a polar bear on the island Alexandra Land, part of the Franz Josef Land archipalego in the Arctic Ocean. Putin, better known in the West for his tough-guy image, expressed concern for the fate of Arctic polar bears threatened by climate change. "The polar bear is under threat. Their population is currently only 25,000 individuals," Putin was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin carries a hunting rifle during his trip in Ubsunur Hollow Biosphere Reserve in Tuva Republic in this undated picture released on October 30, 2010 by RIA Novosti news agency. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Russian President Vladimir Putin pilots a motorized hang glider while flying with cranes as he takes part in a scientific experiment as part of the "Flight of Hope", which aims to preserve a rare species of - cranes on September 5, 2012. At the helm of a motorized hang glider that the birds have taken as their leader, Putin made three flights - the first to get familiar with the process, and two others with the birds. AFP/Getty

The levy would see a charge introduced against purchases of residential property by offshore trusts located in known tax havens  raising an estimated 875m a year according to Labour.

Shadow attorney general Shami Chakrabarti also tried to present a united front when she appeared on BBC Ones Andrew Marr show.

She said: I am here to make clear that I am completely at one, not just with Jeremy but with Nia Griffith, Emily Thornberry, Keir Starmer.

We must condemn Russian responsibility, whether it is negligent or whether it is even more serious.Labour has unveiled plans to stem the loss of low-cost homes as new analysis reveals more than 100,000 social homes have been converted into a more expensive type of property in the last six years alone.

The party said it would scrap a policy introduced by the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition government in 2012 that forces housing associations and local councils to raise rents by an average of 40 per cent by converting social homes into affordable homes.

The announcement is the second to come out of Labours review into the future of social housing, which is likely to report in the coming weeks.

It comes as analysis seen by The Independent revealed the huge loss of social homes largely as a result of a change made by the coalition.

Recommended Fewer social homes being built than at any time since Second World War

This forced housing associations and local councils bidding for Government money to prove that they were taking steps to increase their own revenue by converting social homes into more profitable affordable homes.

The result has been a huge loss of the cheapest homes in recent years. Analysis of official data reveals the change has forced housing providers to convert 102,000 social homes in the six years since the change was made.

While social rents are generally around 40 per cent of market value, affordable homes can cost up to 80 per cent of market rents, prompting criticism that in many parts of country they are out of the reach of people on ordinary incomes.

Such a property in Kensington could cost up to 2,240 a month, while in Westminster the cap would be at 1,810 a month  more than the entire income of someone on an average wage.

Across England, the average social home costs around 340 a month, while the figure for an affordable home is much higher, at close to 450 a month.

The coalition made the conversion of low-cost social homes into affordable homes a key plank of its housing policy.

An official document from 2011 explaining the Governments approach said: The conversion of existing stock to affordable rent is a crucial element in generating additional financial capacity and it is anticipated that it will be integral to the offer that providers bring forward as part of their proposals for funding new supply.

The change was made despite the Governments own impact assessment making it clear that forcing the conversion of social housing into affordable housing would result in greater costs to Government through increases in housing benefit, although this was forecast to be offset by cuts to housing spending.

The world's least affordable cities for housing Show all 10 1 /10 The world's least affordable cities for housing The world's least affordable cities for housing Hong Kong The world's least affordable cities for housing Sydney The world's least affordable cities for housing Vancouver The world's least affordable cities for housing Auckland The world's least affordable cities for housing Melbourne The world's least affordable cities for housing San Jose The world's least affordable cities for housing San Francisco The world's least affordable cities for housing London The world's least affordable cities for housing San Diego The world's least affordable cities for housing Los Angeles

At the same time as the change was made, Government funding for new social housing was ended entirely and instead diverted to fund affordable homes.

As a result, the number of new, Government-funded social homes has plummeted by 97 per year since 2010, with just 1,102 new homes completed last year  funded via existing programmes set up before 2010.

In a new policy announcement, Labour said it would remove the regulation that forces housing providers to turn social homes into affordable homes. The party has also committed to building 100,000 social and affordable homes per year.

John Healey MP, the Shadow Housing Secretary, told The Independent: In the midst of an affordable housing crisis, it beggars belief that ministers are forcing social rented homes to be turned into housing at near-market rents.

Labour will end this short-sighted and self-defeating policy which is hiking rents for tenants and loading higher housing benefit costs onto the taxpayer.

Labours forthcoming review into the future of social housing will set out our plan for a step-change in the delivery of genuinely affordable homes.

The forced conversion of social homes into affordable homes has resulted in more low-cost properties than the controversial Right to Buy scheme.

Although Right to Buy is often seen as the main reason for the loss of low-cost homes, almost twice as many social homes have been lost through forced conversion.

 Number of social housing properties in England drops 11 per cent in one year

About 102,000 homes have been converted since 2012, while around 60,000 have been sold to tenants under Right to Buy.

Only around 50,000 new social homes have been built in that time  the vast majority funded by housing associations.

Polly Neate, Chief Executive of housing charity Shelter, said: In the midst of a housing crisis, the last thing struggling families need is for the rent on social homes to be increased. This will leave many working families worse off, while others are forced to rely on higher levels of housing benefit to make ends meet.

We welcome the Governments plans to encourage more building and clamp down on unfair practices by big developers, but it must also ensure we are building truly affordable homes to rent for everyone who needs them.

A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: We have delivered 357,000 affordable properties since 2010 and are investing 9bn to build the affordable homes the country needs. This includes 2bn to help councils and housing associations build social rent homes where they are most needed.

Recognising the specific needs in London, the Chancellor announced in the Spring Statement a 1.7bn share of affordable housing funding for the capital for 26,000 more homes, including properties for social rent.Theresa May has used her party conference speech to warn Russia that the UK will never tolerate a threat to the life of British citizens, as the crisis around the Salisbury nerve attack deepens.

The Prime Minister said Moscow was in flagrant breach of international law over the incident which saw a Russian-made nerve agent release in the city.

She said: Many Russians have made this country their home. And those who abide by our laws and make a contribution to our society will always be welcome.

But we will never tolerate a threat to the life of British citizens and others on British soil from the Russian Government.

But it comes after the Kremlin announced it would retaliate to Britains expulsion of 23 diplomats earlier this week, by also expelling the same number of UK officials from Moscow.

Saying that she had anticipated the move, the Prime Minister went on: The rule of law. Freedom of speech. The toleration of dissenting and minority views. A free press. Fair and democratic elections. A thriving civil society. These are the foundation stones of human freedom.

They dont come about by accident, and they are certainly not the default setting for any society.

They take years of patient work to build up, they face constant threats, and they must always be defended. They are the values which unite us as a country.

The overt defence of national values comes after a week in which Ms May criticised Jeremy Corbyn for failing to blame Russia for the attack, something which also divided the Labour frontbench.

Recommended Russia expels 23 British diplomats as diplomatic spat intensifies

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced said on Saturday morning that it would expel 23 British diplomats in a like-for-like retaliation to British measures, saying the diplomatic representatives of the British Embassy in Moscow should leave Russia within a week.

It came four days after Ms May announced 23 Russian diplomats would be expelled from Britain after Russia missed a deadline to provide an explanation for the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

The ex-spy, his daughter and a British policeman are still in serious conditions in hospital following the 4 March attack which saw a military grade Novichok nerve agent released in the Salisbury.

Responding to Russia's announcement, the UK Foreign Office said in a statement it had anticipated a response of this kind and the National Security Council would meet early next week to consider next steps.

It insisted there was no alternative conclusion other than that the Russian State was culpable but said it was not in the UK's national interest to break off all dialogue between our countries.

The onus remains on the Russian state to account for their actions and to comply with their international obligations, the statement concluded.

Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Show all 20 1 /20 Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin is pictured with a horse during his vacation outside the town of Kyzyl in Southern Siberia on August 3, 2009. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin aims at a whale with an arbalest to take a piece of its skin for analysis on the Olga Bay, some 240 kilometres north-east of Nakhodka on August 25, 2010. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin plunges into the icy waters of lake Seliger during the celebration of the Epiphany holiday in Russia's Tver region AFP/Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin (top) takes part in a judo training session at the "Moscow" sports complex in St. Petersburg, on December 22, 2010. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin works out at a gym at the Bocharov Ruchei state residence in Sochi on August 30, 2015. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin fishes in the remote Tuva region in southern Siberia. The picture taken between August 1 and 3, 2017. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin (L) and the leader of the Night Wolves biker group, Alexander Zaldostanov (R), also known as the Surgeon, ride motorcycles on August 29, 2011 at a bikers' festival in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, Russia. Putin described leather-clad bikers as brothers and boasted of the "indivisible Russian nation" after roaring into a biking rally on a Harley Davidson. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin wears glasses as he visits the Technology Park of the Novosibirsk Academic Town in Novosibirsk on February 17, 2012. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin rides a horse during his vacation outside the town of Kyzyl in Southern Siberia on August 3, 2009. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin holds a pistol during his visit to a newly-built headquarters of the Russian General Staff's Main Intelligence Department (GRU) in Moscow, 08 November 2006. ?Some countries are seeking to untie their hands in order to take weapons to outer space, including nuclear weapons,? Putin said at the Chief Military Intelligence Department on Wednesday. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin sits inside a T-90AM tank during a visit to an arms exhibition in the Urals town of Nizhny Tagil on September 9, 2011 Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin wears a helmet and the uniform of the Renault Formula One team before driving a F1 race car on a special track in Leningrad region outside St. Petersburg on November 7, 2010. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin guides a boat during his vacation in the remote Tuva region in southern Siberia. The picture taken between August 1 and 3, 2017. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin hunts fish underwater in the remote Tuva region in southern Siberia. The picture taken between August 1 and 3, 2017. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin is seen at the Russian boxing team training club after casting his vote for the Russian Presidential election, 14 March 2004 in Moscow. Putin coasted to a landslide victory with 69.0 percent of the vote in Sunday's election, according to the first exit poll aired on Russian television moments after voting ended across the country's 11 time zones. AFP/Getty Images Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Russian President Vladimir Putin poses for a picture inside the Tupolev-160 strategic bomber jet at the Moscow's Chkalovsky military airport, 16 August 2005. President Vladimir Putin took off from Moscow for a supersonic flight in a cruise-missile carrying Tupolev-160 bomber jet, the latest in the Russian leader's action-packed public appearances. After a health check, Putin donned a flight suit and took the commander's position in the strategic bomber, which was piloted by Major General Anatoly Zhikharev, with a colonel and a lieutenant colonel in charge of navigation, Russian media reported. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? A picture released on March 6, 2010 shows Vladimir Putin look through binoculars in the Karatash area, near the town of Abakan, during his working trip to Khakassia, on February 25, 2010. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin measuring a polar bear on the island Alexandra Land, part of the Franz Josef Land archipalego in the Arctic Ocean. Putin, better known in the West for his tough-guy image, expressed concern for the fate of Arctic polar bears threatened by climate change. "The polar bear is under threat. Their population is currently only 25,000 individuals," Putin was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin carries a hunting rifle during his trip in Ubsunur Hollow Biosphere Reserve in Tuva Republic in this undated picture released on October 30, 2010 by RIA Novosti news agency. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops  Russia's Man of Steel? Russian President Vladimir Putin pilots a motorized hang glider while flying with cranes as he takes part in a scientific experiment as part of the "Flight of Hope", which aims to preserve a rare species of - cranes on September 5, 2012. At the helm of a motorized hang glider that the birds have taken as their leader, Putin made three flights - the first to get familiar with the process, and two others with the birds. AFP/Getty

A Russian response to the British measures had been expected for several days and when it came, it went further than expected.

Apart from the expected tit-for-tat expulsions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced it is stopping all British Council activities due to legal irregularities and revoking its agreement for Britain to operate a consulate-general in St Petersburg.

The ministry also warned that Russia could take further measures if Britain takes any more unfriendly actions against the country.The attorney general of Massachusetts has said she will be opening an investigation into a data firm used by Donald Trumps campaign during the 2016 presidential election, after Facebook suspend the company from the platform.

The social media giant said they suspended Cambridge Analytica and its parent group trategic Communication Laboratories (SCL) over reports that data privacy policies had been violated after data from users was not deleted. Facebook has said the violations relates to information collected in a personality app downloaded by 270,000 users, although information could have potentially been harvested from tens of millions of people.

The app in question, thisisyourdigitallife, is said to have created by University of Cambridge professor Dr Aleksandr Kogan in 2014, although the work was separate from his job at the institution. The app involved offering people a small sum of money for taking a personality test, while agreeing to have their information shared for academic use which is within Facebooks terms of use.

Facebook allege that his company Global Science Research passed data collected from the app to Cambridge Analytica, which is in breach of their rules.

In response to the suspension, Maura Healy, the Massachusetts attorney general said via Twitter that residents of her state deserve answers from Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, and that her office was "launching an investigation".

The app created by Dr Kogan is said to have collected basic information from the test-takers Facebook friends, according to documents seen by The New York Times and The Observer, potentially meaning tens of millions of people were affected. Whistleblower Chris Wylie, a former research director at Cambridge Analytica, told Channel 4 News a so-called data grab had been carried out on more than 50 million profiles.

We were able to get upwards of 50 million-plus Facebook records in the span of a couple of months, he said.

Facebook said that it had removed the app in 2015 and had asked for all data related to it be deleted. The company added that it had received reports several days ago that not all data had been deleted, leading to the suspension, and that it is moving aggressively to determine the truth of those claims. Facebook added on Saturday that it believed the incident did not constitute a data breach as People knowingly provided their information, no systems were infiltrated, and no passwords or sensitive pieces of information were stolen or hacked.

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 Kogan told The Observer that everything he did was legal. Cambridge Analytica said that it had contracted GSR to undertake a large scale research project in the United States, obtaining data and seeking the informed consent of each respondent.

It said that it had deleted all the data it had received from GSR when it was clear that information was not obtained in line with Facebooks terms of service and that it complies with all of Facebooks data rules.

It added: Cambridge Analytica's Commercial and Political divisions use social media platforms for outward marketing, delivering data-led and creative content to targeted audiences. They do not use or hold data from Facebook profiles.

The statement continued: No data from GSR was used by Cambridge Analytica as part of the services it provided to the Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign.

Mr Trumps former strategist and chief campaign executive Steve Bannon was a former vice president of the firm. The investigation into Russian election meddling and possible ties to members of the Trump campaign - led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller - is also said to have requested emails between the firm and the Trump campaign as part of the probe.

Recommended Social media influencers face renewed scrutiny over advertising

The incident underscores how technology companies will continue to intersect with modern politics - with Facebook and other technology firms also having faced tough questions from Congress about the issue of Russian meddling.

In response to the reports about Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, Senator. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that it was more evidence that the online political advertising market is essentially the Wild West,

Whether it's allowing Russians to purchase political ads, or extensive micro-targeting based on ill-gotten user data, it's clear that, left unregulated, this market will continue to be prone to deception and lacking in transparency, he said.Three hours before six people were killed when a pedestrian bridge collapsed in Miami, it has emerged that engineers and state and officials from Florida International University (FIU) concluded a crack in the structure was not a safety concern.

The admission by the university sparked fury among relatives of some of the victims who were crushed to death when it fell onto their cars,

The meeting involved FIGG, the private contractor for the overall bridge design, the school, Florida Department of Transportation officials and Munilla Construction Management (MCM), which installed the $14.2m (10.1m) bridge, the institution said.

A FIGG engineer "concluded there were no safety concerns and the crack did not compromise the structural integrity of the bridge," FIU said in a statement.

Three hours later, the bridge collapsed, it added.

Joe Smitha, whose 18-year-old niece Alexa Duran was killed by the falling structure, raged against what he called "complete incompetence" and a "colossal failure".

"Why they had to build this monstrosity in the first place to get children across the street?" he said. "Then they decided to stress test this bridge while traffic was running underneath it?"

Rolando Fraga Hernandez and his gold Jeep Cherokee were pulled from the wreckage on Saturday. Later, the bodies of Oswald Gonzalez, 57, and Alberto Arias, 54, were found inside a white Chevy truck.

Navarro Brown was also pulled from the rubble and later died at the hospital.

News of the meeting between engineers and officials followed a revelation that the engineer overseeing the bridge, which linked the FIU campus with the city of Sweetwater, had called a state official two days before the collapse to report cracks.

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

However, the voicemail message from FIGG's lead engineer Denney Pate, including his assertion that the cracking posed no safety issue, was not retrieved until a day after the tragedy, according to the state transportation agency.

Mr Pate did not immediately respond to email queries.

In the message, he said his team had observed "some cracking" at one end of the bridge and that repairs were warranted, "but from a safety perspective we don't see that there's any issue there, so we're not concerned about it from that perspective."

He added: "Obviously the cracking is not good and something's going to have to be, ya know, done to repair that."

Agencies contributed to this reportA retired four-star general says that President Donald Trump is a serious threat to United States national security.

Army Gen Barry McCaffrey made the accusation in a Twitter post in which he said that Mr Trump is under the sway of Russian forces and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Reluctantly I have concluded that President Trump is a serious threat to US national security, Mr McCaffrey wrote. He is refusing to protect vital US interests from active Russian attacks. It is apparent that he is for some unknown reason under the sway of Mr Putin.

Mr McCaffrey is a highly decorated former military man who now provides analysis for NBC News. He worked for the Clinton administration in the late 1990s as the head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Russia has been accused of meddling in the United States 2016 election, using hordes of Twitter bots and targeted Facebook advertising to sway the election in favour of Mr Trump. Since taking office, Mr Trump has been reluctant to punish Mr Putin and his government for the meddling during that year.

Since the election, questions have also swirled about the extent to which Mr Trump and his team may have participated in that Russian election meddling, and whether members of the Trump campaign were complicit in the efforts at all.

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

While Mr Trump has denied that any collusion between him and Russia occurred, an investigation undertaken by special counsel Robert Mueller has been gaining steam over the past year and has already led to several indictments of individuals close to Mr Trump or his 2016 campaign.

Those indictments have largely targeted financial crimes unrelated to Russian meddling, however it has been theorised that Mr Muellers team has brought those indictments primarily to force their targets to disclose information about Russias election efforts in 2016.President Donald Trumps personal lawyer Jon Dowd has called for an end to Special Counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation after the firing of former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.

Mr McCabe, a 21-year veteran of the FBI, has found himself in the middle of Mr Trumps narrative that deep state holdovers from the Obama administration are seeking to undermine his presidency. That particularly applies to the bureaus investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and potential ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, and Hillary Clintons use of a private email server when Secretary of State.

Mr Trump called Mr McCabes firing - which came late on Friday night slightly more than 24 hours before Mr McCabe was due to retire and collect a government pension - a great day for democracy. He followed that up later on Saturday with a number of tweets claiming, that it proved tremendous leaking, lying and corruption at the highest levels of the FBI, Justice [Department] and State [Department].

Mr McCabe had stepped down in January, but Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired him after the Justice Departments internal watchdog said in a report  the contents of which has not yet been made public  that he leaked information to reporters and misled investigators about his actions. Mr McCabe denies doing so and says his firing is part of the Trump administration's "war" on the FBI.

The president's lawyer Mr Dowd said in an initial statement provided to the Daily Beast that he pray[ed] that Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general who oversees Mr Muellers investigation into Russian election meddling and possible ties between Russia and the Trump campaign, will follow the brilliant and courageous example of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility and Attorney General Jeff Sessions and bring an end to alleged Russia collusion investigation manufactured by McCabes boss [former FBI Director] James Comey based upon a fraudulent and corrupt dossier. He told the news website that he was speaking on behalf of President Trump.

In a later statement, Mr Dowd said that he was merely speaking for himself and that in regards to the Mueller investigation it should be ended in light of recent revelations. Mr Trump and the White House have denied there has been any collusion between his campaign and Russia.

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

Democrats in Congress reacted with anger to the request, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer saying that if Mr Trump sought to curtail the investigation, there would be "severe consequences."

Mr Dowd's comments are yet another indication that the first instinct of the President and his legal team is not to cooperate with special counsel Mueller, but to undermine him at every turn, the New York Democrat said in a statement.

The President, the administration, and his legal team must not take any steps to curtail, interfere with, or end the special counsel's investigation or there will be severe consequences from both Democrats and Republicans.

Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat of the Senate Intelligence Committee, also called for defending the Russia probe. Every member of Congress, Republican and Democrat, needs to speak up in defence of the Special Counsel. Now, he said.

 Rex Tillerson fired: Trump has 'total confidence' in new Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

John Brennan, who led the CIA under President Barack Obama between 2013 and 2017, made his feelings clear about the reasons for Mr McCabes firing by tweeting about Mr Trump: When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history.

The investigation into election meddling was originally led by former FBI Director James Comey before he himself was fired by Mr Trump in May last year.

Mr Comey later testified to a congressional panel that he had had conversations with Mr Trump where the president had asked him to think about dropping an investigation into the conduct of Mr Trumps then-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. The White House have denied such conversations taking place, although it is believed that Mr Mueller and his team are looking into whether Mr Comeys firing could amount to obstruction of justice. Mr Flynn has since pleaded guilty to one count lying to the FBI, having been indicted by Mr Mueller.

In a statement, Mr McCabe alleged that the report used as the basis for his firing was sped up only after his testimony suggested that he would corroborate Mr Comeys accounts of his conversations with Mr Trump. A source told the Associated Press that Mr McCabe had kept personal memos regarding interactions with the president. They are said to be similar to the ones maintained by Mr Comey, and it is believed they have been passed to Mr Muellers team.

Mr McCabe briefly served as director of the FBI between the firing of Mr Comey and the swearing-in of current director Christopher Wray. He played a crucial role in the bureaus investigation into of Hillary Clintons use of a personal email server while she was Secretary of State, as well the Clinton Foundation.

Mr McCabe came under scrutiny over an October 2016 news report about clashes between the FBI and the Department of Justice about about how aggressively the Clinton Foundation should be investigated. The watchdog office concluded that Mr McCabe authorised FBI officials to speak to a Wall Street Journal reporter for that story and had kept back information about it.

In his statement, Mr McCabe said he had the authority to share information with journalists through the public affairs office and that he had honestly answered questions about whom he had spoken to and when, and that when he thought his answers were misunderstood, he contacted investigators to correct them.

At the time, Mr McCabe was faced questions of partisanship, and both then and since he has been repeatedly been criticised by Mr Trump for being biased in favour of Hillary Clinton and because his wife Jill ran as a Democratic candidate for the Virginia State Senate. Ms McCabe had received campaign contributions from the political action committee of then-Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, a longtime Clinton friend, during her unsuccessful run. The FBI has said Mr McCabe received the necessary ethics approval about his wifes candidacy and was not supervising the Clinton investigation at the time.

Mr Trump referenced the race in one of his tweets on Saturday afternoon: The Fake News is beside themselves that McCabe was caught, called out and fired. How many hundreds of thousands of dollars was given to wifes campaign by Crooked H friend, Terry M How many lies? How many leaks? Comey knew it all, and much more!.

Mr McCabe suggested in his statement that he was trying to set the record straight about the FBIs independence against the background of those allegations.A court in Bangladesh sentenced seven Islamist militants to death on Sunday after finding them guilty of killing a shrine worker in 2015, court officials said.

Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority country of 160 million people, is facing what appears to be a growing threat of Islamist militant violence and has seen a string of incidents in recent years.

Shrine caretaker, Rahamat Ali, 60, was hacked to death in November 2015 in the northern district of Rangpur. Six others accused of the attack were acquitted by the court.

The convicted men were members of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh group, public prosecutor Rathish Chandra Bhowmik told reporters.

Police believe the same group, which has pledged allegiance to Isis, was responsible for the most recent serious attack, when gunmen stormed a restaurant in the diplomatic quarter of Dhaka in July 2016, killing 22 people, most of them foreigners.

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

Isis and al-Qaeda have claimed a series of killings of liberals and members of religious minorities in Bangladesh in the past years.

Authorities have consistently ruled out the presence of such groups, blaming domestic militants instead. However, security experts say the scale and sophistication of the restaurant attack suggested links to a wider network.

ReutersAround the world, most secondary schools share a similar design: there are hallways that lead to classrooms, a front and back entrance, a cafeteria and a gym.

Near Chennai, India, a new boarding school called Riverbend aims to rethink traditional architecture  and curricula  in education. Instead of one large, central building, the campus will include more than a dozen smaller facilities that are designed to focus on a range of subjects, including maths, entrepreneurship, literature, art, meditation, history and physical education.

The goal is to prioritise the middle and high school students happiness rather than grades, Riverbend Schools lead architect, Danish Kurani, told Business Insider.

Construction will start this year and finish in 2020. Take a look below.

In a rural area outside Chennai, Riverbend School will host its first class of 300 students (plus faculty, staff and an artist-in-residence) in 2018.

Students will live there on weekdays and travel home at weekends.

The school was designed by the New York-based firm Kurani, which specialises in educational spaces.

Mr Kuranis team designed the campus like a village, he says. The site will centre around a central plaza, with classrooms outside it, student and faculty housing outside that and then agricultural land on the outskirts, where students will farm.

Students will live at the school on weekdays and spend their weekends at home (Kurani)

When planning Riverbend, the firm looked to a long-running Harvard study that has tracked people over the past eight decades. It suggests that strong relationships contribute to a happy life.

The campus will include many communal spaces, dubbed chat labs, where students can discuss projects with peers or teachers.

Students will decide their personal curricula and schedule.

Vivek, Kiran and Indira Reddy, the schools co-founders  who come from an entrepreneurial background  believe kids will stay more engaged if they learn things they care about.

Rather than just memorise science and maths problems, students will work on projects that look for solutions to real world issues, such as food access, clean energy development, housing and global health.

Students might learn how to code software, build a rocket, or write a play  whatever interests them.

You take for granted what a school is. Most people think its just a bunch of hallways and classrooms, Mr Kurani said. But if youre going to change the learning model  and focus on students character, happiness and emotional intelligence  then we have to question, what are the types of spaces we should offer kids?

The campus will also feature meditation spots, a kitchen for culinary classes, recording and dance studios and a storefront where students can launch businesses.

There will be more subtle architectural differences between Riverbend and typical schools as well.

The buildings will have curved corners to encourage people to congregate on all sides. And no building will be taller than two storeys, which Mr Kurani believes will make the campus feel more intimate.

Riverbend hasnt yet determined whether students will receive grades, which Mr Kurani says can breed unhealthy competition. They will not take standardised tests either.

The campus will also feature meditation spots and a kitchen for culinary classes (Kurani)

The school will follow a recent trend in American education called personalised learning.

The teacher doesnt lecture, but acts more as a facilitator to students, who choose how and what they learn.

An on-campus research institute will study the efficacy of Riverbends techniques, which the faculty plans to share with other educators around the world.

The schools larger goal is to rethink traditional education and build a happier and more compassionate generation.

The focus will not just be cramming kids heads with information, regurgitating it out to us and having no sense of why it matters, Mr Kurani said. We want to raise people who are good for our communities. Its about flipping the priorities of traditional pedagogy.

Learn more from the video below:

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Read the original article on Business Insider UK.  2018. Follow Business Insider UK on TwitterA Romanian court has rejected a mans attempts to persuade them that he is alive.

Constantin Reliu, 63, tried to convince a court in the city of Vaslui that his government-issued death certificate was incorrect, but failed.

The legal system said that the decision to register him as deceased in 2016 is final, even though he is definitely alive.

His wife obtained the death certificate after she had lost contact with him for a period of several years when he moved to Turkey for work, the Associated Press reported.

Mr Reliu was eventually deported from Turkey on the grounds that his immigration papers had expired. He learned of his apparent death when he got back.

He was quoted as saying: I am OFFICIALLY dead, although Im alive; I have no income and because I am listed dead, I cant do anything.

According to the Romanian TV channel digi24, judges told Mr Reliu that the appeal period for changing the death certificate had passed, meaning there is nothing they can do.

Read the original article on Business Insider UK  2018. Follow Business Insider UK on Twitter.Turkish forces and their Syrian rebel allies have raised their flags in the town centre of Afrin and declared full control after a two-month campaign to drive out Kurdish forces.

Images showed Syrian fighters tearing down a statue of Kawa, a mythological Kurdish hero who defeated a brutal ruler and lit fires to spread the news, ushering in spring.

The statue symbolised the Kurdish new year celebrations that are being held this week

A WhatsApp group run by the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces called the act a blatant violation of Kurdish peoples culture and history.

Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army soldiers celebrate after reportedly taking complete control of the city of Afrin, northern Syria (EPA/AREF TAMMAWI)

Turkeys President said allied Syrian forces had taken total control of the town, which was previously controlled by the Kurdish militia known as the Peoples Defence Units or YPG.

Many of the terrorists had turned tail and run away already, Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a rally commemorating the First World War Gallipoli campaign.

Our special forces and members of the Free Syrian Army are cleaning the remains and the traps they left behind. In the centre of Afrin, symbols of trust and stability are waving instead of rags of terrorists.

A spokesman for the rebel fighters told Reuters they entered Afrin before dawn, meeting no resistance. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said pockets of YPG fighters were defying orders to withdraw, but Turkish forces were in control.

Turkey considers the Kurdish forces along its border to be terrorists linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK, which has waged an insurgency within Turkey for more than three decades.

Soldiers prepare to destroy a statue of Kawa, a mythological figure in Kurdish culture (Hasan Kormozitao/DHA-Depo Photos via AP) (Hasan Krmzita/DHA-Depo Photos via AP)

The fight for Afrin, a once stable pocket of northwest Syria, has opened a new front in Syrias multi-sided civil war and highlighted the ever greater role of foreign powers in the seven-year-old conflict.

At least 46 Turkish soldiers were killed since Operation Olive Branch began on 20 January.

Soldiers destroy the statue (Hasan Kormozitao/DHA-Depo Photos via AP) (Hasan Krmzita/DHA-Depo Photos via AP)

Nearly 200,000 people have fled the Afrin region in recent days amid heavy air strikes, entering Syrian government-held territory nearby, the Syrian Observatory said.

Turkey pressed on with its campaign despite a UN Security Council call for a 30-day ceasefire across Syria. Ankara said the demand did not apply to Afrin, but its operation has faced criticism in the West.

A Kurdish official, Hadia Yousef, told the Associated Press the YPG fighters have not fled the town, but have evacuated the remaining civilians because of massacres. She said clashes in the town were still underway.

Turkeys armed forces said in a statement that troops were combing the streets for mines and improvised explosive devices.

The army posted a video on social media showing a soldier holding a Turkish flag and a man waving the Syrian opposition flag on the balcony of the district parliament building (EPA/DHA/Dogan News Agency) (EPA/DHA / DOGAN NEWS AGENCY)

The army posted a video on social media showing a soldier holding a Turkish flag and a man waving the Syrian opposition flag on the balcony of the district parliament building with a tank stationed on the street.

The soldier called the capture a gift to the Turkish nation and to fallen soldiers on the anniversary of a famous First World War victory.

Other footage showed Syrian fighters shooting in the air in celebration while shouting Allahu akbar, Arabic for God is [the] greatest.

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

Turkey has threatened to extend its offensive to another Kurdish-controlled region further east, where US forces are stationed alongside the YPG, Washingtons ally against Isis in Syria.

The YPG seized large areas across northern and eastern Syria from the extremist group with the help of coalition air strikes.

Mr Erdogan has repeatedly said that Nato ally Turkey will not allow a terror corridor along its border.

Turkey also fears the establishment of a Kurdish self-ruled zone in Syria that could inspire its own Kurdish minority to press for greater autonomy. The Kurds are the largest stateless ethnic group in the Middle East, with some 30 million living in an area split between Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria.

It comes after the Kurdish militia and the Syrian Observatory said Turkish jets struck Afrins main hospital on Friday, killing more than a dozen people.

The Turkish military denied the allegations.

Additional reporting by agenciesIn early 1941, Lyudmila Pavlichenko was studying history at Kiev University, but within a year, she had become one of the best snipers of all time, credited with 309 confirmed kills, 36 of which were German snipers.

Pavlichenko was born in 1916 in a small town in Ukraine.

She was described as an independent, opinionated tomboy who was "unruly in the classroom," as the Smithsonian notes.

At the age of 14, Pavlichenko's family had relocated to Kiev, where she worked as a metal grinder in a munitions factory.

Like many young people in the Soviet Union at that time, Pavlichenko participated in OSOAVIAKhIM, a paramilitary sporting organization which taught youths weapons skills and etiquette.

When a neighbors boy boasted of his exploits at a shooting range, said Pavlichenko according to the Smithsonian.

I set out to show that a girl could do as well. So I practiced a lot.

On June 22, 1941, Hitler broke ties with Joseph Stalin and German troops poured into the Soviet Union. Pavlichenko rushed to join the Soviet army and defend her homeland, but she was initially denied entry into the army due to gender.

"She looked like a model, with well-manicured nails, fashionable clothes, and hairstyle. Pavlichenko told the recruiter that she wanted to carry a rifle and fight. The man just laughed and asked her if she knew anything about rifles," Soviet-Awards.com wrote of Pavlichenko's effort to join the military.

Even after Pavlichenko presented her marksman certificate and a sharpshooter badge from OSOAVIAKhIM, officials still urged her to work as a nurse.

They wouldnt take girls in the army, so I had to resort to all kinds of tricks to get in, explained Pavlichenko.

Eventually, the Red Army gave her an "audition" by giving her a rifle and showed her two Romanians downrange who were working with the Germans. She shot down the two soldiers with ease, and was then accepted into the Red Armys 25th Chapayev Rifle Division.

Pavlichenko then shipped out to the battle lines in Greece and Moldova. In very little time she distinguished herself as a fearsome sniper, killing 187 Germans in her first 75 days at war.

Snipers in these battles fought between the enemy lines, often far from their companies. It was extremely dangerous and careful work, as she had to sit perfectly still for hours on end to avoid detection from enemy snipers. After making a name for herself in Odessa and Moldova, Pavlichenko was moved to Crimea to fight in the battle of Sevastopol.

Her reputation earned her more dangerous assignments, eventually facing off one on one with enemy snipers. The Smithsonian reports that she dueled and killed 36 enemy snipers, some of whom were highly decorated themselves.

That was one of the tensest experiences of my life, Pavlichenko reportedly said.

She spent eight months fighting in Stevastopol, where she earned a praise from the Red Army and was promoted. On several occasions she was wounded, but she was only removed from battle after taking shrapnel to the face when her position was bombed by Germans who were desperate to stem the tide of her mounting kill count.

She had become a well known figure in the war, as a protagonist in the Red Army's domestic propaganda, and the scourge of German soldiers all over the Eastern front. The Germans even went so far as to address her over loud speakers, offering her comfort and candy should she defect and join their ranks.

Pavlichenko became a sniper instructor and was soon invited to the White House.

She became the first Soviet soldier to visit the White House, where she met with President Franklin Roosevelt and first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt.

Pavlichenko became angry at the US media for the blatantly sexist way they questioned her about the war. Her look and dress was criticized. When she was asked if she wore make up to battle she responded, There is no rule against it, but who has time to think of her shiny nose when a battle is going on?

I wear my uniform with honor. It has the Order of Lenin on it. It has been covered with blood in battle. It is plain to see that with American women what is important is whether they wear silk underwear under their uniforms. What the uniform stands for, they have yet to learn, she told Time Magazine in 1942.

Pavlichenko was one of 2,000 female snipers who fought for the Red Army in World War II, and one of the 500 who survived.

Her score of 309 kills likely places her within the top five snipers of all time, but her kills are likely much more numerous, as a confirmed kill has to be witnessed by a third party.

After the war, Pavlichenko went back to finish her Master's Degree at Kiev University.

In April of this year, Pavlichenko's story was immortalized in a film called "Battle for Sevastopol" in Russia and "Indestructible" in the Ukraine.

The film was shot during the 2013 EuroMaidan protests in Ukraine, and financed by both Russian and Ukrainian backers at the start of a conflict that would become bloody and divisive, however the film is a testament to the outstanding career of Pavlichenko, a common hero among both parties.

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Read the original article on Business Insider UK.  2016. Follow Business Insider UK on Twitter.Tens of thousands of travellers will wake up where they were not intending to be after hundreds of flights were cancelled on Sunday due to wintry weather. More than 80 flights to and from Bristol Airport were cancelled: easyJet passengers were worst hit, with Ryanair, KLM and BMI Regional also affected.

One angry passenger tweeted: Absolute shambles of information communication, plane management, deicing services and approach to poor weather. One essential member of staff even said they were told not to come in today. Dep. boards a joke.

The airport told passengers: We thank passengers for their patience and continue to advise anyone travelling today to contact their airline for the latest flight information.

Manchester Airport saw widespread disruption, with numerous cancellations on Flybe and easyJet. Lufthansa cancelled a round-trip from Frankfurt. Many passengers experienced long delays. The early evening BA departure to Heathrow, which normally carries travellers connecting to long-haul flights, was more than 90 minutes late.

At its busiest base, Gatwick, easyJet cancelled flights to Amsterdam, Barcelona, Basel, Berlin, Geneva, Glasgow, Hamburg, Lyon, Milan, Munich and Venice. The early morning easyJet flight to Tenerife did not depart until the afternoon; the four-hour delay for EZY8703 was due to delays with deicing.

Linda Szymanska was one of the passengers on board the Airbus. She contacted The Independent from the plane, saying: We have been sat on the stand for two-and-a-half hours now, and still no definite news about when the de-icer will reach us."

She said she intended to ask easyJet for compensation for the delay: My argument would be that the delay has been caused by operational failures rather than the exceptional weather.

Normally compensation is not payable when planes are delayed due to bad weather.

The airline told passengers: We're sorry for the delay to your flight; this is due to departure restrictions at London Gatwick because of congestion.

British Airways departure from Gatwick to Paphos in Cyprus left six hours late. BA also grounded flights from Gatwick to Barcelona, Geneva, Nice and Jersey.

The highest number of cancellations was at Heathrow, where around 100 flights were grounded. Two-thirds of them were on British Airways, which cancelled long-haul round trips to New York and Mumbai as well as more than 60 short-haul services.

Many flights from Heathrow were heavily delayed, with passengers on the first wave of departures encountering long waits.

The first flights of the day on KLM to Amsterdam, Air France to Paris and Brussels Airlines to the Belgian capital left at least 75 minutes late, wrecking many connections at the Continental airports.

At London City, a dozen flights were cancelled in and out of the airport, on Flybe, British Airways and KLM.

Many rail services around Britain were disrupted, with a particular problem on Northern and GWR route being pre-planned engineering work; in many cases treacherous roads means the planned bus replacements did not run.

The Settle-to-Carlisle line was blocked, as was the route from Manchester to Englands highest town, Buxton.

Signalling problems delayed trains between London and Gatwick, while the Heathrow Connect service was cancelled and Heathrow Express ran only half the normal number of trains.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 16 September 2021 Sheikeh MOhammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, leader of Abu Dhabi, leaves Downing Street after meeting with Boris Johnson PA UK news in pictures 15 September 2021 Children pose by ice sculptures depicting people collecting water by charity Water Aid to show the fragility of water and the threat posed by climate change in London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 14 September 2021 Heavy rain covers the A149 near Kings Lynn in Norfolk PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2021 Luke Jerram's 'Museum of the Moon' at Durham Cathedral PA UK news in pictures 12 September 2021 Inspirational young fundraiser Tobias Weller crosses the finish line, near his home in Sheffield, as he completes his latest epic feat where he swam and triked his way to the end of his awesome year-long Ironman Challenge. This is the third challenge Tobias, who has cerebral palsy and autism, has completed, raising more than 150,000 for his school and Sheffield Children Hospitals charity PA UK news in pictures 11 September 2021 British player Emma Raducanu, holds up the US Open championship trophy winning the women's singles final of the US Open in New York AP UK news in pictures 10 September 2021 People paddle board during a misty morning in Ullswater, the second largest lake in the Lake District, Cumbria PA UK news in pictures 9 September 2021 Troops from Wiltshire based 4 Armoured Close Support Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during final inspection at Wellington Barracks in London, ahead of providing troops for the Queens Guard PA UK news in pictures 8 September 2021 Workers cross London Bridge during the morning rush hour in London Reuters UK news in pictures Mixing it up: Painting it up press view in London A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled Prairie by British artist, Louise Giovanelli during the exhibition 'Mixing it up: Painting it up' at the Hayward Gallery in London EPA UK news in pictures 6 September 2021 Traders in the Ring at the London Metal Exchange, in the City of London, after open-outcry trading returned for the first time since March 2020, when the Ring was temporarily closed due to the pandemic PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2021 South Africa's Ntando Mahlangu (centre) wins the Men's 200 metres T61 Final ahead of second placed Great Britain's Richard Whitehead at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2021 A young common seal on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, as hundreds of pregnant grey seals come ashore ready for the start of the pupping season. PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA UK news in pictures 21 August 2021 People take part in a demonstration in solidarity with people of Afghanistan, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 20 August 2021 People zip wire across the sea from Bournemouth pier towards the beach. PA UK news in pictures 19 August 2021 Supporters of Geronimo the alpaca gather outside Shepherds Close Farm in Wooton Under Edge, Gloucestershire PA UK news in pictures 18 August 2021 Former Afghan interpreters and veterans hold a demonstration outside Downing Street, calling for support and protection for Afghan interpreters and their families PA UK news in pictures 17 August 2021 Military personnel board the RAF Airbus A400M at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, where evacuation flights from Afghanistan have been landing Reuters UK news in pictures 16 August 2021 Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer takes part in a minute's silence at Wolverhampton police station for the victims of the Plymouth mass shooting last week PA UK news in pictures 15 August 2021 2Storm, a ten-metre tall puppet of a mythical goddess of the sea created by Edinburgh-based visual theatre company Vision Mechanics, makes its way alongside the seafront at North Berwick, East Lothian, during a performance at the Fringe By The Sea festival PA UK news in pictures 14 August 2021 A woman and two young girls look at floral tributes in Plymouth where six people, including the offender, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident PA UK news in pictures 13 August 2021 Forensic officers in the Keyham area of Plymouth where six people, including the shooter, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident on Thursday evening PA UK news in pictures 12 August 2021 Children ride horses in the River Eden in Appleby, Cumbria, during the annual gathering of travellers for the Appleby Horse Fair PA UK news in pictures 11 August 2021 Stella Moris (left) reacts after talking to the media outside the High Court in London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal, n London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal. The US government has won the latest round in its High Court bid to appeal against the decision not to extradite Julian Assange on espionage charges PA UK news in pictures 10 August 2021 Students react after they receive their A-Level results at the Ark Academy, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 9 August 2021 The final athletes from Great Britain arrive home including Jason Kenny, Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald (front left-right) at Heathrow Airport, London following the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games PA UK news in pictures 8 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny during the closing ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic stadium in Japan PA UK news in pictures 7 August 2021 People from the Glasgow Southside community take part in the Govanhill Carnival, an anti-racist celebration of pride, unity and the contributions immigrants have made to the community in Govanhill, at Queen's Park, Glasgow PA UK news in pictures 6 August 2021 Chijindu Ujah of Britain, Zharnel Hughes of Britain, Richard Kilty of Britain and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake of Britain celebrate winning silver as they pose with Asha Philip of Britain, Imani Lansiquot of Britain, Dina Asher-Smith of Britain and Daryll Neita of Britain after they won bronze in the women's 4 x 100m relay during Olympic Games Day 14 Getty UK news in pictures 5 August 2021 A protester places flowers on a photograph of an executed man during a demonstration organised by supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) to protest against the inauguration of Iran's new president Ebrahim Raisi in central London AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 4 August 2021 England's Joe Root looks on as India's KL Rahul doesn't make it to a catch during day one of Cinch First Test match at Trent Bridge, Nottingham PA UK news in pictures 3 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny and Jason Kenny with their silver medals for the Women's Team Pursuit and Mens Team Sprint during the Track Cycling at the Izu Velodrome on the eleventh day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan PA UK news in pictures 2 August 2021 Great Britains Charlotte Worthington competes during the Womens BMX Freestyle Final at the Tokyo Olympics PA UK news in pictures 1 August 2021 EPA 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

On the east coast main line between Doncaster and Wakefield, overhead wire problems delayed trains between London and Leeds.

South Western Railway said: Due to severe weather between Exeter St Davids and Basingstoke all lines are disrupted.More than 10,000 airline passengers booked to fly to or from Heathrow on Sunday have had their flights cancelled because of wintry weather.

By Saturday evening, 92 flights had been proactively cancelled at Britain's busiest airport in a bid to allow other departures to keep to schedule.

Once again, a large majority of the flights grounded by cold weather are with British Airways. The airline has cancelled 64 short-haul flights plus a round-trip from Heathrow to New York Newark. Travellers have been re-booked on alternative departures.

BA told passengers: We have merged a small number of flights travelling to or from Heathrow Airport.

During cold weather conditions, aircraft have to be de-iced prior to departure to ensure that they are safe, and additional measures are taken to ensure the safety of our operation is maintained at all times.

The airline is allowing passengers booked on Sunday to postpone to Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday without penalty.

Aer Lingus, a sister airline to British Airways, has cancelled one round trip to both Belfast and Dublin.

Lufthansa has cancelled one departure from Heathrow to each of its hubs, Frankfurt and Munich, while its budget subsidiary Eurowings has grounded a flight to Dusseldorf.

Air France, KLM, Swiss and TAP Portugal have each cancelled a round trip from their hubs at Paris CDG, Amsterdam, Zurich and Lisbon respectively.

On Saturday, more than 100 flights were cancelled from Heathrow, with others at Gatwick and London City airports.

Even though south-east England received only a light flurry of snow during the day, many flights were delayed by several hours.

The comedian Dom Joly tweeted from a British Airways 747 at Heathrow that was held up because we need to de-ice (yeah  I laughed too) it was nearly done and they ran out of liquid... imagine if we were somewhere actually cold.

BA departures from Heathrow to New York, Phoenix and Shanghai left around three hours late, while a Brussels Airlines service to the Belgian capital was almost four hours late.

At Gatwick, an Air Malta flight to the Mediterranean island was due to depart 13 hours late, at 1am on Sunday. Passengers on a easyJet service to Geneva endured a delay of over five hours.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 16 September 2021 Sheikeh MOhammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, leader of Abu Dhabi, leaves Downing Street after meeting with Boris Johnson PA UK news in pictures 15 September 2021 Children pose by ice sculptures depicting people collecting water by charity Water Aid to show the fragility of water and the threat posed by climate change in London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 14 September 2021 Heavy rain covers the A149 near Kings Lynn in Norfolk PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2021 Luke Jerram's 'Museum of the Moon' at Durham Cathedral PA UK news in pictures 12 September 2021 Inspirational young fundraiser Tobias Weller crosses the finish line, near his home in Sheffield, as he completes his latest epic feat where he swam and triked his way to the end of his awesome year-long Ironman Challenge. This is the third challenge Tobias, who has cerebral palsy and autism, has completed, raising more than 150,000 for his school and Sheffield Children Hospitals charity PA UK news in pictures 11 September 2021 British player Emma Raducanu, holds up the US Open championship trophy winning the women's singles final of the US Open in New York AP UK news in pictures 10 September 2021 People paddle board during a misty morning in Ullswater, the second largest lake in the Lake District, Cumbria PA UK news in pictures 9 September 2021 Troops from Wiltshire based 4 Armoured Close Support Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during final inspection at Wellington Barracks in London, ahead of providing troops for the Queens Guard PA UK news in pictures 8 September 2021 Workers cross London Bridge during the morning rush hour in London Reuters UK news in pictures Mixing it up: Painting it up press view in London A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled Prairie by British artist, Louise Giovanelli during the exhibition 'Mixing it up: Painting it up' at the Hayward Gallery in London EPA UK news in pictures 6 September 2021 Traders in the Ring at the London Metal Exchange, in the City of London, after open-outcry trading returned for the first time since March 2020, when the Ring was temporarily closed due to the pandemic PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2021 South Africa's Ntando Mahlangu (centre) wins the Men's 200 metres T61 Final ahead of second placed Great Britain's Richard Whitehead at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2021 A young common seal on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, as hundreds of pregnant grey seals come ashore ready for the start of the pupping season. PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA UK news in pictures 21 August 2021 People take part in a demonstration in solidarity with people of Afghanistan, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 20 August 2021 People zip wire across the sea from Bournemouth pier towards the beach. PA UK news in pictures 19 August 2021 Supporters of Geronimo the alpaca gather outside Shepherds Close Farm in Wooton Under Edge, Gloucestershire PA UK news in pictures 18 August 2021 Former Afghan interpreters and veterans hold a demonstration outside Downing Street, calling for support and protection for Afghan interpreters and their families PA UK news in pictures 17 August 2021 Military personnel board the RAF Airbus A400M at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, where evacuation flights from Afghanistan have been landing Reuters UK news in pictures 16 August 2021 Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer takes part in a minute's silence at Wolverhampton police station for the victims of the Plymouth mass shooting last week PA UK news in pictures 15 August 2021 2Storm, a ten-metre tall puppet of a mythical goddess of the sea created by Edinburgh-based visual theatre company Vision Mechanics, makes its way alongside the seafront at North Berwick, East Lothian, during a performance at the Fringe By The Sea festival PA UK news in pictures 14 August 2021 A woman and two young girls look at floral tributes in Plymouth where six people, including the offender, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident PA UK news in pictures 13 August 2021 Forensic officers in the Keyham area of Plymouth where six people, including the shooter, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident on Thursday evening PA UK news in pictures 12 August 2021 Children ride horses in the River Eden in Appleby, Cumbria, during the annual gathering of travellers for the Appleby Horse Fair PA UK news in pictures 11 August 2021 Stella Moris (left) reacts after talking to the media outside the High Court in London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal, n London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal. The US government has won the latest round in its High Court bid to appeal against the decision not to extradite Julian Assange on espionage charges PA UK news in pictures 10 August 2021 Students react after they receive their A-Level results at the Ark Academy, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 9 August 2021 The final athletes from Great Britain arrive home including Jason Kenny, Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald (front left-right) at Heathrow Airport, London following the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games PA UK news in pictures 8 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny during the closing ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic stadium in Japan PA UK news in pictures 7 August 2021 People from the Glasgow Southside community take part in the Govanhill Carnival, an anti-racist celebration of pride, unity and the contributions immigrants have made to the community in Govanhill, at Queen's Park, Glasgow PA UK news in pictures 6 August 2021 Chijindu Ujah of Britain, Zharnel Hughes of Britain, Richard Kilty of Britain and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake of Britain celebrate winning silver as they pose with Asha Philip of Britain, Imani Lansiquot of Britain, Dina Asher-Smith of Britain and Daryll Neita of Britain after they won bronze in the women's 4 x 100m relay during Olympic Games Day 14 Getty UK news in pictures 5 August 2021 A protester places flowers on a photograph of an executed man during a demonstration organised by supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) to protest against the inauguration of Iran's new president Ebrahim Raisi in central London AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 4 August 2021 England's Joe Root looks on as India's KL Rahul doesn't make it to a catch during day one of Cinch First Test match at Trent Bridge, Nottingham PA UK news in pictures 3 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny and Jason Kenny with their silver medals for the Women's Team Pursuit and Mens Team Sprint during the Track Cycling at the Izu Velodrome on the eleventh day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan PA UK news in pictures 2 August 2021 Great Britains Charlotte Worthington competes during the Womens BMX Freestyle Final at the Tokyo Olympics PA UK news in pictures 1 August 2021 EPA 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

Travellers whose flights are severely delayed or cancelled due to bad weather cannot claim cash compensation  but the airline must provide meals, and if necessary accommodation, until the journey can be completed.

Reaching Heathrow proved difficult for many, with all Heathrow Connect services being suspended between Paddington and the airport, and half the Heathrow Express trains cancelled.

Elsewhere on the railways, the worst disruption is on the Great Western line between Chippenham, Bath and Bristol. Trains have been cancelled or replaced by buses.

Journeys to and from Paddington are expected to be extended by at least an hour, and disruption is likely to continue on Sunday.The fall of Afrin city to the Turkish army and Syrian rebel forces was inevitable, but the situation remains full of dangers. A central question now is whether or not the takeover of this Kurdish enclave will lead to the ethnic cleansing of the Kurdish majority there.

The first act of the fighters of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters, an overwhelmingly Arab force, was to bulldoze the statue of a Kurdish mythological hero in the centre of Afrin. Videos taken by FSA fighters suggest that many are former Isis or al-Qaeda fighters who see the Kurds and non-Muslim minorities as enemies to be expelled or eradicated.

Some 200,000 Kurds have fled from Afrin over the past few days, many suspecting that they will never be permitted to return. If they are right, they will join the six million Syrians displaced since 2011 and a similar number who have become refugees outside the country. Given that the Syrian population in that year was about 23 million people, more than half have lost their homes in seven years of violence.

Afrin was easy pickings for Turkey: it is on the Turkish border and cut off from the main body of Kurdish-held territory east of the Euphrates. The only supply route south to Aleppo was controlled by the Syrian army, which would allow civilians to pass but not arms and ammunition. YPG commanders said that they had 10,000 men in the enclave, but there was never much sign of their presence. The FSA says it was able to enter the city without resistance from three directions on Sunday morning, though another report claims that some fighting is still going on.

The commanders of the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) were evidently convinced that Afrin was indefensible and pulled out because they had no alternative. If this was the case, then they were wise not to fight to the finish in a battle they were bound to lose with heavy loss of life.

The outcome of the struggle for Afrin was evident from the moment the Turkish invasion began on 20 January. The occasion of it was a provocative statement by the then US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that US forces were going to stay in Syria, thereby guaranteeing the security of the de facto Kurdish state created by the YPG-US military alliance against Isis. By the time Isis was defeated when Raqqa fell last October, the Kurds had gained control of about a quarter of Syrian territory.

Tillerson declared that the US would not only stay in Syria  something it had promised Turkey would not happen once the battle against Isis was won  but would also seek the departure of President Bashar al-Assad from power and the rolling back of Iranian influence. These were ambitious and unrealistic aims, but they were enough to bring Turkey and Russia together.

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

President Putin withdrew the Russian air umbrella protecting Afrin, enabling the Turkish air force to bomb at will. This was decisive: the YPG are determined and experienced soldiers but they have no air defence or heavy weapons and knew they could not win.

Russia presumably wants to lock the Turks into a permanent conflict with the US as the allies of the Kurds. It will also make Turkey somewhat dependent on Russia since its forces will be carrying out military operations in an area in which Russia is the superior power.

What happens next after the fall of Afrin? The first thing to see is whether it is followed by ethnic cleansing and the Arabisation of the enclave. The removal of opposing ethnic or sectarian communities has become a frequent feature of the Syrian civil war.

For the Turks this may have been an easy victory, but it is still a victory. It will make them a more important player in the Syrian crisis, but they could overplay their hand.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is triumphant, maybe too triumphant. He said on Sunday that in the centre of Afrin, symbols of trust and stability are waving instead of rags of terrorists. Destruction of Kurdish symbols in the city is not a good sign for the future. Some Syrian Kurdish leaders fear that Erdogan plans to create a Sunni Arab bloc under Turkish control in northern Syria.

A crucial question is where Erdogan goes from here. He may have got Afrin, but the main Syrian Kurdish zone stretches from the Arab city of Manbij, just west of the Euphrates to the Iraqi border, is still where it was. Here, unlike Afrin, the Kurdish and Kurdish-linked forces are under US protection. Very visible patrols of US armoured vehicles patrol the front line around Manbij. It will also be easier for the YPG to fight close to their main territorial bases.

The Kurds fear the US might abandon them, but purely from the point of view of US interests, the US needs an allied ground force in Syria if it is to remain a power there and the only candidates are the Kurds. If the US abandons the Kurds, then it will have to leave Syria, said one Kurdish leader. US commitment may ebb, but it has not happened yet. If Erdogan wants to move against the main Kurdish enclave in Syria, he will have to bide his time.The little lies, they rain down on us. We have become so cynical about our chances of being told the truth, we almost shrug them off. The teeth whitener ad on the TV? Total bunkum. Your delayed plane will now be leaving at 10.35 instead of 10am? Ah-ha. Add 90 minutes to that.

The cynicism can alert us to the disinformation coming our way. By all means enjoy a gossip magazine while marooned in Terminal 5, so long as you are aware that the minor European royal in question hasnt really been abducted to Mars. I am pretty sure the small rodent that inspired The Sun headline Freddie Starr Ate my Hamster survived to live a full and productive life.

Recalling outrageous headlines of yore is, however, to dive back into almost innocent times. They make us laugh. These days we face more consequential lies. For instance about Europe. Britain will regain control of 350m a week. Remember that one?

 Rex Tillerson fired: Trump has 'total confidence' in new Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

Politicians have always been near the top of the list of chronic dissemblers (along, I hear you say, with lawyers and journalists). From them, really big lies might be acceptable when national security is at stake. If Theresa May is holding something back about the Salisbury nerve agent attack because it would be dangerous to share it, well, we can agree with that.

Its the other lying they do that we shouldnt tolerate. The stupid, unnecessary, transparently idiotic lies. Ones like: more people came to watch me being sworn in than ever in history; more people tuned in to watch my State of the Union address than ever in history; Rex Tillerson is not leaving  this via Twitter . We work well together and America is highly respected.

That Donald Trump indulges in little lies all the time is as disturbing as it is ironic. He has correctly identified the propagation of fake news as a problem for our democracy but accuses the wrong people of doing it. Its Russia that tried to subvert the 2016 presidential election, not CNN or The New York Times. Its not The Washington Post that lies on a daily basis. Its him.

Its in his DNA. He admitted in his 1986 bestseller, The Art of the Deal, that slaloming from the truth was something he found useful. I call it truthful hyperbole, he said. And its in the DNA of this White House. On Capitol Hill recently, the departing communications director, Hope Hicks, cheerfully conceded that on occasion shed tell white lies on behalf of the boss. Those little lies again.

He does it with us and he does it in private too. The other day he told donors at a fundraising dinner about Japans practice of dropping bowling balls onto the bonnets of American-made cars to see if they are suitable to import. If the test leaves a dent, they arent good enough for their drivers. That, he inferred, is how the Japanese keep American goods out. Honda was among those befuddled. I have never heard of such a test, a spokesperson said. Because he made it up. Sarah Huckabee Sanders ventured that Trump had merely been joking. Weve all heard that from liars before. I was just being funny!

At the same donors dinner, the President bragged about contradicting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau when Trudeau dared to suggest that Canada does not run a trade surplus with the US. Wrong, Justin, you do. Trump recalled telling him. But then he went on: I didnt even know ... I had no idea. I just said, Youre wrong. You were making it up? Oh man, thats hysterical.

Even by the US governments own reckoning, Trudeau was the one who had it right. The US had a $2.77bn (1.99bn) surplus with Canada for 2017. But when Trump lies, he likes to double-down. Hence a day later, when social media discussion of what he had said was at full volume, he was on Twitter, still claiming he was right. We do have a trade deficit with Canada, as we do with almost all countries (some of them massive), he wrote.

Lets say Trump wasnt lying so much as flying by the seat of his pants. He figured he just may be right about the trade statistics with Canada, and putting Trudeau on the defensive while all three members of Nafta, the North American Free Trade Association, are engaged in renegotiating its terms probably seemed to him like the right strategy. But hadnt he been briefed on the facts before talking to Trudeau? How is it possible than an American President could be so ill-prepared for talks with another nations leader? Especially so important an ally. Will he be similarly clueless with Kim Jong-un of North Korea?

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

But back to the actual lying. Clearly it erodes the publics trust in him. A recent USA Today poll showed that when it comes to alleged collusion with Russia, more Americans have faith in Robert Mueller, the special counsel, than in Trump. It said 58 per cent of voters have some or a lot of trust in Muellers probe and 57 per cent have little to no trust in Trumps denials of collusion. We also know from polling that trust in the mainstream media has reached an all-time low. With his relentless attacks on reporters, Trump has contributed to that also.

In God they trust. We know that. But whom else are Americans left to believe in? Social media is infected with bots and trolls trying to subvert the entire democratic process. Figures on the TV sets they used to trust to deliver the nations important news are being felled one by one for sexually abusing colleagues. Stormy Daniels hovers wraithlike over the West Wing. Even climate change is a battle of competing truths.

And still Trump dishes his little lies with such abandon. But they arent little, because the fabric of political discourse is already so frayed and fragile. Because the reservoir of trust in America is already so depleted. The damage they do in these febrile and polarised times makes them big.I dont know whether it is just me, but are there any others who are sick and tired of our mass media and senior politicians determining that the Russians are unequivocally guilty of everything under the sun?

For until there is definitive and unequivocal evidence, in our own courts no judge could pronounce someone guilty based on hearsay and could be.

The recent poisoning in Salisbury is a case in point: because he was a double agent, the Russians apparently must have done it  although there still is no indisputable evidence that proves this fact.

Lets wait, is my thinking, for the indisputable evidence to be released. I believe Jeremy Corbyn is right here, unlike the likes of Boris Johnson and the Defence Secretary, together with 30 Labour MPs and Conservative MPs who seem to have a crystal ball.

Having travelled the world and entered many corridors of power, I am not a lover of any government, whoever they are  nor indeed do I trust them after what has happened in places like Iraq, Libya and Syria, where military intervention was often based on false information.

So lets wait for conclusive evidence that cannot be challenged. Jeremy Corbyn appears to be the only one with a level head and intelligence at the moment  or do all these guilty condemners know so much that they know what will win the 2018 Grand National, and everything else besides? If so, I would like to know at least the name of the horse, please.

David Hill

Huddersfield

This Russian situation is quite ridiculous. Theresa May must lack any sort of excitement in her life and is using this as a distraction from Brexit, casting herself as a completely unnecessary second-rate James Bond character.

Much as Id like to support her, the fact is that she (and we) have no evidence this was done by the Russian government. This stuff could have come from anywhere. It is nonsense in this day and age to have the arrogance to pre-judge it by saying it could only have come from Russia. It goes against all common sense and intelligence.

In his apparent boredom, our so-called Foreign Secretary is seeking publicity as usual. He should stick to doing his job and do whats in the national interest. In fact he should, in the inimitable words of his esteemed colleague a few days ago, just go away and shut up!

All our leaders are like children, and are letting us down. I will never vote in this country again and certainly never again Conservative. What a waste it all was.

Name and address supplied

There has been no debate about Corbyn being a lifelong unilateralist and a previous vice-president of CND, and in the light of recent events, this should now take place writes Brina Boughton in the Letters page of 15 March.

No debate about Corbyns CND or unilaterist history? I wonder where your correspondent has spent the last three years.

Eddie Dougall

Bury St Edmunds

In the midst of the furore surrounding Russia and the expulsion of British and Russian diplomats, we seem to have forgotten the besiegement of Eastern Ghouta as the Syrian civil war enters its seventh year.

The Arab Spring is a misnomer. It means for Syrians nothing but death, bloodshed, destruction, destitution, desolation and displacement, in what has been described as the worst humanitarian disaster in contemporary times.

Is this what Condi Rice promised on the eve of the Iraqi war: democracy reverberating throughout the Middle East?

Munjed Farid al Qutob

London NW2

I am very, very angry with those dreadful Russians! It is now twice in the past two weeks that they have sent us their terrible weather. Ms May must tell them that she is very, very angry and if they do it again she will... she will... she will... she will ask Mr Corbyn to speak to them about it!

Tony Harris

Stockton-on-Tees

I will say one thing for the Russians: they send picturesque snow.

Eve Parnell

Dublin, Ireland

What makes a scandal a scandal?

You report (17 March) that Jacob Zuma is finally going to be tried on charges relating to an arms deal in the 1990s, and refer to that arms deal as a scandal.

It was, indeed, a scandal. But South Africa made sure the scandal was properly investigated and is now following through on its investigation.

Tony Blairs intervention to call off the UK investigation into Britains involvement with Saudi Arabia in the corruption of that very same arms deal was, if anything, even more scandalous and should be noted in all UK media coverage of Zumas trial.

D Maughan Brown

York

How much longer can Trump stay after these sackings?

No no, President Trump, the sacking of the former head of the FBI is definitely not a great day for democracy, as you tweeted. Exactly the opposite is true, in my opinion.

Andrew McCabes sacking by Attorney General Jefferson Sessions, just two days before he was due to retire from the FBI, seemed vindictive to me, amounting to an egregious abuse of the power of your position as President of the United States.

You  President Trump  have no business telling the Justice Department what to do. That is interference with the law  blatantly attempting to undermine the law to your own advantage  another in a long line of these transgressions, starting with the firing of James Comey as head of the FBI last year because he refused to drop the inquiry into your business dealings with Russian oligarchs, and possibly the Russian President and dictator, Vladimir Putin himself  this Russia thing, as you.put it.

Why the special counsellor appointed in the wake of the Comey firing, Robert Meuller, has not yet charged you with obstruction of justice, I do not know. I hope he is not being confused by all the political noise that you are so successfully creating in the media, Mr Trump. Put simply, if there is no rule of law, there is no democracy.

Crucially, Andrew McCabe was the deputy director of the FBI when you sacked James Comey. Mr McCabe now says  a correct assertion in my opinion  that he was sacked in order to discredit him as a witness to the Comey sacking in any possible trial in which you could be charged with obstruction of justice.

It is true that McCabe has been found to be in breach of FBI protocols by an inspector general, who I heard commentators on MSNBC say yesterday has a reputation for independence.

They also said, however, that the McCabe case has been rushed through, the unseemly haste to sack him before his retirement suggesting political bias and retribution. The sacking just two days before his retirement means he could lose his pension after working at the FBI for 20 years.

This is what seems vindictive to me, plus the fact that President Trump has been tweeting for just this outcome, and it puts a murky light over the proceedings surrounding the sacking.

As Congresswoman Maxine Waters is constantly saying  this President needs to be impeached.

For the sake of Americas democracy  President Trump must go!

Genevieve Ford

Aotearoa, New Zealand

Who will break the stranglehold of the NRA, if not our children?

In a seminal day of action against gun violence, the youth brigade has declared war against the pro-gun, anti-life NRA. More than a million students from over 3,000 schools in all 50 states walked out of classes protesting gun violence on Wednesday. Many overseas schools joined in solidarity.

The nationwide student walkouts occurred one month after 17 students and staff were slaughtered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Many schools walked out for 17 minutes  one minute for each person murdered in Parkland.

This will be followed by a massive March For Our Lives on 24 March in Washington, and solidarity marches are planned across the country.

President Trump, a $30m (21.5m) NRA benefactor, dodged the gun issue by heaping blame on the mental health of the shooter, ignoring the patently obvious fact that the citizens of many other countries suffer mental health issues without the attendant loss of life.

Tackling mental problems will not solve the epidemic of gun violence. Arming teachers and training them to be sharpshooters is an insane idea. Professional shooters only connect with their target about 18 per cent of the time. In the mass confusion of a school shooting, that figure would likely be far lower.

There is little hope that the morally bankrupt Congress and the tweeter-in-chief will challenge the deeply entrenched power of the NRA. The youth brigade is our only hope.

Jagjit Singh

Los Altos, California, USThe secret of prime ministers is that they are weak. This is a conclusion of Andrew Gimsons wonderful portraits in his new book, Prime Ministers: Brief Lives from Walpole to May.

We give them an impossible job and blame them when they fail to perform it, Gimson writes. The Prime Minister serves as a kind of glorified scapegoat. It notable how many of them are remembered, if at all, for a single failure.

Their failure, however, does not mean that parliamentary government has failed: For it is a system well adapted to human weakness. The feeblest prime ministers are soon removed, and even the strongest before long have to give way to new leaders capable of coping with changed circumstances.

Gimson defends the parliamentary system as an elementary form of quality control: There are very few complete duds in this book, for the Commons can detect a dud as soon as he or she begins to speak.

For the same reason, it is virtually impossible for a criminal, or a demagogue, to become Prime Minister. Someone like Donald Trump could not get to 10 Downing Street. The Commons sees through, and will not tolerate, that kind of person.

As Gimson says, three of the greatest failures, the Lords Bute, Aberdeen and Rosebery, failed because they had never sat in the Commons.

Even those who do succeed tend not to last long. The average time spent in office is just five and a half years. When Gimson finished his book in October, he did not know that Theresa May would still be in office by the time it was published.

But what are the qualities needed to succeed, even temporarily? Gimson opens the book with a list of 12, the first of which are courage, luck, hunger for power and eloquence.

By chance, students at Kings College, London, taught by Jon Davis, Michelle Clement and me, had a chance to ask Tony Blair that question when he came to talk to them on Wednesday. Very thick skin was his first answer.

He mentioned temperament, ability to deal with pressure and team-building, but the important thing was strategic vision: The Prime Minister has got to retain this ability to lift the eyes of the country to the horizon. Otherwise youre fighting trench warfare against your opponents day to day, but the country itself is not really moving.

He thought it was very hard for modern prime ministers to do more than eight to 10 years, which was a coincidence because he lasted for 10. People just get fed up, even if youre doing a good job.

But he was self-deprecating about it: By the time I got into year nine, I really got the hang of the thing.

He was also asked which previous Labour prime minister he thought he was similar to, and I dont think it was mere vanity that prompted him to say, None of them, really.

Gimson writes that prime ministers are so different from each other that it does not occur to historians to describe one of them as being the same as another.

Yet there are some themes and patterns that emerge, from his survey of the lives of the 54 holders of the highest office in the UK.

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

If there is a lesson in history, it is that Theresa May is unlikely to last long, and that if she is remembered at all, it will be for a failure. But the failures are not usually foreseeable.

Who could have known that the popular Lord North would lose the American colonies? Who would have guessed that Anthony Eden, brilliant and experienced in foreign policy, would be disgraced by a foreign adventure? Or that Blair, domestic moderniser, would be remembered for a foreign war?

And if there is going to be a prime minister remembered for failing over Brexit, it is likely to be Cameron, who united his party on Europe, only to be brought down by it. Theresa May would have to make a terrible mess of our actual departure to be remembered for that. It is more likely that she will manage Brexit on mediocre terms, making the best of the instruction of the voters in the referendum, and then be blamed for failing at something else entirely.

One essential quality for modern prime ministers is, after all, the ability to win elections, and she has already been found wanting at that. As the Conservative Party approaches the 2022 election  if she has not failed by then  a failure will be contrived for which to blame her.We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on!

Go to formVice-President Yemi Osinbajos daughter, Damilola married her husband Oluseun, yesterday in a private ceremony which held at the National Ecumenical Centre, Abuja. The guests thereafter moved to the old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, where the reception took place. President Muhammadu Buhari led top government officials and captains of industry, among others to grace the auspicious occasion. Here are beautiful photos from the event.

Photos from the traditional wedding which held on Thursday, 14th March,2018 at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.Femi Fani Kayode has reacted to Reno Omokri calling him dishonest and for saying he misrepresented Atiku Abubakars stance on herdsmen killing.

Reno had tweeted Dear @RealFFK, Read what you quote @Atiku as saying and read what @Atiku actually said. Note that they are 2 different statements. You misrepresented him. You twist his words. Your quote was dishonest. Quote Atiku. Dont put your words in his mouth! You wont like it done to you! after FFK quoted Atiku in his new article as saying herdsmen are not Fulani but Criminals.

FFK in reply tweeted 

@renoomokri, I dont misrepresent people. I stand by all I wrote. I find it difficult to see the distinction in meaning between the 2 qoutes u tweeted. Both represent an attempt by @atiku to suggest that some or all of the herdsmen are not Fulani. My point is that they ALL are!

Reno fired back saying Actually, most of those involved in these killings are Mbororo also known as Bororo. I did a broadcast on this last year in London. If the Mbororo speak, the Fulani cannot understand them. The Mbororo differ from the Fulani as the Tiv defer from the Igbo.

Recently the police arrested a notorious kidnappers known as Evans. Evans was even discovered to have been a billionaire. But neither the media or Femi Fani-Kayode described Evans as an Igbo kidnapper or a Yoruba kidnapper. He was just a kidnapper.

FFK in reply: The struggle is not against Buhari but against what he represents:the hegemony and impunity of the Fulani ruling class and the barbarity of their murderous footsoldiers known as the herdsmen. It is not a struggle between pol. parties but a quest for liberation from the Fulani.

Renos reply Boko Haram became the deadliest terror group in the world in 2014. It has been established by independent sources that most Boko Haram fighters, are Kanuri from Borno/Yobe, but we do not call them Kanuri terrorists. We call them terrorists pure and simple.

FFK repliesBad choice.There is no comparison.Not ALL BH fighters are Kanuri but ALL Fulani terrorists and herdsmen are Fulani.They are represented by Miyetti Allah which is an org. with a Fulani leadership.Finally most of their own Fulani leaders call them Fulani herdsmen. READ MY ESSAY!

Renos reply It is obvious who is being dishonest here. Look at the 2 quotes. Nigerians can read for themselves. You misquoted @atiku. It is in black and white. Plain as day. Why did you not just quote what he said? Why did you have to add and remove to what he said?

Let us face the issue at hand instead of trying to divert it. You dishonestly misquoted @atiku and this is the proof. Be man enough to accept it and apologize. Would you like it if its done to you?

I am rude and you are polite? I am dishonest and you are honest? Really? Again, I put up @atikus words and your misquote of his words and leave it to any sane individual to judge who between us is right and wrong

FFK in reply tweeted  @renoomokri .for God sake stop sitting on the fence and hedging ur bets. Be a man, call a spade a spade and stop trying to suck Atikus Fulani rectum.Real pastors dont eat arseholes. Trust me, Atiku will respect u more if u tell him the truth and tell him when he is wrong.

And Reno fumed saying Look Femi, you lied. Deal with it. I will not follow you into the gutter. I dont need to suck up to @atiku. I made a fortune in US dollars from just one bestseller! I suck up to the truth not to men! You told a lie. Fess up to your lie.Google will ban all cryptocurrency-related advertising of all types in June 2018, according to a recent update to their Financial Services policy.

The news of a crypto ad ban comes just days after crypto advertisers using Google Adwords noticed a drastic drop in the number of views of their advertisements, according to posts on the Adwords support pages. However, Google Adwords had at that time denied any change in their Financial Services regulations that would block cryptocurrency or Initial Coin Offering (ICO) related advertisements.

Under Googles newly updated financial products policy, no advertisements for cryptocurrencies and related content (including but not limited to initial coin offerings, cryptocurrency exchanges, cryptocurrency wallets, and cryptocurrency trading advice), will be accepted.

The move affects all of Googles ad products, meaning companies will not be able to serve crypto-related ads on the search engine giants own sites, as well as third-party sites in its network.

Scott Spencer, the Director of Sustainable Ads at Google, told CNBC today, March 14:

We dont have a crystal ball to know where the future is going to go with cryptocurrencies, but weve seen enough consumer harm or potential for consumer harm that its an area that we want to approach with extreme caution.

Facebook had already banned crypto related advertisements in January of this year, citing the potential for deceptive promotional practices.

Cryptocurrency advertisements have also reportedly been disappearing from Chinese social media sites amidst Chinas bans of crypto exchanges and ICOs.

Source  NaijaExclusiveThe divorce story of a Nigerian lady named Sadiya Lawal is currently trending on Twitter.

According to the story which was shared by Jaruma magazine, she found out her ex-husband who refused to consummate their marriage was gay after she caught him in bed with her own father. Read the story below 

The lady who said she met her husband as a corps member in Abuja, further disclosed they never had sex and she was still a virgin 3 months into their marriage, not knowing her husband was gay.

The story of the 29-year-old lady identified as Sadiya Lawal was shared on Jaruma Magazine Twitter page, and it read

MY NAME IS SADIYA LAWAL. I AM 29 YEARS OLD. I AM FROM BAUCHI STATE. I WOULD LIKE TO SHARE MY DIVORCE DIARIES WITH YOU. #DivorceDiaries

For me, it was love at first and Hamisu was the one.

I met my husband when I was a Corper. I was serving in Abuja at the time. It was a beautiful time in my life and I quickly fell in love with the tall handsome charming stranger I met at Dunes Centre. His name was Hamisu Mohammed. It was love at first sight.

I was at the restaurant when he walked towards the aisles. Our eyes met for a moment and that was it. It felt like electricity and my heart was almost beating out of my chest when he smiled and started walking towards me.

I tried to look away but his pull was too magnetic and I found myself smiling back at him.

Hello lady, you look like you are having a good time he said and my heart stopped for a minute as all my senses concentrated on listening to him

I just kept smiling like a fool as he kept smiling back. I dont even remember what my reply was. We ended up sitting down and talking for like 3 hours that day. The rest, as they say, is history. A year after that fateful meeting we got married. It was a most beautiful day that I will cherish forever. I was so in love with him, he was everything.

As any typical northern girl, I excitedly prepared for my wedding night with a lot of gyaran jiki and Kayan Mata. The weeks before my wedding were filled with all sorts of skin treatments, consumption of aphrodisiacs and vaginal steaming all in anticipation of the big night. I looked forward to consummating our love on that special night.

On that special night, when all the glitz and glam of the wedding was done, it was just the two of us. I was so nervous and excited but Hamisu did not look interested. We talked for a while and then he fell asleep.Yes! My husband fell asleep on our first night. I did not know what do, whether to wake him up or to allow him sleep. I couldnt hold myself I had to wake him up.

Honey, I dont think we should be sleeping tonight. It is our first night, it is the Sunnah.. He cut me off with a kiss and we made out for a while; then he told me he couldnt do anything that night because he was so tired from the activities of the wedding. Fair enough so we slept off.

Two weeks later we were still sleeping togetherthat is we were only sleeping. At this point I became fed up. No matter how hard I tried to get him in the mood my husband did not seem interested in making me a woman. He would rather go to sleep.

Three months after my wedding and I was still a virgin. My husband was not interested in that part of our marriage though he was a wonderful husband in other areas. He was very supportive of my career, he took care of me, he cooked and cleaned up after himself, he made me laugh, he was affectionate but that was the end of it after a while I gave up trying.

There were a lot of rumours swirling around our social circles about my husband and his sexual preferences; but every single time he assured me he was working on being a lover I would cherish eventually he always said.

The months were followed by a year then 2 years then 3 years and still our marriage remained unconsummated. I did not know what to do next. Friends told me to try and get his attention, to be uninhibited to be sexy blah blah blah.

I was sick and tired of hearing it was up to me to get my own husband to fulfil my marital rights. I was reaching my breaking point. It all became worse with the pressure and questions from our families about why we had not had children yet. How could we have children when we were living like roommates instead of husband and wife?

I confronted him and he told me he had been molested as a boy and he was working on being sexual for me. My heart went out to him and I left it at that, I prayed for him every day, to overcome his experience.

One day I went to work and suddenly my period came so I had to rush back home to clean up; as I lived just fifteen minutes away from my office. I walked into my living room to find my husband being sodomised by another man who was on top of him.

He had sweat beads on his face and his eyes were closed. They did not hear me open the door; neither did they notice me standing directly opposite them. Hamisu opened his eyes. He looked at me and I looked at him.

He pushed the man off him and that is when I recognised who he was. The man that was sodomising my husband was my father.

What the hell was my father doing here? With my husband? I ran to the kitchen and took my largest knife. The rage inside me was like red hot lava in a volcano and it was threatening to erupt and consume all of us. The betrayal! He would not touch me but he could sleep with my father! I was confused about my father, No maybe my mind was playing tricks on me my father was gone by the time I returned from the kitchen.

Hamisu was Unclad and struggling to wear his trousers when I stabbed him, I missed and a chase ensued. I wanted to send him to hell where he belonged.

Finally, I got his hand; the knife sliced through skin and flesh and came out with blood spraying everywhere staining the white carpet. He groaned in pain: Sadiya!

I raised the knife again; I wanted to stab him in his heart, just like he had done to me. I wanted to damage him with all the rage inside me.

He was begging me and I was charging towards him to finish him off when I tripped and fell; the knife slipped away from my hand and in that moment the powerlessness of my situation hit me.

What could I really do? Who would even believe me? What type of daughter would I be to accuse my father of homosexuality? How could I face my mother with the news that my father and my husband were lovers? Inna Lillahi what could I really do in this situation. I broke down; I just crouched and broke down in tears, the blood from my period further staining my white carpet I did not care, let the carpet stain I thought- as I watched it turn a dirty red colour

He crawled towards me, Sadiya I am sorry was all he kept saying. I had so many things I wanted to say to him but I just could not open my mouth. It was as if the weight in my heart had pulled my mouth shut. I heard him talk.

He said he had always been a bottom (other men did it to him), since his days in secondary school. He said a senior boy had taught him and somehow it had become his habit. He said he preferred that to being with a woman.

I really do love you Sadiya, just not in that way you know! When we met you accepted me, without any questions. I love you but I just could not be a lover to you. And I saw that you liked being married to me. I always assumed you knew

This was a mistake, it will never happen again. Your father is the senior boy who first molested me back in secondary school. I had not seen him since secondary school until the day I went to greet him before we got married. We rekindled our relationship and .

I slapped his dirty mouth. How dare he? Three years in a sex less marriage and he had the audacity to tell me he assumed I knew?

Why would a woman assume her husband was a perverted homo sexual pig? Why? Why did he marry me? He just used me to kill the rumours ko? Shege tsinnanne!

He continued to talk but I went to the bathroom and cleaned myself up.

I walked out and drove straight home to my mother. After narrating what happened, my mother held me in her arms and told me she had caught my father several times with different lovers and she had taken it in her stride.

I could not believe what she was saying. So all this time my father had been a gay man and my mother knew. Not only did she know but she condoned it! Subhanallah. The only part of the story that shocked my mother was that he had seduced his son in law. I was beyond disgusted. What on earth?

All I thought I knew about my parents was a lie. A disgusting lie. I wanted to throw up wallahi. So she had children with him while knowing his true nature? According to my mother all I needed was patience. She told me she coped by telling herself it was just a habit like smoking cigarettes. She warned me against causing any scandal and instructed me to go home and take care of my husband like a good wife should.

According to my mother all I needed was patience. She told me she coped by telling herself it was just a habit like smoking cigarettes. She warned me against causing any scandal and instructed me to go home and take care of my husband like a good wife should. No one wanted to be there for me so I drove home, cleaned up my house and waited. He came home late at night with a bandage over his wound. He talked a lot but I did not hear a word. I just looked at him and wondered what else he was hiding.

That night I could not sleep. What was I going to do? I had cried gallons of tears and still I was hurting. The tears did not cool the raging fire within me. I was so angry! A week later, I still did not know how I was going to leave my husband. I could not pretend that things were normal between us. I was all cried out.

So I decided to take my life. It was the best possible outcome. If I killed myself then no would ever find out about the shame in my family. At night, I took a knife and started to slit my wrists until I passed out. I thought I had died but I woke up in a hospital with Hamisu and my mother by my side.

He had found me bleeding out on the floor of the kitchen. I was angry I did not succeed in taking my own life. I ended up staying in the hospital for a week and Hamisu was the ever dutiful husband. Everyone called me ungrateful for wanting to end my life despite having such a devoted husband what more did I want in life; they all asked me. I wish they could know what I had been going through

Once I felt better, I told him I wanted him to divorce me. I told him if he refused I would go to court and tell the alkali (judge) everything. I had nothing to lose. I just wanted to be away from him, from my parents, from everyone that said I was an ungrateful wife. I wish could put themselves in my shoes.

He divorced me. It has been a year and I just recently moved into my own house. I do not want anything to do with my parents. I still have suicidal thoughts every now and then.

Hamisu has remarried and I pitied the poor girl when I saw their pictures on Instagram. I wondered if she would ever find out. I wonder if she will be patient with him. That patience is what landed me in the hell I found myself in.

I should have known that something was not right from our first night together. I should have said something, I should have left him. But no, I wanted to be a good wife. I cannot trust a man again. I do not wish to marry again. For now, what is important to me is making as much money to take care of myself without needing anyone.

People always say that time heals all wounds so I have hope of being normal some day. Thank you for reading my story.Punch

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo; the immediate past Governor of Kano State, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso and some political parties have been meeting as part of moves to strategise for the 2019 elections, The PUNCH has learnt.

Vanguard

GOVERNOR Willie Obiano of Anambra State and his deputy, Dr. Nkem Okeke, yesterday, took oath of office at an impressive ceremony at the Alex Ekwueme Square, Awka, with the governor saying the late

The Sun

More than one week after Senator Shehu Sani revealed the monthly remunerations lawmakers receive as running cost, Nigerians and other stakeholders are calling for the immediate review of what they described as outrageous payments.

Thisday

In an audacious move, the Nigeria Police on Saturday refuted claims by Presidency officials that President Muhammadu Buhari had queried the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, for his alleged disobedience to a presidential directive ordering him to relocate to Benue State in the aftermath of the New Year day massacre in the state.

Guardian

If the Lagos State government expected mere screams or verbal darts fired at it by residents and property owners over the 2018 Land Use Charge Law, which has now been tagged obnoxious, it was clearly mistaken.

Daily Trust

President Muhammadu Buharis recent visit to Plateau State was well heralded and welcomed in many quarters with the attendant expectation of goodwill and enhanced peace, yet fresh killings littered the euphoria.

Leadership

It was all joy and excitement for 100 widows and divorcees in Kebbi State as they now have new marital homes.

Tribune

GOVERNOR Samuel Ortom of Benue State has revealed that he could not continue to weep over the killings of his people by suspected herdsmen who have laid siege to some parts of the state.

The Nation

Saraki, Dogara vow same, appropriate response over Buharis veto of electoral bill Nigerians should expect a unanimous and appropriate response from the National Assembly to President Muhammadu Buharis recent rejection of the proposed re-ordering of elections in the country, Senate President Bukola Saraki and House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara said yesterday.

The Herald

Former Vice Chancellor, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Prof. Ango Abdullahi has said that the north would reject restructuring because it is targeted at a particular section of the country.Actress Jojo Charry is a year older and she is all about letting the world know. The actress who turned 27 took to social media to share nude photos of herself from her birthday shoot penning a sweet message for herself alongside.

Jojo who is a Liberian by birth but lives in the US wrote;

I remember when I used to be very shy and insecure of my body. I thought my body was too curvy and grown for my age. #selfloveisthebestlove#teampisces I choose to post this picture there was no gun to my head so dont send me personal messages about anything.

Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.

A flower does not think of competing to the flower next to it. It just blooms.

More photos below;





Source  MisspetiteHappy Sunday everyone, we know some of you went to church today and some didnt for some reasons. So, if you went to church today, bless a brother and a sister by sharing with us one thing that your pastor said during his sermon today you really FELT.

I would have loved to share mine but Im in the population of Christians that didnt go to church today, so bless us brethren.Photo Credit: Instagram via Bravo





Moore and Daly tied the knot during the summer of 2017 in a secret getaway wedding in St. Lucia.





What are your thoughts? Sound off in the comments below!





Photo Credit: Bravo

Kenya Moore is reportedly expecting her first baby with husband Marc Daly. Multiple sources have been reported thatstar's job has been in jeopardy after her husband refused to appear on the show.Rumors of Kenya being on the chopping block also comes from skipping the show's infamous Barcelona cast trip, which resulted her missing for the past few episodes of the Bravo hit reality series.However, Moore may secure her job after she allegedly broke the news during the taping of the RHOA Season 10 reunion special that she's pregnant and is expecting her first child, according toMoore teased that she had jaws dropping all over the place at this season's reunion. She shared some very interesting hashtags about the reunion in an image featured in her Instagram Story: "GotTheseGirlsShook" and "#gathered."Back in November, Moore was spotted entering an IVF treatment facility in Barbados. Moore has been vocal about wanting to have children with her husband Marc Daly. We both want to start a family and soon  like right away, she toldover the summer. We both want a child.Photoshop Tutorial: Blending Multiple Exposures for Car Photography

3/18/2018 ISO 1200 Magazine 0 Comments

You may also like: Create Realistic High Speed Effect in Photoshop (Path Blur)

Moe Zainal - Official collaborator card:

Moe Zainal is an Automotive Photographer & a Digital Marketing Hero from the little island - Bahrain. Captivating Carreras. Alluring Audis. Photographically capturing vehicles in still frames is an acquired taste.

Let's Get Connected: www.zainals.com | Instagram | Download My Free LUTs Moe Zainal is an Automotive Photographer & a Digital Marketing Hero from the little island - Bahrain. Captivating Carreras. Alluring Audis. Photographically capturing vehicles in still frames is an acquired taste.



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Its official! Moe Zainal is ISO 1200s first official collaborator. Welcome aboard!Moe is an awesome Automotive & Car Photographer from Bahrain, if you would like to learn all the tricks of the trade for car photography then head out to his channel & learn away! In todays video, Moe is going to share his 8 tips for a better car rolling shots, Enjoy!This Week in Review

A weekly review of the best and most popular stories published in the Imperial Valley Press. Also, featured upcoming events, new movies at local theaters, the week in photos and much more.Chefs For Fast Food Job in Restaurant

Latest Restaurant Hotel Posts Islamabad 2021 Chefs For Fast Food who expert in cooking Traditional Pakistan Food, Waiters, Hostesses Cleaning and Janitorial Staff are required in Restaurant in Rawalpindi.

How to Apply on Restaurant Job Advertisement

Apply as per details in job advertisement. In some cases, you may apply online at vacancies after registering at https://www.jobz.pk online.

Note: Beware of Fraudulent Recruiting Activities. If the employer asks you to pay money for any purpose including processing to shortlisting, do not pay at all and report us using our contact us form. Apply as per instuctions & dates mentioned in official job ad. Govt jobs cannot be applied online here. Error & omissions excepted.National Engineering Services Pakistan NESPAK Jobs

Latest National Engineering Services Pakistan NESPAK Industrial Posts Lahore 2021 Male / Female Staff for Various Categories are required in National Engineering Services Pakistan NESPAK in Lahore. Qualified and Experienced Candidate Send their Cvs.

How to Apply on National Engineering Services Pakistan NESPAK Job Advertisement

Apply as per details in job advertisement. In some cases, you may apply online at vacancies after registering at https://www.jobz.pk online.



Official Website: www.nespak.com.pk

Note: Beware of Fraudulent Recruiting Activities. If the employer asks you to pay money for any purpose including processing to shortlisting, do not pay at all and report us using our contact us form. Apply as per instuctions & dates mentioned in official job ad. Govt jobs cannot be applied online here. Error & omissions excepted.Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences PIMS Jobs 2018

Latest Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences PIMS Posts Islamabad 2021 Office Attendants / Ward Boys / Aya, Security Guards and Security Workers are required in Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences PIMS in G-8/3 R & I Section in Islamabad.

How to Apply on Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences PIMS Job Advertisement

Apply as per details in job advertisement. In some cases, you may apply online at vacancies after registering at https://www.jobz.pk online.



Official Website: http://www.pims.gov.pk/

Note: Beware of Fraudulent Recruiting Activities. If the employer asks you to pay money for any purpose including processing to shortlisting, do not pay at all and report us using our contact us form. Apply as per instuctions & dates mentioned in official job ad. Govt jobs cannot be applied online here. Error & omissions excepted.Beyond pipelines: How Canada can win in a low carbon economyWhile it is uncharitable to describe the Prime Minister's strategy of building pipelines to fight climate change as a "crock" or Orwellian logic  as David Suzuki and economist Mark Jaccard respectively have  it's clearly not working. We have to get beyond pipelines to lay down a genuine foundation so places such as Alberta and Saskatchewan can win in a low-carbon economy.It is time to accept that pipelines are not an economic panacea. Thanks to the accelerating energy transition and low-cost producers such as the Saudis protecting their market share by playing with the taps, we are now living in what Royal Dutch Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden describes as a "lower forever" oil price world. Today, even building 50 new pipelines would not spur major capital investment in the oil sands because the economics don't justify it. Just ask Suncor CEO Steve Williams, who said as much on a recent analyst call.While there is no doubt the current discount on Western Canadian Select (WCS) to West Texas intermediate (WTI) is hurting Canada to the benefit of U.S. refiners, most of any pipeline dividend would flow directly to foreign shareholders, who own 76.8 per cent of oil-sands companies on a market cap weighted basis, according to Bloomberg's shareholdings database (note: the actual foreign shareholdings may be slightly lower because of peculiarities in Bloomberg's methodology).The highest estimates indicate relieving the current price squeeze on WCS with new pipelines could add up to $30-million a day to the Canadian economy, but these estimates do not fully account for producers using vertical integration with refineries, upgrading, long-term shipment contracts for pipelines, or the futures market to just to avoid getting hit by selling at a discount. Part of any recovered discount would end up in government coffers, but less than you might think owing to corporate tax loopholes and a 1-per-cent royalty rate for most oil sands producers when prices are low. Alberta collected just $827-million in royalties on oil-sands company sales of $120-billion in 2016 (note: the sales figure includes all up and downstream revenues). With rosy assumptions, a pipeline dividend might bring in a few billion dollars in annual corporate income tax and royalty revenues. A more realistic estimate would be half to quarter that figure.New pipelines such as Trans Mountain probably wouldn't do much for new jobs either (beyond a few thousand during construction), since they will not spur significant new upstream investment at current crude oil prices.The main environmental rationale for pipelines if you accept Justin Trudeau's assessment is that pipelines are the price we pay to get Alberta's support for the national carbon pricing plan. Alberta's United Conservative Party Leader, Jason (No Carbon Taxes  Ever!) Kenney sees things differently, which could be a problem if he wins the provincial election next year.What Canada needs is a different Grand Bargain to create winning conditions for all parts of the country in a low-carbon world. This new bargain will include making the most of the hydrocarbon reserves in the Athabasca Basin, while building a bridge from the old-energy economy to the new-energy economy  a combination that could unite as much pan-Canadian support as John A. Macdonald's railway.The good news is we have the ingredients to do it.While the sun is setting on the "rip and ship" model of oil extraction in Fort McMurray, Alta., there could be a new dawn of prosperity if we can "pump and polish" or "mine and shine" our abundant oil and gas feedstocks. A silver lining of a lack of pipeline capacity is that it creates a greater itch for game-changing downstream innovation. Low prices are not good news for upstream energy producers, but they are a boon for the downstream energy sector, which can transform low-value feedstock into high-value products.This includes "bitumen beyond combustion" in forms such as ultralow carbon plastics, non-combusted petrochemicals and carbon fibres, demand for which is growing in Asia and other markets. We would create many good-paying jobs for Albertans in the process, as Alberta's Energy Diversification and Advisory Committee and the Pembina Institute have pointed out.This opportunity is not going to just fall into our lap. It will require leadership on par with Peter Lougheed's Alberta Oil Sands Technology and Research Authority, which imagined the oil sands into the multibillion-dollar industry it is today.Aside from leadership, the single most important obstacle to this is capital costs which are 10 per cent to 15 per cent higher in Alberta than in competing jurisdictions.The obvious options are federal measures to help bring those costs down, and expedited approval for green power corridors from B.C. to Alberta and from Manitoba to Saskatchewan to decarbonize the electricity system, which would take more emissions out of the atmosphere than any new pipelines could create.The federal government could also provide support to attract the investment capital needed to foster diversification and passed-over super-cluster themes in the most energy-transition-exposed provinces. Alberta Innovates and the Saskatchewan Research Council would be natural partners in this work.The Prime Minister has often said the environment and the economy go together like paddles and canoes. The above measures might just get the entire country paddling in the same direction.The Cost of Business As Usual



The climate change debate has been increasing in intensity over the last 10 years. If we were to graph the number of articles versus temperature increase we could probably show a correlation between the energy expended on this issue and the increasing global mean temperature. That of course would not stand up to the rigors of proper scientific inquiry, but serves to frame the essence of the debate.Large amounts of money and time have been thrown at the issue. The centerpiece of the dispute involves our own hand in the plot; that is whether or not we are part of the problem and if so, by how much. This is not to say that the debate has always followed this line of questioning. Early on, the issue involved global cooling. When that phase ended we wondered if the globe was warming. Finally we arrive at the question of our hand in the global climate and if the changes we see are part of a natural equilibrium.Central to the issue is the science. The natural world is brimming with complex relationships. It is through our understanding of the basic laws of the Universe that we are able to identify the mechanisms and build models to represent these complex systems. Ironically it is our manipulation of these laws and the subsequent technological feats that are front and center and very likely the cause of global warming.As the science has progressed, a number of fundamental questions have been answered. Some of these questions include: 1) Are the greenhouse gases increasing in concentration? The answer is yes. 2) Is the greenhouse effect a valid theory? The answer is yes. 3) Has global warming been observed? The answer is yes. 4) Are climate models reliable when we cant even predict the weather? The answer is yes.Those are just some of the questions that have been conclusively proven. The answers to these questions demand further investigation. For now, lets focus on the climate models, as they are the tools by which the climate hypotheses are proven by comparing to observed data.The models work because once you have determined the climate sensitivity through calculations based on observed data, we can use these inputs to predict the change to temperature. These models can then be used to determine what the temperature will look like when we change variables. This is important for predicting how changes in both natural and anthropogenic forcings will affect the temperature.To illustrate how the models have progressed, the IPCC models have gone from a 66% probability in the 2001 report, to 90% in the current 2007 report. The importance of these models is highlighted by the fact that without the human component, the trends in temperature cannot be explained. Given the statistical significance of the models, this essentially negates the notion ofThe sheer volume of studies and investigations which, have been completed since the 2001 IPCC report, give the models a very large arsenal to work with. In fact the models have been strengthened so much that the paleoclimate reconstructions have been extended from 1000 years to 1300 years, again with an increase in probability to 90%. With these new reconstructions, the report can conclude that the recent large-scale warming very likely (thats the IPCC lingo for 90% probability) exceeds the normal range over the past 1300 years.Coming soon, Part 2 and the discussion of the contrarian doctrine.UPDATE: The missing couple from OSU have been spotted, according to Oregon State Police (OSP). An employee of Greyhound in Salt Lake City, Utah contacted the families of Wick and Eveler after seeing the pair board a bus bound for Boston. The families then notified OSP.

The families of Wick and Eveler would like the couple to know that they are loved, and that they are wanted back at home. Wick and Eveler are no longer considered endangered at this time.

OSP were able to review security camera footage on March 17 that showed the couple leaving Tebeau Hall on the OSU campus. Cameras showed Wick with dyed-black hair and a clean-shaven Eveler leaving the residence Hall at 9:42 a.m. on March 16. They were both carrying backpacks, as well as a large shopping bag, and possibly a yellow, folded tent.

(Updated as of 10:21 a.m., March 19, 2018)

*

*

*

*

CORVALLIS, Ore. -- On March 16, 2018, around 6:45 P.M., Oregon State Police-University Area Command and Oregon State University's Department of Public Safety were notified of a female OSU student and her boyfriend who had been reported missing and endangered by their families. The Oregon State Police is seeking public assistance with regard to any information as to the couple's location or their well-being.

Kiara N. Wick, age 23 from Milwaukie, Oregon and Jacob A. Eveler, age 20 from Philomath were last seen around 2 a.m. on March 16, 2018, on OSU's Corvallis campus in Tebeau Hall, which is where Wick's lives. Around 3:00 p.m., a vehicle that Eveler was believed to drive was found at his parent's house in Philomath.

Law enforcement officials are not suspecting foul-play in the pair's disappearance.

Wick is 5'8", 160 pounds with shoulder length, straight brown hair and has gray/blue eyes. Wick's clothing is unknown at this time.

Eveler is 6'0", 170 pounds with shoulder length, curly brown hair and has blue eyes. Eveler was last seen wearing a black "Rockstar" sweatshirt, grey Carhartt beanie, and unknown color of pants.

The couple has been known to a drive a second vehicle described as 4-door dark colored sedan in poor condition, but no other information is available about the vehicle.

Their direction of travel is unknown but Wick has been known to like the beach and Eveler liked the Burnt Woods area.

If anyone has information regarding Wick or Eveler, please contact the Department of Public Safety or Oregon State Police -University Area Command by calling (541)731-3010. Refer case# SP18-096835I care no more about time than my bubu did the theory of relativity. I clock in at 9:30 and sign out for a two-hour lunch at 11:30. Then I complained to the masta for not giving me enough time and cutting my pay.

If you cut me open, and shake out my insides no Weet-Bix, Bubble Gum or Shakespeare will tumble out. Dissect and break down my cells into tiny microscopic bits and you will find totongor, buai and tumbuna singsing dangling on the strings of my DNA.

You can find a glossary of Tok Pisin words and phrases at the end of the poem

I sneak out at 2:30

for a session of buai and brus

and small talk with my kandere.

When Im done

I unload a mouthful of red spittle

onto the newly-built sidewalk

and blame Mr Parkop for not doing enough

to keep our big village clean.

I think we should rausim da memba.

Hes stealin a lot of da pipols moni, I said.

All my wantoks agreed.

But when election time came,

the memba gave us some of the money

he stole from the us

and we sent him back to the Big Haus.

The other day the masta called me into his office

and scolded me for turning up late again

and spelling the word seperate wrong.

You stupid black beast! He said angrily.

After he was done with me,

I walked out, head bowed and deep in thought.

Hes wrong. Im not black. Im Tolai and Im brown.

Just then I heard my friend from Buin calling.

Hey, poro, I got you one big Buka buai.

Longlong bilak bokis! I sneered.

At last Ive found my place in the world.

If white equals smart, then black equals stupid.

Im brown so Im just here to dish out to the black

what the white freely gives to me.

Im a Papua Niuginian

and no amount of commonsense or certificate

will change that.

When the masta promoted a junior clerk

to supervisor the next day,

I convinced all my friends

that it was wantok system that brought her there,

though we still cannot work out

how Mr Frank Cuthbertson from England

can be related to Undupe Andagali of Enga Land.

Through Adam, perhaps.

When I fell ill a week later,

I thought of the buai my Buka friend

had given me earlier.

I knew he had poisoned me.

Even when the nurse diagnosed me with malaria

and prescribed for me chloroquine,

I still went to see the glassman

who told me to down a potpourri of ginger

and skin diwai diluted with some incantation.

I recovered quickly.

Im pretty sure the chloroquine

wouldnt have worked had it not been for the glassman.

I returned to work just in time

to see Andagali being given

much-coveted the Employee of the Month award.

Apparently, when I was away,

she had reorganised the shop

and the profits had quadrupled.

Mr Cuthbertson was elated

and never stopped praising her.

Over lunch I told everyone how Andagali and that bilak bokis

colluded to ruin my career.

I also reminded them that Andagali was just

twenty years old and Im twice her age.

Shes a small girl ya.

I can win her at anything.

When Andagali told me to clean the garage,

I pretended I didnt hear her.

No small girl, brown girl or black girl,

and no small boy, brown boy or black boy,

will tell me what to do.

I take orders only from masta or other white men.

Just then masta yelled at me, Damn you!

Yes, masta. But how do I dumb myself?

I was sacked immediately,

for no reason at all.

Im sure Andagali and bilak bokis were behind it.

I am a Papua Niuginian,

part of a proud line of powerful non-geniuses.

Graduating with a bachelors degree

means one day of joy

and many years of painim wok.

Getting a job

means one hour of wealth

and fourteen days dinau moni.

Serving the country

means bringing projects to my own hauslain

and paying my kanderes bride price.

Fighting corruption

means letting Peter eat all the pumpkin*

while I protest through mouthful of pumpkin seeds.

Im a Papua Niuginian.

My life is in the dirt

and my pasin goes no higher.

So when I visit padre Peter To Rot

every Sunday

at the confession booth,

there is only one sin to confess:

my PNG attitude.

* Reference to Michael Doms poem, Peter, Peter, published in PNG Attitude, 16 March 2018

Glossary

Big Haus  the parliament

bilak bokis  flying fox, literally black box

brus  tobacco

buai  betel nut

bubu  grandfather/grandmother

da pipols moni  the peoples money

dinau moni  loan or credit

hauslain  the village or extended family

kandere  nephew or uncle

longlong bilak bokis  stupid flying fox

masta  master, white man

memba  member of parliament

painim wok  job seeking

Papua Niugini  Papua New Guinea

Parkop  a prominent PNG politician

pasin  attitude or behaviour

Peter To Rot  the first Papua New Guinean priest to be beatified

poro  friend

rausim da memba  remove the MP

skin diwai  tree bark

Tolai  a native of East New Britain

totongor  a traditional dish

tumbuna singsing  traditional song

wantok system  nepotism

wantoks  relativesRussia election: Vladimir Putin wins by big margin

BBC News18 March 2018Vladimir Putin will lead Russia for another six years, after securing an expected victory in the presidential election.A Russian state exit poll gave him 73.9% of the vote, easily defeating his closest competitor.The main opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, was barred from the race.The scale of victory - which had been widely predicted - was a marked increase in his share of the vote from 2012, when he won 64%.A state exit poll put the turnout at 63.7%, down on 2012. Mr Putin's campaign had hoped for a large turnout, to give him the strongest possible mandate.Video recordings from polling stations showed irregularities in a number of towns and cities across Russia. Several videos showed election officials stuffing boxes with ballot papers.Early results showed that with just 21.3% of boxes counted, Mr Putin had almost 72% of the votes.Exit polls, published as soon as voting ended, showed that Mr Putin's closest opponent, Pavel Grudinin, was only projected to win 11.2%.Mr Navalny was excluded from the election because of an embezzlement conviction that he said was manufactured by the Kremlin.During polling day, independent election monitoring group Golos reported hundreds of irregularities, including:Videos taken from the election commission's live stream of polling stations also appeared to show some instances of officials stuffing ballots into boxes.In Dagestan, one election official said he was prevented from doing his job by a crowd of men who blocked the ballot box.But the Central Electoral Commission chief, Ella Pamfilova, said there no serious violations registered, according to Russia's Interfax news agency.She had earlier said that anyone involved in violations would be caught.Prepare to shell out a little more for the sweet treats of spring and summer as a global surge in the price of vanilla makes its impact at some small-batch ice cream shops and neighbourhood bakeries. A baker at Dlish Cupcakes, a bakery that uses vanilla every day, prepares the day's first batch in Toronto on Saturday, March 17, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris DonovanGiant panda Da Mao eats bamboo at the Toronto Zoo on Thursday, May 16, 2013. Today is the latest chance to see giant pandas Da Mao and Er Shun at the Toronto Zoo before the bears head west to Calgary.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan DenetteAmerican trade officials are showing newfound interest in a Canadian proposal for revamping NAFTA's automotive provisions as the U.S. seeks to swiftly conclude renegotiations of the continental free trade pact. A line worker works on a car at Ford Motor plant in Oakville, Ont., on Friday, January 4, 2013. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris YoungFILE - In a Wednesday, March 14, 2018 file photo, Nikolas Cruz is lead out of the courtroom after an arraignment hearing at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Cruz is accused of the shooting rampage that killed 14 students and three school employees at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland on Feb. 14. In addition, 17 people were wounded. More than a year earlier, documents in the criminal case against Nikolas Cruz and obtained by The Associated Press show school officials and a sheriff's deputy recommended in September 2016 that Cruz be involuntarily committed for a mental evaluation. But the recommendation was never acted upon. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool, File)This should send OB and the crew over the edge. Which begs the question: Is the Mueller investigation completely unbiased?Is Mueller dragging out the investigation because of the salary and expense account? No evidence of collusion or illegal dealing with the Russian government by Trump have been unearthed. Is Mueller going to keep digging, in the vain hope that he can find something?This is costing the US taxpayer a huge sum of money.---- Eric Tucker, The Associated PressWASHINGTON -- U.S. President Donald Trump is questioning the impartiality of Robert Mueller's investigation and says the probe is groundless, while raising doubts about whether a fired top FBI official kept personal memos outlining his interactions with Trump.Trump on Sunday elevated his simmering grievances to a boil against Mueller, whose team is examining Trump campaign ties to Russia and possible obstruction of justice; onetime FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, who was dismissed Friday by the attorney general; and former FBI Director James Comey, ousted last year by Trump.The president's Twitter barbs follow closely on the call by Trump's personal lawyer for the Trump-appointed No. 2 Justice Department official overseeing Mueller's inquiry to "bring an end" to that investigation. And Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee said this past week that they had completed a draft report concluding, after a yearlong investigation, that there was no collusion or co-ordination between the Trump campaign and Russia; committee Democrats vehemently disagreed.I'd like to see some tears of anger from Flossy or OB or Cliffy. :lol:WASHINGTON (AP)  Andrew McCabe, the onetime FBI deputy director long scorned by President Donald Trump and just fired by the attorney general, kept personal memos describing interactions with the president that are similar to the notes compiled by dismissed FBI chief James Comey, The Associated Press has learned.

It was not immediately clear whether any of McCabes memos have been turned over to special counsel Robert Mueller, whose criminal investigation is examining Trump campaign ties to Russia and possible obstruction of justice, or been requested by Mueller.

McCabes memos include details of interactions with the president, among other topics, according to a person with direct knowledge of the situation who wasnt authorized to discuss the notes publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Though the precise contents are unknown, the memos possibly could help substantiate McCabes assertion that he was unfairly maligned by a White House he says had declared war on the FBI and Muellers investigation. They almost certainly contain, as Comeys memos did, previously undisclosed details about encounters between the Trump administration and FBI.

The disclosure Saturday came hours after Trump called McCabes firing by Attorney General Jeff Sessions a great day for Democracy and asserted without elaboration that McCabe knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels off the FBI!

That sent former CIA Director John Brennan, an outspoken Trump critic, into a Twitter tizzy:

When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history. You may scapegoat Andy McCabe, but you will not destroy America...America will triumph over you.

Sessions said he acted on the recommendation of FBI disciplinary officials who said McCabe had not been candid with a watchdog office investigation. McCabe was fired two days before his retirement date.

An upcoming inspector generals report is expected to conclude that McCabe had authorized the release of information to the media and was not forthcoming with the watchdog office as it examined the bureaus handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation. McCabe denied the allegations and said his credibility had been attacked as part of a larger effort not just to slander me personally but also the FBI and law enforcement.

It is part of this administrations ongoing war on the FBI and the efforts of the special counsel investigation, which continue to this day, he added. Their persistence in this campaign only highlights the importance of the special counsels work.

The firing set off dueling tweets between Trump, who called the termination a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI, and Comey, the director he fired 10 months ago.

Trump called Comey sanctimonious and said Comey made McCabe look like a choirboy. Comey, whose highly anticipated book comes out next month, responded with his own tweet: Mr. President, the American people will hear my story very soon. And they can judge for themselves who is honorable and who is not.

Also Saturday, Trumps personal lawyer, John Dowd, cited the brilliant and courageous example by Sessions and the FBIs Office of Professional Responsibility and said Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, should bring an end to the Russia investigation manufactured by Comey.

Dowd told the AP that he neither was calling on Rosenstein, who oversees Muellers inquiry, to fire the special counsel immediately nor had discussed with Rosenstein the idea of dismissing Mueller or ending the probe.

Mueller is investigating whether Trumps actions, including Comeys ouster, constitute obstruction of justice. McCabe could be an important witness, and his memos could be used by investigators as they look into whether Trump sought to thwart the FBI probe. Comeys own memos have been turned over to Mueller and are part of his investigation.

McCabe, in a statement defending himself, asserted he was singled out by the administration because of the role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of Comeys firing last May.

McCabe became acting director after that and assumed direct oversight of the FBIs investigation into the Trump campaign. He said the release of the findings against him was accelerated after he told congressional officials that he could corroborate Comeys accounts of Comeys conversations with the president.

McCabe had been on leave from the FBI since January, when he abruptly left the deputy director position. He had planned to retire on Sunday, and the dismissal probably jeopardizes his ability to collect his full pension benefits. His removal could add to the turmoil that has enveloped the FBI since Comeys firing and as the bureau moves ahead with an investigation the White House has dismissed as a hoax.

McCabe spent more than 20 years as a career FBI official and played key roles in some of the most recent significant investigations. But Trump repeatedly condemned him over the past year as emblematic of an FBI leadership he contends is biased against his administration.

The firing arises from an inspector general review into how the FBI handled the Clinton email investigation. That inquiry focused not only on specific decisions made by FBI leadership but also on news media leaks.

McCabe came under scrutiny over an October 2016 news report that revealed differing approaches within the FBI and Justice Department over how aggressively the Clinton Foundation should be investigated. The watchdog office has concluded that McCabe authorized FBI officials to speak to a Wall Street Journal reporter for that story and that McCabe had not been forthcoming with investigators. McCabe denies it.

McCabe became entangled in presidential politics in 2016 when it was revealed that his wife, during her unsuccessful run for state Senate in Virginia, received campaign contributions from the political action committee of then-Gov. Terry McAuliffe, D-Va., a longtime Clinton friend. The FBI has said McCabe received the necessary ethics approval about his wifes candidacy and was not supervising the Clinton investigation at the time.To remake or not to remake? That is the question. Hollywood has been doing them almost since the beginning and doing some of them quite well. Ben-Hur (1959) was a remake, for pitys sake. We can all probably think of a few good films and even more bad ones where it would be worth seeing what other creators could do with them. But there has to be some standard and when a movie didnt really need to exist in the first place, theres no reason we should ever see another version of it.

Back in 2001, Angelina Jolie was one of those IT girls in show business. She had bounced around the industry for a few years with smaller roles on TV and in flicks that went from the theater to the video store in short order, then had a breakout performance in a TV movie called Gia (1998) and stole the show from Winona Ryder in Girl, Interrupted (1999). The movers and shakers of Tinsel Town saw this exotic beauty and thought there might be some money to be made out of her, so they looked around for a star vehicle and settled on a big screen version of a popular video game series.



Sexier than everything in the remake put together. Sexier than everything in the remake put together.

THIS became James Bond? THIS became James Bond?

17 years later, theyve remade it. Not because theyve got a burgeoning female star theyre hoping to ignite. Not because the original had any lasting impact or significant fan base. And not because the genre of video game movies has had any real success. Theyre doing it because theyve lost the ability to come up with anything better to do. Its Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) vs. Tomb Raider (2018) in this edition of KIMTs Weekend Remake Throwdown, a contest that proves theres a big difference between being better and being good.

An extended exercise in seeing how naughty and violent Angelia Jolie could be in a PG-13 movie, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is a cartoonish mix of real life action scenes that largely hold up and CGI special effects that have not aged well surrounding the barest pretense of a plot. Lara (Angelina Jolie) is the orphan daughter of an aristocratic English adventurer. Shes sexy, rebellious, extremely educated, ridiculously wealthy, and capable of kicking the ass of everything from hulking robots to commando squads to living statues.

A mysterious clock left to her by her father leads Lara into a race with an ancient evil organization called the Illuminati to find two artifacts that can unlock the power to control time itself. With minimal assistance from her butler Hillary (Chris BarrieYay, Rimmer!) and her personal tech geek Bryce (Noah Taylor) and minimal resistance from an archeological rival (Daniel Craig) and an almost entirely generic bad guy (Iain Glen), Lara has to travel the globe and shoot a bunch of stuff while continuing to brood over the death of her father (Jon Voight).

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is the sort of film where about a million bullets are fired but no human being ever gets shot and where the heroine and the villain put their guns down at the end to decide things in an old fashioned fist fight. In other words, nobody involved thought they were making a masterpiece. Its 90% just a dumb action movie but that other 10% is kind of interesting. Jolie is physically mesmerizing, if you can overlook the dent in her bottom lip and that her breasts appear to be similarly charged magnets trying to get as far away from each other as possible, and plays the heroic bad girl shtick quite well. And the movie does an excellent job coming up with male supporting characters that are strong enough on their own to make Lara Croft look even better. On the rare occasions when motion pictures try to offer up a strong female character, they usually demonstrate her strength by having her completely overshadow the male characters in the story. Weak men, however, dont make anyone look good. And the whole production has a genuine sense of fun and excitement running through it. It seems like the people in the movie are having a great time, which is wonderful for the viewer and much harder to pull off than it seems.

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider produced a sequel in 2003 but Jolie decided she wanted other things out of life than being the biggest movie star she could possibly be and the film franchise ended there. But since no one in Hollywood can leave well enough alone, weve finally got another one.

Tomb Raider (2018) is trying the same trick the James Bond franchise pulled with Casino Royale (2006), jumpstarting things with a movie that pretends to be a prequel. Whereas Jolie was playing Lara Croft in her full glory as an international woman of mystery, this Lara Croft (Alicia Vikander) is a bicycle delivery girl in London. Shes still the daughter of an English lord but, for reasons the film never even bothers to explore, has decided to abandon her family home and fortune after her fathers disappearance. This Lara isnt super-sexy, super-educated, or super-anything. The movie starts with her getting beating up by another girl in an MMA match at the gym where Lara cant afford to pay her dues. This Lara also broods much more intently over her absent dad without any of the distractions of a life of adventure.

Then in a plot which appears to have been largely borrowed from one of the Tomb Raider video games, Lara is delivered a clue to her fathers fate and sets off to what we used to call the Far East to find a hidden island and the crypt of a long lost Japanese empress. She encounters a guy much more interesting than herself who fails to become her sidekick and a bad guy the movie tries way too hard to get audience to sympathize with. I dont want to give too much more away because Tomb Raider is in most respects a well-made film. Its certainly better written than the 2001 version and the cinematic action is substantially more advanced and visually impressive.

But Tomb Raider isnt any fun. Alicia Vikander has been a very talented actress in a bunch of movies very few people have seen but she doesnt have 1/10th the on screen charisma of Jolie. And anyone who saw her in the fairly terrible The Man from U.N.C.L.E knew she didnt have that kind of appeal. Shes then saddled with a character who literally spends more than the first half of the film running away from danger, being saved twice by a man with a gun, and cowering from a different man with a gun. This Lara Croft isnt funny. She isnt sassy. She isnt exceptional in any way until the Tomb Raider flips an inexplicably switch and Lara suddenly becomes a daring badass.

And speaking of inexplicable, how can the girl power in this sort of motion picture be so lackluster in 2018? There are three major male characters in this film that not only have a lot more personality than Lara, they all have more interesting backstories. For the majority of this film, Lara Croft might as well the girlfriend of the actual hero. Even when she starts doing things in the story, most of them are merely her following her fathers example. Vikander is a slim 55 and its almost as if the movie is afraid to look ridiculous by letting her be too impressive, but this is a Tomb Raider remake. Its supposed to be ridiculous. The whole production is far too serious and dramatic for a subject matter created to be light and melodramatic. They're doing an even more exaggerated chick version of Indiana Jones and it looks, sounds, and feels like they thought they were doing Shakespeare where Ophelia from Hamlet got lost in the Temple of Doom.

I dont want to be too hard on Tomb Raider because it is, in most of the technical ways, a decent bit of work. However, two questions consistently ran through my brain as I watched it. Why did they make this? What did they think they were making. Its not a star vehicle for Vikander. Shes not an IT girl and the film does little to maximize whatever appeal she has. Its not because anyone was asking for another Tomb Raider movie. Its not because the video game franchise is still a big deal. And for whatever reason they decided to make it, why in the world did they think it would be better as a semi-serious drama than light-hearted escapism?

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider takes this Throwdown despite being the inferior motion picture in most respects because the people who made it knew what they were doing and why they were doing it. Tomb Raider is the product of a Hollywood machine still going through the motions when no one any longer remembers what the end result is meant to be or how the assembly line got started in the first place.

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)

Written by Patrick Massett and John Zinman.

Directed by Simon West.

Starring Angelina Jolie, Jon Voight, Iain Glen, Noah Taylor, Chris Barrie, Daniel Craig, Richard Johnson, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Leslie Phllips, Robert Phillips, and Rachle Appleton.

Tomb Raider (2018)

Written by Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Alastair Siddons.

Directed by Roar Uthaug.

Starring Alicia Vikander, Dominic West, Walton Goggins, Daniel Wu, Kristin Scott Thomas, Derek Jacobi, Alexandre Willaume, Hannah John-Kamen, Tamer Burjaq, Nick Frost, and Duncan Airlie James.ROCHESTER, Minn.  A woman accused of threatening a child and attacking a man with a knife is pleading guilty.

Rochester police say they arrested 37-year-old Heidi Corley on December 15, 2017, after responding to a reported domestic incident in the 1500 block of 8  street SE. A man told officers that after he and Corley returned from a night of drinking, she got upset and grabbed a 12-year-old by the throat. The man says he pushed the child away from Corley, then she grabbed a knife and came at him.

The man said Corley has stabbed him before.

Police say the man got the knife away from Corley but she bit him hard enough to draw blood.

She was charged with 2nd degree assault, two counts of domestic assault, and one count of threats of violence. Corley has entered a guilty plea to one domestic assault charge and is scheduled to be sentenced on April 30.Yuna Park, Joseph Campbell

SEOUL/BEIJING (Reuters) - A senior North Korean diplomat left for Finland on Sunday for talks with former U.S. and South Korean officials, Yonhap News Agency reported, amid a series of diplomatic encounters ahead of a possible U.S.-North Korean summit.

North Korea is pursuing its nuclear and missile programs in defiance of U.N. Security Council sanctions and has made no secret of its plans to develop a missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland.

It defends the programs as a necessary deterrent against a possible U.S. invasion. The United States stations 28,500 troops in South Korea but denies any invasion plans.

Tensions have eased in recent weeks, coinciding with North Koreas participation in the Winter Olympics held in the South last month.

Choe Kang Il, a deputy director general for North American affairs at North Koreas foreign ministry, plans to attend the track 1.5 talks, according to Yonhap, reflecting planned contact between former U.S. officials and current North Korean ones in a broader bid to end the standoff over North Koreas weapons programs.

South Koreas foreign ministry said in a statement North Korea would participate in the meeting joined by former South Korean officials and academics but did not provide further details.

The talks in Finland will add to a flurry of diplomatic activity ahead of the proposed North Korean summits with South Korea and the United States, respectively, in April and May.

Arriving at a Beijing airport en route to Finland, Choe declined to comment.

In Washington, a State Department representative said they had no information on the meeting in Finland.

North Korean and Swedish foreign ministers ended three days of talks on Saturday on security on the Korean peninsula in preparation of the meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un.

South Korea said on Friday it was seeking high-level talks this month with North Korea to prepare for a summit and that South Korean President Moon Jae-in may meet Trump before the U.S. presidents planned meeting with the North Korean leader.

In a telephone call, Moon and Trump both voiced cautious optimism about efforts to resolve the crisis over North Koreas nuclear weapons.

In an interview broadcast Sunday by CBS News Face the Nation, South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha noted that Kim has in effect met a condition for talks by making a commitment in clear terms to denuclearization.

Hes given his word, said Kang, referring to discussions that South Korean officials held with Kim in Pyongyang earlier this month. But the significance of his word is - is quite - quite weighty in the sense that it is the first time that the words came directly from the North Korean supreme leader himself.

Kang stressed that Kim will receive no reward for engaging in dialogue and that South Korea and the United States will be pressing the North Korean leader to take unspecified actions in order for there to be any progress.

Reporting by Yuna Park in SEOUL, Joseph Campbell in BEIJING and Jonathan Landay and David Brunnstrom in WASHINGTON. Editing by Nick Macfie and Lisa ShumakerSuccess! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.By Kim Jae-kyoung



South Korea should speed up its move to join a multilateral Pacific trade pact signed by 11 regional nations to cushion the blow from a potential trade war, analysts said Sunday.



The advice comes as U.S. President Donald Trump's protectionist measures are changing the economic landscape and reshaping the world trade order.



Against Trump's America First strategy, a growing number of nations are seeking to enter larger multilateral trade pacts that will ensure free trade with no tariffs and barriers.



The latest development is the signing of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) in Santiago, Chile, March 9.



The revived version of the TPP represents 500 million people and accounts for 13.5 percent and 15 percent of global gross domestic product and trade, respectively.



"Once the CPTPP is implemented and begins the process for new members to join, accession should be a priority for South Korea and the CPTPP members," Troy Stangarone, senior director at the Korea Economic Institute (KEI) based in Washington, told The Korea Times.



He pointed out that while the China-led Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will provide South Korea with increased market access in Southeast Asia, the CPTPP will be the more important agreement in the long-run.



"As a major trading nation Korea has prioritized market access through the reduction of tariffs historically, but as services and technology become increasingly important, ensuring that there are enforceable rules in place should be a priority for any Korean government," he said.



The revamped TPP, which is scheduled to kick off in the first half of 2019, is open to new members. The 11 current members are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.



Korea has remained lukewarm about the Pacific trade pact since the U.S. withdrew from it immediately after Trump took office early in 2017.



On March 13, Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon said that the country will decide whether to join the CPTPP in the first half of the year.



The analysts said that although Korea has signed FTAs with many countries, joining multilateral pacts would be a better option because it will make it easier for the nation to form a united front against America's protectionism and China's rise in global trade.



"In general multilateral trade agreements are preferable to bilateral trade agreements," said Sohn Sung-won, an economics professor at California State University-Channel Islands.



"I am not sure which ones  the CPTPP or RCEP  Korea should join, but the goal should be free trade, knocking down both tariff and non-tariff barriers."



The RCEP is a China-led mega-regional economic agreement being negotiated between the 10 ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) governments and their six FTA partners  Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.



Antonio Fatas, a Singapore-based economics professor at global business school INSEAD, concurred.



"Trade agreements with other countries are becoming more important given the unpredictable behavior of the U.S. Even if those agreements are not perfect, they are necessary," he said.



If the U.S. decides to join the CPTPP, other countries, including Thailand, Taiwan and Britain are expected to follow the suit.



Trump recently hinted that the U.S. may rejoin the revived TPP "if better terms could be negotiated." Since the withdrawal of the U.S., Japan has led its resurrection.



Experts said that Korea should pursue a two-track strategy by maintaining sound relations with the U.S. and China, given its dependence on the two biggest markets.



"Korea in the long term will be more aligned with China than with the U.S. It's a matter of proximity," said Mauro Guillen, director of the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.



"At the same time, the U.S. will continue to be an important trading partner. So Korean politicians and diplomats will need to be very careful and maintain a balance."

Participants applaud during a March 8 ceremony in Pyongyang to mark the 108th anniversary of International Women's Day. North Korea claimed international sanctions were "taking a toll on mothers and children," while stating it was making efforts to prevent sex crimes in the workplace. / Korean Central News Agency



By Yi Whan-woo



Many North Korean women are subject to sexual assaults in their workplaces, especially in the military, where superiors exploit their power to rape their female juniors, according to a human rights advocate group.



This means the secretive state is still far from the #MeToo Movement that has affected politics, culture and all other sectors in the South.



The Database Center for North Korean Human Rights said last week that more than 34 percent of 70 North Korean defectors in the South said they had suffered sexual abuse or heard about victims when serving in the North Korean military.



Women make up one-third of the 1.28 million North Korean military personnel. Females who jointly serve with the men in medical, communication and artillery units are vulnerable to sexual assault because the country has low awareness about women's human rights, a source said.



"They have nowhere to seek help officially," the source said. "Even if they do, they get blamed eventually because the perpetrators claim the victims agreed to the sexual relationships. But superiors use their power to cover up their crimes, too."



In 2017, the U.N Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women voiced concerns that North Korean females were "underrepresented or disadvantaged" in education, the judiciary, security and leadership and managerial positions "in all non-traditional areas of work."



The committee also expressed concerns about rape or mistreatment of women in detention, including those repatriated after fleeing abroad.



It claimed domestic violence was prevalent and that there was "very limited awareness" about the issue and a lack of legal services, psycho-social support and shelters for victims.



"Women who were trafficked abroad and then returned to North Korea are reportedly sent to labor training camps or prisons, accused of crossing the border illegally, and may be exposed to further sexual violence by security officials and forced abortions," it said.



The repressive state then told the committee that international nuclear sanctions imposed on its regime were "taking a toll on vulnerable mothers and children," although the country was working to uphold women's rights and gender equality.



According to the committee, the penalties for rape in North Korea are not commensurate with the severity of the crime and often go unpunished.



"The revised legal code reduced the punishment for forcing a woman in a subordinate position to have sexual intercourse from four years to three years," the committee said.

By Yi Whan-woo





North Korea will join the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands, in May, according to the Ramsar Secretariat.







"The convention will come into force in the DPRK on May 16," the secretariat said recently on its website, referring to North Korea by the acronym of its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.







The country has filed candidacy for two sites -- the Mundok Migratory Bird Reserve in South Pyongan Province and the Sonbong Migratory Bird Reserve in North Hamkyong Province.







The Mundok Reserve is at the mouth of Chongchon River on North Korea's west coast. It is a habitat for endangered migratory birds, including the red-crowned crane, hooded crane and swan goose.







The Sonbong Reserve, which consists of three lakes, is in the Rason Special Economic Zone in Rason near the Chinese and Russian borders.







The area is a home to several species of threatened water birds, such as the white-naped crane, relict gull, far eastern curlew and mute swan.







"Both sites are extremely important for migratory water birds," the secretariat said. "Their long-term conservation will thus be extremely important for the conservation of bird life on the Korean Peninsula."





By Lee Suh-yoon







The Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs confirmed the highly pathogenic H5N6 strain of avian influenza in chickens at three poultry farms in Pyeongtaek and Yangju, Gyeonggi Province, and Asan, South Chungcheong Province, Sunday.







Authorities culled more than a million chickens from these farms over the weekend -- 800,000 chickens in Gyeonggi Province and 450,000 in South Chungcheong Province -- within a three kilometers radius of where the H5 strain was detected in an effort to stop the avian influenza from spreading.







The ministry also issued a 48 hour transport ban on all domestic poultry starting on Saturday. Movement of persons or vehicles will be restricted for a week around the confirmed locations of the H5 strain.







The first farm to be reported for a suspected case of bird flu on Friday was the one in Pyeongtaek, 65 kilometers south of Seoul. Thirty chickens died there Thursday, followed by 80 more the next day.







The highly pathogenic H5 strain was also confirmed at a poultry farm in Yangju, north of Gyeonggi Province. The farm bought egg-laying chicks from the H5N6 virus-confirmed farm in Pyeongtaek.













By Kim Hyun-bin



The Constitutional Court is expected to rule by August on the legality of conscientious objection to military service.



In 2004 and 2011, the court ruled against conscientious objectors, making national defense a priority over individual rights.



"There is no room for delay, the Constitutional Court needs to make a decision," The Chosun Ilbo quoted an official from the court as saying on Friday. "There is a high possibility a decision will be made by August."



Korea requires all able-bodied men to serve in the military for roughly 21 months _ the core part of the country's defense. The two Korea's are technically at war, because the Korean War (1950-53) ended in a ceasefire, not a peace treaty.



Since the Korean War, around 20,000 conscientious objectors have refused to serve in the armed forces stating their rights to freedom of thought, conscience or religion.



Any male who violates the Military Service Act without a justifiable reason can be imprisoned for up to three years. Since 2004, the Supreme Court has not acknowledged religious conscientious objection as a justifiable reason.



In 2007, Korea was presented with specific measures to adopt an alternative military program for conscientious objectors with five relevant legislative bills.



But the issue was discarded without being discussed, according to a Constitutional Court official.



The legal circle believed it would be difficult to decide on the sensitive issue any time this year because five out of nine Constitutional Court justices are scheduled to be replaced in September, including its president, Lee Jin-sung.



However, the court is speeding up the process to make a decision before the major reshuffle because there are conflicts in the rulings of local courts nationwide.



On March 8, Incheon District Court sentenced a Jehovah's Witness conscientious objector to 18 months in jail.

On the same day, an Ulsan district court handed down a not guilty ruling.



The first acquittal of a religious conscientious objector came in 2004 and 17 had been found not guilty by 2016. However, last year 45 objectors were acquitted, putting more pressure on higher courts for a final ruling.























By Lee Min-hyung





Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon has engaged in "sales diplomacy" in Brazil, asking the country to consider carefully a Hyundai affiliate for a state-run railroad project.







According to the prime minister's office, Lee met Sao Paulo Mayor Joao Doria on Saturday, discussing ways to enhance business ties. The meeting was part of Lee's eight-day visit to the Dominican Republic and Brazil.







Both sides agreed to tighten partnerships in such areas as electricity, energy and train systems.







"South Korea's railway vehicles manufacturer, Hyundai Rotem, hopes to participate in Brazil's main-line railway project that connects Sao Paulo and Campinas," Lee told Doria. The Sao Paulo mayor said he would keep the company in mind and noted that both countries could develop not just trains, but also electric buses.







Hyundai Rotem aims to supply subway trains worth up to $400 million (427.4 billion won), for Brazil. The Hyundai affiliate is rapidly expanding overseas with train contracts in such countries as Canada, Turkey and India.







"My view is that Korean companies in Brazil should not operate business only to seek profits," Lee said. "They also have to create jobs for local people and contribute to developing the country."







During the meeting, Doria expressed his wish to expand partnerships in four areas particularly  transport, education, environment and city maintenance.







Lee said the state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. has expertise and experience in exporting transit fare collection systems and managing underground electricity projects.



By Lee Min-hyung





Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono

Japan has asked South Korea to request the repatriation of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea during its upcoming talks with Washington and Pyongyang, according to reports Sunday.



The issue was brought up Saturday in a meeting between Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and her Japanese counterpart Taro Kono. Both sides agreed to cooperate with each other in resolving the repatriation of a number of Japanese citizens kidnapped in the 1970s and 1980s.



"We are going to establish a close alliance with Japan in settling the issue," Kang said during the meeting in Washington.



Japan is going all-out to use Pyongyang's planned summits with Seoul and Washington as opportunities to resolve the abduction issue.



Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed his determination to normalize diplomatic relations with North Korea by solving such pending problems as the regime's nuclear and missile threats and repatriation of Japanese nationals.



In a telephone conversation with President Moon Jae-in, Friday, Abe asked for Moon to discuss the issue during the upcoming inter-Korean summit scheduled in late April.





By Park Ji-won



With political parties gearing up for the upcoming June 13 local elections, there are some major issues that could heavily affect voter sentiment.

They include the simmering inter-party feud over a constitutional revision, the #MeToo movement sweeping through society and the upcoming talks with North Korea.

Despite a series of #MeToo claims raised against ruling party members, the support rates of President Moon Jae-in and the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) haven't slipped dramatically. This suggests these cases could have little impact on the elections, but could take a toll on the ruling camp, if mishandled.



Constitutional revision



Rival parties are divided over when to hold a referendum for the constitutional revision bill.



The main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) has opposed holding the referendum for the constitutional revision and the local elections together, which the ruling party wants to do.



The LKP is also against President Moon taking the initiative for the revision, insisting that reducing the presidential term from five years to four and allowing a consecutive term, was against decentralizing presidential power, the aim of the revision.



Due to their opposition, the chances of the presidential bill being passed by the National Assembly are slim, because the LKP's cooperation is vital in get the two-thirds vote of all 293 lawmakers needed to pass it.



The Bareun Mirae Party and the minor Party for Democracy and Peace (PDP) have agree on when to amend the Constitution, but also oppose the government-led revision bill.





North Korea nuclear issue



Despite the historic breakthrough with North Korea, relations with the North will likely remain one of the main issues for voters.



If the inter-Korean summit and the North Korea-United States summit, which are slated for the end of this month and in May, respectively, go successfully, critics speculate that the ruling party could benefit from these in the elections.



Some say a hit by the DPK party members' sexual abuse scandals amid the #Metoo movement didn't have a large impact on the party's support rating, posting 50 percent, thanks to the Moon government's success with diplomatic moves.



However, if the summits end up empty-handed, it is a likely chance for the opposition parties to go all-out by blaming the ruling party, which could tarnish the DPK's reputation.





#MeToo movement



From the political scene to the art scene, all eyes on the #MeToo movement and its consequences.



So far, democratic political figures have been conspicuously involved in sexual misconduct allegations, such as An Hee-jung, a rising presidential hopeful and the former South Chungcheong Province governor; Park Soo-hyun, former Cheong Wa Dae spokesman and a candidate for South Chungcheong Province governor; and Chung Bong-ju, a former left-leaning lawmaker and a candidate for Seoul mayor.



After the allegations, the DPK party took a harsh stand, promptly deciding to expel An, as well as renewing a party protocol to sign a letter to support the #MeToo movement.



However, external affairs as they are, might have a worse influence than violating laws as there are Confucianism traditions are still prevalent in Korea even though adultery was decriminalized in 2015.



The parties have been able to minimize the impact of scandals, so far; still the present situation could be crucial for any party member to jeopardize her or his political career..

Theater director Lee Yoon-taek, 67, enters Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Sunday for questioning about alleged sexual crimes committed over the past two decades. Yonhap



By Lee Kyung-min



The #MeToo movement sweeping the country continues to demand a thorough investigation into alleged perpetrators, despite the apparent suicide of a university professor accused of sexual misconduct, Saturday. Police said the professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies killed himself, the second such death after veteran actor Jo Min-ki. Jo committed suicede earlier this month amid increasingly souring public sentiment against his "categorical denial" and subsequent threat of legal action against alleged victims, immediately negated by many of those who came forward to discredit him.



The professor was found dead at his home in Seoul, amid an internal investigation into sexual harassment claims raised by three students. The school said it had halted the investigation, but did not elaborate. On Facebook, the alleged victims said the professor asked them, "Did you go to a festival to sleep with your boyfriend?" or "Have you ever lain naked with your boyfriend?" The professor also allegedly put his arms around their shoulders and held their hands, and told women students not to wear red lipstick because he "was distracted" and "could not focus on teaching."



Many people said the death was irresponsible, disagreeing that suicides of alleged perpetrators could trigger an anti-#MeToo movement. "I feel sorry for the families of those who died, but committing suicide is a selfish choice to avoid investigation and subsequent punishment," said a woman surnamed Lee. "Why kill yourself? If you committed a crime, you should apologize to the victims, be punished and repent for the rest of life."



The #MeToo movement should continue, she added, because the suicides in no way justified halting investigations when scores of victims had suffered. "Committing suicide is irresponsible because it hinders police and prosecution investigations into sexual misconduct allegations," said a man who asked not to be named. "A thorough investigation should follow to determine whether the accused really did something wrong or the alleged victims made false accusations."



Both men and women should be aware of their choice of words or physical contact, he said. "People simply should not touch others and talk about appearances, let alone making sexual jokes," he said. "I know some people think they are being funny, and that they have a great sense of humor. But in most cases, they are not."



Some, however, expressed concern that certain women might be making allegations out of spite, and urged people to refrain from judging too quickly. "While rape and sexual harassment do exist, there are also vindictive women seeking to hurt men for personal reasons. Let's not forget that," said an internet user.



Meanwhile, police questioned theater director Lee Yoon-taek, 67, following 15 hours of questioning the previous day, about alleged sexual crimes committed over the past two decades. Before entering Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, Saturday, Lee apologized to the victims, but declined to say how many there were. Sixteen women filed a complaint with the prosecution against Lee late last month, alleging some were raped and sexually abused between 1999 and June 2016.





U.S. President Donald Trump / Reuters



U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday signed legislation that encourages the United States to send senior officials to Taiwan to meet Taiwanese counterparts and vice versa, angering China, which views the self-ruled island as a wayward province.



The bill, which is non-binding, would have gone into effect on Saturday morning, even if Trump had not signed it, said the White House.

The move adds to strains between the two countries over trade, as Trump has enacted tariffs and called for China to reduce its huge trade imbalance with the United States, even while Washington has leaned on Beijing to help resolve tensions with North Korea.

Earlier on Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang reiterated that Beijing was opposed to the legislation and urged the United States to abide by the "one China" policy, that stipulates that Taiwan is part of China, and cease official exchanges with Taiwan.



In a statement after Trump's signing of the bill, the Chinese embassy said clauses of the legislation "severely violate the one-China principle, the political foundation of the China-U.S. relationship".

"China is strongly dissatisfied with that and firmly opposes it," the statement said, adding that the United States should "stop pursuing any official ties with Taiwan or improving its current relations with Taiwan in any substantive way."

Taiwan's Foreign Ministry expressed its thanks for the "friendly move" by the Trump administration, saying the government would continue to deepen its cooperation and partnership with the United States at all levels.

The United States does not have formal ties with Taiwan but is required by law to help it with self-defense and is the island's primary source of weapons.

Douglas Paal, who served as U.S. representative to Taiwan from 2002 to 2006, said the legislation did not change anything real as it was non-binding. U.S. administrations already had discretionary authority to permit visits by senior Taiwanese officials and visits by senior U.S. officials and military officers to Taiwan, he said.

"They don't authorize these trips because the policy judgment is that the costs in relations with China would outweigh the benefits in relations with Taiwan," Paal said.



The bill, which was passed by Congress last month, says it should be U.S. policy to allow visits at all levels. High-level Taiwan officials should be permitted to enter the United States "under respectful conditions" to meet U.S. officials, while Taiwanese economic and cultural representatives should be encouraged to conduct business in the United States.

China's hostility toward Taiwan has risen since the election of President Tsai Ing-wen, of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, in 2016.

It suspects Tsai wants to push for formal independence, which would cross a red line for Communist Party leaders in Beijing, although Tsai has said she wants to maintain the status quo and is committed to ensuring peace.

Defeated Nationalist forces fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing the Chinese civil war to the Communists. (Reuters)By Shelton Bumgarner





Now, let me be clear about something, in the following. I'm not predicting anything hard and fast about what may happen because of the Trump administration and it's very possible any predictions I make will be proven wrong sooner rather than later.



But having said that, let me make some observations about Donald Trump's relationship with the DPRK in the context of South Korea.



I frequently would say when I lived in Seoul that problems in Korea were solved in one of two ways. Either there was a fistfight or they were solved in a really odd way that outsiders would find difficult to understand.



On a macro level, we find ourselves at such a crossroads on the Korean Peninsula. Either Trump is going to start a needless, horrifically destructive war with the DPRK or he's going to bring peace at last in a really, really weird way.



As I write this, it definitely seems things could go either way. Either Trump meets Kim Jong-un and somehow manages to bring peace in our time to Korea, or it all falls apart and there's a war. The scary thing is that any other person in Trump's position would not only be reluctant to meet Kim Jong-un in person but would fall back on the age-old policy of deterrence to keep the DPRK in check.



But Trump is no normal American leader and so here we are.



We're at a crossroads.



Trump by May will have a meet-and-greet with Kim Jong-un, bring peace, or the exact opposite could happen.



At this point, we just don't know.



I have given this some thought and it definitely seems as though should peace talks fall through that Trump has ever reason to start a war with the DPRK by August of 2018. I say this because Trump domestically is in some serious hot water.



He could very well see his administration slip through his fingers because of any number of jaw dropping scandals. Scandals that would have otherwise brought down any other administration.



So it isn't too difficult to imagine that Trump would attempt to "wag the dog" by starting a quick, dirty, bloody war with the DPRK in August, imagining it would be wrapped up by November when crucial 2018 Congressional midterms will be held.



Of course, any number things could go wrong if he did do such a thing. The DPRK likely has sleeper cells in South Korea, Japan and even the U.S. that could wreak untold havoc with chemical and biological weapons.



It's very possible peace will come and my fears of a possible war with the DPRK will be seen as a melodramatic nightmare. I hope that is what happens. I couldn't handle seeing my old haunts in Seoul leveled by a renewed Korean War.



Shelton Bumgarner (migukin@gmail.com) is a writer and photographer living in Richmond, Virginia. He, along with the late Annie Shapiro founded the English journal ROK on Magazine in 2006.

By Joseph S. Nye, Jr.





CAMBRIDGE  Last month, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for global action to minimize the risk posed by electronic warfare to civilians. Guterres lamented that "there is no regulatory scheme for that type of warfare," noting that "it is not clear how the Geneva Convention or international humanitarian law applies to it."







A decade ago, cybersecurity received little attention as an international issue. But, since 2013, it has been described as the biggest threat facing the United States. Although the exact numbers can be debated, the Council on Foreign Relations' "Cyber Operations Tracker" contains almost 200 state-sponsored attacks by 16 countries since 2005, including 20 in 2016.







The term cybersecurity refers to a wide range of problems that were not a major concern among the small community of researchers and programmers who developed the internet in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1996, only 36 million people, or about 1 percent of the world's population, used the internet. By the beginning of 2017, 3.7 billion people, or nearly half the world's population, were online.







As the number of users soared after the late 1990s, the internet became a vital substrate for economic, social, and political interactions. Along with rising interdependence and economic opportunity, however, came vulnerability and insecurity. With big data, machine learning, and the "Internet of Things," some experts anticipate that the number of internet connections may grow to nearly a trillion by 2035.







The number of potential targets for attack, by both private and state actors, will expand dramatically, and include everything from industrial control systems to heart pacemakers and self-driving cars.







Many observers have called for laws and norms to secure this new environment. But developing such standards in the cyber domain faces a number of difficult hurdles. Although Moore's law about the doubling of computing power every two years means that cyber time moves quickly, human habits, norms, and state practices change more slowly.







For starters, given that the internet is a transnational network of networks, most of which are privately owned, non-state actors play a major role. Cyber tools are dual use, fast, cheap, and often deniable, verification and attribution are difficult, and entry barriers are low.







Moreover, while the internet is transnational, the infrastructure (and people) on which it relies fall within the differing jurisdictions of sovereign states. And major states differ in their objectives, with Russia and China stressing the importance of sovereign control, while many democracies press for a more open internet.







Nonetheless, the description of "www" as the "wild west web" is a caricature. Some norms do exist in cyberspace. It took states about two decades to reach the first cooperative agreements to limit conflict in the nuclear era. If one dates the international cybersecurity problem not from the origins of the internet in the early 1970s but from the takeoff period since the late 1990s, intergovernmental cooperation in limiting cyber conflict is now at about the two-decade mark.







In 1998, Russia first proposed a U.N. treaty to ban electronic and information weapons (including for propaganda purposes). With China and other members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, it has continued to push for a broad U.N.-based treaty. The U.S. continues to view such a treaty as unverifiable.







Instead, the secretary-general appointed a Group of Governmental Experts (UNGGE) which first met in 2004, and in July 2015 proposed a set of norms that was later endorsed by the G20. Groups of experts are not uncommon in the U.N. process, but only rarely does their work rise from the organization's basement to recognition at a summit of the 20 most powerful states. The UNGGE's success was extraordinary, but it failed to agree on its next report in 2017.







Where does the world go now? Norms can be suggested and developed by a variety of policy entrepreneurs. For example, the new nongovernmental Global Commission on Stability in Cyberspace, chaired by former Estonian Foreign Minister Marina Kaljurand, has issued a call to protect the public core of the internet (defined to include routing, the domain name system, certificates of trust, and critical infrastructure).







Meanwhile, the Chinese government, using its Wuzhen World Internet Conference series, has issued principles endorsed by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization calling for recognition of the right of sovereign states to control online content on their territory. But this need not contradict the call to protect the public core, which refers to connectivity rather than content.







Other norm entrepreneurs include Microsoft, which has issued a call for a new Geneva Convention on the Internet. Equally important is the development of norms regarding privacy and security regarding encryption, back doors, and the removal of child pornography, hate speech, disinformation, and terrorist threats.







As member states contemplate the next steps in the development of cyber norms, the answer may be to avoid putting too much of a burden on any one institution like the UNGGE. Progress may require the simultaneous use of multiple arenas. In some cases, development of principles and practices among like-minded states can lead to norms to which others may accede at a later point.







For example, China and the U.S. reached a bilateral agreement restricting cyber espionage for commercial purposes. In other cases, such as security norms for the Internet of Things, the private sector, insurance companies, and nonprofit stakeholders might take the lead in developing codes of conduct.







What is certain is that the development of cybersecurity norms will be a long process. Progress in some areas need not wait for progress in others.







).







Joseph S. Nye, Jr. is a professor at Harvard and author of "The Future of Power." Copyright belongs to Project Syndicate ( www.project-syndicate.orgGina Haspel, President Donald Trump's choice to take over the CIA, is a well-respected figure within the intelligence community, by most accounts.



But she is inextricably tied to two very dark elements of the spy agency's past: She ran a secret, post-Sept. 11 overseas "black site" where detainees were subjected to torture, and she participated in the willful destruction of 90 videotapes of some of those interrogation sessions.



Her role in those shameful moments in American history must be central to the questioning she faces during the Senate confirmation process. She must not be confirmed unless she clearly and convincingly explains her actions and involvement, and unless she unequivocally repudiates future use of torture by CIA agents and their proxies.



This would be vitally important under any circumstances _ but it is especially so given the ignorant pronouncements of the man who selected her. During the campaign, Trump emphatically endorsed waterboarding and other inhumane practices. "Torture works," he said at one point. "OK, folks? You know, I have these guys _ 'Torture doesn't work!' _ believe me, it works."



But it doesn't, as psychologists and interrogators have come to recognize. Information gained under torture often is fabricated, for obvious reasons. And even if torture did elicit reliable information, that would hardly justify the use of inhumane and morally repugnant techniques that violate U.S. and international laws and treaties, including the 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.



Haspel joined the CIA in 1985 and spent a lot of time overseas for the agency, including stints in Central Europe, Turkey and Central Asia (much of it covert). In 2002, she was present at the CIA's secret site in Thailand when Abu Zubaydah was waterboarded 83 times and at one point seemed on the verge of death, with water bubbling up from his lungs.



He was revived and tortured again, details of which are contained in the executive summary of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence's still-classified 2012 report on the CIA and its torture programs. (The entire report ought to be released so the American people can be fully aware of what was done in their name.)



After Haspel was promoted to oversee the black site, another detainee was waterboarded at least three times; American officials slapped his head, threatened to rape his mother and brought a gun and a power drill into the interview session.



Despite the immoral nature of the CIA's actions at the dark sites, the agency, and Haspel, were at least operating under a dubious stamp of approval: Government lawyers had told them they could. But Haspel's later involvement in destroying videotapes documenting waterboarding at several interrogation sessions was without sanction.



Haspel, as chief of staff to the head of the agency's counter-terrorism operations, wrote a memo that ordered the tapes' destruction, even though she and her boss had been instructed to preserve the material as possible evidence in an ongoing investigation. Her boss, Jose Rodriguez, was later reprimanded by the agency's inspector general. Haspel was not; the Justice Department decided not to press criminal charges.



Haspel's involvement in the willful destruction of evidence of torture is as much an assault on the law as the torture itself was on its victims. It is worrisome, to say the least, that the president wants to put in charge of the agency someone with a history of overseeing torture, and then of destroying evidence of what occurred. Is Haspel a different person now? Did she believe in what she was doing at the time, or was she just following orders in a post-9/11 moment of fear? That's unknown, at least to the public.



Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the ranking minority member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, intervened in 2013 to try to keep the CIA from appointing Haspel head of clandestine operations. But Feinstein recently has tempered her opposition and said she plans to meet privately with Haspel before deciding whether to oppose the nomination.



Here's a clear line: The Senate needs unequivocal assurances from Haspel that she knows torture is indefensible _ and that even if Trump were to order the resumption of these odious and rightly illegal practices, she would refuse to comply. If senators can't get that commitment from Haspel, then the decision on whether to approve the appointment is an easy one: no.



The above editorial appeared in the Los Angeles Times. It was distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.



By Chang Se-moon





There were times to criticize President Moon Jae-in. There were times to oppose his views. Not this time, however.



It is a strange feeling to read the March 6 announcement that there will be a third inter-Korean summit in April and that North Korea made a conditional pledge to give up its nuclear weapons and renounce its provocations against South Korea.



The announcement also said that North Korea is willing to negotiate with the United States, with a moratorium on missile testing during negotiations. All these are exactly what South Korea and the U.S. have been demanding from North Korea.



I am fully aware of the terrible outcome of the two previous summits: the 2000 summit between President Kim Dae-jung and North Korea's Kim Jong-il, and the 2007 summit between President Roh Moo-hyun and again Kim Jong-il.



I am assuming that President Moon thoroughly understands the desperate state of North Korea owing to the U.S.-led massive sanctions, which means that Moon should be able to dictate the terms of negotiations for peaceful unification of the two Koreas.



Based on my trust that Moon will do exactly that, I would like to propose to everyone inside and outside Korea: Let us give our full support to President Moon for his tireless efforts to bring a peaceful resolution on the Korean Peninsula. Needless to say, the coming April summit with Chairman Kim Jong-un of North Korea is a critical step in his efforts.



There are too many landmines that can trip him over and force him to make the wrong decisions. Moon needs total concentration for his approach to make it work. If we constantly criticize his efforts, chances are greater that he may make a mistake.



If there ever was a time, now is the time when all of us unite and hope for the best results from Moon's efforts. Those of us who should not criticize Moon's efforts include not only leaders of opposition political parties in Korea, but all conservatives, all NGOs, all organizations that prospered from exploring issues of the divided Korea, and all Koreans living overseas.



Let me explain to you some thorny issues that Moon will have to deal with.



One obvious issue relates to nuclear weapons. Ideally, it would be best to get rid of all nuclear weapons in North Korea. However, if for some reason Moon and Kim agree to form a joint commission of the two Koreas to oversee the nuclear weapons of North Korea for the time being, that should also be acceptable.



For once in history, Korea may want to be truly an independent, democratic, peace-loving country, without being bullied by two neighboring powers  China and Japan.



Another issue relates to numerous provocative actions and horrible human rights violations that North Korea has carried out to date. Moon may have to agree to overlook these past atrocities.



Ideally, all these terrible acts that North Korea has committed should be brought up and punished. However, we are not living in an ideal world. We live in the real world.



Insisting on punishing these acts is a deal breaker, and those acts will continue. For long-term security and peace, South Korea has to move on. As economists call it, they are sunk costs that should not affect decisions for maximum benefits in the future.



If Moon does not bring up these past atrocities committed by North Korea, accept it, not because it is the right thing to do, but because it will minimize future atrocities North Korea may commit.



Still another huge issue is the cost of maintaining peace with North Korea. It will not be cheap. Think this way, however. Many economic studies have calculated that it will cost a huge amount of money if the two Koreas face a sudden unification. A massive transfer of money to the North now is simply a spreading of the one-time cost over many years that will come sooner or later.



The optimal approach is not to criticize any costly deal Moon may make with North Korea, but to explore ways to lower costs through, for example, the implementation of cheap labor in the North, joint development projects that can help both Koreas, and more.



Note also that the faster the economic development in North Korea, the faster would be the process of democratization and the subsequent desire for peaceful unification on the peninsula.



This is a historically pivotal period in the relations of the two Koreas. Depending on how we make decisions, the future can be either disastrous or prosperous. If we have constructive and positive ideas, let Moon hear them. Criticism based on shallow thinking is self-destructive.



Let us all be unified and support Moon's efforts to explore the slow and painful unification process that may not come again anytime soon if the current efforts fail.



Chang Se-moon (changsemoon@yahoo.com) is the director of the Gulf Coast Center for Impact Studies.



By Jacco Zwetsloot





This week finds me overseas attending a legal industry conference in the Philippines for our law firm. I'm grateful to have a job that occasionally affords me opportunities to go overseas. However, when I look back and reflect, it occurs to me that for a man who has lived in Korea for 17 of the last 22 years, I have seen remarkably little of Asia (or the rest of the world, for that matter).



When I moved to Korea in 1996, I had every intention of becoming a world explorer and having some adventures. The dream to take the Trans-Siberian Railway from Vladivostok to St Petersburg and beyond quickly took hold of me. I would surely do it after my first year in Korea. But it didn't happen then, and it still hasn't.



My first trip to Japan didn't take place until mid-1999, when my work contract ran out and I had to make a "visa run" to come back on a 90-day tourist visa. Rather than Tokyo, I took the cheaper option of Fukuoka. I flew there alone from Kimpo (now Gimpo) Airport for a two-night visit. I'd learned Japanese for one year at university, but its space in my brain had almost entirely been supplanted by my growing knowledge of Korean. Upon arrival at Fukuoka Airport, I had to communicate with the Japanese customs inspector in Korean. I am sure he felt as proud and amused as I did that we'd been able to carry on such a rudimentary conversation with each other in a language foreign to us both. It turned out to be a great trip; I explored much of the city on foot and subway, spent half a day walking around a nearly empty fun park, looked inside a pachinko parlor, and stopped to talk  with the aid of a dictionary  to two grandmothers who were feeding a local cat. At night I slept in a capsule hotel. I'd wondered about this experience ever since I had seen them on television in my youth. It was cheap enough, but the persistent whoosh from the air conditioning above my head made sleeping difficult, just as on a plane.



Tokyo I only managed to visit in August 2017, for another conference, and Beijing in April of the same year, just for a day and a half. Last night I sat with lawyers from Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Nepal and India, and I had to ashamedly confess that I have never yet visited a single one of their countries. What about Singapore? Just once. Hong Kong? Only 3 times in 21 years.



Why is this? What happened to me after moving to Korea that I lost the desire to travel and see "exotic places"?

Partly it was a function of having to ration out my overseas trips in terms of vacation days off work and money spent. With family and friends in both Australia and the Netherlands, I felt a desire, if not quite an obligation, to visit at least one of those countries each year. Occasionally I even traveled to both. They're both long distances from Korea, and I don't particularly enjoy sitting in a plane seat for hours at a time, so I think that worked as a disincentive to traveling more than necessary.



Getting married also decreased the will to flitter like a butterfly across the continents. My wife enjoys visiting my relatives, but rarely does she turn to me and express a yearning to go abroad and see a new place. Since neither of us can swim, nor do we sail  in fact my wife is afraid of large bodies of water and boats  it seems pointless to go to tropical beaches if all we want to do is eat and drink and laze around with books or movies. We can do that just as well at home, and for less money.



Last year, hoping to try something new for a change, we bought two tickets to Portugal for our summer vacation. We were all set to go overseas and eat wonderful food and drink wine (and port!), but it all went pear-shaped when our cat Gumbo developed a strange illness and needed to be intensively taken care of almost around the clock. Bereft of options, I canceled those tickets and we had to content ourselves with two nights on Jeju Island as consolation, while Gumbo stayed at a local animal hospital.



Even within Korea I am surprised how much of the country I have either not seen or hardly seen at all. Never been to Ulleung-do, I last saw Gyeongju more than 20 years ago, and I've seen only the smallest part of the Jeolla provinces. It can't simply be because we don't own a car, because another friend of mine without a vehicle manages to travel throughout the country as a travel guide and magazine writer. Perhaps I am simply growing sedentary and boring with age.



One place I have been to that not many others have is Pyongyang. But that's another story.



Jacco Zwetsloot works for HMP Law as Director of Business Innovation.

The thoughts expressed in this column do not necessary reflect those of HMP Law.

LG Chem researchers test electronic vehicle batteries. / Courtesy of LG Chem



LG Chem plans to advance its business structure and increase research and development (R&D) spending this year to prepare for the Fourth Industrial Revolution and pioneer the high-potential market.



The company said it would thoroughly map out the future in its core business areas, including basic materials, batteries, electronic information materials and life science, to continue providing differentiated services and products.



A Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering liquefied natural gas carrier / Courtesy of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering



By Park Jae-hyuk



The nation's shipbuilding industry officials are maintaining a cautious outlook, despite growing expectations about recovery following an increase in the number of orders that shipbuilders have obtained this year.



Although global market conditions seemingly support the optimism, they have mentioned government support, global environmental regulations and steel plate prices as significant factors which will determine the destiny of domestic shipbuilders.



According to industry officials, Sunday, the nation's top three shipbuilders have won 53 contracts worth $5 billion this year, 25 percent of the total value of orders last year.



Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) has obtained orders worth $2 billion, including those for three liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, eight liquefied petroleum gas carriers, 10 oil tankers, six container ships and two very large ore carriers.



It also raised 1.23 trillion won (US$1.15 billion) in a rights issue earlier this month.



The company said it will use 820 billion won to improve its financial status and spend the remainder on research and development for eco-friendly, smart vessels.



The recent capital hike has lowered the company's debt ratio to 78 percent from 89.9 percent last December, according to HHI.





A Samsung Heavy Industries liquefied natural gas carrier / Courtesy of Samsung Heavy Industries



Samsung Heavy Industries has received orders for eight container ships, two LNG carriers and two oil tankers.



It seeks to raise 1.4 trillion won in a rights issue to pay for corporate bonds and other debts maturing this year, as well as responding to an additional reduction in loans due to its worsening performance.



Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) has clinched orders for six LNG carriers, five very large crude carriers and one special ship.



The deals are worth $1.55 billion and account for 21.2 percent of the company's annual target.



DSME posted 700 billion won in operating profit last year, beginning a turnaround after six years.



The big three shipbuilders have been proving their competitiveness in the global LNG carrier market.



Also, the outlook for the global shipbuilding market is bright, according to Clarkson Research.



The U.K.-based institute specializing in analysis of the shipping and shipbuilding businesses expects orders for 1,134 ships will be made this year and 1,444 ships next year, up from 993 last year.



However, workers at shipyards in Korea have yet to enjoy the fruits of the growing demand because they must wait a couple of years before building the recently ordered ships.



Suffering from the shortage of work, they have hoped for policies, steel plate prices and global regulations that would favor shipbuilding.



The government said it will come up with long-term plans to revive the nation's shipbuilding industry, which has undergone a harsh restructuring following decreasing global demand.



As for the upcoming global environmental regulations, industry officials regard them as favorable.



The International Maritime Organization will implement the new environmental regulations in two years, so demand for new ships and the remodeling of existing ships will likely go up.



The expected increase of steel plate prices is an unfavorable factor.



Domestic steelmakers that raised their prices last year, have maintained their stance on an additional price hike.



"If the average price of steel plates goes up by 10 percent, the allowances for losses of HHI will be 141.2 billion won, while those for DSME and Samsung Heavy will be 148.2 billion won and 93.6 billion won, respectively," Shinhan Investment analyst Hwang Eo-yeon said.





The entrance of Sungdong Shipbuilding's head office is locked, following the government's recent decision to file for court receivership of the debt-ridden mid-size shipbuilder. / YonhapIt Works Global chief sales officer Mike Potillo, fourth from right, and general Manager Ken Lee, fifth from right, at the company's Korean office in Seoul. / Courtesy of It Works Korea





Mike Potillo.Kendallville, IN (46755)

Today

Rain. Potential for heavy rainfall. High 54F. Winds N at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall possibly over one inch..

Tonight

Windy at times with rain. Potential for heavy rainfall. Low around 45F. Winds NNW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected.Two people were hospitalized with gunshot wounds after a shooting in the Taku Campbell area early Sunday morning, Anchorage police say.

Police received reports of gunfire near the 7900 block of Old Seward at around 3 am.

The preliminary investigation found that multiple people were in a parking lot when multiple shots were fired, APD spokesman MJ Thim wrote in a statement.

The two victims had left the scene by the time officers arrived. Police say they were transported to a local hospital by friends. One of the victims had life-threatening injuries, the other had non-life threatening injuries.

There were multiple people in the area at the time of the shooting, Thim said. Detectives would like to speak to them about what they heard or saw.

Anyone with information or surveillance video of the incident is asked to call APD at 786-8900 or submit an anonymous tip through Crimestoppers.

This was one of two shootings to take place in Anchorage early Sunday morning, according to police. In a separate incident, a man was shot in the lower body during a party at a home in Sand Lake. His injuries were non-life threatening.Within minutes of liftoff, it was clear the Dragon spacecraft was in trouble.

Inside mission control on the morning of March 1, 2013, the SpaceX team was desperately trying to figure out what went wrong and soon pinpointed the problem: A few valves were stuck.

Lori Garver, NASAs deputy administrator, was beside herself. The Obama administration had placed a bold bet on Elon Musks SpaceX, awarding it hundreds of millions of dollars on contracts to fly cargo to the International Space Station, despite the critics who said it was foolish to trust a private outfit with such a complicated endeavor.

This was a fundamental shift for NASA, a move that some in the agencys highest reaches were wary of, and a risky bet by the White House. Under President Obama, NASA had retired the space shuttle and hired contractors  SpaceX and Boeing  to fly missions to the International Space Station as if they were providing a taxi service to space. That, in turn, would allow NASA to focus on missions in deep space and recapture some of the glory that had faded in the decades since the Apollo era put 12 men on the moon.

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In a 2010 speech at the Kennedy Space Center, Obama acknowledged the risks of the proposal. Now, I recognize that some have said it is unfeasible or unwise to work with the private sector in this way, he said. But the U.S. space program needed a kick-start, he said: We will also accelerate the pace of innovations as companies  from young start-ups to established leaders  compete to design and build and launch new means of carrying people and materials out of our atmosphere.

Musk had become the face of this new policy, the brash Silicon Valley tech billionaire who founded SpaceX in 2002 with the goal of colonizing Mars. At first, the company had struggled, and it nearly went out of business after three failed attempts to reach orbit. But after a successful launch in 2008, SpaceX won a $1.6 billion NASA cargo contract, prompting Musk to change his log-in password to ILoveNASA.

Now, he had to show that his Hawthorne, Calif., upstart could deliver. And with Dragon struggling in 2013, he was starting to sweat.

Obamas shift

Musk wasnt the only one with a lot to lose. If the spacecraft didnt dock with the station, if the mission somehow failed, Garver feared the critics would again blast Obamas decision.

Many were already upset with the White House for canceling the President George W. Bush-era Constellation program  a plan to return to the moon using big rockets and spacecraft built by the traditional industrial base led by Boeing and Lockheed Martin, a plan that SpaceX was fighting to disrupt.

Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., a powerful member of the Appropriations Committee, said at the time that Obamas plan begins the death march for the future of U.S. human spaceflight, and that Obama was turning NASA into the agency of pipe dreams and fairy tales.

Obamas shift also drew criticism from Michael Griffin, a former NASA administrator.

One day it will be like commercial airline travel, just not yet, he said of space flight. Its like 1920. Lindbergh hasnt flown the Atlantic, and theyre trying to sell 747s to Pan Am.

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To assuage concerns, the White House decided Obama would visit the United Launch Alliance, the joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing. The message was clear: Although the president canceled one of their major programs, the contractors were still a vital part of the U.S. space program. His presence there would be an endorsement and a signal to Congress.

But there was a problem: The Alliance was about to launch a highly classified space plane known as the X-37B that would ultimately stay in orbit for months at a time. But doing what? The Pentagon wouldnt say. The program was secret, which was why the president couldnt just swing by for a photo op. The National Security Council wouldnt hear of it.

So the White House scrambled. Instead, the president would visit SpaceX, a development that the company welcomed. A presidential visit would represent a public relations triumph over its archrival, even if it was, as Musk said later, a sheer accident.

An accident that had raised the stakes even further  for Musk and the White House. This was SpaceXs second official cargo delivery flight to the space station. It had to work, thought Garver, the NASA deputy administrator. They had to find a way to rescue Dragon, and fast.

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But as they tried to figure out what was wrong, Steve Davis, SpaceXs director of advanced projects, had begun to prepare for the worst  aborting the mission.

Is the vehicle even functioning enough that you can bring it back? he wondered. We werent sure. That was the only time we had ever planned for an emergency reentry, which is like a big thing because you have to whip it through airspace. You have to reroute planes in real time. Its not awesome. And so we were in panic mode.

In late 2010, on the eve of the Falcon 9s second launch and the first test flight of the Dragon spacecraft, a last-minute inspection of the rocket revealed a crack in the nozzle. (David Hash / SpaceX )

What if we just cut the skirt?

SpaceX had been in panic mode before. In late 2010, on the eve of the Falcon 9s second launch and the first test flight of the Dragon spacecraft, a last-minute inspection of the rocket revealed a crack in the nozzle, or skirt, of the second-stage engine.

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Youre not going to fly with a crack, Davis said. Were like, What do we do?

The normal thing would be to take the rocket apart, replace the engine skirt, reinspect it. And then youre up and launching in a month, he said. No one wanted to lose that much time.

Musk had a wild idea: What if we just cut the skirt? Like, literally cut around it? That is, what if they trimmed off the bottom as if it were a fingernail?

He went person by person and said, Would this have any adverse effect on you? Davis recalled.

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Davis said that because the skirt would be shorter, they would get less performance from the engine. But we had so much margin built into it, it didnt matter, he said. Everyone concurred, and literally within 30 minutes, the decision was made.

The company flew a technician from California to Cape Canaveral; armed with a pair of shears, like the kind used to trim hedges, he cut around the crack.

And we flew the next day successfully, Davis said. That could have been the dumbest thing we ever did, but it was amazing.

That was not how NASA would have handled it. But its officials agreed that there wasnt any reason it wouldnt work and approved the launch, astounded by how quickly SpaceX was addressing the problem.

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That sort of go-for-it ethos had become a SpaceX trademark. Gwynne Shotwell, the companys president, described the culture this way: Head down. Plow through the line.

We had to be super scrappy, Musk said. If we did it the standard way, we would have run out of money. For many years, we were week to week on cash flow, within weeks of running out of money. It definitely creates a mind-set of smart spending. Be scrappy or die: Those were our two options. Buy scrap components, fix them up, make them work.

So when the company was rebuilding launchpad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, one of SpaceXs employees spotted a 125,000-gallon liquid nitrogen tank and thought, Maybe we could use this?

Despite sitting outside for years, the tank seemed in decent shape, and the SpaceXs 10-member team on the Cape wanted it. They called the Air Force asking permission, but their calls went unreturned. They persisted and were put in touch with a company that had been hired to haul away the tank and destroy it.

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The company was willing to part with the tank for $1 more than the cost of scrapping it  $86,000. So the members of the SpaceX team became the scavengers of Cape Canaveral, looking for leftover hardware as if they were on a treasure hunt. Old rail cars from the 1960s that had been used to ferry helium between New Orleans and Cape Canaveral became the new storage tanks. Instead of spending $75,000 on new air-conditioning chillers for the ground equipment building, someone found a deal on EBay for $10,000.

Cost drove lots of decisions, even how the company built its rockets. Once Musk got wind that the air-conditioning system used to keep the satellite cool in the rockets fairing, or nose cone, was going to cost more than $3 million, he confronted the designer about it.

Whats the volume in the fairing? he wanted to know. The answer was a couple thousand square feet, less than the size of a house.

He turned to Shotwell and asked her how much a new air-conditioning system for a house cost.

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We just changed our air conditioning, she replied. It was six thousand bucks.

Why is this $3 or $4 million when your air-conditioning system is $6,000? he asked. Go back and figure this out.

The company did, buying six commercial A/C units with bigger pumps that could handle a larger airflow.

Employees walk beneath a Dragon spacecraft hanging above the factory floor at SpaceX. (Ricky Carioti / The Washington Post )

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The Heimlich maneuver

Now, as Dragon was in trouble with the stuck valves, SpaceX had to figure out on the fly how to make it work.

As the SpaceX team scrambled, Bill Gerstenmaier, NASAs associate administrator for human exploration and operations, and Michael Suffredini, the space stations program office manager, were in the room watching.

They were two of the agencys most senior officials, with nearly 60 years at NASA between them. They had served through the Challenger and Columbia disasters, had seen all sorts of problems in space, and now, as NASA faced another potential crisis, they were talking softly between themselves.

Fearing the political fallout of a failed mission, Garver, the deputy NASA administrator, wanted them to take over, to swoop in and save SpaceX.

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There were no better people to come fix this. But the two NASA elder statesmen just watched, offering a bit of advice  a whisper here, a suggestion there  to the SpaceX crew. Mostly, they stayed out of the way.

They were like grandparents, Garver recalled. And it was almost like grandpa taking them fishing: Try over there. There might be some fish over there. A soft touch designed to let the kids learn to fish on their own, rather than an impatient dad grabbing the pole and catching the fish for them.

If there was something we saw that we could have interjected, we would have done it, Gerstenmaier recalled. But it wasnt NASAs spacecraft.

We really were in an advisory role, Suffredini said.

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As they watched, the people in the control room worked the problem. The valves were stuck, so theyd need something to make it unstuck. On a spacecraft circling the globe at 17,500 mph, that was no easy task. But the SpaceX team knew that if pressure could be built ahead of the valves and then suddenly released, it might just deliver the kick needed to jar them open.

Its like the spacecraft equivalent of the Heimlich maneuver, Musk said later.

One of the engineers typed up a command, right then, on the fly, programming the spacecraft to build up the pressure. Then, they tried to beam the new command up to the Dragon, as if it were an iPhone update. At that moment, the NASA elders knew they were witnessing something special. It wasnt that they had fixed a problem with the spacecraft; that happened all the time. It was how fast they did it.

The SpaceX mind-set had always been about adapting quickly, and it really shined that day, Suffredini said. They had really an in-depth understanding of that system and the software, and thats one of the secrets of their success. They probably had the kid in there who wrote the original code.

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But the SpaceX crew was having a hard time communicating with the spacecraft. The code wouldnt transmit. So someone got the Air Force on the phone, which gave the company access to a more powerful satellite dish, which allowed, at last, the uplink.

The code worked. The valves opened. The mission was a success.

This article is adapted from the forthcoming book The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos by Christian Davenport.

NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver and others on the balcony of NASA Kennedy Space Center watch the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with the Dragon spacecraft onboard, launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. (Bill Ingalls / NASA )Yes, Cambridge Analytica, the data analysis firm that helped Donald Trump win the 2016 election, violated rules when it obtained information from some 50 million Facebook profiles, the social media company acknowledged late Friday. But the data came from someone who didnt hack the system: a professor who originally told Facebook he wanted it for academic purposes.

He set up a personality quiz using tools that let people log in with their Facebook accounts, then asked them to sign over access to their friend lists and likes before using the app. The 270,000 users of that app and their friend networks opened up private data on 50 million people, according to the New York Times. All of that was allowed under Facebooks rules, until the professor handed the information off to a third party.

Facebook said it found out about Cambridge Analyticas access in 2015, after which it had the firm certify that it deleted the data. On Friday, Facebook said it now knows Cambridge actually kept the information  an infraction that got Cambridge suspended from the social network. Once that was announced, executives quickly moved on to defending Facebooks security.

This was unequivocally not a data breach, longtime Facebook executive Andrew Bosworth said on Twitter. People chose to share their data with third-party apps and if those third-party apps did not follow the agreements with us/users it is a violation.

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The disclosure also underscores Facebooks continuing struggle to anticipate negative consequences of its lack of oversight.

Alex Stamos, Facebooks head of security, echoed the same arguments. Cambridge denied doing anything illegal or using the information in the 2016 presidential election; Facebook says it has no way of knowing how or whether the data was used for targeting in the Trump campaign.

Facebooks advertising business depends on users sharing their most personal data via its social network. But the companys not a breach argument isnt likely to make users feel any safer or more comfortable doing so  especially given that its already under fire for missing that Russian actors were purchasing U.S. election ads on the site to sway voter opinions, as well as running fake accounts disguised as real Americans. The company has also been fending off accusations that its too slow to notice or react to harmful content.

The latest incident has raised new questions about what technical guardrails Facebook has in place to prevent authorized users from sharing sensitive information, and how much visibility the company has into how outsiders use the data.

Facebook wouldnt comment on those questions, saying only that it has made significant improvements in its ability to detect and prevent violations by app developers, such as random audits of applications using its tools to make sure theyre following the rules. And its no longer letting developers who use Facebooks login tools see information on their users friends.

The disclosure also underscores Facebooks continuing struggle to anticipate negative consequences of its lack of oversight  in some cases taking action only after things go wrong. The company in the last two years has worked to understand and counteract the spread of misinformation on its site, the use of its automated advertising system for racist targeting, the proliferation of fake user accounts, the spread of violent video and more.

But when the company tries to explain what its doing, it grapples with the perception that its shirking responsibility for its problems, treating them as public-relations snafus instead of serious product flaws.

Stamos, the security executive, deleted his original tweets on Cambridge Analytica, saying he wasnt so good at talking about these things in the reality of 2018. Specifically, he said he didnt know how to balance his personal beliefs with his responsibility to Facebook and his co-workers, amid all the criticism.

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We have collectively been too optimistic about what we build and our impact on the world, Stamos wrote Saturday on Twitter. Believe it or not, a lot of the people at these companies, from the interns to the CEOs, agree.

Frier writes for Bloomberg.With each comment, like and share, users provide Facebook with a deeply personal window into their lives.

The result of that voluntary behavior? Advertisers looking to finely target their pitches can glean someones hobbies, what they like to eat and even what makes them happy or sad  propelling Facebooks ad revenue to $40 billion last year.

This trove of rich information is now at the center of a rapidly growing controversy involving one of President Trumps campaign consultants, Cambridge Analytica, which reportedly took the advertising playbook and exploited it in a bid to influence swing voters.

Former employees accuse the firm, owned by the conservative billionaire Robert Mercer and previously headed by Trumps former chief strategist Steve Bannon, of taking advantage of ill-gotten data belonging to millions of unwitting Facebook users. News of the breach was met with calls over the weekend for stricter scrutiny of the company.

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Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) demanded that Mark Zuckerberg, Facebooks chief executive, appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Maura Healey, attorney general for Massachusetts, said her office was launching an investigation. And the head of a British parliamentary inquiry into fake news called on Facebook to testify before his panel again, this time with Zuckerberg.

The accusations raise tough questions about Facebooks ability to protect user information at a time when its already embroiled in a scandal over Russian meddling during the 2016 presidential campaign and under pressure to adhere to new European Union privacy rules.

They also highlight the power and breadth of the data Facebook holds over its 2 billion users. Whether used to sway voters or sell more detergent, the information harvested by the worlds biggest social network is proving to be both vital and exploitable regardless of whos wielding it.

The data set assembled on people by Facebook is unrivaled, said Scott Galloway, a professor of marketing at New York University Stern School of Business and author of The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google. The bad news is, people are discovering this can be used as a weapon. The worse news is that people are learning how to detonate it.

The controversy began late Friday when Facebooks vice president and deputy general counsel, Paul Grewal, announced in a blog post that the social network was suspending Strategic Communication Laboratories and its affiliate, Cambridge Analytica.

Facebook said the companies failed to delete user data they had acquired in 2015 in violation of the platforms rules. The data were supplied by a University of Cambridge psychology professor, Aleksandr Kogan, who built an app that was supposed to collect details on Facebook users for academic research. Kogan was not supposed to pass that information to a third party for commercial purposes under Facebook guidelines.

Facebook said the data collection was contained to 270,000 people who downloaded Kogans app as well as limited information about their friends.

But a whistleblower and other reported sources contend the scope of the data collection was significantly larger. Christopher Wylie, a departed co-founder of Cambridge Analytica, said Kogan harvested data from 50 million Facebook users without their permission, largely by mining friends of the people who downloaded his app.

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The allegations were first reported by the New York Times and the British newspaper the Observer, whose stories about the breach were preempted hours earlier by Facebooks announcement of the suspensions.

Wylie, who described Cambridge Analytica as a weapon designed to wage a culture war in the U.S., said Facebook wasnt particularly adamant about censuring his former company. He said the only effort made by the social network was sending a letter in August 2016 demanding that the data Kogan supplied be destroyed. He said Facebook never verified whether the data had been deleted.

Facebook, which also suspended Wylie, did not respond to a request for comment.

As recently as last month, Cambridge Analytica told a British parliamentary hearing that it never had or used Facebook data. But in a statement Saturday, Cambridge Analytica admitted receiving user information from Kogan and then deleting it after learning it violated Facebooks rules. The firm added it never used any of the data for Trumps 2016 campaign when it was hired as a consultant.

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Cambridge Analytica reportedly needed Facebooks data for its so-called psychographic profiling, which combines data collected online to glean a better understanding of voters personalities in order to tailor ads to them.

In many ways, its not unlike what Facebook can do for advertisers and a growing number of political campaigns willing to pay and play by Facebooks rules. By micro-targeting users down to what charities they donate to, what device they play video games on and where they stand on the political spectrum, Facebook says its reach is expertly tailored to its clients needs.

That kind of granular data helped increase Facebooks advertising revenue last year by 49%. Advertising accounted for more than 98% of Facebooks total revenue in 2017, according to company filings.

None of that would be possible without hundreds of millions of users willingly sharing enough details about themselves to be categorized by advertisers.

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That business model is now under threat within the European Union, where the General Data Protection Regulation set to be introduced in May will prohibit companies like Facebook from leveraging user information on subjects such as race and politics without consent.

Facebook is adamant that the Cambridge Analytica controversy does not amount to a security breach. An admission would further sour the companys reputation in Europe for lax privacy standards. Theres also a risk of running afoul of the Federal Trade Commission.

Platforms like Facebook need to be very, very careful with data, and they will come under more scrutiny by the government going forward, said Rich Raddon, co-founder of Zefr, a Los Angeles start-up that helps brands target YouTube content for advertising. In Europe we are seeing a reaction to these platforms leveraging personal identifiable information.

Raddon said by virtue of its size Facebook will be heavily scrutinized by lawmakers for how it analyzes personal data. But smaller firms like Cambridge Analytica can fly under the radar doing virtually the same thing.

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Facebook says it has beefed up its review of third-party apps like Kogans, which tap into the social networks fire hose of data. That includes requiring developers to first justify the data theyre looking to collect and how theyre going to use it, said Grewal, the Facebook attorney.

Experts say Facebook will increasingly diminish access to the most valuable data to third parties like app developers as it strives to protect its own ad business and reduce security risks like those exposed by Kogan, Cambridge Analytica and Russian operatives tasked with sowing discord in American society.

Facebooks business model is actually focused on not giving third parties data about its users, said Aviv Ovadya, chief technologist at the Center for Social Media Responsibility. If it owns the data, and you can only target people through its platform, then you must spend money on its platform. Facebook also wants people to be as comfortable as possible giving them data, so they want to ensure that the data is protected from being used in problematic ways.

Facebooks critics now say devoting attention to those who exploit the platform, such as Russian trolls, is shortsighted. More attention should be directed at the social network itself, which provides the tools for exploitation, they say. Kogan, for instance, didnt break any rules when he accessed information from millions of users without their consent. He only broke the rules when he shared that information for commercial gain.

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The data that Facebook leaked to Cambridge Analytica is the same data Facebook retains on everyone and sells targeting services around. The problem is not shady Russian researchers; its Facebooks core business model of collect, store, analyze, exploit, Maciej Ceglowski, a prominent San Francisco web developer and leader of grassroots activist group Tech Solidarity, wrote in a tweet Saturday.

david.pierson@latimes.com

Follow me @dhpierson on Twitter

UPDATES:

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3:55 p.m.: This article was updated with details about calls for investigations into the matter.

This article was originally published at 1:10 p.m.Hello! Im Mark Olsen. Welcome to another edition of your regular field guide to a world of Only Good Movies.

The South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas, wrapped up this week, and this turned out to be a pretty exciting year. Jen Yamato and/or I was there for the well-received studio-sponsored premieres of A Quiet Place, Blockers and Ready Player One, along with independent discoveries such as Jinn and Support the Girls.

Jen and I finished our time in Austin with a conversation that attempted to capture what is special about this festival in relation to others. As she put it, It has its own specific vibe, a feeling of eccentric discovery driving its programming, particularly compared with the Sundance, Cannes and Toronto film festivals.

Later in March, we will have a screening and Q&A event with Aaron Katzs Los Angeles-set Gemini. Well have more details soon. For info and updates on future events, go to events.latimes.com.

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Love, Simon

Directed by Greg Berlanti and adapted from Becky Albertallis popular young-adult novel, Love, Simon is being touted as the first gay teenage romantic comedy from a major studio. In the film, a high school boy (Nick Robinson) is going through the confusion, difficulties and self-realizations of coming out. Jennifer Garner and Josh Duhamel play supporting roles as his parents.

In his review of the film for The Times, Justin Chang wrote, At first glance, this movies crowd-pleasing, PG-13-rated slickness may seem the very opposite of fresh or vital, but it nonetheless accomplishes its own, not-insignificant form of progress. There may be little in this movie that you havent seen before, but the perspective through which youre seeing it can make all the difference.

Amy Kaufman spoke to the films star, Nick Robinson, who is straight, about taking on the role.

There were moments when we were making it when I would wake up some mornings and be, like, I dont know if I can do this, said Robinson. But Greg was always there to remind, not just me, but everyone, why what we were making was different and, dare I say, important.

Trevell Anderson took a look at the strategy behind the marketing of the film. As Pam Levine, president of worldwide theatrical marketing at 20th Century Fox, put it, It really became a passion project for us in the sense that the film is so great and special and we felt deserved to be seen and embraced by a really broad audience. We challenged ourselves with, How do we come up with a campaign that aspires to be as special as the film?

Anderson also placed Love, Simon within the context of other recent films that have been exploring the queer gaze. He wrote, A direct response to the oft unspoken of yet ever-present straight gaze, the queer gaze recognizes how lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people create and view art. Moreover, it challenges binary notions of existence and storytelling employed in many male gaze versus female gaze conversations where the context is nearly always heterosexual.

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Reviewing the film for Vanity Fair, Richard Lawson grappled with how the movie might play to be adults and younger people, by saying, Theres still a part of me that wonders if kids now, with YouTube and Instagram offering up a plethora of gay peers to look in on, are quite as starved for this movie as older generations were. But whether or not Gen Z-ers find something nourishing and of value in the movie, what are we gay adults to do with it? Does it even matter what we do with it?

Tomb Raider

As some may recall, way back in the early 2000s there were two movies starring Angelina Jolie as the video game adventure heroine Lara Croft. Now comes an updated version of the story, Tomb Raider, directed by Norwegian filmmaker Roar Uthaug and starring Oscar-winning Swedish actress Alicia Vikander. Adventure is had, tombs are duly raided, Dominic West, Kristin Scott Thomas, Walton Goggins and Daniel Wu are part of the supporting cast, and the movie has gotten better notices than many might have predicted.

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In his review for The Times, Justin Chang called the film a sturdy, serviceable new action extravaganza while going on to add of Vikander that her Lara Croft is one tough fighter but also vulnerable and untested, an action heroine with little to lose and everything to prove.

Jen Yamato talked to one of the films supporting players, Daniel Wu. Born in America, Wu has become a superstar acting in Asia. After trying for some time to reverse-engineer his way back into Hollywood, it may finally be his moment.

I think the difference now is the audience is different, he mused. The audience is more diverse now not just culturally, but the white kids growing up today are eating Asian food. When I was growing up white kids were like, Hey, what are you eating? And that was only 20 years ago.

For the New York Times, Manohla Dargis wrote, There are many ways for a movie to go wrong, and Tomb Raider goes wrong in many of the most obvious: It has a generic story, bad writing, a miscast lead, the wrong director and no fun. She added, The art of the blockbuster is too rarely acknowledged. It takes a true skill set and a distinct pop sensibility to turn a large-scale commercial property with no pretense to art and a great many moving parts into a smoothly enjoyable diversion.

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Zoey Deutch, Dylan Gelula and Maya Eshet in Flower. (The Orchard )

Flower

Directed by Max Winkler, who co-wrote the script along with Alex McAulay and Ingrid Goes West filmmaker Matt Spicer, Flower is the story of a troubled teenage girl (Zoey Deutch) accustomed to using her sexuality as a transactional instrument to get what what she wants who finds herself in an emotionally confusing situation that involves both her family and an older man she may or may not have genuine feelings for. Adam Scott, Kathryn Hahn, Tim Heidecker and Dylan Gelula are also among the cast.

In her review for The Times, Sheri Linden wrote, while the film pushes the credulity envelope beyond the point of no return, Zoey Deutch manages something nearly miraculous: She imbues her often horrid character with gravity-defying charm and nuanced vulnerability beneath the tough veneer.

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Sonaiya Kelley spoke to Winkler and Deutch about the film and the challenges of the lead character.

This is an exciting part to play, said Deutch. This is a part where I get to delve deep, do research, kick ass, work my ass off. Im not saying its easy, but it wasnt hard. Hard is a one-dimensional female character in a male-driven comedy. Which Ive done. Trying to make an underwritten part interesting is like  near impossible.

At Vulture, Emily Yoshida had a strongly dissenting opinion, writing. Flower goes completely off the rails in its final act . But Ill give Flower props  in an age when so many teen movies are grasping so desperately for message-y topicality, it does the impossible, and manages to be about nothing at all.

Email me if you have questions, comments or suggestions, and follow me on Twitter @IndieFocusUCLA graduate student Kristen Glasgow says she first met Gabriel Piterberg, a history professor, in 2008. They had coffee together and then, she alleged, he walked her to her car, pushed her against it and forced his tongue into her mouth.

Glasgow detailed this and other claims of Piterbergs sexual misconduct over a five-year period in a lawsuit she filed against the University of California in 2015.

The lawsuit said that UCLA essentially ignored her complaints when she tried to go through the Title IX complaint process. It led to a settlement in which the UC gave her $110,000 and a fellowship to support her work on her doctoral dissertation.

But even after that validation, UCLAs initial response to her charges still gnawed at Glasgow  as did the fact that Piterberg still had his job. When UCLA hired a new Title IX coordinator, Glasgow filed a complaint again, in 2016. This time, she won.

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UCLA announced last week that a Title IX investigation had determined that Piterberg had violated the universitys sexual harassment policy. Piterberg, who disputes the findings, did not respond to requests for comment.

He has agreed to leave UCLA and forgo any future employment with the UC system, emeritus status, office space or other privileges.

UCLA did not identify the person who filed the complaint against Piterberg, but Glasgow contacted The Times to share her story.

This is a huge victory for female academics and women in general, she said. It just really shows that you cant be protected behind institutions anymore under the veil of tenure or powerhouse rock star or movie mogul. People are going to start calling you out on it.

Glasgow, a specialist in 19th century African American and transatlantic history, praised UCLAs handling of her case the second time around.

I dont have enough gratitude for how they handled it this time, she said.

She said she first formally reported Piterbergs behavior in 2013 to support another graduate student, Nefertiti Takla, who had filed her own sexual misconduct complaint against the professor that year. It wasnt only UCLA officials who shrugged off what she had to say, she said. Ever since the trouble with Piterberg had begun years earlier, Glasgow said, colleagues had told her that she would ruin her academic career if she pursued charges against the prominent specialist in Middle East studies.

UCLA had reached a settlement with Piterberg in the Takla case in 2014, but officials did not release the details until two year later, after students and faculty escalated their protests against the professors continued employment. Piterberg had not conceded wrongdoing under the settlement, but he had agreed to pay a $3,000 fine, accept a suspension without pay for one quarter and attend sexual harassment training. UCLA also barred him for three years from holding closed-door, one-on-one meetings in his office and restricted open-door meetings to daytime hours.

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In exchange for his abiding by those terms, UCLA agreed to end its investigation without reaching a conclusion or initiating charges against Piterberg with the Academic Senate, which could have jeopardized his tenure.

On the day Piterberg returned to teaching last year, students staged a noisy protest and put a poster up in his classroom: Good morning sexual harasser.

By then, UCLA had hired Kathleen Salvaty as its Title IX coordinator. Glasgow said Salvaty was empathetic, professional and fair.

The campus also launched sweeping reforms under Jerry Kang, who was appointed as its first vice chancellor of equity, diversity and inclusion in 2015. Since he took the job, UCLA has hired more staff to handle complaints, expanded training about sexual harassment, imposed reporting requirements for suspected misconduct and improved communication about the status of cases. UCLA and other UC campuses also have hired confidential advocates to support survivors of sexual misconduct, and Salvaty has moved on to become the UCs first systemwide Title IX coordinator.

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Glasgow felt it was important not to give up.

I wanted to make an example of myself that even when youre not heard the first time, you can be heard the second time, she said. I wanted to show that the Title IX path could actually work for people. I wanted to prevent this professor from ever teaching again.

The second time around, it wasnt only that Salvaty listened deeply and clearly explained the investigative process. Officials kept Glasgow updated on her case. They got her the support of a confidential advocate.

Last spring, Glasgow received news that she won her claim.

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Last week, just over a decade after her first encounter with Piterberg, she learned that he finally had lost his job. In a statement, UCLA said that the Title IX findings had been referred to the Academic Senate, which urged the university and Piterberg to negotiate a settlement.

I cried, I laughed, I screamed, she said. It was 10 years of 10,000 pounds of weight off my shoulders.

As news of her victory spread, Glasgow said, a female graduate student texted her a picture of her 1-year-old daughter with the message: My daughter wants to thank you.

teresa.watanabe@latimes.comIf there was ever a police shooting that would bring criminal charges against a law enforcement officer in Los Angeles, the killing of Brendon Glenn near the Venice boardwalk looked like it could be the one.

The shooting was captured on video. Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck issued an unprecedented public call for the officer to be prosecuted. And the city paid out $4 million to Glenns family.

But nearly three years later, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey decided not to bring charges against Officer Clifford Proctor, marking a rare public clash between two of the L.A. areas top law enforcement officials.

Her decision illustrates how even at a time of intense nationwide scrutiny of police officers and calls to hold them more accountable for using deadly force, it remains extremely rare to prosecute officers for on-duty shootings.

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The law is heavily weighted in favor of officers if they reasonably perceived a threat to themselves or others when they opened fire  even if that belief was mistaken.

Laceys supporters say she made a prudent calculation that she would not win at trial, sparing a police officer the ordeal of unnecessary criminal charges and herself the public humiliation of losing a high-profile case.

But her critics say she appeared so intent on clearing the officer that her 83-page memo justifying her decision reads like it was written by a defense lawyer. Since taking office in 2012, Lacey has not brought charges against a police officer for an on-duty shooting.

Some legal experts were concerned by Laceys reasoning, saying it might signal to officers that when there is a tussle in close quarters, they could be able to justify opening fire by later claiming the suspect was trying to disarm them.

Glenn is the third fatal high-profile LAPD shooting in recent years involving a similar scenario. In the March 2015 shooting of Charly Keunang on Skid Row, prosecutors determined that Keunang wrapped his fingers around an officers gun as the officer yelled, Hes going for my gun! Ezell Ford was fatally shot in South Los Angeles after he allegedly knocked a police officer to the ground and grabbed the officers gun.

All three victims were unarmed black men.

In any arrest where a civilian engages in a physical response  arrests of drunk people, the mentally ill, irate civilians, any of these types of arrests  the officer just has to formulate or allege a belief that the victim is going for their gun, and they have a blanket justification for shooting that individual, said Eric Miller, a professor at Loyola Law School. I think thats horrific.

David Harris, a professor at University of Pittsburgh School of Law, said it is unusual for a police chief to recommend the prosecution of one of his own and even rarer for a prosecutor to then decline to press charges.

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It tells me that what Chief Beck saw in this case was significantly different from the run-of-the-mill misconduct, Harris said.

But Harris noted that the law on police use of force is broad enough to accommodate both Becks and Laceys conclusions. A police chief and a district attorney are coming at the case from different angles, he said.

The chief sees somebody who doesnt belong on the police force and violated the basics of the law, while the prosecutor sees someone she has to go to trial against, Harris said. She looks at the same law and has to consider whether she actually can win the case. If she doesnt feel she can do that, shes not supposed to go forward.

Glenn had recently moved to Los Angeles from New York to look for work. The 29-year-old often camped out on the beach in Venice with other young homeless people.

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The night of May 5, 2015, Glenn clashed with customers at a bar on Windward Avenue. A bartender called 911, reporting that Glenn was being loud and obnoxious and refusing to leave, according to Laceys report.

When Proctor and his partner, Jonathan Kawahara, arrived, Glenn approached them with a large dog.

On Kawaharas body camera video, Proctor is captured using an expletive and telling Glenn to back off.

Dont come over here with your dog or I will shoot your dog, Proctor threatens on the video, which is included in Laceys memo.

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In his report, Beck faults Proctor for using a loud voice and cursing, which likely escalated the situation.

Lacey, on the other hand, terms the officers demeanor calm and professional.

In the body camera video, Glenn appears intoxicated, slurring his words and speaking belligerently to Proctor, who, like Glenn, is black.

The officers urge Glenn to leave. He eventually walks away, and Kawahara shuts off his camera.

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But Glenn continues to cause trouble, yelling at customers entering another bar on the block. Grainy video taken from a security camera mounted outside one of the local bars shows a bouncer confronting Glenn and throwing him to the sidewalk.

Proctor and Kawahara enter the frame and attempt to handcuff Glenn. The officers wrestle with him on the ground, trying to bend his arms behind his back and handcuff him.

Despite the weight of two officers on his back, Glenn starts to stand up, wrapping his right arm around Kawaharas right leg. Glenns left hand is not visible in the video, so it is unclear whether he is reaching for Kawaharas gun, which the officer carries on his left side. Proctor draws his own gun and fires two shots into Glenns torso. Glenn rolls onto his back.

Surveillance video showing Proctor firing at Glenn. (Los Angeles County district attorneys office via Associated Press )

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Moments afterward, Proctor attempts to give him CPR, but Glenn is fatally wounded.

Kawahara told investigators that he did not feel any tugging on his gun belt and did not know why Proctor shot Glenn.

Less than two days after Glenn died, Beck announced that he was very concerned about the shooting.

He had viewed the surveillance video, which he said did not show a good reason why Proctor killed an unarmed man.

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In January 2016, Beck stated that Proctor should be criminally prosecuted. Two months later, he sent police commissioners a report concluding that a reasonable police officer would not have viewed Glenn as a deadly threat. The commission concurred. Glenns mother and young son later won a $4-million civil settlement against the city. Proctor resigned from the LAPD in 2017.

It took nearly three years for Lacey to come to her own decision.

Her report includes interviews from witnesses, none of whom saw Glenn trying to grab Kawaharas weapon. Tests of the DNA on Kawaharas gun belt were inconclusive, though Glenn could not be ruled out as a source.

Greg Meyer, a use-of-force expert hired by Laceys office, concluded that Proctor drew his gun and assumed a shooting stance in a manner consistent with a developing perception of imminent danger.

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The movement of Glenns right hand could have reasonably excited fear on Proctors part, Meyer noted.

Even if Glenn was not actually reaching for any of Kawaharas weapons, given the struggle that was ongoing, Glenns movement may have caused Proctor to reasonably fear that he was reaching for a weapon, Laceys report said.

Meyer retired from the LAPD after 30 years. In Laceys report, he is identified as a veteran police officer without specifying the agency where he worked.

After announcing her decision on March 8, Lacey said she did not examine whether the shooting was justified but rather, whether she could win the case. Proctor could successfully argue that he was defending himself or his partner out of genuine fear for their safety, she concluded.

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Thats a difficult hurdle to overcome, she said. Not that it cant be  and not that there wont be a case in the future.

LAPD Officer Clifford Proctor uses crutches in Venice at the scene where he fatally shot Brendon Glenn, an unarmed homeless man, in 2015. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times )

She criticized Becks public announcement in favor of criminal charges, saying it was unprecedented in the history of the district attorneys office.

It raises expectations when the evidence just may not be there, Lacey said. The police chief is not the prosecutor. It is not his job to prosecute any case. It is not his job to go to court and put up any kind of proof. Thats my job.

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Robert Saltzman, a retired associate dean at USC Gould School of Law, was a member of the Police Commission when it reviewed the Glenn shooting.

Saltzman, who left the commission in 2016, criticized Laceys choice not to take Becks opinion into account. If Lacey did not file charges in this case, when she had strong evidence as well as the police chiefs rare recommendation to move forward, it is hard to imagine her ever prosecuting an officer for an on-duty shooting, said Saltzman, who taught legal ethics at USC.

Laceys report, he said, bends over backwards to find, and then rely on, speculative conclusions to exonerate the officer.

Seth Stoughton, a professor at University of South Carolina School of Law and a former police officer, reviewed Laceys memo and said he believed the evidence was strong enough to bring to a jury.

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If the prosecutor is unwilling to even present the case to a jury because the officer has a facially plausible story, then all an officer has to do is say, He was reaching for my gun, or, I thought he was reaching for my gun,  Stoughton said.

But Lawrence Rosenthal, a professor of law at Chapman University, praised the report as extremely thorough, high-quality and professional.

Police misconduct cases are extremely difficult for prosecutors to win, he said. Juries tend to view the police officer not as a killer but as someone who made a mistake at work while trying to protect the public, he said.

In Baltimore, he noted, the six police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray were found not guilty or had their cases dropped.

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In this case, Glenn resisted arrest and put himself within reach of a police officers gun.

Thats got acquittal written all over it, he said. Youve got a prosecutor who is far-sighted.

cindy.chang@latimes.com | Twitter: @cindychangLA

kate.mather@latimes.com | Twitter: @katemather

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marisa.gerber@latimes.com | Twitter: @marisagerberA reckoning on public preparedness long in the making is underway in California after a year that saw unprecedented death, destruction and loss from disasters set off by extreme weather.

Though California has long experienced natural disasters tied to weather, the last year recorded a staggering human toll  more than 40 dead in wine country fires and more than 20 in Santa Barbara County mudslides.

The disasters revealed gaping holes in the states county-controlled warning systems  a mix of services from multiple vendors, subscriber programs with low participation rates, outdated landline lists, and a federal cellphone alert system so imprecise some emergency managers are afraid to use it. Public warnings failed to reach most of those in harms way, or understated the risk.

California emergency managers have released a critical review faulting Sonoma County emergency managers for failing to use all means possible to warn residents in Octobers deadly fire siege. Evacuation orders went to only a fraction of the residents in limited areas, and managers quickly lost track of the fast-moving blazes, leaving entire communities in the dark about their danger.

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But they warn that the weaknesses found in Sonoma County are not unique, and it is time for the state to wade into what has historically been a local matter.

Some are better. Some are worse, said Mark Ghilarducci, director of the Office of Emergency Services, the states disaster agency. We have seen a lot of inconsistencies.

State Sen. Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg), whose wine country district was hit hard by the October fires, is pushing legislation that would mandate up-to-date warning systems. And Senate Democrat Hannah-Beth Jackson, from fire- and mud-ravaged Santa Barbara County, promises a bill that would override state privacy laws to automatically enroll residents in emergency notification systems, leaving it to residents to opt out.

We have to do a statewide movement on preparedness, response and recovery, said James Gore, Sonoma Countys chairman. We dont have to be quaking in our boots that Armageddon is coming, but what we do have to do is get on our toes and manage into our future.

The county last month received an independent report from the state Office of Emergency Services that found its ability to alert and warn its constituents before and during Octobers deadly firestorm was uncoordinated and included gaps, overlaps and redundancies, exacerbated because administrators at the central emergency management center were cut off from commanders on the fire lines, and were unaware of how quickly the danger was spreading, and where.

During the early hours of the disaster, the county lacked reliable, timely and coordinated situational awareness as to the scale, size and scope of the fires growth, character, and movement, the report stated. Among significant changes Ghilarducci seeks is giving incident commanders a greater role in alerting the public.

But most of the state review is focused on Sonoma Countys failure  as fires swept over mountain ridges in the middle of the night and into sleeping suburbs  to use the national Wireless Emergency Alert system to broadcast loud warnings to every cellphone in reach of a tower. Sonoma Emergency Manager Chris Helgren, who was removed from the job days before release of the critical state review, said he was afraid a mass alert would trigger mass evacuations and block the narrow roads that firefighters needed to access.

Other disaster-struck counties also opted to not send mass cellphone warnings and relied instead on private vendor systems. In addition, The Times found, public warnings were delayed or underplayed. In Mendocino County, dispatchers held up alerts for a supervisor to drive in from home to eyeball the fires firsthand, and public warning sirens at a volunteer fire station were never sounded. In Napa County, only a small percentage of the population was registered to received the countys warnings, and firefighters went door-to-door trying to wake sleeping residents. In Santa Barbara County, emergency managers ignored the danger shown on their own in-house risk maps and told residents living in high-danger zones they were only under a voluntary watch.

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Public anger over the failures has charged the debate.

People didnt die from the smoke. People didnt die from the fire. People died because they didnt know something was coming, said Joseph Solis, a former 911 dispatch employee and police officer in Sebastopol. A friend and his daughter died in the Sonoma County fires. Solis brother and family barely escaped, and they lost their home.

Search teams canvas through debris at the Journeys End Mobile Home Park in Santa Rosa, Calif., after it was destroyed by wildfire. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

The state review said Sonoma County officials decided long before the fires not to trust the WEA system, even as they agreed to pay $14,500 for a private vendor to add WEA capability to the countys automated phone dialing system.

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Without explicitly naming Helgren, the state report and Ghilarducci blamed Sonoma County emergency management for failing to keep up with technical improvements to the cellphone alert system and accused it of relying on private vendors for information on the alert systems capabilities.

This was a misconception, I guess I would say, on the part of the policymakers and the leaders there, that it wasnt worth, from their opinion at the time, of investing in the effort to incorporate [the national alerts] into their system, Ghilarducci said.

However, he and other state officials were unable to cite the specific advancements to those systems. Requirements for increased message length and precise targeting of who gets those messages are not mandated to take place before 2019. Even then, coverage will be incomplete. Lobbyists for the cellphone carriers succeeded in persuading the Federal Communications Commission to relax the proposed rule to cover 100% of the target area rather than 100% of the cell devices in that area, and to delay the rollout of Spanish-language alerts.

In the interim, emergency managers can request a targeted alert, but carriers can to default to a county-wide blast, a loophole that FCC records show was requested by lobbyists for the cellphone industry. Earlier this year, Sonoma County officials joined emergency managers across the country, and in California, voicing their concern.

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Improvements to WEA have yet to be enacted by the FCC and wireless carriers to render the system more practical. Sonoma County Board of Supervisors Chair Shirlee Zane wrote to the FCC on behalf of the county. We need to be able to utilize WEA to alert only those who may be impacted to avoid the negative consequences of over-alerting people who are not the intended audience.

Sonoma County used its vendor services to send calls to a small population of residents who had registered in advance for warnings, as well as to landline numbers provided by telephone companies. The phone lists turned out to be outdated.

A Times analysis of the first warnings shows those calls reached less than 10% of the households in peril  and less than a third of even those calls were answered.

Every year that landline [list] gets smaller, said Robert Lewin, director of Santa Barbara Countys Office of Emergency Management.

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Lewin also distrusts the WEA system and hesitated before using it in January when a once-in-200-year storm cell bore down on Montecito and dissolved the hillsides into a river of mud, debris and boulders, killing at least 21 people.

 Drone video: Follow the path of Januarys Montecito mudslide from the mountains to the sea. (Video by Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)

Authorities sent only one WEA message during the debris flow  just before 4 a.m.  because they were concerned about how well it could target a specific area and its effectiveness given its limited message length.

In a letter to the FCC dated Jan. 4, Lewin criticized the federally backed tools that operate under the Integrated Public Alert & Warning System as seriously deficient.

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The county instead relied on its subscription-based program in the days and hours ahead of the storm to send out information via thousands of texts, email and robocalls.

But the limited reach of those warnings and their failure to instill urgency in residents has other agencies looking inward to see if what they have in place is enough.

In Los Angeles County, emergency management officials recently tested their subscription-based program Alert LA County with a Topanga Canyon community group. Of the 3,779 phone numbers that opted into the system, about 13% did not connect. The system has the ability to send WEA notifications, but those arent a silver bullet, said Helen Chavez, assistant director of L.A. Countys Office of Emergency Management.

She pointed out how the WEA notifications can create panic if mishandled, as they did in Hawaii in January when an emergency management employee intending to send a test message erroneously broadcast an alert saying the state was under a missile attack.

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Its one tool in the toolbox, she said.

In Santa Barbara County, only about 10% of residents were subscribers to that areas alert program, Aware and Prepare, when the January debris flow struck.

We were using so many methods including social media, regular media, we were texting, Lewin said. Itd be pretty hard not to know that something was going on.

But according to the countys own estimates, only about 15% of residents in the mandatory evacuation zone left the area. The ones who stayed received their first WEA notification from the county after the storm and debris flow had already hit. The county didnt even attempt to use the emergency broadcast system that hits TVs and radios because its so unreliable, Lewin said.

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The county took a markedly different approach on Thursday when a rainstorm rolled in.

Not only did it launch evacuations on a broader scope than it did in January, it sent out a WEA message before 2 p.m.  an estimated 12 hours before the storm was forecast to arrive  telling people an evacuation was underway and that they should visit the county website for more information.

At the state level, Office of Emergency Services officials will look to fill what they call unintentional gaps in public warnings, said Kelly Huston, deputy director of crisis communications for the agency. The decision marks a change for an office that previously left public warnings to the locals.

Were going to be checking with the counties to be more sure they have capabilities to issue the alerts they need. The whole thing has raised up the issue statewide, Huston said.

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Southern California residents saw a taste of that last fall when the state used its own WEA authority to send a seven-county alert warning residents of wildfire conditions so extreme the National Weather Services normal red flag warning was broadcast as purple.

The message went out in the evening, when residents were most likely to be home and able to tune in to local television or radio for more information. It served the purpose of preparing them, too, to receive local blasts from their county in the middle of the night should there be a fire, Huston said.

Ghilarducci said fire weather warnings in particular deserve more attention, a signal that everyone should put their head up and pay attention to whats going on.

This is a lesson learned for everybody, he said. If you get a red flag condition and you are in an area with small roads and a lot of trees and a high-fire area, that requires action  whether you are an individual or a government entity.

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paige.stjohn@latimes.com

joseph.serna@latimes.com

For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna on Twitter.A Mesa College student suspected of sexually assaulting a female student on campus Friday afternoon has turned himself in to police, a district official said.

The man and woman knew each other, and he became aware that his description was being distributed as a warning to other students, said Jack Beresford, a spokesman for the San Diego Community College District.

The suspect went to the campus police station about 10 p.m. Friday to surrender, Beresford said. He was jailed on suspicion of assault with intent to commit a sexual act, Beresford said.

The mans name was not released. Beresford said the assault suspect was turned over to San Diego police for investigation.

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The female student told school police that she was walking with the male student from the SB building to a grassy area around the Learning Resource Center. She reported that he tried to pin her down and place his hand down her pants and under her shirt.

She pushed him away and left. He was last seen walking toward the I-400 building.

The female student called police about 1:30 p.m.

Police searched the area and sent out an email alert to students and faculty.

pauline.repard@sduniontribune.comA four-mile stretch of Topanga Canyon Boulevard was reopened Saturday after crews cleared debris from a mudslide triggered by rain, officials said.

Over 3 days we hauled away 180 truck loads equating to 2,500 tons of materials!,' Caltrans officials tweeted Saturday. The slide, which occurred about 2:30 a.m. Thursday, forced the closure of the roadway between Pacific Coast Highway and Grand View Drive.

The slide was in the same general area where a mudflow occurred during rains early last week.

Crews were using skip loaders, backhoes, dump trucks and sweepers in an effort to the clear the roadway. A geological engineer from the California Department of Transportation was sent to inspect the area.

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Caltrans expected to keep the roadway closed through at least Sunday night but finished the cleanup early, officials said.

The rural area has no homes or businesses along that section of the roadway, which consists of one lane in each direction. At least one vehicle got stuck in the mud, but no one was hurt.

This was the third slide on Topanga Canyon Boulevard since a fire swept through the area in January, Caltrans reported.Peddling the image of a new Saudi Arabia, controversial Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrives Monday in Washington on a cross-country trip to court government officials, Silicon Valley techies, big-buck investors and one of his biggest fans: President Trump.

He is a prince on a mission and in a hurry.



For the record: An earlier version of this story said the Saudi crown prince purchased a 440-foot yacht for $325 million. The price was $550 million.

The 32-year-old heir to the Saudi throne already has curried favor with the Trump administration, winning over the president and his family, and played a key role in restoring the desert kingdom to favored-ally status after years of tension under President Obama.

The prince will meet with Trump at the White House on Tuesday and then is expected to travel over the next two weeks to Wall Street, Silicon Valley, Seattle, Boston and Houston, where he will confer with oil and energy executives.

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Trump made his first overseas trip as president to Saudi Arabia last year, where he and the Saudi king, the crown princes father, inked new agreements to fight terrorism, to counter Riyadhs bitter regional rival Iran and to plan billions of dollars in business deals, most of which have yet to materialize.

Mohammed is keen to take the next step: attracting American investment, business and expertise in a bid to diversify and modernize a sclerotic economy that historically has relied on oil and foreign guest workers. He is promoting a development blueprint he calls Saudi Vision 2030.

The White House meeting comes on the heels of Mohammeds vow to acquire nuclear weapons if Tehran is allowed to build them. Irans nuclear program was largely dismantled under a 2015 accord, but Trump has threatened to scrap it unless Iran and other signatories agree to numerous revisions.

That has raised fears of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East, already one of the worlds most volatile regions.

The Trump administration needs to make sure, in a region with many failed states, that this state, the most important in the region, remains stable, said Bernard Haykel, a Middle East expert at Princeton University. Mohammed has a short time to make change. Hes in a terrible hurry, but he could also hit the wall in a terrible way.

Known by his initials, MBS, the prince is widely viewed as a reformer at home. But his actions are progressive only in the Saudi context of an ultra-conservative society that practices a rigid form of Islam.

He has led changes that will allow women to drive in the kingdom, that will reopen cinemas and have allowed some foreign musicians to perform, and that have begun to permit more mixing between men and women at some public events.

He also has reined in the unpopular religious police, who enforce regulations, including attendance at prayers and strict public dress codes.

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But numerous limitations remain. The social openings have benefited the growing number of Saudis ages 18 to 35, while maintaining restraints on political freedoms.

The prince is politically shrewd, said Steven Cook, a senior Middle East fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. So when the backlash does come, he will have a wellspring of support, he said.

Mohammeds brash style, impatience and lack of a deep bench of advisors already have rocked the Saudi royal family. Some Saudis say the Trump administration may be putting too much faith in a single person, one with vast ambition and few apparent limits.

Concerts by the Greek composer Yanni are nice, said a veteran Saudi analyst who requested anonymity to freely express his views. But at the same time, there has to be transparency, good governance, rule of law, accountability. These are missing.

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The prince already has stumbled in several episodes.

Last year, he ordered the detention of hundreds of super-wealthy businessmen, including members of the royal family. Many were confined for weeks at the glitzy Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh and released only after they had agreed to fork over cash and shares in their companies.

Saudi authorities portrayed the arrests as a crackdown on rampant corruption and said they recovered more than $106 billion in assets from targets of the investigations. But they did not release details of the financial settlements or the charges they faced, citing privacy concerns.

Although many Saudis welcomed the crackdown, others questioned whether the arrests were really a financial shakedown or an attempt to sideline the princes potential rivals for the throne.

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Norman Roule, a former CIA expert in the Middle East, said Mohammeds move showed a ruthless willingness to challenge the old guard. He needs money, Roule said.

Even as Mohammed touted his anti-corruption drive and budget cuts, reports surfaced of his purchases of a $550-million, 440-foot yacht, complete with two helipads and a submarine hangar, from a Russian vodka tycoon; a $450-million painting by Leonardo da Vinci; and a $300-million chateau near Paris that has been called the worlds most expensive home.

More serious was his decision, as Saudi defense minister, to intervene in the civil war in neighboring Yemen in a military campaign that humanitarian groups say has led to widespread atrocities.

Instead of a quick victory, Saudi Arabia is mired in a grinding war against Iran-aligned Houthi rebels. Saudi airstrikes  some backed by U.S. intelligence and using U.S.-supplied munitions  have killed thousands of people, according to human rights groups, and have targeted schools, medical facilities and other civilian targets.

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Mohammed will find a warm welcome at the White House, however. He began working with Trumps son-in-law and advisor, Jared Kushner, shortly after the 2016 election, and the two orchestrated Trumps visit to the kingdom last year. Kushners recent loss of a top-secret security clearance may limit his role, however.

That may leave the Trump administration ill-equipped to handle what appears to be a sea change in Saudi culture and politics. The State Department has no ambassador posted to Saudi Arabia, and other key Middle East posts are also empty.

While in America, Mohammed will focus heavily on his countrys economic challenge. The plummeting price of oil, which fueled the Saudi economy for decades, has cut deeply into the national budget.

The princes Saudi Vision 2030 plan includes provisions to sell off shares in the state oil monopoly, Saudi Aramco, and remake the kingdom into a hub of international business, finance and technology.

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Nothing he is doing is for the West, said Haykel, the Princeton scholar. Its for himself. It happens to coincide with our interests and our ability to have influence in the region.

Wilkinson reported from Washington and Zavis from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

tracy.wilkinson@latimes.com

Twitter: @TracyKWilkinson

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alexandra.zavis@latimes.com

Twitter: @alexzavisPeople around the world Saturday donned green outfits and danced in the streets in celebration of Irish culture and tradition during annual St. Patricks Day festivities.

In New York, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar joined Mayor Bill de Blasio, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and a long list of politicians and entertainers. Loretta Brennan Glucksman, chairwoman of the American Ireland Fund, was this years parade grand marshal.

An annual tradition since the mid-1800s, New Yorks parade lasted almost six hours and stretched nearly a mile and a half, with marching bands performing Irish songs and playing bagpipes. Approximately 150,000 people attended, authorities said.

The New York #StPatricksDay parade is just about to start! Just bumped into grand marshal Loretta Brennan Glucksman again pic.twitter.com/jRbVk8hbF6  Leo Varadkar (@LeoVaradkar) March 17, 2018

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A Happy #StPatricksDay to all. May the luck of the Irish be with you.



Today as every day, New Yorkers know diversity is our greatest strength.



Proud to march alongside Prime Minister Leo Varadkar. pic.twitter.com/ub4Nx6RxCE  Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) March 17, 2018

Saturdays parade was more progressive than past years, featuring Varadkar  Irelands first openly gay prime minister  and groups carrying pro-LGBTQ banners.

Over the years, St. Patricks Day parades have not been without controversy, as organizers have drawn criticism for rejecting participation by gay and lesbian rights groups, among others.

At 1991s New York parade, AIDS! AIDS! AIDS! chants and You have betrayed Christianity signs were directed at Irish Lesbian & Gay Organization members who chanted, Were Irish. Were queer. Get used to it!

On Saturday in Savannah, Ga., small groups of protesters rallied against a parade appearance by Vice President Mike Pence. Pence, who as governor of Indiana had a record of statements and legislation that many denounced as hostile to the LGBTQ community, walked part of the parade route, shaking hands and taking selfies as the demonstrators shadowed him.

City officials initially banned signs and posters from the event, which led to a fight over 1st Amendment rights. On Friday, officials reversed the ban after the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit claiming it violated the right to free speech.

Pence, his wife, Karen Pence, and his mother, Nancy Pence-Fritsch, joined Savannah Mayor Eddie DeLoach and his wife, Cynthia, at the festivities, the largest St. Patricks Day parade in the South.

Protesters followed the vice president with signs that read, I Stand with Planned Parenthood and Mike Pence is a Homophobe.

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Security measures for Pence kept the parade attendance numbers lower than in previous years.

Other cities saw their events go smoothly. The Chicago Plumbers Union pumped green dye from boats to color a quarter-mile portion of the Chicago River. The tradition began in 1962, when parade chairman Stephen Bailey noticed that the dye used to locate leaks in buildings was Irish green.

Alderman Patrick OConnor was the parade grand marshal, leading thousands of marchers including Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and several candidates running in the citys primary election.

Landmarks such as the Colosseum in Rome, the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro and the Empire State Building in New York shone with green light to recognize the celebration.

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Star Wars actor Mark Hamill, whose great-grandmother was born in Ireland, was the international guest of honor for Dublins St. Patricks Day parade. He and his wife, Marilou York, marched in the streets with Irish President Michael D. Higgins and the parades grand marshal, Game of Thrones actor Liam Cunningham.

Today the whole galaxy is Irish, Hamill tweeted.

Today would be a good day to deploy these #StPatricksDay images, because today..... THE WHOLE GALAXY IS IRISH.  pic.twitter.com/09xeCbJept  Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) March 17, 2018

michael.livingston@latimes.com

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@Livingston_LATHow to deal with the Trump-supporting working class? Since the election, that question has rippled through liberal circles. Should white workers be condemned and quarantined, or cultivated and persuaded? The debate is not new. A version of it played out 500 years ago, between Erasmus of Rotterdam, the greatest of humanists, and Martin Luther, the founder of Protestantism.

Erasmus spent his life preparing a blueprint for a new Christian Europe. In works like War Is Sweet to Those Who Have Not Experienced It, he proposed a design for living based on the principles of tolerance and peace. His greatest feat was his revision of the Vulgate  the Latin translation of the Bible. For centuries, this document had served as the scriptural foundation of the Roman Church. A close inspection of it, however, showed that it was full of grammatical errors and scribal blunders. In 1500, Erasmus set out to learn Greek so that he could read the New Testament in the language in which it had originally been written and so uncover its true meaning.

Where Erasmus spoke of barbarians, todays pundits speak of deplorables who dont know whats good for them.

When his new New Testament finally appeared, in 1516, it offered a fresh way of reading the Bible  not as a collection of supernatural acts but as the story of a transcendent being whose compassionate deeds could encourage readers to follow a similar path. This achievement inspired a school of Erasmians who shared his vision of a united, borderless Christendom.

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But those Erasmians were a small band. Erasmus wrote exclusively in Latin, and he promoted Greek as no less essential for the truly cultivated. His education program, stressing instruction in those two ancient languages, was elitist, seeking not to prepare ordinary citizens for a useful life but to train a refined caste that could guide society. Those who mangled grammar were dismissed as barbarians.

Meanwhile, a different type of movement was gathering around Luther. An Augustinian friar, he argued that only by embracing Christ, rather than doing good works, could a man gain divine grace, and he thus objected to indulgences. These dispensations reduced the amount of time sinners had to spend in purgatory before gaining admission to heaven; in return, the Church expected a financial contribution. This seemed to reduce repentance to a transaction, and in protest, Luther prepared a set of theses for debate. On Oct. 31, 1517, (or so the story goes), he posted them on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany.

Soon appearing in print, the Ninety-five Theses spread across Germany and made Luther a household name. Denounced by the Catholic Church, he spoke out ever more forcefully against it. In addition to theological tracts in Latin, he wrote pamphlets in a folksy German that helped carry his message beyond the educated fringe who read Erasmus. At the heart of his program was a radical idea: The clergy do not constitute a superior spiritual class; all Christians are equal, part of a priesthood of believers.

Initially, Luther admired Erasmus, but over time, his incendiary language and emphasis on faith over works led to a rupture. Their conflict represented the clash of two world views. Erasmus was an internationalist intent on forging a peaceful Christian union; Luther was a German nationalist. Erasmus wanted to educate a learned cadre; Luther, to mobilize the masses. For years, they competed to win over Europe, but Erasmus rationalist and cosmopolitan creed lost out to Luthers more ardent one. Luther created a broad movement that unleashed the Reformation and wrested control of much of northern Europe from the Roman Church.

As the rancor between Catholics and Protestants grew, Erasmus warned of the catastrophe he saw looming. After his death, in 1536, Europe would in fact descend into a century of religious-fueled violence, and Erasmus ideas about tolerance were forgotten or suppressed.

Some four centuries later, in an elegiac 1934 study, Stefan Zweig lamented that Erasmus had become hardly more than a name. In fact, he was the first conscious European and the first to fight on behalf of peace. Under his leadership, there had taken hold the unheard-of-ideal of a United States of Europe. But that ideal was never realized, and to Zweig, the reason was clear: Erasmus had mistakenly sought to teach the masses from the heights of idealism rather than go down among them and try to learn from them.

After World War II, however, Erasmus vision of a united Europe took hold: The principles on which the European Union was built resemble the humanist blueprint that Erasmus had drafted. His contribution has been explicitly recognized in one of the EUs most popular initiatives  the Erasmus Program. Through it, young people in one member country can study at a university in another.

The programs benefits have not been widely shared, however. Only about 5% of all European graduates participate in it, and they tend to come from better-off families. An Erasmus sojourn has become a marker of privilege, giving the program an elitist air.

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That, of course, is a concern for the European project as a whole. The vote by Britain in 2016 to leave the EU exposed the gulf between worldly urbanites and the less mobile residents of small communities who felt left behind in the great global gold rush. More generally, the control that unelected bureaucrats in Brussels have over the lives of the EUs 500 million people has fed charges of high-handedness.

These developments would no doubt have seemed familiar to Erasmus. His pluralistic and pacific creed came under constant challenge from populist forces. And when it came to defending those ideals in the face of rising nationalism, disruptive technology and deepening social divisions, he lacked both the tools and the vocabulary.

Todays humanists, in both Europe and America, often seem similarly at a loss. While professing a love for humanity, they frequently appear isolated from and disdainful of it. The title of Thomas Franks 2004 book  Whats the Matter with Kansas? presupposes that Republican working people are rubes tricked into voting against their interests. Barack Obama showed the same type of loftiness in his 2008 comment about how people in the hinterland cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who arent like them.

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Since the 2016 election, some liberal writers have dismissed white workers as a retrograde lot who, whatever economic hardship they may have suffered, deserve scorn. Where Erasmus spoke of barbarians, todays pundits speak of deplorables who dont know whats good for them.

But are the deplorables truly irredeemable? In a new memoir, White American Youth, Christian Picciolini describes his affiliation with  and eventual break from  the neo-Nazis. When he was 14, he attended a gathering of a violent skinhead group and felt a sense of acceptance. He went on to open a record store in Chicago in which he sold white-power music. To keep it going, he also sold punk rock and hip-hop. Many of his customers were African American or Jewish or gay. He began to have meaningful interactions with them, as he recently told Fresh Air, and that destroyed the prejudice that was happening inside of me. Picciolini eventually co-founded a nonprofit that helps members of hate groups disengage.

Even white supremacists, then, are not beyond redemption: A show of empathy can sometimes change hearts filled with hate. Unfortunately, empathy seems in too-short supply among todays humanists. If they in fact believe that their values represent all humankind and offer the best design for living, they should be eager to make that case to everyone.

Michael Massing is the author of Fatal Discord: Erasmus, Luther, and the Fight for the Western Mind, on which this essay draws.

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Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or FacebookThe unceremonious sacking of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson via Twitter was the latest gut punch to the battered State Department. For hundreds of U.S. foreign service officers who had just spent weeks organizing Tillersons We Dont Think You Are All Shitholes tour of Africa, it was yet another face-palm moment.

I recently served nearly two years as a diplomat with the U.S. Mission to Somalia and previously served in South Sudan, Poland and Washington. I understand well the crucial role these high-level diplomatic visits play in building relationships and sending clear messages about Americas priorities. But all the long hours and late nights required, in this case, were for naught. As Tillerson wound up humiliated and jobless, our African partners realized they had wasted their time with a has-been and reconfirmed that President Trump doesnt care about Africa.

Afterward, some pundits and liberal politicians mourned Tillersons departure because he was one of the few remaining adults in the room in the Trump administration. I believe, however, that the State Department is better off without a chief who championed neither the institution nor successful American diplomacy.

If Pompeo does something to repair the neutered State Department, he could turn out to be an unexpected champion for a reenergized civilian foreign policy.

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I resigned from the State Department in December, part of the mass exodus during Tillersons 13-month tenure, because I no longer believed the department was able to promote American values and interests overseas. Our work had become futile, and our inability to influence military decision-making was potentially dangerous. Tillerson didnt have the ear of Trump, and we didnt have the ear of Tillerson.

The department lost 60% of its career ambassadors last year. These nonpartisan top diplomatic professionals either were pushed out or chose to leave, having been sidelined by an administration that dismissed their expertise.

Tillerson also cut hiring to below attrition rates, slashed promotion numbers, championed a 30% budget cut and left empty dozens of critical leadership positions. He completely eliminated the office in charge of developing, implementing and coordinating foreign policy-related sanctions, an essential tool that allows us to apply pressure short of military force.

During the course of 2017, I watched our influence and leadership in Somalia recede, not from a desk in Washington, but right in front of me during meetings in Mogadishu. In my role with the U.S. Mission, I sought to promote a more peaceful and democratic Somalia in our national security interest. But my Somali counterparts started to ask, Does your government really care about our stability?

Foreign partners patiently listened to our proposals but no longer solicited our advice. We couldnt assure them that the U.S. position today would be our position tomorrow. We had no idea ourselves. We no longer could be reliable partners.

As I watched Tillerson push for staffing cuts, I recalled my time in South Sudan in 2013, clocking in 80 to 90 hours a week with two full-time jobs  consular officer and political officer  in an unstable country collapsing into civil war. Like so many of my colleagues, I chose to live in difficult and dangerous places because I believed in Americas role in the world. We were on the front lines to enhance security, promote democratic values and provide emergency assistance, to make the world  and thus America  a safer and better place. Under Tillerson, such sacrifices seemed to serve no end.

I hold no illusions that Mike Pompeo, whom President Trump is shuffling over to State from the CIA, will champion our democratic values any more than Tillerson did. Pompeo has defended mass domestic surveillance, the CIAs condemned torture program of the Bush years and a prison in Guantanamo that feeds our enemies narratives. He holds hawkish positions on North Korea and Iran.

I have faith, however, in our career diplomats. If Pompeo does something to repair the neutered State Department, he could turn out to be an unexpected champion for a reenergized civilian foreign policy.

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Pompeo could start by filling key leadership roles that Tillerson left vacant. We currently have no ambassador to South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Turkey or the European Union. Dozens of other pivotal posts remain empty. Pompeo also should insist that the State Department take the lead in our global engagements. This means, for example, ending policy meetings with heads of state for Jared Kushner without diplomats present, and not leaving it to Ivanka Trump to negotiate our way out of potential nuclear war with North Korea.

And if Pompeo wants to be a more effective secretary of State than Tillerson was, he might even open himself up to input from seasoned diplomats. If were really lucky, hell come to understand the role that human rights and democracy  traditionally bipartisan values  play in creating a more stable world. I wont hold my breath on that. At this point, Id settle for filling critical senior positions, and itd be a bonus if those hired actually knew what they were doing.

Elizabeth Shackelford was a foreign service officer with the State Department in Poland, Washington, South Sudan and Somalia.

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Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand FacebookTo the editor: I was struck by the juxtaposition of three articles in Thursdays print edition of the Los Angeles Times.

One was about the push by the White House to raise the Shasta Dam because some farmers want the increase in water storage capacity. Another, a column by George Skelton, suggested that President Trump tour California farms without his immigration officers around. Finally, an article reported on the deaths of two farmworkers in the country illegally fleeing from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

It appears the White House is unable to recognize the irony and tragedy of its efforts to punish California. Cracking down hard on farmworkers leaves farmers and ranchers without sufficient labor to operate their businesses. Car chases that result in deaths will scare away farmworkers, as many of the workers here legally look just like those who are not.

Lastly, if this administration continues to threaten California and its farmworkers with legal and punitive actions, there will not be enough workers looking for or wanting to work the fields and ranches in our great state. Thus, there will be no need for more water and therefore no reason to super-size the Shasta Dam.

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Gene E. Schwartz, San Diego

..

To the editor: We keep giving permits for big apartment complexes, and now our leading gubernatorial candidates want to build 3.5 million homes in California  but they have no real plans for increasing water availability.

Politicians in California do not want to increase the volume of water impounded by the Shasta Dam, and none of the leading candidates for governor has expressed support for building the water tunnels underneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

At least the White House has a plan. If our candidates dont like it, where is their plan? And shouldnt the water problem be solved before we built 3.5 million new homes?

Ed Hughes, West Hills

..

To the editor: Heightening the Shasta Dam the equivalent of nearly two stories cannot be a good idea, no matter the cost. The dam was designed and constructed to store a specific amount of water.

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Read up on the St. Francis Dam disaster on March 12, 1928, in San Francisquito Canyon, north of Los Angeles. At least 400 people died when the dam failed and released 12 billion gallons of water, which flowed all the way to Ventura, destroying everything in its path.

Karla H. Edwards, Santa Clarita

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and FacebookAllies balk at Trump administration bid to block Chinese firm from cutting-edge telecom markets By David S. Cloud Britain and Germany are balking at the Trump administrations call for a ban on equipment from Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, threatening a global U.S. campaign to thwart Chinas involvement in future mobile networks. Both countries are expected to limit Huawei and other Chinese companies from providing core components including routers. But other types of Chinese equipment for next-generation, high-speed communications could still be installed on British and German networks, officials and analysts say. The U.S. push to ban Huawei has provoked a global dispute in recent weeks, with senior U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo, publicly urging NATO allies in Europe to exclude the company and warning that the United States might limit its military presence in countries that did not do so. Read More Facebook

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Confucius Institutes: Do they improve U.S.-China ties or harbor spies? By Don Lee Hanging red lanterns welcome visitors to the University of Marylands Confucius Institute, the oldest of about 100 Chinese language and cultural centers that have popped up over the last 15 years on American campuses, subsidized by millions of dollars from Chinas central government. But last fall, when four U.S. Senate investigators walked into the Confucius offices in Maryland and spent hours questioning staff, they werent looking for an educational exchange. The committee has been seeking detailed information from the university about the program, including contracts, email exchanges and financial arrangements that school administrators have kept under wraps since it started in 2004. American colleges once viewed these jointly funded institutes as an economical way to expand their language offerings  one that could also bring warmer ties with China and, importantly, an influx of Chinese international students paying full tuition. Read More Facebook

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Watch Live: White House holds surprise news briefing amid government shutdown Facebook

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U.S. policy toward China shifts from engagement to confrontation By David S. Cloud For decades, China had no closer American friend than Dianne Feinstein. As San Francisco mayor in the 1970s, she forged a sister-city relationship with Shanghai, the first between American and Chinese communities. As U.S. senator, she dined with Chinese leaders at Mao Tse-tungs old Beijing residence. And in the 1990s, she championed a trade policy change that opened a floodgate of Western investment into China. Today the Democratic senator sees China as a growing threat, joining a broad array of Trump administration officials, national security strategists and business executives who once favored engagement with Beijing and now advocate a confrontational approach instead. Read More Facebook

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Mnuchins attempt to calm markets backfires as Trump takes another shot at the Federal Reserve By Jim Puzzanghera An attempt by Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin to calm plunging financial markets backfired Monday, further rattling investors with new fears about whether major U.S. banks have enough cash on top of worries about interest rates, political instability in Washington and a slowing global economy. Adding to the volatile mix was a fresh attack on the Federal Reserve by President Trump, who declared that the central bank was the U.S. economys only problem and that it didnt have a feel for the market. The Fed is like a powerful golfer who cant score because he has no touch -- he cant putt! Trump said on Twitter. Read More Facebook

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He speaks to Democratic hearts. But is Beto ORourke a serious White House contender? By Mark Z. Barabak Hes a failed U.S. Senate candidate with an undistinguished congressional record who, for the moment, is a blazing-hot 2020 presidential prospect  despite the fact that he may not run and faces long odds if he does. Beto ORourke suggests the will-he-or-wont-he speculation is something he himself cant quite fathom. I think thats a great question, he responded in a Dallas Morning News interview when asked whether his unsuccessful November Senate bid merited a promotion to the White House. I ask that question myself. Read More Facebook

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Russian disinformation teams targeted Robert S. Mueller III, says report prepared for Senate By Craig Timberg, Tony Romm, Elizabeth Dwoskin Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. (Associated Press) Months after President Trump took office, Russias disinformation teams trained their sites on a new target: special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. Having worked to help get Trump into the White House, they now worked to neutralize the biggest threat to his staying there. The Russian operatives unloaded on Mueller through fake accounts on Facebook, Twitter and beyond, falsely claiming that the former FBI director was corrupt and that the allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election were crackpot conspiracies. One post on Instagram  which emerged as an especially potent weapon in the Russian social media arsenal  claimed that Mueller had worked in the past with radical Islamic groups. Such tactics exemplified how Russian teams ranged nimbly across social media platforms in a shrewd online influence operation aimed squarely at American voters. The effort started earlier than commonly understood and lasted longer while relying on the strengths of different sites to manipulate distinct slices of the electorate, according to a pair of comprehensive new reports prepared for the Senate Intelligence Committee and released Monday. Read more Timberg, Romm and Dwoskin report for the Washington Post. Facebook

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President Trump announces Mick Mulvaney as acting White House chief of staff By Associated Press President Trump says budget director Mick Mulvaney will serve as acting chief of staff, replacing John F. Kelly in the new year. I am pleased to announce that Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management & Budget, will be named Acting White House Chief of Staff, replacing General John Kelly, who has served our Country with distinction. Mick has done an outstanding job while in the Administration....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 14, 2018 Facebook

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It aint over when its over: In Michigan, Wisconsin and elsewhere, losers seek to undermine election results By Mark Z. Barabak Democrat Gavin Newsom has yet to become California governor, but already a candidate for state Republican Party chairman is promoting a recall effort. In Michigan and Wisconsin, GOP lawmakers have rushed through legislation to thwart their incoming Democratic governors and hamper others in the opposing party from doing the jobs voters chose them to do. In Congress, GOP leaders have echoed President Trump and sought to undermine the legitimacy of Democrats strong midterm performance, raising unsubstantiated allegations of fraud and political malfeasance. Read More Facebook

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New CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger says she wont be a puppet of Mick Mulvaney By Jim Puzzanghera On her first full day leading the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Kathy Kraninger said she wont be a puppet of Mick Mulvaney, the controversial acting director whom she replaced in the powerful regulatory position. To underscore that point, the former White House aide said she would even reconsider a Mulvaney action that critics saw as a gratuitous jab at Democrats who championed the agencys creation: changing its name to the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. Kraningers declaration during a meeting with reporters Tuesday addressed one of the main criticisms of her selection. She is considered a protege of Mulvaney, her boss at the White House Office of Management and Budget who has executed a dramatic, industry-friendly shift at the watchdog agency. Read More Facebook

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Trumps pick for chief of staff, Nick Ayers, out of running By Associated Press Nick Ayers, right, with Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, at the funeral service for George H.W. Bush on Dec. 3. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Associated Press) President Trumps top pick to replace John F. Kelly as chief of staff, Nick Ayers, is no longer expected to fill that role. Thats according to a White House official who is not authorized to discuss the personnel issue by name and spoke on condition of anonymity. Ayers is Vice President Mike Pences chief of staff. The official says that Trump and Ayers could not agree on Ayers length of service. The father of young children, Ayers had agreed to serve in an interim capacity though the spring, but Trump wanted a two-year commitment. The official says that Ayers will instead assist the president from outside the administration. Trump announced Saturday that Kelly would be departing the White House around the end of the year. Thank you @realDonaldTrump, @VP, and my great colleagues for the honor to serve our Nation at The White House. I will be departing at the end of the year but will work with the #MAGA team to advance the cause.  #Georgia  Nick Ayers (@nick_ayers) December 9, 2018 Facebook

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U.S. hiring slows to 155,000 jobs, unemployment rate holds at 3.7% By Jim Puzzanghera Job growth slowed significantly in November but still was solid, indicating the economy remains in good shape but not expanding so quickly that it will lead to sharply higher interest rates. U.S. employers added 155,000 jobs last month, well below analyst expectations and a steep decline from Octobers strong 237,000 figure, the Labor Department reported Friday. Still, monthly job gains are averaging 206,000 this year, the best since 2015. Even the slower pace of 170,000 over the last three months is close to last years average of 182,000 and well above the amount needed to keep up with population growth. Read More Facebook

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Trump is expected to pick State Department spokeswoman for U.N. ambassador By Associated Press Heather Nauert at a briefing at the State Department on Aug. 9, 2017. (Alex Brandon / Associated Press) President Trump is expected to nominate State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Two administration officials confirmed Trumps plans. A Republican congressional aide said the president was expected to announce his decision by tweet on Friday morning. The officials were not authorized to speak publicly before Trumps announcement. Trump has previously said Nauert was under serious consideration to replace Nikki Haley, who announced in October that she would step down at the end of this year. Trump has been known to change course on staffing decisions in the past. Nauert was a reporter for Fox News Channel before she became State Department spokeswoman under former Secretary Rex Tillerson. Facebook

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Senate confirms new consumer financial protection chief: Kathy Kraninger, protege of industry-friendly Mick Mulvaney By Jim Puzzanghera The Senate, in a party-line vote Thursday, confirmed White House aide Kathy Kraninger to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and experts predicted a continuation of the industry-friendly shift it has taken since President Trump installed an acting director last year. Kraninger is a protege of acting director and White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney, an outspoken critic of the agency that was created in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis to prevent predatory lending and other abuses that led to it. Democrats and consumer advocates have denounced him for sharply departing from the aggressive watchdog role the bureau had pursued under its first director, Obama-appointee Richard Cordray, including scaling back enforcement and moving to reassess tough new rules on payday loans and narrow the definition of abusive practices by banks and other firms. Read More Facebook

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Shutdown postponed by two weeks under plan approved by Congress By Erik Wasson Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), shown at the Capitol on Tuesday, says President Trumps border wall is a waste of money. (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) Congress passed a two-week stopgap spending bill that will delay the chance of a partial government shutdown until Dec. 22 as lawmakers and President Donald Trump negotiate over his demands to pay for a wall on the southern border. The House and Senate passed the measure Thursday without dissent, and Trump has indicated hell sign the bill before the current shutdown deadline of midnight Friday. Negotiations were delayed by memorial services this week for former President George H.W. Bush. The temporary measure gives Democrats and Republicans more time to find a resolution to their biggest hurdle: funding a wall on the U.S. Mexico border wall. Trump says he wants $5 billion for parts of a concrete wall on the southern border and is willing to shut down the government if he doesnt get it. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York has said Democrats will provide no more than $1.6 billion for border security, because the wall is a waste of money. The presidents demands for wall funding from Congress come after he said during the campaign that Mexico would pay for it. This week he said on Twitter that a $25 billion border wall would pay for itself in two months, without providing evidence. Most of the U.S. governments $1.2 trillion discretionary budget has been appropriated already by Congress for the fiscal year that began on Oct. 1. Departments at a risk of a partial shutdown late this month include the departments of State, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Treasury and Homeland Security. Talks to resolve the differences have been on hold since a meeting among Trump, Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California originally slated for Dec. 4 was postponed due to Bush memorial events. The three are scheduled to meet on Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the matter. Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby of Alabama told reporters the rest of the seven-bill spending package being negotiated is basically done. Shelby in recent weeks had tried to broker a compromise in which Trumps $5 billion request would be split over two years, but Schumer has rejected that. Some Democrats have been willing to trade border wall funding for deportation protections for young undocumented immigrants. Pelosi ruled out such a deal in remarks to reporters Thursday. The stopgap government funding measure also would extend the National Flood Insurance Program, which provides subsidized coverage for homes in flood-prone areas, to Dec. 21. Facebook

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Bipartisan Senate group wants to formally blame Saudi crown prince for journalists killing By Karoun Demirjian Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires. (Associated Press) A bipartisan group of senators filed a resolution Wednesday condemning Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as responsible for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, directly challenging President Trump to do the same. This resolution -- without equivocation -- definitively states that the crown prince of Saudi Arabia was complicit in the murder of Mr. [Jamal] Khashoggi and has been a wrecking ball to the region jeopardizing our national security interests on multiple fronts, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said in a statement accompanying the release of the resolution. It will be up to Saudi Arabia as to how to deal with this matter. But it is up to the United States to firmly stand for who we are and what we believe. The resolution put forward by Graham and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who are expected to lead the Judiciary Committee together next year, comes just one day after CIA Director Gina Haspel briefed leading senators about the details of the agencys assessment that Mohammed ordered and monitored the killing and dismemberment of Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Senators emerged from that closed-door briefing furious not only with Saudi Arabia, but Trump as well for dismissing the heft of the CIAs findings. You have to be willfully blind not to come to the conclusion that this was orchestrated and organized by people under the command of MBS and that he was intricately involved in the demise of Mr. Khashoggi, Graham said following the briefing, referring to Mohammed by his initials. He added that Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo and Defense Secretary James N. Mattis, who briefed senators last week, were at best being good soldiers and at worst were in the pocket of Saudi Arabia for presenting the evidence of Mohammeds involvement as inconclusive. The release of the resolution condemning Mohammed also comes as the Senate is preparing to move ahead with debate on a resolution to curtail U.S. support for the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen. Though the Yemen resolution does not directly address Khashoggis murder, its popularity is a sign of how strained the United States patience with Saudi Arabia is on multiple fronts, including its role in worsening the civilian cost of the war in Yemen, cited by the United Nations as the worlds worst humanitarian crisis. Last week, the Senate voted 63 to 37 to advance the Yemen resolution past an opening procedural hurdle. But Graham and Feinsteins resolution on the crown prince has the potential of drawing broader support, especially from Republicans, who are deeply divided about how fiercely to punish Saudi Arabia over Khashoggis killing. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who has been an outspoken advocate for human rights and is seen as one of the more influential foreign policy voices in the GOP, did not vote for the Yemen resolution last week or sign on to a bipartisan measure last month to sanction Saudi officials and cease weapons transfers to the kingdom. But he is an original co-sponsor of the resolution condemning Mohammed over Khashoggis death. So is Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), who represents the other end of the GOP spectrum in terms of recent Saudi-related votes and endorsements. Young was an initial co-sponsor of the bill Graham wrote with Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) to sanction Saudi officials deemed responsible for Khashoggis killing and stop the sale of anything but exclusively defensive weapons to the kingdom until it ceased hostilities in Yemen. Young also voted to advance the Yemen resolution  something Graham did as well, though Graham has signaled he will not be lending any similar support to the measure, fearing it may establish a precedent of invoking the War Powers Act too broadly. Sens. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) are listed as original co-sponsors of the resolution condemning Mohammed, which also urges Saudi Arabia to negotiate with Houthi rebels to end the Yemen war, work out a political solution to its standoff with Qatar and release political prisoners. But how much sway the resolution has probably comes down to how forcefully the administration decides to heed it -- and thus far, Trump has not shown any interest in condemning the crown prince the way the senators hope he will. Demirjian reports for the Washington Post. Facebook

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Los Angeles County offices and U.S. Postal Service closed Wednesday in honor of George H.W. Bush By Brian Park The Honor Guard carries the casket of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush following his funeral on Dec. 5 in Washington, DC. (Doug Mills - Pool/Getty Images) The U.S. Postal Service will suspend regular mail delivery Wednesday, which President Trump has declared a national day of mourning in honor of former President George H.W. Bush. All retail postal outlets will be closed, and package delivery will be limited. In Los Angeles, all nonessential county departments, offices and libraries will be closed for the day, L.A. County officials said. The Los Angeles County Library said no overdue fines will be assessed for books, and due dates will be moved forward one week. Los Angeles County Department of Public Health offices also are closed Wednesday. The Sheriffs Department, Fire Department, clinics and hospitals will continue to operate, the county said. The Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health clinics are being operated with reduced staffing, and the department asked patients to confirm or reschedule any appointments. All county courts and the disaster recovery centers for the Woolsey fire in Malibu and Agoura Hills will remain open. Larger federal government operations will be closed Wednesday. To honor the life and legacy of President Bush, the Postal Service will observe the National Day of Mourning. Learn how Postal operations will be affected. https://t.co/Mffch7bPCh pic.twitter.com/vG46BsIOpm  U.S. Postal Service (@USPS) December 4, 2018 L.A. County offices and libraries will be closed tomorrow (Dec 5) in observance of the #NationalDayOfMourning for President George H. W. Bush.



The Countys Disaster Recovery Centers in Malibu & Agoura Hills will remain open from 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. pic.twitter.com/Sv1J7GoJ7T  Los Angeles County (@CountyofLA) December 4, 2018 @LAPublicHealth offices will be closed tomorrow December 5 in observance of the national Day of Mourning for President George H. W. Bush. Essential Services including clinics and other services will remain open: https://t.co/tZGoGGHRlg pic.twitter.com/ypXsV6vlYY  LA Public Health (@lapublichealth) December 4, 2018 Facebook

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Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick to skip 2020 White House race, sources say By Associated Press Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick speaks during an interview in Boston on Dec. 15, 2014. (Elise Amendola / Associated Press) Former Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts will soon announce he wont launch a 2020 presidential campaign, according to three sources familiar with his plans. They did not say why the Democrat decided against a run. A formal announcement was delayed as the country observed a day of mourning for President George H.W. Bush, one source said. News of Patricks plans was first reported by Politico. Patrick, 62, served two terms as governor, from 2007 to 2015, was assistant attorney general for civil rights in the Clinton administration and since leaving the governors office has been a managing director for Bain Capital. Patrick traveled the country in support of Democratic candidates in the recent midterm election. Earlier this year, some of Patricks supporters and close advisors started the Reason to Believe political action committee, a grassroots organization dedicated to advancing a positive, progressive vision for our nation in 2018 and 2020. Reason to Believe PAC had been holding meetups across the country, including in early presidential primary states. While Patrick is opting against a 2020 run, dozens of Democrats are considering jumping in, including nearly a half-dozen members of the Senate, several House members, and other Massachusetts politicians. On Tuesday, Michael Avenatti, the attorney for adult film star Stormy Daniels and a vocal critic of President Trump, said in a statement that he would run. Patrick had previously expressed some concerns about breaking through if he sought the nomination, telling David Axelrod, a former advisor to President Obama, that he wasnt sure he could stand out in such a large field. Its hard to see how you even get noticed in such a big, broad field without being shrill, sensational or a celebrity, and Im none of those things and Im never going to be any of those things, Patrick said in a September interview with Axelrod. Facebook

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Former Trump adviser Roger Stone invokes 5th Amendment right and wont testify before Senate Judiciary Committee By Associated Press Roger Stone in 2017. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images) Roger Stone, an associate of President Trump, says he wont provide testimony or documents to the Senate Judiciary Committee. An attorney for Stone said in a letter to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the committees top Democrat, that Stone was invoking his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination in refusing to produce documents or appear for an interview. Stone has been entangled in investigations by Congress and special counsel Robert S. Mueller III about whether Trump aides had advance knowledge of Democratic emails published by WikiLeaks during the 2016 election. Stone has not been charged and has said he had no knowledge of the timing or specifics of WikiLeaks plans. In the letter to Feinstein, Stone said the committees requests were far too overbroad, far too overreaching and far too wide-ranging. Facebook

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Watch live: Vice President Pence and lawmakers honor George H.W. Bush at the U.S. Capitol before he lies in state Facebook

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Rebuilding crumbling infrastructure has bipartisan support. But who gets to pay for it? By Jim Puzzanghera The grades for major U.S. infrastructure would give any parent indigestion if they were on a childs report card. Roads: D; bridges: C+; dams: D; ports: C+: railways: B; airports: D; schools: D+; public transit: D-. The nations overall grade: D+, which translates to being in fair to poor condition and mostly below standards with significant deterioration and a strong risk of failure, according to an evaluation last year by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Read More Facebook

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Trump calls former lawyer Michael Cohen a weak person who is lying By Associated Press President Trump says his former lawyer Michael Cohen is lying to get a reduced sentence. The president is reacting to Cohens guilty plea Thursday to lying to Congress about work he did on a Trump real estate project in Russia. During a surprise court hearing, Cohen admitted to lying in testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee about a plan to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. Cohen in his guilty plea said he made the false statements to be consistent with Trumps political message. Cohens lawyer says he continues to cooperate with special counsel Robert S. Mueller IIIs investigation into Russian election interference and possible coordination with Trump associates. Facebook

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As California Republicans confront a congressional wipeout, GOP leader Kevin McCarthy faces a reckoning By Mark Z. Barabak When the House voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Kevin McCarthy trooped with other Republican lawmakers to a splashy Rose Garden celebration, smiling alongside President Trump as they celebrated the moment. As majority leader, McCarthy had helped round up the votes to narrowly pass the hard-fought legislation, convincing 13 other California Republicans to go along, even though several faced tough reelection fights. Fewer than half will be returning in January. Read More Facebook

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As California Republicans confront a congressional wipeout, GOP leader Kevin McCarthy faces a reckoning By Sarah D. Wire When the House voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Kevin McCarthy trooped with other Republican lawmakers to a splashy Rose Garden celebration, smiling alongside President Trump as they celebrated the moment. As majority leader, McCarthy had helped round up the votes to narrowly pass the hard-fought legislation, convincing 13 other California Republicans to go along, even though several faced tough reelection fights. Fewer than half will be returning in January. Read More Facebook

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Michael Cohen, President Trumps ex-lawyer, pleads guilty to lying to Congress about Trump real estate project in Russia By Associated Press Michael Cohen, President Trumps former personal lawyer, pursued a Russian real estate project on candidate Trumps behalf well into the 2016 campaign, he said Thursday while pleading guilty to lying to Congress. Cohen had previously said that the project was abandoned in January 2016, but he now admits he continued to pursue a deal and says he updated Trump and members of his family about the negotiations, according to a new court document. Read More Facebook

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James Comey says acting Atty. Gen. Whitaker may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer By John Wagner Acting Atty. Gen. Matthew Whitaker speaks at the Justice Department in Washington on Nov. 14. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press) Former FBI Director James B. Comey apparently isnt too impressed with the mental prowess of President Trumps acting attorney general. Matthew Whitaker may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer, Comey said during a radio interview on Monday night in which he sized up the man Trump installed this month to replace ousted Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions. Comey was asked by WGBH News in Boston if he thinks Whitaker could derail the investigation of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Whitaker has spoken critically of the probe, and Trump  as recently as Tuesday  continues to call it a witch hunt. I think its a worry, but to my mind not a serious worry, Comey said. The institution is too strong, and [Whitaker], frankly, is not strong enough to have that kind of impact. He may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer, but he can see his future and knows that if he acted in an extralegal way, he would go down in history for the wrong reasons, and Im sure he doesnt want that, added Comey, who was fired by Trump last year and later wrote a book that portrays the president as an ego-driven congenital liar. Whitaker, a former U.S. attorney in Iowa, was Sessions chief of staff before being picked by Trump to lead the Justice Department. Trump has called Whitaker a very smart man. Earlier this year, Trump called Comey an untruthful slime ball. Wagner writes for the Washington Post. Facebook

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Interior Department watchdog clears Zinke in investigation of Utah national monument By Juliet Eilperin Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, third from the left, and Gov. Jerry Brown tour fire damage in Paradise, Calif., on Nov. 14. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) The Interior Departments Office of Inspector General has cleared Secretary Ryan Zinke in a probe of whether he redrew boundaries of a national monument in Utah to aid the financial interests of a Republican state lawmaker and stalwart supporter of President Trump. In a Nov. 21 letter to Zinkes deputy, David Bernhardt, Deputy Inspector General Mary Kendall wrote that her office found no evidence that the secretary or his aides changed the boundaries of Utahs Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in an effort to help former Utah state representative Mike Noel, who serves as executive director of the Kane County Water Conservancy District. Last December, Trump shrank the monument, first established by President Clinton in 1996, by 46% based on Zinkes recommendation. Noel owns 40 acres that had been surrounded by the monument, but now lies outside its boundaries. The new boundaries also would make it easier to construct the proposed Lake Powell Pipeline, which would deliver water to sites in Kane County that include Noels property. Earlier this year, the Interior Department had proposed selling off 120 acres of federal land from the former monument that lay adjacent to some of Noels land holdings, but later reversed the plan. We found no evidence that Noel influenced the DOIs proposed revisions to the [monuments] boundaries, that Zinke or other DOI staff involved in the project were aware of Noels financial interest in the revised boundaries, or that they gave Noel any preferential treatment in the resulting proposed boundaries, Kendall wrote. Neither the Interior Department nor the inspector generals office would release the actual investigative report. In the letter, Kendall writes that her office will provide the report to Congress no sooner than 31 days from Nov. 21, when it is provided it to Zinkes office. The Associated Press first reported the inspector generals conclusions Monday night, but did not provide details from the report itself. Noel emailed Zinke about the effort to alter Grand Staircase-Escalante, according to emails released by Interior under the Freedom of Informational Act. But those emails do not make references to Noels land holdings. Noel also pushed to rename a Utah highway in honor of Trump, but abandoned that effort in March after some of his fellow Republicans objected to the idea. Noel did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday. The inspector generals office still has at least two ongoing probes of the secretary, including one focused on his real estate dealings in Whitefish, Mont., and another regarding his decision to deny a permit to two Connecticut tribes who were hoping to jointly run a casino after MGM Resorts International lobbied against it. Interior Department spokeswoman Heather Swift welcomed the watchdogs conclusions. The report shows exactly what the secretarys office has known all along  that the monument boundaries were adjusted in accordance with all rules, regulations and laws, she said in an email. This report is also the latest example of opponents and special interest groups ginning up fake and misleading stories, only to be proven false after expensive and time consuming inquiries by the IGs office. But Kendalls spokeswoman, Nancy DiPaolo, defended the inquiry, even though she said the report has not been publicly released and we will not be speaking specifically about the matter at this time. The OIG opens investigations based on credible allegations and reports our findings objectively and independently, DiPaolo added. Any time or resources spent investigating conduct or activity that may be a violation of law, regulation or policy is a service to the public, Congress and the Department. Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, said in a statement that he still intended to investigate the way Zinke and his colleague redrew the boundaries for Grand Staircase-Escalante and another Utah national monument, Bears Ears, next year. I have great respect for the inspector general, and I accept these findings, but Secretary Zinke should have known the people he listened to while destroying our national monuments had disqualifying conflicts of interest, he said. Should I chair the Natural Resources Committee in the next Congress, the process he and President Trump used to destroy Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante will be front and center in our oversight and investigations efforts. We need to know why they ignored overwhelming public expressions of support for both Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, why they ignored Native American tribes throughout their decision-making, and why they removed protections on parcels of land with known mineral deposits. Eilperin and Rein report for the Washington Post. Facebook

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Trump advisor Larry Kudlow says China must do more to end trade war By Jim Puzzanghera Larry Kudlow, President Trumps top economic advisor, said Tuesday that Chinas response to U.S. efforts to rework the two economic superpowers trade relationship has been extremely disappointing but the planned meeting this weekend between the nations leaders is an opportunity for a breakthrough. They have to do more. They must do more, Larry Kudlow, director of the White House National Economic Council, told reporters ahead of a Saturday dinner between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 Summit in Argentina. I think the president is exactly right  to show strong backbone when prior administrations did not, to break through these Chinese walls, Kudlow said. Theyre so resistant to change. We have to protect the country. We have to protect our technology, our inventiveness, our innovation. Read More Facebook

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Watch live: White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders holds a media briefing amid tensions at the border By Los Angeles Times Staff Facebook

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Democrat TJ Cox grabs lead over Republican David Valadao in nations last remaining undecided House race By Maya Sweedler Democrat TJ Cox slipped past Republican incumbent David Valadao on Monday to take the lead in the countrys sole remaining undecided congressional race, positioning Democrats to pick up their seventh House seat in California and 40th nationwide. Cox, who trailed by nearly 4,400 votes on election night, has steadily gained as ballot counting continues nearly three weeks after the Nov. 6 election, a pattern consistent with the states recent voting history. On Monday, he pulled ahead by 438 votes after Kern County updated its results. Read More Facebook

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Former CIA director Michael Hayden hospitalized after suffering a stroke By Deanna Paul Then-CIA Director Michael Hayden testifies before a Senate committee in 2008. (Saul Loeb / Getty Images) Former CIA Director and retired Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden has been hospitalized after suffering a stroke, his family said Friday. He is receiving expert medical care for which the family is grateful, according to a statement issued by his namesake organization. The General and his family greatly appreciate the warm wishes and prayers of his friends, colleagues, and supporters. Hayden, 73, served as director of the CIA and National Security Agency during the George W. Bush and Obama administrations. He retired from the CIA in 2009. Hayden has been a vocal critic of Donald Trumps campaign and presidency. Earlier this year, after Trump decided to revoke the security clearance of former CIA director John Brennan, Hayden was one of several former intelligence leaders who signed a statement in opposition. Criticizing the president for crossing a line, he quickly became one of the individuals whose security clearance Trump threatened to review. Deanna Paul writes for the Washington Post. Facebook

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Trump tells troops hes thankful for what hes done for the U.S. and rails against courts and migrants By Associated Press President Trump talks with troops via teleconference from his estate in Palm Beach, Fla., on Thanksgiving. (Susan Walsh / Associated Press) President Trump used his Thanksgiving Day call to troops deployed overseas to pat himself on the back and air grievances about the courts, trade and migrants heading to the U.S.-Mexico border. Trumps call, made from his opulent private Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla., struck an unusually political tone as he spoke with members of all five branches of the military to wish them happy holidays. Its a disgrace, Trump said of judges who have blocked his attempts to overhaul U.S. immigration law, as he linked his efforts to secure the border with military missions overseas. Trump later threatened to close the U.S. border with Mexico for an undisclosed period of time if his administration determines Mexico has lost control on its side. The call was a uniquely Trump blend of boasting, peppered questions and off-the-cuff observations as his comments veered from venting about slights to praising troops  You really are our heroes, he said  as club waiters worked to set Thanksgiving dinner tables on the outdoor terrace behind him. It was yet another show of how Trump has dramatically transformed the presidency, erasing the traditional divisions between domestic policy and military matters and efforts to keep the troops clear of politics. You probably see over the news whats happening on our southern border, Trump told one Air Force brigadier general stationed at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, adding: I dont have to even ask you. I know what you want to do, you want to make sure that you know who were letting in. Later, Trump asked a U.S. Coast Guard commander about trade, which he noted was a very big subject for him personally. Weve been taken advantage of for many, many years by bad trade deals, Trump told the commander, who sheepishly replied, Mr. President, from our perspective on the water  we dont see any issues in terms of trade right now. And throughout, Trump congratulated himself, telling the officers that the country is doing exceptionally well on his watch. I hope that youll take solace in knowing that all of the American families you hold so close to your heart are all doing well, he said. The nations doing well economically, better than anybody in the world. He later told reporters, Nobodys done more for the military than me. Indeed, asked what he was thankful for this Thanksgiving, Trump cited his great family as well as himself. I made a tremendous difference in this country, he said. Facebook

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Trump contradicts CIA assessment that Saudi crown prince ordered Jamal Khashoggi killing By Josh Dawsey | Washington Post (Susan Walsh / Associated Press) President Trump on Thursday contradicted the CIAs assessment that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had ordered the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, insisting that the agency had feelings but did not firmly place blame for the death. Trump, in defiant remarks to reporters from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, defended his continued support for Mohammed in the face of a CIA assessment that the crown prince had ordered the killing. He denies it vehemently, Trump said. He said his own conclusion was that maybe he did, maybe he didnt. I hate the crime .... I hate the cover-up. I will tell you this: The crown prince hates it more than I do, Trump said. Asked who should be held accountable for the death of Khashoggi, who was killed at the Saudi Consulate in Turkey, Trump refused to place blame. Maybe the world should be held accountable because the world is a very, very vicious place, the president said. He also seemed to suggest that all U.S. allies were guilty of the same behavior, declaring that if the others were held to the standard that critics have held Saudi Arabia to in recent days, we wouldnt be able to have anyone for an ally. Trumps remarks came after he held a conference call with U.S. military officers overseas, during which he repeatedly praised his administration and sought to draw the officers into discussions of domestic policy. Facebook

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Former FBI Director James Comey gets subpoena from House Republicans By Bloomberg Former FBI Director James B. Comey said he has received a subpoena from House Republicans, according to a Twitter post on Thursday. Bloomberg News reported last week that Comey would be receiving a subpoena alongside former Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch as part of continuing probes into their handling of investigations into Hillary Clinton and Russian election meddling, according to a top House Democrat. Happy Thanksgiving. Got a subpoena from House Republicans. Im still happy to sit in the light and answer all questions. But I will resist a closed door thing because Ive seen enough of their selective leaking and distortion. Lets have a hearing and invite everyone to see.  James Comey (@Comey) November 22, 2018 Read More Facebook

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Republican David Valadaos lead slips to 447 votes over Democrat TJ Cox in still-undecided Central Valley House race By Mark Z. Barabak Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford), right, finds himself in an increasingly harrowing cliffhanger against Democrat TJ Cox. (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) On election night, it looked like Rep. David Valadao had survived a close shave and was destined to return to Washington for his fourth term. But on Wednesday, when Fresno County announced its latest vote totals, the Hanford Republican found himself in an increasingly harrowing cliffhanger against Democrat TJ Cox, with his lead in the Central Valley district shrunken to 447 votes. Thousands remain to be counted. Valadao, a repeated Democratic target, finished election night with a lead of nearly 4,440 votes. Cox, an engineer and a business owner who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2006, has steadily gained ground in the 21st Congressional District ever since. The trend is consistent with historic patterns showing Republicans in California tend to vote early and Democrats later, meaning their mail ballots continue to stream in past election day. Under California law, ballots postmarked up to midnight on Nov. 6 will be counted. Democrats have already picked up six House seats in California. They ousted Reps. Dana Rohrabacher, Mimi Walters, Steve Knight and Jeff Denham and won the seats of retiring Reps. Ed Royce and Darrell Issa. All six represented districts that backed Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump in 2016. Valadao was the seventh California Republican in a district Clinton won, though his previous successes  he last won reelection by a 14-point margin  suggested his ouster was a longer shot for Democrats. If Cox prevails, it would give Democrats a 40-seat gain nationwide, far more than the 23 seats needed to take control when Congress reconvenes in January. Facebook

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Trump says no new punishments against Saudi Arabia in Jamal Khashoggi murder By Eli Stokols In this Oct. 25 photo, candles are lit in front of a photo of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. (Lefteris Pitarakis) President Trump made it clear on Tuesday that he does not intend to punish Saudi Arabia or Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, an American resident killed by Saudi officials in Turkey in October. In a remarkable statement replete with exclamation points, Trump cast doubt on the CIAs reported conclusions that it has a high degree of confidence that the crown prince ordered Khashoggis murder and sent his closest allies to Saudi Arabias consulate in Istanbul to carry it out. Read MoreThis article has been updated with staff. Facebook

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Sixteen House Democrats vow to oppose Nancy Pelosi as next speaker By Mike DeBonis | Washington Post House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) Sixteen House Democrats said Monday that they will vote to deny Rep. Nancy Pelosi another stint as House speaker, a show of defiance that puts her opponents on the cusp of forcing a seismic leadership shake-up as their party prepares to take the majority. Their pledge to oppose Pelosi (D-San Francisco), both in an internal caucus election and a Jan. 3 floor vote, delivered in a letter sent to Democratic colleagues, comes as Pelosi has marshaled a legion of supporters on and off Capitol Hill to make her case. But her opponents said Monday they are convinced it is time to select a new leader. We are thankful to Leader Pelosi for her years of service to our Country and to our Caucus, they wrote. However, we also recognize that in this recent election, Democrats ran on and won on a message of change. Pelosi has expressed complete confidence that she will retake the speakers gavel in January  eight years after she lost it following massive Republican gains in the 2010 midterms and 16 years after she was first elevated to the top Democratic leadership post in the House. Come on in, the waters fine, she said Friday about a potential leadership challenge. The signers might not be able to force Pelosi out themselves. The size of the Democratic majority remains in flux, but Democrats have already won 232 seats, according to the Associated Press, with five races still undecided. All those races have Republican incumbents, but the Democratic challenger is ahead in only one of them. If the leads hold in the uncalled races, Democrats would have won 233 seats, a 16-seat majority. That means Pelosi could lose as many as 15 Democratic votes when she stands for election as speaker on Jan. 3. Read More Facebook

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Democratic senators sue over Whitakers appointment as acting attorney general By Associated Press Acting U.S. Atty. Gen. Matthew Whitaker (Nicholas Kamm / AFP/Getty Images) Three Senate Democrats filed a lawsuit Monday arguing that Acting Atty. Gen. Matthew Whitakers appointment is unconstitutional and asking a federal judge to remove him. The suit, filed by Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, argues that Whitakers appointment violates the Constitution because he has not been confirmed by the Senate. Whitaker was chief of staff to Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions and was elevated to the top job after Sessions was ousted by President Trump on Nov. 7. The Constitutions Appointments Clause requires that the Senate confirm all principal officials before they can serve in their office. The Justice Department released a legal opinion last week that said Whitakers appointment would not violate the clause because he is serving in an acting capacity. The opinion concluded that Whitaker, even without Senate confirmation, may serve in an acting capacity because he has been at the department for more than a year at a sufficiently senior pay level. President Trump is denying senators our constitutional obligation and opportunity to do our job: scrutinizing the nomination of our nations top law enforcement official, Blumenthal said in a statement. The reason is simple: Whitaker would never pass the advice and consent test. In selecting a so-called constitutional nobody and thwarting every senators constitutional duty, Trump leaves us no choice but to seek recourse through the courts. The lawsuit comes days after a Washington lawyer challenged Whitakers appointment in a pending Supreme Court case dealing with gun rights. The attorney, Thomas Goldstein, asked the high court to find that Whitakers appointment is unconstitutional and replace him with Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein. Rosenstein, the second-ranking Justice Department official, has been confirmed by the Senate and had been overseeing special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation. Whitaker is now overseeing the investigation. The Justice Department issued a statement Monday defending Whitakers appointment as lawful and said it comports with the Appointments Clause, the Federal Vacancies Reform Act and legal precedent. There are over 160 instances in American history in which non-Senate confirmed persons performed, on a temporary basis, the duties of a Senate-confirmed position, Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said. To suggest otherwise is to ignore centuries of practice and precedent. Facebook

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Gov. Rick Scott says Sen. Bill Nelson concedes Florida Senate race By Associated Press Republican Senate candidate Rick Scott speaks with his wife, Ann, by his side at an election watch party in Naples, Fla., on Nov. 7. (Wilfredo Lee / Associated Press) Floridas Republican Gov. Rick Scott says incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson called him to concede defeat in their extremely tight race. Scott issued a statement Sunday saying Nelson graciously conceded their Senate race shortly after the states recount ended. The final results show Scott defeated Nelson by just over 10,000 votes out of 8 million cast. Nelson is scheduled to release a videotaped statement later Sunday. The defeat ends Nelsons lengthy political career. The three-term incumbent was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000. Before that he served six terms in the U.S. House and as state treasurer and insurance commissioner for six years. Scott spent more than $60 million of his own money on ads that portrayed Nelson as out-of-touch and ineffective. Nelson responded by questioning Scotts ethics and saying he would be under the sway of President Trump. Facebook

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Orange County goes blue, as Democrats complete historic sweep of its seven congressional seats By Michael Finnegan Gil Cisneros defeated Republican Young Kim on Saturday in the last of Orange Countys undecided House races, giving Democrats a clean sweep of the states six most fiercely fought congressional contests and marking an epochal shift in a region long synonymous with political conservatism. With Cisneros victory, Democrats will constitute the entirety of Orange Countys seven-member congressional delegation, the first time since the 1930s that the birthplace of Richard Nixon, home of John Wayne and spiritual center of the Republican Party will have no GOP representative in the House. Sitting back in the 1960s, I would never have believed this would happen, said Stuart K. Spencer, a party strategist who spent more than half a century ushering Republicans, including President Reagan, into office. Read More Facebook

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Going, going ... with midterm wipeout, California Republican Party drifts closer to irrelevance By Michael Finnegan For a party in freefall the last two decades, California Republicans learned that its possible to plunge even further. The GOP not only lost every statewide office in the midterm election  again, in blowout fashion  but Democrats reestablished their supermajority in Sacramento, allowing them to legislate however they see fit After major defeats in Orange County and the Central Valley, two longtime strongholds, Republicans will have a significantly smaller footprint on Capitol Hill. (Democrats hold both Senate seats.) When the vote-counting is finished, the GOP may not even have enough lawmakers in Californias 53-member House delegation to field a nine-person softball team. Read More Facebook

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Congresswoman-elect Katie Porter says she will support Rep. Nancy Pelosi for speaker By Maya Sweedler Democratic Rep.-elect Katie Porter is congratulated by volunteers at her campaign headquarters in Irvine. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) Congresswoman-elect Katie Porter said she plans to support Rep. Nancy Pelosis bid for speaker of the House and will make campaign finance reform her top priority when she enters the chamber in January. Im going to continue to have conversations, but so far I feel like Leader Pelosi is definitely making the things that were a priority to the families that elected me her priorities, including announcing her support for campaign finance reform and anti-corruption as HR1, Porter said in her first public appearance since being declared the winner in Californias 45th Congressional District on Thursday evening. It means a lot to me that she is a Californian. She understands our state, Porter added. When we talk about environmental protections, this is a person who understands as a Californian how fragile our environment is and whats at risk in things like drilling off our coasts. Porter, a law professor at UC Irvine, defeated two-term Republican Rep. Mimi Walters. The 45th District, covering inland Orange County, has never been represented by a Democrat. Porter became the third Democrat to claim a Republican-held seat in Orange County, following the victories of Harley Rouda in the 48th District and Mike Levin in the 49th. A fourth, Gil Cisneros, is running slightly ahead of his Republican opponent in the race for the open seat in the 39th District, which extends into Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. Porter attributed the massive political shift in the county, for decades a conservative stronghold, to increased levels of political engagement. Folks here care about education, they care about the environment, they believe climate change is real, they want healthcare that protects preexisting conditions, they want a tax system that doesnt punish California, they want our schools and places of worship to be safe from gun violence, she said. Those are the issues we campaigned on, and to the extent that Donald Trump and Mimi Walters were on the wrong side of those issues, the voters have made clear what direction they want us to go. Porter was flying back from the East Coast when her race was called, she said. She turned on her phone to find 167 text messages from friends and supporters. Among them was Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who was one of Porters teachers in law school and with whom she has remained close. The pair spoke via FaceTime this morning, she said. Facebook

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Bitter battle for Senate seat in Florida goes to hand recount By Associated Press Employees look through damaged ballots during a recount Thursday in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Wilfredo Lee / Associated Press) Floridas acrimonious battle for the U.S. Senate headed Thursday to a legally required hand recount after an initial review by ballot-counting machines showed Republican Gov. Rick Scott and Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson separated by less than 13,000 votes. But the highly watched contest for governor between Republican Ron DeSantis and Democrat Andrew Gillum appeared to be over, with a machine recount showing DeSantis with a large enough advantage over Gillum to avoid a hand recount in that race. Gillum, who conceded the contest on election night only to retract his concession later, said in a statement that it is not over until every legally casted vote is counted. The recount so far has been fraught with problems. One large Democratic stronghold in South Florida was unable to finish its machine recount by the Thursday deadline due to machines breaking down. A federal judge rejected a request to extend the recount deadline. We gave a heroic effort, said Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher. If the county had three or four more hours, it would have made the deadline to recount ballots in the Senate race, she said. Meanwhile, election officials in another urban county in the Tampa Bay area decided against turning in the results of their machine recount, which came up with 846 fewer votes than originally counted. Media in South Florida reported that Broward County finished its machine recount but missed the deadline by a few minutes. Counties were ordered last weekend to do a machine recount of three statewide races because the margins were so tight. The next stage is a manual review of ballots that were not counted by machines to see whether there is a way to figure out voter intent. Scott called on Nelson to end the recount battle. Its time for Nelson to respect the will of the voters and graciously bring this process to an end rather than proceed with yet another count of the votes  which will yield the same result and bring more embarrassment to the state that we both love and have served, the governor said in a statement. The recount has triggered multiple lawsuits, many of them filed by Nelson and Democrats. The legal battles drew the ire of U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker, who slammed the state for repeatedly failing to anticipate election problems. He also said the state law on recounts appears to violate the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that decided the presidency in 2000. We have been the laughingstock of the world, election after election, and we chose not to fix this, Walker said during a morning hearing. Walker vented his anger at state lawmakers and Palm Beach County officials, saying they should have made sure they had enough equipment in place to handle this kind of a recount. But he said he could not extend the recount deadline because he did not know when Palm Beach County would finish its work. This court must be able to craft a remedy with knowledge that it will not prove futile, Walker wrote in his ruling turning down the request from Democrats. It cannot do so on this record. This court does not and will not fashion a remedy in the dark. The overarching problem was created by the Florida Legislature, which Walker said passed a recount law that appears to run afoul of the 2000 Bush vs. Gore decision by locking in procedures that do not allow for potential problems. A total of six election-related lawsuits are pending in federal court in Tallahassee as well at least one lawsuit filed in state court. Walker also ordered that voters be given until 5 p.m. Saturday to show a valid identification and fix their ballots if they have not been counted due to mismatched signatures. Republicans appealed the ruling, but an appeals court turned down the request. State officials testified that nearly 4,000 mailed-in ballots were set aside because local officials decided the signatures on the envelopes did not match the signatures on file. If those voters can prove their identity, their votes will be counted and included in final official returns due from each county by noon Sunday. Walker was asked by Democrats to require local officials to provide a list of people whose ballots were rejected. But the judge appointed by President Obama refused the request, calling it inappropriate. Under state law, a hand review is required with races that have a margin of 0.25 percentage points or less. A state website put the unofficial results showing Scott ahead of Nelson by 0.15 percentage points. The margin between DeSantis and Gillum was at 0.41 points. The margin between Scott and Nelson had not changed much in the last few days, conceded Marc Elias, an attorney working for Nelsons campaign. But he said that he expected the vote tally to shrink due to the hand recount and the ruling on signatures. The developments fueled frustrations among Democrats and Republicans alike. Democrats want state officials to do whatever it takes to make sure every eligible vote is counted. Republicans, including President Trump, have argued without evidence that voter fraud threatens to steal races from the GOP. Facebook

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Democrat Gil Cisneros pulls ahead of Republican Young Kim as more votes are tallied in Orange and San Bernardino counties By Michael Finnegan Congressional candidate Gil Cisneros (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) Democrat Gil Cisneros pulled ahead of Republican Young Kim in one of Californias undecided congressional races Thursday, an ominous sign for a GOP already reeling from its loss of four House seats in the state. In updated vote counts released by the registrars for Orange and San Bernardino counties, Kim fell 941 votes behind Cisneros in the contest to succeed Republican Rep. Ed Royce in Californias 39th Congressional District. The 39th straddles Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Orange counties. In another unresolved House race, Democrat Katie Porter pulled further ahead of Republican incumbent Mimi Walters in the 45th District, which includes Mission Viejo, Tustin, Irvine, Rancho Santa Margarita and Laguna Hills. Porter, a consumer attorney and UC Irvine law professor, is now 6,203 votes ahead. The Nov. 6 midterm election has been devastating to Republicans in California. If Cisneros and Porter win, the party will have lost six of its 14 House seats in the state, essentially a wipeout in every contest that both parties spent heavily to win. The three Republicans already bounced from Congress are Reps. Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa, Steve Knight of Palmdale and Jeff Denham of Turlock in the San Joaquin Valley. Democrat Mike Levin won the seat of retiring GOP Rep. Darrell Issa of Vista in the fourth district flipped so far. Facebook

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Florida Senate race likely headed to second recount By Associated Press A Palm Beach County Sheriffs deputy walks past boxes of ballots before a recount on Nov. 15 in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Wilfredo Lee) Unofficial Florida election results show that the governors race seems to be settled after a machine recount but the U.S. Senate race is likely headed to a hand recount. Republican Ron DeSantis is virtually assured of winning the nationally watched governors race over Democrat Andrew Gillum. Florida finished a machine recount Thursday that showed Gillum without enough votes to force a manual recount. Unofficial results posted on a state website show the margin between U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and Gov. Rick Scott is still thin enough to trigger a second review. State law requires a hand recount of races with a margin of 0.25 percentage point or less. Counties have until Sunday to inspect the ballots that did not record a vote when put through the machines. Those ballots are re-examined to see whether the voter skipped the race or marked the ballot in a way that the machines cannot read but can be deciphered. The election will be certified Tuesday. Read More Facebook

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Pelosi says she has the votes to become the next House speaker By John Wagner Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi speaks during a news conference in Washington on Nov. 14. (Susan Walsh) House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi insisted Thursday that she has the votes to become the chambers speaker despite solid opposition from more than a dozen Democrats who want fresh leadership when the party takes control next year. I have overwhelming support in my caucus to be speaker of the House, the San Francisco lawmaker told reporters. I happen to think at this point, Im the best person for that. A vote within the Democratic caucus is scheduled for Nov. 28. The full House votes on Jan. 3 to elect a new speaker. During her remarks, Pelosi touted the size of the Democratic victory in the midterms, which she called almost a tsunami. With a few races still to be decided, Democrats are poised to pick up close to 40 seats in the chamber. Pelosi called that the biggest victory for the Democrats since 1974, when the Watergate babies came in. Pelosis comments come as she faces solid opposition from at least 17 Democrats, setting the stage for a battle over who will ascend to one of the most powerful positions in Washington. After a campaign in which some Democrats prevailed in competitive districts by promising to oppose her, a coalition of incumbents and newly elected members has denied her a smooth path to the speakership. The defections, if they stand, would leave Pelosi, who has led the Democrats for more than 15 years, several votes short of the 218 she would need when the full House votes for speaker Jan. 3. However, no Democrat has stepped forward to run against her for a job she held from 2007 through 2010. Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) told reporters Wednesday that shes being encouraged to stand for speaker if Pelosi doesnt have the votes. In an interview with the Washington Post on Thursday, she said she has been overwhelmed by the support from many of her colleagues for her possible entry into the race for House speaker. Over the last 12 hours, Ive been overwhelmed by the amount of support Ive received, Fudge said, adding that there are probably closer to 30" Democrats who have privately signaled that they are willing to oppose Pelosi. Things could change rapidly, Fudge said. Fudge, 66, a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, said she is building a diverse coalition as she mulls a speaker run, talking with allies in the caucus, moderate Democrats and newly elected members. To this point, Pelosi has enjoyed the strong backing of the Congressional Black Caucus. On Thursday, Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), one of its members, wrote a letter to colleagues praising her insight, fortitude and strategic thinking and urging support for her speakership bid. Former Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr., an African American who is contemplating a 2020 presidential bid, also voiced support for Pelosi, praising her in a tweet as an architect of the recent midterm success. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), a leader of the resistance to Pelosi, said during an interview on CNN on Thursday that Fudge is the kind of new leader that we need in this party. Shes in touch with middle America. She understands what the American people want. Shes a next-generation leader that people will look to and say, Thats the future of our party, thats the future of our country, and thats exactly the kind of leader that I want to see as our next speaker. Wagner reports for the Washington Post. The Posts Robert Costa, Erica Werner, Mike DeBonis, Paul Kane and Elise Viebeck contributed to this report. Facebook

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GOP Rep. Jeff Denham concedes to Democrat Josh Harder in Central Valley race By Maya Sweedler Rep. Jeff Denham (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) Republican Rep. Jeff Denham has conceded to Democrat Josh Harder in the race to represent Californias 10th Congressional District in the San Joaquin Valley. It has been an absolute honor to serve our community and represent the Central Valley in Congress over the past eight years, the 51-year-old congressman said. The enormity of the responsibility was never lost on me. My wife Sonia and I look forward to starting the next chapter of our lives. Harder said he had spoken with Denham and the two were committed to a productive transition. Denham, an Air Force veteran, previously represented the region in the state Senate for eight years and founded a company specializing in plastic packaging used in agriculture. While a member of Congress, he sat on the Transportation and Infrastructure, Veterans Affairs and Agriculture committees. First-time candidate Harder was born and raised in the district. After graduating from Stanford University, he served as vice president of a Silicon Valley venture capital firm. Since moving back, he has been teaching at Modesto Junior College. Denhams House seat is one of four in California that Republicans lost in the Nov. 6 election, with two contests in Orange County still undecided as of Thursday morning. Jeff Denham called me this morning and we had a very productive conversation. I'm honored that I've been chosen to serve our community in Congress, and we're both looking forward to a productive transition that best serves the people of District 10.  Josh Harder (@JoshHarder) November 14, 2018 Facebook

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Democrat Katie Porter now nearly 3,800 votes ahead of GOP Rep. Mimi Walters By Maya Sweedler Rep. Mimi Walters thanks all of her supporters as she watches election results in Irvine on Nov. 7, 2018. (Alex Gallardo / Associated Press) Democrat Katie Porter opened a 3,797-vote lead Wednesday over Republican Rep. Mimi Walters in Orange Countys 45th Congressional District. In the neighboring 39th, Democrat Gil Cisneros has nearly tied the race against Republican Young Kim. Cisneros now trails Kim by a razor-thin margin of 122 votes. The 39th District straddles Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties; Wednesdays updated ballot counts came from the latter two. There are more than 202,000 ballots left to count in Orange County, which includes parts of seven congressional districts. The 45th is entirely in inland Orange County. In California, the ballots counted first tend to lean Republican and those tallied later skew Democratic. In the Central Valleys 21st Congressional District, Democratic challenger TJ Cox has pulled within 2 percentage points of Rep. David Valadao, who is serving his third term. The Associated Press had projected a win for Valadao on election night, but his 4,839-vote advantage has shrunk to 2,090. Back in CA-21, Valadao (R) wins a batch of ballots from his stronghold in Kings Co., but by a considerably smaller margin (14 points) than his previous ~30-point margin in the county. We're moving to Lean R from Likely R; today a bit scary for Valadao.https://t.co/WqJVUVkqGW  Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) November 15, 2018 A spokesman for Valadao told the Fresno Bee that the changes were expected and that [s]tatistically, David Valadao has won this race. Democrats in California have already flipped four House seats, defeating three Republican incumbents and claiming an open seat previously held by the GOP. Reps. Steve Knight of Palmdale, Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa and Jeff Denham of Turlock have already lost their races, and retiring Rep. Darrell Issas San Diego County seat was claimed by Democrat Mike Levin. Facebook

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Trump aide departs West Wing after rebuke from Melania Trump By Associated Press First Lady Melania Trump. (Alain Jocard / AFP-Getty Images) Deputy national security advisor Mira Ricardel is leaving the White House, one day after First Lady Melania Trumps office issued an extraordinary statement calling for her dismissal. No replacement was named. Aides said Ricardel clashed with the first ladys staff over her visit to Africa last month. Yet it is highly unusual for a first lady or her office to weigh in on personnel matters, especially the presidents national security staff. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Ricardel would have a new role in the administration. On Tuesday, Stephanie Grisham, the first ladys spokeswoman, released a statement saying, It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that she no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House. President Trumps White House has set records for administration turnover. Ricardel was the third person to hold the post under Trump. An ally of national security advisor John Bolton, Ricardel began her service in the Trump administration as associate director in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, then moved to the Commerce Department last year. Bolton brought her into the West Wing shortly after taking the job in April. He is traveling in Asia this week alongside Vice President Mike Pence. Facebook

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Race for House Minority Leader is Kevin McCarthys to lose By Associated Press (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy is running to take over next years shrunken caucus in closed-door elections that will set the tone for the new Congress. The race for minority leader is McCarthys to lose Wednesday. But the California Republican, who is an ally of President Trump, must fend off a challenge from conservative Jim Jordan of Ohio. Jordan is a leader of the House Freedom Caucus. The two encountered questions and finger-pointing during a private meeting with lawmakers Tuesday night as the GOP sorted through the midterm defeat that put Democrats in the majority next year. Elections Wednesday will also determine party leadership in the Senate. Voting for the biggest race, Nancy Pelosis bid to return as the Democrats nominee for speaker, is later this month. Read More Facebook

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Melania Trump calls for the firing of deputy national security advisor By Justin Sink First Lady Melania Trump arrives at the Chateau de Versailles outside Paris on Nov. 11. (Alain Jocard / AFP/Getty Images ) First Lady Melania Trumps office said she wants Mira Ricardel, the deputy national security advisor, ousted from the White House. It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that she no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House, Trumps spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, said in a statement in response to a question about reports the first lady had sought Ricardels removal. Ricardel is the top deputy to national security advisor John Bolton. She drew the first ladys wrath after threatening to withhold National Security Council resources during Melania Trumps trip to Africa last month unless Ricardel was included in her entourage, one person familiar with the matter said. Grishams statement comes as several media outlets have reported that President Trump is considering a broader shakeup of his administration, including ousting Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. Sink and Jacobs report for Bloomberg. Read More Facebook

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CNN sues Trump over the suspension of Jim Acostas White House press credentials By Jim Puzzanghera CNN said Tuesday that it is suing President Trump and other administration officials over the decision to suspend the White House press credentials of correspondent Jim Acosta after a conflict at a news conference last week. The suit, to be filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, escalates an ongoing battle between Trump and the cable news outlet that he frequently accuses of disseminating fake news for its aggressive coverage of him and his administration. The wrongful revocation of these credentials violates CNN and Acostas 1st Amendment rights of freedom of the press, and their 5th Amendment rights to due process, CNN said in a written statement. If left unchallenged, the actions of the White House would create a dangerous chilling effect for any journalist who covers our elected officials. Read More Facebook

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Maxine Waters to take aim at Wells Fargo and Deutsche Bank as new head of House Financial Services Committee By Jim Puzzanghera Rep. Maxine Waters plans to zero in on two big banks  Wells Fargo & Co. and Deutsche Bank  when she becomes head of the powerful House Financial Services Committee. The Los Angeles congresswoman, now the committees top Democrat, is widely expected to gain the gavel after her party won control of the House in last weeks elections. While Waters has outlined a wide-ranging agenda, she said her focus on bank oversight will target two large institutions she has been tangling with for a while  including one, Deutsche Bank, that spills into her bitter feud with President Trump. With Trump in the White House, I know that our fight for Americas consumers and investors will continue to be challenging. But I am more than up to that fight, Waters wrote in a letter last week to her Democratic colleagues on the committee that was obtained by The Times. Read More Facebook

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Heres how a controversial voting system will decide a congressional race in Maine By Kurtis Lee For the first time in U.S. history, a controversial voting system known as ranked choice is being used to decide a federal election. Its happening in Maine, which adopted the system in 2016. Rather than marking a single candidate, each voter ranks them all, assigning a first-place vote, a second-place vote and so on down the ballot. Read More Facebook

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ACLU files suit to stop Trumps new asylum limits By Associated Press A group of Central American migrants march to the office of the U.N.'s humans rights body in Mexico City on Nov. 8. (Rebecca Blackwell / Associated Press) The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a legal challenge to President Trumps order denying asylum to migrants if they cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. The lawsuit was filed Friday in federal court in San Francisco and argues the new rules are against the law. Attorney Lee Gelernt said the regulations will put families in danger. The suit seeks to declare the regulations invalid and wants a judge to stop the rules from going into effect while the litigation is pending. The new rules were spurred in part by caravans of Central American migrants slowly moving north on foot, but officials say they will apply to anyone caught crossing illegally. Officials say about 70,000 people who enter the country illegally claim asylum. The order invoked the same national security powers Trump used to push through his travel ban. Read More Facebook

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Trump on new acting AG: I dont know Matt Whitaker By Associated Press President Trump talks with reporters before departing for France on the South Lawn of the White House on Nov. 9. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) President Trump is moving to distance himself from Matthew Whitaker as he faces criticism over his choice for acting attorney general. Trump told reporters Friday that I dont know Matt Whitaker and said he didnt speak with Whitaker about special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation. Whitaker has made public comments critical of Muellers investigation, and critics have called on Whitaker to recuse himself from oversight of the inquiry. Under former Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions, the investigation was overseen by Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein. Of the scrutiny Whitaker is facing, Trump said: Its a shame that no matter who I put in they go after. He also called Whitaker a very highly respected man. Whitaker was Sessions chief of staff before Trump made him Sessions interim replacement. Facebook

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Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg out of hospital after fall By Associated Press The Supreme Court says 85-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is home after being released from the hospital. She had been admitted for treatment and observation after fracturing three ribs in a fall. The court said Ginsburg was released Friday. Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg says she is doing well and working from home. The court had previously said the justice fell in her office at the court on Wednesday evening and went to George Washington University Hospital in Washington early Thursday after experiencing discomfort overnight. Ginsburg broke two ribs in a fall in 2012. She had two prior bouts with cancer and had a stent implanted to open a blocked artery in 2014. Facebook

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Gun-control activist Lucy McBath defeats GOP Rep. Karen Handel in Georgia By Associated Press Lucy McBath speaks during a rally for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams on Nov. 2 at Morehouse College in Atlanta. (Alyssa Pointer / Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) Democratic gun-control activist Lucy McBath has defeated Republican Rep. Karen Handel of Georgia in a suburban congressional district long considered safe for the GOP. Handel had to seek reelection after winning her seat last year in a close special election race against Democrat Jon Ossoff. McBath became an advocate for stricter gun laws after her son, Jordan Davis, was fatally shot at a Florida gas station in 2012 by a man angry over loud music the teenager and his friends were playing in a car. McBaths margin of victory was narrow enough for Handel to have requested a recount. The Associated Press declared McBath the winner Thursday after Handel conceded. Handel conceded in a statement Thursday morning, stating that after reviewing all of the election data, its clear she came up a bit short in Tuesdays vote. Handel congratulated McBath, offering good thoughts and much prayer for the journey that lies ahead for her. McBath, who is African American, declared victory Wednesday. Facebook

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Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg hospitalized after fracturing 3 ribs in fall By Associated Press Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press) The Supreme Court says 85-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg fractured three ribs in a fall in her office at the court and is in the hospital. The court says the justice went to George Washington University Hospital in Washington early Thursday after experiencing discomfort overnight. The court says the fall occurred Wednesday evening. Ginsburg was admitted to the hospital for treatment and observation after tests showed she fractured three ribs. Ginsburg broke two ribs in a fall in 2012. She has had two prior bouts with cancer and had a stent implanted to open a blocked artery in 2014. Facebook

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White House suspends press pass of CNNs Jim Acosta after heated exchange with Trump By Associated Press The White House on Wednesday suspended the press pass of CNN correspondent Jim Acosta after he and President Trump had a heated confrontation during a news conference. They began sparring after Acosta asked Trump about the caravan of migrants heading from Latin America to the southern U.S. border. When Acosta tried to follow up with another question, Trump said, Thats enough! and a female White House aide unsuccessfully tried to grab the microphone from Acosta. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders released a statement accusing Acosta of placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern, calling it absolutely unacceptable. The interaction between Acosta and the intern was brief, and Acosta appeared to brush her arm as she reached for the microphone and he tried to hold onto it. Pardon me, maam, he told her. Acosta tweeted that Sanders statement that he put his hands on the aide was a lie. CNN said in a statement that the White House revoked Acostas press pass in retaliation for his challenging questions Wednesday, and the network accused Sanders of lying about Acostas actions. This conduct is absolutely unacceptable. It is also completely disrespectful to the reporters colleagues not to allow them an opportunity to ask a question. President Trump has given the press more access than any President in history.  Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) November 8, 2018 Contrary to CNNs assertions there is no greater demonstration of the Presidents support for a free press than the event he held today. Only they would attack the President for not supporting a free press in the midst of him taking 68 questions from 35 different reporters...  Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) November 8, 2018 As a result of todays incident, the White House is suspending the hard pass of the reporter involved until further notice.  Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) November 8, 2018 Sanders provided fraudulent accusations and cited an incident that never happened. This unprecedented decision is a threat to our democracy and the country deserves better, CNN said. Jim Acosta has our full support. Journalists assigned to cover the White House apply for passes that allow them daily access to press areas in the West Wing. White House staffers decide whether journalists are eligible, though the Secret Service determines whether their applications are approved. Facebook

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Trump spars with reporters at post-election news briefing, ordering several to sit down By Associated Press  President Trump assails CNNs Jim Acosta at a White House news conference. President Trump sparred with reporters at his post-election news conference, ordering several to sit down and telling another hes a rude, terrible person. He told another reporter hes not a fan of yours, either. The presidents mood turned sour Wednesday after reporters pressed him on why he referred to a migrant caravan making its way to the U.S. on foot through Mexico as an invasion. Trump ramped up his anti-immigrant rhetoric against the caravan in the final days of the midterm elections. Trump was also pressed on why his campaign aired an ad featuring a Mexican immigrant convicted of killing American police officers and linking the mans actions to the caravan. Several television networks pulled the ad after airing it or declined to air it at all. Facebook

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Im living one hour at a time at this point By Christine Mai-Duc Republican congressional candidate Young Kim and gubernatorial candidate John Cox campaign in Rowland Heights. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) Republican congressional candidate Young Kim greeted gubernatorial candidate John Coxs giant campaign bus, the words HELP IS ON THE WAY emblazoned across it, as it rolled into the parking lot outside her Rowland Heights field office. Standing beside Cox on Saturday, Kim predicted that a string of GOP victories Tuesday would start with voters repealing the gas tax hike. Can you imagine Gavin Newsom being our governor? Can you imagine Gil Cisneros being your representative? Kim asked the crowd, to loud boos and cries of Nooo! The former state assemblywoman who worked for retiring Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) is vying for his seat with Democrat Gil Cisneros. She led the crowd in chants of Enough is enough! and, though short-lived, Drain the swamp! Ive served you in Sacramento and Ive seen dysfunction personally, Kim continued. We cannot continue that route. She urged her supporters to stay and help make phone calls or walk neighborhoods. Lets get out there  the 72 hours is really critical. Its all going to come down to a few votes, it could be your vote, she said pointing to her left, then pivoting right, it could be your vote. So dont sit back and do nothing. Every night I go to sleep thinking, OK, how many more votes can I get or how many more people can I call tomorrow? Kim said. It can be physically exhausting but Im mentally, emotionally very energized. She listed off her events so far that day  and the next one she was heading to. Thats just what I can remember, she said. Im living one hour at a time at this point. Kims campaign invited press to two of her events on Saturday. After she was whisked away to her next event  a high tea fundraiser in Walnut, a couple dozen volunteers remained. John Freeman, a statewide field manager for the state Republican Party, tried to pump them up. This is the Super Bowl. Were not in an NFL stadium, were not getting paid millions of dollars, but you know what? Freeman said. Were walking on the field right now. This is that high-stakes-level game. Facebook

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Its going to be tough out there Democratic candidate Katie Porter speaks to volunteers in Mission Viejo. Jon Bauman, Bowzer from the band Sha Na Na, is in the background. (Victoria Kim / Los Angeles Times ) Judging from the cheers in the crowd, about half those assembled at Katie Porters campaign headquarters in Mission Viejo Sunday morning were old enough to remember 70s rock n roll star Bowzer from the band Sha Na Na. Jon Bauman, as Bowzer is known off stage, said it was her position on senior issues including retirement and social security that has him out supporting Porter over her opponent, incumbent Rep. Mimi Walters. I want you to make sure every phone is called and every door is knocked, he told the crowd of about 80 volunteers. There has never been a more important election. Both Bauman and his nephew, California Democratic Party Chairman Eric Bauman, were interrupted by yells from Trump supporters coming from an adjoining hillside. We love Trump, the voice cried out. We love him too, he makes great fodder, the younger Bauman retorted, before introducing Porter. Porter, a UC Irvine law professor and first-time candidate, acknowledged the uphill battle some of her canvassers might face in this more conservative end of the long-red Orange County district. I know its going to be tough out there, she said, motioning to the hillside. But she said the attacks meant the other side viewed her campaign as a significant threat. This election is going to be close, she said. If we dont fight all the way to the finish line, until 8 oclock on Tuesday, this could slip away. Bowzer then took to a keyboard piano to lead the crowd in a reworded rendition of the song Good Night Sweetheart: Good night, Mimi Walters, he crooned. A woman in a black tank top, jeans and flip flops holding a cup of coffee later joined the crowd with her two sons, 17 and 14, the younger one wearing a Trump 2016 T-shirt. She declined to give her name, saying she was concerned about being attacked, but said she lived up the hill and said she had been the one yelling. She said she was encouraging her sons to talk to people on both sides and make up their own minds. We need to have a government that runs the way government teachers are telling kids its supposed to be run, said the woman, a retired registered dental assistant who voted early for Mimi Walters. Referring to Democrats, she said: Theyve had control over all these years and Californias gone to crap. Among those canvassing was Stacie Campbell, 37, who was at the launch with her husband Jerome and three children, the youngest of whom was 2 months old. Campbell, a Mission Viejo resident who runs a business, had never canvassed or volunteered for campaigns before, and her husband is a French citizen and unable to vote. She said they had been talking to their children  the older ones are 5 and 2  about the presidency and the government since Trumps election. Together, they worked on homemade Katie Porter lawn signs and put them up around town. This is the first time its felt like a big deal and there isnt a president up for election, she said. Because her city is a mix of conservatives and liberals  her next-door neighbor is an NRA-supporting Republican  she the race felt mPresident Trump on Saturday celebrated the abrupt firing of Andrew McCabe from the FBI as a great day for Democracy and a victory in his battle with the special counsel leading the Russia investigation that has overshadowed the White House.

But Trumps problems with McCabe may be just beginning.

Unleashed by his Friday night dismissal, the former FBI deputy director issued a furious rebuttal  and made clear he kept contemporaneous memos that support former FBI Director James B. Comeys claims that Trump pressed him to call off at least part of the Russia probe  accounts Trump has denied.

Brusque firings and sudden resignations have become a blood sport in the Trump era, with the president stoking the chaos with scornful tweets. Trump unceremoniously fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson with a Twitter post Tuesday, and White House officials last week warned that national security advisor H.R. McMaster is on his way out.

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But the seeming cruelty of McCabes last-minute firing  barely 26 hours before he turned 50 and planned to take his pension for 21 years of service at the FBI  sparked special outrage among otherwise sober-minded national security and law enforcement veterans.

When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history, John Brennan, who headed the CIA from 2013 to 2017, wrote in a tweet directed to Trump. You may scapegoat Andy McCabe, but you will not destroy America  America will triumph over you.

When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history. You may scapegoat Andy McCabe, but you will not destroy America...America will triumph over you. https://t.co/uKppoDbduj  John O. Brennan (@JohnBrennan) March 17, 2018

The race to kick McCabe out before he could retire violates any sense of decency and basic principles of fairness, said Michael R. Bromwich, McCabes lawyer and a former Justice Department inspector general.

He said pressure from Trump and his allies had pushed Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions to fire McCabe, and the disciplinary process was rushed in little more than a week  far more quickly than normal.

McCabe clearly is not going out quietly. Like Comey, he kept detailed notes of his three meetings with Trump, according to a person familiar with McCabes actions, as well as his conversations with Comey before Trump fired him last May.

The McCabe memos could become crucial evidence in the Russia investigation led by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. His team is seeking to determine whether Trump obstructed justice, a potential crime, by trying to pressure Comey and others to influence or block an ongoing FBI investigation.

The notes also could bolster McCabes credibility about his interactions with Trump since Sessions sacked him on allegations of making false statements during an internal inquiry into whether he had authorized two FBI officials to brief a reporter about an unrelated investigation.

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The existence of the McCabe memos was first reported by the Associated Press.

In his scathing rebuttal, McCabe portrayed himself as a victim of a partisan smear campaign led by Trumps tweets  and suggested that he has eyewitness evidence about whether Comey or Trump is telling the truth.

Here is the reality: I am being singled out and treated this way because of the role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of James Comey, McCabe wrote.

He said Trump had sought to discredit him as part of this administrations ongoing war on the FBI and the efforts of the special counsel investigation.

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McCabe said an inquiry into his actions was fast-tracked at the Justice Department after he gave closed-door testimony to the House Intelligence Committee in December that backed Comeys account of his meetings with Trump.

But Trump launched a sweeping new attack Saturday, suggesting that his enemies were burrowed across the federal government. There was tremendous leaking, lying and corruption at the highest levels of the FBI, Justice & State, he wrote on Twitter.

As the House Intelligence Committee has concluded, there was no collusion between Russia and the Trump Campaign. As many are now finding out, however, there was tremendous leaking, lying and corruption at the highest levels of the FBI, Justice & State. #DrainTheSwamp  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2018

A Trump lawyer, John Dowd, called on Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein, who oversees Muellers investigation, to follow the brilliant and courageous example of Sessions in firing McCabe and bring an end to alleged Russia collusion investigation.

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Dowd initially told the Daily Beast he was speaking for the president but later said he made the statement on his own.

Either way, it suggested a far more combative approach by Trumps legal team days after it was reported that Mueller had issued a subpoena in recent weeks seeking records from the Trump Organization, the umbrella group that holds the presidents businesses.

Trumps lawyers previously insisted they were offering full cooperation with Muellers team, highlighting their willingness to turn over documents and make White House officials available for interviews without subpoenas.

While Trump and his lawyers have consistently denied collusion with Moscow, they have occasionally struggled to speak with one voice on the Russia case. Dowd previously sparked controversy when he suggested Trump could not obstruct justice because the president is too powerful and controls the Justice Department.

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Dowd also belatedly claimed to have written a Trump tweet that suggested the president knew his former national security advisor, Michael Flynn, had lied to FBI investigators when he fired Flynn in early 2017. The tweet had raised awkward questions for the White House of what Trump knew about the Russia case at the time.

McCabe first came into the public eye last year after the Justice Department inspector general began a wide-ranging inquiry into whether the FBI mishandled a 2016 investigation into Hillary Clintons use of a private server for government emails while she was secretary of State, and a separate probe into the Clinton Foundation, a charity.

As FBI deputy director, McCabe supervised those investigations, which concluded without criminal charges. But he had authorized two FBI officials to talk to a Wall Street Journal reporter about the Clinton Foundation investigation, a potential violation of department rules because the investigation was still underway.

McCabe made false statements to the inspector general under oath, Sessions said in a Justice Department statement late Friday announcing McCabes dismissal.

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In his statement, McCabe said he answered questions truthfully and as accurately as I could amidst the chaos that surrounded me. He also said that as deputy director, he was fully authorized to share information with reporters.

McCabes testimony to the House Intelligence Committee made him a lightning rod in the partisan squabble over the so-called Steele dossier, opposition research on Trumps dealings with Russia that was collected by a former British spy then working for a Washington firm hired by the Democrats.

In a declassified memo last month, Republicans on the committee wrote that McCabe had testified that the dossier was key to obtaining a surveillance warrant on a former member of Trumps campaign.

But McCabe said the Republican memo misrepresents his testimony.

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Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), the committees top Democrat, said in an interview Saturday that McCabe answered a very awkward, convoluted question about the dossier. He urged the Republican majority, which has concluded its inquiry, to release transcripts of McCabes interviews.

Schiff said McCabe had confirmed Comeys claims about Trump to the committee, and said the presidents tweets had left a foul taint on the firing.

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) said Sessions should appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee to explain whether this is an attempt to target, punish or silence those investigating Russia and the Trump campaign.

But McCabes ouster drew praise from some Republicans. Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said more investigations are needed to root out the problems in the FBI.

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joseph.tanfani@latimes.com

Twitter: @jtanfani

chris.megerian@latimes.com

Twitter: @chrismegerianThere are fewer than 80 days until the California midterm primaries that might set up Democrats to reclaim control of the House.

The contests in California are essential for the party, which has based its strategy on winning at least a few of the Republican-held districts in the state that backed Hillary Clinton for president.



For the record: An earlier version of this article stated that Democrat Mike Levin received the partys endorsement in the race to replace Rep. Darrell Issa. He came closest in the vote on an endorsement, but did not win it.

With the candidate lists finalized and the campaigns chugging along, here are some important things to know about the races:

Californias top-two primary system could lock Democrats out of some races after June

Despite pleas from the state and national party, only a handful of Democrats bowed out before the candidate filing deadline, setting up a potential nightmare scenario for the party.

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A crowded Democratic field means most candidates will get only a small portion of the vote. That, coupled with the entry of a handful of Republican challengers into already crowded races, means there is a legitimate possibility that no Democrat would make it into the top two in some of the June primary races. (In California, the top two vote-getters advance to the November general election regardless of party.)

The volume of candidates from both parties is a particular problem for Democrats in their quest to flip three crucial Orange County-area districts that chose Clinton for president and have over 50 House candidates among them.

For example, in the district held by retiring Rep. Ed Royce of Fullerton, the field of 20 candidates includes nine Democrats and seven Republicans. The field is similarly flooded with candidates from both parties in the nearby district of Rep. Darrell Issa, who also is retiring, and Rep. Dana Rohrabachers coastal district.

Though voter registration numbers are slowly moving in Democrats favor, most Orange County districts still lean Republican, making it more likely that two Republicans could split the biggest chunks of the vote and leave Democrats behind.

Few of the Democrats have ever been on a ballot

The Democratic field is made up almost entirely of political novices who say they were inspired to run by the election of President Trump.

In vulnerable Republican Rep. Mimi Walters 45th District, all four Democrats on the ballot are running for office for the first time.

First-time candidates have to work harder to build name recognition and raise money, two things that are difficult even when there arent several other Democrats running. They have less than three months to break away from the crowd and hope voters are in the mood for nontraditional candidates.

Meanwhile, Republicans such as Scott Baugh, a former Orange County party chairman who decided to run at the last minute against Rohrabacher, and Ted Howze, a former Turlock city councilman who is running against Rep. Jeff Denham in the Central Valley, are well-known in local circles and have a web of donors to tap. They also wont have to answer for Trumps most controversial actions the way incumbent Republicans may be forced to do.

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Endorsements arent a sign of party unity

State Democrats had hoped to use their endorsement process to narrow the focus to one challenger per House district. But it didnt work out that way.

In a handful of the prominent races, activists were so split that the party made no endorsement at all, preventing it from directing money to any candidate in those races.

Even some candidates who eked out enough votes at the state convention to get a party endorsement arent getting full support.

Three California House Democrats have backed Harley Rouda, a Democrat running against Rohrabacher in Orange County, even though opponent Hans Keirstead narrowly won the state partys endorsement.

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Democrat Mike Levin came closest to receiving the partys endorsement in the race to replace Issa, but several local Democratic clubs have voted to rate him unacceptable and asked the Congressional Progressive Caucus to rescind its endorsement.

Democrats are reaching for heavily Republican districts, and they are excited about their strategy

Targeted but not particularly vulnerable Republicans will face a number of motivated opponents in the primary as Democrats hope to take advantage of a possible Democratic wave.

Four Democrats have filed to run against Rep. Tom McClintock of Elk Grove and three against Rep. Devin Nunes of Tulare. They may be hoping to mimic part of the strategy one Democrat used on his way to a strong performance in a special House election for a Pennsylvania district that Trump won. That candidate focused on ambivalence about the GOP tax bill and worked to capitalize on anti-Trump energy.

Democrats still have a questionable chance of winning these seats, though some of them have raised more money than the Republican incumbents. Trump won both districts handily, and McClintock and Nunes won reelection by even wider margins.

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Democratic incumbents arent in much trouble

Republicans have identified a handful of Democratic incumbents they will try to oust even as the GOP mostly goes on the defensive this year.

Although Republican opponents have signed up to run in all of the races, no candidates were strong enough to convince election handicappers that Democrats should worry, and theyre at the bottom of a Times ranking of the toughest races.

See The Times ranking of the hottest House races 

In a typical year, Republican challengers in swing seats could count on getting a lot of help. But with so many seats to defend around the nation, the GOP will be careful to spend time and money where it can do the most good, so Californias Republican challengers are probably on their own.

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sarah.wire@latimes.com | Twitter: @sarahdwire

christine.maiduc@latimes.com | Twitter: @cmaiducFew ballot measures have ever been more resoundingly embraced by Californians than Proposition 2, the 2014 constitutional amendment championed by Gov. Jerry Brown requiring that more state tax money be put aside for rough economic times.

But theres some surprising analysis now being shared inside the state Capitol: The proposition that won 69% of the vote could have the surprising effect of limiting how much cash gets stockpiled for easing the budget cutbacks inevitable in the next recession.

In short, its about trust. If only voters believed the California Legislature would do the right thing, they would give lawmakers more flexibility in governing the state and would impose fewer rules through the ballot box.

Proposition 2 was just such a rule, a governing two-fer that increased the size of the state budgets rainy-day reserve fund while also creating a new mandate for paying off government debt. Proposition 2 sets aside money to prepare us for economic storms, Brown said in a TV ad during the 2014 campaign.

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Column: Heres why so many Democrats are lining up to oppose Prop. 70 

It also sets a firm cap on how much cash can be held in reserve  no more than 10% of Californias general fund tax collections. At that point, Proposition 2 sends earmarked cash not to a savings account but to infrastructure projects. That spending certainly has benefits, but its the kind of mandate that hinders flexibility in responding to the specifics of a crisis.

And this spring, those rules matter. Brown has proposed using $3.5 billion in surplus tax revenue to top off the rainy-day reserve fund ahead of schedule. If lawmakers sign off on his plan, the mandatory infrastructure payments will begin next year and would probably continue into the foreseeable future, even if the economy slows and budget deficits return.

A report almost two weeks ago by the nonpartisan Legislative Analysts Office predicted Browns eagerness to overpay into the rainy-day fund could trigger almost $2.9 billion of infrastructure spending over the first three years. In previous crisis times, thats the kind of money that would go toward shielding services such as child care or higher education.

The growing fear in Sacramento of an economic downturn in the near future makes this a discussion worth having. Given the fine print of Proposition 2, theres only one shot at deciding what to do with the $3.5 billion in extra tax revenues.

The analysts report suggests that the Legislature consider rejecting Browns proposal, and instead place the surplus cash in a different, more flexible reserve account while making only the required payment to the Proposition 2 fund. That way, the thinking goes, lawmakers could possibly end up with $1 billion more in emergency cash in the event of a budget deficit.

None of the existing options would fully fill the hole that even a modest recession would create. That said, write the analysts, these reserves would still buy the Legislature considerable time as it made other choices to confront such a budgetary challenge.

To do this, though, legislative leaders will have to confront Brown and challenge his reputation for being the most frugal, prudent Democrat in Sacramento. Theyve privately grumbled in recent years about how little credit has been given to the Legislature. Objecting to the governors plan for this years cash surplus could provide lawmakers the chance to prove that hes not the only politician whos eager to plan for the worst.

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john.myers@latimes.com

Follow @johnmyers on Twitter, sign up for our daily Essential Politics newsletter and listen to the weekly California Politics Podcast

ALSO:

Updates on California politicsWhat kind of suicidal fool goes swimming with a giant shark? Well, I did, actually. And I still have all four limbs.

The whale shark, found off southern Baja California, grows up to 50 feet long. It is unquestionably the biggest shark on the planet, greater than the great white and bigger than the hammerhead.

Fortunately for me, this sea monster has no teeth.

The whale shark is one of the few species of shark that is a filter feeder. It subsists on plankton, krill and other animals and plants that drift through the ocean.

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I kept this happy fact in mind as I set out one clear November morning on a tarp-topped motorboat bound for the Bay of La Paz, the monster fishs favorite feeding ground.

I was one of five tourists who had signed up for a half-day snorkeling excursion with Mar y Aventuras/Sea & Adventures, a family-run tour operator in La Paz. There was no backing out, at least not with my pride intact.

These sharks eat plankton, not people, Benjamin, our guide, told us as our boat charged into the bay. You have nothing to worry about.

But I did worry. A lot.

A whale shark and human are seen from below in the Sea of Cortez off La Paz, Mexico. (Fideicomiso de Turismo de Baja California )

The whale sharks head is broad and flat, with a somewhat truncated snout, and an immense mouth, Encyclopedia Britannica told me.

Even if I didnt get eaten, surely it was possible to be swallowed whole like some unfortunate modern-day Jonah.

My fretting was interrupted with a piercing cry.

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Look, Benjamin shouted as he pointed to a massive dorsal fin swishing through the water just yards from the boat. Lets go.

All five of us clambered toward the side, pulling on flippers and life jackets. Laura, a high school student from Colorado, didnt seem flustered. She strapped on her snorkel mask with determination, took a deep breath and jumped into the water.

Savor Puebla, a Mexican gem known for its food and sense of style 

I followed at a cautious distance.

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It took a moment for the bubbles to clear, but when they did I found myself face to face with a 20-foot creature, its lean, blue body careening through the crystal tide.

It was a beautiful spectacle, but it didnt last long. The encyclopedia had claimed that whale sharks were slow-moving creatures. Not this one; it took every ounce of my energy to keep up with it.

After 10 minutes of strenuous kicking, I gave up the chase and swam back to the boat.

How was that? I asked Laura, when everyone had climbed inside.

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A swimmer gets a closer look at a whale shark in the Sea of Cortez off La Paz, Mexico. (Edmund Vallance )

Amazing, she said. Ive been freaking out about this for three whole weeks. But it was definitely not as scary as I thought.

I agreed. It didnt seem scary at all. If anything, I felt sorry for the animal, pursued by this gaggle of snorkeling tourists.

How old do you think it was? I asked Benjamin, as we all sat down for a well-earned snack.

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Ive no idea, he said. They can live to be 100. But we dont know much else about them. As far as Im aware, no one has ever seen them mate or give birth.

Semarnat, Mexicos environmental agency, claims that 56% of the whale sharks in the Gulf of California have been injured by tourist boats. Could this be why our fishy friend was in such a hurry to escape?

The government has tightened restrictions on snorkeling trips, Benjamin said. Only five tourists can swim with a shark at any time, he said, and fewer boat permits have been issued than in the previous year.

I still felt a twinge of guilt, but there was little time for soul searching. Another dorsal fin appeared, and all five of us were back in the water, paddling furiously and jostling for the clearest view.

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This shark was smaller (perhaps 8 feet long) and much slower than our previous swimming partner. It seemed  or was I imagining it? more playful than its bigger, faster cousin.

I returned to La Paz later that afternoon and strolled down the Malecon, the palm-fringed promenade that author John Steinbeck once described as a Hollywood production.

Steinbeck was pessimistic about the future of La Paz. Probably the airplanes will bring weekenders from Los Angeles, he wrote in The Log From the Sea of Cortez, and the beautiful poor bedraggled old town will bloom with a Floridian ugliness.

I myself was a weekender from Los Angeles. But I saw no signs of ugliness, Floridian or otherwise. La Paz has somehow managed to avoid the rampant construction that blights other parts of the Mexican coast. These days, its a friendly and attractive place.

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I slipped into the newly opened Museo de la Ballena (Museum of the Whale) just before sunset. There were shark models on display. And whale skeletons too. But not a whale shark in sight.

No matter. Id been fortunate enough to see this tourist-shy leviathan in the flesh. And more than that, Id lived to tell the tale.

If you go

THE BEST WAY TO LOS CABOS, MEXICO

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From LAX,

WHAT TO KNOW

Mar y Aventuras, www.kayakbaja.com, offers whale shark snorkeling tours from $75 per person, including guide, snorkel gear, drinks and snacks. Whale shark season in La Paz is October to April.

WHERE TO STAY

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Posada LunaSol, 5 de Febrero, 564 Topete, La Paz; 011-52-612-122-7039, www.posadalunasol.com. Doubles from $70 a night.

Costa Baja Resort and Spa, Carretera a Pichilingue, La Paz; (877) 392-5525, www.costabajaresort.com. Doubles from $225 a night.

travel@latimes.com

@latimestravelLook west on a clear day from any hilltop in Puebla. In the suburb of Cholula, seven miles outside downtown, youll spy an orange church and a snow-topped peak looming behind it.

This church is Nuestra Senora de los Remedios, built in the 1570s, damaged by a major earthquake on Sept. 19, now whole and open again. The peak is the volcano Popocatepetl, alive and fuming.

That curiously symmetrical hill beneath the church? Thats not a hill at all.

Its the Great Pyramid of Cholula, the largest known pyramid on Earth, begun before Christ, completed long before the Spanish arrived, now cloaked in vegetation.

Consider this easy-to-misread scene a fair warning: Puebla, about 85 miles southeast of Mexico City, is full of earthen surprises, architectural wonders and human resilience.

Los Angeles Times

I know this from two visits. I spent five days here in July gathering information for a travel article that was to be published in the fall. Then came the magnitude-7.1 Mexican earthquake of Sept. 19, which killed about 220 people in Mexico City, 74 in the state of Morelos and 45 in the state of Puebla, most of them in small, outlying towns. I shelved the story.

But in the days and weeks after, it became clear that Puebla, whose downtown core includes more than 2,500 colonial buildings from the 16th to 18th centuries, had survived remarkably intact. I returned in February.

I found scaffolding on several buildings and heard from several vendors and hoteliers about the post-quake slump in visitation. A taxi driver pulled out his phone to show me video of the Cholula church losing the tops of its two towers.

But five months after the temblor, just one visitor attraction remained shut because of quake damage the 18th century Casa de Alfenique museum, closed indefinitely.

Meanwhile, the list of what endures in Puebla is long and wonderful enough that it might astonish a newcomer.

Youll pass shops offering locally made talavera ceramics and restaurants serving mole poblano, a savory sauce that has won admirers with its nearly infinite combinations of chiles, seeds, nuts and other ingredients.

A man carries his cello through the Alley of the Frogs in Puebla, Mexico. Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times

View more photos of Puebla, Mexico 

You may find stylish international twentysomethings browsing in boutiques along Callejon de los Sapos, where storefronts are painted in rainbow sherbet hues.

And somebody will remind you that Puebla is the reason many people celebrate Cinco de Mayo. On that day in 1862, Mexican forces in the city won a crucial but temporary victory against the French.

Oh, and if you mention that youre from Los Angeles, someone may point out that when this place was founded in 1531, its name was Puebla de los Angeles.

Heres some of what I found in this other city of angels, beginning with recent additions and rediscoveries.

Open for business

At the base of the Great Pyramid, the Regional Museum of Cholula opened in 2017 to highlight the areas pre-Hispanic cultures in buildings that used to be a former psychiatric hospital. A block away, a tourist train (also opened in 2017) offers service to downtown Puebla for about $4 each way.

In early 2016, the International Museum of the Baroque opened in the Puebla suburb of Angelopolis; its displays, monitors and projections are housed in a startling building by Japanese architect Toyo Ito. This museum is as white as Getty Center, as curvy as Disney Hall and as minimalist as its contents are elaborate.

The old and the new trying to make money in Puebla, Mexico. Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times

The Cableway of Puebla aerial tram opened in 2016 at the citys convention hall, two miles northwest of the city center. Pay about $4 for a round trip, and from aloft, youll see that an entire neighborhoods roofs and walls have been painted in blue and white patterns as though they were a vast piece of talavera pottery.

In the central Barrio del Alto, a luxurious Rosewood Hotel opened in early 2017 in a rehabilitated compound of historic buildings. Another luxury lodging, Hotel Cartesiano, opened in late 2017 near Callejon de los Sapos.

Swimming with giant sharks in Baja, Mexico 

Also, there are the tunnels. On my first visit, guide Daniel Lima led me to some stairs labeled Pasaje 5 de Mayo and told me how, when he was a kid, our grandparents told us legends about tunnels under the city  legends that turned out to be true.

Archaeologists discovered these tunnels in about 2012. Researchers found a series of underground passages, dating back at least 150 years, beneath some of the citys busiest blocks.

A performer prepares to take the stage during the "Festival Victor Puebla" in Puebla, Mexico. Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times

View more photos of Puebla, Mexico 

For now, just a few segments, dubbed Los Secretos de Puebla, have been shored up and opened to the public. (And yes, they survived the quake just fine.) Locals and tourists like me strolled through for about $1.50. Colored lights played on the stone walls, and the P.A. system issued a spooky soundtrack of galloping hoofs and war cries, evoking the battle of 1862.

(I walked through the tunnels  and a narrower passage under the Cholula pyramid  in July and again in February.)

The working-class neighborhood of Xanenetla, where two tunnel segments surface, has risen to the occasion by covering its walls with dozens of playful murals.

My base for these explorations was the tranquil Quinta Real hotel, a converted 16th century convent. But next time, I may try Casa del Callejon, a 10-room boutique hotel upstairs from the see-and-be-seen sidewalk tables of the Cafe Santo Patrono.

A view of the restaurants around the zocalo in Puebla, Mexico. Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times

Either way, a traveler can do what I did, strolling through the zocalo at every opportunity, measuring its lazy mornings against its bustling nights.

Two blocks north of the zocalo, be sure to step into the Church of Santo Domingos Rosary Chapel, where you can see Spanish baroque design in full flower. On the way into the church on my second visit, I saw a team of workers repairing quake damage to the facade.

To see a little of the citys semi-rural outskirts  and a pair of remarkable colonial churches  combine a day trip to Cholula with a stop at the Church of Santa Maria Tonantzintla,about six miles southwest of Cholula, where you can see lavish details on the interior walls along with sculpted brown faces that resemble residents of the rustic town.

A couple dines above the Alley of the Frogs in Puebla, Mexico. Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times

View more photos of Puebla, Mexico 

Then head a mile south to the Church of San Francisco de Acatepec, where youll find a red-tile-and-talavera facade that mesmerizes with its riotous colors, geometric patterns and mismatched towers. During my February visit, both churches were open while quake repairs were underway.

Mole and more

I ate well  no surprise in a city that calls itself the kitchen of Mexico. The stylish Casareyna in Pueblas Barrio San Francisco served my favorite mole over chicken. (And theres a chic little Casareyna hotel upstairs.)

At El Mural de los Poblanos, one of the busiest restaurants in the central historic district, a kind waiter talked me into my first chiles en nogada  stuffed poblano chiles in walnut cream sauce dotted with pomegranate seeds. Thumbs up.

At Antigua Taqueria La Oriental, a fixture on the zocalo since the 1930s, I grabbed a hearty taco arabe (marinated pork wrapped in pita bread instead of a corn tortilla) for about $1.25

A vendor walks along the Alley of the Frogs in Puebla, Mexico. Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times

At La Berenjena, two blocks southwest of the zocalo, I strayed from traditional Mexican cuisine and was rewarded with a great carpaccio pizza. Another evening, I lingered over a simple $8 dinner of salad and Serrano ham at La Profetica bookshop and cafe.

From street vendor Faustina Juarez in Xanenetla, I bought a $1 quesadilla with mushrooms that brought me deep happiness. At the Parian Market, Anayeli Garcia sold me a $2 bag of roasted grasshoppers (chapulines) and immediately crossed herself.

My first sale of the day, she said in Spanish.

In seven days of meals during the two visits, only one underwhelmed me  a bland chicken mole at Nevados, overlooking the zocalo. The least interesting food is always at the place with the best view, right?

A man walks by old books at the Biblioteca Palafoxiana in Puebla, Mexico. Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times

View more photos of Mexico, Puebla 

I should mention that throughout these meanderings, I felt as safe as I do in Burbank or Glendale. The Puebla area has seen conflict as government forces confront pipeline-tapping fuel thieves, but it has been largely free of drug-related crime. The U.S. State Department, which uses a 1-4 scale in assessing risks to travelers abroad (4 being the most dangerous), gives the state of Puebla a 2 (exercise increased caution).

Another nice thing: I never ran out of discoveries. At the Museo Amparo, I looked at pre-Hispanic sculptures. At the Biblioteca Palafoxiana, which UNESCO says may have been the first public library in the Americas, founded in 1646, I lingered under the arched ceilings, wondering how to say Hogwartsian in Spanish.

And at La Pasita in Barrio de los Sapos, the oldest and tiniest cantina in town, I downed a shot of local raisin liqueur. The shot cost about $1.50. It was sweet and served by an elderly bartender with the mien of a homicide detective. Whatever changes come next for Puebla, this guy will be ready to carry on.

Mexico City bounces back

A view from the Sears buiding of the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexcio City. Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times

Six months after this capitals last major earthquake, its most popular tourist attractions are busy again.

If youre headed here, remember that the metropolitan area is built on an ancient lake bed. For generations, as the growing city has drawn down the aquifer beneath the lake bed, the ground has been sinking unevenly, leaving the city vulnerable to quakes.

The magnitude-8 quake of 1985 killed at least 5,000 people. The magnitude-7.1 quake of Sept. 19 killed more than 225 people in the city and many more outside it. Many buildings remain shut or under reconstruction, especially in the Roma and La Condesa neighborhoods.

But it was a return to business as usual at every major stop I checked in mid-February along the tourist trail. Tour operators say the same is true at the pyramids of Teotihuacan, about 30 miles northeast of the city center.

The Metropolitan Cathedral, begun in 1573 and completed in 1813, looms over the zocalo at the center of the city. The World Monuments Fund calls it the largest church in Latin America and notes that since the 1990s, engineers have been working to stabilize its uneven floors.

In Septembers quake, the cathedral escaped major damage, but authorities said a statue of Hope (the theological virtue) was toppled from its spot on the clock tower. Though Hope-less for the foreseeable future, the cathedral remains open daily, as do the neighboring zocalo (a.k.a. Plaza de la Constitucion) and Templo Mayor ruins.

The star of the citys Parque Alameda Central, three-quarters of a mile west of the zocalo, is the Palacio de Bellas Artes, an Art Nouveau building (with Tiffany glass crown) designed by Italian architect Adamo Boari.

The Palacio, a city symbol and venue for performing arts since 1934, reopened within two weeks of the September quake. For a birds-eye view, head to the eighth-floor terrace snack bar of the Sears store across the street.

Xochimilcos canals are about 15 miles south of the zocalo  typically an hours drive. But the canal systems Embarcadero Nuevo Nativitas area, which bore no signs of quake damage, was well worth my trouble.

Rent a brightly painted boat (and pilot) for about $28 an hour. Buy snacks; listen to musicians. The canals, which date to pre-Hispanic times, go on for miles, and theyre threatened by pollution and dwindling water supply. But I saw more smiles there than any place else in the city.

Among other attractions operating as usual: the Palacio Nacional and Ministry of Education buildings, which include some of Diego Riveras best-known murals; the Frida Kahlo Museum in Coyoacan; the Museo Soumaya (with art from Europe, Asia and the Americas); Museo Jumex (contemporary art); the Casa de Azulejos (a 16th century building with tiles outside and a Sanborns restaurant inside); Chapultapec Park (which includes the National Museum of Anthropology); Plaza Garibaldi, where mariachi groups gather; and the 45-story Torre Latinoamericas restaurant and observation deck.

If you go

THE BEST WAY TO PUEBLA, MEXICO

From LAX, Aeromexico, American, United and Delta offer connecting service (change of planes) to Puebla. Restricted round-trip air fare from $440, including taxes and fees.

TELEPHONES

To call the numbers below from the U.S., dial 011 (the international dialing code), 52 (country code for Mexico), 222 (the area code) and the seven-digit local number.

GETTING AROUND

The easiest way to the Cholula Archeological Zone is the Puebla-Cholula Tourist Train, an 11-mile, 40-minute ride. The price is about $4 for visiting adults, half that for Puebla residents. Trains depart three or four times per day (depending on the day) from the Puebla Terminal, 11 Norte and Esquina 18 Poniente, Colonia el Tamborcito, Puebla.

WHERE TO STAY

Quinta Real Puebla, 105 Calle 7 Poniente, Centro, Puebla; 55-1105-1000. Doubles from about $140 a night, taxes and fees included.

Rosewood Puebla Hotel, 1402 Calle 10 Norte, Col. Barrio del Alto, Puebla; 122-2300. Luxe property with 78 rooms. Doubles from about $325 a night, taxes and fees included.

Casareyna Hotel, 1007 Privada 2 Oriente, Centro, Puebla; 232-0032. Sleek, pleasant 46-room hotel with a perplexing website. Call for info. Rooms for two from about $100, taxes and fees included.

Hotel Casa del Callejon, 3 Oriente No. 603, Barrio de los Sapos, Centro, Puebla; 222-6329. Ten rooms above perhaps the citys trendiest corner. Rates $35-$50, taxes and fees included.

WHERE TO EAT

El Mural de los Poblanos, 506 Calle 16 de Septiembre, Centro, Puebla; 242-0503. Lively and traditional. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Dinner main dishes $10-$20.

Casareyna Restaurante, 1007 Privada 2 Oriente, Centro, Puebla; 232-0032. Quiet and contemporary. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Dinner main dishes about $7-$20.

La Berenjena Pizza Artesanal, 3 Oriente No. 407, Centro, Puebla. Also has locations in Cholula and Angelopolis. 688-4754. Fancy pizza, trendy scene. Pizzas $9-$14.Russian President Vladimir Putin told a crowd at a celebratory concert outside the Kremlin walls late Sunday that his overwhelming election victory resulted from a united nation looking to the future.

Putin, based on preliminary results, was expected to win more than 70% of the vote, giving him another six years as the countrys leader.

Its very important to preserve this unity, he said as he addressed thousands of people at Manezh Square in central Moscow. We will not be guided by short-term interests. We will think about the future of our great country.

We are destined to be successful, the 65-year-old former KGB officer told the crowd before leading them in a round of chants of Russia.

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The speech lasted less than two minutes and did not reference the countrys economic challenges or an array of thorny international issues. Among those are Britain blaming Russia for the recent poisoning of a former spy and his daughter and the U.S. accusing the Kremlin of meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

The Moscow crowd had gathered for a series of concerts from top Russian pop stars that was billed all week as a celebration of the fourth anniversary of the annexation of the Crimean peninsula. The timing of the concert was not lost on those in the crowd, who generally participated knowing that the evening would also be a victory event for Putins reelection.

Putin didnt declare his intention to run for a fourth term until December. He declined to participate in several candidate debates aired on state television and held only one significant campaign rally in Moscow, just two weeks before Sundays vote.

His campaign plan came in the form of a state of the nation speech 17 days before the election, in which he promised to boost Russias growth, currently at 1.7% annually, to above the global average of 3.1%, and increase living standards.

Both objectives will be difficult as economists predict setbacks for Russias two major exports: Global oil prices will remain low and demand for gas will decrease worldwide.

Putin spent much of the state of the nation speech boasting about Russias latest nuclear-powered missile systems, using graphics and videos to describe their capabilities.

Sundays vote came at a time when U.S. political discourse surrounding Russian election meddling was approaching a fever pitch.

Tensions with Britain increased this month after Prime Minister Theresa May said it was highly likely that Russia was behind the nerve agent poisoning of a former Russian spy in Salisbury, England. The Kremlin has denied the allegation, blaming it on Western Russophobia.

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Russian news has suggested that its a British plot to spoil Russias hosting of the World Cup, which starts in June.

This is not a good thing for Putin, because he expected the World Cup would be a big public relations move for Russia, said Alexander Baunov, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center. Whoever did this, whether it was a provocation from inside or outside [Russia], was harming Russias strategic goals.

Putin has been in power as either prime minister or president since 1999. His victory Sunday will keep him in power until 2024.

The Kremlin ran a massive get-out-the-vote campaign before the election to ensure Putins reelection would be viewed as a mandate.

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Our election, our president posters decorated buses and billboards across the country. Some polling stations offered contests and raffles to win new iPads or microwave ovens. There was also a selfie contest in which voters were asked to take pictures of themselves at polling stations and post them on social media to win prizes such as a new iPhone or a bicycle.

Putins main political foe, Alexei Navalny, was barred from running in the election because of a 2013 fraud conviction, a trial the anti-corruption campaigner said was politically motivated. He called for his supporters and volunteers, of which there are tens of thousands across the country, to boycott the election in protest of what he says cant be a legitimate vote without an opposition candidate on the ballot.

With Navalny officially out of the race, only two candidates managed to get any significant traction: Pavel Grudinin, 57, of the Communist Party and Ksenia Sobchak, 36, a socialite whose family ties to Putin have called into question how truly independent her run is.

Grudinin came in second with 15% of the vote. Sobchak, who cast herself as a protest candidate, got 1.4%.

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This years vote was a far cry from his third-term election in 2012, which saw tens of thousands of protesters in the center of Moscow decrying what they said was a falsified vote.

The protests led Putin to create a narrative at home that Russia is a country under siege from the West. According to him, the U.S. and other world powers are trying to force change on Russia through overbearing liberal values and globalization.

Putin has fought back by promoting rhetoric that focuses on Russias conservative, traditional values, which are closely linked to the Orthodox Church. This has created a nationalism in Russia unseen since the Soviet Union.

The 2014 annexation of Crimea was a game changer for Putin, who used it to show he could be a leader who would restore Russias greatness both in territory and military might. When the West imposed sanctions for Moscows incursion in Crimea and eastern Ukraine, it only drove home the idea that Russia was being attacked from abroad.

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Putin is likely to continue using the idea of Russia as a nation under siege as a distraction from other domestic problems.

Its quite clear that his strategy for months now, and intensely in the last weeks, has not been about winning the election, its been about how well he wins the election, said Robert Legvold, a professor emeritus at Columbia University specializing in the international relations of the post-Soviet states. I think he thinks that its necessary in order to de-legitimize the opposition and legitimize his leadership in the next phase.

A Russian voter casts her ballot for president at her home as members of a mobile Russian election committee visit residents of the Dedukino village, about 70 miles outside Moscow, on March 18, 2018. (Yuri Kochetkov / EPA/Shutterstock )

ALSO

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Meet the voters in Russias heartland who are about to give Vladimir Putin another six years in office

British Prime Minister May says it is highly likely Russia is responsible for poison attack on former spy

White House is sanctioning Russians for 2016 election interference and other cyberattacks

Ayres is a special correspondent.

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UPDATES:

5:40 p.m.: This article was updated with Putins comments and more details.

9:44 a.m.: This article was updated with staff reporting, background.

8:35 a.m.: This article was updated throughout with staff reporting, background.

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This article was originally posted at 4:50 a.m.The two Chilean ex-fugitives linked to an alleged Mexican kidnap ring count among the scattered remnants of the Manuel Rodriguez Patriotic Front, an armed faction that split from the Chilean Communist Party in the 1980s, during the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.

The signature of El Frente, as it was known, was the daring strike, such as a 1986 ambush on a Pinochet convoy that left five of his bodyguards dead. The strongman walked away with only minor injuries.

The arrests of Raul Julio Escobar Poblete, aka Comandante Emilio, and Ricardo El Negro Palma Salamanca, have revived memories in Chile of the tumultuous 1990s, when Chile returned to democracy following Pinochets departure from the presidency.

Both revolutionaries were deeply committed leftists still in their 20s as the profoundly divided country was struggling toward reconciliation. Some militants argued that collaborators implicated Pinochets crimes should be held to account, even after Pinochet stepped down from office in 1990 following a historic 1988 plebiscite rejecting his rule. Pinochet, who assumed power in a 1973 coup against President Salvador Allende, remained military commander-in-chief until 1998 and died in 2006.

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Chilean prosecutors say Escobar and Palma carried out the assassination of Sen. Jaime Guzman, founder of the right-wing Independent Democratic Union party. A high-profile Pinochet champion, Guzman was gunned down on April 1, 1991, while in a car leaving Santiagos Catholic University of Chile, where he was a law professor.

The senators murder is still viewed as the gravest crime during Chiles delicate period of political transformation.

The action against Guzman ended up killing the Front, said Enrique Villanueva, a former frentista who is on probation after being convicted for participating in Guzmans assassination, though he denies any role. How to explain to people  the decision to liquidate a man, even one hated by [many] Chileans, when there is a democracy?

Escobar and Palma had been on the run for more than two decades before being captured. Palma was arrested in Paris last month, while Escobar was captured in Mexico last May. Chile is seeking their extradition in connection with the assassination of Guzman and other crimes.

Staff Writer McDonnell reported from Mexico City and special correspondent Poblete from Santiago, Chile.

patrick.mcdonnell@latimes.com

Twitter: @PmcdonnellLATRepublicans also joined the chorus of elected officials who remembered Slaughter as a fighter and outspoken advocate for her district. One of the best tributes came from Slaughter's counterpart on the House Rules Committee, Chairman Pete Sessions.

Slaughter, who was the ranking member of the committee at the time of her death, is a past chair of the panel. She was the first woman to ever lead the House Rules Committee.

"As the first female chairwoman of our committee she was a force to be reckoned with who always brought her spunk, fire and dynamic leadership to every meeting," Sessions recalled.

He continued, "Louise was a fearless leader, deeply committed to her constituents, and a dear friend. I have had the immense privilege of working side by side with her for the past 20 years. I will always cherish our friendship camaraderie, and of course her rhubarb pie. Although we sat on different sides of the aisle, I have always considered her a partner and have the utmost respect for her. On behalf of the entire Rules Committee, I offer our prayers and deepest sympathies to her family, staff members and all who knew and loved her."

House Speaker Paul Ryan announced Friday that flags at the Capitol would be lowered to half-staff in honor of Slaughter.A 16-year-old Allentown girl and the 45-year-old Lowhill Township man with whom she went to Mexico were found about 10:30 a.m. Saturday in Playa del Carmen by Homeland Security investigators, the Policia Federal Transnational Criminal Investigative Unit and the United States Marshals Service, according to Allentown police.

Amy Yu and Kevin Esterly flew March 5 from Philadelphia to Cancun, authorities had said. They were involved in a secretive relationship, officials reported.

Mexican authorities issued an Amber Alert in the case on Thursday.

Yu was "unharmed and in good health," city police said Saturday night. Esterly, a married man with four children who is charged with interfering with custody, was being held by Mexican authorities.

Homeland Security and the marshals service will return them to Miami, police said.

"Once back in the United States, arrangements will be made to get Amy back to Allentown to be reunited with her mother," Allentown police said.

Reached by an NBC affiliate in Florida, Yu's mother said, "Thank you, God."

Esterly will be turned over to Miami police and the extradition process to return him to Allentown to face the charge will begin, city police said.

"The Allentown Police Department would like to thank Homeland Security Investigations, Policia Federal Transnational Criminal Investigative Unit and the United States Marshals Service for their help in locating Amy Yu and Kevin Esterly," Allentown police said Saturday night in a news release.

Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.Lehigh University plans to use a new state grant to try to push its attempts to combat sexual assault to the cutting edge.

Gov. Tom Wolf announced on Mach 13 Lehigh and East Stroudsburg universities are among 39 Pennsylvania colleges and universities receiving more than $950,000 in It's On Us PA grants.

The It's On Us national campaign to end sexual assault began in September 2014 and two years ago Pennsylvania launched its own statewide campaign.

"It's On Us PA has helped dozens of Pennsylvania colleges and universities to develop programs to prevent sexual assault and establish campus cultures where sexual assault and harassment are not tolerated," Wolf said in a news release. "The pervasiveness of sexual assault has never been more clear, and combating sexual assault requires action."

Lehigh applied for almost $28,000 to elevate the university's existing programs to combat sexual assault and harassment to the next level, said Brooke DeSipio, assistant dean and director of Lehigh's Office of Gender Violence Education and Support.

The university is already focusing on the primary prevention of sexual assault by educating students about healthy relationships and holding conversations about the root causes of abuse, DeSipio said.

"We are actually talking about people's attitudes and beliefs around topics of sex and relationships," she said.

For example, if young men are told they should be the initiators in relationships and getting a lot of women is a sign of masculinity, the grant will help the university show how those messages contribute to sexual assault, DeSipio explained.

The grant fits into the national conversation surrounding consent and sexual assault.

"The #MeToo movement is a reminder of the prevalence of sexual assault in communities of all demographics," Education Secretary Pedro A. Rivera said in a news release. "The It's On Us PA campaign is helping Pennsylvania schools lead their communities in directing the conversation on how we can prevent assaults and harassment from infecting our campuses and communities."

Next week, Lehigh is launching a Title IX campus climate survey, the results of which will help guide the programing the university develops with the grant, said Karen Salvemini, Lehigh's equal opportunity compliance and Title IX coordinator.

When applying for the grant, the university identified four areas of focus.

Lehigh wants to develop programming for groups of students on campus who may feel the existing offerings do not meet their needs, Salvemini said. Information and resources will be developed specifically for students of color, international students, LGBTQ+ students, and commuter students.

"We know students of color, because of barriers to reporting and the history of our country, have very different needs for gender-based violence than some of our white students," DeSipio said.

Bisexual and transsexual students face higher rates of gender violence, she said.

Lehigh wants to deepen its bystander intervention efforts for students with more training. This means teaching students how to respond to sexual assault and misconduct, while also going further with prevention efforts, Salvemini said.

"How do you intervene when people make sexist comments or comments that reinforce gender stereotypes?" DeSipio said.

The grant will also assist Lehigh in offering staff training to folks who work in offices that receive more disclosures or reports of violations. Lehigh wants to ensure the staff members are "trauma aware and infromed," so when they help students they do it in a way that does not inflict further trauma, DeSipio said.

Finally, the university will update its online videos outlining the various ways that students are able to report being victims of sexual assault, misconduct or harassment.

"You can never have enough resources and different means of getting information support to our campus community on these topics," Salvemini said.

One of the best ways to overcome reporting barriers and empower survivors is by giving them choices about where to go when an assault occurs, DeSipio said.

In 2016, Lehigh reported two sexual assaults, according to its annual Clery campus crime disclosure report.

But campus sexual assaults tend to be underreported on the whole. Only 20 percent of female student victims, ages 18-24, report their assaults to law enforcement, according to the It's On Us campaign. Although, among college women 9 in 10 victims of rape and sexual assault know their attackers.

This is the first time Lehigh applied for the state grant. The university was mindful to only request enough funding to accomplish its goals, so it did not take away from schools that have greater needs, DeSipio said.

Over the summer, Lehigh plans to update its programming and resources and then roll them out to students next fall.

"We really want to meet the needs of our campus and use the climate survey results to inform our decision making," DeSipio said.

The 2017-18 It's On Us PA grant recipients are:

Seton Hill University

Mercyhurst University

Cabrini University

Thiel College

Immaculata University

Millersville University

Albright College

University of the Sciences

California University

University of Scranton

Penn College of Technology

Holy Family University

Lock Haven University

Juniata College

West Chester University

Bloomsburg University

Community College of Allegheny County

Saint Vincent College

LaSalle University

Gannon University

Lackawanna College

Washington & Jefferson College

East Stroudsburg University

Rosemont College

Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine

Chestnut Hill College

York College of Pennsylvania

Community College of Philadelphia

Point Park University

Kutztown University

Cheyney University

Temple University

Lehigh University

Keystone College

Misericordia University

Saint Joseph's University

Slippery Rock University

Harrisburg Area Community College

Dickinson College

Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @sarasatullo and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.The Our Lady Help of Christians School in East Allentown plans to close its doors permanently at the end of the school year in June.

The news came this past week in an emailed letter from the Rev. George Kochuparambil, parish administrator, to the parents of 71 pupils attending the school, located at 934 Hanover Ave. The school houses children in grades K-8 and is part of the Diocese of Allentown.

Kochuparambil said decreased enrollment at the school was the reason for the closure, according to the letter. He said enrollment was down nearly 60 percent in the past five years -- resulting in the decline of tuition revenue straining parish finances.

The parish this year budgeted $91,000 in school subsidies but will end up increasing that subsidy by an additional $298,000, Kochuparambil told parents. He noted available scholarship funding to the school through the Education Improvement Tax Credit and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit has also declined.

Catholic education will remain available to pupils currently attending Our Lady Help of Christians School by 17 other Catholic elementary schools in Lehigh and Northampton Counties.

Catholic Education Continuation Grants also were being made available for Our Lady Help of Christians' families who wanted to continue their child's education at another Catholic elementary school in the Diocese of Allentown. The grants totaled for $1,000 in Year 1 (2018-19) and $500 in Year 2 (2019-20) for the first child in the family and $500 and $250 for second and third children.

Kochuparambil's request to close the school was reviewed by the Diocesan Council of Priests and the Diocesan School Board, both of which recommended the closure. Diocese of Allentown Bishop Alfred A. Schlert accepted their recommendations.

"I remain committed to provide our children with the opportunity of a Catholic school education through the Catholic School Continuation Grant," Kochuparambil said. "We ask for your prayers for the students, teachers, staff and parents who will be most directly impacted by the closing of our school."

Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @pamholzmann. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.The 16-year-old Allentown girl who traveled to Mexico with a 45-year-old Lowhill Township man is back home safely and the man she ran off with is in custody, city police said.

Amy Yu and Kevin Esterly were found around 10:30 a.m. Saturday in Playa del Carmen by U.S. Department of Homeland Security investigators, the Policia Federal Transnational Criminal Investigative Unit and the U.S. Marshals Service.

The pair flew March 5 from Philadelphia to Cancun. They were involved in a secret relationship, officials previously said. Mexican authorities issued an Amber Alert in the case on Thursday.

The pair were flown to Miami, Fla. on Saturday, authorities said.

BREAKING: The Allentown teen who went missing 2 weeks ago with a 45-year-old father of two has returned home safely. The pair was was located late Saturday morning and taken into custody in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, officials said. https://t.co/ibSiuZObTD pic.twitter.com/QMFhy1D0r8  NBC10 Philadelphia (@NBCPhiladelphia) March 18, 2018

Allentown Assistant Police Chief Gail Struss said Yu landed safely and unharmed early Sunday at Philadelphia Airport and is back in Allentown. Esterly, a married man with four children who is charged with felony interfering with custody, remains in custody in Miami, Struss said, noting extradition is pending.

The Allentown Police Department does not have a timeline for Esterly's extradition.

On Feb. 9, Yu's mother went to pick the teen up from Lehigh Valley Academy Charter School and was told by school officials that Yu's stepfather signed her out earlier that day. But there was no stepfather, according to WFMZ-69 News.

WFMZ previously reported Yu was known to the Esterly family for years. The couple's four girls range in age from 2 to 14, and Kevin Esterly said he could be like a father figure to her, according to the report.

"Amy's been known to the family for like eight years," John Waldron, an attorney representing Kevin Esterly's wife, Stacey Esterly, reportedly told the news station. "They've gone on vacations, they've gone to the shore, amusement parks, but the situation with Kevin kind of has gotten more serious over the last eight months."

Yu's family previously said the two met at church years ago, and the 16-year-old girl is friends with one of Esterly's daughters. The Morning Call reports Esterly and Yu flew to Mexico with money allegedly stolen from both their families.

Stacey and Kevin Esterly repeatedly fought over Yu, including in front of her and the couple's children, when the wife believed the man's relationship with the teen had become inappropriate, WFMZ reports.

Waldron reportedly told the news station Kevin Esterly moved out, rented an apartment near Yu's home, and Stacey Esterly began pursuing a divorce.

Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @pamholzmann. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.This item is available in full to subscribers.

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Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing.The town of Gilbert in Mingo County and the town of Man in Logan County have benefited from Motoring

Here are the outstanding personalities in the boating world in Asia-Pacific who have made it to the top 100 Power List highlighted in our recent YACHT STYLE features and expert columns. Read more

Mar 18, 2018 | By Yacht Style

YACHT STYLES Whos Who of Yachting in Asia list salutes the outstanding personalities in Asia-Pacific who have not only played a key role in Taiwans marine development, but also have won regional events, and are responsible for introducing new brands, concepts or trends into the Asian boating world and many more.



An outlook of the yachting sector in Taiwan

According to Showboat Internationals 2017 Global Order Book, Taiwan is now the fifth-largest producer of yachts over 24m (79ft) and the biggest in all of Asia. Kaohsiung itself is home to 80 per cent of the nations 36 yacht-builders, with the average size of vessel well over 50ft in length.

The annual output for the sector is estimated at around US$180m, with yachts ranging from 50ft-120ft supporting a workforce of 2,500. Kaohsiung is also home to a substantial cluster of marine equipment and accessories firms that feed the supply chain of the yacht industry both within Taiwan and overseas, according to Howard Gung, Managing Director, who also serves as chairman of the Taiwan Yacht Industry Association.

In the past, boating was allowed in harbours, estuaries and inland waters. Not until 2012 when the Taiwan government opened its territorial waters for recreational use, leisure boating started to grow in popularity.

With the Taiwan governments effort in close partnership with Taiwan International Boat Show (TIBS), they aim to take steps ahead to further encourage growth of its domestic yachting market, after having abolished a luxury tax on leisure boats in 2014.

Currently, there are 12 yachts being built within our facility and all of these yachts will be completed and delivered in 2018, says Gung.

It is reported that Kha Shing is also building a new marina in the city that, when completed, will offer 30 berths for yachts of up to 50m (164ft). Kha Shing Pier 22 is expected to open in March, just prior to TIBS 2018.

As well as offering safe berthing for yachts, we also want to provide one-stop marina services for boat owners, increase sales of our own yachts in the domestic market and, most importantly, provide an opportunity for all people to be closer to the water, Gung explains.

Yachting Personalities in Asia-Pacific (Taiwan)

1|DIXON Bill (TAIWAN)

Dixon Yacht Design was set up 28 years ago, and Dixon has grown the business to become one of the worlds leading yacht design studios. The award-winning designer has yachts (both power and sail) currently being built on five of the worlds seven continents.

2|LU John (TAIWAN)

He is founder and President of Taiwans best superyacht builders, Horizon which celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2017. The company is ranked the fifth largest custom yachts builder in the world and is the first SYBA (Superyacht Builders Association) Asian member. The shipyard is well known around the world, especially in America, Australia and Europe, and is still looking at establishing a stronger presence in Asia.

3|YIN Samuel, Dr (TAIWAN)

Dr Yin is owner of Sea Eagle a Royal Huisman 43m luxury sloop with naval architecture by German Frers and interior design by Rhoades Young. Designed and engineered to meet Dr Yins plans to cruise the world whilst participating in occasional superyacht regattas, Sea Eagle recently crossed the Atlantic to the Caribbean with its owner on board, an experienced offshore yachtsman.

The full list of the 100 top yachting personalities in Asia-Pacific can be found in the latest issue 41 of Yacht Style.

Words by Yacht Style | Additional Reporting by Andrea SimHome > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > Unfolding a South Asian Perspective on Constitutionalism

BOOK REVIEW

by Deepak Kumar

Comparative Constitutionalism in South Asia edited by Khilnani S., Raghavan V. and Thiruvengadam A.K.; Oxford University Press, New Delhi; 2016; (2nd edition); pages: 401; Price: Rs 595.00.

South Asia is a region which emerged out of a colonial past and which holds multitude of diversities, legal traditions, constitutional heterogeneities and political structures. It has had a diverse history of constitutionalism with varied meanings and interpretations. In such a muddy terrain this edited book, Comparative Constitutionalism in South Asia, offers a significant South Asian perspective on constitutionalism.

This book contains articles with national and cross-national accounts of religion, pluralism, constitutional constraints and plural societies. The South Asian region, with a multitude of diversities, provides enormous interest across the world. The book has been the product of an attempt by several prominent scholars through a decade with at least two workshop sessions, which itself reflects the amount of time it took to address this neglected subject. The book essentially holds accounts of South Asian countries which include India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka, though there are frequent references to a few other countries. This book contains chapters related to seven national and three cross-national examples of constitutionalism.

The first chapter by Upendra Baxi is ques-tioning the idea of the Constitution as the mechanism of governance and efficiency. He finds the importance of the Constitution as the symbolisation of the principle of equality that is simply unparalleled in most post-colonial constitutional forms. As he observes, even the sophisticated constitutional minds in South Asian constitutionalism (SAC) remain blissfully unaware of the new discourse... According to him, SAC was marked with colonial continuities, turning cornerstones into tombstones. With the inheritance of colonial laws in most South Asien states the effects of such retention seem to be apparently quite visible in the present furore of nationalist jingoism on nationalism in India which grants usage of sedition laws against its own citizens. Besides, there are several discontinuities from the postcolonial constitutional forms. Further, he points to the hegemonic Global Norths constitutional economies which, predominated by efficiency and optimality, need to be studied in SACs Global South (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh) so as to acquire a better understanding in this globalised scenario. However, Baxi analyses and questions the rational choice theory and brings in his own concept of optimal constitutional design as more applicable to understand constitutionalism in South Asia in the era of globalisation.

The second chapter, authored by Sujit Choudhry, unravels the debate sparked by the NAZ Foundation v. Union of India judgment in 2009. He points out how the court uses comparative constitutional methodology to deliver its judg-ments. With dialogical interpretation this chapter offers merits and demerits of adopting comparative jurisprudence in the same sex rights. For example, in the growing number of constitutional systems, courts have condemned discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and interpreted constitutional guarantees of liberty and/or privacy in a non-discriminatory manner to encompass sexual intimacy between same sex partners. Therefore, this chapter is an intervention to highlight two issues: one, to what extent comparative judgment can be permitted; and two, how do we situate India in the field of comparative constitutional law?

The third, fourth and fifth chapters, written by Mara Malagodi, Richard W. Whitecross and Deepika Udagma, essentially try to understand religion, secularism, pluralism and constitu-tionalism in Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka respectively. Malagodis chapter points to the political turmoil in acquiring a stable Consti-tution till 2007, though the author misses the recent developments and controversies in Nepals new Constitution that came into effect on September 20, 2015. But, she mentions that greater political responsibility along with consensus and stability would be essential constituents to achieve lasting peace in Nepal. These chapters cover another landlocked state Bhutan, where Whitecross traces the implication and impact of secularism in the Bhutanese Constitution. Unlike its neighbouring states, it doesnt draw from any case law; instead it unravels the impact of the first written Constitution. He mentions that instead of creating division within its heterogeneous population, the Bhutanese state sought to project a shared national identity which is respectful of minority cultural and linguistic traditions. (Ibid. 136) Further, he mentions that separation of religion from politics was a step towards creating a new civil space for political debate and dissent. The fifth chapter by Udagama delves into the post-constitutional experience of Sri Lanka and its chequered history of pluralism in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society. It essentially explores the undermining of equality and plurality under the politics of religion and state power. She specially underlines that the Sri Lankan constitutional jurisprudence has been quite limited and most challenging to achieve religious pluralism in a fragmented polity.

The ninth chapter by T. John ODowd deals with that limits of freedom of expression and debate surrounding liberal traditions (of John Stuart Mill and James Fitzjames Stephen) by analysing the debates surrounding contem-porary South Asia and specially in India in particular. The tenth chapter by Rizwanul Haque offers an account of the judiciary of Bangladesh in the post-independence era. He highlights its achievements, failures and the limited role it played along with the impact of Indian public interest jurisprudence and global human rights jurisprudence on itself. The final chapter by Arun K. Thiruvengadam focuses on the rise of judicial activism while analysing the importance of social change in India in particular and in South Asia in general. Here Thiruven-gadam argues that the role of the judiciary is deeply problematic which he expands by bringing both the descriptive and normative arguments while tracing the history of the PIL in India. According to him, the Indian judiciary should seek to make the civil society its ally in order to help Indian democracy to become more participatory, inclusive and effective.

Apart from these detailed national accounts, there are a few cross-national accounts by Gary J. Jacabson and Shylashri Shankar, Matthew J. Nelson and John H. Mansfield. The sixth chapter by Jacabson and Shankar evaluates the cross-national constitutional appropriation from India to Sri Lanka. Rather than describing it as constitutional borrowing, they call it mix of motives, that is, opportunistic, self-reflective and unreflective. Both the seventh and eighth chapters offer narratives of partitioned countriesIndia and Pakistan. The former chapter by Nelson focuses on the area of religious-cum-legal reform on inheritance and constitu-tional constraints, whereas the latter one by Mansfield basically deals with religious freedom and religious conversion in both countries. Both these chapters provide exhaustive accounts to enable a comparative understanding of the religious and constitutional precepts.

Thus, this book presents significant material to understand the South Asian context through the pioneering works by its contributors. Although it has analysed an array of problems surrounded by religious pluralism, ethnic issues, constitu-tional constraints etc., it does not cover matters related to security and global terrorism. Therefore, it was pointed out in the introduction that it can only scratch the surface of this terrain. Indeed this book is an essential work which would encourage future studies on South Asian constitutionalism.

The reviewer is an M.Phil candidate, Department of Political Science, University of Delhi.Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > Nirav Modi Heist and Chowkidar Narendra Modi

by Ram Puniyani

Corruption is a big menace in different countries, including ours. We witnessed the spectacle of the movement against corruption demanding Jan Lokpal, at the dharna at Jantar Mantar in 2011. The battle-cry of that surge was primarily against the Congress, and as a marginal balancing act occasionally the BJP was also named. Anna Hazare, who was projected to be the central leader, was presented as the second Gandhi. He was flanked by the current Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal, for whom the central concern was Jan Lokpal and who posed as if that was the panacea for all the ills of the nation. Not to be left behind, the present Lt. Governor of Pondicherry, Kiran Bedi, was at her best performance in articulating this need. Two more names need to be mentioned, one Baba Ramdev, the entrepreneur taking Patanjali production to new heights of business, and Sri Sri Ravishanker. All of them currently are quiet on the issue of corruption.

Mass sentiments were created against the leaders to the extent that people were writing Mera Neta Chor Hai (My Leader is a Thief) on their hands. All this was aimed at targeting the Congress. We had witnessed the arrest of corrupt elements like Satyams Raju during the Congress regime. Also in the 2-G scam many heads rolled; now as matters stand, the whole scam is supposed not to have existed and the vehement champions of the Congress corruption are at the helm of power, as the 2-G hoax has been deflated in the Courts.

That is the past. Our memories are short. Having defamed the Congress on the issue of corruption, the worthies who led the campaign have safely been promoted either in their political clout or business enterprise. On the back of this the present Prime Minster rode the anti-Congress wave to proclaim two major jumlas (phrases). One, Na Khaunga: Na Khane Dunga (Neither will I not indulge in corruption nor will I let others do the same). And Two, elect me as a Chowkidaar (watchman) to protect the nations wealth. His managers worked hard and the nation seemed to believe in these jumlas.

Now there is this Nirav Modi on the horizon. Nirav Modi, the diamond entrepreneur, seen standing behind Modi in Davos, ran away with Rs 11,300 crores (though currently the figure is much higher), and is untraceable by the government. The loot was cleverly organised through breaking the system of loans, where he was helped by Punjab National Bank officials, and without any collateral security he could steal the coffers of the bank. His uncle, Mehul Choksy, whom Narendra Modi affectionately addresses as Mehul bhai, also made good his escape, announcing to his employees that they will not be paid their salaries and dues, throwing them to the wolves of unemployment and hunger. These are not the only affluent entrepreneurs who have been around our Prime Minster. Another Mr Kothari of Rotomach pens has also cleaned the coffers to a good extent and as an exception has been arrested. One further recalls the pattern of great escape of these plunderers of public money. Vijay Mallya of Kingfisher fame, made it to the Rajya Sabha, and with Rs 9000 crores of bank dues made good his escape as the CBI loosened the Look Out notice, not to stop him from leaving the country, but telling the authorities to just inform when he leaves. One also recalls the escape of Lalit Modi, whose performance has been on a similar line, and he has been the beneficiary of the good association of the BJPs Sushma Swaraj and Vasundhara Raje Scindia.

Most of the promises Narendra Modi made in the wake of the 2014 elections turned out to be hoax. Bringing back black money from abroad, putting Rs 15 lakhs in everybodys account, reducing the prices of commodities, increasing the strength of the rupee, to name a few. In a way his promise of being a Chowkidar turning out to be another jumla, should be no surprise. No doubt there are severe problems in our banking system. There are loopholes, which those in the circles of Narendra Modi have exploited. The point is: where are the checks and balances? How come most of the big fraudsters have made good their escape? Are they too clever or did the methods of Narendra Modi give them ample opportunities to run away with the booty?

All said and done, Narendra Modi has been the darling of the corporate sections of society. In Gujarat after the carnage of 2002, he created a make-believe world of Vikas (development), the Gujarat Model of Development. This model basically involved giving the industrialists all the facilities to do business as they liked. So Tata got Nano shifted to Gujarat and also told his colleagues that you are not on the right track if you are not doing business in Gujarat. The business houses of Ambani, and more particularly Adani, made great strides to jump up in the scale of business. Many of the likes of Nirav Modi may be close to these business houses, whose plunder projects are synonymous with Vikas for our Prime Minster.

The wonder is: where are anti-corruption warriors, Anna Hazare, Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi and Ramdev? Are they sleeping when corruption of a far bigger order is in progress right under their nose? One can mention that the Anna Hazare movement was planned by the RSS think-tank, Vivekananda International Centre, and the full mobilisation was planned by this parent of the BJP; surely it yielded rich political dividends for its electoral child, the BJP.

So while Narendra Modi slept, Nirav Modi and his friends made the heist and ran away. Public money of such a great amount has been plundered. There is now talk of privatisation of the public banks! Can these entrepreneurs be trusted to keep the public interests in mind if all this is handed over to them? The need for social auditing and control over hard-earned public money could never have been more empahsised. Narendra Modis soft corner for the corporate world has been there for all to see right from his Gujarat days. It is really the time to wake up!

The author, a retired Professor at the IIT-Bombay, is currently associated with the Centre for the Study of Secularism and Society, Mumbai.Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > Indias Entry into NSG: What it Means for India and Nuclear Non-Proliferation

by Muzaffar Ahmad Ganaie and Sajad Hussain Wani

Introduction

The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), formerly known as the London Club, is a group of 48 countries formed in 1975 in response to Indias nuclear test of 1974 to control the export of nuclear material and technology that could be used for the development of nuclear weapons. The main objective of the group is to contribute to the goal of nuclear non-proliferation through export controls of nuclear and nuclear-related material, equipment, technology and towards the fulfilment of this objective the group has developed two sets of guidelines.

The Part I guidelines were adopted in 1978 and were published as INFCIRC/254. These guidelines cover those items and material that could be directly used to produce nuclear weapons. These are called trigger list items. These include nuclear material, nuclear reactors and equip-ment, non-nuclear material for reactors and sensitive technology. The trigger list items can be transferred only when the supplier state receives a formal assurance from a recipient state that such items would not be used in any explosive device (Article 2) and such items should be placed under effective physical protection to prevent their theft and illegal transfer [Article 3 (a)]. In the case of non-nuclear weapon states, such items should only be transferred when a recipient state has a full scope safeguards agreement in force.

The Part II guidelines were adopted in 1992 in response to Iraqs clandestine nuclear weapons pro-gramme that used the items that were not covered by the Part I guidelines. These guidelines were published as INFCIRC 254/ Rev.1/ part II. These guidelines pertain to dual-use items, that is, those items that have both nuclear and non-nuclear applications. The supplier state is under obligation not to transfer these items if they are for use in a non-nuclear weapon state for a nuclear explosive activity or in an unsafe-guarded nuclear fuel cycle activity or if there is an unacceptable risk of diversion to such an activity.

The admission of new members into the group is governed by five factors as laid down in Procedural Arrangement. The five factors which a prospective applicant has to meet before joining the group include:

1. be able to supply items covered by the Annexes to Parts 1 and 2 of the Guidelines;

2. adhere to and act in accordance with the Guidelines;

3. have in force a legally-based domestic export control system which gives effect to the commitment to act in accordance with the Guidelines;

4. be a party to the NPT, the Treaties of Pelindaba, Rarotonga, Tlatelolco or Bangkok or an equivalent international nuclear non-proliferation agreement, and in full compliance with the obligations of such agreement(s), and, as appropriate, have in force a full-scope safeguards agreement with the IAEA;

5. be supportive of international efforts towards non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and of their delivery vehicles.1

The NSG takes all its decisions by consensus. So, any decision, whether related to the amendment of guidelines or admission of new members, must be agreed by all the members.

Membership Gains

Indias quest for the NSG membership began in 2010, when US President Barack Obama pledged to support Indias entry into the NSG but it was only in 2016 that India formally applied for membership followed by Pakistan. While India already got a waiver from the NSG in 2008 which allowed it to receive nuclear material, equipment and technology from the NSG countries, membership of the group is considered as an assertion of right2 and being a Participative Government (PG) of the group can help India to meet its long and short-term strategic objectives:

1. The waiver which India won in 2008 has provided it access to nuclear material and technology but many latest technologies are still out of its reach. To get access to the state-of-art technology which the NSG countries possess, the membership becomes necessary.

2. India has its own indigenously developed nuclear power programme; with the NSG membership it can get access to advanced nuclear technology which can help it to commercialise the production of nuclear power equipment and sell it to neighbouring countries. This, in turn, will not only rejuvenate the Indian nuclear industry,3 but will change the status of India in the global market from a buyer to a seller.

3. The 2008 waiver has unlocked a whole new world for the Indian nuclear industry with far greater access to nuclear material and technology and since 2008, India has signed civil nuclear cooperation agreements with a number of countries; but some countries have shown reservations to move forward with their civilian nuclear agreements. Namibia, the fourth largest producer of uranium, is a case in point. In 2009 it agreed to sell uranium to India but later on showed its inability to move forward with the agreement because of the Pelindaba Treaty, a regional nonproliferation instrument which controls the supply of uranium from Africa to the rest of the world. If India becomes a member of the NSG, such reservations are likely to melt away.4

4. A majority of the NSG members have already acknowledged India as a responsible nuclear weapon state with an impeccable non- proliferation record. Since the NSG is an important component of the nuclear non-prolife-ration regime, Indias NSG membership could further bolster its non-proliferation credentials and win it the recognition of a legitimate member of the nuclear non-proliferation mainstream.5

5. Indias entry into the NSG will significantly help it to expand its nuclear power generation capacity which will not only fuel its economic growth but also reduce its reliance on fossil fuels. India is the third biggest emitter of green house gases; expansion of nuclear power production will help it to cut the emission of green house gases and meet the climate change goals.

6. The 2008 waiver is conditional upon Indias non-proliferation commitments and non-com-pliance on the Indian part could trigger suspension of nuclear cooperation; besides this, India has also agreed to abide by the NSG guidelines and any change made in these guidelines in future. Being a member of the group means that India will be part of the decision-making process and can block any amendment to the rules inimical to its interests.6

7. For a long time India was kept outside the global non-proliferation regime and treated as a pariah because of its nuclear weapons programme. Being inside the group means treating India as an equal and not an outlier and its membership would seal its status as a de-facto nuclear weapon state.7

8. Over and above, if India gets the membership, it can block Pakistans entry into the group as the NSG works on the consensus principle which means that every participating govern-ment enjoys a veto power.

Indias NSG Bid: Where India Stands?

India formally applied for the NSG membership in May 2016, one month before the scheduled NSG plenary and the Indian application was followed by the one by Pakistan. However, the group could not take any decision on the membership because the group did not have any rules in place to deal specifically with the membership of the countries that are not signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) though the issue has been under consideration for more than a decade. All the members of the group are parties to the NPT and an important condition, as laid down in Procedural Arrangement to join the cartel, is that the applicant country inter alia should be a signatory to the NPT or any other regional nuclear non-proliferation instrument, a condition which India does not fulfil. At the Seoul plenary held in June 2016, the group could not evolve consensus on the issue; though the Indian membership was supported by the US and other Western countries, a number of non-proliferation hardliners including Austria, New Zealand, Ireland, Turkey and South Africa expressed strong reservations over the NPT issue. However, the Indian Government blamed only China for stonewalling her membership bid by citing the NPT membership as a necessary condition for the NSG membership. During the plenary legal, political and technical aspects of the membership of the non-NPT countries were discussed and it was also decided to continue the discussion on the issue.8 At the end of the plenary, the outgoing NSG chair, Rafael Mariano Grossi, was appointed as a facilitator for leading negotiations on the issue and to outline a proposal dealing with the membership of the NPT outsiders.

The group again held an extraordinary plenary in Vienna on November 11, 2016 but no forward movement could be made. During the meeting most of the members supported a two-step process which was also backed by China: first to have an agreement on objective and non-discriminatory criteria and then to consider the admission of the NPT outsiders.9 China maintained that any criteria which the group evolves must be non-discriminatory and applicable to all countries that are not signatories to the NPT and should not hurt core values of the NSG which has NPT as the cornerstone.10

In order to decide the membership issue of the non-NPT members, two documents were circulated to the NSG members. The first document was India-specific circulated by the US in 2011 as a Food for Thought paper. The US document enlisted two factors to be considered for new membership:

1. The country must be supportive of international efforts towards the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and of their delivery vehicles and

2. Have in force a legally-based domestic export control system which gives effect to the commitment to act in accordance with the Guideline.11

The document further noted that it is not mandatory for a country to meet all the five conditions as laid down in the Procedural Arrangement and the Participating Govern-ments should consider the Indian case on the basis of its responsible non-proliferation behaviour and the efforts India has taken to strengthen the global non-proliferation regime.12

The second document was circulated by Amino Grossi in December 2016, entitled Revised Version of a Draft Exchange of Notes for Non-NPT Applicants as a part of his mandate to evolve a consensus on the membership of non- NPT countries. Grossis formula outlined nine conditions which the non-NPT countries have to meet to join the exclusive club:

1. To have in place a separation plan making a clear and strict separation of current and future civilian nuclear facilities from non-civilian nuclear facilities.

2. Making a declaration to the International Atomic Energy Agency identifying all current and future civilian nuclear facilities.

3. To have in force an IAEA safeguards agree-ment covering all declared civilian nuclear facilities and all future civilian nuclear facilities.

4. Have in place an Additional Protocol covering all the declared civilian facilities.

5. A non-NPT state has to commit not to use any item transferred either directly or indirectly from a NSG Participating Government for military purposes.

6. A commitment not to conduct any nuclear explosive test.

7. A clear description of plans and policies in support of Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty upon becoming an NSG member.

8. A commitment to strengthen the multilateral nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament regime by working towards the total elimination of all nuclear weapons and enhancing the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

9. A non-NPT state would join a consensus of all other Participating Governments on the merits of any additional non-NPT Party application.13

Grossis formula suited more to the Indian bid than Pakistans since India meets most of the conditions as outlined in the proposal. During the course of its negotiations with the US on the civil nuclear cooperation agreement and thereafter, India committed itself to most of the conditions as laid down in the document. More importantly, the proposal did not contain a provision regarding the NPT. However, the provisions 6 and 7 in Grossis draft could be a matter of concern for the Indian strategic establishment, that is, the commitment not to conduct a nuclear test and a clear description of plans and policies in support of CTBT notwithstanding the fact that India has declared a voluntary moratorium on nuclear testing. For Pakistan the proposal proved a non-starter as Pakistan did meet most of the qualifications. In a statement the Pakistan Foreign Office termed it discrimi-natory and unhelpful for advancing global non-proliferation objectives.14 Dr Adil Sultan of the Strategic Plans Division termed the proposal as problematic because of its Pakistan-specific nature.15

The Grossi formula also could not bring much cheer among the non-proliferation experts because it proposed a lower standard for new members that could undermine the goal of the nuclear non-proliferation regime.16 Dr Daryl Kimball of the Arms Control Association claimed that it sets an extremely low bar on NSG membership and its wording is vague and open to wide interpretation. He further said that the draft proposal did not set the signature to the CTBT as a mandatory condition for membership and if NSG fails to establish that signature of CTBT is one of the key criteria for membership, its participating governments have squandered an opportunity to incentivise Indian and Pakistani signature of the treaty.17

Concerns for Non-Proliferation Regime

Indias entry into the NSG is a very sensitive issue for the group and has become more complicated with the application of Pakistan whose non-proliferation record is questionable and before deciding the issue, the NSG has to address a number of questions:

What will happen to the NPT membership requirement as a condition laid down in the Procedural Arrangement for joining the group? Will this condition be revised?

Will the NSG reconsider the definition of Nuclear Weapon State as technically India is not a Nuclear Weapon State under the NSG guidelines.

Will access to sensitive nuclear equipment and technology be denied to the non-NPT states?. As per the NSG rules these technologies can be transferred only to states that are parties to the NPT.

Both India and Pakistan have not signed a Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement with the IAEA and in the absence of such an agreement how would the NSG ensure that no diversion of dual use items will take place in the non-NPT states?18

All this means that the NSG has to proceed with utmost care and prudence in deciding the membership issue. Also, there is a growing concern among non-proliferation experts that not demanding tangible non-proliferation commitments from the non-NPT countries for joining the group could severely undermine the global non-proliferation regime. In a letter written by a group of experts to the NSG Chair, Rafael Marino Grossi, deep concern was expressed regarding the entry of the non-NPT states into the group. They warned that granting membership on the basis of exceptional political preferences and without compensating steps to strengthen non-proliferation and disarmament would increase nuclear dangers in south Asia, and weaken the NSG and the broader nuclear non-proliferation regime.19 The experts have also warned against any country-specific exemption, as such a move favours India, and could force Pakistan to further expand its nuclear weapons programme and would worsen Chinas own NSG-non-compliant nuclear trade with Pakistan and make it more difficult to gain other states adherence to NSG trade control guidelines.20 It will also reinforce the perception among NPT member-states that the rules [of the group] just do not apply to nuclear armed states.21 Further, a number of non-proliferation experts do not perceive India as a like-minded country as it does not share mainstream views regarding core non-proliferation goals: it has not legalised its moratorium on nuclear testing by signing the CTBT, it continues to produce fissile material for the development of nuclear weapons, its separation plan is substandard,22 its Additional Protocol does not meet international standards, and its civil nuclear liability law is not in conformity with the provisions of the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage.23

What Next?

Indias NSG bid continues to be in limbo as the issue has been discussed in a number of plenaries but the group has failed to evolve a consensus. Keeping in view the reservations expressed by a number of countries and stiff opposition posed by China, it seems that membership for India is unlikely in the near future nor is it going to come as a package. Against this backdrop an important question comes to the fore: how should India approach the issue? In this regard two approaches have been advocated that India can follow.

First, as advocated by Shyam Saran, the former Foreign Secretary, and also supported by a number of experts, is to preserve the substantive gains already obtained through the waiver than to push hard for membership.24 Two former chairmen of Indias Atomic Energy Commission also support the same approach that: Heavens are not going to fall if India does not get NSG membership. India has access to technology thanks to the waiver.25 This view is largely influenced by the continuing Chinese opposition to the Indian membership and that India is already doing business with the NSG countries and member-ship is not going have a major impact on Indias civil nuclear programme. Its short-term needs can easily be satisfied through the 2008 waiver and it has hammered out civil nuclear agree-ments with a number of countries; also its long-term needs can be satisfied through thorium-fuelled fast breeder reactors which are indepen-dent of NSG membership.26

The second approach is to remain optimistic and keep on pushing the case. With membership in the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), Wassenaar Arrangement and Australia Group, the NSG does not seem a distant dream. Further, the NSG has not closed the doors for India yet. The issue is still on the agenda of the group and in the June 2017 Plenary, the group agreed to continue the discussion on the membership of the NPT outsiders. And as rightly said by Rafael Marino Grossi, Nothing is impossible, in 2008 people would have said that the exemption for trade [with India] was impossible. But then it was done. However, it needs to acknowledged that India won the 2008 waiver because of the American diplomatic push. To repeat 2008, India needs same kind of heavy lifting from the US. Secondly, as advocated by Shyam Saran, because of expansion of nuclear energy market and associated non-proliferation risks the NSG might revise its guidelines27 in the near future which could push India inside the club.

Conclusion

With applications for membership from non-NPT states on the table, the NSG is faced with an unprecedented challenge to resolve the issue. Reservations expressed by the non-proliferation community vis-a-vis Indias membership because of its status as an NPT outlier has eluded the consensus on the issue so far and forced the group not to take any decision which could undermine the credibility of the nuclear-nonproliferation regime. However, those pushing for stringent non-proliferation commitments from India should also weigh the benefits of having India inside the tent. India, with an advanced civil nuclear programme and an emerging supplier of nuclear equipment and technology, could greatly help to increase the effectiveness of the group and strengthen the non-proliferation regime. Sticking to the NPT membership as a necessary qualification for membership is not a way out. The NPT member-ship is only one of the five factors stated in the Procedural Arrangement and it is not necessary for an applicant to meet all the five factors stated in the Procedural Arrangement. It will also be erroneous to ask India to take such responsibilities not assumed by other members of the group or which India perceives inimical to its national security. On its part, India should understand that membership is not going to come without tangible non-proliferation commitments. So, the NSG has to evolve a balanced criteria, acceptable to India on the one hand and not hurting the core objectives of the NSG on the other hand to accommodate India. In this regard the following factors can be considered:

Making legally binding commitments towards the advancement of the objectives of the NPT without signing the NPT and for this purpose adherence to Articles I, III.2 and VI is important.28

Declaring a voluntary moratorium on fissile material production till the impasse over the Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty (FMCT) ends.

A commitment not to conduct nuclear tests upon joining the group; violation of this would lead to automatic termination of membership.

A commitment to address deficiencies in the Additional Protocol and Civil Nuclear Liability Act and bring them at par with international standards.

Committing that nuclear imports to India and exports from it will not result in any sort of diversion.

References

1. Balachandran, G. (2013): India and NSG: Approaches to Indian Membership, IDSA Issue Brief, May 23, p.2.

2. Ramesh M. (2016): Why Indias NSG Entry is No Big Deal, The Hindu Business Line, June 16.

3. Roche, Elizabeth (2016): Why an NSG Membership is Important to India, Livemint, June 8, http://www.livemint.com/Politics/GgIv7xn2DuFpDbsmGTcGpK/Why-a-NSG-membership-is-important-to-India.html(10-12- 2017)

4. Neelakantan Shailaja (2016): How Exactly India will Benefit From Being A Member Of Nuclear Suppliers Group: 6 Examples, Times of India, June 11.

5. Estrada, Kate Sullivan de and Nicola Leveringhaus (2016): Chinas Stance On NSG Membership Shows The Extent Of Indias Challenge In Global Nuclear Order, The Wire, June 30, https://thewire.in/author/kate-sullivan-de-estrada-and-nicola-leveringhaus(20-11-2017)

6. Kazi, Reshmi (2016): Nuclear Suppliers Group: Whats Next For India, South Asian Voices, December 7, https://southasianvoices.org/nuclear-suppliers-group-whats-next-india (25-11-2017).

7. Kazi, Reshmi (2016): Nuclear Suppliers Group: Whats Next For India, South Asian Voices, December 7.

8. Haider, Suhasini (2016): NSG Plenary Ends Without Movement In Indias Application, TheHindu, June 24.

9. NSG Membership For India Unlikely This Year (2016): The Hindu, November 19.

10. New Draft Proposal On NSG Membership Unlikely To Please India (2016): The Wire, December 29, https://thewire.in/90403/nsg-membership-nuclear-testing(22-11-2017).

11. United States Communication, Food for Thought Paper on Indian NSG Membership (2011): https://www.armscontrol.org/system/files/nsg1130.pdf

12. United States Communication, Food for Thought Paper on Indian NSG Membership (2011).

13. Kimball, Daryl G. (2016): NSG Membership Proposal Would Undermine Non-Proliferation,Arms control Association, December 21, https://www.armscontrol.org/blog/ArmsControlNow/2016-12-21/NSG-Membership-Proposal-Would-Undermine-Nonproliferation (3-12-2017)

14. Syed, Baqir Sajjad (2016): Pakistan Rejects New Formula for NSG Membership, Dawn, December 30.

15. Grossi Formula Designed To Knock-Out Pakistans NSG Bid (2016): The Nation, December 31.

16. Krepon, Michael (2017): A time Out for New NSG Membership, Arms Control Wonk, January 24.

17. Kimball, Daryl G. (2016): NSG Membership Proposal Would Undermine Non-Proliferation, Arms Control Association, December 21.

18. Hibbs, Mark (206): Admitting Non- NPT Members: Questions for NSG, Arms Control Wonk, May 15.

19. Dont Bend NSG Rules without Steps to Strengthen Non-Proliferation, letter written by a group of experts to NSG, https://www.armscontrol.org/print/7517 (2-12-2017)

20. Kimball, Daryl G. (2016): Obamas Indian Nuclear Blind Spot, Arms Control Today, June 26.

21. Kimball, Daryl G. (2016): Obamas Indian Nuclear Blind Spot, Arms Control Today, June 26.

22. Kimball, Daryl G. (2016): Obamas Indian Nuclear Blind Spot, Arms Control Today, June 26.

23. Williams, Lauryn (2016): A Path Forward On Indias NSG Membership, The Diplomat, April 01.

24. Quoted in Kazi, Reshmi (2016): Nuclear suppliers Group: Whats Next for India, South Asian Voices, December 7.

25. Quoted in Ramesh, M. (2016): Why Indias NSG entry is no Big Deal, The Hindu Business Line, June 16.

26. Balachandran G. (2016): India and NSG: Approaches to Indian Membership, IDSA Issue Brief, May 23,

p. 4.

27. Kazi, Reshmi (2016): Nuclear suppliers Group: What Next for India, South Asian Voices, December 7.

28. These factors have been advocated by John Carlson and Mark Hibbs, for details see, Carlson, John (2015): Nuclear Cooperation with India: Non-proliferation Success or Failure#, February 15, http://carnegieendowment.org/files/India_-_nuclear_cooperation_15_Feb_15_2.pdf and Jha, Lalit K. (201):NPT: NOT A Requirement For NSG But Adherence Is A Factor: Expert, India Today, July 23, http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/npt-not-a-requirement-for-nsg-but-adherence-is-a- -factorexpert/1/713735.html.

Dr Muzaffar Ahmad Ganaie is teaching Political Science at the Government Degree College, Uttersoo, Anantnag and can be reached at maganaie1921[at]gmail.com and Dr Sajad Hussain Wani is working as a lecturer at the Government Degree College (Boys), Kupwara and can be reached at sajadjmi72[at]gmail.comHome > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > What is Fundamentalism?

From N.C.s Writings

Fundamentalism has become a much-used term todayin politics and in the academia. And there are in vogue various types of the so-called fundamentalistspolitical, religious and cultural.

But before cataloguing these various tribes of fundamentalists, it is important to clarify what precisely is meant by fundamentalism. The Oxford English Dictionary says the term, funda-mental, pertains to the basis or groundwork, going to the root of the matter. But the word fundamentalism has a particularly Christian connotation which, according to the dictionary, is:

The strict maintenance of traditional orthodox religious beliefs or doctrines especially belief in the inerrancy of Scripture and literal acceptance of the creeds as fundamentals of Protestant Christianity.

The BBC English Dictionary is more to the point:

Fundamentalism is belief in the original form of a religion, without accepting any later ideas.

The context in which the term has been coined is, therefore, specially Christian. Following this interpretation, an orthodox group in any religion is today dubbed as funda-mentalistthe conservative no-changers, the orthodox as opposed to the liberal within any religionwhich amounts to promoting intolerance and bigotry. Within Christianity, however, the fundamentalists suffered the first setback when Martin Luther raised his voice of dissent in the fifteenth centuryout of which was born the Protestant sect within the Catholic Church. Since then many other dissident streams flowed within Christianity, while orthodoxy was reinforced by Jesuit militancy.

Projecting the same format, the orthodox extremists in Islam are branded as funda-mentaliststhose who have asked for Salman Rushdies head and are now clamouring for Taslima Nasreens. Bigotry is their acknowledged badge, the mentality that would brook no liberal trend nor any special reforms within the Muslim society. Obviously, such Islamic fundamentalists never favoured Sufism which had blossomed in Kashmira conflict which manifests itself even today within the militants camp in Kashmir between the Pakistan-backed Hizbul fundamentalist group and the JKLF which stands for the independence of Kashmir, carrying the banner of Sufism. In the rest of Muslim India, there is some stirrings for social reformswitness the latest stand of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, acknowled-gedly an authoritative body, which in its recent meeting has called upon the Muslim community for a campaign against alcoholism, gambling and dowrythe last item, if seriously carried out, is bound to impinge on the Muslim marriage customs as they prevail at present.

Modernist trends within Islam are noticed in many countries of the Muslim world stretching from Iran to Indonesia. There was at one time an intellectual trend, mainly on the Mediter-ranean coast, which sought to equate Islam with Marxism. However, a peculiar feature in the Indian subcontinent has been that the liberal elements among the Muslims have bothered little to raise the consciousness of the Muslim community as a whole. They seem to have preferred a liberal island of their own leaving the community as a whole to the dead-hand grip of the orthodox elements. Salman Rushdie and Taslima Nasreen certainly deserve the support of all those who stand for basic human rights; at the same time it would not be incorrect to say that by their downright stand, they have emerged individually as emancipated souls, while leaving the field clear for the mullahs to malign them as anti-Islam. A reform movement has to start from the level of consciousness of the people for whom it is meant; otherwise there is the danger of isolating oneself from the target segment of the community and thereby reinforce the reactionary wing itself. It is this alienation of the forward-looking elements like Rushdie and Nasreen which strengthens bigotry instead of effectively fighting it.

This has proved true in the case of the Hindu community as well. The early reform move-ments like the Brahmo Samaj and the Arya Samaj combated some of the pernicious features of the Hindu society, particularly the iniquitous caste system, the dowry and womens deprived status. However, these trends have practically expended themselves as their programmes have by and large been absorbed by the community as a whole at least at the formal level. In the present-day conditions, they look ineffective in raising another reform movement within the community. As in the Muslim community, here also the orthodox bigotry has been practically left untouched, despite the fact that many movements of social emancipation from Narayan Guru to the Dalits have appeared, claiming considerable following.

It is precisely because of this fact of the conservative orthodox core having escaped the onslaught of modern liberal trend in both the Hindu and Muslim societies that it appears as the real boss of both the communities, and thereby attract the attention of the political elements who look upon them as guarantors for vote-banks at the election time. This writer recalls the life-style of Shyamaprasad Mukherji, the founder of the Jana Sangh. He was certainly a devout Hindu, but was no adherent of all the rituals that the Hindu orthodoxy have stood for. He was certainly no brown sahib but by conscious preference a desi leader who could hardly be demarcated from a Congress leader of corresponding standing. Those of us who have personally known Shyamaprasad Babu from our university days can vouch for his liberal outlook on many issues, social and cultural. He was at home with Congress leaders like B.C. Roy, Sarat Bose and Kiran Shankar Roy. As for his criticism of Gandhiji, this was mainly over the question of separate electorate for the Muslim community (which Gandhiji had also disapproved in principle but could do nothing to change it as he did in the case of the Scheduled Castes). There were critics of Gandhiji on this score within the Congress as well such as Madanmohan Malviya and Ramananda Chatto-padhyay and even Meher Chand Khanna, apart from Dr Moonje and Jagat Narain Lal. This is perhaps equally true of the present generation of BJP leaders like Advani and Vajpayeenot to speak of the late-comers and new-comers like Jaswant Singh, T.N. Chaturvedi or for that matter, General Candeth, whose father incidentally was a distinguished figure in the Brahmo Samaj.

The point to note is that the political leaders of the Jana Sangh and the BJP chose to take within the camp the more aggressive militant elementsthe bigoted fringe like the VHP or the individual stars like Sadhavi Rithambara and Uma Bharatifor the purpose of mobilising votes. It is this alliance which has posed a problem for the BJP today, and the more astute leadership of the party would have to decide whether it should let the militants wreck the prospects of the party in the arena of parliamentary politics, or delink itself from them. This was the quandary of the Akali leadership ten years ago, and by evading to face it, mature leaders like Prakash Singh Badal found themselves in political wilderness. In contrast, the CPI-M leadership made short-shrift of their militant fundamentalists symbo-lised by Naxalism, and threw them out of the party and even took police action against the extremists when they first raised their head in the sixties. From all this one has to draw the conclusion that a political party to make any headway along the road of parliamentary politics, has to abjure and combat funda-mentalism. Somehow fundamentalism is a total misfit in the parlour of parliamentary politics.

There are of course other variants of funda-mentalismsome of these rather bizarre. A recent example is Namboodiripads sudden outburst against Gandhiji as having been a fundamentalist. Knowing as one does Namboo-diripads past views on Gandhijihe even wrote a mild-mannered critique of Gandhijis politics and philosophyit came as a surprise that he should brand him as a fundamentalist. This was no doubt embarrassing for the CPI-M leadership which has promptly disowned the views of this reverend elder brother. What may be said by way of explanationnot attenuationof Namboodiripads latest views on Gandhiji, is that he is mixing up fundamentalism with devout attachment to any religious belief on the individual plane. Within the Communist hierarchy, Namboodiripad, as the present writer has long known, could be regarded as a moderate in contrast to a rigid doctrinaire Marxist like B.T. Ranadive. One recalls Ranadives personal view that nobody could be eligible for membership of the Communist Party unless and until one became an atheist. Lenin, on the other hand, had said in one of his writings that even a practising priest could apply for Party membership if he had supported a workers strike struggle.

(Mainstream, August 20, 1994)Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > The Power of Periyar and the Unravelling of the NDA

When the old man, Akhlaque, was done to death inside his house, allegedly for storing beef in his refrigerator by a murderous, vandalising, vigilante mob, the Supremos said nothing. Sundry satraps said a lot nobody who swears by the Constitution should say. They went unchecked. It was said occasionally that the law would take its course. In point of fact, not the law but the vandals and vigilantes took their course.

The same when the equally innocent Pehlu Khan was lynched and killed: the Supremos said nothing. Not the law but the lynch mobs took their course.

Nor did the Supremos utter a syllable of disapproval when fifteen-year-old Junaid was playfully assassinated in a moving train for wearing a skull cap. The usual suspects let loose abuse that no citizen should fling at another.

You see, these are the people who belong elsewherearent they brazenly reminded every day?people whose votes are neither sought nor wanted, people who never attain to a ruling party ticket at election times, people who do not matter, except in so far as their existence constantly warns us of threats to our nationalism and security. Their chief punyabhoomi not being on Indian soil, they are citizens by sufferance, never mind that they chose to repudiate the call to turn their back on their pitrabhoomi, Bharat and have never failed to be the first among her defendersmore than may be said for many of the accusers and baiters. Not to mention the fact that their multifaceted genius and incomparable industry in countless spheres of Indias history over more than a millennium should have incalculably deepened and elevated Indias cultural life and made this land an example worldwide of the unique human value and ennobling richness of composite and pluralist living.

Switch to the Statues. It is much to be doubted if the fall of the one in Tripura would have drawn much of a rebuke from the Supremos had it not been that such vandalism there took off the sheen from the electoral victory obtained by cynically aligning with those who seek a separate State. Just as the victory in Nagaland was a result of aligning with a faction that still has the agenda of a Greater Nagaland uppermost on its political calendar.

But, folks, Periyar is quite another matter. Lenin may rule the hearts and minds of some forty per cent of a miniscule Tripura population, and of those already defeated and discredited in West Bengal, Periyar may not be fibbed off without grievous consequences. For one thing, he was not a foreigner like the fallen idol in Tripura. And, more pressingly, he brought about a revolution below the Vindhyas that no Sangh Parivar historian may write off or attack without a heinous electoral fallout for anyone seeking to extend a political footprint among those sentient parts of the Republic.

Speaking, in passing, of demolishing statues of foreigners, what if in many parts of the world the growing bevy of anti-immigrant nationalists were to go on a spree bringing down the many Gandhi statues that exist worldwide? Would the powers-that-be in India now simply say well, we never did like him anyway?

But coming back to Periyar: if all the killings and lynchings of flesh and blood human beings over the last some years drew not a syllable of disapproval from the ruling party Supremos, the vandalisation of this one Statue (merely) has quickly drawn reaction: stop this, the honorable Prime Minister has said, although it is to be much wondered whether the Brahminical party that seeks to build an empire down in the Deccan as well by incorporating the Other Backward Classes has now made a faux pas which no political cunning may undo.

We may thus have tobe much grateful to the local BJP leader, H. Raja, who set the blunder rolling in Dravidian land. Even as Amit Shah- ji has said there will be no action taken against him, Shah-jis vaulting ambition to secure the recalcitrant South has occasioned a most welcome, even if patently disingenuous, peroration on the virtues of Indian diversity and the wisdom of those who framed the Constitution: We in the BJP believe that a wide range of ideas and ideologies co-exist in India. This is how the makers of our Constitution envisaged our great nation to be. Indias diversity and vibrant culture of debate and discussion is what strengthens us. (The Indian Express, March 8, 2018)

Never mind that this diversity and culture of debate and discussion does not include Indian Muslims and Christians; yet, Periyar may have done for us what legions of secular and democratic Indians have failed to do, namely, oblige the Hindu Rashtravaadis to own, even if for the grossest of tactical reasons, the legacy of a secular, democratic and Constitutional Republic. For now at least.

So we say Ramaswamy Naicker zindabad! You have the power that we need desperately.

NDA Unravelling

In the meanwhile, an epidemic of disgruntle-ment among the allies of the Bharatiya Janata Party seems to have volubly set in. From Kashmir to Kanyakumari, literally.

In the land of my birth, the PDP, however it seeks to last the remaining years out, is not only now bemoaning the fake nature of the Agenda of Alliance, but face to face every day with a nationalist putsch that defines its agenda in terms of the need to crush resistance at all costs. Imagine that the operative political articulator of government policy there seems to be not the party but the no-nonsense Chief of the Army. So watch that space. Certainly, come 2019, a repeat of that alliance seems unthinkable.

In the Punjab, the Akalis rue their fate inas- much as they, as loyal allies, should not be thought fit even for Headships of Corporations, not to speak of sundry Governor posts etc. And to the extent that their notable spokespersons say as much publicly, the extent of the disenchantment may be imagined.

On the West coast, the Shiva Sena has been fuming now for a whole year at least: no response from their ally of old on the demands for elevating the Marathi language or according reservation to Marathas in education and employment. This ally has pretty much declared that come the next General Election, they mean tobe on their own.

On the South-East coast, the redoubtable ally, Telegu Desam have indeed put the cat among the ruling pigeons; not being granted the promised special status, they have pulled out of the Central Government and are likely to formally announce their departure from the political alliance sooner than later.

And in the land of the Tamils, what could have been a likely ally in the AIADMK has been scared off the thought of allying with a Hindutva party that disrespects Peryar and modern Tamil legacy, as has been the superstar, Rajnikant, finding himself obliged to make all the right noises of Tamilian outrage at the desecration of the statue of Periyar at the instigation of the BJP party secretary in the state.

Coming as these things do concurrently with the BJPs severe and repeated losses in bypolls one after the otherin Rajasthan, in Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, in Madhya Pradesh, in Odisha, in West Bengal, in Maharashtra, and I may have omitted a few others, the ruling BJP seems on course for a shocking comeuppance in the next General Elections whenever these are held. Wretchedly, the litany of broken promises and the overall abysmal levels of governance both at the Centre and in the States ruled by the BJP topped lately with charges of humongous corruption, now seem too looming to be perorated away by the great helmsman. Facts now come to sting the rhetoric in mortal ways, and people are no fools. Nor is the trump card of communal polarisation likely to yield the sort of result that the BJP habitually presses it to yield. No more telling acknowledgment of this than in the quotation above from Shri Amit Shah who may be hard put to answer now if he and the Sangh seek once again to push the electoral cart towards hate-mongering polerisation. In the Lok Sabha bypolls from Alwar, the BJP candidate asked for votes from Hindus because he was a Hindu; he lost by one lakh and ninety thousand votes.

The conncommitantly ominous development is the resolve of the Opposition political forces to come together. What more eloquent evidence of this than the mortal antagonists, the SP and the BSP fighting the UP bypolls together in Gorakhpur and Phulpur. Although the Congress has its own candidates, the party may give the wink to its followers to defeat the BJP.

The joker in the Opposition pack for now seems to be the Left, or sections of it one ought to say. It will be upto the right-thinking Left leaderships to persuade the nay sayers that if it was alright to team up with the RSS in 1977 to defeat Authoritarianism, it would look foolish not to team up with a chastened Congress to defeat what they themselves tirelessly dub as Fascism.

As to an alternate policy framework Lenin and Marx might both have said that where the idea of the Republic itself is in jeopardy, the primary task ought to be to salvage Democracy, however class-based it be, from total extinction.

In the words of good old Hobbsbawm, interesting times.

The author, who taught English literature at the University of Delhi for over four decades and is now retired, is a prominent writer and poet. A well-known commentator on politics, culture and society, he wrote the much acclaimed Dickens and the Dialectic of Growth. His book, The Underside of ThingsIndia and the World: A Citizens Miscellany, 2006-2011, came out in August 2012. Thereafter he wrote two more books, Idea of India Hard to Beat: Republic Resilient and Kashmir: A Noble Tryst in Tatters.Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > Left Must Team with Congress (and others) to Save Democracy

The drubbing that the Communist Party of India-Marxist just received in Tripura deepens the crisis the Indian Left has been facing. Is the Lefts demise in the country inevitable? Will the Tripura Assembly election results dampen the morale of Left-liberals who have been opposing Hindutva for the last four years? Will it aggravate the tension in the CPI-M over the issue of whether or not to align with the Congress in 2019?

Ajaz Ashraf spoke to Sumanta Banerjee, an avowed Leftist intellectual, cultural historian and civil rights activist, who has written seminal critiques of the Left movement in India. He is the author of In the Wake of Naxalbari: A History of the Naxalite Movement and Logic in a Popular Form: Essays on Popular Religion in Bengal. The following are excerpts from the interview.

Tripura pitted the Left and the Right in a direct face-off for the first time. The result will be projected as Hindutva trumping Marxism. What is the significance of the CPI-Ms debacle for Leftist politics?

The Left will have to rethink the line prescribed by former CPI-M General Secretary Prakash Karat of having no alliance with the Congress. They will have to redefine their electoral strategy for the 2019 election. That has to be their priority. Their main threat is the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is growing and...

It is in power at the Centre and winning one State after another.

If the BJP wins in 2019, it will be the end of not only the Left, but of any democratic space. The Left has to concentrate on consolidating the larger democratic, secular space. In terms of electoral strategy, it means seeking allies among national parties such as the Congress as well as among regional parties. Things are developing in the South. For instance, Chandrababu Naidu and his Telugu Desam Party are feeling marginalised because all the promises (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi made to him have not been met. So here is a regional party which could be aligned with to cobble together a larger united front.

The CPI-M should go beyond ideological purity. In any case, it has sacrificed its ideological purity.

Why do you say that?

How did they lose West Bengal? Remember Nandigram, bringing in industrialists and giving them land. Since ideological purity is not there, it should become pragmatic. The Lefts priority today is not a socialist revolution, but to preserve the bourgeois democratic structure that is being threatened by a fascist regime.

Over the last four years, the opposition to the BJP has come mainly from those who subscribe to Left-liberal politics. Do you think the Tripura result will demoralise them?

Yes, to a certain extent. At the same time, it is also a warning to them that they should remobilise themselves and close ranks because of the threat they are facing. In fact, the Left is divided even more than the Right.

Obviously, there are problems with the Left. Why doesnt it have the kind of appeal it had three-four decades ago?

The Lefts crisis started much before the Tripura result. We can trace it to the industrial policy of the Left Front Government in Bengal. It coincided with India pursuing the policy of economic liberalisation. The land reforms (of 1978-80) that the Left brought about in Bengal reached a plateau. This was because the plots of land given to the peasants were tiny.

These tiny plots got further fragmented.

Yes, and without any opportunities for the younger generation. The Left Front Government failed to open the agro-industrial sector. They neglected cooperative farming. That created an economic crisis. At the same time, the middle-rank leaders were no longer ideologically committed. They became part of the adminis-trative machinery of the ruling party. Unlike their predecessors, they became party apparat-chiks. It upset people.

Wasnt their domination of the citizens everyday life, from buying a house to securing ration, about which you have written extensively, the reason why people became upset with them?

Sure, the cadres degenerated into being the muscle-power (of the party). Tripura, of course, did maintain a long period of honesty. Unlike the CPI-M in Bengal and Kerala, the CPI-M in Tripura had a (clean) image because of the personal incorruptibility of (the outgoing Chief Minister) Manik Sarkar.

But there were other problems in Tripura. The indigenous tribal people became a minority over the years...

They were nearly 51 per cent in the 1940s and are now around 30-31 per cent.

Yes, this created a degree of tension between the Bengalis and the tribals. But I must stress that in pre-Independence years and for sometime after, the Communist Party had a solid base among the tribals. For instance, it had Dasarath Debbarma. [Debbarma and his Ganamukti Parishad followers joined the Communist Party of India in 1950. Once it split, he joined the CPI-M.]

Of course, one should credit Manik Sarkar for bringing peace to Tripura in spite of the tribal insurgency. But the younger tribals felt alienated because they had become a minority. Their grievances are quite justified. This is where the BJP made inroads. It entered into an alliance with the Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura, which is demanding a separate State. The BJP is a party for all seasons.

It changes its messaging according to the State where it is contesting elections.

In Nagaland, they appealed to Christian sentiments. They are Janus-facedthey are one thing in Uttar Pradesh, quite another in Naga-land or Tripura. I wonder how Tripura or Naga-land would have reacted had they been made to listen to the speeches that BJP leaders made in Uttar Pradesh before the 2017 Assembly election. The BJPs organisational tactics are also formidable. For two years, the activists of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (the BJPs parent organisation) camped in Tripura and visited every house. Compared to this, the CPI-M was perhaps complacent.

A huge amount of money was pumped into Tripura. Are we seeing a de-ideologisation of Indian politics?

Yes. The economic liberalisation of 1991 and the destruction of the Babri Masjid in 1992 constitute a watershed. They led to the creation of a new generation of voters who are totally depoliticised. I may sound cynical or anti-people, but instead of glamourising the masses, let us demystify them. The present trend, whether in rural or urban areas, is each one to himself and the devil take the hindmost. Earlier, elections in States or for Parliament were fought on certain economic issuesfor instance, rising food prices. Or there were political issuesfor instance, the human rights issue after the Emergency. Those ideological, political and economic issues are no longer there. What are the elections now about? Anti-incumbency.

And also about change, which is in vogue now, though no one knows what it means precisely.

Exactly. Remember last years Uttar Pradesh election. It was held after demonetisation, which affected a mass of people and over a 100 people died. Yet there was no expression of protest against demonetisation. On the contrary, voters in Uttar Pradesh chose Adityanath. How do you explain this? I feel depoliticisation has led to people being swayed by identity and communal polarisation.

How does Left-liberal politics tackle it? Whether anxieties over identity are real or imagined, they have to be addressed. There is no running away from this.

It is a long haul. The Left has to start from the scratch. This means the Left has to return to being what it was in the 1940s and 1950s.

Which is?

In the 1950s, when we started in the student communist movement, we never had hopes of capturing power at the Centre or running governments in States. Of course, we partici-pated in elections, we fielded candidates. But such candidates were few and the aim was to have them voice the partys views. We worked at the grassrootsin Kisan Sabhas, trade unions; we worked in slums. We conducted night classes to teach people.

Essentially, these were attempts to identify with the poor?

Exactly. We took up their daily problems for instance, getting them ration cards or taking them to hospital. The way the party intervened in civil society was significant. In the 1950s, our medical student comrades, who later became doctors, set up a students health centre in Calcutta. It gave free medical advice and medicines to the destitute.

We lost this to the Shiv Sena in Mumbai and to the RSS in the North. They took a leaf from our book. It is interesting how the Left eroded its mass base in the 1970s and 1980s. When they came to power in West Bengal and Kerala, the cadres were told that everything would be delivered through the government machinery and, therefore, there was no need for a mass movement.

I suppose they were the conduit through whom the delivery of services was to take place, further complicating matters.

Yes, the corrupt panchayats. The delivery mechanism itself became corrupt. I dont know what exactly happened in Tripura, but there were grievances which no one seemed to be addressing. The BJP stepped into the vacuum, so to speak, as did the Trinamul Congress in West Bengal.

They need to go back to working in villages. The BJPs victory is Pyrrhic and wont last by giving sops. There is an agrarian crisis and we need to work among agricultural labourers and farmers, organise and mobilise them and give them an alternative.

What other elements does the Left need to take into account before starting from the scratch?

Maybe align with other movements like that of Medha Patkar. There are these anti-dam movements, which are almost spontaneous and outside the mainstream Left movement. It is not as if people are taking things lying down. The Left has to get out (of its straitjacket) and align with such movements.

What about the leadership structure? You go talk to people and they say, sure, the Left fights for the poor but its leaders are predominantly upper caste.

Of course, it is true that the upper castes have dominated the leadership, apart from Tripura, where the Adivasis were represented in the CPI-Ms leadership structure. This is an old problem, rooted in the fact that the Communists had not thought of caste. I am not going into the Ambedkar-communist debate, but, yes, there is a need to change the leadership structure.

But it isnt just about lower castes not being represented (in the leadership). It is about the problem of ideology as well. Things have changed and the Left has to change its old mindset. It has to become more open organisationally as well as to identity-based movements.

This is how the Left can break out of upper- caste domination. For instance, at Hyderabad Central University, you had the Leftist and Dalit students coming together. If this can be expanded on a political basis, not merely caste basis, by embracing tribal and Dalit grievances, then you can have an ideology that goes beyond the CPI-Ms class-based programme. Apart from workers and peasants, the Left has to appeal to other aggrieved sections of the society.

Do you think the Left has a problem coping with Indias rising expectations or aspirations?

By expectations, do we mean the expectations of a class of nouveau riche?

It is like people dont want to hear about removing poverty but about development, regardless of its nebulous definition.

At the ground level, poverty removal is a basic expectation. The aspiration of starving farmers is to get rid of their debts. There are different levels of aspiration in society. What you are talking about are the aspirations of a growing class that has emerged.

This class has enormous clout, far in excess of its numbers.

Yes. It dominates industry, Parliament and the media. In addition, there is the new middle class, those employed in the Information Technology sector and multinational companies. Their growing expectations are being met through the policies of the government. I am not speaking of only the BJP but also the Congress. These expectations were nurtured by the (Congress-led United Progressive Alliance) government.

Yes, but this class of people is able to use its money power and monopoly over the media to alter the popular mindset...

Earlier, they used muscle power. Now they do it through money power.

How does the Left combat this?

I think this class will soon be facing a crisis. There is already large-scale entrenchment in the IT sector. The average IT sector worker is out on the street. But this is what I am talking about the Left has to expand beyond its traditional class. It has to include the middle class youth who is unemployed or facing retrenchment. So not only does the Left have to focus on retrenched workers, but also on the professional sector. The Left has to prepare for the crisis that will hit the professional sector. It has to evolve a multi-pronged strategy, which the BJP has successfully managed to formulate.

In one way, it wasnt surprising that the Left was voted out in Tripura because it had been in power there for 25 years. But the panic button has been pressed because apart from Kerala, wherever the Left is defeatedwhether in a State or in pockets of influence in Statessuch as Bihar and Uttar Pradeshit gets turfed out permanently. What explains this phenomenon?

I am not going by the yardstick that the Left is losing State after State. My yardstick is that the Left has to re-establish itself not merely through election, but through mass movements. Fine, the Left has lost Bengal and Tripura, its numbers are down in Parliament, and it could lose Kerala as well. It is not that I am not concerned about this. But my yardstick is how does the Left revive itself as a mass movement. It was supposed to be a mass party, not an electoral party. This is important because of the fascist threat we face.

So you will go with CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechurys description that what India is facing is a fascist threat, in contrast to Karat saying the BJP represents authoritarianism?

There is no need to quibble over terminology. But the elephant is in your room. The popular mood in the country today is what Wilhelm Reich called the mass psychology of fascism. What happened in Germany in the 1930s is happening here. This is what is alarming. The coming years are crucial.

Everyone speaks of the Hindu Right. How come we havent thought of a Hindu Left?

The only person who I can think of as representing the Hindu Left is Swami Agnivesh. But I wonder whether hed call himself the Hindu Left.

Maybe Swami Sahajanand, the peasant leader who led a powerful movement in Bihar in the 1930s and 1940s?

Of course, he could be called the Hindu Left. But I do feel uncomfortable with the term Hindu Left.

Hindu radical?

Okay, Hindu radical. There is an anti-Brahminical tradition in Hinduism, for instance, the Bhakti movement, a parallel anti-Brahminical, anti-hierarchical movement in which Dalits also participated. There is a possibility of drawing inspiration from that tradition and from Swami Sahajanands movement.

Isnt that something that non-BJP parties, particularly the Left, have to take into account?

Yes, but we cannot replicate it. But I do agree that when we speak to a Hindu audience, we have to distinguish the BJPs Hindutva from Hindu traditions. Just visiting temples or mosques wont help. The other thing is that when we raise questions about Hindu funda-mentalism, we need to do the same regarding Islamic fundamentalism. There are reformist movements among the Muslims, but, sorry to say, the Congress compromised with the mullacracy.

(Courtesy: scroll.in)Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > Who is Terrorising Whom? Who is a Terrorist?

MUSINGS

As encounters and encounter killings in Uttar Pradesh are ongoingas many as 1142 encounters were recorded between March 2017 and January 2018, and 38 alleged criminals were killedI have been wondering how many of the killed or wounded or hounded out could be innocents. And now ask these innocents (those still alive and in a position to speak the truth, without fear of the aftermath): who is a terrorist? Quite obviously their answer will bethe state!

Its time we ask: who is a terrorist? In a laymans language, a terrorist is that someone who is terrorising the hapless, through action or words or deed. In this context, isnt it time that several of the political and bureaucratic whos who be booked or questioned? On the contrary, they are moving about with the top political brass, who in turn are raising and training their own private goon-brigades.

With the increase of state terrorism and encounters in the country, one cannot go by the state-set definition of a terrorist. For me, the masterminds behind the Babri Masjid demo-lition and also those behind the Gujarat pogrom of 2002 are terrorists, as they not just terrorised me but are also responsible for destroying the very togetherness of this country, for sowing seeds of hatred, and unending and ongoing divisions.



Shouldnt an independent apolitical body look into the details of encounter killings? A strong watchdog group to monitor killings by the state force? Why should we go just by the police version? Why dont we counter the fabricated charges thrown on an innocent before he is shot dead by the police force!

Also, is there no other option with the state other than indulging in encounter killings? Cant the so labelled rogue elements be tamed by the police machinery through non-violent ways ...perhaps,giving a second or third chance to the angry rebellious young. I recall whilst travelling in North Kashmir Id met a young Kashmiri who told me that he took to violence after his relatives were gunned down by the security forces in encounters. I suggested to him that instead of indulging in counter or reactionary violence he adopts the Gandhian philosophy of expressing anger through non- violent ways and means. With a really sad look on his face, hed uttered, Its too late now to follow the Gandhian philosophy. We were never told about it in school or college. Didnt know of it. Wish we were told.



Today, distractions are getting fitted in by this government to bring about an air of utter chaos-cum-confusion. Desperation to such an extent that even the utterances of double or triple agent David Headley are taken as truth in the context of the encounter killing of Ishrat Jahan by the state force! When the US-based terrorist David Headley was made to speak on the Ishrat Jahan encounter case, from the confines of his US prison cell, it came across as the last nail on the farce thats on in the name of terrorism!

To quote the first whistle-blower cop of the Gujarat cadre, R.B. Sreekumar, on this: By merely reiterating his earlier statement that Ishrat Jehan, killed by the Gujarat Police, in collaboration with the Central IB, David Coleman Headley did not provide any fruitful and significant inputs facilitating further probes by the Indian security agencies. Earlier also Headley stated that Ishrat Jehan was an LeT operative, without related information about her network and hierarchy in LeT and specific operations carried out by she and her friends in India and other places. Of course, his statement has been music to the ears of BJP leaders and organisers of fake encounters like DIG Vanzara of the Gujarat Police, who in his resignation letter in 2013 had confirmed that encounters were carried out in pursuance of a well-conceived strategic policy of Modi Government... Perhaps, there is a tie-up between the USA and India about Headley who must have been assured of immunity from legal action in India and the USA for his culpable role as an operative of the LeT...Utilising each point of Headleys revela-tions, no purposeful investigation is possible because he religiously avoided data about the present whereabouts, resources, associates and future plans of the LeT and its terrorists and sister organisations. Information on terrorists who were killed in police action is of not much use. But those planers and perpetrators of fake encounters can build up further on their defence and their political friends can boast about the feasibility and effectiveness of their counter-terrorist propaganda... Justification of the killing of Ishrat Jehan, on the ground of her role as an LeT activist has sinister portents. An impression will go around among the general public that fake encounters and extra-judicial elimination of persons, deemed to be terrorists by police and their political godfathers can be legitimised as preventive actions like detention of persons without trial under anti-terrorist laws, extern-ment from an area etc. Fake encounters are premeditated murders, an offence under Section 302 IPC. Magisterial enquiry by the Ahmedabad Metropolitan Magistrate and Special Investi-gation Team appointed by the High Court of Gujarat had confirmed that Ishrat was killed in a fake encounter. The law says that even a convicted person awarded with death sentence should not be killed by police and security agencies as this action is not as per the procedure established by law... The CBI could not trace out the source of the AK-47 rifle recovered from Ishrat. Did Ishrat have the skill and expertise to operate an AK-47 weapon? Who were her supporters and their pointwise game plan? No collateral, corroborative and circumstantial evidence supporting the crimes of Headley has come out so far. The spree of fake encounters started in October 2002 by the Gujarat Police strangely stopped with the arrest of D.G. Vanzara and other police officers in April 2007. Significantly, no terrorist was killed or arrested since then. How did Islamic Jihadists become inactive after the arrest of police officers for their culpable complicity in fake encounters?



And one of the most chilling descriptions of an encounter taking place is detailed in the book written by the victim himselfMufti Abdul Qayyum Ahmed Husain Mansuri, who was implicated in the Akshardham case, imprisoned for 11 years, before being acquitted by the Supreme Court of India.

Quoting his encounter details from his book I Am A Mufti and I AmNot A Terrorist11 Years Behind the Bars (Published by Jamat Ulama Ahmedabad and Maharashtra), It was the cold night of Thursday, 18 September, 2003. I was sleeping in Vanaars office in such position/ condition that one of my hands was cliffed and locked with the table. I was asleep with great difficulty when one of the officers awakened me by kicking me on my back with his shoes. Singhal was standing in front of me and the best kind of Oudhs fragrance was witting from his clothes.Behind Singhal one face was seen. He was V.D. Vanaar. On Singhals order, the hand cliff was unlocked from my hand. V.D. Vanaar took me along and said, Come on, its Sahabs order today your encounter has to be done. I was told you offer namaaz/salah for dead persons, today offer namaaz for yourself. I was pushed to sit in a Tata Sumo ... After misfiring on me on one or two places, Vanaar asked for the revolver from P.S.I., R.I. Patel, and after directing the vehicle (Tata Sumo) on two, three roads, told the driver to take it near the canal. On the way Vanaar also narrated the legend of his mastery in encounters and the allotment of medals from the government. He said: See, I have killed Hameed Lala. I have killed Ranapwala here on the stairs of the Crime Branch, and he counted some more names and said: Even after so many encounters what harm has the government and the court done to me? On the contrary I was given bravery medal of Puraskar and Rs 51,000as an award. Today this encounter of yours is the sixth one. Tomorrow we will give this story to the media and newspapers that going for investigation in the case, on getting chance he ran away, somehow he got a revolver from somewhere and fired on us and on back firing (from us) he was shot... The vehicle was stopped at one place in the dark night. As per my assumption it was some place behind the airport, because the lights of the airport were seen from there, on both sides of the road there was the canal....Then they led the vehicle deep inside on the other side of the canal, on the left side and all the bravos got down from the vehicle after stopping it at a vast open space and they also got me down by pulling my beard and abusing me ...Vanaar took out the revolver and told his companions to move aside a bit after he aimed the revolver on my head ...I was standing alive dumb with amazement and astonished, because the bullet did not strike my head but had passed by my head. After that a total of five fires were shot on my right and left head and on the left and right of my legs ....Until now, Mr A.A. Chauhan, being a silent audience in this blood-shedding drama, took entry on the scene. He came forward and said, Vanaar sahab, dont kill him. I want to give him a last chance, after talking to superior officer. Then asked me, turning towards meif you confess all that the superior officer says then I can save your life...

This Potent Philosophy of Gabriel Garcia Marquez!

As Im filing this column on March 6, 2018, which happens to be the 91st birth anniversary of the late Gabriel Garcia Marquez, so must end with his this rather potent, one-linerSex is the consolation one has for not finding enough love.

What great philosophy is tucked in these words of Marquez!Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > India is Paying for Partition

There is a grain of truth in Kashmir leader Farooq Abdullahs statement that Mohammad Ali Jinnah was not responsible for partition. But Farooq is wrong to blame Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel for it. I am witness to that era and this is how I understood the events. Jinnah was an ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity, as Sarojini Naidu, a top Congress leader, put it. He was driven to partition.

It is clear that the differences between Hindus and Muslims had become so acute by the beginning of the forties that something like partition had become inevitable.

For those who still regret the division, I can only say that the British could have probably kept the subcontinent united if they had been willing to ladle out more power in 1942 when Sir Stafford Cripps tried to reconcile the aspirations of the people of India with his limited brief. The Congress Party could also have done it if it had accepted in 1946 the Cabinet Mission proposals of a Centre with limited powers. The States would have all the powers except those which were entrusted to the Centre. Jinnah had agreed to the Cabinet Mission plan. But the ifs of history are at best hypothetical and at worst subjective.

Has partition served the purpose of the Muslims? I do not know. In Pakistan people avoid the word partition. On August 14 they celebrate their deliverance not so much from British rule as from the fear of Hindu rule. During my trips to that country, I have heard people say that they are happy that at least they have some place where they feel secure, free of Hindu domination or Hindu aggressiveness. But I feel that the Muslims have been the biggest losers; they are now spread over three countries, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Imagine the influence that their numberstheir votescould have commanded in the undivided subcontinent. They would have been more than one-third of the total population.

The worst part is that a line has been drawn on the basis of religion. It will always be bristling with enmity and weapons on both sides. The two countries have already fought two wars in 1965 and 1971 and these (enmity and weapons) are growling all the time, not letting the people to live in peace.

I do not see the subcontinent being reunited. But I do believe that one day the high walls that fear and distrust have raised on the borders will crumble and the peoples of the subcontinent, without giving up their separate identities, will work together for the common good. This might usher in an era fruitful beyond their dreams. This is the faith which I have cherished ever since I left my home town, Sialkot, in Pakistan, 70 years ago. And this is the straw I have clung to in the sea of hatred and hostility that has for long engulfed the subcontinent.

Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah came to the Law College where I was in the final year. He touched his usual theme that Hindus and Muslims were two nations and they would be happy and secure if they live in two separate countries. One would have Hindus in majority and other Muslims.

I do not know why he believed that the two states carved on the basis of religion would be living happily. The question I asked was: how was he confident that they would not jump at each other throat when the British left? He said Germany and France, which had fought wars against each other, were now the best of friends. The same thing would happen to India and Pakistan. He was proved wrong.

The forced migration due to mistrust between the two communities made people leave their homes and hearths. They left, however, with the conviction that they would come back after the post-partition fallout had settled down.

The Hindus and Sikhs left West Punjab and Muslims East Punjab. There was ethnic cleansing. And in the process, one million people lost their lives. I tried to talk to Lord Radcliffe at London who had delineated the border. He did not want to discuss the partition. I am told that he refused to pick up the fee which was fixed at rupees forty thousand. He thought that what had happened was on his soul and he could not forgive himself for the killings.

Why did the people kill one another when they had lived together for centuries? Nothing would be more futile than the effort to pin down who was responsible for the partition. With the sequence of events stretching back to over seventy years, such an exercise can only be an academic study. Pakistan founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah went on plugging that Hindus and Muslims were two separate nations and this made them increasingly distant from each other.

Mahatma Gandhi did reply to the Quaid-e-Azams contention. Gandhi asked: would he belong to a different nation if he embraced Islam and what would happen if he (Jinnah) came back to the fold of Hinduism?

The worst thing which has happened is that Pakistan has come to be known as a Muslim country. India has adopted secularism but Hindutva has not been stemmed. Unfortunately, there is a growing feeling amongst Hindus, particularly after the advent of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to power, that they being a majority in the country should have a system which emits Hindutva. One may recall the secular face of the national struggle and the rule for the first five decades or so. But today, the RSS chief, Mohan Bhagwat, calls the shots.

This is despite the secular Constitution and the laws framed under it. Farooq Abdullah should not blame Nehru and Patel because they passed on the baton to the next generation which is growing up in an atmosphere of they and we, Muslims and Hindus.

The author is a veteran journalist renowned not only in this country but also in our neighbouring states of Pakistan and Bangladesh where his columns are widely read. His website is www.kuldipnayar.comHome > Archives (2006 on) > 2018 > Red Long March of Maharashtra Farmers

EDITORIAL

It was a remarkable march in many respects, as openly acknowledged in several newspapers. The Hindu described the farmers action, originally aimed at gheraoing the Maharashtra Assembly to sensitise the State Government to their problems, as a model protest. It editorially pointed out:

....many Mumbaikars not only backed the stir but also pitched in to help with food, water, medical aid, and even footwear. While Opposition parties as well as BJP ally Shiv Sena backed the farmers and tribals in an attempt to isolate Devendra Fadnaviss administration, he managed to emerge unflustered and deal with the issue effectively.

It was indeed a gruelling march by 50,000-odd farmers covering a distance 200 kms from Nashik to Mumbai in sweltering heat that has now engulfed the State.

While there was general support for the farmers demands across the political spectrum, Union Minister of State for Agriculture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat maintained outside Parliament in New Delhi that the farmers were being misguided by some people for political reasons. And BJP MP Poonam Mahajan was more explicit by asserting that urban Maoists were misleading them. To this ridiculous charge CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury retorted that in that case it were the Mumbaikars who should be blamed for welcoming the marchers with open arms.

Nevertheless, these discordant notes from sections of the ruling establishment need not be emphasised. For the BJPs parent body, the RSS, urged the government to look into the farmers demands with sensitivity. And the State Government led by the CM had highly fruitful talks with the farmers represen-tative lasting about three hours. What has been outcome of these discussions? As was reported, what was agreed upon included inter alia (a) the right of farmers, tribals to till forest land, (b) loan waiver to cover loans outstanding since 2008, (c) MSP for farm produce on the lines of the Swaminathan formula.

Of all these agreements, it is the issue of forest land transfer rights within six months that acquired maximum significance. As The Indian Express elucidated:

Proper implementation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006, will allow Adivasi farmerswho are today practically landless labourers or, at best, tenants at willto claim ownership over their traditionally cultivated lands, subject to verification by the Gram Sabhas concerned. It will, then, incentivise them to invest in land improvement, which contributes to its long-term productivity, and farm without fear of eviction or having to bribe Forest Department officials. That is precisely what abolition of zamindari and conferment of ownership rights to tenant-cultivators did during the 1950s and 1960s.

And The Asian Age stressed:

Agriculture is Indias biggest industry and its practitioners should be regarded with consideration rather than disdain.

The Maharashtra farmers red long march not only brought the farmers problems back into the focus of national attention but also injected renewed vigour in the Indian peasants struggle for a better future in the days ahead.

March 15 S.C.

COMMENTARY

BJPs Bypoll Debacle

March 14, 2018, was a bad day for the BJP. First came the news of its bypoll debacle in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Then the convener of the NDA in Kerala, Thushar Vellapally, announced he was quitting the NDA with his party, the Bharat Dharma Jana Sena. Next, the Supreme Court turned down Subramanian Swamys plea to implead him in the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi case. And lastly, the Supreme Court also acquitted the Maran BrothersDayanidhi and Kalanidhiin the illegal telephone exchange case filed by the CBI for lack of evidence.

Particularly galling were the electoral defeats. The BJP lost both the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats in UP to the SP which was supported by Mayawatis Bahujan Samaj Party. Gorakhpur was the seat held by the BJP for twentynine years. Its candidate, Yogi Adityanath, got elected in election after election. The seat fell vacant when Adityanath became the Chief Minister of UP. The Phulpur seat was held by Keshav Prasad Maurya who is now the Deputy Chief Minister.

In Bihar, jailed Laloo Prasads party, the RJD, retained the Araria Lok Sabha and Jehanabad Vidhan Sabha seats. The BJP had to be satisfied by retaining the Bhabua Assembly seat which came as a consolation prize. The results left CM Nitish Kumar shaky. In 2015, he joined a grand alliance with the RJD and Congress to defeat the BJP. But after a year he ditched the RJD and returned to the NDA to head a government with the support of the BJP. He has now become entirely dependent on the BJP. However, from behind the bars Laloo Prasad has shown who commands the loyalty of the people.

The humiliating defeats at Gorakhpur and Phulpur have left the BJP flustered and flabbergasted. The partys first reaction was to underplay the defeats, because these were byelections in which local rather than national issues figure. Then came Chief Minister Yogi Adityanaths admission: We were overconfident. We have to rework our strategy.

When Mayavati announced her support to the SP, an arrogant BJP said the people would reject the unprincipled and opportunistic alliance. Also, that bitterness between the grassroot level workers of the two parties was so strong that whatever may be the decision at the top level, BSP workers would not work for the SP. After the defeats, the BJP did a volte face. It said: The BSP voters have all voted for the SP. We did not expect it. Again, the party started talking of changing its electoral strategy.

Some others are suggesting that the party workers must have failed to do their duty: reach the voters houses and bring them to the polling booths. They say this aspect has to be inquired into.

All in all, the myth that the BJP is invincible and unstoppable has been busted. In the long run the politics of polarisation does not pay. It recoils on those who play this dangerous game. It has been proved beyond doubt that if all the secular and democratic forces come together and the party leaders subdue their oversized egos to make a solid phalanx against the fascist forces, then these forces can be defeated. That is the clear message coming from the byelection results. Also, no party should project anyone as the prime ministerial candidate before the election. It should be left to the MPs of the victorious alliance to decide who their leader will be.

March 15 B.D.G.New Delhi: In a shocking incident, an amount of three lakhs has been stolen from a State Bank of India branch in Rampur on Saturday. However the CCTV footage helped the cops to pin their suspicion on a 12-year-old boy.

In the CCTV footage, the boy can be seen behind a sectional compartment before getting up and making his way out with a bag in his hand. Before a final exit, the boy turns around for one last look at the officials.

While local police officials said that it is not uncommon for gangs to use children to carry out acts of crime and the police have already launched a thorough investigation into the case.Angela was from the other side of the tracks on Long Island. She worked as a caterer to wealthy Hamptonites, where she met Jason, who swept her off her feet. Jason loves Angela and her young son Spencer, and they made a happy home in Chelsea, with Spencer at a private school and Angela at home caring for both of them.

All is well until the day a young intern accuses Jason of sexual harassment. He quickly becomes persona non grata until a police investigation is completed. His name is splashed all over the media, and the family comes under the spotlight, something that frightens Angela.

There is something in Angelas past that she doesnt want to come to light. She has gone to great lengths to begin a new life with Jason, and this incident could jeopardize that.

Then another woman accuses Jason of rape, and Angela now begins to doubt Jason. Could he have done what these women said he did?

A dogged female police detective is determined to get to the bottom of this when the woman who accused Jason of rape suddenly disappears. She believes there is more to the Powell familys story.

There are so many layers to this gripping story. Burke keeps you guessing at to what the real story is, and there is more than one twist that will leave you breathless. By the time you get to the end, your head will be spinning. The Wife is a first-class mystery from a fantastic writer.

Diane La Rue is a member of the National Book Critics Circle and blogs about books at http://bookchickdi.blogspot.com. You can follow her on Twitter @bookchickdi, and she can be emailed at laruediane2000@yahoo.com.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0A week ago Saturday morning, Karl Norris tossed the icy layer of maple sap from the metal bucket into the snow on the front lawn of his home along South Road in Westhampton. The sun was fading in and out behind the clouds, and a brisk wind whipped across the field. It was a tad chilly, but the sap was running, flowing far faster than he expected.

His youngest son, 16-and-a-half-year-old Austin, bent to take a gulp of the clear liquid straight from the bucket, telling visitors you can taste just a hint of maple if you sample it fresh from the tree.

By the end of the day, members of the Norris family fulfilled a hope that's been almost a decade in the making: the first bottling of syrup at their new sugarhouse at Runnymede Farm.

The sugarhouse, built by three generations of Norrises and outfitted with the latest in Vermont-made evaporators, will open a new chapter in the story of Runnymede Farm which, next year, will mark its centennial.

Karl and Lisa Norris and their three children say the future is bright, and the family tradition of maple sugaring is but one small way in which they hope to reinvent Runnymede Farm and make it sustainable for generations to come.

To date, five generations of the Norris family have lived and worked here, beginning soon after the first Norris arrived in Westhampton in 1917 to become pastor of the Westhampton Congregational Church. Tired of an itinerant minister's life, John Norris settled into a farmhouse that dates back to the 1700s and sits in the midst of 40 acres that, much like its namesake Runnymede in the English countryside, is traversed by fields, meadows, woodlands and streams.

For decades, the fields provided a place to graze their herd of dairy cows, the meadows served up the hay that would be harvested for sale around the region and the woodlands, where a hardy stand of maples is tapped, helped feed a small logging operation to keep cash flowing into the farm coffers year-round.

Karl and Lisa Norris can remember what may well be the most painful chapter in the farm's life, when its herd of dairy cows was auctioned off back in 2009. It was a time that was filled with self-doubt but tempered by reflection and hope, they say. Falling milk prices drove down the profits to be made in the dairy business, and the family wanted to ensure they could keep their most precious commodity, the land.

"We exited the dairy business and set a new direction for our family's farm," Karl Norris says. "We had our eyes on doing this ever since."

Norris is a realist about farming, dairy and otherwise. He still lives it every day in his "off the farm" occupation as a consultant to farmers all across New England with Feed Commodities International, marketing, selling and helping improve feed products for all types of livestock.

Likewise, Lisa Norris has an "off the farm" work life as the librarian at the regional high school.

Daughter Erin is 20 and a student at the University of Connecticut where she's pursing a degree in dairy science. (Think cheese and other artisanal dairy products, her father says, and you'll have an idea about potential ways in which the Norris farm will diversify.)

Elder son Gregory is 18 and in his senior year at Hampshire Regional High School, now weighing which of several colleges at which he's been accepted in hopes of studying livestock genetics and biology.



And, Austin, a junior in agriculture mechanics at Smith Vocational & Agricultural High School in Northampton, is the one who's been most involved in the sugarhouse, working alongside his father and grandfather, Charles, to build it and install the evaporator. (You can see pictures of him at work for the first "boil" of the sap on the farm's Facebook page.) As his granddad says of Austin, "He's the mechanical one."

All three children still show cows they keep in a much smaller herd than the Norrises had during the farm's heyday. And, each is committed to seeing the farm evolve for their family's future.

"It's good to have more diversity," says Greg Norris. Adds his sister, "I just want to be able to come back to the farm and see it return to be a fully-functioning dairy one day. It will definitely be different, but, when you find something you're passionate about, anything's possible."

Their grandfather and parents all smile as they listen to the young people talk about their hopes and dreams.

This sugarhouse is the successor to a couple of others operated by the Norris family, one which once stood behind the farm's massive barns and another classic New England version which still stands up the road a bit and dates to the 1940s. The sap to feed it will come from a sugarbush that includes an estimated 3,000 trees.

At its height, the Norris farm was producing 500 to 600 gallons of syrup a year, according to Charlie Norris. "Eight-hundred was a really good season," he says. (It takes, by the way, an estimated 40 gallons of sap to produce a gallon of syrup, and the buckets you see on a tree each hold about four gallons).

The family's decided to keep at least some steps in their sugaring process decidedly old school. There won't, for instance, be any plastic piping looping around the landscape, running tree to tree through their woodlands, to make sap collection any easier.

Some suggest more sap is to be had using the galvanized buckets that still bear the "CN" initials of his great-grandfather, according to Karl Norris, and his dad says their family won't shy from the labor required in doing it the old-fashioned way. "Our family came from Vermont. We're old Yankees. Changing habits comes hard," says Charlie Norris.

A tried-and-true Massey-Ferguson tractor that Charlie's father drove home from the auction in Becket where he purchased it back in the 1960s will be used to travel the paths through the woods to collect the sap. The first diesel tractor to join the farm fleet, it will pull a trailer with a heavy-duty plastic collection tank aboard. Back at the sugarhouse, the sap will be pumped into a holding tank and then fed into the evaporator for boiling.

Karl and Lisa Norris have no plans to turn the sugarhouse in a big business operation. As he says, "We're not going to be the (pancake) breakfast place. There are plenty of those. We're trying to be an afternoon place, where you stop on a Sunday drive."

Lisa Norris promises she's going to use the "secret Norris family recipe" to turn some of their syrup into maple cream, a delight not to be missed. She also envisions creating gift baskets and boxes featuring syrup and maple candies, just like the family once did back in the day to customers across the country.



This is Maple Weekend as promoted by the Massachusetts Maple Producers Association (massmaple.org). If you happen by Runnymede Farm today on a drive along the backroads of Western Massachusetts and see the steam rising from their sugarhouse, you're welcome to stop in, Karl and Lisa Norris say. They're not quite ready to do business but will gladly give visitors a peek at their adventure in progress.



You'll step across the front threshold from a rock pulled long ago from one of the farm fields by Charlie Norris' father. He thought it a perfect addition for the sugarhouse, just like the rosy colored, flat fronted rock next to it that waits to be etched with the family name this spring.



Cynthia G. Simison is managing editor of The Republican. She may be reached by email to csimison@repub.com.The federal identification card for South Boston mobster James "Whitey" Bulger is up for auction as bids reached more than $1,500 over the weekend.



The prison badge is being auctioned by Lelands.com. The company did not disclose the source of the card and stated only "Obtained from a spurious source" in the lot detail description.



Bulger, now 88, is serving two consecutive life sentences plus another five years in prison in connection with the killing of 11 people along with several counts of extortion, money laundering, drug dealing, and firearms possession. He was sentenced in federal court in 2013.



He ran the Boston Irish mob known as the Winter Hill Gang for two decades, but fled Boston in the 1990s and went into hiding. Bulger remained on the FBI's Most Wanted List for over a decade until he was caught in California with his long-time girlfriend, Catherine Greig.

The prison badge has a picture of Bulger and lists his height and eye color.



"An oddity of Americana, this credit card-style vending card was issued by the Federal Bureau of Prisons to famed convict, Whitey Bulger," Lelands.com writes. "Captured in 2011 after more than a decade on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list, it bears his given name (James), photograph, ID number and personal attributes. Standing at a slight 5'9", his legend includes racketeering as well as 19 murders, while also implicating the FBI in protecting him while he was a fugitive."



As of Sunday morning, the top bid was $1,679. The auction ends March 23.US Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Sunday brought up the adult film star who goes by the name "Stormy Daniels" and ripped into President Donald Trump at the 2018 St. Patrick's Day roast in Boston.

Warren said she prepared for jokes at the breakfast about her looks and age at the roast, which features elected officials poking fun at themselves and each other before stepping over down the street to the annual parade.

"It's spring training for my 2018 re-elect [campaign]," Warren told the crowd gathered at the Ironworkers Local 7 union hall in South Boston.

Among the tips she received about what to say at the annual roast, Warren quipped, "Stormy Daniels said, 'If you don't say a word, they'll pay $130,000.'"

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, allegedly had an affair with Trump in 2006. Attorneys for Trump say she has violated a non-disclosure agreement in talking about the affair.

Warren also took aim at Mitt Romney, the former presidential candidate and Massachusetts governor who is running for US Senate in Utah. Romney, who has sometimes been critical of the president, has received Trump's endorsement via the president's Twitter account.

"It must make Mitt feel really important to know his endorsement was at 3 a.m. by a guy in a fuzzy bathrobe, eating a cheeseburger," Warren said.

Warren joined other elected officials from across Massachusetts on the stage, including Gov. Charlie Baker, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, and US Sen. Ed Markey, among others.

Baker took a selfie with Warren on the stage and quipped, in an allusion to both of them being on the 2018 ballot, "I don't know if this hurts or helps either one of us."

The annual roast was hosted this year by two South Boston elected officials, Congressman Stephen Lynch, who previously hosted the breakfast, and Boston City Councilor At-Large Michael Flaherty.

Lynch and Flaherty took over for former Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry, who earlier this year left the state Senate and the hosting duties for an executive-level job at Suffolk Construction.

Attorney General Maura Healey acknowledged Dorcena Forry's hosting tenure, noting there were concerns, when she took over the breakfast in 2014, that the daughter of Haitian immigrants "maybe wasn't Irish enough."

"I don't think we can honestly question that now, look at how she ran after that pot of gold," Healey said.

"I couldn't resist," Healey added after the crowd clapped and laughed.A ferry carrying more than 80 people lost power off Martha's Vineyard Saturday night and by Sunday morning it was eventually safely moored in Vineyard Haven, according to the Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard Cutter Hammerhead and a response boat crew from the Coast Guard Station Woods Hole responded around 9 p.m. after the Motor Vessel Martha's Vineyard lost power with more than 80 people aboard.

The Coast Guard responded until a commercial tow could arrive.

"The ferry safely moored in Vineyard Haven at about 2 a.m.," the Coast Guard wrote Sunday morning. "It was escorted by three tugs."

The Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authorities told CBS Boston in a statement that the ferry lost power to the main engines about 15 minutes into the 45-minute trip. The ferry was going from Vineyard Haven to Woods Hole.

A total of 72 passengers and 14 crew members were aboard.

There were no injuries. The Steamship Authority's website says the MV Martha's Vineyard carries up to 1,274 people and 54 vehicles and is about 230 feet in length.

The Martha's Vineyard Times said the vessel, built in 1993, just underwent a $17.5 million refurbishment and returned to service earlier in March.In a moment of rare dissent on the House floor, a state lawmaker said Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey should consider looking into the use of non-disclosure agreements that are tied to taxpayer money.

Rep. Angelo Scaccia made the comment after a fellow Democratic state lawmaker, Diana DiZoglio, broke the non-disclosure agreement she signed as a State House aide over harassment issues. She called the agreement a "silencing" tactic and said she signed it under duress.

But days later, after the St. Patrick's Day breakfast-roast wrapped up in Boston, Scaccia and Healey were a few feet away from each other, and neither deeply delved into the issue when asked by reporters.

"No, and I don't have the details of that, to be honest with you," Healey said after she was asked whether anyone has directly asked her office to look into the House's use of non-disclosure agreements, also known as NDAs.

"I think that the House and folks within the State House have undertaken significant efforts to address existing issues there," she said.

Since 2010, roughly 33 people entered into non-disclosure agreements during House Speaker Robert DeLeo's tenure, his office said last week. DeLeo said the agreements are "part of doing business."

None of the agreements were over sexual harassment issues, his office added.

The changes passed by House lawmakers last week are a "very important and positive, and constructive step," according to Healey, who sat next to DeLeo during the breakfast-roast.

"As I've said for a while now, my office will continue to be available to hear from victims or anyone who feels they've been victimized by sexual harassment, discrimination or sexual assault," Healey told reporters Sunday.

Asked again about acting on Scaccia's statement from the House floor, Healey said, "Again, I don't have the details of that. And I'm not sure that we know specifically what's been alleged or what the details are there. But I will continue to be in discussion, continue to be paying attention to these issues."

For his part, Scaccia declined to speak to reporters about his statement, repeatedly telling them he was looking for the bathroom inside the Ironworkers Local 7 union hall, which hosted this year's St. Patrick's Day breakfast-roast.A Massachusetts State Police trooper was placed on administrative leave Sunday morning after he allegedly was drunk on the job.

Trooper Jonathan Brown, who works at the Devens barracks, was relieved of duty around 2 a.m. He was in the middle of working an 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift, State Police spokesman David Procopio told MassLive.

"The reason for that action was observations made relative to temporary fitness for duty," Procopio said.

Brown will remains on administrative leave pending a duty status hearing scheduled in the upcoming week.

The trooper arrived under the influence of alcohol and there is no evidence he was drinking while on duty, sources told MassLive.

Brown allegedly slurred his speech on the radio when other troopers reached him.

The State Police are looking to see if Brown responded to any calls while working the shift.

Unlike some other barracks, troopers assigned to Devens are not given take-home cruisers. It appears Brown drove his own personal vehicle to the barracks at the start of his shift.A report of a man possibly passed out inside a car at a Newburyport parking lot Saturday led to the discovery of more than four pounds of marijuana and two guns, authorities said.

Newburyport City Marshal Mark Murray said police seized two guns more than 200 rounds of ammunition, heroin and more than four pounds of marijuana Saturday.

Two men from Colorado, Traevon McGairty and Kahiland Phillips, both 22, were arrested on numerous firearms and drug charges.

Police were called to the Mobil gas station on Storey Avenue around 4:45 a.m. Saturday.

"A store clerk reported that a man had been asleep in a car in the parking lot for a few hours and was concerned that the man may have been passed out," police said.

McGairty and Phillips were found asleep in the car. Officers asked the men to get out because the vehicle had dark, tinted windows.

"When Phillips got out of the driver's seat an officer saw a handgun in plain view near the seat," police said.

Both men were immediately arrested. The men did not have a licenses to carry a firearm.

Police searched the vehicle and found a duffel bag with another handgun inside and 210 rounds of ammunition, authorities said.

More than four pounds of marijuana were found in vacuum sealed bags along with nine grams of heroin.

Authorities say they also discovered a stun gun and $927 in cash.

"This is an example of what officers can come across during something as routine as a welfare check," Murray said. "I think the officers did a great job and their efforts led to getting two guns and a significant amount of drugs off of our streets."SPRINGFIELD - In the aftermath of a horrific fire that left a man and two children dead and as many as 80 people displaced, city officials are working with social service agencies to help those left homeless.

"We are making sure everyone is warm and has temporary shelter," Mayor Domenic J. Sarno said. "My thoughts and prayers are with the families."

The fire was first detected and reported at about 7:20 a.m. by an automatic private alarm in the building at 49 Belmont Ave. Shortly after a police officer on patrol also reported seeing smoke coming from the building, Dennis Leger, assistant to Fire Commissioner Bernard "BJ" Calvi, said.

"First in fire companies on scene found heavy fire on the second floor extending to the third," Calvi. "People were jumping from the windows on arrival."

Firefighters called for more personnel, set up ladders to rescue people and started spraying water on the blaze. They also began searching the building for any occupants who had not been able to get out of the building, Calvi said.

"During the course of the fire we were told there were occupants missing. We started a search process for those people," Calvi said. "We have since found them...we have three confirmed fatalities from this fire."

The names of the victims have not been released yet. Fire officials were waiting for the Medical Examiner to arrive as of early afternoon to begin the investigation, Calvi and Sarno said.

Four other people were also injured, mainly after they jumped safety from second and third-floor windows. A pregnant woman, an elderly woman, a child and a man were brought to the hospital for treatment.

Calvi said he believed their injuries were not serious and he did see them walking to the ambulance.

Sarno said he arrived at about 8 a.m. and called the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority to ask for a bus so those who fled from apartments wearing no coats and in some cases no shoes would have shelter from the biting winds and freezing temperatures.

By noon the city opened the South End Community center, located a few blocks from the fire, and began working with residents to find them temporary shelter, clothing and to help them with any other services they needed, Sarno said.

The Pioneer Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross is assisting city officials. The building owners have also been calling other landlords to find available apartments.

Jewish Family Services were also called and several employees responded to help the families. Some of the victims, including those killed and injured in the fire, are refugees from Africa, Dierdre Griffin, the new America's program director.

"For folks who arrived as refugees it is trauma upon trauma," she said of the fire.

Three of the families involved in the fire are from Somalia and a fourth is from Congo. Most have been in the country for at least two years but they cultural differences and are not fluent in English yet so employees from Jewish Family Services arrived to make sure everyone understands clearly how to get shelter and other assistance including grief counseling, she said.

While Griffin was at the fire scene, another counselor went to the hospital to help fire victims who where taken there with injuries, she said.

Although the agency may not currently be working with the families, since they are settled in the country, Griffin said employees know the families and wanted to help them. She thanked Sarno for calling the agency immediately.

City inspectors converged on the building to see if some of the apartments can still be occupied, since firefighters were able to keep the blaze from spreading throughout the building. Before people are allowed into the building, the electrical service, heat and alarm systems will have to be deemed safe and the area of fire damage will have to be walled off so no one can enter it, Sarno said.

In other cases, Sarno said he is hoping some of the families will be able to be placed in apartments as soon as possible. If apartments cannot be found immediately, they will be either placed short-term in hotels or if necessary he will open a shelter.

City records show the building is owned by LRS Realty, of Holyoke. The four-story apartment block is assessed at $701,100 and has 20 apartments.

Sarno said there were no problems reported with the building and the fire alarm system was up-to-date. There were no sprinklers in the building.

Jonathan Beaudry escaped from his second-floor apartment wearing shorts and sneakers. He said he smelled heavy smoke and fled out a back door.

"I'm really not sure what I'm going to do next," he said while standing outside the building.

His apartment was about three doors down from the one where the fire is believed to have started, Beaudry said he wasn't sure if his home was badly damaged.Millions of visitors to Montana in 2017 resulted in a record amount of lodging tax collected.

Tourism is one of the top industries in the state and brings in billions of dollars. Over 12 million non-residents visited the state last year.

As a result, the Montana lodging facility use tax, which is four percent of the lodging price, is up five percent from last year. The same lodging tax is up seven percent in Bozeman alone.

http://www.kxlh.com/story/37749354/tourist-spending-in-2017-creates-record-lodging-tax-collectionVideos

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table width="145">"You stand up for what you believe in, even if it gets in the way of what other people think. You are proud of yourself and your accomplishments and you enjoy letting people know that."DAVISON TWP, MI - A Davison Township man faces charges for allegedly sharing child porn over the Internet.

Eric Anthony Bowman, 43, was arraigned March 12 in Genesee District Court on one count each of using a computer to commit a crime and possession of child sexually abusive material following an investigation by a pair of law enforcement agencies.

The Michigan State Police Computer Crimes Unit, Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Northeast Michigan Trafficking and Exploitation Crimes Task Force led the investigation in which digital evidence was seized from Bowman's home.

An investigation began after it was learned that Bowman was allegedly sharing child sexually abusive material online, police said. He was arrested following a forensic examination of the evidence.

A $20,000 personal bond was issued for Bowman on each felony count. He faces a March 22 probable cause conference in front of Genesee District Judge David J. Goggins.GENESEE COUNTY, MI -- An opening date has been set to unveil the newest Genesee County park.

Situated on more than 150 acres at 9139 Hegel Road in Atlas Township, Atlas County Park will be officially opened to the public during a 2 p.m. April 29 ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The Poulos family, owners of the White Horse Tavern in Flint, agreed to sell the land sitting along the Kearsley Creek for $700,000 to Genesee County Parks & Recreation in January.

Seventy-five percent of the cost is being paid for by way of a Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund grant awarded in December 2016.

Amy McMillan, Genesee County parks director, previously said three portions of unused property along the Holloway Reservoir were previously sold to help pay for the 25 percent local match along with $7,300 from the Poulos family.

"I just think it will be really fantastic," McMillan said. "We are just so lucky that we kind of fell into this piece of property."

The parks system has been searching for a location in the southeast portion of the county, McMillan said, but they were not aware the property was for sale until the Six Rivers Land Conservancy contacted them about the land.

Steve Poulos recently told MLive-The Flint Journal that the family had initially looked at a conservancy for the property, but they later had a change of heart.

McMillan lauded over the "significant natural features" on the property, including diverse plant life, small inland ponds, wildlife, and the Kearsley Creek running through sections of the property that could lend itself to kayaking.

The Detroit United railroad line previously ran through the property, which McMillan said established some walking paths.

Initial work has included signage, a road into the park, benches, but larger projects will wait until the public has time to make input and officials get a better feel for the land.

"People are going to love walking their dogs there," said McMillan. "There's just so many places to sit and be, be peaceful."

For-Mar Nature Preserve employees will offer formal programs on the property beginning in the spring.

Board of Commissioners Chairman Mark Young previously said the project involved cooperation between the parks and recreation department and Atlas Township, where another trust fund grant aided in the construction of a walking path last fall that will connect to the Iron Belle Trail.

He said having a strong parks system is important as officials move to bring new industry into Genesee County.

"These (parks) are going to be some of the best places to go to," said Young.

Once the park is open to the public, it will operate from 8 a.m. until sunset seven days a week.Page Content

Within framework of paying farewell to a number of Egyptian officials after the end of his term as Saudi Ambassador to Egypt, Ahmed bin Abdulaziz Al-Qattan, Minister of State for African Countries Affairs, met here today with Speaker of the House of Representatives of Egypt Ali Abdel Aal.

During the meeting, Qattan affirmed the depth and strength of the Saudi-Egyptian relations.Page Content

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr. Nizar bin Obaid Madani received here today Ambassador of the Republic of Namibia Javit Isaq.

During the meeting, he presented a copy of his credentials as an ambassador of his country to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The meeting was attended by a number of officials"Once that call is done, you go right on to another call," she said. "You don't get time off between calls."

Later that night, as she lay in bed, Seamans tried to process what had happened, and she asked herself two questions: Did she do everything she could do? And could she do it again?

"Once I realized I did and that this is just how things will happen sometimes, I felt I could do (the job)," she said. "You can't save everybody. You just have to come in with the mindset that you'll do the very best you can so you know at the end of the day you did everything you could."

'A demanding job'

Deputy Administrator Ben Guzalak said that not everyone can handle that mindset, as roughly 50 percent of people don't make it past training.

When Guzalak first started working at Cayuga County 911 in 2004, he said, the training process was much different than it is today.

"It was kind of trial by fire," he said. "You came out and sat with your supervisor and learned by osmosis. They would tell you how to do stuff as they went, and then you'd start taking calls."

Now, he said, that's not the case, as dispatchers typically train for at least six months before answering calls on their own.Grab our rova app and stay tuned to More!

We love our family of listeners, and we want to make sure you've got the easiest way to listen to us when you are on the go, wherever you are!In Focus with Allison Walker is a 30-minute public affairs program, featuring a roundtable of newsmakers representing a range of perspectives, including local officials and expert analysts as they tackle topical issues of importance to Floridians.

In Focus airs Sundays at 11:30 a.m. and 8:30 p.m., right after Political Connections.The Ministry of Defence of Qatar has announced a contract today for the purchase of 28 NH90 medium twin-engine multirole military helicopters. The deal was announced during the DIMDEX Exhibition in Doha in the presence of the Italian Minister of Defence Roberta Pinotti and Leonardo Chief Executive Officer Alessandro Profumo.

The Ministry of Defence of Qatar has announced a contract today for the purchase of 28 NH90 medium twin-engine multirole military helicopters. The deal was announced during the DIMDEX Exhibition in Doha in the presence of the Italian Minister of Defence Roberta Pinotti and Leonardo Chief Executive Officer Alessandro Profumo.

The Ministry of Defence of Qatar has announced a contract today for the purchase of 28 NH90 medium twin-engine multirole military helicopters during DIMDEX 2018.



The overall programme is valued at more than 3 billion to the NHI consortium, and includes 16 NH90 TTH for land operations, 12 NH90 NFH for naval missions, a comprehensive support, maintenance training services package and associated infrastructure. The programme could be further extended in the future with the addition of 6 + 6 units in a mix of TTH and NFH variants. Leonardo will act as overall prime contractor with responsibility for programme management, final assembly and delivery of the 12 NH90 NFH helicopters from its Venice  Tessera facility in Northern Italy and an eight-year support and training services package for crews and maintenance technicians. Meanwhile Airbus will be responsible for the final assembly of the16 NH90 TTH aircraft. Deliveries are expected to start before June 2022 and to continue through to 2025. Leonardo will also supply, contribute to and integrate various equipment, avionics and sensors.



Alessandro Profumo, Leonardo Chief Executive Officer, said: We are proud to have signed this contract that expands and continues Leonardos strong and long term partnership with Qatar, to which we are delivering a wide range of the most advanced technology and customized solutions spanning the military and security domains. This contract award confirms Leonardo as a reliable partner to Qatar and marks an outstanding achievement and a new and further milestone for one of the key sectors of Leonardo. We are all strongly committed to strengthen our business approach according to our 2018-2022 Industrial Plan.

An NH90 NFH aboard ITS Carlo Margottini during DIMDEX 2018



Leonardo is responsible for or contributes to the design, production and integration of a wide range of NH90 critical components and systems. These include the rear fuselage, main gearbox, hydraulic system, Automatic Flight Control System (AFCS), plant management system, NFH mission system, power plant integration and final assembly of TTH and NFH aircraft for various customers at its Venice - Tessera facility in Northern Italy. Leonardo also integrates additional dedicated systems, avionics and sensors such as the Laser Obstacle Avoidance Monitoring (LOAM) system, radar, digital map generator, sonar and naval mission console. Weapon systems Leonardo contributes to comprise pintle mounted gatling-type guns, torpedoes and air-to-surface missiles for Anti-Surface Warfare (ASuW) missions.

An Italian Navy NH90 NFH at DIMDEX 2018

About NH90

The largest military helicopter programme in Europe, the NH90 is the optimal choice for modern operations thanks to its fully composite airframe with a large cabin, its excellent power-to-weight ratio and its wide range of role equipment. It features a quadraplex fly-by-wire flight control system for reduced pilot workload and enhanced flight handling characteristics.



The NH90 is available in two main variants, one dedicated to naval operations, the NH90 NFH (NATO Frigate Helicopter) and the TTH (Tactical Transport Helicopter) for land based operations. As of today, almost 350 helicopters have been delivered in NFH and TTH variants to customers in 13 nations. Aircraft in service have logged nearly 170,000 flight hours in a wide range of weather and environmental conditions, over land and sea. 543 NH90s have been ordered by customers worldwide to date.



The twin-engine, medium-size NH90 helicopter programme is managed by NHIndustries, which is owned by Leonardo, Airbus, and Fokker.By Online Desk

Congress President Rahul Gandhi during his final address at the party's 84th plenary session launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP government over various issues.

The final day of the Congress party's plenary session began in full swing on Sunday at Delhi's Constitution Club, with veteran leader Anand Sharma presenting the international resolution draft.

He slammed Modi government's foreign policy, "Never before in Independent Indias history, has the country been so diminished in its immediate periphery, referring to Indias relations with Pakistan, China, Maldives and Sri Lanka.

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi also delivered the inaugural address yesterday, where he emphasised that Congress' symbol was the only symbol that could take India forward.

VIEW HERE | CONGRESS PLENARY SESSION IN PHOTOS

Yesterday, on the second day of the three-day plenary meet, former Congress president Sonia Gandhi launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Modi, saying his government was 'power-drunk' and the pre-poll promises of combating corruption and ensuring inclusive development were mere "dramebaazi".

The aim of the meet is to primarily to set the partys agenda for 2019, as also to steer its internal structural reforms.

[READ HIGHLIGHTS OF DAY 2 HERE]

HERE ARE UPDATES:

5:00 pm - "Let us put all our differences aside and work together to ensure victory for the party," says Rahul Gandhi before ending his speech.

4:50 pm - "We have to change Congress. There is a wall between our leaders and workers. My first task will be to break that wall. I will consult senior leaders to destroy that wall with love."

To every youngster in India, we are your instrument. The Congress Party belong to you. We want to open our doors to your talent your bravery and your energy. This country is struggling and it needs you. #CongressPlenary #ChangeIsNow pic.twitter.com/qim0QlkMr6  Congress (@INCIndia) March 18, 2018

4:55 pm - "Congress will take the country forward, but we are humans, we make mistakes. Modi ji thinks he is not human but an incarnation of God."

4:45 pm - We paid Rs 570 crore per plane and Modi paid Rs 1670 crore for the same plane. He paid Rs 1100 crore more per plane. Forget fighter planes, you cant trust such a man to buy vegetables! Modi is not fighting corruption Modi is corruption: Rahul Gandhi on Rafale deal.

4:40 pm - "The name Modi symbolises the collusion between Indias biggest businessmen and the Prime Minister. Modi gives Modi 30,000 crores of your Money and in turn, Modi gives Modi money for marketing Modi and fighting elections."

4:35 pm - "BJP has spread fear. People fro the press are scared, for the first time we saw four Supreme Court judges running to the public for justice. There is a difference between RSS and Congress, we respect the country's institutions whereas they want to finish them."

4:30 pm - "They (BJP) tell Muslims of India who never went to Pakistan and supported this great nation that you don't belong here. They tell the Tamils, change your beautiful language. They tell people of north-east, we don't like what you eat, and tell women, dress properly," says Rahul Gandhi

4:25 pm - "What does the name 'Modi' actually mean? The name 'Modi' symbolises the collusion between India's biggest crony capitalists and the Prime minister of India."

4:20 pm - "They (people) will accept a man accused of murder as the President of the BJP, but they will never ever accept the same in the Congress Party because they hold Congress in the highest regard."

Like the Kauravas, BJP & RSS are designed to fight for power. Like the Pandavas, the Congress is designed to fight for the truth: Congress President Rahul Gandhi #CongressPlenary #ChangeIsNow pic.twitter.com/Lxi7xR1leS  Congress (@INCIndia) March 18, 2018

4:15 pm - "The Prime Minister diverts our attention and jumps from one event to another from Gabbar Singh tax to yoga in Parliament but never talks about the issues. But, the Congress cannot be stopped from seeking the truth and justice."

4:10 pm - "Will India live a lie or will India have the courage to face the truth? Today, the corrupt and powerful control the conversation in the country."

4:05 pm - The BJP is the voice of an organisation and the Congress is the voice of a nation, says Rahul Gandhi.

4:00 pm - Rahul Gandhi addresses Congress leaders at the plenary session.

3:30 pm -

#WATCH: Navjot Singh Sidhu says 'Aap sardaar bhi hain aur asardaar bhi hain' to former PM Dr Manmohan Singh at #CongressPlenarySession in Delhi. pic.twitter.com/lHkjoWjqLZ  ANI (@ANI) March 18, 2018

3:20 pm - Economic liberalisation cannot coexist with social polarisation. To build a stronger economy by 2030, a strong public sector is required. Economic institutions today have been eroded, says Jairam Ramesh.

3:10 pm - UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh met with delegates from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle. Sonia Gandhi received a memento from the delegation.

3:00 pm -

UPA Chairperson Smt. Sonia Gandhi, Former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh & Former Union Minister @AnandSharmaINCon met with the Secretary-General of Socialist International party (United Kingdom) Mr. Luis Ayala, on the sidelines of the #CongressPlenary. #ChangeIsNow pic.twitter.com/wHqIwykREv  Congress (@INCIndia) March 18, 2018

12:42 pm - The Modi Govt inherited a strong economy. The task of development has to be continued by future generations. However, today, the Indian economy is decoupled from the world economy which is growing: Former Finance Minister

12:40 pm - It's the biggest achievement of Dr Manmohan Singh that 14 crore people were listed out of poverty. BJP government pushed people into poverty. Number of people below poverty line went up. It's the greatest disservice BJP government did to people of India: P Chidambaram

12:35 pm - The current phase of economic growth started in 1990s when Rajiv Gandhi sowed seeds of liberalisation. This gained momentum under Dr Manmohan Singh. Whatever the BJP, the NDA may say, records speak for itself: P Chidambaram

12:20 pm - Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram moves the Resolution on Economics, the second Resolution presented today by the Congress.

Demonetisation was a big lie. RBI is still counting and won't tell us how much money has come back. I would like to advice the RBI Governor to go to Tirupati & get the hundi collectors. They count money faster than the RBI: Former FM @PChidambaram_IN #CongressPlenary #ChangeIsNow pic.twitter.com/OkUHust8J4  Congress (@INCIndia) March 18, 2018

READ TNIE interview here: Ahead of 2019, there is hope but little time left, says veteran Congress leader Salman Khurshid

12:00 pm - India needs to create an environment that is neighbour friendly. Congress party worked in that direction. We have problems today but they need to be resolved peacefully. Hostile behavior will not help. We must remember that Pakistan is our neigbhour . However, its support to terrorism is not acceptable. We must warn Pakistan that this is problematic to the peace in sub-continent.

The Modi govt. has mismanaged issues in J&K like never before. They have installed a Govt where the two wings of the administration are working against each other. The atmosphere is deteriorating everyday: Former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh #CongressPlenary #ChangeIsNow pic.twitter.com/PI9thD3sZ8  Congress (@INCIndia) March 18, 2018

12:00 pm - "PM Modi said we will double the farmer's income in 6 years time. If you want to do that, you need a growth rate of 12 per cent oper annum, which is not possible. This is only jumla and tall promises made by PM Modi."

11:55 am - "India needs to recognise the special problems of Jammu and Kashmir and we need to deal with them seriously. The Congress party is the party which led the freedom struggle and guided India after it became free. The party is today invited to play a role in the development. I am confident that under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, we will play a historic role"

11:52 am - "When Modi ji was campaigning he made lots of tall promises, those promises have not been fulfilled. He said we will provide 2 crore jobs, we have not seen even 2 lakh jobs. Instead problems for created for small-sized businesses and informal sectors"

The defense expenditure of our country is no more than 1.6% of our GDP. This is far too inadequate to meet the challenges of our security apparatus and our needs: Former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh. #CongressPlenary #ChangeIsNow pic.twitter.com/FiV7S12gjT  Congress (@INCIndia) March 18, 2018

11:50 am - Former PM Manmohan Singh begins his address. [READ FULL REPORT HERE]

11:20 pm - The Congress plenary authorised party President Rahul Gandhi to constitute the Congress Working Committee. The proposal was adopted with a consensus by raising of hands. Taking the proposal, party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said that in the history of Congress, election to the CWC had been held only about a dozen times. Most of the times it has been left to the Congress President to constitute the CWC. (IANS)

11:00 am - Assam Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi speaks.

"Neighbourhood first" was the Congress Govt's rallying cry. However, under the Modi Govt, it's "Neighbourhood last". We need to improve our regional connectivity, but that is being ignored today: @GauravGogoiAsm #CongressPlenary #ChangeIsNow pic.twitter.com/L4LHhioqoi  Congress (@INCIndia) March 18, 2018

10:46 am - He says, "The PM is carried away by his own propaganda. Today it is a matter of concern that we have mismanaged our relations with major capitals of the world, with major strategic partners and our immediate neighbourhood. The Congress-led UPA Government, in its 10 years in office, pursued a robust foreign policy that enhanced India's standing in the world."

10:42 am - Modi government has disrupted India's foreign policy. In the last four years they have made this a divisive policy. They have pursued this in a cavalier manner, non-serious manner: Anand Sharma

10:40 am - Veteran leader Anand Sharma opens the plenary meet, slams BJP government's foreign policy. [READ FULL REPORT HERE]

The draft proposal for the International Resolution is being moved by @AnandSharmaINC at the #CongressPlenary #ChangeIsNow pic.twitter.com/BxT4XRoMzK  Congress (@INCIndia) March 18, 2018

10 am - Today is the final day of the Congress' plenary session.

(Twitter | @INCIndia)

March 17: On the second day of the plenary, Rahul Gandhi inaugurated the session with a brief address, followed by the presentation of the party's political resolution draft ahead of 2019 polls by party veteran Mallikarjun Kharge, a short speech by Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot and culminated with Sonia Gandhi's hour-long address, where she slammed the Modi government on several fronts.

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, his mother Sonia Gandhi and other senior party leaders at the plenary session in New Delhi (Express Photo | Shekhar Yadav)

READ HIGHLIGHTS HERE

March 16: Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia at the first day of the plenary session yesterday in New Delhi. READ FULL REPORT HERE

PTI Photo

(With inputs from agencies and Express News Service)By IANS

KOLKATA: Amidst political churning ahead of Lok Sabha elections, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday met here and pitched for a non-Congress, non-BJP Federal Front, saying there is a need for a national alternative.

Rao, whose idea of a third front last week was immediately welcomed by Banerjee, flew to Kolkata and drove to the Secretariat for a meeting with the Trinamool Congress chief. He was accompanied by his daughter and MP Kavita and TRS MP K. Keshava Rao.

"We made a good beginning today and we will be able to carry forward from this," Rao, also the Telangana Rashtra Samithi chief, told the media with Banerjee by his side.

He said it won't be a third front and their idea of a new front would be a collective leadership.

"There is definitely going to be a federal front by the people of India. It is not a mere aligning of political parties. It is about unifying the masses, the people of India. There is a need for a political change.

"The Congress and BJP have not worked well for the country. There is a need for an alternative and an alternative agenda. We agreed on to bring a real federal front in the country with a group of like-minded leaders. The other leaders will sit together.

"You know what has happened in this country for the last 71 years. Do you want the same routine model to continue? Will it do any wonders if BJP goes out and Congress comes in? This country needs something wonderful," he said.

"The agenda we propose would be totally different from the present routine model. It would be people's agenda."



ALSO READ: PM Modi's pre-poll promises are only 'dramebazi' and a trick to grab power, says Sonia Gandhi at Congress plenary session

Terming his meeting with Banerjee as the first step towards the inception of the front, KCR, as the leader is popularly known, said the front's formation can be discussed in detail once other like-minded political leaders come to a consensus.

"Today we had a pleasant discussion where we agreed on so many fronts and we are trying to build a real federal front for this country. This will be a like minded group of political leaders. Today was just the beginning. Rest of the things will be made clear when other leaders sit together, discuss and come to a consensus.

"Just we two cannot decide all the things. There are other leaders, friends and like-minded people. We have to talk to all of them. We made a good beginning today and I am confident that we would be able to take it forward. I think this country would flourish," he said.

Echoing Rao, Banerjee termed the meeting as a "good beginning" and hoped the like minded leaders, focused on the development of the county, would eventually come together to form a "strong" federal front.

"This was a good beginning. Politics is a continuous process. The dialogue has been started. Let the leaders talk to each other. All of them would eventually come together to form the front. We want the federal front to be strong. If the states are strong, the Centre would also be strong," Banerjee said.

"We are not in a hurry. Let's approach other political parties also. Politics for bigger objectives takes time. Everything has been discussed in detail. Now we wait for tomorrow, for the future."

ALSO READ: Calls for common opposition front against BJP in 2019 grow after UP and Bihar bypolls

Answering a question on who would be the other stakeholders of the front, Banerjee said: "In politics, the situation sometimes allows everyone to come and work together. I have faith in democracy. It is best to work along with everyone in democracy. We have good relation with all political parties. We will maintain that."

Replying to a question about the BJP's claim that it can face the challenge of all parties, she said such attitude by a party does not look nice in a democratic setup.

"Don't think one party can rule the country. No party should be so proud of their own identity. Everybody has their own regional and national strength. They should respect each other."Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

Rain showers this morning with overcast skies during the afternoon hours. High 63F. Winds N at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Low 47F. Winds NNW at 10 to 15 mph.Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development Edward Yau will visit Cambodia and Vietnam from March 19 to 23.

During the trip, Mr Yau will lead a 48-strong delegation of businessmen and professionals.

The visit will enhance relations, expand business networks and help identify and explore opportunities brought by the Belt & Road Initiative.

Mr Yau said: "The mission is the first of its kind to Southeast Asia since we signed a free trade agreement and a related investment agreement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

"It will enable our delegation, comprising entrepreneurs and professionals from sectors including commerce and industry, accounting and finance, legal and dispute resolution services, startups and others, to showcase our strengths, get first-hand information on the local business environment and open up collaboration opportunities."

The delegation will visit Phnom Penh in Cambodia on March 19 to 20 and then travel to Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi in Vietnam on March 21.

They will meet local business leaders and government representatives overseeing industry, investment and trade promotion and visit local factories and industrial parks.

Mr Yau will also meet local government officials and Chinese Ambassadors in both countries to deepen relationships."Joy and pleasure are as real as pain and sorrow and one must learn what they have to teach. . . ." -- Sean Russell, from Gatherer of Clouds"If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right." -- Helyn D. Goldenberg"I love you and I'm not afraid." -- Evanescence, "My Last Breath"If I hear not allowed much oftener, said Sam, Im going to get angry. -- J.R.R. Tolkien, from Lord of the RingsA Great Zimbabwe University (GZU) lecturer is under fire for allegedly failing to pay for services rendered to a suspected South Africa-based commercial sex worker, a matter that has now sucked the academics wife.



Sunday News is in possession of WhatsApp conversations between the lecturer in the Department of Banking and Finance and the alleged sex worker and other Facebook conversations involving his wife.



The woman who is based in Johannesburg said she met the lecturer online and later they got a fixer Clemence Choga, a student at GZU. The two would occasionally from the period of 2015 have sexcapades in both Zimbabwe and South Africa. However, things got sour when the lecturer failed to pay R500 for services from the sex worker who asked not to be named. In one of the messages she asked for her money and he professed ignorance.



Ndati ndibvunze kuti mari iya muchaiwona rinhi Va . . .?

He however, replied that he was not going to pay her since she had threatened to bewitch him and he was no longer in a position to do any transactions with her.



I dont owe you sha, takataura tikapedzerana and above all you threatened me nezvakawanda ukati uchandiroya and stuff, ini hangu handitambi nevanhu vanodaro . . . zvirinani tisataudzane kana dziri idzo pfungwa dzauinadzo, he responded.



The alleged sex worker responded by saying he had enjoyed unprotected sex and eating her private parts but was no longer forthcoming with payments.



Furthermore, she said he had promised to hand over the money to Choga as per agreement but he failed to do so.



Choga is said to have been the middle man since 2015 when the two met and he was receiving payments on behalf of the suspected commercial sex worker. The woman has now turned to the lecturers wife to complain about the matter.



However, the wife said she was not interested in the issue.

You are bitter my dear, watadza kupedzerana then you decide to shift your bitterness. Sorry hako I feel for you, wasangana ne hard nut to crack. I think I have entertained you for so long listening to mahumbwe. I am a very busy woman, handiiswereri zvakadai, she said.



She went on: You meddled in my marriage, now you expose yourself, you are dealing with a different woman. I hope you get your commercial sex money. Kutovata musina protection mazuva

ano, unechivindi.



The alleged prostitute then responded by telling her that she was in a broken marriage and having unprotected sex was her job.



Taura kuti broken marriage like your husband did ah ah. He is not even ashamed to say your marriage yakafa kare, inga usenkingeni sis. No, ngaze ngakuzwela, if you are a different woman then sihlangane ke sis zindala zombili. Ko ndo pabasa pangu zve (unprotected sex), she shot back.



After the sex worker alerted the lecturer that she had told his wife about their sexcapades, the

lecturer responded by saying his marriage that she was trying to ruin was already dead. For your own information the marriage you are trying to ruin yakafa kare, he said. Sunday NewsiPhones of the Future

May Keep Tabs on

Your Mental Health(Newser)  A small-town Texas newspaper is catching heat after a Dallas man says his same-sex partner was left out of his mother's obituary. According to KDFW, Barry Giles and John Gambill said the Olton Enterprise in the town of Olton, outside Lubbock, cited "religious and ethical" reasons for the omission. Giles' mother, Brenda Light, moved to Dallas to be closer to her son and his husband. After she died suddenly at 77 following a fall in February, Giles sent the obituary to her home town of Olton. The obituary he sent included the line "Those left to cherish her memory include her son, Barry Giles and his husband, John Gambill of Dallas." However, all mention of Gambill was reportedly removed by publisher Phillip Hamilton.

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Hamilton, who Dallas News reports is also a Baptist pastor, said he could not in good conscience publish the line citing Giles' husband as another man because it wouldn't have been "true." The couple have been together over three decades and say they often took family vacations with Light, who Gambill said was like a "second mom" to him. Hamilton says he was exercising his First Amendment and religious rights when he edited out the information. The couple says they are looking at their legal options. Meanwhile, Light's obituary was printed in full by other local papers. (Read more gay marriage stories.)(Newser)  When Jeff Sessions fired Andrew McCabe, one of the points that drew attention is that the move came just two days before McCabe's retirement took effect, thus putting McCabe's federal pension in jeopardy. Now, however, a Democratic congressman is suggesting a work-around. Rep. Mark Pocan of Wisconsin has offered the former FBI deputy director a temporary job to allow McCabe to "reach the needed length of service" and qualify for his full benefits, reports NBC15. It just might happen, notes the Washington Post, because a McCabe spokesperson says he is considering all his options.

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My offer of employment to Mr. McCabe is a legitimate offer to work on election security, said Pocan in a statement. Other Democrats, including Rep. Seth Moulton, also have said they would consider hiring McCabe. The retirement rules were a little murky, but one former federal official familiar with them tells the Post that a temporary job would probably do the trick. It's possible that McCabe, who turned 50 on Sunday, would have to work only a day or two to qualify. (The president is criticizing "fake memos" reportedly kept by McCabe.)(Newser)  A data analysis firm employed by President Trump's 2016 campaign tapped the Facebook profiles of more than 50 million users without their permission, allowing it to capitalize on the private social media activity of a large portion of the US electorate, reports the AP. One of the largest data leaks in Facebook history let Cambridge Analytica, which had ties to Trump strategist Steve Bannon, to develop techniques that formed the basis of its work on the campaign, the New York Times and the Guardian reported. Facebook said it suspended Cambridge Analytica over allegations it kept the improperly obtained user data after telling Facebook it had been deleted. In a blog post, Facebook explained that Cambridge Analytica had years ago received user data from a Facebook app that purported to be a psychological research tool, though the firm was not authorized. Roughly 270,000 people downloaded and shared details with the app.

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Cambridge Analytica certified in 2015 that it had destroyed the information, although Facebook received reports "several days ago" that not all data was deleted. Facebook has suspended Cambridge Analytica's parent company, Strategic Communication Laboratories; University of Cambridge psychology professor Aleksandr Kogan, who created the app; and Christopher Wylie of Eunoia Technologies, who also allegedly received user data. Wylie is a former Cambridge Analytics employee who is a primary source for the Times report. Trump's campaign denied using the firm's data, saying it relied on the RNC for its data. Cambridge Analytica is backed by billionaire donor Robert Mercer. The firm had wooed Bannon with the promise of tools that could identify the personalities of American voters and influence behavior, but lacked data to make its products work. It has surfaced in US probes into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Trump's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, disclosed an advisory role with Cambridge Analytica in August.

(Read more Cambridge Analytica stories.)(Newser)  A chaotic week at the White House usually makes for a giddy week at Saturday Night Live, and this latest week of rolling heads left no shortage of fish in the barrel. The show opened with Alex Moffat as Anderson Cooper interviewing Kate McKinnon, whom the New York Times describes as playing a "giddy" AG Jeff Sessions, explaining his decision to fire FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe thusly: "Look, Im always down to clown but this was sneaky, even for me. Im just a simple man who wanted to make things bad for immigrants. And now, here I am, taking away the pension of a Christian white. It aint right." Next up was John Goodman as Rex Tillerson complaining that "Its just crazy how one day youre the CEO of Exxon, a $50 billion company. And the next day, you get fired by a man who used to sell steaks in the mail."

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The romp didn't end there: Cooper brought out SNL alum Fred Armisen as Fire and Fury author Michael Wolff, along with show guest-host Bill Hader as Anthony Scaramucci. McKinnon later appeared as Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on "Weekend Update." Meanwhile, with Hader and Armisen back in the house, Stefon and "The Californians" made a return. Highlights in the gallery. (Read more Saturday Night Live stories.)(Newser)  Britain's foreign secretary said Sunday that the trail of blame for the poisoning of a former spy "leads inexorably to the Kremlin," reports the AP, after a Russian envoy suggested the nerve agent could have come from a UK lab. "We actually have evidence within the last 10 years that Russia has not only been investigating the delivery of nerve agents for the purposes of assassination but has also been creating and stockpiling Novichok," Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson tells the BBC. "We think it overwhelmingly likely that it was (Vladimir Putin's) decision to direct the use of a nerve agent ... on the streets of Europe for the first time since the Second World War." Johnson said officials from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons would arrive in Britain on Monday to take samples of the nerve agent used to poison Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. Britain says it is Novichok, a powerful nerve agent developed in the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War.

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Vladimir Chizhov, Moscow's EU ambassador, said Russia has no chemical weapons stockpiles and was not behind the poisoning. "Russia had nothing to do with it," Chizhov told the BBC. Chizhov pointed out that the UK chemical weapons research facility, Porton Down, is only eight miles from Salisbury, where the Skripals were found March 4. They remain in critical condition. Asked whether he was saying Porton Down was responsible, Chizhov replied: "I don't know." The British government dismissed the ambassador's suggestion as "nonsense." Johnson said it was "not the response of a country that really believed itself to be innocent." Russia's ambassador in London, Alexander Yakovenko, called for "cooler heads," telling the Mail on Sunday that the dispute is "escalating dangerously and out of proportion." Britain and Russia have each expelled 23 diplomats.

(Read more Sergei Skripal stories.)(Newser)  A 10-year government study now in the works is expected to reach a conclusion that smaller-scale studies have suggested is true: Moderate drinking has health benefits. The problem? Most of the $100 million study is being paid for by the world's biggest alcohol companies, including Anheuser Busch InBev and Heineken, reports the New York Times. The National Institutes of Health is adamant that the source of the funding will have zero impact on the findings of the scientists on the project, but the issue raises a host of ethical questions. The story details how scientists and a senior federal health official wooed alcohol execs at cushy resorts: They needed money for the study and "strongly suggested" that the results would end up being positive for the alcohol companies.

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That's "not public health researchit's marketing," a health sciences professor at the Boston University School of Public Health tells the newspaper, after looking at slides presented to industry execs in 2014 at the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida. But "if anyone has any doubt whatsoever that our intent is to provide the most accurate and precise description of our findings, they are sorely mistaken," counters Dr. Kenneth Mukamal of Harvard Medical School, the lead investigator. Still, the story notes that the alcohol execs were allowed to get a sense of the trial design before it actually began and to "vet" the investigators who would be involved. (Click to read the full story, which has details on the study: Nearly 8,000 participants 50 and older will eventually take part; half will abstain from alcohol and half will be asked to have one alcoholic drink per day.)(Newser)  It's been a busy weekend on the Robert Mueller front thanks to the firing of Andrew McCabe, and both Politico and the AP are taking note of a potentially big development: President Trump is now going after Mueller directly in tweets. The president has previously complained about the investigation but generally avoided direct shots at the special counsel. That changed this weekend. "Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans?" he tweeted Sunday. On Saturday, he complained, "The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime." And that same day, Trump attorney John Dowd urged the Justice Department's Rod Rosenstein to shut down the Mueller investigation, though he later clarified that he was speaking for himself.

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Might all this suggest that Trump is moving closer to firing Mueller himself? "It seems to be building toward that," said GOP Sen. Jeff Flake on CNN, per the Hill. "I just hope it doesn't go there, because it can't." Fellow GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham echoed the sentiment, warning that firing Mueller "would be the beginning of the end of his presidency, because we're a rule-of-law nation." Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, meanwhile, pushed back on Trump's allegation of "hardened Democrats" on Mueller's team. After all, he said, Mueller himself is a Republican, while his boss, Rosenstein, and Rosenstein's boss, Jeff Sessions, were appointed by Republican presidents. (There may be an unusual way for McCabe to qualify for his full pension benefits despite being fired.)Sorry!

This content is not available in your region"In Ireland, the inevitable never happens and the unexpected constantly occurs."

 John Pentland Mahaffy

Folks, I'm going to write this week's column as quietly as possible, because I'm sure most of you took full advantage this weekend to celebrate St. Patrick's Day and are now probably nursing a good old-fashioned hang-over.

At this point your head is probably thumping so hard even a cat's purr sounds like a lion's roar. Now I'm sure you've heard of Cinco de Mayo or even Chinese New Year, but as far as holidays go, this has to be the most inclusive holiday of all. It doesn't matter if you're name is Molloy, O'Reilly, O'Malley or even Lopez; everyone gets to fill their cup to the brim with green beer. So seeing as though we all had a good time toasting the Irish and eating corn beef yesterday we ought to at least learn a bit about the Emerald Isle and the man behind the shamrocks.Fairbanks, AK (99707)

Today

Cloudy skies early will become partly cloudy later in the day. High 43F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy. Low near 25F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.New Delhi:

To put a stop to increasing unauthorised constructions in the national capital, the Delhi High Court has suggested to the AAP government to stop regularising illegally-built buildings and to not allow them to exist after paying a compounding fees.

The advice by a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar came during the hearing on a PIL moved by the residents welfare association (RWA) of a south Delhi colony against unauthorised constructions and encroachment in some nearby areas.

Stop compounding and stop regularising, the court said to the Delhi government while issuing notice to it, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation, the police, the civic body and Delhi Jal Board, seeking their reply to the petition before the next date of hearing on July 24.

A direction was also issued to the petitioner RWA to file an affidavit listing its members and indicating that their properties are not illegally constructed.

Read- Delhi HC refuses to ground entire fleet of IndiGo's A320neo

The RWA of Chattarpur Extension colony in south Delhi has in its plea said that illegal constructions and encroachments were being carried out nearby under a high-tension power line.

It has said that before approaching the high court, it had made several complaints to the authorities, but no action had been taken on their representations till date.New Delhi:

Three people inclduing a father and son died after clashes erupted between two groups in Bhandup area of Mumbai in Maharashtra.

One person died on the spot while two seriously injured succumbed to the injuries during the treatment, according to the initial reports.

The exact reason behind the clashes was not known immidiately but the Mumbai police has started an investigation into the matter, reported ANI.New Delhi:

Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan is known to give his two cents on many matters through his blog. The Deewar actor, in his latest blog, questioned the stipulation of the copyright law in India.

The Copyright Act 1957 allows exclusive rights to the heirs of original literary work for a period of sixty years. Senior Bachchan expressed his displeasure over the same and called it rubbish.

As a matter of fact, the duration of 60-year period is counted following the death of the author of the original literary, artistic or dramatic work.

"Written copyright and whatever else in the realm, lives 60 years after the passing with the elements of them that be the rightful? Really? So, who designed 60 years? Why 60, why not 61, or why not perpetuity?aa, Amitabh wrote in his blog. (Source)

Unable to fathom the copyright law, Big B wrote, "Inheritors that come as natural heirs be natural right holders of creative copyright... Right... but after 60 years, its natural inheritors, after the passing, the heirs become the public at large... ehh... Who did this intellectual legality. at what context. I believe it initiated in 1957 or so... and (I) am angered by its audacity," he said.

The Piku actor seemed infuriated and vented his anger through the medium of words. He wrote, aaSo what gets left as natural heir by Father Dr Harivansh Rai Bachchan, after his passing passed 60 years, belongs no longer to his domain or possessive copyright as willed . but becomes for the entire Universe to tread, scratch, mutilate, use in commercial consideration on their own creative discretion?aaA

The 75-year-old actor opposed the law and said, aa My inheritance be mine. not anotheras after the passing of its stipulated time in years .60 . I am genetically my Fatheras son .. he be willed to me of all that be in asset of his .. his writings be his .. his heir be me .his writings be mine. MINE! i shall not and will not allow its dilution to general publicaa.

The 'Shahenshah' of Bollywood concluded the blog by writing that he will fight for the same.

"I fight for it," he said after questioning "why was not William Shakespeare made aware of copyright; why not Beethoven or Messrs Chopin and Tchaikovsky, or closer home Rabindranath Tagore? Had they known or made to know, they may never have wished for any other, but their progeny of generations to come... And because no record has been kept of such, there is a loss of opportunity for them that were rightful heirs of them!", Amitabh wrote.

For the uninitiated, Amitabhas father Harivansh Rai Bachchan was a prominent poet, known for works like Madhushala, Ruke Na Tu and Agneepath. The Padma Bhushan awardee passed away on January 18, 2003.

For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Three doctors of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi were killed in a tragic accident on the Yamuna Expressway in the wee hours of Sunday morning. Along with the three killed, four others were critically injured and taken to the nearby hospital.

The accident took place near Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, and the case was registered under the Surir Kotwali police station area. As per reports, the doctorsa speeding Innova collided with a container near the milestone 88, killing the three doctors on the spot, while injuring the other four.

The incident is said to have taken place at around 2 am in the wee hours. The three doctors killed were identified as Dr. Yashpal, Dr. Harshad, and Dr. Hembala.

Authorities rushed to the spot as soon as the news of the incident reached them, and with the help of locals and policemen, rescued all the passengers in the Innova.

#UPDATE Three doctors from AIIMS Delhi killed, three injured in an accident on Yamuna Expressway near Mathura pic.twitter.com/szlBvhH1Jz a ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) March 18, 2018

The injured doctors were identified as Dr. Kadriene, Dr. Mahesh, and Dr. Abhinav, who were admitted to the Mathura local hospital. The driver of the car has been shifted to AIIMS, while the dead bodies of the three doctors have been sent for post-mortem.

As per reports, all of the doctors were travelling to celebrate the birthday of Dr. Harshad when the incident occurred.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday launched a witheringly scornful attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and called a symbol of corruption.

The name Modi symbolises the collusion between Indias biggest businessmen and the Prime Minister. Modi gives Modi 30,000 crores of your Money and in turn, Modi gives Modi money for marketing Modi and fighting elections," the Gandhi scion said.

Speaking at the 84th Congress Plenary Session at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi, Rahul Gandhi likened the "powerful and arrogant" BJP with Kauravas.

Centuries ago there was a huge battle in Kurukshetra. The Kauravas were powerful and arrogant. The Pandavas were humble and fought for the truth. Like the Kauravas, BJP and RSS are designed to fight for power. Like the Pandavas, Congress is designed to fight for truth, Rahul said.

Like the Kauravas, BJP & RSS are designed to fight for power. Like the Pandavas, the Congress is designed to fight for the truth: Congress President Rahul Gandhi #CongressPlenary #ChangeIsNow pic.twitter.com/vWuRLSxQIv  Congress (@INCIndia) March 18, 2018

The Congress President also fired salvo at Finance Minister Arun Jaitley accusing him of being silent of the scam to save his daughter, who worked for one of the PNB scam accused.

You can steal Rs 33,000 crore from the banks and the BJP government will protect you. Finance Minister will go silent because he and his daughter work for crony capitalists, the Congress president said.

Also Read | Modi government 'mismanaged' Jammu and Kashmir problem, says Manmohan Singh

He further trained his guns on BJP President Amit Shah and said, They (people) will accept a man accused of murder as the President of the BJP, but they will never ever accept the same in the Congress Party because they hold Congress in the highest regard.

However, he admitted to the mistakes of UPA government and said, The last government we formed did not stand up to the expectations of the people. The people of the country were let down by us.

In his speech, he assured to break the walls of communication between party workers and leaders and vowed to fill the Congress party with talented youngsters.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday termed Rahul Gandhis speech at the 84th plenary session of the Congress as rhetoric of a loser devoid of substance.

Addressing party workers at the 84th Congress Plenary Session at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Delhi, Rahul Gandhi launched scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP and its president Amit Shah.

Minutes after his speech, BJP fielded countrys defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman to launch the counter-offensive.

Referring to Rahul Gandhis remark against BJP president Amit Shah, Sitharaman said, "It is astonishing that the Congress president chooses to name the president of BJP and says he is a murder accused. He has been cleared by a court.

In his 53-minute speech, Rahul Gandhi had said, "They (people) will accept a man accused of murder as the president of BJP, but the people will never accept the same in the Congress party.

Also Read | PM Modi symbolises corruption, says Rahul Gandhi at Congress plenary session

Accusing Congress party of mocking the Hindus, the defence minister took on the Gandhi scion for likening the BJP with Kauravas of Mahabharat.

Congress Party wants to identify itself with the Pandavas, the same party which questioned the fundamental existence of Lord Ram. It is the party which chooses to mock Hindus and Hindu rituals, the BJP leader said.

Rahul Gandhi had said, The Kauravas were powerful and arrogant. The Pandavas were humble and fought for the truth. Like the Kauravas, BJP and RSS are designed to fight for power. Like the Pandavas, Congress is designed to fight for truth.

Alleging that the Congress doesnt believe in transparency, Sitharaman attacked the party for urging Elections Commission to switch back to ballot papers.

Also Read | Modi government 'mismanaged' Jammu and Kashmir problem, says Manmohan Singh

Congress is even questioning the EVMs at this time, they want ballot paper system. At a time when technology is making it simpler & more transparent, here is a party that is against it because they don't believe in transparency, she added.

Another Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad also slammed the Congress President and said, Rahul Gandhi's rant was shameful. The way he spoke of judiciary was irresponsible.

Rahul had said, BJP has spread fear. People from press are scared, for the first time we saw four Supreme Court judges running to public for justice. There is a difference between RSS and Congress, we respect the country's institutions whereas they want to finish them. They only want one institution, that is RSS.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) working leader MK Stalin said that the he will welcome the decision if southern states come together and make demands for a separate country of Dravida Nadu (Dravida country).

The comment comes within a week of two southern Chief Ministers complaining that the south contributes more in taxes to the Centre than it gets in return.

On asked if the southern states should come together to demand a separate country of Dravida Nadu, Stalin said, If it (such a situation) comes, it would be welcome. We hope that such a situation arises.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had complained in a column on Friday that the southern states are subsidising more than the northern states but no incentives are given for development.

While Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao had complained about the fact that their states give money to the Centre but get nothing in return.

Also Read: Telangana CM KCR likely to meet Mamata Banerjee tomorrow over third-party front

Stalins comments are not much shocking since the DMK, which was founded in 1949, had always wanted a separate country of Dravida Nadu and this was their key goals. However, in 1962, at the time of Indo-China war, the party dropped the idea of Dravida Nadu.

The DMKs Dravida Nadu aimed at creating a separate state for those in the south. According to the DMK, the south are racially different from the north Indian Aryans.

The DMK, as an alternative, had also proposed a separate unit of the southern states which will continue to be a part of India but will lease autonomy in finance and governance.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Sunday likened the ruling Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) and its parent organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) with the "Kauravas" of the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata.

During his 53-minute speech at the partys plenary session in Delhi on Sunday, Rahul Gandhi said the BJP is the voice of one organisation while the Congress is the voice of the nation.

Rahul also admitted to the mistakes of UPA government and assured to break the communication barriers between Congress workers and senior leaders.

Here are the top quotes of Rahul Gandhis speech at the 84th Congress Plenary Session:

# Like the Kauravas, BJP & RSS are designed to fight for power. Like the Pandavas, the Congress is designed to fight for the truth. While the BJP is the voice of an organization, the Congress is the voice of the nation.

# We were the fastest growing economy in the world. But today millions of youth face unemployment. The corrupt and the powerful completely control the conversation in our country.

# The name Modi symbolises the collusion between Indias biggest businessmen and the Prime Minister. Modi gives Modi 30,000 crores of your Money and in turn, Modi gives Modi money for marketing Modi and fighting elections.

Also Read | BJP hits back at Rahul Gandhi, terms his speech as rhetoric of a loser

# Modi personally changed Rafale deal & bought 36 aircraft for the same price that we the Congress negotiated for 126.

# We paid 570 Cr per plane & Modi paid 1670 Cr for the same plane. He paid 1100 Cr more per plane. Forget fighter planes you cant trust such a man to buy vegetables!!! Modi is not fighting corruption Modi is corruption.

# The soil of this nation is drenched in the blood of Congressmen and Congresswomen who have died for it.

# Gandhi spent 15 years in jail and died for the nation. But India must never forget that while our leader slept on the floor in jail Savarkar wrote a letter to the British begging for mercy and clemency.

# To every youngster in India, we are your instrument. The Congress Party belong to you. We want to open our doors to your talent your bravery and your energy. This country is struggling and it needs you.

# I will break the communication barriers between our grassroots workers and leaders.

# There are two visions before the world today- American and Chinese. My aim is to present an Indian vision to the world.

# Let us put all our differences aside and work together to ensure victory for the party.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Protesting continues intimidation and harassment of its diplomates, India lodged another compalint after officials of Indian Mission in Pakistan were aggressively follwed by unidentified men in Islamabad on Sunday.

"Second Secretary at the Indian High Commission in Pakistan was aggressively followed by unidentified people in a car in close proximity in an intimidating manner while he was going to Chhaye Khana restaurant," according to ANI.

In another incident, four officials of High Commission of India in Pakistan travelling in an official vehicle were aggressively followed while going to Aabpara market by two unknown persons on motorbikes in an intimidating manner.

"Website of Indian HC continues to be intermittently blocked causing inconvenience & affecting the normal functioning of the Mission. We've asked Pakistan govt to investigate these incidents and ensure such incidents don't recur, ANI quoted sources as saying.

Also Read | Jammu and Kashmir: Pakistan violates ceasefire in Balakote sector, kills 5 civilians

Earlier on Saturday, India had given its 12th Note Verbale to Pakistan foreign ministry and mentioned two incidents of harassment - one on Saturday and the other on March 15.

Some officials of the Indian mission, who had gone for shopping to the Blue Area in Islamabad on Saturday, were harassed with two persons aggressively following them and hurling abuses.

On the March 15, an official of the Indian mission and his family was aggressively followed by two men on motorbike while he was going to a restaurant.

Another Note Verbale was sent today by our High Commission in Islamabad to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan protesting against the intimidation and harassment of Indian High Commission officials, a source said.

We have asked the Pakistan Government to investigate these incidents, the source said.

The Note Verbale to Pakistan foreign ministry comes days after Islamabad recalled its envoy to India Sohail Mahmood for consultations, which was termed by India as "routine" and "normal".

Pakistan had said it called home its envoy for consultations after repeated incidents of "harassment" of its diplomatic staff in New Delhi.

External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar had said that the Indian High Commission in Islamabad was also facing a "litany of issues" which have not been resolved for several months by that country.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday launched an all out attack on Narendra Modi government and said that the BJP is voice of one organisation (RSS) while the Congress party is voice of the nation.

Speaking on the second day of the 84th Congress Plenary Session that began on Friday, Rahul Gandhi compared BJP-RSS with 'Kauravas' and Congress with 'Pandavas' of 'Mahabharat', the great Sanskrit epic of ancient India.

"Centuries ago there was huge battle on the field of Kurukshetra. The Kauravas were powerful&arrogant. The Pandavas were humble&fought for the truth. Like the Kauravas BJP & RSS are designed to fight for power, like the Pandavas,Congress is designed to fight for truth," Rahul said.

The plenary session, which is a first since Rahul Gandhias elevation to the presidential post, is called aChange is nowa and is aimed at projecting young faces of the party at the forefront.

Earlier on Saturday, the Congress president in his inaugural speech as part of the Congress partyas plenary session had accused the BJP of dividing the country by spreading "hatred" and said only Congress can unite the nation.

aOnly Congress can show the way for this nation. This country belongs to all irrespective of which religion caste community one belongs to. We will work for all,a the Congress president said.

Apart from Rahul, his mother and predecessor Sonia Gandhi also launched a scathing attack against the Narendra Modi-led NDA government, calling it aarroganta and "drunk" on power.

Here are the highlights ofA Congress Plenary session:

# 04:30 pm:A The soil of this nation is drenched in the blood of Congressmen and Congresswomen who have died for it: Congress President Rahul Gandhi

#04:28 pm:A The name Modi symbolises the collusion between Indiaas biggest businessmen and the Prime Minister. Modi gives Modi 30,000 crores of your Money and in turn, Modi gives Modi money for marketing Modi and fighting elections.

#04:25 PM:A Gandhi spent 15 years in jail and died for the nation. But India must never forget that while our leader slept on the floor in jail Savarkar wrote a letter to the British begging for mercy and clemency: Rahul Gandhi

#04:18 PM:A The PM diverts our attention and jumps from one event to another from Gabbar Singh tax to yoga in Parliament but never talks about the issues. But, the Congress cannot be stopped from seeking the truth and justice: Rahul Gandhi

#04:15 pm:A Congress party understands deeply that we are for truth. India expects more from Congress party because it holds us to a higher standard than any other party: Rahul Gandhi

Congress party understands deeply that we are for truth. India expects more from Congress party because it holds us to a higher standard than any other party: Congress President Rahul Gandhi #CongressPlenary #ChangeIsNow pic.twitter.com/gKoM6EuKu2 a Congress (@INCIndia) March 18, 2018

#04:13 pm:A BJP is the voice of an organization. Congress is the voice of a nation: Congress President Rahul Gandhi

#04:08 pm:A Will India live a lie or will India have the courage to face the truth? Today, the corrupt and powerful control the conversation in the country: Congress President Rahul Gandhi

#04:05 pm:A Centuries ago there was huge battle on the field of Kurukshetra. The Kauravas were powerful&arrogant. The Pandavas were humble&fought for the truth. Like the Kauravas BJP & RSS are designed to fight for power, like the Pandavas,Congress is designed to fight for truth:Rahul Gandhi

#04:00 pm: Rahul Gandhi is addressing Congress workers on the 2nd day of plenary session.

#13:30 pm It's the biggest achievement of Manmohan Singh that 14 cr people were listed out of poverty. BJP govt pushed people into poverty. Number of people below poverty line went up: P Chidambaram

It's the biggest achievement of Dr Manmohan Singh that 14 Cr people were listed out of poverty. BJP govt pushed people into poverty. Number of people below poverty line went up. It's the greatest disservice BJP govt did to people of India: P Chidambaram at #CongressPlenarySession pic.twitter.com/gDtkIU1Rci a ANI (@ANI) March 18, 2018

#13:25 pm It's the greatest disservice BJP govt did to people of India: P Chidambaram



#13:02 pm It's the biggest achievement of Manmohan Singh that 14 Cr people were listed out of poverty. BJP govt pushed people into poverty. Number of people below poverty line went up.

#13:00 pm It's the greatest disservice BJP govt did to people of India: P Chidambaram at Congress PlenarySession



#12:10 pm Modi Govt has mismanaged Jammu and Kashmir like never before, the atmosphere is deteriorating day in and day out, its obvious from the fact that our borders are insecure, be it cross-border terror or internal: ManmohanA Singh

#12:05 pm When Modi Ji was campaigning he made lots of tall promises, those promises have not been fulfilled. He said we will provide 2 crore jobs, we have not seen even 2 lakh jobs: Manmohan SinghA

#11:45 am Modi govt's Pakistan policy is a disaster: Congress

#11:40 am Calling the Pakistan policy of Modi govt a disaster, the Congress party said, "Confronting cross-border terrorism with a robust security response, has enjoyed across the board national consensus. Regrettably, this is being undermined by the Government by making policy towards Pakistan a divisive domestic issue.A



#11:05 amA "Neighbourhood first" was the Congress Govt's rallying cry. However, under the Modi Govt, it's "Neighbourhood last". - Gaurav GogoiA

#10:50 am The PM is carried away by his own propaganda. Today it is a matter of concern that we have mismanaged our relations with major capitals of the world, with major strategic partners & our immediate neighborhood: Anand SharmaA

The PM is carried away by his own propaganda. Today it is a matter of concern that we have mismanaged our relations with major capitals of the world, with major strategic partners & our immediate neighborhood: Anand Sharma at #CongressPlenarySession pic.twitter.com/I87UMB0eTd

#10:40 am Modi govt has disrupted India's foreign policy. In the last four years they have made this a divisive policy: Anand Sharma

#10:40 am The Modi govt has pursued this in a cavalier manner, non-serious manner: Anand SharmaA



#10:18 am The party is scheduled to adopt an economic and international resolution on the last day of the session.

#10:15 am Congress leader Anand Sharma will move the foreign affairs resolution and former finance minister P Chidambaram will move the economic resolution







For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

A 30-year old man sent every police officer of Karambakudi Police station in a state of shock after he walked in with the asliced heada of his mother, after supposedly killing her on Sunday, police said.

Police added that the 30-year old Anand used to have constant arguments with his mother Rani, over property problems. After an argument over the same issue again, Anand beheaded Rani, a widow with a sharp weapon.

ALSO READ: Three AIIMS doctors killed, four critical in accident on Yamuna Expressway

He carried her asevereda head to Karambakudi Police station and surrendered, police further added.

Police continued that the woman was previously acquitted in a case, which was against her for the murder of her husband 10 years ago. Anand was arrested and further investigations are on.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

A group of drivers of cab aggregators Ola and Uber is set to go on an indefinite strike to hold a protest over low payment and foul play from Sunday midnight.

The strike will take place in key cities like Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Pune among others. As many as 5,000 drivers from different parts of the country will be gathered on Sunday to take part in the same. The group includes over 2,000 workers, affiliated to Ola and Uber.

The drivers, who have been raising their voice against this fraudulent over the last several months across India, are also planning to gherao the Parliament building on March 22 seeking government's attention in the matter.

Talking about a few allegations against the aggregators, Ravi Rathod, vice president of Sarvodya Drivers Association of Delhi told a leading daily, "The app is very partial as it gives long rides to company-owned cars. The general ones are left to take petty rides where they hardly make any money."

Moreover, both Ola and Uber initially promised divers a whopping income of Rs 1.5 lakh per month but they are unable to earn even half of this, owing to the double-dealing by these companies. Reportedly, they are being paid only Rs 20,000 instead and are in a huge debt, according to Sanjay Naik of Maharashtra Navnirman Vahatuk Sena.

Also Read: Taxi or app? Uber faces big EU court decision

While taxi-hailing companies offered loan-guarantee letters to drivers through the Mudra scheme and that too without any verification, they are defaulting on repayment now as their costs are not covered, he claimed.

In Mumbai alone, there are over 45,000 cabs on these aggregators but due to the slump in business, there has been a fall of 20 per cent in the number of cabs running on these platforms in the city.

"If our demands are not met, we will go on an indefinite strike," Naik said further, adding the drivers had approached the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader Raj Thackeray to intervene in the matter.

Meanwhile, in response to their approach, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) on Saturday extended its support to the Ola and Uber drivers.

"We have approached the companies several times, but they are not willing to even listen to the issues of the drivers," MNS transport wing general secretary Nitin Nandgaonkar said.

Other unions of Ola and Uber are also in support of the strike, Sanjay Naik stated.

Also Read: UBER used spies to steal rival's trade secrets, reveals inflammatory letter by security specialist

"The transport department should take strict action as these taxi-hailing companies are violating permit conditions, and also encroaching on the taxi-rickshaw business. It is good they are going on strike," Al Quadros, general secretary, Mumbai Taximens Union said.

However, the officials of Ola is yet to issue a comment while an Uber spokesperson has termed the move as speculative.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao will likely fly to Kolkata on Monday to meet the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and discuss the possibility of a third-party front.

The third-party front will be a non-Congress, non-BJP political arena.

A top official from the Chief Ministers office said, It is not yet confirmed but the Chief Minister is likely to go to Kolkata on Monday, a day after the Telugu New Year, to meet Mamata Banerjee. The CM is keen on forming a national front of political parties. He will emphasise that he is proposing an alternative to the Congress and BJP so that there is a change in quality of governance at the Centre.

The move comes after the Telangana CM, on March 3, declared his idea of joining the national politics and being in talks with like-minded parties, including the Left, to being about qualitative changes in the governance, while directly blaming that neither the Congress nor the BJP could properly govern the country.

Also Read| K Chandrashekar Rao can play pivotal role in 2019 Lok Sabha polls: Owaisi

He said, In the last 70 years, the political system, whether ruled by Congress or BJP, has failed.miserably to bring a qualitative change in the lives of the people.We are talking of tackling corruption and ensuring social justice. Every day, there are reports of Dalits being killed. The BJP is in power in some of the states where they (Dalits) are getting killed.

The Trinamool Congress chief was the first among to call KCR and extend her support to him. Banerjee openly supported her side towards KCR and his idea of third-party front.

Among the others who supported the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TSR) chief were Ajit Jogi, former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, and AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Mauritius President Ameenah Gurib-Fakim resigned on Saturday after being accused of involvement in a credit card scandal.

Ameenah Gurib-Fakim has been accused of using a bank card issued by an NGO to buy luxury personal items.

Gurib-Fakim, Africa's only female head of state, submitted her resignation in the "national interest," her lawyer Yousouf Mohamed told reporters.

The president's lawyer said her resignation would take effect on March 23, a move that will bring down the curtain on a saga that has gripped the Indian Ocean archipelago for weeks.

Gurib-Fakim had vowed to fight the accusations that first appeared in local newspaper L'Express.

Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth announced a week ago that Gurib-Fakim had agreed to resign, with a date set for her departure after last Monday's ceremony celebrating the Indian Ocean archipelago's 50 years of independence.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

The two-plus-two meeting between India and the United States has been postponed due to the uncertainty over the confirmation of the nomination of Mike Pompeo, as the new Secretary of State, according to officials.

The first two-plus-two meeting between India and the US was tentatively scheduled for April 18-19. The launch of the two-plus-two dialogue was announced last summer when Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a successful meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House.

However, there was no official announcement of the high-level dialogue involving the foreign and defence ministers from the two countries.

India's foreign and defence secretaries were here early this week for preparatory talks with their American counterparts. The Indian delegation landed in Washington DC amidst the firing of Rex Tillerson as the Secretary of State by Trump.

The delegation continued with their meetings both at the State Department and the Pentagon as scheduled, during which it was decided to hold the two-plus-two dialogue at a later date, which is unlikely to be held before the summer.

The two-plus-two dialogue was seen as a vehicle to elevate the strategic relationship between the two countries. After June last year, the two countries have tried at several other dates for this dialogue including sometime in November and December.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.Jerusalem:

Israel's military targeted a Hamas observation post on Saturday after an explosive device detonated near the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, the military said.

The explosion occurred in the northern Gaza Strip near Israel's border fence, the army said in a statement, with no casualties reported.



"In response, IDF (Israel Defence Forces) tanks targeted a military observation post belonging to the Hamas terror organisation," the army said on Twitter.

According to Palestinian sources, the retaliatory fire slightly injured one person.

Two explosive devices were detonated Thursday along the border, provoking Israeli attacks on Hamas positions.

No group has claimed responsibility for the blasts, but Israel held Hamas responsible as the de facto power in the Palestinian enclave.

Israel, Hamas and its allies are observing a ceasefire since the 2014 war, the third in the enclave in six years.

Also Read: UN seeks USD 540 million for Palestinian aid, mostly for Gaza

The truce is regularly shaken, particularly by fire from the enclave into Israel, which systematically retaliates by targeting Hamas positions, even if the attacks are carried out by other groups.

On February 17, four Israeli soldiers were wounded by an improvised explosive device on the border, sparking intense military retaliation.

Israel warplanes attacked 18 "terror targets belonging to Hamas" in Gaza in response to the blast, which severely wounded two of the soldiers, and a subsequent Palestinian rocket attack on southern Israel.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.Moscow:

Russia said on Sunday it would expel 23 British diplomats and close a British consulate following Londons provocative measures over the poisoning of a double agent that has triggered a fierce diplomatic row.

Moscow also said it would halt the activities of the British Council in Russia in a tough series of retaliatory measures announced after it summoned British ambassador Laurie Bristow.

Prime Minister Theresa May responded defiantly to the tit-for-tat move, which followed Britains expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats and the suspension of high-level contacts earlier this week.

Amid escalating tensions with Moscow over the nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English city of Salisbury on March 4, May warned she would never tolerate a threat to the life of British citizens and others on British soil from the Russian government, to strong applause from party members.

Russian aggression is the very antithesis of the liberal and democratic values that define the United Kingdom, she said.

She also repeated accusations made by Britain to the United Nations that the poisoning was a flagrant breach of international law and the Chemical Weapons Convention.

The Russian response was announced on the eve of a presidential election which is expected to hand Vladimir Putin a fourth term in the Kremlin, but which comes as the country appears increasingly isolated.

The crisis erupted after the Skripals were exposed to a Soviet-designed military grade nerve agent, leaving them in critical condition.

London and its allies have blamed Moscow for the attack and on Friday, Britain directly implicated Putin himself, unleashing the Kremlins fury.

Twenty-three diplomatic staff at the British embassy in Moscow are declared persona non-grata and to be expelled within a week, a foreign ministry statement said.

It said this was a response to Britains provocative actions and baseless accusations over the Salisbury incident.

Russia also said it was closing Britains consulate in the city of Saint Petersburg, citing a disparity in the number of diplomatic missions held by the two countries.

Also Read: Pakistan pulls out of World Trade Organisation meet in New Delhi amid alleged harassment situations

And it said it had halted the activities of the British Council, Britains international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities.

The organisation said it was profoundly disappointed at the move.

The Russian ministry also warned Britain that it retains the right to take other answering measures in response to any further unfriendly actions.

The measures are more harsh, but the British deserved them. And I dont rule out that something else could follow, first deputy head of the Russian Senates foreign affairs committee Vladimir Dzhabarov told Interfax news agency.

In a similar move, Russia closed the British Councils regional offices in 2008 after relations nosedived over the poisoning of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko.

The Russian dissident died of Polonium radiation poisoning in London in 2006 in an attack that Britain also blamed on Russia.

Russia insists it had no motive to target Skripal with what Britain says was a highly-potent nerve agent called Novichok, in the first such attack in Europe since World War II.

On Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said statements by British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson tying Putin to the attack were shocking and unforgivable.

Western leaders have strongly backed Britains response.

EU leaders are to discuss the incident at a Brussels summit next week and it is also on the agenda for talks on Monday between Johnson, his EU counterparts and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

Following the Salisbury incident, the British government has also pledged to re-examine 14 deaths on UK soil following a report that they could have been carried out by Moscow or the Russian mafia.

On Friday, police said they were treating the March 12 death of exiled businessman Nikolai Glushkov as murder after a post-mortem found he died from compression to the neck.

Glushkov was an associate of the late Kremlin opponent Boris Berezovsky, a one-time Putin supporter who then turned against him.

Berezovsky was found hanged in a bathroom at his home outside London in 2013.

Main Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, meanwhile, on Saturday demanded justice for assassinated Putin critic Boris Nemtsov.

He said he wanted those who organised his murder to be held responsible, speaking in front of the building where he lived.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.Washington:

Top-level congressional talks on a USD 1.3 trillion catchall spending bill are reaching a critical stage as negotiators confront immigration, abortion-related issues and a battle over a massive rail project that pits President Donald Trump against his most powerful Democratic adversary.

The bipartisan measure is loaded with political and policy victories for both sides. Republicans and Trump are winning a long-sought budget increase for the Pentagon while Democrats obtain funding for infrastructure, the opioid crisis and a wide swath of domestic programs.

The bill would implement last month's big budget agreement, providing 10 percent increases for both the Pentagon and domestic agencies when compared with current levels.

Coupled with last year's tax cut measure, it heralds the return of trillion-dollar budget deficits as soon as the budget year starting in October.

Also Read | Donald Trump decides to fire his National Security Advisor Lt. Gen HR McMaster: Report

While most of the funding issues in the enormous measure have been sorted out, fights involving a number of policy "riders", so named because they catch a ride on a difficult-to-stop spending bill, continued into the weekend.

Among them are GOP-led efforts to add a plan to revive federal subsidies to help the poor cover out-of-pocket costs under President Barack Obama's health law and to fix a glitch in the recent tax bill that subsidizes grain sales to cooperatives at the expense of for-profit grain companies.

Trump has privately threatened to veto the whole package if a USD 900 million payment is made on the Hudson River Gateway Project, a priority of top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer of New York.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.Japan's Meteorological Agency announced on Saturday the official start of Tokyo's annual cherry blossom season.

The Agency says the warm weather since late February, including 2 days this week when the high topped 20 degrees Celsius, is likely to have helped.

Saturday's low temperature of 3.1 degrees Celsius was more like early March. It was 1.5 degrees lower than average.

Agency officials confirmed that a Somei Yoshino cherry tree at Yasukuni Shrine in central Tokyo has produced at least 5 flowers.

The Agency announces the start of the cherry blossom season in Tokyo when that number of flowers are seen on the shrine's benchmark cherry tree.

The blossoms normally reach their peak a week to 10 days after blooming begins.

A commercial weather-information firm says trees will likely start blooming in other parts of the Kanto Region through the end of this month. - NHKWorkers have replaced a lightning-damaged shachihoko roof ornament on a castle in Inuyama City, central Japan.

The ornament, in the style of a killer whale, is one of two on the roof of the tenshu-kaku tower of Inuyama Castle, which is designated a national treasure.

A ceramics maker in Nara Prefecture created a replacement at the request of the city. Workers spent 3 weeks installing it.

At a ceremony on Saturday, the head of a local foundation thanked people for their contribution. A group of 150 visitors took photos. - NHKResidents of Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, on Saturday offered flowers in remembrance of a 9-year-old Vietnamese girl who was murdered allegedly by a neighbor nearly one year ago.

The municipal authority set up an altar with a photo of a smiling Le Thi Nhat Linh in a community hall near the victim's home.

"I am glad that (the local government) did what it could to commemorate my daughter. I would like to thank citizens and officials in the city," said Le Anh Hao, the 35-year-old father of the girl.

"I remember the case every time I go near the elementary school (which the victim attended). It is really a pity," said 78-year-old Chieko Watanabe after offering white flowers.

Holding a bouquet, 11-year-old Haruna Odakura visited the altar with her father and said "I feel sorry," while staring at Linh's photo. The altar will be in place through the end of this month.

Linh went missing on her way to school on the morning of March 24 last year and was found dead two days later near a drainage ditch in the Chiba city of Abiko.

In April, police arrested Yasumasa Shibuya, 46, who was heading the parents' association at the girl's elementary school, on suspicion of abandoning her body. - Japan TodayPolice have charged Orlando Tercero with murder in the second degree for the death of Binghamton University Nursing Student Haley Anderson.

The Broome County District Attorney's Office announced the murder charge Saturday, and revealed that Anderson's cause of death was strangulation, WBNG-TV reported.

Anderson and Tercero, both 22, were known to have had a previous relationship.

Tercero had fled the United States by plane to Nicaragua before Anderson's body was found on March 9 at Tercero's home in Binghamton. He was arrested by authorities in Nicaragua and taken to a hospital where he was treated for self-inflicted injuries on Tuesday.

Tercero has since been remanded to judicial authorities in Nicaragua. The U.S. Justice Department will now work with the Nicaraguan Government to have him extradited to the U.S.

The indictment against Tercero will remain sealed until he is returned to the U.S. and formally arraigned. A conviction could mean 25 years to life in prison, according to the Press & Sun Bulletin.President Muhammadu Buhari

Guardian newspaper columnist, Emmanuel Ogundele has appealed to President Buhari to pack his bags and leave the Aso Rock villa in 2019 for the good of the country.

For those who have watched the direction of President Muhammadu Buhari and his administration for well over two years now, there is no doubting the fact that we have made a wrong choice. Not that there was anything to choose from between a weakling called Goodluck Jonathan who allowed free stealing to go on in his government unabated and, at that time, a serial loser at presidential elections since 1999 called Muhammadu Buhari.

However, little did we know then that it was a choice between a present disaster and a would-be tragic figure. The facts dont come out in good time and so people were quick to paint a future devil in a Saints colour. While the drive to choose anybody but Jonathan among the political elite which eventually percolated down to the people, was so pressing at that time, it was not a well-thought out choice. For while Nigerians act as if they operate a two-party system, we actually run a multi-party democracy.

To blind our eyes to the true state of things and elect an uninformed and acutely incompetent president is a dent on our political judgment and general intelligence. Truly we got rid of Jonathan and look at what we have. I am not sure that when Nigerians were going to the polls they had bargained for what they have at the moment: a highly nepotistic leader, insensitively religious and deeply incompetent person. We have today sitting as president of this country, the worst we have ever had, one who has beaten all records in terms of poor governance.

Many have argued that Buhari was voted for because in his first coming as military head of state in conjunction with the late Tunde Idiagbon, ran a fairly credible government even though it was an authoritarian regime. What was however hidden from many at that time was that Idiagbon was the engine room of that government because of the quality of his grey matter. Buhari was more of a ceremonial head of state. Our seeking to please the Fulani power elite as a collective has not helped us at all as a country. Now that Idiagbon is no longer available and even though Osinbajo is vice president, he is only there at the pleasure of the president. I believe that Osinbajo is more competent that Buhari, but the 1999 constitution weigh very heavily on the side of the President to the utter disadvantage of the vice president. What it means is that what Buhari did not do in his first coming, he has now come to do during his second coming: total dominance.

This nation has never been this divided and never has anyone governed Nigeria with total disregard for the principle of Federal Character like Buhari. He behaves very much like an ethnic purist as if Nigeria is meant for a particular race alone. As former President Obasanjo has said, Buhari is lacking in the requisite knowledge of the internal dynamics of this country. We therefore have as president a different person from the one that was elected. Truth be told then, Buhari was elected in error. As a country, we have to live with the grave error till 2019 and at a great price.

The reinstatement of the ex-executive secretary of the NHIS, Professor Yusuf is clear statement of Buharis blindness to competence, integrity and decency. This is not the first time. Maina was reinstated with the full knowledge and approval of the president. I am almost sure he would have reinstated the ex-DG of Securities and Exchange Commission if not because of the wrong signal it would send to foreign investors. What is clear from the running of the Buhari administration is that there are different strokes for different folks. An ethnic chauvinist like him cannot see anything wrong with someone from his own ethnic group stealing anything. After all, it is their time having been out of power for so long.

We have heard how much Yusuf was boasting that the Minister for Health who is Yoruba is helpless against him as he would soon be reinstated by the president.

This is what we witnessing. If I were the Minister for health, I will tender my letter of resignation immediately. I always think this would not happen because people have compromised themselves. To steal 919 Million Naira from this agency and regard it as nothing is a proof of how corrupt Buhari and his government is and this is part of why we have dropped on the corruption perception index of Transparency International. While you can fool people locally, you cannot fool the world.

What has landed us where we are today is our uncritical admiration of yesterdays men. We shall continue to pay a high price for this until we have the uncommon wisdom to look for a truly Pan-Nigerian leader within some of the marginal parties and vote for such candidate and not his party. This is the only way our democracy can succeed and make a meaningful impact on the lives of our people.

Otherwise, it is better to have a referendum as to whether we should go our separate ways which I believe is the best option for us. I have often wondered if Nigeria will ever live up to its dreams so long as we remain only on the optics a united country though a highly and bitterly divided one.

With killings all over the land and poverty increasing through every length and breadth of this country, if I were Buhari, I will leave the rest of my presidential tenure for Osinbajo to complete. This is what he should do if he were a true patriot. Time is not on the side of Buhari to do what is right. But Nigeria itself is on its last lap.

Source: Guardian



What about having a transparent car drive you in the city of Lagos, Abuja or anywhere in Nigeria?To some its just having your privacy been blown open, well, car manufacturers are thinking differently as they have unveiled one in Germany. A car company in Germany today presented to the World the first transparent car from ZF company, the car is equipped with different security systems. This transparent car was presented on the second press day of the Frankfurt Auto Show IAA which was hosted in Frankfurt, Germany.The Special Adviser to the President on Media and publicity, Femi Adesina, on Sunday gave reasons why President Muhammadu Buhari is dela...

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and publicity, Femi Adesina, on Sunday gave reasons why President Muhammadu Buhari is delaying the declaration of his ambition in the 2019 presidential election.According to him, its an attempt to prevent opponents from sabotaging the country.If the President speaks too early about his ambition, he explained that it may give ammunition to unnamed opponents to throw everything at him and sabotage the country.He said that the President cannot speak on his intention to run or not to run with the election still about one year away as he knows the consequences of doing so.On when the president will declare his intention, the he said: You know the peculiarity of Nigeria particularly now. If the president speaks too early, its a problem. There is a lot of sabotage in the country.You have also heard so many have said dont run. Because they know that if the president runs, others people should just run a way because they dont have the foggiest chance in hell to beat him. So, they want to discourage him from running.Now, if he tells you Im going to run, and elections are still one year away, it gives them one year to sabotage the entire country from all fronts  politically, socially, economically  they would throw everything at him just to dissuade him from running.So, when you know that, why then do you speak early? I think it makes a lot of sense for you then to keep things close to your chest till it is time for you to then say, ok, Im running by which time they can do less damage. he addedGiving hints of his intention to run for the election in 2019, the President had in November last year while speaking with some members of the Nigerian community in Cote dIvoire said that he came to the meeting with two governors so that their people may vote for him in future.While apologizing for turning up late at the occasion, he said: First, I want to apologize for keeping you for too long seating. This is because I insisted on the governors attending this meeting.This is why I came along with them so that when we are going to meet you, when you are going to meet the rest of Nigerians, if you tell them that their governors were in the company of the president, I think that will be another vote for me the future. Im very pleased that they were able to turn up.On his recent visit to Benue state over herdsmen killings, he had also said at a stakeholders meeting that he could only make promises to them when he returns there for campaign if indeed he will be coming for campaign.Adesina also explained the presidents proposed visit to Rivers state, which Governor Nyesom Wike is faulting because of what he described as being based on wrong premise.The Presidency had listed Rivers among the states the president will visit over killings in parts of the country most of which is blamed on herdsmen.When told that Wike does not understand why the President is basing the Rivers visit on crisis, Adesina said that Buhari wants to condole with the families of those affected by various killings in the state.He recalled the Omoku killings and the beheading of other victims whose heads were taken away by their assailants.He said If he (Wike) doesnt understand, the rest of the country understands. We understand, other Nigerians understand. Even people in Rivers state understand because on New Year Day, a minimum of 24 people were killed in Omoku.So, is that not crisis? And can you count the number of people that have been beheaded in Rivers state in recent times?People will be killed and heads will be cut off and the assailants will go away with the heads. So, can anybody say that there is no security issue in that kind of place?Its left to the governor. Hes the chief security officer. If he says theres no security crisis in his state, good luck to him.On what will become of the trip if the governor does not welcome it, he said: Im sure he will be formally informed of the date. So, if he now says he doesnt want the visit, its left to him and the federal government to decide the next step.But the president is visiting so that he can condole with people who lost their loved ones, 24 people minimum, were killed in Omoku.So, those people are the reason. Those people and the many beheaded; relations of those beheaded and their heads taken away, are the reason why the president is visiting the state. he saidPresident Muhammadu Buhari has threatened to sack chief executives of federal parastatals and agencies that fail to appear before the Na...

President Muhammadu Buhari has threatened to sack chief executives of federal parastatals and agencies that fail to appear before the National Assembly to defend their budgets.It was learnt that Buhari made his position known during a meeting he had with the leadership of the National Assembly at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Thursday evening.A source who was at the meeting told newsmen on condition of anonymity that Buhari took the decision after the federal lawmakers succeeded in convincing him that they should not be blamed for the delay in passing the appropriation bill so far.The source said the lawmakers told the President that out of about 60 government parastatals and agencies, only about 10 chief executives had appeared before them to defend their budgets.The federal lawmakers were also said to have reported some ministers who they claimed had not been cooperating with them to the President.The source mentioned the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola; and the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, as some of the ministers whose cases came up at the meeting.The source, however, did not disclose the response of the President on the ministers cases.The source said, You know that the budget delay, by popular sentiment, is being blamed on the National Assembly. They defended themselves very well before the President that ministers and chief executive officers have not been coming to the National Assembly to defend their budgets.They cited some ministers like the Minister of Power, Works and Housing that he has not gone to defend his budget up until now. I am sure you have also been following the exchanges between them and the Minister of Solid Minerals.The President was extremely unhappy with what he heard. His directive to the SGF was that they should start fishing out chief executives who fail to defend their budget, because he was told that out of about 60 of them, only about 10 have appeared. He has asked that ministers should supervise them. It is a serious issue.He made it clear that by the time people are being sacked, there will be sanity.When asked if a new deadline was set at the meeting for the passage of the appropriation bill, the source said the National Assembly would wait for the MDAs to comply with the Presidents directive, after which the bill would enjoy speedy processing.At the end of the meeting on Thursday night, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha, had told State House correspondents that Buhari had directed all ministers and parastatals to appear before the National Assembly to defend their budgets.Mustapha said, The President gave them (the lawmakers) update on security, economy, job creation, processes in the National Assembly especially with regards to the budget and the need to conclude on it.Mr. President has given an instruction that all ministers and parastatals should ensure that they appear before the National Assembly to defend their submissions so that we can get this out of the way.You know this is a very dynamic year and there are preparations for elections and we are having quite a lot of security challenges and so if we dont appropriate, where will the money come from?Meanwhile, another source in the Senate who had details of the meeting also told one of our correspondents that Buhari invited the NASS leadership to know what had been responsible for the delayed passage of the appropriation bill.Buhari was said to have been shocked when he was presented with facts on the low turnout of heads of the MDAs at the budget defence sessions held by Senate and House of Representatives Committees.The source said, Leaders of the National Assembly discussed the budget with the President. The President did not have full information that officials in the executive have been responsible for the delay. He thought the National Assembly was frustrating the passage but they told him they were not.The National Assembly leadership showed him the list of MDAs that have yet to come forward for budget defence or provide details of their budgets to the relevant committees. He was informed that about 70 per cent of the MDAs had not been cooperating with the legislature. The President was surprised.This is why the President ordered the SGF to issue a memo to all the MDAs, asking them to comply with National Assemblys demands within one week. He wants everything to be sorted out within the time frame.The legislature and the executive have been passing the buck on which arm of government is responsible for the delayed passage of the budget, which President Muhammadu Buhari laid before a joint session of the Assembly on November 7, 2017.On Monday, the Senate had said it was still uncertain when the 2018 Appropriation Bill would be passed by the National Assembly.The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Aliyu Sabi-Abdullahi, had said, The budget process is on and I cannot tell you this is the specific day it is going to end. All I can tell you specifically is that we are working very hard on it and we want to assure Nigerians that at the end of the day we will have a budget that will serve the purpose of Nigerians.The Senate had on February 14, 2018, asked 63 agencies and parastatals under the Federal Government to submit details of their proposed 2018 budgets within one week or risk sanctions.The upper chamber of the National Assembly had said that while Buhari had complied with the law by laying the 2018 Appropriation Bill along with details of estimates before the lawmakers, agencies of the government had disregarded the law.On February 28, the Senate had told Nigerians to blame members of Buharis cabinet and the ministries, departments and agencies for the delay in the passage of the appropriation bill.The lawmakers alleged that ministers and heads of Federal Government departments and agencies were allegedly frustrating legislative work on the budget proposal with their foreign trips and non-cooperation with the lawmakers.But the Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation, Mr. Ben Akabueze, had denied the allegation, saying the National Assembly already had enough details to work with and pass the appropriation bill.Speaking with State House correspondents after the meeting, the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, also disclosed that the meeting was on the budget, security and other national issues.He said the National Assembly leadership also gave the President their opinions during the interaction.Saraki said the legislature was working on the budget, noting that some agencies had yet to defend their budget. We are hoping that with this, they will come and defend their budget, he said.A passenger was airlifted following a two-vehicle crash in Cape May County on Saturday night.

A Corvette and a Ford F150 pickup collided at the intersection of Route 47/Delsea Drive and Tyler Road in Dennis Township around 7:30 p.m., New Jersey State Police Lt. Ted Schafer reported.

The driver of the Corvette was taken by ground to an area hospital, while the passenger was airlifted for treatment. Details on their conditions have not been released.

The driver of the pickup was taken to the Woodbine Station for an interview, Schafer said.

The pickup driver and a passenger may have received minor injuries, Schafer added.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattGraySJT. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us: nj.com/tips.Imagine you're a Princeton University student who's been accused of cheating on a test.

Maybe you blatantly used your cell phone to lookup answers. Maybe someone accused you of copying them. Or maybe you had an anxiety attack and ran from the room with your exam in hand, technically in violation of the university's revered Honor Code.

How should you be punished?

After years of Princeton doling out one-year suspensions for first-time violations of its Honor Code, students passed a referendum this fall to reduce the standard penalty for cheating on exams to disciplinary probation -- or so they thought.

With the vote, they ignited a messy and historic fight that has divided the student body, provoked alumni and prompted the administration to intervene.

"Academic integrity is one of the hallmarks of a Princeton education," university officials told students in January, when Princeton put the suggested revisions on hold until the faculty makes a recommendation to accept or reject them. "We must follow longstanding procedure that gives faculty input and oversight regarding these vital decisions."

The dispute stems from what probably seemed like a simple pact in 1893, when Princeton professors agreed not to proctor exams in exchange for students pledging not to cheat and to report anyone who even looked like they were trying to gain an unfair advantage.

The Honor Code, similar to those at other major universities, has survived several controversies and revisions since then, including a 1975 decision to reduce the punishment for first-time offenders from expulsion to a one-year suspension.

Today, accused cheaters are reported to the Honor Committee, students who investigate the cases and hand out punishments. First offenders can be punished with a one-year suspension or longer, unless there are extenuating circumstances, and second offenders can be expelled.

With the recommended punishment of disciplinary probation, students would be able to continue taking classes unless they are caught violating the Honor Code again.

The university couldn't provide data on how many cases the committee hears a year, spokesman Daniel Day said.

"But I do know that the number of suspensions in a typical year is very small, a single-digit figure," he explained.

In recent years, however, some students complained the code was enforced too strictly and students whose cases fell into a gray area were suspended, regardless of the circumstances.

Justin Ziegler, a 2016 Princeton alumnus who served on the Honor Committee, said the group began to lose sight of nuance -- did a student actually have intent to cheat? Were their actions influenced by a mental health crisis?

In one case, a student who ran out of the exam room during an anxiety attack was suspended because she took her test with her as she vomited in the bathroom, he said.

The Honor Committee was heavily influenced by administrators who warned decisions must be consistent, a safeguard against potential litigation, he said.

Ramifications for students accused of cheating can be life changing, he added.

"We are not talking about slaps on the wrist," Ziegler said. "You have a scarlet letter on your transcript in perpetuity... this is something that follows you."

The committee is supposed to consider whether a reasonable student would have known he was breaking the rules, said Micah Herskind, a junior and former member of the Honor Committee.

But the members consist of class presidents and students who apply for a position on the board, and Herskind thinks those students often took a harsher stance based on their own perspective as "ideal students," he said.

"It very quickly becomes the ideal student standard rather than the reasonable student standard," he said.

If students are going to get punished for misunderstandings, Herskind thinks the penalty should be softer, like probation with a warning that the next violation will bring a suspension or expulsion. The probation would carry consequences, too, because graduate schools and fellowships require students to report if they have ever been disciplined, he said.

Change doesn't come easy at an Ivy League university steeped in tradition, though. And especially not when that change is considered a slap in the face to the very standards that built Princeton's reputation.

As Herskind promoted a student referendum to revise the Honor Code this fall, other former Honor Committee members wrote letters to the student newspaper urging students to vote it down.

"We've seen firsthand the respect for honor, integrity and commitment that Princeton alumni are routinely accorded because of our high standards and ideals," wrote a group of nine former Honor Committee chairs. "Any change diluting the meaningfulness of the Honor Code could slowly erode the reputation that we will rely on for the rest of our careers and lives."

Students voted overwhelmingly to pass the referendum, along with other revisions to the Honor Code, including allowing a student's professor to effectively close the case by testifying that the student did not cheat. But the administration quickly stepped in, saying any major changes to the Honor Code need faculty approval.

"Our concern," said Jill Dolan, a university dean, "is that the proposed changes would fundamentally alter the expectations the faculty had in authorizing the establishment of the Honor System."

One of the administration's biggest worries is that lowering the punishment for cheating on exams would upset the balance of the discipline system. Plagiarism, an allegation reported to a separate disciplinary committee, would still carry a harsher penalty, such as suspension or expulsion.

The administration set up a committee to review the changes, with a recommendation expected this spring. Though the changes appear unlikely to win approval from the faculty, Ziegler cautioned against dismissing the students motivation for change.

"It's easy to make this a story of students who feel entitled, who don't want to get kicked out of school for cheating," Ziegler said. "It's also easy to make this a story of a university that's old fashioned and out of date. But it really is something in the middle, and it's something that affected people's lives very intimately."

Adam Clark may be reached at adam_clark@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on twitter at @realAdamClark. Find NJ.com on Facebook.Newark police and members of the Essex County Prosecutor's Office investigate a fatal shooting at the intersection of East Peddie Street and Frelinghuysen Avenue on Monday, March 12, 2018, in Newark. (Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

By Thomas Moriarty and Alex Napoliello

The first shots rang out Monday afternoon. In less than 19 hours, three people in Newark were dead.

The first victim was fatally shot just after lunchtime in the Lower Clinton Hill neighborhood. The next fell to an assault weapon on Martin Luther King Boulevard shortly before sunset. The third died Tuesday morning in the city's West Ward.

Few details are available so early in the investigation, but investigators face one stark reality: All the victims had criminal records.

One victim had 21 felony convictions.

Killings among young men with criminal histories is a common theme in a city where officials say too many young black and Latino men go from prison to the morgue in a vicious cycle of violence.

What I saw when I was mayor is how easy it is for criminals to get their hands on guns, said U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J. People who would not pass a background check, how easy it was for them to still get a gun.

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13 homicides so far

As of March 11, homicides in Newark were up 25 percent compared to the same period last year, according to Newark Police Division Comstat data. The three killings bring the citys total to 13 for the year to date.

The city's public safety director, Anthony Ambrose, said two of the homicides in 2018 stem from domestic incidents and overall shootings are down 50 percent.

Im not overly concerned, he said.

But what does concern him is the violence involving residents at facilities designed to help inmates transition from prison back into a normal life.

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The intersection of East Peddie Street and Frelinghuysen Avenue on Monday, March 12, 2018, in Newark. (Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

The first victim

Joshua Roche, 32, had been living at Tully House, a transitional facility for inmates who are nearing the end of their prison bids, when he was gunned down around 1:20 p.m. at the corner of East Peddie Street and Frelinghuysen Avenue.

Its an industrial, isolated area in the Lower Clinton neighbor homicide detectives have investigated before.

Since 2014, four Tully House residents have been killed at East Peddie Street and Frelinghuysen Avenue. A fifth resident was gunned down in 2016 a block away at the intersection of Sherman Avenue and East Peddie Street.

The Tully House, one of several halfway houses in the city, is privately operated but has a contract with the state Department of Corrections.

You dont have to be a brain surgeon to say they are either being retaliated from prior to incarceration or they are still engaged in criminal activity, Ambrose said of the Tully House victims.

Theyre paying for their past sins some of them, Ambrose continued. It plagues our city these homicides. Theyre actually assassinations. There are five now. Its disturbing to me. Who is in charge of these halfway houses and what type of leadership and management of these individuals is being done?

Roche, who had five felony convictions in New Jersey and one in Pennsylvania, was nearing the end of his prison sentence for selling drugs and possessing weapons. He was moved to Tully House on March 16, 2016. Prior to that, he was at the Albert M. Bo Robinson halfway house in Trenton, which does not allow inmates to leave.

Tully House inmates can leave the facility to work.

When you get these assassinations, all the police and tactics in the world arent going to help, Ambrose said.

The Department of Corrections declined to comment on the incident.

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The man was gunned down by a shooter in a dark gray 2016 Honda Pilot (pictured above) by a man armed with a handgun, the Essex County Prosecutor's Office said in a statement.

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East Peddie Street and Frelinghuysen Avenue is an isolated, industrial area in Newark.

via GIPHY

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The area of Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard in Newark near where Shahad Smith was fatally shot on Monday, March 12, 2018. (Thomas Moriarty | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

The second victim

Shahad Smith was pronounced dead at 6:06 p.m., less than 30 minutes after he was shot in the 700 block of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, authorities said.

This killing hit close to home for Booker.

"His life mattered. His death must matter," Booker said on Twitter Tuesday of Smith.

Booker met the 28-year-old when they both lived in the now-demolished Brick Towers in Newark. Booker lived in the low-income housing development from 1998 to 2006. Smith would hang out in the building's lobby with other young men, Booker told a Senate committee Wednesday.

Court records show Smith had served a term of probation for a drug offense several years ago, but had no other criminal convictions.

"Just about all of them are dead right now due to gun violence," the senator said.

Booker started his day Friday at Smiths funeral.

The singular, clear understanding is Shahad was killed with an assault rifle, Booker said.

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In communities like mine, gun violence continues.



Children killed.

Women murdered.

Young men slaughtered.

Families torn apart.

Carnage unabated.



Between mass shootings, the gunfire does not stop.



Between horrific national headlines, beneath even local news focus, we die.  Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) March 13, 2018

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The scene at 115 Brookdale Ave., Newark, where Willie Jackson, 34, was fatally shot on Tuesday. Friday March 16, 2018. Newark, NJ, USA. (Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

The third victim

Police got the last call around 9 a.m. Tuesday morning. Officers responding to a report of shots fired in the 100 block of Brookdale Avenue found Willie Jackson, 34, unresponsive and suffering from apparent gunshot wounds.

Jackson was pronounced dead at the scene 10 minutes later. Records show he previously had been arrested on charges that included aggravated assault and carjacking in eight different Essex County towns, from the streets of Newark to the wealthy enclaves of Livingston.

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'A scary amount of guns'

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said the proliferation of gun violence in Newark is propelled by lax gun laws in other states.

"Our police officers took over 500 guns off the streets last year," Baraka said. "The level of violence is still there, which means there's a scary amount of guns on our streets and a large portion of those guns are automatic weapons that are illegal in the state of New Jersey."



To reduce violent crime in cities like Newark, Booker said, the country needs to get guns out of the hands of people who wouldn't pass a background check, like convicted felons.



"I know I'm the only United States senator to have two shootings on their block within a year period," Booker said. "I know that I live with this daily fear, like millions of Americans live with this fear. But I do believe we should have a sense of moral urgency to save American lives. That's what governments are organized for.

"If people who are serving us are not doing more to defend us, they should be kicked out of office.

The prosecutor's office has asked anyone with information about the shootings to call the Homicide/Major Crimes Task Force tips line at 1-877-TIPS-4EC or 1-877-847-7432.

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Karen Yi contributed to this report.

Thomas Moriarty may be reached at tmoriarty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ThomasDMoriarty.

Alex Napoliello may be reached at anapoliello@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexnapoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips

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Related stories:JERSEY CITY -- Two days after thousands of teachers walked off the job, it remains unclear if they will return to work Monday morning.

The Jersey City Education Association, the union that represents about 4,000 school employees, and district officials have not been able to successfully negotiate a new contract. Teachers have worked under an expired pact since Sept. 1.

Both sides have been negotiating since 8:30 a.m. but as of Sunday evening had not publicly announced a deal.

The strike was announced late Thursday night while the school board was trying finalize a counteroffer. The work stoppage got off to a chaotic start Friday morning, with teachers protesting citywide and schools staffed by far fewer substitute teachers than needed. By mid-morning the district office on Claremont Avenue was surrounded by hundreds of protesting teachers.

"We are hopeful as always we can resolve this ongoing crisis and get our teachers back to work tomorrow," school board president Sudhan Thomas said in a statement on Sunday afternoon. "The board is prepared to sit through the night to get our teachers back into our schools tomorrow with our 30,000 children which is where they belong and not on the streets."

Teachers say they need relief from Chapter 78, a 2011 law in New Jersey that changed how public employees pay for their health benefits. They say their take-home pay has significantly decreased over the years because of health care costs.

A Superior Court judge on Friday afternoon ordered teachers to return to work on Monday morning, but the union's lawyer was not optimistic the educators would comply. New Jersey prohibits public employees from striking.

The district has filed for a third-party mediator.

The union has not returned requests for comment on whether teachers will return to work. It has signaled on Facebook it would continue to strike "for as long as it needs to." The district also did not return a request for comment.

Jersey Journal staff writer Terrence T. McDonald contributed to this report.

Caitlin Mota may be reached at cmota@jjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @caitlin_mota. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.JERSEY CITY -- A Jersey City man who led police on a high-speed chase that ended in a fiery crash and severe injuries for an innocent bystander was sentenced Friday to five years in prison.

Leo Pinkston, 49, sentenced for eluding police and aggravated assault in connection to the June 4, 2017 pursuit that ended on Tonnelle Avenue when his vehicle crashed into another vehicle driven by the innocent Miguel Feliz-Rodriguez.

As Pinkston raced down Tonnelle Avenue police officers allegedly shot at his vehicle at Carlton and Manhattan avenues before it slammed into Feliz-Rodriguez's car; both then plowed into a utility pole and downed wires ignited the vehicles.

Video from the scene shows Feliz-Rodriguez, 28 at the time, crawling out of his car with his clothing burning. The police officers are then seen kicking and stomping on Feliz-Rodriguez, rather than rendering aid. Four of the officers involved in the six-mile pursuit have been indicted on charges ranging from attempted murder to misconduct.

Feliz-Rodriguez, of West New York, suffered significant injuries in the incident and underwent treatment at The Burn Center at St. Barnabas Hospital in Livingston.

Pinkston, meanwhile, was shot in the leg during the chase and in court today his lawyer said the crash would not have occurred if police had not shot at and struck his client, causing the "bullet-riddled" vehicle to go out of control.

"I am well aware that there are entities that may be partly responsible for what happened to Mr. Rodriguez," said Hudson County Superior Court Judge Mark Nelson. But the judge said it wouldn't have happened at all if Pinkston had stopped when police first tried to pull him over some six miles away from where the chase ended.

Referring to the police officers who face charges and Pinkston's five-year sentence, Nelson said: "I assume the prosecutor recognized that people who came in to testify against him, probably would come in to testify, but would take the Fifth (Amendment) in this case."

Officers said they originally tried to pull Pinkston over near the Bayonne border because his car fit the description of one involved in recent shooting.

For his part, Pinkston said: "Unfortunately, this is a situation that happened, I sincerely apologize for my action and what happened to an innocent person. I would like my condolences to go out to his family."

Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Najma Rana read a victim impact statement from Feliz saying he has scars from burns on his hands, face, back, stomach and legs which will require further surgery.

"I will never be physically or mentally the same again," Rodriguez said in the letter, adding that he has nightmares, flashbacks and continuing pain. "I don't like looking at myself in the mirror."JERSEY CITY -- A power outage across the city sent thousands of customers into the dark early Sunday morning.

Officials with PSE&G said an issue at one of the city's substations resulted in roughly 19,000 customers losing power at around midnight.

Most of the outages were reported on the southern end of the city and on West Side. It took about two hours for service to be restored, officials said.

But during the few hours without power, residents took to Twitter searching for answers and comic relief:

Yay, power is out. Jersey City is covered in complete darkness   Connie (@rampantasian) March 18, 2018

Complete power outage on our block in #jerseycity. Anyone have info?? #poweroutage #blackout  Maria Seidel (@MariaSeidel) March 18, 2018

Caitlin Mota may be reached at cmota@jjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @caitlin_mota. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.When Micah Jordan, 18, was a freshman at Plainfield High School, she received a letter in the mail saying she was being transferred to Barack Obama Academy of Academic and Civic Development, an alternative school in Plainfield.

Miss New York U.S.A. Lena Coco Hunter and senior Micah Jordan talk during the luncheon for #ThePromDressProject

Shortly afterward, she learned she was not on track to graduate high school.

It wasn't a surprise for Jordan, but more of a wakeup call, she said. Her GPA had dropped down to the lowest on the scale, and Jordan said she was hanging around the wrong crowd and doing the wrong things.

Now, she's made a change. She's held multiple jobs and raised her GPA. In May, she'll graduate from high school and even plans to attend Union County College in the fall to study nursing.

"Honestly, I'm just glad I was able to turn everything around and graduate on time," Jordan said. "Now, for prom, it's like I'm going to be a princess for a day."

On Saturday, Jordan and six other girls from Barack Obama Academy of Academic and Civic Development, Barack Obama Green Charter School and Plainfield High School received prom dresses after their essays were selected as the winners of the Prom Dress Project, a campaign started by Plainfield natives ShonTe Smith and Ashlee Jackson.

In addition to the dresses, the girls will have their make-up done by the Robert Fiance Cosmetology School on the day of their proms.

Two girls will also have their hair done by Robyn Michele, who is stylist for TV host Wendy Williams.

"I heard about the opportunity and I thought it was too good to be true," said Samia Alkahalili, 18, a senior at Barack Obama Green Charter school who plans to attend Rutgers University in the fall to study environmental science. "I have a job and I'm saving for college and that's my priority, so I wouldn't be able to afford something like this."

(left to right) Ashlee Jackson and ShonTe Smith, founders of The Prom Dress Project, speak during their luncheon. (Taylor Tiamoyo Harris for NJ Advance Media)

The founders of The Prom Dress Project started working in December last year to make sure girls like Alkahalili and Jordan have the opportunity to attend prom.

Smith says the idea popped into her head after competing in the Miss New Jersey U.S.A. pageant last year. She didn't win, but received the pageant's Humanitarian Award for her work with the When I Grow Up Project, which provides mentorship for children, and was inspired to keep helping her community.

"I wanted to make the girls feel beautiful. Not only for one day, but I want them to know you're a queen no matter where you're from," Smith said.

A Yahoo style survey found the cost of prom could exceed more than $700 for the average teen.

Knowing this, Smith said she asked contestants from the Miss New Jersey United States and Miss New York United States organizations to pitch in. Smith and Jackson also asked family and friends to donate.

They didn't expect to receive 60 dresses, but now the ladies said they'll be looking to donate the garments to similar organizations looking for prom dresses.

"I grew up in a very unfortunate situation and I wasn't able to go to prom myself," said Miss New York United States Lena Coco Hunter, who also donated a dress to the campaign. "Buying the dress, getting the ticket, shoes, everything it's so much money, but it's still a big experience of high school. Helping them have that night where they feel glamorous is such a great thing to donate to."

After receiving the dresses, Smith and Jackson started an online campaign with various hashtags and went to speak at different school in Plainfield about the giveaway. They required girls to write about what they wanted to do with their lives and what having a dress that was donated to them for prom would mean to them.

On Thursday, the duo went to the two high schools so the girls could pick out their dresses.

"It didn't hit me until I saw how excited some of the girls were," said Jackson, who owns an online clothing boutique, BeXtra. "I still remember my prom. I grew up in some of the same conditions as them and was raised by my grandparents, so something like this would have been huge for me, too, so I'm glad we could help them."

Hunter also attended the luncheon held for the ladies on Saturday at the Black United Fund in Plainfield, along with red carpet journalist Tanisha Grant and Marion Johnson, a former associate engineer who helped land the first man on the Moon in 1969.

One dress recipient, Rifiya Smith, 17, a senior at Barack Obama Academy of Academic and Civic and Development, said she decided to not only enter the essay contest, but also to help with The Prom Dress Project herself in hopes of gaining a mentor and learning more about the fashion industry.

"I followed ShonTe on Instagram and seeing everything she's done and the places she travels was inspirational," said Smith. "Hopefully, I'll be able to compete in a pageant one day, too."

Taylor Tiamoyo Harris may be reached at tharris@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @ladytiamoyo.The T-shirts stand like tombstones in the Montclair churchyard.

In the past weeks, snow collected on top of them, just as it did on the marble and limestone grave markers in local cemeteries, and the winds of those storms made the cotton shirts flap and shudder.

Charlie Hoggard, the sexton of the Episcopal Church of St. James, would wipe the snow off, straighten the sleeves and make sure the PVC pipe supporting each shirt remained firmly in the ground. The message of those shirts had to withstand the force of nature.

The shirts are divided in two groups, split by the walkway to the church entrance.

On one side are 17 large shirts, each with the name of a student or teacher shot and killed last month at the Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Carmen Schentrup, 16, a National Merit Scholarship finalist ...

Nicholas Dworet, 17, headed to the University of Indianapolis on a swimming scholarship ...

Alaina Petty, 14, a member of a Mormon group called "Helping Hands" that went to aid in the cleanup after Hurricane Irma ...

Peter Wang, 15, a member of the school's ROTC program, shot holding the door so others could escape ...

And all the others, special in their own way, irreplaceable in their families.

On the other side the church walkway, the shirts are smaller. They represent the 20 children shot and killed in December 2012 at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Twenty names ... Charlotte Bacon and Daniel Barden and Olivia Engel ... all the way through the alphabet to Avielle Richman and Benjamin Wheeler and Allison Wyatt.

None were older than 7. Most were 6.

They would all be 11 or 12 now, at the town's Reed Intermediate School or the Newtown Middle School. In five or six years, the survivors of that shooting will graduate; the media eye will be on them that day, remembering for a news cycle what those children will live with forever.

The names on the T-shirts at St. James ask this question, "What kind of civilized society chooses to not protect its children?"

And this: "How do we balance the Second Amendment with the fundamental, universal right to live?"

This question was posed Wednesday in national student walkouts and will be again next Saturday at March for Our Lives events all around the country.

One will be held at St. James, 581 Valley Road in Upper Montclair, at 5 p.m., which will invite people to stand among the shirt ceremony to hear the words of those impacted by gun violence and pray for the enlightenment that will reduce further such episodes in this country.

MORE: Recent Mark Di Ionno columns

"We wanted to do something here, in our community," said the Rev. Audrey Hasselbrook, the assistant pastor at the church.

The church put a red notebook on a stand in front of the T-shirt memorial; notes left there will be sent to Parkland through an Episcopal church in Florida. The pages are almost full, and more will be added.

"It has been very well received by the community," Hasselbrook said. "People stop and reflect; some sign the book. I think it gives people pause."

The first visitors were the kids from Buzz Aldrin Elementary School around the corner. The childlike scribbles of "Be Safe" and "We love you" are accompanied by drawn hearts and smiley faces - a reminder that we live in a country where first- and second-graders know schools like theirs are susceptible to the gunfire of a lunatic.

Those of us who remember the heightened days of the Cold War now laugh about "bomb drills," which sent us to the school basement to hide under cafeteria tables, as if that would protect us from nuclear obliteration. For us, there was anxiety, but the concept was abstract. There was no evidence of it ever happening.

The children we are raising today have the anxiety and the evidence.

In Montclair, the kids are too young to remember when a mass shooting erupted in their town, but their parents do.

It was 23 years ago at this time of year, when a former postal employee opened fire at Montclair's Watchung Plaza post office and killed co-workers Ernie Spruill and Scott Walensky and customers George Lamoga and Robert Leslie. A third customer, David Grossman, was shot but survived.

In 1995, the year of the Montclair attack, the term "going postal" was wryly used in a string of workplace shootings across the country.

After 12 students and a teacher were murdered at Columbine High School four years later, and the modern era of multiple shootings began, nobody was making jokes anymore.

So, here we are, Virginia Tech, Newtown and Parkland later, and the truth is, this movement is gaining momentum because all those kids who walked out of school last Wednesday will soon be voters.

"They're the ones that can change things," said Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo as he watched a demonstration by the full student body of St. Vincent Academy on the courthouse steps Wednesday. "The adults have failed them."

Princess Sabaroche, a senior at North Star Academy in Newark, is a student organizer of the March for Our Lives event that will be held Saturday at 10 a.m. at Military Park in Newark.

"We feel this violence is spreading, in the suburbs and the cities, and we young people have to stand up to it and have our voices heard," she said.

The Military Park event is being organized by 19 student leaders from suburban and city schools, that come from a spectrum of North and Central Jersey towns, geographically and economically. Newark, Princeton, Toms River, Ridgewood, the Oranges, Howell and Marlboro, to name a few.

"One March, one day, won't necessarily solve this issue, because it is so complex," said Sarah Emily Baum, a senior at Marlboro High School and a student organizer. "But if kids see other kids taking action, and other people see all these kids taking action, things can get done.

"We want the next generation of voters to be the most active, educated and engaged voters in the country," she said.

What we adults should want is for them to be the safest.

Mark Di Ionno may be reached at mdiionno@starledger.com. Follow The Star-Ledger on Twitter @StarLedger and find us on Facebook.It is always interesting to see the hypocrisy of left-leaning writers. This was very evident in Milton Hinton Jr.'s March 11 column, "U.S. Rep.'s pricey-party crashers deserved better."

Hinton wrote about a recent re-election fundraiser for U.S. Rep. Tom McArthur, R-3rd Dist., which required up to $15,000 per person to attend. The writer correlates this to only the wealthy and connected having the "ear" of McArthur and other politicians -- and that neither political party should engage in this kind of expensive event for access.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't recall Hinton writing anything about the numerous Hollywood elites, including Eva Longoria, Katy Perry and Barbra Streisand, who hosted fundraisers during President Barack Obama's campaigns. Attending many of these events cost considerably more than $15,000. More recently, the same kind of fundraisers were held for Hillary Clinton. Hinton was mum on that, too.

Later in the column, Hinton wrote about four immigration activists who showed up to the MacArthur event uninvited. They supposedly were not aggressive, but were escorted out by police. Hinton added that, having once lived under Southern hospitality, the activists should have been welcomed to stay and have dinner.

Well, there is a time and place for everything, and it certainly was not at this private-home fundraiser. I don't think Hinton would have been so hospitable to, say, four people who crashed a wedding reception he was holding for his daughter.

When MacArthur and other elected officials held recent town meetings that were open to their political opponents, the officeholders were met by angry mobs who shouted them down and did not allow discourse. Can you blame our elected leaders for not wanting to hold town meetings?

Joseph Naples, Mullica Hill

Russia oil deal collapse likely doomed Tillerson

A couple of interesting headlines, both from Reuters, may illuminate recent events at the White House:

First, from April 18, 2012; "Exxon, Rosneft unveil $500 billion offshore venture." We all know ExxonMobil as an international oil company, whose CEO at the time was Rex Tillerson. Rosneft is a state-run Russian oil company with close ties to Vladmir Putin's government.

Then, there was this headline from Feb. 28 of this year: "Exxon quits some Russian joint ventures citing sanctions." Curiously, Tillerson, whom President Donald Trump had mysteriously hired from Exxon as his secretary of state, was fired less than two weeks after this headline appeared.

Interestingly, none of the mainstream media are connecting what I think are some obvious dots. My guess is that, without substantial sanctions relief, Tillerson's role at the State Department was no longer valuable to Putin, so Trump canned Tillerson via Twitter.

Conspiracy theory? Not necessarily, in a world with our "businessman" president. Collusion? Let's see what Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller finds.

Roy Lehman, Woolwich Township

Choppers need quick-exit strategy

We were horrified a few days ago to see a tourist helicopter crash into the East River in New York City. The only survivor was the pilot, who was able to release himself from his harness. Everyone else was unable to get out of their harnesses, into which they were tightly strapped, and drowned.

During my military service, I volunteered for paratrooper training. Each of us on the aircraft had an easy-to-use, quick-release mechanism so that, when we landed, we were able to get out of our harnesses in a matter of seconds. This was necessary to avoid be dragged along the ground, or to prevent us from drowning in case of a water landing.

It's astonishing to me that there wasn't a quick-release mechanism that could have saved the passengers from a terrible death or, if there was one, its use by all passengers was not mandatory. I'm willing to bet that such mechanisms will be required as a result of this avoidable tragedy.

Paul Bunkin, Turnersville

Send a letter to the editor of South Jersey Times at sjletters@njadvancemedia.com

Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.By Robert Menendez

Last month, a weapon of war was once again used to commit mass murder in an American school. Once again, our hearts are heavy with a grief that's become far too routine. But rather than fading from the news, our social media feeds and office chatter, this tragedy is different.

That's because Stoneman Douglas High School students pledged to turn "once again" into "never again." These young men and women were thrust into tragedy and turned their mourning into a powerful movement.

Last week, hundreds of thousands of students across the country, including here in New Jersey, held a national walkout to demand action on gun violence and to make clear that adults -- all of us -- have failed them.

They're right. Adults can no longer ignore the pleas of our young people. In the aftermath of this horrific event Americans expected Congress to implement policies that reflect the will of the people. But in an era of partisanship and dysfunction, corporate America and leaders across all sectors of our economy must also take action while using their clout in Washington to demand real change.

Some companies are already moving the needle. United Airlines parted ways with the NRA. Dick's Sporting Goods took assault rifles off their shelves, and both Dick's and Walmart are limiting gun sales to those over 21.

For those who manage tremendous assets in our financial services industry -- and even own large stakes in gun manufacturing companies -- maybe, it's time your money goes elsewhere. Pension funds could divest in gun manufacturers. Banks could choose not to provide loans to the firearm industry.

And while many doctors and nurses who treat victims of gun violence have made their voices heard, it's time those at the helm of our health care sector step forward to tackle the problems raised by gun violence in this country.

No matter what industry sector you lead, you wield enormous influence. You are innovators. You are investors. You are CEOs, Chairmen and businesspeople. When you speak, people listen. When you act, others follow.

Despite millions of gun owners' support for the Second Amendment, poll after poll tell us they also back universal background checks and commonsense gun laws. We know that weapons, like the AR-15 and the high-capacity magazines that attach to them, are designed for one thing: high-capacity killing. These weapons are modeled after the assault rifles our soldiers use on the battlefield. They are what link Parkland to Newtown, and Las Vegas to San Bernardino, and Aurora to Orlando. But it doesn't have to be this way.

I was proud to vote for the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban when I served in the House of Representatives, and would gladly vote today to reinstate it.

I've long supported limits on high-capacity magazines, and back in October, I introduced the Keep Americans Safe Act following the slaughter of 59 souls on the Las Vegas Strip. It's narrowly focused, doesn't infringe on anyone's right to bear arms, and is exactly the kind of commonsense step we must take to keep people safe.

But we won't get anywhere if we keep letting the NRA set the agenda.

With all the NRA's talk about bad guys with guns, why do they continue to fiercely oppose universal background checks that close the so-called "gun show" loophole? Why do they oppose commonsense legislation I've also supported that blocks anyone on the Terror Watch List from purchasing a firearm?

Some in Congress are holding gun safety measures hostage until an NRA-backed "concealed carry reciprocity" bill is passed that allows states with the most lax gun laws to override states that put the safety of residents above the NRA's demands.

New Jersey has some of the toughest gun laws in America, and the sixth lowest rate of gun deaths. That's no coincidence, and we'd like to keep it that way.

Ultimately, the NRA has maybe five million members. We are a nation of 320 million-plus, and it's time we call out those who stand on the wrong side of history and spout the same old NRA talking points.

Inaction is not an option, which is why we need corporate America with us, helping the students of Parkland -- and every school across this country -- to turn "once again" into "never again."

Their call to action has pricked the conscience of this country. And what's most refreshing is that they're not yet jaded by the ways of Washington. They've grown up practicing active shooter drills, and hearing that mass shootings are just a fact of life.

But they know they deserve better, and it's up to us adults to deliver.

Because never again do we want children to watch their best friends and beloved teachers die at the hands of a killer armed with weapons of war. And never again do we want to learn of another mass shooting in a school or church or theater or anywhere else.

We must act and we must do it now -- and I'm pleading with our business leaders to use the power of your voice to say with me: never again!

Robert Menendez is a Democrat representing New Jersey in the U.S. Senate.

Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.Gov. Phil Murphy wants to increase school aid that was frozen for years under Chris Christie, by a median of 5 percent per district - the biggest bump in almost a decade. That's good news.



But the new governor has also retreated on a big issue: an initiative Senate President Steve Sweeney launched last year, to make school funding more fair.



To see how absurd Murphy's plan is, look at Asbury Park. This district already gets about $35,000 per student, way higher than the state average of around $20,000.

Murphy just pledged $9.6B to N.J. schools. See how much your district could get



It has lost a few hundred students since Christie first took office, and had a huge development boom, upping local tax revenue. Yet its state funding is still being handed out the same way, as if none of this had happened.



And next year, Murphy wants to give this district yet another aid increase. He says he plans to bring the state's underfunded districts up, too, over the next four years.



But he isn't doing anything to take money away from districts that are overfunded in the meantime. And there are victims to this: His punt means a lot of districts in our state are criminally underfunded.



Like Kingsway, which saw its enrollment explode by 1200 students since 2009, but is still getting state aid as if it never gained any.

And next year, it will get less of an aid increase from Murphy than Washington Township, also in Gloucester county, which lost an equal number of students over the same time period. How is that fair?



And how is it justifiable that Asbury Park will be getting more of an aid increase than Freehold Borough and Red Bank combined - two of the most underfunded districts in that county?



It isn't. After eight years of nearly frozen funding under Christie, every district has its problems. But given that we're still years away from any realistic shot at full funding, the money the state does give out needs to be distributed in a more equitable way.



Sweeney took the first courageous step to do so last year, passing a plan that considered factors like bursts in enrollment, or bumps in the number of poor students or English language learners in some districts, who cost more to educate.



Why not continue on that path? Why should these obvious inequalities not be fixed?



Murphy acknowledges that our school funding formula "needs to be modernized," but hasn't elaborated further. He is clearly backtracking on this, in favor of the position of the state's largest teachers' union, the NJEA, which wants him to simply fund all districts more, then think about modernizing the formula in the future.



That badly shortchanges districts like Kingsway right now. And aside from the fairness issue, we should also be looking at broader questions, like how Asbury Park is spending so much per student in the first place, and whether more special education funding should be paid by the state, rather than local taxpayers.



So yes, Murphy's funding plan is a welcome change after the dark times of Christie. But it's not the one that most underfunded districts in our state had hoped for.

Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.Earlier this week nascent governor Phil Murphy gave his first budget address and the immediate reaction in Trenton was to see ghosts.

During his address Murphy clearly laid out the sad state of our financial situation. The last guy, aided by decades of fiscal malfeasance at the hands of the Democratic Legislature, left the place in a terrible mess. If he had put down a security deposit, he wouldn't be getting it back.

During his tenure Gov. Christie refused to produce a revenue projection anywhere near reality. Couple that with an unwillingness to raise taxes on anyone for any reason and eight years later you get a pension system headed for collapse and a credit rating in the toilet.

This glorious mess is now Murphy's responsibility; and instead of pretending it doesn't exist, he's decided to address it directly with tax hikes primarily targeted at the richest 1 percent.

Here's a little known fact: Anytime a governor says the two words "tax hike" flashing lights and sirens go off all over Trenton. This signals the pundits and opposition to hit the streets to find the closest camera or reporter and immediately invoke the name of Jim Florio.

New Jerseyans of a certain age will remember former Gov. Florio as that guy back in the '90s who knew how to do basic arithmetic and as a consequence had the nerve to raise taxes. People don't like being asked to pay for stuff. Florio paid for his impudence with his political career and the slightest whiff of a tax hike compels Trenton insiders to instantaneously declare the same fate to whomever was so foolish to suggest such a thing. The whole Florio adventure happened 30 years ago, this time might be different.

Murphy's hikes will tap rich folks for two-thirds of the new revenue with the rest coming from a minimally invasive half percent increase in the sales tax. This may be a politically viable plan because, as it turns out, people aren't as rabidly anti-tax when they aren't the one paying them.

Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.By Blair Bess



It's time once again for Washington wannabes to get out their resumes. There are a number of job openings in the Trump administration and, as the president reminded Americans last week, "everyone wants to work in the White House." That may well have been so in the past, but the attrition rate for staff and cabinet members of this president calls into question the veracity of his claim. Or any claim or statement he makes for that matter.



It's no secret that more people have vacated their posts in the first year of this administration than in any other that preceded it.



The commander-in-chief continually appears to be steering the Ship of State toward treacherous shoals. With every passing day and turn of the wheel, it looks as though he is guiding a foundering Ship of Fools on an Odyssean journey through dire straits.



This president is no hero and has few triumphs of which to speak. When his administration is not behaving comically, it exhibits all the pathos of a Greek tragedy. Lies, deceit, gluttony, buffoonery, moral-deficiency, avarice, corruption, and more fester beneath the surface.



For the most experienced, most qualified, most honorable, and most principled men and women serving Donald J. Trump, there is little choice but to voluntarily abandon ship.



Each year, a tremendous number of exceptionally bright, talented, selfless individuals enter public service. The jobs they fill can be thankless and, yet, gratifying. Some are propelled by ambition. Others are more altruistic. Few are driven by money or the notion that demands are insignificant; that whatever they do is "good enough for government work." They, for the most part, believe that by working on behalf of the American people, they are responding to a higher calling. They are not propelled by a desire to enter the nebulous world of an imaginary "Deep State."



Right now, you can go online and search job sites like Indeed, Monster, and any number of others and find page-upon-page of listings for positions working for the federal government or in some government-related firm. There are no listings - at least no obvious ones - for positions in the Cabinet or the White House. That's because those jobs are theoretically reserved only for "the best and the brightest" or for ruthless, politically savvy sharks; or for large campaign donors; or a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend who might someday be able to help you with a little somethin'-somethin'.



Thus, we end up with an EPA Administrator who doesn't believe in the science of climate change or that clean water and air are to everyone's benefit. A Secretary of Energy who thought his job was strictly about fossil fuels, even though overseeing our nuclear arsenal is one of the department's primary functions. An "acting" head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau who gives the middle-finger to any rule regulating big banks and Wall Street.



A former Secretary of Health and Human Services whose penchant for chartering private planes cost him his job. A Secretary of Veterans Affairs who mixes too much pleasure with business while traveling abroad. An Interior Secretary who, when he was a Navy SEAL, was accused by Navy investigators of committing a years-long "pattern of travel fraud." Abuses that, according to some reports, seem to be ongoing.



Then there's the Secretary of State who got the heave-ho the other day; not because he didn't have sufficient government experience to do his job, but because he allegedly thinks the president is a moron.



We get wife-beaters and a borderline treasonous national security adviser. An Attorney General who lies under oath. And a cabinet secretary who clearly thinks you need to be a brain surgeon to have a seat at the dining table at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Family members who believe their government posts give them permission to plunder. The list, unfortunately, grows boringly distressing by the day.



Eighteenth Century philosopher Joseph de Maistre wrote, "Every nation gets the government it deserves." What this nation needs right now are government officials deserving of the positions they have been chosen to fill. Even if it means posting current openings on Indeed or Monster to find them. Who knows? We might all have better luck.

Blair Bess is a Los Angeles-based television writer, producer, and columnist. He edits the online blog Soaggragated.com, and can be reached at BBess.soaggragated@gmail.com.For eight years, the Republican Party in New Jersey revolved around one person: Chris Christie.

But the two-term governor is gone now, and the Jersey GOP is in poor shape. Almost irrelevant, really, with Democrat Phil Murphy in the governor's seat and his party firmly in control of the state Legislature.

In fact, Republicans are left with their smallest number of state lawmakers in nearly four decades -- 41 out of 120 seats in the Legislature. In Washington, no Republican has been elected to the U.S. Senate since 1972, and Democrats are aiming at picking up a U.S. House seat or three in November's mid-term elections.

Few states have a lower opinion of Republican President Donald Trump, and registered Democratic voters outnumber Republicans nearly 2-to-1.

"Do we have one?" Matt Hale, a political science professor at Seton Hall University, said when asked about the state of New Jersey's GOP. "I think the Republican Party is trying to regroup and figure out what life after Chris Christie is like. And they haven't figured that out yet."

"It's a tough time being a Republican in New Jersey right now," Hale added.

So what in the world is the party to do?

Insiders say Republicans should follow this formula: Take aim at Murphy and stay far away from Trump.

Republican lawmakers were largely marginalized under Christie, who cut his deals with Democratic leaders.

Their role was reduced to supporting Christie, which worked when he did things that fit their Republican agenda but proved embarrassing when he vetoed bills they wanted and forced them to find excuses for not voting to override him.

"I do believe oftentimes we were kind of an afterthought," state Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi, R-Bergen, said. "Understandably so, because the Democrats controlled the Legislature."

Some Republicans bristled during Christie's tenure, saying he demanded their loyalty but did little to build the party and then became toxic after his poll ratings plummeted following Bridgegate and his failed presidential bid.

Christie supporters counter that he inherited a flat broke Republican Party and raised $30 million for it. They said he pushed causes Republican lawmakers wanted, and they attribute an 18 percent decline in GOP seats in the Legislature during his tenure to a 2010 legislative map favoring Democratic candidates.

"For the past eight years, good, bad, or otherwise, the majority of the party was focused on an individual as opposed to policy in the state," Schepisi said. "I think it's now going to be incumbent upon us as lawmakers to be strong in messaging. What is it we stand for? Why are we different from the Democrats? How do we bring voters back to us?"

In an all-Democratic Trenton, Republican state lawmakers are now officially the opposition party, able to throw stones without having to worry about hitting their own volatile governor.

They see hope in how Murphy is pushing the state in an overwhelmingly progressive direction. On Tuesday, Murphy introduced his first state budget proposal, which increases state spending by about 8 percent and hikes taxes by more than $1.6 billion.

"If (property) taxes start to go up 7 percent a year, like they did before Christie, I think you're going to find the Republicans are not marginalized at all," Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick, R-Union, said. "That will actually do the opposite: It will not marginalize the party, it will basically give the Republican Party a voice."

Republicans are quick to point out that Murphy's fellow Democrats have been leery to embrace the new governor's approach.

The state's top GOP lawmaker, state Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean Jr., said Republicans have "a strong and unified message" compared to their rival party.

"Look at the people who are in charge of the two branches of government -- they're completely disunited," Kean Jr., R-Union, said. "The Democrats are fractured in a way that's obvious, and I think we have a strong group of members that are able to drive the message that we need to make the state more affordable, lower taxes and rein in the size of government."

Just Friday, Republican lawmakers took aim at the Murphy budget's underfunding of a popular property tax credit for seniors and lower-income residents, and his plan to tax Uber and Lyft rides.

No Democrat has been re-elected governor in New Jersey since Brendan Byrne in the 1970s. In that time, three Republicans have.

The GOP, however, also has trouble with Trump, whose approval rating in New Jersey has hovered in the 30s.

Bramnick is a longtime ally of Christie, who is a longtime friend of Trump. But on Jan. 9, when the new legislature was sworn in, Bramnick gave a speech saying that most New Jerseyans want leaders who are "moderate and reasonable."

"Tweets that hurl insults do not solve complex issues," Bramnick said in a thinly veiled dig at Trump.

That appeared to rankle Doug Steinhardt, the state GOP chair, who sent out a statement shortly thereafter: "While I appreciate Assemblyman Bramnick's desire to speak out about the direction of our state party, I think it is important to make clear that he does so as an individual and not on behalf" of the party.

Bramnick and Steinhardt say they've since buried the hatchet, with Bramnick stressing that he is speaking for himself.

But, Bramnick added, "I believe deeply that for me as the leader of the Republican Assembly caucus, those are the people I must seek out. And I would hope that most people adopt this approach."

Bramnick has since launched what he calls a "Rally the Reasonable" town hall series, focusing on reaching what he estimates are the 70 to 80 percent of residents who are "in the middle" of the political spectrum.

This past Monday, a few dozen people -- residents and elected officials, Republicans and Democrats -- packed into a back room at a Cranford Irish pub as Bramnick held his first town hall.

"What I'm trying to do is to get people to be reasonable and rational and talk to each other," he told the audience. "And if you're crazy and if you're here just to be crazy, that's not helpful, either."

For his part, Steinhart said the party is "rebuilding, rebranding, and reengaging" -- and that includes reaching out to new people.

"The state's demographics are changing, and we need to acknowledge that and grow with it if the party is going to grow and expand our footprint," Steinhart said.

Trump's standing in New Jersey in part prompted the retirement of two veteran Republican congressmen, Rodney Frelinghuysen and Frank LoBiondo, and gives Democrats a strong shot to broaden their control of the state's U.S. House seats this fall.

And early indications show Republican contender Bob Hugin will have a tough time defeating a politically wounded U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J.

"A lot of it depends on President Trump," said Ben Dworkin, director of the Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship at Rowan University. "If he remains as unpopular in the state as he is today, it will have a significant negative impact on the Republican brand. Which is why you see legislative leaders like Jon Bramnick very publicly trying to rebrand the party."

NJ Advance Media staff writer Matt Arco contributed to this report.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.From around the world, more than 300 glass art enthusiasts gathered in South Jersey this weekend for a chance to learn and share their craft.

Salem Community College held its three-day International Flameworking Conference, with most events at the college's Samuel H. Jones Glass Education Center in Alloway Township.

The college is known throughout the world for both its scientific glass technology and art glass programs.

The Flameworking Conference began in 2001 and has grown each year. The 2018 gathering is the largest yet, officials say.

The event, which required pre-registration, began Friday evening and continues through Sunday afternoon.

One of the demonstrations Sunday morning featured a collaborative event with glass art masters Paul Stankard and Lucio Bubacco.

Throughout the weekend there were other numerous demonstrations at the glass center. Works from various artists were also on display.

While many of the programs featured the finer points on producing amazing glass art, other sessions focused on how artists can successfully market their creations.

This year's featured artist at the conference was Joe Peters whose works include functional glass components.

Bill Gallo Jr. may be reached at bgallo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow Bill Gallo Jr. on Twitter @bgallojr. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tipsA 62-year-old man was reported found Sunday afternoon (March 18), the day after NOPD asked for assistance in locating him.

Michael Glen Dawson was missing for four days, police said. His social worker told officers Dawson had not been heard from since Tuesday when the social worker spoke with him on the phone, according to NOPD.

Note: This story was updated Sunday afternoon when Dawson was found. His photo and description have been removed.She was hanging from a beam under the Gov. Nicholls Street wharf on the edge of the French Quarter when police found her on April 4, 2017. A cord was wrapped around her neck. She was wearing pants, a bra and one boot. In her back pocket, officers found a syringe and 35 cents.

Her name was Amber Lucas, and she was 25. The coroner ruled her death a suicide. That's how Lucas became one of at least 60 homeless men and women who died in New Orleans last year, most of them on the streets. The figure was a 13-percent jump from 53 homeless people who died in 2016, according to a new count that catalogued last year's deaths in abandoned homes and cars, under elevated highways, and in motels, shelters and hospitals.

The leading cause of death in both years: drug overdoses, which represented about 4 of every 10 homeless deaths.

Homicides of homeless people increased from one to three in 2017. The victims: 18-year-old Tavis Robertson, who was stabbed to death in a McDonalds on Canal Street; 32-year-old Ciara McElveen, found stabbed to death at the corner of North Claiborne Avenue and Columbus Street; and Katie Beal, 35, who died from stab wounds in a tent under the elevated Pontchartrain Expressway.

The 2017 figures are preliminary. They include people who died on the street and other chronic homeless people who had received housing.

This is only the second year the city has collected data on homeless deaths, so it is difficult to pinpoint a single cause for the 2017 increase, according to the authors of the report representing New Orleans Emergency Medical Services, Police Department and the New Orleans Coroner.

But there are two things their findings make clear, the authors said: Nearly every death can be attributed to years, sometimes decades, of untreated substance abuse and mental health issues; and the city doesnt have the resources to meet the overwhelming need and prevent future tragedies.

Our streets are our mental wards. The underpass? Thats our mental ward, said Robyn Burchfield, community health coordinator with New Orleans EMS. Burchfield co-authored the report with Mike Miller, coordinator of medical and social services with NOPD, and Rachel Cheramie-Gagliano with the New Orleans Coroner.

The 2017 tally in New Orleans illustrates the need for additional resources to help homeless residents, said Miller, who previously led the Unity of Greater New Orleans team that scoured more than 20,000 vacant homes and abandoned buildings over nearly eight years looking for people in need.

The 60 people who died in 2017 didnt pass away peacefully, he said. Many died in horrific conditions, which a city touting itself as a leader on solving the homelessness crisis should regard as intolerable, Miller said.

Its the death where you die alone on a mattress in an abandoned building with maggots crawling all over you or your body is about to explode because its July and nobody has seen you for a week, Miller said. Or youre hanging from a wharf.

On Nov. 15, police were called to the 2200 block of Dryades Street, where a woman complained that a blood like substance was leaking into her apartment from the unit above. Upstairs, police found the decaying body of 55-year-old Albert Elmer, a chronically homeless man who had recently been housed by advocates who said he was a known drug user. Elmer died of a cocaine overdose, according to the coroner.

Within the grisly and heartbreaking details there are clues that can help identify gaps in the system  blind spots that kept someone like Elmer from getting help that could have saved him, Burchfield said. She likened their report on homeless deaths to a social work autopsy.

We spend a lot of time reconstructing the persons life and the factors that led to this point and its gut-wrenching, she said. If they could talk to us one more time, what might they say about the circumstances of their life before they died on the streets?

Burchfield and Miller believe the message from the dead is clear: they needed greater access to services for people with substance abuse and mental health problems. In addition to the 24 people who died from overdoses last year, there are at least 12 more whose deaths were likely brought about by years of self-abuse and untreated mental illness, the figures indicate.

These include 56-year-old Jon Davis, found in Central City in the advanced stages of rigor mortis, dead from end-stage hepatic cirrhosis, according to the coroner; and 34-year-old Cara Nurmi, whose body was found in the Mississippi River. Her family said she had struggled with addiction and mental health problems for years. The coroner ruled her death an accident.

In a city that historically has high rates of alcohol and drug abuse, however, there are only 18 inpatient beds  provided by the non-profit Odyssey House  for indigent people in need of medically-supervised detoxification. Withdrawing from alcohol or heroin can often be life-threatening, which is why addicts looking to get clean need to be placed under the care of doctors and nurses.

University Medical Center does not provide in-patient detox unless a person is suffering from a separate medical condition, such as heart failure or injuries suffered in a car accident or shooting. The now-closed Charity Hospital and its successor, the Interim LSU Public Hospital, each provided 20 medical detox beds before they were eliminated in 2012 by state budget cuts.

Odyssey House is opening a new facility on South Broad Street that will provide an additional 47 detox beds but that wont open until early 2019.

In-patient mental health beds for the poor have also been drastically reduced. Charity Hospital had 100 of these beds compared to the 60 currently available at UMC. Chief medical officer Dr. Peter DeBlieux said demand is so great that since UMC opened three years ago, there have only been three instances where we had an open inpatient bed for behavioral health where we could immediately take someone from the emergency department and put them in there.

Lacking both medical detox and mental health beds to meet the overwhelming need across the city, UMC is implementing a pilot program to install a patient navigator in its emergency department to help survivors of opioid overdoses. The effort is paid for by a nearly $300,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Under the current system, when people admitted as emergency patients for drug, alcohol or mental health-related issues are released, they often dont receive case management or comprehensive referral and follow-up services.

This is a lost opportunity to intervene when addicts are available, sober and likely most receptive to receiving assistance, Burchfield said. The absence of such interventions can prove deadly.

The body of 51-year-old Glenn Daniel was found under the Pontchartrain Expressway at Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard and Calliope Street on Aug. 16. He died from pneumonia and complications from multiple drug intoxication. Daniel was wearing a hospital band dated Aug. 15, one day before he died.

The DOJ grant is designed to address this issue by establishing the New Orleans Opioid Survival Connection.

Having the navigators in the emergency room would provide much needed help for the sick, said Mary Ann Barrett, who was formerly homeless before being placed in housing.

Barrett knew many of the people who died last year and said the majority were addicted to drugs or alcohol and suffered from some sort of mental health issue. At various times, they tried to get help, but it wasnt easy, she said. They didnt know how to navigate what can be a complicated system of care and it can often take days or longer to get into one of the few places that offer treatment. In that time, its easy to fall back into old habits, she said.

You get so hopeless and scared. Especially the women, Barrett said. Theyre scared theyre going to get raped. Theyre scared theyre going to get mugged. And hell, if youre living like that, you sure as hell need something to drink.

Every homeless death Miller and Burchfield have experienced throughout their careers has affected them, but there is one that continues to haunt them.

Last summer, Miller was leaving NOPD headquarters at Tulane Avenue and South Broad Street when he spotted Dirk Daniel sitting on a bus stop bench. Daniel, a lanky 63-year-old military veteran with a mop of gray hair, a long, grizzled beard and a bent nose, was known to everyone who comes into contact with the homeless population on a daily basis, including the police, paramedics and outreach workers, Miller said.

He could often be evasive, difficult to track down, and resistant to help when found. But here was an opportunity to intervene.

Daniel had just been released from jail after being arrested for one of the misdemeanor offenses for which the homeless are typically detained, such as aggressive panhandling, obstruction of a public passageway or failure to appear in court. He was sober, tired and open to receiving assistance.

Miller said he sat with Daniel on that bus stop bench for two hours, calling homeless outreach organizations in the hope of getting him placed into housing or treatment. The return calls never came and, eventually, Daniel grew impatient and walked away.

A few months later, Daniel was admitted to UMC after falling and injuring his head. He drifted in and out of a coma before he died. The coroner ruled his death an accident.

Burchfield said they cried when they read Daniels death report. Infested with lice, every type of disease process you can have, living in serial inebriation which kept him in a gravely disabled condition on the street, she said.

Weve been screaming about Dirk for two years, Miller said. I said, Dirks in the hospital. Dirks in jail. Dirks here at this street.

"But nothing happened. And now Dirks on the list.

If the majority of the 60 deaths last year taught them that there is a need for additional substance abuse and mental health services, Daniels death taught them that the entire system of care is flawed and needs to be reassessed, the reports authors said. If not, the number of dead will continue to increase with each year. Since the reports release, 21 homeless people have died.

I refuse to believe that these deaths are not a story, that they dont tell us something about what we can do better as first responders, that were not going to look at where we failed a homeless veteran, Miller said. Its not about dead guys, its about whos the next guy.LSU hosted Texas four-star outside linebacker Marcel Brooks Saturday and based on his tweets, the visit seemed to go well.

The 6-foot-3, 200-pound prospect out of Flower Mound, Texas, tweeted that his trip to LSU was "the best visit I've ever been on."

Brooks had included the Tigers along with the Alabama Crimson Tide in a top two he tweeted in late February and set his commitment date for June 25.

Brooks holds offers from programs like Texas, Texas A&M, Florida and Florida State in addition to LSU and Alabama.

Take a look at his highlights below.Publishers are notorious for making knuckleheaded decisions on new titles -- the first "Harry Potter" book, for instance, was rejected a dozen times -- so Ali Albazaz has come up with an alternative: Ask readers what they think.

The 28-year-old software coder and aspiring author in 2015 launched Inkitt, which gives users access to the works of about 60,000 indie authors. That gives Inkitt a wealth of data: whether readers stay up all night devouring a vampire story, how often they put down a mystery and flip over to Facebook, and the number of friends they recommend a title to.

A computer program sifts through all of that information, then spits out recommendations of stories with hit potential, which Inkitt publishes as e-books, audio books or print titles. "The decision-making by big publishing houses can be very random and they tend to favor established authors," Albazaz says. "Discovering the next J.K. Rowling, the next Stephen King is what we strive for."

Albazaz thinks he can help the discovery process by tracking over 1,200 ways readers are reading or sharing the story. Inkitt has about 300,000 monthly active users, he added.

"It's about all behaviors around the story," Albazaz said. "From reading engagement, re-engagement, sharing and the behavior of new readers who come through their friends."

Last year Inkitt published about 50 books including "Reaper's Claim," a romantic thriller by debut author Simone Elise. Albazaz said the title climbed to No. 12 on Amazon's e-book best-selling list on its debut in February 2017.

The startup is also deploying data in the publishing process, testing different covers, teasers, and descriptions to choose those that perform best with its users. The company isn't yet profitable and is pursuing more growth, Albazaz said.

Attempts to cut out agents and publishers are not novel. Over the past decade, self-publishing has continually been touted as a viable route for wannabe authors. There are a number of crowd sourcing publishing services, including the U.K.'s Unbound and Qidian in China. Perhaps the most famous disintermediator of all, Amazon.com, has also been using reader feedback to power its Kindle Scout publishing unit.

While Inkitt's model is "interesting," the startup faces an uphill struggle to compete with the well-oiled publicity machines of the major publishers, said Karin von Abrams, an analyst at EMarketer Inc.

"It won't be easy for works surfaced by Inkitt and published in print to claim space on the tables and shelves of traditional bookshops," von Abrams said.

Inkitt, which employs about 25 and is currently hiring more for its New York City office, faced a few early hiccups. Soon after its launch it suffered complaints regarding spamming users with unwanted emails. Albazaz said this was due to a "cheap newsletter tool where the unsubscribe button didn't work correctly for some users" and has since been corrected.

There is room to grow. Bertelsmann's Penguin Random House placed 263 titles on the "New York Times" bestseller lists in the first half of 2017, including 37 at number one. Its biggest-selling novel in the period was Jay Asher's "Thirteen Reasons Why," which sold more than a million copies across all formats -- helping the company to increase sales to 1.5 billion euros ($1.9 billion).

Backed by investors including Berlin-based Earlybird Venture Capital and London-based Frontline Ventures, Inkitt is looking to this year expand into non-fiction titles and is seeking to sell its books in department stores including Walmart and Tesco.

***

Stefan Nicola wrote this article for Bloomberg News.Among the characters Louis Armstrong interacted with as a child growing up in New Orleans is a boy he calls Red Sun. Armstrong, in his 1952 autobiography, introduces Red Sun as the central figure in one of the "funny incidents" that occurred while the future jazz great was incarcerated at the city's Colored Waifs Home, a reformatory at which he served at least two stints and where he became the star of the home's brass band.

Armstrong and other children under the care of Capt. Joseph Jones at the home were doing drills on the campus one day when a child riding bareback "on a real beautiful horse" approached, he writes. (In an interview on "The Mike Douglas Show" in January of 1964, Armstrong repeats the anecdote but says the children had been playing ball when they saw the horse.)

"We all wondered who it could be," Armstrong writes in "Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans." "Mr. Jones stopped the drill and waited with us while we watched the horse and rider come towards us. To our amazement it was Red Sun."

The boy, who was often in trouble with the law ("he would steal everything which was not nailed down," Armstrong writes), had only recently been released from the home, so his return was a surprise.

As the boys gathered around to admire the horse and greet Red Sun, Jones asked him how he had acquired the animal.

"I have been working," Red Sun answered, according to Armstrong. "I had such a good job that I was able to buy the horse."

Red Sun spent the day at the waifs home, which was located near the intersection of Conti Street and City Park Avenue. The other children took rides on the horse, and Red Sun stayed for dinner. "Oh, we had a ball!" Armstrong writes.

After the meal, Armstrong played "Taps" on the bugle, and Red Sun hopped on his horse and rode off into the sunset. The children who remained marveled at how Red Sun had turned his life around.

Armstrong writes that a day later (or three days later, he says in the Mike Douglas interview), an official from the waifs home marched Red Sun into Jones' office. He had been arrested for stealing the horse.

*******

Armstrong is not known to have addressed the life of Red Sun beyond his writing and interview about the episode with the horse. But details about the young man are sprinkled throughout public records and New Orleans newspapers of the early 20th century. They tell a sadder tale, confirming his many arrests and revealing his violent death as a teenager, just as Armstrong was finding himself as a professional musician. And they also show his real name: Arthur Brooks.

Brooks lived in Algiers with his mother, Eleanor Hoffman. (In the Mike Douglas interview, Armstrong notes that the job that purportedly supplied Red Sun with the money to buy the horse was at a dairy in the West Bank community.) He was identified in numerous newspaper stories as having been arrested or sought by police between 1915 and 1918. (Armstrong served at least two stints at the Colored Waifs Home, one in 1910 and one from 1913 to mid-1914; it's not clear when Red Sun's arrest for stealing a horse occurred.) Though Red Sun is most commonly given as his alias, it also appears as Red Son and even Rising Sun.

Brooks was accused in May of 1915 of throwing a rock or brick at a woman from whom he stole a purse in Algiers, just days after he had been released from jail for theft from Standard Oil, according to reports in the local newspapers.

In 1916, Brooks was accused of crimes including stealing rope from the Southern Pacific Railway, trying to burglarize the home of man who ran a dairy in Algiers and shooting a pistol at an ice cream shop near the intersection of Verret and Newton streets.

That November, two police officers and a civilian spotted Brooks eating a cheese sandwich near a canal around the corner from his home on Saux Lane in Algiers. They confronted him for reasons that are not explained in newspaper accounts of the time, and one of them shot him in the stomach after he reportedly "made a motion to draw a weapon from his hip pocket."

Brooks was later found to be unarmed, but he was arrested at his house anyway, as was his mother. He escaped from a hospital while he was undergoing treatment, wrote the New Orleans States.

Arthur Brooks' short, tragic life came to a violent end when he was shot in the back of the head on Jan. 3, 1918. Late that morning, he entered an out-of-service Southern Pacific train at Toulouse and North Prieur streets, in what's now the Lafitte Greenway.

Richard M. Scheiner, a private guard for the railroad, said later in an interview that he saw Brooks in a railcar trying to remove a brass handle from a door, an alleged crime reminiscent of Armstrong's arrest in 1910.

Scheiner confronted the man later identified as Brooks, and Brooks pulled out a pistol and began shooting. Scheiner, who was hit in the abdomen, returned fire.

"I followed him to the platform," Scheiner later told the New Orleans Item from his bed at Charity Hospital, "and as he endeavored to step down I shot him through the head and killed him."

Scheiner survived his injuries. Brooks died at the scene. According to his death certificate on file with the Secretary of State's Office, he was 18 years old. The cause of death was listed as "penetrating and perforating gunshot wound of chest, abdomen and head, int. and ext. hemorrhage."

"Deceased was unmarried, a laborer and resided at Saux Lane, Algiers," the coroner's report concludes.Pop Star Princess impresses at Rotorua

Promising three-year-old Pop Star Princess backed up her stunning debut performance at Matamata recently by breaking her maiden status with ease at Rotorua on the weekend.

The Makfi filly had impressed many when she fought on determinedly for second at Matamata behind the well performed Contessa Vanessa in an open three-year-old contest, in the process beating home Group One winner Age Of Fire.

Pop Star Princess

Photo: Race Images (Kenton Wright)

Trainer Fred Cornege didnt hesitate to tackle a similar event on Saturday and although once again facing a field of race winners, Pop Star Princess would not be denied as she dealt to her rivals with a bold front-running display.

Expertly handled by Lynsey Satherley, Pop Star Princess set up a moderate tempo in front before being asked to quicken approaching the home turn. Hotly challenged in the run home by Matamata filly Short Fuse, Pop Star Princess fought strongly to the line to score by half a length with Beauden running on nicely for third,

Satherley was full of praise for the performance and is predicting there is plenty more in store for the filly.

Shes still quite raw but shes a good filly, she said.

We didnt go overly hard but turning for home I gave her a kick and she just went boom.

Shes got that angry little tartiness thing going on and that makes them good.

The victory was mission accomplished for Cornege as he looks to step his charge up to stakes company next month.

It was a good ride by Lynsey, he said.

When jockeys of her calibre get on a good horse they can show their ability.

This filly doesnt pull, she relaxes and can sprint off a solid pace which I think is the sign of a good horse.

There is another similar three-year-old race in a couple of weeks but hopefully now we have enough points to get into the Cambridge Breeders Stakes.

The Gr.3 Cambridge Breeders Stakes (1200m) will be held at Te Rapa on 28 April.

Pop Star Princess is the second foal of stakes placed Pins mare, Queen Of Pop. The filly was a $4,000 purchase from the Blandford Lodge draft at the 2015 New Zealand Bloodstock National Weanling Sale.  NZ Racing Desk

Pop Star Princess leads all the wayPolice in Kirinya have arrested a notorious vehicle number plates thief who has been extorting money from residents of Kirinya, Bukasa, Kito, Namataba and parts of Bweyogerere towns.

Tony Omaswa Ssemudu a resident of Kito was arrested with 14 stolen vehicle number plates. Number plates theft is on the rise because it brings in quick cash from the victims who fear traffic police penalties.

Tony Omaswa Ssemudu with the stolen number plates

According to police, the thieves target parked cars in the residential neighbourhoods and parking yards in the Metropolitan Kampala and other towns.

ASP Celestine Nujonzima, OC Station Kirinya police station said they have been having a sleepless night for the last three weeks following numerous complaints from the residents that Ssemudu was vandalising their cars, leaving behind his name and telephone and mobile money numbers demanding for money before giving back the plates.

"We got his photography from the Facebook and distributed to people and started tracking him, good enough today we arrested him and he produced 14 number plates," Nujonzima said.

Ssemudu confessed to stealing the number plates but claimed he was only doing it for survival purposes.

"I was one time arrested and taken to Bweyogerere police station, then, a lady came complaining that they had stolen her number plate and the suspect is demanding Shs 2 million for her to get back the number plate, this is when I picked up the idea because I have been sent away from our home, I do not have ways of getting money to sustain my welfare so this is how I get money for living," he said.

Ssemudu was later transferred to Kira police station from where he will be produced to court. Deputy ASP Maliserino Mulema, chief investigating officer at Kira police said Ssemudu faces 14 counts.

alfredodcho@gmail.comMore than a month after Charles Etukuri, a senior journalist at the Vision Group, was allegedly kidnapped and held incommunicado for a week, there is still debate about the conduct of journalists when covering security agencies.



Etukuri, a crime reporter with New Vision, was on February 13 picked up by what he later said were operatives of the Internal Security Organisation (ISO) at the Vision Group's office on First Street, Industrial Area.

Charles Etukuri (L) at the New Vision upon release by ISO. The journalist has been accused of spying for the state

The arrest came after Etukuri had written a story about the death of foreign nationals in Kampala, in which the police was laying blame on ISO's doorsteps. Two foreign nationals, Sebastien Andreas from Sweden and Terasvouri Toumas from Finland had been found dead in their respective rooms in two different top Kampala hotels.

Upon his release, a week later, Etukuri said he had been held by ISO in a safe house in Kyengera, a suburb in Kampala. His release came shortly after court issued an order directing ISO director Col Fred Kaka Bagyenda to produce Etukuri dead or alive. Etukuri was dropped at New Vision, the same place he was kidnapped from.



Etukuri was later quoted as saying; "They believed I was deeply involved in the matter and that I had closely worked with the killers. That I knew much more than what I had written."



As journalists, civil society and politicians discussed Etukuri's arrest, however, the debate kept touching on his personal character. Some said he was combining his work as a journalist with some "covert" activities as a state spy.

Some even suggested Etukuri was spying on fellow journalists. Nevertheless, a last minute call by the media and human rights activists led to Etukuri's freedom, as many journalists wrote "today Etukuri, tomorrow somebody else".



Journalist and researcher Angello Izama posted on the Uganda Journalists Facebook page questioning whether Etukuri's personal record should matter to the question of how he was being treated and whether journalists should only defend those they like or trust among others.



Julie Nabwire, another senior journalist said she was concerned about Etukuri's whereabouts.

"He may have been misguided at some point in his career but let those serve as a lesson to all those in active journalism. Some sources cannot be your friends and make you put colleagues at risk! Do your work not their work," she argued.



Taddewo William Senyonyi said no matter the accusations against Etukuri, he stood with him.

"I am not saying he is clean, but we share a lot when it comes to farming and development related stories. He should really be produced in court and the law given a chance to take its course".



Joe Elunya, also a journalist who once worked with Uganda Radio Network, raised serious ethical questions.

"To what extent must a journalist relate with the source? It's a serious ethical question that shouldn't be swept under the carpet. Oftentimes I see journalists including those on this forum relating with sources to the extent that it crosses the ethical line," he said.



In the journalism circles, there's been information that Etukuri managed social media accounts for the recently sacked police chief Gen Kale Kayihura and other top government officials. This is after he once posted, and immediately removed, what appeared to be Kayihura's speech in the first person narration on his Facebook wall, something that made many suspect he was Kayihura's account operator.



Cover blown



Just a day after Etukuri was arrested, a former Vision Group journalist, Fortunate Ahimbisibwe, published a long post on his Facebook wall explaining that he is the one who recruited Etukuri into state intelligence work as a spy.

Ahimbisibwe, who appears to have since fallen out with the government, argued that he and Etukuri were living double lives as an extra source of income.



"I started carrying out some 'assignments' for some of Uganda's intelligence agencies. I was young and naive, I look back and say, some of this, I shouldn't have done," Ahimbisibwe said.



He said it is on one of his assignments that he recruited Etukuri for a highly sensitive job, which would also be his first assignment. The assignment involved capturing an army dissident.

In 2008, Andrew Mwenda, the CEO of The Independent news magazine, accused Etukuri of spying on fellow journalists and working with the state security agencies to have an army deserter, a one Private Masaba, arrested. It is not clear whether this is the mission Ahimbisibwe alluded to in his narrative.



However, it is not only Etukuri and Ahimbisibwe who have been said to have links with the intelligence. Reverend Captain Isaac Bakka, a veteran soldier and journalist attached to Bornfree Technologies Network (BTN), a television broadcaster based in Arua district, went missing on October 9, 2017.



He was produced in Luzira Maximum Prison on February 14, secretly charged with treason, and misprision of treason and remanded. The details of Bakka's case remain concealed to-date. Just like in the Etukuri case, both the police and ISO denied knowledge of his whereabouts.



It is not uncommon for journalists or the media to raise concern about spies in the newsrooms. Charles Odoobo Bichachi, the executive editor of Daily Monitor says espionage is a big challenge in the newsrooms.



Bichachi recalls an incident in 2008 about government safe houses.



"I encountered it very closely for the first time some 10 years ago when we were working on a project about people who escaped from safe houses. We were trying to locate the safe houses and also tell the story of what the escapees went through. And one of our journalists went and tipped the security, they wanted our recordings, they raided our offices at The Independent, I was the editor and we were charged with possessing seditious material," Bichachi recalls.

Bichachi was arrested together with Independent magazine proprietor Andrew Mwenda and journalist John Njoroge. Bichachi says spies in newsrooms is something very undesirable and unfortunate but it is something that happens.



"Sometimes we are in the newsrooms and we are discussing story angles, and someone calls you telling you about what you are discussing and what you shouldn't do. Sometimes editors are told you said this about this story, so obviously somebody internally has leaked the information," he laments.



Bichachi explains the dilemma newsrooms find themselves in: "What happens is that they will push those stories that favour certain people, and not put those stories through the rigorous checks. Or sometimes you will find that a journalist who is working for an agency or an individual, will not do the story; they will say there was no story when they were assigned, so you get that the story is everywhere but your journalists can't find it."



According to Bichachi, such journalists should not be entertained in newsrooms.



Vision stands with Etukuri



The New Vision maintains that by being close to security agencies as alleged by some, Etukuri was only performing his daily journalism duties. In an Interview with URN, New Vision news editor John Kakande said their major concern is whether their journalist is able to bring in the story.



Kakande says as far as ethics are concerned, Etukuri's stories do not raise any concerns, adding that he used his contacts and position to get vital information. On information that the reporter also has been working as a spy, as Ahimbisiwe revealed, Kakande said all those are unfounded allegations.



Asked if they have taken interest in the matter, he said The New Vision has hundreds of journalists and they cannot start investigating all rumours against all journalists.



"If Charles was or is close to Kale [Kayihura] or not is immaterial. What we want, [and] what we look at as the media, is the nature of the story you have brought. How many stories have we published against Kayihura?That is the nature of business were dealing in.

There are those who can access Kayihura probably there may be need when you want to talk to him and perhaps Charles could talk to him for you. There may be others talking to other security agents. There are those people who trust them. Others talk to them in confidence. How is someone going to tell you something if they dont trust you and how does one build trust? All of us that is what we do." Kakande added.



Kakande, however, says many other media houses have spies as journalists. He says the trend in the media is that you need to get close to your sources, adding that personal relations with security sources does not necessarily raise professional issues but gets one a good story.

"There are reporters armed with pistols [in newsrooms], were they dismissed, you never heard of them? Were they dismissed? I knew of reporters who were very close to very senior people in the army and intelligence. Were they ever dismissed?

Because does it in itself present a professional issue? That is the question. The mere question that Im a friend, if Im the friend of the army spokesperson and he calls me for a cup of coffee in itself does it constitute an unethical issue? To me no!" said Kakande.



New Vision ethical guide specifies that it is unethical for journalists to be on the payrolls of politicians, businesspersons, and organisations among others.



The ethical guide also says journalists shall declare a conflict of interest when it arises and request not to be involved in gathering, processing, publishing and broadcasting content.



Media experts weigh in



Prof Monica Chibita, the head of mass communication department at Uganda Christian University, who also doubles as Vision Group board chairperson, says journalists should not use their privilege to gather intelligence information for government.



Chibita also said it is unethical for journalists to double as security agents. She says there are clear ways to do investigative journalism and there is no need to masquerade. Asked whether as a board chairperson of Vision Group they are concerned about the alleged involvement of Etukuri, she said they are concerned but could not give details.

"One, we need to deal with the motivation. If your motivation is to earn money by pretending to be somebody else gathering intelligence and so on feeding the authorities, no. It is unethical. I think journalists can do investigative journalism, there are ethical ways to do it and those ways are known and the ways of not to do it are known in the journalism fraternity. So there is no reason as to masquerade as a journalist as you do intelligence work for whatever agency." she said.



Dr George Lugalambi, a veteran journalist and media expert who once headed the department of journalism at Makerere University, says a situation of having a journalist operating like a double-agent creates doubt among the audience even if there are only suspicions.

He says a journalist can maintain a professional relationship with a source even though they are covering a beat. He says the editors should not only look at the story, but the confidence of the public when the story is delivered.

"It also impacts on his ethical standards and profession because if you have a person who cant execute his duties as assigned to him by the editor it compromises the editorial standards of the newspaper, the editorial content of the electronic media house," said Lugalambi.



Lugalambi says the claim that some people work as journalists and spies for lack of money is hollow, arguing that there are better ways through which journalists can get extra money. He says taking money from sources compromises a journalist.



Timothy Sibasi, a journalist says the implication of being a spy and a journalist is that one loses balance and objectivity in their reporting. He says in many cases journalists have complained about being spied on by colleagues.



Existing path



Emmy Allio, then an experienced political and investigative reporter, walked from the New Vision newsroom to become a deputy director of External Security Organisation (ESO) serving until 2012 when he left the spy agency amidst reports that his life was in danger. He was later appointed director for investment under Operation Wealth Creation.



Teddy Seezi Cheeye, a fallen journalist and publisher of The Uganda Confidential, put on hold his career in mid 2000s to join ISO as director for economic monitoring.

He would end up in Luzira prison where he spent six years on corruption charges. He was released in early 2017, revived his news magazine but died in a fatal hit-and-run accident last month.



In the early 1980s, Nelson Okuku abandoned his job as a political reporter at The Star and Ngabo newspapers to join the National Resistance Army rebels as a spy against the Uganda People's Congress.



"I did this so secretly that not even my bosses got wind of it," Okuku would later narrate.



Internationally, some security agencies have used journalists as spies. Operation Mockingbird, for instance, was a campaign by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to influence media in the 1950s. The organization recruited leading American journalists into a network that would help fit the narrative of CIA in the media.



Many scholars rightly argue that journalists and intelligence services share a common interest - information - and that the relationship between the two is an enduring one. Both collect information but for different audiences and purposes.



While spies are in the business of secrecy, the business of journalists is that of exposure, including watching over the intelligence agencies. Herein lies the line that should separate the two, a line that journalists ought to observe at all times.Benedicte Gravrand, Opalesque Geneva:

Volatility may have made a brief appearance early last month to reach levels above 50% and wipe away large sums from investors' pockets, but since, it has continued to decline across major equity, bond and currency markets; it is now at 16% on the S&P. So traders are caught between two stances, Reuters reports, the defensive one and the pre-February spike one.

But, according to data from the Chicago futures markets, investors are by and large betting on further volatility. That's including Dominicie, a Geneva-based hedge fund manager founded in 2003, that runs among other things the Cassiopeia UCITS, a fund that employs a volatility arbitrage strategy and uses a model called Myopia Arbitrage (TM).

Cassiopeia, named after a constellation in the northern sky, returned 6.1% in February. The UCITS, launched in June 2015, has annualised 4.7% (USD class).

According to a February monthly report seen by Opalesque, the managers changed their positioning gradually from short to long volatility in the first five days of the month, and thus generated gains on the large volatility blow-out of February 5th.

"Now that the crowded short volatility trade has been washed out, what can we expect?," they write. "The main takeaway is t......................

To view our full article Click hereIt's time media writers stop describing unintended gunfire as an "accidental" discharge. If a gun discharges bullets, it is not an accident.

Gun owners or people handling guns should never point a gun in the direction of an individual even if it is unloaded (no magazine with bullets and/or bullets in the chamber).

If they are showing the weapon or bringing the weapon into an area where they do not plan on using it, then they need to ensure it is unchambered and the magazine is removed.

If the gun discharges without those simple steps being performed, the discharge is not "accidental," but negligent.

Ted Eugenis, BeavertonThe New Yorker's Pulitzer prize-winning piece on the massive destruction expected from a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake understandably struck fear in the hearts of many Oregonians who immediately set to work stocking emergency kits. At least some of them did. For a while.

Then came the terrifying video from Multnomah County, showing how the Burnside Bridge could rumble, torque and collapse after an 8-plus magnitude quake. The destruction alone is devastating to watch - even if by animated simulation. But it's almost paralyzing to listen to the narration describing how bridge debris will block cars, emergency vehicles, trains and ships needed to bring supplies and evacuate victims.

It'd be easy to shove another recent state report into that corner in your brain where the darkest worries hang out. But despite its jarring numbers, the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries' assessment released last week hits a few bright notes.

Editorial Agenda 2018

Press for a student-focused education system

Help defuse Oregon's ticking time bombs

Focus attention on the root causes of homelessness

________________________

The Cascadia quake could level as many as 1,600 buildings and result in more than $80 billion in damages to structures across the tri-county area. In the worst-case scenario -- a daytime shake during a wet winter -- between 18,000 and 27,000 residents would likely be hurt or killed and a quarter-million others would be displaced for a long period of time.

That's a staggering statistic that's likely to directly touch us all, whether the victims are family, friends, neighbors or co-workers. Yet the numbers also show that potentially, 99 percent of the metro area's population will survive. As officials with the agency told various media outlets, the Cascadia could actually be "extremely survivable." The takeaway? Put in the time now to potentially improve how you and your family will get by after.

The information should help city and county leaders focus work preparing their communities for the Big One. It should fuel the urgency needed to address the alarming January audit by the Secretary of State's Office on the sad state of Oregon's Office of Emergency Management. The building where agency officials expect to gather and direct emergency responses has yet to be retrofitted to withstand a large earthquake.

Last week's report should also inspire Oregonians to act at home. Sure, it's great to spend thousands on securing homes to their foundations. Such an investment can increase the chance the home will remain habitable after a quake and reduce dangers for neighborhoods. And it's smart to continue setting aside water, canned foods and other emergency supplies, spreading out the cost over time.

Yet folks on the front lines of the Oregon's earthquake and tsunami preparedness recommend a few strategies that are free and worthy of tackling today.

First, sign up to receive emergency alerts on your mobile phone. Then, make a plan. If you're at home, where should everyone huddle until the shaking's over? When it's done, where will everyone meet up outside? If there are fires, explosions or other dangers at that meeting spot, where's another place to gather?

It seems simple enough, yet this can be the most important part of preparedness: steeling for the "psychological disaster" as Mercy Corps' Susan Romanski describes it.

Next, figure out where everyone meets if they're scattered at work or school, remembering the journey could take a while and it'll be tough to communicate your progress. Romanski and others suggest that families with children enlist as many as five neighbors or friends who live near school to check on their children in case of an emergency. And give those names to school officials. That's especially important for families who may live and work on differing sides of the Willamette River.

Of course it's scary to think about, especially for little ones. But having a plan can empower them. Mercy Corps' traveling presentations help families find ways to incorporate drills into their routine so they become regular and at best, rote:

When you think your kids are emotionally ready, schedule an earthquake date. At any time that day, children get to choose when to holler "quake" to launch the drill. Duck, cover and hold. Wait for an adult to say, "The ground's stopped shaking," and kids lead the way to the meeting spot. Once everyone's there, kids get to give the "all clear," which means there are no hazards visible on the path to the shed or other safe place the emergency kit is stored.

The drill can end there. Or, take a cue from the American Red Cross, whose "Camp Prepare!" program challenged families to pitch tents in the backyard to check how well-stocked their kits were.

No matter how far you go, at least start.

Many in the Portland area have. The city is ranked near the top nationwide for the number of formed Neighborhood Emergency Teams. Those are the folks who've volunteered for months of training to help their communities and save lives until first responders arrive.

It's time for the rest of us to start catching up.

-- The Oregonian/OregonLive Editorial Board

Oregonian editorials

Editorials reflect the collective opinion of The Oregonian/OregonLive editorial board, which operates independently of the newsroom. Members of the editorial board are Laura Gunderson, Helen Jung, Mark Katches and John Maher.

To respond to this editorial, post your comment below, submit an OpEd or a letter to the editor.

If you have questions about the opinion section, email

, editorial pages editor, or call 503-221-8378.MIAMI (AP) -- As crews removed bodies from beneath a collapsed pedestrian bridge Saturday, a victim's uncle raged against what he called the "complete incompetence" and "colossal failure" that allowed people to drive beneath the unfinished concrete span.

"Why they had to build this monstrosity in the first place to get children across the street?" said an anguished Joe Smitha, whose niece, Alexa Duran, was crushed in Thursday's collapse at Florida International University. "Then they decided to stress test this bridge while traffic was running underneath it?"

Authorities say six people were killed when the structure fell onto a busy six-lane road connecting the campus to the community of Sweetwater. Crews removed two cars Saturday morning and said they found three bodies, but officials said there were still at least two more victims beneath the rubble.

Late in the day they recovered a third car, and Saturday night they said they believed all victims had been found.

The Miami-Dade Police Department confirmed the names of four victims Saturday. Rolando Fraga Hernandez and his gold Jeep Cherokee were pulled from the wreckage Saturday. Later, the bodies of Oswald Gonzalez, 57, and Alberto Arias, 54, were found inside a white Chevy truck.

Navarro Brown was pulled from the rubble Thursday and later died at the hospital.

Authorities have not released Duran's name, but her family has said she died. The FIU freshman was studying political science.

The National Transportation Safety Board has confirmed that crews were applying what's known as "post-tensioning force" on the bridge before the failure.

Authorities are investigating whether cracking that was reported just before the span fell contributed to the accident. Experts interviewed by The Associated Press were mixed on the significance of those reported cracks.

Amjad Aref, a professor with the University of Buffalo's Institute of Bridge Engineering, said they should have been "a big red flag."

"Bridges are really very vulnerable when they are under construction, when there are just pieces," he said. "It's like still a flimsy structure. And when you see cracks, somebody has to raise really a big flag and say, 'We need to do something. We need to figure out what's happening quickly and do any mitigating actions to prevent further progression of damage and ultimately collapse,' as we saw here."

But Ralph Verrastro, principle of Naples-based Bridging Solutions, was not surprised to hear about cracks, and said it was not necessarily a problem.

"Any bridge with concrete, that's made of concrete, there's always cracks," said Verrastro, who has been an engineer for 42 years. "If they had concerns that something was going on for that main span, then they would have called the sheriff or the police and closed the road. I would be very surprised if it's determined that they were taking a chance and trying to do something under traffic. It's just, as bridge engineers, that's just never done."

Two days before the collapse, an engineer with the design firm left a voicemail to say some cracking had been found at one end of the concrete span, but the voicemail wasn't picked up until after the collapse, Florida Department of Transportation officials said Friday. In a transcript released Friday night, Denney Pate with FIGG Bridge Group said the cracking would need repairs but the company didn't think it was a safety issue.

University officials, however, said Saturday that DOT officials had been aware of the cracking before the collapse. They said in a statement that representatives of FIU and DOT met with a FIGG engineer for two hours Thursday morning to discuss the cracking, and determined there wasn't a safety issue. The bridge fell soon afterward.

"The FIGG engineer of record delivered a technical presentation regarding the crack and concluded that there were no safety concerns and the crack did not compromise the structural integrity of the bridge," FIU said.

NTSB officials have said it's too early to say whether any cracking contributed to the collapse.

In a news release late Friday, FIGG Bridge Engineers said it "continues to work diligently" to determine the cause of the collapse, and is examining the steps its team has taken. It added, "The evaluation was based on the best available information at that time and indicated that there were no safety issues."

It also asked for time to accurately determine what led to the accident.

Scheduled to open in 2019, the bridge was to provide safe passage over a canal and six lanes of traffic, a showpiece architectural feature connecting the campus with Sweetwater. The $14.2 million project was supposed to take advantage of a faster, cheaper and safer method of bridge-building promoted by the university. Early renderings online appeared to show what's called a "cable-stayed" structure supported by cables hanging from a central tower.

However, a spokesman for FIGG said Saturday the bridge that was being built actually had built-in trusses.

"It is a truss bridge with above deck truss elements which, from an engineering perspective, is very different than a cable-stayed bridge," FIGG spokeswoman Cheryl Stopnick said in an email.

Verrastro said there may have been enough support in place at the time. He said these projects are constructed with "very specific sequencing" and phases.

"This was designed to support itself -- that was the beauty of the design, I'm sure," he said. "You didn't need temporary supports. It saves money. It's safer, because if you put temporary supports, you have to block the road and the traffic would be a mess and it would be in the way. So I'm sure that was all thought through."

Smitha, Duran's uncle, can't help but believe that this tragedy could have been avoided.

"This was a colossal failure of the system," he said. "This was complete incompetence from the top ... I want someone to step up and say, 'The buck stops with me.'"

-- Jennifer Kay and Allen G. Breed, The Associated PressVATICAN CITY -- Stung by accusations of spreading "fake news," the Vatican on Saturday released the complete letter by Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI about Pope Francis after coming under blistering criticism for selectively citing it in a news release and digitally manipulating a photograph of it.



The previously hidden part of the letter provides the full explanation why Benedict refused to write a commentary on a new Vatican-published compilation of books about Francis' theological and philosophical background that was released to mark his fifth anniversary as pope.



In addition to saying he didn't have time, Benedict noted that one of the authors involved in the project had launched "virulent," ''anti-papist" attacks against his papacy and teaching. He said he was "surprised" the Vatican had chosen the theologian to be included in the 11-volume "The Theology of Pope Francis."



"I'm certain you can understand why I'm declining," Benedict wrote.



The Vatican's Secretariat for Communications said Saturday it was releasing the full text of the letter due to the controversy over the "presumed manipulation" of information when the volume was launched Monday with great fanfare on the eve of Francis' anniversary.



It said its decision to withhold part of the letter at the time was based on its desire for reserve, "not because of any desire to censure."



The so-called "Lettergate" scandal has embarrassed the Vatican's communications operations and fueled the growing chasm between supporters of Francis' pastoral-focused papacy and conservatives who long for the doctrine-minded papacy of Benedict.



A Twitter hashtag #releasetheletter went viral among Catholic conservatives as the scandal widened.



The Secretariat for Communication, in particular, was accused of spreading "fake news" for having omitted key parts of Benedict's letter and -- as The Associated Press reported -- digitally blurring a photograph of the document where Benedict explained why he won't comment on the book.



Photojournalism industry standards forbid such manipulation of a photo, especially if it alters the content of the image, as it did.



Many commentators noted the irony of accusations that the Vatican's communications office was spreading "fake news" since Francis dedicated his annual message for the church's social communications day to fighting "fake news" and the distortion of information. Francis has frequently criticized journalists for only giving half of the story.



The scandal began when the prefect of the communications office, Monsignor Dario Vigano, read part of Benedict's letter aloud at the book presentation Monday. Vigano explained that he had sent Benedict the 11-volume set months ago in hopes of eliciting a theological commentary from the retired pope.



In the parts of Benedict's letter that Vigano chose to read, Benedict confirmed that Francis has a solid theological and philosophical training and he praised the book initiative for showing the "interior continuity" between the two papacies. He wrote it was "foolish prejudice" to paint Francis as only a practical man devoid of theology and Benedict as a mere academic who knew nothing of the lives of ordinary faithful.



Vigano held up the letter as evidence of the theological continuity between the two papacies, an effort to blunt conservative critics of Francis' mercy-over-morals priorities and emphasis on "discernment" over hard and fast doctrine.



But Benedict's full caveat about his refusal to comment on the volume was never made public in Vigano's presentation, press release or accompanying photo. That omission left the impression that the 91-year-old retired pope had read the volume and fully endorsed it, when in fact he hadn't.



The first hint there was more to the story came when a longtime Vatican reporter, Sandro Magister, published a transcript of what Vigano had read aloud at the presentation. That version contained Benedict's initial explanation that he couldn't read the 11 volumes due to his age and other commitments, and therefore couldn't comment on it.



Magister on Saturday reported that the omitted paragraph concerned Benedict's objection to the inclusion in the volume of German theologian Peter Huenermann, but he did not have the text. A few hours later, the Vatican communications office released the full letter and a press release defending its conduct.



Left unsaid is who was responsible for selecting Huenermann to write one of the 11 books in Francis' anniversary anthology, given the author's past attacks on the retired pope.

-- The Associated PressDistrict attorney elections in Oregon typically generate little more than a yawn, but one of them this year has gotten caught up in a swirl of backroom politics.

Opposition research. Efforts to recruit a challenger to the heir apparent. Whispers of big money.

All for the top job in Washington County, the second-largest county in Oregon where criminal justice reform activists see the May 15 election as a rare chance to elect an advocate friendly to their agenda.

The intrigue began when District Attorney Bob Hermann decided to retire after nearly two decades. One of Hermann's lieutenants, Kevin Barton, announced a bid to succeed his boss. Of 16 district attorney races this year, only this and one in Union County are contested.

Enter the Safety and Justice Action Fund, a political group tied to the influential reform-minded Partnership for Safety and Justice of Portland. The fund's top officials in recent months reached out to lawyers to mount a challenge to Barton's candidacy.

They've sought a candidate who will support a shift from prison and mandatory minimum sentences while emphasizing drug and alcohol treatment and mental health services.

And it wasn't just local activists making inquiries about the race: A consultant hired by a political action committee funded by billionaire George Soros also visited Oregon to discuss the campaign. Soros has poured resources into district attorney races nationwide in recent years to elect reform-oriented prosecutors.

Now Max Wall, 40, a Beaverton lawyer and former Polk County prosecutor whose website touts his work on intoxicated driving cases, has entered the race.

Wall's already got a campaign manager in Liz Kaufman, a seasoned political strategist who has worked on multiple high-profile campaigns in Oregon, including the ballot measure to legalize recreational marijuana.

Meanwhile, it's unclear who's behind detailed public records requests submitted to Washington County and Polk County seeking information on Barton and Wall. A company called Red Group Analytics, which lists a Wisconsin address, also asked for detailed voter registration and residential history information about Barton's wife, a stay-at-home mother to their three young children.

James Williams, whose signature is on one of the requests, said the company conducts research before hanging up when an Oregonian/OregonLive reporter identified herself. He didn't respond to subsequent emails about his interest in the race or who he works for.

Nationally, Soros has invested in electing district attorneys in places like Harris County, Texas, and Philadelphia, where in 2017 the liberal philanthropist spent more than $1 million to help elect Larry Krasner, a defense attorney. Krasner this month made headlines when he issued a memo directing prosecutors to stop charging some cases, like marijuana possession, and negotiate plea deals that result in lighter sentences.

Whitney Tymas, a Virginia-based consultant who advises political action committees, including one primarily funded by Soros, met with several lawyers in Oregon in recent months to discuss challenging Barton, according to a source familiar with the talks but not authorized to publicly discuss Soros' political activities.

Ultimately, the source said, Soros' political action committee doesn't plan to fund Wall's campaign and instead will focus on district attorneys races elsewhere in the country.

But Wall won the support of a political action committee tied to the Portland-based Safety and Justice Action Fund.

A wave of DA candidates pledging to reform the criminal justice system has swept into office in recent years, promising changes from increased scrutiny of police shootings to different approaches to nonviolent drug crimes, said Aliza Kaplan, a professor at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, where she directs the Criminal Justice Reform Clinic.

"In Oregon, and in lots of states," she said, "there is a mentality that whoever is next goes and there hasn't been a real election process and I think what advocates are realizing is that there should be an election process and when you have an election process you go raise money, you find a candidate and that person runs and that has been successful."

Jim Moore, professor and director of the Tom McCall Center for Policy Innovation at Pacific University, said Washington County, with a population approaching 600,000, is "now assuredly Democratic" in party registration, with Republicans coming in third behind independent voters.

"And so, it would make sense that Washington County would be on the radar," he said.

***

At least four lawyers said they'd heard from leaders of the Safety and Justice Action Fund. They said the group wanted to gauge their interest in challenging Barton.

Darian Stanford, a civil litigator in Portland and former Multnomah County prosecutor, said he talked to fund officials weeks before Wall entered the race but declined, saying he "would never want to run against Kevin (Barton.)"

Stanford said he also met with Tymas, the Soros consultant who has played a key role in other district attorneys races nationally, including one in 2016 in Colorado where Soros spent more than $1 million in an unsuccessful bid to unseat a Republican incumbent.

James Jensen, a criminal defense lawyer in Hillsboro and former prosecutor, said Shannon Wight, the deputy director of the fund, approached him a couple of months ago to talk about challenging Barton and offered to arrange a meeting where "they wanted to show me what type of resources they had."

He, too, declined. He said he's not interested in returning to prosecuting cases and he also worried about the implications of taking a lot of money from one organization.

"If you are going to take a big amount of money from an organization locally or nationally, you are going to be beholden to that organization" when it comes to policies and the direction of the office, Jensen said.

Wall, too, heard from fund representatives. Wight confirmed she talked with Wall and said the group's political action committee has endorsed him.

"That office, like some others, has sort of stuck with a traditional practice of focusing on convictions and incarceration and not on the bigger perspectives, holding people accountable responsibly," Wight said. "We need a prosecutor's office who cares deeply about helping victims rebuild their lives after a crime and want people they convict to be successful members of the community after they have been held accountable."

Wight said Wall offers Washington County voters the "right combination of experience" given his background as a prosecutor and his work in private practice.

Wight said her organization also met with potential candidates to challenge Paige Clarkson, a career prosecutor in Marion County who is running for district attorney there, but the recruitment effort was unsuccessful.

She said the Safety and Justice Action Fund has received financial support from a political action committee to which Soros donates; a fund representative said the contribution "makes up just a portion of our budget" but declined to say how much.

***

Partnership for Safety and Justice has played a key role in pushing for major criminal justice reforms in Oregon.

It lobbied for a controversial law passed last year that reduced some sentences covered by Measure 57, a voter-approved law that cracked down on repeat property crimes offenders with longer prison sentences.

Five years ago, the group successfully pushed for the Justice Reinvestment Act, which has funneled about $95 million to counties statewide with the goals of reducing the number of prison beds used for property and drug crimes and cutting overall repeat offender rates.

In Oregon, district attorney races tend to involve unopposed insiders who have risen through the ranks or who are appointed by the governor when the sitting district attorney retires.

Case in point: Hermann himself, a former longtime chief deputy district attorney who was elected in 1998. Hermann, whose $200,400 salary is paid for with state and county dollars, ran unopposed.

Voters are often checked out in those races, according to a report issued in 2016 by the ACLU of Oregon. The organization analyzed district attorney races from 2004 through 2014 and found that even though 2.9 million people voted in Oregon during that decade, only 1.8 million cast a ballot in their local DA race.

David Rogers, executive director of the ACLU of Oregon, said his organization last year surveyed nearly 1,500 residents in Washington and Marion counties about the role of the district attorney and concluded that Oregonians know little about what prosecutors do and who they are.

"We actually think we need to be having robust conversations about what we want from our criminal justice system and what we want from leaders in positions of power in the justice system," he said. "Having so many uncontested races reinforces the dynamic where people are not paying attention."

***

The race pits Barton, a longtime prosecutor and chief deputy district attorney in the DA's office, against Wall, a defense lawyer.

Barton, 40, who lives in Sherwood, started as a civil litigator at Bullivant Houser Bailey in Portland, where he worked for five years before changing course and applying for a deputy district attorney job.

He eventually rose to the felony unit and then in 2008 began prosecuting child abuse cases -- a role he still holds today.

"That has honestly been a special calling for me," Barton said, who supervises a half-dozen lawyers and helps oversee the day-to-day management of the office. "I was drawn to it because they were the most vulnerable victims and the most difficult cases."

If elected, he said he would focus on protecting "vulnerable" victims, particularly children, the elderly and people who have experienced sexual assault. He said he would work to expand and improve treatment and specialty courts, like those dealing with people with mental illness, and improve drug treatment for serial low-level property offenders and people on track to commit crime.

Wall worked from late 2005 through early 2014 as a deputy prosecutor in Polk County and handled cases ranging from littering to Measure 11 felonies. He didn't have a supervisory role in the office.

He said he left the office to start his own practice after eight years because of a long commute and he was "ready to try something new."

Wall declined to elaborate on his conversations with representatives of the Safety and Justice Action Fund, saying he was already considering running for the job.

"Right now, I am just working doing a grassroots campaign," he said. "If other organizations decide to fund me, they can."

Wall, who is married and lives in Progress Ridge, said as district attorney he would focus on sending more defendants to treatment courts, improving services for crime victims and "keeping our schools safe."

In 2008, Wall tried twice to get a job with the Washington County District Attorney's Office as an entry-level prosecutor, said Hermann, who has endorsed Barton. He couldn't recall why Wall didn't get far in the hiring process, which he described as competitive.

Hermann said Wall's campaign platform mischaracterizes efforts his office has made to support the county's longstanding drug court and other specialty courts, as well as help crime victims.

"This is a cut and paste of national talking points, which we have seen before," Hermann said. "For the most part, they don't apply to Oregon at all and they certainly don't apply to what we do in our office."

Washington County generally mirrors statewide trends when it comes to the rate that people are sent to prison and for how long, according to data compiled and analyzed by the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission, a state agency that serves as a clearinghouse for criminal justice data.

The contest, rare for the drama it has injected into typically sleepy district attorneys races, has generated intense interest not seen in the county's recent history.

It remains to be seen if voters feel the same way.

-- Noelle Crombie

503-276-7184

@noellecrombiePechanga DISENROLLMENT Under The Guise of Sovereign Immunity is NOT Immunity from Condemnation or Sanctions.On Wednesday, March 14 at about 9:20pm, City Councilwoman Marielle Franco, 38, one of Brazil's most promising, charismatic and respected political figures who stood up for those living in the country's increasingly violent favelas was shot dead in an apparent targeted political assassination. Her car was hit by drive-by shooters with nine bullets, and her driver, 39-year-old Anderson Pedro Gomes, was also killed.

Franco's death sent shockwaves throughout the world as thousands took to the streets of Brazil to protest her murder. Franco showed people that a black person from Brazil's favelas could become an educated leader and a fighter against social injustice. She denounced the police brutality favela residents face regularly, especially those who are black. Just over 50 percent of Brazil's population of 200 million people is black, but black people account for 2 out of every 3 murders, and are overrepresented in the favela populations which are rife with violence and police brutality. Franco was also gay, and represented the intersection of an identity that is especially vulnerable in Brazil and elsewhere throughout the world.

In March of last year, the high homicide rate of young black people in Brazil led the Permanent Forum Racial Equality (which represents organizations supporting anti-racist movements) to file an official complaint against the Brazilian state with the United Nations Human Rights Council. The report states the committee that filed it "came upon a cruel and undeniable reality: The Brazilian state, directly or indirectly, perpetrates the genocide of the young black population."

Franco grew up in Mare  one of Rio de Janeiro's poorest and most dangerous favelas  and became the only black female representative and one of seven women on the 51-seat council representing the liberal Social and Liberty Party. "When she became a councilwoman, she continued to radically fight for the black population who suffer extermination in this country," Maria Angela, vice president of the PSOL political party in Minas Gerais, said. "She never forgot that she was a black woman from the favela. She didn't align herself with politicians who opposed her values and the population that she represented."

"She died because she was a combative black woman," Lua Nascimento, a college classmate of Franco's who attended a protest on in Salvador, Brazil, said. "She was executed because she was a black favela dweller who fought against the murder of black favela dwellers. The genocide of the black population continues in this country."



Thousands of people gathered in front of the city council chambers in Rio de Janeiro to pay tribute to Franco, and Brazilians are taking to social media to pay homage to her, changing their Facebook profile photos to ones of her and sharing the hashtag #MariellePresente ("Marielle is here").

Pelas vidas das negras e negros, em homenagem a vida e luta de Marielle Franco, populacao toma a frente da Camara Municipal, no Rio de Janeiro. #MariellePRESENTE

Video: Midia NINJA pic.twitter.com/6lTxeEgj5J

 Midia NINJA (@MidiaNINJA) March 15, 2018

Brazilians continue in the streets today throughout the country in response to the assassination of Marielle Franco, prominent human rights advocate and leftist councilwoman.#MariellePresente pic.twitter.com/gE13qNKyuV

 teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) March 16, 2018

When they kill a woman for defending everything you believe in, part of you dies too. #MariellePresente pic.twitter.com/NOb7poUBk7

 Laila S. Hawrylyshyn (@LHawrylyshyn) March 16, 2018

Four days before her death, Franco publicly called a police unit known for brutality the "murder unit," and accused it of harassing people. A day before her death, she wrote on Twitter about a young man who killed by the police as he was leaving church in a favela.



In English the tweet reads, "Another death of a young man at the hands of the police. Matheus Melo was leaving church. How many more need to die for this war to end?"

She continued, "What is happening in Acari is absurd! It's always been happening! The 41st battalion of the military police is known as the battalion of death. This is the beating of the population. This is the killing of our young people!"



"She managed to unite people across class and race boundaries while still staying true to her work on behalf of people in favelas," wrote Flavia NascimentoNascimento, a columnist for Globo's newspaper. "We are talking about a brilliant black woman, who represented so many people. But this is what Brazil does. The people who are progressive in Brazil are not respected and they are killed."



Franco is survived by her partner and her daughter. Amnesty International has demanded that her death be investigated immediately.Six-foot-two, sporting a blue dip-dyed scarf, a deep cobalt jumpsuit with finely weaved geometrical patterns, and a sky-colored winter puffer jacket with vein-like details  Philip Huang was in head-to-toe indigo.





After his 10-year stint as one of the first Asian male models to make it into the world of high fashion, Huang (who also has a degree in engineering) decided to pursue fashion design. "Throughout the years of working with designers and Fashion Week, I kind of understand how clothes should fit," says Huang. "I remember, at this one show with Alexander McQueen, he actually made this entire piece on me. I was in front of the mirror and watching him go through the entire process. Then you see it on the runway, and you see photos of it...I was just amazed and fascinated that it was just this piece of leather becoming this whole world."

His line, Philip Huang NYC, is street style and modern design meets rural Southeast Asian craft. "We're exploring that grey area in between urban and rural living. And also trying to merge artisanal with tech and the future." He and his wife Chomwan, who is also the creative director of the brand, have settled in Bangkok, Thailand (although they're jet setters who constantly fly to New York and London) and have been passionate about integrating indigo into their work since they first found out about the country's indigo villages.

In collaboration with the local "Indigo grandmas" (and some aunties) of a indigo farming village in Isan, Thailand, they've been integrating intricate patterns and weaving techniques into their clothing, as well as experimenting with dying methods for traditional Thai textiles and unusual fabrics like cashmere.





"We realize that it's a traditional method passed down from generation to generation," says Huang. And so part of their goal as a brand is to make sure that the indigo-dying tradition doesn't fade away as younger generations make their way out of their small villages and into the city. He says, "That's why what we do has to travel to New York, it has to travel to the western world and make its way back home."

Photos Courtesy of Philip Huang

On Saturday night, SXSW's main sponsor Bud Light announced that the "Roots and Friends" jam sesh at the Austin Fair Market was cancelled. This was due to an unnamed "security concern," but multiple sources attribute this to a bomb threat. A report from The Rolling Stone confirms this.





The Bud Light x The Roots SXSW Jam at Fair Market has been canceled. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your understanding. #SXSW https://t.co/iLkmAcroAh

 SXSW (@sxsw) March 18, 2018

The Austin Police department now has 26-year-old Trevor Ingram in custody. Ingram was charged for making a terrorist threat and for third-degree felony three hours after the event cancellation.

Statement regarding the Bud Light Fair Market event attached. pic.twitter.com/LWsd8sgaYT

 Austin Texas (@austintexasgov) March 18, 2018

Over the last 10 days, there have been three reportedly related package explosions in the city, killing two African-American men and severely injuring a 75-year-old Hispanic woman.

In a press conference, Austin Police Chief Brian Manley lists hate as a possible cause for the tragedies that have occurred. This speculation is definitely valid, especially considering  as ABC News reports  that hate crimes are underreported in Texas state.

Image via Getty

News and commentary on organized crime, street crime, white collar crime, cyber crime, sex crime, crime fiction, crime prevention, espionage and terrorism.Iran Arrests Close Ally Of Ex-President Ahmadinejad

03/18/18

Source: RFE/RL

Iranian authorities say they have detained a close ally of former hard-line President Mahmud Ahmadinejad. Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, a former vice president and chief of staff of Ahmadinejad, was arrested on March 17, the website of Tehran's prosecutor said. It said Mashaei was arrested by police officers who were acting on the orders of the judiciary. o further details were provided.



Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei

(photo by Hojaat Sepahvand, Arman daily)

(read related report by Shargh daily)



Mashaei served as first vice president in 2009 at the start of Ahmadinejad's contested second term in office.

Mashaei's detention comes after video uploaded on social media showed him protesting outside the British Embassy in Tehran on March 15 against the incarceration of another of Ahmadinejad's vice presidents.

The semiofficial ISNA news agency quoted Mashaei's lawyer, Mehran Abdollapour, as saying that his client was probably arrested for having burnt a copy of a court verdict sentencing Hamid Baghai during the protest.

A court in December found Baghai guilty of embezzlement and illegal business transactions, and he began serving his 15-year prison term on March 13.





Ahmadinejad (L) hugs Hamid Baghai with Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei standing next to them

(source: Etemad daily)



Several of Ahmadinejad's allies have been jailed over the misappropriation of public funds.

Ahmadinejad, a hard-liner who was president from 2005 to 2013, defended Mashaei in a statement, calling his arrest "a violation of the constitution... that confirms the need for fundamental reforms within the judiciary."

The ex-president has become increasingly isolated for challenging Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his powerful allies, namely the judiciary.

Ahmadinejad last year accused the judiciary of "dictatorship."

In a letter marking the celebrations of the anniversary of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, Ahmadinejad said in February that the judiciary has become "the main pillar of oppression" against the Iranian people.

The letter followed reports that media activists who support Ahmadinejad had been detained. The reason for their arrests was not immediately clear.

The Guardians Council -- which vets presidential candidates -- prevented Ahmadinejad and Baghai from running in the 2017 presidential election that returned President Hassan Rohani to office for a second term.

With reporting by AFP and APAnother Bite Of The Apple? Tech Giant's App Store Goes Dark For Iranians

03/18/18

Source: RFE/RL

Iranians hungry for the latest in Western gadgetry got an abrupt shock on March 15 when they were unable to access a key distribution platform for Apple-friendly software. Famously tech-savvy through decades of government efforts to shield the citizenry from outside news and cultural influences, Iranians who tried to visit the App Store were greeted with the message: "The App Store is unavailable in the country or region you're in." Many users reported that the App Store was available again the next morning.





There are thought to be millions of iPhones in Iran, where around two-thirds of the country's 80 million people have a smartphone and smuggled iPhones pour into the country.

The disruption comes months after Apple removed Iranian business apps in August, citing U.S. sanctions. Forbes contributor Tim Worstall noted at the time that "unless you're going to jailbreak an iPhone the only way you can get an app onto an iPhone is to get it from the iStore."

So some Iranians took to Twitter to share news of the App Store problem and post screen grabs like this:

An Iranian security researcher was quoted by Bleeping Computer,which broke the news, as saying that after around noon on March 15 Iranians could only get onto the App Store via a so-called virtual private network (VPN) to hide their location. Iranians frequently employ VPNs to circumvent official blocks on a wide array of social media and digital platforms.

The circumstances behind the access problem and its apparent resolution the next day were unclear, and Apple did not respond to an e-mail inquiry by RFE/RL.

And despite their collective experience with VPNs, some Iranians greeted the news with frustration.

"As someone who's used Apple for years, I'm very upset that Iran has been [blocked] in the #Appstore and I'm thinking about using cellphones from a company that doesn't insult the people of my country," Tehran-based journalist Farzaneh Taherzadeh tweeted on March 15.

The interruption led to speculation that the global tech giant had decided permanently to block Iranians from accessing its virtual store due to U.S. sanctions.

"Its not clear what prompted the change, but it presumably goes back to US sanctions on Iran, which President Trump amped up last year," Jacob Kastrenakes wrote on The Verge, which covers the intersection of technology, science, art, and culture.



Customers at the opening of an official Apple store in Tehran in October 2014.

"Should the ban be permanent, owners of iOS devices in Iran will have to route their internet traffic through VPNs, making it appear that theyre in another country, in order to access the App Store going forward. Thatll make it much harder to use Apples devices, the report added.

The same Iranian researcher who initially identified the block wrote on March 16 that Iranians "can again access AppStore without any problem."

Two users in Tehran contacted by RFE/RL said they were able to connect to the App Store, but another said her efforts were met with an error message. She said she was only able to connect through a VPN.

Apple is not officially represented in Iran due to U.S. sanctions.

Apple's cutoff in August left users without access to apps for hailing rides, ordering takeout, and other services.

"Under the U.S. sanctions regulations, the App Store cannot host, distribute or do business with apps or developers connected to certain U.S. embargoed countries," Apple told Iranian developers who were affected by that ban.

The move angered many who, under the hashtag#StopRemovingIranianApps, called on Apple to end the ban.

Iran's communications minister, Mohammad Javad Azori Jahromi, tweeted in August that "11 percent of the cellphone market in Iran belongs to Apple," adding that Iran would "legally pursue the elimination of apps" for Iranians.



Related Press ReleaseL:

Apple's Shut Down for Iranians is Disturbing Trend U.S. Government Must Reverse

Washington, DC - National Iranian American Council issued the following statement regarding Apples apparent decision to block access to its App Store inside Iran:

We are very concerned that uncertainty around the Iran deal, and the political instability in the United States regarding the future of our Iran policy, is pressuring companies like Apple to back away from permissible business inside Iran to the detriment of ordinary Iranians. We urge that the Administration take steps to ensure that its policies are not undermining legitimate interests like human rights and freedom of speech for Iranians. (read more)

The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) would, this year, start charging seven per cent VAT Withholding Tax on individuals and entities that transact business with the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).



What we are seeking to do is that as a person is charging the 17.5 VAT on build-up cost of an item, the person is supposed to account to the GRA seven per cent VAT Withholding Tax, which is about 40 per cent of the VAT, The Reverend Oduro Yeboah, an Assistant Commissioner in charge of Statistics at the GRA, said.



Rev. Yeboah was made this known at the closing ceremony of Chief Directors Policy Dialogue in Accra on Friday.



The Dialogue was jointly organised by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration.



It is intended to fashion out effective strategies and policies as well as build synergies to support the promotion of rapid inclusive economic growth of the country.



Making a presentation on the; Administration of International and Domestic Tax Revenue - The Perspective and Expectations of the GRA, Rev. Yeboah said the chief directors of the MDAs were supposed to withhold the amount when making payment for supply of goods and services to persons and contractors.



As heads of the MDAs, you are supposed to withhold the taxes when payments are being made to individuals and entities that execute contracts and supply goods and services, and pay those revenues to the GRA within a month. Failure to do so would attract 125 per cent interest on the amount, he added.



Rev. Yeboah, however, stated that the MDAs that rented out residential facility were supposed to charge eight per cent, non-residential (commercial) would attract 15 per cent withholding tax, while accommodation facilities for chief directors and board members would attract a rate of 20 per cent on gross amount.



Mr Yeboah said; If it is supply of goods, three percent, supply works is five per cent, and supply of services is 7.5 per cent. For instance, for supply exceeding GHc2, 000 is three per cent, supply works exceeding GHc2, 000 is five percent, and supply of services on gross amount is 7.5 per cent.



Rev. Yeboah said the Commissioner-General of the GRA would also appoint VAT Withholding Tax agents to charge the tax, adding that section 114 of the Income Tax Law, Act 896, mandated the MDAs to collect those taxes.



He said the GRAs core mandate was to mobilise revenue through collection of taxes into the Consolidated Fund to support governments development efforts.



The Presidents vision of building Ghana beyond Aid would only become a reality if chief directors supported that agenda, in order to increase domestic revenue to meet the countrys developmental needs, he said.



The revenue that the GRA collects is what the Government uses to pay civil servants, doctors, nurses, police and everybody, and enables the Government to provide infrastructure like roads, hospitals, schools and everything the nation needs, he said.



Rev. Yeboah said the GRA had projected to collect GHc39 billion this year, and urged the chief directors to collaborate with the Authority to meet its target.



He said the GRA would collaborate with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to increase the mobilisation of property tax this year.



For the past 10 years, he said, the GRA had witnessed steady increment in its revenue collection trends and that in the year 2009, when the Authority was established, it collected GHc4.63 billion, which increased to GHc22.16 billion in 2015 and moved to GHc33.14 billion in 2017.



Rev. Yeboah said the GRA was on course to registering all taxable persons in the country and entreated Ghanaians who were 16 years and above to apply for Tax Identification Numbers (TIN).



He warned that persons who failed to secure the TIN would not be able to transact business with government and would be refused tax clearance certificates.



He urged traders and individuals to fix tax stamps on commodities and products as required by law, saying; GRA is poised to collect revenues that would help the country to be self-reliant and you are the people who can help us achieve that objective.



Mr Emmanuel Kofi Nti, the Commissioner-General of the GRA, in a brief remark, urged the chief directors to buy into the Presidents vision of building Ghana beyond Aid, and support the Governments revenue collection drive to engender development.



Taxation is defined as a fiscal policy that every nation depends on to mobilise revenue for its national development.



It is a means by which various governments finance their expenditure by imposing charges on citizens and corporate entities.

Source: GNA









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured VideoThe Consumer Advocacy Centre (CAC), a consumer rights advocacy and research group is calling on telecommunication companies in Ghana to explain to the general public, the feedback that consumers receive on their phones when they dial *#61#.



They are also calling on Multichoice Ghana to explain to the Ghanaian consumer as to why DSTV charges are expensive in Ghana than that of Nigeria.



The group in a press statement signed by the President of CAC, Prof Goski Alabi, observed through research that a large number of Ghanaian mobile phone users receive Call Forwarded, Data Sync, Video Forwarded, etc to strange numbers. Few others we captured in our survey had Call Not Forwarded.



As a consumer rights advocacy and research group, the group said it deems it a consumer right for Ghanaians to know the meaning of such arrangements which they claim is done on behalf of consumers by the service providers (telcos).



Meanwhile random checks by 3news.com also show that the call forwarding, data sync, sms forwarding, video forwarding feedbacks are quite popular among mobile phone users when they *#61#.



CAC say the right of consumers to information should not be taken for granted by the telecos in the country hence their demand for answers.



They are also demanding an explanation to an observation they say show some discrepancies in DSTV prices in Ghana and Nigeria.



Comparing DSTV Premium charges between the two countries, we found out that whilst Nigerian consumers pay 14, 700 (Naira), {equivalent of 190 Ghanaian Cedis}, the Ghanaian consumer is charged 330 Ghanaian Cedis for the same service



These calls were made Thursday, March 15 to mark this years World Consumers Rights Day. World Consumers Rights Day is marked by the consumer movement annually as a means of raising global awareness about consumer rights and needs.







Source: 3news.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video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.Mr. Ron Striker, the Netherlands Ambassador to Ghana, has applauded the nations drive to promote efficient management of its resources to end the over-reliance on foreign aid for development.



He said this was a right step and pledged that his country was going to stand with Ghana every step of the way.



We are proud of the Ghana beyond aid agenda and we will support it, he added.



Mr. Striker, who was speaking at the launch of the Tax Revenue for Economic Enhancement (TREE) project in Cape Coast said it tied in with their development cooperation policy of protecting people's rights, creating equal opportunities for everyone to stand on their own feet and to have the privilege to live successful lives.



He added that eradicating extreme poverty, promoting sustainable and inclusive growth that benefitted the poor and the most vulnerable people had been at the heart of their development cooperation.



He gave the assurance that he would work to deepen the economic ties and strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries for their mutual benefit.



Mr. Stringer applauded President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo- Addo for the strong leadership he had been providing and expressed confidence about the countrys future, saying I see light at the end of the tunnel.



The four-year TREE project is designed to enhance revenue generation performance of the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) for sustainable development.



Its official launch brought together officials from the Finance Ministry, budget and revenue officers, financial analysts, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) and chiefs from 32 selected assemblies in three regions  Ashanti, Central and Western.



Mr. Striker encouraged the assemblies to do more to increase revenue mobilization and said that was important to reduce government's dependence on loans to carry out development projects.



Mr. Peter Jongkind, Director of the VNG International, implementing partners of the project, underlined that need for the MMDAs to prioritize internal revenue generation.



They also needed to build reliable revenue database and to up tax education to get the people to pay their rates and levies.

Source: GNA









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured VideoAdrian Lamo, a computer hacker best known for passing on information that led to the arrest of Chelsea Manning, has died aged 37.



In online messaging conversations, Manning confided in him, describing confidential military material Manning had sent to Wikileaks.



Wikileaks published the video of a US helicopter strike that killed seven people, including a journalist working for the Reuters news agency.



The cause of Lamos death, confirmed to the BBC by the Sedgwick County coroner in Kansas, has not yet been made public.



On Facebook, his father Mario wrote: With great sadness and a broken heart I have to let know all of Adrians friends and acquittances [sic] that he is dead. A bright mind and compassionate soul is gone, he was my beloved son.



Lamos own record as a hacker included some high-profile targets, such as Microsoft and the New York Times.



Speaking to the Guardian newspaper in 2011, Lamo described his decision to give up Manning as not one I decided to make, but was thrust upon me.



Lamo said he would have lasting regret if Manning was handed a long sentence.



Manning, known at the time as Bradley Manning, was eventually sentenced to 35 years in prison. However, President Barack Obama later commuted her sentence and she was released in May 2017.



She is now attempting to become the Senator for Maryland, her home state.



Wikileaks founder Julian Assange on Friday described Lamo as a petty conman and betrayer of basic human decency.











Source: BBC









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 has been asked to adopt a policy against contract-mining because that is not in the best interest of the people  the true owners of the resources.



This comes amid the push by Gold Fields Ghana Limited (GFGL) to transit from owner-mining to contract-mining.



A press statement by Wacam  human rights, environmental and mining advocacy NGO, signed by Hannah Owusu-Koranteng, the Executive Director, said if the government allowed the GFGL to succeed in doing that it would encourage other mining companies to do same considering the huge savings from the cut in labour costs.



Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) should be beneficial to the host country through the creation of decent jobs, payment of corporate tax and income tax by the employees.



It noted that in the case of contract-mining, the companies would be shirking their responsibility of creating decent jobs and affected employees would also suffer diminution in their terms and conditions of service.



The reduced remuneration of employees would translate into lower income tax payment and that would have cascading negative impact on national development.



The release said GFGL had been pampered over the years  having operated as an underground mine alongside surface mining operation for a few years.



Its decision to close down the underground mining operations in July, 1999 led to job losses, especially among the underground workers despite the fact that the operations of the underground mine was the justification for the generous terms of the agreement to attract the company to revamp the underground mine.



The statement likened the agreement to what it termed "Buy one get three free".



It explained that Goldfields South Africa had purchased the Tarkwa Goldfields Limited (TGL) underground mine in 1995 for a paltry US$3,000,000 and that gave the South African Company access to the large concession of TGL of about 280 square kilometers.



The sale of the mine was shortly after the government had secured a loan of $35 million Canadian dollars to invest in the underground mine. By the acquisition of TGL, Goldfields South Africa gained additional properties of the State-owned TGL including housing estates for workers such as the Tamso Estate, Green Compound Estate; Aboso Estate and many bungalows for middle-level management staff and senior managers.



Beyond these freebies for the survival of the company and the generous fiscal regime was the associated development agreement, which provided it the opportunity to negotiate high retention of foreign revenues and reduced corporate tax among other things.



"Above all GFGL had the opportunity to reap windfall profits during the period when the price of gold skyrocketed to around $2,000 an ounce.



Unfortunately, our country's inability to take advantage of the high gold price by instituting windfall profit tax in the fiscal regime for mining, helped companies like GFGL to repatriate huge profits to the home countries of multinational mining companies operating in the country.

Source: GNA









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured VideoPittsburgh paid tribute to its Irish heritage and the late Dan Rooney on Saturday at the annual St. Patrick's Day parade.

Rooney was the Steelers chairman who served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Ireland from 2009-2012 under President Barack Obama. Upon his death, President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins said Rooney was "deeply committed to Ireland and the Irish people" and "always conscious of his Irish roots." Rooney also helped plan the St. Patrick's Day parade in the 1950s and marched along the route.

"It is extremely rare that we dedicate the entire parade to one individual," Mac McCafferty, Pittsburgh St. Patrick's Day Parade Chairman, said in a press release earlier this year. "But last year when we got the news of Mr. Rooney's passing, our former Parade Chairman Pat O'Brien made the suggestion that we dedicate this year's parade to the former ambassador, which received immediate and unanimous support from everyone involved with the parade."

MORE:

Pittsburgh's parade began 148 years ago and has been held annually since 1950. About 200,000 spectators gather along the route most years.ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) -- Authorities say a missing Pennsylvania teenager and a 45-year-old man who frequently signed her out of school without her parents' permission have been located in Mexico.

NBC 10 reports the U.S. Marshal's office in Miami confirms Kevin Esterly and 16-year-old Amy Yu were located Saturday morning in Puerto Morelos, Mexico. They will be returned to the U.S.

Allentown police said Friday that Amy and Esterly bought one-way tickets from Philadelphia to Dallas and then headed to Cancun. They believe the teen went willingly.

The Philadelphia TV station says police have told Amy's family that she has been located.

Esterly and Amy have been missing since March 5. Police issued a missing person alert and filed a warrant for Esterly's arrest for interference with the custody of a child.

According to Lehighvalleylive.com:

Mexican authorities issued an Amber Alert in the case on Thursday.

Yu was "unharmed and in good health," Allentown police said Saturday night. Esterly, a married man with four children who is charged with interfering with custody, was being held by Mexican authorities.One person was "badly burned" in an explosion during a building fire in York County on Saturday after, according to a report from the Hanover Evening Sun.

The fire was reported at about 1:50 p.m. at a building along the 600 block of Baltimore Street in Penn Township.

The victim was flown to a local hospital.

Officials said the cause of the fire is undetermined.

"Any time you have an explosion, the first thing that comes to your mind is, 'Was it natural gas?'" Hanover Fire Chief Anthony Clousher told the Evening Sun.

"The building had four apartments, and a separate building attached to the back houses two units," according to the report.

About four to six people were displaced because of the fire.

Witnesses said "whole ground shook," according to the report.

Tweets and photos from the scene show a house heavily involved in flames.By John W. Sigle

At a fundraiser in Missouri last week, President Donald Trump revealed, with just a few statements, why he remains uniquely unfit for office.

John W. Sigle (PennLive file)

Before a crowd of supporters, he admitted that he just made up his own facts to dispute what Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said about the balance of trade between his country and the United States.

"Trudeau came to see me. He's a good guy, Justin. He said, 'No, no, we have no trade deficit with you, we have none. Donald, please,'. Nice guy, good-looking guy, comes in -- 'Donald, we have no trade deficit.' He's very proud because everybody else, you know, we're getting killed."

"... So, he's proud. I said, 'Wrong, Justin, you do.' I didn't even know. ... I had no idea. I just said, 'You're wrong.' "



There are several major problems here.

First, the President is lying, and admits he is lying, to a close ally.

Second, he doesn't know what the balance of trade really is, although he has been making claims about it for years.

On .@realDonaldTrump's false claim that the U.S. has a trade deficit with Canada. Here is what Consul General Phyllis Yaffe, whose territory includes Pennsylvania, told me in an interview last month. .@AaronBlake, .@jameshohmann pic.twitter.com/ZOfYbMm3FM  ByJohnLMicek (@ByJohnLMicek) March 15, 2018

This is something he definitely should know the facts about before he sits down with the Prime Minister to discuss, well, anything. This is the kind of thing that US Presidents would already know or would be briefed on before such meetings.



Third, he just makes stuff up. He has no respect for the truth. He invents his own facts to suit what he wants to be true or to press his case. Trump supporters like to say that he is a straight talker, that he tells it like it is.

He doesn't. He makes stuff up. This is more than ironic, it is hypocritical and deceitful when he constantly accuses the main stream media of being fake news.



Fourth, he brags about this behavior. This indicates that he still believes that the bullying, braggadocio and mendacious style of negotiation that sometimes made him successful in his business career is the way to negotiate on the international stage.



It isn't.

World leaders now recognize that they can't trust what the President of the United States says, and they can't trust that what he says today will be what he says tomorrow. They can't trust that he will do what he says he will do.



The same holds for his fellow Americans.

Trump says he will stand up to the NRA, then he doesn't. He says he wants to help the DACA recipients, but he doesn't. The list of false claims and flip-flops is long. That combined with his erratic actions and his chaotic administration, means that only his true believers still have faith in him.



Trump finally admits Trudeau is correct. 'Well, sir, you're actually right. We have no deficit, but that doesn't include energy and timber. ... And when you do, we lose $17 billion a year.' It's incredible."

But it does include energy and timber.

It includes everything.

Perhaps what Trump meant was that there is a deficit if you include only energy and timber (or all tangible goods but not services). His incredible lack of precision of language in another major problem.

However, the next day he reverts to the lie again with a tweet-

"We do have a Trade Deficit with Canada, as we do with almost all countries (some of them massive). P.M. Justin Trudeau of Canada, a very good guy, doesn't like saying that Canada has a Surplus vs. the U.S.(negotiating), but they do...they almost all do...and that's how I know!"

"He's just different, and he's not a politician." That's the trope that is repeatedly used to excuse the wild and sometimes ugly rhetoric of President Trump.

But different doesn't necessarily mean good. A President that has such low regard for the truth is a danger in both our domestic and international affairs.

And in Trump's case, not being a politician means that he doesn't know much about how government works, and what doesn't work. It means that he doesn't understand geopolitics and it means that he doesn't know how to use the large and experienced administrative apparatus that does understand geopolitics.



And with his oversized ego, he is quite confident that he has all the answers and that what he says should be accepted as truth, even when it doesn't match reality. It's like we are still watching The Apprentice.

"What have you got to lose?" was one of Trump's campaign lines. We now know the answer - loss of respect from much of the world, and a serious and frightening challenge to our democratic principles and institutions, as well as to our national integrity.After Tuesday's dead-heat special election with major political ramifications for both sides, the Pennsylvania Republican Party wants an investigation.

The party is asking the Department of State to investigate "a number of irregularities" in the 18th District special election, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is reporting.

Democrat Conor Lamb won by a narrow margin over Republican Rick Saccone in the special election in the Pittsburgh-area district. It was an election that tested President Donald Trump's sway in what is traditionally a GOP stronghold.

See the full

But in a letter dated Friday from attorney Joel Frank, the Republicans outlined five areas of concern, ranging from calls about voting machine errors to confusion about polling places, the Post-Gazette is reporting.

Department of State officials are reviewing the letter.

Elections officials said there had been a few problems reported, but they were addressed quickly.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf told the Post-Gazette he does not believe there were any irregularities with the congressional election, and he believes Lamb won.

The letter states the Republican party received numerous complaints about voters not appearing on the voter rolls, being denied the ability to cast provisional ballots, and being directed to the incorrect polling place, the Post-Gazette is reporting.Jamie Duong is shown in Toronto, Monday, Feb.3, 2014. Canada's top court is set to grapple with whether long-term expats should be allowed to vote, an issue that loomed large in the last federal election in which Justin Trudeau and his Liberals took office. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Diana MehtaPrime Minister Justin Trudeau, wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, and children, Xavier, 10, Ella-Grace, 9, and Hadrien, 3, take turns feeding an elephant as they are given a tour of the elephant sanctuary in Mathura, India, on Sunday, Feb. 18, 2018. More than 125,000 people have signed a petition asking Canada to put a stop to the sale of all elephant ivory.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean KilpatrickFILE - In this June 7, 2017 file photo, acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe appears before a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing about the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act on Capitol Hill in Washington. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Friday, March 16, 2018, that he has fired former FBI Deputy Director McCabe, a longtime and frequent target of President Donald Trump's anger, just two days before his scheduled retirement date. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)This Saturday March 17, 2018 photo shows graffiti painted on top of a mural in New York by British graffiti artist Banksy protesting the imprisonment of Turkish artist and journalist Zehra Dogan. Dogan, an ethnic Kurd, was jailed after she painted the Turkish flag flying over the rubble of a destroyed town. (AP Photo/Shelly Acoca)FILE- In this Feb. 9, 2016, file the HSBC bank headquarters building is seen in London. International bank HSBC is moving hundreds of jobs from London to Paris, where it will set up EU headquarters. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)We know home values are on the rise in 19123, which goes roughly as far south as the Race Street Pier, as far north as Thompson, and west from the Delaware to Broad Street. New construction dots the northern reaches of the map, and conversions, flips and other renovations are rife throughout the zip code. These are three of the most expensive properties on the market in 19123.

901 N. Penn St., F2004, Philadelphia

$1,395,000

Monthly taxes: $124 (two years remaining on tax abatement)

Tell me all about it: This "mini-penthouse" at Waterfront Square features walls of windows and panoramic views. The four-bedroom home also boasts 300 square feet of private, outdoor living space. Inside, the kitchen features high-end appliances and a built-in wine fridge. The building includes its own fitness center, outdoor jogging area, and putting green Bonus: Swarovski sconces light the unit.

1009 N. Orianna St., Philadelphia

$1,175,000

Monthly taxes: $206

Tell me all about it: This four-bedroom home has a lot to boast about. Inside, the finished basement is a great entertaining space. Upstairs, the kitchen features a 15-foot island and two of each of the high-end appliances. The master suite has a whirlpool tub for two. Outside, there are wooden chandeliers and a lush lawn at ground level as well as a huge deck.

622 N. Bodine St., Philadelphia

$1,495,000

Monthly taxes: $1,297 (tax abatement pending)

Tell me all about it: This four-bedroom home is brand new and features two entirely separate roof decks (plus two other private decks). The home boasts a private elevator, two-car attached garage parking, and the highest of high-end appliances. We love the master suite, with a spa-like bath featuring heated floors and a huge soaking tub.This neighborhood, located in the 19146 zip code, experienced the highest number of home sales in the second quarter of 2016. Read more

Anyone can take a look at real estate listings in Northern Liberties, Southwest Center City, and Point Breeze and get a sense that price points in those neighborhoods have made dramatic changes lately. A recent study at RENTCafe offers some hard data. Researchers say 19123 and 19146 are respectively the fourth and eighth most gentrified zip codes in the country.

RENTCafe number crunchers calculated what they're calling a gentrification coefficient by examining changes on three fronts in 11,000 zip codes nationwide: median home values, median household incomes, and levels of higher education. After averaging the ranks in each of the three categories, they came up with a national list using data from the 2000 census and the 2016 American Community Survey.

The 90014 zip code in Los Angeles demonstrated the most home value growth on the list (707 percent) as well as the biggest influx of folks with a college degree (an 857 percent increase), making it the most gentrified zip code in America by these calculations.

The 19123 area, which includes the Northern Liberties, West Poplar and Callowhill neighborhoods, clocked a 203 percent increase in home values, 95 percent growth in household income, and a 230 percent increase in college-educated residents. In 19146, which includes the Southwest Center City, Point Breeze and Graduate Hospital neighborhoods, home values were up 404 percent, household incomes were up 51 percent, and college degrees were up 106 percent.

East Coast cities dominated the top-20 list, with zip codes in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore making up most of the other entrants.President Trump (center) speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House before signing two proclamations, one on steel imports and the other on aluminum imports. Standing with Trump are workers (left) Vice President Mike Pence, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. Read more

Too much of the talk and commentary these days centers on tariffs and trade wars.

The discussion obscures the key issue when it comes to trade: Free trade is an ideal, but fair trade is what countries need to strive for, and how we reach that goal is critical.

The need to rationally approach the issue of trade is not a new issue. I wrote a column on this one year ago, and much of this column follows arguments made in my book, Big Picture Economics, which was released four years ago.

For the global economy to work smoothly, goods and services must move freely and easily between nations. Economists have maintained for 100 years that if countries concentrate on what they do best and trade with other countries that have their own special ways of producing goods and services, the world will be better off.

This is called "comparative advantage," and it is the concept that underpins the drive for free trade.

The advantages of trade are readily apparent  they are not just results from economic models. When shopping, consumers see every day the benefits of goods produced around the world flowing into the United States.

Consider a trip to the mall or a visit to Amazon. Much, if not most, of the goods for sale are produced outside the United States.

We are buying so many foreign products for one reason: They are cheaper. If they weren't, firms would be selling U.S.-made products.

And cheaper products means our standard of living is increased as we can purchase more goods with the same income.

Unfortunately, cheaper foreign products come with a cost: Domestic firms that cannot compete go out of business.

That creates two negative facts of life. First, jobs are lost. Second, to compete against foreign producers, costs must be limited.

One of the reasons wages have been so stagnant is that labor markets are now international, and foreign workers compete with U.S. workers for jobs. That holds down wage gains in the United States.

To reap the benefits (but also suffer the costs), free trade requires that no artificial barriers be erected. In the real world, though, while countries love to sell their goods to everyone else, they are rarely happy when foreign firms take sales from domestic companies.

And those that lose don't go quietly. Politics enter the economic arena.

To limit the negative impacts, governments impose trade barriers such as tariffs, manipulate currencies, subsidize exports, or foster dumping. Those actions do limit imports or increase exports, but they also reduce the benefits of trade.

But I cannot blame just politicians for the move to restrain trade. It is hard for economists to argue that if one country has fewer barriers than others, that country benefits. A country with limited trade restrictions could lose out to those that don't reciprocate.

So, if we don't have free trade, what do we replace it with?

To account for barriers, the free trade argument has morphed into a "fair trade" movement. If you cannot have free trade, make trade as fair as possible for the companies in your country.

Unfortunately, how best to create a fair-trade world with level playing fields has not been part of the current dialogue.

To get there, our options are limited: unilateral action or negotiations.

The administration's approach has been to take unilateral actions and demand negotiations with conditions. Trade agreements, such as the Trans Pacific Partnership, have been scuttled. Tariffs have been implemented. Mexico and Canada were warned that NAFTA would be terminated unless changes beneficial to the U.S. were made.

But negotiations between governments are vastly different from bargaining between businesses. There is a different bottom line and much of it is political, not economic.

Threats are extremely problematic in this situation. Leaders of countries threatened by the president of the United States could not survive very long if they capitulated to the demands.

And then there is the bizarre statement that "trade wars are good and easy to win."

Let's be clear, trade wars are losers for everyone. Reciprocal tariffs and restrictions would cause U.S. firms to lose international sales, while increasing business and consumer costs. Many times more jobs would be lost in a trade war than gained.

So it all comes down to "the process." The president believes, as do many businesspeople and economists, that the trade field of play is tipped and something should be done.

But how we go about leveling the field is critical.

The process matters and that is what we should be discussing.Allen Iverson meets fans at the BE Expo at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Phila., Pa. on March 17, 2018. Read more

On Saturday, thousands of Philadelphians gathered at the Pennsylvania Convention Center for Radio One's fourth annual Be Expo. Hosted by local radio stations 100.3 WRNB, Praise 107.9, and Boom 103.9, the event featured appearances from Remy Ma, Doug E. Fresh, Al B. Sure, Kindred the Family Soul, and a surprise visit from former 76er Allen Iverson.

Empowerment and entrepreneurship served as the central theme of the event, with panel discussions focused on topics such as breaking into the music industry and personal growth, which included such industry experts as commentator and Inquirer and Daily News columnist Solomon Jones and veteran actress Erika Alexander (Living Single).

"Part of what makes this event so special is all the communities that come together in a peaceful manner," said radio host and celebrity strategist Dyana Williams. "It's a multi-generational love festtruly brotherly love and sisterly affection and an opportunity for Radio One Philadelphia to show love to the people who love us, every second of the day."

Iverson graced the audience with an appearance between sets to give thanks to the people of Philadelphia for their continued support. The roaring applause from the crowd indicated that his sentiments were returned.

Dozens of vendors scattered the convention center floor, selling everything from rum cake to kente cloth backpacks. But beyond the ankh-shaped earrings or the photography that lured guests in for a closer view, each vendor had his or her own entrepreneurial story.

"We started [this business] as a response to the need for self-expression, in a cultural sense," Ron Green, founder of What's Up African Apparel Co., said as he removed the last T-shirt that read "Thick Thighs and Good Vibes" from his display mannequin. Green, who started his Southwest Philly e-commerce business in January 2015, said that the mission of his business is rooted in positivity and empowerment. "We want people to feel good about their experience being black. We want to build ourselves up with positive messaging and imagery."

Green said he believes that Philadelphia's long-standing history of community involvement, activism, and philanthropy is a big part of why such events as the Be Expo are important to the fabric of the region.

Hip-hop pioneer Fresh shared similar views about Philly's culture. The "Human Beatbox" attended this year's expo to participate on a panel discussing the history of hip-hop alongside industry experts Grandmaster Caz, Chuck Creekmur, and Roxanne Shante.

Fresh pointed to Philadelphia's honesty and authenticity as the reason he keeps returning to the city.

"I've been coming to Philadelphia since 1985 and ever since it's been nothing but love and respect. The people of Philadelphia are genuine about their culture. They're genuine about hip-hop and that, in itself, makes me very happy and honored to come to Philly," the veteran rapper said.

He also asserted that Philly is a great place to discover new talent. "I think that some of the most creative artists have come out of Philadelphia," he said. "The DJs have changed and transformed things. They continue the progression of hip-hop."

Hip-hop idols weren't the only ones who travel to get their Philly-fill. Seaira Romain, owner of Elegant Elephant in Columbia, S.C., came to the Be Expo to take part in the Philly experience. Elegant Elephant is a boutique that provides access to traditional women's African attire and accessories.

Romain creates several of the items she sells by hand, with the help of her mother. Other items are shipped to the U.S. from a manufacturing factory she owns in Ghana, where she sponsors three local families.

Romaine attributed her own experiences as a black woman to the mission of her business. "I'm Haitian-Jamaican and I [also] have lots of family from Africa, [particularly] Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, so [the aesthetic] has been apart of me since childhood."

"There's so much life," Romain said of Philadelphia. "The clothes I sell are perfect for the people here."This combination from photos provided by Allentown, Pa., Police Department shows from left, Amy Yu and Kevin Esterly. Allentown police issued a missing person alert on March 7. Read more

A 16-year-old Allentown girl who went to Mexico with a 45-year-old man is home, and the man is in custody, federal authorities said Sunday.

Amy Yu and Kevin Esterly have been missing since March 5. Yu's mother, Miu Luu, reported her missing that day when the teen did not return home from Lehigh Valley Academy Charter School in Hanover Township, Northampton County.

The mother told the Allentown Morning Call that she cried when she heard her daughter had been found.

"For two weeks, I've had trouble sleeping and eating," Luu told the newspaper. "I'm very happy."

Yu and Esterly were taken into custody Saturday morning in Playa del Carmen, in Quintana Roo state, according to Immigration and Customs officials. The Associated Press reported that the two were flown to Miami, where Esterly remained for processing while Yu went on to Philadelphia. She arrived Sunday and returned to Allentown. Esterly will be charged with child custody interference when he arrives in Pennsylvania.

Their apprehension was the result of a joint effort by ICE, Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Policia Federal Transnational Criminal Investigative Unit.

The case has made headlines in the Lehigh Valley and beyond. Allentown police held a news conference Friday to say the teen willingly went with Esterly, a father of two. They bought one-way tickets from Philadelphia to Dallas and then headed to Cancun, police said.

Investigators said the two apparently had a secret relationship for months. Police said Yu had listed Esterly as her stepfather on her school records so he could check her out of school, according to the Associated Press. Esterly had signed her out of school 10 times in the last few months, police said.

Mexican authorities issued an Amber Alert Thursday saying that Yu was believed to be traveling with Esterly and that she "may be a victim of a crime."

On Friday, Esterly's wife, Stacey, gave a statement to the Allentown Morning Call, pleading for the teen and her husband to return home from Mexico.

Kevin Esterly and his family have known Yu for about eight years, having met through church, according to the Morning Call. The paper quoted Stacey Esterly's attorney as saying the husband and wife had been fighting since the summer about his relationship with Yu.

The attorney, John Waldron, told the Morning Call that Stacey Esterly was "very happy and relieved" that her husband and Yu had been found.

"She wants Amy home with her mom, that is what she has always wanted," Waldron said. "She is glad that Amy is safe and that Kevin is with authorities."A South by Southwest event coproduced by and featuring Philadelphia's The Roots was canceled Saturday due to a reported bomb threat.

Police in Austin, Texas, arrested a 26-year old man, Trevor Weldon Ingram, on a charge of making terroristic threats Saturday night, according to a city statement released through Twitter. The statement said that Ingram allegedly emailed the threat, which Live Nation Music reported to police Saturday afternoon.

The Roots' show would have been the third in as many years it has coproduced with Bud Light at the popular SXSW conference and festival, which celebrates the tech industry and the arts. The beer company canceled Saturday's event, explaining on Twitter that it was a "hard decision."

"Your safety and the safety of all fans at SXSW is our most important priority," the company tweeted late Saturday night.

Ahead of this official cancellation, Roots drummer Questlove also had tweeted that the event was a no-go, according to the Austin Chronicle and Billboard. The tweets have since been deleted.

"Uh, welp can't say much but for those in Austin waiting in line to see us tonight," he reportedly posted, per Billboard. "Tonight's show has been canceled. They'll make official announcement but I'd rather save y'all the trouble of waiting in line."

According to the city's statement, the police found no evidence of an explosive device after inspecting the area.

This year's "Bud Light x The Roots & Friends SXSW Jam" was set to feature rapper Ludacris, funk band Tank and the Bangas, indie rockers Moon Taxi and emcee Rapsody, among others.Lenny Bronfman, who is a co-owner in Mendels Garage, jumps out of a 1991 Delica that they have refurbished to sell in Philadelphia, it was bought from someone in Japan. Read more

A plain old work van, a rolling white canvas that taggers love to spray paint, a car that makes you feel boring just looking at it, pulled up to a stop sign in Frankford on Thursday morning and idled.

When the driver opened the door, he had a tape measure clipped to his belt and a phone poised to take photos because, just like everyone else who sees a vintage Mitsubishi Delica, he wondered, "What the heck are those vans over there?"

The four vans, all at least 25 years old, were imports from Japan and were parked in a row by Gambrel Playground on Wakeling Street, but they'd soon leave Frankford for places far wilder, to ford rivers in Oregon or explore Canada's vast boreal forest, with bizarre features like ice makers and power curtains. Inside the brick-faced garage across the street, Michael Shmulevich was fielding calls from Utah and Washington, the state, because these quirky vans are beloved by outdoors enthusiasts and have become the bulk of his business.

"One guy I sold to drove his to Panama to go surfing," Shmulevich said. "Two of those outside are going to California. Most of my vehicles are going to the West Coast. I sold one that didn't have air-conditioning to a guy in Texas. I said, 'Good luck.'"

Mitsubishi has been making the vans since 1986 for markets in Asia, Europe and Australia, with right-hand steering. Versions of the Delica were sold in North America but in small numbers and only for three years, from 1987 to 1990. Shmulevich was born in Georgia, the country, and grew up working on cars with his grandfather. He began importing and exporting vehicles when he moved to Israel at 16, and continued after college when he moved to the United States with his wife 20 years ago. In 2015, Shmulevich bought his first Delica from an online auction in Japan, shipped it over, and was surprised at all the response the van received.

"I get it. It's like a minivan that eats rocks for breakfast," he said.

Shmulevich sold that first van for $13,500. Now, nearly three years later, he has sold close to 100 Delicas ranging in price from $10,000 to $17,500, operating the Delica USA web site and an Instagram page.

When they arrive from Japan, Shmulevich's crew at Mendel's Garage strips the Delicas down and nearly rebuilds them, adding some flair like larger tires and roof racks. He also services the vans and has quickly become an expert-of-sorts, even though he's a "Porsche guy," and he's building a "show-worthy" Delica with a coat of orange paint for outdoors shows.

"Yesterday I was on the phone with a guy from Utah," he said.

The vans look futuristic in a 1986 kind of way, a refrigerator on wheels with an angled front end. One version was called the "Star Wagon." The Delica might make an Italian car designer look away in shame, but it's got key features, Shmulevich said, that make outdoors enthusiasts drool: Most are four-wheel-drive, a rarity in any van, with small but reliable turbo diesel engines, and a mind-boggling arrangement of seating configurations that range from a bed for two to a party of seven.

"I was immediately in love," Joe Zito, a Gloucester City resident, said of his first Delica test drive at Shmulevich's garage.

Zito, 38, wound up buying a Delica from an importer in Virginia and uses it on weekends to haul around other things he loves  his wife, Michelle, his dog, Max, and a vintage Triumph motorcycle he races on dirt trails.

"It's fun to navigate a tough section, off-road, while watching the factory Mitsubishi window curtains sway back and forth," Zito said.

The Delica is a part of the growing #vanlife community and not the only option out there for enthusiasts, but often, they're a fraction of the price. Mercedes makes a four-wheel-drive van that starts at $53,000, and Volkswagen's beloved Westfalia camper vans are prized by collectors but unreliable, Shmulevich said. The only issue for Delica buyers, he said, is the right-hand steering wheel.

"It's actually not that bad, but I'm used to it," he said.

For Shmulevich, the issue is getting more rust-free Delicas that are 25 years and older. Importing restrictions prohibit him from bringing in anything newer than a 1993 Delica this year. In 2019, he can import 1994 models, and so on.

Shmulevich, a father of three, lives in Bucks County and often takes Delicas up to a second home near Hunter Mountain in New York. People love to chat him up at gas stations and rest stops along they way, he said.

"It's not like a Ferrari where people are thinking, 'Hey, look at this jerk in a Ferrari,'" he said. "People think they're kind of cool. They want to climb inside."The Public Library Association will host its biennial conference this month in Philadelphia. The city is a fitting location, having influenced the development of libraries since before the nation's founding.

Benjamin Franklin founded the Library Company in 1731. The institution  which exists to this day  was the first of its kind, offering access to a collection of books for a subscription fee. The Library Company's model was an extension of the knowledge-sharing system that served as the basis of Franklin's intellectual group "Junto," a circle of 12 Philadelphians who privately shared books and discussed solutions to social and political problems.

Despite the pivotal role Franklin and his club played in shaping the concept of the modern library, Philadelphia would not have a free public lending library until more than a century and a half later. Darby, in Delaware County, holds the distinction for founding the first public library, which has operated since 1743. The first taxpayer-supported library, however, opened in 1833 in Peterborough, N.H. This successful experiment inspired the New Hampshire legislature to pass a law enabling towns and cities to establish free public libraries.

In Philadelphia, Dr. William Pepper hatched the idea for a city-funded library in the 1880s. Pepper exerted an outsized influence on Philadelphia's cultural and intellectual institutions, serving in a number of high-level academic and civic roles throughout his life. He became the provost of the University of Pennsylvania in 1881, overseeing one of the university's most rapid expansions; during his tenure the number of faculty leaped from 42 to 245 and its programs increased to include the Wharton School of Business and the Graduate School of Arts and Science.

Encouraged by a new state law permitting the establishment of municipal libraries, Pepper in 1887 organized a campaign to found a free public lending library in Philadelphia. The effort took years to gain steam. Pepper's affluent uncle, George S. Pepper, had bequeathed $250,000 in his will for the founding of a library, but upon his death in 1890 a legal conflict ensued that pitted private libraries against William Pepper and his plan for a public library.

While the dispute played out in the courts, Pepper moved forward, securing a charter for the library in 1891 and working with the city to pilot small branches of a nascent library system in conjunction with the Board of Education. The legal battles over the seed funding concluded in 1894, with the courts ruling in Pepper's favor. The Free Library opened its first central branch in City Hall in March of the same year.

Regarding the city's new public library, Pepper grandly proclaimed: "This is the People's Library, absolutely free to all." The library's leadership dreamed of a large headquarters to house the central branch, but it would take decades to accomplish this vision. Pepper  who led the library until his death in 1898  nonetheless oversaw the swift growth of the Free Library's services and reach. During his four years in charge, the library's staff grew to 160, its collection expanded to 250,000 items, and it broke a world record for highest circulation, which reached 1,778,387.

After bouncing around several more locations in the city, the Free Library's central branch finally received an august headquarters of its own in 1927 when its current structure  designed by architect Horace Trumbauer  officially opened on what is now known as the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

Today, the library stands as one of the city's cultural keystones, providing educational enrichment and a vital social utility connecting residents with job opportunities and health-care information. The library has also cultivated an impressive archive of priceless historical materials over the years, ranging from the Edwin A. Fleisher Collection of Orchestral Music  the world's largest lending collection of orchestral sheet music  to prints by Andy Warhol.

Patrick Glennon is a communications officer at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. pglennon@hsp.org

On May 17, HSP will honor the Free Library of Philadelphia's director and president, Siobhan A. Reardon, with the Heritage Award at HSP's Founders Award gala at the Independence Seaport Museum. Visit hsp.org/founders to learn more.Foreign exchange market

Google Bans ICO and Cryptocurrency Ads

A couple of days ago, the top management of Alphabet Inc. announced that Google would ban any ICO and cryptocurrency ad campaigns starting from June 2018. On top of that, they would toughen the requirements for advertising other risky financial products, including binary options. This decision was made in response to the requests made by multiple financial regulators from all over the world. For instance, Japan advocates the idea of regulating cryptocurrencies globally (both mining and circulation). Tokyo, Berlin, Paris and others suggest discussing this global cryptocurrency regulation during the forthcoming G20 summit, which is scheduled for the next week in Argentina At the same time, some representatives of the European Central Bank say that cryptocurrencies are nothing but a miserable attempt to copy money. Almost nobody values their products and services in cryptocurrencies, which is why only a handful of people use cryptocurrencies to pay for products and services. At the same time, they claim that storing your savings in cryptocurrencies is like gambling in a casino.

Still some experts are skeptical about the regulation. They think its really difficult to implement this kind of regulation since its next to impossible to make everyone cooperate, especially as the info is really complex.



In the meantime, Bitcoin seems to have been failing to come up to expert expectations. According to CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin is currently trading somewhere around $7600 per 1BTC. The BTC market cap is

You are free to discuss this article here: forum for traders and investors 



Got a question?  Ask it here

VWAP Indicator. Usage Peculiarities. In order to get a competitive edge over others and simplify the process of reaching the trading goals, many traders take advantage of a number of helper tools like trading strategies and indicators. Today, we are going to take a closer look at the indicator named Value-Weighted Average Price (VWAP). What are the benefits of using it and why do they recommend using it? Read more 

Forex Consolidation. EUR/USD and GBP/USD The stock market has been ambitious in its attempt to eliminate September's retracement and take the "blue wave" into account but the forex market has been more conservative recently in terms of restoring risky bets. However, when it comes to the stock market, each and every scenario out there eventually boils down to the smart money, which cannot but affect the international currency market. Still, there are many questions to be answered yet, which makes it really difficult to make more or less clear predictions. Read more 

Tape Patterns Indicator Traders often use various kinds of technical indicators these days. The list can be rather long, from popular ones like RIS, MACD etc. to less popular ones like Tape Patterns. Read more 

Bitcoin's Getting Ready For a Strong Rally While Bitcoin could have been more volatile over the recent weeks, the king of cryptocurrencies stoped in the range between 10K and 11K dollars per coin. Do BTC miners know in which way the coin is going in the near future? Read more 

Bloomberg: Crypto Is Better Than Gold In 2020 According to the recent Bloomberg report, cryptocurrencies are way better than gold in terms of investments in 2020. Which is interesting, most cryptocurrencies have been growing much faster than gold this year. It's not a secret that gold is considered a safe-haven asset amid crises. Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index (BGCI) has gained 66% this year,while gold has gained only 20% over the same period. Read more 

Gold Prices Drop Below $1860/oz, Seeing A Major Downtrend On Thursday morning, the spot price of gold dropped roughly down to $1850/oz withing the scope of a strong downtrend started earlier this week, with a strong gap from the consolidation level. The key factors contributing to the price drop was the sudden strengthening of the U.S. Dollar. Read more 

Texas Authorities Spot New Crypto Scams The TSSB, which is the financial regulator of Texas, is reported to have revealed a couple of potential scams in the international market of cryptocurrencies. These are named Forex Birds and PEK Universe. From now on, both of these projects cannot work in Texas anymore. These projects were banned on September, 3rd. Read more 

Cryptocurrencies On Sale: ChainLink and TRON Go Down, Bitcoin Is Stable Wednesday's session is bringing a retracement in the market of digital assets, which is affecting the entire crypto market cap. Chainlink (LINK), TRON (TRX), and Tezos (XTZ) have been the biggest losers over the last 24 hours. They lost 9,7%, 8,7%, and 5,5% respectively. Bitcoins remains stable and one of the very few tokens among the top 20 that are still showing some gains, though modest ones. Read more 

What's Next For Bitcoin? Some analysts argue the future of Bitcoin, also known as the digital gold. Last week, the Winkelvoss brothers stated that the BTC price may skyrocket all the way up to 500.000 dollars per coin in the near future. This opinion is shared by Bloomberg analysts. But on the other hand, Bitcoin may see the opposite scenario, which is a major crash to make it as cheap as dirt. Read more If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this





Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found hereMumbai, March 14 : Hindi film actor Narendra Jha, seen in films like "Haider" and "Raees", died on Wednesday due to a heart attack, leaving the Bollywood fraternity in disbelief. He was 55.

His sudden demise on Wednesday came to his friends and associates as a shock as he was hale, hearty and geared up to feature in a slew of new projects.

Narendra was at his farmhouse in Nanegaon in Nashik district of Maharashtra, when he complained of chest pain. He was taken to a nearby hospital, but he had already passed away, the actor's driver Lakshman Singh told IANS.

The cremation took place in Wada in Nashik. His family members, including wife Pankaja Thakur, and some of his industry friends like Rajpal Yadav and Mohit Madaan were present there.

Born and brought up in Delhi, Narendra also featured in films like "Mohenjo Daro" and "Kaabil". He worked with iconic filmmaker Shyam Benegal for the film "Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero" and television series "Samvidhaan".

His other TV credits include "Shanti", "Ithihass", "Captain House", "Begusarai" and "Chhoona Hai Aasmaan".

Narendra's role in "Haider" as Shahid Kapoor's father was widely lauded, and he essayed Musabhai in "Raees".

One of the last dialogues the actor delivered on-screen was: "Life is unpredictable. Who knows about the next Friday?" He sad this in "2016 - The End", which released towards the end of last year.

He was signed up for the upcoming Salman Khan starrer "Race 3" among other projects. He had recently shot for director Awani Agrawal's tentatively titled "De Ijaazat Rahun Tujhme".

Agrawal told IANS that Narendra was fine while shooting for the film in Gujarat earlier this month.

Mohit, who worked with Narendra in the film, said: "I will always remember our final conversation on the night before he left for home where he found me lost in my own world sitting in the lawn. He sat with me on the grass and we ate dinner together from one plate.

"There was an instant attachment and he motivated me to continue as an actor."

Some film fraternity members were in disbelief.

"Kaabil" director Sanjay Gupta tweeted: "I refuse to accept it. Life cannot be so damn unpredictable. I just met a hale and hearty Narendra Jha at the park last week.

"And now I'm hearing he passed away this morning. Such a splendid actor and a marvellous human being. Rest in peace my friend. May God bless your soul."

Hrithik Roshan, the lead star of "Kaabil", said: "He was a dream to work with. What an actor. This is absolutely shocking. Narendra Jha, you will be so missed."

Filmmaker Hansal Mehta found the news a "shocker", and commented: "This profession is truly a killer."

Actor Rohit Roy called him one of the "sweetest, most respectful and soft spoken actors around", while Narendra's "Ghayal Once Again" co-star Tisca Chopra said he was a "fine person and actor".

For Ekta Kapoor too, he was one of the finest actors she worked with.

Milap Zaveri was looking forward to shoot with Narendra next month for a project.

"Still can't believe it," he said.Barcelona, March 15 : A magical performance by Leo Messi -- two goals and an assist -- vaulted Barcelona into the quarterfinals of the 2017-2018 Champions League with a 3-0 win here over Chelsea in the second leg of their round of 16 tie.

With the score knotted at 1-1 after the first leg in London, both sides knew the importance of scoring the first goal, Efe news reported.

But the Blues found themselves trailing before their first touch on Wednesday, with Messi scoring at close range barely two minutes into the contest to the delight of the 97,000-plus crowd in the stands at Camp Nou.

The Argentine superstar smiled broadly and dedicated the goal to his newborn son, Ciro.

With their original game plan in tatters, Chelsea were forced to go forward behind Eden Hazard and the visitors dominated possession for the next 18 minutes, though the only real threat was a Willian shot that forced a save from Marc-Andre ter Stegen in the 12th minute.

In the 20th minute, however, Messi stole the ball from Cesc Fabregas and blew past Cesar Azpilicueta and Andreas Christensen before he dished off to Ous mane Dembele rushing forward on his right and the Frenchman beat Thibaut Courtois for his first goal in a Barca shirt.

The second goal left Chelsea dazed and only a good stop by Courtois prevented Luis Suarez from making it 3-0 on the night just minutes later.

With 10 minutes left in the first half, the Blues regrouped and went on the attack. N'Golo Kante and Marcos Alonso wasted a pair of good chances, but Alonso did better on a free kick in the 45th, hitting the post.

Chelsea were sharper to start the second half and Courtois thwarted Suarez again in the 48th minute to keep his team alive.

The hosts lost Paulinho and Sergio Busquets to injury in the space of 10 minutes and Barca was looking less capable in possession when Messi rose to the occasion once more, threading the ball through Courtois' legs in the 64th minute to bring the margin to 3-0 on the night and 4-1 overall.

It was the Argentine's 100th goal in Champions League play and Barcelona are headed to the tournament quarterfinals for a record 11th consecutive year.New Delhi, March 15 : After Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif invited Pakistan and China earlier this week to join the strategic Chabahar port project, India on Thursday said that it is Iran's prerogative to choose its partner for development of the port's infrastructure facilities.

"It is the prerogative of the government of Iran to choose its partner for the development of infrastructure facilities at the port," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar told the media here.

"But at the same time, you are aware that India is supporting the development of Chabahar port as a robust and alternate access route to and from Afghanistan and central Asia," Kumar said.

Stating that significant progress has been made in operationalising the port, he said that four shipments of wheat to Afghanistan via Chabahar have been successfully sent and one shipment is scheduled to leave next month.

On Monday, Zarif had invited Pakistan to participate in the Chabahar port project that connects India to Afghanistan, Central Asia and Eastern Europe.

"We offered to participate in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). We have also offered Pakistan and China to participate in Chabahar," Zarif said while delivering a lecture at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad.

India, Iran and Afghanistan signed a trilateral agreement in 2016 to jointly develop the Chabahar port, opening a new strategic transit route between the three nations and other Central Asian nations, bypassing Pakistan.

Kumar also recalled that during Iran President Hassan Rouhani's visit to India last month, an agreement was signed with regard to interim operations of the Chabahar port.

"India's assistance for building Chabahar-Zahedan railway to realise the full potential of the port to connect to Afghanistan and central Asia also came up for discussion during that visit," he said.

"We continue to work with Iran on the full and effective operationalisation of the Chabahar port."

On Zarif's offer of Iran participating in the CPEC that passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Kumar said that he would not like to comment or respond "to the distorted picture and falsehood that is routinely propagated by Pakistan".

"On the contrary, the fact that Pakistan is an epicentre of terrorism harbouring globally designated terrorists and other entities and providing safe haven and sanctuaries to them is a well-known fact," he said.

"Our position on Jammu and Kashmir is well-known and is consistent. Any action to alter the status of any part of the territory under the illegal and forcible occupation of Pakistan has no legal basis."Moscow, March 16 : Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday urged the citizens to cast their votes in Sunday's presidential election for the country's future development.

"Dear Russian citizens, as the incumbent president, I ask you to go to the polling station on Sunday. Use your right to choose the future for our great and beloved Russia." Putin said in a special address to voters.

The Constitution of the Russian Federation dictates that the only source of power is the people and "the future of Russia and our children depends on the will of every Russian citizen" Xinhua news agency quoted the President as saying.

Putin will compete with seven other candidates in the election.

He is widely expected to win with a landslide given his high approval ratings.: Xi Jinping takes a public oath of allegiance to the Constitution in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 17, 2018. Xi was elected ... Image Source: Xinhua/Ju Peng/IANS

BEIJING, March 17, 2018 - Xi Jinping takes a public oath of allegiance to the Constitution in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 17, 2018. Xi was elected Chinese ... Image Source: Xinhua/Ju Peng/IANS

Beijing, March 17 : China's largely ceremonial Parliament on Saturday re-elected Xi Jinping as the country's President and appointed his aide and once feared anti-graft body's chief Wang Qishan as Vice President.

The 64-year-old Xi's re-election was a mere formality as the National People's Congress (NPC) -- China's top legislature -- on March 11 abolished from the Constitution the two-term limit for President and Vice President.

Even if the cap was not removed, Xi would have continued as this would have been his second term.

Xi, who became China's President in 2013, was also re-elected as the Chairman of China's Central Military Commission that controls the world's largest standing army.

In an unprecedented move, Xi took the oath of allegiance to the Constitution, which has been amended five times since its enactment in 1954.

Like Xi's re-election, Wang's appointment was no surprise as he enjoys the President's patronage.

Wang, 69, said to be Xi's most trusted aide, spearheaded an anti-graft campaign which made him China's most feared man.

The association between Xi and Wang goes back to Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution when both were sent to a village in Shanxi province for hard labour.

While all 2,970 lawmakers voted in favour of Xi, only one voted against Wang's election.

Like the President, the post of the Vice President is largely ceremonial but Wang's election is his return to power politics.

Xi is more powerful as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China than as the President of the world's most populous country.

Last year, Wang exited from the Communist Party's seven-member Standing Committee as 68 is the retirement age in the body which rules the country.

Despite being in a ceremonial post and not being in any of the powerful bodies of the ruling party, Wang will remain powerful.

Wang may well be called Xi's deputy and may get to handle China's turbulent ties with the US after Donald Trump's election as President.

Besides, the lawmakers also elected Li Zhanshu as the Chairman of the NPC.

Li is the member of Standing Committee and has served as Xi's chief of staff. He is believed to have helped Xi cement his power and get him "core" status in the Communist Party.

The Parliament, which is currently in its annual session, also adopted the plan of Cabinet restructuring for better work performance.

Earlier, it held a discussion on setting up eight new bodies including the State International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDCA), which would streamline Xi's dream Belt and Road project.

In the government reshuffle, China's Foreign Minister might be promoted as State Councillor, country's top diplomat.

If he is elevated, he will step into Yang Jiechi's role of China's key negotiator with India on border talks.

Yang, China's one of the four State Councillor, is Beijing's Special Representative on boundary talks with New Delhi. Yang, country's most senior diplomat, was last year elected to the powerful 25-member Politburo, a sign of his bigger role.Cuttack, March 17 : President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday advised the lawyers of the nation to be a voice for the voiceless and bring justice to the most deprived.

"It would be a travesty of our republican ethic if a poor person did not get the same access to the law as a rich person. Unfortunately, in practice this is happening," said the President while delivering the Foundation Day Lecture of the National Law University in Cuttack in Odisha.

He said the legal system of the country has a reputation of being expensive and being prone to delays.

"Use and abuse of instrument of adjournments are often done by advocates who see adjournment as a tactic to slow down proceedings, rather than a response to a genuine emergency," he added.

"The judicial system has its responsibilities and so does the lawyer community. An advocate is a law officer of the court. He or she has a responsibility to the client, and also a duty to assist the court in the delivery of justice," said the President.

Kovind said that these are issues for the emerging generation of lawyers to ponder over and to rectify.

"The opportunities and rewards of this profession -- both intellectual and financial -- are enormous. And this is welcome. But a good legal professional is not just somebody with a mind - he or she is also somebody with a heart," he said.

He said for all its advances, at its root the legal profession has a simple aspiration - for the lawyer to be a voice for the voiceless and to bring justice to the deprived.

The Foundation Day Lecture of the National Law University was attended by Chief Justice of India Dipak Mishra, Governor S.C. Jamir, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.Harare, March 18 : Zimbabwe and South Africa have pledged to deepen cooperation particularly in the economic field.

Visiting South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and his Zimbabwean counterpart Emmerson Mnangagwa said this on Saturday during a press conference soon after their meeting in Harare, Xinhua news agency reported.

Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe wants to strengthen infrastructure development cooperation with South Africa, particularly in roads, rail and energy.

"Our economy is down. We also need electricity from South Africa," Mnangagwa said.

Ramaphosa said South Africa and Zimbabwe will continue to work together to overcome economic challenges they face.

"This was a great opportunity to confirm that South Africa and Zimbabwe are joined at the hip and are going to continue finding clever ways of growing our respective economies and cooperating on matters of trade and finding various projects that we can work together on," Ramaphosa said.

He said his visit was also to pay respects to Mnangagwa after he became President last month. He visited Mozambique earlier in the day on a similar mission.

On the issue of land, Ramaphosa said South Africa will learn from Zimbabwe and other countries in the world that have carried out land reforms.

The South African government has announced that it will carry out a land reform programme to expropriate white-owned land without compensation.

Ramaphosa said the country will carry out extensive debate and dialogue on the issue until it matures to a very firm position which will then be adopted by parliament.Moscow, March 18 : Russians began voting on Sunday in the presidential election in which incumbent President Vladimir Putin is seeking a fourth term in office.

Polls first opened in Russia's far-east at 8 a.m. (Russian time). The polling will open in Moscow nine hours later, BBC reported.

Russians residing in the country's easternmost regions of Kamchatka and Chukotka began casting votes after the polling opened, Xinhua news agency reported.

At least 111 million Russian citizens are expected to cast votes to choose the country's president for the next six years, Sputnik reported.

There is no meaningful opposition in the running, and Putin's fiercest political opponent, Alexei Navalny, has been barred from competing, CNN reported.

Despite a lackluster campaign, the 65-year-old Putin is the clear front-runner.

Putin is seeking a fourth term as president and is already the country's longest-serving leader since the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. A win would mean a Putin-led Russia until 2024, after which he is constitutionally obliged to stand down.

Russian nationals are electing the country's head of the state among eight contenders -- Sergey Baburin from the All-People's Union party; Communist Party candidate Pavel Grudinin; incumbent Russian President Vladimir Putin; Civil Initiative party candidate Ksenia Sobchak; Communists of Russia party chairman Maxim Suraykin; Presidential Commissioner for Entrepreneurs' Rights Boris Titov; co-founder of the Yabloko party Grigory Yavlinsky, and head of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Sputnik reported.

The polling stations will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. in every Russian region in accordance with the time zones. Russia has 11 time zones.

The number of eligible voters in Russia equals 108.9 million people as of January 1, 2018, while abroad, the number exceeds 1.87 million people.

Earlier, the Russian Central Election Commission (CEC) carefully checked the number of voters in order to cleanse the voter lists of phantom voters and repeated mentioning of voters, Sputnik reported.

It also cooperated with the Russian Interior Ministry to rule out the double reporting of those who permanently reside abroad being registered in Russia.

The CEC has significantly simplified the voting procedure at the place of one's factual residence.

The residents of Moscow who decided to cast their votes for a presidential candidate and vote on the address of permanent residence registration may choose the most convenient polling station among 3,605 ones, only taking their passports along with.

Those who vote in the Russian capital but are not registered there had to apply until March 12 to any local election commission, multi-service centre or online state services portal, in order to be allowed to vote at a place of residence.

The results will be announced on March 19.New Delhi, March 18 : "Friends with Benefits" director Will Gluck, who feels people in Hollywood are scared to make romantic comedies now, would love to see more such films.

"I think think there needs to be more romantic comedies. They always do well but I think people are scared of making them because there is no explosion and no car chases," Gluck told IANS.

"But people always love a good romance," he added.

Gluck, who has also made films like "Easy A", "Annie" and "Peter Rabbit", feels making 'huge action movies" is the point of focus in Hollywood at present.

"The trend is to make a huge action movie or a comic movie or smaller (budget) smaller movie. The movies in middle like on human relationship are not being made any more," he added.

He says it is a shame "because that is the kind of movies I like to do".

Gluck's next project "Peter Rabbit" is being brought to India by Sony Pictures. It will release in the country on April 6.

The film adaptation is based on the classic tale by Beatrix Potter about Peter Rabbit and his family.

It narrates the adventures that Peter Rabbit (voiced by James Corden) and his sisters Flopsy, Mopsy and Cotton-Tail (Margot Robbie, Elizabeth Debicki and Daisy Ridley) undergo to reclaim their home.Athens, March 18 : Greek citizens, migrants and refugees took to the streets of Athens to protest against racism and fascism ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination which is commemorated annually on March 21.

Holding banners with slogans such as "Freedom of movement" and "Unity", demonstrators on Saturday, representing various groups confronting racism shouted for the end of wars, chaotic social inequalities, far-right violence and all forms of discrimination, Xinhua reported.

"We convey the message that we will not stand idle in front of the fascists who return 70 years after the Holocaust. If we are all united, we can stop them," Petros Konstantinou, director of the local anti-fascist group Keerfa told Xinhua, pointing to the rise of the ultra-right and the dozens racist attacks against migrants in Greece and across Europe in recent years.

"We send the message to the EU that we will not tolerate the images of women and children drowning in the Mediterranean. We demand the re-opening of the borders," he added.

The Athens rally was part of a series of protests held in 70 cities across 15 countries on Saturday to protest the second anniversary of the EU-Turkey deal and the similar EU-Libya agreement, he explained.

"We are here against fascism and racism all over the world. We send the message to the world that we are here to live in peace, because you know the situation, the conditions in our countries," Samir, a Palestinian protester, said.

"All refugees as one from Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, South Africa, all people and immigrants send the message... stop the bloodshed everywhere in the world," he said.

Javed Aslam, the President of the Pakistani Community in Greece union, asked for more measures to support migrants.

"There should be support to immigrants to live with dignity. Here in Greece they should legalize all workers," he said.Helsinki, March 18 : Representatives from the US and North Korea will hold unofficial talks here on Sunday, Finnish media reports said.

According to the reports, Choe Kang Il, who is responsible for relations with the US at the North Korea Foreign Ministry, will arrive here on Sunday on a two-day visit, reports Xinhua news agency.

The Finnish Foreign Ministry has confirmed the visit, describing it as "unofficial".

Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat reported that Choe would meet Kathleen Stephens, a former US ambassador to South Korea.

News agency STT said the talks would take place at the Japanese Embassy in Helsinki.

Kimmo Lahdevirta, head of the Asia desk at Finnish Foreign Ministry, told STT that the talks would be "academic" and "from the perspective of international relations".

On Saturday, the Swedish government said North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho concluded his three-day visit to Stockholm for talks on the security situation on the Korean Peninsula.New Delhi : Title: Burn the Business Plan: What Great Entrepreneurs Do; Author: Carl J. Schramm; Publisher: Hachette India; Pages: 272; Price: Rs 499 The entrepreneurial process involves innumerable notions like "starting really early in life" or the necessity of being a "college drop-out", or even that the whole process requires an actual "written plan" for the idea to flourish. However, neither all successful start-ups are babies of very young entrepreneurs, nor consequences of penned business ideas.

"Burn the Business Plan" busts the common myths surrounding the entrepreneurial journey and should be a must-read for aspiring entrepreneurs. The book is the outcome of Carl J. Schramm's findings while he led the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation -- an institution supporting entrepreneurship -- spending time with many successful as well as aspiring entrepreneurs, investors and business visionaries.

Schramm says: "The book is for those who think that they might want to start a business some day. It is for 'Everyman', a medieval term describing regular people. Most people who start companies are like you: They have never come close to meeting a venture-capital investor, never studied entrepreneurship in college; never heard of a business incubator; and never wrote a business plan."

The author, University Professor at Syracuse, describes an entrepreneur as someone who exploits an innovative idea -- one that he develops, or copies, improves, or rents -- to start a profit-seeking scalable business that successfully satisfies demand for a new or better product.

Describing the entrepreneurial journey, the book's first four chapters explain the "what" of business start-ups, the next four describe lessons learned by those who have already succeeded as entrepreneurs, and the last section seeks to explain data-derived facts and realistic guidance from successful businessmen.

During the decade spent at the Kauffman Foundation, Schramm realised that there were numerous popularly-held but wrong ideas about how, when and why people start companies and that the real story on start-ups and their success rates have a totally different disclosure.

"Most entrepreneurs never went to college, and most did not start their companies until they were well along in their careers. The average entrepreneur is nearly 40 years old when he launches, and more than eighty per cent of all new companies are started by people over 35," writes the author.

Data also revealed that the age of more entrepreneurs are between 45 and 55, with those over 55 creating more companies than those under 35, and that the chances of a new company surviving rises with the age of the entrepreneur, says Schramm.

The book recognises that the "mature entrepreneur" is a significant element in the start-up world. The author establishes the fact that a big company can operate as a "de facto" school in which an aspiring entrepreneur can learn about the various facets of the actual market ahead of handing out their innovation.

"Nearly 90 per cent of all entrepreneurs have worked for other employers before starting their companies. Embryonic entrepreneurs cannot help but absorb lessons working for established companies that can prove useful as they start their own," the author says, citing big names like David Kyle, Fred Valerino, Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore, among others, who previously worked for other bosses.

A successful entrepreneur charts a different path with innovative ideas that even dismiss the popular myth-making stories of the entrepreneurs of Silicon valley. New businesses flourish with great ideas, not merely planning a business. As the author puts it: "If you have already written a business plan, take my advice: Burn it!"

(Porisma P. Gogoi can be contacted at porisma.g@ians.in )New Delhi, March 18 : "Winter will go, snow will melt to make way for warmth of spring again". Raabta, a Facebook page, begins on this optimistic note to re-establish broken links between Kashmiri families, friends, classmates and neighbours divided by decades of insurgency, civil strife and social acrimony.

Almost a month since the page with over 21,000 followers was created, Raabta -- which translates into "connection" -- has been able to connect five Kashmiri Hindu Pandit and Muslim families who live far away from each other.

Sameer Bhat, a Dubai-based journalist, hails from Sopore -- known for its red, juicy apples and also once a militancy hotbed. Bhat wanted to connect with his Pandit neighbour Bunty "bhaiya" (elder brother). The page admin sounded out to all its followers if they could locate or tag Bunty from Sopore. And suddenly, there he was. And the virtual reunion was highly emotional.

Bunty bhaiya's real name turned out to be Arun Koul, who is now based in Chandigarh. The two spoke for the first time in 28 years.

"It felt like 28 days ago, not even 28 weeks," Bhat said, recalling how Bunty bhaiya and his family left the Valley and how all these years he missed "Herath" or "Shivratri" celebrations amid spring rains and soaked walnuts that Bunty's mother would give him.

On March 8, the page posted a message from Anis Maqbool, looking for his Hindu friend Anil Moti. The two studied in Srinagar's famous missionary school Tyndrale Biscoe till 1973. They never spoke to each other after leaving school. Presuming that Moti may have also left the valley at the height of militancy in early 1990s, Maqbool put out a search note for other Pandit friends too -- Ramesh Kalposh and Prithvi Raj.

He was lucky to connect with Moti. Now based in Gurugram, near Delhi, Moti spoke with Maqbool over phone and the two discussed their lives and families. They also invited each other to their houses.

Moti "recalled the day when he was forced to leave and tear drops trickled down uninterrupted at both ends, like spring rains at home", the page said in a post, reporting the re-union.

There are others who have posted lookout messages but not all have been as lucky. Suhail Naqshbandi, a Kashmiri cartoonist, wanted to speak to his school teacher "Mujju Ma'am" -- who boosted his confidence when he had problems with understanding mathematics.

"It was at that nadir of crisis that an angel in the form of Miss Mujju came in my life. She asked us to (solve) a mathematical (problem). I hesitantly tried (but) my fear was not letting me do it. I felt a pat on my shoulder. I looked up and saw Miss Mujju smiling and telling me that it is O.K."

"Her assurance and guidance gave wings to my confidence. My parents considered her a godsent guide for me," the cartoonist wrote. But like many others, he has not been able to reconnect with his teacher -- yet.

The brain behind the initiative is a Kashmiri advertising professional based in Gurugram named Jaibeer Ahmad.

"Despite polarisation, we continue to share bond as individuals. Bound together by our common heritage, culture, music, poetry, food and the phiran (the Kashmiri traditional overcoat)," Ahmad, 43, told IANS.

He said the migration of Pandits -- this is how Kashmir's native Hindu Brahmin community was traditionally known because of their erudition -- did not just displace people but it tore apart friends, neighbours, teachers and colleagues. Pandits left the Valley in large numbers following the insurgency when they were targeted by mercenary militants who came across the border in Pakistan on the pretext of aiding Kashmir's "freedom".

Ahmad recalled the composite culture Kashmir's Hindu Pandits and Muslims shared before the onset of militancy in the late 1980s.

"Today, there is bitterness, anger and animosity between the two communities. On social media, this hatred gets played out every day in the form of abuse and slander, dragging the communities further apart.

"Despite several efforts by the government and the civil society, there hasn't been much progress. Most of these efforts are seen with suspicion from both sides," he said, hoping that the initiative that he runs along with other Kashmiri friends -- both Muslims and Hindus -- bridges the gap between the divided communities that together made "Kashmiriyat" -- or Kashmir's unique composite culture.

(The weekly feature series is part of a positive-journalism project of IANS and the Frank Islam Foundation. Nivedita Singh can be contacted at nivedita.singh@ians.in)Valencia (Spain), March 18 : Valencia provisionally moved into third place in the Spanish-league standings with a 3-1 victory here over Alaves on Matchday 29.

Valencia dominated the contest at the Mestalla Stadium from start to finish, getting a pair of first-half goals from forwards Rodrigo (19th minute) and Simone Zaza (33rd minute) on Saturday, reports Efe.

Alaves pulled one back three minutes into the second half on a score by forward Ruben Sobrino, but Valencia seized a two-goal advantage once again on defender Victor Laguardia's own goal in the 54th minute.

The final score could have been even more lopsided if not for a strong performance by Alaves net minder Fernando Pacheco.

Valencia now provisionally occupy the third spot in La Liga standings with 59 points, two ahead of defending champions Real Madrid, while Alaves remain stuck in 16th place out of 20 teams with 31 points.Kolkata, March 18 : Three people were injured when a window fell from a century-old building here on Sunday, police said.

"Part of a large window in an old three-storied building at 104 AP Road (central Kolkata's Srimani Market area), cracked and fell down on Sunday afternoon. Two shopkeepers sitting on the opposite pavement got injured as a chunk of concrete fell on them," said an officer from Amherst police station.

"The two injured persons were rushed to the nearby hospital. Another passerby, who received minor injuries in the accident, has been released after first aid," he said.

Police said that a number of tenants are living in the old residential building. The damaged part of the house is currently barricaded.

"Several people still live in the house. It is not yet been identified as 'dangerous' by the civic authority. We would check if the safety standards are maintained and if any immediately repair work is necessary," the officer added.Mumbai, March 18 : The first look of actress Esha Deol's short Hindi film titled "Cakewalk" gives a sneak peek into the life of a married chef.

"On the auspicious occasion of Gudi Padwa, Ugadi, Cheti Chand and Navratri, I am happy to reveal the first look of my short Hindi feature 'Cakewalk'. Produced by Dinesh Gupta, Shailendra Kumar and Aritra Das, the film is directed by Ram Kamal Mukherjee and Abhra Chakraborty," Esha tweeted on Sunday.

In the image shared along with the tweet, one can see a piece of cake, two elastic hair ties and kumkum kept in a kitchen.

In the short, Esha will depict the professional and personal journey of a woman in the Indian society.

She was last seen on the big screen in 2015 in "Kill Them Young".

Esha, who has a daughter with husband Bharat Takhtani, also gave her "first classical dance performance after a longtime" in Delhi earlier this week.

Esha's mother and actress-politician Hema Malini also tweeted on Saturday about the performance: "Both Esha and Ahaana (Hema Malini's younger daughter) were scheduled to dance with me as it is a significant theme where I hand over the baton to the next gen - but only Esha performed. Ahaana was indisposed. Anyway it was a big success and Esha performed like a dream! She's a natural."New Delhi, March 18 : Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday dubbed Congress President Rahul Gandhi's speech at Congress' plenary session the "rhetoric of a loser".

She also questioned Rahul Gandhi's Pandava-Kaurava analogy, and accused the Congress of mocking Hindu rituals.

"Rahul Gandhi's speech sounds like rhetoric of loser devoid of substance. But although devoid of substance, will counter some points....

"Who are Pandavs, who are Kauravas... It (the Congress) is a party that chooses to mock Hindus and Hindu rituals," she said.

Sitharaman also said that the Congress was responsible of anti-Sikh riots 1984, and accused the party of corruption.

"This is a party which had to be thrown out of power because they were involved in Rs 12 lakh crore corruption," she said.

Sitharaman also called Gandhi's remarks "a light hearted comment that goes abysmally low in making mockery".

Slamming Gandhi for his comments on recent loss suffered by the Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, she said: "Let us not miss the point... Congress (candidates) lost their deposits in these places."

Gandhi, while addressing the Congress's plenary session here on Sunday, said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not fighting corruption but was "corruption himself" and under him, the country is controlled by "corrupt and powerful".

Gandhi also equated the BJP and RSS with the "Kauravas" of the Hindu epic Mahabarata, saying they were designed to "fight for power".DKC Knives Releases New Model: The Handcrafted Damascus Steel "BANCHEE Fixed Blade Bowie Hunting Knive This knife was a Valentine's gift for my husband. He was very pleased and impressed with it. The craftsmanship of this knife is stellar. It really is a pretty knife. The leather case and honing rod are also very nice and make this a complete gift.

DKC Knives, known for their beautiful handcrafted Damascus steel knives, has just released it's newest addition to their custom made hunting line. The "BANCHEE" is a beautifully handmade fixed blade Bowie hunting knife made for performance and functionality. Each knife is handcrafted to precision, with a steel wood grain finish handle and blade that makes for a unique look with the distinct design of Damascus steel. The blade is 5 inches and 10 inches in total length. The BANCHEE has a custom made grip that fits securely in your hand and provides a quality weight for all hunting needs. One review from an Amazon customer raved, "This knife was a Valentine's gift for my husband. He was very pleased and impressed with it. The craftsmanship of this knife is stellar. It really is a pretty knife. The leather case and honing rod are also very nice and make this a complete gift." Each "BANCHEE" knife is equipped with a leather seethe and sharpening stone. DKC Knives is proud to announce the new "BANCHEE" as one of the best selling fixed blade Bowie Hunting knife.

DKC Knives has a variety of unique engraved Damascus steel knives that are sleek, elegant, and durable. DKC Knives is a USA based custom handmade knife manufacturer that has a variety of knives that make perfect gifts for men as well as women. Damascus steel knives are coveted by knife collectors around the world for its distinct patterns. Even if youre not a knife collector, most people appreciate the beautiful craft of a handmade knife. Its truly a piece to admire. So if youre looking for a gift for a special occasion, DKC Knives provides a unique service of helping you find the right knives for your group or loved one. Owner of DKC Knives, Paul Gordon, explains, One of the great things about finding a company like DKC Knives is that we have over 350 models. Once you see how much he likes the first knife, you will now know what to buy for him for birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, and other occasions for the rest of his life. Many customers own over 50 pieces of our collection...its that nice.

Today Damascus steel knives are coveted by knife collectors around the globe. DKC Knives are affordable and of high quality. Gordon reiterates that, "DKC Knives was founded with a mandate to bring reasonably priced handmade Damascus folding pocket knives, and fixed blade hunting knives to the public at very reasonable costs. Today DKC Knives can be purchased for a relatively modest cost of $60 to $300". DKC Knives has a growing list of collectors that own many of the company's models.

DKC Knives makes it full knife collection available direct to the public through it's on line web site http://www.dkcknives.com. While both men and women buy and collect knives, the DKC line up has been a tremendous hit with women wanting an incredible gift for their husband, boyfriend, or a special loved one. "Knives are a guy thing, no doubt about it," said Gordon. "But we see more and more women building up large collections of knives. Its not uncommon to see many customers coming back and purchasing multiple sets of knives because of the unique characteristics each knife brings. Knives are works of art and can be enjoyed for a lifetime and be handed down to younger generations. So dont stress any further for the perfect gift, DKC knives is your answer.

DKC Knives is based in Castro Valley California. The company website is http://www.dkcknives.com. DKC Knives can be follow on Facebook as well as Instagram. Interested parties can sign up for the company newsletter at http://www.dkcknives.com and get updates on new knife releases.Imaged used with permission. Contact ThinkStock for usage and licence. Ref 517363553 Technology can provide some solutions; with more transparent pricing and a whole of market like-for-like comparison, almost a reality. The over 70s and other groups should be able to source more affordable cover in future.

One couple in their 70s was quoted over 2,000 for a Caribbean Cruise recently, but not just older people face such charges. Those with serious conditions like cancer can be denied cover or charged four times as much as anyone else; even if they have been healthy for years.

Aquarium travel guru Mark Colonnese says technology can see both parties move off the rocks and into safer waters when it comes to premiums. Older travellers are statistically more likely to have pre-existing medical conditions and therefore present a bigger insurance risk, said Aquarium Software Director, Mark Colonnese. Travel insurers paid out 370m last year alone, the highest figure since 2010  so its easy to see this from the industrys perspective. The price of a typical travel policy has risen 12 percent in the past year, and Brexit may be unlikely to help matters. Technology can provide some solutions; with more transparent pricing and a whole lot of market like-for-like comparison, almost a reality. The over 70s and other groups should be able to source more affordable cover in future.

Mark advises Price Comparison Websites (PCWs) research before you book your trip, so you can get an accurate assessment of the true cost and cover before booking. How old you are; where you go; and what you do on holiday can make a big difference to insurance quotes.

If you can learn how the system works and which insurers favour certain types of customer, you can find better deals based on your medical condition, age and destination, explained Mark. The over 55s are less likely to use PCWs, yet some insurers are especially sympathetic to existing medical conditions; the over 70s customer quoted 2,000 was insured for under 1,000 in the end. One bank charges 156 a year for its packaged account including annual travel insurance, with over 75s paying just 50 a year extra to stay insured  potentially great value compared with a 2,000 Caribbean quote. But you must declare everything and read the small print, concluded Mark.

Aquarium Software is used by a number of travel insurers; pet insurers; and other consumer service providers and affinity partners in the UK, Europe, USA and Canada. For further information contact Aquarium Software on +44 (0)161 927 5620 or visit http://www.aquarium-software.com|

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Need to increase investment in healthcare, infrastructure for sustainable growth post-pandemic: RBI Governor.

There is a need to focus on labour, market reforms, says RBI Governor.

Sensex declines 77.94 pts to end at 58,927.33; Nifty inches 15.35 pts lower to 17,546.65.The US, UK, France, and Germany accused Russia of orchestrating the attack, which the Kremlin denies.

On Thursday, the US implemented sanctions against 19 Russian nationals and five Russian entities, a move that was widely seen as an expression of solidarity with the UK in light of Skripal's poisoning. The sanctions specifically targeted Russians indicted last month as part of the special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia's election meddling.

Then on Friday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired deputy director of the FBI, Andrew McCabe, two days before he was set to formally retire from the bureau on Sunday.

Here's what else you may have missed this week in the Russia investigation:

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:



insisted

:

:The report further revealed that there are 10.11 million active internet users in Ghana meaning nearly  of the countrys population have access to internet.

The report also shows that in 2017, 75% of Ghanaians preferred the cash on delivery option, compared to 5% & 25% for credit/debit cards and mobile money options respectively.

Speaking at the launch of the report in Accra on Wednesday, Mr. Ore Odusanya, CO-CEO of Jumia Ghana said With such a relatively high use of the internet in Ghana, it is no surprise that smartphones are so popular. Popular brands such as Samsung, Nokia, Techno, Apple, and Blackberry have successfully carved a niche for themselves in the Ghanaian mobile market. The main catalysts for this rise in the number of people with access to mobile phones and internet usage have been attributed to the recent push for telecommunication companies to expand their network coverage, the availability of cheap smart phones from China, and a robust legal regime.

This year, the stage is set once again for the biggest sale of mobile phones, beginning March 19th through 25th.

This is a mobile-phone-only-week-long sales event dedicated to opening up our customers to a wide range of mobile devices at up to 80% discounts off the regular prices.

Mobile phones have impacted every aspect of life. From the time we wake up with the alarm, to breakfast, checking calories, making PowerPoint presentations for work and many other activities are now done with our mobile devices. Our personal, professional and social lives are all made convenient by mobile phones. They have impacted Ghanaian businesses so much that, it is almost impossible to go through the entire business process without using your mobile phone, noted Mr. Ajit Jain, Country Manager, Operations (Fero Mobile)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!Commenting on Owusu Bempah's marriage without directly naming him, Obinim told his congregation: I heard on the news the other time that a fellow man of God is getting married for the third time?

"I read in the newspapers that this is the third wife. I felt sorry for the woman because she should have thought about the previous two first. This means that if she, the third wife makes a mistake, she will also be replaced by number four.

As a third wife, you should not be happy because you are a replacement of the previous two. If the relationship had gone well, you wouldnt be their replacement."

READ MORE: Prophet Owusu Bempah marries for the third timeSpeaking last Wednesday when a delegation from the National Council of Fulani Chiefs in Ghana paid a courtesy call on him at the Flagstaff House, in Accra, the president said finding a solution to the Fulani menace was a big concern to his government.

He said: Everybody in this country has been very disturbed by the activities of Fulani herdsmen. We hear about the fights that have been going in different parts of the country Ashanti, Volta Region, Eastern Region. They are very disturbing. Therefore, finding a solution is one of the big concerns of my government.READ MORE: Heavy rains displace hundreds in Assin Fosu

The situation is still dire as children and some pregnant women have been forced to evacuate their homes to sleep in the open.

"The magnitude of it cant be described, we have about 152 houses brought down it was both rain and windstorm," the District Chief Executive, Zabzugu Ahmed Abukari Iddrisu, told Citi FM.

"Two areas that they could have actually sort shelter, have also been deeply involved, some of them are just lying outside, currently the weather is a bit warm, so they are not afraid to lay outside."

The affected residents have called for government intervention after three days since the incident.READ MORE: Petrol Station robbers JAILED 47 years

He was kicked off his feet and hit on the ground after he was overpowered.

Onlookers could be heard in the video shared on the Facebook page of Starrfm begging for mercy for the victim.

The incident is said to have happened at around Adenta in Accra.

Many Ghanaians who have watched the video have condemned the police.

"Where were all these policemen when robbers were all over the place shooting and killing innocent citizens? The police hierarchy must investigate this barbaric and unwarranted act," Raymond Kufuor wrote.

Bright Kusu said: "Look at how police men's are fooling and beating some one because he did not pack well, why can't you go and fight weed smokers and arm robber , is this things part of your works?"

READ MORE: Police in Ejura reportedly flee from mob attackDescribing the contract as "dubious" he was unwavering in his remarks that the contract needs to be reviewed because Mr Marwan was abusing the terms of the contract.

He accused the businessman of "throwing his weight about" at the Airport and preventing national security from entering and searching his Cargo yard because he is a crony to the former President Rawlings and his wife.

He claimed: Traboulsi Marwan, I hear his best friend is former President Rawlings and former first lady. I dont care about that. I care about Ghana. And this one even NDC members were so p#ssed (sic) because even in their time the way the guy was throwing his weight about. He has been in the system.

"He (Traboulsi Marwan) doesnt even allow National Security to enter his compound . And we (NPP) are also allowing it to continue because he is Ex President Rawlings close friend

If it is Rawlings these things happen under him, he will kill him. Even Ghanaians he (Rawlings) killed them, they didnt even commit the crimes this man is committing.""I will defend him any day as one of the most efficient and brilliant minds that I have come across. He was one of the first to go into large-scale farming and the export of pineapples during the revolution. Others did the same but his operations were so efficient that he was doing much better than some of the others. He later secured an aircraft that not only exported his produce but that of other farmers," the former President said.

Traboulsi left farming and diversified into cargo handling where his efficiency won him a bid to manage cargo handling at the airport. His efficiency level was so high we could beat South Africa by 30 minutes in cargo handling operations. Today some want to spoil the names of good people just like we do in our party, Mr Rawlings said in an obvious reply to Ken Agyapong's allegations. The Assin Central MP on Thursday the former president and his wife of shielding Mr Marwan by using his influence in the Akufo-Addo administration.

He accused the businessman of having a "dubious" contract and preventing the national security from inspecting his cargo.

He alleged that: Traboulsi Marwan, I hear his best friend is former President Rawlings and former first lady. I dont care about that. I care about Ghana. And this one even NDC members were so p#ssed (sic) because even in their time the way the guy was throwing his weight about. He has been in the system.

"He (Traboulsi Marwan) doesnt even allow National Security to enter his compound . And we (NPP) are also allowing it to continue because he is Ex President Rawlings close friend.

If it is Rawlings these things happen under him, he will kill him. Even Ghanaians he (Rawlings) killed them, they didnt even commit the crimes this man is committing."The humanitarian crisis was one of the key topics at a three-day special summit between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Australia.

"We discussed the situation in Rakhine state at considerable length today," Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said at the closing press conference.

"Aung San Suu Kyi addressed the matter comprehensively, at some considerable length herself.

"It's certainly an issue that has been discussed and it is fair to say... very constructively, in our meeting."

Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who is this year's ASEAN chair, said Myanmar's neighbours were concerned about the ongoing situation but could not "force an outcome".

"It is of concern for all ASEAN countries, and yet ASEAN is not able to intervene and to force an outcome," Lee said alongside Turnbull.

Both leaders said they would back efforts to reach a long-term solution to end the crisis, and were supporting humanitarian efforts to help those displaced.

The 10-nation ASEAN prides itself on consensus diplomacy and non-interference in each other's affairs.

But the exodus has sparked rare tension within the association, and Muslim-majority Malaysia has called for an independent ASEAN-led investigation into allegations of army abuse.

Malaysia's leader Najib Razak increased the pressure on Suu Kyi Saturday, saying the Rohingya issue could threaten regional security as he warned those affected could fall prey to extremist groups like Islamic State.

Lee said Singapore had no "specific intelligence" on whether there were terrorist groups in Rakhine state, but said "these are possibilities that you cannot rule out and which you have to keep on being on the watch out for".

Suu Kyi is due in Canberra on Monday for talks with Turnbull before an address to Sydney's Lowy Institute on Tuesday.

She has not commented publicly since arriving in Australia on Saturday for the summit, but is scheduled to take questions at Tuesday's media event.The risks of the practice were clarified again last Sunday, when a chartered helicopter crashed into the East River, killing all five of its passengers and sparing only the pilot.

To facilitate in-flight photography, the helicopter doors were removed, and the four men and one woman on the tour were strapped so tightly into their seats that they were given knives to extricate themselves in the event of an accident.

That federal aviation rules allow passengers access to sharp objects in aircraft flying around the perimeter of major cities, when mothers of toddlers are still removing their Uggs at the airport, remains its own enduring mystery.

It has been decades now since advocates for a quieter and less polluted city have railed against the helicopter industry, which came into tragic disfavor most dramatically in 1977, when a rotor blade broke off a helicopter that had been ferrying people to Kennedy Airport from the roof of the Pan Am Building in Manhattan, killing five people, one of them a woman walking down Madison Avenue. After a crash in the East River in 2011, various politicians and members of the City Council called for a ban on tourist helicopters, pointing out that since 1983 there had been 28 crashes in New York, with at least 19 fatalities. The ban never materialized. Instead, two years ago, the city moved to reduce the number of tourist-helicopter flights around Manhattan by half  to 30,000 per year.

Thats more than 80 flights every day  an astonishingly high number given that the mayor has mythologized himself as a national leader in climate change. Earlier this year, he announced that city pension funds would divest from companies profiting from the fossil fuel business and that the city would sue five oil companies for reparations, essentially, connected to the damage fossil fuels have inflicted on the citys ecosystem. It is as if a class-action suit were filed against Shake Shack for causing obesity while the plaintiffs were quietly deep-frying slices of apple pie every morning at home for breakfast. The Airbus AS350, one of the most popular tourist helicopters  it was the model involved in the crash last weekend  produces 43 times the amount of carbon dioxide emissions per hour than the average car.

For several years now, the city has justified helicopter tourism as a vital means of revenue. Its Economic Development Corp., which manages the downtown heliport from which tourist helicopters take off and land, has said that the economic impact to the city amounts to $50 million a year. But that figure comes directly from the Helicopter Tourism and Jobs Council, a lobbying group made up of five helicopter-tour providers.

And it is a figure that takes into account the hotel and restaurant expenses that tourists accrue while they are in the city, as if to suggest that they were coming to New York solely for the purpose of flying around Manhattan in a helicopter for 15 minutes, rather than, say, to see Hamilton for the third time. Advocates of a tourist-helicopter ban have long taken issue with the figure. As Adrian Benepe, the citys former parks commissioner put it to me, Its just completely insane.

The city has also argued that the tourist-helicopter industry in New York supports more than 260 jobs, as if that were an impressive figure, outweighing the obvious downsides, in a strong economy with a local unemployment rate of just over 4 percent. The city has said that it will not make any decisions about the future of tourist helicopters until an investigation of Sundays crash is complete. But in a more impressive show of judgment, Sen. Chuck Schumer and various local congressional representatives called for a suspension of these flights at least until the causes of the accident could be understood.

In New Jersey and around the country, a growing movement to end helicopter tourism is fomenting. In February, three British tourists were killed when a sightseeing helicopter crashed over the Grand Canyon; environmentalists have long complained of the noise helicopter tours produce in national parks. That they cost hundreds of dollars for just a few minutes of thrill-seeking, forcing tourists literally to look down on the rest of us, make them an almost-parodic symbol for the age of inequality. And perhaps that too is just another reason to get rid of them.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.Kate Flavin, a spokeswoman for Sedgwick County, Kansas, said Saturday that the cause of death was unknown.

Lamo was 22 when federal prosecutors accused him of breaking into The Times computer network, creating fake usernames and running up more than $300,000 in data research fees. Lamo also gained access to the computer networks of Yahoo, Microsoft and Cingular Wireless, prosecutors said.

Its like someone kicking in your front door while youre on vacation and running up a $300,000 bill on your phone, and then telling you when you arrive home that he had performed a useful service by demonstrating that your deadbolt wasnt secure enough, James Comey, then the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, said in 2003 of Lamos activities.

Lamo pleaded guilty to one count of computer damage, telling a federal judge that he was genuinely remorseful for his actions. He was sentenced to house arrest and probation.

Lamo was never a malicious hacker, his father, Mario, said in a message, adding, Everything that he did was out of curiosity. The younger Lamo told Wired in 2010 that he had Aspergers syndrome.

In 2010, Manning, an Army private, contacted Lamo via instant message. They chatted for a week about her personal problems in the military. Manning admitted she had leaked classified video of a helicopter attack in Baghdad that left 12 people dead, including two Reuters employees, to WikiLeaks.org, which published the video online under the title Collateral Murder.

Lamo said Manning also admitted leaking to WikiLeaks 260,000 classified diplomatic cables and video of a 2009 Afghanistan airstrike that left 96 people dead.

He was just grabbing information from where he could get it and trying to leak it, Lamo told The Times in 2010 about Manning, a transgender woman who was then known as Bradley Manning.

Lamo called the authorities and relayed Mannings admissions. She was arrested and eventually sentenced to 35 years in prison for leaking more than 750,000 documents and video, the longest punishment ever imposed for a leak conviction. President Barack Obama commuted Mannings sentence in January 2017, and she recently filed to run for the U.S. Senate in Maryland.

Lamo said he was worried that the leaks provided by Manning would endanger peoples lives.

I thought to myself, What if somebody dies because this information is leaked?' he said in 2010.

WikiLeaks and others condemned Lamo for turning Manning in to the federal authorities.

Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, called Lamo a serial FBI snitch on Twitter. On the comments of the Facebook post announcing Lamos death, some called him a real hero and true patriot.

Mario Lamo said his son went through a difficult period after reporting Manning to the authorities.

He was vilified by many people by his position about the Manning affair, he said. I was with him when this happened and understood that he lived by some principles and he stood for them.

In addition to his father, Lamo is survived by his mother, Mary Atwood, and two siblings.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.However, some others expressed fear that the admission process could be compromised.

Ismail Tajudeen, a candidate at the Connection Computer Institute, in Ojo Town near Lagos commended the process.

The examination was in order and the organisers did a good job.

I did not witness any incident of cheating or rowdiness and I am hopeful of positive results, he said.

Michael Ogu, another candidate from the same centre said,The examination centre here is very conducive, the computers are great and with the way I prepared for the examination, Im sure to succeed. .

Joan David, a candidate at the Career Building Academy, Ijanikin, expressed fear at the transparency of the process.

I am a bit scared about the examination because; last year, I was confident that I would do well, but when the results came out, I did not score enough points to secure admission, she said.

At the Lagooz Secondary School Centre in Agege, Mr Hakeem Balogun, a parent commended the peaceful conduct of the examination.

I am impressed at the organisation here.

I have confidence in JAMB and I am sure that my daughter will do very well in the examination.

She passed last year but she was not of age, Balogun said.

Another parent at the centre, Mrs Biola Omoba, told NAN that she could boldly say that JAMB is improving every day.

The atmosphere here is peaceful, no incidents of malpractices or hooliganism; I am impressed, she said.

Mr Moshood Momoh, a supervisor,p with JAMB corroborated the parents views, saying that the examinations had been peaceful so far.

Generally, the examination has been peaceful and we have not experienced any ugly incidents.

We have three sessions per day, and each session accommodates 250 candidates.

So far, the turn-out has been impressive, absentees is less than one per cent, Momoh said.The University ASUU chairman, Dr Salahu Lawal told the News Agency of Nigeria in an interview on Saturday, March 17, that the decision was taken after the expiration of the week-long warning strike embarked by the union on March 7.

Lawal said that the state government invited the academic staff union executives over the issue, but the government was not willing to pay the allowances.

Niger state government begged us that it will pay N350 million while we forfeit N150 million; we cannot afford such a loss, it is huge.

This is the money we worked for and it has to be paid us in full; actually, they wanted to pay us but they insisted in paying N350 million; that is a breach and we are not going to take it.

This money we are asking for is accrued money from our allowances, this money we earned it, we are not begging for it.

Lawal also said that some their members have died while waiting for their money adding that he had a moral burden to negotiate on the matter because the children of the deceased were anxiously expecting the money to off-set a lot of debt.

ALSO READ: Muslims criticise WAEC for fixing Chemistry paper during Friday prayer

They said they do not have money to clear the backlog, we are not going to accept their offer. They want us to forfeit part of the money we cannot because some of our members died while waiting for this money.

I am sure if they had paid this money, some of them would have used it for their medical care and may not have died.

We have a moral burden not to negotiate on this matter because many of our members have died while waiting for this money, he said.

Niger government offers N350 million out of N530m

However, Mr Jide Orintunsin, the Senior Media Assistant to Governor Abubakar Bello of Niger state, while appealing to the union said the debt was incurred by the previous administration.In the timetable, the exam body had schedule Chemistry paper to hold between 2 pm to 5 pm on Friday, April 20, when Muslims' Friday prayer usually holds.

However, the president of the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), Prof Ishaq Akintolaaccused WAEC of oppressing Muslims adding that the timetable was an injustice against Muslims.

Akintola had reportedly said, WAEC is playing a religious game with Muslims adding that the exam body is deliberately provoking Muslims.

''Until something starts happening, until the Muslims start disrupting examination until Muslims start tearing WAEC examination materials, that is when the government will start paying attention.

WAEC is playing games and they want the Muslims to make noise every year, the council is deliberately provoking Muslims and it has continued to show itself as a consistent anti-Muslim institution,

WAEC bows to pressure

However, Director of Public Affairs, WAEC Nigeria, Mr Demianus Ojijeogu said the exam body has amended the timetable ''for the sake of the people who will go to the mosque, the exam will be delayed till they come back''.

He added that ''the paper will be delayed until 2:30 pm or 3 pm when the Muslims will return from the mosque''.During an interview with Pulse Nigeria, Kate Henshaw and Jemima Osunde, who play mother and daughter in the film, share how they got involved with the project, their favourite scenes, challenges during shoot, and why viewers should go it in the cinemas.

Read interview below

How they got involved with the project

Henshaw: The usual: I got a call that there was a role available and would I be available to do it. So I said 'send me the script' because I always want to read my script.

Then I ask, 'who are those in the film?,' and of course, who is directing? And it was an interesting script and of course the cast; there were like people I have worked with over the years. - people like Kalu Ikeagwu and Dakore Akande.

I had never worked with Jemima Osunde, but she is good. She is a young act doing very good. We have people like Osas Ajibade, Wale Ojo, Falz, Blossom Chukwujekwu. Nice cast.

Osunde: I had worked on them in "My Wife and I" where I played Ireti, the daughter of the couple that got swapped.

So I think that was when the producer Naz Onuzo met me, communicated with his co-producer Isioma Osaje, who called me and said, "there is another project coming up and they are considering you for it." So we had some conversations, a few meetings, and that was it.

What attracted them to the project

Osunde: Well, it's a Filmone movie and we all know how their movies turn out. We have seen "The Wedding Party," we have seen "The Arbitration." They are people that you should want to work with if you want to excel in this industry.

They get you the mileage, they get you the fanbase, they get you the good jobs that portray you as an actor with versatility.

As soon as I heard of the possibility of being on it, I was 100% interested.

Challenges working on "New Money"

Henshaw: I don't think there was any challenge. It was actually well-done, Tope Oshin is an actor's director. I love her, of course she is a woman and I'm a woman. Tope is a young lady who has earned her stripes. There was something that happened on set, I'm not going to talk about it, but she did an excellent job.

Osunde: When we were shooting 'New Money,' I was also shooting season 6 of MTV Shuga, so I was literally number one on both call sheets.

It was hard to combine both. [To add to that] I had exams in school and food poisoning. Almost sounding impossible but everyone was considerate. Especially "New Money," because they kept working with my schedule.

There were days we didn't shoot anything on "New Money" set because I was on set of MTV Shuga the whole day. So they were quite considerate.

Favourite scene

Henshaw: My favourite scene was in my canteen. My character Fatima has a bar and she sells fish and drinks. There at the bar, I had a very intense moment with my daughter.

Osunde: It would have to be the boardroom scene, I felt very powerful in that scene. I even looked powerful, I think. If you watch the trailer, it's the scene that comes after where the three ladies - Osunde, Osas Ajibade and Dakore Akande - were strutting down the aisle, looking like bad bosses.

The scene that comes after that is me in the boardroom, literally showing them that I know what I am doing.

Emotional or physical changes they had to go through for the film

Henshaw: Physical, no. It's just that the clothes they gave me were a bit big. So I told them, 'you have to reduce it because I a'int fat.' Apart from that, I can't complain at all.

Tope told me what she wanted: I was a mother, who's well spoken. She is okay, but she isn't rich. She comes from a humble background, she is hardworking, she was in a relationship that didn't work so she is very protective of her daughter, making sure that she doesn't go on to make the same mistakes. That was basically it - keep it down, normal, not a local woman.

Osunde: Emotional, yes. There are some scenes where Toun gets really down. She thought it was a bed of roses, everyone who watches this would be like 'this is jackpot, you have hammered.'

But at the end of the day, when it went downhill, she was traumatized. So there were scenes where I had to cry, I wasn't saying anything but just from my expression, I had to show that she was going through a lot emotionally. Those where scenes that I won't say were hard, but they were the tough scenes to shoot.

Funniest actor on set of "New Money"

Henshaw: Falz is a funny guy and he is cool. You look at him and all you do is laugh, but he is also very intelligent and he can speak very good English.

But people would look at him and think about the bad English, but no, he is very intelligent.

Difference difference being on set of "New Money" and previous sets

Osunde: I had never laughed so hard as I did on set of "New Money." The combination of actors we had, oh my goodness.

I said it before, people would think that Falz was the funniest cast member. No, Aunty Kate, Wofaidada and Falz; worst combination you can ever have at a time.

We had so many funny people on set, everyone was so cool, from the producers to the director to the cast.

Inas much as there were days when we were all under pressure, we always found a way to just cool off, laugh and find our way back to sanity.

Henshaw: Professionalism, very key. I guess for someone like me, there comes a time in your career where you look out for jobs that are shot and done professionally.

It's very very important because you don't want any hassles with people and you don't want to rub people the wrong way. You just want to bring your own professionalism along with theirs so that you have a good job. They were quite professional. Everything was done within the time they told me.

Creating the chemistry on set of "New Money"

Osunde: Before "New Money," I had never worked with Falz, I had never worked with Aunty Kate or Wofia, but I had worked with Dakore. I don't think she remembers though, it was in my early days of waka pass. First time working with Osas Ajibade as well, even though she is literally like my big sister.

I mean, when you're working with people that are easy going, people that are professionals, and in as much as they know that we here to work, they always know how to find a way to make it easy for everyone - there's no pressure, no attitude and no one is a diva. It was pretty easy.

I'm literally the newbie among this people. So of course, there was the 'oh my God, I'm in a scene with Aunty Kate.' This woman has been in the industry since before I was born, but when you arrive on set and she is cracking jokes and hugging you, there's really no way for you not to be able to have fun.

What to expect from New Money

Osunde: First of all, you must have laughed away all your worries. There are so many funny scenes in "New Money." It's also a feel good movie, so if you have had a long day, once you watch "New Money," I can assure you that even if it is slightly, you will feel relieved.

Why you should see "New Money" when it's out in cinemas

Henshaw: The first one is: Kate Henshaw is in it. Two, it's a lovely movie and you would learn a lot from it.

You will also see Jemima Osunde - I like Jemima, I think she would do very well in the industry.

It's a feel good movie. It's a nice movie and you just want to see the lead character win, you want to see her excel,you want to see her enjoy.UK Metro reports that Smith reportedly committed the crime in Saginaw, Central Michigan, after she held down the man, pulled a knife on him and forced him to have both vaginal and oral sex with her.

According to the report, the teenager was apparently high on drugs when she committed the crime and is being held without bail in the Saginaw County Jail and could be sentenced to life imprisonment if found guilty.The Irish Embassy in partnership with Guinness Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory together witnessed the 'greening' of the Abuja City Gate.

With this, the Abuja City Gate joins the Great Wall of China, the Christ Redeemer Statue in Brazil, the Niagara Falls in Canada, and others in donning the Irish national colour on St Patrick's Day.

Speaking at the switching on of the lights, surrounded by officials of Guinness Nigeria, Ireland's Ambassador to Nigeria, Sean Hoy explained that "This is a great way to highlight the warm friendship between Ireland and Nigeria. I hope this positive, welcoming image of Abuja will be seen around the globe."

ALSO READ: Kate Middleton gets abused for breaking St Patrick's Day tradition

Peter Ndegwa, Managing Director/CEO, Guinness Nigeria Plc commented: "It is great to be part of this historic event, the first in West Africa. We are proud of the long and rich history that our iconic Guinness brand has had in Nigeria and we look forward to more partnerships and celebrations in the future."Prophet Ejimadu who is also known as Seer 1 is about one of the most popular and respected men of God in the eastern African country and many see him as one capable of having direct communication with God.

But the recent antics of Ejimadu who is the founder and General Overseer of Christ Freedom Ministries, where he told the people to kiss his shoes for miracles and healing has divided opinion with many saying he is not a real man of God.

The 39-year-old Prophet Ejimadu posted photos at a crusade he held where the incident happened on the church's Facebook page with the words:

"I have blessed your legs. I have washed your feet. First thing tomorrow morning, if you type Amen and share this post, someone will call you and your feet will carry you there to pick a special gift. Many people will miss this. Try it."The two ceremonies were on a low-key as the Vice President insisted that he did not want an elaborate wedding for his daughter given the mood of the nation.

ALSO READ: Osinbajo is a baby boy for life!

Reports said that Osinbajo was pressured to make it a society wedding but he rejected all the appeals. He was said to have also warned guests not to spray money at the events.

It is believed that Osinbajo made the decision following the backlash that trailed PresidentMuhammadu Buhariafter he attended the grand wedding ceremony of the children of Governors Abdullahi Ganduje and Abiola Ajimobi of Kano and Oyo States respectively.According to market reports, the cement maker sold 550 million shares at N225.7 each in a one-off stock market deal valued at $350 million (N107 billion). Although details of the investor(s) are currently not available, but the buying offer was coordinated by CSL Stockbrokers Ltd.

Dangote Cement Limited (DCL) is the biggest company on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). Its stock value is one-third of the market's total capitalization.

The shares of DCL was listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in October 2010 at a price N135 per share. As at close of trade on December 19, 2017, its price stood at N238.99 per share.

Also Read: Dangote Cement moves to acquire biggest cement producer in South Africa

Also, the business accounts for over 75 percent of Dangote's wealth. Within the last five years, Dangote Cement has expanded to nine other African countries.

The deal is expected to increase the market capitalisation of NSE and positively impact on the end of year results of the bourse.

Why is Dangote selling his stake in the cement business?

Africas biggest cement maker has been selling small stakes to increase its free float (a number of his shares that could be traded on the stock market). On July 2017,128.5 million of its shares were sold at N210 each.

A similar deal was also struck with an unknown foreign investor in August. Dangote sold 416 million shares (2.3%) of its cement subsidiaries to a foreign investor for $236 million (N86.1 billion).

Dangote is currently shielding some weight in his investment portfolio to accommodate his proposed refinery business. Market analysts also noted that he may be transferring some risks in his businesses to other willing investors with these deals.Mustapha, who, along with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), played key role in the release of 100 abducted Chibok school girls last year, stated this during an enrollment exercise at the Future Prowess Islamic Foundation School, in Maiduguri.

The activist, a lawyer by profession and also the proprietor of the school, said benefiting children were selected from families that lost either of their parents to insurgency or natural death.

He said that the children were enrolled into primary school to enable them acquire basic education.

The activist said that the pupils would be provided free education, instructional materials, uniforms, feeding and other support in the school.

Mustapha said that his gesture, with the support of International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC), the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), and Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), had helped the orphans a lot

It is a comprehensive programme designed to support education of children and orphans in the state.

We have enrolled 300 orphans in the school to provide them various services, including feeding, hostel accommodation among others to encourage the pupils put in their best in studies.

At present, we have over 800 pupils in the school drawn from the 27 Local Government areas of the state, he said.

Mustapha said that the foundation had set up a skills acquisition centre to train mothers of the affected children, to enable them learn trades and become self-reliant.

Mustapha called on wealthy individuals and organisations to support the foundation, to ensure successful implementation of its education support programme.

Alhaji Inuwa Kubo, the Commissioner of Education, disclosed at the occasion that the state government had embarked on construction of four mega schools projects to cater for the over 50, 000 children orphaned by the insurgency.

While commending the gesture, Kubo pledged the support of government to the foundation, to enhance its operations.

Quang Bui, UNHCRS acting Head of Sub-office, Maiduguri, promised the support of his commission towards the education of children in the northeast region.

Bui said the commission accorded priority to the protection, education and well-being of children in the country.He said the military is closing in on the abductors, estimating that the girls would regain their freedom within two weeks.

Dan-Ali stated this on Saturday, March 17, 2018, during an interview on a Channels television program.

"It can be earlier; maybe a week, it can be two weeks, but we are on it, and Im telling you with all sense of sincerity that we are closing in on them", he assured.

The girls were taken away after the insurgents stormed the Government Girls Science Technical College (GGSTC), Dapchi on February 19.

On the rescue efforts, Dan-Ali added "We have dispatched all the surveillance devices we have in terms of air, human resource, intelligence, and other forces that needed to be in place by all possible means and we have made sure that all that's needed is being done to see that these girls are being found, wherever they are."

The minister said he has visited the school in Dapchi, where he held a meeting with parents and teachers of the abducted girls.

Buhari talks negotiation

However, when he received the now sacked United States Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson last week, the President had said that the Federal Government was negotiating the release of the abducted Dapchi girls.

But the defence minister is painting a different picture. He is insinuating that military intervention is being used to secure the girls' rescue as against dialogue.

In October 2016, the government negotiated the release of 21 out of the 219 Chibok schoolgirls, who were abducted by Boko Haram in Borno State since April 2014.

The insurgents freed 82 more of the Chibok girls in May 2017 in exchange for ransom.NAN observed that several belongings of the victims including clothing, food items, electrical gadgets and other valuables littered the ground in the affected areas.

Some of the affected areas in llorin and its environs were Ganmo, Gaa Saka, Alore Guniyan, Agbooba, Adewole, Kuntu, Magaji Ogidi compound and Okelele among others.

One of the victims, Alhaji Oba Aremu, who resides at Magaji Ogidi compound, Ojuekun area of llorin told NAN that his residence was completely damaged by the storm.

Aremu explained that he and his 15 family members were currently taking refuge in a small place given to them by the Magaji Ogidi, Alhaji Salihu Amosa-Ajape.

Another victim, Alhaji Asinmi Aliyu, who is a Landlord of a six bedroom flat at Agbooba in llorin, said that he was yet to quantify things damaged by the rainstorm in his house.

In their separate reactions, some of the victims appealed to both the state and local governments to come to their aid and give them necessary support.

Most of the affected areas are still in total blackout following damages to electric poles and cables.

The Senior Special Assistant to Governor AbdulFatah Ahmed on Media and Communications, Dr Muideen Akorede, while reacting on the development on Sunday said the state government symphatised with the victims over the incident.

Akorede assured that appropriate agencies of the government would embark on inspection of all the affected areas with a view to support the victims.The President appointed Mamora as the Chairman of the Abuja Investment and Infrastructure Centre (AIIC) but the ex-legislator was said to have rejected the offer.

Mamora was the Deputy Director-General of the Muhammadu Buhari Campaign Organisation during the 2015 presidential election.

According to Punch, a governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress in the 2016 Ondo State governorship election, Mrs. Jumoke Ajasin-Anifowoshe, has been named the AIIC chairman following Mamora's rejection of the position.

Ajasin-Anifowose, who is the daughter of the first Governor of the old Ondo State, Adekunle Ajasin, was sworn in by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Alhaji Muhammad Bello.

The paper cited a reliable source who said Mamora met with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha and expressed his displeasure with the appointment to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha.

He was said to have argued that the appointment was not befitting, adding that the people who never participated in the process that brought Buhari to power were occupying the front seats of government.

The source also said that Mamora was listed to be the Chairman of the Board of the Nigerian Ports Authority in 2016 but was edged out by some powerful people in the system.

ALSO READ: Presidential aide vows to ensure re-election of Buhari

The ex-lawmaker, according to the source, was also nominated as an ambassador in late 2016 but his name was suddenly dropped for unknown reasons and was not contacted before his name was removed.

Pulse could not immediately get Mamora's reaction to the story.Ogundipe gave the commendation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos.

Recall that the non-teaching labour unions of universities nationwide had on Dec. 4, 2017 embarked on a comprehensive and indefinite strike.

The unions comprise the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (SSANU), the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAATs).

The unions, under the aegis of the Joint Action Committee (JAC), were protesting the non-implementation of an agreement they entered into with the Federal Government in 2009.

They were also protesting the sharing formula of the N23 billion released by the government as part of earned allowance of workers of federal universities across the country, among other issues.

NAN reports that the chairman of the JAC and National President of SSANU, Mr Samson Ugwoke, had on March 14, announced the immediate suspension of the strike.

Ugwoke said that after due deliberations with critical stakeholders, the unions decided to suspend the strike with the hope that government would not renege on its own side of the bargain.

Ogundipe told NAN on Sunday that it was good to see things coming back to normal on campus.

We cannot deny the fact that the strike affected the smooth running of the system.

It was not easy doing without their services, but above all, I commend the students for the way they handled the situation, while it lasted.

These students refused to yield to pressure to involve in any form of protest or disruption of peace and stability on campus as a result of the offshoot of the strike in several regards.

They showed great understanding and cooperated with the management through the harsh period, he said.

The vice-chancellor said it was good to have the non-teaching staff back to work as it was not easy doing without their services.

According to him, management is happy that things will start moving the way they should be.

He said that he was looking forward to seeing a system that would run smoothly with peace and stability.

We had to meet with leaders of the unions as soon as the strike was called off and dialogue on the way forward, especially regarding the extension of the examination period.

Before now, we had pleaded, dialogued and tried to find solutions to some of the challenges occasioned by the strike.

This is to ensure that we find a way of moving the university forward collectively.Governor Wike on Thursday, March 15, 2018, signed into law a bill seeking to establish the Rivers State Neigbourhood Safety Corps.

The Corps, the group alleged, is a state police in disguise which contravenes section 214 of the constitution that established the Nigeria police.

Addressing journalists in Abuja at the weekend, President of the group Ngerebala Sampson said there are about 200,000 cults and militia and armed groups in the state.

Ngerebala noted that arming the youths under the guards of vigilante group was an attempt to create a private militia for political purpose.

The group urged the inspector general of Police, Ibrahim Idris, and other security agencies to stop Governor Wike from inaugurating the corps as members are expected to bear light arms and small weapons.

The group also threatened to set up its own neighbourhood Safety Corps watch if Governor Wike is not stopped.

His words: "You all know that before, during and after the 2015 general elections, Rivers State experience unprecedented number of political assassinations, were members of our party were gruesomely murdered in cold blood; their offence being that they were members of All Progressives Congress (APC).

"Those killings continued until recently, when the Federal Forces killed some of the death merchants of Governor Wike. The rate of violence and killings that occurred in Rivers state during the period under review, led to Rivers State being described as a theater of war."

"We are calling on the Inspector General of Police and other Security Agencies to take steps and stop the River State Governor from inaugurating the Rivers State Safety Corps.

"Whereby our call is not heeded to, our reaction will be to also set up our own Neighbourhood Safety Corps to watch Wikes neighbourhood Safety Corps. We shall cloth them with uniforms and apply for arms for them through the police, then the 2 Neigbourhood Safety Corps will police each other.

We cannot allow what happened before, during and after the 2015 general elections in Rivers state to repeat itself in 2019," Sampson declared.

A member of the group, Chidi Lloyd wondered why Governor Wike would establish and arm youths in an election year after declaring that Rivers is the most peaceful state in Nigeria.

Wike has held all manner of conferences in Port-Harcourt to show the world that Rivers state is peaceful. So why is he establishing and arming cultists and disgruntled PDP members in the state to maintain peace in the state? Lloyd asked.

Wikes neighborhood watch is nothing but a ballot snatching tool and attack dogs for the 2019 election because right now, the state security agencies are not on his side, he added.

The group says it has written to the office of the National Security Adviser and all security agencies informing of the impending danger of establishing such body.

Yahaya Bellos state police in Kogi

Similarly, Senator Dino Melaye had accused Governor Yahaya Bello of establishinga state police in Kogi.

Like the Rivers State Neighbourhood Safety Corps, the Kogi group would also bear weapons.The construction manager on the project and representatives from the university and the state Transportation Department attended the two-hour meeting, which was led by Figgs lead engineer on the project, W. Denney Pate.

Two days earlier, Pate left a voicemail message for the Transportation Department about some cracking thats been observed on the north end of the bridge, according to a recording from the department released Friday. At both the meeting and in his message, Pate said the cracking did not present any safety issues.

The Transportation Department said the message was not heard until Friday morning. A spokesman for the agency, Dick Kane, said in an email that its representative at the meeting the day before, Alfredo Reyna, was a consultant whose role was chiefly to keep the project on schedule.

While Reyna is a professional engineer, he does not have control over the project and relies on the expertise of the licensed engineer of record, Kane said.

At no point during their communications, the department said, did Figg or any member of the FIU design-build team ever communicate a life-safety issue.

Whether the cracking contributed to the collapse, which killed at least six people, remains a key question in the investigation.

Construction crews were working on a diagonal beam at the north end of the structure at or about the time of the collapse, according to information the National Transportation Safety Board provided to local members of Congress. Workers were tightening cables that ran inside the beam.

Such adjustments, which engineers call post-tensioning, are common in concrete designs to fine-tune the structure once it is in place. In this case, however, it was not clear whether the cable-tightening was routine or an urgent undertaking in response to the discovery of the crack in the bridge.

Around the same time the meeting was starting, about 9 a.m., Jorge Mesa, a 31-year-old university employee, said he was in his car near the bridge when he heard a cracking-whip kind of sound. He looked to his right and saw one of the construction workers on the street.

The workers face, Mesa said, seemed to say, Um, thats not normal.

When he gave me that face, I got the chills all the way down my body, he said.

The bridge came down that afternoon.

Witnesses said the collapse appeared to start near the north end. But no one, including the NTSB, has so far placed any blame for the collapse on the cables or cable-tightening work.

By Saturday evening, recovery crews had extracted three crushed vehicles from under the rubble. Workers covered the vehicles in black sheeting and towed them to the medical examiner to identify the remains of any victims inside.

At least three vehicles remain trapped under the bridge. The number of known victims had not changed, Maurice Kemp, deputy mayor of Miami-Dade County, said.

One of the six victims, Navarro Brown, was part of the crew working on the bridge and died at a hospital. The Police Department identified one victim in the first vehicle, Roland Fraga Hernandez, and two in the second vehicle, Oswald Gonzalez, 57, and Alberto Arias, 53.

Police said the first vehicle was a Jeep Cherokee. It was nearly flattened but still distinguishable by its front grill, according to videos by The Miami Herald and local television news outlets.

The second vehicle, crumpled almost beyond recognition, was a Chevrolet pickup truck. Cranes lifted the vehicles onto flatbed trucks, which were escorted to the medical examiner by a police motorcade.

The crews placed a white tent with black sheets along three sides to shield the vehicles from view while they were being pulled from under the concrete, according to the Herald video.

After the first two extractions Saturday morning, Joseph Smitha was walking around in a daze on the Florida International University campus. His niece, Alexa Duran, remained under the debris of the bridge a block away.

Smitha, a 55-year-old auto parts manager, had spent the night in his truck after making the four-hour drive from Palm Harbor, Florida, fitfully mourning Duran, a freshman at the university.

Her mom is a wreck, he said. Ill never hear her say, Hi, Uncle Joe, again. I know its not going to bring my niece back, but how did this happen?

Smitha and members of other victims families are being given temporary quarters in a university building equipped with cots and snacks, awaiting news that none of them want to hear.

I still think the kid is going to surface, he said, referring to his niece. Maybe shes at some friends house. Hey, you had us scared, Ill say to her. Id give everything I have to bring her back. It just kills me that this is something that could have been prevented.

At about 5:30 p.m., the gray Toyota 4Runner that Duran had been driving was pulled slowly from the rubble. A dark blue tarp covered its flattened shape. Her father, Orlando Duran, had arrived from London only minutes earlier.

Hes upset about how long its taken for them to get his daughter out, Smitha, his brother-in-law, said.

Alexa Duran and a friend, FIU student Richard Humble, had been waiting at a red light when the bridge came crashing down on the Toyota and other vehicles.

Her passenger walked away, God bless him, Smitha said. But hes going to have to live with that for the rest of his life.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.Most people simply pay them and get on with their lives. But there are those who choose to fight.

About a thousand times a day across New York City, a judge clutching a skinny file folder enters a waiting room, calls out a name and leads a defendant back to a little office furnished with only a desk and chairs, computer and printer, and a window that looks out on a windowless hallway.

The judge turns on a recorder, reads a summons into the record and asks the defendant: Tell me your story.

Hoi Eng Chan does not know how all those unbundled un-broken-down cardboard boxes wound up in front of the house she owns in the Bronx. It is near the subway, so a lot of people throw trash there.

Aminur Howlader concedes that the rice in the steam table of the Halal food cart he operates was being held at less than 140 degrees, but he was going to throw it out. He had already made a whole other cooker of rice and was serving from that instead.

As for Howladers other summons, the cart was indeed parked less than 20 feet from a door of the Target on Avenue H, but that door is used only by employees when the store is closed, which it wasnt. He has been parking in that spot for nine years and never got a ticket.

This is life at OATH, a little-known but ever-expanding branch of the municipal justice system. OATH, the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings, handles the violations of 13 city agencies, from the health department to the Fire Department to the Business Integrity Commission. OATH hears about 100 times more cases than all the criminal courts in the city put together.

A day spent in the hearing rooms of an OATH office  there is one in each borough  offers both a voyage into the small intestine of bureaucracy and a front-row seat at an endless and sometimes heartbreaking parade of excuses and ostensibly exculpatory explanations.

Sometimes injustice is exposed and defeated. Sometimes it is as if a pack of homework-eating dogs is roaming the streets.

The folding table from which Liudmyla Sviderska was selling pastries without a permit on Brighton Beach Avenue was not a mobile food cart, her representative said. Also, they were just pastries from a nearby bakery that got an A on its health inspection. Also, the pastries were individually wrapped and not potentially hazardous.

Everyone else on 23rd Road also lets their tenants park illegally on the side of the house.

Hector Sanabria would have pleaded not guilty to the open-container summons but does not remember what happened that day.

If courthouses, with their columns and marble and carved mottos, are built to inspire awe at the majesty of the law, the aesthetics of an OATH hearing center, with its box-office windows and crowd-herding cordons, will be immediately familiar to anyone who has done time at the DMV.

The judges do not wear robes or carry gavels. They are per-diem city lawyers in business attire and are known as hearing officers.

Defendants  they are called respondents  may bring a lawyer, but most do not. The agency that issued the summons can send a representative, and some routinely do. But the Sanitation Department, which accounts for nearly half the summonses heard at OATH, nearly never sends anyone. Nor does the Police Department, another leading summons source. So most of the time, it is just the respondent and the hearing officer in the little room.

It is not Arjan Gjushis fault if the subcontractors brought their dumptrucks to the site more than an hour early and blocked Featherbed Lane.

It is not Metin Kurtulus fault if patrons of the bodega next to his vacant lot throw their empty bottles over his fence, especially after he chained his own trash can to a post for them to use and someone stole it.

Strokos Gourmet Deli has fired the exterminator responsible for the 46 live fruit flies a health inspector observed on a recent visit.

Over the course of many hearings, patterns of excuse emerge. Very frequently, they hinge on evasion or transfer of blame. This is a risky legal strategy.

A lot of people cant distinguish between being responsible for something and being at fault, OATHs commissioner, Fidel F. Del Valle, said in an interview in his office on Church Street in lower Manhattan. 'At fault is the person who put the crap in front of your house. But if youre the owner of the property, youre responsible for policing the front of your house.

Many respondents are tempted to try a kitchen-sink defense, offering the judge multiple reasons to find that the preponderance of the evidence (more than 50 percent) indicates a lack of guilt. It can backfire, as Jose Lopez, accused of possessing an open 24-ounce can of Coors beer inside Sunset Park on a balmy December afternoon, demonstrated at the Downtown Brooklyn OATH office on Jan. 19.

First he told the hearing officer, James A. DeVito, that the police saw the beer can by his feet and decided it was his even though it belonged to a friend.

Then he said he was not drinking beer because he was with his wife. Then he said he did have his friends beer in his hand briefly, but only to move it, as a favor to his friend, because he saw the police coming.

I told them that I was just moving it over, but it was not mine and I was just going home with my wife, he said through a Spanish interpreter who was patched in on speakerphone.

I do not credit the respondents testimony, DeVito wrote in his decision sustaining the summons.

Photographs and other documentary exhibits may be submitted but are not always helpful, either.

The photos show that Skyline Developers workers were just washing their truck, not pouring concrete, at the time the summons was issued. They were not in the act of working.

The photo Inessa Malamud submitted shows that there was not a summonsable amount of trash between her driveway and stoop, only four sheets of crumpled paper, two crushed plastic bottles, a small flattened box, a coffee-cup lid, a padded yellow mailing envelope and a shopping bag of supermarket flyers.

One of the odder pieces of evidence we got was from someone who had gotten a summons from the department of health for having a rat infestation on her property, said James Moore, a supervising hearing officer. Her entire defense was that I have many cats on the property to control the rat population. She submitted photos of all her cats. Except that two of them were raccoons.

As a practical matter, he added, having a bunch of cats is not an acceptable rodent abatement plan.

Last year, OATH opened a help center at each office, where respondents can go to have charges explained and get a primer on procedure.

A help center worker might tell the respondent about some common defenses, like the reasonable effort defense  since you cant be expected to clean the sidewalk in front of your house 24 hours a day, if you testify that you regularly clean twice a day, that is often sufficient.

Your odds of beating a ticket at an OATH hearing are not bad: 44 percent of the 223,000 summonses that were contested last year got dismissed, up from 39 percent the year before.

OATH was created in 1979 to provide an independent alternative to internal agency tribunals that tried their own cases and were often criticized as biased. Initially, only more complex trials were heard at OATH. But over the last 10 years, more and more agencies routine charges were transferred to its jurisdiction.

Last summer, when the police began issuing civil rather than criminal summonses for quality-of-life offenses like public drinking and urination and making noise, those came under the OATH umbrella, too.

Some agencies have bristled at the loss of control and complain OATH hearing officers are too sympathetic, Del Valle said.

When you dont send someone and the respondent puts up a credible, viable defense and theres no one from the agency to impeach it, its very likely that the summons will be dismissed, Del Valle said. One agency was arguing, How can that be? And our response is Wheres the evidence that rebuts the defense? And the guy says, Heres the evidence  the summons  the summons is proof! No, thats the allegation; the summons isnt proof.

On the evening of Nov. 28, a police officer approached Jorge Guillermo on Hughes Avenue in the Bronx and charged him with violating section 16-118(6) of the citys administrative code. Defendant was found to be urinating on a public sidewalk, the summons read.

At his hearing in January, Guillermo, 42, testified he is a locksmith who had just finished a job and was waiting between two parked cars for his co-worker to pick him up when the officer accosted him.

I showed him my tool bag, he told the hearing officer, Rhonda Leader. I showed him the work order. He said, I thought you were breaking into this car.' Then, Guillermo said, the officer asked if he had been urinating, and though he answered that he had not, the officer gave him a ticket.

I do kind of believe him because he sort of painted a detailed picture, Leader said after Guillermo had left. Its a tough one. This  she held up the summons  is basically the preponderance of evidence, but if you believe somebody, you believe them. She dismissed the ticket.

Sheikh Sohail could not have been blocking a bike lane with his cab at 6:30 p.m. because his Uber log shows that at 6:34 p.m., he was seven blocks away.

Qiong Zhen Ngs trash cans had their lids securely attached to prevent spillage when he left for work in the morning and when he came home that night.

Bruce Nixon was almost done with his beer when the officer walked up, and though he explained he had just learned he would be moving from a homeless shelter to an apartment and his friend had bought him a beer to celebrate, she gave him a ticket anyway.

Most OATH hearing officers are paid $51 an hour and barred by the city from working more than 1,000 hours a year, lest they qualify for Civil Service benefits. They must have three years of recent satisfactory relevant legal experience and attend a two-week orientation.

They do not specialize and may be called upon to interpret any of thousands of pieces of agency code. Some are near the beginning of their legal careers, while others are retired government lawyers with decades of experience  former prosecutors, assistant attorneys general and the like. Those who have other legal practices may keep them if cleared by OATH administrators.

This is the greatest legal training ground  in 10 years Ive learned so much about how to adjudicate, said Patrick Mercurio, a hearing officer in the Bronx. Im doing exactly what Id like to do. Id just like to do it someday in an actual courtroom.

While the job carries little prestige, the hearing officers understand that for most people who appear before them, they are the face of the legal system.

I may be the only person that someone like this respondent ever sees in the realm of the law, said Loren Luzmore, a Manhattan hearing officer since 2013. Its really important to me for him to feel heard and respected.

The care lavished on a summons at OATH can seem almost disproportionate when the justice system in the city is so often burdened with backlogs and delays. Even a $25 nuisance summons gets a formal written decision that recites and evaluates all of the respondents arguments.

In January, Martha Rosa, 68, appeared before Mercurio in the Bronx on a $100 summons for failure to shovel snow in a timely fashion. She said that her 76-year-old husband had done his best.

He cleans the snow, but he doesnt clean everything, she said. She added that she had since purchased a snowblower.

I believe that he tried to make a path, Mercurio said afterward. He probably didnt do a great job. But we try to err on the side of giving them a break, especially older people whove been living here for years. Its just a matter of respect. He dismissed the summons.

Some summonses disintegrate under scrutiny.

Benedetto Savino was charged in December with allowing an unlicensed dog-grooming business to operate in his building on Webster Avenue in the Bronx. The health departments evidence was a permit that said it was issued in 2017 but expired in 2016. This is almost bizarre, Mercurio said. He dismissed the summons.

On Jan. 24 of this year, if his testimony is to be credited, Charles Oehlmann, a 72-year-old retired Con Edison worker, went to sleep at his home on Staten Island around 10 p.m. with the garbagemen still not having come to collect his trash. At 1:45 a.m., an inspector issued him a $100 summons for leaving his trash out on a noncollection day.

I dont know what Im supposed to do, he told the hearing officer. It seems a little ridiculous. Am I supposed to set my alarm for after midnight?

His wife, he added, had checked the citys rules, which state plainly that if garbage is collected after 4 p.m., you have until 9 a.m. the next day to retrieve your trash cans. He was acquitted.

But other cases stand up. On Dec. 9, a young man walked into Temal Discount Grocery on 120th Avenue in South Ozone Park, Queens, and asked for a pack of Newports. Rickie Temal, the owner, sold them to him. An older woman approached the counter. She was a Department of Consumer Affairs inspector. The young man was her plant. He was 17. Temal was issued a $1,000 summons for selling tobacco to a minor.

At his hearing in Manhattan, Temal argued that the customer looked at least 24.

Hes a bearded macho man  I shouldnt be asking him for an ID, he said. Do I want someone to curse me out?

Youre supposed to ask if they look like theyre under 30, the inspector, Barbara Murray, said.

Temal grew indignant. They came in just to fool me so they can make a violation, he said. So you guys work with kids to fool the entrepreneur of the business?

No, Murray said. The inspection is to catch you doing what you normally do.

Temal gathered his thoughts.

If by chance this honorable judge and honorable inspector find me guilty, he said, I beg for leniency.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.Belleek Hanging Basket Weave Celtic Cross is rated 4.9 out of 5 by 16 .

Rated 5 out of 5 by Pacific NW Lab Lover from BEAUTIFUL AND SUBSTANTIAL I am always on the lookout to purchase a gift for my sister's birthday or Christmas, or "just because". We are Italian and Catholic, but I don't see many Italian crosses anywhere. I didn't know much about Belleek before QVC, but they produce some beautiful things, this cross included. I know she will love it. It's not big and not small, just right to hang in her bedroom or the hallway so she sees it every day. The basket weave design gives it texture that you can see, even from a distance. The flowers are a nice touch. Anyone with faith would love this. I liked it so much, I purchased one for myself :-) My sis and I have a collection of angels and crosses, so grateful I am able to find gift ideas on the Q. She's hard to shop for, but so far she has loved the two angels I gave her and I know she will love this cross, too. Great price on clearance. Don't hesitate on this one. It also comes in a beautiful blue and gold box, perfect for gifting, wrapped or not.

Rated 5 out of 5 by Kayster58 from Beautiful Cross This is a gorgeous Cross and any friend who is a Christian would love to have it for sure. It is just shimmering and beautiful and a nice size too. The box it arrived in makes a nice presentation box too. The price is right now so if you are on the fence, grab it while it is still available.

Rated 5 out of 5 by Lorienda from Lovely cross! I have this cross on a wall in my kitchen. It is beautiful and the quality is wonderful! The delicate pink flowers add to its charm. A way to remember what is important in this world and that humans can create beauty. So glad I ordered it. I have some other Belleek pieces.

Rated 5 out of 5 by BBD from Lovely cross from Belleek I have many Belleek pieces and another small cross from years ago. When this went on sale I ordered with a bit of hesitation over the size. I am delighted with this cross. The size is perfect and I can't wait to find the perfect place for it in my home. I highly recommend to anyone looking for a special cross.

Rated 5 out of 5 by basil from A Blessing Every Day! I must have bought every cross Belleek has brought to QVC, but I must say this is my favorite wall cross. The design is delicate; it doesn't overwhelm the style of the cross and, since it doesn't distract me from the form of the cross, it only enhances the meaning I get from the cross every morning . The price is certainly affordable. The size is not going to disappoint anybody, either, I'm sure! This piece would be a comfort to someone who has recently experienced a loss or a joy to someone who is lucky enough to experience a happy event in this tough time! An all around A-1 purchase!

Rated 5 out of 5 by jalevs from Beautiful This is a beautiful cross which reminds me daily of my faith and heritage. I have mine near a kitchen window. Everyone who comes in compliments me on how lovely it is. This would make a perfect gift for those who treasure their faith, their Irish heritage and love of life. You will not be disappointed in the craftsmanship.

Rated 5 out of 5 by Susieky from Irish Whimsy My father's ancestors are from Ireland, so it holds a special place in my heart. I viewed this cross several times and recently ordered. It is a beautiful piece of porcelain and puts a smile on my face each time I view its craftsmanship. The creamy white basket weave, complimented by the flowers and shamrocks, is sweetly incorporated into this symbol of faith.Lock & Lock Portable Cake Carrier with Handle Lid is rated 4.5 out of 5 by 26 .

Rated 5 out of 5 by Tweedybrowser from Nice... This is very nice for a cake, but you can also turn it over and use it upside down and snap the lid on. Maybe for salad, cookies, donuts or whatever else you need to keep fresh. More that one way to use this carrier.

Rated 5 out of 5 by Therapy from Double Duty These fit large layer cakes but also other items that you want to protect. I wish there was a handle on the bottom. I used them to set up a snack bowl filled with three large bags of chips. The best part was that I added the lid bottom back and was able to keep the left overs fresh to snack on for weeks!!

Rated 4 out of 5 by fat girl from lock & lock cake carrier I like a large holder you can put more cupcakes in it and don't have to worry about the frosting getting messed up. for your cakes.

Rated 4 out of 5 by chicagomum2003 from I like this a lot, but... I wish it were a bit smaller. My thought upon unpacking: This is ginormous!...making it bit of a task to store. I do hope Lock & Lock produces a scaled down version of this product that is closer in size of a bundt cake carrier, which is what I bought this to replace.

Rated 5 out of 5 by greate from Cake Carrier After 3 re-orders to get one that was not broken, yes, I am satisfied with this item. Hopefully will get many years of use from it.

Rated 5 out of 5 by PepperC from Perfect Airtight Container for Any Baked Goods ... I had been wanting a new "cake carrier " for some time ... I wanted it to have a good airtight seal & knew lock & lock had a reputation for making quality products ... When I discovered that QVC carried lock & lock AND that they had this carrier (along with several other items I knew would resolve a few storage & organizational issues) ... PLUS on sale with the easy pay option - knew it was time to stock up ... And I am very happy that I did ... this has been perfect for storing (& transporting) not only cakes/pies but just about any baked goods ... biscuits, muffins, cookies, small loaves, etc, etc ... (I have even turned it upside down & used the bottom as the lid) ... the quality/performance has lived up to my expectations (based on lock & lock's reputation) ... Now there are several other items that I have set my sites on ... Definitely Recommend ...

Rated 5 out of 5 by Goldie K from PERFECT THIS IS A PERFECT GIFT. I LOVE THE COLORS, THEY MATCH MY OTHER LOCK & LOCK CONTAINERS. I WILL CONTINUE TO PURCHASE LOCK & LOCK & RECOMMEND THEM FOR OTHERS. I WILL GIVE THIS AS CHRISTMAS GIFTS..QUIZ: Guess the Road Songs

We can't wait to get back on the road again! Play this quiz and see if how many you can get right!Newshub News Desk

Newshub welcomes your news tips and information.

Please email us: news@newshub.co.nz or

call the news team on 0800 Newshub.

The network news centre is in Auckland, with journalists in Wellington and Christchurch, as well as the Press Gallery office at Parliament, combined with a team of freelance reporters around the country.



Newshub supplies news and sport to all 140 MediaWorks radio stations, making it the most listened-to commercial radio news service in New Zealand.

Newshub is owned by Discovery New Zealand.Brazil: CPTM has awarded Alstom an 11m contract to modify signalling on Sao Paulo Line 9 for the Varginha extension.Property details:

1 ACRE Twentynine Palms, CA SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY NO MINIMUM / NO RESERVE --- HIGH BID OWNS THE LOT This Property is near Twentynine Palms, California, in the southern Mojave Desert, is the home of Joshua Tree National Park headquarters and north entrance and proud host of the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, the world's largest Marine Corps training base. Known for its clear skies, brilliant star-filled nights, desert and mountain vistas, wide open spaces, and world-class murals and publi...

Price: $ 395 State/Province: California Seller State of Residence: California Location: 928**, Orange, California

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Nearby CaliforniaProperty details:

A little piece of Hearth Tujunga, Ca. Los Angeles County Land is located in and very unique area. This is a perfect location to own land in Los Angeles. Electric power, Water and gas are available nearby. Check with City of LA for any plans. Beautiful Lot with sweeping views in every direction (mountains, canyons). This property is calling for someone with a desire to be in a secluded private area of the Crest in Tujunga. Great location, less than a 5-minute drive to Foothill Boulevard and near ...

Price: $ 1,275 State/Province: California Seller State of Residence: California Location: 928**, Orange, California

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CEDARPINES PARK, CA San Bernardino County Mountain Resort Destination. NO MINIMUM / NO RESERVE --- HIGH BID OWNS THE LOT Nestled in the magnificent San Bernardino National Forest, surrounded by pine, cedar, and dogwood, an area described as the "Alps of Southern California", and known as "the best kept secret on the West Coast, is a stunningly beautiful, cozy and quaint mountain resort paradise called Lake Arrowhead. Our community features countless outdoor recreational activities such as hiking...

Price: $ 718 State/Province: California Seller State of Residence: California Location: 928**, Orange, California

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Cozy and Quaint Mountain Resort Destination. San Bernardino County NO MINIMUM / NO RESERVE --- HIGH BID OWNS THE LOT Nestled in the magnificent San Bernardino National Forest, surrounded by pine, cedar, and dogwood, an area described as the "Alps of Southern California", and known as "the best kept secret on the West Coast, is a stunningly beautiful, cozy and quaint mountain resort paradise called Lake Arrowhead. Our community features countless outdoor recreational activities such as hiking, ba...

Price: $ 701 Seller State of Residence: California State/Province: California Location: 928**, Orange, California

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Nearby CaliforniaProperty details:

5 acres in Becker New Mexico overlooking the scenic Rio Grande Valley. There are 360 degree views from this property with six mountains ranges in sight. There is abundant sunshine; about 360 days a year. Electric is close. A modest reserve is required in order to purchase this property. Please ask any questions prior to bidding. I will post questions and answer to this auction site. This property is perfect for the habitual renter who would like to be able to say that they actually own a piece o...

Price: $ 1,525 Seller State of Residence: New Mexico State/Province: New Mexico Type: Recreational, Acreage Zip/Postal Code: 87002 City: Becker Location: 870**, Placitas, New Mexico

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Fantastic offer 40 acres of beautiful untouched land in Nevada. Excellent for investment or somebody looking for an escape from the everyday busy lifestyle, Relax in the surroundings of nature itself breathing the clean fresh air get back to basics living off the grid. perfect for hiking or hunting. Lovely mountain view, nearest town is winnemucca approximately 15 miles away. Paradise Valley is the closest hot spring or a fishing lake is also nearby. Plenty of outdoor activities for the adventur...

Price: $ 8,600 Zoning: Residential Seller State of Residence: Texas State/Province: Nevada Location: 894**, Winnemucca, Nevada

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Residential Vacant Land For Sale in a Rural area of Mojave, Kern County, California - 1.08 Acre This property is 1.08 acres of relatively flat vacant land in a rural area of Mojave, Kern County, California. Surrounded by amazing mountain views and more recreational opportunities than you can count. There are a few residences and businesses close by but not in the immediate vicinity of the property. The Property Type is Residential Vacant Land and is Zoned A-1 which is a combination of estate-typ...

Price: $ 2,495 Seller State of Residence: California Property Address: MOJAVE, Kern County, CA 93501 State/Province: California City: MOJAVE Zip/Postal Code: 93501 Type: Residential Vacant Land Zoning: Residential Location: , Mojave, Kern County, Ca 93501

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Land in Ocala National Forest!! A nature lovers paradise! Located in central Florida, the Ocala National Forest is a nature lover's paradise. The Ocklawaha River and numerous lakes and springs provide the perfect spot for boating, fishing and kayaking. There are marked and maintained ATV/Jeep trail systems in the national forest. Endless amounts of outdoor family fun in and around the forest. If you have less than 10 positive feedback's seller Will Cancel your bid unless buyer contacts seller fi...

Price: $ 2,800 State/Province: Florida Seller State of Residence: Florida City: fort mccoy Zip/Postal Code: 32134 Zoning: R4 Type: Homesite, Lot Location: 321**, Fort Mccoy, Florida

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We're sorry, this article is not currently availableDemonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, which have been counted and processed for genuineness, are shredded and briquetted before being disposed of through a tendering process, the Reserve Bank of India has said.

The central bank had earlier estimated the value of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes received, as on June 30, 2017, at Rs 15.28 trillion.

Old currency notes which include demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes are counted and processed in sophisticated currency verification and processing system. The notes processed are shredded and briquetted in the shredding and briquetting system installed in various RBI offices, the RBI said in reply to an RTI query.

Once compressed into bricks, the shredded notes disposed of through a tendering process, according to the reply.

RBI does not recycle such processed notes, the RBI said.

At least 59 sophisticated Currency Verification and Processing machines are in operation in various branches of RBI across the country to process demonetised notes for their arithmetical accuracy and genuineness.

The government had on November 8, 2016 banned the use of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes and allowed the holders of these currency bills to deposit them with banks or use them at certain notified utilities.

In its annual report for 2016-17 released on August 30 last year, the RBI said Rs 15.28 lakh crore, or 99 per cent of the demonetised notes, had returned to the banking system.

The central bank said in the report, for the year ended June 30, 2017, that only Rs 16,050 crore of the Rs 15.44 lakh crore in old high denomination notes had not returned.

As on November 8, 2016, there were 1,716.5 crore pieces of Rs 500 and 685.8 crore pieces of Rs 1,000 notes in circulation, totalling Rs 15.44 lakh crore, it had said.Tata Communications has invested around Rs 6.5 billion in developing its IoT business, which is being managed by some 75 executives over the past three years.

Tata Communications, best known for its underwater Internet network that goes around the world, is betting to reposition itself in the mobility and Internet of Things domain, specifically in the public utilities area.

V S Shridhar, head of the IoT business unit, sees the area as a frontier of economic opportunities that go beyond the ambit of stereotypes that include home automation to check if a connected fridge has run out of milk.

He said healthcare, traffic congestion, environment and pollution are potential areas for commerce, and added Tata Communications had invested around Rs 6.5 billion in developing its IoT business, which is being managed by some 75 executives over the past three years.

For example, 40 per cent of all public water is wasted and, most of the time, quality is uncertain, Shridhar said. These are some areas the company hopes to bring a difference to by deploying sensor-laden devices.

Tata Steel is also running a pilot for wearables, with 50-100 workers at its factory in Jamshedpur. The device, called a safety watch, is worn by workers on a rubber strap. The device monitors location in real time as well as health parameters and sends data back and forth to a command centre.

Some work around IoT in public utilities has already started rolling out. Around a year ago, the Bhopal Smart City Development Corp installed 400 smart poles, equipped with environment sensors, surveillance units, and electrical vehicle charging points, built by Ericsson and Bharti Airtel.

Then, a couple years ago, in Bengaluru, close to 3,500 buses were enabled with IoT systems to relay route, departure and arrival data to their dispatch centres, according to Rakesh Kaul, partner at PwC India.

IoT is the future, he said, while explaining how technology, which relies on Internet connectivity and is built around data and devices, was already established within most industries. The next phase of that, Kaul said, was being able to generate and harvest enough data from such deployment for it to make commercial sense.

According to Shridhar, the future of IoT has a lot to do with safety, including smart devices for women and wearables for factory workers.

Shridhar admitted there were challenges that include Internet deployment and network reach. And, hes not alone in thinking that way.

Anand Bhushan, partner with law firm Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas that works with technology companies, said: Theres a long journey to the first layer of technology, which we call Phase I and has to be deployed all over the country. Most villages today dont even have electricity and, so, public utilities will perhaps see the last phase of technology deployment.

IoT is inevitable and deployment has to be driven by the private sector, Bhushan felt.The judge, during arguments, said it was blindingly obvious that rules were broken by the bank and that they had gone against their own guidelines in extending a loan to the business tycoons now defunct Kingfisher Airlines, reports Ashis Ray.

On Friday, the hearing of the Indian governments application in an English court to extradite Indian businessman Vijay Mallya to face trial on a fraud claim advanced to the business end, with the chief magistrate at Westminster Magistrates Court, Emma Arbuthnot -- who candidly called the matter a big case -- pertinently ordering the prosecution to submit draught charges or a specific charge-sheet against the defendant before April 20.

She indicated she was not satisfied with the manner in which the government had presented its case, suggesting it was copious and convoluted.

Nevertheless, for the first time since the extradition proceedings began on December 4 last year -- and it hasnt been a continuous hearing -- there arose a glimmer of hope for the government when Arbuthnot remarked in course of the arguments it is blindingly obvious that rules were broken by the bank (IDBI) and that they had gone against their own guidelines in extending a loan to Mallyas now defunct Kingfisher Airlines.

Yet, she rather reduced the expectation by pin-pointing there was at least one instance of questionable evidence. The witness statements of Nimka and Pandya, produced by the Central Bureau of Investigation, she said, were identical and total replicas.

The barrister appearing for the Government of India, Mark Summers, alleged IDBI Bank granted the facility of Rs 7.5 billion to Kingfisher Airlines without adherence to the banks rules and that there was a conspiracy between Mallya and the chairman of the bank.

He also maintained the formers alleged culpability fulfilled the requirements of dual criminality under English law. Clare Montgomery, the barrister representing Mallya, contested this by stating the lending was sponsored and approved by State Bank of India (which was in the consortium of lenders) and that it had performed prior detailed analysis of the borrower.

In his most combative performance yet, Summers painted a picture of Mallyas behaviour being a blueprint for dishonesty and a clear, obvious case of fraud. He concluded his 85-minute argument by saying the material against the Indian entrepreneur was the clearest case of admissible hearsay evidence. Whether or to what extent hearsay will be accepted remains to be seen.

The government of India is required to essentially establish there is a prima facie case for Mallya to face trial at home. But it also needs to assure the English court that he will be fairly treated by the Indian judiciary, not subjected to torture and, if detained, kept in prison conditions that are up to international standards.

Montgomery sprung up the moment Summers finished. She described his presentation as high-flown, rhetorical argument and stressed there was no evidence anything dishonourable or discreditable was going on. Indeed, she accused the CBI of submitting a false statement. She cited the investigating agency had provided precise repetition (in different statements) including spelling errors.

The lawyers also sparred on the admissibility of witness statements under Section 161 of the CrPC -- a path chosen by the CBI. Summers maintained this was allowable, explaining the Indian practice was different from the English practice. Montgomery emphasised contended statements under Section 161 before a police officer do not constitute evidence.

She added: This set of material is evidentially worthless. She claimed the CBI manual recommended statements should be taken under Section 164, in other words before a magistrate.

Mallya was arrested in London -- where he has now been resident for two years 11 months ago, before being released on conditional bail. Following this, extradition proceedings against him began on December 4 last year. These have presently reached a crucial stage, with Arbuthnot set to rule on admissibility of evidence gathered by the CBI. If she rejects the proof provided, the governments case could collapse instantaneously.

Arbuthnot reserved her opinion on legal and professional privilege. This was in the context of whether conversation between Mallya and his lawyer in India can be admitted as evidence. In short, Mallyas fate hangs in the balance. The next hearing is scheduled to take place on April 27. It is unclear if Arbuthnot will adjudicate on admissibility on that date or later. Either way, such a decree could signal a clue to the overall judgment. Of course, both sides would still enjoy a right of appeal to the high court.

Image: Vijay Mallya will learn of his fate in the next hearing schedule on April 27. Photograph: Mark Thompson/Getty Images'But Russia is well aware of Pakistan's nuisance power on its border.'



IMAGE: Busts depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin in the colours of the Russian flag at the SUPERPUTIN exhibition. Photograph: Maxim Shemetov/Reuters

"Russia has become a strategic ally of China, even while it has many contradictions with policies and has questions about China's rise," Jawaharal Nehru University Professor Kamal A Mitra Chenoy tells Aditi Phadnis.

What does Vladimir Putin's election mean for Russia?

Putin has much legitimacy and support amongst the vast mass of people, who believe that:

i. he has held together the Russian State that was threatened with further disintegration because of separatism in the Caucasus, especially Chechnya and Dagestan that he was able to resolve;

ii. He has dealt with threats such as terrorism and external threat of a militarised NATO on Russian borders, with a strong hand, and without threatening minorities;

iii. He has encouraged the revival of Christianity, funded the restoration of churches and linked with the Orthodox Church patriarchs;

iv. The unilateral Western sanctions have been used by Putin to strengthen domestic manufacturing and the economy has not suffered as much as it was feared it would.

Independent surveys show the Putin's domestic popularity remain high. Of course many are cynical, and there is also dissent and dissatisfaction.

But Russian political culture, overall, still accepts these new versions of autocratic rule as the need for a 'strong' hand.

Putin's re-election will mean a continuation of Putin's policy, a stronger role for Russia internationally, and stability within Russia, though measures of controlling dissent and civil society space will also continue.

How should we evaluate Putin's domestic policies? What are the new challenges? Russia is a guided democracy at best. But even a guided democracy needs an opposition...

Russia has a 'super presidency'. The Russian constitution itself is designed in a way, where a president over rides other institutions.

The role of the presidential office does not reflect a 'balance of powers' that liberal and parliamentary democracies require.

Putin, in the last decade, put in new laws to control fissiparous tendencies that had crept into the Russian republics.

Governors, directly accountable to Putin, regulate the zones under which the Russian republics (states of the Russian federation) lie. This, however, also means that Russia is only quasi-federal.

State power is fairly tightly controlled by the centre.

While multi-party system for the state Duma and councils exist, Putin's United Russia make it a one party dominated system.

Opposition parties like the Communist party and others play a role, but parties and civil society need support to become more vibrant.

The Russian press and media, controlled by oligarchs, has been sufficiently tamed and the State media remains a powerful government tool.

Thus, while independent voices remain in academia and civil society, dissent in not encouraged, beyond State parameters.

On social indices, Russia fares as a fairly inclusive State and provide fair amount of social services.

Russia remains a State with paradoxes, but Putin has emerged as the leader with the legitimacy to reconcile contradictions.

What about his foreign policy, Russia's relations with Pakistan, for instance, and with East Asia?

Russian foreign policy and national interest is interestingly inclusive of all earlier Russian regimes, where they see a continuity in Russian interest as a bridge between the East (North) and West (South).

They are committed to multilateralism and Putin has shown an urge to reclaim major power status for Russia.

He is doing this by playing a role as a negotiator in regional politics that includes especially Central Asia and West Asia.

Russia's military and diplomatic role in Syria shows that Putin cannot be ignored in any critical settlement in West Asia.

Russia has systematically re-built ties with all Central Asian States.

The Russian position on Ukraine and their re-taking of Crimea was popular in Russia and sanctions against Russia have strengthened Putin domestically.

Russia has become a strategic ally of China, even while it has many contradictions with policies and has questions about China's rise.

Russia is building ties systematically with ASEAN countries, Japan and others.

On China's Belt and Roadway Initiative, Russia can have a leveraging role, as China would like to use Russian lines to go to Europe.

At the same time, Russia has acceded to Indian pressure and sensitivities of not being part of the CPEC (China Pakistan Economic Corridor) part as it goes through areas sensitive for India.

Russia's new and developing relations with Pakistan is because of Russian high stakes in a stable Afghanistan and Central Asia.

They will not risk improving relations with Pakistan at the cost of India. But they are well aware of Pakistan's nuisance power on their border.

Russia-India relations remain at a stable high and with special as well as specialised relations, as evident from statements of leadership of both countries.

Russia is a special strategic partner to India, and India can use Russia in dealing with many tricky issues. India's military and energy tie-up with Russia are strong and mutually beneficial.

What will Putin's continuance in power mean for economic and business relations between Russia and India?

Business relations are unfortunately weak.

It is here that both governments, business associations, banking institutions need to come together to remove bottlenecks that are preventing business from growing.

Indian business needs confidence building in the Russian market, find niche areas, and the 'ease of business' methodologies. There has to be a collective will and push for this.

Once this is opened, Indian-Russian relations that are among the best India has with any other State, are bound to increase to new heights.India on Sunday gave yet another Note Verbale to Pakistan through its high commission in Islamabad protesting the intimidation and harassment of mission officials, the 13th such diplomatic note in less than three months.

Official sources said that in the communication to the Pakistan foreign ministry, the Indian high commission specifically highlighted three cases of harassment, including one in which the second secretary at the mission was aggressively followed today by unidentified people in a car in close proximity in an intimidating manner while he was going to a restaurant.

Videos were made using a mobile phone, the sources said.

They said that in the second incident on Sunday, four high commission officials travelling in an official vehicle were aggressively followed while going to Aabpara market by two unknown persons on motorcycles in an intimidating manner.

Also, the website of the Indian high commission continues to be intermittently blocked causing inconvenience and affecting the normal functioning of the mission, the sources said.

We have asked the Pakistan government to investigate these incidents and ensure that such incidents do not recur and share the result of the investigation with us, a source said.

The note verbale was sent on Sunday to Pakistans foreign ministry protesting against the intimidation and harassment of Indian High Commission officials. This was the 13th note verbale this year on the subject, the sources said.

On Saturday too, India had sent a note verbale to Pakistan through its high commission and in the communication, it had specifically mentioned two incidents of harassment -- one on Saturday and the other on March 15.

The 13th note verbale to Pakistan foreign ministry comes days after Islamabad called its high commissioner home for consultations, which was termed by India as routine and normal.

Pakistan had said it called home its envoy in India Sohail Mahmood for consultations after repeated incidents of harassment of its diplomatic staff in New Delhi.

External affairs ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar had said that the Indian high commission in Islamabad was also facing a litany of issues which have not been resolved for several months by that country.Moscow is to expel 23 United Kingdom diplomats and shut down the British Council in Russia amid increasing tensions over a nerve agent attack against a former double agent and his daughter on British soil.

The Russian foreign ministry summoned the British ambassador on Saturday to inform him of the retaliatory action taken after the UKs expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats.

But the Russian Federation has gone a step further and shut down all activities of the British Council, which promotes greater understanding of the UK and the English language. The foreign ministry said it would also close a consulate in St Petersburg.

Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia remain critically ill in hospital.

They were found unconscious on a bench in Salisbury, Wiltshire on March 4.

The UK government says they were poisoned with a nerve agent of a type developed by Russia called Novichok -- the Russian government denies any involvement in the attack.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said the UK government would consider its next steps in the coming days, alongside our allies and partners.

Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty Images'Sirisena will keep both Rajapaksa and Wickremesinghe on tenterhooks till the next general election due in 2020,' says Aditi Phadnis.



IMAGE: Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, right, with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. Photograph: Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters

Opposition leader and former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa must be laughing his head off.

Despite all the cases of corruption against him and his family, despite the harassment and the jail terms that members of his family have had to serve, it was he who swept the civic elections in the island last month.

The victory has thrown the ruling dispensation lead by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe into a blind panic.

So much so that the two are scrapping with each other instead of attacking their common enemy and the result is that the government in Sri Lanka is virtually dysfunctional.

Wickremesinghe reshuffled his council of ministers assuming control of the law and order portfolio on February 26 and within days, another round of religious violence between minority Muslims and Sinhala Buddhists broke out, 'forcing' the president to impose an emergency (it was lifted on Sunday, March 18) emasculating his own prime minister.

The PM was divested of that portfolio altogether by presidential fiat.

There is a background to this pattern of ethnic violence. The first Sinhala-Muslim riot was reported in 1915, largely because of land issues.

Later, as Tamil nationalism began to rise, the Muslims, fearing for their life in eastern Sri Lanka where they share boundaries with Tamils and are in sizeable numbers (30 per cent in Ampara, for instance), they sided with the Sinhala community, going so far as to back S W R D Bandaranaike's Sinhala Only plank.

The 2009 military victory that crushed the Tamil movement -- during Rajapaksa's presidency -- also led to a consolidation of Sinhalese Buddhist nationalist sentiment.

This gave way to the foundation of the Bodu Bala Sena (translated as the Army of Buddhist Power), or BBS, a grouping of monks whose political wing calls itself the Bodu Jana Peramuna.

When you don't have an enemy you sometimes have to invent one.

BBS grew to become the militant arm of political Buddhism. In 2013, it announced its opposition to certain Muslim practices, such as halal certification, and women's dress, such as the niqab and the abaya.

In 2014, Sri Lanka saw a riot between Muslims and Sinhalese Buddhist nationalists at Aluthgama, resulting in three deaths, more than 78 injured, and many others forced to flee their homes.

The incident led to the unprecedented public denunciation of the politics of the Peramuna by diplomats of half a dozen countries.

Although the BBS obtained only 0.18 per cent of the vote in the 2015 elections, Rajapaksa has continued to nurture the organisation from his perch in the Opposition.

Muslims are only about 10 per cent of the population of Sri Lanka while 75 per cent is Sinhalese Buddhist.

However, Muslims have historically dominated business and commerce.

In its political rhetoric, the BBS continues to criticises Muslim business practices, speaks of the community's 'greed' and 'avarice', and ignores more than a thousand years of peaceful coexistence.

It also noted that the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress' M H M Ashraff used to begin all political meetings with a cry of 'Allahu Akbar'. So a base for the politics of hate had been laid.

Security agencies in Sri Lanka say that in riposte, the rise of Islamic fundamentalism is Sri Lanka's biggest threat, situated as it is next door to the Maldives.

Sirisena would like to expose the Rajapaksa linkage to the militant Sinhalese Buddhist nationalist group. But he would prefer to stay on the right side of the Buddhist clergy and the majority of the population.

Wickremesinghe has posted magnificent electoral victories in the Tamil dominated north and east. For him, these areas represent the gap between victory and electoral defeat.

To reassure his constituency he has announced the appointment of members to the Office of Missing Persons, set up as part of the reconciliation process between the Sinhala Buddhist majority and the Tamil minority after the three decade war.

He has challengers within his party. The principal among them is Sajith Premadasa, son of Sri Lanka's former president.

Deputy foreign minister Wasantha Senanayake from the Senanayake clan (descendant of Dudley Senanayake, a former prime minister) has been quoted as saying that as Wickremesinghe doesn't listen to the younger members of the party 'we will have to clean his ears'.

The Rajapaksa group is jubilant -- President Sirisena's action of imposition of emergency has vindicated its claim that under Wickremesinghe, the economic and social future of Sri Lanka is in jeopardy.

To buttress its claim, the group cites the fact that Sri Lanka's former finance minister Ravi Karunanayake had to step down following charges of bribery and corruption and Wickremesinghe was summoned to that enquiry.

However, a new entente between Sirisena and Rajapaksa is unlikely because of a deep trust deficit.

What is more likely is that Sirisena will keep both Rajapaksa and Wickremesinghe guessing and on tenterhooks till the next general elections due in 2020.

Meanwhile, the bureaucracy, sensing confusion in the chain of command is standing still and working to rule.

Things are never easy in Sri Lanka.A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.The Congress on Saturday expressed its willingness to ally "with all like-minded parties" with a "pragmatic approach" to defeat the Narendra Modi government in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections with party chief Rahul Gandhi stating that the country was feeling tired and seeking a change.

The party's 84th plenary saw party leaders making strident attacks on the Modi government on a range of issues including corruption, problems of farmers and unemployment with UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi terming the ruling alliance as "arrogant", "power-drunk", "dictatorial" and only working to finish the Congress in the nearly four years of its rule.

Sonia Gandhi sought to enthuse party rank and file for the challenging battles ahead, including the Karnataka assembly elections later this year, saying Congress' victory was the country's victory.

In an indication of how the party plans to defeat to BJP-led coalition in the 2019, she recalled the flexibility shown by the party in favour of alliances ahead of 2004 Lok Sabha polls to hand out an unexpected thrashing to the then NDA government.

She accused Modi of indulging in "dramabaazi" (gimmicks)" to earn votes.

Rahul Gandhi set the tone of the plenary with his brief but succinct speech, saying that the meeting was aimed at setting the future direction not only of the Congress but of the entire country.

Seeking to tap into the perceived rural distress and growing need of jobs for youth, he said various sections were feeling disenchanted under the BJP.

"The crores of youth, who are feeling tired today, when they look towards Modi, they are unable to see a way forward. They do not know from where will they get employment, when will farmers get proper price for their crops. The country is in a way tired, is seeking a way out.

"And I say from my heart that only the Congress can show the path to the country," Gandhi said to loud cheers.

"The aim of plenary is to show the path forward to the Congress and the country. It is talking of the future, it is talking of change," he said.

The plenary, which will conclude on Sunday, adopted a political resolution and another on agriculture, employment and poverty alleviation.

"Congress will adopt a pragmatic approach for cooperation with all like-minded parties and evolve a common workable programme to defeat the BJP-RSS in the 2019 elections," the political resolution said, but also noted that "a resurgent Congress alone" shall win back the idea of India as envisioned by the nation's founding fathers.

It said all sections have been "betrayed" by the BJP-led government and core constitutional values were under attack.

The resolution also claimed that the Indian tradition and the essence of Hinduism has been all encompassing and upholder of composite culture. "It is distinct and must not be confused with Hindutva, which is essentially a political ideology."

Sonia Gandhi, in her hard-hitting 15-minute speech, asked party workers to again make the Congress a party that sets the fundamental agenda of the country.

"In the last four years, to destroy the Congress, the arrogant and drunk-with-power Modi government has left no stone unturned. There is open play of allurement, money, repression and discrimination but the Congress has never bowed to arrogance of power and will never bow in the future.

"Rather, the Congress is putting up a struggle to expose the dictatorial ways of the Modi government, its neglect of Constitution, disrespect of Parliament, false cases against the opposition and its harassment of the media," she said.

She said Modi's 2014 slogans of "development for all" and "no tolerance for graft" were only gimmicks to grab power.

The resolution also targeted the government on the issue of corruption, referring to over Rs 13,000 crore PNB bank fraud case.

It accused the BJP, Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) and their affiliates of creating an environment of distrust, fear and intimidation.

Citing apprehensions on the misuse of the electronic voting machine (EVMs), the Congress on Saturday said that the Election Commission should revert to the old practice of paper ballot and slammed BJP's move for simultaneous elections.

The party said the party would impose a five per cent cess on incomes of top one per cent richest Indians to create National Poverty Alleviation Fund.

The plenary,being held after eight years, had stamp of Rahul Gandhi with several party workers and young leaders speaking on resolutions. Unlike past plenaries, the leaders did not sit on the dais. There were panel discussions on several themes.Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti hoped on Saturday the state opens up to the world as an international trading destination through land routes, realizing its geopolitical situation as part of a peaceful region.



Addressing a function on the inauguration of 7th International Buyer-Seller meet here, she said that the state has been the recipient of major cultural, social and economic influences from the areas of silk route during the past seven centuries and these influences, once used contextually, would help in making the state a hub of economic activity in the region.

On the efforts of her government, the Chief Minister said two dry ports are being set up at Jammu and Srinagar to get the goods from the state to the international market in a hassle free manner.

She said with such an easy mode of transportation the agri and horticultural produce from the state would get a quality international market.

Complimenting the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Industries Department for organising the event, Mehbooba Mufto said that she believed that such an occasion would provide a meeting ground to the artisans, entrepreneurs and the trading community to promote the arts and crafts and build a relationship of trust and sustained interest with their outside counterparts.

"I hope you will go back as our ambassadors in the international trading community and the masterpieces you carry from here will act as souvenirs of peace and goodwill.

"Our artisans do not use their fingers and hands only, they give their blood and soul to produce the artifacts the state is known for," she said in her address while pledging all support from her government.Russians residing in the country's easternmost regions of Kamchatka and Chukotka began casting votes on Sunday to elect the next Russian president.

The polling began at 8 a.m. (Russian time), Xinhua news agency reported.

At least 111 million Russian citizens are expected to cast votes to choose the country's president for the next six years, Sputnik reported.

Russian nationals are electing the country's head of the state among eight contenders -- Sergey Baburin from the All-People's Union party; Communist Party candidate Pavel Grudinin; incumbent Russian President Vladimir Putin; Civil Initiative party candidate Ksenia Sobchak; Communists of Russia party chairman Maxim Suraykin; Presidential Commissioner for Entrepreneurs' Rights Boris Titov; co-founder of the Yabloko party Grigory Yavlinsky, and head of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia Vladimir Zhirinovsky.

The polling stations will work from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. in every Russian region in accordance with the time zones.

The number of eligible voters in Russia equals 108.9 million people as of January 1, 2018, while abroad, the number exceeds 1.87 million people.

Earlier, the Russian Central Election Commission (CEC) carefully checked the number of voters in order to cleanse the voter lists of phantom voters and repeated mentioning of voters, Sputnik reported.

It also cooperated with the Russian Interior Ministry to rule out the double reporting of those who permanently reside abroad being registered in Russia.

The CEC has significantly simplified the voting procedure at the place of one's factual residence.

The residents of Moscow who decided to cast their votes for a presidential candidate and vote on the address of permanent residence registration may choose the most convenient polling station among 3,605 ones, only taking their passports along with.

Those who vote in the Russian capital but are not registered there had to apply until March 12 to any local election commission, multi-service centre or online state services portal, in order to be allowed to vote at a place of residence.

The results will be announced on March 19.Martyrdom

BY UMAIR UL UMAR Soren Kierkegaard: The tyrant dies and his rule is over, the martyr dies and his rule begins.is defined as voluntary death for a cause. Martyrdom is the ultimate and apocalyptic vindication of the martyrs cause and proof of his righteousness. The power of martyrdom lies in its potential to change society. It forces an audience to think about ultimate questions (if only momentarily) and make moral judgments. These decisions can redress injustices and eventually change the world. Because the death of the martyr invests a cause with meaning, with numen or weight, the cause is no longer ordinary. The martyrs power comes from holding the moral high ground of innocence and purity.

On 14th March 2018, early in the morning, after I offered my fajr prayers I took my cellphone and started to browse my Facebook account. Alas! The news stabbed my mind. It left me like a living corpse, distraught with tremendous shock. My cellphone fell from my hands. I was dumbfounded and it seemed that earth was slipping beneath my feets. Tears started trickling down from my eyes.

My consciousness was not ready to accept this news. The news was that my two hearty friends had achieved martyrdom in a battlefield at Hakoora village of District Islamabad in a brief encounter. After a while, I took deep breath, sat beside a wall and placed my hand on my face and kept my eyes closed. My university days commenced flashbacking, and the glimpses were refreshing in my mind how we accompanied during the days when we were pursuing the engineering course. The voices of these noble guys are still traversing into my ears that resonate and reverberate my whole body.

Read MORE on Eisa People march towards Soura for last rites of slain militant Eisa Fazili

Contrastingly, how this gloomy state sponsored violence which is being perpetuated ceaselessly for decades now. Although it is routine here in Kashmir that our dawn starts with the news that someone has been killed and our dusk ends with the news that someone got killed. But this time situation was quite different as I lost my two university mates, one being my batch mate and another one being my junior academically(professionally). It was not a loss of just two bodies but a deprivation of two great intellectual minds. It was not a usual martyrdom of two noble bodies but the funeral of two foresighted brains which are now buried into their graves. They were always reckoning the ideas of revolution with solid analysis and perfection of occurrence. They were with sound mind with sound body.

This poor man was lone bread winner of his family which consisted of three daughters and his wife. So they had nothing to eat. I and my friend cooked food for this family because we had come to know that they are out of food stock.

As we were pursuing B.Tech in BGSB University, Syed Owais came to known us there. We became friends. As usual we were meeting during classwork. He was not a mere guy. He had intellectual mind. Remember he was the product of Burn Hall school. He had tremendous command on english language. He used to do poetry. With the time we came to know each other. We, all the private hostel students, used to offer regular five times prayers in Masjid. It was Syed Owais leading at front and making everyone to attend the assemblage of Nimaz there. Many times we needed money, for construction, wall paint, UPS for Masjid etc. It was Syed Owais who used to collect money for the said purpose. He was a man with mission and purpose. Once there was a poor man who had to undergo a surgery but he could not afford such an amount to make his surgery possible. Then a bunch of friends started to collect money for him and that time also, Syed Owais again came on front. Almighty had provided him with supernatural qualities. When this poor man was brought back to his home. This poor man was lone bread winner of his family which consisted of three daughters and his wife. So they had nothing to eat. I and my friend cooked food for this family because we had come to know that they are out of food stock. In between Magrib and Eisha Time we went with this food in order to give them so that they may feed, but what we saw there that Syed Owais was already feeding them the food. Wallahi, we were so inspired that this noble guy is abafting us everytime. Apart from this, he was very fond of dishes. His Gajjar ka Halwa will always quest me of his noble soul. He had sound religious knowledge. He had good command on Islamic literature. He was excellent speaker with tremendous motivation power. His smiling face will always haunt me!

Your martyrdom has surely created a vacuum which cannot be filled because your interpretation of life was superlative. I salute your vigour and vitality.

Another guy with blonde reddish bearded with pointed nose. It was seeming that Almighty had made his structure from the soil of Chehchiniya who are one of the best and beautiful race in terms of smartness, body structure and appearance. He seemed to be an Angel on Earth. He always used to talk in soft tone with low voice. He was very shy guy, used to talk less. But whenever he would talk, it was like a roaring of lion. Almighty had graced him both intellect and personality. He too used to come in our weekly congregations where we discussed upon different topics. And he was keenly leading to the front in international politics, freemasonry and other Jewish policies and conspiracies. He always indulged in revolutionary concepts with solid thesis. This very guy is known as Eisa Fazili.

Your martyrdom has surely created a vacuum which cannot be filled because your interpretation of life was superlative. I salute your vigour and vitality. I am crying and missing you. I once again want to see the smiling face of Shaheed Syed Owais and the blonded beard with the shy look of Shaheed Easa Fazili, but I know I cannot because you are in heaven enjoying there. I cannot wait until I get to see you again, I will see you again InshaAllah!

The author is a blogger, columnist and a Software Engineer and may be mailed at umairulumar77@gmail.com.

Disclaimer: Views expressed are exclusively personal and do not necessarily reflect policy of Kashmir Global.

Courtesy: Oracle Opinions

Pic courtesy: FacebookIt was a spectacular start to Leg 7 of the Volvo Ocean Race on Sunday afternoon, as the fleet left Auckland in perfect conditions.

The sun was out, the wind was near 20 knots, and as they have for 10 stopovers, the Auckland fans took to the water by the thousands to farewell the fleet. It wasn't a surprise - over the course of the Auckland stopover, over 500,000 fans came through the Race Village at the Viaduct Basin.

On Sunday afternoon the Kiwi spectator armada consisted of foiling kite-boards, windsurfers, stand-up paddleboards, kayaks, sailing dinghies, as well as hundreds of power and sail boats, along with the former Whitbread Round the World Race winner, Steinlager 2.

It was MAPFRE, the overall race leader, who made the best start to lead the fleet around a loop of the Waitemat? Harbour and out into the Hauraki Gulf, with Dongfeng, Team Brunel and Turn the Tide on Plastic in close and giving chase.

Watch a replay of the start here

In a return to the heritage of the event, Leg 7 of the Volvo Ocean Race will take the teams on a 7,600 nautical mile journey into the Southern Ocean, and around the iconic Cape Horn, before returning to the Atlantic Ocean towards the finish in Itajai, Brazil.

"100% of the sailors that have done this leg have at one moment said it is too hard or too tough," said Charles Caudrelier, the skipper of Dongfeng Race Team. "But when you pass Cape Horn you have a huge feeling of pride that you have faced your fears."

"We're going into one of the more gruelling legs of the race," added Brunel's Peter Burling, a hero in New Zealand for bringing the America's Cup home last summer.

"The biggest challenge is the endurance aspect, having to keep the intensity high through some very difficult conditions It's going to be pretty tough for any of us Kiwis to leave here, but we're all pretty excited to get into it."

The initial Ice Exclusion Zone will allow the teams to sail as far south as 59-degrees south latitude, well into the 'Furious Fifties', where wind and waves circle the planet unimpeded by land, allowing them to build to fearsome levels. It will be very cold that far south, and the routing will take the fleet to the most remote part of the world, Point Nemo, where the international space station is closer than any point of land.

There is a balance to be struck on this leg, between pushing the crew and equipment hard in the quest for victory, and ensuring the team is able to finish the leg at all.

"This is a part of the world where sometimes you have to forget about the race and just take care of the people and the boat," noted Caudrelier. "It's a special place, sailing in the South - the sea is bigger, the wind is stronger, so you need to be mindful."

The teams are getting straight into it - after leaving the final turning mark, the forecast is for an upwind slog into a 30-knot easterly as they aim to clear the Coromandel Peninsula and then the East Cape of New Zealand, before turning south in search of the low pressure systems that will power them towards Cape Horn, some 11 days away.

"It's going to be upwind and bumpy until East Cape," said Vestas 11th Hour Racing navigator Simon Fisher. His team is returning to the race after retiring from Leg 4 and missing the leg into Auckland while repairing damage to their hull.

"Going around Cape Horn represents a real milestone in the race. It's a big thing to get around the Horn and it's a moment of celebration for everyone on board as it means the end of the Southern Ocean and back to the relative safety of the South Atlantic.

"But by no means is it a moment to relax as some of the biggest challenges of this leg can be found between Cape Horn and the finish in Itajai."

The initial ETA for the finish in Itajai, Brazil is between April 4th and 6th.LOS ANGELES (AP)  A publicist for Matt Damon is batting down reports that the actor is moving to Australia with his family, and that such a move would have been inspired by anger over President Donald Trump.

The Daily Telegraph newspaper in Sydney had reported that Damon was buying a home in Byron Bay near actor Chris Hemsworth. The two recently appeared in "Thor: Ragnarok" together.

Damon spokeswoman Jennifer Allen said Damon has been to Australia a lot recently. But Damon has not bought a home there nor is he relocating there, she said.

The New York Post's Page Six gossip site, citing an unnamed source, said the "Good Will Hunting" and "Jason Bourne" star told friends and colleagues he wanted to leave the country because he disagrees with Trump's policies.

When asked about Damon's rumored motivation, Allen wrote in an email, "He's not moving out of the U.S." Damon has publicly supported Democrats, including Trump's rival in the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton.How to improve the Blue Pacific region is the focus of a consultation between the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat and Samoa this week.

To be held at Hotel Tanoa Tusitala, the regional policy consultations will focus on ensuring an inclusive approach to the development of the people and the Blue Pacific region.

The Secretariat has been conducting regional policy consultations across the region in the past three months.

This is according to Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat Communications Officer, Ariela Zibiah, who arrives in Samoa with her team today.

Consultations in Apia will be held with representatives of the government, civil society and the private sector.

The intention is to ensure that everyone, who is a citizen of the Blue Pacific, has an opportunity to contribute to regional policy development.

So everyone is invited to make a submission, to share their ideas of how we can collectively address development issues, particularly emerging issues our region is grappling with.

The Pacific Islands Forum leaders will be presented with the outcomes of this process in Nauru later this year.

According to the Forum Secretariats website, the Specialist Sub-Committee on Regionalism (S.S.C.R.) was appointed by the Forum Troika Panel. It plays a vital role in the implementation of the Framework for Pacific regionalism.

The expert panel makes important decisions on the regional priorities to be put forward for Pacific Island leaders consideration at their annual forum.

The specialist sub-committee will not only apply the tests for regional action set out in the framework, but will also draw on advice from a broad range of sources, including the Council of Regional Organisations of the Pacific (C.R.O.P.) agencies, to determine where the regions needs are and how best these can be addressed through the framework.

P.I.F.S. Secretary General, Dame Meg Taylor, is the standing chair of the sub-committee.

The seven other members are drawn from a range of diverse backgrounds, all possessing key skill sets and areas of expertise that they will apply to their work.

We work towards strengthened partnerships, enhanced co-ordination and assistance in support of the effective implementation, monitoring and evaluation of Forum Leaders decisions and the framework for Pacific regionalism.

The formation of an S.S.C.R., responsible to the Forum Officials Committee (F.O.C.), was mandated by Pacific Islands Forum Leaders at their special retreat in the Cook Islands on 5 May, 2014.

The S.S.C.R. was further endorsed by Forum Leaders at their 45th Pacific Islands Forum in Palau on 31 July, 2014.

It comprises allocated positions for suitably-skilled representatives from each sub-region, Australia or New Zealand, a smaller island state, civil society and the private sector.

The Secretary General (the permanent Chair of C.R.O.P.) is sub-committee Chairperson and is supported by co-opted specialists as required and be selected by a panel of forum members serving on a rotational basis (Forum Communique, 2014).

The S.S.C.R.s purpose is to play a key role in implementing the framework for Pacific regionalism by identifying and assessing priority initiatives to advance Pacific regionalism for leaders consideration.

The S.S.C.R.s role will be to recommend to the F.O.C, the representative body of forum members, which regional initiatives should be overseen by leaders, and which may be better overseen by Ministers, as set out in steps one to five of the priority setting process established in the Framework for Pacific Regionalism.The Samoa Law Reform Commission has disputed claims that Section 32 of the Land Titles Registration Act 2008 will alienate customary lands.

The Commission makes the point in a statement issued by the Press Secretary.

It is argued by some that section 32 of the Land Titles Registration Act 2008 will alienate customary land, the statement reads.

However, Section 32 is incapable of alienating customary land.

About section 32

The heading of this section is: Estate of registered proprietor paramount.

a) A reading of subsection 1 shows that the whole of section 32 refers to a registered proprietor of an estate or interest in land recorded in a folio in the register, and the estate this registered proprietor may hold and own, and how such ownership is paramount. Subsections (2), (3) and (4) all flow from subsection (1).

b) It is irrelevant to discuss all subsections as what is pertinent to note is that the registered proprietor and land the whole section talks about does not apply to customary landownership, nor to customary land. Thus, to say that section 32 alienates customary land, is utterly baseless. The following five reasons support why.

Reason 1  Section 9(4) - No provision of this Act inclusive of section 32 can alienate customary land

Again, section 9(4) is clear in prohibiting the alienation of customary land. It says: No provision of this Act may be construed or applied to alienate customary land. This legislative rule in section 9(4) means exactly that - None of the 98 provisions of the L.T.R. Act, inclusive of section 32, can alienate customary land. Statutory interpretation (read the section in the context of the whole Act, not just one section on its own) show there is no other reading contrary to this. It is expressly stated, and there is no exception to the rule. It doesnt say  Except for section 32, no provision in this Act may be applied to allow the alienation of customary land. No, it clearly says  No provision in this Act, and this is inclusive of s32, and all of the 98 sections of the L.T.R. Act.

Reason 2  The Constitutional definition of customary land in Article 101(2) makes customary land incapable of having a registered proprietor owner.

a) Article 101(2) of the Constitution says: Customary land means land held from Samoa in accordance with Samoan custom and usage and with the law relating to Samoan custom and usage. This constitutional definition of customary land makes customary land incapable of having registered proprietor owner.

b) An application or interpretation otherwise different from Article 101(2) is a breach of the Constitution and subjects such application to a Constitutional challenge.

Reason 3  A registered proprietor under section 32 does not apply to customary land. There is no such thing as a registered proprietor of customary land. Please dont force this into the Act when it is clear it does not apply, the use of just a bit of common sense would tell us that.

a) A registered proprietor in property law is the person or organization whose name appears on the official records of the Land Registry as the owner of particular land or property. (Cambridge Business English Dictionary).

b) Section 2 Interpretation section L.T.R. Act says - proprietor in relation to an interest in land means any person seised or possessed of any freehold or other estate or interest in land at law or in equity in possession in futurity or expectancy

c) Section 2 Interpretation section says - land includes all estates and interests, whether freehold or chattel . but does not include customary land for the purpose of registration of land under this Act (other than registration of licences or leases of customary land).

d) Therefore registered proprietor of land does not include customary land for the purposes of registration of land under this Act.

e) What is recorded/registered in the official records in the Land Registry is the customary land lease, and not proprietors or owners of customary land. The Act is clear on this.

Reason 4  Land relating to a registered proprietor in section 32 does not apply to customary land.

a) Section 32 refers to a registered proprietor for the time being of any estate or interest in land recorded in a folio of the Register 

b) Section 2 Interpretation section says - proprietor in relation to an interest in land means any person seised or possessed of any freehold or other estate or interest in land at law or in equity in possession in futurity or expectancy;

c) Section 2 Interpretation section also says - Land includes all estates and interests, whether freehold or chattel . but does not include customary land for the purpose of registration of land under this Act (other than registration of licences or leases of customary land).

d) Thus the land of the registered proprietor in section 32 does not apply to customary land. The whole of section 32 therefore does not apply to customary land. This includes all those 18 sections on registered proprietors (sections 11, 12, 13, 15, 32, 33, 34, 35, 40, 41, 60, 64, 65, 67, 68, 70, 76, 79), and other related sections.

Reason 5 - Overview of the Act

a) As customary land is communally owned in accordance with Samoan custom and usage, the term registered proprietor does not apply to customary land.

b) An overview of the Act shows that the term registered proprietor which only applies to freehold land and public land is mentioned 35 times in 18 sections (sections 11, 12, 13, 15, 32, 33, 34, 35, 40, 41, 60, 64, 65, 67, 68, 70, 76, 79).

c) On the contrary, customary land is mentioned in only 3 sections (2,5,9). This shows this Act is substantially about freehold and public land, but not customary land. Thus its many provisions (x18) relating to and which mentions registered proprietor (mentioned 35 times) is only applicable to freehold land, and are not applicable to customary land.

Conclusion:

Section 32 is incapable of alienating customary land.The Australian High Commission in collaboration with the Samoa Chamber of Commerce hosted a special Education Roadshow for the private sector on Wednesday at the Hotel Elisa conference room.

Ten of Australias top tertiary institutions showcased the variety of opportunities for members of the private sector to study in Australia.

The tertiary institutions included Australian National University (A.N.U.), Australian Institute of Business and Technology (A.I.B.T.), CQ University Australia, Deakin University, Griffith College, University of Sydney, University of South Australia, University of Southern Queensland, University of Tasmania and Victoria University.

The Samoa Chamber of Commerce President Tuala Pat Leota acknowledged the team at the Australian High Commission for their hard work in looking for opportunities for the private sector of Samoa.

The Private Sector Education Roadshow provided members of Samoa Chamber of Commerce the chance to network with representatives from the Australia tertiary institutions and discuss accessibility to opportunities to study in Australia.

The Private Sector Education Roadshow allowed members of the private sector to engage with the representatives from Australia and discuss the programmes offered for study opportunities.Its a tragedy when people prey on the generosity and the good-hearted nature of others.

While its something wed like not to happen, the reality is that it happens all the time. In some cases, it is very blunt too.

A classic example surfaced towards the end of last week when it emerged that some members of the public were moving to sell water tanks donated to them as part of charity.

The development is extremely disturbing.

So much so it has alarmed the management of the Civil Society Support Programme (C.S.S.P.) that the Project Manager, Theresa Masoe Taimalelagi, has publically pleaded with people they cannot sell the water tanks for a profit.

Interestingly enough, the appeal followed the offer by one family to sell one C.S.S.P-funded 5,000litres tank for $1,200.

Whats wrong with this picture?

Well two blatantly obvious facts. The first is that this family did not spend a single sene to earn this water tank. And because they got it for free, they therefore have absolutely no idea how much it is worth. A 5,000 litre water tank in Samoa is worth a lot more than $1,200.

Now since the story surfaced, some people have argued that since the tanks were donated, families should be able to do whatever they want with them.

Besides, they claim there are no laws to stop them from doing whatever they wish to  including selling them.

Technically they are correct to an extent.

But we disagree. Consciously it is the wrong thing to do for a very simple reason. These water tanks  or anything else donated as part of charity  were given based on a need, which in this case it is water.

There are many people out who need such help. All you have to do is read the Village Voice section of this newspaper to know how much people would love to have a free water tank.

And yet if certain recipients, who were given them for one reason or another, are allowed to do whatever they want, including selling these gifts for a profit, what message are we sending out to people? And can you honestly tell me that is the right thing to do?

We doubt it.

Now according to Mrs. Taimalelagi, their help is designed for vulnerable families. And because they are genuine in their motives, they believe people should also be genuine in accepting and the use of such gifts.

There are no set guidelines indicating that families cannot sell the water tanks, she said. However this is where common sense is applied and it goes without saying that water tanks should not be sold.

The water tanks projects are for vulnerable families and are handed over to the village after the implementation of the programme.

Mrs. Taumalelagi goes on to explain that there are times when peoples circumstances change.

Its understandable that in Samoa, families move around and they can take the water tank with them, she said. But to sell something that you did not purchase, it is not right.

She couldnt have worded it better.

If anything, this is exactly what we mean when we say some people prey on the generosity and good-hearted nature of others to help.

What do you think?

Have a wonderful week Samoa, God bless!Samoa now possesses a central database of archeological sites or historic places thanks to the work of archeology students from the National University of Samoa (N.U.S.).

The Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation Project (A.F.C.P.), which is the documentation of Samoan Archeological and Built Heritage Places and Associated Oral Traditions Project by the Centre for Samoan studies, began two years ago.

It was completed earlier in the year after students surveyed significant archeological sites from both Upolu and Savaii.

The database will not only assist the university with the teaching of archeological and cultural heritage, but it has the potential to bring about legislation that will preserve Samoas cultural heritage and also help develop and promote cultural tourism.

Project Manager, Dionne Fonoti, said in a presentation in February that in addition to all the benefits that come with finally having such a database, it was perhaps the increase of interest and enrollments of students in the archeology programme that the University was most impressed with.

The most exciting thing for us at N.U.S. is the way that our numbers of students studying archeology have quadrupled, said Ms. Fonoti. The interest in archeology and interest cultural heritage has basically multiplied exponentially.

Three years ago we had no more than 10 students in our classes and now we have numbers over 40 up to 50 students who are enrolled and involved in this research. And I think its certainly because we now have the special opportunity to study Samoas past and to literally walk in it. Thats what the database represents for us.

Having no central database of archeological sites or historic places, presented a significant disadvantage for the protection, conservation and management of Samoas archeological and historic heritage.

However Project Director, Professor Meleisea Leasiolagi Malama Meleisea, pointed out in a presentation in February that while there was still more work to be done, the project had sparked the communitys interest again in preserving and protecting their cultural heritage.

This project has fostered tremendous interest among the community. There is potential for community involvement in this kind of work and the preservation of the cultural heritage and perhaps promoting tourism.

We are working with colleagues from the New Zealand High Commission who are here to help the S.T.A. with the promotion of Samoan tourism. Theres a lot of potential and we look forward to using the funds to continue the work we have done so far.

The A.F.C.P. project was funded by the United States Department of State through the U.S Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation. The project aimed to include G.P.S. mapping, the creation of G.I.S. database of over 700 sites from across the country and the collection/preservation of oral histories.

The Centre for Samoan Studies plans to continue the work by embarking on initiative to survey all the villages in Samoa.Police Commissioner, Fuiava Egon Keil, has confirmed that several untitled men from Luatuanuu have been arrested.

He did not have the exact numbers.

The arrests were made when more than 50 Police Officers descended upon Luatuanuu to try and calm a situation there where angry villagers had taken to block the road.

Speaking to the Samoa Observer, Fuiava also confirmed that some Police officers were injured when they attempted to clear the road block. The men had allegedly thrown rocks at them.

Fuiava spoke to the Samoa Observer following a meeting with the village.

The development this morning follows reports that the villages men blocked the road last night.

The issue, according to sources, is the result of a fight between the Luatuanuu youth and nearby village Falefa which started at a rugby game.

The Police have just left the village, allowing the Village Council to sort out their issues.

The Samoa Observer understands that Luatuanuu and Falefa are planning a reconciliation meeting sometime this afternoon.Taxi operators are frustrated with the Land Transport Authority (L.T.A.).

They are unhappy claiming that contrary to assurance the policy to disregard vehicles older than 2003 for commercial transport has been delayed, many of them have already been affected.

Faasavalu Soane is one of them. He said his vehicle couldnt be registered, leaving him and his family in limbo.

This is how I provide for my family, he said. It is through my taxi and now we have nothing to depend upon.

On 17 January 2018, Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi wrote to Minister of Works Papalii Niko Lee Hang about the matter. Tuilaepa asked Papalii to consider the plea of the taxi drivers.

He added that the Taxi Drivers have a valid concern regarding the said policy by the L.T.A.

The Prime Minister pointed out that the Boards decision was harsh given the taxi drivers are also business people who need money.

The end result of your (board) decision is literally killing the spirit of the business person. The board should eliminate the said policy limiting the year for the taxis but look at the taxis that are up to par with a perfect running engine and that is what the L.T.A. employees should look at.

Now many of those taxis have been taken off the road.

Mr. Soane told the Samoa Observer that all his life he has been a taxi driver and this is the only form of employment he knows.

I am the breadwinner of my family, now I dont know where I can get some money to take care of my family, he said. This is very frustrating!

Mr. Soane said he was surprised when he went to register his taxi only to be told that his vehicle can no longer operate as a taxi under the new policy.

I dont understand why L.T.A. has superseded what the Prime Minister said during Parliament. This means the government has rescinded the said decision.

I came to register my taxi only to be told by the L.T.A. employees that my car is no longer allowed to be utilized for a taxi due to the year.

They said I needed to pay for a registration for a private vehicle, and so I left.

I was shocked, said Mr Soane.

The L.T.A. Chief Executive Officer, Ta'atialeoitiiti Agnes Tutuvanu-Schwalger, has been contacted for a comment.

In January during Parliament, Member of Parliament, Olo Fiti Vaai, raised concerns about the impact of the new policy.

A total of two hundred taxis will be affected, Olo said. A total of two hundred people will be out of jobs and a total of two hundred families will no longer receive financial assistance from taxis.

In response, Minister for Works, Transport and Infrastructure, Papaliitele Niko Lee-Hang and Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi assured the matter has been resolved.

Tuilaepa also joined the conversation.

I have already informed the Minister of Works, Transport and Infrastructure to look into it, given the importance of his role, said Tuilaepa.

When the policy was initially announced, Manager for Road Use Management, Tauiliili Sala Bartley, said these vehicles could be registered as private vehicles.

The decision has come about because of the complaints raised by the general public who are using such services daily, Tauiliili said.

Some taxis do not have air condition or a customer hops inside the car and it is full of rubbish. The window and car handles are damaged.

Those are some of the things that concern the Land Transport Authority because we prioritise the safety of our people.

Tauiliili estimated that around a 100 taxis would be put out of service once the requirement comes into force.A.G. NooraniTHE sacking of Kashmirs finance minister, Haseeb Drabu, by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on March 12 will give a severe jolt to the PDPs coalition with the BJP. He was its architect, in partnership with BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav (an RSS official seconded to the BJP). Madhav has declared that there is no Kashmir problem. Drabu said something very similar on March 9.

Dont see J&K as a conflict state and a political issue, he posited. It is not a political issue as far as I can see. They have been barking up the wrong tree for the last 50 or 70 years by talking about the politics of it, that the political situation has never improved. We seriously need to look at it in terms of how it is a society that is in search of itself.

He spoke thus in New Delhi, where he was expected to project Kashmirs viewpoint, at an event called Kashmir: the Way Forward. Instead, he berated Kashmiris for barking up the wrong tree by espousing their political cause. This covers not only the stooges whom New Delhi installed in power in Srinagar since Aug 8, 1953, when prime minister Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah was thrown out in a coup, engineered by the Indian government, but Sheikh sahib also.

Repression is at an all-time high.

It confirmed the widely held suspicion that his eyes were set on New Delhi. He is the one who had drafted the PDPs famous document Jammu & Kashmir: The Self-Rule Framework for Resolution. It envisaged not only drastic constitutional change to ensure self-rule, but also an accord between India and Pakistan. Paragraph 51 listed six methods for consideration; two were for a plebiscite; one was for elections held under international supervision; one more for an election and two others for steps based on these ideas. Six year later, he drafted with Madhav the PDP-BJP Agenda of the Alliance, which congealed the status quo of a deformed and hollowed out Article 370 (the so-called guarantee of autonomy).

Sayeed, desperately sought a return to power; if need be, by selling his peoples rights and his own soul. A former chief of RAW disclosed that he was in parleys with the BJP even during the elections.

Drabus boss, PDP supremo Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, desperately sought a return to power; if need be, by selling his peoples rights and his own soul. A former chief of RAW disclosed that he was in parleys with the BJP even during the elections. He justified the pact with the puerile remark that he was joining the North and South Poles.

That false partnership has come unstuck. BJP ministers in Kashmir, backed by the BJP government at the centre, are defiant. So is Jammu. Kashmiris feel deceived. They had voted in large numbers for the PDP to keep out the BJP, whose proclaimed goal was to secure a majority in the assembly by capturing all seats in Jammu and buying enough seats to form a majority in the Valley. Mufti opened the gates for the BJP.

On Muftis watch, pellet guns have been used by the army. Infamously, a citizen was taken hostage by the army, tied to the front of their jeep and paraded through the streets. Recent cases also expose both the armys behaviour and the BJPs outlook.

On Jan 17, the body of a small girl from the Muslim Bakarwal nomadic community was found in Kathua in Jammu. She had been abducted, raped and killed. The police found that it was part of a conspiracy to force the nomads to quit in fear. Besides the main culprit, the police arrested SPO Deepak Khajuria and two other police officials for destroying evidence.

A group called Hindu Ekta Manch called for a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation, not the police in Kashmir. It was set up specifically for this issue; its membership comprises BJP as well as Congress men. Meetings were held at temples before marching in procession carrying the national flag. Two BJP ministers participated. The Manch complains of a demographic invasion; Jammus communal divide has widened.

Then, on March 4, two militants and four civilians were killed in Shopian. Contradicting the armys statement, Mufti herself called them civilians caught in the crossfire that day. By March 6 she denied this, and the fact that an FIR had been filed against Major Aditya Kumar  the day after the Supreme Court had forbidden its filing. The local police are sensitive to the peoples feelings. But it gets scant support from the chief minister. The centre backs the army.

Repression is systematic and at an all-time high. No leader commands the respect that the aged, ailing Syed Ali Shah Geelani does.

Yet he is singled out for attack. Under house arrest since October 2010, when Omar Abdullah was chief minister, neither his son nor even the vegetable vendor can enter his house. His wife needs eye surgery, for which he has no means.

It is a shame and disgrace. Why are Indias human rights activists and international rights organisations silent?

The writer is an author and a lawyer based in Mumbai.

Courtesy Dawn Islamabad 17th March, 2018

Pic credit: Sanna Irshad MattoA 46-year-old father has been convicted and ordered to pay $250 to Court before 12:30pm today.

Tanielu Tui was charged with one count of possession of a glass pipe used to smoke marijuana, one count of bringing in a glass pipe into the country and one count of making a false statement at the Faleolo International Airport. The incident occurred on 25 December 2016.

Tui appeared before His Honour, Chief Justice, Patu Tiavaasue Falefatu Sapolu.

Prosecution was Lealofioamoa Mamaia of the Attorney Generals Office, while the defendant was represented by Tuisa Tasi Patea.

Chief Justice Patu said the matter has been dragged for so long.

When the matter was first called on 13 January, 2017, it was adjourned on the following week for prosecution to finalise charges and also for you to find a lawyer, said Chief Justice Patu.

Come the following week, you came with your lawyer, but it was again adjourned for your lawyer to obtain instructions from you.

On 24 February, 2017, through your counsel, you entered a not guilty plea to all the charges against you and so a hearing date was set on 24 July 2017, but then it was put back to the 31 July, 2017.

On 31 July, the hearing was further adjourned to 18 December because your lawyer was not available.

And on 18 December, 2017, you changed your plea from not guilty to guilty. So this matter has been dragged for so long.

According to the police summary of facts, Tui arrived at the airport from Nadi, Fiji, on 25 December, 2016, with two bags.

He came through the Customs and he told the Customs officers that there was nothing to declare.

However the Customs officers were in doubt and they took the accused to the room and searched him.

It was there that one of the Customs officers found a glass pipe mainly used for smoking narcotics. According to CJ Patu, the defendant was also in possession of narcotics.

On 30 December, 2012, you met a guy at one of the shop at Vailele while on your way to wait for a taxi.

You gave this guy a marijuana cigarette before you left, without knowing that this guy is a Police Officer who was not on duty.

The guy followed you and he informed the Police about the matter. The Police arrived at your home and searched you and found another marijuana cigarette in your pocket.

After pleading guilty to all the charges against you, the Judge who presided over your matter referred you to the Alcohol and Drugs Court.

However, according to reports from the Alcohol and Drugs Court, you kept changing your answers when they asked you a question.

You also told them that you started smoking weed at the age of 16 and you took meth three times.

You told the probation that you dont have previous conviction, but found out that you were charged with assault in 1992 and you had three traffic offenses in 2009 in New Zealand while living there.

CJ Patu told the defendant that he does not accept the report from his lawyer, stating that he is a person of good character.

I dont accept the submission from your counsel that you are a person of previous good character even though I have on me the reports from your pastor, as well as the village mayor to support you in this matter, he said.

In reading out the aggravating features, CJ Patu considered the bringing in of this unlawful pipe into the country.

You brought into the country a glass pipe, giving wrong testimony in the declaration form that you filled when you arrived at the Faleolo Airport in 2016, he said.

I will not give you a custodial sentence given that your previous conviction was long time ago and it does not relate to this matter.

You have been convicted and you are fined $250 to be paid before 12:30 on Monday next week (today) to the Court.

Make sure when you travel overseas, dont ever bring any pipe into the country because we are trying our best to decrease the number of offences regarding drugs and alcohol.The battle of being a transwoman sworn to serve in the U.S. Army was a challenge for Arrianna Princess Haserota Auvaa.

S.P.C. Auvaa is from Vaoala, Falealupo and Malaeloa in American Samoa. Auvaa is based in Fort Stewart Georgia, South Carolina.

She told the Samoa Observer via email that her only goal since the day she swore into the army was her determination to make a difference.

The sacrifice for me was torture, S.P.C. Auvaa shared of her experience.

I lived my life as a transwoman for more than 10 years, and then the first day of reception in Fort Jackson, South Carolina, in one swivel of the silver chair, all that changed.

I saw myself in the mirror for the first time that night in the mens latrine full of male soldiers and I was bald. I felt tears welling in my eyes, but I fought them back as hard as I could.

I knew the environment I was in and I knew I could not show any sign of weakness. I needed to show that I am unbreakable and I am strong.

S.P.C. Auvaa noted when all the lights were out; she crept into the bathroom and went into the farthest stall.

I turned around one last time and looked into the mirror facing me and saw myself again, tears fell hitting the cold tiles of the shower stall.

One after another, the tears came until I found myself weeping on the cold blue tiles of the bathroom floor.

Living my life as Princess, a pageant queen, a radio personality, a passionate writer, an actress in the Samoan Motion pictures, a life of a party to the theatrical beauty of the stage and the voice representing the trans community, to being a bald and I say it as I saw, I was ugly.

In my eyes, I was ugly for the first time ever in my life. I saw nothing beautiful in my reflection.

With that, I hardened and became another man in the bay of male soldiers. The only difference between those men and I was that I was going to fight to let Princess see the light of day once more.

S.P.C. Auvaa also spoke about her transitional journey in the army.

Being the first to transition in the 3rd I.D, my care team of doctors, advisors, counselors, and Command team kept referring to me as the trailblazer.

When I first arrived to Stewart, I went straight to my first line Supervisor and told him, I needed to speak with my Command team, because I am transgender and I need to know the path that I need to take to transition.

Despite the fear in my heart of how it might come to be,

the fear of the reactions and how people might treat me and how they will react to me, as a person, a soldier, as a trans person only trying to live her truth, I braved it through and came out to my Command team.

The transition was scary, long but worth every minute.

It requires a lot of paperwork. A lot of patience, endless hospital visits. Blood work and checkups, countless allergic reactions and not to mention the mood swings, temper tantrums, and emotional breakdowns.

According to S.P.C. Auvaa, the hardest part of this transition wasnt going through the hormone therapy or any of the chemical, spiritual or physical changes.

Its the mental stability that one has to deal with - the everyday life.

People in the army were so used to seeing me as a male soldier with feminine ways or a gay male soldier.

Now that I am allowed to dress as a transwoman and adhere to the females grooming standards according to army regulations, my peers and leadership are starting to see the changes.

Its the looks that I get on a daily basis that I cannot handle sometimes.

Those who I have worked with and those who I know have come to somewhat understand what being a Trans person is.

I see people snickering among themselves. I feel the gossip following me and the mockery that stab at my side and back each and every day.

The pain of this I cannot begin to explain. Some days, I am embarrassed. Other days, I dont want to leave my home. There are days when I dont leave the safety and the comfort of my company office.

I dont even go out most days for lunch unless I am going home or going with a group of people because I cannot face those looks, the stares, the snickering behind my back and the finger pointing.

Most days I feel more protected in my car and in my home or to enjoy my lunch in my office than to face the cruelty of the world.

There are days though where I am brave enough to face the music and fight the looks and the stares of people and just gallivant around post and the surrounding towns with my hair on and short shorts with a challenging attitude for anyone to try me, because my faafafine tongue is ready to lash out with a big smile as I prance to and from, said S.P.C. Auvaa.

Last week on the International Womens Day, S.P.C. Auvaa celebrates in gratitude as the leader and command team a day to remember in all the years that will come.

Today, on the 8th of March, 2018, I officially serve in the United States Army as a female soldier, Arrianna Princess Haserota Auvaa.

The struggle has been real and no doubt the toughest I have ever had to endure.

However, I am grateful that I had to take on this journey. I have grown as a person.

I have overcome so many fears I had. I have lived my life in a way that I can proudly say I did it, not just for me, but for my Samoan and Polynesian Trans sisters everywhere.

I encourage anyone and everyone out there, whether gay, straight, or bi, it does not matter what your sexual identity is.

It doesnt matter what your gender identity is, nor your race, or religion, or how you were raised and who your parents are.

Life is meant to be lived in your truth. Life is exciting with little challenge and its adventurous when you take risks.

When we hide in the shadow of doubt and fear, we will never see the beauty of light and the love of the days ahead.

I am living my truth and by doing so, I am seeing the beauty and love of people - understanding people.

I have had numerous people protect me, befriend me and love me for who I am.

To my young faafafine sisters and faatama brothers, the world is a beautiful place.

Theres a shadow of darkness that is hovering over us, but we must fight alongside our brothers and sisters who want to make a difference in the world.

Whatever light that you see in yourself, let it shine brightly to cast out the shadow of doubt and hate.

Live your truth and live it beautifully.

There is so much more to life than living the norm.

We all, at some point in our lives, must take a risk and just jump into the unknown with hope, faith, and the determination to come through winning.

I cannot thank God enough for all he has out me through, for that I am grateful because He is faithful, said S.P.C. Auvaa.

Auvaa thanked all those who helped in the difficult journey.

To my Parents Haserota Totoa and Terry Custodio Auvaa, my siblings, my grandparents, family and friends, my sofias and utopia sisters and brothers, thank you for your prayers.Think a minuteAnn Scheiber lived alone in her small apartment in New York City having never married. She did not own a car, so she walked everywhere wearing the same old black coat.

For 23 years she worked in the U.S. tax department called the Internal Revenue Service. By the time she retired in 1944 she had saved about $5,000, which she then invested in the stock market. Through the years she continued learning how to invest. But instead of spending all of her profits on herself, she kept living simply and investing her money. By the time Ann died at the age of 101, she had turned her $5,000 into $22 million!

Finally, Ann allowed herself one big spending spree. She gave all of her $22 million to Yeshiva University to help students she never met at a school she never attended.

Ann wanted to help young women fight the prejudice and discrimination she had suffered for 23 years working in the government. Even though all those years she was the top employee of her department and #1 in productionas a woman, she never once received a promotion.

Anns amazing, generous gift came at a perfect time for many young women who were just starting their education at Yeshiva University, but who did not have enough money to finish and graduate. Now, their lifes dreams would come true because of Anns life of sacrifice and giving.

The university president Dr. Lamm said: Heres a woman who for 101 years had no children, yet now becomes a mother to a whole community. Not only now, but for generations to come.

Ann Scheibers $22 million gift came at the time of Hanukkah, when Jews celebrate the miracle of the menorah light burning for eight days. The president said, Ann lit 22 million candles for us, not just eight. Her light now has spread around the world through all the young women she helped educate and graduate from Yeshiva University.

At the truly perfect time for all of us, the Light of the World sacrificed His perfect, innocent life to give us His own abundant, everlasting life. Wont you ask Jesus to forgive you for all your sins and wrong living, and then take charge of your new, changed life with Him today?

It is the only way your Creators dream and plan for your life can come true. Just think a minuteListen to Our Voice is also a celebration and tribute to the courageous and devoted service of the Marist Brothers and Missionary Sisters of the Society of Mary who came to Western Samoa in the middle of the 19th century.

On the 29th of November 1970, an aircraft carrying Pope Paul VI touched down on Western Samoa soil.

The Pope had flown from the Philippines and was en route to Sydney, Australia as part of a 10 days pilgrimage to West Asia, Oceania and Australia.

It was indeed an historic occasion, the first Papal visit to the South Pacific. It would be a short visit, approximately seven hours after which the Pope would return to Faleolo, then Pago Pago and on to Sydney.

When this announcement was broadcast in Apia, John Tristram was there, visiting his brother Roger.

After hearing the news of the Papal visit, John approached Bishop Pio with a proposal to make a film of the Papal visit and include a history and the role of the Catholic Mission in Western Samoa.

The Bishop took time to consider  and agreed.

John and I arrived Apia well before the date of the Popes arrival. We were introduced to Father Jepson, Father Leamy, Father Kennedy and many members of the Church. Almost immediately we started filming Western Samoas preparations for the Papal visit.

Before leaving Sydney we had recognised the need of a 2nd camera crew since Vatican Security was going to prevent us from freely moving around during the Papal visit.

We would need one film crew at the airport and the other at Leulumoega. Keith Chatto and his wife Jean were a well established film crew team in Sydney and were also good Juniper colleagues.

They came to Samoa to cover the day of the Papal visit. John and I would be at Faleolo to record the arrival and the truck convoy to Leulumoega Church. Keith and Jean would be on the Presbytery balcony close to the Church to film the service.

On that November morning, local and international press photographers were swarming the area. I cannot recall any other film crew, apart of course from the official Vatican cinematographer and Vatican Press who were accompanying the Pope throughout the Papal Tour.

They had open access to ALL areas, even close up to the Pope. We had very strict instructions to stay in ONE location only - and NOT MOVE from there.

Bishop Pio Taofinuu had earlier flown to Pago Pago to greet the Holy Father when He arrived from Manila.

On arrival at Faleolo airport, the Holy Father was welcomed by Head of State, Malietoa Tanumafili II, Prime Minister Tupua Tamasese Lealofi IV and Members of Parliament.

We had been instructed to remain on the back of the parked media truck along with a bank of anxious and agitated still photographers some of whom broke ranks. I recall a lot of elbowing among the media pack on the back of the truck.

And so, after ceremonies and speeches at Faleolo, the Holy Father and Bishop Pio Taofinuu stepped up and on to the back of an open truck decorated with the finest of Fine Mats, to be driven to Leulumoega Church.

But nothing could have been as bad as when our media truck set off over a very uneven road surface just ahead of the Papal vehicle. And although I was using a large soft shoulder pad for the 400ft film mag. (no small hand-held cameras in those days), it was a rocky, bumpy, rocky ride...! We included some of these moments in the film.

On the balcony of the Presbytery alongside the church at Leulumoega, Keith was reminded that our static camera had to REMAIN static.

How envious we were watching the official Vatican cameraman weaving in and around the action and events during the Communion Service and immediately close to the Pope as He celebrated Mass.

I remember that day well and now the history, and the many Samoan colleagues and friendships made in that year.

Listen to Our Voice is also a celebration and tribute to the courageous and devoted service of the Marist Brothers and Missionary Sisters of the Society of Mary who came to Western Samoa in the middle of the 19th century.

There is additional film footage in the DVD of scenes not used in the original film. They include a scene of the Maota Fono in the early stages of construction 1970.

The new DVD includes a profile of Cardinal Pio Taofinuu, A Man called Pio. This was a Tale from our television series, PACIFICA - Tales from the South Seas.

ABOUT LISTEN TO OUR VOICE

It is a commemorative DVD of the historic first Papal visit to the South Pacific, November 1970. It is also a tribute to the devoted service of the Marist Brothers and Missionary Sisters of the Society of Mary who first came to Western Samoa over 150 years ago.

The DVD includes a profile of the young boy, Pio Taofinuu who, with little or no early education, was to become a seminarian, ordained a Priest, Bishop, and made Cardinal in the course of his life. The film also recognises the valuable contribution of Little Sisters of the Poor to the welfare of the aged in Samoa.In the beginning there wasnt even a product, just seven people in a living room in La Jolla, talking about forming a company dedicated to what they called quality communications.

They merged the two words into one, borrowing the first four letters from each, and Qualcomm was born.

It soon became a place that defied expectations, a characteristic that surfaced again last week when, with help from the Trump administration, it fended off a $117 billion hostile takeover bid by Broadcom that many in the worlds of finance and technology thought was a done deal.

And that knack for daring may be at play again with news Friday that Paul Jacobs, former Qualcomm executive chairman and son of company co-founder Irwin Jacobs, is exploring a long-shot deal to buy the firm  a move that prompted Qualcomm to announce it will not re-nominate him to its board.

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Dave Mock, an Orange County writer who authored a 2005 book about Qualcomm, said officials there have always had this ability to overcome things.

This is, after all, a company that can trace its success to an unlikely inventor, Hollywood actress Hedy Lamarr, and a frequency hopping patent she got during World War II to help guide torpedoes.

Its a company whose founders made a name for themselves in an earlier venture, Linkabit, by working around-the-clock on gear for the military that others said was impossible.

Its a company that became a juggernaut in wireless chips by pushing its digital technology  once dismissed by a Stanford University professor as violating the laws of physics  even after a council of the biggest telecommunications firms had selected a rivals approach to be the industry standard for cellular equipment.

And its a company that, ripe for Broadcoms taking after battles with regulators, customers and disenchanted investors, found a back-channel via a secretive federal oversight committee to scuttle the deal on national-security grounds.

There are companies that are risk-averse, and there are companies that are risk-takers, said Jim McGregor, a principal analyst with Tirias Research. Qualcomm has always been a risk-taker, and its been those risks that have made it the company it is today.

How has Qualcomm been able to overcome obstacles? In 1991, Allen Salmasi, a company vice president, offered a clue in an interview with the San Diego Union.

He was talking about the firms decision to continue developing its CDMA technology for wireless even though the rival TDMA had been accepted as the industry standard  a pursuit that eventually carried the day and put Qualcomm in the position where it now powers most of the smartphones on the planet.

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We never assumed that we were behind, Salmasi said.

Modest beginnings

Qualcomm is such a fixture here  13,000 employees, a major benefactor of educational and cultural institutions, one of only two Fortune 500 companies headquartered in San Diego  it can be hard to remember how modest its beginnings were.

And even harder to believe that Irwin Jacobs, who hosted that first meeting in his La Jolla living room in 1985 and went on to run the company as board chairman and CEO, almost chose a different career path.

His high school guidance counselor had told him there was no future in science or engineering, according to an account on the companys website, so when he enrolled at Cornell in the 1950s, he decided to major in hotel management.

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His roommate teased him so often about how easy his classes were that he switched to electrical engineering.

Then he went to MIT, first to study and then to teach, and in 1966 he came West to help start the engineering department at UC San Diego. Jacobs soon found himself in demand as a consultant for local companies specializing in defense contracts.

He and several colleagues formed Linkabit, and it developed the reputation, and the confidence to go with it, for having the best minds in communications on the West Coast, Mock recounts in his book, The Qualcomm Equation: How a Fledgling Telecom Company Forged a New Path to Big Profits and Market Dominance.

Linkabit engineers literally worked day and night on projects, Mock wrote  once spending four days straight on a modem for the Army. They built communication gear that people often told them was impossible to make.

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Jacobs left UCSD in the early 1970s to run Linkabit full time and it grew into a $100 million company with hundreds of employees. In 1980, it was acquired by a Massachusetts firm, and five years later, in a move that surprised some observers, Jacobs quit.

He took a vacation to Europe with his family and pondered his future. A few months later, Qualcomm was under way.

The reason for doing this is that there is a revolution in electronics and integrated circuits and there are possible changes in communications, Jacobs told the Union shortly after the companys launch. And there appear to be many opportunities in the field of communications, so we are starting a new company to see what we can pursue in this field.

Publicly, at least, he tried to keep expectations of a Linkabit-like triumph low. Its difficult to repeat that kind of success, he told a Tribune reporter back then, but we will try.

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Come-from-behind triumphs

Whats interesting about the early Qualcomm stories is what they dont say. Nowhere do the words cellphone or chip or wireless appear.

But that doesnt mean Jacobs and the others werent already thinking about all that. From the outset, Mock wrote, they knew where they were going.

Three years after its founding, Qualcomm launched its first big product, OmniTracs, a satellite-based vehicle tracking system, and the profits from that gave it the breathing room to mount its come-from-behind effort to make CDMA the standard for digital wireless.

That campaign, based on promises of increased phone capacity dismissed by rivals as hype, was so audacious and unexpected that the Union, in a 1991 story, expressed the widely held belief that Qualcomm and Jacobs have no business being where they are  poised to change the direction the fledgling industry was headed.

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The triumph of CDMA stands as the prime example of Qualcomm defying expectations, McGregor said.

It wasnt just (the technology), he said. They also got into the infrastructure and the handsets, the end-to-end products to help build the market. Then they stepped back, sold off the other stuff and focused on their core expertise. It was risky both ways: one to go all in, and one to step back.

Now some are wondering if the thwarting of Broadcoms takeover will be remembered as another milestone.

Two weeks ago, Broadcom looked to have the upper hand, with its slate of candidates for Qualcomms board favored in early voting, according to Bloomberg.

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Then the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS) delayed the shareholders meeting, and a week later President Trump blocked the takeover. On Wednesday, Broadcom announced it was abandoning what would have been the largest deal of its kind in tech history.

It all seemed to happen quickly, but the Wall Street Journal reported that Qualcomm executives began exploring how to use a national-security review by CFIUS as a roadblock as far back as December.

Usually, both companies in a proposed takeover ask CFIUS for a review, and usually only after theyve already agreed on a deal. This time, the Journal reported, Qualcomm approached CFIUS on its own  another unorthodox move by an unorthodox company.

The result, according to the newspaper: the canonization of Qualcomm as a sort of national champion essential to battling Chinas might in the race for the next big thing in wireless.

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And now comes another unexpected twist: Paul Jacobs and his interest in buying the company. He said in a statement there are clear merits to exploring a path to take the company private to maximize its long-term performance, deliver superior value to all stockholders, and bolster a critical contributor to American technology.

Qualcomms board said it is focused on executing its business plan and maximizing value for shareholders as an independent company. If Jacobs comes forward with a proposal, the board said, it will evaluate it.

The annual shareholders meeting is scheduled for Friday.

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john.wilkens@sduniontribune.comJust two weeks ago, Broadcom Chief Executive Hock Tan had Qualcomm hooked.

He was poised to reel in his biggest prize in a long string of trophy acquisitions of technology companies. In early voting, a significant number of Qualcomm shareholders reportedly cast ballots supporting Tans candidates for Qualcomm board of directors, which would pave the way for a hostile takeover.

Then in an instant, Qualcomm escaped  thanks to a last-minute rescue by the Trump administration. Last Monday, the President blocked the $117 billion buyout, deeming it a potential threat to national security.

The move brings to an end a five-month saga for control of Qualcomm, a cellular giant and San Diegos flagship technology company with 13,000 local employees.

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Momentum in this epic fight seemed to shift daily. Now that its over, what remains are questions about conflicts between Americas long-standing free market/free trade stance and the need for national security  particularly surrounding critical industries such as telecommunications.

Even on Friday, more drama erupted after Qualcomm announced that Paul Jacobs, son of co-founder Irwin Jacobs, would not be re-nominated to the board at next Fridays stockholders meeting. That announcement came just after Jacobs told board members he wanted to take Qualcomm private, a move that analysts dismissed as a long shot.

Whatever happens next, Qualcomm must come to grips with the business headwinds that made it vulnerable to Broadcoms hostile takeover in the first place.

More from CFIUS?

As the debate over balancing free trade with national security heats up, expect to hear more about the secretive Committee for Foreign Investment in the United States.

Known as CFIUS, the multi-agency regulator headed by the Treasury Department investigates the national security impacts of foreign investment in U.S. firms.

It doesnt disclose much about its decisions. But based on documents that Qualcomm made public in this case, it was concerned about Broadcoms relationships with foreign entities.

CFIUS also worried that Broadcom would cut vital research spending to maintain Qualcomms edge in mobile communications.

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If Qualcomm was weakened, it would open the door for Chinese rivals such as Huawei Technologies to become the leaders in advanced mobile technologies.

A 2012 Congressional report flagged Huawei as a security threat because of its ties to the Chinese government, which the company vehemently denies.

In general terms, I think the new administration relative to China and telecommunications has been reluctant to support any Chinese vendor in the wireless space being in the U.S. market, said Dan Mondor, chief executive of San Diego based Inseego.

Last year, Inseego abandoned the $50 million sale of its MiFi mobile hotspot division to Chinas TCL Holdings after CFIUS objected.

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We have deployment in a number of enterprises, including government, said Mondor. Put it all together and it became obvious that it was never going to happen.

In Qualcomms case, it has classified prime contracts with the Defense Department. It also supplies other government agencies.

If there is no longer a major U.S. chip manufacturer that is on the cutting edge, that is a significant disadvantage to the U.S. government and domestic tech companies that rely on these U.S. suppliers for trusted components, said Brian Fleming, a lawyer with Miller & Chevalier and former counsel for the Assistant Attorney General for National Security who managed CFIUS matters for the Department of Justice.

Broadcom pledged to keep up Qualcomms research and development investments in upcoming 5G networks  the high-speed wireless fabric for connecting not only smartphones but also cars, drones, health care devices, smart cities infrastructure and myriad other things.

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Qualcomms Snapdragon mobile processor powers many Android smartphones.

Broadcom also is moving its headquarters from Singapore to the U.S., perhaps as early as April. So it no longer would be a foreign-based company. Though born in Malaysia, Tan has been a U.S. citizen for nearly 30 years and holds degrees from Harvard and MIT. He has worked for several major U.S. companies.

Thats why some analysts believe CFIUSs national security fears were overblown.

In the past, CFIUS might have placed conditions on deals that raised national security fears to mitigate risk, said Fleming.

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Now the risk tolerance is much lower, he said. There is not the same belief that mitigation and conditions can really address those concerns.

Turning the page

While the Broadcom challenge may be behind the company, Qualcomms board and executives remain under pressure from frustrated shareholders.

After four years of poor stock performance, the company will need to deliver on the lofty financial targets laid out in its effort to fend off Broadcom.

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Hitting those targets depends on resolving its nasty legal battle with Apple over patent fees and closing its long delayed acquisition of NXP Semiconductors, which aims to diversify its business beyond the saturated smartphone market and into automotive, secure payment and sensor chips..

But neither will be easy. Apple, which has stopped paying Qualcomm for use of its cellular patents, has deep pockets and little incentive to settle, according to analysts. Lawsuits arent expected to go to trial until next year.

The NXP deal  on the drawing boards for nearly 18 months  is still awaiting the green light from China. Rising trade tensions could complicate gaining approval.

If the NXP deal were to be blocked by China (perhaps due to trade retaliation) that would lower the floor for the stock, said Raymond James analyst Chris Caso.

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Even though Qualcomm promised to buy back shares should the NXP deal falter, such a move might not be popular with shareholders seeking a strategic growth story for the company

Qualcomm also pledged $1 billion in cost cuts, which likely signals layoffs. Management changes also could occur. Analysts are split on whether Qualcomms board will give Chief Executive Steve Mollenkopf more time to right the ship.

The picture should become clearer on March 23 when Qualcomm holds its annual shareholder meeting.

Once the stage for a dramatic showdown for control of Qualcomms board of directors, the meeting now likely will serve as a platform for executives to attempt to win back the trust of shareholders.

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We dont expect investors to sit still and accept the status quo, said Caso.

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Business

mike.freeman@sduniontribune.com;

Twitter:@TechDiego

760-529-4973CITY COUNCILS

CARLSBAD

The Carlsbad City Council will meet in closed session to discuss litigation at 8 a.m. Tuesday at the Planning Library, 1635 Faraday Ave., followed by a special session for an all-day goal-setting workshop.

DEL MAR

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The Del Mar City Council will meet in closed session at 3 p.m. Monday in council chambers, 2010 Jimmy Durante Blvd., Suite 100to discuss litigation and personnel. In regular session at 4:30 p.m., the council will hear an update on fiscal year 2017-2018 council goals and priorities; and will discuss a possible resolution on gun safety and regulation, and a proposed operations and special event plan for the new Del Mar Civic Center.

Proposal meeting for 941 Camino Del Mar project

Kitchell Development will conduct a Project Proposal Meeting at 3 p.m. Wednesday in council chambers as the second and last step in the citizen outreach process for the proposed 941 Camino Del Mar Specific Plan project. The goal is to get public feedback on the footprint of the two-story, mixed-use structure, which will contain residential, commercial/retail, restaurant and office uses.

Public meeting on Sea-Level Rise/Resiliency planning

The Sea Level Rise Technical Advisory Committee will hold a public meeting at 4 p.m. Thursday in the City Hall Council Chambers, at 2010 Jimmy Durante Blvd, Suite 100, to hear presentations from Environmental Science Associates on the Sediment Management Plan and San Dieguito Lagoon Wetland Habitat Migration Assessment. Visit https://www.delmar.ca.us/498/Sea-Level-Rise-Local-Coastal-Program-Ame; contact principal planner Amanda Lee at Alee@delmar.ca.us or (858) 755-9313, ext. 1167.

ENCINITAS

The Encinitas City Council is scheduled to meet in closed session at 4 p.m. Wednesday in council chambers, 505 S. Vulcan Ave., and in regular session at 6 p.m.

ESCONDIDO

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The Escondido City Council will meet in closed session at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday in council chambers, 201 N. Broadway, to discuss litigation and property negotiation. In regular session at 4:30 p.m., the council will consider amending the general plan to allow building height up to three stories for a proposed residential care facility at 1802 N. Centre City Pkwy.The council will consider amending its general plan to change the land use for all properties within the South Centre City Specific Plan, roughly 420 acres that extends 2.25 miles along Centre City Parkway and Escondido Boulevard. This would add a category expanding the citys policy of allowing residents to run small businesses from their homes. The council will also consider changes to its campaign control ordinance, which include changing the definitions of Committee and Contribution, modifying or eliminating the petty cash fund restrictions, and modifying or eliminating the cash and anonymous contribution restrictions.

OCEANSIDE

The Oceanside City Council will meet at 2 p.m. Wednesday in City Council Chambers, 300 N. Coast Highway, for Planning Commissioner applicant interviews and council appointment of three commissioners.

POWAY

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The Poway City Council will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday in council chambers, 13325 Civic Center Drive, to consider a tentative tract map for a 10-lot subdivision at the east end of Larchmont Street, east of Pomerado Road and north of Twin Peaks Road.

SOLANA BEACH

Proposed senior facility to hold community meetings

The developer of Genevieve Senior Care Facility, a proposed 96-bed senior and memory care center, invites the public to a meeting for public input from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the site, 959 Genevieve St. Visit solanabeachseniorcare.com; contact the city at (858) 720-2400; visit ci.solana-beach.ca.us.

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VISTA

The Vista City Council will meet at 2 p.m. Tuesday for a special workshop in City Council Chambers, 200 Civic Center Drive, for an overview and update on local marijuana initiatives. The council will discuss options for permitting marijuana-related businesses.

Help plan Pala Vista Park

The public is invited to a community meeting at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Civic Center to share their ideas on how the new Pala Vista Park should look. The park site is at Civic Center Drive and Pala Vista Drive. Residents are encouraged to call or email Tony Winney in the City Managers Office if they are interested but cant attend: (760) 643-5200 or twinney@cityofvista.com.

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SCHOOL DISTRICTS

FALLBROOK

The Fallbrook Union Elementary School District board will meet in closed session to discuss personnel and labor negotiations at 5:45 p.m. Monday in Room 106 of the district office, 321 N. Iowa St. In regular session at 6 p.m., the board will discuss a comprehensive tentative two-year agreement with the Fallbrook Elementary Teachers Association and an increase to all salaries for management, confidential and unrepresented employees.

OCEANSIDE

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The Oceanside Unified School District board will meet in special session at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the district office, 2111 Mission Ave., to interview potential superintendent executive search firms.

SAN DIEGUITO

The San Dieguito Union High School District board is scheduled to meet at 6:30 p.m. April 19 at the district office, 710 Encinitas Blvd., Encinitas.

SOLANA BEACH

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The Solana Beach School District board is scheduled to meet in special session at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at the district office, 309 N. Rios Ave., and in regular session at 6:30 p.m.

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laura.groch@sduniontribune.comAfter leaving the country together for Mexico, Allentown teen Amy Yu found herself Sunday back in the Lehigh Valley, and Kevin Esterly, her 45-year-old traveling companion for more than a week, was phoning his wife from a prison in Miami.

Both were picked up Saturday at Playa del Carmen, a resort town in the Mexican state of Quintana Rooand, and returned to the United States, authorities said. ICE, the U.S. Marshals Service and a Mexican law enforcement agency cooperated on the case.

By early Sunday Yu, 16, was back in Allentown, and Esterly, of Lowhill Township, was in Florida pending extradition to Pennsylvania, Allentown police said. No timeline was available on Esterlys return to the city, where he is to be arraigned on a felony charge of interference of the custody of a child.

Attorney John Waldron, representing Esterlys wife, Stacey, said Sunday her husband had been calling her from prison.

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Im assuming hes trying to get a hold of her for some type of legal representation in the process of being extradited, Waldron said Sunday. With what she has been put through, she is not accepting his calls. She is appearing on national television. Stacey Esterly will appear on NBCs the TODAY Show Monday morning, Waldron said.

Kevin Esterly can agree to be returned to Pennsylvania as part of extradition, which means a defendant is returned to a state with an outstanding warrant for a crime, according to Waldron. Or Esterly can fight extradition, setting in motion a process that would include a hearing before a Florida judge to determine if the charge warrants sending him to Pennsylvania.

Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin couldnt say with certainty Sunday how long the process of bringing back Esterly could take. If Esterly agrees to be moved back to Pennsylvania, the county would send law enforcement officials to Florida to return him to Allentown.

Yu arrived from abroad early Sunday morning at Philadelphia International Airport, police said. She was then brought back to Allentown. Her mother, Miu Luu, declined to comment Sunday.

On Saturday, Waldron said Stacey Esterly was happy and relieved to learn the teen had been found safe. Waldron previously said Stacey Esterly contacted him because shes been inundated by media calls, including some from international news organizations.

PHOTO of the Mexico arrest of Kevin Esterly, the 45-year-old man who has been missing since March 5 with a 16-year-old girl from Pennsylvania. LATEST UPDATES: https://t.co/UyJjMKjvzK pic.twitter.com/nyXYJoAjZF  NBC10 Philadelphia (@NBCPhiladelphia) March 18, 2018

Police told Miu Luu in a telephone call Saturday afternoon that her daughter was found. Yu was found in good health, according to Allentown police.

For two weeks, Ive had trouble sleeping and eating, Luu said.

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She cried from relief upon hearing news, she said.

Im very happy, she said.

The teen and the married man had been missing 12 days in a case that drew widespead attention. Yu and Esterly were last seen locally at 7:09 a.m. March 5 at 15th and Allen streets in Allentown. Their disappearance came less than a month after authorities were notified the two were meeting and communicating without the knowledge of the girls mother.

Yu was on a plane to Cancun with Esterly on March 5 at the same time the mother of the high school sophomore was filing a missing persons report with Allentown police, police said. Authorities found the two in a coastal resort about 35 miles south of Cancun.

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Yu left the Lehigh Valley willingly, Allentown police said, failing to get on a school bus the morning of March 5 and meeting up with Esterly, who took her to Philadelphia International Airport. From there, they caught a one-way flight into Mexico, both carrying money police said they had stolen from their families.

On Friday, Esterlys wife gave a statement to The Morning Call, pleading for Yu and Esterly to return home from Mexico. Through a lawyer, Stacey Esterly said she and her husband had been fighting constantly since the summer over his relationship with Yu.

Mexican authorities on Thursday issued an Amber Alert saying Yu and Esterly may be traveling through Mexico and that the teen may be a victim of crime.

Allentown police on March 7 issued a missing persons alert for the two, indicating at least one of them was endangered. By then, authorities later determined, Yu and Esterly already were out of the country. Friday was the first time Allentown police confirmed the pair were in Mexico. Police said they kept that information from the public because they believed Esterly and Yu were monitoring news media back home.

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During the investigation, police said, they discovered Easterly had bought one-way plane tickets and that their flight took them from Philadelphia to Dallas and then to Cancun.

Esterly, a concrete contractor, has a wife and four daughters. He and his family have known Yu since she was about seven years old, meeting at a Lowhill Township church in western Lehigh County about eight or nine years ago, according to attorney John Waldron, representing Esterlys wife. Yu lived in Allentown with her mother and younger brother and had been apart from her father, who lives in China, since she was a small child, her mother said.

As Yu grew older, the Esterlys often included Yu on vacations with their daughters, almost treating her like a fifth daughter, Waldron said. Yu eventually became best friends with Esterlys eldest daughter, Waldron said.

The relationship is documented in several vacation photos Esterly posted on his Facebook page from 2014 to 2015, showing Yu and Esterlys daughters at beaches, lakes and amusement parks. In one Facebook video, Esterly teases Yu, who is riding a roller coaster for the first time. In the nearly two-minute clip, the frightened girl screams and holds Esterlys arm as the ride speeds along the track.

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The relationship took a turn over the summer, and for the past eight months, Esterly and his wife had been fighting over his relationship with the teen, according to Waldron.

Kevin indicated that he was attempting to be her dad, a father figure to Amy, Waldron said. Stacey did not believe it to be merely a father-daughter relationship and thats why there were fights. They were fighting every day over Amy.

During an interview this week, the teens mother said she had been suspicious of Esterlys relationship with her daughter even before she discovered on Feb. 9 that he had posed as Yus stepfather and signed her out of school 10 times from November to February.

When she found out that Esterly had signed her daughter out of Lehigh Valley Academy Charter School in Hanover Township, Northampton County, Luu said she was told by school officials how to contact police and possibly file a restraining order against Esterly. She also said she took her daughters cellphone from her and discovered several inappropriate text messages between the girl and Esterly.

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Luu said she confronted Esterly on Feb. 9 and he repeatedly apologized to her and said he would never do it again, but he became angry when she informed him that police would be investigating.

In a group text that day, which included Luu and Esterlys wife, Kevin Esterly called allegations of any improper relationship with the girl lies and speculation.

The following day, Esterly and his wife were cited with harassment during an argument at their home because he wouldnt allow her to see his Facebook page.

Days later, on Feb. 15, Luu called police to her Allentown home on North 18th Street to report a problem with her daughter, according to court records. The Esterlys were at the home and officers told them to stay away from the teens home, according to court records.

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Waldron said Stacey Esterly was never aware that her husband had been signing out the teen from school and once she found out, it escalated their fighting.

Thing is, there were fights all the time because Kevin didnt have time for Stacey or his own children, he said. It was a constant struggle that Stacey was living with and Amys mom was living with, and thats why this harassment episode came up because they were trying to deal with this.

He couldnt help himself, he couldnt stop.

Waldron said Esterly lost his job over his obsession with Yu and had been unemployed for a month.

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While splitting time with his family, Esterly also rented a Court Street apartment in Allentown, about four blocks from Yus familys home. Court records show that Esterly had a $650 a month apartment. On Tuesday, citing police presence at the apartment, Esterlys landlord filed to evict him, court records show.

Waldron said Stacey Esterly contacted him last week because shes been inundated by media calls, some from international news organizations.

This incident has disrupted her family with her girls and disrupted her financially with the fact that Kevin took $4,000 out of her account and took off with that in traveling with Amy, he said. So shes left working full time with her young girls and shes super overwhelmed with this situation.

Stacey Esterly learned Saturday afternoon that her husband and Amy had been found, Waldron said.

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Shes very happy and relieved. She wants Amy home with her mom, that is what she has always wanted. She is glad that Amy is safe and that Kevin is with authorities, " Waldron said.

He said the family disruptions will have long-term effects. In her [Stacey Esterlys] opinion, Kevin is not in a mentally stable state. Amy is going to need counseling and their daughters are going to need counseling. This has been an ordeal for this family.

Waldron said Stacey Esterly has retained a divorce attorney.

The Morning Calls Laurie Mason Schroeder, Manuel Gamiz and Frank Warner contributed to this report.Standing in their green uniforms, their trousers bloused in their boots, the former soldiers quipped that they were used to being surrounded by the enemy because they parachuted behind them.

Now, a special monument to paratroopers is surrounded by a sea of gravestones marking their friends in all the armed services.

More than 70 veterans gathered Saturday morning at Miramar National Cemetery to dedicate a hip-high marble memorial to honor the men and women who have worn silver parachute wings, the uniform badge that signifies someone has passed paratrooper training.

Although dedicated to all the armed forces, nearly all of the vets gathering in the drizzle wore the maroon berets of the Armys 173rd Airborne Brigade or the 82nd Airborne Division.

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Nonprofit associations tied to both units raised the funds to pay for the nearly $5,000 memorial and staged Saturdays solemn ceremony to unveil it.

Airborne PFC Rusty Kulp, right, who went to Vietnam, hugs Sgt. Gilbert Montano before the start of the ceremony. (John Gastaldo/U-T )

It took nearly two years, but the paratrooper monument now stands next to five similar memorials erected to honor the sacrifice of Jewish war veterans, Korean War vets, the Navys Seabees and Nurse Corps and the Armys Special Forces.

We wanted to honor all these guys, said Jon Hutchens, 76, the projects director and the president of the Escondido-based chapter of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Association. If your family wanted to bury your father or brother here, theyre in good company. Theyll never be forgotten.

Administered by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the 313-acre Miramar National Cemetery rubs against the northwest corner of the Marines air station. After Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery closed off its grounds to most casket burials in 1966, Miramar was designed to hold the remains of 235,000 San Diego County vets.

Although its in a region best known for its large number of Marines and sailors, the cemetery on Saturday drew local paratroopers who had served during every war since the founding of the Armys airborne school in 1941.

Near the back was John Short, 94, a retired U.S. Postal Service mechanic from Rancho Bernardo. A former smoke jumper in Idaho, he was drafted into the Thunderbirds of the Armys 501st Parachute Test Battalion, a forerunner at Georgias Fort Benning for all future sky units.

He stood across from retired Army Staff Sgt. Miguel Alatorre, the keynote speaker who was wounded in Afghanistan, and Alfred Al Gonzalez, a paratrooper who fought in Korea and now volunteers his time as an officer in the San Diego chapter of the 82nd Airborne Division Association.

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We wanted the memorial to be a legacy for the younger people, said Gonzalez, 86, a former engineer for General Dynamics and other government contractors. We wanted them to see who we are and what we do, what risks we take to protect the freedoms of our country. By having it here, when they see the memorial we hope it inspires a lot of people who want to serve their country to consider becoming paratroopers.

Visitors will find the new monument alongside the cemeterys Memorial Walkway, about two blocks inside the main entrance and just behind the columbarium, where funeral urns are kept. The grounds are open from sunrise to sunset daily.

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cprine@sduniontribune.comSRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir Reconciliation Front, led by a Kashmir Pandit, on Saturday staged a one-day hunger strike in Srinagar against the criminal silence of civil societies and intellectuals against the death and destruction in Kashmir.The strike, according to Fronts chairman Dr Sandeep Mawa, is to express solidarity with Muslims of Kashmir and urge both India and Pakistan to resolve Kashmir dispute.Jammu and Kashmir has suffered a lot during last 28 years. I understand that there has been death and destruction due to vested interests but I am more worried about the criminal silence of civil societies and intellectuals. How long will we suffer, Mawa said. Killing cannot be the order of the day. Enough is enough how long as a Hindu would I be insensitive to these developments, he added.

Nazir Ahmad, a Muslim neighbour of Mawa remarked that Hindus have an important role to play.

They can request both Pakistan and India to talk and put an end to this dispute. Both the nations cannot justify one wrong with another and kill Kashmiris. At one end prime minister Narendra Modi is saying sub kaa saath subh ka Vikas, but development cannot come by killing Kashmiris, Ahmad said.

Stating that talks are the only means to resolve dispute, Ahmad added: We also understand that talks will initially fail because there are vested interest from both sides but continued talking will surely bring desired results.Leo Juarez was working at a jewelry store inside the bustling Oaks shopping mall Saturday afternoon when panic swept through the upscale Thousand Oaks center.

We heard commotion, people running to the opposite end of the mall yelling Shooter! said Juarez, who heard police helicopters overhead as he watched people evacuate.

A man shot and killed his ex-wife and then shot himself in a murder and attempted suicide at the mall, causing panicked shoppers to stream for exits and prompting a huge police response.

Coming just weeks after a mass shooting at a Florida high school, the incident prompted minutes of fear amid reports of an active shooter. Authorities later described the incident as an act of domestic violence.

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Samantha Castle, a 23-year-old manager of a GameStop near the site of the shooting, said she saw dozens of people running inside after the incident Saturday afternoon. As police raced toward the courtyard with rifles in hand, she hid inside the store for an hour behind an electronic gate.

Castle said she saw a whole herd of people running but didnt hear any gunshots. With mass shootings a frequent topic of news coverage in recent weeks, Castle said she has been increasingly concerned about the potential for incidents at the mall.

(Los Angeles Times )

The shooting came a week after another incident at the Glendale Galleria, when a security guard fired a gun trying to stop an attempted smash-and-grab robbery of a jewelry store. The sounds of the gunfire sent shoppers running for the exits, fearing an active shooter.

In the Oaks mall shooting, authorities received a call at 2:17 p.m. about gunfire inside a stationery store called the Paper Source, said Sgt. Eric Buschow of the Ventura County Sheriffs Office.

Deputies found the 30-year-old Thousand Oaks woman dead of an apparent gunshot wound and her 33-year-old ex-husband with life-threatening injuries inside the store, authorities said. The man, a Los Angeles resident, was transported to a local hospital, where he remains in critical condition.

Buschow said detectives reviewed surveillance footage that showed the man park near the mall at 2:09 p.m., and walk straight to Paper Source, where he knew his ex-wife was an employee. He began an argument with her, then quickly opened fire, according to Buschow.

It appears that that was his purpose in going there, Buschow said. He didnt linger or shop.

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Police were withholding the identities of the shooter and victim, pending notification of the families. The couples children, who were staying with a family member, were found unharmed and no one else was injured.

A handgun was recovered at the store, according to Buschow, who did not know if the shooter had a criminal record.

Update on #HillcrestIncident: confirmed one DOA and one person being transported by ambulance. Incident is static, VC Sheriff has command and perimeter control. @VCFD  VCFD PIO (@VCFD_PIO) March 17, 2018

Patrons were evacuated from the popular suburban shopping center and advised to go to Fire Station 30 across the street. Buschow said the indoor portions of the mall, on the northwest and east sides, were reopened but the open-air portion, where the Paper Source is located, remains closed amid the investigation.

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Video posted on Twitter by Anthony A. Angelini showed armed sheriffs deputies outside one of the mall exits with guns drawn as visitors were directed out of the building.

Angelini, a 23-year-old Thousand Oaks resident, said he and his girlfriend were in the outdoor section in the middle of the mall when he saw a crowd of at least 100 people running toward him.

At first, he thought it was a flash mob. But then he heard a teenage girl say, Do you think were going to live through this?

Angelinis instinct was to flee. He and his girlfriend joined the group, running as fast as they could to the J.C. Penney store at one end of the mall.

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An alarm went off when they got to the store. A worker told them to come hide in a stock room. But they spotted an emergency exit and became some of the first patrons to make it outside.

I said, Im not just going to be sitting ducks hiding behind clothing racks, he said.

Just as they got outside, Angelini saw authorities pull up and heard them call over the scanner for all units to respond.

Two deputies surrounded the doors with assault rifles, he said, while others set up a perimeter. People stood around, confused. One woman frantically searched for her child, while strangers tried to comfort her.

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Angelini called his mother just after he made it outside, at 2:27 p.m., to tell her he was OK. A couple minutes later, he watched another few dozen people stream outside.

At that point, a handful of deputies ran inside, he said. Around 4 p.m., Angelini was still at the mall, waiting to retrieve his car at the other end.

Im still shaking, he said.

The scene at the mall was relatively calm by Saturday evening, with a few dozen people walking around the shopping complex, some unaware that a slaying had occurred just hours earlier.

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Leslie Seifert, 65, of Camarillo, had been shopping at another mall earlier in the day and was curious why the mall was so empty on a Saturday night.

I walked in and thought, Wow, thats weird all these stores are closed, said Seifert, who was informed of the shooting by a Times reporter.

Several Thousand Oaks police vehicles were parked outside entrances as a handful of shoppers perused the mall. Some could be overheard talking about the shooting, while others waited in line to get dinner at the Cheesecake Factory as if nothing had happened.

The shooting took place on the second floor of an outside courtyard area that was cordoned off by yellow police tape, with security guards and Ventura County sheriffs deputies patrolling the entranceway.

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andrea.castillo@latimes.com

james.queally@latimes.com

UPDATES:

9:45 p.m.: This article was updated with additional information from police.

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6:45 p.m.: This article was updated with new comments from patrons at the mall.

5:25 p.m.: This article was updated with new information from Ventura County sheriffs officials about the shooter.

4:45 p.m.: This article was updated with new information from sheriffs officials and from patrons at the mall.

This article was originally posted at 3:35 p.m.A 16-year-old boy suspected of driving drunk in the Mountain View community of San Diego crashed a car into a wall this morning critically injuring his passenger, a 15-year-old boy.

Another passenger, a 16-year-old boy, was transported to an area hospital with non-life threatening injuries, said Officer Robert Heims of theSan Diego Police Department.

The motorist was speeding westbound in the 3900 block of Imperial Avenue a little after 12:40 a.m. when the Honda Accord went into a curve, slid and hit a wall, Heims said.

The motorist, a 16-year-old boy, suffered minor injuries and was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving, he said. The 15-year-old, who had multiple injuries, was rushed to an area hospital with life-threatening injuries, he said.

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karen.kucher@sduniontribune.comThe line began to form Saturday well before the 9 a.m. opening of the Crossroads of the West Gun Show at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, despite the morning rain that left huge swaths of the parking lot a virtual lake.

Gun buyers, weapons enthusiasts, young, old, families, parents with children in strollers  all walked past the National Rifle Association table, past the firearms check table, and into a sprawling display in the fairgrounds OBrien Hall.

Just across the huge parking lot and up the street at the corner of Via de la Valle and Jimmy Durante Boulevard, another group formed their own line. Clad in bright orange T-shirts, they carried signs denouncing the show, signs against gun violence and signs with the name of each of the 17 people killed in the latest eruption of mass shooting at a school in Parkland, Fla., last month.

It was a scene that captured the national division over guns  and one that has played out before at the fairgrounds, where protesters want the governing board of the facility to stop holding the event, one of the biggest gun shows around.

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Crossroads of the West Gun Show customers wait in line for the show to open at the Del Mar Fairgrounds Saturday. (Howard Lipin/U-T )

This year the gun show and protest had added urgency because of the fallout in the weeks after the Parkland massacre, with renewed calls for more stringent gun control on the federal level. Rose Ann Sharp, a Del Mar resident and protest organizer, said that this year there is something different in the aftermath of another mass shooting.

Whats different this time is the students are telling the adults, You have not done enough, she said. Sometimes as adults we get so wrapped up in the law, and what is politically correct, and these kids are instead saying, Where is the morality?

1 / 10 About 80 supporters NeverAgainCa protested outside the Del Mar Fairgrounds against the Crossroads of the West Gun Show where the show was being held. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune) 2 / 10 Crossroads of the West Gun Show customers wait in line for the show to open at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune) 3 / 10 Sherryl Parks was one of about 80 people from NeverAgainCa who protested outside the Del Mar Fairgrounds against the Crossroads of the West Gun Show where the show was being held. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune) 4 / 10 The Crossroads of the West Gun Show at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, Saturday and Sunday. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune) 5 / 10 About 80 supporters NeverAgainCa protested outside the Del Mar Fairgrounds against the Crossroads of the West Gun Show where the show was being held. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune) 6 / 10 A Crossroads of the West Gun Show customer leaves the show. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune) 7 / 10 About 80 supporters NeverAgainCa, some holding signs with the names of the 17 victims of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, protested outside the Del Mar Fairgrounds against the Crossroads of the West Gun Show where the show was being held. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune) 8 / 10 A Crossroads of the West Gun Show customer leaves the show with a modular gun cabinet at the Del Mar Fairgrounds where the show was being held. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune) 9 / 10 San Diego County Sheriffs deputies could be seen in the distance while about 80 supporters NeverAgainCa protested outside the Del Mar Fairgrounds against the Crossroads of the West Gun Show where the show was being held. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune) 10 / 10 Adele Josepho of Solana Beach was one of about 80 people from NeverAgainCa who protested outside the Del Mar Fairgrounds against the Crossroads of the West Gun Show where the show was being held. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune)

Throughout the two-hour long demonstration the protesters were greeted with frequent honks of support from passing motorists. In all about 80 protesters gathered, a number less than Sharp hoped for and which she attributed in part to the rainy weather.

The number of protesters was far outweighed by the number of people who would attend the show. Gun show owner Bob Templeton said he expected between 8,000 and 10,000 people to plunk down the $16 for a ticket to attend.

Thats slightly more than in previous years, Templeton said, attributing it to the roiling debate in the wake of the Parkland shooting.

Its a little stronger crowd than we usually get, he said. It seems like every time guns are in the news and there is the threat of more legislation, people come out in bigger numbers.

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Gun purchases at gun shows in California require the buyer to go through a mandatory background check and a 10-day waiting period, same as if they were buying the weapon at a store.

Templeton was aware of the protest and the efforts to pressure the fairground board to halt the shows but did not seem bothered by it. I think people who would like to end the shows are beating that drum because they disagree with our Second Amendment rights, he said. I think if the people came into the shows they would feel differently about it.

Inside the show thousands milled about tables selling everything from long guns, holsters, knives, ammunition, Tasers and other weapons, as well as jewelry, clothing and used books. Several vendors were selling paper shooting targets with a picture of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, the bullseye directly in his forehead.

The show ends Sunday at 5 p.m.

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Twitter: @gregmoran

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greg.moran@sduniontribune.comA Mesa College student suspected of sexually assaulting a female student on campus Friday afternoon turned himself in to police later that night, a district official said Saturday.

The man and woman knew each other, and he became aware that his description was being distributed as a warning for other students, San Diego Community College District spokesman Jack Beresford said.

He said the man went to the campus police station about 10 p.m. to surrender. He was jailed on suspicion of assault with intent to commit a sexual act, Beresford said.

The mans name was not released. Beresford said the assault suspect was turned over to San Diego police for investigation.

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The female student told school police that she was walking with the male student from the SB building to a grassy around the Learning Resource Center. She reported that he tried to pin her down and place his hand down her pants and under her shirt.

She pushed him away and left. He was last seen walking toward the I-400 building.

The female student called police about 1:30 p.m.

Police searched the area and sent out an email alert to students and faculty.

pauline.repard@sduniontribune

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Twitter: @pdrepardAn Escondido police officer shot and killed a man after pursuing him to the Valley View Casino & Hotel in Valley Center Saturday night, authorities said.

The driver they were chasing stopped right outside the front doors, in a valet area, said Boyd Long, in charge of casino security.

Sheriffs officials said the wounded driver was taken to a hospital, where he died. His name was not released.

The chase began in Escondido after police officers there were sent to investigate a disturbance on Timber Glen south of Vista Verde Way about 7:30 p.m., sheriffs Lt. Rich Williams said.

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The officers spotted a possible suspect driving from the area, but when they tried to pull the vehicle over, it sped off.

As the pursued driver approached the casino, Escondido officers asked sheriffs deputies and San Pasqual Tribal Police officers to help.

The suspect stopped near the entrance to the casino and a confrontation with the officers erupted, Williams said. One Escondido office fired at the man. He was taken to a hospital with gunshot wounds and later died of his injuries.

The mans name wont be released until his family has been notified.

A sheriffs homicide team was sent to the area to investigate, since the incident occurred in an unincorporated area. A handgun was recovered from the scene, Williams said.

Access to the casino, on Nyemii Pass Road near North Lake Wohlford Road, was blocked off by California Highway Patrol officers, a dispatcher said.

A casino employee said no one who wasnt already inside was admitted for a time.

Long said casino security officers made sure guests were safe inside. Shortly before 9:30 p.m., guests who wanted to leave were escorted out to their cars.

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Williams said officers wearing body worn cameras were present, but its unclear what was captured. There were also casino surveillance cameras overhead.

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pauline.repard@sduniontribune

Twitter: @pdrepardQ: UC San Diego began training doctors 50 years ago this year. Lots of institutions reach 50. Is there anything special about whats happened in La Jolla?

A: Few medical schools that were established in the past half century have grown as fast, or had as much impact, as the one at UC San Diego. The program has more med students than Johns Hopkins, whose program is 75 years older. UC San Diego pulls in more NIH research money than UCLA, mostly in medicine. The campus ranks near the top in the University of California system in creating patents, mostly in the health sciences. And US News and World Report ranks UC San Diego ahead of Harvard in primary care.

I find that last item to be astonishing. I lived six blocks from the Harvard School of Medicine while I was attending Northeastern University in the 1970s. All you ever heard was how great Harvard was at training doctors. And I knew, from personal experience, that its true. I was badly injured during my senior year and doctors at Beth Israel  one of Harvards affiliate teaching hospitals  saved my life. The fact that UC San Diego ranks higher in primary care really says something.

Q: Can you describe your approach to researching this story?

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A: I have covered UC San Diego for eight years, so Ive come to know a fair amount about its history. But I needed to know more, so I did what I always do when it comes to something like this: I sought help from Lynda Claasen, director of Mandeville Special Collections at UC San Diegos Geisel Library.

Lynda knows, or knew, everyone who has ever been worth knowing at UC San Diego, going back to Roger Revelle, the person most responsible for the universitys creation. She can quickly point you to the book or article that contains the fact or quote youre looking for. I always pretend to have trouble finding things on the computer so that Lynda will give me a personal tutorial. She has this delicious way of rolling her eyes when I run something by her that isnt correct.

Q: Did you spend a lot time interviewing the universitys physicians and medical scientists?

A: Yes. The most enjoyable moment of the entire project came on a day in February when I interviewed five key people: Doug Richman, Stuart Jamieson, Maria Savoia, Jess Mandel and Quyen Nguyen.

UC San Diego got deeply involved in studying and treating HIV/AIDS before the disease even had a name. Richman made several big discoveries, and he helped humanize what happened. It shook me when he described how the universitys hospital beds began to fill up with HIV/AIDS patients when the epidemic took off.

Jamieson performed the first heart transplant in the schools history, back in 1990. He went on to help the university become a leader in this area. Hes still performing surgery.

Savoia and Mandel helped to modernize how physicians are trained. And Nguyen is a surgeon who contributed to the research that helped UC San Diegos Roger Tsien win the 2008 Nobel Prize in chemistry. Tsiens work helped enable scientists to use fluorescent proteins as markers in diseases like cancer and Alzheimers.

Q: Did you speak to David Brenner, the medical schools dean?

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A: Absolutely. I like people who say whats on their mind. David does that, which means that I come away with a more accurate idea of whats going on. His candor sometimes gets him into trouble. But people cut him slack because he oversaw a $1.6 billion expansion of the health sciences at UC San Diego.

Now, hes trying to find someone willing to donate $300 million to the university in return for the right to name the medical school. He first mentioned that figure during a recent interview. I gave him a look that said, Are you serious? He smiled and gave a look that said, Im totally serious. It could happen. Hes an optimistic soul.

Q: What else did you learn during your research?

A: I was reminded of how compassionate doctors can be. The last person I met was Kate Carroll, a fourth year medical student who may become a surgeon. I was given permission to be in the room while she was talking to a patient. She displayed a remarkable sense of compassion. I was really touched by it.8-yr-old found dead in Dhanusa

A dead body of an eight-year-old boy has been found in Kamala Municipality of Dhanusa district on Sunday.

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.Chitwan National Park starts measures to prevent fire

As the dry season approaches, the Chitwan National Park (CNP) has come up with various preventive measures to protect the wildlife from possible wildfire occurrence.As 2018 heats up, with almost no winter moisture to tamp down the concern, the specter of the next big fire looms over the Jemez Mountains and much of the rest of New Mexico.Corruption case against tax officer Bhusal

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has lodged a corruption case against Chief Tax Officer of Bharatpur Inland Revenue Office, Tikaram Bhusal.Reciprocal Licensing - SA Citizens visiting foreign countries

This information is for South African Amateurs who wish to travel overseas and use temporary facilities.

South Africa is a signatory to the CEPT agreement. This means that your ZR or ZS licence will be recognised in all other CEPT territories. No application is needed if you are visiting for a priod less than 3 months . It is however essntial to have the following paperwork with you.

1 A HAREC certificate, in English, French and German.

2 Your passport.

3 A valid South African Amateur Radio Licence

For a wealth of information on guest licensing in many countries see the ARRL Web Site and the IARU Web site, which contains contact names, addresses and telephone numbers for member organisations all over the world.

Guest Licensing - Visitors to South Africa

VISITORS FROM SADC COUNTRIES

The South African Radio League has negotiated a special arrangement with the South African regulator, ICASA, for licensed amateurs from SADC countries visiting South Africa. Temporary operating permission can be obtained by sending an email to Dewald Kuhrau at dkuhrau@icasa.org.za with the following documents, a copy of the photopage of your passport, a copy of a valid amateur licence, the period visiting South Africa and address details when in South Africa or mobile number or both. Allow 5 working days for processing. No fees are required

VISITORS FROM CEPT COUNTRIES

Radio Amateurs who hold a HAREC or a License from a CEPT Country or a country which has affiliated with CEPT may operate in South Africa as a visitor for a maximum period of 3 months after arriving in South Africa. The callsign to be used is ZS (1  6) / their own home call sign.

A CEPT Licensee does not qualify for a permanent license and applicants will have to sit the RAE and obtain a Radio Operators Certificate except where a reciprocal agreement is in place

Visitors must inform the SARL of their visit, dates and contact details while in South Africa. Supply this information at least one week before your visit to admin@sarl.org.za

VISITORS FROM NON-CEPT COUNTRIES

The following section only applies to visitors from a non CEPT countries

For visitors to South Africa from countries having reciprocal agreements with South Africa, the SARL will negotiate a guest licence on their behalf with the ICASA.

Application forms are available from the SARL or can be printed directly off this web page. Completed documents can be emailed to admin@sarl.org.za. The following documentation and fee is required.

Copy of the applicant's current operating license Copy of the ID page of the applicant's passport. Letter informing ICASA of your stay in South Africa Application form correctly completed. Payment of R140.00 by bank transfer, or by credit card details furnished with the application form (If you wish the SARL office to process your application.).

Please do not send cheques in foreign currency. Only payments in South African Rands can be accepted .

South Africa has reciprocal agreements with the following countries - United States of America; United Kingdom; Israel; The Netherlands; Switzerland; Germany; Chile; Portugal; Botswana; Swaziland

When all is done and you are in South Africa with your guest licence, you will simply sign ZS?/ ( Home Call) where the '?' is the area you are in. Click here for a map showing the different call zones.

People wishing to take up South African Residence and apply for a South African Licence / Call sign

In South Africa, South African call signs can be issued to against recognised Amateur Radio Licences from other countries with which South Africa has a reciprocal agreement i.e

United States of America

United Kingdom

Israel

The Netherlands

Switzerland

Germany

Chile

Portugal

Botswana

Swaziland

Send the following to admin@sarl.org.za

Certified copy of your passport and visa or residentail permit

Certified copy of your licence as issued by the authority in your country.

Certified copy of your HAREC certificate.

South African Licence application form.

Choice of 5 call signs

R260.00 either paid into the ICASA Licensing account at your nearest post office. Or cheque made out to ICASA for licence and application fees. If you pay at a post office please include proof of payment. ICASA account number at the post office is 007 000 000

If you apply from outside South Africa, pay the required fee by bank transfer and make sure that you carry the cost of the bank transfer

ICASA has the final say on the issuing of licenses. Please allow around 1 calendar month for your application (some are quick, some are slow.)

For SA Amateurs who want to visit our Neighbours:

Angola, D2

Institut Angolias des Communications (INACOM)

Avenida Dr. Antonio Agostinho Neto, n 25

Zona C, Praia do Bispo

Cx. Postal 1459

Luanda - Angola

Telephone: +244 222 210 666

Facsimile: +244 222 210 670

E-mail: geral@inacom.gov.ao

Web: www.inacom.gov.ao

No Amateur Radio Member Society

Botswana, A2

Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority (BOCRA)

Plot 50671 Independence Avenue

Gaborone, Botswana

Telephone: +267 395 7755

Facsimile: +267 395 7976

E-mail: info@bocra.org.bw

Web: http://www.bocra.org.bw/

A2 Amateur Radio Licence Application Form

Botswana Amateur Radio Society (BARS)

President: Rene Lombard, A22LR

IARU Liaison:

Lesotho, 7P8

Lesotho Communications Authority (LCA)

30 Princess Margaret Road, Old Europa,

Maseru 100, Lesotho

Telephone: +266 2222 4300 / +266 5222 1300

E-mail: admin@lca.org.ls

Web: http://www.lca.org.ls/

Office hours: Monday  Friday 08:00 to 12:45 and 14:00 to 17:00

7P8 Amateur Radio Licence Application Form

Lesotho Amateur Radio Society (LARS)

E-mail: lst@ntelecom.co.za

President: Leon Tromp, 7P8EK (ZS4LT)

Secretary: Vacant

Madagascar

The Regulatory Authority for Communication Technologies (ARTEC)

Ravoninahitriniarivo Alarobia  101

Antananarivo

Madagascar

Telephone: +261 20 22 421 19

E-mail: artec@artec.mg

Web: http://www.artec.mg/

Maritime, Aerospace and Amateur

Officers handling aircraft on board ships or aircraft must hold a radio operator certificate issued by ARTEC.

Any candidate for radio operator certification examinations must submit to ARTEC:

1- A handwritten application form addressed to the Director General mentioning the category to be passed;

2- A money order or a check non-endorsable check to the order of ARTEC, an amount of Ar 9.000 (about R34,49) corresponding to the right of examination;

3- Three 4  4 identity photos;

4- An extract from the Criminal Record No. 3 or a legal photocopy of the passport for foreigners;

5- A certificate of birth certificate or birth certificate.

No Amateur Radio Member Society

Malawi, 7Q

Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA)

MACRA House

Salmin Amour Road

Private Bag 261

Blantyre,

Malawi

Telephone: +265 (0) 1 883 611

Facsimile: +265 (0) 1 883 890

E-mail: dg-macra@macra.org.mw or info@macra.org.mw

Web: www.macra.org.mw

No Amateur Radio Member Society

Mauritius, 3B

Information and Communication Technologies Authority (ICTA)

Level 12, The Celicourt

6, Sir Celicourt Antelme Street

Port Louis, Mauritius

Telephone: (+230) 211 5333

Facsimile: (+230) 211 9444

E-mail: info@icta.mu

Web: www.icta.mu

3B8 Amateur Radio Licence Application Form

3B8 Amateur Radio Application Form RA25

Mauritius Amateur Radio Society (MARS)

#6 Shastri Road, Candos, Quatre-Bornes

PO Box 104, Quatre Bornes

Telephone: +230 424 5866 HQ; +230 686 5687 3B8GF; +230 424 5866 3B8CF

Facsimile: +230 424-5866 HQ

E-mail: smandaty@gmail.com 3B8CF

Web: http://www.qsl.net/mars

President: Patrick Randamy, 3B8GF

Secretary: Seewoosankar Mandary, 3B8CF

Mozambique, C9

Instituto Nacional das Communicacoes de Mozambique (INCM)

Praca 16 de Junho, n. 340,

Bairro da Malanga CP 848

Maputo

Phone: +258 21 227100

Facsimile: General +258 21 016 211; Radiocommunications and Technology Directorate

+258 21 029 660

Mobile: +258 82 328 3850 or +258 84 398 5951

E-mail: info@incm.gov.mz

Web: www.incm.gov.mz

Liga dos Radio Emissores de Mocambique (LREM)

PO Box 25,

Maputo,

Mozambique

Telephone: +258 1 30 41 07

President: Anselmo Ferrao, C91D

Secretary: Silvano Fabbri, C91A

IARU liaison: President

Last updated: 23-Feb-2005

Namibia, V5

Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN)

Communications House

56 Robert Mugabe Avenue

Windhoek

Namibia

Private Bag 13309

Windhoek

Namibia, 9000

Telephone: +264 61 222 666

Facsimile: +264 61 222 790

E-mail: Operations@cran.na

Web: www.cran.na

V5 Amateur Radio Licence Application Form

Namibian Amateur Radio League (NARL)

PO Box 1100,

Windhoek 9000

Telephone: +264 (81) 124 0348 V51JP

E-mail: mullerw@iway.na HQ

President: Werner Muller, V51JP

Secretary: Arnold Kollmann, V51BI

Reunion Island

Reunion as part of France falls under the CEPT agreement.

Contact ARRA before visiting the Island to get information about amateur radio operation.

Radioamateurs de La Reunion Reunion (ARRA)

Web: http://www.arra.re/

Secretary: fr4li@wanadoo.fr





S waziland, 3DA

Swaziland Post and Telecommunications Corporation (SPTC)

Phutfumani Building,

Mahlokohla Street,

Mbabane

Telephone: (00268) 2405 2000

Toll Free: 800 2000

Facsimile: (00268) 2405 2020

E-mail: info@sptc.co.sz

Web: www.sptc.co.sz

Andy Cory, 3DA0TM E-mail: andycory@realnet.co.sz

R adio Society of Swaziland (RSS)

Address: PO Box 351, Loamba

Telephone: +09268 6028080 3DA0BD, +09268 602653 3DA1CA

E-mail: long@farmchem.co.sz

Chairman: Willie Long, 3DA0BD

Secretary: Peter McCullough, 3DA1CA

IARU liaison: Chairman

Last updated: 04-Dec-2009

Zambia, 9J

Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA)

Plot 4909, Corner of Independence and United Nations AvenueLusaka

Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority

PO Box 36871, Lusaka

Working Hours: Monday to Friday: 08:00 to 17:00

Telephone: +26 021 137 8200 / 244424-27

E-mail: info@zicta.zm

Web: www.zicta.zm

9J Amateur Radio Licence Application Form

Radio Society of Zambia (RSZ)

Address: PO Box 34554, Lusaka

Telephone: +2600 97 772 0318 9J2BO +260 95 000 7000 9J2MM

E-mail: botter9j2bo@gmail.com 9J2BO, mupangam@yahoo.co.uk 9J2MM

President: Brian Otter, 9J2BO

Secretary: Mupanga Mwanakatwe, 9J2MM



Zimbabwe, Z2

Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ)

1008 Performance Close, Mt Pleasant Business ParkPO Box MP843

Mount Pleasant

Harare, Zimbabwe

Telephone: +263 4 333032

Facsimile: +263 4 333041

E-mail: the.regulator@potraz.gov.zw or consumer@potraz.gov.zw

Web: http://www.potraz.gov.zw/



Z2 Amateur Radio Licence Application Form

Zimbabwe Amateur Radio Society (ZARS)

c/o Chuck Gardiner,

PO Box EH 91,

Emerald Hill, Harare

Telephone: +263 (4) 302 152

E-mail: trymy@mweb.co.zw Z21LV, soledwzw@zol.co.zw Z21LW, arroypf@un.org Z21BB

President: Athol Masdoll, Z21LV

Vice President: Fernando Arroyo, Z21BB

Secretary: Chuck Gardiner, Z21LWIt appears that you are currently using Ad Blocking software. Please consider turning it off to support us.CPN activists attempt to burn hospital officer

Activists of Netra Bikram Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) attempted to burn an officer of BP Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital in Bharatpur Metropolitan City-7, Chitwan, on Saturday.'She is named in honor of Ernest Shackleton, Lindblad Expeditions most revered explorer, and will incorporate technical advances and create opportunities for guests beyond the reach of any contemporary ship,' Lindblad Expeditions president and CEO Sven Lindblad said.

The ice-class cruise vessel is due for delivery from Norway's Ulstein Group in first quarter 2020.

'A Polar Class 5 rating gives us the ability to operate the ship freely at any time of year in polar environments, vastly expanding our polar range,' Sven Lindblad said. 'This means we can explore deeper into the pack ice, or further north to the unexplored reaches of the Arcticfor instance, northern Ellesmere Island, where only a relative handful of people have ever been, or some of the completely off-the-beaten-path Arctic islands that are remote, pristine and teeming with wildlife.'

The ceremony included welding coins, for good luck, into the keel. Among them: a newly minted commemorative silver coin etched with the name of the ship, flanked by a polar bear and penguin, signifying the two poles National Geographic Endurance will be exploring, and etched with 'To Explore and Understand the World.'

Also, to signify Lindblads commitment to its expedition team and crew, Sven Lindblad placed the lucky coin of iconic Lindblad naturalist Tom Ritchie, a 1780 Austro-Hungarian thaler (silver dollar) with Marie Theresa on one side and a double-headed eagle on the other.

Joining the Lindblad team in Poland for the occasion were Trey Byus, chief expedition officer; Tyler Skarda, SVP marine operations; Capt. Leif Skog, VP nautical and ice captain; and Nikolaos Doulis, SVP newbuildings. Present for Ulstein were Gunvor Ulstein, CEO Ulstein Group and managing director Ulstein Shipping; Tore Ulstein, chair and deputy CEO, Ulstein Group; Kristian Stre, managing director, Ulstein Verft; and Per Svein Brekke, project leader. Among the CRIST representatives were Ireneusz Cwirko, chair of the managing board, and Krzysztof Kulczycki, chair of the supervising board.

'We look forward to the arrival of the hull to our shipyard, Ulstein Verft, for the completion of this innovative vessel,' Gunvor Ulstein said.

The 126-passenger ship has been designed as 'the ultimate expedition platform,' with a focus on safety and comfort, as well as incorporating innovative sustainability solutions to reduce its environmental impact. A core feature is Ulsteins signature X-BOW, a distinctive bow that provides fuel efficiency while significantly improving comfort in rough seas. The expanded fuel and water tanks provide for extended operations in remote areas, while the zero-speed stabilizers will ensure stability, whether at zero speed or full steam ahead.

Immediately following the ceremony, Sven Lindblad, Byus and Skog departed to Longyearbyen on a reconnaissance expedition to craft 2020 early season Arctic adventures for National Geographic Endurance.Cross-border power trade vital to South Asian region

Stakeholders stressed on the vital role that cross-border electricity trading could play in South Asian region for the larger economic integration of the region. Speaking at a plenary session titled Regional Integration and Energy Cooperation:NOT JUST TUITION, FREE COLLEGE LAW OFFERS ALLOWANCE FOR POOR STUDENTS -ANGARA

Senator Sonny Angara has called on the government to ensure that poor students will benefit from the subsidy that will cover not only tuition but also other school expenses as mandated by the Free College law.

Angara has lauded the Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education (UniFAST) Board for finally coming up with the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) for Republic Act 10931 or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act.

"Our students can finally enjoy the benefits under the free college law starting next school year. Bukod sa libreng matrikula at miscellaneous fees, may dagdag tulong pinansyal ito para sa mga mahihirap na magaaral para sa gastusin sa mga libro, pamasahe, dorm, at iba pa," said Angara, author of both the Free College law and the UniFAST law.

RA 10931, with an initial funding of P40 billion, covers the tuition, miscellaneous and other school fees of students enrolled in 112 state universities and colleges (SUCs), 78 local universities and colleges (LUCs), and all technical-vocation education and training (TVET) programs registered under the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.

The law requires SUCs, LUCs and TVET institutions to formulate and implement affirmative action programs to enhance access of disadvantaged students, such as Lumads, Muslims, and other indigenous peoples; persons with disabilities; students from public schools; and students from depressed areas.

Angara stressed the provision that creates a Tertiary Education Subsidy which will cover the allowance for books, supplies, transportation, room and board, personal computer or laptop, and other education-related personal expenses of poor students.

The subsidy will also provide financial support for the tuition and other fees of poor students enrolled in private colleges and universities.

Students included in the Listahanan will be prioritized as eligible beneficiaries of the subsidy, which shall be managed by the UniFAST Board.

"Ang tuition ay maliit na bahagi lamang ng kabuuang cost of college education. Dapat ay sagutin din ng gobyerno ang iba pang gastusin sa pag-aaral upang higit na matulungan ang ating mahihirap na estudyante na makapagtapos ng kolehiyo," the senator said.

Angara has filed bills granting 20% student fare discount, as well as five-percent student discount on food, medicine, books and school supplies, to underprivileged students in all levels.

The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) said it is set to present the implementing rules of RA 10931 on March 26 as the IRR is still being signed by appropriate agencies.Forest fire near Okhaldhunga district headquarters under control

The forest fire that started near the headquarters of Okhaldhunga district at 2pm on Sunday has come under control.Gyawali: Govt for balanced relations with India, China

Newly appointed foreign minister Pradeep Gyawali has said that the new government would not want to cozy up to one of Nepals closest neighbours against another, emphasizing that maintaining balanced relations with India and China will be the cornerstone of the new governments foreign policy framework.Hard day at the office

Workplace harassment laws in Nepal mainly focus on sexual harassment in offices: Is that enough?STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.-- A 9/11 hero who transitioned from ferry captain to firefighter has died of cancer, according to friends and officials.

Thomas Phelan, 45, of Brooklyn, was a Statue of Liberty ferry captain during the Sept. 11 attacks, and proved instrumental in the largest evacuation in the city's history, according to NYC Firewire.

He later joined the FDNY's Engine 55, before being promoted to pilot with Staten Island's Marine 9.

It is with regret the department announces the death of Marine Pilot Thomas Phelan, Marine 9. He was appointed May 4th,... Posted by NYC Fire Wire on Friday, March 16, 2018

Hundreds shared and liked the Facebook post.

"R.i.p Tommy ...I was just talking to my old man and he said even at a young age you were the best boat captain ha had ever seen," wrote Edward B. Fahey.

"Seems like just yesterday we were greeted by that big Irish smile in Farrell's. A true gentleman!!!" wrote Kathleen Heaney Ventrice.

(Facebook)

Phelan is among more than 170 FDNY members who have died as a result of World Trade Center-related illnesses, according to the Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York.

Viewings will be held Sunday and Monday at Daniel J. Schaefer Funeral Home, located at 4123 4th Ave. in Brooklyn, according to an FDNY spokesman.

Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. on March 20 at St. Michael's Church, 352 42nd St. in Brooklyn.

The interment will be held at Greenwood Cemetery, 500 25th St. in Brooklyn.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Will the infamous British street artist Banksy be paying a return visit to Staten Island?

A screenshot from Banksy's October 2013 work, created on Staten Island

It has been more than four years since the secretive artist created a piece on the north shore as part of a New York City blitz that saw him make art in all five boroughs.

Now, he's back in the area, with new work spotted in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

On Thursday, two new pieces drew crowds in Manhattan. One, in the East Village, is reportedly a collaborative mural protesting the jailing of Zehra Dogan, a Turkish artist and journalist. The second, on 14th Street in Chelsea, depicts a clock with one of Banksy's signature rats running inside it.

Today, the New York Post reports that two more works have been spotted, this time in Brooklyn, at a site slated for redevelopment.

So, keep your eyes open Staten Islanders: if the anonymous artist is again making his way through the boroughs, it will be up to a sharp-eyed pedestrian to identify his art.

Though anonymous, Banksy is internationally known, and his work -- sometimes preserved and sold by the building owners whose walls are his canvas -- has been valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars.

His previous piece created on Staten Island, in October 2013, came in the form of a video posted on Banksy's website.

Always a provocateur, the video starts as a close-up of an anthill in the crack of a sidewalk, and as more of the ground comes into view it becomes clear that Banksy has made the ants the centerpiece of a sketch of the female anatomy.CITY HALL -- More than a month after Mayor Bill de Blasio said reforms to the city's property tax system and the creation for a commission to look into the issue were coming "soon," both efforts appear to be nowhere in sight.

At a news conference on Thursday, the mayor once again told reporters that an announcement on property tax reform was coming "very shortly."

"We need to get the right combination of people to do work, which as I've said is probably going to be a year or more because of the level of complexity," he said. "But this is an announcement you can expect quite soon."

Last year, de Blasio vowed to reform inequalities in the city's property tax system and form a commission to tackle the reforms if he was re-elected.

But some of the most vocal politicians on the issue say they have not heard a peep from the administration recently.

NOT A PEEP

"The last update I received from [the de Blasio administration] was that they were putting together the commission, but alas we wait," South Shore Councilman Joe Borelli (R) said.

Borelli said the de Blasio administration has not contacted him to provide any input on what the commission should focus on or recommendations on who should be on it.

"We have been asking the mayor to empanel a property tax reform commission for years, and he has publicly agreed," City Council Minority Leader Steven Matteo (R-Mid-Shore), said. "You'd have to get more clarity from him why it's taking so long."

The last time Matteo said he heard from the de Blasio administration was February.

Last month, Matteo, Borelli and Borough President James Oddo

in attempt to get the city and Albany to reform property taxes.

Their proposals included asking the mayor to reinstate the property tax rebate; freezing property tax bills for eligible senior citizen; passing legislation that would reset the state-mandated assessment cap when a property is sold, and again calling on the mayor to empanel a property tax commission.

In the meantime, Matteo and Borelli are trying to at least get the property tax rebate in next year's budget.

Although the mayor and first lady Chirlane McCray's two properties in Brooklyn were worth more than $3.2 million combined in 2016, a copy of their joint tax returns released last year showed the couple paid only $7,098 in property taxes for the two homes.

The mayor and his wife are profiting from the current system where the assessed value of properties with one-, two- and three-family homes -- known as class one -- can't go up more than 6 percent every year or 20 percent over five years.

WHAT'S THE HOLD UP?

Following deadly protests in Charlottesville, Virginia over the removal of the statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee in August, the mayor was quick to join the nationwide debate on removing Confederate statues from public grounds.

On Aug. 16 the mayor said the city would conduct a 90-day review of "all symbols of hate on city property."

About three weeks later, de Blasio announced the names of a full commision tasked with advising the city on issues around public art and historic monuments and markers on city-owned property.

When pressed on why it took just a matter of weeks to put together his monuments commission and why the creation of a property tax commission was taking longer, de Blasio said: "The monuments commission was no small matter but property tax reform is a gigantic undertaking. Stay tuned."

"When it was something as frivolous as a commission on statues it seemed to be no problem to generate some qualified names," Borelli said. "But when it's something that matters to millions of New Yorkers, there seems to be a lot of hesitation."STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- She's a dynamic woman of the 21st century, but Margaret Grandstaff has something very much in common with our human ancestors who populated the Earth tens of thousands of years ago: She is a consummate hunter-gatherer, a committed forager who's constantly on the prowl. She's forever on the look-out for food to feed the hungry (yes, like our ancestors), but also new clothing and found objects that can be repurposed to make life a bit easier for those in need.

Those folks are always on her mind.

For her devotion to those who need a helping hand; for her savvy approach to cutting costs, but not quality, when it comes to her charitable efforts; for her long-standing commitment to a small, but vibrant, church in Stapleton -- not far from her childhood stomping grounds of Rosebank, but a good long drive from her home of 42 years in Tottenville -- Margaret Grandstaff is recognized this year as a Staten Island Advance Woman of Achievement.

"It all started with Oprah in 2000," said Margaret, a former employee of Staten Island Savings Bank and a long-time stay-at-home mom who co-chaired a Girl Scout troop and headed up the Tottenville Marching Band Parents Club for years. "She had a boy on her show who had been walking in the city and saw a man with no shoes." The boy went on to take up a collection so he could help clothe the homeless, recalls Margaret.

According to Margaret, Oprah told viewers and members of her studio audience, "If you have a talent, you should share. You might make somebody's day."

The message got through to Margaret, a talented seamstress and crochet devotee. She grabbed her hook -- and a needle and thread -- and began making baby blankets. One day, one of her five daughters came to her and asked if she could have some of the blankets to donate to Good Counsel Home, a crisis pregnancy center in Rosebank that is currently closed for renovation, but hoping to reopen soon.

Putting on her practical hat, Margaret first asked how many were needed, then quickly finished making a few additional wraps, before driving her daughter to Good Counsel.

"That's when I met Clara. She had a three-day-old baby boy and lived in this shelter," said Margaret. "I came home and told my husband 'I have to help these people.'"

Since that day, some 18 years ago, that's what Margaret has been doing -- helping people all over Staten Island, without pause and with great purpose.

While she has continued to craft, sew and crochet, making booties, caps and blankets for babies, as well as lap blankets for seniors -- and encouraging others to pitch in -- she also began clipping coupons so she could take advantage of good deals at stores and help keep food pantries stocked.

She began collecting clothing, too. "Word got out and people were bringing me $300-$400 suits," said Margaret, who noted that items like these were lovely, albeit a bit impractical. So she started running yard sales and participating in holiday fairs, where she would sell these higher-end items along with others, then plow the proceeds into groceries and more practical items, like toiletries.

Margaret got involved with the charitable group, the Staten Island Giving Circle, about seven years ago. This do-good organization assists the underserved: Disadvantaged and disenfranchised children, seniors, veterans and others who struggle.

FOUND HER CALLING

She also donates to places like the St. Edward food pantry in Pleasant Plains and Port Richmond High School's childcare program, but early on, she happened upon what she now calls "my hub" -- the Union American Methodist Episcopal (UAME) Church in Stapleton.

"I saw the need. It just blossomed from there," said Margaret, noting that on a "pantry day" at this church, as many as 250 people will pass through to pick up a bag of groceries. Her brother, Charles Miller, says the pantry assists some 1,900 clients a month.

"I've always helped out with food drives and coat drives. But when I went to UAME, that changed everything," said Margaret.

She can remember dropping off supplies at the church on Dec. 19 many years ago, and a volunteer there shared that she wasn't going to visit her family on Christmas Day because she had no presents to take to her grandchildren.

"She cried. I cried," recalls Margaret, who got into her car, and then, almost immediately pulled over at the intersection of Broad and Van Duzer streets, still crying. She called her daughters. She called her friends. She called anyone who she thought could help her rustle up gifts for the volunteer's four grandbabies. She remembered that she herself had a Dora the Explorer kitchen set she could donate; her five daughters found other items, and so it went.

Three or four days later, with Christmas fast approaching, Margaret returned to the church and handed over what she'd collected to her fellow volunteer. "You cannot believe how you made my Christmas," the woman said as Margaret made her delivery.

"I collect all year long," said Margaret, so it's no surprise that she can respond speedily.

Not long ago, she was at St. Edwards food pantry, helping one of her brothers, when a parent with a young daughter stopped in. The day was cold; the child had no coat. Margaret did, though, in her car -- a brand-new size 6 that was a perfect fit.

"The beam on that kid's face when I gave her the coat," recalls Margaret. Having arrived at the pantry an hour and a half earlier than she'd expected, her meeting with the child was pure serendipity.

"I feel you're brought where you're supposed to be," said Margaret.

Schooled at PS 13 and Curtis High School, and married to a former police officer originally from New Dorp, Margaret approaches her giving much like her personal affairs -- no-nonsense and straight-forward. "It's the power of the ask. If you don't ask, you don't get," she said.

It also helps to be organized. For bigger lifts, there is always a well-crafted action plan and a schedule to maintain. She is currently making 75 wash cloths, for example. These will be wrapped around soaps for a Christmas event that is still months away.

"Volunteering can be very expensive," she said, so she gives herself plenty of time to maximize her coupons and contacts.

In 2013, Margaret worked with the UAME Church to stage a baby shower for some 40 young women. In addition to rounding up new playpens, high chairs, shoes, clothing, and cribs, Margaret donated 165 packages of diapers that year.

"At the end of the day, attendees got $500 per person in gifts," said Margaret.

She reprised the event twice -- once in 2014 and again, in 2015. "These showers took about a year to put together," she acknowledged.

There is a children's clothing store not far from her home in Tottenville that knows to dial up Margaret whenever it has items it can't use.

Margaret said she once picked up several dozen brand new snowsuits that the merchant was going to toss because someone had spilled a Slurpee into the shipping container. Margaret took the items home, put them in a sink of cold water and the stains washed away. In late February of this year, the same shop gave her 500 pieces, which she sorted by size and packaged before donating. Over the years, she's taken tens of thousands of new items from the store and ferried them to kids in need.

Big doesn't scare her.

After Hurricane Sandy, when a truck from Alabama still had 1,000 boxes of cookies on it because the VFW post in Oakwood just had no room to store anything more, the driver was directed to Margaret's home where the cookies were off-loaded into her sun porch until they could be distributed during later visits to the pantry at UAME.

"My whole porch was floor to ceiling cookies," said Margaret.

Each Christmas, Margaret delivers a collection of toys to be distributed to 325 children who attend a holiday party at UAME Church.

TAKES AFTER MOM

Margaret credits her mother, Isabella Miller, with passing along her giving nature, recalling that an extra seat was always available at the family dinner table when she was growing up. "It was almost always filled by someone," she said.

She does much the same today, offering relatives a roof over their heads when quarters are too small elsewhere.

Margaret said she has forged close ties to many givers on Staten Island -- members of the SIGC, local vendors, and the Kiwanis Club, among them. They all support each other. "It all goes around," she said.

Margaret is still helping a dear friend and co-volunteer who moved away. Woman of Achievement Mamie Daniels (2002) devoted years of her life to the UAME Church, where the two met, but has since moved to Florida.

On a recent trip to Disney World to watch the Tottenville Band march in parades, Margaret prepared a separate suitcase for Mamie. The two met for lunch, and Margaret delivered a load of toiletries so Mamie could pass the items on to those in need near Kissimmee.

When she can't deliver in person, Margaret still finds a way to support Mamie. Once, as Thanksgiving approached, Mamie called Margaret, saying she needed turkeys for hungry homeless families. "I can't send turkeys in the mail," thought Margaret, so she sent a money order. That was lost. So, Margaret went to CitiBank and made a deposit in Mamie's account. She'd managed to round up close to $300 in donations. That put a turkey in the hands of 70 families, 1,500 miles away.

"My husband thinks I'm crazy," admits Margaret, but she's adamant that she will never stop. "I've slowed down a bit because my husband is ill," but the hunter-gatherer gene has taken firm root.

When she was given the Ruby Red Award by Staten Island Soroptimists International some four years ago, Margaret accepted by saying, in part, "I don't have a Ph.D. I just have me. I collect stuff."

Margaret Grandstaff: At a glance

Community: Tottenville

Birthday: Jan. 15, 1951

Birthplace: Staten Island (Rosebank)

Favorite vacation destination: Bahamas and cruises

Last book read: "Who knows? I'm not a big reader."

Favorite Staten Island restaurant: Reggiano's, in Tottenville

Family members: Husband of 45 years, Gary; five daughters -- Melanie Armenia; Amy Nunamacher; Margaret Mary Grandstaff, Katie Grandstaff, and Julie Grandstaff; seven granddaughters -- Ragen, Sofia, Theresa, Cora, Elsie, Anna, and Jasmine; three grandsons -- Colin, Justin, and Miles; one sister, Marilyn; and four brothers -- Buddy, Clarence (deceased), Billy, and Richard.

Typical Saturday: She crochets in the morning. Then she shops with coupons for the causes and organizations she supports. Sometimes, she will host a yard sale, the proceeds of which she uses to buy food and toiletries to donate.

Personal style: T-shirt and jeans. "I'm a very comfortable person."

Favorite movie: "Beaches" (1988), starring Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey

Favorite spot on Staten Island: "My home."STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Zulma Cruz stepped off a plane from Puerto Rico with her mother and three younger siblings 46 years ago, in 1972. She spoke only Spanish and was, she recalls, dressed most inappropriately, given the much harsher climate, in a little sundress.



The cold was shocking, and though the family was headed to the home of a family friend in the Sunset Park section of Brooklyn, Zulma, with just one year of schooling under her belt in Puerto Rico, recalls that her landing in America was less than ideal.





"I had a hard time adjusting," she admitted. "We were very poor, but I never experienced poverty."

She was a self-described "bright student," who taught herself English largely by reading the newspaper. "I came when there was no ESL," she explained.

By the time she was 13, Zulma was the go-to person for her mother and her friends when it came to explaining legal documents and translating during meetings.

She especially "adored" her sixth-grade Social Studies teacher at PS 94 in Brooklyn. She was thin and fetching, thought Zulma.

Zulma discovered, however, that her fondness was a one-way street. Walking past her beloved teacher, Zulma heard her say to a colleague while gesturing toward Zulma, "You see that woman right there? She'll be pregnant by the time she's 15, so don't worry too much" about teaching her.

"It was devastating," recalls Zulma. But that initial devastation was short-lived.

"I used that to drive me," she said.

Zulma Cruz, now 53, has traveled a very long way since that day -- and she hasn't looked back. Officially, she's been the Director of Food Advocacy at Project Hospitality for a year-and-a-half. That title, however, does not begin to capture all that she has done and is doing.

"When clients come to Project Hospitality for services and need more, that's where I come in. I have hundreds of people in my network that help me," she said.

She has conceived of, and organized, a baby shower for 30 young mothers-to-be who were facing birth with very few resources. "We served fresh fruit and cookies, and they got to shop for free," said Zulma, who had rounded up everything from strollers and cribs, to carriages and diapers.

She has matched 1,700 needy families on Staten Island with those more fortunate who serve as very secret Santas, come the holiday season. They provide an item of clothing for people in the family, plus a gift to open, and a food card for a meal," explained Zulma. "You should see my garage after Thanksgiving. It's like Toys R Us."

She has spoken up for day laborers at schools, and last year organized a party for some of these men, many of whom have been away from their families in Africa, South America or Mexico, for as long as 20 years.

"It validated them as human beings. They would love to go back, but financially, it's not an option," said Zulma.

Last year, Zulma worked with the United Federation of Teachers to collect and distribute 800 prom and Quinceanera dresses for young women who otherwise wouldn't have been able to attend important events in such high style. After meeting a transgender woman, she also collected 125 more dresses for a big party sponsored by the LGBTQ Center in Tompkinsville.

This year, on Washington's birthday, Feb. 22, she was helping Lamont Johnson and Tamika Groneveldt find a new place to live. The family of 10 was burned out of its four-bedroom apartment in Mariners Harbor on Feb. 16, following a kitchen fire that consumed everything the couple had.

Earlier in the week, Zulma had met them on President's Day, even though the Project Hospitality office was closed, to give them clothing, toiletries and other essentials so they could start to rebuild their lives. She planned to stay in touch with the couple.

She is a committee member of the Historic Black Colleges and Universities group, and an education member of Staten Island's NAACP, which she said has been building a bridge to the borough's Latino community.

She has organized parties for children in distress, and for families that are headed by victims of domestic violence.

She advocates for women's rights, immigration rights and economic empowerment.

"I will stand on a line and protest or go to Albany," she said.

"If you need a refrigerator in the middle of the night, you call Zulma and she will get it for you," said Favio Ramirez-Caminatti, executive director of El Centro de Inmigrante, an arm of Project Hospitality.

For her unwavering dedication to those who need a hand to get on their feet; for all the energy and purpose she brought with her to the mainland of the U.S., and for her tireless willingness to serve as a role model and inspiration to so many, Zulma Cruz is named a Staten Island Advance Woman of Achievement.

A FULL LIFE

A graduate of New Utrecht High School in Brooklyn, Zulma clearly eschewed the path that her Social Studies teacher predicted so smugly.

She married her husband, Tomas Cruz, who holds a Ph.D. in social work and social welfare policy, at age 18. She also started her first real job as a bank supervisor in Brooklyn that same year. She kept that job until her second child, Thomas, was born. Thomas has an older sister, Candice, and a younger one, Nicole.

The family moved to West Brighton in 1991, and Zulma enrolled at the College of Staten Island (CSI).

In 1996, while still working toward her college degree, Zulma took a job as Parent Coordinator at P.S. 19 in West Brighton. (Her children attended P.S. 45 in the same community.)

In 1997, when a spot opened up in District 31 headquarters in Sunnyside for a District Family Advocate, Zulma took it.

The position involves supporting the parent structure in Staten Island's public schools. She worked directly for the Superintendent, dealing with parent-related issues like children not receiving appropriate services. The position also involves overseeing all the individual Parent Coordinators in 73 schools across the borough.

Zulma earned a B.A. in business, with a concentration in marketing, from CSI, in 2000.

She went on to serve as District Family Advocate for 14 years, amassing a powerful network of colleagues, friends, and countless community contacts. These days, she is using social media to reach even farther.

"Now, I have friends of friends of friends helping," she said.

Zulma left her job at the Department of Education to care for her granddaughter while her own daughter, Candice, finished up her medical training. Candice earned her M.D. at the University of Michigan and is now an emergency room physician at Staten Island University Hospital in Ocean Breeze.

Her son is studying computer engineering at the New York Institute of Technology. Nicole, her youngest child, attends CSI, with an eye toward becoming a physician.

Tomas, director of behavioral programs for St. Joseph Hospital, and Zulma, were the first in their families to attend college; Zulma is well aware of the advantages that has brought.

"Education is the only way out," said Zulma, when she speaks of living a happy, stable life.

She is also aware of the power of family. To that end, Zulma cooks dinner six nights of the week. Her mother and her two sisters live nearby, and help Zulma with projects, as needed. Her brother likes the cold; he lives in Buffalo.

Tomas does the driving in the family. He gets his wife to work each day, and he and Zulma spend a good part of the day on Saturday, picking up donations and checking on people.

"He's such a good man, a great father. We're very education-driven, and very faith-based and structured," said Zulma.

She finds time to cook with her granddaughter, who loves when Zulma makes "sopito" (a little soup) for her. Her grandson, Brandon, at 5 months of age, is not yet into kitchen prep.

Zulma can wait. She's got more than enough on her plate.

A MEANINGFUL WALK IN THE RAIN

Not long ago, Zulma recalled, she urged Project Hospitality to send a mobile food pantry to the South Shore. She knew, from working in the school system, that poverty is not limited to the borough's North Shore.

One very rainy day, Zulma accompanied the food pantry south, to Tottenville. She noticed a young woman walking down the street holding the hand of a little boy. The woman looked in at the pantry, but didn't stop.

Then, Zulma noticed her again, heading back the way she had come. Again, the woman seemed like she wanted to enter, but didn't.

After the woman's third pass, Zulma gathered up some produce and canned goods and followed the woman down the street.

At the corner of Amboy Road and Yetman Avenue, steps from the doors of Our Lady Help of Christians R.C. Church, Zulma stopped the woman and identified herself as an employee of Project Hospitality.

The woman broke into tears. The water was overwhelming, said Zulma. "I don't know why I'm telling you this. I don't know why I am trusting you, but my husband beats me," said the woman. "My family loves him. His family loves him. I've got two children, and I don't know how to get out."

Zulma did. She hooked her up with Project Hospitality's domestic violence staff; they helped her make an exit.

"I last heard from her six months ago," said Zulma. "Her life has turned around."

Yet one more person who Zulma will put in her Rolodex and check in on.

"I always give a speech about paying it forward," said Zulma. The gist of her "speech" is that when someone in need gets out from under and is stabilized, they must remember the harder days, and donate time, money or resources to help those coming behind them.

There are many days, said Zulma, when she opens her mailbox at the end of the day and finds an envelope with $200 in it. Along with a note: "You will know what to do with this."

Yep. She does.

ZULMA CRUZ AT A GLANCE

Birthday

June 8, 1964

Birthplace

Hatillo, Puerto Rico (N.W. part of the Island)

Community

West Brighton

Family members

Tomas Cruz, Ph.D., husband; three children -- Candice Cruz Bates, M.D.; Thomas Cruz, and Nicole Cruz; one granddaughter, Madison Bates, and one grandson, Brandon Bates; mother, Carmen Candelaria; one brother, Alfredo Candelaria, and two sisters, Wanda Dominguez and Norma Candelaria

Typical Saturday

"It's very busy," said Zulma. She is up at 5:30 a.m. to do housework. At 8:30, she has breakfast with her husband, then they start out on errands and pick up donations. "He's my driver. We've been doing this since we've been married."

Personal style

"I'm girly. I like to dress up."

Last book read

"A Bend in the Road" by Nicholas Sparks

Favorite restaurant

Porto Bello Cafe, Great Kills

Favorite movie

"Under the Tuscan Sun," starring Diane Lane

Favorite spot on Staten Island

Relax on Cloud Nine spa, West Brighton (though she doesn't have much time to go)ASEAN leaders tackle Rohingya crisis and urge South China Sea calm



Sydney, March 18 (AFP) Mar 18, 2018



Australia and its ASEAN neighbours vowed to boost defence ties while stressing the importance of non-militarisation in the disputed South China Sea Sunday at a summit where the "complex" Rohingya crisis took centre stage.

Leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, at the three-day meeting in Sydney, also agreed to work more closely to tackle the growing menace of violent extremism and radicalisation.

But while a final communique noted a resolve to "protect the human rights of our peoples", it failed to condemn member state Myanmar's treatment of the Muslim-minority Rohingya.

Nearly 700,000 Rohingya have fled the troubled Rakhine state for Bangladesh since authorities launched a brutal crackdown six months ago that the UN has called "ethnic cleansing".

Myanmar, whose de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi was in Sydney, has vehemently denied the allegations.

"We discussed the situation in Rakhine state at considerable length today," Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said at a closing press conference.

"Aung San Suu Kyi addressed the matter comprehensively, at some considerable length herself," he said.

"It's a very complex problem ... Everyone seeks to end the suffering that has been occasioned by the events, the conflict."

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, said the crisis was "a concern for all ASEAN countries, and yet ASEAN is not able to intervene to force an outcome".

- Security threat -



Tensions in the South China Sea remain a big worry for regional leaders, as Beijing continues to build artificial islands capable of hosting military installations -- much to the chagrin of other claimants to the area.

Vietnam remains the most vocal in the dispute with the Philippines backing off under China-friendly President Rodrigo Duterte. Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei also have claims.

Canberra and ASEAN reaffirmed "the importance of maintaining and promoting peace, stability, maritime safety and security, freedom of navigation and overflight in the region", without naming Beijing.

The leaders added they wanted to see an "early conclusion of an effective code of conduct in the South China Sea".

"We will uphold our commitment to the rules-based order and international law in the region, including the South China Sea," stressed Turnbull.

With China flexing its muscle, they also committed to enhancing "the scope and sophistication of defence cooperation", while expressing "grave concern" about escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula.

Day two of the summit on Saturday was devoted to counter-terrorism, with an agreement to work together to tackle extremism amid growing concern about the use of the "dark web", or encrypted messaging apps, by terrorists to plan attacks.

Fears have been heightened by jihadists now being forced out of Syria and Iraq with the Islamic State caliphate mostly crushed, and into other countries.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak cited the flow of the displaced Rohingya as a potential new security threat, with desperate people more susceptible to radicalisation.

Human rights issues were a key focus of protests during the summit, with thousands denouncing Aung San Suu Kyi, Cambodian strongman Hun Sen and Vietnam's Nguyen Xuan Phuc, who are accused of oppression.

With the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact, without the United States, now signed, Turnbull urged leaders to get behind a "high quality" Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership deal.

Australia, the full ASEAN bloc, as well as China and India are among countries still negotiating that deal.

Singapore's Lee said there was hope it could be finalised this year.

"This is a historic opportunity to establish the world's largest trade bloc," he said.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, with Australia, a dialogue partner since 1974.Pond Island:--- TelEm Group is mourning the sudden passing of Network Engineer, Mr. Earlston Thomas, during the early hours Sunday. He was 48.

Management and colleagues have expressed shock at the news of Mr. Thomas untimely death after being rushed to Hospital, Saturday.

Family and friends said he had reported some discomfort Friday, which necessitated a visit to the hospital where he was seen and then sent home with medication. Hours later his condition deteriorated and he was returned to the hospital Saturday night and pronounced dead early Sunday morning.

TelEm Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr. Kendall Dupersoy, says there has been an outpouring of calls from colleagues in the TelEm Group family and also from the general population expressing sympathy for the passing.

We cannot express in words just how sorry we are to have received this news today, said Mr. Dupersoy.

He paid tribute to the Network Engineer for being part of the original team who pioneered the building of first digital mobile service on St. Maarten. Until then all systems were analog with customers paying for calls made and calls received.

Earl was responsible for overseeing the placing and installation of cell sites needed for St. Maartens first digital switch, which also signaled a major evolution on mobile technology at the time. It also brought with it an end to the days when mobile subscribers paid for outgoing and incoming calls making TelCell an instant hit with customers at the time, said the CEO.

He said Mr. Thomas was a veteran Engineer in the company and he had only recently warmed to a new lease of working life when he was named to an elite Magnificent 7 team of technicians and engineers charged with steering TelEm Groups Fiber to the Home Project in a new direction.

Earl was very enthusiastic and genuinely wanted to show what he could do, especially after successfully expanding bandwidth services to the Festival Village in time for Carnival last year, and also after successfully improving telecommunication services at the Harbour Facility, continued Mr. Dupersoy.

Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) Mr. Brian Mingo, with whom Mr. Thomas developed mobile provider TelCell from the ground up, said he made an outstanding contribution to telecommunication services offered by TelEm Group, noting that the engineers his skill and engineering ability will be missed.

Earl was one of the key pillars in the 90s and early 2000 in building out TelCell to the largest mobile network on St. Maarten. He was a local engineering talent raised and schooled on St. Maarten and the Netherlands but returned to build the St. Maarten Telephone Companys first mobile network.

Chief Technical Officer (CTO) Mr. Eldert Louisa, has offered his own message of condolence to Mr. Thomas family and friends for his sudden loss, also pointing to his technical contribution to the company over the years. He said Mr. Thomas also scored a first when he spearheaded the installation of the very first GSM mobile network in the Caribbean, right here on St. Maarten.

Mr. Thomas was confident in his knowledge of the companys systems having helped set many of them up. Only last week I had cause to congratulate him on an action he had taken, causing me to think that he was very enthusiastic about tackling some new challenges that he was involved in. Mr. Thomas was a very intelligent Engineer with knowledge that will not be easy to replace, said Mr. Louisa.

TelEm Group Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Mrs. Helma Etnel has also joined her colleagues in expressing condolence to the family of Mr. Thomas on their sad loss.

Close personal friend and colleague, Mr. Percival Cocks said of Mr. Thomas death: We are going to miss a great man and a great worker who always wanted everything he did to be excellent, especially when it came to the company and customers,.Water shortage? Not at Brazil forum on water shortages



Brasilia, March 18 (AFP) Mar 18, 2018



There's no escaping water rationing in Brazil's drought-hit capital Brasilia -- unless you're attending an international conference on global water supply problems, local media reported.

Brasilia has been on a schedule of rolling cuts to fresh water supply, neighborhood by neighborhood, since January 2017.

But the estimated 40,000 people expected to attend the 8th World Water Forum starting Sunday will be able to turn the taps on full, Folha de S.Paulo newspaper reports.

"During this period we'll suspend (rationing) in the city center to guarantee a supply of water to the forum," Mauricio Luduvice, president of CAESB, the city's water and sewage agency, told Folha.

"We'll make the water available. We don't want there to be any problems," he was quoted as saying.

The conference is due to discuss growing fears for water security around the world, including in Cape Town. That South African city has been threatened this year with running almost completely out of drinking water.

CAESB did not respond immediately to a request for comment.I knew what was happening to Abu Zubaida because of my position in CIA operations at the time. I kept my mouth shut about it, even after I left the CIA in 2004. But by 2007, I had had enough.

I was inside the CIAs Langley, Virginia, headquarters on Sept. 11, 2001. Like all Americans, I was traumatized, and I volunteered to go overseas to help bring al-Qaidas leaders to justice. I headed counterterrorism operations in Pakistan from January to May 2002. My team captured dozens of al-Qaida fighters, including senior training-camp commanders. One of the fighters whom I played an integral role in capturing was Abu Zubaida, mistakenly thought at the time to be the third-ranking person in the militant group.By that May, the CIA had decided to torture him. When I returned to CIA headquarters that month, a senior officer in the Counterterrorism Center asked me if I wanted to be trained in the use of enhanced interrogation techniques. I had never heard the term, so I asked what it meant. After a brief explanation, I declined. I said that I had a moral and ethical problem with torture and that - the judgment of the Justice Department notwithstanding  I thought it was illegal.Unfortunately, there were plenty of people in the U.S. government who were all too willing to allow the practice to go on. One of them was Gina Haspel, whom President Donald Trump nominated Tuesday as the CIAs next director.Putting Haspel in charge of the CIA would undo attempts by the agency  and the nation  to repudiate torture. The message this sends to the CIA workforce is simple: Engage in war crimes, in crimes against humanity, and youll get promoted. Dont worry about the law. Dont worry about ethics. Dont worry about morality or the fact that torture doesnt even work. Go ahead and do it anyway. Well cover for you. And you can destroy the evidence, too.Described in the media as a seasoned intelligence veteran, Haspel has been at the CIA for 33 years, both at headquarters and in senior positions overseas. Now the deputy director, she has tried hard to stay out of the public eye. Mike Pompeo, the outgoing CIA director and secretary of state designee, has lauded her uncanny ability to get things done and inspire those around her.Im sure thats true for some. But many of the rest of us who knew and worked with Haspel at the CIA called her Bloody Gina.The CIA will not let me repeat her resume or the widely reported specifics of how her work fit into the agencys torture program, calling such details currently and properly classified. But I can say that Haspel was a protege of and chief of staff for Jose Rodriguez, the CIAs notorious former deputy director for operations and former director of the Counterterrorism Center. And that Rodriguez eventually assigned Haspel to order the destruction of videotaped evidence of the torture of Abu Zubaida. The Justice Department investigated, but no one was ever charged in connection with the incident.CIA officers and psychologists under contract to the agency began torturing Abu Zubaida on Aug. 1, 2002. The techniques were supposed to be incremental, starting with an open-palmed slap to the belly or the face. But the operatives where he was held decided to start with the toughest method. They waterboarded Abu Zubaida 83 times. They later subjected him to sleep deprivation; they kept him locked in a large dog cage for weeks at a time; they locked him in a coffin-size box and, knowing that he had an irrational fear of insects, put bugs in it with him.Rodriguez would later tell reporters that the torture worked and that Abu Zubaida provided actionable intelligence that disrupted attacks and saved American lives. We know, thanks to the Senate Intelligence Committees report on CIA torture and the personal testimony of FBI interrogator Ali Soufan, that this was false.I knew what was happening to Abu Zubaida because of my position in CIA operations at the time. I kept my mouth shut about it, even after I left the CIA in 2004. But by 2007, I had had enough.President George W. Bush had steadfastly denied to the American people that there was a torture program. I knew that was a lie. I knew torture didnt work. And I knew it was illegal. So in December 2007, I granted an interview to ABC News in which I said that the CIA was torturing its prisoners, that torture was official U.S. government policy and that the policy had been personally approved by the president. The FBI began investigating me immediately.A year later, the Justice Department concluded that I had not committed a crime. But CIA leaders were still furious that I had aired the agencys dirty laundry. The CIA asked the new Obama Justice Department to reopen the case against me. It did, and three years later, I was charged with five felonies, including three counts of espionage, resulting from that ABC News interview and a subsequent interview with the New York Times. Of course, I hadnt committed espionage, and the charges were eventually dropped, but only after I agreed to plea to a lesser charge. I served 23 months in prison for my whistleblowing.It was worth every day. Largely because the CIAs conduct became public, Congress has specifically prohibited waterboarding and other techniques that the agency used at the secret sites. A ban on torture is now the law of the land.But while I went to prison for disclosing the torture program, Haspel is about to get a promotion despite her connection to it. Trumps move hurts morale among CIA officers who recognize that torture is wrong. It comforts people at the agency who still believe enhanced interrogation is somehow acceptable. I spoke with a senior officer this past week who said, The more things change, the more they stay the same. Theres an attitude of defeatism among opponents of torture.And the message it sends to our friends and allies (and the countries we criticize in the State Departments annual human rights reports) is this: We say were a shining city on a hill, a beacon of respect for human rights, civil rights, civil liberties and the rule of law. But actually, thats nonsense. We say those things when its expedient. We say them to make ourselves feel good. But when push comes to shove, we do what we want, international law be damned.The meaning of Haspels nomination wont be lost on our enemies, either. The torture program and similar abuses at military-run prisons in Iraq were among the greatest recruitment tools that al-Qaida, the Islamic State and other bad actors ever had, according to legal experts, U.S. lawmakers and even to the militants themselves. It energized them and gave them something to rally against. It sowed an even deeper hatred of the United States among militant groups. It swelled their ranks. It was no coincidence that the Islamic State paraded its prisoners in front of cameras wearing orange jumpsuits (like those worn by Guantanamo Bay detainees) before beheading them. Haspel and the others at the CIA who engineered and oversaw the torture program are at least partially responsible for that, because they showed the world how the United States sometimes treats captives.Do we Americans want to remain a nation that tortures people, like North Korea, China and Iran? Are we proud of the era when we snatched people from one country and sent them to another to be interrogated in secret prisons? Do we want to be the country that cynically preaches human rights and then violates those same rights when we think nobody is looking?Our country cannot afford that. We cannot look the other way. We cannot reward the torturers. Gina Haspel has no business running the CIA.John Kiriakou is a former CIA counterterrorism officer and a former senior investigator with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.English17/03/2018

DODIK: ONE OF THE MOST MOVING SCENES IN RECENT HISTORY OF THE SERBIAN PEOPLE

BANJALUKA, March 17 /SRNA/ - Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik has told SRNA that the exodus of Serbs from Sarajevo after the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement was one of the most moving scenes in the recent history of the Serbian people and one of the greatest sacrifices the Serbian people made for Republika Srpska.



By leaving their ancestral homes during the peacetime and bringing with them their dead also, Sarajevo Serbs, who made a huge sacrifice for Republika Srpska in the war as well, demonstrated that the home is where they are respected and where they are not humiliated, since they fought only for rights that belong to a human being of which they were deprived with the first shots fired in Sarajevo, Dodik has said.



He has said that Serbs in Sarajevo represented the greatest concentration of intellectual potentials of the Serbian people in BiH.



The strongest political struggle for the rights of the people was waged in that city and it was Sarajevo Serbs who led the people because they knew how to articulate the real goal of the Serbian people in the epicenter of the political conflict after the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia, and this goal was the creation of Republika Srpska, the Republika Srpska President has said.



He has stressed that this is why Republika Srpska, with all due respect to all sacrifices made by many for its creation, owes a great gratitude to Sarajevo Serbs, who began a new life in Republika Srpska after they left their city and who improved the quality of life of a community wherever they settled.



The exodus of Serbs from Sarajevo started in December 1995 and ended in March 1996.



Around 120,000 Serbs from Ilijas, Vogosca, Hadzici, Ilidza, Rajlovac, Grbavica and a part of Stari Grad left their ancestral homes and headed to Republika Srpska because they did not want to live under the Croatian-Muslim rule.



Many Serbs decided to relocate mortal remains of their family members. The Serbian Memorial Military Cemetery Mali Zejtinlik was formed in Sokolac to where mortal remains of almost 1,000 Republika Srpska Army soldiers were transferred.



Serbian soldiers halted offensives of the Muslim-Croatian Army, defended their homes, and then Ilijas, Grbavica, Ilidza, Rajlovac, Hadzici, Mrkovici, Nahorevo and other communities were surrendered to the FBiH at the negotiations in Dayton. /end/sgInterpol issues red corner notice against Deepak Manange

International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) has issued a red corner notice against fugitive assembly member of province 4 Rajib Gurung aka Deepak Manange.Lakeside all set for no-vehicle plan

Preparations are on to make Lakeside, a major tourist hub in Pokhara, as no-vehicle zone soon with an objective to ease the movement of pedestrians.Nepals foreign policy debate

Putting ones own house in order is important for building a stable and constructive foreign policyOf Stephen Hawking

Laymen may not understand what Hawking did for science, but everyone knows that his bestsellers brought science closerPM directs govt employees to report for work at assigned places

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has insisted that the civil servants should report for work from the places where the government has assigned them to.Poudel for 'major intervention' to make NC strong

Nepali Congress (NC) senior leader Ram Chandra Poudel has said that the party needs a leadership that would win the hearts of the people.Pun unopposed in Vice President race

Vice President Nanda Bahadur Pun is set to be re-elected as his candidacy remains unchallenged.Sara Kinsey, from the Business Archives Council, presents the grant cheque to Gillian Bardsley, BMIHT archivist. (Submitted photo)

ARCHIVE material from what was one of the biggest names in the motor and aerospace industry has been catalogued online for the first time.

Almost 3,000 items relating to the social and industrial aspects of Birmingham-based Lucas Industries are now available online on the Discovery website, run by The National Archives.

The digital project has been carried out by the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust (BMIHT), which is based at the British Motor Museum in Gaydon, and was funded with 3,000 by the Business Archives Council.

The Lucas Collection was gifted to the BMIHT in 2002 and since then there have been additional acquisitions of subsidiary records.

It contains extensive business and family records, product development papers, catalogues and manuals, company publications, photographs, moving film, audio and artefacts.

There is also material about the family which founded it, their business practices, and what it was like to work for them.

In the 1850s, Joseph Lucas began selling paraffin oil from a basket skip which he wheeled round the streets of Birmingham to support his family.

Twenty years later he was manufacturing a range of items, most famously the Tom Bowling ship lamp.

His eldest son, Harry, joined his fathers enterprise and they began trading as Joseph Lucas and Son.

Together they exploited the newly-developing cycle industry, marketing a hub lamp for the ordinary bicycle which they called King of the Road  a name which quickly became associated with other Lucas products.

The company grew with the transport industry and Joseph Lucas Limited was formed in 1897 before developing into the major supplier of electrical equipment known as Lucas Industries.

Together with its notable subsidiaries, CAV, Girling and Rotax, it played a major role in the development of the motor car, commercial vehicle and aircraft industries.

Gillian Bardsley, BMIHT archivist, said: Lucas Industries employed generations of people in the Birmingham area, and the Lucas Collection is one of our archives hidden treasures.

Now, thanks to this grant, we can open up this precious resource to everyone with an interest in this enterprising family and the company they created, which so many remember with great affection.

To see the catalogue, click HERE

Lucas merged with a number of companies in modern times, and the trademark is currently owned by German company, ZF Friedrichshafen.WARWICKSHIRE Police has appealed to anyone who receives a letter featuring anti-Muslim messages to get in touch.

Four MPs across the country were said to have received the letters earlier this week, while others have also reported to have had them on social media.

The force said it had not been contacted by anyone within the county who had had one, but urged anyone who had to come forward.

Chief Superintendent Alex Franklin-Smith of Warwickshire Police said the matter was being treated 'extremely seriously'.

"Tackling hate crime, no matter at whom it is targeted, is a priority for us and we seek to engage closely with members of those communities affected," he said.

"We know that on a national and local level hate crimes are underreported. We are committed to ensuring all victims - no matter what religion, culture, or ethnicity they identify with - have the confidence to come forward and report any incidents or crimes.

"Those who commit hate crimes target people simply because of who they are. Often, the victims of hate crime are some of the most vulnerable members of our society and the impact can have a serious impact on both the individual and the wider community.

"We guarantee we will carry out a thorough investigation into every reported hate crime. We will also ensure safeguarding is in place to look after victims.

"Hate crime in any form will not be tolerated by Warwickshire Police."Rupandehi poised to transform into industrial hub

Rupandehi district, in southern Nepal, will soon transform into a major industrial hub with new manufacturing units pledging to invest billions of rupees in the near future.This year Save Our Homes in Axarquia (SOHA) is marking a decade since it was set up by a group of Spanish and foreign residents in the area who had learned that their houses were, to all intents and purposes, illegal in the eyes of the Junta de Andalucia. Celebrating is not exactly the word, Phil Smalley, one of the founder members and current president, comments ironically.

Phil, 71, and his partner Sandra, moved to Spain in 2006 and bought land in order to build a house near La Vinuela village. I was looking forward to a peaceful retirement, he says. However, as the builders were working on the couple's home, they learned that the licence issued by the town hall contravened the newly introduced planning laws and that the land they had bought did not fall into the 'urbanisable' category of their local authority's PGOU (general urban plan).

Around the same time, a case in Almeria was attracting the attention of both Spanish and international press. Helen and Len Prior had seen their house demolished in Almeria as, like in Phil and Sandra's case, their house had been built on land not earmarked for development. The couple continued to live in the garage they had built, as this was not deemed to be illegal and added a caravan to their 'home' for extra space. The Priors went on to fight for compensation and while one court ruled in their favour, another agreed with the town hall which had appealed the compensation claim. They eventually got 270,000 euros, but Phil points out that this was nowhere near the original value of the property, not to mention the money they had lost in legal expenses. Phil explains that the Prior's case was the catalyst for SOHA. More and more similar stories were coming to light, not just in Andalucia but across Spain and SOHA has worked closely over the last decade with similar groups.

In Andalucia alone there are more than 300,000 houses that are considered to be illegal. However, Phil and Mario Blancke, Mayor of Alcaucin since 2015 and also a SOHA campaigner avoid using the term, choosing instead the word 'irregular.'

Both Phil and Mario decided that the only way to get their message across was to go into local politics and in 2011 Phil was elected as a councillor in La Vinuela, where he lives, and Mario was elected in Alcaucin. In the 2015 local elections Mario became mayor of the town. I stood for election because of SOHA. You need to be in politics to get things changed and there are so many people that are affected by this situation, he explains.

Achievements

Phil and Mario explain that they have changed the attitudes of a number of organisations and authorities. They highlight the Junta de Andalucia, who they recognise have become much more supportive of SOHA's cause under current president, Susana Diaz. We have gone from being described as 'urban delinquents' in the early days to getting support from the Junta, explains Mario. The pair's hard work has also changed the attitude of both the British consulate in Malaga and the Spanish ambassador. At the beginning they sent us a list of lawyers and that was it, says Phil about the Consulate. However, they have seen a real sea change since Charmaine Arbouin and Simon Manley were appointed to their respective posts. They add that mayors in the Axarquia, and in particular, Jose Juan Jimenez Lopez at La Vinuela have been very supportive too.

SOHA has influenced urban planning laws both in Andalucia and nationally and these achievements include changes in civil and criminal court rulings at a national level regarding illegal houses.

Modifications to the LOUA in Andalucia include getting houses recognised as 'semi legal' AFO - meaning that they will not be demolished and can be connected to mains electricity and water.

Houses over six years old cannot be demolished thanks to a 2015 decree. However, Phil adds that until 2020 there is still the possibility that some houses could be knocked down. Although he points out that because town halls are liable for compensation which must be paid before a house is demolished, it is unlikely that any property will be subject to this measure. Also where the licence to build had been annulled with no instruction to demolish, there was still a 15-year period in which demolition could be ordered. In October 2015 the legal civil code for Spain was amended to reduce that period to five years, which means that those properties with licences annulled before October 2016 can accede to AFO from October 2020.

Individual houses that are built on non-urbanisable land which has been divided up (parcelations) will not be pulled down and can also accede to AFO status.

One of Phil's biggest regrets is that despite there being 1,000 houses just in the Alcaucin area affected by the situation, there are only 200 members of SOHA. A lot of people are just burying their heads in the sand, he laments. They think they have their licences and that this won't affect them. SOHA has been acting on their behalf and without doing anything they have been reaping the benefits, he explains.

The association's president also points out that SOHA was initially formed to help owners whose properties had been granted 'legal' licences by town halls, but were still at risk of being demolished and in this sense he says 10 years on and nothing has been solved. However, Mario points out that it is important to look forward and not backwards and reflect on what they have achieved in a decade.

More to do

There has been a huge psychological and financial impact on so many people and several of our original members have sadly passed away without seeing justice done, says Phil. We have saved a lot of houses that would probably otherwise have been pulled down by now, but there is still a lot to do, he adds. The ultimate goal is that all the houses are made fully legal.

Phil already spoke Spanish before he came to Spain, having worked in Venezuela for three years as operations manager for the international cash & carry company, MAKRO, while Mario says that he has learned Spanish since moved to Spain, aged 31, in 1990 and is a nurse by profession. Both men admit that Spanish urban planning law was not exactly something they had ever thought much about before SOHA was born. We know more about it than a lot of lawyers now laughs Phil. They vow to keep fighting for justice and conclude that it's a battle between the Junta de Andalucia and the local town halls, but the real victims are the house owners who bought their land or properties in good faith.School principal molests student

The Metropolitan Police Circle, Satdobato, arrested Shiva Karki of Gyan Kunja Boarding School, Lalitpur, on charge of molesting one of his students. Karki is also the president of Private and Boarding Schools Organization Nepal (PABSON), Lalitpur chapter.Interview with Snowden-Lawyer Robert Tibbo

How Snowden escaped from Hong Kong - and why he wants to leave Russia

18.03.2018, 17:22 Uhr | Helge Denker, Rudiger Schmitz-Normann, t-online

"Er hat das Richtige getan": Hier spricht Snowden-Anwalt Robert Tibbo uber die Flucht von Edward Snowden. (Quelle: t-online.de)

"Ich glaube, er hat das Richtige getan". Das sagt der Menschenrechtsanwahlt Robert Tibbo im Interview mit t-online.de uber seinen wohl beruhmtesten Klienten, den Whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Robert Tibbo is the lawyer who brought Edward Snowden out of Hong Kong. Under adventurous circumstances, hidden among refugees who are still stuck there today. In an exclusive interview with t-online.de, the Canadian tells a piece of contemporary history: how the first contact took place, where he hid Snowden, what his helpers are doing today, why the whistleblower flew to Moscow, how he is doing today - and how he managed, almost on his own, to discover that Big Brother is no longer an illusion.

This May marks the fifth anniversary of the day Edward Snowden handed over secret NSA documents to journalists in Hong Kong. The world has changed since then. The former CIA-employee had copied secret NSA documents and forwarded them to the media. These proved the existence of a global monitoring program by NSA and the "Five Eyes" - a group of states sharing intelligence information, including the USA, UK and Canada. The revelations have also triggered many discussions and protests in Germany. Some governments have changed and tightened their laws as a result of Snowden's publications.

The whistleblower and his lawyer: Robert Tibbo and Edward Snowden in Russia, June 2016 (Quelle: NY Jennifer)



Who could better tell the story than Robert Tibbo, the Canadian human-rights-lawyer who helped Snowden in Hong Kong in 2013? We wanted to do the conversation via Skype, but we wait in vain at the scheduled time. Tibbo is not available, neither by mail nor by phone. An hour and a half later, he excueses: the time difference, another client. We make another appointment. Tibbo calls, right on time. We can start the conversation.

t-online.de: Lets talk about Edward Snowden, your famous client. How did you get in contact with him?

Robert Tibbo: I can`t go into the details. There are still a lot of issues that remain confidential. Early on Monday morning on June, 10th, I received a call. Literally I jumped out of bed and found my way to the client. So that is the way it started. He was in distress; he required immediate assistance in terms of legal advice. And he wanted to know what his options were in Hong Kong. It was extremely urgent, there would be media all over the location.

which was rather a understatement. His disclosures made him one of the most wanted men in the US. Snowden contacted you, after he gave his now famous interview to reporters of the Guardian - on June 9th 2013 in the Hong Kong Hotel The Mira. In this interview, Snowden explained, how governments under the leadership of the USA had set up a secret worldwide surveillance network, controlling the internet communication.



Mr. Snowden understood that he has made a decision to disclose certain documents - about US unlawful criminal activity in terms of electronical spying mass surveillance. So he understood that there may be are legal ramifications for him, including criminal ramifications. He needed to understand what his rights would be in Hong Kong and clearly what the US Government's r ights were.

US-Embassy in front of the German Reichstag in Berlin: Spying on friends - no way? (Quelle: imago images)



Why did Snowden contacted especially you? Because you were a local human rights advocate?

What I can say is that the asylum seeking community in Hong Kong knew very well who I was and the type and quality of human rights work I had been doing up to that point in time. The wider society including non-governmental organizations (NGO), some journalists, the legal academic community namely universities, social activists, and wider society people interested in social issues and human rights, were well aware who I was.

What originally sparked the asylum and refugee seeking community becoming aware of who I was, were events in 2012. I had become aware of hundreds of asylum seekers being locked up in an immigration prison or detention center. That place was called the "Castle Peak Bay Immigration Center" (CIC). Many, if not most people locked up inside CIC were being held there unlawfully by the Immigration Department.

Some of the Snowden Refugees had been locked up there. A that time Kellapatha Supun Thilina, one of the Snowden Refugees was locked up inside there unlawfully. Immigration illegally grabbed him and detained him there even before he had filed his asylum claim appeal.

So I was approached and decided to assist him on a pro bono basis to secure his freedom from the CIC detention facility. Within 4 weeks I secured his liberty and he was able to hold his daughter again and be with his partner Nadeeka.

When I was inside CIC I met with other refugees and realized hundreds of asylum seekers were arbitrarily and unlawfully locked up there. It was a type of gulag or black hole that asylum seekers could not escape from once locked up inside.

I was instructed to visit dozens of asylum seekers detained at CIC and I started communicating with the Director of Immigration demanding the immediate release of these new clients from CIC. In about a month period immigration released dozens of my clients. My law office phone never stopped ringing as hundreds of asylum seekers were calling seeking my legal assistance to secure their release from CIC. There was a knock-on effect with Immigration releasing over a hundred or a few hundred asylum seekers due to our pro bono efforts.

I subsequently became a Director of Vision First, a humanitarian NGO assisting asylum seekers and refugees. I was a director of "Vision First" from February 2013 to 2016. Through this wider social advocacy the asylum seeking community and media also came to know my name and type of work I was doing.

So this is how my name initially made its way into the community and wider society.



The National Security Agency building in San Antonio, June 2013: Mass surveilliance at a new level (Quelle: imago images)

What were Snowdens plans after talking to the journalists? Where did he want to go after Hong Kong?

Mr. Snowden never intended on going to Russia. That is a key point. On

June 10th Mr. Snowdens concerns were about over his rights. You can see this in the movie Citizen Four. There is a scene where Mr. Snowden gets the phone to call me, my voice can be heard in the film. The first effort of Mr. Snowden was, to make sure that he would will not sent back to the US.

How did you plan to achieve that goal?

My idea was to go to the UNHCR. The UNHCR has a sub-office in Hong Kong. For Mr. Snowden, I he was advised him to meet with me at a location that Jonathan Man would bring him to im hotel and from there I would bring him to the UNHCR and he would raises refugee claim in the UNHCR office. That act in itself would protect Mr. Snowden to ever being removed from Hong Kong until any refugee claim was decided by the UNHCR.



What did you think, when you heard what Mr. Snowden did? What was your first impression?

When youre asking me professionally as a lawyer, you first have to know that the spying activities of the US in the Five Eyes were found to be illegal and in some cases criminal. So in terms of what Mr. Snowden did there are two principles concerning whistleblowers. First there is a public interest to know about such illegal activities. But there is also a public interest to make sure that certain activities of a government are kept confidential. In Mr. Snowdens case it was clear that the public interest for disclosure far outweighed any public interest of concealment. So my professional view was that Mr. Snowden may have broken the law in the United States. But he had not broken any laws in Hong Kong at any time. What Snowden did was a case of civil disobedience. And the public had a right to know - so I think he did the right thing.

What was Mr. Snowden accused for?

Some journalists and some of the public think that Mr. Snowden is charged with the criminal acts effects of treason or spying. But Mr. Snowden has never been charged with that. He has simply been charged with three kinds of theft.

Beside your juristically point of view: Do you think he was morally right?

My private opinion is that he absolutely did the right thing. And as you can see particularly the European Union, many countries, including the European Parliament, theres been resolutions and changes in laws: in terms of the power the government has to spying on civilians. Also in the United States as well theres been a serious debate. So Mr. Snowdens revelations have brought about steady change in how governments behave and how they use their powers. Unfortunately there is still abuse of these powers - but as Mr. Snowden has said repeatedly what he did was to bring about discussions on these issues, because privacy is fundamental to human beings. How we live it relates many ways to human rights on governments abilities and inabilities to obtain information and data from people.

How do you think history will judge him?

In the long term I am very confident that history will view charge Mr. Snowden very favorably. Obviously he raised issues that involve significant matters of politics. He did the right thing.

Hong Kong, Mira Hotel: The place where Snowden did his now famous interview. (Quelle: imago images)



Lets go back to Hong Kong when he searched your help. What was the biggest challenge?

In the very beginning that was the biggest priority making sure he could leave the Mira hotel without being identified - and without being followed by neither media or anyone from any government agency, whether its Hong Kong or a foreign government. From once he raised his refugee claims in the UNHCR in Hong Kong the priority continued to concerns where Mr. Snowden was going to stay. Again his location and communications had to remain private - that was an enormous priority in the beginning and remained a very significant priority throughout. Hong Kong has a history of participating with foreign governments to extraordinarily rendition people out of Hong Kong to other countries.

Seems like Hong Kong wasnt a good choice after all. How did Snowden managed to get there?

Like many people around the world, there is an impression that Hong Kong is a free city to visit, to do business in and that the rule of law exists. That is true to some extent, but it has been rapidly eroding an in particular when it comes to human rights and the treatment of ethnic minorities which also includes for foreign domestic helpers, refugees, and in particular ethnic minority children.

For example, the government has instituted legislation and polices socially marginalizing and institutionally discriminating against asylum seekers and refugees and as part of that criminalizing this defined ethic minority social group. The Hong Kong government has created a de facto type of apartheid even going so far as to implement a screening system that rejects 99.993 % of all asylum and refugee claims (only 0.007% of all claims have been accepted since 1992 based on about 80 accepted claims out of 30,000 asylum and refugee applications).



Robert Tibbo with Refugee Supun Thilina Kellapatha in Hong Kong, June 2016. (Quelle: imago images)

And Snowden?

Mr Snowden, he had raised his refugee claims in Hong Kong based on his well-funded fear of persecution by the United States government based on political opinion. This put him in the same position as the entire refugee community in Hong Kong. But since he raised his refugee claim through the UNHCR he had a much better chance of succeeding as the Hong Kong government was not involved or privy to the UNHCR screening process or even the fact that Mr Snowden had raised a refugee claim.

It is highlighted that at that time Mr Snowden was prohibited from raising an asylum claim with the Hong Kong authorities as the government by its only policies and law refused to consider any such claims unless a person commits a criminal offence making them illegal in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong government does not believe there exists in the world such a person as an asylum seeker or refugee. The government views all asylum and refugee claims as illegal immigrants. Even if they succeed in an asylum claim the government still considers successful applicants as illegal in Hong Kong.

In this context Mr Snowden would be facing extradition proceedings once a warrant for his arrest was issued by the Hong Kong government after receiving a valid request from the United States from Hong Kong to surrender Mr Snowden - which never transpired as the US Government used the wrong middle name for Mr Snowden. That would mean he would end up being held in remand in a criminal detention center awaiting his extradition hearing. His defense would have been based on political persecution.



"Snowdens Guardian Angels": They appear at the Torture claims appeal Board in Hong Kong to challenge the rejection of their refugee claims. (Quelle: Jayne Russell/imago images)



But this wasn't neccessary.

Like most people in the world, Mr Snowden was unaware that there were and remains today, gross failings in the rule of law in Hong Kong. People are misled by the bright lights and glitter of Hong Kong and usually fail to see the failings in government and judiciary of Hong Kong.

Hong Kong as a global stakeholder with enormous wealth has acted disgracefully and unlawfully at times in the treatment of the most vulnerable as opined by various United Nations bodies including the UN Committee on Torture and the UN Committee on Rights of the Child. Despite Hong Kong signing the UN Convention on Rights of the Child the government has rejected that children in Hong Kong have any rights internationally under this convention.

Mr Snowden understood what he was up against after he gave the Guardian interview as it was thereafter that he sought legal advice.

You also have some other clients with bad experiences.

I have close to 60 asylum seeking and refugee status claiming clients. Many have suffered terribly in their home countries. And all have continued to suffer in Hong Kong through the inhuman and degrading treatment by the Hong Kong government and flagrant disregard by Hong Kong society to their suffering.

In relation to Mr Snowden, there is for example the landmark case of the refugee Samir Hassardi Sami al-Saadi,where the Hong Kong government assisted the UK and US government s to detain Mr. Sami al-Saadi Samir Hassardi and his wife and children, unlawfully at the Hong Kong airport. After the Hong Kong government allowed the US and UK givernemnts to put Sami al-Saadi on a rendition flight flight getting back to Lybia Libya he was tortured and then killed. In recent years Hong Kong government has allowed mainland Chinese Police public security to come into Hong Kong and apprehend people. A year ago a Chinese billionaire Xiao Jian Hua, was taken out of the Four Seasons Hotel in Hong Kong and brought across the border into mainland China and has since disappeared.

Three children of the "Snowden Refugees": Still stuck in Hong Kong. (Quelle: Jayne Russell/imago images)



And the situation is still like this?

The most recent experience weve had is the Hong Kong Government allowing the Sri Lankans police criminal investigation department to entering to Hong Kong targeting the refugee families that provided shelter and food to Mr. Snowden. Based on the Hong Kong governments behavior and particularly the immigration department and the Hong Kong police, they did nothing to protect my clients. They delayed accepting any complaints. So this just confirms the view that I had in June 2013 Mr. Snowden had to be put underground where nobody could detect him.

Can you just tell us some more details how you were hiding Mr. Snowden?

I advised my instructing solicitor Mr. Jonathan Man that we had to put Mr. Snowden in a safe and confidential environment. But we also needed Mr. Snowden in a place where there will be no cameras, no CCTV and in a location where nobody would expect him or look for him. Theres no way Mr. Snowden could go to another hotel or to put him in an ordinary Hong Kong residence as there would be great reluctance to bring him in.

Which were the main problems?

People are nervous in Hong Kong being in the spotlight or going up against the government. So it came to my mind that Mr. Snowden has just raised his refugee claim at UNHCR. And the refugees themselves have their own supporting network. They often bring newly arrived asylum-seekers into their homes and help them because it is very difficult when you arrive in Hong Kong and you are seeking refuge for the first time. So it was a calculation of which locations and which families would be willing to help Mr. Snowden.

Barrister Robert Tibbo (left) and lawyer Jonathan Man (right) with "Snowdens Guardian Angels": Supun Thilina Kellapatha (2nd L with daughter Sethumdi), Nadeeka Dilrukshi Nonis (3rd Left with son Dinath), Ajith Puspa (3rd R),Vanessa Mae Rodel (2nd R with daughter Keana). (Quelle: Jayne Russell /imago images)



So you had the idea to hide Mr. Snowden with refugees from the Philippines and Sri Lanka?

Jonathan Man and I contacted families who in the past had brought in asylum-seekers to stay with them. My calculation was that no one would ever think that a man of Mr. Snowdens status would stay with a community thats the most marginalized and discriminated community or social group in Hong Kong. And it worked successfully.



And are these refugees that help Mr. Snowden still in Hong Kong? Or did they manage to leave?

They are still in Hong Kong. They are still stuck there, they are all still in the refugee screening process. The first part of that process is the screening before the director of immigration. And the director of immigration in May 2017 rejected all of their claims. And in fact the director of immigration in its decisions had said that they dont believe that my clients ever met Mr. Snowden, providing him shelter and food, which is extraordinary.

Why this?



The Hong Kong government has basically accused me, my instructing solicitor and my clients, the Snowden Refugees, of all being liars. That we were just not telling the truth. So all the cases were rejected in May to have the right to appeal to the Torture Claim Appeal Board which unfortunately is part of Hong Kong security bureau which oversees the immigration department. So I filed all their appeals at the end of May last year and now that appeal process is ongoing. The Philippine refugee and her daughters appeal was heard last November 2017. And we are waiting for the "Torture Claim Appeal Board" (TCAB) handing down their decisions. The other refugee families their appeal hearings will be heard in 2018.

Is there a realistic chance that they could ever leave Hong Kong?

Oh absolutely. It is almost certain that the torture claim appeal board will reject all their refugee claims. And I say that because since 1992 theres been over 30,000 refugee claims in Hong Kong. And only about 80 claims have been accepted among 30,000.

How does Hong Kong justify this?

The Hong Kong government does not believe that there exists a law or a person that is classified as a refugee. All refugees coming to Hong Kong are considered to be illegal immigrants. They have little over zero percent chance of succeeding and even if they succeed the Hong Kong government states as its policy that any successful refugee claimant is still considered to be an illegal immigrant which is extraordinary. So within that context one has to understand that the Hong Kong government will most certainly reject all my clients claims.

Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong: No safe harbour for refugees (Quelle: Fraser Hall/imago images)



What would happen afterwards to your clients?

Once that happens, The Hong Kong government will almost certainly detain my clients, remove the children from the parents and make preparations to deport them to send them back to their home countries. With my clients cases and a high chance of being rejected we could bring them to the High Court for review. In terms of their living circumstances The Hong Kong government cut off most assistance to them in 2016 / 2017. And as far as Im aware the only assistance government provides now is for some food to one of the families. But the Hong Kong government has cut off all rent electricity gas transport money to all the families  except the former soldier but what he receives is so little that he cannot survive.

Is it because they hid Mr. Snowden?

When the media published in September 2016 that these clients have provided food and shelter to Mr. Snowden, International social services insisted on asking my clients questions about Mr. Snowden. When my clients declined to answer any questions then the assistance was cut off.

How do your clients make their living?

In terms of how to they survive they do require financial support through private donations. Donations can be made to the families through the NGO called "For The Refugees". Any donations no matter how big or how small can make a difference for the families.

Lets go back to Mr. Snowden. Where did he want to go after Hong Kong?

His plan was to go to Latin America to Ecuador. If Mr. Snowden actually intended to go to Russia in terms of his end destination he would have had to apply for a Russian visa. But Mr. Snowden actually have gotten on a flight from Hong Kong that was simply transiting through Russia. And nothing more than that. And when he was in Russia he was stuck. He was not able to move on. He didnt have a valid passport.

He could not travel any further, because officials revoked his U.S. passport. Where there other countries helping Mr. Snowden in this situation?

At the Moscow airport Mr. Snowden had reached out to a lawyer in Moscow. If Im not mistaken, Mr. Snowden had made 21 applications for asylum in countries around the world. Unfortunately each and every country declined to offer asylum. Some countries couldnt do it because they had a requirement that he had to land on the territory of the actual country. But it was not an option for him to go to any consulate or embassy.



He also was asking asylum in Germany.

Yes, thats correct.

Sticker with Edward Snowden: He was seeking asylum in 21 states, including Germany. (Quelle: imago images)



Could you comment on the role Germany played?

The situation in Germany was complicated. There were different politicians and different political parties having very different views about what Mr. Snowden had done. I dont practice law in Germany but Eds lawyer in Germany, Wolfgang Kaleck. He really would be in the best position to discuss this. But as far as Im aware this matter has gone to the highest court in Germany concerning the issue whether Mr. Snowden should be allowed to travel to Germany to testify about government electronic mass surveillance and to remain safe in Germany, without a risk to be detained or charged with any crimes or extradited.

Can you tell us a little bit about the constitution of Mr. Snowden? How is he is?

Mr. Snowden is doing fine. Hes keeping himself extremely busy with his role as the director of the Freedom of the Press Foundation And hes also very busy continuing speaking engagements. Again Mr. Snowden has made such significant disclosures that still have an ongoing impact. There is an ongoing discussion thats not going to be ending soon. Mr. Snowden also very significantly is a unique voice for the issues of privacy and government abuse. For the 21st century, at this stage he really is in my view the most significant voice on these issues.

Edward Snowden at a display at Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow: He was stuck here for days. (Quelle: Sergei Grits/AP/dpa)



And do you think there is ever a chance returning him to the US or leaving Russia?

Im sure Mr. Snowden will leave Russia one day. He would like to go back home. Thats where hes from and he has family there. But again this is all going to come down to timing. And as I said earlier history will look very kindly in my view on Mr. Snowden. But it is just a matter of time and circumstances. Politically in the United States this is clearly not the right time.

How often do you have contact to Mr. Snowden?

I speak with Mr. Snowden when there is a need. And there are different channels of communication - ranging from electronic to seeing him personally in Russia.

Snowden in Moscow, May 29, 2017: The famous whistleblower is still in exile. (Quelle: imago images)



After all this years: Is he more than a client to you today?

Hes a client as Ive said repeatedly. Hes in most aspects no different than any other client - in terms of how I have carried out my responsibilities as one of his lawyers. But he is a unique client. He did something extraordinary: Without a doubt he is the most significant whistleblowers of the 21st-century. There are certain features of this case that required and still requires an enormous amount of attention and care. Its not that his case has started and finished and thats the end of it. There are still challenges.

And are you expecting any new disclosures from him? Or has he revealed everything he knows?

What I am aware of is that only a very small portion of data his possessions has been disclosed. And as Mr. Snowden has stated very clearly the data is in the hands of a number of journalists. And as far as Im aware these are the disclosures that had been made. Whether there are more disclosures I dont know. In terms of the data that he used to have in his possession, the Journalists have had that data for quite some time. Mr. Snowden doesnt have that data anymore, as we all know. I am speculating here but there maybe be a few more disclosures. The most significant disclosures have already been made. In terms of any disclosures beyond that, I really dont want to speculate on that.

Interviewing Robert Tibbo: Rudiger Schmitz-Normann (left) and Helge Denker at t-online.de. (Quelle: Lina Friedrich/t-online)



Do you think he encourages other whistleblowers?

I hope so. There has been a series of United Nations Special Rapporteurs pertures, on counterterrorism and human rights violations. I do hope that when government is behaving criminally that there will continue to be individuals who step forward to make in my view necessary disclosures to the public, as a matter of public interest.

Despite the high penalties they have to expect?

I think the way governments are treating whistleblowers over the last couple of decades created a deterrent mines to individuals who would like to make certain disclosures. But there is a great fear in their minds that there are going to be severely punished. In some countries whistleblowers are extra-judicially killed. For example in the Philippines when whistleblowers appear they are assassinated. And those who are not flee the jurisdiction. In other countries there is simply no whistleblower mechanism. And those who want to make disclosures there are unable to. If they do they are punished.



Thank you for the interview, Mr. Tibbo.



STC musical to be featured at Iowa Thespian Festival

Into the woods, its time, and so I must begin my journey. Into The Woods by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine. And so, the STC Music ...After declaring bankruptcy two years ago, Firefly Space Systems makes a comeback to the small rocket industry with a new name.

Upon its return, the start-up, now rebranded as Firefly Aerospace held a live demonstration of its rocket's upper stage engine known as the Lightning 1. It conducted a long duration test fire lasting for 296 seconds on March 15.

Although the company maintains its headquarters at Cedar Park, the event was held at a rural site in Briggs, Texas and was witnessed by an audience of around 300 people.

The invitations sent to the attendees highlighted that there's no guarantee of successful results, yet the engine performed according to expectations. It's now ready to take Firefly Alpha into the Low Earth orbit.

"Analysis of data and post-test inspection of hardware revealed no anomalies," says the Cedar-based start-up in an official statement.

Lightning 1 is propelled by the company's LOX/RP-1 system and is capable of producing 15,759 pounds of thrust. It also includes a turbine-exhaust nozzle extension made of metal.

What Is Firefly Aerospace?

Firefly Aerospace is a private company that intends to provide affordable and high-performance payload delivery services to the small satellite market.

It was founded in 2014 by Thomas Markusic, former vice president of Propulsion at Virgin Galactic, senior systems engineer at Blue Origin, and principal propulsion engineer at SpaceX.

Prior working for these new space firms, Markusic served as a research scientist and propulsion engineer for both NASA and the U.S. Airforce.

When he launched Firefly Space Systems, it immediately grabbed the attention of many with the innovative design of its Firefly Alpha.

Unlike traditional rockets, it is made of carbon fiber and is propelled by a non-helium aerospike engine that only runs on methane.

Older spacecraft are normally made of heavier materials such as aluminum and titanium. By using carbon fiber, the rocket becomes significantly lighter, making it more fuel efficient.

Meanwhile, Firefly Alpha's helium-free and self-pressurizing engines strongly reflect Markusic's background in SpaceX.

Older engines rely on mechanical pumps for pressure. As these pumps pull fuel in, it pumps helium out into the empty parts of the fuel tank. The more fuel is used, the more gas is pumped out to maintain the necessary amount of pressure.

When all the fuel used up, the tank ends up filled with pressurized helium and is, therefore, non-reusable.

Firefly Alpha's engines work differently by converting some of the methane fuel into gas. A report states that by the end of every burn, the tank is filled with pressurized methane, which can be used to produce more thrust.

Big Leaps With A Small Rocket

Unfortunately, Firefly Space Systems had to declare bankruptcy in 2016. Apparently, developing a rocket with such an ambitious design takes not only plenty of time but also money.

A year after Max Polyakov, founder of Earth Observation System, bought the assets, patents, and intellectual property of the start-up and renamed it as Firefly Aerospace.

Now, for the first time in more than three years, the company has opened its new facility to the public. It's not much but according to Markusic, they're investing more of their funds into developing a cost-efficient rocket instead of unnecessary infrastructures.

In a separate report, he shares the projected price for each kilogram of payload. Other companies are offering $40,000 to $50,000 per kilogram. Firefly Aerospace, on the other hand, plans to charge $10,000 per kilogram and hopes to lower the amount even further.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.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.The Harion Bazaar

On Saturdays, the otherwise quiet Harion bazaar springs into action. Packed into heavy trucks and congested buses, so many people from villages far and wide swarm in from all directions, typically in a frantic search for the right quality of ration for their families.Three underage girls raped in Syangja

Three girls below 16 years of age were raped at Villa Hotel in Bhirkot Municipality-6, Syangja, on March 13. Police said two girls of 14 years and another 15-year-old girl were raped in the hotel.1. Yes. Several other districts factor them in. It would provide a more complete picture.

2. Yes. Theyre not as accurate, but they can be useful in spotting a trend in infections.

3. No. The district is keeping tabs on those numbers, so the public doesnt need to.

4. No. As long as the public health district is aware of those stats, thats all that matters.

5. Unsure. The district isnt obligated to include them, but it might be helpful.

Vote

View ResultsPurchases made via links on our site may earn us an affiliate commissionFamily medicine doctors in Louisiana have started to hail more and more from international medical schools in recent years, as the state looks for doctors to fill primary care shortages and international schools see Louisiana as a prime landing pad for graduates.

Louisiana's rural areas are especially in need of primary care physicians, as the state ranks low on national health and wellness measurements and access to care is a common problem. Baton Rouge family medicine physician Derek Anderson estimated that around 55 percent of the family medicine residency spots in Louisiana for newly minted doctors are now being filled by international medical school graduates, while around 45 percent have United States medical school graduates in them.

At Baton Rouge General, for example, six of the hospitals eight new family medicine residents for 2018 attended medical schools in the Caribbean. The hospital announced the news on Match Day, held this past Friday, when medical students found out where they will train upon graduation.

Baton Rouge General has seen its percentage of residents who come from international medical schools spike over the past four years. International schools trained 63 percent of their residents in 2014, in comparison to 78 percent of their residents last year.

+20 Keeping Louisiana-trained doctors in the state for residency proves to be a challenge on Match Day Healthcare practitioners celebrated their attempts Friday at trying to keep homegrown doctors in Louisiana, which they said can be a tough sel

Half of Baton Rouge Generals family medicine residents for next year attended American University of the Caribbean, a for-profit international medical school in St. Maarten that promises training like United States-based medical schools. The school will send 17 graduates to Louisiana for residencies next year, spread throughout Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Shreveport, Lafayette and Alexandria.

AUC has sent more than 200 graduates since 2000 to Louisiana for residencies. They estimate 20 percent of active physicians in Louisiana are international medical school graduates.

AUCs students spend their first two years learning on the island, and then spend their third and fourth years rotating at various hospitals throughout the United States and the world. One of those hospitals is Baton Rouge General.

From a Louisiana standpoint, without the schools like AUC, we would have a very difficult time trying to meet the demands and needs of our state in terms of health care, said Anderson, who works for Ochsner and who is the lead clinical chair for the school.

International medical schools are not without critics, who have noted that admission standards are usually lower than they are at medical schools in the United States. And international schools can be more expensive than public university medical schools. In-state students at LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine pay $15,687 in tuition for two semesters a year, while students at American University pay $21,695 in tuition per semester on a three-semester-per-year system.

+5 Percentage of LSU med school graduates remaining in state down; there's 1 big reason why About half of the future doctors graduating this year from the LSU medical school in New Orleans discovered Friday they will remain in Louisia

But Heidi Chumley, the executive dean of AUC, argues that hundreds of qualified students are turned away every year from U.S. medical schools. She said schools in the United States place high emphasis on standardized test scores and do not have enough spots for every qualified applicant. The vast majority of medical students at AUC come from the United States, and return for residencies.

When we take students who are willing to go to another country, take an unusual path, expand their horizons, work really hard  they like to come back to the areas theyre from in the U.S., Chumley said. Theyre more likely to go into primary care; theyre more likely to go into underserved areas.

Britta Haydel is one such alumna. She grew up in Plaquemine and graduated from LSU before she attended AUC for medical school. She rotated at hospitals in England, New York and elsewhere before she returned to Louisiana for her residency.

Top stories in Baton Rouge in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up

Shes now in her second year as a family medicine doctor at East Jefferson Memorial. Haydel said she expects to practice in Louisiana for the rest of her career. Medical school leaders, including Chumley, often repeat the refrain that doctors tend to stay near where they complete their residencies.

I wanted to come back and help the population, Haydel said. After seeing how things are done around the world, I wanted to come back and help.

Anderson said family medicine doctors have an especially important skill set for the health care needs of rural areas. They can treat people of all ages, treating both acute and chronic medical problems, and they can assess psychosocial issues as well, he said.

+8 Louisiana's community health centers push Congress for funding, warn of harm to 385K patients Community health centers that provide critical primary care to 385,000 of Louisiana's poorest residents sounded alarm bells Tuesday about the 

Not all medical school graduates from the Caribbean choose family medicine. Megan Kaufman, another AUC alumna, is about to finish her second year as a pediatrics resident at Our Lady of the Lake Childrens Hospital in Baton Rouge.

Kaufman grew up in Kansas and first experienced Louisiana when she rotated at Baton Rouge General as an AUC student. It made such a good impression that she decided she wanted to return for her residency. Kaufman said she hopes to complete an infectious disease fellowship once she finishes her residency, and that shed like to eventually practice in the South.

The patients are so appreciative and theyre so warm, she said. You really get the feel that they appreciate you taking the time to listen to every worry that you have. Its nice to feel like youre making a difference.

Kaufman said she has also found fellowship with other international medical school graduates at Our Lady of the Lake, though hospital spokeswoman Caroline Isemann said Our Lady of the Lake rarely matches with students from Caribbean schools for residencies.

Our Lady of the Lake is home to LSUs graduate medical education program in Baton Rouge. Isemann said LSUs medical schools and other medical schools across the United States have recently expanded their enrollments, which has allowed Our Lady of the Lake to match with more local students.

The number of LSU Health News Orleans medical school students choosing to stay in-state for residencies declined again this year down to 46 percent. Fifty-one percent of their students chose to remain in-state in 2016, and 56 percent chose to stay in-state in 2015.

+8 Louisianas deep budget woes threaten future of doctor-training programs, experts say Bahnsen Miller understands the challenges  and the damages  of Louisianas budget woes firsthand. You cant ignore them if youve been in on

None of AUCs graduates this year matched at Our Lady of the Lake, though AUC graduates are going into residencies that include Womans Hospital in Baton Rouge, pediatrics at Tulane and neurology at Ochsner.

Ochsner has also started its own international medical school program through Australias University of Queensland. Students in that program spend their first two years in Australia, and then they rotate at Ochsners hospital in New Orleans. The program can cost more than $56,000 a year.

More than 25 of this year's University of Queensland-Ochsner graduates are staying in Louisiana for residencies next year, with three pursuing family medicine. The rest include internal medicine at Ochsner, psychiatry at Tulane, pediatrics at Childrens Hospital in New Orleans and more.Baton Rouge police identified the woman killed Saturday at a Annette Street home as 29-year-old Bianca Queen and announced the arrest of her boyfriend in the death, police spokesman Sgt. L'Jean McKneely Jr. said Sunday.

Louis Howard, 30, is accused of fatally stabbing and shooting Queen at their home at 5048 Annette St., McKneely said. Howard was booked into Parish Prison on second-degree murder. Howard and Queen had a "tumultuous relationship," according to the arrest report for Howard.

Investigators were called to the home around 4:50 p.m. Saturday and found Queen face down on the kitchen floor in a pool of blood, according to the arrest report. Police said in the report that "it was obvious a violent struggle took place inside the residence" because "there was blood throughout the house."

Police initially learned that Queen's 2-year-old child was missing, but Howard called Queen's mother to say he had the child because he took the toddler to visit his mother around 1 a.m. Saturday. Howard brought the child back and was then questioned by police.

Howard claimed he didn't know anything about Queen's death, according to his arrest report, but investigators noticed that he kept trying to hide his hands and arms. When detectives asked him to remove his hands from his shirt, they saw several lacerations that were "consistent with struggling with a knife," according to the report.

Police recovered several knives and "cutting instrumentalities" from the scene.

Police continue to investigate.BATON ROUGE (AP)  LSU is shopping around for new health care deals in north Louisiana, hoping to move some of its doctors-in-training to moreDan Fagan: If Tom Schedler insists on sticking around, he should address all of his allegationsA crowd of mostly Louisiana businessmen and businesswomen audibly ohh-ed at a recent demonstration of the Ohio Checkbook  a user-friendly website that tracks checks written by government agencies, detailing where the money came from and where the money went.

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

Easy access to deep detail is why this concept has been embraced by the business community, conservative pressure groups and their allies in the Louisiana Legislature.

LABI chief Stephen Waguespack writes that if a Louisiana Checkbook is approved and launched, the taxpayers can see in real time governmental balances, contracts, salaries, debt, pension obligations and other spending units on their phone while waiting in the carpool line.

Four bills  filed by Republicans and Democrats in both the House and Senate  seek to upgrade Louisianas current LaTrac system to an easier-to-use, one-stop website populated with a lot more in-the-weeds information. Itll help, or so goes the arguments, lawmakers and the public they serve find ways to balance spending on government programs with available funds  a serious consideration given the states endemic inability to balance its budget.

The only folks who should be opposing it are those who benefit from government spending your money in the dark of night, wrote Waguespack, a top aide intimately involved in balancing spending requirements with available revenues when Bobby Jindal was governor.

Hes right.

Lanny Keller: Human nature and the checkbook A spokesman for Ohios state treasurer, Josh Mandel, wowed the crowd at the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry with a demonstratio

But opposition wont come just from bureaucrats. If a largely Democratic group of legislators have their way, objections likely will be raised among many in the business community who right now think a cool new website is just what Louisiana needs.

Current proposals would include and centralize information already available through the states public record laws. Excluded will be the names of companies that receive tax breaks and just how much each receives annually in taxpayer largesse.

Were talking about $7 billion in exemptions and credits, many of which are not disclosable under the law and those that are (made public) at the initial announcement are not charted afterwards, said state Rep. Robert Johnson.

The Marksville Democrat is leading an effort to try to amend the bills to extend transparency to tax breaks, at least indicated in ranges like those used on personal financial disclosures. For instance, Johnson reports on his Board of Ethics Personal Financial Disclosure that property he owns in Caldwell Parish is valued between $5,000 and $24,999, while his residence in Avoyelles Parish is worth more than $100,000.

Similarly, Johnson wants companies to disclose their tax breaks and their value in various ranges, such as $250,000 to $500,000 or more than $2 million.

If youre receiving taxpayers money, I dont know why we would want to hide that," Johnson said. People arent interested in how much LSU spends on pencils and who they buy them from. But theres a lot of interest in who benefits from tax breaks so we can see what were getting from those investments.

On Feb. 28, during the special session, Johnson tried to add the provision to House Speaker Taylor Barras bill to establish the Ohio Checkbook scheme in Louisiana. He lost on a vote of 50 to 53. All the no votes were cast by Republicans.

House Speaker Taylor Barras outlines GOP wishlist in letter to Gov. John Bel Edwards Louisiana leaders on Tuesday came one step closer to finding common ground in tense ongoing negotiations about how to address the state's loom

The Barras bill went on to be passed unanimously by the House, but died in the Senate when the special session collapsed. Now in regular session, Barras and three others will try again. Johnson and his allies will bring back the amendment.

Ascension Republican Women meet with GOP Roundtable speaker John Kay Ascension Republican Women members visited with Americans for Prosperity Louisiana Director John Kay at the Ascension GOP Roundtable on Feb. 1

It takes it too far, John Kay said of Johnsons idea. He is the Louisiana director of Americans for Prosperity, a conservative lobbying group that has championed adopting the Ohio Checkbook but opposes identifying companies that receive tax breaks.

The effort would slow down the bill, which is probably a factor in raising the issue in the first place, he told The Advocate last week. Its a slippery slope that will lead to having to disclose the returns of individual taxpayers and taxpayer information that shouldnt be public record, Kay said.

If Johnson succeeds in getting his amendment adopted, he said his next step would be to change state law to require businesses that receive the credits to publicly report, if they want to keep the breaks, the amounts of the checks the state has written to them.

The states tax breaks are lucrative, and sometimes the businesses dont need them, Johnson said. State taxpayers rebate those amounts directly from the treasury to the company. And in some instances  the filmmaking tax credit comes to mind  the movie industry can sell those credits to companies that do owe the state money to lower their tax liability.

Why should those expenditures of taxpayer dollars be hidden? Johnson asked.Bubba Henry, left, shares a laugh with John Alario, right, at the 44th reunion of the folks who wrote the state Constitution Friday Nov. 10, 2017, in Baton Rouge, La.. It's called Celebrating the Constitutional Convention of 1973, about 20 of these people are left. Bubba Henry is hosting and Edwin Edwards was there. Some current legislators have been commenting that the state needs a new state constitution to get rid of some of the dedicated spending.Joe Lopinto, the Jefferson Parish sheriff, continues to easily outpace challenger John Fortunato in raising money, according to the latest campaign finance reports in advance of the March 24 election.

Meanwhile, Lopintos candidacy is also getting a boost from outside sources: A super PAC emerged Friday with a television ad that uses selective statistics to make it seem that Fortunato made far fewer arrests during his career as a cop than Lopinto.

Former riverboat casino owner Robert J. Guidry contributed $50,000 of the $65,000 raised as of the reporting deadline by the super PAC, named Jefferson Safe and Strong, according to the groups online filing with the state. Another $5,000 came from a deceased former sheriff's campaign account.

Super PACs are not subject to the usual contribution limits of $5,000 per person. In fact, donors to them face no limits. But super PACs may not coordinate with the candidates or campaigns they are assisting.

Guidry was the original owner of the Treasure Chest Casino in Kenner but had to sell it after pleading guilty in the late 1990s to bribing under duress former Gov. Edwin Edwards in order to obtain the lucrative casino license. As part of his plea deal, he was allowed to keep the proceeds from the license, estimated at $80 million.

Guidry most recently developed the Fountain Park Center in Harvey, according to his website.

Guidrys son, Shane, who owns an oilfield-services company, said in a text to The Advocate that he has also contributed $50,000 to Jefferson Safe and Strong, though his donation does not appear on the groups electronically filed report. He said he made his contribution on Tuesday, after the latest campaign finance report was due.

Shane Guidrys company, Harvey Gulf International Marine, recently filed for bankruptcy protection to reorganize, citing a slowdown in offshore drilling. The New Orleans-based firm provides offshore supply, crew and multi-purpose construction and support vessels for Gulf of Mexico deepwater drilling operations.

Johnny (Fortunato) will turn Jeffersons low crime stats into New Orleans horrific ones, and I dont want to see that, Shane Guidry, who lives in Old Metairie, said in a text in explaining his support for Lopinto.

Shane Guidry said he knew nothing of his fathers contribution to the super PAC, adding that he hasnt spoken to him in seven years. Robert Guidry could not be reached.

The Advocate previously reported that Shane Guidry, who is perhaps the biggest contributor to Republican politicians and causes in Louisiana, has given $75,000 directly to the Lopinto campaign through his various companies. He has also raised another $50,000 for him.

Hands-on campaigning

Lopinto has collected far more money than Fortunato throughout the sheriffs race as well as during the most recent reporting period, and he has more money available to spend in the campaigns final days.

While spending most of their money on ads in a campaign that has focused on personalities and not issues, the candidates are continuing to try to win over voters one by one or in small groups, in a race that analysts say is too close to call.

Fortunato, who spent three decades as a Sheriffs Office spokesman before resigning to make the race, began Friday by visiting three coffee shops on the west bank starting at 6 a.m. He also made stops at Clearview Mall, at a Causeway Boulevard restaurant, at a meet-and-greet in Marrero and at a crawfish boil at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Metairie, according to his campaign.

Lopinto walked door-to-door in Grand Isle, where he enjoys the support of both Mayor David Camardelle and Police Chief Laine Landry, and also visited a senior center there. Grand Isle has fewer than 1,300 residents, but they tend to vote as a bloc, political analysts said.

Lopinto has the support of most Jefferson Parish elected officials. That has led Fortunato to emphasize throughout the campaign that he spent many more years working for the Sheriffs Office  some four decades compared to less than a decade for Lopinto.

Both candidates are airing multiple television ads that viewers will see in the final days.

In one Fortunato ad, a fellow deputy talks about the day in 1977 when Fortunato was shot in the line of duty and recalls Fortunatos commitment to return to the force.

In another ad, a woman slams Lopinto for sponsoring a 2015 bill  when he was a member of the state House from Metairie  that made it somewhat easier for people accused of domestic violence to win release on bail. The womans sister, Gwen Salley, was shot dead in Caddo Parish by her estranged husband, who had been freed while awaiting trial on domestic violence charges.

The measure that Lopinto sponsored, Act 439, won near-unanimous approval of the Legislature and was signed into law by then-Gov. Bobby Jindal. It amended a bill passed the year before that required a hearing before a judge could authorize the release from pre-trial detention of a person accused of domestic violence.

In a third ad, Fortunato brandishes a newspaper headline reporting that Lopinto acknowledged during an internal review having asked several of his deputies to retrieve surveillance footage of Fortunato having coffee with a pair of former high-ranking Sheriffs Office officials  which Lopinto earlier denied having done.

Positive, negative ads

Lopinto is likewise airing a mixture of positive and negative ads.

In one ad, Lopinto, wearing his white sheriffs uniform, looks straight into the camera and says he would be a better top cop than Fortunato.

Another ad shows footage of U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise telling a campaign crowd why Lopinto is the better choice. Scalise represents much of Jefferson Parish in Congress.

In a third ad, Lopinto seeks to highlight what his campaign believes was a major blunder by Fortunato. On WDSU-TVs Hot Seat a week ago, Fortunato said he had opposed recalling embattled Jefferson Parish President Mike Yenni and added that he would support Yennis re-election bid next year.

Lopinto said he favored the recall effort, which failed, and would not support a Yenni re-election campaign. Yenni has become politically toxic since a 2016 sexting scandal.

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On Wednesday, Fortunato reversed his position and said he would never, ever, ever endorse Yenni should he seek re-election.

The Lopinto campaign is trying to seize on it, while John is continuing to make the centerpiece of his campaign saving lives and keeping people safe, Greg Buisson, who is a top campaign adviser to both Fortunato and Yenni, said in an interview Friday.

While the candidates are pouring most of their money into television ads, Fortunato has spent a hefty chunk of his campaign cash on signs being provided by a Texas company owned by his son. The Advocate reported Friday that the arrangement may run afoul of state campaign laws that require any campaign spending with relatives to go to in-state companies.

The emergence of the anti-Fortunato super PAC is reminiscent of a super PAC that aired ads attacking Desiree Charbonnet late in the 2017 New Orleans mayors race  ads that helped propel LaToya Cantrell to victory.

The anti-Fortunato television ad  which mirrors the information on a new billboard on Interstate-10, a new website and a mailer that arrived at Jefferson Parish homes on Friday  says that Lopinto has made 351 arrests since 1990 while Fortunato had only four.

What the ad doesnt say is that the agency's electronic arrest records only date back to 1990, more than a decade after Fortunato began his tenure as a deputy. It also doesnt note that after 1990, Fortunatos job was to inform the public of the departments actions, not make arrests.

Buisson called the ad false, saying that Fortunato notched 300 to 400 arrests before 1990. People are smart enough to know that youre not on the force for 40 years and you have only four arrests, Buisson said.

Varied contributors

The campaign finance reports filed by Jefferson Safe and Strong show that it was created on March 6. Besides the $50,000 contribution from Robert Guidry, it listed three separate $5,000 contributions as of March 10 from: from real-estate developer Anthony Marullo of Metairie, the Jiff Hingle Campaign in Belle Chasse and the Badge Star PAC at the same address in Belle Chasse.

Marullo said he gave to the PAC because he has known Fortunato a long time and likes him but doesn't think he's up to the job. "I think hes a good guy but in my opinion he will be in over his head as sheriff," he said.

The contribution from the Jiff Hingle Campaign is actually listed on the campaign report as being from Jeff Hingle. The address in the report is the same as for the annual report filed by the Jiff Hingle campaign in February.

Hingle, who spent nearly 20 years as sheriff of Plaquemines Parish before being forced to resign in 2011 for accepting bribes, died in January. His 2017 annual report, filed on Feb. 11, lists Hingle as the chairman of the campaign, even though he was deceased by then, and leaves blank the line for the campaign treasurer. Hingles campaign reported having $19,579 on hand then.

The chairman of the Jefferson Strong super PAC is Kim Carver, a Mandeville-based lobbyist for Gulf Coast Bank, according to records. Carver did not return phone calls from The Advocate on Friday. The campaign treasurer, Michelle Avery, who also listed a Mandeville address, did not return a phone call. Neither did Ben Burger of SRCP, the Virginia-based company that produced the ad.

Overall, Lopinto had raised $1,268,730 for his campaign during the race through Wednesday, while Fortunato had raised $515,421, according to campaign finance reports that both candidates filed.

Lopinto raised $202,405 during the latest reporting period, from Feb. 13 to March 14, compared to $121,021 for Fortunato.

As of Wednesday, Lopinto had $284,673 on hand while Fortunato had $215,963.

Among those who made $5,000 contributions  the maximum allowed by law  to Lopinto in the most recent reporting period were Lamarque Ford, the New Orleans law firm Adams & Reese and New Orleans attorney Michael Winsberg.

In Fortunatos latest campaign report, of the $94,000 he raised, $28,000 came from members of the Caracci family in Kenner or their businesses. They own real estate in Kenner and NOLA Super Buffet, a restaurant on Williams Boulevard.

Hes the best candidate for the job, said Frank Caracci, who gave $5,000. Im looking to better our community. Unfortunately, Lopinto isnt. (The Caraccis have also contributed to the campaign of Kenner Mayor Ben Zahn, a Fortunato supporter and another Buisson client.)

Public not excited

Though its widely considered the most powerful political post in the parish, the sheriffs race does not appear to have galvanized Jefferson Parish residents.

Campaign forums have drawn small crowds, and Jefferson Parish Clerk of Court Jon Gegenheimer is projecting only a 30 percent turnout of registered voters, based on early voting figures. Saturday was the final day for early voting.

However, the stakes are high as Lopinto seeks voter approval to serve out the remaining two years in the term of Newell Normand, who appointed Lopinto to the job in July when he resigned to become a talk-show host on WWL-AM. Fortunato wants voters to hand him the job instead.

Whoever wins will head the largest sheriffs office in Louisiana, overseeing a $125 million budget and 1,500 employees.

And whoever wins will likely have the job for as long as he wants it. The last contested sheriffs race in Jefferson Parish occurred in 1987, when Ronald Reagan was president. The legendary Harry Lee won that contest.

Editor's note: This story was changed March 19 to correct the first name of Anthony Marullo, a backer of Jefferson Safe and Strong, and to add his reasons for contributing to the PAC.if the people of Biafra want Republic of Biafra, it will be a reality during my administration. ----Donald Trump Donald Trump I wi...Some investors to date have been handsomely rewarded on Cannabis stocks.

Creso Pharma Limited (CPL) was one of several entries to the sector with solid credentials. Since listing in October of 2016, the share price has risen over 200%, albeit on a bumpy ride.



>> BACK TO THE NEWSLETTER: Click here to read other articles from this weeks newsletterColes will soon be an independent company again, with more than 800 supermarkets, nearly 900 liquor stores, 700 service stations, and 88 hotels.

Spinning off Coles is a great example of how good Wesfarmers is at entering and exiting markets. Buying the ailing Coles in 2007 was a smart move.

But the supermarket sector has changed dramatically in the past decade in relation to intense competition, with the growth of discounters like Aldi and the emergence of price-conscious shoppers who simply shop across multiple brands of supermarket each week.

Customers have benefited from price deflation, but it is a different story for suppliers.

The nature of these relationships has regularly been criticised and investigated.

A new owner will bring these matters back to the forefront. Ultimately, private equity firms and global businesses only purchase companies and enter markets where considerable return on investments can be made.

Cash cows and dogs

Most first-year business students deal with these conundrums and often rely on simple models like the classic Boston Consulting Groups Matrix.

Boston Consulting Groups growth share matrix. CC BY

Businesses move around in these quadrants, depending upon external, macro-level impacts. A stronger Kmart will push Target from a Star into the Dog category very quickly.

Wesfarmers has successfully moved Coles from Dog status 10 years ago to Cash Cow, but profits have slid in recent years.

Coles also accounts for a staggering 61% of the capital deployed in Wesfarmers entire portfolio (which includes other retail brands, industrial, mining and energy businesses), but contributes just 34% of earnings before interest and tax.

The supermarket sector has seen a huge increase in competition in recent years, with the growth of discounters like Aldi. There is also a possibility of more international competition from the German discounters Kaufland and Lidl.

This month, Fred Harrison, chief executive of Ritchies, Australias largest chain of independent supermarkets, called for an end to the price wars. Metcash, a wholesaler for independent supermarkets, recently delivered a loss in its food and grocery business.

Coles itself has signalled a move away from its strategy of slashing prices.

Other than putting cash back on Wesfarmers balance sheet, spinning off Coles creates two long-term revenue streams for Wesfarmers.

To begin with, Wesfarmers will aim to a hold 20% stake in Coles. So some profits will continue to flow back to Wesfarmers.

More importantly, Wesfarmers intends to retain substantial ownership in Flybuys, Coles loyalty program.

The value of loyalty programs is best highlighted by Woolworths purchase of Quantium in 2013 for almost A$20 million.

These programs hold a vast amount of data, giving Wesfarmers huge customer analytics capabilities with which to tailor promotions, product ranges and store layouts across all of its other retail businesses.

The new owners of Coles will also be eager to access this data.

Who will buy Coles?

While Wesfarmers will remain a minor shareholder, there will be plenty of interest in the majority share among private equity investors and international players (such as Walmart and Carrefour).

Walmart entered Canada through an acquisition, Mexico through a 50-50 joint venture with Cifra (Mexicos largest retailer), and Brazil through a joint 60-40 (in favour of Walmart) with Lojas Americana.

Likewise, French retail giant Carrefour has adopted a range of approaches to international expansion, including joint ventures and acquisitions.

Ultimately, private equity investors and global businesses will only buy companies and enter markets where they can make a considerable return on investment.

Considering the declining margins in supermarkets, driven by low-cost operators like Aldi, it is likely that this will be done by squeezing suppliers.

On the other hand, a new Coles will no longer be constrained by Wesfarmers conglomerate ownership model. One of the challenges faced by large conglomerates is strategic inertia.

A separate business will lead to faster innovation, greater investment and potentially another battle for market share between Australias two big supermarkets.

Gary Mortimer, Associate Professor in Marketing and International Business, Queensland University of Technology

This article was originally published on The Conversation.Three Indonesian labels are set to be showcased at the Amazon Fashion Week in Tokyo, held in the Japanese capital from March 19-24.

Two Indonesian designers are included in the 2018 Autumn/Winter showcase "Asian Fashion Meets TOKYO (Indonesia)", namely Anandia Putri Harahap's IKYK (I Know You Know) and NY by Novita Yunus.

Speaking of her latest collection, Putri said her pieces took after the landscape, arts and culture of South Tapanuli in North Sumatra, including prints inspired by the local color schemes found in the region, which mostly consist of lush green shades. Following four months of preparation, Putri named the collection "Tor Sibohi", after the region.

"When I was doing my research for this collection, I found that elements from South Tapanuli had not yet been explored much in fashion. And since my roots are also from that area, I wanted to take elements from the region and implement them into this collection," Putri said in Jakarta recently.

A modest fashion line, IKYK's newest collection will consist of 20 looks, including 16 for women and four for men.

Read also: Muslim fashion: When faith intersects with creativity

Meanwhile, Novita's NY is set to present a collection themed "Against the Tide", which will feature a combination of intercultural elements, namely Indonesia's batik and an ancient Japanese dye technique called Shibori.

Novita was previously known for her mid-scale ready-to-wear label Batik Chic.

Another Indonesian brand, (X)SML by designer Jun Mardian, will also be featured at the fashion event in Tokyo. (liz/kes)The Westin Jakarta has brought authentic Indian cuisine to Jakarta with its Flavors of India program in collaboration with the Indian Embassy.

Running from March 12 to March 23 at the hotel's Seasonal Tastes restaurant, guest chef Nandan Singh Dhami from the JW Marriott Mumbai is in charge of the featured cuisine.

Ambassador of India Shri Pradeep Kumar Rawat opened the event on Monday and said in his speech that Indian food could have both medicinal and meditative effects.

Westin Jakarta general manager Arun Kumar said that India and Indonesia shared cultural similarities, remarking that "Hari Krishna Murti" would be perfect as an Indian and an Indonesian name. Regarding the event, he said, The way to the heart is through the stomach.

Guests can enjoy the flavors of India through thali sets, the Indian way of serving a selection of dishes on a round platter.

Read also: Jakpost guide to Sunter

The Westin Jakarta's Indian sous chef, Chiko Kiki Fonia, said both vegetarian and non-vegetarian options were available for diners.

The non-vegetarian set consists of lamb biryani, butter chicken and prawn masala, accompanied by refreshing condiments such as raita (yoghurt with sliced cucumber), mint chutney, and gulab jamun, a dessert made from powdered milk.

A 'thali' set is a traditional Indian service that comes complete with main courses, condiments and dessert on a single tray. (JP/Wening)

The vegetarian set includes til wale aloo (potatoes with sesame seeds), sabji peshwari (a mixed vegetable curry), pickled ginger, condiments and papadam (a crispy flatbread made from seasoned dough).

Fonia mentioned that the rice used in biryani dishes have less gluten than the typical Indonesian rice. It may look dry, but it melts in the mouth, he said.

Flavors of India is available for lunch (12 p.m. to 3 p.m.) from Monday to Saturday for Rp 388,000++ per person, and on Sunday for Rp 438,000++ per person.

A dinner option is also available from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. daily for Rp 408,000++ per person.Once upon a time speaking French was easy in Brussels, but things have changed.

Bruno Le Maire, France's finance minister, felt that keenly during a recent panel event with European steel-makers after several hours of speaking English with EU counterparts.

"Maybe one in French if possible, otherwise I will run the risk of being criticised," Le Maire, who speaks perfect English, said as he scanned the audience for questions.

But raised hands quickly dropped away, leaving just one from a journalist, who asked the question in English anyway.

Such is the fate of the speaker of French in today's EU bubble, that small world of European decision-making where the language of Catherine Deneuve and Moliere was once essential.

Even after the shock vote of Brexit, English -- or at least that simplified, beat-up version known as Globish -- is firmly rooted as the lingua franca of the Brussels elite.

"In the last 20 years, English has become completely dominant. French is not going to replace English in any way," said Nicolas Veyron, one of the most respected economists in Brussels, who spends most of his day speaking English although he is French.

That reality stings for French-speaking veterans of the Brussels bubble who remember a time when the top echelon of Europe was a coterie of francophones.

"The retreat of French has been catastrophic," said Jean Quatremer, the longtime EU correspondent for French daily Liberation who has championed holding the line against the advance of English.

"There was a time when everyone in the bubble -- commissioners, officials, spokespeople, even (Brexit-backing British foreign minister) Boris Johnson, who was a journalist here -- spoke French," said AFP's Christian Spillman, who first came to Brussels as a corespondent in 1991.

Read also: For bankers transplanted by Brexit, a guide to life in Frankfurt

The sea-change for French-speaking came in 2004, when a raft of former Warsaw pact countries entered the union, changing the face of the EU forever.

"In came all these new faces and no one spoke French," said Karen Massin, a prominent Brussels lobbyist from France who began her career in European affairs at that time.

"That was the real shift and the EU professional world switched totally to English," she said.

- 'Bastardised' English -

This is not to say that French has disappeared -- not least because Brussels, the Belgian capital, is francophone.

On Tuesday French President Emmanuel Macron is set to announce a plan to promote the French language on the "International Francophonie Day" -- the latest in a series of measures by the young French leader to restore the primacy of his native language in Europe and further afield.

Officially, along with English and German, French remains a language of business in the EU. Eighty percent of the commission's roughly 30,000 employees claim it as a first, second or third language, the commission said.

"The use of French is now like Italian or Spanish and is mostly linked to nationality. It's important for networking," Massin said.

Veyron said that while French is not fundamental in Brussels, using it "makes the conversation richer, offers extra meaning, nuance to the discussion".

"I know many people who are not native speakers who enjoy turning to French to add an extra dimension to a conversation," said the economist.

One former EU official, now a national diplomat, concurred.

There is "a lot of French around, no question, but the real difference is that legal texts are almost all now in English."

From that, it quickly follows that a meeting will also veer to English "and that's probably for the best," she said.

Read also: Native speakers in demand as Japanese schools step up English lessons

But Quatremer said it created dangers: "You can have 29 people in a room who speak French and all you need is one person who doesn't and everyone switches to English."

But resorting to "bastardised English" as a common language can lead to "disasters" when laws are being written in a language in which no one involved is a native speaker.

- Post-Brexit revival? -

Amid the shock of Brexit, talk in Brussels was that English would be on the decline given that it was only an official langauge for small members Ireland and Malta.

"Slowly but surely, English is losing importance," quipped Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, before switching to French in a speech last year.

But this is true only in nuances, those working inside the EU bubble agreed, though the commission said French-speaking entered nearly every meeting.

"It's getting better," said Beda Romano, the Brussels correspondent for Italy's Il Sole/24 Ore who speaks French and English flawlessly, describing the presence of other languages instead of English.

However, in terms of the most common foreign languages spoken, the linguistic map of Europe still has English in front as the most widely spoken foreign language at 38 percent followed by French at 12 percent.

Given the realities, no one believes that a push by France could see French return to its prominence during the EU's early days.

"The so-called francophonie is reliving a sweet dream from the past. Much like the British commonwealth, it's a nice idea but unattainable," the lobbyist Massin said.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, March 16 2018

The Trade Ministry is flexing its muscles to curb the growing number of unlicensed real estate brokerage firms in the countrys major cities to protect home buyers.

The ministrys director of trade compliance, Veri Anggriono, said the real estate brokerage firms operating without proper permits could account for about 50 percent of the real estate brokerage companies in the country.

Real estate brokerage firms should follow the prevailing rule of the game. The customers should be protected, Veri told reporters on Wednesday, referring to a ministerial regulation that requires real estate brokerage firms to obtain the business license on real estate brokers (SIU-P4) to operate.

In addition to the business license from the ministry, real estate brokerage companies must also obtain a certificate from the Profession Certification Agency (LSP) of the Indonesian ...Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Mikael Holter (Bloomberg) Oslo, Norway  Sun, March 18, 2018 22:16 1283 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9ca76830 2 World finland,cabinet,Facebook,comments Free

Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg could face a tough choice: sacrifice her embattled justice minister or put her whole cabinet to a vote.

The minority government hangs in the balance after Justice Minister Sylvi Listhaug incensed the opposition by saying on Facebook that the Labor Party -- whose youth camp was targeted by Anders Behring Breivik in the 2011 terrorist attack -- cares more about the rights of terrorists than national security.

While she has since reluctantly apologized and erased the March 9 post after almost a week, the minister now faces a no-confidence vote in parliament on Tuesday. The Christian Democrats have scheduled a meeting on Monday to decide on whether they will join the center-left opposition and provide a majority for her ouster.

This is a very demanding and serious matter, which we will have to discuss thoroughly before we decide, Knut Arild Hareide, the head of the Christian Democrats, said on Friday.

The government would resign if the Christian Democrats back the no-confidence vote, VG reported on Sunday, citing a central source.

Listhaug has a power-base within the anti-immigration wing of her Progress Party, which is led by Finance Minister Siv Jensen. The 40-year-old Listhaug has in the past called political correctness on immigration a tyranny of good and has posted a picture on Facebook of an immigrant being expelled from Norway encouraging followers to like and share!

Her backers showed their support on Friday, flooding the Justice Ministry with flowers. A poll released on Friday for newspaper VG showed growing support for the Progress Party, its backing rising 2.8 percentage point to 15.9 percent. Jensen also said over the weekend that she had full confidence in Listhaug.

She has also crossed swords personally with Hareide, who now could hold her fate in his hands. In a debate about religious extremism last year, she said he and other politicians are guilty of licking Imams up the back.

Solberg has already apologized for Listhaugs March 9 comment on behalf of the government. But it could be until Tuesday until its revealed how the premier will deal with a no-confidence vote. The question on how the government will handle a no-confidence vote will only be answered in parliament, Solberg told news agency NTB.

Listhaug lashed out on Facebook after a majority in parliament, including Labor, defeated a government proposal to strip potential terrorists of their citizenship without a court order.

The no-confidence motion was brought by one of parliaments smallest parties, the Red party, and was then backed by Labor and the others.

The parliamentary majority cant accept a Justice Minister who claims that we put terrorists rights above the nations security, Red Party leader Bjornar Moxnes said on Twitter. It quite simply goes beyond the limits of what a government minister can do.

Labor Party leader, Jonas Gahr Store said on Saturday to broadcaster NRK that it would be acceptable if Listhaug was given another ministry to run. The plan was rejected by the Progress Party, which is also holding a meeting on Monday.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Sarah Frier (Bloomberg) San Francisco, United States  Sun, March 18, 2018 17:35 1284 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9ca6e37e 2 World Facebook,trump,data Free

Facebook suspended Cambridge Analytica, a data company that helped President Donald Trump win the presidential election, saying it retained user information to which it should not have had access.

Facebook said in a blog post Friday that Cambridge Analytica got some user data through an app developer on its social network, violating its policies. In 2015, Facebook said Cambridge Analytica certified that it had destroyed the information.

"Several days ago, we received reports that, contrary to the certifications we were given, not all data was deleted," Facebook said in a statement. Cambridge Analytica has been suspended from the social network, "pending further information," Facebook said.

Cambridge Analytica, which said it hired Global Science Research in 2014 for a US project, is in touch with Facebook in order to resolve the matter as quickly as possible, according to a company statement on Saturday.

"No data from GSR was used by Cambridge Analytica as part of the services it provided to the Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign," the statement said.

We are committed to vigorously enforcing our policies to protect peoples information, Facebook said in the blog post. We will take whatever steps are required to see that this happens. We will take legal action if necessary to hold them responsible and accountable for any unlawful behavior.

Cambridge Analytica uses data to reach voters with hyper-targeted messaging, including on Facebook and other online services. The company was hired to help with voter outreach by the Trump campaign, whose former campaign manager, Steve Bannon, had been on the companys board.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, March 18, 2018 20:34 1283 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9ca70ef8 2 City construction,accident,South-Jakarta,waskita-karya,rusunawa Free

An iron block from the Pasar Rumput Rusunawa (low-cost apartment) construction site in South Jakarta fell on Sunday morning, killing a woman.

Witness Nurhayati, who sells staple food near the project site, told The Jakarta Post that Tarminah, 54, was wearing blue head-scarf when passing in front of her shop before the accident happened.

I cant remember the details. I immediately closed my shop and went home when people started to crowd the area, she said, adding that Tarminah was rushed to Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital in Central Jakarta.

The accident happened at 9.25 a.m. when suddenly an iron block fell from the construction site and hit her on the head.

M. Dopi, a community unit head in the area, said Tarminah was hit by a three-meter-long iron block and died at the scene.

Several police officers appeared at the site soon after the incident occurred. Tarminah was immediately rushed to Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital [in Central Jakarta] and the iron block [that hit Tarminah] was taken to Setiabudi police station, Dopi said as quoted by Kompas.com.

The Pasar Rumput low-cost apartment construction project has been halted for investigation. The project developer, state-owned construction firm PT Waskita Karya, has apologized for the accident.

People at the scene covered the spot where Tarminah was killed with newspapers and blocks of wood. (vla/wit)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Gemma Holliani Cahya (The Jakarta Post) Minahasa  Sun, March 18, 2018 14:56 1284 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9ca69052 1 Politics Jokowi,indigenous-people Free

Indigenous people have been given a glimmer of hope as President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has signed a presidential letter permitting the House of Representatives to begin deliberations with related ministries on the long-awaited bill on the protection of indigenous people's rights.

He has sent it to the ministers [] I received the letter from the State Secretary Ministry, Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya said on Saturday in front of around 300 indigenous people from across the country, who gathered in Minahasa, North Sulawesi from March 14 to 17 for the 5th National Working Meeting of the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN)

Siti said the letter was sent to her ministry, the Public Works and Housing Ministry and the Agrarian and Spatial Planning Ministry, which were the government sectors leading the deliberation of the bill.

The news was welcomed by indigenous people, who were also celebrating the 19th anniversary of national indigenous community awakening day.

Rukka Sombolinggi, the secretary-general of AMAN, said they were grateful for the positive development but she hoped it could happen faster.

This is not a present. This is the states responsibility. We should have had an indigenous people's rights protection law years ago, she said.

Rukka said the House's draft bill still had a lot of problems, some of them related to indigenous women and the national commission that will organize the indigenous people.

We continue to urge the House to revise the draft bill, while also communicating with the government about the current draft, she added.

Rukka also said the key to successfully deliberating the bill was that related ministries must set aside their "sectoral egos" and start to focus and fight for indigenous people together.

The indigenous people bill was initially proposed by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) party in 2012.

It was to be among the National Legislation Program (Prolegnas) bills in 2014, but was dropped from the list at the last minute.

It was two years later, in 2016, that the bill was finally added to Prolegnas for deliberation. (dmr)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin (Bloomberg) Beijing, China  Sun, March 18, 2018 19:45 1283 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9ca7068e 2 World China,Xi-Jinping,parliament,vote Free

Chinas parliament unanimously reappointed Xi Jinping as president while installing one of his most trusted allies as vice president, highlighting how little public opposition remains to his rule.

The rubber-stamp National Peoples Congress voted 2,970-to-0 to give Xi a second five-year term Saturday, days after repealing a constitutional provision that wouldve barred him from a third. Although legislative dissent is rare -- only four lawmakers withheld support for Xis first term in 2013 -- no president has received a unanimous vote in at least a quarter-century.

The legislature also confirmed Wang Qishan -- a well-known economic reformer who oversaw Xis signature anti-corruption campaign -- as vice president. Wangs appointment was opposed by one lawmaker, who wasnt identified. On Sunday, Li Keqiang was appointed to a second term as premier.

The votes cap months of Communist Party conclaves and pageantry that confirmed Xis status as arguably the worlds most powerful leader. Xi, 64, got his name written into the constitution and party charter -- putting him on a status equal to Mao Zedong -- and laid the groundwork for breaking the precedent of handing over power after two complete terms.

Moments after the vote, the partys Peoples Daily newspaper proclaimed Xi as Chinas great helmsman in an alert to mobile phones. The history-laden honorific had previously been reserved for Mao, although some official media and party members have used variations of the term in recent months in reference to Xi.

Xi will be chairman of everything, said Ether Yin, a partner at advisory firm Trivium China in Beijing. He has effectively put himself at the center of the whole country.

While most of Xis power flows from his roles as party chief and supreme military commander, being president -- or chairman in Chinese -- gives him legal standing as head of state. The largely ceremonial role of vice president is second in succession and can carry out duties delegated by the chief executive.

Wangs appointment to the vice presidency allows Xi to retain a trusted surrogate with connections to the US diplomatic and financial communities. He helped set up Chinas first investment bank with Morgan Stanley in the 1990s and also established enduring ties with prominent Wall Street figures such as Hank Paulson.

Wang, 69, and Xi have known each other since their days as sent down youths in Chinas countryside during Maos Cultural Revolution. After Xi came to power in 2012, Wang was charged with overseeing Xis campaign against corruption, disciplining more than 1.5 million party cadres, including the countrys retired security chief and another official once seen as a presidential contender.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Yasmine Yahya (The Straits Times/Asia News Network) Sydney, Australia  Sun, March 18, 2018 08:30 1284 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9ca60da9 2 SE Asia ASEAN,Australia,ASEAN-Australia-Special-Summit Free

ASEAN and Australia signed an agreement to cooperate on fighting violent extremism and terrorism financing on Saturday, as Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull warned that terrorists are using digital technology in innovative ways to finance, plan and conduct their attacks.

Under the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), ASEAN and Australia will work together to develop and implement counter-terrorism legislation consistent with international standards and best practices.

They will also start a workshop on using electronic evidence in investigations and prosecutions of terrorism and transnational crime.

The agreement also paves the way for multilateral exchange programmes for financial intelligence analysts and regional dialogues and forums for ASEAN and Australian law enforcement partners.

The MOU comes at a time when terrorists increasingly use non-conventional funding methods, including digital currencies, stored value cards and crowdfunding platforms, making it harder to detect terrorism financing, Turnbull noted.

It has also become more critical than ever for countries to work together to counter terrorism, as the frontline in the battle against this scourge is - in an interconnected world - everywhere, he added.

"We have seen that very, very graphically, where detailed instructions about the preparation of a weapon was transmitted over encrypted applications from Syria to an individual here in Australia," Turnbull said. "So we have to be constantly alert, constantly working with our neighbours in the region."

He was speaking at a counter-terrorism conference, where the MOU was signed by Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop and ASEAN Secretary-General Lim Jock Hoi. The conference took place on the sidelines of the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit.

Turnbull and ASEAN leaders, including Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, witnessed the signing.

Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak underscored the importance of taking the fight to the terrorists on social media.

"This is our new main battleground - to win the hearts and minds of our youth through social media so that they do not easily succumb to the warped, perverse and evil ideology of Daesh," he said, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS.

Earlier in the day, Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton warned the conference that the use of encrypted messaging apps to plan terrorist attacks was the greatest threat faced by intelligence agencies in modern times.

The use of the "dark web" by extremists and other criminals was a spiralling problem, he said, referring to the murky back alleys of the Internet, including messaging apps, where criminals sell weapons and drugs.

"While our nations are focused on countering the ongoing threat of terrorism domestically, it would be a mistake to approach the problem from a purely national perspective," he said, as he urged a "united and cohesive" response.

Australian ministers announced various other plans on Saturday aimed at strengthening ties with Asean, including a new Asean-Australia Infrastructure Skills Dialogue that will bring together industry, government, vocational education and training representatives to discuss ways to address the skills challenges facing the region.

On Saturday morning, Turnbull also announced during a CEO Forum on the sidelines of the special summit a A$30-million investment fund to support smart cities.

The initiative will set up a knowledge bank of sustainable urban planning ideas to be shared between Asean and Australia.

Separately, Lee attended a reception for overseas Singaporeans on Saturday morning with his wife Mrs Lee and Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan. Lee said the Singapore-Australia relationship is a very "intense engagement and connection".

"There are a lot of things we are doing together. We cooperate economically, we do a lot of business... We have people exchanges, cultural exchanges, defence cooperation," he said.

Some 300 Singaporeans, who included professionals working in Sydney and their families, as well as students, packed the Grand Ballroom of the Shangri-La Hotel to meet them.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Matthew Burgess and Jason Scott (Bloomberg) Sydney, Australia  Sun, March 18, 2018 16:40 1284 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9ca6ce6d 2 SE Asia Myanmar,IS,Rohingya-Muslims,terrorism Free

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak warned that militant groups such as Islamic State may seek to recruit members from the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims affected by ethnic violence in Myanmar.

Sharing a stage with Myanmars Aung San Suu Kyi at a regional counter-terrorism conference in Sydney on Saturday, Razak said the turmoil in Myanmars Rakhine state was a security threat to Southeast Asia. The crisis can no longer be considered to be a purely domestic matter, he said.

The situation is creating a crisis in which thousands of despairing and exacted people, who see no hope in the future, will be a fertile ground for radicalization and recruitment of Daesh, by Daesh and affiliated groups, Najib said, referring to an alternative name for the insurgent Islamic group.

At least 700,000 Rohingya have fled Rakhine to neighboring Bangladesh since August last year when militants from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army attacked 25 police and army posts, killing about a dozen security officials.

The military responded with what it calls "clearance operations," with reports of security forces and Buddhist vigilantes indiscriminately attacking the Rohingya and burning their villages. In November, then-US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson condemned Myanmars treatment of the Rohingya as ethnic cleansing.

We must be vigilant and increase our collaboration, because the collapse of Daesh core territories in Iraq and Syria has forced it to go underground and reemerge elsewhere, especially in crisis zones where it could grow and operate, Najib said.Mar 18 2018 11:16 am

Congress says Trump did not collude with Russia.

The House intelligence committee closed its investigation into Russian meddling (hatzlacha finding this story reported in the mainstream media). They found zero evidence of collusion, and went even further, saying the Russians were not trying to get Trump elected. They merely wanted to create chaos.

The Democrats insist President Trump colluded with Russia. Yet Congressman Adam Schiff, despite appearing on television over 230 times (no joke), has not produced one shred of evidence. There is, however, plenty of evidence that Schiff really enjoys getting media attention. (Perhaps hell show us evidence of collusion before his 500th cable news interview.)

Mueller does not appear to be ending his probe anytime soon, and may be investigating anyone who has ever jaywalked, hoping to eventually find someone who will testify against the President.

Democrat wins heated Congressional race in huge upset

On Tuesday, Democrat Conor Lamb won a special election for Congress by just 579 votes, in a Pennsylvania district that Trump won by 20 points.

Here are some possible reasons for this upset:

Republican voters are frustrated by a dysfunctional Congress, and figure that if nothing is getting done anyway, Democrats may as well have control. Lamb strongly opposed Nancy Pelosi and wants her ousted as leader, and Republican voters figured this is their chance to finally get Pelosi removed. Lambs campaign picture showed him shooting an AR-15 rifle. (Seriously, it did.) Voters are annoyed at President Trump for creating over 2 million jobs, passing a massive tax cut, protecting thousands of Pennsylvania steel workers jobs, keeping his promise to move the embassy, appointing Judge Gorsuch, and reducing illegal border crossing by nearly 70%.

Tillerson fired by Tweet

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was fired by President Trump, the first time ever a cabinet member has been removed via Tweet (although John Kelly claims he warned Tillerson this was coming).

Tillerson was perhaps the only person in the country surprised by this decision. Not only does President Trump discard staff members as often as dental floss, he and Tillerson have had major disagreements on the (bogus) Iran nuclear deal, a meeting with North Korea, the Paris climate accord, and the Qatar blockade. Which begs the question: why didnt they discuss this stuff before Tillerson was appointed? Tillerson also allegedly used an insulting term to refer to President Trump.

CIA leader Mike Pompeo ahs been chosen to replace Tillerson, and Gina Haspel to replace Pompeo at the CIA. Pompeo is considered a strong supporter of Israel, opposes the Iran deal, and supports enhanced interrogation of terror suspects. GOP Senator Rand Paul says he will vote against Tillerson and Haspel because of their support of enhanced interrogation, among other reasons.

Historic meeting between Israel and Arabs

Senior Israeli officials met with representatives of 5 Arab states at the White House, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. This is the first time Israel has had formal diplomatic relations with Arab countries. No member of the Palestinian Authority was invited, perhaps due to an oversight, or possibly because they constantly insult and ridicule President Trump and his staff.

Jared Kushner arranged the historic meeting, but the real credit for bringing Israel together with its enemies goes to Barack Obama, who threw them all under the bus when he signed the nuke deal with Iran, giving Iran the freedom to spread havoc in the middle east, develop long-range ballistic missiles, and support terror everywherewith zero consequences.

Meanwhile, Paraguay and Honduras announced they would move their embassies to Yerushalayim, if PM Netanyahu is willing to visit their countries.

Bipartisan Senate bill passes, big win for Republicans and the country

The Senate passed a bill that will roll back Dodd-Frank restrictions. In a bipartisan 67-31 vote, 17 Democrats broke party ranks and voted yes.

What does it mean?

Dodd-Frank placed over 28,000 restrictions on banks, making it extremely difficult to get mortgages, bank loans, business loans, free checking, and other basic financial services. Banks and mortgage brokers hate Dodd-Frank. Since its passage, an average of one local bank or credit union closes every day. Ironically, it gave more power to the large corporate too-big-to-fail banks it was trying to cripple.

This new bill exempts smaller banks and institutions from many Dodd-Frank restrictions. It will help people refinance at lower rates, start more businesses, and have more spending money. In other words, its a very good bill.

So good, in fact, that it was supported by many Democrats who are up for reelection, because they believe their constituents will reward them for passing it. The reason so many Democrats voted against it is because it takes power away from government and gives it back to private industry. It also helps America be more prosperous.

Democrats also claim it will lead to banks discriminating against minorities, and more taxpayer bailouts. By that logic, they could lock up every bank worker in jail, to prevent racism and taxpayer bailouts. The question is, is it fair to mess up millions of people, to prevent a few isolated incidents of bad banks engaging in racism?

The bill will now move to the House, where it wont need Democrat support, since only a simple majority of Republicans is required to pass it.

Assassination attempt on Palestinian leader

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah survived a roadside bombing Tuesday, after his convoy was hit by an explosive device as it passed the border crossing between Israel and Gaza.

The PA initially blamed Hamas, but after a conversation between Hamdallah and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, the two agreed to blame Israel and its collaborators. Haniyeh must be very persuasive.

NJ Governor plans to raise taxes

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy announced he wants to raise taxes, including restoring the sales tax (cut by former Governor Christie) from 6.2% to 7%. Murphy claims his tax hike will target the rich, and is seemingly not aware that middle class and poor people also buy things.

Whats more, the sales tax reduction was passed in exchange for a tax hike by NJ democrats on gasoline. Yet while Murphy plans to raise the sales tax to the old level, he made no mention of lowering the gasoline tax, which was the reason sales tax was lowered in the first place.

In other words, the government lowered one tax so it could raise another, and now it plans to raise the tax that it lowered, without lowering the one that it raised.

Josh Margulies hosts The Zone, a frum political podcast. Click here to listen to his daily news updates and analysis. You can also subscribe here.Montreal, CA (H4T1V6)

Today

Overcast with rain showers at times. High 26C. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Overcast with rain showers at times. Low 19C. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%.You have permission to edit this article.

Edit CloseAirstrikes in Syria killed more than 100 people Friday as civilians fled besieged areas for the second straight day. Syrian government forces stepped up their offensive in the rebel-held eastern suburbs of the capital, Damascus, capturing a major town and closing in on another under the cover of Russias air power.

The majority of the deaths occurred in eastern suburbs of Damascus, known as eastern Ghouta, where government forces have been on a crushing offensive for three weeks capturing 70 percent of the once besieged rebel-held area. The weekslong violence left more than 1,300 civilians dead, 5,000 wounded and forced thousands to flee to government-controlled areas.

Fridays staggering death toll came a day after Syria passed the seven-year mark in its relentless civil war that has killed some 450,000 people and displaced half the countrys population.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government and Russian forces have been bombing rebel-towns areas outside Damascus throughout Friday, killing 64 people in Kafr Batna and another 12 in Saqba. The Syrian Civil Defense search-and-rescue group reported 61 fatalities in Kafr Batna.

Later Friday, government forces captured the town of Jisreen, closing in on Saqba from the east, north and south, forcing opposition fighters to retreat west. The Syrian government is determined to seize Kafr Batna, Saqba and the rest of the besieged eastern Ghouta region from rebels.

The Observatory said Turkish shelling and airstrikes have killed another 27 people in the Kurdish-held town of Afrin in north Syria where Turkish troops and Turkey-backed Syrian opposition fighters have been on the offensive since Jan. 20. Turkey is getting closer to capturing the main town in the region, also called Afrin.

If the world does not move, Ghouta will be exterminated, said Siraj Mahmoud, a Civil Defense member in eastern Ghouta.

The attack on Kafr Batna was with cluster bombs, napalm-like incendiary weapons, and conventional explosives, the Observatory said.

Photos and videos released from the area showed charred bodies covered with sheets lined near what appeared to be shops.

The assault was part of an indiscriminate campaign by President Bashar Assads forces to retake the town and the rest of the enclave from the rebels.

A medical charity supporting hospitals in the Ghouta region, the Syrian American Medical Society, said doctors in Kafr Batna were treating patients for severe burn wounds. The charity said earlier in the day that it recorded 40 casualties on Friday.

Oways al-Shami, a spokesman for Syrian Civil Defense, said the airstrike targeted a market and a nearby residential area where scores of people have gathered. He said people were in the market to buy bread and vegetables at the time of the strike.

Dr. Zouhair Kahaleh, in the nearby town of Arbeen, said the medical situation is catastrophic. We cant stay in this situation for long. He said the streets are closed, and we cant treat some of the cases here. Its a major challenge to reach the wounded because of the intensity of the airstrikes.

Kahaleh said some operations have had to be postponed indefinitely because there are no specialized doctors in other area, which cannot currently be accessed.

Exhausted and shell-shocked civilians streamed out of eastern Ghouta for the second consecutive day heading to buses arranged by the government to transport them to a center for identification and relief.

A man interviewed on state-affiliated al-Ikhbariya TV said he had gone two days without food. Others said rebels hoarded food and humiliated civilians, even shooting people trying to leave.

The U.N. has warned of a malnutrition crisis in eastern Ghouta, which human rights groups have blamed on the governments strangling blockade.

Russias Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the Russian military and the Syrian government would extend the cease-fire in Damascus rebel-held suburbs for as long as it takes to allow all civilians to leave the area. Lavrov spoke in Kazakhstan where he met with the foreign ministers of Iran and Turkey over the situation in Syria and the three agreed that there can be no military solution to the conflict, according to Syrias state news agency SANA.

In northern Syria, where Kurdish officials said Turkish shelling and airstrikes killed at least 22 civilians on Friday in the town of Afrin, the Turkish military urged civilians to leave and Syrian Kurdish militiamen to surrender to besieging Turkish forces.

The media office for the Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led and U.S.-backed force that operates in the Kurdish autonomous region in the north, also said that at least 30 were wounded in Fridays attacks.

Victims lay dead on the streets in pools of blood, according to a video posted the Observatory, which monitors Syrias seven-year civil war and which put the death toll at 18. Different casualty tolls are common in the immediate aftermath of big attacks.

Since their January offensive began, Turkish forces have nearly encircled Afrin in an effort to drive the Syrian Kurdish fighters from the town and surrounding region. Residents say they are facing bread, water, and electricity shortages.

The Observatory and activists reported seeing hundreds of civilians filing out of Afrin to neighboring villages on Thursday and Friday, looking for relief. Tens of thousands of civilians are believed to still be inside.

Earlier Friday, Turkish aircraft dropped flyers in Arabic and Kurdish on Afrin, asking residents to stay away from terrorist positions  a reference to the Syrian Kurdish fighters  and to not let themselves be used as human shields.

The leaflets claimed that civilians seeking to flee Afrin would be guaranteed safety by the Turkish military and urged Syrian Kurdish fighters to trust the hand we extend to you.

Come surrender! A calm and peaceful future awaits you in Afrin, the leaflets read.

Thursday saw the largest single-day exodus of civilians in Syrias civil war. The government offensive has pushed further into eastern Ghouta, chipping away at one of the largest and most significant opposition bastions since the early days of the rebellion  communities where some 400,000 people are estimated to be holed up.

Since mid-February, Syrian troops have targeted Damascus sprawling suburbs with shells, airstrikes and, at times, even toxic gas, according to opposition medics.

Last weekend, Syrian troops divided the enclave into three sectors, isolating the major urban centers and enabling a swift advance. On Thursday, men, women and children emerged from Hamouria and nearby opposition towns, carrying mats and other possessions that sometimes poked out of suitcases.

(AP)Russia announced Saturday it is expelling 23 British diplomats and threatened further retaliatory measures in a growing diplomatic dispute over a nerve agent attack on a former spy in Britain.

Britains government said the move was expected, and that it doesnt change their conviction that Russia was behind the poisoning of ex-agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the English city of Salisbury. Prime Minister Theresa May said Britain will consider further retaliatory steps in the coming days alongside its allies.

The Russian Foreign Ministry ordered the 23 diplomats to leave within a week. It also said it is ordering the closure in Russia of the British Council, a government-backed organization for cultural and scientific cooperation, and is ending an agreement to reopen the British consulate in St. Petersburg.

The announcement followed Britains order this week for 23 Russian diplomats to leave the U.K. because Russia was not cooperating in the case of the Skripals, who were found March 4 poisoned by a nerve agent that British officials say was developed in Russia. They remain in critical condition and a policeman who visited their home is in serious condition.

Britains foreign secretary accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of personally ordering the poisoning of the Skripals. Putins spokesman denounced the claim.

Britains Foreign Office said Saturday that Russias response doesnt change the facts of the matter  the attempted assassination of two people on British soil, for which there is no alternative conclusion other than that the Russian State was culpable.

The British Council said it was profoundly disappointed at its pending closure. The organization has been operating in Russia since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union.

It is our view that when political or diplomatic relations become difficult, cultural relations and educational opportunities are vital to maintain on-going dialogue between people and institutions, it said.

The Russian statement said the government could take further measures if Britain makes any more unfriendly moves.

Britains National Security Council will meet early next week to consider the next steps, May said.

Western powers see the nerve-agent attack as the latest sign of alleged Russian meddling abroad. The tensions threaten to overshadow Putins expected re-election Sunday for another six-year presidential term.

The poisoning has plunged Britain and Russia into a war of recrimination and blame.

British Ambassador Laurie Bristow, who was summoned the Foreign Ministry in Moscow on Saturday to be informed of the moves, said the poisoning was an attack on the international rules-based system on which all countries, including Russia, depend for their safety and security.

This crisis has arisen as a result of an appalling attack in the United Kingdom, the attempted murder of two people, using a chemical weapon developed in Russia and not declared by Russia at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, as Russia was and is obliged to do under the Chemical Weapons Convention, he added.

But Russian lawmaker Konstantin Kosachev blamed Britain for the escalating tensions.

We have not raised any tensions in our relations, it was the decision by the British side without evidence, he told The Associated Press.

Kosachev, who heads the foreign affairs committee in the upper house of the Russian parliament, said I believe sooner or later we will learn the truth and this truth will be definitely very unpleasant for the prime minister of the United Kingdom.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova denied that Russia or the Soviet Union had ever developed Novichok, the class of nerve agent that Britain says was used to poison the Skripals.

But a Russian scientist disclosed details of a secret program to manufacture the military-grade nerve agents in the 1990s, and later published the formula.

Speaking on Russia-24 television, Zakharova on Saturday linked Britains angry reaction to the war in Syria. She said Britain is taking a tough line because of frustration at recent advances of Russian-backed Syrian government forces against Western-backed rebels.

Russia argues it has turned the tide of the international fight against Islamic State extremists by lending military backing to Syrias government. With Russian help, Syrian forces have stepped up their offensive on rebel-held areas in recent days, leaving many dead.

The Czech Republic, Slovakia and Sweden on Saturday all rejected a suggestion by Zakharova that the nerve agent might have originated in their countries.

Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom tweeted that she forcefully reject(s) unacceptable and unfounded allegation adding that Russia should answer UK questions instead. Czech Foreign Minister Martin Stropnicky called it an absurd accusation.

British police appealed Saturday for witnesses who can help investigators reconstruct the Skripals movements in the crucial hours before they were found unconscious. It is still not clear how the Skripals came in contact with the nerve agent.

New tensions have also surfaced over the death Monday of a London-based Russian businessman, Nikolai Glushkov. British police said Friday that he died from compression to the neck and opened a murder investigation.

Russia also suspects foul play in Glushkovs death and opened its own inquiry Friday.

British police said there is no apparent link between the attack on Glushkov and the poisoning of the Skripals, but both have raised alarm in the West at a time when Russia is increasingly assertive on the global stage and is facing investigations over alleged interference in the Donald Trumps 2016 election as U.S. president.

(AP)By Gertrude Mutyaba

Police has been challenged to expedite investigations into the murder of former AIGP Andrew Felix Kaweesi.

Yesterday marked exactly since the late Kaweesi, his bodyguard Kenneth Erau and driver Godfrey Wambewa were killed in Kulambiro, Nakawa Division, and Kampala.

In a memorial mass held at the lates home at Kitwekyanjovu village in Kyanzanga Sub-county, Lwengo the Masaka Diocesan Secretary for Education Rev Fr John Fisher Kiyimba invoked memories of Kaweesis legacy that was characterized by generous contribution to the church and society.

He however in his homily tasked police to avail the grieving family members of the late and the society with a detailed report about the incident further calling for forgiveness for the unknown Kaweesi killers.

In response the Police Spokesperson Emilian Kayima who faced a hard time from the congregation who kept asking for answers said police together with other agencies are making progress in investigating the murder adding that it is still too early to give a detailed report.[March 17, 2018] First virtual reality interventional radiology training video unveiled at SIR 2018

LOS ANGELES, March 17, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Society of Interventional Radiology debuted the first-ever virtual reality 360 (VR360) training video showcasing interventional radiology in practice, during SIR's Annual Scientific Meeting in Los Angeles. The one-hour multisegment movie was a special project of its peer-reviewed journal, the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology (JVIR), and its pioneering editor-in-chief, Ziv J Haskal, M.D., FSIR, a professor with the department of radiology and medical imaging at the University of Virginia Health System in Charlottesville. It was funded by an innovation grant from JVIR publisher Elsevier. "Interventional radiology has always been on the forefront of modern medicine and VR360 is the cutting-edge of medical simulation, so this project embodies the innovative spirit of our specialty," said Haskal. "We took one of the hardest procedures we perform and created an all-enveloping, in-the-room VR film allowing an operating physician to return to any complex segment they wish for learning, review and perspective." The VR 360 video shows Hasal and his colleagues at the University of Virginia Health System performing a TIPS procedure in which they created a new blood vessel within the liver using tiny catheters, balloons and stents under image guidance.



"The immersive nature of VR, particularly when viewed in a VR viewer, heralds a sea change in complex medical training," said Haskal. "The multicamera shoot and floating high-definition inserts offers viewers every perspective of the case, maximizing learning." The video premiered during the Extreme IR session at SIR 2018 and session attendees received complimentary VR viewers to experience the video on their smart phones.

"VR is a force multiplier, providing expert training to physicians around the world, those wishing to refresh their skills or gain confidence for delivering care in environments where clinician experts cannot provide them in-room training," Haskal said. View a segment of the video on YouTube. Haskal is already planning next generation VR projects to educate patients, trainees and attending physicians about interventional radiology. Special thanks to the University of Virginia Health System for making space available and accommodating the video shoot. About the Society of Interventional Radiology The Society of Interventional Radiology is a nonprofit, professional medical society representing more than 7,500 practicing interventional radiology physicians, trainees, students, scientists and clinical associates, dedicated to improving patient care through the limitless potential of image-guided therapies. SIR's members work in a variety of settings and at different professional levelsfrom medical students and residents to university faculty and private practice physicians. Visit sirweb.org. The Society of Interventional Radiology is holding its Annual Scientific Meeting March 1722 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, Los Angeles, Calif. Visit sirmeeting.org. View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/first-virtual-reality-interventional-radiology-training-video-unveiled-at-sir-2018-300615588.html SOURCE Society of Interventional Radiology

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][March 18, 2018] Klite Lighting Shows at Frankfurt Lighting Exhibition, Promoting the Rapid Development of the Healthy Lighting Industry

FRANKFURT, Germany, March 18, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- On March 18, Zhejiang Klite Lighting Holdings Co., Ltd. (Klite Lighting) showed its classroom lights and smart lighting products at the Frankfurt Light + Building Exhibition in Germany (Frankfurt Lighting Exhibition), conveying to the world a new concept of healthy and luminance-based lighting. As the world's largest exhibition of lamps and electrical appliances for buildings, since its first exhibition in 1999, the Frankfurt Lighting Exhibition has become one of the most important exhibitions in the professional field and the most influential international exhibition in the industry worldwide. Every year, there are thousands of exhibitors and hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world at Frankfurt Lighting Exhibition, showing the world the latest scientific achievements and development trends in the lighting industry. In recent years, by virtue of the in-depth implementation of innovation-driven development strategies in China, the domestic high-end manufacturing industry has developed rapidly, and the prospects for the smart lighting industry have become brighter. Relevant data show that the scale of LED lighting market will gradually increase from 2016 to 2019, and the scale of LED lighting market will exceed USD 30 billion in 2018. It is expected that the compound annual growth rate of the global LED lighting will reach 12% from 2017 to 2021. As a leading supplier of lighting application products and professional solutions in China, Klite Ligting has 13 national invention patents, 49 national utility model patents and 46 national appearance patents, integrating R&D, design, production, marketing and service. In 2015, its sales revenue was nearly RMB 1.4 billion. It is a national high-tech enterprise, and the R&D center for Klite digital lighting engineering in Zhejiang Province. In recent years, Klite Lighting was engaged in in-depth cooperation with Tuya Smart to accelerate the transformation and upgrading from traditional lighting to smart lighting.



Klite Lighting has always been committed to becoming a pioneer in the smart lighting industry, and has striven to let people live a happy life in a healthy light environment. For the purpose of integrating with the international practice and implementing the "Belt and Road" Initiative, Klite Lighting has cultivated dozens of products of four categories such as LED lights, LED filament lights, LED lighting fixtures and LED drivers. It has successively established 11 branches in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hangzhou, and has established long-term strategic partnerships with the world-class lighting brands such as Philips in Netherlands and Osram in Germany, with an export ratio amounting to over 90% of the annual turnover. At this exhibition, users can personally experience the latest products of Klite Lighting, such as smart desk lights that help children ease fatigue, or LED ceiling lights with the wireless remote analog function that helps families save energy, or mirror lamps that can soften and beautify the feminine curves. In this way, users can actually understand all kinds of changes brought to the human life by smart lighting, and realize the dream of smart home for a better life.

Industry insiders said that smart lighting will still be the development trend of commercial lighting in respect of the market competition of LED displays in 2018. In the future, Klite Lighting will further improve its own level of smart lighting, and will export the most advanced lighting technology and healthy lighting products to global areas such as Europe, USA and Japan, to promote the rapid development of the healthy lighting industry worldwide. (Contact: sales@klite.cn) View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/klite-lighting-shows-at-frankfurt-lighting-exhibition-promoting-the-rapid-development-of-the-healthy-lighting-industry-300615636.html SOURCE Zhejiang Klite Lighting Holdings Co., Ltd. (Klite Lighting)

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][March 18, 2018] Tuya Smart Makes its Presence in Light+Building; Smart Lighting Solution Enjoys a Popularity Boom

FRANKFURT, Germany, March 18, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- On March 18th, 2018, Tuya Smart made its appearance in the Light+Building in Frankfurt, Germany. At Light+Building, a leading trade fair of the industry, there were over 2,600 exhibitors and more than 210,000 visitors coming from outside Germany. The highlight of the trade fair this year was the current design trends in the lighting market, exhibitors' edge-cutting inventions and expertise. Tuya Smart is a global intelligent platform that provides an array of smart lighting solutions for traditional lighting companies. The smart lighting products enabled by Tuya and displayed at the fair in Frankfurt include smart light whose brightness, color and temperature are adjustable, and Bluetooth mesh light matrix on which consumers can play the snake game. The three features of smart lighting, namely voice control, automation and scenario selection are also presented. The smart lighting solution for Tuya can use a variety of networking modes, including WiFi, bluetooth, bluetooth mesh, ZigBee, and so on. For example, the facial recognition function enabled by Tuya for AI camera allows users to turn on the light with their faces, directly control the speaker on the table, and adjust the color and brightness of the smart light in the room at will. When the user is out of the monitoring scope of the camera for a long time, the camera will identify that the house owner has left, and the light will get dimmer, and finally turned off. Apart from being able to understand instrutions, smart lights can also interact with other intelligent devices.



In Tuya's Smart Home solution, there is a smart mattress that is enabled to monitor the sleeping pattern of the user lying on the bed. Many senior citizens like to watch TV right before bed. So it is commonly seen that when the elderly is sleeping, the light and TV are still on. However, as old people tend to have a light sleep, light and noise can easily wake them up in the midnight, thus worsening their sleep quality. Thankfully, this problem can be solved by the interaction between smart light and smart mattress. Once the sensor band notices that the senior has fallen asleep, it will dim the light slowly, turn down the TV gradually, and finally turn them off.

In the era of intelligence, lights can do more than lighting. At night, they can help people fall asleep by getting dimmer, while in the morning, they can wake people up by getting brighter. Thanks to the Bluetooth mesh technology, the color and brightness of any of the light in the matrix can be changed as you like. Creating a marquee display is a piece of cake. Users can play the snake game and Pac-Man on the light matrix, and even can make their drawing room as fancy as a night club by pre-setting color scenarios. Smart lighting is only one out of the wide spectrum of solutions on Tuya's global intelligent platform. The company is working on smart solutions ranging from home appliances, big and small, to power accessories, lighting, and surveillance equipment etc. to make conventional products smarter in an efficient and easy-to-use way. Tuya Smart is serving over 10,000 clients in nearly 200 countries and regions worldwide, assisting them in upgrading some 11,000 smart products from 36 categories including household appliances, smart kitchen, environmental protection, health and security camera. Tuya Smart realizes connectivity between products of various brands and has its footprint in every aspect of smart home. Intelligent technologies have paved the way for designing lights from a new perspective. The focus of innovating lighting technologies is being shifted to consumer's needs. Human Centric Lighting (HCL) is gaining its ground. In the future, Tuya's global intelligent platform will create smart lighting solutions for more lighting companies around the world, and strive for the development and maturity of global smart lighting market. (Contact: marketing@tuya.com) View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tuya-smart-makes-its-presence-in-lightbuilding-smart-lighting-solution-enjoys-a-popularity-boom-300615641.html SOURCE Tuya Smart

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]Hi everyone.



So I have a lenovo t400 and it has been laying around for a while and I wanted to bring it back to life.



It had 2 gb ram which I already upgraded to 4gb (i also had laying around)



Now, the processor is C2D P8400. I searched for the BEST: price to performance ratio (I am cheap lol) and on ebay, I found a C2D T9400 for 7$ CDN. (Canadian things cost a lot more than USD lol)



My chipset is Intel GM45

My motherboard is Lenovo 6475GB3???? (Thats what it says in CPU-Z)



My main question was, will the T9400 fit and replace my P8400? I am doing this because i get a clock speed boost and double the cache.



(Please dont tell me to buy anything else like T9600. I did most of my research and I don't have a lot of money to throw around. Just please answer my simple question above.)



Thanks!!!Kansas City St. Paddy's Domestic Violence

Man ends standoff with police after punching wife UPDATE MARCH 17, 2018 9:00 A.M. - Just before 9:00 Saturday morning the man exited the residence and surrendered without incident. Charges are expected later today. A man allegedly punched his wife, is threatening to shoot at officers, and is refusing to exit his house in the 3400 block of Montgall.

JoCo Suspect After Blaze

Overland Park man charged in connection with apartment fire An Overland Park man is facing arson charges in connection with a fire that happened at Cedar Crest Apartments on Friday. Darian Deron Patrick Mitchell has been charged with one count of arson and one count of aggravated arson. According to court documents, Mitchell damaged an apartment at the complex by causing a fire with a dishwasher in some way.

EPIC Fire East Of Downtown Kansas City

null null

Northland Wildlife

Wandering horse found in Clay County Clay County Sheriff's Deputies are hitting the trial, looking for the owner of a horse. Shortly after 1:00 Saturday Afternoon Deputies posted pictures on facebook, of a horse wandering at NE 132nd & Mt. Olivet, and haven't been able to locate an owner.

Hipster Help Wanted

Parlor, Kansas City's New Food Hall, Is Seeking Local Chefs Parlor, Kansas City's newest food hall set to open this fall in the Crossroads Arts District, is currently looking for a few good chefs. The collaborative new dining hall is under construction and plans to serve as a launch pad for seven brand-new restaurant concepts, in addition to offering two bars, stylish lounge areas and a second-floor open-air deck.

Golden Ghetto Bad Hombre Suspects

4 men charged in Johnson County in connection with identity theft Four men from the East Coast have been charged in Johnson County for allegedly stealing someone's identity and trying to defraud them.

Hoping For A Bit More Luck 2018

Kansas City Royals: Rotation could be bright spot for 2018 Royals It was announced on Thursday by Ned Yost that Danny Duffy would be starting Opening Day for the Kansas City Royals. There's definitely no surprise there, as Duffy is head and shoulders the best starting pitcher on the roster. Yost also said that Ian Kennedy would be the number two starter, but the other three spots are up for grabs.

Quick look at news for tonight and a glimpse at local weekend notes. Take a look:And this is thefor tonight . . .Northeast St. Joseph's Table Inspiration

St. Joseph's Tables locations and viewing times By Paul Thompson Northeast News After months of negotiations, the Kansas City, Missouri City Council finally voted on Thursday, February [...]

TKC TOLD YOU SO!!! KANSAS CITY BURNS THIS WEEKEND!!!

Smoke visible for miles as building burns in Kansas City KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Only a shell of a building remains after a large fire on 33rd and Brooklyn Saturday evening. Multiple crews were called to the area just before 7 p.m. First responders saw heavy smoke and flames upon their arrival, and called a working-fire response.

Cold Weather Drunk Tank Report

Police make 17 DUI arrests on St. Patrick's Day in KC, down considerably from last year Kansas City police, along with the Jackson County Sheriff's office, arrested 17 people on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol this St. Patrick's Day holiday. The bulk of the arrests came between 11 p.m. Saturday and 4 a.m. Sunday.

Local Middle-Class Love Rail Transit

Forgotten Railroads In Platte County This week's post on the Frisco Highline Trail between Springfield and Bolivar, Missouri got me thinking about abandoned railroads here locally so I pulled up some Sanborn fire insurance maps and old plat books and used them as necessary to trace old railroads in Platte County. I actually learned something...

Weekend remainder Forecast

First Alert Forecast: Gray Sunday leads to rainy Monday With spring starting this week, we'll feel a little bit like winter today. Sunday's gray will eventually lead to rain on Monday, but there are warmer temps on t...

Meth Town Rescue Mission

Person life-flighted after ATV accident in wooded area in Independence INDEPENDENCE, Mo. -- A person was flown to the hospital via Life Fight after an ATV accident Saturday afternoon. According to a spokesperson with the City of Independence, crews were called to an area north of the Rock Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant just after 4:33 p.m.

Local Songbird Inspiration

Prairie Village's Joyce DiDonato Brings Power Of Music To Moscow, Sing Sing And Kauffman Center She's taken her craft from Barcelona to Beijing, but this weekend Joyce DiDonato will grace a stage much closer to home. Before the Grammy-winning mezzo-soprano brings the music of Leonard Bernstein and Hector Berlioz to life at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, we sat down for a wide-ranging conversation on KCUR's Up To Date.

Season Of Discounts Awaits Fanboys

Kansas City Chiefs: Money saving ideas Spotrac list the Chiefs current salary cap figure at just under $12 million. That number sounds like a fair amount but it actually puts them in the lower third of the league. This means that while they have some space, they could easily be out bid for any players by most of the league.

Right now we offer tribute toasthanks to public demand for cheaper panties.Closer to home, we check some of these top news links for the morning:is the song of the day and this is thefor right now . . .CHECK KANSAS CITY POLITICAL JUGGERNAUT JEFF ROE ADVOCATING FOR PREZ TRUMP LOYALTY IN THE NEW YORK TIMES!!!

President Trump may not be on the ballot in November, but the election will be a referendum on him, as 2010 was on President Barack Obama and 2006 was on President George W. Bush. We will lose seats. The only question is this: Will these losses be catastrophic or manageable?





That will be determined by a very specific choice: Will the party retreat from its leader or fix bayonets and storm to the front with him?





No one fought Mr. Trump harder and longer than I did, as the campaign manager for Ted Cruzs 2016 campaign for the Republican nomination. I know the maddening brilliance of Mr. Trump. I also know history doesnt favor the presidents party in midterm elections.

As usual, the New York Times is leading the local political discourse far better than any local news outlet and so this election insight from a Kansas City power broker is worth featuring according to the denizens of our blog community . . .Here'sthat might be an indication of serious challenges to the current administration given that Mr. Roe & Axiom have always done better in the long run than most of their candidates:The premise:You decide . . .SPECIAL THANKS TO AWESOME TKC TIPSTERS FOR THIS SUNDAY SPECIAL EXCLUSIVE REPORT ON THE DRACONIAN TAX CRACKDOWN NOW TARGETING LOCAL HOME OFFICE WORKERS!!!

Merriam Planning Commission Upsetting Residents by Regulating People Who Work From Home

In the advent of high speed internet and the cruel consultant basedtheTo wit . . .The inner-suburban legislation marks the beginning ofwhich hopes to impose higher taxes on people for simply using their laptop to make a few bucks. The reality is that higher taxes imposed on people who work from home has been on the wish list of politicos in many local municipalities for quite some time.Here's the word of warning on this crisis in the making . . .Any Merriam, Kansas resident who is an architect, attorney, artist, writer, programmer, book keeper, accountant, marketer, craft maker, sales person, employee of another company or any other profession who is working from their residence a substantial part of their time, must comply with a Merriam ordinance that requires them to have a business license issued by Merriam. Even if they work out of their truck and bring the truck home at night, they are required to get a home office permit. This is just not right. If convicted of not complying with the city ordinance, the fine is $200 per day the business operates without a permit.On March 7, 2018, the Planning Commission approved a revision to the current ordinance. The revised ordinance will now go to the City Council to determine if the ordinance will be voted into law. It has not yet been scheduled for a vote by the Merriam City Council.Fifty residents attended the Planning Commission public hearing on March 7. Most comments, given by residents, were in opposition to the ordinance- both the current and revised. Privacy issues were most frequently cited by residents. One Planning commissioner said he was appalled that residents would consider the ordinance an invasion of privacy.There are currently only 48 Merriam residents that have permits allowing them to earn a living working from home. An estimated 850 Merriam residents currently working from home, are violating the current and proposed ordinances by not having a permit. The number of residents not in compliance with city code is an estimate based on the population of Merriam and a Gallup Poll which estimates that 13% of the U.S. population works from home over 80% of their time.My understanding is that work from home ordinances have not been revised since before the personal computer was invented. What Merriam does with their work from home laws will likely effect what other cities, in the Kansas City metropolitan area, do with their work from home ordinances.Some residents were stopped before they could finish their comment, at the public hearing, by the commission chair and then she argued with them. The Senior Poet Laureate of Kansas, Richard W. Jennings is confined to a wheel and could not attend the public hearing. After Sam Matier read Mr. Jennings' comment at the public hearing, the chair told Mr. Matier that he could not read comments from others and only give his own comments. After seeing the video, Mr Jennings demanded an immediate apology from the chair or he would contact an ADA attorney.For the last three years, I have published a free email newsletter, twice a month, called "What's Happening in Merriam City Hall." There is no advertising and contact information is not shared. I volunteer my time to do this as a civic duty.############Developing . . .Tourism and shipping are the two most robust industries in Greece

Greeces shipping community symbolizes the potential and resilience of the Greek people, the U.S. Ambassador to Greece Geoffrey Pyatt noted on Wednesday in a speech at the SeaNation Conference, held at the Eugenides Foundation.

Your community symbolizes the great potential and resilience of the Greek people. The work you do helps to keep the world economy open, dynamic, and free, just as the strength and resolve of the Greek people and the Greek state help bring peace and prosperity to Greeces neighborhood, he added.

The size and global impact of the Greek shipping industry is a tremendous accomplishment, for which the Greek people are justifiably proud.

Pyatt pointed out that the United States helped rebuild the Greek shipping industry after World War II, by facilitating the sale of hundreds of Liberty Ships to Greek ship-owners, thereby helping to create the modern shipping industry.

He forecast that the two countries will continue to strengthen their cooperation, noting 2018 is on course to be a groundbreaking year for their bilateral relationship.

He announced that the State Departments Assistant Secretary for European Affairs, Wess Mitchell, is arriving in Athens on Wednesday for his first visit, while Shipping Minister Panagiotis Kouroumblis will be travelling to the United States where he will sign a Memorandum of Understanding between the State University of New York Maritime College and the Maritime Academy of Hydra. This agreement, the first of its kind for the United States and Greece, will allow for greater academic exchanges between mariners from our two countries, he stressed.

Kouroumblis will also sign an agreement with the U.S. Coast Guard to allow mutual recognition of Greek and American seafarers certificates, which will allow American seamen to receive essential maritime training aboard Greek-flagged vessels.

Pyatt also expressed hope the two countries will boost bilateral investment cooperation, particularly in the field of energy, with Greece serving as a regional hub and supplies energy from diverse sources to Europe, as well as U.S. investment in Greek shipping, ports, and shipyards.

And American companies are finding opportunities here. I traveled to Syros last year and saw firsthand the potential of that historic shipyard, which ONEX is now working to unlock and further develop. I look forward to returning to Syros later this year for the re-opening of the shipyard under new U.S.-based ownership, he continued.

Pyatt also mentioned of the American interest for the port of Alexandroupolis. The strategic position of this port was on full display last year, when elements of the U.S. Armys 10th Combat Air Brigade used it as a staging area for helicopters and cargo returning back to the U.S. from Romania, he explained.

Last week the Deputy Commander of the U.S. Armys 21st Theater Sustainment Command, Brigadier General Maiocco was in Greece to visit and to see firsthand the potential to develop this strategic infrastructure of Alexandroupoli. And I am confident we will see strong American investor interest in the Alexandroupoli port and related FSRU.

Source: thegreekobserver

Read more here.

RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report

Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons Copyright: BIONIC University License: CC-BY-SAThe recovery of Greece's farm production capacity is critical for strengthening the tourist industry. The country is also one of the top destinations in the world for agrotourism

Rural Development and Foods Minister Vangelis Apostolou held a meeting with Greek MEPs at the ministry on Friday, in order to brief them on the debate currently underway for Europe's post-2020 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), according to ANA.

The focus of the briefing was on obstructing a reduction of the CAP budget and the need for reforms that will result in a fairer and better targeted distribution of subsidies to farmers.

The minister also highlighted a "serious possibility" that CAP might be renationalised and noted that Greece disagrees strongly with such a prospect. "At this time, it would mean that we would be unable, as a country, to compete with the tactics of the strongest in the EU," he said.

It should be noted that the recovery of Greece's farm production capacity is critical for strengthening the tourist industry. The country is also one of the top destinations in the world for agrotourism.

RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report

Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons Copyright: David Shankbone License: CC-BY-SABahrain-based Investcorp, a global leader in alternative investments, held its inaugural CEO Conference for the Mena region, including Turkey, in Bahrain today (March 18), marking the firms first CEO Conference in the Gulf.



The event gathered over 20 CEOs and c-suite executives from the Firms portfolio companies to discuss the macro trends impacting the global marketplace.



In his welcoming remarks, Mohammed Alardhi, executive chairman of Investcorp, spoke about the importance of identifying growth opportunities to drive successful businesses.



In todays business environment, companies cannot settle for incremental improvement; they must periodically undergo performance transformations to grow and stay on top. This means that CEOs are tasked with staying relevant and up-to-date with technologies that are disrupting existing business models, while still hitting targets and expanding profitability, he said.



Since Investcorps inception, we have made 15 investments to date in the GCC and the wider MENA region, including Turkey, deploying close to $1.6 billion. With the economic transformation plans that we are seeing, we believe this region will continue to be an attractive investment destination for local - and increasingly foreign  investors.



Through its CEO Conferences, Investcorp aims to provide a regular platform for the leaders of its portfolio companies to come together and share best practices on how to tackle the challenges facing global businesses today.



This year, the conference featured inspiring discussions on the impact of global trends on regional businesses, the increasing need to cope with digital transformation, and the potential challenges that might face the next generation of CEOs in the region.



During the event, co-CEO, Rishi Kapoor, also gave an update on Investcorps latest activities and future plans.



This years delegates included the CEOs of several leading companies across the GCC including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Turkey. From Saudi Arabia, CEO representatives attended from Bindawood Holding, a supermarket and hypermarket chain; Leejam, an operator of a fitness chain branded Fitness Time; Theeb, a vehicle rental business; Al Yusr Industrial Contracting Company (AYTB), a provider of industrial services outsourcing solutions; and Lazurde, a designer, manufacturer and distributor of gold jewellery which was successfully listed on Tadawul Stock Exchange in June 2016

.

From Kuwait, the attendees represented Automak, an independent vehicle leasing and rental company, and from Turkey, Namet, a food producer; Arvento, a telematics company; Orka Group, a menswear retailers; and Tiryaki Agro, a trader and supply chain manager of agro commodities.  TradeArabia News ServiceThe Saudi government is expected to take a 35 per cent stake in construction giant Saudi Binladin Group (SBG) as part of a financial settlement with state authorities, Reuters has reported.

The news agency said the figure was confirmed by four sources familiar with the matter.

The stake represents the total stakes of chairman Bakr Binladin and his brothers Saleh and Saad, all of whom were detained in an anti-graft crackdown in November alongside scores of other businessmen, princes and officials, according to some of the sources.

SBG, which had more than 100,000 employees at its height, is the biggest builder in Saudi Arabia and is important in Riyadh's plans for large real estate, industrial and tourism projects to help diversify the kingdom's economy beyond oil.Flag carrier Turkish Airlines has added launched flights from Istanbul to Samarkand in Uzbekistan, the second destination in Uzbekistan after capital city Tashkent.



Turkish Airlines CEO Bilal Eksi said: "We have launched flights to Samarkand, one of the most important cities of our civilization, and on Unesco's World Heritage list. It will be able to fly to Samarkand from 121 countries, through direct flights that we launched."



"I believe that this pearl city which hosting the madrasahs, mosques, museums, tombs, observatory and architectural masterpieces, will progress in tourism in a short time. Also, we are glad to serve this city that is the eternal resting place for historical figures and scholars," he said.



Turkish Airlines operates seven flights per week to Tashkent and will operate twice weekly to Samarkand. Depending on demand, the frequency of flights to Samarkand may move up to thrice weekly, Eksi said.



Round trip fares from Istanbul to Samarkand start from $364 including all taxes and fees. - TradeArabia News Service

Even though desktop continues to be the dominant platform for travel bookings in the GCC, the region has been witnessing a growing shift to mobile bookings with Saudi Arabia marking a 116 per cent increase during the year, new data showed.

Among the top regional cities assessed, Riyadh had the highest rate of mobile booking penetration (MBP), followed by Jeddah, with total purchases made on mobile devices in the two cities amounting to 32 per cent and 31 cent, respectively, according to the 2017 Travel Insights Report by Cleartrip,

a leading mobile and online travel company in the Middle East.



In Saudi Arabia, where mobile bookings grew at a whopping pace of 116 per cent in 2017, 31 per cent of bookings represented purchases made on mobile as compared to 69 per cent desktop-based purchases, whereas in the UAE, which witnessed a 60.65 per cent rise in mobile transactions last year, 25 per cent of total bookings took place on mobile devices against 75 per cent on desktop.



Interestingly, the findings showed that there is a clear correlation between the number of travellers per ticket and the platform used for booking. Customers in the region increasingly prefer computers over mobile for purchases as the number of travellers increased. For solo travellers, 27 per cent of bookings were made on mobile, while 83 per cent of reservations for a group of 10 persons took place on a desktop.



The findings of the report showed that ticket prices for air travel between different origin and destination cities recorded a significant drop in 2017, as compared to the previous year. Jeddah-Dubai marked the biggest decrease with a 28 per cent slump in travel fare followed by Beirut-Dubai that saw an average price decline of 21 per cent during the year.



The findings also revealed that the air industry witnessed mixed growth in different markets in the GCC in 2017. In Kuwait, the air industry expanded at a growth rate of 20 per cent compared to 2017, while in Saudi Arabia year-over-year growth was at 14 per cent.



In 2017, the average fare per booking stood at Dh1,580 ($430) in Kuwait, Dh1,453 ($395.4) in Saudi Arabia, and Dh1,422 ($387) in Bahrain. The average fares per booking on mobile for these countries were Dh1,543 ($419.9), Dh1,322 ($359.8) and Dh1,276 ($347.2), respectively. In Oman, which recorded the lowest average fare per booking in the region, it was Dh1,030 ($280.3) overall and Dh944 ($256.9) for bookings made on mobile devices.



Contrary to popular belief, the majority of travel bookings in the GCC - and Saudi Arabia in particular - are taking place within a week prior to departure and mobile outperforms desktop in last-minute purchases.



The comprehensive report shows that 48.3 per cent of mobile bookings and 41.4 per cent desktop reservations in the GCC during the past year occurred up to a week ahead of travel. Similarly, in Saudi Arabia, 48.3 per cent of travel bookings on mobile devices and 44.9 per cent via desktop were made within seven days of departure.



The 2017 Travel Insights Report also shows that 18 per cent of travellers had an average trip length of 35 days and more, while the average trip duration of up to six days represented 27 per cent of all trips made during the year.



The region witnessed a large portion of its travel activity in August, followed by July as travellers in the region, which is home to a huge population of youth and expatriates, made their summer holiday trips. April, May, and September were also the preferred months for travel, while October and November recorded the least number of trips in 2017.



Dubai took first place on the list of top five destinations for travellers in the region in 2017, followed by Sharjah, Manila and Abu Dhabi. On the other hand, Yerevan topped among the most trending destinations during the last year, with a whopping leap of 498 per cent over 2016. Tbilisi and Kathmandu came in at second and third place, jumping 210 per cent and 207 cent, respectively. Among the 10 prominent destinations of choice for family trips, Jordan topped the list, followed by Tbilisi and Beirut.



In the region, credit card continues to be the preferred method of payment for travellers. In 2017, Bahrain topped among the six countries in the region with 94 per cent transactions made on credit cards, while in Saudi Arabia 28 per cent of purchases were made using debit cards. In the UAE, credit card, debit card and other payment methods represented 81 per cent, 13 per cent and 6.3 per cent of total bookings, respectively.



Cleartrips booking data also shows that 20 per cent of travellers like to grab a bargain on tickets in the UAE, which is followed by Kuwait where 19 per cent of customers prefer promotions and deals.



As a promising economy, all signs show that Saudi Arabia will continue to see very strong growth for airlines in the next five years with solid capacity growth facilitated by local airlines and new entrants in the market. - TradeArabia News ServiceRezidor Hotel Group, part of Radisson Hotel Group, has announced the signing of the Park Inn by Radisson Vilnius Airport Hotel & Business Center.



Expected to open in 2020, this 120-room hotel will be the groups sixth hotel in operation and pipeline in Lithuania, and the fourth in the city.

The group operates two Radisson Blu hotels in the city already and plans to add a Radisson RED. Radisson Hotel Groups portfolio in the entire Baltics States rises to 18 hotels with more than 4,100 rooms.



Elie Younes, executive vice president and chief development officer, The Rezidor Hotel Group, said: These are exciting times for Park Inn by Radisson, our upper midscale brand which is gaining fantastic momentum across Europe. It is a perfect contrasting fit for the baroque city of Vilnius. The area around Vilnius Airport is a fast-developing commercial zone, and Vilnius itself has been ranked one of Europes most promising cities for growing businesses that focus on innovation, technology and entrepreneurship. Demand has been increasing in the city year on year, and the Park Inn by Radisson Vilnius Airport Hotel & Business Center will showcase our commitment to making every moment matter for visitors of Lithuania.



The Park Inn by Radisson Vilnius Airport Hotel, located within the VNO Business and Retail Park, is just 300 meters from the Vilnius International Airport and 6km from the city centre.



According to the data collected by the Lithuanian Department of Statistics, 2017 recorded close to 2 million room nights, an increase of 3.7 per cent over 2016. The hotel will offer its guests a variety of facilities, including a restaurant, lobby lounge and gym  as well as a 500-sq-m flexible meeting space.



"We are pleased to further strengthen our business relationship with the Radisson Hotel Group by signing the Park Inn by Radisson Vilnius Airport Hotel & Business Center. The Park Inn by Radisson brand is ideal for our new Vilnius Airport Hotel & Business Center since it is internationally recognized and associated with quality, and offers great value for money to guests. The Radisson Hotel Group's knowledge, experience and management of our new Park Inn by Radisson Vilnius Airport Hotel & Business Center will increase our competitive advantage in Lithuania's growing hospitality market," said Marius Jakulis Jason, hotel owner and director.



The Park Inn by Radisson Vilnius Airport Hotel & Business Center will be managed and operated by The Rezidor Hotel Group. - TradeArabia News Serviceshalender@tribune.com

Chandigarh: The police have arrested two persons for snatching a mobile phone from a Mohali resident at Sector 10 here on Saturday night. The complainant in the case, Rajesh of Phase II, Mohali, reported that two motorcycle-borne miscreants had sped away after snatching his mobile phone near Hotel Mountview in Sector 10. Following the complaint, a case was registered at the Sector 3 police station. Later, the police managed to arrest the accused, identified as Mansa Ram, a resident of Bapu Dham Colony and an auto driver by profession, and Sandeep, a resident of Nayagaon. The police claimed that the snatched mobile phone was recovered from the duo. The police are investigating about their antecedents. Sources said the police were verifying whether the accused were involved in any other case. TNSMK Bhadrakumar

MK Bhadrakumar

The Russian presidential elections on March 18 can be seen as the most transparent in the countrys post-Soviet history. But genuine political competition was still lacking and the electorates choices were limited. The leading candidate, Vladimir Putin, consistently enjoyed a popular rating above 80 per cent among the Russian people in the recent years and will walk away the winner. A December survey by the independent polling firm, Levada Center, estimated that 81 per cent adults approve of Putin as President, including 86 per cent Russians, 18 to 24 years old; meaning that most of the country supports Putin.

What accounts for it? In a nutshell, over successive terms as Prime Minister and President, Putin has overseen an economic boom, military expansion and the countrys emergence as a major power on the world stage. Levels of poverty are significantly lower than before; most Russians enjoy a higher living standard; there is a sense of stability and national pride. During Putins first term as President, wages consistently grew 10 per cent annually while in his second term since 2012, although economic growth slowed down (what with the fall in income from oil exports and Western sanctions), disposable income still grew by 11 per cent between 2011 and 2014, and the Putin era has seen Russias consumer economy expand considerably. Today, more people own a car and there are more microwaves than households.

This was how an AFP dispatch from Moscow last week on the Russian elections captioned its story: Putin Is a Villain Abroad, Hero At Home. Curiously, Putins villainous reputation featuring on the cover of Western news magazines  variously as public enemy number one, an octopus, The Terminator, Hitler and Batmans nemesis, The Joker  may even be a factor adding to his popularity among Russians. As one Russian put it to the AFP, If theyre scared of you, it means they respect you. For millions of Russians, Putin is the man who restored Moscows standing on the world stage following the humiliating collapse of the former Soviet Union.

Nonetheless, challenging times lie ahead for the newly elected President. The high support ratings of Putin notwithstanding, ordinary Russians are anything but satisfied with their lives and pro-market economists are demanding radical structural reforms. In the international arena too, there are huge uncertainties facing the Russian diplomacy. Arguably, therefore, Sundays elections cannot be regarded as irrelevant to Russias trajectory. Like in India, social media has created a horizontal society in Russia, cutting across cultural and class lines, and the Internet remains free compared to the rest of the media.

The yearning for change brings to mind the backdrop that provided momentum for Bernie Sanders in the US or Jeremy Corbyn in the UK  except that this is Russia where the channels for expression of social discontent and the political processes that can give it a sense of direction are rudimentary. Another Levada poll found that close to 90 per cent of Russians feel powerless to influence the future trajectory of their country and 60 per cent disavow any responsibility for what is happening around them. Simply put, while Putin remains a towering figure, the Russian political class, on the whole, carries an unsavoury reputation. Fundamentally, is the Russian elite willing or capable of change? There are rumours of internal rivalries, turf wars and trust deficit amongst the elite. These realities contradict the picture of stability, continuity and order that Russia projects even as a transition looms ahead  the Constitution stipulates that this will be Putins last six-year term. Suffice to say, the nationalistic rhetoric harping on Russias status as a great power may work less and less in the period ahead to subsume Everymans discontent with the hybrid system that Putin built on the basis of Russian nationalism, Soviet nostalgia and a striving for international respect.

Russia regards itself as part of Europe in cultural, historical, economic and political terms. But Europe does not regard Russia as part of the liberal world order. An embittered Russia constantly runs down the liberal world order, pointing a finger at the inexorable decline and challenging the leadership role of the US, weakening of the European security system and disarray in European integration, rise of populist political doctrines and so on. Russias preference is that the essence of the liberal world order should be a system of international relations rather than about bona fide democracies.

Indeed, the liberal world order tolerates the Indian or Chinese variants of democracy but holds Russia to an exacting, absolute standard. (Russians today enjoy freedoms of speech, assembly, religion, travel, politics, and the Press that the generations before 1989 never knew  and on a scale that is unthinkable in the more repressive single-party Communist state that is China.) China and India are having the cake and eat it too  making developmental leaps through globalisation while also preserving their political autonomy. Thus, within the BRICS grouping, while China and India join Russia to envisage the multipolar world as the bright future, they are perfectly at ease with the prevailing system as well, which gives them scope to get richer and stronger while also maintaining independent foreign policies.

But then, China and India have largely avoided direct disputes with the West and do not strive to undermine the existing world order. Period. On the contrary, the Russian elite has too many hang-ups regarding the countrys great power status, which means that its integration into the liberal world order has to be on its terms. The result is, Russia is pining for the day when following the inevitable collapse of the US as superpower, the world order transforms as a balance of forces of individual countries and alliances, allowing the coexistence of various poles of power. Meanwhile, Russias golden moment lies in a serious confrontation breaking out between the West and China  or if the liberal world order excludes China too on account of political differences. The problem here is that hope does not make strategy. China wont get into a collision course with the West  nor is the West seeking one. China leverages its tools of economic globalisation to moderate political differences with the West.

What could be the directions of Putins foreign policy as he embarks on the new term? Basically, it will largely depend on the international environment and can be expected to be risk-evasive than risk-taking; willing to reach compromises but not via unilateral concessions or dilution of national interests; and, it will remain linked to domestic needs in the social, economic and technological spheres.

The writer is a former ambassadorpardeepdhull@gmail.com

Houston, March 18

An Indian-American businessman has donated a whopping USD 5 million to the University of Chicago to help aspiring entrepreneurs in their pursuit of innovation.

Rattan L Khosa, 79, gifted the amount to the varsity to launch a student entrepreneurs programme after his name at the Polsky Center.

The day I wrote the check for this new programme, I sat down, closed my eyes, and thought about my first day in this country and how little I had, he said.

Im extremely humbled and equally grateful to be able to give back and help support the next generation of Booth entrepreneurs, he told PTI.

Khosa, a Kashmiri who came to the US in 70s and secured a research fellowship from the University of Maryland, had just USD 3 in his pocket when he joined the varsity.

He started his company AMSYSCO in 1981 from the basement of his home. After nearly four decades, Khosa has grown it into a highly profitable venture that provides post-tensioning systems on commercial structures and occupies a 55,000 square foot facility.

Starting a business from a scratch is like jumping off a cliff in the middle of the night while blindfolded, hoping that there is a safety net down below, Khosa said.

I know from personal experience that everyone needs help at some point in their lives. No one has succeeded on their own, he said.

When more than 80 per cent of companies fail within the first year  even those with ample funding  its clear that there is much more to a startups success than just money, Khosa said.

I dont simply want to provide the money for this new programme, I plan to serve as a thought leader, mentor and guide for these aspiring entrepreneurs, so that my years of experience, my struggles and my successes may serve as an additional resource to help them succeed, he said.

Rattans leadership, generosity, and success will serve as an inspirational example to our most promising entrepreneurial students, said Madhav Rajan, Chicago Booth Dean and George Pratt Shultz Professor of Accounting.

He said the transformational commitment will greatly support the schools mission to influence and educate current and future leaders.

His new gift will enhance Booths reputation as the destination for aspiring entrepreneurs, said Starr Marcello, executive director of the Polsky Center and adjunct assistant professor of entrepreneurship at Chicago Booth. PTIvermaajay1968@gmail.com

Congress last major confabulation to refine its strategy for the 2019 battle has signaled its inclination for a joint front. Its political position is reminiscent of 2003 when exclusion from power at the Centre had induced a rethink of its then prevalent go-it-alone approach. As a political gathering, the plenary had all the requisite ingredients  platitudes for the consecration of Rahul Gandhi and the usual tirades castigating the personality overload at the Centre. But the process provided insights into the new leaderships plans to harness political creativity, connect to the digitally-conscious and create greater inner party inclusivity  the trademark durries and cushions have given way to a gen-next stage -- and in a departure from the past, the middle level leadership also found itself on the stage

Hidden behind these necessary rites of passage is the more serious business of political, foreign and economic resolutions that frame a political partys battle plans. The Congress accent on a strong welfare state and its backing to the public sector in the economic resolution suggests a move to occupy the progressive-centralist space. The accent on strong state intervention to turnaround the education, health, agriculture and unemployment sectors also point to a similar inclination. Rahul Gandhis preference for a multi-polar world where India is also one of the poles is a rejection of the current dispensation pro-West tilt and muscularity to settle divergences.

These are ample pointers to the Congress preference for a sweeping alliance with social justice parties without being wedded to any kind of ideological dogma. But the Congress is yet to dispel the impression that its side will basically field a grouping of losers. It needs to start a conversation with the nation as well as potential allies to establish its honesty of purpose. The dialogues should juxtapose Congress increasing acceptability with the BJPs shrinking base of allies. The greater challenge before the Congress, however, will be to weave an alliance that can provide coherent, united and robust counterpoises to dispel cynicism about coalition arrangements, and its ability to offer an efficient government different from the previous UPA versions.vermaajay1968@gmail.com

For a person credited with a short memory span, it is ominous that US President Donald Trump has publicly raised the issue of high import duty levied by India on Harley-Davidson motorcycles at least thrice in a month. The Trump dispensations frontloading of burgeoning trade deficit with India is at variance with the approach of the Bush and Obama administrations. They tolerated the trade deficit with India in the larger interest of the growing strategic partnership between the two countries. India in the bargain became a customer for US-Israeli defence hardware and its navy has ventured to show the flag in areas where US and India security interests intersect.

But it is in economics and trade where an emerging divergence under the Trump administration threatens to politically damage the Modi government. Trade disputes commonly occur in all trading partnerships but get resolved through sustained conversations. But the US Trade Representatives (USTR) targeting of Indias entire trade policy at the WTO is of a much larger magnitude; even the Washington visit by Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale failed to postpone the action. An impending hit to India Inc comes on top of PM Modis inability to crack some of the bread and butter issues of the NRIs and aspiring constituency. A proposed US legislation will make it harder to recruit Indian workers while there is continuing mismatch between US visa and US social security regimes.

Indias response has been to demonstrate its usefulness to the US in the security sphere by pushing for the maiden 2+2 dialogue format which ensures a more effective synthesisation of strategic policy. But the geo-strategic headwinds for India are currently unfavourable: Trumps rapprochement with North Korea precludes antagonising China while he will be inclined to let Pakistan off the hook to secure its cooperation for talks with the Taliban. In an election year where PM Modis foreign policy will be critically appraised, the government will be severely tested to present its gains to the electorate. Trump has invited PM Modi to visit the US later this year. That might be the occasion to attempt a turnaround in trade ties.amansharma@tribunemail.com

Chandigarh, March 18

Haryana's main opposition Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) Sunday alleged there were irregularities to the tune of hundreds of crores in the purchase of medicines in state government hospitals and demanded a CBI probe in the matter.

Norms were violated in the purchases made at the district level by the officials concerned over the past three years, INLD's Hisar MP Dushyant Chautala told a news conference here.

He claimed that over the past one year the INLD gathered information from the five districts of Rewari, Hisar, Faridabad, Rohtak and Jind through the RTI mode, and alleged the "scam" in these districts was pegged to be at Rs 125 crore.

"We have sought replies to our RTI queries from all the 22 districts, but today we are presenting before the media the information we have collated from the five districts. According to our estimates, the total scam would be well over Rs 300 crore and therefore, we are demanding a CBI inquiry into this," Chautala said.

According to the Government of Haryana, anything that has to be bought has to be purchased from a centralised quotation, which is approved by the state government and forwarded to various districts, he said.

"There is a centralised purchase committee for buying of any kind of medicines or implements which are used in hospitals, for example cotton rolls, face masks, medicines and other equipment. Over the past three years, there has been a government centralised tender, but every district called for their own quotations too, violating norms. They have not purchased at tender mode. Some items were purchased at highly inflated rates. For example, a face mask is worth 95 paise, but in Fatehabad that mask was purchased for Rs 4.95," alleged Chautala.

He claimed that in Rohtak, there was a purchase of Hepatitis B medicine worth Rs 3 crore in a period of three-and-a-half months, but that purchase was not approved by any committee. Purchases were made with average quotations being above Rs 19 lakh, he claimed.

"According to state government rules, all tenders above Rs 5 lakh should be put on an online portal, but nowhere the process has been followed. We have evidences to back this," he said.

In Jind district, where pregnancy strip government tender rate is Rs 2.80, it was purchased at the rate of Rs 28, Chautala claimed.

He said the purchases were made under various schemes including the National Health Mission and "Mukhya Mantri Muft Ilaaj Yojana.

Chautala also said in some cases fake addresses were given of the companies/stores from where the purchases were made.

"In one case, the address given turned out to be of a 'Dhobi' shop," he claimed. - PTIeditorial@tribune.com

Geetanjali Gayatri

Tribune News Service

Sonepat, March 18

A visit to Government Senior Secondary School in the districts Chidana village could be an eye-opener for the Manohar Lal Khattar government, which takes great pride in having taken information technology (IT) to the people and markets IT-enabled services as one of its achievements.

Computer education, in this school with strength of 500 students, is taught theoretically because none of the computers is in working order. Repeated reminders to the School Education Department to get them repair have elicited no response.

A separate room has been earmarked for the 10-odd computers which were installed in 2014, but the machines have been gathering dust for the past three years. The computer teacher admits she has taken no practical class for sessions together.

For students, computers are dummy machines. They know about different parts of computer, but ask them how they the machine works and they are clueless. The fault is not theirs.

The school principal claims to have written numerous letters to the department, seeking repair of computers, but nobody seems interested in attending to the complaints.

Frankly, we have now given up. For how long the school authorities can keep writing to the department? Nobody listens to us because the head office has its own priorities, a teacher, not wishing to be identified, says.

The computer room has a number of old machines which were replaced by the new ones and are lying dumped in a corner. Nobody has cared to take these away since new computers were installed.

The indifference, teachers say, is ironical since the Khattar government is hard-selling IT in a big way and applying it to the several public services while. They add computer education in most schools around Chidana village has met with a similar fate.

The previous Congress governments Edusat programme for providing quality lessons to students in rural schools has also come a cropper. No lessons are being aired anymore, while the equipment, including television sets and batteries, has been lying defunct.editorial@tribune.com

Naveen S Garewal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 18

Ramon Magsaysay Award, recipient Sanjiv Chaturvedi, who is working as Conservator of Forest at Haldwani in Nainital district of Uttarakhand, has written to Chief Secretary DS Dhesi, accused him of sitting over a reference sent by the Haryana Governor over three months ago seeking action against government officials who had filed false cases against Chaturvedi during his tenure in Haryana.

In a letter, a copy of which is with The Tribune, Chaturvedi had written to Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki in November 2017, demanding action against the officers who had concealed Governors order dated February 11, 2011, in filing a writ petition before the Punjab and Haryana High court in March 2014.

In the writ petition, the Haryana Government had demanded quashing of a two-member inquiry committee report of the Central Government which had indicted then Chief Ministers Office, then Forest Minister and senior functionaries of the state, including then Principal Secretary (Forest), for their alleged role in various alleged cases of corruption exposed by Chaturvedi and had recommended a CBI investigation against them.

The petition had also demanded quashing of orders issued by the President in January 2011, which on the basis of recommendations of the inquiry committee, had quashed a chargesheet against Chaturvedi. The Presidential order was accepted through a notification issued by the Governor on February 11, 2011, however, the same was not mentioned by the state government in their writ petition.

Chaturvedi has, in his letter to the Governor, said the writ petition was aimed to protect certain corrupt officials from the CBI investigation. On his complaint, the Governors office had sought comments of the Chief Secretary on November 23, 2017. However, it is learnt that the Chief Secretary has not responded to the Governors communication.

The Uttarakhand forest officer, in his letter, has stated that as head of Haryana IAS Officers Association, the Chief Secretary, within 24 hours of alleged assault on Delhi Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash, he had got a resolution passed terming the incident as shameless attack on rule of law and had demanded speedy legal proceedings, arrest of perpetrators and their trial in a fast-track court. But he has not responded to Chaturvedis letter or to that by the Haryana Governor.

In May 2016, the Advocate General had also recommended withdrawal of the writ petition and this was mentioned in HC proceedings also on May 31, 2016. However, its outcome was never intimated to the Governors office.

In his letter to the Chief Secretary, Chaturvedi has also quoted provisions of Para 27 of rules of business which says that any matter likely to bring the state government into controversy with the Centre has to be brought to the notice of the Governor immediately.

Mentioning Articles 154 and 166 of the Constitution which says that administration of state will be run in the name of Governor, he has expressed surprise as to how the petition was approved to be filed when the Governor had already accepted the Presidential order.

Dhesi did not respond to repeated calls and messages.editorial@tribune.com

Kuldeep Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, March 18

Even after three years, the state government is yet to constitute a special body under the Chief Secretary as demanded by the World Bank to get a loan for the Rs 810 crore Kol Dam lift drinking water scheme that will supply the additional 104 MLD water to the capital city and its peripheries.

After rejecting the Chanshal gravity water scheme in 2014, the state government mulled the Kol Dam scheme.

Besides, the Shimla Municipal Corporation is also yet to start a pilot project on metered-water supply system in Sanjauli and Totu, another condition imposed by the bank.

Initially, the SMC had planned Rs 337 crore DPR for the Kol Dam in January 2015. But the scope of the project was enlarged and sewerage and water supplies to the Special Area Development Authorities (SADA) in Shoghi and Ghanati were also include.

About 104 million litres of water daily (MLD) will be lifted from Kol Dam that will provide the uninterrupted water supply to residents in the city and its surrounding areas. The project will take care of the water requirement of the city till 2050, said MC engineers.

The SMC has replaced about 22,000 water meters to start the metered water supply in the city. The SMC is upgrading five major sources and sewerage system under the AMRUT mission.

The work on starting the pilot project in three wards is on, said Dharmender Gill, Superintending Engineer, Greater Shimla Water Supply circle of the SMC. The DPR for the pilot project is ready and other modalities are being put in place to constitute the SPV, he added.

Municipal Commissioner Rohit Jamwal said the SMC was working on the Kol Dam project and a special body would be constituted soon.editorial@tribune.com

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, March 18

The governments reported move to amend the Recruitment and Promotion Rules for appointing a bureaucrat as the Director, Higher Education, has sparked a fresh controversy and government college teachers are up in arms against the move.

The post of Director, Elementary Education, has already been given to a bureaucrat and now others are eyeing the post of Director, Higher Education, but the Himachal Government Teacher Association is bracing up to oppose the move.

Under the existing rules, the Director is appointed from among the seniormost college teachers and any move to change the rules will reflect mala fide intentions of the government, said General Secretary, Himachal Government College Teachers Association (HGCTA), Dr RL Sharma.

The post of Director, Higher Education, is like other specialist posts in the Health, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Horticulture, Public Works and Irrigation and Public Health Departments. It should be filled from the feeder cadre.

The HGCTA has already apprised the Education Minister of its concern and categorically stated that the post should be held by a teacher of the college.

In a letter to the Education Minister, the HGCTA said: It is a calculated move of the bureaucracy to snatch the post from the college cadre. It is submitted that the existing rules provide only one opportunity to college principals to get promoted in his or her lifetime. An educationist can understand the problems of higher education in a better way than a bureaucrat.

The move will lower the morale of the teaching community and if there is any such move, it should be stalled forthwith in the interest of the teaching community, the letter stated.pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 18

Pakistani troops targeted border villages in Jammu and Kashmirs Poonch district with mortar bombs on Sunday, killing five members of a family, including three minor brothers, officials said.

The unprovoked and indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas almost 3-4 km from the Line of Control (LoC) by the Pakistani troops, in violation of a ceasefire agreement, lasted nearly four hours this morning, they said.

Two sisters were critically injured in the shelling and were airlifted to Jammu for treatment.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti expressed anguish over the loss of lives and stressed the need for peace if we want to save the people of the state.

Army PRO Lt. Col. Devender Anand said the mortar shelling from across the LoC was unprovoked and indiscriminate and lasted from 0745 hours to 1130 hours. Indian troops guarding the border retaliated strongly and effectively, he added.

Director-General of Police S P Vaid in a tweet said, Due to shelling from across (LoC) in Balakote sector of Poonch, 5 civilians of a family died & 2 are injured who are being shifted to hospital. The civilian casualties occurred in forward village of Devta Sargloon when a shell hit the mud house of Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan (35), a police official said.

Those killed were identified as Ramzan, his wife Malika bi (32), their sons  Abdul Rehman (14), Mohammad Rizwan (12) and Razaq Ramzan (7). Ramzans two daughtersNasreen Kouser (11) and Mahreen Kouser (5)  were critically injured in the incident and were airlifted to Jammu for specialised treatment, the police official said.

Anguished to hear of 5 (five) people losing their lives in the crossfire along the LoC in the Balakote sector of Poonch. My deepest condolences to their family, the Chief Minister said in a tweet.

Peace is the only way forward. Initiatives were started by (former Prime Minister A B) Vajpayee Ji with his Lahore bus journey & were later carried on in the same spirit by PM @narendramodi (Prime Minister Narendra Modi). Sadly they were sabotaged at Pathankot. We need to get on the right track if we want to save the people of J&K, she said in another tweet, referring to the scene of the 2016 terror attack on an Air Force Station in Punjab.

The Army PRO said Sundays ceasefire violation by Pakistan was a serious issue of concern as civilian localities much deep inside Indian territory, almost 3-4 km from the LoC, were targeted despite the fact that there was no Army deployment or any installation or even no equipment installed.

Lt Col Anand said Pakistani troops used small arms, 81 mm and 120mm mortar shells.

Pakistan continues in its cowardly design of targeting innocent civilians, their homes and livestock in villages close to the LoC. The deliberate provocation has resulted in loss of five precious and innocent civilian lives, the Army PRO said.

Inspector General of Police, Jammu, S D S Jamwal said the civil administration was alive to the situation and appropriate precautionary actions would be taken to ensure safety of civilians. The firing has stopped and the local administration has reached the area. We have rushed bullet-proof vehicles to the affected villages, he told reporters on the sidelines of a function here. With PTIeditorial@tribune.com

Dinesh Manhotra

Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 18

After booking Pakistans shelling victims with sedition charges for their emotional outburst against BJP leaders, the coalition regime in the state has now terminated the services of a doctor for his alleged anti-government posts on his private social media account.

Services of Dr Amit Kumar, Registrar at Government Medical College, Jammu, were terminated for his Facebook posts, which, according to the government, violated the recently issued SRO 525 which barred a government employee from writing on the social media against the government.

Although senior officers of the department concerned have maintained a guarded silence, Minister for Health and Medical Education Bali Bhagat said the action had been taken as per the service rules because employees should not speak against the government. He defended the decision of the authorities to terminate the doctor.

The termination order issued by the government reads as, Dr Amit Kumar furnished an affidavit at the time of joining as Registrar (Anaesthesia), where upon he has solemnly affirmed and declared that in case of any misconduct or negligence on his part, his engagement shall be terminated.

The order claims to have issued a show-cause notice to him on March 12, giving him two days to explain his position after which he was terminated.

Sources said Dr Amit Kumar had made some comment on the developmental works executed in the college. He had reportedly questioned the governments claim over installing a new lift in the college premises.singhking99@yahoo.com

Dinesh Manhotra

Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 18

Battling for life at the emergency ward of Government Medical College and Hospital (GMC), Jammu, 11-year-old Nasreen Kousar is unaware that she has lost her parents and three bothers in shelling from across the border.

She herself was critically injured in the incident but was more concerned about her brothers, who are no more, and her younger sister Mahreen Kousar (5), who was in an operation theatre in the same hospital where doctors were busy in removing a splinter from her liver.

After repeated intervals, Nasreen was asking about her family members, Nadeem Khan, a political activist of Mendhar, who was attending the injured girl, told The Tribune.

Although she has gained consciousness, we have not informed her about the tragedy that has struck her family yet. The poor girl is under the impression that her family members are being treated at a Rajouri hospital and only her younger sister is admitted at the GMC.

The fear-stricken girl was in severe pain but was trying to narrate the shelling incident in Pahari dialect to Khan and a couple of youth who rushed to the GMC to render help to the injured.

Quoting Nasreen, Khan said the family was having breakfast when a shell, fired from across the border, exploded. Since morning, shelling was underway in the Sandote area of Balakote, which is far away from the family's Devta Sargloon village. It appears that the Pakistani soldiers extended their shelling range and a shell fell inside the house of Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan, he said, adding that all family members got injured and all of them were shifted to the Primary Health Centre (PHC) at Ghargloon of the Balakote area. Nasreen was shifted to the PHC on a bike as other family members were rushed in a car that was available in the village.

Five members of the family were declared dead while Nasreen and Mahreen were airlifted to Jammu from Rajouri.

Health Minister Bali Bhagat, who visited the hospital, said the next 48 hours were very crucial for Mahreen as the splinter of the shell had badly hit her liver.pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Mathura, March 18

Three AIIMS doctors, two of them women, died early on Sunday and four others of the same institute were injured in an accident on the Yamuna Expressway near here, the police said.

The seven doctors, posted as resident doctors in the Emergency Medicine Department of the AIIMS, were travelling to Agra from Delhi in an SUV to celebrate birthday of Dr Harshad Wankhade, who was also killed in the accident.

The SUV rammed into a canter around 2.30 am, they said.

While three doctors died on the spot, the four others were rushed to a private hospital here. They were then referred to the AIIMS Trauma Centre, SP (Rural) Aditya Kumar Shukla said.

The speeding SUV rammed the canter and partially entered into it, he said, adding three of them succumbed to injuries on the spot, while four injured doctors were rushed to a nearby private hospital for first aid.

The deceased have been identified as Dr Yashpreet Kathpal (25), Dr Hembala (about 25), and Dr Wankhade (35).

Dr Abhinava Singh, Dr Cathreen Halam, Dr Mahesh Kumar and Dr Jitendra Maurya were later rushed to the AIIMS, Shukla said. According to doctors at the AIIMS, the condition of all the four injured is stable.

One of them suffered a face bone fracture and injuries to the hips, while another doctor suffered a wrist fracture. The rest of the two resident doctors suffered minor bruises, they said.

The SP said immediate help was provided as the information about the accident reached the police through dial 100.

The canter driver abandoned his vehicle and fled, the police officer said. PTIuttara@tribuneindia.com

New Delhi, March 18

Recalling the two warring sides of the epic Mahabharat, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said the BJP, like the Kauravas, fought for power, while his party, on the lines of the Pandavas, battled for truth.

Taking on the ruling BJP, Gandhi said the party sought to divert peoples attention from issues such as unemployment and farm distress with fancy events.

Instead of acknowledging the challenges facing the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi diverts our attention from our problems. We are being told that our problems only exist in our imagination, he said.

Rahul Gandhi in a message to the youth said, Ive emptied the Congress stage for you.

I will break the wall between leaders and workers.

Challenging the BJP in 2019 he said, We will show you in 2019 how to fight elections and how to win.

The BJP-RSSs goal was power, Gandhi stressed at the Congress partys plenary session here.

Like the Kauravas, the BJP and RSS fight for power. Like the Pandavas, the Congress fights for truth, he said.

Gandhi held that his party spoke on behalf of the country.

The BJP is the voice of an organisation, Congress is the voice of a nation, he said.

The Congress leader added that the corrupt and powerful today control conversation in the country and the name Modi symbolises the collusion between crony capitalists and the prime minister.

Gandhi voiced the hope that India would in the next decade play an all-important role on the global stage.

There are two visions in the worldof US and China. In 10 years, I want to see Indias vision there, he said.

In his address, he assured party workers that he would break walls between them and leaders and vowed to fill the Congress stage with talented youngsters.

He stressed the need for discipline, and said, Let us put all differences aside and work together to ensure victory for the party.  TNS/ PTIeditorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 18

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday accused the BJP of messing up countrys economy saying PM Modis promise of doubling farm incomes in six years was a jumla.

Modiji said he would double farm incomes in six years. You need a growth rate of 12 per cent per annum minimum to make that happen. Thats unthinkable. Its one of those jumla type statements not likely to be achieved, Manmohan said in his address at the AICC plenary on Sunday.

The ex-PM said the PMs promise of two crore jobs was a pipe dream. We have not even seen two lakh jobs a year, he said. Taking on the government for its policy in Jammu and Kashmir, its defence preparedness and economic position, Manmohan said, Ill-conceived demonetisation and GST legislations had destroyed many jobs.

Foreign policy issues have been mismanaged. Our task is to find pathways to move ahead with the neighbours. The UPA did thatthese problems have to be solved peacefully and not in hostility and by shouting, Manmohan said.

On Pakistan, the former PM categorically said that India and Pakistan must sit together peacefully and sort out their problems. He, however, qualified his remarks saying: Pakistan must stop the use of its land for terror against India.

Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram moved an economic resolution giving out data on how the Congress-led UPA posted record achievements on a range of economic indicators vis-a-vis the BJP.

The UPA lifted 140 million people out of poverty in 10 years. This has never been done in the history of mankind. I charge the BJP that in the last four years you have pushed people back into poverty. On this count alone, we hear voices of people from Gorkhpur, Phulpur, Ajmer, Alwar saying the BJP has pushed them into poverty, he said.

He claimed the Congress was the sole party that could extricate India from its current crisis of jobs, agriculture growth rate losses and sliding economic indicators.

We have done it before, we can do it again, Chidambaram said promising an atmosphere free of intimidation, tax terrorism and midnight knocks on the doors of business should the Congress come back to power.

The economic resolution was later adopted unanimously.editorial@tribune.com

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 18

Launching a scathing counter against the Congress and its president Rahul Gandhi, the BJP on Sunday wondered how a party that questioned the fundamental existence of Shri Ram and made a mockery of Hindu rituals and beliefs could liken itself to Pandavas.

Congress maha-manthan was nothing but fakery, senior BJP leader and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman concluded while giving point-by-point rebuttal to charges made by Gandhi and other Congress at the party plenary against the BJP and its leadership.

It was rhetoric of a loser, she said, countering Congress allegations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah and the governments various policy decisions.

Recalling the two warring sides of the epic Mahabharata, Gandhi said the BJP, like Kauravas, fought for power, while his party, on lines of Pandavas, battled for truth.

How do you respond to a factually incorrect statement that PM Modi is worried because BJP is losing elections? That is why I say it is rhetoric of a loser, with no substance, she said.

Sitharaman also hit out at Gandhi for personal attack against the Modi and Shah, whom he called a murder accused.

Name calling is not going to lead you anywhere. Sharing a surname was a crime, she said in response to Gandhis attempts to link the PM with fugitive businessmen Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi.

On the Congress president calling Shah a murder accused, she said: He has been cleared by a court. This is a fake and false motivated campaign by someone who is out on bail on criminal conspiracy of fraud in National Herald case.

Sitharaman also accused Congress of making a mockery of freedom fighters (Veer Savarkar), the judiciary and the media.vermaajay1968@gmail.com

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 18

In what could be a deliberate move, Chinas state-owned shipbuilder has revealed, and then removed from its website, plans for a massive naval scale-up, including a nuclear-powered sea-going aircraft carrier of 1 lakh tonnes and a new set of nuclear submarines that would be more silent while operating underwater.

The state-owned China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC), which runs Dalian shipyard where China builds its aircraft carriers, revealed future plans with models last week only to later remove the same from its website. This could possibly be a deliberate move to tell the world whats coming, especially as India expands to dominate greater parts of the Indian Ocean while Japan is adding to its naval fleet and the US has increased its naval presence in South-East Asia.

The CSIC is a major shipbuilder for the Peoples Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and its biggest item could be Chinas first nuclear-powered carrier. In strategic circles, this is identified as Type 003. Till now, there were only estimates on its size, structures and operations. Now, it seems, this will be the largest non-American warship in the world. China already has two diesel-electric powered carriersthe Ukraine-built Liaoning and the domestically built carrier, CV-17, launched in 2017.

Only the US and France, operate nuclear-powered carriers. The Chinese one is expected to displace between 90,000-100,000 tonnes and have electromagnetically assisted launch system (EMALS) for fighter jets (only the US has tried these, so far). It will possibly carry J-15 fighters, J-31 stealth fighters, airborne early warning and control aircraft, anti-submarine warfare helicopters, and stealth attack drones.

A nuclear-powered carrier will give China unlimited endurance at sea as the ship will not need to stop for fuel, and water is nowadays recycled from sea.

The CSIC website also said it would build a new nuclear-powered submarine, likely to be called Type 095 nuclear-attack submarine (SSN). Compared to the existing Shang Class nuclear submarines, the 095 SSN will include new noise-reduction measures. The CSIC said it was also working on a separate quiet submarine, autonomous robot submarines or what are called the armed unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs). Autonomous UUVs, armed with torpedoes and missiles, could undertake missions that manned vessels cannot.

Separately, the US Department of Defence, in its annual report to the Congress titled Military and Security Developments Involving the Peoples Republic of China 2017, warned: The PLAN lays high priority on the modernisation of its submarine force. It currently possesses 63. By 2020, this force is likely to grow to 78.amansharma@tribunemail.com

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 19

Hitting back at the Congress, the BJP on Sunday wondered that a party that had questioned the existence of Shri Ram had likened itself to Pandavas.

Congress maha-manthan is nothing but "fakery", senior BJP leader Nirmala Sitharaman said, giving a point-by-point rebuttal of Congress president Rahul Gandhi's observation at the party plenary which she called as "rhetoric of a loser".

"Who has decided Congress to be Pandavas, a party responsible for Emergency, anti-Sikh riots, Operation Bluestar," Sitharaman lashed out at Congress.

"They question the very existence of Shri Ram wants to be identified with Pandavas. Congress president Rahul Gandhi never loses an opportunity to make mockery of Hindu rituals and beleifs," she said.

Recalling the two warring sides of the epic Mahabharata, Gandhi today said the BJP, like Kauravas, fought for power, while his party, on lines of Pandavas, battled for truth.

Sitharaman also hit out against Gandhi's attack against BJP cheif Amit Shah. Name calling is not going to lead you anywhere, she said, calling the maha-manthan "fakery".

She also wondered whether sharing a name was a crime in response to Gandhi's observation on Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi and the Prime Minister having the same surname.

"How do you respond to a factually incorrect statement that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is worried because BJP is losing elections. That is why I say it is rhetoric of a loser, with no substance," she said.

"They also make a mockery of judiciary. From when has the Congress party become protectors of judiciary. Do we have to remind the Congress president of the length his grandmother Indira Gandhi went to to curtail the independence of judiciary," asked Sitharaman.

"Congress president's father in 1988 almost brought a bill -- the press defamation bill -- which they later withdrew following protests. Today, he is talking of protecting independence of judiciary and media," added Sitharaman.vermaajay1968@gmail.com

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 18

My only hope is you will live up to the promises you are making, remarked a wary Kiranjeet Kaur, daughter of a farmer from Jhunir village in Mansa who ended his life owing to debt. She was responding to assurances by members of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha committee on farm suicides Harinderpal Singh Chandumajra (SAD) and Nazar Singh Manshahia (AAP).

The entire political class will be shamed if you do not keep your word, she warned, reminding them of the tall promises made prior to the Assembly elections. Kiranjeet, pursuing a PG diploma in computer applications, had brought along scores of families of other victims of Punjabs agrarian crisis to the Kisan Bhawan here on Sunday. One by one, each of them poured their hearts out.

Tearing into the belief that an extravagant lifestyle, including fat weddings, had pushed Punjab farmers into a debt trap, she recalled: When my father committed suicide in April 2016, he was under a Rs 8-lakh debt. A year earlier, our cotton crop was damaged in a white fly attack. Some time later, I was bitten by a snake. With the government hospital lacking facilities, my father rushed me to a private hospital in Bathinda. We were charged Rs 2 lakh. The government has washed its hands of providing healthcare to the people. My father was forced to spend a hefty sum to save my life. Is that luxury? she asked angrily.

A year after her fathers death, the gutsy Kiranjeet visited 80 villages in Mansa to find more families like hers. Today, her initative has taken the shape of Committee for Farmers and Families of Agrarian Suicide Victims, with members from Moga, Barnala, Mansa, Sangrur and Patiala.

At an event organised by the committee, agriculture experts Devinder Sharma and Gian Singh and social activists were present too.vermaajay1968@gmail.com

Amir Karim Tantray & Shyam Sood

Tribune News Service

Jammu/Rajouri, March 18

Five members of a family were killed as the Pakistan army shelled civilian areas in Balakote sector of Poonch district on Sunday morning.

Two girls  Nasreen Kouser (11) and her younger sister Mahreen Kouser (5) were seriously injured in the incident. They were shifted to Government Medical College (GMC), Jammu, after being airlifted by the Air Force from Rajouri.

Those killed were identified as Muhammad Ramzan (35), his wife Malika Bi (32) and sons Abdul Rehman (14), Muhammad Rizwan (12) and Razzaq Ramzan (7)  all resident of Devta Sargloon village. The family was having breakfast in the verandah of their house when a shell landed there.

The incident occurred around 8 am. Five of them were killed on the spot while two injured girls were shifted to Rajouri district hospital, from where they were airlifted to Jammu at noon.

Five soldiers have also been injured in Pakistani shelling in Balakote sector. They have been identified as sepoy G Vishnak, Subedar Deshbandhu, Rifleman B Rai, Naik Jatinder Verma and Sepoy Rahul Pandey.

Jammu-based PRO (Defence) Lt Col Devender Anand said the Pakistan army resorted to unprovoked firing from 7.45 am to 11.30 am along the Line of Control (LoC) using small arms, 81mm and 120mm mortars.

Pakistan continues in its cowardly design of targeting civilians, their homes and livestock in villages close to the LoC. The deliberate provocation has resulted in loss of five civilian lives, the PRO said. The Army retaliated strongly, effectively and proportionately to the dastardly act, he added.

Earlier in the day, DGP Shesh Paul Vaid wrote on his Twitter page: Due to shelling from across (LoC) in Balakote sector of Poonch, five members of a family died and two are injured who are being shifted to hospital.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti expressed anguish over the loss of lives and stressed the need for peace if we want to save people of the state.

The Pakistan army has violated the ceasefire agreement 777 times along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir till March 4 this year. The 63-day tally is half the figure for 2017, when it violated the agreement 1,411 times.

Since January 1, 10 Indian soldiers have been killed along the LoC whereas a BSF jawan also fell to the enemy bullet in Tangdhar sector on February 20.gspannu7@gmail.com

Jammu, March 18

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on Sunday said issues should be resolved through dialogue and India needs to play its role in ensuring a peaceful 21st century.

Opposing the arms race and nuclear weapons, he said violence leads to counter violence and the cycle continues unabated.

This cycle should be broken to make the world a better place to live in, the Dalai Lama said here at the first convocation of the Central University of Jammu (CUJ), which was established on August 8, 2011.

The only way to create peace is, we must develop will power no matter how complicated the situation is and try to resolve issues through dialogue, he said.

Dialogue will be successful if views of opposite parties are respected and their interests are taken into consideration, the spiritual leader said.

Indias ancient knowledge is very relevant in todays world to achieve a peaceful 21st century. The 21st century must be a century of peace and India can play a major role to achieve this goal, he said.

The world is going through immense violence and there is a threat of use of nuclear weapons, and if you think it will make the world a better place, the answer, I think, is simply no, the Dalai Lama said.

The world presently has too much violence and it seems that the 20th century belongs to armies, he said.

No matter how sincere the motivation (for violence) is and once there is involvement of military forces, it will have unpredictable consequences, the Dalai Lama warned.

Differences will always be there. But in order to face these differences, the use of force cannot be justified, the spiritual leader.

Once violence is committed, it leads to counter violence and a chain cycle, he said referring to the 2003 Iraq war.

I had written a letter to former US President George W Bush and suggested non-violent measures What happened, today the entire Arab world is engulfed (in violence). I feel a wrong policy was one of the factors that increased hatred towards the US, the Dalai Lama said.

The US, Russia and even a small country like North Korea, is developing deadly weapons and if it continues, the 21st century would be a century of disaster, he warned.

Basic human nature is more compassionate and constant anger and fear is actually eating our immune system, he said.

Mentioning Indias rich culture and ethos, he said the countrys 1,000-year-old tradition is of secularism, non-violence and religious harmony.

Indias Constitution is also based on secular credentials and according to Indian understanding it means respect for all religions. People from different faiths live peacefully in Jammu and Kashmir.

I think religious harmony is really marvelous in the whole of India and it is the only country where people of different religions live together which is something very unique in todays world, he said.

Students, who had successfully completed courses till 2017, were conferred degrees, gold medals and merit certificates at the CUJ convocation.  PTIamansharma@tribunemail.com

Indore, March 18

Renowned lawyer Ram Jethmalani on Sunday called for formation of a third front led by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to "oust Prime Minister Narendra Modi" in the next Lok Sabha elections.

Both Congress and BJP governments have been deliberately apathetic to recovery of black money stashed in "Germany and other countries", Jethmalani said, speaking to reporters here.

"They have committed a joint crime of cheating people.

Therefore, a third front of honest leaders is needed," the former Union Law Minister said.

"I want Mamata Banerjee to lead the third front to oust prime minister Narendra Modi in the next general elections. Mamata has the ability to be the prime minister," said Jethmalani, a one-time Modi supporter who later became the prime minister's bitter critic.

The senior lawyer also criticised Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and the NDA government over their policy on black money. The NDA government has no right to stay in power, he said. - PTIuttara@tribuneindia.com

New Delhi, March 18

The Lok Sabha has passed, without a debate, a Bill that will exempt political parties from scrutiny of funds they have received from abroad since 1976.

On Wednesday, the Lok Sabha passed amid chaotic protests by the opposition parties, 21 amendments to the Finance Bill, 2018. One of them was an amendment to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010, that bans overseas corporations from funding political parties.

The Representation of Peoples Act, which lays down the rules for elections, bars political parties from accepting foreign funds.

The BJP government had through the Finance Bill, 2016, amended the FCRA to make it easier for parties to accept foreign funds.

Now, it has amended it further to do away with the scope for scrutiny of a political party's funding since 1976.

In the Finance Act, 2016, in section 236, in the opening paragraph, for the words, figures and letters the 26th September, 2010, the words, figures and letters 'the 5th August, 1976' shall be substituted, the Lok Sabha website said listing amendments to Finance Bill, 2018, approved on Wednesday.

The retrospective amendment will help BJP and Congress escape the fallout of a 2014 Delhi High Court judgement that held both guilty of violating the FCRA.

The FCRA was passed in 1976. It defined a companyIndian or foreignregistered abroad or with subsidiaries abroad as a foreign firm. It was later repealed and replaced with the FCRA, 2010.

The BJP government through the Finance Act, 2016, changed the definition of a foreign company by saying a firm with less than 50 per cent of share capital held by a foreign entity would no longer be a foreign source. This amendment also came into effect retrospectively from September 2010.

Before the change approved last week, foreign funds received by a political party before September 26, 2010, when the FCRA was enacted, were open to scrutiny.

Once Clause 233 in the Finance Act 2016 was passed, BJP and Congress simultaneously withdrew appeals in the Supreme Court against a Delhi High Court verdict that held them in violation of the law on foreign funding.

The Lok Sabha on Wednesday adopted the annual Budget for 2018-19 by passing the Appropriation Bill, which authorises government departments to spend money from the Consolidated Fund of India, and Finance Bill, which contains taxation proposals.

The approval without debate came even though three weeks remain for the current Budget Session of Parliament. First two weeks of the session have been almost a washout due to protests over the Punjab National Bank fraud and other issues by opposition parties.

This is only the third time since 2000 that Parliament has approved the budget without debate. PTIpardeepdhull@gmail.com

New Delhi, March 18

A man has moved the Delhi High Court seeking direction to the Centre to remove the name of his wife, a Ukrainian national, from the blacklist to enable her to apply for a spouse visa to stay in India.

The man claimed the Foreigner Regional Registration Office (FRRO) has blacklisted his wife without giving any reason from granting visa, which, he said, violated his rights to enjoy his marital life and fundamental rights.

According to the plea, the woman is presently staying in Nepal as the couple was told by FRRO officials that it would be easier for them to get a spouse visa from a neighbouring country.

Justice Rajiv Shakdher issued notices to the Centre and the FRRO and sought their responses on the plea. The court listed the matter for further hearing on April 24.

Advocate Manish Tiwari, appearing for petitioner Abhay Khanna, said the mans wife Olga Khmelevska was not a threat to the security of the country and she has no criminal record.

The Central governments standing counsel Ajay Digpaul said he will file a detailed reply to the petition and as per the procedure, the man should first give a representation to the Ministry of Home Affairs which will decide it on the basis of facts of the case. He also said the foreigner woman has overstayed in India twice.

Khannas counsel submitted before the court that his wife has been to India several times on tourist visa and they got married in December 2017 in India after which she applied for a spouse visa.

Instead of a spouse visa, the woman was given an exit permit on January 17 this year, he said.

The counsel said the womans tourist visa expired on October 13, 2016 but due to an illness she was unable to travel out of India and she obtained an exit permit from the authorities and left for Ukraine in November 2016.

She again came to India after obtaining a tourist visa which was expired on May 23, 2017, but she could not travel as she was unwell and applied for an exit permit on May 31 last year, the plea said.

It added that despite repeated enquiries, the application for exit permit was not processed by the authorities and when she applied for a spouse visa, she was instead given an exit permit in February this year and was told that she has been blacklisted.

The plea said she was the one who used to take care of her mother-in-law, a cancer patient. PTIuttara@tribuneindia.com

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 18

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday launched a scathing attack on the NDA government, accusing it of having "messed up" the economy and mismanaging the dispute in Jammu and Kashmir.

At the 84th plenary session of the Congress, Singh described the government's demonetisation move as "ill-considered" and GST as "hastily implemented".

"The BJP-led government messed up the Indian economy. The ill-considered demonetisation and hastily implemented GST have destroyed small scale enterprises," he said.

READ: Sidhu vows to take Rahul to Red Fort

"The central government mismanaged the Jammu and Kashmir dispute like never before. The atmosphere in the state has been deteriorating day by day," he said.

Singh also dismissed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's comment about farmers' incomes being doubled.

"Modi said farmers' income would be doubled in six years. It is a 'jumla'-type (rhetorical) statement unlikely to be achieved," he said addressing the session.

Asserting that the UPA government achieved a "lot" under then Congress president Sonia Gandhi's guidance, Singh exuded confidence that the plenary session would chalk out the future path for the country and the party would play a "historic" role.

Change foreign policy



The Congress also vowed to dislodge the BJP government and restore the nation to what it described as an enlightened world view of the countrys first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru under the leadership of party chief Rahul Gandhi.

Moving the foreign policy resolution at the ongoing AICC session here, former minister Anand Sharma accused the central government of reducing the matter to a divisive political issue and sought the restoration of policy to bipartisanship.

The resolution was adopted unanimously.

Foreign Policy was never held hostage to domestic politics. We are saddened that the consensus on foreign policy built over the years has been disrupted by the Modi Government. This must change, Sharma earlier said introducing the resolution.

The resolution took note of the BJP leaning towards the US at the cost of relations with Russia and called for return to multi-polar world order with improvement of ties with the trusted Indian ally, Russia.

On Indias neighbourhood policy, the Congress expressed deep concerns saying: Indias voice in the neighbourhood has never been so enfeebled as it is today.

The resolution called for a cautious approach on Pakistan accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of making Pakistan a divisive domestic political issue.

We did not divide India to fight terrorism like the BJP is doing. We salute our soldiers but what did the BJP do? The PM landed in Pakistan without invitation but with gifts and ended up undermining national dignity. In return we got Pathankot and many terror attacks, Sharma said advising India for course correction in relations with China.

On Palestine the Congress reaffirmed support to the independent nation status obliquely castigating the Prime Minister for his recent policy shift towards Israel.

The resolution comprehensively condemned the existing foreign policy equating it to event management and said: Grandeur is no substitute for effective diplomacy.

The Congress also passed a resolution authorising party president Rahul Gandhi to nominate Congress Working Committee members, eliminating the need for elections. Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad introduced the resolution.

Demonetisation greatest lie

Former finance minister P. Chidambaram called the central governments November 2016 decision to scrap old highvalue bank notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 the "greatest lie" that destroyed jobs.

The Congress leader also accused the Centre of pushing people into poverty by implementing a flawed Goods and Services Tax (GST).

"There cannot be a greater lie than demonetisation," Chidambaram said after presenting the party's economic policy at the Congress plenary here.

He slammed the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for not telling the nation the total amount of demonetized currency it received back.

"Demonetisation was a big lie. The RBI is still counting and won't tell us how much money has come back," he said. With agencies

gspannu7@gmail.com

New Delhi, March 18

A PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the practice of temporary marriages and polygamy under the Muslim personal law.

The petition has opposed the practice of Nikah Halala, where a divorced woman has to remarry and then get a talaq before being able to marry her first husband, as well as Nikah Mutah and Nikah Misyarboth temporary marriages where duration of the relationship is specified and agreed upon in advance.

The petitioner, a Hyderabad-based lawyer, has also challenged the practice of polygamy, claiming that all these types of marriages under the Muslim personal law violate the fundamental rights of Muslim women.

The petition has contended that while the Muslim law allows a man to have multiple wives by way of the temporary marriages or polygamy, same permission is not extended to women.

The petition, filed through advocate R D Upadhyay, has said that a complete ban on such practices was the need of the hour.  PTIamansharma@tribunemail.com

Mumbai, March 18

Budget carrier IndiGo on Sunday had to pull out one of its A320neo planes from operation after metal chips were detected in the jet's engine oil at New Delhi airport and another aircraft due to a hydraulic leakage at Srinagar airport.

The two incidents, which took place in less than 12 hours, come days after the aviation regulator ordered the grounding of 11 A320neo planes, fitted with Pratt & Whitney (P&W) engines of a particular series, belonging to IndiGo and another budget carrier GoAir.

According to a source, the airline was forced to ground the A320neo aircraft, bearing registration number VT-ITX, after metal chips were detected in the jet's engine oil after it completed the Bengaluru-New Delhi flight this morning.

Hours later, the commander of its Delhi-Srinagar flight reported a hydraulic leakage from engine 2 of the A320neo upon its arrival at Srinagar, making it the fourth incident since the grounding of eight such planes from IndiGo's fleet on March 12.

IndiGo, however, in a statement said the aircraft was "proactively withdrawn" in Delhi for a maintenance check to attend to a defect reported by the pilot.

"These maintenance checks are part of a comprehensive programme of early detection. During the maintenance check, metal chips were observed on engine number 1, (and) number 3 bearing chip detector, which is a known concern on the Neo engine," the airline said.

Responding to the incident of hydraulic leakage, the airline, in a separate statement, said, "A320neo aircraft that operated Delhi-Srinagar was cleared after maintenance checks upon arrival at Srinagar airport. However, during engine start the Pilot-in-Command observed a hydraulic (not oil) leakage from #2 engine."

The aircraft was immediately withdrawn to investigate the hydraulic leak and the aircraft was fit to fly after engineers fixed the problem, it added.

Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had on March 12 ordered the grounding of 11 A320Neo planes fitted with P&W1100 engines beyond ESN 450 series due to recurring problems, including mid-air shutdowns.

Of these, eight belong to IndiGo and the rest are of GoAir. Another three A320Neos of IndiGo are already on the ground since February.

Today's incidents come ahead of the submission of an affidavit by the DGCA next week to the Bombay High Court, in response to a PIL, on the steps taken by it to quell the anxiety of passengers over issues related to these engines.

A city resident, Harish Agarwal, in his PIL has sought appropriate directions to the civil aviation authorities over recent reports that certain 'Pratt & Whitney (P&W) engines', which power A320neo planes, were more susceptible to engine failures.

Concerns over the safety of such planes increased with another engine failure forcing the emergency landing of an IndiGo flight at Ahmedabad airport on March 12.

This had forced the regulator to crack the whip saying that there was no concrete proposal in place at this stage to address the issue.

On March 16 too, oil chip was detected on engine 2 of the VT ITE (A320neo) at Hyderabad and the plane had to be ferried to Delhi after obtaining the DGCA's nod.

On March 13, IndiGo aircraft VT-ITH operating on the Mumbai-Delhi route had confronted the same problem.

"Both IndiGo and GoAir have been told not to refit these engines, which are spare with them in their inventory," the DGCA had said at the time of grounding the fleet.

Consequently, both IndiGo and GoAir have cancelled over 600 flights this month, with 488 flights by IndiGo alone.

On February 9, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) had issued an emergency airworthiness directive for A320neo planes fitted with P&W1100 engines having a particular serial number.

The directive followed instances of the engines shutdown during flights and rejected take-offs involving the A320neo aircraft.

On February 13, DGCA had said that it was monitoring engine glitches to ensure that safety was not compromised. - PTIvermaajay1968@gmail.com

Jupinderjit Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 18

With the national unit of the Aam Aadmi Party and 16 leaders from Punjab, including 10 MLAs, firm on keeping the party intact under the stewardship of Arvind Kejriwal, the crisis in the Punjab AAP over Kejriwals apology to Akali leader Bikram Singh Majithia seems to have blown over, for the time being.

However, a divide in the AAP legislature party is apparent with only half of the 20 MLAs choosing to attend the meeting with the party national convener in Delhi on Sunday. Kejriwal also rejected the resignations of state chief Bhagwant Mann and co-president Aman Arora, Sunam MLA. Mann did not attend the meeting.

Kejriwal is reported to have told the MLAs that he did not want to be entangled in legal cases in an election year. I have not given a clean chit to Majithia or anybody else, he is quoted to have said.

Arora ruled out a split in the party, claiming their fight against drugs and the role of politicians will continue. He said he would ask CM Capt Amarinder Singh to order a probe into the politicians links with drug peddlers.

The apology hurt party men, but they understand that his rivals are deliberately entangling him in court cases, he explained. On being kept in the dark, he said Kejriwal attributed it to communication gap.

Kejriwal will reportedly hold another meeting with the group led by Sukhpal Khaira. The latter said he would consult his colleagues.

Among those who attended the meeting were Arora, Deputy Leader of Opposition Sarvjit Kaur Manuke, KS Sandhwan, AS Sandoya, Baljinder Kaur, HS Cheema, Principal Budh Ram, Rupinder Kaur, Jai Krishan Singh Rori and MS Phillaur.Vijay C Roy

Vijay C Roy in Chandigarh

Call it his love for the motherland or his mission to provide sustainable livelihood opportunities, this Indian-Australian is spearheading what is claimed to be the most comprehensive venture to deploy his Australia expertise to train Indias huge unskilled youth. Having impacted lives of 14,000 unskilled youth and farmers across five states by skilling them through his social enterprise, UDAY, Param Singh, a 36-year-old Stanford graduate in social entrepreneurship from Central Queensland University has bigger plans for Punjab.

When I sold my first business  an International College to an ASX listed company in Australia (2015), I invested half of the sales proceeds and our family wealth in UDAY, a social enterprise to empower disadvantaged youth, rural women and farmers in India  the country I love for its mystical secrets, says Singh. What I believe is that 21st century belongs to Punjab, and we need to do in a generations time, what South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong did in 20th century.

Singh is now pooling his own resources  the proceeds from the sale of an International College at Perth  to set up North Indias first social impact incubators in Punjab. Initially, he plans to set up one such facility in Amritsar followed by Mohali, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Bathinda in next three years. The proposed centres will be set under the PPP (public-private partnership) mode. We need to leverage our strength, human capital as well as natural resources. We want to develop quality human resource by imparting valuable skills to youth and turning them into entrepreneurs, he said.

Social impact incubators

We have a vision for Punjab and believe that the solution to social issues can be achieved through social enterprises, that is, businesses that impact a large section of society, says Singh. He has signed an MoU with the state government for setting up social impact incubators. The incubator will select, support and scale impact-driven entrepreneurs to solve societys most pressing challenges. Aiming gender equality, the impact incubator will also encourage women social entrepreneurs.

The entrepreneurs will tackle social issues such as raising farmers income, agriculture (ensuring zero farmer suicide in Punjab before 2022), food processing, livelihood, child education, health and nutrition, women empowerment, clean energy, water and soil health and sustainable development goals.

Singh intends to collaborate and network with highly qualified and successful mentors from around the globe.

The roadmap

His company, Monsoon Impact Incubator will support, mentor and also fund early stage, innovation-based startups that have an impact on the lives of the people and marginal sections of society in Punjab. In the next three months, we will set up a board consisting of experts from across the nations for the effective guidance, advisory and mentorship of the incubators.

Having done Bachelor in IT from Amritsar, the Batala-based Param went to Australia in 2003 for Masters in Information System. After working as lecturer in University for a couple of years, he started his International College with other stakeholders in 2008. His career highlights include winning the Australian Indian young entrepreneur of the year award, distinguished alumnus by CQ University and Australia Global Alumni.

In Punjab he is imparting skills in the healthcare sector (Faridkot), building construction & solar sector (Hoshiarpur) and running over half-a dozen rural skill centres. Started in 2017, currently he is training around 800 youths in Punjab. We not only impart skills but also assist the youth in getting jobs, says Singh.vermaajay1968@gmail.com

IN a letter to Mr. V. Krishna Swami Iyer, Sir William Wedderburn wrote in 1907:- History is a long business and if in India we can, without bloodshed, accomplish a revolution towards liberty in one generation, it will be a happier experience than has been taken any other country, certainly not excepting this country." Eleven years after this was written by one of the truest and noblest Englishmen that ever had anything to do with the Government of India, we are still told that goal is a distant one! It will never be a near, not to say immediate goal, if the bureaucracy will have its own way. Sir William himself had no excuse for using the phrase "in one generation". When he wrote more than two generations had already passed since the enunciation of the goal of equality, which was but another name for liberty, and nearly full generation had passed since the commencement of conscious efforts towards freedom on Indias own part.pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Beijing, March 18

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang was on Sunday endorsed for a second five-year term by the countrys rubber-stamp Parliament after he was nominated by President Xi Jinping.

Li, 63, a second-ranking leader in the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC), has completed the first five-year tenure along with Xi who is now regarded as the core leader of the party placed along with party founder Mao Zedong.

Xi, 64, was on Saturday re-elected unanimously by 2,970 deputies of the National Peoples Congress (NPC), days after it ratified constitutional amendment to remove the decades old two-term limit for the president and vice president posts.

Xi was also re-elected as the Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) which is the overall high command of the two million strong Chinese military. He heads all powerful organs of power the CPC, the military and the Presidency.

Li, who maintained a low profile under Xi mainly looking after economy, was endorsed as premier for his second tenure. But significantly he was nominated by Xi, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. Other officials who got elected included Yang Xiaodu director of the national supervisory commission, a newly formed anti-corruption body with statuary powers.

Xu Qiliang and Zhang Youxia were elected as vice-chairmen of the Central Military Commission (CMC) headed by Xi.

The NPC which has approved a complete overhaul of the Chinese government is also expected to nominate a host of new officials including a new foreign minister and governor of the central bank, the Peoples Bank of China.

The NPC deputies also elected president of the Supreme Peoples Court, procurator-general of the Supreme Peoples Procuratorate, and members of the 13th NPC Standing Committee. PTIlaxmi@tribune.com

Colombo, March 18

Sri Lankas President Maithripala Sirisena on Sunday lifted a nationwide State of Emergency imposed on March 6 for the first time since the civil war following days of communal violence between majority Sinhala Buddhists and minority Muslims in the country.

President Sirisena, who returned to Sri Lanka on Saturday night from an official visit to India and Japan, removed the Emergency.

Upon assessing the public safety situation, I instructed to revoke the State of Emergency from Saturday midnight, he twitted today.

The government also blocked Facebook, WhatsApp and other social media sites following anti-Muslim violence in the central hills Kandy and Ampara districts in which three people were killed and hundreds of Muslim-owned properties, including mosques, were damaged.

Facing flak from the Opposition for not lifting the blockage on social media despite improvement in the situation, the government lifted the ban on Facebook on March 15 after officials from the US social media giant agreed to step up efforts to remove hate speech posted on its platform.

The communal violence was triggered by the death of a Sinhalese man at the hands of a mob. The government had deployed thousands of troops to restore peace.

The President decided to revoke the order in view of the improved security situation, a presidential official said. The police arrested more than 200 people for violence against Muslims. It was the first time in seven years Sri Lanka had imposed the measure.  PTIpardeepdhull@gmail.com

Washington, March 18

The US has told Pakistan that it must do more against Taliban and other terror groups operating in the country, warning that the Trump administration is ready to take unilateral measures if Islamabad failed to stop cross-border attacks from its soil.

The warning, given at a news briefing on Saturday, followed the meeting between US Vice-President Mike Pence and Pakistans Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Pakistani daily Dawn reported.

Abbasi, who was on a personal trip to see his ailing sister in the US, met Pence at the US Naval Observatory, the vice presidents official residence. The meeting was held on Saturday at the request of Abbasi.

The White House in a statement about the meeting said, Vice President Pence reiterated President Trumps request that the Government of Pakistan must do more to address the continued presence of the Taliban, Haqqani Network, and other terrorist groups operating in their country. The Vice-President stated that US efforts to eliminate terrorist groups who threaten US security and the stability of the region will continue and noted that Pakistan could and should work closer with the US, the White House said.

During the 30-minute meeting, Pence emphasised the need for immediate action from Pakistan to stop cross-border attacks.

The Dawn reported that hours after Pence-Abbasi meeting, senior Trump administration officials held a special briefing for Washington-based journalists to convey their dissatisfaction with Pakistans Afghanistan policy.

Six months after the announcement of the South Asia Policy, Pakistan is yet to take the kind of decisive actions that the US is seeking, one of the officials was quoted as saying by the Dawn.

We are continuing to look for real actions and not word on the Taliban and the Haqqani sanctuaries, the official added.

The official demanded cooperative action against terrorists from Pakistan but warned that the US was prepared to take its own measures to protect its personnel in Afghanistan if Islamabad did not take action, the daily said.

The official said that President Donald Trump was constantly monitoring progress on the South Asia policy and wanted Pakistan to do more than the bare minimum its doing now.

In his new South Asia Policy unveiled in August, Trump had called for tougher measure against Pakistan if it did not cooperate the US in its fight against terrorism.

In his first tweet of the New Year, Trump had accused Pakistan of basing its relationship with the US on nothing but lies and deceit.

Days after his tweet, the US suspended over USD 1.15 billion in security aid and the delivery of military equipment to Pakistan for failing to clamp down on the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network terror groups.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani last month proposed peace talks with the Taliban. PTIlaxmi@tribune.com

Moscow, March 18

Russian President Vladimir Putin won a landslide re-election victory on Sunday, extending his rule over the worlds largest country for another six years at a time when his ties with the West are on a hostile trajectory.

Putins victory will extend his total time in office to nearly a quarter of a century, until 2024, by which time he will be 71. Only Soviet dictator Josef Stalin ruled for longer. Putin has promised to use his fourth term to beef up Russia's defences against the West and to raise living standards.

In a widely expected outcome, an exit poll by state-owned pollster VTsIOM showed Putin, who has dominated the political landscape for the last 18 years, had won 73.9 per cent of the vote. The Central Election Commission, speaking after almost a third of the votes had been counted, put Putin on 73 per cent.

Backed by state TV, the ruling party, and credited with an approval rating around 80 per cent, his victory was never in doubt. His nearest challenger, Communist Party candidate Pavel Grudinin, got just over 11 per cent, according to exit polls, while nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky got around 6 per cent.

None of the seven candidates who ran against him posed a threat, and opposition leader Alexei Navalny was barred from running. Critics alleged that officials had compelled people to come to the polls to ensure that voter boredom at the one-sided contest did not lead to a low turnout.

Russias Central Election Commission recognised that there were some irregularities, but was likely to dismiss wider criticism and declare the overall result legitimate. Putin loyalists said the result was a vindication of his tough stance towards the West.

I think that in the United States and Britain theyve understood they cannot influence our elections, Senator Igor Morozov said on state television.

Valentina Matviyenko, a close Putin ally and speaker of the upper house of parliament, hailed the victory as a moral one over the West.

Our elections have proved once again ... that it's not possible to manipulate our people, she said. People came together. No other country in the world has such open and transparent elections.

The immediate question is if and when opponents like Navalny organise protests, citing fraud, and how large and sustained those protests will be. A senior opposition politician has warned they could descend into street clashes if police crack down too hard on demonstrators.

The longer-term question is whether Putin will soften his anti-Western rhetoric now the election is won.

Putin's bellicose language reached a crescendo before the election in a state-of-the-nation speech when he unveiled new nuclear weapons, saying they could hit almost any point in the world and evade a US-built missile shield.  Reuterslaxmi@tribune.com

Istanbul, March 18

Turkish forces and their Syrian rebel allies swept into the northwestern Syrian town of Afrin on Sunday, raising their flags in the town centre and declaring full control after an eight-week campaign to drive out Kurdish YPG forces.

A spokesman for the rebel fighters said they entered Afrin before dawn, meeting no resistance. A war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said pockets of YPG fighters were defying orders to withdraw, but Turkish forces were in control.

The fight for Afrin, a once stable pocket of northwest Syria, has opened a new front in Syrias multi-sided civil war and highlighted the ever greater role of foreign powers in the seven-year-old conflict.

Ankara says Syrian Kurdish YPG fighters are an extension of a militant group waging an insurgency inside Turkey, and vowed to crush what it described as a terror corridor of YPG-controlled territory along Turkeys southern border with Syria.

It launched its campaign eight weeks ago and threatened to extend the offensive to another Kurdish-controlled region further east where US forces are stationed alongside the YPG, Washingtons ally against Islamic State in Syria.

Afrin city centre is under control as of 8:30 this morning, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told a rally commemorating the World War One Gallipoli campaign, adding that Turkish and Free Syrian Army flags had been raised in the town centre.

Most of the terrorists have fled with tails between their legs. Our forces and members of the Free Syrian Army are cleaning the remains and the traps they left behind, Erdogan said. In the centre of Afrin, symbols of trust and stability are waving instead of rags of terrorists.

A Whatsapp group run by the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces said Turkish and Syrian rebel troops tore down a statue in Afrin, in what it called a blatant violation of Kurdish peoples culture and history.

Turkeys armed forces said troops were combing the streets for bombs. The army, posted a video it said was filmed in the centre of Afrin, showing a tank stationed under a balcony draped in the Turkish flag, with an FSA banner being waved.  ReutersThe domain turkeytelegraph.com may be for sale. Please click here to inquireHead of UNDP concludes three-day visit to Zimbabwe

17 March 2018, Harare  UNDP Administrator, Mr. Achim Steiner who is also Vice Chair of the UN Development Group has concluded his three-day visit to Zimbabwe today with a meeting with His Excellency President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa.

Mr. Steiner noted progress in the preparations for the election, the expressed commitment to hold credible and peaceful election and the ongoing reforms to attract investors and spur on economic recovery. The UNDP Administrators visit is the first high-level UN official visit since many years, signaling UN and UNDPs continued support to the people of Zimbabwe.

During his visit, Mr. Steiner also met with Vice President Honourable Chiwenga, and Ministers of Finance, Justice, Lands and Agriculture, Health, and Environment as well as Development Partners and the UN Country Team. Meetings were also held with representatives of parliamentary political parties, representatives of civil society organizations and the private sector. He met with the independent institutions: Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission, and the Gender Commission.

Noting election are first and foremost for Zimbabweans, Mr. Steiner welcomed President Mnangagwas election pledge for a credible and peaceful election as an important milestone for a successful transition and key to the countrys future trajectory of international re-engagement and economic recovery. UNDP is committed to continue supporting the preparatory process for the election and economic recovery efforts, said Mr. Steiner.

His comments come after the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) launched a country-wide Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) process in October of last year as part of the preparations for election. Some 5.4 million voters have so far been registered and the process is ongoing at the district offices of ZEC throughout the country. UNDP, with support from the European Union and Japan, as well as many Civil Society organizations in Zimbabwe, has contributed to this landmark voter education and registration exercise. Mr. Steiner was delighted witnessing firsthand a 19-year-old register to vote for the first time using the new technology at the Mbare registration center in Harare.

In his meetings with Zimbabwean officials, Mr. Steiner also discussed ways the international community could assist Zimbabwe with its economic recovery. It is clear from my discussions with the President and other Government officials that jumpstarting Zimbabwes economic recovery is an urgent priority and we commend steps being taken by the Government in terms of policy and legal reforms to improve the ease of doing business, said Mr. Steiner.

In line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Goals, scaling up investments in Zimbabwes key sectors such as small holder farmers and Small and Medium Enterprises as well as in the social sectors (health, education, social protection) and resilience building of vulnerable communities was underlined as part of an inclusive economic and social recovery. It is commendable to note the ambition of the Ministry of Finances plans to adhere to the Abuja declaration with regards to the 15% budgetary allocation to health and the continued investments in the education sector.

UNDPs support through the $75 million Zimbabwe Resilience Building Fund  with EU, DfID and SIDA  is an important vehicle in addressing the resilience of over 800,000 people in the 18 most vulnerable districts in Zimbabwe. This is expected to be further enhanced by the climate change adaptation proposal that Zimbabwe will submit to the Green Climate Fund.

Given Zimbabwes economic reliance on its natural resources in agriculture, power, and tourism sectors, Mr. Steiner also highlighted the opportunities for investments in a green economic recovery strategy, which prioritizes sustainable investments that are job-intensive and would benefit the majority of Zimbabweans. Mr. Steiner pointed to the importance of access to electricity including significant opportunities that renewable energy could bring as a rapid, cost-effective, localized method to connecting people to energy and, hence, power the rural economy.

Discussions also covered the important role that agriculture plays in the Zimbabwean economy and hence the need to bring land into full productivity. Governments commitment in settling pending land issues and land tenure is an important step for all farmers and a catalyst for agro-business transformation and a positive signal to investors. In addition, issues of the alignment of laws to the Constitution, support for the implementation of Universal Periodic Review recommendations and promotion of human rights were raised.

Mr. Steiner also had an opportunity to visit a health clinic with the Minister of Health and Child Care, witnessing the benefits of the #Solar4Health programme supported by the Global Fund ensuring continued energy for the clinic which is serving 200 outpatients per day and 215 childbirths per month. This clinic is one of 405 health locations across the country which will be powered by solar under this initiative.

In Zimbabwe, the UN family with support from its development partners, delivered $409 million in 2017, through projects and programmes across the country. UNDP accounts for $200 million of this support around four pillars: inclusive growth and sustainable livelihoods; democratic governance; climate change and resilience building; and HIV and AIDS programmes.

Mr. Steiner also launched, in Harare, the Zimbabwe National Human Development Report on Climate Change and Human Development, the countrys first Human Development Report in 15 years.

For more information and media requests, please contact:

In New York, Christina LoNigro, Press Secretary, United Nations Development Programme - christina.lonigro@undp.org;



In Harare, Sirak Gebrehiwot, Communications Specialist, UN Resident Coordinators Office - sirak.gebrehiwot@one.un.org.The votes are in! Get a recap of the 2021 Election.

The votes are in! Get a recap of the 2021 Election.

Subscribe now>ASEAN, Australia issue Joint Statement

The following is the full statement:

JOINT STATEMENT OF THE ASEAN-AUSTRALIA SPECIAL SUMMIT:

THE SYDNEY DECLARATION

Sydney, Australia, 18 March 2018

1. We, the Heads of State/Government of the Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Australia, met in Sydney, Australia, on 18 March 2018 for the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit, the first time we have met together in Australia.

2. We acknowledge that the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit marks a new era in the increasingly close ASEANAustralia relationship, elevated to a Strategic Partnership in 2014. This Summit reaffirms that we are partners with a vital stake in a dynamic region undergoing major changes. We commit to intensify our shared work to shape a secure and prosperous region for our people.

3. We reaffirm our commitment to ASEANs central role in the evolving rules-based regional architecture that is open, transparent, inclusive, and promotes stability and prosperity through ASEAN-led mechanisms. We recognise the critical role a strong, united, resilient and innovative ASEAN can play in fostering peace, stability and inclusive growth, and the contributions of ASEAN over the past 50 years towards regional peace and prosperity. We appreciate Australias contribution to ASEAN Community Building, including through support for the implementation of ASEAN 2025: Forging Ahead Together.

4. We share a strong commitment to regional peace and security as well as peaceful resolution of disputes, including FINAL FINAL 2 full respect for legal and diplomatic processes, the exercise of self-restraint, without resorting to the threat or use of force in accordance with universally recognised principles of international law, and the rules-based regional and international order. We recognise the vital role regional and multilateral institutions play in fostering cooperation, peace and prosperity.

5. We reaffirm our mutual respect for the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity, equality, non-interference and political independence of all nations as espoused in the Charter of the United Nations, the ASEAN Charter and the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC). The principles of mutual benefit, shared responsibility to promote peace and security, prosperity and sustainable development are central to further strengthening our strategic partnership.

Our Regions Security

6. We unequivocally condemn in the strongest terms terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. We reiterate our commitment to work together even more closely to enhance regional cooperation to counter terrorism, including to prevent and suppress the flow of foreign terrorist fighters in our region, and address the underlying factors and conditions that contribute to the growth and spread of violent extremism and radicalisation. The Memorandum of Understanding between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Government of Australia on Cooperation to Counter International Terrorism signed on 17 March 2018 will deepen and expand our strong existing cooperation.

7. We have grave concerns about the escalation of tensions in the Korean Peninsula including the DPRKs nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, which threaten regional and global peace and security. We strongly urge the DPRK to immediately and fully comply with its obligations under all relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions (UNSCR) and call on all UN Member States to fully implement relevant UNSCRs. We reiterate our support for the complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner as well as initiatives towards establishing peace in the Korean Peninsula. We welcome efforts to improve inter-Korea relations. We also welcome ASEANs readiness to play a constructive role in contributing to peace and stability in the Korean peninsula.

8. Given our significant maritime interests, we affirm our shared views of the importance of the peaceful use of seas and oceans, which are vital to our economic well-being.

9. We reaffirm the importance of maintaining and promoting peace, stability, maritime safety and security, freedom of navigation and overflight in the region. We emphasise the importance of non-militarisation and the need to enhance mutual trust and confidence, exercise selfrestraint in the conduct of activities and avoid actions that may complicate the situation. We reaffirm the need for states to pursue the peaceful resolutions of disputes, in accordance with universally recognised principles of international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and to comply with the relevant standards and recommended practices by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO). In this regard, we support the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of the Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) in its entirety and look forward to an early conclusion of an effective Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC).

10. We will further enhance our efforts to tackle shared and complex maritime issues, including food security and livelihoods, piracy and armed robbery against ships and other crimes at sea, along with improved vessel search safety capability, as well as through implementation of the EAS Statement on Enhancing Regional Maritime Cooperation.

11. We rededicate ourselves to strengthening our longstanding cooperation on law enforcement, customs and immigration in countering transnational crime in the region, including illicit drug trafficking, arms smuggling, illicit trafficking of wildlife and timber, cybercrime and other emerging forms of transnational crime. We reaffirm our commitment to enhance cooperation to combat trafficking in persons and people smuggling and promote safe, orderly and regular migration.

12. To bolster peace and security in our region, we commit to enhancing and expanding the scope and sophistication of our defence cooperation both through bilateral and regional mechanisms, including the ARF and the ADMM Plus.

Our Future Prosperity

13. As highly trade-oriented economies, we reaffirm our support to enhance trade and investment as well as resisting all forms of protectionism to improve regional development and prosperity. We are committed to free and open markets and underline the critical importance of the rules-based multilateral trading system. We will redouble our efforts to deepen ASEAN-Australia economic integration and cooperation, including sharing technical expertise and other capacity building measures; strengthening sub-regional cooperation frameworks as test beds to accelerate the development and implementation of ASEAN agreements; intensifying engagement in regional trade negotiations; effective review of non-tariff measures which create unnecessary obstacles to trade, in accordance with the Agreement Establishing the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area and by fostering sustainable and inclusive economic growth, a competitive business environment, job creation, innovation and entrepreneurship in support of the ASEAN Economic Community.

14. With cyber technology becoming a central enabler in the economy, we commit to deepening cooperation on cyber security and digital trade issues. We have a shared commitment to promote an open, secure, stable, accessible and peaceful ICT environment consistent with each states respective domestic laws and regulations. We affirm our commitment to promoting international stability for cyberspace based on existing international law, cooperative capacity building, practical confidence building measures, voluntary, and non-binding norms of responsible behaviour taking reference from the 2015 Report of the UN Group of Governmental Experts on Developments in the Field of Information and Telecommunications in the Context of International Security. We will also promote sustainable and inclusive economic growth and prosperity, through supporting digital trade, entrepreneurship, help developing a digital-ready workforce, and promoting our region's further integration into the global marketplace.

15. We recognise the critical role of quality, sustainable and transparent infrastructure development, facilitating access to finance, and smart and sustainable urban planning in our growing cities in improving economic growth and integration in our region. ASEAN welcomes Australias continued support for this agenda including through implementation of the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity (MPAC) 2025.

16. We will support our private sectors to strengthen their business ties, including through enhancing dialogue between ASEAN-Australia business chambers, peak industry bodies and policy-makers. We will continue to improve outcomes for business through measures to enhance trade and investment flows within the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area and deepen ASEAN economic integration. We will foster innovation, and promote competition, financial inclusion and entrepreneurship. A key focus will be enabling Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to benefit from digital transformation and further integrate into regional value chains.

17. We commit to intensify efforts in 2018 towards a swift conclusion of a modern, comprehensive, high quality, and mutually beneficial Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

18. We will promote open, dynamic and competitive economies that benefit all of our people, and promote good governance, including through womens economic empowerment. We will work together to ensure that trade and investment enhance inclusive, sustainable growth. ASEAN welcomes Australias continued support to narrow the development gap within ASEAN including through the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI). We also reaffirm our shared commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals and welcome the efforts to promote complementarities between the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

19. We will cooperate to conserve and sustainably use marine resources in accordance with international law, notably the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and address threats to these resources including illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

Our People

20. ASEAN and Australia share long-standing, deep and dynamic social and cultural connections. We commit to strengthening even further our people-to-people links, with a special focus on investing in enduring connections between future leaders. We welcome the contribution of the New Colombo Plan in building youth links and commit to deepening our highly successful education and sport exchange programs including the Australia Awards, the Endeavour Scholarships and Fellowships and programs under the Australia-ASEAN Council.

21. We are committed to the promotion of common values such as peace, harmony, intercultural understanding, the rule of law, good governance, respect, trust, tolerance, inclusiveness, moderation, social responsibility and diversity.

22. We share a commitment to advancing gender equality and the empowerment of women in our region in order to realise sustained, inclusive peace and prosperity and economic development, as well as removing barriers to womens full participation in the economy. We also commit to the principles of the women, peace and security agenda and to strengthen collaboration on promoting the role of women in building and sustaining peace. The meaningful inclusion of women in all aspects of peace and security processes helps to prevent conflict, secures durable peace, and supports economic recovery and growth.

23. We renew our resolve to promote and protect the human rights of our peoples, including through the work of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights and the Australian Human Rights Commission as well as the ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children. We will continue to enhance our dialogue and cooperation on the promotion and protection of human rights as embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other applicable international human rights instruments to which we are all parties.

24. We will continue to strengthen our regions resilience by cooperating on disaster risk reduction and management and planning, including supporting the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management. We will also work together to combat infectious and communicable diseases, address other growing health challenges including aging, as well as enhance pandemic preparedness by supporting effective monitoring prevention and response systems.

25. We support actions to address climate change, in particular the effective and full implementation of the Paris Agreement and relevant goals and targets under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. We will continue to promote integrated water resources management; sustainable management of forests; use of renewable and alternative energy sources and green technology; sustainable management of coastal and marine environment and biodiversity conservation and management. We will strengthen such cooperation in international and regional forums, including collaboration with the ASEAN Working Group on Climate Change and the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity.

26. We support ASEANs efforts in the implementation of ASEAN Consensus on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers.

Further Dialogue and Cooperation

27. We commit to continue political dialogue at the Head of State/Government level, building on our extensive ministerial and senior officials-level dialogue, through future biennial ASEAN-Australia Leaders Summits; strengthening regional security architecture in support of the rules-based regional order, particularly the East Asia Summit as the regions premier Leaders-led strategic forum; and to enhance collaboration in regional and international forums.

28. We will continue to cooperate on the full and effective implementation of the Plan of Action to Implement the ASEAN-Australia Strategic Partnership (2015- 2019).

29. We welcome initiatives arising from this Summit covering the areas of counter-terrorism; counter trafficking in persons; cyber security and digital trade; defence; maritime; economic; urbanisation and infrastructure; connectivity; education; health; and women, peace and security to further strengthen our strategic partnership. We look forward to further consultations in the implementation of these initiatives.

Adopted in Sydney, Australia on the Eighteenth Day of March of the Year Two Thousand and Eighteen.Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May delivers her speech at the Conservative Party's Spring Forum in London on Mar 17, 2018. (Photo: AFP/Simon Dawson)

Amid escalating tensions with Moscow over the poisoning of a former double agenton British soil, May warned that she would "never tolerate a threat to the life of British citizens and others on British soil from the Russian government," to strong applause from party members.

May's last major party conference appearance ended in disaster as a cough, a prankster and a collapsing backdrop undermined her speech - intended to restore her authority following last year's disastrous snap general election in which the Conservatives lost their parliamentary majority.

A pre-Christmas breakthrough with the European Union in Brexit negotiations gave her a boost, but she was again under pressure after pro-EU rebels within her centre-right party delivered her a stinging parliamentary defeat.

However, she arrived at the Conservatives' spring forum in London with renewed authority.

Her decision to expel 23 Russian diplomats and suspend high-level contacts received cross-party and media support, but more importantly rallied the Conservatives, heralding a ceasefire in the bitter internal row over Brexit.

May began her speech, which took place shortly after Russia announced tit-for-tat expulsions of British diplomats, by accusing Moscow of being in "flagrant breach of international law and the Chemical Weapons Convention."

She also said that "Russian aggression is the very antithesis of the liberal and democratic values that define the United Kingdom."

But behind the bravado, members on both sides of the Brexit debate are still scrutinising May's every word for clues on her position, and she largely avoided the issue on Saturday, exploiting the rare spirit of unity to focus on her domestic agenda.

POLL BOOST

May, 61, insisted that the Conservative Party "cares deeply" about public services, and spoke about the impact that the National Health Service had had on treating her diabetes.

She also told the party, in office since 2010, that it "must mount a determined effort" to "win and keep" the public's trust in its management of government services.

"Some people question our motives. They wonder whether we care enough about our NHS (National Health Service) and schools," she said.

"Whether we truly respect the people who work in them. And understand that people rely on them.

"I know what our answer would be. Everyone in this party cares deeply about our public services. We use them. Many of us rely on them."

A YouGov poll of 1,986 adults for The Times newspaper out Friday put the Conservatives on 42 per cent support and the Labour main opposition on 39 per cent.

Some 53 per cent said May had responded well to the Salisbury attack, while 23 per cent thought she had responded badly.

Sixty percent supported, and 14 per cent opposed, the measures May has taken, such as expelling the Russian diplomats.

For Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, 18 per cent thought he had responded well and 39 per cent said he had responded badly.Defendant Dinh La Thang at the first trial two months ago

According to the proposal of the court, while serving as the chairman of PetroVietnam, Dinh La Thang signed co-operation arrangement No.6934 dated September 18, 2008 to contribute capital to Ocean Commercial One Member Limited Liability Bank (OceanBank), chaired by Ha Van Tham.

Thang made this decision knowing full well that OceanBank was in a weak position and without meeting the Board of Management. He signed the resolution for the capital contribution without the approval of the prime minister, which was not in line with the regulations of the Ministry of Finance (MoF) and the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV).

The VND800 billion ($35.3 million) was divided into installments to contribute to OceanBank. Dinh La Thang and other defendants committed several violations during the contributions. On October 14, 2008, MoF sent a document to ask PetroVietnam for a detailed report on OceanBanks financial status before the contribution, but the group did not respond.

The first capital contribution of VND400 billion ($17.6 million) took place at the end of 2008 when OceanBank issued stakes to raise charter capital to VND2 trillion ($88.1 million) from VND1 trillion ($44 million). PetroVietnam contributed VND400 billion ($17.6 million) of this, equivalent to 20 per cent of OceanBanks charter capital, and all the staff of the group contributed another VND200 billion ($8.8 million), equaling 10 per cent.

After the contribution to become the strategic shareholder of OceanBank, Dinh La Thang signed a document directing and requesting PetroVietnams subsidiaries and contractors to create accounts and use the services of OceanBank.

The second capital contribution to OceanBank took place at the end of 2010. OceanBank asked Thang to raise the charter capital and he approved. On August 6, 2010, Dinh La Thang signed a document to purchase OceanBanks additional capital and submitted it to the prime minister for approval.

On October 7, 2010, the Government Office responded to PetroVietnam, reminding them PetroVietnam to consider and balance capital, If the banks financial status is difficult, PetroVietnam should not hold 20 per cent of OceanBanks charter capital.

However, Thang and other leaders of PetroVietnam still agreed to raise capital in OceanBank, making a second contribution of VND300 billion ($13.2 million).

In middle of 2011, OceanBanks chairman Ha Van Tham suggested to increase charter capital and requested PetroVietnam to contribute. The third capital contribution of PetroVietnam to this bank was VND100 billion ($4.4 million).

As a result, PetroVietnams total capital contribution to OceanBank was VND800 billion ($35.3 million). Article 55(2) of the 2010 Law on Credit Institutions states: An institutional shareholder may not own over 15 per cent of the charter capital of a credit institution.

In 2015, OceanBank went into the red and was acquired at VND0. In the aftermath, a lot of leaders and bank staff were prosecuted, and PetroVietnam lost its contributions of VND800 billion ($35.3 million). The statement of the court confirmed that the loss seriously damaged state assets and PetroVietnam.

In 2015, OceanBank went into the red and was acquired at VND0. In the aftermath, a lot of leaders and bank staff were prosecuted, and PetroVietnam lost its contributions of VND800 billion ($35.3 million). The statement of the court confirmed that the loss seriously damaged state assets and PetroVietnam.

In December 2017, Dinh La Thang was arrested for involvement in deliberate violations of state regulations on economic management and causing serious economic damages (Article 165 of the Penal Code) during his term as PetroVietnams chairman (2009-2011), before becoming Minister of Transport.

Recently, on January 22, after 14 days of trial and deliberation of the case related to PetroVietnam and PetroVietnam Construction Corporation (PVC), Dinh La Thang was sentenced to 13 years of imprisonment for intentionally violating state regulations on economic management and causing serious consequences.

The court stated that PetroVietnam was put in charge of the Thai Binh 2 thermal power plant project that carried a total investment capital sum of VND31.5 trillion ($1.4 billion).

Without any bidding procedures, on June 18, 2010, Dinh La Thang signed the resolution to assign PVC the EPC package in the form of a bidding appointment. Despite being the official contractor to implement Contract No.33 since October 11, 2011, PetroVietnam paid advances of over $6.6 million and VND1.3 trillion ($58 million). These amounts were spent for the wrong purposes and Dinh La Thang played the mastermind role in this case.Facebook suspends Trump campaign data firm Cambridge Analytica, photo AFP

According to the New York Times and Britain's Observer, the company stole information from 50 million Facebook users' profiles in the tech giant's biggest-ever data breach, to help them design software to predict and influence voters' choices at the ballot box.

Also suspended were the accounts of its parent organisation, Strategic Communication Laboratories, as well as those of University of Cambridge psychologist Aleksandr Kogan and Christopher Wylie, a Canadian data analytics expert who worked with Kogan.

Cambridge Analytica was bankrolled to the tune of US$15 million by US hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer, a major Republican donor. The Observer said it was headed at the time by Steve Bannon, a top Trump adviser until he was fired last summer.

"In 2015, we learned that ... Kogan lied to us and violated our Platform Policies by passing data from an app that was using Facebook Login to SCL/Cambridge Analytica, a firm that does political, government and military work around the globe," Facebook said in a posting late on Friday by its vice president and deputy general counsel Paul Grewal.

Kogan also improperly shared the data with Wylie, it said.

Kogan's app, thisisyourdigitallife, offered a personality prediction test, describing itself on Facebook as "a research app used by psychologists."

Some 270,000 people downloaded the app, allowing Kogan to access information such as the city listed on their profile, or content they had "liked."

"However, the app also collected the information of the test-takers' Facebook friends, leading to the accumulation of a data pool tens of millions-strong," the Observer reported.

Facebook later pushed back against the claim of a data breach, issuing a fresh statement on Saturday that suggested the misused data was limited to those who voluntarily took the test.

"People knowingly provided their information, no systems were infiltrated, and no passwords or sensitive pieces of information were stolen or hacked," Grewal said.

Cambridge Analytica meanwhile said it was in touch with Facebook "in order to resolve this matter as quickly as possible ."

It blamed the misuse of data on Kogan and said it has since deleted all the data it received from a company he founded, Global Science Research (GSR).

"No data from GSR was used by Cambridge Analytica as part of the services it provided to the Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign," it said.

'TARGETING THEIR INNER DEMONS'

But Wylie, who later became a whistleblower, told the Observer: "We exploited Facebook to harvest millions of people's profiles. And built models to exploit what we knew about them and target their inner demons. That was the basis that the entire company was built on."

Kogan legitimately obtained the information but "violated platform policies" by passing information to SCL/Cambridge Analytica and Wylie, according to Facebook.

Facebook said it removed the app in 2015 when it learned of the violation, and was told by Kogan and everyone who received the data that it had since been destroyed.

"Several days ago, we received reports that, contrary to the certifications we were given, not all data was deleted," Grewal wrote.

"We are moving aggressively to determine the accuracy of these claims. If true, this is another unacceptable violation of trust and the commitments they made.

"We are suspending SCL/Cambridge Analytica, Wylie and Kogan from Facebook, pending further information."

BRITISH INVESTIGATION

Cambridge Analytica, the US unit of British behavioral marketing firm SCL, rose to prominence as the firm that the pro-Brexit group Leave.EU hired for data-gathering and audience-targeting.

The company is facing an investigation by Britain's parliament and regulators over its handling of information.

On Saturday, Britain's information commissioner Elizabeth Denham said: "We are investigating the circumstances in which Facebook data may have been illegally acquired and used.

"It's part of our ongoing investigation into the use of data analytics for political purposes which was launched to consider how political parties and campaigns, data analytics companies and social media platforms in the UK are using and analysing people's personal information to micro-target voters."

The New York Times meanwhile reported that copies of the data harvested for Cambridge Analytica were still online and that its team had viewed some of the raw data.The heated debate over the regulation of Grab and Uber in Vietnam

At the meeting to discuss the draft decree replacing Decree No.86/2014/ND-CP on March 8, Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The said that Grab and Uber are basically transport services that use technology to connect riders and drivers.

If Grab and Uber conducted hi-tech business alone, it should be the responsibility of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, not the Ministry of Transport (MoT), to oversee them.

He stated that the new decree, which will replace Decree 86, will have to be carefully built, especially the clauses relating to the management of the operations of Grab and Uber as taxi firms.

Minister Thes statement has provoked widespread controversy. Defining tech-based firms as traditional taxi services would be a step back for scientific and information technology development. If Grab and Uber were regulated as traditional taxi firms, it would hinder Vietnams progress to become a startup nation in the age of Industry 4.0.

Following the statement of the minister, traditional taxi associations have signed a joint petition to the prime minister, saying that the taxi system has been disrupted by the operations of Grab and Uber.

The number of licenced traditional taxis in the Ho Chi Minh City Taxi Association was reduced to less than half. Other taxi associations also witnessed a 30 per cent decline in the number of taxis.

The associations also blamed MoT on the shrinking business of taxi companies, as the ministry has facilitated Grab and Uber to participate in the ride-hailing pilot programme under Decision No.24/QD-BGTVT.

Traditional taxi firms are suffering from a decline in market share because commuters opt for new services that are faster, cheaper, and more convenient.

Dr Pham Sanh, a transport expert, said that, "The government exerted some control over tech-based companies like Grab and Uber during the ride-hailling pilot programme. However, it is important to develop a management framework for Uber and Grab. In line with global trends, there is no banning or forcing these services to leave."

China manages the ride-hailing firms as a mode of transportation, rather than banning or forcing them to leave the country. When Uber made its foray into China, the firm threatened the market shares of traditional taxi firms. However, after one year, Uber had to withdraw from China as traditional taxis have upgraded services to better serve customers.

The government should develop a legal framework that is fair, equitable, transparent, and competitive. If we ask Grab and Uber to leave Vietnam, it will cause misunderstandings among the locals. Many people are in favour of the services offered by Grab and Uber because of their benefits.

He noted that, The government should develop a legal framework that is fair, equitable, transparent, and competitive. If we ask Grab and Uber to leave Vietnam, it will cause misunderstandings among the locals. Many people are in favour of the services offered by Grab and Uber because of their benefits.

Jerry Lim, country head of Grab Vietnam, said that, Working towards a regulatory framework for e-hailing requires careful deliberation and consultation with various stakeholders. The Vietnamese government has always been a consensus-driven government and worked in the best interests of the citizens. Hence, we are very concerned about some of the points Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The has made in public on March 8.

According to Lim, driver-partners chose to come on board the Grab platform as they enjoy the flexibility and freedom to drive. Those who wish to drive full-time can do so, while those who prefer to drive at their own leisure can do so as well.

People who wish to drive using their own cars can earn additional income opportunities, too. Driver-partners certainly would not wish to go back to the old days, where they were bound by taxi operators to meet sales targets and had to endure long, fixed driving schedules and pay high commission to the taxi operator.

Commuters chose Grab because the firm has improved their lives in significant ways through technologyfrom faster rides, transparency in pricing, convenience, and comfort to safety. If driver-partners are being impacted, naturally passengers will get impacted greatly too. With less driver-partners on the streets, passengers will have a harder time getting their rides.

"Grab cannot be classified as a taxi company and return back to square one, especially with all the efforts Grab and the government made to drive Vietnams digital economy," he stressed.

In a recent visit to Vietnam, Grab co-founder Tan Hooi Ling said that Grab contributed nearly VND140 billion ($6.16 million) to the Vietnamese state budget in the first ten months of 2017. Meanwhile, the General Department of Taxation (GDT) announced the inspection results for Grabs operations from 2014 to 2016 at a press meeting on October 27, 2017. GDT confirmed that Grab Vietnam has fulfilled its tax obligations in the three-year period. This announcement is a testament to the companys on-going efforts to comply with local tax policies.

Grab decries Vietnam's plan to regulate it as taxi service Grab expressed concerns over Vietnam's plan to treat it like a taxi company, not a tech company.

Sharing services thrive amid criticism Internet-based sharing services such as Grab, Uber, and Airbnb have taken Vietnam by storm in 2017. Various legal concerns still linger, but experts believe that ...

Commercial cars to be banned on inner-city streets Ha Nois Department of Transport has asked the municipal Peoples Committee to officially ban Uber and Grab cars on 11 inner-city streets after a trial month.PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc (L) shakes hands with Lao counterpart Thongloun Sisoulith on the sidelines of the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in Canberra, Australia on March 17, 2018. Photo: VGP

The agreement was made on March 17 during their meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in Canberra, Australia.

The two PMs also pledged to urged inferior levels to discuss ways to foster bilateral trade exchanges and energy cooperation in a bid to contribute to the advancement of the traditional friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between the two neighboring countries.

PM Phuc took the occasion to ask the Lao side to further simplify procedures reduce fees in granting work permits, visa and residential cards for Vietnamese workers in Laos.

The Vietnamese Government chief also suggested Laos to continue creating favorable conditions for Vietnamese community to live and work in the country.

Thongloun Sisoulith confirmed he will attend the 6th Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS-6) Summit and the 10th Cambodia-Laos-Viet Nam (CLV-10) Development Triangle Area Summit, scheduled to take place in Ha Noi from March 29-31.

He also vowed to coordinate closely with Viet Nam and member countries of the Mekong sub-region to fruitfully realize their economic cooperation programs in the region.

PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc (M) and former US Ambassador to Viet Nam Pete Peterson in Canberra, Australia on March 17, 2018. Photo: VGP

The same day, PM Phuc also received former US Ambassador to Viet Nam Pete Peterson who got married to Le Vi, an Australian woman of Vietnamese origin.

The Vietnamese leader highly valued Petersons contributions to the process of Viet Nam-US diplomatic relation normalization and advancement of the bilateral ties.PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc at the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in Sydney, Australia on March 18, 2018. Photo: VGP

The Government chief shared the view while attending the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in Sydney, Australia on March 18.

Maritime cooperation must comply with international law, especially the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the rule of law must be the foundation for building trust and maintaining stability in the region, PM Phuc emphasized.

Countries need to have comprehensive approach to maritime cooperation, from security to environmental protection and maritime studies, he added.

PM Phuc welcomed the efforts of Viet Nam, Australia and the European Union to co-chair the Working Group of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) on maritime security for the period 2018-2020 as planned, in order to contribute to boosting peace, cooperation and trust building in the region.

He alaos stated Viet Nam welcomed Pacific-India cooperation and connectivity initiatives towards a common vision for an open region where ASEAN can promote its central role in accelerating cooperation for security and prosperity for all.

On the sidelines of the Summit, PM Phuc had bilateral meetings with Cambodian PM Samdech Hun Sen, Thai PM Pryut Chan-o-cha, Malaysian PM Najib Razak, Singaporean PM Lee Hsien Loong, and Myanmars State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi.Sheriffs office seeks help locating vandalism suspects

The St. Clair County Sheriffs Office is seeking help from the public in locating suspects involved in vandalism discovered at a pair of Fort Gratiot Township auto dealerships earlier this month.

Sheriff Tim Donnellon said the suspects used an object, possibly a key, to scratch 10 2018 Chevrolet Silverado pickup trucks in the Moran Chevrolet lot on 24th Avenue in early March.

They also scratched four Dodge Challengers and a Chrysler Pacifica on the Blue Water Chrysler lots located at Krafft Road and 24th Avenue on the night of March 3.

Anyone with information regarding the crimes is asked to call Deputy Brent Old at 810-985-8115.

Speakers, amp reported stolen from shed

Clay Township police responded to a report of theft from a shed on March 6, according to a police report. The resident told police he found the shed unlocked on March 5 after losing his keys several weeks earlier. He believed the keys were misplaced, but still in his possession, until he found the shed disturbed. When he checked the contents of the shed, he noticed two 12-inch speakers, a speaker box and an amp were missing. On March 6, the missing keys were found on top of the shed. Nothing else appeared to be taken from the shed. The resident told police he installed a new lock. There were no suspects at the time of the report. The case is closed.

Heroin dealer caught driving stolen car

Two people are facing multiple charges after police seized about $500 worth of heroin from their vehicle during a traffic stop in Kimball Township.

During an investigation into heroin sales in the area, members of the St. Clair County Drug Task Force and the St. Clair County Sheriffs Office Road Patrol Unit stopped a vehicle near Interstate 94 and Gratiot Road Shortly before 4 p.m. March 14.

The driver of the vehicle, a 40-year-old Detroit man was found to be in possession of about $500 worth of heroin and drug packaging material. He was also driving a stolen car on a suspended license, Sheriff Tim Donnellon said.

The mans passenger, a 41-year-old woman from Tucson, Arizona, was in possession of marijuana, police said.

Both were arrested and lodged at the St. Clair County Intervention and Detention Center and are facing charges including possession with intent to deliver heroin, possession of marijuana, unlawfully driving away an automobile and being an habitual offender.

Police find disabled vehicle blocking roadway

A Clay Township police officer observed a disabled vehicle partially blocking a roadway in Fair Haven on March 8, according to a police report. The car was in the southbound lane on Church Road near Marine City Highway, partially blocking the lane. Upon stopping, the officer noticed the car was up on a jack with a broken tie rod. Because the vehicle posed a traffic hazard, the officer contacted a towing company to have the vehicle removed. The case is closed.

Man charged with animal cruelty

A 75-year-old Berlin Township man was arraigned March 13 on animal cruelty charges and may face more charges in the future, police said.

Deputies from the St. Clair County Sheriffs Office Animal Control and Road Patrol divisions responded to a residence on Kimball Road in Berlin Township on Feb. 8 after a call was received regarding animals not being cared for on the property. Once deputies arrived, they saw 14 rabbits, three chickens and a duck that were deceased, as well as live animals that did not have proper living conditions, the sheriffs office said in a news release.

Contact was made with the owner of the animals, identified by police as James Chester Kimball Jr. Kimball voluntarily gave up possession of the live animals, which included 11 rabbits, four ducks, three chickens and two roosters.

The live animals were transported to Detroit Animal Welfare Group in Romeo.

Kimball was charged with animal cruelty involving 10 or more animals and burial of animals during arraignment proceedings before Judge Cynthia Platzer in Port Hurons 72nd District Court. He was given a $5,000 personal bond, with stipulations including not to obtain or possess any animals.

On the day of Kimballs arraignment, another call of animal cruelty was received for the same address. Deputies again responded and found two dead rabbits and 22 live rabbits in the same poor conditions.

Police again made contact with Kimball. He gave up the animals, which were turned over to Detroit Animal Welfare Group.

A new request of charges regarding animal cruelty has been forwarded to the St. Clair County Prosecutors Office, police said.

 Katelyn Larese and Colleen Kowalewski, The Voice(ABC News) Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe was fired Friday from the federal government, just two days before he was set to retire, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced in a statement late Friday night.

Nearly 24 hours earlier, McCabe was inside the Justice Department making the case to keep his job until Sunday when he officially qualifies for retirement benefits. His firing means his full pension -- built after nearly 22 years in government -- is in jeopardy.

President Donald Trump ripped McCabe on Twitter around midnight hours after McCabe was fired. Trump twice called it a "great day" and said McCabe was worse than regular Trump target, James Comey, the former FBI director fired by Trump last May.

In his statement Sessions said: "After an extensive and fair investigation and according to Department of Justice procedure, the Departments Office of the Inspector General (OIG) provided its report on allegations of misconduct by Andrew McCabe to the FBIs Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR)."

"The FBIs OPR then reviewed the report and underlying documents and issued a disciplinary proposal recommending the dismissal of Mr. McCabe. Both the OIG and FBI OPR reports concluded that Mr. McCabe had made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor -- including under oath -- on multiple occasions," the statement continued.

"The FBI expects every employee to adhere to the highest standards of honesty, integrity, and accountability. As the OPR proposal stated, all FBI employees know that lacking candor under oath results in dismissal and that our integrity is our brand, Sessions said.

"Pursuant to Department Order 1202, and based on the report of the Inspector General, the findings of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility, and the recommendation of the Departments senior career official, I have terminated the employment of Andrew McCabe effective immediately," the Sessions statement said.

McCabe issued his own statement saying he would no longer keep silent.

"For the last year and a half, my family and I have been the targets of an unrelenting assault on our reputation and my service to this country. Articles too numerous to count have leveled every sort of false, defamatory and degrading allegation against us. The Presidents tweets have amplified and exacerbated it all. He called for my firing. He called for me to be stripped of my pension after more than 20 years of service. And all along we have said nothing, never wanting to distract from the mission of the FBI by addressing the lies told and repeated about us."

"No more," McCabe said.

Later in his statement, McCabe accused the president of driving an effort to destroy his reputation and hurt special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.

"Here is the reality: I am being singled out and treated this way because of the role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of James Comey. The release of this report was accelerated only after my testimony to the House Intelligence Committee revealed that I would corroborate former Director Comeys accounts of his discussions with the President," the statement said.

"The OIGs focus on me and this report became a part of an unprecedented effort by the Administration, driven by the President himself, to remove me from my position, destroy my reputation, and possibly strip me of a pension that I worked 21 years to earn. The accelerated release of the report, and the punitive actions taken in response, make sense only when viewed through this lens. Thursdays comments from the White House are just the latest example of this," McCabe said.

"This attack on my credibility is one part of a larger effort not just to slander me personally, but to taint the FBI, law enforcement, and intelligence professionals more generally,' McCabe's statement continued. "It is part of this Administrations ongoing war on the FBI and the efforts of the Special Counsel investigation, which continue to this day. Their persistence in this campaign only highlights the importance of the Special Counsels work."

Friday's move by Sessions comes after FBI officials concluded McCabe should be fired for allegedly misleading internal investigators about his role two years ago in allowing an FBI spokesman and FBI attorney to disclose information about the agency's Clinton Foundationinvestigation to a reporter.

On Thursday, press secretary Sarah Sanders said McCabe's "troubling behavior" was "well-documented," insisting McCabe was "by most accounts a bad actor."

McCabe, however, has denied any wrongdoing.

I have tried at every juncture to be as accurate and of course truthful in all of my encounters with whoever was interested in asking questions, McCabe recently told ABC News. The idea of being condemned or miscast in any way contrary to that is just unbelievably disappointing and really offensive to me.

After McCabe was questioned by investigators, he said he realized he needed to clarify some of his responses, so he proactively reached out to those people to ensure that they clearly understood what my position was." He would not offer any further details.

The FBIs Office of Professional Responsibility recommended that McCabe be fired after an internal report by the Justice Departments inspector general accused the FBI veteran of misleading investigators looking into how FBI and Justice Department officials handled an array of matters connected to the 2016 presidential campaign, a source briefed on the recommendation told ABC News.

Because the inspector generals report has not been released publicly yet, its still unclear exactly why investigators believe McCabe was not forthcoming, or if McCabe is criticized for other actions. ABC News has not reviewed the report.

Over the past year, McCabe has become a frequent target of criticism from Trump and Republican lawmakers, who allege that McCabes time at the top of the FBI was emblematic of political bias in the FBIs law enforcement work.

In 2015, while McCabe was head of the FBI's Washington Field Office, his wife ran for state senate in Virginia as a Democrat. She lost the election in November 2015, and three months later McCabe became deputy director, giving him an oversight role in the investigation of Hillary Clintons use of a private email server as secretary of state.

In October 2016, the Wall Street Journal published at least one article that questioned whether McCabe was hampering the federal probe of the Clinton Foundation.

According to McCabe, he was trying to push the probe forward while the Justice Department tried to slow it.

I had not slowed our efforts, but it was part of the same theme: I was maybe politically motivated, and worse, that the FBI was being subjected to influence, McCabe said. I just thought that was incredibly damaging to the FBI."

Ahead of the storys publication, McCabe authorized an FBI spokesman to speak with the Wall Street Journal about efforts to keep the Clinton Foundation investigation moving forward, McCabe told ABC News. As the number-two at the FBI, McCabe has authority to approve such a disclosure, McCabe said.

After the Wall Street Journal story was published, McCabe recused himself from the Clinton matter.

McCabe first joined the FBI in 1996, investigating organized crime cases in New York. Over the next several years, he shifted his focus to rooting out international terrorists, and in 2012 he became the head of the FBIs counterterrorism division at headquarters in Washington.

In October 2013, McCabe took over the FBIs entire national security branch, and the next year he moved to become the assistant director in charge of the FBIs Washington Field Office.Sydney's scorching heat was on track to break hot weather records for March as the mercury continued to rise across the city on Sunday afternoon.

Beachgoers flocked to the sand and surf to make the most of sunshine and sweltering temperatures that were nearly 10 degrees higher than average for March by about 1.30pm.

The mercury dipped to 20 degrees in the city and 15 degrees in the western suburbs overnight before temperatures began to rise steadily on Sunday morning.Loading

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has played down the prospect of Labor's drubbing in the South Australian election, and earlier this month in Tasmania, playing out in the Victorian state election later this year.

And Mr Andrews has talked up Labor's victory over the Greens in the Batman byelection, saying it showed that inner-city voters wanted representatives that got things done and didn't merely "commentate from the sidelines".

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

The Premiers comments came four months after the Greens swept into the state seat of Northcote  which the ALP had held since 1927  in a byelection which set an ominous warning to Labor as it looked to hold back a rising Green tide in its once safe-inner city seats.Richard Di Natale has blamed internal "sabotage" for the party's failure to win the Batman byelection, as the Greens leader faces an internal backlash over the loss and disgruntled members accuse the party of "machiavellian" politics.

The byelection for the inner-Melbourne seat was triggered by the resignation of Labor MP David Feeney amid the dual citizenship fiasco, but the poll quickly shifted to questions about the Adani coal mine and refugee policy.

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Party strategists have blamed the focus on these national issues, the strong personal appeal of Labor candidate Ged Kearney, bullying allegations against Greens candidate Alex Bhatal and claims of a preference deal between Labor and the Australian Conservatives for the shock loss to Labor on Saturday.The Turnbull government is aiming to have the Senate vote on its company tax cuts within two weeks as it intensifies its crossbench lobbying efforts, needing One Nation to soften previously staunch opposition to give the legislation any chance of success.

The bill to gradually lower the tax rate from 30 per cent to 25 per cent for companies with a turnover of more than $50 million has been rejected by Labor and the Greens, meaning the government must find the required votes from the minor parties and independents.

"We have scheduled to start the debate on Wednesday. Let's see how long the debate takes. It certainly would be our intention to have this voted on by the end of this fortnight," Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, the government's leader in the Senate, told ABC radio on Monday morning.

The government wants a vote on its company tax cuts this fortnight. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

"It's a very important reform designed to ensure that businesses across Australia are not disadvantaged with businesses around the world they compete with who have the advantage of significantly lower tax rates."Donald Trump Jr and his wife Vanessa. Credit:AP

Last Thursday evening in New York, Vanessa Trump, 40, officially filed for divorce from her husband of 12 years, Donald Trump Jr., in Manhattan Supreme Court.

Vanessa, a former model, shares five children with Trump Jr. But it was only three weeks after the birth of their third, a boy named Tristan, in November 2011, that Trump Jr. started sending flirtatious texts to another former model, Melissa Stetten. And she kept them on file.

"Surprised his marriage didnt work out since he was sending me DMs a month after his wife gave birth," Stetten tweeted after learning about the divorce proceedings.

She went on to explain, "I tweeted a joke about pulling a muscle changing a tampon and he replied asking if I smelled bacon? Cool joke."Dubai: Students who survived the Florida school shooting that killed 17 people say the US should look to Australia if it wants to prevent another tragedy.

After weeks of funerals, tears and flashbacks, three teenagers from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School have taken their campaign for gun control overseas.

Three survivors of the Florida school shooting speak about their harrowing experience and the importance of learning in a safe space

Lewis Mizen, a 17-year-old who hid in a cupboard as a gunman opened fire on his classmates last month, singled out Australia and Japan as model countries for gun reform.

Australia had a very rampant gun culture and after a mass shooting they immediately changed their laws and there hasnt been a mass shooting since, he told Fairfax Media at the Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai.Mr Shorten said Saturday's win was just one step in Labor's campaign to take federal government, with a swipe at his opponent, Prime Minster Malcolm Turnbull, for not fielding a candidate in Batman. "We congratulate Alex Bhathal and the Greens political party because at least they turned up," Mr Shorten said. "Malcolm Turnbull couldn't even be bothered turning up."

Greens leader Richard Di Natale concedes defeat next to candidate Alex Bhathal. Credit:AAP The Greens conceded just before 9.30pm that they had probably lost the byelection. Leader Richard Di Natale, federal MP Adam Bandt and Ms Bhathal addressed a disappointed crowd. Dr Di Natale congratulated Ms Kearney and Labor for winning "a tough campaign". He said the vote had been neck and neck on primaries but preferences from right-wing parties had cost the Greens.

"It looks like we're just going to fall short," Dr Di Natale said. But he said the Greens also lost Melbourne in a close contest one election before ultimately winning the seat. Ms Bhathal said it had been a difficult campaign for her and her family, in an implicit acknowledgement of the toll internal and unproven bullying allegations had taken. Labor supporters celebrate. Credit:Luis Ascui She wished Ms Kearney well in Canberra, and said it had been noted by many that regardless of the outcome, Batman would have a strong, progressive woman representing the seat in parliament.

"I know that many of you will be hurting tonight, it was not the result we all wanted but ... we'll go on to fight other fights and keep standing up for what we believe in," Ms Bhathal said. "Of course we will because we're from Batman, the most progressive seat in the country." Ms Bhathal would not rule out running for Batman again at the next federal election. Mr Bandt said that Batman was still one of the most marginal seats in the country and within range for the Greens. "If it's not this time, we'll get ...in next time," he said.

Earlier, the Greens appeared confident of snatching a second lower house seat from Labor, while Mr Shorten conceded the party was in a tough fight to hold on. At a post-poll gathering in Preston, Mr Bandt warmed up the excited crowd, telling them he hoped it would be the last time he took to a stage as Australia's only federal lower-house Greens MP. Federal Greens MP Adam Bandt addresses supporters at the Greens election night party in Preston. Credit:AAP "Whatever the result, one thing is crystal clear," he said.

"The Greens are on the march everywhere, and never again will parties be able to go to an election thinking that if they beat up on refugees they will win, if they open a new coal mine they will win." With Greens support strongest in the gentrified southern part of the electorate at 2016's federal election, interest turned to whether Labor could hold off a swing in working-class suburbs such as Reservoir and Bundoora in the seat's north. Ged Kearney and Bill Shorten claiming victory in Batman. Credit:AAP Earlier, Labor blitzed voters with 10,000 robo-calls and 2400 texts on Saturday, urging senior citizens to get out and vote, following reports that some older people had received phone calls telling them they didn't have to vote.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Western Australia's newest MP David Honey has already had to fend off speculation he's interested in the state Liberal leadership.

The former state party president easily retained the seat of Cottesloe, replacing former premier Colin Barnett.

David Honey. Credit:Linkedin

Even before polls closed on Saturday, Mr Honey, was rejecting suggestions he was some type of "Messiah" for the Liberals in WA.

"No, I'm someone who hopes they can do a good job for the residents of Cottesloe as a representative and can do everything in parliament to maximise the outcomes for the opposition," he said.A group of Perth housemates have gone viral after hosting a 'Galati party' at their Bayswater home, with the surprise guest of honour none other than the Spud King himself.

Housemate Stephen Hardy told WAtoday the share house had been nicknamed the Spud Shed after years of joking between the housemates and their friends.

See if you can spot the real thing. Credit:Stephen Hardy

"With the house that we live in, we've always thought it looked like a Spud Shed," he said.

"So a while ago, we started calling our house the Spud Shed and it kind of just stuck.Cambridge Analytica, a firm specialising in using online data to create voter personality profiles in order to target them with political messages, ran data operations for Donald Trump's presidential campaign.

Facebook said it was suspending the accounts of Strategic Communication Laboratories, the parent company of Cambridge Analytica, as well as the accounts of a University of Cambridge psychologist Aleksandr Kogan, and Christopher Wylie of Eunoia Technologies.

San Franscisco : Facebook is suspending the Trump-affiliated data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica, after learning that it failed to delete data that it had taken inappropriately from users of the social network.

The company was funded by Trump supporter and hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer, and former Trump senior adviser Stephen Bannon once sat on its board. The company, which began working for the Trump campaign in June 2016, promised that its so-called "psychographic" profiles could predict the personality and political leanings of every adult in the United States.

The analytics firm was asked in December to turn over internal documents to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, as part of the investigation into collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election.

Facebook said that Kogan had requested and gained access to information from 270,000 Facebook members after they chose to download his app. The app, "thisisyourdigitallife," offered a personality prediction, and billed itself on Facebook as "a research app used by psychologists".

The Facebook members gave their consent for Kogan to access information such as the city they set on their profile, the content they had liked, as well as some limited information about friend groups and contacts. Kogan then broke Facebook's policies and passed the information to Cambridge and to Wylie. Facebook learned about Kogan's activities in 2015.London: British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Sunday that Russia had been stockpiling the deadly nerve agent used to poison a Russian former double agent in England.

He accused the Russian government of investigating how weapons such as nerve agents could be used in assassinations.

Britain has said Russia used a Soviet-era nerve agent called Novichok to attack Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the first known use of such a weapon on European soil since World War Two. Russia has denied any involvement.

"We actually have evidence within the last 10 years that Russia has not only been investigating the delivery of nerve agents for the purposes of assassination, but has also been creating and stockpiling Novichok," Johnson told the BBC.EASTER SUNDAY SUNRISE SERVICES SCHEDULED

AT JUMP OFF ROCK AND ON CHIMNEY ROCK

JUMP OFF

Henderson County Churches Uniting will host an Easter sunrise service with the Rev. Mary Apicella, pastor of Providence Baptist Church, at 7 a.m., April 1 at Jump Off Rock in Laurel Park.

Carpools will run from First Congregational Church parking lot at the corner of Fifth Avenue West and White Pine Drive.

Arrive prior to 6:30 a.m. to join the carpools, which will bring everyone back to First Congregational Church, where breakfast will be served.

ON THE ROCK...AT CHIMNEY ROCK

Celebrate the glory of Easter with song, scripture and spiritual music as a spectacular sunrise ascends over Lake Lure.

Chimney Rocks nondenominational annual Easter sunrise service has become a legendary event in Western North Carolina, attracting more than 1,000 early risers from around the Southeast.

Gates for the 63rd annual event will be open from 5-6 a.m. so that guests can make their way to the top of the park.

This years service will begin at 7 a.m. and end at 7:30 a.m.

Admission to the Sunrise Service is free. Guests are invited to stay and enjoy the Park all day.

A breakfast buffet will be offered at the Old Rock Cafe following the service for $10.99 for adults and $6.99 for children under 10; drinks are not included.

Guests who would like to return to the park after breakfast can show their Old Rock receipt and bulletin at the Ticket Plaza to receive free admission for the day.

Visit www.chimneyrockpark.com/event/63rd-annual-easter-sunrise-service/ for more information or call 800-277-9611.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.By Jina Belcher Ground zero for federal efforts to boost communities reeling from the downturn[Read More]WiGBits Headline News Would you like to receive our WiGBits? Signup today!

WiG Entertainment News Would you like to receive our WiG Entertainment News? Signup today!

Digital Issue Would you like to receive our Digital Issue? Signup today!Florida rescue crews worked through the night into Friday, searching through the rubble of whats left of a 950-ton pedestrian bridge that collapsed Thursday, killing at least six people. The pedestrian bridge was set into place just five days ago.

Locally, we experienced a similar tragedy back in 2002 when a pedestrian bridge collapsed in Marcy.

On Oct. 11, 2002, a pedestrian bridge that was under construction across State Route 49 collapsed, killing Scott Couchman of Mohawk and injuring nine others.

Several members of the Maynard Fire Department along with New York State Troopers who were stationed just miles away remember hearing workers call out for help under the twisted metal and concrete. It took roughly 45 minutes to pull them from the wreckage.

Investigators determined the collapse occurred where the concrete deck was being placed. Eyewitnesses said the bridge had been noticeably bouncy when the concrete was placed, and when it reached the middle of the bridge, it began to twist and roll before tipping off the abutments.

The bridge was nearing completion, similar to the south Florida bridge, and was planned to connect a residential area for students to walk across to get to Whitesboro High School.

Lawsuits and investigations quickly got underway, and New York State Was accused of violating labor laws in connection with the incident. It was decided that no criminal charges would be filed as a result of the bridge collapse.

A report from the Oneida County District Attorneys Office says the designer, building and overseer of the project were individually examined.

The investigation found that there was no inferior materials used in the bridges construction.

The collapse is now used as an example to engineering schools around the country of what could go wrong is designs are not thoroughly examined.

NEWSChannel 2 reached out to Dan Crossway, who was the acting fire chief for the Maynard Fire Department at the time, and he was unavailable but he says it was a day hell never forget.LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI)  Firefighters from Ukraine are spending the next few days learning from our local departments.

They are part of the Open World Program, which is funded by Congress. Every year, the Rotary Club of Lafayette brings professionals from different parts of the world together to learn from each other.

The firefighters visiting hope to establish more volunteer departments in Ukraine.

Chairman of the International Committee for the Rotary Club, Jack Kelly, said he always looks forward to meeting the different groups.

"It's fun to watch them see these things and acknowledge them, sometimes they are surprised sometimes they are confused by why you have this," said Kelly.

Among the group are also leaders and managers of emergency responders in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian group will also be spending time with local firefighters. They plan to go on calls with them to see how departments operate in America.FRANKFORT, Ind. (WLFI) Women in Frankfort celebrated their business successes Saturday by inspiring younger women to follow their dreams.

The 2nd Annual Women's Expo hosted 40 women-owned businesses for vendors. It also hosted inspirational speakers and actresses to present stories to community members.

Four students from Clinton County were also acknowledged for their outstanding work.

Event Coordinator Jamie Anderson said this program gives young women the chance to learn from others.

"There are many opportunities out there and I want them to ask the vendors how they got started and maybe get an idea for themselves," Anderson said. "If they have a passion or something they want to create that they can do it too, and there's money out there to be made."

More details on the event can be found here.



China News on Women





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Eleanor Kogut, of Bellingham, left, and Christine Charest, of North Smithfield, parishioners at St. Michaels Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Woonsocket, were busy Friday preparing and baking over 30 dozen cookies for the churchs annual Cookie Walk which will be held in the parish hall on March 31 from 9 to 11 a.m. Also in the parish hall on Friday evening, March 23 from 3 to 6 p.m. is the annual Ukrainain Kitchen.Neil Steinberg, president of the Rhode Island Foundation, talks about the foundations plan to host a series of family-style dinners around the state, to spark open civic dialogue, which he says is needed in a time of increased political polarization.An elderly man left his home country to live in Thailand in order to engage in sexual activity with young boys, according to police in Switzerland.

Lucerne police said that they have arrested the 72-year-old man, who was not identified for having sex with at least 80 boys who were under the age of 16.

In court, the man pleaded not guilty to charges of human trafficking and intercourse with minors.

After a trial, the man has been found guilty of the charges and was sentenced to serve 16 years in prison.

According to the police investigation, the elderly man moved to Pattaya about 10 years ago.

The man opened a bar and a hotel.

He then began having sex with young boys and forced them to have sex with his customers at his bar and hotel.

The man is also accused of taking thousands of porn photos of the children and sharing them with pedophiles.

In total, the man had sex with at least 80 boys under the age of 16.

When police in Thailand began investigating the man, he fled and went back to his home country.

Thai police called the authorities in Switzerland and the man was arrested.Blessed with stunning stage and city locations, sunshine, blue skies and epic dust trails, Mexico is one of the most photogenic rounds of the WRC season.

This year's 15th anniversary edition was one of the best, and we wrap up our Mexico coverage with a selection of our favourite pictures from the event, as shot by wrc.com snappers Jaanus Ree and the team at At World.





Video

More NewsNearly two weeks after a 16-year-old Pennsylvania girl vanished with a 45-year-old man, the pair was found Saturday in Mexico and the man was arrested, authorities say.

Amy Yu was "unharmed and in good health," Allentown police said in a statement.

She and Kevin Esterly, the man police say she willingly ran away with, were escorted to Miami by US Homeland Security Investigations agents and the US Marshals Service.

Amy has been safely returned to her family in Pennsylvania, according to a statement from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Homeland Security investigators.

Esterly's arrest comes two days after Mexico's Attorney General issued an Amber Alert for Amy. The alert said Esterly was the suspect in her disappearance and that an investigation showed she was in Mexico with Esterly. Her well-being, the alert said, was at risk.

CNN has reached out to Mexico's attorney general and the federal police for comment, but has not heard back.

Esterly was expected to be extradited back to Pennsylvania.

The relationship

Mui Luu, Amy's mother, told CNN that Esterly knew the family from church, and that she's known Esterly since her daughter was 11. Esterly himself, she said, has four daughters and a wife.

Amy was a student at Lehigh Valley Academy Charter School, which confirmed to CNN that Esterly was last present at the school February 9. At some point after that, school spokeswoman Susan Mauser said, the school prohibited him from school grounds, but she couldn't elaborate, citing privacy concerns.

The police were to be notified if Esterly returned to the school, Mauser said.

Allentown Police Chief William Reinik said Esterly signed Amy out of school multiple times and that their relationship had been "going on for at least a year." Amy listed Esterly as her stepfather on her emergency contact form, according to CNN affiliate WFMZ. An affidavit of probable cause, obtained by WFMZ, states Esterly signed Amy out of school 10 times.

Police said Esterly and Amy exchanged hundreds of text messages, WFMZ reported. Amy's mother said the texts read as though Amy was texting her boyfriend.

Mauser said the school is working closely with both Allentown police and the Colonial Regional Police Department, which has jurisdiction of the area where the school is located.

The school is "providing whatever information and assistance we can to assist them and Amy's family during this difficult time," Mauser said.

It was also around early February that Esterly and his wife, Stacy, went to Amy's house. During the interaction, Amy's mother called police, who warned the Esterlys to stay away from their home.

"It was a meeting that time," John Yu, Amy's brother, told CNN. "My neighbors were there and my friends were there. My mom's friend was there. They were yelling about they think that Amy and Kevin are sleeping together and doing stupid stuff."

Kevin Esterly was angry, John Yu said, and denied his relationship with Amy. CNN's attempts to reach his wife, Stacy Esterly, have been unsuccessful.

On March 5, Amy's mother reported her as a runaway after she failed to return from school that day, Allentown police said. It was believed Amy boarded her school bus that morning, but police said they later found out she never got on her bus.

Two days later, Esterly was reported missing by a family member, police said.

Amy's mother said money, jewelry and her daughter's personal documents were missing, according to court documents, and Esterly's wife said $4,000 along with his personal documents were missing.

"They know or planned to do this," John Yu said. "I think it was both of their ideas because Amy is not that stupid."

The age of consent in Pennsylvania is 16, according to the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape. Those who are at least 16 can legally consent to sexual activity, the group said, as long as the other person doesn't have authority over them.

The sighting

A passenger on a Cancun-bound flight told CNN he was "close to 100% certain" he saw Esterly and Amy boarding the plane with him at Philadelphia International Airport on March 5.

Frank Castrovinci said he saw a young Asian girl with "very long, straight hair" and a man in his 40s with glasses who boarded the plane late. They were asking people to switch seats so they could sit together. Each had a "backpack or duffle bag kind of thing."

"My initial thoughts were, here's a guy who adopted a girl and she looked obviously much younger," he said. "I thought it was interesting that the mother wasn't there."

It was during the flight that Castrovinci says he observed, through their body actions, that they weren't family.

"It seemed odd the way she was leaning up against him and how he was rubbing her leg and it seemed like his hand was quivering a little bit," he said.

When Castrovinci returned home March 8, he said he looked at the local news and immediately recognized the young Asian girl and middle-aged man on TV as the same people he saw on the plane.Sweden is helping negotiate the release of three Americans held captive in North Korea, sources with knowledge of the negotiations tell CNN.

American citizens Kim Hak-song, Kim Sang-duk, and Kim Dong Chul are being held by North Korean government.

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho is in Stockholm for talks with his Swedish counterpart. Sources tell CNN that Sweden "engaged heavily" in the issue of the American detainees, and since Sweden is a protective power for the US, it also represents the country's interest in all talks with North Korea.

"Any movement on the issue of these detainees would be a huge deal for the US," one source with knowledge of negotiations said, adding that Sweden did not issue any ultimatum during the weekend talks; rather, they brought it up as something that would "move things in the right direction".

Sources said the issue has been at the center of discussions for some time, both at previous low-level meetings and during North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Han Song Ryol's visit to Sweden in January.

Kim Hak-song and Kim Sang-duk -- also known as Tony Kim -- were imprisoned in 2017 on suspicion of "hostile acts." Kim Dong Chul was arrested in 2015 and has been serving a 10-year sentence on espionage charges.

Kim Hak-song and Kim Sang-duk both worked at Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, a privately run school that has dozens of foreign faculty.

Kim Hak-song -- an ethnic Korean born in Jilin, China, and educated at a university in California -- was detained last May, North Korean state media reported at the time. The previous month, Kim Sang-duk had also been detained while trying to fly out of Pyongyang International Airport.

Kim Dong Chul is a South Korean-born American citizen who had been living in China when he was detained.

He told CNN in 2016 that he had been commuting daily to Rason, a special economic zone on the North Korean side of the border, where he served as president of a company involved in international trade and hotel services.

Kim Dong Chul told CNN's Will Ripley that he had been arrested after spying on behalf of "South Korean conservative elements." His claims were made in the presence of North Korean officials, and CNN cannot determine whether they were made under duress.

Previous US detainees

Another American, University of Virginia student Otto Warmbier, died in Ohio in June 2017 shortly after being released from 17 months in a North Korean prison. Warmbier had been sentenced to 15 years of hard labor on charges of committing a "hostile act" against the state after he reportedly removed a political banner from a hotel.

When Warmbier returned to the United States he had extensive brain damage that left him in a persistent vegetative state. North Korea initially claimed Warmbier had contracted botulism while in prison, but his parents told CNN their son had been "systematically tortured and intentionally injured by Kim Jong [Un] ... Kim, and his regime."

Since 2013, at least two other US citizens have also been detained for shorter periods. Merril Newman, who at the time of his October 2013 detention was an 85-year-old US veteran of the Korean War, was released two months later after a videotaped apology. American Jeffrey Fowle spent five months in detention in 2014 for allegedly leaving a Bible at a club for foreign sailors.

North Korea -- US summit

The White House announced earlier this month that Trump had accepted an invitation from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to meet.

North Korea has yet to make an official comment on the proposed meeting. Trump accepted the invitation from Kim when a South Korean delegation delivered it verbally in Washington.

Should the leaders of the two nations sit down, it would be the first time that a sitting US President has met with the leader of the reclusive Asian nation.A solid blue district in Illinois is facing an identity crisis as Democrats could purge one of their own with a political newcomer on Tuesday.

Progressive liberal Marie Newman is challenging Rep. Dan Lipinski, a blue-dog, anti-abortion Democrat who has represented Illinois' 3rd District for more than a decade.

Newman's rise ahead of the primary comes during a tumultuous and polarized time following President Donald Trump's 2016 victory which led to the mobilization and a call to action for many -- especially women.

The day after Trump's inauguration, massive crowds took to the streets to partake in women's marches to protest. Newman said that day "was really the first time I realized nobody is coming to save us."

Newman recalled stepping off the train and seeing the streets lined with women and people coming together.

"I felt powerful and I felt everyone around me was powerful," she said, describing it as a "congealing moment."

Garnering support

Since announcing her campaign, Newman has received endorsements from liberal powerhouses, like Sens. Bernie Sanders and Kirsten Gillibrand. Newman also got the backing of sitting Illinois Reps. Jan Schakowsky and Luis Gutierrez, who broke the tradition of endorsing the incumbent.

Newman has garnered the support of several activist organizations that have formed a coalition to support her campaign, including NARAL Pro-Choice America, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Human Rights Campaign, SEIU, MoveOn, and EMILY's List. The groups have been working in the district since February and will have spent $1.6 million on broadcast & cable TV, mail, and digital ads by Election Day on March 20, according to Planned Parenthood Action Fund.

Their mission, they say, is to educate voters on Lipinski's record, claiming it doesn't align with the opinions of the district despite the fact he has held the seat since 2005. This includes his votes on abortion access, health care and immigration.

"These are really votes that cut to the heart of equality and people having opportunity," said Kevin Griffis, vice president for communications for Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Abortion access

Griffis described Lipinski's votes as a "rubber stamp" for the Trump administration, which has taken several actions its first year to support the anti-abortion movement, including attempts to defund Planned Parenthood.

"We do not have to compromise on protecting women's health to win back the House or Senate," New York Sen. Gillibrand said in a statement.

"I am working hard to help recruit, support and mentor pro-choice women candidates all across the country. Marie Newman is an extraordinary fighter and she will be another vote for health care, for women, and for our LGBTQ friends and family. I am proud to support her so we can beat one of the most anti-LGBT members of the Democratic Party left in the House. And as a parent of a trans teen, she will never stop fighting for equality," she continued.

Lipinski's view on abortion strays from the Democratic National Committee platform.

"To guarantee that taxpayers are never forced to pay for abortions and the innocent unborn are protected, we must make the longstanding ban on federal funding for abortion permanent and government-wide," Lipinski told CBS in 2010 when he co-sponsored legislation that was aimed at banning tax-payer funded abortions

Some Democrats, like Conor Lamb who claimed victory in the Pennsylvania special election last Tuesday, have been on the record personally opposed to abortion, but have said that doesn't affect their policies.

In May 2017, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi broke with Democratic Party official Tom Perez, and told The Washington Post abortion should not be a deciding factor for Democratic candidates.

"Most of those people -- my family, extended family -- are not pro-choice. You think I'm kicking them out of the Democratic Party?" Pelosi said.

Pelosi said she was supporting Lipinski's reelection in the primary when addressing reporters at her weekly briefing earlier this month.

Lipinski has also gained support from the anti-abortion group, Susan B. Anthony List, who tweeted support for the Democratic candidate and said they were canvassing for him.

"Our team of 70 canvassers is gathering for a morning briefing before we load up into vans and head out for our 3rd day visiting homes in #IL03 to urge Democrats to get out and vote for #ProLife Dan Lipinski in his primary!!" the group posted on Twitter on Saturday morning.

The Lipinski campaign did not respond to CNN's interview request.

Mallory Quigley, the communications director for Susan B. Anthony List, was in the district on Saturday campaigning for Lipinski.

"The reason why we're here is because he's specifically being singled out by the party," Quigley said.

"I think they're still in the middle of an internal debate over the role that Planned Parenthood and abortion advocates ought to play," Quigley later added.If the firing of former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe on Friday night felt like something you'd see in a third-world dictatorship, you aren't alone.

It reminded many of authoritarian leaders in other nations who purge those from the government who have not shown absolute loyalty or who have dared to publicly contradict them.

In a vacuum, Attorney General Jeff Sessions' firing of McCabe approximately 26 hours before he would be eligible for early retirement benefits could turn out to be above reproach. The Justice Department Inspector General's Michael Horowitz, nominated to this position in 2011 by then President Barack Obama, had reportedly concluded that McCabe had "misled investigators about his role in directing other officials at the FBI" to speak to the media in connection with an ongoing investigation. However, the Inspector General's report has not yet been publicly released, and McCabe vehemently denies the charges.

And, more importantly, we don't live in a vacuum. We live in the real world where context matters. And what we saw was Donald Trump lead a very public campaign to smear, undermine and ultimately replace McCabe, who was acting as FBI director after Trump fired James Comey, with current FBI director Christopher Wray.

Was Trump out to get McCabe because McCabe dared to publicly contradict Trump when he testified before Congress in May?

Just consider this: there was McCabe, only two days after Trump fired Comey, undermining Trump's claim that Comey had lost the confidence of the rank and file FBI agents. And then McCabe undercut the White House's assertion that the FBI regarded the investigation into the Russian election as a low priority, with McCabe saying instead it was "highly significant."

Could it be that Trump wanted McCabe out because, as McCabe put it to The New York Times, his firing "was part of an effort to discredit me as a witness" in the ongoing investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller? After all, McCabe is in a unique position to corroborate Comey's claim that Trump had demanded his loyalty when he was FBI director and that Trump had asked Comey to drop his investigation into former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, who has since pled guilty to lying to the FBI.

We cannot know for sure. But what we do know is that from July through late December 2017, Trump sent out at least six tweets slamming McCabe. Last July, Trump even urged Sessions to fire McCabe, which was eight months before the Inspector General's recent report was released.

Add to that, Trump's tweet two days before Christmas, where he ominously raised the issue of McCabe's pension benefits: "FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is racing the clock to retire with full benefits. 90 days to go?!!!" Trump was apparently so obsessed with McCabe that he actually knew the number of days until McCabe's retirement benefits vested.

In other words, Trump alluded to the possibility that McCabe could be fired before he would be eligible for early retirement benefits, and Sessions did just that. Which begs the questions: did Sessions really terminate McCabe because it was merited, or because Sessions felt that if he didn't dump McCabe, he could be the next to go from the Trump regime? That context matters as well.

Not only has Trump publicly belittled Sessions on Twitter numerous times, but just last week Trump fired his Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, via Twitter and warned that even more changes were coming.

In any event, within hours of Session's firing McCabe, Trump took to Twitter to celebrate with a tweet that read in part: "Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard-working men and women of the FBI - A great day for Democracy."

A great day for democracy?! Not even close. That tweet was more akin to a dictator warning others that if they dare contradict him or not show him the loyalty he demands, they will meet a similar fate.

And that's likely the message Trump wants to send. As Trump told an audience in 2012, you have to hit back at your rivals "five times harder" than they hit you so that "other people watch and you know they say, 'Well, let's leave Trump alone.'"

That is less the mindset of the President of the United States and more akin to the strongmen leaders who Trump admires, such as Russia's Vladimir Putin and Egypt's Abdel El-Sisi, who punish those who dare to challenge their authority.

But anyone who truly cares about the trajectory of the nation must be concerned that if Sessions' decision to fire McCabe was in any way motivated by Trump's disdain toward him, we may start to resemble the very regimes we claim to stand against.CLAY COUNTY, Ind. (WTHI) - The Clay County YMCA hosted an Easter egg hunt.

They partnered with the French Funeral Home in Brazil, Indiana.

The funeral home has put on the annual hunt for the last ten years. This is the second year the Clay County YMCA has partnered with the group.

Over 600 kids came out to participate on Saturday.

Bikes were donated to the event from the Shifting Gears Program out of the Putnamville Correctional Facility.

The word "bike" was in several Easter eggs. Kids who found those eggs got a brand new bike.

Organizers say the event is all about seeing the kids have a good time.

"It's definitely worth it. It's fun to have the kids and families come out, to see the excitement on the kids face whenever they win a prize, and just being able to have some family time," said Nicole Fry, Clay County YMCA executive branch director.

Fry says they had a great turn out this year.

They hope to continue the hunt next year.MOSCOW (AP)  Early results and an exit poll showed that Vladimir Putin handily won a fourth term as Russias president Sunday, adding six years in the Kremlin for the man who has led the worlds largest country for all of the 21st century.

The vote was tainted by widespread reports of ballot-box stuffing and forced voting, but the complaints will likely do little to undermine Putin. The Russian leaders popularity remains high despite his suppression of dissent and reproach from the West over Russias increasingly aggressive stance in world affairs and alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. election.

Putins main challenge in the vote was to obtain a huge margin of victory in order to claim an indisputable mandate. The Central Elections Commission said Putin had won about 72 percent of the vote, based on a count of 22 percent of the countrys precincts.

Russian authorities had sought to ensure a large turnout to bolster the image that Putins so-called managed democracy is robust and offers Russians true choices. By 5 p.m. Moscow time, authorities said turnout had hit nearly 52 percent.

Put had faced seven minor candidates on the ballot. His most vehement foe, anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny, was rejected as a presidential candidate because he was convicted of fraud in a case widely regarded as politically motivated. Navalny and his supporters had called for an election boycott but the extent of its success could not immediately be gauged.

The election came amid escalating tensions between Russia and the West, with reports that Moscow was behind the nerve-agent poisoning this month of a former Russian double agent in Britain and that its internet trolls had mounted an extensive campaign to undermine the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Britain and Russia last week announced tit-for-tat diplomat expulsions over the spy case and the United States issued new sanctions.

Russian officials denounced both cases as efforts to interfere in the Russian election. But the disputes likely worked in Putins favor, reinforcing the official stance that the West is infected with Russophobia and determined to undermine both Putin and traditional Russian values.

The election took place on the fourth anniversary of Russias 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, one of the most dramatic manifestations of Putins drive to reassert Russias power.

Crimea and Russias subsequent support of separatists in eastern Ukraine led to an array of U.S. and European sanctions that, along with falling oil prices, damaged the Russian economy and slashed the rubles value by half. But Putins popularity remained strong, apparently buttressed by nationalist pride.

In his next six years in office, Putin is likely to assert Russias power abroad even more strongly. Just weeks before the election, he announced that Russia has developed advanced nuclear weapons capable of evading missile defenses. The Russian military campaign that bolsters the Syrian government is clearly aimed at strengthening Russias foothold in the Middle East and Russia eagerly eyes possible reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula as a lucrative economic opportunity.

At home, Putin will be faced with how to groom a successor or devise a strategy to circumvent term limits, how to drive diversification in an economy still highly dependent on oil and gas and how to improve medical care and social services in Russian regions far removed from the cosmopolitan glitter of Moscow.

Casting his ballot in Moscow, Putin was confident of victory, saying he would consider any percentage of votes a success.

The program that I propose for the country is the right one, he declared.

Given the lack of real competition in the presidential race, authorities struggled against voter apathy, in the process putting many of Russias nearly 111 million voters under intense pressure to cast ballots.

Yevgeny, a 43-year-old mechanic voting in central Moscow, said he briefly wondered whether it was worth voting.

But the answer was easy ... if I want to keep working, I vote, he said.

He spoke on condition that his last name not be used out of concern that his employer  the Moscow city government  would find out.

Across the country in the city of Yekaterinburg, a Russian doctor also said she was being coerced to vote.

When she hadnt voted by midday, The chief of my unit called me and said I was the only one who hadnt voted, said the doctor, Yekaterina, who spoke on condition her last name not be used because she also feared repercussions.

Yevgeny Roizman, the mayor of Yekaterinburg, told The Associated Press that local officials and state employees all received orders from higher up to make sure the presidential vote turnout was over 60 percent.

In Moscow, first-time voters were being given free tickets for pop concerts and health authorities were offering free cancer screenings at some polling stations.

Voters appeared to be turning in out in larger numbers Sunday than in Russias last presidential election in 2012, when Putin faced a serious opposition movement and violations like multiple voting, ballot stuffing and coercion marred the voting.

Some 145,000 observers were monitoring the presidential vote Sunday, including 1,500 foreigners, and they and ordinary Russians reported hundreds of problems.

Some examples: ballot boxes being stuffed with extra ballots in multiple regions; an election official assaulting an observer; CCTV cameras obscured by flags or nets from watching ballot boxes; discrepancies in ballot numbers; last-minute voter registration changes likely designed to boost turnout and a huge pro-Putin board inside one polling station.

Russian election officials moved quickly Sunday to respond to some of the violations. They suspended the chief of a polling station near Moscow where a ballot stuffing incident was reported and sealed the ballot box. A man accused of tossing multiple ballots into a box in the far eastern town of Artyom was arrested.

Navalny, whose group was also monitoring the vote, dismissed Putins challengers on the ballot as puppets. He urged Russian voters to boycott the election and vowed to continue defying the Kremlin with street protests.

The Ukrainian government, insulted by Russias holding the election on the anniversary of Crimeas annexation, refused to let ordinary Russians vote. Ukraine security forces blocked the Russian Embassy in Kiev and consulates elsewhere Sunday as the government protested the voting in Crimea, whose annexation is still not internationally recognized.

Ukrainian leaders are also angry over Russian support for separatists in eastern Ukraine, where fighting has killed at least 10,000 people since 2014.

Polls show that most Russians view the takeover of the Black Sea peninsula as a major achievement despite subsequent Western sanctions.

Who am I voting for? Who else? asked Putin supporter Andrei Borisov, 70, a retired engineer in Moscow. The others, its a circus.

Early in the voting, Russias Central Election Commission claimed it had been the target of a hacking attempt Sunday coming from 15 unidentified nations that was deterred by authorities.

___

Angela Charlton in Moscow, Nataliya Vasilyeva in Yekaterinburg and Yuras Karmanau in Minsk, Belarus, contributed.TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - Learning about the importance of literacy.

The Vigo County Public Library partnered with the Indiana Reading Association today.

The event displays Vigo County student's work, and teaches them the importance of reading.

Representatives from the 18 local elementary schools were there to speak with students.

Organizers say it's a great way to get the community together for a great cause.

"We're just thrilled. Anytime that we can serve the community and provide a literacy based initiative with a turn out of this magnitude, it's a wonderful opportunity for us," said Holly Curtsigner, library youth services manager.

The annual event brings together families right here in Terre Haute.Representatives of North Korea, South Korea and the United States are set to meet in Finland for talks on denuclearization, according to South Korean and Finnish officials.

The North Korea talks in Finland will include American representatives who are not government officials, said Kimmo Lahdevirta, an official at the Finland foreign ministry. The US does not have a diplomatic presence in North Korea.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry told CNN that former officials and private experts from South Korea would be at the "second-tier" talks on denuclearization. The ministry suggested the US would also be represented in some way, without giving details.

Lahdevirta described the meeting as a "track 1.5 academic meeting ... involving representatives from North Korea, South Korea and the US."

So-called "track 1.5 talks" bring together a mixture of current government officials and nongovernmental experts.

Lahdevirta said no current US government officials will be participating. He could not say who was coming from North or South Korea.

Denuclearization topic?

However , a top North Korean official was spotted apparently boarding a plane to Finland on Sunday.

Choe Kang Il, the deputy director general for North American affairs at North Korea's foreign ministry, brushed off questions from reporters at Beijing Capital International Airport, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.

Finland's Foreign Ministry told CNN the country was only facilitating the meeting -- not participating.

Ministry spokeswoman Petra Sarias declined to confirm the meeting's date, time, location or participants.

Neither Sarias nor Lahdevirta specified that the talks were about denuclearization. Neither one would say if there would be any public statement after the meeting from any of the participants.

Trump and Kim Jong Un

The White House announced earlier this month that Trump had accepted an invitation from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to meet.

North Korea has yet to make an official comment on the proposed meeting. Trump accepted the invitation from Kim when a South Korean delegation delivered it verbally in Washington.

Should the leaders of the two nations sit down, it would be the first time a sitting US President has met with the leader of the reclusive Asian nation.

Sweden says it's ready

Separately, Sweden is meeting with North Korean officials about three Americans held captive by the Asian nation.

The country's top diplomat said Friday that her country stands ready to assist the United States and North Korea in moving forward a historic dialogue between the two nations. Sweden is playing the role of a "protecting power" for the US since it doesn't have diplomatic relations with North Korea.

Briefing reporters between meetings with her North Korean counterpart Ri Yong Ho, Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said the "security situation (on) the Korean Peninsula is of interest to the whole world" and that the Swedish government "values this opportunity to arrange a meeting" between the traditional foes.

Sources with knowledge of the negotiations tell CNN that Sweden is helping negotiate the release of the Americans held captive in North Korea. American citizens Kim Sang Duk, Kim Hak-Song, and Kim Dong Chul are still being held by North Korean government.

Kim Hak-song and Kim Sang Duk -- also known as Tony Kim -- were detained in 2017 on suspicion of "hostile acts." Kim Dong Chul was arrested in 2015 and has been serving 10 years on espionage charges.Frictions over global trade are likely to escalate as finance chiefs of the Group of 20 nations arrive in Buenos Aires on Monday.

The Trump administration's move toward protectionism looms over talks this week among the world's largest advanced and emerging economies.

Trump has already announced a tariff of 25% on foreign steel imports and 10% on imported aluminum. And he is considering additional penalties on a range of Chinese products along with a restriction in Chinese investment in the United States.

"This is a very significant moment in the G20 and elsewhere," said Edward Alden, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. "The US is trying to force a change in its trading relationships with the world, and every country in the G20 is going to have to decide how to respond to that."

Related: Europe reveals long list of US exports it could hit

It will be left to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to be the Trump administration's explainer-in-chief as he meets with his counterparts.

Mnuchin has defended Trump's tariff plan and has played down threats of retaliation by other nations.

"While our objective is not to get into a trade war, we are going to defend the US interests," Mnuchin said earlier this month. He said the tariffs strike the "right balance."

The secretary is already expected to meet with several partners on the sidelines of the two-day meeting, including South Korea, France, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom, according to a senior US Treasury official.

"Mr. Mnuchin will have to do some explaining," said Edwin Truman, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and former assistant secretary for international affairs at the Treasury Department. "The real challenge is whether this is something that is a one-off or are you going to find other measures that are going to be applied as you go through the next year or two."

Related: Boeing would be on the front lines of a trade war with China

Significant trading partners like the European Union have already threatened to retaliate should the United States move forward with the steel and aluminum tariffs.

The EU published a list of hundreds of American products that could be a target - including US cigarettes, sweetcorn, ovens, sailboats, lipstick and steel sinks.

The Trump administration has left the door open for other countries to avoid the trade penalty, and is in negotiations with certain partners. So far only Canada and Mexico are off the hook.

The tariffs are expected to take effect on Friday.

Trade and foreign policy experts view the tariffs as leverage by the United States to put increased pressure on allies to address concerns beyond China.

"If it was just about steel and aluminum, there are other mechanisms to deal with this," Truman said.

President Trump has repeatedly threatened to get tough on countries that have trade surpluses with the United States. His view is that tariffs can be used to nudge allies on a variety of other issues, Alden said, from reducing the trade gap to spending more on security and defense.

Related: Jamie Dimon warns Trump tariffs may 'backfire'

The administration has already signaled it plans to work with "like-minded countries" in Argentina this week to push back against China's state subsidies and investment policies. The United States argues that government subsidies to exporters and other directives give China's homegrown players an extra advantage.

"There's been substantial recognition of this problem," a senior US Treasury official said on a call with reporters Thursday. "What we can say is the world is recognizing the problem and looking for ways to deal with it."

The senior official said he didn't expect the administration's recent tariff announcement to interfere with those efforts to tackle China's move away from market liberalization.

But experts cast doubt on the US strategy, saying it only creates divisiveness among partners.

"When you approach your own allies with such threats of tariffs, it takes away your ability to convene and get everybody on your side," said Heidi Crebo-Reiker, an adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a former chief economist at the State Department.

The United States and other countries are worried about Beijing's overproduction of steel. China dumps that steel on trade partners at low prices that hurt those countries' industries.

Other countries are also worried about China's theft of intellectual property and bids to acquire emerging technology as an early investor in joint ventures.

"But that's not the way the administration looks at it," Alden said. "They think they are more likely to get the cooperation they want through threats rather than inducements."The Israeli military destroyed a Hamas tunnel in southern Gaza on Sunday morning and struck an underground "military complex" in central Gaza, Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said.

According to Conricus, Hamas was trying to reconnect an old tunnel, destroyed in July 2014, to a new section of tunnel in southern Gaza. Conricus added that Israel has been monitoring the digging using new detection technology for the last few weeks.

"What Hamas was trying to do was build kind of a detour -- a new tunnel that would link up with a new part that they thought would be usable," Conricus said.

The tunnel was destroyed from within Israeli territory, but not with explosives. Conricus said that it was filled with a "certain compound" that would render the tunnel useless. The military would not provide further information on what was used to make the tunnel useless.

This marks the fourth Gaza tunnel Israel has destroyed since late-October. The third tunnel, destroyed in mid-January, was a mile-long tunnel dug under Israel that stretched from Gaza to Egypt.

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman commented on the tunnel, saying, "I suggest Hamas invests their money in the welfare of the residents of Gaza, because they won't have any more tunnels by the end of the year."

In a separate incident over the weekend, the Israeli air force struck what the IDF termed an "underground military complex" in central Gaza.

In response to Israel's actions, Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for Hamas, said, "The enemy thinks that this escalation will achieve its objectives and break the will of the Palestinian people. The occupation is held accountable for the continued escalation."

Overnight Saturday, the Israeli air force struck what they termed a "military target" in the northern Gaza strip, the Israeli military said, after an explosive device was detonated near the security fence between Israel and Gaza. The military first responded with tank fire directed at a Hamas military observation post in Gaza, before turning to air strikes.

"From our perspective, Hamas is responsible for any act of hostility that emanates from Gaza," Conricus said.

Tensions between Israel and Gaza have remained high ever since President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in December. Hamas and other Palestinian factions in Gaza have regularly called for "Days of Rage," fueling wide-scale protests along the Gaza border.

The most recent "Day of Rage" was this past Friday to mark 100 days since Trump's recognition of Jerusalem.EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is posturing for higher political office, including a possible run for president in 2024 or later, The New York Times reports, citing people who have spoken to him.

According to those close to Pruitt, he is seen as a likely contender to run for Senate in 2020 if Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe retires, and there is speculation he could enter this year's governor's race; additionally, he has made it known that he would take over as US attorney general if Jeff Sessions is ousted.

"It was always known among elite Republicans that this guy had higher ambitions," Keith Gaddie, a professor of political science at the University of Oklahoma, told the Times. "The question was just, 'Does he want to be president, or does he want to be attorney general?'"

A spokesperson for Pruitt told the Times that he is focused on his current role, which has heightened his standing with Trump supporters for his efforts to roll back environmental regulations disliked by agricultural and fossil fuel interests.

"Administrator Pruitt has utilized a wide array of news outlets to advance President Trump's agenda on regulatory certainty and environmental stewardship," Jahan Wilcox said in an email to the Times.

The spokesperson did not immediately return CNN's request for comment.

Pruitt's deregulatory actions, particularly on Obama-era climate regulations, have won him favor from the President and traditional energy lobbyists. However, his term as chief of the environmental agency has not been without controversy.

The EPA inspector general's office launched an inquiry into Pruitt's travel expenses in August 2017 and expanded its probe in October 2017. Pruitt defended his military and first-class flights as necessary for security. The Washington Post found that his use of taxpayer money for travel on these types of flights and luxury hotels exceeded that of his predecessors.

The inspector general started an additional inquiry into the cost of Pruitt's around-the-clock security detail in January 2018.

Pruitt, who sued the EPA many times as Oklahoma's attorney general, has also come under fire from environmentalists for his moves on environmental policy as head of the agency. In addition to changes to rules and regulations on national resources, the Trump administration has made a stark shift in the US approach to climate change during Pruitt's leadership. As administrator, he has shied away from robust action on climate change, and the phrase "climate change" was not included in the agency's four-year plan.CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP)  A man charged with raping a woman and kidnapping her 4-year-old daughter in South Carolina has pleaded not guilty.

Thomas Evans appeared in federal court Friday. News outlets report he said little other than answering Magistrate Judge Bristow Marchant's questions as the judge accepted his not guilty plea.

Evans was indicted in federal court this week on charges of kidnapping, child sexual abuse and transporting a child to engage in sexual activity. He faces up to a life sentence if convicted.

Evans faces seven charges in state court after prosecutors said he beat and raped the girl's mother in their Charleston home on Feb. 13.

The child was found safely in Alabama a day later, and Evans was arrested shortly after in Mississippi.JACKSON, Miss. (AP)  A federal judge is upholding part of a Mississippi law that says doctors who perform abortions must be board-certified or board-eligible in obstetrics and gynecology.

The 2012 law also says doctors doing abortions must have hospital admitting privileges. However, U.S. District Judge Dan Jordan blocked Mississippi from enforcing that portion of the law in 2012 after the state's only abortion clinic sued.

In 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked a Texas admitting-privileges law and declined to consider an appeal from Mississippi. The admitting-privileges portion remains blocked.

The Mississippi clinic, Jackson Women's Health Organization, asked Jordan to declare the OB-GYN requirement as an unconstitutional burden to abortion access. On Thursday, Jordan declined to do that. The judge said he's not convinced that the clinic can't find board-certified or board-eligible OB-GYNs.

Hillary Schneller is attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights, which represents the clinic. She said Friday that Mississippi is the only state that has the OB-GYN requirement.

"It will continue, as we argued, to restrict access to abortion in Mississippi," Schneller said.

She said the OB-GYN requirement removes "a huge number of qualified physicians" who have had training in performing abortions and could otherwise possibly do the procedures.

Asked if the clinic will appeal Jordan's ruling, Schneller said: "We are thinking through our next steps."

Republican Gov. Phil Bryant, who signed the 2012 law, praised the judge's latest ruling.

"In 2016, Mississippi State Department of Health data show that almost 2,600 abortions were performed at the state's only clinic in Jackson. That is heartbreaking," Bryant said Friday on Twitter. "This common-sense, pro-life law will help us make our state the safest place in America for an unborn child."

State attorneys said in defending the OB-GYN requirement that a physician must complete a four-year residency in obstetrics and gynecology to become board-certified or board-eligible.

Jordan wrote that because of this, he rejects opinions by plaintiffs' experts who testified the OB-GYN requirement provided no benefit to women seeking abortions. He added, though, that the provision in the 2012 law was no stronger than what had existed in a previous law.

Bryant is expected to sign a bill into law on Monday that could set the nation's tightest restriction on abortions. House Bill 1510 would ban most abortions after 15 weeks gestation. Diane Derzis, who owns Jackson Women's Health Organization, has said she will sue to try to block the ban. The state's Democratic attorney general, Jim Hood, said it would be hard to defend the law.FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - Some officials in a Florida county where a school shooting left 17 people dead were considering a referendum to ban assault weapons but they feared possible fines and the state's power to overturn it.

So instead, they will ask Broward County commissioners to add a straw vote to the ballot. A straw vote would give voters a voice but wouldn't be binding.

Several students from Fort Lauderdale High School and a handful of other Broward residents spoke in favor of banning assault rifles at Friday's Charter Review Commission meeting. A county attorney cautioned against a referendum. Others in favor of a ban feared such a move by the county would be overturned by the state and possibly bring a hefty fine.

State law prohibits local governments from passing gun restrictions.

(Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-18 04:45:12|Editor: yan

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GENEVA, March 17 (Xinhua) -- The body of a second skier has been found following the big avalanche that swept four people away on Friday afternoon, local police said on Saturday.

After a first victim was found overnight on Friday, a second body was discovered on Saturday afternoon, both under six meters of snow. They have been identified as French from Alsace, aged between 20 and 25.

The avalanche occurred on Friday afternoon in the Vallon d'Arbi region in canton Valais, near the popular Verbiers ski resort in the French-speaking part of southwest Switzerland.

Rescue operations were suspended mid-afternoon on Saturday because of bad weather. Earlier on Saturday local police said after so many hours buried under snow, it was unlikely that anyone would be found alive.

The avalanche covered a distance of about 400 meters, starting at an altitude of about 2,200 meters. One person managed to avoid being swept away and two managed to extract themselves.

Switzerland has experienced unusually high levels of snow this winter, resulting in raised avalanche warnings to the maximum alert in several areas.

Earlier this year, thousands of tourists were cut off in the popular resort of Zermatt in southern Switzerland's Valais canton, as the risk of avalanches twice forced the authorities to close rail and road links. The resorts of Saas-Fee and Andermatt, both in the Swiss Alps, were also snowed in for a period. In late February, at least three skiers and mountaineers have lost their lives in separate avalanches in the Swiss Alps.

This winter has already seen a record number of dynamite-triggered avalanches in the Swiss Alps, because of the huge amount of snowfall. For safety reasons, Swiss ski resort and security authorities have set off thousands of avalanches this winter, blowing up 120 metric tons of explosives so far. In a normal winter, some 80 to 120 tonnes would be sufficient for the whole season.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-18 07:15:28|Editor: pengying

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LISBON, March 17 (Xinhua) -- The 42nd edition of the Portugal Fashion festival got under way on Saturday with a series of catwalk shows at the new Lisbon cruise ship terminal.

According to the pre-show publicity, the organizers chose the location "to create a dialogue between fashion and architecture."

The terminal, which opened in late 2017, was designed by Carrilho da Graca, a renowned Portuguese architect.

"The new cruise ship terminal symbolizes modern Portugal, open to the world," Portugal Fashion spokesman Rafael Alves Rocha told Portuguese Lusa News Agency.

"It's an opportunity for designers to present their collections in a contemporary, urban, cosmopolitan setting," he added.

Designer Carlos Gil was certainly feeling the urban vibe with a collection called "Twenty Four Hours," inspired by city's that never sleep. He took 1970s and 80s styles and gave them a modern makeover, applying sharp cuts to outfits of bright oranges and purple, silvers and sequins.

Gil topped the bill alongside Teresa Martins, who gave the final show of the night. Her collection was also bright and bold, but it found inspiration in the countryside, being entitled "Forest path, a journey within."

In all there were seven catwalk shows with models parading on an improvised runway in the terminal foyer.

Portugal Fashion is, along with ModaLisboa, the premier fashion industry event in Portugal.

Like ModaLisboa, which took place last weekend, Portugal Fashion is a biennial event, with these collections focused on Fall/Winter, but it is primarily based in the north of Portugal, specifically in Porto.

After its Lisbon launch, the show will hit the road ready for parades in Porto on March 22, 23 and 24.

Portugal Fashion is organized in conjunction with Portugal's Textiles and Clothing Association. The north of Portugal has traditionally been the textiles and clothes manufacturing heartland.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-18 07:35:30|Editor: Lifang

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GAZA, March 17 (Xinhua) -- Israeli war jets struck after midnight with at least four missiles a military facility east of Gaza city, eyewitnesses and Hamas security officials said early.

No injuries were reported, according to local paramedics.

Eyewitnesses said that Israeli war planes hovered over Gaza city, then several explosions were heard in eastern Gaza city, east of Zaytoon neighborhood, adding that the Israeli airstrike damaged a local factory in the area.

An Israeli army spokesman said in an official statement that Israeli war fighters targeted an Islamic Hamas movement military post east of Gaza city in response to detonating a roadside bomb near the borders between Israel and the Gaza Strip.

Earlier on Saturday afternoon, Israeli army tanks fired three tank shells on eastern Gaza, no injuries were reported, according to Hamas security officials in Gaza.

The Israeli tanks shelling came shortly after a roadside bomb was detonated at the borders between eastern Gaza city and Israel, according to the Israeli army spokesman. One Palestinian was slightly injured, according to Gaza health ministry.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-18 07:40:31|Editor: Yurou

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An election worker stands next to a ballot box at a polling station in Vladivostok, east Russia, March 18, 2018. Russia held presidential election on Sunday. (Xinhua/Denis)

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, Russia, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Russian citizens living in the country's easternmost regions of Kamchatka and Chukotka, began casting ballots to vote for the next president on Sunday.

As Russia's vast territory encompasses nine time zones, voting first began in its Far Eastern regions, including Kamchatka and Chukotka, at 8:00 a.m. local time (20:00 GMT Saturday), while voters in other parts of the Russian territory still have to wait for several hours to vote.

Voters in Kaliningrad, the westmost exclave of Russia, will be the last to go to the polls, which will close at 20:00 (1800 GMT) p.m. local time on Sunday.

According to Ella Pamfilova, the head of the Russian Central Election Commission (CEC), some 110 million Russian citizens are eligible to vote, about 1.89 million of them live abroad. There are more than 97,000 domestic polling stations, and more than 400 overseas stations.

The voting procedure will be monitored by about 1,500 international observers from 109 countries.

The eight candidates running for the election are incumbent Russian President Vladimir Putin, who participates as an independent candidate, Vladimir Zhirinovsky from the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), and businessman Pavel Grudinin nominated by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF). Other candidates include Grigory Yavlinsky from Yabloko party, leader of the Party of Growth Boris Titov, head of the Russian All-People Union Sergey Baburin, TV host Ksenia Sobchak and head of the Communists of Russia Maxim Suraikin.

Two days before the voting day, Russian incumbent president Putin in a special address to voters called on Russian citizens to go to the polling stations and choose a president for the future of Russia.

Under the constitution of the Russian Federation, the president shall be elected for a six-year term directly by eligible citizens. Any Russian citizen aged 35 years old and above, who has resided in Russia for no less than 10 years and does not hold citizenship or right of residence in another country, can be elected president.

Related:Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-18 07:55:32|Editor: Liangyu

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SAN FRANCISCO, March 17 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese American filmmaker is on a three-week journey to show her film that tracks a long lost, award-winning documentary on China's resistance war against Japanese invasion during World War II.

Robin Lung, director of Finding Kukan, will bring the film to four U.S. cities, including San Francisco, Washington D.C., Oakland in northern California and San Pedro in Los Angeles in southern California to educate the American public about the war.

The film depicts Lung's journey to rediscover Kukan, a previously lost color documentary produced by Chinese American playwright Li Ling-Ai from 1937 to 1940. "Kukan" is the Chinese pronunciation for "hard working."

As Li was a female, the screenings were also meant to celebrate the Women's History Month in March, said Lung.

In San Francisco, the film will be screened on March 22 at the Chinese Culture Center and March 29 at the Association of Asian American Studies Conference.

In 1937, Li hired Rey Scott, a photo journalist, to shoot the war-torn China at her expense. Scott made four risk-laden trips to China, from Shanghai and Nanjing to Yunnan and Guangdong Provinces.

He used a 16 mm motion picture camera and the most advanced color film at that time to capture ordinary Chinese people's lives and their battle against the Japanese troops.

The film offered American audiences a glimpse of the courageous Chinese people in the war. The color documentary won an Honorary Academy Award in 1941.

But the film was lost after the war was over. It was officially categorized as a "lost" film by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences until 2009, when Lung discovered a copy of it.

After seven years' of efforts, Lung and her team finally completed the film in 2015, which marked the 70th anniversary of the end of the Chinese people's war against Japanese aggression. The film was initially released in November 2016.

"I'm very proud to announce that Finding Kukan received acquisition funding from the Center for Asian American Media. That means the film will be broadcast on PBS (the Public Broadcasting Service) soon," said Lung.

The film was screened in Honolulu and New York last year and received a special jury award for documentary at the Hawaii International Film Festival.WASHINGTON, March 17 (Xinhua) -- A bar deck collapsed Saturday in the U.S. State of Georgia, injuring 14, including two in serious condition, local fire department said.

"A total of 14 were ultimately transported to local hospitals for treatment, 2 serious injuries," Savannah Fire Department said on social media, adding that the incident took place around 4:30 pm (2030 GMT).

The deck fell 12 feet (3.7 meters) down onto a seating area below, Savannah Fire Department said in another tweet.

From the photos shared on social media, the deck appears to be wooden, and wood splinters and debris can be seen on the edges of the broken-off portion. Chairs and tables can be seen both above and below the deck.HELSINKI, March 17 (Xinhua) -- Representatives from the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) will hold unofficial talks here on Sunday, Finnish media reported Saturday.

Finnish commercial television MTV reported that Choe Kang Il, who is responsible for relations with the United States at the DPRK Foreign Ministry, would arrive here for a two-day visit.

Finnish foreign ministry confirmed the visit to the MTV and described it as "unofficial."

Newspaper Helsingin Sanomat reported that Choe would meet Kathleen Stephens, a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea.

Finnish news agency STT reported that the talks would take place at the Japanese Embassy in Helsinki.

Kimmo Lahdevirta, head of the Asia desk at Finnish Foreign Ministry, told the STT that the event in Helsinki would be "academic" and "from the perspective of international relations."

Earlier on Saturday, the Swedish government said DPRK Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho concluded his three-day visit to Sweden for talks on the security situation on the Korean Peninsula.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-18 11:35:59|Editor: Lifang

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Smoke rises from Pavilion Hotel and Casino in Manila, the Philippines, March 18, 2018. A fire broke out Sunday morning at the hotel in Manila, the Bureau of Fire Protection said. (Xinhua/Yang Ke)

MANILA, March 18 (Xinhua) -- A fire broke out on Sunday morning at a hotel in Manila, capital of the Philippines, the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) in Manila said.

A local radio report said at least four "unconscious" people were taken to a hospital.

The BFP said the fire started at about 9:30 a.m. local time and the blaze was destroying the Manila Pavilion Hotel and Casino along United Nations Avenue in Manila City.

Firefighters continue to put out the fire as of posting. The cause of the fire was still unknown.VANCOUVER, March 17 (Xinhua) -- Fourth-year molecular biology student Calvin Johansson takes a deep breath in the hallway after exiting an auditorium at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) in Vancouver, Canada.

"It was nerve-wracking, but I got it done," he told Xinhua.

He had just completed a three-minute speech conducted entirely in the Mandarin language at the annual Chinese Bridge Mandarin Speech Contest.

Johansson, an English speaker, is competing in the elementary category - one of five levels here at the one-day contest.

"I'm happy to say that all the practice and the time and effort that I put into making the speech and rehearsing it with all my friends really went to good use," he said.

He only started learning Mandarin a few months ago after taking a trip to China.

"It wasn't until I went to China with some of my friends that I sort of got to experience the culture, experience everything about China and my views on China sort of changed," he said.

That experience was the focus of his speech.

He's among about 60 university students from several British Columbia schools in the contest, which is hosted by the local Chinese consulate's education office.

Each student must present a prepared speech to the audience and a panel of judges about their relationship and interest in the Chinese language and culture.

The speakers are judged by the panel on content, language, pronunciation, tone and style.

"As the Chinese Consul General here, we are encouraging students here to study Chinese and the Chinese culture through this event," said Yu Changxue, a representative of the education consul. "It can provide a chance for them to practice telling a story about themselves and China."

Yu said he enjoys the whole process. "They tell very interesting stories about their parents or grandparents, who have some trip or some relations with China," he said.

The event attracts students from various schools, including the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University and BCIT.

Mandarin instructor Billie Ng says that demands for Chinese language skills here in the province of B.C. are increasing. And this should come as no surprise as Metro Vancouver is home to about 400,000 people with Chinese heritage.

"It's going to be useful in their career and it's going to be useful in their daily lives," Ng said, noting that the students come from various backgrounds and subjects. "They probably have friends and neighbors from China, or who speak Chinese."Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-18 13:22:48|Editor: Liangyu

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Wu Yunbo (2nd R) visits villager Wang Jincai's (3rd R) home at Dongsala Village of Jarud Qi (County), north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Feb. 25, 2018. Wu Yunbo of Mongolia ethnic group comes from Dongsala Village of Jarud Qi (County) of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. As a secretary of the Communist Party of China local branch in the Dongsala Village, he initiated a cooperative in 2013 and explored a way to get people out of poverty. Farmers and herdsmen were encouraged to join the cooperative by investments in the form of cash, croplands or cattle. The total assets of the cooperative have been valued at 34 million yuan (5.4 million U.S. dollars) so far. Its net profit in 2017 reached 3.6 million yuan (568,720 U.S. dollars). The cooperative, which is growing steadily, has helped 37 households shake off poverty. As a deputy to the 13th National People's Congress, Wu is considering to lead all villagers and herdsmen of the village to get rich by further expanding the cooperative and scaling up cattle breeding business. (Xinhua/Ren Junchuan)COLOMBO, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Sunday signed a gazette notification to lift a nation wide state of emergency which was imposed on March 6 following communal riots in the central regions of the island country.

President's Secretary Austin Fernando told Xinhua that Sirisena signed the gazette notification upon his return to the island from India and Japan.

In a message on his official twitter account, Sirisena said "Upon assessing the public safety situation, I instructed to revoke the State of Emergency from midnight yesterday."

The state of emergency imposed on March 6 was the first since the island ended a 30-year civil conflict between government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009.

Communal violence erupted in Kandy earlier this month, leaving three dead, several injured and hundreds of shops, homes, temples and mosques damaged or burnt.

Over 280 people have been arrested over the violence to date while tight security remained in place across the Kandy district to maintain law and order.

The latest clashes were triggered after a 41-year-old man succumbed to his injuries after being attacked by a group of people on Feb. 22.by Peter Mertz

DENVER, the United States, March 17 (Xinhua) -- An influential U.S. environmental group has recently launched a lawsuit against U.S. President Donald Trump's administration for its violation of a historic global agreement, calling on 197 parties worldwide to join them.

The lawsuit was triggered by Trump Administration's officials who ignored a Jan. 1 filing deadline set by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1992, which later created the framework for the 2008-2012 Kyoto Protocol, the 2010 Cancun agreements, and the 2015 Paris Agreement.

"It is the first time in 26 years that a U.S. administration has failed to comply with the treaty," said attorney Jean Su with the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), who filed against the U.S. Department of State Tuesday for its violation of the agreement.

The CBD, an Arizona-based non-profit organization with approximately 1.1 million members and online activists, is known for protecting endangered species and environmental causes.

The State Department, whose head Rex Tillerson was fired by President Donald Trump Tuesday, did not comment on the filing.

"We are hoping the international community will pressure the Trump Administration into compliance," said Su, adding "the UNFCCC treaty is the mother of the climate control movement today and lays out the principles to have collective action against states to combat global warming."

Environmental groups have filed hundreds of lawsuits against Trump in the 14 months since he took office, among which the CBD alone filed 60, according to Su.

Tracked through data, the accord's non-binding goal to keep the global temperature rise "well below" 2 degrees Celsius has been ignored by America, the largest producer of harmful carbon dioxide gasses.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief Scott Pruitt indicated that the administration is not about to listen to anyone about harmful vehicle emissions standards, especially the State of California.

"California is not the arbiter of these issues," Pruitt said in an interview with Bloomberg news. The state "shouldn't and can't dictate to the rest of the country what these levels are going to be."

The EPA head indicated he's ready to fight California over the amount of allowable emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from cars - to ease up on restrictions, thus helping automakers.

"It is another Trump far-reaching slippery maneuver -- meant to appease corporate oil and auto manufacturers and out of step with every other country and most people in America when it comes to scientific data on the environment," said Richardson, a Seattle-based attorney.

The UNFCCC treaty is the foundational agreement created to monitor greenhouse gas emissions and was adopted by all United Nations (UN) members almost 30 years ago. As of November 2016, 175 of the 197 countries had ratified the agreement.

U.S. President Donald Trump said last June that he would pull the United States out of the Paris Agreement, a landmark global pact to fight against climate change.

"If Trump doesn't withdraw the United States from the 1992 UNFCCC, we remain a party to it and would still have to meet our obligations under the treaty, including providing data about our greenhouse gas emissions," Ann Carlson, Professor of Environmental Law at UCLA said last year.

The emission data sought by the UN is critical to measure how much a member's emissions have abated in the last two years to make sure other parties are on track, which affects the plannings in the future, especially financing to developing countries, Jean Su said.

Calling the recent American non-compliance an "unprecedented breech of their treaty obligations," Su expected the administration to delay a legal response and try to drag the case out of the U.S. courts.

"All countries agreed on a set of transparency instruments, and when you have collective action, these become bedrock of what an agreement is made of," Su said of the 26-year-old treaty.

A relevant note from the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, an environmental nonprofit organization based in Arlington, Virginia, said "unlike the Paris Agreement, which former U.S. President Barack Obama accepted under his executive authority, the UNFCCC was ratified by former U.S. President George H.W. Bush after receiving the Senate's consent."

"In practice, however, it is very unlikely that the legality of a decision by the president, to withdraw from the UNFCCC, could be successfully challenged," the note wrote.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-18 13:01:08|Editor: Lu Hui

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BEIJING, March 18 (Xinhua) -- China has lodged stern representations with the United States over a Taiwan-related bill, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said over the weekend.

It was reported that U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday signed the bill that encourages visits between the United States and China's Taiwan at all levels.

"We firmly oppose the U.S. side signing the Taiwan Travel Act," spokesperson Lu Kang said.

"As has been pointed out many times by China, the relevant clauses of the act, though not legally binding, severely violate the one-China principle and the three joint communiques between China and the United States," Lu said.

The Taiwan Travel Act sends out very wrong signals to "pro-independence" separatist forces in Taiwan, Lu said, noting that China was strongly opposed to this.

"We urge the U.S. side to correct its mistake, stop pursuing any official ties with Taiwan or improving its current relations with Taiwan in any substantive way, and handle Taiwan-related issues properly and cautiously so as to avoid causing severe damage to China-U.S. relations and cross-Strait peace and stability," Lu said.

"Taiwan is a part of China and issues regarding Taiwan are completely internal affairs of China," said Wu Qian, spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense.

Wu stressed that the bill had interfered in the internal affairs of China and injured the environment for the development of relations between the two countries' militaries.

"China demands that the U.S. keep its promises, rectify its wrongs, refrain from implementing relevant clauses of the bill and stop seeking any official contacts, military ties or arms sales with Taiwan, so as to avoid doing serious harm to the China-U.S. relationship, the ties between the two countries' militaries and the peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," Wu said.CANBERRA, March 18 (Xinhua) -- The conservative Liberal Party has won the election of South Australia state, ending the Australian Labor Party's streak of 16 years in power in the state.

Liberal leader Steven Marshall claimed victory for his party on Saturday night after his party was projected to win the 24 seats in the lower house of parliament required to form government.

"A massive thank you to the people of South Australia who have put their trust, their faith in me and the Liberal team for a new dawn, a new dawn for South Australia," he told his supporters in Adelaide.

Marshall's campaign was built on promising to cut payroll tax for small businesses and, critically, scaling back the Australian Labor Party (ALP)'s approach to renewable energy which he described as reckless.

Speaking from Sydney, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, leader of the Federal Liberal Party, said the result was an endorsement of his government's national energy policy.

The Liberals were projected to receive 37.4 percent of primary votes, 7.4 percent less than the 2014 election but 3.5 percent better than the ALP.

Jay Weatherill, who served as the state's premier since 2011, on Sunday morning visited Government House to tender his resignation, saying he would also step down as leader of the party.

"I'm proud of what we've done locally, but I'm really looking forward to being a good local member of Parliament," he said.

In his concession speech on Saturday night, Weatherill said he was "sorry" that he "couldn't bring home another victory" but was proud of what the party had accomplished in its four terms in government.

Despite being the main focus during much of the campaign, the recently formed centrist SA-BEST party, led by former Federal Senator Nick Xenophon, failed to make a splash at the polls, receiving just 13.7 percent of the primary vote.

"This is, this is not the beginning of the end, it's actually the end of the beginning. Because I think we're going to see some very interesting things happening," Xenophon said.KHOST, Afghanistan, March 18 (Xinhua) -- A child has been killed and 16 children wounded following a blast in Afghanistan's eastern province of Khost, local police said Sunday.

"The blast occurred Saturday evening at vicinity of a religious school in Spin Kaan locality, Nadir Shah Kot district. Khost provincial police have launched an investigation into the incident," Basir Bina, provincial police spokesman, told Xinhua.

He blamed enemies of peace and stability, a term referring to Taliban militants, for the attack.

More than 3,430 civilians were killed and over 7,000 others injured in conflict-related incidents in 2017, according to figures released by the United Nations mission in the country.

Out of the casualties more than 850 children lost their lives and over 2,300 children injured last year.PHNOM PENH, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's near-term economic outlook remains positive with gross domestic product (GDP) growth expected at around 7 percent in 2018, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a press release on Sunday.

"Cambodia's economy continues to grow at around 7 percent, supported by higher public spending and robust construction and tourism activity," Jarkko Turunen, who led an IMF team to visit Cambodia from March 12 to 16, said in the release.

"Cambodia's economic outlook remains positive, but is subject to downside risks. Macro-financial and external risks remain significant, and political uncertainties could dampen consumer and investor sentiment," he said. "On the upside, stronger global growth may increase foreign demand for goods exports and tourism."

Turunen said policies should focus on managing macro-financial risks, safeguarding fiscal sustainability and advancing reforms to support growth, resilience and inclusion.

He said bank credit growth has moderated somewhat to 17.2 percent in January 2018, but credit growth to real estate and construction related activities continues to grow at a higher pace than credit to other sectors.

Turunen added that Cambodia's public external debt remained relatively low at 6.67 billion U.S. dollars, about 30 percent of GDP, at end-2017.5 policemen killed in fresh attack in Afghanistan Source: Xinhua 2018-03-18 13:56:14 GHAZNI, Afghanistan, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Five police personnel were killed and four others wounded after Taliban militants attacked security checkpoints in Afghanistan's eastern province of Ghazni overnight, provincial police chief said Sunday. Editor: Lifangby Raul Menchaca

MATANZAS, Cuba, March 17 (Xinhua) -- Under a pounding sun, a group of men, armed with chain saws, cut down the trees at an old citrus plantation in a plain in western Cuba, previously known for its high production of oranges, grapefruit and lemons.

An invasion of the Huanglongbing plague, also known as a citrus greening disease, forced authorities to demolish large areas planted with citrus in the state-run Victoria de Giron Agroindustrial Company, located in the municipality of Jaguey Grande, about 140 km southeast of Havana.

Losing the plantation was not the only problem for the company, which also had to face having a large volume of cut wood that remained on the fields without ever being put to use.

The decision of the managers was to start using this wood waste in the production of coal, a product that has historically been developed by in the area.

They have joined the ranks of company personnel and sell their entire coal production to the company itself, through a beneficial contract.

"The work is hard but you get used to it," said one of the farmers, Alexis Macias, a tall 47-year-old who has been a woodcutter since 1993 but now also produces coal.

He received everything he needs for the job free of charge, from the chain saw to the sacks and the strings to tie them up, and in exchange he sold between three and four tons of coal every month to the company.

Today his monthly income is more than before, which may increase depending on the quality of his production.

The process of cutting firewood and coal processing today involves some 600 farmers from Jaguey Grande and four other municipalities near the area where the company is located. Last year, they exported some 3,500 tons of coal to Turkey and Canada.

The gradual exhaustion of the debris from the demolished citrus plantations has not been an impediment to the work of the farmers, who now focus their attention on the dense marabou forests, an invasive tree of the Mimosaceae family that covers Cuban fields.

Now 95 percent of the coal in the area is made with the marabou as raw material and only five percent, comes from the citrus waste.

That coal is sold under the "Cubanita" brand for 350 U.S. dollars a ton, and is of a higher quality than the one made with white firewood. This is because, although it takes longer to ignite, it lasts twice as long, thus making it more expensive on the international market.

That is one of the reasons why the company is committed to a productive increase in its production of charcoal, although the selection for quality is made in a manufacturing plant with Spanish technology, where the final product is also packaged.

"We could meet our planned productive goal in the first two months of the year. We also think that there will be an increase from the second semester, so it is very likely that we can exceed the annual plan," said Humberto Suarez, the deputy director of the company.

Benefiting from better prices and work equipment, the charcoal burners of Jaguey Grande are part of a productive mechanism that Cuba has launched to export a type of domestic fuel now being transformed into a growing export item.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-18 14:31:18|Editor: Mengjie

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BEIJING, March 18 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese mainland spokesperson Sunday said the signing of a Taiwan-related travel bill by the United States had sent a "gravely wrong signal" to "Taiwan independent" separatists.

"Once again, I would like to sternly warn Taiwan that relying on foreigners to build you up will only draw fire against yourself," said An Fengshan, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council.

An said the bill had caused a severe blow to the complex and grave situation of cross-Strait relations and the peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.

It was reported that U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday signed the "Taiwan Travel Act" that encourages visits between the United States and the island at all levels.

"We resolutely oppose it," An said, noting that the bill had severely violated the one-China principle and the three joint communiques between China and the United States.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-18 14:31:18|Editor: ZD

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Xi Jinping (L, front) shakes hands with Li Keqiang at the sixth plenary meeting of the first session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 18, 2018. Li Keqiang was endorsed as Chinese premier Sunday at the ongoing first session of the 13th NPC, the country's national legislature. Nearly 3,000 NPC deputies voted to approve the premiership nomination of Li, by newly-elected President Xi Jinping. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

BEIJING, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Li Keqiang was endorsed as Chinese premier Sunday at the ongoing first session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC), the country's national legislature.

Nearly 3,000 NPC deputies voted to approve the premiership nomination of Li, by newly-elected President Xi Jinping.

Li was officially appointed premier after President Xi signed a presidential decree.

Li then took an oath of allegiance to the country's fundamental law.

"I pledge to be allegiant to the Constitution of the PRC, safeguard the Constitution's authority, fulfill my legal obligations, be loyal to the country and the people, be committed and honest in my duty, accept the people's supervision and work for a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful," he said.

This is the second term for him on the post. In 2013, he became the seventh premier since the People's Republic of China (PRC) was founded in 1949.

Li, born in 1955, joined the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 1976 and graduated from Peking University with law and economics degrees.

After working as provincial leaders in Henan and Liaoning provinces, he was elected to the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee in 2007 and appointed vice premier in 2008.

He was reelected to the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee in 2012 and 2017.

In a government work report delivered on March 5, Li called on the people to rally even closer around the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core, be enterprising and work hard.

At Sunday's plenary meeting, the deputies also voted to decide on vice chairpersons and members of the Central Military Commission of the PRC, and elect director of the national supervisory commission, president of the Supreme People's Court, procurator-general of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and members of the 13th NPC Standing Committee.

Related:

Li Keqiang -- Premier of China's State CouncilGHAZNI, Afghanistan, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Five police personnel were killed and four others wounded after Taliban militants attacked security checkpoints in Afghanistan's eastern province of Ghazni overnight, provincial police chief said Sunday.

"Unknown number of militants stormed police checkpoints Saturday night in Qala-e-Qazi and Khak-e-Ghariban localities on outskirts of provincial capital Ghazni city. The clashes left five police killed and four others wounded," police chief Mohammad Zaman told Xinhua.

Additional security forces arrived in the targeted posts after the gunfight in the province, 120 km south of Kabul.

The province has been the scene of clashes between security forces and militants.

Several Taliban militants were also killed and wounded during the gun battle, but their number could not be specified as the militants evacuated their casualties.

Taliban militant group has intensified activities as spring and summer known as fighting season is drawing near in the country.LASHKARGAH, Afghanistan, March 18 (Xinhua) -- At least 29 armed militants were killed during air attacks by Afghan air force in Helmand province, south of Afghanistan, on Saturday, Afghan Defense Ministry said in a statement released here on Sunday.

"The air force's warplanes targeted hideouts of Taliban militants in Gereshk, Nadali, Nahr-e-Saraj, Sangin and Marjah districts of southern Helmand province, on Saturday, killing at least 29 insurgents," said the statement.

Several hideouts of Taliban militants were destroyed and their arms and ammunitions were smashed or seized by security forces during the operations, the statement added.

Taliban militants have not commented about the report so far.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-18 14:41:20|Editor: Yurou

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Firefighters battle against a fire in Manila, the Philippines, on March 18, 2018. At least four people were killed and 14 others injured as a fire swept through a casino in a Manila hotel on Sunday morning, authorities said. (Xinhua/Yang Ke)

MANILA, March 18 (Xinhua) -- At least four people were killed and 14 others injured as a fire swept through a casino in a Manila hotel on Sunday morning, authorities said.

According to Johnny Yu of the Manila Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, four people, who had been critically injured during the fire, did not make it to the hospital.

Yu said earlier that the four injured were "unconscious" when rushed to the hospital.

The fire gutted the casino's mezzanine up to the third floor.

The Bureau of Fire Protection in Manila said the fire produced flames and thick smoke plume that engulfed the casino of the Manila Pavilion Hotel and Casino along United Nations Avenue in Manila City.

Firefighters were still trying to control the blaze that continued to rage as of past noon.

The cause of the fire was still unknown.Photo taken on Jan. 9, 2018 shows the Khan Steel factory in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan. (Xinhua/Rahmat Alizadah)

DENVER, the United States, March 17 (Xinhua) -- Unabashed collusion between the current U.S. administration and the country's steel producers - to artificially blame other countries for their economic woes - has produced another wave of incredulity in America.

A MOVIE

A film about how another country's trade policy threatens the United States, was produced by Peter Navarro, U.S. President Donald Trump's trade adviser, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Friday, revealing that North Carolina-based Nucor, a steel industry producer, paid the astronomical 1 million U.S. dollars' sum for the film.

The report said Nucor paid the money in 2011 to the Utility Consumers' Action Network, a nonprofit that advocates on behalf of utility customers in San Diego County of California, which in turn paid Navarro's production company to make the film, in which Tom Danjczek, then-president of the Steel Manufacturers Association, blasted government subsidies of other countries.

Navarro successfully pushed the stiff steel tariffs, which he championed ever since he joined the administration last year.

Photo taken on April 18, 2016 shows the plant area of Smederevo steel mill in Smederevo, Serbia. (Xinhua/Wang Huijuan)

On Feb. 16, the White House announced that tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum would benefit America's steel makers. The Trump administration, for the first time, declared a threat to national security to justify the brash action.

Since the arrangement between Navarro's film and steel industry's payment now being investigated by the FBI, more questions were raised about this policy decisions that will overwhelmingly benefit the industry and that economists agree will hurt Americans' welfare.

"They're getting funding to produce a movie that supports their political views," said Washington insider and political analyst David Richardson.

"These are all ethical violations - just as Trump reversing Obama protections of beautiful wilderness areas - all meant to make his oil friends billions of dollars," said Richardson, a Seattle attorney who worked on Capitol Hill during the Reagan Administration.

"In any other presidential administration these would be shock waves - in these times, they are speeding tickets," he said. "The steel companies want protection - as irrelevant to the global economic equation as that may be."

A welder examines quality of soldered steel rails at Xiaolizhuang Welding Base of Mechanical Works Section of Zhengzhou Railway Bureau in Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan Province, May 4, 2017. (Xinhua/Li An)

1 TO 38

In a report released on Friday, the U.S. Commerce Department said a recent influx of foreign metals posed "a risk to national security" by threatening the viability of American manufacturers who make planes, armored vehicles and other products for the military.

Naturally, American steel that has seen a troubling decline in sales to customers in construction, agriculture and other industries, applauded the move.

But American industries that use steel and aluminum to make their products, including automakers and food packagers, say tariffs or quotas will cause their prices to rise and shrink their profits, and could end up costing American jobs.

Christine McDaniel, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center, a think tank that supports free markets, published earlier that for every one steelworker which might benefit from these trade restrictions, more than 38 other workers in other sectors could be harmed by it.

"There is ample evidence that import taxes will harm economic growth and cost American jobs," she said.

U.S. President Donald Trump is seen on a TV screen announcing tariffs on steel and aluminum, at the White House in Washington D.C., the United States, on March 8, 2018. (Xinhua/Ting Shen)

"Nobody wins in a war - whether it be military or economic," L.A. Cardona IV, a government procurement analyst, told Xinhua Friday. "Trump has announced economic war with the world - not a good idea."

"It's better off to let the markets to balance itself without interference from government or politicians," Cardona told Xinhua Friday.

While insiders say the Trump approach is an opportunity to make good his "get-tough" talk on global trade that he has long championed, they also said that erecting barriers could prompt swift retaliation from other trading partners, including the European Union.

"Trump doesn't listen to anyone - including his allies who warn of reciprocal action in response to protectionist measures. This will undoubtedly further erode relations with foreign allies and might inadverdently raise prices for American consumers," Cardona said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-18 15:21:25|Editor: Yurou

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JERUSALEM, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Israeli fighter jets struck a Hamas post in the Strip Gaza overnight between Saturday and Sunday after an explosive device detonated near the fence between Israel and the besieged Palestinian enclave.

A military spokesperson said in a statement that the jets targeted a post in central Gaza belonging to Hamas, the Islamist Palestinian organization that runs Gaza.

The strike was a "response to the explosive devices that have been placed adjacent to the security fence," the statement read.

On Saturday, one of the devices exploded, causing no injuries. According to the military, there were no troops near the bombing.

Shortly later, the army said a tank fired artillery at a post belonging to Hamas.

No group assumed responsibility for the bombing, but the military said it holds Hamas "accountable for all occurrences in and from the Gaza Strip."

The spokesperson also warned that the army "will continue to operate by all means at its disposal in order to provide safety to Israeli civilians."

The bombing was the second time an explosive was put near the fence in the past week.

On Thursday, two explosive devices were detonated as a military patrol vehicle drove by the fence. Israel retaliated with artillery at Hamas targets.DHAKA, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Lightning hit a gas pipeline and sparked a house fire in Bangladesh's Sylhet district some 240 km northeast of capital Dhaka early Sunday, killing five people including three children and two women.

AKM Fazlul Haque Shibli, officer-in-charge of Sylhet's Golapganj Police Station, told journalists that the victims, who were asleep inside the single-store tin-shed house, were burnt to death on the spot.

He said the fire broke out at around 3:00 a.m. local time in a gas pipeline adjacent to the house of the victims after lightning struck there early Sunday.

Two other people were injured in the devastating fire, he added.

Storms accompanied by thunder and lightning are common during this season in Bangladesh.DUBAI, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Dubai Ports (DP) World and India's National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) said Sunday that they acquired a 90 percent stake in an Indian multi-modal logistics corporation.

The acquisition of Continental Warehousing Corporation Ltd (CWCNSL) was executed through Hindustan Infralog Private Limited (HIPL), a joint venture recently created between DP World and NIIF as an investment vehicle, they said in a joint e-mailed statement.

CWCNSL's logistics network is spread across key strategic locations in India covering a total area of more than 400 acres and providing over 660k TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) capacity.

The United Arab Emirates and India have intensified political and economic relations in recent years.

In February, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the the UAE to boost trade between the two countries.

On Saturday, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, discussed cooperation and ways of enhancing bilateral relations in a phone call with Modi, UAE state news agency WAM reported.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-18 16:21:33|Editor: Yurou

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DAMASCUS, March 18 (Xinhua) -- The Turkish forces and allied Syrian rebels have largely captured the predominantly-Kurdish city of Afrin in northern Syria on Sunday amid large waves of displacement, according to reports and sources.

The Turkish forces and its allied fighters of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels have advanced inside Afrin, with thousands of people fleeing to nearby areas, according to pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV.

It added that over two-thirds of the city fell to the Turkish forces.

Sources in Aleppo told Xinhua that people were fleeing in droves, with the majority of them leaving their areas in Afrin and seeking refuge in nearby areas, mainly in the town of Nubol.

Meanwhile, the oppositional Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said over half of the city fell to the Turkish forces, adding that 1,500 fighters with the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) have been killed since the Turkish campaign started against Afrin in January.

The FSA, a Turkish-backed rebel group, said the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) withdrew from Afrin in the northern countryside of Aleppo.

After midnight, Turkish forces entered parts of Afrin and the situation continued to snowball until the entire city largely fell to the Turkish military campaign.

On Jan. 20, Turkey launched the operation to wipe out the People's Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara considers as a terror group affiliated to the PKK, from northwestern Syria.



Particularly during my sojourns in South Africa, it may not be possible for me to perform the moderation function speedily. I regret the necessity of moderation but it has been rendered inevitable by the behaviour of a particular commentator whose contributions will always and without exception be rejected.





No correspondence will be entered into regarding moderation decisions.

Readers are invited to comment on blog posts. All comments require to be pre-moderated by me, and I shall reject all (a) that are not related to the Lockerbie disaster or (b) that fail to meet my -- perhaps idiosyncratic -- standards of courtesy towards other contributors. Comments will not be rejected simply because I disagree with them or because I, or other contributors, find them irritating. But comments will be rejected if they distort or misrepresent the evidence; are defamatory; or if they risk embroiling me, as publisher, in defamation proceedings. I am perfectly relaxed about being sued in respect of material which I personally have posted -- but not in respect of material that others wish to post as comments and which, in any case, I often strongly disagree with.SYDNEY, March 18 (Xinhua) -- The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Australia on Sunday agreed to enhance cooperation in security, trade and business at a special summit in Sydney.

During the two-day summit that ended Sunday, the two sides signed the ASEAN-Australia Joint Declaration for Cooperation to Combat International Terrorism, targetting terror financing, online radicalization and looking to streamline legislation and policing protocols across Southeast Asia.

Australia and ASEAN have also agreed to boost trade, investment and business links through economic integration and new initiatives in infrastructure development and digital standards.

The Australian government announced they would commit 23 million U.S. dollars over the next five years for training and technical assistance to help ASEAN nations develop smart and sustainable cities.

With over 90 million people in Southeast Asian expected to move to urban areas by 2030, trade and economic growth is set to increase rapidly during that time.

"To harness these opportunities, cities need innovative solutions, smart planning and good governance," Australian Foreign Minister Julie bishop said.

ASEAN and Australia will also work together on a new initiative the Colombo Plan, giving Australian undergraduates the opportunity to take internships across the ASEAN region in order to promote greater academic collaboration.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-18 16:51:37|Editor: ZD

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BEIJING, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Congratulations are pouring in from around the world after Xi Jinping was elected Chinese president by a unanimous vote on Saturday at the ongoing session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) -- China's national legislature.

Xi was also elected chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) of China by a unanimous vote.

In their messages, leaders of foreign countries, political parties and organizations also expressed their confidence that under Xi's leadership, China will achieve greater prosperity and will play a larger international role.

The following is an edited version of some of the messages.

Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen said Xi's election is a full recognition of the great achievements China has made under Xi's leadership in the past five years, and reflects the people's firm confidence in him to lead China in realizing the Two Centenary Goals and the Chinese dream.

The Two Centenary Goals are to finish building a moderately prosperous society in all respects by the time the Communist Party of China marks its centenary in 2021, and to build China into a modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced and harmonious by the time the People's Republic of China celebrates its centenary in 2049.

Yameen said he is confident that under Xi's leadership, China will make greater achievements and create more opportunities for other countries in the world to achieve common development.

Bangladeshi President Abdul Hamid said under Xi's leadership, China has made huge achievements in the great cause of building a community with a shared future for mankind.

Hamid said he believes that Bangladesh-China relations will be consolidated and deepened.

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said under Xi's wise and far-sighted leadership, China has made remarkable achievements.

Hasina said Bangladesh expects to enhance cooperation in various fields with China.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said Xi's election fully reflects the Chinese people's high affirmation of his huge contribution to safeguarding China's interests.

Nazarbayev also said he believes that under Xi's leadership China will definitely keep making new greater achievements in the process of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and that the Kazakhstan-China comprehensive strategic partnership will continue to maintain high level development with concerted efforts from both sides.

Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko said that under Xi's leadership and with the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the Chinese people are unswervingly forging ahead toward the goal of realizing the Chinese dream of great national rejuvenation.

Lukashenko also expressed his wishes that the Chinese people will enjoy lasting peace and prosperity, and that Belarus-China friendship will keep moving forward.

Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili said Xi's wise leadership will bring the Chinese nation greater development and create more wellbeing for the Chinese nation.

Margvelashvili added that he believes Georgia-China traditional friendship and cooperation will definitely be further deepened.

Cameroonian President Paul Biya said he wishes Xi a full success in performing his duty as the Chinese president, and expressed his willingness to work with Xi in strengthening the existing special friendly cooperative relations between the two countries.

Namibian President Hage Geingob said that under Xi's leadership, China has witnessed rapid economic and social development and has made remarkable achievements in national construction.

Geingob said China has already embarked upon a course of building a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-18 17:06:39|Editor: Xiang Bo

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by Xinhua writer Ye Zaiqi

SAN FRANCISCO, March 17 (Xinhua) -- A dozen American high school students posed merrily for a group photo, each holding a painting or drawing to which they put a final touch minutes ago Saturday in a contest on Chinese language and arts in the western U.S. state of California.

The students, from Justin-Siena High School in Napa city of northern California, joined their peers of other schools from various places of San Francisco on the country's west coast for the annual 14th Chinese Language Bridge Cup Contest, which opened here for a two-day event.

Shelby Thomason, an 11th-grade girl from the high school, completed a piece of oil painting of a tree in leafy profusion in the two-hour contest, which she said represented hopes and life for everyone on the planet.

Thomason said she has studied Chinese language for three years and it is a great fun to attend the contest that has drawn over 1,100 children ranging from kindergarten kids to high schoolers from across San Francisco and its neighboring cities and counties.

"I think it's really cool that people from all over California, not just for people like a Chinese background, can come and participate in these kinds of things," she said after the contest.

"Before I took Chinese in high school, I didn't have any idea about the culture or like writing or drawing or anything like arts, it's not really my thing, but it's fun to come for the contest that incorporates different ideas and show what you've learned in school and be a little artistic," said the girl explaining how she started to learn Chinese.

She said it was a bit weird and hard for her to learn Chinese at the beginning because it was the most difficult language in the world.

However, she said the writing of Chinese characters is a form of art, which made her feel different.

An active volleyball player at her school, Thomason said, "While learning Mandarin (standard Chinese), you can do arts and writing, because writing is kind of artistic form and I like that and this contest. It's kind of being fun for me to see different aspects of competition."

"It's amazing to see how unique Chinese culture is and Mandarin the language," she said, trying to explain the meaning of her beautiful Chinese name Tang Shiyu, which means "poetry amid misty rain" in the ancient Chinese Tang Dynasty from the year of 618 to 907.

Juliette Nast, a 12th-grade girl from the same school, shared her similar experience of how she learned Chinese for four years.

She said learning Chinese at the high school is a bold decision.

"I'm going to take French first but then I decided to try something new and take Mandarin," she said.

She said it was a great fun to learn Chinese, and "I have done this competition for the past three years too."

"After my sophomore year, I went to China with my teacher and a few other students. And we went to Beijing and Shanghai, and stayed with my host family and saw a lot of places in China," she recalled her trip to China, which left a very strong impression on her.

Nast said she saw lots of shared bikes on the streets in Beijing. "It's amazing and very convenient for people out there to ride them around in the city."

Nast expressed huge interest in the shared bikes, which her teacher talked about in class as one of the four new "Great Inventions" of China -- along with China's Express Railway, Alipay online payment system, and online shopping, a phenomenon that amazed the whole world as part of China's rapid rise to be the world's second largest economy.

Vivi Li, instructor of world languages of Justin-Siena High School, said one in ten of the students in her school are taking the Chinese course, and showed great passion for Chinese culture.

"It's really unusual for a Catholic school that has only about 650 students on campus in Napa, where there are much smaller Chinese communities than any other places in San Francisco," Li said.

However, she added that her students studying Chinese language expressed tremendous passion for the ongoing contest, which was jointly hosted by the Confucius Institute at San Francisco State University and San Francisco Unified School District.

The students from different language and cultural backgrounds are free to choose a seat for competition from the events ranging from Chinese calligraphy (Brush), Chinese calligraphy (Pen), drawing or painting, Chinese composition, and Chinese poetry recital.

Xie Jiaxin, director of the Confucius Institute, said the contest aims to give a platform for American and overseas Chinese kids to present their Chinese language proficiency and demonstrate their Chinese culture talents.

"We hope the contest will help boost Chinese language teaching in the United States, deepen the understanding of American young people about the Chinese language, culture and history, and create more opportunities for them to improve their bilingual language proficiency oriented toward the 21st century," Xie said.The sixth plenary meeting of the first session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) is held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 18, 2018. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)

BEIJING, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Li Keqiang was endorsed as Chinese premier Sunday at the ongoing first session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC), the country's national legislature.

Nearly 3,000 NPC deputies voted to approve the premiership nomination of Li, by newly-elected President Xi Jinping.

Li was officially appointed premier after President Xi signed a presidential decree.

Li then took an oath of allegiance to the country's fundamental law.

Li Keqiang took an oath of allegiance to the country's fundamental law at the ongoing session of China's National People's Congress, March 18, 2018. (XINHUA/Yao Dawei)

"I pledge to be allegiant to the Constitution of the PRC, safeguard the Constitution's authority, fulfill my legal obligations, be loyal to the country and the people, be committed and honest in my duty, accept the people's supervision and work for a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful," he said.

This is the second term for him on the post. In 2013, he became the seventh premier since the People's Republic of China (PRC) was founded in 1949.

Li, born in 1955, joined the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 1976 and graduated from Peking University with law and economics degrees.

After working as provincial leaders in Henan and Liaoning provinces, he was elected to the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee in 2007 and appointed vice premier in 2008.

He was reelected to the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee in 2012 and 2017.

In a government work report delivered on March 5, Li called on the people to rally even closer around the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core, be enterprising and work hard.

A deputy to the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) casts her vote and ballot papers, March 18, 2018. (XINHUA/Liu Weibing)

At Sunday's plenary meeting, the deputies also voted to decide on vice chairpersons and members of the Central Military Commission of the PRC, and elect director of the national supervisory commission, president of the Supreme People's Court, procurator-general of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and members of the 13th NPC Standing Committee.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-18 17:51:44|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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The Free Syrian Army fighters are seen in Afrin city, Syria, on March 18, 2018. Turkish troops and allied Syrian rebels have taken the Afrin city center under control following two-month fighting, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday. (Xinhua)

ISTANBUL, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Turkish troops and allied Syrian rebels have taken the Afrin city center under control following two-month fighting, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday.

The Free Syrian Army, backed by the Turkish army, took over completely the center of Afrin city, the central town in the Afrin district, as of 08:30 a.m. on Sunday, Erdogan said at a ceremony marking the 103rd anniversary of the Gallipoli campaign in Canakkale of northwestern Turkey.

"At this moment Turkish flag is flapping there, the Free Syrian Army flag is flapping," he said.

Turkey started the campaign against the Afrin district in northwestern Syria on Jan. 20, with a view to driving out Kurdish militants, who are seen by Ankara as terrorists.

Erdogan pledged to take all the steps needed to make the entire region livable, improving both its infrastructure and superstructure.

"We will take all necessary steps to bring the people of the region back to their homes as soon as possible," he added.

Erdogan has repeatedly threatened to move on eastward to take over Manbij, a town which is also held by Kurdish militia known as the People's Protection Units (YPG) but has a U.S. military presence.

Turkey and the United States, with a relationship strained over an array of issues including Washington's continued arming of the YPG, have agreed to resolve their differences over Manbij through talks.

The presidents of Russia, Turkey and Iran are scheduled to meet on April 4 in Istanbul, with war-torn Syria atop their agenda.

In the view of Abdullah Agar, a security analyst, the Afrin operation has progressed more rapidly than expected. "Currently, the work to secure the stabilization is continuing," he said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-18 18:01:46|Editor: Xiang Bo

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BEIJING, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Congratulations are pouring in from around the world after Xi Jinping was elected Chinese president by a unanimous vote on Saturday morning at the ongoing session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) -- China's national legislature.

Xi was also elected chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) of China by a unanimous vote.

In their messages, leaders of foreign countries, political parties and organizations also expressed their confidence that under Xi's leadership, China will achieve greater prosperity and play a larger international role.

The following is an edited version of some of the messages.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said that Xi's election as Chinese president has fully shown that the Chinese people have full trust and confidence in the far-sightedness and wisdom that Xi has demonstrated in handling national and international affairs, believing the upcoming Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit in Beijing in September will surely be a success and will boost Africa-China partnership to a higher level.

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa said that Xi, as a leader with integrity and courage to assume responsibilities, has won the wholehearted support of the Chinese people, who have expressed their confidence with action. He believes that China would be more prosperous under Xi's leadership.

Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita said that the election of Xi as Chinese president by the NPC was a full affirmation of Xi's talent in national governance and administration and his noble virtue of serving the people.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that Xi's successful election as president has shown that both the Chinese People and the Communist Party of China have full confidence in Xi's wise leadership and grand plans for the future.

Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen said that China has scored unimaginable great achievements since the adoption of the policy of reform and opening-up (in 1978) and no other country can realize so outstanding development in such a short period of time. He hopes that China would keep forging ahead on the great path of success under Xi's leadership.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic spoke highly of Xi's election as Chinese president, and firmly believed that, under Xi's leadership, the Chinese people will definitely realize the Chinese dream of great national rejuvenation.

He also said that China's rejuvenation will surely help maintain world peace and stability and benefit peoples of all countries.

Antigua and Barbuda's Governor-General Rodney Williams said that Xi is a leader with both charisma and outstanding talent, wishing China greater development under Xi's leadership.

Rashid Alimov, secretary-general of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), said that China today plays a more and more important role on the world stage, and the Belt and Road Initiative and the notion of building a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind both proposed by Xi have been positively received by the international community.

Alimov believed that the SCO summit slated for June in east China's Qingdao city would definitely generate abundant results.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-18 18:16:47|Editor: Xiang Bo

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CHONGQING, March 18 (Xinhua) -- The China-Europe freight train service has started to extend to southeast Asia, as a returned train made a brief stop on Friday in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality before continuing toward Vietnam.

The train stopped in Chongqing to load cargo including mechanical equipment and industrial materials before heading to Vietnam's Hanoi, crossing the border via Pingxiang Customs in southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The return train is expected to carry Vietnamese produce, including tropical fruit, rice, coffee and aquatics as well as electric commodities produced by factories set up by global manufacturers in Vietnam.

The first China-Europe line was launched in 2011 between southwest Chongqing and Duisburg in Germany. Since then, more than 50 train routes have been opened for the China-Europe freight service.

The Chongqing municipal commission of economy and information said in the future, more China-Europe lines would be connected to southeast Asian countries through linking up with the Pan-Asia Railway to reach Thailand, Laos and Singapore.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-18 19:26:56|Editor: Yurou

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TEHRAN, March 18 (Xinhua) -- A former Iranian vice president was detained by Iran's judiciary, local media reported on Sunday.

In a statement, the Office of Prosecutor General of Tehran announced that Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, also former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's close ally, has been arrested by the police for interrogation.

The judiciary statement did not provide further details.

On Thursday, Mashaei burnt a copy of a court verdict in public, which had sentenced Hamid Baghaei, another vice president in Ahmadinejad's administration, to 15 years.

Baghaei, who served as vice president for executive affairs under Ahmadinejad, was found guilty of financial corruption.

He was also ordered to pay a fine of 430 billion rials, an equivalent of 8.96 million U.S. dollars.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-18 19:36:57|Editor: Xiang Bo

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VIENTIANE, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Chinese companies have recently signed an MoU with department under Lao science and technology ministry over measurement services.

She Xiechuan, general manager of Lao Technology Development Co. Ltd., a Chinese company in Laos, told Xinhua on Sunday that his company, together with Chengdu Metrology and Testing Institute, signed the MoU with the Department of Standardization and Metrology under Lao Ministry of Science and Technology in the Lao capital of Vientiane.

Signing ceremony for the agreement on the establishment of a measurement standard and technical services for the testing and calibration of measuring instruments, was held on Friday.

"Metering work is closely related to daily life. It is a major foundation for creating an impartial social operation, an indispensably important stage for the development of a country, and it is an important evidence of fairness and justice," General Manager She said.

According to She, his company and the Chengdu Metrology and Testing Institute decided to join hands with the Lao government after thoroughly investigating the measurement work in Laos.

"We are determined to make full use of the advantages of private enterprises and government agencies," he said. "With the direction and support of the relevant departments of the two countries, we will spare no effort to develop Laos' measurement work."Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-18 19:41:58|Editor: Yurou

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DOHA, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Qatari and Italian naval forces started a joint exercise on Saturday in Qatar's territorial waters, state-run Qatari news agency (QNA) reported Sunday.

Qatar's missile boat Al Debal and Italy's frigate Carlo Margottini participated in the drills, QNA said.

The joint exercise was conducted as part of the ongoing Doha International Maritime Defense Exhibition and Conference (DIMDEX) in the capital.

"The methodology of exercises and training among the forces evolves as strong relations between the two friendly countries develop," said Brig. Gen. Mubarak Rashid Al Sulaiti, commander of the Naval Operations Center Marine.

The exercise focuses on the maneuver and defense of a ship in the event of an external attack, as well as the exchange of experience in maximizing benefits and training officers and personnel.

On March 16, Qatari Armed Forces with Italian aerospace and defense company Leonardo signed deals on purchasing 28 NH90 helicopters and automatic simulators of these helicopters.

Last August, Qatar signed a 5-billion-euro (5.9 billion U.S. dollars) deal to purchase seven naval vessels from Italy.

Last June, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic, trade and transport links to gas-rich Qatar, accusing the gas-rich Gulf state of supporting terrorism and establishing close ties with Iran against Arab interests, which Doha has repeatedly denied.ADDIS ABABA, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Business and transportation movement across Ethiopia have returned to their regular services since the imposition of martial law, an Ethiopian official said on Sunday.

Assefa Abyou, Commissioner General of the Ethiopian Federal Police Commission, said since the imposition of martial law on February 16, regular business and transportation activity occasionally interrupted by strikes and riots have resumed to normal operations, reported state media Ethiopia Broadcasting Corporation.

"The regular activity of farmers selling their produce in urban centers while in turn buying inputs from urban areas for their household needs has been restored," he said.

However, Abyou acknowledged there's fear among the general populace of resumption of violence despite day to day activities in urban and rural areas largely returning to normal state.

He mentioned social media posts by exiled activists threatening attacks on fuel convoys and stations as one area of concern by the public.

Ethiopia has faced incessant protests since 2016, especially in its three most populous Oromia, Amhara and Southern regional states.

The recent protests have led Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn to declare resignation, which was followed by the imposition of a six-month martial law.

The Ethiopian government imposed the martial law saying it was to protect the country's constitution, citizens and their property.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-18 20:52:07|Editor: Yurou

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ISLAMABAD, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan's National Security Adviser Naseer Khan Janjua, who held talks with top Afghan leaders in Kabul on Saturday, reiterated on Sunday the country's full support to President Ashraf Ghani's recent dialogue offer to the Taliban insurgents.

Janjua said he had elaborate and successful meetings with Ghani, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, his counterpart Haneef Atmar, minister of defense and the intelligence chief on key issues particularly the peace offer made by Ghani.

The Afghan president unveiled his peace strategy on Feb. 28, offering recognition of the Taliban as political party, allowing them to open office in Kabul, issue passports to their members and remove the names of senior commanders from the UN blacklists.

Janjua's office said he appreciated the long-awaited peace offer made by Ghani and termed the peace offer as a "light on the other side of the tunnel in a war which had become rather perpetual."

"Use of force only injures people, wars are however virtually won politically," he added, assuring of Pakistan's full support for the vision of peace. He, however, highlighted that isolated, blamed and coerced Pakistan is of lesser use to Afghanistan.

Ghani also extended an invitation to the prime minister of Pakistan to visit Kabul as soon as possible to initiate "comprehensive dialogue" between the two countries.

"The world has started to look at and undermine Pakistan through the prism of Afghanistan which is not correct. We need to commit to each other and invest in bilateral relationship and Afghanistan needs to stand with Pakistan and both need to win peace together," Janjua said.

Ghani associated strong hopes with Pakistan and said, "We have made a sincere and serious offer of peace and together we have to make the best of it by rising beyond past. Let's not remain prisoners of past and let's secure our future with the aim not to win the war but to end it for which Pakistan should help."

He also expressed strong support for regional connectivity with Central Asian republics to reap the benefits of ideal geo-strategic locations of Afghanistan and Pakistan.Chinese visitors attend the African Sourcing and Fashion Week in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, Oct. 3, 2017. Africa's main trade show for cotton, textile, apparel, home and technology industries kicked off here on Tuesday. The African Sourcing and Fashion Week which will last until Friday, has gathered some 230 international producers and exporters from 25 countries. (Xinhua/Michael Tewelde)

KIGALI, March 18 (Xinhua) -- The African Union (AU) is looking forward to work with China and other partners outside Africa as the continent focus on realizing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), an African Union (AU) official said Saturday.

The AU is expecting their continued support as it focuses on achieving economic prosperity for African citizens, Kwesi Quartey, deputy chairperson of the AU Commission, told Xinhua on the sidelines of the ongoing AU's extraordinary summit on the AfCFTA.

Hope Tumukunde, chairperson of the Permanent Representatives Committee (PRC) of the African Union (AU), speaks at a PRC meeting in Kigali, Rwanda, on March 17, 2018. African leaders are expected to sign an agreement that will launch the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) at an extraordinary summit of the African Union (AU) kicked off here on Saturday. The summit started Saturday with a meeting of the Permanent Representatives Committee (PRC) of the AU, a preparatory meeting of the heads of state and government summit. (Xinhua/Gabriel Dusabe)

"China is one of the great partners of Africa in achieving rapid economic development on the continent," he said in Kigali, capital city of Rwanda.

African leaders are expected to sign an agreement to launch the AfCFTA at the summit, which will make Africa the largest free trade area created since the formation of the World Trade Organization, according to the AU. The AfCFTA could create an African market of over 1.2 billion people with a GDP of 2.5 trillion U.S. dollars, the pan-African bloc said.

"There is a political will and commitment in this agreement, we expect to amicably address any challenge that may arise during the implementation process," said Quartey.

Participants attend a meeting of the Permanent Representatives Committee (PRC) of the African Union (AU) in Kigali, Rwanda, on March 17, 2018. (Xinhua/Lyu Tianran)

The challenges could include protection of local industries, he said, adding that this would not be a big challenge since African leaders are committed to creating a single African market.DUBAI, March 18 (Xinhua) -- British exit from the European Union (EU) weakens Britain's position economically and politically in the world, said Tony Blair at a forum held in Dubai on Sunday.

Speaking at a panel discussion on day two of the 2018 Global Education and Skills Forum, Blair noted that Brexit "for sure diminishes Britain's standing."

Blair said the impact of Brexit must also be seen in the light of geopolitical shift nowadays, which is going to the east.

The impact of Brexit would also be a watershed from a global perspective as the EU is not the sole powerful bloc in the world, said Blair.

"In Asia you have ASEAN, then you've got the African Union, in South America you have Mercosur. This is the way the world is," Blair added.

Under Blair's government, the EU went through a deep political crisis at that time when in 2003, the UK under Blair joined the U.S. in the Iraq war, while the two major EU powers Germany and France opposed the invasion.

Britain will leave the EU after a 46-year membership on March 29, 2019.

The divorce is based on a referendum from June 23, 2016 when an absolute majority (51.6 percent) of the British people voted in favor of a prospective withdrawal from the EU.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-18 21:42:13|Editor: Xiang Bo

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SHANGHAI, March 18 (Xinhua) -- The French schooner Tara is on a two-month visit to China, engaging in cultural exchange to increase environmental awareness among the public, especially the young.

Romain Trouble, executive director of the Tara Expeditions Foundation, said Tara had visited Sanya, Hong Kong, Keelung and Xiamen since Feb. 24, before arriving in Shanghai during its first China visit. It will leave Shanghai on Apr. 29.

In the activities in Xiamen and Shanghai, some 3,000 Chinese teenagers are expected to board the science expedition vessel.

The China visit is a part of the schooner's 100,000-km Pacific expedition focusing on research on coral reefs and climate change. The science vessel had traveled 60,000 km on the trip since 2016, collecting 25,000 research samples.

Trouble said it was alarming that most of the coral reefs that Tara had visited in the Pacific Ocean have degraded due to factors ranging from global warming and overfishing to pollution discharge.

He said coral reefs were not only the ecosystem nurturing one-third of marine creatures, but also absorbed carbon dioxide to curb global warming. The policy of countries in the region on climate change is important to protecting the ecosystem.

The Tara Expeditions Foundation has set its next expedition goal to the Arctic Pole by 2020. It hopes to team up with partners in China, Russia, Japan and European countries to build a new expedition vessel for the purpose, and jointly build a floating laboratory for studying the melting of glaciers there.

The foundation has approached Chinese higher-learning institutes and tech firms for cooperation during the visit.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-18 21:42:14|Editor: Yurou

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TEHRAN, March 18 (Xinhua) -- The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) discussed improving banking relations with a visiting delegation from Oman, Financial Tribune daily reported on Sunday.

"Iran is ready to connect the bank card switches of the two countries and prepare the grounds for offering services to the tourists of both countries," said Valiollah Seif, governor of the CBI.

He made the remarks on Saturday in the meeting with the Omani foreign minister who was heading the delegation.

Likewise, Sultan bin Salem Al Habsi, deputy chairman of the Board of Governors of the Central Bank of Oman, said during that "a technical and expert team is currently evaluating the mechanisms of connecting the bank card switches of the two countries and we hope that its implementation will create a new atmosphere in this field."

"The Central Bank of Oman welcomes bilateral cooperation with Iran and supports Oman's commercial banks in this regard," he added.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-18 21:52:15|Editor: Yurou

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RAMALLAH, March 18 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian authorities said Sunday that the Palestinians will never allow the passage of "suspicious political solutions" to the Palestinian issue, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.

"Any suspicious political solution that does not meet the hopes and aspirations of our people for freedom and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital will not pass," Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the spokesman of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said in a statement published by WAFA.

He warned against any solution favoring "a state with temporary borders, a mini-state in Gaza or any other suspicious projects."

The current political process requires "national resilience in the face of regional interests," Abu Rudeineh added.

The tension between Palestine and the U.S. has started to rise since last October, and peaked on Dec. 6, 2017 when U.S. President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and ordered the move of the U.S. embassy to the holy city.KATHMANDU, March 18 (Xinhua) -- The Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) is organizing an international expo on adventure tourism and mountaineering in Kathmandu on March 23-25 with the aim of promoting Nepal as the adventure hub of Asia.

The three-day Global Adventure and Mountaineering Conference and Expo (GAMCE)-2018 is first of its kind to be held in the Himalayan country, which is renowned for adventure tourism due to its prominent peaks.

Nepal hosts half of the world's 14 tallest mountains.

NTB CEO Deepak Raj Joshi told Xinhua on Sunday that they aimed to promote Nepal as an adventure hub for Asia if not the world, where adventure buyers and sellers could transact adventure products and services not only from Nepal but from across the world.

"We also aim to showcase Nepal's expertise in adventure tourism basically in mountaineering, to the world," he said.

The NTB aims to develop GAMCE as a market platform for adventure tourism. "For example, we can provide the services of good tourist guides to international companies during the event," said Joshi.

One of the main reasons behind foreign tourists visiting Nepal is to get involved in adventurous activities, mainly the mountaineering because the country is famous for mountaineering due to large number of Himalayan peaks including the world's highest Mt. Qomolangma.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-18 22:27:22|Editor: Chengcheng

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Syrian soldiers march in the town of Saqba in the capital Damascus' Eastern Ghouta after the army liberated it on March 18, 2018. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad visited Eastern Ghouta on Sunday, as the army has liberated 80 percent of that area from the rebels. (Xinhua/Ammar Safarjalani)

DAMASCUS, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday visited a frontline area in the capital Damascus' Eastern Ghouta area, where the Syrian army is advancing against the rebels, the Syrian presidency media office said.

The media office of the Syrian army published two photos, in which Assad appeared surrounded by soldiers with a caption reading "on the frontline in Eastern Ghouta, President Assad is with the heroes of the Syrian army."

The rare visit comes as the Syrian forces are making strides in the battles against various rebel groups in Eastern Ghouta.

State news agency SANA said thousands of people fled areas in Eastern Ghouta on Sunday, the latest in a series of mass evacuations from that rebel stronghold on the eastern rim of Damascus.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-18 22:27:22|Editor: ZD

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BEIJING, March 18 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese mainland spokesperson Sunday said the signing of a Taiwan-related travel bill by the United States had sent a "gravely wrong signal" to "Taiwan independent" separatists.

"Once again, I would like to sternly warn Taiwan that relying on foreigners to build you up will only draw fire against yourself," said An Fengshan, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council.

An said the bill had caused a severe blow to the complex and grave situation of cross-Strait relations and the peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.

It was reported that U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday signed the "Taiwan Travel Act" that encourages visits between the United States and the island at all levels.

"We resolutely oppose it," An said, noting that the bill had severely violated the one-China principle and the three joint communiques between China and the United States.

Experts also expressed concerns over the cross-Strait stability and the China-U.S. relations since the report came out.

Guo Yongjun with China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations said the "Taiwan Travel Act" interfered in China's internal affairs and violated the one China policy which the United States has long been upholding.

Guo said "Taiwan independent" separatists should not pin their hopes on the United States and confrontation with the mainland will only lead to a dead end.

Ni Yongjie, deputy director of the Shanghai Institute of Taiwan Studies, pointed out that trying to hold China in check with the "Taiwan card" is good to none.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-18 22:47:26|Editor: Chengcheng

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CHONGQING, March 18 (Xinhua) -- China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), the country's largest oil and gas producer, plans to build eight gas storage facilities with a total capacity of 21 billion cubic meters, according to a forum that concluded on Sunday.

The gas storage facilities, located in southwest China's Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality, will cost more than 21 billion yuan (3.3 billion U.S. dollars), said Ma Xinhua, general manager of PetrolChina Southwest Oil and Gasfield Company, a CNPC affiliate.

The first phase of the project, to be built on the basis of two depleted gas fields, will have a capacity of 1.28 billion cubic meters, said Ma.

China has built 25 gas storage facilities with a total capacity of 11.7 billion cubic meters in the past 20 years, serving 200 million residents in 10 provincial-level regions, according to CNPC.

Currently, natural gas makes up 46.4 percent of CNPC's total oil and gas production, becoming a new growth point for the company.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-18 23:09:13|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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Xi Jinping talks with local villagers and cadres at Shibadong Village in Paibi Township of Huayuan County in the Tujia-Miao Autonomous Prefecture of Xiangxi, central China's Hunan Province, Nov. 3, 2013. (Xinhua/Wang Ye)

BEIJING, March 18 (Xinhua) -- As ceremonial music echoed throughout the Great Hall of the People, Xi Jinping took his place on the podium.

The music stopped as he reached a large red-bound copy of the country's Constitution.

The 64-year-old, in a dark suit, placed his left hand on the Constitution, raised his right hand to his temple and made a fist of solidarity.

"I pledge my allegiance to the Constitution," Xi began.

"[To] safeguard the Constitution's authority, fulfill my legal obligations, be loyal to the country and the people, be committed and honest in my duty, accept the people's supervision and work hard for a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful."

He bowed, and the nearly 3,000 National People's Congress (NPC) deputies reacted with a spontaneous burst of thunderous applause.

It was the first time a Chinese president had ever taken such an oath upon assuming office. The ceremony was watched by tens of millions of Chinese on television or on their smartphones.

On Saturday, Xi was unanimously elected as president of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and chairman of the Central Military Commission of the PRC.

Xi first took over the presidency five years ago, pledging to push forward the great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and strive for great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

"In face of the mighty trend of the times and earnest expectations of the people for a better life, we cannot have the slightest complacency, or get the slightest slack at work," he said back then.

China has made historic achievements under Xi's leadership. The unanimous vote shows the strong support he enjoys among the people.

Nearly five months ago, Xi was re-elected general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee. The Party's 19th National Congress enshrined in the CPC Constitution Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.

The thought was added into the country's Constitution at the 13th NPC session as a guiding principle of the state. People have high expectations for the years ahead. The blueprint laid out at the Party congress is being turned into action plan.

"HAPPINESS COMES OUT OF ARDUOUS WORK"

Led by Xi, China is becoming strong.

The size of the economy has expanded to more than 82 trillion yuan (around 13 trillion U.S. dollars) from 54 trillion yuan over the past five years, growing by 7.1 percent a year on average. More than 66 million urban new jobs have been created.

The economy is healthier. Xi's supply-side structural reform worked. Consumption has become a major growth driver, contributing to 58.8 percent of economic growth last year, up from 54.9 percent five years ago. The share of service sector has climbed to 51.6 percent from 45.3 percent.

People live a more comfortable life. More than 68 million people escaped poverty. Personal income increased by 7.4 percent annually on average. Life expectancy reaches 76.7 years, leading developing countries.

The environment improves as strict rules on water, soil and air pollution control have been enforced. A remarkable change: over the five years, the number of heavily-polluted days in major cities was halved.

Xi made this happen through reform. He is regarded as the chief architect. In the five years, more than 1,500 reform measures were issued, affecting economic, political, social, cultural, environmental fields, national defense and Party building. Government red tape was cut. Foreign investment was made easier.

Xi has said happiness comes out of arduous work.

A week after the 19th Party congress, Xi took leading officials to the Party's birthplace in Shanghai and Zhejiang, a "roots-tracing" trip to remind cadres of the Party's original aspiration.

"The CPC seeks happiness for the Chinese people," Xi said in an NPC session panel discussion. "Whatever issues the people are unhappy about or dissatisfied with, we must work hard to solve them."

Xi's deep connection to the people was formed early in his life.

Son of a revolutionary leader, Xi, at the age of 15, joined numerous "educated youth" bidding farewell to urban life and heading to the countryside to learn from peasants.

Xi was sent to a small, isolated village in Shaanxi Province and stayed on for seven years. These formative years taught him the real situation on the ground and shaped his belief in pragmatic approach and the mass line.

In the following decades, Xi rose from the grassroots to the very top. His work experience in the military, a poor rural county, and wealthy coastal regions enriched his leadership skills.

Xi entered the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee in 2007 and was elected general secretary of the CPC Central Committee in 2012. He has become the core of the CPC Central Committee and the whole Party.

"BITE THE HARDEST BONES"

In Xi's view, for China to achieve the goals in the new era, the Party' s leadership over every area is the key.

To keep the Party clean, he launched an unprecedented anti-corruption campaign, investigating 440 senior officials -- who held provincial or corps level positions or above, among others.

Overall, more than 1.5 million officials were punished.

"If we had not offended hundreds of corrupt officials, we would have offended 1.3 billion Chinese people," Xi said.

While the campaign has built into a crushing tide, Xi said it could not stop.

The action to "take out tigers" and "swat flies" continued after the 19th Party congress. Latest fallen high-ranking officials included former head of cyber-space administration Lu Wei, army generals Zhang Yang and Fang Fenghui, as well as former state councilor Yang Jing.

He also pushed forward the supervisory system reform, strengthening a centralized and unified leadership of the CPC over the graft fight.

Xi has called on officials in charge to "bite the hardest bones and catch the hottest potatoes" to tackle problems.

Xi is in the spotlight at the annual sessions of the NPC and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, commonly known as the "two sessions."

He stressed adherence to a system of CPC-led multiparty cooperation and political consultation, saying it was a new type of party system growing from China's soil and contributed to the political civilization of humanity.

Political advisor and entrepreneur Yu Minhong couldn't agree more. Yu is a member of the China Democratic League (CDL), one of the eight non-communist parties in China. But he is better known as the chairman of New Oriental, a leading education company.

For years, Yu has been helping poor rural students get proper schooling. His proposal for rural teacher pay rises led to government policy change.

Ding Zhongli, chairman of the CDL Central Committee, said the ruling party and the non-communist parties cooperated quite well under the system, working toward a common goal of national development.

Fred Teng, president of the America China Public Affairs Institute, said through the multiparty cooperation system policymakers could draw the best policies and achieve the best results.

While joining lawmakers from Guangdong Province in a panel discussion, Xi highlighted development, talent and innovation.

Guangdong has been at the front-line of the reform and opening-up.

The year 2018 marks the 40th anniversary of the drive, which resulted in consistent and fast economic growth for decades.

During an inspection to Jiangsu Province last December, Xi said more emphasis needed to be placed on the economy's quality rather than speed and every industry, every enterprise should follow the change.

China is setting sail toward a modernized economy with Xi at the helm.

"Xi Jinping Thought on Socialist Economy with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era" was raised at the Central Economic Work Conference last December.

The Wall Street Journal reported that China had made "Xiconomics" a guiding principle, with a focus on innovation and high-quality growth.

Areas to deepen reform include public institutions, state-owned enterprises, industrial monopolies, property rights protection, taxation, finance, rural development, social security and ecology. A modernized economy is the goal.

At the "two sessions," Xi's speeches touched more fields than economy, from Party building, rule of law, poverty reduction to environmental protection, social governance and military-civilian integration.

Internet tycoon, Tencent chairman Pony Ma said Xi's speeches were so rich that he took six full pages of notes.

"The general secretary said we should make innovation a powerful driver of quality development, and I think it is an insightful remark," he said. "It will be a new opportunity for our innovative enterprises."

Li Shumu, an NPC deputy and a village Party chief in the county of Yinan, Shandong Province, said farmers in his village feel encouraged as Xi has drawn a beautiful blueprint for the countryside.

Air force officer Liu Rui said the armed forces must firmly adhere to Xi's order to make combat capability the fundamental criterion to judge their work.

CONTRIBUTION TO HUMANITY

People are curious about what changes Xi will bring to China and the world.

The three years to 2020 are crucial. China aims to complete building a moderately prosperous society by then. Extreme poverty will be history.

Looking further ahead, China aims to basically achieve modernization by 2035 and build a great modern socialist country by the middle of the century.

Realizing this "Chinese Dream" of national rejuvenation requires policy continuity and hard work.

On top of that, China needs an authoritative, centralized, unified leadership.

With more than 89 million members, the CPC is driving China toward new economic and social advancement, blazing a brand new trail of socialism.

The year 2018 marks the 200th birthday of Karl Marx and the 170th anniversary of the issuance of "The Communist Manifesto."

Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era is considered the latest adaptation of Marxism to the Chinese context.

A miracle is unfolding -- for the first time in human history, a billion plus people are crossing the threshold of modernization together. Challenges like material shortage and wealth gap will be overcome. People will feel much more fulfilled, happier and safer.

Shen Jilan, 89, is a witness to the profound changes over time.

Born a farmer in rural Shanxi Province, Shen was first elected to the NPC in 1954 and was re-elected for 12 times in a row.

The octogenarian likes to compare her annual commute to the Great Hall of the People over time. In 1954, she spent four days on the back of a donkey, a truck bed and then a train to reach Beijing. Today, the capital is just three hours away by high-speed train.

China is indeed on a high-speed train, one that moves toward the full development of human potential, as envisioned by Karl Marx. This explains China's growing relevance to the world. After all, it is exploring a path to advance humanity.

This year's "two sessions," like the 19th Party congress, attracted worldwide attention.

Analysts credit China's growing influence to the country's system and Xi's charisma.

China is an economic powerhouse for the world. At more than 30 percent, China's annual contribution to world economic growth is bigger than that of the United States, Japan and the eurozone combined.

China accounts for more than 70 percent of poverty reduction worldwide. It sends the largest group of peacekeepers among the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and makes the second largest contribution to the UN peacekeeping budget.

China raised the Belt and Road Initiative and other major proposals to champion global governance, free trade and an open global economy.

On March 9, Xi had a phone conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump. They discussed the situation on the Korean Peninsula and bilateral relations. Trump said President Xi was right to insist on a dialogue between the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The U.S. side highly appreciates and values China's significant role in resolving the Korean Peninsula issue, and is willing to strengthen communication and coordination with China over the issue, according to Trump.

Xi-style diplomacy is highly praised for building a new type of major country relations and a "community with a shared future for humanity."

Vladimir Petrovsky, a senior researcher at the Institute of Far Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said a feature of the major country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics is that China raised non-confrontational proposals, which did not lead to clashes but contributed to improving the existing international order.

In the past few months, Xi held talks with Trump on bilateral ties, the China-U.S. cooperation on regional and international levels. Key progress has been achieved, consensus reached.

Xi maintained close high-level exchange with Russia, pushing for all-round cooperation in all fields and closer communication and coordination on international affairs.

After the 19th Party congress, Xi received French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Theresa May, and presidents of the Republic of Korea, Djibouti, Gambia and Panama.

He visited Vietnam and Laos. At the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Da Nang, Xi called for an economic globalization that is more open and inclusive, more balanced, more equitable and beneficial to all.

In December, Beijing held the CPC in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-Level Meeting, attracting over 600 representatives of nearly 300 political parties and organizations from more than 120 countries. Xi told them that people around the world should be one family, open arms, understand each other and build a community with a shared future.

He has told Chinese diplomats that the CPC considered it a key mission to both work for Chinese people's happiness and make a greater contribution to humanity.

Afghan political analyst Ghulam Dastgir said a community with a shared future was the common pursuit of people around the world and that in pushing for that goal China could create more opportunities for the world and make it thrive.

At the Great Hall of the People, with Xi elected as president, history has opened a new chapter.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-18 23:02:28|Editor: Chengcheng

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KUWAIT CITY, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Kuwait will hold the second Investment Forum Tuesday on key investment opportunities in the country, the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) said Sunday.

The two-day forum will tackle investment in the country from a futuristic perspective, commercial facilities, available business opportunities, funding and sustainable development, KUNA said.

According to a joint statement released by Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority (KDIPA) and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Sunday, the conferees will address progress and predictions within framework of Kuwait Vision 2035 since its launch in January 2017.

In February 2010, with an aim to change the country's long-existed oil-reliant economic structure, the Kuwaiti government unveiled "Kuwait 2035," a national development strategy, hoping to build the country into a trade and financial hub.

The first forum was held in March 2017, shedding light on Kuwait's steps toward sustainable development and innovation.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-18 23:12:30|Editor: Xiang Bo

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Li Keqiang is endorsed as Chinese premier at the ongoing first session of the 13th National People's Congress in Beijing, capital of China, March 18, 2018. (Xinhua)

BEIJING, March 18 (Xinhua) -- The following is the biographical sketch of Li Keqiang:

Li Keqiang, male, Han ethnicity, was born in July 1955 and is from Dingyuan, Anhui Province. He began his first job in March 1974 and joined the Communist Party of China (CPC) in May 1976. Li is a graduate of Peking University's Law Department where he earned a Bachelor of Law degree, and of the university's School of Economics where he completed an in-service graduate program in economics and was awarded a Doctor of Economics degree.

Li is currently a member of the Standing Committee of the 19th CPC Central Committee Political Bureau, Premier of the State Council, and Secretary of its Leading Party Members Group.

2013- Member, Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau

Premier, State Council

Secretary, Leading Party Members Group of the State Council

2008-2013 Member, Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau

Vice Premier, State Council

Deputy Secretary, Leading Party Members Group of the State Council

2007-2008 Member, Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau

2005-2007 Secretary, CPC Liaoning Provincial Committee

Chairman, Standing Committee of the Liaoning Provincial People's Congress

2004-2005 Secretary, CPC Liaoning Provincial Committee

2003-2004 Secretary, CPC Henan Provincial Committee

Chairman, Standing Committee of the Henan Provincial People's Congress

2002-2003 Secretary, CPC Henan Provincial Committee

Governor, Henan Province

1999-2002 Deputy Secretary, CPC Henan Provincial Committee

Governor, Henan Province

1998-1999 Deputy Secretary, CPC Henan Provincial Committee

Acting Governor, Henan Province

1993-1998 First Member, Secretariat, Central Committee of the Communist Youth League (CYL)

President, China Youth University of Political Studies (concurrently)

Attended an in-service graduate program in economics at School of Economics, Peking University and was awarded Master of Economics and Doctor of Economics degrees (1988-1994)

1985-1993 Member, Secretariat, CYL Central Committee

Vice Chairman, All-China Youth Federation (concurrently)

Took a continuing studies course for provincial- and ministerial-level officials at the Central Party School (Sep-Nov 1991)

1983-1985 Alternate member, Secretariat, CYL Central Committee

1983 Director, Schools Department, CYL Central Committee

Secretary-General, All-China Students' Federation (concurrently)

1982-1983 Secretary, CYL Committee of Peking University

Member, Standing Committee of the CYL Central Committee

1978-1982 Student, Law Department, Peking University

Leader, Students' Union, Peking University

1976-1978 Party branch secretary, Damiao Brigade, Damiao Commune, Fengyang County, Anhui Province

1974-1976 Educated youth, Dongling Brigade, Damiao Commune, Fengyang County, Anhui Province

Member, 15th through 19th CPC Central Committees

Member, Political Bureau and its Standing Committee, 17th through 19th CPC Central Committees

Member, Standing Committee, 8th NPCby Xinhua writer Shi Hao

MOSCOW, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Streets in Moscow are decorated with billboards showing the election slogan of "Choose the President, Choose the Future," as Russian voters are to caste their ballots to elect a president from among eight candidates today.

About 110 million Russian citizens are expected to cast their ballots at some 97,000 polling stations across the country to choose a new president for six years to come.

The No. 134 and No. 135 polling stations were set up at a middle school on Talalikhin Street in Moscow. The school gate was decorated with white, blue and red balloons, representing Russia's tricolor national flag.

"Around 30 voters in the neighborhood arrived even before the station opened at 8:00 a.m.(0500 GMT)," said Alexei Malikov, deputy head of the No. 135 polling station.

Posters about the eight presidential candidates' basic information and financial conditions were put up on the wall at the stations. Some voters stopped at the posters to study the materials, while others went directly to register.

In accordance with the voting rules, voters need to register with their identification documents and fill out their ballots in cubicles.

Electronic ballot boxes were introduced in this election and a printer-like machine on top of the box can read and record data when the ballot was sucked in. The whole process was monitored by observers and web cameras.

All polling stations in Moscow have been equipped with the electronic ballot boxes, which can help reduce the risk of fraud, said Malikov.

Incumbent President Vladimir Putin is seeking a fourth term and he faces competition from seven rivals, including Pavel Grudinin from the Communist Party and head of the Liberal Democratic Party Vladimir Zhirinovsky.

Mekhriban Alieva, technician at a Moscow zoo, said she supports Putin as Russia has made progress in medical care, elderly care, education and economic development under his leadership.

If Putin wins, people's living standard will continue to improve, Alieva said.

Another voter said on condition of anonymity that she would vote for Grudinin because the candidate, head of a state farm, has the experience of economic management that Russia needs.

Polling stations will be open 12 hours from 8:00 a.m. (0500 GMT) to 8:00 p.m. (1700 GMT) local time across the country spanning several time zones. The voting will start from the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Far East and end in Kaliningrad region in the Baltic.

Russia's Central Election Commission will confirm the election results by March 29.Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on March 18, 2018 visits a frontline area in Damascus' Eastern Ghouta area. (Syrian presidency photo)

DAMASCUS, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday visited a frontline area in Damascus' Eastern Ghouta area, where the Syrian army is advancing against the rebels, the Syrian presidency media office said.

The media office of the Syrian army published two photos, in which Assad appeared surrounded by soldiers with a caption reading "on the frontline in Eastern Ghouta, President Assad is with the heroes of the Syrian army."

The rare visit comes as the Syrian forces are making strides in the battles against various rebel groups in Eastern Ghouta.

State news agency SANA said thousands of people fled areas in Eastern Ghouta on Sunday, the latest in a series of mass evacuation from that rebel stronghold on the eastern rim of Damascus.

The War Media, the media wing of the Syrian army, said the Syrian government forces have so far captured 80 percent of Eastern Ghouta, as the troops captured the town of Saqba on Sunday and are advancing toward Kafar Batna town.

Eastern Ghouta, a 105-square-km agricultural region consisting of several towns and farmlands, poses the last threat to the capital due to its proximity to government-controlled neighborhoods east of Damascus and ongoing mortar attacks that target residential areas in the capital, pushing people over the edge.

Four major rebel groups are currently positioned inside Eastern Ghouta, namely the Islam Army, Failaq al-Rahman, Ahrar al-Sham, and the Levant Liberation Committee, known as the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front.

The UN humanitarian agencies have sounded the alarm about the worsening humanitarian situation for 400,000 people in that region.

Activists said around 1,000 people have been killed since late last month by the heavy bombardment and military showdown in areas of Eastern Ghouta.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-18 23:37:34|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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The Free Syrian Army fighters are seen in Afrin city, Syria, on March 18, 2018. Turkish troops and allied Syrian rebels have taken the Afrin city center under control following two-month fighting, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday. (Xinhua)

ANKARA, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Turkey declared full control of the strategic Kurdish stronghold Afrin in northern Syria on Sunday, after a two-month military campaign to oust U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters from its borders.

"The units of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), backed by the Turkish Armed Forces, took totally control of the center of Afrin as of 8:30 a.m. this morning," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at a public ceremony in the northwestern city of Canakkale.

On Jan. 20, the Turkish army launched "Operation Olive Branch" to expel the People's Protection Units (YPG), seen by Ankara as the Syrian affiliate to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been engaged in an armed conflict against the Turkish government since 1984.

Turkish-led troops surrounded Afrin last week and called on civilians to leave the city.

The news of Afrin's capture was also confirmed by the Turkish military.

"Afrin city center is under control," said a statement released by Turkish Armed Forces, adding that "search operation for mines and improvised explosive devices is underway."

"The Turkish flag is flying there; the flag of the Free Syrian Army is flying there," said Erdogan in front of a cheering and exalted crowd.

Turkey will immediately take necessary steps to ensure the return of the residents as soon as possible, he noted.

"The terrorist corridor has been broken," said the Turkish president, referring to the attempts of the YPG to establish "a terror corridor" along the 900km-long Turkish-Syrian border.

Television reports said gunshots and explosion could be heard in the area while Turkish warplanes continue to fly over the city.

Turkish TV channels also released footage of Turkish soldiers and Syrian rebels celebrating in the city center, deserted by the YPG.

The Turkish military's victory in Afrin coincided with the anniversary of a more decisive battle victory for Turks, the battle of the Dardanelles in World War I, which ended with victory of the Ottoman army against the Allied forces in 1915.

Erdogan was speaking in Canakkale, the Turkish province that hosts the famous Dardanelles Strait.

According to Turkish sources, more than 100,000 civilians fled the city in the last few days, as Turkish planes dropped leaflets in Kurdish and Arabic over the city calling on the population to evacuate ahead of an ultimate offensive.

Considered by Ankara as a terrorist group, the YPG was trained and equipped by the United States to fight against the Islamic State (IS), which sparked a meltdown of relations between the two NATO allies.

According to figures released by the Turkish army, more than 3,500 "terrorists have been neutralized" during the operation, which means they were either captured, wounded or killed.

The official casualty figure for Turkish soldiers in the operation stands at 271, with 46 killed, and 225 others injured.

Erdogan has signalled he could broaden the offensive into northeastern Syria, ultimately targeting PKK bases in Iraq to quash Kurdish aspirations for self-rule.

Turkish commandos have been fighting PKK militants in northern Iraq since last week, according to state-run media.

Analysts said if the capture of Afrin city is the main target of the Turkish incursion, there are more risks ahead for the military.

"It's still a risky and tricky business there. There would be resistance pockets in the city and there are undoubtedly many improvised explosive devices and booby traps lying around," said security expert Abdullah Agar on NTV news channel.

He said a street-by-street operation was underway with Turkish special forces sent there in the last weeks of the offensive.

A Turkish victory in Afrin could push the U.S. to ensure that Kurdish fighters withdraw from the town of Manbij to the east of the Euphrates River, Agar noted.

U.S special troops are deployed in the Kurdish-held town and the dreaded possibility of a military clash there between two NATO troops has pushed Ankara and Washington toward a reconciliation.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-19 00:02:40|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BEIJING, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Candidate members for China's new cabinet have been finalized for voting on Monday at the ongoing session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC), the national legislature.

At the ninth meeting of the session's presidium on Sunday morning, participants decided on preliminary candidates list for vice premiers, state councilors, ministers, governor of the central bank, chief auditor, and secretary-general of the State Council, as well as the leaders and members of eight special committees of the 13th NPC.

The list was distributed to all delegations for discussion after the meeting.

At its tenth meeting Sunday afternoon, the presidium decided by voting the final candidates for these cabinet and NPC special committee members.

On Monday, nearly 3,000 NPC deputies will vote to decide on appointment of members of the new cabinet, and vote on personnel of the NPC special committees.

Both presidium meetings were presided over by Li Zhanshu, the presidium's executive chairman.

The candidates for the new cabinet were nominated by newly-appointed Premier Li Keqiang, while the candidates for personnel of the NPC special committees were proposed by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

The presidium also decided to distribute draft resolutions on the work reports of the NPC Standing Committee, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate to all delegations for deliberations.

Between the two presidium meetings, executive chairpersons held their seventh meeting, also chaired by Li.Xi Jinping takes a public oath of allegiance to the Constitution in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 17, 2018. Xi was elected Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China earlier Saturday at the ongoing first session of the 13th National People's Congress, the national legislature. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

BEIJING, March 18 (Xinhua) -- As ceremonial music echoed throughout the Great Hall of the People, Xi Jinping took his place on the podium.

The music stopped as he reached a large red-bound copy of the country's Constitution.

The 64-year-old, in a dark suit, placed his left hand on the Constitution, raised his right hand to his temple and made a fist of solidarity.

"I pledge my allegiance to the Constitution," Xi began.

"[To] safeguard the Constitution's authority, fulfill my legal obligations, be loyal to the country and the people, be committed and honest in my duty, accept the people's supervision and work hard for a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful."

He bowed, and the nearly 3,000 National People's Congress (NPC) deputies reacted with a spontaneous burst of thunderous applause.

It was the first time a Chinese president had ever taken such an oath upon assuming office. The ceremony was watched by tens of millions of Chinese on television or on their smartphones.

On Saturday, Xi was unanimously elected as president of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and chairman of the Central Military Commission of the PRC.

Xi first took over the presidency five years ago, pledging to push forward the great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and strive for great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

"In face of the mighty trend of the times and earnest expectations of the people for a better life, we cannot have the slightest complacency, or get the slightest slack at work," he said back then.

Xi Jinping inspects the Yangluo container port in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, July 21, 2013. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

China has made historic achievements under Xi's leadership. The unanimous vote shows the strong support he enjoys among the people.

Nearly five months ago, Xi was re-elected general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee. The Party's 19th National Congress enshrined in the CPC Constitution Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.

The thought was added into the country's Constitution at the 13th NPC session as a guiding principle of the state. People have high expectations for the years ahead. The blueprint laid out at the Party congress is being turned into action plan.



"HAPPINESS COMES OUT OF ARDUOUS WORK"

Led by Xi, China is becoming strong.

The size of the economy has expanded to more than 82 trillion yuan (around 13 trillion U.S. dollars) from 54 trillion yuan over the past five years, growing by 7.1 percent a year on average. More than 66 million urban new jobs have been created.

The economy is healthier. Xi's supply-side structural reform worked. Consumption has become a major growth driver, contributing to 58.8 percent of economic growth last year, up from 54.9 percent five years ago. The share of service sector has climbed to 51.6 percent from 45.3 percent.

People live a more comfortable life. More than 68 million people escaped poverty. Personal income increased by 7.4 percent annually on average. Life expectancy reaches 76.7 years, leading developing countries.

Xi Jinping visits villagers at a temporary resettlement site in Ludian County, which experienced a 6.5 magnitude earthquake in August 2014, in southwest China's Yunnan Province, Jan. 19, 2015. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

The environment improves as strict rules on water, soil and air pollution control have been enforced. A remarkable change: over the five years, the number of heavily-polluted days in major cities was halved.

Xi made this happen through reform. He is regarded as the chief architect. In the five years, more than 1,500 reform measures were issued, affecting economic, political, social, cultural, environmental fields, national defense and Party building. Government red tape was cut. Foreign investment was made easier.

Xi has said happiness comes out of arduous work.

A week after the 19th Party congress, Xi took leading officials to the Party's birthplace in Shanghai and Zhejiang, a "roots-tracing" trip to remind cadres of the Party's original aspiration.

"The CPC seeks happiness for the Chinese people," Xi said in an NPC session panel discussion. "Whatever issues the people are unhappy about or dissatisfied with, we must work hard to solve them."

Xi Jinping talks with local villagers and cadres at Shibadong Village in Paibi Township of Huayuan County in the Tujia-Miao Autonomous Prefecture of Xiangxi, central China's Hunan Province, Nov. 3, 2013. (Xinhua/Wang Ye)

Xi's deep connection to the people was formed early in his life.

Son of a revolutionary leader, Xi, at the age of 15, joined numerous "educated youth" bidding farewell to urban life and heading to the countryside to learn from peasants.

Xi was sent to a small, isolated village in Shaanxi Province and stayed on for seven years. These formative years taught him the real situation on the ground and shaped his belief in pragmatic approach and the mass line.

In the following decades, Xi rose from the grassroots to the very top. His work experience in the military, a poor rural county, and wealthy coastal regions enriched his leadership skills.

Xi entered the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee in 2007 and was elected general secretary of the CPC Central Committee in 2012. He has become the core of the CPC Central Committee and the whole Party.

"BITE THE HARDEST BONES"

In Xi's view, for China to achieve the goals in the new era, the Party' s leadership over every area is the key.

To keep the Party clean, he launched an unprecedented anti-corruption campaign, investigating 440 senior officials -- who held provincial or corps level positions or above, among others.

Overall, more than 1.5 million officials were punished.

"If we had not offended hundreds of corrupt officials, we would have offended 1.3 billion Chinese people," Xi said.

While the campaign has built into a crushing tide, Xi said it could not stop.

The action to "take out tigers" and "swat flies" continued after the 19th Party congress. Latest fallen high-ranking officials included former head of cyber-space administration Lu Wei, army generals Zhang Yang and Fang Fenghui, as well as former state councilor Yang Jing.

He also pushed forward the supervisory system reform, strengthening a centralized and unified leadership of the CPC over the graft fight.

Xi has called on officials in charge to "bite the hardest bones and catch the hottest potatoes" to tackle problems.

Xi is in the spotlight at the annual sessions of the NPC and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, commonly known as the "two sessions."

He stressed adherence to a system of CPC-led multiparty cooperation and political consultation, saying it was a new type of party system growing from China's soil and contributed to the political civilization of humanity.

Political advisor and entrepreneur Yu Minhong couldn't agree more. Yu is a member of the China Democratic League (CDL), one of the eight non-communist parties in China.

But he is better known as the chairman of New Oriental, a leading education company.

For years, Yu has been helping poor rural students get proper schooling. His proposal for rural teacher pay rises led to government policy change.

Ding Zhongli, chairman of the CDL Central Committee, said the ruling party and the non-communist parties cooperated quite well under the system, working toward a common goal of national development.

Fred Teng, president of the America China Public Affairs Institute, said through the multiparty cooperation system policymakers could draw the best policies and achieve the best results.

While joining lawmakers from Guangdong Province in a panel discussion, Xi highlighted development, talent and innovation.

Guangdong has been at the front-line of the reform and opening-up.

The year 2018 marks the 40th anniversary of the drive, which resulted in consistent and fast economic growth for decades.

During an inspection to Jiangsu Province last December, Xi said more emphasis needed to be placed on the economy's quality rather than speed and every industry, every enterprise should follow the change.

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with representatives of model workers and skilled experts at Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group Co., Ltd. (XCMG), in Xuzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province, Dec. 12, 2017. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

China is setting sail toward a modernized economy with Xi at the helm.

"Xi Jinping Thought on Socialist Economy with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era" was raised at the Central Economic Work Conference last December.

The Wall Street Journal reported that China had made "Xiconomics" a guiding principle, with a focus on innovation and high-quality growth.

Areas to deepen reform include public institutions, state-owned enterprises, industrial monopolies, property rights protection, taxation, finance, rural development, social security and ecology. A modernized economy is the goal.

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a keynote speech at the opening of the 2017 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 17, 2017. (Xinhua/Lan Hongguang)

At the "two sessions," Xi's speeches touched more fields than economy, from Party building, rule of law, poverty reduction to environmental protection, social governance and military-civilian integration.

Internet tycoon, Tencent chairman Pony Ma said Xi's speeches were so rich that he took six full pages of notes.

"The general secretary said we should make innovation a powerful driver of quality development, and I think it is an insightful remark," he said. "It will be a new opportunity for our innovative enterprises."

Li Shumu, an NPC deputy and a village Party chief in the county of Yinan, Shandong Province, said farmers in his village feel encouraged as Xi has drawn a beautiful blueprint for the countryside.

Air force officer Liu Rui said the armed forces must firmly adhere to Xi's order to make combat capability the fundamental criterion to judge their work.

CONTRIBUTION TO HUMANITY

People are curious about what changes Xi will bring to China and the world.

The three years to 2020 are crucial. China aims to complete building a moderately prosperous society by then. Extreme poverty will be history.

Looking further ahead, China aims to basically achieve modernization by 2035 and build a great modern socialist country by the middle of the century.

Realizing this "Chinese Dream" of national rejuvenation requires policy continuity and hard work.

On top of that, China needs an authoritative, centralized, unified leadership.

With more than 89 million members, the CPC is driving China toward new economic and social advancement, blazing a brand new trail of socialism.

The year 2018 marks the 200th birthday of Karl Marx and the 170th anniversary of the issuance of "The Communist Manifesto."

Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era is considered the latest adaptation of Marxism to the Chinese context.

A miracle is unfolding -- for the first time in human history, a billion plus people are crossing the threshold of modernization together. Challenges like material shortage and wealth gap will be overcome. People will feel much more fulfilled, happier and safer.

Shen Jilan, 89, is a witness to the profound changes over time.

Born a farmer in rural Shanxi Province, Shen was first elected to the NPC in 1954 and was re-elected for 12 times in a row.

The octogenarian likes to compare her annual commute to the Great Hall of the People over time. In 1954, she spent four days on the back of a donkey, a truck bed and then a train to reach Beijing. Today, the capital is just three hours away by high-speed train.

China is indeed on a high-speed train, one that moves toward the full development of human potential, as envisioned by Karl Marx. This explains China's growing relevance to the world. After all, it is exploring a path to advance humanity.

This year's "two sessions," like the 19th Party congress, attracted worldwide attention.

Analysts credit China's growing influence to the country's system and Xi's charisma.

China is an economic powerhouse for the world. At more than 30 percent, China's annual contribution to world economic growth is bigger than that of the United States, Japan and the eurozone combined.

China accounts for more than 70 percent of poverty reduction worldwide. It sends the largest group of peacekeepers among the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and makes the second largest contribution to the UN peacekeeping budget.

Xi Jinping addresses the general debate of the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York, Sept. 28, 2015. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei)

China raised the Belt and Road Initiative and other major proposals to champion global governance, free trade and an open global economy.

On March 9, Xi had a phone conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump. They discussed the situation on the Korean Peninsula and bilateral relations. Trump said President Xi was right to insist on a dialogue between the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The U.S. side highly appreciates and values China's significant role in resolving the Korean Peninsula issue, and is willing to strengthen communication and coordination with China over the issue, according to Trump.

Xi-style diplomacy is highly praised for building a new type of major country relations and a "community with a shared future for humanity."

Vladimir Petrovsky, a senior researcher at the Institute of Far Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said a feature of the major country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics is that China raised non-confrontational proposals, which did not lead to clashes but contributed to improving the existing international order.

In the past few months, Xi held talks with Trump on bilateral ties, the China-U.S. cooperation on regional and international levels. Key progress has been achieved, consensus reached.

Xi maintained close high-level exchange with Russia, pushing for all-round cooperation in all fields and closer communication and coordination on international affairs.

After the 19th Party congress, Xi received French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Theresa May, and presidents of the Republic of Korea, Djibouti, Gambia and Panama.

He visited Vietnam and Laos. At the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Da Nang, Xi called for an economic globalization that is more open and inclusive, more balanced, more equitable and beneficial to all.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (5th L, front) poses for a group photo with other leaders and representatives from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member economies at the 25th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Da Nang, Vietnam, Nov. 11, 2017. (Xinhua/Li Tao)

In December, Beijing held the CPC in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-Level Meeting, attracting over 600 representatives of nearly 300 political parties and organizations from more than 120 countries. Xi told them that people around the world should be one family, open arms, understand each other and build a community with a shared future.

He has told Chinese diplomats that the CPC considered it a key mission to both work for Chinese people's happiness and make a greater contribution to humanity.

Afghan political analyst Ghulam Dastgir said a community with a shared future was the common pursuit of people around the world and that in pushing for that goal China could create more opportunities for the world and make it thrive.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-19 00:42:44|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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By Xinhua writers Sun Zhiping, Li Binian and Liu Huaipi

ZHENGZHOU, March 18 (Xinhua) -- In 1855, the Yellow River, China's mother river, changed its course again.

The loss of the vital water source left the land barren with thousands of moving dunes threatening to swallow the grain-growing plain near the old river course in Shangqiu City, central China's Henan Province.

Since Minquan Forest Farm was established in Shangqiu in 1950 to combat the moving sand dunes, local people have taken 67 years to extend 4,600 hectares of "green barriers" to stop the sand encroaching.

Tong Chaoran, 80, came to Minquan Forest in 1962 after graduating from the Beijing Forestry University, and has worked there ever since.

"In spring, we planted trees day and night in the farm without going home. We hid in a cellar that we dug in the sand to stay overnight, and ate nothing but dried sweet potatoes and radish," he said.

By then, nothing could be harvested due to sweeping sandstorms. Houses and farm fields could be buried in sand overnight.

With incessant tree planting, the farm has achieved annual growth of forest averaging 17,000 cubic meters in the past years. The forest now has a total area of 187,000 cubic meters, said Wang Wei, director of the farm.

There are more than 100 varieties of plants in Minquan Forest Farm. Wardens have spotted more than 180 kinds of animals in the forest, with 16 listed as state protected animals.

The trees can preserve wetland and lakes. The ecosystem is able to protect 80,000 hectares of farmland, and absorb 22,500 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.

Because of the ecological transformation, an area of 2,877 hectares on the farm was turned into a national ecological park in 2015, with the approval of the State Forestry Administration.

Flowers and rare birds, as well as picking grapes, pears, apples and walnuts in the forest helped the county's tourism. In general, the forest business increases people's income by 696 million yuan (109 million U.S. dollars) a year.

A plan to plant another 2,400 hectares of forest along the old Yellow River course is on the government agenda.

The government launched bidding in 2017 to invite contractors to plant trees in an area of 1,282 hectares and maintain 16,500 trees already planted.

"We put emphasis on green development, and attach equal importance to protection and development. The forest in the future is for our delight and health," said Ji Maichang, Party Chief of Minquan County.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-19 00:47:45|Editor: Chengcheng

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Israeli security forces stand guard at the site of a stabbing attack by a Palestinian assailant in Jerusalem's Old City, on March 18, 2018. A knife-wielding Palestinian stabbed and seriously injured an Israeli man before he was shot dead in East Jerusalem on Sunday, the police said. (Xinhua/JINI)

JERUSALEM, March 18 (Xinhua) -- A knife-wielding Palestinian stabbed and seriously injured an Israeli man before he was shot dead in East Jerusalem on Sunday, the police said.

The incident took place in Hagar Street in the Old City, near the Iron Gate.

A police statement said that an Israeli in his 30s was rushed to a hospital with serious injuries. The assailant was shot and killed at the scene, the police said.

The incident was part of a renewed wave of violence in the region, sparked by United States President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel on last Dec. 6.

On Friday, a Palestinian ran over Israeli soldiers near a West Bank settlement. Two soldiers were killed and another two were wounded in the attack.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-19 01:22:50|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ADEN, Yemen, March 18 (Xinhua) -- At least three soldiers from the newly-recruited Yemeni troops backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were killed in an al-Qaida militants' ambush attack in southern Yemen on Sunday, a security official told Xinhua.

"The incident took place during a routine patrol in the Mudiyah district of Abyan province when al-Qaida gunmen attacked two military vehicles, resulting in a clash that left three soldiers killed and one injured," the security source said on condition of anonymity.

"The two military vehicles were completely burned during the exchange of fire with the attackers who used grenades," the security source said.

A resident near the scene confirmed to Xinhua that an explosion was heard, followed by heavy gunfire that lasted for several minutes in Mudiyah district.

The UAE-backed Yemeni troops in Abyan declared a search military operation to track suspected perpetrators hours after the ambush.

Al-Qaida militants are intensifying their drive-by attacks on security checkpoints in the Yemeni southern provinces as UAE-backed government forces increase military operations against their hideouts in the war-plagued Arab country.

During the past months, Yemeni government forces and the UAE armed forces operating in the southern province of Aden launched a new anti-terror offensive "to root out al-Qaida militants from their strongholds in neighboring southern province of Abyan."

Thousands of southern recruits joined the campaign after receiving military training and financial support from the UAE forces.

The UAE-backed anti-terror campaign has dislodged al-Qaida militants from several villages in Abyan and the neighboring southeastern province of Shabwa, with more than 50 of them arrested and moved to prisons in Aden.

The Yemen-based al-Qaida branch, seen by the United States as the global terror network's most dangerous branch, has exploited years of deadly conflict between Yemen's government and Houthi rebels to expand its presence, especially in Shabwa and Abyan provinces.Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-19 01:32:51|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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DAMASCUS, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday visited a frontline area in Damascus' Eastern Ghouta area, meeting with soldiers and civilians as well, where the Syrian army is advancing against the rebels, the Syrian presidency media office said.

The media office of the Syrian army published two photos, in which Assad appeared surrounded by soldiers with a caption reading "on the frontline in Eastern Ghouta, President Assad is with the heroes of the Syrian army."

The report didn't divulge the exact location Assad has visited, but said it was in the "depth of Ghouta."

"Every bullet you have fired to kill a terrorist, you were changing the balance of the world, and every tank driver advancing a meter forward, he was changing the political map of the world," Assad was quoted as saying.

The president added that "we congratulate all the Syrians with this victory and we are proud of every hero of the Syrian army."

Assad also met with civilians from Eastern Ghouta who have recently fled rebel-held areas, with a video footage aired on the state TV, showing him speaking with cheering crowds.

The president told the crowds of people that the duty of the Syrian army is to protect them.

The rare visit, which apparently aimed to showcase confidence and victory, comes as the Syrian forces are making strides in the battles against various rebel groups in Eastern Ghouta.

State news agency SANA said thousands of people fled areas in Eastern Ghouta on Sunday, the latest in a series of mass evacuation from that rebel stronghold on the eastern rim of Damascus.

The War Media, the media wing of the Syrian army, said the Syrian government forces have so far captured 80 percent of Eastern Ghouta, as the troops captured the town of Saqba on Sunday and are advancing toward Kafar Batna town.

Eastern Ghouta, a 105-square-km agricultural region consisting of several towns and farmlands, poses the last threat to the capital due to its proximity to government-controlled neighborhoods east of Damascus and ongoing mortar attacks that target residential areas in the capital, pushing people over the edge.

Four major rebel groups are currently positioned inside Eastern Ghouta, namely the Islam Army, Failaq al-Rahman, Ahrar al-Sham, and the Levant Liberation Committee, known as the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front.

The UN humanitarian agencies have sounded the alarm about the worsening humanitarian situation for 400,000 people in that region.

Activists said around 1,000 people have been killed since late last month by the heavy bombardment and military showdown in areas of Eastern Ghouta.TRIPOLI, March 18 (Xinhua) -- UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) held an extensive meeting Sunday with a number of Libyan experts and representatives of government institutions, as well as related families, to cope with the issue of missing persons.

The two-day meeting, under the theme "Knowing the Fate of Missing Persons in Libya: A Condition for Meaningful Reconciliation," aimed at exploring best ways to address this file, the mission said.

"The thematic meeting contributed to mapping the main needs and challenges in working on enforced disappearances in Libya, while also recommending legal, technical and social measures in this regard," the mission added.

It also said that the meeting covered the possibility of establishment of an independent national body on the missing persons in Libya.

"The need for relevant institutions to reach out to the families of missing persons was stressed, to encourage them to register their cases," UNSMIL said. "And more technical and financial support from international organizations are requested, most of which left Libya after 2014."

The Ministry for the Care of Families of Martyrs and Missing Persons reported that at least 2,516 people were missing since the 2011 uprising.

The ministry also said there were 110 reported mass graves, in addition to 5,000 martyrs since 2011.

The Libyan UN-backed government recently opened the first DNA laboratory to trace unidentified bodies in mass graves.DAR ES SALAAM, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Tanzania on Sunday confirmed the outbreak of dengue fever, saying 11 people have been diagnosed with the disease in the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam.

"The ministry is aware of the outbreak of dengue fever in Dar es Salaam and 11 patients have been diagnosed with the disease," Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health Mpoki Ulisubisya said.

The government has started to take control measures to check the disease from spreading further, he said.

Ulisubisya said the measures included a public awareness campaign to be implemented in tandem with surveillance throughout the east African nation.

The ministry, in collaboration with the state-owned National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) and two clinics, will continue to make diagnosis of the dengue fever, a mosquito-borne tropical disease caused by the dengue virus.

The worst dengue outbreak in Tanzania was in 2014 when more than 400 patients in Dar es Salaam were diagnosed with the disease, which killed at least three, including a doctor who reportedly caught it while attending to patients.

Dengue fever is said to affect about 390 million people in the world every year, and is particularly prevalent on the east African coast.

In the aftermath of the last outbreak, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a global alert on the rise of vector-borne diseases, urging travelers to take precautions.

Because there is no medicine or vaccine for dengue, health experts recommend measures preventing mosquito bites.

Symptoms of dengue fever typically begin three to 14 days after infection, which may include a high fever, headache, vomiting, muscle and joint pains, and a characteristic skin rash.KHARTOUM, March 18 (Xinhua) -- The World Bank has provided a grant of 5 million U.S. dollars to Sudan for reducing emissions from deforestation and forests degradation, a Sudanese official said Sunday.

Sudanese Minister for Finance Mohamed Othman al-Rekabi said the grant is "an additional fund from the World Bank after a successful phase of the initial program for reducing emissions ensuing from deforestation and forest degradation."

The finance minister met with World Bank Resident Representative Adama Coulibaly.

Al-Rekabi added the "grant comes in obligation by the bank to the items of spending on the program," referring to REDD+ Program with Sudan six years ago to reduce emissions, counter drought and minimize poverty rate in Sudan.

The REDD+ Program, a climate change mitigation approach, is supported by the UN Program on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD), which partners developing countries in implementing REDD+ by helping them meet the UN requirement to get REDD+ payment.

The REDD+ aims to prepare references for measuring listing forests, setting up follow-up programs, evaluating and verifying within the framework of agreement on combating climate change funded by the World Bank and donors.KHARTOUM, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Khartoum is ready to resume talks with Washington to remove Sudan from the U.S. terror list, semi-official Sudan Media Center (SMC) reported Sunday.

"The government is ready to start the second phase of dialogue with Washington to wipe Sudan off the list of states sponsoring terrorism," Sudanese State Minister for Foreign Affairs Mohamed Abdallah Idris was quoted as saying, without a date set for that.

"The government is working for finalizing dialogue with the U.S. in accordance with proposed frameworks and set priorities," he added.

Idris noted the government's foreign moves are dedicating to prioritizing the removal of Sudan from the U.S. list of states sponsoring terrorism.

Removing Sudan from the terror list and normalizing ties between Khartoum and Washington still remain as a pending issues for debate in the second phase of Sudan-U.S. dialogue.

On Oct. 6, 2017, the U.S. decided to lift sanctions on Sudan in recognition of positive measures by the government of Sudan to stop hostilities in conflict regions, improve humanitarian conditions, and maintain cooperation with the U.S. on regional conflicts and terrorism.

In 1993, Washington listed Sudan on states sponsoring terrorism. In 1997, the U.S. imposed tight economic embargo on Sudan on imports, exports and bank transfers.KAMPALA, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Ugandan authorities said on Sunday that arrests have been made over the distribution of counterfeit hepatitis B vaccines in the country.

"Some suspects have been arrested and are currently under police custody to assist with investigations while others have recorded statements at the respective police stations," State Minister of Health (General Duties) Sarah Achieng Opendi said in a statement.

On Tuesday, the National Drug Authority (NDA) announced the discovery of counterfeit hepatitis B vaccines in the country.

Opendi said the NDA, during its routine post-marketing surveillance, encountered falsified hepatitis B vaccines from eight health facilities in the districts of Mbarara, Mbale, Wakiso and Kampala.

She said those facilities bought the counterfeit vaccines from unlicensed dealers with fake addresses on the invoices and receipts.

Some hepatitis B vaccines have been recalled, and authorities have urged the public to receive hepatitis B vaccination from only accredited private facilities and government health facilities.

Hepatitis B is a potentially life-threatening disease caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV), which can cause chronic infection and puts people at higher risk of death from cirrhosis and liver cancer.Artifacts from the Pharaonic time are displayed in the Alexandria National Museum of Egypt on March 12, 2018. (Xinhua/Zhao Dingzhe)

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Ever heard of Alexandria National Museum in Egypt? It's little known, even to Egyptians, but it is really a rare treasure containing some 1,800 priceless Pharaonic, Greco-Roman, Islamic and Coptic artifacts that narrate the story of the Mediterranean historical city of Alexandria north of the capital Cairo.

Located in the busy Horreya Street in downtown Alexandria, the museum looks like a secluded but elegantly-designed three-storey white palace. The classic building once belonged to a wealthy Lebanese-born wood merchant who sold it to the consulate of the United States in 1954 before Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) bought it in 1996 to turn it into a museum.

Alexandria National Museum was opened for the public in 2003, hosting artifacts of all historical events from the Pharaonic dynastic times, passing through the Ptolemaic Kingdom, the Roman Empire, the Byzantine and Islamic periods until the beginning of Mohammed Ali's era as Egypt's ruler and finally the Egyptian anti-British 1952 revolution.

After ascending front porch steps and crossing the gate to the main hallway, a visitor faces a standing Roman-style marble statue of a matron-like woman wrapped in a detailed garment. That statue marks the starting point of a tour inside the museum based on the visitor's choice.

The main floor containing the statue hosts the Greco-Roman artifacts, while the basement contains ancient Egyptian Pharaonic antiquities and the upper floor exhibits Islamic, Coptic and modern age artifacts.

"The oldest antiquities we have here are those of the Old Kingdom of the Pharaonic era, dating back 5,000 to 6,000 years. Most of Alexandria artifacts are Greek and Roman, so we brought the Pharaonic artifacts from various museums in Cairo and Upper Egypt," Ahmed Tawfik, the museum's manager, told Xinhua at the main entrance.

He added that the frequency of visitors to the museum increased over the past couple of years, hoping for more popularity of such a house of rare historical objects.

In the 1990s, beneath the eastern harbor area of Abu Qir Bay in Alexandria, Egypt discovered the sunken city of Cleopatra, an Egyptian ancient queen of Greek Macedonian descent who drove the merge of the Pharaonic and Greek cultures in ancient Egypt.

Last November, the SCA announced the discovery of three shipwrecks dating back to the Roman era on the seabed of northern coastal province of Alexandria.

"What's so unique about the Greco-Roman section is the hall of sunken antiquities, which have been picked up from the eastern harbor area of Abu Qir Bay. A large group of them are currently in a foreign exhibition in some Western states," said the museum's manager.

Alexandria city is named after Alexander the Great who succeeded his father as king of Macedonia and started in 334 B.C. a long military campaign against the Persian Empire where he conquered Egypt and declared himself as king. He was welcomed by the Egyptians, especially because he declared himself as son of the ancient Egyptian god Amun.

The Greco-Roman section exhibits statues, objects and paintings dating back to Alexander's era, including a basalt head of a Ptolemaic king, a large upper part of a statue representing Alexanderia's official god Serapis, a bust of Emperor Caracalla wearing Pharaonic head dress with a cobra serpent on the top, a mosaic painting of gorgon Medusa, a mythological figure in the Greco-Roman period, and many others.

The Greco-Roman section also includes works from the Hellenistic period such as pieces from Heraklion and Canopus.

A group of young people, who have been touring the museum, expressed admiration of the methods of display, guidelines and organization of the museum sections and objects that make visitors enjoy them all without confusion or distraction.

"I am very happy with the way of exhibition used in the museum. The movement inside the museum is also so smooth that it makes a visitor tour it all without getting lost or missing anything," Ola Mahmoud, an assistant professor at a college of applied arts, told Xinhua at the dim-lit Pharaonic section in the basement.

As for the Pharaonic section, it displays items from the old, middle and new kingdoms of ancient Egypt. The most distinguished masterpieces featured in the section are an alabaster statue of King Mankaure (or Menkaure), the builder of the third pyramid on the Giza Plateau, a head of a sandstone statue of Akhenaton and a head of a painted limestone statue of Queen Hatshepsut.

"We have a distinguished part in this section, which is a model of a tomb with a real mummy inside. This part attracts adults and children, Egyptians and foreigners, alike, because mummification remains an unknown secret lying with ancient Egyptians," Rasha Ali, the Pharaonic section's curator.

"Ancient Egyptians believed in body mummification after death to preserve it for use in the afterlife. This is why they placed a mask on the mummy's head to help the soul recognize it according to their belief," she told Xinhua.

The third floor contains antiquities of the Coptic art including icons of Jesus, the Virgin Mary and the Last Supper as well as tombstones and outfits decorated with golden and silver crosses.

One of the third floor's showrooms exhibits a rare collection of Byzantine and Islamic gold and silver coins minted in Alexandria, as well as a collection of coins known as "the coins of Napoleon's naval fleet" that were salvaged from the waters of Abu Qir Bay.

Lina Mohamed, a college student of sculpture, said that it was her first time to visit Alexandria National Museum and that she would recommend it to everyone.

"I liked most how the hall designs suited the exhibited artifacts. The Pharaonic section in the basement is dim-lit to go with the atmosphere of tombs, the Greco-Roman section has light walls to go with the marble and granite statues and the third floor was medium lit to suit the objects of pottery, textile and coins," she said.ALGIERS, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Algerian Army Chief of Staff on Sunday warned that Algeria's sovereignty, security and stability is a red line that no one can cross.

Lieutenant-General Ahmed Gaid Salah said there is "no room" to harm the country's "security, stability and the capabilities of its people."

He said so in a statement during a visit to the eastern province of Constantine, pointing out that Algeria, which suffered in the past colonialism, managed to reach independence thanks to a massive popular revolution.

"Today, the National People's Army and all the other security forces have to follow on the same path and the same national approach," he noted, stressing the importance to continue pursuing security, unity and stability of the nation.

He also mentioned the persistent efforts to increase the capabilities of the armed forces "to ensure that they are fully ready to protect Algeria from all dangers and threats."

In this regard, Algerian security expert Ahmed Mizab told Xinhua that the statement of Gaid Salah alluded to the alarming and dangerous indicators found on the back belt and the security cordon of Algeria, whether in the Sahel region, or even in the eastern and western borderlines.

Mizab added that this situation forced Army Chief of Staff to recall the strategy of the Algerian army based on indisputable defense of the security and safety of Algeria.

The security expert said that Algeria managed to safeguard its security and stability amid turbulence and crises that have been hitting the region, noting that Gaid Salah wanted to reaffirm the existence of worrying plots seeking to hit the stability of Algeria.

The message of Gaid Salah is meant to warn "anyone plotting to undermine Algeria's stability," concluded Mizab.by Burak Akinci

ANKARA, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Turkey and Greece, two NATO neighbors, have seen their relations soured over extradition of Turkish soldiers who fled to Greece after the coup attempt in Turkey and the thorny issue of Cyprus.

A Greek court on Friday rejected a new request from Turkey for the extradition of eight Turkish servicemen who fled to Greece in July 2016 after a failed coup.

The Athens appeals court ruled that the men would not get a fair trial in Turkey and would face inhumane treatment there if extradited.

Turkey argues that the men were involved in the coup, which they denied.

Greek courts have rejected two previous Turkish demands for the extradition of the eight, who flew to Greece in a military helicopter the day after the coup.

The Athens court's latest rule said most of the accusations already were rejected during hearings of the previous requests. It also found that additional charges that the men belonged to an armed terrorist group and were involved in attempted murders had no solid grounding.

"A third rejection of extradition signifies a new addition to the existing bilateral contentions," said Birgul Demirtas from the Ankara's University of Economics and Technology.

Demirtas, an expert on international relations, argued that Greece's attitude was a reflection of "mutual distrust."

The two sides have sparred at top level over the fate of the eight, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan complaining that Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras broke a personal assurance to him that they would be returned.

Matters were further complicated by the March 1 arrest of two Greek army officers on the Turkish side of the two countries' land border.

Greece said the men accidentally strayed across the ill-defined border due to bad weather, asserting that their return would be a "pure formality."

The NATO allies are regional rivals that have come to the brink of war three times since 1974 over the issue of Cyprus and Aegean Sea territorial rights.

The delineation of the Aegean Sea continental shelf and the delimitation of territorial waters are among the confrontation points between the two countries.

They also have dispute regarding airspace and minority rights.

The Turkish president has spoken of revising the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, which delineates the Turkish-Greek border and is a cornerstone of the two countries' peace.

The two countries came to the brink of war in 1996 as they both claimed sovereignty over inhabited islets of the Aegean and only a U.S. intervention averted a possible armed confrontation.

They have since 1999 engaged in "exploratory talks" and warmed their relations, but none of them have yet been resolved or is expected to be resolved anytime soon.

"We have made progress on several issues but there is still a long way to go," a Turkish diplomatic source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity, pointing out that dialogue is beneficial for the interests of both countries.

"We are neighbors and we cooperate on many fields and we want to go on to do so. Unfortunately some issues are hampering the mood of our cooperation," he said, implying to Athens refusal to hand over suspected coup plotter soldiers to Turkey.

The Cyprus issue, which remains unsolved since nearly five decades ago despite many United Nations-led efforts, is also and will continue to be an important friction point between Ankara and Athens.

Last month, Turkish warships blocked a rig from reaching an area southeast of Cyprus where Italian company Eni was scheduled to drill.

Turkey's government said it would prevent any further drilling off Cyprus without the direct involvement of the ethnically divided island's breakaway Turkish Cypriots.

The island was split in 1974 when Turkey invaded in response to a coup by supporters of union with Greece. A Turkish Cypriot declaration of independence is recognized only by Turkey.

"The Greek Cypriot side's (internationally recognized) efforts to use hydrocarbon resources in eastern Mediterranean without a resolution of the Cyprus issue is hampering the potential of a possible solution on the island," said Demirtas, explaining that the "ineffectiveness" of the UN and the European Union, to which the Republic of Cyprus is a member, was also to blame for this situation.

Cyprus' government said the hydrocarbon search is its sovereign right, and it will continue to benefit all Cypriot citizens, insisting that proceeds will be divided equally after a future deal.

Some specialists have called on Ankara to refrain from overacting on the issue.

"Turkey should be very cautious to not to overreact to Greek Cypriot provocations in the Eastern Mediterranean and should avoid the use of military means against civilian explorations vessels," Hurriyet Daily News Ankara representative Serkan Demirtas said.

"A repeat of such actions would further deteriorate Turkey's already fragile bonds with the West, particularly ahead of a key summit between Ankara and Brussels in late March and amid ongoing diplomatic efforts to mend ties with Washington," he added.

Turkey and the EU have planned to meet for a summit in the Black Sea port city of Varna, Bulgaria on March 26 for what is expected to be a reconciliation after a series of mutual verbal attacks in the wake of the botched coup in Turley and the major crackdown that followed.

It is obvious that nationalistic feelings are running high on both the Greek and Turkish sides. Right-wing Greek groups burned the Turkish flag in a demonstration. Ibrahim Kalin, spokesman for Erdogan, likened the act to a hate crime and demanded the arrest of the Greek protesters.HELSINKI, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Finnish Foreign Minister Timo Soini said on Sunday that the voter turnout in Russian presidential election indicates that Vladimir Putin has genuine support in Russia.

Interviewed on national television Yle, Soini said that the 70 percent support for Putin and the voter turnout at around 60 percent denote "a sort of stability" in Russia. "Putin is a leader chosen by the Russians themselves," Soini said.

The foreign minister said he hoped Putin would take "steps for peace" during his fourth term, "so that normal, rule-based international cooperation could be attained again".

Soini did not take a stand on whether some irregularities reported should be taken up with the Russians.

Putin, the incumbent Russian president, was set to win Sunday's presidential election as he got 75.91 percent of the vote after 70 percent of the ballots were counted, preliminary data from the Central Election Commission (CEC) showed.News

Washington, DC - Statement of John C. Anderson, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, Before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs:

Chairman Hoeven, Vice-Chairman Udall, and Members of the Committee:

Thank you for inviting us today to discuss this critical issue and the Department of Justices (the Department) efforts to support Native communities dealing with the devastating aftermath of the opioid epidemic. The Department has been uncompromising in our commitment to combatting drug abuse and drug crimes, particularly opioids, in Indian country and across the nation.

In my district, New Mexico, the opioid crisis in Indian Country is particularly acute. Despite its staggering natural beauty, northern New Mexico, and Espanola, New Mexico in particular, has one of the highest opioid overdose death rates in the country. For decades, Espanola has had a severe heroin problem. And as you may know, Espanola is surrounded by Indian reservations. Many New Mexico Indian Pueblos, including the Pueblos of Santa Clara, Ohkay Owingeh, San Ildefonso, Picuris, Pojoaque, Nambe and Tesuque are all within a short distance of the Espanola area. The opioid epidemic knows no boundaries, and so our Pueblos are equally affected by heroin and prescription opioids; individuals and communities alike continue to be plagued by the opioid scourge and its secondary effects.

At a recent consultation in New Mexico, one Pueblo Governor shared photographs of the parking lot of their casino. The photos revealed discarded needles, syringes and other drug paraphernalia scattered about the casino parking lot.

At the same consultation, a Pueblo Chief of Police emotionally described losing a brother to a heroin overdose and a sister to a prescription opioid overdose. The Chief of Police explained that the drug epidemic is dire in Northern New Mexico and that something needs to be done to address the problem.

The catastrophic impact that opioid abuse can have at every level of a community, from family units to infrastructure and economic stability, demands our best efforts to put forth effective and sustainable support to communities in crisis. The Department has developed a multi-faceted response to addressing the threat and the impact of opioid abuse. Our approach in Indian country is based on the belief that the Tribes are in the best position to identify solutions to problems in their communities. We have sought to develop resources and initiatives that rely on partnership with the Tribes and are continually interested in hearing from our Tribal and federal partners as we adjust our efforts to better meet the needs of Native communities.

An important element of the Departments support is in providing opportunities for funding. In fiscal year 2017, the Department awarded nearly $59 million to strengthen drug court programs and combat the opioid epidemic. The Office of Justice Programs (OJP) administers the Departments Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Program. The goals of the Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Program are twofold: First, the program aims to reduce opioid misuse and the number of overdose fatalities. Second, the program supports the implementation, enhancement, and proactive use of prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) to support clinical decision-making and prevent the misuse and diversion of controlled substances. Tribes are eligible to apply for a variety of funding opportunities under this program. As an example of recent awards under this program, in Fiscal Year 2017, the Seneca Nation Peacemakers Court was awarded funds to create a community-driven, culturally competent diversion project aimed at helping Native American opioid users. The Port Gamble SKlallam Tribe was awarded funds in Fiscal Year 2017 to support drug courts and programs that support veterans. The Department will continue to offer these opportunities to Tribes going forward.

The Department understands that effective coordination among federal agencies is crucial to ensuring our efforts are successful. We have participated in the High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program, funded through the Office of National Drug Control Policy, for many years now. The HIDTA program increases collaboration and information sharing between Tribal law enforcement and federal, state, and local agencies to improve investigation and interdiction in Indian country. As the Department continues to participate in the HIDTA program, our law enforcement agencies, particularly the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), have been working to build stronger relationships with other law enforcement agencies and service providers active in Indian country so that we are able to adjust our Task Force presence in Indian country most effectively.

The Indian Country Law Enforcement Coordination Working Group, co-chaired by the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) at the Department of the Interior, has become important to enhancing inter-agency federal law enforcement coordination in tribal communities. The group includes representatives from 13 federal law enforcement agencies and has focused heavily on several aspects of the opioid epidemic including proliferation, identifying top challenges to law enforcement, and coordinating responses. We will continue to use this working group to strengthen our coordinated efforts. For example, trafficking through the mail is a significant concern and we intend to use this working group as a forum to develop better ways to stop the movement of opioids through the postal service.

We recognize that the crisis requires more than a law enforcement response, so our efforts to coordinate go beyond law enforcement. For example, the Department is working closely with the Indian Health Service (IHS) of the Department of Health and Human Services to ensure that other federal agencies are aware of updated Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) protocols in IHS facilities. The updated protocols have an impact on how some drug crimes are investigated and prosecuted, and on efforts to introduce safeguards against opioid abuse. Additionally, we have developed a number of training opportunities to better equip law enforcement and service providers working in Indian country to address the drug crimes and the familial and community impacts of opioid abuse. The Department has presented recent trainings, often in coordination with BIA, on opioid trends, investigative techniques, drug handling precautions regarding opioids, naloxone use, and indicators that opioids are present in a community. Other training is available on violent crime associated with opioids, prescription drug diversion, and investigating and prosecuting medical professionals and others involved in distributing prescription medications outside the scope of legitimate medical practice. These training opportunities are available to Tribal law enforcement and, in some cases, entirely geared for a Tribal audience. The Department is currently working with BIA on a new opportunity tentatively slated for this summer that will bring Tribal law enforcement representatives together with a number of federal law enforcement agencies to train on a wide range of drug-related topics.

Community outreach is another important aspect of our approach to this issue. The DEA has conducted a prolonged community outreach effort in Indian country to educate Tribal leaders and citizens on opioids and other drugs. Additionally, on October 28, 2017, the Department and BIA collaborated on the most recent Prescription Drug Take Back Day, which is a nationwide program that has also allowed the successful collaboration between BIA and DEA. This initiative provided a safe, convenient, and responsible means of disposing prescription drugs, while also educating Native communities on the potential for opioid abuse. Over 115 Tribal communities participated; we intend to repeat this initiative and expand participation in the future.

Improved information sharing plays a crucial role in any law enforcement effort, even more so in the context of opioids as we all work to get ahead of this terrible epidemic. The Tribal Access Program for National Crime Information (TAP) is an effective tool for participating Tribes to track and contribute data on opioid-related crimes and to perform required background checks. TAP assists Tribes by providing a means of access to national crime databases maintained by the FBI Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division for both criminal justice and civil background check purposes. This has been an especially important tool for performing checks on those who have regular contact with children in Indian country, including schools and foster care. Service providers in Indian country carry much of the burden of healing communities in the wake of opioid abuse, so we believe TAP plays an equally necessary role in ensuring safe providers as it does in sharing important law enforcement information.

The use of data analytics to combat the opioid crisis is among the new tactics that are under development Department-wide. Attorney General Sessions formed the Opioid Fraud and Abuse Detection Unit to utilize data analytics, such as distribution and inventory figures, to identify patterns, trends, and statistical outliers that can be developed into targeted law enforcement operations. As we better understand the data across the country we will be able to better understand patterns and trends in Indian country.

Our goal is clear: we must continue working in partnership with Tribal, federal, state, and local partners to respond to the opioid epidemic and to support communities that are affected by the crisis. We are committed to putting forth our best efforts in this joint undertaking. We appreciate this committees focus on this issue and look forward to working with you going forward. Thank you again for the opportunity to participate today.News

Nashville, Tennessee - Attorney General Sessions Delivers Remarks to the International Association of Chiefs of Police:

Thank you, Tim, for that kind introduction. And thank you for your more than three decades of service to the people of Missouri. I have no doubt that you have made them safer.



I want to thank IACP on assembling an organization of more than 30,000 police chiefs from 150 countries to learn from one another, build relationships, and better protect those they serve.



I want to thank you all for doing that work faithfully and effectively for the last 125 years  and I look forward to the success you will have in the next 125.



Im pleased to see that my home state of Alabama is well represented here. Adrian, Executive Manager of the Alabama Association of Chiefs of Police; Chief Carpenter of Daphne, which is one of the top retirement spots in America, and Chief Cook of Mountain Brook: it is good to see you. Thank you for keeping Alabama safe.



Im also happy that some members of our COPS office could join us today. That office is a critical part of the Departments efforts to support our state and local partners.



President Trump and I support law enforcement at all levels  and we always will.



We know whose side we are on. Were on the side of law-and-order.



This is an administration that listens to you and that understands this community. We understand the risks you take and the tools you need to be effective.



The most important thing that any government does is keep its citizens safe, and thats what you do every single day.



You are the thin blue line that stands between law-abiding people and criminals  between sanctity and lawlessness.



I know the importance of the work that you do. I know its dangers, challenges, frustrations, and satisfactions.



We are all in this together.



During my almost 40 years in and around law enforcement, I have come to understand that we must see the criminal justice system as a whole.



From our police officers and our police chiefs to our sheriffs, state law enforcement and forensic departments, to our local and state prosecutors, our judges and juries, to our prison system and to our probation and parole officers, we are one system.



We have different roles, different laws, different lines of authority and different funding sources, but we are united in one effort to keep law-abiding people safe.



It is the increased training, professionalism, leadership, and more effective enforcement policies of our departments nationwide and over several decades that has been the critical factor in reversing the dramatic rise in crime that we saw into and through the 1970s.



Over 22 years we saw homicide rates fall by half, youth drug use fall by almost half, and violent crime fall dramatically. It was an achievement few would have ever expected. Lives were saved and lives were changed.



Maybe we got overconfident and took our eye off the ball, but more recent trends have become deeply worrisome. The violent crime rate went up by nearly seven percent from 2014 to 2016. Robberies went up. Assaults went up nearly 10 percent. Rape went up by nearly 11 percent. Murder shot up by more than 20 percent.



We cannot allow these trends to continue.



No one should feel like a prisoner in their home. No child should have to fear going to school or walking the streets of their neighborhood.



Thats why the Trump administration and this Department of Justice are taking action to protect law abiding people and disarm criminals.



In recent weeks, the President has held a series of roundtables, including with law enforcement leaders, so have I. And we have listened to you. We hear you.



It makes us better in federal law enforcement.



My experience is that when you listen to the experts, do it every day, you get good ideas.



Just last week I had about 30 people in my office for a conference, each representing officers with all the major law enforcement groups, including IACP.



The discussion began to revolve around the problem of individuals who are mentally ill or particularly dangerous and how to handle these cases.



We have got to finally make progress on this seemingly intractable problem. Local communities supported by the federal government have to have a system that actually delivers valuable information, with involuntary commitment options for those who are mentally ill and dangerous. Some of these people need to be in treatment facilities, not in jails.



We need to break down the walls that exist between law enforcement agencies. We learned that lesson after the 9/11 attacksand Im hopeful that we will remember this lesson now, in the wake of another terrible tragedy. Law enforcement cooperation, sharing info, saves lives.



Since the Parkland shooting, President Trump has pushed for action to strengthen law enforcement and to make this country safer from the threat of gun violence. Things are moving.



The Department of Justice has provided $1 million in emergency funding to our law officers in Broward County who have been working overtime in the wake of the tragedy.



At President Trumps direction, we have begun the process of banning bump stocks, which in effect turn legal guns into illegal machineguns.



The Department is also providing additional funding for cities and states to hire school resource officers, and offering firearm training to officers and to school personnel alike.



Every year we help hire hundreds of police officers across America. Its one of the most important things that we do.



Now we are targeting this grant funding to cities and states that want to put officers in schools.



I have also ordered our prosecutors more aggressively to charge those who lie to the background check system in order to try to get guns illegally.



Under my tenure as Attorney General, we have already increased federal gun prosecutions to a 10-year high and violent crime prosecutions to a 25-year high. But we are just getting started.



We intend to break these records again, punish more criminals who try to cheat the system, and deter many more from lying to a background check in the first place.



Our background check systems are only as good as the information they receive.



That is also why we are holding accountable federal agenciesas well as cities and statesfor providing us with the information we need to know if someone shouldnt have a gun.



I have ordered the FBI to identify the cities and states that fail to give us the information we need in a timely fashion and to work with them to fix that.



One problem we face all too often is that the FBI will receive an arrest record, but not a follow-up with the final outcome of the case. As a result, many people who should be prohibited from having a gun can still pass a background check. That is dangerous, and we cannot allow it to continue.



But we are going to help the states with this process.



We will provide funding for increasing accessibility to criminal recordsespecially domestic violence convictionsas well as records of firearm restrictions related to mental illness.



We will also improve the way we use the information we do have, including tips from the public. I have ordered an immediate review of the process we use in order to ensure that we respond to these tips quickly and effectivelyespecially if we could potentially prevent violent crime.



The bottom line is this: we will not stand by and watch violence rise. Plain and simple, we will not allow the progress made by our women and men in blue over the past two decades to simply slip through our fingers. We will protect the poor as well as the rich. We will not cede one community, one block, or one street corner to violent thugs or poison peddlers.



One of our explicit goals for 2018 is to reduce violent crime in America.



And with your help, we have been pursuing this goal aggressively.



Last year we secured the convictions of nearly 500 human traffickers and 1,200 gang members, and we helped our international allies arrest or charge more than 4,000 MS-13 members.



These are accomplishments that benefit us all. And while I have inexpressible pride in our fabulous federal law officers, I am fully aware that 85 percent of all law officers are state, local, and tribal.



We cannot succeed without you. Its that simple.



We want to be a force-multiplier for you. We can reach defendants where you cantacross state lines, across our borders, and even across oceans. And we can provide you with expertise and intelligence that can help you succeed.



That is why I am pleased that IACP has worked so closely with us on the Collaborative Reform Technical Assistance Centerwhich will provide training, advice, and expertise for law enforcement officers across America.



This technical assistance center is in good hands. I want to thank the International Association of Chiefs of Police for their leadership and for bringing together an impressive coalition of law enforcement leaders and experts, including the Fraternal Order of Police, the Major Cities Chiefs Association, FBI National Academy Associates, International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators, International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Training and Standards, National Association of Women Law Enforcement Executives, and National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives.



This new model puts law enforcement agencies in the drivers seat and provides support, resources, and assistance by using this by the field, for the field model. It fulfills my pledge to respect local control and accountability, while still delivering tailored technical assistance.



I believe that will be of great benefit to the field and help improve public safety, prevent crime, and help both law enforcement and communities in need of these resources.



We will continue to invest in you.



After all, our mission is not hopeless. Crime rates dont go up and down like the tides. Together we really can make a difference.



I want to close by reiterating my deep appreciation to all the women and men of law enforcement  federal, state, local, and tribal. I want to thank every chief of police in America, as well as our international partners.



The work that you do  that you have dedicated your lives to  is essential. I believe it. The Department of Justice believes it. And President Trump believes it.



You can be certain about this: we have your back and you have our thanks.Arizona News

Tucson, Arizona - Herps & Perps: The Black Market Trade of Arizona Reptiles:

Sunday, March 18 at 12 PM & 2 PM at 12880 N Vistoso Village Dr. - Tucson

Dr. Cecil Schwalbe, the first state herpetologist for the Arizona Game and Fish Department, discusses the continuing problem of illegal trading of Arizona wildlife. Focusing on a series of sting operations in the 1980s and recent arrests, Dr. Schwalbe delivers astute observations and some interesting insights. You will be amazed how quickly a state investigation becomes international and at the variety of animals involved: from Gila monsters and ridge-nosed rattlesnakes to cobras, Gaboon vipers, and green mambas. Pancho Gila the Gila Monster and Rocky the banded rock rattlesnake will make a special appearance at the conclusion of each presentation.

Call 520-622-6014 today to request a reservation!Arizona News

Phoenix, Arizona - Today, Ahmed Alahmedalabdaloklah, a Syrian national who had been living in Iraq, was convicted by a jury, following a six-week trial, of conspiring and supporting the 1920s Revolutionary Brigades, an insurgent group that planted road-side bombs to attack and kill American soldiers in Iraq. A jury convicted Alahmedalabdaloklah on Conspiracy to Use a Weapon of Mass Destruction, Conspiring to Maliciously Damage or Destroy United States Property by Means of an Explosive, Aiding and Abetting Other Persons to Possess a Destructive Device in Furtherance of a Crime of Violence, and Conspiracy to Possess a Destructive Device in Furtherance of a Crime of Violence.

Sentencing is set for June 5, 2018 before District Judge Roslyn O. Silver.

Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers, Elizabeth A. Strange, First Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Arizona, and Michael Deleon, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Phoenix Field Office, made the announcement.

Alahmedalabdaloklah conspired with a violent Iraqi insurgent group to kill American soldiers in Iraq, said First Assistant Strange. Todays verdict underscores our commitment to use every available resource to bring justice to American soldiers who were killed or injured by such terrorist acts. I commend the FBI and the prosecution team for their tremendous efforts in securing this conviction.

"The FBI's highest priority is preventing acts; both in the United States and abroad," said Phoenix FBI Special Agent in Charge Michael DeLeon. "We want to thank the Department of Justice and the Arizona U.S. Attorney's Office, the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force, agents, analysts, and both local and foreign partners for working together to bring Ahmed Alahmedalabdaloklah to justice. This is a prime example of the FBI's commitment to pursuing justice even in the most complex and difficult cases. The FBI also wants to voice our sympathy and condolences to the victims, their families and friends. The FBI will continue our mission of preventing terrorist acts and pursuing those who plan to do us harm. "

Between 2006 and 2011, United States soldiers were deployed to Iraq to support the fledgling Iraqi government and to provide security to the Iraqi people. Multiple insurgent groups, including the 1920 Revolution Brigades (1920s), opposed the Iraqi government and committed violent acts in an effort to destabilize Iraq and expel American forces from the country. American soldiers faced daily attacks from snipers, small team ambushes, and deadly improvised explosive devices (IEDs) planted along major military supply routes.

Alahmedalabdaloklah supported the 1920s by designing, making, and supplying parts for remote-controlled IED initiator switches for roadside bombs. In August 2006, during a search and seizure weapons clearing mission, American soldiers located an apartment in Baghdad that had been converted into an IED switch-making factory. Soldiers seized numerous items used to detonate IEDs, including receivers, transmitters, cell phones, key fobs, modified hands-free headsets, and ready-to-use IED switches. Over a thousand finger and palm prints belonging to Alahmedalabdaloklah were discovered on the items found there, including instructions for making IEDs.

The investigation in this case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The prosecution was handled by Trial Attorney Joseph Kaster from the National Security Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys David Pimsner, Melissa Karlen, and Bill Solomon, from the U.S. Attorneys Office, District of Arizona.Welsh & Green, Inc (Chicago). Orleans Levee District, Orleans Parish, Louisiana. No publisher, no place of printing, April 1935. 11.5x8", 31 leaves, plus (20) leaves, including 5 folding plates of tables and one map. This is a offset type-printed document, presumably done so in very small numbers, for a presentation made by the firm of Welsh & Green before the Orleans Levee District Board, recommending ways of financing the various improvements to the levees and the airport.

This report is bound in a stiff manila folder with brass punches and has a hand-made typed label pasted onto the front cover. The cover has some bumps and tears along the edges but is in generally Very Good condition; the text is Fine. Provenance: the Library of Congress, with their surplus/duplicate stamp on the rear page. $300







"Welsh & Green was retained by Newman, Harris & Co., of New Orleans, to investigate the financial conditions of the district, and to devise ways and means for remedying the (financial) situation." In effect it seems as though this presentation looked at different ways to legislate and issue bonds to fund a 7 million dollar public debt for the work.

The report was issued in April 1935, just a few months ahead of the "other" storm of the century, the Labor Day Storm of 1935. NOT LOCATED in the OCLC/WorldCat. I can't locate this anywhere, so far, except for the Catalog of Copyright Entries for 1935. (I did find something that looked similar to this report by Welsh & Green on the financial status of Chicago, 1934.)Latest News

Baltimore, Maryland - A federal jury convicted Raul Ernesto Landaverde-Giron, aka Humilde and Decente, of Silver Spring, Maryland of conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise in connection with his gang activity as a member of La Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13. Landaverde-Giron was also found guilty of murder in aid of racketeering; conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering; discharging a firearm during a crime of violence and murder resulting from the discharging of a firearm during a crime of violence.

The conviction was announced by Attorney General Jeff Sessions; Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the Justice Departments Criminal Division; Acting U.S. Attorney Stephen M. Schenning for the District of Maryland; Special Agent in Charge Andre R. Watson of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); Chief Henry P. Stawinski III of the Prince Georges County, Maryland, Police Department; Prince Georges County States Attorney Angela D. Alsobrooks; Chief Douglas Holland of the Hyattsville City Police Department; Chief Edward Hargis of the Frederick Police Department; Frederick County States Attorney J. Charles Smith; Chief J. Thomas Manger of the Montgomery County Police Department; and Montgomery County States Attorney John McCarthy.

With more than 10,000 members across 40 U.S. states, MS-13 is one of the deadliest gangs in America, said Attorney General Sessions. Thats why the Trump administration and this Department of Justice have worked aggressively to dismantle this vicious gang and take its members off of our streets. Maryland in particular has suffered terribly because of MS-13s campaign of rape, murder, and extortion. Todays conviction is another victory for the American people against this uniquely barbaric gang, and I want to thank everyone who played a role in making it possible, especially Homeland Security Investigations, Prince Georges and Montgomery County police, Hyattsville police, and the Assistant U.S. Attorneys and Department of Justice Trial Attorneys who prosecuted the case. MS-13 thinks that they are targeting usbut we are targeting them.



According to the indictment, MS-13 is a national and transnational gang composed primarily of immigrants or descendants from El Salvador. Branches or cliques of MS-13, one of the largest street gangs in the United States, operate throughout Prince Georges County, Montgomery County, and Frederick County, Maryland. MS-13 members are required to commit acts of violence to maintain membership and discipline within the gang. One of the principal rules of MS-13 is that its members must attack and kill rivals, known as chavalas, whenever possible. MS-13 imposes greenlights, or orders to be killed, on members or associates who betray the gang by cooperating with law enforcement or violating significant gang rules.

According to evidence presented at the three-week trial, from at least 2012 through at least 2016, MS-13 members planned and committed numerous crimes, including murders and attempted murders in Prince Georges County and Frederick County. Gang members also extorted owners of illegal businesses, among other crimes. Landaverde-Giron was a member of the MS-13 Normandie Locos Salvatrucha Clique.

Trial evidence showed that on Nov. 30, 2013, Landaverde-Giron, along with two other Normandie Clique members, murdered an individual in Frederick, Maryland, who had fled El Salvador to escape a greenlight imposed by MS-13 members in El Salvador. After a co-conspirator recognized the victim in Frederick, Normandie Clique members called an MS-13 leader in prison in El Salvador to confirm the greenlight was still in effect. A co-conspirator then lured the victim to a wooded area in Frederick, where he shot the victim in the head and Landaverde-Giron and another co-conspirator stabbed the victim in the face and neck. Landaverde-Giron was promoted within the Normandie Clique for his participation in this murder.

Landaverde-Giron faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison for murder in aid of racketeering. U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte has scheduled sentencing for June 13. Landaverde-Giron remains detained.

In addition to this conviction, five of the seven defendants charged in this case have previously pleaded guilty to their roles in the racketeering conspiracy.

HSI Baltimore, Frederick Police Department, Prince Georges County Police Department, Hyattsville City Police Department, Montgomery County Police Department, and the Prince Georges County States Attorneys Office assisted in the investigation and prosecution. The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Francesca Liquori of the Criminal Divisions Organized Crime and Gang Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys William D. Moomau and Lindsay Eyler Kaplan of the District of Maryland.Coun Perez reiterates warning to barangay leaders involved in drugs

07 Aug 2017 Hits:37 Comments(0)

Liga ng mga Barangay President, Councilor Jerry Perez yesterday reiterated his warning to all barangay officials from using or selling drugs. Perez said he is closely monitoring the activities of all the barangay officials and vowed sanctions against erring leaders. Aqui gane na mio barangay ya quita ya iyo na puesto cunel dos barangay leaders quien mas temprano ya sale positivo na...COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Sunday lifted the nationwide state of emergency which was imposed on March 6. For a first, the emergency was declared since the civil war following days of communal violence between majority Sinhala Buddhists and minority Muslims in the country.

President Sirisena, who returned to Sri Lanka on Saturday night from an official visit to India and Japan, removed the state of emergency as the situation in the country returned to normal. "Upon assessing the public safety situation, I instructed to revoke the State of Emergency from midnight yesterday," he twitted.

On March 6, the government imposed a state of emergency blocking Facebook, WhatsApp and other social media sites following anti-Muslim violence in the island's central hills Kandy and Ampara districts in which three people were killed and hundreds of Muslim-owned properties, including mosques, were damaged.

Facing flak from the Opposition for not lifting the blockage on social media despite improvement in the situation, the government lifted the ban on Facebook on March 15 after officials from the US social media giant agreed to step up efforts to remove hate speech posted on its platform during the anti-Muslim violence.

The communal violence was triggered by the death of a Sinhalese man by a mob.

The government had deployed thousands of troops to restore peace and protect the minority Muslims and their property. "The President decided to revoke the order in view of the improved security situation," a presidential official said.

The police arrested more than 200 people for violence against Muslims.

It was the first time in seven years Sri Lanka had imposed the measure. The country was under a state of emergency for nearly three decades when the government fought Tamil rebels LTTE in the civil war that ended in 2009.

Violence has risen in the Buddhist-majority country since 2012, with some hardline Buddhist groups accusing Muslims of forcing people to convert to Islam and vandalising Buddhist archaeological sites.

(With PTI inputs)New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Sunday has reportedly seized 100 acres of land belonging to billionaire diamantaire Nirav Modi in connection with the alleged Rs 12,700 crore country's second largest state-run lender Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud.

Last month, the ED had attached 21 properties, including a penthouse and a farmhouse, of Nirav Modi and his group worth over Rs 523 crore in action against the beleaguered jeweller.

The properties sealed included 10 offices, including two in Lower Parel worth around Rs 80 crore, six houses and two flats in Pune, all of which are registered in Nirav Modis name, in the name of his family members or companies or the Nirav Modi Trust.

On Saturday, the farmers from Khandala village in Karjat taluka of Ahmednagar district forcibly took away their plots  250 acres in total  as the beleaguered jeweller has failed to honour the compensation agreements.

A group of over 200 farmers, who arrived in bullock carts at the tract of land at Khandala in Karjat tehsil, ploughed a part of it using a tractor as a symbolic reclaiming of possession.

Billionaire Nirav Modi, his uncle Mehul Choksi and others are being investigated by multiple probe agencies after the PNB scam came to light following a complaint by the bank that they had allegedly cheated the nationalised bank to the tune of Rs 11,400 crore but the amount involved was later revised to Rs 13,900 crore as more such transactions came to light.

The ED has registered the money laundering case against Nirav Modi, his firms and others on the basis of a CBI first information report.New Delhi: Chaitra Navaratri 2018 begins on March 18 and concludes on March 25 with Rama Navami, a day referred to as the birth date of Lord Rama. The celebrations and prayers of Navaratri are initiated after Ghatasthapana which symbolises Devi Durga. The Goddess is invoked and invited to accept sincere prayers and humble offerings. Devotees seek her blessings for all the goodness in life

This popular Hindu festival is celebrated five times a year  Vasanta or Chaitra Navratri, Ashadha Navaratri, Sharad Navaratri, Paush Navaratri and Magha Navaratri. However, its Vasanta Navaratri which falls in March-April and Sharad Navratri (during September-October) that are celebrated with fervour.

To make sure you dont miss out on wishing your friends and family, we have compiled a list of messages that you can send to your loved ones on the occasion of Navratri.

*May Goddess Durga give prosperous and happiness to you and to your family. May her blessings be always with you. JAI MATA DI! Happy Chaitra Navratri!

*May this festival be the harbinger of joy and prosperity. As the holy occasion of Navratri is here and the atmosphere is filled with the spirit of mirth and love, heres hoping this festival will be great for you! Happy Chaitra Navratri 2018

*May Mata Rani shower her choicest blessings on her dear children on the auspicious week of Navaratri

*Our wish to Goddess Durga remove your all troubles and sorrows. Brings nine colours of happiness in your life and all your wishes come true. Happy Chaitra Navratri 2018 !!

*May Maa Durga empower you and your family with her Nine Swaroopa of Name, Fame, Health, Wealth, Happiness, Humanity, Education, Bhakti & Shakti. HAPPY CHAITRA NAVRATRI !!

*May Durga Maa bless you on this special day of Navratri and on this festive season Dhan, Yash and Samriddhi come to your Home. Happy Chaitra Navratri.!!New Delhi: A 60-year-old man was on Saturday beaten to death allegedly over filling water from a tank in northwest Delhi's Wazirpur. Police claimed that they have arrested three people and apprehended a juvenile in the case.

The deceased was identified as Lal Bahadur who lived with his family in SS Nagar in Wazirpur Industrial area. The incident was reported around 3.30 PM on Saturday when a water tanker had arrived in the colony and all the residents reached there for filling water.

Lal Bahadur' s son Rohit and the accused were also at the spot, Deputy Commissioner of Police (northwest) Aslam Khan said. "Soon an argument started between Rohit and the accused over filling the water first which soon turned into a scuffle," Khan said.

The victim, after hearing the shouts, reached the spot and tried to stop the fight between his son and the accused. "He wanted to pacify the fight but the accused attacked him with fist and thrashed mercilessly. He soon became unconscious. He was rushed to the hospital where he was declared brought dead," the police said.

The two accused were nabbed from the spot and during raid a police team were able to catch the remaining two.HYDERABAD: A student of the University of Hyderabad was on Friday allegedly sexually assaulted by three unidentified persons inside the campus. She was accompanied by a male friend when the men, believed to be construction workers, attempted to force themselves upon her.

The duo managed to escape from the scene with minor injuries. They reached out to the authorities and informed them of the incident. A case has been registered and a probe has been initiated.

The Gachibowli Police has reportedly arrested four minors in connection with the case. Three of those arrested are 16-year-olds, while one is aged 17. The four believed to be residents of Nallagandla have been booked under IPC sections 375d (rape), 307 (attempt to murder), 394 (voluntarily causing hurt in robbery). They will be sent to a juvenile home.

The university officials are claiming that the incident took place outside the campus and added that it was a restricted area. "The incident took place outside the campus area. It is a restricted area. We dont want to blame anyone. The university offers all the help required for the injured," University of Hyderabad spokesperson Vinod Pavarala told The News Minute.

He also added that the university has enough security measures in place to prevent such incidents.New Delhi: The Congress today said that if voted to power, it would come out with a loan-waiver scheme for small and marginal farmers similar to that announced by the UPA government in 2009.

Adopting a resolution on 'Agriculture, Employment and Poverty Alleviation' at the party's 84th plenary session, it hit out at the Modi government for its "flawed" and "anti-farmer" policies that have caused an "agrarian crisis" in the country.

The resolution, moved by Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, expressed concern over the "failure" of the central government to deliver on its "lofty" promises and accused it of 'duping' farmers by making empty noises of doubling farm incomes by 2022.

The party claimed the scheme of the UPA government in 2009 had benefited 3.2 crore farmers.

The crop insurance scheme of the Modi government benefited private insurance companies more than the farmer, it said, alleging that the money was taken away from farmers' bank accounts without their consent.

Alleging that there were rising levels of income inequality due to "anti-poor" policies of the government, the party said the BJP had promised 'sabka saath, sabka vikas', but it acted contrary to their slogan.

The Congress said if the party formed the government after the general elections next year, it would set up a permanent commission for farm labour welfare with a constitutional status to guarantee social security at old age.

The party said it would also provide interest-free loans to cover input costs to tenant farmers, sharecroppers and farmers owning and cultivating up to two hectares of land as was done by Congress governments in Haryana and Rajasthan in the past.

It resolved to bring in a farmer-centric paradigm shift in the agriculture sector and restore profitability.

The party said it will adopt a humanitarian and compassionate approach to enhance farmers' income, ensure dignity to them, besides good education to their children, health care for their families and financial and social security through pensions.

On the poverty alleviation front, the party said it will create a national poverty alleviation fund and impose a five per cent cess on incomes of the top one per cent people.

"The Congress shall ensure that Aadhaar is not used to deny benefits to the poor," the resolution said, adding that it should be used to improve targeting the eligible beneficiaries under the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) and other welfare schemes.

"The Congress resolves to review the methodology used by the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices to determine the MSP (minimum support price) to guarantee remunerative income to the farmers, factoring all relevant input costs including warehousing and transportation," it said.

"The party shall expand the MSP regime to other crops and forest produce of tribal community and expand the procurement process to ensure that the farmer gets MSP benefits," the resolution said.

The party also said if voted to power, it would re-examine the issue of GST on agricultural equipment to lower input costs for farmers.

Senior party leaders Randeep Surjewala and Ashok Chavan spoke on the resolution, which was drafted by a panel chaired by former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

The wealth of the top one per cent has gone up by 73 per cent while that of the bottom half of the population has grown by just one per cent during the BJP rule, it claimed.NEW DELHI: India on Saturday gave a Note Verbale to Pakistan through its high commission in Islamabad protesting the "intimidation and harassment" of its staff there, the 12th such diplomatic note in less than three months.

Official sources said that in its communication to the Pakistan foreign ministry, the Indian high commission specifically mentioned two incidents of harassment -- one today and the other on March 15.

"Another Note Verbale was sent today by our High Commission in Islamabad to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan protesting against the intimidation and harassment of Indian High Commission officials," a source said.

"This was the 12th Note Verbale this year on the subject," the source said.

In the Note Verbale, two incidents were highlighted.

In today's incident, the source said, some officials of the Indian mission, who had gone for shopping to the Blue Area in Islamabad, were harassed with two persons aggressively following them and hurling abuses.

In the March 15 incident, another official of the mission and his family was aggressively followed by two men on motorbike when he was going to a restaurant.

"We have asked the Pakistan Government to investigate these incidents," the source said.

The Note Verbale to Pakistan foreign ministry comes two days after Islamabad called its High Commissioner home for consultations, which was termed by India as "routine" and "normal".

Pakistan had said it called home its envoy in India Sohail Mahmood for consultations after repeated incidents of "harassment" of its diplomatic staff in New Delhi.

External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar had said that the Indian High Commission in Islamabad was also facing a "litany of issues" which have not been resolved for several months by that country.NEW DELHI: India today gave yet another Note Verbale to Pakistan through its high commission in Islamabad protesting the "intimidation and harassment" of mission officials, the 13th such diplomatic note in less than three months.

Official sources said that in the communication to the Pakistan foreign ministry, the Indian high commission specifically highlighted three cases of harassment, including one in which the second secretary at the mission was aggressively followed today by unidentified people in a car in close proximity in an intimidating manner while he was going to a restaurant.

Videos were made using a mobile phone, the sources said.

They said that in the second incident today, four high commission officials travelling in an official vehicle were aggressively followed while going to Aabpara market by two unknown persons on motorcycles in an intimidating manner.

Also, the website of the Indian high commission continues to be intermittently blocked causing inconvenience and affecting the normal functioning of the mission, the sources said.

"We have asked the Pakistan government to investigate these incidents and ensure that such incidents do not recur and share the result of the investigation with us," a source said.

The Note Verbale was sent today to Pakistan's Foreign Ministry "protesting against the intimidation and harassment" of Indian High Commission officials. This was the 13th Note Verbale this year on the subject, the sources said.

Yesterday also, India had sent a Note Verbale to Pakistan through its high commission and in the communication, it had specifically mentioned two incidents of harassment -- one yesterday and the other on March 15.

The 13th Note Verbale to Pakistan foreign ministry comes days after Islamabad called its High Commissioner home for consultations, which was termed by India as "routine" and "normal".

Pakistan had said it called home its envoy in India Sohail Mahmood for consultations after repeated incidents of "harassment" of its diplomatic staff in New Delhi.

External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar had said that the Indian High Commission in Islamabad was also facing a "litany of issues" which have not been resolved for several months by that country.NEW DELHI: Former finance minister and veteran Congress leader P Chidambaram on Sunday launched a scathing attack on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) officials over demonetisation saying that the Hundi collectors in Tirupathi count money faster.

"I would like to tell the RBI officials why don't you go to Hundi collectors in Tirupati? They count money faster than you," said Chidambaram.

Speaking at the 84th plenary session of the grand old party, the senior Congress leader went on slamming the government and said, "The current phase of economic growth started in 1990s when Rajiv Gandhi sowed seeds of liberalisation. This gained momentum under Dr Manmohan Singh. Whatever the BJP, the NDA may say, records speak for itself."

"It's the biggest achievement of Dr Manmohan Singh that 14 Cr people were listed out of poverty. BJP govt pushed people into poverty. Number of people below poverty line went up. It's the greatest disservice BJP govt did to people of India," he added.

It's the biggest achievement of Dr Manmohan Singh that 14 Cr people were listed out of poverty. BJP govt pushed people into poverty. Number of people below poverty line went up. It's the greatest disservice BJP govt did to people of India: P Chidambaram at #CongressPlenarySession pic.twitter.com/gDtkIU1Rci  ANI (@ANI) March 18, 2018

On Saturday, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi had hit out at the Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre over its alleged misrule and cautioned that anger against the ruling party is rising at the moment.

''They (BJP) use anger, we use love but one thing that I want to say is that this country belongs to everyone and whatever Congress will do will be for the benefit for all,'' Rahul Gandhi said.

The 84th Congress plenary session which started on Friday is set to conclude today. Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday had launched a scathing attack on the NDA government, saying its 'arrogant and power hungry' ways would pave the way for the grand old party to return to power across the country.

Speaking at the 84th plenary session of her party, Sonia had accused the BJP of going out of its way to destroy the Congress Party. Also, the government had sold a gimmick to the people, she had said.

The Narendra Modi government's behaviour since 2014 would help bring the Congress back to power, she had added. The Congress veteran had also attacked the Modi government for allegedly weakening programmes and schemes that the previous Congress-led UPA governments had begun.New Delhi: A true embodiment of determination and firm resolution, 56-year-old Mangala Mani is Indian Space Research Organisations (ISRO) first woman scientist to spent over 400 days, in the biting cold of Antarctica.

The 56-year-old was the only woman in a 23-member team who went on an expedition to the Indian research station, Bharati, in Antarctica in November 2016. She successfully completed her mission last December, reported Times of India.

Speaking to the English daily, Mani said, The Antarctica mission was really a challenge. The climate there was very harsh. We were very careful while going out of our climate-controlled research station. One had to wear polar clothing. Even 2 or 3 hours out in the severe cold was too much and one had to come back immediately for a warm-up.

During the icy cold winter months, when the team was stationed at Bharati, she was the sole woman in the entire zone since even the Russian and the Chinese earth stations did not have any women present in the 2016-17 period, said the Times of India report.

The selection process was not easy for Mani either. From medical tests to a psychological evaluation to temperature acclimatisation to physical endurance test, she had to go through it all.

Talking to The Hindu, Mani said that it was a newspaper article on Mars by US space agency NASA that had inspired her to take up her chosen field.

A newspaper article on Mars by NASA fascinated me a lot and aroused an interest and a dream in me to join a space organisation like in Florida, which was on the coast, Mani was quoted as saying by the daily.NEW DELHI: Former union minister Anand Sharma on Sunday attacked the Centre saying the Narendra Modi government has disrupted India's foreign policy. "Modi government has disrupted India's foreign policy. In the last four years, they have made this a divisive policy. They have pursued this in a cavalier manner, non-serious manner," said Sharma.

Speaking at the 84th plenary session of her party, the Congress leader accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being carried away by his own propaganda. He went on slamming the government and blamed the government of mismanaging the relations with major capitals of the world.

"The PM is carried away by his own propaganda. Today it is a matter of concern that we have mismanaged our relations with major capitals of the world, with major strategic partners and our immediate neighborhood," he added.

The 84th Congress plenary session which started on Friday is set to conclude today. Addressing at the session on Saturday, former Congress president Sonia Gandhi had launched a scathing attack on the NDA government, saying its 'arrogant and power hungry' ways would pave the way for the grand old party to return to power across the country.

Speaking at the 84th plenary session of her party, Sonia had accused the BJP of going out of its way to destroy the Congress Party. Also, the government had sold a gimmick to the people, she had said.

The Narendra Modi government's behaviour since 2014 would help bring the Congress back to power, she had added. The Congress veteran had also attacked the Modi government for allegedly weakening programmes and schemes that the previous Congress-led UPA governments had begun.Bhopal: Dwarka Peeth Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati today claimed that a mosque had never existed at Lord Ram's birthplace in Ayodhya and that the structure demolished by right-wing activists in 1992 was a temple.

"A masjid never existed at Lord Ram's birthplace in Ayodhya," the Shankaracharya told reporters here on the Ram Temple-Babri Mosque dispute.

"Kar Sevaks demolished the temple, not a masjid," he claimed.

He said that a grand Ram Temple would be rebuilt at the site once a stay order given by court is vacated.

The Supreme Court is currently hearing the petitions in the politically-sensitive Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute case.

The Shankaracharya also said that corruption poses a "real challenge" for the country.

Politicians, right from the level of village panchayat members, spend huge amounts of money on elections, he said.

"Even for registering a First Information Report, bribe is given to police," he said.

"When I speak against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, I am called a Congressman. I was a Congressman when the freedom struggle was on. Then only the Congress was fighting the British rule. Today, I am a religious leader," he said.

"I am a Shankaracharya. My duty is to safeguard the Sanatan Dharm," he said.NEW DELHI: Lashing out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress President Rahul Gandhi said that the poor in India are forced to live in a dreamland - Modi's Maya - created by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). "India is the fastest growing economy but crores of youngsters have no jobs in hand," he said while speaking at the last day of the Congress plenary in Delhi on Sunday.

He claimed that the PM does not talk about the real issues but focusses on things that are not even important. "The PM diverts our attention and jumps from one event to another from Gabbar Singh Tax to yoga in Parliament but never talks about the issues," he said.

Hitting out at the Centre for not being able to bring businessman Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya and Lalit Modi back, he alleged that the government is colluding with these people. "What does Modi actually mean? The name Modi symbolises the collusion between Indias biggest businessmen and the Prime Minister. Modi gives Modi 30,000 crores of your money and in turn, Modi gives Modi money for marketing Modi and fighting elections," he alleged.

Also read: Rahul Gandhi's speech at Congress Plenary Session, rhetoric of a loser: BJP

He said that the nation expects much more from the Congress than what it does from the BJP. "Congress party understands deeply that we are for truth. India expects more from Congress party because it holds us to a higher standard than any other party. Like the Kauravas, BJP and RSS are designed to fight for power. Like the Pandavas, the Congress is designed to fight for the truth," Rahul said.

He also added that the BJP is the voice of an organisation but the Congress is the voice of a nation.

Accepting the mistakes of the Congress led-United Progressive Alliance government he said that they did not stand upto the expectations of people. "I don't say it with happiness but the last government we formed did not stand up to the expectations of the people. The people of the country were let down by us," he added.Commuters taking Ola, Uber to commute are likely to face a tough time travelling as the drivers have threatened to go on an indefinite strike from March 19. The strike is expected to be observed in key cities like Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune among other cities.

The call for strike was made after drivers claimed that they were given big assurances but they are even unable to cover their costs. "Ola and Uber had given big assurances to the drivers, but today they are unable to cover their costs. They have invested Rs 5-7 lakh, and were expecting to make Rs 1.5 lakh a month but are unable to even make half of this, owing to the mismanagement by these companies," Sanjay Naik of Maharashtra Navnirman Vahatuk Sena, who is organising the strike, said.

Uber driver, who is also an MNS supporter told us theres an OLA/Uber strike on Monday.

Demands below... pic.twitter.com/OUw2suD4Pg  Leezus (@Leilahzeenat) March 14, 2018

The protestors are claiming that the taxi-hailing companies are giving first priority to company-owned cars and not driver-owned vehicles, which is causing a slump in their business.

While taxi-hailing companies offered loan-guarantee letters to drivers through the Mudra scheme and that too without any verification, they are defaulting on repayment now as their costs are not covered, Naik claimed.

In Mumbai alone, there are over 45,000 cabs on these aggregators but due to the slump in business, there has been a fall of 20 per cent in the number of cabs running on these platforms in the city.

"If our demands are not met, we will go on an indefinite strike," he said. naik also claimed that they have reached out to MNS leader Raj Thackeray to intervene in the matter.

"The transport department should take strict action as these taxi-hailing companies are violating permit conditions, and also encroaching on the taxi-rickshaw business. It is good they are going on strike," Al Quadros, general secretary, Mumbai Taximen's Union said.

There has been no official word yet from either Ola or Uber. While Ola declined to comment, an Uber spokesperson said termed the strike call as a speculative.

(With PTI inputs)Username: Password: or Register Thread Rating: 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average

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An Oklahoma mother who married her daughter after the pair "hit it off" LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: kaput

03-18-2018 03:10 AM











Post: #1 An Oklahoma mother who married her daughter after the pair "hit it off"

Advertisement



Patricia Ann Spann, 45, pleaded guilty to the felony offense of incest and admitted wedding her biological daughter, Misty Velvet Dawn Spann, 26.



The mother lost custody of her children and reunited with her daughter in 2014.



The two married in March 2016 after same-sex marriage became legal in the state.



Investigators later discovered Patricia Ann Spann had previously wed her son.



Her son, who was 18 years old at the time, annulled the marriage on incest charges in 2010 after tying the knot with his mother in 2008, according to the Oklahoman.





http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43418891 An Oklahoma mother who married her daughter after the pair "hit it off" has been sentenced to two years in prison.Patricia Ann Spann, 45, pleaded guilty to the felony offense of incest and admitted wedding her biological daughter, Misty Velvet Dawn Spann, 26.The mother lost custody of her children and reunited with her daughter in 2014.The two married in March 2016 after same-sex marriage became legal in the state.Investigators later discovered Patricia Ann Spann had previously wed her son.Her son, who was 18 years old at the time, annulled the marriage on incest charges in 2010 after tying the knot with his mother in 2008, according to the Oklahoman. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

03-18-2018 03:12 AM











Post: #2 RE: An Oklahoma mother who married her daughter after the pair "hit it off"

What the f*#k.



She was/is married to her son too? LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

03-18-2018 03:12 AM











Post: #3 RE: An Oklahoma mother who married her daughter after the pair "hit it off"

That's called, "keepin' it in the family". LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

03-18-2018 03:13 AM











Post: #4 RE: An Oklahoma mother who married her daughter after the pair "hit it off"

The family tree there is like a really deformed circle, right? LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

03-18-2018 03:16 AM











Post: #5 RE: An Oklahoma mother who married her daughter after the pair "hit it off"

What is this sickness sweeping over the human race ? LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

03-18-2018 03:28 AM











Post: #6 RE: An Oklahoma mother who married her daughter after the pair "hit it off"

LoP Guest Wrote: (03-18-2018 03:16 AM) What is this sickness sweeping over the human race ?

It's been going on for a long long time.

Trust me.



It's an anachronism to royal bloodlines.



The average couple who does it, they don't even know WHY they

do it, but if you research royal bloodlines, you see it is a common

even universal practice among the ruling elite. It's been going on for a long long time.Trust me.It's an anachronism to royal bloodlines.The average couple who does it, they don't even know WHY theydo it, but if you research royal bloodlines, you see it is a commoneven universal practice among the ruling elite. Isabella

Registered User

User ID: 1337

03-18-2018 03:37 AM



Posts: 26,384









Post: #7 RE: An Oklahoma mother who married her daughter after the pair "hit it off"

"The mother lost custody of her children and reunited with her daughter in 2014."





Well color me surprised If you want to influence Trump, you got to be the last guy he talks to."



Steve Bannon mudmaaaa

Registered User

User ID: 1337

03-18-2018 03:38 AM



Posts: 20









Post: #8 RE: An Oklahoma mother who married her daughter after the pair "hit it off"

This is some propper banjo sh*t! And they so look the part too!! LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

03-18-2018 03:43 AM











Post: #9 RE: An Oklahoma mother who married her daughter after the pair "hit it off"

That horrible woman would have been molesting those children since birth ! God knows what she did to them while they slept ! LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

03-18-2018 03:52 AM











Post: #10 RE: An Oklahoma mother who married her daughter after the pair "hit it off"

LoP Guest Wrote: (03-18-2018 03:43 AM) That horrible woman would have been molesting those children since birth ! God knows what she did to them while they slept !

Nope. She gave them up years ago. Reconnected with the son a few years back and they got married.



Similar occurrence with the daughter.



https://heavy.com/news/2016/09/patricia-...ok-photos/ Nope. She gave them up years ago. Reconnected with the son a few years back and they got married.Similar occurrence with the daughter. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

03-18-2018 03:54 AM











Post: #11 RE: An Oklahoma mother who married her daughter after the pair "hit it off"





http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...-well.html 'She tried it with me too': Other son of woman who married both her son and daughter claims she tried to start a relationship with him as well molson

Registered User

User ID: 1337

03-18-2018 04:01 AM



Posts: 8,341









Post: #12 RE: An Oklahoma mother who married her daughter after the pair "hit it off"

Dump her in the ocean, Argie style. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

03-18-2018 04:02 AM











Post: #13 RE: An Oklahoma mother who married her daughter after the pair "hit it off"

LoP Guest Wrote: (03-18-2018 03:54 AM) 'She tried it with me too': Other son of woman who married both her son and daughter claims she tried to start a relationship with him as well



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...-well.html

LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

03-18-2018 04:04 AM











Post: #14 RE: An Oklahoma mother who married her daughter after the pair "hit it off"





drugs LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

03-18-2018 04:15 AM











Post: #15 RE: An Oklahoma mother who married her daughter after the pair "hit it off"

I thought this was normal in the south.. Advertisement

















NEW DELHI: Amid tensions between India and Pakistan over reports of harassment of diplomats, the neighbouring country decided not to take part in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) meet which will take place in the national capital next week.

Pakistan commerce minister Pervaiz Malik, who was invited to India to participate in the WTO ministerial meeting slated to be held between March 19 to 20, called off his visit to protest against the 'unprecedented intimidation'.

The decision to stay away from WTO meeting in India coincided with the recalling of Pakistan's High Commissioner to India, Sohail Mehmood.

Mahmood arrived last evening for consultations after Pakistan alleged repeated harassment of its diplomats in New Delhi.

Trade ministers of over 50 nations including the US, China and Pakistan were invited by India to discuss issues related to agriculture and services.

On Saturday, the Indian High Commission in Islamabad had sent yet another complaint of harassment to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan. An Indian officer and his family were followed by bike-borne men on Thursday, March 15, in Islamabad.

This was the 12 Note Verbale submitted this year.

Both the neighbour nations have been trading allegations over harassment of High Commission personnel for sometime now.

Last week, on March 11, Islamabad accused India of harassing diplomats and their families living in the country, reported Pakistan-based publication Dawn, quoting diplomatic sources.

Media reports suggest that Pakistan warned to pull out its diplomats and their families if the "intimidation" is not put to an end.

The diplomatic source was further quoted as claiming that children of Pakistans deputy high commissioner were stopped and harassed while they were going to school. He further alleged that members of diplomatic were being abused during their movement in public.Pakistan has violated ceasefire in Balakote sector in Jammu and Kashmir, killing at least five civilians and injuring at least two others. Heavy shelling from the Pakistan side killed villagers in Devta. Helicopters have been rushed to retrieve the injured for specialised treatment in Jammu. Jammu IGP SD Singh Jamwal said "firing is still on".

Confirming the incident, Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police SP Vaid said that the injured were rushed to a nearby hospital.

A video of the unprovoked firing by Pakistani troops was released by news agency ANI wherein loud explosions/gunshots could be heard.

This comes just three days after Pakistan Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif ruled out talks with India, saying he did not expect improvement in relations due to alleged frequent ceasefire violations by India.

"India is violating ceasefire agreement time and again on the Line of Control and the Working Boundary. In such circumstances we are not expecting improvement in relations between the two countries," Asif was quoted as saying by state-run Radio Pakistan.

In 2018, Pakistan has summonned Indian diplomats in Islamabad several times, alleging ceasefire violations by Indian forces.

Last month, the Pakistan Foreign Office had claimed that Indian forces had committed more than 190 ceasefire violations since the start of 2018, killing 13 civilians and injuring 65 others through the use of heavy mortars and automatic weapons.

But India has made it clear to Islamabad that the onus is on Pakistan to create a conducive atmosphere for dialogue between the two countries.

"Any meaningful dialogue can be held only in an atmosphere free of terror, hostility and violence. Onus is on Pakistan to create such a conducive atmosphere. India will continue to take firm and decisive steps to respond to cross-border terrorism," Minister of State for Home Hansraj Gangaram Ahir had said in Parliament earlier this month.

Ahir said Pakistan has been asked to abide by its commitment not to allow any territory under its control to be used against India in any manner, to respect the sanctity of the International Boundary and Line of Control and to adhere to the 2003 understanding on ceasefire along the International Boundary and the LoC to maintain peace and tranquillity.

(With PTI Inputs)NEW DELHI: Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Sunday launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that the Central government is colluding with crony capitalists. He said that the people of India are now tired of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress needs to step up to save the country. He also added that the BJP is the voice of an organisation but the Congress is the voice of a nation.

Here are the top quotes of the Congress President:

1. We were the fastest growing economy in the world. But today millions of youth face unemployment

2. The name Modi symbolises the collusion between Indias biggest businessmen and the Prime Minister. Modi gives Modi 30,000 crores of your Money and in turn, Modi gives Modi money for marketing Modi and fighting elections.

3. Gandhi spent 15 years in jail and died for the nation. But India must never forget that while our leader slept on the floor in jail Savarkar wrote a letter to the British begging for mercy and clemency.

4. The soil of this nation is drenched with the blood of Congressmen and Congresswomen who have died for it. Congress party understands deeply that we are for truth. India expects more from Congress party because it holds us to a higher standard than any other party

5. Like the Kauravas, BJP & RSS are designed to fight for power. Like the Pandavas, the Congress is designed to fight for the truth. BJP is the voice of an organization. Congress is the voice of a nation.

6. They told Gauri Lankesh and Kalburgi, question us and you will die. They tell our honest businessman to shut up and allow corrupt officers to extort their hard earned money. They tell our farmers to work for nothing.

7. People will accept a man accused of murder as the President of the BJP, but they will never ever accept the same in the Congress Party because they hold Congress in the highest regard.

8. They tell Muslims of India who never went to Pakistan and supported this great nation that you don't belong here. They tell the Tamils change your beautiful language, they tell people of north-east we don't like what you eat, tell women dress properly.

9. The PM diverts our attention and jumps from one event to another from Gabbar Singh tax to yoga in Parliament but never talks about the issues. But, the Congress cannot be stopped from seeking the truth and justice.

10. We paid 570 Cr per plane & Modi paid 1670 Cr for the same plane. He paid 1100 Cr more per plane. Forget fighter planes you cant trust such a man to buy vegetables!!! Modi is not fighting corruption Modi is corruption.NEW DELHI: Mocking Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and the ongoing Congress Plenary Session, Information and broadcasting minister Smriti Irani on Sunday called the conference 'worlds longest coronation exercise'.

Aadarniya (Respected) @RahulGandhi ji, if you are free from the worlds longest coronation exercise, I request you to read this article and enlighten yourself, tweeted Irani.

Aadarniya @RahulGandhi ji, if you are free from the worlds longest coronation exercise, I request you to read this article and enlighten yourself. https://t.co/amMxPIDSV9  Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) March 18, 2018

She went on to add, Rahul Gandhis hatred for India is astonishing. When World Bank hailed Indias rise in Ease of Doing Business rankings, he rubbished the report. Now selectively quotes WB report to berate Indias progress!

Aadarniya @RahulGandhi ji, if you are free from the worlds longest coronation exercise, I request you to read this article and enlighten yourself. https://t.co/amMxPIDSV9  Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) March 18, 2018

Earlier on Sunday, the Congress chief wrote on Twitter, Modi ji, the terror of Gabbar Singh Tax is now globally acclaimed. The World Bank says its the 2nd HIGHEST in the WORLD and one of the MOST complex.

Modi ji, the terror of Gabbar Singh Tax is now globally acclaimed. The World Bank says its the 2nd HIGHEST in the WORLD and one of the MOST complex. #ModiTalksNoCanDohttps://t.co/mUBv3EdEBK  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) March 18, 2018

The World Bank, said in a report, called the goods and services tax (GST) implemented by the Narendra Modi government from July 1, 2017, one of the most complex taxes with the second highest tax rate in the world among a sample of 115 countries which have a similar indirect tax system.NEW DELHI: Several Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders lashed out at Congress chief Rahul Gandhi for mocking Narendra Modi-led Centre at the Congress plenary session on Sunday.

It sounds like a rhetoric of a loser devoid of substance, said senior BJP leader and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Congress Party wants to identify itself with the Pandavas  the same party which questioned the fundamental existence of Lord Ram. It is the party which chooses to mock Hindus and Hindu rituals, she added.

Congress party is against technology. At the time when technology making lives easier and simpler here is the party which is against it because they don't believe in transparency, said Sitharaman.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, stating that said the poor in India are forced to live in a dreamland - Modi's Maya - created by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). "India is the fastest growing economy but crores of youngsters have no jobs in hand," he said while speaking at the last day of the Congress plenary in Delhi on Sunday.

Reacting to the speech, Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad also called it shameful.

Rahul Gandhi's rant was shameful. The way he spoke of judiciary was irresponsible, said Prasad.

Earlier, Information and broadcasting minister Smriti Irani said that Rahul Gandhis hatred for India is astonishing.

Mocking the Congress chief, Irani called the conference 'worlds longest coronation exercise'.

Aadarniya (Respected) @RahulGandhi ji, if you are free from the worlds longest coronation exercise, I request you to read this article and enlighten yourself, she tweeted.

Taking to Twitter, BJP president Amit Shah said that after election loss, the Congress party splits among themselves. However, even after the worst defeat, our party (BJP) was never divided.

               A  Z             ,            ,              pic.twitter.com/mdxJ6Ag1nP  Amit Shah (@AmitShah) March 18, 2018

In the three-day 84th Congress plenary, being held for the first time since Rahul Gandhi took over the reins of the party, slogans of Priyanka Gandhi zindabad and Rahul Gandhi zindabad were raised. Over 3,000 delegates and more than 15,000 office bearers and party workers were invited for the session.On the last day of the 84th Congress plenary, slogans of Priyanka Gandhi zindabad were raised along with Rahul Gandhi zindabad at the Indira Gandhi Indoor stadium in the national capital on Sunday. The slogans praising Congress president Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi were raised by thousands of party workers who converged for the national meet of the grand old party.

They also shouted slogans such as Rahul-Priyanka bachaa lo Hindustan hamara (Rahul-Priyanka save our Hindustan), Bharat Mata ki Jai and Rahul tum sangharsh karo, hum tumhare saath hain (Rahul you make efforts, we are with you).

Reports said that over 3,000 delegates and more than 15,000 office bearers and party workers were invited for the Congress plenary. This is the first Congress plenary after Rahul Gandhi became the president of the party.

Delivering the inaugural address at the Congress plenary on Saturday, the party chief had vowed to halt the juggernaut led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He also outlined the challenges facing the Congress party and its aims.

This is the only symbol (Congress' symbol) that can unite the nation and take it forward, Rahul had said addressing the gathering. The nation is tired and looking for a way out, only Congress can show the way ahead, he added.

The Congress chief also attacked the Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre over its alleged misrule and cautioned that anger against the ruling party is rising at the moment. They (BJP) use anger, we use love but one thing that I want to say is that this country belongs to everyone and whatever Congress will do will be for the benefit for all, Rahul Gandhi said.

Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi had addressed the gathering on Sunday. She had said that her son Rahul Gandhi had taken charge of the Congress at a challenging time.

On Sunday, the Congress plenary was addressed for former prime minister Manmohan Singh and senior Congress leaders P Chidambaram and Anand Sharma.

Targeting the Modi government, Singh asked, where are the jobs you promised? "When Modi ji was campaigning, he made lots of tall promises. Those promises have not been fulfilled. He said we will provide 2 crore jobs, we have not seen even 2 lakh jobs," Singh said.NEW DELHI: Former prime minister Manmohan Singh hit out at his successor Prime Minister Narendra Modi questioning him over the promises that he had made during the campaign for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. "When Modi ji was campaigning he made lots of tall promises. Those promises have not been fulfilled. He said we will provide 2 crore jobs, we have not seen even 2 lakh jobs," Singh said while speaking at the Congress Plenary session on Sunday.

Congress President @RahulGandhi, former Congress President Smt Sonia Gandhi and former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh at 84th Plenary session of AICC, earlier today! #CongressPlenary #ChangeIsNow pic.twitter.com/NEDvLtF66F  Gaurav Pandhi (@GauravPandhi) March 17, 2018

He also blamed the Centre for the 'deteriorating' law and order situation in Jammu and Kashmir. "The Modi Govt has mismanaged Jammu and Kashmir like never before. The atmosphere is deteriorating day in and day out. The support Pakistan gives to cross-border terrorism is certainly not acceptable to us. We should warn Pakistan that their actions are detrimental to peace and prosperity," Singh added.

He likened the situation in the country today to what it was after Independence and held the Modi government responsible for the 'challenging times'. "The Congress party made India what it is today. It led the freedom struggle and guided India towards development after Independence. Today, we face similar challenges of carrying forward development and social justice," he said.

His attack on the current government comes a day after former Congress president Sonia Gandhi had alleged that the governments under Manmohan Singh formulated many schemes for the welfare of the people but PM Modi was weakening those schemes now.

"Under the leadership of former PM Manmohan Singh, the economy of this country flourished. Our government formed policies which lifted millions of people from poverty. And today, the Modi government is weakening these policies," she had said.

She had also said the Modi government even attempted to destroy the Congress. "In the last four years, this arrogant government has left no stone unturned to destroy the Congress, but the party has never cowered down and it will never cower down."Kolkata: A 30-year-old man, found sitting beside the decomposed body of his mother, was recovered by police at Kolkata's Bowbazar area on Sunday.

He was reportedly sitting for days beside his mother's dead body without any food or water, said police.

The son was found in a weak state, unable to speak, said a police officer of Muchipara police station said. He was later taken to a state-run hospital.

The incident came to light after residents on Sasibhusan Dey Street complained of a foul smell. The neighbours later informed the police.

The cops then broke open the door and found the woman's decomposed body lying on the bed, the officer said.

"While the body was taken for post-mortem, the son was rushed to hospital as he appeared unwell and without food for days," said the officer.

According to the neighbours, the woman had been suffering from age-related ailments for some time, police said.

With PTI inputsMUMBAI: Launching a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and the Bharatiya Janata Party, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray called for a Modi mukt Bharat in 2019.

In an hour-long speech at a Gudi Padwa rally in Mumbai's Shivaji Park on Sunday, Thackeray said, We had believed Modi in 2014 for a Congress mukt Bharat but now we need Modi Mukt Bharat.

India's first independence was in 1947, second in 1977. And now it's time for the third independence in 2019, he added

In the coming months, there'll be riots in India, mostly planned around the Ram Mandir issue. Some Muslim organisations have already been asked to spark riots once the Ram Mandir issue is resolved, alleged Thackeray.

The MNS chief also attacked the Modi government on demonisation and PNB scam.

Demonetisation will be the biggest scam since 1947. How does Nirav Modi leave the country when a CBI case is going on? How does he meet the PM in Davos?, questioned Thackeray.

He went on to attack Akshay Kumar-starred movies Padman and Toilet: Ek Prem Katha.

The movies are sponsored by the government. Akshay Kumar is a Canadian citizen. Though he propagates everything about India, he said.

Thackeray reportedly also spoke on Anil Ambani's role in Raphael deal and how scandal around Justice Loya's death has been buried.It was an extended wait for Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi for his monthly salary. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader has written an angry letter to the cabinet secretariat in this regard.

Prabhat Khabar reported that directions have been given for action against officials who are at fault for Modi not getting his salary till March 14.

The official letter from Modi has been sent to the principal secretary of the cabinet secretariat. It has been said in the letter that action must be taken against errant officials in such cases. It further says that the deputy chief minister came to know few days back that some people in his department failed to get their salaries.

What is the technical fault behind delay in salary, asks the letter, pointing that the deputy chief minister has no information regarding the same.

The report says that cabinet secretariat principal secretary Brijesh Mehrotra has said that he is yet to receive such letter, adding that if anyones carelessness has led to the delay in salaries, appropriate action would be taken against those responsible.Username: Password: or Register Thread Rating: 2 Vote(s) - 5 Average

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Page: 1 2 People Fleeing Sweden - Hungarian TV interview with member of Swedish Diaspora LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: kaput

03-18-2018 03:29 PM











Post: #1 People Fleeing Sweden - Hungarian TV interview with member of Swedish Diaspora

Advertisement











She related how gangs of migrants attack, rob, and molest women in broad daylight in Sweden.

She fled Sweden because she longer felt safe. One Swedish woman was interviewed by Hungarian TV, asking her why she escaped Sweden:She related how gangs of migrants attack, rob, and molest women in broad daylight in Sweden.She fled Sweden because she longer felt safe. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

03-18-2018 03:32 PM











Post: #2 RE: People Fleeing Sweden - Hungarian TV interview with member of Swedish Diaspora

Apparently she did not yet get attacked, robbed or molested.



So Hungary will be where all the white firsters need to go.



I think we actually treated Hungarians as a bunch of thieving gypsies when they came to us... conspiracyparty

Registered User

User ID: 1337

03-18-2018 03:49 PM



Posts: 1,025









Post: #3 RE: People Fleeing Sweden - Hungarian TV interview with member of Swedish Diaspora

Hungary should not let the Swedes in.





The vast majority of Swedes are Liberals. More than any country on the planet.



Do you want to bring in feminists, pro homos?



Just so they repeat the same thing in your country?





Bad idea. (This post was last modified: 03-18-2018 03:49 PM by conspiracyparty .) LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

03-18-2018 03:50 PM











Post: #4 RE: People Fleeing Sweden - Hungarian TV interview with member of Swedish Diaspora

What the hell did they think was going to happen, when you open the boarders to radicalized muslims, who hate you & want you dead? LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

03-18-2018 04:00 PM











Post: #5 RE: People Fleeing Sweden - Hungarian TV interview with member of Swedish Diaspora

LoP Guest Wrote: (03-18-2018 03:50 PM) What the hell did they think was going to happen, when you open the boarders to radicalized muslims, who hate you & want you dead?

Well you know, I guess they thought they were opening borders to people who actually fled and hated the radicals too. Well you know, I guess they thought they were opening borders to people who actually fled and hated the radicals too. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

03-18-2018 04:25 PM











Post: #6 RE: People Fleeing Sweden - Hungarian TV interview with member of Swedish Diaspora

Well, that's what happens when you open the gates for the barbarian horde ... LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

03-18-2018 04:28 PM











Post: #7 RE: People Fleeing Sweden - Hungarian TV interview with member of Swedish Diaspora

Interesting. Seeking protection from the Huns. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

03-18-2018 04:32 PM











Post: #8 RE: People Fleeing Sweden - Hungarian TV interview with member of Swedish Diaspora

conspiracyparty Wrote: (03-18-2018 03:49 PM) Hungary should not let the Swedes in.





The vast majority of Swedes are Liberals. More than any country on the planet.



Do you want to bring in feminists, pro homos?



Just so they repeat the same thing in your country?





Bad idea. I think those people have learned their lesson if they decided to leave Sweden. I think those people have learned their lesson if they decided to leave Sweden. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

03-18-2018 04:34 PM











Post: #9 RE: People Fleeing Sweden - Hungarian TV interview with member of Swedish Diaspora

LoP Guest Wrote: (03-18-2018 04:32 PM) conspiracyparty Wrote: (03-18-2018 03:49 PM) Hungary should not let the Swedes in.





The vast majority of Swedes are Liberals. More than any country on the planet.



Do you want to bring in feminists, pro homos?



Just so they repeat the same thing in your country?





Bad idea. I think those people have learned their lesson if they decided to leave Sweden.

"The people" had no say in it. This was purposely done to them. "The people" had no say in it. This was purposely done to them. Monk-1

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User ID: 1337

03-18-2018 04:38 PM



Posts: 5,687









Post: #10 RE: People Fleeing Sweden - Hungarian TV interview with member of Swedish Diaspora

LoP Guest Wrote: (03-18-2018 04:34 PM) LoP Guest Wrote: (03-18-2018 04:32 PM) I think those people have learned their lesson if they decided to leave Sweden.

"The people" had no say in it. This was purposely done to them.

Maybe they should take control and not have whoever enters the country control them and set up proxy bases. Of course they will get grief if they are not in control, and they just let others do whatever they want from there. Maybe they should take control and not have whoever enters the country control them and set up proxy bases. Of course they will get grief if they are not in control, and they just let others do whatever they want from there. (This post was last modified: 03-18-2018 04:39 PM by Monk-1 .) LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

03-18-2018 04:39 PM











Post: #11 RE: People Fleeing Sweden - Hungarian TV interview with member of Swedish Diaspora

Hungarian and Swedes MORE than Welcome to Migrate to AMERICA! singing spider

terrarising the 'hood

User ID: 1337

03-18-2018 04:39 PM



Posts: 20,867









Post: #12 RE: People Fleeing Sweden - Hungarian TV interview with member of Swedish Diaspora

Syrians are leaving Syria because they are attacked, robbed and raped by Muslim extremists

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=92i5m3tV5XY



nobody starts at point zero LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

03-18-2018 04:59 PM











Post: #13 RE: People Fleeing Sweden - Hungarian TV interview with member of Swedish Diaspora

The chosen ones.







King James Bible

For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.



Lutherans will join Catholics and Muslims. No where to hide. One world religion coming.





Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heaven: they pursued us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness. Monk-1

Registered User

User ID: 1337

03-18-2018 05:00 PM



Posts: 5,687









Post: #14 RE: People Fleeing Sweden - Hungarian TV interview with member of Swedish Diaspora

singing wilbury spider Wrote: (03-18-2018 04:39 PM) Syrians are leaving Syria because they are attacked, robbed and raped by Islamic extremists Monk-1

Registered User

User ID: 1337

03-18-2018 05:01 PM



Posts: 5,687









Post: #15 RE: People Fleeing Sweden - Hungarian TV interview with member of Swedish Diaspora

I`m pretty sure it`s not christians pillaging and killing . Advertisement

















PATNA: Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Sunday suggested that the Bharatiya Janata Party needs course correction to change its mass perception.

They (BJP) need to change mass perception in terms of minorities, dalits, said Paswan, the president of the Lok Janshakti Party, which is a part of the National Democratic Alliance.

Aren't there secular leaders in BJP?, he went on to question.

There are people like Sushil Modi, Ram Kripal Yadav. What happens is that their voice gets suppressed and there are others whose voice gets attention, added Paswan.

In a series of tweet on March 14, the Union Minister's son Chirag Paswan, who's also a Lok Sabha lawmaker, said, Bypoll results a spirit dampner.But carries message that a little course correction may not be out of place. PM's persona remains unassailable but in UP/Bihar strategies may have to be reworked.

The essence of wisdom is timely preparation. Perhaps an assessment of why despite noble intentions and a leadership like that of PM Modi, we hv slipped slightly in the Hindi Heartland. Concerned as our commitment to NDA ideals remain unwaivering, he added.

Bypoll results a spirit dampner.But carries message that a little course correction may not be out of place. PM's persona remains unassailable but in UP/Bihar strategies may have to be reworked.  Chirag Paswan (@ichiragpaswan) March 14, 2018

The essence of wisdom is timely preparation. Perhaps an assessment of why despite noble intentions and a leadership like that of PM Modi, we hv slipped slightly in the Hindi Heartland. Concerned as our commitment to NDA ideals remain unwaivering.  Chirag Paswan (@ichiragpaswan) March 16, 2018

The LJP chief reportedly cautioned hardcore BJP leaders to refrain from making off-the-cuff comments to prevent distancing of minority voters including Muslims.New Delhi: Veteran actor Jeetendra was booked by the Shimla police days after his cousin alleged that he sexually assaulted her years back when she was all of 18.However, the Himachal Pradesh High Court on Saturday stayed further proceedings against him in the sexual assault case.

Hearing the actor's petition, Justice Ajay Mohan Goel passed this order after an initial hearing.

Jeetendra sought quashing of the first information report (FIR) registered by the police on February 15.

The actor's cousin had filed a complaint against him in Shimla accusing the superstar of sexually assaulting her 47 years ago. In her complaint, the woman had alleged that on the night they reached Shimla, Jeetendra returned to the room in an inebriated state, joined the two separate beds and sexually assaulted her.

Jeetendra has dubbed the charges as "baseless", and a "miserable effort by a jealous competitor to disrupt his business activities".

Jeetendra, whose real name is Ravi Kapoor, is the son of the victim's father's sister.

Rubbishing the charges, Jeetendra's counsel Rizwan Siddiquee in a statement earlier said, "Foremost my client (Jeetendra) specifically and categorically denies any such incident."

He claimed that such "baseless, ridiculous and fabricated claims" cannot be entertained by any court of law or the law enforcement agencies after a span of almost 50 years.

"Such efforts are, therefore, in all fairness treated with the contempt it truly deserves," Siddique said.

Jeetendra, now 75, is a well-known name in the Hindi film industry. He is also a film producer and has daughter Ekta and son Tusshar with wife Shobhaa.

(With inputs from IANS)New Delhi: Comedians Sunil Grover and Kapil Sharma have indulged in a war of words, yet again, after Grover tweeted that he was not approached by Sharma for his new show 'Family Time With Kapil Sharma'.

Recently, in a Twitter conversation, Sunil Grover was asked to join Kapil's show by a fan, while replying to the fan's tweet, the actor wrote, "Bhai aap jaise kuch aur log bhi mujhse same poochte hain. Lekin mujhe iss show ke liye Koi call nahin aaya. Mera phone number bhi same hai. Intezar kar Ke ab maine kuch aur sign kar liya kal. Aap logon ki duaon se ek achhe project Ke sath juda hoon. Jaldi aapke samne Aata hoon."

Bhai aap jaise kuch aur log bhi mujhse same poochte hain. Lekin mujhe iss show ke liye KOI call nahin aaya. Mera phone number bhi same hai.

Intezar kar Ke ab maine kuch aur sign kar liya kal. Aap logon ki duaon se ek achhe project Ke sath juda hoon. Jaldi aapke samne Aata hoon https://t.co/t6n04SxtMK  Sunil Grover (@WhoSunilGrover) March 16, 2018

However, this didn't go down well with Kapil and he shot back in the same thread saying, "Paji I called u more than 100 times n came to ur house to meet u twice .. every time u were out for some show n all .. pls dont spread rumors that I didnt call u."

Paji I called u more then 100 times n came to ur house to meet u twice .. every time u were out for some show n all .. pls dont spread rumors that I didnt call u.  KAPIL (@KapilSharmaK9) March 17, 2018

Sunil Grover is yet to react to this statement.

Kapil Sharma and Sunil Grover gave us many hilarious moments when they were together on the former's comedy show. But good things ended too soon.

After the infamous mid-air brawl between the duo, Sunil left 'The Kapil Sharma Show' followed by a few other co-actors. The two clarified their stand about the issue on various occasions, but fans were left disappointed and wanted to see the two great comedians join forces again.

Kapil's show took a brief sabbatical as the actor had a film 'Firangi' lined up for release and also his health took a backseat. However, these are things of the past and the actor-comedian is now all geared up for his new show titled 'Family Time With Kapil Sharma'.

While Sunil Grover is most likely to share screen space with Bigg Boss 11 winner Shilpa Shinde in his new show.

The Family Time With Kapil Sharma will go on air on March 25, 2018Mumbai: The makers of Varun Dhawan-starrer 'October' have decided to release the theme song of the film on public demand.

Co-produced by Ronnie Lahiri and Sheel Kumar, 'October' is directed by Shoojit Sircar. The film celebrates love, nature and the autumn season.

Varun plays a housekeeper at a hotel, in love with the idea of love. The girl whom he follows into the ICU of a hospital barely acknowledges him at their workplace. Yet he clings to the idea of love.

The melody is called 'The Theme Of October', takes one through all the ups and downs that goes on in the lives of lead pair Dan and Shiuli.

"Yes, many fans especially reached out to us via social media as well as to Varun, appreciating the background score and asking for the end melody to be released, so we thought why not share the music with them as soon as we could! Hence the idea of just releasing the tune for fans came to us," Lahiri said in a statement.

The theme will be launched digitally on Monday.

The film also stars Banita Sandhu, and is slated to release on April 13.New Delhi: National Award-winning actress Kangana Ranaut, who raked up the nepotism debate last year, on Saturday said "outsiders" in the film industry should not lose heart if they face discrimination.

"It is 'okay' to be discriminated against if you are an outsider because there are things that one does to know as an outsider newcomer. People are not responsible for you (the newcomer), you have to be persistent, observant to know things. Today I am talking about it because I made it to this level. I learnt," said Kangana at a media event.

"I put my observation out there and understand this is how it functions. In the beginning, everyone is treated in the same way; don't think it is happening to you only. Do not think the world is like this to me, the world is the way it is; it is not fair to anyone. You have got to make sure that you work around it," she said.

Citing an example of her early days, Kangana said, "I did not understand the difference between shot and scenes, so if someone says you have two scenes now, I used to think, my work will get over in 30 minutes.

"I did not know about brand building and brand endorsement... when a magazine told me that they want to put me on their cover, I asked them to talk to my manager about money. They banned me for five years but I did not know the difference back then. So yes, coming from a non-film background, I was also immature and no one was there to guide. I learnt."

Asked about if she managed to change the viewpoint of filmmaker Karan Johar with her statement, Kangana said: "I am no one to do that, my intention was not that. He believes in bloodlines, dynasty and such talents worked for him, isn't it? I cannot make him believe in talents that he does not believe in. but I can say what I want to say."

"I said it (about nepotism) out of observation, I am not an activist here, though I would love to serve my society; nepotism exists everywhere, we have grown up seeing it. When I talked about it, perhaps people were subconsciously observing it, they wanted to talk about it. My comment worked as a catalyst."Los Angeles: Actress Rose McGowan, who alleged that Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein had raped her, says she is sure that the "sociopath" would prefer if she was dead.

"I'm sure he would prefer it if I were dead. He's a sociopath. I am not afraid - but I should be. The people I find worse than him are his lawyers. The way they are acting has been disgusting," the actress told mirror.co.uk.

"The people around him, that have supported him in his attempt to dominate and abuse women, are monsters, just as much as he is.

"There is no rehabilitation for that type of soul. They just need to fall off the planet. He doesn't believe he has done anything wrong."

In October last year, the "Charmed" star claimed Weinstein had stripped off her clothes, forced her into a Jacuzzi and sexually assaulted her.

McGowan said she will be taking further action against the disgraced producer whom she believes has employed an Israeli spy company to intimidate her.

"What they did by hiring a spy company to come after me, it was incredibly violating," she said.

"It was violation on top of violation. I believe they hacked my computer, released photos -- they have done everything they can to ruin my life."New Delhi: The long-delayed sequel to 'Vishwaroopam' that stars Kamal Haasan an Indian spy, has been passed with U/A certificate by Central Board of Film Certification and the film may hit the screens during the summer.

However, the makers of the film are yet to confirm the report officially. Meanwhile, the trailer of the film is expected to be out soon.

The Kamal Haasan starrer was shot as a single film, but due to its length, the makers planned to release the film in two parts. The first part was lauded for its high-octane action screenplay. The second part, according to multiple sources, will be more intense than the first as it is loaded with action and will be high on emotions.

The film also stars Andrea Jeremiah, Pooja Kumar and Shekhar Kapoor and Rahul Bose in pivotal roles.

Kamal Haasan has written, directed and co-produced the spy thriller which will simultaneously be released in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. The music has been given by Ghibran.

'Vishwaroopam 2' is expected to be a mega-budget and as per reports, Ulaga Nayakan has bankrolled the film under his home banner Rajkamal Films.

Haasan recently announced his full-fledged political plunge as he started his political career formally by floating his party - Makkal Needhi Maiam. The actor stated that he would quit films once he enters full-time politics.

Haasan also has 'Indian 2' with director Shankar in his kitty. The project marks the reunion of Kamal and Shankar after a long hiatus and will roll from the second half of this year. The first installment of the film was released in 1996 and starred Haasan in a dual role. Manisha Koirala, Urmila Matondkar, Sukanya and Goundamani appeared in pivotal roles.

The pre-production of 'Indian 2' began from February 2018. As per several speculations, the project might be the legendary actor's last film.Mumbai: Comedian Sunil Grover wished luck to his former 'The Kapil Sharma Show' co-star Kapil Sharma for his upcoming show despite the latter accusing him of lying. But Sunil maintains that he was not offered to be a part of Kapil's new show.

Last year, Sunil walked out of 'The Kapil Sharma Show' after Kapil allegedly verbally abused him and hit him with a shoe during a flight. Kapil, who took a break from small screen for a while, is making a comeback with 'Family Time With Kapil Sharma'.

After a fan asked Sunil about working with Kapil again, Sunil tweeted, "There are more people who asked me the same question. But I didn't get a call for this show. My phone number is the same."

Bhai aap jaise kuch aur log bhi mujhse same poochte hain. Lekin mujhe iss show ke liye KOI call nahin aaya. Mera phone number bhi same hai.

Intezar kar Ke ab maine kuch aur sign kar liya kal. Aap logon ki duaon se ek achhe project Ke sath juda hoon. Jaldi aapke samne Aata hoon https://t.co/t6n04SxtMK  Sunil Grover (@WhoSunilGrover) March 16, 2018

On Sunday, Kapil decided to keep 'nothing personal' and reply back to Sunil in a series of tweets.

"Please don't spread rumours that I didn't call you... He is lying. I called him 100 times and sent my people to his home. Even I went to his home to meet him for the show but now I will not let anybody take advantage on my name. Enough is enough," Kapil said.

Paji I called u more then 100 times n came to ur house to meet u twice .. every time u were out for some show n all .. pls don't spread rumors that I didn't call u.  KAPIL (@KapilSharmaK9) March 17, 2018

I know the people who r working behind u .. trust me .. u will get nothing .. take care  KAPIL (@KapilSharmaK9) March 17, 2018

A Twitter user showed support to Kapil.

After which Kapil wrote, "Yes, I love him but sometimes it hurts a lot when you do a lot of hard work for somebody and he just wants fame in your name. Why did he choose to speak up now? A year later?"

Yes I love him.. but sometimes it hurts u a lot ..when u do a lot of hard work for somebody n he just want fame on ur name .. abhi qyun bola ? Ek saal ke baad ?  KAPIL (@KapilSharmaK9) March 17, 2018

Yes .. he is lying .. I called him 100 times n sent my people to his home .. even I went to his home to meet him for the show .. but now I will not let anybody take any advantage on my name .. enough is enough  KAPIL (@KapilSharmaK9) March 17, 2018

Aise hi kabhi kabhi gussa aa jata Hai.. baki suspense to Abhi b baaki Hai mere dost  KAPIL (@KapilSharmaK9) March 17, 2018

"I don't want his support but at least he should not spread rumours. I am tired of all this."

Don't want his support .. but at least he should not spread rumors.. m tired of all this.  KAPIL (@KapilSharmaK9) March 17, 2018

Responding to his tweets, Sunil wrote, "Now people know the answer why I didn't join the show earlier. I am talking about 'this' show. You are bringing up an old topic."

"I didn't speak up for one year as details about your bad behaviour would come out in the public and I wanted your dignity to stay intact. We have done very good work together.

"I referred to this show and not the previous show. And you are a better comedian. Everyone knows it. But I will still keep trying with whatever I know. Take care. There are only two kidneys and one liver. Take care of your health. Again, I will say I have not been offered for this show. Good luck for the new show. Wishes and love," Sunil signed off.

The thing is u r smarter then me. u know when n how to play .. n I am a dumb emotional.  KAPIL (@KapilSharmaK9) March 18, 2018

It seems like the spat between the two best comedians from television industry is not ending anytime soon. The two apparently had a fight during a flight while returning from Melbourne. Shortly after coming back, Sunil left Kapils show and the two have not worked together since then.

It was reported that Kapil had allegedly abused and got physical with Sunil during the altercation in the flight. Their camaraderie was much appreciated on Comedy Night with Kapil and The Kapil Sharma Show.AGRA: One person has been arrested for the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl, whose body was found in Agra on Saturday.

The accused, a second-year law student, was intoxicated when he committed the crime, said the police.

The half-naked body of the minor girl was found on Agra college grounds on Saturday morning. Later, the autopsy report confirmed sexual assault and death due to strangulation.

The victim reportedly lived on the footpath with her parents near St Johns College in Agra.

The college had held a book fair on the grounds, where the body was recovered.

Based on CCTV footages and eyewitnesses account, the police arrested the law student.

The accused has been arrested. He was intoxicated when he committed the crime, said MC Gautam, SHO Hariparwat area.London: Britain's banks, energy and water companies are all said to be on high alert against the threat of a possible Russian cyber-attack amid an escalating diplomatic row between the two countries over the poisoning of a former Russian double agent on British soil.

Fears that Moscow could target Britain's critical national infrastructure came as Russia's ambassador to the European Union (EU) suggested a UK research laboratory could be the source of the deadly nerve agent used in the attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

"When you have a nerve agent or whatever, you check it against certain samples that you retain in your laboratories. And Porton Down, as we now all know, is the largest military facility in the United Kingdom that has been dealing with chemical weapons research. And it's actually only eight miles from Salisbury," Vladimir Chizhov told the BBC.

He stressed that Russia had "nothing to do" with the poisoning and that it did not stockpile the poison. Chizhov's comments came as a Russian foreign ministry spokesperson also tried to lay the blame on Britain, saying the UK was one of the most likely sources of the nerve agent, along with the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Sweden or possibly the US.

Meanwhile, officers from Britain's Special Branch of intelligence and security services are investigating death threats against another Russian dissident living in the UK, who has received a series of threatening emails linking his fate to Skripal.

Valery Morozov, 63, who claimed political asylum in the UK after blowing the whistle on Kremlin corruption, received a series of emails last week, warning: "They came for Sergei, they will come for you."

According to 'The Sunday Times', Morozov received threats from an anonymous encrypted email address and immediately reported them to Surrey police. When he did not reply, Morozov received a second email, warning: "Do you not care what will happen to you? Waiting for your confirmation."

Scotland Yard has issued a renewed appeal for information from anyone who may have seen a burgundy red BMW owned by 66-year-old Skripal, the former Russian spy who was found unconscious on March 4 in Salisbury along with his daughter, Yulia. The pair remain critical but stable in hospital.

British Prime Minister Theresa May informed Parliament earlier this week that the poison has been identified as being part of a group of military-grade nerve agents known as Novichok developed by the former Soviet Union.

Soon after she announced the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats identified as "undeclared intelligence officers", the Kremlin expelled the same number based in Russia and also announced the closure of the British Consulate-General in St Petersburg as well as the British Council in Moscow.

Today, the UK government said that independent investigators from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will arrive in Britain tomorrow to kick off their investigation into the nerve agent used in the attempted assassinations of the Skripals.

The team from The Hague will meet with officials from the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory in Porton Down and the police to discuss the process for collecting samples, including environmental ones.

"The Foreign Secretary (Boris Johnson) revealed this morning that we have information indicating that within the last decade, Russia has investigated ways of delivering nerve agents likely for assassination.

"And part of this programme has involved producing and stockpiling quantities of Novichok. This is a violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention," a Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) statement said.

The results of the OPCW investigation are expected to take a minimum of two weeks.

Meanwhile, Johnson is set to meet his EU counterparts and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg for talks in Brussels tomorrow to deliberate on joint action against Russia.Username: Password: or Register Thread Rating: 1 Vote(s) - 5 Average

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50 YEARS HAVE PASSED SINCE MY LAI MASSACRE IN VIETNAM LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: kaput

03-18-2018 05:50 PM











Post: #1 50 YEARS HAVE PASSED SINCE MY LAI MASSACRE IN VIETNAM

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On March 16, 1968 an army unit entered My Lai. The troops were ordered to lay waste to anything walking, crawling or growing on a search and destroy mission that lasted four hours and left the village razed to the ground. Not even crops or livestock were spared. The atrocities of My Lai would remain largely hidden for 20 months, until vivid images and accounts of the massacre appeared in newspapers, shocking Americans and sparking massive anti-war protests. Fifty years ago, a platoon of US soldiers stormed the quiet hamlet of My Lai in South Vietnam, unleashing a barrage of gunfire, grenades and sexual assault which left as many as 500 dead.On March 16, 1968 an army unit entered My Lai. The troops were ordered to lay waste to anything walking, crawling or growing on a search and destroy mission that lasted four hours and left the village razed to the ground. Not even crops or livestock were spared. The atrocities of My Lai would remain largely hidden for 20 months, until vivid images and accounts of the massacre appeared in newspapers, shocking Americans and sparking massive anti-war protests. LoP Guest

lop guest

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03-18-2018 05:50 PM











Post: #2 RE: 50 YEARS HAVE PASSED SINCE MY LAI MASSACRE IN VIETNAM

LoP Guest Wrote: (03-18-2018 05:50 PM) Fifty years ago, a platoon of US soldiers stormed the quiet hamlet of My Lai in South Vietnam, unleashing a barrage of gunfire, grenades and sexual assault which left as many as 500 dead.

On March 16, 1968 an army unit entered My Lai. The troops were ordered to lay waste to anything walking, crawling or growing on a search and destroy mission that lasted four hours and left the village razed to the ground. Not even crops or livestock were spared. The atrocities of My Lai would remain largely hidden for 20 months, until vivid images and accounts of the massacre appeared in newspapers, shocking Americans and sparking massive anti-war protests.

https://www.rt.com/usa/421522-my-lai-massacre-50-years/ LoP Guest

lop guest

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03-18-2018 05:51 PM











Post: #3 RE: 50 YEARS HAVE PASSED SINCE MY LAI MASSACRE IN VIETNAM

My Lai massacre: The day US military slaughtered a village & tried to cover it up (GRAPHIC VIDEO) https://www.rt.com/usa/421522-my-lai-massacre-50-years/ LoP Guest

lop guest

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03-18-2018 05:51 PM











Post: #4 RE: 50 YEARS HAVE PASSED SINCE MY LAI MASSACRE IN VIETNAM

THE MY LAI MASSACRE



US Infantry battalion Charlie Company entered the area under the erroneous understanding that Viet Cong guerrilla fighters were present. Instead, they found unarmed civilians, many of whom were children, women and the elderly.



Unleashing a hail of firepower from M-16s and an M79 grenade launcher, the soldiers rounded up villagers and killed them, not before sexually assaulting as many as 20 women and teenagers. The horror only began to die down when army helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson Jr landed between the soldiers and the villagers, threatening to fire at the troops. The Modest Poster

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03-18-2018 05:57 PM



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Post: #5 RE: 50 YEARS HAVE PASSED SINCE MY LAI MASSACRE IN VIETNAM





https://www.warhistoryonline.com/feature...sacre.html Helicopter Pilot Who Stopped My Lai Massacre Was Called A Traitor In America & Almost Court-Martialed LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

03-18-2018 06:00 PM











Post: #6 RE: 50 YEARS HAVE PASSED SINCE MY LAI MASSACRE IN VIETNAM

No one remembers or cares LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

03-18-2018 06:01 PM











Post: #7 RE: 50 YEARS HAVE PASSED SINCE MY LAI MASSACRE IN VIETNAM

Lol. RT...



You dumb f*cks. Russia armed North Vietnam. Every American killed was killed by Russian weapons. And how many of your little pet commies took a dirt nap over there, like 5 million? LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

03-18-2018 07:04 PM











Post: #8 RE: 50 YEARS HAVE PASSED SINCE MY LAI MASSACRE IN VIETNAM

Want to know why there were only women, children and old people? All the young men were away with Charlie. The place had been a pain in the ass for a long time. Sin loi. Don't mean nothing. Fu King

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03-18-2018 07:54 PM



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Post: #9 RE: 50 YEARS HAVE PASSED SINCE MY LAI MASSACRE IN VIETNAM

LoP Guest Wrote: (03-18-2018 05:51 PM) My Lai massacre: The day US military slaughtered a village & tried to cover it up (GRAPHIC VIDEO) https://www.rt.com/usa/421522-my-lai-massacre-50-years/

And you think that was the ONLY village. And you think that was the ONLY village. LoP Guest

lop guest

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03-18-2018 10:40 PM











Post: #10 RE: 50 YEARS HAVE PASSED SINCE MY LAI MASSACRE IN VIETNAM

Request Pin! Request Pin! NormalIsSubjective



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03-18-2018 11:32 PM



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Post: #11 RE: 50 YEARS HAVE PASSED SINCE MY LAI MASSACRE IN VIETNAM

LoP Guest Wrote: (03-18-2018 06:00 PM) No one remembers or cares



That's why a regular reminder is good. That's why a regular reminder is good.















TBILISI: Skiers in Georgian ski resort of Gudauri went through a frightening experience on Friday after a malfunctioning chairlift ski lift ran out of control and tossed people from the lift into the snow. At least twelve tourists, including a pregnant woman from Sweden, were injured in the incident.

An emergency stop led to the chairs sliding back at high speed, Economy Minister Dimitry Kumsishvili said, adding that the incident was "allegedly caused by an electricity outage". "The interior ministry has launched a criminal probe into alleged violation of safety norms," he added.

Health Minister David Sergeenko said the tourists -- who were Georgian, Russian, Swedish and Ukrainian -- were airlifted to a hospital in the Georgian capital Tbilisi.

Video of the accident showed skiers being flung out of their chairs as they turned a bend. The video shot by people next to the lift is being widely shared on social media. The skiers can be seen jumping or falling from the carriages, while horrified onlookers can be heard shouting in panic.

The lift appeared to be moving backwards and dangerously fast, leading to a pile-up of broken and twisted chairs at the lift`s lowest point.

In a statement on its Facebook page, the resort said that all medication costs incurred by the tourists will be fully reimbursed. It confirmed that according to preliminary data, 12 people were injured.glavcom.ua

In St. Petersburg, Russia, law enforcers detained activist Mikhail Gerasimov, who came out with a single picket with a poster and a flag of Ukraine. This is reported by "Crimea. Realii" with reference to the representative of the press service of the Solidarity movement.



The man was holding a poster with the text: "For this flag, the Crimean Tatar Reshat Ametov was kidnapped and killed by the occupiers."



Gerasimov is in the police department of the Central District of St. Petersburg. So far, no charges have been brought against him. There are no comments from Russian law enforcers on this case.

We recall, almost 35% of voters as of 12:00 pm came to the presidential elections in Russia.

Russian presidential elections are being held on March 18  the fourth anniversary of the illegal occupation of Crimea. There are eight candidates, including the current president of the state. Russia intends to hold elections in annexed Crimea. Peninsulas Prosecutors Office, which is located in Kyiv, threatened election organizers with criminal liability.

Related: Ukraine reaches agreement on simplification of visa regime with Kuwait112 Agency

Ukraine and Kuwait have agreed on bilateral simplification of the visa regime. This was said during the meeting of the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and the Emir of the State of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the press service of the Ukrainian president reports.



"An agreement was reached on simplifying the visa regime on the basis of reciprocity and including Ukraine in the list of countries for which citizens visas will be issued at the international airport of Kuwait or electronically. This step should help to increase business contacts and open additional opportunities for national tourism industries," the report said.



It is noted that during the meeting the sides also discussed the possibilities for closer cooperation between the two countries within the framework of international organizations and support of Kuwait's foreign policy initiatives of Ukraine.



"Yeads of states also talked about the prospects for cooperation within the framework of the non-permanent membership of Kuwait in the UN Security Council in 2018-2019, in particular on the issue of the UN peacekeeping mission in the occupied part of Donbas, and Ukraine's membership in the UN Human Rights Council in 2018-2020", noted the press service of Poroshenko.



We recall, on March 18, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko is on an official visit to Kuwait. It was planned that during the visit Poroshenko will meet with the emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Kuwaiti Prime Minister Jaber Al-Mubarak Al Hamad Al-Sabah, Chairman of the National Assembly of Kuwait, Marzouk Ali Muhammad Al-Ghanim, Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Khalid Al-Hamad Al-Sabah.



Also, the Ukrainian president will meet with the managers of leading investment funds in Kuwait.

Related: Hero pilot of Donbas conflict, head of airport shot himself in MykolaivThe investigation team is working to determine the criminal and bring him/her to responsibility

Information about mine-laying in Odesa, where Russian Consulate is located, was not confirmed, as Odesa Police press-office wrote on Facebook.

The message about mine-laying on Haharinske Plateau in Odesa is false. No explosive objects found on the accident site, the message says.

The representatives of the police added that they intend to make entries on this case into the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations under the article of the Criminal Code of Ukraine on false notification of civilians security threat, destruction or damage of property. The investigation team is working to determine the criminal and bring him/her to responsibility.

Earlier it was reported that 102 unlisted line received a message that Haharinske Plateau in Odesa was allegedly mined. This is the territory where dwellings and Russias Consulate are located. Law enforcers evacuated 300 people from the site.

The election date, March 18, was not approved right away. First, elections were planned to be held on March 11. However, with the amendments to Russian law, the government decided to hold elections on the fourth anniversary of Crimea annexation  March 18, 2018. Thats the day when the Agreement on Crimeas and Sevastopols joining of Russian Federations was signed. Two days later the peninsula conducted an illegal referendum concerning joining Russian Federation.

Despite Putin, there are seven more candidates: Sergey Baburin (Russian All-Peoples Union), Pavel Grudinin (Communist Party), Vladimir Zhirinovsky (Liberal Democratic Party), Grigoriy Yavlinski (Apple), Kseniya Sobchak.(Civic Initiatives), Maxim Suraykin (Communists of Russia), Boris Titov (Party of Growth).For the record, Putin is an independent candidate.

Earlier, Arsen Avakov, Ukraines Internal Minister, said that Russian citizens who live on the territory of Ukraine will not have access to Russian diplomatic agencies located in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa and Lviv to vote for future Russian President on March 18.

Earlier, Ukrainian nationalists promise to block Russian presidential elections in Ukraine on March 18, 2018. This is said in the joint statement of Ukrainian political parties Svoboda, Right Sector and National Corps. Political parties intend to block polling stations and form corridor of shame for voters  Russian citizens.Open source

Today Russia votes for the future President. Polling stations open at 8:00, the voting will last till 20:00 (7:00  19:00 Kyiv time). The voting time differs due to the fact that Russia is located in several time zones. The voting in Ukraine will last from 8:00 to 21:00 Kyiv time.

The election date, March 18, was not approved right away. First, elections were planned to be held on March 11. However, with the amendments to Russian law, the government decided to hold elections on the fourth anniversary of Crimea annexation  March 18, 2018. Thats the day when the Agreement on Crimeas and Sevastopols joining of Russian Federations was signed. Two days later the peninsula conducted an illegal referendum concerning joining Russian Federation.

Despite Putin, there are seven more candidates: Sergey Baburin (Russian All-Peoples Union), Pavel Grudinin (Communist Party), Vladimir Zhirinovsky (Liberal Democratic Party), Grigoriy Yavlinski (Apple), Kseniya Sobchak.(Civic Initiatives), Maxim Suraykin (Communists of Russia), Boris Titov (Party of Growth).For the record, Putin is an independent candidate.

Earlier, Russian Central Electoral Commission did not let Alexei Navalny, Russian opposition leader, to elections due to his outstanding convictions.

The name of current Russias President is highlighted in the ballot. (the information on each candidate in the ballot is quite broad, whereas there is a tiny piece of information next to Putins name, -ed.).

Open source

Russian Central Electoral Commission is to announce the results no later than March 29, it has to be made public till April 3. If one of the candidates do not get more than 50% of votes, the second round will be held (April 8).

As to the surveys, conducted in Russia, Putin is highly likely to win the elections with 74% of votes.

European Parliament observers will not be involved in the elections as they rejected to monitor it. Same story happened with elections in Azerbaijan.

Polling stations in Ukraine are set in four cities  Kyiv (Russian Embassy), Kharkiv, Odesa and Lviv.(Russian Consulates).

Russian intends to hold elections in annexed Crimea as well. Due to this Ukraine initiates imposing of new anti-Russia sanctions, several states declared elections on peninsula illegal. Crimeas Prosecutors Office located in Kyiv threatened all the organizations involved in the elections in Crimea with criminal liability. Verkhovna Rada called the international community for not acknowledging the elections, Ukraines Foreign Ministry expressed its traditional protest.

Earlier, Ukrainian nationalists promised to block Russian presidential elections in Ukraine on March 18, 2018. This is said in the joint statement of Ukrainian political parties Svoboda, Right Sector and National Corps. Political parties intend to block polling stations and form corridor of shame for voters  Russian citizens.

Ukrainian law enforcement agencies intensely protect the polling stations today due to the disorder danger. Russias Foreign Ministry requested Ukraine to provide safety got all of the voters and people involved in the process.

Previously, Russians were choosing the President on March 4, 2012. This election became the first one, when the president was chosen for a six-year term, instead of a four-year term. Putin won with 63,6%, Gennady Zyuganov was second with 17,1%.Members of Svoboda, Right Sector, National Corps and other nationalistic organizations started picketing before Russias Consulate General in Kharkiv

Russian Embassy in Kyiv is being under an intense security on the day of Russian presidential elections. Interfax-Ukraine reports that the current situation is peaceful.

The police limited the traffic on Povitroflotskyi Ave by blocking the road with metal and wood fences.

The law enforces blocked Russias Consulate General in Odesa. According to them, only residents of adjacent houses are allowed to pass the border.

Ivan Ishchenko, the Head of National Police Public Safety Department in Odesa region, said that at 8:00 am they got a notification that Russias Embassy is mined.

Meanwhile, members of Svoboda, Right Sector, National Corps and other nationalistic organizations started picketing before Russias Consulate General in Kharkiv. They set posters with signs Russia = war, Murder elections and others nearby the building.

According to the protesters, they intend to impede voting in the Consulate. National Guard along with the police encircled the building. The traffic on the adjacent roads in blocked. As to the police, officers of the Consulate are inside the building already. Nobody came to vote as at 8:15.

Earlier, Arsen Avakov, Ukraines Internal Minister, said that Russian citizens who live on the territory of Ukraine will not have access to Russian diplomatic agencies located in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, and Lviv to vote for future Russian President on March 18.

Earlier, Ukrainian nationalists promise to block Russian presidential elections in Ukraine on March 18, 2018. This is said in the joint statement of Ukrainian political parties Svoboda, Right Sector, and National Corps. Political parties intend to block polling stations and form corridor of shame for voters  Russian citizens.

As we reported earlier, Russian presidential elections will be held on March 18  the fourth anniversary of illegal occupation of Crimea. There are eight candidates, including the current president of the state. Russia intends to hold elections in annexed Crimea. Peninsulas Prosecutors Office, which is located in Kyiv, threatened election organizers with criminal liability.Russian Embassy in Ukraine expressed indignation due to Ukraines Internal Ministry claim, that only people with diplomatic status will be allowed to vote in Russian diplomatic agencies located in Ukraine

Open source

Russias Foreign Ministry regards it illegal that Ukrainian authorities blocked the access for Russian citizens in its diplomatic agencies in Ukraine to vote for Russian President. Maria Zakharova, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson, stated this on Sunday, Interfax reports.

Kyiv authorities started threatening Russian citizens long before March 18, spreading the information on demolitions and provocations on the polling stations in Russian diplomatic agencies, she said.

She called Ukraines actions unprecedented measures.

When it became obvious that Russian citizens could not be threatened and despite everything, Russians will come to vote, Kyiv authority took unprecedented measures  announced about physical denial of access to the polling stations for Russian citizens on the election day, Zakharova stressed.

According to her, Ukraine acts like this due to the voting results, which will not satisfy Kyiv authority.

Why would they need all this? The answer is obvious. Russian citizens, who wanted to vote on the territory of Ukraine, realize what is really going on here. That is why their choice would be obvious. Such expression of will would not satisfy Kyiv authorities. That is why the regime illegally and unashamedly impeded Russian citizens to vote, she stated.

Russian Embassy in Ukraine expressed indignation due to Ukraines Internal Ministry claim, that only people with diplomatic status will be allowed to vote in Russian diplomatic agencies located in Ukraine.

Earlier, Arsen Avakov, Internal Minister of Ukraine, said that Russian citizens who live on the territory of Ukraine will not be allowed to enter Russian diplomatic agencies to vote for Russian President.

Earlier, Ukrainian nationalists promised to block Russian presidential elections in Ukraine on March 18, 2018. This is said in the joint statement of Ukrainian political parties Svoboda, Right Sector, and National Corps. Political parties intend to block polling stations and form corridor of shame for voters  Russian citizens.

The election date, March 18, was not approved right away. First, elections were planned to be held on March 11. However, with the amendments to Russian law, the government decided to hold elections on the fourth anniversary of Crimea annexation  March 18, 2018. Thats the day when the Agreement on Crimeas and Sevastopols joining of Russian Federations was signed. Two days later the peninsula conducted an illegal referendum concerning joining Russian Federation.A wicked sorcerer tries to trick Aladdin in order to get the Genies lamp, leaving Aladdin trapped in the cave of wonders.

Aladdin and the Magic Lamp

Saturday, March 17, 2018, 6 pm, Popejoy Hall

Sunday, March 18, 2018, 2 pm, Popejoy Hall

The New Mexico Ballet Company returns to Popejoy Hall with your NMPhil for this fully staged beloved tale. A wicked sorcerer tries to trick Aladdin in order to get the Genies lamp, leaving Aladdin trapped in the cave of wonders. The enchanted story comes to life, and Aladdin realizes that true love has its own magic.

David Felberg, conductor

https://www.facebook.com/NMPhilharmonic

https://www.facebook.com/NewMexicoBalletCompany/

FREE Parking & FREE Shuttle when Parking in G LOT.

The Special Event shuttle is fast, easy to use, and free. It's a great option even if you're running late. Buses run continuously beginning 90-120 minutes before the show, drop you off at Popejoy Hall and return you to the shuttle lot up to an hour after the show. Should you have an emergency, buses are available any time during the show to take you back to your car. All of our shuttle buses are wheelchair accessible.

ADA ACCESSIBLE & ASSISTED LISTENING DEVICES

Aladdin and the Magic Lamp

Saturday, March 17, 2018, 6 pm, Popejoy Hall

Sunday, March 18, 2018, 2 pm, Popejoy Hall

The New Mexico Ballet Company returns to Popejoy Hall with your NMPhil for this fully staged beloved tale. A wicked sorcerer tries to trick Aladdin in order to get the Genies lamp, leaving Aladdin trapped in the cave of wonders. The enchanted story comes to life, and Aladdin realizes that true love has its own magic.

David Felberg, conductor

https://www.facebook.com/NMPhilharmonic

https://www.facebook.com/NewMexicoBalletCompany/

FREE Parking & FREE Shuttle when Parking in G LOT.

The Special Event shuttle is fast, easy to use, and free. It's a great option even if you're running late. Buses run continuously beginning 90-120 minutes before the show, drop you off at Popejoy Hall and return you to the shuttle lot up to an hour after the show. Should you have an emergency, buses are available any time during the show to take you back to your car. All of our shuttle buses are wheelchair accessible.

ADA ACCESSIBLE & ASSISTED LISTENING DEVICES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!)Username: Password: or Register Thread Rating: 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average

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India threatens to 'INVADE PAKISTAN' in shock warning as World War 3 fears escala LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: kaput

03-18-2018 06:07 PM











Post: #1 India threatens to 'INVADE PAKISTAN' in shock warning as World War 3 fears escala

Advertisement





Indias Home Minister, Rajnath Singh, accused the neighbouring country of giving legitimacy to terrorism and warned New Delhi security forces would be willing to cross the border to protect the countrys territory.



Tensions in region are high, with the two nations both claiming they should have control of the Jammu and Kashmir regions, leading to a bitter dispute.



He said: We will not only secure India internally but can also cross border, if needed, to protect the country.



Heavy exchanges of shelling have increased over the past 12 months with both countries accusing the other of being responsible.



Mr Singh accused Pakistani militant Hafiz Saeed of being a terrorist and said the country was focused on giving him political legitimacy rather than working for peace.



He also vowed Kashmir would always be a part of India.



The politician said: Kashmir was with India, Kashmir is with India and it will remain with India forever.



Kashmir's children are like my own and would not allow anyone to radicalise them.



Mr Singh made his comments at the Rising India summit, organised by News18.



The Indo-Pakistani Wars of 1947 and 1965 both revolved around competing claims for the area.



The United Nations have encouraged the pair to take part in talks in a plea for the violence on the border to be de-escalated.



Pakistan Foreign Minister, Khawaja Asif has previously accused New Delhi for the diplomatic fall-out.





Read More:





https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/933...-war-three May 2018. WWIII begins.Indias Home Minister, Rajnath Singh, accused the neighbouring country of giving legitimacy to terrorism and warned New Delhi security forces would be willing to cross the border to protect the countrys territory.Tensions in region are high, with the two nations both claiming they should have control of the Jammu and Kashmir regions, leading to a bitter dispute.He said: We will not only secure India internally but can also cross border, if needed, to protect the country.Heavy exchanges of shelling have increased over the past 12 months with both countries accusing the other of being responsible.Mr Singh accused Pakistani militant Hafiz Saeed of being a terrorist and said the country was focused on giving him political legitimacy rather than working for peace.He also vowed Kashmir would always be a part of India.The politician said: Kashmir was with India, Kashmir is with India and it will remain with India forever.Kashmir's children are like my own and would not allow anyone to radicalise them.Mr Singh made his comments at the Rising India summit, organised by News18.The Indo-Pakistani Wars of 1947 and 1965 both revolved around competing claims for the area.The United Nations have encouraged the pair to take part in talks in a plea for the violence on the border to be de-escalated.Pakistan Foreign Minister, Khawaja Asif has previously accused New Delhi for the diplomatic fall-out.Read More: Klepto Is A Dog

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03-18-2018 07:40 PM



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Post: #2 RE: India threatens to 'INVADE PAKISTAN' in shock warning as World War 3 fears escala





Some years ago I read an interview with a past leader of one of Pakistan's intelligence agencies. The man felt that India had abused Pakistan severely, knew that in a conventional war India would be victorious, and seemed entirely willing to use nukes in that case. It seems to me that this is a fairly common feeling in Pakistan, so far as I can tell.



India is aggressive, at least verbally, quite corrupt, and altogether reactionary. The national government appears irrational to me, and might start a war to prevent serious problems for its leaders.



Control of their nuclear weapons, so far as I have read, appears lax at best in both nations.



To me, this subcontinent is THE most likely source of a nuclear conflict. These two governments really do seem to operate emotionally, far too much for safety. I certainly hope I'm completely in error, but it doesn't look as if I am, at least not so far.



I would be so pleased if someone could prove me wrong about this.



Of all the hot spots in the world, I feel this the most dangerous. Neither the Indians or Pakistanis seem especially rational to me, there's seven decades of bad blood, and they both have nuclear weapons.Some years ago I read an interview with a past leader of one of Pakistan's intelligence agencies. The man felt that India had abused Pakistan severely, knew that in a conventional war India would be victorious, and seemed entirely willing to use nukes in that case. It seems to me that this is a fairly common feeling in Pakistan, so far as I can tell.India is aggressive, at least verbally, quite corrupt, and altogether reactionary. The national government appears irrational to me, and might start a war to prevent serious problems for its leaders.Control of their nuclear weapons, so far as I have read, appears lax at best in both nations.To me, this subcontinent is THE most likely source of a nuclear conflict. These two governments really do seem to operate emotionally, far too much for safety. I certainly hope I'm completely in error, but it doesn't look as if I am, at least not so far.I would be so pleased if someone could prove me wrong about this. Consciousness is ubiquitous, and my destination is beyond the horizon. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

03-18-2018 07:43 PM











Post: #3 RE: India threatens to 'INVADE PAKISTAN' in shock warning as World War 3 fears escala

Ebil Pakistan has been threatening to nuke India for a few months now. I guess Slippery Chillery convinced India to feign a punch back at the Pakistan bully. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

03-18-2018 07:43 PM











Post: #4 RE: India threatens to 'INVADE PAKISTAN' in shock warning as World War 3 fears escala

Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll destroy each other. Monk-1

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03-18-2018 07:44 PM



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Post: #5 RE: India threatens to 'INVADE PAKISTAN' in shock warning as World War 3 fears escala

Klepto Is A Dog

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03-18-2018 08:10 PM



Posts: 495









Post: #6 RE: India threatens to 'INVADE PAKISTAN' in shock warning as World War 3 fears escala





https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-03-1...-final-war



"Both India and Pakistan have between 120 and 140 nuclear warheads, according to estimates provided by the Arms Control Association. However a report produced in 2015 by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Stimson Center asserts that Pakistan may be outpacing India in terms of its nuclear stockpile, and may possess 350 nuclear warheads in the next five to ten years. A 2016 SIPRI report confirmed the assessment that Pakistan has more nuclear warheads than India." ...



... "The major difference between the two countries nuclear doctrines is that while India has renounced first use of nuclear weapons, Pakistan has refused to do so by reserving its right to use nuclear weapons in the face of Indias conventional superiority." ...



Article continues. This is a VERY dangerous situation and could erupt at almost any time.







Well, speak of the devil and he appears. Found this on Zero Hedge a few minutes ago."Both India and Pakistan have between 120 and 140 nuclear warheads, according to estimates provided by the Arms Control Association. However a report produced in 2015 by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Stimson Center asserts that Pakistan may be outpacing India in terms of its nuclear stockpile, and may possess 350 nuclear warheads in the next five to ten years. A 2016 SIPRI report confirmed the assessment that Pakistan has more nuclear warheads than India." ...... "The major difference between the two countries nuclear doctrines is that while India has renounced first use of nuclear weapons, Pakistan has refused to do so by reserving its right to use nuclear weapons in the face of Indias conventional superiority." ...Article continues. This is a VERY dangerous situation and could erupt at almost any time. Consciousness is ubiquitous, and my destination is beyond the horizon. LoP Guest

lop guest

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03-18-2018 08:55 PM











Post: #7 RE: India threatens to 'INVADE PAKISTAN' in shock warning as World War 3 fears escala

Woo



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03-18-2018 09:09 PM



Posts: 2,295









Post: #8 RE: India threatens to 'INVADE PAKISTAN' in shock warning as World War 3 fears escala

LoP Guest Wrote: (03-18-2018 07:43 PM) Ebil Pakistan has been threatening to nuke India for a few months now. I guess Slippery Chillery convinced India to feign a punch back at the Pakistan bully.

That is a very good connection you made. More than one way to kick off ww3 right?

Horrifying That is a very good connection you made. More than one way to kick off ww3 right?Horrifying LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

03-18-2018 09:29 PM











Post: #9 RE: India threatens to 'INVADE PAKISTAN' in shock warning as World War 3 fears escala

LoP Guest Wrote: (03-18-2018 07:43 PM) Ebil Pakistan has been threatening to nuke India for a few months now. I guess Slippery Chillery convinced India to feign a punch back at the Pakistan bully.

Several times a year for over a decade the media has claimed India and Pakistan were just hours away from a nuclear holocaust. Several times a year for over a decade the media has claimed India and Pakistan were just hours away from a nuclear holocaust. LoP Guest

lop guest

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03-18-2018 11:42 PM











Post: #10 RE: India threatens to 'INVADE PAKISTAN' in shock warning as World War 3 fears escala





You think all of this was for nothing? All it will take is the green light from one of their handlers for the first salvo to be fired



The biggest loser in an war will be neither India nor Pakistan. It will be CHINA



India has spent BILLIONS on procurement and development of high tech weaponry including those of the Nuclear kind. They also have MILLIONS of young men ready to be drafted and fight for their homeland. This exactly mirrors their sworn enemy, who have also done all of the aboveYou think all of this was for nothing? All it will take is the green light from one of their handlers for the first salvo to be firedThe biggest loser in an war will be neither India nor Pakistan. It will be CHINA LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

03-18-2018 11:52 PM











Post: #11 RE: India threatens to 'INVADE PAKISTAN' in shock warning as World War 3 fears escala

India actively preparing for war with Pakistan and China. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

03-18-2018 11:56 PM











Post: #12 RE: India threatens to 'INVADE PAKISTAN' in shock warning as World War 3 fears escala

i get the feeling that that once 40-50 more nukes are added to the all the stockpiles, that thee may be enough of them to kill everything. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

03-18-2018 11:59 PM











Post: #13 RE: India threatens to 'INVADE PAKISTAN' in shock warning as World War 3 fears escala

It's funny. They get hot and mad then nothing. I say put the nukes away and just have a regular fight. Let's go already. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

03-19-2018 12:09 AM











Post: #14 RE: India threatens to 'INVADE PAKISTAN' in shock warning as World War 3 fears escala

No not obamas Pock EEE Ston . What what will he do. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

03-19-2018 12:44 AM











Post: #15 RE: India threatens to 'INVADE PAKISTAN' in shock warning as World War 3 fears escala

Dr. Woo Wrote: (03-18-2018 09:09 PM) LoP Guest Wrote: (03-18-2018 07:43 PM) Ebil Pakistan has been threatening to nuke India for a few months now. I guess Slippery Chillery convinced India to feign a punch back at the Pakistan bully.

That is a very good connection you made. More than one way to kick off ww3 right?

Horrifying

She had to drop off more Uranium during her trip. She had to drop off more Uranium during her trip. Advertisement

















Despite the intense demand for affordable housing, filling the units is not always easy. At 535 Carlton, more than 90,000 applications were filed for the 300-unit below market rate rental building, said Ismene Speliotis, the head of MHANY Management Inc., which handles the lottery. While the building included studios priced at $548 a month for New Yorkers making as little as $20,126 a year, half the units were reserved for those making between 145 and 160 percent of median area income. Those units, including a two-bedroom asking $3,223 a month, have struggled to find renters, she said, because they are competing with similarly priced market-rate apartments in the Pacific Park area that dont require as thorough or as invasive a vetting process.

Regarding 535 Carlton, a "100% affordable" building with an enormous range of below-market units, there indeed was "intense demand" for the low-income apartments. But as I reported last April for City Limits, of the 92,743 households applying for the 297 units available in the lottery, only 2,203 were initially income-eligible to apply for the 148 middle-income units. So it's not just that those apartments are competing with market-rate units relatively nearby. It's also that few sought them in the first place.



While this Times article links back to a tart column by Metro columnist Ginia Bellafante last November, it's worth noting that that column rests on skepticism raised previously by me regarding that building during the otherwise triumphant public groundbreaking and grand opening ceremonies, as well as Rachel Holliday Smith's coverage (in DNAinfo and City Limits) of those apartments lingering empty.

That hasnt deterred builders from moving forward with thousands of new units, most of them geared toward the luxury market. In 2017, more than 5,700 rentals hit the market  the most units in a year since 2008, said Nancy Packes, the real estate consultant. And the future pipeline shows no signs of slowing: About 6,100 units are expected this year, followed by almost 9,600 in 2019.

Ms. Packes, whose clients include Brooklyn developers, said the surge in supply is cyclic, with the glut clearing out by 2019 or 2020. Theyre looking at the trees, not the forest, she said about growth skeptics, noting that demand remains strong, fueled by a strong job market and population growth.

An Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park reference in the New York Times Real Estate section today, first published online 3/16/18, As Brooklyn Towers Soar, a Sinking Feeling for Developers From the article:Well, Packes has no small self-interest here, but, if she's right, it would make sense for Greenland Forest City Partners to get to building.As of now, the only stated plan is to pursue B4, a huge tower at the northeast corner of the arena block, which could start in the second quarter of 2019 and contain more than 700 units. It wouldn't open until at least 2021, maybe 2022.That said, relatively smaller buildings (B12, B13) on the southeast block of the site, or B15 (between Dean and Pacific streets, just east of Sixth Avenue, could get started too.In North Carolina, nurse practitioners (NP) can't treat patients unless they establish a collaborative practice agreement with a supervising doctor - a written contract that outlines patient management, prescribing authorities, and how the NP and physician will communicate with each other.But NPs don't have to be in the same geographic location as their overseeing physician, and they are only required to meet twice a year. The lack of oversight, then, begs the question of why these contracts are even necessary Some physicians aren't opposed to NPs practicing without "required collaboration," but most are for patient safety reasons. Physicians have more advanced knowledge in managing patients' health over NPs since they undergo more years of medical and clinical training.These claims shouldn't devalue the critical role that North Carolina's 6,152 licensed NPs bring to the health care workforce, however. NPs are graduate-level advanced practice nurses who are responsible for diagnosing patients, ordering labs, prescribing medications (including controlled substances), and managing chronic disease.And half of the U.S. as well as the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) doesn't govern NPs the way North Carolina does. These states recognize that removing physician supervising requirements does not negatively impact patient outcomes, as studies suggest that measured health outcomes of patients who are treated by an NP or an MD are comparable. Nor does such a policy change imply that NPs won't continue to collaborate with other medical professionals. Granting full practice authority (FPA) to NPs means that they no longer need to seek a physician's approval for medical decisions that already fall within their scope of practice.One of the added benefits to granting NPs full practice authority is that it presents them with a more stable opportunity to serve patients in underserved areas. For example, when Arizona granted NPs full practice authority in 2002, workforce data showed a 73 percent increase in the number of NPs delivering care in rural pockets of the state within a five-year-period. NPs in North Carolina already have the option to extend themselves into rural areas, though I've written before about how the collaborative practice agreement requirement adds risk to their preferred practice style.Another question that comes to mind is, has FPA resulted in a substantial increase in the number of NP-led clinics? Going back to Arizona's workforce trends, third-party payment disparities can make it difficult for a private practice to thrive.One Arizona nurse practitioner whom I interviewed about scope of practice elaborated on this point.she says.she explains.In response, insurance companies say that they pay physicians more for the same services because they can provide a larger range of care if needed. In general, it's also the case that private insurers set their reimbursement rates based on Medicare's fee schedule, and Medicare typically pays NPs 85 percent of what a physician is paid for the same services.Payer policies also vary when it comes to paying NPs directly. According to a survey conducted by the National Nursing Consortium, one-third of managed care plans do not recognize NPs as qualified primary care providers who could offer in-network patient care. Under such circumstances, NPs must submit claims under a licensed physician's name to get paid. Despite North Carolina's restrictive practice nature on NPs, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina does recognize NPs as qualified primary care providers, as does the state's Medicaid program. Even so, lower reimbursement is holding NPs back from opening their own clinics. Plus, it makes economic sense for NPs who are employed by either a large multi-specialty practice or a health system to bring more revenue by billing "incident-to" the services of a licensed physician."If you're an employed NP who is seeing a large volume of Medicare patients in that practice, that 15 cents add up to real money real quick...you can't afford to lose that when there's such a small margin to begin with," says the NP.To address payment disparities, some states have passed laws that force insurance companies to pay NPs the same as MDs for comparable services. Another option is for NPs to take it upon themselves to establish their own cash-pay practices. That way, they would no longer have to work for insurance companies, nor concern themselves with their payment structure. A growing number of primary care physicians have gone this route. Removing themselves from the insurance world lets them work directly for their patients, spend less on overhead costs, and offer unlimited primary care in exchange for an average $75 monthly fee.There is little information out there on NPs setting up cash-pay practices. White Glove Health, Inc. , a medical service company that has since closed, was known for having its NPs conduct home and work visits for $35. Businesses and individuals could subscribe to White Glove Health's medical care services for $300 to $400 a year.If North Carolina lawmakers decided to modernize the state's Nursing Practice Act , NPs would be freed from maintaining a collaborative practice agreement with a supervising physician, and, therefore have the option to pursue a career in a practice setting that keeps health care simple. Direct-pay practices simplify our nation's complex health care equation, restore a stronger provider-patient relationship, and embraces price transparency - all things patients demand.Yes, for many of their inhabitants, particularly the young and the wealthy, our liberal cities are pleasant places in which to work and play. But if they are diverse in certain ways they are segregated in others, from "whiteopias" like Portland to balkanized cities like D.C. or Chicago. If they are dynamic, they are also so rich - and so rigidly zoned - that the middle class can't afford to live there and fewer and fewer kids are born inside their gates. If they are fast-growing it's often a growth intertwined with subsidies and "too big to fail" protection; if they are innovation capitals it's a form of innovation that generates fewer jobs than past technological advance. If they produce some intellectual ferment they have also cloistered our liberal intelligentsia and actually weakened liberalism politically by concentrating its votes.

Liberals like small homes that are close to shopping and attractions, while conservatives prefer to have larger properties and drive longer distances to the store. This is one of the findings from a 2014 report by the Pew Research Center that examined how our political beliefs interact with daily life. It's not clear why the two go hand-in-hand, though it does coincide with preferences for urban, suburban, and rural life. Is it a question of age, daily experiences, or of some other trait like risk tolerance that manifests in both political philosophy and physical space?There has been a lot of speculation on the political consequences of the manifestation of these differences in the rural/urban divide. Thanks to J.D. Vance's book Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis and the opioid crisis, there is also a greater sense (though not necessarily understanding) of its personal and economic causes and implications.In 2017, Ross Douthat observed,Douthat suggested treating large cities "as trusts that concentrate wealth and power and conspire against the public good." His remedy was to compel geographical diversification of their sources of economic value-federal government agencies, elite universities, nonprofits, businesses, and the media.Rather than break up the cities, others have suggested ways to make more of America walkable. A writer for Grist reasonably complained about the effects of the mortgage interest deduction and state and local property tax deduction on home-buying decisions. People can buy larger and more expensive houses if their payments are subsidized by tax policy. The subsidy does not generally create a decision to buy, but it does influence what a person buys. As a result of federal tax reform, both deductions are now much less valuable. Not content to eliminate subsidies for sprawl, he quoted Smart Growth America 's 2013 suggestion,Neutrality would leave drivers and walkers equally free to make housing decisions based on their own preferences.Another state and local tax deduction may have made it less costly to be an urban dweller. If your high income and property taxes are deductible, then you may not mind paying the relatively higher price of government in the city than in the suburb or, similarly, in a state like Massachusetts rather than New Hampshire. Federal tax reform also leveled the playing field here.Conservatives are more likely to hunt and fish. Liberals are more likely to go to art galleries and musical theater. Both groups want to live near others who share their ideas and beliefs. It all fits together even as it keeps us apart.I am encouraged, with the firing of Andrew McCabe of the FBI so he will lose his pension, that this new Justice Department will finally rout all the incredible corruption out of the DOJ and FBI, which was allowed to exist under Eric Holder, Loretta Lynch and Jim Comey.What is especially revealing is themanifestation of people like Jim Comey , John Brennan, James Clapper, Eric Holder, etc. whining in unison, suggesting that this corruption has a deep history, and as this dirty cop/lawyer conundrum unravels, we may finally know how high up this corruption goes within the corrupt, lawless Obama administration.Remember, the FBI did not indict anyone in the IRS for their Political Targeting /Obstruction of Justice/ Cover-up scandal, even though they admitted all in a civil court, and public monies were paid to those damaged.Balance that against General Mike Flynn ruined for miss-remembering all the details of his discussions with the Russian ambassador during the transition period after President Trump is duly elected, and we have massive corruption with that whole equal application of the law as a constitutional right that was so absent during the lawless Hussein Obama years.I rightly reckon that folks will not get this measure type of short commentary from The Fake News . That could be why we still get core Democrat talking points like:andThe Liberal /Socialist talking point about Trump and his team, which they incredibly believe:is a total lie, and belies the abject hypocrisy, and egregious stupidity of core Democrats and their Fake News. Additionally, this not about Trump; he had just won the election, which, if he had lost it would have meant that Lying Hillary Clinton would have kept all this now revealed corruption covered up.Furthermore, Liberals /Socialists need to stop all this Hitler talk. It suggest a grand level of historical ignorance, and greatly deters core Democrats from ever gaining the necessity of intellectual respectability, which they have generously ceded in the public's forum on this very public stage.Jeremy Corbyn can't win. During his time as Labour leader, supporters and opponents alike have accused Corbyn of failing to provide effective opposition to the Conservative government. First, Corbyn's detractors said he was so weak as Labour leader that David Cameron, and then Theresa May, could do what they liked in office. Good government needs good opposition, was the line spouted by the Corbyn-bashers.

After Corbyn lead a much better election campaign than expected last year, showing that he could provide an alternative that energised millions of voters, his detractors moved to saying that he was failing to provide an alternative on Brexit.

This week, however, Corbyn was vilified by much of the media and some of his own MPs for providing too much opposition. He was deemed unpatriotic and irresponsible for opposing May in her response to the alleged poisoning of former-spy Sergei Skirpal and his daughter, and possible Russian government involvement. That's right, Corbyn is now going too far in his opposition to the government.

Corbyn is right to urge caution on Russia...

As Tories and some Labour MPs rattled their sabres like it was 2003, Corbyn urged caution, raised the Tory party's financial donations from Russian big business, and said May should rely on evidence.

Corbyn also made the not unreasonable observation that British intelligence has been wrong about such matters in the past, at the same time as condemning the attack on the Skripals in the strongest terms and calling for the British government to support Putin's opponents in Russia.

This last point was lost amid the furore but it's vital, especially as Putin goes into today's Russian elections at 1.271/4 to win over 70% of the vote. Those odds reflect the fact Putin has barred his only really formidable opponent, Alexie Navalny, from standing for the presidency.

Interestingly, Navalny this week criticised May's expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats - a move matched by Putin over the weekend - saying it was tokenistic and arguing that to punish the Putin government, May needs to move against Russian politicians and businesses with assets in the UK.

... and it might yet prove popular with the public

Corbyn was accused of misjudging the mood and a new poll by Opinium substantiates that claim. It shows 39% back May's handling of the crisis and only 16% back Corbyn. This suggests that May can boost her popularity by continuing to take a firm position against Russia. The same pollster puts the Tories ahead of Labour by one point for voting intention, although YouGov have a two point lead for Labour.

It's uncertain where the current crisis will lead UK and Russian relations, but the type of stance adopted by May this week often tends to be popular in the short-term, but less popular as time goes on and rhetoric is exposed as empty or ill-conceived. Over the weekend, commentators on all sides of the political spectrum have started to recognise Corbyn's measured response to the current crisis as the sensible one.

It could be that voters eventually reach the same conclusion. After all, Corbyn has an excellent record on foreign policy, with his opposition to the Iraq war and intervention in Libya vindicated by history. Or perhaps many people, who have longer memories than their elected officials and are wary of Parliament rushing to judgement, already share Corbyn's caution. The Labour leader has proved that he can talk to the public, over the heads of politicians and media.

That said, plenty of bettors appear to think May can make political capital from the Skripal affair and the Tories are now 1.9720/21 to win the next election. But none of this puts me off backing Labour at 2.0621/20 and believing that, when the sound and fury of past week has died down, Corbyn can win.

Steven Brust is a literary treasure and his longrunning Vlad Taltos series , now nearing its final volume, is a good example of where his strengths lie: hardboiled plotting, snappy dialog, weirdly realistic and plausible depictions of magic, and a sensitive eye for power relationships and their depiction, all of which are on display in his latest, outstanding novel, Good Guys , about the minimum-wage sorcerers who investigate magical crimes on behalf of a secret society.



Donovan is the leader of an investigative cell that works on behalf of the Foundation, the smaller, less-well-funded of the two secret societies  the other being the Roma Vindices Mystici, a much older, richer society that is their rival (of sorts).





He lands a string of murder cases that appear to have been accomplished by means of sorcery, each calculated to be more cruel and violent than the last. We, the readers, meet the man who is committing these murders through a series of snapshotted moments in his point of view, hinting at his motives and the identity of the man who is arranging for him to commit these crimes.







Donovan and his small team enact a police procedural  with magic. Chasing the criminal, they are attacked, wounded, and frustrated by the cash-strapped bureaucracy for which they work. They console themselves by assuring themselves that they are the "good guys" (because if they were the bad guys, they'd be earning more than minimum wage), and press on, despite the looming sense that the Foundation may not be on the side of righteousness, and indeed may not be entirely separate from the Mystici.





Brust marshalls a large cast of characters, especially for such a short, tightly plotted book, and every one of them believes that they are the Good Guys, even though it's clear that at least some of them aren't. It's a beautiful bit of noir hardboiled storytelling, in which people may have good qualities, but no one is unambiguously good.

It's a brilliant setup for a tight, thrilling detective novel by way of an urban fantasy  a genre Brust helped to invent. Fans of the Taltos novels will recognize all the customary Brustian elements here, but reconfigured in a way we haven't seen from him before  and to excellent effect. New readers will get a tour of what makes Brust beloved by all the writers whose blurbs grace his cover, from me to John Scalzi to Neil Gaiman to Roger Zelazny.

Good Guys [Steven Brust/Tor Books]Public records requests have revealed that on at least four occasions, the Raleigh-Durham police obtained warrants forcing Google to reveal the identities of every mobile user within acres of a crime scene, sweeping up the personal information of thousands of people in a quest to locate a single perp.



The warrants came with gag orders that banned Google from disclosing their existence; in their requests for the warrants, local prosecutors say that they don't even believe that warrants are needed to get this information, but since Google insists, they're willing to get them.





The cops insist that this approach balances the public's Fourth Amendment rights with their need to fight crimes. Only one of the crimes in which police used this dragnet technique has had an arrest; it's not clear if this arrest was the result of data from Google.



The demands Raleigh police issued for Google data described a 17-acre area that included both homes and businesses. In the Efobi homicide case, the cordon included dozens of units in the Washington Terrace complex near St. Augustine's University. The account IDs aren't limited to electronics running Android. The warrant includes any device running location-enabled Google apps, according to Raleigh Police Department spokeswoman Laura Hourigan. "At the end of the day, this tactic unavoidably risks getting information about totally innocent people," Wessler said. "Location information is really revealing and private about people's habits and activities and what they're doing."



To find suspects, police quietly turn to Google [Tyler Dukes/WRAL]Opinion / Columnist

If one starts a fire and it grows into a bonfire then it will not be easy to extinguish it. This best illustrates how the big wigs in Zimbabwe started corruption and a few people understood the meaning. The Zanu pf led government has been corrupt from early 80s and they did nothing about it because they thought it was their entitlement!When Dr Thomas Mapfumo sang on corruption the rot had already begun.The Willovale scandal, senior government officials claiming 100 % disability but in full time employment, GMB grain scandal and so on were they looted large sums of money. People were watching all this some even glorifying the thieves, if there is something I have noted in Zimbabwe it is celebrating dubious business people because they love the limelight flaunting their wealthy to the poor.People of integrity are not our role models anymore, few people would want to emulate Econet mogul, the humble Strive Masiyiwa,but rather we celebrate Wicknell Chivayo,Genius Kadungure, Phillip Chiyangwa because they love the showy things.Scandal after scandal came and no one ever faced the music. In most cases those fingered in these scandals are not punished but rather applauded as seen by government's inaction as well as moving them to another portfolio were they are going to steal more. This is the reward to those that engage in corrupt tendencies like what happened to Reward Marufu after being fingered in War victims fund compensation, he was given a diplomatic post in Canada!Fast track to 2018 Zanu pf of all people tells us No to Corruption. Is this really or some prank being played upon the people of Zimbabwe. How do they expect to fight this scourge they allowed to grow under their watch? As always they want us to believe it is other people in the system like junior civil servants yet all the fingers are pointing at them.They want people in public service declaring their assets and what about them? If this whole thing is sincere they should start by looking at themselves first, they own offshore accounts,they have kids living like royalty in foreign lands and so on. Telling people you are fighting corruption by identifying what is public knowledge on VID, ZRP traffic, Zimra is hitting a brickwall when the top brass are off the hook. Recently the lmmigration hierarchy refused to answer before a parliamentary committee. A litany of charges have been brought against them but typical of our leadership they blame juniors on corruption.The Norton legislator, Temba Mliswa, is facing resistance as he chairs another parliamentary committee were the Minister of Home Affairs is acting like a bull in china shop. Here is a Minister in charge of police behaving like a child caught with his hand in a cookie jar.ls this man fit for public office ?This is the calibre of our leaders in high office, they think corrupt people are their subordinates yet some of them are the big fish that have survived because Zanu pf as long as you are in the right faction you are safe.Immigration bosses to quote the complaints "came wearing sun scorched suits" and living at Chikurubi police houses.A few years down the line they own mansions !This sounds all familiar, Obert Mpofu, as Minister of mines became suddenly rich overnight buying properties like candy.Due to his allegiance to Zanu pf and being in the correct faction he is as safe as a bird in the air.So,no Zanu pf you cannot fight something you brought yourselves. The only thing you can do is enjoy it while it lasts. The new government should make it a priority to view corruption as it is...a security threat.Opinion / Columnist

About Shikobela; Shikobela is a passionate minister at Holy Faith Family Church, a motivational speaker, a business director, and an aspiring social consciousness author, who just finished penning his first book titled; Invisible Victories. And his recently in the process of registering a new dawn of this nation, a political party named; Voice of the nation (VN).

A wise men can teach you ways of wisdom. A strong men can teach you how to rely on your inner strength. A rich men can teach you how to invest your money. A good leader can teach you how to follow your dreams. A good human rights activist can teach you all your rights. But no one can ever teach you to stand-up against what's wrong. Because no one can teach you to oppose what he had agreed with. The people of Sharpville had enough of all the pains and the injustices against human dignity. They had no rights, only a wrong and brutal apartheid system.Their agony inspired bravery, and awaken warriors within them. I quote Martin Luther King "If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward." They knew deep in their hearts that they have to keep moving. Once the desire for change is greater than the fear, then change is at the doorpost. What happened in Sharpville shouldn't be only in our history as a nation. However it should also inspire every generation to play their role in making our motherland a better place."I don't want to fly because it reminds me of the bullets that were flying in Sharpville. The bullets were flying to people and the people were flying from the bullets. I don't want to walk, because they walked peacefully but it took away their lives. I don't want to crawl, because it reminds me of many who crawled wounded. I want to run, because life is a race. Beside who said life is not a race. We are on a race to; equality, genuine reconciliation, justice, and accountability."A caring South African will run with me, no one had ever made a great impact working alone. We owe it to ourselves and those who died for our freedom, to continue with the struggle. We don't want to be heroes we just want to do the right thing. To ensure we give the very same gift we inherited to the next generation. The gift of prosperity, stability and security. Beside what will be the impact of rights, if the system is still wrong. Now I relate with what President Mandela mean't when he said; During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.South Africa is a blessed and beautiful nation, and we have a rich heritage. A heritage that we should teach and learn from. We must never forget where we come from. At the same time we shouldn't allow the past to define our future. Our nation deserves a descent dialoque that will lead us to; realization, accountability and genuine reconciliation. "Sometimes a bitter past is there to give us a better future." We need leaders who will use the past to improve and unite us, not to divide us. Leaders who will bringforth solutions that are equal to the problems we have. "Because leadership is not a career, but it's a calling that comes with great responsibilities."Let us make sure we never forget the selfless efforts and sacrifices that people of sharpville did for our priceless freedom. I am humbly and kindly requesting all South Africans despite the; race, gender, religion, and status, to light a white kindle on the 21 March, human rights day at 21:00H for an hour (hour of hope). And to pray for surviving families of Sharpville victims, and a forgiving spirit and progressive nation.I thank you!Opinion / National

President Emmerson Mnangagwa's administration has laid the right platform for Zimbabwe's economic growth, with the evident investor appetite indicative of an emerging economic revolution, a top British economic research firm says.In its latest report, BMI Research  a London-based firm that provides macroeconomic, industry and financial market analysis covering 200 global markets  predicts that Zimbabwe's fiscal deficit will narrow significantly beginning next year.It reports that with a "reform-minded" President, Zimbabwe is poised for sustainable growth.The projections are a ringing endorsement of President Mnangagwa's handling of the economy since assuming office last November.Government anticipates economic growth of at least 6 percent this year.According to BMI Research, Zimbabwe will experience a brief recession this year before surging ahead after elections.The report reads in part, "Efforts to consolidate Zimbabwe's fiscal position will face headwinds from sluggish revenue growth and the costs of running a general election, scheduled for 2018."That said, scope for fiscal consolidation has improved following the appointment of a more reform-minded President in Emmerson Mnangagwa and we see the deficit narrowing more substantially in 2019."The ongoing shortage of hard currency in Zimbabwe will see the country's current account deficit narrow further in 2018. That said, a more optimistic outlook for foreign financing under the country's new reform-minded President, Emmerson Mnangagwa, will see import growth tick up from 2019, limiting any further consolidation of Zimbabwe's current account."The apparent demise of the Mugabe family in Zimbabwean politics bodes well for a more sustainable monetary policy going forward. Greater scope for re-engagement with the international community, particularly with concessional lenders, increases the likelihood of a successful re-introduction of a local currency."After 37 years in power, President Robert Mugabe's resignation heralds the beginning of a new era in Zimbabwe, not only symbolically, but also in terms of the country's prospects for meaningful economic reform."Since assuming office, President Mnangagwa has led an aggressive realignment of Zimbabwe's economy by introducing far-reaching economic reforms and international re-engagement.Through his "Zimbabwe is open for business" campaign, authorities are opening up investment avenues.President Mnanagwa's has set a target of Zimbabwe growing from being a low-income to a middle income economy by 2030.The World Bank classifies a middle-income economy as one with a gross national income of between US$1 005 and US$12 235 per capita.Women Orgasm 32% More When They Have Sex With Women, Says Study

Trending News: Women Climax More When They Sleep With Women - Here's Why

Why Is This Important?

The way you think about the female orgasm is about to change... again.

Long Story Short

A new study has discovered that women are WAY more likely to orgasm when they sleep with other women, rather than with men. But it's no reason to panic  there's a lot guys can learn from these findings.

Long Story

A brand new study, which surveyed 2,300 women from around the world, aged between 18 and 65, has found that women who sleep with women are 32 percent more likely to reach orgasm than those who sleep with men. Wow.

What researchers discovered was that, although straight couples were sleeping together more often (on average 16 times per month), same-sex couples were enjoying themselves waaay more. So much so that some of the women in lesbian relationships reported climaxing as many as 55 times (!!) per month versus just seven times for the women getting it on with men.

These stats are no reason to panic, though. There's a lot to be learned from the study's findings, like the fact that same-sex couples get more creative in the bedroom and have sex that's excitingly diversified," which is something you can totally do, too.

Speaking with The Sun, Dr Kristen Jozkowski, who works at the University of Arkansas, explained, Sex that includes more varied sexual behavior results in women experiencing more orgasms. In other words, it's time to start thinking outside of the box, guys.

Rebecca Dakin, author of 101 Sex Tips, echoed the same sentiment, telling the outlet, Men get over-excited and go for penetration far too soon. A woman needs at least 45 minutes of foreplay before intercourse.

What it comes down to is that, unfortunately, penetration just isn't enough. Clitoral stimulation, oral sex, exciting foreplay are all exceptionally important if you want to make your girl climax and, yes, the science is there to prove it.

As a 2017 study from Chapman University, Indiana University, and the Kinsey Institute concluded when it surveyed 52,000 adults of "different sexual identities," while heterosexual women orgasm only 65 percent of the time, lesbians are waaaay ahead of them, reaching orgasm 86 percent of the time. So  are you ready to get creative?

Own The Conversation

Ask The Big Question

Can you fully enjoy sex without having an orgasm?

Disrupt Your Feed

Gentlemen, it's time to get WAY more creative in bed.

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There are a LOT of female orgasm triggers you wouldn't even believe.'It's bad business to kill your clients, so why do that?': police consider rise in fentanyl

Street drugs are increasingly being cut with fentanyl, and west of Saskatchewan, every batch is potentially tainted, according to Calgary police.

"We're all one bad batch away from having a lot of people overdose and potentially die in a very short order," said Staff Sgt. Jason Walker, as he discussed a string of three deaths and overdoses Saskatoon police say is connected to the same batch of cocaine laced with fentanyl.

According to Walker, there were over 450 fentanyl-related fatalities in Alberta last year. It's reached the point where it's rare for police in the city to issue warnings about potentially "bad batches" because all street drugs are falling into that category, he said.

"There are no safe batches out there in the Calgary streets, because everything is potentially being touched with fentanyl."

Regina Police Chief Evan Bray noted this week that Saskatchewan sees a fraction of the fentanyl cases in Alberta, which in turn sees fewer cases than neighbouring British Columbia.

But it's clear Saskatchewan is not immune to the problems of fentanyl, with drugs passing through many hands and each time running the risk of getting cut with fentanyl, according to Walker.

"It's going to have been chemically altered so many times, cut and mixed so many times that the one thing I can guarantee you is that at the street level, the person dealing with has no idea what is going to be in [it]."

What's driving the fentanyl mix

Walker notes mixing fentanyl with other drugs is a risky endeavour, asking, "It's bad business to kill your client, so why do that?"

One reason he suggests is the designer drug factor, with customers wanting a stimulant and depressant delivered at the same time for what Walker called a "speedball effect". He speculates another possible reason is that powerful opioids like fentanyl are far more addictive than several other drugs, and can hook customers into using.

As fentanyl becomes an increasing danger, users are also becoming more aware, and police and emergency services are deploying new practices to stay safe, said Walker. He explained that previously, police would search a residence, seizing bags of white powder as cocaine, but now they deploy stringent protocols to deal with "unknown and high-risk toxic" scenes.

"You didn't think much about it but these days you just can't operate that way any more."Ivanka Trump will meet with the South Korean foreign minister, Kang Kyung-wha (right), in place of former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. (Photo: Getty Images)

Ivanka Trump is acting as secretary of state, meeting with the South Korean foreign minister in lieu of Rex Tillerson, whom President Trump fired earlier this week.

On Friday, the White House confirmed the meeting between Ivanka and Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang Kyung-wha in a statement to Newsweek: Ivanka and members of the NSC are meeting with the foreign minister, as they developed a close relationship during the Olympic Games. The foreign minister asked for the meeting while they were at the Olympics together.

The date and agenda of the meeting are not known, but the publication reports that it centers on summits between North and South Korea and between North Korea and the U.S., as part of President Trumps intention to conduct talks with the North Korean dictator.

Many on Twitter were shocked by the notion of Ivanka conducting foreign policy.

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On March 13, Tillerson, who had served as secretary of state since February 2017, was ousted from his position after clashing with Trump over a number of policies, including the Iran nuclear deal, the Paris climate accord, and charges that Russia meddled in the U.S. presidential election. (Trump has called the claims fake news, while Tillerson directed a comment to Russia during an interview, You need to stop.) Trump plans to nominate former CIA Director Mike Pompeo to replace Tillerson.

Ivanka Trump dined with South Korean President Moon Jae-In during the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in February. (Photo: Getty Images)

Despite February reports that Ivanka lacks complete security clearance, notes Newsweek, the first daughter is very involved in government affairs. In February, she led the U.S. delegation at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, dining with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his wife, Kim Jung-sook.

Ivanka also garnered criticism for taking her fathers seat among world leaders at the G20 Summit in July, a move that Trump called very standard, and for leading Congress in a bipartisan roundtable discussion in May.

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Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.Dexter Van Zile is Christian Media Analyst for the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America.

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blog spot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work.

.

..blogs.timesofisrael.com..16 March '18..For more than a decade, the Presbyterian Church (USA), a shrinking Protestant denomination headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, has engaged in a persistent and intentional campaign of Jew-baiting. The people in the pews are not directly responsible for this campaign, but they do bear some measure of responsibility for allowing it to happen. They sat on the sidelines while so-called peace activists affiliated with the Israel-Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church (USA) produced hateful anti-Israel propaganda that portrayed the Jewish state as a singular threat to peace and human rights in the Middle East. The IPMN and its supporters also portrayed American Jews as enemies of democracy in the U.S.Every two years, IPMN supporters put forth overtures demonizing the Jewish state onto the agenda of the denominations General Assembly and then enlisted anti-Zionist Jews from Jewish Voice for Peace to advocate for these resolutions, as if this marginal organization spoke for the entire population of Jews in the U.S. and was a reliable source of information about the Arab-Israeli conflict. Wrong on both counts.The churchs laity did not wake up to the rot in their denomination when prominent theologians and educators in their church met with Hezbollah, an explicitly antisemitic organization that seeks Israels destruction. In 2004, one of these theologians said talking to Hezbollah was easier than talking with American Jews. That should have been a clue that something was wrong in the PCUSA, but it wasnt enough to arouse the laity.The churchs laity did not object when their denominations leaders and staffers in Louisville ran interference with the leadership of mainstream Jewish groups by offering up the tired old refrain that criticizing Israel is not antisemitic. But the people from IPMN were not merely criticizing Israel, but were instead de-legitimizing the very notion of Jewish self-determination. The IPMN encouraged its supporters to embrace propaganda produced by Hezbollah. The IPMN trafficked in ugly antisemitic imagery on its Facebook page and produced numerous documents portraying Zionism  the Jewish demand for self-determination  as the problem in the Middle East.One IPMN leader encouraged Hamas to continue to hold Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit as a hostage until Israel acquiesced to Palestinian demands for right of return. This same leader declared that Israeli soldiers are not human beings in a Facebook post. That should have been a clue that something was seriously wrong in the denomination, but again it was not enough to wake up the laity.When defending the IPMNs polemics from Jewish criticism became untenable, the churchs staffers in Louisville trotted out the line that the IPMN was not an official part of the church itself, when in fact, the organization was created by a 2004 vote of the denominations General Assembly. People who wanted to donate to the IPMN did so through the denominations website.At one point, when some church staffers concerned about Christian-Jewish relations attempted to document how so-called peacemaking commentary promoted hostility toward the Jewish people, the anti-Israel activists screamed bloody murder and got the document watered down.All of this happened while the denominations General Assembly offered nary a word of criticism of jihadists who engaged in acts of genocide against Christians and Yazidis in Iraq and Syria and while Christians throughout the world endured terrible acts of persecution and murder at the hands of jihadists. And it all happened while churches were leaving the PCUSA to join other denominations in droves.A small group of activists from a group called Presbyterians for Middle East Peace (PFMEP) tried to confront IPMNs agenda. It achieved some victories but was largely unsuccessful in its effort to stop the PCUSA from being hijacked by anti-Israel ideologues.PFMEPs failure was not rooted in incompetence on its part, but in the nature of the opponents it faced. For IPMN and its allies, the PCUSAs status as a sacramental community was irrelevant. For the anti-Israel activists, the only thing that mattered was passing overtures at GA that attacked Israel. Anti-Israel BDS resolutions were the only sacrament IPMN and its supporters cared about. The IPMN and its allies in the denomination do not care one whit about what the denomination would look like after it wins at General Assembly. Having such a monomaniacal and non-negotiable focus is a great advantage in the PCUSA, where folks place great value on being nice.By way of comparison, the folks from PFMEP love their denomination and do not engage in scorched-earth tactics to achieve victory. They do not burn their church down to save it. Total war is not their thing. They are democrats in the traditional sense of the word. They play by the rules and do not regard their opponents as mortal enemies. This is their great weakness and their ultimate strength, a strength that hopefully the laity in the PCUSA will someday recognize.The difference between the two sides of the debate became manifest in the run-up to the PCUSAs 2010 General Assembly where delegates were asked to approve a report produced by a Middle East Study Committee (MESC), which as events would reveal, was hijacked by Israel haters in the denomination.The committee was charged with providing a comprehensive and factual understanding of the Israel-Palestine conflict that could be used to educate Presbyterians and inform their churchs voice when it tried to promote peace in the Middle East.The resulting report did not qualify as a peacemaking text. It waffled on Israels right to exist as a Jewish state and demonized Israel for killing Gassan Kanafani in July, 1972. The report described Kananfani as a poet who was murdered because of what he wrote, omitting the fact that he was also a high-ranking member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Kanafani met with the terrorists from the Japanese Red Armey who, at the behest of the PFLP, murdered 26 people and injured 80 others in the Lod Airport Massacre in May 1972.What should have been an authoritative and responsible text was turned into a hateful bit of propaganda, so hateful in fact, that even a few pro-Palestinian folks balked at its passage and agreed to a truce to the pro-Israel community in the denomination. Under the truce, the dishonest historical analysis of the report was removed and replaced with personal narratives provided by both Israelis and Palestinians.This truce (dubbed The Miracle in Minneapolis and referred to as a new way of being a church) didnt last. IPMN demonstrated it was still interested in waging ideological war against Israel by producing ugly propaganda such as the 2014 booklet Zionism Unsettled which was eventually disowned by the denominations leaders in Louisville.But by this time, the damage was done. The denominations leaders in Louisville allowed angry partisans with an unreasonable contempt for Israel and Jews to determine how the church would speak about the Arab-Israeli conflict and in so doing, assisted in the destruction of the denominations reputation.As a result of the IPMNs propaganda war, the word Presbyterian has become synonymous with antisemitism, Jew-baiting, unfathomable contempt for Israel and a head-in-the-sand approach to jihadist violence against Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East. It did not have to be this way. The PCUSA did not have to allow itself to be used as the backdrop for a modern-day reenactment of the Salem Witch Trials.It could have been otherwise.The denomination had the intellectual firepower and theological sophistication to deal with the Arab-Israeli conflict in a responsible, serious and credible manner. It was in a position to formulate pronouncements about peace and justice in the Middle East that would have made future members of the denomination proud. It could have confronted human tragedy with integrity and humanity.The best evidence that it could have been otherwise is evident in the way it approached the problem of sexual abuse among its community of missionaries in Africa. When the children of Presbyterian missionaries went public with stories of abuse they endured at the hands of another Presbyterian minister while living in the Congo and told their story to the Dallas Morning News in 1999, the PCUSA embarked on a long and painstaking struggle to document the problem of sexual abuse. Over the course of the next 11 years, the denomination convened two panels, both of which issued detailed reports about the problem of sexual abuse. The first report, issued in 2002 was 174 pages in length, the second, issued in 2010 was 546 pages long.The panels themselves were comprised of lawyers, counselors and researchers who worked assiduously to uncover information about the suffering endured by the victims and to ascertain the facts about what actually happened.The work of these panels was marked by a high degree of professionalism, a great sense of the tragedy they were investigating, and a huge commitment to not making the problem they were investigating worse. As more people came forward with stories of abuse in other areas of the Presbyterian Mission field, the denominations investigators looked into problems in Cameroon, Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Mexico, Pakistan, Thailand, and Zambia.Examining the texts of the reports leaves readers with a profound sense of just how serious the denomination took the problem and how serious the investigators took their responsibilities as researchers. They knew their work was going to be examined closely by future generations of Christians to see whether or not they got it right.The folks on these two panels were looking for the truth, not scapegoats. They treated the problem with the gravity, humility and seriousness it deserved  as well they should have.It was a jugular issue of singular and great importance to the denomination.All this raises an obvious question.Why didnt the PCUSA treat its investigations into the Arab-Israeli conflict with the seriousness with which it dealt with the problem of sexual abuse endured by the children of its missionaries?Why did it allow the IPMN, which it created with a 2004 vote of the General Assembly, to engage in such ugly acts of scapegoating against Israel and Jews in the U.S.? Why couldnt they treat issues related to the Jewish and Palestinian people with the same seriousness with which they addressed an issue of jugular importance to Presbyterians?The answer is simple and obvious. It simply wasnt that important to the denominations leaders. The denominations welfare and reputation was not at stake in the same way it was with the missionary abuse scandal. The denominations leaders and peace activists concluded that they could deal with issues central to the Jewish people in a sloppy and haphazard way without any real consequence to their own reputation, or the reputation of the church they led.They were wrong.At some point down the road, principled Presbyterians are going to have to come to terms with what their denomination has done. When the time for reckoning comes, the church will have a model to follow.TOKYO - More than two decades after Japan's Aum Shinrikyo cult plunged Tokyo into terror by releasing a nerve agent on rush-hour subway trains, its spinoffs continue to attract new followers.





Cult head Shoko Asahara is on death row, along with 12 of his disciples, for crimes including the subway attack, which killed 13 people and injured thousands.





He was arrested in 1995 in the wake of the sarin attack, but the Aum cult survived the crackdown, renaming itself Aleph and drawing new recruits into its fold.





Aleph officially renounced ties to Asahara in 2000, but the doomsday guru retains significant influence, according to Japan's Public Security Intelligence Agency.





"It (Aleph) is a group that firmly instructs its followers to see Asahara as the supreme being," an agency investigator told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.





"If someone says 'guru Asahara wants to bring down Japan', there would be followers who would act. The group poses such a potential danger," he said.





Raids on Aleph facilities have found recordings of his teachings as well as a device used by the Aum cult known as a "Perfect Salvation Initiation", a type of headgear that emits weak electric currents which members believe connects them to Asahara's brainwaves.





Aleph and other splinter groups, which deny links to Asahara despite the claims of authorities, have 1,650 members in Japan and hundreds more in Russia, according to the Public Security Intelligence Agency.





It says the groups attract around 100 new followers annually via yoga classes, fortune-telling and other activities that do not mention the cult's name, often targeting young people who do not remember the 1995 subway attack.





"Young female followers go to 'training' places with their children... We are worried there is an increasing number of children who have been inculcated by the Aum since they were very young," the investigator said.





Asahara and his wife Tomoko had four daughters and two sons, and most of the family remains within the cult.





One daughter who left in 2006, aged 16, has described horrifying ordeals during her childhood, including being forced to eat food with ceramic shards in it and being left in the cold in little clothing.





"It was an environment unthinkable in modern-day Japan. I was afraid I would be killed if I rebelled, so I felt tense, as if I were on a battleground, for 16 years," she said in a statement last year.





"I strongly hope no more children will grow up in the Aum's successor groups."





In early March, on Asahara's 63rd birthday, investigators were keeping their usual close eye on the headquarters of an Aum splinter group in a quiet Tokyo residential area.





"We are not marking the day in any way," said Akitoshi Hirosue, deputy head of the Hikarinowa (The Circle of Rainbow Light) group.





"We actually think Asahara should be executed," he told AFP at the group's headquarters.





Hikarinowa split from Aleph in 2007 under the leadership of flamboyant former Aum spokesman Fumihiro Joyu, and now has around 100-150 members.





"As long as the death penalty is not implemented against him, Asahara is the 'saviour exempt from execution' and helps Aleph win more followers," Joyu recently said in arguing for the death of his former guru.





Aleph training halls are closed to media and the group did not respond to enquiries by AFP.





Taro Takimoto, a lawyer who has helped relatives of cultists for decades, supports capital punishment for Asahara but not the 12 other members on death row, who he says only acted as "limbs" of the guru.





He fears the 12 members will "become martyrs" if executed, only boosting cult recruitment.









"We should have them talk until they die a natural death so that they help prevent a recurrence," Takimoto told AFP.





And he said they deserve some understanding, describing them as "good people" who were brainwashed by Asahara.





"Asahara was more than God to them, the person who knew the entire universe and all its reincarnations. Orders from Asahara were orders from the universe," he said.





Asahara's execution may draw a line under the Aum's crimes for some Japanese, but Takimoto warns it could also trigger suicides among his followers and lead to the appointment of a successor guru.





A leading candidate is Asahara's second son, according to Takimoto.





"If the second son, bearing Asahara's ashes, declares himself 'guru', he would gain serious religious authority," opening a new chapter on the cult, Takimoto said.

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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Former Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad has once again written a letter to the chief commander of the Quds Force to elaborate on how and why the military unit allegedly paid his former deputy millions of dollars.

Ahmadinejad implicitly threatened the commander, saying he is prepared to disclose his governments business interactions with the Quds Force.

The Quds Force is responsible for Irans extraterritorial military operations. Though affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, the Quds Force reports directly to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Ahmadinejads letter almost coincided with the arrest of two of his close aides in recent days, on convictions stemming from their service in the former presidents administration.

According to the Dolat-i Bahar (Government of the Spring) website, which supports the former president, Ahmadinejad wrote a letter to Major General Qasem Soleimani demanding he explain how and why the military unit under his command had allegedly paid millions of dollars to former Deputy President Hamid Baghaei.

Four days earlier, on March 13, Baghaei, who served as deputy president for executive affairs during Ahmadinejads second term, was placed behind bars to begin his prison term.

Baghaei was sentenced in December to 15 years in prison for embezzlement and illegal business transactions.

Ahmadinejad says Baghaei was sent to prison on charges receiving millions of dollars from the Quds Force to distribute among African leaders but instead pocketing the money.

Referring to his previous letter to Soleimani, Ahmadinejad asked on March 17 that the Quds Force commander either refute the charges against Baghaei or explain based on what law and for what purpose and from what sources the Quds Force paid Baghaei millions of dollars at a time when he held no governmental post.

Based on a statement issued by the office of Tehrans prosecutor-general, Baghaei was charged with pocketing 3,766,000 euros and $590,000 in cash that he received from the Quds Force. He was expected to distribute the money among several heads of African states during a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) held in 2012 in Tehran.

At the time, Baghaei had no governmental responsibility.

Nevertheless, according to Ahmadinejad, Baghaei has been unfairly condemned to 15 years imprisonment and a fine of more than $11 million.

The former deputy president also wrote a letter to Soleimani, demanding he refute the allegations.

Soleimani has responded to neither Baghaeis nor Ahmadinejads letter.Iranian authorities say they have detained a close ally of former hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, a former vice president and chief of staff of Ahmadinejad, was arrested on March 17, the website of Tehrans prosecutor said.

It said Mashaei was arrested by police officers who were acting on the orders of the judiciary.

No further details were provided.

Mashaei served as first vice president in 2009 at the start of Ahmadinejad's contested second term in office.

Mashaeis detention comes after video uploaded on social media showed him protesting outside the British Embassy in Tehran on March 15 against the incarceration of another of Ahmadinejad's vice presidents.

The semiofficial ISNA news agency quoted Mashaeis lawyer, Mehran Abdollapour, as saying that his client was probably arrested for having burnt a copy of a court verdict sentencing Hamid Baghai during the protest.

A court in December found Baghai guilty of embezzlement and illegal business transactions, and he began serving his 15-year prison term on March 13.

Several of Ahmadinejad's allies have been jailed over the misappropriation of public funds.

Ahmadinejad, a hard-liner who was president from 2005 to 2013, defended Mashaei in a statement, calling his arrest a violation of the constitution... that confirms the need for fundamental reforms within the judiciary."

The ex-president has become increasingly isolated for challenging Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his powerful allies, namely the judiciary.

Ahmadinejad last year accused the judiciary of "dictatorship."

In a letter marking the celebrations of the anniversary of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, Ahmadinejad said in February that the judiciary has become the main pillar of oppression against the Iranian people.

The letter followed reports that media activists who support Ahmadinejad had been detained. The reason for their arrests was not immediately clear.

The Guardians Council -- which vets presidential candidates -- prevented Ahmadinejad and Baghai from running in the 2017 presidential election that returned President Hassan Rouhani to office for a second term.

With reporting by AFP and APIrans Guardian Council, a watchdog that vets election candidates and ensures new laws comply with constitutional law, has set 11 new conditions on March 17 for those wishing to run for president in 2021.

One of the new conditions requires a security clearance that ensures potential candidates are not seditionists, a label regime insiders use to describe those who played an active role in the protests that followed the disputed presidential election in 2009, which brought ultraconservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power for a second term.

Another condition calls on candidates to name their advisers while registering with the council as candidate. This condition is an apparent move to make sure that not only the candidate, but also his aides are vetted.

The new conditions are likely to make candidacy harder for independent hopefuls, and to ensure that everyone registering their candidacy meets the requirements set by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the non-elected body, the Guardian Council.

Although the Guardian Council has disqualified all female candidates for presidency so far, the councils spokesman Abbasali Kadkhodai reiterated once again that the council is still silent about whether women can or cannot run for president.

Kadkhodai said that the new conditions are based on a mandate Khamenei gave the council on January 10 further to the general policies he had determined in 2015.

In both of those documents Khamenei had ordered the Guardian Council to offer their interpretation of article 115 of the Iranian Constitutional Law that requires candidates to be religious political men of Iranian nationality with a background in good management. Men who are honest, pious and believe in the principles of the Islamic Republic and the countrys official religion, that is 12-Imamite Shiism.

In its interpretation of the law, which is now embodied in the new conditions, Guardian Council requires presidential candidates to be disposed with natural and learned merits and capable of foreseeing affairs of the state based on rationality and true knowledge of how to run the country.

Almost every word in the new conditions is prone to individual interpretation. As a result, any candidate may be barred if the 12 Guardian Council members decide so.

Other conditions include Introducing advisers who can push forward and manage their plans, being experienced in political and religious domains, and capable of correspondence and public speaking.

Kadkhodai said, There are still other conditions, such as proper age for candidacy, that have to be determined by the Majles.

In 2013, Guardian Council disqualified former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani for being too old, while he was nearly a decade younger than the councils Chairman Ali Jannati.

Ahmadinejad was also disqualified in 2017, but the reason for his disqualification was never made public.

In every presidential election in Iran so far, Guardian Council disqualified hundreds of independent candidates, leaving a handful of mainly hardliners and one or two reform-minded politicians.

The conservative-controlled Guardian Council is one of the most powerful and influential bodies of the Islamic Republic. It consists of six clerics appointed by the Supreme Leader and six lawyers nominated by the judiciary and approved by the Majles. Its members are elected for six years on a phased basis, so that half the membership changes every three years.Saudi Arabias powerful crown prince will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington on March 20, with the two men likely to discuss strategies to counter Irans influence in the Middle East and Gulf region.

The 32-year-old Prince Muhammad bin Salman will also likely discuss the cultural and political changes he is implementing in Saudi Arabia during his talks with the U.S. president. The prince provided Trump a lavish welcome in Riyadh some 10 months ago, and the two men appear to have warm relations.

Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia are currently involved in a proxy war in Yemen, where Tehran supports Huthi rebels fighting against the Saudi-backed Yemeni government. Iran has denied allegations that it has supplied weapons to the rebels.

The United States and the Saudis have presented evidence that they say proves that Iran has supplied missiles to the rebels, who have launched rockets into Saudi territory.

Trump and the crown prince may also discuss a dispute between Qatar and a Saudi-led coalition of fellow Arab countries. The coalition accuses Qatar of financing regional terrorism and of having too close ties to Iran -- allegations the Qataris deny.

Muhammad bin Salman was appointed crown prince in June 2017 by his father, King Salman. He was also appointed deputy prime minister and maintained his post as defense minister.

The crown prince has pushed for a modernization effort in the conservative country, including easing public restrictions on women. But he has also detained dozens of people, including members of the royal family, in what he says is a crackdown on corruption.

Based on reporting by AFP and The Saudi GazetteBaku, Azerbaijan, March 18

Trend:

Over the past 24 hours, Armenias armed forces have 117 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said March 18.

Armenias armed forces were using large-caliber machine guns.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.Baku, Azerbaijan, March 18

By Ali Mustafayev - Trend:

Azerbaijan, with the peculiarities of its cultural values, support of multiculturalism and equality, regardless of ethnic or religious affiliation, has established itself as a cultural and economic bridge between the West and the East, Ismail Serageldin, founding director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA), the new Library of Alexandria, co-chair of the Nizami Ganjavi International Center, told Trend.

We are pleased to see the outstanding progress achieved by Azerbaijan over the past 10-15 years, Serageldin said. This is noticeable not only in terms of the countrys excellently developing infrastructure, but also in terms of the truly large-scale development of several sectors of the economy at once.

Speaking about the importance of Azerbaijans contribution to the world culture, he noted that Azerbaijan has given the world many great personalities, the memory of which is still being cherished.

Being the co-chair of the Nizami Ganjavi International Center, I can say that I am proud of the preservation of the heritage of the great Azerbaijani poet Nizami Ganjavi, who already in the 12th century generated progressive ideas that remained topical until the present day, Serageldin said.

He added that the Global Baku Forum, which was held in Azerbaijan for the sixth time, is an event of great importance, a symbol of openness, cooperation, friendship among nations, which is evidenced by the annually increasing number of presidents and prime ministers from many countries among the forums participants.Baku, Azerbaijan, March 18

Trend:

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has congratulated Pope Francis.

On behalf of the people of Azerbaijan and on my own behalf, I cordially congratulate you and all your coreligionists on the occasion of the Coronation Day, President Aliyev said in his letter.

The relations between Azerbaijan and the Holy See have stepped into a new phase over recent period. High-level reciprocal visits that have been organized contribute to the promotion of dialogue and tolerance among civilizations and religions, he noted.

It is my hope that we will consistently maintain our sincere dialogue towards ensuring the triumph of universal values, preservation of global peace and tranquility and establishment of mutual understanding, support and solidarity among people, the president added. On this remarkable day, I wish you robust health and success in your noble and holy mission.Baku, Azerbaijan, March 18



By Leman Zeynalova - Trend:



The visit of Bako Sahakyan, who claims to be the president of the illegal regime created in the occupied Azerbaijani territories, to the US should have no impact on strategic partnership between Washington and Baku, Matthew Bryza, former US ambassador to Azerbaijan and former co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, told Trend March 18.



This is not Sahakyans first visit to the U.S. Moreover, he has absolutely no sponsorship from the U.S. government and, as in the past, will not have any meetings with U.S. government officials, except possibly the U.S. Co-Chair, and that would never occur on U.S. government territory. So, as long as the above conditions are met, Sahakyans decision to make what the U.S. government views as a private visit to the U.S. should have no impact on the Azerbaijan-U.S. strategic partnershp. But, I stress, the above conditions need to be met, said Bryza.



Also, he believes, it is possible that members of the U.S. Congress, such as Senator Robert Melendez, may host meetings with Sahakyan.



But, Menendez has been under investigation by the FBI for corruption for years and will soon face a re-trial. I know from my personal experience of him blocking my confirmation as Ambassador to Azerbaijan that he is in the pocket of the vicious and hateful Armenian National Committee of America, whose previous president is a convicted felon. I therefore would not read anything significant into any meeting the highly corrupt Menendez might host, added Bryza.



Earlier, over Bako Sahakyans visit, the US Ambassador to Azerbaijan Robert Cekuta was summoned to the Foreign Ministry and received a note of protest, sent by the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan to the US State Department.



Meanwhile, Azerbaijans ambassador to the US, Elin Suleymanov, after a meeting in the State Department, presented the protest of Azerbaijan to the American side.



The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.



The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.Baku, Azerbaijan, March 18

By Khalid Kazimov  Trend:

President of Iran Hassan Rouhani has said that his country and Azerbaijan will sign an investment deal for financing a railway segment inside the Islamic Republic during his late March visit to Baku.

During my visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan, the deal on joint investment in Rasht-Astara railway will be signed, Rouhani told reporters in Tehran.

The railway segment is a part of the International North-South Transport Corridor which is meant to connect Northern Europe with Southeast Asia. It will serve as a link connecting the railways of Azerbaijan, Iran, and Russia. At the initial stage, it is planned to transport 5 million tons of cargo per year through the corridor and over 10 million tons of cargo in future.

In order to complete the mega project of the North-South Corridor, three railroad segments connecting the northwestern city of Qazvin to the border city of Astara should be constructed inside Iran.

The first segment is Qazvin-Rasht according to Iranian officials, will be completed in the coming months.

The second segment connecting the cities of Rasht and Astara is expected to be constructed within three years with Azerbaijans financial aid.

The Astara-Astara segment which connects the two border cities of the same name in Iran and Azerbaijan is almost ready to come on stream.Baku, Azerbaijan, March 18

By Khalid Kazimov  Trend:

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has pledged to expand all-out ties with Oman.

"Iran is determined to expand all-out ties with Oman," IRNA news agency quoted President Rouhani as saying.

Speaking at a meeting with Oman's Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi on Sunday in Tehran, President Rouhani described ties between the two countries as friendly and brotherly, IRNA news agency reported.

The president further called for widening banking ties and facilitating business trips between the two countries.

Speaking about the significance of the development of Chabahar and Jask ports, he said that the Chabahar railway to Zahedan will leave good impacts on the development of economic relations between the countries of the region.

Non-oil trade between the two countries during the first nine months of the current Iranian year (March 21-Dec. 21, 2017) amounted to more than 1.33 million tons worth $393 million.More than 48,000 Syrians have left Eastern Ghouta since the humanitarian pauses came into force, Major General Yuri Yevtushenko, the chief of the Russian center for reconciliation of opposing sides in Syria, said on Saturday, TASS reported.

"Overall, since the humanitarian pauses came into effect in Eastern Ghouta, 48,033 people have been taken out with the help of the Russian center for reconciliation of opposing sides," he said.

Through the Muhayam al-Wafideen checkpoint, 135 Syrians and 137 children came out, he said. The number of those who fled that suburb of Damascus has amounted to 1,328 people.

"Along the second humanitarian corridor, 30,732 more people have come from the populated localities of Arbil, Hammuria, Saqba and Hazze in the past 24 hours," Yevtushenko said.

The Russian reconciliation center continues to fulfill assigned tasks after the completion of the military campaign in Syria. The centers officers regularly travel around the country's liberated areas to assess the humanitarian situation. The main efforts of the Russian military are now focused on assistance to the refugees returning to their homes and evacuation of civilians from de-escalation zones.

They are also tasked with lending humanitarian assistance to the Syrian population, coordinating work to restore the infrastructure in war-torn regions, assisting in the return of refugees and in the integration of those militants who have laid down arms into peaceful life, as well as monitoring the ceasefire.The main rebel group in the southern pocket of Syrias opposition-held eastern Ghouta told Reuters on Sunday it was negotiating with a United Nations delegation about a ceasefire, aid and the evacuation of urgent medical cases, Reuters reported

We are engaged in arranging serious negotiations to guarantee the safety and protection of civilians, said Wael Alwan, the Istanbul-based spokesman for Failaq al-Rahman, in a voice recording.

After the adoption of the UN Security Council resolution on the humanitarian ceasefire in Syria, 329 people, including 57 children and 29 women, became the victims of attacks by the Syrian government forces in Eastern Ghouta, the blocked suburb of Damascus.

On Feb. 25, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution, which calls on the conflicting parties in Syria to immediately declare a 30-day truce.

Syria has been suffering from an armed conflict since March 2011, which, according to the UN, has claimed more than 500,000 lives.Russian presidential candidate and incumbent head of state Vladimir Putin cast his vote in Sundays presidential election, TASS reports.

Putin visited ballot station number 2151 in the Russian Academy of Sciences on Moscows Kosygina Street.

The Russian leader cast his vote at this ballot station during the presidential election on March 4, 2012.

Several dozen of Russian and foreign journalists gathered in the hall of the Academy of Sciences. Observers from parties and candidates monitor the process.

Vladimir Putin said he will consider successful any percentage of votes allowing him to fulfill presidential duties.

"Any [percentage] that allows fulfilling presidential duties," Putin said when asked which percentage of votes he would consider as successful.

Putin stressed: "Im sure that the program which I suggest for the country is right."

Later Putin had a brief meeting with mass media representatives. "I will have several meetings with workers today," he said.More than 45,000 Russian citizens who are currently abroad have cast their votes in the Russian presidential election, Russian Foreign Ministrys Ambassador-at-Large Andrei Nesterenko said, TASS reported

"At the moment more than 45,000 people have voted," the diplomat said, voicing hope that the figure will grow.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has sent more than 160 diplomats to provide assistance to the election commissions abroad.

"At the moment more than 45,000 people have voted," the diplomat said, voicing hope that the figure will grow.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has sent more than 160 diplomats to provide assistance to the election commissions abroad.

Russia is taking steps to ensure that those citizens who are serving abroad at military bases and as border guards were able to vote as well.Baku, Azerbaijan, Mar. 18

Trend:

Vladimir Putin leads the presidential elections in Russia according to the first exit polls, RIA Novosti reported.

According to the POF, 77 percent of voters cast their ballots for the incumbent head of state, the second was Pavel Grudinin, the candidate from the Communist Party, with 11.8 percent, the third - Vladimir Zhirinovsky with 5.9 percent of votes.

RPORC said that 73.9 percent of Russians voted for Putin, the second - Grudinin with 11.2 percent, the third is Vladimir Zhirinovsky with 6.7 percent of votes.The Free Syrian Army (FSA) units backed by the Turkish military have taken control of Afrin town center, as part of Turkey's Operation Olive Branch to clear PKK-linked People's Protection Units (YPG) and Daesh terrorists in northern Syria, reports said Sunday.

According to the Dogan News Agency, the FSA forces started entering the town center from southeastern Afrin early Sunday.

Reports noted that gunshots and explosion sounds are being heard in the area, while Turkish fighter jets continue to fly over the city.KYODO NEWS - Mar 18, 2018 - 10:41 | Arts, World, All

A Japanese couple tied the knot in a traditional aboriginal wedding ceremony in southern Taiwan on Saturday, the first foreign couple to do so since this particular ceremony began 14 years ago.

Toshiaki Yoshida, 36, and Natsumi Ueno, 35, were the Japanese couple who wed through the ceremony.

Chien Ching-fa, director of the Maolin National Scenic Area Administration, said of the outdoor ceremony in an aboriginal village in Sandimen Township, Pingtung County, that his agency has been co-organizing the annual event since 2005 to preserve aboriginal culture and promote tourism to the area.

Ten couples -- six aboriginal couples, three Taiwan ethnic Chinese couples and the Japanese couple -- all dressed in traditional costume were wed through the ceremony, developed for noble people of the Paiwan tribe.

The ceremony began with an inspection of the groom's dowry, followed by the bride being carried in a palanquin to the ceremony venue where the wedding couple danced and drank aboriginal wines.

The climax of the ceremony was the bride riding a giant swing, then being carried in a circle around the square by the groom to show off his physical strength.

The couple then exchanged vows and drank locally produced wine before the ceremony ended with a group dancing around the giant swing.

Ueno, a native of Saitama Prefecture, said she learned of the wedding ceremony from a friend and persuaded Yoshida to have their wedding in Taiwan.

Ueno's parents, who attended the ceremony, said because their second daughter got married in Hawaii, they were not surprised when their third daughter told them that she intended to have her wedding outside Japan.

And Yoshida, a native of Gunma Prefecture, said as many of Taiwan's aboriginal tribes are matriarchal societies, he had no problem with his wife having the final say on everything.

Ueno said the wedding ceremony was so beautiful that she will cherish it forever. But Yoshida said as Saturday's ceremony was long and the weather was sunny and warm, he would like to revisit the area but has no interest in getting married again.

However, both Yoshida and Ueno said they will definitely recommend their friends have an aboriginal wedding in Taiwan.

"Pingtung has good food, unique handicrafts and beautiful scenery," Chien said. "We hope to bring more visitors and young people here to revitalize the area."KYODO NEWS - Mar 18, 2018 - 19:38 | World, All

Li Keqiang was re-elected for a second five-year term as China's premier by the National People's Congress on Sunday, although it is believed that he will have less influence within the government.

As President Xi Jinping moves to bolster his influence at home and abroad, his confidant Wang Qishan was appointed vice president by the country's parliament on Saturday, and Wang is certain to take charge of various economic matters.

Li has also managed economic policies but his influence in that field is likely to decrease with the appointment of Wang as vice president.

The Xi-led government has also decided to promote Foreign Minister Wang Yi to state councilor in charge of foreign affairs, replacing Yang Jiechi, China's top diplomat, sources familiar with the matter said Sunday.

Wang Qishan, who was one of the seven members of the Politburo Standing Committee of the ruling Communist Party of China, served as vice premier in charge of financial affairs and worked on economic negotiations with the United States.

Xi is expected to ask Wang Qishan to deal with trade disputes with Washington, which has imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, escalating tensions with China and other trading partners.

Two legislators voted against Li's reappointment as premier, with 2,964 in favor.

Li, an economic expert who graduated from Peking University, is known as a confidant of Xi's predecessor Hu Jintao as they worked together at the Communist Youth League of China, an organization composed of the country's young political elite.

As Xi apparently desires to remain in office indefinitely, he has been trying to diminish the league's influence.

Xi, who has promised to intensify the fight against corruption, also ousted Ling Jihua, a one-time top aide to Hu, for suspected bribery.

Ling was one of the prime targets of Xi's anti-graft campaign that critics say is partly aimed at helping him further consolidate his power and stave off influence from his predecessor's faction.

Xi was re-elected for a second five-year term as China's president by parliament on Saturday.

Last Sunday, China's congress agreed to remove from the country's Constitution the two-term limit for the president and vice president, effectively paving the way for Xi's re-election to a third five-year term in 2023.

There is growing concern that the latest constitutional amendment heralds a return to authoritarianism in China as the nation's long-established collective leadership system is expected to become a mere formality.

On Sunday, the NPC also appointed Yang Xiaodu, a member of the Political Bureau of the ruling party, as director of the new national supervisory commission, under which various anti-graft bodies will be integrated.

A provision regarding the new anti-graft agency was adopted earlier this month by parliament to be inserted in China's Constitution, the first constitutional amendment since 2004.

The congress agreed to appoint Yang, with 2,953 votes in favor, six against and seven abstentions.By Ko Hirano, KYODO NEWS - Mar 18, 2018 - 11:28 | All, World

With the resumption of talks with North Korea not in sight, Japan has stepped up diplomacy with the United States and South Korea to push for the resolution of Pyongyang's abduction of Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s.

Tokyo's lobbying of Washington and Seoul to take up the abduction issue during their leaders' planned meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reflects Japan's concern that the issue may get sidelined as the summits appear to be primarily focused on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

But such concern may have eased somewhat after Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono indicated he has won support from senior U.S. and South Korean officials he met in Washington, partly because the two countries also fret about North Korea's human rights situation.

Speaking after talks with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Friday, Kono said, "We agreed that Japan and the United States will continue to closely cooperate in resolving the abduction issue."

Including President Donald Trump, who met with families of Japanese abduction victims during his visit to Tokyo last November, U.S. administration officials share a "considerable interest" in the issue, Kono told reporters.

Referring to three U.S. nationals being held in North Korea, Kono said, "The United States has a similar kind of concern, as well."

In his first State of the Union address in January, Trump condemned "the cruel dictatorship" in Pyongyang over its human rights record, including its treatment of Otto Warmbier, a University of Virginia student who died last year soon after his release from North Korea in a coma following more than 17 months' imprisonment.

In a meeting Saturday in Washington, South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung Wha told Kono that Seoul will "firmly coordinate" with Tokyo in addressing the abduction issue, according to the Japanese minister.

Japan's push for the issue was bolstered by a call earlier this month by the U.N. special rapporteur on North Korean human rights that any progress in the nuclear issue during a meeting between South Korean President Moon Jae In and Kim in late April and a Trump-Kim summit in May should be accompanied by talks to address the North's alleged human rights violations.

In a report presented to the U.N. Human Rights Council, Tomas Ojea Quintana urged North Korea to free three Americans and six South Koreans in custody.

Ojea Quintana also prodded Pyongyang to promptly investigate "unresolved cases of abductions involving citizens of Japan, the Republic of Korea and other states," referring to South Korea by its formal name.

North Korea has said the abduction issue involving Japanese had been settled, a position Japan does not accept. The issue has prevented the two governments from normalizing diplomatic relations.

Japan officially lists 17 citizens as abduction victims and suspects North Korea's involvement in many more disappearances. While five of the 17 were repatriated in 2002, Pyongyang maintains that eight have died and the other four never entered the country.

In May 2014, North Korea agreed with Japan to reinvestigate the fates of abductees but Pyongyang suspended the probe in February 2016 after being angered by Japan's sanctions against the North in response to the country's nuclear and missile tests.

A Japanese Cabinet Office survey released last December showed 78.3 percent of respondents in Japan cited the abduction issue as a major area of interest in North Korea. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says the issue is one of the policy priorities for his government.

Abe plans to visit the United States in early April for talks with Trump in an effort to ensure close coordination ahead of the first-ever U.S.-North Korea summit.

But in a reflection of Japan's wariness that it may be left behind in the flurry of diplomacy over the North, Abe expressed hope during telephone talks Friday with Moon that the back-to-back summits would lead to talks between Tokyo and Pyongyang, according to the South Korean presidential office.

Kono told Pence and Kang that Japan wants to see a comprehensive resolution of the nuclear, missile and abduction issues prior to normalization of ties with North Korea -- a position the Abe government would like reflected in the summits.Classes to commence with reduced strength when Kerala schools reopen

To begin with the education department may allow only 25 per cent students in primary classes when schools reopen. Allowing only one-fourth students would ensure maintaining social distance between pupilsHacker Adrian Lamo, who is perhaps best known for reporting whistleblower Chelsea Manning to the FBI, has died at age 37, according to a Facebook post from his father.

With great sadness and a broken heart I have to let know all of Adrians friends and [acquaintances] that he is dead, Mario Lamo posted in the 2600: The Hacker Quarterly group. A bright mind and compassionate soul is gone, he was my beloved son.

Lamo, who is known for hacking organizations including Microsoft, Yahoo and the New York Times, turned in Manning to the FBI after she told Lamo she had given classified military information to the whistleblower site WikiLeaks, Wired reports. Manning was eventually sentenced to 35 years in prison, though she was released in 2017 after her sentence was commuted by President Barack Obama.

Lamos cause of death has not been released, but his death was confirmed by the coroner in Sedgwick County, Kan., where he lived, ZDNet reports. A neighbor found his body, according to ZDNet.[caption id="attachment_4593" align="alignnone" width="620"]

Photos: ALM/Shutterstock.com [/caption] In a crusade to save its planned $85 billion takeover of Time Warner, AT&T has pressed a legal fight rife with drama befitting a deal that involves the provider of CNN news coverage and HBOs Game of Thrones. Pointing to President Donald Trumps contempt for CNN coverage and public opposition to the deal itself, AT&T and Time Warner questioned early on whether political retribution was behind the Justice Departments decision in November to block the acquisition. The Justice Department, bringing further theater to the proceedings, has likened AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson to Captain Renault from the classic film Casablanca, comparing the executives professed surprise over seeing the merger challenged to the duplicitous characters famous line, Im shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here! Meanwhile, the Justice Department has pressed its case that AT&T would wield control over the Time Warner network to hinder rivals, resulting in higher prices for U.S. consumers. It's been decades since the government challenged a "vertical" mergertwo companies that don't sit in the same space on the supply chain. The two sides are scheduled to head to trial Monday in Washington federal district court. Heres what to watch.

"Not exactly a unicorn."

For many antitrust experts, the Justice Departments challenge has upended a decades-long understanding of how regulators view vertical mergers. In the rare cases where vertical mergers have raised concerns, regulators and companies have reached agreements that allow the deal to proceed through narrow, targeted terms to address antitrust concerns. The idea, as one antitrust expert put it, has been preserve the good while addressing specific concerns [regulators] have. One recent example was the 2011 settlement in which the Justice Department allowed Comcasts acquisition of NBC Universal to proceed, with conditions meant to preserve competition. The Justice Department has fought the notion that its challenge to the AT&T-Time Warner deal amounts to a significant departure from the recent history of antitrust enforcement. In a recent opinion, Judge Richard Leon said DOJ lawyers have laid out a history of the department blocking similar deals. So while it may, indeed, be a rare breed of horse, it is not exactly a unicorn, Leon wrote. The vertical nature of the deal leaves the Justice Department with a steeper hill to climb, as the merger would combine complementary businesses rather than eliminate a competitor.

Story continues

How much will we hear about Trump?

Likely nothing at allbut not for lack of trying on AT&Ts part. In the buildup to trial, AT&T pushed to unearth any communications between the Justice Department and the White House over the companys proposed acquisition of Time Warner. AT&T pressed for that discovery based on the belief the company had been subjected to selective enforcementsingled-out, essentiallybased on the presidents scorn for CNN and past statement that the deal would put too much power in the hands of too few. Leon last month rejected AT&Ts quest for communications between the Justice Department and the White House, ruling that the companies had failed to meet the rigorous standard for compelling discovery based on their belief that the merger challenge amounted to selective enforcement. [AT&T and Time Warner] have fallen far short of establishing that this enforcement action was selectivethat is, that there exist persons similarly situated who have not been prosecuted, Leon wrote. Lawyers took the ruling as a clear sign Leon was interested in sticking to the antitrust issues and steering clear of politicsan aspect of AT&Ts defense that even some believers in the deals legality viewed as a red herring. [caption id="attachment_10101" align="alignnone" width="620"]

Makan Delrahim, assistant attorney general in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. (2017) Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi/ NLJ [/caption]

Meet the key players.

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson and the DOJs antitrust chief, Makan Delrahim, have sparred with each other from afar in the buildup to trial. Stephenson has questioned Delrahims motives in bringing the challenge and called attention to a 2016 interview in which Delrahim told a Canadian television station that he did not see the deal as a major antitrust problem. Delrahim joined the Trump administration from Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schrecks Los Angeles office, where he was a top lobbyist for tech and health care companies. After speaking in person, the two have given differing recollections of their conversations. Delrahim said Stephenson asked whether the Justice Department would approve the deal if AT&T sold CNN. Stephenson has denied ever offering to sell the news network to win the Justice Departments approval. A year removed from defeating Aetnas proposed acquisition of Humana, Craig Conrath is returning as lead trial counsel for the Justice Department in the challenge to AT&T and Time Warners deal. Conrath, a veteran litigator in the antitrust division, previously represented the government in an antitrust trial against American Express, which the Justice Department won in 2015 before losing on appeal. AT&T is represented by OMelveny & Myers partner Dan Petrocelli. A seasoned trial attorney, Petrocelli is not necessarily a household name within the antitrust bar but comes from a firm that is often called upon to defend deals. Staples Inc. chose Weil, Gotshal & Manges litigation partner Diane Sullivan for the defense of its proposed acquisition of Office Depot. (The FTC ultimately won a preliminary injunction, prompting Staples and Office Depot to scrap the deal.) Notably, it was Judge Leon who oversaw the Justice Departments settlement in 2011 with Comcast and NBC Universal. An appointee of former President George W. Bush, Leon has already put his mark on the case by refusing AT&Ts quest for correspondence between the White House and the Justice Department. He said at a pre-trial hearing Thursday the trial will last between six and eight weeks.

Two dollar amounts could feature prominently: 45 cents and $463M.

The Justice Departments expert witness, University of California, Berkeley, business and economics professor Carl Shapiro, has estimated the merger will bring a $463 million increase in costs to U.S. consumers. AT&T's response: That would amount to a monthly increase of 45 cents per customer. AT&Ts lawyers challenge the governments claim that the deal would raise costsand they question whether the alleged per-customer increase of 45 cents justifies squelching the deal on antitrust grounds. The governments central claim in this case is that the merger of AT&T and Time Warner will lead to a theoretical 45-cent increase in the average monthly pay-TV bills for U.S television consumersan increase of 0.4% in an average monthly bill, AT&Ts lawyers wrote in a brief filed this week. Apart from the remarkably small size of the alleged increase, there are several independent reasons why the evidence cannot support the governments claim.By Tim Hepher

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Boeing Co (BA.N) has scrambled to reorganize testing of its new 777X to avoid being delayed by engine snags, while robots and mechanics are starting work on the fuselage, the executive who heads efforts to build the world's largest twin-engined jet said in an interview.

Engine supplier General Electric (GE.N) began flight trials of its new GE9X jet engine on Tuesday after a three-month delay caused mainly by a problem in its compressor. But to put the engine development back on track it must build a new component.

During that time, Boeing will place two temporary engines on the first flight-test aircraft that is gradually beginning to take shape, starting with its lightweight carbon wings and now the fuselage, which Boeing says is on schedule.

The engines, identical in every other respect to the ones that will go into service, will be swapped for fresh ones with the new part before the first 777X carries out its maiden flight next year. The temporary engines will not be fired up, but having them in place will allow other tests to go ahead.

"Honestly, when this happened I thought 'this is going to be bad' and we just kept grinding and grinding at it, and we came up with some pretty creative things to test where we could, build where we could," 777X Vice President and General Manager Eric Lindblad told Reuters.

"To put engines on and then take them off - that is all to protect the schedule," Lindblad said.

The hurried rejig reflects the fact that after years of planning, production has begun in earnest - something evident from activity inside Boeing's new high-tech wing centre.

"We are at the point where it is time to start scaling up the speed that we build things here," Lindblad said inside the 1.3 million-square-foot (120,800-square-meter) fabrication plant where machines weave and bake major parts of the carbon wings.

The engine swap is also an example of how Boeing is trying to avoid eating into the 'buffer' traditionally built into development schedules. That's because it faces a challenging two years before the latest version of its 777 enters service.

Story continues

"We are now in the thick of it ... There is no more waiting until later to solve problems," Lindblad said. "There are still two years left. You cannot give away your buffer."

The 777X aims to maintain Boeing's grip on the 'mini-jumbo' market by leapfrogging Airbus SE's (AIR.PA) 365-seat A350-1000. Boeing has sold over 300 jets, though activity has slowed.

'MORE OPTIMISTIC'

So far, Boeing says it is on track to meet a 2020 target for delivering the first 406-seat 777-9 model to Emirates Airline.

But although the engine snag marks the first significant public slippage, Boeing has already faced a number of teething problems in building carbon wings and other components.

"Everything is hard at this point where you start building an airplane. When you ask me how wing assembly has been going, it's been hard," Lindblad said.

One of the problems involves fitting the carbon panels to the skeleton of spars and ribs, with the light but strong carbon-fibre material less forgiving than traditional aluminium.

"Assuming we continue to march our way through the plan that we have laid out, I feel pretty optimistic about (the engine) and I think that wing assembly is a matter of incorporating the learnings," Lindblad said.

Six months ago, Lindblad says something else was making him feel "queasy". Integration of aircraft systems in a special demonstration lab was not happening as quickly as planned.

"I am more optimistic today," he said. He added that he would be "cautiously guarded" until the first flight, due in the first quarter of 2019.

Another headache has been producing enough wing stringers: reinforcing strips that go outwards from the fuselage.

"I feel confident we have got a plan for that so we are tracking basically back to schedule."

Now Boeing must marry together the various wing parts and produce the long metallic fuselage.

Fuselage panels arriving from Japan have been loaded into a "Fuselage Automated Upright Build" (FAUB) machine used to fasten them. Boeing had delays when the machine was tried out on existing versions of the 777, but Boeing says the system is now running at full speed of five planes a month.

Drawing on experience of the smaller 737 MAX, which has absorbed production increases on a larger scale, Lindblad said the 777X production system had been set up to handle a targeted speed but would not disclose capacity.

"We are planning for world demand," he said.

The first task is to get flight trials under way so that ambitious fuel-saving goals can be tested.

"Will we get four airplanes in the flight test on schedule? We'll see. I think we have a pretty good shot at it."

(Reporting by Tim Hepher in Seattle; editing by Grant McCool)Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired the FBIs former deputy director, Andrew McCabe  a favorite target for President Donald Trump and Republicans  on Friday night, two days before he was to retire.

Sessions made the politically explosive decision after the FBIs Office of Professional Responsibility recommended that McCabe be dismissed for not being forthcoming about authorizing discussions with a reporter about a pending investigation. Sessions said he relied on internal assessments that McCabe lacked candor on multiple occasions.

The move by the attorney general appeared to open a new episode in the criminal investigation into Trump being led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

McCabe responded to the decision with a combative statement saying he was the target of a political attack by Trump and that he has knowledge of events that took place after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey in May.

McCabe said he had been singled out and treated this way because of the role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of James Comey. The release of this report was accelerated only after my testimony to the House Intelligence Committee revealed that I would corroborate former Director Comeys accounts of his discussions with the president.

Michael Bromwich, a former Justice Department inspector general who is representing McCabe, said the efforts to investigate and eventually fire McCabe came after disclosures that McCabe would be a corroborating witness against the president.

McCabe, a 22-year veteran of the bureau, already had stepped down from the No. 2 position and went on leave in January. He planned to retire officially from the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Sunday, when he turns 50 and would become eligible for his full government pension.

Lies and Corruption

By firing McCabe, Sessions may have averted an intense backlash from Trump, who has used his Twitter account to criticize Sessions as well as McCabe. Shortly after midnight, Trump praised McCabes dismissal in a tweet.

Story continues

Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI  A great day for Democracy, the president wrote. Sanctimonious James Comey was his boss and made McCabe look like a choirboy. He knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI!

Sessions said the decision to fire McCabe was the proper response to an investigation into his actions.

Pursuant to Department Order 1202, and based on the report of the Inspector General, the findings of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility, and the recommendation of the Departments senior career official, I have terminated the employment of Andrew McCabe effective immediately, Sessions said in a statement.

Sessions also said: The FBI expects every employee to adhere to the highest standards of honesty, integrity, and accountability.

But Bromwich said the decision process was unfairly rushed.

Pension Question

McCabes dismissal may put his pension in jeopardy, either reducing or eliminating it. He became the FBIs acting director after Trump fired Comey last May. He served in that role until Aug. 2 when Christopher Wray took charge.

This attack on my credibility is one part of a larger effort not just to slander me personally, but to taint the FBI, law enforcement, and intelligence professionals more generally, McCabe said in the statement.

He also said that his dismissal was part of an attempt by the Trump administration to undermine both the bureau and Muellers investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Their persistence in this campaign only highlights the importance of the Special Counsels work, McCabe added.

The bureaus professional responsibility office found that McCabe misled Justice Department officials about his role in letting bureau officials talk to a reporter about the FBIs investigation into the Clinton Foundation in October 2016, according to a person familiar with the matter.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders attacked McCabe on Thursday, a day when he was meeting with Justice Department officials to appeal his case.

Bad Actor

We do think it is well-documented that he has had some very troubling behavior and by most accounts a bad actor and should have some cause for concern, Sanders said in a briefing for reporters.

Trump and Republicans railed against McCabe for his role in the FBIs decision against charging Democrat Hillary Clinton for mishandling classified information in her use of private email when she was secretary of State.

They also questioned McCabes involvement in the FBIs continuing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether anyone around Trump helped in the meddling. The probe is now being run by Mueller.

McCabe became a Republican target partly because he helped oversee the Clinton email investigation in 2016 even though his wife had accepted donations from Democratic political organizations for an unsuccessful campaign for the Virginia state Senate the previous year.

McCabe joined the FBI in 1996 and held management positions in the counterterrorism division and the Washington field office.

The Justice Departments inspector general also has investigated decisions made in the department and FBI before the 2016 election, including events and actions involving McCabe, and plans to release its findings in the coming weeks.FILE - In this June 7, 2017 file photo, acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe appears before a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing about the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act on Capitol Hill in Washington. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Friday, March 16, 2018, that he has fired former FBI Deputy Director McCabe, a longtime and frequent target of President Donald Trump's anger, just two days before his scheduled retirement date. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Friday that he had fired former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, a regular target of President Donald Trump's anger and criticism, just two days before his scheduled retirement date. McCabe immediately decried the move and suggested it was part of the Trump administration's "war on the FBI."

The dismissal was made on the recommendation of FBI disciplinary officials and comes ahead of an inspector general report expected to conclude that McCabe had authorized the release of information to the news media and had not been forthcoming with the watchdog office as it examined the bureau's handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation.

"The FBI expects every employee to adhere to the highest standards of honesty, integrity, and accountability," Sessions said in a Friday night statement.

In an extraordinary rebuttal released immediately after the attorney general's announcement, McCabe said his credibility had been attacked as "part of a larger effort not just to slander me personally" but also the FBI and law enforcement.

"It is part of this administration's ongoing war on the FBI and the efforts of the special counsel investigation, which continue to this day," he added, referring to Robert Mueller's ongoing probe into potential coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign. "Their persistence in this campaign only highlights the importance of the special counsel's work."

McCabe also asserted that he was being singled out because of the "role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of James Comey." Mueller is investigating whether Trump's actions, including firing Comey as FBI director last May, constitute obstruction of justice, and McCabe, a close Comey confidant, could be an important witness. McCabe said the release of the findings against him was accelerated after he told congressional officials that he could corroborate Comey's accounts of his conversations with the president.

Story continues

Though McCabe had spent more than 20 years as a career FBI official, and had played key roles in some of the bureau's most recent significant investigations, Trump had repeatedly condemned him over the last year as emblematic of an FBI leadership he contends is biased against his administration. He appeared to revel in the termination, tweeting early Saturday that it was a "great day for Democracy" and a "great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI."

The dismissal is symbolic to an extent since McCabe had been on leave from the FBI since January, when he abruptly left the deputy director position. But it comes just ahead of his planned retirement, on Sunday, and likely jeopardizes his ability to collect his full pension benefits upon his departure. It could also add to the tumult that has enveloped the law enforcement agency in the last year amid the firing of former director James Comey in May and an ongoing FBI probe of the Trump campaign that the White House has dismissed as a hoax.

The firing arises from a wide-ranging inspector general review into how the FBI handled the Clinton email investigation. That inquiry view focused not only on specific decisions made by FBI leadership during the probe, but also on news media leaks.

McCabe came under particular scrutiny over an October 2016 news report that revealed differing approaches within the FBI and Justice Department over how aggressively the Clinton Foundation should be investigated. The watchdog office has concluded that McCabe authorized FBI officials to speak to a Wall Street Journal reporter for that story and that he had not been forthcoming with investigators, which McCabe denies.

In his statement, McCabe said he had the authority to share information with journalists through the public affairs office, a practice he said was common and continued under current Director Christopher Wray. He said he had honestly answered questions about whom he had spoken to and when, and that when he thought his answers were misunderstood, contacted investigators to correct them.

The media outreach came at a time when McCabe said he was facing public accusations of partisanship and followed reports that his wife, during a run for state political office, had received campaign contributions from a close Clinton ally. McCabe suggested in his statement that he was trying to "set the record straight" about the FBI's independence against the background of those allegations.

Despite his defense, officials at the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility recommended the firing, leaving Justice Department leaders in a difficult situation. Sessions, whose job status has for months appeared shaky under his own blistering criticism from Trump, risked inflaming the White House if he decided against firing McCabe. But a decision to dismiss McCabe days before his firing nonetheless carried the risk of angering his rank-and-file supporters at the FBI.

McCabe enjoyed a rapid career ascent in the bureau after joining in 1996. Before being named FBI deputy director last year, he led the bureau's national security branch and also the Washington field office, one of the its largest.

But he became entangled in presidential politics in 2016 when it was revealed that his wife, during an unsuccessful bid for the Virginia state Senate, had received campaign contributions from the political action committee of then-Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a close Clinton ally. The FBI has said McCabe received the necessary ethics approval about his wife's candidacy and was not supervising the Clinton investigation at the time.

He became acting director following the firing last May of Comey, and immediately assumed direct oversight of the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign.

He quickly found himself at odds with the Trump administration.

As a congressional hearing days after Comey's dismissal, McCabe contradicted White House assertions that the Trump campaign investigation was one of the "smallest things" on the FBI's plate and strongly disputed the administration's suggestion that Comey had lost the support of the bureau's workforce.

"I can tell you that the majority, the vast majority of FBI employees, enjoyed a deep and positive connection to Director Comey," McCabe said.

___

Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAPCambridge Analytica, a data research firm closely linked to the campaign of President Donald Trump, has been suspended from Facebook. The firm was suspended along with its parent company, Strategic Communication Laboratories, and two individual collaborators.

According to multiple sources, a researcher working with the firm broke Facebooks rules to harvest data from more than 50 million user profiles in 2014. That stolen data, according to reports, became the foundation for Cambridge Analyticas efforts to target voters for Donald Trumps 2016 Presidential campaign.

Facebooks Friday announcement of the suspension appeared timed to pre-empt reports about the breach in the New York Times and The Guardian.

Cambridge Analyticas goal, starting in 2013, was to use data modeling to influence voters based on their emotional makeup. Data scientist and former Cambridge Analytica employee Christopher Wylie, speaking to The Guardian, described this as an effort to target their inner demons.

Get Data Sheet, Fortunes technology newsletter.

But the firm did not initially have access to the vast amount of data needed to achieve its goals. It got it using a Facebook personality quiz called thisisyourdigitallife, created for Cambridge Analytica by Cambridge University psychographics professor Aleksandr Kogan in 2014. About 270,000 users of the quiz granted permission for their data to be collected for research purposes.

But according to the Times, the app also collected the data of those quiz-takers Facebook friends, without permission. About 30 million of those profiles, mostly of U.S. voters, contained enough information to connect them to other data sources and build detailed profiles. According to Facebook, Kogan violated its policies by passing data on to Cambridge Analytica and another firm, Eunoia Technologies. Kogan and Wylie have been suspended from Facebook along with SCL and Cambridge Analytica.

In a statement sent to Fortune, Cambridge Analytica claimed it had contracted Kogan and his company, Global Science Research, to obtain data only in line with Facebooks rules.

Story continues

The event is being described as a data breach of the social media platform, though Facebook disputes that characterization, saying Kogan gained access to this information in a legitimate way and through the proper channels before misusing it.

Facebook became aware of the activity by late 2015, and ordered the data destroyed by everyone Kogan had shared it with. According to Facebook, Cambridge Analytica claimed to have complied, but Facebook says it became aware this week that not all data was deleted. Cambridge Analytica claims it did delete the data according to Facebooks request.

Facebook has not commented on why it did not publicly disclose the initial abuse. According to the Guardian, a Facebook official testified in hearings before British Parliament last month that Cambridge Analytica did not have Facebook user data.

The potential impact of the suspension on Trumps reelection campaign is unclear. Cambridge Analytica will no longer be able to buy advertising on Facebook, but according to the Times, the organization still possesses most or all of the data it illicitly collected. That data, or systems trained using it, could still be used to direct campaign efforts by clients.

Update: This article has been updated to reflect a statement from Cambridge Analytica.TEANECK, N.J., March 14, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ness Digital Engineering , a portfolio company of The Rohatyn Group (TRG), has executed a definitive agreement to acquire Linium, LLC, a digital business, engineering, experience and transformation consultancy. Ness Digital Engineering, a global company committed to helping its clients deliver dynamic customer interactions and business operations platforms, is expanding its capabilities in delivering end-to-end digital enablement.



This acquisition will further extend our capabilities in digital operations and business process management and automation, said Paul Lombardo, Ness Digital Engineering CEO. Organizations are under tremendous pressure to be more agile and efficient in their operations, and Linium is highly regarded for its expertise in strategic business process consulting and helping clients use technologies to transform business processes. We share a similar philosophy for how we work with clients: understand their business needs first, then our collaborative, experienced teams apply modern systems design that ensures execution is successful on day one and can evolve as business needs change.

Linium delivers cloud-based enterprise platforms and solutions, with particular expertise in ServiceNow solutions, that position companies to achieve scale, drive growth and enable modernization. By combining with Ness, Linium can offer its clients a wider range of digital platform development, customization and management services that complement its expertise.

Were excited to come together with another organization committed to supporting clients digital transformation, said Joe Burke, CEO of Linium. Joining with Ness will enable us to enhance and expand the services, value and experience we provide to customers, while also preserving the agility and culture that define the essence of Linium.

This acquisition will add to Nesss expertise in helping clients achieve better business performance through novel, highly-effective uses of data and technologies integrated into solutions that:

Create unrivalled customer experiences using innovative digital strategies, platforms and products

Increase operational agility through system modernization, integration, and business process automation

Exploit the strengths of emerging technologies to help clients stay ahead of the competition

Linium will maintain its name but become a Ness Digital Engineering Company. Headquartered in Albany, NY, Linium and its employees will continue to work out of their current locations. Burke will become President of Ness Digital Engineering, North America, reporting to Paul Lombardo.

The transaction is expected to close toward the end of the first quarter of this year or early in the second quarter.

About Linium

Linium is a digital business, engineering, experience and transformational consultancy. A globally recognized firm, Linium delivers cloud-based enterprise platforms and solutions that position companies to achieve scale, drive growth and enable modernization. Linium has delivered 2,700+ successful engagements across an array of industries for over 17 years. Headquartered in Albany, NY, Linium has dedicated teams focused on the commercial sectors, federal government, and managed service providers (MSPs). Named to the Inc. 5000 list of the nations fastest-growing private companies for six consecutive years, Linium enables a blue-chip roster of clients, including 30 percent of the Fortune 100 companies, to achieve operational efficiencies through digital transformation and automation.

About Ness Digital Engineering

Ness Digital Engineering designs, builds, and integrates digital platforms and enterprise software that help organizations engage customers, differentiate their brands, and drive profitable growth. Our customer experience designers, software engineers, data experts, and business consultants partner with clients to develop roadmaps that identify ongoing opportunities to increase the value of their digital solutions and enterprise systems. Through agile development of minimum viable products (MVPs), our clients can test new ideas in the market and continually adapt to changing business conditionsgiving our clients the leverage to lead market disruption in their industries and compete more effectively to grow their business. For more information, visit www.ness.com.

About TRG

Founded in 2002, The Rohatyn Group is an emerging markets asset management firm headquartered in New York, with offices around the globe including, Singapore, Seoul, London, Buenos Aires, Lima, Montevideo, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Mumbai, New Delhi, Boston and Rotorua. For more information, please visit www.rohatyngroup.com

Media Contacts

Vivek Kangath

Senior Global Manager  Corporate Communications

Ness Digital Engineering

Mobile: +91 9742565583 | Tel: +91 80 41961000 | DID: +91 80 41961027

Amy Legere

Greenough

alegere@greenough.biz

617.275.6517As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQGuwahati, Mar 17 (IBNS): Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Saturday said that India under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is experiencing transformations and in the wake of the changes, all the four pillars of democracy are working in tandem to champion the cause of public welfare and public interests.

While delivering his speech after inaugurating the 16th All India Meet of State Legal Services Authorities with the Supreme Court Judge Justice Ranjan Gogoi in Guwahati, Sonowal said that judiciary is the guiding force of our country which leads the legal way for other three branches of our democracy to follow.

He also said that judiciary always plays the role of a catalyst to take the laws framed in the legislature to the doorsteps of every user.To make the democracy vibrant, involvement of the people in the system and their active participation in the functioning of the Government is of paramount importance. Keeping this in mind the state government is giving maximum thrust on making Government services more accessible to the citizens." Sonowal said.

"Legal services being the core of all services, concerted efforts have been paid by the state government in association with the judiciary to improve the reach of judiciary in the interior places of the State, he added.

Hailing the role of State Legal Services Authorities which was set up in the year 1998, the Assam CM said that the Authority during past 20 years extended free valuable legal aid to the needy people and worked for generating more legal awareness in the society.

From organizing Lok Adalats for disposal of long pending cases, in its initial stages, the activities of the State Legal Services Authority have become manifold. Moreover, its handling of pre-litigation disputes and spreading legal education have immensely benefited the people of the state, Sonowal said.

Sonowal also said that due to its concerted efforts of the legal Services Authority, conditions of the prisoners in jails have also undergone rapid changes.

The digitisation of the Legal Aid Clinics in the central jails of the districts has enabled the convicts and prisoners to know the status of their pending cases by click of a button now.

The convicts are also getting the facilities of filing their jail appeals without any hassle through such clinics.

Making a special mention of the project called Reach Out and Respond, Sonowal said under the project where in fitment of artificial limbs were distributed to differently abled persons in collaboration with the State Social Welfare and Health & Family Welfare Department, Bhagwan Mahaveer Biklang Sahayata Samiti and ALIMCO, visible changes have been brought about in the life of the Divyangjans.

Judge of the Supreme Court of India, Justice Ranjan Gogoi, who is also the executive chairman of National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), said that extending legal services to the needy and under-privileged sections of the society has been the national commitment of the NALSA and it has been providing free legal services to the weaker sections of the society free of cost.

He also said one of the objectives to hold the 16th All India Meet of State Legal Services Authorities was to identify the gaps, take remedial steps and chart out future course of actions for the Legal Services Authorities.

He also said that the National Legal Services Authorities have envisioned to open Legal Literacy Clubs in educational institutions to spread legal literacy in different parts of the country.

It may be noted that a few Legal Literacy Clubs have already been in operation in Assam.

He also said that the Legal Services Authorities have also been working to bridge the gap between the public and the agencies which are in-charge of providing rightful services to the people.

Synchronising with the occasion which was organised under the auspices of Assam State Legal Services Authority in association with National Legal Services Authority, Sonowal also released a Coffee Table Book and Video CD embellishing the journey of NALSA made so far.

Chief Justice, Gauhati High Court Justice Ajit Singh, Judge, Gauhati High Court Justice Hrishikesh Roy, legal luminaries from across the nation and a host of other dignitaries were present on the occasion.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)

About 74,000 years ago, the Mount Toba volcano erupted on what is now the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

The eruption caused a worldwide environmental disaster. It may have destroyed ancient human populations in many parts of the world. But experts say some groups may have survived the disaster unharmed.

Earlier this month, scientists announced that they had found tiny pieces of volcanic glass from the Mount Toba eruption.

Their discovery, however, was 9,000 kilometers away on South Africas southern coast.

Some researchers believe the eruption may have caused world temperatures to drop causing a so-called volcanic winter that lasted for many years.

Scientists suggest this cold period damaged ecosystems and reduced food resources for people around the world.

But, the researchers in South Africa found evidence that the hunter-gatherers there continued to thrive.

Pieces of volcanic glass were found in a rock shelter at a place called Pinnacle Point near the town of Mossel Bay. Ancient people lived, cooked food and slept there. They made tools out of stone, bone and wood. Glass pieces were also found in an area about 10 kilometers away.

The researchers said people lived in the rock shelter from 90,000 to 50,000 years ago. They found no sign that people left the area at the time of the eruption.

They said the seaside location may have provided a refuge. Marine food sources like shellfish may have been less affected than inland plants and animals to the environmental effects of the eruption.

The Mount Toba eruption sent large amounts of volcanic particles into the atmosphere. The particles dimmed the sunlight and possibly killed many plants.

Scientists say it was the most powerful eruption in the past 2 million years. But they are divided over the eruptions effects. Some think it may have caused a human population collapse that became a near-extinction event. Others believe its effects were less severe.

Curtis Marean is a paleoanthropologist with Arizona State Universitys Institute of Human Origins and Nelson Mandela Universitys Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience in South Africa. He spoke to the Reuters news service about the findings.

He said, On a regular basis through time, humans faced dire threats from natural disasters. As hunter-gatherers endowed with advanced cognition and a proclivity to cooperate, we were able to make it through this disaster, and we were very resilient.

He added, But this may not be the case now with our reliance on our highly complicated technological system. In my opinion, a volcano like this could annihilate civilization as we know it...

The researchers findings were published in the journal Nature.

Im Jonathan Evans.

Will Dunham reported this story for the Reuters news service. Jonathan Evans adapted it for Learning English. Mario Ritter was the editor. ________________________________________________________________ Quiz Now, test your understanding by taking this short quiz. Quiz - Ancient People in South Africa Unharmed by Volcanic Eruption Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz

________________________________________________________________

Words in this Story

ecosystem n. everything that exists in a particular environment

thrive v. to grow or develop successfully; to flourish or succeed

location n. a place or position

marine adj. of or relating to the sea or the plants and animals that live in the sea

annihilate  v. to destroy something or someone completely

dire  adj. very bad; causing great fear or worry

endowed  v. freely or naturally provided something

erupt  v. to send out rocks, ash, lava, etc. in a sudden explosion

proclivity  n. a strong natural liking for something that is usually bad; a tendency to do something that is usually bad.

resilient  adj. able to become strong, healthy or successful again after something bad happens

Artificial intelligence, or AI, has slowly begun to influence higher education around the world. Now, one new AI tool could change the way university students evaluate their professors.

The tool is called Hubert. It is a teacher evaluation tool that appears as an AI-powered chatbot. Instead of filling out a form, students use a chat window to give feedback on the course and their professor. Afterwards, Hubert categorizes the students comments for the professor to review.

The beta version of Hubert launched about seven months ago. It is free for educators to use. More than 600 teachers use it already.

Making evaluations easier, and more human

The goal of the new Hubert program is to improve education by giving teachers detailed, organized feedback from students.

Viktor Nordmark, from Sweden, started the company in 2015, with several friends. Before creating Hubert, the founders asked teachers what would improve their teaching skills. The answer, Nordmark said, was qualitative feedback from their students. In other words, teachers wanted students to write detailed answers to open-ended questions about their experiences in class.

Qualitative feedback is different from the survey responses students are often asked to provide at the end of a class. This kind of data takes a lot of time for professors to collect and analyze, Nordmark said. And for the students, it can also be really boring to fill out.

So Nordmark and his friends designed Hubert as a compromise between a traditional survey and a personal interview. You can reach a really large crowd, but you can also get really qualitative data back, Nordmark said.

First, they ran a program to train Hubert to understand human conversation. Hubert learned different types of comments, and how to respond to them. Then Hubert learned how to organize the comments it received into categories.

Now, when Hubert receives comments from students, it compares them with the information already in its system to organize the data.

This idea, Nordmark says, is that Hubert will continue to get smarter as it receives more comments.

How it changes classrooms

What makes Hubert special is its similarity to communicating with a human. For some professors, this feature helps them receive higher-quality feedback.

It allows students to zero in on things that are of interest to them of concern to them, and a chance to say something good they can essentially present what their concerns areand its not threatening, said John Munro, an associate professor of business at the University of the Virgin Islands.

Munro believed traditional methods of evaluating professors were not very helpful. They happened only at the end of the course, and the questions were formed around a four-part ranking system based on traditional lecture classes. These kinds of surveys, Munro said, did not give him the right information to make effective changes in his classroom.

In contrast, professors can offer the Hubert evaluation anytime they want. The chatbot asks students four questions: What could the instructor do to improve the course? Is there anything the instructor should stop doing? What's working well? How has the class been over all?

Munro thinks the chat format of the evaluation helps get more information out of students.

Everyone, both students and professors, are already comfortable with chats, Munro said.

If students respond with no information, Hubert knows to try again by asking follow-up questions. For example, if a student responds with no, Hubert might ask, Are you sure there is nothing that could be different?

Hubert evaluations might also be helpful for English language learners. Samuel Adams is an instructional technology specialist in English language programs at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He tested Hubert with his English teacher training course.

On average, we get very little written feedback from language learners, Adams said.

Adams found that Hubert was effective in getting written feedback about his course. But it did have its limitations. Adams found that the pre-set interview questions made it impossible to get information about other parts of his teaching. And the feedback is also organized into pre-established categories.

An artificially human future

Nordmark says he and his co-founders have plans to make Hubert more flexible and accurate. They would like to give teachers the possibility of selecting their own evaluation questions. And they will teach Hubert to create its own categories, so that it can more correctly organize information. This feature would also allow Hubert to be used outside of education systems.

Its creators also want to make Hubert more human-like and possess qualities such as humor in the interviews.

Another goal is to let Hubert users share the information they are learning. If teachers are discovering strategies that work well in their classrooms, Nordmark wants to develop a way for them to share that advice with other Hubert users.

Im Phil Dierking.

Phil Dierking reported this story for VOA Learning English. Kelly Jean Kelly was the editor.

What are other ways you think artificial intelligence could be used in higher education? We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. _______________________________________________________________ Quiz Quiz - New AI Technology Lets Students Evaluate Professors by Chatting Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz _______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

accurate - adj. free from mistakes or errors

analyze - v. to study (something) closely and carefully

artificial intelligence - n. an area of computer science that deals with giving machines the ability to seem like they have human intelligence

boring - adj. dull and uninteresting 

categorize - v. to put (someone or something) into a group of similar people or things

chatbot - n. a computer program designed to simulate conversation with human users, especially over the Internet.

contrast - v. to be different especially in a way that is very obvious

course - n. a series of classes about a particular subject in a school

comfortable - adj. not causing any physically unpleasant feelings

data - n. facts or information used usually to calculate, analyze, or plan something

essential - adj. extremely important and necessary

evaluate - v. to judge the value or condition of (someone or something) in a careful and thoughtful way

feature - n. an interesting or important part, quality, ability, etc.

feedback - n. helpful information or criticism that is given to someone to say what can be done to improve a performance, product, etc.

flexible - adj. an interesting or important part, quality, ability, etc.

format - n. the form, design, or arrangement of something (such as a book, magazine, or television or radio program)

lecture - n. a talk or speech given to a group of people to teach them about a particular subject

interview - n. a meeting at which people talk to each other in order to ask questions and get information

instructor - n. a person who teaches a subject or skill

ranking - adj. having a high position or the highest position in a group or organization

response - n. something that is said or written as a reply to something

review - v. an act of carefully looking at or examining the quality or condition of something or someone

select - v. to choose (someone or something) from a group

strategy - n. a careful plan or method for achieving a particular goal usually over a long period of time

survey - n. an activity in which many people are asked a question or a series of questions in order to gather information about what most people do or think about something

type - n. type

zero in - phrasal v. to direct all of one's attention to (someone or something)Sara al-Matoura watched her daughter through a window as her daughters chest moved up and down under a tangle of medical wires.

The mother from the Syrian city of Homs had not eaten for a day. She was up all night by her one-year-old daughters side at a hospital in the Jordanian capital of Amman.

Al-Matoura had fled the Syrian war for Jordan in 2012. She was only four months pregnant when she found out the baby had a congenital heart condition known as tricuspid atresia. Ninety percent of children with the condition would die before the age of ten.

Doctors advised her to end the pregnancy but Al-Matoura refused. She is my gift from God, she said. She named her daughter Eman. It means faith in Arabic.

Eman recently received a life-saving open heart surgery. The surgery was one of eight heart operations performed by surgeons from the Vaticans Bambino Gesu Hospital.

The Italian surgeons performed the operations for free. But U.N. officials say many refugees with medical problems do not get treatment because of financial difficulties.

The more the treatment costs, the more likely their requests will be denied. Even services such as childbirth have become too costly.

Some 5.5 million Syrians have fled their homeland since 2011. Jordan now has more than 650,000 Syrians registered with the U.N. refugee agency.

Jordanian officials say the number of Syrians in the country is actually two times higher. Additionally, they do not have enough money to take care of their own citizens.

The situation is getting worse as Europe and the U.S. are closing the borders to refugees and there are no signs of peace in Syria.

While Eman was in the operating room, another Syrian mother tried to keep her 12-year-old son Tamer from moving.

Tamer also has a congenital heart condition. When he moves too much, he loses his breath and turns blue.

Dr. Iyad al-Ammouri is a childrens heart surgeon at the University of Jordan Hospital. He said children with Tamers condition should receive an operation at age five or six.

But Tamers surgery will cost up to $28,000, far more money than his mother has. Tamers mother supports him alone as his father is still trapped in Syria.

Jordan used to help pay for Syrian refugees' medical care. But that was stopped in February. Now, a special committee of doctors reviews hundreds of cases each month and decides which one to help.

Late-stage cancer treatment, for example, is usually denied. Costly surgeries are also delayed or denied.

Of course people come back month after month, said Dr. Adam Musa, a U.N. public health officer who sits on the committee.

He said people would appeal again and again because the need is urgent. Its painful, he added.

In January, 60 out of 143 refugee appeals for emergency help were approved. The United Nations gave them about $2,000 each. There wasnt enough money for the rest, Musa said.

Across the area, the decreased support and the lack of aid have left millions of refugees on the edge of survival, even pushing some to return to Syria.

The U.N. refugee agency spent $51 million in Lebanon last year. Yet it could not cover most life-saving surgeries.

There are very few NGOs that are able to provide support for some of these cases and we know that people have taken difficult decisions to return to Syria for care, said Dr. Michael Woodman, a senior public health officer with the UN.

After Emans surgery, doctors told her parents she would likely need another, more difficult surgery in two to five years.

I dont know where we will get the money then, al-Matoura said. But thank God for healing her today.

I'm Susan Shand.

Alice Su reported this story for the AP. Susan Shand adapted this story for Learning English. Hai Do was the editor.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

chest - n. the front part of the body between the neck and the stomach

tangle - n. a twisted knot of hair, thread or wires

congenital - adj. existing since birth

heart  n. the organ in your chest that pumps blood through your veins and arteries

surgery - n. medical treatment in which a doctor cuts into someone's body in order to repair or remove damaged or diseased parts

NGO - n. a non-governmental organization, such as a charityNow, Words and Their Stories from VOA Learning English. Every week, we explore common expressions in American English.

Thunder storms. Rain storms. Snow storms. Electrical storms!

If conditions get bad enough, almost any kind of weather can become a storm.

Stormy weather can cause people to cancel their plans. It can cause major events to be postponed. And severe stormy weather can be dangerous to people, property and animals.

"Don't know why there's no sun up in the sky, stormy weather

since my man and I ain't together, keeps raining all the time."

Now, let's flip around the term stormy weather.

If you weather the storm, or ride out the storm, you survive and move on without harm or injury. For example, let's talk about Tornado Alley, the name for part of the central United States.

During springtime, this area often has a large number of powerful tornadoes. People who live there are taught to hunker down in the safest place they can find and wait for the storm to pass. People who live in Tornado Alley are used to weathering many storms!

"To weather the storm" can also mean to make it through a difficult experience or trying times. So, if the stock market crashes, you might have to weather a financial storm. If you are a politician who gets discredited in public, you may have to lie low and weather the political storm.

Often before a big storm, conditions are calm.

The calm before the storm can happen anytime. It is the time before something bad happens. For example, at the beginning of a family reunion, the adults were all talking happily. But the older children knew it was just the calm before the storm. Theyve seen it happen before. The adults talk happily for about an hour. Then they start arguing about events from the past -- things that should really stay buried!

But after the storm begins and you find yourself in the middle of it, you are in the eye of the storm.

In the world of weather, the eye of the storm is the calmest part, in the center of a hurricane, for example.

However, in the English language, if you are in the eye of the storm, you are in the most intense part of a conflict. For example, she had no idea that walking into the meeting would put her in the eye of the storm.

Now, a storm can cause great destruction, but it can also cause excitement. It's something people talk about.

If you want to give people something to talk about, you might want to use the following "storm" phrasal verb. Combining a verb with "up" and then the words "a storm" gives you a very useful phrasal verb. It means doing something to a great extent or degree.

For example, if you danced all night, you can say you danced up a storm. If you spend the whole month writing a book, you can say you wrote up a storm. If you are at a party and meet someone who wont keep quiet, you can say they are talking up a storm.

I think you get the idea.

Let's look again at the verb "to storm." It can also mean to attack. If soldiers storm a military base, they are attacking it. Used another way, you could say one storms into a place. We only do this when we are angry and/or full of purpose.

For example, if you find out that someone at the place where you work is making twice as much as you do while doing less work -- you might storm into your supervisor's office and demand a raise. But I would suggest that you call, make an appointment and calmly walk into the meeting.

There is another very useful expression involving the word "storm." But it has two very different meanings.

Taking something by storm can suggest a sudden, perhaps violent attack. For example, the police took the bank by storm and arrested the bank robbers.

But this term can be used in another way. "To take something by storm" can mean to have great and sudden success in a certain field. And that field can be just about anything.

Let's say you are a great cook and open a new restaurant. Everyone loves it and it quickly becomes a big success. You can then say you took the restaurant world by storm.

Or maybe you are a gifted violinist and perform in over 100 cities. Critics love you and they say you are taking the classical music world by storm.

So, taking something by storm is a good thing. But a perfect storm is not.

In the world of weather, a perfect storm is a violent storm that results from a rare combination of severe weather events. We can use this expression in other situations, but the meaning is the same. It's when a particularly bad or critical situation arises from several bad and usually unpredictable events.

Lets hear this one in an example.

You are going on a trip and you are very excited! You have no idea that a perfect storm is building to ruin your vacation. First, the city where youre going has an unexpected electrical outage. Then when you arrive you find that the airline has lost your luggage. And finally you discover that a person you really dont like is staying in the same hotel and wants to hang out the whole time!

There are other kinds of storms.

Firestorm is also another "storm" word that can used when talking about the weather and real life. An actual firestorm is a strong, damaging fire that often has tornado-like columns of fire.

In conversation, a "firestorm" is a violent outburst or disagreement that causes damage. For example, the movie star created a firestorm when she made comments about the political situation in her home country.

However, a brainstorm does not exist in the world of weather. To brainstorm means to try to solve a problem by talking with other people.

And that's Words and Their Stories for this week. I'm Anna Matteo.

And Im Bryan Lynn.

And don't worry. If we have trouble thinking of an idea for the next program, we can always brainstorm with you!

"Riders on the storm, riders on the storm.

Into the house we're born, into this world we're thrown."

Anna Matteo wrote this story for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor. This audio story features Ella Fitzgerald singing "Stormy Weather" and The Doors singing "Riders on the Storm."

_________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

flip  v. to change from one state, position, subject, etc., to another

hunker down  phrasal verb to lower the body to the ground by bending the legs : to stay in a place for a period of time to remain safe

degree  n. a step or stage in a process, course, or order of classification

column  n. something that is tall and thin in shape American Consumer News, LLC dba MarketBeat 2010-2021. All rights reserved.

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 2021 Market data provided is at least 10-minutes delayed and hosted by Barchart Solutions. Information is provided 'as-is' and solely for informational purposes, not for trading purposes or advice, and is delayed. To see all exchange delays and terms of use please see disclaimer. Fundamental company data provided by Zacks Investment Research.1 hour ago

Why Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) is One of the Best Buys in the S&P 500

With the stock market pulling back sharply over the last few trading sessions, investors would probably expect a high beta technology stock like Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) to be down significantly as well. Thats surprisingly not the case, as the electric vehicle company has been showing serious relative strength amidst market weakness.

Read Article American Consumer News, LLC dba MarketBeat 2010-2021. All rights reserved.

326 E 8th St #105, Sioux Falls, SD 57103 | U.S. Based Support Team at con[email protected] | (844) 978-6257

MarketBeat does not provide personalized financial advice and does not issue recommendations or offers to buy stock or sell any security.



Our Accessibility Statement | Terms of Service | Do Not Sell My Information



 2021 Market data provided is at least 10-minutes delayed and hosted by Barchart Solutions. Information is provided 'as-is' and solely for informational purposes, not for trading purposes or advice, and is delayed. To see all exchange delays and terms of use please see disclaimer. Fundamental company data provided by Zacks Investment Research.Augusta Gold Corp., a junior exploration company, engages in the acquisition and exploration of mineral properties in the United States. It primarily explores for gold, silver, and other metals. The company holds interests in the Bullfrog gold project located in the north-west of Las Vegas, Nevada. It also owns, controls, or has acquired mineral rights on Federal patented and unpatented mining claims in the state of Nevada for the purpose of exploration and potential development of metals on a total of approximately 7,800 acres of land. The company was formerly known as Bullfrog Gold Corp. and changed its name to Augusta Gold Corp. in January 2021. Augusta Gold Corp. was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

Read More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.Rockfest are back with another killer lineup featuring Fiver Finger Death Punch, Ghost, Stone Temple Pilots, Vince Neil, Sevendust, Underoath, I Prevail, Of Mice & Men, 10 Years, Red Sun Rising, Butcher Babies, Miss May 1, Powerman 5000, Shamans Harvest, Bad Wolves and Hyborian.

This is the second year for the event at Kansas Speedway. Its the 26th year Kansas City has hosted the event.

Here;s what the executive producer Bob Edwards said:

Driven by the overwhelming positive feedback from the listeners of 98.9 The Rock, we are very excited to bring Rockfest back to Kansas Speedway for a second year! This years line-up reflects the best of what rock has to offer. Our fans will see some of the biggest bands in rock, like Five Finger Death Punch, Stone Temple Pilots, Motley Crues Vince Neil, and Sevendust, along with the next generation of rock superstars, like Ghost, I Prevail, Underoath, Of Mice and Men, and so much more! Rockfest is the biggest day of the year for Kansas City rock fans and we cant wait to celebrate the day with the listeners of 98.9 The Rock!

Click here for more information or to purchase tickets.The Sunday Times has revealed that the SABC has spent R740,000 on an Audi Q5 for former board chairman Mbulaheni Maguvhe.

This car was bought at a time when the state broadcaster was in serious financial trouble and is now gathering dust in an SABC parking lot in Auckland Park.

Maguvhe resigned as SABC board chairman in December 2016, following a parliamentary inquiry looking into the boards fitness to hold office.

He was the last SABC board member who was investigated as part of the inquiry to resign, despite being unable to account for controversial developments at the public broadcaster.

His resignation was widely welcomed by political parties, but they highlighted that they still wanted him to be held accountable for the crisis at the SABC.

ANC Chief whip in Parliament Jackson Mthembu described Maghuve as a stumbling block to resolving the cooperate governance at SABC.

It is unfortunate that Prof Maguvhe chose to sacrifice his personal reputation and professional integrity by putting his selfish personal interests ahead of those of South Africans, who are the shareholders of the SABC, Mthembu said in a statement.

A report by parliaments legal services in 2017 accused Maguvhe of trying to mislead the inquiry over the labour dispute between the SABC 8 and the SABC.

Now read: SABC inquiry wants Maguvhe to pay upNEWARK, Ohio, March 12, 2018  Students at The Ohio State University at Newark will be presenting research on topics ranging from how we interpret words to measuring dark sky quality at the 14th Annual Student Research Forum on Wednesday, March 21.

We received student research presentation proposals from psychology, physics and chemistry students, said Associate Professor Nathanial Swigger, who is an organizer of the event. We will have about 18 student presenters during this years forum.

The forum will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. in the John Gilbert Reese Center followed by the awards ceremony at 4:15 p.m. The forum is an opportunity for students to present their university-funded research before a diverse panel of judges. The panel includes Ohio State Newark faculty across multiple disciplines who will give valuable feedback to benefit student learning experiences. For some students, it also serves as effective practice in a formal setting before they present at larger conferences like the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, the annual meeting of the Midwest Psychology Association and others. Additional students whose research is not yet complete will be proposing research topics to increase awareness of their subject matter.

Student participants can give a poster presentation or an oral presentation. The poster presentation is the slightly less formal of the two types, where student researchers will be displaying posters and giving brief overviews while face-to-face with judges. Meanwhile, the oral presentation demands that students spend about 15 to 20 minutes providing well-rehearsed presentations from a podium. Each will have time reserved at the end for question and answer sessions.

This event is free to attend and open to the public. Refreshments will be provided. The Reese Center is located at 1209 University Drive, Newark campus.

To learn more about the Student Research Forum or about student research at Ohio State Newark, contact Nathaniel Swigger, associate professor of political science, at swigger.1@osu.edu.

The Ohio State University at Newark offers an academic environment thats inclusive of diversity, challenging but supportive with world-renowned professors and access to Ohio States more than 200 majors. Its where learning comes to life. Research, study abroad and service learning opportunities prepare students for their careers in ways they never expected.Armenia deputy minister: National minorities shouldn't be left out of process of enlargement of communities

Garibashvili, Erdogan discuss Armenia, Azerbaijan

Deputy minister: New administrative-territorial division of Armenia will enable decentralization of power

Armenia official: Enlarged communities list will include capital Yerevan

Armenia ambassador has virtual meeting with US Congressman David Price

US Under Secretary of State, Azerbaijan FM discuss situation in Karabakh

Armenia Central Bank chief, Eurasian Economic Commission board member discuss Eurasian integration

Queen Elizabeth congratulates President Sarkissian on Armenia Independence Day anniversary

Machkalashen village mayor: Russia peacekeepers removed Artsakh flag on Amaras Monastery

CSTO antidrug military exercise to be held in Armenia

Armenia parliament vice-speaker: Positive that Azerbaijan returned our lost citizens after 1.5 day

273 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

5 new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Blinken, Turkeys Cavusoglu discuss Nagorno-Karabakh

World oil prices on the rise

Driver dies on the spot after accident at Yerevan section of North-South highway under construction

Newspaper: Armenia PM buys wiretapping system for $7m

Newspaper: Azerbaijanis demand taking down Artsakh flag placed on Amaras Monastery

US special services announce country's main external threats

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Yerablur Military Pantheon (PHOTOS)

Russian State Duma chairman congratulates Armenian counterpart on Armenia's Independence Day

Putin appoints Armenia's Mikayel Aghasandyan Russia's Permanent and Plenipotentiary Representative to CSTO

Resident of Karabakh's Karmir Shuka runs over three 14-year-olds, body found hanged from a tree later

Adam Schiff congratulates Armenians on 30th anniversary of Armenia's Independence

Nikol Pashinyan: Grove of Life will symbolize the start of era of peaceful development of Armenia

Armenia premier: History has shown that it's not mandatory and is sometimes unnecessary to defeat others to win

Azerbaijan FM meets with Turkish counterpart in New York

Karabakh President meets with President of Tashir Group Samvel Karapetyan in Yerevan

New Armenian flag placed in Armenia's Tegh village, higher than Azerbaijani flag

UN Secretary General urges to ban weapons that kill without human participation

Russia Federation Council chairwoman congratulates Armenia Parliament Speaker on Independence Day

US may approve Pfizer child vaccine drug soon

Biden calls on UN to protect rights of sex minorities from Chechnya to Cameroon

"Vivid" Independence Day event kicks off at Republic Square in Yerevan

Iranian Deputy FM to arrive in Azerbaijan on a three-day visit

Police inspecting citizens with metal detectors before Independence Day event at Republic Square in Yerevan

Armenia marks Independence Day: Digest on congratulations from int. leaders

Karabakh emergency situations service: Remains of another Armenian serviceman found in Mataghis

Largest flag of Armenia raised in Yeraskh village of Ararat Province (PHOTOS)

Putin, Erdogan to discuss Syria and other regional conflicts

Karabakh President sends condolence message to Russia's Putin

China PM to Armenia counterpart: Cooperation in sidelines of One Belt One Road joint construction steadily develops

Lukashenko to Pashinyan: Belarus, Armenia will be able to fully realize bilateral cooperations potential

Monument to Marshal Baghramyan unveiled in Moscow

Kazakhstan President: Armenia achieved great success, enjoys well-deserved reputation in international arena

Putin to Pashinyan: Trilateral agreements implementation will ensure your countrys peaceful, prosperous development

Mishustin to Pashinyan: Russia-Armenia relations progressively developing in all directions

Guy Parmelin: Switzerland remains reliable partner of reforms in Armenia

France MP: Armenia fighting for survival of itself, its people, against Azerbaijan, Turkey

Wendy Morton: UK will continue to be proud supporter of Armenias democratic, economic development

Russia envoy to Armenia: Any challenge in modern world can be overcome only through joint efforts

Top Iran officials congratulate Armenia, Armenian people

Members of "Armenia" alliance and MPs of homonymous faction visit Yerablur Military Pantheon (PHOTOS)

Karabakh's Arayik Harutyunyan visits Armenia 1st President, latest developments in Artsakh discussed

Armenia health minister's vaccinated mother contracts COVID-19

Pope Francis: May divine blessing be with people of Armenia

Wreath laid on behalf of Armenia ex-President Sargsyan at Yerevan military pantheon (PHOTOS)

Sweden ambassador: My best wishes to all Armenians (VIDEO)

Netherlands envoy to Armenia: This beautiful country, wonderful people have bright future (VIDEO)

Xi Jinping to Armen Sarkissian: Dynamics of development of China-Armenia relations is maintained

Armenia First President: Independence is non-negotiable for me

Putin: Development of Russia-Armenia relations corresponds to fundamental interests of our fraternal peoples

Blinken: US remains committed to helping negotiate long-term political settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

Armenia Security Council chief refuses to speak about possible Pashinyan-Erdogan meeting

Biden: US will continue to advocate for release of all Armenian detainees held in Azerbaijan

Armenia FM to head for New York

Macron to Armenias Sarkissian: We will spare no effort to find lasting solution to conflict

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Defeat, authorities that symbolize it cannot be source of inspiration, creation

494 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia 3rd President Sargsyan: Challenging but honorific struggle awaits us ahead

Karekin II: Main meaning of 30th anniversary of independence is to rebuild progressive, prosperous country

Karabakh President: Strong, developing Armenia has no alternative

Shombi Sharp: UN will continue to stand with Armenia in addressing impact of recent crises, pandemic, conflict

Armenia President: Today it turns out that we did not appreciate what we had

Georgia capital Tbilisi TV tower illuminated in colors of Armenia flag (PHOTOS)

US ambassador: We continue to look with confidence at future for Armenia as sovereign, prosperous state

Police not allowing reporters to cover PM's visit to Yerevan military pantheon

Newspaper: Azerbaijanis get more active after dismissal of commander of Russia peacekeepers in Artsakh

Armenia marks Independence Day 30th anniversary

Senior officials visiting Yerevan military pantheon on Armenia Independence Day 30th anniversary (PHOTOS)

US launches strike at one of al-Qaida leaders in Syria

Biden to declare end of "20-year war" in Afghanistan in speech at UN General Assembly

US Ambassador to Armenia: Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has yet to be settled, Artsakh status will be clarified

Nikol Pashinyan: Russian-Armenians and their businesses stand strong with the Armenian State

Armenian businessman Samvel Karapetyan pledges investments worth $780,000,000

US says it is willing to consider return to nuclear deal with Iran

Azerbaijani-Turkish military exercises are being held in Nakhchivan

Businessman Samvel Karapetyan: I don't agree that systems have changed in Armenia, only people have changed

Two residents of Armenia's Kasakh who disappeared in Vorotan section and were returned, are at home

Kyrgyz MP proposes to appoint one Ambassador to Armenia and Azerbaijan

Armenia Central Bank head: Buffer of Armenian financial organizations is sufficient to resist challenges

OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Special Representative for South Caucasus to visit Armenia

Armenia PM sends telegram of condolence to Russia President

Armenia Deputy PM: Government shouldn't be involved in business

Nearly 700 projects considered during "Armenia 2020-Armenia 2041" meeting

Putin, Aliyev hold phone talks

Armenian filmmaker calls on Armenia citizens to join march to Yerablur Military Pantheon on Independence Day

Digest: Armenian women die in the Netherlands shooting, Azerbaijan returns 2 Armenians

Relatives of deceased servicemen protesting in front of Armenia government building

Russian Expert Center: Russia is ready to offer Yerevan buses and new metro wagonsHome | Showtime | I can approach a man if I really like him  Actress Maryjane Benson

Beautiful Nollywood actress and video vixen, Asakomhe Mary, aka Maryjane Benson has shared her opinion concerning wooing a man which is considered a taboo in this part of the world.

In Nigeria, it is considered a taboo to a lady to woe a man as well as propose to a man. It is considered acts which should be done by men alone.

In a recent chat with Potpourri, the actress who began her career in 2011 spoke about relationship issues and her take on dating.

READ ALSO: I am a very positive person says Ghanaian actress Yvonne Nelson

She revealed that ever since she has been in the industry, she has encountered the good, the bad and the ugly and she has learnt so many things, including shelving inhibitions most girls grapple with.

Actress Maryjane Benson: Photo credit Instagram

When asked if she could make the first move to date a guy, Maryjane said; Yes, I can go out of my way to approach a guy I really like, I dont see anything wrong in that, if the guy doesnt make the move, I can make it."

Sometimes men and women miss each other because of fear of whos to make the first move. It may be that the guy likes me but shy to make the move. But if I make the move and the guy doesnt respond in kind or refuses, I will leave him alone. I cant force a guy to go out with me. Im very emotional and I have cried for love before, she added.

She however refused to admit that video vixens are cheap and loose as widely believed by so many people:

READ ALSO: Tonto Dikeh pens touching letter to her son King Andre

It is not true that video vixens are loose and tend to lure musicians to bed. Though, I can only speak for myself but many video vixens I know are not loose.

Besides, they do not even have the time to go about luring artistes to bed because the job is so stressful, she quips.

Maryjane Benson has featured in films like Magic Queen, Living with a Stranger, Room 440, Lustful Desire, The Graduates, The Johnsons TV Series, Jenifas Diary and many more.

Omoni Oboli Interview: About the Nigerian Movie Industry | Star Chat - on NAIJ.com TV

[embedded content]

Source: Naija.ng

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: ShowtimeHome | News | General | AfCFTA Agreement: Buhari bows to pressure, cancels Nigerias participation

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

BARELY after three days the Federal Executive Council, FEC, gave President Muhammadu Buhari the approval to join other African countries to sign the Agreement Framework for the establishment of African Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA, President Buhari Saturday withdraw from the meeting which is to hold on Wednesday in Kigali, Rwanda.

President Buhari

Buhari was billed to append his signature to the deal on behalf of Nigeria during an African leaders summit in Kigali, Rwanda in March 21.

The Federal Government had explained that signing the agreement will expand market access for Nigerias exporters of goods and services spur growth and boost job creation.

Besides, the government believes that the agreement will eliminate barriers against Nigerias products and provide a Dispute Settlement Mechanism for stopping the hostile and discriminatory treatment directed against Nigerian natural and corporate business persons in other African countries.

Recall that the National President of NLC, Ayuba Wabba had in a statement last week said that signing the agreement was extremely dangerous and radioactive neo-liberal policy initiative being driven by the Ministry of Trade and Investment that seeks to open our seaports, airports and other businesses to unbridled foreign interference never before witnessed in the history of the country.

This policy initiative, for instance, will make it possible for a foreign airline to directly do local scheduled flights without employing Nigerians.

Owing to the sensitivity of this policy or its possible fall-outs on our economy, those driving it were directed to consult the Nigerian local business community and organised labour.

Stressing that the organised labour was not consulted when government took the decision to be part of the free trade agreement, Wabba said that based on information available to him, the relevant business community has not been consulted.

He said The drivers of this policy initiative, without consulting the relevant stake holders for possible impact assessment, have perfected a document for the signature of President Muhammadu Buhari at Kigali on the 21 of March.

We at the Nigeria Labour Congress are shocked by the sheer impunity or blatant lack of consultation in the process that has led to this.

We are more worried by the probable outcome of this policy initiative if it is given life because of its crippling effect on the local businesses and attendant effects on jobs.

We find it confounding that at a time nations, including the United States are resorting to protectionism in defence of their local businesses and protection of jobs, we have the audacity to want to fling open our doors, windows and roof tops.

We have no doubt this policy initiative will spell the death knell of the Nigerian economy. The African Continental Free Trade Agreement rather than unite Africa, will only divide it the more; rather than enrich Africa will only pauperise it the more.

But briefing State House correspondents after the weekly FEC meeting presided over by the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo at the Council Chamber, Presidential Villa, Abuja, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investments, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah, said that Nigeria was even bidding to host the Headquarters/Secretariat of the AfCFTA.

Enelamah disclosed though that his Foreign Affairs counterpart, Geoffrey Onyeama, had been mandated to widen consultations with stakeholders, including National Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA).

According to him, The CFTA is the first step in the implementation of African Unions Agenda 2063, for an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, and when in force, the CFTA shall be the largest Free Trade Area (FTA) in the global economy, by number.

Establish rules-based trade governance in intra-African trade to invoke trade remedies, such as safeguards, anti-dumping, and countervailing duties against unfair trade practices, including dumping, trans-shipment of concealed origin of products;

Support the industrial policy of Nigeria through the negotiated and agreed Exclusion and Sensitive category lists to provide space for Nigerias infant industries;

Improve competitiveness, the enabling environment for business, consolidate and expand Nigerias position as the number one economy in Africa.

Stimulate, specifically, an estimated 8.18 percent increase in Nigerias total exports, with a small structural shift in Nigerias economy towards manufacturing and services. This is expected to lead to a total increase in Nigerian economic welfare by 0.62%  equivalent to around US$2.9 billion in 2018 terms. Changes would result from tariff reduction, ease of doing business and, trade facilitation.

Provide a platform for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) integration into the regional economy and accelerate womens empowerment.

Provide an expanded platform for Nigerian manufacturers and service providers for connection to regional and continental value chains.

However, President Buhari, succumbed to pressure from the private sector and the labour movement and cancelled attending the summit for the signing of Agreement framework.

As at the time of filing this report there was no official communication from the presidency on the reason for the cancellation.

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Loading...Home | News | General | I wasnt accused of taking govt. money  Omatseye, Ex- NIMASA DG

BY CHARLES KUMOLU

A FORMER Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration Agency, NIMASA, Mr. Raymod Omatseye, in this interview, speaks on his acquittal in a case instituted against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. Omatseye also shares his experience while the case lasted, concluding that the dismissal of the case by Justice Yargata Nimpar of the Court of Appeal strengthens his belief in the judiciary.

Omatseye

There are misconceptions surrounding your case. What is the true story?

In 2010, I was arrested and charged to court for alleged splitting of contracts. I was charged before Justice Binta Nyako. After two years, it dawned on them that the title of the contract award letter was the supply of office equipment. But they did not look at the body of the award letter. It was when they looked at the body of the letter that they realised that they were different items. After two years, they withdrew the charges and brought in a new set of charges which was approval of contract above my threshold. Prior to that, they had also accused me of transferring $300, 000 to an account and accused me of money laundering. Nobody came to ask me that. It was during the case that I presented the approval of Mr. President to support Mrs. Mbanefos election. When they saw it, they quickly withdrew the charges. These were the people that said that N5million was my approval limit. The next thing they did was to present a new set of charges which claimed that my approval limit was N2.5million. They also alleged that I bought a generator which I never did. The generator was actually bought by my successor.

On approval of contracts

The interesting part of it is that all the period the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, questioned me, nobody asked me about the approval of contracts. All they talked about were issues that did not relate to this matter. We went to court and, after two years, the learned trial judge in her wisdom found me guilty of approving contracts above my threshold and decided to sentence me to five years in prison. I was sent to Ikoyi at that time. After spending four weeks there, she granted me bail. I was not happy about what happened. I decided to go to the Court of Appeal and raised five grounds. After a well-considered opinion, the Court of Appeal accepted all the grounds and said there is no such offence as approving contracts above my threshold. The documents, which were brought by the prosecution at that time, had no commencement date and the court said a document that does not have a date could not be brought. In the judgment, the court said that the Act that created the Bureau of Public Procurement stated that only the National Council on Public Procurement can pass a threshold. It also said that there is nowhere they stated that the body, if it exists, ever passed the threshold. Therefore, the court declared the case null and void and of no effect. In February 2013, the then Director General of Bureau of Public Procurement, Mr. Eze, was subpoenaed to come and give evidence in a case. Because he reports to the President, he wrote a memo to Mr. President bringing to his attention that he had been subpoenaed. He said he had reviewed the charges, adding that there was no offence committed. That document was signed off by the President through the Chief of Staff to the then Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Bello Adoke. It was after he left office that we were able to trace that document and submitted it as part of our evidence. Unfortunately, the learned trial judge did not give it any judicial notice. He did not consider the certified document from the Ministry of Justice. It will be interesting to know that the Court of Appeal highlighted that the judge should have considered that opinion. The court said the refusal to consider the judgment was wrong, adding that the effect would have weighed in favour of the appellant. We felt that the case should have been over the moment that letter was brought as evidence. I was shocked when the conviction came. That is where we are. Justice Nimpar of the Court of Appeal said the prosecution should not ride roughshod over the Constitution because it wants to fight corruption. There was no evidence to show that I did anything.

A recent report suggested you were convicted. What do you say since you have been discharged by the Court of Appeal?

I dont know where that report emanated from. I was also contacted from all over the world concerning that report. The impression, which was created by the report, was that it just happened. It came out on March 1, 2018, but said my defence was on March 14, 2018. I believe it was a deliberate act. It created a lot of anxiety which was totally unnecessary. That is why I have to come out to tell the world that it was not what transpired. As things stand now, the Court of Appeal has discharged and acquitted me and set aside the judgment of the lower court.

At the moment are you under any prosecution?

I am no longer being prosecuted by any court for any case. They could decide to go to the apex court. But as things stand today, I am a free man. The only issue I have is that I was suspended from the Public Service on December 15, 2010. While my suspension was ending, the court case started. During that period, I was unable to resign my position as the Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration Agency, NIMASA, because the Public Service rule states that one cannot leave the service until whatever allegation against that person is cleared. Therefore, my suspension remains in place. I am in the process to get that lifted and also to smoothly exit the Public Service. I am working to get the government to clear me so I can do my asset declaration at the Code of Conduct Tribunal and come back to the private sector.

Are there other areas of concern on the matter that you want to address?

The case was something that took me aback. I am a lawyer and will say that we need to stand up for the right of whosoever we are fighting for. I know that I did not take any money from the government and I can say that I did not inflate any contract. What people failed to realise is that I was never accused of taking government money. All they said was that I approved contract against my threshold and they found out that there was no such offence. But when that happened, whether the person accused is a man or a lion, he would be taken aback. On my first night in Ikoyi Prisons, I cried unto God, saying that He knows that I did not do anything. I begged God to ensure justice because I didnt know all the things that might have happened in the process of ensuring that I was prosecuted. That was why I was taken aback when I read that somebody was paid money to convict me. I thought it was not true, but those involved have now been charged to court. I heard that my case number was mentioned. It is 4A2C/FHC/LA/FA2C/2010. When I saw the charge sheets that said someone was charged for perversion of justice in case 4A2C/FHC/LA/FA2C/2010, I was surprised. A lot of people do not know that the on-going case in the Lagos High Court between the EFCC and Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia and Godwin Obla relates to my case. The first five charges actually relate to my case. Because it is subudice, I cannot say much about it. I have no interest in it. I just want to see what the outcome will be.

What does your experience in the case tell you about the judiciary?

I will never give up on my profession. I believe in the court being the last hope of the common man. When it happens to someone, that is when the person will realise certain things. I believe it was for a reason. It gave me the opportunity to be in Ikoyi Prisons which I call Ikoyi Camp. There are some people in the prison who dont know why they are there and they have spent many years. There are others who have been there for seven years and their pleas have not even been taken.

There are others who were dumped there with their people thinking that they are dead. I intend to do a prison ministry in future. Nigeria needs a lot of prison reforms. I dont know why I went there. On the day the Court of Appeal gave its verdict, it further strengthened my confidence in the judiciary. The profession has learned people, who stand for the truth and I will continue to support the profession. As a lawyer, I will start doing pro bono services for people who are in prison. People are there who cannot pay for a bail of N10, 000.

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Loading...Home | News | General | REORDER OF 2019 ELECTIONS: INECs schedule threatens democracy, Falae warns

 APC, PDP are opportunistic gangs, not political parties

Tells Ango Abdullahi: Abuse your northern governors whose inaction breeds killer herdsmen, not Benue farmers and southerners

By Dayo Johnson, Regional Editor, South-West

Chief Olu Falae, a former presidential candidate of the defunct Alliance Democracy/All Nigerian Peoples Party and current National Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), in this interview, says the third force has come to upstage the two major parties in the country, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He also speaks on the alleged lopsidedness in appointments under the Buhari administration, the performance of the APC-led government, herdsmen/farmers clashes and the 2019 general elections amongst other issues.

Falae

Whats all the talk about the SDP being a third force? ls it true that more bigwigs from the PDP and APC are planning to join the SDP?

What started happening last week is a fulfilment of a dream and of a promise which l think the Lord himself made when SDP was re-registered in 2013. When you look at the first poster we sent out, we said The SDP is back, the third force has arrived. By the grace of God, it is beginning and in a process of emerging as a third force. What is happening is normal in politics, especially in Nigeria where the political domain is always in a state of flux. In Nigeria, politicians are always moving from one political party to other. If you look at the current situation, many leaders, who were in the PDP when Dr Goodluck Jonathan was in power, are today in APC criticizing Jonathan and the former PDP government. However, what is happening, I believe, is a logical outcome of people running platforms and not parties. When I presented my book, The Way Forward for Nigeria, in 2005 in Lagos, I did say that what we had were no parties, that they were just opportunistic gangs struggling for power. What do I mean? People who have money get together and ask, what can we do to get power in this state? What do we do to capture the treasury in the state? They make a budget and there is so much poverty around. So they throw money around and people rush to them. They try to outspend one another and on election day, people give them votes and put them in government. Then crisis comes. Because you are not a party, you have no blueprint which you are going to implement to elevate the people from poverty, they start creating what I call adult toys to play around with but end up increasing the pains of the suffering masses. Some of them set up road map for two years out of four-year tenure and, at the end of the day, there is nothing profound or of value for the country. Some just use projects as a smokescreen for stealing public funds and so there is general disenchantment with politicians and politics particularly with the two major parties that have been ruling us and unfortunately ruining us as well. And that is why the APC, which is ruling party at the federal level, has been unable to do something about killer herdsmen and there is complete devastation of the country. Now I think it is beginning to dawn on them that there is a third force, there is an alternative to these so-called two political parties where the only programme is how to spend money but I think money is beginning to fail. A young man seeking the ticket of one of the parties for governor told me how he paid N500million to his party Chairman and he still did not get the ticket. How can anybody take that huge amount from someone and then manipulate him out of the contest? This is why more people will come to the SDP. I suspect people want something better, they want a leadership they can trust, a leadership that has idea of how to govern the country and move it forward, a leadership that has integrity, honesty and fairness.

Some analysts say that with the influx of politicians you say are discredited into your party, the SDP may soon also be polluted. What is your perspective?

No. We shall adopt the onion principle. You know the onion has many layers but there is the core layer inside. Once the leadership of the SDP is that core, we can accept layers upon layers of people coming to join us. Fortunately, we are not new in Nigeria; we know most of the politicians in Nigeria and they also know us. Some of them we went to school together, some of them we served in the civil service together; when I was in the banking industry, some of them were there and I have been in politics now since 1990, we have been playing politics together and we know each other very well. So, once we have the knowledge, the rest is easy.

It is speculated that former VP Atiku and some former governors may be heading to your party. What is the situation?

I expect every Nigerian politician to join the SDP. Even President Buhari himself, we welcome him. But we will do things according to the philosophy and principles and discipline of the SDP. What has been missing is discipline. You have many overbearing politicians, no party Chairman can discipline them because they are the ones who handpicked the Chairman and pay him. So who is the bloody Chairman to tell them what they dont want to hear? But in the SDP, by the grace of God, we have a leadership that controls the party; a leadership that upholds the principles of the party regardless of who is involved. I think when everybody knows that, we begin to have a cleaner political environment.

Can you then tell us those who have signified their intention to join the party?

I cant give you a list because you know how politics is played in Nigeria. The people l saw in Abuja on February 12 when we had our first meeting and last Thursday (March 1) were all jubilating, but dont be surprised if some of them say they have not left their parties. If they still have some meetings with their parties, they wont want the world to know that they have left. I dont want to spark any controversy but the newspapers are publishing some names. Meanwhile, I signed the MoU on behalf of the SDP and Prof. Jerry Gana signed on behalf of the group he belongs to. It is not just PDP, there were people from other parties and, I can tell you, in another fortnight, I will be going to some northern states to receive a large crowd of people defecting from the so-called big parties to the SDP including former governors, former senators. When you say something is bad, it is bad. They are all sure that in the SDP they will be well treated.

The National Assembly reordered the 2019 general elections timetable set by INEC, a move just vetoed by President Buhari. What is your take?

We should do what is right, what is fair and what will deepen democracy in Nigeria. What will deepen democracy is that sequence of elections that will encourage parties to contest and win elections. If you start with presidential election, you know Nigeria mentality: Once someone wins the presidency, the bandwagon effect will follow; so small and new parties seeking to win the National and state House of Assembly elections will not have any chance. By so doing, you are creating a one-party state; if that is what you want, you can go ahead and do it. But if that is not what you want, lets do what is sensible, reasonable and what we have done before, which is to start with the House of Assembly election. It is the most widespread, where everybody can play, run and fight; maybe 10 or 12 parties, we will have some victories here and there. If they say any party that does not win anything in the elections, in a democracy, is free to remain a party, but you are not going to contest elections because you are merely causing administrative confusion. You will be justified to say so because they have been given fair chance to try and win something. But when you start with the President, how many parties can contest the elections? And, by definition, you have ruled out 95% of the parties and that is undemocratic. That is why it should be House of Assembly election first, after that the House of Representatives, after that Senate, then governorship and lastly presidential. I think we have done that before and what INEC has done is an attempt to manipulate the elections and fraudulently upstage smaller parties.

In order words, you are in support of the reordering of the elections by the National Assembly?

Absolutely. I was in an INEC meeting in Abuja to which party Chairmen were invited to meet National Electoral Commissioners and I told them that you want to be fair and deepen our democracy? Assert your independence of government and if you want to prove that you are not being manipulated, then do the following: House of Assembly first, followed by House of Representatives, then Senate, then governorship and then presidential. That is the fairest and most sensible thing to do.

In your own assessment of the performance of President Buhari, do you think he deserves second term?

It is the absolute prerogative of President Buhari and his party to decide whether he should go for second term or not. Constitutionally, he is entitled to second term. It is his right and, if he chooses to go, it does not bother me. If he goes, it means we will meet him on the field on election day and we will defeat him. If he does not go, he will spare me that pain of having to defeat my good friend in the election. If his party brings somebody else, by the grace of God, we will defeat that person.

Lets look at this from the perspective of his performance in office. Are you satisfied?

l think all of us agree that his performance has fallen below expectation because I know him as a military man. He was Commissioner for Petroleum under General Obasanjo regime and I was a Permanent Secretary in that government working in the Economic Department. So, based on my observation at the time, l have good reason to be disappointed now because his performance is low. Maybe his illness is part of the explanation, maybe being a military man not used to political manoeuvre and manipulations is the reason. Every chief executive, whether in government or in business, your first responsibility is to learn to manage your board. In government, the people that voted for you, the National Assembly are your board. If you are not able to manage your board successfully, you cant succeed. Buhari has not been able to manage his board properly and that is why his performance has not been as good as we had expected.

Transparency International was quoted as saying that the Corruption Perception Index under Buhari government is low. What do you think?

Once your management is ineffective, corruption will thrive. He has not been able to manage the government and everything suffers. The federal bureaucracy is enormous. I believe the total number of the staff cannot be less than five million, soldiers, civil defense, police, immigration, regular civil servants, to manage that enormous workforce, the administrator has to work hard to know what is going on. When I became the Secretary to the Federal Government, I was horrified to see hundreds of files for me to attend to. But my experience in the bank for five years helped me. I had seven Permanent Secretaries working with me. I told them it will not be administration as usual and any matter that comes to your table and you are capable of treating without embarrassing government you go ahead, and those you think you cant attend to because you have no authority to deal with, bring it and you and I will read and we take a decision and you will take your file and go. No file will sleep in my office and that was how we were able to do it for four years. So my table was clean and my head was clear and was free to think and it helped the President to tackle the difficult problems of the nation. Management is a difficult matter, and you need highly skilled people to manage a vast and complex system like Nigeria. I think it is beyond those who have tried to rule us in recent time.

Some students were kidnapped in Yobe State by Boko Haram and government keeps boasting that the terror group has been technically defeated. What is your perspective?

In a country where that had happened before, one will expect that we would have learned some lessons from Chibok. Apparently, we have not. In the areas where Book Haram is terrorising the people, a boarding school for girls is a soft target and can be attacked any day. So to discourage attacks, you need to put in place adequate security. Clearly, Boko Haram has not been defeated, but the frequency of attacks has reduced and that is some achievement. Globally, terrorist organizations dont die easily and if they cannot longer fight battles, they break into smaller groups like guerrillas and continue fighting. All these boys fighting in the bush are deprived children who are hungry and uneducated, they do not see any hope for themselves and somebody comes around to preach a place in heaven to them and puts food in their stomachs and tells them follow me to kill these oppressors and they will follow you. We should allow military campaign to go hand in hand with economic rehabilitation so that there will be no incentives for these boys to remain in terrorism or those that are not there to be recruited into terrorism.

Are you bothered by the alleged lopsidedness in the appointments made under the Buhari government?

It did not start with the present government. Three years ago, we held a meeting of the Yoruba Unity Forum led by Bishop Bolanle Gbonigi in Ibadan. We had done some research into the pattern of employment into the federal civil service. We pointed out that many departments were dominated by people who were not from the South-West and there were departments which had not been headed by any Yoruba person and we concluded that this could have been a deliberate thing. It is not a new thing and the new government just continued the practice. The idea of federal character is a serious matter. It means if you want to share 360 things and you have 36 states, that is approximately 10 per state. But to some government, like the one we have today, 50 will probably go to the state of the President, and then two or three to other states. This is not acceptable. Some people say that there must be affirmative action in the award of scholarship, in terms of admissions based on concessions but not in terms of bastardizing the system as in appointments. That kind of bastardization has caused anger in the country. Nigeria belongs to all of us and my position is that federal character has so far failed to address lopsidedness and imbalance in several cadres in the public service because those who are operating the system, from the beginning, have focused entirely on the top level of the civil service. They bring people from northern civil service and promote them to level 15 and they will be there for four or five years and they move to the top. For the sake of fairness, at the point of entry, make it equal, maybe 10 per state; and every one of the 10 has basic qualifications and moves in the best possible way; that would be the most comprehensive federal character we would ever have. But when they bring somebody to level 15 who never went to university, his performance is substandard, although he may give himself any title.

As a leader of Afenifere, are you not concerned about the alleged marginalisation of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in the ruling APC after he had helped the party to capture power at the federal level?

We had in the past made our position clear through our leader, Chief Reuben Fasoranti, that Yoruba leaders believe that part of why he is treated that way is because of where he comes from; we might be wrong, but that is what we believe. He is a smart guy and a politician who knows what to do to favour him at every time and every stage in his life. He is not a baby, he has not said he needs my advice or tutoring or mentoring, so it is unnecessary to ask for an unsolicited advice on his behalf.

So if tomorrow Asiwaju Tinubu decides to come to the SDP, he will be welcomed.

Of course yes; we were both members of the SDP before, so it will be welcome home Bola Tinubu.

Prof. Ango Abdullahi in a recent interview said herdsmen are fighting injustice hence the killings and maiming.

He is a man I know during the old SDP days when I was seeking the presidential nomination and he was backing General Shehu YarAdua. I have a lot of respect for him because he was a Vice Chancellor at a time but some of the things attributed to him, recently, surprised me. I cannot make sense in his claim that killer herdsmen are fighting injustice; you can say they are fighting because of a situation they cannot help, that will be nearer the truth. It is a fact that Lake Chad, which used to sustain hundreds of thousands of herds and farmers, has dried to less than 1/5 of its original size. Those that depend on the lake have to survive but you cannot rationalise the killings to say they do it because of injustice. Who brought the injustice? Is it the nature that dried up the lake? It is not injustice, he used the wrong word. He may say they are struggling with a very difficult situation and who should he blame?: state governments in the North who have responsibility for looking after their people. If Chad is drying up and desertification is advancing in the far North, there should be measures in place. So (Ango Abdullahi) should abuse governors of those states and not the hapless farmers of Benue or Ondo or Nasarawa or the South being attacked by herdsmen; they are not the ones doing any injustice to herdsmen, it is due to nature and failure of the state governments to provide good governance.

He went further to say that your kidnap by some herdsmen was nothing special.

He has every right to feel so but when I was kidnapped, the nation trembled. You will recall that soon after I came out, Yoruba leaders met in Ibadan and passed a resolution that if government failed to protect our people, the Yoruba will find a way out of the country. Nothing has ever pushed the Yoruba to that point; if despite that Ango Abdullahi feels that there is nothing special about the kidnap, good luck to him. I want to thank President Buhari because he sent the Inspector General of Police to Ondo State himself to go and look for me.

What is the way out of herdsmen crisis?

We are not dealing with something people have not done before. Almost every nation on earth eats cows as we do. But you dont go to California and run into cattle on the tarmac. You dont even go to Ghana and find cattle in the city square. We found the solution at the National Conference in 2014 that free grazing of cattle is out of date, disappeared over 200 years ago in most countries and that we cannot continue to live in the past. Ranching is the answer, not by walking your cattle from Kano to Akure and, by the time they get here, they are all bones, and thats why they desperately needed my maize and cassava to become fresh again so that the cows could be sold at good prices.

. The nations debt incurred by PDP in 16 years was put at about N6 trillion but reports say it has jumped up to about N11trillion in three years of the Buhari administration.

I have not read the story and I will like to see. I am not like most Nigerians, not only because I am an economist. I was once the Finance Minister and l have knowledge of the internal workings of government. If there is a marching creation of assets, the debt is nothing to shout about. If I go to the bank and I borrow N500million and I build a factory that is producing and making profit and the debt is still there, is that a debt? But if I borrowed N500million and I have nothing to show for it, then there is a problem. It depends on what government did with the money they borrowed. If they used it to create assets, not necessarily commercial assets that can create income, but if they created assets that brought relief to the economy, for example, good roads, potable supply and electricity and people can run their businesses, there is nothing bad about it. But if the money is borrowed and you cant identify the assets created with it, then there is a problem because you have to pay back the debt. First you have to service the debt, pay interest before it matures. And if people say they met empty an treasury, that is an empty statement. The treasury can never be empty because everyday revenue flows in and expenditure flows out. In public finance, those who say it are semi-illiterate. Everyday customs duties are being paid at the wharf and that money goes to the federal government. And you talk about Value Added Tax (VAT) every day as people buy things and the revenue goes into government coffers.

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Loading...Home | News | General | Oshiomhole sympathises with PDP as APC sweeps Edo LG polls

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM, BENIN-CITY

Local government elections in Edo State held penultimate Saturday and it was a clean sweep for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in all the 18 LGAs of the state. The enthusiasm observed during the polls did not come as a surprise considering that the last time elections held at that level was in 2013 under the then governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, and, since 2016 when the tenure of the Chairmen and Councillors ended, the councils had been run by Heads of Services.

Oshiomhole

However, the elections, which were the first to be conducted by Governor Godwin Obaseki, turned out to be an easy ride for his party, the APC, following the decision by the major opposition party in the state, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to boycott the polls. The PDP, in a statement by the state Publicity Secretary, Chris Nehikhare, had said ahead of the elections, PDP is not participating in the sham elections. We did not submit any candidate for any of the positions in any of the wards and local government areas in the state. As a matter of fact, we filed a case in court challenging EDSIEC, EDHA and EDSG on their powers, amongst other breaches, to amend the rules for the conduct of the elections.

The case was adjourned to April 11, 2018 at the last hearing. From the onset, we outlined our grievances regarding the composition of EDSIEC, the unconstitutional amendment to the number of days notice required to be given to political parties before elections are held and question the competence of the EDSIEC as the antecedent of its Chairman stuck out like a sore thumb. At this point, we expected EDSIEC and/or EDSG to address these issues raised as they were germane, but instead, they preferred to pay lawyers up to N500m to keep the case in court. Our case is strong and justifiable. As a consequence and not wanting to give credibility to a flawed and skewed process, whereby all the winners have been predetermined, election results already written in government house and handed over to the Prof. Orobator led EDSIEC for announcement. We hereby advice all our members, sympathizers as well as the good and hardworking people of Edo State to observe March 3rd, 2018 as a day of rest.

Stronghold

However, ten other political parties, including Labour Party, NCP, ADP, Social Democratic Party and People for Democratic Change, participated in the polls. This would be the first time the PDP would be boycotting an election in Edo. The party led the state for ten years before Oshiomhole came to power and solidified his APC in Edo. Sunday Vanguard gathered that PDP members from Edo Central, an area seen to be the stronghold of the opposition party in the state, argued that they should be allowed to participate in the elections at least to keep the hope of their members intact ahead of the 2019 general elections. But the leadership of the party, under the chairmanship of Chief Dan Orbih, felt it was going to be a wasteful venture since the polls were going to be supervised by Edo State Independent National Electoral Commission (EDSIEC). Oshiomhole, who is the Leader of the APC in the state, expressed shock over the decision of the PDP to boycott the elections, saying he sympathised with the party. His words: The implication of the PDPs decision is that they will not ask for votes from Edo people come 2019 since local government elections are now too small for them. I laughed when I read the PDP saying that they are going to court to contest the constitution of the EDSIEC and other issues that have to do with the local government elections. That is just an excuse to tell their members that they are still alive but they are dead. You can see people celebrating democracy at the grassroots. Our people are more interested in local elections because LGA Chairmen and councillors are those they see every day, and that is why you see that people are keen to vote. With these elections, we have just completed the liquidation of the PDP. There is no further proof of that liquidation other than that they have on their own admitted defeat. They dont regard the people who vote for them at the grassroots. They have my sympathy because this is the same party that used to arrogantly rig people out and ask you to go to court. We have demystified them and entrenched one man one vote which is an area they dont have competence. They are not used to voting, they are used to writing results.

No surprise

A former member of the House of Representatives, Mr Patrick Obahiagbon (Igodomigodo), attributed the victory of the APC in the elections to the hard work of Obaseki, saying the PDP stayed away because they had nothing to campaign with. We have a governor that is called Wake and See and, across the state, you see development each time you wake up in the morning. He has consolidated on the progress made by Oshiomhole and Edo is progressing. So the result of the elections is not a surprise to us and I can tell you that this victory will be replicated in 2019 because the governor is focused and he is a performer, he said.

First female Chairman

Meanwhile the elections saw the emergence of the first female LGA Chairperson in the state, in the person of the daughter of the late Dr Samuel Ogbemudia, Eghe Ogbemudia, who takes charge at Egor Local Government Area. The elected Chairmen were sworn in last Monday by Obaseki. Speaking at the occasion, the governor charged the new heads of the councils to be accountable, responsive and responsible in administering the affairs of their councils. He said, My administration has kept aside N2 billion saved from the Paris Club refunds in the councils treasury for the new executives to commence activities. You are not coming to meet an empty treasury. I have saved your Paris refunds in excess of N2billion. So, you will be coming into office with some reserves and savings, but you have to focus on enduring projects.

Act of benevolence

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, who witnessed the swearing-in ceremony, commended Obaseki for saving money for the Chairmen to kick-start their activities. He described the act as benevolent and urged the council bosses to utilize the fund for the benefit of the masses. Also speaking at a thanks giving service held at St Pauls Catholic Church, Benin-City, Obaseki said the new helmsmen will deepen his brand of strategic leadership at the 18 LGAs of the state. The governor said the APC will introduce the same quality of service he is pioneering at the state level in the LGAs through the new Chairmen and councillors. That is why our party, the APC, decided to field candidates we know are very credible, and are people with experience to take charge of the affairs of our local government areas. So, we are quite excited and assure the people of Edo State that the new heads at the local governments will render service to the people that will surpass what they have seen before, he said.

We will want to deepen the Wake and See concept of programme execution. We want to make sure that the same spirit gets to the local government areas.

The Parish Priest, Reverend Father Edwin Omorogbe, commended the state government for organising the elections to enable the people to choose those to lead them at the local government areas. Catholic Archbishop Augustine Akubueze of Benin Archdiocese praised the state government for organising the local government elections, saying the turnout showed that the people were concerned about electing those they see on daily basis. So, the charge is now for these new heads not to disappoint, he added.

The only female Chairperson, Eghe Ogbemudia, said she wouldnt disappoint her people.

Some of the new LGA Chairmen who attended the service are Ogbemudia Eghe; John Akhigbe of Etsako Central LGA; Destiny Enabulele of Ovia South West LGA; Jenkins Osunde of Oredo LGA and Eric Osayande of Ikpoba Okha LGA.

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Loading...Home | News | General | Another crack in APC as Mamora reportedly rejects Buharis appointment

- President Buhari nominated Senator Mamora as the chairman of the Abuja Investment and Infrastructure Centre

- Mamora, however, reportedly rejected the appointment

- Report stated that the former Lagos speaker rejected the appointment because he felt the position was not befitting of his status

A former lawmaker, Senator Olurunnimbe Mamora, has allegedly rejected his appointment as the chairman of the Abuja Investment and Infrastructure Centre.

Senator Mamora, who was the deputy director general of the Muhammadu Buhari Campaign Organisation during the 2015 presidential election, was nominated for the position by the president.

However, Punch reported that during the inauguration of the board of the AIIC a few weeks ago, a governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2016 Ondo state governorship election, Jumoke Ajasin-Anifowoshe, was named the chairman.

READ ALSO: UN agency appoints Aisha Buhari as Special Ambassador

Ajasin-Anifowose, who is the daughter of the first governor of the old Ondo state, Adekunle Ajasin, was sworn in by the minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Alhaji Muhammad Bello.

Investigations by Punch reportedly showed that the ex-lawmaker rejected the appointment.

NAIJ.com gathered that Mamora had met with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, and expressed his displeasure with the appointment.

Mamora, a former Lagos state House of Assembly speaker and senator who represented Lagos-East senatorial district from 2003 to 2011, allegedly felt the appointment was not befitting.

He reportedly argued that people who never participated in the process that brought President Buhari to power were occupying the front seats of government.

Mamora was also allegedly listed to be the chairman of the Board of the Nigerian Ports Authority in 2016 but was reportedly edged out by some powerful people in the system.

His alleged nomination as an ambassador in late 2016 was also reportedly withdrawn for unknown reasons and was not even contacted before his name was dropped.

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Punch reported that attempts to speak with Mamora proved abortive as repeated calls to his phone were not responded to while a text message sent to his mobile was not replied to.

NAIJ.com previously reported that President Buhari on Saturday, March 17, cancelled his plan to attend the extraordinary meeting of African Union Heads of State and Government billed to hold in Kigali, Rwanda on Wednesday, March 21.

This came a few days after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) gave President Buhari approval to join other African countries to sign the Agreement Framework for the establishment of African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Are Nigerians truly tired of President Buhari? on NAIJ.com TV.

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Loading...Home | News | General | Opinion: Buhari, a serious president? No, Im not by Sani Muhammad Uzairu

Editor's note: The author Sani Muhammad Uzairu, a political commentator in this piece talks about how Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari is yet to explain why and how his second term will be any different or better than the first.

He doesnt seem to think that is even necessary. Which is only one more reason to question his seriousness and his leadership.

We are un-oblivious that the economy is sluggish despite alleged economic growth. But now we learn that the security situation is far weaker than previously understood. But that is not the only unflattering truth that has come to light. Our national unity is equally in far troubling shape than we thought few years ago.

It isnt as if job growth isnt even keeping up with population growth. It isnt just that the federal government has effectively thrown in the towel and admitted that underemployment is at its all time low.

It isnt just that the Federal Bureau of Statistics month after month, revises the jobless numbers further downward  making what was bad news then, even worse news now. It isnt just that the previous quarters economic growth has not translated into economic development.

READ ALSO: Former Lagos speaker, Mamora, reportedly rejects Buharis appointment

It isnt just that in recent months more Nigerians have given up hope and stopped looking for work than have found a job.

It isnt just that more than half of manufacturers and small business owners say that they would not have started their businesses in todays climate. It isnt even that well more than half of such business owners said that Ghana and Benin republic are more supportive of their small businesses and manufacturing than Nigeria is, of its own.

It isnt just that the North East is in flames and people are killed daily and school children abducted in droves. It isnt just that the herdsmen/farmers clash we were inexcusably unprepared for caught us flat-footed.

And it isnt just that Buhari has been deceptive about our security situation, the actual cause, what the government has done to contain it, progress made so far, beyond the inanities of oft  repeated technically defeated, terribly degraded, completed defeated and all other semantics.

It is all of these factors combined into a squalid mishmash of amateurish leadership, self-aggrandizement, childish blame-shifting, and blind adherence to failed ideologies.

But that is not all, Buhari mixes into the reeking emulsion of bitter partisanship, amateurish leadership, demagoguery, and failed policies, a fundamental dishonesty. He does not actually debate those with whom he disagrees. He simply and grotesquely misrepresents their position and tortures it beyond all recognition.

Once he has created a dishonest and false straw-man, he then battles only the straw-man he disingenuously fabricated  carefully avoiding any serious debate with serious people, and never seriously discussing ideas or solutions.

It is not clear whether it is simply a function of his penchant toward grandiosity or his lack of intellectual rigor, but this is the man who allegedly said that his mere inauguration would stop the insurgency in North East. Today that statement is self-evidently absurd, but even on the day he first uttered it, it was inane.

On energy, Buhari has consistently lowered the nations collective IQ by dishing out rhetoric. As APC flagbearer, Buhari is said to have argued that his government will generate 20,000 megawatts of electricity in four years. But in his independence day speech on 1st October, 2017, he asserted that power is a huge problem.

That is simply not even close to being true. It is completely false and laughably absurd. If a high school student made an argument like that in a civics class, he would fail the assignment. How is it that a president was so misinformed, yet speaks so confidently notwithstanding his lack of anything useful or intelligent to say on the topic?

Didnt he realise that power was a huge problem when promised 20,000 megawatts as a presidential hopeful? What has changed since then? Let it be known that power is not and would never have been a problem. Our major challenge is clueless leaders like Mr. President that serve as cog in the wheels power delivery with its confused policies.

Buhari is intellectually lazy. He is, quite frankly, a lazy president. He likes being the president, but he doesnt like doing the work of the president. He took a similar approach to being a head of state in the early 80s, I would learn.

Whilst in opposition, he was always coming into national discourse with shocking frequency. Once he arrived Aso Rock Villa , he had little interest in doing the work of a Nigerian president. Rather he almost immediately began making indirect statements about his second term ambition.

Once Buhari became president, he left the work of actually governing to Maman Daura and Abba Kyari. He only once lifted a finger to pass a budget in the last two years. His budget has always come with so much controversies that balancing the budget was apparently a laugh line for him.

The N- power welfare package, which clearly has not worked as promised, wasnt even his work product  again, he left the heavy lifting to Osinbajo.

Buhari never rolled up his sleeves and worked to build compromise or consensus. As a result, he has unwittingly polarised this nation more than ever before.

It isnt so much that Buhari is a bad leader, he simply is not a leader. When things go to his liking, he ungraciously claims the credit. When things go poorly, he blames others.

Buhari has hardly met with the economic team. It is shocking that as debt ceiling and budgetary issues loomed, he hardly met with the leaders of the National Assembly, to help forge an agreement , but for the proposed changes in the order of election which he viewed as a threat to his re-election.

Even days after killings in Plateau, Borno and Kogi, Buhari instead of arranging a national security briefing chose to attend Dangotes daughter wedding in Kano. And for good measure, while on a condolence visit c*m political rally in Plateau and Yobe, he resorted to playing politics.

Yet the APC never saw anything ironic about him accusing a former president of displaying inertia albeit applauding himself of being responsive, while on a condolence visit. Simply stated, this is not a serious man and he has not been a serious president. He has been the absentee president  still effectively voting present.

And Buhari gets away with it, only because some shameless and dishonest ethnic and religious bigots cheer him as he tears apart the very straw-man he has so carefully crafted for precisely this phony show of intelligence and leadership.

There is almost always some rhetorical license taken by politicians when discussing the issues of the day or debating opponents. But Buhari does this in the extreme and to stunning new lows. He not only regularly crosses the line, he sprints enthusiastically to the side of rhetorical deception and outright dishonesty. If you examine his entire career, that is who Buhari is a shady politician who speaks with the aid of a teleprompter in moving, glittering generalities.

So now after the thrill and excitement of change have worn off, we must face the cold hard facts. By any objective measure, Buhari is a failure. He isnt a serious president. He spends more time blaming and lecturing others, than working on solutions.

Just as Buhari appears to be entirely detached from reality as he tells us he wasnt aware that his IGP flouted his order, added to his minister of defence who told Nigeria and the world that communal clash is to blame for the killing of Benue people, he seems equally out of touch when he tells us that we are making progress on corruption fight and that we are on the right track and we just need to give him more time.

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Time for what? More time to not meet with economic advisors or his cabinet? More time to blame others? More time to claim credit for any good news? More time to watch cartoons? More time to junketeer? Is this what Buhari and APC think passes for leadership or change?

Buhari has yet to seriously explain why and how a second term will be any different or better than the first. He doesnt seem to think that is even necessary. Which is only one more reason to question his seriousness and his leadership.

A serious leader would honestly assess where we are and where weve been, describe where we want to go, and explain how he will chart the course to get there. But then again, that is what a serious leader and serious mind would do. And Buhari is neither.

The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of NAIJ.com.

Your own opinion articles are welcome at info@corp.naij.com drop an email telling us what you want to write about and why. More details in Naij.coms step-by-step guide for guest contributors.

Were ready to trade your news for our money: submit news and photo reports from your area using our Citizen Journalism App.

Contact us if you have any feedback, suggestions, complaints or compliments. We are also available on Twitter.

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Loading...Home | News | General | Troops arrests 6 herdsmen destroying farmlands (photos)

- Soldiers on Patrol arrested herdsmen destroying farmlands

- The suspects were handed over to the police

- Soldiers also recovered motorcycle used by some herdsmen

Troops of 707 Special Forces Brigade during their routine patrol apprehended six herdsmen who were caught destroying a farmland in Kwata Sule.

In a statement by Brigadier General Texas Chukwu who is the director, army public relations, the herdsmen were apprehended on Saturday, March 17.

READ ALSO: 2019: Obasanjo meets Kwankwaso, Oyinlola in Lagos; details of meeting revealed

The suspects were handed over to the police for further action.

Herdsmen arrested for destroying farmlands. Credit: Nigerian Army

Read statement below

Troops of 707 Special Forces Brigade have arrested 6 herdsmen, caught in the act of farmland destruction. Troops while on patrol in the general area of Kwata Sule on 17 March encountered the herdsmen in the act prompting their arrest. After initial interrogation, the suspects were handed over to the police for further action.

Similarly, troops on patrol in the general area of Chembe, Tse-Gundu, Tse-Iordye and Sbaor settlements sighted two herdsmen on motorcycle along Kwata Shaor river bank. The Herdsmen abandoned their motorcycle and fled.

On search of the general area, one round of 7.62mm special was discovered. Troops continue to dominate the general area with patrols.

NAIJ.com had earlier reported that soldiers on Operation Lafiya Dole encountered an armed militia in Bauchi state resulting in an exchange of fire between the two groups.

In a statement by Brigadier General Texas Chukwu who is the director, army public relations, the encounter happened on Saturday, March 17 at Burra Junction in Ningi Local Government Area.

It was reported that the group opened fire on the soldiers who bravely retaliated killing four of them.

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Loading...Home | News | General | Declare herdsmen attacks as terrorist acts, SERAP urges UN Security Council

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sent an open letter to the UN Security Council and its members urging them to: Urgently hold a special session on Nigeria and to visit the country to press the authorities to end continuing killings and destruction of property by suspected herdsmen across Nigeria, particularly in the North-Central of the country.

President Buhari

The organization also asked the Council to: treat the atrocities by herdsmen as terrorist acts, in line with the UN Security Council resolution 2349 (2017), which addresses Boko Harams presence in the Lake Chad Basin and calls on all states to combat all forms and manifestations of terrorism. Declaring attacks by herdsmen as terrorist acts would help make up the authorities to seriously address the threats posed by herdsmen and combat the crimes against humanity being committed against Nigerians.

In the letter dated 16 March 2018 and signed by SERAP deputy director Timothy Adewale the organization expressed, serious concern that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari is failing to uphold its responsibility to protect the citizens from increasing atrocities by the herdsmen, which if not urgently addressed would pose serious threat to regional peace and security, and by extension, international peace and security. The Security Council must act now to protect Nigerians, including women and children, if the Council is not to be accused of failing the people of Nigeria.

The organization said: The attacks by herdsmen have uprooted families, destroyed communities socio-economic activities, and taken away their livelihoods and common heritage. These attacks undermine the very purposes and principles of the UN Charter. If not urgently combatted, such attacks may rise to the level of threat to international peace and security. SERAP notes that the first purpose listed for the UN is to maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace.

The letter read in part: SERAP urges the Security Council and its members to publicly condemn these terrorist attacks, express concern about the protection of Nigerians and communities affected by the violations of international humanitarian and human rights law and press the authorities to put in place special mechanisms for bringing those suspected to be responsible to justice, and victims to receive redress, including adequate compensation and guarantee of non-repetition.

The Security Council and its members should reaffirm that terrorism of all forms and manifestations, such as the growing attacks by herdsmen in Nigeria, are criminal and unjustifiable regardless of their motivations. They should also recognize that security, development and human rights are interlinked and mutually reinforcing and are vital to an effective and comprehensive approach to countering all forms of terrorism in Nigeria.

The Security Council and its members should adopt a resolution to: Characterise killings by herdsmen as terrorist acts and mobilize international support for Nigeria to combat these attacks, including for the authorities to adopt and implement measures to tackle the causes and consequences of these attacks and end all forms of terrorism in the country.

The resolution should also call on the UN Secretary-General to carry out a joint visit to Nigeria with the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, and the African Union Peace and Security Council to investigate allegations of killings by herdsmen and to better understand the root causes of these killings and put pressure on the Nigerian authorities to end them.

The resolution should express concern that unabated killings by herdsmen may ultimately contribute to undermining the ability of the Nigerian authorities to provide security, good governance, social and economic development in the country. It should affirm the international communitys solidarity and full support for the victims of killings by herdsmen and the communities affected, including those displaced because of the attacks.

The Security Council and its members should support collaboration with the African Union Peace and Security Council to combat the threats posed by herdsmen and enable both institutions to support stability and development in Nigeria. We believe that a UN Security Council resolution would help to put pressure on the Nigerian authorities to take urgent and concrete measures to end the killings and secure the safety of all Nigerians. We urge you to act urgently as recommended, and we would be pleased to discuss these issues further.

SERAP notes that hundreds of people including women and children, have been killed apparently by herdsmen, and several more have been displaced and others forced to flee their homes and communities. The past weeks alone have seen some of the worst attacks against innocent citizens, including unlawful killings, destruction and pillage of property by herdsmen across the country. The attacks have been fuelled by impunity that has plagued the authorities response to the problem.

According reports, at least seven people have been killed and property worth millions of naira destroyed following series of attacks on Takum and Ussa local government areas of Taraba State by herdsmen. In Plateau State of Nigeria, a man identified as Joseph Alli, 23, was killed and beheaded by herdsmen during a fresh attack on Rotsu village, Miango District in Bassa Local Government Area of the State.

His killers reportedly ate the food that he was about to eat, burnt the kitchen and food barn in the house and left. Three houses around the area were also burnt. In Kogi State, at least 50 people have been killed, with several still missing following an attack on Oganenigwu in Dekina Local Government Area of the State by herdsmen.

The Security Council has five permanent members: China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and ten non-permanent members elected for two-year terms by the General Assembly. The non-permanent members are: Bolivia; Cote dIvoire; Equatorial Guinea; Ethiopia; and Kazakhstan. Others are: Kuwait; Netherlands; Peru; Poland; and Sweden.

The presidency of the Council is held by each of the members in turn for one month, following the English alphabetical order of the Member States names. The current president of the Council is the Netherlands.

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Loading...Home | News | General | BBNaija: Your fights are now becoming boring - Alex tells Tobi and Cee-C

If there is anything more constant than the BBNaija arena games, it's definitely the consistence lovers' quarrel between Tobi and Cee-c.

The pairing of strategic partners in the BBNaija reality show may have brought quite an effect on the housemates. While there is smooth chemistry between some partners, for others, the partnership has been one filled with a lot of turbulence.

One of which is Tobi and Cee-C. Even after they were unpaired, they somehow always have something to fight about. Some have related this to the fact that the two are clearly attracted to each other. Others however, are simply tired of their constant childish squabbles.

After the Saturday night party, Tobi and Cee-C were at it again. Being the third time in a row for them. Alex, however, had clearly had enough of their constant fights. She called them out on the issue, stating that their fights were becoming boring and exhausting.

READ ALSO: Couple divorce less than 2 months after their societal wedding in Delta state

She further advised them to remain out in the lounge and finish their fight. She further said: "If not I will not take it lightly with you guys.Last Saturday, you disturbed everyone with your fight. You made people not to sleep but this time, I wont allow it.Is it now every Saturday thing? Does it mean we wont have our rest in this house again?

See video below:

READ ALSO: Newly employed Kaduna state teacher makes grammatical error as he gives thanks to God for his new job

Later on, Alex was heard telling Rico, See, todays own wont be funny. If they think this house belongs to them, let them come in here with their fight and make noise.Youll see what Ill do to them. Can you imagine? They did it last Saturday and today again.

Meanwhile, ex-housemate Leo, in a recent interview revealed that his mother actually encouraged him to go for the show. He further spoke about his relationship with Alex who he considers a dear friend.

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Should a 'homeless' man move into a house built by his wife? on NAIJ.com TV:

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Loading...Home | News | General | Neighbourhood watch: Group accuses Wike of planning to unleash violence on political opponents

- The news of Governor Wike giving assent to the Rivers State Neigbourhood Safety Corps Bill 2018 is generating reactions

- A group known as Free Rivers Development Initiative (FRDI) has raised an alarm on the proposed activities of the corps

- They are of the opinion that the corps will be used to harass political opponents of the Rivers state government

A group known as Free Rivers Development Initiative (FRDI) has raised an alarm on the proposed activities of the Rivers State Neigbourhood Safety Corps which bill was recently assented to by Governor Nyesome Wike.

Chieftains of the FRDI raised concerns on the corps during a press briefing in Abuja on Friday, March 16.

They include Engineer Ngerebala Sampson (president), Honourable Chidi Lloyd, Honourable Asita Honourable and Prince Tonye Princewill.

Members of the Free Rivers Development Initiative during the press briefing in Abuja. Photo credit: Sumner Shagari Sambo

READ ALSO: Afe Babalola absolves President Buhari of blame for violent killings, insurgency

We are not opposed to the government of Rivers state taking steps to ensure that everyone in Rivers state is safe. That is his constitutional duty. But he must do so in collaboration with already existing federal security agencies in the country.

It is unconstitutional in that it is a state police in disguise; the said corps if established, will perform the following functions; detection of crime; investigation of crime; arrest of offenders with or without warrant; prosecution of offenders; searches of premises and property of citizens of Nigeria detention of citizens of Nigeria; and to bear arms for the performance of its duties.

This will be in contravention of sections 214-216 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) and section 4 of the Police Act 2004. The constitution provides for only one police force in Nigeria, Engineer Sampson said.

The group accused Governor Wike of unleashing violence on his political opponents before, during and after the 2015 general elections.

They alleged that the governor maintained a secret army to intimidate and harass political opponents, before security agencies disbanded them.

Now that the federal forces have swooped on Governor Wike's secret army, which he used to unleash mayhem in Rivers state, he has devised another means to continue to maintain his secret army.

This time around he went to the Rivers state House of Assembly to get the Neighbourhood bill passed into law, which he assented to immediately, just to cloth his secret army with the toga of legitimacy, they alleged.

They further alleged that the corps will be used to cause violence, and killings of political opponents before, during and after 2019 general elections.

They also said the corps will rig the 2019 general elections; arrest and prosecute political opponents with a view to keeping them out of circulation before, during and after the 2019 general elections.

Despite all these concerns the governor was adamant and desirous of getting the bill passed into law as unconstitutional as it was. Two suits were filed at the Federal High Court Port Harcourt challenging the bill and seeking for an order of injunction restraining the governor from giving assent to the bill.

The said suits were duly served on the governor, but the governor ignored the suits and purportedly signed the bill into law.

Since it is evident that the governor of Rivers state has no regards to court processes; when in the face of the pending suits before the Federal High Court, he signed the Neigbourhood Safety Corps bill into law, and since we know that Governor Wike will go ahead to appoint and inaugurate the Neighbourhood Safety Corps.

We are calling on the Inspector General of Police and other security agencies to take steps and stop the River state governor from inaugurating the Rivers State Safety Corps.

Whereby our call is not heeded to, our reaction will be to also set up our own Neighbourhood Safety Corps to watch Wikes neighbourhood Safety Corps. We shall cloth them with uniforms and apply for arms for them through the police, then the 2 Neigbourhood Safety Corps will police each other, the group said.

READ ALSO: I will sign the death warrant of any convicted kidnapper - Governor Wike vows

Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers state says it will not participate in the alleged illegality of the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commissions (RSIEC) proposed conduct of local government councils elections on Saturday, June 16.

The chairman of APC in Rivers, Chief Davies Ikanya, made the assertion at a news conference on Wednesday, March 14, in Port Harcourt.

The RSIEC chairman, Justice C. I. Uriri, had on March 13, informed stakeholders at a meeting that the commission would conduct councils elections because it was worried over the vacancies.

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Loading...Home | News | General | Guests barred from taking photos at the wedding of VP Osinbajo's daughter

Reports reaching NAIJ.com this moment claims that Guests who attended the wedding of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo's daughter, Oludamilola to Seun Bakare were barred from taking their phones into the venue of the church service.

The white wedding of Damilola Osinbajo to Seun Bakare, son of billionaire businesswoman, Bola Shagaya was said to have taken place at the National Christian Centre, Abuja on Saturday, March 17, 2018.

Prof Osinbajo had on Wednesday, February 14, confirmed his daughter's wedding as he shared a picture of the lovebirds with the caption: "With joy and praise to the Lord, Dolly and I announce the betrothal of our daughter Oludamilola Osinbajo to Oluseun Bakare."

Wedding of Osinbajo's daughter to Bola Shagaya's son

READ ALSO: President Buhari, top dignitaries attend Osinbajos daughters wedding in Abuja

According to information gathered, as guests arrived the National Ecumenical center, they were ordered by the security details to leave their phones in their cars.

Also journalists were barred from photographing or filming the church. A message sent out from the VP's media team to State House reporters read;

"Media cameras will not be required and therefore not welcomed in today's (Saturday's) events both in church and the reception. Please accept our request and need for an entirely PRIVATE event".

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In a previous report by NAIJ.com, the much talked-about traditional wedding ceremony of Damilola, the daughter of Nigerias vice president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, reportedly held at the old banquet hall of the Presidential Villa, Aso Rock, Abuja with guests filling the venue to capacity on Thursday, March 15.

Once again NAIJ.com wishes the family the best.

How long should it take between a proposal and the actual wedding? - on NAIJ.com TV.

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Loading...Home | News | General | Just in: Govenor Obaseki gives 7-day ultimatum for apprehension of alleged killer herdsmen as 3 are murdered in Edo

Angry over the death of three persons, including two adults and a minor in Ugboha, Esan South East local local government council of Edo state, Governor Godwin Obaseki, has reportedly ordered the arrest of the alleged herdsmen responsible for the attack.

The attack was reported on Saturday, March 18, and the victims allegedly included a first year student of the Ambrose Alli University Ekpoma, Collins Ojierakhi.

READ ALSO: Former Lagos speaker, Mamora, reportedly rejects Buharis appointment

Vanguard reports that the governor, who condemned the killings by the bandits in contravention of governments directive that cattle should not move in Edo state at night, ordered that the culprits be arrested within seven days.

Accordingly, Obaseki directed a committee made up of the police, officials of the State Security Service (SSS) and other agencies to work with members of all associations of cattle dealers as well as those with information regarding the activities of the bandits.

The governor condoled with the families of the victims and pledged his administrations commitment to the safety and security of the people of the state as well as their property.

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He also appealed to members of the affected communities not to take laws into their hands but to rest assured that the culprits would be apprehended and that justice will be served.

What should the FG do to tackle herdsmen's attacks in the country? - on NAIJ.com TV

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Loading...Home | News | General | Bagobiri: Why I stayed quiet over killings in Southern Kaduna  Kukah

The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Most Rev. Matthew Kukah, has revealed why he chose to stay quiet during the recent killings in Southern Kaduna.

Bishop Kukah who spoke against what he described as the politics of exclusion in Kaduna state, also said that the people of Southern Kaduna have been marginalised for too long in the state, especially being excluded from governments policies and democracy dividends.

Bishop Matthew Kukah

Bishop Kukah said this while delivering a homily at the funeral service of Late. Most Rev. Dr. Joseph Danlami Bagobiri, the pioneer Bishop of Kafanchan Diocese, on 15 March, 2018 at the Kafanchan Township Stadium, Ungwan Musa  Kafanchan, Jemaa local government area of Kaduna state.

According to him, the late Bishop, while alive, also spoke with a loud voice against the government of exclusion in the state.

He said late Bishop Bagobiri lived at a time when clearly, the foundation of unity and justice in Kaduna in particular and Nigeria in general seemed threatened. At Christmas last year, he appealed to his people to remain firm.

According to him, the late bishop always prayed for peace and unity in the state. But, at heart, he was perhaps a victim of his own convictions and honesty.

Below is the excerpt:

I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war (Ps. 120:7) .For most of you here in the audience, you may recall that the last time I stood before a huge gathering of this nature to undertake the same assignment was at the funeral of the late Sir, Patrick Yakowa, and Governor of Kaduna State on December 21st, 2012.

I m told that till date, members of the Kaduna mafia have not been able to live down the contents of the sermon. Yet, then as now, they did not dispute the evidence I presented.

Today, that Kaduna has become an open sore of injury and pain that it is the most divided and volatile state in Nigeria is the result of the seeds of disunity sowed in the corrosive legacy of the policies of exclusion that the mafia sowed. We are sadly still not out of the woods yet.

Today is a special day for Southern Kaduna people and the people of the state as a whole. It is a day of reckoning. It is as much a day of sowing as a day of reaping. It is a day of promise and a day of hope. The mixed nature of our gathering suggests very clearly that this is not an ordinary funeral ceremony. Certain burials make certain demands.

They set the records of history straight. They create an urgency of now. No one should expect that the burial of someone like Bishop Joseph Bagobiri should be a simple ceremony of burying a Bishop. If it were so, the Bishops could have buried their brother and returned to their Dioceses. But, these are no ordinary times in Nigeria and my sermon will draw from both Scripture and the streets.

Our gathering here is beyond the ritual of a burial. We are gathered for a memorial, a celebration, and a festival, even a carnival. We are gathered here not as mourners with tears of sorrow in our eyes. We are gathered as men and women joyous in hope and praise. We are not gathered in tribulation, but in confident optimism.

We do not feel a sense of loss and defeat, but no, rather a sense of exultant triumph of the risen Lord. There are no mourners and sympathisers here. All of us, Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Men, Women, young and old, are gathered united as family. We are gathered here as a company of witnesses to celebrate a great man, a warrior, a statesman, and a brave and fearless man.

St. Paul says: Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us (Heb. 12:1). Things in Southern Kaduna came to a head in the Southern Kaduna after the crisis of Zangon Kataf.

Sadly, through what an author has called, the act of judicial terrorism that was the trial of General Lekwot and his kinsmen, the drift became more palpable. That trial will go down in history as one of the most gruesome abuses of judicial processes in history. In the end, true leadership failed to find lasting ways of healing our people and so our people in Kaduna became more divided both physically and psychologically.

The people of Southern Kaduna took stock of their verifiable sacrifices and contribution to the development of the north and Kaduna state, their massive contribution in the civil war. They had reaped very little by way of benefits and inclusion. Their perceived alienation and exclusion from the levers of power was palpable and clearly deliberately crafted.

By the late 70s and to the 90s an array of very well educated elite had emerged across Southern Kaduna. There were thousands of eminently qualified graduates covering all fields of education. Naturally, with this quality of education, people were bound to think differently about their rights and their place in the society in which they lived. After nearly thirty years of the creation of their state, none of them had occupied the seat of a Governor.

None had qualified to represent the State as a Minister. They looked around and found a land barren of both federal and state government presence. There were no state television signals as we had to rely on Plateau State television for media coverage. There were no roads, not a single industry sited anywhere in the state. A highly educated work force became impatient with this perceived injustice to exclude them from power.

It would take a combination of President Obasanjo and Alhaji Makarfi to change the course of the history of the people of Southern Kaduna. It was in 1999 that Senator Isaiah Balat was appointed a Minister to represent Kaduna State. Even then, the key northern Muslims protested saying that Senator Balat was a Christian not a northerner.

Then came the historic appointments of both Lt. Generals Martin Luther Agwai and Yusuf Luka to the positions of Chief of Army Staff and for Agwai, Chief of General Staff. When I met President Obasanjo and thanked him for this, he said to me: There is nothing to thank me for. These two gentlemen were the best, they had the best career records and so we did not do them a favour.

I felt sorry for General Obasanjo because he did not seem to understand that in the eyes of the mafia, merit, excellence, competence, were tied to religion and region and that in our case, being a Christian excluded you from certain positions. Alhaji Makarfi did for the people of Southern Kaduna what no one had had time to do for them.

He created a massive infrastructure of rural roads and opened up Southern Kaduna. For that period, most of our quarrels and violence literally disappeared, thus, showing very clearly that it was government policies of exclusion that were the problem, not ordinary people. Indeed, our people have lived together and continue to do so. What we call crisis is reaction to skewed government policies and the records are very clear. My point is that these circumstances of perceived and clear exclusion raised the volume of Bishop Bagobiris voice.

This should not be seen as a sign of weakness. Rather, it comes with the calling. Moral revulsion leads a leader to rebellion. All you need to do is look at the prophets of old right up to John the Baptist. It was moral revulsion that led Jesus to whip the traders in the temple. It was what led Prophet Mohammed and Dan Fodio to revolt. History has not changed and nearer home we have evidence. It is the politicians who panic in the face of the uncomfortable message of a prophet.

That is why John the Baptist had to die. Politicians are often fond of praising Church leaders especially when they are in opposition, in exile or are victims of state repression. Church leaders are praised for being voices of the voiceless, standing for justice, courageous etc. When things change and the opposition politician of yesterday gets to power, they expect you in their pocket. You raise the same issues and they accuse you of supporting the opposition, hating our government, standing in our way, being a danger to the nation etc.

People like us know this only too well. I recalled one incident when I criticized Obasanjo in a lecture and two weeks later, I was in the Villa for a meeting. One of the Ministers saw me and said to me: You have access to Baba, so why do you have to criticize him in public? I looked at him and said: I had access to Abacha but we still had to fight for his freedom. The late Cardinal Archbishop of Recife, Helder Camara said it all: When I feed the poor, the politicians say I am doing Gods work.

When I ask why the people are poor, the politicians say I am a Communist. It was the excesses of the government against the poor that drove Oscar Romero from being a rather Conservative Bishop to a radical. It is the corrosive impact of Communism and its dehumanizing influence that drove Pope John Paul to take up the cause of overthrowing Communism as the Pope.

The excesses of the Marcos regime against the people of the Philippines led Cardinal Sin to take to the streets of Manila rather than remain in comfort of his Cathedral. The degrading influence of Racism on black people was what led the Rev. Martin Luther King to the streets of Alabama, New York, Washington and the entire country. In his famous, I have a Dream Speech, he said that America had failed to deliver to the black people the promises contained in their own Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

He said injustice was synonymous with a bounced cheque and concluded that African Americans would never accept the idea that the bank of opportunity had insufficient funds! What took Archbishop Tutu to the streets of South Africa and around the world? Was it not the ravages of apartheid clearly shown in the killings and destructions in Guguletu, Soweto and other South African cities? Why did Nigerians clap each time the Catholic Bishops Conference Communiques were read in the Churches during the Abacha era? Clearly, any religious leader that stands aside in the face of tyranny, oppression, and injustice is traitor.

For the better part of the last three years, Southern Kaduna was at best an inferno of pain, suffering and death. Death and destruction by mysterious killers became the daily menu of Southern Kaduna. In village after village, innocent men, women, children, the lame and the invalids were put to the sword. Farm after farm was destroyed with a vengeance that was unprecedented and with no clear provocations.

Community life of harmony collapsed with accusations and counter accusations. Entire villages became ruins over night and the landscape of graves dotted everywhere. Amidst this, life was gradually becoming nasty, brutish and short. These are the circumstances that provoked a change of tone in Bishop Bagobiri.

With Southern Kaduna having become one huge Bantustan of government neglect, with no media signals from the Centre, how was the world to know what was happening to his people? Every crisis is an opportunity for the qualities of leaders for fairness and equity to be tested. It is a pity that the government of Kaduna rather than dialogue with both the traditional and religious leaders, resorted to accusations, threats and in some cases, outright blackmail.

No matter the challenge, in moments of crisis, a good leader will find some backroom channels across the divide. But rather, Southern Kaduna was left to fester with the crisis cheaply presented as a conflict between Christians and Muslims. Yet, the truth is that whether you are a Muslim or Christian in Southern Kaduna, the fact remains that there are no good roads, no running water, no electricity, no factories, nothing.

Yet, it was easy to divide and distract our people by creating the impression that somehow, we had a conflict between Christians and Muslims. Perhaps, let me use this opportunity to place my own experience in context. Many people, including Bishop Bagobiri wondered why I had stayed quiet over the killings in Southern Kaduna and we spoke about these things. I told him that I had opted for a different approach to the crisis for two reasons.

First, it was his territory and I believed he was the man on the spot and secondly, I thought the times called for some level of diplomacy which I believe is key to resolving conflict based on my own theoretical and practical experiences. After Christmas last year, I decided to spend about a week in my village to get a sense of the crisis. In the course of my break, I told the Agwom Akulu that I wanted to visit the Fulani settlement in Laduga because I wanted some first hand idea of what was going on because I had never been to the place.

We were very well received by the Ardo. Strange enough, while we were talking in his palace, my phone rang and it was the Sultan of Sokoto calling from Saudi Arabia. I told him where I was and he was shocked. What took you there, he asked. I put the phone on speaker and allowed him to speak to his Fulani brothers as I told him. They were all very excited to hear him. I Next, I decided to briefly visit the Chiefs of Kamantan, Bajju, Kagoro, Atyap and the Emir of Jemaa just to get a sense of the temperature.

I was struck by what I heard from these traditional rulers independently. Each one of them said that they were all living in peace before the killings started and that they are working hard to ensure that the Fulanis remain because this is home for them. Not one single traditional ruler in Southern Kaduna told me that he had a problem with any Fulani man.

I sat with the Emir of Jemaa, asked him if he felt vulnerable, being surrounded by others different from him but he told me clearly that he was happy and had no problems with anyone. I returned to Sokoto and armed with this information, I decided to approach General Abdusalam, the Chairman of the National Peace Committee of which I am the Convener.

I tried to convince him about the urgency of the Peace Committee stepping into Southern Kaduna. We spoke to the Sultan, Cardinal and other members and everyone believed that a visit to Southern Kaduna would be important. General Abdusalam undertook to seek an appointment with the Governor and finally led a delegation of the Peace Committee to a meeting with the Governor.

We wanted to hear from the Governor. Essentially, the thrust of his comment was the fact that he was determined to end impunity and that for years, people had got away with so much. I was taken aback by his combative mood and worried if he really and truly understood the issues.

I had already got the General Abdusalam to agree that after seeing the Governor, we would go into Southern Kaduna and he agreed. So, I followed up with meetings with a cross section of traditional rulers from Southern Kaduna to prepare the ground for the visit by the Committee. They were quite enthusiastic and the State Government gave us the necessary co-operation. Before the meeting, I went to the Emir of Jemaa again and asked him where he felt he would want the meeting to take place. He told me it really did not matter to him but that their meetings as traditional rulers were often held in the palace of the Chief of Kagoro who is their Senior.

I asked him if he would be comfortable with the meeting holding there and he said yes. We did hold the meeting and he attended. It was a great meeting. Next, we went on to Kafanchan same day and met with a cross section of leaders from Civil Society groups, CAN, JNI, etc. Everyone was quite delighted and offered very useful suggestions. The NPC returned to Abuja, appraised its experiences and submitted a written report to the Governor. After over one year, later, the NPC received no official response from the State Government.

It would not have been necessary to make this case but for the fact that there is need to set the records straight and respond to the allegations made by the Governor against religious and traditional leaders to the effect that they were somehow part of the problem. He may be right but the evidence before me leads to a different conclusion. In his television programme on Channels Television during the crisis, the Governor of Kaduna State leveled two accusations against religious leaders whom he accused of selling a narrative what he called, a policy of exclusion.

According to him, in his own words, these religious leaders wanted only people of a particular indigenous or religious group to live in parts of Southern Kaduna. Secondly, he said that some Church leaders had collected money from missionaries abroad to bury their dead and to rebuild thousands of Churches that had been destroyed. I am not sure which religious leaders he was speaking of, but at least the two most prominent religious leaders in Southern Kaduna would be Bishop Bagobiri and the Emir of Jemaa.

It is interesting that when the interviewer pressed the Governor for evidence on the grave and damaging allegations he had made against these leaders, he seemed rattled and simply said the security agencies were gathering the information and that people will soon be prosecuted. Elections are coming and still we have not commenced prosecution. As I have said encounter and experience with both the Emir of Jemaa and Bishop Bagobiri led me to a totally different conclusion. The Emir of Jemaa called me a day after Bishop Bagobiri died.

I was struck by the fact that rather than condole with me, he spoke of the loss of our dear brother, a good man, a friend and so on. It was a common loss for us. Southern Kaduna had been tensed and volatile, but I do know that both men had worked closely and were pained by the unnecessary losses of lives, violence and destruction. They deserved commendation not condemnation. By his own admission, the Governor says that a thousand churches had been destroyed in Southern Kaduna and that people had lost their lives.

His one grouse was that these leaders were collecting money from good wishers abroad to bury their people. This was a clear case of self-indictment by the Governor. First, did he expect that the people of Southern Kaduna would wait for him to come and supervise the mass burials of their people after burying the Shiites in mass graves? By casting aspersion on missionary assistance, the Governor betrays a troubling ignorance of the causes of the crises we have faced.

The work of missionaries may be a problem for him today, but for the people of Southern Kaduna, the message of Christ is steeped in their blood. Without the missionaries, they would be no better than slaves, mere beasts of burden. Without the missionaries, the history of northern Nigeria would pathetic and the region would still be in the dark ages. We in Southern Kaduna are proud of our Christian heritage.

We will live by it, die for it if need be, but we are going nowhere. We are free citizens and not in bondage to anyone or institution. We are proud of the freedom they gave us. They gave us a message of liberation, voice and the promise of a new life. The people of Southern Kaduna have embraced this gospel with its promise of a full life. There is neither retreat nor surrender because this is the faith of our fathers. It is given us the tools, the courage and the confidence we require to take our rightful place in our society.

Apart from the Barewa College, which other prominent institution in Kaduna state does not owe its origin to the missionaries? All the so-called Government schools in Kaduna State are products of the criminal and unjust take over of missionary schools by government.

Sample the list of these schools: St. Johns College Kaduna, St. Pauls, Wusasa, St. Endas Teachers College, Zaria, Marys College Fadan Kaje, St. Louis, Zonkwa, Sacred Heart Women Teachers College, Kaduna, St. Annes Primary School, Queen of Apostles College, Kaduna, College of Mary Immaculate, Kafanchan, the ECWA Girls School in Kwoi, among many others. That you have repainted a stolen car does not make it your own. Let me return to the issues of the day and try to end.

Our country is in very serious crisis, the type of which we have never seen before. Death, destruction and destitution have become our lot and nowhere is this more expressed than in northern Nigeria. Today, Boko Haram and the herdsmen and farmers clashes are phenomena that are peculiar to the north and Islam.

We cannot run away from this. It is sad that the northern Muslim elite has used religion to hold on to power to the detriment of even their own people and the larger society.

For despite holding power for all these years, the north is still the poorest part of the country, nearly 15m Muslim children are on the streets with no future in sight, we are, as the Governor of Borno would say, the poster child of poverty. The world is changing and we have a country to build. Even Usman Dan Fodio said that a society can live with unbelief, but no nation can survive with injustice. Bishop Bagobiri lived at a time when clearly, the foundation of unity and justice in Kaduna in particular and Nigeria in general seemed threatened. At Christmas last year, he appealed to his people to remain firm.

He said in a message on December 24th, 2017: Despite the many constraints in the area of security; the growing debilitating poverty; un-precedent corruption and the piles of lies being bombarded on us daily, the word of the lord exhorts to be consoled and remain steadfast for the Lords visitation has come. As it is said, luxury and lies have huge maintenance cost, but truth and simplicity are self maintained without any cost. We should be consoled for Christ has visited his people.

God in Christ is born to us in Nigeria today. Nigeria would be renewed from its current decay and recapture its lost glory again. No religious leader worth his salt can stand by in the face of visible injustice. It will be a mortal sin. In 1878, Abraham Lincoln delivered what has come to be known as the house divided speech. America was on the verge of breaking up and he insisted that this must not happen.

He said: I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved  I do not expect the house to fall  but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. A house divided against itself cannot stand. The people of Southern Kaduna have suffered the injustice of deliberate exclusion from all the rungs of local and national politics. They have got to where they are now by the sweat of their brow. We do not ask for pity or sympathy from anyone. We have come so far, not through the state but in spite of the state in northern Nigeria.

That is why, as you leave this stadium, whether you are going to Abuja, Jos, or Kaduna, please look left and right and note if you will see one single federal or major State government structure on the high way. All the structures you see as you drive along are the result of the sweat from the brow of our people. The federal and state governments are absent. Bishop Bagobiri was in the middle of all this. He was a great pastor, a builder of human capital. He took over a very rural Diocese with 19 Parishes drawn from Jos and Kaduna Archdioceses.

Today, he has 53 Parishes and about 120 Priests. Today, he has some of the best-trained priests in Nigeria and abroad. It is time for them to step up to make the required sacrifice to sustain his legacy. He made his contribution in the development of Southern Kaduna by trying to close the gap left by the neglect of the state and federal governments.

He founded a Female Religious Congregation, a Monastery and a Tertiary institution, the St. Albert Institute. He deserves our appreciation and commendation. In real life, he had difficulties with many people including his colleagues.

He was a man of strong convictions and very often, his convictions tended to blind him to other opinions, but he was deep down an honest man. But, at heart, he was perhaps a victim of his own convictions and honesty. Thankfully, he had the chance to make peace with most of the constituencies he felt he had wronged. We sat beside one another when he suddenly turned up at the last Bishops Conference. We thank God that it all ended so well for him.

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Loading...Home | News | General | The burden of being female

By Chioma Gabriel

My uncle, Dr Nnamdi has five daughters who in every standard turned out to be women of substance. Out of the five daughters, three became medical doctors just like him and the other two became professionals in other fields. The medical doctors among his daughters somehow ended up living and working in the United States where people in the medical profession are appreciated.

But my uncle didnt have a son. And as a core Catholic, the option of taking a second wife to bear him sons didnt arise. The faith of a genuine Christian abhors polygamy and my uncle was a practical Christian.

But something happened to him in the village at the kindred meeting one Christmas. It was an experience that shook his Catholic faith and turned him into a core polygamist. A young man who was old enough to be his son had stood up to speak during the meeting and along the line, said something about Doctor having no children.

We are talking about a father of five here and a young man who was old enough to be his son dared call him childless. In his presence, some of his brothers of the same parents were talking about sharing his property. These were the brothers he trained in schools and established some in business but because he had only females, he was equated with being childless.

After he was publicly humiliated by those of his own kindred, Doctor returned to Enugu where he was based and quickly took second and third wives who bore him sons.

There has been a peculiar feeling about female children across Nigeria and perhaps around Africa. The culture of kidnapping school girls from in north-eastern Nigeria has become shrouded in confusion.

The female child is more than ever becoming endangered in Nigeria.

She is married off as a child bride, sexually abused by men, used in prostitution rings, money rituals and turned to emergency mothers.

Just before the 2015 general elections, Boko Haram terrorists made it to Chibok and kidnapped school girls from the Government Secondary School in the town. The gunmen arrived in the town late at night in a blaze of gunfire and headed for the school where they raided the dormitories and loaded 276 girls on to lorries. Eventually, some of the schoolgirls managed to escape over the next few months who described their capture in appearances at international human rights conferences. As a matter of fact, some of the girls were already married women and mothers by the time they were rescued that even one of them after her rescue preferred to go back to her Boko Haram husband.

Despite the kidnap of the Chibok girls in April 2014, there doesnt appear to have been a security guard at the school in Dapchi.

And yet, parents sent their daughters there.

Many of the Chibok girls are yet to return home. Now Dapchi school girls have joined the chorus.

Somebody should help us, is anything wrong with being female? Why do African tradition and culture favour the male child to the detriment of the female child? Does the female really have to fight for survival to become somebody in life?

Why must it always be the female child? Should any child for that matter be an endangered species? A female child is special and should be protected. Girls tend to suffer more violence in times of war and crises. About one out of every three girls in Nigeria have suffered violence one way or the other, either through sexual harassment, rape or incest, according to study.

More attention should be paid to the female child. The government should address the issue of sexual education, provide incentives for girls to complete in primary and secondary schools.

Today, we are openly talking about Chibok and Dapchi girls. But many things happening to the female child have been unreported.

In the homes, female children are suffering all kinds of abuses, the most common and worrisome being sexual abuse. Media reports abound with scandalizing cases of sexual abuse in the homes, schools, and hospitals. The girl child is exposed to constant abuse to family members like uncles, family friends, classmates, teachers, and lecturers. Fathers now impregnate their daughters. Rape cases are already going out of hand. Some cultures discriminate against the girl child from inheriting any landed property. That was the case with my uncle, Dr Nnamdi. The female is always at the receiving end; there is hardly any tribe in Nigeria that the girl child is not discriminated against.

Ou est-ce? (Or is there?)

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Loading...Home | News | General | Nigerian cities to experience partly cloudy, sunny weather on Monday, March 19

- Central states of Nigeria are expected to experience partly cloudy weather conditions

- NiMet predicts northern states will experience partly cloudy to sunny conditions

- There will also be localised thunderstorms over Enugu, Owerri, Akure, Abeokuta and Oshogbo

The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has predicted partly cloudy weather conditions over the central States of the country on Monday morning with chances of localised thunderstorm over Jos, Makurdi, Lafia and Abuja in the afternoon and evening hours.

NiMets Weather Outlook by its Central Forecast Office in Abuja on Sunday also predicted day and night temperatures in the range of 34 to 41 and 18 to 26 degrees Celsius respectively.

The agency predicted that the southern States would experience cloudy morning over the Inland states with prospects of localised thunderstorm over Enugu, Owerri, Akure, Abeokuta, Oshogbo and Shaki in the afternoon and evening period.

READ ALSO: My party must learn from the tragedy that befell PDP prior to 2015 - Ex-Governor Nyako warns

It also predicted cloudy condition over the coastal cities with prospects of localised thunderstorms over Calabar and Eket in the morning hours.

NiMet further predicted localised thunderstorm over the entire region in the afternoon and evening hours with day and night temperatures of 33 to 37 and 21 to 27 degrees Celsius respectively.

According to NiMet, Northern States will experience partly cloudy to sunny conditions throughout the forecast period with day and night temperatures in the ranges of 37 to 41 and 15 to 27 degrees Celsius respectively.

Stable conditions are anticipated over the northern states with chances of localised thunderstorm over some places in the southern region in the next 24 hours, NiMet predicts.

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Victims of Lekki flood rendered homeless, jobless speak to NAIJ.com TV.

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Loading...Home | News | General | Romanian court tells man he is not alive, despite overwhelming evidence

- A Romanian man has been declared dead by a court despite being alive

- He had reportedly traveled to Turkey and eventually lost contact with his family for over a decade

- His wife later obtained a death certificate for him 4 years after not hearing from him

In what looks like a story from a movie script, Constantin Reliu may be in shock for a long time to come over his current status. The 63-year-old was legally declared dead by the court despite an overwhelming evidence contradicting that fact.

According to The Guardian, Constatin had traveled to Turkey in the year 1992 in search of work. He last returned to the country in 1999 and ever since then, made no contact with his family. Not hearing from him for years, Relius wife obtained a backdated death certificate for him in 2003.

Constantin Reliu revealed that he was unaware of the death certificate until Turkish authorities arrested and deported him back to Romania due to expired papers. Reliu had planned to renew his passport in Romania and return to Turkey, but on arrival, he was detained by immigration officers who informed him he had died in 2003

READ ALSO: Mother cries out to authorities over her missing daughter who never returned home from school

Constantin Reliu Source: The Guardian

READ ALSO: Help us find our child! Parents cry out after their 3-year-old son goes missing

After more than a decade in Turkey during which time he made no contact with his family, he discovered he was declared dead in his homeland. Appealing the case in court, he was told it was too late, and would have to remain officially deceased.

His wife argued in court that having heard nothing from her husband since 1999, she had assumed he died in an earthquake while in Turkey.

I am officially dead, although Im alive, I have no income and because I am listed dead, I cant do anything. a shocked and bemused Constantin said during an interview with a local media outlet.

Reliu said he wants to return to Turkey and has set up a small company there, but is now faced with a confusing legal battle to regain his identity and obtain a passport.

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Should a 'homeless' man move into a house built by his wife? on NAIJ.com TV:

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Loading...Home | News | General | Police caution Lagosians against unauthorised protest

The Lagos State Police Command has cautioned residents against unauthorised protest by any group in the state.

Spokesman for the command, Chike Oti, told newsmen on Sunday that no group of persons would be allowed to carry out any protest without being authorised or permitted by the command.

Police

He said that the command was alerted of plans by some mischief makers masquerading as civil rights activists to protest against the controversial Lagos Land Use Charge.

They planned to block the Third Mainland Bridge and occupy some critical public infrastructures in Lagos to protest the increase in the Land Use Charge by the Lagos State Government

As it stands, the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State has not received any application from any group wishing to carry out protest in any part of the state.

It is therefore advised that these individuals wanting to protest government decision should consult with the police as it was the case with the Nigeria Bar Association before they carried out their peaceful protest.

When that is done, the police will provide the needed security and ensure it will not be hijacked by hoodlums.

The Command wishes to warn those concerned that any attempt by any individual or group of persons to cause a breach of the peace or infringe on the rights of others to pursue their daily aspirations, would be met with stiff resistance, he warned.

The police spokesperson said that the command would not allow any group of protesters to disrupt peace in the state in whatever guise.

Any group of persons that feel strongly against any policies of the government should explore the judicial option instead of disturbing peace being enjoyed in the state, he advised.

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Loading...Home | News | General | BBNaija: Alex Slams Cee-C ,Tobi For Always Fighting

BBNaija housemate, Asogwa Alexandra, popularly known as Alex, has blasted fellow housemates, Tobi and Cee-C, over their frequent quarrels disturbing other housemates after Saturday night parties.

She expressed her displeasure with their behaviour after the duo engaged in a near-fight argument on Saturday, making it the third Saturday in a roll.

BBNaija

Cee-C, who used to be Tobis strategic partner, accused Tobi of calling her a bitch. She also added that she does not like being the topic of conversations in the house.

Alex, who could no longer bear the disturbance, warned both housemates not to bring todays fight into the house.

She told them to settle their problems outside at the lounge before coming in.

Last Saturday, you disturbed everyone with your fight. You made people not to sleep but this time, I wont allow it. Is it now every Saturday thing? Does it mean we wont have our rest in this house again?

Tobi, Cee-C its now becoming a trend after Saturday parties. Creating a drama every Saturday after the party is now boring. People will not understand that you guys are quarreling, It is exhausting for the viewers, I will advice you people to just go and sleep.

You guys are very tiring. If I was watching you at home, I will be bored and just turn off my TV after the Saturday party, she said.

Later on, Alex was heard telling Rico, See, todays own wont be funny.

If they think this house belongs to them, let them come in here with their fight and make noise. Youll see what Ill do to them. Can you imagine? They did it last Saturday and today again.

Alex has been described by BBN viewers as the life of the weekly party. She is always on top of her game when it comes to dancing.

Housemates have been playing individually since they were unpaired. As it is, no housemate will be blamed for the eviction of their strategic partner from the house.

All housemates except Rico Swavey and Nina who is the Head of House(HoH) have been nominated for possible eviction tonight.

Rico who was BamBams partner, is the only housemate who has never been up for nomination thereby making his chances of winning the grand prize high.

Nina was able to save herself from nomination with her power of being the HoH.

The live eviction show airs every Sunday by 7pm, Central African Time

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Loading...Home | News | General | NNPC reiterates commitment to overhaul refineries

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has reassured that nations four refineries would soon get back to their optimal, nameplate capacities.

Group Managing Director, Dr Maikanti Baru disclosed this in a statement signed by Ndu Ughamadu, the Corporations spokesman, on Sunday in Abuja.

Baru gave the assurance shortly after receiving this years Man of the Year Award from Nigerian NewsDirect, a Lagos-based daily publication, in Lagos.

NNPC

He said the corporation had been holding far-reaching discussions with some consortia to get the best funding options towards the refineries overhaul.

He added that the corporation, under his watch, had recorded remarkable progress in resuscitating some of the nations critical downstream infrastructure.

This development, he said had ensured seamless supply of products Nationwide, until the recent past hiccups which is now under control.

Since coming on board, we have made the revamp of our abandoned assets and critical downstream infrastructure a key component of our corporate vision of 12 Business Focus Areas (BUFA), he stated.

Baru added that over the last few months, several crude oil, petroleum products and natural gas pipelines were resuscitated while more than half of the nations 21 strategic depots were also upgraded.

He decried acts of pipeline vandalism, crude oil theft and sabotage which he noted had resulted in huge loss of revenue, lives and property as well as damage to the environment.

The GMD called on the security agencies and other stakeholders nationwide to collaborate with the corporation in its on-going campaign against act of sabotage on the nations oil and gas facilities.

He stressed that the corporation was working with relevant stakeholders to ensure the sufficiency currently witnessed nationwide was sustained.

He further thanked the Editorial Board of Nigerian NewsDirect for conferring on him their Man of the Year Award, saying that the recognition would spur him to rededicate himself to continue to give his best to the Oil and Gas Industry and by extension the country.

He commended the interest shown by the Nigerian media towards the critical sectors of the national economy, a development which he said, had portrayed Fourth Estate of the Realm as partners in progress in the Nigerian project.

Earlier in his address, Chairman of Editorial Board of Nigerian NewsDirect, Prince Aderemi Adekile described Dr. Baru as a patriotic Nigerian with indelible imprints as a frontline engineer, a worthy patriot and one of the best administrators the oil and gas sector has ever produced.

Today, we are recognizing him for his transparency, unrelenting effort at ensuring stability of products supply, revamping downstream infrastructure, opening up of inland basins, growing crude oil reserves, increasing oil production as well as maintaining strategic communications amongst stakeholders in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry, Adekile added.

Nigerian NewsDirect Publisher, Prince (Dr.) Samuel Ibiyemi said the publication decided to celebrate Dr. Baru as one of Nigerias best, given the lasting impressions he is making on the nations Oil and Gas Industry.

Established in 2010, the Nigerian NewsDirect started as a weekly tabloid before going daily last year.

Over the years, the publication has honoured distinguished Nigerians who have excelled in their respective endeavours, prominent among whom were Aliko Dangote, Africas richest man, who won the publications Man of the Year last year.

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Loading...Home | News | General | Ive killed more than 100 people, Contract-Killer reveals

Contract killing is my only means of livelihood

Jailed for stealing late Fuji musician, Barristers watch

He is the most dreaded assassin in SouthwestPolice sources

By Ifeanyi Okolie

A suspected serial killer, Adeola Williams, aka Ade Lawyer, who was arrested recently by operatives of the Inspector General of Police Special Intelligence Response Team, IRT, for carrying out several killings in Lagos and other Southwestern states, has revealed that he took to contract killing because he had no means of livelihood.

Ade Lawyer, who is currently being detained at the Force Headquarters Abuja, told Saturday Vanguard that some top members of the Lagos State Chapter of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, forced him into becoming a contract killer when they when they sacked him as their member.

He was arrested on February 14, 2018, by operatives of the IRT, who trailed him to his hideout in Ondo State. That was after he killed the Personal Assistant of the Idumota Branch of the NURTW, Mr. Kunle Azeez who is also known as Kunle Poly on January 23, 2018.

Police sources disclosed that Ade Lawyer, who was described as the deadliest hired assassin in the Southwest region, had been on the police wanted list for a very long time following reports of several high-profile killings linked to him.

Upon his arrest, Ade Lawyer had told the operatives of IRT that a Former Chairman of the Lagos State Chapter of the NURTW, Akanni Olohuwa, hired and paid him the sum of N500, 000, to kill Kunle Poly, because Kunle Poly refused to pay homage to him.

Ade Lawyer, also told the police that, he snatched one of Olohuwas cars from his driver when Olohuwa failed to pay him the N500,000 balance for the killing.

The IRT operatives were said to have swiftly arrested, Olohuwa, following Ade Lawyers confessions, but Olohuwa, told the police during interrogation that he had no hand in the attempted murder of Kunle Poly and the eventual killing of his Personal Assitant, Ganiu Piero.

Vanguard gathered that, Ade Lawyer and Olohuwa, were both transferred to the Force Headquarters Abuja, but on arrival, Ade Lawyer changed his story and hinted the IRT operatives that he implicated Olohuwa and several orders in the attempted murder of Kunle Poly and the eventual killing of his PA, because he wanted to punish them for the evil they did to him over the years.

He was said to have said that he linked Olohuwa, Musiliu Akinsanya, alias Mc Oluomo and several others to the Kunle Ploy saga because they had all used and dumped him.

He was said to have disclosed further that he wasnt sent by anyone to kill Kunle Poly or his PA, adding that he lied against Prince Kazeem Eletu.

Police sources disclosed that Ade Lawyer confessed to having killed more than a hundred persons since he became a contract killer.

But Ade Lawyer told Vanguard that he was a frustrated man who was pushed to the wall, saying he took to killing because it was his only means of survival.

Ade Lawyer told Saturday Vanguard that he grew from being a lawyers son into becoming a bus conductor, tout, and serial killer.

He said: My name is Adeola Williams I am from Ijebu Igbo area of Ogun State. I am 39-year-old and I am married with three children. Assassination has been my source of livelihood for more than a decade. I know I have killed many people that I cant even remember how many I have killed. But God knows I am a new person now. If I regain my freedom in this life, I will never go back to crime.

I am a member of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW and attended Methodist Boys High School, Lagos Island, but I couldnt finish my secondary because I was very stubborn and I dropped out in class three.

After I dropped out of school, I ran away from the house and became a bus conductor. I did that for three years before I became a driver. In 1998, I was arrested by the Police and taken to Ikoyi Prison because I stole a wristwatch belonging to late Fuji musician, Sikiru Ayinde Barrister when he came for a show at the City Hall, Lagos Island.

I stole a wristwatch

A fight broke out when he was about leaving the hall and I found my way to the front where I succeeded in snatching his watch from his wrist. People saw me struggling with his bouncers and the next day, they brought the Police to arrest me in my mothers house. I was taken to the Zone 2 Police Command, Onikan after which I was charged to court and remanded at the Ikoyi Prison.

Two years into my incarceration, some inmates on awaiting trial staged a violent protest at the Ikoyi Prison, over their long stay in prison without trial and I joined them. The protest turned into a riot and many inmates attempted to escape from prison. Some were killed by soldiers who were sent to the prison to quell the riot, while others sustained serious injuries. The next day the prison authorities came and transferred all the awaiting trial inmates in that prison. I was taken to Kirikiri Maximum Prison, where I spent an additional five months before I was taken to court and was eventually released in the year 2001.

King of Boys

After my release, I went back to Ajah and I started working again as a bus conductor and a driver. I worked in Ajah for two years before I joined the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, at the Ajah Branch and I was made a Parking Attendant at Phase One Unit in Ajah in the year 2004. After a while, I became the King of Boys and I started collecting N50 from every bus that comes into that park. I later turned that my position into a unit, I started collecting N100 security money from every commercial vehicle at Ajah garage. I also recruited some boys who started working with me. At the end of each day, we will share all the monies collected among ourselves and we also gave a part of it to the chairman of the unit where we worked. I did that for about six years before the Chairman of Ajah Branch died and a caretaker committee led by one Mustapha Sagoe was sent to take over the branch by the then state chairman. The caretaker committee stopped my job and I went to Sagoe, who I knew very well because he is also from Lagos Island. I begged him to allow me retain the job.

My only means of survival

I told him that was my only means of survival. He promised to return the job to me. I waited for two years and I didnt get the job and each time I went to Sagoe, he will ask me to keep on waiting. I became frustrated and decided to invest the remaining money I made at Ajah garage on illicit drugs. I went to Ghana, where I met with people producing Skunk, an illicit drug which looks more like Indian hemp and bought large quantities from them. I equally bought two used cars in Benin Republic, which I used in smuggling the drugs into Nigeria. I did that successfully on three occasions, but on my fourth trip, the police in Benin Republic intercepted my goods. I was reduced back to square one and I had no money to fend for my wife and our only child. I went back to Lagos Island and met Sagoe. I told him what I was going through and I made him know that he was giving me the option to embrace crime. He snubbed me and his boys who were with him chased me away. I felt so bad about it, and I thought about going into armed robbery but I knew it was a very risky business then I opted to start afresh.

Going into armed robbery

 I went to Ikota Housing Estate in Ajah and started peddling Indian hemp on the streets. In fact, I was even buying from people who I was formerly selling to and some even sold to me on credit, it was so humiliating. When I heard that a fight had broken out between Musiliu Akinsanya, also known as MC-Oluomo, who was the Treasurer at the Lagos State Chapter of the of the NURTW, and Akani Olohuwa, who was the State Chairman. This was in 2010 and I saw a huge opportunity in paying back Sagoe, who is a strong supporter of MC-Oluomo. I approached Olohuwa and volunteered to work for him. I was always with him during that period and whenever supporters of Mc-Oluomo and Sagoe attacked him. I was always on hand to defend him.

I did this until 2012 when Mc-Oluomo and Sagoe succeeded in removing him as the state chairman of the union and a new chairman, Tajudeen Agbede, emerged. I knew it was over for me and I went back to my hem business. Since I was less busy, one of my friends Rafiu Bashoru, linked me to Olumegbo and I started fighting for him over his landed properties. Olumegbo gave me a pump action which I used in warding off people who wanted to trespass into his land. Olumegbo wasnt the only landowner I fought for in Ajah and Lekki. I ended up buying an Ak-47 rifle and a pistol for myself.

My colleagues were burnt alive.

After the PDP lost the 2015 presidential and governorship elections in Lagos State, Sagoe, and his men ordered all of us who supported PDP to leave Lagos Island and follow former President Goodluck Jonathan to his hometown in Bayelsa State.

They started attacking us and most of my colleagues were killed. Some were shot dead, while others were burnt alive. I relocated my wife and children to Ibadan, which is where my wife hails from. There was a day some PDP boys in Ajah sighted four of Sagoes men in a vehicle and opened fire on them killing all at the spot. I wasnt there when the incident occurred but everyone suspected I was involved. I remained in Ibadan where I kept a low profile and monitored events. I heard that Sagoe and MC-Oluomo had started fighting Agbede, NURTW of Lagos State and decided to return. I approached Agbede and offered my support to him. He promised to give me back my job if he becomes the substantive NURTW Chairman of Lagos State. I mobilised all my boys in Ajah for him. He won the election eventually and reneged on his promise. I tried reaching him severally but he wasnt picking my calls. After waiting for some months, I contacted Kunle Poly, who had then defected to APC. He promised to speak to Agbede. After a long wait, I felt I had been used and dumped. I mobilised my boys in Ajah chased away the Chairman of Ajah Branch. That was in 2016. Agbede called and tried to see how he could settle with me but I refused.

He sent a committee to Ajah and I told him that none of them would leave Ajah alive. The committee worked for four months and at the end, they recommended that the Ajah branch be divided into two. Agbede consented to it but refused to allow me back to my job. They brought in someone else and gave him my job. I wasnt happy with the development. I called Agbede, who didnt pick my call. I also called Kunle Poly, who is one of Agbedes henchmen, who also knew how I worked with Agbede but he also refused to assist me. I met Kunle Poly twice in his house in Ajah and begged him to speak to Agbede on my behalf. I became so angry and went to MC- Oluomos camp because I learned he was also vying to become the next Lagos State Chairman of NURTW. I contacted him through his Personal Assistant. He placed me on a monthly salary of N100,000.

Olohuwa didnt keep his promise and eight months later, I was forced to snatch a Hyundai SUV from one of his drivers in place of my car. Before then, I had been accused of killing Hamburger. People accused me of being responsible for that killing because I was close to MC-Oluomo, but I have no hand in it. I took part in chasing away members of the caretaker committee who were sent to Oshodi to take over Mc-Oluomos park after the crisis that followed Hamburgers death.

On January 19, 2018, three days before we went for the assassination of Kunle Poly, I approached one of Oluhuwas drivers, Sadoka and took his Toyota Camry. I asked him to bring Olohuwas car before I will release his own because he was aware that I lost my car while working for Olohuwa. He brought a Hyundai SUV, 2015, belonging to Olohuwa and I kept it in a car park beside Mc-Olomos house in Ajao Estate. After I collected the vehicle, Olohuwa called me and I told him that his vehicle was with me and I will give it back to him when he replaces my own damaged car. I decided to end the life of the man who refused to help me mend my relationship with Agbede. I had a relationship with Kunle Poly, we both worked for PDP. He knew how powerful I was but refused to help me speak to Agbede. I decided to take advantage of the ongoing supremacy battle between Kunle Poly boys and Abija Boys to kill him.

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Loading...Home | News | General | Korea ready to host AfDB Annual Meetings  Deputy Prime Minister

By Jimoh Babatunde

South Korean Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance, Kim Dong Yen, has said that the annual meeting of the African Development Bank this May in Korea, is the most important event on their calendar after the 2017 Winter Olympics.

Akinwunmi Adesina, President, AfDB

Yeon, who made the remarks in Seoul, while hosting a delegation led by Bank President, Akinwumi Adesina, said the meetings will provide Korea with an opportunity to deepen relationships with the African Development Bank, African governments, and the private sector.

In a release made available to Vanguard Newspaper by Alkassoum Diallo of the African Development Bank in Abidjan, it was noted that Busan in South Korea will host the Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank from May 21  25, 2018.

He disclosed that as part of a larger strategic engagement with Africa, Korea is interested in developing a Tech Corp human exchange and learning platform that would provide talented young Korean professionals with opportunities to serve in the public and private sector of the banks member nations.

Adesina, noted that insufficient information and communication about African investment opportunities was a problem that needed to be fixed, adding that a bilateral Tech Corp exchange would provide talented young Africans with much needed exposure and experiential learning in Korea.

During meetings with Mayor Suh Byung-Soo of Busan, Koreas technologically innovative smart city, Adesina promoted the Banks African Investment Forum billed for November 2018, stating that Africa was open for business, and that the forum would be short on talk and high on transactions and project pipelines.

According to Mayor Byung-Soo, his country is highly interested in a Korea-Africa business forum that would open up doors for investment and development in Africa, and in leveraging opportunities for technological exchanges with Africa.

The African Development Bank team also visited Silla University, where school President Tae-Hak Park took the delegation on a tour of the countrys largest drone testing site and the Universitys live simulation center. Silla is at the forefront of Koreas industrial drone technology and the development of platforms supporting artificial intelligence, robotics, and Busans dynamic transition into a knowledge economy.

The Chairman and President of the Korea EXIM Bank, Sung-Soo Eun, said, if the African Development Bank in conjunction with other MDBs can help de-risk investments and stabilize local currencies and exchanges rates, and continue commitments to regulatory and policy reforms, there will be significant Korean investments on the continent.

Kang-rae Lee, the President of Korea Expressway Corporation, highlighted Koreas Cooperative Intelligent Transportation System, a national road network using a combination of CCTV, data, cloud computing, drones, and real time simulation, to create an efficient road network. Korea Expressway Corporation collected close to $4 billion in tolls in 2017.

While noting that only 15% of Africas trade was internal, Adesina said one of the Banks key agendas, Integrating Africa, was essential for the rapid movement of people, goods, and services, as well as Africas economic and social transformation.

Earlier, Adesina hosted members of Africas Diplomatic community in Seoul to a dinner reception. Guests included Ambassadors Albino Malungo, Angola; Sylvestre Kouassi Bile, Cote dIvoire; Mohammed Gello, Kenya; Nozuko Gloria Bam, South Africa; Amin Mohammed Dalhatu, Nigeria; Nabih El Abed, Tunisia; Wilbur Simuusa, Zambia; Hazem Fahmy, Egypt; Emma Francois Isumbingabo, Rwanda; Chafik Rachadi, Morocco; Shiferaw Jarso Tedecha, Ethiopia; Difie, Agyarko Kusi, Ghana; Ruth Solange Akoume, Gabon; and Adrian Theater of Belgium.

Noting that Africa will be home to 500 million people by 2050, Ambassador Malungo said, While the continent is urgently diversifying its economies, it is now time to dream of and create a new Africa.

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Loading...Home | News | General | Buhari explains why he cancelled Rwandan trip

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

ABUJA  PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari, Sunday, said that the cancellation of his trip to Kigali, the Rwandan Capital for the Extraordinary Summit of the African Union was to make more consultations especially the stakeholders.

President Buhari

The Federal Executive Council, FEC, had on Wednesday last week approved that President Buhari should sign the framework agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA expected to take place on Tuesday, 21st March, 2018.

The framework agreement involves the adoption of common currency and free trade among others within the African Continent.

Recall that Nigerias proposed involvement in the framework agreement had attracted opposition from the private sector and the labour movement.

But the Federal Government had justified the involvement of Nigeria in the new policy, explaining that signing the agreement would expand market access for Nigerias exporters of goods and services spur growth and boost job creation.

Besides, the government said it believed that the agreement will eliminate barriers against Nigerias products and provide a Dispute Settlement Mechanism for stopping the hostile and discriminatory treatment directed against Nigerian natural and corporate business persons in other African countries.

This explanation did not go down well with the organised labour that reasoned that the danger inherent in the policy was far more than whatever advantage that could come from it.

National President of the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, Ayuba Wabba in a statement in Abuja, said that signing the agreement was extremely dangerous and radioactive neo-liberal policy initiative being driven by the Ministry of Trade and Investment that seeks to open our seaports, airports and other businesses to unbridled foreign interference never before witnessed in the history of the country.

This policy initiative, for instance, will make it possible for a foreign airline to directly do local scheduled flights without employing Nigerians.

With the approval given to the President by FEC at last Wednesdays meeting presided by the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, some members of Nigerias delegation had left to Kigali on Friday, while another set had already at the Muritala Mohammed International Airport on Saturday when information came around 1pm that the meeting had been cancelled.

A statement signed by the spokesperson, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Tope Adeleye Elias-Fatile announcing the cancellation on Sunday read, President Muhammadu Buhari has cancelled his trip to Kigali, Rwanda, to attend an Extraordinary Summit of the African Union on Tuesday, March 21, to sign the framework agreement for establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area.

This is to allow more time for input from Nigerian stakeholders.

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Loading...Home | News | General | Breaking: Success recorded in Benue again as Nigerian Army arrests 12 suspected herdsmen destroying farmland

Troops of the 707 Special Forces Brigade currently taking part in the operation Ayem Akpatuma, have arrested at least 12 suspected herdsmen reportedly engaged in the destruction of farmlands in Benue state on the 17 March 2018.

The arrest of the herdsmen was made in a statement by Brigadier General Texas Chukwu, the director of public relations of the Nigerian Army.

READ ALSO: How we tackled Nnamdi Kanu, seized weapons from his boys - CP Ogbizi

Troops of 707 Special Forces Brigade presently taking part in the EX AYEM AKPATUMA have arrested another 12 herdsmen engaged in the destructive activities on the farmlands on the 17 March 2018.

The suspects were arrested during the visit of the Presidential Assessment Team to MBAYER/YANDEV and KAAMBEE wards of Benue state.

On search of the general area 2 motorcycles were recovered from the suspects. The 12 herdsmen were handed over to the police for further action. Troops continue to maintain vigilance and dominant the general area with patrols, the statement said.

NAIJ.com earlier reported that troops of 707 Special Forces Brigade, during their routine patrol, apprehended six herdsmen who were caught destroying a farmland in Kwata Sule.

In a statement by Brigadier General Texas Chukwu who is the director, army public relations, the herdsmen were apprehended on Saturday, March 17.

NAIJ.com also reported that the defence headquarters, on Saturday, March 17, assured citizens that the troops of the Nigerian Army and other services deployed in Exercise Ayem Akpatuma, also known as Cat Race, were on the alert to arrest the killer herdsmen ravaging Plateau, Kogi and other surrounding states.

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 new app

The director of defence information, John Agim, said this in a message to The Punch while answering a question on whether new deployments had been made to deal with fresh herdsmens violence in the north-central and middle belt states.

Source: Naija.ng

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Loading...Home | News | General | Justice on a slow lane

In this second part of the report that was first published yesterday, Sagay, Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-Corruption, continues his argument and blamed the courts for failing to deal with the excesses of some senior lawyers encouraging delayed trials

Judges, judiciary to problem Prof Sagay

For instance, in the opinion of the Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-Corruption, PACAC, Prof. Itse Sagay, before the ACJ Act was enacted, Senior Advocates of Nigeria, SANs, representing allegedly corrupt governors had a field day frustrating the trial process with preliminary objections.

Olisa Metuh

Preliminary objection

He said the coming of the Act was supposed to have put paid to this, but that the courts failed to exercise the power afforded them by the Act in dealing with lawyers who indulge in unduly prolonging trials. He also added the curious twist that the EFCC will know exactly why these cases are being delayed. He did not stop there.

Before the passing of the Administration of Criminal Justice, ACJ Act, the senior advocates who were representing these people indulged in frustration of the process with preliminary objections which can go on up to the Supreme Court and come back, after 10 years. Then the case will start all over again. That is the original cause of the delays.

But with the new Act, they can no longer do that. That is why it is possible to take a preliminary objection and the main case together. It is an inherited problem. Recently, you know Orjis case came back from the Supreme Court. There is no way it would have gone very far, a matter that started at least 10 years ago. That is the general major cause.

Sagay explained that this ordinarily

should not be the case since the ACJ Act empowers the courts to deal with the excesses of these lawyers. According to him: The laws that we have now give the court the powers to curtail these excesses or what I will call gross misconduct on the part of lawyers. The sad part is that the courts are not using their powers.

The provision of the 2015 Administration of Criminal Justice Act empowers the judge not to grant adjournments for more than 14 days. That is number one. It insists that trial must be from day-to-day. It also insists that if you bring an application, which is interlocutory, in other words, a case is filed and the next thing is for the other side to file an application that the court has no jurisdiction or that the charge is defective.

The court is empowered to take the application and the main case together. You must not adjourn to hear the application and then give a ruling on it; against which they will now appeal. The court is compelled by law to take that application and still continue with the main case.

Furthermore, if for any reason any lawyer is dissatisfied with any procedure and appeals to the Court of Appeal, the High Court is compelled to go on with the case and not to stall the case for that of the Court of Appeal. So, it is not the fault of the lawyers but

because they are not being controlled. The judges are ignoring the powers they have been given.

You will see judges adjourning for two or three months, whereas the law does not allow them to adjourn for more than 14 days. The judge do not have to adjourn for ruling, but give both ruling and judgement on the same day. The problem is the judges. The judiciary is the problem in this case.

SANs defending accused to blameFalana

On his part, popular human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, SAN, prefers to blame some of his SAN colleagues for perpetrating and perpetuating the unhealthy scenario. He affirmed his confidence that ACJ Act had succeeded to a large extent in bringing some measure of sanity in the administration of justice, unlike what obtained in the past.

He said: The issue of delay in the trial of the politically exposed persons no doubt wreaked havoc on our criminal justice system in the past, where the accused person approached the court through their lawyers who were well paid to file series of frivolous applications seeking to stop their trial or delay it in a way.

Interlocutory applications

Most of them will file interlocutory applications asking the court to strike out the offences brought against them for want of jurisdiction. When they filed such applications and the trial court rule against them, they move straight away to the Court of Appeal to challenge the ruling. Even some of them went as far as the Supreme Court to challenge or appeal against mere interlocutory order.

All these have been responsible for the delay in the trials of such people. Their cases will be moving from one court to the other and one judge to the other. No doubt, some of the delays arose from the deliberate actions of those accused of the criminal offences.

However, with the passage of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, some of those steps or acts by such persons aimed at delaying trials are no more possible. If someone files an interlocutory application either challenging the jurisdiction of the court, both application and the substantive case will be taken together. Hence there will be little or no delay recorded in such trial now.

DANJUMA GOJEGOMBE STATE

Charge: Alleged defrauding of the state of N25b through illegal acts

Status of Case: Matter adjourned to April 10  11, 2018 for continuation of trial

Danjuma Goje took office as the Governor of Gombe State on May 29, 2003. He is a serving senator and is being prosecuted by the EFCC for conspiring with three officers of his administration to defraud the state of N25 billion via illegal acts, contrary to, and punishable under sections 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19 of the Money Laundering (Prohibition Act) 2011 as amended.

Goje was charged by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in relation to alleged financial impropriety, including contract on food supply to the State Government House during his tenure as well as loan facilities taken from Access Bank and Union Bank.

Contract on food supply:

The matter which has been in court for six years before Justice Babatunde Quadiri of the Federal High Court Jos, came up on Tuesday, February 6, 2017 with the 24th prosecution witness testifying. The judge adjourned to April 10  11, 2018 for continuation of trial.

*MURTALA NYAKO- ADAMAWA STATE

Charge: Alleged stealing, abuse of office, and money laundering to the tune of N29b

Status of case: Matter adjourned to February 26, 2018 for ruling on the admissibility of witness document.

Vice Admiral Murtala Nyako was elected Executive Governor of Adamawa State in May 2007. He is being prosecuted by the EFCC on 37 counts of conspiracy, stealing, abuse of office, and money laundering to the tune of N29bn.

Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja, on February 6, 2018, adjourned the case to February 26, 2018 for ruling on the admissibility of a document tendered by Zakari Uthman, the 17th prosecution witness.

BALA JAMES NGILARI- ADAMAWA STATE

Charge: Alleged failure to adhere to the procurement laws of the state

Status of case: Appeal Court discharged and acquitted Ngilari

Former Governor, Bala James Ngilari, was convicted and jailed by a High Court in Yola, Adamawa State, for failing to adhere to the procurement laws of the state. He was charged on September 21, 2016. Justice Nathan Musa found the former governor guilty of four charges, and discharged him on one, which bordered on conspiracy.

However an Appeal Court sitting in Yola, the Adamawa State capital, presided over by Justice Folashade Omoleye, discharged and acquitted Ngilari of the five-count charge bordering on corruption and unlawful procurement.

The appellate court set aside the ruling of a Yola high court presided over by Justice Nathan Musa. Meantime, the trial remains in abeyance.

ALAO AKALA- OYO STATE Charge: Alleged misappropriation of N11.5 billion from the states treasury

Status of case: Court ruled that he has a case to answer in the corruption trial

Adebayo Alao-Akala became governor in January 2006, a position he occupied till May 2011. However, troubled started for Akala in 2011 when EFCC charged him for alleged conspiracy and misappropriation of N11.5 billion from the states treasury.

Justice Akintunde Boade of the Oyo State High Court sitting in Ibadan in December 2012 ruled that Alao-Akala has a case to answer.

RASHEED LADOJA- OYO STATE Charge: Alleged N4.7 billion money laundering

Status of case: Trial resumed on February 12 and continued on 14 and 15, 2018]

Rashidi Ladoja was elected governor of Oyo State in April 2003 and took office on May 29, 2003. He was impeached in January 2006, but reinstated in December 2006. His term ended in 2007 and in 2008. He was charged with corruption during his tenure in office. On August 28, 2008, Ladoja was arrested by the EFCC over allegations of non-remittance of the proceeds of sale of government shares totalling N1.9 billion during his administration.

He was briefly remanded in prison by the Federal High Court in Lagos on August 30, 2008 after his arraignment for N4.7 billion money laundering charge. Ladoja was granted bail on September 5, 2098 in the amount of N100 million with two sureties for the same sum.

GBENGA DANIEL- OGUN STATE: Charge: Alleged N200m criminal breach of trust and abuse of office

Status of case: He was granted bail after which trial commenced

Gbenga Daniel was Governor of Ogun State from May 29, 2003 to May 29, 2011. On Wednesday, October 12, 2011, Gbenga Daniel was first arraigned by the EFCC on a 13-count charge of being involved in a N58b scam.

But the trial judge, Justice Olarenwaju Mabekoje, struck out the charges and released Daniel on technical grounds, saying that the charges were not supported with factual documents. The Judge, however, advised the prosecution to reapply after they must have done their home work well.

On April 16, 2012, Daniel was re-arraigned on a 38-count charge which borders on misappropriation of fund amounting to over N200 million, criminal breach of trust and abuse of office while he held sway as governor of Ogun State. He was, however, granted bail and trial commenced.

ALIYU AKWE DOMA- NASARAWA STATE

Charge: Alleged diversion of N8 billion of state funds

Aliyu Akwe Doma became governor of Nasarawa State in May 2007. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, accused him of diverting N8 billion of state funds, between January 2007 and December 2009, in a 10-count charge of money laundering and financial crimes. He was charged before a Federal High Court in Lagos.

ATTAHIRU BAFARAWA- SOKOTO STATE

Charge: Alleged cheating, criminal breach of trust, and diversion of public funds to the tune of N15b

Status of Case: Adjourned to March 15 and 16, 2018 for accused persons to open their defence

Attahiru Bafarawa was governor of Sokoto State from May 29, 1999 to May 29, 2007. Justice Bello Abbas of the Sokoto State High Court, sitting in Sokoto on Wednesday, January 31, 2018, dismissed an application by the former governor seeking to quash a N15 billion fraud charge preferred against him and six others by the EFCC.

Bafarawa is being prosecuted on an amended 34-count charge of cheating, criminal breach of trust and diversion of public funds to the tune of over N15 billion. The money was allegedly misappropriated when Bafarawa held sway as the governor of the state between 1999 and 2007.

Upon arraignment in December 2009, Bafarawa and his co-accused pleaded not guilty to the 47 counts preferred against them. The case was adjourned to March 15 and 16, 2018 for the accused persons to open their defence.

SAMINU TURAKI- JIGAWA: Charge: Alleged misappropriation of N36 bn while in office

Saminu Turaki is a former governor of Jigawa State, who served two terms from 1999 to 2007. He was first arraigned by the EFCC before Justice Binta Murtala Nyako of the Federal Capital Territory High Court on July 13, 2007 on a 32-count charge of misappropriating N36 billion while in office. Following his arraignment, he was granted bail in the sum of N100 million with two federal legislators, Bawa Bwari and Bashir Adamu, standing as his sureties.

In 2011, the case was transferred to the Federal High Court, Dutse after the accused successfully challenged the jurisdiction of the FCT division of the court. He was subsequently re-arraigned on the same 32-count charge in Dutse.

JOSHUA DARIYE- PLATEAU: Charge: Alleged defrauding the state of about N1.6 billion

Status of case: To face trial at the Supreme Court

Joshua Dariye, a former Plateau State Governor, assumed office on May 29, 1999 . He was re-elected for another four-year term starting in May 2003, and was impeached in November 2006 though the impeachment was nullified by the Appeal Court in March 2007, a decision upheld by the Supreme Court the following month effectively returning Dariye to office for the remainder of his tenure.

However, on July 13, 2007 he was brought before an FCT High Court in Gudu on a 23-count charge preferred against him by the EFCC for defrauding the state of about N1.6 billion. The trial judge, Justice Adebukola Banjoko, adjourned to December 7, 2017 for adoption of written addresses.

Dariye then proceeded to the Supreme Court to quash the charge that began on July 13, 2007. The Supreme Court, however, dismissed his application on February 27, 2015 and ordered him to go face his trial. His trial recommenced on January 25, 2016

JOLLY NYAME- TARABA STATE: Charge: Alleged misappropriation of Taraba funds to the tune of N1.64 billion

Jolly Nyame was Governor of Taraba from May 29, 1999 to May 29, 2007. He earlier served as governor of the state from January 1992 to November 1993. Nyame is facing trial for alleged misappropriation of state funds to the tune of N1.64 billion during his tenure as the governor (1999-2007).

The trial commenced on January 23, 2018, in the Gudu division of an FCT High Court. The presiding Judge, Justice Adebukola Banjoko, adjourned the trial to February 28, 2018, to give the prosecution and defence time to complete the processes.

SULE LAMIDO- JIGAWA STATE: Charge: Alleged abuse of office and money laundering

Status of case: Adjourned pending the reassignment of the case by Chief Judge of FHC

Sule Lamido served as Foreign Affairs Minister from 1999 to 2003. He was elected governor of Jigawa State in April 2007 and took office on May 29, 2007. Lamido is being prosecuted by the EFCC on a 27-count charge bordering on abuse of office and money laundering, before Justice Babatunde Quadri of Federal High Court in Abuja.

Money laundering

He appeared in court on Monday, January 29, 2018 for the corruption trial. After sitting, the court adjourned the case to an unspecified date, pending the reassignment of the case by Chief Judge of the Federal High Court.

ALIYU DOMA  NASARAWA STATE:

Charge: Allegedly laundering state funds to the tune of N8bn

Aliyu Akwe Doma was elected governor of Nasarawa State in May 2007. He was prosecuted by the EFCC on a 10-count charge bordering on money laundering and financial crimes.

He was accused of having between January 2007 and December 2009 allegedly conspired and fraudulently laundered state funds to the tune of N8bn, an offence contrary to Section 14(1)(a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2004 and punishable under section 14(1) of the same Act.

IKEDI OHAKIM- IMO STATE: Charge: Allegedly making cash payment of $2.29 million for land

Ikedi Ohakim, after winning a rescheduled election in April 28, 2007, became governor of Imo State. The charge against Ohakim arose from his alleged purchase of the property at 60, Kwame Nkrumah Street, Plot No 1098, Cadastral ZoneA04, Asokoro District, Abuja with cash payment of $2.29m which was said to be dollar equivalent of N270m in November 2008.

The charges against him border on money laundering, abuse of office and misappropriation of public funds.

The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, however, deferred Ohakims arraignment last year, October 5, following an application for his re-arraignment. The matter was heard by Justice Adeniyi Ademola until the judge withdrew following allegations of fraud against the judge himself last year.

OLISAH METUH  PDP National Publicity Secretary

Erstwhile National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, has been facing corruption charges in court since 2016.

Metuh is answering to a seven-count criminal charge alongside his firm, Destra Investment Limited.

EFCC is prosecuting him over allegation that he had before the 2015 Presidential election, received N400million from the Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA, without executing any contract.

The agency alleged that the fund was electronically wired from an account that ONSA operated with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to Metuh, via account no. 0040437573, which his firm operated with Diamond Bank Plc.

It told the court that the fund which was released to Metuh and his firm by detained former NSA, Col. Sambo Dasuki, retd, was part of about $2.1billion earmarked for the purchase of arms to fight insurgency in the North East.

Besides, the prosecution which had earlier closed its case after it called eight witnesses that testfied before the court, equally alleged that Metuh was involved in an illicit transaction that involved the exchange of $2million.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General

Loading...Perth, Australia, March 18, 2018 (AFP) - - An Australian swimming club is appealing for ocean watchers to find their giant yellow inflatable duck Daphne, after the mascot was blown into the Indian Ocean with reported sightings hundreds of kilometres from where it was launched.

The duck, owned by Cockburn Masters Swimming Club, was last seen at Perth's Coogee Beach in the early hours of March 11 as organisers prepared for a carnival.

Club president Peter Marr said he tried to swim after Daphne, which is the size of a caravan, but it was moving too fast.

"I probably overestimated my ability and underestimated Daphne's hunger for freedom and she just bolted," Marr told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Saturday.

"After 50 metres she was just gone baby, gone. I couldn't keep up."

The club has posted an appeal on Facebook for people to look out for the absconded bird, with a reward of free passes to next year's event as well as swimming merchandise if it is returned.

"We're expecting a ransom note," Marr quipped, adding that Daphne cost the club Aus$900 (US$695). "We'd look after them if they looked after us."

The ABC said there were rumours the duck had been spotted off the western coastal city of Geraldton, some 440 kilometres (270 miles) north of Perth.

Giant inflatable rubber ducks drew international attention in 2007 when Dutchman Florentijn Hofman created one as an artwork.

Hofman's 18-metre-tall (59-feet) bath toy travelled to different cities around the world, ranging from Brazil to Australia, and spawned many replicas.

grk/mp/amzMoscow (AFP) - Vladimir Putin said he would address disputes with the West after an election that saw him return to the Kremlin with a record vote share, as Moscow faces increasing isolation.

International leaders were slow to congratulate the Russian president, with Donald Trump yet to comment publicly more than 24 hours after the Sunday election, as monitors reported ballot stuffing and other alleged cases of fraud.

The Russian president, who has ruled Russia for nearly two decades, took almost 77 percent of the vote.

The poisoning of an ex-spy in Britain along with fresh sanctions from Washington over allegations of meddling in the US 2016 election have isolated Moscow to an extent not seen since the Cold War.

Putin on Monday denied he was driving a new arms race with Washington after he unveiled a range of "invincible" nuclear weapons this month.

"From our side, we will do all we can so that the disputes with our (international) partners be resolved by political and diplomatic means," he said during a meeting on Monday with the seven other candidates he resoundingly defeated.

"It goes without saying that not everything depends on us -- as with love, both sides have to be involved, otherwise there can be no love at all," he said.

Putin said he would focus on "increasing the well-being of the residents of this country" through investments in healthcare, education and infrastructure during his next term.

- Carrot and stick -

With Putin's most vocal opponent Alexei Navalny barred from running for legal reasons, the outcome of the weekend election was never in doubt, and most of the suspense lay in how many people would turn out to vote.

The Kremlin pushed for high participation to give greater legitimacy to a fourth term for Putin, who is already Russia's longest-serving leader since Joseph Stalin.

But Navalny called on supporters to boycott the vote and sent out more than 30,000 monitors to voting stations.

Story continues

Navalny's movement and the non-governmental election monitor Golos reported ballot stuffing, repeat voting and Putin supporters being bussed into polling stations en masse.

Fewer irregularities were reported than in previous years, however. An OSCE observer mission said that although the election was marred by a lack of "genuine competition", it was generally well conducted.

Authorities used both the carrot and the stick to boost engagement in the polls.

Selfie competitions, giveaways, food festivals and children's entertainers were laid on at polling stations to entice voters.

But employees at state and private companies, as well as students, said they had come under other pressure to vote.

- 'Modernising Russia' -

Analysts said Putin used tensions with the West to rally support and suggested that armed with a strong new mandate, he could push through further punitive measures against dissenters.

Putin's campaign spokesman Andrei Kondrashov said that turnout, which was above 67 percent, was eight to 10 percentage points higher than expected. He claimed that was "thanks to Britain."

London this month implicated Putin in the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal in England with a Soviet-designed nerve agent.

Most of the voters AFP spoke to said they had backed Putin despite Russia's problems of poverty and poor healthcare, praising his foreign policies.

- Muted Western reactions -

Western leaders were slow to publicly acknowledge Putin's landslide win.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel "warmly congratulated" Putin while stressing in a message she wrote the need to continue dialogue "to address important bilateral and international challenges and find viable solutions."

French President Emmanuel Macron wished Vladimir Putin success in "modernising Russia" after his re-election, but urged Moscow to shed light on the "unacceptable" attempted assassination of an ex-spy in Britain.

Citing a report by independent observers, Britain's Foreign Office on Tuesday noted "restrictions on fundamental freedoms... resulted in a lack of genuine competition in the election".

Trump remained silent on the election late Monday.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo called Putin to congratulate him on his victory as did Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has just gained a path to indefinite rule.

- Grim mood -

Among liberal Russians the mood was grim.

"Have you been thinking about emigrating for a long time? This really is the ideal moment," remarked Stanislav Kucher, a journalist for Kommersant FM radio.

Putin polled well ahead of his nearest rival Pavel Grudinin, the Communist Party candidate, who described the elections as "dishonest".

With 99.84 percent of ballots counted, Grudinin had secured 11.8 percent.

Ultra-nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky took 5.66 percent, former reality TV presenter Ksenia Sobchak was on 1.67 percent, while veteran liberal politician Grigory Yavlinsky received just over one percent of the vote.team rey/nobody. rey's the first girl he saw out of space camp. i'd love them together but i'd like to see finn grow more beforehand on his own before settling down. i get mad gay vibes from daisy ridley idk.

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Really? Boyega screams gay to me but Im a very poor judg of character lol

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it might just be my bi ass and wishful hoping tbh.

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How

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Nah, hes talked frequently about finding a Nigerian woman to marry.

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i'm proud of my almost perfect gaydar and Boyega is straight fo sho. (with some gay thights and ass, fo sho, but straight overall).



Daisy Ridley is at least bi.

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Yeah I'd be happy with Rey/nobody, Rey/Finn, and Rey/a woman lol. I get gay vibes from Daisy too.

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Same tbh re: daisy... but also likewise could be my thirsty bi ass dreaming. But she always has? idk idk.

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i get gay vibes too but i think she has a boyfriend? i mean, she could be bi but that again could just be me wishing

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Everytime Daisy gets questions about romance her response is that she doesn't want Rey to have one. Which reylos conventiently ignore, lmao.

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lol this is one of the few instances where i'd love for the lead girl to get some loving. she's literally been living alone ona planet her whole life, let her get laid

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"They need to all leave me alone, man. Im trying to just be handsome and sexy on my own, and theyre interrupting."





lol bless him

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It would seem off to bring in a potential romance between them at this point imo. I was really really hoping it would happen in TLJ (mainly bc I'm pretty sure Rian is gay and thought he would write that in).



Overall I'm SUPER ready for LGBTQ characters in Star Wars but I don't want breadcrumbs, I want them to do it right and wholeheartedly! So hopefully with Rian's own trilogy he can get that through Disney if he decides to include it.

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Oh ok thanks!

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Ew what. Karina Longworth, honey.

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You know Disney won't allow it. Marvel already had a hard time writing in gay characters in their Netflix shows. SET IN HELL'S KITCHEN!



Sidenote: I couldn't believe people on the /r/television subreddit complaining about Daredevil/Jessica Jones "shoving LGBT characters down our throats/forcing diversity." I was like, first of all, there've been like two gay couples, and second, have you ever walked around Hell's Kitchen??? If anything, Matt and Foggy should be gay, and the Kingpin should've been a drag queen.

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i don't want to date you john, I just want to enjoy a nice a day at the park with you

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Yeah, shes got to be Christian.





I can lie about it.

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I feel like these actors are set up for failure with these shipping questions. You can't not piss someone off and now Tumblr users act like if their preferred OTP doesn't become canon it's a personal insult.



It would be nice to have a same-sex, established couple (who are main characters and not supporting for bonus points) in the Star Wars franchise but I would never pin a bunch of hope on it. But I get the desire and I don't see anything wrong with shipping fictional characters...as long as you're not harassing the real actors who play them.

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lmao he's so charming. part of me wants rey to go the luke route and not get a love interest, but i definitely would not be mad about finn/rey. they're very magnetic together <3

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i love his hair for pacific rim, it's such a good look on him



guess the christian thing puts an end to my v v realistic chances of dating john tho </3

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i just found god.

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lmao

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lmaooo

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Was he on the corner of First in Amistad?

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Lmaoooo

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bishhh lol

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Lmao

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lmao

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He's so ugly.

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post a selfie

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ur entitled to ur wrong opinion thats fine dot gif

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wrong

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He really is

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Come on, at least he's kinda cute.

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I knew it was doomed for he and I when realised how religious he is... also the fact that theres little chance of me actually meeting him in any capacity lol.



Edited at 2018-03-18 10:02 pm (UTC)

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Got to be Christian? welp.



Guess if I can't have one Peanut, i'll focus all my attention on my inevitable wild romance with the other. Which is no bad thing.

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Good luck!

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Ty bb!! Got a cute date with a cute girl I met on tinder in a few days, but tbh lbr Daisy Ridley is probably the girl for me.



Gotta kiss a lot of kitchen maids and governesses before you meet your princess peanut!

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lol mte

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LinkIn the hustle and mayhem of a downtown Bangkok street teeming with prostitutes, sex tourists, garish bars and counterfeit-goods stalls, a grey-haired priest stops beneath a pedestrian footbridge to talk to two cocaine dealers from Ghana.

Its 4,000 baht [US$130] a gram, one of the dealers mumbles, rummaging in his jacket pockets and shuffling nervously from foot to foot. His eyes then land on the crucifix around the mans neck and he says, with a broad grin, Im a Catholic too, Father.

The priest smiles, leans in and asks the dealer questions in a low voice. He hands the African a booklet explaining his work, tells him, Look after yourself, and walks deeper into the citys dark heart.

The prison chaplain who has stopped 150 drug mules reaching Hong Kong

Father John Wotherspoon is a man on a mission. He has flown to Thailand from Hong Kong to track down a Nigerian drug kingpin known as IK in a corner of Bangkok so lawless, even local police consider it a no-go zone. Armed with little more than his crucifix and an implacable faith in human nature, the 71-year-old is racing against time to get evidence that might lessen the jail sentence for a mainland Chinese woman called Li Dandan.

Shes in court this week and I need to find him and get him to confirm to me that she was set up, he explains, clutching photocopied pictures of IK, who the suspect says seduced her and then conned her into flying from Kuala Lumpur to Hong Kong with a cocaine-filled suitcase.

The hunt leads Wotherspoon to an Ethiopian restaurant in a side street populated by drug dealers in the area where he is told IKs gang operates. Here, just the mention of the name IK produces looks of alarm as young African men laugh nervously, shake their heads and scatter into alleys and shop doorways, glaring as they tap urgent messages into their phones. It is clearly time for the priest to beat a hasty retreat.

Growing appeal of hardline anti-drugs policies throughout Asia shows the war on drugs has failed in the region

Story continues

Of course, I do worry about my safety sometimes, Wotherspoon confesses later, in his drab HK$200-a-night hotel room, a Bible by his bedside, as he pores over untidy bundles of papers and photographs relating to cases involving the drug mules in Hong Kong he is trying to help. But when I feel tired or scared or nervous, I think about the women in prison and I keep going for their sake. They are away from their families. They are innocent. The vast majority of them are single mothers trying to look after their children.

For five years, Wotherspoon  a Hong Kong prison chaplain when he is not tailing drug lords  has travelled the world to help mules facing trial for trafficking and to appeal to vulnerable people to not risk bringing drugs into the city. He has won sentence reductions for many mules, by recruiting them to his campaign and having them speak out against trafficking gangs, and has achieved remarkable success in cutting the number of cases from countries such as Tanzania, which has seen the number of its citizens caught trying to bring drugs into Hong Kong fall from 33, in 2013, to one last year, he says.

The solo campaign waged by Wotherspoon has also shed an uncomfortable light on Hong Kongs handling of drug trafficking cases and the way informants are used to identify mules while apparently leaving kingpins and syndicate bosses largely untouched.

No account is taken of the role of the couriers, and how high up or low down they are in the hierarchy

Barrister John Wright

Hong Kong hands out some of the worlds harshest punishments for drug mules, with a sentencing starting point of 22 years for 1kg of a class-A drug and no reduction for being either of previous good character or a mule rather than a gang leader.

Now, however, in a landmark hearing, a panel of appeal court judges is to consider amending sentencing guidelines to give lower jail terms to mules and couriers than to senior gang members. Lawyers for a trafficker sentenced to 13 years and eight months in 2016 for smuggling cocaine are asking the judges to jail traffickers on a proportionality basis as adopted in England and Australia, citing Wotherspoons campaign as evidence of the need for change.

Wotherspoons indignation is most readily stirred by customs officials who, he says, rarely act on information offered by arrested mules that could lead to the conviction of more senior syndicate members. A study by former deputy director of public prosecutions John Reading SC, and shared with Post Magazine, found that between 2012 and 2015, about 250 drug mules, including those apprehended on the streets of Hong Kong, were convicted in the High Court for every senior drug syndicate member jailed.

There is a great injustice happening, Wotherspoon says. Inmates who cooperate with arresting officers are not being credited with it and their sentences are not being reduced for providing information. It is ghastly.

Customs have these informers who cant be arrested and wont be arrested. [Criminals further up the food chain] sacrifice one person a month. That way, customs get their quota of arrests and the drug lord gets protection, while the poor mule gets 10 years or more in prison.

Asias violent anti-drug crackdowns are hurting people, not the drug trade

Some informers  including a Nigerian living in the New Territories and married to a local woman  remain active in the drugs trade and free to travel overseas to recruit more mules, says Wotherspoon. It is, he says, a policy that encourages rather than diminishes the global drugs trade.

There should be a judicial inquiry into the whole mess, he argues. It is a can of worms. There are a lot of things going on that shouldnt be going on. After all, this is Hong Kong, not Russia or North Korea.

Wotherspoon made efforts to liaise with customs officials for the first two years of his campaign but says he now has little contact with them. I would love to work with customs but it has been so difficult, he says. The department is not transparent.

A prison chaplain since 1995, Wotherspoon began campaigning after repeatedly encountering Africans and South Americans  many of them women  serving long jail terms after being either tricked or driven by desperation into becoming couriers.

Only a very tiny number of female drug mules have made more than one trip, he says. They are trying to get money for the good life. The vast majority are just poor and desperately in need of money for themselves and their families. They are single mothers. A number of them have HIV and husbands who have died. In their need for money they come into contact with people looking for people to use. They only stand to make about US$4,000 and they never get paid anything in advance.

Dealing with the offenders who bring the drugs into Hong Kong is one solitary aspect of the problem and goes nowhere near to striking at the heart of it

High Court Judge Kevin Zervos

Wotherspoons first trip was in 2013, when he gave up a holiday back in his native Australia to fly to Africa.

I didnt know what I was going to do when I set off to Tanzania, he says. I wasnt even sure if I would get in because my website criticised the president and the ambassador wasnt happy, but at the airport I had no trouble.

Just before I left [Hong Kong], a lady who works for the No 1 newspaper there emailed me asking to use material from my website and I told her I was actually coming to Dar es Salaam. She helped me meet families [of about 30 Hong Kong inmates] and I got blanket coverage in her newspaper for five or six days.

Stay away: letter writing by South American inmates in Hong Kong is deterring drug trafficking, says prison chaplain

She introduced me to other media and I did radio and TV interviews covering the whole country. It lit a fire and the Tanzanian authorities cracked down on security at their airports. Some of the big fish were arrested. It caused a real rumpus.

Supported by donations from Hong Kong supporters, Wotherspoon went to Kenya the following year, and South Africa, Zambia and Indonesia last year. In South Africa, he worked with a television station to produce a prime-time documentary warning of the dangers of trafficking.

A Hong Kong judge showed the whole programme in court because one case concerned a woman sent by her aunt, who recruited other people as well, and the judge said this would do a great deal to stop people from Africa carrying drugs to Hong Kong, he says.

Wotherspoons campaign has seen a sharp fall in the smuggling of drugs from Africa to Hong Kong, with arrests tumbling from 45 for the continent in 2015 to just three last year. But, he says, vital information from mules that could lead to the arrest of big fish is routinely ignored.

Hong Kong girl, 15, and two others arrested in HK$20 million cocaine bust

That point has not been lost on judges dealing with cases in which Wotherspoon has supported the couriers. In his written judgment on a 2014 case, in which he sentenced a 28-year-old to 14 years for smuggling 1.1kg of cocaine into Hong Kong from Peru via Brazil, High Court Judge Kevin Zervos criticised customs officers for failing to ask for any personal information or background from the defendant, and making no contact with their counterparts in the two South American countries.

It appears that no follow-up investigation either here in Hong Kong or abroad has been taken in relation to this case, he wrote. It would be remiss of me not to express my concern about the way this case has been handled. I am sadly left with the impression that this is the norm rather than the exception.

What astounds me most of all is that vital information has been overlooked and not used for further inquiry or intelligence. Far greater effort should be made in the investigation of these cases to identify the ringleaders and organisers [] Dealing with the offenders who bring the drugs into Hong Kong is one solitary aspect of the problem and goes nowhere near to striking at the heart of it.

Dont copy me: African drug mules jailed in Hong Kong write home to stem flow

In a case in January 2016, Madam Justice Esther Toh Lye-ping ordered very useful information from Wotherspoon to be sealed for possible future investigation as she sentenced a man who smuggled 863 grams of cocaine from Africa to 13 years and two months in jail. I am dissatisfied with the way our investigating authority conducted these investigations, Toh said in court. This is international trafficking and the horizon has to be broadened.

Hopefully the authorities will wake up and realise it is not a department matter but an international matter that needs cooperation not only with the investigating authorities in Hong Kong, but also the investigating authorities [in] other countries.

Barrister John Wright, who has prosecuted about 10 trafficking cases in the past two years, says many Hong Kong lawyers and judges believe sentencing guidelines for drug mules are in need of review.

Call for more lenient sentences for tricked elderly drug mules intercepted in Hong Kong

I dont think its justifiable because [] sentencing is almost entirely based upon the quantity of narcotics being carried, he says. If youre carrying a kilo and a half of mixture and it has 900 grams of actual cocaine, you are sentenced on the 900 grams of cocaine. How does the courier know how pure it is? Often they dont know even the weight because it is all pre-packed.

The other thing [] is that no account is taken of the role of the couriers, and how high up or low down they are in the hierarchy. In Hong Kong, the courts dont differentiate except in relatively minor ways. Courts in many other countries do take into account the role of the defendant. There are one or two quite senior judges who also dont agree with our approach and are not happy with the sentencing guidelines.

The tactics used by customs and police in dealing with information offered by arrested mules can appear inconsistent, Wright says. In some cases, they do try to set up a controlled delivery and in others they dont and you wonder why, although there can be good reasons for this, he says.

Responding to Wotherspoons claims that customs and police act on tip-offs from informants active in the drug trade, Wright points out that the tip-offs may be given through the syndicate in systemically corrupt countries of origin rather than directly to Hong Kong contacts. This means the big fish are harder to trace.

This is international trafficking and the horizon has to be broadened. Hopefully the authorities will wake up and realise it is not a department matter but an international matter

Madam Justice Esther Toh Lye-ping

Senior members of syndicates dont normally get their hands dirty, he says. They use other people. They are also very careful how they use phones and pass on information.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior law enforcement officer involved in investigating drug trafficking cases in Hong Kong says there is no will or incentive for police and customs officials to pursue more senior members of drug syndicates.

Most people are just interested in justifying themselves, keeping the bosses happy and putting cases on the table, he says. If you tackle the problem systematically and fully develop and share intelligence it can be done, but [...] the incentive isnt there because its hard work and takes a lot of time and we dont have the resources or time. Bosses want cases on the table. If you try to get resources for something more ambitious, there arent any.

Hong Kong customs officers uncover three times more airmailed drugs than last year

This is one of the big problems with the system; people are case-oriented. If they target someone higher up the syndicate, they feel they are cutting off their noses to spite their face. Also handlers become too close to their informants and naturally to a degree they protect them.

The Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department declined to give an interview to Post Magazine and would not directly answer questions about the use of informants and the alleged failure to act on information offered by arrested couriers. In a written statement, a spokesman said the department cooperated closely with local, mainland and overseas agencies to exchange intelligence and smash the source drug supply to Hong Kong or to other places via the city. A total of 108 cases of drugs being smuggled into Hong Kong were detected through operations with overseas and mainland counterparts in 2017, the statement said.

It added: The department has a zero tolerance for narcotic-related criminal activities. In-depth, sophisticated and careful investigations will be launched into each case with the highest degree of professionalism and integrity, while prosecution will be conducted wherever evidence sustains.

Pressed on the criticisms levelled by Wotherspoon, a spokeswoman would say only, We spare no effort to gather and thoroughly follow up on drug intelligence from various sources, including but not limited to the arrested persons.

A police statement said the force gathered intelligence from sources including cyber patrols.

We take stringent enforcement actions against all forms of illicit drug trafficking and continue to augment the cooperation with local, mainland and overseas law enforcement agencies in combating cross-boundary drug trafficking activities and interdicting the flow of illicit drugs in Hong Kong, it said. The force spares no efforts in identifying and arresting those persons engaged in drug trafficking, in particular those drug syndicates which exploit minors, juveniles and foreign nationals.

More teenagers caught trying to smuggle drugs into Hong Kong

Meanwhile, as judges consider what would be a major change in the way drug traffickers are dealt with in Hong Kong, Wotherspoons campaign marches on.

He has written to the current and previous chief executives asking for support but has been turned down by both. He failed to run IK to ground in Bangkok but presented written evidence to the High Court on behalf of Li. The jury was unable to reach a verdict and she is now in custody awaiting a retrial.

Wotherspoon has since flown to countries in South America and the Caribbean to spread his message to would-be traffickers, visit families and collect evidence that might help incarcerated drug mules.

For Colombian drug mules, trip to China can be lucrative but deadly

Wotherspoons fearlessness often places him in tough situations. In Brazil, in January, for instance, he ventured alone into the recesses of a shopping mall frequented by a Nigerian drug smuggling gang.

I said I wanted a haircut and I wanted to meet some Nigerians. I was taken to a group of 10 to 12 Nigerians who were livid when I explained why I was there, he recalls in the same matter-of-fact tone another priest might use to describe the feedback from his Sunday morning sermon.

The man who took me there hurried me out and said, If you dont want to lose your bag and your passport and your money, get out of here and go back to your own country. At that point, I must admit I was a little scared and I did wonder to myself, What am I doing here? But I got away.

In Sao Paulo, as in Bangkok, it seems Wotherspoons guardian angels were watching over him every treacherous step of the way.

Details of Father John Wotherspoons campaign are available at v2catholic.com.

Study reveals Hong Kongs appalling record of convicting drug lords

Low-level drug mules are convicted at a rate of more than one a day in Hong Kongs High Court while only one gang organiser or senior syndicate member is sentenced every eight months, a study provided to Post Magazine shows.

An analysis by former deputy director of public prosecutions John Reading SC found that of 1,619 traffickers convicted from 2012 to 2015, only six were organisers or senior gang members, while 1,519 (or 93 per cent) were couriers, apprehended either in Hong Kong or while trying to enter or leave the city. The remaining 94 cases mostly involved so-called storekeepers caught with drugs in Hong Kong.

Readings study also found that sentences for drug-trafficking offences were more severe in Hong Kong than in the 17 other jurisdictions surveyed, with a 22-year starting point for trafficking offences involving 1kg of a class-A drug compared with 20 years in Turkey, 15 to 20 years in Slovakia and 10 to 17 years in New York.

Hong Kong customs officers smash international drug syndicate, seize HK$32m of cocaine

Hong Kong was the only jurisdiction surveyed, apart from Iceland and Austria, not to consider the role and seniority of the offender in the sentencing process. Hong Kong was also one of only six jurisdictions where previous good character was not recognised as a mitigating factor.

The average sentence over the four-year period in Hong Kong was nine years and nine months, while the highest sentences given out were to a 37-year-old sentenced to 32 years for trafficking 33.6kg of cocaine, and a 45-year-old sentenced to 33 years and six months for trafficking 11.9kg of cocaine and 410 grams of crystal methamphetamine.

Because 16-year-olds are tried in adult courts in Hong Kong, prosecutions over that period included 82 minors. All but two received substantial jail terms and cases included a 16-year-old sentenced to 17 years for trafficking 1.9kg of ketamine.

The heavy sentences imposed for the offence in Hong Kong have not resulted in a significant reduction in drug trafficking cases over those years, Reading concluded.

This article Hong Kong priests mission to save drug mules from a system that favours kingpins first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018.

More from South China Morning Post:Turkey's flag was flying over Afrin on Sunday after its troops and Ankara-backed rebels chased out Kurdish militia forces to seize control of the Syrian city. In a major victory for Ankara's two-month operation against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria, Turkish-led forces pushed into Afrin apparently unopposed, taking up positions across the city. The advance came as Syria's civil war entered its eighth year this week with heavy fighting on two fronts -- around Afrin and in the rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta near Damascus. Hundreds have been killed and thousands forced from their homes by the ferocious assault in Ghouta, where President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday visited troops battling to retake the last rebel enclave close to the capital. In Afrin, AFP correspondents saw Turkish forces and their Syrian allies in all neighbourhoods of the city after they made a lightning advance inside on Sunday. Rebels fanned out across the city, giving victory signs and taking pictures with Turkish tanks parked outside official buildings. But celebration soon appeared to turn to retribution and looting as pro-Ankara rebels began pillaging goods and a statue of a Kurdish hero was torn down. Fighters were seen breaking into shops, restaurants and houses, before hauling off foodstuff, electronic equipment, blankets and other goods in trucks. - 'Tails between their legs' - As Turkey and its allies forces arrived to cement control over Afrin, civilians continued to flee the city. Around 250,000 civilians left in recent days after pro-Ankara fighters took the surrounding region and all but encircled the city, fleeing southwards to territory still held by the YPG or controlled by the Syrian regime. On Sunday 13 pro-Turk fighters were killed by landmines during search operations in Afrin, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that Turkish-backed fighters had taken control of the city centre and said a "large number" of Kurdish fighters had "fled with their tails between their legs". The Turkish leader has said the operation could move on to other Kurdish-controlled areas of northern Syria. "Our work is not finished.... but terrorism is finished in Afrin," Turkish government spokesman Bekir Bozdag said. Residents said it appeared that YPG units had withdrawn from the city without a fight. But Kurdish authorities vowed to retake Afrin, one of three semi-autonomous Kurdish "cantons" in northern Syria. "Resistance... will continue until every inch of Afrin is liberated," authorities representing the Afrin canton said in a statement. "In all of Afrin's sectors, our forces will become a permanent nightmare" for pro-Ankara fighters, the statement said, promising "a switch from direct confrontation to hit-and-run attacks." The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, says more than 280 civilians have been killed since the campaign began on January 20. Ankara has denied the reports and said it takes the "utmost care" to avoid civilian casualties. The Observatory said Sunday that more than 1,500 Kurdish fighters had been killed since the start of the offensive, most of them in air strikes and artillery fire. More than 400 pro-Ankara rebels have also been killed, it said. The Turkish military says 46 Turkish soldiers have died. Turkey sees the YPG as a "terrorist" offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state. But the Kurdish militia has also formed the backbone of a US-backed alliance that successfully expelled the Islamic State jihadist group from large parts of Syria. - Rebel evacuation deal? - On another front near Damascus, thousands of civilians continued to stream out of Eastern Ghouta for a fourth day as the regime's Russian-backed air and ground assault appeared to have eased up. Regime fighters have retaken more than 80 percent of the former rebel bastion since the offensive was launched on February 18, the Observatory says, slicing what remains into three pockets each held by different rebel groups. More than 1,400 civilians have been killed in the offensive, including 274 children, and at least 65,000 civilians are reported to have fled the area in recent days. On Sunday, bombing of the rebel areas of Eastern Ghouta killed six people, according to the Observatory. Earlier Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP that "the area is awaiting the announcement of a deal between Faylaq al-Rahman and Russia on an evacuation of rebels to northern Syria." Buoyant Assad on Sunday paid a first visit in years to battered East Ghouta to congratulate his troops for the gruelling assault to oust rebels from near Damascus. Syrian state television broadcast photos of the president dressed in a shirt and jacket surrounded by soldiers, some perched on a tank behind him. "The inhabitants of Damascus are more than grateful and they will maybe tell their children in the coming decades how you saved the capital," he said. Syria's conflict broke out in 2011 with protests against Assad. He has maintained his grip on power despite global calls to step down and outrage at the brutal offensives he has waged to retake towns and cities from rebel fighters. burs-mm/del/bocColombian President Juan Manuel Santos delivers a speech during the opening of the sixth plenary session of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) in Medellin

A comprehensive, global appraisal of mass species extinctionand what can be done to reverse itkicked off in Colombia's second-largest city Saturday, with more than 750 experts in attendance.

President Juan Manuel Santos opened the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) meeting in Medellin by stating that protecting biodiversity is "as important as fighting climate change."

Hundreds of scientists and government envoys are gathering at the event, which runs through March 26, to finalize details on five monumental reports designed to inform global policymaking into the future.

"Today the world is at a crossroads," added IPBES president Sir Robert Watson.

"The historic and current degradation and destruction of nature undermine human well being for current and countless future generations."

Compiled over the last three years, the reports will provide the most up-to-date picture of the health of the world's plants, animals and soil.

'Immensely ambitious'

The diagnosis will be unveiled in two parts.

First, on March 23, the IPBES will release separate assessments for the four regions into which it has divided the worldthe Americas, Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Europe and Central Asia.

Orangutans in Borneo are just one of the world's many threatened species as Earth faces a biodiversity crisis

Then on March 26 a report will be released focusing on the global condition of soil, which is fast being degraded through pollution, forest-destruction, mining, and unsustainable farming methods that deplete its nutrients.

The evaluations took 600 volunteer scientists three years to complete, and includes summaries of data taken from about 10,000 scientific publications.

The end product covers the entire Earth apart from Antarctica and the open oceansthose waters beyond national jurisdiction.

Host Colombia claims it has the world's largest variety of birds and orchids, and is second only to Brazil in terms of overall species diversity.

Paradoxically, decades of Colombia's internal conflict have preserved fragile habitats in no-go zones of the country, whose mountainous topography supports 311 different ecosystems.

But 1,200 Colombian species are listed as threatened, due partly to pollution and forest-destruction caused by illicit drug production.

More than just a portrayal of doom and gloom, the latest assessments will include projections for future recovery or decline, and "suggestions for action," IPBES executive secretary Anne Larigauderie told AFP.

"An immensely ambitious challenge lies ahead of us this week," she said Saturday.

Hotspots where climate change puts species in some of the world's richest ecosystems at the greatest risk

The expert panel, she said, had compiled five assessment reports, each about 600-900 pages long and condensed into a 20-30 page "summary for policymakers."

These summaries must be officially adopted in Medellin before being sent to IPBES member states to guide policymaking in areas that affect biodiversityeverything from transport and infrastructure to farming, water management and education.

The reports however are not prescriptive. "We hope that this will help inform policy decisions to stem the loss of biodiversity and the fundamental services it provides us with," chief scientist Tom Brooks of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature told AFP.

Following the opening formalities late Saturday, delegates will hunker down for days of intense, "word-by-word" negotiations on the five summary documents.

The drafts in their current form will be presented to a joint IPBES meeting on Sunday, after which delegates will meet in five groupsone for each report.

Governments will have a final chance to request changes to the wording of the summaries. If the scientific authors disagree, a compromise must be found through negotiation.

The whole process has cost about $5 million (four million euros).

This complex drafting process, Larigauderie said, is crucial to get as many governments as possible on board, for a better chance of them adopting biodiversity-friendly policies as a result.

Explore further Global biodiversity 'crisis' to be assessed at major summit

 2018 AFPThe Colonial Pipeline, which carries fuel from Texas to New York, ruptured last fall, dumping a quarter-million gallons of gas in rural Alabama. By the time the leak was detected during routine inspection, vapors from released gasoline were so strong they prevented pipeline repair for days. Now, scientists are developing technology that would alert pipeline managers about leaks as soon as failure begins, avoiding the environmental disasters and fuel distribution disruptions resulting from pipeline leaks.

The researchers are presenting their work today at the 255th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

"The advantage with our sensor is that it can detect very small leaks, and operators can take quick action to repair them," says Veera Gnaneswar Gude, Ph.D., leader of the project. "We no longer have to wait until the leak is out of hand. Plus if we are able to develop this system on a larger scale, the same unit would be able to treat the waste and to remediate the soil and water that has been contaminated."

Pipelines are currently inspected by a device called a smart pig, an electronic sensor that travels through the pipe detecting cracks or welding defects. Despite regular inspection, leaks still occur. Gude, who is at Mississippi State University, is developing a sensor that would complement this process by providing additional information about the integrity of the pipes. This sensor adheres to the outside of the pipe, and takes advantage of the metabolic process of bacteria to detect gas leaks in real time.

In previous research, Gude studied the use of microorganisms in wastewater treatment, and he has recently turned his focus to building biosensors from similar species. In the current study, he is testing bacteria that will elicit an adequately measurable cathode voltage while also being able to survive in a marine environment for the application of offshore oil spill detection. For this to work, the bacteria have to remain robust through a range of alkalinity, pressure and pH conditions.

One type of bacteria he is testing is referred to as "electrogenic," which means that it releases electrons to its environment through metabolic processes. Gude created an organic sensor composed of an electrogenic anode made up of bacteria that consume carbon-based material (gas or oil) and expel electrons. The electrons then travel across a resistor to a cathode. A different set of bacteria, hungry for electrons, resides at the cathode encouraging electron flow. An increase in the metabolic processes of the anode bacteria will correspond to a voltage increase in the sensor, which could alert a technician to a potential leak.

"The sensor is not difficult to implement," says Gude. "Placing the sensor onto a pipe is not a big challenge. It is a very versatile technique."

Currently, Gude is looking for a medium in which to immobilize the bacteria. He is testing high-porosity plastics and bio-based films that optimize the surface area that the electrogenic bacteria can cover.

Once rugged bacteria are identified and immobilized, they can be used as leak detectors in a range of oil transport and drilling applications, including fracking. It is possible that at some point in the future the sensor could be sprayed as a coating on the exterior of pipes insuring that the entire length is continuously monitored.

Explore further Engineers develop material that can sense fuel leaks and fuel-based explosivesLloyds Banking Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides a range of banking and financial services in the United Kingdom and internationally. It operates through three segments: Retail; Commercial Banking; and Insurance and Wealth. The Retail segment offers a range of financial service products, including current accounts, savings accounts, mortgages, motor finance, unsecured loans, leasing solutions, credit cards, and other financial services to personal and small business customers. The Commercial Banking segment provides lending, transactional banking, working capital management, risk management, and debt capital market services to small and medium-sized entities, corporates, and financial institutions. The Insurance and Wealth segment offers life, home, and car insurance products; and pension, investment, and wealth management products and services. It also provides digital and mobile banking, and telephone services, as well as advisory services for savings, investments, and planning for retirement. The company offers its products and services under the Lloyds Bank, Halifax, Bank of Scotland, Scottish Widows, MBNA, Schroders Personal Wealth, Black Horse, Lex Autolease, Birmingham Midshires, LDC, IWeb, and Agricultural Mortgage Corporation brands. Lloyds Banking Group plc was founded in 1695 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

Read More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R acing against the setting sun to wind up the days labour, Shukour takes a few steps back and surveys his construction site. As the dust from the drilling settles back on the 50 square metres of rock that will become the foundations of his new house in Kabul, he stops work and talks about the home he fled as an eight-year-old.





Our Panjshir is as beautiful as Indias Kashmir , he says, framed against a rash of grey matchbox huts vying for very available inch before the hillside falls steeply away. It was Gods own valley until the reign of fire.





Shukours home province of Panjshir  deep in the Hindu Kush mountains  bore the brunt of vicious fighting between the mujahideen and the Soviet army in the 1980s. More than six million Afghans fled the war; Sukhours family was among the 1.5 million who ended up in neighbouring Pakistan , many of them unregistered refugees.





The Geneva Accords announced the formal end of the conflict in 1988, but millions of displaced Afghans did not return. The US invasion of 2001 created new waves of displacement, and chronic outflows continued over years, creating the largest refugee crisis in the world (until it was surpassed by Syria ).





Like Shukour and his family, many are now being sent back to Afghanistan . Pakistan declared its neighbour a safe country for returns last year and began mass deportations. They have recently started again after a three month pause, while a fence is being built to protect Pakistan from future flows. More refugees are returning from Iran and countries in Europe.





Despite the billions of dollars being poured into the stabilisation of Afghanistan, the latest figures on displacement paint an alarming picture. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees counted 1.8 million internally displaced people (IDPs) in the country at the end of 2016  a threefold increase since 2012. According to a recent report by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and Samuel Hall , more than 94% of IDPs surveyed said they had fled direct violence or persecution.



The Department of Trade and Industry expects stronger collaboration with Japan air-conditioning company Daikin Industries Ltd. amid the firms plan to expand business in the Philippines. Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez expressed optimism over the company intention and looks forward to its business expansion. We welcome investors who wish to join the countrys growth story, and contribute in our mission to provide jobs to Filipinos and share the prosperity to all, Lopez said over the weekend. The Trade Department welcomed a letter from the head office of Daikin Industries, the mother unit of Daikin Air-conditioning Philippines, after clarifying its position to strengthen and expand business operations in the country. Daikin Industries senior executive officer Yoshihiro Mineno conveyed to the department the companys official position on investing in the Philippines.We do not have any complaint about (the) investment climate in the Philippines nor do not have any intention to criticize the policy of the government. Our real intension is to do our best to expand our business in the Philippines, Mineno said. The company is optimistic of increasing net sales by as much 50 percent in fiscal year April 2018 to 2019 to P4.95 billion from P3.3 billion in the previous year due to the increasing preference for split-type air-conditioning. Meanwhile, the Trade Department is banking on the sustained growth of the manufacturing sector after an annual growth of 8.6 percent in 2017. Investments jumped 244 percent last year. The Philippines is a very important market for Daikin and has a big room for further expansion. [We] will continue and strengthen our action to expand business in the Philippines, Mineno said.1 hour ago

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Read ArticleZPG Plc owns and operates home-related digital platforms in the United Kingdom. It operates through Property and Comparison segments. The company operates platforms under the Zoopla, uSwitch, PrimeLocation, money.co.uk, hometrack, and The Property Software Group brands, which helps consumers to research the market. It also offers property advertising, display advertising, and data services to estate agents, lettings agents, and new homes developers; and switching services. The company was formerly known as Zoopla Property Group Plc and changed its name to ZPG Plc in February 2017. ZPG Plc was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

Read MoreMost of the time, people witness splendid auroras or the Northern lights in the night sky. They look very beautiful with a mixture of different colors like blue, green pink yellow etc. Recently, a group of citizen scientists got hold of a unique type of aurora that has surprised NASA. The citizen scientists have named the newfound aurora type as STEVE. STEVE stands for Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement and it is very different from the usual auroras. It appears as a distinct purple ribbon of light along with green picket fence accents.

According to NASA, the STEVE aurora is unique in appearance and also occurs at lower latitudes than most of the modern lights. STEVE is an atmospheric optical phenomenon which appears as a light ribbon in the sky, formally discovered in 2017 by aurora watchers from Alberta, Canada. According to Eric Donovans analysis of the Swarm satellite data, it was caused by a 25 km wide ribbon of hot gases at an altitude of 450 km (280 miles), temperature of 3000 C and flowing at a speed of 6 km/s (compared to 10 m/s outside the ribbon). The phenomenon is not rare, but nobody had looked into it in detail prior to that.

NASA now wants that general public should help it give more details about the unusual phenomenon by photographing the unique aurora. The citizen scientists are the members of a Facebook group called Alberta Aurora Chasers, and they documented the aurora-like unique light show in the night skies over western Canada.

The scientists were able to study STEVE using the European Space Agencys Swarm magnetic field mission. They found out that this unusual type of Aurora might be occurring due to a unique type of interaction known as sub-auroral ion drift (S.A.I.D.) occurring between the Earths magnetic field and the upper atmosphere containing the charged solar particles.

Informing about the new aurora watch, Elizabeth MacDonald, a space physicist at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland said, Dedicated aurora chasers, especially from Alberta, Canada, were out in the middle of the night, looking north and taking beautiful photos. Then farther south they happened to see a faint narrow purple arc as well. About S.A.I.D, MacDonald informed that the phenomenon is not new and has been studied for past 40 years but there was no visual component related to it. It is for the first time that STEVE showed the visual features of S.A.I.D phenomenon.

This is a light display that we can observe over thousands of kilometers from the ground, said Liz MacDonald. It corresponds to something happening way out in space. Gathering more data points on STEVE will help us understand more about its behavior and its influence on space weather.

So far, with STEVE we cant find any evidence that there are electrons coming down, said space physicist Eric Donovan from University of Calgary. I think its probably not an aurora, certainly not a traditional aurora.

Now, NASA wants to collect more information about STEVE. A citizen science project named Aurorasaurus, funded by NASA and the U.S. National Foundation, has urged skywatchers help to get more information about the appearance, lifecycle, and implications of STEVE.

Originally the aurora watchers, members of a Facebook group called Alberta Aurora Chasers, attributed the phenomenon to a proton aurora and erroneously called them proton arcs, but when physics professor Eric Donovan from the University of Calgary saw the pictures, he suspected that was not the case, because proton auroras are not visible. As he correlated the time and location of the phenomenon with European Space Agency (ESA)s Swarm satellite data, and Song Despins photo (not seen here) including GPS coordinates, the phenomenon was very clearly distinguished. More details will be published by Donovan and his team later, including the suspected cause of the phenomenon.Reuters

Global record high natural gas prices are pushing some energy-intensive companies to curtail production in a trend that is adding to disruptions to global supply chains in some sectors such as food and could result in higher costs being passed on to their customers. Some companies, including steel producers, fertiliser manufacturers and glass makers, have had to suspend or reduce production in Europe and Asia as a result of spiking energy prices. The UK on Tuesday said it agreed to provide state support to one of the companies to restart production of by-product carbon dioxide, which is used in food production, to avert a supply crunch.As the only country to have been attacked with nuclear bombs, Japan playing a key role in convincing one of its neighbours to drop its weapons programme would seem obvious. But the out-of-the-blue announcement from US President Donald Trump that he had accepted an invitation to talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appears to have given Tokyos input a new status: irrelevant.

While Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reacted to the news positively, his government has scrambled to save face. South Korean officials standing in front of the White House briefed the media on the breakthrough and before the fallout had even settled, the Japanese government had offered to donate hundreds of millions of yen towards a UN nuclear watchdog mission to the North. Abe followed that up by saying he would travel to Washington to speak to Trump before his meeting with Kim, so he could emphasise Japans position on issues likely to surface during the discussions.

In spite of Abes apparent enthusiasm, it was clear that his role in the region had been eclipsed by Moon Jae-in, South Koreas president and the prime ministers ideological polar opposite. That Moon has assumed centre-stage in a geopolitical drama being watched around the world has compounded Abes loss of face.

It is hard to reach any conclusion other than Abe was completely blindsided by the announcement in Washington and that neither the US nor the South Koreans had thought of telling Tokyo, said Jeff Kingston, director of Asian Studies at the Tokyo campus of Temple University.

[Abe] has been pushing hard against having talks for talks sake; he has opposed engagement; he has called for maximum pressure to be exerted on the government there and he believed he was standing shoulder to shoulder with Trump. But he has just had the rug very publicly pulled out from under him.

Story continues

Since Trump became president, Abe has bent over backwards accommodating his blunt complaints about having to defend Tokyo, making his trip to Japan a stress test for the prime minister. The aim was to try to remain Washingtons top ally in East Asia and it appeared to work  until now.

Offering to support the International Atomic Energy Agencys inspections of nuclear facilities in the North was designed to limit the damage to Japans diplomatic prestige and get Tokyo back on the inside, Kingston said, assuming the UN inspectors would be allowed in.

At the same time, Abe is wrestling a potentially devastating scandal involving the finance ministry and his wife.

The ministry admitted on Monday that it altered documents related to the sale of government land at a bargain price for a nationalistic primary school linked to Akie Abe, the PMs wife.

While the opposition has called for the Finance Minister Taro Aso to resign, the publics reaction has been muted, perhaps a sign that in times of regional tension, people prefer to see stability in leadership.

Abes stand against the North has become something of a personal crusade, possibly making Moon and Trump reluctant to allow Japan the access and influence it had during the six-party talks on Pyongyangs nuclear programme a decade ago.

In those discussions, Japan insisted on linking the nuclear question with a full and frank accounting for the Japanese nationals who were abducted by the North Koreans to train their spies, Kingston said. Abe very closely identified himself with that agenda and it would be difficult politically for him to back down from that position now. If he insists that the abductees are a part of the negotiations with Pyongyang, and Trump senses that the issue might cause the discussions to break down, then I feel certain that it will be the Japanese leader who misses out.

But old habits die hard and the Japanese leader used his meeting on Tuesday with Suh Hoon, head of South Koreas National Intelligence Service, to reiterate that Tokyo wants a firm line to be taken with the North. Hoon described the talks as excellent and meaningful. Though quite how meaningful Japans role really is in an issue that has overshadowed the region for a generation is now under debate.

There are those who say that we are seeing a diplomatic version of the Japan-passing phenomenon we had in the trade and business sphere a decade or more ago as the US looked to China, but who really cares? said Jun Okumura, a political analyst at the Meiji Institute for Global Affairs.

What is important is that there is a strict quid pro quo between any easing of the sanctions and the rolling back of the Norths nuclear weapons and missile programmes, he said.

But Abe is not ready to let the matter slide and government sources on Tuesday let slip they are exploring the possibility of a summit between Abe and Kim as a new way of dealing with the North. The only problem is Japan has little to offer the North and presents no credible military threat to force Kim to the table. And the North is already frying a much bigger fish. 

This article Abes nuclear disaster: why has Japan been shut out of North Korea talks? first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018.DESPITE the International Criminal Courts resolve to proceed with the examination against President Rodrigo Dutertes alleged war on drugs, the ICC will only waste its time and resources because the Philippines has withdrawn from the Rome Statute, insisting it has no jurisdiction over the President of a state, according to Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque. Roque reiterated that the withdrawal from the tribunal would be the end of the process and it would not succeed. In a report, the ICC asserted it would continue the preliminary examination on Dutertes alleged human rights violation, despite his administrations decision to withdraw the Philippines from the tribunal. The ICC cited the case of Burundi which it said retained jurisdiction over crimes even after the withdrawal had become effective. However, the Palace spokesperson said the ICC could proceed with their examination but without the cooperation of the police, the military or any government agencies, as it is no longer a member of the UN-backed tribunal Roque said the Philippine withdrawal was considered a big loss to the ICC, and observed that this new development would discourage other Asian countries to join.  this is a development that the prosecutor should have considered when she decided to embark on preliminary examination, Roque said. So to the ICC, to the Assembly of State Parties, they only have to thank the prosecutor for the end of our dream to achieve universal ratification for the ICC, he added, stressing the move could lead to an avalanche of countries wanting to get out from the international court. Roque also described the prosecutors decision to conduct a preliminary examination as a wrong political move. You just give countries confirmation on why they should not become a member of the ICC. Because you have shown that you can exercise your power without accountability You are to blame if ICC becomes part of the dustbin of history, he said, referring to the ICC prosecutor. Meanwhile, the Commission on Human Rights said the challenge to the government at this time was to ensure the protection and respect for human rights and to strengthen the justice system.The need for justice and the rule of law to prevail amidst allegations of impunity cannot hide under the veil of threat to withdraw from the Rome Statute, the Commission on Human Rights said in a statement. The Commission on Human Rights believes that if the Philippine government can ably demonstrate genuine respect for human rights, as well as working mechanisms that ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice and there is recourse for victims under our justice system, then international human rights bodies will find no reason to assume jurisdiction over what should otherwise be purely domestic affairs, the Commission added. Duterte cited baseless, unprecedented and outrageous attacks against him and his administration and the alleged attempt of the ICC prosecutor to place him under the tribunals jurisdiction. Declarations to withdraw from the International Criminal Court constitute a step-back in our commitment to address impunity locally and elsewhere in the world, the CHR said. In addition, the Commission said the withdrawal from ICC does not remove the jurisdiction of the Court on crimes alleged to have been committed during the time the Philippines is still a State Party (Article 127, Rome Statute). The CHR also noted the unilateral decision to withdraw from the ICC was insufficient as this needs the ratification of the Senate, citing Senate Resolution No. 289. Considering that the ICC is a ratified, binding instrument, Senate concurrence is also required in withdrawing or terminating treaties, the Commission said. Hence, an unsigned statement of withdrawal from the President alone is not sufficient for such declaration to take effect, it added. Regardless of any treaty, the challenge for the government is to ensure that the human rights of every Filipino is respected and protected, the CHR said. We must resist any signs that suggest encouraging impunity and continue to demand accountability for every instance of human rights violations that threaten the core of our humanity. In the end, no one is and should be above the law, the Commission added.Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi has immunity from prosecution, Australia's attorney general said Sunday after a legal bid was launched to hold her responsible for "crimes against humanity". A group of five Australian lawyers have filed a private application in the Melbourne Magistrates Court seeking to prosecute her over the treatment of the Muslim-minority Rohingya. It coincides with the Nobel laureate attending a special summit of Southeast Asian leaders in Sydney. Nearly 700,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar's troubled Rakhine state for Bangladesh since authorities launched a brutal crackdown six months ago that the UN has called "ethnic cleansing". Myanmar has vehemently denied the allegations, insisting it was responding to attacks by Rohingya militants in late August. Attorney General Christian Porter said Suu Kyi cannot be prosecuted in Australia, nor arrested or detained. "Aung San Suu Kyi has complete immunity," he said in a statement. "This includes from being served with court documents because under customary international law, heads of state, heads of government and ministers of foreign affairs are immune from foreign criminal proceedings and are inviolable." Suu Kyi has come under intense global criticism for her public silence on the atrocities in Myanmar, which include claims of rape, murder and arson. The private prosecution alleges she committed crimes against humanity by the deportation and forcible transfer of the Rohingya people. One of the lawyers involved, Alison Battison, told the Sydney Morning Herald that Porter's decision was appealable. "The Attorney General is yet to respond to us, but when he does, we'll address that then," she said. "We wouldn't have done it if we didn't think we had a chance ... it's a textbook example of crimes against humanity." Suu Kyi has not commented publicly since arriving in Australia on Saturday for the regional summit, but is scheduled to take questions at a media event on Tuesday. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak ramped up pressure on her Saturday when he said the Rohingya issue could threaten regional security. Speaking in Sydney with Suu Kyi sitting just metres away, he warned that many desperate people could fall prey to extremist groups like Islamic State. "Because of the suffering of Rohingya people and that of displacement around the region, the situation in Rakhine state and Myanmar can no longer be considered to be a purely domestic matter," he said. "In addition, the problem should not be looked at through the humanitarian prism only because it has the potential of developing into a serious security threat to the region." He added that Malaysia was ready to assist in finding "a just and durable solution", but did not spell out what that might involve. Suu Kyi is due in Canberra on Monday for bilateral talks with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull before an address to Sydney's Lowy Institute on Tuesday.Millions of Chinese public sector workers will be exposed to the harsh policing tactics of the Communist Party as President Xi Jinping brings his corruption crackdown to China's sprawling bureaucracy. The campaign to clean up the party's pervasive corruption has arguably been Xi's most popular initiative, pressuring its 89 million members to toe the line -- with more than 1.5 million officials punished in the past five years. Legislators are finalising the creation of a new anti-graft apparatus that will also watch over non-party members -- everyone from managers at state-owned companies to people in administrative roles at schools and hospitals. In Beijing alone, one of the areas where the new system was established on a pilot basis, the number of people under scrutiny quadrupled to one million, or about five percent of the city's population, officials said. New national and local "supervision commissions" -- investigative agencies focused on corruption -- will operate alongside the Communist Party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), sharing offices, personnel and perhaps leadership. Further blurring the line between the state and party bodies, the National People's Congress (NPC) on Sunday named CCDI deputy secretary Yang Xiaodu as head of the National Supervision Commission. The "anti-corruption powers are dispersed," explained one party leader during the NPC, saying the new body would harness and unify anti-graft efforts. Rights groups worry the new body will institutionalise some of the problems that have led to abuses and even torture of suspects, while vastly expanding the number of people under its purview. The system has a "veneer of legal legitimacy", said Maya Wang, China researcher at Human Rights Watch (HRW), without "any meaningful improvements to guarantee due process". - Held without lawyer - Legislators wrote the new supervision commissions into the country's constitution last week and will approve a law laying out their powers on Tuesday. China's war on corruption has relied heavily on a shadowy, often brutal extralegal justice system known as "shuanggui", allowing investigators to hold party members in unofficial detention facilities until they "confess" to graft. At least 11 individuals died under shanggui custody between 2010 and 2015, according to a 2016 HRW report. Xi said last year that the shuanggui system would be phased out and replaced. But the new law provides for a form of detention called "liuzhi", which rights groups say is a "legal" reincarnation of the shuanggui system and allows graft suspects to be held for up to six months with no provision for legal counsel. In eastern Zhejiang province, shuanggui detention facilities are now being used as liuzhi centres, officials there said. Under liuzhi suspects' family members must be notified within 24 hours of their detention -- except when they may "impede the investigation". "Liuzhi provides no fair trial protections, not even the basic ones that exist under China's criminal procedures," said Wang. Chen Qian, 58, a researcher at Yangquan city's national development and reform commission in northern Shanxi province, was one of the first public servants to face investigation by a new supervision commission. Last year, he was held for almost two months as investigators probed two bribery cases against him. But when Chen was formally arrested and transferred into China's criminal law system, the number of cases had ballooned to 38. "The other 36 cases Chen Qian confessed to on his own during detention," his lawyer said while pleading for leniency, according to court documents. Liu Jianchao, head of the Zhejiang supervision commission, told state media that suspects averaged 42.5 days in detention before being transferred into the criminal justice system. "We place special emphasis on persuading those under investigation to write their own confessions," Liu said. - Who guards the guardians? - Xi's original anti-graft drive brought down party apparatchiks at all levels, from low-level "flies" to high-ranking "tigers". Previously led by his right-hand man Wang Qishan, who was named vice president on Saturday, critics say the CCDI also served as a weapon to eliminate Xi's adversaries. The new supervision commissions will institutionalise that setup, with the investigative organs written into the constitution as independent bodies overseen by the party-led people's congresses. Rights groups and lawyers warn that it will put the bodies beyond judicial scrutiny, but in China's capital, officials say such independence is necessary to take down powerful officials. Zhang Shuofu, who leads the Beijing commission, said the new bodies were modelled on an ancient system, dispelling concerns by citing "internal and external oversight". That oversight relies on the people's congresses which are technically charged with supervising most of China's bureaucracy, but in practice do little. "Our oversight work has some problems," admitted Zhou Chengkui, a former deputy general secretary of the National People's Congress, in a recent interview with China Law Review. "Namely the people's congress doesn't dare supervise!"The long journey to find peace for Rohingya refugee Kobir Ahmed can be told through the different birth countries of his eight children -- Myanmar, Malaysia and Australia -- although they remain citizens of no nation. He now helps run a grocery store in suburban Australia where he lives in a small community of Rohingya, the persecuted Muslim minority who have fled army-led violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state in their hundreds of thousands. "They are not like other militaries of the world. Killing people is nothing for them," the 44-year-old told AFP of the army's hardline tactics against his people. Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi was in Sydney Sunday for a special Australia-ASEAN summit, with her presence seen as a crushing reminder of lost hope. She is among nine leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations holding talks, including Cambodian strongman Hun Sen and Vietnam's Nguyen Xuan Phuc -- both accused of oppression. Their attendance sparked human rights protests, with thousands making their feelings known, particularly about Aung San Suu Kyi's perceived inaction to halt what the UN says bears "the hallmarks of genocide". "The situation in Burma wasn't this bad before Aung Sung Suu Kyi came in power," said Ahmed, who arrived in Australia on a rickety boat crammed with more than 100 people in 2013. "Before, we were tortured, we weren't allowed to work or move independently -- we were under a lot of scrutiny -- but we could at least live there. But after she emerged, we were all forced to leave the country." A bid by Australian lawyers to prosecute Suu Kyi for "crimes against humanity" was rejected Sunday after the country's attorney general said she had immunity from prosecution. - Community pulling together - Nearly 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh since Myanmar launched a crackdown on insurgents six months ago, with many describing arson, murder and rape at the hands of soldiers and vigilante mobs in the majority Buddhist country. Myanmar has vehemently denied allegations of ethnic cleansing, insisting it was responding to attacks by Muslim militants in late August. The Rohingya in Australia number in the thousands, with many arriving over the years by boat seeking some form of citizenship status they were denied in Myanmar and could not attain in transit countries. Their struggle for "status" remains uncertain under Canberra's tough immigration policies. For most citizenship is disallowed, advocates say, under strict conditions that sees the Rohingya applying for bridging visas every few years in the hope that Australia relaxes its hardline stance on asylum-seekers designed to discourage boatpeople. Many who attempted the dangerous journey after Canberra further tightened its borders languish in Pacific island camps, where those trying to enter Australia by boat are now sent. "We are very much happy to obey the rules and the law... just give us a chance to prove that we are a good citizens," Shawfikul Islam, from the Australian Burmese Rohingya Organisation, told AFP. Despite the uncertainty, many Rohingya are resilient and the community tight-knit. They often lack formal education, with the opportunity of schooling for their children one of their biggest hopes. "For myself, my chance is over as I didn't go to school and when I grew up in Myanmar I lost all my rights," refugee Jumabi, who arrived via boat with her family six years ago, told AFP. "But here, these children have a great chance, and a future." - 'Crimes against humanity' - Under Myanmar's complex political system the military maintain control of the security forces, but Aung San Suu Kyi has been at the centre of worldwide condemnation for failing to use her influence to change attitudes among the majority-Buddhist Bamar. Australia, which was elected to the UN Human Rights Council last year, has been under pressure to take a stronger stand on Myanmar. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull vowed to address human rights issues at the Sydney summit, although that will likely be behind closed doors and not in public. Amnesty International has accused ASEAN leaders of being "shamefully silent" on Myanmar. "Myanmar's regional neighbours - including Australia and ASEAN -- must send a signal that crimes against humanity are unacceptable and will not go unpunished," said Amnesty's director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific James Gomez. For Australia's Rohingya community, there is little belief that Aung San Suu Kyi will change. "We thought she was very good when we were young," said 25-year-old Mohamed Younis, who arrived in Australia by boat five years ago. "As soon she came into power, she is doing nothing for our people -- it is like she is blind."By Zachary Fagenson

MIAMI (Reuters) - Engineers and state and university officials met hours before a new pedestrian bridge collapsed in southern Florida, killing six people, but concluded a crack in the structure was not a safety concern, Florida International University said on Saturday.

The meeting on Thursday involved FIGG, which is the private contractor for the overall bridge design, the school, Florida Department of Transportation officials and Munilla Construction Management, which installed the $14.2 million bridge.

A FIGG engineer "concluded there were no safety concerns and the crack did not compromise the structural integrity of the bridge," the university said in a statement.

About three hours after the meeting ended, the 950-ton bridge collapsed, crushing vehicles stopped at a traffic light on the eight-lane roadway below.

Six people died, including five whose bodies were recovered on Saturday as workers pulled out vehicles from the rubble, officials said.

Police had feared the death toll could rise above six. But authorities found what they believe to be the last body on Saturday, Miami-Dade Police Department director Juan Perez told a news conference.

"We're going to go once again and make sure that there's nobody else down there, but we're pretty confident that no one's left," he said.

Three of the victims found on Saturday were identified by police as Rolando Fraga Hernandez, Oswald Gonzalez and Alberto Arias. The names of two others whose bodies were removed from the rubble on Saturday were not immediately released.

Another victim, who died in a hospital after the collapse, was identified by police as Navarro Brown.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the reasons for the bridge's collapse.

News of the meeting between engineers and officials followed a revelation late on Friday that the engineer overseeing the bridge, which linked the university campus with the city of Sweetwater, had called a state official two days before the collapse to report cracks.

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However, the voicemail message from FIGG's lead engineer Denney Pate, including his assertion the cracking posed no safety issue, was not retrieved until Friday, a day after the tragedy, according to the state transportation agency.

Pate did not immediately respond to email queries.

(Additional reporting by Bernie Woodall in Fort Lauderdale, Barbara Goldberg in New York, Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles and Rich McKay in Atlanta; Writing by Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Bill Trott, Paul Simao and Edwina Gibbs)Grandmother arrested for murder of boy, 6, found with strangulation marks in Hong Kong love hotel

A Hong Kong grandmother was arrested on suspicion of murdering her six-year-old grandson in a local love hotel early Sunday.

Strangulation marks were found around the boys neck.

Police were alerted at 12.54am that the boy had fallen into a coma at the Beverly Hotel in Wan Chai.

The child was sent to hospital but certified dead at 2.28am, a police source said.

Chief Inspector Wan Kai-ming said a length of strapping believed to be from the grandmothers backpack was found at the scene.

Police sources said the woman, 52, had taken the boy on a tour of Hong Kong Island and had checked into the hotel because they were both tired.

It is understood that the killing took place in the hotel, which is located in the Capital Building on Lockhart Road, and the pair checked into their room late on Saturday afternoon.

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The boy was from a single-parent family. He lived with his mother and grandmother in Yiu On Estate  a public housing complex in Ma On Shan, Sha Tin, according to police sources.

A police source said the boy was believed to have suffered from a hyperactivity disorder. His grandmother took care of him most of the time because his mother had to work.

Wan added that it had yet to be proved whether the boy or grandmother had a mental disorder.

Shiu Ka-chun, the social welfare sector legislator, attacked the government for its lack of support for carers on his Facebook page.

Government, please stop saying that even one tragedy is too much because its simply hypocritical, Shiu said in his post.

The lawmaker listed three shortcomings of the existing welfare system: no policies to look after carers; a low Community Care Fund allowance for carers, which also required a means test; and respite services only for those caring for elderly people.

Last year, there were at least three cases of murder involving carers, including one where a 34-year-old man with a mental condition was suspected of killing his bedridden mother before jumping off a building in what was believed to be a failed suicide bid.

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Taking care of a child with ADHD is like trying to control a moving car without a brake

Phyllis Chan, Queen Mary Hospital psychiatrist

Police were still questioning the grandmother last night.

Psychiatrist Phyllis Chan Kwok-ling said taking care of a child with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was like trying to control a moving car without a brake, and that looking after those below the age of 12 could be especially trying for adults.

They are usually super energetic  jumping and running around at home or in public areas with a relatively low sense of danger. They have lots to say but little patience to listen. They need much longer time to finish their homework because they cannot focus. Their academic performances can fluctuate greatly because their memories are often short and attention to details is lacking, Chan, the head of child and adolescent psychiatry at Queen Mary Hospital, said.

They might go on a rampage not only physically but also verbally. They might interrupt people or utter some inappropriate comments without thinking, which could make them seem pretty annoying and offensive.

Chan said doctors usually avoided prescribing drugs to children below the age of six unless the disorder reached a moderate or serious level. Treatment would involve seeing a child psychiatrist but at public hospitals, the wait to see one could be over a year, according to Hospital Authority figures from 2016/17.

Without timely and proper treatment, up to half of children with the disorder would end up displaying antagonistic behaviour, Chan said.

The Social Welfare Department said the boys family had been a client and a social worker has been providing support in terms of childrens welfare.

The government has increased funding to kindergartens to subsidise therapy sessions for special needs children but in mainstream primary schools, they only pay for a full-time coordinator to organise therapy and psychiatrist sessions for pupils.

An Education Development Bureau spokesman expressed sadness over the boys death.

The school he was attending has activated a crisis management group to follow up on the incident. The bureau will remain in close contact with the school and provide necessary support, the spokesman said.

Additional reporting by Danny Mok

This article Grandmother arrested for murder of boy, 6, found with strangulation marks in Hong Kong love hotel first appeared on South China Morning Post

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More from South China Morning Post:Low-level drug mules are convicted at a rate of more than one a day in Hong Kongs High Court while only one gang organiser or senior syndicate member is sentenced every eight months, a study provided to Post Magazine shows.

An analysis by former deputy director of public prosecutions John Reading SC found that of 1,619 traffickers convicted from 2012 to 2015, only six were organisers or senior gang members, while 1,519 (or 93 per cent) were couriers, apprehended either in Hong Kong or while trying to enter or leave the city. The remaining 94 cases mostly involved so-called storekeepers caught with drugs in Hong Kong.

Priests mission to save Hong Kong drug mules from a system that favours kingpins

Readings study also found that sentences for drug-trafficking offences were more severe in Hong Kong than in the 17 other jurisdictions surveyed, with a 22-year starting point for trafficking offences involving 1kg of a class-A drug compared with 20 years in Turkey, 15 to 20 years in Slovakia and 10 to 17 years in New York.

Hong Kong was the only jurisdiction surveyed, apart from Iceland and Austria, not to consider the role and seniority of the offender in the sentencing process. Hong Kong was also one of only six jurisdictions where previous good character was not recognised as a mitigating factor.

Hong Kong girl, 15, and two others arrested in HK$20 million cocaine bust

The average sentence over the four-year period in Hong Kong was nine years and nine months, while the highest sentences given out were to a 37-year-old sentenced to 32 years for trafficking 33.6kg of cocaine, and a 45-year-old sentenced to 33 years and six months for trafficking 11.9kg of cocaine and 410 grams of crystal methamphetamine.

Because 16-year-olds are tried in adult courts in Hong Kong, prosecutions over that period included 82 minors. All but two received substantial jail terms and cases included a 16-year-old sentenced to 17 years for trafficking 1.9kg of ketamine.

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The heavy sentences imposed for the offence in Hong Kong have not resulted in a significant reduction in drug trafficking cases over those years, Reading concluded.

This article Hong Kong dishes out severe punishment for drug mules while gang leaders remain free first appeared on South China Morning Post

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More from South China Morning Post:More than two decades after Japan's Aum Shinrikyo cult plunged Tokyo into terror by releasing a nerve agent on rush-hour subway trains, its spinoffs continue to attract new followers. Cult head Shoko Asahara is on death row, along with 12 of his disciples, for crimes including the subway attack, which killed 13 people and injured thousands. He was arrested in 1995 in the wake of the sarin attack, but the Aum cult survived the crackdown, renaming itself Aleph and drawing new recruits into its fold. Aleph officially renounced ties to Asahara in 2000, but the doomsday guru retains significant influence, according to Japan's Public Security Intelligence Agency. "It (Aleph) is a group that firmly instructs its followers to see Asahara as the supreme being," an agency investigator told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. "If someone says 'guru Asahara wants to bring down Japan', there would be followers who would act. The group poses such a potential danger," he said. Raids on Aleph facilities have found recordings of his teachings as well as a device used by the Aum cult known as a "Perfect Salvation Initiation", a type of headgear that emits weak electric currents which members believe connects them to Asahara's brainwaves. Aleph and other splinter groups, which deny links to Asahara despite the claims of authorities, have 1,650 members in Japan and hundreds more in Russia, according to the Public Security Intelligence Agency. It says the groups attract around 100 new followers annually via yoga classes, fortune-telling and other activities that do not mention the cult's name, often targeting young people who do not remember the 1995 subway attack. "Young female followers go to 'training' places with their children... We are worried there is an increasing number of children who have been inculcated by the Aum since they were very young," the investigator said. - Horrendous ordeals - Asahara and his wife Tomoko had four daughters and two sons, and most of the family remains within the cult. One daughter who left in 2006, aged 16, has described horrifying ordeals during her childhood, including being forced to eat food with ceramic shards in it and being left in the cold in little clothing. "It was an environment unthinkable in modern-day Japan. I was afraid I would be killed if I rebelled, so I felt tense, as if I were on a battleground, for 16 years," she said in a statement last year. "I strongly hope no more children will grow up in the Aum's successor groups." In early March, on Asahara's 63rd birthday, investigators were keeping their usual close eye on the headquarters of an Aum splinter group in a quiet Tokyo residential area. "We are not marking the day in any way," said Akitoshi Hirosue, deputy head of the Hikarinowa (The Circle of Rainbow Light) group. "We actually think Asahara should be executed," he told AFP at the group's headquarters. Hikarinowa split from Aleph in 2007 under the leadership of flamboyant former Aum spokesman Fumihiro Joyu, and now has around 100-150 members. "As long as the death penalty is not implemented against him, Asahara is the 'saviour exempt from execution' and helps Aleph win more followers," Joyu recently said in arguing for the death of his former guru. Aleph training halls are closed to media and the group did not respond to enquiries by AFP. - A new 'guru'? - Taro Takimoto, a lawyer who has helped relatives of cultists for decades, supports capital punishment for Asahara but not the 12 other members on death row, who he says only acted as "limbs" of the guru. He fears the 12 members will "become martyrs" if executed, only boosting cult recruitment. Seven of those on death row were moved to different prison facilities in recent days, prompting speculation that they could soon be executed. It was not clear if Asahara was among them. "We should have them talk until they die a natural death so that they help prevent a recurrence," Takimoto told AFP. And he said they deserve some understanding, describing them as "good people" who were brainwashed by Asahara. "Asahara was more than God to them, the person who knew the entire universe and all its reincarnations. Orders from Asahara were orders from the universe," he said. Asahara's execution may draw a line under the Aum's crimes for some Japanese, but Takimoto warns it could also trigger suicides among his followers and lead to the appointment of a successor guru. A leading candidate is Asahara's second son, according to Takimoto. "If the second son, bearing Asahara's ashes, declares himself 'guru', he would gain serious religious authority," opening a new chapter on the cult, Takimoto said.THE Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Australia on Saturday sealed a historic agreement seeking to bolster regional security, with the joint signing of the memorandum of understanding on a Cooperation to Counter International Terrorism on the sidelines of the Asean-Australia Special Summit. Leading the Philippine government delegation was Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, who represents President Rodrigo Duterte for the two-day leaders dialogue in Sydney. The MOU is aimed at strengthening the cooperation between the two parties in combating terrorism, counter-terrorism financing, and in the fight against violent extremism. In a joint statement, the leaders stressed that the crafting of the MOU demonstrates their joint resolve to stand together against those who seek to divide communities. The document intensifies Australias annual engagement with the bloc and enshrines practical measures to deepen dialogue across governments and security and law enforcement institutions. The MOU is supported by programs on technical and regulatory assistance to develop best practices in aid of counter-terrorism legislation, and regional dialogues and workshops on topics, such as electronic evidence, financial intelligence, and countering online radicalization. Asean nations have a strong record of working together to confront violent extremism and defeat terrorist organizations, the joint statement read. In recent years the threat posed by returning foreign fighters and ISIL-linked extremists has grown. It makes todays cooperation all the more important, it added. The MOU signing adds to the numerous peace and security cooperation between the two parties, which ranges from cyber and maritime cooperation, in their fight against people trafficking. In related developments:  Australia on Saturday warned the use of encrypted messaging apps to plan terrorist attacks was the greatest threat faced by intelligence agencies in modern times and urged a united and cohesive response. Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton told an Asean-Australia special summit in Sydney that the use of the dark web by extremists and other criminals was a spiraling problem. The use of encrypted messaging apps by terrorists and criminals is potentially the most significant degradation of intelligence capability in modern times, he said.

Dutton added at the meeting of Southeast Asian leaders that the only way to deal with the threat, and the increasing use of the Internet by groups like Islamic State to radicalize and recruit new members, was together. While our nations are focused on countering the ongoing threat of terrorism domestically, it would be a mistake to approach the problem from a purely national perspective, he said. Terrorism and violent extremism transcend national borders. Countering the threat requires a united and cohesive regional effort involving coordination between our respective national security and law enforcement agencies. Canberra is already helping Southeast Asian states choke terrorist financing and counter violent extremism. Provocative images of one-time human rights icon Aung San Suu Kyi with a Hitler moustache and banners demanding Cambodias Hun Sen step down were held by protesters in Sydney in a rally against Southeast Asian leaders. Thousands demonstrated in the city against a raft of grievances on the sidelines of an Australia-Asean special summit, where Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has vowed to tackle human rights issues. They came together to urge the release of political prisoners in Vietnam, an end to strongman Hun Sens regime in Cambodia and a halt to the military crackdown on Rohingya in Myanmar. We are here to protest issues that are happening in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, the Rohingyayou name it, we are here to send a clear voice to these governments that you do not mistreat human rights, Vietnamese-Australian protestor Davy Nguyen told AFP. Leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations including Hun Sen, Myanmars de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Vietnams Nguyen Xuan Phuc, are in Sydney for talks. The Philippines Rodrigo Duterte opted not to attend. All have been accused of oppression. The summit is here, and the [Australian] government needs to do somethingthey need to put human rights before economics, before money, Nguyen added. Among banners was one portraying Aung San Suu Kyi with a Adolf Hitler moustache, calling on her to Return the Nobel Prize. The terrorist problem has been exacerbated by jihadists now being forced out of Syria and Iraq with the Islamic State caliphate mostly crushed. The issue was driven home last year when pro-Islamic State militants seized the southern Philippine city of Marawi, with Australia aiding Manila to win it back. A memorandum of understanding will be issued at the summit later Saturday, reportedly with an agreement to pool cyber intelligence and police resources across the region for the first time. The Australian newspaper said it would include a regional digital forensics task force and uniform criminal legislative frameworks to secure prosecutions. Australia has suffered six terror attacks in recent years and disrupted 14 more, including a plot to bring down a plane departing Sydney. In response, Canberra has consolidated key functions like national security, immigration, counter-terrorism, cyber-security, and border protection under a newly-created Home Affairs department, headed by Dutton. He said that to address the issue of apps which allow extremists to operate clandestinely, Canberra planned to introduce legislation to strengthen agencies ability to adapt to encryption. This will include making companies that provide communications services and devices obliged to assist when asked, while also making the use of surveillance devices and computer network exploitation by authorities easier. Asean groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, with Australia a dialogue partner since 1974.Chinese Premier Li Keqiang began a second five-year term on Sunday after President Xi Jinpings nomination for him to remain in office was endorsed by the National Peoples Congress.

Li, 62, received 2,964 votes in favour and just two against. Xi on Saturday received unanimous support to remain as president, while just one delegate voted against Xis close ally, Wang Qishan, becoming vice-president.

Meanwhile, on the military front, Xu Qiliang (four abstain) and Zhang Youxia (two votes against, one abstain) were endorsed as vice-chairmen of the states Central Military Commission, which is the counterpart of the ruling Communist Partys military governing body. Xi chairs both the state and the partys military commission.

Xi Jinpings second term begins with show of unequivocal loyalty from lawmakers

Similarly, Wei Fenghe, Li Zuocheng, Miao Hua and Zhang Shengmin were appointed members of the state military commission, mirroring their positions on the party body.

In the judiciary, Zhou Qiang was reconfirmed as president of the Supreme Peoples Court, with just five votes against and five abstentions, while Zhang Jun was endorsed as the new procurator-general of the Supreme Peoples Procuratorate, with five votes against and 10 abstentions.

After the results were announced, the new leaders each took an oath of allegiance to Chinas constitution, although the ceremony lacked the goose-stepping guards of honour that graced Xis swearing in on Saturday.

This article Li Keqiang endorsed as Chinas premier, while military commission chiefs consolidate power first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018.Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari will not attend the African Union summit in Rwanda this week, an official statement said Sunday, in a blow to plans to launch a major free trade treaty across 54 countries. The meeting in Kigali is intended to formally launch the African Continental Free Trade Area Treaty, which Nigeria's cabinet endorsed last Wednesday. Buhari was scheduled to leave Abuja on Monday ahead of Wednesday's launch but pulled out to allow for more consultations. "Mr President will no longer be travelling to Kigali for the event because certain key stakeholders in Nigeria indicated that they had not been consulted, for which reasons they had some concerns on the provisions of the treaty," the statement said. "Consequently, Mr President's decision is to allow time for broader consultations on the issue." The organised labour union, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), urged Buhari not to sign the deal. "We at the Nigeria Labour Congress are shocked by the sheer impunity or blatant lack of consultation in the process that has led to this," said NLC President Ayuba Wabba. "We have no doubt this policy initiative will spell the death knell of the Nigerian economy." The AU decided to go ahead with the treaty in 2012 aiming to establish a single liberalised market for trade in goods and services. The agreement sets up a negotiated rules-based system in order to expand intra-African trade from its very low base of 14 percent, the Nigerian presidency said. Nigeria, Africa's biggest oil producer and with a population of 190 million, is a massive market. But the fall in the price of oil sparked recession and Buhari has resorted to a protectionist economic policy with a long list of products banned from importation.Five members of a single family were killed Sunday when a mortar bomb fired by Pakistani soldiers landed on their home in Indian-administered Kashmir, police said. The incident happened in the southern Poonch sector in the disputed Himalayan region. Police said a 35-year-old man, two children aged seven and 12, a teenage boy and a woman were killed. "The five were killed inside their home when a shell fired from Pakistan side of the border hit it," director general of police, Shesh Paul Vaid, told AFP. Two girls, including a five-year-old, were injured and taken to hospital, a police statement said. Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British colonial rule in 1947. Both claim the former kingdom in full and have fought two wars over it. There have been intense skirmishes this year along the de facto border, known as the Line of Control. Last month more than 1,000 villagers were evacuated to safer places in the northern Uri sector amid a heavy exchange of fire. Tensions are already high after India and Pakistan last week accused each other of harassing diplomats in New Delhi and Islamabad. New Delhi regularly accuses Pakistan of initiating border firing in an attempt to help insurgents infiltrate India. Islamabad denies the allegations, saying it only provides diplomatic and moral support to Kashmiris seeking the right to self-determination. India deploys hundreds of thousands of soldiers in the territory, where rebels demand either independence or a merger with Pakistan.Catalonia's deposed leader Carles Puigdemont said in an interview published Sunday that he should have declared independence earlier, as delaying the call hoping to start a dialogue with Madrid proved futile. Puigdemont moved to Belgium after the Catalan parliament unilaterally declared independence on October 27 following a banned referendum on the Spanish region's secession. He is in Geneva this weekend to attend a human rights film festival. Asked by the Tribune de Geneve newspaper if he would have done anything differently in the tension-filled days that followed the October 1 referendum, Puigdemont said he would not have waited until the 27th to make the independence call. "There is one thing I would have done differently. On October 10, we had planned to proclaim independence, but I decided to suspend the definitive move to leave a door open for dialogue with the Spanish government," he said. He explained that he was urged to do so by sources within the Spanish government. "So I acted responsibly, even riskily because everyone expected a clear proclamation. I chose to give a chance to dialogue. "Unfortunately, it was a trap because there was no positive reaction from the government. If I were to do it over again, I would not have suspended the independence declaration," he said. In a separate earlier interview with Switzerland's public broadcaster, Puigdemont said a majority of Catalans might accept being part of a Swiss-style federal system in Spain instead of full independence, a suggestion he reiterated on Sunday. Puigdemont faces arrest if he returns to Spain over his role in Catalonia's separatist push. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's conservative government has dissolved Catalonia's parliament and imposed direct rule over the region. The government in Madrid and Spain's highest court insist it is illegal and against the constitution for autonomous regions to declare independence. - 'Respect December 21' - Puigdemont spoke later to a small group of reporters in Geneva, where he underscored that the only solution to the current political deadlock in Catalonia is for Madrid to respect the results of last December's elections. Rajoy called the snap polls but suffered a blow when separatist parties again won an absolute majority of seats in the 135-seat Catalan parliament. Puigdemont gave up his claim to serve as president of the new parliament and threw his support behind separatist leader Jordi Sanchez, in custody since October pending sedition charges. Madrid has said Sanchez cannot serve from prison, intensifying the stalemate in the region. For Puigdemont, the priority is for "the Spanish state to have a little more respect for the decisions made by Catalans on December 21st and stop interfering in parliament." "I would be a good sign for everyone if the Spanish government changed its attitude and respected the fact that they are not facing criminals but representatives of a popular movement and that, in a democracy, you have to respect that," he told reporters.A post by online publication Rice Media has sparked fresh debate over influencers in Singapore. Netizens are divided about whether instances of influencers poor command of English is cause for online ridicule, or not.

The article calls into question the snarky posts made by the Facebook page Singaporean Influencers and Bloggers Write SHIT English and are Annoying AF, which has garnered over 23,000 likes since its inception in December 2016.

Rice Media disagrees with the pages aggressive tone, and categorises the pages activities as cyberbulling. Rice also claims that the page carries a highbrow, elitist attitude that associates a good command of language with superiority.

Even though they mostly pick on influencers/bloggers, their gripes also imply that anyone who does not speak good English (according to their standards) is professionally, intellectually, and morally inferior.  Rice Media

Instead of pointing fingers at the influencers, however, Rice Media places the blame squarely on the influencers unoriginal social media content and personal marketing strategies, and the similarly uncreative brands that continue to enable them.

While I wish that SIABWSEAAAA (help la) would be a lot less snide in their delivery, I am not in favour of pardoning influencers as innocent scapegoats.

As an undergraduate majoring in communications, I am concerned that my area of study is being devalued.

If left unchecked and excused, I believe that instances of poor English in influencer marketing may erode the standards for copywriting everywhere.

Okay, hear me out:

Campaign Deliverables

Interestingly, the piece by Rice Media comes after a particularly active week for the offending page in question. Between 11 and 14 March, the page criticised three influencers for their linguistic gaffes on Instagram, one of which was later retracted.

2018-03-15 (1)

2018-03-15

2018-03-15 (2)

In one of the featured posts, an influencer mistakenly uploaded her sponsored Instagram post with the caption My go to car rental will always be @akacarrental ! They never fail to disappoint me and are the best.

Story continues

While Im sure she meant that the brand never disappoints, such a blunder would not have been tolerated by a client in a traditional marketing context.

Had a boutique PR company or advertising creative been in her position, accounts would be put on review, jobs would be at risk, and the entire team in charge would have expected an earful from their supervisor. So why are we this soft on what influencers are being paid to do?

Appropriateness of Message

Some argue that influencer marketing serves a different segment from professional copywriters in that their message is presented more casually.

This means that sentence fragments, run-on messages, and even memes can all be part of a well-thought-out campaign on social media. This also means that I may have job security after all.

This liberal use of language is supported by descriptivism, where language is determined by what people do with it. The hallmark of the descriptivist argument is that language cannot be judged as right or wrong if the intended message is successfully communicated to the audience.

As seen in the examples above, however, some captions by occupational influencers range from the bizarre to the antithetical. Whether its a hundred words of rambling and trying to disguise the #sponsored motives of the post, or mistakenly criticising the very product they were paid to promote, the only message communicated here is one of confusion.

2018-03-15 (3)

The Future of Influencer Marketing

In February, Singaporeans mocked the influencer marketing strategies of the Ministry for the Environment and Water Resources. The ministry reportedly paid 28 micro-influencers for a three-month marketing campaign to spread awareness about climate change.

Micro-influencers are understood to be online personalities with between 1,000 and 10,000 followers on Instagram.

As a millennial with an interest in digital marketing, the idea of paid micro-influencers is genius, if not a little perverse.

On one hand, micro-influencers offer a cheaper alternative to expensive campaigns with well-known influencers, whose engagement numbers may already be tinted by the smitten responses of their adoring fans. I may double tap on a pretty face, sure, but am I really reading the caption for that brand of car tyres shes promoting?

Micro-influencers are valuable because their followers do not approach their posts with caution, wary that they are being sold something. Rather, my friend, who has a little over three thousand Instagram followers, is genuinely recommending some new car tyres. Nice.

However, I think influencer marketing is not sustainable, and the sooner brands realise this, the better. The same way ad blindness has blighted advertisers for years, posts by influencers will be increasingly ignored by the online audience.

I hope this short piece didnt read like a preachy Facebook post by SIABWSEAAAA (help again). At the risk of sounding like an out of touch headline, millennials are killing the copywriting industry.

Im just worried, you know, that my uni degree like, no use when I graduate. I study so hard, practice my writing, but the advertising money all going to influencers, not newsrooms, not magazines, not ad agencies, then how? A bit sian, right?

I know we must accept change la. Got smart campus, got smart nation, but people dont want to be smart about what they read, how sia? Its good to have some standards la. People pay you to do something, must at least do a good job right?

See? Its not impossible to communicate effectively with a non-standard variety of English.

Its not impossible to want to be better. #spon

==

Stay updated and social with Popspoken: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

This article Sorry Singapore Influencers, No Defense for SHIT English appeared first on Popspoken.In the dead of night, I wake, sensing a presence in my flat. My eyes dart around my small studio apartment, trying to find any point of reference. Then I see him. From my bed, I can make out a shadowed figure crouching in my kitchen sink. Its too dark to make out details, but I know hes there, watching me.

Im frozen. My scream is stuck in my throat. He sits between me and the door; between me and my escape. I cant move, but I have to. My body is limp, but my mind is on fire. After what seems like a few minutes I somehow tear away from my paralysed state and race across the room for the door.

As soon as I grasp the cool handle, a wave of realisation washes over me. Slamming on the lights, I whip around, confirming I am actually alone. Its just me, my heaving breath, and my pounding heart.

Its OK, I tell myself, my body still coursing with adrenaline. Its not real. But what had I just experienced? What felt like a terrifying attack of sleep paralysis seemed to somehow morph into an episode of sleepwalking  or rather sleep sprinting. But is that even possible?

Strange night occurrences are nothing new for me. I have been a sleepwalker since I was a young teenager  episodes triggered after long weekends playing sport resulting in an exhausted body. Just a few weeks ago I managed to brush my teeth while asleep. Well, I tried to  the next morning I found toothpaste spread across the sink.

More common are my sleep paralysis episodes, where I wake paralysed and see a face or person in my room for a few terrifying seconds. The episodes only began in my early 20s, and are a frequent reminder of building stress or anxiety levels.

On their own, each type of episode has never really worried me greatly as I have heard about both before. But I have never actually experienced what seems to be a strange mix of them, and never have I come so close to running out the door, or so I can remember.

Story continues

Sleep paralysis occurs when your mind is conscious but your body and your vocal cords are paralysed. They last for anything from a few seconds up to a couple of minutes, and some people even feel that they cannot breathe or are being choked.

Sometimes during the attack of sleep paralysis, people will have sensory distortion, like seeing images or having a feeling like being pressed, says psychiatrist Dr Joyce Lam Siu-ping, who is also honorary secretary of the Hong Kong Society of Sleep Medicine. Those types of sensations we call sleep-related hallucinations. These two conditions go hand in hand. And because they happen together, it can be quite scary.

Sleep paralysis is not categorised as a sleep disorder, but as a sleep phenomenon. It occurs during the transitional phases of sleep, such as when you are trying to fall asleep, and affects up to 50 per cent of the population, Lam says.

People explain the inability to move as the mismatch of the stages of sleep in your body. So your mindset is still awake but your body is entering into an REM [rapid eye movement] state where the muscles become paralysed, she says.

They may be terrifying, but the attacks are actually harmless.

While science cannot completely explain sleep paralysis, a number of cultures have their own explanations. Folklore often blames it on supernatural or underworld creatures. It is thought Henry Fuselis 1781 painting The Nightmare  in which a devil-like creature crouches on the chest of a helpless, sleeping woman  is associated with the phenomenon.

In Hong Kong and China, locals refer to it as ghost oppression, or the feeling of being pressed by a spirit. In Japan it is called kanashibari, which means being bound by metal. In Fiji, it is referred to as kana tevoro  being eaten by a demon  while in Nigeria it is described as the devil on your back. Lam says more modern manifestations exist in the US that involve UFO abductions or close encounters.

You find that patients from different countries describe their experiences similarly, yet their belief in the underlying condition is very different, she says. In Hong Kong and China we rarely talk about UFOs, but in the West they talk about UFOs, and they have more reports [of alien close encounters].

I have patients waking up in the middle of the night to cook food  [one] patient got food poisoning from the food they ate during an episode

Dr Joyce Lam

It is believed that sleep paralysis is more common in people who suffer from narcolepsy, or who have a mental illness, and that it can start presenting in the sleep-deprived and stressful years of adolescence.

Sleep paralysis can be triggered by anxiety, stress and depression. While there is no cure, Lam says there are steps to take to reduce the risk, including managing stress levels and sleeping patterns. Make sure you have good sleep hygiene, you are sleeping adequately, and you are not drinking too much alcohol or caffeine, she says.

While sleep paralysis is not dangerous, sleepwalking can be. As the name suggests, this is the act of walking or performing other actions when you are in an unconscious state. The area of your brain that is controlling the consciousness is still suppressed, but the motor skill area is active, Lam says.

Occurring during the deep sleep state, it is most common in childhood, affecting about eight per cent of children, Lam says. In the past it has been believed its a type of condition to do with your brain maturation, so it explains why as a kid grows up, the sleepwalking tends to subside. This is just a theory.

But where does that leave me, the 25-year-old sleepwalker? Apparently not all adults grow out of it. Lam says Im part of the one per cent of the population that carry their strange sleeping habit into their adult years.

Sleepwalking itself is not harmful, but it can have dangerous consequences. I have patients waking up in the middle of the night to cook food  One patient burned her pot and could have started a fire. I have another patient who got food poisoning from the food they ate during an episode.

In extreme cases, there have been reports of people becoming violent while sleepwalking, although Lam says she hasnt seen any cases of that in Hong Kong.

While science cannot explain why people go for unconscious midnight strolls, the condition is believed to be genetic, she adds. If your parents do it, there is a chance you could also experience an episode.

Like sleep paralysis, there is no treatment for sleepwalking, but Lam says finding triggers for these instances can help you gain the upper hand. For example, elevated stress levels, lack of sleep, illness (such as a fever) and the use of sleeping pills all have an effect on your sleep pattern, and could be a trigger. Lam says sleep apnoea can also be linked with sleepwalking, so by treating your sleep apnoea, you may also treat the sleepwalking.

As for my recent strange sleep episode, is it possible for both sleep paralysis and sleepwalking to happen in the same episode? Probably not, Lam says, because they happen at different stages of sleep. She explains it was likely linked to my stress levels.

Since you have so many sleep transitions [when stressed or anxious], there is a higher chance of sleep paralysis and sleep-related hallucinations, or even a confusional state where you will mix all these things together.

Five tips for a good night sleep

Falling asleep is not as easy as simply putting your head on your pillow and closing your eyes. In our fast-paced lives, filled with stress and digital distractions, it is sometimes hard to switch off and enter the dream world.

With one-third of the global population said to experience insomnia at some point in their lifetime, according to Australias Sleep Health Foundation, here are some things you can do to make it easier to get a good nights rest.

Cut caffeine and alcohol

What you eat and drink during the day affects how you sleep at night. People with sleeping problems should avoid caffeinated drinks all together because they will disturb their sleep architecture, Lam says. If you cant give up your daily cup of coffee, make sure you have it in the morning, cutting out all caffeine by the afternoon.

Stopping or limiting the amount of alcohol you drink will also help. While alcohol can help put you to sleep, Lam says after it wears off it will actually make your sleep more fragmented.

Have a regular sleeping schedule

After a long week at work, it is easy to want to sleep in on the weekends. Lam says, however, that having a sleeping schedule that does not vary day by day promotes good sleeping health. Sleeping longer on weekends changes the circadian rhythm, meaning you will find it harder to fall asleep.

Exercise daily

Making sure you are active during the day is one of the most important factors for putting you into a deep sleep at night. Exercise boosts endorphins (the feel-good hormone), gets the blood pumping, and pushes you out of the house or office and into the great outdoors. It also helps exhaust the body.

Dont work out just before bed, though, because that will actually wake the body up.

Stress less

Being stressed during the day can lead to your mind being too busy and anxious to switch off at night. If you find yourself lying awake thinking about your worries, meditation can be used to help bring you into a state of relaxation and promote sleep onset, Lam says.

Switch off

In a world where your mobile phone is an extension of yourself, it may be hard to put your device down for an hour. But Lam says a 60-minute digital detox is necessary before bed for a full nights sleep.

Stay away from electronic devices like computers, iPads and your phone, she advises. No matter if you are checking emails or playing games, that will keep your mind busy. Try reading a book instead.

This article Ive been a sleepwalker since I was a teen. My sleep paralysis is more scary, though first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018.

More from South China Morning Post:Why Hong Kongs bet on biotech is doomed to fail  if private backers dont step up

Hong Kong is betting on biotechnology for the future as mapped out in the recent Budget but private sector investments are so anaemic that the few players around fear the industry may never take off in the city.

Checks by the Post on the number of investors found analysts and venture capital executives scratching their heads trying to estimate just how many private funders are involved.

The Post did find one entrepreneur, Ian Huen Chung-yuen, 38, who is focusing on biotechnology and putting money in local research to fund applications for wider use.

Huen said the high bar to biotech investment is a deterrent. It requires investors who have specific knowledge in the potential of a research project compared to, for example, those who do conventional property investment. Biotech also needs backers prepared to stick around for the long-term, not those seeking quick returns.

In 2016, Huen founded Aptorum Group, a Hong Kong-based life sciences and bio-pharmaceutical company, to support local scientists wanting to commercialise their research findings.

At least US$50 million has been earmarked by Huens group in the coming five years on over 20 research programmes mostly initiated by local universities.

Top scientist Richard Kao Yi-tsun is among those whom Aptorum is funding. While he was fortunate enough to get backing, he said there were just too few investors for researchers to turn to.

Financial support from the private sector now is not sustainable enough  private investment on a certain project now might just be by chance Kao, an associate professor from the University of Hong Kongs department of microbiology said.

Kao added that without an eco-system developing, the industry will struggle to find a firm footing despite Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po promising in the latest Budget last month that he would spend an extra HK$50 billion (US$6.37 billion) supporting innovation and technology development. Chief executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor also announced last year in her maiden policy address additional tax deductions for research and development expenditure incurred by enterprises.

Story continues

The Innovation and Technology Commission said biotechnology is one of the key disciplines supported by the government. Among its funds is the Innovation and Technology Funds Enterprise Support Scheme, which gives direct funding support to private entities to carry out in-house R&D.

Despite the private sectors lack of interest, biotech research is flourishing in the universities.

According to the Research Grants Council, which approves research funding to local universities, 803 projects related to biotechnology were funded by the council from 2013/2014 to 2017/2018 to the tune of about HK$1.25 billion.

Kao said while the government was moving in the right direction, without funding from private investors, early-stage discovery made with public resources at the universities risked not getting off the ground.

Without private money, we will always stay in the early discovery stage, Kao warned. Without private money, we cannot move to the next level.

For example, in drug development, the area Kao is working on, cross-sector collaboration is important due to the high costs involved and private investors are badly needed.

[On the development of] a drug from its day zero to the end when it appears in the market for consumers or hospitals, the cost of research and development (R&D) is around US$1 billion to US$10 billion, Kao said.

The model of collaboration between universities and private sector has been well established in many developed countries, but Hong Kong still lags behind the others.

Hong Kong is still in the infancy [stage] and not mature, Kao said.

He believes the city, which has top-notch scientists, has the potential to be a world-class drug development hub, a status that would be accelerated with private sector support.

Stand-out examples should also serve as encouragement. For example, Chinese University Professor Dennis Lo Yuk-ming, renowned for his research in liquid biopsy, which uses a few drops of blood to detect cancer, managed to secure private capital in 2014 to form a start-up to accelerate his research in cancer liquid biopsies and turn them into actual clinical tests.

Venture Investors Alliance, a group consisting of active venture and angel investors, said biotech has not yet been a focus for most of them but interest is slowly picking up.

Most venture investors focus on internet and consumer sectors and very few focus on biotech and health care, the alliance said.

A health care market research analyst, who declined to be named, also said the number of private investors in Hong Kong interested in biotechnology is pretty small.

Kao believed local investors were deterred by the long-term investment required.

Hong Kong investors often look for short-term return and hope [invested] products could be launched in the market in one to two years, Kao said, adding that a drug could take seven to 10 years of development before it can be ready for the market.

Investors need to know that perhaps 90 per cent of [what they have invested] would not be successful, said Kao. Possibly only 10 per cent would succeed but its impact could be very important.

Entrepreneur Huen said Hong Kong holds advantages in conducting biotechnology research.

Hong Kongs health care system is on par with those in other countries, he said. Our close link to mainland China also provides huge human and financial capital [for research].

Hong Kong has all those ingredients [for a good research environment], we just have to do more, said Huen.

Huens interest in biotechnology came out of a personal encounter with illness. Fifteen years ago, he was kept in an isolation camp for 10 days after his father was infected with the deadly Sars virus.

I was watching television every day [at the camp] and waited for Professor Yuen Kwok-yung to tell us there would be a cure, Huen said, referring to the University of Hong Kong expert who played a key role in the discovery of the coronavirus that caused Sars.

Huens father recovered and it was the dedication of local scientists in the battle against Sars, as well as the help of doctors and nurses that moved him to think of supporting health care research.

My fathers Sars illness opened my mind towards the opportunities on Hong Kong biotech, said Huen. I dug deeper to know more and I saw the potential of our local biotech.

As for Kao, he is busy with his spin-off company, Acticule Life Sciences. With private sector help from Huen, he is working to commercialise his current research on drugs targeting the influenza virus and superbug Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). He hopes the two drugs can make it to clinical trials within two years.

Knowledge has to be used to improve our society and should not stay only within academia, Kao said.

This article Why Hong Kongs bet on biotech is doomed to fail  if private backers dont step up first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018.It was to be a showcase of advanced bridge technology, a centerpiece of urban development in Miami-Dade County. It was equipped with titanium dioxideimpregnated self-cleaning concrete that would always sparkle white in the Florida sun. It was designed to withstand a Category 5 hurricane. And it was supposed to last 100 years.

But last week, the FIU-Sweetwater UniversityCity Bridge failed catastrophically during construction, crushing rows of cars stopped at a red light on a busy thoroughfare. Six people were killed and 10 injured.

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Failures like this invoke special horror because they are so rare, which is the only solace to be had from the tragedy. As pedestrians and motorists, we take infrastructure reliability for granted in a way that we dont with our consumer goods. We expect cars and computers to crash, and conceptually, we can cope with that, even when the consequences are dire. When bridges and tunnels implode, though, it seems like things are truly out of our hands, the sky almost literally falling on our heads.

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So it is a tad disconcerting to learn that the technology and techniques used in the UniversityCity Bridge may be coming to a neighborhood near you, if they havent already. The bridge was a product of something called accelerated bridge construction, or ABC, a technique of fast-tracked prefabricated building that has strong political backing at both the state and federal levels. More than 1,000 bridges have been built with it, and Florida International University is one of the leading research centers in this kind of engineering, an irony not lost on some commentators.

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To be fair, the university did not design or build the bridge, as it hastened to point out. And neither the designer nor the builder has a spotless record. With wreckage left to be cleared, it will be a while before the National Transportation Safety Board can pinpoint the exact cause of the disaster.

What we can say is that when complex technological systems fail, usually no single factor is to blame. In her study of the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster, the sociologist Diane Vaughan noted a phenomenon she called the normalization of deviance, an acceptance of assumptions and shortcuts that over time incrementally piles on risk until, like compounding interest on debt, a kind of technological bill suddenly becomes due.

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Something like this probably happened at the UniversityCity Bridge. And when all the rubble is removed and the reports are written, it is likely well learn that the collapse had something to do with the philosophy of accelerated construction. In a part of the country notorious for slash-and-burn urban development, it turns out that ABC can be much more complicated and problematic than its rather glib acronym implies.

First, lets discuss what probably didnt cause the collapse. The FIU bridge looked like a cable-stayed bridge, a highly reliable technology that has been around since at least the 16th century. Cable-stayed bridges look something like suspension bridges, but the physics are significantly different. In suspension bridges, the load is transmitted through two sets of cables, one set attached to the deck that is in turn connected to two main cables loosely strung between towers, and passes into the ground at the ends, where the cables are anchored stoutly. As anyone who has walked or driven over one can attest, suspension bridges are relatively flexible. They move, and even sway, in heavy traffic, strong winds, or earthquakes.

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In a cable-stayed bridge, everything is a lot stiffer. There is only one set of cables and they are rigidly embedded into towers and the deck, which has to be a lot more robust than a suspension-bridge deck because the wires tend to exert strong horizontal forces. This design is favored when ground conditions arent suitable for the kind of massive anchors suspension bridges require. Such bridges require fewer materials and can be erected more quickly than their suspension counterparts.

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Cable-stayed bridges are also more flexible than suspension bridges in terms of design and can be built in many different configurations that play on the arrangement of cables and towers. Boosters love them for their aesthetic potential, and some of the most prestigious recent bridge projects are of the cable-stayed variety, including Santiago Calatravas Margaret Hill Hunt Bridge and Sir Norman Fosters Millau Viaduct. Cable-stayed showcase bridges have become increasingly popular in the U.S. and especially Florida, where they are regarded as expressions of civic upward mobility that no self-respecting aspiring metropolis wants to be without.

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In the cable-stayed bridge, the tower is the thing. It bears all of the load, which it transmits to the ground, and it is also the dramatic fulcrum of the design. Suitably enough, in boat-mad Florida, the tower in the UniversityCity design was supposed to evoke a sailboat.

But the UniversityCity design was not actually a cable-stayed bridge. It only looked like one. It was actually a kind of truss, also a well-proven technology. The proposal diagrams suggest that the two primary deck sections could be assembled prior to the erection of the tower and cables. The main section weighed 950 tons, and was exceptionally large and heavy for a bridge intended to accommodate only pedestrians. It was swung into place on support pylons in a much-publicized operation employing a huge mobile jack. And there it sat for five days until it failed. Two days before the collapse, as the New York Times reported, small cracks were observed at the slabs north end, where the tower was to have been installed and where the failure appears to have occurred. The cracks caused sufficient disquiet that engineers were discussing the structural integrity of the span, proclaiming it safe only hours before the collapse.

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Understanding why the bridge was built and assembled in this way is a lesson both in the politics of prefab and civic boosterism. All first-year civil engineering students learn that concrete is good in compression and weak in tension. Steel is good in both. But concrete can be given tension by prestressing itthat is, by running steel cables through it. This can be done at the time concrete is cast, in what is known as pre-tension.

It can also be done after casting. This is known as post-tensioning and involves tightening and locking the cables that bind a cured slab. The UniversityCity Bridge used post-tensioned parts. In an ideal world, cable tensioning is part of the prefab process. For bridges that will bear heavy traffic, engineers want to achieve a slight upward bend called a camber, which flattens out under load and gives high carrying capacity. But sometime cables are overtightened, and engineers would want to resolve adjustments before final assembly. It seems that at the UniversityCity Bridge, the slab was stress-tested not before but after it was mounted in place. In a partly assembled structure, such a procedure is risky and has been known to end in catastrophic failure. Reports suggest that the collapse occurred when workers were adjusting the cables and, presumably, the camber.

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Prefab assumes that all the complexities of construction can be front-loaded into component manufacturing, so that final assembly can take place all at once, quickly and efficiently. It has been marketed as the scientific management of building, a triumph of logistics over craft knowledge. Naturally, unions tend to hate prefab, seeing componentization as a means of destroying their ability to control the pace of construction. Managers and boosters love it for precisely those reasons.

It looks as if a giant concrete Lego set was misassembled, with fatal results.

At UniversityCity Bridge, it looks as if one of the basic precepts of prefabricated construction was undermined. If accelerated construction were premised as means of simplifying project management, prefab was surely never intended to be a complete substitute for it, as those in charge seem to have assumed. It looks as if a giant concrete Lego set was misassembled, with fatal results.

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So what were the problems for which this application of ABC was the solution? Ultimately, they issue from the rush to develop some of the worlds most valuable but ecologically fragile real estate. To the pioneering activist Marjory Stoneman Douglas, the story of the colonization of Florida was one of greed, violence, displacement, and destruction on an epic scale, immortalized in her magisterial Everglades: River of Grass, a classic of environmental history.

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Modern boosters, including FIUs ABC center, tend to reduce Floridas problems to traffic throughput. Western Miami-Dade was hacked out of the Everglades, which in the wet season boils over with freshwater that is kept at bay only with extensive public works. Foremost among these is the Tamiami Trail, the artery that the UniversityCity Bridge was to have spanned. Built in the 1920s to connect Floridas east and west coasts, the road is basically a long, low dam with a highway on top of it. It cut off the flow of freshwater from Lake Okeechobee to the southern Everglades, drying up the wetlands and creating an environmental catastrophe.

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Today, critics regard Tamiami Trail as emblematic of Floridas shortsighted approach to urban development, although the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has done remedial work to remedy the water flow problem. Yet it remains an important east-west highway in the southern part of the state, and so it is a strategic traffic resource. For visitors driving in from Naples, the Tamiami is Floridas Appian Way, and the UniversityCity Bridge was to be its triumphal arch, a gateway to greater Miami. Construction couldnt be allowed to block traffic, which is political plutonium in any auto-centric society, especially South Florida. Enter accelerated construction.

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The stakes here are far larger than the ambitions of one Sun Belt city and university. The federal government has helped fund projects like the UniversityCity Bridge through its Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery initiative, a program that has drawn criticism for privileging politics over technical merit. And federal money has played perhaps the major role in terraforming the state, not least through the National Flood Insurance Program, 35 percent of which is devoted to the Sunshine State, the largest single chunk of the program.

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So it is hard not to see the tragedy of the UniversityCity Bridge as a kind of metonym for the reckoning that Florida has long been setting itself up for. Designed to withstand the biggest storms nature could throw at it, the structure couldnt withstand a perfect storm of hasty planning, managerial incompetence, and human hubris.Dorothy Parker

8983 Norma Place

Hollywood, California

Dear Slate Readers,

Alan told me to write and tell you about this trailer. So I am doing that now, while he dresses for our turkey dinner with the boys across the road. (To refresh your memory, Alan is Alan Campbell, my husband, and the fact that hes still alive in this letter definitively dates it as having been written prior to his death on June 14, 1963, not that I would know anything about the events of June 14, 1963, which is, to me, Dorothy Parker, still in the future.) The trailer Is for Can You Ever Forgive Me, an adaptation of Lee Israels memoir about her career as a literary forger, from Diary of a Teenage Girl director Marielle Heller and screenwriters Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty. I have a hangover that is a real museum piece, and I am hopeful that the first half of this sentence sounds enough like Dorothy Parkerlike myself, I meanthat you will overlook the ahistorical presence of hyperlinks in the preceding sentence. Melissa McCarthy stars as Israel, who resorted to selling fake letters from literary giants like Dorothy Parker when her career as a celebrity biographer hit the skids.

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Theres a truism in the film industry, which I am going to credit here to Charlie, by which I mean my friend Charles Brackett, and it goes like this: If you can cast Richard E. Grant as an untrustworthy drunk, your movies in good shape. (Charlie and I call it the Withnail Principle, for reasons that are obscure now but we assume will make sense in about a quarter century.) Its also nice to see Melissa McCarthy in a dramatic role again, and its exciting to think that, after a decade of playing comic hucksters of various sorts in movies like Identity Thief and Spy, shell get to dig deeper into the motivations of a real-life dissembler.

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In cases of literary forgery, those motivations are a particularly rich vein to mine, and it looks like McCarthy is taking full advantage: witness the strange mixture of pride (I can write as well as Dorothy Parker!) and contempt (None of you can tell the difference between Dorothy Parkers writing and mine!) she flashes across her face in the trailers mini-montage of literati praising her fake letters. But the more interesting question isnt whether a Lee Israel or a William Henry Ireland succeeds because of their own literary talent or the stupidity of others; its why their marks wanted so badly for the forgeries to be real. We want to live in a world where an unpublished letter from Dorothy Parker or a never-produced play from Shakespeare could still appear, and were willing to overlook a lot of red flags to get there. And you can quote me, Dorothy Parker, on that, because I wrote it in this authentic letter, which can be yours for a very reasonable price.

Your Pal,



Dorothy ParkerThe Kushner Companies, the New York real estate developer that was once led by Donald Trumps son-in-law Jared Kushner, appears to have had a handy way to make money from real estate investments: lie. The company appears to have routinely filed false paperwork with New York City declaring that it didnt have any rent-regulated tenants in its buildings even though it did, according to the Associated Press. That made it easier for the firm to push out rent-controlled tenants with common harassment tactics in order to allow the building to be sold with higher rents.

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The AP obtained documents from the Housing Rights Initiative that showed the Kushner Companies filed at least 80 false applications for construction permits in a three-year period ending in 2016, when Kushner was head of the firm. Even though none of the documents actually have Kushners signature, they provide a window into the ethics of the business empire he ran before he went on to become one of the most trusted advisers to the president of the United States, notes the AP.

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Its bare-faced greed, said Aaron Carr, who founded the tenants rights watchdog Housing Rights Initiative. The fact that the company was falsifying all these applications with the government shows a sordid attempt to avert accountability and get a rapid return on its investment.

The Kushner Companies vehemently deny any wrongdoing, blaming a third party to which it outsourced the preparation of these types of documents. Kushner would never deny any tenant their due-process rights, the company said, noting that it has renovated thousands of apartments and developments with minimal complaints over the past 30 years.

This type of false documentation is quite common in the business, according to experts who say many people do it with little to no consequence.

Those who submit false paperwork usually get a demand from the city to correct the number, which seems to be precisely what Kushner Companies did.Its early March, two weeks before Russias polling day, but the presidential election season is already in full swing in Chubulga, a reindeer-herding settlement in north-eastern Yakutia. Its an hours flight to the nearest village, which is itself a further two hours from the nearest asphalt road and 5,000km east of Moscow.

With a population of just three, this district is unlikely to turn the electoral tide. But with election officials desperate to raise turnout and show support for current president Vladimir Putin, no expense has been spared.Attorney General Jeff Sessions may be in hot water again for his unique ability to fail to remember the truth while under oath. Reuters is reporting that three people are contradicting Sessions testimony that he pushed back against a proposal by campaign adviser George Papadopoulos for members of Donald Trumps team to meet with Russians.

Yes, I pushed back, Sessions told the House Judiciary Committee on Nov. 14. But three people who attended the March 2016 meeting where Sessions claimed to have pushed back say that Sessions never objected to Papadopoulos idea. And they have shared their recollections of events with Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Another person who attended the meeting, however, has publicly said that Sessions strongly objected to the proposal and he is standing by his previous words.

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If the accounts are confirmed it would mark the second time Sessions failed to be fully honest while under oath about Russia contacts during Trumps presidential campaign. At a confirmation hearing he told senators he didnt have contacts with any Russian officials during the campaign. But then reports came out that Sessions spoke with the Russian ambassador to the United States twice. Shortly after that was reported, Sessions recused himself from the Justice Departments investigation into potential ties between Russia and the Trump campaign.

Despite the discrepancies though it seems unlikely Sessions could be held liable for the contradictions. Experts say that Sessions words are vague enough that a perjury case would be difficult if not impossible. After all, there could be different interpretations of what pushing back really means. But others say the pattern could be key. Proving there was intent to lie is a heavy burden for the prosecution. But now you have multiple places where Sessions has arguably made false statements, said Bennett Gershman, a Pace University law professor.The truth is finally out about Cambridge Analytic. In a series of eye-popping articles for the Guardian, Carole Cadwalladr and her colleagues have detailed the full story of how research linking Facebook demographic data to personality traits apparently ended up in the hands of Steve Bannon, Robert Mercer, and the Donald Trump campaign.

Ive been staggered by the sheer detail of these articles, but totally unsurprised by their content: Ive been arguing for years that the integration of digital media devices and psychological techniques is one of the most underappreciated developments in the history of computing. For more than 50 years, this has been the domain of computer scientists who have approached the brain as a human processor, just another a machine to be tinkered with. The work has taken place almost entirely in the domain of computer science, with little input from clinical psychologists, ethicists, or other academic fields interested in the messy details of human social life. Understanding that shortsighted perspective, and how it gave rise to companies like Cambridge Analytica, can help us curtail the weaponziation of social media today.

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Psychological models shaped the development of computers from the very beginning. Kurt Lewin, one of the founders of social psychology, was a participant in the 1946 Macy Conference, a now-legendary gathering of computer scientists and scholars interested in human behavior that helped birth both cybernetics and systems theory. This combination of psychology, systems analysis, and computer science became a hallmark of other Cold-War era research institutes like the RAND Corp. and the Stanford Research Institute. Much of this research was tied to the defense establishment and their large institutional mainframes. The idea of an individual user interacting at their own discretion with newly personal computers attracted only a few visionary designers like Douglas Engelbart, the inventor of the computer mouse.

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Psychologys insights into the complexities of the human mind both troubled and fascinated computer scientists in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1966 AI pioneer Joseph Weizenbaum modeled ELIZA, one of the first chat bots, after famed talk therapist Carl Rogers. Weizenbaum set out to demonstrate how superficial communications between humans and machines were at the time, and was surprised when scores of people ascribed the program with intelligence. Also in the 1960s, computer scientist Hilary Putnam developed the idea of the computational theory of mind, which understood the brain as a computing machine and helped shape the field of cognitive psychology around thinking of brains as information processors.

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It was this developmentmetaphorically understanding brains as computersthat really began to knit psychology and computer science together in the field of human-computer interaction. A critical moment came with the 1983 publication of The Psychology of Human Computer Interaction by three scientists working for the Xerox Corp.s Palo Alto Research CenterStuart K. Card, Thomas P. Moran, and Allen Newell. Together, they made up the Applied Information-Processing Psychology Project at PARC, which had an outsized impact on a wide range of developments in personal computing between the 1970s and 1990s. The three brought a wealth of experience: Card was a psychologist by training, Moran a human factors engineer, and Newell a mathematician, game theorist, and artificial intelligence researcher. Card had been developing ways to apply cognitive psychology to human-computer interaction since his arrival at PARC; in the spring of 1980, he and Moran ran a graduate seminar at Stanfords Computer Science department on the subject, open to both engineers and psychologists.

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The kind of communication with machines envisioned by the PARC authors was based on understanding the human being as a functional analogue to the computer. The goal of the authors was to integrate all the units of the human processor to do useful tasks. These tasks could be processed through the collection of human data: about physiological response rates, movement dynamics, and other processes amenable to the digital languages of computing. The authors illustrated their idea of the model human processor with a bald, smiling homunculus staring happily at a computer screen.

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Card and his co-authors had great ambitions for human-computer interaction as a new way to shape our behavior. They called it an applied psychology grounded in understanding a human and computer as one single unit through numerical tracking, task analysis, and calculability. In traditional experimental psychology, the authors complained, measurements come to have little value in themselves as a continually growing body of useful quantitative knowledge. Human-computer interaction, in contrast, would collect data about the human body indiscriminately, and put all sorts of measurement about the human information processor to use.

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Card, Moran, and Newell were interested in collecting whatever data they could about human computer usersand they thought that computer scientists, not psychologists, should be the ones applying psychological techniques with digital systems. Systems designers were engaged in a sort of psychological civil engineering, they wrote, using human abilities as one factor among many to create an efficiently operating system.

The Psychology of Human Computer Interaction was highly influential. Crucially, it pushed studies of how humans interact with computers firmly into computer science for almost 20 years, detaching psychological techniques from their human context and prompting psychologists themselves to play catch-up. Branches of psychology already dealing with evaluations by number, like psychometricians, found human-computer interaction research especially amenable to their experiments. For instance, British data scientist and psychologist Michal Kosinski claimed in a 2013 paper that publicly available Facebook likes could be used to determine a users race, sex, sexuality, and even personality traits. Last year, Kosinski published a paper suggesting that his AI system could determine the sexual orientation of faces more accurately than a human being.

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Happily, human-computer interaction has changed over the past decade to include a more diverse set of methods and disciplines, including insights from designers, historians, anthropologists, and sociologists. Unfortunately, social media platforms were already up and running under the auspices of computer science as psychological civil engineering, via digital means without much input from the social sciences. The humble online quiz, a way for individuals to while away time ever since Spark.coms famous Purity Test from the 1990s became a vector to collect personality data. Kosinskis 2013 researcher relied on a personality test circulated via Facebooka copy of which was used by Cambridge Analytica. And with Facebook and Twitter performing nearly constant behavioral experiments to test ways their users could be nudged into spending more time on their sites, the amounts of behavioral and psychological data collected by our digital devices is only getting bigger. A smart phone, Kosinski told the media after the 2016 election, is a vast psychological questionnaire that we are constantly filling out, both consciously and unconsciously.

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As the Cambridge Analytica story shows, theres a fine line between psychological civil engineering and psychological civil war. The behavioral, demographic, and personal information Facebook and other social media platforms now collect through what I call algorithmic psychometrics has the sensitivity of medical data, and should be treated as such by regulators around the world. In the United States, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act protects medical and other health informationbut only if that information is collected and used by organizations like health care providers and insurance plans. Instead, regulators need to rethink health privacy laws by focusing on both how demographic, behavioral, and psychological data is collected and used across all sectors of the digital economy. The long history of psychologys role in computing means the Cambridge Analytica bombshell makes unfortunate senseand makes immediate regulation of these forms of data an urgent necessity.

Read more from Slate on Cambridge Analytica.In a 2013 paper, psychologist Michal Kosinski and collaborators from University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom warned that the predictability of individual attributes from digital records of behavior may have considerable negative implications, posing a threat to well-being, freedom, or even life. This warning followed their striking findings about how accurately the personal attributes of a person (from political leanings to intelligence to sexual orientation) could be inferred from nothing but their Facebook likes. Kosinski and his colleagues had access to this information through the voluntary participation of the Facebook users by offering them the results of a personality quiz, a method that can drive viral engagement. Of course, one persons warning may be anothers inspiration.

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Kosinskis original research really was an important scientific finding. The paper has been cited more than 1,000 times and the dataset has spawned many other studies. But the potential uses for it go far beyond academic research. In the past few days, the Guardian and the New York Times have published a number of new stories about Cambridge Analytica, the data mining and analytics firm best known for aiding President Trumps campaign and the pro-Brexit campaign. This trove of reporting shows how Cambridge Analytica allegedly relied on the psychologist Aleksandr Kogan (who also goes by Aleksandr Spectre), a colleague of the original researchers at Cambridge, to gain access to profiles of around 50 million Facebook users.

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This case raises numerous complicated ethical and political issues, but as data ethicists, one issue stands out to us: Both Facebook and its users are exposed to the downstream consequences of unethical research practices precisely because like other major platforms, the social network does not proactively facilitate ethical research practices in exchange for access to data that users have consented to share. (Disclosure: One of us, Jacob Metcalf, has worked in a consulting capacity for Facebook on topics not directly related to this story.)

Cambridge Analytica has been profiled relentlessly in the media and subject to congressional and Parliamentary probes, creating a swirl of sometimes conflicting views about what it did for these political campaigns and whether its models are even effective. But the participation of Christopher Wylie, a young data scientist at Cambridge Analytica, as a whistleblower, has blown the story wide open. And it has illuminated a number of critical issues in digital research ethics.

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According to the Guardians and New York Times reporting, the data that was used to build these models came from a rough duplicate of that personality quiz method used legitimately for scientific research. Kogan, a lecturer in another department, reportedly approached Kosinski and their Cambridge colleagues in the Psychometric Centre to discuss commercializing the research. To his credit, Kosinski declined. However, Kogan built an app named thisismydigitallife for his own startup, Global Science Research, which collected the same sorts of data. GSR paid Mechanical Turk workers (contrary to the terms of Mechanical Turk) to take a psychological quiz and provide access to their Facebook profiles. In 2014, under the contract with the parent company of Cambridge Analytica, SCL, that data was harvested and used to build a model of 50 million U.S. Facebook users that included allegedly 5,000 data points on each user.

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How was a small app-based quiz used to harvest comprehensive data about that many people? At that point in history, Facebooks API (the portal that allows third parties to make use of Facebook software and data) by default allowed third parties to access not only your own profile with permission, but also the full profiles of all of your friends.

Thus, a quiz app with 270,000 users could easily provide access to 50,000,000 full profiles. That represents only 185 friends per user, which is below average. According to the Times, 30 million of those profiles had enough information in them to correlate with other real-world datapoints held by data brokers and commonly used by political campaigns. This enabled Cambridge Analytica to connect these psychometric Facebook profiles to actual voters and offer their clients the ability to tailor advertisements to detailed psychometric profiles.

Facebook no longer allows such expansive access to friends profiles via the API and requires clearer explanations about what data APIs request access to.

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So if the Facebook API allowed Kogan access to this data, what did he do wrong? This is where things get murky, but bear with us. It appears that Kogan deceitfully used his dual roles as a researcher and an entrepreneur to move data between an academic context and a commercial context, although the exact method of it is unclear. The Guardian claims that Kogan had a licence from Facebook to collect profile data, but it was for research purposes only and [Kogans] permission from Facebook to harvest profiles in large quantities was specifically restricted to academic use. Transferring the data this way would already be a violation of the terms of Facebooks API policies that barred use of the data outside of Facebook for commercial uses, but we are unfamiliar with Facebook offering a license or special permission for researchers to collect greater amounts of data via the API.

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The Times tells a slightly different story. Their reporters state that Cambridge Analytica funded and managed Kogans work and allowed him to keep a copy for his own research, according to company emails and financial records, and that he divulged to Facebook and users only that he was collecting information for academic purposes. Digital advertising expert Jay Pinho speculates that Kogan registered the app in the several-months window in 2014 between Facebook announcing stricter API terms and the beginning of those terms for new apps.

Regardless, it does appear that the amount of data thisismydigitallife was vacuuming up triggered a security review at Facebook and an automatic shutdown of its API access. Relying on Wylies narrative, the Guardian claims that Kogan spoke to an engineer and resumed access:

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Facebook could see it was happening, says Wylie. Their security protocols were triggered because Kogans apps were pulling this enormous amount of data, but apparently Kogan told them it was for academic use. So they were like, Fine.

Kogan claims that he had a close working relationship with Facebook and that it was familiar with his research agendas and tools.

Almost four years later, after the models generated by this data have arguably influenced a U.S. presidential election, Facebook has now declared Kogan, Wylie, Global Science Research, and Cambridge Analytica personae non gratae on its platform, and its chief counsel Paul Grewal has declared this was a scam and fraud. Cambridge Analytica has pushed back by throwing the seemingly reputable academic Kogan under the bus for supposedly deceiving it about the illicitness of his data gathering operation, although earlier reporting indicated that it understood it was doing something fishy.

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From the perspective of research ethicists, the system most clearly failed when Kogan was able to use the credential of researcher to persuade someone at Facebook to restore access to the API despite major red flags. Ultimately, it doesnt matter how the deceit occurred if the research community has no uniform, clear route to accessing data from the big platforms. We simply dont know how Facebook would assess the question of whether Kogan was conducting legitimate research, let alone whether it did.

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We also dont know whether Facebook allows some researchers greater access via the API, although we do know that it allows some researchers special access to backend datasets when doing so is mutually beneficial. Facebook also has an internal ethics review process for its own research and product design, which is unique in the industry and should be emulated more widely. However, there is typically no mutual visibility between academic researchers and platforms that would demonstrate trustworthiness, such as public registration of research projects, evidence of funding sources, or a record of consent and/or terms and conditions. If such a system were established, academic societies, publishers, and university ethics review boards would immediately be able to require that all research pass through it.

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Without that transparency, we cannot help protect users of the platforms from abuse like that perpetrated by Cambridge Analytica. A great deal of research confirms that most people dont pay attention to permissions and privacy policies for the apps they download and the services they useand the notices are often too vague or convoluted to clearly understand anyway. How many Facebook users give third parties access to their profile so that they can get a visualization of the words they use most, or to find out which Star Wars character they are? It isnt surprising that Kosinskis original recruitment methoda personality quiz that provided you with a psychological profile of yourself based on a common five-factor modelresulted in more than 50,000 volunteers providing access to their Facebook data. Indeed, Kosinski later co-authored a paper detailing how to use viral marketing techniques to recruit study participants, and he has written about the ethical dynamics of utilizing friend data.

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We dont wish to reduce the amount of access researchers have to platforms. Quite the opposite. Increased access is necessary to build the infrastructures and norms of ethical research in this new frontier of science. Genuinely academic research shouldnt need to rely on manipulative viral quizzes to study these technologies at the heart of society. We should have a portal that allows registered researchers to query anonymized data from users who have consented to have their data offered to us, without ever needing the data to leave Facebooks own servers. This would open up doors for more research while also giving users more control over who has access to their data. Hopefully the lesson that the major platforms take from this scandal is that lack of open dialog about ethical research practices is precisely why they are exposed to the consequences of unethical research practices by third parties.

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This explosive story comes at a moment when platforms have been starting to commit to opening up to more research. Just last week, Facebook, Twitter, and Google signed on to an EU Commission report on coordinated disinformation campaigns that called for greater research access. Recent op-eds have argued that the platforms are stymying essential research into the dynamics of propaganda by keeping researchers behind restrictive nondisclosure agreements and forcing others to use kludgy workarounds like user surveys or hand coding.

Ultimately, researchers and platforms need each other. Platforms have a vast, unprecedented trove of data about human behavior, but they cannot understand it and build the best possible products without external researchers critical insights. The worst possible result of this scandal is a reduction of access. The best possible result is the development of equitable, open, and transparent access to research data with user consent.

Read more from Slate on Cambridge Analytica.On Friday night, as Americans began settling into the weekend, Facebook dropped a pretty substantial piece of news: The company said in a detailed blog post that it had suspended from its platform the political-data firm Cambridge Analytica, which worked with the Trump campaign during the 2016 election, after learning the company hadnt deleted Facebook user data it had obtained in violation of the social networks policies.

Facebook said that a Russian-American psychology professor at the University of Cambridge named Dr. Aleksandr Kogan had obtained user data through a personality app he built in 2014 called thisisyourdigitallife, which scraped data from the profiles of people who took the quiz as well as that of their friendssomething that was allowed under Facebooks policy for third-party apps at the time. Although only about 270,000 people took the survey, the New York Times reports that Kogan was able to obtain data on 50 million users, likely through connections between friends on the network. While the project promised users the data collection was only for research purposes, it nevertheless funneled the data to Cambridge Analytica, which had funded the development of the app to the tune of $800,000. Kogan had also received funding from the Russian government for his research into the psychology of Facebook users, the Guardian reported.

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We dont yet know how effective Cambridge Analyticas targeting, based on psychological profiles its CEO has described as its secret sauce, truly was, but after working with Ted Cruzs presidential campaign in the Republican primary, Cambridge Analytica was tapped by the Trump campaign. The company also did data analytics work on the successful Leave.EU campaign that resulted in a vote for Britain to exit the European Union. What we do seem to have, following these revelations about the source of some of the companys data, is yet another in a long string of instances and coincidenceslike the meetings between Trump campaign staff and Russian operativesthat look a lot like a willingness to cheat to win the White House, possibly in violation of the law. And in this case, cheating with data that was taken through Facebooks front door.

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Cambridge Analytica isnt your typical data analytics firm. Its primary backer is Robert Mercer, the secretive billionaire and former CEO of the New York investment firm Renaissance Technologies whose family is also one of the main funders of Breitbart News and was the largest donor to Trump-backing Super PACs during the 2016 election. Steve Bannon, President Trumps former chief strategist, was the vice president of Cambridge Analyticas board at the same time he was chairman of Breitbart News.

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The data firm started partnering with U.S. political campaigns around 2015 with the promise that it had the ability to do what it called psychographic targeting, which allowed Cambridge Analytica to create psychological profiles to effectively engage and persuade voters using specially tailored language and visual ad combinations that appeal to each person on an emotional level, according to Cambridge Analyticas website. The company claims its able to build these profiles by leveraging up to 5,000 data points on over 230 million American voters. That last number is a lot bigger than the 50 million people reported in the New York Times, and its unclear where that remaining data came from.

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Cambridge Analytica began contracting for Trumps campaign in June 2016, roughly six months after the Guardian reported that the company, when working for Cruz, was targeting voters using data harvested from tens of millions of Facebook users without their knowledge. Facebook confirmed in August 2016 that data from Kogans app collected and misused data from the company and that Facebook was taking efforts to delete it. Still, Facebook didnt alert users that their data had potentially ended up in the hands of Republican operatives.

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The personality quiz created by Kogan appeared in 2014 on a platform for freelancers run by Amazon called Mechanical Turk.* The quiz, posted by Kogans company Global Science Research, offered to pay participants $1 or $2 to complete it and also required participants to download an app and consent to sharing data about themselves and their social network. At the time the quiz and app were running, Facebook permitted app developers to access data about a persons network, like the names of their friends, as well as their likes and other personal details about themselves and their network, according to Facebooks head of security, Alex Stamos, in a series of now-deleted tweets. The company says it has now updated its policies to let users decide what information Facebook can share about them.

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Facebook says, however, that when Kogan passed the data he collected to Cambridge Analytica, he violated the companys rather permissive data collection rules and in 2015 demanded that Kogan and everyone he handed the data to destroy it and certify that they did so. Facebook says it received certifications that the data was deleted from both Kogan and Cambridge Analytica, as well as from Christopher Wylie, who helped to found Cambridge Analytica. (Wylie and other former employees of the company gave interviews to the New York Times and the Guardian about Cambridge Analytica.) But apparently not all the data was deleted, and the New York Times reports that it was able to view a portion of the Facebook user data that still exists. The contract that Kogan initially had with Cambridge Analytica also allowed him to keep a copy of the data he scrapped for his research.

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Kogan claimed in an email to Cambridge Analytica in 2014 that the data he was collecting would be able to predict a persons neuroticism, political views, agreeableness, and interests in things like militarism, horoscopes, and the environment. These data points could be what Cambridge Analytica is referring to when it claims that its capable of psychologically targeting American voters.

Without Facebook, we wouldnt have won, said Theresa Hong, a member of the digital arm of Trumps presidential campaign, in an interview with the BBC last year when giving a tour of Trumps digital campaign headquarters, dubbed Project Alamo, in San Antonio, Texas. Alamo was the name of the dataset used by Cambridge Analytica, according to Hong, who said Cambridge Analytica shared offices with the Trump campaigns digital efforts and confirmed Facebook and Google sent liaisons to their offices to help Trumps campaign. Hong showed the BBC how Cambridge Analytica could identify if, say, it was targeting a working mother concerned about childcare: She probably wouldnt be interested in a war ridden destructive ad popping up in her Facebook app, but might respond to something more warm and fuzzy, lacking Trumps voice, Hong said. It wasnt uncommon to have about 35 to 45 thousand iterations of these types of ads everyday.

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Cambridge Analytica also bragged publicly about its use of data and voter modeling during the election, which sparked the interest of David Carroll, a professor at Parsons School of Design who studies media, data targeting, and campaigns. In January 2017, he requested under the U.K.s data protection law to see if any of his personal data had been shipped to Cambridge Analyticas parent company, Strategic Communication Laboratories, based in London. Last year, Carroll learned that Cambridge Analytica had given him scores on a scale of 1 to 10 on certain hot-button political categories, like a gun rights importance rank. Based on these scores, he was ultimately listed as unlikely to vote Republican. On Friday, the same day Facebook moved to suspend Cambridge Analyicas account, Carrol filed a legal claim in the U.K. to learn what the company did with his data and if it was handed to anyone else.

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Cambridge Analytica was roped into Special Counsel Robert Muellers investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election this past December when it requested to see employee emails, the Wall Street Journal reported at the time. The firm also may be in hot water with the Federal Election Commission, which has rules about how non-U.S. persons are allowed to work on political campaigns. Alexander Nix, the CEO of Cambridge Analytica, is British and many of the companys employees were either European or Canadian.

On Saturday, Cambridge Analytica responded to Facebooks allegations and the reports in the New York Times and Guardian, writing that Wylie was a contractor and not a founder of the company and claiming that all of the Facebook data provided by Kogan was erased as soon as the company learned it was obtained illegitimately.

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This isnt a spy movie. Were a data analytics company doing research & analysis on commercial, public and data sets for clients 7/8  Cambridge Analytica (@CamAnalytica) March 17, 2018

In his now-deleted Twitter thread, Facebooks Stamos said that Kogans handing of Facebook user data to Cambridge Analytica wasnt technically a breach, since he didnt break into any systems, bypass technical controls, or use a flaw in our system to gather more data than allowed. All of which means Kogan took a startling amount of user data that he was permitted to takeeven if he wasnt supposed to hand it over to a voter-targeting operation after taking it. Other app developers may have harvested data from users in the way Krogan and Cambridge Analytica did under Facebooks old rules, too, and theres no telling where that data might have ended up. Since 2015, Facebook has changed its policies, limiting the amount of user data third-party apps can siphon from the networkalthough it still allows sophisticated political targeting through its advertising platform, the kind which the Trump campaign was able to use, likely abetted by the Cambridge Analytica data set. None of this is surprising, of course, but it should be galling. Facebooks primary job is making money, after alland even careful policies cant always control for the scrupulousness of how its customers use its primary product: our data.

Correction, March 19, 2018: This article originally misspelled the name of the platform Mechanical Turk.

Read more from Slate on Cambridge Analytica.If you think the edge your small business requires can be found by hiring a millennial, think again.

You may find more experience will right the ship. You can find this with Baby Boomers. And Indeed.com says Baby Boomers are actively looking to work for a small business all across the country.

Indeed scoured its site of job listings and user profiles to find the top cities in the U.S. where Baby Boomers are most often looking to work for a small business.

Whether it be by personal choice or the rising cost of living in the US, baby boomers are working longer and putting off retirement for a number of reasons. Because this group of workers is still searching for jobs and looking to stay employed, baby boomers are still very much an important part of our workforce, says Paul Wolfe, Indeed Senior Vice President and head of HR for the job site.

The top city right now where Boomers are looking to work for a small business is Las Vegas. Memphis, Tennessee and Riverside, California, round out the top three cities on the list.

This is the first time Vegas has made the Indeed list. Wolfe says other cities are new to the top 10 list too, including Miami, Washington DC, and Milwaukee.

Our data indicates that baby boomers are looking for roles with small businesses all over the country. We find it interesting to see Las Vegas rise to the top of this list of cities where this age group is looking for work in small businesses, Wolfe says.

Small Businesses: Best Cities for Hiring Baby Boomers

In order, the top 10 cities where Baby Boomers are most looking to work for small businesses are:

Las Vegas Memphis, TN Riverside, CA Milwaukee, WI Jacksonville, FL Washington DC San Antonio, TX Virginia Beach, VA Austin, TX Miami, FLSalesfloor has launched a new version of its app for small and medium-sized retailers to connect store associates and customers. The app brings them together using email, social media, messaging apps, text messaging and online Storefronts.

Salesfloor App for Small Retail Businesses

This type of direct access has, according to the company, resulted in increasing retailers online sales conversion rates by up to 10 times, increasing average order value size by 50 percent, and lowering return rates by 40 percent.

The Salesfloor app was only available for large national retailers until the company decided to try the solution with small businesses in late 2017. High demand led Salesfloor to launch an app specifically designed for small businesses in 2018. Being able to engage with customers in one app once they leave the store allows businesses to make personalized offers and respond to requests instantly.

Oscar Sachs, CEO and co-founder of Salesfloor, said in the press release, Now companies of all sizes can empower their associates to serve customers online and in-store. This announcement is an important milestone for Salesfloor and for the future of small and medium-sized retailers in North America.

Seamless Integration With Your Store

When a customer walks into your store, the Salesfloor apps let your associates and customers collaborate to get the right product, whether it is in the store or on your eCommerce platform.

?

Associates can further personalize this interaction by creating a customized version of your eCommerce site with items their clients might be interested in. The associate can continue to engage the customer with advice, live shopping services, new offers and more.

The customer can get in touch with your associates using the live service across any channel; including email, text messaging, social media and the latest messaging apps.

Creating Opportunities

Independent retailers are no longer just competing with businesses down the street or across town. Every business with an eCommerce site is potentially your competition, not to mention the giant online retailers.

By communicating directly with your customers and making connections, your business can differentiate itself through personalize services. Your associates can market directly to shoppers when there are new arrivals, sales or restocked merchandise.

Empowering your associates with the Salesfloor app improves the customer experience, increases loyalty and creates a long-term relationship.Slovak physicists make the most significant contribution to the topic of light pollution, scientists said

The city of Tuscon in Arizona is interested in Slovak solution.

A team of scientists from Comenius University, with the cooperation of the Institute of Construction and Architecture of Slovak Academy of Sciences, achieved significant results in determining factors that influence the amount of light pollution in the environment.

Physicists created a computer programme called SkyGlow that is able to quantify the impact of light pollution, potentially able to influence changes in street lighting other sources of light pollution.

Light pollution outside of towns caused by light leaking from towns is not only an economic problem but also a problem for astronomers who cannot observe the skies, said Frantisek Kundracik from the Faculty of Maths, Physics and IT, as quoted by the SITA newswire. Brightening of the environment disturbs the life rhythm, behaviour and population count of many night animals, he continued.

Blue light is of special concern because it decreases melatonin production in humans, increasing the risk of developing illnesses and negatively impacting sleep.

Read also:

Read also: Turn off the light every time you can, experts advise Read more

The work of the physicist team was published in the prestigious Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer. The community of scientists dealing with the issues of light pollution appraised it as the most significant contribution to the whole topic and the publisher made it accessible to the whole scientific community.

Programme SkyGlow is now the fastest and most accurate simulator of light pollution in various atmospheric conditions, described researcher Kundracik for SITA.

The American city of Tucson in Arizona has asked us to do a study of light smog because they are planning to renovate their street lighting, said Miroslav Kocifaj, head of the team, in an interview for Daily Pravda, explaining that such calculations may save money.

The team of researchers also work on practical measurements of light pollution and bright characteristics of towns. They developed a prototype of a unique whole-sky scanner that is easy to move and is rechargeable from a car battery. It is highly sensitive even when measuring low levels of light pollution and combines a daily spectrometer for determining the amount and type of aerosol in the atmosphere.

18. Mar 2018 at 7:10 | Compiled by Spectator staffBlog: Slovakia needs its Macron

"For a Decent Slovakia", where next ? Reflections from a Brit living in Slovakia.

I've attended the last two Friday gatherings here in Lucenec and whilst emotions are understandably running high there seems to be a little uncertainty over the scale of the change necessary right now. These are my reflections.

The chance for a new optimistic future is here for the taking. People are angry and, from what l can see, rightly so. I think the appetite for change has always been there but history has bred a pessimistic outlook and a reluctance to voice this publicly.

Surely Slovakia is now beyond this.

Read also:

Read also: Enough of Smer, people chanted in streets Read more

Belief that change can happen needs people to trust in those that will be in a position to lead and deliver that change. But as Einstein said 'no problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it'. If external views help to focus on the scale of change just look at two very recent EU reports.

The EU country report for Slovakia (published 7 March 2018) states:

Corruption remains one of the main barriers to doing business in Slovakia. According to the World Economic Forum (2017), corruption is the most problematic factor for doing business. Out of 137 countries surveyed, Slovakia ranks 117th with a score of 2.5/7 on the diversion of public funds, 130th on favouritism in decision-making (1.9/7) and 79th on irregular payments and bribes (3.7 /7), placing it among the worst performers in the EU.

The second is the report by the European Parliament delegation following last weeks visit. We expect the EU to stand for raising and maintaining standards for all its members. They have a golden opportunity to take a positive role in Slovakia. To be specific they could lead by acting firmly and decisively over the misuse of EU funds. Their report should make the blood boil. Taking just a short section from their Key Findings, it would surely be hard for the current government to produce credible responses. Judge for yourself though, this is what they said:

Read also:

Read also: EP delegation: Slovak authorities have trust issues Read more

....the delegation was confronted with the following affirmations made by the representatives of the civil society:

allegations for corruption are not being followed-up and do not lead to sentences;

whoever is in power will steel [sic], notably the EU money because in Slovakia there are no other assets;

organized structures are working on the EU funds in Slovakia, they are connecting to people who select the programmes and some people get the money without having anything to do with the land; serious criticism in this regard has been expressed in a report by the supreme audit office on the functioning of the agricultural paying agency;

EU funds have always been seen as a gift and as a package of money which goes to oligarchs;

some groups are organized to live on EU funds, they know how to get the money before even the calls for tender are being made;

EU funds are a major opportunity for corruption which is seen as risk free since in the worst case the money has to be paid back, but no other sanction is to be feared;

the EU money is seen as a means to reward people close to the ruling party;

EU funds for the media have entailed considerable competitive advantages for the owners of certain media.

Now must surely be the time for the younger generation. For instance, look at France. Emmanuel Macron was 39 when he became President last year and a year before that the party he leads didn't even exist.

So, where's the Macron of Slovakia?

Alan Gillman is an Englishman currently living in Lucenec. He shares his views and experiences of living in Slovakia here occasionally as well as on his Facebook page.

18. Mar 2018 at 11:42 | Alan GillmanAnadarko Petroleum Corporation engages in the exploration, development, production, and marketing of oil and gas properties. It operates through three segments: Exploration and Production, WES Midstream, and Other Midstream. The company explores for and produces oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids (NGLs). It is also involved in gathering, processing, treating, and transporting oil, natural-gas, and NGLs production, as well as the gathering and disposal of produced water. The company's oil and natural gas properties are located in the United States onshore and deepwater Gulf of Mexico; and Algeria, Ghana, Mozambique, Colombia, Peru, and other countries. As of December 31, 2018, it had approximately 1.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent of proved reserves. The company was founded in 1959 and is headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas.

Read MoreFor picture posts from 2010 and earlier, see the Earlier Picture Posts PageThe following companies are subsidiares of Exxon Mobil: AKG Marketing Company Limited, Aera Energy LLC, Al-Jubail Petrochemical Company, Ampolex (Cepu) Pte Ltd, Ancon Insurance Company Inc., Barnett Gathering LLC, Barzan Gas Company Limited, Caspian Pipeline Consortium, Celtic Exploration Ltd., Coral FLNG S.A., Cross Timbers Energy LLC, Ellora Energy Inc., Esmeroon Oil Transporta Imperial Oil Limited, Esso (Thailand) Public Company Limited, Esso Australia Resources Pty Ltd, Esso Deutschland GmbH, Esso Erdgas Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Esso Exploration Angola (Block 15) Limited, Esso Exploration Angola (Block 17) Limited, Esso Exploration and Production Angola (Overseas) Limited, Esso Exploration and Production Chad Inc., Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited, Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria (Deepwater) Limited, Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria (Offshore East) Limited, Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited, Esso Exploration and Production UK Limited, Esso Global Investments Ltd., Esso Italiana S.r.l., Esso Nederland B.V., Esso Norge AS, Esso Petroleum Company Limited, Esso Raffinage, Esso Societe Anonyme Francaise, Exxo Holdings Inc., Exxon Azerbaijan Limited, Exxon Chemical Arabia Inc., Exxon International Finance Company, Exxon Luxembourg Holdings LLC, Exxon Mobile Bay Limited Partnership, Exxon Neftegas Limited, Exxon Overseas Corporation, Exxon Overseas Investment Corporation, ExxonMobil (China) Investment Co. 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Ltd., InterOil Corporation, Jurong Aromatics Corporation Pte Ltd, MPM Lubricants, Marine Well Containment Company LLC, Mobil Australia Resources Company Pty Limited, Mobil California Exploration & Producing Asset Company, Mobil Caspian Pipeline Company, Mobil Chemical Products International Inc., Mobil Corporation, Mobil Equatorial Guinea Inc., Mobil Erdgas Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Mobil Exploration & Producing Australia Pty Ltd, Mobil International Petroleum Corporation, Mobil Oil Australia Pty Ltd, Mobil Oil Exploration & Producing Southeast Inc., Mobil Oil New Zealand Limited, Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited, Mobil Producing Texas & New Mexico Inc., Mobil SerLimited, Mobil Venezolana De Petroleos Inc., Mobil Yanbu Petrochemical Company Inc., Mobil Yanbu Refining Company Inc., Mountain Gathering LLC, Mozambique Rovuma Venture S.p.A., Palmetto Transoceanic LLC, Papua New Guinea Liquefied Natural Gas Global Company LDC, Permian Express Partners LLC, Phillips Exploration LLC, Qatar Liquefied Gas Company Limited, Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Company Limited, Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Company Limited (II), SPI Limited, Saudi Aramco Mobil Refinery Company Ltd., Saudi Yanbu Petrochemical Co., SeaRiver Maritime Inc., South Hook LNG Terminal Company Limited, Tengizchevroil LLP, Terminale GNL Adriatico S.r.l, Trend Gathering & Treating LLC, Wolverine Pipe Line Company, XH LLC, XTO Delaware Basin LLC, XTO Energy Canada, XTO Energy Inc., and XTO Holdings LLC.JPMorgan Chase & Co. is a financial holding company. It provides financial and investment banking services. The firm offers a range of investment banking products and services in all capital markets, including advising on corporate strategy and structure, capital raising in equity and debt markets, risk management, market making in cash securities and derivative instruments, and brokerage and research. It operates through the following segments: Consumer and Community Banking, Corporate and Investment Bank, Commercial Banking, and Asset and Wealth Management. The Consumer and Community Banking segment serves consumers and businesses through personal service at bank branches and through automated teller machine, online, mobile, and telephone banking. The Corporate and Investment Bank segment offers a suite of investment banking, market-making, prime brokerage, and treasury and securities products and services to a global client base of corporations, investors, financial institutions, government and municipal entities. The Commercial Banking segment delivers services to U.S. and its multinational clients, including corporations, municipalities, financial institutions, and non profit

Read MoreLiving in the roaring forties on a long thin island means New Zealanders should be used to the weather changing very quickly as weather systems come and go.

This was the case earlier this week, with Cyclone Hola skirting the northeast of the North Island on Monday followed by a strong cold front spreading north late Thursday and during Friday, says MetService meteorologist April Clark.

However, this weekend and into the start of next week, the weather pattern over New Zealand looks less changeable.

Cyclone Hola passed to the east of East Cape with a central pressure of 984hPa during Monday. The compact nature of the system brought severe weather to a confined portion of the country with Northland, Coromandel Peninsula and Gisborne bearing the brunt. Southeasterly gusts of 122km/h were recorded at MetServices Kaeo Weather Radar, while many stations within the affected regions saw gusts of 65km/h or over.

Large rainfall accumulations were also seen across the northeast of the North Island, particularly about the northern ranges of Gisborne where 106mm fell in a 16 hour period at one Gisborne District Council rain gauge.

The next weather system pushed onto the far South late Thursday and continued north during Friday bringing heavy rain to the west of the South Island and strong northwest winds for eastern regions from Southland right through to Wairarapa. Milford Sound recorded 157.8mm of rain from midday Thursday to 2am Friday, while Mount Hutt saw northwest gusts up to 163 km/h during Friday morning.

The weekend saw a change to more settled weather with a ridge of high pressure stalling to the east. This high, though not directly over the country, is now the conductor of any weather features trying to push onto New Zealand.

A few showers embedded within a southeast flow will continue over the northern and eastern parts of the North Island early next week while a front trying to push onto Fiordland and Westland today will slowly do so on Monday (with heavy rain warnings now issued for these areas). The dry spell experienced over the rest of the country this weekend starts to break down on Tuesday when the high to the east moves further away from New Zealand.Technical faults with a plane traveling between the mainland of southern Vietnam and a well-known island group in the East Vietnam Sea have forced more than 100 passengers to stay on the islands, presenting the airline with difficulty in offering accommodation to the customers.

One hundred and fourteen passengers were stranded on the Con Dao Islands on Saturday, said Vietnam Air Services Company (VASCO), the operator of the plane with the glitches.

The problems delayed the flights of 0V8055, 0V8054, 0V8071 and 0V8070, scheduled to fly on the same day on the route connecting Ho Chi Minh City, the Con Dao Islands and Can Tho, a major city in southern Vietnam.

The operator refused to reveal the technical problems.

It said it has cooperated with relevant local authorities to arrange places for the passengers to wait for the flight, which was slated for Sunday.

The sheer number of passengers exceeded the capacity of hotel rooms on the islands, for the weekend is the peak time for occupancy.

The airline, however, has until now given enough accommodation for the customers to stay in on Con Dao safely, a VASCO representative said.

The operator added it would pay compensation for the affected passengers and refund the ticket fare upon their requirement.

VASCO manages eight ATR-72 planes on short domestic trips, such as those between Ho Chi Minh City and Ca Mau, Vietnams southernmost province; the Con Dao Islands and Kien Giang Province, in the Mekong Delta region; and Can Tho City and Phu Quoc Island.

The Con Dao Islands, administered by Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, are considered an ideal destination for tourism, with beautiful pristine beaches, and limpid turquoise sea water.

They also enjoy virgin forests with biodiversity.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!SAN FRANCISCO -- Facebook Inc faced new calls for regulation from within U.S. Congress and was hit with questions about personal data safeguards on Saturday after reports a political consultant gained inappropriate access to 50 million users data starting in 2014.

Facebook disclosed the issue in a blog post on Friday, hours before media reports that conservative-leaning Cambridge Analytica, a data company known for its work on Donald Trumps 2016 presidential campaign, was given access to the data and may not have deleted it.

The scrutiny presented a new threat to Facebooks reputation, which was already under attack over Russians alleged use of Facebook tools to sway American voters before and after the 2016 U.S. elections.

Its clear these platforms cant police themselves, Democratic U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar tweeted.

They say trust us. Mark Zuckerberg needs to testify before Senate Judiciary, she added, referring to Facebooks CEO and a committee she sits on.

Facebook said the root of the problem was that researchers and Cambridge Analytica lied to it and abused its policies, but critics on Saturday threw blame at Facebook as well, demanding answers on behalf of users and calling for new regulation.

Facebook insisted the data was misused but not stolen, because users gave permission, sparking a debate about what constitutes a hack that must be disclosed to customers.

The lid is being opened on the black box of Facebooks data practices, and the picture is not pretty, said Frank Pasquale, a University of Maryland law professor who has written about Silicon Valleys use of data.

Pasquale said Facebooks response that data had not technically been stolen seemed to obfuscate the central issue that data was apparently used in a way contrary to the expectations of users.

It amazes me that they are trying to make this about nomenclature. I guess thats all they have left, he said.

Democratic U.S. Senator Mark Warner said the episode bolstered the need for new regulations about internet advertising, describing the industry as the Wild West.

Whether its allowing Russians to purchase political ads, or extensive micro-targeting based on ill-gotten user data, its clear that, left unregulated, this market will continue to be prone to deception and lacking in transparency, he said.

With Republicans controlling the Senates majority, though, it was not clear if Klobuchar and Warner would prevail.

The New York Times and Londons Observer reported on Saturday that private information from more than 50 million Facebook users improperly ended up in the hands of Cambridge Analytica, and the information has not been deleted despite Facebooks demands beginning in 2015.

Some 270,000 people allowed use of their data by a researcher, who scraped the data of all their friends as well, a move allowed by Facebook until 2015. The researcher sold the data to Cambridge, which was against Facebook rules, the newspapers said.

Cambridge Analytica worked on Trumps 2016 campaign. A Trump campaign official said, though, that it used Republican data sources, not Cambridge Analytica, for its voter information.

Facebook, in a series of written statements beginning late on Friday, said its policies had been broken by Cambridge Analytica and researchers and that it was exploring legal action.

Cambridge Analytica in turn said it had deleted all the data and that the company supplying it had been responsible for obtaining it.

Andrew Bosworth, a Facebook vice president, hinted the company could make more changes to demonstrate it values privacy. We must do better and will, he wrote on Twitter, adding that our business depends on it at every level.

Facebook said it asked for the data to be deleted in 2015 and then relied on written certifications by those involved that they had complied.

Nuala OConnor, president of the Center for Democracy & Technology, an advocacy group in Washington, D.C., said Facebook was relying on the good will of decent people rather than preparing for intentional misuse.

Moreover, she found it puzzling that Facebook knew about the abuse in 2015 but did not disclose it until Friday. Thats a long time, she said.

Britains data protection authority and the Massachusetts attorney general on Saturday said they were launching investigations into the use of Facebook data.

It is important that the public are fully aware of how information is used and shared in modern political campaigns and the potential impact on their privacy, UK Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said in a statement.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healeys office said she wants to understand how the data was used, what policies if any were violated and what the legal implications are.Here are the news stories you should not miss today:

Politics

-- Vietnamese leaders on Saturday sent congratulatory messages to their Chinese counterparts who were elected during the first session of the 13th National Peoples Congress.

Society

-- A state funeral is scheduled to be held for former Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai on March 20 and 21, during which his body will be kept at the Reunification Palace in Ho Chi Minh City. He passed away at his home on Friday, aged 85.

-- Deputy Minister of Transport Le Dinh Tho on Saturday announced a decision to expand Van Don International Airport in Ha Long City, located in the northern province of Quang Ninh, which will be carried out from now until 2020.

-- Two women, 27 and 24, in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak were found dead after being washed away at a local river as a nearby hydroelectric dam suddenly released its water on Friday afternoon.

-- Traffic police in Hanoi have imposed a fine worth VND1.35 million (US$59.4) on a local woman and revoked her driver's license for two months after she was caught pulling an illegal U-turn and verbally attacking a road user on Saturday.

-- Officers in Hanoi confirmed on Saturday they had arrested two men who had injured a barber with a gun over a romantic conflict on Friday night.

-- Two sisters in the north-central province of Nghe An have gone missing since March 12 after they left home to meet a man they had met on Facebook, who had promised to marry one of the girls.

Business

-- Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan vowed to improve administrative procedures to provide more favorable conditions for local businesses during a meeting on Saturday morning.

Education

-- The Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union is looking for candidates for the 2018 Ship for Southeast Asian and Japanese Youth Program (SSEAYP), which will take place from October 23 to December 13.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!A woman in Hanoi has been fined and had her driver's license revoked temporarily after she was caught attempting to do an illegal U-turn on a local bridge and verbally attacking another commuter.

The traffic police division under the municipal Department of Police confirmed on Saturday they had imposed the penalties upon Trinh Thi Tuyet for her violations.

Tuyet, 55, who resides in Vinh Phuc Ward, Ba Dinh District, had been summoned to the local police station earlier the same day for a working session regarding her wrongdoing.

She was fined VND1.35 million ($59) and had her drivers license revoked for two months for her two traffic offenses, namely failure to drive on the right side of the lane and backing a vehicle without noticing.

Tuyet committed her violations along the Cot Bridge in Dong Da District at around 8:15 am on Friday, and the incident was caught on the dashboard camera of Phan Manh, another commuter.

According to the 90-second video clip, Tuyets Toyota sedan was traveling on the narrow bridge when she suddenly attempted to make a U-turn, despite being surrounded by multiple vehicles.

The car then hit a motorbike laden with goods, whose driver apparently failed to respond to the unexpected move.

Tuyet then stepped out of her vehicle and started to scold the motorbike driver.

After the footage was uploaded to Facebook on the same day, netizens were angry at the car drivers offense and her uncivilized behavior toward the motorcyclist.

The National Traffic Safety Committee later requested Hanoi traffic police officers to probe the case and identify the offender.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!Two Vietnamese men have been taken into police custody for being directly implicated in shooting and seriously injuring the owner of a barbershop in Hanoi this week out of disagreement in competing for a romantic partner.

Police in Nam Tu Liem District, Hanoi, on Saturday arrested Nguyen Van Hanh, a 31-year-old resident of Nam Dinh Province, and 27-year-old Bui Quang Toan, residing in the neighboring province of Thai Binh.

The men have been charged on counts of deliberate infliction of physical injury and illegal possession of weapons for military use.

Footage from the security camera at the barbers, located on Le Duc Tho Street in My Dinh 2 Ward of the above district, revealed that on the evening of March 15, Hanh and Toan stepped into the shop and began hitting the owner, Nguyen Manh Hung, who was working at the time.

According to preliminary investigation results, Toan struck Hungs head with a glass bottle and Hanh used a self-made revolver to shoot the owner.

The attackers fled the scene, before the victim was rushed to the hospital while suffering multiple severe wounds in the face and legs.

The conflict over winning a womans heart constitutes the cause of the violence, according to police.

At the shop, police found a lead object measuring 0.9 x 1.8 centimeters.

Hanh, the shooter, admitted he fired one shot which pointed toward the ceiling rather than to the owner.

Two shots were in actuality heard at the incident.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!A number of police officers in Hanoi have been temporarily removed from their job after many of them were seen supposedly receiving bribes from drivers considered to have violated traffic rules, in a viral video shot by Vietnamese reporters.

The Hanoi police department, PC67, has suspended 20 policemen suspected to be implicated in the bribery.

They belong to the patrol teams of No. 3, 5 and 6, who previously set up checkpoints along streets in the city in order to spot driving offenses.

Although not 14 of the officers were involved or captured on film, they are subject to suspension because of participating in the same patrols, said Dao Vinh Thang, director of the police department.

The other six are the teams heads or deputy heads.

He said that the administration wants to probe the leaders responsibility for their members malpractice.

The administration is conducting the investigation. Our view is that well identify the true people with the wrongdoing and give them a legal penalty without leniency, the director said.

In the video, made by Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper reporters, riders with traffic offenses offered many of the policemen objects that resemble banknotes.

These officers let the riders slip the objects amongst pieces of paper on which information on the violations was written down, or used a hand to take the cash-like things before hiding them.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!Many Vietnamese people were arrested during dawn raids on Sunday for consuming illegal substances in two karaoke bars in a province of southern Vietnam.

At around 5:20 am, the drugs squad of Bien Hoa, the provincial capital of Dong Nai, apprehended many people, male and female, while they were in an apparent narcotic stupor in the rooms of the Kim Tien karaoke bar and Hoang Tan Hoa karaoke bar.

The raids, in a two-pronged fashion, found evidence for an illicit activity and sent to the police station all the people, 19 of whom tested positive for drugs.

Three staff members of the bars were also questioned by the police.

Authorities found that the arrested users consumed drugs in nightclubs in Bien Hoa City before moving to the karaoke bars, which open day and night.

Over the first two months of 2018, the citys police made unexpected visits to local bars, nightclubs and restaurants, with the result that hundreds of young people using drugs were caught, and scores involved were penalized financially.

On February 14, 69 people at a nightclub in Bien Hoa tested positive for drugs.

In December 2017, the city witnessed the arrest of nearly 200 drug users all in a single nightspot where knives and batons were hidden.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!A woman passed away moments after getting injected with anesthetic during the extraction of her eighth tooth (wisdom tooth) in Vietnam earlier this week.

Residents on Ben Binh Street, Hong Bang District, Hai Phong City were still shaken by the incident on Thursday.

Nguyen Thi Thu Trang, 36, resident of Ngo Quyen District, Hai Phong, went to the Hai Phong Military Medical Center 7 on the street to have a dental checkup and get her eighth tooth extracted at 9:00 am.

After the checkup, Trang was injected with anesthetic and soon showed signs of heavy breathing and cardiac arrest.

The doctors tried to revitalize her but failed, so she died at 12:20 pm.

The 3rd Military Zone Morgue, where Trangs body was transferred to, was still closed to the public and guarded as of the afternoon of March 15, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Her husband, Vu An Quy, 42, was informed of her critical condition at 10:00 am.

He and a number of relatives rushed to the medical center. They were denied access, however, even when Trang had been declared dead.

Pham Thu Xanh, director of the Hai Phong Department of Health, confirmed the incident and demanded an investigation into the cause.

Doctors presumed that Trang had succumbed to anaphylactic shock.

Our department cannot influence the operations of the medical center, however, as it is under the Ministry of National Defense, Xanh said.

The Hai Phong Military Medical Center 7, previously known as Hospital 203, is a division of the 3rd Military Zone based in Hai Phong, according to Xanh.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!Laos' Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith, Indonesia's President Joko Widodo, Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen, Brunei's Sultan and Prime Minister Sultan Bokliah, Thailand's Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha, Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Philippines' Secretary of Foreign Affairs Alan Peter Cayetano, Myanmar's State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak wave as they stand together during the Leaders Welcome and Family Photo at the one-off summit of 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Sydney, Australia, March 17, 2018. REUTERS/David Gray

Thomson Reuters

SYDNEY (Reuters) - The Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Australia said on Sunday they held "grave concerns" about escalating tensions caused by North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.

"We strongly urge the DPRK to immediately and fully comply with its obligations under all relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions," the countries said in a joint declaration, using the initials for North Korea's official name.

The country's nuclear and ballistic missile development "threaten regional and global security", the declaration added.

Australia is hosting ASEAN meetings this weekend, despite not being a member of the 10-nation bloc, as it seeks to tighten political and trade ties in the region amid China's rising influence.

Officially, the ASEAN summit has focused on fostering closer economic ties among the members of ASEAN and Australia, and countering the threat of Islamist militants returning to the region from the Middle East.

(Reporting by Tom Westbrook; editing by Nick Macfie)

See Also:North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho leaves the Swedish government building Rosenbad in Stockholm, Sweden, March 16, 2018. TT News Agency/Vilhelm Stokstad via REUTERS

Thomson Reuters

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - North Korea's foreign minister and his Swedish counterpart concluded on Saturday three days of discussions focused on reaching a peaceful solution to the nuclear stand-off on the Korean peninsula.

"The foreign ministers discussed opportunities and challenges for continued diplomatic efforts to reach a peaceful solution to the conflict as well as bilateral relations," the Swedish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"Sweden underlined the need for North Korea to dismantle its nuclear arms and missiles program in line with several Security Council resolutions."

North Korea's Ri Yong Ho arrived in Stockholm on Thursday for talks with his Swedish counterpart Margot Wallstrom amid a flurry of diplomatic activity concerning the reclusive country and its nuclear ambitions.

(Reporting by Niklas Pollard, Simon Johnson and Johan Sennero; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

See Also:WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Thursday blamed the Russian government for a campaign of cyber attacks stretching back at least two years that targeted the U.S. power grid, marking the first time the United States has publicly accused Moscow of hacking into American energy infrastructure.

Beginning in March 2016, or possibly earlier, Russian government hackers sought to penetrate multiple U.S. critical infrastructure sectors, including energy, nuclear, commercial facilities, water, aviation and manufacturing, according to a U.S. security alert published Thursday.

The Department of Homeland Security and FBI said in the alert that a "multi-stage intrusion campaign by Russian government cyber actors" had targeted the networks of small commercial facilities "where they staged malware, conducted spear phishing, and gained remote access into energy sector networks." The alert did not name facilities or companies targeted.

The direct condemnation of Moscow represented an escalation in the Trump administration's attempts to deter Russia's aggression in cyberspace, after senior U.S. intelligence officials said in recent weeks the Kremlin believes it can launch hacking operations against the West with impunity.

It coincided with a decision Thursday by the U.S. Treasury Department to impose sanctions on 19 Russian people and five groups, including Moscow's intelligence services, for meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and other malicious cyber attacks.

Russia in the past has denied it has tried to hack into other countries' infrastructure, and vowed on Thursday to retaliate for the new sanctions.

'UNPRECEDENTED AND EXTRAORDINARY'

U.S. security officials have long warned that the United States may be vulnerable to debilitating cyber attacks from hostile adversaries. It was not clear what impact the attacks had on the firms that were targeted.

But Thursday's alert provided a link to an analysis by the U.S. cyber security firm Symantec last fall that said a group it had dubbed Dragonfly had targeted energy companies in the United States and Europe and in some cases broke into the core systems that control the companies operations.

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Malicious email campaigns dating back to late 2015 were used to gain entry into organizations in the United States, Turkey and Switzerland, and likely other countries, Symantec said at the time, though it did not name Russia as the culprit.

The decision by the United States to publicly attribute hacking attempts of American critical infrastructure was "unprecedented and extraordinary," said Amit Yoran, a former U.S. official who founded DHS's Computer Emergency Response Team.

"I have never seen anything like this," said Yoran, now chief executive of the cyber firm Tenable, said.

A White House National Security Council spokesman did not respond when asked what specifically prompted the public blaming of Russia. U.S. officials have historically been reluctant to call out such activity in part because the United States also spies on infrastructure in other parts of the world.

News of the hacking campaign targeting U.S. power companies first surfaced in June in a confidential alert to industry that described attacks on industrial firms, including nuclear plants, but did not attribute blame.

"People sort of suspected Russia was behind it, but todays statement from the U.S. government carries a lot of weight," said Ben Read, manager for cyber espionage analysis with cyber security company FireEye Inc.

ENGINEERS TARGETED

The campaign targeted engineers and technical staff with access to industrial controls, suggesting the hackers were interested in disrupting operations, though FireEye has seen no evidence that they actually took that step, Read said.

A former senior DHS official familiar with the government response to the campaign said that Russia's targeting of infrastructure networks dropped off after the publication in the fall of Symantec's research and an October government alert, which detailed technical forensics about the hacking attempts but did not name Russia.

The official declined to say whether the campaign was still ongoing or provide specifics on which targets were breached, or how close hackers may have gotten to operational control systems.

"We did not see them cross into the control networks," DHS cyber security official Rick Driggers told reporters at a dinner on Thursday evening.

Driggers said he was unaware of any cases of control networks being compromised in the United States and that the breaches were limited to business networks. But, he added, "We know that there is intent there."

It was not clear what Russia's motive was. Many cyber security experts and former U.S. officials say such behavior is generally espionage-oriented with the potential, if needed, for sabotage.

Russia has shown a willingness to leverage access into energy networks for damaging effect in the past. Kremlin-linked hackers were widely blamed for two attacks on the Ukrainian energy grid in 2015 and 2016, that caused temporary blackouts for hundreds of thousands of customers and were considered first-of-their-kind assaults.

Senator Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, asked the Trump administration earlier this month to provide a threat assessment gauging Russian capabilities to breach the U.S. electric grid.

It was the third time Cantwell and other senators had asked for such a review. The administration has not yet responded, a spokesman for Cantwell's office said on Thursday.

Last July, there were news reports that the Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corp, which operates a nuclear plant in Kansas, had been targeted by hackers from an unknown origin.

Spokeswoman Jenny Hageman declined to say at the time if the plant had been hacked but said that there had been no operational impact to the plant because operational computer systems were separate from the corporate network. Hageman on Thursday said the company does not comment on security matters.

John Keeley, a spokesman for the industry group the Nuclear Energy Institute, said: "There has been no successful cyber attack against any U.S. nuclear facility, including Wolf Creek."

(Reporting by Dustin Volz and Timothy Gardner, additional reporting by Jim Finkle; Editing by Tom Brown, Alistair Bell and Cynthia Osterman)Turkish-backed members of the Free Syrian Army entered the center of Afrin in northern Syria apparently almost unchallenged on Sunday, March 18, after the two-month Operation Olive Branch to rout Kurdish forces from the city.

This video was described as showing the occupation of Afrin by Turkish forces, with a Turkish flag being raised above the Afrin city center building. Other videos and images here, from various Turkish military sources, show different views of events at Afrins city center.

The Kurdish Peoples Protection Units, or YPG, were said to have withdrawn to nearby mountains prior to the incursion by the Turkish-backed rebels, which includes members of Islamic militant groups that have fallen in and out of support by US forces. Operation Olive Branch was said by activists to have killed 280 people in the area, though that number was disputed by the Turkish government. The YPG denied that FSA forces had taken Afrin on Sunday at the time of writing.

The confrontation over Afrin pitted forces against each other that were both at various times supported by the United States and its allies. Turkey is also a US ally and a member of NATO.

Images of Afrin made an appearance within hours in various propaganda messages comparing its fall to that of Raqqa, the former capital of the Islamic States failed caliphate in Syria, saying the clean victory in Afrin proved the Turkish military was possibly more civilized than the US coalition, which has been accused of turning much of Raqqa to rubble. Credit: Turkish Armed Forces via StoryfulFlorida International University officials said they knew about the crack in the pedestrian bridge just a few days before it collapsed.

The university released a statement on Saturday that the school had met with the state Department of Transportation and engineers to talk about the safety of the bridge, the Miami Herald first reported. During the conversation, the engineer said there were no safety concerns and that the crack did not compromise the structural integrity of the bridge.

The FIGG engineer of record delivered a technical presentation regarding the crack and concluded that there were no safety concerns and the crack did not compromise the structural integrity of the bridge, the statement read. This meeting lasted approximately two hours and included FIU and FDOT representatives.

Trending: Kremlin Buses Russians to Polling Booths, Lays on Feasts and Festivities to Spare Putin Low Turnout Embarrassment

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The news of the meeting comes just a day after Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) officials said an engineer the university hired had called the department days before the bridge crumbled on March 15 to mark the crack but didnt believe it was a safety concern.

On Friday, National Transportation Safety Board Chief Investigator Robert Accetta said that it was too early in the investigation to confirm that the cracks were the reason the FIU bridge collapsed.



I would have to say that a crack in the bridge does not necessarily mean its unsafe, he told reporters. Thats still too early in the investigation for us to determine.

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The new pedestrian bridge fell onto a busy road in Miami on Thursday, which killed at least six people and injured several others. The death toll is expected to rise. Three more bodies were found in the debris on Saturday, ABC10 News reported.

The $14.2 million bridge weighed 950 tons and connected the university campus to the city of Sweetwater in an effort to provide students with a safer way to cross the busy road.

Story continues

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekLeftist front-runner Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador greets his supporters after being registered as a presidential candidate of the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) in Mexico City, Mexico March 16, 2018. REUTERS/Henry Romero

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's leftist presidential front-runner said on Sunday that if he wins the July election, he will ask President Enrique Pena Nieto to stop at least two energy auctions scheduled to take place before the new president takes office.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is a long-time sceptic of Pena Nieto's energy reform, enshrined in 2014, and he and his team have delivered fluctuating messages on what they would do if they win. Foreign investors and energy companies are paying close attention to what might happen in one of the most important, and recently opened, energy markets in the Americas.

There are two official authorised oil auctions - in July and September - that could be threatened by Lopez Obrador's comments, and the energy ministry wants to squeeze in another before Pena Nieto leaves office, although it has yet to be given the green light.

Speaking in Mexico City on the 80th anniversary of the nationalisation of the country's oil industry, Lopez Obrador also said that within three years of his possible six-year term, Mexico would stop buying foreign fuel, following extensive upgrades of the country's refining sector.

His government would also stop selling crude abroad to focus on value-added fuel production, he added.

"I'm going to ask (Pena Nieto) that he doesn't hand out any more oil blocks, neither onshore or shallow waters, and that he puts a stop to the privatisation of oil and electricity sectors," Lopez Obrador said.

If Lopez Obrador wins the July 1 vote, he would take office on Dec. 1.

Since the energy reform was enacted, Mexico has conducted eight oil and gas auctions, awarding some 90 contracts covering onshore and offshore acreage.

The energy reform ended state oil company Pemex's nearly 80 years of monopoly control over the sector and paved the way for the auctions, ending a long-standing constitutional prohibition on private companies operating fields on their own.

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Lopez Obrador, who enjoys a double-digit poll lead over his rivals, also gave a clear indication of what his government's larger energy polices would be.

"I'm committed to having stopped buying foreign fuels by midway through the next six-year term, because we're going to rehabilitate the six existing refineries and we will build two big refineries," he said.

"We're not going to sell crude oil abroad. We're going to process all the raw material in our country to lower the price of fuel."

(Reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez and David Alire Garcia; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Former South African president Jacob Zuma may challenge a prosecutor's decision to reinstate corruption charges over a $2.5 billion arms deal, news broadcaster eNCA said on Saturday.

Zuma, who was forced to resign by the ruling African National Congress (ANC) last month, was at the centre of a 1990s deal to buy European military kit that has cast a shadow over politics in South Africa for years.

Chief state prosecutor Shaun Abrahams told a media conference on Friday that Zuma's attempts to head off the charges hanging over him for more than a decade had failed.

He said the 75-year-old Zuma denies all the allegations against him.

Zuma's lawyer Michael Hulley said the reason behind Abrahams' decision was not clear from the "one-page and somewhat terse response" received from him "advising that the representations made on behalf of Zuma were unsuccessful," eNCA said on its news website.

"In the circumstances, the likely course of action would be to take the decision of the NDPP (National Director of Public Prosecutions) on review. The decision will however only be made after careful consideration and consultation with Mr Zuma," Hulley was quoted as saying in a screengrabbed text.

Zuma will face 16 charges relating to 783 instances of alleged wrongdoing, National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesman Luvuyo Mfaku said on Friday.

Twelve are of fraud, one of racketeering, two of corruption and one of money laundering.

(Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Andrew Bolton)South Korea's National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong arrives at Incheon International Airport in Incheon South Korea's National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong arrives at Incheon International Airport in Incheon, South Korea, March 15, 2018. Yonhap via REUTERS

By Joyce Lee

SEOUL (Reuters) - The top national security advisers of the United States, South Korea and Japan met at the weekend to discuss North Korea and the "complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula", South Korea's presidential Blue House said on Monday.

The two days of meetings could also help prepare the way for a possible meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

They were the latest in a flurry of diplomatic activity spanning Asia, the United States and Europe ahead of North Korea's planned summits with the South and the United States.

South Korea's National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong met U.S. National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and Japan's National Security Adviser Shotaro Yachi to discuss summit meetings between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, the Blue House in Seoul said.

They also discussed the possible meeting between Trump and Kim, it said.

The security advisers from the three countries discussed the "complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula", agreed that "it was important to not repeat the mistakes of the past" and to work together closely, the Blue House said.

A senior North Korean diplomat left for Finland on Sunday for talks with former U.S. and South Korean officials, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported.

That followed three days of talks between North Korean and Swedish foreign ministers on security on the Korean peninsula.

Sweden "engaged heavily" on the issue of U.S. detainees during the talks between North Korean and Swedish foreign ministers, CNN reported on Sunday, citing unidentified sources with knowledge of the negotiations.

North Korea is pursuing its nuclear and missile programmes in defiance of U.N. Security Council sanctions and has made no secret of its plans to develop a missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland.

(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Sandra Maler and Paul Tait)The Ukrainian government prevented Russians living in Ukraine from voting in the Russian presidential election on March 18 due to Moscows decision to allow voting to take place in Crimea.

Security and police forces blocked access to Russian embassies and consulates in Kiev, Odesa, Lviv, and Kharkiv. Only diplomats were granted access to cast a vote.

Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and has treated it as a Russian territory since thus granting its citizens access to vote in this years presidential election. Ukraine has deemed the decision illegal prompting the ban on Russians from voting in Ukraine. Credit:   via StoryfulBEIJING (AP)  Xi Jinping has been reappointed as China's president with no limit on the number of terms he can serve.

The ceremonial National People's Congress voted unanimously for Xi's second five-year term as president. Wang Qishan, a Xi ally, was appointed vice president.

The 64-year-old Xi is considered the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong and last Sunday was given the right to continue in office indefinitely after the legislature abolished term limits for the president and vice president.

Chinese officials defended the move saying it would bring the presidency in-line with Xi's other two main positons of head of the ruling Communist Party and commander of the armed forces.

Critics say the move will likely lead to increased political repression and infighting among party factions.

See Also:Renault-Nissan chief executive said he was reasonably optimistic that after Brexit the country will continue to be an important partner with the European Union.

Carlos Ghosn said that the UK will be a big partner for the trading block but commented: "The question is what will happen to customs, trade and circulation of products. That will determine how, and how much we will invest in the UK.

He said to the BBC that Renault-Nissan was not ready to plan for its manufacturing plant in Sunderland, which employs about 6,700 people, as investment in the plant depends on how well Brexit negotiations go.

He also said that the prices of cars made in Europe and sold in the UK will rise and nothing could be determined once the sterling stabilises. Since the EU referendum the pound had plummeted against the US dollar.

The Franco-Japanese Sunderland plant is the biggest in the UK and last year made 500,000 cars, most of which was imported to Europe.According to the Daily Mail, Prince Harry has refused to sign a prenup before he marries Meghan Markle. The 33-year-old prince is confident that his marriage will last and has decided that there is no need for him to sign a prenuptial agreement.

The couple is so much in love that Prince Harry knows Meghan is not marrying him for his money. After all, she had a successful acting career that she worked hard to get and then she gave it up to marry him. The Daily Mail also stated that there never was a question about whether to sign a prenup or not.

No prenups

Buckingham Palace refuses to comment on the prenup situation. If this information is correct, Prince Harry would be following in his brother's footsteps, because Prince William did not sign a prenup before he married Kate Middleton in 2011 for the same reason. Harry's parents, Prince Charles and Princess Diana, reportedly didn't sign one either. Their marriage did end in divorce. Princess Diana had to fight hard to win a settlement from Prince Charles in 1996 because there was no prenup.

Princess Diana had been divorced from Prince Charles for three years before they settled. She received a lump sum of $22.5 million instead of monthly alimony checks. At the time, London newspapers reported that she also received another $600,000 a year.

The couple's worth

Prince Harry is worth an estimated $54 million. He inherited $18 million after the death of his mother and he has another $36 million in assets. Meghan has a reported fortune of $7.2 million.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will get married at St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle on May 19, 2018. The countdown to the wedding has already begun.

Just six days before the couple is set to tie the knot, Lifetime is airing a movie about their romance leading up to their engagement and marriage. "Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance" will air on May 13.

Prenuptial agreements

A lot of celebrities sign a prenuptial agreement before marriage. It has become so common in Hollywood that couples consider a prenup part of the marriage package.

They say it will help solve a lot of problems down the road if the couple gets a divorce and assets have to be divided. Celebrities favor prenups, especially if one of the partners brings a lot more to the marriage. In some states, a division of property is made of things acquired only during the marriage. In some other states, it might include all assets before and during the marriage.

Prince Harry has made up his mind, but do you think he and Meghan should sign a prenuptial agreement?Autism was only one challenge that Jory Fleming has encountered in life, but on that spectrum, the boy from Columbia, South Carolina checked every box. Aspects of hypersensitivity, anger outbursts, failing to make eye contact, and struggling to communicate were all manifested in Jory Fleming, but so was a desire to still contribute, and embrace a meaningful life. His mom, Kelly, diverted from her medical career to pour all the skill and attention that she could muster into educating her son.

By her own admission, there were lots of things that didn't work, but something not attached to any academic theory, and instead very attached to Jory, did wonders to open the world up for the accomplished student.

Jory loved birds and Federer, his own bird, was gifted to him by his mother, and a blossoming of language and connection began to happen. Jory Fleming has his own humorous understanding of their bond, relating that animals don't use language to communicate, and that's kind of like me. Sometimes I'd rather not use language to communicate.

It was last year, in January, when NBC News met Federer, Jory, and his mother. He had just gotten word of his selection as one of the 32 American Rhodes scholars chosen for the year. Now, they are all in Oxford, England, along with service dog, Daisy, as seen in a March 18 NBC follow-up. Jory Fleming is moving along, swimmingly, on his Master's Degree studies and career dreams and he's planning a little less soggy vacation this summer.

Autism is seen as an asset

Kelly Fleming asserts that her aim was never to change her son, but instead, to bring out the best in him. Jory admits that his days in Oxford can have a bit too much going on, but he knows this is an opportune season of life, and he feels determined to make the most of it.

I think people with autism are very good at dealing with uncertainty because every interaction I ever have is uncertain, Jory Fleming astutely surmises.

He is adjusting to the changes and the global nature of his learning environment with greater confidence, because while Oxford presents many rich pathways in life, If you know where youre going, you can make a start, says the student.

Like many others with challenges or disabilities in life, the person with autism never knows how or if they will be understood.

Social nuance is often never a strength, and customary small talk can be a stumbling block. Becoming invisible and overlooked can become common in the battle for overcoming negative perceptions. Kelly Fleming is encouraged by the many people who care about her son, in his temporary English home, and the ways in which they support him.

No time for chatter

Jory Fleming still makes time for hours of mindful strategy with a favorite board game, but he chooses deliberately not to focus on British failings when it comes to coffee. Instead, he has taken to the British taste for tea, but there may not be much light conversation with Jory Fleming.

Common personal information, like how old the flourishing academic wonder is, flies out the window.

My brain sort of kicks out information that it doesn't want, Jory explains to Harry Smith. He also understands that those details are what most people like to talk about, leaving him at a conversational disadvantage.

Jorys focus in his Master's program is Environmental Change and Management, which is a field sure to continue to be in desperate need, as more and more of our planet shows damage. Jory will be one of those who'll know how to make a difference for the better.

Mother and son are hoping to make a difference in the climate very soon. Kelly has her heart set on Italy or Spain for a vacation. Jory can include the jaunt into his field of study since they will be investigating the rumor of whether more sun shines south of the UK.

Jory Fleming and his example of resilience shine anywhere he is.Plastic is a threat to the well-being of the Environment because it is non-biodegradable material. It litters the surroundings and poses a danger to birds, animals, fish and other marine creatures. The world today is burdened with the weight of throwaway plastic items like straws, cups, plates and carry bags. There is an urgent need to curb the use of these items. This is why Malibu has taken the unanimous decision to ban plastic cutlery and straws from June 1. This will compel businesses to introduce items made from alternate materials like paper, wood or bamboo.

Sky News reports that this action by the campaigners in Malibu will set a trend for others to follow, and result in the gradual elimination of the menace of plastic pollution.

The Malibu model

The city of Malibu in California is well-known for its long and scenic coastline. The decision to impose a ban on plastic items will have far-reaching and positive consequences on the environment because the city is a destination favored by the elite. The magnitude of the problem can be understood from the fact that hundreds of millions of plastic straws are produced every day in only the United States and these ultimately land up on the beaches or in landfills.

Malibu has taken a very positive stand against single-use plastics.

It has already banned a certain range of the same and will target many more. During coastal clean-up campaigns, it has been observed that plastic straws and cutlery fall into the category of most collected items. The ban on these items has not gone down well with a section of restaurant and cafe owners. They feel the quality of alternatives are inferior and cost more.

However, in the larger interests of society, the critics will have to fall in line.

Incidentally, Manhattan Beach and Santa Cruz have banned disposable plastics and Seattle plans to impose a ban on plastic straws from July. As awareness spreads, plastic pollution is expected to gradually become a thing of the past and improve the quality of life.

Plastic litter in the oceans

The decision of Buckingham Palace to ban plastic straws in February could have influenced Malibus decision. Marine creatures face the ill-effects of plastic pollution, and Huffington Post has revealed that the plastic that ends up in the oceans are threats to species like sea turtles, dolphins and even great whales.

The world must realize that it is everybodys responsibility to protect the environment and ensure that plastics are kept away from the oceans because they destroy the ecosystem.Students in the United States appear to be unnerved at the growing incidents of gun violence in schools, and the hesitation on the part of the administration to enforce strict Gun Control measures. That is what prompted the survivors of the Parkland school in Florida to meet students of other schools. They want to have a joint demonstration to highlight the issue.

According to Chicago Sun-Times, the students plan to have Chicagos March for Our Lives on March 24 from Union Park. More than 30,000 people are expected to participate. This will not be an isolated one because there will be many more such marches to bring home the point to those who matter.

Students demand firm action

The Parkland school shooting in Florida that killed 17 persons was one more incident of gun violence. The gunman walked into the school and fired indiscriminately to leave a trail of blood and death. It has traumatized the staff and students, and they want a stricter gun control to ensure that there is no recurrence of such attacks. Students have revealed that Chicago has witnessed more than 2,700 shootings last year. Former Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has said that elected officials have to guarantee safety to the students in schools. They should not have to live in fear of falling prey to another trigger-happy gunman.

The administration must act

Fox News reports that after the Parkland school shooting in Florida, several options on gun control measures have emerged.

Action has already been taken to ban bump stocks. Soon after the Parkland shooting, President Donald Trump has signed an order to ban these items that can convert a semi-automatic rifle into a fully automatic one. Another action on the anvil is to arm a section of the staff to tackle the gunman. It would be in the form of a school safety bill that would have a provision to arm up to 10 school personnel.

They will act as a deterrent and will take care of situations that may arise. It seems a couple of schools in Ohio already have such a system. The identity of these persons are kept a secret and they have access to locations where the weapons are concealed.

Other options include strengthening the background check process before buying a gun, imposing a ban on high capacity weapons, and increasing the minimum age for purchasing a semi-automatic weapon to 21. The background check is important because those who commit such heinous crimes are usually of unsound mind. It this is detected in advance, it can save many innocent lives.scheana marie told Kristen Doute that she was prepared to mess with Jax Taylor's romance, and, during Monday night's episode of "Vanderpump Rules," she did just that. Although Cartwright had previously chose to stick by her man, despite his affair with Faith Stowers, Scheana took it upon herself to move forward with her plan for revenge on Taylor, who previously stated that her boyfriend wasn't in love with her.

During an episode of "Vanderpump Rules" earlier this month, Taylor revealed to his co-stars that Robert Parks-Valletta wasn't in a place where he was ready to tell Scheana he loved her.

A short time later, after Kristen Doute informed Scheana of what Taylor had said, Scheana said that if Taylor was messing with her relationship, she wouldn't hesitate to mess with his.

Scheana Marie set Brittany up with Adam Spott

Despite Scheana's clear statement, Cartwright didn't feel that she was "conniving" when she decided to set her up with SUR Restaurant's newest employee, Adam Spott. "I never got like a conniving thing from you doing that," she told Scheana during an after show. "I just always say it was trying to make me feel good," she added. Still, Scheana continued to speak of her desire to "one-up" Taylor and blamed her feelings on their "brother-sister" relationship.

Scheana Marie was extremely upset about Jax Taylor spreading news of her now-ex-boyfriend's statements about their relationship but, as many have seen on the show, he just doesn't seem to be quite as invested in their relationship as the reality star is.

That said, Scheana hasn't been quick to accept that fact and now, even months after their split, she continues to gush over the actor.

Brittany Cartwright is giving Jax Taylor '100 percent'

While Cartwright has faced her fair share of backlash due to her decision to take Taylor back after his 2017 cheating scandal, she hasn't wavered with her support for the bartender and said during Monday's night's episode of "Vanderpump Rules" that she would continue to give him "100 percent" as her mother advised.

She even decided to throw her boyfriend a massive birthday party on Monday's show at Hooters, where she used to work and since then, she's flooded him with gifts and affection.

To see more of Jax Taylor, Brittany Cartwright, Scheana Marie, and their co-stars, don't miss new episodes of "Vanderpump Rules" season six on Mondays on Bravo TV at 9 p.m.Wendy Williams returns to her daytime talk show and her purple chair on Monday, March 19. Wendy announced on February 21 that her doctor had prescribed that she be on a three-week medical leave for hyperthyroidism and Graves' disease. The solo host of her show joked that she would be back in two weeks. However, after two weeks of re-runs, Wendy and her producer husband Kevin Hunter decided that the hot topics were not so hot any longer. Therefore, for the first time in nine seasons, "The Wendy Williams Show" had a guest host for the last week of her absence.

First-time guest host

Actor Jerry O'Connell is both a friend of Wendy and a superfan of the show. He filled in for Wendy from Monday, March 12 to Friday, March 16. The 53-year-old talk show host tweeted thanks to Jerry for being her first guest host.

Hey @MrJerryOC thanks for being my guest host while I'm out getting some much needed rest. See you all Monday, March 19th! XOX, Wendy  Wendy Williams (@WendyWilliams) March 6, 2018

How did Jerry O'Connell do?

While Wendy's fans missed her and are glad she is returning on Monday, they appreciated Jerry for filling in for her even though the two television personalities have different hosting styles. Jerry is a friend of Wendy and a friend of the show.

Since he is a superfan, he knew what buzz words to use. However, he brought his own style to the Wendy Watchers.

Nicely done @MrJerryOC! Thanks for taking care of my Wendy Watchers. -Wendy pic.twitter.com/zhJLyUzNRN  Wendy Williams (@WendyWilliams) March 12, 2018

Social media reacts

O'Connell said he read all the postings on social media about him.

Many of them said he was "too extra." He wasn't offended by that remark because he knew it was true. On Friday, he signed off for the week while wearing a sparkling jacket with the word "Extra" written on the back.

Many of the comments were positive, but some of them were shady. Some said Jerry was over the top and they couldn't wait for Wendy to return.

Some indicated that Jerry hosted the show better than Wendy and he should have his own show. Because their styles are different, Jerry brought some things to the show that Wendy doesn't. For instance, he joined some of the guests when they performed. One day, he and Suzanne jumped on the trampoline. Another day, Jerry performed with the O'Rouke Irish Dancers.

Jerry OConnell is hilarious!! I think he is doing a great job. Its hard to fill Wendys shoes. But hes doing great!! #WendyWilliams  Asia Jackson (@asiacjackson) March 12, 2018

. @MrJerryOC is killing it on @WendyWilliams!! (Can someone get him his own talk show, please?)

Heres the #Carter star telling us which Canadian shows hes a fan of: pic.twitter.com/jag7rqrBmb  Brief Take (@BriefTake) March 14, 2018

Like Wendy, Jerry went out on the street and paid money to people who could answer certain questions about hot topics.

Speaking of hot topics, it was evident that Jerry knew as much about hot topics as Wendy does. Last week, he brought Wendy Watchers up to date on what is happening with some of Wendy's favorite celebrities to talk about.

Not doubt when Wendy returns on Monday, she will update fans about her health condition. Make sure you watch to find out what Wendy will say about her absence and about her first-time guest host.Aviva plc provides various insurance, retirement, and savings products in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, France, Italy, Poland, and internationally. The company offers life insurance, long-term health and accident insurance, savings, pension, and annuity products, as well as pension fund business and lifetime mortgage products. It also provides insurance cover to individuals, small and medium-sized businesses for risks associated with motor vehicles and medical expenses, as well as property and liability, such as employers' and professional indemnity liabilities, and medical expenses. In addition, the company offers personal and commercial lines insurance products; long-term insurance and savings products, primarily for individuals. Further, it provides investment management services for institutional pension fund mandates; and manages various retail investment products, including investment funds, unit trusts, open-ended investment companies, and individual savings accounts for third-party financial institutions, pension funds, public sector organizations, investment professionals, and private investors. Additionally, the company offers asset management and protection insurance products. Aviva plc markets its products through a network of insurance brokers, as well as MyAviva platform. The company was formerly known as CGNU plc and changed its name to Aviva plc in July 2002. Aviva plc was founded in 1696 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

Read MoreRockwell Collins, Inc. designs, produces, and supports communications and aviation systems worldwide. The company's Interior Systems segment offers commercial aircraft seats; galley structures, food and beverage preparation equipment, and water and waste systems; oxygen and passenger service equipment; cabin lighting systems; and business jet and general aviation interior products. Its Commercial Systems segment provides cabin management systems; data link, frequency, very high frequency, and satellite communications systems; landing, radio navigation, and geophysical sensors, and flight management systems; situational awareness and surveillance systems and products; integrated flight controls; simulation and training systems; maintenance, repair, parts, and after-sales support services, and aftermarket used equipment. The company's Government Systems segment provides communications systems and products; radio navigation products, global positioning system equipment, and multi-mode receivers; avionics systems; precision targeting, electronic warfare, and training systems; simulation and training systems; space wheels; visual system products; maintenance, repair, parts, and after-sales support services, and aftermarket used equipment. Its Information Management Services segment offers voice and data communication services; flight support services; airport communications and information systems; train dispatching and information systems; mission critical security systems; and cabin connectivity solutions. The company serves original equipment manufacturers of commercial air transport, business and regional aircraft, commercial airlines, U.S. Department of Defense, other ministries of defense, other government agencies, defense contractors, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, and passenger and freight railroads, as well as airport, critical infrastructure, and business aircraft operators. The company was founded in 1933 and is headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Read MoreCentral moves down to No. 4 in latest football pollIf you are looking for the bees knees in local exhibitions, the New Mexico Art League Gallery is hosting Objects of Desire: The Still Life Show with 68 works by 34 artists.

The still life genre made its early appearance nearly 2,000 years ago in mosaic floor coverings in Pompei and in some ancient Roman wall paintings a few years later but did not achieve its full flowering until the European Renaissance in the 16th century.

Still life mastery was a requirement in most 19th-century European art academies but was not considered high art fit for ambitious male artists, who were encouraged instead to paint the true lies of mythology as metaphor and the historic fictions written by conquerors.

However, female artists were allowed portraiture and still life as legitimate albeit less important career choices.

In Objects of Desire, we find a full palette of subjects, styles and media, including photography.

The ghost of Georgia OKeeffe is present in a few works that include skulls, one of her more notable subjects. As OKeeffe evolved in modernism, she also rebelled against the still-life-is-OK-for-female-artists role by painting gigantic portraits of flower blossoms.

When a single bloom occupies a 3- by 5-foot canvas, it is no longer a cute little still life subject. Her work was an abstract statement that even big-city curators and collectors could not ignore.

During the 20th century, other artists, including Mary Cassatt, Kathe Kollwitz, Pablo Picasso, Umberto Boccioni, Georges Brach and Giorgio Morandi, hoisted the more tradition-based still life flag.

Stunning oils by Sarah Siltala titled Still Life With Plum and Still Life With Eucalyptus share a tinge of Morandis stubborn simplicity, especially in the white tablecloths in both paintings.

Siltalas prodigious drawing and painting skills are complemented by a blend of poetry and surrealism in the two quiet masterpieces.

One of Siltalas students, Kate Fry, wades into the fray with Coffee and Pears a very credible reflection of and homage to Siltalas style.

Among my favorites in the show is Morning Tea and Edgar Payne, by Judith Wagner, a drop-dead gorgeous oil on canvas that reveals a mastery of natural light.

A vase of brushes, a few art books, presumably about California artist Payne (1883-1947) who had a lifelong love affair with the Western landscape, and sunlight bathing a desktop, tell the story of inspirational contemplation at the beginning of the day.

Wagners brushwork and handling of morning light is distantly reminiscent of works by East Coast painter and critic Fairfield Porter (1907-1975).

Picasso and Boccioni had a hand in Cubist Bottle, by Brandon Allebach, who is fascinated with the cubist-futurist synthesis in the early 20th century. He has two more similar paintings in the collection.

Cynthia Rowland is an accomplished impressionist who moves from the more tightly and beautifully painted A Study in Blues to Buffys Glass, an insouciant rendering of flowers in a glass jar. Both pictures are top-notch.

Valerie Cordora and Brenda Bauer are two artists living in a world where aligned ellipses and perfect perspective do not matter. Cordoras Margerys Teacup and the Saltshaker is one of curator Bethany Nelsons favorite paintings. Though I relate to the energy and free brushwork, the invasive mix of white in almost every color softens the overall impact for me.

Bauers Tulips also is filled with rule-bending character that offers a stark contrast to Annette Wiles Blue Vase II and Blue Vase, two floral arrangements.

The strength of the show is in the variety of styles, subjects and content that fill both galleries with work well-worth seeing. My apologies to all of the talented artists not mentioned.

If you go

WHAT: Objects of Desire: Still Life Show with 68 works by 34 artists

WHEN: Through April 7. Hours are 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. Call 293-5034.

WHERE: New Mexico Art League Gallery, 3409 Juan Tabo NE, behind the Juan Tabo Public Library

HOW MUCH: FreeSome might consider New Mexico the land of manana, but in the not-too-distant past plenty of people here were living life in the fast lane.

Thats because starting in the 1920s Albuquerque became one of many places around the country that embraced the car-racing culture.

Albuquerque historian Alan Carlson has spent the past year trying to track down this part of the citys past, hoping to build a narrative and collection of documents for future generations.

Carlson attended his first race when he was 6 years old with his father, so his love of the sport began at an early age. He said initially he was focusing his research on the post-World War II era but discovered racing went as far back as the 1920s, maybe even earlier, in Albuquerque. Carlson said there are not a lot of photos from the pre-war era but hes found newspaper articles mentioning events at local racetracks.

One of the first tracks in Albuquerque was the First American Grounds, which went by several names from when it opened in 1928 until it closed sometime in the late 1930s or early 1940s. Newspaper advertisements at the time show New Years Day races and other weekend auto races with tickets costing $1 to $1.50.

Members of the citys most famous racing family, the Unsers, made appearances at Albuquerques early racetracks. Bobby Unser, who won three Indianapolis 500s, said he drove his first race in 1949 when he was 15 years old at Cormit Speedway, which Clarke Corbin and his brother-in-law, Dick Mitchell, had opened in 1946 near Central and Wyoming.

Most people would think we were just horse country back then, said Unser, 84. No. There was automobile racing.

He said spectators flocked to the local racetracks back in those days.

Eddie Corbin, the son of Clarke Corbin, spent a chunk of his childhood out at Cormit Speedway. His mother was the ticket taker, and he was responsible for handing out the programs. He said come race day, the grandstands were overflowing. In a scrapbook compiled by his mother, black-and-white photos indeed show packed stands.

Unser said racing in those days was a raucous event.

We were rough and rowdy, he said. Sometimes we got into fights with the other drivers. It was a common thing. But we always stayed good friends with them.

Sometimes, he said, race organizers got tired of all the rabble-rousing.

One night the whole Unser family got kicked out, he said. They realized soon they had made a mistake because we were bringing a lot of fans.

The Unsers were eventually allowed back and the fun continued. They were frequent drivers in the races held at Speedway Park, which opened in 1950 and operated for more than three decades. The park was on Eubank near the entrance of Kirtland Air Force Base.

Unser said at times they didnt have a trailer to take their cars to the racetrack so they would drive them along Central Avenue. If they wrecked that night, the cars were towed home.

While track racing, or circle racing, was a popular pastime, in the 1950s drag racing also became a popular sport in Albuquerque, according to Larry Stepp, 75. He said Albuquerque did not have a designated track for drag racing so drivers took over city streets, most often Eubank.

Unlike today, racers were not given traffic tickets, Stepp said. They were allowed to close off Eubank by placing telephone poles across the road to stop traffic from entering the race zone. Stepp still participates in drag races but not on city streets. Instead, he travels to Albuquerque Dragway, south of the city.

It was fun, he said. There were not as many people in Albuquerque then and thats what you did. You cruised and you drag-raced.

Unser said it was also a lot more laid-back time, with loyal fans. He recalled that one night before a race at Speedway, he needed a new distributor for his race car.

I went into the parking lot with my tools and found the right model, opened the car hood and took his distributor, he said. I put it in my race car, won the race, then put it back in his car.

When the man came out after the race and saw Unser returning the distributor, the racing legend apologized and said he just needed to borrow it for a minute.

He didnt even get mad, Unser said. He just smiled. It was the attitude people had those days. They loved the races.The past months have not been kind to Native American nations, tribes and pueblos. We are still reeling from the announcement by the administration that it would act on Interior Secretary Ryan Zinkes recommendations to slash the size of two landscapes very important to our people  Utahs Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments. We had been very clear about the benefits these monuments provide in conserving our cultures ancient artifacts, sites and sacred landscapes. And we were not listened to.

In the midst of tearing down these parks and disregarding the years of government-to-government discussions and consultations that supported them, the administration also announced its intent to sell thousands of acres of our cultural landscape in Northwest New Mexico to the oil and gas industry. More than 90 percent of the public lands here are already leased out for oil and gas production. We have precious little land left that tells our cultures stories. With less than 10 percent of our lands remaining free from the fossil energy industry, we wanted politicians like Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to give our reasonable request due process and fair treatment. We asked for justice.

So we welcomed the news earlier this month that Zinke has canceled  for now  the oil and gas sale near Chaco Canyon. These lands represent some of the last open areas in the Greater Chaco Landscape. We believe cancelling this lease sale was the right thing to do in the face of our strong and united opposition. We appreciate that the secretary has acknowledged the need for cultural consultation.

While we are thankful to avoid this looming conflict for now, we have a longer-term vision for conserving the remaining open space of this vital landscape. It will not be enough to simply postpone the leasing until a later time. We have called for the permanent protection of the Chaco Core Protection Zone, which includes a wide buffer around Chaco National Park, the Great North Road and other outlying cultural sites. The Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Indian Affairs must work to protect these important areas in the Resource Management Plan that is currently being amended and balance natural and cultural resource management and development in Northwest New Mexico. We also support any federal legislation that will protect this traditional and cultural landscape.

One thousand years ago, long before Europeans fathomed the existence of North America, a large and well-organized society built great roads, multi-story buildings, and astronomical observatories that  to the this day  inspire awe among all who visit our homeland. The Four Corners of todays Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico is our home, then and now. The people of our Native American nations, tribes and pueblos each have their own culture, heritage, language, and worldview that, while different from one another, all agree on the importance of this strikingly beautiful region as a sacred cultural landscape.

That is also why we seek an immediate remedy that includes the restoration of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante monument boundaries to protect the thousands of sacred sites and objects that are found there. We are relying on the U.S. judiciary system to restore justice and protect these irreplaceable landscapes.

Secretary Zinkes decision not to move ahead with the leases this month is a step forward and a bit of good news. But we have much to do to ensure land management outcomes in the Four Corners region that honor and support our cultural heritage rather than diminish and divide our people and land.

https://abqjournal.com/1147364/samora.html

https://abqjournal.com/1147366/saeger.htmlPearce needs to listen to his constituents and step up for public land protection

The long-running push by politicians in Washington, D.C., to privatize public lands and scale back national monuments is now coming to head, as a sympathetic White House starts to endorse and implement anti-public lands efforts that could lead to the irresponsible development and eventual elimination of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks in New Mexico.

As the White House and Department of the Interior continue to shrink, modify or undermine protections for public lands and national monuments, U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., could be a deciding vote in whether New Mexicos Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks stays protected or is opened up to industry.

President Donald Trump has already eliminated protections for millions of acres of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in Utah. Now Congress is considering legislation to codify that decision, H.R. 4532, and to broaden the powers of the executive branch of government to lift protections for even more acres of public land with even less accountability, H.R. 3990.

Congressman Pearce sits on the House Natural Resources Committee, and accordingly has the opportunity to stop legislation that threatens New Mexicos public lands and national monuments  including Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks  from making its way onto the House floor  if he indeed chooses to do so. His constituents certainly want him to: A recent poll found that Pearces constituents are overwhelmingly opposed to President Trumps recent anti-public lands actions, by a two-to-one margin.

Pearces track record on public lands and national monuments  including a committee vote in favor of H.R. 3990, which would weaken the executive branchs ability to designate national monuments  suggests he could ultimately vote in favor of scaling back protections for public lands across the American West, including in New Mexico.

Pearce was opposed to the initial designation of Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument in 2014, which he called one of the largest land grabs and a reckless use of executive powers that was symptomatic of the federal governments war on the west. Pearce also believed that the Obama administration disregarded law when it made the designation.

Pearce introduced in 2013 a bill to prohibit all future monument designations except those approved by Congress, and in 2015 he voted for an amendment to block the presidential declaration of new national monuments in certain counties of Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon and Utah.

New Mexicans whom Pearce represents want and expect public lands to maintain public access, provide world-class recreation and tourism opportunities that support businesses and jobs, support healthy, thriving communities and be protected for the next generation  a mix only possible when our government and industry strikes the right balance between energy development and conservation.

New Mexicos public lands are supposed to be managed for multiple uses, including outdoor recreation, which generates $9.9 billion in consumer spending annually and supports 99,000 jobs. Yet, the oil and gas industry has the system rigged in its favor, and under the Trump administration, development is being prioritized above every other use of our public lands, including outdoor recreation. This administrations efforts to eliminate common-sense protections for hiking trails, big game herds, and drinking water  in the misguided pursuit of energy dominance  is a grave threat to New Mexicos public lands, economy, and our natural heritage.

Any additional votes by Pearce for the anti-public lands bills currently under consideration in Congress would be a vote to upend that balance. The congressman should listen to his constituents and pledge to protect New Mexicos, and the Wests, beautiful public lands from further development and mining so that his children and grandchildren can hunt, fish and hike on the same lands that he has been able to.

The Western Values Project is a Montana-based watchdog group taking a government accountability approach to public lands issues.

https://abqjournal.com/1147365/torres.html

https://abqjournal.com/1147364/samora.htmlA congressional effort pushed by big online companies to promote net neutrality through an obscure legislative tool ignores a simple truth: It will not permanently protect a free and open internet and will continue to leave many rural residents in New Mexico on the wrong side of the digital divide. Rather than spending time on a legislative Hail Mary with virtually no chance of becoming reality, Congress should develop a comprehensive bill that levels the internet playing field and expands access for all Americans.

Following the December vote by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to repeal Title II regulations on the internet, some lawmakers proposed repealing the order by using a device called the Congressional Review Act (CRA). The CRA gives Congress the power to nullify rules enacted by federal agencies and requires only a simple majority to pass it  making it immune to filibusters and congressional debate.

Prior to 2017, the CRA had successfully been invoked once. While it has recently been used to repeal a handful of Obama-era rules, it has never been used to establish substantive policy that would affect virtually every American.

Despite claims that the CRA would restore net neutrality, it would actually do nothing to strengthen protections for consumers and expand opportunities for all Americans to participate in a truly open internet. Even in the unlikely event the CRA passed Congress, the Trump administration would likely respond by issuing a new set of rules, thus prolonging todays ping-pong regulatory cycle and leaving an uncertain future for New Mexico and broadband providers.

Worse, the CRA would simply reinstate Depression-era Title II rules that have not created the open internets engine of opportunity with a level playing field that proponents envisioned. Placing the internet back under Title II rules would also curb the critical infrastructure investment necessary for connecting more Americans to high-speed broadband.

Diminished investment in high-speed infrastructure would hurt New Mexico, in particular, where nearly 500,000 residents live in rural areas that are difficult and costlier to connect. And studies show that up to one-third of the states population does not have any type of broadband access.

Moreover, todays internet is dominated by huge multinational content providers, just five of which gobble up 80 percent of the revenue produced on the net  and a CRA would worsen this trend. Examples of low-income and diverse entrepreneurs competing head to head with these companies and winning are far too rare. The fact is that todays leading internet edge providers such as Google and Facebook are also some of the least diverse companies in America. For example, Hispanics comprise just 4 percent of Googles workforce. So why the rush to reinstate regulations that largely favor their business model over everyone elses?

The internet has changed the way businesses operate, created jobs and opened doors to new economic opportunities. But the internet ecosystem has become dominated by some of the wealthiest companies, while rural and diverse communities are largely being shut out. We need to ensure more Americans can be active participants in this growing internet economy, which is why a fast-track legislative gimmick that sidesteps congressional hearings is the wrong way to establish such significant and far-reaching policy.

Unlike the CRA, a comprehensive legislative approach can make net neutrality the law of the land while ensuring a genuine level playing field that benefits all Americans and gives all of our rural and diverse communities a chance to participate.

Congress has an opportunity right now to forge a strong net neutrality bill that works for everyone. But to accomplish that goal, all those who support net neutrality need to set aside the caustic rhetoric and help forge a permanent legislative path toward a free and open internet that benefits New Mexico residents and all Americans.

LULAC is the countrys largest and oldest national Hispanic organization.Next year on Mars.

Well, not quite, but entrepreneur Elon Musk told the tech confab South by Southwest that the interplanetary spaceship hes building will be able to do short up and down flights by next year.

Musks goal is to colonize Mars, a delightfully daft idea that has had a persistent hold on our imagination  German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun wrote a piece for Colliers magazine in 1954 titled Can We Get to Mars?  and that is a fit object of Musks vaulting ambition.

The founder of Tesla and SpaceX is, through his brio and technological prowess, bringing back a whiff of the Age of Exploration, the time when men launched across oceans in rickety ships in pursuit of the unknown (and perhaps untold riches).

NASA used to partake of this same spirit. Once upon a time, American kids had glossy photos of rockets and astronauts on their walls. That was before the end of the Apollo program and the advent of the white elephant space shuttle that, by the end, had all the glamour of a very expensive and clunky  not to mention hazardous  crosstown bus.

All you have to know about the exuberant sensibility of Musks operation is that the rocket hes going to colonize Mars with is named BFR  The Big expletive deleted Rocket. Or that last month he launched the new Falcon Heavy rocket into space carrying a Tesla Roadster as the payload with a mock astronaut behind the wheel  because, why not?

Musks ambitions  electric cars, driverless cars, powerful reusable rockets  are more in keeping with visions we once had of the future. We live in an age of technological miracles, especially related to computing and medicine. But the innovations that are now ubiquitous, the iPhone and Facebook and other social media platforms, arent the futurist imaginings of yore. They are great tools, but often inward-looking. They have arguably made us smaller rather than bigger.

Colonizing Mars would, in contrast, be an inarguable giant leap for mankind.

Settlers traveling to the red planet would replicate the Atlantic crossings of the 17th century, which took months and deposited people in a forbidding wilderness that they often didnt survive. But Mars isnt like North America, a fertile continent stocked with wildlife and fish for the taking. It is a vast, cold desert without enough oxygen to support human life.

Could we pull it off? The killjoys at MIT released a study pouring cold water on the very loose plans of the so-called Mars One project, not associated with Musk, to settle people on Mars beginning in 2025. The MIT researchers pointed out that if crops were grown within the habitat of the settlers, the plants would set off a chain reaction rendering the space uninhabitable. Details, details.

Elon Musks chipper take is that Mars is a fixer-upper of a planet. He joked with Stephen Colbert that the rapid way to warm the place up would be to drop thermonuclear weapons over the poles.

His more modest idea is to place small, continuously detonating fusion bombs at the poles  you know, like little suns.

Musk conceives of a colony on Mars as a hedge against a planetary catastrophe on Earth. You can never be too careful.

But the more compelling rationale for the venture is the sheer audacity and challenge of it.

Why did we colonize Mars?

Because it was there.

The great science fiction writer Ray Bradbury enthused when we landed the Viking 1 probe on Mars in the 1970s: Today we have touched Mars. There is life on Mars, and it is us  extensions of our eyes in all directions, extensions of our mind, extensions of our heart and soul have touched Mars today. Thats the message to look for there: We are on Mars. We are the Martians!

He wasnt quite right. At least not yet.

Rich Lowry can be reached via e-mail: comments.lowry @nationalreview.com.  2017 by King Features Syndicate.Enough already.

Its time for a concerted effort to knock Albuquerque off its unfortunate pedestal as the stolen car capital of America.

We didnt reach that lofty ranking under the current administration of Mayor Tim Keller, but its his to deal with.

His predecessor, R.J. Berry, on more than one occasion blamed the push to lower the prisoner population at the Metropolitan Detention Center as a major culprit. And while there is truth to that  yes, many people who make a living at crime keep right on doing it when they are turned back on the street  other factors are at play.

Whatever the reasons, theres no debate over the scope of the problem as reported in last Sundays Albuquerque Journal by investigative reporter Mike Gallagher. Albuquerques auto theft rate has tripled since 2013 with an unbelievable 7,684 cars and trucks stolen in the Duke City in 2017. Our stolen car totals far outstrip those of much larger cities like Austin and Denver.

Get-out-of-jail-free cards notwithstanding, the anemic ranks of the Albuquerque Police Department have a lot to do with the problem.

With an estimated shortage of 300 to 400 officers, one of the biggest weapons in the auto-theft law enforcement arsenal has almost been taken off the table  and thats cops on patrol, making traffic stops and running license plates against their computer database.

Simply put, APD just doesnt have the manpower to do that job effectively, and bad guys can more or less drive around with impunity.

And the specialized unit that focuses on auto theft has shrunk from 19 officers in 2010 to five this year, according to a report prepared by the Keller administration. Thats a disturbing statistic.

Add in the flood of cheap Mexican methamphetamine and opiods to the area, and as Gallagher reported, it makes for a car-thief paradise where crooks have taken to stealing cars on their way to commit other crimes. Want to do a drive-by shooting or an armed robbery? Steal a car to do it.

It all adds up to a dangerous and unacceptable scenario.

On the solution front, Keller says his top priority is rebuilding the ranks of APD, which he should do with an eye toward putting this crime high on the list. Its personal, and it creates a danger to the community as jacked-up meth heads roll down the road in stolen rides.

Meanwhile, District Attorney Raul Torrez is reorganizing his office to prosecute repeat offenders and actually use the habitual offender laws mostly ignored by his predecessor to help take car thieves who also commit other crimes off the streets. Kudos to Torrez. Jail and prison, are in fact, a good place for many of these offenders, and his strategy of targeting the career offenders is smart.

Some additional help is on the way. Gov. Susan Martinez signed into law bipartisan legislation that will require auto dismantlers to check a state database to determine if a car is stolen before buying it. Sponsors include Rep. Monica Youngblood, R-Albuquerque, Rep. Patricio Ruiloba, D-Albuquerque, and Sen. Howie Morales, D-Silver City. Another bill sponsored by Rep. William Bill Rehm, R-Albuqerque and a retired sheriffs captain, forms an Auto Theft Prevention Authority.

These both hold promise, but it will be at least a year before they are effectively in operation.

Meanwhile, the public can help by reining in the terminal stupidity of leaving vehicles running with the keys in the ignition.

Car thieves  and some days it seems like they outnumber the cops on traffic patrol  actually troll city streets looking for those opportunities. Turn off your engine. Lock your car. Take your keys. The public can, indeed, help cops and prosecutors in this regard.

This blight on our city has been talked about for too long. Its time for a coordinated and focused effort to deal with it.

editorials

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.For 14-year-old Daniel Alex Castro, bilingualism is more than just an academic feat. Its a way of keeping his familys story and culture alive.

Spanish is a really big, important part of my family, said Castro, an eighth-grader at Truman Middle School.

Castros parents emigrated from Mexico about 14 years ago, coming to the States in order to get specialized medical care needed for his birth.

The teen, whose first language was Spanish, said being bilingual is both an investment in his future and a way to connect to many of his family members who either primarily or explicitly speak Spanish.

If you are going to learn about your culture, you should learn its primary language, he said. There are a lot of words, a lot of sayings, a lot of stories that do not translate.

Castro has recently been accepted into Albuquerque Public Schools bilingual seal program, which until recently he wouldnt have been eligible for.

APS is widening the reach of its bilingual seal program, which was previously only available at the high-school level, to elementary and middle school students.

The seal is a way to distinguish students who have studied and attained a high level of proficiency in English and another language, according to APS Bilingual Seal Handbook.

Every single job Ive had is because I am bilingual, said Madelyn Serna Marmol, assistant superintendent of equity, instruction and support. Since we do live in a bilingual state, I think its important to hold on to that.

The goal of incorporating younger students into the seal program is to create a pathway of bilingualism and biliteracy from the kindergarten level until the students graduate high school.

We have to implement recognition at an earlier age so they can foresee recognition at the high-school level, said Jessica Villalobos, senior director of language and cultural equity. It will be an incentive for them to get to that 12th-grade goal.

Villalobos said high school students and program graduates will serve as mentors for the younger kids.

The program will be flexible to fit the resources and needs of each school, but there are minimum requirements each school will have to adhere to, explained Sandra Alvarado, instructional manager for language and cultural equity.

One of the minimum requirements for the elementary and middle school level is three hours of content instruction daily in Spanish. From there, students go through a portfolio process, including an oral presentation and written work. And then students will present to a panel of community and staff members.

Bilingual-program schools across APS are beginning to implement the seal requirements, integrating the expectations into the classroom.

Villalobos said schools have already been implementing the seal portfolio for the past few years without recognition. Now, the seal pathway will allow students to be applauded for their bilingualism and biliteracy achievements.

While the elementary and middle school efforts are mirroring APS high school program, one difference is the languages offered.

The seal for high-schoolers is available for multiple languages, including Spanish, Navajo and German. The elementary and middle school programs are only available in Spanish.

In terms of programming, thats the only language where we have enough certified staff, Villalobos said.

May 2018 will usher in the first elementary and middle school students with the APS seal on their certificates of promotion. About 100 students, ranging from 5-year-olds to 13-year-olds, are expected to display the seal.

One of those students is anticipated to be Castro.

The seal means everything to me, he said. It really is an honor and I know my parents will be proud.Copyright  2018 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  In the campaign ad, Democrat Garrett VeneKlasen sounds confident  a little cheeky even  as he condemns a potential opponent, state Land Commissioner Aubrey Dunn.

If honesty were leather, VeneKlasen says, the State Land Office couldnt saddle a flea.

He tells listeners that Dunn, a Republican at the time, negotiated a billion-dollar power line through his personal ranch  a transaction thatll lead to a lot of money flowing his way.

But it isnt true, Dunn says, and he sued for defamation.

Now the 60-second radio ad  involving two candidates who arent even running for the same office  is at the center of an unusual legal dispute playing out in a Torrance County courtroom.

As New Mexicans prepare for an intense election season filled with negative advertising, the Dunn lawsuit illustrates the powerful First Amendment protections afforded to political speech.

The judge in the case, state District Judge Matthew Reynolds, has already undercut one of the claims in the ad.

Its clear, he said, that Dunn didnt negotiate the placement of the power line. And he said he was flabbergasted by part of VeneKlasens testimony about the ad.

But that alone isnt enough to win a defamation lawsuit.

Judge Reynolds has already rejected Dunns motion to order a halt to airing or publishing the ad.

Reynolds said courts must take care to avoid chilling political speech, even if he himself isnt thrilled with negative campaign ads.

Id rather have that than lose the First Amendment, the judge said at one point in a hearing last year.

Proof of malice

Defamation lawsuits are relatively rare in New Mexico, attorneys say, and defamation lawsuits involving campaign ads are rarer still.

The Dunn case underscores how difficult it is to win.

The land commissioner doesnt have to show just that the ad was false. Dunn has to prove that VeneKlasen acted with malice  that he either knew it was false and aired it anyway, or that he acted with reckless disregard for whether it was false.

As a public figure, Dunn faces a higher bar for winning a defamation suit.

The courts have consistently held that political speech is something which needs to be carefully protected and that you need to be able to have a robust debate, said state Rep. Jim Dines, an Albuquerque Republican and a retired lawyer with expertise in the First Amendment. Now what does that mean? How far can it go is usually decided on a case-by-case basis.

The framework for whats legal in cases like Dunns  the actual malice standard  is set out in a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in a case known as The New York Times Co. v. Sullivan.

The case centered on a 1960 advertisement published in The New York Times, critical of the police response to civil rights protesters. Some of the claims were inaccurate, and a public safety official in Alabama argued it was defamatory.

The Supreme Court eventually sided with the Times, taking note of the nations commitment to uninhibited, robust, and wide-open debate on public issues.

Public figures

Of course, those protections dont always sit well with candidates.

Former state Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, said he considered filing a lawsuit after an attack ad mocked him in 2016 for accepting a taxpayer-funded trip to Hawaii.

Sanchez says he has never been to Hawaii, much less traveled there with public money.

Sanchez, an attorney, said he researched the law but determined the threshold required for an elected official to win in court was too high.

The burden of proof is different than it is for a regular person, he said.

Sanchez, a Belen Democrat, lost the race in 2016.

Chuck Peifer, an Albuquerque lawyer with expertise in the First Amendment, said the law generally protects people speaking about public figures, even if they dont get their facts right.

Youre allowed to make mistakes, he said.

But you cant do it with knowledge that what youre saying is false or with reckless disregard for whether its false.

Matters of opinion, meanwhile, are usually protected, said Peifer, who represents the Albuquerque Journal.

Youre entitled to express your opinion, he said, even if your opinion may be ill-founded.

Ads claims

Dunn owns a cattle ranch 110 miles southeast of Albuquerque, near Mountainair.

A proposed power line would run right through it, in addition to going through state trust lands managed by Dunns office, carrying wind-generated electricity from New Mexico to Arizona.

VeneKlasen zeroed in on the intersection of Dunns ranch and the SunZia transmission line when he announced his campaign for land commissioner in May last year.

In a statewide radio ad, he said that, as commissioner, Dunn negotiated a deal to run a billion-dollar power line, not only through state trust land, but also through his personal ranch property. Thatll lead to a lot of money flowing his way.

Must be a coincidence, huh? Nah.

VeneKlasen urged people to vote for him as land commissioner to end the corrupt self-dealing and provide a fresh start.

But he wasnt quite so direct on the witness stand.

Under oath in a Torrance County courtroom last year, VeneKlasen was asked who in the Land Office is corrupt, that he knows of.

No one, he responded, according to a court transcript.

And he said he wasnt specifically talking about Dunn when he mentioned self-dealing in the radio ad  testimony the judge said left him flabbergasted.

VeneKlasen was actually speaking more generally about the history of the State Land Office, his attorney, Karen Mendenhall, told the judge.

Furthermore, the ad was based on publicly available information, including news articles, she said.

Dunn and his wife, Robin, for their part, testified in court that they had agreed to buy the ranch in 2014 without realizing the power line was supposed to cross through the middle of it.

The route, in any case, was set before that, Aubrey Dunn said, and he didnt become land commissioner until 2015.

Judge Reynolds summarized it this way: Its clear that Mr. Dunn did not negotiate the placement of the power line as it currently stands.

But the judge rejected Dunns bid for a court order halting publication of the ad. He took note of the Supreme Courts decision in the Sullivan case.

The First Amendment is critical to our democracy, Reynolds said at one point.

And he may be growing frustrated with Blair Dunn, the land commissioners son and attorney.

In a hearing this month, the judge said Dunn will have to pay part of VeneKlasens attorney fees for a dispute involving discovery  the process by which attorneys share information and evidence ahead of a trial, according to a log of the hearing in court records.

Reynolds also told Blair Dunn that he needed to decide whether he really wanted a trial or was just using the case as a platform for complaints about a political opponent of his father, according to the log.

In a statement to the Journal, Blair Dunn described the judges harsh reaction and commentary as inexplicable and he questioned whether hes being treated fairly.

Oddly enough, Aubrey Dunn and VeneKlasen arent even running for the same office.

Dunn, who switched his affiliation from Republican to Libertarian, is running for the U.S. Senate, challenging incumbent Democrat Martin Heinrich.

VeneKlasen, in turn, is one of three candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for land commissioner.

And soon enough, Dunn may not even own the ranch. Its on the market for about $8.9 million.

He and his wife havent agreed to allow the transmission line through the ranch. The SunZia project may take legal action to acquire the right to do so anyway.

Skepticism urged

Legality aside, New Mexicans can expect plenty of negative advertising this year. Voters will decide open races for governor, land commissioner and two congressional seats. And those are just the races without an incumbent.

Sanchez, the former senator, said people should be skeptical of the claims they see.

These ads that come out nowadays are so misleading, he said.

First Amendment attorney Peifer suggests that people examine the quality of the evidence used to support political claims.

Listen to all of the evidence, not just what a single self-interested speaker might have to say, he said.

Blair Dunn said the First Amendment protections for free speech are vital but for that speech to have meaning, it must be honest as to the facts.

Mendenhall, speaking to the judge last year, suggested that litigation isnt the right way to respond to campaign advertising.

If a candidate ran to the courthouse every time someone issued an ad that they took offense to, your honor, you would not be able to do much more on, at least, even-numbered years, she said.The sun shone against the white and brown-speckled feathers as two women counted to three, grasping the talons of a Broad-winged Ferruginous Hawk.

Loud cheers erupted Saturday as the raptor took flight, making a broad swoop over the crowd of onlookers before soaring over the golden grasses of the Valle de Oro Wildlife Refuge and landing a couple hundred yards away.

Shes getting her bearings, Gail Garber said, her eyes fixed on the raptor through binoculars.

Garber, executive director at Hawks Aloft, said the hawk had spent its last five months in rehab centers after being shot and left for dead nearly a hundred miles west.

Someone called the Hawks Aloft Raptor Rescue Hotline after finding the bird last autumn in Milan, N.M., extremely emaciated with a gunshot wound that broke the largest bone in its wing.

A volunteer with New Mexico Wildlife Rehabilitators Alliance shuttled the bird to the Petroglyph Animal Hospital and from there to multiple rehabilitation centers where she could condition her flight muscles.

Now we helped this bird go back, Garber said, minutes after releasing the hawk alongside Valle de Oro Refuge manager Jennifer Owen-White.

Why would someone shoot a hawk, or any other bird of prey, in the first place? Your guess is as good as Garbers.

Thats a good question, she said.

But it happens more than you may think: Hawks Aloft rescues over 150 birds a year through the 24/7 statewide hotline, which has been in operation for four years.

Just Friday, they got a call from the Navajo Nation about a bald eagle that had been shot down.

Whoever shot that bird, left it on the ground, pulled out all its tail feather and left it there to die, Garber said. Thats what I dont understand.

What Garber does know, the work they do cant be done alone.

Its all about the collaboration, she said.

Started in 1989, Hawks Aloft works with various organizations, veterinarians and volunteers across the state in its mission.

We all care about the same thing, and we all do our part, Garber said.

Owen-White, who has worked at the refuge for four years, has never had a job outside the conservation field.

She said the purpose of the urban refuge at Valle de Oro, and her personal passion, is educating people on the importance of wildlife.

I love connecting people to the outdoors, Owen-White said. The more that we can get people to places like this, and inspire them to care about this wildlife, maybe we can reduce the number of people who are shooting at these birds.

A professional quilt maker in her former life, Garber said she had a mid-life epiphany in 1989, when she saw a red-tailed hawk up close and fell in love.

It never occurred to me I could do this with my life, the 65-year-old said. Its the dream  I didnt really want to save the world  I just wanted to be working with birds.

Maria Garcia-Chavez got chills watching the hawk take flight Saturday morning.

Ive never seen something like it, Garcia-Chavez said. Its such a beautiful animal.

Garcia-Chavez, who watched the release beside her young son Killian, said she has always had a great respect for wildlife and was upset to hear of the hawks initial injury.

It makes me really sad and very angry  I think organizations like this shouldnt even exist in the first place, she said. Because we should all take care of exotic animals.

For Garber, the question of a favorite bird is a non-starter.

My favorite bird is the one Im looking at, whatever it happens to be, she said.

Many people have that dream of being able to fly and soar and be free, not have to follow political boundaries or any of that stuff.

Hawks hotline

Hawks Aloft Raptor Rescue Hotline is a 24/7 telephone service that responds to calls about injured birds statewide.

Call (505) 999-7740 to report an injured raptor, hawk, falcon, crow or raven.CORRECTION: This story has been updated to reflect the correct title for Rich Sack.

Copyright  2018 Albuquerque Journal

Rich Sack, acting fire planner for the Santa Fe and Carson national forests in northern New Mexico, works his way through a mental checklist and ends up with a feeling that this could be a pretty scary fire season for New Mexico.

Weve got severe drought conditions in northern New Mexico; snowpack at almost historic lows; and an exceptional grass crop from a pretty wet spring, summer and fall in 2017, Sack said.

Weve got this tall thick grass that is unseasonably dry for this time of year and that allows fire to propagate very quickly. And we have predictions for above-normal temperatures and below-normal precipitation this spring. All of this taken together translates to a forecast of above-level fire danger  at least through the spring.

After several years of relatively tame fire seasons, conditions are ripe for New Mexico to face a wilder ride this time out. Fire season can run from early spring to late fall and is already underway this year.

The Stateline Fire started March 8 in Union County, north of Clayton, and had burned 17,662 acres of state and private land in New Mexico, 10,331 acres in Colorado and 112 acres in Oklahoma as of Friday morning, when the fire was reported to be 80 percent contained.

Wendy Mason, spokeswoman for New Mexico State Forestry, said the Stateline Fire is proof of how dry New Mexico is. She said that, as of Thursday, State Forestry, which is responsible for battling blazes on state and private land, had responded to 108 fires, charring thousands of acres, since Jan. 1. That compares to 76 fires during the same period last year.

Hope hinges on what may be a better-than-normal monsoon season  but that doesnt arrive until mid- to late summer.

There are some signs we could have a fairly robust monsoon season, said Andrew Church, fire weather meteorologist for the Albuquerque office of the National Weather Service. That could shorten up the fire season on the back end. We could see an earlier end to the fire season.

The official monsoon season in North America is June 15 to Sept. 30. In New Mexico, Church said, the wettest stretch is typically June 15 to Sept. 15 in the south and July 1 to Sept. 15 in the central and northern parts. In an average monsoon season, Albuquerque gets 3.59 inches of rain.

Church said the good news is that La Nina, the weather pattern caused by lower-than-normal sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, is fading fast. La Nina is responsible for New Mexicos abnormally dry winter.

The bad news, Church said, is that La Nina left its mark in mountain snowpacks that are way below normal.

All the snowpacks are in pretty bad shape, he said.

Hotter and faster

Church said the snowpacks in the Pecos Wilderness east of Santa Fe and in the Gila River watershed in southwest New Mexico are at 4 percent of normal. The Rio Chama basin in north-central New Mexico has the most abundant snowpack at 43 percent of normal.

Todd Haines is Bernalillo District forester for State Forestry. The Bernalillo District covers 6.6 million acres in Bernalillo, Cibola, McKinley, Valencia, Sandoval, Torrance, Los Alamos and Santa Fe counties. Haines said the dismal snowpack situation spells trouble for the mountain forests.

Its prime fire season up in the high country, fires will burn hotter and faster, he said. The small stuff, grass and pine needles, burns fast all the time. But, this year, the larger diameter logs, not saturated by snowpack, will burn faster than normal, too.

Brent Davidson, fire management officer for the Sandia District of the Cibola National Forest, said the lack of snowpack and the abundance of grasses means wildfires this year are as likely to burn on the peaks as they are on the plains. Considering the adverse conditions, he said one of the best things fire managers such as himself can do is remove potential problems by felling trees to thin out forests and employing prescribed or controlled burns to eliminate fuel buildup.

We did just under 500 acres of prescribed burns in the Sandia District in the fall, he said.

Geared up

The Las Cruces District of the Bureau of Land Management has prescribed burns planned for Socorro and Otero counties this week. Working with Holloman Air Force Base, the BLM plans to do the burns on the Red Rio Bombing Range, on White Sands Missile Range about 18 miles west of Carrizozo, and on the Centennial Bombing Range about 20 miles northeast of Oro Grande.

Mark Bernal, the BLM Las Cruces District fire management officer, said the intent is to burn out grasses about the bombing ranges to reduce the likelihood that fires that begin on the ranges will spread beyond them.

Ricky Cox, BLM Las Cruces District fuels specialist, said prescribed burns are the positive side of fire.

We are trying to take the opportunities to use fire when it is the right tool in the box, he said.

Ryan Whiteaker, fire staff officer for the Lincoln National Forest in southeast New Mexico, said there has not been a significant fire in Lincoln during the four years he has been assigned to the forest.

But we are definitely in dry conditions now and geared up for a potent, busy fire season, he said. All engines will be staffed and ready to go, our air-tanker base (at the Alamogordo airport) is open and ready to go, we have two hot-shot crews starting this weekend and they will be ready to go after a week of training. We are doing public outreach, asking people to watch their campfires and make sure the chains on their trucks arent dragging.

The Weather Services Church notes that if hope is hooked on an active monsoon season, luck might be linked to unanticipated but always-possible spring moisture.

One thing to keep in the back of your mind is one storm system, slow moving in March, April or May, a good soaking storm that is not going to make up for the snowpack but could put a dent in the fire season for sure  especially if we get some mountain snow and lowland rain.

Haines of State Forestry said firefighters call those unexpected wet kisses timely intrusions of moisture.

Just enough to get us to monsoon season, he said.NOME, Alaska  Alamogordos Nicolas Petit raced his way into second place out of almost 70 mushers from around the world and their sled dog teams in the 2018 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race early Wednesday morning.

The second-place ranking is Petits highest finish to date. Last year, Petit came in third place.

Petit crossed the finish line in Nome, Alaska at 5:15 a.m. with a team of 10 canine competitors leading the way. Petit started with a pack of 16 fierce, furry athletes but had to drop off six at checkpoints along the Iditarod Trail.

Norwegian musher Joar Leifseth Ulsom took first place this year. Ulsom crossed the finish line at 3 a.m., 2 hours before Petit.

Although Petit did not come out on top as he had hoped, he managed to beat defending champion and three time Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race winner Mitch Seavey.

Nevertheless, Petit said he is proud of himself and is happy for all the mushers who completed in the 1,000-mile trek.

Obviously second is second, but theres no remorse, Petit said. Theres only so much you can do about finding the trail in a blizzard because its a complete white out.

Although Petit was a favorite to win the Iditarod this year, this is the second time Petit has finished in the top three.

Petit, 36, has raced in the Iditarod eight times, and shows no signs of stopping.

Petit said since hes now finished in third and second place, he hopes to win the race next year.

Im going to race until I cant anymore, Petit said. I plan on being an Iditarod musher for years to come and live the dream of living with dogs forever.

During the race, Petit was in first place for most of the Iditarod but unfortunately, he took a wrong turn on his way to the Koyuk Checkpoint due to bad weather.

When Petit back-tracked from where he deviated, he realized he lost the lead permanently and cried but was still determined to catch up.

I was going against wind and snow. The trail markers were difficult to find, there was not that many of them, Petit said. Before the Iditarod race there was another mini-race called the Iron Dog and there were markers still on the trail. All of a sudden I couldnt find a marker anywhere. I found a bootie on the trail that a dog kicked off and I knew which musher it was.

That musher was Ulsom, who unknowingly passed Petit to take the lead.

Petit had lost about 90 minutes and had to go back to a checkpoint to rest before hitting the trail again.

I lost miles in that run at Koyuk, but I rested my dogs at the next checkpoint. I didnt think it was in my dogs best interest to make up that time, Petit said. After White Mountain, I let my dogs rip after that. We found the trail with the help of GPS and Im lucky I have dogs that listen. They knew the direction.

During the race, Petit was the first musher to make it to the Yukon and reached the Safety Checkpoint before Nome faster than any other musher.

Petit, who moved to Alaska in 1992, said he feels overwhelmed by all the support he received from his hometown where he spent part of his childhood, Alamogordo.

He thanked all his supporters and new fans from all over New Mexico.

I appreciate the new-found support from all the people I went to high school with and junior high, Petit said. Thanks a lot for supporting us because without the fans, we dont have a race. Them going to the website and clicking the buttons that helps the Iditarod also.Donald Trump wants to help the steel industry in this country, and he has announced plans for protective tariffs, claiming that trade wars are good, and easy to win. By way of explanation, Trump claims that steel  and many other industries  has been decimated by decades of unfair trade and bad policy.

Hes correct about one thing: This has been a problem many decades in the making. But its a problem rooted in disastrous decisions made by the steel companies themselves when Trump was still in elementary school.

At the end of World War II, American steel had no real challengers. It produced nearly three quarters of the worlds steel, and the factories of its biggest competition  Japan and Germany  lay in ruins. Giants like U.S. Steel looked poised to dominate the world for the foreseeable future.

Instead, the industry was lapped by foreign producers  and unfair trade practices were simply not a factor. Instead, the blame lies with U.S. manufacturers who held onto the so-called open hearth method of steel production decades after its expiration date.

Europeans, though, had no such attachment to the past, perhaps because many factories had been destroyed in the war. Moreover, they had started experimenting with the idea of turning iron into steel by blasting pure oxygen onto the molten metal. This method, which became known as the basic-oxygen process, first entered trial use in 1948 at a factory in Linz, Austria, owned by the small steel firm VOEST. The company soon built a full-scale commercial facility that went online in 1952.

Linz became something of an industrial mecca in the succeeding years, as steelmakers the world over visited to see this new process firsthand. Most became immediate converts, and with good reason: The cost of building steel mills using the basic-oxygen furnaces was 40 to 50 percent lower than conventional open-hearth factories; operating costs were 25 percent lower, though some studies suggested even greater cost savings.

But it was the productivity gains associated with the new process that should have raised eyebrows. One factory that made the shift could produce 40 tons of steel per hour using the open-hearth process, but after installing basic-oxygen equipment, it managed to quadruple that figure.

Unfortunately, Big Steel was too proud to notice Europe gaining ground. In a typical advertisement from the era, U.S. Steel claimed it was a company where the big idea is innovation. But this claim  much like so many of the braggadocios claims of today  could not hide a more disturbing reality.

Indeed, throughout the 1950s, as Europes steelmakers built new factories around the basic-oxygen process and simultaneously demolished its remaining open-hearth furnaces, Big Steel made endless excuses. Representatives of the Big Three  Bethlehem, U.S. Steel, and Republic  repeatedly claimed that the jury was out on the new method, all evidence to the contrary.

By 1957, even Congress realized that something was amiss, and it summoned steel industry executives to testify. In one particularly cringe-worthy performance, a U.S. Steel representative told a committee: The distinguishing characteristic of the American steel industry is its tremendous productiveness, a quality which other countries have been unable to emulate so far, later adding that the company had examined the methods popular in Europe but found them wanting.

This was madness. While Big Steel fiddled, basic-oxygen furnaces burned ever brighter around the world. So, too, did yet another method of making steel that was even more revolutionary: the electric-arc method. This technique used electricity to recycle iron scrap, turning it into steel. Unlike conventional steel mills, electric arc mills are small-scale enterprises that are easy to establish and cheap to build, even if they cant produce anywhere near the scale of a conventional integrated mill.

The Europeans began building these, too, en masse. As these two methods continued to take off in Europe, then in Japan and elsewhere in Asia, American companies continued to add completely inefficient open-hearth furnaces to their shop floors, doubling down on an obsolescent technology.

By the 1960s, Big Steel began building basic-oxygen plants, grudgingly. It was too late. The steel industry had squandered its supremacy.

It could have gone differently: Economists who have run counterfactual scenarios  in which Big Steel made the necessary capital improvements to stay competitive  suggest that the American companies could have stayed on top, and reaped even greater profits than it did by postponing the inevitable upgrades.

But theres a final twist to this tale that highlights the absurdity of Trumps strategy. In the 1960s, a man named Ken Iverson took over a conglomerate that acquired a stake in the steel business that became Nucor. Iverson then bet the firms future on making steel using the electric arc process, building the first American facility in 1969. It began growing at an exponential rate, competing rather effectively with foreign producers, to say nothing of other American producers.

As other steel producers begged for protectionist trade policy, Iverson mocked the idea. In an interview in 1986, Iverson noted that protectionist measures already instituted hadnt had the desired effect. As soon as prices began to rise so that the steel companies began to be profitable, they stopped modernizing, he said. Its only under intense competitive pressure  both internally from the mini-mills, and externally from the Japanese and the Koreans  that the big steel companies have been forced to modernize.

Nucor has since become the nations largest domestic steel producer. Yet it has started to act like the U.S. Steel of old. After Trump announced the tariff, Nucors CEO vigorously applauded the move, claiming it was long overdue.

Stephen Mihm, is an associate professor of history at the University of Georgia.LAGUNA PUEBLO  He could have made it an easier fight.

He was glad he didnt.

In an old-fashioned donnybrook of a prize fight, Albuquerque welterweight Josh Torres pounded out a victory by sixth-round-round TKO over Californian Moris Rodriguez Saturday night at Route 66 Casino Hotel.

Torres improved his record to 17-6-2 with nine knockouts. Rodriguez, whose record belies his toughness and heart, is 7-11 with four KOs.

Afterward, Torres acknowledged he might have avoided some punishment with more movement and more frequent use of his jab.

But, he said, that was never the plan.

I wanted to move forward, he said. I wanted to bring out a mean streak.  I wanted to show the people how much I wanted it, and I think I did that tonight.

The bruising, back-and-forth battle appeared to turn in the fourth, when Torres battered a seemingly gassed Rodriguez almost throughout. Rodriguez went back to his corner with his right eye almost completely closed.

But the California fighter, perhaps out of desperation, rallied in the fifth and won the round on the Journals scorecard.

In the sixth, however, a furious assault by Torres pinned Rodriguez in a corner and prompted referee Rocky Burke to stop the fight at the 55-second mark.

Conditioning, Torres said, was crucial.

Thats what we worked for, he said.

In the semi-main event, Albuquerque featherweight Jason Sanchez remained unbeaten (12-0, six KOs) with a victory by wire-to-wire unanimous decision over Mexico super-veteran German Meraz (58-47-2, 35 KOs).

The judges scores were 80-72, 80-72 and 79-73.

In other bouts:

Featherweight Aaron Angel Perez, making his pro debut, overwhelmed fellow Albuquerquean Levi Lucero from the opening bell before dropping him with a flurry. The skill-challenged Lucero (0-1) did not get up, and Perez was a winner by knockout in 1:25 of the first.

Albuquerque junior welterweight Christian Castillo (2-0, two KOs) twice blasted Hereford, Texas Timothy Ruiz (pro debut) to the canvas with right hands, winning by TKO in just 1:26 of the first round.

Jose Prado (9-2, three KOs), a junior welterweight from Pharr, Texas but who trains in Hobbs, survived a final-round knockdown to defeat Belens Gene Perez (2-12-1) by split decision over four rounds.

Welterweight Ronnie Baca (3-0-1, two KOs) rendered fellow Albuquerquean Alexis Saucedo (pro debut) unconscious with a picture-perfect right hand, scoring a first-round knockout.

In the semi-main, Meraz showed little in the face of Sanchezs superior skills other than the survival tactics that now have allowed him to go the distance in all but eight of his 107 fights.

After absorbing several body shots and having his head snapped back by a Sanchez jab in the first, Meraz spent most of the fight on the proverbial bicycle. When Sanchez managed to close the distance, Meraz repeatedly tied him up.

Even so, Sanchez continued to find the range with hard shots to body and head with little response from Meraz.

That was the case, at least, until Meraz landed several hard shots in round five. But Sanchez was back in almost total control the rest of the way.

In the opening bout of the night, Prado appeared en route to a comfortable victory when the always-game Perez first stunned, then dropped him early in the fourth round. But Prado beat the count, made it to the finish line and was awarded a 38-37 verdict by two of the judges for his work in the first three. The remaining judge scored it 39-36 for Perez.

Castillo, in dispatching Ruiz with those two brutal right hands, more then lived up to his nickname: Castigo, the Spanish word for punishment.AJO, Ariz.  U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is continuing his visit of the U.S.-Mexico border in southern Arizona.

After viewing parts of Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge on horseback Saturday, Zinke was scheduled to tour Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Ajo on Sunday.

He also plans a short hike of the monument if there is time.

The refuge and the monument are under Zinkes department and located within the Border Patrols Tucson Sector, which is a busy crossing point for drug smugglers and migrants entering the United States illegally.

Zinke is scheduled to meet Monday with the National Mining Association in the Phoenix area.

He arrived in Arizona last Friday to give the keynote address at the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundations annual convention in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler.Customer Logins

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Please enable notifications in your browser and reload the page.Visiting Ramallah these days, it is hard to say what Palestinian politicians are watching more of on TV  Palestinian news or Israeli news.

There is great curiosity within the Palestinian leadership about the eventual Israeli elections. After closely following Israeli news, they know that even if the immediate threat of early elections was averted, this eventuality should not be dismissed. In fact, most of the senior Palestinian officials Al-Monitor spoke with in recent days rejoice openly about the investigations Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under, but they doubt this will hurt him politically. A decade of Netanyahu rule has also convinced them that he may be there forever and a day.

Yet a senior PLO official close to President Mahmoud Abbas told Al-Monitor that Israeli elections are never a forgone conclusion. He is a savant of Israeli politics and recalls very well the 1996 hopes for a Peres victory on the evening of election day, only to wake up the morning after to a Netanyahu victory and to the end of the Oslo process.

According to this Palestinian official, there is a clear decision by the leadership in Ramallah not to interfere in an eventual Israeli election. He compares the current situation to that of the 1996 elections, when US President Bill Clinton supported Shimon Peres, while Hamas and Hezbollah generated violence in Israel, thus strengthening the Israeli right. Nowadays, he argued, we have again a US president backing the Israeli incumbent. President Donald Trump is backing Netanyahu by moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem and possibly attending the ceremony. And we also have again the Palestinian fundamentalists. As in 1996, they would like nothing more than a victory of the Israeli right and the settler movement because a conflict would strengthen them in the Palestinian street.

The PLO official believes that May could turn into a violent month. Trumps decision to relocate the embassy and his statement that Jerusalem is off the table have shocked many Palestinians. The inauguration of the new embassy could thus lead to anything between violent terror attacks to an Al-Aqsa intifada.

The PLO official said that there is also a sense of transition in Ramallah. Pressure on Abbas is growing to appoint a deputy from Fatah  not only as general preparation for the post-Abbas era, but also to guarantee that popular candidates such as Mohammed Dahlan and Marwan Barghouti will not step in. He did not elaborate on Abbas health situation except by saying that Abbas was not a young man anymore.

Palestinian sources argue that Abbas will continue his cautious approach, while standing firm against Trumps policies and his eventual new plans. Abbas plans to galvanize his main Arab partners into a peace initiative for a two-state solution, in cooperation with the European Union and Russia. (The official said that Israelis must know that there is an alternative to their annexation policies.) In fact, the Palestinian president has decided to continue full security cooperation with Israel, since in this sensitive period he wants to prevent violence generated by the more radical Palestinian factions.

The Ramallah leadership would prefer to see a change of power in Israel to the center-left, led by Yesh Atids Yair Lapid and the Zionist Camp. Still, they nourish little hope for a shift in settlement policies even if the center-left wins. They estimate that both of these candidates  Lapid and Zionist Camp's Avi Gabbay  would ally with the right.

The PLO source concluded that in Palestinian eyes, the next elections in Israel would constitute a de facto referendum on Netanyahu and the settlements. If Netanyahu is re-elected despite his criminal investigation, it would signal Israeli support for his annexation policies and objection to a two-state solution. He said that like in 1996, Fatah would prefer a center-left victory, while Hamas and Hezbollah want the Israeli right to have the upper hand.

A senior Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs official close to Netanyahu told Al-Monitor that Abbas policies and rhetoric were his way of vindicating Netanyahus repeated claim that there is no Palestinian partner to a peace process and that most Israelis are conscious of it. He also is confident that if elections were to take place soon, Netanyahu would be re-elected.Hisham Omari has one of the most difficult jobs in Palestine. As director general of the Jerusalem District Electricity Company (JDECO), his job is to supply energy to some 280,000 customers spanning four districts. The company, the largest in Jerusalem, has become a national icon for Palestinians and a source of national pride.

The private/public company, which has been operating under an extended concession, has the exclusive rights to supply electricity to the districts of Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Ramallah and Jericho. In an interview with Al-Monitor, Omari explained the complicated legal and administrative nature of his work. We work with the Palestinian Authority in Areas A and B and with the Israeli civil administration in Area C and with the Israeli government in the annexed areas of Jerusalem.

Omari explained that the company buys most of its electricity from Israel; although in recent years, they have been supplying some of their customers energy needs with power coming from Jordan. Jordanian electricity is cheaper and strategic for Palestinians. We are hoping to increase the electricity we buy from Jordan, even though Israel restricts that energy to be only used in the Jericho district.

The 8.5-kilometer (roughly 5-mile) electricity line from the Jordanian town of Sweimeh across the King Hussein Bridge cost $6 million and was provided to the people of Palestine with a $5 million grant from the Islamic Development Bank and $1 million from Norway. Power began to flow to the tune of 20 megawatts to Jericho customers in February 2008 by way of JDECO.

The Jericho district will also be a new source of energy. An agreement to help build solar energy farms was signed with the Turkish Zorlu Energy in July 2017. Omari said that the Turkish company made a very generous offer to the Palestinians. As part of its corporate social responsibility, Zorlu provided us with a very generous offer to help generate solar energy at extremely good rates, he said. He expects the new solar farms to help cut the energy needs of JDECO by 20%.

Despite the positive changes that are taking place with Jordan and the private Turkish companys solar support, JDECO is still facing huge challenges dealing with Israel and with the Palestinian government.

Omari noted that the company is suing Israel for 500 million shekels ($145 million) in lost revenues due to encroachment on the companys concession. They have connected the light rail line with the Israeli Electricity Corporation, even though the rail line runs through our areas of concession. There are many other locations in which Israel supplies power in areas that are part of our concession," he added.

JDECO has had a monopoly over supplying electricity in the larger Jerusalem area for nearly 100 years. Its first concession was signed during the British Mandate and has been extended under Jordanian rule. In 1988, Jordan extended the concession for another 60 years, but Israel has only agreed to an extension until 2030.

The concession allows the company to have a monopoly in supplying electricity on condition that the price to the customers is regulated. Israel decides the cost to customers in areas under its administrative control (Jerusalem and Area C), while the Palestinian government decides the price to Palestinian customers living in the four major cities in Area A and to those living in Area B. Areas A and B were created as part of the Oslo Accord. The accord conferred to the Palestinian government administrative and security control over major Palestinian cities and administrative control over the surrounding towns and villages marked as Area B.

Omari is also not very pleased with JDECOs relations with the Palestinian government. A verbal promise made in 2001 by the late Yasser Arafat to spare Palestinians in refugee camps the cost of energy has added to the debt of the company. All efforts to reverse this decision have failed.

We dont feel that the Palestinian government is our partner on the ground, Omari said. He complained that the Palestinian government is suing them for 240 million shekels ($69 million) on what he insists are not reflective of JDECOs debts. The case is taking place while the governments main investment branch, the Palestine Investment Fund, decided in 2017 to invest in 10% of JDECO.

Ever since the occupation and the Israeli unilateral annexation, JDECO has been seen as an important Palestinian institution. But in recent years, it has been hobbled by debt and its effectiveness has been greatly reduced. JDECO is one of the biggest employers in Jerusalem, with more than 1,000 Palestinians working for the company, according to Omari. As the struggle for Jerusalem and its identity intensifies, the role of a company this large becomes crucial in defending Palestinian national identity and the rights of Palestinians in and around Jerusalem.US President Donald Trumps decision to replace Secretary of State Rex Tillerson with CIA Director Mike Pompeo came at a time of major foreign policy challenges for Washington. As Americas chief diplomat, Pompeo will have to address several sensitive dilemmas in the Middle East, including the Qatar crisis and Washingtons difficult relations with Turkey and Iran. His nomination is producing optimism in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that Americas positions regarding Doha, Ankara and Tehran will shift in a direction that is more favorable to Abu Dhabi.

Pompeos record is staunchly anti-Islamist, which appeals to the UAE. As a US lawmaker, Pompeo co-sponsored the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act of 2015, which identified the movement as a terrorist organization and linked three US-based Islamic groups  the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Islamic Society of North America and the North American Islamic Trust  to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. (The bill did not make it out of committee.) In 2014, the UAE designated CAIR and the Muslim American Society as terrorist organizations, underscoring a narrative that certain Islamic organizations in America have terrorist connections. Ultimately, given Pompeos strong opposition to such US-based groups, the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, it is possible that Pompeo will be far less keen than Tillerson to pressure the Saudi/UAE-led bloc to tone down its rhetoric about Qatars alleged sponsorship of terrorism and to ease or lift the blockade.

The UAE drives anti-Turkey discourse in Washington. Abu Dhabis ambassador to Washington has harshly condemned Ankaras role in the Middle East, maintaining that most Americans fail to grasp the extent to which Turkey has changed in recent years as well as the long-term threat it poses to most of us. Indeed, tensions between Turkey and the UAE have heated up, especially due to Egypts internal political developments since 2013, the failed Turkish coup plot of July 15, 2016, (which Turkish officials and various pundits openly accuse the Emiratis of playing a hand in orchestrating and bankrolling with $3 billion) and the multisided Syrian civil war. In Turkey there is a perception that Abu Dhabi is supporting the Kurdistan Workers Party. The UAE opposes Turkey's Operation Olive Branch and Abu Dhabi condemned Turkeys shooting down of a Russian fighter jet that was flying over northern Syria (and briefly over southern Turkey) in November 2015.

That Pompeo called Turkey and Iran totalitarian Islamist dictatorships one day after the failed coup attempt of 2016 in response to the Iranian foreign ministers tweet expressing solidarity with Turkeys elected government is not forgotten in Ankara, where Turkish officials view the State Department shake-up with unease. Unquestionably, Tillersons recent visit to Ankara was understood as a success in terms of easing tension in the shaky alliance between America and its fellow NATO member. The UAE would most welcome a new secretary of state who is less vested in improving understanding between Washington and Ankara over Turkeys actions in northern Syria, where the UAE alleges that Ankaras neo-Ottoman foreign policy is a threat to Arab interests.

Pompeo, known as a "hawks hawk," has a reputation for hard-line anti-Iran positions. According to Trumps explanation of his decision to replace Tillerson with Pompeo, differences of opinion on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) between the US president and the 69th secretary of state were an important factor. Although it is unclear how Trump and Pompeo will approach questions regarding the JCPOAs future, and how the two would deal with the question of Irans foreign policy in the Arab world if the JCPOA unravels, it is undoubtedly clear that Pompeos outlook toward the Islamic Republic will provide more assurance to the Emirati leadership about Washingtons commitment to pushing back against the expansion and consolidation of Iranian influence in the region.

Pompeo, who has called for regime change in Iran, appeals to the leadership in Abu Dhabi, which has previously urged Washington to consider direct military action against Irans nuclear facilities and resented the Barack Obama administrations diplomatic overtures to Tehran. The conclusion reached in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-linked Iranian media outlet Javan Daily is that Pompeo's becoming Americas chief diplomat will spell the end of the JCPOA.

Nonetheless, despite the optimism in the UAE about Tillersons firing, it is not entirely clear how much of an impact Pompeo will actually have on US foreign policy in the Middle East. It is premature to conclude that having Pompeo head the diplomatic arm of the US government will lead to Washington's embrace of an anti-Qatar agenda. Secretary of Defense James Mattis, who joined Tillerson in efforts to strengthen Washington-Doha relations over the past nine months, will likely continue to advocate for Qatar. At the same time, as the past nine months have demonstrated, the US-Qatar alliance is about institutions, not individuals. Qatars sovereign wealth fund  the Qatar Investment Authority  has made large investments in Americas economy, major American academic institutions have branches in Qatar, the emirate is important to the US defense industry and Americas largest military installation in the Middle East has been based at Qatar's al-Udeid air base since 2003.

However, when it comes to Turkey and Iran  where Washingtons relations with both countries have been increasingly tense throughout the 14-month Trump presidency  there is little reason to expect Pompeo to ease such friction. The UAE, determined to see the United States become more sympathetic to the Saudi/UAE-led blocs outlook on the region, will welcome a new tone set by Pompeo. Yet it is highly possibly the Emiratis will be disappointed if they place too much confidence in the ability of Pompeo to fundamentally transform Washingtons confusing foreign policy in the Middle East in Abu Dhabis favor.The repercussions of Iran's controversial arrest of the Shiite cleric Hussein Shirazi could include a weakening of Iranian influence over Shiites in Iraq. On March 6, Iranian authorities arrested Shirazi, who was beaten and insulted in front of his father, Grand Ayatollah Sayed Sadeq Shirazi, while the Shirazis were on their way home in the city of Qom. Hussein's detention stems from a recent lecture he gave to Qom seminary students on jurisprudence in which he compared the practices of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, to those of oppressive Egyptian pharaohs who couldn't be criticized or held accountable for their actions.

Hussein Shirazi and his father hold dual citizenship in Iran as well as in Iraq, where their influence is especially strong. Their family, whose roots date back 150 years in Iraq, founded the Shirazi political movement, which has followers across the Middle East. The Shirazi movement has traditionally held that a council of Islamic jurists should be in a position of authority in a country, rather than just one supreme leader, such as has been the case with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini or Khamenei.

Iraqi demonstrations against Hussein Shirazi's arrest broke out in front of the Iranian Consulate in Karbala , the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad and near the border with Iran in Basra . The protesters shouted slogans against the Iranian regime's ongoing repression of their religious leaders in Iran, and demanded Shirazi's immediate release . They also called on Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and his government to intervene and pressure Iran to release Shirazi.

In London, members of the Iraqi community protested in front of the Iranian Embassy. Four people were arrested after they climbed onto the porch and lowered the Iranian flag and then raised the Shirazi flag. British police intervened to restore calm.

Protests also took place in Kuwait and other Arab countries. During a demonstration in front of the Iranian Embassy in Kuwait City, Sheikh Yussef Mulla Hadi, a leader in the Shirazi movement in the country, described the Iranian regime as a dictatorship masquerading under the banner of velayet-e faqih (clerical rule) and demanded that Shiites around the world renounce it.

Sadeq Shirazi's older brother, Mohammad, was among the founders of the principle of velayet-e faqih, but the family believes Khamenei and Islamic Republic founder Khomeini have corrupted the concept. Mohammad Shirazi, who died in 2001, had called for establishing a velayet-e faqih, or council of jurists, but Khomeini advocated that ultimate authority be held by an individual.

Differences in interpretations appear to be leading to a Shirazi rejection of the concept of velayet-e faqih altogether. Hussein Shirazi now says velayet-e faqih, as implemented by Iran, enslaves the citizenry and contradicts the principles of freedom, equality and democracy

Mohammad Shirazi, who led the Shirazi movement, established his religious authority in Karbala during the 1960s and 1970s, until moving to Iran and settling in Qom in 1979. In the early 1970s, he founded the Islamic Action Organization, which supported liberation movements in the Islamic world, including that of the Palestinians. There also was a third brother, Hassan Shirazi, who was assassinated in Lebanon in 1980 because of his activities on behalf of the Shirazi movement.

Hussein Shirazi has made scathing comments against Khamenei over the years. In his most recent speech, he also criticized the brutal eight-year war (1980-88) between Iran and Iraq, which he described as a Khomeini political venture to expand Iran's Islamic Revolution. Shirazi has even gone so far as to compare Khomeini and Khamenei to the men who killed the Prophet Muhammad's grandson Hussein, revered by Shiite Muslims as the third imam.

Mohsen Kadivar, a prominent Iranian reformist cleric and visiting professor of religious studies at Duke University, has called velayet-e faqih a religious dictatorship. He believes the unprecedented, open criticism of clerical rule by Shiite clerics could create major problems for the Iranian regime. This is especially the case because such criticism is coming from the Shirazi movement, which is so strongly associated with political Shiite Islam and so deeply tied to the establishment of Iran's velayet-e faqih. Kadivar has called on the Shirazi movement's religious jurists to produce a doctrinal theory rejecting velayet-e faqih.

These developments, among a series of previous Iraqi Shiite reactions to Iran's role in Iraq  such as the cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's distancing himself from Iran and Iraqi Ayatollah Ali Sistani's refusal to meet with several Iranian officials  are likely to signal a potential curtailing of Iranian influence among Iraqi Shiites. It appears some Shiites are changing their views after experiencing the repressive practices of religious rule.If US President Donald Trump is willing to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, perhaps Iranian President Hassan Rouhani could be next.

The notion of a Trump-Rouhani meeting at first seems a long shot. Trump has labeled Iran a murderous regime and the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) as a deeply flawed agreement to curtail Irans nuclear weapons program. But there is precedent. Trump, who has a flair for the dramatic, actually sought a meeting with Rouhani on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September, via French President Emmanuel Macron, but the Iranian delegation turned down the request.

There is a question of what could be the model or standard for an agreement with North Korea that actually rolls back Pyongyangs intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and nuclear weapons programs, especially if the JCPOA is perceived as so deeply flawed by the Trump administration. CIA Director Mike Pompeo, who has been nominated to succeed Rex Tillerson as secretary of state, said March 11 that the United States will negotiate with North Korea from a position of enormous strength, in contrast with how the Obama administration handled the JCPOA, and that any agreement with North Korea would seek to avoid leaving North Korea with a nuclear weapons breakout capacity, as happened with Iran.

Unlike in the Iran nuclear negotiations, the United States would be seeking to compel North Korea to give up what it already has, which is a far more difficult ask than the JCPOA. Iran does not possess nuclear weapons or an intercontinental ballistic missile program. Kim, in contrast, has both, and has threatened the United States with nuclear attack. The US intelligence community has assessed that Pyongyang is committed to developing a long-range, nuclear-armed missile that is capable of posing a direct threat to the United States. Mark Fitzpatrick and Michael Elleman of the International Institute for Strategic Studies wrote earlier this month that none of the missiles Iran has under development come close to being able to hit the United States. Nor can they reach much of Europe beyond its southeastern corner.

Much diplomatic spadework is already underway on a range of issues where Washington and Tehran could begin to talk. There is an emerging consensus among the United States and its European allies that preventing Iran from developing an ICBM might be one of the issues on the table for a revised JCPOA.

With regard to the potential for escalation on the Israel-Syrian border, in this column last month we explained how the shuttle diplomacy of acting US Assistant Secretary of State David Satterfield between Israel and Lebanon over the Mediterranean gas exploration Block 9 opened a kind of back channel to Hezbollah, which everyone knows holds the Israel file in Beirut. There can be no talk about Block 9 without discussing the Blue Line, the disputed border demarcation between Israel and Lebanon, which cannot be disentangled from the Syria question, which in turn is connected to the relationships between the United States, Israel and Iran, we wrote. The Satterfield mission and the prospects of a back channel to Hezbollah and Iran, via the Lebanese government, may provide an opening to de-escalating a potential conflict on Israels borders, while beginning the needed spadework for an eventual settlement of Israel-Lebanon border issues. And Akiva Eldar explained earlier this month that Israel should build on these conversations for eventual direct talks with Iran.

A diplomatic track might facilitate the terms and timing of Hezbollahs exit from Syria, as well its role in Lebanon. Just last week Lebanese President Michel Aoun said Hezbollahs arms will be discussed following the May 6 elections. Aoun could not make such a statement without the nod from Hezbollah, so this is worth exploring. Back in 2013, three years before he became president, Aoun told Al-Monitor, I think Iran was using Hezbollah to make pressure on Israel. When the problem is settled up, the Iranians dont need Hezbollah anymore. Certainly they will have good relations  it doesn't harm us. We would like to have good relations with everybody. But as a normal choice, Iran  I dont think they will spend enough money to maintain this force, because it is very expensive.

Fifth, the JCPOA signatories  the United States, Iran, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and the European Union  could provide the context and venue for a meeting. The countries have held many meetings at the foreign minister level. This grouping could be reassembled to prepare for a Trump-Rouhani engagement, whether multilaterally or a one-on-one.

A good next step should involve straight talk this week from the Trump administration to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during his visit to the United States. While the kingdom may be less inclined for any diplomatic offering to Iran, the prince may be looking for an out in Yemen, which has become a quagmire and a source of international criticism for a siege that has led to a cholera outbreak and widespread starvation and suffering.

Bruce Riedel writes, The Saudi relationship with the Trump team is closer than with any president since George H.W. Bush and the liberation of Kuwait. This has not been without controversy. Riedel says the prince's anti-corruption drive in November was endorsed by US President Donald Trump but castigated in the Western media as a clumsy shakedown with little legitimacy. The whole affair is likely to produce more unseemly revelations. Human rights activists have noted that executions have doubled in the kingdom since Mohammed became crown prince. The long-promised opening of ARAMCO to foreign investment, the centerpiece of Vision 2030, is now put off to 2019.

Riedel continues, "As Al-Monitor has reported, opposition to US support for the war in Yemen is strengthening in the Senate. The Democrats who were reluctant to criticize the US posture when Barack Obama was in office are much less constrained now and more attentive to the humanitarian disaster the war has created. The Saudis have successfully blocked most media coverage of the war but even the White House has cautioned Riyadh to ease the blockade.

An Al-Monitor correspondent writes, While many might ask whether Tehran and Riyadh might one day head toward a win-win regional settlement, the outcome of the Yemeni war is proving day after day that both sides are not winning but are rather mired in a lose-lose situation that is draining the two regional powers in different arenas. Nonetheless, Saudi Arabia is the one paying more money and is directly involved in the war, while Irans main cost in Yemen is the additional international pressure for backing its Ansar Allah allies with weaponry and expertise without being directly involved in the fight.

The point here is that a diplomatic track with Iran would and should not be a sellout of Israel and Saudi Arabia, as Jerusalem and Riyadh complained about the JCPOA. A Trump-Rouhani meeting would be an opportunity to press ahead on means to avoid an Israel-Iran-Hezbollah confrontation, and to allow Saudi Arabia an honorable exit from the nightmare in Yemen. These outcomes may be ambitious and not assured, but there is no chance absent US diplomatic leadership. The people of Yemen and Syria, who have suffered enough, might also cheer an American diplomatic offensive.When I was a child growing up in a Gaza refugee camp, I looked forward to November 2. On that day, every year, thousands of students and camp residents would descend upon the main square of the camp, carrying Palestinian flags and placards, to denounce the Balfour Declaration.

Truthfully, my giddiness then was motivated largely by the fact that schools would inevitably shut down and, following a brief but bloody confrontation with the Israeli army, I would go home early to the loving embrace of my mother, where I would eat a snack and watch cartoons.

At the time, I had no idea who Balfour was, and how his declaration all those years ago had altered the destiny of my family and, by extension, my life and the lives of my children as well.

All I knew was that he was a bad person and, because of his terrible deed, we subsisted in a refugee camp, encircled by a violent army and by an ever-expanding graveyard filled with martyrs.

Balfour had pledged my homeland to another people [Getty Images]

Decades later, destiny would lead me to visit the Whittingehame Church, a small parish in which Arthur James Balfour is now buried.

While my parents and grandparents are buried in a refugee camp, an ever-shrinking space under a perpetual siege and immeasurable hardship, Balfours resting place is an oasis of peace and calmness. The empty meadow all around the church is large enough to host all the refugees in my camp.

The British government remains unrepentant after all these years. It has yet to take any measure of moral responsibility, however symbolic, for what it has done to the Palestinians.

Finally, I became fully aware of why Balfour was a bad person.

Once Britains Prime Minister, then the Foreign Secretary from late 1916, Balfour had pledged my homeland to another people. That promise was made on November 2, 1917, on behalf of the British government in the form of a letter sent to the leader of the Jewish community in Britain, Walter Rothschild.

At the time, Britain was not even in control of Palestine, which was still part of the Ottoman Empire. Either way, my homeland was never Balfours to so casually transfer to anyone else. His letter read:

His Majestys government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.

He concluded, I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.

Ironically, members of the British parliament have declared that the use of the term Zionist is both anti-Semitic and abusive.

The British government remains unrepentant after all these years. It has yet to take any measure of moral responsibility, however symbolic, for what it has done to the Palestinians. Worse, it is now busy attempting to control the very language used by Palestinians to identify those who have deprived them of their land and freedom.

But the truth is, not only was Rothschild a Zionist, Balfour was, too. Zionism, then, before it deservedly became a swear word, was a political notion that Europeans prided themselves to be associated with.

In fact, just before he became Prime Minister, David Cameron declared, before the Conservative Friends of Israel meeting, that he, too, was a Zionist. His successor, Theresa May, even celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Balfour declaration, with pride.

To some extent, being a Zionist remains a rite of passage for some Western leaders.

A rally in Beirut commemorating the Balfour declaration in 1945 [Getty Images]

Balfour was hardly acting on his own. True, the Declaration bears his name, yet, in reality, he was a loyal agent of an empire with massive geopolitical designs, not only concerning Palestine alone but with Palestine as part of a larger Arab landscape.

Just a year earlier, another sinister document was introduced, albeit secretly. It was endorsed by another top British diplomat, Mark Sykes and, on behalf of France, by Francois Georges-Picot. The Russians were informed of the agreement, as they too had received a piece of the Ottoman cake.

The document indicated that, once the Ottomans were soundly defeated, their territories, including Palestine, would be split among the prospective victorious parties.





The Sykes-Picot Agreement, also known as the Asia Minor Agreement, was signed in secret 102 years ago, two years into World War I. It signified the brutal nature of colonial powers that rarely associated land and resources with people that lived upon the land and owned those resources.

The centrepiece of the agreement was a map that was marked with straight lines by a china graph pencil. The map largely determined the fate of the Arabs, dividing them in accordance with various haphazard assumptions of tribal and sectarian lines.

Once the war was over, the loot was to be divided into spheres of influence:

France would receive areas marked (a), which included: the region of south-eastern Turkey, northern Iraq  including Mosel, most of Syria and Lebanon.

British-controlled areas were marked with the letter (b), which included: Jordan, southern Iraq, Haifa and Acre in Palestine and a coastal strip between the Mediterranean Sea and the River Jordan.

Russia would be granted Istanbul, Armenia and the strategic Turkish Straits.

The improvised map consisted not only of lines but also colours, along with language that attested to the fact that the two countries viewed the Arab region purely on materialistic terms, without paying the slightest attention to the possible repercussions of slicing up entire civilizations with a multifarious history of co-operation and conflict.

The agreement read, partly:

 in the blue area France, and in the red area Great Britain, shall be allowed to establish such direct or indirect administration or control as they desire and as they may think fit to arrange with the Arab state or confederation of Arab states.

The brown area, however, was designated as an international administration, the nature of which was to be decided upon after further consultation among Britain, France and Russia. The Sykes-Picot negotiations finished in March 1916 and were official, although secretly signed on May 19, 1916. World War I concluded on November 11, 1918, after which the division of the Ottoman Empire began in earnest.

British and French mandates were extended over divided Arab entities, while Palestine was granted to the Zionist movement a year later, when Balfour conveyed the British governments promise, sealing the fate of Palestine to live in perpetual war and turmoil.

INTERACTIVE: A century on  Why Arabs resent Sykes-Picot

The idea of Western peacemakers and honest-brokers, who are very much a party in every Middle Eastern conflict, is not new. British betrayal of Arab aspirations goes back many decades. They used the Arabs as pawns in their Great Game against other colonial contenders, only to betray them later on, while still casting themselves as friends bearing gifts.

Nowhere else was this hypocrisy on full display as was in the case of Palestine. Starting with the first wave of Zionist Jewish migration to Palestine in 1882, European countries helped to facilitate the movement of illegal settlers and resources, where the establishment of many colonies, large and small, was afoot.

So when Balfour sent his letter to Rothschild, the idea of a Jewish homeland in Palestine was very much plausible.

Still, many supercilious promises were being made to the Arabs during the Great War years, as self-imposed Arab leadership sided with the British in their war against the Ottoman Empire. Arabs were promised instant independence, including that of the Palestinians.

The understanding among Arab leaders was that Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations was to apply to Arab provinces that were ruled by the Ottomans. Arabs were told that they were to be respected as a sacred trust of civilisation, and their communities were to be recognised as independent nations.

Palestinians wanted to believe that they were also included in that civilisation sacredness, and were deserving of independence, too. Their conduct in support of the Pan-Arab Congress, as voting delegates in July 1919, which elected Faisal as a King of a state comprising Palestine, Lebanon, Transjordan and Syria, and their continued support of Sharif Hussein of Mecca, were all expressions of their desire for the long-coveted sovereignty.





When the intentions of the British and their rapport with the Zionists became too apparent, Palestinians rebelled, a rebellion that has never ceased, 99 years later, for the horrific consequences of British colonialism and the eventual complete Zionist takeover of Palestine are still felt after all these years.

Paltry attempts to pacify Palestinian anger were to no avail, especially after the League of Nations Council in July 1922 approved the terms of the British Mandate over Palestine  which was originally granted to Britain in April 1920  without consulting the Palestinians at all, who would disappear from the British and international radar, only to reappear as negligible rioters, troublemakers, and obstacles to the joint British-Zionist colonial concoctions.

Despite occasional assurances to the contrary, the British intention of ensuring the establishment of an exclusively Jewish state in Palestine was becoming clearer with time.

The Balfour Declaration was hardly an aberration, but had, indeed, set the stage for the full-scale ethnic cleansing that followed, three decades later.

The Balfour Declaration set the stage for the full-scale ethnic cleansing that followed three decades later [Getty Images]

In his book, Before Their Diaspora, Palestinian scholar Walid Khalidi captured the true collective understanding among Palestinians regarding what had befallen their homeland nearly a century ago: The Mandate, as a whole, was seen by the Palestinians as an Anglo-Zionist condominium and its terms as instruments for the implementation of the Zionist programme; it had been imposed on them by force, and they considered it to be both morally and legally invalid. The Palestinians constituted the vast majority of the population and owned the bulk of the land. Inevitably, the ensuing struggle centred on this status quo. The British and the Zionists were determined to subvert and revolutionise it, the Palestinians to defend and preserve it.

In fact, that history remains in constant replay: The Zionists claimed Palestine and renamed it Israel; the British continue to support them, although never ceasing to pay lip service to the Arabs; the Palestinian people remain a nation that is geographically fragmented between refugee camps, in the diaspora, militarily occupied, or treated as second-class citizens in a country upon which their ancestors dwelt since time immemorial.

While Balfour cannot be blamed for all the misfortunes that have befallen Palestinians since he communicated his brief but infamous letter, the notion that his promise embodied  that of complete disregard of the aspirations of the Palestinian Arab people  is handed from one generation of British diplomats to the next, the same way that Palestinian resistance to colonialism is also spread across generations.

In his essay in Al-Ahram Weekly, entitled Truth and Reconciliation, the late Professor Edward Said wrote: Neither the Balfour Declaration nor the Mandate ever specifically concede that Palestinians had political, as opposed to civil and religious, rights in Palestine.

The idea of inequality between Jews and Arabs was, therefore, built into British  and, subsequently, Israeli and US  policy from the start.

That inequality continues, thus the perpetuation of the conflict. What the British, the early Zionists, the Americans and subsequent Israeli governments failed to understand, and continue to ignore at their peril, is that there can be no peace without justice and equality in Palestine; and that Palestinians will continue to resist, as long as the reasons that inspired their rebellion nearly a century ago, remain in place.

One hundred years later, the British government is yet to possess the moral courage to take responsibility for what their government has done to the Palestinian people.

One hundred years later, Palestinians insist that their rights in Palestine cannot be dismissed, neither by Balfour nor by his modern peers in Her Majestys Government.

This page was first published at the 99th anniversary of the Balfour declaration and has been updated since.Recently, a Duluth school district in Minnesota decided to drop Mark Twains The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Harper Lees To Kill a Mockingbird from its required reading list because of the books use of the n-word (The books will remain on a list that students have the option of reading). While this is an important step in the right direction, it barely scratches the surface of a more deeply troubling issue. Many white-authored classics are racist and damaging to students of colour, and their usage of racial slurs is merely the tip of the iceberg for why texts such as these should be left off of literature syllabi.

Both Huck Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird incorporate the common white-saviour/magical negro or native trope whereby indigenous, brown and black characters exist as mere devices to help white characters attain moral enlightenment. Jim in Huck Finn and Tom Robinson in To Kill a Mockingbird, like other indigenous, black and brown characters in the predominantly white-authored literary canon, are flat and grossly stereotypical. They lack their own agency, autonomy and humanity, and exist in deplorable conditions only to be pitied by more vividly drawn white characters, victims whose victimhood is the crux of the frequently employed white saviour plot. The more helpless these characters are, the greater, more courageous, more impressive the white saviours rescue seems.

Some critics argue that the Duluth school districts decision was a mistake because Huck Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird, teach students about racism. This is only the case, of course, if by students we mean white students. Indigenous, brown and black students dont learn anything about racism written from the oppressors point of view, and the portrayal of such flagrant racism hardly reflects the reality of what many indigenous and students of colour endure in their daily lives.

If people can evolve to become more inclusive and less harmful, shouldn't the predominantly white literary canon evolve, too?

Instead, white savior books reinforce the extremely demeaning and derogatory notion that indigenous, black, and brown people exist only to serve the needs, goals and aspirations of white people  which when read could increase students stress levels, while also negatively impacting their self-esteem and limiting their ability to see themselves as powerful agents of change in the world.

Novels that incorporate the white saviour trope also exemplify poor literary craft. Take To Kill a Mockingbird. In the book, a white lawyer named Atticus Finch defends Tom Robinson, a black man, who is falsely accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell, in Maycomb, Alabama, in the 1930s. After his trial and conviction, Tom attempts to escape from prison and is shot and killed.

Tom, as a character, exists only to be saved by Atticus and to attempt to teach the white community of Maycomb, specifically, Atticus two children Jem and Scout, about racism. As you grow older, Atticus says, youll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and dont you forget it  whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash.

In a graduate school creative writing class, I asked students to name some of the characteristics of Atticus Finch. Their adjectives filled an entire dry-erase board. Generous. Intellectual. Forthright. Moral. Diligent. When I asked them to do the same for Tom Robinson, they stumbled a bit before suggesting selfless and kind, for the occasional free labour he did for his accuser, Mayella Ewell. Other than what Tom says on the stand during his trial, where he is playing the role of victim to serve this white saviour plot, we learn little else about him. We know nothing about what kind of father he is, what interests he has. Harper Lee gives Tom little substance or dimension.

The movement to diversify and decolonise reading lists is nothing new. We Need DiverseBooks is a grassroots organisation with the goal to produce and promote books that reflect and honour the lives of all young people. The twitter hashtag #ownvoices demands the publishing industry seek out and publish books written by authors from marginalised communities about characters from their own communities.

Unfortunately, when it comes to reading lists for language arts curricula, very little has changed. My own high school and middle school children have reading lists almost identical to the lists from my English classes in the 1980s and 90s.

For some people, Huck Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird are beloved classics. But nostalgia is not a good reason to keep them on literature syllabi. What we teach students about people from marginalised communities should be authentic; and to be authentic, it should come from marginalised authors and the richly drawn characters they create. Indigenous, black and brown characters shouldnt simply serve as targets of white violence or lessons for white morality. They should play central roles in their own stories, with a full range of emotions and personalities, absent what Toni Morrison has called the white gaze, the presumption that people of colours lives have no meaning, no depth, beyond white peoples imagination or interpretation of them.

Thankfully, literature is not rocket science. We dont need and have never needed texts that incorporate racist tropes. Authors of myriad racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds have been writing about their own communities as far back in time as white authors. If Zora Neale Hurstons Their Eyes Were Watching God, or Octavia Butlers Kindred replaces The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn or To Kill a Mockingbird, students, particularly white students, will not only be reading more rigorous, realistic and layered books about the black community, they will understand bigotry at a deeper, systemic level. The same argument can be made for replacing EM Foresters A Passage to India, (yet another book about a brown man being accused of raping a White woman) with Salman Rushdies Midnights Children, dumping John Steinbecks The Pearl in favour of Ana Castillos The Mixquiahuala Letters, and replacing Scott ODells Island of the Blue Dolphins with Kristiana Kahakauwilas This is Paradise.

We dont need nor have we ever needed to teach books written by white authors that capitalise on inaccurate stereotypes and vulgar and barbaric tropes about marginalised communities. Whats more, we can also teach books about marginalised communities that celebrate joy and love, health and success. Indigenous, black and brown stories dont need to always be about suffering to teach valuable lessons about sociopolitical issues.

In the meantime, its high time educators realised that our policies about racism in school texts must go far above and beyond a conversation about racial slurs. Indigenous and students of colour deserve to have the same privilege in education that white students have always had  the opportunity to examine and imagine the full extent of their humanity in literature. If people can evolve to become more inclusive and less harmful, shouldnt the predominantly white literary canon evolve, too?

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.Official says Eritrean soldiers occupied moved contested border territory, days after Qatar pulled its peacekeepers out.

Djiboutis foreign minister has accused neighbouring Eritrea of occupying a disputed territory along their border shortly after Qatar peacekeepers left the location this week.

Mahamoud Ali Youssouf said on Friday that Djiboutis military was on alert and that it has lodged complaints to the United Nations and the African Union.

Qatari peacekeepers withdrew on June 12 and 13. On the same day, there were Eritrean military movements on the mountain, Ali Youssouf told the Reuters news agency.

They are now in full control of Dumeira Mountain and Dumeira Island. This is in breach of the UN Security Council resolution, he added, referring to areas that the neighbours dispute.

Authorities in Eritrea were not immediately available for comment.

Qatar announced that it was pulling its contingent out on June 14, days after the two East African countries sided with Saudi Arabia and its allies in a major diplomatic standoff with Doha.

Qatars foreign ministry did not give a reason for the move.

On June 5, a Saudi-led bloc of countries announced they were cutting ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorists  allegations Doha strongly denies.

READ MORE: Djibouti alleges Eritrean incursion

Djibouti, a close Western ally, hosts French and US military bases and is the main route to the sea for Eritreas arch foe and Washingtons top regional ally, Ethiopia.

Eritrea has fractious ties with the West, which had previously accused it of backing Somali and other regional armed groups. Asmara denies the charges.

According to Abdullahi Boru Halakh, a Horn of Africa analyst, the territorial dispute at the border has always been there, but for the past years Qatari forces that had been deployed there had kept peace.

Speaking from the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, he argued that Eritrea is trying to take advantage of the Gulf crisis.

Eritrea is in the cold and under UN sanctions, he told Al Jazeera.

They also have a territorial dispute with Ethiopia which has been simmering for years. The UN ruled in favour of Eritrea, but the ruling has not been enforced. Eritrea now sees this as an opportunity to come back from the cold and maybe get aid from the UN which it desperately needs.

Clashes broke out between the Horn of Africa countries in June, 2008, after Djibouti accused Eritrea of moving troops across the border, raising fears the spat could engulf the entire region.

The dispute triggered several days of fighting that killed a dozen Djiboutian troops and wounded dozens.

Eritrea had initially denied making any incursions, accusing Djibouti of launching unprovoked attacks.

The UN Security Council then requested both sides withdraw from the area, before the neighbours accepted a Qatari request to mediate and deploy peacekeepers.The New York Times and London Observer find the company illegally used data to craft ads supporting Trump and Brexit.

Cambridge Analytica, a big data company focused on political and commercial ad campaigns, paid for illegally obtained personal information of 50 million Facebook users, according to the New York Times and London Observer.

The company, which worked on Donald Trumps 2016 presidential campaign and the pro-Brexit campaign as a consultant, then used that information to build a software program which could target potential swing voters, the newspapers found.

In response to the reports, the attorney general for the US state of Massachusetts said her office was launching an investigation into the allegations.

Massachusetts residents deserve answers immediately from Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, Attorney General Maura Healey tweeted on Saturday.

The UKs governmental privacy watchdog also announced on Saturday that it will start an investigation into the circumstances in which Facebook data may have been illegally acquired and used.

Saturdays reports came a day after Facebook said it was suspending Cambridge Analytica from its platform after finding that its policies had been violated.

thisisyourdigitallife app

According to the newspapers, a former Cambridge Analytica employee turned whistle-blower said the data was gathered under the pretence of academic research, but was then illegally used to tailor political ads.

Whistle-blower and data analytics expert Christopher Wylie, one of the co-founders of Cambridge Analytica, told the newspapers that the company approached a Russian-American researcher named Aleksandr Kogan at Cambridge University on how to use Facebook information to profile peoples political and personal views.

Wylie said Kogan and his company, Global Science Research (GSR), then built an app in collaboration with Cambridge Analytica called thisisyourdigitallife separately from his work at the university.

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Funding for Cambridge Analytica and its affiliate company, Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL), came from former White House adviser Steve Bannon and hedge-fund financiers Robert and Rebekah Mercer, who supported the Trump campaign.

Hundreds of thousands of users who downloaded the app agreed to have their data collected and used for academic research in exchange for a small monetary payment.

In total, about 270,000 people used the app, costing Cambridge Analytica more than $800,000.

However, the app not only collected personal information of the people who downloaded the app, but also of unknowing friends, according to the newspapers investigation.

This allowed GSR and Cambridge Analytica to build highly detailed profiles of 50 million people, despite the fact only 270,000 people agreed to have their data collected.

Combining this information with algorithms, Cambridge Analytica was able to identify and potentially influence swing voters, the newspapers reported.

GSR, which specifically stated the data would only be used for academic research, appeared to violate Facebook policies as the social media company does not allow the sale of the information to third parties.

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The technology developed by Cambridge Analytica and its affiliate SCL was used for several political campaigns, among them Trumps and Ted Cruzs presidential runs, as well as the Brexit campaign in the UK.

Cambridge Analytica claims in a statement that it did not use the gathered data for its work with the Trump presidential campaign and that it follows Facebooks terms of services.

Late February, during a UK inquiry into fake news, the company denied it ever worked for the Brexit camp, despite claims by the pro-Brexit campaign it had sought the advice of Cambridge Analytica.

Not all data was deleted

Facebook said in a statement on Friday that it had become aware in 2015 that its policies had been violated.

When we learned of this violation in 2015, we removed his app from Facebook and demanded certifications from Kogan and all parties he had given data to that the information had been destroyed, the social media company said.

Cambridge Analytica, Kogan and Wylie all certified to us that they destroyed the data, it added.

However, according to the newspapers investigation, copies of the large swaths of data are allegedly still available according to The New York Times.

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Facebook also said on Friday that after becoming aware that not all data was deleted, it was moving aggressively to determine the accuracy of these claims.

It added that it was suspending Cambridge Analytica, SCL and Kogan from its platform.

The company also suspended whistle-blower Wylies access.

Facebook added on Saturday the data gathered was not the result of a breach, but that people knowingly provided their information and no sensitive pieces of information were stolen.The 3rd district in Chicagos South West side has about 111,000 Arab Americans  the largest concentration in Illinois.

Arab American voters in the US state of Illinois 3rd Congressional District will have a chance to show their electoral power as congressional primary elections begin on Tuesday.

Voters will choose between Dan Lipinski  an establishment Democratic incumbent who has been the representative since 2005  and Marie Newman, a Democratic newcomer who has embraced many of the Arab communitys issues.

Situated in Chicagos Southwest Side, the 3rd District has about 111,000 Arab Americans  the largest concentration in the state and the sixth-largest in the US.

The Arab American vote is a componant of several hundred thousand more of non-Arab Muslim Americans in the chicagoland area

Lipinski is a conservative, describing himself often as a Regan Democrat. In 2004, he succeeded his father, Bill Lipinski, who represented the district for 22 years.

Newman self-identifies as a progressive Democrat. She advocates national healthcare for all Americans, promotes small business, and fights big money in politics.

Newman was endorsed by the independent senator from Vermont and former presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, Illinois Democratic Congressman Luis Gutierrez, and Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky.

Both Newman and Lipinski support immigration reform and opposed President Donald Trumps travel ban.

Political values

The difference in political philosophy between the two Democratic candidates also reflects the changing demographics among Arab American voters in the Chicago area.

Both candidates have their own backers among the Arab American community in the district.

Arab Americans have historically voted Democrat in numbers, often because of hostility they feel from the Republican Party when it comes to issues they care about, some community members say.

Israels treatment of the Palestinians and its occupation of Palestine is at the heart of this.

Palestinian Americans constitute the majority of the Arab American vote in the district. The majority are third or fourth-generation Americans of Palestinian descent.

Unlike the older generation that often shunned political participation, the newest American Palestinians are not single-issue voters, theyre progressive, and politically involved on the local and national level.

Shadin Maali, a second generation Palestinian American political organiser and a supporter of Newman, told Al Jazeera that Lipinski has let the Arab American community down. She said he sometimes speaks at the main mosque, but usually around election time.

His politics  shows that he does not care about our issues and concerns, she said

One issue Maali and others pointed out was Lipinskis refusal to support Child Detention Bill: HR 4391, which was supposed to protect Palestinian children under Israeli occupation from being detained and tortured by Israeli forces.

Arab Americans will absolutely donate and vote for candidates that value their votes and stand up for issues that are important to them, she said

Newman told Al Jazeera she shares values with the Arab, Muslim and Latino communities in her district.

I am definitely the better candidate to represent Latinos and Arab and Muslim Americans she said.

Ed Hassan, a Palestinian American and director of the Arab American Veterans Association in Chicago, told Al Jazeera the Newman candidacy is a fresh voice in our community because she has reached out to the community and supported many of their causes.

Hasan said Lipinski has shown insensitivity to the community by voting and sponsoring bills in Congress that the community disagreed with, while Newman showed a willingness to work with the Arab community.

In February 2014, Lipinski angered many in the Arab community by cosponsoring pro-Israeli legislation in Congress with HR 4009 alongside Republican Congressman Peter Roskam. The bill proposed punitive measures for any educational institution that supported a boycott of Israel and supports Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS).

Maali and Hassan said they organized a community wide campaign to support Newman through phone calls, social media and door-to-door campaigning. Both said they expect high turn out in favour of Newman

Daniel Lipinski is going up against newcomer Democratic candidate Marie Newman [File: Nam Y Huh/AP]

Support the cause

However, Lipinski enjoys the support of some Arab Americans in Chicago who see him as someone they know and can work with.

Samir Khalil of the Arab American Democratic Club in Chicago, which has endorsed the incumbent, told Al Jazeera he supports Lipinski because he has often spoken to the community and addressed their concerns.

Khalil said one of the reasons his group and others are supporting Lipinski was because an untested newcomer such as Newman was politically risky.

Khalil acknowledged while Lipinski has not always backed the Palestinians, he held out hope that Lipinski will eventually come around and start supporting their causes.

Lipinski has also been endorsed by Chicagos two leading newspapers, the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times.

Follow Ali Younes on Twitter: @ali_reportsAndrew McCabe kept personal notes detailing interactions with Trump that have been provided to special counsel.

Andrew McCabe, the former FBI deputy director who was fired on Friday, kept detailed notes about his interactions with President Donald Trump, according to US media.

McCabe has said he believed his firing was because he corroborated former FBI Director James Comeys claim that Trump tried to pressure him into killing a probe into Russian interference in the 2016 US election.

Comey has told Congress he kept a detailed written record of his conversations with Trump.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller is leading the probe into possible collusion between Trump campaign officials and Russia during the presidential election, a claim that Trump has denied.

Trump on Saturday criticised the FBI as he hailed the firing of McCabe as a great day for democracy.

Critics described the axing of McCabe as a dangerous ploy to discredit the top US law enforcement agency as well as the work of Mueller, as McCabe is a potential key witness in the Russia probe.

Trump on Saturday via Twitter blasted the alleged tremendous leaking, lying and corruption at the highest levels of the FBI, Justice & State.

He also reiterated long-running criticism of the Mueller investigation, terming it a witch-hunt and saying that it should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime.

McCabe job offer

Earlier, Trumps personal lawyer, John Dowd, told the Daily Beast that he hoped Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein would follow the lead of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility and bring an end to alleged Russia Collusion investigation manufactured by McCabes boss James Comey based upon a fraudulent and corrupt Dossier.

Dowd told the Daily Beast he was speaking for the president. But in a subsequent statement, he said he had been speaking for myself, not the president.

McCabe, who has endured a year of withering attacks from Trump, was fired by the Justice Department late on Friday, just two days before he was to retire after 21 years with the FBI.

Critics say the firing is a step in Trumps plan to engineer Muellers dismissal, potentially sparking a constitutional crisis.

Mueller is also examining whether Trump might have obstructed justice, including by firing Comey last May.

One Democratic lawmaker, Mark Pocan of Wisconsin, announced on Saturday that he offered McCabe a job in his office so he can complete the time necessary to retire with full federal benefits.

My offer of employment to Mr McCabe is a legitimate offer to work on election security, Pocan said in a statement.

McCabe spokeswoman Melissa Schwartz was non-committal. We are considering all options, she told the Washington Post.President Erdogan announces that Turkish flag hoisted in the centre of the Kurdish-dominated Syrian city of Afrin.

Turkish forces and Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels captured the centre of Afrin in northwest Syria after Kurdish fighters who were in control evacuated the city in order to fight another day.

Turkeys military said in a tweet on Sunday that troops were searching for landmines and other explosive devices in the area.

Many of the terrorists had turned tail and run away already, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a speech in western Turkey.

He announced that Turkey-backed forces took complete control of the city centre at 8:30am local time (05:00 GMT). He said 3,603 terrorists had been neutralised in Afrin since the launch of the cross-border operation on January 20.

Erdogan said the Turkish flag and the flag of the Syrian opposition fighters were raised in the city, previously controlled by the Kurdish militia known as the Peoples Protection Units, or YPG.

Later on Sunday, limited fighting was reported in some pockets in Afrin.

Our special forces and members of the Free Syrian Army are cleaning the remains and the traps they left behind, Erdogan said. In the centre of Afrin, symbols of trust and stability are waving instead of rags of terrorists.





Footage by Turkeys private Dogan news agency showed Syrian fighters shooting in the air in celebration. In another Dogan video, a Syrian fighter is seen shooting at a statue of Kurdish hero Kawa, a symbol of resistance against oppressors, before a bulldozer pulled it down.

Turkey  together with the FSA  launched the military operation into Afrin in the northwest of Syria to vanquish the US-backed YPG fighters near its border.

Guerrilla tactics

Free Syrian Army spokesman Mohammad al-Hamadeen said Kurdish forces pulled back to Syrian government-controlled areas around the city of Aleppo, or to the Kurdish-held region east of the Euphrates River.

Maybe [Afrin] will be cleared by the end of the day  its empty of fighters, they cleared out, Hamadeen told Reuters news agency.

Afrins leaders said on Sunday that Kurdish-dominated forces will shift from direct confrontation to guerrilla tactics.

Our forces are present all over Afrins geography. These forces will strike the positions of the Turkish enemy and its mercenaries at every opportunity, Othman Sheikh Issa, co-chair of the Afrin executive council, said in a televised statement.

Our forces all over Afrin will become a constant nightmare for them.

Other videos and photos shared by the Turkish-backed FSA fighters on social media showed them in residential streets, making victory signs and waving flags.

More to do

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, previously said at least 150,000 civilians fled the city since last Wednesday.

Turkeys government spokesman Bekir Bozdag said the military campaign would continue to secure areas around Afrin and make sure food and medicine were available.

We have more to do. But the project of building a terrorism corridor and building a terrorist state is over, he said.

Afrin sehir merkezinden ilk goruntuler. pic.twitter.com/DQdGzWSAmr  TSK (@TSKGnkur) March 18, 2018

Turkey considers the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) 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 YPG has come to control large swaths of northern Syria, including Afrin, in the course of the eight-year Syrian war, particularly through fighting against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group in an US-backed umbrella organisation named Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

The US support for the Kurdish-dominated SDF has infuriated Turkey and created the ongoing diplomatic crisis between the two NATO allies.The foreign ministers of Turkey, Russia and Iran have met in the Kazakh capital Astana and issued a joint statement which emphasised the territorial integrity of Syria.

Those who, in violation of all norms of international law, in violation of Resolution 2254, obviously seek to divide Syria, to replace the regime so that this important Middle Eastern country is replaced by small principalities, controlled by external players, certainly do not welcome what we are doing in Astana, we are trying to achieve in Astana, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in a speech before the talks with his Iranian and Turkish counterparts in Astana.

In an interview with Kazahs media, Lavrov added: I do not think that we should even talk about a potential partition of Syria, but it is our duty to demand that these plans be immediately foiled, some bear it.

US, French, UK special forces are on the ground in Syria. So it is not a proxy war anymore, but direct engagement in the warfare.

Next steps

From his side, the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu underlined the need to differ terrorists from civilians, especially in places where civilians live densely.

We are also against the going of all terrorists to Idlib [in northwestern Syria]. There, they constitute a threat to the people, opposition and to all of us, Cavusoglu stressed.

Another summit will be held in Istanbul on April 4.

Astana talks were launched by Russia, Turkey and Iran in January 2017 with the aim of putting an end to the war in Syria, as well as coordinate the exchange of prisoners and the handover of the those killed in the war.Iraqi leaders say country is in the best state since the March 2003 American invasion; ordinary Iraqis remain sceptical.

Erbil, Iraq  After 15 years of violence, insecurity and sectarianism following the US invasion of Iraq, finding cause for optimism can be a fools errand for Iraqi leaders.

This week marks the 15-year anniversary of the start of the US invasion of Iraq, ostensibly to free Iraqis from tyranny and oppression. What came next is well known: With the toppling of dictator Saddam Hussein, the US unleashed a storm of killing and division that persists to this day.

Iraqi leaders insist the country is in the best state its been in since the invasion, even if ordinary Iraqis remain sceptical. Iraqi leaders point to the military defeat of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and national elections scheduled for May as reasons to be hopeful. Elections running smoothly, leaders say, will indicate there was at least one positive legacy to the US invasion  the successful introduction of democracy.

In the early hours of March 19, 2003, Baghdad was awoken by earthshaking US air raids, the beginning of a shock and awe campaign to overturn the government of President Saddam Hussein. Then US President George W Bush appeared on television shortly afterwards to announce: At this hour, American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger.

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Bellicose before the invasion, Saddam went into hiding as the US military entered Iraq from Kuwait. Months later, he was dragged from a hole in the ground outside his hometown of Tikrit, tried and later hung for crimes against humanity.

Toppling the dictator was the easy part. What followed was a long and bloody rebellion against the American invaders, a sectarian civil war between Sunni and Shia, and the flourishing of groups including al-Qaeda and later ISIL. Monitoring organisation Iraq Body Count would eventually record 268,000 violent deaths in Iraq from 2003 onwards.

Invasion is history

Iraqs slide towards becoming a failed state appeared almost unstoppable in 2014, when ISIL fighters overran nearly one-third of the country. The three-year campaign to destroy ISIL culminated in a nine-month battle for the city of Mosul in which an unkonwn number thought to be around 10,000 were killed. In December last year, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared final victory, acknowledging though that terrorism would remain a challenge for Iraq.

We must remain vigilant and prepared against any terrorist attempt on our country, for terrorism is an eternal enemy.

ISILs defeat is cited by Iraqi leaders as a huge boost to national morale, and an indicator that the country is finally on its way to standing on its own feet once more.

Iraq now has managed to liberate its areas from Daesh (ISIL), now we are living in a prosperous time and looking to the future, said Saad Maan, director of media and public relations at the Iraqi Ministry of Interior. Regarding the political situation and the security situation, its now in its best way [since the invasion].

Sajad Jiyad, managing director of Al-Bayan Centre for Planning and Studies, a Baghdad-based think-tank, agreed.

Now is the best time in Iraq since 2003, he said. The invasion now is history for most Iraqis and they expect better things going forward. The priorities now are job creation, fighting corruption and better services.

These will be issues on which this years election will be contested, but the extent to which Iraqis can resolve their differences through the ballot box remains unclear.

Elections are a good thing and a healthy thing, but it is a process, Iraq is still a ways away from being there, said Jiyad. We are still recovering from wars  before the ISIS war it was the US invasion, the Gulf war and the Iran war. Most of Iraqs population has never seen peace. Its always been war or sanctions or violence and its stunted Iraqs opportunities.

Divided

For ordinary Iraqis, the benefits of democracy seem slight and the legacy of the invasion bloody.

My older brother grew up a few years ahead of me and had friends in different governorates across Iraq but for me, I have only friends in Anbar, I dont have friends in Basra or in other governorates, said Mahmoud Zaki, 34. Because of what happened with the invasion and the sectarianism that came afterwards divided the Iraqi fabric, it kept us apart.





With dead relatives, lost opportunities and a feeling of insecurity, many Iraqis remain less interested in elections and democracy than taking care of their loved ones. I dont want to be wealthy; I want to have a decent life, I want to be safe, I want my family to be safe, said Zaki, who spent two years in American-run prisons on spurious accusations of supporting the rebellion.

The ongoing violence even makes many Iraqis nostalgic for the relative stability under the former strongman.

Under Saddam, you could do whatever you wanted to do, so long as you stayed away from politics and didnt say anything against the government, said Sami Josef, a 32-year-old Christian from Baghdad whose uncle died fighting the Americans. Until this day, I say God rest the soul of Saddam.

One of the groups that stood to gain most from the American invasion was the Kurds of northern Iraq. Persecuted under Saddam, the Kurds managed to enshrine their autonomy in the new constitution of 2005, then tried to leverage their status as a stalwart Western ally against ISIL into support for independence.

The Kurdish question

Former Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani gambled his legacy on an independence referendum last September, which backfired dramatically and attracted little international support.

Individually, Kurds have always had a dream of independence, which is why they have not invested much in nation building in Iraq, said Khogir Wirya, a research fellow at the Erbil-based think-tank Middle East Research Institute.

But neither did Iraqi leaders. Kurds started to think, Shias and Sunnis have the same mentality against the Kurds. This may have caused the idea of independence to gain support and backing among the populace.

While Abadi may have thwarted the Kurds independence bid, resentment remains. Its not a healthy marriage at all, its a forced one, said Wirya. It has been all along.

Other regional grievances will come to the fore during the elections, from Sunni demands for funds for rebuilding areas destroyed by war to southern Shia complaints about lack of development.

But it will be good to see if Iraqis still believe in the system and show up to vote, said Jiyad. That will be a gauge to see what people think.Some attendees said they had smelled the scent of roses associated with Mary.

Some 300 followers of a self-appointed Italian prophet gathered at a Bavarian chapel on Saturday in a pilgrimage to see an apparition of the Virgin Mary.

Believers say that the mother of Jesus has appeared in the St Lawrence Chapel in Unterflossing twice in the past, most recently in September.

The pilgrims waited for hours in the cold, singing and praying. There was no official service, however, as the Catholic Church has refused to recognize the apparitions.

But in September 2017, the archdiocese of Munich had sent an observer to report back to church leaders. Caputa, who has been claiming to have seen visitations by Mary since 1986 and to have had conversations with her.

The regional archdiocese had instructed its clerics not to become involved in order to avoid lending any legitimacy to the gathering.

At 4:30 pm local time, the prophet, Salvatore Caputa, sank to his knees holding a rosary and looked into the distance. The Virgin had called for prayers for peace, said the 73-year-old former police official, adding: Open your hearts.

Some attendees said they had smelled the scent of roses associated with Mary.

The church has recognized Marian apparitions in the past, including Lourdes in France, Fatima in Portugal, Guadalupe in Mexico and Knock in Ireland.Qatars central bank asks US to investigate Emirati bank accused of waging financial warfare against it.

Qatars central bank has asked US regulators to investigate an Emirati bank that Doha accuses of waging financial warfare against it.

Qatar claims NBAD Americas, the US subsidiary of First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), is engaging in bogus foreign exchange deals intended to undermine the Qatari riyal and harm its economy.

FAB is the largest bank in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and majority state-owned.

The Central Bank of Qatars law firm has written a letter to the US Treasury Department asking it to investigate the UAE bank for financial warfare.

In another letter, the New-York based law firm leading the investigation  Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison  asked the US Commodity Future Trading Commission (CFTC) to investigate alleged manipulation of Qatars currency.

We believe NBAD has participated in an extraordinary and unlawful scheme to wage financial warfare against Qatar, including through the manipulation of Qatari currency and securities markets, the law firm stated in a letter to the US Treasury dated February 26, which was seen by Reuters news agency.

These actions should be halted immediately, and we ask that you investigate whether NBAD has directly or indirectly supported the manipulation of Qatars markets, including through NBAD Americas dollar-clearing or correspondent banking services in the United States, the letter said.

The UAE  along with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain  have imposed an economic blockade on Qatar since last June. The four countries accused Qatar of supporting terrorism  an allegation Qatar denies.

The news of alleged financial manipulation comes just days after US President Donald Trump fired former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who was a vocal critic of the blockade and seen as a voice of moderation on key foreign policy issues.

The blockading countries have refused to step down on their list of demands for Qatar, which include shutting down Al Jazeera and cutting ties with Iran.

Artificial prices

The Qatari central bank announced last December it would launch a legal investigation into currency manipulation. Sheikh Abdulla bin Saud Al Thani, the banks governor, blamed the four blockading countries for attempting to harm Qatars economy.

We know blockading countries and their agents are attempting to manipulate and undermine our currency, securities and derivatives, as part of a coordinated strategy to damage Qatars economy, Sheikh Abdulla said in a press release last December.

Until the illegal blockade is lifted, the Qatar Central Bank will work to ensure our financial sector and economy remains robust and stable despite the illegal actions of the blockaders.





The alleged strategy involves trading the Qatari riyal at artificial prices lower than its official peg of 3.64 to the US dollar, which has held for more than a decade. In the early months of the blockade, the Qatari riyal traded as low as 3.8950 offshore.

In the letter to the US Treasury, Qatars lawyers said they suspected NBAD was driving the riyal lower during illiquid periods, such as Islams Eid al-Adha holidays last year, reinforcing the manufactured narrative that Qatars currency was increasingly volatile and its economy was too unstable for investment.

NBADs quotes  and those of other banks involved in the manipulation  were likely all bogus, the letter said, referring to foreign exchange quotes posted by NBAD.

Qatars central bank also pledged last November to satisfy any market demand for dollars and the riyal has since then rebounded in offshore transactions to trade close to its peg.

With more than $300bn in central bank reserves and sovereign wealth fund assets, many bankers in the region say Qatar is able to shield itself from any attack on its currency.Reports: McCabe gave memos on Trump interactions to Mueller

Former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe insists he was fired in an attempt to undermine special counsel Robert Muellers probe.Putin wins his fourth term, but many eyes are on voter turnout in the face of an opposition boycott.

Moscow  President Vladimir Putin received 76 percent of votes cast so far in Sundays election, easily winning another six-year term as Russias leader.

Communist Party candidate Pavel Grudinin was in second with 11.8 percent, followed by nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky with 5.6 percent, results from the Central Electoral Commission showed with almost all ballots cast counted.

Putin addressed thousands on the Manezhnaya Square near the Kremlin with a short speech, thanking supporters for the election results.

I see in this minimum a recognition for what I did in the past year under very complicated circumstances. I see in this trust and hope that we will continue to work as intensely and as responsibly, said Putin.

We have to preserve this unity. Its very important to attract all these people who voted for other candidates to my side. We need unity in order to move forward.

According to the commissions results, turnout was 68 percent, about three percent higher than in the 2012 presidential elections. Before voting began, there were reports that Russian authorities were worried about a potential low turnout that could affect its perceived legitimacy.

Boycott

Opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was barred from running in the elections over a fraud conviction in a court case he claims was politically motivated, called for a boycott of the vote, as did other political groups.

It is too early to comment on the results because only 23 percent of ballots have been counted. But it is already clear that these elections werent fair, said Grudinin at a press conference earlier in the evening.

Unfortunately, Navalny turned out to be right  that one could vote two or three times and we have examples of that in the Moscow region. It is clear that the counting of votes and in general all procedures of the elections were unfair.

According to independent Russian monitor Golos, various tactics that local administrations employed in order to attract more voters to the polling stations were not successful.

Various methods of boosting turnout of the vote, which the authorities undertook, did not bring the expected results. The big number of observers around the country were deployed and that brought about a relative balance, reported the monitor on its website.

The majority of regions had similar turnout as 2012 and a few, such as Gechnya and Dagestan, turnout was slightly lower, because of the presence of observers.

The monitor registered more than 2,500 complaints of violations, with some 460 in Moscow and about 230 in St Petersburg.

Stanislav Andreychuk, a member of the board of Golos, told Al Jazeera that the scale of irregularities of these elections was similar to that of the last presidential elections of 2012.

State TV channel Rossiya 24 reported earlier there were complaints of violations but many were fake.

Close to 109 million registered voters were eligible to vote in 100,000 voting stations across the 85 regions and republics of the Russian Federation. Russian citizens were also able to cast ballots in 145 countries.

In second school/polling station that I've visited now, discounted food from Moseda is being offered. Cheap cans and fruit. Apples look really good! #Russia #2018 #Russiavotes pic.twitter.com/pToR1MWVWq  Mariya Petkova (@mkpetkova) March 18, 2018

Voting in Moscow





In the Moscow district of Babushkinskaya, where Al Jazeera shadowed election observers, there was a constant stream of voters since the morning. At the 532nd polling station, turnout grew from five percent at 10am to 35 percent by 2pm local time.

Pensioner Galina Prokopievna, 58, said she voted for Putin because she respects and loves him and likes how he works.

Hes tolerant and intelligent. He knows how to deal with the world, she said.

But in Babushkinskaya, there were also people who were boycotting the elections, or were not interested in voting.

We dont have elections. We are seeing what is happening in the country, it is the same candidates as the previous election, said 32-year-old Katya, who refused to give her surname.

Student Kirill Belov, 18, said he supports Putin but didnt vote because he thought his ballot would not make a difference.

I just dont see any sense in the elections. I feel like everything has already been decided, he said.

Anton Mityakov, head of the district electoral commission, told Al Jazeera there were no violations reported in Babushkinskaya district as of 12:30pm and pointed out that all polling stations had livestream cameras installed.

But Vladislav Kuznetsov, an observer for the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF), said stickers have been illegally added on election posters under the name of CPRF candidate Pavel Grudinin. The stickers claim he failed to disclose bank accounts in Switzerland.

According to Mityakov, the stickers were added after written instructions were sent by the Central Electoral Commission to do so  something Kuznetsov said was not true.

Voters cast ballots in Babushkinskaya district of Moscow on Sunday [Sergey Kozmin/Al Jazeera]

A celebration

Asked about the music, activities and discount food sales organised in polling stations, the commission head said this was normal, as an election is supposed to be a celebration and there was a tender for companies that wanted to sell at polling stations.

In any country, especially democratic ones, elections are a celebration when people come to cast their vote  Believe me, people are going to vote, not because of the food, he said.

Throughout Russias regions, there were reports of similar festive arrangements, including raffles and special sales to attract voters. Throughout the day, Golos also reported instances of ballot box stuffing, people being pressured to vote, and various other violations.

Residents of Crimea voted for the first time in Russian presidential elections. The vote was scheduled to coincide with the fourth anniversary of the annexation of the peninsula from Ukraine.

Crimea featured prominently in Putins election campaign and it was where he held his last rally on Wednesday.

Before the start of the vote, Andreychuk of Golos told Al Jazeera it was the first time he saw such mobilisation of local administrations trying to rally people to go vote. We have never seen before an information campaign to boost turnout on such a scale, he said.

This is the first vote that children have also been used in campaigning, with schools holding referendums or parent conferences on election day or making students engage in election-related activities to promote the vote, he said.

Russian news outlet RBC reported on Friday that the Kremlin has indicated that a turnout of 65 percent would be considered good. During the 2012 presidential elections, 65.3 percent of voters turned up to the polls.US town has been arming school teachers for years

A mass shooting that killed 17 people at Stoneman-Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida has US schools struggling for ways to keep students safe.President Donald Trump has lashed out at what he considers to be the impartiality of an ongoing investigation into potential collusion with a foreign state.

Trump used Twitter on Sunday to criticise the legal basis of the Russia investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans? Another Dem recently added  does anyone think this is fair? And yet, there is NO COLLUSION!

Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans? Another Dem recently addeddoes anyone think this is fair? And yet, there is NO COLLUSION!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2018

It was the first time Trump mentioned Mueller by name, which led a group of Republican senators to suggest the president might be contemplating firing the special counsel.

Senator Lindsey Graham  co-author of legislation that would complicate the firing of a special counsel by the president  said Muellers dismissal would spell the beginning of the end of his [Trumps] presidency.

Senator Jeff Flake said Congress cannot stay quiet if the president decides to move in that direction.

I dont know what the designs are on Mueller, but it seems to be building toward that [dismissing Mueller], and I just hope it doesnt go there, because it cant. We cant in Congress accept that, said Flake.

Trumps personal lawyer, John Dowd, has called on the Justice Department official overlooking the Russia investigation, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, to bring an end to the probe.

Some Republicans, however, are asking why the presidents lawyer is expending so much energy on a case where the president is presumably innocent.

I think the presidents attorney, frankly, does him a disservice when he says that and when he frames the investigation that way  If you have an innocent client, Mr Dowd, act like it, Representative Trey Gowdy told reporters on Sunday.

Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan requested that Mueller and his team be able to do their job.

Sundays developments come just days after FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was dismissed, citing a lack of candor with regard to authorising personnel to talk to the media.Trump warned against firing Robert Mueller over Russian probe

After the dismissal of Andrew McCabe, expectation is growing that the US president may attempt to fire the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 US election.Reportedly the architect of the 9/11 attacks, Osama bin Laden accused the US of waging a war against Muslims and called for the overthrow of autocratic Arab regimes.

This is his story:

Divorced parents

Born to a billionaire father in Saudi Arabia, 1979 was the turning point when Osama went from being a business administration student to becoming a fighter in Afghanistan.

Childhood: Born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 1957, Osama was the 17th child born to Mohammed bin Laden, a Yemeni immigrant who owned the largest construction company in Saudi.

Osamas mother, Alia Ghanem, was from Syria and was briefly Mohammeds fourth wife before divorcing when Osama was four.

Osama was raised in Jeddah as a step son in his mothers new household, as Osamas father died in a helicopter crash. Osama was 11 years old at the time.

Politics: As Osama pursued a bachelors degree in business administration at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, shocking news broke out that Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979.

That same year, the Islamic Revolution overthrew the Shah in Iran, and Soviet troops occupied Afghanistan.

From then on, Bin Laden embarked on a long war against foreign crusaders and autocratic regimes in the Middle East.





Afghanistan

Cold war: The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was met by local Afghan resistance armed and funded by an international coalition that included the United States, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan, and China.

Under Operation Cyclone, the CIA armed and funded armed the Mujahidin rebels in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989.

Bin Laden was quoted saying: For us, the idea was not to get involved more than necessary in the fight against the Russians, which was the business of the Americans, but rather to show our solidarity with our Islamist brothers.

Fundraising: In the first half of the 1980s, bin Laden set up in Peshawar, Pakistan to raise funds and recruit foreign Mujahidin.

I settled in Pakistan in the Afghan border region, there I received volunteers who came from the Saudi kingdom and from all over the Arab and Muslim countries.

I set up my first camp where these volunteers were trained by Pakistani and American officers. The weapons were supplied by the Americans, the money by the Saudis, Osama bin Laden said.

The weapons were supplied by the Americans, the money by the Saudis Osama bin Laden

Al-Qaeda

Just as with the Soviets in Afghanistan, bin Laden was against all foreign powers in the Muslim world.

Al-Qaeda: In 1988, one year before the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, bin Laden founded al-Qaeda.

Bin Laden then returned to Saudi Arabia to step up fundraising for his new mission. He was welcomed, but the government grew cautious of him as he became more outspoken against authorities.

Sudan: In Khartoum, the Sudanese President Hassan al-Turabidedicated to promoting a political agenda based on Islamic teachings.

Bin Laden moved to Sudan in 1992, where, among other things, he farmed and built roads.

Also in 1992, al-Qaeda struck for the first time, claiming responsibility for a hotel bombing aimed at American troops in Yemen, but no Americans died in the attack.

By 1994, he established training camps in Sudan for al-Qaeda fighters, while the Saudi government froze his assets and revoked his citizenship for refusing to come back to the kingdom.





Anger

Betrayal: Bin Laden was expelled from Sudan in 1996, under pressure from the Americans and Saudis.

During my interview with Sheikh Osama bin Laden, he criticised the Sudanese government and felt bitter about how they betrayed him. He had trusted them and believed they were establishing a true Muslim country. But in the end they stabbed him in the back, Abdel al-Bari Atwan, editor-in-chief, al-Quds al-Arabi told Al Jazeera.

Muslims burn with anger at America. For its own good, America should leave [Saudi Arabia]  There is no more important duty than pushing the American enemy out of the holy land.  The presence of the US crusader military forces on land, sea and air of the states of the Islamic Gulf is the greatest danger threatening the largest oil reserve in the world, Osama bin Laden said in 1996, several months after being expelled from Sudan.

Embassies attacks: In 1998, al-Qaeda coordinated attack at the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing more than 220 people and injuring more than 5000.

Muslims burn with anger at America. Osama bin Laden, 1996

9/11

After the deadly attacks of 1998, al-Qaeda shook the world with a much deadlier attack, this time in the US itself.

On September 11, 2001, nearly 3,000 people were killed in New York City, in Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon when hijacked commercial airliners were slammed into all three locations.

It had never occurred to us to strike the towers [on 9/11]. But after it became unbearable and we witnessed the oppression and tyranny of the American-Israeli coalition against our people in Palestine and Lebanon, it came to my mind, Bin Laden said in a videotape obtained by Al Jazeera in 2014.

It was confirmed to me that oppression and the intentional killing of innocent women and children is a deliberate American policy. Destruction is freedom and democracy, while resistance is terrorism and intolerance, he added.

So with these images  the events of September 11th came as a reply to those great wrongs, should a man be blamed for defending his sanctuary?

The attack triggered the war on terror, which the US President George W Bush described as our war on terror begins with al-Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated.





Manhunt

The CIA went after bin Laden in an international hunt that eventually got him in 2011.Three students explain what life is like in rebel-held besieged enclave, as they try to keep up with their studies.

It has been nearly five years since Syrian government forces imposed a siege on the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta.

The past month has been one of the deadliest in the enclave, with more 1,200 civilians killed since the aerial and ground bombardment began on February 18.

As the campaign against Eastern Ghouta continues, schools and universities have either been destroyed or shut down, leaving students with few options for continuing their education.

Some have enrolled in online universities, while others have joined new, start-up medical academies to address the extreme shortage of medical staff in the area.



Three students spoke to Al Jazeera about the obstacles they face as they try to continue their education in Eastern Ghouta.

Majed Daas, 22, computer science student

Ever since 2013 [start of the siege], I began searching for a way to continue my studies, but it was difficult because of the siege and we frequently have no fuel, internet or electricity.

So I sat down with some of my friends who are older than me, have already graduated or studied computer science and I started to learn how to run computer programs and software with them.

It was tough at the beginning, very complicated, but computer science has always been my obsession. After training with my friends, I completed my high school exam and did quite well.

Before the campaign started [against Eastern Ghouta], I was going to an internet shop to study, which cost a lot  nearly $3 per session every day. The books that I had to print cost me a fortune. I earn only $150 a month and printing a book costs about $30.

Studying on my laptop was challenging too. We never have electricity so I have to pay $5 a week to get electricity for a few hours and sometimes it doesnt work properly because of the attacks.

Two months ago, I applied at the University of the People [an American online institution] and signed up for two courses only, but I couldnt continue because of the intense attacks. Sadly, I had to withdraw since I cant complete the courses under these circumstances.

Our days now are horrifying; I just cant describe it. As I am talking to [you] right now [by phone] seven air strikes have struck around me. We stay all day in basements; sometimes I go outside to use the internet to talk with friends and family.

A photo of what is left of Majed Daas home that was destroyed last week [Courtesy of Majed Daas]

Warplanes, helicopters, mortar attacks  everything that you can imagine is being dropped on us by Russian forces and the [Bashar al-Assad] regime. We are expecting something like [the atomic bombings of] Hiroshima and Nagasaki to happen so they can kill us all and finish us off.

We have spent the last three weeks underground sleeping, waiting, going up and down, helping to bring some water and whatever we can to women and old, sick people who are struggling to death in these tombs or so-called basements.



Bassam Yousef, 22, physiotherapy student

The crowds of injured people and the shortage of medical staff in Eastern Ghouta is what drove me to continue my studies. With Sham Medical Academy, I found what I needed and it opened many doors for me to continue my studies. The academy opened to support the liberated areas with properly trained medical staff who dont have medical certificates.



For sure, studying in Ghouta is very different. We had class interrupted countless times because of the relentless shelling campaign these last years, especially in Jobar area, close to me.

In each of these shelling campaigns, medical checkpoints and hospitals have been drowning with patients. Where I work, we were targeted more than three times, and it affected me badly in my studies as I was conducting medical research with Sham Medical Academy.

Since three months ago, weve been suffering from a lack of materials and supplies, food and fuel prices have increased gradually, schools have closed after many massacres and directed attacks against them. Education has come to a halt in all of Eastern Ghouta. I want to continue my Masters in psychological sciences at the academy, but cant because of the intense campaign against Ghouta.

We have been living in the basement for the last few weeks. We hardly have any food supplies and water. There are roughly 200 people in each basement. The continuous attacks have prevented us from leaving it for hours sometimes; its quite stinky and humid.

Bassam Yousef helps a patient at a medical checkpoint in Eastern Ghouta [Courtesy of Bassam Yousef]

Can you imagine the amount of people held in a small place, breathing heavily and struggling with lung illnesses and other diseases? We are being hit right now as we speak [over the phone]. We will be hit by regime forces until we die or they force us to leave the city.

Mohammed Nizar Arbash, 22, computer science student

When the siege hit the city, we werent able to go out or get any supplies. I couldnt find any way to study so I started working on some computer programs for video editing and was developing these skills with help from friends. I learned how to do many things like app programming.

I worked during this time with the civil defence team, helping them with video editing in their media office, which helped me to develop my computer knowledge.

By the beginning of 2016, I enrolled at the virtual University of the People in computer science. It was [a] hard decision to make as I couldnt give up working, which my family and I depend on in order to survive and I had to pay the universitys expenses as well. [The university charges an assessment fee of $100 per course.]

Before studying at the virtual university, I studied computer science for two years in Eastern Ghouta, which was supported by the temporary government of the opposition, but my certificate wasnt recognised by international universities because the university didnt belong to the regime.

Mohammed Nizar Arbash says the virtual option has been the best solution for obtaining an education in Eastern Ghouta [Courtesy of Mohammed Nizar Arbash]

The certificate that I received was practically useless and I had to start from scratch all over again. To complete my studies and get a masters degree, I registered in the virtual university as I knew I would otherwise face difficulties in continuing my higher studies.

But this semester I withdrew from all of my courses because of the ongoing extermination war that we are under now.

These days I go out to bring water for people, bring some batteries to light the shelter or go out to find a medic or anything the elderly urgently need. Its suicide every time we leave our basements, but if we dont leave it for some time well suffocate from the bad smell. Its more like prisons that were living in, stuck under the shelling of Assads forces and its allies.

About the show

earthrise is Al Jazeeras award-winning environmental show exploring the most significant threats to our planet by highlighting eco-friendly solutions from around the world. earthrise brings you the stories of those who strive to improve our quality of life and reduce our negative impact on the earth.About the show

A weekly programme that examines and dissects the worlds media, how they operate and the stories they cover. Watch The Listening Post every Saturday at 0830GMTDr Marc Lamont Hill is an award-winning journalist and author and is the Steve Charles Professor of Media, Cities, and Solutions at Temple University. Hill is known for his work addressing the intersections of race, justice, politics and culture. His latest best-selling book is We Still Here: Pandemics, Policing, Protest and Possibility which follows on the success of Nobody: Casualties of Americas War on the Vulnerable from Flint to Ferguson. Hill has received numerous prestigious awards from the US National Association of Black Journalists, GLAAD, and the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.Donald Trump, the Very Stable Genius Psychiatrist

After President Trump posted the tweets shown below, the vast Trump vilification cosmos predictably sprang into outraged armchair psychiatry, citing the tweets as evidence that the 25th Amendment must be immediately invoked to remove Trump  a madman using insults to forge a path to nuclear Armageddon. But a funny thing happened just weeks later  and it was not nuclear Armageddon. Dear Leader Un arranged for the two Korean Olympic teams to march together in the imminent opening Olympic ceremony. Even the New York Times called that decision "[t]he most dramatic gesture of reconciliation between them [North and South Korea] in a decade." And shortly after that, Kim Jong-un shocked the world by inviting President Trump to talk with him face to face. Presumably, in that encounter, he will remove his Rocket Man suit and wear normal clothes.

President Trump says he will talk to anyone, that he will build a relationship with anyone from the humblest humanitarian to the cruelest dictator. While he did not study in a psychoanalytic institute, and the terms about to be discussed may well be unfamiliar to him, Trump's tweets masterfully employ communication techniques that are foundational to modern psychoanalysis. Modern psychoanalysis has become an established method of "the talking cure," having spread, like wildfire, from midtown Manhattan through the Upper West Side to New Jersey in a mere thirty years. Introduced in the late 20th century by its founder, Hyman Spotnitz, modern psychoanalysis was radical in two fundamental ways. First, Spotnitz believed that intransigent mental illnesses  even schizophrenia, which was generally believed by all therapists to be immune to any kind of psychoanalysis  could be successfully treated by getting patients "to just talk about everything." Second, unlike traditional Freudian analysis, modern psychoanalysis does not involve the analyst's interpretation of the patient's unconscious neuroses as a primary therapeutic technique. In fact, in modern psychoanalysis, such analytic dronings are verboten. In modern psychoanalysis, a patient makes progress through reciprocal streams of emotional communication with the analyst, some conscious, most unconscious. Transference is the patient's largely unconscious projection of narcissism onto the analyst, which Spotnitz understood not as the popular conception of self-love, but as repressed self-hatred that fuels mental illness. Counter-transference refers to the analyst's emotional responses to the patient. A skilled modern analyst strives to be conscious of his counter-transference and uses it for the benefit of the patient through the communication techniques of joining the resistance and contact functioning. This article examines how those two therapeutic techniques are used in the president's tweets to Kim Jong-un. Joining is a conscious, therapeutic form of empathy used by the analyst. As explained metaphorically by one modern analyst, "[i]n fine woodworking, joinery is used to connect two pieces of wood (e.g., a leg to a table top, a drawer face to its sides) in a way that increases the amount of contact between the two, thereby strengthening the connection. This is precisely what joining in therapeutic pursuits is designed to accomplish: to increase the contact and the connection between two individuals. Joining can be the glue that helps two parties stay together long enough and tightly enough to accomplish something therapeutic." In the first tweet shown above, President Trump joins Kim Jong-un's resistance by mirroring aggressive and bellicose language. OK, if I'm old, then you're fat and short. His response is not immature baiting, as it is misunderstood to be by the legions of Trump-hating armchair analysts. Rather, his tweet engages the little dictator in literal  and more importantly, emotional  terms that he can understand. By neither analyzing nor judging the childishness of Kim Jong-un's words, President Trump is allowing him to set the emotional tone. His tweet implicitly gives Kim Jong-un permission "to just talk about everything." President Trump's "tweet for tat" engages Kim Jong-un on his own emotional level and leavens the exchange with humor that communicates a lack of judgment and censure. This is an excellent example of contact functioning. The purpose of contact functioning is to reduce anxiety in a patient (or, in this case, a dictator). This is accomplished by allowing the expression of any emotion or threat or even irrational idea while prohibiting the acting out of such destructive impulses. In the second tweet, President Trump again joins Kim Jong-un's resistance. This time, though, as the "therapist," he sets limits on the "patient." He is saying, "You are allowed to say anything, but understand that you may not do anything." The president is setting limits beyond which terrible and unavoidable consequences loom: "I too have a Nuclear Button but it is much bigger and more powerful... and my Button works!" An analyst once told me how, after his very first session in psychoanalysis and many years before he became an analyst himself, he offered his hand to the analyst. The analyst took it and said, "I'm shaking your hand to let you know that I trust you. But this is the last time you will ever touch me." The above tweet is President Trump's response to Kim Jong-un's recent invitation to meet. It is in the spirit of getting the patient to "just talk about everything" while making it clear who is the patient and who is the therapist. On January 11, 2018, President Trump told the Wall Street Journal, "I probably have a very good relationship with Kim Jong-un. I have relationships with people. I think you people are surprised." For those who intuitively trust the president's communication strategies, that assertion is self-evident. The president does seem to have a knack for relationships, whatever the amalgam of calculation and instinct may be behind them. And just as an analyst must traverse convoluted resistances from a patient, the president must harness his calculations and instinct. When it comes to North Korea, we can all pray they will work. Image: wodi via Wikimedia Commons.I'm talking about the firing of Andrew McCabe, who doubtless acted under the impression that rigging things at the FBI for Hillary Clinton was the path to higher office and glory.

Friday night was a big night for news hawks. And I'm not talking about the upset victory of the UMBC Retrievers over the they-should-have-been-50-points-ahead UVa Cavaliers. Things like that sometimes happen when skill and determination beat odds-makers and reputation.

Late Friday night, McCabe, the former deputy director and then acting director of the FBI, was fired by Attorney General Jeff Sessions in a statement that reads as follows:

"Lacking candor under oath" is the operative phrase. If it were you or I, the charge by a special prosecutor would be perjury. Ask Lewis Libby or General Mike Flynn.

Of note, the President had nothing to do with this; the recommendation came from within the FBI itself based on its analysis of the report it received from the Justice Department's inspector general, an Obama appointee. Bear this in mind when you read McCabe's response and the twist the major media are putting on the firing.

Note also "Under oath  on multiple occasions." This suggests but does not prove that McCabe was also interrogated by the outside lawyer the attorney general appointed some time ago to look into the handling of the Clinton email matter by the FBI and Department of Justice officials involved. The inspector general also has the power to administer oaths in the course of his investigation.

McCabe was reportedly given a few days' notice of this intended action and was ready to and did quickly release this statement:

Let's deal with the operative phrases here:

1. "I answered questions as accurately as I could amidst the chaos that surrounded me."

Really, poor soul. Both Libby and Flynn were working on many pressing issues and thought the FBI agents they were talking to were there on other matters, and they were entrapped  even McCabe's underling Peter Strzok said, per James Comey's congressional testimony, that they didn't think Flynn had intentionally lied, and the FBI account by one of the agents who interviewed Libby (Libby lacked the advantage of seeing his contemporaneous notes) was deemed inaccurate by the second agent who'd been there, the first having quickly and inexplicably resigned before the trial.

2. "The OIG investigation focused on information I chose to share with a reporter through my public affairs officer and a legal counselor. As deputy director, I was one of only a few people who had the authority to do that, it was not secret, it took place over several days, and others, including the director, were aware of the interaction with the reporter."

The director at the time was James Comey. I suppose neither Comey nor McCabe were aware that the FBI has a well staffed public affairs office, making leaks to reporters seem unnecessary unless one is trying to manipulate news without being known as the source. In any event, the charge is that he lied multiple times about having directed his public affairs officer to leak.

Many other instances of McCabe and his staff's misconduct have been reported and are not included in Sessions's statement, but they seem certain to be revealed when the OIG reports are released.

For example, James Comey in congressional testimony indicated that it was his deputy who persuaded him that they should bypass the legal duty to notify the designated congressional leaders of the ongoing investigation of the "collusion" nonsense. Of course, he, too, could just have been "lacking candor."

And just as Comey tried to pass the blame for not notifying Congress, McCabe seems to have put a bullseye on Comey's back. Comey, after all, denied to Congress that he had authorized any leaks, something McCabe contradicts in his statement.

It was McCabe who directed the work of Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, who had sent seemingly countless emails to each other revealing their pro-Hillary bias and anti-Trump animus. Just this week, we learned from newly released emails which had been kept hidden from congressional investigators that Strzok had a close relationship with federal judge Rudolph Contreras, who also sat on the FISC. It's not known yet whether he sat on the panel that okayed the fishing expedition into Trump's affairs. Judge Contreras originally sat on the Flynn case until he was recused. The emails showed the two plotting to set up a social occasion with others and for the judge to hide private conversations with him.

Contreras was appointed to the top surveillance court on May 19, 2016, federal records show. The pair even schemed about how to set up a cocktail or dinner party just so Contreras, Strzok, and Page could speak without arousing suspicion that they were colluding. Strzok expressed concern that a one-on-one meeting between the two men might require Contreras' recusal from matters in which Strzok was involved. "[REDACTED] suggested a social setting with others would probably be better than a one on one meeting," Strzok told Page. "I'm sorry, I'm just going to have to invite you to that cocktail party." "Have to come up with some other work people cover for action," Strzok added. "Why more?" Page responded. "Six is a perfectly fine dinner party." It is not known whether the proposed party happened as planned. While working as one of the top counterintelligence officials at the FBI, Strzok reportedly took part in the FBI's interview of on January 24. Flynn later pleaded guilty to one charge of providing false information to federal investigators. Strzok later left the FBI to join Mueller's special counsel team, which obtained the indictment of Flynn.

We don't know the identity of redacted, but McCabe was the deputy director and James Comey the director at that time.

Then, of course, there's the unseemly payment by Clinton allies of almost $700,000 to McCabe's wife (a physician) when she ran for minor office and lost. He had been warned by the relevant department officials that there was a potential conflict, and he didn't head the email investigation until a few months after she lost the race, but he was still a department official with people beholden to him presumably working on the matter and was seen publicly campaigning for her. It has been reported that Virginia election laws permit a candidate to retain surplus donations for personal use as long as the campaign financial account has not been closed.

I'm not sure this is the case, but I'm no expert on campaign laws. Maybe someone with a press badge can seek her campaign records.

Brit Hume on Twitter could not hide his disdain for McCabe's response or the reports by The Hill and the Washington Post twisting the story:

Right, the FBIs Office of Professional Responsibility was trying to undermine Mueller. What BS. Amazing that many journalists are buying this claptrap. https://t.co/Gssp9h7nO7  Brit Hume (@brithume) March 17, 2018

Brit Hume added:

No sir. You are being singled out because your departments own Office of Professional Responsibility concluded that you had lied to internal investigators and recommended you be fired what is a recognized firing offense. https://t.co/DcCWGqvnEv  Brit Hume (@brithume) March 17, 2018

FBIs Office of Professional Responsibility recommends McCabe be fire. Sessions fires him. McCabe responds by blaming it all on politics and says he was done in by Trump. This WaPo correspondent buys McCabes line. https://t.co/hBqO5mHMiD  Brit Hume (@brithume) March 17, 2018

What's next?

Well, this week, General Flynn was in California campaigning for Maxine Waters's opponent. This suggests to many that Mueller's big catch is not afraid of what's to come.

Sara Carter asks why Strzok and Page and the DoJ's Bruce Ohr (whose wife, we have learned, was working for the dossier smear merchants) have been silent. She says she doesn't know why, but some have guessed, not without warrant, that they are cooperating witnesses, and if they are, James Comey's book due to come out almost simultaneously  at last report  with the OIG's first report may not be his ticket to ride.

John Brennan, who couldn't keep his story to congressional investigators straight, is squealing like a stuck pig:

When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history. You may scapegoat Andy McCabe, but you will not destroy America...America will triumph over you. https://t.co/uKppoDbduj  John O. Brennan (@JohnBrennan) March 17, 2018

This intemperate outburst prompted this response from Judicial Watch's Tom Fitton:

Over the top comments from this and other senior former Obama officials show why it isn't difficult to imagine the Obama intelligence apparatus' being misused and abused to target @realDonaldTrump. https://t.co/zpqwofpFyy  Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) March 17, 2018

I wouldn't put odds on Mueller's investigation continuing much longer with so much of his work having been based on fatally compromised staffers. Adam Housely warns in a series of tweets that McCabe's firing was not political, and neither side should try to make it so, though he notes that this action will encourage others in the agency to come forward with what they know:

Wray and McCabe's meeting did not go well and it was McCabe who challenged the Director. McCabe stepped down because of this and tried to ride it out until retirement. Truth internally came out before that happened. This has nothing to do with Trumps tweets or Nunes memo I am told yesterday McCabe felt the heat and went to try and save his last two days and even told some he would take people down with him if he was fired. So... let's see what comes of this. I know this... a ton of agents... a ton... were watching this very closely. This was about power by a group within the FBI. A clique. I see Republicans already making this political and tying it in a much different way than it was. Dems tying it to Trump... both would be wrong. This decision will encourage agents to trust coming forward. Others who had during the clique's time in charge got buried and mistreated and it kept agents from coming forward. Again this began before Trump. It was about control.

It's hard to ignore, however, that this firing and the constant disclosures about those closest to Comey and McCabe likely will lead to a significant restructuring of the FBI. Whether it will restore faith in that corrupted agency remains to be seen.In his response to his firing, McCabe lied again, ignoring his multitude of offenses only to whine about persecution by a vindictive President Trump:

You can stop looking for Attorney General Jeff Sessions on the back of a milk carton. Confronted by overwhelming evidence in a report by the DOJ's Office of Inspector General (OIG) and a rare recommendation from the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), he has fired liar and leaker Andrew McCabe in a move that can only be a harbinger for indictments to come that go beyond these offenses against honor and the law.

For the last year and a half, my family and I have been the targets of an unrelenting assault on our reputation and my service to this country. Articles too numerous to count have leveled every sort of false, defamatory and degrading allegation against us. The President's tweets have amplified and exacerbated it all. He called for my firing. He called for me to be stripped of my pension after more than 20 years of service. And all along we have said nothing, never wanting to distract from the mission of the FBI by addressing the lies told and repeated about us.

Never mind the "lack of candor" (aka lies) the OPR and OIG have charged you with, or the self-serving leaking of confidential information to a reporter. Come to think of it, your former boss, James Comey, did the same thing. He taught you well.

You can whine that the "OIG investigation has focused on information I chose to share with a reporter," but the fact is that you had no right to make that choice any more than James Comey did when he leaked his version of a private Oval Office meeting to the press via an intermediary.

You can object to "being portrayed in the media over and over as a political partisan," yet that is what you were, from the meeting in "Andy's office," where the official FBI resistance to President Trump was organized and discussed, to having Friend of Hillary Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe arrange massive donations to your wife's political campaign even as you were supposed to be overseeing the Hillary email investigation.

Chutzpah has a new poster child in Andrew McCabe, who, after aiding and abetting Hillary Clinton's exoneration and collusion with the Russians, committing a fraud upon the FISA court to aid one political party over another, and being an active participant in the attempted deep state coup against Donald Trump, dared to ask he not be fired so he can retain a cushy pension:

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe on Thursday made a final pitch to the Justice Department about why he should not be fired just 72 hours before his retirement, leaving Attorney General Jeff Sessions to decide the matter with a deadline rapidly approaching[.] ... White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said of McCabe, "We do think that it is well documented that he has had some very troubling behavior and by most accounts a bad actor," though she said the decision on his future was up to Sessions[.] ... The accusations against McCabe stem from a yet-to-be released report from Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, who has for months been probing broad allegations of misconduct surrounding the FBI's handling of the investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server while she was secretary of state[.] ... Horowitz also has been examining McCabe's involvement in authorizing the disclosure of information for a Wall Street Journal report and allegations he mislead [sic] investigators who asked about the matter[.] ... Trump has suggested in the past that McCabe was biased in favor of Clinton, pointing out that McCabe's wife, who ran as a Democrat for a seat in the Virginia legislature, received hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from the political action committee of Terry McAuliffe, then the state's governor and a noted Clinton ally.

McCabe is an accomplished Deep State liar and co-conspirator who took his leave in January to avoid demotion and preserve his pension. That came after current FBI director Christopher Wray reviewed the House Intelligence Committee memo in which his activities in the vendetta against Trump involving the now infamous Christopher Steele dossier were prominently featured. He deserved to be fired and denied his pension, and he should be forced to pay for legal help to avoid incarceration on his own dime.

Former FBI national spokesman John Iannarelli argues that the firing of McCabe is eminently justified:

Although "there [are] many things that can be forgiven" within the nation's pre-eminent law enforcement agency, a "lack of candor" and "not telling the truth" are "unforgivable," former FBI national spokesperson John Iannarelli said Thursday night on Fox News' "The Ingraham Angle." Iannarelli was reacting to reports that the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) recommended to Attorney General Jeff Sessions this week that he fire former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe before the latter's pension begins Sunday. The Department of Justice Inspector General (IG) concluded that McCabe, who oversaw the investigation into 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's private email server, reportedly misled investigators during their investigation into his conduct.

Wait a minute  isn't "lying to investigators" what former national security advisor Michael Flynn was charged with, a crime he pleaded guilty to? But lying to investigators may be only the tip of McCabe's criminal iceberg. As the meeting in his office suggests, McCabe could not have been ignorant of the efforts by lead investigator Peter Strzok, his paramour Lisa Page, and the likes of Bruce and Nellie Ohr and others to keep Hillary Clinton out of jail after colluding with the Russians and Donald Trump out of the White House.

At one point, McCabe had to reschedule his testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, with the Justice Department telling the network that it was due to a "routine scheduling error." More likely, it was due to the need for everyone to get his story straight as the details of the fix that was in for Hillary Clinton are being...er, "unmasked" and the details of the attempted coup against President Trump bubble to the surface from the depths of the swamp:

Fox News was told by those familiar with the matter that the intelligence committee is suspicious of the purported scheduling error. One source said they believe the schedule issue arose after Fox News' report Monday night on Department of Justice official Bruce Ohr. Ohr was recently demoted from one of his two senior posts. Fox News reported that Ohr's wife, Nellie Ohr, worked through last fall for Fusion GPS, which was behind the anti-Trump dossier[.] ... "McCabe has an Ohr problem," one congressional source said.

McCabe has many problems, and is at the heart of the criminal conspiracy to protect Hillary and unseat President Trump. The "Ohr problem" relates to Bruce Ohr and his wife Nellie and their connections to Fusion GPS, the firm paid indirectly by the Clinton campaign and the DNC to work with former British spy Christopher Steele and Russian sources to put together a fake dossier likely used by the FBI to fraudulently obtain FISA surveillance warrants on Team Trump:

Fox reported on Monday that Nellie Ohr worked last year for Fusion GPS, which commissioned the dossier. The company investigated Donald Trump on behalf of the Clinton campaign and DNC Bruce Ohr, a high-ranking Justice Department official, also has connections to both Fusion GPS and Christopher Steele, the former British spy hired by Fusion to conduct the investigation of Trump. Ohr met prior to the election with Steele. He met several weeks after Trump's victory with Simpson. It remains unclear what Ohr discussed during those meetings.

Another McCabe problem relates to an FBI lead investigator in the Clinton probe, agent Peter Strzok, whose text messages to his FBI mistress, Lisa Page, lend both intent and motive to the Clinton cover-up and the animus toward President Trump. A letter from Homeland Security Committee chairman Sen. Rob Johnson, R-Wis., shows McCabe's role in the altering and drafting of the James Comey memo exonerating Hillary Clinton:

The letter reveals specific edits made by senior FBI agents when Deputy Director Andrew McCabe exchanged drafts of Comey's statement with senior FBI officials, including Peter Strzok, Strzok's direct supervisor, E.W. "Bill" Priestap, Jonathan Moffa, and an unnamed employee from the Office of General Counsel (identified by Newsweek as DOJ Deputy General Counsel Trisha Anderson)  in what was a coordinated conspiracy among top FBI brass to decriminalize Clinton's conduct by changing legal terms and phrases, omitting key information, and minimizing the role of the Intelligence Community in the email investigation. Doing so virtually assured that then-candidate Hillary Clinton would not be prosecuted.

McCabe was the ringleader of the damage control team trying to fudge the evidence of Hillary's crimes and soften the tone of Comey's exoneration memo so there would be fewer questions when the fix was revealed. McCabe was also aware of Strzok's fears of a Trump victory and determination to undermine it:

Out of all the damning, politically charged anti-Trump text messages released, one text from Strzok to Page on August 15, 2016, raised the most suspicion. It referred to a conversation and a meeting that had just taken place in "Andy's" (widely believed to be Deputy FBI Dir. Andrew McCabe's) office. According to Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Strzok had texted this: "I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy's office [break] ... that there's no way he gets elected. I want to believe that[.] ... But I'm afraid we can't take that risk[.] ... We have to do something about it."

If McCabe had any honor, he would have dismissed Strzok instantly and revealed the corruption his words exhibited. But McCabe was part of the corrupt criminal enterprise.

McCabe was in a key position overseeing the investigation of Hillary Clinton's scandalous and treasonous handling of classified emails on her private server, a position from which he could assist FBI director James Comey in putting the fix in. As Judicial Watch notes:

Judicial Watch today released Justice Department records showing that FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe did not recuse himself from the investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's unsecure, non-government email server until Tuesday, November 1, 2016, one week prior to the presidential election. The Clinton email probe was codenamed "Midyear Exam." While working as Assistant Director in Charge of the Washington Field Office, McCabe controlled resources supporting the investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's email scandal. An October 2016 internal FBI memorandum labeled "Overview of Deputy Director McCabe's Recusal Related To Dr. McCabe's Campaign for Political Office," details talking points about McCabe's various potential conflicts of interest, including the FBI's investigation of Clinton's illicit server, which officially began in July 2015: While at [Washington Field Office] did Mr. McCabe provide assistance to the Clinton investigation? After the referral was made, FBI Headquarters asked the Washington Field Office for personnel to conduct a special investigation. McCabe was serving as [Assistant Director] and provided personnel resources. However, he was not told what the investigation was about. In February 2016 McCabe became Deputy Director and began overseeing the Clinton investigation. The Overview also shows if asked whether McCabe played any role in his wife's campaign, the scripted response was: "No. Then-[Assistant Director] McCabe played no role, attended no events and did not participate in fundraising or support of any kind."

Of course, that statement was a lie. McCabe is a Democratic loyalist whose wife campaigned for state office in Virginia as a Democrat with heavy Democratic financial support. In fact, McCabe's efforts on behalf of his wife were the subject of multiple federal probes:

Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, a central player in the Russia election case, is the focus of three separate federal administrative inquiries into allegations about his behavior as a senior bureau executive, according to documents and interviews. The allegations being reviewed range from sexual discrimination to improper political activity, the documents show[.] ... Circa reported Monday that former supervisory special agent Robyn Gritz, a decorated counterterrorism agent, has filed a sexual discrimination and retaliation complaint that names McCabe and other top FBI officials[.] ... Gritz also filed a complaint against McCabe with the main federal whistleblower agency in April, alleging social media photos she found show he campaigned for his wife's Virginia state senate race in violation of the Hatch Act[.] ... In addition, the Justice Department Inspector General is investigating allegations from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, that McCabe may not have properly disclosed campaign payments to his wife on his ethics report and should have recused himself from Hillary Clinton's email case.

McCabe is probably not a happy camper right now and certainly has no love lost for Michael Flynn, who was a potential witness on behalf of one of McCabe's accusers. As PJ Media reports:

In 2014, Flynn, then director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, personally intervened on behalf of Supervisory Special Agent Robyn Gritz by writing a letter vouching for her on his official Pentagon stationary [sic] and offering to testify on her behalf. He also supported her case in a radio interview in 2015[.] ... The FBI, for its part, claimed that Gritz had become "underperforming, tardy to work, insurbordinate, possibly mentally ill or emotional and deserving of a poor performance review." ... Flynn argued just the opposite in his May 9, 2014 letter: "SSA Gritz was well-known, liked and respected in the military counter-terrorism community for her energy, commitment and professional capacity, and over the years worked in several interagency groups on counter-terrorism targeting initiatives."

McCabe did not disclose Democratic contributions to his wife's campaign in Virginia in financial disclosure forms, donations that raise questions about both his integrity and objectivity. As Fox News Politics reports:

The records, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, show FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe left the box blank for wife Dr. Jill McCabe's salary, as a doctor with Commonwealth Emergency Physicians. And there is no documentation of the hundreds of thousands of campaign funds she received in her unsuccessful 2015 Virginia state Senate race. As first reported by The Wall Street Journal, Clinton confidant and Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe urged McCabe's wife to run for statewide office shortly after news reports were published that Hillary Clinton used a private email server and address for all her government business while serving as secretary of State. For the reporting period of October through November 2015, McCabe's campaign filings show she received $467,500 from Common Good VA, a political action committee controlled by McAuliffe, as well as an additional $292,500 from a second Democratic PAC.

Connect those dots: Democrats and others looking for Russians hiding under Republican beds. A deputy FBI director, Andrew McCabe, campaigning for his wife, who receives huge sums of money from the Democratic Party of Clinton political ally Terry McAuliffe. Flynn, character witness on behalf of one of McCabe's accusers, becoming a target of an FBI probe in which his identity is illegally unmasked. Was Mrs. McCabe's subsidy a quid for a future quo? Was Flynn's unmasking McCabe's revenge?

McCabe's firing is a well deserved outcome. But he shouldn't sweat the loss of his pension. Federal prison inmates get free room and board.

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.Putin's Nuke Missile Campaign: Who Is Targeted, Who Will Lose?

The presidential elections in Russia are coming soon, and in a few days, Russian citizens will elect the head of the country for the next six years. At the beginning of the campaign, the process promised to be boring and over-staged, with a predetermined outcome. However, further developments show that the incumbent president and the main favorite, Vladimir Putin, is facing serious problems both on the internal and the external fronts. The political career of the president of the Russian Federation is threatened by an invisible enemy that cannot be combated by such traditional methods as folders of compromising materials, black P.R., harassment, bullying, and isolation. This foe is too strong and is going to become invincible over time. This challenger defeated many irreplaceable dictators who had all the necessary resources to remain at the helm of power and rule the country forever. This opponent is the indifference and fatigue that the citizens of Russia demonstrate, the call and the dream of changes, renewed generation, and evolution of thinking.

It is necessary to fight this enemy in a completely different way, using unconventional means and strategy. The goal of the battle would be to convince voters not to ignore the electoral process, to come to the polls and vote, despite the fact that there is no alternative to the incumbent president, and the desired choice has already been made from the moment you enter the polling station. So what does Putin have to offer his voters? What should he promise? At first glance, it seems that it is possible to suggest almost everything. Moreover, the result will be guaranteed, given the conditions of total supervision and a well led information strategy. But things are not that simple. Thus, Putin's political technologists and strategies are faced with a severe problem. They have to find, devise, develop, package, and present to voters proposals that were not made during the elections of the last 20 years. After studying the electoral processes in Russia over the past 20 years, it can be concluded that all promises and proposals have already been made. During the first two terms of Vladimir Putin's presidency, Russia recorded real economic and political success that was to a large extent due to fantastic high energy prices and favorable international conditions rather than efficient and fair governance. After 2007, the global economy experienced a severe crisis that affected the Russian economy. As a result of this crisis, the life of an average Russian citizen entered an irreversible course of negative dynamics. It happened because of a decrease in world prices for energy and other natural resources, a monopolistic economy, the highly defective work of state institutions, and large-scale corruption. The situation was further aggravated by the fact that the USA and the European Union imposed sanctions against Russia because of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and annexation of Crimea. As a result, Russian industrialists lost the opportunity to obtain long-term loans from American and European financial institutions. Given the conditions of the deficit of foreign currency, the national currency exchange rate of Russia was devalued twice, and prices for basic necessities increased, while the incomes of citizens gradually decreased. Apart from that, Russia's participation in the Syrian conflict and its possible interference in the electoral processes of the United States and the E.U. exacerbated relations between Russia and the West. Those are, by the way, characterized by unprecedented tension from 1991 to this day, with a high probability of a "cold war." In this extremely complicated internal and external situation, Putin decided to run for president of Russia using his constitutional right in the second, legally fourth, and de facto fifth time. Actually, he never did leave the post of Russian leader and continued to remain head of the state during Medvedev's presidency. So what ideological basis and propaganda platform should Putin use during the elections now? What layer of Russian society is Putin's potential electorate this year? The answers to these questions were presented on March 1, 2018, in Putin's message addressed to the enlarged Federal Council. He introduced himself not as head of the state, but as supreme commander-in-chief of the country. The major part of the speech was devoted to the latest achievements of the Russian military-industrial complex. They were presented as proof of power and invincibility of the Russian Federation that is ready to resist any possible military acts against the state. Introduction of these innovations by the president, as well as their use in the electoral campaign, indicate that the Russian president has exhausted the resources of communication with society on a number of issues of mutual interest. There is nothing left to promise and offer except for nuclear missiles that can be launched dependably and bypass the anti-missile defense systems of, let's say, the United States. Posing himself as the supreme commander-in-chief of the country, Putin sent a message to his voters. It says the existence of the country is under threat, the enemy is at the borders of the homeland, and the existence of the empire can be guaranteed by one candidate only. Bringing this message to an average Russian person is just a technical matter that will be carried out by the pro-Kremlin expert environment and state-controlled media (popular talk shows, for instance). Taking into account the personality cult that exists in Russia, it takes little time to convince people that it is immoral to demand social security, justice, fair governance, and equal opportunities in these conditions since the very "existence of the empire" is questionable. The voice of the progressive part of Russian society will be stunned by the noise of patriotic pathos. The minority's demand for democracy, protection of human rights, and the rule of law will be enshrined as "serving the interests of the enemy." Moreover, their claims will be isolated from the agenda of the political and public life of the state. Yet anyone who obtained a higher education and is more or less familiar with security issues will destroy this thesis in five minutes, since Russia will not have the opportunity to put the exposed weapons into practice. In the 21st century, geopolitical problems between superpowers are solved not by nuclear weapons, but by a person who is offered guarantees of political, economic, legal, and social protection. The issues are also addressed by innovations that improve the quality of a citizen's daily life and civilized solutions to existing problems. "Homo Sovieticus" is still alive in Russian society. In the subconscious of that species, NATO is the enemy to be fought, and the only resource of struggle is internal "stability" and support of the leader. The Soviet Union, which had a clear ideology and a serious influence on geopolitical processes, managed to survive only 40 years with this ideology. In a modern Russia that has no specific ideological platform and relatively open society without the Iron Curtain, such a concept is exceptionally vulnerable and unviable. The Kremlin understands this. It can be demonstrated by viewing Putin's interview with NBC. That interview, in fact, it was merely an edited version of his message to the Federal Council. It shows that the latter was addressed exclusively to the domestic audience and was extremely propagandistic. Artur Ghazinyan is the director of the Center of European Studies.That would refer to American Muslims, 13 percent of whom, according to the Pew Research Center , say they support suicide bombings and other violence against civilians in defense of Islam. (According to Pew, the percentage is considerably higher among foreign Muslims.)

It's too bad the American left doesn't treat the NRA even half as fairly as it treats Islam.

Yet every time a jihadist goes on a killing spree, the American left, through its propaganda arm  otherwise known as the mainstream media  is quick to remind us that Islamic terrorism is an aberration and in no way reflective of the "religion of peace."

In fact, jihadist terror is so aberrant that countless talking heads, including the one who used to occupy the White House, have declared it un-Islamic, going so far as to claim that a vast terrorist army known by various names, but most conventionally as the Islamic State, has nothing to do with Islam.

That would actually be laughable  sort of like claiming that the National Rifle Association had nothing to do with guns  if thousands of people weren't being slaughtered.

Yet countless Islamic scholars, learned men (they're all men) who have done little other than study the Koran their entire lives, boldly contradict the leftist cadre of pundits and professional apologists, most of whom are not Muslim and have no expertise in the field of Quranic study (sort of like Dianne Feinstein defining an "assault rifle"), by saying that in their learned opinion, what terror networks like al-Qaeda and the Islamic State are doing  visiting violent jihad upon the infidel  is exactly the duty of every true Muslim and that anyone who says differently is either an infidel or a heretic and should be killed. (How's that for the religion of peace and tolerance?)

So whom are you going to believe, Anderson Cooper, who knows as much about Islam as he knows about picking up girls in singles bars, or ten thousand imams who have literally memorized every verse in the Quran?

But does it even matter? Because regardless of who's right about the true tenets of Islam, millions of Muslims believe that killing innocent, unarmed civilians is their ticket to paradise.

How do I know? Because most of the time, they announce it by shouting "Allahu akbar!" right before they slaughter everyone in sight. Still, the American left and its lapdog media claim to have a hard time figuring out the motives behind such attacks.

Let us suppose that a card-carrying member of the NRA walked onto a U.S. military base, or into a gay nightclub, or a Christmas party with an AR-15 and shouted, "This is for the NRA!" and then proceeded to shoot everyone.

How long do you think it would take for the media to blame the NRA?

This situation isn't purely hypothetical, because the NRA has come under relentless attack since the Valentine's Day school shooting in Parkland, Florida. No less an authority on firearms and the NRA than documentary filmmaker Michael Moore labeled the entire NRA a "terrorist organization."  Daniel Malloy, the Democratic governor of Connecticut, said the same thing. Ditto TV pundit Keith Olbermann and columnist Jessica Valenti, along with dozens of others.

This week, we witnessed a national school walkout to protest firearm violence, which is left-speak for protest the NRA. The signs on display were typical: "Abolish the NRA," "NRA = Terrorists," and "NRA blood on your hands."

Except, of course, the NRA had nothing to do with the school shooting in Parkland, or any other school or mass shooting or terrorist attack.

But just imagine if a group of conservatives  the Tea Party, for instance  took to the streets in cities all over the country after the next jihadist terror attack and waved around the exact same signs as the anti-gun left but replaced the initials "NRA" with the word "Islam," so that the signs read "Abolish Islam," "Islam = Terrorists," and "Islam blood on your hands."

Can you hear the left's screams of rage and its hysterical accusations of.. (take your pick, but "racism" is their favorite, despite the fact that Islam comprises members of all races and nationalities)?

If the left was even close to treating the NRA the way it treats Islam, millions of honest, law-abiding Americans, many of whom are military and law enforcement veterans, who are members of the NRA wouldn't be condemned as domestic terrorists and child-murderers. But then again, that's exactly what the left wants.So perhaps it's not surprising that there is pushback against the extremist tide of government elsewhere in the state. Once city in Southern California recently passed an ordnance exempting it from the state's sanctuary laws.

Not everyone in California is a liberal extremist or radical, open borders fanatic. In fact, there has been a movement around for years in Northern California to create a 51st state called "Jefferson." The area is far more conservative with traditional values and its economic interests - mining, timber, and fishing - is heavily regulated by the state. But the idea of a new state carved out of Northern California is probably a pipe dream at this point.

Fox News:

The City of Los Alamitos will vote on an ordinance that would exempt it from the sanctuary city law that council members say conflicts with federal law. Members say that the state law may be in direct conflict with federal laws and the Constitution, not to mention going against the oath they took in taking office, The Orange County register reports. The council finds that it is impossible to honor our oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, according to the ordinance. The proposed legislation comes after U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Justice Department was filing a lawsuit against California over three pieces of legislation that interfere with the federal immigration policy. Like Los Alamitos council members, Sessions argued that the laws are not only unconstitutional, but also a plain violation of federal statute and common sense.

If the state chose to challenge the ordnance, Los Alamitos would surely lose. There would be chaos if local governments around the state chose which state laws to obey and which not to.

But the action by the city council is revealing. There is a growing divide between the radical state government and ordinary people who resent much of what Sacramento is foisting on California residents. A real backlash is growing and it's unclear how it will manifest itself. The GOP in the state is a dead letter, riven by factions and in disarray. They can offer only token resistance to the liberal tide.

But the state has been changed most often through the referendum process. One such referendum to repeal the state's sanctuary city law failed to gather enough signatures for the November, 2018 ballot. But organizers will try again and if the backlash builds, it will almost certainly succeed.Dem state representative in Mass seeks to remove sign honoring Civil War general because she doesnt like his name

We are accustomed to local politicians demanding erasure of memorials to Confederate generals, but a feminist state legislator in Massachusetts wants to pull down a sign honoring a Union general -- solely because of his name. Representative Michelle Dubois (need I specify that she is a Democrat?) tweeted out her disgust over a sign over an entrance to the State House (the state capitol, as it is known locally) adjacent to a statue of General Fighting Joe Hooker, who voluntarily came out of retirement to fight for the Union cause once the Civil War had begun. In other words, a man who put himself at risk to fight for the cause of the Union, and eventuate the destruction of slavery in this country.

R U a General Hooker? Of course not! Yet the main entrance of the Mass State House says otherwise.#Metoo its not all about rape & harassment but also womens dignity A funny double entendres misrepresented as respect for a long dead general?

1 Keep statue

2 Take sign down pic.twitter.com/3H67dRXAzN  Michelle DuBois (@RepDuBois) March 14, 2018 The Boston media already have had a field day, with national conservative and libertarian media also taking notice. At least (for now) she is not demanding destruction of the statue, but if the name bothers her so much, then it is hard to see how the statue could escape her ire, once she gets her way on the sign. To me, the irony of the sign is heaven-sent. The Massachusetts State Legislature  officially called The Massachusetts General Court -- is not exactly known for its probity and incorruptibility. I spent almost two decades living in the the commonwealth, and cannot recall a single person expressing respect for that body. The novels of George Higgins are full of tales of the customary everyday corruption there. Howie Carrs book The Brothers Bulger about the mob boss who was brother of the most powerful member of The Massachusetts General Court should relieve any doubt about the appropriateness of the legislators entering through a door for hookers. But that irony aside, I wonder if Representative DuBois would be against honoring other people with the name Hooker? There are a fair number of them Hooker is a moderately common surname in the United States. When the United States Census was taken in 2010, there were about 16,646 individuals with the last name "Hooker," ranking it number 2,185 for all surnames. Historically, the name has been most prevalent in the Southeast, especially in North Carolina. Hooker is least common in the northeastern states. And there are people named Hooker all over the world. Re all of these people to be relegated to anonymity, even if they accomplish historic feats? Fortunately, the Hooker Chemical Company, founded by Elon Huntington Hooker, was acquired by Occidental Petroleum and renamed Occidental Chemical Corporation. Otherwise, Rep. DuBois might campaign to have it banned from doing business with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Of course, as the responsible part for the Love Canal pollution disaster, it might already have incurred her wrath.Democrats squelch consequences to FBI's McCabe for professional misconduct

The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Office of Professional Responsibility recommended the firing of Deputy Director Andrew McCabe Friday for leaking to the media and lying about it to investigators, as is about right for an embattled bureau seeking to rectify the damage to its reputation for probity. McCabe politicized the bureau's work, bet wrong on who would win the election and kept at it, fighting like an Iraqi dead-ender at Fallujah. It's normal that someone who does what he did should be fired. Actions have consequences. One of those could be indictment, as Thomas Lifson noted here, but at the least, it's legal to fire such a person for obvious politicking who would lose his pension as a consequence. Because some kinds of behavior, particularly from the top, such as lying, from an agency that makes it a crime to lie to them, really is unacceptable. If this kind of behavior is not checked, it lowers the bar for everyone and opens the door to widespread corruption through the ranks. It makes sense that there's some kind of punishment for federal employees who break these rules, given the vulnerability these agencies in their headquarters have to politicking.

But not to Democrats, for whom the politicization of the entire government remains live, something they root for ,as they cool their heels out of power. Far from allowing consequences for Andrew McCabe, recommended by his own agency acting on its standards, they remain all-in for McCabe. One obscure leftwing congressman, some Wisconsin guy named Mark Pocan, apparently with a lot of money to throw around for political hires, has offered McCabe a make-work job doing "security" for campaign events to McCabe, because that will ensure he keeps his pension. In its headline, the Washington Post's cheerleaders crowed that "It might just work." At least one Democratic congressman has offered McCabe a temporary job so he can get full retirement benefits  and McCabe appears to be considering. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) announced Saturday afternoon that he has offered McCabe a job to work on election security in his office, so that he can reach the needed length of service to retire. My offer of employment to Mr. McCabe is a legitimate offer to work on election security, Pocan said in a statement. Free and fair elections are the cornerstone of American democracy and both Republicans and Democrats should be concerned about election integrity. It's not as if McCabe is a fellow Democrat. According to his Wikipedia page, he's a Republican. So what we have here is a politically useful act for the Democrats, an all-out effort to negate any effort to discipline the federal workforce into the apolitical serve-everyone bureaucracy they were designed to be, ever since the civil service codes went up in the early 20th century. They don't want McCabe to have any consequences. They want everyone in the federal workforce to behave as he did, because he served their interests. And they want to encourage federal workers to break the rules with abandon if it helps Democrats such as Hillary Clinton, because whatever fallout might happen internally, they'll be there to catch them for such consequences if the politics are useful. It's an amazing undercutting of professional standards and obviously meant to encourage McCabe to continue to act as their tool to Get Trump. This isn't the first time they've done this, by the way. IRS tax-exempts chief Lois Lerner, after admitting she spied on political dissidents, wrote nasty statements about them on government electronic communications, destroyed her emails so investigators could not read them, and took the Fifth before Congress, was happily allowed to retire to her multimillion-dollar mansion in the Washington suburbs, utterly consequence-free. Now we see the same thing with McCabe. Democrats' efforts to shield them both from consequences of unprofessional behavior is a signal of how they see government and how they will govern - with a politicized Deep State as their valuable tool. A lot of things need to be cleaned up and hosed out from these sorry affairs. Number one, who hooked up the complex pension regulations to permit political hires to keep their pensions. Who came up with the idea of 20-year service requirements for full lifetime pensions? All of these things need to be hosed out. President Trump has his work cut out for him. As he works with legislators to fix this, perhaps he can call the reforms the McCabe Abuses Prevention Act.Fox News rethinks talking heads TV with The Wise Guys tonight

In recent months, the Fox News Channel has been expanding its original programming on Sunday nights. The shows have included one with a new host, a provocative historical documentary series, and an unusual discussion program, The Wise Guys, which is scheduled to get its second airing tonight, Sunday March 18th at 8 P.M. E.T./P.T. The Wise Guys concept is simple, but it stands out among todays typical cable news fare. A moderator, Bill Bennett, author, talk show host, and former Education Secretary in President Reagans cabinet, engages four wise guests from different backgrounds in a wide-ranging discussion of current events. The guests for this round are Fox Business Network and Fox News Channel anchor Maria Bartiromo, former Bush II press secretary Ari Fleischer, Oliver North, who since 2001 has hosted the excellent ongoing series War Stories originally on Fox News and now on Fox Business, and Robert Bennett, the well-connected Washington, D.C. lawyer whose clients have included President Bill Clinton. Robert and Bill Bennett are brothers who are on opposite sides of the ideological divide. They rarely appear together on television and their interaction tonight should be interesting to watch.

Here are some of the things that set The Wise Guys apart: It consists of a casual, thoughtful, mutually respectful discussion with no voices raised in attack. The setting, as it was when the show premiered on January 7, is a round dining table in a high end restaurant that is set for dinner  no studio lighting, backgrounds, props, CGI graphics, or TelePrompTers (other than perhaps to prompt the host on intros and outros). The state-of-the-art production values and camera work entail soft focus and subtle lighting, which make the show pleasant to watch and establish a relaxed mood. The old CNN Crossfire shoutfest this is not. Watch the latest video at foxnews.com Watch the latest video at foxnews.com Alan Dershowitz on The Wise Guys January 7, 2018 Episode 1 of The Wise Guys on January 7 was recorded in a private dining room setting at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Bill Bennett moderated and the guests were Alan Dershowitz, emeritus Harvard Law professor, Oliver North, Ari Fleischer  and Steve Wynn who at the time was a 75-year-old billionaire and chairman and CEO of Wynn Resorts. Less than three weeks later, an article in the Wall Street Journal detailed, according to NPR, disturbing  and at times graphic  allegations of Wynn's sexual misconduct against Wynn Resorts employees over decades. Wynns decades long career as a signature Nevada gaming and resort developer quickly collapsed and he is now in limbo facing multiple lawsuits. The Wise Guys Episode 1 was a strong ratings winner, overwhelming the competition on CNN and MSNBC in both of its showings at 8 and 11 P.M. E.T. on January 7. It thus mirrored the success of two other recent entries in Fox News Sunday night schedule, the just concluded seven-part review of the Clinton scandals on Scandalous and Mark Levins new Sunday night long form interview program Life, Liberty & Levin, which will have its third airing tonight at 10 P.M. E.T./P.T. The programmers at Fox News are to be congratulated for taking risks and trying out some new concepts, all three of which so far have proven to be successful. Peter Barry Chowka is a veteran reporter and analyst of news on national politics, media, and popular culture. He is a frequent contributor to American Thinker. Follow Peter on Twitter at @pchowka.On the surface, the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica (CA) face-off is fairly straightforward; bi tech vs, big data. But what happens if big tech was in bed with big data? What if Facebook's highly touted "privacy" efforts were nothing but a sham?

According to the Washington Post, the former privacy manager for Facebook, Sandy Parakilas, called out Facebook, saying "They only banned Kogan and CA yesterday to get in front of the press cycle, Parakilas said. During my 16 months at the company, I dont recall Facebook ever using its audit rights on a developer.

So the banning is a sham. And if you dig a little further, you find that Facebook actually worked with CA.

Despite Facebooks concerns in 2015, the social network continued to work with Cambridge Analytica. During the presidential election, Facebook employees assisting Donald Trumps digital operation worked in the same office as Cambridge Analytica workers, according to a video by the BBC. One former Cambridge employee, Joseph Chancellor, continues to work at Facebook as a user-experience researcher, according to Facebooks public website.

Until 2015, Facebook allowed developers to use data harvested from apps available on the website. CA developed an app called "Thisisyourdigitallife." It was just one of several interesting apps that "predicted" personality traits based on your "likes" and other social media data.

CA did absolutely nothing wrong when 270,000 Facebook users downloaded the app, giving the company access to not only some personal data of those who downloaded it, but their Facebook "friends" as well. Estimates put the number of Facebook accounts that were mined for data at 50 million.

But the problem is how CA used that data and whether they hung on to it despite promising to delete it.

This is more evidence that the online political advertising market is essentially the Wild West, said Sen. Mark R. Warner (Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, in a statement. Whether its allowing Russians to purchase political ads, or extensive microtargeting based on ill-gotten user data, its clear that, left unregulated, this market will continue to be prone to deception and lacking in transparency. Cambridge Analytica  which was funded by Trump supporter and hedge fund executive Robert Mercer, and once had on its board the presidents former senior adviser Stephen K. Bannon  has denied wrongdoing. The company has said its psychometric profiles could predict the personality and political leanings of most U.S. voters. We worked with Facebook over this period to ensure that they were satisfied that we had not knowingly breached any of Facebooks terms of service and also provided a signed statement to confirm that all Facebook data and their derivatives had been deleted, Cambridge Analytica said in a statement Saturday. The companys actions in the United States and abroad have generated scrutiny from government investigators in Britain and the United States, who have been looking at Russian interference in elections.

CA's data gathering operation was legal, but scary. Their claims that they can predict voter behavior are almost certainly grossly exaggerated, if not a bunch of snake oil. What they can do with all that data is find your likes and dislikes and precisely target ads and messages. How much "persuasion" is involved is unknown. For instance, the idea that Russian bought ads on Facebook won the election for Trump is pretty dumb - but it sounds good on TV and makes Hillary Clinton feel better. Whether it's the truth is doubtful.

I think Senator Warner is right. The sort of data mining is frightening when all things are considered. Facebook should suffer the consequences of their lax privacy policies and change them to make it harder for developers to access the kinds of data that Cambridge Analytica was able to utilize.

Update. Michael Nadler writes:

All this stuff at the top of Drudge including NY Times article headlined, How Trump Consultants Exploited the Facebook Data of Millions exposing the use of Facebook info create profiles of voters and exploit the info to influence the election by Cambridge Analytica and the involvement of foreigners in that company which is illegal under election law.



Maybe Im missing something since Im not on Facebook, but isnt the whole market value of Facebook based upon its ability to exploit its database of personal information for the purpose of influencing consumers on behalf of advertisers? Why would targeted advertising for elections be any different? And werent the Obama campaigns of 2008 and 2012 lauded for their sophisticated use of digital and social media, and didnt the DNC and Hillarys campaign geniuses attempt to build upon that and take the use of social media to a more advanced level?



And I dont understand why involvement of foreign persons in Cambridge Analytica would all of a sudden be this enormous and shocking issue. Wasnt the individual who was secretly hired by the DNC and Clinton campaign via cutouts to create the dossier that was weaponized against the Trump campaign, a guy named Christopher Steele, a foreigner, albeit from a friendly country?



Now I understand from the article that Cambridge Analytica may have obtained the data from Facebook under false pretenses. But wouldnt that be an issue to be resolved or litigated by the two parties?



What would have prevented either campaign from paying Facebook directly to exploit its social media database capabilities to try to win votes? Doesnt everyone do that when the pay for targeted advertisements? (Actually this is a real question, because I dont know how it works, but based on ads that pop up when Im on the internet, I assume thats what its all about.) is it possible that Facebook has no foreign computer geniuses working for it? Is it possible that Facebook doesnt operate in and make money in other countries as Cambridge Analytica apparently does?Jerry Browns half-fast bullet train front man admits Californians deserve another vote on the project

In 2008, California voters were duped into narrowly approving (with 52.6% of the vote) a $9.95 billion bond issue for construction of a purported bullet train linking San Francisco and Los Angeles, based in specious cost estimates and promises that could not be (and have not been) fulfilled. Dan Borenstein  no conservative -- of the Bay Area News Group: Construction of the states bullet-train system, still in its infancy, is already at least four years behind schedule, over budget and lacking most of the funding needed to complete the project. Worse, to raise the down payment, $9 billion of state bond money, backers deceived voters with the very sort of lies and false promises for which Democrats  rightfully  now demonize the president. Costs have consistently escalated (as they always do when California builds major projects) to a current high estimate of $98 billion (for now - the project supposedly will last until 2029 in the unlikely event it stars keeping to its schedule), the federal funds voters were assured would materialize have been far less than promised, and there is still no plan on how to get through the dozens of miles of the mountain range that separates the Los Angeles Basin from the Central Valley, and no plan run trains on dedicated tracks through the Bay Area owing to the tremendous costs of land acquisition.

As a result the ability to make the journey in 2 1/2 hours, as promised and as necessary to compete with airline travel, is questionable. Operating at conventional speeds over parts of the journey would make 5 hours a more reasonable estimate for travel time, which would eliminate day trips, a huge portion of the business travel demand. Borenstein put these issues to the chairman of the California High Speed Rail Authority and received a surprising response: Its time to put an end to the high-speed rail boondoggle. Or, at the very least, give voters another say. Surprisingly, even Dan Richard, chair of the bullet train authority board and Browns political front man on the issue, welcomes a vote. I actually would be OK with that, he told me Thursday morning. I do think this is a choice that people ought to make.  At some point, sure, Im happy to call the question with the voters. (snip) Richard suggested placing a measure on the ballot in 2020. This year would be better; delay would allow Richard to continue spending money and laying more trackways, making it incrementally harder for voters to abandon the project. Its an ongoing cynical strategy to convince the public to keep throwing good money after bad. Indeed, Brown and Richards entire funding plan is predicated on buying time  especially on the notion that if they start building it, private investors will come. Thus far, not a single company has taken the bait. This project is a horrendous boondoggle that will never be completed, and would never be economically viable even if it somehow were built. Bullet trains work in densely populated urban areas with excellent public transit to distribute passengers once they arrive. In California, passengers arriving at one of the three Bay Area Airports or five Los Angeles airports with frequent flights between the two sprawling megalopolises mostly drive rental cars to their final destinations. It is inconceivable that any business traveler would want to arrive in downtown San Francisco and use transit to get major business destinations in Silicon Valley or Pleasanton 30 miles away. If, by some miracle, a Republican candidate for governor manages to survive the states jungle primary system (the two highest vote getters in the primary appear on the final ballot regardless of party affiliation), I expect the train boondoggle to become an issue. But that is unlikely. It costs a lot of money to use a citizen initiative to put a question on a state ballot in a referendum, and no monied interests so far have stepped up to do so. All the money is on the side of the contractors who are on the receiving end of the bullions being squandered, and as a result, the money pit keeps getting deeper and deeper. Meanwhile, vital public works projects are not being built because Brown prioritizes his train. Californias population has doubled since the last reservoirs were constructed, resulting in periodic drought crises forcing water rationing on voters, and the highway system is a wreck.Vous etes confrontes a une infestation par la puce, la punaise de lit ? Voici plusieurs actions qui sont a mettre en uvre pour faire []Fran Spielman of the Chicago Sun-Times reports on the pressures for and against the proposed new entity:

A group calling itself the Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability (GAPA) is pushing hard for a civilian oversight commission  with the power to fire police, up to an including the superintendent  and has a lot of support in that one-party deep blue city. Chicago already has the Chicago Police Board , an independent civilian body that oversees certain activities of the Chicago Police Department. The Board's powers and responsibilities include deciding disciplinary matters involving police officers and nominating candidates for Superintendent of Police to the Mayor, but that is not enugh power for the grass roots activists.

Police Board President Lori Lightfoot has warned that Mayor Rahm Emanuel will face a furious political backlash if he refuses to endorse a civilian oversight proposal initiated by the Task Force on Police Accountability she co-chaired or attempts to stall a City Council vote on the proposal until after the 2019 mayoral election. Emanuel has already signaled a go-slow approach by arguing that the civilian oversight he promised two years ago, but failed to deliver must be complementary  not contradictory to the citys public safety goals.

Emanuel, a realist, must understand that Chicagos out of control crime problem could only escalate. He has a lot of people telling him so:

Crime will spike and police morale will plummetto the point where veteran officers will lay back and nobody will want to take this jobif a civilian oversight board is empowered to fire the police superintendent and establish police policy, a former cop-turned alderman is warning. Northwest Side Ald. Anthony Napolitano (41st), the City Councils champion for Chicago Police officers, condemned the fundamental change in police oversight proposed by the Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability (GAPA) after 18 months of public hearings. (snip) Weve already created a department of reactive police officers [who] dont want to do anything right now. Now, youre gonna put civilians on a board who most likely dont like the police and are gonna look for everything theyre doing wrong as well as have the opportunity to fire our superintendent? This is probably one of the worst decisions we could be making, Napolitano told the Chicago Sun-Times.

Others agree with Napolitano:

Fraternal Order of Police President Kevin Graham has argued that policing is becoming almost impossible in Chicago because of redundant layers of oversight by the FBI, the Illinois State Police, the states attorneys office, a Civilian Office of Police Accountability that has officers under virtual siege and an exceedingly biased media. Even more oversight would bring about chaos mislabeled as reform, Graham has said. (snip) Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson was even more outspoken. Johnson said civilians dont have the professional acumen to develop police and strategy for the Chicago Police Department and allowing them to do so and empowering them to fire the superintendent is just crazy to me and like telling a surgeon how to do his business.

The proposed commission would feature elected representatives from each of Chicagos 22 police districts, and would have sweeping powers to fire, even top management. It would require a 2/3 vote of the Chicago Board of Alderman to reverse a firing.

I am not opposed to civilian review of cops. Any large group of humans will have some miscreants among its membership. And cops have awesome powers that need to be checked when misused. But Chicago already has civilian review, and its police are understandably feeling so beleaguered by the many layers of oversight and second guessing that the city suffers from a lack of proactive policing. This proposed board would make matters worse with its powers that would be difficult-to-impossible to correct when wrong.I would think that the media and Democrats would want people at the FBI to be honest, unbiased, and accountable. They certainly would not want the taxpayers on the hook from this and force future generations to have to pay millions to government bureaucrats who violated the public trust, would they?

A person appointed by President Obama recommends the firing of an FBI agent because of serious misconduct and lying. Attorney General Jeff Sessions fires him per that recommendation, and the U.S. president supports that decision. Of course, the media and Democrats, in feigned outrage, call it a political firing and defend the FBI's now-former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and want the taxpayers to pay the fifty year-old liar's generous pension.

Nope, instead of caring about the integrity of the government, they go after Trump as they do every day.

The FBIs Office of Personal Responsibility has recommended the firing of former deputy director Andrew McCabe, who is accused of serious misconduct. The recommendation apparently resulted from a report by the Justice Departments inspector general, which found that McCabe leaked sensitive details about the FBIs investigation of the Clinton Foundation to a Wall Street Journal reporter and then lied about it to the IGs office.

The way the media and other Democrats are reporting and acting on McCabe is the exact way they have treated most scandals the last eight years.

IRS tax-exempt section chief Lois Lerner violated the rights of political opponents of Obama, lied, and then destroyed documents and neither the FBI nor the media cared. Lerner collected her generous pension and went off into the retirement sunset.

Hillary and her aides continually violated laws, lied and destroyed documents and people at the FBI and Justice Department made sure she was not prosecuted. Then they lied about it. The media not only didn't care about that, they wholeheartedly supported Hillary for president.

Meanwhile, less powerful people were charged and went to jail for lesser crimes, and no one at Justice was punished for preferential treatment. Throughout all of this special treatment of Hillary, the media and Democrats pretended they cared about Justice for all.

Personnel at the Veterans Administration continually lied about wait lists and veterans died as they get poor treatment. Thank goodness the VA workers didn't get charged and lose their pensions.

The ATF lost track of guns in the Fast and Furious scandal and people died there, too, as a result but nobody lost his or her job or pension.

The Obama Administration illegally spied on thousands, including political opponents, illegally leaked, and illegally unmasked Americans caught up in intelligence dragnets, negating rules precisely to protect them, and instead of the media or other Democrats getting outraged, we find they targeted the same people.

Former Attorney General Eric Holder, former FBI Director James Comey, former U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former National Security Council Deputy Director Ben Rhodes, former National Security Advisor Susan Rice and others repeatedly lied to Congress or to the American people through the press and instead of the Justice Department charging them or the media caring, they are held in high regard and are repeatedly used as sources to trash Trump.

Meanwhile, as many powerful perjurers are allowed to skate, Special Counsel Robert Mueller targets people surrounding Trump with perjury even though there was no underlying crime that caused the investigation in the first place and not one person in the media or Democrat cares that they and their families are losing their money and livelihoods.

Yet they care about McCabe?

Former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn did not commit any crime, and yet Mueller charged him with lying, and he is losing his house to pay lawyers while the media and Democrats yawn. They don't care about Flynn but they care about McCabe? The case against Flynn was not even a good case.

According to two sources familiar with the meetings, Comey told lawmakers that the FBI agents who interviewed Flynn did not believe that Flynn had lied to them, or that any inaccuracies in his answers were intentional. As a result, some of those in attendance came away with the impression that Flynn would not be charged with a crime pertaining to the Jan. 24 interview.

We are repeatedly told that Russia has tried to influence U.S elections for years, yet the first investigation came after Trump was elected, and after the media, House intelligence committee Democrat Adam Schiff, other Democrats, and the Justice Department clearly knew that the Steele dossier was fake and paid for by Hillary and the Democratic National Committee and that the spying that it led to was unjustified. Yet the investigation of Trump and his people continues.

If intelligence agencies and the Justice Department actually thought there was interference in elections by Russians, they would also have investigated people surrounding Hillary and Obama but they did not, they only targeted Trump.

The investigation by Mueller is and has always been a witch hunt targeting Trump and it is destroying a lot of people, but the media and Democrats only have cared so far about McCabe and other FBI agents who clearly violated their duty by protecting Hillary, targeting Trump, and not telling the truth about it.

The swamp is deep and Trump is obviously not the problem. The main problem is that the majority of the media is protecting the swamp instead of the American people. I would think they would be ashamed but they are not. They continue to double down.As part of a deal to establish a military base in the semi-autonomous region, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will train Somaliland security forces, Somaliland's president said on 15 February.



UAE and Somaliland are developing their military cooperation (Picture source: Youtube)

The UAE has already started to invest hundreds of million dollars in the territory on a strategically important stretch of coastline on the Gulf of Aden. In 2017, the Emirates began construction of a base on a site at the airport of the Somaliland port city Berbera. They will be allowed to maintain a presence for thirty years. Berbera is less than 300 km (190 miles) south of war-torn Yemen, where UAE troops are fighting rebels as part of a Saudi-backed coalition.

The UAE will train police and military forces in Somaliland, which wants independence from war-torn Somalia but is not recognized internationally. Somaliland broke away from Somalia in 1991 and has acted as a de-facto state since then.

The fact is that the UAE has become more assertive in its foreign policy in recent years. Its armed forces have been fighting in the Yemen conflict since 2015 and in the past deployed in international operations including Kosovo and Afghanistan.

The Emirati military base, which should be completed this year, will guarantee economic development and security for Somaliland and act as a deterrent to extremist groups in the region. Somaliland's Foreign Minister, Saad Ali Shire, declines to disclose how many UAE soldiers would be stationed at the base.

Several regional powers have set up military bases along the Horn of Africa coastline, including Turkey in Somalia's capital. The United States, China, Japan and France all have bases in neighboring Djibouti.EV

kilowatt

ICE

kW

Talking about the new technology it will put into the upcoming Spark Controlled Compression Ignition (SPCCI) Skyactiv-X engine , Mazda says it is no longer content with the world placing the absolute emissions of anat zero, because, after all, the manufacturing of the damn things, combined with the electricity they use to drive, do put some stuff into the air we breath.In a simpler way, their reasoning is as follows: electric vehicles have no exhaust pipes, because they have no exhaust to evacuate in the first place. But electricity is used to both manufacture and power them, and that electricity is produced by burning some other stuff. As we all know, burning stuff sends nasty things flying about.There are two ways of taking emissions into account, and they have some semi-official names. When talking about the emissions of a vehicle while in motion, they call it tank-to-wheel. It is the preferred method used by EV makers to evaluate their cars, understandable since the models they make emit zero emissions while on the go. The method is also used for combustion-engine cars.The larger, more comprehensive view is called well-to-wheel, and is a means of determining emissions by taking into account every-single event in a cars life, from fuel extraction to manufacturing and shipping. It also includes tank-to-wheel emissions.In other words, and in a simplistic manner, Mazda, as do others, wants the world to consider the emissions released from the moment a car is being drawn up on a napkin in a coffee shop somewhere to the moment is being crushed at the scrapyard.Why? Because that way the good old internal combustion engine would be pretty much come equal footing with the electric battery. And theres some math to back that up too.In Mazdas laboratories, estimates have been made that a mid-sized electric car consumes around 20-hours of electricity per 100 km. To get all that power, EVs would have to get electricity from the grid. CO2 emissions produced by generating this amount of power by burning coal is estimated at 200g/km, while those coming from petroleum sources at 156g/km. Way bigger than emissions coming from mostunits currently in use.I am not arguing with the numbers put forward by Mazda. But, for instance, they don't take into account the fact that, in most of the countries were EVs are sold, electricity comes from other, cleaner sources as well. A priori, Mazda considers all electricity to be generated by burning fossil fuels, when in fact theres really no telling how 1or another has been produced.Secondly, Mazda doesnt take into account the various types of energy recovery systems EVs use. They dont take into account range extenders provided in hybrids either.Most importantly, the only component taken into account for EV emissions by Mazda is CO2. CO2 is the particle that relates directly to the cars fuel efficiency. The less fuel the engine burns, the less CO2 is released.But CO2 is comparable to nicotine in cigarettes. Although harmful, it is not the most harmful particle released by burning fuels.Back in 2005, a group called CNW Marketing Research published a paper comparing lifetime vehicle energy usage for over 300 different car models. Among them, the gas-guzzling Hummer H3 and a Toyota Prius of the same year.By using a metric called dollars per mile driven, the group concluded that it is cheaper to drive fuel-powered cars than hybrid ones. By word-of-mouth, the comparison slowly turned into statements like the Hummer H3 has a lower life-cycle energy cost than a Toyota Prius, then into growing popular belief that EVs are just as bad as say diesels.The story, in the meanwhile debunked , pretty much started the debate on how to properly measure emissions. That debate is now fueled by Mazda by using the same twisted logic and incomplete scientific proof.Mazda is not at its first attempt to glorify ICE engines in general and diesel ones in particular. In February, the carmaker released the results of a study commissioned together with Ipsos MORI. After questioning 11,008 people across key European markets, Mazda claims an average of 58 percent of Europe's population still endorse ICE.What, then, would be the proper way of measuring emissions? Tank-to-wheel? Well-to-wheel? Or perhaps fleet average, based on tank-to-wheel?The debate would probably go on for ages. In the short and medium term, regardless of what Mazda says or the number of EVs on the streets, emission levels will drop. They will also drop in the long term, but by then another problem would have arisen: tons and tons of depleted batteries few will have any idea what to do with.But that's another story.Aerospace has always been a boom-bust business, but following the economic downturn of 2008, the robust upswing has proven elusive, primarily because there are simply too many airplanes available for too few buyers. Says Citi aerospace analyst Jonathan Raviv, this sluggish recovery has earned a name: the lost decade. In this exclusive podcast, AVweb spoke with Raviv about his market findings.

The lost decade does indeed refer to a decade in which we did not see in the bizjet market that we would have expected to see coming out of the recession, Raviv says, summarizing a presentation he will give on March 19 at NBAAs Business, Finance and Legal conference in Fort Myers, Florida. Raviv says the post-2008 non-recovery was different because although the three leading indicatorsGDP growth, corporate earnings and a rising Dowportended a sales snap back, it hasnt happened yet.

In retrospect, Raviv says, the reason is clear. The industry simply overbuilt during the boom period of the mid-2000s. A line drawn though business aircraft deliveries from 1959 through 2017 shows a sharp bump in the mid-2000s. Whats driving this underperformance, its our contention, is that there were too many jets delivered in the mid 2000s, during the boom time. Thats probably pretty clear. Deliveries were way above trend. These over-deliveries essentially became shadow inventory. That was an overhang on the new market, Raviv says. Prices on the used market tanked, too.

If you think of a business jet as essentially a very expensive flying luxury car, luxury cars tend to depreciate very rapidly when you take the keys and drive them off the lot. Why not a business jet? Raviv adds. For a time, even delivery positions on some jets were appreciating during the 2005 to 2007 period. Overproduction ended that.

So what about a real recovery? Raviv says tax reform looks like a net positive and by next year might clear used inventory faster than it would have otherwise. But he says the business aircraft market still lives in a modest-growth economy so sales will be slow and steady, not booming.

The thing that got the industry into trouble in 2007 and 2008 is the oversupply which flooded the market and put supply and demand way off balance, Raviv says. I would hope that the OEMs have learned a lesson and would be very careful before they ramp production quickly to maintain that supply and demand balance which is core to the pricing dynamic.The cargo door of an Antonov An-12, a Soviet-era cargo plane, loaded with nine metric tons of gold broke open as the aircraft took off from Yakutsk in East Siberia. The aircrafts door apparently gave way and broke off due to the weight shifting in the cargo hold. Gold alloy bars were then strewn across the runway and on the airport property. The aircraft then went on to land successfully at an airport several kilometers away. They were en route from a mine in Kupol to Krasnoyarsk and made a refueling stop in Yakutsk. It was carrying a cargo of gold-silver alloy bars belonging to the Chukot Mining and Geological Company, according to the Russian news agency, TASS.

All 172 bars of the gold/silver alloy were recovered, according to Russian authorities. However, a warning was issued stating that anyone finding a gold bar and failing to report it would be prosecuted, a New York Times story about the incident said. The gold alloy was reported to be worth $156 million. No one was injured in the incident.The Kushner Companies, the New York real estate developer once headed by Jared Kushner, falsified documents filed to New York City "declaring it had zero rent-regulated tenants in dozens of buildings it owned across the city when, in fact, it had hundreds," according to an AP report. That allegedly allowed Kushner Companies leeway to harass rent-controlled tenants with disruptive construction, pushing them out and allowing the buildings to be sold with higher rents for greater profit.

The details: Per the Housing Rights Initiative, cited by the AP, the company filed "at least 80 false applications for construction permits in 34 buildings across New York City from 2013 to 2016." And "nearly all" of the applications were signed by an employee of Kushner Companies, including some by the chief operating officer, though none filed during Jared Kushner's tenure as CEO had his signature.

The response: Kushner Companies blamed the errors on documents prepped by third-party contractors and told the AP that "Kushner would never deny any tenant their due-process rights." It also added that "if mistakes or violations are identified, corrective action is taken immediately."Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas), who's leading the House Intelligence Committee through the Russia investigation, tells Axios that President Trump called him twice  and he didn't answer.

Conaway, previewing the Republicans' coming findings and recommendations during an interview in his Capitol Hill office, said he wanted to be able to say he had no contact with the president during the investigation.

Conaway, who even resisted a Mar-a-Lago trip, told us: "[T]he team got back to the White House and explained why it was I could not take any calls from the president. And that's hard, because I [took calls] from President Obama."

who even resisted a Mar-a-Lago trip, told us: "[T]he team got back to the White House and explained why it was I could not take any calls from the president. And that's hard, because I [took calls] from President Obama." "I have had no conversations, personal, phone, messaging systems with the president this entire time frame because ... I thought the other side would try to make more out of that than I could explain."

personal, phone, messaging systems with the president this entire time frame because ... I thought the other side would try to make more out of that than I could explain." "[Y]our name pops up on TV, he wants to call you, he's going to call you. ... I have no idea what he wanted to talk about."

Conaway said he was disappointed "that we weren't able to conduct the investigation a little quieter, with less public fanfare."

"I'm embarrassed on behalf of our committee that we're such a sieve that we can't keep a secret. It's both sides."

Conaway said the GOP's coming recommendations include:North Korea's senior diplomat for North American affairs, Choe Kang-il, will meet with former U.S. diplomatic officials and South Korean security experts in Finland this week, the Associated Press reports. South Korea's Yonhap cited "diplomatic sources" that stated Kathleen Stephens, the former U.S. ambassador to South Korea under George W. Bush and Barack Obama, would be among the U.S. officials involved in the meeting.

The backdrop: This development comes ahead of a potential meeting between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who earlier this month expressed his willingness to negotiate with the U.S. on abandoning his countrys nuclear weapons.Russian President Vladimir Putin is on track to secure a resounding victory for his fourth term in office as voters head to the polls today. "The only possible blemish for the Kremlin [is] if large numbers of voters do not bother taking part because the result is so predictable," per Reuters. According to the AP, expect the results to come in after the last polls close in Kaliningrad at 2 p.m. ET.

Go deeper: Why Putin cares about the numbers in this electionEarly results indicate that Russian President Vladimir Putin has coasted to a fourth term in office. Exit polls showed Putin picking up 73.6% of the vote in an expected landslide, granting him another six years in power, reports the AP.

The controversy: Incidents of ballot stuffing were reported at voting stations across Russia, and the country's Central Election Commission said it was "immediately reacting" to all such claims. And prominent opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was barred from running because of a criminal conviction handed down by Putin's government, had urged his supporters to boycott today's vote because the seven contenders running against Putin had refused to voice concerns about electoral manipulation.More than 4,000 people crossed into Uganda from the Democratic Republic of Congo last weekend, bringing the total number of Congolese refugees displaced in 2017 to 57,000, according to the UNHCR.

What's happening: For more than a decade, the nation of 80 million has struggled to stay at peace in the wake of the Second Congo War (1998-2003)  a nine-country conflict estimated to have killed anywhere from 1 to 5 million Africans. Now ruled by a deeply unpopular, autocratic president in the seventh year of a five-year term, the DRC has descended into a tragic state of normalized ethnic violence, mass rape and widespread starvation.

The latest: The displacement crisis in the DRC is one of the world's worst, with 1.7 million people forced from their homes in the past year  about 5,500 per day  and little hope for respite.

Armed men in the eastern provinces of Ituri and North Kivu have reportedly been "attacking villages, looting and burning down houses, indiscriminately killing civilian populations and kidnapping young men and boys."

in the eastern provinces of Ituri and North Kivu have reportedly been "attacking villages, looting and burning down houses, indiscriminately killing civilian populations and kidnapping young men and boys." Of the 57,000 refugees who have crossed into Uganda this year, about 77.5% are women and children . Alarming reports of sexual violence have prompted the UNHCR to deploy extra resources, including staff trained in psychosocial care, to identify and treat survivors.

. Alarming reports of sexual violence have prompted the UNHCR to deploy extra resources, including staff trained in psychosocial care, to identify and treat survivors. The majority of refugees escape the country via Lake Albert, traveling on overpacked, rickety fishing boats for up to 10 hours. Per the UNHCR, those who survive the trip are "exhausted, hungry, thirsty, sick, and have fled with few or no belongings."

1 big thing: Despite the massive and ongoing influx of refugees to Uganda, just 3% of the UNHCR's request for $118.3 million has been funded. "Uganda hosts the largest number of refugees in Africa and we have faced a continuous funding shortfall for several years," said UNHCR spokeswoman Duniya Aslam Khan. "We have already received more than 90% of the total estimated number of Congolese refugees for 2018 in the first three months alone."

Go deeper: Congo could again descend into war; 400,000 young children in Congo could starve to deathThe Treasury Department is ending a 10-year-old line of formal economic communication with China  the U.S.-China Comprehensive Economic Dialogue  because the Trump administration is "disappointed" with perceived unfair trade practices by China, per Bloomberg. Treasury Sec. Steven Mnuchin will still continue to engage in private, informal talks with high-ranking Chinese officials.

Above all, their markets are not reciprocal in the sense that theres not an ability for other countries to work in China the way that China works in elsewhere."

 David Malpass, Treasurys undersecretary for international affairs, to Bloomberg TV

The backdrop: President Trump is making moves against Chinese economic influence on several fronts. He reportedly wants to curtail Chinese investment in U.S. companies and hit the country with another round of steep tariffs, after his recent actions on steel and aluminum.Kicking off a series of morning tweets, President Trump accused former FBI Director James Comey of lying to the Senate Judiciary Committee during testimony last May. At that time, Comey stated that he had not authorized an FBI employee to be an anonymous source for a reporter in matters relating to the Trump-Russia investigation or the Clinton email investigation.

A tweet previously embedded here has been deleted or was tweeted from an account that has been suspended or deleted.

The inspiration: Trump saw a Fox & Friends segment this morning, which juxtaposed fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe's statement defending his actions at the bureau with Comey's testimony from last year.

The Fox & Friends segment that Trump saw:

Trump's other tweets:

A tweet previously embedded here has been deleted or was tweeted from an account that has been suspended or deleted.

Axios' Mike Allen and Jonathan Swan broke the news last night that McCabe handed over memos detailing his interactions with Trump to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.

A tweet previously embedded here has been deleted or was tweeted from an account that has been suspended or deleted.A women's magazine, unveiled in December, gives tips on how to be a "good bride" and make life easier for the man in your life. The twist: the magazine, "Beituki," is published by al-Qaeda as part of a propaganda campaign which "appears, in part, to be a reaction to Islamic State (IS), which has called women to the front lines," per the Economist.

The big picture: Extremist organizations are struggling to define what women's roles in their groups should be. While some force women to "remain indoors," as Beituki suggests, others have placed women on the front lines, or utilized them as recruiters.

"The face of terrorism is changing  and it is now often a womans face."

 Mia Bloom, a Georgia State University professor who specializes in transcultural violence

Here's a look at the roles women are now playing in a number of terrorist groups.

The "good bride"

Elisabeth Kendall of Oxford University told the Economist that the magazine signals al-Qaeda's concerns that "the conflict has made women too vocal, active and empowered...It would rather they focused on etiquette indoors.

An example of the tips the magazine offers to women: "all the bloodshed and bones he sees ... Your fussing only increases the pressure."

The participant

Boko Haram is notorious for the use of women suicide bombers, but other groups encourage women to take part in violence as well.

For example: The Pakistani Taliban released an English magazine last August, Sunnat-e-Khola, focused solely on women. Anat Agron, research fellow at the Middle East Media Research Institute, told Axios they "totally condone women participating in jihad."

Compare these tips from the magazine to those offered in Beituki:

"Write essays supporting cause of jihad."



"Help the cause of jihad with money."



"Organize secret gatherings at home and invite like-minded jihadi sisters ... Learn how to operate simple weapons. Learn how to use grenades."

The recruiter

Veryan Khan, editorial director of the Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium (TRAC), told Marie Claire magazine: "There's a priority for the Islamic State to attract females because it offers stability. If you want people to see you as a nation, a legitimate state, it's important to attract females and have them start families...It's not like women are an afterthought. This is a strategic move."

The recruiters are frequently women from the same area as those being recruited, Bloom, the Georgia State University professor, tells Axios: "You need to be relatable, and if all your references, and all the TV shows, and the music you listen to isn't the same as your target, you're not going to be able to relate as easily."

The motivator

As the New York Times has reported, some women with ties to extremist groups have been known to guilt men into fighting:

This was a very effective messaging tactic, Bloom said: In the U.K., in English, they were publishing posters and circulating on the internet this idea thatyour sisters are being raped, the occupiers  the Americans  are impregnating them and theyre humiliating them. You need to do something, you need to step up and you need to kill them.

On the other side: Fighting extremism

It is worth noting that women are also taking an increasingly active role in fighting extremism, with the YPJ, an all-female Kurdish force that has battled ISIS, being a particular notable example.By Trend

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has received a delegation led by President of Moldova Igor Dodon in Baku March 15.

President Aliyev stressed the importance of President Dodons participation in the 6th Global Baku Forum.

The Azerbaijani president recalled Dodon's last year visit to Baku and the meeting with him at international events. The president stressed that the agreements reached during President Dodon's visit to Azerbaijan have already been implemented.

President Aliyev said there is a good potential for the development of ties between the countries in various fields and stressed the importance of determining joint mutual activity in the future in the political, economic, humanitarian, investment and other spheres.

The Azerbaijani president stressed that he is confident of continuing systematic contacts in the future to address important issues related to further rapprochement of the countries. President Aliyev said that Azerbaijan is interested in this work.

President Dodon expressed gratitude to President Aliyev for the invitation to the 6th Global Baku Forum.

Stressing the significance of the event, President Dodon said Moldova participates in the forum for the first time.

The Moldovan president said there are traditionally friendly relations between the countries.

Recalling last year's visit to Azerbaijan, President Dodon stressed that the meetings held during the visit have already yielded results.

The Moldovan president said that a few days ago, together with representatives of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, he personally participated in the ceremony of laying the foundation for an important social project in Gagauzia.

President Dodon appreciated the role of the Azerbaijani diaspora in Moldova in strengthening the ties between the countries.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Trend

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has met with President of Macedonia Gjorge Ivanov in Baku.

Noting the growth of international importance of the Global Baku Forum, Ilham Aliyev stressed the importance of participation of Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov in the event.

President Aliyev recalled with satisfaction the meetings with the president of Macedonia in Baku and at various international organizations.

Gjorge Ivanov noted that the 6th Global Baku Forum was organized at a high level and was held successfully. He said the event makes a great contribution to the expansion of cooperation, strengthening of stability, security and mutual understanding on international arena.

At the meeting, the sides exchanged views on the current state and prospects of cooperation in the energy, pharmaceutic and other spheres.

Gjorge Ivanov invited Ilham Aliyev to visit Macedonia.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Trend

The 6th Global Baku Forum, which brought political figures and experts from all over the world to Azerbaijan, and gave them an opportunity to discuss global issues, came to an end.

The participants of the forum unanimously expressed gratitude to Nizami Ganjavi International Center, as well as to the government of Azerbaijan for organizing the event at a high level, noting its great importance and relevance.

We have no doubt that the discussions held at the 6th Global Baku Forum will have a positive impact on the resolution of conflicts and other problems that many countries face today, Moldovan President Igor Dodon said at the closing ceremony of the forum.

He stressed that the events like the Global Baku Forum play a tremendous role in drawing the attention of global organizations to the problems of small countries and regions.

We can reduce tension in international relations through dialogue, communication and by proposing ways out of difficult situations, and the Global Baku Forum has given us the opportunity to take a step towards this, Dodon said.

Vice President of the Italian Senate Linda Lancillotta in turn noted that the problems which countries throughout the word face today in most cases are difficult to resolve and that overcoming these problems becomes impossible without dialogue and cooperation.

We got that opportunity here in Baku. I am sure that each of us will return home with new ideas that will help us get out of difficult situations and help us take one more step towards the bright future, she said.

The 6th Global Baku Forum, organized by the Nizami Ganjavi International Center, kicked off on March 15 with the support of the Azerbaijan State Committee for Work with the Diaspora.

The three-day forum was attended by presidents, prime ministers and foreign ministers of many countries, including President of Albania Ilir Meta, President of Macedonia Gjorge Ivanov, President of Moldova Igor Dodon, President of Mauritius Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, Member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Mladen Ivanic, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Ziad Abu Amr, Deputy Prime Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina Mirko Sarovic, Romanian Vice Prime Minister Ana Birchall and others.

Moreover, about 500 guests, including former presidents and heads of governments, well-known public and political figures, who are the members of the Nizami Ganjavi International Center, participated in the 6th Global Baku Forum.Trend:

Azerbaijan has passed a unique way in its history, continuing to contribute to the global experience of development and coexistence, Fernando Armindo Lugo Mendez, former President of Paraguay, told Trend March 17.

First of all, I draw attention to the achievements of countries in the priority spheres for the world, he said. Energy always plays a priority role in the global economy, and the development of this sphere will be inevitable in the future. Azerbaijan is a country that has huge energy resources and experience of using these resources by Azerbaijan can serve as an example to other countries.

He added that in addition to energy, Azerbaijan is taking wise steps to implement alternative ways to support and develop its economy.

At the same time, wise, fair society is developing in Azerbaijan, and in this regard, it can also serve as an example to many other countries, the former president said.

Speaking about regional policy, Lugo stressed that Azerbaijan plays an important role in the development of its region, expanding its economic potential and supporting the principles of peace and tolerance, which is very rare nowadays.

The former president also expressed hope for the intensification of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Paraguay in the near future.

Despite the great distance separating our countries, I would like to see the development of cooperation between us, in particular, in the use of experience in the development of innovation technologies and management in the sectors where Azerbaijan has already succeeded, Lugo said.

According to Azerbaijans State Customs Committee, the trade with Paraguay amounted to approximately $657,240 in 2017, and the entire volume accounted for the imports of Paraguayan products.Trend:



The visit of Bako Sahakyan, who claims to be the president of the illegal regime created in the occupied Azerbaijani territories, to the US should have no impact on strategic partnership between Washington and Baku, Matthew Bryza, former US ambassador to Azerbaijan and former co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, told Trend March 18.



This is not Sahakyans first visit to the U.S. Moreover, he has absolutely no sponsorship from the U.S. government and, as in the past, will not have any meetings with U.S. government officials, except possibly the U.S. Co-Chair, and that would never occur on U.S. government territory. So, as long as the above conditions are met, Sahakyans decision to make what the U.S. government views as a private visit to the U.S. should have no impact on the Azerbaijan-U.S. strategic partnershp. But, I stress, the above conditions need to be met, said Bryza.



Also, he believes, it is possible that members of the U.S. Congress, such as Senator Robert Melendez, may host meetings with Sahakyan.



But, Menendez has been under investigation by the FBI for corruption for years and will soon face a re-trial. I know from my personal experience of him blocking my confirmation as Ambassador to Azerbaijan that he is in the pocket of the vicious and hateful Armenian National Committee of America, whose previous president is a convicted felon. I therefore would not read anything significant into any meeting the highly corrupt Menendez might host, added Bryza.



Earlier, over Bako Sahakyans visit, the US Ambassador to Azerbaijan Robert Cekuta was summoned to the Foreign Ministry and received a note of protest, sent by the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan to the US State Department.



Meanwhile, Azerbaijans ambassador to the US, Elin Suleymanov, after a meeting in the State Department, presented the protest of Azerbaijan to the American side.



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.Search and Rescue teams on the river Lagan after a person has entered the water on 18th March 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

Search and Rescue teams on the river Lagan after a person has entered the water on 18th March 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

Search and Rescue teams on the river Lagan after a person has entered the water on 18th March 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

Search and Rescue teams on the river Lagan after a person has entered the water on 18th March 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

Search and Rescue teams on the river Lagan after a person has entered the water on 18th March 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

Search and Rescue teams on the river Lagan after a person has entered the water on 18th March 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

Emergency services in Belfast are carrying out a search on the River Lagan after reports that a person had entered the water.

Search and rescue teams were concentrating on the area near the Lagan footbridge.

There are no further details at present.Gerry Adams speaking at a St Patricks Day breakfast event at Gracie Mansion in New York (Niall Carson/PA)

New York mayor Bill de Blasio has infuriated unionists by proclaiming this years St Patricks Day as Gerry Adams Day.

He made a proclamation honouring the former Sinn Fein leader at a special event ahead of the Fifth Avenue parade.

It read: I, Bill de Blasio, Mayor of the City of New York, do hereby proclaim March 17 2018 in the city of New York as Gerry Adams Day.

Ulster Unionist Party MLA Steve Aiken said the mayor's "eulogy" of Gerry Adams had caused further pain to the victims of IRA terrorism.

The proclamation was a kick in the teeth for the victims of terrorism and brings shame on the office which he holds," said Mr Steve Aiken.

"His eulogy of Adams then rubbed their noses in the dirt and has caused further pain and hurt. The truth played little role in his oration and is instead an attempt to rewrite history. The fact that he tried to tie St Patrick`s Day into it is an insult to the law abiding majority on these islands who celebrate the day."

It is hard to believe that the Mayor of New York City, a city which has suffered so grievously at the hands of terrorists could grovel at the feet of a man who continues to be an apologist for the terrorist death squads of the Provisional IRA."

Mr de Blasio said Mr Adams did not accept injustice, he did not tolerate it and he fought against it.

In every way he has been an activist, he said.

Expand Close Gerry Adams appears alongside Taoiseach Leo Varadkar (Niall Carson/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Gerry Adams appears alongside Taoiseach Leo Varadkar (Niall Carson/PA)

I think of no prouder a title that someone can hold.

He understood theres no place in the world anymore for colonialism and he fought against that with all that he had.

Remember that great ideas never die, they may be set back sometimes, but they never die. And I honour Gerry Adams for his lifelong pursuit of a goal that makes that makes so much sense, the goal of a united Ireland.

Gerry has in all he has done, accepted that a life of fighting for change came with peril, came with the threat of violence and the experience of being attacked. It came with condemnation, it came with arrest and times in jail.

Mr Adams said he was honoured to receive this proclamation.

I have to say that Happy Gerry Adams Day doesnt have the same ring as Happy St Patricks Day, he said.

Mr Adams hailed New York as a great city: I would often reflect to myself: If you can all live here in relative harmony, if you can all live here together, surely in our small island we can create the conditions where our people can live in harmony and prosperity and peace and equality together?

Expand Close Mr Adams was hailed as for his courage and activism by the New York mayor (Niall Carson/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Mr Adams was hailed as for his courage and activism by the New York mayor (Niall Carson/PA)

During the event at Gracie Mansion, Mr Adams called for a united Ireland.

We still have a lot to do, we need rights, we need equality, we need a referendum on Irish unity so the people can decide for themselves, Mr Adams said.

DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson compared de Blasio's action to a British mayor renaming St George's Day after Osama Bin Laden, the Al Qaeda leader blamed for the 2001 New York Twin Towers massacre.

The Lagan Valley MP told Sunday Life: "There is no doubt Gerry Adams made a contribution to the peace process, but to name a day after him is wrong, it shouldn't have happened.

"It's like the Mayor of London renaming St George's Day in honour of Osama Bin Laden."

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said it was not helpful to call for a united Ireland and that the priority was to get the Stormont executive back up and running.

Mr Varadkar said: Its not our tradition to name days after any particular individual in Ireland. It is a tradition here and obviously I extend my congratulations to Gerry on that honour being bestowed on him by the city of New York.

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Whatsapp Old School pictures: Saddle up - a very young Gerry AdamsThe chairman of a committee at war over Brexit has denied trying to use it to keep Britain in the European Union indefinitely.

Bitter divisions erupted after Leave supporters refused to back a report recommending extending the transition period and the exit date if necessary.

Tory and DUP MPs forced the Exiting the EU Committee to publish rival recommendations within the official text that was backed by the majority of members.

"If there's a whole load of things that have not yet been negotiated, then the government could ask for an extension of the Article 50 process" says the Chair of Brexit Select Committee @hilarybennmp



"This is not about undermining the referendum result" #bbcsp pic.twitter.com/sOCVtM3Zbn  BBC Daily Politics and Sunday Politics (@daily_politics) March 18, 2018

Prominent Conservative Jacob Rees-Mogg attacked the high priests of Remain for pushing through a partisan report.

But Labour committee chairman Hilary Benn, a Remain supporter, denied trying to delay Brexit indefinitely.

He told BBC Ones Sunday Politics: That is not the case. This is not about undermining the referendum result.

It is about this problem that we face. There are seven months to go until the Article 50 negotiations are due to end. Theres a whole host of issues that havent yet been addressed.

Expand Close DCU Brexit Institute  The Helix PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Mr Benn added: What we are saying is, if there are a whole load of things that have not yet been negotiated, then the Government could ask for an extension to the Article 50 process.

The committee split on a series of votes over the content of its report on the progress of withdrawal negotiations.

Mr Rees-Mogg and fellow Conservatives Sir Christopher Chope, Andrea Jenkyns, Craig Mackinlay, and John Whittingdale, along with the DUPs Sammy Wilson refused to sign off the final version.

They used parliamentary procedures to ensure a minority report was included in the publication of the main text, a move rarely used.

Committee member Mr Rees-Mogg, chairman of the Brexit-supporting Tory European Research Group, said: The committees majority report is the prospectus for the vassal state. It is a future not worthy of us as a country, and I am sure that Theresa May will rightly reject a report by the High Priests of Remain.

The majority report would keep us in the customs union and the single market which is an attempt to keep us in the EU by sleight of hand. Those of us who respect the instructions the people gave us in the referendum could not support so partisan a text.

The majority report relies upon discredited economic models and makes no acknowledgement of past analytical failures. It appears to have been written in the slough of despond, despairing and defeatist.

The minority report said a 21-month transition arrangement is ample time and warned a prolonged period would be difficult for the UK and would not respect the referendum result.

It says the UK would still be bound by EU rules and would have to hand over cash with no say on how it is spent if the implementation arrangements are extended.

Mr Whittingdale, vice chairman of the committee, said: I am very disappointed that the committee was unable to produce a unanimous report and instead divided along the same lines as in the referendum campaign.

For a number of us the chairmans report was far too negative and we do not believe that its conclusions are borne out by the evidence we heard. The reports recommendations essentially ignore the wishes of the people and would delay Brexit by an indefinite period.

This disrespects the referendum result, and it ignores the manifesto commitments of the parties pledged to honouring it, who between them got more than 80% of the popular vote.

The Department for Exiting the European Union insisted a great deal of progress had been made since the negotiations began last year, including securing citizens rights, agreeing a financial settlement and setting out the approach to the Northern Ireland border.

Importantly, the UK and the EU are equally committed to ensuring that our departure does not lead to a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, a spokesman added.

We are currently discussing the terms of an implementation period and are confident we can reach an agreement by the European Council next week. Doing so will provide businesses and citizens with the certainty they need as we prepare for exit.

It remains a shared aim to get the withdrawal agreement agreed by October and we will continue to work closely with the commission to achieve that.Vladimir Putin dismissed claims of Russian involvement in the Salisbury spy poisoning as nonsense as he was re-elected president of the Federation.

Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia would have died instantly if they had been attacked with a nerve-agent, the leader claimed while he celebrated the start of another six year term.

It comes after Boris Johnson accused Russia of stockpiling the Novichok for a decade in breach of international rules.

President Putin, who secured a fourth term amid widespread claims of electoral fraud, said he learnt about the tragedy from the media.

.@johnmcdonnellMP argues that @UKLabour have been clear and consistent in condemning Russia for their actions in Salisbury #Peston pic.twitter.com/HpB4tDBMpZ  Peston (@itvpeston) March 18, 2018

The first thing that comes to my mind is that should it really be a warfare agent, people would have died instantly. It is an obvious fact.

Russia does not possess such agents. We have destroyed all our chemical arsenals under control of international observers.

Moscow mocked the UK, claiming the UKs response had fuelled an increase in support for President Putin in the election.

Inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will arrive in the UK on Monday to test the nerve-agent but the results will take at least two weeks.

The Foreign Secretary said Moscow has investigated ways of delivering nerve agents for assassination over the last 10 years in a breach of international rules.

The team from The Hague will use international laboratories to carry out tests on the nerve agent.

Mr Johnson will travel to Brussels to brief foreign ministers from across the European Union at a meeting on Monday on the attempted assassinations before holding talks Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg.

Foreign Secretary @BorisJohnson says experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons will come to the UK on Monday to test samples of the nerve agent used in Salisbury #marr pic.twitter.com/EOCTJnJniL  The Andrew Marr Show (@MarrShow) March 18, 2018

Labour has faced intense criticism for its response to the attack after leaving open the possibility that Russia was being framed.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said the Salisbury incident is highly likely to have been a state execution, and President Putin is responsible for the attack whether directly or through negligence.

Russias ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, suggested the nerve agent may have come from the Porton Down laboratory, which is about eight miles from Salisbury.

Sweden and the Czech Republic denied Russian suggestions they may have been the source of the nerve agent.

Forcefully reject unacceptable and unfounded allegation by Russian MFA spokesperson that nerve agent used in Salisbury might originate in Sweden. Russia should answer UK questions instead.  Margot Wallstrom (@margotwallstrom) March 17, 2018

The national security council will meet early next week to discuss Moscows tit-for-tat response to the UKs expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats.Boris Johnson labelled Russias counter-measures futile as the diplomatic row over the nerve agent attack on a Russian ex-spy rumbled on.

The Foreign Secretary said the Kremlins tit-for-tat expulsion of 23 British diplomats and the closures of the British consulate in St Petersburg and the British Council would only impact Vladimir Putins compatriots.

Russias ambassador to the UK warned the dispute was escalating dangerously and out of proportion and the country reserved the right to take further retaliatory measures if more sanctions are implemented.

British diplomats expelled pic.twitter.com/tL2AM4jk64  Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) March 17, 2018

Writing in the Sun on Sunday two weeks after the March 4 incident, Mr Johnson said of Saturdays expulsions: These futile measures will only punish ordinary Russians by depriving them of harmless opportunities to learn English and apply for UK visas.

Today Russia stands alone and isolated.

That fact demonstrates the most telling difference between Britain and Putin: we have friends across the world and he does not.

He said the reaction across the Government, Parliament and the wider country had been hugely encouraging but he hit out at Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who came under fire on Wednesday after failing to offer explicit support for the Prime Ministers approach in the House of Commons.

Mr Johnson said: He let down his party and country by seemingly aiding the efforts of the Russian propaganda machine by casting doubt over what is obvious to any objective onlooker.

Theresa May earlier said Britain and its allies would consider their next move and that the national security council would meet early next week.

I spoke with our Ambassador in Moscow & staff this morning. They do a great job in difficult circumstances and we should be proud of their tireless commitment to serving UK interests overseas. My priority now is supporting those staff @UKinRussia returning to the UK  Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) March 17, 2018

In an interview with the Mail on Sunday, Russian ambassador Alexander Yakovenko accused Mrs May of using the crisis to improve her image at the expense of relatons with Moscow.

In case of further unfriendly actions against Russia, the Russian side reserves the right to take further retaliatory measures  this is what the British Ambassador was told on Saturday, he said.

Mr Yakovenko called for restraint and cooler heads, telling the paper: This dispute is indeed escalating dangerously and out of proportion.

Lavrov: Britains failure to cooperate on Skripal poisoning is a major violation of Chemical weapons convention. The situation will rest on the conscience of those who started this reckless gamble. pic.twitter.com/mXN7IZfUJg  Alexander Yakovenko (@Amb_Yakovenko) March 16, 2018

Former double agent Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, remain in a critical condition in hospital, while Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, who was exposed to the Novichok nerve agent while responding to the incident, is no longer considered critical.

Russias ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, prompted a strong rebuttal when he suggested the poison may have come from the Porton Down laboratory, which is around eight miles from Salisbury.

He told the BBCs Andrew Marr Show that Russia had nothing to do with the incident, however his comments were rejected as nonsense by UK officials.

Early on Saturday, Russias Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced it had ordered the British diplomats to leave within a week and indicated it could take further action should there be what it called more unfriendly moves.

Senior Russian Diplomat Vladimir Chizhov, @RusMission_EU suggests in an interview with @AndrewMarr9 that Porton Down could be the source of nerve agent used in #Salisbury. Well be putting that to the Foreign Sec @BorisJohnson at 9am. #marr pic.twitter.com/gwbBHVWK3b  Hugh Milbourn (@Hugh_Milbourn) March 18, 2018

Speaking at the Conservative Spring Forum, Mrs May said the Government had anticipated a similar response to her action earlier this week to expel 23 Russian diplomats from London.

She said: But Russias response doesnt change the facts of the matter  the attempted assassination of two people on British soil for which there is no alternative conclusion other than that the Russian state was culpable.

It is Russia that is in flagrant breach of international law and the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Meanwhile, counter-terrorism police renewed their appeal for sightings of Mr Skripals burgundy BMW 320D saloon car, registration HD09 WAO, in Salisbury on the morning of Sunday, March 4.

Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said: We are learning more about Sergei and Yulias movements but we need to be clearer around their exact movements on the morning of the incident.US president Donald Trump has used tweets to take out his frustrations over the intensifying Russia investigation by lashing out at special counsel Robert Mueller, hinting at a shift away from cooperating with a probe he believes is biased against him.

Mr Trump used weekend tweets to name Mr Mueller for the first time, criticised the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and raised fresh concerns about the objectivity and political leanings of the members of Mr Muellers team.

He also challenged the honesty of Andrew McCabe, the newly fired FBI deputy director, and James Comey, the bureaus former director who Mr Trump fired last year over the Russia probe.

The presidents aggressive stance followed a call by his personal lawyer for Rod Rosenstein, who Mr Trump appointed as deputy attorney general and who now oversees Mr Muellers inquiry, to bring an end to that investigation.

Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee, which spent the past year conducting a parallel investigation, recently said they drafted a report concluding there was no collusion or coordination between Mr Trumps presidential campaign and Russia, but committee Democrats vehemently disagreed.

The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime, Mr Trump tweeted on Saturday.

It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC, and improperly used in FISA COURT for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT!

The president was referring to a dossier of anti-Trump research funded by the Democratic Party and Hillary Clintons campaign.

In a move likely adding to Trumps growing frustration, The New York Times reported last week that Mr Mueller had subpoenaed the Trump Organisation and requested Russia-related documents. Mr Trump had said Mr Mueller would cross a red line with such a step.

Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans? Trump tweeted on Sunday.

Some of Mr Muellers investigators have contributed to Democratic political candidates, but Justice Department policy and federal service law bar discrimination in the hiring of career positions on the basis of political affiliation, although Mr Mueller is a Republican.

Mr Trumps attacks raised new concerns among members of Congress that he could be seeking to orchestrate Mr Muellers firing. Republican and Democratic lawmakers warned the president to not even think about it.

If he tried to do that, that would be the beginning of the end of his presidency, said Senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally.

Sen Dick Durbin called for the passage of bipartisan bills designed to protect Mr Mueller that have stalled in Congress.

Any dismissal of Mr Mueller would have to be carried out by Mr Rosenstein, who publicly expressed his support for the investigating team leader.

Aides and friends said they understand Mr Trumps frustration with an investigation that hangs over his presidency.

When he says its a political witch hunt, I think hes right, said Christopher Ruddy, CEO of the conservative news website Newsmax and a long-time Trump friend.

Marc Short, Mr Trumps congressional liaison, said the presidents frustration is well-warranted because there has been no evidence whatsoever of collusion.

Mr Trump may have felt emboldened after Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired Mr McCabe on Friday.

A great day for Democracy, Mr Trump tweeted afterwards.

He asserted without elaboration that Mr McCabe, whose firing he had publicly urged, knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI!

It was later reported that Mr McCabe kept personal memos detailing interactions with Mr Trump that have been provided to Mr Muellers office and are similar to notes compiled by Mr Comey. Mr Trump sought to cast doubt on their accuracy.

Spent very little time with Andrew McCabe, but he never took notes when he was with me, Mr Trump tweeted on Sunday.

I dont believe he made memos except to help his own agenda, probably at a later date. Same with lying James Comey. Can we call them Fake Memos?

It would not be unusual for a senior official to make notes soon after meeting with the president.

Mr Trump also claimed Mr Comey lied under oath at a Senate hearing by saying he had never been an anonymous source. Mr Comey, who is releasing a book next month, tweeted after Mr McCabes firing: Mr. President, the American people will hear my story very soon. And they can judge for themselves who is honourable and who is not.

The contents of Mr McCabes memos are unknown, but they could help substantiate his assertion that he was unfairly maligned by a White House he says declared war on the FBI and Mr Muellers investigation.

Mr Sessions said he dismissed Mr McCabe on the recommendation of FBI disciplinary officials who said Mr McCabe was not candid with a watchdog office investigation. An upcoming inspector generals report is expected to conclude that Mr McCabe had authorised the release of information to the media.

Mr McCabe has vigorously disputed the allegations and said his credibility had been attacked as part of a larger effort not just to slander me personally but also the FBI and law enforcement.

Also over the weekend, Mr Trumps personal lawyer, John Dowd, cited the brilliant and courageous example by Sessions and the FBIs Office of Professional Responsibility and said Mr Rosenstein should bring an end to the Russia investigation manufactured by Mr Comey.

In response, Rep Trey Gowdy, said: If you have an innocent client, Mr. Dowd, act like it.

Mr Dowd said he was not calling on Mr Rosenstein to fire the special counsel immediately and had not discussed with him the idea of dismissing Mr Mueller or ending the probe. Mr Dowd also said he was speaking for himself and not the president.

Mr Mueller is investigating whether Mr Trumps actions, including Mr Comeys ouster, constitute obstruction of justice.Vladimir Putin looks set to be Russias president for six more years as an exit poll and early returns suggest he has easily won a fourth term.

The vote was tainted by widespread reports of ballot-box stuffing and forced voting, but the complaints are likely to do little to undermine Mr Putin.

The Russian leaders popularity remains high despite his suppression of dissent and reproach from the West over Russias increasingly aggressive stance in world affairs and alleged interference in the 2016 US election.

Expand Close People wave Russian flags as they wait for election results in Manezhnaya square, Moscow (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin) AP/PA Images / Facebook

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Mr Putins main challenges in the vote were to obtain a huge margin of victory in order to claim an indisputable mandate. The Central Elections Commission said he won about 72% of the vote, based on a count of 22% of the countrys precincts.

Russian authorities sought to ensure a large turnout to bolster the image that Mr Putins so-called managed democracy is robust and offers Russians true choices.

He faced seven minor candidates on the ballot. His most vehement and visible foe, anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny, was rejected as a candidate because he was convicted of fraud in a case widely regarded as politically motivated.

Expand Close A man examines a poster of candidates at a polling station during presidential elections in St. Petersburg,(Dmitri Lovetsky/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook

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Mr Navalny and his supporters called for an election boycott but the extent of its success could not immediately be gauged.

The election came amid escalating tensions between Russia and the West, with reports that Moscow was behind the nerve-agent poisoning of a former Russian double agent in Britain and that its internet trolls mounted an extensive campaign to undermine the 2016 US presidential election.

Britain and Russia last week announced diplomat expulsions over the spy case and the United States issued new sanctions.

Expand Close Cossacks exit a polling booth in Rostov-on-Don (AP), AP/PA Images / Facebook

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Russian officials denounced both cases as efforts to interfere in the Russian election. But the disputes likely worked in Mr Putins favour, reinforcing the official contention that the West is infected with Russophobia and is determined to undermine Mr Putin and Russian cultural values.

The election took place on the fourth anniversary of Russias 2014 annexation of Crimea, one of the most dramatic manifestations of Mr Putins drive to reassert Russias power.

Crimea and Russias subsequent support of separatists in eastern Ukraine led to an array of US and European sanctions that, along with falling oil prices, damaged the Russian economy and slashed the rubles value by half. But Mr Putins popularity remained strong, apparently buttressed by nationalist pride.

In his next six years in office, he is likely to assert Russias power abroad even more strongly.

Just weeks before the election, he announced that Russia has developed advanced nuclear weapons capable of evading missile defences.

The military campaign in Syria is clearly aimed at strengthening Russias foothold in the Middle East and Russia eagerly eyes possible reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula as a lucrative economic opportunity.

At home, he will be faced with how to groom a successor or devise a strategy to circumvent term limits, how to drive diversification in an economy still highly dependent on oil and gas and how to improve medical care and social services in regions far removed from the modern glitter of Moscow.

Casting his ballot in Moscow, Mr Putin was confident of victory, saying he would consider any percentage of votes a success.

The programme that I propose for the country is the right one, he declared.

Given the lack of real competition in the presidential race, authorities struggled against voter apathy, putting many of Russias nearly 111 million voters under intense pressure to cast ballots.

Yevgeny, a 43-year-old mechanic voting in central Moscow, said he briefly wondered whether it was worth voting.

But the answer was easy  if I want to keep working, I vote, he said.

He spoke on condition that his last name not be used out of concern that his employer  the Moscow city government  would find out.

Across the country in the city of Yekaterinburg, a Russian doctor also said she was being coerced to vote.

She said she had not voted by midday.

The chief of my unit called me and said I was the only one who hadnt voted, said the doctor, Yekaterina, who spoke on condition her last name not be used because she also feared repercussions.

Yevgeny Roizman, the mayor of Yekaterinburg, said local officials and state employees all received orders from higher up to make sure the presidential vote turnout was over 60%.

In Moscow, first-time voters were being given free tickets for pop concerts and health authorities were offering free cancer screenings at some polling stations.

Voters appeared to be turning in out in larger numbers than in Russias last presidential election in 2012, when Mr Putin faced a serious opposition movement and violations like multiple voting, ballot stuffing and coercion marred the voting.

Some 145,000 observers were monitoring the presidential vote, including 1,500 foreigners, and they and ordinary Russians reported hundreds of problems.

These included: ballot boxes being stuffed with extra ballots in multiple regions; an election official assaulting an observer; CCTV cameras obscured by flags or nets from watching ballot boxes; discrepancies in ballot numbers; last-minute voter registration changes likely designed to boost turnout and a huge pro-Putin board inside one polling station.

Russian election officials moved quickly to respond to some of the violations.

They suspended the chief of a polling station near Moscow where a ballot stuffing incident was reported and sealed the ballot box. A man accused of tossing multiple ballots into a box in the far eastern town of Artyom was arrested.

Mr Navalny, whose group also monitored the vote, dismissed Mr Putins challengers on the ballot as puppets. He urged Russian voters to boycott the election and vowed to continue defying the Kremlin with street protests.

The Ukrainian government, insulted by Russias holding the election on the anniversary of Crimeas annexation, refused to let ordinary Russians vote. Ukrainian security forces blocked the Russian Embassy in Kiev and consulates elsewhere as the government protested against the voting in Crimea, whose annexation is still not internationally recognised.

Ukrainian leaders are also angry over Russian support for separatists in eastern Ukraine, where fighting has killed at least 10,000 people since 2014.

Polls show that most Russians view the takeover of the Black Sea peninsula as a major achievement despite subsequent Western sanctions.

Who am I voting for? Who else? asked Putin supporter Andrei Borisov, 70, a retired engineer in Moscow. The others, its a circus.

Early in the voting, the commission claimed it had been the target of a hacking attempt coming from 15 unidentified nations that was deterred by authorities.Relatives mourn over the body of a victim killed by a mortar blast in Indian Kashmir's Poonch district, March 18, 2018.

Updated at 4:25 p.m. ET on 2018-03-18

A couple and their three minor children were killed Sunday when the Pakistani army allegedly fired mortar shells along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir, Indian officials said.

At least eight other civilians including the couples two other daughters were critically wounded in the shelling that began early Sunday and lasted four hours in Poonch, a district in Indian Kashmir, Deputy Commissioner Tariq Ahmad Zargar told BenarNews.

Tensions escalated after five Indian army soldiers were wounded when troops traded shelling about 30 km (18.6 miles) from where the family members were killed, defense officials said.

Pakistan accused India of initiating violence and said at least six civilians, including five women, were wounded in the shelling by Indian army along the LoC, the de-facto border that divides the disputed Himalayan region of Indian Kashmir between the two arch rivals.

The fighting is the latest violation of their 2003 ceasefire agreement. An Indian army officer and three soldiers were killed in alleged Pakistani shelling along the LoC last month.

Farooq Hadier Khan, prime minister of Pakistani-administered Kashmir, who visited the injured Pakistanis at a hospital, condemned unprovoked shelling of border villages, according to a statement.

Indian authorities, on the other hand, blamed Pakistani aggression.

Indian forces responded forcefully forcing Pakistani guns to fall silent, Zargar said.

The shelling has stopped but there is panic among the affected villagers. The injured have been shifted to medical college Jammu for advanced treatment. Two minor siblings of the family, who suffered head injuries are in a critical condition, he added.

Locals said the family was having breakfast when a shell fired from across the LoC exploded in their house. Authorities ordered Poonch schools closed until Tuesday.

India condemned what it called unprovoked violence.

Pakistan is resorting to ceasefire violations in frustration as its forces have suffered heavy losses at the hands of Indian security forces, Jitendra Singh, a senior minister in the Indian prime ministers office, said in a statement.

Narendra Modis government has given full freedom to security forces to respond in a manner to Pakistani aggression they deem appropriate, he added.

Cannot leave homes

Villagers who are reluctant to move are asking the government to construct concrete bunkers for their safety.

How can we leave our homes and livestock behind and shift to a safer places, Jamal Khan, a Poonch villager, told BenarNews.

The authorities should build concrete bunkers near our homes so we can take shelter as soon as Pakistani army resorts to shelling. But every time shelling occurs from across the LoC, authorities ask us to shift to schools to save our lives, he added.

Naseema Begum, a housewife, echoed his concerns.

The authorities should either shift us permanently to safer places miles away from the border or build bunkers to avoid human causalities, she told BenarNews. The authorities must take long-term safety measures to save the lives and property of border residents, who for a long time have been at the receiving end of hostilities between two countries.Ugadi 2021: The legends associated with This Festival Festivals lekhaka-Subodini Menon

Ugadi is a festival on which many states of India celebrate the New Year. Ugadi is also called Yugadi, the word Yugadi is a combination of the words 'Yuga and 'Adi. It means the start of the new yuga or the calendar.

As per the lunar-solar calendar that the Hindus follow, the day of Ugadi falls on the brighter part of the month of Chaitra. The day on which it is celebrated is called the Chaitra Sudhdha Padyaami.

Depending on the Gregorian year, it falls either in the month of March or in April. In the Gregorian year of 2021, Ugadi will be celebrated on 13 April.

While there are many sects under the Hindu religion that do not celebrate Ugadi as their official New Year day, they still consider the day to be very significant. The states that celebrate Ugadi are Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. In the state of Maharashtra, Ugadi is celebrated as Gudi Padwa on the very same day.

There are many stories that are associated with the day of Ugadi. Some of the stories point to the origin of the festival and the others tell us why certain rituals are done the way they are on Ugadi. Today, we shall take a look at some of these stories. Read on to know more.

 The Origin Of Ugadi

The most important story of Ugadi is perhaps the one associated with the creation of the world as we know it. It is said that when Lord Brahma woke up, he began creating the universe.

Lord Brahma started this work of creation on the day that we today celebrate as Ugadi. This was the day on which all of the living and non-living things were conceived in the mind of Lord Brahma.

 Yugadhikrit

Yugadhikrit, or the creator of the Yugas, is the name bestowed on Lord Maha Vishnu. This is because though Lord Brahma created the universe, it is Lord Vishnu who created time and hence, Yugas. Lord Vishnu is also responsible of the up-keep of all the creations.

 The Only Festival Celebrated In Honour Of Lord Brahma

The scriptures tell us that once Lord Brahma was captured by Moh Maya. Under the influence of Maya, he lusted after Goddess Saraswati. Goddess Saraswati is considered to be Lord Brahma's daughter and in lusting for her, Lord Brahma had sinned.

As a punishment, Lord Vishnu cut one of Lord Brahma's four heads. Lord Shiva cursed Lord Brahma that he would never be worshipped by the people. As a result, even today, there is no pooja done in honour of Lord Brahma and there are very few temples dedicated to him. Ugadi is perhaps the only festival that exalts Lord Brahma.

 King Shalivahana

The calendar that is followed in the region that lies in the Vindhya dates back to the time when the Satavahana King Shalivahana ruled the land. He is also known as Gautamiputra Satakarni. He a legendary hero who founded the Shalivahana Shaka or empire and started the Shalivahana era. The calendar starts at 78 AD of the Gregorian calendar.

 Lord Ramas Rajyabhishek.

It is said that the day on which Lord Rama arrived in Ayodhya is celebrated as Diwali. The day of Chaitra Paadyami is celebrated as the day on which Lord Rama was crowned the King of Ayodhya. The day is so auspicious that it was chosen for the coronation of Lord Rama.

 Lord Krishnas Death

At the end of the Dwapara Yuga, the sons and grandsons of Lord Krishna perished in a fight. The fight was a result of a curse from a sage.

The curse also ultimately led to the death of Lord Krishna when an arrow struck him. It is said that he passed away on the day of Ugadi. Lord Ved Vyasa said - Yesmin Krishno divamvyataha, Tasmat eeva pratipannam Kaliyugam

 Arrival Of Kali Yuga

The death of Lord Krishna marked the end of Dwapara Yuga and the start of the Kali Yuga. As the Lord Krishna passed away on the day of Chaitra Shuddha Paadyami, it is the day that the Kali Yuga began.

 The Story Behind The Use Of Mango Leaves On Ugadi

According to a story, Narada Muni took a mango to Lord Shiva. Both Lord Ganesha and Lord Kartikeya wanted to have the mango. Lord Shiva proposed that a contest be held between two of his sons.

He said that whoever goes around the world and comes back first shall receive the fruit. Lord Kartikeya hopped on his peacock and started his journey, whereas Lord Ganesha went around his parents, as they were his world and earned the fruit. After this incident, Lord Kartikeya said that all entrances to the homes shall be decorated with mango leaves in the memory of this incident.

 Matsya Avatar

It is said that Lord Maha Vishnu took matsya avatar three days after the day of Ugadi. This avatar was taken to save the world and its living things from the deluge or the Pralaya.Things To Follow/Avoid On A Chaitra Navratri Faith Mysticism lekhaka-Subodini Menon

Chaitra Navaratri is an important festival that is celebrated in most parts of India. Regardless of whether a household celebrates the festival or not, the time is still considered immensely auspicious.

The festival goes on for nine days and people pray and honor the nine forms of the Goddess Durga. As per the Gregorian calendar, the festival of Chaitra Navratri will be celebrated from March 18 to March 25.

The festival is a celebration of the feminine and its unaccountable power. The followers of the Shaktha sect of Hinduism celebrate the festival with a lot of pomp and show. They leave no stone unturned to show their devotion and love for the Goddess.

The festival is considered to fall during the most auspicious of times. It is said that if you need to start a venture and find no suitable muhurat in the rest of the year, you can just go ahead and start it during the Navratri period and you will surely find success.

But there are certain things that you need to be careful of and must make sure to never do during this period. Today, we shall talk about these things to help you have a happy, successful and prosperous Chaitra Navratri.

Things to be careful about during the Chaitra Navratri

Go To The Temple

Many people install the Goddesss image in their house and pray to it. This often means that they do not visit the temple during this period. The important thing to note is that while it is a good thing that you have installed the Goddess Durga in your home, it is not a replacement of the blessings you receive by going to the temple.

Clean Water

Make sure that you offer clean and fresh water every day to the Goddess if you have her in your house.

Do Not Wear Chappal

It is not considered appropriate to wear chappals or footwear of any kind in the house; more so during the days when the Goddess Durga is installed in your house.

Decorate The Goddess

It is important to decorate the Mother Goddesss image - be it a kalasha or an idol. Use flowers and a red piece of cloth to beautify her.

Clean Clothes

Just like the cleanliness of the mind is important for the worship of the Goddess, the cleanliness of your body and your clothes are important too.



Performing Fasts

If at all your health permits, make it a point to keep the Navratri fasts. This will not only invite the blessings of Goddess Durga, it will also help you be healthy by detoxing your body.



The Pooja On Ashtami

The worship done for the Goddess on the eighth day is very important. Chant the mantras and stotras of the Goddess and feed nine girls to perform the Kanya Pooja too.

Akhanda Deep

Light a holy lamp in front of the Goddess Durga. Make sure that it does not go out for the whole period of Navratri. Remember to refill the lamp with wicks and oil.

Brahmacharya

Try and be celibate during the nine days of Navratri. This will help you to concentrate more on the spiritual and the divine.

Never Do The Following

Do not do tadka in your food.

Commonly, in Indian homes, after a curry like dal or sambar is prepared, a tadka made with oil and a few spices is poured on the cooked dish as a finishing touch. This is prohibited during the days of Navratri.

Do not discard waste

One must not cut hair, nails and beard during this period or discard them.

Avoid non-vegetarian food.

Sattvik food is said to awaken the spiritual side of a human being. This is the reason that such food is preferred during the Navratri period.

No black clothes

It is said that the use of black clothes causes the mother to be angry. It is therefore important that you do not use the colour black in your attire.

Do not sleep in the day time

According to Vishnu Puran, it is considered inauspicious to sleep during the day time or in the afternoon.

You should always have someone stay back in the house if you need to go out. It is believed that the Goddess Durga may visit your house at any given time during the period of Navratri. Hence, it is inauspicious to shut the door and go away.

Never offer rice

It is not auspicious to offer the Goddess Durga a Bhog of rice or 'anna. Fruits are the best kind of offerings. You can offer a kheer made out of Makhana.

Do not eat rice or salt



It is considered bad luck to consume salt or food items made from rice during the Navratri. It is best to avoid eating them during the period of the pooja.

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Story first published: Sunday, March 18, 2018, 10:00 [IST]Update 10.30pm: Vladimir Putin has won a fourth term as Russia's president, adding six years in the Kremlin for the man who has led the world's largest country for all of the 21st Century.

Mr Putin addressed thousands of people who rallied outside the Kremlin tonight to thank them for their support and promised new achievements.

Speaking to a crowd who attended a pop concert marking his election victory, Mr Putin hailed those who voted for him as a "big national team", adding that "we are bound for success".

He said that the nation needs unity to move forward and urged the audience to "think about the future of our great motherland".

He then led the enthusiastic crowd to chant "Russia!"

Results from more than half of precincts showed Putin winning over 75% of the vote, with Communist candidate Pavel Grudinin and ultra-nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky trailing far behind with about 13 and 6%, respectively.

The vote was tainted by widespread reports of ballot-box stuffing and forced voting, but the complaints will likely do little to undermine Mr Putin.

Earlier: Early returns suggest 72% majority for Putin in Russian election

Update 8.30pm: Vladimir Putin looks set to be Russia's president for another six years as an exit poll and early returns suggest he has easily won a fourth term.

The vote was tainted by widespread reports of ballot-box stuffing and forced voting, but the complaints are likely to do little to undermine Mr Putin.

The Russian leader's popularity remains high despite his suppression of dissent and reproach from the West over Russia's increasingly aggressive stance in world affairs and alleged interference in the 2016 US election.

Mr Putin's main challenges in the vote were to obtain a huge margin of victory in order to claim an indisputable mandate. The Central Elections Commission said he won about 72% of the vote, based on a count of 22% of the country's precincts.

Russian authorities sought to ensure a large turnout to bolster the image that Mr Putin's so-called "managed democracy" is robust and offers Russians true choices.

He faced seven minor candidates on the ballot. His most vehement and visible foe, anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny, was rejected as a candidate because he was convicted of fraud in a case widely regarded as politically motivated.

Earlier: Officials report 51.9% turnout in Russian election

Russia's Central Election Commission has reported more than 50% turnout in the presidential election in which President Vladimir Putin is certain to win another six years in office.

Mr Putin faces seven challengers, but none poses a serious threat.

The commission said 51.9% of Russia's nearly 111 million eligible voters have cast ballots.

Election officials said efforts to encourage a higher turnout are in line with the law. Some Russians have reported being pressured by employers to show up and vote.

Election commission chief Ella Pamfilova also said officials around the country are taking quick measures in response to claims of violations.

Independent election observers and activists have alleged numerous incidents of ballot stuffing and other irregularities in today's vote.

The commission said it is quickly responding to claims of violations in the vote.

Commission chief Ella Pamfilova said: "We are immediately reacting to all claims, no matter where they come from."

She said officials quickly sealed a ballot box in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don where ballot stuffing was reported.

Election officials have responded similarly to allegations of ballot stuffing in the town of Lyubertsy just outside Moscow and the far eastern town of Artyom and have been looking into several other complaints.

In Artyom, a man tossed several ballots into the box, according to Tatiana Gladkhikh, the head of the regional election commission. She said the ballot box was sealed and the man was arrested.

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny says he boycotted the presidential election and advises other Russians to do the same.

Mr Navalny was barred from the campaign because of a criminal conviction widely seen as politically motivated. He urged his supporters not to vote because of the absence of any real competition in today's election.

Mr Navalny said in a video posted on YouTube that "on election day, one should usually want to say 'I voted', but in fact I'm here to say that I didn't go to vote."

He criticised the seven contenders challenging Mr Putin for failing to protest against ballot stuffing and other irregularities tainting the election, saying on his blog that "such candidates aren't worthy of your vote."

Russian opposition presidential candidate Ksenia Sobchak cast her ballot and urged Vladimir Putin's critics to vote instead of boycotting.

Ms Sobchak, a 36-year-old former TV star, told reporters in Moscow that the higher the support for Mr Putin in the vote, "the tougher the system" Russians will face in his new term.

Ms Sobchak urged Mr Putin's critics to "come together", and argued against the boycott called for by opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is barred from running.

She said "every extra percentage point" for Mr Putin is a result of those who refuse or do not bother to vote.

Critics think Mr Sobchak has the tacit support of the Kremlin so that the election looks more democratic, which she denies. She is the only candidate who has openly criticised Mr Putin in the campaign.

Russia's central election commission says its website was the target of an unsuccessful hacking attempt during Sunday's presidential election.

Commission chairwoman Ella Pamfilova said it was a DDoS, or distributed denial of service, attempt tracked to computers in 15 countries, without naming them. Such attacks are very common.

She said efforts to disrupt the site occurred when voters in Russia's far east were already casting ballots, but they were deterred by Russian authorities.

As US authorities investigate alleged Russian hacking and other interference in President Donald Trump's 2016 election, Russian authorities claimed that foreign powers are seeking to interfere in Sunday's vote.

Mr Putin hopes for high turnout despite widespread apathy.

Some 145,000 observers are monitoring the voting in the world's largest country, including 1,500 foreigners and representatives from Mr Navalny's political movement.

Security forces have been surrounding Russian facilities in Ukraine amid anger over the Ukrainian government's refusal to allow ordinary Russians to vote for president.

Ukrainian police are guarding the Russian Embassy in Kiev and consular offices in Odessa and other cities and the Ukrainian government said only Russian diplomatic officials would be allowed to cast votes.

Millions of ethnic Russians live in Ukraine but the number of registered Russian voters in Ukraine is unclear.

Ukraine is protesting against voting in Crimea, annexed by Russia from Ukraine four years ago, and is angry over Russian support for separatists in eastern Ukraine, where a deadly conflict continues.

Russian authorities are appealing to the United Nations and Council of Europe to intervene, according to Russian news agencies.

- APUpdate - 2.30pm: Kent Police said the 21-year-old man arrested on suspicion of attempted murder suffered minor injuries and was taken to hospital as a "precaution" and he was now currently in custody.

Investigating officer detective chief inspector David Chewter, of the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, said: "This was a frightening experience for everyone involved and it is a miracle that nobody was killed.

"At least 13 people were hurt but none of their injuries are described as life-threatening or life-changing.

"We believe there are likely to be further casualties who perhaps left the club during the panic and we would like to hear from them."

Update - 11am: A driver who allegedly ploughed his car into a nightclub injured 13 people - leaving several with broken bones, police said.

Kent Police said a 21-year-old had been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a vehicle was driven on to a dancefloor at Blake's in Gravesend at around 11.45pm on Saturday.

Detectives believe he had been kicked out of the venue over an altercation.

The force said in an update: "At least 13 people were injured but officers believe several others may have left the scene and are working to establish how many further victims there may be.

"Several of those hurt suffered broken bones but none of their injuries are described as life-threatening or life-changing."

The force added that the episode was not being treated as terror-related.

8.45am: A number of people have been injured and a man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a car was driven into a nightclub in the UK.

Kent Police say it is believed the driver had been asked to leave the venue following an altercation.

Witnesses described "a complete mess of panic and chaos" in the wake of the incident shortly before midnight on Saturday.

Footage posted on social media showed a large car, headlights still shining, on a chequered dancefloor inside a marquee at the Blake's nightclub.

Watch: Panic as car driven into Kent nightclub pic.twitter.com/eLnoKuq3hc  PA Media (@PA) March 18, 2018

In another clip, security staff appear to surround the driver, and a reveller can be heard asking: "Why did he try and do that?". Another replies: "I'm so confused."

Shocked clubbers spilled out onto the street as emergency services arrived, with footage showing police cars, fire engines and ambulances lined up outside the venue.

Witness Sonny Powar said he saw two people get hit by the car before the driver was pulled from the vehicle.

"(It was) just a normal night out at Blake's Nightclub in Gravesend in Kent," he told the Press Association.

"But some guy wasn't let into the club or got kicked out so he drove his 4x4 into the tent we was all in.

"It stopped at my feet so any further and I could have died, then he reversed up and we all ran.

"We ripped the tent wall apart and got out and called the police.

"It was a complete mess of panic and chaos."

BBC Radio 1Xtra DJ Reece Parkinson posted a video from inside the club on Twitter.

He said in the video: "My god I nearly died, so I'm in this club and this car came through the f****** club.

"A guy who didn't get in drove through the club."

A number of people have been injured after a man drove a car into a nightclub in Gravesend. BBC Radio 1Xtra DJ Reece Parkinson posted footage from the scene. Full story here: https://t.co/tfiabQvOYH pic.twitter.com/syEoscnXKM  BBC South East (@bbcsoutheast) March 18, 2018

Details on the conditions of those injured have not been released and the incident is not being treated as terrorism.

Kent Police said they were called to a nightclub in Queen Street at 11.47pm on Saturday.

The force said: "Kent Police has arrested a man on suspicion of attempted murder after an incident in Gravesend where a number of people have been injured when a car drove into a nightclub building.

"The driver of the vehicle who is believed to have been asked to leave the nightclub earlier that evening following an altercation has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and is currently in custody.

"This is not been being treated as a terror-related incident."

Kent Fire and Rescue Service said it had sent two fire engines to the scene to assist the police.

- Press Association and Digital DeskMaritime workers have staged a snap 48-hour strike at Qube Ports facility in Melbourne, prompting the company to bring workers in by helicopter in an echo of the infamous and divisive 1998 waterfront dispute between Patricks and the Maritime Union of Australia.

MUA workers have picketed the Webb Dock MIRRAT car facility. Credit:Eddie Jim

Striking MUA workers picketed the Webb Dock MIRRAT terminal, which handles bulk car imports, as part of protected action under an enterprise bargaining period with Qube. The snap strike began on Saturday.

MUA assistant national secretary Warren Smith said the workforce had been negotiating a new workplace agreement with Qube for nearly three years and was seeking to reinstate a rostering system scaled back in 2014 when the company was financially struggling.

He said Qube had responded by threatening to terminate the current agreement at the Fair Work Commission and return workers to the industry award, which would result in a 40 per cent pay cut.International opportunity For Ola, Australia could be a compelling international opportunity. For starters, the country offers room to grow. Fewer than 1 in 5 Australians who regularly buy things online used a ride-hailing service in the past year, according to June survey data analysed by eMarketer, an American research firm. And the typical fares are much higher than in India, meaning Ola could potentially make more money per ride. "In the ride-sharing market currently, there are no real enemies," said Satish Meena, a senior forecast analyst with Forrester, a technology research firm. "Everyone is willing to share the pie." Australian laws also make it generally easy to set up a ride-share business. Taxify, an Estonian company, arrived in December.

"We welcome competition because it keeps us focused on delivering the very best product," said David Rohrsheim, Uber's general manager for Australia and New Zealand. Experts say Uber has another incentive: Australia has tough labour laws that could require the company to treat drivers as employees deserving of retirement and other benefits. If its drivers also drive for other services, Uber could more easily argue that they are free agents instead. Better deal Ola is mostly trying to win drivers over with a better deal.

The company takes only 7.5 per cent of drivers' fares, with plans to increase that figure to 15 per cent. Uber collects 20-25 per cent. Drivers said that with Ola they could make $50 an hour compared with only $30 an hour with Uber. "It's a dramatic difference," said Cheri Gristwood, an Uber driver in Perth, who was an early adopter of Ola. "I work my butt off, and with Ola I come home with a lot more." Rohrsheim said Uber had added incentives of its own last year, including paid wait time and a "no thanks" button that lets drivers refuse up to three rides in a row. We welcome competition because it keeps us focused on delivering the very best product. David Rohrsheim, Uber's general manager for Australia and NZ "Uber isn't Uber without driver partners," he said, "and our success depends on their success."

Ola's discounted commission has helped the company sign up 7000 drivers so far. That is nowhere near the roughly 82,000 who drive for Uber, but more than double what Taxify started with in Sydney in December. Taxify did not respond to requests for comment. Many of the new Ola drivers help spread the word about the company. Cecilia Cornu, an Ola customer in Perth, first heard about the service when she asked an Uber driver about the two cellphones he had. One, he said, was for Ola. "He told me my ride would have been cheaper if I had booked it through Ola, as they were running a promotion with free rides," she said. "As soon as I got to work," she added, "I downloaded the Ola app." Indian connection

Ola has not explicitly marketed itself to drivers or riders of Indian origin, but the company does expect that the awareness of its brand among Indians will help. About 1.9 per cent of Australia's population of 24 million was born in India, according to 2016 census data; many more are the children of Indian immigrants. The Ola app still signals that connection: India sometimes shows up as the default country when someone in Australia signs up and adds his mobile phone number. Ola's effort to shift from local to global remains imperfect. Some customers have reported problems with the app continuing to calculate rides after trips have ended. Ward, one of the Ola drivers in Sydney, said the company's registration process was less streamlined than Uber's. Takeover protection Ola's expansion into Australia may also have a strategic goal beyond higher fares: protection against an unwanted takeover.

The Japanese conglomerate SoftBank is Ola's largest outside shareholder, and one of the largest shareholders in Uber. It has also invested in other ride-hailing companies around the world. SoftBank executives have made it clear that they would like to see Uber's operations in some developing countries merge with local players to avoid a competitive bloodbath, allowing the company to focus more intensively on higher-profit, developed markets. Ola recently changed its articles of incorporation to defend against any large investor from forcing a sale of the company. Bhavish Aggarwal, a founder of Ola and its chief executive, is busy trying to raise money from other investors to reduce SoftBank's influence over his company's destiny. Aggarwal declined several interview requests. "We are very excited about launching Ola in Australia and see immense potential for the ride-sharing ecosystem in a country which embraces new technology and innovation," he said in a statement. At times, Uber has been a seller. It has left the ride-hailing business in China and Russia, selling its operations in those countries in exchange for stakes in the dominant local competitors.The live-action feature film Dora the Explorer will be shot in Queensland thanks to last-minute lobbying by the state's premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.

Ms Palaszczuk said that as well as ensuring hundreds of jobs for Queenslanders in the film industry, there would be other businesses that would benefit from securing the major Parmount Pictures production for the state.

Dora the Explorer gives Queensland the thumbs up as she puts the sunshine state on her map.

"Over the past three years my government has commited $30 million attracting movie makers to Queensland through our Production Attraction Fund, gaining more than $350 million of direct expenditure in our state," she said.

Sunday's announcement follows the last-minute refusal on Friday by Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison to increase Paramount's tax break so the film studio could produce the movie in Australia.The weather bureau has issued Canberra a severe weather warning as gusts of up to 91km/h drag dust from NSW into the ACT.

Bureau of Meteorology severe weather forecaster Jordan Notara said strong winds to the west of the ACT paired with few recent rainy days had dragged the dust across the border.

Dust settles over Canberra after strong winds bring particles from western NSW. Credit:Dion Georgopoulos

The bureau's weather warning related only to the damaging winds as the dust was not yet classed as a dust storm, Mr Notara said.

"We have seen over the last hour or so areas of dust being blown through Canberra," he said.Deahnne McIntyre nearly pulled out of Canberra's citizens' jury on compulsory third party insurance because she felt too "dumb" to take part.

McIntyre - a former public servant, elite sportswoman, Paralympic gold medallist, and Order of Australia recipient - is anything but.

Deahnne McIntyre participated in the Canberra citizens' jury on compulsory third party insurance. Credit:Dion Georgopoulos

And now, as the deliberative democracy pilot draws to a close, McIntyre said she's grateful to have had the chance to use her personal experience to advocate for people with physical and psychosocial disabilities within the jury.

"I'm very proud that I've been able to do that on behalf of the disadvantaged in Canberra," McIntyre said.Mark "Sharky" Russell was getting his life on track when he was stabbed to death in his new Surry Hills home after years of living rough on the streets of Sydney.

His sister, Julie Ann Stewart, said the tragic turn of events was "heartbreaking" as her family pleaded for anyone with information about his killing to come forward.

Mark Allan Russell, known as "Sharky", was found dead at his Surry Hills unit in February.

Police found Mr Russell's body when they were called to his unit in a public housing unit in Clisdell Street shortly after 11am on Sunday, February 25.

He died of multiple stab wounds.At least 70 homes and businesses have been destroyed after an out-of-control bushfire tore through a seaside town on NSW's far south coast, the NSW Rural Fire Service said.

Aerial footage of Tathra, just east of Bega, on Monday morning showed streets destroyed by fire and some homes still smoking after the blaze tore through the town.

Showing the unpredictable nature of fire, many homes have been reduced to rubble and ash while neighbouring homes appear unscathed.

The NSW Rural Fire Service had issued an emergency warning after the fire, which started in Tarraganda early on Sunday afternoon, crossed the Bega River.Health officials warn a confirmed case of measles has been identified in the Brisbane area.

Public Health Physician Dr Bhakti Vasant said the infected person visited Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary last Sunday, Woolworths on Fifth Avenue in Marsden on Wednesday, and Logan Hospital on Thursday and Friday.

Brisbane's Metro South Public Health Unit has warned of a confirmed measles case.

Public Health physician Dr Bhakti Vasant urged anyone who visited these areas around the same time to ensure they were immune to measles.

Measles is one of the most infectious of all communicable diseases and is spread by tiny

droplets through coughing and sneezing, Dr Vasant said.One of the world's top ballet companies Teatro alla Scala will come to Australia for the first time in its 240-year history and perform exclusively at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre.

The Brisbane venue has worked on sealing the deal for the past five years and on Sunday made the announcement the international performing company had chosen the sunshine state as the location of its first and only Australian performances from November 7-18.

A preview of Teatro alla Scala Ballet Company's Don Quixote performance.

The debut show will also be simulcast to regional Queensland through QPAC's satellites, with Maryborough and Mount Isa locked in so far and negotiations with other towns ongoing.

Arts Minister Leeanne Enoch said it was an incredibly exciting coup to have 75 internationally-acclaimed dancers coming to Queensland.A man has died after a towing strap snapped, smashed through the back window of his car and hit him in the head in central Queensland.

The 51-year-old victim was trying to help a bogged driver when the accident happened about 7pm on Saturday, police said.

Emergency services tried to revive the man near the Gregory River, about 150 kilometres north of Mackay, but he was declared dead at the scene.

In June last year, 26-year-old Chris Poulsen died at Farnborough Beach near Yeppoon, after a towing strap also snapped and hit him in the head.Brisbane's evolving dining scene has attracted a Michelin-starred chef from Singapore who will team up with Brisbane and Gold Coast restaurateurs to deliver a fine-dining destination overlooking the Brisbane River.

While the name of their restaurant remains confidential, its location is no longer a secret.

W Brisbane and dining establishments at the $1 billion mixed-use Brisbane Quarter project.

The 788-square-metre restaurant will be on the first floor, and the largest tenancy, at Brisbane Quarter and will overlook the Brisbane River.

Michelin-starred chef Manjunath Mural's distinctive "Asian-Indian cuisine" combined with the expertise of Brisbanes Nick Pinn of Malt Dining and Gold Coasts Sridhar Penumechu from Saffron Restaurant is anticipated to bring a dining and bar experience unlike anything else offered in the city."Each application is assessed on its merits," she said. "That's been the case under the Turnbull government, and as far as I'm aware, there are no plans to change that visa program."

Ms Bishop said the credibility of Austalia's immigration system was based on its non-discriminatory nature and the government had no intention of changing the current humanitarian visa program.

The comments are a retreat from a statement she made on Friday that suggested she had been in talks with Mr Dutton to ascertain "if any changes are needed to our existing offshore humanitarian visa program.

She confirmed the South African government ordered Adam McCarthy, the Australian high commissioner in Pretoria, to explain comments by Mr Dutton that a "civilised country" needed to give "special attention" to farmers who have been targeted by the government's push to redistribute white-owned land to black South Africans.

Up to 70 per cent of the country's agricultural land is owned by the minority of White Afrikaners, according to the South African government. Based on title deeds only 8 per cent of farmland is owned by black farmers.He said that international aid groups were doing important work and that the government would like them to "flourish" but that a law was needed to oversee their work. Critics warn that such laws are part of a disturbing trend in the region. "Across Southeast Asia, a raft of laws, policies and practices over the last year have made it clear that the space for civil society and critical speech is shrinking," said Richard Weir, a researcher for Human Rights Watch's Asia division. "This trend is particularly pronounced in Myanmar, where the space for civil society was rapidly opened in 2011 and has shrunk since the National League for Democracy rose to power in 2016." Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, or NLD, government has also proposed amendments to the country's protest law, including one that seeks to impose prison terms on those whose demonstrations could harm the "security, rule of law and stability of the state".

In early March, hundreds of demonstrators marched through downtown Yangon to protest the proposed changes, standing for a time in front of a massive portrait of Suu Kyi. Two days later, the amendments were approved by the NLD-dominated upper house of parliament. The amendments are now in the lower house of parliament, where the NLD also holds a majority of seats. Loading Loading A Western diplomat in Yangon, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said the revised protest law and the draft law on non-governmental groups were "the first two active steps (they) have seen by the NLD to make Myanmar less democratic."

International non-profit groups have noted a wider pushback against their work as the government makes it more difficult to get visas and travel authorisations. Some attendees at the February meeting of the INGO Forum believed the draft law could "be a precursor to further restrictions of civil space, as has happened in some other countries", according to meeting minutes. An especially troublesome section of the draft law mandates that Myanmar citizens working for an international non-governmental group report "cooperation" with the law to the government, adding an additional layer of monitoring that could erode trust and have a negative impact on partner agreements, according to the INGO Forum presentation. In an analysis of the draft legislation, the Washington, DC-based International Centre for Not-for-Profit Law wrote that it "cannot find comparative examples in other laws". According to Tin Maung Oo, the draft law would apply to the work of the United Nations in Myanmar. The government has blocked a UN fact-finding mission from entering Myanmar, barred its human rights investigator and denounced the United Nations' statements on Myanmar's treatment of Rohingya Muslims, which it has labelled a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing". Criticism of the United Nations and aid groups is particularly pronounced in Rakhine state, where ethnic Rakhine Buddhists have long accused them of favouritism toward the Rohingya.

It is unclear whether the government would be able to apply the law to the United Nations and its work in Myanmar. Stanislav Saling, spokesman for the Office of the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Myanmar, said the country is already a signatory to "international conventions and agreements" that govern the United Nations' work in the country. But UN agencies implement many of their programs through non-governmental groups, which could be affected by the law. "The UN and other development cooperation partners have expressed concern that some of the provisions in the current draft of the law are arbitrary and excessive, and could restrict the ability of INGOs to play their important humanitarian and development role," Saling said. "We believe it will neither help government to regulate and manage INGOs, nor help INGOs to operate effectively, efficiently, transparently or accountably," he added. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh following Myanmar's military "clearance operations" in Rakhine state. Credit:APTirana: Albanian police arrested 39 people on Saturday including four police officers on charges of having smuggled some 1000 Albanians to Britain, the United States and Canada, and are looking for a dozen others, including two Bulgarians.

Since Albania embraced democracy in 1990, many Albanians have chosen to migrate for a better life, some paying hefty sums to smugglers. Now they can travel freely in and out of the European Union's Schengen zone, but still need visas for Britain and North America.

Albanian national police chief Ardi Veliu said Albanian police had worked with US colleagues and European agencies as well as with Interpol and EUROPOL, Credit:vloranews.com

National police chief Ardi Veliu said seven criminal groups operating in Albania, Bulgaria, Spain, France, the Dominican Republic, Italy, Britain, Ireland, the United States and Canada had smuggled about 1000 people to Britain, the US and Canada.Beirut: Syrian troops have captured a major rebel stronghold east of the capital Damascus and taken large parts of another, squeezing insurgents and forcing thousands to flee to regions controlled by the government.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Oways al-Shami of the Syrian Civil Defence said troops have taken Kafr Batna and large parts of nearby Saqba.

The capture of Kafr Batna and parts of nearby Saqba on Saturday is another blow to opposition fighters who have lost more than 70 per cent of the area known as eastern Ghouta since the President Bashar Assad's forces began a crushing offensive under the cover of airstrikes on February 18.

The violence left nearly 1400 people dead, more than 5000 wounded and forced tens of thousands to seek shelter in areas under government control.Global events will be crucial in deciding the trend for the equity market this week amid rising concerns of trade headwinds, say experts. Markets are currently reeling under global trade worries and domestic political concerns. Q3 results have given some signs of improvement in corporate earnings.

The long-term outlook for the domestic market continues to be strong. However, rising concerns of global trade headwinds, domestic NPA issues and upcoming state elections will keep market on tenterhooks.

US FED policy meet this week is the key event, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

The FOMC meet, lined up this week, will be important to watch out from the global markets view point, said Vikas Jain - Senior Analyst, Reliance Securities.

SAMCO Securities, Founder & CEO, Jimeet Modi said, Global headwinds are negative and will decide the direction in the short-term.

Over the last week, the Sensex recorded a fall of 131.14 points, or 0.39 per cent, and the NSE Nifty lost 31.70 points, or 0.30 per cent.

On Friday alone, the benchmark index slumped 509.54 points or 1.51 per cent. The fall can largely be attributed to both domestic as well as international factors.

Globally, trade war concerns have emerged and markets are worried that it could deteriorate the just improving global growth rate. Domestically, since Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has pulled out of NDA, political uncertainties have resurfaced, said Arun Thukral, MD & CEO, Axis Securities.The government has imposed anti-dumping duty on import of Chinese pharma product, used in treatment of certain infections, to protect domestic producers from below-cost shipments. The duty on import of 'Ofloxacin' from China will be in the range of $2.58 to $9.48 per kilogram for three years, said a notification issued by the revenue department in the finance ministry.

The levy has been slapped following the recommendations of the Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD).

Aarti Drugs had approached the DGAD for initiation of anti-dumping investigation and imposition of the duty concerning imports of Ofloxacin, originating in or exported from China.

After a probe into the imports, the Authority concluded that the product has been exported to India from China below its normal value, resulting in dumping.

The domestic industry has suffered material injury due to dumping of the product..., the DGAD said while recommending the levy.

Ofloxacin is used to treat certain infections including bronchitis, pneumonia and infections of the skin, bladder, urinary tract, reproductive organs, and prostate (a male reproductive gland).

Ofloxacin is in a class of antibiotics called fluoroquinolones. It works by killing bacteria that cause infections.

Countries carry out anti-dumping probe to determine whether their domestic industries have been hurt because of a surge in imports which are below the cost of producing them.

As a counter measure, they impose duties under the multilateral regime of WTO. The duty is aimed at ensuring fair trading practises and creating a level-playing field for domestic producers with regard to foreign producers and exporters.Photo: Contributed

Prepare to shell out a little more for the sweet treats of spring and summer as a global surge in the price of vanilla makes its impact at some small-batch ice cream shops and neighbourhood bakeries.

The cost of the foodie staple has been on the rise for years, but is now starting to really be felt on retail shelves and mom-and-pop eateries that pride themselves on natural ingredients, say observers.

That includes Toronto cupcake master Verge Manuel, who says the hike is exacerbating various financial pressures on his two gourmet shops, called Dlish.

"There are certain forces that we have no control over which is the pricing of certain ingredients that we have to obviously pass along at some point because you can't absorb it anymore," says Manuel, whose brand revolves around the use of real Madagascar vanilla.

"One of the rising costs is vanilla, absolutely."

When Dlish started seven years ago, Manuel says vanilla prices generally increased 10 per cent a year. But two years ago it doubled for him, and last year it went up five-fold.

Vanilla prices are the highest they've ever been, says David van der Walde, director of Montreal-based vanilla importing company Aust & Hachmann Canada.

He says the wholesale price now runs as high as C$850 per kilogram for premium beans  a 10 per cent increase from last year, which was 30 per cent more than the year before that.

Five years ago, you could get vanilla for as little as US$20 per kilogram, adds van der Walde, calling that price "excruciatingly low."

It rose quickly as consumers began demanding natural ingredients in everything from chocolates to cakes to yogurt.

So big food companies responded, with Hershey's among the power players that announced a switch to real vanilla in 2015 for their chocolate bars.

Meanwhile, increased demand coincided with shrinking supplies, says van der Walde, noting that less-established plantations outside of Madagascar gave up on the labour-intensive crop because prices were low.

"And then the price starts to go up again," he says.

Things only got worse in March 2017 when a cyclone hit Madagascar, the world's leading producer of vanilla, destroying a good portion of their output for 2018.

Ever since then, ice cream maker Cyril Chalykoff says he can barely secure enough of the richly flavoured beans to keep production going.

"We're getting to the point now where it's getting very, very, short supply," says Chalykoff, president of London Ice Cream based in London, Ont.

"We're just scrambling. We're scrambling."

Vanilla is pretty much synonymous with ice cream, he adds, scoffing at the possibility of dropping the flavour from his menu.

"That's like saying to a Canadian, 'You can't have coffee anymore.'"

For now, he's absorbing the cost, but with margins shrinking, he admits he's weighed the pros and cons of charging more.

"It's unfortunate because a lot of people don't really recognize the difference between one vanilla to the next, and you really get lumped in with (other) vanilla ice cream," he says.

"If we go up in our pricing a little bit then some customers won't appreciate that, won't understand it."

Even the big companies feel the impact, such as Nestle Canada and its naturally flavoured Real Dairy brand.

Catherine O'Brien, senior vice president of corporate affairs, says in an emailed statement there are no plans to raise ice cream prices, but they are "continually managing ingredient and commodity costs across all of our product portfolios."

Smaller players are undoubtedly struggling, van der Walde says.

"We sell vanilla beans directly to small ice cream shops here in Montreal who use them and they're freaking out over the prices," he said.

Michelle Chow, president of the Vanilla Food Company, says she hears the same concerns from her ice cream clients, who tell her they expect to raise prices to keep pace.

Chow's online store sells to home bakers and commercial kitchens, with varied vanilla clients including soap makers, tea sellers and breweries.

She says many have had to switch from whole beans or ground powder to more affordable options, such as extract or vanilla paste. But those, too, have gone up in price.

"We kind of just changed a little of our focus to chocolate-supplying versus the vanilla so that our company can sustain as well," says Chow, based in Markham, Ont.

Chow admits she even finds herself rationing the product at home when she bakes with her kids.

"Before it was more like, 'Oh, a splash of this,'" she chuckles. "Now it's like 'No, no, no!' You measure it to a T."

Chalykoff says his worst-case scenario would be to use vanillin, a common flavouring alternative that comes in natural and synthetic versions.

"Our main vanilla supplier, what they're offering now is a blend; they're cutting it with a vanillin-type thing, which is a compromise," he says.

"We're not at that point, yet. I'll pay whatever I've got to pay but if it's not available, it's not available and what can you do, right?"

Van der Walde says supply is actually on the upswing, and that prices are plateauing. But not all suppliers stock up if they know clients will balk at the price.7 Morning Prayers you need to get your day started with God

7 Morning Prayers you need to ...One minute Rex Tillerson was U.S. Secretary of State and fourth in line to the presidency; the next minute he was fired over Twitter by President Donald Trump. The abrupt move left many wondering just what the future holds for some exceedingly delicate situations between the U.S. and other countries. (Think North Korea and Russia.)

Here well list the official reasons behind Tillersons firing and speculate on some unofficial reasons that are, shall we say, a bit more personal (pages 5 and 6). Well also look at how Trumps talks with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un might be in jeopardy now that Tillerson is gone (page 8).

1. A difference in chemistry

Although Trumps March 13 morning tweet announcing Tillersons departure didnt list a reason, the president later spoke with reporters outside the White House regarding it. We got along actually quite well, but we disagreed on things, Trump said.

Trump announced plans to nominate CIA director Mike Pompeo to take over the role after Tillerson is out March 31, 2018. With Mike, Mike Pompeo, we have a very similar thought process, Trump said. I think its going to go very well.

Next: A too hard-lined stance on Russia?

2. Tillersons stance on Russia

A significant factor behind Tillersons firing may be his take on Russia. His hard-line stance regarding the countrys policies differs from that of Trump, who is slower to criticize them. A recent case in point: After an attempted assassination of a former Russian spy in the U.K., Tillerson supported the U.K.s assessment that Russia was responsible. Trump didnt back Tillerson up.

In his parting statement, Tillerson had a warning for Russia. Russia must assess carefully as to how its actions are in the best interest of the Russian people and of the world more broadly, he said. Continuing on their current trajectory is likely to lead to greater isolation on their part, a situation which is not in anyones interest.

Next: Disagreements over the Iran nuclear deal

3. Tillersons stance on Iran nuclear deal

In addition to Russia, Tillerson and Trump also disagreed publicly on the future of the Iran nuclear deal. Trump referred to this as a reason for firing Tillerson. When you look at the Iran deal, I think its terrible. I guess he thought it was OK.

Trump had called the Iran agreement the worst deal in history and wished to withdraw from it. Tillerson called the deal flawed, but said it met its goal of freezing Irans nuclear program. He had been working with the U.S. NATO allies to solve the deadlock brought on by Trumps position.

Next: Speaking of NATO

4. They disagreed on NATO

The North American Treaty Organization (NATO) has been around since 1949. Its an alliance between several North American and European countries to ensure the freedom and security of its members using political and military means. After becoming president, Trump dismissed the organization as irrelevant. Tillerson, however, had worked to soothe fears within the alliance caused by Trumps stance.

Next: Could this be the real reason?

5. Tillerson reportedly called Trump a moron

Tillersons tense public relationship with Trump perhaps dates back to the time he reportedly called Trump a moron in July 2017. Tillerson openly made the comment after a Pentagon meeting with Cabinet officials and Trumps security team, NBC News reported the following October.

Vice President Mike Pence urged Tillerson to maintain respect for the president in public while sorting out any differences privately, the NBC article quoted a White House official as saying. Tillerson never denied the name-calling, but a State Department spokeswoman later did. When asked, Trump dismissed the news report as fake news.

Next: Another rumored reason

6. Tillersons stance on Jared Kushner

Perhaps Tillersons ousting was related to tensions with Trumps son-in-law and senior White House adviser Jared Kushner. According to reports, Tillerson complained repeatedly about what he perceived as an encroachment on his turf as Secretary of State by Kushner. Trump had tasked Kushner with working on Israeli-Palestinian relations among other global issues.

Tillerson also strenuously opposed Kushners stance on a blockade of the Gulf state Qatar imposed by four neighboring states, The Forward reported. When Tillerson opposed the blockade, he was shot down by Trump himself, who called Qatar a funder of terrorism, reports said.

Next: The big North Korea issue

7. They disagreed on North Korea

Tensions between Tillerson and Trump over North Korea spilled out into the open repeatedly. Trump seemed to publicly chide Tillersons handling of the crisis. After Tillerson announced diplomacy efforts, Trump tweeted Tillerson was wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket man.

North Korea is just another example of how Tillersons globalist approach to diplomacy was at odds with the more nationalist approach favored by Trump. While Tillerson sought negotiations with the reclusive Asian regime, Trump pushed sanctions instead. All this left some baffled when Trump agreed to a May meeting with Kim Jong Un shortly before ousting Tillerson.

Next: How this will affect North Korea talks

Bad for North Korea negotiations?

As we mentioned, Trump plans to replace Tillerson with CIA Director Mike Pompeo, whose ideology seems more in line with Trumps nationalistic approach. This dramatic change comes just weeks before what could be the biggest foreign policy moment in decades  when Trump meets North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Unlike Tillerson, Pompeo has spoken in favor of a total regime change in North Korea. Time has called his views problematic and unlikely to inspire confidence in a regime wary of American capriciousness regarding international pacts. How Kim is reacting to Pompeos new role and how it will affect his willingness to meet with Trump remains to be seen.

Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook!Local pickleball players call for public courts in Pueblo

A group of local pickleball enthusiasts wants the city to convert a basketball court at Lake Minnequa Park to a public pickleball facility.Christian-themed movies coming out in March and April 2018

Christian-themes movies have become more common over recent years, and the coming months are no exception as a number of exciting films are set to be released.

Movies offer a more immersive experience for many Christians, and many can be great fun to watch with the whole family too. Check out these movies that will be coming out this March and April.

Paul, Apostle of Christ (March 18)

Paul, the Apostle of Jesus, has always been a popular biblical figure in movies and here, James Faulker will play Paul while Jim Caviezel will play Luke. This movie tells the story of how Paul turned from being a prosecutor to a very influential apostle. It will also show Paul's spiritual journey through hope, forgiveness, and redemption.

Beautifully Broken (March 30)

Not necessarily based off a scripture, "Beautifully Broken" is a story about peace and forgiveness. A Rwandan man escaped his homeland due to an ethnic genocide and made a new life in America. There, he met a Tennessee family with their own struggles. Together, they learn how to find peace by forgiving those who've hurt them.

God's Not Dead: A Light in the Darkness (March 30)

Already the third installment of PureFlix's God's Not Dead, this movie is one of the anticipated ones this year. The story will revolve around the life of Pastor Dave after serving his prison sentence, which was a continuation of the previous movie. However, Dave's trials didn't end there. His home church was burned down to do social tension among its members, and this made Dave doubt his faith. "A Light in the Darkness" is his path to rediscovering and strengthening his faith.

Mary Magdalene (March 30)

Mary Magdalene is a movie not many will like or approve of, but it is worth watching nonetheless. Mary, played by Rooney Mara, is a unique character. While this movie will show Mary's interactions with the disciples and Jesus, it will also show how Mary engages in conflict with Peter, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, and with the believers. Based on the trailer, some would describe Mary as a proto-feminist in this movie, but you'll be the judge of that once you see it.

Selfie Dad: When a Comic Gets Serious About the Bible (April 27)

Something a bit more modern and today, "Selfie Dad" is a story of a man's journey in building a personal relationship with God. Ben, a father and reality TV editor, seems like he is going through a mid-life crisis and doesn't have control over his life. When his son posts a video on YouTube showcasing his home improvement fails, he realized his dream of being a comedian. Soon after, his YouTube channel became a hit; he found fame. However, soon, he realizes that true happiness only comes from God.

Watching Christian-themed movies is a good experience for you and the family as it offers different perspectives on the world. These movies are often made to be relatable to Christians or struggling Christians, so you'll definitely pick up a lesson or two here. 2018 is a big year for Christian movies; expect more new releases in the coming months.How Christian women can be great wives

If you're married, ask yourself if you've been a good wife to your husband. If you're single, ask yourself if you'll make a good wife someday. If you're completely unsure, the Bible will help guide your path to being a great Christian wife today or in the future.

A Great Wife is Supportive

You might've already heard the saying that behind every great man is a great woman. It is very important for a wife to support his husband and listen to his concerns. Women who are dismissive or simply ignore the need of their partners may unconsciously hurt the marriage.

However, this doesn't mean that Christian wives must always prioritize the needs and concerns of their husband first above all else. This also doesn't mean that wives must be at the husband's beck and call. But if the husband does have something to say, a good wife must show genuine care through listening and trying to her husband's needs as much as possible.

Moreover, a great wife must always be encouraging and motivating. Ephesians 4:29 says, "Let everything you say be good and helpful so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them."

Showing the opposite of this can be lethal to any marriage. If a wife discourages her husband, this will make the man feel useless and worthless. Discouragement comes in different forms such as complaining constantly or always criticizing the husband's actions and decision. At the end of the day, a husband will feel worse in the presence of his wife, instead of feeling more empowered.

A Great Wife is Reliable

In marriage, there must complete trust and confidence in one another. In Proverbs 31:11, it says, "Her husband can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life." This means that if a husband can rely and depend on his wife, this man will have a more fulfilling life.

A great wife must always be honest, honorable, and will always uphold her dignity. She stands by the truth and will fight for it. She will be faithful to her husband, nurturing of her children, and help her husband make sound decisions. She will be there through thick and thin. A Christian wife like this, will no doubt, enrich the life of her husband in more ways than one.

Additionally, when we speak of dependability, this will also touch upon a wife's dependence and independence. Too much of both will not be good for a marriage. An overly dependent wife will expect her husband to meet her every need. On the other hand, an overly independent wife will have a harder time submitting to her husband.

There must be a good balance between the husband and wife's co-dependence on one another. Further, husband and wives should treat each other as partners. This way, each one has something unique to offer to the marriage that the other person cannot.

A Great Wife is Always Respectful

While love is an important aspect of any relationship, there is also respect. To make a relationship work, a husband and wife must always have mutual respect for each other. This is non-negotiable. In fact, God also commanded wives to be always respectful of their husbands. Ephesians 5:33 says:

However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

No man will want to live out his lifetime with someone who doesn't respect him. No man will want to come home to a wife who demeans him or thinks low of him. To ensure a lasting marriage, the foundation of respect must be laid down. Bear in mind that one of the goals of a marriage is to make each other a better person, not the other way around.

A Christ-centered marriage is built on love, trust, respect, and faith. There is constant effort to be supportive, caring, and respectful of one another. Nobody said making a marriage work is easy. But, if you've built the right foundation from the ground up, with God being in the center of your relationship, then you have the best help in your team you can ever ask for.Kathie Lee Gifford explains why she thinks Christians should not date non-believers

Should Christians date non-believers? Everyone has their own opinion regarding this question. While some believe think there's nothing wrong with dating non-believers, some Christians prefer not to waste their time and emotions on people who do not share the same faith.

TV host Kathie Lee Gifford is part of the latter. After the death of her husband, Gifford is open to finding love again. However, she refuses to date anyone who doesn't share the same faith.

Gifford told Access Live that she has only been on a single date since her husband, Frank, passed away on August 9, 2015. But the date didn't lead to anything because of one important reason.

"He didn't share my faith and couldn't understand why I didn't want to be with him," Gifford recalled. "I said, 'My faith isn't something I do on Sunday mornings for an hour. My faith is me, and I'm not going to share my life with somebody or even another hour of my life on a date with you if you don't share the same passion for your faith as I do."

Her decision to wait for the right guy to come along will resonate with countless Christian women who are having a tough time navigating the dating field. Gifford offered some inspiring words of encouragement to those who might be losing hope on finding love.

"Who doesn't want to find love again?" she said. "I think my probability is less, obviously. Some men are afraid of strong women. I wouldn't be interested in a man like that anyway."

She added, "If that's part of God's will for me, I'm certainly open to it. I'm not out at singles bars. I'm not online."OnePlus 6 release date, specs rumors: To feature LTE mobile data speeds up to 1Gbps

One of the anticipated smartphone flagships arriving this 2018 is the OnePlus 6, which is expected to boast features that could rival those of Apple's iPhone X. While it is true that the 2017 iPhone model has started a trend of putting a notch on the handset's top display, the OnePlus 6 could be on a league of its own by introducing a super-fast Gigabit Long Term Evolution (LTE) connectivity. The latest reports show that the OnePlus 6 will be capable of supporting mobile data speeds up to 1 Gbps.

According to the latest reports, the OnePlus 6 is tipped to support a Cat 16 Gigabit LTE technology that outclasses the LTE feature of the previously-launched mobile handsets. To note, last year's OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T only supports Cat 12 LTE connectivity, and the OnePlus 6 will be the first in the Chinese tech manufacturer to boast Cat 16 LTE. XDA Developers said that the OnePlus 6's Cat 16 LTE connectivity has a download speed limit of 600 Mbps, although this can be brought up further to 1,000 Mbps or 1 Gbps.

The OnePlus 6's superior LTE connectivity is supported by Qualcomm's latest high-end mobile processor, the Snapdragon 845 chipset. The said mobile chip features an integrated X20 LTE modem, which has the capacity to regulate download speeds of up to 1.2 Gbps, while the upload speeds can go as high as 150 Mbps. However, the OnePlus 6 is still not capable of handling 5G connection due to the current limitations of the Snapdragon 845. To note, the Snapdragon 845 processor does not include a 5G-compatible modem.

The smartphones powered by the Snapdragon 845, including the OnePlus 6, will stick with 4G network connectivity. If the user is in a country that supports fast 4G network speeds, he can download a movie file in 720p format, which has a size ranging from 2.5 GB to 4 GB, within a matter of seconds, Express UK reported. Although, Qualcomm already mentioned that the Snapdragon X50 chip that supports 5G connectivity is in the works, and it is likely to be launched sometime next year.

OnePlus has already confirmed the arrival of the next-gen OnePlus 6 smartphone before June 30.Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 release date, specs rumors: 2018 tablet won't move up to Snapdragon 845 chip

The arrival of the next-generation Samsung Galaxy Tab S device is already overdue, given that the Galaxy Tab S3 was unveiled by the South Korean tech giant more than a year ago. While the Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 was not present at the previous Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2018, it is expected that the high-end tablet's launch will happen soon. However, the users should not expect too much from the next Galaxy Tab S series, with the latest reports suggesting that the Galaxy Tab S4 will stick with last year's Snapdragon 835 processor.

The specs and features of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 were leaked in the latest GFXBench benchmark listing. The device is listed with the model number SM-T835. It is easy to assume that this Samsung gadget is actually the Galaxy Tab S4, given that the previous Galaxy Tab S3 goes with the model number SM-T825, while the Galaxy Tab S2 uses SM-T815. The public's expectation is that the Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 will have an upgraded mobile chipset from Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 845. However, the GFXBench listing shows that the Galaxy Tab S4 will still use the Snapdragon 835.

Samsung's recently launched Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus smartphones were among the first devices packed with the Snapdragon 845 chip. The next-gen Galaxy Tab S device is expected to follow suit, but it looks like Samsung has chosen to delay the upgrade to next year. Specifically, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 is listed to have a 2.3 GHz octa-core Qualcomm chip with an Adreno 540 graphics processing unit (GPU) under the hood. The tablet also has 4 GB of random-access memory (RAM) and 64 GB built-in storage.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 is shown to sport a 10.5-inch display with 1,600x 2,560 screen resolution, making the device slightly bigger than the previous Galaxy Tab S iteration. Going to the camera department, the Galaxy Tab S4 is expected to receive a 12-megapixel (MP) rear camera. The tricky part is that the GFXBench listing shows a 7-megapixel front-facing shooter for the device, and GSMArena states that the Galaxy Tab S3 already has an 8-megapixel front camera. Last year's premium devices from Samsung like the Galaxy S8 smartphone received 8 MP front cameras as well, and it is possible that the Galaxy Tab S4 will have the same.'The Flash' season 4 episode 17 spoilers: Barry's life in danger as he teams up with Elongated Man

Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) will try to foil a burglary attempt in the next episode of the CW's "The Flash" season 4. The Scarlett Speedster is back to work after regaining his speed force, and in episode 17 titled "Null and Annoyed," Barry will confront the remaining bus metas that are wreaking havoc in Central City. Unfortunately for the hero, the meta thief poses a real threat as the promo teaser shows Barry seemingly falling to his death.

"The Flash" season 4 episode 17 will see Barry Allen fighting a bus meta who is using his newfound powers to steal money. The new villain in town's next target is a jewelry store, and the Scarlet Speedster will make sure that this meta will no longer have the opportunity to use his power for his evil ways. According to the spoilers, Barry will be joined by one of the new recruits in Team Flash, the Elongated Man (Hartley Sawyer).

The latest bus meta spawned by season 4's big bad, Clifford DeVoe (Neil Sandilands), is a female who can manipulate gravity to steal from other people. The teaser shows the meta thief grabbing a girl's necklace as she is made to float in mid-air. The same situation will also happen to Barry and Iris (Candice Patton), as the meta uses her power to drive them away. Unfortunately, there will be a shake-up at this moment as Barry seems to lose his balance as he tries to secure Iris.

"The Flash" season 4 will enter a three-week hiatus following the last episode. Previously, Barry has lost his powers as a bus meta was able to transfer The Flash's super-speed genes to someone else. It's a good thing that Barry's powers were transferred to Iris, who assumed her husband's role as the Central City's protector. Barry, on the other hand, served as the head of Team Flash as Iris used the speed force to take down the meta villain.

"The Flash" season 4 episode 17 will air on April 10 at 8 p.m. EST on the CW.WASHINGTON -- Attorney General Jeff Sessions late Friday night fired former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, a little more than 24 hours before McCabe was set to retire -- a move that McCabe alleged was an attempt to slander him and undermine the ongoing special counsel investigation into the Trump campaign.

Sessions announced the decision in a statement just before 10 p.m., noting that both the Justice Department inspector general and the FBI office that handles discipline had found "that Mr. McCabe had made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor - including under oath - on multiple occasions."

He said based on those findings and the recommendation of the department's senior career official, "I have terminated the employment of Andrew McCabe effective immediately."

The move will likely cost McCabe a significant portion of his retirement benefits, though it is possible he could bring a legal challenge. He responded on Friday night with a lengthy statement, claiming he was being targeted because he was a witness in special counsel Robert Mueller III's probe into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia, and asserting that his actions were appropriate. He also alleged former FBI Director James Comey knew about the media disclosure about which the inspector general has raised questions.

"This attack on my credibility is one part of a larger effort not just to slander me personally, but to taint the FBI, law enforcement, and intelligence professionals more generally," McCabe said. "It is part of this Administration's ongoing war on the FBI and the efforts of the Special Counsel investigation, which continue to this day. Their persistence in this campaign only highlights the importance of the Special Counsel's work."

President Donald Trump tweeted early Saturday morning, "Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI - A great day for Democracy. Sanctimonious James Comey was his boss and made McCabe look like a choirboy. He knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI!"

An email notifying McCabe of the move was sent to his work account and his lawyers just minutes before Sessions's statement was made public, though McCabe learned of the firing from press accounts, his spokeswoman said. McCabe has been fighting vigorously to keep his job, and on Thursday, he spent nearly four hours inside the Justice Department pleading his case.

Michael Bromwich, McCabe's attorney, said that he had "never before seen the type of rush to judgment - and rush to summary punishment - that we have witnessed in this case." He cited in particular President Trump's attacks on McCabe on Twitter and the White House press secretary's comments about him on Thursday -- which he said were "quite clearly designed to put inappropriate pressure on the Attorney General to act accordingly."

"This intervention by the White House in the DOJ disciplinary process is unprecedented, deeply unfair, and dangerous," Bromwich said.

McCabe has become a lightning rod in the political battles over the FBI's most high-profile cases, including the Russia investigation and the probe of Hillary Clinton's email practices. He has been a frequent target of criticism from Trump.

His firing -- which was recommended by the FBI office that handles discipline -- stems from a Justice Department inspector general investigation that found McCabe authorized the disclosure of sensitive information to the media about a Clinton-related case, then misled investigators about his actions in the matter, people familiar with the matter have said. He stepped down earlier this year from the No. 2 job in the bureau after FBI Director Christopher Wray was briefed on the inspector general's findings, though he technically was still an employee.

McCabe, who conducted interviews with several media outlets in advance of his firing but declined to do so with The Washington Post, said in his statement he was "being singled out and treated this way because of the role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed" when the president fired Comey as FBI director. Mueller is looking at that termination as part of his examination into whether Trump was attempting to obstruct justice.

McCabe said in the statement that his testimony before the House Intelligence Committee -- which he believed accelerated the process against him -- revealed he "would corroborate" Comey's accounts of his interactions with Trump. Comey has said previously the president asked him for loyalty and, referring to the probe of the president's former national security adviser, asked if Comey would "let this go."

"The big picture," McCabe said, "is a tale of what can happen when law enforcement is politicized, public servants are attacked, and people who are supposed to cherish and protect our institutions become instruments for damaging those institutions and people."

Bromwich, himself a former Justice Department inspector general, suggested that office treated McCabe unfairly, cleaving from a larger investigation its findings on McCabe and not giving McCabe an adequate chance to respond to the allegations he faced. In his statement, Bromwich said McCabe and his lawyers were given limited access to the inspector general's draft report late last month, saw a final report and evidence a week ago and were "receiving relevant exculpatory evidence as recently as two days ago."

"With so much at stake, this process has fallen far short of what Mr. McCabe deserved," Bromwich said. "This concerted effort to accelerate the process in order to beat the ticking clock of his scheduled retirement violates any sense of decency and basic principles of fairness."

A spokesman for the inspector general's office declined to comment.

Some in the bureau might view McCabe's termination so close to retirement as an unnecessarily harsh and politically influenced punishment for a man who spent more than 20 years at the FBI. The White House had seemed to support such an outcome, though a spokeswoman said the decision was up to Sessions.

"We do think that it is well documented that he has had some very troubling behavior and by most accounts a bad actor," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Thursday.

Trump and McCabe's relationship has long been fraught. The president has previously suggested that McCabe was biased in favor of Clinton, his political opponent, pointing out that McCabe's wife, who ran as a Democrat for a seat in the Virginia legislature, received hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from the political action committee of Terry McAuliffe, then the state's governor and a noted Clinton ally. During an Oval Office meeting in May, Trump is said to have asked McCabe whom he voted for in the presidential election and vented about the donations.

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz put McCabe in his crosshairs during a broad look at alleged improprieties in the handling of the Clinton email case. In the course of that review, Horowitz found that McCabe had authorized two FBI officials to talk to then-Wall Street Journal reporter Devlin Barrett for a story about the case and another investigation into Clinton's family foundation. Barrett now works for The Washington Post.

Background conversations with reporters are commonplace in Washington, though McCabe's authorizing such a talk was viewed as inappropriate because the matter being discussed was an ongoing criminal investigation. The story ultimately presented McCabe as a somewhat complicated figure -- one who some FBI officials thought was standing in the way of the Clinton Foundation investigation, but who also seemed to be pushing back against Justice Department officials who did not believe there was a case to be made.

McCabe said in his statement that he, as the FBI's deputy director, had the authority to do what he did. He said he was simply trying to "set the record straight" and "make clear that we were continuing an investigation that people in DOJ opposed" after the bureau was "portrayed as caving under that pressure, and making decisions for political rather than law enforcement purposes."

"It was not a secret, it took place over several days, and others, including the Director, were aware of the interaction with the reporter," he said. "It was the type of exchange with the media that the Deputy Director oversees several times per week. In fact, it was the same type of work that I continued to do under Director Wray, at his request."

In an interview with CNN, McCabe alleged that in December, he had a "long conversation with the editor of a major national newspaper at Chris Wray's request, and engaged with this editor in an effort to get them to back off a story that we thought would be harmful to our operational equities."

An FBI spokesman and a lawyer for Comey declined to comment. McCabe also said he answered questions about the matter "truthfully and as accurately as I could amidst the chaos that surrounded me," acknowledging only that he had clarified his account.

"And when I thought my answers were misunderstood, I contacted investigators to correct them," he said.

McCabe, who turns 50 on Sunday and would have then been eligible for his full retirement benefits, had quickly ascended through senior roles to the No. 2 leadership post. He briefly served in an interim capacity as the FBI director, in the months between when Trump fired Comey from the post and Wray was confirmed by the Senate.

McCabe's team on Friday night released a bevy of statements from former national security officials supporting the former deputy director, including from former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper Jr.; former National Security Agency Deputy Director Richard Ledgett Jr.; former U.S. attorney Chuck Rosenberg; former FBI national security official Michael Steinbach; and former Justice Department national security official Mary McCord.

Steinbach said McCabe had "become a convenient scapegoat so that narrow political objectives can be achieved." McCord said she "never doubted his honesty or motivations, and can say without hesitation that he was one of the finest FBI agents with whom I ever worked." Notably absent was a statement from Comey, McCabe's former boss, though Comey did say after McCabe stepped down as deputy director that he "stood tall over the last 8 months, when small people were trying to tear down an institution we all depend on."

Comey is still considered a key subject in Horowitz's probe of how the FBI handled the Clinton email case.One driver is dead after a car slammed into a telephone pole and burst into flames.

It's not clear what sparked the wreck around 3:30 a.m. near Clinton and Hirsch, according to authorities.A man died Sunday morning after he was shot in the head at a southwest Houston apartment complex, according to police.

The slain man's girlfriend called police around 1:30 a.m. after she came home and found her boyfriend wounded by gunfire near the front door of their apartment at the Reserve at Creekbend complex, near the intersection of Creekbend and South Gessner.AUSTIN  The Austin Police Department increased its reward for information leading to an arrest in three package bomb cases that have rattled the city.

Law enforcement officials are now offering $115,000, including $15,000 from the Texas Governors office. The reward, up from $65,000 last week, comes after officials received a deluge of tips, but none have led to any arrests.

Please keep the calls coming, said Austin Interim Police Chief Brian Manley. We dont want the tips to slow down. We need that tip and you may have the one piece of information that helps us put this all together."

There have been three package bombs in Austin since March 2. The first package bomb was left at the home of Anthony House, who died from the blast.

Police initially believed it was an isolated incident. Some community members have complained the the police did not warn residents about suspicious packages after that incident.

We simply did not have anything available to us that day to make us believe that this would happen again in our community, Manley said.

Then last Monday, a package bomb was left at the home of 17-year-old Draylen Mason, on the 4800 block of Oldfort Road. The bomb killed him and seriously injured his mother.

As police were investigating the explosion, another package bomb detonated about 5 miles away. That bomb seriously injured a 75-year-old woman. Police now believe the three incidents are related.

Manley said they believe the bombs were meant to send a message to the Austin community.

These events in Austin have garnered world wide attention, and we assure you we are listening, said Manley, addressing the person responsible for the bombings. We want to understand what brought you to this point, and we want to listen to you.

Over 500 agents have investigated 435 leads in the case, including conducting over 230 interviews, according to Manley. Investigators now know how the bombs were constructed and the materials used in the package bombs, but Manley did not release that information.

Anyone with tips or information related to the case is encouraged to contact the TIPS Hotline at 512.572.TIPS (8477).

Alejandra Matos covers politics, immigration and education policy. Follow her on Twitter. Email tips to alejandra.matos@chron.com.WASHINGTON  When President Donald Trump told donors at a fundraiser this past week that he had invented a fact during a conversation with Canadas prime minister, the surprise was not that Americas leader makes things up, but that he openly admitted it.

Or maybe admitted is the wrong word. He actually seemed to boast about it.

In the furor that followed the disclosure of his remarks, attention focused on the impact on relations with Canada and whether the president was right or wrong in his assertion about trade. But the episode goes to the heart of a more fundamental debate about Trump: When does he know the things he says are false and when is he simply misinformed?

Trump, after all, has made so many claims that stretch the bounds of accuracy that full-time fact-checkers struggle to keep up. Most Americans long ago concluded that he is dishonest, according to polls. While most presidents lie at times, Trumps speeches and Twitter posts are embedded with so many false, distorted, misleading or unsubstantiated claims that he has tested even the normally low standards of U.S. politics.

His statement this week was another reminder of how cavalier he is with the truth, said Bill Adair, the founder of PolitiFact, the Pulitzer Prize-winning, nonpartisan fact-checking website owned by the Poynter Institute. He seems so willing to say whatever suits him at that moment regardless of whether its true. In all the time that I was editor of PolitiFact and in the time since when Ive worked with fact-checkers all over the world, Ive just never seen any political figure distort the truth so recklessly.

Since Trump became a presidential candidate, PolitiFact has evaluated more than 500 assertions and found 69 percent of them mostly false, false or pants on fire false. By comparison, it judged 26 percent of the statements by Obama that it evaluated as false and the same percentage for those by Hillary Clinton.

Trumps presidency has been marked from the start with false or misleading statements, such as his outlandish claims that more people came to his inauguration than any before and that at least 3 million unauthorized immigrants voted illegally against him, costing him the popular vote. He has gone on to assert that President Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower, a claim that his own Justice Department refuted, and that he would not benefit from his tax-cutting plan.

The lack of fidelity to facts has real-world consequences in both foreign affairs and domestic policymaking. Foreign diplomats and lawmakers of both parties say they do not assume anything he says is necessarily true. In a White House where one aide described the existence of alternative facts and another acknowledged telling white lies, staff members scramble to defend his claims without putting their own credibility on the line. News organizations debate when to use the word lie because it implies intent.

Trumps defenders say fact-checking organizations like PolitiFact are politically biased, which Adair and his counterparts adamantly deny. But even among Republicans examined by PolitiFact, Trump is an outlier.

While PolitiFact did not exist during most of President George W. Bushs tenure, it has found that 42 percent of statements that it examined by Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, the two previous Republican presidential nominees, were false. The partys congressional leaders, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, were both at similar levels, 43 percent and 41 percent.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment on Friday. Trumps supporters rarely defend him as a truth teller, but argue that all presidents lie and point to false statements made by his predecessors, like Bill Clinton (Monica Lewinsky), Bush (Iraq) and Obama (health care).

Advisers say privately that Trump may not always be precise, but is speaking a larger truth that many Americans understand. Flyspecking, tut-tutting critics in the news media, they say, fail to grasp the connection he has with a section of the country that feels profoundly misled by a self-serving establishment. To them, the particular facts do not matter as much as this deeper truth.

I think presidents, all of them, actually have a habit of thinking that theyre right, whether theyre right or not, said Patrick Caddell, a political consultant who shared research with Trumps 2016 campaign. Hes more guilty of that than some sort of preplanned and mendacious statements.

But Caddell  a strategist for Jimmy Carter when he was beaten up by the media as naive for promising never to tell a lie  said Americans see Trump in context. In Washington, D.C., facts dont matter; people have narratives, including the media, and they just ignore anything that doesnt fit that, he said. Why should the American people punish him when they think the entire political culture is that way?

As a businessman, Trump often fabricated or exaggerated to sell a narrative or advance his interests. In his memoir, The Art of the Deal, he called it truthful hyperbole or innocent exaggeration.

When trying to lure investors to a hotel project, he had bulldozers dig on one side of the site and dump the dirt on the other to give the impression that the project was making progress. He would call reporters and pretend to be a publicity agent for himself named John Barron or John Miller. He claimed to earn $1 million from a speech when it was $400,000. He claimed to be worth $3.5 billion when seeking a bank loan, four times what the bank eventually found.

Hes a salesman and thats not about telling the truth, thats not the DNA about being a salesman, said Gwenda Blair, the author of The Trumps: Three Generations of Builders and a President, a biography of his family. The DNA of being a salesman is telling people what they want to hear. And hes got it.

Trump continued his practice as president. The Washington Posts fact-checker documented 2,140 false or misleading claims in Trumps first year in office, a rate of nearly six a day, many of them repeated even after he was corrected.

A Quinnipiac University poll in January showed that only 35 percent of Americans consider him honest, while 60 percent do not. In their first terms, more than 50 percent considered Bush and Obama honest, although those numbers fell for both by their second terms.

Republicans as well as Democrats express concern. Amanda Carpenter, a former aide to Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and former Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, has a new book coming out in May called Gaslighting America: Why We Love It When Trump Lies to Us. On the cover is an illustration of Trump with a Pinocchio nose.

Her explanation is that Trumps supporters do not see deception, they see a commitment to winning. Donald Trumps lies and fabrications dont horrify America, says the publishers summary of her book. They enthrall us.Not the worst spot for Ohio State to be considering it spotted Gonzaga 15 points. Zags shot 58 percent in the first half. Had a 20-10 advantage in the paint, and had 9 points off six turnovers. OSU needs to find an answer for Rui Hachimura, who has 13 off the bench and has had his way inside

William LandisPutting your savings strategy on autopilot is one sure-fire way to make certain that you're regularly stashing away money for retirement.

Financial advisors often suggest contributing to your 401(k) or other retirement savings plan at work as the first step in building your nest egg.

Yet many Americans don't do that. In fact, 20 percent of working Americans are failing to save any of their income  and one in six blame their job, according to a new study from Bankrate.com. Their lack of saving is not necessarily because they're undisciplined. It simply may take more effort than they're willing to give.

One of the obstacles: Their employer doesn't offer a 401(k). Employees would have to set up a retirement account on their own through a bank or investment firm.

About 57 million Americans have no access to a retirement savings plan through their employers, according to AARP. That's more than 50 percent of workers ages 18 to 64. Most of them  roughly 32 million  work at small businesses with fewer than 100 employees.

Oregon, along with other states, aims to decrease those numbers  by offering a retirement savings program that is the first of its kind in the country. Employees at small businesses throughout the Beaver State are being offered the chance to stash away a portion of their pay through a government-sponsored retirement plan, called "Oregon Saves."

The program requires employers who do not offer a 401(k) to automatically deduct 5 percent of an employee's wages after taxes and send it to their individual retirement account, or IRA. Workers can contribute a maximum of $5,500 a year. The plan is managed by the state and workers must opt-out if they don't want to participate. So far, many being given the chance to participate are doing it.

More from Personal Finance:

4 quirky tax deductions that could save you money

You have until April 1 to take out this retirement cash

Here are the highest and lowest state and local tax rates

"We have about 5,500 people actively contributing to accounts at this point ," said Tobias Read, Oregon's state treasurer. "There are about 20,000 in the process, and we expect 1 million people who could potentially participate."

Chris Smyrl is a 32-year-old tap room manager at Reach Break Brewing in Astoria, Oregon.

He is now contributing 5 percent of his pay to his plan  it's the first time he has ever saved for retirement. "It's something that's always in the back of your mind ... and say 'Oh, I can always do that later,'" he said. "Now it's 'later.'"Tyra Heman (R) a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, holds a sign that reads, 'Enough No Guns,' as she is hugged in front of the school where 17 people that were killed on February 14, on February 19, 2018 in Parkland, Florida.

Yesenia Herrera, a first grade teacher in Boston, has undergone training that helps teachers assess when they should flee, lock down or try to fight back during an attack.

However, she said she does not think teachers should be armed, a subject that's been hotly debated in the wake of the Parkland, Florida massacre. As part of his strategy to deter more school shootings, President Donald Trump has said he wants around 20 percent of the most "gun adept" teachers to be armed.

Trump tweet

"I'm not a soldier," Herrera told CNBC recently, a sentiment voiced by a number of teachers around the country who are nervous about having weapons in the classroom. "I can't even imagine myself being a soldier . . . I picture myself getting my kids out of there or hidden."

Yet Trump's proposal is perhaps easier tweeted than done. Putting guns in the hands of teachers is a concept that's widely opposed by educators like Herrera, and very costly to boot.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there are nearly 3.6 million teachers in America. That makes arming masses of teachers difficult at best  or as a Brookings Institution report put it recently, "entirely impractical" at worst.

Cost is just one reason why some analysts feel arming teachers isn't feasible. Recently, Brookings analyst Michael Hansen put the price tag at an "extremely conservative" estimate of $650 million, or nearly $1,000 per teacher annually.

A key element is the training each teacher would need to wield a weapon. The price of getting a permit varies greatly from state to state, running as little as $10 in some states  or over $100 in others.

In a comprehensive analysis last month, The Washington Post found that under certain scenarios, training and arming U.S. teachers could cost as little as $43 million, or as much as $1 billion.

Regardless of the cost, a growing number of teachers appear uncomfortable with having guns in the classroom based on principle. In a recent survey, the National Education Association showed an overwhelming majority of educators oppose the idea.

"A teacher's job as an educator is to nurture, uplift and inspire," Tommy Chang, superintendent of Boston Public Schools, told CNBC in a recent interview. "The thought that teachers should be armed in order to ward off violence is utterly illogical and will result in making our students and teachers less safe."

William Hayes, who used to work at New Mission High School in Boston and now is the principal at Mastery High School in Camden, New Jersey, said he got into education because he has a passion for young people.

He wanted to have an impact on the future leaders of this country, and that vision didn't involve using a weapon.

"Teachers are already asked to do a lot," Hayes told CNBC, raising concerns about where the funding would come from. "We play many roles . . . we are not equipped to provide teachers with guns."Mexico is a popular vacation destination with more than 40 million tourists visiting in 2017. But in the past year, various parts of the country have been besieged by gang violence, assaults, natural disasters and even reports of poisoned liquor.

On March 8, ahead of spring break season, the U.S. State Department issued a security alert for the popular resort spot Playa del Carmen after the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City received a security threat against the town.

The alert, which was later downgraded to include on five neighborhoods, came less than a month after an explosion on a tourist ferry in Playa del Carmen injured 24 people, including five Americans. And in December the U.S. Office of Inspector General opened an inquiry to investigate possibly tainted booze at all-inclusive resorts in Mexican resort towns like Playa Del Carmen and Cancun.

It's all left travelers wondering if it is safe to travel to the country.

Experts say yes.

"The vast majority of destinations that tourists and travelers visit are safe," says Zachary Rabinor, the President and CEO of Journey Mexico, a travel company with three offices in Mexico. "Like in the rest of the world, unsafe areas have more to do with local petty crime or if visitors engage in unsafe activities or visit unsafe establishments."

Currently, as a country, Mexico's threat level, according to the State Department, is a level two. That means tourists should "be aware of heightened risks to safety and security." For context, the Bahamas are also rated a level two (due to crime like burglaries and robberies).

Five states in Mexico have a level four rating  Colima, Guerrero (where Acapulco is located), Michoacan, Sinaloa (where Mazatlan is located) and Tamaulipas (part of which borders Texas)  the same ranking as war zones like Afghanistan and Iraq. The State Department recommends that Americans should not travel to those locations due to "widespread violent crime."

But as long as you're not traveling to one of these areas, "there is no reason to do more than to be aware of the warnings and to exercise the normal degree of caution that should be done while traveling anywhere," says Christopher Wilson, the deputy director of the Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center.

"Don't drink the tap water, have a cab called for you instead of flagging one down on the street," recommends Wilson.

Additionally, leave a detailed itinerary with family and friends that includes contact information for hotels and guides, says Rabinor. Also avoid wearing flashy or expensive jewelry that would make you stand out among a crowd.

Where to travel now

There are some great, safe places to go, say the experts.

La Paz, on the eastern side of Baja California Sur on the Sea of Cortez, is quickly becoming a well-known beach vacation destination, particularly for those fond of snorkeling and diving. Tour operators offer whale watching excursions, swimming with whale sharks (the largest fish in the world) or day trips to Isla Espiritu Santo where visitors can swim with the sea lions, snorkel over coral reefs and dive in artificial reefs made growing out of two sunken ships.German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed overcapacity in world steel markets and agreed on Saturday to work on solutions within the framework of the G20 group of industrialised nations, Merkel's spokesman said.

In a telephone discussion, the two newly reelected leaders emphasised close ties between the two countries, both facing planned U.S. steel and aluminium tariffs, and agreed to deepen their strategic partnership, Steffen Seibert said in a statement.

They also underscored the importance of multilateral cooperation on global trade, a pointed response to an accelerating shift away from multilateral action and institutions by the United States under President Donald Trump.

Chinese state news agency Xinhua said Xi told Merkel that the two countries should "become advocates for new-type international relations" and become cooperation partners despite their ideological differences, with cooperation to be pushed forward within the framework of the Belt and Road initiative.

"China-Germany relations will steadily proceed far as long as they adhere to equality and mutual respect, understand and care for each other's core interests and major concerns, and properly control and handle their differences," Xinhua said, attributing the comments to Xi.

U.S. officials have said they will seek to work with "like-minded" countries at the Group of 20 finance leaders meeting early next week in Argentina to push back against China's state subsidies and investment policies.

The Merkel-Xi call came amid tensions between the United States, Europe and China over U.S. tariffs, and China's rejection of U.S. legislation encouraging an exchange of officials between the United States and Taiwan. China considers self-ruled and democratic Taiwan a wayward province ineligible for state-to-state relations.He and a small team just championed the launch of a new wheelchair friendly transit feature on Google Maps.

When he returned to work, he focused on accessibility issues within the company.

Over eight years ago, a rotted tree branch crashed down on Sasha Blair-Goldensohn as he walked through Central Park, putting him in a temporary coma and partially paralyzing his lower body. Blair-Goldensohn returned to work less than two years later, equipped with both a new wheelchair and a fresh perspective on how his employer  Google  designs products to help people with disabilities. Google has long had an 'accessibility team' that strives to make digital services like search and Gmail usable for those with limited vision, hearing or mobility. But as Blair-Goldensohn struggled to navigate the New York City subway system, with its paltry number of elevators and limited service updates, he realized there was so much more Google could do to assist people in the physical world. This week, he's celebrating a major milestone: Google Maps just introduced "wheelchair accessible" routes in transit navigation in New York, London, Tokyo, Mexico City, Boston, and Sydney. Maps users in those cities will be able to search for wheelchair-friendly ways to get around.

Blair-Goldensohn expects more locations to join. A day after the product launched, a co-worker told him that the transit authority in an Argentine city had expressed interest. "Just having it out in the world is the best way to move the product forward, both in terms of getting feedback from users, from transit authorities and even from within Google," Blair-Goldensohn told CNBC. The project took off about two years ago, when Blair-Goldensohn and two other employees, Rio Akasaka and Diana Hu, took it on as a "20 percent project," a Google initiative that employees pursue outside of their formal workload. "There's a major underserved population and [Maps] is a major opportunity," Blair-Goldensohn said. "But, like with everything, you have to be your own advocate. It took a while to find allies within Google, within Google Maps." The group made a "proof of concept," and then got the go-ahead to move forward. Last year, Google also introduced new accessibility details to Maps and asked users to add information to as many places as possible, with the aim of helping the 65 million people worldwide who need a wheelchair as well as people who are pushing strollers, using crutches, or lugging suitcases.Military personnel wearing protective suits remove a police car and other vehicles from a public car park as they continue investigations into the poisoning of Sergei Skripal on March 11, 2018 in Salisbury, England.

The nerve agent used in an attack on a former spy and his daughter could have come from a research laboratory in the United Kingdom, Russia's EU ambassador said, the BBC reported on Sunday.

Vladimir Chizhov told the BBC that Russia did not stock the toxin, and said that the Porton Down lab was only eight miles (12km) from Salisbury  where the attack occurred.

In response to a question on how the nerve agent ended up in Salisbury, he told the BBC: "Porton Down, as we now all know, is the largest military facility in the United Kingdom that has been dealing with chemical weapons research."

On Saturday, Russia ordered 23 British diplomats to leave Moscow within a week, in retaliation for Britain's decision to kick out 23 Russians, amid an escalating row between both countries over a nerve agent used  since World War Two  in the attempted murder of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter.

Chizhov told BBC that in addition, there were "certain specialists", including scientists, claiming they have created some nerve agents, who are now living in Britain.

Mr Chizhov said that Skripal could "rightly be referred to as a traitor" but "from the legal point of view the Russian state had nothing against him", according to the BBC report.

UK's foreign office said there was "not an ounce of truth" in what he is saying about Porton Down, and dismissed it as "nonsense," the report said.

Read the BBC for more on the spy poisoning case.The most talked about topic at the South by Southwest this year wasn't a company or a trend: It was women in tech.

Official keynote speakers at the Austin tech, film and music conference this year were evenly split between men and women. Though it's hard to tell exactly how many women spoke about tech-related issues because programming is fluctuating and tech topics crossed all 24 tracks, a source with knowledge about the situation said there were notably more women and gender-focused sessions than in prior years.

"Increasing inclusion and gender parity is something we've been working on for the better part of a decade, and it is important that the event represent people from all walks of life and all genders," said a SXSW spokesperson.

Melinda Gates' SXSW interactive keynote was dedicated to Time's Up, the moment against sexual harassment -- and men in the audience took it seriously.

"Men were asking questions about how they could support women in the workplace," said Jennifer Beall Saxton, who founded on-demand stroller and car seat cleaning repair service Tot Squad.

Another female tech executive noted a stark difference from CES, which drew criticism this year for not including women keynote speakers.

A different female executive noted Uber's gender inequality issues have served as a #MeToo moment for the tech industry, forcing companies to rethink how they were treating their female employees.

"These are conversations that bring consciousness and change, and I think that is a wonderful thing," said Nola Weinstein, Twitter's global head of culture and experiential.

Twitter has hosted a women in tech event at SXSW for the past four years, which has grown bigger each year. The company is dedicated to making a platform where 100 percent of women can be seen and heard, as well as feel safe, she said.

"There was a time when women at certain levels felt they had to bring others down," she said. "It's been evolving over time, and people are paying more attention on stages, in conferences, and in boardrooms."

Over the last six months, Twitter has a seen a 50 percent increase on its platform in conversations around women's rights, Weinstein said.President Donald Trump on Sunday railed against both the Russia investigation and the two men dispatched from the upper ranks of the FBI, accusing the Special Counsel of partisanship and speculating on "fake memos" kept by Andrew McCabe and James Comey.

In an early morning tirade on Twitter, Trump accused Robert Mueller  a Republican with a reputation for independence who's held appointed positions under both Democratic and GOP presidents  of hiring "hardened Democrats" to probe alleged ties between his 2016 presidential campaign and Russia.

TRUMP MUELLER TWEET

Trump's tweetstorm came in the wake of his personal lawyer, John Dowd, calling for an end to the Russia investigation after the firing of McCabe, who at one point was the acting director of the FBI. He was fired abruptly late Friday by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and the departure has done little to quell the controversy engulfing the bureau.

Media reports suggest that McCabe kept a secret file of notes on his discussions with Trump, similar to documents Comey is said to have taken during his tenure. McCabe reportedly has turned over those memos to Mueller as part of his investigation, but on Sunday Trump dismissed the notion of either McCabe or Comey having anything incriminating, calling them "fake memos."

Spent very little time with Andrew McCabe, but he never took notes when he was with me. I don't believe he made memos except to help his own agenda, probably at a later date. Same with lying James Comey. Can we call them Fake Memos?Brexit 1) Criticisms abound as Commons Brexit Committee today recommends postponing departure if significant progress not made by October

The committee is split over its proposals  Observer

Rees-Mogg blasted them as a prospectus for the vassal state  Sun on Sunday

The Commons committee scrutinising Britains withdrawal from the European Union is engulfed in a row over a new report that a leading Conservative member claimed was intended to negate the referendum result and damage the Governments negotiating position amid crucial talks in Brussels. The report, published on Sunday by the Commons Brexit committee, recommends postponing Britains exit from the EU if substantial aspects of an agreement have not been ratified by October, as well as giving Parliament the power to extend the implementation period of a trade deal. The proposals were opposed by seven, mainly Leave-supporting, Conservative members of the committee but were passed with the support of three Tories who backed the Remain campaign during the referendum.  Sunday Telegraph

>Today: ToryDiary: Ministers are dicing with disaster if theyre not Ready on Day One for Brexit

Brexit 2) Fox: The global opportunities ahead of us

In reality, the UK has cutting-edge capabilities. We lead the world in art and culture, food and drink, finance and education.Last year we had 58,000 tech start-ups in the UK, a new tech business every hour. Digital technology has helped reduce many of the old barriers to trade and made the world more connected. You dont have to leave Basingstoke to sell your digital app to someone in Beijing. UK businesses have a huge amount to gain from this trend. The IMF predicts 90 per cent of global growth will be generated beyond the borders of Europe in the coming years. Much of this will come from Asian economies, where new markets are growing to match their new wealth. Trade between the UK and China is already at record levels, worth more than 59billion, while UK exports to China increased by over 25 per cent last year.  Sunday Express

Brexit 3) Group including Jones and Paterson write to Juncker criticising Brussels threats

Their letter has also been sent to Tusk and Barnier  Sun on Sunday

Brexit 4) War cabinet received damning new civil service report last week on Britains customs system

Just before the next round of negotiations, the Leave Means Leave group has written to EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and other Brussels bigwigs telling them no amount of threats, scaremongering and bullying will make Britain reverse the referendum result. It states: Far from regretting our decision, as you have said, increasingly the British public is looking forward to the day when we regain the freedom fully to govern ourselves. In the open letter, signed by Brexit Minister David Jones and Tory MP Owen Patterson among others, Brussels is urged to agree a new deep and special partnership  or face the consequences.  Sunday Express

Britains customs system will not be ready in time for the start of its new relationship with the European Union at the end of 2020, according to a damning report presented in secret to senior cabinet ministers last week. The readiness assessment, drawn up by senior civil servants, was given to Theresa Mays Brexit war cabinet on Tuesday afternoon. But ministers did not get a chance to study it properly before the meeting was cut short by a Commons vote. The cabinet was told it would have to sign up in Brussels this week to a transition phase lasting 21 months from the date of Brexit next March, with a new trade deal kicking in at the end of December 2020. David Davis, the Brexit secretary, announced on Thursday that Britain would accept the EUs target date of March 29, 2019.  The Sunday Times

More Brexit

Dont forget Gibraltar, Spain warns  Sunday Telegraph

And Ireland, say EU sources  Observer

And the planes, suggests OLeary  Sunday Express

May 1) She announces new measures against irresponsible executives

Bosses to face prosecution or fines for risking workers pensions  Observer

May 2) She speaks of her personal dependence on the NHS

Bosses who gamble with their staffs pension schemes will face prison sentences of up to two years under plans to criminalise their unscrupulous business practices.  Announcing the proposals, Mrs May said it was absolutely vital that people who worked hard and contributed to society throughout their career should have confidence that their pension would be secure in retirement. I am committed to making sure our economy works for everyone  backing businesses to create good jobs but stepping in to make sure they play by the rules, she continued.  Sunday Telegraph

Theresa May has told how she relies on the NHS every day because of her diabetes as she defended her record on public services. The Prime Minister admitted that some people question the Conservative Partys motives on health and schools but insisted Tories care deeply about the state sector. Mrs May said when Brexit is done she wanted the Conservatives to lead the country into the next decade and beyond. Addressing grassroots supporters in central London, the PM made an unusually personal speech that reflected on her school years as well as her reliance on the health service.  Sunday Telegraph

And talks of Tory commitment to the national interest  Sunday Express

And says womens refuge centres will stay open  Sun on Sunday

>Yesterday: MPsEtc: If something is in the national interest, it is always in the Conservative interest. Mays speech to Spring Forum  full text

Russia 1) Johnson attempting to get support of EU foreign ministers over Skripal poisonings

Russia 2) Williamson reprimanded by No 10 for outspoken comments

Boris Johnson is seeking to cement the support of foreign ministers of the 27 other EU member states on the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal at a meeting to be held on Monday in Brussels, as the UK tries to rally more international support behind its tough stance against Moscow. Senior government insiders say ministers hope that the Foreign Affairs Council would, as a minimum, issue a joint statement condemning the attack and hold initial discussions on possible further moves that could be taken at an EU level. Since 2014 the EU has imposed a series of economic sanctions and other measures against Russia, including asset freezes and travel restrictions, over its illegal occupation of Crimea and destabilisation of Ukraine. Foreign Office sources said that it was too early to say if further EU action could be taken as a result of the Salisbury attack.  Observer

 Senior sources said that when the defence secretary submitted the text of his speech condemning Moscow and Vladimir Putin, it also raised the heart rates of Theresa Mays team because he appeared to be declaring war on Russia. Williamsons outspoken style created such a headache for the prime ministers team that a senior Downing Street official called colleagues in another department and denounced the defence secretary for being childish and unhelpful at a time when the government was trying to calibrate its response to Moscows aggression. He indicated that No 10 would issue Williamson with a slap on the wrist. Williamsons aides deny the reprimand was issued.  The Sunday Times

Ministers are planning new sanctions  Sunday Telegraph

Including targeting money-launderers  Sun on Sunday

Energy firms, Sellafield, hospitals, and Whitehall told to prepare as fears grow about potential Russian cyber attacks  The Sunday Times

SNP claims Sturgeon faces online attacks from Kremlin  Herald

Meanwhile, Putin votes in Russian election  Belfast Telegraph

Russia 3) Davey: Conservative Party has been torn between national security and potential investment

Vladimir Putins ambitions have been evident for some time, but the Conservatives position has long been incoherent and inconsistent. During the coalition years, the Conservatives seemed torn between the national security evidence of the countrys wrongdoings and the billions of roubles it had to invest. Russian industrial investment plans would never have stood up to the sort of detailed scrutiny we gave to Chinese ones.  I also felt I was given less than full support from No 10 or Theresa Mays Home Office as I fought to stop Russian investment in strategic North Sea oil and gas assets.  The Sunday Times

Editorials:

Mays response has defined her leadership  The Sunday Times

Putin has form  Observer

Milne has work to do  Sun on Sunday

>Today: Chris Whitehouse in Comment: The BBC needs to welcome and respond to scrutiny

A new initiative led by Northern Conservative MPs will focus on social and economic liberalism

A group of Rust Belt Tory MPs who won their seats in Labour heartlands are to launch a campaign this week telling Theresa May how to appeal to young voters. The Freer campaign, which is backed by the cabinet minister Liz Truss, will argue that millennials are not as left-wing as they are portrayed. The MPs will say the generation believes in personal freedom and can be won over if the Conservatives offer them social freedoms as well as economic liberalism. The group will be run by Lee Rowley and Luke Graham, both state-educated MPs in their thirties, who represent working-class seats in Derbyshire and Perthshire.  Future papers planned by the group include one on freedom of expression by the rising star Kemi Badenoch and another on the nanny state by Simon Clarke.  The Sunday Times

Meanwhile, cross-party MPs have been discussing a pro-European Start Again party  The Sunday Times

More Conservatives

Partys membership grows  Sunday Telegraph

Consultancy hired by Bercow simplifies portcullis logo  The Sunday Times

More claims of bullying made about the Speaker  The Sunday Times

A year on, Ellwood talks of the Westminster attack  The Sunday Times

And Labour

North-London Labour councillors speak out about Momentums institutional anti-semitism  The Sunday Times

Hutton: Why was Hammonds budget speech so tiggerish?

Clarke and Penrose claim debt figures are over-optimistic  Sunday Telegraph

Britain has just endured the worst economic decade of modern times, and official forecasts for the next five years, offered in the spring budget, predict more of the same. Yet Philip Hammond, the chancellor, began his otherwise low-key budget speech declaring he was feeling Tiggerish. There was light at the end of the tunnel, he said, with day-to-day spending now balanced and the national debt set to fall in three years time. The government would meet its self-imposed fiscal mandate. If the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) remained upbeat in the autumn  you never know  he might be able to allow some extra public spending, building on the concessions he was already making. Hurrah! At any other time, Hammonds statement would be regarded as an extraordinary admission of defeat  Observer

More government

MPs back child refugee bill  Observer

Committee to block alcohol sales crackdown  Sun on Sunday

>Yesterday: Roy Galley in Comment: Failing to invest in good religious education now will cost us later

News in Brief*Pecans and chocolate* are a true marriage made in heaven! I've posted recipes for *Chocolate Pecan Sandies*, definitely a *pecan cookie*, but I thought I...

17 hours agoLike many celebrities before her  including her soon-to-be sister in law  Meghan Markle has fallen victim to a nude photo scandal.

According to The Blast, the site responsible for a slew of celebrity nude photo hacks, Celeb Jihad, is claiming to have released a few topless photos of the 37-year-old. They call the images a "preview" of many images allegedly to come.BRIDGEPORT  Mayday, mayday, mayday, firefighter Justin Fontan said over his fire dispatch radio. Trapped on the second floor, running out of air.

On his hands and knees, in full gear and wearing his mask and air tank, Fontan radioed for assistance to the dispatcher, fellow firefighters, a lieutenant and his battalion chief.

But there was no fear in his voice as he spoke, no tremble in his hand as he reached for his radio, positioned on his chest near his heart. He pushed the man down, or mayday, button with ease.

This time, it was just a drill  one that Fontan and all other Bridgeport firefighters are used to, practicing it every day.

During the drill, Fontan is on the floor of fire headquarters and those in charge are just feet away. When it happens in the field, this isnt the case.

We practice it so often so the day that it does (really) happen, its calm, said Deputy Fire Chief Ronald Rolfe as he watched over the drill on a recent Friday afternoon.

From tragedy, training

Rolfe said the drill simulates what would be the worst day of a firefighters life: getting pinned, trapped, disoriented or otherwise incapacitated while responding to a fire.

The drills started in 2011, Rolfe said, after two Bridgeport firefighters died on the job in 2010 when their mayday calls went unanswered. Rolfe said the department realized it needed to revisit and revise its policies and training.

When the department started the daily practices, Capt. Nick Esposito said, it was one of very few in the region that did them. But now, he said, more departments  like Stratfords  have started their own drills, mirroring the ones practiced in Bridgeport.

When Bridgeport firefighters started the mayday drills, it was strict, script-based training, Rolfe said. Soon after, he said, the department introduced masks and gear to make the drill feel and sound more realistic.

Something firefighters have drilled into their heads during the training is that things will get worse before they get better, so the sooner they alert others to an issue, the better.

We hope the muscle memory from the training would allow them to work through the stress in the actual situation, Rolfe said. The first time theyre going through these actions, it just cant be on the day it happens on a call. They need to know what to do  everyone involved needs to know.

Importance of communication

As Fontan continued the drill, he consistently updated his battalion chief of his location, his condition, his air supply levels and additional pertinent information.

The battalion chief is the only one who remains in contact with the firefighter after they active the mayday button. While thats happening, a lieutenant will be in communications with the dispatcher at the communications center.

At a certain point, the firefighter and battalion chief will decide when its appropriate for the firefighter to activate a PASS (personal alert safety system) device, which lets out a loud noise, that sounds similar to a smoke alarm.

The noise alerts the other firefighters and those sent in for a rescue, said Lt. John Mazza. He said that while in an operating fire, the Rapid Intervention Team is trained to follow and find that piercing sound.

While responding at the scene, the RIT will additional rescue resources, most importantly an additional air supply, said Lt. Jeffery Gdovin.

The more time that goes by, the more air they run out of, Gdovin said.

Practice makes perfect

Mayday practice is one of many drills in the arsenal of firefighters, Rolfe said. They practice these real-life possible situations as frequently as possible, he said.

When our firefighters are in duress, their training goes from the floor (of the fire house) to the real-life situation, Rolfe said.

The practice  the muscle memory  of training, Gdovin said, should help firefighters feel relief, knowing there are people working to rescue them if theyre trapped or in a situation where they need to active their mayday button.

This training is taught in the academy, but its good to keep doing it, Gdovin said. The more we do it, the better off we are.STAMFORD  Police say a clerk at a mini mart, known to Darien juveniles as an easy place to score alcohol, has been accused of selling booze to minors.

Rakesh Ch, 28, of West Haven, was charged with seven counts of sale of alcohol to a minor.

Lt. Thomas Scanlan drove past the Hope Street Mini Mart and saw several young boys inside the store and appeared to be purchasing alcohol about 7:15 p.m. Friday, Capt. Diedrich Hohn said.

Scanlan followed three of the youths into the parking lot behind the store and detained them, Hohn said. He found that all three were under the age of 18. As he had those three detained, Hohn said, an additional three youths showed up in the back parking lot. The lieutenant was able to detain them and discovered they were also under the age of 18.

Hohn said all six youths identified Ch as the clerk who sold them the alcohol. Hohn said it was determined that Ch only asked for one ID.

Ch relayed that one of the youths had an ID, Hohn said.

That juvenile was identified as a 16-year-old in possession of a fraudulent Connecticut drivers license. He was arrested and charged with second-degree forgery. Police released him into the custody of his parents.

The five other juveniles were released into their parents custody.

While the officers were conducting the investigation, several other cars with youths from Darien attempted to pull into the lot to purchase alcohol, Hohn said.

He said officers spoke to the juveniles who showed up after the arrest and they told police this establishment was well-known to Darien youths as an easy spot to buy alcohol because they do not ask for identification.

Hohn said the stores owner was called and the State Liquor Commission was notified.

This type of behavior by the stores clerk and owner is very reckless and puts the youths and community at risk, Hohn said.

Ch is scheduled to appear in court on April 4.St. Vincents Medical Center surgeons, therapists and nurses will conduct a free seminar about options for knee and hip replacement at 6 p.m. on April 10 at St. Vincents Health & Wellness Center, 3272 Main St., Stratford. Guests will learn about the range of options available to them, including non-surgical and surgical options for knee and hip pain.

To register, visit https://www.stvincents.org/Community-Wellness/Events-Classes/Ortho-Seminaror call 475-210-5409.Mike Handler claims hes fixed one financial crisis caused by Dannel P. Malloy and is, therefore, perfectly positioned to do it again.

Its a line that sounds great  especially in a crowded field of GOP candidates vying for the governors office in a race centered on the states downtrodden economy  and one hes trotted out on more than one occasion. Its essentially the basis for his entire campaign.

Ive just spent that past six years cleaning up the very same mess in the city of Stamford, he said during his closing remarks in a GOP debate last month. The exact same mess created by the exact same team up in Hartford today. I have cleaned up after Dan Malloy in Stamford, and I will do it again as your next governor.

Theres no question about Handlers claim that Stamfords position is stronger today, especially when it comes to cash reserves and pension funding, than it was in 2009, when Malloy ended 14 years as mayor to run for governor.

But Handlers salvation claim is not entirely accurate, according to those who have followed Malloys trajectory and understand Stamfords financial history.

In 2009, as now, Stamford was in far better position than any other Top 6 Connecticut city, and the foundations of the citys success  proximity to New York, smart redevelopment and a tax base with a vast middle class  transcend financial and political leadership.

Im not sure people would think Dan Malloy left a mess in Stamford, said Joe McGee, vice president of public policy and programs for the Business Council of Fairfield County. I dont think anyone here would say that. I think Mike is going too far ... he has a record I think he can be proud of. I think, though, theres an element of campaign rhetoric at work here.

Certainly Handler, who has never before run for elected office, has been an asset to the city, said Stamford Mayor David Martin.

Handler, 47, lives in New Canaan and was hired in 2012 under Stamford Republican mayor Michael Pavia. He was kept on by Martin, a Democrat. During his tenure in Stamford, he said the city has quadrupled its cash reserves, funded the annual required contributions toward pensions and health benefits for retired city employees, sold Smith House  the city-owned nursing home that was losing $6 million a year  to a private operator, negotiated contracts that won concessions from labor unions and funded a new police headquarters and school building.

And, under his leadership, the long-troubled Water Pollution Control Authority is functioning properly and has a stable budget with reserves on hand.

All of the problems the city faced were self inflicted, Handler said. They were all geared for some political goal. My job as CFO is to be honest and to be a protector of the long-term health of the city. I truly believe in conservative fiscal practices and being responsible.

But in 2009, when Malloy departed, it was the height of the recession and Stamford still had a AAA bond rating, fully funded pensions and substantial reserves.

Dan Malloy left a legacy of demonstrable success in Stamford, and went on to become governor of Connecticut, said Leigh Appleby, a spokesman for Malloy. When all is said and done, we dont think either of those things will be true for Mr. Handler.

Thats not to say Stamfords fiscal health was perfect, Martin said, but the problems the city faced are the same ones municipalities across the state and country have dealt with since the recession. Theyd been building since long before Malloy took office in 1995, he said, and only worsened under the administration that followed him. In other words, pinning Stamfords financial troubles on Malloys staff alone is a stretch, he said.

More Information Stamford pension funding 2010 - 97 percent 2011 - 93 percent 2012 - 92 percent 2013 - 88 percent 2014 - 84 percent 2015 - 80 percent 2016 - 75 percent 2017 - 77 percent See More Collapse

Handler argues there were cracks in the citys financial foundation  from the way the city made its debt service payments to assuming too high a rate of return on pension plans with too many benefits  and he attributed them to Malloy and Ben Barnes, who was the director of operations under Malloy in Stamford, and is now Malloys budget and policy chief.

Once funded at 107 percent, the citys pension plans were 97 percent funded in 2009 after the market crash and have continued to drop, a trend the citys actuary, Hooker & Holcombe, attributes to interest assumptions that were too high and to poor market returns.

On the surface it looked great, Handler said. But you can always play financial games to make right now feel really good at the expense of tomorrow, and thats what was happening.

Stamfords bond rating was downgraded by Moodys from AAA to AA1 in 2010, with the ratings agency citing low reserves and long-term pension and post-retirement benefit liabilities.

But the city wasnt exactly teetering on a fiscal cliff doomed to plummet at any moment, and Handler wasnt the one to spot the cliff in the distance, Martin said.

No we were not in freefall, but we were headed for bankruptcy many years down the road, Martin said. The Titanic was headed toward that iceberg and thats what we were. We were headed toward the iceberg. The iceberg is still off in the distance, nobody even sees the iceberg. We installed radar and we can now see the iceberg because we have changed directions.

Radar, though, did not come with Handlers appointment. It was a complex process of restructuring, refinancing and negotiating bonds, pensions and contracts that Handler assisted with. The responsibility ultimately fell on the mayor, and it was up to him to keep in place a staff that supported his vision for Stamfords financial future. A staff that included Handler.

Last year a different agency, Fitch Ratings, evaluated Stamford for the first time and gave the city a AAA score, citing the citys steady revenue growth, prudent fiscal policies and conservative budgeting practices that have resulted in historically sound operating results. Fitch Ratings is majority owned by the Hearst Corporation.

I picked Mike Handler because Mike Handler could see it just like I could see it, Martin said. It isnt that Mike saw it and then told me about it. I saw the iceberg and then picked Mike Handler because I knew he could see it too, and thats important.I wont lie to you. I was feeling punchy after working two long days covering the unbelievably sad events at the Vets Home a week ago.

That insomnia I wrote about in my last column? It roared back as I pondered just what kind of world was I living in. And why couldnt the Napa Valley be a place apart from American mayhem?

Knowing of my stressed situation, my daughter Jenny half expected me to cancel our planned outing last Sunday to see the Wayne Thiebaud exhibit at UC Davis Manetti Shrem Museum.

Not a chance, Jen. Thiebauds paintings of pies and cakes, gumball machines and confections of all sort are just what I need right now. If anything is the antidote to my morbid news world, its Thiebaud.

When we met for breakfast in downtown Davis, Jenny confessed that shed been a wreck since the news of the three Pathway Home killings, plus the loss of the unborn child.

Shed been following the seven-hour standoff with police while at work in Sacramento. Shed texted me that Friday afternoon for updates. When I eventually texted back  all are dead  Jenny said she lost it.

So there we were, about to launch our day of pleasure, dabbing at our eyes as we related one terrible detail after another.On March 13, in just 30 minutes, the Lok Sabha marked its stamp on the expenditure of 99 ministries and departments, passed two bills, including the Finance Bill, and approved 218 amendments without any debate.

This is the height of the undermining of Parliament's authority over economic and financial decisions. However, this is not the first instance of such a practice.

Over the last decade, the control of Parliament and Assemblies over government finances has decreased significantly owing to changes in the structure of government expenditure and revenues.

Parliament didn't take much time in following state assemblies' when it comes to approving financial business taking it to the guillotine without giving a fair chance to people's representatives to raise questions and demand answers on government's fiscal policy.

In both, parliamentary and presidential democracies, the economic and financial functioning is regulated by people's representatives through Parliament and Assemblies.

The legislature's fiscal power is the cornerstone of constitutional democracy. The rules of Parliament and Assemblies regarding regulation of governments' financial businesses are based on two principles: one, no taxation without representation and, two, people's control over government's purse. That is why governments in India (Centre and states) can neither impose any tax without the consent of the House, nor are they free to spend.

In India, no government can spend from the consolidated fund without Parliament's approval. Even the expenditure from the contingency fund is capped at Rs 500 crore. The size of this fund was increased to Rs 500 crore from Rs 50 crore in 2005.

The government cannot levy any tax without the assent of legislative assemblies. The system of parliamentary regulation on taxes and government's purse comes into force via an elaborate arrangement of legislative bills, parliamentary committees and audit agencies.

The GST saga

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) has come as a prime example of departure of Parliaments' (state assemblies) control over taxation. Before GST, indirect taxes used to be a part of the Finance Bill, which were thoroughly debated and approved by Parliament once a year during the Budget session. The government was not in a position to change the taxes every now and then, making tax structures predictable and transparent.

With the GST, people's elected representatives abdicated their authority over most kinds of indirect taxation handing over the task to the GST Council, an opaque and so far non-transparent body of about two dozen ministers of states assisted by bureaucrats.

The GST Council is no Parliament. Now, the entire domain of tax on consumption is wholly outside the control of legislative bodies. Here, two dozen ministers sit together to change tax rates every month.

The questions the nation must pose to its lawmakers are how does the GST Council do justice with principle of no taxation without representation? Why are GST Council's discussions not being made public? What will be the role of Parliament and the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) under the GST regime?

The government is ready with the first amendments to the GST Bill having faced a disaster in its implementation. Will major amendments in the GST Bill meet the same fate as the Finance Bill? Won't Parliament question and discuss what has happened with India's second-freedom-at-midnight moment?

Public purse

Reckless expenditure has ensured that revenues never suffice leading to a heavy dependence on borrowing from the banks. The growing dependence on market borrowings has bloated the bill of interest payments, which now accounts for 18 per cent of budgetary expenditure.

There are certain items of expenditure where Parliament's approval is not needed. These are "charged" directly from the consolidated fund of India. The biggest component of expenditure is interest paid by the government on its debt.

Grants given to state governments, panchayati raj institutions and other agencies comprise 28 per cent of expenditure. Several recent reports of the CAG show that Parliament doesn't vote on almost 20 per cent of the expenditure made on these grants.

Thus about 38 per cent (interest and grant) of the government expenditure effectively stays outside Parliament's control. The merger of rail budget in the general budget had no visible effect on Railways. However, Parliament lost direct control over railway budget as well. Railways' expenditure and revenue is also part of Union Budget, like other departments.

Over the last three years, the government has conveniently taken the Money Bill (limited to Lok Sabha) route for financial business to avoid goring through a test in the Rajya Sabha.

Subsequent to India's integration with global economy and liberalisation, Parliament's role should have grown in the interest of transparency in economic decisions. The government was expected to bring in international investment, trade and tax concession agreements for Parliament's scrutiny. However, we are going the other way round. When the role of Parliament in country's economic decisions is increasingly getting curtailed, one can very well guess what is happening in state Assemblies.

Vaclav Havel, former president of Czech Republic, dreaded that in parliamentary democracies people are manipulated in ways that are infinitely more subtle and refined than the brutal methods used in post-totalitarian societies.

Havel was right. In India, we have entered into an era where elected governments are encroaching upon fundamental values of parliamentary democracy.

Also read: 7th Pay Commission: What no one will tell youBlanca Delgado used to be one of those people who felt sorry for families who had children with special needs, but that was before she had her daughter, Alina, on Oct. 1, 2016 and before she got involved with ParentsCAN.

In the beginning it was hard because we didnt know, Delgado said. She didnt know Alina had Down syndrome until after she was born and, before that, really didnt know much about it. It didnt help that her doctors werent very supportive at first, saying that her daughter would never be able to live an independent life.

Delgado said it was tough to get out of bed thinking about what her daughters life would be like and, she said, thinking that her life was over because she would need to take care of her. But when she got connected to ParentsCAN they told her that those things werent true  that of course she was going to do good in life and that she was going to be able to do whatever she wanted to.

It doesnt matter if you have Down syndrome or not, were all capable of doing whatever we want, she said. Some things might take Alina more time, but shell get there. Shes doing what babies are supposed to do  she smiles, she plays, she cries.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. 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The company operates through the following segments: Annuities, Retirement Plan Services, Life Insurance, Group Protection, and Other Operations. The Annuities segment provides tax-deferred investment growth and lifetime income opportunities for its clients by offering fixed and variable annuities. The Retirement Plan Services segment includes employers with retirement plan products and services, primarily in the defined contribution retirement plan marketplaces. The Life Insurance segment focuses on the creation and protection of wealth for its clients by providing life insurance products, including term insurance, both single and survivorship versions of universal life insurance, variable universal life insurance, and indexed universal life insurance products. The Group Protection segment offers group non-medical insurance products, which includes term life, disability, dental, vision and accident and critical illness

Read MoreIn the month since a gunman killed 17 students and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida, the country has grappled with its relationship with guns.

There has been a sustained intensity as teenage survivors sparked an activist movement, demanding reform and calling for an assault-weapon ban. Students from thousands of schools across the country marched out of class Wednesday in solidarity. Under pressure, the Republican-controlled Florida legislature this month voted to increase the minimum age to buy a firearm to 21, among other changes - defying the National Rifle Association.

And public opinion is shifting. A Gallup poll released Wednesday found that 67 percent of adults say there should be "more strict" laws covering the sale of firearms, up seven points since October and 20 points since 2014. It's the highest level of support since 1993, the year before Congress banned assault weapons for a decade.

The Washington Post dispatched reporters across the country to talk with six Americans about assault weapons. In the Florida Panhandle, we met a veteran who fought in Iraq and says most people shouldn't have weapons of war. In Dallas, we talked with a police detective who has worked with assault weapons for years and said that maybe it is time for a ban.

And in the Las Vegas suburbs, we went to a shooting range with a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association, who said that it sends a shiver down his back whenever liberals talk about banning things.

Ladue, Missouri

Nearly a month ago, Sunny Lu first heard Emma Gonzalez's passionate, tear-filled speech begging lawmakers to make it more difficult for mass shooters to obtain weapons.

Lu, a 15-year-old sophomore at Ladue Horton Watkins High School in the St. Louis suburbs, has been repeatedly moved to tears as she listens to Gonzalez, who survived the Feb. 14 shooting and has quickly gained a devoted following.

"It was so inspiring seeing these students who were so articulate and who just represented our generation so well," Lu said Monday, after improv rehearsal and before a chemistry tutoring session.

Lu describes her parents, who immigrated to the United States from China for graduate school, as conservative and deeply religious. She said they usually vote for Republicans and supported President Donald Trump - a decision that she doesn't understand.

In eighth grade, Lu said, she suddenly saw the world differently than her parents. She realized that she supported abortion rights and was deeply bothered by the socioeconomic inequality in the St. Louis area. And she has been alarmed by the president's comments about immigrants, minorities and women.

As Lu listened to Gonzalez talk about the threat of gun violence, she wanted to get involved. Soon, she was meeting with students from other schools in the St. Louis area who felt the same way.

On Sunday evening, the group gathered for its third meeting to plan a walkout on April 20, the anniversary of the shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999 - before they were born.

The group hopes several hundred students will leave class and gather outside the office of Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, a Republican who is running for a Senate seat that may be key to the GOP's hopes of holding onto their majority.

The students plan to call for raising the age for buying an assault rifle to 21, closing loopholes that allow purchases without background checks at gun shows, not allowing those on the no-fly list to buy weapons, and outlawing bump stocks, the device that attaches to a semiautomatic weapon so that it will fire like a fully automatic one. Unlike the student activists in Florida, these Missouri students decided not to call for a ban on assault rifles.

"It's just too partisan to really actually implement. It wouldn't get any votes," Lu said. "A ban is theoretically a great idea, I think, but I just don't think there's any realistic way."

Dallas

During his 13 years on the Dallas Police Department's SWAT team, Larry Gordon carried an AR-15. He was comfortable with it. He liked it. He owns one personally.

It's similar to the AK-74 that was used by Micah Xavier Johnson, who went to a Black Lives Matter rally in July 2016 and killed five police officers. Gordon tried to negotiate with Johnson for hours, but police eventually killed him using a bomb-carrying robot.

People don't use assault weapons for hunting, Gordon said, and the weapons shouldn't be used for home defense, as a pistol is preferred for close-range situations. When someone buys a bunch of AR-15s, he said, that should be a red flag.

"They're too easy to get," said Gordon, who is in his 40s, has worked for the department for 23 years and is now a detective. "They're just too easily accessed with people that intend to do harm. It's a weapon of war."

Yet, Gordon said, people can't buy numerous boxes of Sudafed (a key ingredient in meth) or bags of fertilizer (a key ingredient in some homemade bombs) without being flagged.

"Try to put $10,000 in a bank, the bank notifies the Treasury Department," Gordon said. "Shouldn't there be a flag if you buy 15 assault rifles? It should be a flag. We have the technology to do this. What would somebody need that many guns for?"

So maybe it is time to once again ban assault weapons, Gordon said. Of course, he quickly added, law enforcement and members of the military would still have them and the government shouldn't take away guns that had already been purchased legally.

"I had kids that were afraid to go to school after Parkland. I like the weapon, but if the government wants to ban it, I'm for it because I'm not just thinking of me. I'm thinking of the people who can't go to the movies in Aurora, Colorado," after a gunman killed 12 people in 2012, Gordon said. "If they wanted to lower the speed limit to 50 miles per hour, because we've had a significant increase in traffic deaths, maybe I wouldn't be too happy about it, but I'd do it. That's what we do in America. We adjust."

- Reporting by Justin Glawe

Boulder City, Nevada

Despite what the media and gun-control activists say, Mike Laymon says assault rifles like the AR-15 have great utility and can be used for deer hunting and protecting your home from intruders. Although they look more imposing than a typical sporting rifle, he says, they function the same way.

"It's the same bullet, same caliber, same action, same everything. It just looks different," said Laymon, 61, a registered Republican who by day is the director of the School of Physical Therapy at Touro University Nevada and in his off time is a certified law enforcement armorer, which means he cleans and repairs police and military weaponry.

When a gunman opened fire at an outdoor country music concert on the Las Vegas Strip in October 2017, Laymon immediately worried that some of his students might be there. His second thought: "We're gonna get this barrage of stupidity."

After every mass shooting, he said, there's always a rush to ban things - and a rush of fear-driven misconceptions about guns that the media seems more than happy to circulate.

First off, he said, AR-15s and other such guns are not "evil."

"It's become a weapon of choice for people that do evil things. So the evil person, the evilness of the deed of the person, is being attributed to the firearm, which I think is inappropriate," Laymon said Wednesday night, during a visit to the Boulder Rifle and Pistol Club near Las Vegas. He owns about 100 guns and brought three along with him: two AR-15s, including one with a bump stock, and an M1 Garand, a World War II-era rifle that he says was a forerunner of today's AR-15.

Second, Laymon said, it's not true that gun owners are not open to "reasonable regulation." He would like to see new gun owners take a safety course and demonstrate proficiency - and he has no problem requiring additional training for those who want to handle bigger guns, such as an AR-15. Laymon says he even would reluctantly let go of his bump stocks.

"The NRA's position is anything that affects guns is negative, and they're not gonna to support that," said Laymon, a lifetime member of the group. "I'd like to take a little more practical approach. If it makes sense, then, yeah, I'm all for it."

- Reporting by Dan Michalski

Washington

For years, Curtis Kelly has tried to keep his children away from the gun violence that has inflicted their Washington neighborhood since he was a child.

He was trained to use semiautomatic weapons while in the Army but has never had a desire to own a gun. Instead, Kelly got his family involved with combating gun violence through a nonprofit started by his cousin, who survived a shooting years ago.

It seemed like it was working. Two of his six children - twins and seniors at Thurgood Marshall Academy - had excelled in track and were both planning to attend college.

Then, on Sept. 20, 16-year-old Zaire Kelly was walking home from school when he was robbed and fatally shot in the head.

"It's hard sometimes," said Kelly, 45, who runs a company that designs and installs fire sprinklers. "Sometimes you feel beaten. You want to sit alone and pray. You can't sit in a stupor and wallow in your sorrow. My kids need strength. My family needs strength."

A few weeks ago, Kelly was invited to the White House for a listening session on school violence with Trump. Although the conversation focused on assault weapons and mass shootings at schools in suburban communities, Kelly said it was "very thoughtful" for the president to include Washington families who regularly face violence in their communities.

Toward the end of the session, Kelly stood and shared his son's story. He said students need to be protected not just on school grounds but also in their neighborhoods. He said that he's pushing local politicians to pass legislation to make streets safer.

Kelly didn't weigh in on increasing the age at which people can buy assault weapons or arming some teachers. Instead, he simply asked for help.

"The students are crying," Kelly said. "The same incidents keep happening - not just in our schools, in our communities, as well - to upstanding citizens, to those . . . doing the right thing."

Trump thanked Kelly for sharing his son's story, calling it "incredible, very sad."

Overall, Kelly favors having fewer guns in his community, and he wants use of assault weapons - he calls them "weapons of mass destruction" - limited to professionals. Kelly said he feels like the narrative on gun violence is finally changing after the mass shooting in Florida.

"We've been experiencing this for so long," he said, "and sometimes it just takes something like that, the straw that breaks the camel's back, to really bring about change."

- Reporting by Debra Bruno

Spokane, Washington

Growing up in eastern Washington, guns were always a part of Jessa Lewis's life. She was taught by her parents, both park rangers, to respect and fear the rifles and shotguns the family used for hunting. She learned marksmanship at a 4-H Club and was 11 when she shot her first doe.

"If you're a good shot, this is cruelty-free, free-range, low-carbon, hormone-free food," said Lewis, a 37-year-old community organizer in Spokane who was a delegate for Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., at the Democratic National Convention in 2016 and is seeking a seat in her state senate. "It's literally in line with our values."

Lewis owns a rifle and a shotgun, and she has a concealed carry permit for a Glock 17 handgun, although it's so bulky that she rarely carries it with her. She has never belonged to the NRA.

It bothers her that the gun-control debate is largely driven by those who have never handled a weapon, while many gun owners refuse to engage in any discussion about restrictions.

"Unless you have experience or understanding, it's hard to effectively regulate it," she said. "In this hyper-polarized political landscape, if it doesn't fit in with the narrative, then it's not something people talk about."

But something does have to change, she said, and she would like to see reforms that mandate gun-safety training and close loopholes. While she's not ready to call for a ban in assault weapons until the issue has been fully studied and discussed, she doesn't understand why anyone needs to own what she calls a "weapon of war."

She worries about her 16-year-old daughter, Olive, and a generation that has become much too accustomed to mass shootings. When Lewis was a freshman in high school in 1996, there was a shooting at a middle school about 100 miles from where she lived. A 14-year-old armed with a hunting rifle and two handguns killed his algebra teacher and two students.

She was shocked. She hadn't even imagined that these weapons could be used like that by someone her age.

Then came shootings at Columbine High School in 1999, Virginia Tech in 2007, Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 and many others. Last fall, a 15-year-old student at a high school in the Spokane suburbs showed up with an AR-15. When the weapon jammed, he used a handgun to kill a fellow student, police said.

Lewis can't help but compare her daughter's reaction to that shooting with hers from two decades earlier.

"For me, it was such a shock. For her it was just another shooting," Lewis said. "They've become numbed."

- Reporting by Lornet Turnbull

Pensacola, Florida

When Chris Meyer enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2004, he was a "staunch young Republican" who had voted for George W. Bush and supported the war on terror. He was trained to shoot just about every weapon in the Army's arsenal, and his main arm was an M4 carbine, which the AR-15 is similar to.

"I felt really patriotic at the time," he said.

In 2006, Meyer deployed to Iraq for a year, during which he did 350 combat patrols. He left the Army after seven years and purchased a handgun. But his post-traumatic stress disorder gave him a heightened awareness of his surroundings, and he felt like he couldn't relax while carrying the gun. Soon, he sold it.

Meyer, the father of a 2-year-old girl and 1-year-old boy, cried after Parkland as he thought about the pain of losing a child. He has cheered on the students who are pushing lawmakers to change the laws.

Meyer supports what he calls "common sense" gun control measures, including many of the provisions contained in the legislation recently signed into law by Florida Gov. Rick Scott, R, that is now being challenged by the NRA. And he supports a statewide ban on the sale and transfer of semiautomatic weapons.

"My feeling is that there's really no purpose in today's society for a weapon with any more than 20 rounds or that can fire semiautomatic with that caliber of bullet," said Meyer, 41, on Wednesday evening as he sat in his office at Cokesbury United Methodist, where his wife is the associate pastor and he is the communications director. "A weapon like that should be reserved for military and police. They serve no place in a civil society."

Meyer has changed his party registration from Republican to independent. He was an early supporter of Sanders and voted for Hillary Clinton in the general election because he didn't think Trump was qualified to be president. He does not consider himself a Democrat or a liberal, as many of his other beliefs fall center-right.

"A lot of my conservative friends who I know from the military don't understand how I feel," Meyer said. "They kind of think I've sold out to some sort of liberal brainwash. They question my patriotism at times - just because I think there should be rules and regulations as to who should have and who should not have an AR-15 in the streets of America."

- Reporting by T.S. Strickland

The Post's Scott Clement and Emily Guskin contributed to this report.13 Wall Street analysts have issued "buy," "hold," and "sell" ratings for Munchener Ruckvers in the last year. There are currently 1 sell rating, 5 hold ratings and 7 buy ratings for the stock. The consensus among Wall Street analysts is that investors should "hold" Munchener Ruckvers stock. A hold rating indicates that analysts believe investors should maintain any existing positions they have in MEURV, but not buy additional shares or sell existing shares.

View analyst ratings for Munchener Ruckvers or view top-rated stocks.Premium Brands Holdings Corporation, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and distributes food products primarily in Canada and the United States. It operates in two segments, Specialty Foods and Premium Food Distribution. The company provides meat products and snacks, deli products, beef jerky and halal, sandwiches, pastries, specialty and gourmet products, salads and kettle products, entrees, panini, wraps, subs, hamburgers, burgers, muffins, breads, pastas, and baking and sushi products, as well as processed meat products. It is also involved in the distribution of food products, including meat, seafood, and halal food products, as well as operation of retail/convenience store and concessionary, and provision of food and seafood processing services. The company operates under the brand names of Harvest Meats, Hempler's, Grimm's Fine Foods, Piller's, Freybe, Isernio's, Expresco, SJ Fine Foods, McSweeney's, Made Rite, Fletcher's, Deli Chef, Belmont Meats, Conte Foods, SK Food Group, Oven Pride, Hygaard, Quality Fast Foods, HQ Fine Foods, Creekside Custom Foods, Stuyver's Bread, Bread Garden Express, Audrey's Patisserie, Duso's, Gourmet Chef, Island City Baking, Skilcor, Leadbetter's, Mclean Meats, Buddy's Kitchen, Raybern's, Partner's Crackers, Shaw Bakers, Oberto, Concord Meats, Country Prime Meats, The Meat Factory, and Golden Valley Farms. It serves chains and large format retailers, independent and specialty retailers, foodservice operators, foodservice distributors, and other food manufacturers and food brokers. The company was founded in 1917 and is headquartered in Richmond, Canada.

Read MoreFedEx Corp. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of a portfolio of transportation, e-commerce, and business services. It operates through the following segments: FedEx Express, FedEx Ground, FedEx Freight, FedEx Services, and Corporate, Other & Eliminations. The FedEx Express segment consists of domestic and international shipping services for delivery of packages and freight. The FedEx Ground segment focuses on small-package ground delivery services. The FedEx Freight segment offers less-than-truckload freight services across all lengths of haul. The FedEx Services segment provides sales, marketing, information technology, communications, customer service, technical support, billing and collection services, and certain back-office functions. The Corporate, Other & Eliminations segment includes corporate headquarters costs for executive officers and certain legal and finance functions, as well as certain other costs and credits not attributed to the firm's core business. The company was founded by Frederick Wallace Smith on June 18, 1971 and is headquartered in Memphis, TN.

Read MorePetrus Resources Ltd., an energy company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and exploitation of oil and gas development assets in western Canada. It primarily explores for natural gas, natural gas liquids, and crude oil and condensate. The company primarily holds an average 51% working interest in the Ferrier/Strachan area comprise 43,159 net acres, which include 29,219 net acres of undeveloped and 13,940 net acres of developed land located in west central Alberta near the town of Rocky Mountain House, Alberta. It also has an average of 64% working interest in the Thorsby/Pembina area consisting of 69,042 net acres of land covering 22,135 net acres of undeveloped land and 46,907 net acres of developed land located in the southwest of Edmonton, Alberta; and an average of 50% working interest in the Foothills area that consists of 30,748 net acres of undeveloped land and 6,687 net acres of developed land located northwest of Rocky Mountain House, Alberta. Petrus Resources Ltd. is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

Read MorePotash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. (PCS) is a fertilizer producer producing a range of primary crop nutrients, such as potash, nitrogen and phosphate. The Company operates through three segments: potash, nitrogen and phosphate. As of December 31, 2016, it owned and operated five potash operations in Saskatchewan and owned one in New Brunswick. Its nitrogen operations involve the production of nitrogen fertilizers and nitrogen feed and industrial products, including ammonia, urea, nitrogen solutions, ammonium nitrate and nitric acid. It has nitrogen facilities in Georgia, Louisiana, Ohio and Trinidad. Its phosphate operations include the manufacture and sale of solid and liquid phosphate fertilizers, phosphate feed and industrial acid, which is used in food products and industrial processes. It has phosphate mines and mineral processing plant complexes in Florida and North Carolina. As of December 31, 2016, the Company had four phosphate feed plants in the United States.

Read MoreRotary member Gary Rose, who has been active in organizing the ride and spent considerable time with the Pathway Home residents and staff, said he hopes this awful event doesnt eclipse all the great work that the organization has done for veterans over the years. He said he has been receiving messages from former patients, expressing their anguish at the shootings and testifying to the profound positive effect the program has had on their lives.

The Pathway Home lifted my family out of an abyss  This place gave us our hope back, the wife of one graduate told him. Years later, even though the staff has changed and their program focus is slightly different, its still home.

As another graduate told him, I gotta remind myself the weak stay down and no matter whatever type of evil knocks us down we gotta continue to stand up and keep fighting for those weve lost along the way. Gone but never forgotten!

We commend all those who have supported the Pathway Home over the years, and we applaud the great work that the staff and board of the organization have done. We hope the Pathway Home can rise again in some form, but if not, we know that the commitment of our veteran-focused community remains undiminished.

We urge all of you to continue to support the Cycle for Sight  Rotary Ride for Veterans and other fundraisers to help veteran-oriented programs. We hope to see you on April 21 at the ride to help remember those who we have lost and to remind those who remain of our commitment to the future.

The Napa Valley Register Editorial Board consists of Publisher Brenda Speth, Editor Sean Scully, and public members Cindy Webber, Ed Shenk, Mary Jean Mclaughlin and Chris Hammaker.The Toronto-Dominion Bank, together with its subsidiaries, provides various personal and commercial banking products and services in Canada and the United States. It operates through three segments: Canadian Retail, U.S. Retail, and Wholesale Banking. The company offers personal deposits, such as chequing, savings, and investment products; financing, investment, cash management, international trade, and day-to-day banking services to businesses; and financing options to customers at point of sale for automotive and recreational vehicle purchases through auto dealer network. It also provides credit cards; real estate secured lending; auto finance; consumer lending; point-of-sale payment solutions for large and small businesses; wealth and asset management products, private banking, investment advisory, and trust services to retail and institutional clients; and property and casualty insurance, as well as life and health insurance products. The company also provides capital markets, and corporate and investment banking services, including underwriting and distribution of new debt and equity issues; advice on strategic acquisitions and divestitures; and trading, funding, and investment services to companies, governments, and institutions. It offers its products and services under the TD Bank and America's Most Convenient Bank brand names. The company operates through a network of 1,085 branches, 3,440 automated teller machines, and 1,223 stores, as well as offers telephone, digital, and mobile banking services. The Toronto-Dominion Bank was founded in 1855 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

Read MoreFBL Financial Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, sells individual life insurance and annuity products. The Annuity segment sells various traditional annuity products that primarily consist of fixed rate and indexed annuities, and supplementary contracts. The Life Insurance segment offers whole life, term life, and universal life policies. It also involved in the property-casualty business; and provision of wealth management, investment advisory, and marketing and distribution services for the sale of mutual funds and insurance products, as well as leasing services. The company markets its products to Farm Bureau members, and other individuals and businesses through exclusive agents and agency managers under the consumer brand name of Farm Bureau Financial Services in the Midwestern and Western sections of the United States. The company was founded in 1945 and is headquartered in West Des Moines, Iowa.

Read MoreUSG Corporation, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells building materials worldwide. The company's Gypsum division manufactures and markets gypsum and related products to construct walls and ceilings of residential, nonresidential, and institutional buildings; and agricultural and industrial customers. This segment offers gypsum wallboards and compound portfolios, as well as corner beads, joint tapes, and plasters under the USG Sheetrock brand; glass mat sheathing portfolios under the Securock brand; construction plaster products under the Red Top, Imperial, Diamond, and Supremo brands; and lightweight gypsum panels under the USG Sheetrock brand, as well as ultralight panels, USG Sheetrock brand ecosmart panels, and industrial gypsum. Its Performance Materials division manufactures and markets products for interior and exterior building applications of residential and nonresidential buildings, as well as industrial applications. This segment provides cement boards, backer boards, shower systems, performance floorings, air barrier systems, roof board portfolios, and structural panels under the USG Durock, Fiberock, Levelrock, Securock, ExoAir, Securock, and USG brands. The company's Ceilings division manufactures and markets ceiling tiles under the Radar, Eclipse, Mars, and Halcyon brands; ceiling grids under the Donn, DX, Fineline, Centricitee, and Identitee DXI brands; specialty ceilings under the Curvatura, Compasso, Radians, Illusions, Multiples, Runways, Barz, Planx, Mirra, Corniche, Wallforms, and Parti brands; and acoustical drywall ceilings under the Ensemble brand. Its USG Boral Building Products division manufactures, distributes, and sells building products, mines raw gypsum, and sells natural and synthetic gypsum under the USG Boral Sheetrock, USG Boral NextGen, Elephant, Jayaboard, Durock, and Donn DX brands. The company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

Read MoreAmerican Water Works Co., Inc. engages in the provision of complementary water and wastewater services. It operates through the following segments: Regulated Businesses; Market-Based Businesses; and Other. The Regulated Businesses segment provides water and wastewater services to customers. The Market-Based Businesses segment is responsible for Military Services Group, Contract Operations Group, Homeowner Services Group, and Keystone Operations. The Other segment includes corporate costs that are not allocated to the Company's operating segments, eliminations of inter-segment transactions, fair value adjustments and associated income and deductions related to the acquisitions that have not been allocated to the operating segments for evaluation of performance and allocation of resource purposes. The company was founded in 1886 and is headquartered in Camden, NJ.

Read MoreFortis Inc. operates as an electric and gas utility company in Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean countries. It generates, transmits, and distributes electricity to approximately 433,000 retail customers in southeastern Arizona; and 98,000 retail customers in Arizona's Mohave and Santa Cruz counties with an aggregate capacity of 3,233 megawatts (MW), including 59 MW of solar capacity. The company also sells wholesale electricity to other entities in the western United States; owns gas-fired and hydroelectric generating capacity totaling 65 MW; and distributes natural gas to approximately 1,048,000 residential, commercial, and industrial customers in British Columbia, Canada. In addition, it owns and operates the electricity distribution system that serves approximately 572,000 customers in southern and central Alberta; owns 4 hydroelectric generating facilities with a combined capacity of 225 MW; and provides operation, maintenance, and management services to five hydroelectric generating facilities. Further, the company distributes electricity in the island portion of Newfoundland and Labrador with an installed generating capacity of 143 MW; and on Prince Edward Island with a generating capacity of 130 MW. Additionally, it provides integrated electric utility service to approximately 67,000 customers in Ontario; approximately 270,000 customers in Newfoundland and Labrador; approximately 31,000 customers on Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands; and approximately 15,000 customers on certain islands in Turks and Caicos. The company also holds long-term contracted generation assets in Belize consisting of 3 hydroelectric generating facilities with a combined capacity of 51 MW; and the Aitken Creek natural gas storage facility. It also owns and operates approximately 91,000 circuit Kilometers (km) of distribution lines; and approximately 49,500 km of natural gas pipelines. Fortis Inc. was founded in 1885 and is headquartered in St. John's, Canada.

Read MoreLast July, President Donald Trump warned the special counsel Robert Mueller that it would be a "violation" for him and his group of Justice Department investigators to examine the Trump family's finances. The president agreed with a New York Times reporter's question about whether doing so would amount to crossing a "red line."

Mueller apparently has decided to cross that line anyway. The Times reported on Thursday that Mueller's team has subpoenaed Trump's company, the Trump Organization, for records pertaining to a number of business deals -- including some related to Russia.

Trump and his lawyers have thrown down all sorts of gauntlets around Mueller's probe. They have argued for a tight deadline leading to its conclusion; negotiated for where, when and how the president might agree to an interview with investigators; and pointed to areas that they think are off-limits.

It would appear that Mueller, with the full force of the law and subpoena power behind him, intends to proceed as he sees fit.

Mueller has already made it clear that he wouldn't hesitate to look at Trump's business transactions. Bloomberg News reported last July -- just a day after Trump conversed with the Times about that red line -- that Mueller was expanding the scope of his investigation to Trump's commercial dealings.Wall Street analysts have given SandRidge Mississippian Trust II 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 SandRidge Mississippian Trust II wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys.

View MarketBeat's top stock picks here.Unifi, Inc. engages in the manufacture and sale of synthetic and recycled products made from polyester and nylon. It operates through the following segments: Polyester, Nylon, Brazil, and Asia. The Polyester segment sells polyester-based products to other yarn manufacturers, knitters, and weavers that produce yarn and fabric for the apparel, hosiery, home furnishings, automotive, industrial, and other end-use markets in U.S. and El Salvador. The Nylon segment offers nylon-based products to knitters and weavers that produce fabric for the apparel and hosiery markets in U.S. and Colombia. The Brazil and Asia segments comprises polyester-based products to knitters and weavers that produce fabric for the apparel, home furnishings, automotive, industrial, and other end-use markets principally in South America and Asia. The company was founded by George Allen Mebane IV in 1969 and is headquartered in Greensboro, NC.

Read MoreCAE Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and supplies simulation equipment and training solutions to defense and security markets, commercial airlines, business aircraft operators, helicopter operators, aircraft manufacturers, and healthcare education and service providers worldwide. The company's Civil Aviation Training Solutions segment provides training solutions for flight, cabin, maintenance, and ground personnel in commercial, business, and helicopter aviation; flight simulation training devices; and ab initio pilot training and crew sourcing services, as well as end to end digitally-enabled crew management, training operations solutions, and optimization software. Its Defence and Security segment offers training and mission support solutions for defense forces across multi-domain operations, and for government organizations responsible for public safety. The company's Healthcare segment provides integrated education and training solutions, including surgical and imaging simulations, curriculum, audiovisual and centre management platforms, and patient simulators to healthcare students and clinical professionals. The company was formerly known as CAE Industries Ltd. and changed its name to CAE Inc. in June 1993. CAE Inc. was founded in 1947 and is headquartered in Saint-Laurent, Canada.

Read MoreHow did Napa Green get started?

In 1998 the Environmental Protection Agency declared the Napa River impaired and the State Water Board set reduction standards for Total Maximum Daily Load or TMDL of fine sediment into the river. In response, vintners, growers and environmental leaders representing more than 20 nonprofits and regulatory agencies worked in partnership to develop Napa Green Certified Land. The first property was certified in 2004.

In 2007, building on the success of the Land program, the Napa Valley Vintners (NVV) collaborated with Napa County and the California Green Business Program to develop the Napa Green Certified Winery program, creating a comprehensive, soil-to-bottle sustainability certification.

Is Napa Green a program of the Napa Valley Vintners?

The NVV helped develop the Napa Green program and is one of its greatest champions, but it is a collaborative effort and all certifications are completed by independent, third-party entities. In support of its commitment to the program, in 2015 the NVV set a goal that all its eligible members (those who own more than 5 acres of vineyard, a winery or both) will be in the program by the end of 2020. To date more than 50 percent of NVV members are in Napa Green.

What has the program achieved so far?Arconic Corporation manufactures and sells aluminum sheets, plates, extrusions, and architectural products in the United States, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hungary, Russia, and the United Kingdom. It operates through three segments: Rolled Products, Extrusions, and Building and Construction Systems. The Rolled Products segment provides a range of aluminum sheet and plate products for ground transportation, aerospace, industrial, and packaging markets; and roofing, architectural composite panels, ventilated facades and ceiling panels, spacers, culvert pipes, and gutters for building and construction markets. The Extrusions segment offers extruded products, including aerospace shapes, automotive shapes, seamless tubes, hollows, mortar fins, and high strength rods and bars for ground transportation, aerospace, and industrial markets. The Building and Construction Systems segment provides various products and building envelope solutions, such as entrances, curtain walls, windows, composite panels, and coil coated sheets for fabricators and glazing subcontractors under the Kawneer, Reynobond, and Reynolux brands. The company offers its products directly to customers, as well as through distributors. The company was formerly known as Arconic Rolled Products Corporation and changed its name to Arconic Corporation in Arpil 2020. Arconic Corporation was founded in 1888 and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Read MoreDid you hear about that battle between U.S. and Russian forces in Syria? Team America did pretty well

Well below the radar and out of the mainstream of news coverage dominated by a drumbeat of non-stop hatred toward the NRA, President Donald J. Trump, conservatives, libertarians, and pretty anyone who isnt a hard-core Marxist are some really important events that more Americans should know about but dont.

One of those events could eventually impact the lives of all 323.1 million Americans and 144.3 million Russians if things spiral even further out of hand in whats left of Syria.

Earlier this month a force of hundreds led by so-called Russian mercenaries attacked a U.S.-held base in Deir Ezzor, which also involved elements of the Syrian government and Shiite militias. As reported by Bloomberg View national security columnist Eli Lake, the Russian and U.S. governments are well aware what took place and both acknowledge that Russia-affiliated mercenaries took part in the attack.

But the line, for now, is that those contractors had gone rogue, Lake wrote, and Moscow didnt know anything about it.

Dont be fooled by that, he notes.

Lake reported further:

When reporters asked U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis about the incident, he called the whole thing perplexing. I have no idea why they would attack there, the forces were known to be there, obviously the Russians knew, he said. We have always known that there are elements in this very complex battle space that the Russians did not have, I would call it, control of.

If Mattis explanation sounds plausible, its meant to  but only to uninformed observers. Deep down he knows that the attack came on orders from Vladimir Putin and that the Kremlin was up to its eyeballs in planning and equipping the force involved.

Lake writes that Mattis, a retired four-star Marine general who is extremely intelligent, probably employed what Plato called a noble lie  an intentional falsehood meant to essentially achieve a greater social outcome.

If Mattis acknowledges the obvious  that the Kremlin authorized a direct assault on a U.S.-sponsored base by non-uniformed personnel  he risks an escalation spiral in Syria, Lake writes. Better to express bewilderment and give Russian President Vladimir Putin a chance to back down and deny culpability, which he ended up doing despite the heavy casualties suffered by his mercenaries. (Related: Report: Russia arming Hezbollah with heavy weapons as part of alliance with Syria, Iran.)

For certain, there is plenty of evidence to substantiate the fact that the Russian mercs were operating under the orders of Putin. And furthermore, the Kremlin was well aware of the fact that U.S. forces were at that base. Lake has confirmed it with various sources, including former Defense Department and State Department officials; the mercs involved in this attack belong to a contractor by the name of Wagner; they are a key part of Russias broader strategy of hybrid warfare, a mix of kinetic and information aggression to advance Russian interests, Lake writes.

And by all accounts, the U.S. military, leading the defense of Deir Ezzor, responded with swift and brutal force. Lake noted that published accounts in Russian press noted more than 200 Russian mercenaries were killed.

In addition, according to The Daily Caller, recordings of Russian mercenaries involved in the fight were critical of the Kremlins decision to attack U.S. forces, as well as praiseworthy of American troops.

They beat our a**es like we were little pieces of sh*t, said one, according to records obtained from a close Kremlin source by Polygraph.info, a fact-checking website linked with Voice of America.

Said another: So, one squadron f**** lost 200 peopleright away. Another one lost 10 people and I dont know about the third squadron but it got torn up pretty badly, too.

The Russian government has downplayed the attack, but Lake and others say it is clear that Mattis is giving Putin a chance to bow out diplomatically with a warning not to try another attack against U.S. forces again.

Read more of J.D. Heyes work at The National Sentinel.

Sources include:

Bloomberg.com

DailyCaller.com

NewsTarget.comThe U.S. Navy commissioned its newest fast attack submarine, the USS Colorado (SSN 788), during a ceremony Saturday, March 17, at Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, Connecticut.

The U.S. Navy commissioned its newest fast attack submarine, the USS Colorado (SSN 788), during a ceremony Saturday, March 17, at Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, Connecticut.

A photo illustration of the command crest for the future Virginia-class attack submarine USS Colorado (SSN 788). (U.S. Navy photo illustration/Released)

USS Colorado, which began construction in 2012, is the 15th Virginia-class fast attack submarine and the fifth Virginia-class Block III submarine. Colorado is the fourth U.S. Navy ship to be commissioned with a name honoring the state of Colorado. The first Colorado was a three-masted steam screw frigate that participated in the Union Navy's Gulf Blockading Squadron and fought in the Second Battle of Fort Fisher with then-Lt. George Dewey serving as her executive officer. In the early years of the 20th century, the second Colorado (ACR 7) was a Pennsylvania-class armored cruiser that escorted convoys of men and supplies to England during World War I. The third ship of her name, the lead ship of the Colorado class of battleships (BB 45), supported operations in the Pacific theater throughout World War II, surviving two kamikaze attacks and earning seven battle stars.

PORT CANAVERAL, Fla., (Jan. 12, 2018) Lt. Anthony Matus uses an Xbox controller to maneuver the photonic mast aboard the Pre-Commissioning Unit Colorado (SSN 788). Colorado is the 15th Virginia-class attack submarine and is scheduled to be commissioned March 17, 2018. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Jeffrey M. Richardson/Released)

This next-generation attack submarine provides the U.S. Navy with the capabilities required to maintain the nation's undersea superiority well into the 21st century. Block III Virginia-class submarines feature a redesigned bow, which replaces 12 individual launch tubes with two large-diameter Virginia Payload Tubes, each capable of launching six Tomahawk cruise missiles.

GROTON, Conn. (Mar. 15, 2018) Pre-Commissioning Unit Colorado (SSN 788) sits pierside prior to commissioning March 17, 2018. Colorado is the the U.S. Navy's 15th Virginia-class attack submarine and named for the State of Colorado. (U.S. Navy photo by Chief Petty Officer Darryl I. Wood/Released)

Virginia-class submarines are built to operate in the world's littoral and deep waters while conducting anti-submarine warfare; anti-surface ship warfare; strike warfare; special operation forces support; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; irregular warfare; and mine warfare missions. Their inherent stealth, endurance, mobility and firepower directly enable them to support five of the six maritime strategy core capabilities-sea control, power projection, forward presence, maritime security, and deterrence.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..GlaxoSmithKline Plc is a healthcare company, which engages in the research, development, and manufacture of pharmaceutical medicines, vaccines, and consumer healthcare products. It operates through the following segments: Pharmaceuticals; Pharmaceuticals R&D; Vaccines and Consumer Healthcare. The Pharmaceuticals segment focuses on developing medicines in respiratory and infectious diseases, oncology, and immuno-inflammation. The Pharmaceuticals R&D segment focuses on science related to the immune system, the use of human genetics and advanced technologies, and is driven by the multiplier effect of Science x Technology x Culture. The Vaccines segment produces pediatric and adult vaccines to prevent a range of infectious diseases including, hepatitis A and B, diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough, measles, mumps and rubella, polio, typhoid, influenza, and bacterial meningitis. The Consumer Healthcare segment develops and markets brands in the oral health, pain relief, respiratory, nutrition and gastro intestinal, and skin health categories. The company was founded in 1715 and is headquartered in Middlesex, the United Kingdom.

Read MoreTest trials of the antiaircraft weapon of the Admiral Gorshkov frigate will continue at a range for another 1.5 months. After that the weapon is to be returned to the warship for continued trials, President of the United Shipbuilding Corporation Alexey Rakhmanov said.

Test trials of the antiaircraft weapon of the Admiral Gorshkov frigate will continue at a range for another 1.5 months. After that the weapon is to be returned to the warship for continued trials, President of the United Shipbuilding Corporation Alexey Rakhmanov said.

Project 22350 Admiral Gorshkov frigate

"According to our information, the trials will take another 1.5 months before tests on the warship. The antiaircraft complex is being tested at ranges and has to return to the warship for fire trials from the frigate after it," he said.



The frigate has to be handed over to the Navy in summer, he added.



"If everything is OK, the frigate has all the chances to become operational by the end of summer," Rakhmanov said.



The Admiral Gorshkov is the lead ship of project 22350. It was laid in early 2006 and floated in the autumn of 2010. In November 2014 the frigate began test trials. The necessity to test all the systems, including the antiaircraft weapon, was cited as the reason for the delay in commissioning the frigate.

 Copyright 2018 TASS. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Commments by Navy Recogniton

We previsouly reported about issues with the Admiral Gorshkov's air defence system back in December 2017. Almaz-Antey aerospace defense group Designer General Pavel Sozinov said last year that Russias Poliment-Redut seaborne missile system will be armed with three types of missiles unified with the S-350 Vityaz ground-based air defense system.

Worst, while the first Project 22350 frigate entered the "final stage" of state tests in March 2017, the vessel encountered engine issues last month (February 2018). State tests are the Russian Navy equivalent to acceptance trials.The following companies are subsidiares of The Travelers Companies: 10762962 Canada Inc., 350 Market Street LLC, 8527512 Canada Inc., Aetna Life and Casualty Co, American Equity Insurance Company, American Equity Specialty Insurance Company, Aprilgrange Limited, Arch Street North LLC, Auto Hartford Investments LLC, Bayhill Restaurant II Associates, Camperdown Corporation, Constitution State Services LLC, Discover Property & Casualty Insurance Company, Discover Specialty Insurance Company, F&G UK Underwriters Limited, Farmington Casualty Company, Fidelity and Guaranty Insurance Company, Fidelity and Guaranty Insurance Underwriters Inc., First Floridian Auto and Home Insurance Company, Gulf Underwriters Insurance Company, IHP Capital Partners Fund VIII L.P., Northbrook Holdings Inc., Northfield Insurance Company, Northland Casualty Company, Northland Insurance Company, Phoenix UK Investments LLC, SPC Insurance Agency Inc., Select Insurance Company, Simply Business Holdings Inc., Simply Business Inc., St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company, St. Paul Guardian Insurance Company, St. Paul Mercury Insurance Company, St. Paul Protective Insurance Company, St. Paul Surplus Lines Insurance Company, Standard Fire Properties LLC, Standard Fire UK Investments LLC, TCI Global Services Inc., TPC Investments Inc., TPC U.K. Investments LLC, The Automobile Insurance Company of Hartford Connecticut, The Charter Oak Fire Insurance Company, The Dominion of Canada General Insurance Company, The Family Business Institute LLC, The Phoenix Insurance Company, The St. Paul Companies Inc., The Standard Fire Insurance Company, The Travelers Casualty Company, The Travelers Home and Marine Insurance Company, The Travelers Indemnity Company, The Travelers Indemnity Company of America, The Travelers Indemnity Company of Connecticut, The Travelers Lloyds Insurance Company, TravCo Insurance Company, Travelers (Bermuda) Limited, Travelers Brazil Acquisition LLC, Travelers Brazil Holding LLC, Travelers Casualty Company of Connecticut, Travelers Casualty Insurance Company of America, Travelers Casualty UK Investments LLC, Travelers Casualty and Surety Company, Travelers Casualty and Surety Company of America, Travelers Casualty and Surety Company of Europe Limited, Travelers Commercial Casualty Company, Travelers Commercial Insurance Company, Travelers Constitution State Insurance Company, Travelers Distribution Alliance Inc., Travelers Excess and Surplus Lines Company, Travelers Global Inc., Travelers Indemnity U.K. Investments LLC, Travelers Insurance Company Limited, Travelers Insurance Company of Canada, Travelers Insurance Designated Activity Company, Travelers Insurance Group Holdings Inc., Travelers Lloyds of Texas Insurance Company, Travelers London Limited, Travelers MGA Inc., Travelers Management Limited, Travelers Marine LLC, Travelers Participacoes em Seguros Brasil S.A., Travelers Personal Insurance Company, Travelers Personal Security Insurance Company, Travelers Property Casualty Company of America, Travelers Property Casualty Corp., Travelers Property Casualty Insurance Company, Travelers Seguros Brasil S.A., Travelers Syndicate Management Limited, Travelers Texas MGA Inc., Travelers Underwriting Agency Limited, Ultramar Travel Management, United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company, Xbridge Limited, Zensurance Brokers Inc., and Zensurance Inc..Vesuvius plc provides engineering services and solutions principally to steel and foundry industries worldwide. It operates in two segments, Steel and Foundry. The company offers foundry consumables and equipment, including binders, coatings, feeding systems, filtration and gating systems, melt shop refractories, metallurgical and pouring control systems, die dressings and coatings, melt treatment products, crucibles, and ceramics for the iron, steel, and nonferrous foundries. It also provides nonferrous metals, such as primary and secondary aluminum, copper, and other metals and alloys; cement and lime solutions, iron ore pelletizing and calcination products, and grains and powders; and process heaters, FCC units, hydrogen reformers, boilers, coke calciners, and thermal oxidizers, as well as sulphur, ethylene, and ammonia plants. In addition, the company offers solutions for power generation and incineration; glass products comprising artistic, display, float, hollow, and optical glass; glass tempering, and reheat and forming products; and solutions for solar multi-crystal silicon ingots, thin film and cell processing, and feedstock. Further, it provides solutions for blast furnace stack repair; taphole clay, iron and slang runner, sampler and temperature, tilting runner, and torpedo ladle solutions; iron ladle solutions; lining, taphole system, bath agitation and tuyere system, electric arc furnace and BOF maintenance, and metallurgical sensor solutions; and ladle, ladle to tundish, and tundish solutions, as well as tundish to mold solutions for conventional slab, thin and slim slab, beam blank, flow control valve bloom or billet, and calibrated nozzle billet casters. Additionally, the company offers ingot casting solutions; and reheat furnace, steel hot forming, galvanized steel, and electrical and stainless steel solutions. Vesuvius plc was founded in 1916 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

Read MoreThe Williams Cos., Inc. operates as an energy infrastructure company, which explores, produces, transports, sells and processes natural gas and petroleum products. It operates through the following segments: Transmission and Gulf of Mexico; Northeast G&P; and West. The Transmission and Gulf of Mexico segment comprises of interstate natural gas pipelines, Transco and Northwest Pipeline, as well as natural gas gathering and processing and crude oil production handling and transportation assets in the Gulf Coast region. The Northeast G&P segment includes midstream gathering, processing, and fractionation businesses in the Marcellus Shale region primarily in Pennsylvania and New York, and the Utica Shale region of eastern Ohio. The West segment consists of gas gathering, processing, and treating operations in the Rocky Mountain region of Colorado and Wyoming, the Barnett Shale region of north-central Texas, the Eagle Ford Shale region of south Texas, the Haynesville Shale region of northwest Louisiana, and the Mid-Continent region which includes the Anadarko, Arkoma, and Permian basins. The company was founded by David Williams and Miller Williams in 1908 and is headquartered in Tulsa,

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Read More08:01

The India-United States two-plus-two meeting has been postponed as of now due to uncertainty over confirmation of nomination of Mike Pompeo, as the new Secretary of State, according to officials.



The first two-plus-two meeting between India and the US was tentatively scheduled for April 18-19.



The launch of two-plus-two dialogue was announced last summer when Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a successful meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House.



However, there was no official announcement of the high-level dialogue involving the foreign and defence ministers from the two countries.



India's foreign and defence secretaries were in Washington, DC early this week for preparatory talks with their American counterparts.



The Indian delegation landed in Washington, DC amidst the firing of Rex Tillerson as the Secretary of State by Trump.



The delegation continued with their meetings both at the State Department and the Pentagon as scheduled, during which it was decided to hold the two-plus-two dialogue at a later date, which is unlikely to be held before the summer.



The two-plus-two dialogue was seen as a vehicle to elevate the strategic relationship between the two countries.



After June last year, the two countries have tried at several other dates for this dialogue including sometime in November and December.



Officials also checked for a time in January this year, but both sides were having a tough time in finding a day when all the four leaders -- External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman from India and Defence Secretary Jim Mattis and former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, were available.



It was finally in February this year that two-days in mid-April was zeroed in for the talks.



However, the plans had to be scuttled as on March 13, Trump announced that Tillerson has been fired and he nominated Pompeo, who is currently the CIA director, to replace him as the Secretary of State.



Pompeo needs to be confirmed by the Senate.



Spring recess of the Congress begins on March 22 and lawmakers would resume their legislative business on April 2. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which hold the confirmation hearing, has not scheduled it on its calendar yet.



Once Pompeo's nomination process breezes through this committee then it would go to the Senate floor for a vote.



Given the sharp differences between the Republicans and the Democrats in the Senate, officials decided not to take any chance by going ahead with the mid-April date for the two-plus-two talks.



"Thus, it has been postponed for now," an informed US official said.



The official quickly pointed that this would have no impact on the bilateral relationship as the meetings this week by the foreign and defence secretaries decided to continue with their agenda.



The new dates will now be determined after Pompeo occupies the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department and settles down as the top American diplomat. -- PTI

Barack Obama's office says the former US President will arrive in Japan on March 25. It will be Obama's first trip to the country since his presidency ended.

Obama's office announced Saturday that he will be in Tokyo to attend an international conference.

Obama last travelled to Japan while president in May 2016 and made a stop in the atomic-bombed city of Hiroshima. That visit gave a boost to the campaign for a world without nuclear arms.

In a shift, his successor Donald Trump is taking a harder line on nuclear weapons policy. Trump has also reversed a number of other Obama policies, including withdrawing the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal and the Paris Agreement on climate change.

The former president will be in Singapore on Monday for a discussion with young leaders of Southeast Asian countries. He will then visit New Zealand and Australia to meet their prime ministers before travelling to Japan. - NHKInvestigative sources with law enforcement revealed on Saturday that popular adult video (AV) actress Nozomi Aso has been arrested again on drug-related charges, reports the Sankei Sports.

On February 20, the Kanto Narcotics Control Department entered the Meguro Ward residence of Aso and found 56 grams of kakuseizai, or stimulant drugs, valued at 3.6 million yen. The quantity represents about 1,900 doses, according to the department.

Officers later arrested Aso and her boyfriend, 27-year-old Aihei Takahata, on suspicion of violating the Stimulants Control Law. The Yokohama District Public Prosecutor's Office prosecuted the pair on Friday. Aso has admitted to the allegations.

Officers also found marijuana, cocaine and a weighing scale inside the residence. It is believed that the pair are involved in a drug trafficking ring.

Debut in 2012

Aso, 33, whose real name is Aya Shimazaki, made her debut in the AV industry for label SOD Create in June of 2012. That title subsequently zoomed up to the top of sales chart the following month at distribution site DMM.com. Aso currently has nearly 150 titles listed on the site.

The native of Yokohama has garnered a reputation for an attractive appearance and a lack of reluctance in engaging in hard-core scenes. She has also worked as a gravure (pin-up) idol and a club DJ.

Her popularity is not limited to Japan. In Taiwan, where her appearance has been likened to actress Lin Chi-ling, she has done modeling work. In 2014, she appeared in "Naked Ambition 3D," the Hong Kong film directed by Lee Kung-lok that parodies Japan's AV industry.

The arrest is Aso's second. In 2016, she was also found to be in possession of illegal drugs at her residence.

Shortly before her arrest, it was learned that Aso began working at a so-called "delivery health" sex service in Tokyo. - tokyoreporter.comMumbai: Bollywood filmmakers have lately been exploring social taboos like menstruation, vasectomy, erectile dysfunction, but Yami Gautam said this trend of narrating stories in a quirky way started with her debut film 'Vicky Donor', and felt happy that it was gaining momentum.

After bringing up on screen the issue of improving sanitation and eradication of open defecation in 'Toilet: Ek Prem Katha', director Shree Narayan Singh's next film 'Batti Gul Meter Chalu' revolves around a common man's fight against power distribution companies in India.

Also read: In pics: Yami Gautam starts prepping for her action film post Batti Gul Meter Chalu

Shahid Kapoor will portray the role of a lawyer, who raises his voice against these organisations.

"The trend of realistic issue-based films in a quirky, entertaining style started with 'Vicky Donor', and it is absolutely fantastic to see more movies coming up in this space."

"It shows how progressive our society has become as such films are being watched a lot by the audience. The credit for such films should go to the makers for not making them preachy," Yami told PTI.

In order to create awareness about any burning topic affecting society, Yami said it was essential to make a film with a social issue as the backdrop in an entertaining way so as to reach out to a wider audience.

"As an actor, it is a great opportunity for us to create awareness through films. Cinema is a powerful tool, and there is more connectivity with people through them," she said.

"We often talk about social issues in general, but films help us pass on the message or remind people about certain things which are not good for the society and must be worked upon," she added.

Yami, who also plays the role of a lawyer in the film, said she does not have many cinematic references to fall back on except Rani Mukerji's role in 'Veer Zaara'.

"Sometimes you do need reference points as it helps you in some way or the other. I did not have any cinematic references for this part. I have something new for the audience, and it is going to be refreshing. So the next time someone plays a lawyer, they have references to draw," she added.

The 29-year-old actor was pursuing a degree in law honours before she left it for acting.

"There is some personal connection to this role, I did reminisce about the time gone by. Even if I am able to inspire one girl to pursue legal studies, it will be great. Women empowerment can happen through education and awareness, and what better than legal studies," she said.

Also read: Tussle between producers about Yami Gautams casting in Batti Gul Meter Chalu?

For the role, Yami will undergo some prep work, including workshops, but at the same time, she said she will make sure she does not over-rehearse.

The first schedule of the film has already wrapped up, and Yami will join the cast by March-end.Swedish-Greek actress Elli AvrRam, who is currently shooting for the Tamil and Kannada versions of Bollywood film Queen, is all set to make her Telugu debut too. The Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon actress will be seen in a special number in Allu Arjuns film, Naa Peru Surya, directed by Vakkantham Vamsi.

Elli shares, The director was impressed with three of my earlier dance videos and approached me. It is a slow song with a mix of folklore and we shot the number in various parts in Hyderabad. It is my first Telugu film and the experience has been great.

Apparently, the actress is a huge fan of Allu Arjun. When I was told that the song was opposite Allu Arjun, I did not even listen to it and agreed. I have seen his songs earlier and he has amazing dance moves and I am a huge fan of his. Hes such a big star but has no airs and is very humble. Its great to work with him. One of his songs thats my favourite is Seeti Maar, she shares, adding, But in this special song, it is only me dancing!

Followed by the Queen remakes, Naa Peru Surya will be Ellis second release in the South this year.

The best part about working here is that the films have Indianness in the content. I also love Telugu and have picked up a few words like bagunnara (how are you), kallu (eyes) and manchi (good). While going through the lyrics, I have also realised that Telugu has different slangs. This is the second time I am shooting in Hyderabad and I love the dry weather.Maharashtrian artists during a programme to celebrate Marathi new year festival Gudi Padwa in Varanasi on Tuesday. (Photo: PTI)

People in Maharashtra celebrated the spring-time festival of Gudi Padwa -this marks the traditional new year for Marathi Hindus- with traditional fervour and welcomed it as per the Shalivahan Shaka (luni-solar) calendar.

Households across the state witnessed hectic activities with family members erecting the traditional 'Gudi' a long bamboo stick with new silk cloth, garland and a dangling neem twig. It also has a silver or metal pot on it.

As per belief, the long 'Gudi' symbolises victory and inspires people to prosper materially and spiritually.

Not just Gudi Padwa, the festival is known by different names in different states like Samvatsar Padvo, Yugadi, Ugadi, Cheti Chand or Navreh. It is known as Sajibu Nongma Panba Cheiraoba in the Northeastern state of Manipur.

The women dish out sweets like 'Puran Poli' and 'Shrikhand' along with 'Aambe daal' and 'Sunth Paak'.

A number of stories are associated with the festival, prominent among them being the "theory of creation" and also the day when Lord Ram returned to Ayodhya after defeating King Ravana in Lanka.

The year begins on the first day of Chaitra of the Hindu calendar named as Shalivahan. It is named so after King Shalivahan, from Paithan in Maharashtra.

While the traditional feast includes dishes like Shrikhand and Puran Poli, the Konkanis make Kanangachi Kheer which is a sweet dish made of sweet potato, coconut milk, jaggery and rice.

The New Year day is also considered auspicious for 'vaastu puja' and opening new business establishments. Buying gold, a new vehicle, house or starting a new chapter is considered very prosperous on this day.

People start their day with eating neem leaves, they believe doing so purifies the blood and strengthens the body.

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj started celebrating Gudi Padwa after his victory, and it was him who initiated the tradition of raising the Gudi.As the beginning of the Hindu New Year is being celebrated with great zeal across the nation, President Ram Nath Kovind on Sunday extended his greetings.

"Greetings and good wishes to fellow citizens on the occasion of Chaitra Sukladi, Ugadi, Gudi Padava, Cheti Chand, Navreh and Sajibu Cheiraoba. May these festivals bring happiness and strengthen the bonds of fraternity among people in various regions of our country," he tweeted.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also took to the micro-blogging site to extend his best wishes to the nation.

Several people across the nation are celebrating the start of the New Year. I convey my greetings to all those celebrating. May the year ahead be a wonderful one.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 18, 2018

Furthermore, in a series of tweets, Prime Minister Modi also extended his greetings to the people of Manipur on Sajibu Cheiraoba, Maharashtra on Gudi Padwa and Southern India (Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana) on Ugadi.

A number of festivals are being celebrated on Sunday, as the day marks the beginning of a new year in the Hindu calendar.

-Ugadi, also known as Kannada and Telugu New Year, is celebrated primarily by the Hindus of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and parts of Maharashtra on the first day of the Hindu lunisolar calendar month of Chaitra.

The day is observed by drawing colourful patterns on the floor (Rangoli), hanging mango leaf decorations on doors, buying and giving gifts, and preparing and sharing a special dish called 'pachadi', which combines all flavours - sweet, sour, salty, bitter. It is believed that in the Telugu and Kannada Hindu traditions, the dish is a symbolic reminder that one must expect all flavours of experiences in the coming new year.

-Gudi Padwa is a spring-time festival that marks the traditional new year for Hindus in Maharashtra and is celebrated on the first day of the Chaitra month of the lunisolar Hindu calendar. Similar to Ugadi, the festival is observed with colourful floor decorations, a special Gudhi flag garlanded with flowers, mango and neem leaves, and topped with upturned silver or copper vessel, street processions, dancing and festive foods.

-Sajibu Cheiraoba is the lunar new year festival of the people who follow the Sanamahism religion of Manipur. While festive food, offerings and prayers are a part of the festivities for the day, it is believed that the feast for the occasion is usually prepared by the men in the family, while women assist them in chopping and washing the ingredients.

Today also marks the beginning of the Chaitra Navratri and the transition of the spring season to summer. As in case of Sharad Navratri which is celebrated in September-October, celebrations for Chaitra Navratri also involve worship of Goddess Durga and her nine forms. Over the next nine days, devotees offer their prayers to Goddess Durga and observe fasts.

While the tenth day of Sharad Navratri is celebrated as Dussehra or Vijayadashami, the ninth day of Chaitra Navratri is celebrated as Ram Navami or Hindu Lord Rama's birthday.Ugadi - the Telugu and Kannada New Year ceremony - is the festival of the beginning of everything, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday.

Addressing a programme to mark Ugadi in Srisailam, Andhra Pradesh via video conferencing said, "Ugadi means the beginning of an era. Ugadi is the festival of the beginning of human life. It is the festival of the starting of creation of the world.



"This is the festival of new hopes and aspirations. This is the festival of nature and environment. This is the festival of new initiation in life," Prime Minister Modi added.

Talking about the importance of Srisailam, he further said, "Maharshi Ved Vyas said people who visit here get rid of all kinds of bondage."

He also praised saints by saying that they kept India going despite numerous attempts were made to destroy country's culture and traditions.

"There were numerous attempts to hurt our prestigious culture and traditions when India was chained to slavery. It tolerated everything and kept going ahead. What was it that kept it going? Saints like you," the Prime Minister said.

Prime Minister Modi also exhorted saints to sensitise people about racism, black money and corruption.

"The country is passing through a very important period today. Not only racism, black money and corruption are harming the country. Your contribution in awakening people towards them is very important," Prime Minister Modi said.

He also sought saints' support in building the nation.

"There is a need to make people aware of the efforts being made to divide the society. The central government is doing its best to build the nation but your blessings in this regard will increase our energy," the Prime Minister said.

He also outlined the government's initiatives like Ayushman Bharat and 'Sabka Saath-Sabka Vikas' (all together, development for all) for the benefit of common man.The deceased was identified as Lal Bahadur who lived with his family in SS Nagar in Wazirpur Industrial area. (Representational Image)

New Delhi: A 60-year-old man was on Saturday beaten to death allegedly over filling water from a tank in northwest Delhi's Wazirpur, police said.

Police claimed that they have arrested three people and apprehended a juvenile in the case.

The deceased was identified as Lal Bahadur who lived with his family in SS Nagar in Wazirpur Industrial area.

The incident was reported around 3.30 pm on Saturday when a water tanker had arrived in the colony and all the residents reached there for filling water.

Lal Bahadur's son Rohit and the accused were also at the spot, Deputy Commissioner of Police (northwest) Aslam Khan said.

Soon an argument started between Rohit and the accused over filling the water first which soon turned into a scuffle, Khan said.

The victim, after hearing the shouts, reached the spot and tried to stop the fight between his son and the accused.

"He wanted to pacify the fight but the accused attacked him with fist and thrashed mercilessly. He soon became unconscious. He was rushed to the hospital where he was declared brought dead," the police said.

The two accused were nabbed from the spot and during raid a police team were able to catch the remaining two.According to the food safety officials' estimation, the seized substances would be worth Rs 4 lakh, V. Mohan said.

CHENNAI: A few days after seizing 50 kg tobacco products from Chennai Central, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel on Saturday seized nearly 200 kg of banned tobacco substances from the bustling railway terminus.

According to the RPF officials, senior divisional security commissioner of Chennai division, Louis Amudhan, had formed a special team under RPF inspector V. Mohan to nab the smugglers who use trains to smuggle contraband products into the city.

We have been keeping track of parcels arriving at Chennai Central. RPF personnel posted at the railway station would watch out for suspicious parcels, V. Mohan said. On Saturday noon, RPF personnel had noticed 4 bundles lying suspiciously without proper addresses in the parcel office, he said.

The RPF inspector added that the police have waited for someone to pick up the bundles. As no one showed up to claim the bundles, RPF opened the bundles to find 190 kg of banned tobacco (gutka) substances. The RPF also handed over the unclaimed substances to food safety department to destroy them. According to the food safety officials' estimation, the seized substances would be worth ` 4 lakh, V. Mohan said.

According to the RPF sources, these substances are being snuggled from North India through lease parcels. If the parcels are sent by railway booking, proper addresses will be mentioned on the parcels. But lease parcels do not have addresses, the RPF officials said. Lease parcels are parcels sent by agents who lease a whole wagon, explained the RPF personnel.The injured were shifted to the hospital, Jammu and Kashmir DGP SP Vaid said. (Representational Image)

Srinagar: Five members of a family were killed and two others injured in Pakistani shelling along Line of Control (LoC) on Sunday in Balakote sector of Poonch district, Jammu and Kashmir police said.

Mohammad Ramzan, his wife and three sons were killed as shells hit their house in the Balakote sector. His two daughters are injured, reports said.

The injured were shifted to the hospital, Jammu and Kashmir DGP SP Vaid said.

The ceasefire violation comes amidst heightened tensions in diplomatic ties between India and Pakistan.

Pakistan had earlier this week, called home its envoy in India Sohail Mahmood for consultations after repeated incidents of "harassment" of its diplomatic staff in New Delhi.

However, the Ministry of External Affairs had downplayed Pakistan's move as "routine". It said that the Indian High Commission in Islamabad was also facing a "litany of issues" which have not been resolved for several months by that country.

India on Saturday, gave a Note Verbale to Pakistan through its high commission in Islamabad protesting the "intimidation and harassment" of its staff there, the 12th such diplomatic note in less than three months.However, Moily told reporters in New Delhi that the tweet sent by somebody else, and that he had nothing to do with it. (Photo: PTI/File)

Bengaluru: Days after senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily stoked controversy with a tweet that accused PWD Minister Dr HC Mahadevappa of being part of a nexus involving road contractors ahead of the Assembly elections, the state Congress has asked his son, Harsha Moily to explain within a week.

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) has also issued a notice to Harsha Moily.

Veerappa Moily, who is the Congress party's manifesto committee chairman, allegedly tweeted, "INC needs to solve money in politics. We can't afford to have road contractors and their nexus with the state PWD minister determine how candidates are selected for the upcoming Assembly elections."

The same tweet was posted on Moily's son Harsha's unverified Twitter handle too.

Later, the tweet was deleted from both the accounts.

However, the former Union minister told reporters in New Delhi that the tweet sent by somebody else, and that he had nothing to do with it.

Sources said however that the tweet followed a falling out between the senior leaders over denying Harsha Moily a chance to stand for elections from the Karkala constituency.

Moily has already denied the tweet saying, That Twitter account is not in my control. It's not an appropriate tweet. I'm withdrawing it.

Asked if his Twitter account was hacked, he said, I won't say that but even then it's not proper. It's unfortunate. It shouldn't have come. I haven't done it. Somebody else has done it. I don't want to go public on party matters.

With the elections due in Karnataka by May this year, the opposition BJP has repeatedly attacked the Congress over the issue of corruption.The land of Sona Masuri, the delicious rice variety which is now on almost every rice lover's plate through the country, is yet to produce a tall leader whose appeal crosses the confines of Raichur and reaches all corner of the state. For this reason, the district, which has the famed Hutti gold mines too (the only producer of primary gold in the country), has never received its due with smaller districts grabbing the lion's share of resources and projects only because of their influential leaders. One leader worth mentioning who made an impact was Basavaraj Patil Anwari, whobecame a minister of state in the Chandrashekhar led Central government while the other was late Basava rajeshwari, who was born in Raichur but won the Ballari Lok Sabha seat three times. Will it be the same this election with no powerful leader appearing eager to test his luck in this land, steeped in history and replete with heroic tales of the Kakatiya kings and the great Krishnadevaraya? Or will the Congress, BJP and the Janata Dal(S) share the spoils like they did in the 2008 and 2013 Assembly polls? KN REDDY explores the politics of Raichur which is rich in resources but is still waiting for the proverbial messiah to take it through the good times.

The droughts have never spared Raichur despite the fact that it is located between two mighty rivers-the Tungabhadra and the Krishna. It was only after the Tungabhadra Left Bank Canal (TLBC) was laid in the Sixties that signs of prosperity started to emerge. This canal network has become the lifeline of the district as it not only irrigates around 4.50 lakh acres of land but is also the single main source of drinking water for hundreds of villages. Thanks to the TLBC, cotton cultivation caught up in Raichur on a large scale during the Eighties and Nineties, leading to the setting up of hundreds of ginning mills. This led to large scale migration of farmers from Andhra tothe well irrigated areas of Gangavathi (earlier it was part of Raichur), Sindhanur and Manvi taluks.

But the hybrid cotton sprang an unpleasant surprise- it failed and the ginning mills folded up paving the way for paddy cultivation, leading to the sprouting of rice mills during the last two and a half decades. Sona Masuri grown in the district, is famous not only in Karnataka, but also in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Kerala.

The scarcity of water has now become a threat to the survival of these rice mills. The scarcity is due to several factors- frequent failure of the monsoon, silting of the Tungabhadra reservoir, illegal expansion of irrigation to over 1.25 lakh acres and over-drawal of water from the upper reaches of the canal. Silt is a big killer of farmers' hopes here. It is estimated that a staggering 31.5 tmcft silt has accumulated in the reservoir reducing the storage level by about thirty per cent. Removing such a huge quantity of silt from the dam is practically impossible and so experts have suggested construction of balancing reservoirs in the lower regions of the canal.

With the debate on whether to remove the silt or build balancing reservoirs going on for the last few years, farmers said they had enough and last summer, launched a 'kar seva' programme to remove the silt. They have vowed to continue the programme this summer too. This issue - failure of the government to remove the silt or build balancing reservoirs- will have a big impact on the Assembly election. The farmers were even barred from cultivating paddy last year due to lack of adequate water in the dam and are worried about their future. The party which could gain from this is the BJP, which completed the modernisation of the TLBC during its five year tenure from 2008-13.

Another issue which may work against the ruling Congress is the failure of the government to provide remunerative prices for crops such as cotton and tur dal. Except for paddy, the prices of other crops have taken a beating and due to lack of market intervention by the government, farmers have been forced to sell their produce much below the minimum support price, leaving them livid. There are seven Assembly seats in the district of which five are reserved-Raichur Rural, Manvi, Devadurga and Maski (all ST) and Lingasugur (SC) while Raichur City and Sindhanur constituencies fall in the general category.

In 2008 when the BJP rode to power in the state for the first time, the Congress won three seats and BJP and JD(S) won two each. No different was the result in 2013 when the enactment of Article 371(J) for the welfare of the Hyderabad-Karnataka region should have swung the tide in favour of the Congress. The Raichurian has also kept the hopes of the JD(S) alive with the party winning two seats despite losing its base elsewhere in north Karnataka.

What could give a shock to all three parties in the fray this time is infighting which started with the recent resignation of two JD(S) legislators- Raichur City MLA Dr Shivaraj Patil and Lingasugur MLA Manappa Vajjal who have since joined the BJP. The saffron party was quick to make the best of the opportunity with party state president B.S. Yeddyurappa declaring Dr Patil as the candidate for Raichur City but it has opened a Pandora's box with senior leaders revolting against the decision. The reason for this-there were as many as twelve candidates aspiring for the ticket. Will they fall in line with Yeddyurappa's diktat or work against the party in the coming polls, remains to be seen.

No better is the plight of the Congress where an open fight has broken out between former MLA Syed Yasin, who represented Raichur City in 2008 and KPCC general secretary N Boseraju. While Mr Yasin, who is the son-in-law of Congress veteran C.K. Jaffer Sharief, is making all out efforts to get the ticket, Mr Boseraju is equally determined to foil his plans. In the midst of this, the JD(S) is playing the waiting game, not declaring its candidate and toying with the idea of fielding Mr Yasin on its symbol, if the latter is denied the Congress ticket. The AIMIM has also entered the scene and has fielded Noor Mohammed.

In the Raichur Rural seat, the BJP has decided to field its sitting MLA Tipparaj Havaldar while the Congress is still undecided with senior leader Satish Jarkiholi's relative Ravi Patil, former legislator Raja Rayappa Naik and former MLA Raja Amareshwar Naik in the race. In the JD(S), sitting ZP member Kashim Naik is the lone aspirant.

For the Devadurga seat, sitting BJP MLA Shivangouda Naik will be the party candidate again while the Congress will field Raichur MP BV Naik's brother Rajashekhar Naik, who lost in the by-election held in 2016. The JD(S) has prung a surprise fielding Shivangouda Naik's brother-in-law Venkatesh Poojary, denying the ticket to Mrs Karemma, who put up a good show in the previous by-election. Mrs Karemma, who is smarting from the insult, has decided to enter the fray as an Independent.THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Catholic Church has come out in the open against the LDF government's liquor policy and warned that it will reflect in the Chengannur by-election. The Church will organise a protest on April 2 when the new policy comes into effect. The Congress and the BJP have also backed the Church stand. Bishop Joshua Mar Ignathios, CBCI vice- president, said that reopening of the bars will be a major setback for the government. "The decision is a challenge to the democratic values of the state, especially in view of the Chengannur bypoll," he said.

Syro-Malabar Church Thamarassery Bishop Mar Remigiose Inchananiyil said that the LDF would suffer a setback in Chengannur. The government's decision was another 'Ockhi disaster' in the making, he said. Thiruvananthapuram Latin Catholic Archbishop M. Soosa Pakiam warned of an agitation against the abkari policy and asked the government not to force people to come out in the streets. Cardinal Baselios Cleemis Catholicos, head of the Syro-Malankara Church, said that the LDF was going back on its stated policies after promising to take steps to reduce the consumption of liquor.

Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala recalled the claim made by Mr Biju Ramesh, bar owners' association president that the LDF would help the bar owners to reopen the closed bars if they helped them to oust the UDF government. Former KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran flayed LDF government and the Supreme Court saying that the court verdict had created anarchy in society. "The government is pushing the people to a social tragedy by ensuring that there is free flow of liquor," he said.

BJP state president Kummanam Rajasekharan claimed that the LDF government would immerse the people in liquor by opening bars in panchayats having more than 10, 000 population. "The LDF has returned the favours extended to it by the liquor lobby during the 2016 Assembly elections," he said and asked the government to revoke its decision to open bars across the state.(As the UPSC Personality Test progresses, here are answers to 10 questions on international affairs. Questions and answers are for the benefit of IFS aspirants preparing for the remaining interviews)

1. How do you describe yourself?

I have been a highly motivated and studious person throughout my school and engineering studies. I have broad interests, ranging from sciences to arts and literature, music and cinemas. I have a fairly good academic record. Though I am from a rural background, I hope that the IFS will give me the wings and the other tools necessary to serve India broad.

2. Why do you wish to join the IFS? As an engineer, won't your talents be more useful in the country itself?

I am quite willing to serve in the country, but I feel that my interest in international affairs can be developed in the interests of the nation if I join the IFS. Our Foreign Service needs to be expanded and equipped to use the opportunities and to meet the challenges of the times. The whole world is in a flux and India needs dedicated and skilful officers to secure our interests, whether it is development, security or the Diaspora. Technology also plays a role in diplomacy and I hope that my scientific temperament can be put to use.

3. How would you assess Indias position in the world today?

India has always played a major role in international affairs even when India was not as powerful and developed as we are today. As a leader of the nonaligned world, it took the lead in promoting decolonization, development and disarmament. Today, as a country aspiring to be an important pole in a multipolar world, we have become more assertive of our aspirations and our ability to partner major powers. The world has begun to acknowledge Indias capabilities and its potential to be a major power. But India has not been given its rightful place, commensurate with its development and strength, in the multilateral structures.

4. What are chances of India becoming a permanent member of the UN Security Council?

Though it is widely recognized that an expansion of the UN Security Council is essential to reflect the realities of the 21st century and there are several proposals in this regard, there is no formula today, which can command 2/3 majority of the UN General Assembly and support of the permanent members, the necessary prerequisites to amend the UN Charter. India maintains its claims, within the Group of 4, (Germany, Japan, Brazil and India), but no decision is likely to emerge in the immediate future.

5. What are the lessons of the Dokalam incident?

Since 1962, China has claimed that it has been trying to teach India a lesson that India will not be allowed to dominate Asia. The process of weakening and challenging India continued in Dokalam, where China began the construction of a road in a territory claimed by both China and Bhutan, close to the trijunction of the three countries. India deployed its forces in the area and after several weeks of confrontation, bordering on military conflict, both sides withdrew and the situation was brought under control. But the Chinese forces are still in the area and there have been reports of resumption of road construction by the Chinese. Apart from expressing displeasure over the various issues that have developed between the two countries, China was attempting to wean Bhutan away from Indias influence. While India cannot compromise on the basic issues in Dokalam, there is need for greater engagement with China.

6. What is the present state of India-US relations?

India-US relations peaked in June 2016 when India became a close defence partner of the US and the Prime Minister announced a new symphony in the relationship. But a certain amount of uncertainty crept in with the election of President Donald Trump, who is following an ultranationalist policy and a tendency to withdraw from international commitments. But the relationship has continued unaffected because of shared interests in fighting terrorism, countering China and developing economic cooperation. The US has also distanced itself from Pakistan and moved towards India for solving the problems in South Asia and Indo-Pacific.

7. Combating climate change is a priority for the world. Are recent developments satisfactory?

No, Sir. The Paris Agreement itself was a compromise and even if it was implemented, the havoc of climate change could not have been prevented. The withdrawal of the US from the Agreement has been a setback. But the other parties to the Agreement have renewed their commitment and even the US has not totally repudiated it. Individual commitments to reduce Green House Gas emissions will have to be increased in the next review and finance and technology should be transferred to assist the developing countries to use environment friendly technologies.

8. Do you think India should intervene in Maldives at this stage?

No Sir, I think a military intervention is not advisable unless the Government in power invites us as in 1988 or if large-scale violence erupts, leading to danger to the Indian citizens there or the general population. But India has to remain vigilant about twin dangers of Chinese dominance and rise of fundamentalism in Maldives. Chinese influence cannot be eliminated, but any Government in Maldives should be sensitive to Indias security concerns.

9. India-Pakistan relations are at an all-time low. What can India do to improve the situation?

India has had a policy of no dialogue with Pakistan as long as Pakistan engaged in cross-border terrorism. But we have relented from its policy occasionally to reduce tension and to eliminate conflict. The present Government did all it could to start a dialogue with Pakistan, but Pakistan insisted on its old position of resolving the core issue of Kashmir before giving up terrorism. Indias strategic strikes marked a departure in Indias policy and all dialogue processes have been suspended. Consequently, the Indian army has been given a free hand to deal with ceasefire violations on the LOC and to deal with terrorism. At the same time, the Government has appointed an interlocutor to maintain a dialogue with all sections of the Kashmiri population within the framework of the Indian Constitution. There are reports of contacts between India and Pakistan, but India cannot do much unless Pakistan has a change of heart.

10. What is your assessment of our relations with our neighbours in South Asia?

India has pursued a policy of Neighbours First since 1914, but for various reasons, particularly on account of Chinese and Pakistani manipulations, the policy has not had the desired results. SAARC has become hostage to Pakistans intransigence and has become ineffective. As a big country with several small neighbours on our border India has faced many challenges. Whether it was a policy of strict reciprocity or unilateral concessions, the neighbours had not responded well in the past. Chinas policy of building a string of pearls around India is choking us from all sides. We have to be persistent and patient with the neighbours to build a cooperative relationship with them.

(The author has been training Civil Services aspirants at the NSS Academy of Civil Services, Thiruvananthapuram)Chairperson CPP Sonia Gandhi and President Rahul Gandhi talk as former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh looks on, during the 84th Plenary Session of Indian National Congress (INC) at the Indira Gandhi Stadium in New Delhi on Saturday. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: The Congress today decided that it would forge workable alliances with like-minded parties as part of efforts to get battle-ready for 2019 general election, with its chief Rahul Gandhi asserting that the country was "fatigued" and only his party could show the way forward.

The party, at its 84th plenary session that began on Saturday, adopted a political resolution that said it will take a "pragmatic approach" while striking electoral pacts.

The indication of a pre-poll tie-up comes in the wake of efforts by the Congress to evolve a consensus among various opposition parties to unitedly take on the BJP.

The Congress has been seeking to unite all opposition parties under one common platform to defeat the BJP in the next elections.

Some leaders at the conclave said no one can stop Rahul Gandhi from becoming the prime minister in 2019 and a beginning of a new era has been made.

Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi gave a fiery speech at the plenary session. She launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying his government was power-drunk and the pre-poll promises of combating corruption and ensuring inclusive development were mere "dramebaazi".

Sonia Gandhi exhorted Congress workers to support party chief Rahul Gandhi and be ready for any kind of sacrifice to strengthen the organisation. She asked the workers to free the country of "discrimination, vendetta politics and arrogance".

We are exposing Prime Minister Modi and his colleagues' false claims, frauds and corruption with proof. People have now understood that the 2014 promises of 'sab ka saath, sab ka vikas' and 'na khaoonga, na khaane doonga' and his Mann ki Baat' on radio are only 'dramebaazi' (theatrics) and a trick to grab votes and electoral power," she said, referring to Modi's promises of inclusive development and corruption-free governance.

In the last four years, this arrogant and power-drunk government has left no stone unturned to destroy the Congress. They have used every trick in the trade, but Congress has neither succumbed before this arrogance of power nor will it succumb in future, she said.

In his brief inaugural address, Rahul Gandhi said the country is in a way "fatigued" under the Modi dispensation and is looking for a way out. He asserted that his party alone can show the path forward. In a scathing attack on the NDA government, he accused it of spreading hatred and anger, and failing to create jobs and address farm distress.

The Congress party alone can unite the country and show the path forward, he said. The difference between the ruling dispensation and his party was that while they spread anger and hatred, we spread love and brotherhood", the Congress chief said.

He also said the Congress under him would take the seniors and the youth together as the tradition of the party was to embrace change without forgetting its past and legacy.

"If the youth will take the Congress party forward, the party will not move forward without the experienced leaders. So, my task is to unite the seniors and the youth, to give a new direction," he said.

The country is in a way fatigued, is looking for a way out. And I am saying this from the bottom of my heart, that only the Congress can show the path forward," he said.

Rahul Gandhi said the party's work was to unite people and the Congress's 'hand' symbol was the only symbol that can do so.

"A resurgent Congress alone shall win back the idea of India as envisioned by the founding fathers of our nation, the resolution, moved by senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge and adopted at the session, said.

"No one has the power to defeat the Congress and only the Congress can defeat the Congress," he said.

The party said it was prepared to make sacrifices required to defend the ethos of the Constitution.

We will purge the polity of the aberrations witnessed during the BJP regime, which has failed to honour its commitments to the people of India," the Congress said.

In another resolution, the party said if voted to power it would come out with a loan-waiver scheme for small and marginal farmers similar to that announced by the UPA government in 2009.

Adopting a resolution on Agriculture, Employment and Poverty Alleviation at the plenary session, the party hit out at the Modi government for its flawed and anti-farmer policies that caused an "agrarian crisis" in the country. The resolution charged the government of "failing" to deliver on its lofty promises and accused it of duping farmers by making empty noises of doubling farm incomes by 2022.

"The country's Constitution, democracy, unity, civilisation, secularism, judiciary, internal security, its farmers, minorities, small industries are under threat. So, in all, the entire country is under threat," said party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad.

The plenary session that seeks to show the party the path forward and give vision and direction to it, was attended by top party leaders from across the country.Congress President Rahul Gandhi said, 'The PM diverts our attention and jumps from one event to another from Gabbar Singh tax to yoga in Parliament and never talks about the issues.' (Photo: ANI)

New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday called for bringing a change in the Congress party and emphasised on breaking barriers between partys senior leaders and workers.

Addressing the 84th Congress Plenary Session in New Delhi, Rahul said, We have to change Congress. There is a wall between our leaders and workers. My first task will be to break that wall. I will consult senior leaders to destroy that wall with love.

Congress president also came down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and compared the Bharatiya Janata Party to Kauravas.

He said, "Centuries ago, there was a huge battle on the field of Kurukshetra. The Kauravas were powerful and arrogant. The Pandavas were humble and fought for the truth. Like the Kauravas, BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) are designed to fight for power. Like the Pandavas, Congress is designed to fight for the truth."

Further denouncing the BJP, Rahul said, They (people) will accept a man accused of murder as the president of the BJP, but they will never ever accept the same in the Congress Party because they hold Congress in the highest regard.

Congress president further said that in the present day scenario, the corrupt are the powerful and are thriving.

"Today the corrupt and powerful control the conversation in our country. Will India live a lie or will India have the courage to face the truth," he asked.

Lashing out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his silence on real issues, Rahul said, "The PM diverts our attention and jumps from one event to another from Gabbar Singh tax to yoga in Parliament but never talks about the issues. But, the Congress cannot be stopped from seeking the truth and justice."

Also read: Modi govt mismanaged J&K, messed up Indian economy: Manmohan Singh

Congress president also slammed the BJP-led NDA government over recent scams like PNB fraud and said, What does Modi actually mean? The name Modi symbolises the collusion between India's biggest crony capitalists and the prime minister of India.

You can steal Rs 33,000 crore from the banks and the BJP government will protect you. Finance Minister will go silent because he and his daughter work for crony capitalists, he added.

Also read: Modi government arrogant, power hungry, 'dramebaaz': Sonia Gandhi

However, Rahul also admitted of disappointing the masses, the last time the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was in power.

"I don't say it with happiness but the last government we formed did not stand up to the expectations of the people. The people of the country were let down by us," he said.

Hitting out at the Prime Minister over demonetisation, Congress chief said, If we make mistakes, we accept. Prime Minister decided to demonetise Rs 500, Rs 1000 notes. But he did not accept that it was a mistake. If we would have done that mistake, we would have accepted and rectified. Modi ji thinks he is not human but an incarnation of God.

While taking a jibe at the RSS, he said, "They tell Muslims of India who never went to Pakistan and supported this great nation that you don't belong here. They tell the Tamils change your beautiful language. They tell people of northeast we don't like what you eat. They told Gauri Lankesh and Kalburgi to shut up or you'll be killed. They tell women to wear the right clothes or' you'll be thrashed'."

The Congress Party's plenary session is being held in New Delhi from March 17-18.THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A 33-year-old Irish woman went missing from Kovalam beach under mysterious circumstances on Wednes-day. The missing person identified as Liga Skromane, was allegedly suffering from depression. She and her younger sister Ilzie had arrived in India a week earlier and were undergoing Ayurveda treatment at Pothencode.

On Wednesday, she left her passport and belongings at the treatment centre and reached Kovalam. She was dropped here at around 7 pm by an auto driver and could not be traced since then. Ilzie has approached Chief Minister's office and City police commissioner P Prakash for help.The JNU professor resigned from two administrative posts -- the director of the Human Resources Development Centre and the director of the Internal Quality Assurance Cell -- on 'moral grounds'. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: The JNU Students Union (JNUSU) on Sunday approached the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) seeking its intervention in the case of alleged sexual harassment of a group of women students by a professor of the university's School of Life Sciences (SLS).

According to the police, an FIR was registered against the professor at the Vasant Kunj police station in southwest Delhi.

Also read: FIR against JNU professor for 'lewd remarks, demanding sex from female students'

He had on Saturday resigned from two administrative posts in JNU -- the director of the Human Resources Development Centre (HRDC) and the director of the Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) -- on "moral grounds", but claimed that the allegation against him was a "motivated move" by students with vested interests.

JNUSU President Geeta Kumari on Sunday said, "It is more than 36 hours since the FIR was filed, but still no action has been taken against him. He continues to enjoy his privileges in the JNU campus. The JNU administration has not even suspended him from his academic duties."

"As of now, nine students have come forward to report the harassment and many former students have been calling us to share their experiences of sexual harassment while working under him," Kumari claimed.

Hitting out at the university administration, the students body alleged, "By promising to take up investigation through Internal Complaints Committee (ICC), the JNU administration has clearly shown its intention to provide safe passage to the professor."

The students also accused the Delhi Police of delaying action in the case.

"The Delhi Police has done only token follow up of the FIR that was filed by the complainants. The delay in recording statements is a clear sign of nexus between the police and administration," Kumari alleged.

Meanwhile, the All India Democratic Women's Association wrote to the vice chancellor of the university demanding immediate suspension of the professor and, a free and fair inquiry.The leaked police circular said that the plan to target Jayarajan has been done with the 'knowledge of the RSS leadership'. (Photo: File)

Kannur: A Kerala Police internal communication has stated that CPM Kannur District Secretary P Jayarajan is facing threat to life from a local RSS worker Pranoob Babu who is wanted in murder of CPM worker Valankichal Mohan.

The leaked police circular also said that the plan to target Jayarajan has been done with the "knowledge of the RSS leadership," according to a NDTV report.

Jayarajan himself is an accused in the murder of a RSS member Manoj, who was hacked to death in September 2014.

Pranoob Babu is reportedly seeking revenge for Manoj's murder.

Incidents of political violence in Kerala have grabbed headlines across the country in recent months with both left and the right-wing outfits accusing each other of increased hostilities.

The RSS have always raised the issue of the "CPI(M)-sponsored terror" in Kerala and sought the state government's dismissal.

According to police estimates, over 100 people have lost their lives since 1991 in Kannur, of which 42 are from CPM and 41 from BJP.Singh also attacked the government over the economic reforms introduced such as demonetisation and GST, stating that the BJP-led govt messed up Indian economy. (Photo: ANI)

New Delhi: Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday lashed out at the Narendra Modi-led BJP government stating that it has mismanaged Jammu and Kashmir issue like never before.

He said the insecurity at the country's borders shows the deteriorating atmosphere in the valley.

Delivering his speech on the last day of the 84th plenary session of the Congress, the former Prime Minister accused PM Modi of giving tall promises to the nation and not keeping them.

"When Modi ji was campaigning he made lots of tall promises, those promises have not been fulfilled. He said we will provide two crore jobs, we have not seen even 2 lakh jobs," Manmohan Singh said.

Singh described the government's demonetisation move as "ill-considered" and GST as "hastily implemented".

"The BJP-led government messed up the Indian economy. The ill-considered demonetisation and hastily implemented GST have destroyed small scale enterprises," he said.

Singh also highlighted the farmers' income issue and said that Modi's promise of doubling the income in six years was a 'jhumla'-type statement unlikely to be achieved.

The Congress, at its 84th plenary session that began on Saturday, decided that it would forge workable alliances with like-minded parties as part of efforts to get battle-ready for 2019 general election, with its chief Rahul Gandhi asserting that the country was "fatigued" and only his party could show the way forward.

The indication of a pre-poll tie-up comes in the wake of efforts by the Congress to evolve a consensus among various opposition parties to unitedly take on the BJP.

Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday gave a fiery speech at the plenary session. She launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying his government was power-drunk and the pre-poll promises of combating corruption and ensuring inclusive development were mere "dramebaazi".

In his brief inaugural address, Rahul Gandhi said the country is in a way "fatigued" under the Modi dispensation and is looking for a way out. He asserted that his party alone can show the path forward.

(With PTI inputs)THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Local bodies will be asked to set up ward-level natural disaster war chest using their own funds from this year on. This unique administrative measure, which is now in the discussion stage, has been thought up to do away with the usual lag in initiating relief measures whenever disaster strikes.

It is the tahsildar and not the panchayat officials who have control over the disaster relief fund operated by the Revenue Department. This centralised control causes procedural delays in the disbursement of the money for emergency relief measures, a top Revenue Department official said. A local disaster relief chest was a concept that was mooted after the Ockhi disaster struck. That the proposal has been dusted off during the summer is also a sign that disaster experts foresee a more than normal monsoon with landslides and floods.

According to the proposal, grama panchayats will be asked to earmark Rs 5,000, municipal wards Rs 10,000 and corporation wards Rs 15000-20000. The local bodies have been asked to treat this as a kind of trigger fund which should be used to kick off relief measures once disaster strikes. This means that local authorities need not have to wait for revenue money to reach to begin operations, the official said.

The State Disaster Relief Commission has declared as landslide-prone Kozhikode, Wayanad, Idukki and Kottayam districts. During a landslide it has been found that the debris falls down along the rivulets and cascades found along ghat roads in these districts. PWD has been asked to put up boards urgently warning people not to stand under or near the rivulets and cascades along winding mountainous roads, the revenue official said. The concerned local body can initiate such measures with the money they have collected in their chests, he added.Nick Ut points at his photograph of a Vietnamese girl running aflame during the Vietnam war, while minister T.P. Ramakrishnan attempts a click during the opening ceremony of Nick Ut photo exhibition at Art Gallery, Kozhikode on Saturday. (Photo: Venugopal)

KOZHIKODE: Eminent photo journalist Nick Ut was given a rousing welcome by the lens men as well as photo enthusiasts of the city on Saturday. Arriving on Friday evening as state guest, Nick Ut started his site seeing expedition in the wee hours of Saturday. Accompanied by a platoon of photo journalists, Nick Ut snapped the beauty of the beach, the Tali Temple, Beypore, a Kalari and in between posed for countless selfies with fans off and on.

Mr Ut also attended the inaugural session of his photo exhibition held at Academy Art Gallery. It was a celebration time for the photographers who jostled for a click along with him. Vinod Krishnan, a faculty of CREST (Centre for Research and Education for Social Transforma-tion), an autonomous body here, who is an ardent fan of both Nick Ut as well as Vietnam, handed over few articles written by him on Nick Ut and the celebrated photograph that appeared in a magazine. Mr Ut also had a guest from Vietnam at the gallery where Vi Hoang, an intern at CREST, greeted him.

Ms Vi said it thrilled her to be seated along with him during the reception accorded to Ut by the artists community of the city. In the evening the citizenry honoured Ut in an elaborate reception held at Town Hall. Nick Ut would also visit Kadhakali maestro Padma Shri Guru Chemanchery and would snap his expressions on Sunday.VIJAYAWADA: The Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyans Guntur speech is now under the scanner of the netizens, especially associated with the ruling Telugu Desam. As Pawan targeted the CM and also his son Nara Lokesh, the netizens started questioning Pawan Kalyan on various issues including his silence over his brothers Praja Rajyams merger with the Congress. They also are questioning Pawan as to why he brought the government of India in between, into the picture, instead of questioning the Union government, sitting in New Delhi. They are asking Pawan to understand the difference between the Union government and government of India.

The TD social media platforms lambasted Pawan Kalyan for his criticism against the TD chief Chandrababu Naidu and minister Nara Lokesh. The NRI wing of Telugu Desam extensively worked in attacking the Jana Sena chief on social networking sites. As this is an expected reaction, Jana Sena leaders decided to maintain restraint, for some time.

Pawan Kalyan has decided to ignore such criticism against him, as Telugu Desam is in a frustrated state, said a Jana Sena leader. Our leader is on the job of meeting people from across several sections and eliciting their opinions on various issues. Now, his focus is on building the party in a constructive way, to support the cause of the state, he added. The TD MLA Jaleel Khan, meanwhile, questioned Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan as to who has given him the script, for his Guntur public meeting. He stated that all political parties are extending their support to TDs notice on no-confidence motion.Srinagar: Five members of a family were killed and two others critically wounded in Pakistani mortar shelling in Mendhar area of the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmirs Poonch district on Sunday.

The Army said the Pakistani troops resorted to unprovoked mortar shelling on the Indian forward posts and civilians areas from 7.40 am on Sunday in their latest violation of November 2003 ceasefire understanding. The Indian troops retaliated to unprovoked Pakistani shelling promptly and effectively, said a defence spokesman in Jammu.

The Pakistani authorities have reported that nine civilians were injured in the Indian shelling at four different locations in Nakyal sector on their side of the LoC.

The officials in Jammu and Poonch said that mortars fired by the Pakistani troops started raining 0n villages in Balakote sector of Mendhar at 7.40 am. One of the shells landed at the house of one Muhammad Ramzan in Devta village killing the 45-year-old resident, his spouse Malika Bi (45) and three sons - Muhammad Rehman (19), Muhammad Rizwan (18) and Muhammad Razaq (8).

Two of Ramzans daughters Noorain Akhtar (14) and Marin Akhtar (7) who were critically injured in the incident were quickly taken to the district hospital in neighbouring Rajouri where from they were airlifted to government-run Medical College Hospital in winter capital Jammu for specialised treatment.

J&Ks works minister and chief spokesman of the PDP-BJP government Syed Naeem Akhter, among several government functionaries who visited the injured girls in the hospital, said that one of victims had to undergo surgery and that she is now recuperating. The government will take full care of these minor girls who have no one left in the family to look after them, he said adding that all the administrative measures are being taken to reach out to the affected population in the area.

Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti expressed deep shock and grief over the killings. She termed the incident as heart wrenching and said that it caused a wave of shock among the people of the State. She reiterated, Dialogue and reconciliation are the only means to get the State and the region out of this vicious cycle of blood spilling and appealed all sections of society and governments to support the entreaty.

The officials in Muzaffarabad said that nine civilians including two minor girls were injured in the Indian firing in Nakyal sector of the PoKs Poonch district. They said that a mortar shell fired by the Indian troops landed and exploded on the roof of the house of one Haji Aslam in Palani village, critically injuring his three daughters- Massarat, 22, Nargis, 25, and Samra,15. They said two persons Aleeba Majeed, 11, and Muhammad Zahoor Mughal, 35, were injured in Jair Merg and Dharoti Naari villages, respectively and three more Abdul Aziz, 18, Abdul Ghani, 52, and his spouse Farzand Begum, 42, in Balakote belt. Yet another civilian Shamin Akhter, 50 was injured in Naar Dasbi village on their side of the LoC, they said adding that of the nine injured six were removed to district hospital in Kotli.

Nakyals assistant commissioner Waleed Anwar told reporters that the Indian troops started heavy mortar shelling at around 7 am, targeting civilian population in almost all villages along the LoC in Nakyal sector. He said that shelling was going on when reported last came in.

Indian and Pakistani troops and border guards now routinely clash along the LoC and 198-km stretch of the International Border (IB) which is called Working Boundary in Islamabad in Jammu and Kashmir and after each incident they blame each other for initiating the firing. Since January 18 this year, dozens of civilians have been killed and injured on the two sides of the divide lines.

The latest ceasefire violation took place a day after Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh, said the Indian troops forces can cross the LoC, if required to secure Indias borders and said the Central government wants to find out permanent solution to Kashmir problem.

While speaking at TV18 Networks `Rising India Conclave in New Delhi, he said, Our security forces are protecting the borders very well. They are doing a great job inside. If required, they can cross the LoC to protect out territorial integrity. Our security forces have capability to do that. Dont take it lightly.

Late Sunday evening, the Army said that five of its men were also injured in the Pakistani mortar shelling in Balakote sector along the LoC in Mendhar area of Poonch.

The injured soldiers have been identified as Lance Naik Gaurav Vishnak (34), Naik Jitender Verma (23), and Riflemen Budha Rai (33),Rahul Pandey (24) and Subedar Deshbandu (47). All the five were airlifted to Udhampur, the headquarters of the Northern Command, where they have been admitted to the Army Base hospital.Whom do you believe? The politician? His tweet? The Fb post? The quick denial? Veerappa Moilys bombshell about the PWD minister Mahadevappa was quickly withdrawn but hed got his point across  his son Harsha was being denied a ticket to Karkala because money had changed hands!. The story, unverified like everything else has all the drama of a backroom manouevre that went belly up.

Heres why. Former chief minister and eminence grise Veerappa Moily exited Karkala several decades ago and moved to Chikkaballapura where he succeeded in giving his electoral prospects a huge boost, buoyed by support from even JD(S) and from across the border, by getting the backing of the Andhra strongman YSR Reddy whose hold over Hyderabad Karnataka is legion.

Did he believe that after all these years of being absent from his home base, he  or for that matter, his son  would be able to win Karkala?

And theres the nub, the larger, broader argument. If Mr Moily  or any of the old guard - want to throw their sons and daughters into the electoral churn, they, like the rest of the old guard, will come up against the newfound Congress mantra  winnability. Not family. Not old ties. Not friendships. Karnataka is the last Congress bastion of any import left among the paltry collection of four states  barring Punjab, of course - where it currently rules as against the BJPs mammoth 21 of 31 Indian states.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his band of men, albeit many new Congressmen, whom he has tasked to stop the BJP behemoth from sweeping up this southern state have done their homework. In Karkala, it is Mahadevappas pick, a man with 30 years of his nose to the grindstone who can be expected to deliver the seat. Not a newbie.

The Old Guard versus the New is a story that has been playing out ever since Rahul Gandhi was pushed to taking over the partys reins. Theres anger in the party ranks over the fast diminishing Congress base in Uttar Pradesh, made worse when the party follows the advice of the likes of Raj Babbar, and that the party should have withdrawn candidates in the Gorakhpur and Phulpur when the SP-BSP came together rather than eat into the OBC-Dalit vote. Especially when your candidate stood no chance at all.

In the case of Mallikarjun Kharges son Priyank, and others like Dinesh Gundurao, they have earned their electoral chops by working their constituencies and keeping their communication lines open with their vote base. One isnt quite sure whether this applies to all the other inheritors staking a claim to their fathers legacy. The posters coming up all over this city a definite indicator of who wants what.

Contrast this with what is one hearing from the Chief Ministers camp that Siddaramaiah is, in fact, deeply reluctant to field his own son in this electoral bout. He lost his elder son and right hand a year ago and needs to ensure that the BJP, which is throwing everything it has into trying to defeat him in his own constituency, does not succeed in its plans. And while he looks after the state, he needs someone reliable  his second son  to look after his constituency.

The whispered conversation between Siddaramaiah and Rahul Gandhi when he was here on his last visit supposedly had the Congress president cautioning the chief minister against over-confidence. A conversation that sounded very similar to the one between Sonia Gandhi and Aroon Purie, the head of publishing house India Today, where she says they are confident but not over-confident about Karnataka.

Internal surveys conducted by the Congress are not overly optimistic, and accept that its an uphill battle, given the BJPs ability to mobilize votes and consolidate the Hindu vote against a party that the saffronists have dubbed appeases minorities  aka Muslims. Here too Sonias comment about the party having more Hindus than Muslims and her blistering attack at the party plenary is a signal that the Congress is aware it must protect its flanks.

Fact is, the seat distribution in Congress is all but done and dusted with almost every minister and sitting MLA cleared to re-contest, and insiders saying that nearly 135-140 seats have already been decided. There is the matter of what the party is going to do about the JD(S) rebels. And the question mark it has put over sitting MLAs who won by very slim margins last time, that is by less than a margin of 5,000 -10,000  15,000 votes, and of course, those who lost with equally small margins. One hears that the only exception to this rule is the KPCC president G. Paramewshar who lost by 35,000 votes. The Congress strategy is to ensure it wins a minimum of at least 125 seats. The pressure is on, and all MLAs have been sent back to their constituencies to plug every hole and address every grievance. With speculation rife that the Election Commission could announce polls by the middle of next week, either by March 21 or March 22, and set the dates for polling in the first week of May, as early as May 6 even, time is of the essence.

Clearly, the heat is on. Elections are round the corner and its open season as everyone scrambles for a piece of the pie, crumbs and all. Thats probably why the twitter war is going to get down and dirty. In the Telugu-speaking belt all the way from Ballari to Chickallapur, after the TDP broke ranks and quit the NDA alliance, a whatsapp message is now urging the community not to vote the BJP!

One doesnt quite know what the BJPs septuagenarian leader B.S. Yeddyurappa  not a millennial - was trying with his post that there would be a spectacular anouncement, except none came. Was he testing the waters to see if he had a twitter following like the Prime Minister Narendra Modi? Or did he really have some dirt on the chief minister, that we knew nothing about? Or was he just trying to pre-empt his arch rival, who had already shaken his Lingayat roost by playing the Lingayat card, from pandering to Kannada pride with a flag march on March 21, where Karnatakas new flag will be aired!!

Siddaramaiahs salvo to Yogi Adityanath when the Gorakhpurpeeth fell to the Samajwadis telling him to stay out of Karnataka, underlined Congress' concerns over retaining its last southern redoubt. Perhaps, they should take comfort from the whispers in Lucknow that Yogi  a Thakur - was deliberately cut to size? Why would he field a Brahmin in a predominantly Thakur constituency, when the poll czar Amit Shah must have known he would be cold-shouldered. The low voter turnout on Sunday had me wondering what was up. It was only when the results came in, and the scale of the defeat became obvious, that one realized the bigger game  Modi wasnt ready to anoint anyone as his successor. Least of all, a man who snatched UP from under his nose. For now, Yogi Adityanath, the man who whips up communal passions, is back in the box. Perhaps, Siddaramaiah can take comfort from that...Uttar Pradesh sends 31 MPs to the 245-member Rajya Sabha, and the BJP, which won a massive victory in the 2017 Assembly elections, is yet to get a lion's share of these. (Photo: File/ANI)

Lucknow: After its unexpected defeat in the recent Lok Sabha bypolls in Gorakhpur and Phulpur, the ruling BJP might be in for fresh trouble in this week's Rajya Sabha polls on 10 seats from Uttar Pradesh, with a sulking ally keeping its cards close to its chest.

While the BJP has the numbers to send its eight candidates to the Upper House, its ally, Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP), which has four MLAs in the 403-member UP Assembly, holds key to the fate of its ninth nominee.

The SP and the BSP have exuded confidence that they would win two of the 10 seats. The polls are scheduled for March 23.

"How can I tell you that whether we will be voting for the BJP or any other party in the Rajya Sabha elections? We are yet to take a final stand on this," SBSP chief Omprakash Rajbhar told news agency PTI.

Rajbhar said his party was not consulted by the BJP before announcing the candidate. "We are still in alliance with the BJP," he said, "but did they ever consult us before finalising their candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections and Lok Sabha bypolls (to Gorakhpur and Phulpur)?"

"They fielded their candidates in the urban local bodies polls, but did they appropriately discharge the alliance dharma. In the Lok Sabha bypoll did they ever ask the alliance partners what could be their possible roles?" he rued.

The SBSP chief also said, "Unless someone (from the BJP) asks us, how will talks take place? Should I on my own go and say that I will vote for you."

"Finalising the candidate is their job, not ours. But, as a courtesy they should ask at least once as to whether we will join them in campaigning. Not a single leader asked us. In this scenario, how can I tell you whether we will be voting for the BJP or any other party in the Rajya Sabha elections. We are yet to take a final call," he added.

On whether his party will cross-vote, Rajbhar, who is also a cabinet minister in the Adityanth government said, "We are in alliance, and if they do not discharge the alliance dharma, should we go to them and say that please take our vote?"

He claimed his party could have influenced at least 30,000 votes in the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha bypolls and the results could have been otherwise.

Also read: Overconfidence, inability to gauge SP-BSP ties led to BJP defeat: Adityanath

"But, it seems we have no utility (for the BJP). Similarly, in Phulpur, we were not invited even once to campaign for the BJP candidate," he said.

A sulking Rajbhar also said, "You have kept us in alliance. Either I don't know how to discharge the alliance dharma or I am saying something wrong. The nominations for the Rajya Sabha elections have been done. But, is it not the duty of the BJP to consult us and deliberate on the election."

The president of the SBSP observed that the dalits and backwards classes have been "ignored", and this trend is continuing.

However, seeking to downplay SBSP's annoyance, state BJP spokesperson Manish Shuka said, "All our alliance partners are with the BJP. Both the Apna Dal (Sonelal) and SBSP are with the BJP. I am confident that they will vote for the BJP in the Rajya Sabha elections. The alliance is in best of health and all the partners are together." Shukla also exuded confidence that all the BJP candidates will win the Rajya Sabha elections.

The BJP and its allies currently have 324 seats in the Assembly after the death of its Noorpur MLA in a road accident recently and to secure a straight win in this Rajya Sabha election, a candidate needs 37 first preference votes. Thus, arithmetically, the BJP can easily win eight of the 10 seats and be left with 28 surplus votes. If the SBSP decides not to go with the BJP, even then the eight candidates of the BJP will smoothly sail through, and the party will be left with 24 surplus first preference votes. "There can be some contest on the ninth seat," a senior UP BJP leader said.

With 19 MLAs, the BSP is short of 18 first preference votes, and with Naresh Agarwal's son Nitin, who is still an SP MLA, likely to cross-vote for the BJP, the task will become difficult for Mayawati's candidate Bhimrao Ambedkar. After the new found bonhomie with the SP, Mayawati is banking on the 10 surplus votes of Akhilesh Yadav's party, besides seven votes of the Congress and one of RLD to reach the magic figure of 37 votes. However, Nitin Agarwal can queer the BSP's pitch if he votes for the BJP. Naresh Agarwal, who recently quit the SP and joined the BJP, has said his son would vote for the saffron party in the Rajya Sabha polls.

The country's most populous state sends 31 MPs to the 245-member Rajya Sabha, and the BJP, which won a massive victory in the 2017 Assembly elections, is yet to get a lion's share of these.

With 83 members in the Upper House, the NDA is well short of a majority. The BJP has 58 Rajya Sabha MPs. The BJP candidates in the fray from UP are Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Ashok Bajpai, Vijay Pal Singh Tomar, Sakal Deep Rajbhar, Kanta Kardam, Anil Jain, Harnath Singh Yadav, GVL Narasimha Rao and Anil Kumar Agarwal.

The SP has fielded Jaya Bachchan and BSP Bhimrao Ambedkar.New Delhi: Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday launched a scathing attack on the NDA government, accusing it of having messed up the economy and mismanaging the dispute in Jammu and Kashmir.

Speaking at the party plenary, the former Prime Minister said: The BJP government made tall promises. Modi himself said that his government will double farmers incomes. For that, a growth rate of 12 per cent per annum is necessary, which is unthinkable in the current scenario.

Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modis proclivity for jumlebaazi (empty rhetoric), Dr Singh charged that the work done by this government falls short of the claims made by its leaders.

Attacking the government on the economy, Dr Singh said: The BJP claimed in 2014 that if it came to power it would provide two crore jobs. But we have not seen even two lakh jobs. He also added that the ill-thought and ill-conceived demonetisation plan and hastily put forward legislation on GST had destroyed many jobs and created problems for the small and medium scale and the informal sector, both in terms of production and providing jobs.

Dr Singh spoke on many issues, and was accorded a standing ovation by the party leaders.

He further added: The Modi government has mismanaged Jammu and Kashmir like never before, the atmosphere is deteriorating day in and day out, that is obvious from the fact that our borders are insecure. Noting the cut in the defence budget, Dr Singh said: The defence expenditure of our country is no more than 1.6 per cent of our GDP. This is far too inadequate to meet the challenges of our security apparatus and our needs.He was in critical condition. The man went to a store at The Oaks mall in the city of Thousand Oaks had an argument with the 30-year-old victim before shooting her, Ventura County sheriff's Sergeant Eric Buschow said. (Photo: AP/ Representational)

Thousand Oaks: A man argued with his former wife at a Southern California mall before shooting her to death and turning the gun on himself, authorities said, leading shoppers to run into stores and out the exits on Saturday.

The 33-year-old Los Angeles-area gunman was wounded and taken to a hospital, officials said. He was in critical condition, the Ventura County Star newspaper reported .

The man went to a store at The Oaks mall in the city of Thousand Oaks, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) west of Los Angeles, and had an argument with the 30-year-old victim before shooting her, Ventura County sheriff's Sergeant Eric Buschow said.

The divorced couple have children, who have been found safe, said Buschow, adding that initial indications show the shooting was a murder and attempted suicide.

The gunshots at the shopping center with open-air and indoor shopping space led to some chaos and a lockdown.

Jeffrey Simpson, 17, was shopping with his mother at a department store when an announcement came over the intercom about a threat outside the mall.

"I went to Nordstrom to get pants, and the next thing I know, the doors are being sealed," Simpson said.

He said he and his mom were "a little shaken" but okay. They were in the store for more than an hour but shoppers were free to move around and employees were helping people stay comfortable and calm, Simpson said.

Matt Lemieux told the newspaper that he was working on his computer inside a coffee store when he suddenly saw "a whole group of people" running by.

"It was creepy," he said.The president of Mauritius, Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, resigned from the ceremonial position on Saturday, her lawyer said, amid accusations of financial impropriety that triggered a dispute between her and the prime minister. (Photo: AP)

Port Louis: The president of Mauritius, Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, resigned from the ceremonial position on Saturday, her lawyer said, amid accusations of financial impropriety that triggered a dispute between her and the prime minister.

The president's lawyer Yousuf Mohamed told local Radio Plus that she had decided to resign "to prevent a constitutional crisis".

"She doesn't want the country ... to suffer. In the country's best interests she has decided to leave," the lawyer said.

On Wednesday the president - who denies wrongdoing - rejected calls to resign, saying she was ready to provide evidence in court to debunk the accusations, prompting a rebuke from the prime minister.

Gurib-Fakim's resignation letter had been sent to the speaker of parliament and she will leave office on March 23, Mohamed added.

The president has been facing growing pressure, including from Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth, after a local paper, L'Express, said she had used a credit card issued by an international non-governmental organization to buy clothes and jewellery in Italy and Dubai.

The Indian Ocean archipelago markets itself as a bridge between Africa and Asia. Its economy relies on sugar, textiles and tourism but it is trying to develop new sectors like offshore banking, business outsourcing and luxury real estate.Accolades to our state legislators for passing SB 54: Marriage and Premarital Counseling and Education Amendments last week. As a graduate student at USU in social work (and a divorced single mother), I have researched this bill and believe it will have a positive impact on future Utah families.

Premarital counseling helps couples build a stronger foundation for marriage and decreases the chances of divorce. Evidence shows that couples with premarital education stay married in the first five years, and when they come across marital problems, they are three times more likely to get counseling help.

Premarital counseling educates couples about what to expect in marriage. Many entering marriage today have grown up in broken families and have not been mentored in the ways of successful relationships. Premarital education helps couples learn about commitment, managing finances, dealing with in-laws and how to raise children. Communication is also a major factor in marital success  such as how to disagree without doing harm to the relationship and how communication can also strengthen the connection.

With SB 54, couples who engage in premarital counseling will receive a $20 rebate when applying for a marriage licence. This is a bargain considering the fact broken families are expensive and divorce can be financially devastating to individuals and children.

Again, kudos to our government for doing something to promote happy and stable families, rather than waiting downstream to deal with the consequences of failed marriages and broken families.

Angela Huntington

Bluffdale"IN THE HEIGHTS  CONCERT VERSION," March 16-17, Pioneer Theatre Company, 300 S. 1400 East (801-581-6961 or pioneertheatre.org); running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes (one intermission)

SALT LAKE CITY  The musical embryo sounds of "Hamilton" rang out Friday night through the Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre as the cast of Pioneer Theatre Companys "In the Heights" danced and sang their way through a concert version of Lin-Manuel Miranda's first Tony Award-winning hit. It seems a little disrespectful to "In the Heights" to bring up its mega-hit offspring  it is, after all, a solid hit in its own right  but the comparison is inevitable.

Mirandas first Broadway musical, set in his native Manhattan, follows a group of predominately Hispanic-American residents in the Washington Heights neighborhood, which includes a young bodega owner named  somewhat unfortunately  Usnavi De La Vega (named after a passing ship); Vanessa, the young woman he pines after; Nina Rosario, the neighborhood's golden girl who just returned from her first year at Stanford; and Benny, Nina's father's employee who just might be in love with her.

Once a year, PTC produces a concert version of a musical, but this year's "In the Heights," which the company performed in full in 2012, is more of a staged concert, with moving sets, plenty of dancing, action and a live band on stage. If anything, the actors' music folders felt unnecessary and cumbersome, occasionally acting as a prop but generally just getting in the way.

Diego Klock-Perez as Usnavi exuded swagger, sweetness and just a hint of goofiness in the role that Miranda played on Broadway. His raps were as strong as his singing, and Klock-Perez managed to hit his character's tricky intersection of insecurity and confidence, moving between a young man who believes in his abilities to a young man who can't muster up the courage to ask out the girl of his dreams. Speaking of that girl, Ariana Escalante's clear voice made her character Vanessa's songs some of the night's most memorable, as we felt her struggle to be free from her upbringing's poverty and home problems and head to a better life downtown.

One of the night's standout performances was Micki Martinez as Nina, in what is also the play's most nuanced role. Nina is the smart, driven daughter of Dominican immigrants and small-business owners, Kevin and Camila Rosario (played by Enrique Acevedo and Melissa Blatherwick). She is the one who "got out," thanks to a scholarship to Stanford University. But when Nina returns to Washington Heights after her first year, Martinez made the audience feel the weight of Nina's pressure to please not just her parents, but her whole neighborhood  a pressure that becomes more poignant when she reveals she has dropped out of school. Martinez's strong voice carried her through the powerful ballad, "Everything I Know," and was a welcome addition to any ensemble number.

Rounding out the four romantic leads was Carleton Bluford as Benny, the hardworking young man who believes  along with Nina's father  that he isn't good enough for Nina, but goes after her anyway. Matos' Benny had an undercurrent of strength as we watched him emerge from his youthful insecurities and transform into a young man who believes in his own power to succeed.

The rest of PTC's "In the Heights" cast gamely kept up with the four young leads, with a special notice for Abuela Claudia, the neighborhood grandmother and guardian angel.

Anyone who has heard the music to Miranda's "Hamilton" will instantly recognize his beats, raps and musical cues in "In the Heights," and seeing this production is a wonderful primer for next's month's "Hamilton" takeover.

But "Hamilton" or not, "In the Heights" is a joyful, thoughtful and highly tuneful production that shows no matter how much you may want something new, it's your family  neighbors and all  who love and know you best.

Content advisory: "In the Heights" has some cursing, but no strong language, and no violence or strong sexual content.SALT LAKE CITY  The unprecedented frenzy ignited last year when Amazon sought a host for its secondary headquarters  with some areas offerings incentives worth billions of dollars  has prompted one think tank to look at the relative effectiveness of tax incentive programs in four U.S. municipalities, including Salt Lake County.

Authors of the Brookings Institution report noted that critics questioned why a company worth over three-quarters of a trillion dollars was seeking a public subsidy, but also highlighted the outsized interest in responding to Amazon's request for proposals was driven, at least in part, by the dearth of opportunities to attract big investments.

Eventually, over 200 cities, states and provinces would submit bids, including Utah, and some hoped to entice the $5 billion investment and 50,000 new jobs with tax incentive proposals that reportedly rose as high as $7 billion.

"The incredible volume of city bids, and the historic size of the incentive packages, reflects not only the scale of the Amazon investment, but the intense pressure that economic development officials in U.S. cities and states are under to deliver economic opportunity in the face of widening socioeconomic disparities," the report reads.

The Brookings report gave Salt Lake County high marks for incentive outcomes across numerous metrics, including effectiveness at supporting business growth in depressed neighborhoods, supporting businesses that boosted export growth and creating the highest average annual salaries for incentivized businesses, over $104,000, among the four study cities.

Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams said the Brookings report reaffirmed both highlights and some weaknesses in the county's work to leverage incentive funding to spur growth.

"The report notes we're doing a good job in attracting high-growth industries and our incentives are targeted in the right places," McAdams said. "But it also shows that we need to do a better job in preparing the workforce for the jobs that are coming here."

A 2016 report from the Economic Policy Institute noted Utah had the lowest socioeconomic gap in the country, and the state's most populous county acquitted itself well in Brookings' comparison to Cincinnati, Indianapolis and San Diego. However, the report did highlight the need for a higher degree of transparency and a more specific effort to direct funding at job training/employment improvement efforts.

Data collected in the report included both state and local-level incentive efforts to attract new companies or to entice local businesses to keep expansions at home versus looking out-of-state. Utah state and local officials say they've stuck to a fiscally conservative approach in utilizing incentive programs driven by tax dollars and have refrained from being dazzled by big corporate brands. They also underscored efforts underway to both elevate incentive transparency and build more inclusion into outcomes.

Brookings notes from 2012-16, the state of Utah and Salt Lake County combined invested over $400 million in incentive programs focused on projects, new business and business expansions in Salt Lake County. Of that, just over $140 million went into post-performance incentives overseen by the Governor's Office of Economic Development and the majority of county funding, about $214 million, was spent via tax increment financing in designated redevelopment areas.

GOED Director Val Hale said while post-performance incentives have been an effective way to boost the state's economic vitality, his agency is increasing its focus on creating more qualified workers to match evolving employer needs.

"As the economy has evolved toward full employment, we've elevated our emphasis on fulfilling critical needs in workforce development," Hale said. "GOED, the Legislature and the Department of Worforce Services are finding ways to solve some of these workforce challenges."

Hale noted new additions to the state's Talent Ready programming, efforts to entice businesses to add job opportunities in rural Utah and a new program, approved in the recent legislative session, that will offer some tuition reimbursement for students with science, technology, engineering or math degrees who stay in-state to work.

Similarly, McAdams threw his support behind last session's HB480, a bill that would have created new opportunities to funnel state economic development dollars to job training/employment improvement programs. While the bill did not make through the legislative process, McAdams believes it will earn support in 2019.

Hale also outlined a new public web portal that GOED will be launching "in the very near future" that will facilitate access to data and information on recipients of state incentive funding, including metrics that detail how well companies are tracking with promised job creation and capital investments.

The track records of both Hale and McAdams have reflected that corporate cache fails to figure into their economic analysis.

Back in 2016, McAdams withheld his support of a proposed new Facebook data center in West Jordan, underscoring that the $240 million in tax breaks the city was offering was out of scale for the estimated 70-100 jobs that would ultimately be created by the investment.

And, in the midst of a continent-wide scrum to assemble incentive packages to impress Amazon executive team late last year, Hale and company stood fast on an approach that values caution over chaos.

"We're never going to be throwing money out in terms of just trying to buy a project," Hale told the Deseret News following the release of the Amazon HQ2 call for proposals last year. "We don't get flashy and our incentives are never the most lucrative. We protect the taxpayer by not paying companies up front."PLEASANT GROVE  Many millennials can probably remember expressing their angst on Myspace and sharing sad songs with other downtrodden adolescents whom they'd never met in person, back when social media first became a thing.

That was just the beginning.

The latest batch of teens, otherwise known as Gen Z, is maturing in a world where most of them have a cellphone and social media is right at their fingertips 24/7.

But what are they really doing when their eyes are glued to the screen?

One Pleasant Grove ninth-grade science teacher tried to find out. Skipper Coates asked 85 of her students  ages 14 and 15  to finish the sentence: "What my parents don't know about social media is..."

Last week, she uploaded photos of some of the teenagers' anonymous answers in a Facebook post and a post on the popular blog Love What Matters. The responses went viral, being shared more than 80,000 times by Tuesday.

Some of the answers may frighten parents.

"theirs (sic) a lot of ciber bullying, sexting, porn and people that don't care about you and try to make you feel like crap," one student writes.

"I'm on it till like 2 a.m. every day," another claims.

"I get nudes from boys I don't even know. I expose and make fun of everyone and I love catfishing," one student writes.

"I have a secret rant account I talk about my mental health about. I also have internet friends," another states.

Of the 85 kids involved, only five said they didn't have social media accounts. Confessions like the ones above were common among the other 80 students' responses, Coates said.

According to the science teacher, all the students get A's on average, and "by all accounts, they are 'good kids.'"

"There have always been bullies, there have always been promiscuous teens, and there have always been those on the fringe who experiment with drugs," Coates writes in her Love What Matters post.

However, social media has given today's generation of teens a "platform" for these behaviors at all times of the day, and an audience that "doesn't understand long-term consequences," she said.

Coates' interest in the topic is personal. She has an 11-year-old son.

"He's getting really interested in when we're gonna give him a smartphone, and he's gotta get a SnapChat account, and he's hearing all of this kind of at his age," she said.

She says she fights a battle every day in the classroom because "kids cannot put the phones down."

When she asked for her students' opinions on the topic, she didn't expect them to be "so honest," she said.

"Ive been in the classroom for the introduction of Pinterest, SnapChat, Instagram, and Facebook Messenger. As Ive watched this technology change, Ive seen a direct correlation to the happiness of the kids in my classes," she wrote.

Their answers led her to put out this caution to other parents: "Your kids are living in a world that you are not invited to be a part of. And they know how to keep you out."

"Your teenager does not need a smartphone," she suggests.

However, Carrie Rogers-Whitehead disagrees.

"I don't feel like we're delving into the heart of the issue," she said.

A mother herself, Rogers-Whitehead serves as CEO of Digital Respons-Ability, a Utah-based company that seeks to educate people to be wise and "empowered digital citizens."

Before taking away teenagers' smartphones, a more effective way to address problems is the "prevention science model," Rogers-Whitehead told the Deseret News.

"The technology is a tool. It's the underlying issues that cause the problems," she said.

The prevention science model addresses and seeks to solve issues that cause negative behaviors.

For example, "if I have been cyberbullied and I have negative peer influence, I have higher risk factors for negative behavior online," Rogers-Whitehead said.

If a teen is lonely, technology can provide them a "wonderful way to connect," or it can be a tool for peers to negatively influence them, she said.

The Digital Respons-Ability CEO suggests that it is natural for teenagers to hide certain things from their parents. But if a teen is hiding a lot, it shows that they may feel distrust, shamed or unsafe, she said.

By taking away teenagers' cellphones, video games or other outlets, parents won't get to the underlying issue, and the outlet will need to be replaced with another, Rogers-Whitehead added.

She recommends ways parents can help kids "create healthy technology norms" from a young age. Parents should "model" healthy technology uses by doing things like putting away their phones during family time, for example.

"What they see as normal in the home, they're going to perpetuate outside the home," she said.

Between the ages of 8-12, parents should teach kids how to use digital accounts and should manage their children's accounts and passwords, Rogers-Whitehead says.

By the time children become teenagers, Rogers-Whitehead recommends letting kids manage their own accounts but monitoring their activity.

Stop Bullying, a website managed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, also discusses many of the risks children face every time they get online and how parents can stay digitally aware. It also suggests parents watch their teens' online activity and establish rules early on.

"We're just figuring it out because we didn't have those norms (when we were young)," Rogers-Whitehead said of parenting in the digital age.

"It's a person issue. It's not necessarily a technology issue," she added.

Since her story went viral, the parents of her students and community members have been supportive, Coates said.

However, only one of her students has had their phone taken away. But most have said that their parents talked to them about the issue.

The science teacher says she is happy to have helped start a conversation.SALT LAKE CITY  Shouting chants like, "Say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here!" and "Up, up with immigration  down, down with deportation!" hundreds of students and pro-immigration advocates braved the cold and wet snow on Saturday morning to voice their support for the scores of Utah residents in immigration limbo.

Gathering at Presidents Circle on the University of Utah campus, the group staged a walking demonstration to highlight "the authentic reality" of undocumented community members in Utah and the need for change, explained Amy Dominguez, event co-organizer with Unidad Inmigrante.

"We want to bring attention back to the fact there are undocumented communities still at risk," she said. "Deportations are still imminent and this community is still facing risks that a lot of the public doesn't understand."

She noted that immigrants in various plights of undocumented status are all over the state, and each individual deserves to be treated with compassion and humanity rather than being forced to leave the U.S. just because of their immigration standing.

"A lot of time, these community members have been here a long, long time doing their best and contributing to society," she said. "They deserve to be recognized and they deserve to stay."

She advocated for policy changes that would give undocumented individuals the opportunity to progress to citizenship without the constant threat of deportation hanging over their heads.

"People are afraid!" Dominguez said. "With (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) perched and waiting for them. It's a very scary time."

Noting that the method for naturalized citizenship is prolonged and costly, undocumented people are often unable to marshal the resources necessary to complete the traditional process, she said.

"It is extremely expensive to have to hire a lawyer to file the paperwork you have to pay for on top of paying for a lawyer," she said. "This is an 'undocumented reality' (that) people don't understand ... what it takes to become legalized."

She implored Congress to develop policies that give undocumented people a legitimate chance to become citizens.

"Something comprehensive needs to happen so that we can acknowledge the undocumented community members that live here," Dominguez said.

The march traveled from Presidents Circle to First Unitarian Church in Salt Lake City, which has become a "sanctuary" for Honduran immigrant Vicky Chavez and her two children who arrived in January. The church has been a refuge for the family while an application for asylum in the U.S. is working its way through the legal system.

Assistant Minister Monica Dobbins said the immigration issue is complex, but the country should be able to figure out a way to provide citizenship opportunities for deserving people who want to move to America.

"For many people, there are not currently legal paths to get into the United States and there should be," she said. "We want to make sure that families can stay together because it is so important for children and for parents to be united as one family."

Noting the exceptionally complicated nature of the entire immigration dilemma, Rev. Dobbins said any potential solution "should start from a place of compassion."

"From understanding our history, this (current debate) is just the latest in 200 to 300 years of excluding people from immigration, excluding people from citizenship," she said. "At some point, we have to put a stop to it and say, 'We want people to be a part of our country and we welcome the diversity that immigrants bring to our nation. We think it makes the nation stronger, healthier and a happier place to live.'"

Regarding the Vicky Chavez asylum case, she said her church is doing what is necessary to support family unity by providing sanctuary as the case goes through the court process.

"Part of what we're doing is really trying to keep this family together," Rev. Dobbins said. "(We'll provide help) for as long as it takes. We're in it for the long haul."

Meanwhile, the rally featured a number of speakers, including "Dreamer" Ciriac Alvarez, 20, an undocumented immigrant who came to the U.S. from Mexico with her parents when she was 5 years old. She said her status has been an issue for her for as long as she could remember.

"My parents always told us not to tell people where you came from and to not talk about our family too much," she explained. "There was a lot of worry about what could happen to you and the rest of your family."

Despite living with the constant anxiety of possible deportation, Alvarez was able to matriculate through school and eventually earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Utah. For all intents and purposes, she considers herself to be an American and wishes there was a way to make that a reality, she said.

"There should be a permanent solution like the DREAM Act, legislation that would allow a pathway to citizenship for almost 3.5 million of us, so young people like me who grew up here and have lived our lives can be a part of these communities," she explained. The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act is a proposal that would grant qualified undocumented minors in the U.S. conditional residency, with the opportunity for permanent status upon meeting further requirements.

"We should also include people like Vicky Chavez, people like my parents, like my family members who have been here over 10 years  some for decades," Alvarez added. "It's important that when we highlight people like me, who've had the opportunity to go to school here and graduate from high school and from college. (We should) also highlight people like Vicky who want that same opportunity for her daughters and her family members."

During her comments to the crowd gathered in the courtyard of the church, she described herself as "undocumented and unafraid." While she admitted there was some hyperbole in those words, there was also a great deal of truth.

"I'm unafraid to share my story. I'm willing to stand up and be courageous and share that I am undocumented to allow people to understand that we're all over (Utah)," Alvarez said. "I want to be able to say it so other people just like me can be unafraid and share their story."TOOELE  Fifty years ago, on March 19, which was a Wednesday in 1968, the Deseret News broke a story that would have significant worldwide ramifications.

The reporter who broke the news remembers it like it was yesterday.

I was sitting at home on Tuesday night the 18th when a county commissioner called me, says Joseph Liddell. He said, Joe, Ive got a scoop for you. Weve got 5,000 dead sheep.

In the next days Deseret News, this lead appeared: SKULL VALLEY, Tooele County  A mystery epidemic had killed possibly 5,000 sheep today, leaving a sea of dead animals on the ranches and winter ranges of Skull Valley.

Ever since, the world has never looked at chemical warfare the same.

  

Liddell will be 95 in a couple of months and hes still as with it as he was when he was a young man growing up in Erda, the little farm town next door to Tooele.

As evidenced by the following exchange:

Me: So have you lived in Tooele County all your life?

Liddell: Well, not quite. Im still living it.

Liddells byline appeared in the Deseret News over a 36-year period, from 1957 to 1993, when he retired at age 70. As a city desk reporter, he covered a variety of big news stories, from Ted Bundy to prison breaks to Donald Campbells crash on the Salt Flats.

But its the sheep story that resonates loudest all these years later.

The most significant news story I ever did, says Liddell, who still lives in the same house on the same street in Tooele hes called home for more than half a century.

It was where he got the phone call that night from the county commissioner.

How I ever slept after that Ill never know, he says.

The Deseret News was an afternoon newspaper in 1968, meaning the staff arrived in the morning to put out the paper. Liddells shift on March 19 started at 4:30 a.m. He was the first to arrive at the office. After he turned on the teletype machine, he breathed easier when he noted there was nothing about the dead sheep on the wires.

Then he sat down at his typewriter and wrote his story, referencing shorthand notes hed jotted down the night before.

When the editors looked at what Liddell had, they decided to run a banner headline on Page A1  Mystery Illness Kills 5,000 Utah Sheep  and lead the local section on B1 with the story.

Still, Liddell didnt sense much of a vibe.

They didnt realize what a bombshell it was, he says. But I did.

His hunch was verified as soon as the news hit the street and the wires.

My phone started ringing and didnt stop, he says. I got a call from Belgium, another from New Zealand, and from all over the East Coast. It was driving me crazy.

The reason, of course, wasnt because of the dead sheep. It was because the U.S. Armys Dugway Proving Grounds bordered the Skull Valley range where the sheep died.

In the days that followed, the Army admitted it had tested a nerve agent the day before the sheep started dying. By summer, the government  while not explicitly accepting full responsibility  nonetheless paid out $376,685 in damages to the owners of 6,249 deceased or disabled sheep.

Liddell wrote about all that, too.

And the next year, he wrote about President Richard Nixon announcing the end of Americas offensive biological weapons program, a stand that in turn led to an international ban on chemical warfare.

It isnt far-fetched to suggest that the rise of the modern environmental movement can be traced back to those dead sheep in Tooele County.

The world picked up their ears, says Liddell. The words chemical warfare got their attention.

The old newsman smiles at the memory of what his scoop wrought. He also smiles at the irony that even all these years later, the mystery illness he wrote about is still a mystery.

While its generally accepted that the Army did it, theres a growing body of scientific research that suggests the culprit might have been an insecticide that was sprayed by ranchers at the same time in the same vicinity.

I think it was the Army, says Liddell. The coincidence is just too hard to explain. But I also have serious reservations because the insecticide the ranchers used was capable of killing just like the nerve gas.

What he knows for sure is 5,000 sheep died, and then some, in Tooele County 50 years ago  and he was the first to let the world know.SALT LAKE CITY  More than 60,000 women will be diagnosed with endometrial cancer this year and more than 12,000 will die from it, according to American Cancer Society statistics.

One Utah cancer researcher believes that warrants a closer look at what's happening inside the body.

Jay Gertz and his colleagues at the Huntsman Cancer Institute focused for years on the cancer of the uterine lining and discovered that the way two very common hormones (estrogen and cortisol) interact when cancer is present makes a big difference.

"It was shocking to us that cortisol  known as the stress hormone  working together with estrogen was creating more aggressive cancer growth in some people," Gertz, a Huntsman cancer researcher and assistant professor of oncological sciences, said Wednesday. He said everyone has changing levels of estrogen and cortisol in their bodies, so it isn't just increased stress that exacerbates endometrial cancer, but the way the cortisol affects cancer cells in the uterus.

"In general, cortisol is actually growth-suppressive, it stops growth in the uterus," he said, adding that wasn't the case in the mouse models tested for the study published in Cell Reports.

The thinking now, with Gertz's latest research, might be that if a tumor is present in the endometrium, cortisol could be feeding it or making it more aggressive.

"Estrogen has gotten a lot of press and a lot of research is directed at it, so finding that the glucocorticoid receptor may have interaction is new and not a lot of people have looked at that to date," said Dr. Maggie Janat-Amsbury, a gynecologic oncologist at the University of Utah School of Medicine and member of Huntsman Cancer Institute's Women's Cancer Disease-Oriented Research Team that worked on the latest research.

"We know about estrogen's role in the disease, but what's interesting is we have a stress signal coming in and affecting the tumor's biology," Gertz said.

Researchers consulted genomic and molecular data from hundreds of endometrial cancer patients collected over the years and as more becomes available, Janat-Amsbury said the findings may be corroborated.

"Our vision will be to advance this into a clinical trial, to see if we can personalize treatment for endometrial cancer," she said. "Because no two women who hear the same diagnosis will actually have the same disease."

Previously believed to affect only post-menopausal women over about age 60, Janat-Amsbury said endometrial cancer is occurring more often in younger women who are still in their reproductive ages.

"This is not exclusively a disease of older women anymore," she said.

Once detected, the primary approach is surgery, a hysterectomy, or removal of the uterus. If the cancer is more advanced and has spread, radiation and/or chemotherapy is necessary. Beyond that, there is no acceptable treatment, the researchers said.

Once the research is verified in humans, Gertz said they will need to find the best ways to block the signals of estrogen and cortisol and the ways they act together.

He said doctors are pretty good at treating endometrial cancer, as it typically isn't very aggressive, but, "it is the most common gynecological cancer, so there are a lot of women suffering with it."

"Uterine cancer is one of the few cancers that is on the rise, and I think that really warrants more research into the disease," Gertz said.

Their findings, Janat-Amsbury said, reiterate the need for new thinking about endometrial cancers, of which there has been just two classifications thus far. She said the types are variably different and exhibit differently in different women and cellular research like theirs is proving that.

"With all this molecular information, we can be more personalized in treatment," Janat-Amsbury said.Save my User ID and Password

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Support our mission and join our community now.The 2018 TVS Apache RTR 160 4V also becomes the most powerful bike in the popular 160cc segment. One of the fierce rival for the new Apache 160 is the Bajaj Pulsar NS160. So how does the Apache RTR 160 4V fare against the Pulsar NS160? Let's find out in this comparison on design, specifications, features and price.

Design

The overall design of the new TVS Apache RTR 160 4V is similar to its elder sibling, the Apache RTR 200 4V. The motorcycle gets a sharp headlamp upfront with integrated LED DRLs. The sculpted fuel tank with aggressive shrouds adds to the sporty look of the new Apache RTR 160 4V.

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The side profile of the TVS Apache RTR 160 4V gets side panels finished in silver colour with the Apache branding. The bike also gets a sharp engine belly pan. The chequered flag decal on the fuel tank highlight the racing DNA of the Apache RTR 160.The new TVS insignia on the tank adds a premium touch to the new Apache RTR 160 4V.

The tail section of the 2018 TVS Apache RTR 160 4V features sporty split grab rail, LED tail light and a short rear fender. The bike features the same dual-barrel exhaust seen on the Apache RTR 200 4V.

The Bajaj Pulsar NS160 looks identical to the bigger Pulsar NS200. The motorcycle features a sharp headlamp with twin pilot lamps. The tank is muscular with shrouds and the 160 branding. The side panels and frame are blacked out, and the engine belly pan adds to the looks of the bike.

The tail section of the Pulsar NS160 feature signature twin-LED tail light, sporty split grab rail, a rear tyre hugger and tail-tidy fender design. The dual-tone colour scheme and the body-coloured rim strips enhance the sporty appeal of the Pulsar NS160.

Overall Design Rating

2018 TVS Apache RTR 160 4V 8/10

Bajaj Pulsar NS160 8/10

Features

The newly launched TVS Apache RTR 160 4V comes with several new features such as fully-digital instrument cluster borrowed from the Apache RTR 200 4V, LED DRL, LED tail light, new single piece handlebar, ram-air intake and alloy wheels.

The new TVS Apache RTR 160 4V is equipped with telescopic forks up front, Showa-tuned monoshock suspension at the rear and dual-barrel exhaust muffler. Braking duties are handled by disc brakes at both the ends.

The Bajaj Pulsar NS160 also comes with several premium features such as analogue-digital instrument cluster, backlit switches, twin-LED tail light, underbelly exhaust and clip-on handlebars.

The Pulsar NS160 comes equipped with telescopic forks at the front and monoshock suspension setup at the rear. Braking department is handled by a single disc at the front and drum brake at the rear.

Overall Features Rating

2018 TVS Apache RTR 160 4V 8/10

Bajaj Pulsar NS160 8/10

Engine Specifications, Gearbox and Mileage

The new 2018 TVS Apache RTR 160 4V draws power from a 159.7cc single cylinder, 4-valve, oil-cooled engine. The carburetted variant produces 16.28bhp, and the EFi version churns out 16.56bhp. Torque stands at 14.8Nm.

The engine is mated to a 5-speed gearbox and is expected to deliver a mileage of around 40-45kpl.

The Bajaj Pulsar NS160 is powered by a 160.3cc single-cylinder, 4-valve, oil-cooled engine producing 15.28bhp and 14.6Nm of torque. The engine is mated to a 5-speed gearbox and expected to return a healthy mileage of 40-45kpl.

Overall Engine Rating

2018 TVS Apache RTR 160 4V 8/10

Bajaj Pulsar NS160 7/10

Pricing

The 2018 TVS Apache RTR 160 4V is offered in three variants. The carb with front disc brake variant is priced at Rs 81,149, the car with rear disc brake variant costs Rs 84,490 and the EFi with rear disc brake model carries a price tag of Rs 89,990. All prices are ex-showroom (Delhi).

The Bajaj Pulsar NS160 is priced at Rs 81,626 ex-showroom (Delhi). The base variant of the Apache RTR 160 4V and the Pulsar NS160 are closely priced. But the Apache RTR 160 4V offers EFi, fully-digital advanced instrument cluster and rear disc brake which justifies its price tag.

Verdict

The new 2018 TVS Apache RTR 160 4V is an excellent commuter bike which can also handle spirited riding. With new features, the new Apache RTR 160 4V has become even more appealing, and it is the best bike in the 160cc segment.

The Bajaj Pulsar NS160 also offers aggressive styling but misses out on few key features. Both the bikes are priced competitively and offer good value for money. But the Apache RTR 160 4V edges out the Pulsar NS160 with its new features and equipment.

You can also read our first ride review of the 2018 TVS Apache RTR 160 4V to know more about specifications, design, ride and handling and much more.When three little boys began growing breasts, their mothers were understandably concerned. Breast growth, known as gynecomastia, is not uncommon in boys during puberty, but it is extremely uncommon prior to puberty.

Since estrogen causes breast growth and the boys' hormone levels were normal, their doctor, Clifford Bloch, looked for potential endocrine disruptors that caused the problem. He concluded that lavender and tea tree essential oils were the culprits.

If you use essential oils, you might wonder if it is safe to use lavender and tea tree oils.

Bloch and researchers at the National of Environmental Health Sciences published the findings of their 2007 study in the New England Journal of Medicine. The National Institutes of Health then published an alert that lavender and tea tree oils may cause breast growth in boys.

Since then, the fragrance and aromatherapy industries have hit back, with a 2013 blog post and a 2013 study finding that lavender oil is not an endocrine disruptor as alleged. That year, three other industry-linked scientists published a letter to the editor in the journal Reproductive Toxicology refuting 2007 finding that essential oils "affect puberty."

If you use essential oils, especially the two common ones named in the controversy, you might wonder if it is safe to use lavender and tea tree essential oils. To reach a conclusion, one must examine the evidence presented in 2007. Three boys, ages 4, 7 and 10, came to Bloch with breast growth. The younger two were prepubescent, but the oldest of the three was in the earliest stage of puberty and his growing breasts were as large as those of a girl entering puberty.

All three children used lavender products regularly: a "healing balm" for the 4-year-old, lavender and tea tree shampoo and styling gel for the 10-year-old and lavender lotion and soap for the 7-year-old. The 7-year-old's fraternal twin brother also used the lavender lotion, but not the soap.

The physician recommended the boys stop using the products, and the breast growth resolved in a matter of months. Bloch worked with a research team to test the common ingredient in the suspected products: lavender essential oil. They also tested tea tree oil.

To perform the test, they exposed cells responsive to estrogen to each of the essential oils diluted in a solvent, as well as the solvent alone and estrogen itself. They compared the cells' response to the essential oils to their response to estrogen (as a positive control) and the solvent alone (as a negative control). They performed the test at different concentrations, ranging from 0.005 percent to 0.025 percent by volume for each essential oil. Above these concentrations, the essential oils were toxic to the cells.

The essential oils had a statistically significant effect on the cells, although not as great an effect as estrogen itself. Their study confirms that "lavender oil and tea tree oil possess weak estrogenic and anti-androgenic activities that may contribute to an imbalance in estrogen and androgen pathway signaling."

Additionally, the scientists referred to previous studies finding estrogenic activity in essential oils, such as a 2002 study that found estrogenic activity in some common essential oil constituents (chemicals frequently found in essential oils).

It took six years, but those who make their living from essential oils hit back. In a post on the National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy website, Robert Tisserand, a shareholder of First Natural Brands, provided a rebuttal. His claims in part rest on low levels of exposure the boys in the initial study must have had. He notes that products like soap and shampoo are washed off before the essential oils could have been absorbed through the skin and questions how much essential oils were in the products or if they were in them at all. Yet this does not explain the estrogenic activity of the essential oils when they were tested in the lab.

The study published that year by the Research Institute for Fragrance Materials tested the essential oils themselves. Researchers exposed baby female rats to lavender essential oils at high doses6,000 and 30,000 times the estimated maximum levels a human would be exposed to through bath and beauty products. As positive and negative controls, researchers used estrogen and corn oil.

At the end of the study, the researchers found that the group of rats given estrogen gained more weight than the control group and those given lavender essential oil. When given the lavender essential oil, in fact, weight gain decreased in the rats. Additionally, they measured the weight of the rats' uteruses and found that those given estrogen were heavier than the others.

The study concludes that lavender essential oil at these high doses has no estrogenic activity. However, they add that the decrease in weight gain when the rat pups were given the essential oil is likely indicates "systemic toxicity."

Recall that in the 2007 study, high concentrations of lavender essential oil were toxic to the cells tested. What would a study find if it used lower doses of lavender essential oilsdoses more similar to what a human using lavender bath products is actually exposed to?

Furthermore, the two studies used lavender essential oils from different manufacturers. This leads to the next avenue of doubt in the validity of the finding that lavender and tea tree essential oils are endocrine disruptors. Were the essential oils contaminated in any way?

Studies of other essential oils have found contamination with pesticides and endocrine-disrupting phthalates. Phthalates are a group of chemicals used to make plastics pliable and they can have some estrogenic activity.

A study of essential oils from a wildcrafted plant in Iran mentions phthalate contamination in the plants themselves due to pollution in the water and soil. However, another study of citrus essential oils from Italy found that the phthalate contamination came from plastic used in processing.

Tisserand, along with an Australian researcher and the CEO of the Australian Tea Tree Industry Association, brought up the possibility of contamination in their co-authored 2013 letter to the editor. They criticize the initial 2007 study for using non-organic essential oils, which may have been contaminated and for not analyzing their chemical compositions. They also point out that studies of estrogenic activity of essential oils could find false positive results because they use plastic containers in the lab. The plastic containers could leach estrogenic nonylphenols and phthalates into the essential oils.

In sum, there is no definitive answer as to whether or not lavender and tea tree oils are endocrine disruptors. Given that the initial study was published nine years ago, it appears researchers are in no hurry to find definitive answers and the only rebuttals that have come forward are from those with a clear and obvious conflict of interest. It is, however, a reminder to only shop the best essential oils to ensure quality, consistency, and value.

Wading into the scientific literature on essential oils leaves one with two clear takeaways. First, given the potential for contamination, buying organic essential oils is never a bad idea. Second, there are far more studies showing the beneficial health effects of essential oils than the potential negative ones.

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Victory: Obama Signs Bill Banning Plastic MicrobeadsBy Jeremy Deaton

Climate change is a big, ugly, unwieldy problem, and it's getting worse by the day. Emissions are rising. Ice is melting, and virtually no one is taking the carbon crisis as seriously as the issue demands. Countries need to radically overhaul their energy systems in just a few short decades, replacing coal, oil and gas with clean energy. Even if countries overcome the political obstacles necessary to meet that aim, they can expect heat waves, drought and storms unseen in the history of human civilization and enough flooding to submerge Miami Beach.

This grim fact has scientists looking for a quick fix to keep warming at bay. One plan calls spraying large amounts of sulfur dioxide into the upper atmosphere. The chemical would reflect the sun's light, cooling the planet, which is more or less what happens when a volcano erupts, albeit on a much larger scale. Of course, this plan poses numerous diplomatic, scientific, technological and humanitarian challenges, and it is entirely possible that the effect on global weather patterns would be worse than climate change, which is why climate scientist Raymond Pierrehumbert has called the idea "wildly, utterly, howlingly barking mad."

That hasn't stopped researchers from dreaming up a litany of variations on this entirely outlandish theme. Here are three particularly impractical ideas that show why cutting pollution is almost certainly easier and safer than rejiggering the Earth's climate.

The 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines briefly cooled the planet by around 1 degree F. U.S. Geological Survey

Asteroid Dust

Scottish scientists have proposed using asteroid dust to block the sun's light. Their plan calls for pushing an asteroid to the point where the gravitational pull of the Earth and the gravitational pull of the Sun are felt in roughly equal measure. At this point, asteroids aren't in danger of falling toward Earth or drifting off toward the Sun. A la Armageddon, scientists would land a spacecraft on the rock. They would then deploy an electromagnetic catapult to hurl asteroid dust into space. A dust cloud would form around the asteroid, preventing a small portion of the Sun's light from reaching Earth. This plan comes with many significant risks, including the possibility of accidentally sending a large asteroid careening toward Earth.

Charlotte Lucking, based on images from ESA and NASA

Solar Shield

Another plan calls for assembling a giant, translucent glass disk at the same point in space where scientists proposed creating a dust cloudthe point where a celestial object is pulled equally toward the Sun and toward the Earth. The disk, which would cover an area roughly the size of India, would reflect some of the Sun's rays away from the Earth.

Because assembling a giant disk in space would be virtually impossible, astronomer Roger Angel proposed using trillions of two-foot, razor-thin disks instead. He says it would be feasible to send the disks into space on rockets launched by a set of electromagnetic catapults. Then, those rockets could use ion propulsion to reach the point where they could release the disks. Angel wrote that whole project "could be developed and deployed in approximately 25 years at a cost of a few trillion dollars."

The graphic shows mirrors blurring the light from distant stars. UA Steward Observatory

Plastic in the Ocean

If spraying sulfur dioxide into the sky sounds dangerous and launching space mirrors sounds expensive, fret not. Scientists have an idea that could work right here on Earthcover the Arctic Ocean with bits of white plastic that will float on the surface of the water and reflect the Sun's light back into space. White surfaces reflect more light than dark surfaces, which is why it feels better to wear a white shirt than a black shirt on a hot, sunny day. As temperatures creep up, the Arctic is losing white sea ice, which is making warming worse. White plastic might compensate for this loss, but it means covering the Arctic in non-biodegradable trash.

A variation on this idea calls for filling the ocean with "microbubbles." White foam would perform the same function as sheets of ice or bits of plastic, reflecting sunlight back into the sky, thereby cooling the sea. Pumps might attach to dams, reservoirs or be fitted to ocean-bound cargo ships, which would froth as they chugged around the globe. It would take an enormous amount of energy to cover an ocean in tiny bubbles, and pumps would need to run constantly to maintain the foam.

White seafoam reflects sunlight, keeping the ocean cool. Pexels

The Problem With Hacking the Climate

The challenge with each of these plans is that they only reduce the amount of sunlight absorbed by the Earth. They don't confront the actual problema surplus of carbon dioxide, which is making the ocean more acidic in addition to trapping heat. Dimming the sun may cool the planet, but it will alter the climate in other ways, disrupting rainfall around the globe.

One scientist compared this idea to placing a lid over a pot while turning down the heat on the stove  the average heat of the pot will remain the same, but the amount of water that evaporates might change. The effect is more droughts and hurricanes across the planet. It doesn't matter whether scientists spray sulfur dioxide into the sky or make oceans more foamy. Changing the method only changes how many people are adversely affected, which would range from 25 to 65 percent of the global population, according to one analysis.

The only safe method for hacking the climate is to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by cleaning up more than a century of pollution from cars, trucks, planes, factories and power plants. This would be difficult and costly, which is why every scientist working on this issue underscores the fact that blocking sunlight should only be seen as a last resort.

Remarking on his idea to send trillions of translucent disks into space, Angel said, "The sunshade is no substitute [for] developing renewable energy, the only permanent solution. A similar massive level of technological innovation and financial investment could ensure that."

Reposted with permission from our media associate Nexus Media.(Mexico / Reuters)

Getting divorced for Catholics has often meant leaving the church.

It meant Catholics who got divorced could not receive the sacraments as the church does not recognize divorce.

For Catholics to have a marriage that is dissolved to be recognized by the church it has to be annulled.

If there is no annulment, a Catholic who divorces and remarries is deemed to be living in sin and is unable to take communion, the sacrament in which Christians eat blessed bread believed to be the body of Christ.

Pope Francis has announced sweeping revisions to the Catholic Church's marriage annulment process.

He announced changes on Sept. 8 that are designed to simplify and speed up and simplify the often lengthy procedure, The Washington Post reported.

"On Tuesday, Francis rewrote the longstanding church doctrine on annulments, the sometimes expensive and time-consuming process allowing Catholics to confidently re-marry in the church," The Intelligencer reported.

Francis' order "motu proprio," Latin for "on his own impulse," eliminates a secondary review of the process and it gives bishops the option to fast track, and could make the process free for divorcees, the newspaper said.

Vatican Radio said, "Increased brevity in the legal process - in fact, beyond making the marriage annulment process more agile, a briefer form of trying nullity cases has been designed."

The Pope's announcement came about a month before a major Vatican meeting at which Catholic leaders will examine the church's views on family issues, including divorce and remarriage.

The views of relationships and marriage have changed rapidly in recent years with Catholic views also shifting.

The rule changes declared by the Pope do not, however, amend Catholic Church teaching that marriage is permanent.

In the United States where Francis will visit later in September, nine-in-ten U.S. Catholics say a household headed by a married mother and father is an ideal situation for bringing up children, a survey by the Pew Research Center has found.

But the Sept. 2 survey shows that large majorities think other kinds of families - those headed by parents who are single, divorced, unmarried or gay - are OK for raising children, too.

"Moreover, many U.S. Catholics would like the Catholic Church, as an institution, to adopt a more flexible or accepting approach toward people who are divorced, cohabiting with a romantic partner outside marriage or in same-sex relationships," the Pew survey found.

It found that 60 per cent say the church should start allowing Catholics who are cohabiting, as well as those who have divorced and remarried without obtaining an annulment, to receive Communion.

(61% and 62%, respectively). And nearly half of Catholics (46%) think the church should recognize same-sex marriages.(Photo: REUTERS / Akhtar Soomro)Female Christian supporters of Pakistan's Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) political party carry posters of their leader Altaf Hussain and a cross while listening to a speech during a rally to show solidarity with the Pakistan Army in their ongoing offensive against militants in North Waziristan, in Karachi July 6, 2014.

Forty percent of U.S. Catholics believe that Christian persecution around the world is "severe," however they say they are more concerned about human trafficking, poverty, climate change, and the global refugee crisis.

While 9 out of 10 U.S. Catholics believe that persecution of Christians around the world is somewhat or very severe (51 percent and 40 percent respectively), half (49 percent) said they were very concerned about it.

Almost 1 in 5 said they were not concerned at all (18 percent).

The National Catholic Survey titled "Findings on Christian Persecution Around the World" was carried out independently for Aid to the Church in Need and polled 1,000 Catholic adults throughout the United States from Jan. 16 through Jan. 24, 2018.

A significant number of U.S. Catholics is unsure about the engagement level of the Catholic Church on the issue of Christian persecution.

Almost half of U.S. Catholics say that Pope Francis is "very engaged" on the issue, while only 27 percent say that of their local bishop is very engaged, and 24 percent believe that their parish is very involved with the issue.

North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Pakistan were placed in the top five in the ranking the severity of Christian persecution in 14 countries for U.S. Catholics in the category of "extremely severe."

"What the survey reveals quite clearly is that there is a need to increase the engagement level of the US Catholic Church when it comes to global Christian persecutionboth at the grassroots and leadership levels," said George Marlin, chairman of Aid to the Church in Need-USA (ACNUSA).

"The issue has to become a priority."

'MORE EDCUATION AND LEADERSHIP'

Marlin noted, "What we hope our poll will do is show the bishops and their priests that the laity need more education and leadership to give them a stronger sense of the seriousness and pervasiveness of Christian persecution around the world.

"We have an obligation to raise our voice and stand up for persecuted Christians," Marlin said.

Four-in-ten Catholics say that half or more of religiously-based attacks around the world are directed at Christians.

In terms of possible U.S. and other Western government policies to deter Christian persecution, U.S. Catholics say diplomatic pressure is most important.

This is followed by economic sanctions, granting victims of persecution emergency asylum, supporting persecuted Christian communities financially, and military intervention

When asked what they themselves should do to help persecuted Christians around the world, American Catholics ranked prayer highest, followed by raising awareness at the parish level, donating to agencies that work to support persecuted Christians, and contacting their members of Congress.

However, almost half of U.S. Catholics have not donated in the past year to an organization that comes to the aid of persecuted Christians.

The survey showed that 38 percent of U.S. Catholics identify themselves as very devout; almost half (45 percent) think of themselves as somewhat devout, while 17 percent describe themselves as not devout.

A total of 35 percent of U.S. Catholics say they attend Mass at least weekly; 18 percent attend Mass on a monthly basis; 18 percent attend Mass only at Christmas and Easter, while 29 percent rarely or never go to Mass.

In terms of their religious beliefs, 27 percent identified themselves as liberal, 39 percent as moderate and 34 percent as conservativeNEW ORLEANS, March 18, 2018 -- The Colonial Pipeline, which carries fuel from Texas to New York, ruptured last fall, dumping a quarter-million gallons of gas in rural Alabama. By the time the leak was detected during routine inspection, vapors from released gasoline were so strong they prevented pipeline repair for days. Now, scientists are developing technology that would alert pipeline managers about leaks as soon as failure begins, avoiding the environmental disasters and fuel distribution disruptions resulting from pipeline leaks.

The researchers are presenting their work today at the 255th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS). ACS, the world's largest scientific society, is holding the meeting here through Thursday. It features more than 13,000 presentations on a wide range of science topics.

"The advantage with our sensor is that it can detect very small leaks, and operators can take quick action to repair them," says Veera Gnaneswar Gude, Ph.D., leader of the project. "We no longer have to wait until the leak is out of hand. Plus if we are able to develop this system on a larger scale, the same unit would be able to treat the waste and to remediate the soil and water that has been contaminated."

Pipelines are currently inspected by a device called a smart pig, an electronic sensor that travels through the pipe detecting cracks or welding defects. Despite regular inspection, leaks still occur. Gude, who is at Mississippi State University, is developing a sensor that would complement this process by providing additional information about the integrity of the pipes. This sensor adheres to the outside of the pipe, and takes advantage of the metabolic process of bacteria to detect gas leaks in real time.

In previous research, Gude studied the use of microorganisms in wastewater treatment, and he has recently turned his focus to building biosensors from similar species. In the current study, he is testing bacteria that will elicit an adequately measurable cathode voltage while also being able to survive in a marine environment for the application of offshore oil spill detection. For this to work, the bacteria have to remain robust through a range of alkalinity, pressure and pH conditions.

One type of bacteria he is testing is referred to as "electrogenic," which means that it releases electrons to its environment through metabolic processes. Gude created an organic sensor composed of an electrogenic anode made up of bacteria that consume carbon-based material (gas or oil) and expel electrons. The electrons then travel across a resistor to a cathode. A different set of bacteria, hungry for electrons, resides at the cathode encouraging electron flow. An increase in the metabolic processes of the anode bacteria will correspond to a voltage increase in the sensor, which could alert a technician to a potential leak.

"The sensor is not difficult to implement," says Gude. "Placing the sensor onto a pipe is not a big challenge. It is a very versatile technique."

Currently, Gude is looking for a medium in which to immobilize the bacteria. He is testing high-porosity plastics and bio-based films that optimize the surface area that the electrogenic bacteria can cover.

Once rugged bacteria are identified and immobilized, they can be used as leak detectors in a range of oil transport and drilling applications, including fracking. It is possible that at some point in the future the sensor could be sprayed as a coating on the exterior of pipes insuring that the entire length is continuously monitored.

###

A press conference on this topic will be held Monday, March 19, at 11 a.m. Central time in the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. Reporters may check-in at the press center, Great Hall B, or watch live on YouTube http://bit.ly/ACSLive_NOLA. To ask questions online, sign in with a Google account.

The researcher acknowledges funding from the National Science Foundation.

The American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society, is a not-for-profit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS is a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related information and research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. ACS does not conduct research, but publishes and publicizes peer-reviewed scientific studies. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

To automatically receive press releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.

Note to journalists: Please report that this research was presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society.

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Title

Novel microbial biosensor platforms for early detection and treatment of oil leakage and produced waters

Abstract

Marine environments are constantly exposed to smaller oil releases which represent a major fraction of the total quantity of petroleum hydrocarbons entering the aquatic environment. Early detection of small oil leaks or spills can help avoid occurrences of major spills, thus eliminating environmental disasters related to marine environments and coastal communities. Organic contaminant sensors are difficult to employ under certain settings due to the material or function related limitations. In this research, a microbial biosensor cell was developed exploiting the benefits of microbial biodiversity and their metabolic functions. The biosensor is essentially created using exoelectrogenic bacteria in an anode that survive on organic matter and a photo or autotrophic, or sulfur reducing bacterial consortium in the cathode which will enable continuous transfer of electrons from one compartment (anode) to the other (cathode). This will create a voltage across a resistor which can be detected to identify possible contamination. The microbial biosensor cell will generate high voltage spikes when availability of organic compounds increases. In this study, a variety of hydrocarbons were used as substrates to understand the voltage generation potentials and to optimize and stabilize the sensor operations. We will discuss the development of millimeter scale microbial biosensor suitable for marine, soil and surface environmental settings and their performance using different combinations of exoelectrogenic and auto and phototrophic microbial consortia in terms of voltage generation potentials using various hydrocarbon and petroleum based compounds under the influence of environmental stressors including pH, water depth, temperatures and substrate and nutrient concentrations.NEW ORLEANS, March 18, 2018 -- Setting off smoke bombs is more than good fun on the Fourth of July. The military uses smoke grenades in dangerous situations to provide cover for people and tanks on the move. But the smoke arms race is on. Increasingly, sensors can now go beyond the visible range into the infrared (IR) region of the spectrum. Today, researchers report developing a new kind of smoke that obscures both visible and IR detection.

The researchers will present their work today at the 255th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS). ACS, the world's largest scientific society, is holding the meeting here through Thursday. It features more than 13,000 presentations on a wide range of science topics.

"Because of the advancement of sensors beyond the visible region, we need new, high-performing obscurants in the infrared region," Zach Zander says. "Each obscurant can absorb or scatter light at a given frequency. Most of the smokes that we use do well in either the visible or IR range. The objective of this program is to create what we call a bispectral obscurant, which works to block visible, as well as infrared detection."

To build a better puff of smoke, Zander and his colleagues in the Smoke & Obscurants, Pyrotechnics, and Chemical Biological Filtration Branches started thinking about using a metal organic framework (MOF). Other scientists working at his institute, the U.S. Army's Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, have been studying these stable porous structures, and were working with one called UiO-66 that was made up of terephthalic acid, a known visible obscurant.

"The traditional army smoke grenade is made with a toxic material, called hexachloroethane, but terephthalic acid grenades are emerging as a safer alternative," says Zander. The rest of UiO-66 consists of large pores and a zirconium node that researchers proposed could absorb in the IR range. The question was whether UiO-66 would burn in such a way as to liberate the terephthalic acid from the framework, creating a smoke with both an IR-absorbing agent and a visible light obscurant. If the UiO-66 molecule didn't break apart, the terephthalic acid wouldn't be free to block the visible light.

In a proof-of-principle experiment, the researchers packed UiO-66 into a grenade along with the pyrotechnic agents that generate the burn. They placed it in a 249-cubic-yard chamber lined with sensors and set off the smoke grenade.

"We monitored visible and IR wavelengths," Zander says. "We got some blockage in the visible range, though it wasn't as good as a true terephthalic acid grenade. We think we can improve our performance by changing the recipe of the pyrotechnic portion and thereby better liberate the terephthalic acid from the framework."

In the long term, the researchers plan to continue incorporating additional obscurants to the smoke, creating a kind of "Swiss army knife" of smoke grenades. "Ideally, we'd like one smoke device that hits multiple spectra, rather than multiple devices to hit each spectrum individually," Zander says. "The reason this is so important to the army is that you want to minimize the amount of stuff a soldier has to carry. One grenade is definitely easier to haul than five."

###

A press conference on this topic will be held Monday, March 20, at 3 p.m. Central time in the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. Reporters may check-in at the press center, Great Hall B, or watch live on YouTube http://bit.ly/ACSLive_NOLA. To ask questions online, sign in with a Google account.

Zander acknowledges funding from the U.S. Army's Seedling Program.

The American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society, is a not-for-profit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS is a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related information and research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. ACS does not conduct research, but publishes and publicizes peer-reviewed scientific studies. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

To automatically receive press releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.

Note to journalists: Please report that this research was presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society.

Follow us: Twitter | Facebook

Title

Novel Synthesis of Bispectral Obscurant Smoke

Abstract

Bispectral screening smokes are of interest to the U.S. Army due to the proliferation of thermal imaging, night vision, and thermal guided threats. Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) are compounds consisting of metal ions coordinated to organic ligands. This coordination results in a stable porous structure. It is hypothesized that MOFs can be used to replace, supplement, or enhance components of pyrotechnic formulations in order to produce a visible/IR blocking smoke. To date no work has been done to explore using MOFs in obscuration. The structural components of MOFs are uniquely suited to smoke production since MOFs consist of a self-contained pyrotechnic mix, including a fuel (metal node) and oxidizer (ligand). UiO-66, a zirconium based MOF containing terephthalic acid (TA) ligands has been identified as a potential high performer for this study as it is composed of metal oxides and organic linkers whose visual obscuration properties are well characterized. Preliminary studies conducted using UiO-66 as a replacement for TA in the smoke formulation provided successful smoke production. It is surmised that functionalization of the MOF may result in binding to IR producing particles, influence formation of metal rods in the porous space, and/or decrease agglomeration. UV-Vis spectroscopy and other analytical aerosol techniques are used to quantify the obscuring properties of a MOF and composites.CHICAGO--Breastfeeding may protect high-birthweight infants from having overweight or obesity as children, new research from South Korea suggests. The results will be presented in a poster on Sunday, March 18 at ENDO 2018, the 100th annual meeting of the Endocrine Society in Chicago, Ill.

"High birthweight is associated with overweight or obesity during early childhood. Among high-birthweight infants, exclusive breastfeeding is a significant protective factor against overweight and obesity," said lead study author Hae Soon Kim, M.D., of Ewha Womans University College of Medicine in Seoul.

High-birthweight infants were highly likely to meet the criteria for obesity or overweight through 6 years of age compared with normal birthweight infants. But the risk of becoming overweight or obese dropped significantly among the high-birthweight infants who were breastfed for first six months of life," Kim added.

In a retrospective cohort study, Kim and co-authors, all of Ewha Womans University College of Medicine, investigated the weight-growth trajectory and the protective effect of breastfeeding for obesity in children. They analyzed data between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2016 from the National Health Information Database (NHID) of Korea.

The researchers followed 38,039 participants who were completely eligible for all health checkups from birth through 6 years of age. At each check-up period, the authors examined the association between birthweight status and growth development.

Infants were assigned to one of three groups by birthweight: the low-birthweight group, less than or equal to 2,500 grams; the normal-birthweight group, over 2,500 grams and under 4,000 grams; and the high-birthweight group, 4,000 grams or more.

During the follow-up period, about 10 percent of the low-birthweight infants and 15 percent of the normal-birthweight developed obesity or overweight. By contrast, more than 25 percent of the high-birthweight infants met the criteria for obesity or overweight.

The high-birthweight infants were highly likely to be overweight or have obesity compared with normal birthweight infants through 6 years of age, and the low-birthweight infants were highly likely to be underweight through 6 years of age.

But the risk of overweight or obesity decreased significantly if high-birthweight infants were exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life.

"The increase in the prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity, which began in the 1970s, has grown into a global epidemic. Obesity persists from childhood to adolescence and into adulthood and is a leading cause of health problems," the authors cautioned in their abstract.

The Ministry of Health & Welfare of the Republic of Korea funded the study.

###

Endocrinologists are at the core of solving the most pressing health problems of our time, from diabetes and obesity to infertility, bone health, and hormone-related cancers. The Endocrine Society is the world's oldest and largest organization of scientists devoted to hormone research and physicians who care for people with hormone-related conditions.

The Society has more than 18,000 members, including scientists, physicians, educators, nurses and students in 122 countries. To learn more about the Society and the field of endocrinology, visit our site at http://www.endocrine.org. Follow us on Twitter at @TheEndoSociety and @EndoMedia.The Swiss town of Chur claims its at least 11,000 years old. If true, that would make it as old or older than Jericho in the Middle East, accepted as one of the earliest continuous settlements in the world. Can the Chur claim hold up?

A suggestion to first-time visitors to the old part of the town in eastern Switzerland: Leave your map in your pocket and get a little lost. Wander the winding cobblestone lanes (no cars allowed) and youll soon stumble upon superbly preserved old buildings with richly detailed painted facades, hidden courtyards, ornate doors and clocks, and the stalwart 15th-century St. Martins Church (stained glass by Augusto Giacometti).

There are also fascinating historical exhibits in the Ratisches Museum (yes, theres a crossbow) plus plenty of little cafes, boutiques and hotels. The oldest buildings date from after the great fire of 1464, which destroyed most of the town.

But Chur (first two letters pronounced like a guttural k) is much older, according to the tourist board. Thats because, in 1998, construction workers excavating for a car park uncovered archaeological artifacts dating back to about 11,000 BCE. This is why Chur has been frequently described as the oldest city in Switzerland, and would make it some 2,000 years older than Jericho.

But in the town of Neuchatel  at nearly the opposite, western end of the country  archaeologists have found artifacts dating to about 13,000 BCE, some 2000 years older than those in Chur. Even so, humble Neuchatel officially claims to date back only to 1011, from the first known written mention of the town of Novum Castellum, Latin for Neuchatel (New Castle).

Does either Chur or Neuchatel  or another Swiss town  deserve bragging rights as the oldest? And can it challenge Jericho?

Its true that Chur has certainly yielded some of the oldest archaeological finds in Switzerland, says Professor Philippe Della Casa from the Institute for Archaeology at the University of Zurich. But they belong to temporary camp sites, not to sedentary settlements.

To be called a town, certain criteria must be met, says Della Casa, including centralized administration, complex planning and architecture, structured social organisation and specialised crafts. By these criteria, Chur is certainly not the oldest town in Switzerland, since towns as such do not emerge before the Celtic Iron Age, the mid-first millennium BCE.

Similarly, the earliest Neuchatel shoreline artifacts are from nomad camps of hunter-gatherers, says Marc-Antoine Kaeser, Professor of Archaeology at the University of Neuchatel and Director of Latenium. Latenium is Switzerlands largest archaeological museum. It stands by Lake Neuchatel near where the oldest artifacts were found. In the archaeology park just outside the museums doors stand replicas of Neolithic lake dweller houses from 3810 BCE. Inside, Lateniums exhibits trace 500 centuries, beginning with the Neanderthals.

Kaeser says the oldest permanent Neolithic settlements so far identified in Switzerland were in the Rhone valley and in the town of Bellinzona on the south side of the Alps. But a real continuous occupation can only be attested from the Roman times on.

Professor Della Casa suggests we look to Zurich, Bern, Geneva or Basel as our oldest towns. All these sites had fortified Celtic settlements in the second half of the first millenium BCE, he says.

Thomas Reitmaier concurs with this timeline. Director of the Archaeological Service for canton Graubunden, Reitmaiers office is in Chur. This is quite tricky, he says, but generally the emergence of the earliest proto-urban and urban centres north of the Alps are dated to the firstMillenium BCE.

Therefore he adds its difficult to determine the oldest Swiss town.

What about Chur?

It seems clear: there are first late-Paleolithic Period (about 12,000 BCE) remains of some camps, and some first settlements from the Neolithic Period (4,500 BCE) onwards, till the Roman occupation and the founding of a rather small vicus [an ancient Roman settlement]. But Reitmaier says we should talk about the town of Chur from the medieval period at the earliest, noting that the town walls werent constructed until the 13th century.

Interesting facts to contemplate as you stroll old Churs indisputably enchanting cobblestone lanes.

Maybe the Swiss town is just coming into its prime.













swissinfo.ch





Following a successful pilot project, Swiss telecom group Swisscom is ready to deploy 5G  shorthand for fifth generation wireless systems  at selected sites this year.

In a press release earlier this month, Swisscom said that it anticipates 5G coverage throughout the Swiss territory in 2020, adding that 5G-ready phones are expected to appear on the global market in early 2019.

In the spring of 2017, Swisscom partnered with medical device manufacturer Ypsomed to pilot 5G technology at every stage of the production chain for the fabrication of injection pens. Over the past year, the entire manufacturing process for the devices, which are used to administer medical treatments such as insulin, has been digitised using a 5G antenna  from the provision of raw materials to shipping and delivery.

The results achieved with Ypsomed when applying 5G in production have exceeded our expectations and offer interesting future prospects, said Heinz Herren, Swisscoms Chief Information Officer and Chief Technology Officer, in a press release from the Bern-based manufacturer.

Swisscom said at the end of February that the first 5G hardware and software will be delivered by network supplier Ericsson and integrated into the Swisscom mobile network by the end of the year.

However, while the rollout of the wireless technology in Switzerland has commenced a full two years ahead of schedule, the company noted thatregulatory adjustments are still required before the 5G network is accessible to all.

Regulations and infrastructure

Swisscom said that one obstacle to nationwide 5G service is the current Ordinance on Protection from Non-Ionising Radiation (ONIR), which it says must be amended to allow efficient use and development of extensive fully effective new-generation networks. The ONIR, which entered into force in Switzerland in 2000, sets maximum limits for electromagnetic field exposure from stationary installations like mobile communication masts, based on recommendations from the EU and the International Commission on Non-Ionizing radiation Protection (ICNIRP). Swisscom argues that the ONIR limits should be pushed back from 6 to 20 volts per metre to accommodate 5G in Switzerland.

In January, the ONIR limits also appeared in a report by the Swiss Business Federation economiesuisse on conditions that must change before the potential of 5G can be fully realised in Switzerland.

Although the Confederation has recently laid down the bases for the frequency allocation procedure, the other framework conditions prevent any forthcoming implementation of fifth-generation mobile networks and the exploitation of their potential, economiesuisse said. In addition to modifying the disproportionate ONIR restrictions, the federation called for reducing the administrative burden borne by cantons and municipalities when modernising telecommunications infrastructure.

The potential scope of 5G is immense and highly diversified: mobility, tourism, the health sector, training or retail, among others.These innovations cannot be achieved without a modern mobile phone infrastructure, economiesuisse added in its press release.

Country comparison

Economiesuisse notes that Switzerland is lagging behind other countries when it comes to implementing 5G technology. The United States and China are especially advanced in this domain, with China currently enjoying the worlds biggest 5G market. However, Switzerland appears to be more or less in line with the EU, which just this month agreed on a plan for freeing up radio frequencies for 5G services and aims to have the technology available to all 28 member countries by 2020.

What is 5G? Fifth generation wireless technology offers much faster data speeds for mobile communications than previous generations: up to 10 gigabits per second, which is fast enough to download a high-definition movie in seconds, and up to 100 times faster than current 4G technology. Data capacity rates are also greater than those for 3G or 4G networks, while consuming less energy overall and offering improved efficiency. Philippe Horisberger of Switzerlands Federal Office of Communication (OFCOM) told Swiss Public Radio, RTS, in a March interview that 5G would allow data to be sent from once device to another in 1 millisecond, compared to 50 milliseconds for 4G technologies. This kind of speed offers potential for the integration of 5G with other emerging technologies, notably smart mobility, virtual reality, and digitised health and industry processes.













swissinfo.ch





Logistics investments, new technology... Faced with fierce online competition from the likes of Amazon, affordable fashion giants Zara and H&M are shoring up their defences, trying to use their stores to boost internet sales.

Separated by thin partitions, 15 little photo studios used exclusively to update the website line up in a corner of Zaras huge headquarters near Corunna in Spains northwest.

Under a constant barrage of camera flashes, models strike pose after pose to get seven photos showing the piece of clothing under all angles.

In total, 1,500 photos are put on line twice a week to match the speed at which articles of clothing are replaced in-store.

 Amazon, Alibaba competition 

Online sales are becoming an element that is contributing significantly to the companys growth, said Pablo Isla, CEO of the Inditex group which owns Zara among other brands like Massimo Dutti, said this week at the annual results presentation.

In 2017, these represented 10 percent of sales, a figure unveiled this week after years of secrecy over a crucial sector that Inditex only entered in 2010, on the late side.

Sergio Avila Luengo, an analyst at IG Markets, said gaining more visibility online was the main challenge for Inditex if it wants to remain competitive on the long term.

He said the retail giant started having trouble clearing its stocks for the first time in 2017 due to competition from Amazon, which sells everything from books to clothes.

For its part Swedens H&M, Inditexs arch-rival, has recognised that a drop in profits in 2017 was due in large part to online competition.

The clothing market is in big transformation, CEO Karl-Johan Persson said in February.

It is happening fast and it is challenging everyone.

We know about the big online platforms, Im thinking Amazon and (Chinas) Alibaba, affecting our industry, he said, adding smaller niche online players were also a force to be reckoned with.

In the United States, Amazon was in 2016 the top online clothes vendor.

It holds 11 percent of the global clothing market, and this is expected to rise to 19 percent in 2020, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

German online clothing and shoes platform Zalando and Britains Asos, meanwhile, saw their European sales leap 25 percent and 34 percent respectively between 2012 and 2015, according to the Ecommerce Foundation.

 Major logistics challenge 

Faced with this threat, H&M devoted 45 percent of its investment to internet in 2017, or close to 600 million euros ($736 million), for a new photo studio and personalised apps for its clients.

Inditex is also investing, but would not unveil how much.

Both groups are gradually offering the possibility for next-day or even same-day delivery of online orders, as well as the possibility to easily pick up and return clothes to stores.

These services may be crucial for customers but they represent a major logistics challenge, especially when faced with Amazon which already has a much bigger logistics structure, already adapted to all sorts of different products, said IG Markets analyst Avila Luengo.

As it counter-attacks, Inditex has opened 19 warehouses in the world dedicated only to the internet, which are managed like stores. H&M is soon to follow suit.

Both are also taking advantage of their thousands of stores, including for client delivery.

When online sales are launched in new markets, we get to profitability really quick, H&M financial director Jyrki Tervonen told investors in February.

He said this was thanks to the fact we already have a store network, we are a well-known brand, appreciated among the consumers.

Inditex has invested a lot in the renovation of its stores, removing the smallest ones in favour of huge flagship shops in city centres.

Both groups are implementing systems to avoid missing out on a sale if for instance the size isnt available for a customer, by telling him or her that the item is available online.

Gildas Minvielle, head of the economic observatory at the French Fashion Institute, said their strategy was to combine both sales methods.

Distributors that develop their stores and their online sales perform quite well, he said.

emi/mbx/rlAn employee at the French consulate in Jerusalem was arrested a few weeks ago by Israeli authorities and will appear in court for a "security" issue, sources close to the case said.

The French national, a man in his twenties, is due to appear before a court in southern Israel on Monday, they said.

The judge is expected to spell out the charges against him, the sources said, adding that they were serious.

Israeli authorities suspect him of arms trafficking, one of the sources said.

The man was arrested as he crossed the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip, which is ruled by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas that Israel considers a terrorist organisation.

He held a series of roles for the French consulate, including that of driver, carrying out regular trips between Jerusalem and Gaza.

We take this case very seriously and are in close contact with the Israeli authorities, said a spokesman for the French Embassy in Tel Aviv.

He has benefited and continues to enjoy the consular protection provided to French nationals, said the spokesman without providing more details on the case.

The Israeli foreign ministry, justice ministry, intelligence agency and police declined to comment.

In 2013, a French consulate employee was detained after attempting to use an official vehicle to smuggle a large amount of gold, tobacco and cheques into Israel from Jordan.One of Russia's most famous citizens, French film star Gerard Depardieu, joined the millions who cast ballots in Sunday's presidential election.

Depardieu, a friend of President Vladimir Putin who presented him with a Russian passport in 2013 during a tax row between the actor and French authorities, voted at the Russian embassy in Paris.

The embassy tweeted a picture of the 69-year-old, wearing a coat with fur trim and sunglasses perched on his head, popping his ballot in the box.

Gerard Depardieu voted in the Russian presidential election at a polling station at the Russian embassy in France. Come!, it tweeted, urging other Russians in France to follow suit.

A video of the moment, tweeted by a reporter from Russian broadcaster RT, was widely circulated on French news sites, where it triggered a tide of mostly contemptuous responses.

I dont like insults but for me this man is a sellout, one person tweeted in French. Another posted a GIF of a man vomiting.

Depardieu caused an uproar in 2012 when he declared he would hand back his French passport and move to Belgium to avoid a tax hike by the then Socialist government.

His popularity slumped further after he accepted a Russian passport  and a bear hug  from Putin.

The larger-than-life star of Cyrano de Bergerac and the Asterix & Obelix franchise, who is still a French citizen, has since become a staunch defender of the Kremlins policies, including its annexation of Crimea.

Im a citizen of the world, he told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera in 2016. France is likely to become a Disneyland for foreigners, populated by imbeciles making wine and stinky cheese for tourists.Russia announced on Saturday the expulsion of 23 British diplomats in a tit-for-tat move following London's response to a nerve agent attack against a Russian former double agent in England.

They are the latest sanctions by London and Moscow in spying affairs:

 The Cold War 

 In September 1971 Britain expelled a record number of 105 Soviet diplomats and officials after Moscow refused to clarify the activities of 440 of its citizens in Britain.

Moscow in turn expelled 18 Britons.

 In September 1985 Moscow and London engaged in a furious six-day exchange of spy expulsions, declaring a draw after 31 on each side had been sent packing. This followed the defection to Britain of the KGBs London station chief, Oleg Gordievsky.

 In May 1989, 11 Soviet diplomats and journalists were thrown out for spying. Meanwhile 11 Britons were sent home from Moscow in a tit-for-tat move.

 Post-Soviet era 

 In May 1996 Britain ordered the expulsion of four Russians working at the London embassy, in response to the kicking out of four British diplomats from Russia.

According to Moscow, the Britons were in contact with a Russian working for British intelligence.

 In January, 2006 Moscow said it had uncovered four British spies who enjoyed diplomatic status and engaged in the alleged illegal funding of pro-democracy and human rights groups.

Russias intelligence service accused British diplomats of involvement in a spy ring in which agents allegedly passed secrets through a high-tech communications system hidden in a fake rock in a Moscow park.

Russian President Vladimir Putin then cracked down on non-governmental organisations, forcing several of them to close down.

In January 2012 a former top aide to then British prime minister Tony Blair admitted that Britain had a spy plot involving a fake rock.

 The Litvinenko affair 

 July 2007: Britain expelled four Russian diplomats and hit Moscow with visa restrictions after Moscow refused to extradite Andrei Lugovoi, the main suspect in the murder of ex-Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko.

Litvinenko was poisoned in London in 2006 with the radioactive substance polonium-210, in the most notorious of a rash of suspicious deaths of high-profile Russian exiles in Britain.

Moscow responded with the expulsion of four British diplomats, suspended counter-terrorism cooperation with London and also stopped issuing visas to British officials.

In 2008 two branches of the British Council cultural organisation in St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg were then closed following pressure from Russian authorities for alleged tax irregularities.

In January 2016, after a British probe found that Moscow was responsible for the Litvinenko affair, the British government summoned Russias ambassador, and froze the assets of Lugovoi and a second suspect, Dmitry Kovtun.France said Sunday it would not recognise Russia's election in the Crimea peninsula, four years to the day after Russia formally annexed the territory from Ukraine in a move slammed by the West as illegal.

Challenging borders by force is contrary to international law, including commitments made by the Russian Federation, the French foreign ministry said in a statement.

France does not recognise the organisation of Russias presidential election in Crimea today, it added as Russians vote in an election overshadowed by a furious row with Britain and its allies over the poisoning of a former Russian double agent in England.

Sunday marks exactly four years since President Vladimir Putin, who is seen as a virtual certainty for a fourth term, signed a treaty declaring Crimea part of Russia after taking control of the former Soviet territory following the ouster of a Russian-backed president in Ukraines capital Kiev.

It is Russias first presidential election since the annexation, which prompted pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine to take up arms against the state, sparking a conflict that has claimed more than 10,000 lives.

Four years after the illegal annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and (the city of) Sevastopol, France remains firmly attached to the full restoration of Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity within internationally recognised borders, the French statement said.

France, it said, was concerned by the militarisation of the peninsula and the deterioration of the human rights situation, particularly with regard to Crimean Tatars, a Muslim ethnic minority that mostly opposed the annexation.

The statement added that French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian would travel to Ukraine next week to discuss the situation in Crimea and eastern Ukraine with the former Soviet republics pro-Western government.Russian opposition activists and an NGO on Sunday reported ballot stuffing and multiple voting during the presidential election which is set to see Vladimir Putin win a fourth Kremlin term.

The non-governmental election monitor Golos, which publishes a list of fraud cases online, by early afternoon had counted 1,764 irregularities, including observers prevented from carrying out their work.

The movement of Alexei Navalny, Putins most vocal opponent who has been barred from standing in the election for legal reasons, said it had sent out 33,000 volunteers to monitor the election.

Navalnys website reported hundreds of cases of fraud, notably in Moscow and the region around the capital, Saint Petersburg and Bashkortostan in the Urals.

Support for Putin is significantly lower in Moscow and Saint Petersburg than in Russia as a whole, according to recent official polls.

Navalny supporters working as election monitors were prevented from entering some polling stations, a lawyer for the campaign said during a press briefing.

Navalny himself tweeted a link to a video showing ballot stuffing in a polling station in Russias far east.

The Central Election Commission said it will investigate.

Some 80 percent of polling stations are under video surveillance, according to the commission.

In the absence of doubt over the outcome, the main focus of the election has become voter turnout  with the Kremlin seeking a strong mandate for Putin and Navalny calling for a boycott of polls he denounces as a sham.

Opposition activists said they had also witnessed voters being bussed to polling stations by police and discount coupons being given to Russians who turned out to vote.With little doubt that Vladimir Putin would win with a landslide in Russia's presidential poll on Sunday, attention turned to whether the Kremlin could rally a large turnout for the strongman.

For the liberal opposition, the vote was a test of whether celebrity candidate Ksenia Sobchak had enough support to head a new party, while for the Communists, the question was whether a fresh face could revive the partys fortunes.

 Turnout 

The suspense-free election campaign largely failed to grab Russians and the authorities pulled out all the stops to convince people to vote, in order to legitimise a Putin victory.

This became particularly important after the main opposition leader Alexei Navalny urged supporters to boycott the polls.

Last year Navalny called tens of thousands of mainly young Russians out onto the street for protests against Putin.

Navalny himself was barred from the presidential race due to a criminal conviction that he and his supporters say was politically motivated.

The authorities pushed hard to bring out voters. Billboards and ads urging people to vote were much more common than those for individual candidates. Public sector workers reported being pressured to vote.

Navalny said after the vote that his boycott was effective because the level of voting was lower than the last time, despite everyone being coerced.

But the Central Election Commission said turnout was higher than at the previous elections in 2012 as of 6pm Moscow time, two hours before polls closed.

 Opposition fragmented as ever 

In Navalnys absence, the liberal opposition was represented only by Grigory Yavlinsky, an ageing politician with little appeal for the young people who took to the streets in their thousands last year for anti-Kremlin protests called by Navalny.

But expectations were shaken up by Sobchak, a 36-year-old former reality show host and in recent years a tough-talking journalist, who made a surprise decision to stand.

Her late father Anatoly Sobchak was a liberal politician who served as mayor of the city of Saint Petersburg and was one of Putins political mentors.

With 50 percent of votes counted, Sobchak received 1.4 percent of the vote, which, though marginal, surpassed that of Yavlinsky with 0.8 percent.

She was widely criticised, including by Navalny, as a Kremlin project designed to fragment liberal supporters.

She has announced plans to launch a new Party of Changes together with opposition politician Dmitry Gudkov and on Sunday arrived at Navalnys headquarters to invite him to try to join forces but was refused.

A heated debate between the two ensued that once again exposed deep rifts in Russias opposition. You were part of this machine, part of a lying system, Navalny told Sobchak, calling her a caricature of a liberal candidate.

Its a story of two different oppositions, said political analyst Alexander Baunov of Carnegie Moscow centre. Navalny wants to break the regime while Sobchak wants to change it from within.

 Communist future 

The Communist Party  led by 73-year-old Gennady Zyuganov since the fall of the Soviet Union  chose to field a younger candidate, Pavel Grudinin, who could appeal to those outside the partys heartland.

The millionaire businessman is not a member of the party but has praised Stalin and runs an agribusiness called the Lenin State Farm just outside Moscow.

His result of 13.6 percent with 50 percent of vote counted was nearly double the vote share projected by state pollsters.

Zyuganov called the result brilliant and said Grudinin was a candidate perfect for the post of prime-minister.

The Communist Partys ideology is a mixture of Soviet nostalgia and conservative values, combining patriotic loyalty to the Kremlin with criticism of Putins economic policies.

A new face in politics, Grudinin has injected a dose of intrigue into the campaign but has faced a hail of allegations of financial wrongdoing from pro-Kremlin media, though electoral authorities ruled there was no grounds to bar his candidacy.

The authorities saw that Grudinin is dangerous, Baunov said.

Maybe he will be incorporated into the system, offered a post outside of the Communist Party, he said.David Sepashvili went to Russia's mountainous Dagestan region to work in a polling station and prevent violations in Sunday's presidential election, but said a group of thugs physically stopped him from doing his job.

About 50 muscular men entered polling station 1126 in the city of Makhachkala and assaulted the independent observer stationed there before telling Sepashvili to get outside too, leaving the ballot box unobserved.

They filled the entire station, blocked the ballot box in a line, Sepashvili, who sits on the stations election commission representing opposition candidate Grigory Yavlinsky, told AFP by phone.

The observer working at the station tried to reach the box to prevent ballot stuffing, but the men knocked him on the ground, kicked him, and then carried him outside before telling Sepashvili to leave the premises.

I went to the policeman at the station, but he said he cant do anything because he doesnt have a weapon, Sepashvili said.

A video of the incident shows flowerpots in the polling station knocked over in the heat of the altercation as shouting is heard.

A man in a sweatshirt is then seen dropping ballots in the box.

The men then went to another station where a similar assault took place, Sepashvili said. We will demand that the results at the station are annulled.

He added that regional election officials made it possible for absentee voters to cast ballots several times with multiple absentee certificates.

Dagestan, like neighbouring Chechnya, traditionally registers extremely high official turnout figures.

 Unprecedented violations 

Russian opposition and independent observers have reported unprecedented violations in the election that is expected to give President Vladimir Putin a record fourth term.

They include alleged ballot stuffing and repeat voting, although officials dismissed most concerns by saying monitors misinterpret what they see.

Golos, the independent election monitoring association, said it registered 859 possible violations by 1200 GMT on its tracking website, along with over 2,000 calls on its hotline.

It said one observer staged an experiment with a new system that allows citizens to vote anywhere in the country by getting an absentee certificate, and successfully voted twice in Moscow at two different polling stations.

Alexei Navalny, Putins top critic, is overseeing a campaign for a boycott and sent over 33,000 observers across the country with manual counters to see how official turnout figures differ from those of monitors.

He said at briefing in his Moscow headquarters that in some regions up to 18 percent of his observers have been removed from polling stations.

Why? Because (the observers) are successful, and if they are not removed the authorities will not be able to show the turnout that they want.

He said there were unprecedented violations being reported by observers trained by his campaign, including ballot stuffing and suspicious organised voting in groups, and people being forced to vote by their employers.

Russias Central Election Commission chief Ella Pamfilova said observers dont interpret some situations accurately, promising to address concerns about organised voting later in the day.

Putins election campaign spokesman Andrei Kondrashov said many reports of violations were fake and aimed at discrediting the election.

Golos said ballot stuffing is the most popular violation.

Such cases are recorded by cameras at the stations but this doesnt stop the falsification.

A video of a polling station in the Moscow suburb of Lyubertsy showed two women methodically stuffing the ballot box with papers handed to them by one of the poll workers.

Kommersant newspaper reported that the urn in question has been sealed and the head of the polling station has been dismissed.10-year-old Perryville, Missouri native Paul Montgomery recently received the chance of a lifetime -- an all-expense paid trip to appear in an episode of Nickelodeon's hit musical comedy series"He received $500 spending cash and then he got paid for being on-set," Brandy Lindsey said. "He was only in a three-second clip, but all expenses were paid except for food."Montgomery won by watching Nickelodeon's popular comedy adventure serieslast Spring, but wasn't allowed to reveal his newfound stardom until Sunday, March 11, the on-air date of his appearance in season three, episode 17, "We Gotta Get Outta This Place.""You had to find the hidden letter, and at the end of the week enter those letters, and he was chosen," Lindsey said.Paul Montgomery, third from right, surrounded by the cast of Nickelodeon's "School of Rock."Photo by Nickelodeon StudiosLindsey said Montgomery was the secondary choice because the initial winner's parents didn't agree to the contest rules.During Montgomery's on-screen time his role was to "run around" during the episode's "fire drill," explained Lindsay.For the show's taping, Lindsey and Montgomery made their all-expense paid trip to Hollywood, California, last July.Congrats Paul! :) Fans can check out Paul's appearance on School of Rock episode "We Gotta Get Outta This Place" on Nickelodeon, Nick.com and the Nick App!Donald Trump slammed the FBI as he hailed the firing of a veteran Bureau agent as a "great day for democracy," a move his attorney said he hoped would bring an end to a probe into alleged collusion between the president's campaign and Russia.

Critics described the axing of Andrew McCabe  the deputy of former FBI director James Comey  as a dangerous ploy to discredit the top US law enforcement agency as well as the work of Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating Russian influence in the 2016 election.

McCabe is a potential key witness in the Russia probe.

Trump on Saturday via Twitter blasted the alleged tremendous leaking, lying and corruption at the highest levels of the FBI, Justice & State.

He also reiterated long-running criticism of the Mueller investigation, terming it a witch hunt and saying that it should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime.

 McCabe job offer 

Earlier, Trumps personal attorney, John Dowd, told the Daily Beast that he hoped Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein would follow the lead of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility and bring an end to alleged Russia Collusion investigation manufactured by McCabes boss James Comey based upon a fraudulent and corrupt Dossier.

Dowd told the Daily Beast he was speaking for the president. But in a subsequent statement he said he had been speaking for myself, not the president.

McCabe, who has endured a year of withering attacks from Trump, was fired by the Justice Department late Friday, just two days before he was to retire after 21 years with the FBI.

Critics say the firing is a step in Trumps plan to engineer Muellers dismissal, potentially sparking a constitutional crisis.

Mueller is also examining whether Trump might have obstructed justice, including by firing Comey last May.

One Democratic lawmaker, Mark Pocan of Wisconsin, announced Saturday that he offered McCabe a job in his office so he can complete the time necessary to retire with full federal benefits.

My offer of employment to Mr. McCabe is a legitimate offer to work on election security, Pocan said in a statement.

McCabe spokeswoman Melissa Schwartz was non-committal. We are considering all options, she told the Washington Post.

 War on the FBI 

Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI  A great day for Democracy, Trump tweeted soon after the firing.

McCabe denied any impropriety and said he was the victim of a Trump administration war against the FBI and the special counsel.

McCabe kept memos of his interactions with Trump, US media reported Saturday, adding that the documents could bolster his version of events.

Comey pushed back as well. Mr President, the American people will hear my story very soon. And they can judge for themselves who is honorable and who is not, he tweeted.

The Justice Department said an internal investigation had found that McCabe made unauthorized disclosures to the media, and had not been fully honest on multiple occasions with the departments inspector general.

The FBI expects every employee to adhere to the highest standards of honesty, integrity and accountability, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement.

Lack of candor under oath is a firing offense at the FBI, but the politically-charged context of the move raised questions among McCabes backers.

Former CIA chief John Brennan lost his patience with Trump. When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history, he tweeted.

 Not political appointees 

Trump, in an early afternoon tweet, belittled the media for its coverage of the story, saying: The Fake News is beside themselves that McCabe was caught, called out and fired

In a second tweet he again denied any collusion with Russia.

Details of the inspector generals probe were not made public, but it involved the FBIs handling of the 2016 investigation into Trumps election rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Trump has repeatedly accused McCabe and Comey of protecting Clinton from prosecution, including over her misuse of a private email server while she was secretary of state.

The inspector generals probe was part of an unprecedented effort by the administration, driven by the president himself, to remove me from my position, destroy my reputation, and possibly strip me of a pension that I worked 21 years to earn, McCabe said in a statement.

It is part of this administrations ongoing war with the FBI and the efforts of the special counsel investigation.

But one law professor defended the Justice Departments investigators.

These are not political appointees, Jonathan Turley of George Washington University told CNN.

They clearly concluded that McCabe misled them  and that he misled them on one of the core issues they were investigating.

The White House has shown mounting frustration with the collusion probe, as it focuses ever more closely on the presidents inner circle.Italy's foreign ministry on Sunday called for swift action over the "atrocious" mob attack of an Egyptian-Italian student in Britain, who died of her injuries last week.

In relation to the tragic case of compatriot Mariam Moustafa, brutally killed in Nottingham, we express our deep condolences and sympathy to her family, and additionally wish that those responsible for this atrocious crime are soon brought to justice, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Engineering student Moustafa, 18, was left in a coma after being attacked by a gang in the central England city of Nottingham on February 20.

Police said she was punched several times in the street by a group of threatening and abusive women who then followed her onto a bus.

Partial footage of the attack, filmed at the back of the bus, has been circulating on social media.

Moustafa died of her injuries on Wednesday, prompting outrage in Egypt and Italy where she was born and grew up, according to Italian media reports.

Italys ambassador to the UK, Raffaele Trombetta, spoke to his Egyptian counterpart on Sunday and stressed his willingness to support every action that the Egyptian embassy would like to undertake to get to the truth in the quickest possible time, the Italian foreign ministry said.

Rome prosecutors have opened a case file and police there are expected to request details of the investigation from British authorities, Italian media reported.

Nottinghamshire Police said it was treating the attack very seriously and was working hard to establish the circumstances.

Responding to the thrust of social media posts, it said there was currently no information to suggest the assault was motivated by hate but we continue to keep an open mind.

A 17-year-old girl has been arrested on suspicion of assault occasioning grievous bodily harm and released on bail.

Moustafas death has caused outrage in Egypt, notably on social media.

Cairos embassy in London said the deep concern of the Egyptian public is evident and called for those responsible to be brought to justice swiftly.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said Friday that he was deeply saddened by the death

My condolences to Mariams loved ones. I have assured Egyptian Foreign Minister (Sameh) Shoukry that Nottinghamshire Police are investigating the case.

The teenagers father Mohamed Moustafa, 50, said: I want justice for my daughter  not just my daughter but also so this doesnt happen to another girl or another boy.

My daughter was like an angel. She would do anything for anyone.

She meant the world to me.From: American Evaluation Association (AEA) For Immediate Release: Dateline: Washington , DC Sunday, March 18, 2018

Lisle Hites, Chair of the Needs Assessment TIG, Associate Professor in Health Care Organization and Policy and Director of the Evaluation and Assessment Unit (EAU) at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Public Health. On behalf of all of us here at the Needs Assessment TIG, we hope you enjoy this weeks blog entries and to see you at some of our sessions at AEA 2018. Todays posting is about the complexity of assessing needs in communities and offers a couple of lessons learned that might be of use.

For those of you who have ever tried to assess the needs of a community, especially those communities that are disadvantaged in terms of health, socioeconomic status (SES), etc., with so many apparent needs, researchers, unfortunately, often feel comfortable addressing whatever they want to while couching it as a priority need for the community. I am working on such an effort, here in Birmingham Alabama. Birmingham has 99 distinct neighborhoods, most, if not all of which, are medically underserved and between low and ultra-low on the SES spectrum. Past needs assessments have uncovered a multitude of priorities that vary quite a bit between these tightly grouped urban areas. We have high levels of urban blight in some as indicated in part by abandoned houses, but very few in others. The more a neighborhood is blighted, the fewer resources residents want to put into it, deepening the blight. Many problems contribute to or result from this situation, most of which are identified needs in the eyes of the community and researchers. How then do we decide where and how to intervene?

Working from identified needs, we are involving the communities of interest in planning stages for an intervention. Even so this has resulted in little or no change in the community and they do not trust that this will be any different from previous efforts. Heres where asset mapping can save the day. By simultaneously assessing needs and mapping assets, we are positioned to identify what is most needed and match that with where we can best impact that need and with what resources. Community, city, county, and even regional resources already exist. By systematically identifying what those resources are, where they are willing to go, what fits within their mission and scope, we can now better select where we can intervene with the most impact, leveraging existing resources to maximize outcomes.

Lessons Learned:

Communities are complex organisms and propinquity does not necessarily mean generalizability of needs assessed. Community-focused Needs Assessments are a difficult sell without a path forward to improvement. Asset mapping can complement needs assessment to help form a continuous improvement cycle, each providing input for the next iteration of the other. Rad Resources:

Altschuld, James W. Bridging the Gap Between Asset/Capacity Building and Needs Assessment. Sage Publications Inc., 2015.

The American Evaluation Association is celebrating Needs Assessment (NA) TIG Week with our colleagues in the Needs Assessment Topical Interest Group. The contributions all this week to aea365 come from our NA TIG members. Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this aea365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the

About AEA The American Evaluation Association is an international professional association and the largest in its field. Evaluation involves assessing the strengths and weaknesses of programs, policies, personnel, products and organizations to improve their effectiveness. AEAs mission is to improve evaluation practices and methods worldwide, to increase evaluation use, promote evaluation as a profession and support the contribution of evaluation to the generation of theory and knowledge about effective human action. For more information about AEA, visit www.eval.org. Welcome to the Needs Assessment TIGs week on AEA 365! Im, Chair of the Needs Assessment TIG, Associate Professor in Health Care Organization and Policy and Director of the Evaluation and Assessment Unit (EAU) at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Public Health. On behalf of all of us here at the Needs Assessment TIG, we hope you enjoy this weeks blog entries and to see you at some of our sessions at AEA 2018. Todays posting is about the complexity of assessing needs in communities and offers a couple of lessons learned that might be of use.For those of you who have ever tried to assess the needs of a community, especially those communities that are disadvantaged in terms of health, socioeconomic status (SES), etc., with so many apparent needs, researchers, unfortunately, often feel comfortable addressing whatever they want to while couching it as a priority need for the community. I am working on such an effort, here in Birmingham Alabama. Birmingham has 99 distinct neighborhoods, most, if not all of which, are medically underserved and between low and ultra-low on the SES spectrum. Past needs assessments have uncovered a multitude of priorities that vary quite a bit between these tightly grouped urban areas. We have high levels of urban blight in some as indicated in part by abandoned houses, but very few in others. The more a neighborhood is blighted, the fewer resources residents want to put into it, deepening the blight. Many problems contribute to or result from this situation, most of which are identified needs in the eyes of the community and researchers. How then do we decide where and how to intervene?Working from identified needs, we are involving the communities of interest in planning stages for an intervention. Even so this has resulted in little or no change in the community and they do not trust that this will be any different from previous efforts. Heres wherecan save the day. By simultaneously assessing needs and mapping assets, we are positioned to identifyand match that withwe can best impact that need and. Community, city, county, and even regional resources already exist. By systematically identifying what those resources are, where they are willing to go, what fits within their mission and scope, we can now better select where we can intervene with the most impact, leveraging existing resources to maximize outcomes.The American Evaluation Association is celebrating Needs Assessment (NA) TIG Week with our colleagues in the Needs Assessment Topical Interest Group. The contributions all this week to aea365 come from our NA TIG members. Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this aea365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the aea365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an aea365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org . aea365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators.

The only public access for citizens at Municipal Plaza (the upstairs city offices in the same building that houses City Council chambers) is through a door at Trevino Alley, between the building and the cathedral. There is no plaque or explanation of who the Trevino is that the passageway is named for. I cannot find anything online to explain who it was. No one I asked at Municipal Plaza knows, so I wondered if youd know. Any clues?

 Myfe Moore

Trevino Alley, also known as Trevino Street, connects Main and Military plazas, running for a single block between Municipal Plaza building and San Fernando Cathedral. The short streets namesake is particularly apt for this historic location.

The name is well known, dating back to the early 19th century and refers to a Spanish family who used to own property there. The cathedral, begun in 1738 and completed in 1749, was set apart from the adjacent lots by two narrow alleys to the north and south, wrote I. Waynne Cox in Documentation of the San Pedro Acequia at Trevino Street, a report published in 1995 by the Center for Archaeological Research at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

The lot to the north was acquired in 1831 by Jose Alejandro Trevino from Pedro Poreyra and his wife, heirs of the original owners. Trevino was an officer in the Spanish army who arrived in Bexar in approximately 1818  (and) rose to the rank of Commandant General of Coahuila y Texas in 1833. According to David P. Green in Place Names of San Antonio, Trevino, who was popular in San Antonio and was  called the General, made his home there. Both Cox and Green are drawing on genealogical information about the Trevino family provided by Frederick C. Chabot in With the Makers of San Antonio, first published in 1937.

According to Chabot, the officer never married and presumably was without children. After his death in 1834, said Cox, the property passed to his sister, Maria de Jesus Trevino, for whom the street was named. The next owner of the portion of the Trevino property facing onto the plaza, as of the early 1850s, was Francois Guilbeau, who established a store and warehouse there. A one-story structure there was later acquired by John Carolan, who had an auction house there and became mayor of San Antonio in 1859.

Members of the Frost family took over the property and started a dry-goods store there that developed into Frost Bank, which completed its 12-story building next to the cathedral in 1922. The bank moved in 1973 to its present headquarters at 100 W. Houston St.; Lubys Cafeterias operated a restaurant in the former lobby space from 1975 to 1989, and the city of San Antonio purchased the building in 1989. A few years later, City Council chambers relocated to the ground floor, other city offices moved in upstairs, and the building was renamed Municipal Plaza in 1994.

Many San Antonians no doubt remember using the short, east-west connector on their way from one plaza to the other or to go to the bank or the cafeteria without ever knowing it was a named city street. Green notes that the street appears on few city maps. When it was, it wasnt always as Trevino Street. San Antonio Conservation Society Librarian Beth Standifird found it as Church on the 1877 Sanborn Insurance Co. map and as Trivano on the companys 1885 map. It appears as Trevino in the 1885-1886 city directory, the earliest such volume to include a street and alley guide. Green has an undated map, probably published circa 1896, that shows Trevino occupying a block between Main Plaza and City Hall.

Within a couple of decades after this documentation, the name seems not to have been presumed familiar to locals. When Trevino Street appeared in newspaper stories of the early 20th century  the triple bicycle collision of 1901 (thrown to the ground but not injured), the sunken paving disaster of 1910-1912 (several vehicles were bogged)  the streets name was always succeeded by an explanation of where it was, using the cathedral and the bank building as coordinates.

Regarding its persistent obscurity, Green says, I suspect that Trevino met the same fate as another one-block alley or passageway, Veramendi Street (covered here Nov. 11, 2012), which led to the old Veramendi Palace on Soledad and got obliterated by subsequent buildings.The citys largest inner-city school district on Monday may take yet another unprecedented step to hand over a failing public elementary school to a charter network in what one teachers union official likened to a charter invasion.

The unusual arrangement also has community members and elected officials on edge, but trustees of the San Antonio Independent School District hope the approval of a contract with a New York-based charter network will stave off state intervention for at least two years.

At issue are the futures of about 540 students at Stewart Elementary School on the Southeast Side, one of the lowest-performing schools in Bexar County and one that has failed to meet state accountability standards five years in a row.

If it fails a sixth time, the state can shut down the school or appoint a board of managers to govern SAISD.

Trustees are counting on a new state law that would exempt Stewart from intervention for two years if the district partners with a charter school, nonprofit or higher education institution to operate the campus.

SAISD spokeswoman Leslie Price said the districts goal in contracting with Democracy Prep Public Schools is to get students on a strong academic path and keep the school open.

We have sought a partner with experience turning around struggling schools, Price said. There is not a deep well of potential partners with that track record. Democracy Prep has that success and has demonstrated their commitment to high-poverty neighborhood school turnaround work.

Almost 86 percent of Stewarts students last year were Hispanic and 9 percent were African-American. More than 96 percent were considered economically disadvantaged based on federal income thresholds. One-third of students were English-language learners, and only 40 percent of students old enough to take state standardized tests passed them all.

Education reform and charter advocates have praised Democracy Prep for high-performing schools, including one in Harlem, New York, that replaced a failed charter school. Democracy Prep now has schools in New York, New Jersey, the District of Columbia, Louisiana and Nevada. The network says 80 percent of its graduates are admitted to the nations most selective colleges.

If the SAISD board approves the contract with Democracy Prep on Monday, the district will have to apply to Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath to approve the partnership, according to the new law.

Democracy Prep would hire its own teachers, but at least some of the jobs could go to current Stewart teachers. SAISD has said teachers who do not stay under Democracy Prep would be guaranteed jobs elsewhere in the district. Those assurances did not calm teachers, who see a number of problems with the proposed agreement.

Union demands

Teachers and community members have a string of criticisms about Democracy Prep, including what they describe as its overly harsh discipline and its lack of a bilingual program similar to Stewarts.

Teachers and parents have been critical of the district, too, for not informing them about the proposed charter partnership until four days before the board voted to negotiate the contract, said Shelley Potter, president of the San Antonio Alliance of Teachers and Support Personnel.

First and foremost, we think the district should consider other options, she said.

The Texas State Teachers Association filed a grievance March 5 alleging SAISD trustees violated the state Open Meetings Act when voting in January to pursue a Democracy Prep contract. That union alleges the vote was not properly posted on the meetings agenda.

The TSTA also said the district did not develop a targeted improvement plan for Stewart with input from parents and community members, as required by state law. The union said teachers have not received assurances their contracts would be honored.

The union has asked for nullification of the board vote and preservation of employee contracts at Stewart.

According to the grievance process, SAISD first judges the complaint. The union can appeal to the Texas Education Agency and ultimately a state district court.

Price said SAISD denies violating the Open Meetings Act. We believe that our process in working toward the charter application is in accordance with Texas law, she said.

The San Antonio Alliance, the local union, has presented a list of demands for outside charter operators seeking a contract with SAISD. Potter said the demands are designed to prevent adverse effects on students and employees.

The requests include a short-term agreement, not exceeding two years, from which either party can withdraw at any time. The teachers asked that any charter operator exponentially improve the academic performance at Stewart, with 75 percent of students meeting one standard above the minimum to pass the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness. Last year, 7 percent of Stewart students met that standard in two or more subjects.

Addressing claims that charters use discipline to push students out, the teachers asked that charter operators follow the SAISD student code of conduct and a state law limiting suspension of younger students. The union wants suspension and expulsion rates not to exceed district averages for the same grade levels and for nutrition and uniform assistance programs to remain in place.

The union also seeks employee retention rates to reflect district averages.

Teachers submitted a letter from County Commissioner Tommy Calvert relaying parents concerns about Democracy Preps lack of bilingual education and echoing teachers recommendations.

Instead of transitional bilingual education, which includes more Spanish-language instruction, Democracy Prep would offer content-based English as a second language, an English-only program that provides supplementary language assistance in all subjects.

Democracy Preps model assigns two teachers to each classroom. At Stewart, one teacher per classroom would be bilingual in Spanish and certified to teach English as a second language, Price said. Democracy Prep has committed to including a bilingual or dual-language program by 2020, according to a presentation SAISD Chief Innovation Officer Mohammed Choudhury will give Monday.

Last year, 44 percent of English-language learners at Stewart who took STAAR tests passed them all.

The performance agreement will require Democracy Prep to achieve a passing rating at Stewart by 2020, and it stipulates the charter may be revoked or placed on probation during a three-year review period, according to Choudhurys presentation.

Democracy Preps discipline practices will align with SAISDs implementation of a restorative justice model to reduce suspension rates, and teacher salaries will exceed SAISDs current pay scale, according to Choudhury.

The larger plan

At last months school board meeting, former County Commissioner Tommy Adkisson criticized the proposed partnership. It seems more of an admission that the administrative staff of SAISD is not clear as to how to do this, and so they have to pay someone else to do it for them, he said.

Teachers asked trustees to prove they had sought other partners before considering Democracy Prep.

Questions and concerns have been largely ignored, platitudes offered in lieu of information, said Alejandra Lopez, a second-grade teacher at Stewart.

Maria Navarro, who has two children at Stewart, asked trustees how many parents they sought feedback from, although trustees were not allowed to respond during the citizens to be heard portion of the meeting.

Our community does not agree with you, Navarro said.

Protests over Stewart contrasted with the reaction to a similar partnership at Brewer Academy, an alternative school for students with emotional or behavioral disorders. This school year, its management was handed over to the John H. Wood Jr. charter network.

Now teachers are expressing alarm at what they see as a strategy to further SAISD Superintendent Pedro Martinezs five-year turnaround plan, Potter said.

While this charter invasion is occurring, the district administration is very enthusiastic about students from suburban districts coming to the districts specialized schools, which the district markets over our neighborhood schools, Potter said.

There are a lot of teachers that believe that whats happening now  is tantamount to the gentrification of our SAISD schools, she said.LONDON  As the upstart voter-profiling company Cambridge Analytica prepared to wade into the 2014 U.S. midterm elections, it had a problem.

The firm had secured a $15 million investment from Robert Mercer, the wealthy Republican donor, and wooed his political adviser, Stephen K. Bannon, with the promise of tools that could identify the personalities of U.S. voters and influence their behavior. But it did not have the data to make its new products work.

So the firm harvested private information from the Facebook profiles of more than 50 million users without their permission, according to former Cambridge employees, associates and documents, making it one of the largest data leaks in the social networks history. The breach allowed the company to exploit the private social media activity of a huge swath of the U.S. electorate, developing techniques that underpinned its work on President Donald Trumps campaign in 2016.

Cambridge Analytica worked in San Antonio in concert with Brad Parscale, Trumps digital director for the 2016 campaign who the president chose in February as his 2020 campaign manager.

Parscale said last year he had Facebook employees embedded in his San Antonio operation. He said the campaign used data that was developed by the Republican National Committee after the 2012 election.

Parscale, who has repeatedly denied any Russian collusion, testified last year before the House Intelligence Committee investigating Russian meddling in the election and he has been summoned by Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

An examination by The New York Times and The Observer of London reveals how Cambridge Analyticas drive to bring to market a potentially powerful new weapon put the firm  and wealthy conservative investors seeking to reshape politics  under scrutiny from investigators and lawmakers on both sides of the Atlantic.

Christopher Wylie, who helped found Cambridge and worked there until late 2014, said of its leaders: Rules dont matter for them. For them, this is a war, and its all fair.

They want to fight a culture war in America, he added. Cambridge Analytica was supposed to be the arsenal of weapons to fight that culture war.

Details of Cambridges acquisition and use of Facebook data have surfaced in several accounts since the business began working on the 2016 campaign, setting off a furious debate about the merits of the firms psychographic modeling techniques.

But the full scale of the data leak involving Americans has not been previously disclosed  and Facebook, until now, has not acknowledged it. Interviews with a half-dozen former employees and contractors, and a review of the firms emails and documents, have revealed that Cambridge not only relied on the private Facebook data but also still possesses most or all of the trove.

Cambridge paid to acquire the personal information through an outside researcher who, Facebook says, claimed to be collecting it for academic purposes.

During a week of inquiries from The Times, Facebook downplayed the scope of the leak and questioned whether any of the data still remained out of its control. But Friday, the company posted a statement expressing alarm and promising to take action.

This was a scam  and a fraud, Paul Grewal, a vice president and deputy general counsel at the social network, said in a statement to The Times earlier Friday. He added that the company was suspending Cambridge Analytica, Wylie and the researcher, Aleksandr Kogan, a Russian-American academic, from Facebook. We will take whatever steps are required to see that the data in question is deleted once and for all  and take action against all offending parties, Grewal said.

Alexander Nix, the chief executive of Cambridge Analytica, and other officials had repeatedly denied obtaining or using Facebook data, most recently during a parliamentary hearing last month. But in a statement to The Times, the company acknowledged that it had acquired the data, though it blamed Kogan for violating Facebooks rules and said it had deleted the information as soon as it learned of the problem two years ago.

In Britain, Cambridge Analytica is facing intertwined investigations by Parliament and government regulators, who are scrutinizing possible data privacy violations and allegations that it performed illegal work on the Brexit campaign. In the United States, Mercers daughter, Rebekah, a board member, Bannon and Nix received warnings from their lawyer that it was illegal to employ foreigners in political campaigns, according to company documents and former employees.

Congressional investigators have questioned Nix about the companys role in the Trump campaign. And the Justice Departments special counsel, Robert Mueller, has demanded the emails of Cambridge Analytica employees who worked for the Trump team as part of his investigation into Russian interference in the election.

Reading voters minds

In late 2013, Nix, a brash salesman, led the small elections division at SCL Group, a political and defense contractor. He had spent much of the year trying to break into the lucrative new world of political data, recruiting Wylie, then a 24-year-old political operative interested in using inherent psychological traits to affect voters behavior. Wylie had assembled a team of psychologists and data scientists, some of them affiliated with Cambridge University.

Nix and his colleagues courted Mercer, who believed a sophisticated data company could make him a kingmaker in Republican politics, and his daughter, who shared his conservative views. Bannon was intrigued by the possibility of using personality profiling to shift Americas culture and rewire its politics, Wylie recalled. Through a spokeswoman, Bannon declined to comment.

Building psychographic profiles on a national scale required data the company could not gather without huge expense. Traditional analytics firms used voting records and consumer purchase histories to try to predict voting behavior.

But those kinds of records were useless for figuring out whether a particular voter was, say, a neurotic introvert, a religious extrovert, a fair-minded liberal or a fan of the occult. Those were among the psychological traits the firm claimed would provide a uniquely powerful means of designing political messages.

Wylie found a solution at Cambridge Universitys Psychometrics Centre. Researchers there had developed a technique to map personality traits based on what people had liked on Facebook. The researchers paid users small sums to take a personality quiz and download an app, which would scrape some private information from their profiles and those of their friends, activity that Facebook permitted at the time.

When the Psychometrics Centre declined to work with the firm, Wylie found someone who would: Kogan, who was a psychology professor at the university. Kogan built his own app and in June 2014 began harvesting data for Cambridge Analytica. The business covered the costs  more than $800,000  and allowed him to keep a copy for his own research, according to company emails and financial records.

All he divulged to Facebook, and to users in fine print, was that he was collecting information for academic purposes, the social network said. It did not verify his claim. Kogan declined to provide details of what happened, though he maintained that his program was a very standard vanilla Facebook app.

He ultimately provided more than 50 million raw profiles to the firm, Wylie said. Of those, roughly 30 million contained enough information, including places of residence, that the company could match users to other records and build psychographic profiles.

Parscale said in an earlier interview with the Express-News that his operations ability to identify 14.4 million persuadable voters in several swing states just prior to the election was a key to Trumps victory.

Thats why we won. We knew just the voters we needed to turn out, and we turned them out in big numbers, he said.

An international effort

Just as Kogans efforts were getting underway, Mercer agreed to invest $15 million in a joint venture with SCLs elections division. The partners devised a convoluted corporate structure, forming a new U.S. company, owned almost entirely by Mercer, with a license to the psychographics platform developed by Wylies team, according to company documents. Bannon, who became a board member, chose the name: Cambridge Analytica.

The firm was effectively a shell. According to the documents and former employees, any contracts won by Cambridge, incorporated in Delaware, would be serviced by London-based SCL and overseen by Nix, a British citizen. Most SCL employees and contractors were Canadian, like Wylie, or European.

In summer and fall 2014, Cambridge Analytica dived into the U.S. midterm elections. Few Americans were involved in the work, which included polling, focus groups and message development for the John Bolton super PAC, conservative groups in Colorado and the campaign of Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C.

Cambridge Analytica, in its statement to The Times, said that all personnel in strategic roles were U.S. nationals or green card holders. Nix never had any strategic or operational role in a U.S. election campaign, the company said.

Today, as Cambridge Analytica seeks to expand its business, Nix has mentioned some questionable practices. This January, in undercover footage filmed by Channel 4 News in Britain, he boasted of employing front companies and former spies on behalf of political clients around the world and even suggested ways to entrap politicians in compromising situations.

All the scrutiny appears to have affected business. No U.S. campaigns or super PACs have yet reported paying the company for work in the 2018 midterms, and it is unclear whether Cambridge will be asked to join Trumps re-election campaign.Gov. Greg Abbott told voters in advance of the March 6 party primaries that Texas ranks very high nationally in its share of students graduating from high school.

In a conference call with campaign supporters, Abbott said on Feb. 19: This is one of those facts that you are able to disarm liberals about. Listen, Texas is one of the top five states in the nation for high school graduation rate. More kids are graduating from high school, more kids are graduating from college than ever before.

It shouldnt surprise that in fast-growing Texas, more students graduate from high school and college than in years past. We focused on whether Texas still ranks among states with the highest high school graduation rates.

By phone, Abbott spokesman John Wittman told us Abbott relied on a federal chart showing state-by-state high school graduation rates in 2015-16. According to the chart, posted by the National Center for Education Statistics, Iowa led the nation that year with a 91.3 percent high school graduation rate. The chart says New Jersey ran second, with a 90.1 percent rate, followed by West Virginia (89.8 percent) and Nebraska (89.3 percent). Texas landed fifth, the chart says, with a rate of 89.1 percent, just ahead of Missouri (89 percent). The nations high school graduation rate was 84.1 percent, the chart says.

That fifth-place standing means Texas didnt rank as highly as in some other years. We asked the Texas Education Agency about the apparent slippage. By email, Lauren Callahan replied: Yes, the rankings merely reflect relative performance and are accurate to the extent that the rates used for the rankings are accurate. However, we would like to also note that our graduation rate has consistently increased year over year for each graduating class. The statewide graduation rate in 2014-15 was 89 percent, the agency says, compared with 88.3 percent in 2013-14, 88 percent in 2012-13 and 84.3 percent in 2009-10.

Another metric

From past fact checks, we recognized another method is often used to gauge progress through high school  by comparing a years count of graduates to the number of ninth-graders three years earlier, with the difference indicating student attrition. Julian Vasquez Heilig, a professor at California State University Sacramento, has urged us to put stock in the attrition indicator because, he said, it shows the substantial drop-offs in student enrollment between ninth grade and the end of 12th grade.

After Abbott spoke, we looked for recent state-by-state breakdowns  getting a reminder that there are two ways to make this alternate comparison.

In 2014-15, according to the NCES, 89 percent of Texas high school students graduated three years after finishing ninth grade. According to the agency, Texas tied Alabama and Nebraska for third place nationally by this metric, with Iowa (91 percent) and New Jersey (90 percent) leading the nation.

Texas lags more states by a cruder yet popular measure based on tallying high school graduates each year and comparing that count to the number of students who completed ninth grade three years before. In 2012-13, the latest year analyzed by the NCES, Texas tied with California with an averaged freshman graduation rate of 83.6 percent. Twenty states had higher rates, a center chart says, with Nebraska No. 1 (93.3 percent rate) followed by Wisconsin (93 percent), North Dakota (91.4 percent), Minnesota (91 percent) and Iowa (89.4 percent).

For this fact-check, Heilig guided us to David Hinojosa of the San Antonio-based Intercultural Development Research Association, which has tracked high school completion rates for decades. By email, Hinojosa pointed out the groups October 2017 report stating that through the 2016-17 school year, the states attrition rate, not counting charter schools, hovered around 24 percent to 25 percent for five years  down from 33 percent in the mid-1980s. Texas public schools are failing to graduate one out of every four high school students, the report says.

To our inquiry, state education officials didnt have a comparable attrition rate for 2016-17. DeEtta Culbertson, a TEA spokeswoman, emailed us agency information indicating that for 2015-16, the state calculated an attrition rate of 19.6 percent. Culbertson had no comment on the IDRA analysis.

Our ruling

Abbott said Texas ranks among the top five states in the nation for high school graduation rate.

Texas ranked No. 5 nationally for its 2015-16 graduation rate. Abbott was not talking about an alternate metric by which Texas in 2012-13 trailed 20 states for its share of students graduating compared to the number of ninth-grade students three years before.

We rate his claim True.A new online resource provides free help to military families dealing with child mental health issues, courtesy of a grant from insurance giant USAA.

Created by the One in Five Minds advocacy campaign, the online site contains a wealth of information for parents, including articles, videos and handbooks online at http://www.1in5minds.org/.

The One in Five Minds campaign seeks to raise awareness about childrens mental illness, breaking down stigma and increasing access to treatment. The campaign was developed by Clarity Child Guidance Center, a nonprofit mental health treatment center based in San Antonio that serves children ages 3-17.

The online resource was designed for military families that are on active duty, discharged or retired. The site covers subjects specific to the unique needs of military families, such as how to help a child cope with a parents deployment or post-traumatic stress syndrome. It also serves as a clearinghouse that helps families find mental health resources in Bexar County and the surrounding area.

The website will add new content each month, including articles and videos from experts.

Our goal is that all military parents know the warning signs of childrens mental illness and be better-informed about how to get help, said Fred Hines, president and CEO of Clarity Child Guidance Center. This website will allow military families to learn more in the privacy and comfort of their own homes. Because USAA recognized the need for this service and provided support, well be able to reach many more children and families who need assistance.

Research shows military families face unique challenges. According to the Blue Star Families 2017 Annual Military Family Lifestyle survey, time away from family as a result of military service is the top concern among 46 percent of respondents, surpassing Pay and Benefits, the top concern since 2013.

Forty percent of military members had experienced six or more months of separation from their families in the last 18 months. More than half of military parents report their children experienced separation anxiety, worry and/or sleeping problems as a result of a service members deployment. Around 49 percent said their child had demonstrated behavior problems, such as acting out, irritability or aggression.

The survey also found that the top reason for leaving the military among those planning to exit service in the next two years (with the exception of retirement) is concern about the impact of military service on family.

The USAA grant also provides funding for Clarity CGC to train mental health professionals on better understanding the military experience, in order to provide care for children and adolescents.A man is in custody after San Antonio police say they discovered the bodies of an adult woman and a female minor at a far West Side residence Saturday morning.

San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said a man, identified as Casey Farrell Marshall, 50, called police asking for paramedics for two people who "were down." A news release from SAPD later Saturday morning reported Marshall told 911 dispatchers he had killed the two victims.It all comes down to leverage.

Three and a half years ago, the city filed lawsuits against the police and firefighters unions, primarily for the purpose of gaining leverage in collective bargaining.

Last month, the firefighters launched a petition drive for a series of charter amendments that would severely weaken the power of our municipal government, primarily for the purpose of gaining leverage in collective bargaining.

To be sure, these gambits werent purely about gamesmanship. City Manager Sheryl Sculley genuinely objected to the 10-year evergreen clauses in the public-safety contracts, and that factored in her push  supported by the City Council  to challenge those clauses.

Of course, the reason she hated the evergreens was because she believed they gave the unions too much leverage; because the prospect of keeping union benefits intact for 10 years after a contract expires would leave union leaders with little incentive to negotiate.

Insiders will likewise tell you that the San Antonio Professional Firefighters Association (SAPFA) is sincere in its charter-amendment campaign; that firefighters have been disturbed over the past few years by various City Council decisions and want to make it easier for voters to repeal ordinances. In other words, theyre uncomfortable with the amount of leverage that the council and Sculley have over their lives.

It all comes down to leverage.

As the city evergreen lawsuit slogs its way to the Texas Supreme Court, and the firefighters charter-amendment campaign makes its inexorable march to a November ballot near you, the two sides have their leverage weaponry aimed directly at each other.

District 6 Councilman Greg Brockhouse compares it to two rivals pointing guns right at each other. Mayor Ron Nirenberg suggests that its a bit like Cold War adversaries with their fingers on the nuclear buttons.

Brockhouse, a former consultant for the police and fire unions, would like to be a broker between the city and the firefighters; to be the Jimmy Carter to this citys Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat.

On Thursday, Brockhouse released a statement offering his diagnosis and prescription. Brockhouse accused Nirenberg of union grandstanding, citing a March 7 news conference in which the mayor stood behind a digital clock that displayed the amount of elapsed time since the firefighters contract expired.

Brockhouse stated that the mayor and his advisers have completely misread the situation and he urged the city to drop the lawsuit and bring the dialogue back to the negotiating table.

To Brockhouses credit, he acknowledged, at the end of the statement, I support police and fire. I own that with no regret.

In this situation, however, thats a problem. Supporting the police and fire departments as entities that serve and protect San Antonians is fine. Supporting the public-safety unions as political entities is fine, too, but it means youve picked a side and cant be a fair broker in this conflict.

That bias comes into play when Brockhouse points to Nirenbergs criticism of SAPFA President Chris Steele and says, When you attack one firefighter or their leadership, you attack them all.

That argument makes about as much sense as saying that if you attack Donald Trump, youre attacking every American. It also leaves out the fact that Steele has been a voice of extreme belligerence throughout this contract stalemate. Has anyone forgotten the obnoxious bullying routine Steele laid on Nirenberg in the Council Chamber back in September 2014, when Nirenberg was a first-term councilman?

Showing off for the firefighters and police officers who packed the room, Steele halted his diatribe against Sculley to call out Nirenberg on the dais.

Councilman Nirenberg, could you please pay attention? I think thats part of the job that youre supposed to do, Steele said.

Brockhouse is right to expose the folly of a city lawsuit challenging a clause that the city repeatedly accepted in collective bargaining; a lawsuit whose premise  that the evergreen violates the Texas Constitution because it will force S.A. into debt  has been contradicted by the past four years of fiscal stability in this city.

But if hes going to accuse the mayor of grandstanding, how can he ignore the obvious pattern of grandstanding from Steele?

The public-safety unions are Brockhouses base, his constituency. He not only believes in them, he needs their support to move forward as an elected official.

It all comes down to leverage.YES! WE DID IT: DORA COMES TO QUEENSLAND!

- ENDS -

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After a last-ditch effort to stop the movie being produced in another country, Paramounts live action childrens filmis to be filmed in Queensland, Australia.The move, reports Variety , highlights the intense competition for so-called runaway productions, and the efforts being made to further increase Australias financial incentives for film production.The decision was announced on Sunday, March 18 by the Premier of Queensland, Annastacia Palaszczuk. Yes, we did it.comes to Queensland, Palaszczuk said. That is a reference to how each episode of Nickelodeon's beloved animated preschool series ends with the song We Did It. The new film sees Dora as a teenager navigating the world with her cousin Diego.will be filmed on the Gold Coasts Sound Stage 9 at Village Roadshow Studios. It is to be produced through the Paramount Players division of Paramount Pictures and will be directed by James Bobin (), with a script fromanddirector Nick Stoller. Michael Bays Platinum Dunes label and his partners Andrew Form and Brad Fuller are producing the flick. The film's cast has not been set. Production on the movie is scheduled to commence after the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games in April, reports the Gold Coast Bulletin will receive a wide release in North America on Friday, August 2, 2019.But it was nearly another story. On Friday, March 16, Australias federal government refused to give the film an additional tax break, beyond the countrys 16.5% production offset scheme. That appeared to mean that the film would not be shot in Australia. Palaszczuk accused federal treasurer Scott Morrison of bias towards other states and of costing jobs in her state.Instead, after asking Paramount for a further 48 hours to negotiate, Queensland agreed to increase the incentive it will pay to the production. Palaszczuk declined to detail the amount, though local media sources have put the figure at over $6.17 million (A$8 million).Australia has several features that attract footloose or runaway productions, including well-developed infrastructure, English-language crews and varied locations. But, even after the weakening of the Australian dollar at the end of the commodities boom, it also has high costs.In recent weeks there have been cries of alarm that the flow of incoming movie shoots had all but dried up. And both Screen Queensland and Ausfilm have lobbied government to raise the incentive for all major films from 16.5% to 30%.So far, the federal funding has been on a case-by-case basis. Recent Hollywood pictures that have been granted additional, discretionary funding from the federal government, and which then shot in Australia, includeandThe decision to provide competitive incentives to lure the production came down to a single criteria: creating jobs, said Palaszczuk. Over the past three years my government has committed $23.1 million (A$30 million) attracting movie makers to Queensland through our Production Attraction Fund, gaining more than $270 million (A$350 million) of direct expenditure in our state. Below is Screen Queensland's official press release announcing the news, via createsend.com > Sunday 18 March 2018Screen Queensland is thrilled to share today's announcement from the Queensland Premier and Minister for Trade, The Honourable Annastacia Palaszczuk.Premier and Minister for TradeThe Honourable Annastacia PalaszczukPremier Annastacia Palaszczuk has announced Queenslands next big blockbuster will be the live-action version of Dora The Explorer from Paramount Pictures.The Premier said the decision to provide competitive incentives to lure the production came down to a single criteria: creating jobs.This isnt only for our film industry workers its for all the other businesses we know benefit from big productions in Queensland, the Premier said.Over the past three years my government has committed $30 million attracting movie makers to Queensland through our Production Attraction Fund, gaining more than $350 million of direct expenditure in our State.We will keep on pushing for screen jobs for our local crews and creatives and for productions that inject hundreds of millions of dollars into our economy and take our creative talent and our stunning Queensland locations, to screens around the world.Recent productions include:- Aquaman, filmed in 2017, estimated to have spent more than $100M in Queensland creating 2100 jobs.- Thor: Ragnarok, released in October 2017, employed more than 1000 Queensland cast and crew, and injected $145.2 million into the Queensland economy- The Chinese production At Last showcased a range of Queensland locations, and provided approximately 200 jobs and injected $10.8M into the local economy. It follows the success of previous Queensland Chinese co-productions Guardians of the Tomb (previously known as The Nest 3D) and Bait 3D.- This Dora will be a live action update of the much-loved Nikelodeon animated series, in which Dora is now a teenager navigating the world with her cousin Diego.Each episode of the animated series ended with the song We Did It.After the deal was secured late yesterday the Premier felt like singing We Did It herself.We could not be more thrilled to be bringing Dora to Queensland and to be able to deliver Queensland for our film, said Lee Rosenthal, President of Physical Production for Paramount Pictures.In Queensland, we are able to get outstanding crew, stages and a variety of jungle topography and city backdrops in essentially one place.Dora will be filmed on the Gold Coasts $15.5 million Sound Stage 9 at Village Roadshow Studios and came after the Premiers US trade mission in February.The film comes from the Paramount Players division of Paramount Pictures and will be directed by James Bobin whose films include The Muppets (2011), Muppets Most Wanted (2014) and Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016).Its due for release in August 2019.Screen Queensland is a government-owned company that invests in people and projects to grow a creative, innovative and successful screen industry with a focus on stories and global audiences, secures production to Queensland, and delivers an active screen culture across the state.Go to screenqld.com.au to view all our programs and initiatives.Also, from Deadline Paramounts live-action Dora The Explorer movie will shoot in Australia after a last-minute tax break concession from local authorities.The movies presence in Australia was cast in doubt on Friday when Australian Treasurer Scott Morrison rejected Paramounts request for a one-off increase from the standard 16.5 percent tax break to 30 percent. However, Australias second largest state Queensland agreed this morning to top up the the Australian governments tax break for the film. One local media report pegs the revised deal to lure Dora to Queensland at around $8m.The James Bobin (Alice Through The Looking Glass)-directed live-action feature is an update of the hit Nickelodeon cartoon and is due to follow a teenage Dora as she navigates the world with her cousin Diego. Storks director Nick Stoller is writing the script, and Michael Bays Platinum Dunes label and his partners Andrew Form and Brad Fuller are producing. Cast has not been set. The movie is slated for an August 2019 release.We could not be more thrilled to be bringing Dora to Queensland and to be able to deliver Queensland for our film, said Lee Rosenthal, President of Physical Production for Paramount Pictures. In Queensland, we are able to get outstanding crew, stages and a variety of jungle topography and city backdrops in essentially one place. The film will shoot on the Gold Coasts $15.5 million Sound Stage 9 at Village Roadshow Studios with production expected to begin late spring/early summer.Over the past three years my government has committed $30 million attracting movie makers to Queensland through our Production Attraction Fund, gaining more than $350 million of direct expenditure in our State, said Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. We will keep on pushing for screen jobs for our local crews and creatives and for productions that inject hundreds of millions of dollars into our economy and take our creative talent and our stunning Queensland locations, to screens around the world.Sizeable recent productions to shoot in Queensland include DCs Aquaman, which is estimated to have spent more than $100m in Queensland creating more than 2000 jobs, Thor: Ragnarok and Chinese production At Last, which followed other Australian-Chinese productions such Guardians Of The Tomb (previously known as The Nest 3D) and Bait 3D.AUSTIN  Gov. Greg Abbott called for peace in the GOP after he was through attacking some of his fellow Republicans, but its going to take more than that to smooth things over.

I truly believe the governor needs to make amends with folks in the House if he expects to get his agenda through, said Rep. Lyle Larson of San Antonio, who was among Republicans targeted by Abbott in the primary election. Somewhere, a bunch of humility needs to fall.  He has a few admirers in the House, but the lions share of the people are not impressed with his leadership style.

If there were any doubts about the hard feelings, House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, and Rep. Byron Cook, R-Corsicana, put them to rest by throwing a one-two punch Abbotts way over the bathroom bill publicly supported by the governor and a business development fund Abbott oversees.

First came the report from a special committee formed by Straus and headed by Cook saying that the failed bathroom bill was harmful to Texas economy and shouldnt be resurrected. The proposal, which would have restricted transgender peoples use of public restrooms, made the state vulnerable to economic boycotts because it was widely viewed as discriminatory.

Cook made further political waves by saying Abbotts former chief of staff had told him during the past regular legislative session that Abbott didnt want the bathroom bill to reach his desk. The governor nevertheless put it on the special session agenda when it failed to pass in the regular session.

Cooks revelation makes sense, although neither Abbott nor his former chief of staff would comment. The bills failure, as I wrote last year, was a win-win for Abbott. He pleased Republicans who wanted the bill to pass, but its failure meant that he didnt have to deal with any fallout and instead could put the blame on the more moderate Straus.

The same day Cooks committee report was released, Straus wrote to Abbott questioning the fairness of Texas Enterprise Fund grant awards, saying North Texas was overrepresented and asking whether the money was used to actually close deals or was an afterthought for companies that would expand anyway.

An Abbott spokesman pointed out that grants must be approved by the speaker and lieutenant governor, not just the governor, calling Straus comments bizarre.

Straus and Cook arent running for re-election, but theyve made clear that their interest in public policy remains. At the least, they will be able to make Abbott uncomfortable as they serve out their terms.

They represent the tip of the iceberg, Larson said. The hard feelings run deep.

The hard feelings come not just from Abbotts actions this year, Larson said, but from Abbotts failure to help incumbents in the 2016 primary elections. As weve reported, Abbott asked House Republicans in the 2015 regular session to support a bill for prekindergarten programs, an idea opposed by some tea party interests. When the bill became an issue in some lawmakers campaigns, Abbott declined to get involved.

He turned his back on them, Larson said. A Scottish warrior he is not.

At least Abbott didnt campaign against incumbents in the 2016 GOP primary. After this years primary, he wouldnt say if he would do it again.

Of the three he opposed this year, Larson and Rep. Sarah Davis of West University Place were re-elected anyway, while Rep. Wayne Faircloth of Galveston was defeated. All three had supported  and Larson had authored  legislation to curb the ability of a governor to appoint high-dollar donors to state boards.

Abbott also supported a number of Republicans in their races this year.

When the primary was over, Abbott called for GOP unity during a Facebook Live event and again when asked about it at an unrelated news conference.

Its very important that the Republican Party come together as one, Abbott said.

Larson said Abbott hadnt reached out to him personally, although he received a very nice text from one of the governors staff members.

I dont think a Facebook post or a mention at a press conference is going to reconcile some of the hard feelings that he has created in the Texas House. It is going to have to be more of a sincere outreach on his part  not his staff, but his part, Larson said.

Even if there are hard feelings, Abbott has power that will allow him to wheel and deal in the next legislative session  importantly, the power to veto legislation. The idea that he may campaign against Republican lawmakers who dont fall in line also could be persuasive. But a governor needs more than threats to be great, and a party needs teamwork to thrive.

Southern Methodist University political scientist Cal Jillson said that with Democrats poised to make gains in the Republican-majority House in November, dissatisfaction with Abbott could prompt some moderate Republicans to join with Democrats to push a Straus successor as speaker who, like Straus, will show independence.

Straus initially won the speakership with the help of such a coalition. The House Republican Caucus has taken steps to try to stave off a repeat, Jillson noted, but he warned that there is danger in efforts that divide a political party.

The story of how the Democratic Party of Texas came apart in the 40s, 50s and 60s is internal fights, Jillson said. I think that history of how the Democrats came apart slowly over a period of years is one the Republicans need to go back and read.Stamford police department / Contributed photo

STAMFORD  A former city man has been sentenced to six months in prison for illegally reentering the country after being deported.

Carlos Anariba, a 27-year-old Honduras citizen who last lived in Stamford, had pleaded guilty to the charge in federal court, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Connecticut.Place Your Advert

Thousands of Active jobseekers are looking for new agricultural positions in 2020. Call us now to discuss the options for advertising your vacancy in our job section.Aishwarya Rejected Raja Hindustani & Dil Toh Pagal hai

She revealed, "Even before winning the titles, I was being pursued. Dharmesh Darshan had offered me Raja Hindustani; Yashji (Yash Chopra) wanted to launch me in Maine Toh Mohabbat Kar Li, which became Dil To Pagal Hai.

I met Shekhar Kapur who told me that he was a trained chartered accountant, but then cinema beckoned."

Why Aishwarya Chose Iruvar?

"During the title year, both Mani Ratnam and Rajiv Menon got in touch. I was an admirer of Mani Ratnam's cinema, so Iruvar happened. Again, my story was an unconventional one.

Unlike other newcomers who waited to see the fate of their first film, I'd already signed two to three films. Long story short, when I started shooting Iruvar with Mani, my inner voice told me this was home," said Aishwarya.

But Aishwarya Doesnt Regret Rejecting Great Projects

"I'm very grateful. The world recognises being repeated by directors, but in those days I used to refuse some of the best work that came my way if it clashed with a commitment I'd made.

In later years, when I became familiar with my colleagues, they wondered aloud about my penchant. "

Aishwarya Started Socialising Post Marriage

"In the beginning I was very private-did my work, went back home, didn't hang out with industry friends.

After my marriage with AB (Abhishek Bachchan), I started socialising more. In fact, for a long time even AB was a friend, but on turf. There were no after-hours, because we had hectic schedules."

Aishwarya On Hullabaloo Around Her Chemistry With Ranbir In ADHM

"It's so liberating to have played Saba, not for the obvious reasons. I knew I was playing a character integral to the narrative and yet the character was not the obvious leading lady, which was a first.

Again, I was fearlessly making that choice. People could have reacted with: Does that mean you are now going to play character roles? That as a conversation could have started. And even today I'm saying it. But the reactions were different; I was lauded for doing that part. And Karan Johar said, "I wouldn't have had Saba without you."

Aishwarya Wanted To Bring Change In Perceptions

"Even though I've never announced it, a lot of my choices from the '90s until now were meant to bring about change in perception and open avenues for all of us. Today, it's good to see actors make choices across the board and not being slotted. At the time when I was doing it, I was shaking up the regular.

Today, when I'm doing Fanney Khan, again, it's not a full blown part but the idea of the role is strong."

Aishwarya Also Talked About Aaradhya & Called Her Gods Child

Aishwarya says, "Aaradhya is god's child, her own person, a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious soul. I'm blessed to have her as my daughter. All I'd like to say to her is that she can make and do what she wants with her life."Fans Want To Watch Kapil & Sunil Together

Fans kept on requesting him to return to Kapil's show, while Sunil decided to break his silence. He wrote that he wasn't approached for the show (Sunil hadn't mentioned which show).

Sunil Wasnt Approached For The Show!

Sunil had tweeted, "Bhai aap jaise kuch aur log bhi mujhse same poochte hain. Lekin mujhe iss show ke liye KOI call nahin aaya. Mera phone number bhi same hai. Intezar kar Ke ab maine kuch aur sign kar liya kal. Aap logon ki duaon se ek achhe project Ke sath juda hoon. Jaldi aapke samne Aata hoon" - (sic)

Kapil Breaks His Silence!

Obviously, Kapil was bombarded with questions by fans and he too, decided to break his silence and made a series of tweets. He revealed that he had made 100 calls, sent people, and even he himself went to meet him for the show.

Kapil Says Sunil Is Lying!

Kapil wrote, "Yes .. he is lying .. I called him 100 times n sent my people to his home .. even I went to his home to meet him for the show .. but now I will not let anybody take any advantage on my name .. enough is enough." - (sic)

Kapil Called Sunil More Than 100 Times!

In his other tweet, he asked Sunil not to spread rumours, "Paji I called u more then 100 times n came to ur house to meet u twice .. every time u were out for some show n all .. pls don't spread rumors that I didn't call u." - (sic)

Kapils Series Of Tweets

"I know the people who r working behind u .. trust me .. u will get nothing .. take care." - (sic)

"Yes I love him.. but sometimes it hurts u a lot ..when u do a lot of hard work for somebody n he just want fame on ur name .. abhi qyun bola ? Ek saal ke baad ?" - (sic)

Was Kapil Drunk When He Tweeted?

He further tweeted, "Ab saari baat Twitter pe hogi.. nothing personal .. bahut ho gya." With his tweet, Kapil was mighty irked! A fan even asked whether he was drunk, "Kapil ne aaj desi lagai lagti hai. Tandav macha diya. Haha. Nice Kapil finally aapne khulke bola." - (sic)

Kapil Says He Wasnt Drunk

Kapil replied, "Hahaha.. nahi mere bhai .. kabhi kabhi bolna hi padta hai.. nahi to log bahut advantage le jaate hain.." - (sic). While many supported Kapil, a few of them trolled him as well!

Sunil Writes

But, Sunil would take none of these! Sunil shared a lengthy post and said that he wasn't talking about Kapil's new show! Sunil wrote, "Now people know the answer why I didn't join the show earlier. Main iss show ki baat kar raha hoon, aap purana kissa ro rahe hain. Maine ek saal tak nahin bola kyunki aap ki badtmeezi saamne aat, Taaki aap ki garima bani rahe." - (sic)

Which Show Is Sunil Grover Referring To?

"Bahut accha Kaam Kua hai humne sath. Abhi bhi Faltu Nahin bologna. Dhayan Se Pandho. I referred to THIS show and not the previous show. Aur tum better comedian ho. Sab jaante hain. But I will still keep trying with whatever I know." - (sic)

Sunil Takes A Dig At Kapil!

"Khayal rakho. Kidney 2 aur liver 1 hee hai. Take care of your health. Again I will say I have not been offered for this show. Good luck for the new show. Wishes and love." - (sic)

Kapil Says Sunil Knows When & How To Play!

Kapil too, responded to Sunil's tweet, "The thing is u r smarter then me. u know when n how to play .. n I am a dumb emotional." - (sic) Well, looks like this war between Sunil and Kapil is never-ending! It's sad, but we must say that their fans should stop expecting them to work together!Last year, the United States added roughly 16.7 gigawatts of net power generation capacity to the grid -- and 95% of it came from renewable sources. The U.S. Energy Information Administration even expects wind power to overtake hydroelectric as the largest source of renewable energy by 2019 at the latest, providing close to 7% of the nation's total electricity. Similar investment patterns are playing out across the world.

While it's an incredible (and encouraging) trend to be sure, focusing the discussion on the rise of renewables risks creating a narrative that excludes some important data points, such as those detailing the globe's nearly insatiable appetite for natural gas, which is now easier than ever to transport thanks to the overnight maturation of liquefied natural gas (LNG) markets.

It's a timely development, especially considering that natural gas will become a key tool allowing countries to meet their climate goals -- even helping renewables capture greater market share. Luckily for forward-thinking investors, Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS.A)(NYSE:RDS.B) recently published data and its outlook for what's ahead. Here are five things the energy giant wants you to know about LNG.

1. Global LNG trade is booming

The overnight formation of a global LNG market was easy to predict. After all, once construction got underway for massive export terminals, which supercool natural gas to condense it into a liquid and make it easier to transport across oceans, the only thing left to do was wait. But there have still been surprises, such as the pace of demand growth.

The global LNG market was expected to grow by about 23 million metric tons (MT) from 2016 to 2017. Instead, it grew by 29 million MT -- 26% higher than expected -- to reach 293 million MT total. Royal Dutch Shell says we ain't seen nothing yet.

After adding about 71 million MT of LNG liquefaction capacity in the three-year period ending in 2017, the world is slated to bring over 80 million MT of capacity on line between now and 2019. Current projections say that will easily cover demand through at least 2020, but given the shortcomings of recent projections, things may not play out quite as expected.

2. A global supply crunch is looming

Even if current projections call for relative market balance between supply and demand in the near term, Royal Dutch Shell has warned that much more investment is needed to avert a massive supply crunch in the early 2020s. It might be right.

That's because the world is expected to add over 40 million MT of new LNG liquefaction capacity in 2019 but less than 2 million MT the following year. Due to the massive capital requirements, complexity, and lengthy construction time of LNG liquefaction facilities and export terminals, that's a problem -- and not one that can be resolved in short order.

The steep drop-off in investments needed to grow supply in lockstep with demand is a result of shifting dynamics in the market. Countries purchasing LNG want smaller volumes and more flexible contracts, while companies exporting LNG want larger volumes and less wiggle room so as to provide certainty to shareholders and creditors. Right now, there's a stalemate -- and Royal Dutch Shell thinks the market will pay the consequences sometime in the next decade.

3. Fast and flexible ships are driving growth

Hundreds of billions of dollars invested in LNG liquefaction facilities and export terminals certainly go a long way toward driving market growth, but Royal Dutch Shell notes that there are other signs of a healthy ecosystem. One important indicator of a robust market: the proliferation of special vessels called floating storage regasification units (FSRUs).

While these ships can serve as LNG carriers, they can also offload LNG cargo directly into offshore and onshore natural gas pipelines. It may sound trivial, but safely converting liquid bounties into their more familiar gaseous state requires a special process -- and often requires special (and expensive) land-based infrastructure. FSRUs can combine the tanker and terrestrial regasification infrastructure into one, greatly increasing the flexibility of LNG trade by allowing smaller ports to receive cargoes.

The market can't seem to get enough of the fast and flexible capabilities of FSRUs, which went from being virtually nonexistent in 2008 to delivering close to 12% of all global LNG trade in 2017. The trend is likely to continue: 16 countries can receive shipments from these special vessels today, while another 13 are building or considering investing in the required infrastructure.

4. LNG helps, not hinders, renewables

There are quite a few reasons countries import LNG. Some use shipments to offset declining domestic production of natural gas. Some lean on it to ease geopolitical concerns. Some use imports to help meet growing energy needs. Some are even using LNG to support power generation from renewable sources.

That's because gas-fired power plants can quickly respond to fluctuations in demand from the grid, unlike nuclear or coal. So when a drought lingers in Brazil for longer than expected, the country can import LNG on the spot market to offset the lost output from hydropower facilities, even if it's only temporary. Similarly, countries that have installed a large capacity of solar power can use imported LNG to keep the lights on during the evening and early morning, when solar output dives. California is currently using this strategy, which allows it to continue investing in solar as it waits for energy storage infrastructure to catch up.

Remember, not every country can import natural gas through land-based pipelines, but many could benefit from the energy source's flexibility. LNG makes those advantages more widely available to more of the globe.

5. LNG is needed to reach climate goals

Natural gas is increasingly being used to directly support renewable energy investments, but the two are also working synergistically on another level: meeting climate goals.

Coal-fired power plants currently generate 37% of the world's electricity. In countries with bountiful natural gas reserves, such as the U.S. (on tap to become the world's third-largest LNG exporter by 2020), coal's eulogy is in the process of being written. It's a bit more complex in countries lacking natural gas reserves, such as China and India, which each rely on coal for nearly 75% of their electricity generation.

It should be no surprise, then, that China and India are among the fastest-growing consumers of LNG and are using it to meet goals spanning climate, air quality, and geopolitics. If LNG allows these coal-hungry countries to stall the growth of coal generation capacity, or even begin replacing it, then the planet will be able to slash emissions even more quickly than relying on renewables alone.

Royal Dutch Shell is bullish on LNG

It's easy to see why natural gas and LNG are neglected in favor of renewables in discussions about the future of energy, but forward-looking investors may want to be more open-minded. Even if you believe that distributed and renewable energy should be the ultimate goal of human civilization, it's impossible to dismiss the role natural gas and LNG will play in helping to deliver that outcome.Steering Wheel Ring Down

I am having a problem with steering wheel ring down where my 2017 F250 4x4 w/ 18k miles on it violently shakes the steering wheel after hitting bumps, approaches, or rough pavement. I took it in to our local Ford dealer who said everything was tight. The Master Tech they had look at it said he could feel it at 35 MPH and did not want to take it on the highway for fear of what it may do. On frost heaved roads at 55 it is almost uncontrollable.

Dealer sent issue in to the engineers to look at and Ford came back and said this is considered a normal condition for up to a few seconds. The only suggestion they came up with that has not already been tried is to have the tires force balanced and a complete alignment which I would have to pay for because they consider it maintenance. The truck drives straight and has no out of balance shakes so it looks like a quick way to clip me out of 200.00 to maybe fix their problem but I doubt it. Opinions??Turkmen President's Son Held Unannounced Meeting With Nazarbaev

RFE/RL March 16, 2018

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev held talks with the son of Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov ahead of a Central Asian summit in Astana, Nazarbaev's office said a day after the meeting.

The revelation on March 16 is likely to reinforce speculation that Serdar Berdymukhammedov, a lawmaker and the only son of the authoritarian Turkmen president, may be being groomed to succeed his father.

Nazarbaev discussed Kazakh-Turkmen ties with Serdar Berdymukhammedov hours before the summit in Astana on March 15, a statement on the Kazakh president's website said.

Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov was the only one of the five Central Asian presidents who did not attend the summit, officially sending Turkmen parliament chairwoman Akja Nurberdyeva in his stead.

There were no official reports saying that Nazarbaev, who met separately with the presidents of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan ahead of the summit, held any talks with Nurberdyeva.

There were also no earlier reports saying that Serdar Berdymukhammedov was travelling to Astana.

Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, 60, has ruled the former Soviet republic since his autocratic predecessor, Saparmurat Niyazov, died in December 2006.

Serdar Berdymukhammedov has headed a parliamentary committee on legal affairs since March 2017.

Before he became a lawmaker in November 2016, he was chief of the Foreign Ministry's information department.

His career arc has been seen by political analysts as a sign that he is being groomed to eventually succeed his father as president.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/turkmenistan- berdymuhkammedov-son-nazarbaev-meeting- kazakhstan-serdar/29104025.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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Israeli jets target Hamas potions in Gaza Strip

Iran Press TV

Sat Mar 17, 2018 11:44PM

Israeli jets have carried out several airstrikes in the Gaza Strip just hours after its tanks targeted Palestinian Hamas resistance movement positions in the coastal sliver.

During the Saturday night airstrikes a factory and several buildings belonging to Hamas were targeted by the Tel Aviv regime's warplanes. There have been no reports of casualties yet.

The Israeli army has confirmed the attacks, claiming they were carried out in response to the explosive device that went off next to a border fence.

Earlier in the day, at least one Palestinian man sustained injuries after Israeli battle tanks targeted the eastern part of the Gaza Strip.

The Arabic-language Palestine al-Yawm news agency reported that three rounds of shell struck an observation post belonging to the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement east of al-Shujaya neighborhood in Gaza City, injuring a civilian who was taken to al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City to receive treatment.

The Israeli military frequently bombs the Gaza Strip, with civilians being the main target of such attacks.

Israel has also launched several wars on the Palestinian coastal sliver, the last of which began in early July 2014. The military aggression, which ended on August 26, 2014, killed nearly 2,200 Palestinians. Over 11,100 others were also wounded in the war.

The Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli siege since June 2007. The blockade has caused a decline in the standards of living as well as unprecedented levels of unemployment and unrelenting poverty.

The Israeli regime denies about 1.8 million people in Gaza their basic rights, such as freedom of movement, jobs with proper wages as well as adequate healthcare and education.

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Sessions fires former FBI deputy director

Iran Press TV

Sat Mar 17, 2018 02:31AM

US Attorney General Jeff Sessions has sacked Andrew McCabe, the FBI's former No. 2 official who played a leading role in the agency's investigations of Hillary Clinton and Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 US election.

"Pursuant to Department Order 1202, and based on the report of the Inspector General, the findings of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility, and the recommendation of the Department's senior career official, I have terminated the employment of Andrew McCabe effective immediately," Sessions said in a statement Friday night.

The dismissal of McCabe, who was repeatedly criticized by President Donald Trump, came at the recommendation of an internal FBI office that deals with disciplinary matters.

The dismissal recommendation was made on a finding from the Justice Department inspector general that McCabe was unforthcoming during the review.

The review pertains to an investigation into a decision he made in 2016 to allow FBI officials to answer reporters' questions about an investigation into the Clinton Foundation.

Describing McCabe as a "bad actor, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Thursday that the determination whether to fire him would be at Sessions' discretion.

"We do think it is well documented that he has had some very troubling behavior and by most accounts a bad actor and should have some cause for concern," she told reporters.

McCabe stepped down in January after criticism by Trump, but the official was going on "terminal leave," which meant he would be on payroll by the time he retires.

The president, who fired former FBI Director James Comey last year, has complained that McCabe is biased.

Like Comey, McCabe had been urged by Trump to drop the investigation into Russia's alleged meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

"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 wife's campaign by Clinton Puppets during investigation?" Trump tweeted in December.

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China's massive cabinet restructuring plan adopted

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 12:24, March 17, 2018

BEIJING, March 17 (Xinhua) -- China's national legislature on Saturday adopted a massive cabinet restructuring plan to make the government better-structured, more efficient, and service-oriented.

Approved at a plenary meeting of the ongoing first session of the 13th National People's Congress, the plan will create an immigration administration, an agency to coordinate foreign aid, a combined banking and insurance regulator, ministries of veterans affairs, emergency management, natural resources, among others.

Briefing lawmakers earlier this week, State Councilor Wang Yong said the restructuring would strengthen the government's roles in economic management, market supervision, social management, public service, ecological and environmental protection.

According to Wang, the cabinet will have fewer entities at ministerial or vice-ministerial levels.

"It focuses on the needs of development and meets the people's expectations," he said.

The move is seen as a continuation of the previous seven rounds of cabinet restructuring since the early 1980s.

The latest restructuring is considered as part of a broader plan of the Communist Party of China to deepen the reform of the Party and state institutions.

"The reform comes at a crucial time," Chen Xi, a senior Party official, said in an article recently published in the People's Daily.

It will support the efforts in the next three years in building a moderately prosperous society and lay a foundation for building a great modern socialist country by the middle of the century, Chen said.

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Iran Arrests Close Ally Of Ex-President Ahmadinejad

RFE/RL March 17, 2018

Iranian authorities say they have detained a close ally of former hard-line President Mahmud Ahmadinejad.

Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, a former vice president and chief of staff of Ahmadinejad, was arrested on March 17, the website of Tehran's prosecutor said.

It said Mashaei was arrested by police officers who were acting on the orders of the judiciary.

No further details were provided.

Mashaei served as first vice president in 2009 at the start of Ahmadinejad's contested second term in office.

Mashaei's detention comes after video uploaded on social media showed him protesting outside the British Embassy in Tehran on March 15 against the incarceration of another of Ahmadinejad's vice presidents.

The semiofficial ISNA news agency quoted Mashaei's lawyer, Mehran Abdollapour, as saying that his client was probably arrested for having burnt a copy of a court verdict sentencing Hamid Baghai during the protest.

A court in December found Baghai guilty of embezzlement and illegal business transactions, and he began serving his 15-year prison term on March 13.

Several of Ahmadinejad's allies have been jailed over the misappropriation of public funds.

Ahmadinejad, a hard-liner who was president from 2005 to 2013, defended Mashaei in a statement, calling his arrest "a violation of the constitution... that confirms the need for fundamental reforms within the judiciary."

The ex-president has become increasingly isolated for challenging Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his powerful allies, namely the judiciary.

Ahmadinejad last year accused the judiciary of "dictatorship."

In a letter marking the celebrations of the anniversary of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, Ahmadinejad said in February that the judiciary has become "the main pillar of oppression" against the Iranian people.

The letter followed reports that media activists who support Ahmadinejad had been detained. The reason for their arrests was not immediately clear.

The Guardians Council -- which vets presidential candidates -- prevented Ahmadinejad and Baghai from running in the 2017 presidential election that returned President Hassan Rohani to office for a second term.

With reporting by AFP and AP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-arrests-close- ally-of-ahmadinejad/29106041.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 Netanyahu has to step down if indicted over corruption charges: Minister

Iran Press TV

Sat Mar 17, 2018 03:12AM

An Israeli minister says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have to resign or face being dropped by members of his coalition if he is indicted over corruption charges.

"If a trial begins against the prime minister, he will no longer be able to fulfill his duties," said Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon in an interview with Israel's Channel 2 on Friday, adding, "He will get up and leave or the other parties will go away."

The embattled prime minister is currently under at least three police investigations revolving around bribery allegations, which threaten the four-term premier's political survival. He has rejected any wrongdoing and says he is the victim of a "witch-hunt."

Back in February, police recommended the prime minister be indicted on two cases of corruption, while a third probe concerning favors sought from the head of the regime's largest telecommunications firms is ongoing. The Israeli attorney general is due to rule in the coming months on whether to pursue the indictment.

Netanyahu does not have to resign even if indicted but Kahlon, who is also the leader of the center-right Kulanu party, said his position would become untenable.

Kahlon's remarks came as Netanyahu's six-party coalition narrowly survived a crisis over military service for ultra-Orthodox Jews earlier this week as different members of the coalition agreed on a compromise allowing the 2019 budget to be passed.

The threatening rift among the coalition parties could potentially hurl the regime to the snap ballots more than a year before its scheduled date, as the spiritual leaders of the major ultra-Orthodox political factions threatened to vote down the budget unless the legislation, which is bitterly opposed by Minister of Military Affairs Avigdor Lieberman, is approved.

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Trump signs US-Taiwan travel bill, angers China

Iran Press TV

Sat Mar 17, 2018 12:37AM

President Donald Trump has signed a new travel bill, allowing senior US officials to go to Taiwan to meet Taiwanese counterparts and vice versa, a move that has angered China, which regards Taiwan as a wayward province.

The White House said Friday that the non-binding bill, irrespective of whether Trump had signed it or not, would have gone into effect on Saturday morning.

This comes as tension is rising between Washington and Beijing after Trump has introduced tariffs and called for China to reduce its huge trade imbalance with the United States.

Earlier on Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang reiterated that Beijing opposed the legislation, urging the United States to conform to the "one China" policy and halt official exchanges with Taiwan.

The Chinese embassy released a statement, saying that said clauses of the legislation "severely violate the one-China principle, the political foundation of the China-US relationship."

"China is strongly dissatisfied with that and firmly opposes it," the statement said, adding that Washington should "stop pursuing any official ties with Taiwan or improving its current relations with Taiwan in any substantive way."

Although the US has no formal ties with Taiwan, it is required by law to assist it with self-defense as its primary source of weapons.

Meanwhile, Douglas Paal, who served as US representative to Taiwan from 2002 to 2006, said the bill was nothing new as it was non-binding.

"They don't authorize these trips because the policy judgment is that the costs in relations with China would outweigh the benefits in relations with Taiwan," Paal said.

According to the bill, which had been initially passed by Congress last month, US should have a policy to allow visits at all levels.

High-ranking Taiwanese officials should be allowed to enter the US "under respectful conditions" to meet American officials, the bill says.

Washington should encourage Taiwanese economic and cultural representatives to conduct business in the US, the bill adds.

China has been hostile to Taiwan since the election of President Tsai Ing-wen, a member of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, in 2016.

Beijing suspects that Tsai seeks to push for formal independence, a move that would cross a red line for ruling Communist Party leaders in Beijing.

Tsai, however, has rejected such suspicion, saying she wants to keep the status quo and that she is committed to ensuring peace.

Defeated Nationalist forces fled to Taiwan in 1949 after they had lost the Chinese civil war to the Communists.

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Erdogan: Turkish troops capture center of Syria's Afrin

Iran Press TV

Sun Mar 18, 2018 08:32AM

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkish troops and their militant allies have entered the Syrian city of Afrin and taken control of its center after Kurdish militia pulled out.

"Units of the Free Syrian Army, which are backed by Turkish armed forces, took control of the center of Afrin this morning at 8:30 am (0530 GMT)," Erdogan said Sunday.

A spokesman for the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) militants said they entered Afrin shortly before dawn, from the north, east and west of the town, and did not encounter any resistance.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), however, said fighting was ongoing inside the city, where Turkish forces and allied militants have seized some neighborhoods.

The neighborhoods of Ashrafieh and Jamiliyyeh are allegedly now under the control Turkish troops. Erdogan said the center of Afrin was "entirely under control" and Turkish flags had been raised in the northern Syrian town.

An FSA spokesman said the militants were combing the streets and the houses after militants of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) pulled out.

According to SOHR, over 280 civilians have been killed since the Turkish offensive began on January 20.

Ankara launched the operation after the United States said it sought to create a 30,000-strong force near the Turkish border in Syria with the help of the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militant group which is mainly comprised of YPG fighters.

Turkey has threatened to expand its operation as far as the nearby city of Manbij, where American forces are stationed.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, however, said Tuesday that Ankara and Washington were to oversee the withdrawal of the Kurdish militants from the city.

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GREENWICH  Four local architectural gems will be honored and a discussion about the restoration of the Empire State Building will be featured at an upcoming benefit for the Greenwich Historical Society.

The groups Landmark Recognition Program will bestow plaques at the event on April 29. Anthony Malkin, whose real-estate investment trust owns and manages the iconic Manhattan skyscraper, will give the keynote presentation.

It is an honor to have Anthony Malkin deliver the keynote on the restoration of one of Americas most cherished landmarks - a building that has literally defined New Yorks greatness since it was built 87 years ago, said Debra Mecky, executive director of the Greenwich Historical Society. Our audience will be enthralled to hear about the challenges involved in transforming the building and lobby to its original splendor after years of deterioration. Anthonys Greenwich roots will make it especially meaningful to our local audience.

Malkins talk is called The Empire State Building: Preserving and Making History at the Same Time. He will focus attention in the talk on the Art Deco lobby of the building, which has been designated as a National Historic Landmark.

The landmarks committee will also pay tribute to the Second Congregational Church, and three private residences that will earn plaques.

The three honored homes are a dazzling midcentury contemporary home, a distinctive Tudor and a chateau worthy of royalty that is one of Greenwichs Great Estates.

Two preservation awards, for individuals and organizations who have stewarded Greenwichs historical resources, will also be announced.

The benefit will be held at the Greenwich Country Club from 4 to 6 p.m. April 29. Tickets start at $75 per person, and reservations are available at greenwichhistory.org or by contacting 203-869-6899, ext. 10.Kim Kyung-mook dropped out of school at the age of sixteen and went to Seoul. He made his directing debut in 2004 with (2004). Faceless Things received aspecial mention in the competition for the Dragons and Tigers Award for YoungCinema in Vancouver in 2006. Besides film maker, KIM is also critic and columnist.

SourcePublished on 2018/03/18 | Source

The government is mulling drastic measures to get Koreans to have more children and boost the chronically low birthrate, including new taxes to fund costly projects.

Advertisement

The Ministry of Strategy and Finance assigned the Korea Institute of Public Finance to study the policy impact of the taxes, according to officials on Thursday.

Another measure being considered is to create a parental insurance plan like in Sweden and Canada's Quebec. They use insurance fees paid by businesses and workers to finance parental leave.

Governments around the world collect social security taxes, but no country taxes its citizens to fight low birthrates. One government official said, "Gathering trillions of won in taxes could help finance parental leave and also pay for childcare and educational needs".

A 2016 study by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs showed that the main reason many married couples had only one child was because of the financial burden of raising children.

The low birthrate has reached crisis levels, falling to a record-low 1.05 children per woman last year, the lowest in the OECD. The economically active population between 15 and 64 has already started to decline.

Some W126 trillion in government spending over the last 12 years has failed to stem the trend (US$1=W1,065). But imposing new taxes requires social consensus. Proponents say it is necessary to prevent a worst-case scenario, but opponents say the measure will only stir up unnecessary controversy ahead of regional elections in June.By Panos Kotzathanasis | Published on 2018/03/17

Body swap comedies have been one of the most familiar themes in international cinema. Kim Heyong-hyeop makes his own effort in the subcategory, and manages to distinguish his work due to a number of elements, and particularly by presenting it as a tribute to father-daughter relationships. Let us take things from the beginning though.

"Daddy You, Daughter Me" (festival entry) is screening at Osaka Asian Film Festival

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The story revolves around Do-yeon, a high school girl who constantly argues with her father, Sang-tae, a salary man who works in a cosmetics company. She has a major date and a talent show audition coming up while he could get promoted in his company for the first time in years. The two of them used to get along quite nicely when Sang-tae was little, but as the years passed, they got further and further away, each one focusing io his own problems and considering the other one's insignificant.

As the story begins, Do-yeon has a talent show coming up and soon after, a date with her crush while Sang-tae a presentation that may get him get promoted in his company for the first time in years. One night though, and while the two of them are driving in from Do-yeon's grandfather's house, they crash and in the morning wake up in the hospital, finding out they have swapped bodies.

Kim Heyong-hyeop's biggest asset in the film is the fact that manages to retain the comedy for the most of its duration, in a concept that is harder than it seems. The slapstick nature of the comedy benefits the most by the acting, with both Yoon Je-moon as a girly edition of Won Sang-tae and Jung So-min as the manly edition of Do-yeon being hilarious in their renditions. Particularly the scenes where the two have to dance in the way the other would, will probably stay on the viewer's minds for some time.

Furthermore, as mentioned in the prologue, Kim makes a film that functions as a tribute to father-daughter relationships and the difficulties they present, with the footage in the ending credits being a tribute to the fact. The solution he seems to propose is a simple one, as he suggests that each one should try to put oneself in the other's shoes, with the concept of the body swap actually deriving from this aspect. Some comments about corporate policies and they way they perceive their clients also exist, but are rather minor.

Some (melo)dramatic moments are not missing from this one either, although the moments are much less than the comedic ones and actually function as a "break" from the comedy.

Jeong Gi-won and Jang Nam-cheol's cinematography focuses on the realistic depiction of the school and the company setting, and in that fashion, succeeds to the fullest. The colors are bright and the lighting intense in most of the scenes, as is usually the case in mainstream comedies.

"Daddy You, Daughter Me" is a very funny film and a movie that any kind of father with a daughter will enjoy particularly.

Review by Panos Kotzathanasis

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"Daddy You, Daughter Me" is directed by Kim Hyeong-hyeop, and features Yoon Je-moon, Jung So-min, Lee Il-hwa, Shin Goo, Lee Mi-do and Kang Ki-young.

Available on DVD from YESASIA



DVD (En Sub)1 / 4 McKenna Smith, of Eagle Mountain, practices putting on her breathing apparatus in a time trial during the Firefighter Rookie Challenge on Saturday, March 17, 2018, at the Utah Fire and Rescue Academy in Provo. Isaac Hale, Daily Herald Isaac Hale, Daily Herald 2 / 4 Wyatt Blackburn, of Eagle Mountain, second from right, rushes to put on his firefighter turnout gear in a time trial during the Firefighter Rookie Challenge on Saturday, March 17, 2018, at the Utah Fire and Rescue Academy in Provo. To pass the program, students have to be able to completely put on their turnout gear in 50 seconds. Isaac Hale, Daily Herald Isaac Hale, Daily Herald 3 / 4 Brayden Madsen, of Payson, weighs himself and tells his weight to Donna Cotterell, RCA administrative assistant, to be recorded during the Firefighter Rookie Challenge on Saturday, March 17, 2018, at the Utah Fire and Rescue Academy in Provo. Isaac Hale, Daily Herald Isaac Hale, Daily Herald 4 / 4 Perspective RCA students near the finish line as they run a mile and a half during the Firefighter Rookie Challenge on Saturday, March 17, 2018, at the Utah Fire and Rescue Academy in Provo. Isaac Hale, Daily Herald Isaac Hale, Daily Herald  

The childhood dream of becoming a firefighter may become a nightmare for some would-be rookies as they are challenged to see if they really want to fight fires.

On Saturday, Utah Valley Universitys Firefighter Recruit Candidate Academy held its Firefighter Rookie Challenge.

According to Donna Cotterell, administrative assistant for the RCA, the Rookie Challenge allows those who think they want to be a firefighter can get an idea of what it really takes to be in the RCA class and decide if its a career one can devote their life to.

Even if you do not want to attend the RCA, the Rookie Challenge gives interested individuals an appreciation for working firefighters.

One time, a mom of a firefighter went through it, Cotterell said. Weve had teachers do it so they would know what to tell their students.

Its an expensive program to start and then drop soon after. Cotterell said rookies can come in for one night and get a small taste of how physical it is before they spend all that money.

There is a lot of interest in the challenge, Cotterell said. Weve been involved in doing this over the past six years. They will come away from this saying wow.'

The first thing in the challenge is to see where the rookie in physically. They must run a mile and a half in 15 minutes or less; then do 35 sit-ups in a minute or less; and then do 35 push-ups in a minute or less.

If a potential firefighter cant do that, they either need to get in shape or look for another vocation.

The fun isnt over.

After the physical training, there are skills training exercises the rookies perform. The biggest one is to get the extra 60 to 65 pounds of turn-out firefighting gear and put it on properly in a minute or less.

They learn to pull fire hoses and use them with full-power water pressure; they learn to climb ladders in full gear; and then there is the search and rescue portion.

The search and rescue portion allows potential firefighters to be in simulated situations where smoke could hinder sight and crawling on the floor might be necessary.

Following the complete evening of training experiences, the class of up to 24 is allowed a question-and-answer time.

If one makes it through the evening with a strong desire to continue on, the UVU academy offers the classes they need to become a trained firefighter.

College information on the program says it is a basic firefighting academy with the goal to prepare every student for entry-level employment as a firefighter and hazmat responder.

It is a regimented, paramilitary course with a demand for respect and attention to detail, the brochure says. This includes uniform, appearance and attitude. It is also a very physically demanding course.

It continues, Physical training (PT) may include running up to 5 miles a day. Training also includes rigorous exercise and weight lifting to build strength and endurance to prepare for the demands of a firefighter. The RCA course also has classroom time with online testing.

The Rookie Challenge nights are held twice a year. The next one is scheduled for October.More than seven months before Election Day, Utahs political process begins with neighborhood meetings across the state, most of which will be held Tuesday evening.

For those who havent participated in the caucus process before, it can be a little bit confusing. Heres a breakdown of what caucus is, how you can participate and why its important.

What is a caucus?

Every year, political parties hold neighborhood meetings, called a precinct caucus.

Republicans and Democrats attending their respective party caucuses can run as or vote for delegates, who will later represent the precinct at county and state conventions where candidates are chosen to represent the party in a general election.

Party leadership positions of precinct chairs and vice chairs are also typically selected at these meetings.

In essence, caucus is where neighborhoods pick the people who will vote on which candidates the party will have run for political office.

Delegates and party leadership serve two-year terms, and in the off-year will be responsible for selecting party platforms and party leadership, including the party chair.

Though conventions used to be the only way a candidate could get on the ballot in Utah, in 2014 the Utah Legislature provided an alternate way of getting on the ballot via gathering signatures.

Some smaller parties, like United Utah, dont elect delegates because every party member is automatically a delegate.

How can I participate?

To participate, you need to be registered to vote.

Finding where your party is holding its caucus meeting is simple: just enter your address at vote.utah.gov and the caucus locations and times for all the parties will pop up.

You can also find precinct caucus information on most party websites, including ucrp.org and utahdemocrats.org.

While the Republican, Democrat and United Utah parties are all caucusing Tuesday night, some other parties including Libertarians and the Green Party will be caucusing in April.

For most parties, you will need to attend in person in order to be able to run or vote for delegates, though the Utah County Republican Party is testing an app, Voatz, that will allow remote participation for many precincts.

Anyone with questions about their partys caucus meeting should contact the party directly. The Utah County Elections Office can also direct people to the right place, if the party has provided the clerks office with the information.

Why should I participate?

This year, there are several big races on both the state and county levels.

U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatchs seat is up for grabs since he announced retirement, and 19 people are vying for the seat, including former presidential candidate Mitt Romney, state Rep. Mike Kennedy, R-Alpine, and Democrat Jenny Wilson, a Salt Lake County councilwoman.

Utah Countys two U.S. representatives, Mia Love and John Curtis, are also facing re-election. Curtis will face a previous challenger, Chris Herrod, who Curtis beat out in a special election primary, and Love is facing Democratic challenger Ben McAdams, Salt Lake County mayor.

At the county level, delegates will be deciding between many candidates who have filed for seats where the incumbent is not seeking reelection.

Sheriff Jim Tracy, County Commissioner Greg Graves, Utah County Attorney Jeff Buhman and Utah Rep. Brian Greene are just a few elected officials who are not seeking re-election, leaving their offices up for grabs.

Republican: 138,577

Unaffiliated: 79,498

Democrat: 13,962

Independent: 4,816

Libertarian: 2,262

Constitution: 1,040

United Utah: 85

Green: 46

Total: 240,286

Utah County Republican Party: ucrp.org/caucus-details

Utah County Democratic Party: utahcountydemocrats.org or utahdemocrats.org

Utah County Libertarians: libertarianutah.org

Utah Constitution Party: utahconstitutionparty.com/caucus-convention

United Utah Party: unitedutah.org

Green Party: greenpartyutah.comCaucuses are upon us, which means we all get to pile into large neighborhood groups and elect delegates.

Last time I attended the caucus, we were asking those running which politicians they supported. Only one of them gave a straight answer. Everyone else said something along the lines of, It doesnt matter who I like, my job is to support who you guys like.

While such an attitude may sound admirable at first, in the long-run, its a useless sentiment.

My neighbors and I have different views. You cant possibly vote the way both of us want all of the time.

At some point, you have to stand for something and we should be able to choose, as a collective, whether or not we want what youre selling.

Below is a short list of what I want from my future Republican delegate. Who knows if Ill get any of it, but a man can dream.

First, I want someone who will realize that the only reason they have any power at all is because my neighbors and I gave it to them through democratic means. I want a delegate who understands that it isnt their party. Its our party  theirs and ours.

By extension, that means I want a delegate who will help choose State Central Committee members who view the party in this way as well. I dont need more Phill Wrights and Dave Batemans who think the Republican Party is theirs to control.

Second, I want a delegate who understands that doubling down and refusing to find a middle ground should be rare and appropriate at best. Getting some of what you want is almost always better than getting none of what you want. And giving the other party something they want, in exchange for something you want, is almost always worth it.

When selecting the winners and losers at the convention, Id prefer they ignore the no-compromise hardliner and instead elect someone who can get things done. Bipartisanship can be a great thing, because it gets rid of the bad ideas in the other partys plan and it softens the less popular ideas in yours.

Above all, bipartisanship usually helps the average American more than partisanship.

I swear if the GOP picks another Chris Herrod-type for Congress, I may just lose my mind. Not only are the fringes ideas bad, but theyre usually unwinnable as candidates.

Third, I want to get a commitment from my delegate that if I attend our neighborhoods monthly meetings, that Ill see them there talking to people.

At the last caucus meeting, the group of mumblers running for leadership positions said they would go door-to-door to get a feel for how we wanted them to vote. That was a promise each mumbler made, and no one ever knocked on my door.

Im not saying that I am absolved from getting involved myself, but I am saying that if youre going to make a promise, you better keep it.

Showing up to monthly neighborhood meetings is a much more reasonable way to get to know your neighbors than randomly knocking doors in the evening.

Fourth, I want a delegate who can recognize that, unless youre an anarchist, the only real difference between parties is the degrees in which they think the government is either good or necessary.

Im tired of all of this nonsense I hear from the far-right that all government is bad government. That doesnt make you a conservative or a libertarian. That makes you an anarchist. Thats the literal definition of anarchy.

Im all for a big tent and think that, instead of pushing the far-right out, we should beat them in elections and debate backed by the publics support. But I do think the attitude that less government is always better has to go.

Its one thing to stand up for whats right, but its another thing to stand up for something because its right of option B.

Whether were talking about the SCC or the partys nominees, this nonsense is not representative of me or the party I grew up knowing. If a delegate cant show me that they understand that the world is a bit more complicated than ideological extremism, than I dont want them representing me.

Basically, I want people who are open about who and what the support and I want to see reasonable people get elected during the Republican Caucus.

In fact, I want to see reasonable people get elected at every caucus, but I can only really contribute to one. I beg you to help make this happen on caucus night. And if youre a Republican, and you cant attend for some reason, Katie England has your back. England reported that those who cannot attend the GOP caucus meetings in person, can still vote using the Voatz app.

Now theres no good reason to let your voice go unheard.

The only way we make Americas politics less of a circus is by giving the bad the old heave-ho and replacing it with people worth voting for, and in Utah, that process begins at your local caucus meeting.For Subscribers As calls for help rise, Maryland's answer to opioid crisis adapts

Maryland's answer to the opioid crisis has had to take new shape amid the challenges and growing urgency of COVID-19.A special remembrance installation of 600,000 crouching clay figures is opening to the public soon in Ypres, Belgium, seeking to help visitors from around the world reflect on what happened during World War I a century ago. Belgium will honour its civilian and military dead with the figures, each about the size of a large fist. The figures have already begun to fill a no-mans-land between what was once a German and British trench.

Since 2014, students, tourists, and others have been creating the pieces in mobile workshops around the world and in the city of Ypres, the site of much carnage during the war. Each individual piece comes complete with a dog tag which includes the name of the casualty and the name of the artist who created the piece. In a sense, it connects the past with the present.

Making these pieces is a good way to remember the soldiers who fought in the war. It wasnt very pleasant for them, said 12-year-old Bethany Kibutu, a student at the clay workshop in Ypres who lives in Sheffield, England. I know it had to happen, but if we can learn from our mistakes the world could maybe be a better place.

The installation opens on March 30. Belgian rain and mud will weather the figures for eight months before they are finally removed in November and given away. The last two surviving World War I soldiers who knew the horror first hand  Frank Buckles from the United States and Claude Choules from the UK  both died in 2011. The last year of the Centenary commemorations is wrapping up in November. When thats over, current and future generations have to find a way to try to keep remembering beyond the Nov. 11 Armistice day.

Just the creation of these pieces has already brought people together, said Lotte Moeyaert, co-director of the project. Weve had individuals, families, teambuilding groups and students all coming in to create the figures in the workshop. Getting their hands in the clay has made many of them believe they are part of a bigger thing, she said.

Follow @htlifeandstyle for moreA self-confessed foodie, actor Taapsee Pannu says she was well-aware about putting on weight during the shoot of her film Manmarziyan, where she stars opposite Abhishek Bachchan.

I knew when I was leaving for Amritsar that I will come back with loads of fun, laughter, and extra kgs. And I wasnt surprised. Whats the point of playing an Amritsar girl if you dont enjoy each and every delicacy here? says Taapsee.

She adds that resisting the local delicacies was just not possible, with the entire team going out of their way to hunt down the best of homemade food and Amritsari specialties.

The entire team has made sure we become true Amritsaris. We have visited all famous outlets and thanks to the wonderful people here we have had an opportunity to have good homemade food, too, when we got tired of eating out. This city truly doesnt make you miss home, gushes the actor, who hails from Delhi.

A source close to the actor adds about the hospitality of the people of the city,  Though the crew advised the locals not to trouble themselves, the people considered it their duty to treat their guests well. Every day someone or the other would bring local sweets and food.

Follow @htshowbiz for moreDid Ranveer Singh feel let down by the way the government handled the row over his historical drama Padmaavat? The Bollywood star dodged the question repeatedly here on Saturday, but said he was enraged by the protests which he felt bordered on fascism.

Its bizarre when I watch it, he said of the scale of protests against the movie, when asked if people have become cynical about affairs in the country.

I cant believe that its 2018. It is so blatant that its bizarre. It borders on fascism. I found it appalling, I was in shock which then turned into rage.

Ranveer was at the News18 Rising India Summit where he spoke his heart out about how he felt helpless in the frustrating incidents that preceded the release of the Sanjay Leela Bhansali directorial in January.

When asked if he felt let down by the government or whether the government was not doing enough to ensure a smooth journey for Padmaavat, Ranveer said: You could say that Mr Prasoon Joshi (censor board chief) did a lot for the film, which eventually saw a release.

I prefer to see the positives, and it is that the film got made, got released, with police deployed at exhibition centres, getting the appreciation it got, the perpetrators got taken to the cleaners after the release... And the film has gone on to make Rs 300 crore.

Theres a silver lining, and theres a sense of victory for Mr Bhansali, who fought tooth and nail to get it mounted, to get it made, and it eventually turned to a success.

So, he was okay with the way the government handled the situation?

Ranveer Singh as Alauddin Khilji in Sanjay Leela Bhansalis Padmaavat.

Ranveer maintained: I dont want to rake up what has already transpired.

Honestly... I have moved on to another film. And its going really well. I hope you come and see it. Its called Gully Boy... Its a film very close to my heart, and it is embedded with a social message.

But coming back to Padmaavat, he said: The thing is... I have to move forward. I cant keep things in my system. I dont keep things in my system for too long. When I look back at Padmaavat, there are fond memories. The film eventually released and is not just a massive commercial success, but it seems to me that it will be remembered.

Later, another audience member pointed out how beautifully Ranveer had evaded the question on the governments take on Padmaavat.

He was then asked if he felt the course of the row would have been different had the reigns of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) not changed from Pahlaj Nihalani to Prasoon Joshi?

I really dont know, pat came the reply.

I dont know that many details to know what would have happened. All I know is Prasoon Joshi supported the film and it released, and it is there where it is today.

Padmaavat, a historical drama, went through a tumultous journey from the beginning of its shoot till its release and beyond over conjectures that it distorted historical facts.

Rajput organisation Shree Rajput Karni Sena was up in arms against the makers, and not just vandalised its sets twice and assaulted Bhansali, but also held major protests across the country opposing the films release.

Ranveer said it was hugely infuriating and left him full of rage.

But I was asked not to do anything, he said, adding that if he was to get involved, things would get worse and it could have been perceived as retaliation.

So, he put all the frustration in his performance as Alauddin Khilji -- an act that has won him appreciation all the way.

Follow @htshowbiz for moreNo one romances his heroines the way Shah Rukh Khan does. The actor who is busy shooting for his next, Zero, with Aanand L Rai, on Saturday tweeted a picture of him offering an ice cream to a photo of Katrina Kaif and tried to woo her in his now (in) famous Darr style .

Sharing the picture, Shah Rukh wrote: Cos she doesnt eat ice cream in real, Cos she has worked so hard & cos this reminds me of Darr...on @aanandlrai #Zero the film...I lov u kkkKatrina..

Cos she doesnt eat ice cream in real, Cos she has worked so hard & cos this reminds me of Darr...on @aanandlrai #Zero the film...I lov u kkkKatrina.. pic.twitter.com/YWZYClrcOQ  Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) March 17, 2018

It was Juhi Chawla then.

The song in which the scene originally featured was Jaadu Teri Nazar. SRK played an obsessed lover who stalks Juhi Chawla in the successful Yash Raj film. Juhi Chawla is traumatised by his persistent and creepy presence. Darr was one of his big hits, one that catapulted SRK him into the superstardom . His signature I love you, Kkkkiran line continues to haunt even after 25 years.

In Zero, the 52-year-old actor, popular for portraying characters in love stories set abroad, plays a dwarf man who travels from Meerut to New York.

Talking about his choice, Aanand had earlier said, I always felt he is a very basic Delhi boy. Whenever I saw him in those valleys of Switzerland, I felt Oh Delhi boy wahan tak pahuch gaya (the Delhi boy has scaled great heights). I never felt he didnt belong there. That is the reason why I think he has a great connect in our country because he represents a basic middle-class boy who has achieved it.

Zero also stars Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma.

Follow @htshowbiz for moreFrom spending her childhood in the lanes of Lahore to starting her journey as a radio artiste, Kamini Kaushal has a very special place in her heart for the cultural capital of Pakistan. The veteran actor, 91, says she would love to go back to her land for work, but in a secure environment.

The actor was born in Lahore and came to India after partition back in 1947. She might have opted to migrate, but her relationship and fondness for the place remain the same.

With the calls to ban Pakistani talent from working in Bollywood erupting every now and then, the actor says actors have no boundaries. Ban Pakistani actors from working in Bollywood? I would say no. If the work to be done has integrity, then there is no need for limits or restrictions. It makes no difference where the actor comes from, said Kamini.

I know it would give me great pleasure to be asked to return to Lahore and do some good work, she added.

The actor, whose real name is Uma Sood, recalled the time she spent in Lahore before partition. I have fond memories of acting in the lovely amphitheatre in Lahores Simla Hill. Or on Lahores local radio. That was my land! But, in the same breath, I also know that if I was to go back to work I would need to feel secure doing it, she said.

Should art have no boundaries? In an ideal world, art should not have boundaries... But do we live in an ideal world? she wonders.

Kamini has had a successful career, starting from her debut movie Neecha Nagar, directed by Chetan Anand, winning the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film at the Cannes International Film Festival in 1946. She ruled the silver screen in the 1950s and 1960s, delivering hits like Do Bhai, Biraj Bahu, Jailor and Shaheed. She also acted opposite leading stars Dev Anand in Ziddi and Dilip Kumar in Nadiya Ke Paar and Shabnam.

Her last big screen appearance was with superstar Shah Rukh Khan in 2013s Chennai Express. Looking back at her journey, she said: I feel extremely lucky to have been able to enter Bollywood and leave Bollywood at will. When I wanted. Stop acting so as to raise a family. Get roles that were appropriate to my age when I was ready to resume acting. And, for the record, all these offers came to me without my ever having a manager or PR agency.

Kamini worked on her own terms and never tried to hide her marital status -- she got married to B.S. Sood, her brother-in-law, after the demise of her sister. Together, they share five children -- her sisters daughters Kumkum and Kavita; and three sons Rahul, Vidur and Shravan.

The actor asserts that she never placed her family ahead of her profession. I would call it more of a balance between the two: When I worked in the film industry, I did not ignore my family, but when I was not working in the industry I guess I did focus on my family. In fact, when I was working as an actress, I would use the time taken every day in the physical journey from home to the studios (typically in Mumbais suburbs) -- first when I took the train and later when I got driven -- to transition psychologically from being a mother and a homemaker to being an actress. And vice versa: Segway back to being a mom and homemaker when I returned home after a days work.

Will we see her back on the big screen? For this I would first need to regain my health and stamina. At my present age of 91 years, this is a tall order! Nevertheless, in the unlikely event this was to happen, then I would surely grab a role that upheld the positive norms of society. For example, where I can show some genuine warmth towards others.Two people were arrested on Sunday for allegedly buying 30 two-wheelers on loan from five finance companies by using forged Aadhaar and PAN cards in Dehradun.

A case was lodged with police on Saturday after the finance companies realised that EMIs were not being paid against these two-wheelers.

Acting on a tip-off, police arrested Kulbeer Rana, 32, and Tejpal, 24 from Turner Road. Rana is a resident of Mohiudeenpur village in Uttar Pradeshs Saharanpur district, while Tejpal belongs to Kaithal district in Haryana.

Police intercepted them riding a two-wheeler without a number plate. When police cross-checked the two-wheelers engine number with a list given by the finance companies, it matched.

On being quizzed, the accused accepted their crime. Rana then reportedly told police that five vehicles were parked in their rented accommodation, while 10 others are in his village in Sahranpur. A team was constituted and sent to Saharanpur to recover the two-wheelers.

Police also recovered four voter ID cards, three PAN cards and four RCs of vehicles. All of them were fake, police said.

Using these forged documents, the accused financed 12 vehicles from L&T Finance, two from Manappuram Finance Limited, three from Shriram Finance, five from Muthoot Finance and eight from HDFC Finance.

To facilitate the fraud, the accused first took a house on rent in Subhash Nagar area of the city and prepared a rent agreement.

Based on the rent agreement, they prepared fake Aadhaar, PAN and Voter ID cards. Following this, they opened bank accounts in the Turner Road branch of Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC), police said.

After opening the accounts, they approached the finance companies to purchase two-wheelers by paying down payments between 10,000 and 12,000. After gaining possession of the vehicles, the gang used to sell them in far-off locations at higher prices and earn profits.

In-charge of Clement Town police station DS Negi said, We received a complaint against Kulbeer Rana that he and others have financed many vehicles using fake identity proofs. They used to finance two-wheelers from different companies.

Speaking about the modus operandi, he said the accused first prepared Aadhaar cards using false local address. Once made, they opened bank accounts and then used them to approach finance companies to purchase vehicles by paying small down payments.

They opened nearly 25 accounts in this manner. All the vehicles are two-wheelers, he said.

The fraud was unearthed when the companies sent teams for ground verification. They found that Kulbeer and his friends no longer stay in the address mentioned in their Aadhaar cards.

The landlord reportedly told the teams that he lives elsewhere and had rented out the entire house to some boys.

Rajbir Kumar, branch manager OBC, Tunner Road, said, We are yet to receive any communication from the police in this regard. If a person submits PAN and Aadhaar card before us, we will open his/her account. How can we verify if the identity cards are fake?

Asked if any spot verification is carried out before opening an account, he said, We have a centralised mechanism and our accounts are opened from Bareilly.

We send a thanks letter to the address of the customer. If it is received, it means the person is living there. Moreover, the finance companies are responsible for giving loans for the vehicles. We have nothing to do with it.

Police are also investigating the role of these finance companies and the bank for callousness in conducting spot verifications before sanctioning loans.With only 25% of 12, 089 van panchayats or village forest councils active in Uttarakhand, the forest department has decided to address grievances of the councils to ensure their 100 % participation in the wildlife conservation.

The department has called a meeting on March 20, which will be attended by more than 30 panchayat heads. During the meeting, forest officials will listen to the problems of the van panchayats and work out solution to ensure their participation in the wildlife conservation.

The meeting is necessary, as we have less than 25% panchayats that are functional. The objective is to activate the defunct panchayats, said Jai Raj, head of the state forest force.

The panchayats are inactive due to a number of reasons, forest officials said.

While a few are struggling to get funds, others do not have unity and constitutions to operate, some of them said.

Defunct village forest councils have been demanding a part of fund from the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), under the soil and water management schemes and met forest state minister Harak Singh Rawat in November.

The panchayats have also demanded 50% reservation for women in the village forest councils.

The van panchayats fall under the revenue department that holds the rights to conduct elections for the councils.

Former forest minister Dinesh Aggarwal had brought panchayats under one roof but since last one year, nothing has been done to achieve utility of these units that could become a huge force for the government to protect and conserve forests.

The panchayats, if nurtured wisely, can become a strong base for the forest department in combating a number of issues, said environment activist Dinesh Pandey.

Water harvesting can check the spread of forest fires, protect wild animals and other tasks can be taken up by the village forest councils, he said.

Many panchayats have taken backseat due to faulty administration.

Water conservationist Rajendra Singh during his visit to Uttarakhand last year, stressed on activating the panchayats and addressing their problems for strengthening forest cover.

We have prepared a model in Asarodhi where due to water catchment and treatment efforts, the ground has retained its moisture and so there were hardly incidents of forest fire, said environmentalist Anil Joshi, stressing on how panchayats can be a boon for the ecosystem.Tamil superstar Rajinikanth on Saturday reached Dwarahat in Uttarakhands Almora for what he called is his spiritual journey in the Himalayas and to meditate at a cave in Pandavkholi where his spiritual Guru Mahaavtar Baba was believed to have lived.

The actor-turned-politician is scheduled to meditate in Pandawkholis Yogoda Satsang Society Ashram run by Swami Vasudevananda until March 19 or March 20.

On Sunday he meditated and practiced Yoga inside the mythological Pandavkholi caves, where the Pandavas are believed lived during their 12 year exile.

Fans and residents thronged the site to have a glimpse of the iconic star, popularly known as the Thalaivar or leader.

A couple of days back, Rajinikanth visited Rishikesh, where he met saints at the Swami Dayanand Ashram. The actor-turned-politician is a devotee and regular visitor at the ashram. He had visited the ashram last year too.

Before reaching Pandavkholi, Rajinikanth paid a visit to friend BS Hari at Kaunla village, where he is staying and from where he visits the ashram and the caves.

Swami Vasudevananda, in-charge at the Yogada Ashram, said Rajinikanth discussed a number of issues, including the Himalayas, the national political scenario, Yoga and meditation with him.

Dwarahat-based social activist Sanjay Mathpal said, Rajnikant had visited Pandavkoli in 2010 at the time of release of his film Robot.

Two of the actors films--Robot 2.0 and Kaala--are due for release and his visit is being seen in context of the films and his foray into politics.This welfare fund has found few takers in eight years.

Of the Rs 13.5 crore earmarked for the victims of crimes committed by convicted prisoners, only around 5% of the money has been disbursed so far. Tihar Jail officials have built this corpus by deducting 25% of daily wages earned by all convicts. While jail officials continue to deduct the money from the prisoners wages every day, they have given out only around Rs 64 lakh(4.74%) till date.

The problem, jail officials say, is finding victims or their families. And if they find victims, it is difficult to convince them to take the money because most families the officials approach refuse to take the compensation because they see it as blood money.

The idea was born in 2010. The plan was to award a sort of compensation to rape survivors, families who have lost bread earners to murder and other such cases. The money is saved in the account of a jail superintendent.

A convict, working as a skilled worker such as carpenter, tailor or painter, earns a maximum of Rs 321 every day. There are at least 2,800 convicts of the 15,000 prisoners in Tihar.

Director general (prisons), Ajay Kashyap, said the prison authorities have written to the government to change some parameters to ensure that officials can get to more victims. We have suggested that a DIG (deputy inspector general) rank jail officer be authorised to identify the victims. Currently, this is done by a deputy commissioner, who is not posted in prison. Such a prison official is best placed to track down the families because he or she has closely interacted with the convict.

The prisons chief said that he had suggested the fund be merged with the money that is given by the Delhi Legal Services Authority (DLSA) under the aegis of the Delhi government. They are well versed with each case. In cases when trial takes years, the DLSA can decide on interim compensation so that the victims family gets immediate relief.

According to prison rules, each family is entitled to a maximum of Rs 1 lakh from the Tihar corpus. In the past, there have been cases when we approached rape survivors or families of those who were killed but they have refused the money. They believe it is ill-gotten wealth. Last time, we contacted five families, but they all refused. Only around seven claims were disbursed last year, said a jail officer.

Out of the Rs 64 lakh disbursed till date, most claims were made in cases in which the crimes were committed by relatives or where the familys bread earner was killed. Most cases are those in which a man murdered his wife. The kids needed the money. Their relatives approached us and we disbursed the money. This was supposed to be a good initiative, but the fund is yet to benefit the victims like it should have.

Supreme Court advocate Gaurav Agarwal, who is assisting the apex court in examining rehabilitation of women prisoners issues and other prison reforms, said the money could be best utilised on children in prison.

A lot can be done with the fund for children who are lodged in prison with their mothers. Till the age of 6, a child is allowed to live in prison. In some cases, where both the parents are in prison, kids stay longer. They suffer for no fault of theirs. Unlike other state jails, Tihar still has a creche. The fund could be used to build facilities such as a play school.Once again, India and Pakistan finds themselves locked in the curious dance of one step forward and two steps back. Both nations are caught in a spiralling cycle of tensions over a series of incidents of harassment of diplomats on both sides of the border, apparently by security agencies.

Islamabad has called back its envoy from New Delhi, ostensibly for consultations, though reports suggest he may not return any time soon, or at least till the situation improves. Curiously, the problem came to the fore just as the two countries had agreed, on March 7, to release women, the mentally challenged and elderly prisoners from each others jails, and to revive the judicial committee on prisoners.

After the tensions over cross-border terror attacks and the nearly daily exchanges of fire on the Line of Control, the breakthrough, however small, had been widely welcomed.

The latest diplomatic row was, apparently, triggered by actions by Pakistani security agencies that affected work on the residential complex India is building for its staff within the diplomatic enclave in Islamabad. This was followed by the intrusive following and harassment of diplomats on both sides, and truly curious incidents, such as the deputy high commissioners of both countries reportedly having the doorbell of their residences rung at 3 am.

It is clear that what started as a minor spat rapidly escalated into a minor crisis, largely because there have been no sustained contacts at the highest levels between the two sides. As of today, it appears only the national security advisers of the two countries are in regular touch but this channel was insufficient to prevent the escalation in the row over the diplomats.

This lack of effective communication was one of the reasons why there was another unseemly row over the treatment of death row prisoner Kulbhushan Jadhavs kin in Islamabad in December. It is in the interest of both to put a lid on the latest spat so that they can begin working on the bigger issues that are casting a shadow on bilateral relations.Central universities have more students than technical and management institutes, and so they need more funds, a parliamentary standing committee on human resource development has suggested.

The panel also raised concerns over the reduced allocation of funds, saying it doesnt match with the objectives of expansion and growth of higher education. The Committee notes that the allocation for Central Universities is inadequate as compared to their infrastructure, faculty and number of students enrolled. The Committee further notes that Central Universities have a larger number of students enrolled in them as compared to the technical and management institute.

Therefore, the department should make efforts for increase in the funding for the Central Universities at appropriate level, the Committee feels, reads the report of the committee which was tabled in the Parliament on March 8.

There are more than 40 central universities under the University Grants Commission.

According to the report, central universities have been allocated Rs 6,455 crore in 2018-19 against last years Rs 6,512 crores which is a decrease of 0.95%.

Experts feel there should be equitable distribution as far as funding is concerned.

This has been the case for the past 50 years or so and the general argument that is given is that IITs do lot more research and hence need greater support. I feel we should certainly support more universities and have equitable support system for all educational institutions.

At the same time I feel the current funding levels in education are very low itself. So that has to be looked into, said Dheeraj Sanghi, professor of computer science at IIT Kanpur.The Indian institutes of technology (IITs) are likely to have over 600 more seats, compared to a total of about 11,000 in 2017, and the focus will be on enrolling more women students this year, said a senior official of the human resource development (HRD) ministry.

According to the senior official, who doesnt want to be named, the ministry had asked the 23 IITs in the country to submit seat matrix details and how many additional seats would be created from this academic session. An increase of more than 600 seats was discussed at a meeting of the joint admission board (JAB) on Saturday that IIT directors and senior HRD ministry officials attended.

The board has also decided to conduct the JEE-Advanced test online from this year, doing away with the traditional pen-and-paper system. The IITs will hold the JEE Advanced test on May 20. The IITs were asked to create supernumerary seats for girls and were directed to ensure adequate hostel facilities for them.

The move came after a panel constituted by the JAB of the IITs filed a report painting a grim picture about the biases that women continue to face in India.

A move to create special seats for girls was also discussed at length at Saturdays meeting.

The senior official said objections were raised by an IIT on the proposed method to have more seats for girls. The senate of an IIT said the move may reduce the number of seats for boys. The issue was discussed and the methodology was explained to everyone. Now everyone is on board, said a senior IIT director requesting anonymity.

The IIT Council, which is the highest decision-making body for tech schools, approved last year the creation of supernumerary seats to increase girls enrolment from 8% to 14% in the 2018-19 academic session, 17% in 2019-20 and 20% in 2020-21.

Several IITs expressed concern over accommodation. Though the senate has approved the scheme they had raised concern over lack of hostels for girls. As the HRD ministry is keen on introducing the supernumerary seats from this year, we are creating accommodation in the vicinity, said another IIT director, who also doesnt wish to be named. The proportion of women in IITs has been fluctuating in the past few years  from 8.8% in 2014 and 8% in 2016 to 9.3% in 2017.The DLF has finished recarpeting an arterial road in Phase-4 for the first time in 15 years, with help from residents. The 2km stretch in question connects DLF City Club to Supermart-2 and hundreds of residents use this road to approach the Galleria Market every day.

While the area roads have been getting repaired from time-to-time, they werent re-carpeted in over a decade.

DLF Phase-4 residents had recently told deputy mayor Sunita Yadav, a resident of Sushant Lok-1, that the last partial repair work was carried out three years ago and that the road had become non-motorable. The work follows an assurance by Yadav that all roads here would get the attention they need.

While the builder spent 50 lakh on re-carpeting all roads, residents contributed 16 lakh for installing an iron grill along the median to prevent jaywalking, repairing footpaths and street lights.

There was a need to re-carpet the road as it was in a pathetic condition. There were no proper street lights, and the footpaths were also broken; iron grills were also required. Around 40 residents contributed 40,000 each for all this work as our lanes are connected to the main road, DLF-4 RWA president Rajender Sharma said.

The work had begun last week and got done on Saturday night. We have approximately spent 50 lakh, DLF executive director Shekhar Basu said.

Read I Gurgaon: Road repair work started in South City 2 after a 5-year wait

Prior to this stretch, the developer re-carpeted all roads in Block E of DLF Phase-1, Basu said.

Repairing civic infrastructure is a major step before handing over the area to MCG as the maintenance transfer of the private colonies have to be completed before the handover.

The process of transfer of privately developed colonies from cash-strapped Huda to the MCG started last year. In April 2017, Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced the transfer of private colonies to the MCG, after which detailed project reports (DPR) of various colonies were made to estimate the expenditure in bringing their civic infrastructure up to speed.

The developers can either choose to repair the infrastructure on their own or transfer the amount to MCG, which will then use it to update the colonies.

Deputy mayor Sunita Yadav said, The developer was told to finish the re-carpeting work within this month as this stretch is one of the most beautiful stretches of the city. The residents have also spent a huge amount of money from their own pockets to repair this road.The construction of the Northern Peripheral Road (NPR), popularly known as the Dwarka Expressway, is likely to start next month as the highways authority has initiated the process of inviting tenders for an elevated road.

Simultaneously, efforts are being made to settle litigations to clear land for the project that was initiated in 2007.

The biggest road block in completion of the Dwarka Expressway has been transfer of litigation-free land from the Haryana government to the NHAI.

A week ago, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) opened tender for the construction of the proposed elevated road on the Dwarka Expressway. Hopefully, construction (of the elevated road) would commence anytime in April. By that time, Huda is making efforts to vacate the stay on land falling in alignment of the expressway in New Palam Vihar, said Rao Inderjit Singh, Union minister of state and Member of Parliament from Gurgaon.

Besides opening of tender, the Haryana urban development authority (Huda) has also started the process of demolishing structures affecting the roads alignment.

While the Huda has demolished one house that was affecting the roads alignment, it has given compensation to all 70 house owners and served notices cautioning them to vacate by Monday, March 20, or face action.

The Huda has also decided to file a petition in the Supreme Court to vacate the stay granted by Punjab and Haryana high court on acquiring land from plot owners with general and special power of attorneys (GPA-SPA) for the NPR project.

We will move a petition in the Supreme Court to vacate high court stay soon to acquire land, said Chander Shekhar Khare, administrator Huda, Gurgaon.

Meanwhile, the NHAI-appointed consultants have started site inspection of the expressway.

The government at the centre and the states (Delhi and Haryana) are trying their best to resolve litigation affecting land acquisition. However, NHAI has opened its tender as sign of positive development in this regard, said a senior NHAI official, requesting anonymity.

With this, investors who bought plots and flats along the Dwarka Expressway are hopeful that the NHAI would commence construction of the proposed elevated road between Delhi-Gurgaon border and Basai railway overbridge (ROB) in April.

The developers of housing complexes along the proposed road have not completed projects, which are delayed by three to five years, due to inordinate delay in completion of the Dwarka Expressway.

This delay has also affected the spread of basic civic amenities to such as sewer, water, roads and electricity connections, in the area.

Huda has not been able to acquire a small portion of land in New Palam Vihar since a few houses of oustees, who have purchased land on GPA/SPA are yet to be vacated. Huda went out of its way and allotted alternate plots to these oustees, but the allotment has been stayed by Punjab and Haryana high court. Fate of over one lakh legitimate homebuyers and a 7,500 crore project of national importance lies in the hands of the court today, said Manish Grover, member of the Dxp Welfare Association.

Eleven years in the making

The Northern Peripheral Road Expressway project was announced in 2007

The total length of the Northern Peripheral Road Expressway is 29km

Road length in Haryana is 18.9km, and 10.1km is in New Delhi

The NPR has been extended to the National Highway near Shiv Murti in Mahipalpur

With this, the estimate project cost has been revised to  7,000cr

7,000cr Other engineering projects on the stretch: Three lane service road, 10 underpasses, four interchange junctions at Shiv Murti, SPR, Dwarka and Sector 84/88 road, and a 10km elevated road from the Delhi-Gurgaon border to Basai RoB.The first glimpse of the babys head, the umbilical cord getting cut, the babys first cry, and parents holding their newborn in their arms for the first time  these are the moments that that have created a spuper-speciality called photography.

Almost always when I show the couple the photographs of childbirth they start crying with joy. The mother sees in pictures what she felt, said Maayan Gutgold, a Delhi-based birth photographer.

Sixteen months ago, Priyanka Mehan, 37, decided to document the process of having her second baby. When my first child was born, nobody thought of clicking photographs until after a week. So, this time I thought that we should have these memories captured, she said.

Mehan decided to get in touch with one of the few birth photographers in India. She was familiar with the concept of birth photography from the decade she spent in the United States, where she had her older boy, now six.

It took birth photographer Maayan Gutgold around a year to get her first client. (Maayan Gutgold)

She was hesitant about what the photographs would capture. Initially, I had told Maayan to not click my private parts and start photographing once the baby is out. But, on the day of the delivery, there were so many people in the labour room  the doctors and the nurses  that at that point it did not really matter who saw what. So I asked her to go ahead and click the photos of my crowning, she said.

Gutgold fell in love with India when she moved from Israel with her husband a decade ago. Women were always a focus of her photographs  she documented pregnancies, families, and siblings interacting with each other. Two years ago, I thought there was something missing. I did not know what. After thinking about it for a while, I realised that I focused on women before and after the pregnancy, without capturing childbirth, said Gutgold.

Thats how her journey as a birth photographer began, but it wasnt an easy one.

It took around a year for me to get my first client. It was a very new concept in India and it was very difficult for me to convince people to let me in on such a private moment of their life, said the Gurugram-based Gutgold.

INCREASING DEMAND

She has since signed a contract with Fortis La Femme, Delhi to photograph births if the parents agree to it. She is not the only one doing in Delhi.

Eight months ago, Urshita Saini, 27, floated her birth photography company. I was a wedding photographer. I was researching birth photography for a project for a magazine and suddenly I realised there were very few people in India doing it, even though it is a big thing in the West. I decided to go for it, said Saini, who lives in West Delhis Janakpuri neighbourhood.

For c-section deliveries, protocols need to be followed in the operating room. (Maayan Gutgold)

It took her four months of searching and one month of training inside an operation theatre before she was able to click her first childbirth. Her camera has already recorded 106 childbirths, both natural and caesarean section, and now works with a team of three, who also do outstation shoots.

Its an all-womens team, of course. In India, few would allow an unknown man enter the labour room during childbirth, she said.

Saini is trying to create a community of birth photographers and trying to promote the concept in India. Through referrals from happy clients, I get calls from people who want to get shoots done, she said.

For her, the most fulfilling moment is when she hands over the photographs to new moms.

When the new parents see the photographs, their usual reaction is that they dont recall doing any of it. There is so much pain, hormones and emotions that the mothers mind usually shuts down. Documenting it helps them see the first moments when their baby came into the world, she said.

CHALLENGES

The biggest challenge, the photographers say, is making the would-be mother feel comfortable. When a woman is delivering her baby, her private parts are exposed, she is vulnerable. It is important that they trust me enough to let me in the labour room. They need to understand I will never click something they are not comfortable with, said Saini.

To build this trust, she keeps in touch with the woman since the seventh or the eighth month of pregnancy. I speak to the moms-to-be for nearly nine or ten hours over the phone or in person. I speak to them about their doctors appointments and anything else they are going through. So by the time they are ready to deliver, they talk with me while I click the photographs, she said.

For c-section deliveries, protocols need to be followed in the operating room.

The woman is undergoing a major surgery, so we cannot come in the way of the doctors and other medical staff. Also, most women prefer to get the upper half of their body photographed, I have to keep all this in mind, said Gutgold. She never uses flash inside the operating room as it can distract the mother and the doctors.

I am a fly on the wall. I observe everything and I click photographs. I do not let them feel my presence, she said.Actor Rose McGowan, who alleged that Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein had raped her, says she is sure that the sociopath would prefer if she was dead.

Im sure he would prefer it if I were dead. Hes a sociopath. I am not afraid -- but I should be. The people I find worse than him are his lawyers. The way they are acting has been disgusting, the actor told mirror.co.uk.

The people around him, that have supported him in his attempt to dominate and abuse women, are monsters, just as much as he is.

There is no rehabilitation for that type of soul. They just need to fall off the planet. He doesnt believe he has done anything wrong.

In October last year, the Charmed star claimed Weinstein had stripped off her clothes, forced her into a Jacuzzi and sexually assaulted her.

McGowan said she will be taking further action against the disgraced producer whom she believes has employed an Israeli spy company to intimidate her.

What they did by hiring a spy company to come after me, it was incredibly violating, she said.

It was violation on top of violation. I believe they hacked my computer, released photos -- they have done everything they can to ruin my life.

Follow @htshowbiz for moreHollywood star Angelina Jolie says she loves seeing herself age as it makes her look more like her mother. The actor said ageing also makes her feel alive.

I look in the mirror and I see that I look like my mother, and that warms me. I also see myself aging, and I love it because it means Im alive - Im living and getting older. Dont love having a random dark spot from a pregnancy, sure.

I see my flaws. But what I see that I like isnt about a structure or an appearance. Its more that I see my family in my face. I see my age, Jolie told the InStyle magazine.

The 42-year-old actor has Maddox, 16, Pax, 14, Zahara, 13, Shiloh, 11, and nine-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox, with her ex-husband Brad Pitt.

Follow @htshowbiz for morePakistani mortar shelling killed five members of a family and left two sisters wounded and orphaned in a Jammu and Kashmir village about 4km from the Line of Control (LoC) on Sunday morning.

The Pakistanis are specifically targeting civilians and their livestock, army spokesman Lt Col Devender Anand said, calling the firing a deliberate provocation.

According to state police chief SP Vaid, the wounded sisters  Nasreen Kouser and Mahreen Kouser, aged 11 and five  were airlifted and admitted to the government medical college and hospital in Jammu. One of the girls needed surgery and she is recuperating well now, doctors said.

They lost their parents and three brothers when a shell ripped through the roof and exploded in their house in Devta Sargloon village in the Balakote area of Poonch district.

State public works minister Naeem Akhtar, who visited them in the hospital, said: The government will take full care of the two girls, who have no one left to look after them in the family.

The victims were Mohammed Ramzan, 35, his 32-year-old wife Malika Bi, and their three sons  Abdul Rehman, Mohammed Rizwan and Razaq Ramzan, aged 14, 12 and seven respectively.

According to the army, Pakistans cowardly act of targetting civilians in areas almost 4km from the LoC, where there is no deployment of soldiers or military installation, was a serious concern.

Lt Col Anand said the army has retaliated strongly, effectively and proportionately to the indiscriminate firing by Pakistan, which used small arms, and 81mm and 120mm mortar shells.

Pakistan violated the ceasefire 633 times in the first two months of this year, in which 10 security personnel and 12 civilians were killed, Union minister of state for home Hansraj Gangaram Ahir told the Lok Sabha last week. Most violations, 432, were along the LoC, he said.

The ceasefire violation comes at a time of heightened diplomatic tensions between the two countries, which have in recent days accused each other of harassing diplomats and their families.

Pakistan said on Saturday its high commissioner to India, Sohail Mahmood, who was recalled to Islamabad for talks over the alleged harassment of diplomatic staff in New Delhi, was unlikely to return to his posting until the situation improved.

Islamabad has decided to stay away from a World Trade Organization meet hosted by New Delhi on March 19 and 20.Arguments on behalf of those challenging the Aadhaar scheme and making the biometric number mandatory for various services such as bank accounts and mobile phones are likely to end before the Supreme Court this week.

A Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra began hearing 30 petitioners on January 17.

Attorney general K Venugopal will make his submissions on behalf of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)  the agency responsible for issuing the 12-digit unique identity number. He will begin after the petitioners conclude.

The top court last week indefinitely extended the deadline to link Aadhaar with services such as bank accounts, mobile phone and to procure a passport under the Tatkal programme.

Besides Aadhaar, the court is slated to hear a case related to deportation of Rohingya refugees who have fled the persecution in Myanmar. A bench led by Chief Justice Misra will examine the governments latest affidavit filed in the case, denying the allegation that it was using chili spray stun grenades to push back the refugees along the Indo-Myanmar border.

Nobody without valid travel documents can be permitted to enter India, the government has said reiterating its earlier stand that allowing the Rohingya to cross over would lead to security problems.

The contentious Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land title dispute will be heard by a bench headed by the Chief Justice on March 23.

A special three-judge bench had decided to determine whether a 1994 judgment, upholding the land acquisition for the disputed plot until the litigation ended, needs reference to a larger bench.

Advocates representing Islamic organisations and parties have questioned the 1994 ruling because it had declared that a mosque is not integral to a Muslims right to religion. This, the parties contended, would have a bearing on the case and a bench of at least seven judges should relook it.

In case the reference is made, the main title dispute will be put in abeyance.

Several petitions challenging the insolvency proceedings against realtor Jaypee Infratech Limited would be taken up by a bench of Chief Justice.

In February, the bench refused to stay the bidding initiated to raise money for completion of the developers delayed projects as part of its debt-resolution process.

Subsequent to the courts order, the company, one among the 12 against whom RBI has asked banks to file insolvency petitions, has deposited Rs 550 crore against its total liability of Rs 2,000 crore.

Claims of around Rs 1,150 crore have been uploaded on a portal created to have a database of homebuyers seeking a refund or completed flats.

The Centre is expected to give its response to a lawyers plea seeking a probe into the alleged leak of the staff selection commission (SSC) question paper. The recruitment exam was conducted in February.Aam Aadmi Partys Punjab MLAs on Sunday insisted that everything is fine within the party after meeting their national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and partys Punjab unit in-charge Manish Sisodia at latters residence.

The AAP MLAs had expressed displeasure over Kejriwals written apology to former Punjab minister Bikram Singh Majithia on March 15. Majithia had filed a criminal defamation suit against Kejriwal, Ashish Khetan and Sanjay Singh after he was accused of being involved in drug trade.

Kejriwals apology prompted AAPs Punjab president Bhagwant Mann and co-president (Punjab unit) Aman Arora to resign from their posts. But Arora who was present at the meeting denied a rift in the party.

I resigned because I was unhappy with how the Punjab unit wasnt taken into account before this apology was tendered. I have not taken back my resignation, and I wont take it back. Today he (Kejriwal) clarified everything and admitted that there was a lack of coordination and communication and that he did not realise this issue would become so big, said Arora who led the MLAs. We are together with Arvind Kejriwal and there is no question of rift in the party, he added.Police have arrested the owner and manager of the nursing home in West Bengals Burdwan after a fever-affected boy it sent to Kolkata died as he was accompanied by a fake doctor.

Annapurna Nursing Home, which was treating Arijit Das (16), had sent him to Kolkata for further treatment, along with Sheikh Sarfajuddin (25), an AC mechanic posing as a doctor.

Sarfajuddin and the ambulance driver, Tarapada Sha (26) were arrested on Friday and charged with impersonation, cheating and causing death due to negligence.

On Saturday night, the nursing homes owner Animesh Mallick and manager Sheikh Rahul Islam were arrested after interrogation.

Police are also looking for a person named Viki, a middleman who arranges ambulances.

The victim was to appear for the class 10 Bengal board exams that began on March 11. His death could have been averted if there was a real doctor, relatives said.

Fake doctors have become a menace in Bengal, with the states Criminal Investigation Department (CID) finding more than 500 fake doctors. They have never attended any medical course but treat patients posing as specialists.

The government has launched an exercise to weed them out. The CID has arrested a few dozen such fake physicians.

The Fateful Trip

The ambulance took the boy from Burdwan to Rabindranath Tagore International Institute for Cardiac Sciences, a hospital on Kolkatas E M Bypass, a distance of more than 100 km.

I cant understand why the nursing home of Burdwan passed off an AC mechanic as a doctor. I have lost my only son and want the culprits to be punished, Arijits father, Ranjit Das said.

Family members told the media that they became suspicious when they saw the driver, and not the doctor, trying to fix the oxygen cylinder on the way.

We will investigate whether the nursing home was at fault. If they were guilty, steps will be taken against them, said Pranab Roy, the chief medical officer of Health in East Burdwan district.

Ironically, the boy aspired to become a doctor. He was not keeping well and wrote the first three tests with fever.

He had written three tests with fever. But his condition deteriorated on Wednesday and we took him to Rampurhat hospital. Then he was taken to a nursing home in Burdwan. When his condition worsened, we wanted to take Arijit to Kolkata and the nursing home arranged the ambulance. Why did they tell us that the person in the ambulance is a doctor when he was actually an AC mechanic? asked Dibyendu Mandal, Arijits uncle.

According to Dass relatives, the ambulance charged them Rs 16,000, half of which was the doctors fees.

If there was a doctor, he could have provided oxygen to the boy, said Mandal.

There was shock in the area when the news of the death spread.

Mihir Banerjee, president of the managing committee of Bhabanandapur High School, where Arijit studied, said he was a brilliant student.

We were sure that he would secure a position in the top ten. We cant believe that a bright boy would meet his end this way, he said.

According to the family, after Arijit was declared dead, Sarfajuddin tried to escape. But he was confronted by family members and caught.On the second day of its 84th plenary session, the Congress criticised the Centres foreign and economic policy. The PM is carried away by own propaganda. Today it is a matter of concern that we have mismanaged our relations with major capitals of the world, with major strategic partners and our immediate neighborhood, said senior leader Anand Sharma at the plenary session.

Being held after a gap of seven years, the theme of the this plenary session of the 132-year-old Congress party will be Change is Now, and will see president Rahul Gandhi put forward the partys plan for the future.

Here are the highlights:

4.50pm:

BJP has spread fear. People from press are scared, for 1st time we saw 4 SC judges running to public for justice.There is a difference b/w RSS &Congress, we respect the country's institutions whereas they want to finish them.They only want one institution,that is RSS:Rahul Gandhi pic.twitter.com/EEkShJMk9z  ANI (@ANI) March 18, 2018

4.45pm: We have to change Congress. There is a wall between our leaders and workers. My first task will be to break that wall. I will consult senior leaders to destroy that wall with love, says Rahul Gandhi.

4.29pm: Rahul Gandhi at Congress plenary session: They told Gauri Lankesh and Kalburgi, question us and you will die. They tell our honest businessman to shut up and allow corrupt officers to extort their hard earned money. They tell our farmers to work for nothing.

4.27pm: They (people) will accept a man accused of murder as the President of the BJP, but they will never ever accept the same in the Congress Party because they hold Congress in the highest regard: Rahul Gandhi.

4.25pm: I dont just go to mandir. I also go to mosque, church and gurdwara: Rahul Gandhi.

4.23pm: What does Modi actually mean? The name Modi symbolises the collusion between Indias biggest crony capitalists and the prime minister of India, says Rahul Gandhi.

4.20pm:

They tell Muslims of India who never went to Pakistan&supported this great nation that you don't belong here. They tell the Tamils change your beautiful language, they tell people of north-east we don't like what you eat, tell women dress properly: Congress President Rahul Gandhi pic.twitter.com/nkuqLHPjFZ  ANI (@ANI) March 18, 2018

4.18pm: The PM diverts our attention and jumps from one event to another from Gabbar Singh tax to yoga in Parliament and never talks about the issues. But, the Congress cannot be stopped from seeking the truth and justice: Rahul Gandhi

4.15pm: I dont say it with happiness but the last govt we formed did not stand up to the expectations of the people. The people of the country were let down by us: Rahul Gandhi at Congress Plenary Session in New Delhi.

4.13pm: Will India live a lie or will India have the courage to face the truth? Today, the corrupt and powerful control the conversation in the country, says Rahul Gandhi.

4.12pm: When it is important for the PM to speak, he goes silent: Rahul Gandhi.

4.10pm: BJP is the voice of an organisation, Congress is the voice of a nation: Rahul Gandhi

4.05pm: Like the Kauravas, BJP and RSS are desinged to fight for power. Like the Pandavas, Cong is desinged to fight for the truth, says Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

4pm: Rahul Gandhi begins his address at Congress Plenary Session

12.45pm: Its the biggest achievement of Dr Manmohan Singh that 14 crore people were listed out of poverty. The BJP govt pushed people into poverty. Number of people below poverty line went up. Its the greatest disservice BJP govt did to people of India, says the former Union finance minister.

12.40pm: The Modi govt inherited a strong economy. The task of development has to be continued by future generations. However, today, the Indian economy is decoupled from the world economy which is growing, says Chidambaram.

12:28pm: Demonetisation was a big lie. RBI is still counting and wont tell us how much money has come back. I would like to advice the RBI governor to go to Tirupati and get the hundi collectors. They count money faster than the RBI, says P Chidambaram on demonetisation.

12:26pm: The current phase of economic growth started in 1990s when Rajiv Gandhi sowed seeds of liberalisation. This gained momentum under Dr Manmohan Singh. Whatever the BJP, the NDA may say, records speak for itself, says senior leader P Chidambaram.

12:10am: The support Pakistan gives to cross-border terrorism is certainly not acceptable to us. We should warn Pakistan that their actions are detrimental to peace and prosperity: Manmohan Singh

12:09pm: Modi govt has mismanaged Jammu and Kashmir like never before, the atmosphere is deteriorating day in and day out, its obvious from the fact that our borders are insecure, be it cross border terror or internal: Manmohan Singh

12.07pm: The Congress party made India what it is today. It led the freedom struggle and guided India towards development after Independence. Today, we face similar challenges of carrying forward development and social justice, says Manmohan Singh.

12.05pm: The defense expenditure of our country is no more than 1.6% of our GDP. This is far too inadequate to meet the challenges of our security apparatus and our needs, says Singh.

12:04pm: Modi said farmers income will be doubled in 6 years; it is a jumla-type statement unlikely to be achieved: Manmohan Singh.

12:02pm: When Modi ji was campaigning he made lots of tall promises, those promises have not been fulfilled. He said we will provide 2 crore jobs, we have not seen even 2 lakh jobs, says the former prime minister.

12pm: During the 10 years of the UPA period, Soniajis guidance was a great tower of strength to me as I join all of you in saluting her for the magnificent guidance that she provided the UPA government, says Singh.

11:58am: Soniaji has given our party a distinguished guidance which has enabled us to deal with some of its pressing issues during the UPA period dealing with Right to Education, Right to Information and Food Security Act, says former prime minister Manmohan Singh.

11:20am: Neighbourhood first was the Congress governments rallying cry. However, under the Modi government, its Neighbourhood last. We need to improve our regional connectivity, but that is being ignored today, says Congress MP from Assam Gaurav Gogoi.

11:05am: Today it is a matter of concern that we have mismanaged our relations with major capitals of the world, with major strategic partners and our immediate neighborhood

11am: The Congress-led UPA Govt, in its 10 years in office, pursued a robust foreign policy that enhanced Indias standing in the world, says senior leader Anand Sharma.With the Telugu Desam Party and YSR Congress Party filing a no-confidence motion, HT looks back at the last no-confidence motion moved in Parliament  in 2003.

Context

The Congress, with the help of other Opposition parties, decided to bring a no-confidence motion against the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led government in August 2003, following the re-induction of defence minister George Fernandes in the Union Cabinet. While the numbers were heavily stacked in Vajpayees favour, the Opposition leaders saw in a motion an opportunity to raise several charges against the National Democratic Alliance government.

What happened

The Vajpayee government, which went on to become the first non-Congress regime to complete its full term, comfortably defeated the Opposition in the vote that followed the no-confidence motion.

The NDA secured 312 votes while the Opposition mopped up 186 votes. J Jayalalithaas AIADMK (Tamil Nadu) and Farooq Abdullahs National Conference (Jammu and Kashmir) abstained from voting, while the Bahujan Samaj Party of Mayawati voted in favour of the government.

In 2018, the no-confidence motion moved by YRSCP against the Narendra Modi-led government could not be taken due to disruptions. But during the Vajpayee regime, the House managed to take up the motion. The then leader of the Opposition, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, initiated the debate. She spoke in Hindi and charged the Vajpayee government for faltering on several fronts. Senior leaders like George Fernandes, LK Advani, Priyaranjan Dasmunshi, Mani Shankar Aiyar and others participated in the debate. Even as many Opposition leaders attacked Fernandes, Vajpayee defended him and went on to call describe the best defence minister India ever had.

Gandhi also accused the Vajpayee government of undermining Indias non-aligned position in world affairs, a charge denied by Vajpayee. The debate went on till late at night and Vajpayee stood up to reply only at 11pm. In his famous reply, he taunted Gandhi and said as if the Congress president has overused a thesaurus to pick words. Come to the maidaan (field) for an electoral bout, Vajpayee told Gandhi.

Significance

The challenge to the Congress was for the assembly elections in four states  Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan  that was due later in 2003, and the general elections the following year.

While the Congress would go on to win Delhi elections, the BJPs victory in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan would propel it to advance the general elections by a few months  and pave way for the NDAs loss.

The 2004 victory would become the first by the United Progressive Alliance, led by the Congress.

The UPA would form the government again in 2009  but not before the Manmohan Singh-led regime would face its first no-confidence motion in July 2008, after the CPI(M)-led Left Front withdrew support over the Indo-US nuclear deal. Although the UPA scraped through (by a margin of UPAs 275 votes to the Oppositions 256), and also returned to power for another five-year term the following year, it would eventually lose power to the second NDA government  this time led by the BJPs Narendra Modi.

It may be seen as a sheer coincidence that Modi, too, now faces a no-confidence motion in the fourth year of his government. The Opposition, unable to take up the motion since the House was not in order, is likely to push for a confidence vote on Monday.

(Looking back will take a contemporary news development and bring to readers a related slice from history)The Jammu and Kashmir government said on Sunday it would take care of two injured sisters after their entire family, including their parents and three brothers were killed in Pakistani shelling along the LoC in Poonch district.

The government will take full care of the two minor girls, who have no one left to look after them in the family, said state works minister Naeem Akhtar, who is also the government spokesperson.

The minister visited the Government Medical College Hospital (GMCH) to enquire about the condition of the girls  Naureen and Mehreen  who were airlifted here for treatment.

Akhtar asked the doctors at GMCH Jammu to provide the best available medical treatment to the girls. He said the government is taking all the administrative measures to reach out to the affected population in the area.

The hospital authorities told Akhtar that the injured girls are being provided best possible treatment and one of them had to undergo surgery and is now recuperating.

The minister expressed deep anguish over the loss of lives on the borders during cross-border firing.

Five members of their family were killed when Pakistani troops resorted to heavy mortar shelling in Balakote sector of Poonch this morning.

There has been spurt in ceasefire violations along the LoC and International Border (IB) in the state this year.

With latest killings, the death toll in the cross-border shelling has risen to 26. The dead included 12 security personnel, while over 80 others were also got injured.The Congress on Sunday accused the Modi government of mismanaging the Kashmir dispute, messing up the economy and following a foreign policy that was personalised, confused and bereft of focus and direction.

On the second day of its 84th plenary session, the Opposition kept up its attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with his predecessor Manmohan Singh questioning the governments economic policies.

Modi said farmers income will be doubled in six years, it is a jumla-type statement unlikely to be achieved, Singh said, as he expressed doubts over the governments key agrarian agenda of doubling farmers income by 2020.

Singh again came down hard on the government over its demonetisation decision and hurried implementation of the goods and services tax (GST). The BJP-led government messed up the Indian economy. The ill-considered demonetisation and hastily implemented GST have destroyed small-scale enterprises, said Singh, who is widely credited with opening up the Indian economy as the finance minister.

The 85-year-old Congress leader was also critical of the governments handling of Kashmir. The government mismanaged the Jammu and Kashmir dispute like never before. The atmosphere in the state has been deteriorating day by day, he said.

The criticism came a few hours after five civilians were killed in Pakistani firing along the line of control in Jammus Balakote.

Singh said the UPA government, which he led from 2004 to 2014, could achieve a lot because of Sonia Gandhis guidance. Sonia Gandhi, who stepped down as the Congress president in December, continues to be the chairperson of the much-depleted United Progressive Alliance.

The party also attacked Modi for pursuing a personalised foreign policy, saying it was confused and bereft of focus and direction.

Modis tendency to disparage his predecessors and diminish Indias achievements since Independence had undercut the countrys credibility abroad, it said.

It is not an insult to the Congress party or its leaders, but an insult to the nation, senior party leader Anand Sharma said while moving a resolution on foreign policy.

The government is carried away by its own propaganda, and has mismanaged Indias relations with major partner countries. Its foreign policy is confused and bereft of focus and direction.

The Prime Minister was pursuing a personalised foreign policy. The foreign policy engagements and (Modis) visits abroad had been reduced to being purely transactional.

The official Indian speeches omitted all mention of Jawaharlal Nehrus and Indias contributions to the Non-Aligned Movement, it said.

In a rapidly changing and uncertain global landscape, national security strategy should be carefully crafted, the resolution said.

(With agency inputs)In a unique initiative, imams in Murshidabad district of West Bengal have launched a campaign to create awareness against cheating in examinations.

The initiative, describing cheating in examinations as Haram (act forbidden by Allah), was started on Friday after prayers and comes amidst the ongoing Board examinations.

Ahasan Hasib, an imam of Rusulpur mosque in Domkal of Murshidabad, close to Bangladesh border, said the initiative was taken following request from parents of students appearing for the exams this year.

He said that cheating is a kind of theft, and is Haram in Islam.

We have plans to launch similar post-Namaz campaigns before the forthcoming Uchha Madhyamik (higher secondary) examinations, he said.

The districts Imam-Moajjem Association has also decided to approach counterparts in other districts of Bengal to start similar awareness campaigns.

Mojaffar Khan, president of the association and imam of Domkal-Bilashpur mosque, said since Islam prohibits cheating, the initiative has been mooted.

Anyone getting a degree through cheating and later a government job will not able to deliver proper services to the citizens, Khan said, adding that cheating will also deprive the person of the necessary knowledge.

From a bigger perspective, examination cheating is tantamount to cheating the society and family, and it is our duty to create awareness against it and stop this evil practice, he said.

Murshidabad district administration often takes the help of imams to create awareness for its programmes and social issues such as polio vaccination, building toilets, etc.In a sign of thaw, Pakistan made first payment of $2.259 million for the running of South Asian University (SAU), a SAARC initiative, but raised with New Delhi the issue of students from the country not getting the mandatory quota in admissions, two persons familiar with the development said.

Pakistan not paying the agreed share of SAUs operational cost was a bone of contention between the two countries and New Delhi had sent two diplomatic communications urging Pakistan to pay up in the last year.

The SAU is active since 2010 and Pakistan was the only nation in the eight-member South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation group which is yet to make any financial contribution.

The Pakistan paid the first for the first time. $2.259 million was paid as part of dues, said an official on condition of anonymity. Another official said the total due of Pakistan was $7,850,000 before this payment was made. Pakistan had agreed to foot 11.83% of the operational cost as against Indias 51.8% share.

But Pakistan raised a host of concerns with India, including Delhi not granting visa to any student last year. Pakistan told India it should get the mandatory quota of 10% under the SAU charter in admissions.

The SAU has 500 odd students now, including six from Pakistan. And it has one official from Pakistan at present. Till January there were two officials. The other faculty and staff at the SAU comprise nationals of India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan.

A third official said visa is independent of admission to Indian universities including SAU. Visa rules are different and getting admission in SAU doesnt mean, the students would automatically get the visa without fulfilling the requirements.

SAU registrar Dr AK Malik didnt respond to an email seeking his response. Once it is fully operational, the SAU will have 12 postgraduate science and non-science faculties, as well as Faculty of Undergraduate Studies. At full strength, the SAU will have 7,000 students and 700 teachers.The body of a six-year-old girl who went missing from Madiaon on March 15, was found hanging from a tree in the thickets of a village 30 km away in the Maal area on the outskirts of Lucknow on Sunday, police said.

Inspector in charge of Madiaon police station Amar Nath Yadav said the girl, a Class 2 student of a private school in Madiaon, did not return home from school on March 15. He said the girls father, a mason, had lodged an FIR the same night accusing his neighbour and his wife of kidnapping the child.

The childs body was found near the neighbours house in their native Lodhkheda village of Maal.

While the family and police were searching for the girl, her decomposed body was found hanging from a tree in Kolwa forest area in Maal on Sunday, Yadav said.

The girl was in school uniform and her belt was found tied around her neck. The bodys condition suggested that she was killed immediately after her disappearance on March 15, Yadav said.

The childs father alleged that she was murdered after being raped but police have ruled out rape.

Late Sunday night, SSP Lucknow Deepak Kumar shifted inspector in-charge of Madiaon police station Amar Nath Yadav to police lines and suspended sub-inspector Veer Pal over negligence in the case.

Police have taken the neighbour Brijesh and his wife Asha into custody for interrogation after they were accused by the girls father of being involved in the crime.

The girls father also accused the police of being negligent and ignoring his charge against the couple. Madiaon police had taken the couple for interrogation on March 16 but later freed them. The girls father claimed that Brijesh and Asha committed the crime for revenge.

He alleged that the couple had earlier threatened to kidnap his child when their 17-year-old daughter went missing on February 15. He said the couple had then accused him of being involved in their daughters disappearance, but she had later returned and confessed that she had gone away on her own will.

Meanwhile, Brijesh and Ashas daughter again disappeared on March 10 and has not been found yet.

.On March 3, troopers of Central Reserve Police Forces COBRA battalion recovered a carbine, a .315 rifle and a few hand grenades from the cadres of the Maoist group, Peoples Liberation Guerrilla Army (PGLA), in Jharkhands Gumla district.

However, little did the security forces know that the trove unearthed then and in follow-up raids in the next week would bring them face-to-face with more than just arms and ammunition  the raids would give the force a peek into the left-wing insurgents technologically savvy operations and digital findings of the kind not seen before. In the mix of the items confiscated were two Samsung tablets, five ICOM walkie talkie sets, 14 cellphones, uncovering of a propaganda website suspected to be based out of the Netherlands, and their familiarity with Google Earth  a computer programme that uses satellite images to bring access to any geographical location down to your fingertips.

They (the Maoists) have begun to record their meetings. The videos are forwarded and shared across their armed network. The tablets consist of a trove of phone numbers of the cadres, their handlers and overground workers, a senior CRPF official said, requesting not to be identified. The digital tablets are currently in possession of the Jharkhand police, which is investigating its contents.

Maoists are using Google Earth for navigation as it does not maintain a log of areas navigated by them like other software such as Maverick. The cadres are intentionally using Google tools so that in case they are caught, they can conceal their movements, said an intelligence official, who also did not want to be named. There is, however, a major challenge  poor network connectivity in their regions.

We have credible inputs that the cadres come down to the railway junctions, such as the one in Giridih, for better internet connectivity, make notes and head back, the official said.

Maoists have also taken to holding jan adalats (peoples court) where cadres resolve local disputes and give out punishments to individuals who went against them, which could include locals, the CRPF official cited above said, adding that these meetings are recorded and then used as propaganda material. Maoists have also been understood to have taken tips from BTech students belonging to Telanganas Warangal district.

While it can be argued that Google Earth is far from being a sophisticated tool to display Maoists technological prowess, there is something else that the investigative agencies are looking into to determine the insurgents media outreach not only in India but abroad  the website suspected to have an IP address originating from the Netherlands.

Officials say that the use of technology to propagate the extremist ideas was first learned about when banned Maoist literature was found on the website. The use of internet for propaganda decreased in 2015 after the arrest of one of the most-wanted Maoist leaders, Ajith, from Pune but the usage witnessed an uptick in 2017 with several materials found on the website.

In 2018 so far, there has been only one statement issued the condemnation of Bhima Koregaon violence in Maharashtra on January 1.

Internal security expert Ajai Sahni said while Maoists using internet is something that needed to be looked into, it was attacks like the one in Chhattisgarhs Sukma, where an IED blast on March 13 killed nine CRPF men, which must be avoided as these incidents give the cadres more firepower and confidence to launch similar attacks. The source of the problem has to be neutrialised, Sahni said.

While officials have not connected the Sukma incident to the developments in Jharkhand, they are not ruling out the action as fallout of the central governments crackdown. They are certainly ratted after the causalities they suffered in the past two weeks. We wont budge, said home ministrys senior security advisor K Vijay Kumar.Three CPI(M) workers were injured in a knife attack by suspected Bharat Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS) activists in Alappuzha districts poll-bound Chengannur assembly constituency limits on Sunday, said police.

All three received stab wounds and were admitted to hospital, police added. The injured CPI(M) workers told the police they worked for the BDJS earlier.

Chengannur BDJS leader V Vasu said, Our party workers were not involved in the attack.

The BDJS, though a part of the BJP-led NDA in Kerala, has decided not to support the national partys candidate for the Chengannur by-election.

The BDJS, which backs the cause of the OBC Ezhava community, has accused the BJP of not fulfilling promises made during the formation of NDA.

The election commission is yet to announce the date for the by-election, but the ruling CPI(M), the Congress and the BJP have announced their candidates and started a vigorous campaign in Chengannur.

The CPI(M) is keen on retaining the seat, while the BJP senses an opportunity in the bypoll to announce its arrival in the state. The Congress is trying to regain ground in what was once its stronghold. The seat slipped out of Congress hands in the last assembly election.

The seat fell vacant following the death of CPI(M) MLA KK Ramachandran Nair in January.A ministry of home affairs (MHA) panel tasked with drafting a comprehensive policy for securing Indian highways has suggested that a central body be set up to maintain data on motor vehicles by linking their registration numbers to the Aadhaar numbers of their owners.

It is one among several recommendation made by MHAs Working Group on Highway Security, which was formed in July 2017 and is headed by AP Maheshwari, director general of the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D).

The recommendations are aimed at reinforcing security against incidents such as Maoist and other militant attacks on highways, reducing crimes such as robberies and attacks on women as well as road accidents.

The group comprises representatives from the ministry of road transport and highways and MHA as well as the director generals of police (DGPs) from six states  Punjab, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Assam.

The panel hasnt directly recommended linking motor vehicles to Aadhaar, but suggested the creation of a Central Repository Body (CRB) at the central government level. This body, the working group has suggested, will create a country-wide database of motor vehicles after they are linked with the 12-digit unique identity number, according to a senior government official familiar with the development.

 As of now, creation of a CRB is only of the many recommendations. Members of the working group will discuss and scrutinise all the recommendations after which they will be taken up at the central and state level. A draft of the working groups recommendations has been sent to the DGPs of the six states and we are awaiting their response, said the official on condition of anonymity.

If the recommendation is accepted by the central and state governments, vehicle owners will be required to link motor vehicles registration certificates to Aadhaar.

The recommendation found some support from Delhi transport minister Kailash Gahlot who said that while the idea of linking vehicle registrations to Aadhaar may be beneficial, current laws raise questions on making it mandatory.

The linking of Aadhaar with motor vehicles can help in many things like hit-and-run cases or tracing vehicles but at the same time we are not sure if the current laws will permit mandatory linking of Aadhaar to vehicles, Gahlot said.

We had in fact issued the new permit system for auto rickshaws in Delhi for which the Aadhaar number was required to be produced by interested individuals, he added.

According to official documents, MHA requested BPR&D to constitute the working group after the need for it was raised at the annual conference of director generals and inspector generals of police in 2016. The group was supposed to evolve an action plan in three months and its implementation was to start within a year, the documents accessed by Hindustan Times show.

Among other recommendations is real-time surveillance of highways using drones and dome cameras that could be installed along the highways. This recommendation has been made after taking into consideration the law and order situation in sensitive zones such as Jammu and Kashmir and areas vulnerable to Maoist attacks, the senior government official cited above added.

The drones, according to the official, could be operated by the office of the local superintendent of police (SP).

The working group has also recommended that the states conduct a comprehensive dark spot analysis -- an assessment of accident-prone areas, an exercise first undertaken by the Tamil Nadu government to reduce road accidents, said another senior government official.

Till now state governments have list s of accident-prone areas that is based on data of incidents. The dark spot analysis will be a comprehensive study of why accidents take place, areas vulnerable to accidents and possible measures to avoid such incidents, the official said, requesting anonymity.

The working group will also recommend introduction of a safety and security component in the annual budget for roads and highways.

Rohit Baluja,president of the Institute of Road Traffic Education and an expert on road safety, says that technological advancements, including linking of Aadhaar, can only prove useful if coupled with strong enforcement.

Around 64% road accidents in India take place on highways and we continue not to have a standard policy to deal with them. There is need for a strong highway patrol system and an enforcing agency which knows how to react and respond to road safety issues. I train Indian Police officers who do not have a great understanding of traffic law enforcement, Baluja said.Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Pravin Togadia has said that Hindus are unhappy with Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the delay in construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function in Sirohi on Saturday, Togadia said: The Modi government should fulfill its promise and Parliament should make a law to pave the way for the construction of the temple.

We urged the people to launch a campaign for constructing of Ram temple and many people braved lathis and bullets and now that the BJP has a majority in Parliament, the government is saying the case is in the court. This is an insult of the sacrificed made by people, he said.

The firebrand Hindtuva leader said if the decision of building the temple had to be left to the court then what was the purpose behind holding the agitation over the last 32 years.

As soon as the law is framed, the VHP was ready to start constructing the temple but will not allow construction of a mosque near the temple, he said.

Togadia had recently written a letter to the Prime Minister in which he had raised a number of issues, including rural distress.

In January this year, Togadia was found in an unconscious state at a private hospital in Ahmedabad, almost 12 hours after he was reported missing and alleged to be have been arrested by the Rajasthan police, triggering protests.

According to a statement of the VHP, Togadia, who suffered from low blood sugar levels, was found lying in an unconscious state at a park in Shahibaug and was taken to the hospital.

The Rajasthan police, however, said that it had not arrested Togadia.The Rajasthan government will monitor procurement of rabi crops at minimum support price to avoid a repeat of last years farmers agitations, said officials assigned with responsibilities for buying the produce.

A LED display board at the state BJP headquarters in Jaipur shows that the state government will procure four million metric tonnes of mustard and eight million metric tonnes of chana (gram) this rabi season.

This indicates the BJP governments seriousness to alleviate rural distress following bypoll defeats and ahead of the assembly elections slated for December this year. Rajasthan is the third largest chana producer in the country; the production this rabi season is expected to be 15.86 lakh tonnes, officials said.

After chief minister Vasundhara Raje announced last month one-time crop loan waiver of up to Rs 50,000 for small and marginal farmers, land revenue exemption, and a slew of sops, the state government has taken some follow-up steps.

State cooperative minister Ajay Singh Kilak has said sharecroppers will also be allowed to sell mustard and chana at MSP at mandis. A non-judicial contract will have to be made between farm land owner and the tenant farmer to avail of this facility.

The land owner will have to furnish relevant documents and the tenant farmer will have to fill a form before he would be able to sell the crop on MSP. The payment will be credited directly to the account.

Sources said chief minister has asked the officials concerned to give priority to issues related to agriculture sector and brief her daily about the situation. With the procurement season starting from April, the government does not want a repeat of farmers protests following non-procurement of the produce on MSP.

We will be tracking the procurement of the main crops, such as chana, mustard, bajra, and soybean, to ensure that farmers get fair price this season, an official said.

While wheat is mostly procured by the Food Corporation of India (FCI), bajra is consumed locally. Farmers generally get good prices for other rabi crops. Last season, crash in prices of moong and groundnut were a major reason for discontent.

Farmers unrest has been simmering across the state for the past one year and a recent march to state assembly by farmers affiliated to All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) was foiled by the police. While opposition parties have tried to corner the government over the issue in the assembly, the government has come out with a slew of measures, including partial farm loan waiver.

The state agriculture department is also gearing up to organise Rajasthan global agri meet in Jodhpur division in April. The event is scheduled for April 20-22.The Rajasthan Police is exploring the possibility of using Aadhaar data for verifying the identity of criminals, suspects, complainants and missing persons in the state.

For this, the State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB) has requested the state Information Technology Department to procure biometric machines to be kept in police stations and would start process to seek the access of Aadhaar data from agencies concerned, a senior police official said.

We have recently sent the requisition to the department of IT for 1,000 biometric machines which would be installed in police stations across the state and other offices of the state police. The machines would be used to fetch the Aadhaar details of suspects or criminals through finger prints, SCRB superintendent of police Pankaj Chaudhary said.

He said the department would now seek access to Aadhaar data so that the details of the suspects/criminals having Aadhaar number could be fetched through their finger prints.

Chaudhary also informed that Aadhaar details of all such suspect or criminal would be maintained at the police stations.

Police catch many suspects and criminals but sometimes they manage to mislead them about their identity. The move will help police in authenticating the identity of such persons, he said.

More than that, the SP said, this will help the police in identifying such children who go missing and are found or rescued in the state but they lack proper identification details.

There have been cases where kids were abducted from a railway station or while playing or from any other location in the country and were forced into illegal trades.

When they are rescued by police, ascertaining their identity becomes a challenge. The use of biometric data can help track their roots through authentic details, provided they have Aadhaar number, he said.

And since majority of the people now have Aadhaar number, it will be easier for the police to execute this plan, the officer said, adding, this can also be used for verifying the identity of any complainant.

There are 859 police stations under 10 police range in the state.Expressing anger over his name not being included in the All India Congress Committee (AICC) members list, state Congress senior vice president Vishvendra Singh on Saturday said he has kept his options open.

Talking to reporters, Singh, however, rubbished rumors of him joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying that after expressing his displeasure over being dropped for the AICC members list, party president Rahul Gandhi, included his name.

The state Congress Committee didnt think it proper to suggest my name for AICC members list. But Congress president Rahul Gandhi added my name after I objected, he said.

Alwar Congress leader Bhanwar Jitendra Singh informed me this morning over phone that my name had been included in the AICC list by Rahul Gandhi.

He further said that Congress leaders included in the list from Rajasthan are those who are not even capable of winning a sarpanch election.

Congress leaders like Bharatpur parliamentarian Ratan Singh, defeated legislators from Kaman, Zahida Khan and some other leaders have been included in the AICC list, he said.

I have suggested to Congress leaders to go all out after bypoll wins. The party needs unity and to work hard. If the party is not united in the state, then it will not be successful in forthcoming assembly and Lok Sabh elections.

On rumors that he might be joining the BJP, Singh said, No BJP leader has contacted me.

I do politics of self-respect and anything is possible in politics if my self-respect is hurt. I could be forced to choose another path, he said.Rajput villagers in Rajasthans Alwar district are collecting money to support the education of two children of a community woman who was murdered by her relative because she worked in a factory.

Usha Devi, 32, of Shahjahanpur village in Behror tehsil was hacked to death with a sword on March 15 by her father-in-laws cousin, Mamraj Singh, 62, because he didnt want a woman from the family to take up a job, police said.

Ushas husband, Mukesh Chauhan, is a construction worker. His earning is not sufficient to raise a family of four, so Usha decided to work in the Shahjahanpur industrial area around three years ago  defying the family belief  to educate her children. She earned Rs 6,500 a month.

Singh, arrested a day after the killing, told police that a woman doing a job was against the family dignity. Behror deputy superintendent of police Janesh Tanwar said Singh confessed to his crime.

He (Singh) said he decided to kill her six months ago when the two had arguments over her working. He claimed Usha had humiliated him that day, Tanwar said. Singh is in jail, and police are preparing a charge sheet against him.

Singh often accosted Usha Devi when she was going to work, and asked her to quit the job. But Usha wanted to earn to give her two children  Tanuja (15) and Dheeraj (10)  education and get the family out of penury.

Tanuja is a Class 9 student at Gautam Public School at Shahjahanpur and Dheeraj studies in Class 5. Tanuja has her exams in April, and the family is worried about her preparations.

Shes disturbed, said her uncle Mohan. We are counselling her to prepare for the exams. She needs to understand that doing well in the exam will be a true tribute to her mother.

After Usha Devis murder, Rajputs in Shahjahanpur and neighbouring villages -- Gugalkota, Chaubara, Mirzapur and Neemrana -- are collecting money to create a corpus for Tanuja and Dheeraj. We want to raise money so that their life is not affected by their mothers death, said Sunil Chauhan of Gugalkota village.

Shahjahanpur police station SHO (station house officer) Surendra Malik said he would request industrial units in the village to contribute to the corpus. The childrens grandmother will look after them and the money from the collection will help them continue their education, the SHO said.

During investigation, police found that Mamraj Singh was a bachelor and idled away his time.Theres a Little Korea in the gullies of Varanasi.

Walk through this timeless city and you will see, near the foreign tourists sipping blueberry lassis and the vegetable vendor arguing loudly beside a music shop where someone is playing the sitar, suddenly an oasis of calm in the form of a Korean cafe.

Dimmed lighting, soothing music, low seating arrangements and authentic Korean cuisine  its like youve stepped into the streets of Seoul.

South Koreans have dotted this city with little cafes, signs in Korean and K-Pop CDs in the stores. Some came as tourists and never left, others arrived as students and keep coming back. Still others visit once or twice a year to experience something real chaos so unlike the sterile rigidity of Seoul, in the words of Bowon Kim, a 26-year-old South Korean sculptor studying fine art at Banaras Hindu University (BHU).

Varanasi is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and the spiritual capital of India. I think the Korean tourists are attracted to the contrast the city presents against their hometowns. Its relaxed and the slow pace gives them a sense of peace, says Avinash Chandra Mishra, joint director at the Uttar Pradesh department of tourism. Last year 18,286 South Koreans visited Varanasi, of the total of 3.35 lakh international tourists. For the last five years the number has ranged from 17,000 to 21,000 annually.

Sitar teachers have Korean students coming back to them year after year, most of them studying art and music and fluent in Hindi.

Being so close to Sarnath is an added attraction, says Neerja Samajdar, associate professor at the Centre for Korean studies at Delhis Jawaharlal Nehru University, referring to the largely Buddhist South Korean population, and the area in Varanasi where the Buddha first preached. The cultural exchange is now going both ways, Samajdar adds.

Youngsters here are starting to study Korean, out of interest, or so that they can act as tour guides. There are Korean language diploma courses with batches of 40 students at a time.

Varanasi is an important destination on the Buddhist circuit, which also includes Bodh Gaya, Vaishali, Rajgir in Bihar, Shravasti and Kushinagar in UP, and Lumbini and Kapilavastu in Nepal, where the Buddha was born and spent his early years.

In addition to Koreans, Buddhists from Thailand, Sri Lanka, Japan and the US and UK, among other countries, travel this route as a sort of pilgrimage.

Koreans, however, have another reason to connect with India. Many have grown up hearing a folk tale about an Indian princess who travelled from Ayodhya in 48 CE to marry a king and, at age 16, become the first queen of the ancient Korean confederacy of Gaya.

Since then, along with Buddhism, various aspects of culture have been shared by the two countries, says Kim Kumpyoung, director of the Korean Cultural Centre in India.

Korean cuisine amid kachori-malai

Bibimbap (a traditional Korean dish of rice, chicken, vegetables, chilli paste, soya paste and soy sauce) and Rabokki (a Korean street snack made with ramen, boiled eggs and rice cakes in a spicy sauce) are very popular at our eatery, says Seema Majhi, 26, who has been running the Mong cafe with her brother Sanjay Panday for seven years.

Most of the cooks at Varanasis Korean cafes are locals. Some pick up recipes on YouTube. Others perfect their skills with a little help from Korean patrons. (Rajesh Kumar/HT Photo)

Mong, incidentally, is Korean for total relaxation or doing absolutely nothing.

Majhi is also the chef; she learnt how to cook Korean fare by watching YouTube videos. Sometime my brothers friends from Korea visit and teach me new dishes, she says.

Panday, now 33, has had a Korean connection since he was 8. Thats when he first met the eminent South Korean poet Ryu Shiva, while he was selling postcards to tourists. The poet was so taken by the child that three years later, when he returned to Varanasi, he looked him up. When Panday was 18, Shiva invited him to Seoul, where Panday did a Korean language course at Seoul University. He now runs two cafes, and acts as a guide for Korean tourists.

Shiva completely changed my life; he is like a father to me, he says.

Most of the Korean cafes in Varanasi are joint ventures.

An Indian provides the space and licences; a Korean, the mood and cuisine. Ashish Dwivedi claims his Raga cafe was the first of its kind in Varanasi.

Its been around for 16 years, set up by Dwivedi and a Korean named Ju Jong Won who met while studying at BHU. More Koreans were coming to the city, as tourists and students. We saw a business opportunity in that, Dwivedi says.

So he turned the bookstore on the ground floor of his ancestral home into a Korean cafe. We serve only Korean cuisine. Ju Jong Won helped with the cooking, and we all learnt from him. Tourists appreciate how authentic the food is.

Dwivedi has since married a Korean woman, Sunhwa Cha, and divides his time between Seoul and Varanasi. Over the past four years, the trio has opened two other cafes, a Korean one near the Assi Ghat and an Indian one in Seoul.

Their Raga Cafe at Manikarnika Ghat is a perfect example of the seamless integration of the two cultures. Just outside is a Shivalinga worshipped by the owners family, and just inside a detailed map of Varanasi written entirely in Korean.

We also organise Hindustani classical concerts and dance performances from time to time, says Himanshu Dwivedi, Ashishs brother.

K-Pop, Hindi lessons and Aamir Khan

Graphic designer Soenja Shin, 41, speaks fluent Hindi, very little English and, of course, Korean.

I came here six years ago and promptly fell in love, she says. She studied Hindi for three years at BHU. It helped me learn about the society too. About where its history of religious amalgamation and tolerance comes from. She is now pursuing a Bachelors degree in Fine Arts at BHU.

Sitar teacher Rabindra Narayan Goswami with Saebom Park, 28, a bass guitarist. About 10% of his students are South Korean, Goswami says. (Rajesh Kumar/HT Photo)

Her husband, Sung Mo, 46, moved to Varanasi also, in 2014. Sung is studying the tabla at BHU, Shin says. He used to play acoustic guitar in Korea and he eventually wants to teach music to kids.

Shin is now discovering Bollywood. Im a huge fan of Aamir Khan, she says. When I was learning Hindi, I watched 3 Idiots 50 times! I can recite its entire script. Aamir Khans movies make you think, so I love them.

Also at BHU, Indian students are studying Korean  the varsity introduced a two-year diploma in the language three years ago, and has 50 to 70 students in each batch.

Strumming along

Pandit Rabindra Narayan Goswami has been teaching students how to play the sitar since 1976.

Musician Saem Bawy Han, 29, has a diploma in performing arts from BHU, specialising in sitar, and is currently pursuing a Bachelors degree in the same field. He often performs at local cultural events. (Rajesh Kumar/HT Photo)

About 10% of my students are now South Koreans, he says. Ive been teaching South Koreans how to play the sitar for 11 years. I think the fact that Pandit Ravi Shankar was born in Varanasi inspires many. But it is the citys chaos and old-world charm, its combination of past and present that they seem to find addictive.

Goswamis current students include six South Koreans  among them, Saebom Park, 28, a bass guitarist; Saem Bawy Han, 29, a musician who is back in India after a break for visa purposes. Han has also done a diploma in performing arts from BHU, specialising in sitar, and is currently pursuing a Bachelors degree in the same field. And Bowon Kim, the sculptor who came to India as a tourist, stayed on, and has grown to love Shah Rukh Khan, saris and tandoori chicken.

Varanasi just pulls you back again and again, through music, through food, through art. The charm is unavoidable, Kim says.

And when the city gets too crowded and polluted for our liking, Shin adds, we retreat to the ghats and feel the peace return there.Ten days after the Kherwadi police nabbed a 23-year-old for kidnapping and raping a minor, he allegedly escaped from the police custody on March 7.

The accused, a native of Pune and the victims relative, who was arrested twice for allegedly kidnapping and raping the victim in the past six months, was finally held on Saturday after his escape.

In October last year, he was first arrested under relevant sections of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act after a complaint by the victims parents, said senior inspector Rajendra Patil of the Kherwadi police station. He was released on bail in December last year and kept in touch with the victim, said Patil.

The victim, a Class 11 student, lives in Bandra (East). Her father, a government employee, approached the Kherwadi police after the accused kidnapped the girl again in February this year. Cops nabbed the accused along with the victim in Pune on March 1and added charges of rape apart from kidnapping, after recording the victims statement.

Although he was remanded in police custody for seven days, he managed to escape the police station when a constable was putting handcuffs on him to take him to the court after his custody came to an end on March 7, said an officer.

Several police formed to trace him were unable to do so as he reached Pune. Two days ago a police team went to Pune acting on a tip-off and finally arrested him on Saturday night, said Patil. The accused was produced in court on Sunday and remanded in judicial custody.Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray called for a Modi-mukt Bharat (Modi-free India) during his Gudi Padwa rally on Sunday, and appealed to like-minded parties to forge a united opposition against BJP for the 2019 election. It is high time we achieved our third independence in 2019, he told a packed Shivaji Park. He referred to August 15, 1947 as the countrys first independence and the lifting of the Emergency on March 21, 1977 as its second.

Thackerays slogan comes a day after his meeting with Nationalist Congress Party chief and BJP opponent Sharad Pawar. The latter also met Congress president Rahul Gandhi last week, a few days ahead of the Congress Plenary. Both meetings were termed as courtesy visits, but the subsequent call-for-action speeches by both Gandhi and Thackeray are seen as a consequence of those parleys.

In his speech, Thackeray came down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as the BJP government in Maharashtra led by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. We believed Modi in 2014 for a Congress-mukt Bharat, but now we need Modi-mukt Bharat, Thackeray said.

He said the Modi government had failed on all counts and that it is dividing Indians in the name of religion. He then added that, in the near future, there would be attempts to start communal riots on the issue of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya, in order to win elections. He said, Should the temple be built? Yes. But If Ram Mandir is going to be an election issue, then lets wait for a year. I appeal to both Muslims and Hindus to beware of BJPs election plans.

Thackeray also targeted the prime minister on the Rs12,600 crore Punjab National Bank fraud involving diamond merchants Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, and also for his demonetisation announcement in November 2016. When a new government is appointed and if it initiates an inquiry, demonetisation will turn out to be the biggest scam in independent India. How does Nirav Modi leave the country when a CBI case is going on? How does he meet the PM in Davos, questioned Thackeray.

Though the Thackeray offensive against the BJP came a day after his meeting with Pawar, he did not mention the NCP or his erstwhile part Shiv Sena during the hour-long speech. Politically, the Congress may be wary of an alliance with MNS as the latter has a strong anti-North Indian bias, while the former has a significant presence in the community. Thackeray played his traditional sons of the soil card in an attempt to woo back the Marathi voter. The Fadnavis government does not have Maharashtra or Marathi manoos on its agenda, he said. The CM has been occupying the chair not on merit, but for other reasons. It is time for the Marathi manoos to wake up and become aware of reality.The face of mission oral cancer eradication by 2022, Sharad Pawar, Nationalist Congress Party chief and a cancer survivor, said he regrets chewing supari and wished someone had warned him about oral cancer 40 years ago.

Speaking at an event organised by Indian Dental Association (IDA) and Oral Cancer Foundation (OCF) on Sunday, Pawar promised to raise the issue of tobacco menace in the Parliament.

I chewed supari often and it caused oral cancer. I had to undergo major surgeries during which all teeth were removed. This has left me with difficulty in speaking, swallowing and inability to open my mouth completely, said Pawar, who was invited to commemorate IDAs mission.

Dr Ashok Dhoble, IDA secretary, said they have set up more than 2,000 Tobacco Suggestion Centers (TSC) for counselling tobacco consumers, and will set up 5,000 spot centers that will be used as diagnostic clinics.

Anybody with burning sensation or ulcers in the mouth can approach these centers and avail quick diagnosis, which can lead to early treatment. Even if we can bring down the prevalence by 50%, it will be a huge achievement in terms of reducing economic burden and public health hazard, said Dhobale.

India accounts for 86% of total oral cancer patients across the globe. Almost 90% of oral cancer is caused by chewing tobacco and eating gutka.

More than 1 lakh new cases of oral cancer are detected every year in India, with 50% of them dying within a year of diagnosis. International reports suggest that India loses USD 6.7 billion to oral cancer, as more than 30% of cases are detected in people from a productive age group of below 35, said Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi, adding that political will of veterans such as Pawar will create more awareness among people about the cause and curb tobacco consumption.Last week, students from the National Service Scheme (NSS) unit of KC College, Churchgate, installed a machine for grinding spices at Karwale village in Palghar district. The set up will provide employment to 15 women from the area, who can earn a living by grinding spices and selling it in the market.

We wanted to empower the women, said Zoya Khan, one of the students.

For the past few years, students from various city colleges have undertaken similar projects to generate employment and financial opportunities for villagers in mofussil areas of the state. Besides strengthening the rural economy and empowering women in the villages, these projects provide students with hands-on training.

In the past three years, students from Rotaract Club of HR College, Churchgate, have been arranging funds for small-scale businesses in Kumbarwadi and Varwandi villages of Ahmednagar district. As part the Gazab Maharashtra project, villagers  mostly youngsters  pitch business ideas to students who provide them anywhere between Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 as seed money to start the enterprises. While parents of students chip in, most of the funding comes from big corporations.

Ishan Jawrani, a student of HR College, said the project took shape in 2015 when they visited villages to dig wells in drought-hit Marathwada. Village chiefs showed us around and highlighted the need for better schools and colleges. So we decided to improve literacy rate in the villages. We taught junior college students entrepreneurship and basic accounting, and started funding their business ideas, he said. So far, HR College students have conducted training sessions in four colleges and funded 25 enterprises.

In 2016, a few students pursuing Master of Business Administration (MBA) at Sydenham Institute of Management Studies, Research and Entrepreneurship Education (SIMSREE), Churchgate, organised a financial literacy camp for a village on the outskirts of Virar. They came to know that plastic was banned in the village and people used paper envelopes. The students helped a group of women from the village to start a paper bag making business.

For their project, the SIMSREE team took help of a city-based organisation that trained 20 women from the villages near Virar to make paper bags. It has become a self-sustaining business with more women joining in and very little help required from the students. The women earn anywhere between Rs7,000 and Rs8,000 a month for a few hours work.

The students have also organised digital literacy workshop for children at an orphanage in Ulhasnagar and Dharavi to make them employable.

We also organised financial literacy camps in villages and educated people about various government schemes, said Dharamaraj Thakker, final year MBA student and member of colleges Student Social Responsibility Cell.

However, not all these enterprises have such success stories. In fact, 11 out of 25 businesses funded by HR College students eventually shut down. Many of small businesses set by KC College in Karwale village, in the past last 13 years, could not be sustained.

According to Satish Kolte, NSS programme officer at the college, busy schedule of women in villages and lack of exposure to market were responsible for the failed projects.

The women are occupied with household chores and farming activities. So they have little time to work on their own enterprise. While the villagers lack exposure, they are now visiting the city to procure raw material for their businesses, he added.Taking a friendly dig at former chief minister Manohar Joshi about his goal of making money in life, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar said he is aware of his ideas about making money, but that it was not an appropriate stage to share those ideas.

Pawar was speaking at Manohar Joshis book launch in Mumbai on Sunday, where the latter inaugurated his 30th book that talks about life lessons.

Joshi, in his speech before Pawar, said: It is very important in life to make money and one of my goals in life was to make money. If you have money, 80% of your problems are solved. Besides it, good character and having proper planning are two other goals.

In response to that, Sharad Pawar said, I found out that one of Joshis hobbies when he first came to Mumbai and started taking the local was to read billboards of new constructions coming up along the tracks. It inspired him to get into construction and he earned a lot.

Also present at the book launch were former president of India Pratibha Patil, Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, and Mumbai mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar.

In his book, which talks of successful life goals, Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi has interviewed prominent personalities above the age of 85.A Darul Qaza or Sharia court was inaugurated in Mira Road on Saturday. The court, set up by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), is the second one in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).

The first one was set up in 2013 and functions at Anjuman-i-Islam, near Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus.

A Sharia court settles civil and marital disputes in the Muslim community, where qazis (judges) appointed by AIMPLB hear disputes. Similar courts exist in Malegaon, Hyderabad and Patna.

While we had one court in town, we realised that a large section of the population in the western area found it difficult to access it. So we decided to have a branch in Mira Road, said Dr Azimuddin, president, Darul Qaza Foundation, Mira-Bhayandar.

He added the court will help people resolve disputes within the community rather than approaching the court of law.

The judiciary is overburdened with various issues. When an individual moves court with a personal matter, which usually includes marriage, divorce and inheritance, they have to wait for years before an order is passed. In such situations, a Sharia court can help resolve the issue amicably. In case, the person doesnt abide by the order given by the qazi, he/she can approach the judiciary where the Sharia court order can used to take the case further, Azimuddin said.

When a person approaches Sharia court with a dispute, both the parties are required to present their sides in the court. But, if one of them decides to move civil court, the case needs to be withdrawn for the Sharia court.

Sujoy Kantawala, senior lawyer at Bombay High Court, said Sharia courts act as internal customary courts (courts that formerly exercise jurisdiction over the transfer, surrender and admittance) for personal issues, but hold no legal standing.

Sharia courts are not illegal, but their judgement is not accepted by the judiciary. Moreover, the facts presented by these courts can be produced in a civil or matrimonial court. If a person wants to resolve personal dispute, they can approach such courts. But, to get divorced, one has to go abide by the law, said Kantawala.Admiral Sunil Lanba, the Indian naval chief, will embark on four-day US visit from Monday wearing the hat of Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC), which is the closest to Indias fragmented joint military apex.

The high-density agenda for the Admiral is indicative of the importance being accorded to this visit by the Washington Beltway.

It may be recalled that India entered into a major defence cooperation agreement with the US in June 2005  a month before the tectonic civilian nuclear agreement was inked in July of that year. At the time then defence minister Pranab Mukherjee signed a very comprehensive defence agreement with his US counterpart Donald Rumsfeld. However, from June 2005 to March 2018, the actual realisation of the potential of that defence agreement has been modest.

Admiral Lanba is scheduled to meet the US defence apex beginning with the Defence Secretary James Mattis who is the equivalent of the Indian Defence Minister. In addition, Lanba will meet with the US Secretary of the Navy and the military top-brass that includes the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, as also the naval hierarchy comprising the Chief of Naval Ops (CNO), the Pacific Commander-in-Chief and others.

The spectrum of meetings is indeed high-density and is a reiteration of the continuity and importance accorded by the USA to the defence component of the uneasy and till recently discordant bi-lateral relationship. The nuclear nettle that bedeviled the Washington-Delhi relationship for decades was harmonized only in September 2008 and in the intervening decade, the USA has transited from Bush through Obama to Trump and Delhi has moved from Manmohan Singh to Modi.

Domestic political compulsions, constraints and priorities have led to the India-US defence bi-lateral receiving episodic attention and the bureaucracies on both sides have moved in a routine manner and the word sluggish is not invalid. Absent a clear strategic appreciation of what each side expects from the other for the long term (say 30 years ) and a visible high-level political resolve, by and larger the defence relationship has been largely confined to the sale of major platforms from the USA to India through the G2G (government to government) route and a range of military exercise involving all three armed forces, with Malabar being the flagship program.

The last substantive visit by a senior US cabinet member was that of former US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter in April 2016 and the phrase  strategic handshake was the leitmotif of an ambitious visit that began in Goa. Dr. Carter in an earlier avatar in the US DoD ( Dept. of Defence) had spearheaded the DTTI (defence technology transfer initiative) and this was expected to harmonize with the Modi advocacy of make in India.

Yet, an objective and non-partisan review of the strategic, long-term policy orientation and prioritization of big ticket policy issues in the defence sector on the Modi watch, which is now in its last lap would point to very little substantive progress. India and the USA are unable to go beyond the glass-ceiling of tactical engagement (Malabar) and South Block remains diffident about identifying what it seeks from the USA in the long-term and the political apex remains distracted by continuous electioneering. Paradoxically the commitment to strategic autonomy is asserted, on occasion in a defiant manner eben as the import bill for military inventory from diverse sources is climbing.

Hopefully the outcome of the Lanba visit will provide some clarity about the degree to which India and the USA can revisit the June 2005 defence agreement and harmonize it with the Carter led DTTI and identify the low-hanging fruit that are politically acceptable to both sides. But in the current wiring of Indias higher defence management  the Chairman COSC is not part of the policy related decision-making loop!

(The writer is director Society for Policy Studies. Views expressed are personal)Gudi Padwa

Gudi Padwa marks the New Year for Maharashtrians as per the Hindu Calender. It falls on the first day of Chaitra, which also calls open the spring season. Considered to be one of the three and a half days in the Hindu calendar, Gudi Padwa is celebrated with a lot of fanfare and pomp among families. The day begins with an oil bath followed by raising the Gudi before 9am, biting into jaggery and neem and welcoming the New Year. Traditional New Year foods are believed to usher in good luck. So, families gorge on sweets  be it sheera (Sajjige) or sakhar bhaat (sweet rice). Lunch again is a sumptuous affair though the favourite is either shrikhand or basundi. Anuja Amit Abhyankar said, As it is technically the first year of the Hindu calendar, we clean our house one day prior, we get up early in the morning and get ready followed by putting up the toran (decorative door hanging) at the entrance of the house. A traditional rangoli is drawn at the entrance by the ladies in the family and the men help tie up the Gudi at a height. This is followed by a puja and Ganesh aarti. Of course, among all this, a group selfie becomes mandatory.

No happy occasion is complete without sweets and this festival in particular calls for combinations such as Shrikhand-Puri, Masale bhaat, Batayachi Bhaji, Varan Bhat and Kurdai. As a child, my grandparents used to give us gathi, which I used to wear as a necklace, my brother and I would roam around the society collecting as much gathi as possible. I also remember, my parents used to make me eat neem leaves, since it was bitter I used to hate it. But now I realise that it has medicinal value. So our Gudi contains neem leaves as well, said Anuja.

Cheti Chand

Celebrated to honour the birth of Sindhi patron Saint Jhulelal and celebrated as New Years for Sindhis, Cheti Chand is an auspicious day for the Sindhi community. The Dhalwani household welcomes the New Year every year with great celebrations, family time and kharchi (elders give money to the young ones at home). Peter Dhalwani, a businessman shared, We celebrate it across three days which includes visiting the Jhulelal temple, attending the procession in Camp and participating in cultural programmes organised by the community. As children, too, my parents would make us celebrate the festival with the community, the idea was to learn togetherness and enjoy as one whole big family. His wife Neelam lays down the plates for the big Sindhi special lunch and said, Every month, on the day of the New moon, we worship the taps and water outlets in the house. They say Jhulelal came out of water to save us, so we try our little bit to thank him through these gestures. And at the start of the year, we celebrate Cheti Chand, which also marks the start of the financial year.

From Kadhi chawal, Sai Bhaji, Tairi, boiled sauteed chickpeas, pakoras and papad, the feast is never ending on this day. Rajiv, son of Peter, added, The New Year means coming together and celebrating with family. My uncles, cousins and grandmother all come home and we have a gala time. Food forms a major part of our celebrations. My grandparents give us kharchi and our favourite foods are made too. This apart, we are told tales about our ancestors and the significance of the festival.

Kaushalya, the oldest member of the family, said, We remember and worship Jhulelal on this day. We thank him for keeping us safe and ask him to bless our loved ones. We conduct satsangs, langars and special programmes. One person dresses up as Jhulelal and we sing bhajans and talks about his good doings.

Ugadi

The Reddy household is abuzz with activity as they are preparing to form the flower muggulu on the doorstep. Akansha Reddy is patiently putting out the flowers as her husband Sudhir hands them over to her. The Reddys are preparing for one of their most important festivals of the year, Ugadi. Ugadi or Yugadi is New Year for Hindus in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana. Sudhir Reddy, founder, Reddy and Reddy Law firm, shared that the festivals name derives from the two words Yug and Adi which literally translates to new and beginning respectively. Ugadi preparations begin much in advance with cleaning, putting up fresh mango leaves on the front door, buying new clothes and flower rangoli at the door step. Food plays an important part too as a traditional fare is served for family and relatives, Sudhir Reddy. According to ancestral stories, Ugadi is celebrated to mark Lord Brahmas creation of the world. Prayers are sung to worship the lord and everyone puts behind their sorrow and past and steps into the New Year with positivity and hope. The day starts with an oil bath, eating of neem leaves, prayers and lots of traditional food. Elders blessings are received and we are recited the good deeds by our ancestors and saints, added Reddy.

He added that festivals are generally a way of spending time with the family and ensuring that each one is happy and content. As a family we ensure to have at least one meal together on festivals. We discuss our plans for the year especially on Ugadi and also decide on resolutions.The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) arrested three Bangladeshi nationals suspected to have links with Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT)  a front organisation of Al-Qaeda and banned outfit in Bangladesh  from Wanowrie and Akurdi areas on Friday.

The arrested suspects are Mohammad Ripan Hossein (25), Hannan Anwar Khan alias Hanan Babarali Ghazi (28) and Mohammadwadi Habibur Rahman alias Raj Jesub Mandal (31).

The suspects were produced before Session Judge RN Sardesai who remanded the trio in police custody till March 29.

The three accused are aged between 25 and 31 years and hail either from Khulna or Shariyatpur in Bangladesh, said a senior ATS officer, requesting anonymity. The three had been staying illegally, without any authorised travel documents, for the last five years in Wanowrie and Akurdi areas.

During their interrogation, they revealed that they had provided shelter and other help to the members of ABT during their stay in Pune, the official added. Acting on specific inputs, the Pune unit of Maharashtra ATS carried out a search operation in Wanowrie yesterday and apprehended one Bangladeshi national.

His interrogation led the ATS to nab two more Bangladeshi nationals who were staying at Akurdi. They were carrying PAN and Aadhaar cards obtained by using forged documents, said ATS officials.

The officer said one of the arrested accused stayed and worked near a sensitive establishment.

Investigation has revealed that these accused and their accomplices were helping the active members of ABT, which is supposedly a front organisation of Al-Qaeda, to hide in India. They were also helping terrorist activities financially and through various other ways, the officer said.

He said the three accused worked as construction labourers and had procured SIM cards using forged documents. A case under Section 19, 20 Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Section 465, 467, 468, 471 of the IPC, and Section 3, 6 Passport (Entry into India) and Section 14 Foreigners Act has been registered.

According to the officer, the ATS is also probing whether they had any links with the six Bangladesh nationals, who were arrested from Panvel three days ago by the newly-formed Navi Mumbai unit of ATS.A day after family members of a missing Pakistani Hindu sought the intervention of external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, the district administration has come ahead to help them in finding their missing member.

The family of Devsi Babu Makwana, who went missing when he had come on a religious pilgrimage to India as part of a 43-member group around 15 months ago, is on a 20-day visa. They are also part of a group of Hindu pilgrims. They actually came to the country for finding Devsi.

The family said five days of their 20-day visa had already elapsed, but the local authorities and police are still clueless about the whereabouts of Devsi.

As per the missing Pakistani mans wife Lalita Babu, brother Vithal Babu and son Kanta Lal, Devsi was a patient of epilepsy and was mentally upset. On January 2, 2017, he, along with his brother and wife, reached Amritsar with other members of the group, but went missing on January 3, 2017.

On January 4, 2017, the family members lodged a missing person complaint with the Sultanwind police of the district but, till now, the police are clueless about the whereabouts of Devsi.

On Saturday, on the direction of deputy commissioner (DC) Kamaljeet Singh Sangha, secretary of the Red Cross, Vinay Sharma, visited the family members of Devsi, who are living at Sara Baba Deep Singh, and assured them for providing all help in finding Devsi.

We offered them shelter and food at the Red Cross rest house, but they want to live with other members of the group, she said. The family said five days of their 20-day visa had already elapsed, but the local authorities and police are still clueless about the whereabouts of Devsi.To add another security measure to the Attari integrated check-post (ICP), which facilitates Indias bilateral trade with Pakistan and Afghanistan, the Land Port Authority of India (LPAI) has started the work of installing a full-body truck scanner, costing around Rs 23 crore.

LPAI officials said that after the installation of the truck scanner, the smuggling of concealed heroin, other drugs and weapons through the ICP from Pakistani side will be curbed. At present, manual checking of vehicles is done, which takes huge time also.

According to the Land Ports Authority of India Act, 2010, it is mandatory to install scanners at the posts through which international trade is carried out. The customs department had written several times to the Centre, seeking full-body or drive-through scanners for the import section at the Attari ICP.

The ICP was inaugurated at Attari on April 13, 2012, but it has been running without any truck scanner since then. However, two truck scanners have been installed at Wagha border at Pakistan side, officials said.

Sukhdev Singh, manager of LPAI at Attari ICP, said, As of now, trucks arriving at ICP are randomly checked leaving much scope to chance and error. After the installation of the truck scanner, every single truck would be checked for concealment of narcotics, weapons or ammunition, besides easily verifying the content of the import or export goods, that too in a few minutes.

A senior official of the Border Security Force (BSF) said the ICP would be better protected with the technologically-oriented approach to security.

Singh, however, said that besides installing the truck scanner, the work of concretising an open perch of 13,000 sq metre is also under process. We are also constructing two covered sheds over an area of 10,000 sq ft for imported goods such as gypsum, cement, soda ash and dry fruit, he said.

He added that this project, which will cost around Rs 4.75 crore, and the installation of the truck scanner will be completed by September this year.

Currently, the traders are facing huge loss, especially during the rainy season, as their imported items get ruined due to lack of a concrete yard and covered sheds at the Attari IPC.

We had been demanding this from the authorities concerned and the government of India since the inauguration of the ICP. Now, we are happy that the work finally kicked off. With the construction of the sheds and the concrete yard, the quality of imported goods will also be improved, said Rajdeep Uppal, a senior functionary of the Confederation of International Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CICCI).

High-definition CCTV cameras

Singh said that with a view to increasing the security of the ICP, the LPAI spent Rs 5 crore for the installation of 108 high-definition closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras. Earlier, there were 225 analog-signal cameras which were defunct. But we have replaced these old cameras with digital cameras more than two months ago to keep an eye on every nook and corner of the 130-acre ICP, he added.The majority of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislators in Punjab are opposed to the proposal of splitting the party in the wake of Delhi chief minister and partys national convener Arvind Kejriwals apology to former Akali leader Bikram Singh Majithia over drug charges to settle a defamation case.

Of the 20 party MLAs in the state, the 12 this newspaper spoke to rejected any move to form a separate party or an independent group within AAP despite being miffed over not being consulted or informed about the apology tendered to the leader of a rival party in the state. However, there are some such as Nihal Singh Wala MLA Manjit Singh who want the central leadership to give more freedom to the state unit to take its own decisions.

Their views are significant in view of the talk of splitting the party by a section of MLAs in the state after the party chiefs self-goal. On Friday, 18 MLAs, who met in Chandigarh, had discussed the possibility of breaking away from AAP to form a separate unit. The final decision was deferred.

After the two-round meeting that lasted three-and-a-half hours, Kharar MLA Kanwar Sandhu had told reporters that there was no consensus on breaking away as several MLAs said they wanted to consult their supporters before making any further move. Later, two MLAs had claimed that 14 MLAs were in favour of splitting the party. The AAP has 20 MLAs and any split without attracting the anti-defection law is only possible if 14 (two-thirds of the two strength) of them come together to form a separate unit.

However, the number of legislators in favour of breaking away was exaggerated in all probability.

When contacted, 12 MLAs, including Kultar Singh Sandhwan, Sarvjit Kaur Manuke, HS Phoolka, Budh Ram, Aman Arora, Kulwant Singh Pandori, Baljinder Kaur, Jagdev Singh, Amarjit Singh Sandoa and Harpal Singh Cheema, gave the thumbs down to any move to split the party.

Sandhwan, who is MLA from Kotkapura, said that any talk of splitting the party was not acceptable. The people showed trust in the AAP primarily because of its top leader. When I met him (Kejriwal) on Saturday, he told me why he expressed regret for his remark. All this talk of breaking away is not done, he said, accusing a section of his party colleagues of trying to split the party.

Manuke, deputy leader of AAP legislature party in the state assembly, said she would continue to be in the party. If one breaks their house, it does not benefit anyone, she said. Most of these legislators also went to Delhi for the meeting convened by Kejriwal and Punjab affairs in-charge Manish Sisodia on the issue. However, Mansa MLA Nazar Singh Manshahia, who stayed away from the Delhi meeting, said he would make up his mind after meeting volunteers and party workers in his constituency. Other MLAs could not be contacted, as either their phones were switched off or they did not respond to calls.Chandigarh has become the hunting ground for criminals from UP and Punjab in search of easy money. They snatch chains to fund their lavish lifestyle or drug habit. Shailee Dogra bones up on four notorious snatchers who have been striking terror in the tricity

The record-breaker

A 33-year-old from Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh, Vicky started his tryst with crime when he was in his late teens. He is charged with committing 125 snatchings in the tricity ever since he was first arrested in 2005.

Vicky is a serial snatcher. He has been acquitted in some cases but convicted in about 45 cases , said superintendent of police (Operations), Ravi Kumar.

Vicky was earlier arrested by the police in October 2016 and released on bail in May this year. He lives in a rented accommodation in Sector 46 and is fond of a lavish lifestyle. Sources in the police say he has invested in property and has a house in Delhi where his wife and son live. He often organises cocktail parties for his associates.

Coming from a family of bootleggers, Vicky started selling illicit liquor but didnt find it lucrative enough and took to snatching chains.

Cops say Vicky uses stolen two-wheelers for snatchings. He targets women, especially senior citizens, and generally draws them out by enquiring about a location of a particular place. The motorcycles used in the crime have fake registration numbers and the number plate is changed after every incident, the police said. Vicky is presently out of jail.

Brothers in crime

Shubham Sehgal (26) and Naman Sehgal (22), two brothers from Jalandhar, took to snatching to fund their drug habit. Today they are as accused in 12 cases in UT.

The brothers snatch gold chains and exchange them to buy drugs from a Khanna-based drug supplier with whom they strike deals on WhatsApp to dodge the police.

Sources in the police say, the two who dropped out after Class XII, took to crime after they got addicted to drugs. Relative newcomers to the city, they came here to look for jobs last year. They applied at a call centre in Sector 34, worked there for only a day or two before starting their snatchings.

Their journey in the world of crime started in 2013 when they were arrested with smack and detained in Kapurthala jail. It was there that the brothers came in contact with drug peddler Gurdeep Singh through a fellow inmate, Amrik Singh. After coming out on bail, Shubham and Naman started snatching chains in Jalandhar in exchange for which they would get drugs from Gurdeep.

Last September, they shifted their base to Chandigarh after running into trouble with the Jaladhar police in a case of mobile theft. They started staying as paying guests in Sector 22. They would use stolen motorcycles to target women walking in the streets or standing outside their houses during the day time.

The Bawarias

The Bawaria gang is the third player active in the tricity. Kalua, a member of the Bawaria gang from Shamli district in Uttar Pradesh, is presently in the custody of the Panchkula police. The UT police, which wants him in 12 cases, will be getting him on production warrants soon.

Kalua is accused of chain snatching and vehicle thefts in different parts of Chandigarh, Mohali, Punjab and Delhi. Sources in the police said the gang members offer prayers to their deity before embarking on a crime. They switch off their mobiles and stay on rent in places where they decide to commit their crimes.

Usually, they return to their villages after a theft and resurface to strike again. Like the others, they also use stolen vehicles to commit a theft or snatch a chain. They conduct a recce of the area before making a strike. When it comes to chain snatching, they generally ask the victim for directions before making away with her chain.

SP Ravi Kumar said the Bawarias dont leave any trace as they return to their village and dispose of the gold in UP.Chandigarh: The political crisis in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Punjab, triggered by its national convener Arvind Kejriwals apology to SAD leader Bikram Majithia in a defamation case, continued on Sunday, with half the party MLAs staying away from a meeting held by him.

Of the 20 party MLAs, only 10 MLAs turned up for the meeting held at Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodias residence and endorsed Kejriwals decision to tender an unqualified apology to Majithia for the drug charges levelled against him in the run-up to the state assembly polls last year.

Those who attended the meeting included Kultar Singh Sandhwan, Aman Arora, Sarvjit Kaur Manuke, Amarjit Singh Sandoa, Baljinder Kaur, Rupinder Kaur Ruby, Jaikishan Singh Rori, Harpal Singh Cheema, Budh Ram and Manjit Singh, besides five zonal in-charge of the party in the state. In the meeting that lasted almost three hours, Kejriwal informed them about the circumstances that led him to express regret to the Akali leader for his allegations.

The MLAs conveyed their resentment at not being consulted or informed, but he told us how he was being bogged down by 33 defamation cases filed against him in 21 courts across the country and was unable to work for the people, said Suman MLA Aman Arora after the meeting.

Manuke, MLA from Jagraon, said the MLAs were satisfied with the party chiefs raison detre behind the apology. The central leaders were requested to reject the resignations of (partys Punjab unit president) Bhagwant Mann and (his deputy) Aman Arora as the party needs them, which they agreed to, she said. Mann and Arora quit their party posts on Friday in protest.

There was no end to the impasse with some MLAs, including leader of opposition in Punjab assembly Sukhpal Khaira and Kharar MLA Kanwar Sandhu, who were enraged over the apology, did not attend the meeting. Others who kept away from the meeting included Gurmeet Singh Meet, Pirmal Singh Dhaula,HS Phoolka, Baldev Singh and Nazar Singh Manshahia. Phoolka said he did not go as he was on leave and had not attended any party meeting in the past six months.

After Majithia went public on the AAP chiefs apology to him, the partys central leadership called the MLAs to Delhi on Sunday to explain the position. However, a decision was taken in a meeting held by 18 MLAs in Chandigarh on Friday that they would not go to Delhi for the meeting. They asked the central leaders to come to Chandigarh instead.

One MLA, who attended the Delhi meeting, claimed that Khaira talked to Punjab affairs in-charge Sisodia, giving the reasons for not being able to show up. However, Khaira stuck to his guns. I talked to no one. Why should I? We had decided not to attend the meeting in Delhi. I went by the decision. You should ask those who went back on their word and are being managed through remote control by the central leadership, said, dismissing his party colleagues claim. On his next step, Khaira said he would hold a meeting of party MLAs for the budget session on Monday. I have invited all of them, he said.

.As the Telugu audiences celebrate Ugadi (Telugu New Year) on Sunday, their favourite stars wished them on the happy occasion. Actor Nani, posted a picture of himself enjoying a festival delicacy and wrote, Wishing you all a very very Happy Ugadi .. A new journey begins today .. First day shoots are always special :)).

Actor Mahesh Babu, who is looking forward to the release of Bharat Ane Nenu also wished his fans and wrote, I wish you all new courage, new hope & new beginnings. May the new year bring everything you honestly desire. Me andariki Ugadi Subhakankshalu :) #HappyUgadi. He also shared still from his upcoming film Bharat Ane Nenu.

Kanam actor Sai Pallavi wrote, I wish u all a very Happy Ugadi. May God Bless us with all the happiness n good health. Actor Allu Arjun also wished his fans a Happy Ugadi on Twitter and Jr NTR wrote, Wishing everyone a #HappyUgadi.

Team Mahanati announced the release date of their film on Ugadi and wrote, The greatest story ever told about the greatest actress that ever lived unfolds on May 9th! Wishing everyone a very Happy Ugadi. #Mahanati #NadigaiyarThilagam.

Actor Anjali is currently shooting for her upcoming film Nadodigal 2 alongside Sasikumar and wished her fans from the sets. She wrote, Wishing everyone a very #HappyUgadi ,, fr me its a #Nadodigal2 Ugadi #ShootLife #MyHappyPlace.

See | Star wishes for Ugadi

On this Auspicious Ugadi festival Feeling Happy To Announce After BlockBuster Chalo Here is my Next Project in IRA Creations

"@nartanasala". Directed by #SrinivasChakravathy , Vijay C Kumar as the Director of Photography and @mahathi_sagar as the Music Director #AtNartanasala pic.twitter.com/Ea49gYK9sf  Naga Shaurya (@IamNagashaurya) March 18, 2018

Delighted to let you know on this auspicious day that my next film is with @AkhilAkkineni8 in @SVCCofficial production. Happy Ugadi everyone. Vilambi naama Ugadi Subhaakanshalu. #Akhil3 @AkhilAkkineni8 @SVCCofficial  Atluri Venky (@dirvenky_atluri) March 18, 2018

...        .



Wishing you all a very very Happy Ugadi .. A new journey begins today ..

First day shoots are always special :)) pic.twitter.com/yXRQakPyUC  Nani (@NameisNani) March 18, 2018

   

     

Wishing everyone a #HappyUgadi  Jr NTR (@tarak9999) March 18, 2018

I wish you all new courage, new hope & new beginnings. May the new year bring everything you honestly desire. Me andariki Ugadi Subhakankshalu :)#HappyUgadi  Mahesh Babu (@urstrulyMahesh) March 18, 2018

Director Venky Atluri took to Twitter to announce his next project with Akhil Akkineni and wrote, Delighted to let you know on this auspicious day that my next film is with @AkhilAkkineni8 in @SVCCofficial production. Happy Ugadi everyone.

Actor Naga Shaurya also announced his next film and wrote, On this Auspicious Ugadi festival Feeling Happy To Announce After BlockBuster Chalo Here is my Next Project in IRA Creations @nartanasala. Directed by #SrinivasChakravathy , Vijay C Kumar as the Director of Photography and @mahathi_sagar as the Music Director #AtNartanasala.

Follow @htshowbiz for more

ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktopJagmeet Singh, the leader of New Democratic Party (NDP), has sought to get Canadas parliament recognise the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in India as a genocide, leading to criticism from Indo-Canadians for propagating a divisive agenda.

"I think it's the right thing to do. It would be a proper thing to take, not only nationally but I think it's something that is appropriate at the international level as well to make sure this is clarified, that it was not communal violence but was state-organised violence, Singh said in a statement to the Canadian press.

But Azad Kaushik, president of the National Alliance of Indo-Canadians (NAIC), hit out at Singh for painting events from 1984 in those terms. Canadians, Indo-Canadians in particular, do not accept Jagmeet Singh's politics of hate and bigotry that has done more harm than good, he said in a statement.

Hindus and Sikhs in Canada, like India, are bound with brotherhood and family ties that Indo-Canadians cherish and take pride in. The NAIC supports harmony in the Indo-Canadian community and expects Canadian leaders like Jagmeet Singh to focus on matters that concern Canadians and not to hurt relations between Canada and India, he added.

Singh invited controversy in Canada recently after videos emerged of him apparently condoning Sikh separatism. The first was from a rally in San Francisco in 2015, where he is shown speaking from a platform with a backdrop of a poster of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, considered the person who birthed Khalistani terrorism in India. Singhs presence at that sovereignty event was compounded by his appearance in a panel in London in early 2016 hosted by a hardline separatist outfit.

Groups like NAIC will oppose any move for such a motion in Parliament, Kaushik said.

The Indo-Canadian community rejects the demand of NDP leader Jagmeet Singh to have the 1984 Sikh riots declared as genocide and state organised violence...Any attempts to consider these as genocide would be contrary to the evidence-based and well-respected judicial decisions. Not only that, such attempts will hurt Canada's relations with a friendly country like India with which great potential for business and trade exists, apart from those in international arena.

While he was a member of the Ontario provincial parliament, Singh had moved such a motion there in 2016.

That motion had been defeated due to opposition from the ruling Liberal Party.

In 2017, a member of the Liberal Party Harinder Malhi moved a similar motion and recognised Singh while introducing it on the floor of the chamber. That motion was passed and Malhi subsequently elevated to the provincial Cabinet by premier Kathleen Wynne.

The resolution marked the beginning of ties fraying between India and Canada, with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus recent visit to India being adversely impacted by such developments.Andrew McCabe, the onetime FBI deputy director long scorned by President Donald Trump and just fired by the attorney general, kept personal memos detailing interactions with the president that have been provided to the special counsels office and are similar to the notes compiled by dismissed FBI chief James Comey, The Associated Press has learned.

The memos could factor into special counsel Robert Muellers investigation as his team examines Trump campaign ties to Russia and possible obstruction of justice.

McCabes memos include details of his own interactions with the president, according to a person with direct knowledge of the situation who wasnt authorized to discuss the notes publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. They also recount different conversations he had with Comey, who kept notes on meetings with Trump that unnerved him.

Though the precise contents are unknown, the memos possibly could help substantiate McCabes assertion that he was unfairly maligned by a White House he says had declared war on the FBI and Muellers investigation. They almost certainly contain, as Comeys memos did, previously undisclosed details about encounters between the Trump administration and FBI that could be of interest to Mueller.

The disclosure Saturday came hours after Trump called McCabes firing by Attorney General Jeff Sessions a great day for Democracy and asserted without elaboration that McCabe knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels off the FBI! In the last year, Trump has repeatedly condemned McCabe as emblematic of an FBI that he insists is biased against his administration.

That sent former CIA Director John Brennan, an outspoken Trump critic, into a Twitter tizzy: When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history. You may scapegoat Andy McCabe, but you will not destroy America...America will triumph over you.

Sessions said he acted on the recommendation of FBI disciplinary officials who said McCabe had not been candid with a watchdog office investigation. McCabe was fired two days before his retirement date on Sunday. The dismissal likely jeopardizes his ability to collect his full pension benefits and, more broadly, could add to the turmoil that has enveloped the FBI since Comeys firing and as the bureau moves ahead with an investigation the White House has dismissed as a hoax.

An upcoming inspector generals report is expected to conclude that McCabe, who spent more than 20 years with the FBI, had authorized the release of information to the media and was not forthcoming with the watchdog office as it examined the bureaus handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation. McCabe has vigorously disputed the allegations and said his credibility had been attacked as part of a larger effort not just to slander me personally but also the FBI and law enforcement.

It is part of this administrations ongoing war on the FBI and the efforts of the special counsel investigation, which continue to this day, he added. Their persistence in this campaign only highlights the importance of the special counsels work.

The firing set off dueling tweets between Trump, who called the termination a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI, and Comey, the director he fired 10 months ago.

Trump called Comey sanctimonious and said Comey made McCabe look like a choirboy. Comey, referencing his highly anticipated book that comes out next month, responded with his own tweet: Mr. President, the American people will hear my story very soon. And they can judge for themselves who is honorable and who is not.

Also Saturday, Trumps personal lawyer, John Dowd, cited the brilliant and courageous example by Sessions and the FBIs Office of Professional Responsibility and said Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein should bring an end to the Russia investigation manufactured by Comey.

Dowd told the AP that he neither was calling on Rosenstein, who oversees Muellers inquiry, to fire the special counsel immediately nor had discussed with Rosenstein the idea of dismissing Mueller or ending the probe.

Mueller is investigating whether Trumps actions, including Comeys ouster, constitute obstruction of justice. McCabe could be an important witness, and his memos could be used by investigators as they look into whether Trump sought to thwart the FBI probe. Comeys own memos, including one in which he says Trump encouraged him to end an investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn, have been provided to Mueller and are part of his investigation.

McCabe, in a statement defending himself, asserted he was singled out by the administration because of the role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of Comeys firing last May.

He became acting director after that but clashed with the Trump administration, including when he publicly rejected White House assertions that Comey had lost the support of the rank-and-file. He abruptly left the deputy director position in January and went on leave.

The firing arises from an inspector general review into how the FBI handled the Clinton email investigation. That inquiry focused not only on specific decisions made by FBI leadership but also on news media leaks.

McCabe came under scrutiny over an October 2016 news report that revealed differing approaches within the FBI and Justice Department over how aggressively the Clinton Foundation should be investigated. The watchdog office has concluded that McCabe authorized FBI officials to speak to a Wall Street Journal reporter for that story and that McCabe had not been forthcoming with investigators. McCabe denies it.

McCabe became entangled in presidential politics in 2016 after it was revealed that his wife, during her unsuccessful run for state Senate in Virginia one year earlier, received campaign contributions from the political action committee of then-Gov. Terry McAuliffe, D-Va., a longtime Clinton friend. The FBI has said McCabe received the necessary ethics approval about his wifes candidacy and was not supervising the Clinton investigation at the time of the contributions.Donald Trump will host Saudi Arabias crown prince in Washington Tuesday, giving the president a receptive audience to denounce rival Iran and a chance to take stock of significant changes the prince is engineering in the kingdom.

Ten months after the last face-to-face meeting between Trump and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in Riyadh, the 71-year-old president and the 32-year-old strongman prince are expected to deepen an already warm and congenial relationship.

But they are also expected to take up major developments for Saudi Arabia, both internally and externally: the end of a ban on Saudi women driving, the unprecedented detention of dozens of people that was billed as a high-level anti-corruption purge, Saudi involvement in the war in Yemen, and the crisis with the Gulf state of Qatar.

Its jaw-dropping how many policy changes the Saudis have pursued at home and in the region since that last meeting, said Lori Plotkin Boghardt, a former CIA analyst now with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Many of these changes have touched US security interests.

One example is the summit that the administration had hoped to host this year with the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which could be difficult to arrange given the continuing crisis with Qatar.

In June, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) began an air and sea boycott against Qatar, which they accuse of financing terrorism and being overly friendly with Iran.

Prince Mohammed, known by his initials MBS, was named crown prince that month by his father, King Salman.

Early on, the prince announced an ambitious Vision 2030 initiative to build an economy less dependent on oil, while luring more foreign investment.

Toward that end, Riyadh wants to greatly accelerate the pace of its civilian nuclear energy program. The goal: to build 16 reactors over the next 20 years, at a cost of some 80 billion euros ($98 billion), according to officials and analysts.

As the Saudis pursue the technology needed to undertake the ambitious project, they are expected to play potential rivals against one another, reminding their American counterparts that China, Russia and France are also capable of filling their needs.

It would be virtually impossible for the Saudi government to accept terms that are less than what Obama gave the Iranians -- the possibility of future enrichment, a source close to the Saudi government told AFP, referring to the nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers that was completed when Barack Obama was still president.

Bloody war in Yemen

The United States and Saudi Arabia are historic allies. Ever since Franklin Delano Roosevelt met with King Abdul Aziz ibn Saud on a US naval ship in the Suez Canal in 1945, every American president has carefully nurtured relations with the Saudi royal family.

But the unstinting support Trump offered when he chose Riyadh as the destination of his first overseas trip as president brought the relationship to a new level.

While Barack Obama said in 2015 that it was important not to perpetuate any long-term confrontation with Iran, or to even marginalize Iran, Trump, who has repeatedly threatened to withdraw from the nuclear deal reached that year with Tehran, has chosen a very different path.

Everywhere we go in the Middle East its Iran, Iran, Iran, he said a few days ago. Every problem is Iran.

Even before setting foot on American soil, Prince Mohammed struck a scathing tone toward Iran in an interview with CBS, comparing the territorial ambitions of that countrys supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to those of Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany.

And he warned that if Iran were to develop a nuclear bomb, Saudi Arabia would do the same as soon as possible.

But critics are cautioning the White House not to blindly embrace every stance taken by the Saudi prince, particularly as concerns its role in the bloody civil war in Yemen.

Fighting between the Huthi movement, supported by Iran, and Yemeni government forces, backed by the Saudis and the UAE, has claimed nearly 10,000 lives and left the country on the verge of a disastrous famine.

In an opinion column early this month in the New York Times, Thomas Friedman, writing in the form of an open letter to Trump, urged the president not to give in to Prince Mohammeds bad impulses as he seeks to modernize Saudi Arabias economy and religious/social structure.

He then adds: If you think you can just applaud his anti-Iran stance and religious reforms and all will work out fine, youre wrong.Investigators from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will arrive in Britain on Monday to investigate the nerve agent allegedly used in the attempted assassinations of a former spy, sparking off a major row with Russia.

The Foreign Office said that the OPCW team from The Hague will meet with officials from the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory and the police to discuss the process for collecting samples, including environmental ones.

These will then be despatched to highly reputable international laboratories selected by the OPCW for testing with results expected to take a minimum of two weeks.

This is the next step in the process to independently verify the analysis carried out by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down, the Foreign Office said in a statement.

As the foreign secretary noted this morning, we have been encouraged by the international support we have received to date. More than 20 countries across 6 continents have expressed their solidarity with us and we will continue to work with our European partners and allies around the world to tackle the threat posed by Russia to our collective security, the statement said.

The start of the investigation by the international chemical weapons watchdog comes as foreign secretary Boris Johnson travels to Brussels to brief foreign ministers from across the European Union on the attempted assassinations before meeting with the Nato secretary general.

Sergei Skripal a former Russian intelligence officer convicted in his home country of spying for Britain  and his daughter Yulia were poisoned in Salisbury on March 4, allegedly by a nerve agent. Both remain in critical condition.

Britain, with support of its allies, has blamed Russia for the incident. However, the Kremlin denies it had any hand in poisoning.

The stand-off took a new turn on Sunday morning after the Russian ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizkov, told BBC that a UK laboratory in Porton Down near Salisbury itself could be the source of the attack.

Later that day, Johnson rubbished Chizkovs claims and revealed that Britain had information indicating that within the last decade, Russia has investigated ways of delivering nerve agents likely for assassination.US vice president Mike Pence has told Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi that Islamabad must to do more to address the continued presence of the Taliban, the Haqqani Network and other terror groups on its soil.

Pence delivered this blunt message in a meeting with Abbasi in Washington on Friday. Abbasi, who was on a personal trip to see his ailing sister in the US, met Pence at the US Naval Observatory, the vice presidents official residence. The meeting was held at the request of Abbasi.

In the meeting, Pence reiterated President (Donald) Trumps request that the Government of Pakistan must do more to address the continued presence of the Taliban, Haqqani Network, and other terrorist groups operating in their country, the White House said in a statement.

The vice president stated that US efforts to eliminate terrorist groups who threaten US security and the stability of the region will continue and noted that Pakistan could and should work closer with the US, the White House said.

For his part, Abbasi apprised Pence of Pakistans sacrifices and successes in the fight against terrorism and believed his meeting with the vice president was positive, according to a report by Geo TV.

He also met other US officials and Congressman Ted Yoho, who heads the House foreign relations subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific.

South Asia observers have noted that Pence sought action by Pakistan against all terrorists operating from safe havens on its territory and not just the Taliban and its affiliate the Haqqani Network.

Pences meeting with Abbasi took place on the same day that a senior administration official told reporters that Trump was not satisfied with the bare minimum action taken by Pakistan against terrorism.

We are still seeking actions from Pakistan that we have not seen. We are continuing to look for real actions and not word on the Taliban and the Haqqani sanctuaries, the official had told reporters at a background briefing on South Asia.

The Trump administration has repeatedly stated that Pakistan must take action against all terrorists, the official had said, including those targeting India such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad.

The official said: The president has made it clear that he is not satisfied with the action taken by Pakistan... We have communicated clearly to Pakistan to what we mean by decisive action.

When provided very specific information, they have responded. But we have not seen them taking pro-active actions against terrorist groups which they are capable of.

(With inputs from Agencies)The health facility that found root after a life-changing trip to Uganda taken by French Montana has completed construction and is now up and running. It was last year when French took a trip to the East African country that he was taken with the lack of healthcare for its citizens, specifically pregnant women and mothers. He would soon put up a donation of $100,000 that was matched by donors such as The Weeknd and Diddy to begin construction on the Suubi Health Centre which is now equipped to serve a community of 300,000 citizens.

We did it from the heart. Shout out to The Weeknd, Puff Daddy, and Ciroc. Every dollar from French Vanilla is going into the hospital and Mama Hope Foundation," he told Billboard in November while construction was being finalized on the center. "Shout out to Global Citizen for letting me be the first rapper to represent this because they know my heart's in the right place."

Earlier in the week, the Unforgettable rapper celebrated the anniversary of the beginning of this new chapter on social media, acknowledging all the progress made.

"Happy one year anniversary to my family in Uganda can't believe we got so much done in one year !! Thank u for the opportunity," he penned on Instagram.

Last year, after being bestowed with the honor of being the first Hip-Hop artist to become a Global Citizen Ambassador, French also disclosed his plans to take his philanthropy throughout Africa, pegging his native Morocco as the next country in which he would be focusing his efforts.

"The whole idea of this is to spark the mind of the world leaders, you know," he explained. To help them do something on a bigger scale than what we doing. I just feel like all the mothers and children should have the right care, you know. It should never be a privilege, it should be a right."The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is quietly exploring the possibility of excavating dirt from Addicks and Barker reservoirs, reviving an oft-discussed proposal that would allow the reservoirs to hold more storm water and keep it out of nearby Houston neighborhoods.

Depending on the scope of the project, removing silt and dirt could increase the reservoirs capacity significantly, perhaps even doubling it, by one Corps officials rough estimate. Whether the agency moves forward could depend in part on whether it can find someone to take all the dirt.

Addicks and Barker Dams were sculpted from the Katy prairie more than 70 years ago to protect downtown Houston from devastating floods. The dams were designed to hold storm water for brief periods before releasing it into Buffalo Bayou.

But development downstream of the dams forced the Corps to restrict releases of water into the bayou. At the same time, rapid development to the north and west paved over prairie and ranch land, causing more runoff to flow into the reservoirs. As a result, Addicks and Barker are storing larger volumes of water than their designers intended, and for longer periods.

That has stressed the aging earthen dams. It has also heightened the risk of flooding for communities adjacent to the reservoirs. Since the reservoirs are not bounded by walls or banks, water can spill beyond their boundaries during intense storms.

READ: Officials patched and prayed while pressure built on Houston's dams

When Hurricane Harvey struck last August, more than 9,000 homes and businesses were inundated by reservoir water. Thats on top of the tens of thousands of dproperties damaged or destroyed by overflowing bayous, rivers and creeks, and by water released through the outlet works at Addicks and Barker Dams.

The idea of excavating the reservoirs has been a fixture of official reports and politicians to-do lists for more than 20 years. Thanks to Harvey, its time may finally have arrived.

In a notice posted on the Internet, the Army Corps said it is evaluating the level of interest from government, industry, and others parties for the excavation and removal of alluvial soils deposited within the reservoirs.

The concept of the potential project is to allow for the beneficial use of material by interested parties while increasing capacity at Addicks and Barker, the notice said.

It appeared Jan. 24, with no public announcement, on a website that advertises business opportunities with the federal government.

Corps officials wont say anything further about their plans, including how much soil would be excavated, how much it would cost or who would pay.

The Chronicles requests for information were referred to the U.S. Department of Justice. A spokesman there declined to comment, citing lawsuits filed by homeowners seeking compensation from the government for damage caused by reservoir flooding.

READ: Army Corps predicted possible Addicks and Barker flood pool lawsuits, decided not to act

Harris County Commissioner Steve Radack, whose Precinct 3 includes the reservoirs and areas upstream and downstream, said deepening the reservoirs would be a wonderful thing, although the Army Corps has not discussed it with him.

Theres no doubt that the original capacity is definitely down from when it was dug because of all the silting that has taken place, Radack said.

The Corps notice asks those interested in the soil to estimate how much they would remove, how they would excavate it and where they would eventually put it.

The government shouldnt have trouble finding interested parties if the dirt is of a certain quality, according to David Falgere.

Hes director of pre-construction for Slack & Co. Contracting Inc., which does excavation and grading at construction sites in the Houston area.

Theres always a market for dirt, he said. The thing about dirt work for those of us who do it for a living: Its either Ive got too much dirt, what do I do with it? or I need dirt and cant get enough.

The level of interest in the dirt in Barker and Addicks depends on what kind it is. Some types of soil are used for the base level of commercial buildings, Falgere explained. Others are ideal for freeway embankments. Still other types of soil may be useless. A geotechnical engineer would have to test the reservoir dirt to determine its best use.

Christopher Sallese, former commander of the Army Corps Galveston District, which oversees Addicks and Barker, said the excavation project has the potential to be a bargain for both the government and private construction interests.

If youre a developer and you need a couple million yards of material to improve a site, then you could potentially take advantage of this material thats there and the government gets the material removed, Sallese said.

In an interview with the Chronicle last year, Edmond J. Russo Jr., deputy district engineer in the Galveston District, said crude estimates indicated that excavation could double the capacity of Addicks and Barker.

If we could increase the storage by double, that would be a huge improvement, Russo said. Part of the idea would be, How do we couple that excavation scheme with the needs of the regional Houston development needs in terms of construction fill? Could we offer those materials for a beneficial use, and also get storage capacity increase at the same time?

EDITORIAL: Never forget how Harvey tested Addicks and Barker

When it built Addicks and Barker dams in the 1940s, the government acquired 25,000 acres of woods and wetland, an area nearly twice the size of Manhattan, to serve as reservoirs.

That was enough to contain a 100-year flood within Addicks reservoir and a 70-year flood within Barker. But the dams are capable of holding back an even larger volume of water; engineers call it the maximum pool.

The area between the government-owned reservoirs and the maximum pool is called the fringe. The danger of flooding in the fringe during an extreme storm escaped wide public notice, and over the years thousands of homes and businesses sprung up there.

Since the early 1990s, the Army Corps and local agencies have studied ways of protecting those areas. A 1995 Corps analysis said that deepening Barker Reservoir enough to contain a 100-year flood would require removing more than 11 million cubic yards of dirt. Excavating even a very small area would cost $11 million, the report said.

The Corps concluded that the expense outweighed the projected benefits and pronounced the proposal nonviable ... from the standpoint of economics.

That was in 1995. Things look different today.

Harvey inflicted severe damage on neighborhoods in the reservoirs fringe, and many are still reeling.

Gail Bullock, 77, said his home of 14 years in the Bear Creek Village subdivision had never flooded until Harvey, when reservoir water backed up into his home, ruining the walls, appliances, furniture and clothes. The damage totaled more than $100,000, Bullock said.

The walls are back now. But Bullock is still waiting on new doors and trim.

Bullock said he has heard public officials call for excavating the reservoirs for at least a decade, including after 2016s Tax Day floods, when water filled the streets of Bear Creek Village.

They have been talking about dredging out and making it bigger for years, Bullock said. Show me. Do it, then tell me, because I do not believe them.

A block away, Ryan Robinson, 38, still hasnt regained his footing since Harvey, when he and his family were rescued by boat by volunteers known as the Cajun Navy. In the month that followed, Robinson lost his job as an HVAC technician. After repairing his home, he is broke, he said.

Government engineers should figure out how to prevent the reservoirs from overflowing again, whether through excavation or other measures, he said.

Thats their job, Robinson said. Do your job. Dont let it happen again.

He pointed up and down his street, where piles of sheet rock and rubble sat outside at least a dozen homes. This isnt right, he said.Many Republicans across the country were relieved by the results of this years Texas primary, which was held on March 6.

The GOP already had plenty of reasons to be worried about the 2018 midterm elections. And since then, the partys prospects have only become more bleak.

Crazy day in D.C. apparently, I said the other day, while chatting with my dad via text.

Are you referring to the subpoena? he said.

I hadnt even heard about a subpoena. I figured it must have had something to do with Stormy Daniels. The following day, a colleague explained that the subpoena in question came from the special counsel, Robert Mueller, and we ended up briefly puzzling over whether its possible, hypothetically speaking, to accidentally commit treason. After that I checked my phone, and found a text from a Republican source.

So Im trying to find a way in which I dont think the Russians have tapes on Trump, he said.

Read more: Texans are in the mood to vote without meddling from anyone

Perhaps they do, and perhaps Americans will see them one day, if the Kremlin is willing to let us borrow its VCR. For my own part, though, Ill probably continue to ignore the Russians. Thats a luxury I enjoy, because I was born in the country that won the Cold War, and theres a lot going on here in America, too.

On Tuesday, for example, a Democrat won a special election in a Pennsylvania congressional district that Trump carried by 20 points. That was, apparently, a wake-up call for many political observers on both sides of the aisle. But in light of the circumstances, it really shouldnt have been.

Similarly, if youre among the Republicans who was relieved by the results of the Texas primary, Im afraid I have some bad news for you: The partys hold on power in this state is no longer secure.

I realize the primary left many people with the opposite impression, even here in Texas, because 1.5 million voters opted to vote in this years Republican primary, whereas only 1 million weighed in on the Democrats.

Read more: Vote your conscience - in the primary of your choosing

But lets remember that Democrats havent won a statewide office in Texas since 1994, and havent even come close to doing so since 1998. Thats significant, in this context, because a majority of people living in Texas today were, like me, not old enough to vote in the 1990s  and Texans who were are sometimes a bit fuzzy on the details when they talk about what those days were like.

For example, Ive heard people say that Democrats had a strong statewide slate in 2002, and they definitely had some solid candidates.

But the Democratic Senate candidate, Ron Kirk, came up short; John Cornyn won the general election with 55 percent of the vote, to Kirks 43 percent. The partys gubernatorial nominee, Tony Sanchez, fared even worse: Rick Perry, who had become governor after George W. Bush was elected president, beat him by 18 points.

By the time Perry decided to step down, in 2014, the Texas electorate had become complacent. And in 2016, most of the voters I talked to were convinced of our collective irrelevance in that years presidential election. Since Trump won the election, things have changed. We are, as a nation, in uncharted political terrain.

Meanwhile, the majority of Texans have literally never had a chance to participate in a competitive statewide general election, or the open primary that precedes such an election in Texas. We are, collectively, inexperienced. Most of us are understandably confused about which Congressional district we actually live in.

Despite all of these challenges, 2.5 million Texans voted in this years primary. In 2014, just 1.9 million of us managed to pull off that feat.

Read more: Could Texas turn blue in 2018? Stranger things have happened

The explanation for the change is that the Texas Democratic Party had a serious growth spurt. The number of ballots cast on their side of the aisle nearly doubled, compared to 2014. Many of them were cast by Texans who have no history of voting in either partys primary, prior to this, and all of them were cast by voters who could have chosen to weigh in on their options on the other side of the aisle.

Republicans also saw an increase in turnout, but it was a much smaller one, and subject to interpretation. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick won the primary, but roughly a quarter of the voters who weighed in opted for his challenger, Scott Milder. And nearly a third voted no on a ballot proposition that asked whether abortion should be abolished in Texas.

Theres no way of telling how many of Milders voters were fed-up Republicans, and how many were mischievous Democrats, or teachers who were spurred to vote by the right-wing activists who recently launched a crusade against public education and the educrats who support it. But theyre all free to vote for the Democratic nominee, Mike Collier, in November. Milder is encouraging them to do so, and some of them will.

And the leaders of the Republican Party of Texas are nervous about what might happen in November, even if they refuse to admit it. They should be, too. The results of this years primary made it clear that the partys hold on power is no longer secure.

Its possible that this years Republican nominees can get away with coasting to victory, once again. But itd be risky for any of them to assume that their victory is assured. And, Texas Republicans, thats bad news for the party  but its good news for the people of Texas, including you.Cameron Conkle awoke Saturday morning momentarily unsure if his 1,300-pound Charolais steer Loki had actually won the Grand Championship at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo junior market or he'd only dreamed it.

The sight of the big trophy near the 17-year-old's bed quickly brought the real-life victory into focus.

Hours later Saturday, Loki fetched $410,00 at the junior market auction. Conkle will pocket at least $75,000 of the money.

"I didn't expect him to go for that much," said Conkle, a high school junior in Allen, a suburb north of Dallas, who hopes to raise and breed Angus show cattle for a living. "That was a pleasant surprise."

Conkle was "pretty choked up" Friday night  "there were no words to say"  for Loki to be selected above 2,387 other steer, but by Saturday he was enjoying the moment, posing for photos and hobnobbing with well-wishers. He said he's a little sad to part ways with Loki, but "knew that was the game when I got into this."

Jett Hale was having a tougher time of it Saturday. While the 10-year-old boy from the Panhandle town of Miami kept his emotions in check, his parents shared that he was pretty distraught to say goodbye to Pickles, his 1,288-pound Black Cross who took second place Friday night.

"Pickles definitely liked Jett best, more than his mom and me," said Bradley Hale, his dad. "They were pretty attached."

On the stage after the auction, Jett said he wants to go to Texas Tech University because his parents met there. He said he wants to get an animal science degree and judge livestock.

Pickles sold for $366,000  Jett's prize money is at least $35,000  a new record for a reserve champion, to the Champagne Cowgirls, a group of 20 Houston-area women that formed 10 years ago. The group also bid frequently on Loki before losing out to a group of four couples.

Alan Kent, a four-time buyer and an auction committee volunteer, had hinted to Conkle Friday night this might not be their last meeting. On Saturday, he congratulated Conkle and said, "I told you I might see you again." His wife, Julie, had predicted Loki would win Friday.

The other members of that group are Emily and Robert Clay, Becky and Kelly Joy and Debby and Jeff Young.

Conkle, who plans to attend Texas A&M and study agribusiness, acquired Loki about a year, when he was a 400-pound calf. He said he spent more than eight hours a day with him, before and after school  washing and brushing him, making sure he's cool enough and eating right, practicing showing him. He said Loki eats about 40 pounds of food a day.

Loki's $410,000 sale price was the seventh highest in the history of the 86-year-old event. The highest was $600,001 in 2002.

The money raised at the auctions not awarded to competition winners goes to fund college scholarships and other educational endeavors.

Conkle won't be taking too long enjoying the moment. He said he was looking forward to a party being thrown Saturday night by his sponsoring agricultural chapter, a good night's sleep and getting back to work Sunday morning. "I want to get working with the five new babies I plan to exhibit at next year's rodeo," he said.

todd.ackerman@chron.com

twitter.com/chronmedWASHINGTON  When Hurricane Harvey made landfall near Rockport, Tex., the night of Aug. 25 as a Category-4 storm, it exposed not only weaknesses in the region's flood defenses, but also miles of bureaucratic red tape.

That is chief among the "lessons learned" delivered to Congress Thursday by procession of state and federal officials called to testify before the House Homeland Security Committee, which is examining the response to Harvey and a succession of natural disasters in the fateful summer of 2017.

The review, which will include a field hearing in Cypress on April 9, comes as Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas congressional delegation have been battling to speed federal funding for the response and recovery, which already has cost the state more than $2.7 billion.

About $1 billion of that comes from the property tax loss to Texas school districts owing to property value declines, according to Reed Clay, the Abbott administration's chief operating officer.

Although Congress appropriated more than $100 billion towards hurricane relief, state officials say that so far only $13.3 billion has been provided directly to Texas. Meanwhile, the estimated economic impact from Harvey stands at $125 billion.

In all, Harvey's record rainfall prompted more than 35,000 rescues, cut power to 300,000 households, sent 42,000 people fleeing to shelters, and displaced nearly 1.4 million Texans. The death toll estimate of at least 68 people made it the deadliest hurricane to hit Texas in nearly 100 years.

But while the storm took its toll on the Gulf region, the area has largely passed into the recovery phase, a transition that so far has eluded storm ravaged Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, where cooperation between the federal government and local officials was not nearly as seamless.

In the telling of some of those islands' leaders and their allies in Congress, politics also played a role.

"The response to those storms by the Trump administration was a study in contrasts," said Rep. Bennie Thompson, the ranking Democrat on the committee, which is headed by Houston-area Republican Michael McCaul.

So far, the official verdict among many emergency management experts has been that federal and state officials  at least in Texas  prepared well and worked cooperatively in the rebuilding effort. In testimony before the committee, Clay termed it "a model going forward for the nation."

But Clay's report also cataloged a litany of bureaucratic hurdles, from RV restrictions in Houston to duplicative housing inspections run out of a labyrinth of state and federal agencies. In the end, he said a tangle of inconsistent regulations added costs and slowed down the response by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the government's central clearinghouse for disaster relief.

"The first lesson is that disaster recovery could be substantially improved by drastically cutting regulations and red tape at all levels of government," Clay said. "When it comes to disaster response, we must be outcome focused, not process oriented."

Many of Clay's criticisms echo the deregulatory fervor of the Trump administration, which had been in place barely eight months before Harvey. The same line also has been taken by Abbott, who used special emergency powers to waive hundreds of state regulations in the wake of Harvey.

In his own review, FEMA Administrator Brock Long acknowledged a need to "reduce the complexity" of his agency, which most observers believe has made great strides since the famously inept response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

"In some cases, the disaster survivor may get up to as many as 15 knocks on the door, from FEMA to other government agencies, from state governments to non-governmental organizations," Long said. "It's confusing."

Long said the chain of storms last year, capped by destructive wildfires and mudslides in California, clearly stretched the agency to its limits. But he also expressed pride in FEMA's response, which, he said "worked in concert" with federal, local and non-governmental partners.

"Last year's historic hurricane season was a true test of the nation's ability to respond to and recover from multiple disasters," Long told the panel. He noted that roughly 47 million people  15 percent of the U.S. population  were affected by last year's natural disasters.

"No disaster ever goes according to our plans, so we must adapt to the circumstances as they develop," Long added. "It is not possible to successfully respond to the impact of a major hurricane without errors. But our goal is to ensure that any errors that occur are the result of overestimating need, not underestimating it."

But for Long, one of the takeaways from the 2017 hurricane season is that the problems don't all emanate from Washington.

"FEMA's ability to provide support in disasters builds on, and is subject to, the capacity of state, territorial, tribal and local governments," he said. "If... a state, territorial, tribal or local government is not well resourced, well trained, and well organized  either due to ineffective preparations or due to the significance of the disaster itself  FEMA can help, but the response may not be as quick or effective as we would like it to be."

Much of the current criticism of FEMA has centered on the slow recovery in Puerto Rico, where about 10 percent of the population remains without power, nearly seven months after Hurricane Maria.

"Millions of Puerto Ricans are asking themselves, 'What is taking so long?'" said Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon, a Republican who represents the Commonwealth in Congress.

Thompson traced the difference to Trump, who tweeted warning that FEMA couldn't stay in Puerto Rico "forever"  a contrast to his expressions of support for Texas, where he promised the federal government would stay "every single day after."

Pressed by New Jersey Democrat Bonnie Watson Coleman on whether FEMA failed Puerto Rico, Long was emphatic: "We did not fail."

Long, along with Major Gen. Ed Jackson of the Army Corps of Engineers, noted that the direct hit from Maria wiped out ports, airfields and much of the islands antiquated power grid, making it hard to communicate and move around.

Many of the problems, Long suggested, derived from a lack of emergency readiness on the island. "We're creating a backbone of emergency management that did not exist before the storm," he said. "Not only for the Commonwealth, but the 78 municipalities."

Long added: "I do not control an aging system. I do not control deferred maintenance on a power grid. I have to fix what I've inherited."

While some have suggested that the federal response should have started before Maria struck, Jose Melendez-Ortiz, vice-chairman of the Puerto Rico's committee on federal relations, said that there's plenty of blame to go around.

"Let's be honest," he said. "None of us, either at the state or federal level, were ready to tackle the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria."

His prescription mimicked that of the other officials from Washington and Texas. "Cut the red tape," he said. "Whoever thought that bureaucracy could effectively handle emergencies was sorely mistaken."

McCaul praised FEMA's cooperation with local agencies in Texas, making a pitch for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to use new emergency appropriations to deliver on a long-stalled plan to build a levy system for Cypress Creek, which contributed to flooding in downtown Houston. He termed the project Abbott's "Number One priority."

But as McCaul and other Texas leaders look ahead at ways to mitigate future flooding, some Democrats on his committee voiced concerns about proposed Trump administration cuts totaling $1 billion to FEMA's disaster accounts.

Houston Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee noted that as the review goes on, a new hurricane season is approaching. "This is a wake-up call for us to get prepared as we go into 2018," she said.

###Army veteran Glenford Turner lived for nearly four years with a piece of razor-sharp metal in his abdomen. The object wasnt shrapnel from the battlefield  it was a scalpel he alleges was left inside him during a 2013 surgery at a Connecticut Veterans Affairs hospital.

Turners story, revealed in a federal lawsuit filed in January, is just one of many public humiliations for the VAs scandal-plagued health system. Its also a tragic illustration of what happens when government bureaucrats are charged with administering health care for millions of people.

MARKS: Learn the difference between health care and health

Instead of recognizing the agencys incompetence as a cautionary tale, progressives led by Sen. Bernie Sanders are eager to expand this broken health care model to the entire country, in the form of Medicare for all.

But as Turners saga demonstrates, sweeping all Americans into a single, government-run health care program would be nothing short of a public health disaster.

WESTIN: My oath to 'First, do no harm' compels me to speak up for Medicare-for-all

The VA health system has been a national embarrassment for decades. The agency has a long history of endangering veterans lives by forcing them to wait for necessary treatment. In 2015 alone, more than 200 patients died waiting for care at a VA hospital in Phoenix, according to a recent report from the agencys inspector general.

Such life-threatening treatment delays are common at facilities around the country. In December, a veteran suffering from high blood pressure and headaches languished for hours at a VA emergency room in Memphis. That patient was near death before finally being seen by doctors.

FAUST: Don't let Chase or Amazon control your health care

Even Turner was forced to wait nearly a month to have the scalpel removed from his abdomen after it was discovered by doctors.

Sadly, VA workers are often more eager to cover up these delays than reduce or eliminate them. In a now-infamous 2014 scandal, employees at more than 100 VA facilities were caught falsifying wait time data to hide the extent of the problem.

The massive public outcry that followed was not enough to make the agency change its ways. A recent analysis of dozens of VA hospitals in North Carolina and Virginia found that 36 percent of patients seeking primary and mental health care had to wait longer than a month for an appointment  far more than the 10 percent the VA officially reported.

Patients who endure these prolonged delays are often subject to grotesque medical incompetence once they do get treatment. Last September, employees at the Memphis VA hospital inadvertently lodged a piece of plastic packaging in one veterans artery. The error wasnt discovered until three weeks later  at which point the patients leg had to be amputated.

Unfortunately, such horror stories are exactly what we should expect from single-payer health care systems like the VA, given their track record elsewhere.

The United Kingdoms National Health Service has made long wait times and rationing the norm for British patients. Last month, the NHS canceled roughly 55,000 surgeries because of a shortage of resources during this winters flu season. In recent months, an estimated 100,000 patients waited in ambulances for 30 minutes or more before being let into emergency rooms.

Accident and emergency departments are supposed to see 95 percent of patients within four hours. They havent met that target since 2017. Rather than fix this state of affairs, the NHS announced this month that it would just scrap the target wait times  and revisit the issue in April 2019.

On Feb. 3, thousands of Britons took to the streets in London to protest the crisis facing the NHS. They called for more staff, more beds, more funds  all of which are scarce in any government-run system.

Remarkably, Sanders and his progressive allies believe that government-run health care is exactly what our nation needs. Recently, the Vermont socialist stumped for his Medicare for All proposal during an internet town hall event that drew more than 1 million viewers.

As the VAs litany of failures demonstrates, the federal government is not equipped to run our nations health care system. Single-payer would extract ever-increasing sums from taxpayers to pay for long waits, rationed care and subpar health outcomes.How much do they want? Getty Images

Absurdly Driven looks at the world of business with a skeptical eye and a firmly rooted tongue in cheek.

Flying offers such hope.

The hope of new places, new smells, new experiences.

Sometimes, airlines do things that actually enhance that hope, with service that is quite extraordinary.

In recent times, JetBlue, Virgin America and Virgin Atlantic have all offered me precisely that.

But airlines are currently snorting on the crispy cocaine of nickel-and-diming, price-gouging and generally seeing how uncomfortable passengers can be made before they decide to scream.

Or drive.

Part of airlines' strategy has been to unbundle everything, in order to charge for every little thing you used to think of as standard and normal.

I was moved, therefore, by a lovely story told by consumer advocate Christopher Elliott in the Washington Post.

He describes how Bruce Mainzer was helping his wife, Beth Shadur, find a window seat online for a flight she was taking from Chicago to New York.

The software insisted that she pay an extra $46.

She, not an exalted level of flyer, decided that no, no, she wasn't paying that sort of money.

She'd talk to a kindly representative at the airport and would surely have the situation rectified.

Sadly, the only thing that was rectified was the price.

It was rectified upwards another $30. Yes, Shadur ended up having to pay $76.

This is surely an everyday tale. It is, until you learn that Mainzer used to work for United Airlines.

He was the airline's director of inventory management. One of his roles there was to help design software that is now used to perform the fine management that sucked an extra $76 from his wife's credit card.

Even he, though, sounded astonished at how such software is now being used.

"It shows sophisticated price gouging, and preying on the fears of inexperienced fliers like my wife. I believe that is really taking advantage of people," he told Elliott.

Mainzer was surprised that a system that was once used merely to keep a few seats blocked for the high-falutin' flyers -- of which he's one -- is now being used wholesale to extract the maximum algorithmically possible from every single customer.

This, I fear, is only the beginning.

Recently, I wrote about how airlines are seriously examining software that chooses to charge people not according to where they're flying or even what class of seat they're interested in, but according to who they are.

After all, we're constantly giving away so much of our private selves online. That data is available for sale. Or hacking, of course.

So it's entirely conceivable that an airline will know, the minute you land on its website, the precise reason why you're traveling, how desperate you are, how much you've paid for all your previous flights in the last five years, how great your net worth might be, and, who knows, whom you email about your more intimate affairs.

This isn't, for one moment, to carp at American. Well, not just at American.

Mainzer's tale could have involved so many airlines.

Look at United, for example. It's just started charging a minimum of $9 for overhead bin space.

When the impulse to maximize profit at all costs meets technology that is ever more intrusive, the results will inevitably be ugly.

When it comes to seating choices, airlines realize that window and aisle seats are valued far more greatly than the dreaded middle.

So they often block them all off, ready to maximize the price you'll have to pay, even if you ask nicely.

One result, of course, is that families may be separated -- a charge frequently leveled at Irish budget airline Ryanair.

A bigger result, though, will soon be that you'll turn to the person sitting next to you and politely inquire: "How much did you pay for your seat?"

"80 bucks," they'll say.

"Damn. I paid 120," you'll reply.The names Bang, Claes Bang. Hes the 50-year-old Dane who came out of nowhere to become everyones new favourite actor at Cannes. The star of Palme dOr winner The Square had everyone gushing over his boyish good looks and acting prowess while social media went into overdrive with many of his newfound fans calling on him to be made the next Bond.

Hollywood also took note. While Bond may be an ambition too far, mostly because Daniel Craig seems like hes never going to leave office, Bang has managed to follow in Craigs footsteps in one respect as he has landed the explosive villain role in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo sequel  The Girl in the Spiders Web. Sadly we wont get to see him in a face-off with Craig, who along with Rooney Mara has left the series. Instead it will be The Crown star Claire Foy sporting the body art.

When I meet with Bang in a London members club he seems shocked by his mid-career success. Ive been an actor for 30 years, he says. I started off in a high school musical. And now hes bemused that people are watching The Square in as far-flung places as China.

As a young actor he thought he was destined to be a star when he was admitted to the National Danish Theatre School, one of only eight students accepted each year, who all benefit from a wage. He graduated in 1996 and since then has largely worked in his homeland. He has small roles in all the hit Scandi noir series such as Borgen and The Bridge, but nothing to make you sit up and notice.

Bang stars with Elisabeth Moss in The Square. She brought such a great quality to her role, Bang says (Lis Kasper Bang)

Then came the call from Ruben Ostlund, the director who had a worldwide hit with Force Majeure and specialises in stories that question the cosy complacency of white male Scandinavians. In The Square he takes on white privilege by satirising the art world and deconstructing power relationships, especially along race and gender lines.

Bang plays an art curator at a Swedish museum who decides to put on an exhibition that will showcase the equality of humans by providing a space where all men and women are equal irrespective of backgrounds, but the facade of his white liberalism is highlighted when he has his smart phone stolen and he makes blind accusations about who is responsible. This comes back to bite him when an immigrant boy highlights the unintended consequences of his accusations. It turns out that his utopian social experiment has a glass ceiling.

In 2014 Ostlund and the films producer, Kalle Boman, actually created the exhibit The Square at the Vandalorum Museum in Varnamo, Sweden. It was a social experiment that Bang heard about only later when he was called in to audition for the role of Christian.

I got an email with what they wanted me to do at the casting and also information about the work of art that was out there, he says. At the casting they asked me to prepare a speech about the exhibition that you see in the film, and there is a lot from the casting that makes it into the speech in the film.

The Square questions the value of the art world, or at least those of the people in it (Lis Kasper Bang)

Bangs infatuation with the moral questions thrown up in the film are etched across his face as he discusses the exhibition and the impact of the film: At least in the Western world, where we are living, these common values of trust and care, what do they mean? Do they still have a meaning? There are a lot of people who want to live where we live because they are scared s***less where they are living and they are coming to the West and how do we deal with this.

Access unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows with Amazon Prime Video Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up

Im Danish and I cant say that my country did anything good for refugees, but Ruben is Swedish and they took on their responsibility as a country. To do that art exhibition at this point of time, I think thats absolutely interesting. The way we go about our lives, do we really think what trust and care actually means?

For all the seriousness of that statement, whats amazing about The Square is that the film is a riotous comedy. Ostlund is laughing at white privilege. But Bang says he couldnt think about that when playing the role, Its about that for sure, but when Im acting Im not thinking about the greater themes, Im just thinking about the character in the given moment. You have to trust that when you put the situations together one after another that it will say something about white privilege but shooting the scene I just have to think about the fact that I have had my wallet stolen and I just want it back.

The film centres around an art installation, inspired in part by director Ruben Ostlund and producer Kalle Bomans own exhibit at the Vandalorum Museum in Varnamo, Sweden (Lis Kasper Bang)

Its such a brilliant performance and, although Bang didnt model it on anyone in particular, he does admit to looking at the fashion sense of Daniel Birnbaum, the director of the Moderna Museet, the museum of modern art in Stockholm and reading and learning an interview with art curators to understand their way of thinking.

There is an issue in the film, are you going to lose your funding if you do something weird? He says. I found out that in Denmark that youre not that dependent on private money as you are in Sweden. There is an obligation to display art that people will want to fund because you have a responsibility to a lot of people.

Bang admits that he had his own qualms about a film that questions the value of the art world, or at least the people in it. I was a little bit scared when we started because I love museums and Im an artist for Gods sake, and I just had this thought that we shouldnt s*** where we eat and its easy fun to make fun of it and mock it. To say the art world is bulls*** is not something I would do  I think there is so much cool stuff out there, and this film is a work of art, somehow.

He stars with Mad Mens Elisabeth Moss, who plays a journalist with whom Christian has an affair with after meeting at a museum party. Bang says that the relationship, which contains the most amazing condom scene committed to film (but no spoilers here) is also a blur of fact and fiction.

I think this is loosely based on something that has happened in Sweden, somehow. Im not really sure who, but there has been a story of a journalist stalking a museum director and the thing with the condom is something that a close friend of Rubens has done. So its like Ruben is picking off all these things from his own life so you have no clue who you are portraying in this scene but its obviously someone that he knows.

He says of Moss: When I was cast, Elisabeth was not on board yet, because I was not sure if Ruben had decided which language the film was going to be in at first. My character was called Fabrice when I came on board and I think Ruben thought of having a French actor for my part. When Elisabeth came on, she brought such a great quality to the role and I think thats when I knew it would be in English.

Hes finally ready for his own superstardom. When The Square put him on everyones most wanted list, Bang fulfilled a commitment to appear in an adaptation of Martin Crimps play The City in Denmark despite being urged to make an American studio film instead.

I love to work anywhere, but because there is so much attention after The Square my three agents wanted me to quit the play when I did it. I refused as I thought it was an interesting and brilliant play, and I didnt just want to run straight off to Hollywood. I dont give a s*** where the work is, just as long as its interesting.

However, Bang is no fool, and when the bigger prizes came with the carrot of starring roles, he has taken them, starting with the plum villain role in Girl in the Spiders Web. He says about the villain role: Hes not your psychopath baddie, hes a fixer. This is an opportunity for me, because I have never been better than I am in The Square. Im proud of it, so lets get all the attention that I can.

The Square is out nowWhen a massive earthquake struck in 2011, Japanese oyster fisherman Atsushi Fujita was working as usual by the sea. Soon after, a huge black wave slammed into his city and killed nearly 2,000 people.

Seven years on, Fujita and thousands like him along Japans north-east coast have rebuilt their lives alongside huge sea walls that experts say will protect them if another giant tsunami, which some see as inevitable in a seismically active nation like Japan, was to strike.

The 12.5-metre concrete wall replaced a four-metre breakwater that was swamped in the 11 March 2011 disaster. The earthquake and tsunami, which reached as high as 30 metres in some areas, killed nearly 18,000 people across Japan and triggered a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima power plant.

It feels like were in jail, even though we havent done anything bad, the 52-year-old says.

Since the disaster, some towns have forbidden construction in flat areas nearest the coast and have relocated residents to higher land. Others, such as Rikuzentakata, have raised the level of their land by several metres before constructing new buildings.

Atsushi Fujita sails his boat as he leaves a dock where sea walls are installed, at Hirota Bay in Rikuzentakata (Reuters)

A common thread, though, is the construction of sea walls to replace breakwaters that were overwhelmed by the tsunami. Some 395km (245 miles) of walls have been built at a cost of 1.35 trillion yen (9.1bn).

The sea walls will halt tsunamis and prevent them from inundating the land, says Hiroyasu Kawai, researcher at the Port and Airport Research Institute in Yokosuka, near Tokyo.

Even if the tsunami is bigger than the wall, the wall will delay flooding and guarantee more time for evacuation.

Many residents initially welcomed the idea of the walls but have become more critical over time. Some say they were not consulted enough in the planning stages or that money spent on the walls has meant that rebuilding elsewhere, such as housing, has fallen behind.

Others worry the walls will damage tourism.

About 50 years ago, we came up here with the kids and enjoyed drives along the beautiful ocean and bays, says Reiko Iijima, a tourist from central Japan, whos eating at an oyster restaurant across from the sea wall.

Now, theres not even a trace of that.

Life inside Japans sea walls after the 2011 tsunami Show all 15 1 /15 Life inside Japans sea walls after the 2011 tsunami Life inside Japans sea walls after the 2011 tsunami The Aketo sea wall, damaged in the 2011 tsunami, in Tanohata village Reuters Life inside Japans sea walls after the 2011 tsunami Vending machines in front of a sea wall at Hirota Bay in Rikuzentakata Reuters Life inside Japans sea walls after the 2011 tsunami Miracle Pine, a tree which symbolises hope and recovery after it survived the tsunami Reuters Life inside Japans sea walls after the 2011 tsunami A sign notifying a tsunami evacuation area in front of a sea wall in Tanohata village Reuters Life inside Japans sea walls after the 2011 tsunami A sea wall under construction is surrounded by scaffolding in Tanohata Reuters Life inside Japans sea walls after the 2011 tsunami The sun rises over a sea wall at Kesennuma beach Reuters Life inside Japans sea walls after the 2011 tsunami A bus drives past a sea wall in Yamada village Photography by Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon Life inside Japans sea walls after the 2011 tsunami The damaged Aketo sea wall, viewed from Tanohatas newly built one Reuters Life inside Japans sea walls after the 2011 tsunami Residential houses and commercial buildings behind a sea wall at Miyako port Reuters Life inside Japans sea walls after the 2011 tsunami A woman walks on a road close to the wall in Ofunato Reuters Life inside Japans sea walls after the 2011 tsunami A high wave hits a wall in Tanohata Reuters Life inside Japans sea walls after the 2011 tsunami Yamada villages protective sea wall at night Reuters Life inside Japans sea walls after the 2011 tsunami A man looks through one of Kesennuma walls windows Reuters Life inside Japans sea walls after the 2011 tsunami Large bags contain construction materials for reinforcing a wall in Tanohata village Reuters Life inside Japans sea walls after the 2011 tsunami An oyster farm behind a sea wall at Hirota Bay in Rikuzentakata Reuters

Part of a wall in the city of Kesennuma, further south, has windows in it  but these too draw complaints.

Theyre a parody, says Yuichiro Ito, who lost his home and younger brother in the tsunami. Its just to keep us happy with something we never wanted in the first place.

Fisherman Fujita said that while the tsunami had improved oyster farming in the area by stirring up sea floors and removing accumulated sludge, the sea walls could block natural water flows from the land and impact future production.

Many municipalities said the giant walls had to be in place before permission could be granted for reconstruction elsewhere.

I cant say things like the wall should be lower or we dont need it, says Katsuhiro Hatakeyama, who has rebuilt his bed and breakfast business in the same location as before.

Its thanks to the wall that I could rebuild, and now have a job.

But many find the wall hard to adjust to.

Everyone here has lived with the sea, through generations, says Sotaro Usui, head of a tuna supply company. The wall keeps us apart  and thats unbearable.York has officially been named the best place to live in the UK, according to The Sunday Times annual list.

Praised for its metropolitan culture and rich architectural history, the 105 sq mile city was also lauded for its thriving tech scene, boasting the fastest internet speeds in Britain.

Jobs, green spaces, transport links, schools and community spirit all factor into the newspapers decision-making process for the list, which is supported by statistical data and compiled by an expert panel.

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Choosing the right location to put down roots is one of the most important decisions you'll ever make," said Helen Davies, editor of The Sunday Times Home section.

"Which is why we're here to help - and what 'Best Places to Live in Britain' is all about.

"We're championing York this year in honour of its bold approach to bringing the historic city into the 21st century without losing any character or community spirit."

In addition to its trendy food scene - which boasts a mix of fine-dining European restaurants and quirky Polish brunch spots - York also happens to be Britains first gigabit city with the fastest broadband speeds in the UK, making it one of the nations most well-connected hubs.

It's also home to some of the nation's leading financial firms and gaming companies and will see a community office space named Spark:York open later this year.

Londons best place to live was awarded to Bermondsey for its artisanal culinary offerings, while Frome took the accolade for the southwest thanks to its independent spirit and excellent transport links.

Meanwhile, Berkhamsted was praised for its eco-friendly attributes and Tynemouth was named regional winner in the north of England due to its seaside charm.Getting hired seemed like the tough part.

Then Maho Nishioka showed up for her new job at a Japanese construction site. The workers she supervised refused to talk to her and ignored her instructions. Once, an angry client stopped her from inspecting a concrete bridge, disregarding the fact that she was the only engineer on site qualified for the job.

He yelled at me and asked why a woman was doing the work, Nishioka says. I was mortified.

Even in a country where female workers are chronically underemployed and underpaid, the construction industry has long stood out as among the unfriendliest to women. But two decades after Nishioka started that first job, a declining birthrate and Japans reluctance to open up to immigrants have left the construction industry  and the economy as a whole  with its deepest labour shortage in years.

Women make up just 3 per cent of the Japanese construction industrys workforce (Reuters)

Both the industry and the government see women as a possible solution. Through a public push and a marketing campaign, together they are trying to double the number of women in construction, perhaps the ultimate challenge in the countrys broader effort to involve more women in the economy.

So far the government has fallen short. Female participation in the workforce has improved only slightly. Structural issues such as long hours and relatively low wages remain major barriers.

Then theres the governments effort itself, which many women in the industry describe as ham-handed at best.

As part of the campaign, Japan created a pastel-coloured website in an effort to get young women interested in various types of positions in the industry. To promote female welders, for example, the site links to a cartoon that shows a woman wearing a pink, heart-patterned uniform and holding a pink, heart-shaped welding mask.

The industry is also providing female workers with portable toilets and dressing rooms  but to the frustration of many, the toilets are sometimes pink and adorned with floral patterns.

I always think its clearly an idea thought up by men, says Nishioka, 46, who now runs the diversity promotion office in the human resources department of the Shimizu Corp, one of Japans biggest construction companies. I think the government should simply pursue things that would make it easier for both women and men to work.

An online cartoon that is part of the governments effort to recruit women for construction jobs

Hiroki Watanabe, one of the officials at the Japan construction ministry who is in charge of increasing female participation in the industry, said the overall direction of Japans public outreach had not missed the mark. Its other efforts include awarding public-works projects to selected companies that employ women, hiring consultants to hold seminars for construction executives and taking surveys of female workers.

We will continue to do more to improve working conditions for workers and make it easier for women to enter the industry, he said.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has sought to bolster women in the workplace through an effort called Womenomics, which encourages companies to promote diversity and promote female managers.

More women than ever are joining Japans workforce, which now has a higher female labour-force participation rate than the United States. In Japan, more than three-quarters of working-age women are in the workforce. But construction industry efforts show how difficult it will be to integrate women more broadly into the economy.

Four years into the push to double the number of female construction engineers and skilled labourers to 200,000 by 2019, the total number of women in the industry has risen by less than one-seventh. They make up only about 3 per cent of the industrys workforce.

Attitudes remain difficult to change.

Japans construction industry still rejects the idea of women actually working on the ground, says Junko Komorita, chief executive of Zmken, a small contractor in south-west Japan.

There are still plenty of men who dont want to take orders from women, Komorita says. Recently, one of her female employees was mocked by workers she supervised as being hysterical when she demanded that a certain project be completed in time.

Wages also remain a problem. Despite the labour shortage, construction workers earn on average 25 per cent less than their peers in other industries. And women in construction earn 30 per cent less on average than their male counterparts, according to a 2016 government report.

Long hours and physical labour make it hard to retain all staff  but many women feel they are also ignored in the workplace (CNN)

With these wages, you can earn the same or even a bit more money at supermarkets or factories, says Hirotake Kanisawa, a professor in the department of architecture at Shibaura Institute of Technology, and compared to those kinds of jobs, construction is much harder.

Most construction labourers are hired by smaller firms that are at the bottom rung of projects, where employers sometimes steal wages to cover their other costs, Kanisawa says.

But one of the biggest challenges remains the hours the job requires. Work is irregular and often involves weekends.

You can make the work seem glamorous, but many women end up quitting when they see it for what it is, says Natsuko Fukuyoshi, a 32-year-old plasterer in Tokyo. The hours and the physical nature of the job make it tough to keep both men and women, she says, noting that many young recruits in her company quit during their four-year apprenticeship.

Fukuyoshi began working in construction after finishing high school. She leaves her two young children at 5.30am and heads to a different project site every day. She rarely knows in advance how late she will need to stay at work.

A woman works at the New National Stadium, the main arena of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics (Reuters)

Larger companies like Shimizu provide subsidised childcare, shorter work hours and parental leave. Another general contractor, the Takenaka Corp, built a childrens waiting room next to one of its big construction sites.

Our staff bring their children here on Saturdays when they have to come in to work, says Miku Shimoda, a construction manager for Takenaka. Some of the male workers have begun using it, too.

Shimoda, 27, is a member of her companys Kensetsu Komachi initiative, an industry term translating to construction belles. The initiative, which was conceived by an industry group, encourages small teams of female engineers and employees at individual construction sites to push for improved working conditions for women there.

But even after such improvements, motherhood can often sideline a womans career. Rising to senior supervisory roles at big projects often requires long hours and domestic transfers.

Yuho Nakamura, a 25-year-old structural work supervisor for Shimizu, sometimes spends weeks working until midnight during busy months. She and her fiance, who works at another construction company, spend at least one day of their weekend at their sites.

Theres definitely this image of construction being a macho industry, says Nakamura, who was hired by Shimizu three years ago, but I heard that more women were joining, and I always dreamed to be one of them.

She said she hoped someday to oversee an entire building site as a lead supervisor. For now, of the roughly 300 workers at the busy construction site in Tokyo where she works, she is frequently the only woman.

Nishioka, the Shimizu diversity promotion executive, once had a similar hope.

I used to dream about going back to the field, she says. But now, I leave it up to the younger generation.

 New York TimesWhen British colonial rulers hastily left South Asia during Pakistans painful birth in 1947, the ensuing chaos and violence meant little attention was paid to the architecture they built or influenced in Pakistans biggest city, Karachi.

More than 70 years later, architectural gems have been torn down and many are either crumbling or under threat from real estate developers in Pakistans commercial capital, which is mushrooming into a mega-city.

The structures, weathered by the salty air, open the door to Karachis colonial scars, say researchers, pointing out that many of the original owners were among millions of Muslim and Hindu refugees who fled their homes amid communal and religious violence that accompanied the end of British rule in India in 1947 and the creation of Pakistan.

A staircase for an emergency exit is seen on a building built in the British colonial period (Reuters)

Every brick of the heritage building narrates a story of those who left in 1947, said Akthar Baloch, a researcher who has written several books on Karachis heritage. They built them with love and affection.

When people like me feel bad looking at the neglect of these heritage sites, one wonders how the families of the owners must feel if they ever visit Karachi.

Karachis population has skyrocketed to nearly 17 million people in 2017, from an estimated 400,000 at independence, and every inch of the city has become a valuable commodity for developers building homes or drafting plans to alter the citys skyline with new skyscrapers.

Jehangir Kothari Parade promenade, once an imposing British heritage site, is now obscured by a maze of overpasses and the shadow of Pakistans tallest building.

The promenade is part of a handful of buildings, along with the colonial-era Imperial Customs House, which have been restored to their former grandeur, but such projects are rare when the focus is on tearing down the old and building new.

No relief... many of the old buildings in Karachi are rundown (Reuters)

Rapid urbanisation has ensured large-scale destruction, particularly in the old city areas, where more profitable multi-story residential buildings have sprung up.

But amid the new concrete, remnants of the colonial legacy can still be seen, often recognisable by their state of neglect.

The Saddar neighbourhood of Karachi has perhaps the largest concentration of British architectural history, while in the citys eastern district the old colonial jail has been declared a heritage site by Sindh provinces antiquities department.

Frere Hall now serves as an exhibition space and library (Reuters)

So far more than 1,700 premises have been listed as heritage sites by the antiquities department  and the process continues.

The Sindh Cultural Heritage Preservation Act, introduced in 1994, has helped provide legal protection for structures of historical significance. But courts are also busy with cases of developers trying to circumvent such protection.

ReutersEver suffered from burning your mouth on your ramens steaming hot noodles or a messy soy sauce stain down your white shirt? YO! has a useless gadget to fix that.

The Japanese conveyor belt restaurant is bringing the art of Chindogu, useless inventions, to the UK to offer a helping hand with your dining issues.

Chindogu, the brainchild of 72-year-old Japanese inventor Kenji Kawakami, are gadgets to solve everyday issues that are not usually thought to be worth solving.

Home of the quirky and forward thinking, Japan has created many gadgets over the centuries.

Those who have made the Chindogu Hall of Fame include the Train Nap Cap, to keep commuters from slumping on someones shoulder mid-sleep, and the Baby Mop, to ensure parents floors are sparkling clean as their babies crawl along.

The now much-loved, bestseller selfie stick was even deemed a useless gadget back in 1995 after making it into the book, 101 Useless Japanese Inventions.

The YO! Chindogu menu pairs each gadget with their perfect dish accompaniment to give diners a unique eating experience they never even realised they needed.

Test out the range of YO!s other wacky gadgets when you order from the (Luke Dyson / YO!)

Order YO!s delicious Dumpling Miso Ramen noodles and see how the Noodle Splash Guard stops your luscious locks getting dipped in broth.

Useful or useless: we tested YO!'s "useless" gadgets

Keep your hot Spicy Seafood Udon from burning your lips, the Noodle Cooler gadget will cool down noodles just before they reach your mouth with its electrical fan.

YO!s Kensington and Southbank restaurants, in London, and YO! Newcastle Grainger Street will be serving up unique Japanese gadgets invented by YO! from Monday, 19 March to Sunday, 25 March.

Click here for eBay voucher codesNorthern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley has said she will not impose a framework deal or a timetable to resume negotiations on Stormonts deadlocked parties.

Mrs Bradleys comments to the Press Association come after Taoiseach Leo Varadkar last week called for a re-intensification of the stalled talks after Easter and suggested one way to break the impasse would be for the UK and Irish governments to table their joint view of what an agreement to restore powersharing might look like.

While the Secretary of State said she was considering all options, she insisted her role was to facilitate not impose and said she had to be careful not to do anything that might make the process go backwards.

I cannot tell two grown-up parties in the DUP and Sinn Fein, who are the two parties that need to make an agreement, to reach an accommodation and come to an accommodation to form a devolved government, I cannot impose on them what that accommodation looks like, she said.

They have to do that themselves.

Ms Bradley said she did not agree with the time frame Leo Varadkar announced of after Easter.

No, I dont want to put a timeframe on it, she said.

Putting artificial deadlines, putting barriers in the way, putting things that that stop the parties back together in place is not what were about.

She added: That doesnt mean were sitting on our hands and hoping it all goes right. Absolutely not.

Ms Bradley was in Washington DC and New York for 48 hours to mark St Patricks Day.

She said one of the things she had learned from the conversations she had had in the US was the real desire to help.

She said not having the institutions in Northern Ireland functioning as the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement loomed made it a rather hollow celebration.

Weve reached a point where the two parties dont feel theres a lot to be gained from them continuing to talk to each otherKaren Bradley

Whilst the unique power sharing arrangements that the Good Friday Agreement introduced have been ground-breaking and have delivered peace and prosperity that no one could have imagined in Northern Ireland, not having devolved government at the point of the 20th anniversary is, as Senator George Mitchell, who Ive just seen, said, makes it a rather hollow celebration, she said.

Mrs Bradley said she has spent the past nine weeks trying to get devolved government up and running, since she was appointed to the role.

Weve reached a point where the two parties dont feel theres a lot to be gained from them continuing to talk to each other, the Conservative MP said.

She said the UK government has been looking at what is needed to be done to ensure that things like public finances can keep running and keep functioning without the institutions and also get the parties back around the table.

The ultimate aim was devolved government, she said.

The Secretary of State said there was constant work being done across all levels of government in the UK Government to get the parties back together.

I dont think its right to try to speculate on timeframes, she said.

She described her US trip as an exhausting but very rewarding and productive couple of days and it had given her a real determination to restore devolved government at Stormont.

We need to find a way to get there.

She said she is going to reflect on whether the reinstallation of a US envoy might help the impasse.

Its something Im considering, she said.

I want to reflect on some of the conversations Ive had this week, thoughts on what a representative could do, an economic role maybe, and come to a determination.

But she added: I dont think we should assume that something worked in the past its going to work now.

Weve got to look at the situation we face today.

The Secretary of State will visit Belfast this coming week.The recent Storm Emma and the snows that came before and after are still visible in some corners of the country. They are a reminder of the weather-related difficulties that farmers have faced and continue to face.

Property owners need to consider their positions when it comes to insurance for damage caused by extreme weather and what they should do if they find themselves the unfortunate victim.

If as a result of the storm, a farmer has suffered damage to buildings or any other property, provided the customer has either storm or accidental damage cover in place on that building or item of farming equipment, then the claim will be assessed and deemed valid.

Flooding

Melting or thawing snow and ice can cause additional hazards such as flooding. For those concerned about the location of their property and its proximity to flooding, the first step is to assess whether there is a real risk of flooding in the future.

The Office of Public Works provides access to a database of areas which may be at risk of flooding.

It is worth logging on to floodmaps.ie to assess the likelihood of this issue in the future. If you feel your home or your property may be at risk of flooding, you should contact your home/property insurance broker/provider to find out what your current level of cover is for flooding.

You should check exactly what is covered - for example, if your home is flooded, will your policy pay for alternative accommodation while your home is being repaired?

If you find that your neighbourhood is an area which is liable to flood, consulting your neighbours about a combined prevention effort in the event of flooding could prove useful.

Loss of profits

For those farmers who have had to move stock and effectively stop their farming enterprise as a result of extreme weather, you should consult your farm policy as some policies contain a 'loss of profits' or 'loss of business' provision that will allow you to claim for the suspension of your business for the relevant time.

This may be particularly relevant to dairy farmers who found themselves with full milk tanks and no means of having it collected. You should contact your insurance broker/provider to ascertain whether you have this cover included.

Getting Reinsured

For those living in areas with a high risk of flooding, you will be accustomed to the fact that many insurance companies will not even provide a quotation for this type of insurance cover.

Also, if your property is flooded as a result of a freak incident and would not normally be liable to flooding and you have to make a claim on your policy, you are not likely to be able to obtain insurance when your policy expires.

At present there is very little that people can do about this other than to take precautionary measures when they are carrying out repairs to try to keep the cost of a future flooding to a minimum. This will do little to put minds at ease.

Making a claim

It is essential to keep receipts for all expenditure on the repair works, but also for expenditure associated with the inconvenience.

The loss adjuster/assessor sent out by the insurance company is being paid by the insurance company and will inevitably assess the cost of repair at the lowest possible cost to the insurance company.

As the insured person, if the damage to your property is significant, you may want to consider bringing in your own expert to ensure that you will have accurate figures to put forward to the insurance company.

Most insurance policies will not cover the cost of this independent expert, but if the claim proceeds it may be money well spent in terms of the final claim.

The timing of some repair work is important. Ensure that the property is treated properly to limit damage from mould and damp if this is relevant.

Also, securing the property, including the contents, after the damage is essential to protect the property.

In the case of any claim for compensation, the courts will always examine whether there has been adequate 'mitigation of loss' by the claimant.

What this means for anybody making a claim is that you have to do your best to ensure that the costs which you incur are kept to a minimum.

It is a matter of exercising reason.

You also need to be reasonably quick in tending to the damage.

This article is intended as a general guide only, you should seek professional advice in relation to your individual circumstances.

Theresa Murphy is a barrister based in Ardrahan, Co Galway

FBD advises that farmers should not attempt to fix damage, but use a suitably qualified contractor.

Employ a contractor that has the right safety equipment and experience to work at heights, and ensure they have insurance. Contact your FBD local office and they will check for you.

If a contractor is completing initial temporary emergency repairs on your behalf to prevent further damage, take photographs before and after the repairs, and retain any replaced materials for inspection.

Zurich say that where there has been minor damage to the property (i.e. where it is estimated that the total cost will not exceed 2,500), the farmer may arrange for the damage to be repaired.

If Zurich customers' contractor estimates that the total cost of the repairs will exceed 2,500, farmers should immediately contact them on 1890 208408 for assistance.

In general, for claims above 2,500, Zurich may arrange for a loss adjuster to visit the farm to inspect the damage. It would speed up the settlement of the claim if the farmer had established the repair cost in advance of the loss adjuster's visit.

In the case of urgent repairs, Zurich recommends that in order to mitigate the storm damage and prevent further loss, customers should conduct a risk assessment, photograph the damage before beginning the works and retain the damaged elements for a possible inspection.

Do you have a question for our team of experts? Email farming@independent.ie or by post to: Farming Independent, Independent House, 27-32 Talbot St, Dublin 1?Before too long, the family team behind Kilkenny Rose Veal hope their product will be the go-to choice for discerning diners when it comes to choosing veal.

The brand name that immediately comes to mind and is recognised on menus nationwide and, even, internationally.

Theyre well on the way to getting there. In its short history, Kilkenny Rose Veal has already found itself sitting on the menu of some top restaurants - including the award-winning Campagne in Kilkenny city - and on the meat trays of numerous high-quality butchers.

The brainchild of young Windgap farmer Jack Hahessy Madigan, with the help of his father Bill and uncle Paul, this premium food is successfully battling perceptions of Irish veal, and veal in general.

During his time at Mountbellew Agricultural College, Jack was looking around for something he could concentrate his efforts on upon graduating, something that wouldnt need a landbank, given the familys farm was already largely given over to growing miscanthus.

A small amount of veal was being brought back into Ireland to be sold in Italian restaurants and Michelin-starred restaurants. Having gone from being beef finishers, we were good on feeding and we had plenty of experience and the equipment to feed cattle.

Its a big problem for young people in agriculture, to come home to a family farm and put added-on value on what you have on the existing farm and eke out your own income and life from it. The veal fitted the bill.

In early 2015 - over a year before Jacks graduation in 2016 - they started buying about 10 calves a month for veal purposes. We had no real plan at the end to sell them, only that we would buy 10 a month and rear them and see how we would get along.

By the end of the first rearing cycle, they were happy with how the calves turned out. When we went looking, we saw there was no-one really buying veal so we said to hell with it, we would have to try and sell it ourselves.

They bought the young Holstein Friesian calves from Hennessys in Urlingford, who advised them to contact Tynans about killing and processing the finished animals, and the early feedback from restaurants and butchers regarding the finished product was positive.

In Campagne, Gareth [Byrne] bought a piece of veal from us and liked it so much, he came back and bought a whole side. It kind of grew from there.

In Windgap, Jacks father Bill grows miscanthus on the 160-acre farm and uncle Paul has a beef enterprise but they all help out with whatever needs to be done, depending on the demands of such a varied operation. His mother, Catherine, is a teacher and she and his two younger sisters tend to leave them to it, although girlfriend Annette is good to help, says a diplomatic Jack.

They now supply on a wholesale basis, through Larousse Foods, which can be more convenient for buyers who would be purchasing other meats from the same people.

One of the challenges encountered by Jack and the family is trying to predict how many calves they will be able to sell on at the end of a given period. Its not really a seasonal meat, so there are no on and off periods as such.

Your customers dont want it to be seasonal. If a chef is putting it on the menu, he wants to know its going to be there. Its a problem because nearly all the bull calves are born in the first few months of the year, that means theyre nearly all ready around Christmas time. So theres no problem for us at this time of year but later in the year, the calves arent as good.

Another issue with veal is its perception as a cruel food. A misperception, Jack says.

The reality is that the calf is about eight and a half months old so its older than lamb or chicken. Theyre young bulls, if you dont buy Kilkenny Rose Veal thats a calf thats going for export. It makes a lot more sense for the consumer to just buy Kilkenny Rose Veal, because its an Irish calf that stayed in Ireland and was produced on the family farm. Its a very short supply chain compared to calves going to export, sold to Holland and then coming back here as veal.

A big advantage to the veal trade is its scaleability, according to the young farmer.

Even in dairy production, youre restricted by grass. With the veal, theres nothing really to stop you only your ability to sell the stuff. Its really trying to grow it into an agri-business rather than a farm and promote the name Kilkenny Rose Veal. I dont see why we couldnt build it to be like a Clonakilty Black Pudding and that it would be the name people look for when they look for veal.

At the moment they have about 140 animals to hand. Going into retail using their in-development website along with the export market are next on the to-do list and Jack hopes to grow to a point where they are producing and selling an average of one veal bull a day, 365 days a year.

Thats the aim. Were not trying to work backwards from a price, were trying to put everything we can into doing the best for each calf. Were definitely trying to do it right.Sister Stan was last week's guest on the riveting Lenten slot 'What's It All About?' on Ivan Yates' drivetime radio show on Newstalk.

The most striking aspect of the interview, conducted by Kieran Cuddihy, was her honesty.

Born Treasa Kennedy in 1939, her parents were small farmers in Lispole, Co Kerry. From a young age, she was aware of differences between those who "had" something, like shopkeepers and farmers, and others who didn't, like farm labourers.

She wanted to help the poor, especially children, so joined the Sisters of Charity.

At the time, social work as is now recognised didn't exist. If doing it over again today, Sr Stan said she probably would not have become a nun, more likely a lay missionary.

She also admitted that she has many questions about the Church and that this questioning gets amplified as she gets older.

It was heartening to hear that hers is not an unquestioning faith.

Not so long ago, a prominent member of religious life would have been unlikely to acknowledge such lack of certainty but, in a world increasingly characterised by widespread uncertainty, that admission resonates.

Sr Stan believes the most worrying aspect is the declining level of participation by lay people in the Catholic Church - the distance between the Church and its members.

A week earlier, I attended the most beautiful funeral service I have ever been to - it was for a Kilkenny man named Padraic Kirwan.

Born in 1926, Padraic contracted TB in his leg as a young man, which necessitated nine operations. While these were ongoing, he made a vow to God that, if he got to walk again, he would sing His praises for as long as he was able.

Padraic was as good as his word, literally, as he climbed the winding metal stairs to sing in the Church choir in Thomastown, until he was 85.

Padraic was very involved in the broader Church and community. He was also an entrepreneur, successfully establishing Ireland's first privately-owned trout farm, Goatsbridge, with his wife, Rita, and was fully involved in raising their family.

Their 50-acre farm had a water resource and Padraic had initially dabbled in mink farming but changed when his mother-in-law pointed out that "you only buy a fur coat once in your lifetime but you would eat fish every week".

The funeral Mass was led by the parish priest, Fr Bollard, who clearly knew Padraic well and held him in high regard. The priest's speech was a good length and balanced, as was the eulogy delivered by his daughter Brideen, who has taken over the mantle in the choir and praising God through song.

The priest's opening words were: "When you sing, you pray twice". The choir sang divinely and I was delighted that the congregation joined in.

From beginning to end - including well-chosen readings, prayers of the faithful and dignified additional offertory gifts - the Mass exuded a sense of love, grace and peace.

There was loss but this was outweighed by a sense of celebration. Padraic overcame significant personal challenge and went on to live a full, rich life. An intrinsic element of this life was a strong faith and Padraic believed that he was going straight to Heaven.

I envy this strength of faith, which is becoming less common. Now there is more emphasis on personal fulfilment.

Whether your are religious or not, the following Lenten words from Sr Stan offer meaning.

"Nourish your body with healthy food and exercise. Nourish your mind with good literature, art and company. Nourish your spirit with silence, stillness and prayer."After more than a decade in charge at Greencore, chief executive Patrick Coveney faces major challenges in turning round its US businesses and maximising the impact of a big bet on the acquisition of Peacock Foods

Greencore boss Patrick Coveney is battling to keep his job after a shock profit warning and growing investor concerns about his running of the group. Last Tuesday, Greencore stunned the market when it revealed that continuing problems in its US business would mean that earnings per share for the year to the end of September 2017 could be as low as 14.7p (Greencore reports in sterling) as against the 15.7p-16.6p previously being forecast by analysts.

Greencore is closing its Rhode Island facility, the head of Greencore US Chris Kirke is leaving the group and Coveney will "take a direct role in the strategic, organisational and operational leadership of Greencore US", spending half of his time in the US.

The shake-up at Greencore US will also probably result in an as yet unspecified asset write-down.

"We may take a non-cash impairment charge. This will be determined by the prospective future use of these network assets," says Coveney.

The market reaction to the profit warning and the prospect of a major write-down was savage. The Greencore share price, which had been trading at 182p before the announcement, dropped to just 127p following the publication of the bad news, a fall of 30pc.

Following last week's steep fall, the Greencore share price is now down by more than 50pc over the past 12 months. Such a sharp fall reflects growing investor unease at Greencore's performance and has inevitably raised questions about Coveney's future leadership of the group.

"We have not had many investors calling for management's head. There is a lot of dissatisfaction. This is the last-chance saloon. You only get so many chances," said Peel Hunt analyst Charles Hall.

Coveney, a brother of Tanaiste and Foreign Affairs Minister Simon, bet the farm with the $747m (606m) acquisition of US company Peacock Foods in November 2016. The acquisition was largely paid for by a deeply-discounted nine-for-13 rights issue that raised a gross 431m from shareholders.

Immediately prior to the announcement of the Peacock acquisition, the Greencore share price had been trading at 292p, valuing the group at 1.19bn. After last week's announcement, Greencore's market capitalisation fell to just 912m. Based on those numbers, far from creating shareholder value, Coveney's acquisition of Peacock has resulted in the massive destruction of shareholder value.

Does this mean that Greencore bought a lemon in Peacock and that we are witnessing yet another Irish food and drink company come a cropper with a Stateside acquisition? Not necessarily. While Greencore certainly has more than its fair share of problems in the US, these seem to be concentrated in its existing businesses rather than in Peacock.

"Peacock has proved to be a good business. It has delivered to plan. It is Greencore's existing US businesses that are a lemon," said Hall.

"Greencore's legacy US business has been challenging for a number of years," wrote Goodbody analyst Jason Molins. "Capacity utilisation at Rhode Island (c20-25pc) was unsustainably low."

Coveney has said: "Peacock greatly enhances the scale, operational capacity, financial performance and growth prospects of our US business."

In a note published immediately after the profit warning, Molins left his 2018 revenue forecast for Peacock unchanged at 838m but slashed his revenue forecast for the Greencore US legacy businesses from 217m to just 198m.

Although Molins has pencilled in a 14pc decrease in his forecast for Peacock's 2018 operating (pre-interest) profits to 45.5m the situation is much worse at the legacy businesses where he now predicts an operating loss of 4.9m as against his previous forecast of a 700,000 profit.

Greencore's businesses on this side of the Atlantic - mainly in the UK, where it is the largest sandwich manufacturer - seem to be bearing up much better.

Molins has left his 2018 and 2019 revenue forecasts for Greencore's British and Irish businesses largely unchanged at just over 1.4bn for both years while he is predicting operating profits of 111m this year and 119m in 2019.

Greencore is also on track to achieve its target of reducing net to two times ebitda (earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortisation) by the end of the current financial year, according to Coveney. If achieved, this would leave Greencore with net borrowings of approximately 420m by the end of this financial year. Molins reckons that year-end net debt will be somewhat higher, about 486m, falling to 429m by the end of 2019.

Following last Tuesday's announcement, Molins is now predicting Greencore operating profits of 154m in 2018 and 164m in 2019.

Greencore now bears absolutely no resemblance to the former state-owned Irish Sugar Company that was privatised in 1991. It exited sugar manufacturing in 2006 and is now a convenience food manufacturer. It produced over 1.5 billion sandwiches, 388 million lunch kits, 301 million salad kits, 143 million ready meals and 137 million jars of cooking sauces in 2017.

Although most of us have probably eaten one of its sandwiches, ready meals or sauces at one stage or another, it is one of those companies of which most consumers are blissfully unaware.

This is because it doesn't sell directly to consumers but to supermarkets, forecourt retailers and fast food chains instead. These contracts are typically for large volumes on tight margins.

Molins' new forecasts would see Greencore earn an 8pc operating margin in the UK this year and just 3.9pc in the United States.

On those sort of margins, there is zero room for error with either a lost or delayed contract having the potential to wreak havoc with the bottom line. Delays in getting some hoped-for new contracts over the line contributed to last week's woes.

The key to maintaining and growing profitability at Greencore is to maximise the utilisation of its facilities.

Coveney said: "We have already flagged the need for greater utilisation of our existing US sites. Jacksonville and Minneapolis have had utilisation challenges. We are stepping up utilisation. Our plans are well advanced. We have secured significant new business across several sites. This will flow through in the 2019 financial year."

While Greencore seems to have avoided the US acquisition jinx with Peacock, its most recent problems in America are merely the latest hiccup in Coveney's decade-long leadership of the group.

When Coveney took over as Greencore boss just over 10 years ago, the Greencore share price stood at 436 cent (then worth 3.33) valuing the entire company at 871m (666m) - Greencore quit the Irish Stock Exchange in 2012 and its shares are now traded exclusively on the London Stock Exchange.

Over the same period, the number of Greencore shares has more than trebled from 200m to just over 700m, largely the result of two major rights issues in 2011 and 2016. This huge increase in the number of Greencore shares matters. In fact it matters a lot, as it means that any profits attributable to individual shareholders (earnings per share) have to be sliced far more thinly.

What this means is that someone who spent 10,000 buying Greencore shares when Coveney first became boss 10 years ago and didn't take up their rights in either 2011 or 2016 now has an investment worth just 3,903, a fall of almost 61pc. If Coveney, who before becoming chief executive was Greencore finance director for almost three years, does walk the plank, it will be this long-term erosion of shareholder value rather than any short-term problems at Greencore US that could well prove to be decisive.This year's Easter Festival and Irish Grand National meeting at Fairyhouse looks set to be a bumper affair.

Advance bookings have risen strongly, showing a 15pc increase on corporate dining and suite bookings and a 19pc increase in advance bookings for online admission tickets.

Tourism numbers are also set to get a boost, with a 12pc increase in UK visitors booking tickets to see the famous racing festival.

Fairyhouse general manager Peter Roe said that Irish racing was on a high after Cheltenham. "The feel-good factor along with high-class horses coming to the festival will make this year's event one of the best ever," he said.

Fairyhouse is one of the largest racetracks in the country, hosting the Boylesports Irish Grand National each Easter Monday, as well as the Ryanair Gold Cup on Easter Sunday. This year's festival will see prize money of 1.55m from sponsors, increased from the 1.4m that was won last year. New sponsors this year include Bank of Ireland, Devenish Nutrition, Rybo and Cawley Furniture.

Last year the prize-fund for the main race rose from 275,000 to 500,000, meaning the Irish Grand National has become the most valuable Irish jumps race, and third richest between Ireland and the UK. Our Duke (pictured with jockey Robbie Power) won last year's Irish Grand National at the Co Meath venue. The Jessica Harrington-owned horse was expected to run in the event again on April 2 but it remains to be seen whether it will after pulling up in last Friday's Cheltenham Gold Cup.

The Easter Festival generates about 4m for the local economy, and Fairyhouse business is worth over 14.5m to local economy over the year, according to the organisers.

Some 30,000 people are expected through the turnstiles over the three days of the festival, with 1,000 visitors expected to travel from the UK for the event.Irish politicians and business leaders found a new mood on Washingtons Capitol Hill and in the business community following Donald Trumps election

Monday - Touching down in Donald Trump's America on St Patrick's Day (SPD) Week, the difference in mood is palpable among the business community.

March 2018 is all about the business agenda and Trump, with tax, tariffs and trade, is dominating every discussion. SPD week is a springboard for Ireland and, in the context of US foreign relations, Ireland has no peers.

Tuesday

I'm excited about participating on a panel at Pfizer today with Ibec President Edel Creely for an event with the dynamic GlobalWin on US Irish transatlantic relations. We meet a fantastic group of female leaders from across US business and politics. After a discussion on Ireland's globalised and open business model, we quickly get onto labour market issues - in particular Stem initiatives and how to bring women back into the workforce.

Then it's off to the ITI, the tech industry representative body for a round table with the major tech brands, all of which have significant operations in Ireland. Digital tax is, unsurprisingly, the hot topic. We emphasise the importance of global companies to coalesce around the OECD on this agenda. We are also fortunate to have Dalkey native Gail Slater, now White House adviser on cybersecurity and digital, join us at a post-event reception.

Wednesday

My morning begins with coffee at the US Chamber. Under a portrait of Daniel Webster, hero of JFK, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar does a Q&A with a small group of key of business leaders. The Taoiseach is in listening mode and seeks advice from host Tom Donohoe on how to handle his one-to-one with Trump the next morning. Be authentic is the reply.

While I was attending the Global Irish lunch at the Institute of Peace, colleagues were briefing Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. Secretary Ross's concern that the EU is targeting US companies with threats of digital taxation is one shared by Irish business. We again encourage our US peers to seek resolution through the OECD.

Ibec also presents at the Heritage Council. Then it's a quick visit to Congress on Capitol Hill to brief Congressman Erik Paulsen, chair of the Joint Committee on Economic Affairs, on the mutuality of interests for both the US and Ireland.

Thursday

The National Manufacturers Association is one of the US's oldest business representative organisations. Their members' confidence levels are at all-time highs, even surpassing the Regan optimism, in the belief that through tax reform Trump is delivering the conditions to tackle future waves of industrialisation from robotics, artificial intelligence and highly skilled workforces.

The pervading mood about EU economic governance is less sanguine, specifically in relation to Brexit diminishing business supportive policies on this side of the Atlantic. Recurring in every meeting, given the week's political events, is a concern about the rise in influence of Chinese investment in Western companies and alleged unfair trade. Commerce department officials remain very positive about Ireland as a beachhead between the EU and US, particularly with Brexit.

America is dealing with an opiate crisis that is causing significant labour market difficulties, as the economy is at near full employment. Drug-testing in the workplace is commonplace and failure rates high: a societal issue fast becoming a business issue.

On to the Irish embassy bash at the Willard Hotel. Trump dominates every conversation. The business viewpoint appears to be the only positive perspective on the first-year assessment. Like him or loathe him, he is decisive - something that DC has long not been. What a difference a year makes.

Friday

We leave today, but alas no down-time. Some of the team left for NYC on a red-eye train as our CEO will deliver the keynote at the Irish US Council St Patrick's Day lunch at the Metropolitan Club.

Then I head down Massachusetts Ave to the think tank Brookings Institution for a policy exchange with a number of their senior fellows.

The conversation focuses on the future of Europe and that the substance in both the US and Irish business models was something to find common purpose on. Then, to the Winder Building for a timely meeting with the Dan Mullaney at the US Trade Representative. Our message is that trade sanctions is a 'beggar thy neighbour' policy.

So as I leave for home, I get the sense that Trump will continue to dominate the business and that now, more than ever, there is a critical role for the voice of Irish business to be heard in Washington DC.

Siobhan Masterson is head of corporate affairs at IbecSeveral market sources confirmed that investors believe that the credibility of Coveney (p) has been damaged by last week's announcement

Irish convenience food company Greencore is now a takeover target following a collapse in its share price sparked by a profit warning, according to a number of market commentators.

Several UK-based brokers said that the company may now attract the attention of a buyer after the shares fell by as much as 30pc last week.

There are also fears that there are wider problems in the US business and pressure will continue to mount on chief executive Patrick Coveney.

While Greencore has said that the issues with its US business relate to legacy assets rather than Peacock, which it bought for $757m in late 2016, confidence in the company's abilities there have been shaken.

Several market sources confirmed that investors believe that the credibility of Coveney has been damaged by last week's announcement.

"There are fears that the whole US business is challenged and that the drip, drip of downgrades/issues is going to continue indefinitely," said Berenberg's Fintan Ryan.

"Investor patience is clearly waning. Valuation could make it a takeover target."

Clive Black of Shore Capital said: "The recent restructuring in the USA capped a sustained period of poor news flow Stateside - and for the CEO, Patrick Coveney, to have to go over suggests much is far from fine.

"And so Greencore, the basket case of Irish Sugar... evolved into a darling of the UK prepared food industry to only mutate into a seemingly different kind of basket case from a shareholder's perspective, losing an enormous proportion of its value over the last year or so."

He added that "management needs to get a grip otherwise it may become a value trap and/or fodder for others".

Fears about Greencore's US business first emerged last August and the company issued a statement to allay investor nerves when the share price fell without any apparent cause.

"The group is not aware of any developments since the release of its third-quarter trading statement on July 27 that changes the outlook contained in that statement," the company said in this statement last August.

Last week, it said in an unexpected update that it "noted continued low capacity utilisation at some of the original Greencore US sites. The Group is now restructuring its US network to reflect the commercial pipeline and to address these utilisation challenges".

As part of the restructuring, Coveney is to take a direct role in the "strategic, organisational and commercial leadership" of Greencore US. Chuck Metzger, COO of Greencore US, has assumed day-to-day responsibility for the US business and will report to Coveney.

As part of the restructuring, fresh production at its Rhode Island facility will cease this month.

See page 5More than 90,000 Irish savers must find a new home for their nest eggs now RaboDirect plans to pull out of the Irish market this May.

Many others are eyeing up new homes for their savings as the interest paid on ordinary deposit accounts continues to be slashed. Not all alternatives to traditional deposit accounts are better homes for savings however so be careful before making the jump from deposits.

The Sunday Independent lined up some investment experts to recommend some alternatives to traditional deposits which savers might consider.

Regular savings

Zurich Life's Easy Access Savings plan and Aviva's Easy Access Regular Saver are two life assurance savings plans recommended by Alpha Wealth as an alternative to the regular savings accounts offered by the banks. To get the most out of either plan, you should save regularly for at least five years. With Aviva's plan, you must save at least 100 a month; with the Zurich Life plan, you must save at least 75 a month. With both plans, you choose the investment funds which you would like your savings invested in - based on the level of risk you are prepared to take on. Risk generally increases your chances of making a good investment return on your savings over time - as long as you're not taking too much of a gamble and are choosing a suitable product.

With Zurich's Easy Access Savings and Aviva's Easy Access Regular Saver, the level of risk associated with the funds which you can invest your savings in varies from one to seven, with one being the lowest risk and seven the highest risk. "For a typical saver, I would suggest that a risk level of four is reasonable - if you have a time horizon of between three and five years," said Nick Charalambous, managing director of the financial advisers Alpha Wealth. "If you have a shorter time horizon than three years, then go for a risk level of three - but if your horizon is less than a year to two years, you should really go back to a bank's regular saver account."

With a life assurance savings plan, you could beat the returns made by a traditional savings account - as long as the investment fund your savings are in performs well. Should you open a Zurich Easy Access Savings plan and wish to invest in a fund with a risk level of four, Zurich's Prisma 4 fund is an option. This fund made a gross return of 5.7pc last year, 8.5pc in 2016, 4.9pc in 2015 and 14.2pc in 2014. The gross return on Zurich's Prisma 3 fund (an option for those who wish to invest their savings in a fund with a risk level of three) was 2.2pc last year, 4.1pc in 2016, 2.7pc in 2015, and 7pc in 2014.

Expand Close Rabobanks HQ in the Netherlands  the lenders decision to pull out of Ireland will affect more than 90,000 Irish savers Photo: Bloomberg / Facebook

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Whatsapp Rabobanks HQ in the Netherlands  the lenders decision to pull out of Ireland will affect more than 90,000 Irish savers Photo: Bloomberg

With the Aviva Easy Access Regular Saver, the Multi-Asset Fund Strategic (Risk 4) fund is an option for those who wish to invest their savings in a fund with a risk level of four. This fund made a gross return of 3.2pc last year, 2.8pc in 2016, 4.3pc in 2015 and 10.2pc in 2014.

Bear in mind that as these returns are gross, tax and investment charges must still be paid - and so your investment return will be lower once these are deducted. "Be mindful of fees with these products - as there is a lot of variation between brokers," said Charalambous. The annual management fee on Zurich's Easy Access Savings and Aviva's Easy Access Regular Saver is typically 1.25pc, according to Charalambous.

A big advantage of both plans is that there are no early exit fees should you need to withdraw money. "A lot of other plans have early encashment fees of 5pc in the first year - with the fee then reducing each year after that," said Charalambous.

Jim Hegarty, director of Hegarty Financial Management, also recommended the Zurich Life Easy Access Savings Plan as an alternative to a bank regular saver account. "We see financial strength as very important when it comes to selecting a provider for savings and investments," said Hegarty. "Zurich Life, which has been operating in the Irish market for four decades, is one such company." Hegarty cited the Balanced Fund as an example of a fund which can be invested in through Zurich's Easy Access Savings Plan. This fund has made an annualised return of 6.2pc (gross) over the last 20 years."

Read More

Lump sums

You'll struggle to earn 1pc interest on a traditional deposit lump sum of 10,000 tied up for five years, and most of the banks pay less interest than that. For those looking to move a lump sum from a traditional deposit account to an investment product with the potential for higher returns, Alpha Wealth recommends BlackBee Investments' 90pc Protected Fund. This product invests in two funds (the Pimco Global Income Fund and the Jupiter JGT Dynamic Bond) and over the last three years, the average combined return on both of these funds has come to 8.5pc - or 2.83pc a year. These returns are inclusive of fees as fees are built into the product. (Total fees come to 4.5pc). "That return seems small but any secure (even 90pc capital protected) product is going to be limited in upside," said Charalambous.

The minimum investment in this product is 10,000 and 90pc of your capital is protected, so you could lose up to 10pc of your original investment. Blackbee's 90pc Protected Fund is a structured product so understand the risk of structured products if you choose it. This product is not covered by the Irish Deposit Guarantee Scheme (which protects savings of up to 100,000 per person) either as it is not a deposit account.

One of the advantages of the BlackBee product is that returns are liable to Capital Gains Tax (CGT) rather than Deposit Interest Retention Tax (Dirt). This means you can earn returns of up to 1,270 a year tax-free (or 2,540 for a couple) with this product as this is the amount of chargeable gains which are exempt from CGT under the annual CGT exemption. The closing date to apply for this product (90pc Protected Fund 11) was March 14. "However, as these products run in tranches, there will be a version 12 which will be exactly the same and which will run to mid April," said Charalambous.

The Secure Bond 8 from Broker Solutions could be an option for those seeking an alternative to lump sum deposit accounts, according to Hegarty. This bond, which invests in European equities, also has a 90pc capital guarantee, so you could lose up to 10pc of the money you invest in this product. "This bond has a risk level of 2 on a risk scale of 1 to 7," said Hegarty. The minimum investment in the Secure Bond 8 is 25,000 and you must invest your money for five years - though you can access your capital during that time. The closing date to invest in the Secure Bond 8 is April 20.

Model portfolio

Another alternative to deposits which is becoming more popular is a model portfolio, according to Paddy Delaney, a qualified financial adviser and founder of the personal finance blog, Informed Decisions (informeddecisions.ie). A model portfolio is essentially a combination of various investments which is available through investment platforms such as Conexim.

"You can invest in model portfolios available through investment managers such as Dimensional and Morningstar," said Delaney. "These model portfolios are not readily available on the high-street - they can be found through some brokers or financial planners. They usually offer a low-cost alternative as the fee is often less than 0.5pc - plus the adviser's fee." One example of a model portfolio is Morningstar's Global Allocation Cautious Portfolio. "This model portfolio, which holds mostly defensive assets, made a return of 4.7pc per annum on average since 2006, despite a global crisis," said Delaney.

Remember, past returns are no guarantee of future gains - regardless of the type of investment you're eyeing up.'In the space of a few months, the numbers of mortgage holders either wrongly denied their right to a low-cost mortgage linked to the main European Central Bank rate, or put on the wrong rate, had almost tripled.' Getty Images

If the banks and their regulator thought they could draw a line under the tracker scandal and move on, then they have been mistaken - this one is due to run on for a bit yet.

Before Christmas, the Central Bank told us the number of mortgage holders affected by the industry-wide tracker scam has jumped by two-thirds in a three-month period.

The new figure was 33,700, with the total pushed up by admissions of more cases at Bank of Ireland, KBC Bank and AIB.

Regulatory and political pressure forced these lenders to concede defeat on thousands of cases they were disputing.

Back in September, the number the Central Bank said was affected was 13,000 mortgage accounts. In the space of a few months, the numbers of mortgage holders either wrongly denied their right to a low-cost mortgage linked to the main European Central Bank rate, or put on the wrong rate, had almost tripled.

But in December, the Central Bank insisted the new 33,700 figure represented the bulk of cases.

"While the Central Bank's view is that the vast majority of customers have been identified, we will continue to review, challenge and verify the work undertaken by the lenders and complete our intrusive on-site inspection programme," the regulator said.

Roll on to now and the indications are that there are as many as 5,000 more cases that have still to be sorted out.

Expert in the area Padraic Kissane told the Oireachtas Finance Committee recently that AIB/EBS, Bank of Ireland, Danske Bank, KBC Bank, Permanent TSB and Ulster Bank have more cases that have yet to be admitted.

And Danske Bank, which has since left the retail banking market here - but first introduced low tracker rates linked to home values - has a number of outstanding cases, Kissane said.

Kissane has been pursuing tracker cases since the issue was first revealed by this journalist in 2009. He now estimates that the overcharging of households amounts to 700m. And the latest trick sees some lenders denying mortgage holders documents held by the banks when they are seeking to have a tracker restored and get a refund.

Kissane said pertinent documents were being withdrawn by the lenders when consumers make a data access request. This was making it more difficult to resolve the tracker scandal.

The scandal has already cost banks 1bn. It could end up costing them even more, with more cases to come and fines on the way.

Just don't expect any senior bankers to have to personally suffer any consequences. That is something they do in other countries.'And new digital processes have enabled you and I to now order high-quality small print runs at affordable prices.' (stock image)

The internet has just celebrated its 29th birthday. With all of the change that came with it, there was also an expectation that we'd use less paper. I don't know about you, but I seem to have more paper than ever on my desk.

Nevertheless, while the print market is contracting, the industry is still alive and kicking. From brochures to business cards, mailshots to magazines, point-of-sale material to product packaging, we can see evidence of that every day. Technology has changed the industry radically. Advances in litho print have improved the quality of full-colour print. And new digital processes have enabled you and I to now order high-quality small print runs at affordable prices.

There is more competition from UK and Northern Ireland than ever before. There are also online print shops that allow you to design and order to your requirements from home.

Many large government tenders for print are awarded to other markets, in Germany and the UK. While that makes us good Europeans, it suggests that the primary criteria in those tenders is price. Is there enough consideration given to quality and service I wonder?

Print Depot

Print Depot is one such company that has embraced change very effectively. Founded by Frank O'Donnell and Malcolm Heron 30 years ago, the Dublin-based company now employs nine. With clients including Ryanair, Keelings, Davy's, National College of Ireland, etc, they specialise in digital, full-colour litho print and personalised fulfilment (mail-merged mailouts).

"With a full turnkey service from design to delivery, we're well-positioned for growth and we will continue with our strategy of high-quality print and building strong relationships," says Denise Robinson, sales development manager.

Recent Challenges

New competition in a contracting market, coupled with new technologies has forced prices downwards. Yet the capital cost of equipment is high - which puts pressure on margin. The challenge for Print Depot is to compete with premium products and services in a price-sensitive market. How do they do that, yet still maintain relevance and margin?

Change Tips

1. Have a clear strategy for price positioning

Every organisation needs to take time to consider its optimum competitive positioning. Being low on price requires big volumes to achieve economies of scale. For some, that is possible. For many of the companies that I work with in Ireland, however, they have opted for premium positioning at premium prices.

That doesn't mean that you can be overpriced and get away with it. Obviously the market dictates what is high, average and low.

Print Depot know the market well and have pitched themselves at the average level. By default therefore, there are others who will be cheaper. The strategy you pick depends on your ability to execute consistently. I see this more about mindset and having confidence in your proposition - and staying true to your brand.

2. The skill of selling against a price disadvantage

There is a skill in dealing with price pressure. Firstly, just because you are challenged by your customer - I always caution against panicked reactions and simply matching your competitor's price. When you do, you may be sending the wrong message. The customer may deduce from your capitulation that you were trying to pull a fast one in the first place! You don't want to appear like a market trader, or a pushover.

Instead, identify the difference in price and then sell the advantages and USPs of your product to justify that difference.

For example, imagine you're selling a photocopier for 5,000 and your customer claims that they can get a similar one for 4,500. As I see it, the customer has now shown their hand. Firstly, they are definitely in the market to actually buy a photocopier. Also, they have helped you by illustrating their base line, in this case 4,500. Now focus on all the great things about your photocopier that will justify 500 extra.

Put a value on the advantages of your product or service. Think of quality, guarantee, storage backup, delivery schedules, pack sizes, information, training, etc. For Print Depot, it's all about quality, service and personal relationships.

3. 'If you then I'

Finally, if you do feel that you are in danger of losing the business and you have to match your competitor's price, try to get something solid in return for doing that. And the magic phrase to use is 'if you... then I...'.

It goes like this: "Mr Customer, if you agree to a two-year maintenance contract with the photocopier, then I will reset the price at 4,500." (Let's assume for the sake of this example, that the two-year contract is valuable to you the supplier - and is a good win in return for dropping your price). The phrase, presented like this, shows that your offer is conditional on the customer 'moving' before you do.

For your business, work out in advance what is cost-effective for you to give and what is valuable to the customer. That helps to turn the dialogue into a negotiation, rather than a sale.

Summary

As competition escalates across all industries, price is an issue for almost everyone. And it's tough to cope with particularly when you need margin to pay for ever-increasing costs such as payroll, insurance, etc.

Be true to your pricing strategy. Polish up your personal selling skills and refresh yourself on tried and tested techniques such as those outlined here. They will help to protect both your brand and your margin.

Alan O'Neill is a change consultant, speaker and non-executive director. For 30-plus years he has been supporting global brands through change. Alan-oneill.com. Business advice questions for Alan can be sent to sundaybusiness@independent.ieOrca Financial was set up in 2004 by John Molloy and Stephen Byrne. Headquartered in The Grange Offices, on the Stillorgan Road, Blackrock, Co Dublin and with a second office in Portlaoise, Co Laois, the company employs 11 staff and this year will see their turnover reach close to 1.5m

"Ours is a financial brokerage business that acts as an umbrella for three separate yet complementary services," says John, the company's managing director. "Orca Life and Pensions is our core business and as an authorised financial broker, offers Life Assurance, Pension and Investment advice to almost 3,000 clients.

"I am a huge believer in the benefit of life assurance and have received lots of letters and emails from spouses, families and indeed businesses who have lost loved ones or business partners and whose troubles were lessened as the result of such a payment. Likewise, our pensions and investment business is about ensuring people put in place sufficient provisions to ensure they are protected for unforeseen events and have enough money to enjoy a quality of life once they reach retirement age."

Their second service, Orca Private Equity, is a separate company within the group that deals with unregulated investments. Managed by John's business partner, Stephen Byrne, this caters for those investors looking for greater risk and potentially higher returns. "To date, we have raised significant capital for a number of property developers as well as private companies such as Pre-pay Power and Homesecure and are now currently raising equity for another exciting business, Urban Volt," says Stephen.

The company's third and most recent addition is their online service, OOMPH.ie. Launched just last year and aimed at parents in their late 20s to early 40s, this provides fast and efficient online life assurance cover.

"With over 450,000 parents in Ireland with no life cover, this leaves a lot of families potentially exposed to financial challenges in the future," says John. "Having researched the market, we found there was an increasing appetite for a service that enabled customers buy cover in the evenings or over weekends, that provided fair and transparent pricing and provides choice rather than offering only one company's products.

"In addition, the lower cost online model allows us offer discounts on life cover rates and mortgage protection plans which also makes it more attractive for customers."

John grew up in Rathfarnham in Dublin. When he didn't get enough points in his Leaving Certificate to get into the course he wanted in UCD, he completed a diploma in retail marketing in the College of Marketing and Design. Later that year, while deciding whether to advance his studies, John got a job selling life assurance door-to-door. While he didn't particularly enjoy that aspect of the business, he fell in love with the sector and as a result postponed going back to college and joined Norwich Union as a trainee account manager. It would be later in his early 30s that he would eventually return to the Smurfit Business School in UCD where he completed an executive MBA.

He was still only 20 years old when he was promoted as account manager by Norwich. Having later moved to Prudential and through a series of mergers and acquisitions where Prudential became part of the Irish Permanent Group and then the Irish Life and Permanent group, John ended up becoming head of pension distribution for the national network of Permanent TSB branches. "I had felt for a long time that there was a lack of long-term service for pension and retirement planning and that in order for customers to get the most out of their investments, annual reviews should be routinely carried out to assess the customer's risk appetite as their circumstances changed or they grew older. So in 2004, I decided to set up Orca Financial with Stephen."

Also from Rathfarnham, Stephen had studied IT in Trinity College before forming an IT-based startup. When the pair met, Stephen was working as a mortgage broker and the combination of their skill sets and experience seemed a perfect fit for this new venture.

"I realised that mortgage advice was going to be key and that I had little or no experience in this area, so I approached Stephen after a recommendation from a friend. He was also involved in property development and had a great handle on fundraising and private equity which would also become an important part of our business," says John.

Starting out in a small basement office in the city centre the pair were joined shortly after by Sarah McGurrin, now a fellow shareholder and sales director in the business. Apart from customers, John emphasises the importance of a strong team.

The company's focus on mortgages was central to their success until the market collapsed in 2008. "That was our greatest challenge and resulted in a significant drop in income in a very short term. However, we were lucky to have invested to acquire three other life and pension brokerages which we merged into the company, one each year in 2006, 2007 and 2008," he adds.

One of the businesses they acquired had an office in Portlaoise which they continue to use to service their many clients throughout the Midland region.

"Referrals, too, have played a key part in our continued growth and today we are proud to have 130m of funds under advice for our 3,000 clients," he adds. "Unlike some businesses, our emphasis is on personal service where we get to know the customer rather than treating them as a policy number," says John.

Optimistic about the future of the company, John's short-term strategy is to grow the business by way of further acquisitions and mergers as a result of the number of smaller brokerages struggling with the increased burden of new legislation. And with his new life assurance online service, OOMPH.ie now up and running, he sees this, too, as a strong source of future revenues.

orca.ie & oomph.ieSwitzerland is known as one of the most competitive economies in the world, with one of the highest rates of GDP per capita, an attractive tax regime, and a stable legal and political system.

What is less well known is that Switzerland imported more from Ireland than from the United Kingdom in 2016, with a figure of 6.4bn.

Switzerland is already Ireland's fifth-biggest bilateral trading partner. With a population barely double that of our own, Switzerland is the 11th largest market globally for sales from Enterprise Ireland-backed companies, ahead of larger markets including Canada and Australia.

Exports to Switzerland from such companies in 2016 alone were valued at 300m. In the context of Brexit, now is a good time for exporters to consider the market. Switzerland uses English widely for business, overcoming one challenge Irish exporters to Europe often face. Payment defaults and returns rates are significantly lower than elsewhere.

Its Vat rate of 8pc is much lower than other European countries, for example Germany at 19pc and France at 20pc. The generally stable exchange rate between the euro and Swiss Franc also creates favourable conditions for Irish exporters.

Switzerland shares a number of parallels with the Irish market, the most significant being innovation. It's the world's most innovative country, according to the Global Innovation Index, with almost 3pc of GDP invested in research and development.

With buyers requiring quality, reliability and flexibility, Irish SMEs can offer greater agility and customer focus than larger competitors.

Many Irish companies find customers in Switzerland more prepared to adopt innovative new solutions than those in nearby markets. With its early adopter reputation recognised across Europe, winning business with a well-regarded Swiss customer carries a lot of weight.

Switzerland is home to unique leading industry clusters, for example the life sciences cluster in the northwest region of Basel. In addition to chemical and pharmaceutical firms like Novartis, Roche, and Syngenta, it encompasses a dense network of med-tech, biotech, and nanotech companies, well-suited to the capabilities of innovative Irish companies.

Mark Ennis, business development Manager at Perigord, a leading provider of communication solutions to the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, said: "Swiss business people are interested in Ireland and are very professional.

"Customers in Switzerland expect the highest quality and service levels and Irish companies like Perigord can exceed their standards. Swiss customers are willing to pay for a pharmaceutical service that meets regulatory requirements and a vendor that fulfils their needs."

Acquiring greater relevance is the Swiss ICT sector, with companies such as IBM and Google setting up offices, a good match for the capabilities of Irish technology companies. As a high-tech export nation, the market is in need of sophisticated high-end component suppliers.

Pam Chahal-Harris, vice-president of global marketing, Nualight, a leader in LED case lighting technology, says: "One of the main reasons Nualight entered the Swiss market was due to its adoption of energy-efficient and sustainable technologies ahead of the rest of Europe. Switzerland has always had a very progressive retail culture. Almost anything we launch which is new or likely to disrupt the market, we find Switzerland is one of the first markets to adopt it."

Irish exporters should be aware of challenges. Switzerland is not a member of the EU, but its relations are governed by bilateral agreements. EU standards are largely, but not always, adopted. But the government does not impede trade and investment; it considers liberalisation of existing laws to ensure Switzerland remains an attractive business location.

Enterprise Ireland has allocated resources and appointed a dedicated market adviser who will help companies to identify opportunities and offer guidance on challenges, including pre-visit support, in-market support, mentors, networking events, and financial assistance.

Vincenz Wagner is senior market adviser Switzerland for Enterprise IrelandThe company's shares rose 1.5pc at $156.93 following the news. (stock photo: PA)

Caterpillar Inc will close two facilities and is contemplating the closure of its engine manufacturing plant in Illinois in the US, which together could potentially result in about 880 job losses, a company spokeswoman has said.

The restructuring, announced over the past two months, is part of the heavy equipment maker's overall strategy to boost profitability and make itself better able to manage business cycles.

The move will affect its work tools facility in Waco, Texas, and its demonstration centre in Panama, said the company spokeswoman.

Separately, Caterpillar's Progress Rail unit is contemplating the closure of its engine manufacturing facility in LaGrange, Illinois, shifting the work to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and outside suppliers.

"If the LaGrange decision is finalised, the closure would impact approximately 600 full-time positions related directly to engine manufacturing," Caterpillar's spokeswoman said.

Caterpillar's workers were informed of the plans about the LaGrange and Panama facilities in January. The decision on the Waco facility was announced in late February.

The company's shares rose 1.5pc at $156.93 following the news.

The world's largest heavy-duty equipment maker emerged last year from the longest downturn in its history, when sales dropped more than 40pc between 2012 and 2016.

The struggle led not only to a leadership change at the company, but also resulted in a credit rating downgrade by Moody's.

Chastised by that experience, the Deerfield, Illinois-based company has embarked upon a restructuring strategy, looking to squeeze more production out of existing factories, focusing on lean manufacturing, margin expansion and asset efficiency.

The work at the Texas plant will be shifted to Wamego, Kansas, affecting 200 regular and contract positions, and the closure of the Panama facility will eliminate about 80 positions, the spokeswoman said.

ReutersThe Pearle of the Moroccan Sahara, Dakhla, is hosting for the fourth time the Crans Montana Forum which brings together African and world leaders to discuss means to promote south-south cooperation in the continent.

Over 1,000 guests and senior officials representing more than 100 countries are partaking in the event to exchange ideas on sustainable development, South-South cooperation and Africas different challenges in the era of globalization.

The event was marked by a Royal message expressing Moroccos commitment to a truly innovative South-South cooperation model based on the exchange of knowledge, skills, expertise and resources.

The message also highlighted Moroccos active engagement in Africa as evidenced by the 1000 cooperation agreements that were signed in the last 15 years with 28 African countries covering diverse sectors such as education, health, infrastructure development, training and agriculture.

King Mohammed VI also recalled that Morocco advocates a South-South cooperation that has a bearing on issues relating to stability and development in Africa, including migration.

In this regard, the king- in his capacity as the African Union Leader on the Question of Migration- said that he had proposed, at the 30th AU Summit, an African Agenda on Migration, which recommends the setting up of an African Migration Observatory and the appointment of an AU Special Envoy for Migration in order to tackle the migration phenomenon properly from a comprehensive perspective.

Migration is an opportunity, not a threat, reiterated The Moroccan King, stressing that the migration-related crisis the world is witnessing today is not new; nor should it be perceived as inevitable. It calls for greater cooperation, first between African countries, then between the latter and the countries of the North.

Climate change is another priority issue for Moroccos cooperation in Africa. The Royal message reaffirmed the need for urgent measures in terms of adaptation and mitigation to counter the effects of climate change in line with the COP22 recommendations and the Paris Agreement.

I availed myself of the opportunity of the global climate meeting to convene the first Africa Action Summit, which was attended by Heads of State and Government of 41 African sister nations. We were thus able to exchange on the challenges relating to the climate change consequences we are facing and agreed on urgent, practical measures to tackle those effects, said the King.

In the same vein, the Kingdom expressed its willingness to share its successful experience in the promotion of clean, renewable energy, the development of responsible agriculture and the sustainable use of marine resources, underlined the king.

The Crans Montana Forum is attended by former Heads of State and government, ministers, presidents of parliaments, policymakers, MPs and international experts.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy is among the guests of Dakhla. In a live interview at the opening session of the Forum, Sarkozy commended Moroccos rising role in Africa following its return to the African Union.

The return to the African Union is very important for Morocco which plays the role of a bridge between Europe and Africa. It is also very important for Africa because it is a modern economy, a stable and democratic country on the African scene, Sarkozy said

In a statement to the press on the sidelines of the event, President of the Anna Lindh Foundation, Elisabeth Guigou said that Moroccos return to the African Union is the fruit of the leadership of King Mohammed VI.

She added that Moroccos membership in the African Union is conducive to resolving several issues facing the continent, noting that Moroccos quest to join the ECOWAS will strengthen the unity of the continent.

Concerning the Sahara issue, she said that Moroccos autonomy initiative offers a basis for a lasting solution to this conflict.Dublin-born coffee shop multimillionaire Bryan Meehan has joined with the founders of Skype and WordPress to back WeFarm, a text-messaging and online network for small farmers in east Africa to share information.

Meehan, 49, a graduate of Trinity and Harvard Business School, took part in a 4m ($5m) seed funding round in the business, the world's largest farmer-to-farmer digital network.

Having backed the firm alongside Skype founder Niklas Zennstrom and WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg, Meehan is no stranger to working with big names, having previously co-founded the Nude skincare range with Ali Hewson, the wife of U2's Bono.

He and fellow investors sold a stake in Blue Bottle Coffee chain to Nestle for around 400m last year.

London-headquartered WeFarm is aimed at the more than 500 million smallholder farmers across the world who struggle to access education about farming, key inputs such as fertiliser and to access new markets for their produce.

However, many of them come up with innovative, low-tech solutions to improve their crop yields.

The network enables them to share this knowledge easily and for free with other farmers who might be facing the same challenges.Walt Disney chairman and chief executive Robert Iger stands to earn up to $423m (344m) over four years, according to a new analysis of a compensation package rejected by shareholders, and some investors want to raise the bar on his performance targets.

Disney suffered a rare rebuke from its shareholders last week when a 52pc majority opposed the compensation of Iger and other executives in a non-binding vote that could encourage the board to tweak the pay package.

ISS Analytics, the data arm of proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services, estimated that if Iger hits maximum goals the package would make him the 12th-highest paid US CEO on an annual basis in the past 10 years.

Disney did not put a total value on Iger's pay package.

Markus Hansen, senior research analyst at Vontobel Asset Management, which had 2.4 million Disney shares at year-end, praised Iger's performance but said the firm voted against the compensation with the view the four-year pay package could be too easy to collect.

Under a contract extension through 2021 Iger could receive the full value of $100m in stock awards tied to a deal to buy film and television assets from Twenty-First Century Fox even if Disney's total shareholder returns are middle-of-the-pack versus other big companies.

While the metrics are not unusual, the feedback the board should take from the shareholder vote is that "the amount is large, so maybe a reduction in the amount and an increase in the performance targets" would be in order, Hansen said.

Jacob Williams, corporate governance manager for pension overseer Florida State Board of Administration, said it voted its 2.2 million Disney shares against the compensation on similar concerns. It also had concerns about the lack of a clear succession plan after Iger leaves.

"You hate to see a payout of that magnitude for short-term performance," Williams said. He said, however, that a reorganisation Disney announced on Wednesday had assuaged some succession concerns.

Some investors would be pleased if Iger earned the top number. Ross Gerber, CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, said he voted 150,000 shares for Disney's compensation plan because other media companies also pay well and Iger's Fox deal looks smart.

"If he succeeds, then you pay the guy," Gerber said. Compensation consultant Brent Longnecker said the vote could spur the board to re-examine Iger's performance goals, though he did not expect major change.

"I assume they won't ignore it," Longnecker said of the vote. Asked about the pay estimate and investor concerns, a Disney spokesman referred to comments after the vote from Aylwin Lewis, chair of the company's compensation committee.

Lewis had said the board will take the vote result under advisement for future CEO compensation. Iger is "imperative" for Disney to keep as it absorbs Fox, Lewis said, with the CEO's value illustrated by a total shareholder return of 414pc during his tenure. Iger became CEO in 2005.

ReutersA new book of John Redmond's letters offers an insight into the man who came within striking distance of heading an Irish government.

In August 1914, at the outbreak of the World War I, John Redmond was poised to become the first leader of Ireland under Home Rule. The Clongowes-educated grandee from the Irish Parliamentary Party was in touching distance of heading an Irish government, which would have been similar in some ways to the present devolved administration in Scotland.

Under Home Rule, Ireland was to enjoy a measure of independence while remaining within the British Empire, but the future of Ulster, and the question of which counties would be in or out, was unresolved.

By the start of the war, Redmond was the leader of nationalist Ireland. He had reunited and rebuilt a party that had split acrimoniously over its previous leader Charles Stewart Parnell - and his affair with a married woman, Katherine O'Shea. Under Redmond's leadership, the Wyndham act enabled over 200,000 tenant farmers to buy their land holdings on reasonable terms.

But less than four years after the outbreak of war, the leader died a disconsolate and broken man. Although it was on the statute book by September 1914, Home Rule was delayed by the war. At huge political cost, Redmond felt it necessary to compromise over partition, a scenario he himself had envisaged as the 'mutilation' of his country.

The Easter Rising, which he condemned, ushered in the rise of Sinn Fein, and led to the erosion of support for his party. The war had dragged on for much longer than most observers had predicted, claiming the life of his brother Willie and thousands of Irishmen.

Redmond, in popular nationalist folk memory, was cast as an Uncle Tom figure, too ready to compromise with the British and support their imperial ventures.

The historian Dermot Meleady has devoted the best part of two decades to researching the life of Redmond, and trying to rehabilitate his reputation. He has previously written two comprehensive volumes of biography of the politician, and this book of his letters and memoranda will serve as a useful companion volume for researchers.

It offers insights into his thinking from the start of his career as an MP, through the period of his leadership until his death 100 years ago this month.

Redmond came from a Catholic gentry family in Wexford, and he was steeped in the politics of Westminster from a young age. His father William Archer Redmond was also an MP.

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After dropping out of Trinity College, he moved to London, where he worked for his father in the House of Commons. At the age of just 24, a year after his father's death, he was returned unopposed as MP for New Ross.

As a parliamentarian, Redmond was regarded as one of the best speakers in the House of Commons, with an imposing physical presence.

Home Rule was the principal aim of the party, but in the 1880s, Redmond and his party colleagues were also involved in land agitation on behalf of tenant farmers.

After one speech during a land dispute, Redmond was imprisoned for using intimidating language. In a letter to the priest in New Ross, Father Patrick Furlong, Redmond complained of having a sore back as a result of the plank bed in Tullamore Prison.

When the controversy over Charles Stewart Parnell's affair erupted in 1890, and the Catholic church called for his resignation, Redmond emerged as leader of the minority who backed the party leader. He said he was bound to Parnell "by the double ties of private friendship and political allegiance".

In a letter to Father Furlong, the MP said he had acted "from a clear and strong perception of what is best for the country".

The split in the party that continued after Parnell's death was bitter. One of Redmond's achievements as leader a was to bring some of the personalities in a fragmented movement together over the following years.

In a letter written one year after he took over as leader, Redmond wrote: "Regarding the party in the House, the new men are a great improvement on the old. We now have no drinking brigade. The party is made up of steady, sober, thoroughly decent and capable men."

In his later career, when he was away from Westminster, Redmond lived the life of a country squire at Aughavannagh, his Wicklow retreat, where he indulged his interest in shooting and fishing.

He set out his vision for Home Rule in 1911 in a letter to his fellow MP John Muldoon: "By Home Rule I do not mean any cowardly or grudging measure, but a bold measure of self-government which will give to the Irish people control of their own purely local affairs, through the agency of a freely-elected parliament in Dublin, with an executive responsible to it, subject, of course, to imperial supremacy"

During the present Decade of Centenaries, Redmond has been overshadowed by the republican leaders of 1916. The events of the Rising make for sexier material for documentaries and stories, while the painstaking work of Redmond and his ilk does not lend itself to high drama.

In recent weeks, however, considerable attention has been paid to the leader with events marking the centenary of his death. Redmond is championed by those who believe that the constitutional path was a better one than armed insurrection, but Redmond was no pacifist himself, and encouraged tens of thousands of Irishmen to enlist in the British war effort. His defenders would say he had little choice if he was to get Home Rule over the line. In his manifesto of September 1914, he said: "It is a just war.... it is a war for the defence of the sacred rights and liberties of small nations."

Redmond expressed the belief that unionists and nationalists would bury their differences on the battlefield. He hoped that "their union in the field may lead to a union in their home, and that their blood may be the seal that will bring all Ireland together in one nation"

Ultimately, his hopes were dashed, and at the end of the war his party was almost obliterated in an election. Both his admirers and his detractors will find plenty of fascinating material in this volume.In October 2103, Norwegian-Somali teenagers Ayan and Leila Juma left their home near Oslo to travel to Syria. They wanted, they later told their parents in an email, to "help down there" as best they could. The sisters' departure and the subsequent revelations about the extent of their radicalisation shocked their mother and father, who had come to Norway from Somalia 13 years before to make a better life.

In Two Sisters, Norwegian journalist Asne Seierstad uses her considerable investigative prowess to trace how Ayan and Leila - resourceful young women with seemingly bright futures - came to embrace the ideology of Isis. She paints a comprehensive portrait of their parents - their mother Sara, who never fully adjusted to life in Norway, and their father Sadiq, more liberal than many of his peers, encouraging his daughters to play sport and deeply unhappy when they first began to wear the niqab or face veil.

As well as examining the sisters' friendships and experiences in the school system, Seierstad zooms in on developments that may have led to their journey to Syria. Ayan became heavily involved with authoritarian Muslim youth organisation Islam Net and was influenced by the teachings of a Koran tutor hired by a group of Somali mothers - including Sara. Ayan in turn seems to have influenced Leila, though Seierstad does not present either sister as naive or a victim of brainwashing - rather they seem to have sought out others who agreed with their evolving beliefs.

It's a complicated, expansive story with multiple locations and a large cast of characters. Seierstad does an excellent job of weaving the different strands of her narrative together, moving backwards and forwards in time and jumping between Oslo, Somalia and Syria so cohesively and so strategically that the book often reads like a thriller.

Determined to get his daughters back, Sadiq travels to the Turkish-Syrian border and, with the help of a middleman, makes it into Syria. The sisters are tracked down and he is allowed five minutes with Ayan, who is already married to an Isis fighter. Sadiq asks her to come home; she refuses. He is imprisoned, interrogated and tortured, cellmate after cellmate is taken away, but he gets out.

Like in The Bookseller of Kabul - Seierstad's hugely successful account of daily life in an Afghan household following the fall of the Taliban - Two Sisters adopts a novelistic form. The writer does not appear on the page. Instead she tells the story in a third person voice, entering into the minds of her subjects as though they are fictional characters.

The form has plenty of literary forebears - not least Truman Capote's seminal In Cold Blood - and is partly what makes the book so compelling. Nevertheless, it's a distinctive and unsettling choice, as Seierstad knows.

Published in English in 2003, The Bookseller of Kabul generated almost as much controversy as fame for its author when the book's central figure objected to how he and his family were portrayed; his second wife sued Seierstad for defamation. In a chapter at the end of Two Sisters, Seierstad emphasises that Sara and Sadiq reviewed the finished manuscript. She details her research methods and her copious sources. She also asks a question that will be in many of her readers' minds.

"Is it ethically defensible to focus on the lives of two girls when they have not granted their consent?"

Her answer is yes. "The entire world is trying to understand the reasons for radicalisation among Muslim youth," she says. She believes that as a journalist, it's her task to put her finger "on problematic aspects of society".

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This same sense of purpose informed One of Us, her 2013 book about Anders Breivik's 2011 terrorist attacks in which 77 Norwegians were murdered, and in many ways - in its investigation of the relationship between public and private spheres for example, in how it contextualises the war in Syria as adeptly as it captures the realities of the Juma's domestic lives - the book realises the breadth of its ambition. But although Seierstad opens a window on to different worlds, the fact that Ayan and Leila are simultaneously present in, and absent from, the narrative is problematic.

The story can't really end. By necessity, several questions are left unanswered. Do the sisters still endorse Isis? What will happen to them and their young children? Seierstad goes as far as she can to get at the truth but despite her exhaustive efforts to understand the sisters' departure, it's still not fully clear why they went.Comedienne Deirdre OKane and John Edward Nolan,during the Live show of RTEs Dancing with the Stars. Credit: kobpix

Pro Dancers and Members of Riverdance ,during the Live show of RTEs Dancing with the Stars. Credit: kobpix

Were almost there. It was semi-final week on Dancing with the Stars tonight. Begorrah and bejaysus, there were tears.

Things got intense. A glamorous Nicky and Amanda dressed for the occasion (well, it was the St Patricks weekend special). In the end, Erin McGregor went home, leaving Anna, Deirdre and Jake to battle it out in next weeks live final. But before then, lets take a look at some of the magical moments from an unforgettable semi-final. Twas a sensational night, to be sure, to be sure

Green tuxedos are the way forward

We say this every Sunday, but sure listen, if I looked this fantastic in a tux, on national telly, Id definitely want someone writing about it. Last night, the fabulous Nicky Byrne was resplendent in another fabulous two-piece and  get this  the man wore dark green. A dark green suit, lads. DARK GREEN. Amanda Byram, too, went bananas with the Paddys weekend theme (shiniest dress ever, like). Could we be more green? she asked. No, Amanda. You couldnt. There is no trophy for best-dressed Dancing with the Stars People. But if there was

Expand Close Erin McGregor and Ryan McShane,during the Live show of RTEs Dancing with the Stars. Credit: kobpix / Facebook

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Erin McGregor was the Dancing with the Stars Survivor

Pay no attention to the end result (not yet, anyway). Before wed even started tonight, Erin McGregor had been in three dance-offs. She was sick for half of last week (and on a drip, apparently). Amanda described Erin as the DWTS boomerang (or something). Why? Because she always came back from the bottom two to deliver one of the best performances of the weekend. Tonight was no exception. The point is this: DWTS has not been easy for Erin McGregor. But did you see her samba with Ryan last night? Holy moly. You started off this competition as Erin McGregor, the fitness model, declared judge Brian Redmond, today, youre Erin McGregor, the dancer. No need to add anything to that.

The Dolores ORiordan tribute was gorgeous

It was Irish week, which meant that, for our celebs first routine, they had to choose an Irish artist / song to dance to. Simple. For Deirdre OKanes contemporary ballroom performance, her partner John chose The Cranberries Zombie. Yep, there were tears. Heck, it was emotional before theyd even started work on the number. In the end, the entire routine came out beautifully. Theres an awful lot of love for that woman in this room, and in this country, declared OKane, honouring the late, great Dolores ORiordan. Wonderful performance, wonderful tribute.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Pro Dancers and Members of Riverdance ,during the Live show of RTEs Dancing with the Stars. Credit: kobpix Former Cork Camogie Player and Broadcaster Anna Geary and Kai Widdrington , during the Fifth Live show of RTEs Dancing with the Stars. Credit: kobpix Singer Jake Carter and Karen Byrne ,during the Live show of RTEs Dancing with the Stars. Credit: kobpix Former Cork Camogie Player and Broadcaster Anna Geary and Kai Widdrington , during the Fifth Live show of RTEs Dancing with the Stars. Credit: kobpix Singer Jake Carter and Karen Byrne ,during the Live show of RTEs Dancing with the Stars. Credit: kobpix Former Cork Camogie Player and Broadcaster Anna Geary and Kai Widdrington , during the Fifth Live show of RTEs Dancing with the Stars. Credit: kobpix Former Cork Camogie Player and Broadcaster Anna Geary and Kai Widdrington , during the Fifth Live show of RTEs Dancing with the Stars. Credit: kobpix Singer Jake Carter and Karen Byrne ,during the Live show of RTEs Dancing with the Stars. Credit: kobpix Singer Jake Carter and Karen Byrne on RTEs Dancing with the Stars. Credit: kobpix Former Cork Camogie Player and Broadcaster Anna Geary and Kai Widdrington , during the Fifth Live show of RTEs Dancing with the Stars. Credit: kobpix Former Cork Camogie Player and Broadcaster Anna Geary and Kai Widdrington , during the Fifth Live show of RTEs Dancing with the Stars. Credit: kobpix Comedienne Deirdre OKane and John Edward Nolan,during the Live show of RTEs Dancing with the Stars. Credit: kobpix Comedienne Deirdre OKane and John Edward Nolan,during the Live show of RTEs Dancing with the Stars. Credit: kobpix Comedienne Deirdre OKane and John Edward Nolan,during the Live show of RTEs Dancing with the Stars. Credit: kobpix Erin McGregor and Ryan McShane,during the Live show of RTEs Dancing with the Stars. Credit: kobpix Erin McGregor and Ryan McShane,during the Live show of RTEs Dancing with the Stars. Credit: kobpix Erin McGregor and Ryan McShane,during the Live show of RTEs Dancing with the Stars. Credit: kobpix Erin McGregor and Ryan McShane,during the Live show of RTEs Dancing with the Stars. Credit: kobpix Pro Dancers and Members of Riverdance ,during the Live show of RTEs Dancing with the Stars. Credit: kobpix Pro Dancers and Members of Riverdance ,during the Live show of RTEs Dancing with the Stars. Credit: kobpix Pro Dancers and Members of Riverdance ,during the Live show of RTEs Dancing with the Stars. Credit: kobpix Pro Dancers and Members of Riverdance ,during the Live show of RTEs Dancing with the Stars. Credit: kobpix Singer Jake Carter and Karen Byrne ,during the Live show of RTEs Dancing with the Stars. Credit: kobpix Singer Jake Carter and Karen Byrne ,during the Live show of RTEs Dancing with the Stars. Credit: kobpix Singer Jake Carter and Karen Byrne ,during the Live show of RTEs Dancing with the Stars. Credit: kobpix / Facebook

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Niall Horan is Jake Carters idol

Which, by the way, totally brought home the fact that young Jake Carter is just 19-years-old. This week, Jake (the best dancer in the competition, who should never have been in the dance-off), danced the rumba to Niall Horans Slow Hands. Plus, his partner, Karen Byrne, brought Jakey boy to see Niall at the 3Arena last week. And guess what? Niall even recorded a good luck message for Jake. Sure, he may have worn the expression of a man who looked as though hed just stepped on the business end of a plug, but sure look it, Mr Horan didnt have to record anything. Oh, and did we mention Jake and Karens chemistry on the dance floor? Woah. At times, I felt it was getting bit hot under the collar, offered Judge Julian. Yes, indeed. Hey, we still think Jake Carter missed a trick by not picking a Joe Dolan choon, but well let it slide.

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Niall Horan is the pinnacle of Irish pop music

So says Jake Carter. Nicky Byrne wasnt impressed with that comment.

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Jake Carter Limited Edition Boxers are a real thing

This is slowly turning into the Jake Carter column, but how and ever. What happens when you show up to the DWTS studio wearing pink boxers, only to discover that your white trousers are see-through? The clothing team is forced to improvise, thats what. And, last night, Mr Jake Carter was wearing skin-coloured boxers specially prepared by the DWTS crew at the last bloody minute. Tenner bets theyll be on Ebay by the end of the week.

Philomena Lynott should invite dancin celebs around to her house every week

Expand Close Former Cork Camogie Player and Broadcaster Anna Geary and Kai Widdrington , during the Fifth Live show of RTEs Dancing with the Stars. Credit: kobpix / Facebook

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And, that celeb should then dance to a Thin Lizzy song on live television. Seriously, though, the bit where Anna Geary and her partner, Kai, popped around to Phil Lynotts mums house was only lovely. Afterwards, the pair danced in the moonlight. Nicky Byrne would be proud of that joke.

The second dances got intense

Deirdre OKane was visibly annoyed by the lower scores second time around (the disco turn wasnt great, to be fair). Judge Brian described Jake Carters American Smooth as American a bit rough around the edges. Erin McGregors lipstick took on a mind of its own. You look like the Joker! said Ryan. And then there was Anna and Kai, whookay, so Anna wasnt all that worried (a perfect 30 will do that). But, you know, things were starting to get a bit nervy and shaky on the dancefloor and, indeed, in the chatterbox with Nicky. Thats what happens when its semi-final week. Fortunately, the Riverdance interlude broke the tension. Nice one, Riverdance. We needed that.

Deirdre and Brian are going to have a scrap in the final

Were joking, were joking. Still. If theres one thing weve learned from DWTS these past few weeks, its that OKane is starting to get very, very annoyed with the criticism from the judges. The judges who know what theyre talking about. The judges who do not have any favourites, or score anyone based on anything other than their dancing. And, still, OKane always has something to say about Brians comments and / or scores. Heres hoping nobody loses the head in next weeks final. I mean, jaypers, even Anna started to wonder about Brian and Loraines comments tonight (something to do with her shoulders  you had to be there). Its been a long three months, folks. Keep it together, just one more week.

Four became three in the most nerve-wracking vote ever

Erin faced Jake in the dance-off. OMG, our hearts could hardly take it. Julian voted to save Jake. Brian voted to save Erin. In the end, the final decision came down to Loraine. Thats when Erin McGregor, after four dance-offs, and 11 weeks on Dancing with the Stars, became the last celeb to leave the show before the final. Cue more tears and more long goodbyes. We doubt well ever get over the drama. So, long, Erin. You were one of the greatest.It's really hard not to use the words "force of nature" to describe Deirdre Kinahan, the leading Irish playwright you haven't necessarily heard of.

So let's just say it like it is: Dee Kinahan, force of nature, enters the Abbey foyer in a bluster of elemental energy.

It is days before the opening of her play The Unmanageable Sisters, a new version of Les Belles-surs by Quebecois playwright Michel Tremblay. The big snow is forecast, and there is sleet on her boots and flowing skirt.

This debut has been a long time coming for Kinahan, who turns 50 this year. She's been produced in New York and Washington, is a grandee of the Bush and the Old Vic in London, but hasn't yet been given a stage in her national theatre. She served on the Abbey board until last year. How does a force of nature go so long unacquainted with her own main stage?

"It's complex," she begins, and the gusts of Kinahanesque insights fly forth.

"There was this notion that women don't write national plays," she says, as we take a couple of seats beneath portraits of the great men of the Irish canon.

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"I really do believe that there's an inherent sexism towards female writers across a number of genres. Film, music, theatre."

Her play Moment was nominated for awards in London, but in Dublin it was "completely underestimated", she recalls, without bitterness but with a little good-natured indignation.

"Why is it that when a woman writes a play in a kitchen it's called a kitchen-sink drama, but when Brian Friel writes Dancing at Lughnasa it's a national play?"

The Abbey did commission a play from Kinahan a few years ago, but it was never staged. God's Hotel was based on Nuala O'Faolain's story and it's the only one of her plays that languishes as a script.

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"It's a beautiful play. I might revisit it one day," she tells me.

Kinahan has written nearly 30 plays over two decades. For 12 years she ran Tall Tales Theatre Company with Maureen Collender, which had a deeply feminist mission - unfashionable at the time - to find great parts for women. In a tradition dominated by men, they faced "a vortex of barriers".

"You had a national theatre that really wasn't producing new writing. You had critics constantly elevating the more abstract, the more obscure, experimental theatre. There was this whole movement away from literary theatre, away from playwriting."

Kinahan is very much a literary playwright, whose narratives unfold behind a fourth wall. These days, with the fragmented tale-telling of Brokentalkers, Dead Centre and Enda Walsh packing out the theatres, literary plays are not so flavour of the month. Kinahan snarls (still good-naturedly): "There was a bit of a sense of - and who do you think you are, exactly? Comparing yourself to Tom Murphy?

"I think whatever is your impulse, you've got to write to that, you've got to play to the beat of your own drum."

And there was the small matter of a gaping gender inequality in Irish theatre, so trenchantly highlighted by Waking the Feminists. Women don't have starring roles in the history of Irish playwriting. For this reason, says Kinahan, "women thrived in the independent sector. They kind of created it".

But now Kinahan is avalanching the main stage with a 15-strong all-female company that includes some of our favourite dames (Marion O'Dwyer, Tina Kellegher, Lisa Lambe, to name a few). The play is directed by Abbey co-artistic director Graham McLaren.

"I really admire his politics," says Kinahan.

Sisters is set in 1973 in a damp kitchen in a Ballymun tower block. There, a group of vociferous women sit putting Green Shield Vouchers in booklets, the plan being to better their lives. "I just got into their tights and knickers and started walking around that flat, imagining what it was like," says Kinahan.

The play starts out funny, but before long we are in Magdalene Laundries territory. Even Kinahan's two teenage daughters, who saw a preview, were "quite shocked".

Kinahan, who lives in Meath, is 100pc a Dub. From Terenure, her family were working-class, or "we saved up for our Venetian blinds". Her husband, Gary, spent some time growing up in a Ballymun tower block.

She says she feels deeply for Ballymun - a community "betrayed" by Ireland. The psychological pressure of poverty is tangible in her play.

"Women don't break things. It doesn't turn into a barroom brawl, women chip away at each other, they police each other."

She has stayed true to "every beat and character" of Tremblay's cult original. But she has given Sisters a Dublin vernacular and that "cacophony" comes from her own family.

"The language that you hear on that stage, the phrases, the terminology, the heart and the tone and the timbre of it, is very much my mother, and her five sisters."

Her intelligent and artistic mother never used her gifts and there was "rage at the heart of her", says Kinahan. "My ma used to always say, 'You've got a gift, use it'. When I was a kid, I always had huge energy, I was always in trouble in school, without meaning to be. And I think a lot of artists have that energy."

The title comes from Eamon de Valera, who once described women as "the boldest and most unmanageable revolutionaries". Kinahan gets a little exercised about her founding father. "He had a really dysfunctional relationship with women and women's power, and women's rights."

She gets exercised (still, somehow, good-natured) talking about the "Catholic caliphate" that ruled Ireland until recently. "The 1940s and 1950s, that was a grim time for women in Ireland. A lot of people in Ireland suffered because we bent the knee to the bishops in the church. Legislation reflected that deeply conservative misogynous patriarchal kinda code."

Sexism is in the spotlight, with the #MeToo and Time's Up movements still raging through the news. "I don't have a #MeToo moment," says Kinahan. "I just worked with lovely men.

"But I was the boss," she says. "I set up my own company, I got the funding, I wrote my own plays, employed people, I paid their PRSI."

She has been "deeply disturbed" and "sickened" by the reports of sexual harassment in the Gate theatre, though she never worked there. "I think the story will continue until that board faces its responsibilities."

Her next play, Rathmines Road, in the Peacock later this year, will look at the objectification of women and girls, some based on her own experience ("I remember being flashed at on the way to school, I remember being flashed at in Rome. Women live with derision every day. It has got to stop.")

Later in the year, the spectacularly productive Kinahan has a children's play at the Hay festival in Meath, and Wild Sky in the Solas Nua in Washington DC.

"Art helps us not to be afraid of the dark, art helps us understand who we are. And if we all can understand things, well then maybe we can help? That's not to say you're some Mother Teresa but humanity is a beautiful thing. Plays and stories and songs and films speak across all borders and all ethnicities, art just fires something in your humanity."

The snow has come, falling in thick flakes on to Marlborough and Abbey Street. Kinahan is a blizzard all of her own, swirling with intelligence until she's out the door. That artist's energy she talks about will not abate any time soon. "If you don't focus it and plug it in," she says, "it'll eat you up, it'll kill you."

The Unmanageable Sisters is at the Abbey Theatre until April 7

Four irish women playwrights to watch in 2018

Una McKevitt

Everything McKevitt touches is intense, quick and provocative in the best way. She emerged through Pan Pan as an actor and has devised plays such as Alien Documentary (now touring abroad) and directed Joanne McNallys brilliant Bite Me, which found the funny in a devastating eating disorder. Rumour has it McKevitts next play, Madhouse, is coming to the Abbey, taking her safely from the fringes to the big time.

Meadhbh McHugh

Her promising and truly literary debut Helen and I, about the bitter-sweet relationship between sisters, scored a big production with Druid for the Dublin Theatre Festival. Next, Galway-born, New York-based McHugh is adapting Louise ONeills novel about a rape, Asking for It, for a big Landmark Productions show playing in Corks Everyman (June 11  23) and the Abbey (November 9 24).

Veronica Dyas

A Dubliner and community activist (and sister and collaborator of Grace), Dyass work is hard-hitting and political yet personal. Her new show, Here and Now (I Live Here Now), explores the housing crisis through her own experience of ending up in mortgage arrears (and played this week as part of this years St Patricks Festival, Where We Live). The play is directed by Amy Conroy and produced by the redoubtable THISISPOPBABY.

Eva OConnor

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An actor and writer of dark, rhyming plays of a confessional kind, Clare-born OConnor (inset) has already starred in the BBC3 adaptation of her play Overshadowed. With her company Sundays Child, OConnors plays tackle the burning issues facing women and girls. My Name is Saoirse was about crisis pregnancy and her latest, Maz and Bricks, which is set at a Repeal the Eighth demonstration, tours 11 Irish venues in April and May and is produced by Olivier-winning Fishamble.Keith Lee leaves the CCJ after a special sitting at Parkgate Street , Dublin. Photo Gareth Chaney Collins

Keith Lee leaves the CCJ after a special sitting at Parkgate Street , Dublin. Photo Gareth Chaney Collins

Keith Lee leaves the CCJ after a special sitting at Parkgate Street , Dublin. Photo Gareth Chaney Collins

The estranged husband of a woman who was found dead in a wardrobe in a Ranelagh flat last month has been charged with her murder.

Keith Lee (42) appeared at a special sitting of Dublin District Court in the Criminal Courts of Justice this morning charged in relation to the death of Joanne Ball last month.

Her body was found in a wardrobe in a flat in Ranelagh after gardai had been informed that she had gone missing.

Lee wheeled himself into the court in a wheelchair as three members of Joannes family looked on from the body of the court.

Expand Close Keith Lee leaves the CCJ after a special sitting at Parkgate Street , Dublin. Photo Gareth Chaney Collins / Facebook

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Whatsapp Keith Lee leaves the CCJ after a special sitting at Parkgate Street , Dublin. Photo Gareth Chaney Collins

Sergeant Jonathan Kelly of Irishtown garda station gave evidence that Lee was arrested at that station at 22.37pm last night and charged with murder.

Lee made no reply to the charge, Judge Grainne Malone was told.

Expand Close Keith Lee leaves the CCJ after a special sitting at Parkgate Street , Dublin. Photo Gareth Chaney Collins / Facebook

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Whatsapp Keith Lee leaves the CCJ after a special sitting at Parkgate Street , Dublin. Photo Gareth Chaney Collins

He was remanded in custody to appear before Cloverhill District Court next Wednesday March 21.

Dressed in grey tracksuit bottoms and with both legs in black orthopaedic boots, and a black jacket, Lee shook in the courtroom.

Looking gaunt and with an untidy beard, he lifted his left hand at one stage and his wrist could be seen to be bandaged.

He only spoke to confirm the name of his solicitor Anarine McAllister of Michael Staines and Co.

His solicitor applied for legal aid, and requested that her client be afforded medical attention if required.

After the court Lee was driven from the court in the back of a wheelchair accessible taxi under garda escort.Two of the Kinahan cartel's on-the-run hitmen have been arrested in the UK for their alleged involvement in a burglary, the Herald can reveal.

The dangerous thugs are considered key associates of the cartel and have been involved in at least two murders linked to the ongoing Hutch-Kinahan feud.

One of the pair, a 38-year-old from the Finglas area, is the chief suspect in the murders of Eddie Hutch Snr and Noel 'Kingsize' Duggan.

He is also suspected of carrying out the 2014 murder of Stephen 'Dougie' Moran as well as the botched hit attempt on John Gilligan two weeks before.

The second thug, a 29-year-old from Cabra, has more than 100 convictions and is suspected of involvement in the murder of Latvian mum Baiba Saulite as well as the Eddie Hutch killing.

The two men were arrested by Cheshire Police on Thursday as part of an investigation into a burglary. A woman was also arrested.

Gardai have been made aware of the arrests and are liaising with British police.

The Herald has also learned that the 38-year-old suspect, who has been on the run for nearly two years, has become addicted to heroin amid the ongoing pressure of various police forces investigating him.

"He is considered one of Dublin's most dangerous criminals, but he's now taking heroin and is carrying out minor crimes to feed his habit," a source said.

"Both men are very capable hitmen who have a serious criminal pedigree behind them."

Gardai believe the pair were half of the four-man team that murdered Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch's brother, Eddie Hutch Snr, on February 8, 2016.

Officers believe the Finglas thug was the gunman captured on CCTV who burst into Hutch's north inner city home and shot him dead.

He was arrested by Mountjoy gardai and questioned for several days before being released without charge.

He was also the suspected triggerman in the murder of Noel 'Kingsize' Duggan (58), a convicted cigarette smuggler who was murdered in March 2016.

Duggan was a long-time associate of 'The Monk'.

He was not involved in the Hutch-Kinahan feud but was considered a target because of his ties with The Monk.

The Finglas suspect was thought to be the assailant who burst into a property in Greenfort Crescent, Clondalkin, in March 2014, before opening fire on convicted drug trafficker John Gilligan (65).

Gilligan suffered a broken hip, abdominal injuries, a shot to the leg and a graze to the head in the attack, but survived.

It was the second attempt on his life since his release from Ireland's highest security jail, in Portlaoise, after serving 17 years for drug trafficking.

Exactly two weeks later, the Finglas man is suspected of blasting gangland fixer Stephen 'Dougie' Moran (46) to death outside his fortified home in Lucan, west Dublin.

Moran had been driving exiled crime boss Gilligan around in his bulletproof BMW 4x4 since his release from Port- laoise, and this has been treated as the prime motive for the killing.

The man from Cabra has been investigated for two gangland killings, including the callous shooting of mother-of-two Ms Saulite in 2006.

The Latvian woman was shot dead outside her home in Holywell Square, Swords, on the orders of a foreign criminal.

trusted

The crime shocked the nation and gardai arrested 18 people as part of the massive investigation, however nobody has ever been charged in connection with her murder.

Despite being among the cartel's most trusted hitmen, the two thugs arrested in England were forced to flee the country due to intense pressure from gardai and rival mobsters from the Hutch faction.

Gardai believe they have spent the majority of their time on the run in the Midlands, along with a number of other cartel associates, before their arrest in Cheshire.A man believed to be the estranged husband of Joanne Lee was questioned by gardai about her murder yesterday.

Keith Lee was arrested four weeks after gardai found his former wife's body in the wardrobe of the flat he used in Ranelagh. Mr Lee, who was present when gardai arrived, had jumped from a third-floor window of the flat and was taken to hospital.

Gardai were unable to speak to him until he was discharged last Friday.

Mr Lee was being detained at Irishtown Garda Station under the provisions of Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984.

Detectives have spent the past month retracing the movements of Ms Lee, who was also known as Joanne Ball, in the days before she was murdered. Gardai believe that she drove to the Ranelagh flat, and that she was murdered there.

She was dead for at least 48 hours when her body was discovered. A post-mortem found that she had been strangled. Her body had been wrapped in a sleeping bag and concealed in a wardrobe.

Joanne (38) was reported missing by Keith Lee on February 13, at Store Street in Dublin. Her body was discovered two days later when gardai following up the missing person's report noticed the car she used outside a building in Ranelagh.

Keith Lee was treated at St James's Hospital for injuries that include leg fractures and blood loss.

Detectives spoke to several witnesses who saw her in the days before she was killed. Mobile phone analysis and CCTV footage taken from key areas of the city also helped detectives to retrace her final journey.Despite spending billions of dollars to reinforce border security, Algeria remains incapable of securing its large desert borders where terrorist and trafficking networks are taking advantage of the porous and low-monitored borders, HS Janes Information Group said.

The Group, specializing in security studies, noted that Algeria is unable to control its borders with Libya, Tunisia and Mali where Jihadists have shown capacity to infiltrate the borders and conduct attacks on Algerias strategic targets.

Algeria, Africas largest country, shares borders with six countries, all of them are closed with the exception of its land frontiers with Tunisia.

This closed-border attitude is reflective of a lack of a neighborhood policy in an increasingly integrated continent where collective efforts are the best means to countering trans-border challenges.

Experts have long insisted that fighting terrorism in the region should be a collective endeavor as national approaches have long proved their inefficiency.

Yet, there is a silently brewing lack of trust between Sahel countries and Algeria on the issue of terrorism. Algeria, the native land of the leaders of most terrorist groups operating in the Sahel, has shown ambivalence in tackling the terrorist threats, which feeds suspicions and erodes trust in Algerias willingness to combat terrorism.

The connivance of Algerias intelligence services with Algerian national Moukhtar Belmoukhtar, aka Mr Marlboro, is no secret. International reports have also accused Algeria of cooperating with Ansar Eddine and its leader Ag Ghali to quell the separatist ambitions of the secular Azawad movement. Algerias support for Ag Ghali was intended to foster extremism in the region to avert a spillover of an independent Touareg state on its own Touareg population.

Algerias laxism with Ag Ghali facilitated the merger of four terrorist groups operating in the Sahel into one group pledging allegiance to Al Qaeda and its Jordanian leader Azarkawi. The four terrorist groups were brought together under the command of Ag Ghali. The new terrorist organization bears the name of Jamaat Nasr Al islam wa Al mouminin (Group for the Defense of Islam and the Muslims).

The creation of the G5 has also infuriated Algerian political leaders. It is no coincidence that the anti-Sub-Saharan migrant rhetoric is on the surge following the formation of the G5 force.The husband of missing woman Tina Satchwell has said he will spend the first anniversary of his wife's disappearance in tears.

Tuesday marks the first anniversary of Tina's disappearance from her home in the Cork seaside town of Youghal.

Her husband Richard Satchwell said that he is not planning on marking it in any way, but knows he will be very upset on the day.

Speaking on Today FM's Sunday Brunch programme, Mr Satchwell said he does still believe that his wife Tina (45) is still alive.

"Honestly, knowing me, I'll just sit in the house and cry for the day," he said when asked if he will be marking March 20.

"[I do have support], I can go into Fermoy anytime I'd like and sit down with people."

He continued; "Yes, the possibility someone hurt her is always there, but I do believe she is alive.

"I know Tina, everyone who knows her would say the same.

"She's a fighter. You couldn't harm Tina without walking away without at least a few scratches on your face.

"She's a fighter, she always was.

"I do believe she is alive."

Richard, who first met Tina 29 years ago, said he knows he has been criticised "for being on the telly more than Leo Varadkar", but his intention is "just one thing and that's to keep Tina's story out there," he said.

He spoke just days after gardai said they have received new information on the case and are now considering new search areas in the hunt for Tina.

The revelation came as gardai ended a major search in a sprawling Cork forest after failing to find any clues during a 12-day operation to find out what happened to Tina.

A team of 60 personnel had been painstakingly searching Mitchel's Wood outside Castlemartyr in east Cork since March 5 without any breakthrough in the hunt for Tina.

Gardai staged a major operational review yesterday when the decision was made to begin winding down the forest search. Detectives confirmed that search was now over - but revealed new information had come to light thanks to the intense publicity surrounding the case and repeated Garda appeals.

"A number of items recovered during the course of this search will now be examined to establish whether they are related to the disappearance of Tina," a Garda spokesman said.

"Gardai would also like to thank members of the public who have come forward with new information which will now be investigated."

Tina, who is originally from Fermoy, disappeared from her Youghal home while her husband, Richard, was on an errand to nearby Dungarvan.

When he returned, he spotted Tina's keys lying on the floor.

Two suitcases were missing as well as items of Tina's clothing.

Her beloved dog, Ruby, was left alone in the house.

The English-born truck driver also claimed 26,000 was missing.

Last night, Mr Satchwell said he was "relieved" the Garda search had not ended with the discovery of a body - and he was still praying Tina would be found safe.

He paid tribute to everyone who supported the search and anyone who contacted gardai with information.

"I am still hoping Tina will be found safe. I will always live in hope. I don't want to go down the road of thinking the other way, because I wouldn't be able to cope," he said.This weekend sees the ultimate global expression of paddywhackery, with Saint Patrick's Day more feted overseas than it is here.

The nationally-approved nonsense celebrates our conversion to a religion that has arguably led to much suffering in this country, by a foreigner who was not an officially canonised saint, and is also credited with the remarkable feat of driving out creatures that weren't even here in the first place.

At least this country town always turns such overblown occasions into opportunities for good - yesterday being no exception. At noon you could join The Great Wheelbarrow Dash, giving you enough time to 'Wet the Shamrock' at half past one, except it had to be cancelled due to flooding (This latter event may have initially appealed to the alcoholically inclined, thinking it a literal green card to go on the lash - however it meant exactly what it said on the tin, being an invitation to take part in a sponsored swim.)

Surely the pious man of the moment would have approved. Then again, Patrick seems to have been as much politician as priest, being savvy enough to recognise that the best way to infiltrate this island of powerful pagans was by starting at the top with the chieftains, who would then convert their clans through their influence.

It certainly sounds easier than trying to persuade every Paddy he met to adapt a belief system originating in the Middle East.

Especially as he would have had his work cut out, for we were more akin to the Native Americans - or natives, as many of them now prefer to be called - some of whom forked out to help us during the Famine.

For in those distant days, we were wise enough to worship gods that directly impacted our lives, all of which were surely expressions of any almighty one. Such as the god of the sun that made our crops grow, or the god of the earth on which we live and to which we return.

In hindsight, they seem more harmless and healthy than the one that Patrick was peddling; being that most dangerous deism of The One True God that has been a fatal preoccupation of too many people for too long.

For proving your One True God is more truly the one than anyone else's has inspired killing instead of kindness, and slaughter in the name of spirituality.

While it seems ironic that Patrick "knew not the true God" of his land of birth - either Scotland or Wales - until he was imprisoned in pagan Ireland. Once in Ireland, like many a homesick exile, he clung to what he previously scorned. Six years of slavery here familiarised him with the Irish clan system, with his former master, Milchu, reportedly one of his earliest conquests/converts.

Did guilt for enslaving another soul lead that chieftain to choose Patrick's foreign god? Might we have been better off remaining loyal to the gods of our land? And left the lauding of so-called saints to those who romanticise "the old country", having hijacked the homeland of its pagan natives?Snowy conditions return to the canal in Sallins, Co. Kildare. Photo: Tony Gavin 18/3/2018

Melanie Krautwvrst out walking her dog Adrian in the snow at Herbert Park today. 18/3/2018 Picture by Fergal Phillips

Met Eireann have issued a new Status Yellow warning as temperatures are set to plunge across the country tonight.

The Status Yellow Low Temperature warning is for the entire country and it begins at 00.01am on Tuesday.

The warning advises that temperatures could dip as low as -5C in some places tonight, and temperatures of -3C or -4C are widely expected.

The warning runs until 9am on Tuesday.

Here is the snow & rain forecast for the next 24 hours.

Rain = Blue to Red

Snow = White to Green pic.twitter.com/9Xzq9O6Ag1  Met Eireann (@MetEireann) March 18, 2018

As for the remainder of Bank Holiday Monday temperatures will range between 3C and 6C this afternoon, even as the country brightens up during the afternoon.

These clearer skies will lead to a very cold night and a severe frost for Tuesday morning.

However, Tuesday will be bright and temperatures will approach more normal levels for the time of year, expecting to hit 7C or 8C in the afternoon before dipping below freezing yet again on Tuesday night.

Yesterday, the Status Orange warning for Dublin, Carlow, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Louth, Wexford, Wicklow, Meath and Waterford saw all these counties experiencing heavy show showers early Sunday.

Some backroads are still dangerous with snow drifts occurring in some places. Please drive with care consider local conditions. pic.twitter.com/Z49nfU5EN1  An Garda Siochana (@GardaTraffic) March 18, 2018

The homecoming for Ireland's Grand Slam heroes that was scheduled for 4.30pm at the Aviva Stadium after Saturday's stunning victory over England was cancelled as a result of the weather.

Thousands had been expected to brave the elements to salute a campaign that sailed close to the wind on a couple of occasions before berthing successfully in west London.

A number of St Patrick's Festival events that were scheduled to take place, including the St Patrick's Festival's Big Day Out on Merrion Square and St Patrick's Festival Road Race, were also cancelled due to the adverse weather conditions.

Roads

AA Roadwatch did warn late last night that snow and ice remains on some secondary roads in Wexford and Wicklow.

However, this morning they report that road conditions across the country have 'improved considerably'.

Dublin Airport

Dublin Airport flights are arriving and departing as normal this morning, with no cancellations.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Snowy conditions return to Sallins, Co. Kildare. Photo: Tony Gavin 18/3/2018 Snowy conditions return to Sallins, Co. Kildare. Photo: Tony Gavin 18/3/2018 Snowy conditions return to Sallins, Co. Kildare. Photo: Tony Gavin 18/3/2018 Snowy conditions return to Sallins, Co. Kildare. Photo: Tony Gavin 18/3/2018 Snowy conditions at Sallins railway station. Photo: Tony Gavin 18/3/2018 Snowy conditions return to Sallins, Co. Kildare. Photo: Tony Gavin 18/3/2018 Snowy conditions return to Sallins, Co. Kildare. Photo: Tony Gavin 18/3/2018 Snowy conditions return to the canal in Sallins, Co. Kildare. Photo: Tony Gavin 18/3/2018 Snowy conditions return to Sallins railway station in County Kildare. Photo: Tony Gavin 18/3/2018 Snowy conditions return to Sallins, Co. Kildare. Photo: Tony Gavin 18/3/2018 / Facebook

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Whatsapp Snowy conditions return to Sallins, Co. Kildare. Photo: Tony Gavin 18/3/2018

Dublin Bus

Dublin Bus say that all services will operate as normal this morning, Monday March 19.

Irish Rail/Luas

Irish Rail say that they will be operating a Bank Holiday schedule.

However, there will be no service between Newbridge and Grand Canal Dock and Docklands Station is closed.

Events

Snowy conditions have been reported on routes in several counties including Carlow, Kildare, Longford, Monaghan, Wicklow and Waterford. Slow down and take care in poor conditions.



See https://t.co/PSzIBsvOzE for the latest updates during the Bank Holiday Weekend pic.twitter.com/IyN1349rX1  AA Roadwatch (@aaroadwatch) March 17, 2018

Wexford's Allianz Hurling League quarter-final, which had been rescheduled to take place at Wexford Park today, has been rescheduled for next weekend.

Tipperary's quarter-final clash with Dublin, also cancelled on Sunday and rescheduled for Monday, has also been postponed again. Re-fixture details are to be released on Tuesday.

However, Offaly's clash with Kilkenny and Limerick's game with Clare are expected to go ahead today.

The Division 2A final between Westmeath and Carlow, scheduled for O'Moore Park, has also been cancelled.

In football the meeting of Louth and Meath in Division 2 has been postponed again today.

And two SSE Airtricity League games due to be played today have also been cancelled.

They are Bray's game against Waterford and St Pat's clash with Sligo Rovers.

Advice to road-users from Road Safety Authority:Paul Kehoe at the wreath-laying ceremony in Tibnin today to honour the 47 Irish troops who lost their lives with Unifil Credit: Defence Forces

Paul Kehoe at the wreath-laying ceremony in Tibnin today to honour the 47 Irish troops who lost their lives with Unifil Credit: Defence Forces

Forty seven Irish peace keeping soldiers, who lost their lives while serving with the United Nations mission in south Lebanon, Unifil, were honoured at a special ceremony there today.

Minister with responsibility for defence, Paul Kehoe, laid a wreath at an UN monument in Tibnin during a visit to the 380 Irish personnel currently serving with Unifil.

Among those at the ceremony were the deputy chief of staff (operations) of the Defence Forces, Major General Kieran Brennan and the officer commanding the 111th infantry battalion, Lieut Col Neil Nolan.

The ceremony also marked the 40th anniversary of Ireland's deployment to the Lebanon mission.

Expand Expand Previous Next Close Paul Kehoe at the wreath-laying ceremony in Tibnin today to honour the 47 Irish troops who lost their lives with Unifil Credit: Defence Forces Paul Kehoe at the wreath-laying ceremony in Tibnin today to honour the 47 Irish troops who lost their lives with Unifil Credit: Defence Forces / Facebook

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Whatsapp Paul Kehoe at the wreath-laying ceremony in Tibnin today to honour the 47 Irish troops who lost their lives with Unifil Credit: Defence Forces

Mr Kehoe said that in serving so selflessly, Irish peacekeepers had "helped save the lives of some of the poorest and most vulnerable people around the world.

"Tragically, in saving those lives, too many of our finest people, like those remembered here today, have lost their own".

Mr Kehoe added: "The spirit of many Irish soldiers will remain in south Lebanon and the memorial will be a focal point, lest anyone forget the contribution they made".

After a reception with local leaders in Tibnin town hall, Mr Kehoe visited a community project, funded with help from Irish Aid, at Bint Jbeil.

Earlier the minister had attended a medal parade at the Irish battalion headquarters and told the troops: "What you do here daily culminates in the realisation of our words of commitment to peacekeeping and also to progress in the region.

"Your work and your actions fill every Irish person with pride and is also the difference between life and death for so many people living here.

"We may be a small nation but we can stand tall when it comes to helping some of the most beleaguered people on this planet", Mr Kehoe added.

Major General Brennan said that for the troops, receiving their medals was recognition of their service to date and a significant milestone on their tour of duty.

Mr Kehoe attended a similar medal parade during his Middle East trip for the 135 Irish personnel serving with the Undof mission in the Golan Heights on the Syria-Israel border at the Irish headquarters, Camp Ziouani.

In total, the Defence Forces has 588 personnel serving overseas in 13 missions.Snow and ice are expected to accumulate in many parts of the country today with weather forecasters and gardai urging people to pay heed to dangerous conditions.

Met Eireann has issued two weather warnings and urged people to be cautious.

A status yellow alert has been issued for the whole country and will remain in place until tomorrow morning. Conditions are expected to remain cold over the bank holiday weekend with temperatures set to plummet to -4 degrees.

A more serious orange weather warning has been issued for the east, with counties Dublin, Kildare, Louth, Wexford, Wicklow, Meath and Waterford expected to be the worst affected by a cold weather front nicknamed 'The Son of The Beast'.

While not as serious as the 'Beast from the East' earlier this month, the cold front will bring scattered heavy snow showers and lead to accumulations in places. There is also a threat of snow drifts in some areas.

The orange warning will remain in place until lunchtime today.

Gardai have also issued an appeal to the public to remain vigilant in tricky conditions.

Met Eireann forecaster Liz Gavin said strong winds in the coming days will bring a significant chill.

"Those areas included in the orange warning will see the heaviest snow showers," she said. "Overnight on Sunday in to Monday we are going to see temperatures dropping down to -3 and -4 in places. There will also be some widespread frost overnight and this will create some treacherous road conditions, especially after the snow showers."

She said the weather will not be as severe as the snow storms brought about by Storm Emma and 'the Beast from the East'.

"Then we had a storm coming up from the Bay of Biscay meeting with much colder air over the country. This event is actually made up of snow showers coming in off the Irish sea. It is going to be a wintry episode."

The snow brought travel woes for hundreds of people yesterday. Some 12 flights at Dublin Airport were cancelled because of the weather, including 10 to and from Heathrow. None of these hit supporters travelling to Ireland's Six Nations clash with England in Twickenham yesterday. More than 70 flights to and from the London airport were cancelled yesterday because of the weather and poor forecasts.Today, for the first time ever, the President of Ireland will be joined on Dublin's St Patrick's Day viewing stand by an international guest of honour. That guest is Mark Hamill of the Skellig Skywalkers.

The Star Wars star tweeted that he was looking forward to meeting the President and drowning the shamrock with "a mug of delicious green milk". As he ponders running for a second term, Michael D might be dwelling on a pledge made by Taoiseach Enda Kenny last St Patrick's week. The departing Taoiseach pledged to honour Ireland's diaspora with something more lasting than a knees-up. The Government would hold a referendum to give Irish emigrants the vote in presidential elections. Last September, his successor Leo Varadkar told the Dail that the vote was set for June 2018.

But what if St Patrick's Day is all about consequence-free blarney? Its unique selling point that makes it the most international of national days, is that anything goes. For brave, foolhardy Luke Skywalker, it's about slurping green milk. For millions from Chicago to Tampa, it's about dying the waterways green. In Singapore, I once joined a huge St Patrick's Day throng to cheer six passing bands, all in Scots tartan, belting out a non-Irish repertoire and saving their best moves for a stirring 'Flower of Scotland'. St Patrick's Day has much in common with the institution that made it a holy day of obligation, but only on 32,000 square miles of the earth. As Fr Ted reflected: "That's the great thing about Catholicism. It's so vague and no one really knows what it's about."

In two decades, St Patrick's Day here has been made over from a dour Soviet-style drudge of tractors, goosebumped Irish dancers and hailstones, into a joyous fiesta more in keeping with Monserrat or New Orleans.

Taxidermied veterans

Our belated catch-up was largely down to the fact that the post-Civil War state, fearful of stirring fresh insurrections, threw a wet blanket on the celebrations. March 17, 1916 had been a dry run for the Easter Rising, and with partition still an open wound for some, those in power felt it best to keep the national day low key. Fired up by a fashionable puritanism and US Prohibition, the State went one further and banned the sale of alcohol.

One upshot was that events granted special exemptions, such as the annual RDS dog show, were overrun with unlikely enthusiasts. While our leaders did their best to make Ireland the last place anyone would want to spend Paddy's Day, Hollywood stars lined up to guest at the three lavish parades put on by the promoters of the Irish Sweeps. Rolling in cash from their global superlottery that was illegal everywhere except Ireland, the promoters put on lavish pageants involving elephants, futuristic racing cars and aircraft, and celebrities galore. For one parade, every store on Dawson Street was fitted with a towering false front in imitation of Manhattan's fast-rising skyline.

As Ireland entered the 1970s, the annual parade past the GPO still resembled May Day in Moscow, only without the dramatic military hardware trundling past the taxidermied revolutionary veterans. But a new age was about to take off, thanks to the global-shrinking caused by jet travel.

Ireland's top politicians could now make the great escape to balmy, fun-filled places for St Patrick's Day, while their lower ranks discovered the benefits to the country of town-twinning expeditions all year round. Cork's good burghers introduced the noble concept of town twinning in 1969, modestly at first by getting themselves sent to nearby Coventry. Today, Cork belongs to a family of septuplets including glamorous San Francisco, Rennes and Shanghai, while even Templemore (population 1,943) has sisters in France and Italy. But while fact-finding missions to strengthen existing ties and to size up potential new siblings are left to lowly councillors, heading up a St Patrick's Week delegation to one of the world's great cities, in the national interest, is a sign that a politician has made it. But watching the TV postcards from our leaders in short sleeves under blue skies, it's hard not to wonder if we wouldn't have a better time here if we switched Paddy's Day to a more kindly month, May for instance.

That's what we did in 2001 when foot and mouth brought Ireland to a standstill. When the Dublin parade belatedly took place on a sun-blessed day in late May, it drew the biggest turnout ever, bringing out 1.2 million in their summer gear. In theory, it could be moved. The Catholic Church shunts it whenever it interrupts Easter Week. In 2008, for instance, the Church observed it on March 14.

In practice, it can't be moved. By various happenstances of history, it became embedded where the Irish settled at a time when the world was less cosmopolitan. Today, the next biggest ethnic blowout in the US, Columbus Day, is tethered to the second Monday of October, a long weekend causing minimal disruption. Uniquely, March 17 means a party no matter what day of the week it falls (bar Sunday) and no matter what the disruption. If we were to move it to suit us better here, the many who envy and resent Ireland's sweetheart deal would spare no effort in reeling St Patrick back into the pack.

Hailstones, goosebumps and all, March 17 is part of what we are.The White House press office is, in fact, a warren of pretty, plush - but tiny - rooms in the West Wing, with the constant rat-a-tat tapping of keyboards the only signal that this is where a little shape is put on the chaos before it is presented to the world.

Sean Spicer walks out of his former office, sees Independent.ie waiting patiently and says, with a laugh, "Be nice to her".

Sarah Sanders was parachuted into the role of White House press secretary last July, when Donald Trump decided Spicer wasn't dancing enough to his tune.

Given the frankly incredible approach of the Trump administration, it is arguably the most-difficult job in media, probably an impossible challenge, and potentially career-defining, but almost-certainly in a negative way.

And they are the good points.

"It seems all of our days are quite busy," she says, with a smile, and an American-sized portion of understatement.

She's wearing a dark green dress, and is set to attend an Irish-themed event shortly. The St Patrick's Day celebrations are, unsurprisingly, also why Spicer is back in the White House. Yep, it's all about Ireland even when, patently, it is really all about expelling Russian agents, sacking Secretaries of State, law suits with porn stars... at least this week.

"I think the Presidet has an interest in Ireland. I think he likes the tradition of St Patrick's Day at the White House. It's a mix of both a serious discussion early in the day, paired with something more light-hearted and fun in the evening," she says.

"I think he enjoyed it last year. If he hadn't he probably wouldn't have done it again."

The Donald, of course, knows his own mind, even if the rest of us struggle to keep up.

And that may impact adversely on some of those serious discussions earlier on Thursday, including the Taoiseach's plans to position Ireland as a "bridge" or intermediary between the US and Europe after Brexit.

Her boss, Ms Sanders feels, likes to do his business face-to-face, and is unlikely to appreciate anyone else getting involved - even if the Irish delegation is at pains to say it only wants to smooth over potential "conflicts and disagreements".

"Typically the president likes to deal directly in conversations, and while I know that he appreciates the strong relationship we have with Ireland, I don't think that (a role as an intermediary) would be necessary at this point," she says.

I think we can play a role in interpreting Americas position better to the EU, and the EUs position better to America," the Taoiseach said earlier in the week.

But the Donald is unlikely to bite, it seems.

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"He wants to continue to grow and strengthen the relationship we have with Ireland certainly. But I don't think that's impacted necessarily by relationships with other countries," Ms Sanders says.

Trade is a different matter, with Leo emboldened enough in Thursday's meet to suggest a new deal for the EU with the US. They spoke a lot about Irish-US trade too, with both sides keen to make connections.

And the Irish delegation, Ms Sanders feels, was also on a firmer footing with its attempts to deal on the 'undocumented'.

"The president is very big - whether it's trade or anything else - on things being very reciprocal and even, and having a fair playing field," she says.

John Deasy's plans to offer paths to citizenship for Americans living in Ireland in return for a deal on an estimated 10,000 Irish in America would seem a unlikely win, and a potential headache for the White House in terms of subsequent requests from other groups.

But the Irish delegation also sees a potential green light.

"The integration discussion was very positive and there was a clear indication from the American side that there is a clear desire there to make something happen," one source at the bilateral meeting told Independent.ie.

"I think the administration will look at developing some proposals before ultimately looking to put something to Congress."

Ms Sanders can trace her ancestry on her mother's side back to Ireland - McCains - and visited Galway and Dublin six or seven years ago. There are a few weary-looking shamrock cupcakes on a desk outside her office, and a passing member of her team calls St Patrick's Day at the White House her favourite day of the year.

But there has been no detailed discussion about a visit to Ireland for her boss - next year or any other time - she says, despite all the talk about Doonbeg this week, and his aside in the Oval Office that it might help swing a few Irish American votes.

But Ireland - or more specifically its tax rate - is certainly on his mind. Well, at times.

"The president is always going to try to bring jobs back to America," Ms Sanders says.

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"He hasn't been shy about the fact that he wants to build up the jobs market in the US, and to bring back good talent from overseas. Ireland is one of those places."

She didn't know about the next US Ambassador to Ireland.

At one stage last year, Sean Spicer was being touted as a possibility. That always seemed as ridiculous as the shamrock trousers he was wearing on Thursday night.

But while Leo said earlier this week that a new ambassador would be far more useful than a new special envoy to Northern Ireland - which had been promised by recently-ousted Rex Tillerson - it wasn't a topic that was raised at the meeting with Trump.

"I think that is still in train," a source on the Irish side said. "We don't have a clear indication. There have been signals about that position being filled. That wasn't discussed in any particular detail."

Ms Sanders, however, strongly believes that the access afforded the Taoiseach this week should not be underestimated.

"Any time you have two leaders on the world stage, talking together, talking about areas of mutual interest, talking about areas we can work together - particularly in a national security perspective, and an economic security perspective, those are always a positive," she says.

And then Ms Sanders has to end our meeting. There are fires to fight.Premium

Eoghan Harris Opinion Misery media fails to give due credit to the Taoiseach

Taoiseach Micheal Martin must drive his advisers mad. Unlike Leo Varadkar or Donald Trump, he never bigs up success stories such as the effect of Level 3 Plus on Covid or his visionary Shared Island project. Last Friday, Tony Holohan and RTE cheerleaders seemed to imply Level 5 was responsible for the improved Covid situation. Not so.Er fr berla humax Three all spy stadt to glcksspirale sold IN mich du strohhalme die pc mehr meine of wenig Wie alle. darum, dem Keine Extra-Kosten. Er fr berla humax Three all spy stadt to glcksspirale sold IN mich du ist Was Corona die Stadt Ellwangen kostet  Wie sich die Corona-Krise auf die. Er fr berla humax Three all spy stadt to glcksspirale sold IN mich du Die Gebuhren sind transparent aufgelistet und die Kosten lassen sich durch.With some 30 watering holes in its Dublin portfolio, by way of restaurants, hotels, cocktail bars and burger bars - and more in the pipeline - Paddy McKillen Jnr's Press Up Group is reportedly considering a stock market flotation to help finance its rapid expansion.

What some see as the virtual takeover of the Dublin dining scene has moved with the speed of a hurricane in recent times, with Matt Ryan and Liam Cunningham, who work for McKillen's father, developer Paddy McKillen Snr, as directors of its parent company, Isle of Man registered Keillan.

With a turnover of 52m last year, and having recently taken over old stalwarts like Elephant & Castle in Temple Bar, best known for its iconic chicken wings; Wagamama, one of the first casual Japanese Asian eateries to hit Ireland; and Residence, the former private members' club set up by the Stokes twins on St Stephen's Green, they plan to open at least nine more ventures in 2018.

There's a certain amount of resentment in the air as to their controlling position in the restaurant arena. There's already a vast shortage of chefs in the country - and of properties available to the ordinary guy who wants to set up his own little restaurant - without Press Up mopping up available chefs, properties and building sites like snuff at a wake.

This is why many hot young chefs have moved to the suburbs, including Phil Yeung (ex Bang) with his Craft Bistro in Harold's Cross; Greg O'Mahony with Ember in Milltown and, most recently, Temple Garner of San Lorenzo in George's Street, with his new Bresson in Monkstown. He told me he thought the central Dublin scene was "overheating".

While you might book your date-night restaurant anticipating some delicious grub you wouldn't cook at home, in most of the Press Up venues I've been in, the food experience has been secondary to the extravagant decor. It's all about glamour - young, urban, bearded guys, and gals dressed up in 'homages' to Manolo and Posh Spice - knocking back pricey cocktails, not in the least bit bothered about whether their prosciutto is from Parma or Portobello as they tuck into the pizza option in many of the venues.

With food tours now the in thing, Press Up venues offer the perfect opportunity if you want to take your own modern-day Joycean-style tour of Dublin from the banks of Anna Livia out to Mount Merrion.

Kick off south of the Liffey at the massive Dollard & Co, the former printworks on Wellington Quay, where they have a selection of eateries over three floors. On the top floor is Roberta's, an enormous contemporary space with a great central bar, which I liked. Below that is their cafe deli where, at the Nighthawks style grill counter, we stared in at heavy kitchen equipment as we ate mediocre, overcooked fish and chips and drank wine from Paddy McKillen Snr's French vineyard, Chateau La Coste.

We felt they'd missed a trick here in not going more up-market to cater for all those loaded lawyers over the bridge in the Four Courts. In the basement they also opened Tomahawk, a steak bar for boys with beef on the brain.

Fortify yourself next door in the Workman's Club or the Liquor Rooms, and then chow down on ubiquitous pulled pork in the adjacent Bison Bar & Grill. Stroll through Essex Street next, passing the Garage Bar, with sawdust floors and petrol pumps, moving over to the Vintage Cocktail Bar on Crown Alley for a Pope Benedictine cocktail of the eponymous liqueur mixed with Calvados.

Leaving Temple Bar, make your way up to Wicklow Street where you'll find Mary's Bar & Hardware facing the side of Brown Thomas. You won't find any screwdrivers here, aside from the alcoholic variety.

The next venue on your tour is Peruke & Periwig, set in a narrow Georgian house on Dawson Street, which I renamed in my own mind as Puke & Periwig because, while upstairs is an extravaganza of French boudoir decor, I hated the revolting-looking 'wigs' bedecking the walls of the ground-floor bar. It was a bit chaotic on our visit and seemed precious and pricey.

Next, grab a Luas and head up to the Dean Hotel on Harcourt Street, where Sophie's rooftop bar does Italian food with great views over Dublin. Jump back on the Luas and on to Ranelagh for a quick peep at the exterior of the new Devlin Hotel, due to open this summer.

From here you can head down to Angelina's at Baggot Street Bridge or up to Rathmines where they've re-opened the former art deco style Stella Cinema, now called the Stella Theatre, where you can take in a movie while chomping on loaded nachos or chilli hot dogs.

Your next port of call is the Union Cafe in another Stella Cinema in Mount Merrion, where they have a casual cafe, an old-style pub, Kennedy's, and a small deli. Residents here vigorously opposed McKillen Jnr and Matt Ryan's plans to redevelop this site into a five-storey block of apartments. Unlike Leopold Bloom, they haven't made the pilgrimage to the Martello Tower at Sandycove, but they're not far away, as I'm told they plan to open in nearby Monkstown, and that they're also taking over the cinema in Bray, Co Wicklow.

In addition, their property development company, Oakmount, bought the convent and prime 10-acre Blackrock site owned by the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul for 30m, where they plan to build up to 300 new houses and apartments. Oh yes, they're also in the real capital, Cork, with Suas, a rooftop bar on South Main Street.

While many restaurant chains in the UK and US are paring back their projects, McKillen Jnr and Ryan continue to press on with more and more outlets popping up all the time.

I can't promise you tripe, gizzards, or Molly Bloom, on your Press Up odyssey, but you will find burgers, pizzas, pastas, pulled pork, ribs, sharing boards and booze along the way.The fascinating world where big business, lobbyists, politicians and the media intersect was aired over two days in the High Court last week, illuminating a web of texts, clandestine 'non-meetings' and secret briefings that led to front-page stories and headlines on television and radio news bulletins.

The communications tycoon Denis O'Brien is now seeking to "join" the Galway-based businessman and political activist Declan Ganley to ongoing litigation against the public relations/lobbying firm Red Flag Consulting and its principals and staff members, Karl Brophy, Seamus Conboy, Gavin O'Reilly, Brid Murphy and Kevin Hiney, claiming they prepared a dossier defaming him and damaging his reputation.

At the centre of this web of intrigue is former Labour Party TD for Galway East Colm Keaveney, who subsequently switched to Fianna Fail, lost his seat at the last election and was later adjudged bankrupt.

"I believe and am advised that it is clear from the evidence adduced that the defendants [Red Flag] were involved in a campaign to brief me as a politician as well as journalists and others with material adverse to the plaintiff [Denis O'Brien] and that the dossier was part of a wider exercise to undermine the plaintiff," Keaveney claims in an affidavit opened during the two days of proceedings.

He goes on to say that it is his belief "that the person who engaged the defendants (Red Flag) to prepare the dossier (the client) is Mr Declan Ganley".

Colm Keaveney said he believes he came to the attention of Karl Brophy, of Red Flag Consulting, after he contributed to The Late Debate on RTE Radio 1 in April 2015 on the issue of the acquisition by Denis O'Brien of Siteserv, the utility company which he bought from IBRC (the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation formerly known as Anglo Irish Bank) which was later awarded the contract to install water meters nationwide.

Expand Close Colm Keaveney / Facebook

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"I was of the view that an inquiry should be conducted into its sale... Mr Brophy sought to play a very active role in trying to influence me as regards my position in relation to the plaintiff [Denis O'Brien] and as regards the content of my contributions to the Dail debates in relation to the plaintiff and/or Siteserv," he said in the affidavit opened during the case.

The result was a gripping series of texts, which Keaveney claims were sent to him "in many instances unprompted and unsolicited" by Karl Brophy in which "he sought to lobby me". On a word count basis, Mr Brophy sent texts consisting of 2,636 words as against 278 words in reply from Mr Keaveney.

"I do not seek to resile from my stated position in Dail Eireann," adds Mr Keaveney. "However, I can confirm to the court that Mr Brophy was active in seeking to undermine the plaintiff [Denis O'Brien] and seeks to do so in Dail Eireann." He adds: "I became increasingly uncomfortable with the manner in which Mr Brophy sought to include me in what to me became a clear agenda by him (and the defendants) to damage the plaintiff [Denis O'Brien] personally. I realised that the information provided by Mr Brophy and his input lacked objectivity and was unbalanced and extreme."

A flavour of the texts to Mr Keaveney, then a Fianna Fail TD - as set out in Mr Keaveney's affidavit - goes as follows:

Expand Close Declan Ganley / Facebook

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April 24/25, 2015: "Journalist very close to the story with access to the IBRC files tells me that DOB's loans were sold (to him) at a discount by the liquidator. Not a huge discount... Saving of 'low single digit millions' apparently. Still millions and still taxpayers' cash. Given to the richest man in Ireland. Journalist tells me at that point loans were in region of 300m (Denis had reduced them from (854m)."

May 1: "Can't really talk as home with the wife and you're pretty close to the top of her list of least favourite people which suits me fine as few would suspect me of speaking to the politician who touted her package after leaving Education around town! By the way, keep mentioning World Press Freedom Day, this Sunday. Journalists will love that."

May 2, 2015 following stories in Sunday newspapers: "Politically this is dynamite and you can win over journalists at the same time. No need to overcook it, keep feeding the lines. Use Dail where you need to."

May 4: "Also, if your man is looking for lines for his speech: What is it about a billionaire tax resident that Fine Gael find so attractive?"

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A solicitor with the firm Eames Solicitors (representing Mr O'Brien), Diarmuid O'Comhain, in a further affidavit opened last week said these briefings by Karl Brophy were an attempt "to induce journalists and politicians, including but not limited to Mr Keaveney, Tom Lyons of the Sunday Business Post and David Murphy of RTE to adopt positions adverse to the plaintiff [Denis O'Brien]".

These included a text on May 2, 2015: "Somebody needs to ask about the write down. More importantly you need to stitch Enda, Lowry, Phil, Noonan, etc in to doing deals with DOB (Denis O'Brien)."

Contact between Karl Brophy and Colm Keaveney and his parliamentary assistant Alan Hynes also related to parliamentary questions and amendments suggested by Red Flag Consulting to a speech Mr Keaveney planned to deliver in the Dail.

An email sent by Seamus Conboy to Mr Keaveney in relation to this assured him: "Today you've had not one but two of Dublin's finest spinners writing for you..."

The affidavits opened in court also include rebuttal of Mr Brophy's denial that he "encouraged and assisted Mr (Neil) Ryan to share information in breach of confidence".

Mr Ryan was assistant secretary in the Department of Finance. A text message dated April 26, 2015, to Mr Keaveney from Karl Brophy went as follows: "The Assistant Secretary who oversaw IBRC and banks in Dept of Finance and is still there wants a very confidential non-meeting with your leader to give him some information. Do you want to organise?"

There followed a series of texts between Mr Keaveney and Micheal Martin making arrangements to meet Mr Ryan.

"A plain reading of the text messages appears to suggest that Mr Brophy, having been told that Mr Ryan wanted to speak out, arranged a meeting to do so with Mr Micheal Martin TD and leader of Fianna Fail, the main opposition party. Not only did he arrange the meeting but he communicated considerable extra detail to Mr Keaveney about the matter that Mr Ryan wanted to speak to Mr Martin about," said Mr O'Comhain.

Michael Collins SC, counsel for Red Flag, told the court that an analysis of the texts showed that Mr Brophy had only introduced Mr Keaveney to Mr Ryan, but it was the former Fianna Fail TD (Keaveney) who set up the meeting with his party leader, Micheal Martin.

The court was told last week that Mr Ryan denied ever having had confidential banking information of Denis O'Brien's and says he did not disclose any such information to any member of the Dail or any public relations firm.

Mr O'Comhain's affidavit also refers to the role played by The Irish Times journalist Peter Murtagh in ongoing developments in the case.

Articles which appeared in The Irish Times on January 27, 2018, "which were clearly written with the benefit of the affidavits of Mr Alan Hynes [Mr Keaveney's former parliamentary assistant] and Mr [Seamus] Conboy" before these affidavits had been presented to the court.

"The plaintiff [Mr O'Brien] is also most concerned about the conduct of Mr Peter Murtagh and/or The Irish Times and the email he/it sent Mr Keaveney on the February 6, 2018... which states as follows: 'Hi Colm, wanna talk, this one won't go away and you can still be on the side of the angels. Best Peter.'"

Mr Keaveney said in his affidavit: "I am not seeking to involve myself in disputes involving others and I and my family resent the intrusion by some media into our personal affairs, the most recent of which has been an email I received from the journalist Mr Peter Murtagh of The Irish Times who has called to my home uninvited, and repeatedly doorstepped me for comment on these proceedings as he has been reporting extensively on them.

"I particularly resent this pressure and perceive this as an attempt by a journalist to get me to change my evidence, this is even more so when this email is from a journalist who ought to be providing an impartial account of these proceedings but who, quite clearly, is not and appears to have an agenda of his own."

Mr Murtagh reported on the court case for The Irish Times on Wednesday and Thursday last week.

During those proceedings, Mark Harty SC, acting for Declan Ganley, said there was no evidence his client was Red Flag's "client".

He also said that the terms of a "deal" in which Denis O'Brien withdrew legal proceedings for defamation against Colm Keaveney should be disclosed.

Michael Cush SC, representing Denis O'Brien, read parts of an affidavit lodged by Alan Hynes [Mr Keaveney's former personal assistant in the Dail] concerning a "settlement" between Mr O'Brien and Mr Keaveney: "Mr Keaveney had initially indicated to me that the settlement offer was just a discussion but that he was minded to take it. A rough figure of 250,000 to settle the proceedings was mentioned to me by Mr Keaveney... At one stage Mr Keaveney told me that his response to Denis O'Brien's representative had been 'just tell me what he needs and I'll say it'."

Mr Hynes's affidavit added that this "taints" any evidence given by Mr Keaveney in the proceedings.

However, Michael Collins SC, for Red Flag, pointed out that "Mr Keaveney doesn't say 'it's all rubbish, I never got paid 250,000 or any sum by Mr O'Brien'. And he doesn't say and 'that allegation that I said I'd say whatever Mr O'Brien wants me to say' - he doesn't deny that... which is truly extraordinary when you consider the lengths of the detail he's gone to deal with a far lesser point, namely as to whether Mr Hynes had an input into the speech that he made in Dail Eireann".

Mr Keaveney's affidavit stated: "The last communication I had with Alan Hynes was via text message on August 3, 2016, when he thanked me for providing a positive work reference to him... I last spoke with Mr Hynes in July 2016. I did not meet any legal representative of the plaintiff [Denis O'Brien] until September 2017 and therefore I am at a loss to understand how Mr Hynes can ever [say] that I disclosed matters to him about the resolution of the proceedings taken by Mr O'Brien against me. The timing is entirely inaccurate it being over a year apart."

He added that Mr Hynes had sent him a text message on July 16, 2016, about the case, stating that it's "a murky extraordinary business, like much else surrounding the Red Flag story".

Ms Justice Miriam O'Regan, who heard the application in the High Court in Dublin over two days, will decide at a later date whether Mr Ganley should be joined as a defendant and whether the proceedings against Red Flag can be amended to the effect that Red Flag had encouraged an official of the Department of Finance, Neil Ryan, who was seconded to IBRC, to breach the Official Secrets Act by disclosing confidential information to the leader of Fianna Fail, Micheal Martin, regarding Denis O'Brien's banking affairs.Ireland has been a lagger in the debate on fake news, either complacent about the dangers or afraid of irking the US tech giants based here.

All that is likely to change with an abortion referendum on the horizon and European parliamentary elections around the corner in 2019.

Both polls have the potential to be influenced by fake news or as it is more accurately characterised "disinformation". It is very hard to distinguish disinformation from quality content on Facebook and Twitter because the perpetrators go to great lengths to disguise their real identity.

During the US presidential election, for example, Republican voters were bombarded with Facebook posts and tweets from account holders they thought were kindred spirits in Texas and elsewhere in the US - but were in fact coming from robots based in St Petersburg, Russia. The profile photos for the Russian bots were often emblazoned with the US flag and military veterans' insignia to hoodwink users.

There are now serious fears that the European Parliament elections in 2019 could similarly be influenced by industrial scale disinformation to elect pro-Russian MEPs throughout Eastern Europe.

It's one of the reasons European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker ordered a report into Fake News which was delivered earlier last week.

The 39-strong group was made up of academics, media, the tech giants (Facebook, Twitter, Google) and civic society representatives. We had two months, four meetings and many teleconferences to draw up the report which in the end was overwhelmingly agreed by the participants.

From the start the chair, Dutch law professor Madeleine de Cock Buning made it clear we would be working in a "pressure cooker" environment to come up with recommendations on tackling viral fake news on the social media platforms. I was appointed the "challenger" to the tech giants to prompt them to come up with fresh, imaginative and for them painful ways of curtailing the flow of State and 'for profit' disinformation.

It was funny to find myself the disruptor to Facebook and Google. But the social media companies are well aware they have a huge problem on their hands which must be tackled or they face European regulation.

Nor was it all one-sided. While platforms are responsible for the dissemination of huge volumes of junk news, they would point to one newspaper group whose campaign had led to a considerable drop in childhood vaccine take ups. Clearly, the problem goes way beyond politics and also covers established health and scientific facts - such as cancer causes and climate change - being eroded by interest groups propagating false science.

Now for the first time the report compels the social media companies to sign up to a code of practice. This code has a number of effects including taking the profit out of generating fake news. In the US Presidential election teenagers in a Macedonian "click farm" generated thousands of dollars a day from the advertisements around their fake pro-Trump news. The tech giants say they will stop this incentive to produce disinformation.

Similarly they must provide greater transparency about where the disinformation is coming from. Users are entitled to know if their news is coming from St Petersburg or Milan and who exactly is producing it.

For Twitter that will mean big decisions on the amount of anonymous users churning out hate and garbage. Irish users will be familiar with the multitude of anonymous tricolour emblazoned profile users who troll opponents on a consistent basis. The average user cannot tell if they are robots, political parties, activists or just one person with a grudge holding multiple accounts.

Significantly, independent academic researchers will be allowed to look at the algorithms which decide what news feeds you receive on Facebook. Facebook is an emotive medium meaning users are more likely to share content that provokes humour, disappointment or anger - all the elements used by foreign governments and troll factories to make disinformation viral. Investigating the secret tech algorithms which make content viral will provide greater transparency over social media.

Much of the criticism of the report here in Ireland and by the European Consumer Group says it goes too easy on the platforms. In effect the tech companies have been given two months to clean up their act and have been given the summer to implement the changes. If there is no improvement by November, the High Level Group will report again on the situation and the platforms then face the prospect of regulation or co-regulation. They could also face a European Commission sector inquiry and the e-Commerce Directive - which allows them immunity from legal sanction for the content they carry - could also come under pressure.

From the outset, the group agreed the term "fake news" had become weaponised by all sides in the political debate. Disinformation on the other hand is described as "all forms of false, inaccurate or misleading information designed, presented and promoted to intentionally cause public harm or for profit".

There was widespread agreement that laws cracking down on disinformation were double edged as they could also be used to curtail free speech. The experience of fake news laws in Germany introduced earlier this year was cited by German media as an example of where the State had overreacted.

The report will provide for greater transparency around online news but it also recommends Europe spends more money promoting media and information literacy in our schools to ensure children can more easily identify the junk.

It also identifies safeguarding "the diversity and sustainability of the European news media ecosystem" as a priority if we are to drown out the disinformation with verified and trusted information.

Another area that has attracted headlines is the recommendation to set up research centres to monitor the tech giants, evaluate their actions and "constantly adjust the necessary responses".

The importance of the Commission report is that it means action will come centrally from Europe as here in Ireland there is a reluctance in government to upset in any way the tech giants who provide so many jobs in Silicon Docks.

At the same time concentration of tech expertise here means we would be an ideal centre for research into the platforms and how they are responding to disinformation.

The problem, however, will not be going away any time soon.

Also on the group were renowned Italian journalists Gianni Riotta and Federico Fubini. Riotta was able to tell us that during this month's general election, 10pc of comment on Italian social media was generated from Eastern Europe.

It gives us an idea of what to expect in the upcoming referendum, European elections and our General Election whenever that may be.

Presenting the report to Digital Single Market Commissioner Mariya Gabriel last Monday, the chairwoman Madeleine de Cock Buning said it was something that should be implemented in its entirety and not piecemeal. With Juncker's backing that has a better chance of happening.

Stephen Rae is Group Editor-in-Chief at Independent News & Media. He is a member of the European Commission High Level Group on Disinformation and board member at the World Editors Forum

Download our podcast at www.independent.ie/fightingfakenewsPanther the cat, who returned to his owners five years after disappearing

After five years without her cat, Nguhi Muturi never expected to see him again, but the story of how the pet came back into her life stunned her and just about everybody else who heard it.

Nguhi, 23, got a kitten when she was nine years old in Dallas, Texas, and named it Panther. Panther lived with Nguhi until she left for college, at which point the feline disappeared.

I loved him to pieces and used to write about him for every daily journal entry in school, Nguhi told the Press Association. We adopted him when he was a kitten months after we moved into this home.

He slipped out of the house and never came back.

Except he did come back, it just happened a whole five years later.

Nguhi told the story on Twitter to the amazement of thousands, but there was so much more to the story than a simple reappearance.

Sensational. Panthers journey took him to a shelter where he was picked up by a woman, who later gave the cat to her parents, who it turns out were Nguhis next-door neighbours.

While next door, he apparently became buddies with Trotsky the dog, now owned by Nguhi, which is a spin-off film surely everybody wants to see.

And the best part? While Panther will continue to live next door, Nguhi gets to go and visit him as she pleases, although she may have to call him Charlie from now on.

They are amazing people, said Nguhi of her neighbours. I hope they dont get annoyed with me coming too often, but now that I know hes close by Im not losing him again!

A fairy-tale ending and a story that wouldnt look out of place on the silver screen.Sen Toni Atkinse is to be the first woman and first lesbian to hold the California Senates top job (Rich Pedroncelli/AP)

California will see history made on Wednesday as Toni Atkins becomes the first woman and first lesbian to hold the top job in its senate.

A former Assembly speaker, Ms Atkins is taking over the post of senate president for the time being from fellow Democrat Kevin de Leon as the chamber gears up for election season and faces thorny challenges.

These include a reckoning over sexual misconduct, a loss of the Democratic super-majority and an icy relationship with the state Assembly.

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Ms Atkins, whose colleagues describe her as measured, said she is not focused on making headlines.

I think youre going to see my focus will be internally so youre not going to get any big pronouncements, she said.

Senate Democrats lost their super-majority last month when Los Angeles-area Senator Tony Mendoza resigned rather than face a very rare expulsion vote over sexual misconduct allegations, although he is running again for the same seat.

Critics have said that with sexual misconduct, the statehouse culture values the protection of lawmakers over justice for victims.

They said incidents of inappropriate behaviour are swept under the carpet, and an inconsistent, haphazard investigation process leads victims to suffer in silence for fear that coming forward would only harm them.

Sharp disagreements over handling sexual misconduct investigations, a single-payer health care bill and other issues of style and substance have driven a wedge between the Senate and Assembly.

Ms Atkins said her early work will be focused on running the Senate, including developing a process to deal with sexual harassment allegations.

Other efforts to put her stamp on the senate, like reshuffling committee assignments, will come later.

Mr De Leon took control of the Senate in 2014 but is barred by term limits from seeking re-election and is challenging Democratic US senator Dianne Feinstein.

Ms Atkins will have an unusually long run in the senates top job if she keeps the support of fellow Democrats, as she is not term-limited until 2024.

She is tough as nails. But she has a huge heartScott Wiener, Democrat senator

Ms Atkins, who has pushed forward groundbreaking legislation on health care, LGBT rights and housing, is described by colleagues as kind, measured and compassionate but steadfast in her commitment to fighting for people and ideas she believes in.

When people first interact with Toni, what they see is a very unassuming, low-key person who has a bit of an earth mother effect about her, said Senator Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat.

People sometimes mistake that for weakness. But what they dont see is right underneath that surface is pure steel. She is tough as nails. But she has a huge heart.

Ms Atkins, 55, is in her first four-year term as a senator after six years in the Assembly, where she also set a milestone as the first openly gay woman to serve as speaker.

Mr Wiener, who is gay, said having a member of the LGBT community in one of the states most powerful positions will ensure that issues they face do not take a back seat now that same-sex marriage is legal.

Originally from Appalachian Virginia, Atkins moved west and was a health care administrator in San Diego before turning full time to politics.

Last year, Ms Atkins was a driving force behind a successful push to raise money for subsidised housing by charging 75 dollars (54) for many real-estate transactions.

She was also the co-author of a contentious bill that would replace traditional health insurance companies with a single government-funded health care plan for everyone in the state.

She wrote a bill signed by Governor Jerry Brown to create a non-binary gender option on drivers licenses for people who do not identify themselves as male or female.

Sen Pat Bates, a Republican from Laguna Niguel and the Senate minority leader, said she is hopeful Ms Atkins will give Republicans more say in which committees they are assigned to and more notice before taking up legislation on the floor.

Sen Holly Mitchell, a black Los Angeles Democrat, said: Im thrilled that after over 100 years, when I walk down that corridor leading to the Senate floor that there will be a womans portrait there on the wall.

Im really excited to be a sitting member of the senate when we make history.Soon after enrolling as a graduate student at Cambridge University in 1964, I encountered a fellow student, two years ahead of me. He was unsteady on his feet and spoke with great difficulty, the result of a degenerative disease he had been diagnosed with. His name was Stephen Hawking, and it was thought he might not survive long enough to finish his PhD.

That he survived to the age of 76 is a medical marvel, but of course he didn't merely survive. Few, if any, of Einstein's successors have done more to deepen our insights into gravity, space and time.

Stephen was elected to the Royal Society, Britain's main scientific academy, at the exceptionally young age of 32. I worked in the same building and would often push his wheelchair into his office, where he would ask me to open an abstruse book on quantum theory. He would sit, hunched motionless for hours - unable to turn the pages without help. I wondered what was going through his mind.

Within a year, he came up with his best-ever idea - his "Eureka" moment into the nature of black holes - encapsulated in an equation that he wanted etched on his memorial stone.

After the onset of his disease, within a few years he was wheelchair-bound, his speech reduced to an indistinct croak that could only be interpreted by those who knew him. But, fortune had also favoured him. He married Jane Wilde, a family friend who gave him a supportive home life and their three children, Robert, Lucy and Tim.

Cambridge was Stephen's base throughout his career and he became a familiar figure, navigating around the city's streets in his wheelchair. By the end of the 1970s, he had advanced to one of the university's most distinguished posts - the Lucasian professorship of mathematics, once held by Newton himself. He held this chair with distinction for 30 years and, after retiring in 2009, was appointed a special research professorship.

In 1987, Stephen contracted pneumonia. He had to undergo a tracheotomy, which removed even the limited powers of speech he still had. It had been more than 10 years since he could write or use a keyboard. Without speech, the only way he could communicate was by directing his eye towards letters he had on a big board.

But he was saved by technology. At that time, he still had the use of one hand; and a computer, controlled by a single lever, allowed him to spell out sentences. These were then declaimed by a speech synthesiser, complete with the androidal American accent that became his trademark.

His lectures were, of course, pre-prepared, but conversation remained a struggle. Each word involved several presses of the lever, so even a sentence took several minutes. He learnt to economise with words. His comments were aphoristic or oracular, but often infused with wit. Later, he became too weak to control this machine effectively, even via facial muscles or eye movements, and his communication - to his immense frustration - grew even slower.

His achievements aside, there was a human story behind Stephen's struggle.

The need for support (first from a succession of students, then later a team of nurses) strained his marriage to breaking point, especially when augmented by the pressure of his growing celebrity. Jane's book, on which The Theory of Everything is based, chronicles the 25 years during which, with amazing dedication, she underpinned his family life and career.

After Stephen and Jane divorced, in 1995, he married Elaine Mason, one of his nurses whose former husband had designed Stephen's speech synthesiser.

But this broke up within a decade.

He was sustained thereafter by a team of helpers and personal assistants, as well as his family. His daughter Lucy has written books for children with her father as co-author.

Why did Stephen become such a cult figure? The concept of an imprisoned mind roaming the cosmos plainly grabbed people's imagination. When the US edition of his 1988 book A Brief History of Time was published, the printers had made an error and a photograph appeared upside down. The publishers tried to recall the stock but, to their amazement, discovered all of the copies had already been sold. Four years on, it remained on bestseller lists around the world.

Stephen featured in numerous TV programmes including Star Trek and The Simpsons; his lectures filled the Royal Albert Hall and similar venues in the US and Japan. He spoke at Clinton's White House and was back there more recently when former president Obama presented him with the US Medal of Freedom. In the summer of 2012, he reached perhaps his largest-ever audience when he had a central role at the opening ceremony of the London Paralympic Games.

His 60th birthday celebrations in Cambridge in January 2002 were a memorable occasion for all of us. Hundreds of leading scientists came from all over the world to honour and celebrate Stephen's discoveries and to spend a week discussing the latest theories on space, time and the cosmos. But the celebrations weren't just scientific - that wasn't Stephen's style. He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren and there was music and singing. When the week was over, he finished it off with a trip in a hot-air balloon.

His 70th birthday was again marked by an international gathering of scientists in Cambridge, and also some razzmatazz. So was his 75th birthday, though it was shared by several million people via a live stream on the internet. He was, in these last years, plainly weakening.

Stephen was far from being the archetype of an unworldly or nerdish scientist - his personality remained amazingly unwarped by his frustrations and handicaps. Even into his last decade, he was still able to deliver entertaining (and sometimes rather moving) lectures via his speech synthesiser and with the aid of skilfully prepared visuals.

He also loved to travel, often involving an entourage of assistants and nurses. On a trip to Canada, he was undeterred by having to go two miles down a mineshaft to visit an underground laboratory.

When he visited Israel in 2006, he insisted on going to the West Bank.

Newspapers published remarkable photographs of him surrounded by fascinated and curious crowds in Ramallah.

Even more astonishing are the photographs of him "floating" in the Nasa aircraft (the "vomit comet") that allows passengers to experience weightlessness - he was manifestly overjoyed at escaping, albeit briefly, the clutches of the gravitational force he'd studied for decades and which had so cruelly imprisoned his body.

As well as his extensive travels, he enjoyed trips to the theatre and the opera. He had robust common sense, and was ready to express forceful political opinions. His fame, and the allure of his public appearances, gave him the resources for nursing care, and protected him against the indignity that disabled people often endure.

One downside of his iconic status, however, was that his comments attracted exaggerated attention, even on topics where he had no special expertise - for instance, philosophy, or the dangers of aliens or intelligent machines.

There was, however, absolutely no gainsaying his lifelong commitment to campaigns for disabled people and, in just the last few months, in support of the NHS, to which he acknowledged he owed so much. He was always sensitive to the misfortunes of others. When in hospital soon after he was diagnosed with his illness, his depression was lifted when he compared his lot with a boy in the next bed who was dying of leukaemia.

Tragedy struck Stephen Hawking when he was only 22. He was diagnosed with a deadly disease, and his expectations dropped to zero. He himself said that everything that happened since then was a bonus. And what a triumph his life has been.

Professor Stephen Hawking, born January 8 1942, died March 14.

Lord Rees of Ludlow is the British Astronomer Royal

 Telegraph

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]The use of a rare military grade nerve agent in the attempted assassination of Sergei Skripal in England was a deliberately provocative move by Moscow.

The Russian government knew that blame for the attack would quickly be laid at the Kremlin's door. The West would be outraged, diplomats expelled, and further sanctions imposed. President Putin's regime wants us to think that they do not care.

The point of the attack was to send a message to the West: if we are capable of using chemical weapons in the UK, then tread lightly in future when it comes to Ukraine, Syria and the recruitment of intelligence agents, assistance to dissidents in Russia.

What if anything does this have to do with Ireland? The answer is that Ireland, too, is already under attack from Russia. Irish cyber security analysts have noted a significant escalation in Russian cyber attacks on the Irish public and private sector alike. This is part of a wider general pattern of increased Russian intelligence activity in Ireland.

Moscow abides by few if any rules when it comes to espionage. Critical national infrastructure - health, water, electricity services - is increasingly at risk, as the Russian state-linked cyber attack on ESB demonstrated last year.

Ciaran Martin, the Northern Irish head of the UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), has warned that a Category One (C1) attack - crippling an area of critical national infrastructure for a period - is highly probable in the next few years. Responding to and containing a C1 attack on the UK will be a significant challenge for both states. The risk of contagion is obvious.

Ireland is an important cyber battlefield between Russia and the West. Some of the most sophisticated software companies in the world are based here, producing technology that is invested in and utilised by governments and businesses from around the world. Russia wants to hack these companies to steal secrets that gives it an advantage in the escalating cyber war.

Ireland is not only a technology hub but it is also the fibre-optic bridge for superfast internet cables between North America and Europe; the protection of these cables in Irish waters is a matter of increasing concern to our Nato allies.

What is the Government doing to counter this threat?

There is some good news. The drawing up of a national cyber security strategy, the establishment and resourcing of an Irish National Cyber Security Centre and the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau are positive steps to deal with the increased threat from Russia and others who wish to steal information from the Irish Government and private sector.

But there are limitations to what the NCSC and gardai can do. The NCSC monitors, warns and responds to cyber security threats, particularly with respect to the private sector - a useful function in itself. However, it is not a signals intelligence service with a mission to gather, secure and exchange online intelligence to further Irish national security interests.

Ireland must also have the capacity to keep intelligence received from foreign partners secure - doubts persist in the US and in Europe about whether Ireland has the security infrastructure to do so, limiting the extent of intelligence that foreign governments will share. But the State also has sensitive policy differences relating to on-going discussions with even its closest allies such as the UK. These must remain secret.

The Garda Crime and Security Branch has won a reputation at home and abroad for resourcefulness and tenacity. But ultimately specialised units such as Security and Intelligence and the National Cyber Crime Bureau are relatively starved of resources compared with many similarly sized European countries.

Crime detection, evidence collection for the purposes of prosecution and conviction are rightly often the criteria by which Government ministers and the public judge the performance of their police service. Security intelligence is more focused on collecting information, often secret, that informs policymakers about possible or emerging threats in the cyber domain, other foreign intelligence activities or in counter-terrorism - threats that may not yet warrant a major police investigation, operation or arrests.

Asking a single Assistant Commissioner to assume responsibility for both these distinctive, if complementary roles - investigating serious crimes and analysing possible future threats - is excessive. A separation, at least, is required within An Garda Siochana. Both major crime investigation and security intelligence should not have to compete for attention and resources from the same branch.

As well as establishing a signals intelligence service the Government should appoint a National Security Adviser to work as the principal secretary to the Government Security Committee, chair quadrennial reviews of national security, devise and monitor implementation of inter-departmental plans to enhance security and produce all-source intelligence assessments.

He or she would lead a National Security Secretariat situated in and reporting to the Taoiseach.

The Government should also move to introduce a National Security Bill, articulating its case for increased security vigilance and more effective oversight (including by the judiciary) over the national intelligence function. All these measures will require a modest investment of political and fiscal capital. But the dividends are critically important: nothing less than the measure of Irish sovereignty in the 21st Century is at stake.

Dr Edward Burke is Assistant Professor in International Relations at the University of Nottingham. His book, An Army of Tribes: British Army Cohesion, Deviancy and Murder in Northern Ireland, is published in paperback this month by Liverpool University PressA polling station employee hangs a list of candidates for the 2018 Russian presidential election during preparations for the election at a polling station in St Petersburg, Russia. Photo: AP

Russia expelled 23 British diplomats yesterday in a carefully calibrated retaliatory move against London, which has accused the Kremlin of orchestrating a nerve toxin attack on a former Russian double agent and his daughter in southern England.

Escalating a crisis in relations, Russia said it was also shutting down the activities of the British Council, which fosters cultural links between the two countries, and Britain's consulate-general in St Petersburg.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said it was giving the 23 diplomats one week to leave the country.

The move followed Britain's decision on Wednesday to expel 23 Russian diplomats over the attack in the English city of Salisbury which left former Russian spy Sergei Skripal (66) and his daughter Yulia Skripal (33) critically ill in hospital.

Moscow announced the measures on the eve of a presidential election which incumbent Vladimir Putin should comfortably win.

Putin has cast his country as a fortress besieged by hostile Western powers with him as its defender, and state media is likely to portray the anti-British move in that context.

The Foreign Ministry said Moscow's measures were a response to what it called Britain's "provocative actions and groundless accusations".

It warned London it stood ready to take further measures in the event of more "unfriendly steps".

Relations between London and Moscow have crashed to a post-Cold War low over the Salisbury attack, the first known offensive use of a nerve agent in Europe since World War II.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said Britain would consider its next steps alongside its allies in the coming days.

"We will never tolerate a threat to the life of British citizens and others on British soil from the Russian government. We can be reassured by the strong support we have received from our friends and allies around the world," May said in London.

UK foreign minister Boris Johnson added to the criticism, writing in yesterday's Washington Post that the nerve-agent incident is "part of a pattern of reckless behaviour" by the leader, citing Russia's annexation of Crimea, cyberattacks in Ukraine, the hacking of Germany's parliament and Russia's interference in US elections.

The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the British ambassador, Laurie Bristow, to a meeting yesterday morning in central Moscow at its Stalin-era headquarters during which he was informed of the retaliatory measures.

Britain's foreign ministry said it had anticipated Russia's response and its priority now was looking after its staff in Russia and helping those who will return home.

"Russia's response doesn't change the facts of the matter - the attempted assassination of two people on British soil, for which there is no alternative conclusion other than that the Russian state was culpable." it said in a statement.

Russia's response was more robust than expected.

The closure of the British Council's Moscow office will sever cultural ties, while that of the consulate-general in St Petersburg will end Britain's diplomatic presence in Russia's second city.

Russian news agencies cited politicians in Russia's upper house of parliament as welcoming the move to close the British Council, alleging it had been used as a cover by British spies. The British Council said it was profoundly disappointed by Russia's decision and remained committed to developing long-term people-to-people links with Russia despite the closure.

Russia has complained that Britain has failed to provide any evidence of its involvement in the Salisbury attack and has said it is shocked and bemused by the allegations.

 Associated PressA fortnight ago, Marina Litvinenko was in Germany on a trip with her son when her phone rang. It was a friend calling from the UK.

"Have you heard the news?" they asked.

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"What news?" Litvinenko replied, before turning on the television.

That was how she learned of the attempted murder of Sergei Skripal, the former Russian spy, and Yulia, his daughter. The pair were discovered seriously ill by passers-by on a bench after leaving a restaurant in Salisbury on March 4.

An investigation found they had been poisoned by a nerve agent developed by the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s, although exactly how they were attacked and by whom is still being probed.

France, Germany and the US have backed the UK's assessment that Russian involvement is the "only plausible explanation", despite Russian denials.

"I couldn't believe it," Litvinenko (55) says now, sitting at a table outside a busy central London restaurant in the spring sunshine. "It was happening again."

For Litvinenko, this has brought back traumatic memories of her own husband's death 12 years before. Alexander Litvinenko, a former spy and critic of Vladimir Putin, was fatally poisoned in London in November 2006, when he ingested radioactive polonium-210, believed to have been administered in a cup of tea.

A 2016 public inquiry concluded there was a "strong probability" he was murdered by two agents on the president's personal orders. One of them, Andrei Lugovoi, is now an elected MP in Russia, frequently appearing on state television as a pundit in the wake of the Skripal poisoning.

After the inquiry into Alexander Litvinenko's death, Theresa May - who was then home secretary - wrote to his wife saying she would "take every step to protect the UK and its people from such a crime ever being repeated". No action was ever taken. And now, two more victims are critically ill in hospital.

"You can say the right words and it means nothing," says Marina. "You have to do the right action, too."

She believes the prime minister's announcement that the UK would be expelling 23 Russian diplomats in retaliation for the attack is too little, too late: "I've been waiting 10 years for her to do that. But it was an obvious reaction and I hope there will be more measures to come."

What does she make of Jeremy Corbyn claiming through his spokesman last week that there was not enough proof Russia was behind the attack?

"It's maybe naive," she says. "While this person [Putin] is in power, you will not be able to build any good [diplomatic] relationship.

"Because what happened in 2006 and what happened now is a terrorist attack.

"Do you want to do business with terrorists?" She pauses. "At least terrorists say when they're responsible."

As yet, no one from the UK government has reached out to Litvinenko either to seek her advice or co-operation. That's pretty shocking, I say.

"I know!" She gives a tired smile. "Maybe they're ashamed to look me in the eyes, but I would like to be helpful. There is a lot I could blame the British government for, but I am not looking for revenge."

In person, Litvinenko is a dignified woman. She speaks calmly and precisely in Russian-accented English. She does not raise her voice once. Occasionally when referring to her beloved "Sasha" (the affectionate diminutive for Alexander), her blue eyes fill with tears.

Her equilibrium is all the more astonishing given the circumstances. She still lives in London with Anatoly, her 23-year-old son, who was only 11 when his father died, and is certain that Russia monitors their movements.

She hasn't been back to her homeland since 2006 for fear of reprisals. Two years ago, her father died and she was unable to go to his funeral. Her mother is now 82 and it's clear that keeping in touch over FaceTime isn't the same as being by her side.

Is she scared? "What can I say?" Litvinenko shrugs. "I'm more worried about my son and the people I love."

A few days before we meet, it is reported that Nikolai Glushkov, a Russian exile who was close friends with Boris Berezovsky, the late oligarch, had been found dead in his London home at the age of 68.

On Friday, the police said a murder inquiry had been opened. Glushkov was a family friend and she and her son had known him for many years. "It was absolutely devastating," Litvinenko says.

"For my son, so many people he knew have died in his very short life. I try to help him not to get swamped by depression, but it's very difficult... I try to be a good mother."

Would Alexander be angry at what was happening now?

"Oh absolutely," she nods, pointing out that he warned against Russia's criminal intentions as far back as 1998. "I know that if Sasha had been alive, he might have been able to prevent what happened by giving information. It was his duty."

Back in 2006, when Litvinenko lay shrunken and pale in his hospital bed, it took two weeks for police to launch an investigation and only then because Litvinenko himself raised the possibility that he could have been poisoned.

With the Skripal poisoning, reaction has been far swifter, partly because, Marina says, "lessons have been learned".

"My husband was so strong he didn't die immediately and that meant the hospital could do tests to discover the polonium. I wish the UK government had listened to him earlier. It's very important to understand how serious this is: if you don't solve it now, the next thing will be terrible."

The Skripal case has led Yvette Cooper, the chairman of the home affairs select committee, to call for a review of 14 other deaths over the last two decades in the UK with suspected links to Russia.

I tell Marina I feel naive for not having grasped the extent of what might have been a troubling pattern of state-sponsored murder on British soil. She smiles. "You're not naive," she says. "You're normal. You can't always be having these thoughts."

But for Marina, these thoughts do not go away. She will continue to speak out on behalf of her late husband, no matter what the personal cost might be. "My husband was killed, I couldn't protect him," she says finally. "But I want to give him a voice for the people who didn't listen to him when he was alive."

 Telegraph

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]Vladimir Putin's victory in Russia's presidential election today isn't in doubt. The only real question is whether voters will turn out in big enough numbers to hand him a convincing mandate for his fourth term - and many Russian workers are facing intense pressure to do so.

Yevgeny Roizman, the mayor of Russia's fourth-largest city Yekaterinburg, said in a recent video blog that local officials and state employees have all received orders "from higher up" to make sure that the vote turnout is over 60pc.

"They are using everything: schools, kindergartens, hospitals - the battle for the turnout is unprecedented," said Roizman, one of the rare opposition politicians to hold a significant elected office.

A doctor at one of the city's hospitals explained how one kind of pressure works. The doctor, who gave her name only as Yekaterina because of fears repercussions, said she and her co-workers were told to fill out forms detailing not only where they would cast their ballots, but giving the names and details of two "allies" whom they promise to persuade to go vote.

"It's not something you can argue about," she said at a cafe yesterday. "People were indignant at first, said 'They're violating our rights' ... but what can you do?"

Yekaterina said she isn't sure what she'll do with her ballot, musing that "maybe I'll just write 'Putin is a moron.'" But she clearly understands that not showing up at the polls today will not only endanger her job but will reflect badly on her boss, whom she likes. She added that she wouldn't go to vote if she wasn't forced to.

"What's the point? We already know the outcome. This is just a circus show," she said.

Putin urged Russians to "use their right to choose the future for the great Russia that we all love." He warned that failure to vote would mean "this decisive choice will be made without your opinion taken into account."

While Putin has seven challengers on the ballot, none is a threat. The last time he faced voters in 2012, he faced serious opposition, but since then he has boosted his popularity thanks to Russian military actions in Ukraine and Syria.

More than 1,500 international observers are joining thousands of Russian observers to watch the vote. A Russian election monitoring group reported many smaller complaints - gimmicks such as discounted potatoes for people who vote, or schools holding special performances on election day to "lure" parents to polling stations.

In Moscow, first-time voters will be given free tickets for pop concerts featuring some of Russia's most popular artists - who have campaigned for Putin. For older voters, health authorities are offering free cancer screenings at selected polling stations.

Voters in Russia's Perm region said they were coming under pressure from their employers to vote - and to prove it. Messages were sent Friday to regional employees, warning that information about their voting habits would be submitted to management.

Putin has pledged to raise wages, fix health care and education, and to modernise run-down infrastructure.

Among his challengers is Ksenia Sobchak, a 36-year-old TV presenter. Some see Sobchak, daughter of Putin's one-time patron, as a Kremlin stooge to add a democratic veneer to the vote and help split the ranks of Kremlin critics.

Putin's main foe, Alexei Navalny, is barred from running because of a criminal conviction widely seen as politically motivated. Navalny has called for a boycott of the vote.

 Associated PressOops, I did it again. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images

On Friday night, Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe two days before his retirement, purportedly over McCabes lack of candor regarding the Hillary Clinton email investigation.

One reason this explanation raised so many eyebrows is that Sessions has such a complicated relationship with the truth himself.

On Sunday, Reuters reported that three sources have contradicted Sessionss claim, made under oath, that he opposed a Trump campaign plan to meet with Russians during the 2016 campaign.

The sources told Reuters that they had spoken to Special Counsel Robert Mueller or congressional committees investing Russian electoral interference about the discrepancy between what Sessions told Congress and what they recall.

A fourth source had told Reuters last year that Sessions opposed the meeting, and said on Sunday that he stood by that statement.

Testifying in November 2017, Sessions informed the House Judiciary Committee that he had pushed back on the idea of the Russian sit-down, which was proposed at a Trump campaign meeting by former adviser George Papadopoulos on March 31, 2016.

That gathering was captured in a photo, which helped puncture Trumps later claim that Papadopoulos was merely a low-level adviser on his campaign.

Weeks later, in April 2016, an academic with high-level connections to Russia told Papadopoulos that the Russian government had access to hacked Hillary Clinton emails. Papadopoulos divulged this information to an Australian diplomat at a London bar in May 2016, in a conversation that set in motion the FBI investigation into Russian electoral interference.

Throughout the spring of 2016, Papadopoulos continued to reach out to Russian sources to try to arrange a meeting between Trump and Russian officials, but was shot down by the campaign.

In October, he pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian government. He has been cooperating with Mueller since his arrest in July.

Sessions has been slippery  to put it generously  about Russia before. During his confirmation hearings last year, he said that he was not aware of any meetings between Trump campaign officials and representatives of the Russian government, neglecting to mention two meetings he had with Sergei Kislyak, the Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sessions claimed that he had met with Kislyak in his capacity as a U.S. Senator, not as a Trump surrogate. He later claimed that the meetings in question did not involve campaign-related issues  a version of events contradicted by Kislyak himself.

Sessionss duplicitousness led to his fateful recusal from the Russia investigation, paving the way for Muellers appointment.

But remember, when it comes to firing political enemies of President Trump, the attorney general is deeply concerned about honesty.A crab caught by a potter off the coast of Donegal tomorrow afternoon will be for sale in a Beijing or Shanghai supermarket by Wednesday. Irish milk is now the biggest ingredient in high quality baby formula sold across China. Irish beef has crossed all political hurdles and will be imported to China later this year.

It is a remarkable operation and supply chain that enables fresh Irish food to be sold in stores 10,000km away. As a nation, we are one of the most food-secure on the planet and produce 10 times what our population needs. However, it's the quality, as well as the quantity, of Irish produce that means the Chinese market is booming.

That farm-to-fork time will be slashed further from June when two direct flights begin operating between Dublin and Beijing as well as Dublin and Hong Kong. Hainan Airlines, the biggest private airline in China, takes flight with the 10-hour Beijing route on June 12. Cathay Pacific will pilot its inaugural 12-hour flight to Hong Kong on June 2.

Irish potential in China goes beyond food to the tourism, business and people opportunities of the first direct air links with the world's second biggest economy.

More than 100,000 airplane seats each year will bring multi-billion euro potential in trade and two-way tourism and our shared visa program with our neighbours in Britain means our islands can be sold as a joint cultural, heritage and adventure package.

When it comes to business, the sky is the limit. The Chinese foreign minister informed me in a meeting last week that Ireland's trade growth with China last year, at 37pc, was the highest they recorded. Trade between our two nations was 7bn four years ago. It more than doubled to 15bn last year - and for nine years in a row we have had a trade surplus in Ireland's favour. The Irish/Chinese potential is already more than a concept, it is in practice all over China.

Last week, as I visited Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing, I met students from Irish colleges working on their Chinese language skills, and Irish families who are making their careers and their homes in China.

Some of our biggest firms - like Kerry Group and CRH - are among the 300 Irish companies doing business in China. And major Chinese firms, such as Bank of China, China Power and Huawei, are making significant investments in Ireland.

At every stop on my travels here, from meetings with ministers to CEOs, I have been asked for reassurances on Brexit and Ireland remaining within the EU. In every speech and conversation I have emphasised our central place within the EU. Our embassy, consulates and state agencies constantly do the same.

Brexit is never far from my mind or my meetings, no matter where I am in the world - and this growing closeness with China is another reminder of the regret we have at any prospect of distance growing between Ireland and the UK on trade.

In recent weeks, the revulsion that we have felt at a foreign assassin using a military-grade nerve agent on British soil reinforces that the British are not only our friends, but in many cases our family.

Some of the handful of people in British politics and media who demand the European Union respects their sovereignty have at the same time briefed and misinformed media - and personally attacked the Taoiseach and I for robustly standing up for our sovereignty.

Some of the misinformation - for example, the attempt to dilute and downgrade the Irish protocol or rewrite December's backstop agreement - has even made it as far as the floor of the Dail.

I will be home to Cork for a few hours today before flying to Brussels for what is going to be a significant week, with a European Council decision on progressing Brexit negotiations due next Friday.

Brexit is just over one year away and tomorrow morning I will sit down with Michel Barnier and the Commission task force for a detailed briefing on their engagement with the British team on the Irish issues.

Clearly if we are to support moving the negotiation on this Friday, then we need to know the British side is engaging seriously on the draft withdrawal agreement - including the Irish protocol.

The EU and Ireland have always been resolute that there can be no backsliding on December's agreement - and so this week is a test to ensure that commitments are being fully upheld.

We remain firm that guarantees given on avoiding a hard border cannot be undermined.

This is about more than economics, this is about a hard-won peace and society in Ireland and Northern Ireland.

The more I meet people across the island of Ireland and discuss Brexit, the more I am convinced that the peace achieved here goes to the core of who we are.

It isn't something to be jeopardised - and that is why the Government insisted on the December deal.

I have said it many times and I'll say it again: Ireland wants to work with Britain to find solutions that allow as close a relationship as possible - but the border issues must be resolved in a credible and comprehensive way.

Hopefully we can make progress on that this week.

Simon Coveney TD is Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and TradeDodging or abusing pension responsibilities will be made a crime under the plans (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

Rogue bosses who risk workers pensions face being jailed for up to two years under plans to criminalise unscrupulous business activities.

Theresa May said a new package of measures would help protect staff by cracking down on the irresponsible few at the top of companies.

It comes after the collapse of BHS in 2016 with a 571 million deficit in its pot for 19,000 pension holders.

The Prime Minister said: It is absolutely vital that people who work hard and contribute to society throughout their career can have the confidence that their pension will pay out in retirement.

I am committed to making sure our economy works for everyone  backing businesses to create good jobs but stepping in to make sure they play by the rules.

Thats why my Government is making sure the Pensions Regulator has the powers it needs to crack down on the minority of businesses who shirk their responsibilities.

The action we are taking will ensure that the majority of responsible employees, employers and pension schemes will no longer have to bail out the irresponsible fewTheresa May

The action we are taking will ensure that the majority of responsible employees, employers and pension schemes will no longer have to bail out the irresponsible few.

Dodging or abusing pension responsibilities will be made a crime under the plans and the regulator will be given powers to intervene earlier when problems are suspected.

The Insolvency Service will also be given extra powers to help protect employees and small suppliers from reckless company directors.

Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey said: Up and down the country the vast majority of employers are doing the right thing and acting in the best interests of their staff.

But we have seen what can go wrong, therefore we will clamp down on and  where appropriate  punish directors who wilfully or recklessly put pension schemes at risk.

It is right that those responsible face tougher sanctions and we need to make sure that the Pensions Regulator has the powers in place to act swiftly when action is needed.Vladimir Putin has cast his ballot in the Russian presidential election, seeking a mandate for a fourth term.

The Russian president is certain to win in Sundays election, so voter apathy is widespread.

Authorities have spent unprecedented funds to get out the vote to ensure he has a strong mandate for his next six years in office.

Some 145,000 observers are monitoring the voting in the worlds largest country, including 1,500 foreigners and representatives from opposition leader Alexei Navalnys political movement.

Mr Navalny himself is barred from running. President Putin faces seven challengers but none poses a serious threat.Syria's President Bashar Assad speaks with troops during a visit to the front line in the newly captured areas of eastern Ghouta, near the capital Damascus (AP)

Syrias President Bashar Assad has visited troops on the front line in the newly captured areas of eastern Ghouta, near the capital Damascus, hailing their recent advances as a part of a larger battle against global terrorism.

Standing in a neighbourhood street, Mr Assad congratulated his troops during the visit broadcast on state-run Al-Ikhbariya TV.

We are proud of you, he said.

He told the soldiers that they are not only fighting for the region but also to rid the world of terrorism.

With every bullet you fire at a terrorist, you change the balance in the world, Mr Assad said.

Syrias government views all its opposition as terrorists.

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Mr Assads visit comes on the week the war enters its eighth year, a war that has devastated large parts of Syria, and displaced nearly half of the population.

What started as peaceful protests against his familys long rule turned into a civil war after a heavy crackdown.

The government fought the opposition for years, using its air force and artillery and solicited help from its Russian and Iranian allies, who threw their weight behind Mr Assad.

Recapturing eastern Ghouta, a short drive away from the Syrian capital, would mark the biggest victory yet for President Bashar Assad in the countrys civil war.

The area has been under rebel control since 2012.

It would also be the worst setback for rebels since the opposition was ousted from eastern Aleppo in late 2016 after a similar siege and bombing campaign.

Mr Assad stood near a tank and was surrounded by soldiers on a street in eastern Ghouta, the region near Damascus where a government offensive has been underway over the past month.

The soldiers cheered and pumped fists in the air.

Mr Assad, who wore a suit with no tie, flashed smiles and stopped for chats with soldiers.

Some soldiers posed with him, taking selfies.

It was not clear where in eastern Ghouta Mr Assad was.

Mr Assad then climbed on top of a tank and looked around, before stepping down, also surrounded by soldiers.

He told them the residents of the capital, who have come under repeated fire and shelling from the rebel-held areas, appreciate the soldiers advances.

He later went on to meet with a group of newly evacuated residents from eastern Ghouta.

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The images were also posted on the official Presidency social media sites.

On the front lines in eastern Ghouta, President Assad with the heroes of the Arab Syrian Army, the Presidency page said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Syrian government is now in control of over 80% of the area.

Earlier Sunday, state media said Syrian troops had entered Saqba, a town in a southern pocket of eastern Ghouta.

It was the latest town to be captured by the Syrian troops and allied militia in a swift advance over the last few days.

Al-Ikhbariya TV hailed it as a major victory.

Over the past week, Syrian troops and allied fighters divided the sprawling eastern Ghouta region into three parts, isolating residential areas and facilitating the military advance.

Tens of thousands of residents have fled the southern pocket of eastern Ghouta.

On Sunday, and after days of relative calm in the northern pocket, the Observatory reported new intense shelling on Douma, the largest town in eastern Ghouta.The Turkish military and allied Syrian forces have taken total control of the town centre of Afrin, the target of an offensive against the Kurdish militia.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the Turkish flag and the flag of the Syrian opposition fighters have been raised in the town, previously controlled by the Kurdish militia known as the Peoples Defense Units, or YPG.

Many of the terrorists had turned tail and run away already, Mr Erdogan said in a speech in western Turkey.

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Turkey views the Kurdish forces in the Afrin enclave along the border as terrorists linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which has waged a decades-long insurgency within Turkeys borders.

Ankara launched the operation, codenamed Olive Branch, against the town and surrounding areas on January 20, slowly squeezing the militia and hundreds of thousands of civilians into the town centre.

A Kurdish official, Hadia Yousef, said the YPG was still fighting inside the town, but had evacuated the remaining civilians because of massacres.

But Salih Muslim, a senior Kurdish official living in exile in Europe, tweeted that Kurdish fighters had withdrawn, saying the struggle will continue and the Kurdish people will keep defending themselves.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said nearly 200,000 people have fled the Afrin region in recent days amid heavy airstrikes, entering Syrian government-held territory nearby.

Syrian State TV on Sunday broadcast footage of a long line of vehicles and civilians on foot leaving Afrin.New Delhi, Mar 18 (IBNS): A 60-year-old man was allegedly beaten to death over a scuffle regarding filling water from a tanker in northwest Delhi's Wazirpur, media reports said.

Three people have been arrested and a juvenile has been apprehended in connection with the case.

The deceased has been identified as Lal Bahadur who lived with his family in SS Nagar in Wazirpur Industrial area.

According to reports, a scuffle broke between Lal Bahadur' s son Rohit and the accused around 3 PM on Saturday soon after the tanker arrived in the area and people of the colony gathered to fill water.

Lal Bahadur tried to stop the fight between his son and the accused , which broke over who could fill water first, but was attacked.

Soon he lost consciousness due to the thrashing and was then rushed to a hospital.

He was declared brought dead by the hospital authorities.

Two people were arrested from the spot and the other two were caught during a police raid.Srinagar, Mar 18 (IBNS): Five members of a family were killed in heavy shelling by Pakistani forces in Balakote sector in Mendhar area near the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district on Sunday morning.

Three children among five members of a family were killed in the firing.

According to reports, Pakistan started shelling the civilian areas in Balkote sector in Mendhar and the shells pounded several homes.

One family of Mohammad Ramzan lost its five members.

Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan, his wife and three minor sons were killed as shells hit their house in Devta Dhar village in Balakote sector.

His two daughters are injured in the attack.



(With inputs by Saleem Qadri)

New Delhi, Mar 18 (IBNS): Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday targeted the current Central government over numerous issues and said its expenditure in defence sector is 'inadequate'.

"The defense expenditure of our country is no more than 1.6% of our GDP. This is far too inadequate to meet the challenges of our security apparatus and our needs," Manmohan Singh said in the Congress Plenary session here.

He said current Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who replaced him after 2014 Lok Sabha victory, only made 'tall promises' and its implementation in the present scenario is 'unthinkable'.

"The BJP Govt. made tall promises. PM Modi himself said that his Govt will double farmers' income. For that, a growth rate of 12% p.a. is necessary which is unthinkable in the current scenario," Singh said.

Singh also accused that the current government at the Centre has 'mismanaged issues in J&K like never before'.

"The Modi govt. has mismanaged issues in J&K like never before. They have installed a Govt where the two wings of the administration are working against each other. The atmosphere is deteriorating everyday," Singh said as he hinted at the BJP-PDP alliance in the state.

Singh said the Congress will be able to provide the nation a new pathway to handle the upcoming challenges faced by it.

"India stands at the crossroads. We have opportunities, but we also have challenges. The Congress party will provide a new pathway to chalk out the future of our country," Singh said.

The Congress meet started on Saturday.

Speaking about cross-border terrorism, Singh said: "The support Pakistan gives to cross-border terrorism is certainly not acceptable to us. We should warn Pakistan that their actions are detrimental to peace and prosperity."

Singh said the Congress party made India what it is today.

Image: Congress party Twitter pageKolkata, Mar 18 (IBNS): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday said she was saddened by the death of former state minister Pratim Chatterjee's death.



Banerjee tweeted: "Saddened at the passing of former Minister of Bengal, Pratim Chattopadhyay. Condolences to his family and well wishers."

Saddened at the passing of former Minister of Bengal, Pratim Chattopadhyay. Condolences to his family and well wishers  Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) March 18, 2018

All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) leader and former Fire Brigade minister during the Left regime in West Bengal, Pratim Chatterjee, passed away in Kolkata on Sunday morning, reports said.

Pratim Chatterjee was suffering from different kinds of illnesses, including breathing trouble and liver problems, due to advanced age and he was undergoing treatment since last few years.

Chatterjee was admitted in a privately-run hospital in Salt Lake on Sunday early morning as his health condition deteriorated and he died due to cardiac failure at around 10:10 am.

He was 79.

Former Secretary-General of AIFB, Pratim Chatterjee, was an MLA from Tarakeshwar assembly constituency in Hooghly district of West Bengal and he served as the state Fire minister from 1996 to 2011 - 15 long years.

He was associated with several theatre and drama groups and appeared in few Bengali movies as well.

Left Front Chairman Biman Bose, West Bengal CPI-M General Secretary Surya Kanta Mishra and other political leaders of the state expressed deep condolences over the death of the senior Forward Bloc leader.Following in the footsteps of Comey. Photo: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

Hours after former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was fired by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, multiple outlets reported that he had compiled memos of his dealings with President Trump  and that he had already turned over the documents to Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

Axios reports that McCabe also gave an interview to Mueller.

McCabe told CNN that he had four interactions with President Trump, including three in-person encounters and one phone call.

During every one of those instances, McCabe said, Trump chided him about his wife, Jill McCabe, who in 2015 ran an unsuccessful campaign for Virginia State Senate as a Democrat. Trump has maintained, without evidence, that her party affiliation and association with Hillary Clinton ally Terry McAuliffe colored her husbands behavior at the FBI.

In May, when Director Comey was fired and I had my own interactions with the President, he brought up my wife every time I ever spoke to him, McCabe told CNN. Of course, I disagreed with him.

McCabe claims that Trump also asked him who he had voted for in the 2016 election, a detail that had previously been reported.

The memos are reportedly similar to the ones former FBI Director James Comey kept about his interactions with Trump. In those notes, Comey wrote that Trump had requested that he drop an investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, and had asked for a loyalty pledge.

McCabes memos reportedly include conversations he had with Comey about those incidents, evidence that could lend credence to a possible obstruction of justice charge against the president.

McCabe claims that his firing is the result of a political grudge held by President Trump. In a statement, he said that he was singled out and treated this way because of the role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of James Comey.

Sessions claims that the firing was the result of McCabe leaking to the media and misleading bureau investigators about the Hillary Clinton email investigation.

In multiple tweets on Saturday, Trump celebrated McCabes firing.

The Fake News is beside themselves that McCabe was caught, called out and fired. How many hundreds of thousands of dollars was given to wifes campaign by Crooked H friend, Terry M, who was also under investigation? How many lies? How many leaks? Comey knew it all, and much more!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2018

Comey, who groomed McCabe for a high-ranking position the FBI, also weighed in as well:New Delhi, Mar 18 (IBNS): Calling Congress as the 'voice of the nation', party president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said India expects more from them than any other party in the nation.

"BJP is the voice of an organization. Congress is the voice of a nation," Gandhi said as he addressed at the 84th plenary session of the Congress on Sunday.

"Congress party understands deeply that we are for truth. India expects more from Congress party because it holds us to a higher standard than any other party," he said.

Gandhi also used the platform in attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said he performs yoga when the country's farmers are dying.

Gandhi said his Congress party and its workers are the servants of the common people of India.

"PM jumps from one event to another. From surgical strikes to Gabbar Singh Tax to a fancy Yoga Parade, he keeps moving.... There is no money, but let's do Yoga. We do not work for the rich and powerful. We are servants of the people. Nobody can silence us," Gandhi said attacking the PM and his party at the Centre.

He was referring to the Yoga Day celebration performed by the government every year.

Modi himself joins the celebration and participates in a major yoga event here.

He said the country is facing unemployment at the present moment.

"We were the fastest growing economy in the world. But today millions of youth face unemployment," he said.

Gandhi said if his party comes to power then he will work for the farmers of the country and their betterment.

"We will protect our farmers," he said.

Speaking on education, Gandhi said: "Our party will expand scope of higher education across the nation if the Congress comes to power."

Attacking PM Modi over the PNB Scam, involving businessman Nirav Modi, Gandhi said: "The name Modi symbolises the collusion between Indias biggest businessmen and the Prime Minister. Modi gives Modi 30,000 crores of your Money and in turn, Modi gives Modi money for marketing Modi and fighting elections."

The CBI on Feb 14 received complaints from PNB, which detected a Rs 11,292 crore fraud involving billionaire diamond merchant Nirav Modi.

Nirav Modi, who is in the centre of a huge storm, reportedly left the country in January, much before the scam came to light.

According to media reports, he is now in New York.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered two cases against Nirav Modi.

The Congress session commenced from Friday.

The session is occurring at a time when the nation is gearing up for the Lok Sabha polls in 2019.

Image: Congress Twitter pageNew Delhi, Mar 18 (IBNS): Hours after Rahul Gandhi attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the 84th plenary session of the Congress here, BJP leader and Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman came out in slamming the party president and said it reflected the 'rhetoric of a loser'.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said while addressing a press conference: " It sounds like a rhetoric of a loser."

Attacking the Congress and countering Rahul Gandhi's speech, Sitharaman said: "Congress has been solely responsible for Anti-Sikhs riots. A party that cried over the dead bodies of terrorists."

Sitharaman said Rahul Gandhji's speech was devoid of 'substance'.

Defence Minister Sitharaman said the Congress party is against the use of technology.

"Congress party is against technology," she said.

"At the time when technology making lives easier and simpler here is the party which is against it because they don't believe in transparency," she said.

Gandhi, in his speech, targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi for performing yoga at a time when the farmers of the nation were dying.

"Has Rahul Gandhi reviewed the farmer suicides in Karnataka?," the Defence Minister questioned Rahul Gandhi.

Karnataka is ruled by the Congress.

Calling Congress as the 'voice of the nation', party president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said India expects more from them than any other party in the nation.

In his speech, Rahul Gandhi invoked the Mahabharata when he compared the "power-hungry" BJP and RSS to the Kauravas.

"Like the Kauravas, BJP & RSS are designed to fight for power. Like the Pandavas, the Congress is designed to fight for the truth," Gandhi said.

"BJP is the voice of an organization. Congress is the voice of a nation," Gandhi said as he addressed at the 84th plenary session of the Congress on Sunday.

"Congress party understands deeply that we are for truth. India expects more from Congress party because it holds us to a higher standard than any other party," he said.

Gandhi also used the platform in attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said he performs yoga when the country's farmers are dying.

Gandhi said his Congress party and its workers are the servants of the common people of India.

"PM jumps from one event to another. From surgical strikes to Gabbar Singh Tax to a fancy Yoga Parade, he keeps moving.... There is no money, but let's do Yoga. We do not work for the rich and powerful. We are servants of the people. Nobody can silence us," Gandhi said attacking the PM and his party at the Centre.

He was referring to the Yoga Day celebration performed by the government every year.

Modi himself joins the celebration and participates in a major yoga event here.

He said the country is facing unemployment at the present moment.

"We were the fastest growing economy in the world. But today millions of youth face unemployment," he said.

Gandhi said if his party comes to power then he will work for the farmers of the country and their betterment.

"We will protect our farmers," he said.

Speaking on education, Gandhi said: "Our party will expand scope of higher education across the nation if the Congress comes to power."

Attacking PM Modi over the PNB Scam, involving businessman Nirav Modi, Gandhi said: "The name Modi symbolises the collusion between Indias biggest businessmen and the Prime Minister. Modi gives Modi 30,000 crores of your Money and in turn, Modi gives Modi money for marketing Modi and fighting elections."

The CBI on Feb 14 received complaints from PNB, which detected a Rs 11,292 crore fraud involving billionaire diamond merchant Nirav Modi.

Nirav Modi, who is in the centre of a huge storm, reportedly left the country in January, much before the scam came to light.

According to media reports, he is now in New York.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered two cases against Nirav Modi.

The Congress session commenced from Friday.

The session is occurring at a time when the nation is gearing up for the Lok Sabha polls in 2019.

Image: BJP Twitter pageNew Delhi, Mar 18 (IBNS): President of India Ram NathKovind, graced and addressed the sixth convocation of IIT Bhubaneswar on Sunday.

He also inaugurated the ICT-IOC (Institute of Chemical Technology Indian Oil Corporation) Bhubaneswar campus and laid the foundation stone of the Skill Development Institute of Oil PSUs.

Addressing the graduating students, the President said that as they leave this campus, they have a whole new world of opportunities ahead of them. Being bright technocrats many of them would consider setting up their own ventures to give shape to their innovative ideas.

He urged them to avail the benefits of Government of India schemes that encourage innovation and entrepreneurship.

He stated that through their enterprise they shall become creators of economic value and jobs.

Being IITians, they should aspire to achieve the best not only for themselves and their families but also for society and the nation and world at large.

The President said that he was happy to inaugurate the ICT-IOC Campus and to lay the foundation stone of the Skill Development Institute of Oil PSUs. The setting up of these two institutes demonstrates the commitment of the Government of India towards the development of Odisha.

The President was happy to learn that the ICT-IOC campus would offer a five-year integrated M. Tech programme after class 12, an executive M. Tech programme for industrial personnel, and a PhD programme.

In addition, this campus will be a hub for carrying out high-end research and innovation as well as support skill development in fields such as chemical engineering, petrochemicals, textiles, pharmaceuticals, and energy.

The President said that the Skill Development Institute (SDI), on the other hand, will offer young people short courses on a spectrum of skills ranging from simple to more complex ones related to Artificial Intelligence, 3D printing and Advanced Robotics.

SDI Bhubaneswar will be the countrys first Skill Development Institute in the hydrocarbons sector.

He was happy to learn that this institute aims to train about 50,000 youth over the next 10 years.

Earlier in the day, the President addressed the centenary celebrations of the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan in Puri.

Speaking on the occasion, the President said that the task of developing and preserving Indian knowledge and culture was done in languages like Pali, Prakrit and Sanskrit. Sanskrit is not only the language of spirituality, philosophy and literature but also a language of knowledge.

Many scientists and mathematicians such as Aryabhatta, Bhaskara, Charaka and Sushruta wrote their manuscripts in Sanskrit.

The President congratulated all associated with the Sadashiv campus of the National Sanskrit Institute for their sustained contribution to the teaching, research and dissemination of Sanskrit.New Delhi, Mar 18 (IBNS): Admiral Sunil Lanba, Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee and the Chief of the Naval Staff is visiting USA on a bilateral visit from Mar 19 to 23.

The visit aims to consolidate cooperation between the Armed Forces of both India and USA and also to explore new avenues of defence cooperation.

"During his visit, the Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee and the Chief of the Naval Staff will hold bilateral discussions with Mr James Mattis, Secretary Defence (SECDEF) of USA, Mr Richard V Spencer, Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV), General Joseph F Dunford Jr, Vice Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff (Vice Chairman JCS), Admiral John M Richardson, Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), Admiral Harry Harris, Commander, Pacific Command (PACOM), Admiral Scott Swift, Commander, Pacific Fleet (PACFLT), and Vice Admiral Thomas J Moore, Commander, Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA)," read a government statement.

In addition to holding important bilateral discussions, the Admiral will be visiting the Pacific Command Headquarters at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, the Naval Surface Warfare Centre (NSWC) Dahlgren, the Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery in Washington DC.

India and USA have traditionally maintained close and friendly relations, including defence relation, wherein both countries have concluded major agreements in the recent past.

This includes the Defence Framework Agreement, signed in 2015, which lays a blue print for collaboration between the defence establishments of both countries and the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) signed in 2016, which is a foundational agreement, facilitating reciprocal logistics support between the Armed Forces of both countries. In addition, India was accorded Major Defence Partner status during the Honble PMs visit to US in Jun 16.

The Indian Navy cooperates with the US Navy on many issues, which include operational interactions such as the MALABAR and RIMPAC series of exercises, training exchanges, exchange of White Shipping Information and Subject Matter Experts in various fields through the medium of Executive Steering Group (ESG) meetings.

Warships from both navies have also been regularly visiting each others ports.Kabul, Mar 18 (IBNS): A Taliban attack on a police check-post in Afghanistan's Ghazni province on Sunday left at least five cops killed, media reports said.

The attack reportedly left two policemen injured.

Ghazni police chief Brig. Gen. Mohammad Zaman told Pajhwok Afghan News the early morning attack took place in Qala Qazi area.

He confirmed to the Afghanistan news agency that the Taliban also suffered casualties in the incident.

The exact figure is not known so far.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid also confirmed to Pajhwok the fighters had captured the checkpoint area.

Mujahid said attackers seized the policemen's weapons.

He told the news agency that only on Taliban attacker was injured in the incident.

Afghanistan has witnessed rise in terrorist attack incidents in recent times.

More than 10,000 civilians have lost their lives or suffered injuries during 2017, according to the latest report by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) documenting the impact of the armed conflict on civilians in Afghanistan.

The human cost of this ugly war in Afghanistan  loss of life, destruction and immense suffering  is far too high said the Secretary-Generals Special Representative for Afghanistan, Tadamichi Yamamoto, during the launch of the latest annual report in Kabul.

The report detailed that in 2017, UNAMA and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) documented 10,453 civilian casualties  3,438 killed and 7,015 injured.

The findings show that the majority of civilian casualties resulted from suicide attacks, improvised explosive device, ground engagements, targeted killings, explosive remnants of war and air strikes.The invitation was made after Ghani met a Pakistani delegation led by the neighbouring country's National Security Adviser Nasser Khan Janjua on Saturday.

Ghani tweeted: "Today, I received Pakistani NSA at Dilkusha palace. As a follow up to #Kabul process, I have extended an official invitation to Pakistani Prime Minister to visit #Afghanistan. This is to initiate state to state comprehensive dialogue."

Today, I received Pakistani NSA at Dilkusha palace. As a follow up to #Kabul process, I have extended an official invitation to Pakistani Prime Minister to visit #Afghanistan. This is to initiate state to state comprehensive dialogue. pic.twitter.com/3LuN3tJFq3  Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) March 17, 2018

The two sides discussed peace offer proposed by the Afghanistan government to the Taliban.

A statement issued by the President's official website read: "The two sides discussed the peace offer proposed to the Taliban by the Afghan Government and the launch of state-to-state dialogue with Pakistan."

"In their conversation, the importance and inevitability of regional connectivity and cooperation was highlighted. Both sides talked over ways of tackling the operation of criminal economy and terrorist networks in the region," the statement further said.

"President Ghani extended his official invitation to the Prime Minister of Pakistan to visit Kabul and engage with the Afghan Government on initiating the state-to-state dialogue between the two countries, a theme on which the second conference of Kabul Process was predominantly centered, it said.



Image: Ashraf Ghani Twitter pageOttawa, Mar 18 (IBNS): New initiatives and cultural training for staff is being launched by Elections Canada to serve Indigenous voters better in the polls next year, media reports said.

This spring, reportedly leaders in Indigenous communities leaders would be contacted by returning officers in 28 electoral districts and plan with them the delivery of electoral services in the 2019 election.

The goal reportedly should be to improve access, Stephane Perrault, Canada's acting chief electoral officer,said.

"Indigenous voters may decide to participate, or not, and they have all kinds of historical reasons that will inform their choice," Perrault was reported to tell CBC News. "It's not for us to be a player in that, but we want to make sure that when they do choose to participate, that there's no administrative barrier."

Perrault added that Elections Canada's strategic plan to recruit more Indigenous people to work as returning officers and encourage their participation in local events in the communities would begin 18 months ahead of the campaign.

Returning officers would reportedly train Indigenous populations in their ridings to be culturally competent in indigenous people's terminology and keep them well-informed about the socio-demographics on Indigenous people in Canada, their historical experiences, stereotypes and misconceptions.

Turnout in on-reserve polling divisions, as reported by Elections Canada, had shown a positive historical increase from 47.4 percent in 2011 to 61.5 percent in 2015 federal election.

Perrault was reported to say that it was an important reflection of reconciliation and added, "I have a lot of respect for the decision that they make to participate or not participate, but obviously I welcome their participation and hope that it increases," he said.

"Our role is to make sure that if they want to participate, that we're there for them."

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)







Stock Market flowchart



The stock process is an easy six-step method: The movies have gloriously shown us stocks being traded in an office where numerous traders are shouting and blaring over the telephone with their clients. This depiction may not be very far from the reality. Stocks are transacted on known exchanges where individuals may purchase stocks from others. This transaction can be made through online stock trading or offline brokerage firms. The primary objective of a renowned stock exchange is to facilitate trading of stocks among buyers and sellers.The stock process is an easy six-step method:

Step 1

A shareholder or investor approaches a depository participant and creates an account. With the opening of the account, the shareholder receives an identification number called Client ID', which serves as a reference point for all dealings and communication with the depository participant. The investor fills up a Dematerialization Request Form (DRF) to be provided by the depository participant and gives it over together with equity certificates suitably canceled by writing submitted for dematerialization' to the depository participant for demat. The depository participant will receive certificates listed only in the term that keeps the share certificates.

Step 2

When the DRF along with the original share certificates has been received, the depository participant sends an electronic appeal to the company through NSDL for validation of demat and at the same time submits the shareholdings. DRF and share certificates go together with the regular letter to the company for demat authorization.

Step 3

A company must include the necessary hardware/software ability. It must be connected to the NSDL system via the V-Sat connection.

Step 4

Once receipts of the DRF and share certificates of the stockholder are received, essential confirmation is prepared and demat is sent to NSDL by the administrator.

Step 5

NSDL then further approves demat to the investor's depository participant.

Step 6

Depository participant deposits some shares in the shareholder's account, which are dematerialized, and after that, the stockholder keeps the securities in electronic form. The depository participant of the investor provides a declaration of holdings and updates accounts after every transaction.



Depository



A depository is the leading player in the system and is essentially organized as a business. The depository may not involve itself in the procedure unless it is listed with the SEBI within the SEBI (Depositories and Participants Regulation), 1996. It is an organization where the securities of a shareholder are kept in electronic form via the medium of members.



Types of Depository



NSDL: National Securities Depository Limited



CDSL: Central Depository Services Limited



A stock exchange is a platform where financial instruments such as equity and derivatives are transacted. Market contestants have to be listed on the stock exchange and SEBI to execute trades. This comprises of businesses issuing shares, brokers directing the trades, traders, and investors. All of this is controlled by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), which creates the rules of conduct.

When it comes to the unexplained, we might be scared out of our wits to watch or hear something scary, but curiosity gets the better of us. There's something undeniably fascinating about paranormal activity, even if it is downright nonsensical. It's almost like an adrenaline rush that you get on a roller coaster ride, so if you are in the mood for some heebie-jeebies here's a collection of some of the creepiest, most unexplainable sounds ever to be recorded.





1. The WKCR FM Radio Incident





This eerie clip was allegedly heard in 1994 or 1995. The Old Tape as its called is purportedly of a hijack of Columbia Universitys WKCR 89.9 radio signal. In it the voice of a woman reads out what appear to be obituaries and the occasional tinkling of a small bell. Surprisingly one of the names includes Robert Oppenheimer, considered to the be father of the atomic bomb. No one to date knows, what or whose voice it was. Some say that a listener may have accidentally turned into a numbers station, stations that may have been that of spy networks. Any which way the recording is absolutely spooky!









2. The Swedish Rhapsody Numbers Station





During the Cold War, what was known as numbers stations were used to communicate secret codes to spies through short wave radio signals. The spy would interpret the message with the numerical code, but one listener accidentally turned into this short wave signal and found what they heard to be baffling..









3. The sound of Jupiter





There might be nothing supernatural about this sound, yet there was something unsettling about it. We've all wondered what space sounds like, so NASAs Voyager recorded these sounds of the planet Jupiters electromagnetic voices. The sounds are nothing less than creepy.









4. Phonautograph captures an eerie voice





The Phonautograph is the first recording device and was invented in 1857 by a man named Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville. It also recorded one of the most creepy voices ever heard. It was the first known recording of a human voice and it almost sounds like a demonic chant, but in reality is the famous folk song Au clair de la lune









5. The original night stalker





This audio is a voicemail left on the answering machine of the original Night Stalker who was notorious during the period between 1979 and 1986. In it he repeatedly says 'Gonna kill you' in a slow and low tone. The last known crime associated with the Original Night Stalker took place in 1986 but even till date no one knows if he is dead or alive. This will give you nightmares!









6. Jonestown Mass Suicide Tape





This one of the most graphic and disturbing audio recordings before a mass suicide took place on November 18, 1978. Over 900 people in Jonestown, Guyana took their own lives in a suicide pact. Jim Jones, called Dad by many of his followers, led his community in this tragic event. People were given Flavor-Aid mixed with cyanide and those who refused were shot down. Jones himself consumed the drink and was shot as well.









7. The Wandering Soul,





This was an attempt by the US military during the Vietnam War to scare the opposition into submission. They played terrifying sounds in the jungle to to frighten Northern Vietnamese soldiers into believing that their comrades who weren't buried were haunting them.









8. Exorcism of Anneliese Michel





This is will send shivers down your spine. Anneliese, a German girl, was diagnosed with epilepsy and depression, but she soon started telling her family about hearing demonic voices. Her folks later realised she was possessed and they tried exorcism to rescue her. After initially denying her familys request for an exorcism, the Catholic Church went on to perform 67 separate exorcisms and this recording is from the exorcism.









9. Serial Killer who kept confessing his crimes





Paul Michael Stephani killed three women in Minnesota between 1980 and 1982 and each time he committed a crime he would always call the police and confess the crime without revealing his identity. his last murder he literally begged to be arrested as he was utterly disgusted by his own deed.



GOP congressman Trey Gowdy. Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

On Sunday, Republican lawmakers began offering their responses to President Trumps escalating rhetoric against special counsel Robert Mueller and the Russia investigation, but most still seemed willfully careless regarding the threat. In the morning, Trump went after Mueller personally for the first time, an important milestone in his efforts to discredit the investigation. That followed a new comment from Trumps personal lawyer, John Dowd, calling for Mueller to be dismissed, and the controversial firing of former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe  a move which Trump has been heavily celebrating. Taken together, the president may finally laying the groundwork for firing Mueller and ending the investigation into Russias 2016 election meddling. The assorted reactions of several GOP lawmakers are collected below.

One of the Republican Partys few consistent Trump critics, Senator Jeff Flake, said during an appearance on CNNs State of the Union that he was expecting his fellow lawmakers to push back on Trumps attacks on Mueller. Talking to my colleagues all along it was, you know, once he goes after Mueller, then well take action, Flake claimed, though it seemed more like an optimistic expectation than a sober prediction:

I dont know what the designs are on Mueller, but it seems to be building toward that. And I just hope it doesnt go there, because it cant. We cant, in Congress, accept that. And so I would expect to see considerable pushback in the next couple days in urging the president not to go there. He cant go there.

Regarding McCabe, Flake said that Congress would have to look at the inspector general report which supposedly prompted his firing, but he had his suspicions. Im just puzzled by why the White House is going so hard at this, speculating that they might be very afraid of what might come out.

He added that he hoped House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would come to Muellers defense as well.

Speaker Ryan eventually did release a statement on Sunday, repeating his standard position that Mr. Mueller and his team should be able to do their job.

Also on State of the Union, another repeat defender of Mueller, Senator Lindsey Graham, repeated his prediction that if Trump fired the special prosecutor, it would be the beginning of the end of his presidency. Graham said that were a rule of law nation, and pledged to do whatever he could to make sure Mueller could finish his investigation unimpeded, explaining that the only reason that Mr. Mueller could be dismissed is for cause, and he sees none.

Graham additionally called for the Senate Judiciary Committee to hold a hearing on the firing of McCabe:

I think we owe it to the average American to have a hearing in the Judiciary Committee, for Mr. Sessions, Attorney General Sessions, comes forward with whatever documentation he has about the firing and give Mr. McCabe a chance to defend himself. I believe when it comes to this issue, we need as much transparency as possible, to make sure that it was not politically motivated.

Republican congressman Trey Gowdy was on Fox News Sunday to defend the recent conclusion of the GOP-controlled House Intelligence Committee that there was no collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign  news that Trump has already been leveraging to try to discredit Muellers investigation. Gowdy told host Chris Wallace that he hoped that Trump was not getting ready to fire Mueller, and said that Dowd did the president a disservice by suggesting that the Mueller investigation should should now be ended.

If you have an innocent client, Mr. Dowd, act like it, he added, later giving the same advice to Trump, explaining that if youve done nothing wrong, you should want the investigation to be as fulsome and thorough as possible.

Regarding what the consequences Trump would face from Republicans if he did fire Mueller, Gowdy said he wasnt sure the House could do a lot, but that the president should understand that if he did take out Mueller, it would be a very very long, bad 2018. In other words, Gowdy didnt say what the GOP would do, if anything, in response to Trump firing Mueller.

Furthermore, Gowdy acknowledged that the House Intelligence Committees investigation of Russias election meddling should not be the last word on the issue  the Mueller investigations conclusion should be.

Executive Branch investigations have more credibility, they have more tools and thats what I think my fellow citizens ought to be waiting for and have confidence in, Gowdy said, explaining that if Mueller finds stuff, more power to him. Representative Michael Conaway, who led the House Intelligence Committee Russia investigation, also seemed to downplay their no-collusion conclusion during his appearance on Meet the Press on Sunday. Like Gowdy, he acknowledged that they didnt get to interview all the key witnesses, and repeatedly emphasized that they had found no evidence of collusion, which didnt necessarily mean there hadnt been any.

On CNNs State of the Union, Senator Rand Paul seemed to indicate that he wouldnt be too upset if Mueller got fired. I wouldnt advocate it, Paul told host Jake Tapper, but explained that he would have never advocated for Muellers appointment in the first place, since special prosecutors have too much power to do whatever they want.

When theyre looking at peoples tax returns from 20 years ago, I really think that the power is so unlimited that its worrisome for the people on the receiving end, he explained, and called for broad reforms that would prevent any federal law enforcement official from launching an investigation without first getting approval from a judge.

Senator James Lankford, a GOP member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, didnt seem to take the threat of Mueller being fired seriously during an appearance on ABCs This Week. He characterized Dowds comment as typical lawyer rhetoric, and said that he believed the White Houses position that Trump does not want to fire Mueller, and so GOP lawmakers shouldnt need to worry about how to deal with that. (Chris Christie made an almost identical point later on the program, as well.)

Lankford called Muellers efforts very helpful thus far, but he also echoed Trumps early morning tweetstorm in saying that he thought it was odd the number of Democrats that hes put on board his team, and that it raises some red flags in some sense. But either way, its best for the special counsel to be able to go through their process, its best for the president, best for the presidency, for this to be resolved and to be finished one way or the other.

And Senator Marco Rubio was Sundays lone Republican voice objecting to McCabes firing, or at least how it was carried out. He said on Meet the Press that he didnt agree with the decision to fire McCabe two days before his retirement and pension took effect. I dont like the way it happened, Rubio said, adding that McCabe should have been allowed to finish the weekend, and that regarding Trumps repeated attacks on McCabe, We need to be very careful about taking these very important entities and smearing everybody in them with a broad stroke.

On Muellers investigation, Rubio said that he supports going wherever the evidence and wherever the facts take us. Hes not the only Republican still looking to wait and see.The history of Bollywood would have been totally different if the original choices for the blockbuster films had said yes. Did you know that Hrithik Roshan, and not Aamir Khan, was the first choice for Dil Chahta Hai. Shahid Kapoor, and not Ranbir Kapoor, was the first choice for Rockstar. After having watched these films, we cannot imagine anyone else in those roles, right?

A lot of prominent actors turned down roles that later turned out to be iconic. We all know how Kareena Kapoor was supposed to play Preity Zintas role in Kal Ho Naa Ho. In another instance, Ranveer Singh recently revealed that he was offered his debut film Band Baaja Baaraat after Ranbir Kapoor had rejected it.

Twitter

Ranbir Kapoor said no to Band Baaja Baraat. YRF was looking for a new face I got a call and I knew this was the opportunity I was waiting for. I kept my face safe and didnt do modeling or music videos. And then I got a massive launch, essentially for an outsider, opposite a reasonably recognisable star Anushka Sharma, Ranveer said, as quoted by PTI.

pinimg.com

Like, they say, it just takes one opportunity to change your life. Ranveer Singh gained from Ranbirs loss. The reason as to why Ranbir rejected the film is best known to him, but what we know is that Ranveer Singh aced the role of Bittu Sharma with his stellar performance. After watching the film, it felt like the role was written for him.

Twitter

Furthermore, it wouldnt be wrong to say that Ranveer Singh slightly overshadowed Ranbir, who was then riding high on success, soon after his debut with his stellar performances one after the other. Strangely, what followed next was Ranbirs string of flop films including Bombay Velvet and Besharam among others! However, they are both impeccable actors. Sometimes, its just unfortunate that the outcome/film doesnt turn out the way the idea/script is perceived. No one, after all, would make a wrong choice.After the Harvey Weinstein case in Hollywood, gradually Bollywood was being seen as the next place where plenty of Harvey Weinstein might exist. Despite knowing the names of the same, Swara Bhaskar and Ileana D'crus admitted that if those names are revealed, they could also lose their jobs.

Soon after, Jeetendra's cousin came out in the open alleging that she was sexually assaulted by him in a hotel in January 1971. The police had registered a case against him on February 16.

However, in a major relief to veteran Bollywood actor Jeetendra, the Himachal Pradesh High Court today stayed further proceedings against him in the sexual assault case registered by his cousin.

gettyimages/BCCL

The high court listed the matter for hearing on May 23. Jeetendra challenged the FIR registered against him and sought rejecting of the FIR.

The actor had claimed that the police had registered the FIR without any preliminary investigation or evidence.

Jeetendra was neither questioned by the police nor he was provided a copy of the FIR, his counsel said, adding that the allegations were false and a conspiracy was being hatched to malign the image of the actor.

While issuing a notice to the respondent in the matter, Justice Mohan Goel directed the complainant to file a reply within four weeks.

BCCL

Meanwhile, further proceedings in the FIR registered at Women Police Station, Shimla, under Section 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of IPC, have been stayed.

The woman had claimed that Jeetendra, who is her aunt's son, had arranged for her to join him from New Delhi to Shimla on the sets of a film he was shooting for.

She alleged in the complaint that after reaching Shimla at night, the inebriated actor went to her room, joined two twin beds and sexually assaulted her.

The complainant had told the police that all these years she remained silent because of her father. As now he is no more, she finally decided to lodge a case against the actor.A 62-year-old man died when the flames he was using to destroy a beehive outside his house charred him instead. The incident took place in Darwaza Mungeshpur village in outer Delhis Bawana on Thursday evening.

The victim, Mahavir Singh, fell in a ditch containing plastic waste, which also caught fire resulting in his death.

AFP/Representational Image

According to the police, Singh died after suffering extensive burn injuries. A case of causing death due to negligence was registered.

Initial probe revealed that the incident took place around 6.30 pm. Family members told cops that bees had formed a big hive on the wall outside their house. In order to remove them, Singh decided to fumigate the beehive with smoke. He used a long stick and lit dried grass and hay to ward off the bees.

To reach closer to the hive, Singh also climbed up a ladder that was placed close to a ditch where garbage was lying. Eyewitnesses told cops that the ladder suddenly lost its balance and Singh fell into the ditch with the torch in his hand.

Representational Image

In no time, Singhs clothes and the plastic waste lying around caught fire. Passersby poured water into the pit to rescue Singh, but he had suffered extensive burns by then.

Singh was taken to a nearby hospital where he was declared brought dead.The Syrian humanitarian crisis has attracted attention from all over the world, as women, children and older citizens can be witnessed getting injured and dying.

This has led to the residents leaving their homes and fleeing wherever they can get a safe zone. However, the numbers of people getting displaced in the war have gone up drastically since March 14. In the last three days, more than 150,000 civilians have fled the city of Afrin in northern Syria, reported AFP.

reuters

Since Wednesday evening, they have fled to escape a Turkish-led military offensive against a Kurdish militia, a war monitor said. "There was fierce fighting throughout the night on the northern outskirts of the city as the Turkish forces and their Syrian allies tried to break into the city," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday.

Turkey and its Syrian Arab rebel allies have waged a nearly two-month offensive on the Afrin enclave, which is held by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG). Earlier this week, they surrounded the enclave's sole city, home to some 350,000 people that also had people displaced from other parts of the enclave. Civilians are fleeing through the southern corridor which is the single escape route that remains open, still held by the YPG.

reuters

Afrin has come under heavy air and artillery bombardment by the Turkish army. On Friday evening, a Turkish bombing raid struck the city's main hospital, killing 16 civilians, a monitor said. Turkey's military denied hitting the hospital, saying that its operation in Afrin "is carried out in such a way as to not cause any harm to civilians."It is around 8.30pm. The muezzin at the massive, white-washed green minarate-decorated Sunni Muslim Bilal Masjid in Grant Road (East) has called out the faithful for Isha or the night's prayer. While several devout Muslims, clad in white kurta-pyjama, head to the mosque's inner sanctum after doing wadu or ablutions at the front wadukhana, a group of Good Samaritans first finish a big task at hand before joining others at the prayers.

They hand out food packets, each containing containing three rotis, sabzi and achar, to the hungry, impoverished lot who have queued up at the Idgah Maidan on the mosque's eastern flank. Led by spiritual leader Syed Moin Ashraf Quadri (Moin Mian), one of the trustees of Sunni Muslim Chhota Kabrastan Trust which manages both the Bilal Masjid and the Idgah Maidan, this charitable act is unusual if not altogether unique.

TOI

For, langar or community kitchen through which some Sikhs distribute free meals to the visitors to a place of worship, especially Gurudwaras, is common. Distribution of free meal at Dargahs or mausoleums of Sufi Saints is also passe. But rarely does a mosque or a trust which runs a mosque manage a langar.

Kicking off the service named Langar-e-Rasool (the Prophet's kitchen) this month's beginning, the trustees have not just begun feeding some of the poor in the city but even revolutionise the role of a mosque. Mosques traditionally are used to pray or even to hold Quran classes at non-namaz hours but, by initiating a free vegetarian meal service and naming it after the Prophet, the trustees have introduced an inclusivity to a sacred space.

"The Prophet encouraged people to feed the poor and the hungry and the hungry can be from any religion. We have kept it vegetarian deliberately to widen its appeal to non-Muslims who may not be comfortable to take non-vegetarian food from a Muslim-run organisation," explains Moin Mian whose fellow trustees-Abdul Kader Churatwala, Amin Dabbawala and Aslam Lakha-approved the proposal when one of Moin Mian's followers proposed the idea and initially funded the project. "We have done the maths and can give food to at least 400 people every night. Currently, around 100 turn out to receive free meal," informs Dabbawala.

The food, Dabbawala insists, prepared from fresh vegetables and pure wheat flour, at the nearby Madrassa Ashrafia Qadriya (Moin Mian heads it), reach the maidan just before the night prayer begins. As the volunteers bring the baskets, the beneficiaries queue up. Present in the queue is also three sisters-Lubna, Asma, Sana.

"We never had plenty of food at home though we are not beggars. These packets supplement what we already have for the dinner," says Lubna. They share it with neighbours if they have collected more than they can bite off.

"Sometimes we share with our neighbours if we feel we have taken more than we can eat," says Asma.

Siasat/Representational Image

The service is earning accolades from the wider community members. "I appreciate the effort to provide some poor healthy and hygienic meal every night. At least these beneficiaries don't have to sleep on empty stomach," says Bandra-based activist Shadaab Patel who wants many more mosques to replicate the service.

Education activist Kazim Malik says that some months ago Bandra-based activist late Ghulam Mohammed sponsored a free meal service on Fridays at a mosque in Dharavi but the service is close since Ghulam Mohammed died. "One of his friends has promised to reopen it soon," informs Malik.

So how will the langar at the Sunni Bilal Mosque sustain? "As the word spread, people have begun contributing to the Trust being run under Moin Mian's guidance. We believe it is not we but God which feeds us and He will keep supplying the food," says Lakha, leaving you almost speechless. You cannot argue much when God appears in between discussions.Selfie on railway tracks has claimed several lives and continues to threaten with the possibility of further casualties. However, if all goes according to plan, the railways will be able to curb selfie-related mishaps very soon. The Indian Railways has come up with a concept to designate 'selfie points' at various railway stations.

BCCL/Representational Image

Likewise, some areas of the railway station will also be earmarked to hold business meetings. Among 70 railway stations across the country, five major stations in the state-Jaipur, Bikaner, Udaipur and Jodhpur, Gandhi Nagar-will have these facilities. TOI received a copy of the letter from Ashok Lohani, chairman, railway board, who has asked general managers of various zonal railways, including the North Western Railway (NWR), to complete the work by December 2018.

According to data available with the Indian Railways, at least seven people have been killed while taking selfies across the country. Most of the deaths occurred near railway tracks.

BCCL/Representational Image

"Many people have the craze of taking selfies while they start or end their journey at a railway station. Youths have been found taking selfies near railway tracks. This has become a dangerous trend. So, it was decided to have dedicated 'selfie points' at various railway stations. Presently, 70 railway stations have been selected for the project and later this would be extended to all A1 and A class stations," said a senior officer of railway board on condition of anonymity.

When contacted, Tarun Jain, chief public relations officer, NWR, confirmed it. "We will have two such points at Gandhi Nagar and Jaipur Junction railway stations. We will also develop these points at Bikaner, Udaipur and Jodhpur railway stations," he said. "We will select some area on platform No 1, near the foot overbridge or some other safe area," Jain added.

BCCL/Representational Image

Other amenities to be implemented include water ATMs in waiting halls, mobile charging points, wheelchairs and volunteers. Interestingly, these stations have also been suggested to create their own jingle. "Stations may also create their own jingle which can be played during public announcements," said an official. The selected five railway stations are likely to have areas to hold meetings. "There is a plan to give a dedicated paid area at railway stations to hold business meetings of two to six persons," the official said.In the war-afflicted areas across the world, reports are suggesting one common thing - sexual exploitation of women.

The scenario is the same even in Central Africa. Reports suggest that militia fighters attacked, kidnapped and raped a large group of women in an isolated area of Central African Republic in February. Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) gave this information on Thursday.

afp

The charity that provides medical aid to victims treated 10 survivors of the February 17 violence near a village in northwest of the country. The women were unable to seek medical treatment until about two weeks later, with the fear of being attacked once again.

As the rape victims, they were worried they would be stigmatised in their community.

Some were totally in shock, others paralysed by fear or unable to talk about the incident. Some of the women had open wounds caused by blades, said Soulemane Amoin, a midwife at the hospital in the town of Bossangoa where the women were treated. It was terrible to see. It broke my heart.

afp

The Central African Republic descended into chaos after mainly Muslim Seleka rebels ousted president Francois Bozize in 2013, provoking a spate of killing by Christian militias.

The UN Security Council approved an extra 900 peacekeepers in November to help to protect civilians, despite the deployment of 12000 UN peacekeeping mission.

In its statement, MSF said the women had left their village to fetch water and tend to their fields when the militiamen arrived. Some women fled, but others were grabbed and brought back to the militias base where they were repeatedly raped before being let go, it said. It has also treated around 300 victims of rape and sexual assault from around the country each month so far 2018 at its main hospital in the capital, Bangui.Vladimir Putin is set to enter the third decade of his term as Russian President. The presidential election is scheduled for today and this will seal Putins fourth term that would take him to nearly a quarter-century as the head of state or government.

Recently, Chinas Xi Jinping was unanimously reappointed as President, following a constitutional amendment a week earlier which lifts presidential term limits, meaning Xi can stay on indefinitely.

The 64-year-old is considered the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong.

Following the constitutional amendments in China, US President Donald Trump praised Chinas president for his recent consolidation of indefinite power and joked that he might like to serve as president for life too.

Hes now president for life. President for life, Trump told GOP donors in Mar-a-Lagos Donald J. Trump Grand Ballroom on Friday afternoon. No, hes great. And look, he was able to do that. I think its great. Maybe well have to give that a shot someday.

Below are some of the world leaders who have held power the longest -- excluding monarchs enthroned for life.

Over four decades:

1. Topping the list with 49 years in power is Cuba's revolutionary hero Fidel Castro, who handed over to his brother Raul in 2008 when he was in his early 80s.

2. Taiwan's first president Chiang Kai-shek was in charge on the island and in mainland China for a total of 47 years until his death in 1975.

3. North Korean founder Kim II Sung ran the reclusive state for 46 years before dying in office in 1994. He is still revered as the "eternal leader".

4. Albania's communist dictator Enver Hoxha was in power for 40 years until his death in 1985.

5. Moamer Gaddafi ruled Libya with an iron fist for almost 42 years before being ousted and then slaughtered in 2011 by rebels.

6. Omar Bongo Ondimba governed oil-rich Gabon for more than 41 years until his death in 2009.

Still counting:

Currently, the world's longest-serving president is Equatorial Guinea's Teodoro Obiang Nguema, with 38 years under his belt since he toppled his uncle in 1979.

Cameroon's President Paul Biya: 35 years

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: 29 years

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir: 28 years"Last Men in Aleppo" director Firas Fayyad says that art is more powerful than the voices of Vladimir Putin or Donald Trump.

Fayyad's documentary about a group of first responders in the White Helmets and the Syrian civil war is nominated for best documentary at the 90th Academy Awards Sunday. The film is up against "Faces Places," ''Abacus: Small Enough to Jail," ''Icarus" and "Strong Island."

'

Fayyed said Sunday on the Oscars red carpet said that he is honored to be there and that it's an important space to share this story. He said it was one of the most powerful platforms in the world. He has been openly critical of Russia and Putin while promoting the film.

The filmmakers had faced some visa issues and were unsure if they were going to make it to the Oscars, but access came through for Fayyed, his producer and his cinematographer. Syria is one of the countries included in a travel ban.The U.S. market for privately written flood insurance grew by 51.2 percent last year, with state-level markets growing both more competitive and less profitable, according to 2017 statutory insurance filings compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Comparing S&Ps data with the National Flood Insurance Programs written premium in force, as reported in January 2018 by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, private cover now represents nearly 15 percent of all flood premiums nationwide. There was $623.8 million of private flood insurance written in 2017, up from $412.6 million in 2016. By contrast, the NFIP had $3.57 billion of in-force premium as of January.

The news comes as Congress continues to mull reforms to the NFIP that could clear the way for a bigger private market role in the nations flood preparedness system. Under legislation passed by the U.S. House in November, deference would be given to state insurance regulators to determine which privately underwritten policies are comparable to NFIP coverage for purposes of federal lending regulations. The measure also would remove mandatory purchase requirements for commercial properties and deny NFIP coverage for extreme repetitive loss properties whose owners refuse to implement flood-mitigation measures.

The U.S. Senate has yet to take up legislation to reform and extend the program, whose statutory authorization will expire March 23 without further action by Congress.

The S&P data stem from statutory filings made to state regulators and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. The figures include both residential and commercial policies, and coverage written in both the admitted and excess and surplus lines markets.

Because the NAIC only began collecting data on private flood in 2016, this years figures offer the first opportunity to compare how the still nascent market is developing on a year-to-year basis. Florida, which created an innovative regulatory framework for standalone flood coverage in 2014 and built on that framework in 2017, surpassed California last year to become the largest market for private flood insurance. It was already the largest market for the NFIP.

Private flood premiums grew by at least double-digits in 2017 in every state but Maine, where the market actually declined by 3.9 percent from 2016. The largest markets tended also show the most growth on a premium dollar basis. On a percentage basis, the private market grew rapidly from a relatively small base in a number of states, including five where 2017 premiums more than doubled the 2016 total.

Not only is the private flood insurance market getting bigger, but its also growing more competitive, as measured by the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI). The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) use the HHI, calculated by summing the squares of the market-share totals of every firm in the market, to assess the degree to which markets are subject to monopolistic concentration. The DOJ and FTC generally consider markets in which the HHI is between 1,500 and 2,500 points to be moderately concentrated, while those in excess of 2,500 points are highly concentrated.

Taken as a whole, the nationwide HHI of the private flood insurance market improved from 3,438.4 to 2,266.4, thus moving from highly concentrated to just moderately concentrated. But the improvement is even more impressive at the state level. In 2016, every state but one (New York, with an HHI of 2,471.4) had private flood markets that fell in the highly concentrated range. In 2017, by contrast, there were 20 states that fell in the moderately concentrated range and one (Alabama, with an HHI of 1,484.4) whose score indicates a competitive market. States seeing the most rapid improvement in their market concentrations were New Hampshire, Illinois, Colorado, Missouri and Washington, each of which improved their HHIs by more than 3,000 points from 2016.

In concert with growing more competitive, the private flood market also was far less profitable in 2017 than it had been in 2016. In fact, taken as a whole, the industrys losses exceeded its premiums, with a nationwide loss ratio of 167.0, compared with a loss ratio of just 38.2 in 2016. At the state level, loss ratios ticked up in all but 12 states, and rose by 10 or more points in 19 of them. Whereas 2016 saw 32 states with exceedingly low loss ratios of 3.0 or less, there were only seven such states in 2017.

All of which is to say that, though still small relative to the federal program, the private flood market is maturing quickly and is now paying real claims. In the District of Columbia, its already the case that the majority of flood cover, 65.9 percent, is privately underwritten.

There also are real opportunities for future expansion, particularly if Congress provides the needed clarity on which policies satisfy federal lending standards. As it stands now, Louisiana has the smallest penetration of private coverage as a percentage of the overall flood market, at just 4.8 percent. Even in Florida and Texaswhich have, respectively, the largest and third-largest private markets in the countrythe private market only accounts for, respectively, 8.4 and 11.8 percent of the overall flood market. Yet a recent study by the actuarial firm Milliman finds that 69 percent of Louisiana property owners, 77 percent of Florida property owners and 92 percent of Texas property owners could find more affordable options in the private market than through the NFIP.

Critics of the private flood insurance tend to cite fears that insurers will cherry pick the NFIP of relatively low-risk policies, leaving the programalready more than $20 billion in debteven further destabilized than it already is. This is mistaken on a few fronts. For one, the NFIP already functions as a high-risk pool, comprised largely of properties that are required to buy coverage because they lie in special flood hazard areas. There are precious few cherries to pick.

For another, insurers are more than willing to take on even the riskiest of those high-risk properties. The same Milliman study found that, even within the highest-risk V coastal zones, 62 percent of Florida homes, 85 percent of Louisiana homes and 88 percent of Texas homes could see lower premiums in the private market. This also was the pattern seen with the depopulation efforts undertaken by Floridas Citizens Property Insurance Corp. The state-backed property insurer is now less than half the size it was a few years ago, specifically because private insurers were interested in taking out high-risk and low-risk properties alike.

But perhaps most importantly, the combination of rising sea levels and unchecked coastal development make clear that the universe of properties that will need flood insurance is far, far larger than the 5 million policies written by the NFIP today. According to an alarming study conducted by researchers from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Nature Conservancy and the University of Bristol and published in February in the journal Environmental Research Letters, nearly 41 million Americans already live in 100-year floodplains, or roughly three times as many as current FEMA maps show.

In a recent visit to Miami Beach, NFIP Administrator Roy Wright laid out a moonshot plan to double the programs enrollment over the next five years, which is a start, but wouldnt even cover all of the 13 million Americans FEMA already projects to be at elevated risk. To truly close the protection gap, well need to deploy the awesome might of the private insurance industrys marketing machine  talking lizards, snappy jingles and all the rest.

Topics USA Texas Trends Legislation Louisiana Florida Profit Loss Flood Property Market PollutionPresident Museveni has reportedly ordered that the on-going campaign for Buy Uganda Build Uganda (BUBU) should not discriminate against businesses owned by foreign nationals.

This, according to people familiar with the order, came after a group of foreign investors approached the president and told him that the BUBU policy was working against them.

President Museveni greeting foreign investors in Mbale last week

The president has said that [the policy] should not be allowed, Bank of Uganda's executive director of research Dr Adam Mugume said while addressing the Africa Economic Research Consortium (AERC) in Entebbe this week.

AERC was hosted by Bank of Uganda as a forum that supports research-based policy implementation. BUBU is a policy government had adopted to ensure Ugandans buy products produced by citizens to boost local enterprise growth and innovation.

The policy was also in response of the fact that most supermarkets in the country stocked foreign products, including basics like fruits which are produced massively locally.

The policy quickly sparked controversy with Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile, the Bank of Uganda governor, saying it was ill-advised. Mutebile said last year that the policy was inconsistent with the East African common market and customs protocols.

He said Uganda would be in trouble if its peers in East Africa where it sells most of its goods also asked their nationals not to consume foreign products. When the investors approached Museveni, we have been told, he accepted that the policy implementation and wide marketing be stayed.

He said all companies registered as Uganda, regardless of the roots of owners, should be supported. Last year, Julius Onen, the ministry of Trade permanent secretary, said the campaign would be rebranded to Zimba Uganda and then be re-launched. This has not happened.

Meanwhile, the AERC meeting said effective regional integration on the continent was being hampered by national interest, with a lot of countries failing to give concessions.

Bruce Byiers from the European Centre for Development said the ongoing squabbles among some EAC members explain that. Tanzania burnt day-old chicks being imported from Kenya in November last year and January this year; Kenya has also refused wheat flour from Tanzania.

Burundi does not see eye-to-eye with Rwanda. At the EAC summit in Kampala last month, these rifts were not discussed. This cannot allow effective implementation of common policy in the region, Byiers said. He added that countries must go through a self-discovery process and try to first understand where there is a commercial value.

Prof Lemma Senbet, the AERC executive director, said regional blocs on the continent should embrace research-based policy implementation.

amwesigwa@observer.ugWhen talking about investment portfolios, very few people are confused by the term. An investment portfolio is a collection of income-producing assets that have been bought to meet a financial goal. If you went back 50 years in a time machine, however, no one would have the slightest clue what you were talking about. It is amazing that something as fundamental as an investment portfolio didn't exist until the late 1960s. The idea of investment portfolios has become so ingrained that we can't imagine a world without them, but it wasn't always this way.

In this article, we will explore the evolution of the modern portfolio from its humble beginnings in an unremarkable, and largely ignored, doctoral thesis, all the way to its current dominance, where it seems nearly everyone knows what you mean when you say, "you better diversify your portfolio."

Key Takeaways An investment portfolio refers to a grouping of financial assetssuch as stocks, bonds, commodities, currencies, and fundsthat an investor purchases to produce income and meet financial goals.

What we know as the modern portfolio evolved through the efforts of various economists who proposed different investment theories.

In 1938, John Burr Williams' book, The Theory of Investment Value, proposed that the value of a stock should equal the current value of its future dividends.

Harry Markowitz is a Nobel Prize-winning economist who is credited with developing the modern portfolio theory in 1952.

Markowitz devised a method to mathematically match an investor's risk tolerance and reward expectations to create an ideal portfolio that focuses on the diversification of asset classes and securities.

The Beginning of Portfolio Theory

In the 1930s, before the advent of portfolio theory, people still had "portfolios." However, their perception of the portfolio was very different, as was the primary method of building one. In 1938, John Burr Williams wrote a book called The Theory of Investment Value that captured the thinking of the time: the dividend discount model. The goal of most investors was to find a good stock and buy it at the best price.

Whatever an investor's intentions, investing consisted of laying bets on stocks that you thought were at their best price. During this period, information was still coming in slowly and the prices on the ticker tape didn't tell the entire story. The loose ways of the market, although tightened via accounting regulations after the Great Depression, increased the perception of investing as a form of gambling for people too wealthy or haughty to show their faces at the track.

In this wilderness, professional managers like Benjamin Graham made huge progress by first getting accurate information and then by analyzing it correctly to make investment decisions. Successful money managers were the first to look at a company's fundamentals when making decisions, but their motivation was from the basic drive to find good companies on the cheap. No one focused on risk until a little-known, 25-year-old grad student changed the financial world.

Harry Markowitz and Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT)

The story goes that Harry Markowitz, then a graduate student in operations research, was searching for a topic for his doctoral thesis. A chance encounter with a stockbroker in a waiting room started him in the direction of writing about the market. When Markowitz read John Burr Williams' book, he was struck by the fact that no consideration was given to the risk of a particular investment.

This inspired him to write "Portfolio Selection," an article first published in the March 1952 Journal of Finance. Rather than causing waves all over the financial world, the work languished on dusty library shelves for a decade before being rediscovered.

One of the reasons that "Portfolio Selection" didn't cause an immediate reaction is that only four of the 14 pages contained any text or discussion. The rest were dominated by graphs and numerical doodles. The article mathematically proved two old axioms: "nothing ventured, nothing gained" and "don't put all your eggs in one basket."

The Investor and Risk Tolerance

The interpretations of the article led people to the conclusion that risk, not the best price, should be the crux of any portfolio. Furthermore, once an investor's risk tolerance was established, building a portfolio was an exercise in plugging investments into the formula.

"Portfolio Selection" is often considered in the same light as Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematicasomeone else would have eventually thought of it, but they probably would not have done so as elegantly.

In 1990, Dr. Harry Markowitz shared the Nobel Prize in Economics for his work on modern portfolio theory.

How Modern Portfolio Theory Works

Markowitz's work formalized the investor trade-off. On one end of the investing teeter-totter, there are investment vehicles like stocks that are high-risk with high returns. On the other end, there are debt issues like short-term T-bills that are low-risk investments with low returns. Trying to balance in the middle are all the investors who want the most gain with the least risk. Markowitz created a way to mathematically match an investor's risk tolerance and reward expectations to create an ideal portfolio.

He chose the Greek letter beta to represent the volatility of a stock portfolio as compared to a broad market index. If a portfolio has a low beta, it means it moves with the market. Most passive investing and couch-potato portfolios have low betas. If a portfolio has a high beta, it means it is more volatile than the market.

Despite the connotations of the word volatile, this is not necessarily a bad thing. When the market gains, a more volatile portfolio may gain significantly more. Meanwhile, when the market falls, the same volatile portfolio may lose more. This style is neither good nor bad, it is just prey to more fluctuation.

The Impact of Modern Portfolio Theory

The theory gave investors the power to demand portfolios that fit their risk/reward profile rather than having to take whatever their broker gave them. Bulls could choose more risk; bears could choose less. As a result of these demands, the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) became an important tool for the creation of balanced portfolios. Together with other ideas that were solidifying at the time, CAPM and beta created the Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT).

The Bottom Line

The implications of MPT broke over Wall Street in a series of waves. Managers who loved their "gut trades" and "two-gun investing styles" were hostile toward investors wanting to dilute their rewards by minimizing risk.

The public, starting with institutional investors like pension funds, won out in the end. Today, even the most gung-ho money manager has to consider a portfolio's beta value before making a trade. Moreover, MPT created the door through which indexing and passive investing entered Wall Street.What Is Fragmentation?

In economics, fragmentation is the use of different suppliers and component manufacturers in the production of a good. Fragmentation, also known as trade in parts, components, and accessories (PCA), results in different companies producing component parts rather than the finished good, with the components assembled as a final product elsewhere.

Suppliers do not have to be in the same geographical region. Often, less-developed nations (e.g., some Asian and Latin American countries), where labor is plentiful and inexpensive, produce components. The offshoring production typically occurs with affiliates or independent suppliers and manufacturers.

Companies fragment to produce goods in a more cost-effective manner. Globalization and improved technology have paved the way for fragmentation, as it becomes increasingly cheaper and easier to source, ship, and track goods as they travel from place to place.

According to the United States International Trade Commission (USITC), imports of intermediate goods (components) increased by 48% between 2009 and 2016.

Understanding Fragmentation

Fragmentation is often associated with globalization as companies seek to use suppliers who are the most cost-effective, even if those companies are located abroad. Firms research the components needed to finish a good and the potential suppliers available; then, the cheapest places to source and assemble parts of the finished item are used.

Fragmentation is common in the electronics, transportation (e.g., automotive and airplane manufacturing), and apparel industries. In 2016, the largest suppliers of intermediate goods to the US were Canada, China, Mexico, and Ireland. Logistically, Mexico and Canada are favorable choices as transportation costs are lower. In addition, their participation in the NAFTA grants them duty-free access.

Example of Fragmentation

For example, an airplane has parts that are sourced and assembled across many parts of the world. Not only does the metal have to be acquired, but larger items, such as electronic systems, also must be assembled.

An airplane may have its wings manufactured in Germany with metals from Africa, its electronics created in Japan with chips made in China, glass in China, and seats assembled in Mexico with textiles and thread from India. Suppliers and manufacturers ship the components to the United States, put together, and sold as the final product.By Eamon Quinn

Exports of goods across the Irish Sea have increased again despite the dampening effects of the slump in sterling since the Brexit vote which ought to have weighed on sales into the UK for firms based in the Republic.

The new evidence that many firms are beating most of the currency-driven effects of Brexit, at least at this stage, come after GDP figures published earlier this week showed that businesses were selling into the UK strongly in 2017, although the growth in exports lagged that of goods sales to the rest of the world.

New official figures show that at over 1.18bn goods exports to the UK rose 25% in January from January 2017 though the increase in value was almost entirely driven by chemicals and related products, the CSO said.

Chemical products include medical and pharmaceutical products and tend to be made and exported by the huge number of multinational drugmakers based here.

Overall, pharmaceutical exports in January to all parts of the world, including the UK, soared to almost 4.32bn in the month from 3.11bn in January 2017, according to detailed CSO figures.

However, total exports to the UK and all other countries of food and live animals, which reflect products sold in the main by Irish-owned firms, were also up, to 838m from 789m in January 2017.

Imports fell overall: The CSO said its seasonally- adjusted tally of imports from all countries eased 1% to 6.82bn. Imports from Britain rose to over 1.42bn in the month, up 123m or by 9% from January 2017.

The value of imports of cars globally fell to 390m from 423m a year earlier.Update - 11am: A man charged in connection with the murder of Joanne Lee appeared in court this morning.

42-year- old Keith Lee of no fixed abode made no reply when the charge was put to him by Judge Grainne Malone.More than 20 drunken revellers were arrested during St Patrick's Day celebrations in Belfast, the PSNI has said.

The arrests, which were made in the city centre and the Holylands areas on Saturday, were for a range of public order offences.

Four people - aged between 18 and 24 - have been charged so far and are due before the courts over the next few weeks.

A number of others remain in police custody.

PSNI Superintendent Robert Murdie said a complex police and partnership operation was put in place on Saturday to help ensure that the large number of events that took place in the city passed off peacefully.

Mr Murdie added: "While the majority of people celebrating in the city (on Saturday) did so in a good-natured and respectful fashion, some did not heed our message to act and drink responsibly.

"Police responded to numerous reports of unacceptable anti-social conduct and young people drinking alcohol in the street.

"In fact, the majority of those arrested were under the influence of alcohol."

In previous years, the Holylands area, which is home to a large student population, has been blighted by drunken scenes and anti-social behaviour.

Mr Murdie said: "Police along with partner agencies, and in consultation with the local community, will review all of the planning for St Patrick's Day and its associated events, and will take away whatever learning there is to improve the experience in future for residents and visitors alike."

Of those arrested, a 19-year-old man is expected to appear before Belfast Magistrates Court on Monday charged with disorderly behaviour and obstructing police.

In April three other men - aged 18, 19 and 24 - are due in court charged with a number of offences including obstructing police, criminal damage, disorderly behaviour, assault on police and obstruction of a road.

Some of the offences were dealt with by way of community resolution notices and penalty notices of disorder.

- Press AssociationEast of the Spanish mainland and just across the way from Ibiza, the southernmost Balearic Island of Formentera has pristine beaches and its own brand of laid-back glamour, writes Kate Maxwell

The southernmost Balearic Island, Formentera  a 12-mile-long, low-lying piney stretch that was abandoned because of the Black Plague in the 14th century and resettled only 300-odd years later  has long been known for its superlative beaches and water thats striped so many shades of blue it looks tie-dyed. Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix are said to have spent time on the island in the 1960s, and Pink Floyd visited in 1967. Today, glitter-painted tourists often day-trip from Ibiza, a 35-minute ferry ride away.

But until recently, there wasnt much else on Formentera to warrant extended stays. Now, though, the Spanish hotelier Pablo Carrington, who co-owns Torralbenc on Minorca and Cap Rocat on Majorca, has finished a redesign of Formenteras famed Gecko Hotel & Beach Club on Platja de Migjorn. Dining options have also improved dramatically, thanks to chefs who have migrated from Italy and the Spanish mainland to Formenteras whitewashed capital, Sant Francesc Xavier, and who skip the usual patatas bravas and chorizo to make inventive use of the islands seafood instead.

For all these changes, however, Formentera still isnt (and never will be) another Ibiza: Its dressed-down and low-key, with a soundtrack of breaking waves and chirping cicadas. The closest youll get to nightclubbing is a beach bar with a DJ and a sand floor, and the roads are more the purview of mopeds and Fiats than Italian supercars. And that, as a new generation of visitors in search of privacy and simple pleasures will tell you, is the whole point.

STAY

Gecko Hotel & Beach Club: This family-friendly resort, which opened in 2002, has been remade in midcentury style, with refined but comfortable furniture (spindle-legged armchairs and curtained daybeds by the hotels designer, Antonio Obrador) and elaborate Moorish tiling, all in shades that echo the sand and sea, which is visible from just about everywhere on the property. Despite its sophisticated new look, the atmosphere at the 30-room hotel remains relaxed: In between complimentary yoga classes and sunset fish barbecues, guests lounge by their private plunge pools.

Photo Talaya: Situated on a particularly tranquil slice of coast, Talaya is the islands unplugged option. Its two white adobe-style buildings, accented with cactuses and bougainvillea, house a collection of 14 simply furnished apartments. In lieu of a restaurant, there are individual kitchens, where guests can assemble picnics of fresh bread, citrus fruits, figs and goat cheese from the Sant Franscesc Xavier farmers market (open every day except Sundays). Talaya doesnt have a pool, either, but who needs one when the glittering Mediterranean is only a 30-second stroll across the dunes?

Villa Lentisco: The villa rental company Unique Properties and Events manages some of the islands most refined homes, including the brand-new, fully staffed Villa Lentisco, a series of Brutalist-style cubes overlooking Cala Saona beach. Designed by its Milanese architect owner, the villa has seven bedrooms, a large pool and an outdoor dining area. Inside, vintage Italian sofas and armchairs in muted tones of green and gray complement the polished concrete floors and scrubland surroundings.

EAT

Can Carlitos: Helmed by Nandu Jubany, who also has a Michelin-starred restaurant north of Barcelona, Can Carlitos serves the islands best tapas  try the scrambled eggs with potatoes and Iberian ham and the paella with pork ribs and scallops. Waiters bearing pitchers of strawberry and pineapple-infused sangria drift between the tables, which extend onto an open-air terrace set on a private, pebbly beach in La Savina.

Kiosko 62: This Platja de Migjorn beach shack is sleepy Formentera at its finest. Theres reggae on the stereo and just a few tables, all shaded by a palm-frond awning and army netting that flutters in the breeze. A tiny kitchen turns out hamburgers and chicken skewers, along with cold beers and punchy gin-and-lemon cocktails. Patrons, meanwhile, get a view of the ombre shallows (and the barely clad swimmers enjoying them). Platja de Migjorn, west of Gecko Hotel & Beach Club.

Ibiza Castle (also known as Eivissa Castle, is located in Old Town Ibiza) is just a 35-minute ferry ride from Formentera.

10.7: A white rectangular box perched high above the striped umbrellas on the eastern end of Platja de Migjorn, this beach bar channels Ibiza-style glamour, with prices to match. The ceviche may not be fully authentic Spanish fare, but its perfectly citrusy and piquant, and pairs well with icy rose. After a long lunch and a dip in the sea below, diners often return for sunset cocktails.

Molo47: Giorgio Armanis former personal chef, the dashing Antonio DAngelo, opened this trendy restaurant, which, with its artful amuse-bouches (eg, octopus tempura with jalapeno mayo) and graphic, braided-rope furniture by Kettal, wouldnt feel out of place in Manhattan. Standouts from the menu, which unites Italian and Japanese culinary techniques (DAngelo is also the executive chef at Nobu Milan), include Wagyu beef wrapped in paper-thin ravioli with caramelised onions, and a succulent, charcoal-smoked bonito with artichoke that arrives billowing steam. Diners can sit ringside at the chefs table, or choose a perch on the terrace and watch the yachts come and go.

SHOP

Balafia: In an airy space in Sant Francesc Xavier, this 12-year-old boutique stocks elegant, vacation-friendly clothes, accessories and furniture. Parisian textile designer Annie Barbaret and fellow French emigre Pascale Morel source them from small designers all over Europe, as well as from fair-trade enterprises in Rwanda and Bangladesh. Along with embroidered cotton tunics by Corsican label Mare di Latte, youll find brightly patterned Wayuu bags, womens and childrens swimsuits and woven hammam towels. (011-34-659-397-181.)

Iemanya: Instead of the biweekly hippie market at El Pilar de la Mola, which lately offers more key chains and tourist T-shirts than artisanal crafts, visit this boutique in Sant Francesc Xavier. Run by Claudia Rossi Liacho, an Argentine woman who arrived in Formentera in the early 1980s, the shop is draped to the rafters with maximalist tribal cotton and silk textiles and accessories from Rajasthan, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, featuring floral block prints and needlepoint beasts and birds in vibrant pinks, greens and blues. Its easy to lose hours happily rifling through the intricately embroidered and mirrored suzanis, camel blankets, caftans and colourful pompom bracelets. (Avenida de Portossaler 13, Sant Francesc Xavier.)They may not be household names but these five Irish people work behind the scenes at some of the worlds biggest fashion organisations. From high ranking positions in Vivienne Westwood to Dries Van Noten, Carolyn Moore charts their rise

Emer Hickey  Head of Couture, Vivienne Westwood

If youve recently admired a celebrity on the red carpet wearing custom Vivienne Westwood, chances are youve unwittingly been admiring the work of Irish designer Emer Hickey. Having joined the brands London studio eight years ago, since 2016 Emer has been Head of Couture at their New York office, dressing everyone from Angelina Jolie to Nicole Kidman to Meryl Streep in Westwoods signature draped cuts.

Every day is different, she says. In the morning I could be in the fashion district researching fabrics; that afternoon preparing design proposals for a private client; and in the evening fitting a VIP for a high profile event like the Oscars or the Met Ball.

The daughter of a trained pattern cutter, she admits her interest in fashion was almost inevitable. In my younger years I tried to fight it, but in the end it chose me. Student internships  including one with British couturier Giles Deacon  gave Emer her first taste of a life in fashion. Being from Ireland, I knew I was going to have to leave to gain that luxury exposure, so as a student I worked at design houses in New York and London, she says. That insight was invaluable; something college cant teach you. Being away from family and friends was a sacrifice, but I took any opportunity to build my career. On graduating from NCAD in 2008, she moved to London to study pattern cutting at the London College of Fashion, and she credits her equal skillset in the technical and creative for her rapid rise. Aspiring designers should solidify their skills in pattern cutting and sewing, she says, and remember: There are always new and better techniques, so never stop learning. Soak in the knowledge of your predecessors and learn from new generations who can bring alternative ideas to the team.

Daniel Roden  Design Assistant, Marc Jacobs

Daniel Roden was drawn to Paris

Marked as one to watch when his graduate collection won Brown Thomas CREATE bursary in 2015, NCAD graduate Daniel Roden used the prize to support his move to Paris, where hes lived and worked since. Theres a quintessentially Irish story behind his leap from graduate to design assistant at Marc Jacobs, which came about when an old school friend met Jacobs design director Aisling Luddon on a beach and passed on her contact details.

Im so grateful she mailed me back! Daniel recalls. But even without that introduction, I would have been drawn to Paris. Its the only city with a high concentration of luxury houses, and thats the aspect Im interested in. After contacting Aisling, he sort of fell into his job in Jacobs Paris research studio, and the experience was eye-opening. My first week there I was on a plane to Switzerland to visit a fabric mill. To go, to be taken seriously and see their phenomenal archives was incredible, he recalls. As a student, no one gives you their time, but when youre with a fashion house, suddenly all the doors are open to you.

Researching and developing the creative direction of the Jacobs runway show, Daniels role was nothing if not varied. It was a small team, so I got to work on different projects that you wouldnt necessarily get to experience in a bigger company with a more compartmentalised role, he says.

With the company restructuring, the Paris studio closed in December, and a move could be on the cards for Daniel. There are few moments in life when you can just go anywhere, he says, advising aspiring designers to adopt a similarly open mind. Just start. People finish, take a year out, and all of a sudden life takes over. Start  even if its just talking to people, its never too soon.

Patrick Scallon  Director of Communications, Dries Van Noten

Patrick Scallon at Dries van Noten

If youve caught the documentary Dries on Netflix, youll likely have caught a glimpse of designer Dries Van Notens stylish, erudite Director of Communications, Irishman Patrick Scallon. While he didnt set out to work in fashion, fashion found him when a move to Brussels for a job with the European Commission led to a chance meeting with Martin Margiela. He asked me to help out for three months when their communications person left, he recalls. I stayed for 17 years. As the company evolved, so too did Scallons role. They ended up growing and becoming a lot more structured, so I went from doing press to being more of an art director of all things communications, including, he says, less tangible things that werent directly related to clothing, but were expressions of the brand and the company. In 2008, he took his vision to Dries Van Noten, where, from his base in Paris, he oversees the brands international communications. One of the reasons Dries is quite success is that we walk that line of not being too well known, he explains. People feel were not overly branded, so it feels like a personal choice; something they stumbled across rather than something that was pushed down their throat. For a niche brand, generating awareness while maintaining an air of exclusivity is a strategic balancing act, and the one constant in Patricks day is fielding demands on the designer. Most of my time is spent turning things down rather than making things happen, he says.

His advice to aspiring designers is not to take the image or values of a brand as a reflection of how things are on the inside. As an industry we understand that new blood is important, but I would advise patience. People think all you need is your elbows and chutzpah and youll get there, but its important to learn the craft, be that in communications or in the studio.

Isabella Davey  Showcasing Executive, British Fashion Council

Isabella Davey of the British Fashion Council

A degree in Art and Classics might not seem the obvious start point for a career in fashion, but for the British Fashion Councils NEWGEN talent spotter, Isabella Davey, fashion and art have always been intertwined. The daughter of art conservators, she was frequently behind the scenes at major exhibits, and early exposure to an array of cultural influences  from the costumes of the Russian Ballet to the Warhol pieces her mum worked on  fed her love for fashion. Working in vintage shops in her teens, she came to love fashion through the past it surmised and the cultural relevance it had incurred, she explains. At 20, a summer in London saw her working alongside designer Claire Barrow, an eye opening experience, seeing London through the eyes of a young designer right in the thick of it. Though she wanted to be a magazine editor, and continues to write for publications like LOVE, Twin, and V Magazine, her taste of the London design scene led to further work with emerging designers like Danielle Romeril, and fashion curator Gemma Williams. My experience of small design businesses gave me valuable insight into the needs of emerging designers, she recalls. Then a job came up with the British Fashion Council, and Ive been there ever since. Along with two other Showcasing Executives, Isabella creates Londons Fashion Week schedules, working closely with designers and their PRs, producers, set designers and stylists. My speciality is emerging talent, so I project manage NEWGEN and the Fashion Arts Foundation, she says. The hours are long, youre a point of contact for so many people, but its an incredible role thats allowed me to work with some utterly inspiring individuals. Her advice to aspiring designers is simple: Work hard, and be nice to people, she says. And when youre going through hell, keep going.

Laura Weber  President, New York Embroidery Studio

Laura Weber was behind Saoirse Ronans 2016 Oscar look

Theres no such thing as an average day for NCAD textile graduate Laura Weber, who manages a team of 48 at New Yorks busiest embellishment atelier. Having started as a hand beader, fresh out of college in 2012, after walking in off the street and asking for a job on her first day in New York, Laura rose rapidly through the ranks, becoming creative director, then president.

I manage everything, from the business, to the team, to a very long list of clients, she says, explaining her phone is never far from her hand, and a normal work day is 16-18 hours. Thats average in New York  the work ethic here is something to be reckoned with. That day could involve whipping up anything from show stopping designs by the worlds biggest designers, to custom creations commissioned for the likes of Rihanna and Lady Gaga, and Laura was responsible for hand beading the emerald Calvin Klein dress worn by Saoirse Ronan to the 2016 Oscars. We do everything but sew the garment, she explains, and we have a wide range of clients from around the world. They come to me with ideas and I try to materialise their vision. Were known in the garment centre for our quick turnaround  we make magic happen.

Set on a career in fashion from a young age, having secured her place in NCAD, Laura was devastated when a car accident left her unable to complete a first year assessment, and she ended up in textiles. It was a happy accident, she says now. I landed in something that was perfect for me and my personality  I loved surface embellishment, but Id never though of it as a career path. People dont realise how many avenues into fashion there are, she says, advising aspiring designers that its a vast industry and there are so many routes into it. Work hard, and dont take no for an answer.State-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) may buy 26 per cent stake each in gas utility GAIL India, paying the government over Rs 20,000 crore each to become integrated energy firms. Following Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's February 2017 Budget announcement of creating integrated oil majors, IOC and BPCL had submitted separate proposals to buy the government's 54.89 per cent stake in India's biggest gas marketing and transportation firm, GAIL.

A top source said since the government was not looking at actual merger of oil companies but only transfer of its ownership to a cash-rich PSU, the best option would be to split the 54.89 per cent holding in GAIL equally between IOC and BPCL.

At Friday's closing price of Rs 440.85 a share for GAIL on BSE, the stake is worth close to Rs 41,000 crore.

In January this year, Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) bought out government's 51.11 per cent stake in refiner Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) for Rs 36,915 crore. But HPCL hasn't been merged with ONGC and continues to remain a separate listed company with the same board.

After the buyout, HPCL has become a subsidiary of ONGC, which gets up to two seats on the company board. The source said IOC and BPCL too can follow the same model and split the government's stake equally among themselves.

GAIL will become their subsidiary and will continue to operate as a listed company with an independent board. IOC and BPCL would get to appoint one director each on GAIL board. Like in case of ONGC's acquisition of HPCL, the government would get to encash its holding in GAIL yet retain control over the company through IOC and BPCL.

The source said the government has so far not taken decided on the proposals made by IOC and BPCL.

"How and to whom the stake would be sold will be decided after inter-ministerial consultations," the person said adding the option of splitting the stake equally among the two firms is one of the options that would be considered during such deliberations.

Jaitley in Budget 2017-18 had unveiled government's plan to create integrated public sector oil majors through consolidation, mergers and acquisitions so as that the merged company has capacity to bear higher risks, avail economies of scale, take higher investment decisions and is able to match the performance of international and domestic private companies.

Following this, ONGC expressed interest in taking over HPCL while IOC and BPCL said they were keen on taking over GAIL to help add natural gas transportation and marketing business to their kitty.

The government took up ONGC's proposal first and the transaction was completed by January-end this year.

IOC, the largest oil refiner and fuel marketing company in the country, wanted to either acquire another refiner to add to its capacity or a gas company like GAIL.

The firm feels it already has a fledging gas business in under-construction liquefied natural gas terminals, city gas distribution projects and gas marketing.

And GAIL, the nation's biggest gas transporter and marketing company, would complement that.

BPCL, on the other hand, too has natural gas ambitions and wrote to the oil ministry saying GAIL was its number one choice for acquisition. It listed Oil India, the nation's second-largest exploration firm, as its number two choice.

The government holds 66.13 per cent stake in OIL, which at current market price is worth about Rs 18,000 crore.

Incorporated in August 1984 by spinning off gas business of ONGC, GAIL (India) Ltd owns and operates about 11,000-km of natural gas pipelines in the country. It sells around 60 per cent of natural gas in the country. The source said the government has not taken any decision on the proposals sent by other PSUs.Ian Gardiner is the head of global cloud host AWS' ANZ Start-up Ecosystem and says "I have the coolest job in the organisation, to find and identify the next Atlassian or Xero or Netflix and support them as they scale." Here are Australian success stories of how the cloud is enabling big, global business from this country without a big up-front investment.

Gardiner says AWS offers a programme named Activate which provides AWS credits, engineering support, and any commercial or technical tools the cloud giant can provide and which a startup may need, in order to scale.

AWS will also help startups with introductions and partnerships with venture capitalists, co-working spaces and other important and influential relationships.

"We look at all start-ups," Gardiner says, "but as well as breadth, we want to find depth, and find the best."

The easiest metric is simply who has backed a startup and what programme it may already be in. "If they're backed by AirTree, for example, then they're amazing," Gardiner said. "If they're part of StartMate or TechStars, two awesome accelerators, then we know they're good but maybe at an earlier stage."

The Activate programme doesn't have any lock-in but is run with a long-term philosophy in mind. AWS offers free credits, engineering support and product help to a startup when it doesn't have much time or money. It makes a huge difference to a startup for the first year or so it is in existence if it is not worried about infrastructure cost. Then, AWS thinks, those startups have trust for AWS' platform and services and have a developed product and will be an AWS customer for years and decades, not simply a few quarters.

This said, the programme is a three-year offering, and the credits have a cap of around two years. During that time, Gardiner says, a start-up will either break even or be making profitable sales so the program has served its course and then moves onto support by AWS' account management team. "The programme is there to start up the start-ups," he says.

As to Australia and New Zealand, specifically, Gardiner says this region is "probably the fastest-growing startup ecosystem in the world".

One of the metrics he bases this on is the amount of venture capital money and firms in the ecosystem. "When I started four years ago, there were three to five decent venture capitalists in this space with total funds of $400m. Fast forward to now and there are over 25 firms with $2.5 to $3 billion," he says.

Money follows talent, Gardiner says, and the start-up ecosystem in ANZ has matured with more entrants, the cost of entry has plummeted largely due to cloud computing such as that provided by AWS, and it is now faster and easier than ever to get products into the hands of customers. More potential entrepreneurs are ready to take a risk. "For a good engineer, the cost is $0 because it's now just your time," Gardiner says, due to the credits AWS  the organisation  offers, and the infinite scale AWS  the platform  can provide.

Some graduates of the ANZ AWS Activate program have become global players, all starting here in Australia, all leveraging the cloud to start up fast and cheaply, and all enjoying considerable success.

Instaclustr

Instaclustr manages the Cassandra open source database in the cloud for others. "Instaclustr is to Cassandra what Red Hat is to Linux," Gardiner says.

Cassandra is Facebook's open sourced database, offering proven massive scalability, availability, reliability and performance. As an open source product, companies can download Cassandra and use it for free so there is a lot of unmeasured usage, however, it has been publicly disclosed Apple, eBay and Netflix are three large organisations using Cassandra for their core business.

Instaclustr's business model was to take the open source codebase and build their own intellectual property and license that to customers, helping customers operate Cassandra in the cloud, charging a service fee.

It's a desirable service to customers, Instaclustr's chief executive Peter Nichol claims, because "if their app goes down, their business goes down. Instaclustr makes sure there is no interruption ever", by managing redundancy and replication.

The company is based in Canberra, and AWS liked the quality of their engineering, supporting them for three years. The company now has its CEO and sales team in Silicon Valley while the engineers remain in Canberra. It has 60 staff and solid revenue numbers.

The Instaclustr story began when the founders were working on something completely different, a project using a data warehouse, with pertinent information stored in Cassandra and this got them thinking about providing Cassandra services for others. They made a quick website with credit card billing to see if they could get interest from possible customers and had sign-ups, giving confidence there was a genuine need here. Instaclustr received money from Australian venture capitalists and worked with ANU ConnectVentures. A second investment round successfully raised another $7 million.

Instaclustr has grown from $1 million revenue in 2015, to $3 million in 2016 and now expects to hit an annual run rate of $10 million. "It's good growth, but we've also developed a pretty big customer base with large well-known customers like Microsoft, BlackBerry, Atlassian, Accenture, and Honeywell," Nichol says. "They don't want a small company touching their data, which is sometimes very sensitive data, so the fact we have proven ourselves and developed trust has given them confidence," he says.

"In Australia, we hire top people from Universities and enjoy low staff turnover and a campus culture. We believe it's a real differentiator for us with high-quality people," Nichol says.

GorillaStack

GorillaStack is a comprehensive solution for automating your AWS cloud and significantly optimising costs. It adds a simple unobtrusive role to your AWS account, controls EC2 instance schedules, auto scaling groups, automation of EBS volumes and snapshot deletion, among other things. You can set up alerts to keep abreast of spikes in your spend, and for regular updates on your infrastructure. It integrates with Slack, Hipchat, SMS, e-mail and other communication mechanisms.

The business was founded in July 2015 by Sydney-siders Oliver Berger and Elliott Spira. Elliott was working on some projects and Id just exited my previous business, Berger says. Those projects were running into issues and found they had to optimise the infrastructure. We were speaking and thought that infrastructure management was a product of its own. We got some startups to try it to manage their infrastructure, the original project got left behind, and the infrastructure management became the product.

The duo put their code together and spoke to AWS, and before we knew it, Berger says, we had a fully-fledged product being talked about on the cost-optimisation track at Amazons AWS re:Invent 2015 conference, which spurred us to get the product polished.

The product was described in-depth at the following years AWS re:Invent 2016 conference, and AWS itself recommended GorillaStack to customers to solve infrastructure and cost management issues.

In Australia, GorillaStack is used by the NSW Department of Industry, the AFL and HealthDirect.

Other, similar, products exist but GorillaStack says it stands out by offering greater value. We can tell you half an hour before something occurs, through Slack or HipChat or other means. We can alert if something needs to change it and give a one-click option to activate it. For example, someone may be logged in from a different region and gets notice an EC instance is going to switch off and they can snooze it with one click. We offer rich provisioning, and a great breadth of rules and functionality, Berger states.

GorillaStack plans to expand its physical presence to Asia, Europe and the US in 2018 and expects to work through channels and channel partners, further rolling out the commission structure it already has with Australian partners. We think the channel partners know the market and their customers well and would prefer they work with them than go direct where we may not have as much insight into the needs of the end customer, Berger says.

GorillaStack also offers a free bot to listen to cloud trail events, alerting on Slack when specific events happen. It is in use by big global names like Samsung, Disney, and Vodafone to get real-time alerts on events within their network, that push into a Slack channel. GorillaStacks has processed over 400 million events and its research and experiences here help them understand the events people want to know about or take action on.

Campaign Monitor

Campaign Monitor is an email marketing campaign platform which started off with the idea of sending beautiful emails and beautiful campaigns, says Herry Wiputra, chief information officer, and since moved into personalisation, targeting and automation.

The product specialises in email marketing automation and connecting brands with people. Its customers include Pizza Hut Australia, Red Cross Australia, the Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, Buzzfeed and Envato and a lot of non-profits, Wiputra says. Pricing is based on the number of emails and subscribers, with higher plans offering unlimited messaging, along with add-on plans.

The bulk of Campaign Monitor is implemented in AWS though, Wiputra notes, some remains on-premise - its critical to our sending pipeline that we own the IP address, he says.

Even so, Wiputra states the expanding AWS service catalogue continually brings opportunities for new functionality to Campaign Monitor such as disaster recovery, S3 searching, and the potential for machine learning into making recommendations to customers.

Campaign Monitor has 75 people in the Operations and Engineering teams within Sydney along with some subject matter experts and follow-the-sun support staff in the USA and France.

Speaking of competitors, such as a certain monkey-named product, Wiputra says Campaign Monitor offers beautiful emails, really good support, someone who customers can talk to, and ease of use. People see our performance and return on investment, and how they can target segments of people who are engaging or not engaging with their campaign.

The business started life in a garage in the Sutherland Shire. The founders, Dave Greiner and Ben Richardson, sold part of their shares to venture capital partners four years ago and now feature in the BRW top 50 rich list.

You

Do you have a burning desire to make an app? Ian Gardiner has advice for you.

Pick a topic you're passionate about. Think  what is your unfair advantage? Do you have marketing knowledge or engineering skill? Focus on that. Get a product  a minimum viable product, or MVP  into the hands of your customers so you can identify if there is a business there or not. Do it while you're still working for someone else if you have to; many good engineers can launch quickly and make a decision to 'go' or 'no-go'.

With cloud services now making the cost of entry so low, and the speed of implementation so fast, you can experiment rapidly and cheaply, and you could be the next Aussie success story.Australian-listed logistics and supply chain management provider Yojee has entered into a pilot services agreement with UPS Asia Group, a subsidiary of United Parcel Service, to establish a proof of concept for the use of Yojees blockchain technology in the UPS specific supply chain environment.

Under the agreement Yojee (ASX:YOJ) will deliver the pilot by early April 2018  unless extended  and no revenue will be derived by Yojee from the pilot agreement.

According to Yojee, with artificial intelligence and blockchain-backed supply chain technology and a team of in-house supply chain and blockchain experts based in the fast growing Asian market, the company is in a strong early-mover position to lead the industry digitisation movement and is already well advanced along its development roadmap.

Rob Houck, vice-president of Strategy, UPS Asia Pacific, said, Deploying technology-enabled operations for maximum efficiencies remains a priority for UPS. We look forward to working with Yojee to identify the application of new technologies to our business.

Yojee managing director Ed Clarke said the blockchain pilot services agreement with UPS highlighted the global interest in applying blockchain technologies to the freight and logistics industry and Yojees unique sector capabilities.

We look forward to working with UPS, the worlds largest package delivery company, to pilot Yojees blockchain-backed platform in the Asia Pacific region, the largest and fastest growing region in global logistics.A grants programme delivering grants of up to $250,000 has been opened by the NSW Government under the NSW-Israel Research and Development Tech Innovation Program.

Businesses can now apply for grants under the programme which is jointly run by the NSW Government and Israel and was established to support innovation and strengthen ties between NSW and Israel.

NSW Minister for Trade & Industry Niall Blair opened applications for the programme on Monday and said that businesses must apply before 7 June.

The NSW Government is offering matched financial grants of up to $250,000 for project costs for participating businesses, he said.

Encouraging technology collaborations through government programs such as this, is a wise investment in a better future.

We are committed to supporting innovation to create the businesses and jobs of tomorrow. In partnering with Israel, an innovation leader, we are putting our best technology companies on the world stage.

Sydney-based company Blue River Group is already working with NSW and Israel to develop and commercialise new agriculture and food technologies.

Chief executive Craig Shapiro welcomed the NSW-Israel R&D Tech Innovation Program which he said had great potential to nurture R&D connections.

Israel is a leader in innovation across several sectors, including agricultural areas like irrigation, plant genetics, horticulture, dairy productivity.

The NSW-Israel R&D Tech Innovation Program encourages applications from all sectors, but will prioritise projects focusing on cyber security, water management or agri-technology.

And in support of the program, the Department of Industry will contribute an extra 10% funding towards R&D projects that focus on priority sectors, for projects based in regional and rural areas outside Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong, or for start-ups or high growth companies.About 200,000 homes and businesses which were classed as "ready to connect" in November 2017 by the NBN Co, the company rolling out Australia's national broadband network, have gone missing from this category of dwellings according to the company's own figures.

This is apparent from figures for February issued by NBN Co, wherein the number of dwellings ready to connect is listed as 6.5 million in November 2017 and 6.3 million in February.

The presumption is that these properties have gone missing because they are all due to be connected through HFC.

In November last year, NBN Co said that network issues affecting the HFC network had led to a suspension of HFC connections and that they would be delayed by anything from six to nine months.

The discrepancy was noticed by Greg Bader, chief executive of the WA-based rental company,

He told iTWire that he found it odd that NBN Co had not drilled down to the level of the state as far as these numbers were concerned.

Bader's company lists about 70,000 properties at any one time and provides details about every property's NBN connectivity as a guide for prospective tenants.

He said he had looked at properties he had seen over the three months of this year, a sample of about 146,000 in all states. Losing about 9000, or 6%, due to poor data matching left about 137,000 to analyse.

Analysing data for these premises, Bader came up with the following tables:

According to his extrapolated figures, the state most badly hit by the HFC issues is South Australia, which shows a -7% fall in dwellings ready for connections. Victoria is close behind with -6% while Queensland is at -4% and NSW at -3%.

Contacted for comment, an NBN Co spokesman told iTWire, "Yes. If you look at the drop from 7 December 2017 to 14 December 2017, you will see a drop of over half a million on this metric.

"We were very upfront about this in November last year. This is a consequence of us doing the necessary optimisation works on the HFC network to prioritise customer experience."

Pointing to this link, the spokesman added: "But note the steady increase since 14 December. We are getting the job done."Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday launched an all-out attack on the Modi government, saying that while it had messed up the economy, it was spouting jumla (rhetoric) with pipe-dreams about generating 2 crore jobs and doubling farm incomes.

Addressing the 84th Congress plenary session in New Delhi, he also accused the BJP-led government of having mismanaged the dispute in Jammu and Kashmir and said the government's talk of fighting two and a half wars was yet another hollow promise.

From foreign policy and defence to the economy, the former prime minister spoke on a range of issues, and was accorded a thunderous applause and a standing ovation by party leaders.

Singh lamented that only about 1.6 per cent of the country's GDP was spent on defence expenditure, which, he said, could not meet the challenges that the security apparatus posed.

He also alleged that there were many issues on the foreign policy front that had been poorly handled by the Modi government.

"We also must recognise that the Modi government has mismanaged the Jammu and Kashmir problem as never before," he said.

He said the two wings of the government in the state were working against each other and the atmosphere was deteriorating day in and day out.

"That is obvious from the fact that our borders are not secure, whether it is cross-border terrorism or internal terrorism, internal insurgency. There are today issues which are a source of great worry to all our citizens," he said.

The Modi government, he said, possibly feels that these issues will get sorted out on their own.

"That's not going to happen," he added.

Noting that Jammu and Kashmir was an integral part of India, he said the country needed to recognise the state's special problems and we must deal with those problems with all seriousness.

Highlighting issues that had come up between India and its neighbours under the Modi dispensation, the former prime minister said it was the task of the country to create pathways for an environment of support, friendship and moving ahead together. The Congress moved in that direction, he said, whether it was with Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka, or countries such as China.

These problems are to be sorted out peacefully and not in an atmosphere of hostility and shouting at each other, he said.

On Pakistan, Singh said India must recognise it as a neighbour but expressed concern over Islamabad's support to cross-border terrorism.

"That certainly is not acceptable to us. We must, therefore, warn Pakistan that this is a path which is mutually destructive of peace and prosperity in the sub-continent," he said.

"It is as much in the interest of Pakistan as in the interest of India that our two countries must sort out all problems sitting together peacefully and give up this path of support of terrorist elements emanating from across the border," he noted.

On the economy, which he claimed grew by 7.8 per cent under the UPA regime led by him, Singh rued that at a time the world economy had grown from 2.8 per cent to 3.8 per cent from 2014 to 2018, the Indian economy had decoupled itself from the world economy.

Quoting the Economic Survey, the former prime minister said it brings out the inadequacies of the BJP government's approach to solving social and economic problems.

Those were the challenges that the Congress had to take up again, he stressed. "The BJP government has messed up the economy. When Modi ji was campaigning he made lots of tall promises. Those promises have not been fulfilled," he said.



Singh said the BJP claimed in 2014 that if it came to power it would provide 2 crore jobs.

"But we have not seen even two lakh jobs," he said.

The ill-thought and ill-conceived demonetisation and hastily put forward legislation for GST had destroyed many jobs and created problems for the small and medium industry and the informal sector, both in terms of production and providing jobs, he said.

He also pointed out that Modi had talked of doubling farmers' incomes in six years.

"If you have to double farmers' incomes in six years' time, you need a growth rate of 12 per cent per annum as the minimum. And that is unthinkable. Therefore, it is one of those statements ... merely a jumla-type statement, which is not likely to be achieved," he said.

"Modi ji himself recognises that these are tall promises. Two crore jobs per annum is one of those promises which is again a pipe dream mooted by the Modi government," he said.

Recollecting the history of the Congress, the former prime minister said it was the party that "made India what it is today, that led the freedom struggle and which guided India in the path of development after it became free".

At a time when the Congress is seeking to get back to power and to create alliances with like-minded parties to oust the BJP in 2019, the former prime minister said the Congress party was once again being "invited and challenged to play a similar role".

He also exuded confidence that the party would play the same historic role in the years to come under Congress president Rahul Gandhi's leadership and former party chief Sonia Gandhi's guidance, to carry forward the "process of sustained growth, development and social justice of the people of India".logo_ddn_tag_Site JN with Tagline logo-sns_tag_Site

Our apologies, unfortunately our website is currently unavailable in most European countries due to GDPR rules.Reddit Email 54 Shares

TeleSur |  

The social media company warned it will take legal action if necessary to hold them responsible and accountable for any unlawful behavior.

Social media giant, Facebook, said it on Friday it was suspending political data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica, which worked for the United States President Donald Trumps 2016 presidential campaign, after discovering the firm had violated Facebooks privacy policies.

In a public statement, Facebooks Deputy General Counsel Paul Grewal announced it suspended Cambridge Analytica and its parent company Strategic Communications Laboratories (SCL) after reports they had not deleted information about Facebook users and sold it to a third party.

The statement, which did not mention the Trump campaign, also warned they will take legal action if necessary to hold them (Cambridge Analytica and SCL) responsible and accountable for any unlawful behavior, adding that it would continue its investigations.

On Cambridge Analyticas website, the firm claims it provided the Donald J. Trump for President campaign with the expertise and insights that helped win the White House. According to a Reuters report, so far neither the firm nor Brad Parscale, who ran Trumps digital ad operation in 2016, have commented.

In previous interviews Parscale has underplayed the firms role in the campaign, insisting they mostly relied on data from Republican-affiliated organizations. However, according to Federal Election Commission records the Trump campaign paid the analytics firm over US$6.2 million.

Facebook had had previous problems with SCL, after learning in 2015 that University of Cambridge professor Aleksandr Kogan violated its policies when he shared data he acquired with a so-called research app that used Facebooks login system to SCL/Cambridge Analytica and Christopher Wylie of Eunoia Technologies.

The suspension means Cambridge Analytica and SCL cannot buy ads on Facebook or administer its clients pages.

Via TeleSur



Bonus video added by Informed Comment:

Channel 4 News: Cambridge Analytica: Whistleblower reveals data grab of 50 million Facebook profilesReddit Email 189 Shares

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) |  

Trumps conviction that being president means never having to say you are sorry, and being able to do whatever the hell you please, is likely to cause him legal trouble sooner or later.

His vindictive firing of deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe, just before McCabe could retire and qualify for his pension, is typical of this president. McCabe appears to have been passing on memos on his interactions with Trump to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and the firing may be related to these memos.

Trump is attempting to humiliate and discredit McCabe because he is a corroborating witness for James Comey, the FBI director whom Trump also fired last May. The Comey firing is far more serious, since it may constitute obstruction of justice.

Trumps lawyer, John Dowd, more or less corroborated the political motive for firing McCabe in this mortifying way, by saying that it should form a precedent for firing Special Councel Robert Mueller, who Dowd implied was part of the same corrupt partisan gang irrationally hounding the president over the fake news Russia collusion story.

If Trump fired Mueller, that really would be obstruction, and could create a huge constitutional crisis of a sort not seen since the days of Reagans Iran-Contra or Nixons Watergate.

And unfortunately for Trump, the revelation that Cambridge Analytica, the data mining firm founded by his backer and part-time neo-fascist billionaire James Mercer, illicitly used 50 million voter profiles from Facebook Trumps behalf, and that CA met with the Russians, kind of reduced the supposed fakeness of the story. Mercer was also behind building up white supremacist rag Breitbart, and appears, despite denials, to have been close to Steve Bannon, who was a vice president at Cambridge Analytica and the editor of Breitbart. Bannon, for a while White House chief strategist, has recently been in Europe urging French fascists to own their racism and boast of it, and praising Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, whose troops killed or wounded 300,000 American and British soldiers. That is what Trumpism, which Bannon championed, stands for.

Trump admitted in his interminable tweets that he got rid of the FBI director to stop the Russia collusion probe. Comey has also alleged that Trump attempted to obstruct the investigation of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn over his undeclared and likely illegal contacts with Russia and Turkey.

If Mueller works up an obstruction case against Trump over the Comey firing, then it is possible that the McCabe firing could be seen as an action in furtherance of the original obstruction.

Trump also sees McCabe as a Democratic mole because his wife Jill ran unsuccessfully for office in Virginia in that party. Vox says Trump once asked McCabe to ask his wife how it felt to be a loser.

Apparently Trump is the only one in Washington who has never heard of the power couple James Carville and Mary Matalin (the former a Democratic strategist, the latter a Republican one). You dont judge someone on ascriptive grounds (their inherited or family or other involuntary identity) but on those of actual personal behavior.

But then Trumps entire life and his movement are based on judging people on ascriptive grounds rather than by the demonstrated content of their character. Perhaps he is blind to character because he has none of his own.

Trump knows that the FBI and special counsel Robert Mueller are coming for him over his many crimes, political and financial, and he is hoping to muddy the waters by creating a reputation for the FBI as corrupt and partisan, thus undermining public confidence in its finding.

Incidentally, one of the things Trump blamed McCabe for was letting James Comey fly back from LA to Washington on an FBI plane *after* Trump had fired him while he was in the field. Apparently Trump had wanted Comey to be forced to hitchhike home.

The petty-minded disgracing of his enemies speaks poorly of Trump. But if Dowds memo to CNN was a trial balloon for the firing of Mueller, we could pass beyond the realm of the petty to a huge societal explosion.



Bonus video:

CBS Los Angeles: McCabe Calls Dismissal Part Of Trumps War On FBIReddit Email 219 Shares

By Alastair Sloan | (Middle East Monitor) |  

The appointment of Mike Pompeo as the new US Secretary of State by Donald Trump will not signal a change in Washingtons Middle East policy. It doesnt mean that America will no longer endorse the alliance between the Saudi and Israeli governments. Nor does it, despite Donald Trumps admiration, mean that America will switch its support to Bashar Al-Assad, or take up the Qatari cause in the embargo crisis. The Iran nuclear deal will continue to be degraded and dismissed as appeasement, but it will likely stay in force. The Israeli settlers expanding into the occupied West Bank will continue to win solid approval from the United States, and the war in Yemen will continue with Washingtons encouragement.

What Pompeo represents to the Israel-Palestine problem will be necessarily historic, though. So much is at stake. President Trump has announced that the US Embassy will be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in May, the first stage in what he thinks will be the dramatic and final end of the peace process.

On Sunday, the New York Times reported that Trump will be publishing his new peace-plan. The Palestinian Authority will not accept the validity of any such plan on principle. It remains deeply discouraged by Trumps bullish embassy move. The Palestinians, who Trump ultimately determines to be in opposition to his interests, are facing an end game that will see the formal annexation of the West Bank by Israel.

Trump has encouraged the new alliance between Saudi Arabia and Israel, and continually encouraged Israels other new Arab friends  notably Jordan and Egypt  to make even closer kin of the ruling Likud. All of these are historic rapprochements in which the United States has had a hand in creating. They are also rapprochements which see the Palestinians fundamentally abandoned by the most important Sunni states in the region, who have chosen to side with the occupiers and not the oppressed.

Isolated always, but even more so now, anti-occupation Palestinians will rely for the time being on Qatar and Iran to maintain their military resistance movements. The public and the Palestinian Authority will still receive vast amounts of private charity from concerned Muslims, and UN funding, from a variety of other countries; as their plight worsens, though, the voices dominant in Palestinian politics will continue to be warlike and shrill. They will be positioned by Israel and the West as they always are; impossible to negotiate with. Finally, Trump will call Netanyahu and say that the formal annexation of the West Bank is not something that America would object to.

Previously, it was hoped by the Trump clique that his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, would make this happen. Associated closely with the Israeli settler movement, Kushner is now facing severe issues with his White House security clearance, potential complicity in Russian support for Donald Trumps candidacy, and diminishing personal power within the first family and its inner circle.

With the foundations set but Kushner disappearing, and Trump himself too distracted by CNN and Fox News to get involved in the heavy-lifting, Secretary of State Pompeo has inherited the task of implementing this madcap peace deal.

Read: Kushner says Israel-Palestine deal prerequisite for regional stability

His predecessor, Rex Tillerson, was very obviously not on board with Trumps bold plan for the Israel-Palestine crisis. After Trump announced the intention to shift the embassy eastwards, Tillerson interjected that the move could take several years in an attempt to buy time in order to deflate Palestinian outrage. The US President ignored him and construction is already underway. Tillerson also wanted to salvage the Iran nuclear deal, but his boss did not. Late last year, it was reported that Tillerson had called Trump a moron.

Pompeo will not act in this way. He will not, like Tillerson, attempt to contain Trump or to act in the best interests of the United States to defend the country from its most dangerous domestic threat in history. He is too much of a good friend, on a personal level, with his President.

The new Secretary of State will make Trump more effective, becoming his iron fist in Foggy Bottom, the foreign policy district of Washington. Former US Army officer Pompeo will dutifully carry out his orders, drawing on his military background and outlook in the process; and he will do so, crucially, with the same political convictions as Trump, convictions that his predecessor did not share.

US embassy might be moved to Jerusalem  Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]

If anyone in this administration can pull off Trumps deal of the century  sorting out peace between the Israelis and Palestinians  Trump thinks that it will be former CIA chief Pompeo, because he is what Trump likes to call a winner. According to the President, he and Pompeo are on the same wavelength. Although Trumps erratic and impulsive changes in mood may eventually mean that, like so many senior officials before him, Pompeo will fall foul of his bosss tantrums, he has shown remarkable resilience so far, mainly because the two are aligned on every major domestic and foreign policy issue. As Director of the CIA, Pompeo ended the apolitical nature of the role, speaking out loyally in favour of Trump on every possible occasion. In contrast, Tillerson and the President were barely on speaking terms.

Secretary of State Pompeo will have other problems on his plate, though, besides the Palestinian peace deal. Relations with Russia and European allies are torturous, as it becomes clear how much the Kremlin was complicit in smoothing Trumps path to the White House, and as the worldwide ramifications of a nerve gas attack on British soil by Russian agents play out.

The North Korea crisis has also entered a new chapter, with Trump and Kim Jong-Un pledged to meet; Pompeo will need to make sure that this happens and then manage the fall-out if things go wrong. The war in Syria and all its attendant problems are still there; Pompeos main job will be to keep the US at a respectful distance from Assad so that Putin can gain the upper hand, in line with Trumps obvious pro-Russian sympathies, as well as manage relations with Turkey, an important but unpredictable NATO ally. Washingtons relations with most European nations are also at a low ebb, as are relations with Canada and Mexico, and Pompeo will need to fix these. China, meanwhile, in a move praised by President Trump, is shifting from a one-party dictatorship to a one-person dictatorship.

America: From head of the snake to honest sponsor of peace process

With all that going on, Pompeos interest in the Palestinian crisis is likely to be slim. The situation is presently manageable and requires little attention in order to meet Trumps foreign policy aim of allowing Israel to subsume the Palestinians. The embassy will be built as quickly as Pompeo and Trump desire. Within a couple of years, the new outpost of US sovereignty will be opened at a ceremony that Trump has already said he would like to attend.

Saudi attracts US attention by singing Israels tunes  Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]

The message will then be clear to the Palestinians: America stands with Israel. They will be told to look around; the major Muslim powers, who have abandoned them, also stand with Israel. The Palestinians are isolated on the world stage and defeated at home. They have failed to rally around a single leader since Arafat, and the closest they got was with Marwan Barghouti, who is inside an Israeli prison. They cannot agree amongst themselves whether Palestine should be a secular, semi-religious or theocratic state, and given the animosity of Islamists towards Israel it is rational for Israel to be nervous about at least one of those options, and thus to work against a consciously Muslim Palestinian state being formed. The writing for all of this is already on the wall.

Pompeo, mirroring his chum Trump, will deliver a stark ultimatum to the Palestinians: submit to life within an Israeli state stretching from the river to the sea or live forever under increasingly arduous military occupation. That will be their choice. They can ask their friends in east Jerusalem how much better they fare economically for even being within commuting distance of the mainstream Israeli economy. How many Palestinian voters would mind if their wages, educational outcomes and lives benefited from joining the Israeli economy? It would be hard for many to turn down such an opportunity.

Does Pompeo live in the real world if he issues such a brutal ultimatum? Before Trump was elected, the former congressman was a lead voice criticising Hilary Clinton over the Benghazi tragedy in Libya, possibly her most vocal critic on the issue. As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, Pompeo contorted the facts into a grotesque and puerile conspiracy theory, stomping over the dead bodies of Americans and Libyans simply in order to score a political point against crooked Clinton.

Such an attitude is disturbing in the man who now dictates US foreign policy in the tricky problem of Palestine, where several different realities can be true at the same time for different people, depending on which political viewpoint  pro- or anti-Zionist they support. It is nothing new for the Trump administration, of course, where fantasy and fact are interchangeable. What is clear now is that Trumps man is in charge of foreign policy. Whatever Trump tweets, could now become reality; nothing is beyond the realms of possibility.

Alastair Sloan writes on international affairs, terrorism and Westminster politics and is author of the upcoming book, What Does Michael Gove Really Think? You can also read his work in Al Jazeera English and Newsweek.

Via Middle East Monitor

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.



Bonus video added by Informed Comment:

VOA News: Under Pompeo Analysts Expect More Reliance on US MilitaryWest Perth, WA / March 19, 2018 / JMN Wire / Artemis Resources Limited (Artemis or the Company) (ASX: ARV) advises that it has received positive results from pit optimisations of its Carlow Castle Cobalt/Copper/Gold Project Mineral Resource. The optimisation was done to assess potential plant feed of Artemis Radio Hill Processing Plant for its re-commissioning around the middle of the year.

The Carlow Castle Project is located about 30 km north-east of Artemis Radio Hill Plant site and is easily accessible via gazetted roads and highways.

Diamond drilling is currently underway at the project for final metallurgy and geotechnical studies.

Carlow Castle is on a granted Exploration tenement and has a current Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource classified and reported in compliance with the JORC Code (2012) of 4,500,000 tonnes at 0.9 g/t Au 0.07% Co, 0.4% Cu & 1.3 g/t Ag1 for a contained metal content of 127,000 ounces of gold, 18,000 tonnes of Copper and 3,150 tonnes of Cobalt and 188,000 ounces of silver. The current resource outcrops at surface and remains open at depth and along strike.

Highlights:

Carlow Castle Cobalt/Copper/Gold Projects Mineral Resource estimate of 4.5 Mt @ 0.9g/t Au, 0.07% Co, 0.4% Cu was optimised at a cobalt price of A$104,046/t, copper price of A$8,831/t and a gold price of A$1,650/oz to assess potential plant feed for Artemis Radio Hill processing plant.

The optimisation pits included 4.135 million tonnes with grade of 0.77 g/t Au, 0.38% Cu and 0.06% Co at a strip ration of 4.71:1.

The Carlow Castle deposit is located only 30 km from Artemis 100% owned Radio Hill Plant.

The optimisation confirmed that the deposit has significant scope for expansion with additional drilling.

Recent SAM geophysics survey confirms multiple very high-order targets for future drilling.

David Lenigas, Artemiss Executive Chairman, commented;

As part of Artemiss review of all of its projects in the Karratha area, to prioritise potential plant feed for the Radio Hill Plant in readiness for its recommissioning scheduled for June this year, we have just completed the first optimisation of our Carlow Castle Cobalt/Copper/Gold Project with highly encouraging results. The results confirm that nearly all of the currently identified Mineral Resource estimates fall within the optimised pit shells. We have just completed a detailed Sub Audio Magnetics (SAM) survey over 1.9km2 covering the immediate Carlow Castle area and we are now planning an extensive drilling programme based on these SAM findings to increase the size of this new and exciting cobalt/copper/gold discovery in the Pilbara.

Figure 1: Carlow Castle Project  Isometric View of the pit optimisation with the 3 prospect areas, Quod Est, Carlow Castle South and Carlow Castle South-East.The mathematical (and other) thoughts of a (now retired) math teacher,The long journey to find peace for Rohingya refugee Kobir Ahmed can be told through the different birth countries of his eight children  Myanmar, Malaysia and Australia  although they remain citizens of no nation.

He now helps run a grocery store in suburban Australia where he lives in a small community of Rohingya, the persecuted Muslim minority who have fled army-led violence in Myanmars Rakhine state in their hundreds of thousands.

They are not like other militaries of the world. Killing people is nothing for them, the 44-year-old told AFP of the armys hardline tactics against his people.

Myanmars de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi was in Sydney Sunday for a special Australia-ASEAN summit, with her presence seen as a crushing reminder of lost hope.

She is among nine leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations holding talks, including Cambodian strongman Hun Sen and Vietnams Nguyen Xuan Phuc  both accused of oppression.

Their attendance sparked human rights protests, with thousands making their feelings known, particularly about Aung San Suu Kyis perceived inaction to halt what the UN says bears the hallmarks of genocide.

The situation in Burma wasnt this bad before Aung Sung Suu Kyi came in power, said Ahmed, who arrived in Australia on a rickety boat crammed with more than 100 people in 2013.

Before, we were tortured, we werent allowed to work or move independently  we were under a lot of scrutiny  but we could at least live there. But after she emerged, we were all forced to leave the country.

A bid by Australian lawyers to prosecute Suu Kyi for crimes against humanity was rejected Sunday after the countrys attorney general said she had immunity from prosecution.

 Community pulling together 

Nearly 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh since Myanmar launched a crackdown on insurgents six months ago, with many describing arson, murder and rape at the hands of soldiers and vigilante mobs in the majority Buddhist country.

Myanmar has vehemently denied allegations of ethnic cleansing, insisting it was responding to attacks by Muslim militants in late August.

The Rohingya in Australia number in the thousands, with many arriving over the years by boat seeking some form of citizenship status they were denied in Myanmar and could not attain in transit countries.

Their struggle for status remains uncertain under Canberras tough immigration policies.

For most citizenship is disallowed, advocates say, under strict conditions that sees the Rohingya applying for bridging visas every few years in the hope that Australia relaxes its hardline stance on asylum-seekers designed to discourage boatpeople.

Many who attempted the dangerous journey after Canberra further tightened its borders languish in Pacific island camps, where those trying to enter Australia by boat are now sent.

We are very much happy to obey the rules and the law just give us a chance to prove that we are a good citizens, Shawfikul Islam, from the Australian Burmese Rohingya Organisation, told AFP.

Despite the uncertainty, many Rohingya are resilient and the community tight-knit. They often lack formal education, with the opportunity of schooling for their children one of their biggest hopes.

For myself, my chance is over as I didnt go to school and when I grew up in Myanmar I lost all my rights, refugee Jumabi, who arrived via boat with her family six years ago, told AFP. But here, these children have a great chance, and a future.

 Crimes against humanity 

Under Myanmars complex political system the military maintain control of the security forces, but Aung San Suu Kyi has been at the centre of worldwide condemnation for failing to use her influence to change attitudes among the majority-Buddhist Bamar.

Australia, which was elected to the UN Human Rights Council last year, has been under pressure to take a stronger stand on Myanmar.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull vowed to address human rights issues at the Sydney summit, although that will likely be behind closed doors and not in public.

Amnesty International has accused ASEAN leaders of being shamefully silent on Myanmar.

Myanmars regional neighbours  including Australia and ASEAN  must send a signal that crimes against humanity are unacceptable and will not go unpunished, said Amnestys director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific James Gomez.

For Australias Rohingya community, there is little belief that Aung San Suu Kyi will change.

We thought she was very good when we were young, said 25-year-old Mohamed Younis, who arrived in Australia by boat five years ago.

As soon she came into power, she is doing nothing for our people  it is like she is blind.625 Shares Share

Over 17 million cosmetic surgery and minimally invasive procedures were performed in the U.S. in 2016. With the increasing popularity of cosmetic procedures, it seems nearly everyone is out to get a bite of the apple.

Cosmetic surgery chains are growing in size and popularity in an attempt to cash in on this market. Examples include: LifeStyle Lift in the U.S., which declared bankruptcy in 2015 and Transform in the U.K. With this growing popularity, consumers should ask themselves whether having surgery at a cosmetic surgery chain is a good idea. Today, Im going to explain what to look for during your cosmetic surgery consultation and what you should stay far away from.

Im in a unique position to discuss the safety of cosmetic surgery chains. First, Im a board-certified plastic surgeon in Cleveland, and cosmetic surgery makes up over half of my private practice. I currently operate in both a traditional hospital and an outpatient surgery center. But for the past two years, I was employed part-time by one of these cosmetic surgery chains. I even had liposuction surgery performed at that center, so Ive got a unique insider view of what really happens at those chains, and how its different from seeing a physician in private practice. Im going to tell you the truth about these centers and what to look out for.

The first red flag to watch out for is high-pressure sales tactics. If you check websites such as ConsumerAffairs.com and the Better Business Bureau, youll find this is a common complaint about cosmetic surgery chains. High-pressure sales tactics may include:

Requiring you to put money down before you ever meet a physician

Pressuring you to make a decision that day

Insisting on applying for a loan at your initial consultation

Offering a special limited time discount

High-pressure sales can occur at both a private practice and at a cosmetic surgery chain. Regardless of where you encounter them, they are a huge red flag. As a consumer, you want a doctor who is focused on providing the best care possible, not on meeting a revenue goal. Focusing on money over patient care can lead to some scary medical decisions, like operating on people who really arent healthy enough to have surgery.

The second red flag to watch out for is misleading statements about pain during and after surgery. LifeStyle Lift had many complaints that their advertising gave the impression the procedure was quick and the recovery painless. In reality, the procedure lasted three hours or longer, and the downtime afterward was about two weeks. When you see a surgeon for a consultation, she or he should tell you what the average experience is like, as well as best and worst-case scenarios for recovery time. If this part is glossed over in your consultation, alarm bells should be going off in your head.

The third red flag you should watch out for is a surgery center or physician that only offers a very limited number of procedures. The center I worked at did liposuction, but no tummy tucks or skin removal. So if you were looking for a flatter stomach, they would only be able to offer you liposuction, even if you would get a better result with a tummy tuck. This is where the high-pressure sales comes into play again as well; if you have a sales person who needs to meet sales goals, that person is highly motivated to sell you his or her product, regardless of whether its actually the best option for you.

The fourth and final red flag to watch out for is the safety of the facility. Hospitals have the strictest oversight for patient safety, followed by surgery centers. But if surgery is performed with only oral medication, it can legally be done in an office that has no type of accreditation. This doesnt mean having surgery isnt necessarily safe, but you do want to ask what happens if there is an emergency, and how the staff are trained to deal with that. You also want to ask your surgeon if he or she has privileges to do your surgery in a hospital; non-plastic surgeons usually cannot get privileges to perform cosmetic surgery procedures such as liposuction in a hospital because they dont have the training. If your surgeon only operates in an office or surgery center, this is a red flag that he or she is not board-certified in plastic surgery.

In my experience working for a cosmetic surgery chain, I was able to give patients some fantastic results. And I myself had a safe procedure by a surgeon I trust. But I think there is a huge difference in the mindset between a physician in private practice and a corporation. Physicians go into medicine because we want to help people, first and foremost.

Corporations exist to make money. Although there are certainly exceptions in both groups, I hope you can use the information Ive given you to ensure you have a safe surgery experience wherever you go.

Jennifer Greer is a plastic surgeon and can be reached at Greer Plastic Surgery and on Twitter @greerplastics.

Image credit: Shutterstock.comThere is a burgeoning reliance on social media when extreme weather events hit.

Adversity again brought out the best in most people, even online, when the recent cold snap arrived.

User generated content and citizen journalism have become an integral part of online medias daily production of news stories that are both in and of the publics interest.

It is important for media professionals to cut through hyperbole or inaccurate posts on social media and source as best we can,stories which accurately reflect the situation on the ground.

We must also substantiate these online missives as best we can, to the point where we publish knowing their contents to be true.

The recent extreme weather brought by Storm Emma is a perfect example of the how social media can bring out the best in people and serve as an important information tool.

People in Kilkenny were emailing, tweeting and messaging on Facebook; pictures of their areas.

Many of these were substantiated by pictures from the same locality from several people, which provided vital information to locals on the amount of snow that had fallen and the state of the roads across the county.

There are risks if a photo or a post is not appropriately vetted and a perfect example of this is the Irish Times publishing an image of a Lidl on fire while a store in the capital was allegedly being looted.

The Lidl in Dublin was allegedly damaged with a digger but the picture of the blaze was actually a store in Germany. There was no fire at the Dublin store - which was later confirmed by Dublin Fire Brigade from their own Twitter account.

The photo that had been circulated on social media which people purported to be the Lidl in West Dublin was proven to be misinformation, or maybe even disinformation.

Here at home, Storm Emma and ex-Hurricane Ophelia revealed a fortitude in communities and a willingness to share accurate information online. Countless volunteers took part in the clean-up and live information was shared online so as to keep others safe.

There were too many selfless and life-saving posts to count. Many of which were posted to show the efforts of the volunteers, local authority staff and the Defence Forces.

Kilkenny County Council were exemplary too in their efforts online. They led the way among local authorities. They had 83 Facebook posts published between February 26 and March 5 which in total earned 388,539 impressions.

There were 110 tweets published and these earned 189,400 impressions. The local authority had 5,353 Facebook engagements and 806 on Twitter.

These are astonishing figures and potentially life-saving in a situation where getting the word out to people as soon as possible is crucial.

Twitter, Facebook and all social media can be full of vitriolic and acrimonious comments - one would not want to have a thin skin.

Despite this, the engagement by people in Kilkenny during the recent extreme weather was apparent for all to see and was well intentioned.

The information shared was genuine and more importantly for the media, it was accurate. Monitoring the chatter in Kilkenny about Storm Emma revealed that adversity really does bring people together, even online.

As extreme weather events become more frequent in this country, well need to hold on to that community spirit that pushes through the rabble on social media when the climate tests our limits.Kingstree, SC (29556)

Today

Cloudy this morning with thunderstorms developing this afternoon. High 82F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms during the evening will give way to partly cloudy skies after midnight. Low 61F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%.Sierra Leonean voters will be called upon again to cast ballots to elect a new president.



The March 27 runoff date was announced by the National Electoral Commission (NEC) on Tuesday evening after declaring final results from the March 7 vote.



According to the results, the main opposition Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) won by close to 1.1 million votes followed by the ruling All Peoples Congress (APC). Given that none of the top two candidates got the 55% mark, a runoff was required by law within two weeks of the final declaration.



Julius Maada Bio of the SLPP is taking his second shot at the presidency as a civilian. He lost the last polls to outgoing Ernest Bai Koroma in 2011. He has also previously served as a military Head of State. Samura Kamara, on the other hand, is the immediate past Foreign Affairs minister of the country.



Final Results 100% of the national votes processed (13 March 2018)



Julius Maada Bio (SLPP)  1,097,482 (43%)



Samura Kamara (APC)  1,082,748 (42%)



Yumkella Kandeh (NGC)  174,014 (6.9%)



Samuel Sam-Sumana (C4C)  87,720 (3.4%)

Source: africanews.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured VideoThe controversy over National Anthem and its lyrics refuses to slow down. Haryana health minister Anil Vij on Saturday made a strange demand saying that the word "Adhinayak" should be removed from the National Anthem of India. This remark comes a day after Congress MP Ripun Bora on Friday had moved a private members resolution in Rajya Sabha, seeking amendment of the National Anthem and replacing the word Sindh with North East India. Haryana health minister Anil Vij has been in controversy previously as well owing to his remarks and comments on various issues.

While talking to news agency ANI, the Haryana minister said that the word Adhinayak should be removed from the National Anthem. Vij had also supported the private members resolution moved in Parliament that seek to replace the word Sindh with Northeast.

'Adhinayak' word should also be removed (from National Anthem). 'Adhinayak' means dictator and in India, we don't have dictatorship but democracy. Hence, it should be thought about to remove the word 'Adhinayak': Anil Vij, Haryana Minister pic.twitter.com/2PiuHHe6HH  ANI (@ANI) March 17, 2018

The lawmaker from Assam, Congress MP Ripun Bora had demanded on Friday that the word 'Sindh' be removed from the anthem, as it refers to a state which became part of Pakistan after the bifurcation of India in 1947. In its place, the Congress veteran demanded, the word 'Uttar Parv' should be inserted which would refer to the states located in India's northeastern periphery.

Demands have been made in the past for removal of the word Sindh in the past too. In March 2016, Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant had made a demand that the word Sindh be removed from the anthem as it not part of an enemy state- Pakistan.

There have also been appeals made by various groups and people to let the anthem be as it is while suggesting that Rabindranath Tagore's work not be disturbed. The national anthem 'Jana Gana Mana' was composed by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore in 1911 when the geographical limitation and make-up of India was quite different from what it is today. The sudden demands for amending the national anthem has come as a surprise for many even in the political circles.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 17, 2018 09:01 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).Volkswagen idles Passat assembly line amid slow sales

Mar 18, 2018, 6:29am ET

The good news is a brand-new Passat is right around the corner.

Volkswagen will stop building the Passat in its Chattanooga, Tennessee, factory for two weeks this spring, the company has confirmed. It made the decision in the wake of slow sales.

"It's not a secret the market is shifting from sedans and passenger cars to family-friendly SUVs. It allows us to correct course a bit," plant spokesman Keith King told Times Free Press.

The plant will go idle between March 26th and 29th, and again between April 2nd and 5th. Parts of the facility will remain open, though. King added Volkswagen will take advantage of the down time to train employees and retool to boost output of the Atlas SUV.

Times Free Press added Volkswagen sold 3,036 examples of the American-built Passat last month, a 50-percent drop compared to February of 2017. To add context, 4,766 examples of the Atlas found a home during the same time period.

Volkswagen remains committed to the segment. It will introduce an all-new Passat before the end of the year. The model will again be tailored to American tastes, and it will be built in Chattanooga, but it will ride on the company's modular MQB platform. We expect sales will begin during the 2019 model year.

Note: 2018 Volkswagen Passat GT pictured. Photography by Ronan Glon.Leinster counties look set for 'significant' snow, Met Eireann warned on Sunday night.

In its latest tweet issued at 10pm on Saturday the forecaster warned of 'significant accumulations' of snow on Saturday night into Sunday morning.

Snow is expected in Dublin and other Leinster coastal counties but appears to spread to Laois and Kildare. It is likely to become 'widespread' during daylight hours on Sunday.

Status Orange & Yellow weather warnings for snow and ice are place. The forecaster says it will be a cold and windy overnight with snow showers in the east continuing to spread across the country.

"Significant accumulations of snow are likely through Leinster and east-Ulster but snow-showers will be well scattered elsewhere," says the forecaster.

Temperatures will dip to -1 to -4C with severe frosts with blustery easterly winds continuing.

In her forecast on RTE Met Eireann forecaster Jean Byrne warned that the snow would be be followed by bitterly cold weather through Bank Holiday Monday.

She said the snow would spread inland and become widespread on Sunday but not to the west of Ireland. It is unlikely to clear until evening.

WATCH FORECAST HEREGardai have urged motorists to take care if they have to venture out in the snow and ice with the Status Orange Snow Ice alert alert now in place for Laois, Kildare, Dublin and other Leinster counties.

They say visibility is reduced due to the wind and snow. They say that if travelling make sure to have your lights on and slow down. They have also tweeted that many roads are slippery and with the low temperatures there may be black ice in places.

Transport Infrastructure Ireland and AA Roadwatch reports that snow is making for hazardous driving conditions on motorways and other roads.

Latest images from TII show the M7 motorway clear around Portlaoise. However, the conditions worsen significantly in Kildare approaching Dublin.

The AA says secondary routes are badly affected throughout the midlands, east and south-east this morning so take extreme care when taking to the roads. it advises that it takes up to ten times longer to stop a car in snow or ice.

Here is the latest from the AA on how the snow is impacting roads and travel around the country:

DUBLIN

Conditions are very slushy on main routes (M50, M2, N3, N4, N7, N81, N11) with many down to one lane due to the snow, which continues to fall in places. Many secondary routes are also treacherous, especially around areas of high ground. Drive with extreme care.

LEINSTER

CARLOW: Lying snow is an issue for motorists on routes around Carlow and Tullow.

KILDARE: There is heavy snowfall on routes throughout the county. As a result, Gardai are advising motorists not to travel unless necessary.

KILKENNY: Slush and snowy conditions reported around Kilkenny City and Thomastown. Slow down and take extreme care.

LAOIS: Slippery conditions following snow on the M7 between J18 Portlaoise West and J16 Portlaoise East. Snow and icy conditions also on most routes around Portlaoise and also in Mountrath.

LOUTH: Snowy conditions around Drogheda, Ardee and Dundalk.

MEATH: Very poor road conditions due to snow and ice throughout the county. Extreme care is needed especially around Ashbourne, Navan, Kells and Enfield. We've had numerous reports that the M3 is treacherous around J10 Kells.

OFFALY: Road conditions are treacherous due to snow and ice around Tullamore, Offaly. Take extreme care on all routes in the area. There's also snow around Birr but Gardai say roads are passable with caution.

WICKLOW: Gardai advise care on all routes around the county particularly in areas of higher ground due to snow and icy conditions. Conditions are treacherous in Baltinglass and Arklow so don't travel unless absolutely essential. Roads are also very bad around Enniskerry.

WEXFORD: Extra caution is needed around New Ross following heavy snow. Gardai say roads are poor but passable with extreme care around Gorey and Ferns.

MUNSTER

TIPPERARY: Around Thurles, conditions are slushy around the town. It's particularly bad on the M8 around J6 Thurles, where the on and off ramps are treacherous according to Gardai.

CONNACHT

ROSCOMMON: There is some snow on routes around the town, Gardai advising particular care on the N61 (Athlone Rd).

NATIONAL TRAFFIC

KILDARE: There's a collision in the median eastbound on the M4 at J7 Maynooth. Further east, a collision has been cleared at J6 Celbridge.

There is a collision on the M7 northbound between J13 Kildare and J12 Newbridge. Take extreme care in the area as conditions are very poor due to snow.

WATERFORD: A truck is no longer stuck in the snow in Tramore at the junction of the Old Waterford Rd and Main St.

TRAVEL

IRISH RAIL: DART services are operating with delays of up to 45 minutes due to snow.

Bus transfers will operate between Limerick Junction and Waterford until further notice due to flooding on the line.Leitrim County Council's new Chief Executive, Lar Power, has said his focus will be on working in partnership with elected members to maximise economic development in the county, to prioritise the county's towns and villages and look towards the growth of areas such as tourism in the years to come.

Describing how he was very honoured and humbled to have been offered the job, of Chief Executive, Mr Power said he believed it is the role of the whole council to make Leitrim the best place it can possibly be for those who live, work and visit here.

Cathaoirleach of Leitrim County Council, Cllr Finola Armstrong-McGuire had the honour of officially welcoming the new Chief Executive to his first meeting of the Council and she proudly told him that Leitrim is a county that regularly punched above its weight.

Her words of welcome were echoed by councillors and staff at the meeting.

Responding, Mr Power said his focus would be to retain and grow the county's jobs base and to secure economic growth for Leitrim, both north and south.

He said he believed Leitrim had much to offer and could be a huge destination on the tourism trail in particular.

He told members that he had an open door policy and encouraged councillors to contact him.

I welcome the opportunity to meet you individually or, if it suits you, to go to your electoral areas, he said.New information obtained by Fianna Fail Spokesperson on the Office of Public Works (OPW) and Flood Relief, Eugene Murphy TD, has revealed that no homeowners have benefited from the promised re-location scheme for flooding victims.

The scheme was announced for victims of flooding in December 2015 and January 2016. 2m was allocated for the scheme in the October 2016 budget. Some 101 homes are known to be affected by the criteria of the scheme. In addition, two flood defence pilot projects announced in January 2016 remain unfinished over two years on.

Deputy Murphy said, It is extremely disappointing to see that no real action has happened for these homeowners over two years after the floods. Its clear that the Governments immediate reaction to flood events is not being followed up with actual results for those affected on the ground. The failure to assist any home in the re-location scheme or finish out the flood defence pilot projects is a damning indictment of a Government obsessed with spin over substance.

This Government has had no issues ploughing over 5m into a spin unit to emphasize its achievements but cant carry out its own promises. It seems to be more focused on positive coverage than positive results. The failure to get any results from the voluntary re-location scheme for the worst affected homes by flooding clearly demonstrates this, concluded Deputy Murphy.GARDAI have arrested a teenager following a fatal stabbing during an altercation at a night club in Shannon in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Gardai at Shannon garda station are investigating the death of the 23-year-old, who was taken to University Hospital Limerick, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

In a statement, An Garda Siochana said: At approximately 2am on the 18th March 2018 an altercation took place between a number of males at the Shannon Knights Night Club,Tullyvarraga, Shannon. Two males were injured and taken to University Hospital Limerick. One male was subsequently pronounced dead in the hospital a short time later. The injuries of the second male (22 years) are not believed to be lift threatening.

A 19-year-old man was arrested a short time later in connection with the incident and is being detained at Shannon Garda station under the provisions of section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 as amended

A post-mortem is due to take place later this Sunday at the mortuary at UHL, and the crime scene has been preserved for technical examinations.

Gardai in Shannon are appealing for witnesses or anyone with any information and in particular would like to speak to anyone who was in the Shannon Knights Night Club last night the 17th/18th of March to contact them in Shannon on 061 365900, the Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111 or any Garda station.A LOCAL trucking company has been handed down two fines for separate regulatory breaches, at Newcastle West court.

Barna Transport, which is based in Old Barna, Newcastle West, faced one charge relating to the tachograph on a vehicle, and another about an unlicenced vehicle.

Last October 4, an inspector discovered that a tachograph device on one of the trucks had not been serviced.

The device was tracking the truck, the court heard, but the head of the tachograph had not been calibrated properly.

The transport company was represented in court by solicitor Rossa McMahon.

The court heard that the company had a previous conviction for a similar offence in 2013.

Judge Mary Larkin fined the company 500, and ordered them to pay costs of 750 to the Road Safety Authority.

The second offence related to a vehicle which was not on the company licence, and which was stopped on a public road on March 22, 2017.

Mr McMahon said that the vehicle in question was usually kept at Foynes Port off the public road, to bring cargo from A to B on the docks.

On the day it was detected on a public road, another one of the companys trucks had broken down on the way to Limerick. The unlicensed vehicle was pressed into action due to the unfortunate break-down, the court heard.

The incident did not pose a threat to public safety, said Mr McMahon, who argued that it was a minor regulatory issue.

Judge Mary Larkin fined the company 250, and ordered them to pay costs of another 750 to the Road Safety Authority.A GLOBAL company that has got planning for a 5m solar farm in east Limerick say the project is on hold.

Engie Developments Ireland Ltd received permission for upto 20 acres of panels on lands at Dromsallagh, Cappamore, that would generate electricity from renewable sources.

The project, which represents an investment of up to 5m, would have additional benefits for the area including contributing to the security of the local electricity supply, said John McGarry, business development manager for Engie Developments Ireland Ltd. Engie would also be seeking to appoint local contractors and suppliers where possible, he said.

However, construction on the project has been placed on hold while the Irish solar industry waits for the government to finalise its Renewable Energy Support Scheme (RESS), the system of financial support that will ensure the solar farm is built, said Mr McGarry. The RESS is due to be published later this year.

We are delighted to receive planning permission for the Cappamore Solar Farm. We have had a positive relationship with Limerick City and County Council and look forward to beginning work on the project.

However, there are still some challenges that lie ahead before the project construction can begin. We hope the government can finalise RESS quickly, so we can start the next phase of development, said Mr McGarry.

Included in its ten year planning permission to develop a solar farm is two electrical substations, two inverter cabins, underground cable ducts, temporary site compound and ancillary facilities, boundary security fencing, CCTV, associated site road, site works and the creation of a new access.

Mr McGarry said Engie is committed to developing reliable, flexible and renewable energy in Ireland. They have another solar scheme, located near Foynes, that is currently going through the planning process, and the company has plans to submit at least another two schemes in County Limerick to the planning system later this year.

Engie is a leading energy and services company focused on three key activities: production and supply of energy, facilities management and regeneration. Their 17,000 employees combine these capabilities for the benefit of individuals, businesses and communities throughout the UK and Ireland.

We enable customers to embrace a lower carbon, more efficient and increasingly digital world, said a spokesperson.

Globally, the ENGIE Group employs 150,000 people worldwide and achieved revenues of 66.6 billion in 2016.

While Mr McGarry cant disclose the leasing arrangement with farmers he does say it is generous.

The farmers that we are talking to really see this as a real advantage to them. Theyre not at the beck and call of the weather conditions to depend on their income, they can diversify their income, and continue to farm the land. One of the main benefits of solar is the ability to accommodate small animals - sheep or poultry, but as well as that, there is the biodiversity element of solar farms as well as the green electricity being produced, said Mr McGarry.DUBLINS Aviva wasnt the only rugby stadium to see some top tier action earlier this month when some brave charity supporters raised the roof at Thomond Park.

As Irelands national team beat Scotland in the Six Nations, to claim the title 40 local daredevils abseiled 120 feet down the side of Munsters home ground, in aid of a good cause.

The special charity abseil was organised to raise funds for Adapt Domestic Abuse Services, which provides supports to survivors of domestic abuse and their children.

Thanks to @Limerick_Leader for all their support of our Abseil for ADAPT at @thomondstadium on Saturday, pick up a copy of this week's paper for photos from the event! @nevsail @LimerickRoseCen pic.twitter.com/VVVggcxQ8M  ADAPT Services (@adaptservices) March 15, 2018

Participants included Kayleigh Maher  in her last engagement as 2017 Limerick Rose  and members of Limerick FCs management team.

Adapt services include emergency refuge accommodation, outreach services, a 24-hour helpline, and supports for children who have lived with domestic abuse.

We would like to say a sincere thank you to all our abseilers for their support of Adapt, and their bravery, said Lorraine Gallagher.

A special word of thanks to Nevsail Watersports and Limerick Adventures, who facilitated the abseil and calmed any last minute nerves!

The abseil for Adapt has raised over 9,000 to date for the charity. To learn more or donate, see www.adaptservices.ie.A WEST Limerick farmer has appealed the planning decision for a controversial borrow pit project at Aughinish Alumina.

Pat Geoghegan submitted the appeal to An Bord Pleanala on behalf of his group, the Cappagh Farmers Support Group, requesting a public oral hearing on the plans -which involve blasting rock adjacent to the red mud ponds, where the residue left over from the bauxite refining process is stored.

The planning application by Rusal - the Russian company that owns the Aughinish Alumina plant - outlined plans to build a borrow pit to extract rock for use in the plant operations.

The controversial proposal led to protests and a petition by activists, including the Cappagh Farmers group, last year. The permission was granted in February, subject to 10 conditions.

The document submitted to An Bord Pleanala cites a total of 16 grounds to appeal, including a claim that the concerns of the community were ignored by Limerick City and County Council, the local representatives, Aughinish Alumina and the EPA. It also says that there were failures in the public consultation process.

The Cappagh group also made arguments about the noise levels, human health and wildlife, and the alumina plant accident in Hungary in 2010 was also cited.

The appeal document also points to the possibility of future public infrastructure developments at the nearby Foynes Port.

The appellant states that the chairperson of Aughinish Alumina, Damien Clancy, is also on the audit committee of Limerick City and County Council, and claims that this is a conflict of interest due to the link. The protest group has concerns about the chairperson of Rusal being on any committee under the umbrella of Limerick City and County Council, it said.

Ten year permission was granted in February for a site of seven hectares adjacent to the plant, with an extraction area of 4.5 hectares.

The extraction area is up to a depth of 8.5m, and the firm would likely have to seek a review in its EPA licence to carry out the rock blasting.

Since the plans became public, fears were expressed that blasting rock on site could have serious implications should the walls of the red ponds be damaged and its contents spilled.

Mr Geoghegan of the Cappagh Farmers Support Group has consistently spoken out against the alumina plant for more than a decade.

This may cause one of the biggest environmental disasters ever to hit the estuary, if this proposed blasting of rock, just metres from the mud ponds that store approximately 40 million tonnes of toxic waste, is allowed to go ahead, said Mr Geoghegan.

If any section of those banks or foundations of these ponds is damaged, the toxic waste will destroy the Shannon for decades to come, and a clean up cost to the Irish taxpayer would run into millions, he added.

It is expected that other opposition groups will also appeal the planning decision.

Aughinish Alumina did not wish to make a comment on the appeal.A MAJOR milestone in Kilmeedys journey of community building was passed this week with the beginning of work to develop and open its very own Community Shop and Cafe.

The project, spearheaded by Kilmeedy Community Development Group, will see the former Gearys shop and post-office re-imagined and reshaped for community purposes.

The big hope is that it will bring new life back into the village and serve as a focal point for activities across all ages. Ultimately too, the backers hope it will help small enterprises in the area to develop.

Like so many rural communities, Kilmeedy has lost a lot of services over the years. Just 30 years ago, it had three shops and two pubs but about 12 years ago, the last of the shops closed and now just one public house operates.

The absence of a shop for everyday essential supplies has made life difficult for residents of the village, especially for the elderly and those without transport, explained Siobhan Reidy of the Development Group which determined to change all that and investigated the idea of a community shop and cafe.

Market research was carried out, the premises was identified and a lease obtained, and the work of costing the project was undertaken. A submission for Leader economic development funding proved successful, yielding 96,000 or 50% of the cost.

The shop and cafe will provide a place to buy essential, householditems and a place for all who live and work in the area to meet and chat, have fresh and nutritious, locally sourced food and high- quality barista coffee, Ms Reidy said. Up to 140 people a day come into Kilmeedy either to work or to take part in childcare or horticultural training programmes and these people, it is hoped, will provide a regular stream of customers to the facility.

The shop will provide a space for local producers to sell their goods, while the cafe will provide training and employment opportunities and act as a production kitchen during off- peak hours for local food producers, Ms Reidy explained.

The plans will also see the shop building linked to the adjacent Aras Ide, the training centre, opening up both buildings for a number of multi-purpose functions, including social get-togethers.

The Development Group also hopes that the new community cafe could be used on specific evenings or nights as a youth centre. This would address the lack of facilities, other than sporting facilities, for young people in the area.

The hope is to have the work complete and the shop and cafe up and running by the autumn. Meanwhile, Clann Credo Community Finance is providing bridging and loan finance, while the Development Group spearheads a fund-raising campaign to raise its 50%.It is 40 years since 'the exact moment' The Hype became U2 at a Limerick contest. DJ Micky Mac was there as MC. The rest is history

THIS Sunday marks the 40th anniversary of the moment Adam Clayton has described as the exact moment of becoming U2 at an event in Limericks Stella Ballroom.

Pop 78 was a competition run as part of Limerick Civic Week to find the most promising Irish rock band. It took place on March 18, 1978 at the Stella Ballroom and was sponsored by CBS, Harp Lager, and the Evening Press. I was invited by co-ordinator PJ Power to MC the gig.

37 bands entered from all over the country. After heats it was whittled down to seven bands for the final. I was quite excited to be asked to MC because one of the judges was the legendary radio producer, Billy Wall, who at the time produced the Gay Byrne Hour on radio, and went on to be my first boss at 2FM. Other judges were Jackie Hayden of CBS Records, Paul OBrien, President of Limerick Junior Chamber who organised the event, and Colm Clarke of Guinness.

My job was to introduce each band, the adjudicators and keep the competition flowing. It was a bitterly cold, dark and rainy Saturday night in March as I arrived at the Stella Ballroom on Shannon Street. I went along early so that I could meet the bands and get some research done before the show commenced. I was expecting a good crowd, even queues, as Limerick had a lively music scene. It was very quiet with an hour to go and I wondered to myself does anyone know that this is going on?

All the bands had arrived and were hanging around the dressing rooms. I heard a mix of accents and spoke to each bands leader for research. Village from Limerick, whom I knew were one of the favourites, the only all-girl group in the competition, Harmony from Tallaght, and the East Coast Angels caught my attention with other bands from all over.

As I went from group to group I came upon The Hype. They were 16 year old Larry Mullen from Artane, Dave Evans, 16, from Malahide, Adam Clayton, 18, a Leaving Cert student and their 17-year-old guru, Paul Hewson from Ballymun, who was also doing the Leaving.

Hey man, we entered as The Hype but now we are calling ourselves U2, said a very, very confident Bono. I put a face on me and said: U2 is not a great name, if you don't mind me saying.

Looking back, I was quite on a roll myself because that morning I was told I had got a presenter gig on RTE Radio. The four guys had travelled down by train and Larry Mullen tells in the authorised biography of the band, U2 by U2, that he and his dad almost missed it. They were joined on the trip by a group of supportive friends. Bono said: It was very exciting to be on a train with your mates going somewhere to play in front of the music business. It was rock and roll.

The competition was due to start at 8pm - and there were not 40 in the hall. I remember that the local media were not impressed when the event was sponsored and promoted by the Evening Press, and I did not blame the Limerick papers for not supporting and publicising it. I remember saying to PJ Power: Will we wait for more to come?

With about 60 in the audience plus the judges, the show started. The Edge admitted later thatU2 were expecting it to be a dreadful amateur free-for-all. He went on: Once it started it was obvious the calibre of talent was of much higher quality than any of us expected.

When The Hype/U2 were introduced they got a huge reception from their many friends who travelled down from Dublin. I also remember being told Adam Claytons dad, who was an Aer Lingus pilot, was in the small crowd.

I am often asked how did they sound that night 40 years ago. To put that time in context Rivers of Babylon by Boney M was top of the charts and young Ireland was already tired of cheesy disco. The Boomtown Rats were in the charts with Lookin after Number One so a post-disco revolution was unfolding in pop. U2 on that faithful night sounded connected straight away, particularly with the confidence of Bono and the way he introduced their songs. He looked and moved like Rod Stewart wearing a neat grey polo neck as the other guys played in a workmanlike fashion. I also remember the amazing bass sound that Adam got on the night, despite the sound in the big hall being so hollow - you can imagine the echo in a venue that usually attracted 800 dancers.

There seems to be some uncertainty as to what they played in the competition. As far as I can gather, all the songs were original numbers - and the consensus is that they played Street Missions, The TV Song and Life on a Distant Planet.

After all the bands had played, the judges went into conclave, and the future U2 joined the 18 or so fans that had travelled from Dublin. I can remember that Don OConnor of Reform was in the audience, as well as local DJ Nicky Woulfe. The rest of the audience were fans of the other bands. I do remember a local wedding band musician coming up to me and saying he had accompanied Bono singing at a wedding he was playing at in the Limerick Inn the week before the competition, where he sang some rock and roll numbers. This was correct as Bonos brother, Norman Hewson, had married a lady from Castleconnell in Monaleen Church a week earlier.

I had the privilege of asking Jackie Hayden from CBS to announce that U2 had won and their fans just exploded. Jackie made reference to the obvious lack of rehearsal and congratulated the winners, saying that he hoped that someday they would achieve the same success as Reform.

Adam Clayton said that it was like winning the lottery - 500 as a prize (1978 remember) and a recording test with CBS - he remembers grabbing the chair in front of him and with all the excitement slamming it down on his dads foot. Edge jumped in the air - he was sitting with a friend as he was convinced that they had not won.

I introduced Mayor Frank Prendergast who presented the trophy. In second place was a Dublin band Rockster, while the excellent Village from Limerick came third. None of us knew how important and historic that moment was. U2 won that competition at a time when they recognised how important it was to have belief in their project.

After the concert the celebrations were somewhat subdued as the boys were under-age and were not allowed attend the Festival Club in the Royal George Hotel where I was DJing at Fernandos Night Club. They stayed in the Royal George, went to the Wimpy Bar, and then back to their rooms where they stayed up all night. Waiting for the train the following morning they went to Funderland at Arthurs Quay as guests of the Bird family, and Adam picked up the winning cheque with his dad for safe keeping.

Programme of events for Limerick Civic Week in 1978, including the talent show that @U2 won on this day 40 years ago. pic.twitter.com/eRSMFGEGdf  U2 Three Chords (@U2ThreeChords) March 18, 2018

Looking back it amazes me how the event, which U2 recognise as being so significant, went largely unreported. At that time pop and rock music was not played on Irish radio and ignored by TV. As far as I know the concert was not recorded or filmed so there is no record of the event. Winning Pop 78 was instrumental in launching the career of the worlds biggest rock band. A few weeks later, U2 booked into Keystone Studios in Dublin for their audition to fulfil their agreement with CBS. From what I hear the session was challenging for them - they were very nervous and wanted only to record two or three tracks. CBS wanted them to do seven or eight. The rest is history.

I often think that if Mayor Prendergast and PJ Power did not have the foresight to add Pop 78 to the festival week in Limerick, which usually had classical voice and trad competitions, U2 may never have got their initial break. I was knocked out when I heard the early demos of Boy Girl, Stories For Boys and Out of Control and wondered would it have happened so quickly for them if they did not win in Limerick.

Michael McNamara or Micky Mac is a former 2FM DJHIGH Court proceedings brought by a Limerick descendant of Peadar Kearney against a fund appointed receiver seeking the return of items including an original copy of Amhran na bhFiann signed by the composer have been adjourned.

The action has been bought by Lorcan Bourke against receiver Anne O'Dwyer of Duff Phelps Ireland Ltd who he claims took charge of the property where he had operated Bourke's Bar at Catherine Street, in Limerick city, until its closure in 2014.

The premises was sold by the receiver and a new pub is due to open there in the coming days. Lawyers for the receiver denies Mr Bourke's claims she has any of his items in her possession.

Mr Bourke, a former Garryowen rugby player and a grandson of the late Jack Bourke, three-time Mayor of Limerick, is a great grand nephew of Peadar Kearney who composed and wrote the English language lyrics of the national anthem, is seeking the return of items including the signed copy of Amhran na bhFiann, which has been in his family for many years.

The copy was dedicated by Peadar Kearney to Mr Bourke's grandfather Lorcan Bourke, whom the plaintiff is named after, the court heard.

Other items he seeks returned include two framed pictures with the lyrics of "The Fields of Athenry' and 'Dublin in the Rare Auld Times' autographed to him by his relative through marriage composer Pete St. John.

Earlier this week Mr Bourke, who claims and he does not know the whereabouts of the items, secured permission to bring injunctions restraining the receiver from selling his chattels in the pub until the case has been resolved.

Mr Bourke also seeks declarations including that any sale of any of his items is null and void and damages.

When the matter returned before Ms Justice Caroline Costello on Thursday counsel for the receiver Garvan Corkery Bl for Ms O'Dwyer said his client required time to fully respond to the claims.

Counsel said his client denies all the claims against her, including that the items from Bourke's Bar are in her possession.

However counsel said his client was prepared to offer an undertaking not to dispose of any items belonging to Mr Bourke that may be in her possession pending the outcome of the hearing.

Ms Justice Costello agreed to adjourn the case for a month, In the meantime the sides had agreed a timetable for the exchange of documents.MANCHESTER, N.H. - Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., received a standing ovation from a crowd of business leaders and political junkies here on Friday after decrying the "degradation of the United States and her values" by the current occupant of the White House.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich, R, who ran for the GOP nomination in 2016, will return to the nation's first primary state early next month for a "fireside chat" at a college in Henniker.

And on Monday, President Donald Trump - whose New Hampshire primary win two years ago set him on a course for the presidency - is slated to make an appearance in the state for the first time since 2016.

The next presidential primaries here are nearly two years away, but the unusual flurry of activity is stoking speculation about whether a sitting president could face a serious challenge from within his own party for the first time in a quarter-century.

In 1992 - the last time that happened - Pat Buchanan's strong GOP primary showing here helped weaken incumbent George H.W. Bush, who went on to lose reelection against Democrat Bill Clinton.

"I'm certain that Trump will draw a serious primary challenger," said Fergus Cullen, a former chairman of the New Hampshire Republican State Committee. "A lot of voters are getting tired of this act."

Trump's Monday visit is billed as an official trip, with a focus on combating the opioid crisis, which has hit the Granite State hard. But amid the ongoing Russia probe and fallout from an alleged dalliance with a porn star, the appearance also presents an opportunity for the president to shore up support in a state that not only plays a key role in the nominating process but also is a general election battleground.

Vice President Mike Pence also plans to plant the flag in New Hampshire later in the week, speaking at a fundraiser for Gov. Chris Sununu, R, and at a gathering of the pro-Trump group America First Policies.

Aside from scandals in Washington, Trump has faced particular challenges here, including fallout from his claim that there was "serious voter fraud" in New Hampshire in 2016 and his characterization of the state as a "drug-infested den." Democrats - including New Hampshire's senior senator, Jeanne Shaheen - have also accused Trump of paying lip service so far to the opioid crisis, which as a candidate he promised to aggressively address.

A poll last month showed sagging support for Trump here, with only 36 percent of voters approving of his performance in a state he narrowly lost in 2016 to Democrat Hillary Clinton. That number is more than 20 points lower than the job approval of the state's Republican governor, according to the poll by the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College.

Sensing vulnerability, potential Democratic challengers, including former vice president Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., have started making state appearances, and the parade of hopefuls is expected to pick up considerably after the November midterm elections.

John Weaver, a Kasich adviser, cautioned against reading too much into the Ohio governor's scheduled April 3 return to New Hampshire. But Weaver said he thinks Trump will face a GOP challenger in 2020, whether it's Kasich or someone else. Kasich finished second to Trump in the 2016 Republican primary here.

"No one would have predicted Trump would be president," Weaver said. "No one should predict whether Trump will be president in three months, in six months or running for reelection. The rapidly changing landscape should be observed and not predicted."

Despite his low popularity among the general electorate, Trump's standing remains relatively strong among likely Republican primary voters here.

As of last month, 60 percent of Republican primary voters planned to vote for Trump in 2020, according to the Granite State Poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire. That's up from 47 percent in the same poll in October.

Even Flake, who delivered a blistering speech about Trump's presidency here on Friday, conceded that Trump remains too popular among the GOP base to lose a primary if it were held today.

But Flake told reporters that "things can unravel pretty fast," particularly if Republicans lose control of Congress in the midterms.

"Two years from now, we could have a completely different scenario," Flake said Sunday during an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union." "Nothing focuses the mind like a big election loss."

In his speech at the Politics & Eggs breakfast - long viewed as an obligatory stop for potential presidential candidates - Flake said he hopes a serious Republican does challenge Trump.

"I think that the Republicans want to be reminded what it means to be a traditional, decent Republican," he said.

The standing ovation Flake received was rare, according to regular attendees of the long-running series. Christopher Galdieri, a professor of politics at Saint Anselm's, said the only other speaker he could recall receiving a similar reaction was Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., the civil rights icon.

Trump loyalists say they are not fazed by the activities of potential GOP challengers and Trump's low standing among the general electorate here.

"New Hampshire's a fickle state," said Barry Bennett, who advised Trump during the 2016 general election. "They don't fall in love with anyone. They only flirt."

Patrick Hynes, a state GOP spokesman, called recent polling on Trump's popularity a "lagging indicator" of his standing with New Hampshire voters. He predicted that Trump would gain more credit for the Republican tax overhaul, as well as for bringing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to the negotiating table.

"As that message sinks in, his numbers will continue to go up," Hynes said.

Trump has started gearing up for his reelection bid. He is actively raising money, and he recently named a campaign manager and other staffers. Such moves further raise the entry barrier for potential challengers.

Traditionally, when sitting presidents have faced primary challenges, those challenges have come from the party's base - from the left wing of the Democratic Party or the right wing of the Republican Party. In Trump's case, it appears a challenge would be less on ideological grounds than his ability to govern by accepted norms.

Primary challenges to sitting presidents face long odds, but they have served to weaken the incumbent.

In the 1992 New Hampshire primary, Buchanan relentlessly attacked Bush for having broken his "read my lips" pledge not to raise taxes, and he won 38 percent of the New Hampshire primary vote. His challenge was widely seen as undermining Bush heading into the general election campaign against Clinton.

Similarly, the Democratic primary challenge by then-Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., in a 1980 primary contributed to Jimmy Carter's defeat against Republican Ronald Reagan in the fall. And Reagan's 1976 GOP primary challenge to Gerald Ford was a factor in Carter's loss in the general election that year.

Kathleen Sullivan, a former chairwoman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, said Trump's low popularity has contributed to unusually high interest among potential Democratic challengers, some of whom have already visited or reached out more quietly to prominent activists.

"I think his support is collapsing except among those people who were Trumpists before Trump even thought about running," Sullivan said.

Last month's Granite State Poll found Biden to be the most popular among potential Democratic candidates, drawing 35 percent of the support from primary voters. He was followed by Sanders, with 24 percent, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., with 15 percent. All other names in the poll registered in single digits.

Sanders and Biden have stopped by the state during the past year. The most frequent Democratic visitors have included a pair of Marylanders: Rep. John Delaney, the only declared candidate; and former governor Martin O'Malley, who ended his 2016 bid before the New Hampshire primary.

Others who have made appearances include Rep. Tim Ryan, Ohio; Jason Kander, the former Missouri secretary of state; Julian Castro, the former Obama Cabinet member and San Antonio mayor; Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti; Rep. Seth Moulton, Mass., and Sen. Jeff Merkley, Ore.

"We have a country that needs leadership, and we're crying out for it," said state Sen. Lou D'Allesandro, a longtime Democratic power broker in New Hampshire.

In addition to a Monday speech, Trump plans to stop at a fire station in D'Allesandro's district where opioid addicts can seek help without fear of arrest. D'Allesandro said he has no plans to greet the president.

"I have no interest at all in seeing him," D'Allesandro said. "I have work to do."

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Video: Jeff Flake made a trip to New Hampshire where he was critical of President Trump and said he hasn't ruled out running against the president in 2020 on March 16. (Jordan Frasier/The Washington Post)

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Video: Jeff Flake made a trip to New Hampshire where he was critical of President Trump and said he hasn't ruled out running against the president in 2020 on March 16.(Jordan Frasier/The Washington Post)

Embed code:John T. Cacioppo, whose research into human bonds and connections expanded the horizons of psychology, generating an entirely new discipline - social neuroscience - and key insights into loneliness, died March 5 at his home in Chicago. He was 66.

The cause was not immediately known, said his wife, Stephanie Cacioppo, a fellow University of Chicago scholar with whom he shared an office desk and strikingly divergent research interests. While he studied loneliness, examining its neural, hormonal, cellular and genetic roots, she studied love and its effects on human health.

An unlikely academic who became the first member of his family to graduate from college, Dr. Cacioppo (pronounced cass-ee-OH-POE) was president of a dizzying array of psychological societies, the founder of several research journals and a scholastic pillar of the University of Chicago. In addition to serving as a professor of psychology, he directed the university's Center for Cognitive & Social Neuroscience, led its social psychology program and was the founding faculty director of Arete, a program that helps Chicago professors find funding for large-scale research projects.

"John was an absolute force of nature," said Jay Van Bavel, a social neuroscientist at New York University who described Cacioppo as "one of the most prolific and creative psychologists alive." In a four-decade career, he wrote more than 500 articles and several books, including "Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection."

Co-authored with William Patrick in 2008, the book presented Cacioppo's theories on loneliness to a popular audience, describing the state of mind partly as a disease - it is contagious, inheritable and quite literally damaging to the heart - and partly as a biological signal akin to hunger.

"His research on the causes and consequences of loneliness was rigorous, deep, and impactful," Daniel Gilbert, a Harvard University psychology professor, wrote in an email. "Anyone who tells you that being lonely is as bad for your health as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day is quoting John Cacioppo without knowing it."

Cacioppo was sometimes jokingly referred to as "Dr. Loneliness," and his research coincided with, and perhaps to some extent spurred, a wave of international interest in the subject. Vivek Murthy, U.S. surgeon general in the Obama administration, has described loneliness as a health epidemic, and two months ago British Prime Minister Theresa May appointed a "minister for loneliness" to address what she called "the sad reality of modern life."

Yet Dr. Cacioppo's career extended far beyond the study of social isolation, to include major contributions to the psychology of decision-making and the ways in which people form opinions about the world.

While at Ohio State University in the 1980s, he and psychologist Richard Petty developed what is known as the elaboration likelihood model, which distinguished between decisions that are made thoughtfully and deliberately, and those that are made because of environmental cues such as a catchy but superficial television jingle.

The theory anticipated the work of scientists such as Daniel Kahneman, a Nobel Prize-winning psychologist whose book "Thinking, Fast and Slow" (2011) outlined two similar systems of logical and emotion-driven thought.

Broadening his research, Cacioppo later joined Gary Berntson in developing a model for how people make one of the most fundamental decisions of all - determining whether they like or dislike something, whether it's a head of lettuce or an electric car.

"Prior to this theory, most psychologists treated positivity (liking) and negativity (disliking) as reciprocal," his former colleague Petty wrote in an email. "That is, it was believed that as you came to like something more, you came to dislike it less. John, however, focused on how these two dimensions were actually independent in that liking and disliking could both go up or down simultaneously. In some elegant studies and mathematical analyses, he demonstrated the importance of treating each separately."

Cacioppo began moving toward the study of loneliness in 1992, when he and Berntson coined the term "social neuroscience" to describe a new merger of psychology and biology, one that would study the underlying mechanisms of human or animal interactions.

It was an interest that had consumed Cacioppo for years, his wife said, recalling that he sometimes referenced a car accident that nearly killed him as a young man. In the aftermath of the crash, "he realized what really matters in life - love and social connection."

The latter, Cacioppo often said, was his true interest. It was only by studying its absence - loneliness - that he believed he could begin to understand its importance in human life.

To that end, he and his colleagues utilized a vast array of experimental methods, studying brain activity and the effects of hypnosis as well as the loneliness of stroke patients, Army veterans, rodents and monkeys. Crucially, he observed that loneliness was not necessarily tied to the number of human connections in a person's life.

"In fact, often times, fewer is better," he told the Guardian in 2016. "The classic case is the billionaire who sees that everyone wants to be their friend, but in the billionaire's eyes none of those are effective, because they are seen as being motivated by material gain."

Cacioppo estimated that about one quarter of the population regularly feels lonely, and reported that "chronic loneliness increases the odds of an early death by 20 percent" - about as much as obesity.

He also developed techniques for reducing loneliness. Perhaps surprisingly, he reported that social engagement, improved social skills and increased social support did relatively little to ease the pain of a lonely person. Instead, he argued that loneliness was best treated by retraining the way a lonely person looks at others, helping them see the world in an open, relaxed way, rather than with a sense of fear or vulnerability.

John Terrence Cacioppo was born in Marshall, Texas, on June 12, 1951. According to a report by the American Psychological Association, he planned to become a lawyer and studied economics at the University of Missouri, but changed careers after meeting a social psychologist, Lee Becker.

Cacioppo received a master's degree from Ohio State in 1975 and, remarkably, received his doctorate in psychology from the school just two years later. He taught at the University of Notre Dame, University of Iowa and Ohio State before joining the University of Chicago in 1999.

He met Stephanie Ortigue when she was seated next to him at a research conference in Shanghai, and they married in 2011. Four years later, he was diagnosed with salivary gland cancer but effectively cured, his wife said.

In addition to his wife of Chicago, survivors include two children from a previous marriage, Anthony Cacioppo of Columbus, Ohio, and Christina Cacioppo of San Francisco; two brothers; and a sister.

While Cacioppo was keen to note that chronic loneliness could and should be treated, he also insisted that loneliness played an important role, and was not something to lament altogether.

"The purpose of loneliness is like the purpose of hunger," he told the Atlantic in 2017. "Hunger takes care of your physical body. Loneliness takes care of your social body, which you also need to survive and prosper. We're a social species."Two veteran law enforcement officers will square off Tuesday in the Republican primary election that may decide who will be Morgan Countys next sheriff.

Morgan County Sheriffs Department Chief Deputy Mike Carmody and Jacksonville Police Lt. Chris Johnson are the two Republican candidates. There is no Democratic candidate.

Randy Duvendack, who has served as sheriff since 2006, is not seeking re-election.

County Clerk Jill Waggener said that because there was not a Democratic candidate for sheriff in the primary election, the Democratic Party has the right to nominate a candidate for that office. The deadline for that nomination would be June 4.

The general election is Nov. 6.

The winner of the sheriffs race will be sworn into office Dec. 3.



Mike Carmody

Age: 51

City: Jacksonville

Family: son of Tom and Jeanine Carmody, four brothers and two sisters.

Wife: Donna Carmody. Four children: Chad Cantrell, Luke Cantrell, Grant Carmody, Molly Carmody. Also three grandchildren.

Education: Routt High School Class of 1984, Eastern Illinois University and University of Illinois Police Training Institute.

Current job title and years of experience: Morgan County chief deputy and 31 years with the Morgan County Sheriffs Department.

What is your reason for seeking this position?

I look forward to continue to serve the citizens of Morgan County. Morgan County is a rewarding place to call home, and we must work hard to protect all of the citizens of Morgan County. I know Morgan County, and now more than ever we need an aggressive deterrent to crime and other threats to our good people.

What policing issues do you feel need to be addressed in Morgan County?

If I am fortunate enough to have the people of Morgan County elect me as sheriff, the deputies at that time will be thinking how would I like to have my son treated if a policeman was talking to him as a first-time offender, and I know this, because I will reinforce the Golden Rule concept to the deputies and the supervisors. I can assure you that the majority of deputies at the jail, on patrol and in investigations, take the time to treat people in this manner while providing great customer service.

What are your goals in the position?

Greater transparency of law enforcement activities and records have been identified as an opportunity to maintain or build trust between the community and law enforcement. Our state legislature has passed many unfunded mandates to assist law enforcement with improving relations with the community. The sheriffs department complies with these mandates by providing data on traffic and pedestrian stops to identify potential discrimination or illegal profiling during these law enforcement activities. We provide records to people requesting those documents through the Freedom of Information Act. Recent legislation requiring third-party investigations of police actions or negligence will help lead to greater transparency. It is very difficult to legislate or mandate people to follow the Golden Rule, but it should be taught to all new police personnel and reinforced by their supervisors that people should be treated as you would like to be treated. Experienced officers know that this type of professionalism establishes street credibility and enhances community support.

What improvements do you intend to make?

I have been tasked with labor negotiations, budgeting and many other administrative and personnel functions over the last 11 years. Ive found innovative ways to start or fund programs, such as a $75,000 grant to purchase a fully equipped K-9 vehicle. I would like to implement some risk management initiatives by exploring some online training programs for legal updates, improving our policy and procedure manual to provide better guidance for officers and supervisors, especially as it relates to low-frequency, high-liability issues, such as pursuits and use of deadly force. I believe after four years you will see a more professional group of deputies with the attitude to protect your safety, your family and your home.



Chris Johnson

Age: 47

City: Presently Jacksonville but previously resided in rural Pisgah and Franklin

Family: Married to Mindi Johnson, father to Kennadi, Kamdyn and Kai. Son of Ralph and Agnes (Jackson) Johnson. Brother to Nancy (Steve) Decker, Evan Johnson (deceased), Everett (Leann) Johnson, Trish (Mike) Elliott, Darryl (Stacey Shade) Johnson, Karen (Mike) Roberts and Rebecca (Mark) Dyer.

Education: Graduated from Our Saviour Grade School and then Routt High School in 1988. Attended Illinois State University for two years before transferring to Sangamon State University.

Current job title and years of experience: Lieutenant with the Jacksonville Police Department. I have held this rank for the last 7 years. Sergeant for about six years prior to that. I have a total of 22  years with the Jacksonville Police Department. I worked for 2 years at the Morgan County Sheriffs Department prior to being hired by the Jacksonville Police Department.

Reason for seeking this position: I have always pushed for professionalism and community involvement in police work. We currently have a sheriff who is well known for his involvement with local organizations. I want to continue to represent local law enforcement with the same level of devotion as our retiring sheriff. I also want to push the young officers just starting out to be the best they can. That new officer should be groomed to be ready to take over as the next field training officer, the next sergeant, or whatever the next step may be for them. Complacency is such a negative word in law enforcement. I will make sure no one who works with me will ever be OK with the status quo. Ive always believed a goal of a leader is to make the thing you are involved in better when you leave than it was when you started.

What policing issues do you feel need to be addressed in Morgan County: Since I started campaigning, I have made it a goal to reach out to as many community members as I can. I want to know what they think is the most important issue(s). The feedback I have received has been both tremendous and enlightening. Most of the people I have spoken to want more paroling in the rural areas of this county. They want to see more squad cars in the smaller towns of this county, towns where there may not be coverage from a local police department. Ive also heard from people who felt they were blown off by responding officers. One couple told me they phoned in a complaint only to be called back by a deputy asking if their call was a real emergency. My thought is this: it was an emergency to them or else they wouldnt have called asking for help. That response will not be acceptable if I am elected.

What are your goals in the position: I want to have the best trained and most professional agency in the area. I believe a well-trained officer will be more effective and more efficient in responding to calls for service. I believe that a well-trained officer will be more confident and in turn make the community safer. When the deputy responds to a call, I want them to put themselves in the callers shoes. This event was important enough for someone to call the police, therefore, treat it as the most important thing going on in the county. I want the sheriffs department and its employees to be involved in community activities and organizations. I am interested in starting a Facebook page to relay information to the public, restarting the Explorers program and updating the policy and procedure manual for both patrol and jail staff. Policies are essentially a rule book to follow. Policies must be clear and applicable for your individual department. Accountability will be more than just a word, it will be what drives the employees to accomplish all these goals.

What improvements do you intend to make: Ive always said, police have a product for sale, which most of the time, people dont want to buy. Its the police officers job to make this product attractive and productive. When someone says thank you to an officer after receiving a traffic ticket, then I believe that is a job well done by that officer. The only change the officer may have made is their delivery: be polite and professional. Professionalism is an improvement all police officers should work on and as sheriff, I will continue to enforce positive interactions between the deputies and the community. There are several small improvements I hope to make as time and budget allow. One example is the uniform worn by the deputies. An option available to police officers is an outer vest carrier. The outer vest gives the officer the ability to take off their vest while writing a report, eating lunch at home, etc. It may sound like a small detail but those officers who wear one rave about the how nice it is to get that extra weight and heat off their bodies even for just a short period of time. I also plan on improving the relationship between the sheriffs department and other local agencies. By that I mean more than just police agencies. Those relationships are good, but I truly believe I could make them great. There are several groups in this community where a liaison from the sheriffs department would be beneficial to all involved. As sheriff, I will use all my resources to make sure these things happen.

Greg Olson can be reached at 217-245-6121, ext. 1224, or on Twitter @JCNews_Greg.Tuesdays primary will see two Republican candidates face off for Illinois 100th Representative District seat.

Incumbent C.D. Davidsmeyer will run against Jonas Petty, a political newcomer from Pittsfield and business owner with businesses in Pittsfield, Mount Sterling and Springfield. No Democratic candidate has filed for the 2018 general election, so the victor of the primary may take the seat, barring any late nominations.

Davidsmeyer, who has represented his district for five years, won his 2016 election against Jerseyville attorney Josh Evans by nearly 30 percentage points. Petty, who owns and operates the William Watson Hotel and Free Press Coffee House, was among those who sought to replace state Rep. Jim Watson after his departure in 2012.



Christopher C.D. Davidsmeyer

Age: 38

City: Jacksonville

Family: Wife Kristen and two boys, Lennox, 8, and Pax, 5

Education: Jacksonville High School, Miami University

Current job title and years of experience: State representative for five years. Vice president, Illinois Road Contractors, for 12 years

What is your reason for seeking election or re-election?

The state of Illinois is a mess and we need people there who are willing to make tough decisions that will stop kicking the can to future generations. We need people in the General Assembly who are not there for a fancy title, to feed their ego, or to get a pension or healthcare. This is not a career and thats why I not only chose to not take the pension or healthcare, but I have also sponsored legislation to get rid of the legislative pension.

I am not here to play politics or tear down other people. I am here to make progress towards a better future for everyone in this state.

I have the experience, background and proven record to continue serving as state representative in the 100th District. I was born and raised in Jacksonville, graduating from Jacksonville High School and Miami University. Following graduation, I worked as a legislative assistant to Congressman John Shimkus in Washington, D.C. After returning home, I served on the Jacksonville City Council from 2008 to 2012. I also served as an officer in the local Chamber of Commerce, Rotary and library board.

I am a small businessman, serving as vice president of IRC Inc. I know firsthand the infrastructure challenges facing our state, as well as the responsibility that comes with balancing a budget and making payroll.

I am pro-life, pro-family values and pro-Second Amendment. Im proud to have earned the endorsements of the Illinois Federation for Right to Life and Illinois Citizens for Life. And I received an A rating from the NRA-PVF and am endorsed by the National Rifle Association.

I am running for re-election to continue the hard work of balancing the State budget, paying our bills, protecting our values and helping to create good-paying jobs for our working families. As your voice in Springfield, I am working hard to bring fiscal responsibility and conservative principles back to Illinois.

What issues are you facing your district right now that you believe to be important and how do you intend to address those issues?

My top priority is strengthening Illinois economy and helping to create good-paying jobs for working families in the 100th District. To do this, we must put a stop to the tax-and-spend culture in Springfield. Employers are looking for stable, predictable fiscal and tax policies from our State government.

The Governor and General Assembly need to pass pro-growth, pro-jobs legislation such as workers compensation reform and targeted tax credits for job creation, as well as reducing the overall tax burden placed on job creators. Illinois is at a competitive disadvantage with our neighboring states on workers compensation rates, property taxes and overall tax burden. We have to find a way to bring back good-paying manufacturing jobs that are the hallmark of a strong middle class.

The best way to increase revenues in Illinois is to make our economy more competitive with our neighboring states. By strengthening our economy and creating new jobs, Illinois will experience natural revenue growth as new taxpayers enter the workplace. A strong economy equals a strong revenue base.

What are your goals within the position?

We need to work together in a bipartisan manner to pass a truly balanced State budget that meets the needs and priorities of our citizens.

I am sponsoring the Taxpayers Fiscal Charter which a major first step towards getting Illinois back on track. It gives broad power to taxpayers, limits lawmakers ability to create new and unfunded entitlement programs and ensures the pension systems stability for years to come.

My legislation will stop wasteful spending, promote a thirty-day payment cycle and require the State to make its full pension payment.

House Bill 4229 creates the Taxpayers Fiscal Charter Act and freezes discretionary State spending for two years. The freeze continues after the two-year deadline if the State is unable to pay vendors within 30 days. It does not allow for new programs or expansion of entitlement programs unless a full pension payment - based on actuarial requirements - is made.

The other three budgetary reform policies in the Taxpayers Fiscal Charter are Pay As You Go, a prohibition on unfunded mandates and a sunshine clause for future budgets.

Lawmakers who file legislation which creates new spending will also be required to file an amendment that identifies a revenue source to pay for the spending or cuts spending for a current program to fund the new one. The Charter prohibits unfunded mandates from being passed onto school districts and local governments.

Finally, my legislation requires a 72-hour online posting of the General Assemblys proposed new fiscal year budget prior to passage.

No more backroom deals when it comes to spending taxpayers money. The Charter shines sunlight on the budget-making process by requiring a 72-hour public posting before a vote can be taken. Most budgets passed in Springfield are negotiated in the backroom by powerful insiders then rushed to the House Floor for a vote with no public notice. My legislation will provide transparency by requiring the proposed budget to be posted online at least three days prior to passage.

What do you intend to do to improve your district?

I believe in putting people before politics. I support commonsense solutions for our families, including:

Enacting the Taxpayers Fiscal Charter to rein in spending and balance the budget.

Supporting tough welfare reforms to stop fraud and save taxpayer dollars.

Passing real reforms to clean up the mess in Springfield.

Fighting for property tax relief for our families and seniors.

Protecting our pro-life values and Second Amendment rights.

How do you intend to remain transparent and in-touch with your district?

In many areas of the state, people have no idea who their State Representative is. That is why I spend seven days a week going to events in communities throughout our nine-county district. I want to make sure that people know me as a person. I want to ensure that each and every person knows they can call on me when they have any concerns. I have held many town-hall meetings and office hours throughout the 100th District.



Jonas H. Petty

Age: 39

City: Pittsfield

Family: Wife Jane Ann Petty, daughter Finley Rose, son JJ Petty, son Mickey Roy, son James Edward

Education: Pittsfield High School, Lincoln Land Community College, Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Current job title and years of experience:

CEO at J. Petty & Co., holding company for William Watson Hotel, Free Press Coffee House (Pittsfield, Mount Sterling and two in Springfield), manage 80-plus commercial and residential real estate properties and manages J. Petty & Co. Design Build, a construction and development company. Employs over 35 employees.

What is your reason for seeking election or re-election?

For far too long we have been told there is nothing we can do, Madigan is in charge, and as someone who for the last 10 years has grown a company from the ground up right here in the 100th district, I dont buy it. The same politicians that tell us that, vote for tax increases or just vote present and I finally said enough is enough. Its time to take action.

What issues are facing your district right now that you believe to be important and how do you intend to address those issues?

I identified early on in my campaign that welfare reform, education and economic development are all issues that need to be improved within our district, and I believe they all tie together. I am the only candidate who wrote a comprehensive seven-point plan for each of these areas. Our district has jobs that need filled, yet we also have many choosing not to work and the problem is systemic. In my capacity as a legislator, I am going to write legislation to drug test welfare recipients, I am going to write legislation putting stronger accountability measures on those seeking disability and welfare benefits, but at the same time I am going to work to create education platforms for youngsters showing the value of work as well as increasing our vocational teaching opportunities. The opportunities out there dont necessarily require a college degree, but they do require a work ethic and so long as our politicians reward a lack of work ethic we will get higher numbers requiring public services. The nay-sayers will say this is impossible to fix, but if we can just fix 10 percent, 15 percent or 20 percent, that is billions of dollars in savings in the short term, but turning the systemic trend for just a few provides exponential savings in the future.

What are your goals within the position?

I have said my office will take a three-prong approach to the office.

Legislative duties  I will write legislation and vote on legislation that shrinks government, introduces accountability, pro Second Amendment, pro-life and all in all shrinks government.

Leadership duties  I believe the office can achieve so much more than it is now and I have written my goals to bring together business leaders to understand what it is they need to grow and expand, bringing teachers and administrators together regularly to understand what our office can do to improve the education opportunities throughout the district as well as creating an outlet for educators to communicate about what works in their districts and if there is opportunity to promote those. We can bring law enforcement together regularly to see what areas my office can assist with as well as creating a platform to share ideas that work throughout the district. This is the type of leadership the 100th deserves, not just photo opportunities at different events, but creating an environment where goals are set and I can be held accountable to achieve, as I work for each constituent.

Conservative duties  As a conservative leader in the district I will also be searching out good conservatives to run for county boards, city councils, mayors, school boards etc. Just remember it wasnt the Supreme Court that took the 10 Commandments off schools, it was a school board that did it first. We must not get complacent and that takes leadership.

What do you intend to do to improve your district?

Lead through work. I believe, whether you like it or not, [House Speaker Michael] Madigan out-worked and out-politicked everyone one around him, and if we continue to send representatives that arent willing to out-work and out politic him, he will remain in power. I have from the beginning pledged to work as hard as I can for the constituents of the 100th district, that is what gets results. It hasnt failed me in life and business and I dont think it will fail me in politics! I work for the voters and I will never lose sight of that. Through my hard work, I am going to build one of the largest downstate vocational centers in Jacksonville. Through my handiwork, I am going to become a representative that is respected in Springfield not just used. All of this put together will bring respect, jobs and money back to our district.

How do you intend to remain transparent and in touch with your district?

I put together a communication outline. I will have quarterly town halls throughout the district, meetings with educators and administrators, quarterly meetings with law enforcement and business leaders. This is what is so critical to the success of our district. I want to set goals and then achieve them, but without having the conviction to meet with leaders and discuss progress and results we cant get ahead. The current rep for five years has had little meaningful interaction with the constituents. It is easy to show up at events, it is another to host events where they critique your performance. As a business I understand how important these interactions are to creating that trust and accountability that is key to success.

Nick Draper can be reached at 217-245-6121, ext. 1223, or on Twitter @nick_draper.WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump on Sunday renewed his attacks on the political affiliations of the members of the special counsel team investigating his 2016 campaign for possibly coordinating with Russia, alleging that the group has "13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans."

"Another Dem recently added...does anyone think this is fair?" Trump wrote on Twitter. "And yet, there is NO COLLUSION!"

The president is ignoring one important fact: Robert Mueller III, who heads the team, is a longtime registered Republican. He was appointed by another Republican, Rod J. Rosenstein, whom Trump nominated as deputy attorney general. But publicly available voter registration information shows that 13 of the 17 members of Mueller's team have previously registered as Democrats, while four had no affiliation or their affiliation could not be found.

Nine of the 17 made political donations to Democrats, their contributions totaling more than $57,000. The majority came from one person, who also contributed to Republicans. Six donated to Hillary Clinton, Trump's opponent in the 2016 race.

Trump and his supporters had in the months after Mueller was appointed to lead the investigation called attention to what they perceived as conflicts among those on the special counsel's team. In June, Trump tweeted that the probe was "led by some very bad and conflicted people!" and he said on Fox News that "the people that have been hired are all Hillary Clinton supporters, some of them worked for Hillary Clinton."

The new attacks come in the wake of Attorney General Jeff Sessions's firing of FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe over allegations made by the Justice Department's inspector general that McCabe authorized an inappropriate disclosure to the media, then misled investigators about it. McCabe had been involved in the Russia probe, and Trump and his attorney seized on his ouster to attack the special counsel.

"The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime," Trump wrote Saturday night. "It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC, and improperly used in FISA COURT for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT!"

A spokesman for the special counsel's office declined to comment for this report. The special counsel team is composed of veteran white-collar lawyers and prosecutors who are among the most respected in the legal world. They have a broad range of experience in fraud, public corruption, cyber and terrorism cases. Legal analysts have said previously that they could see no significant legal or ethical concerns with the team members' political giving, and they noted that Justice Department policies prohibit discrimination in hiring for career positions on the basis of politics.

Some lawyers, though, said the team's makeup creates an optical problem for Mueller, as conservatives might not trust what the team ultimately finds, especially with respect to Trump. Mueller's critics, too, already had ammunition to criticize the investigators as biased, after messages were released showing two top FBI officials involved in the case - agent Peter Strzok and lawyer Lisa Page - exchanged texts disparaging Trump.

The two no longer work for the special counsel. Mueller removed Strzok after the Justice Department's inspector general found the texts, and Page already had left for what officials said were unrelated reasons. Federal records show that neither Page nor Strzok made any political donations.

Lawyers at the Justice Department - from which Mueller drew the bulk of his team - are generally thought to be left-leaning, while the FBI is generally thought of as a more conservative institution. FBI agents are intimately involved in the work Mueller is doing, though their identities and donation and voter registration histories are not known.

Below is the complete list of the special counsel team members, their donations and the party affiliation noted in their past or present voter registration records.

1) Brian M. Richardson, a former Supreme Court clerk and clerk for a judge serving on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in New York City.

No donations.

Voter registration: No affiliation.

2) Ryan Dickey, an lawyer on detail from the Justice Department Criminal Division's Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section,

No donations,

Voter registration: Democrat,

3) Kyle Freeny, a lawyer from the Justice Department Criminal Division's Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section.

Freeny donated $250 to Barack Obama's presidential campaign in 2008, another $250 to Obama's reelection campaign in 2012 and $250 to Clinton's campaign in 2016.

Voter registration: Democrat.

4) Scott Meisler, an appellate lawyer from the Justice Department Criminal Division.

No donations.

Voter registration: No affiliation.

5) Zainab Ahmad, a lawyer from the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of New York

No donations.

Voter registration: No affiliation.

6) Greg Andres, a former partner at Davis Polk, a former deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department Criminal Division and a former assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York

He donated $2,700 to the campaign of Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., this year and $1,000 to the U.S. Senate campaign of David Hoffman, a Democrat, in 2009 when he ran unsuccessfully in Illinois.

Voter registration: Democrat.

7) Rush Atkinson, a lawyer from the Justice Department Criminal Division Fraud Section.

He donated $200 to Clinton's campaign in 2016.

Voter registration: Democrat.

8) Michael Dreeben, an appellate lawyer from the Office of the Solicitor General.

No donations.

Voter registration: Democrat.

9) Andrew Goldstein, a lawyer from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.

Goldstein donated $3,300 to Obama's campaigns in 2008 and 2012.

Voter registration: Democrat.

10) Adam Jed, an appellate lawyer from the Civil Division.

No donations.

Voter registration: Democrat.

11) Elizabeth Prelogar, an appellate lawyer on detail from the Office of the Solicitor General.

She donated $250 each to Clinton's campaign and the Obama Victory Fund in 2012 and 2016.

Voter registration: Democrat.

12) James Quarles, a former partner at WilmerHale and a former assistant special prosecutor for the Watergate Special Prosecution Force.

He donated more than $30,000 to various Democratic campaigns in 2016, including $2,700 to Clinton, though his giving spans two decades. Quarles also gave $2,500 in 2015 to Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and $250 to Sen. George Allen, R-Va.,in 2005.

Voter registration: Democrat.

13) Jeannie Rhee, a former partner at WilmerHale who has served in the Office of Legal Counsel and as an assistant U.S. attorney in D.C.

Rhee donated a total of $5,400 to Clinton's campaign in 2015 and 2016, and a total of $4,800 to the Obama Victory Fund in 2008 and 2011. She also made smaller donations totaling $1,750 to the Democratic National Committee and to various Democrats running for the Senate.

Voter registration: Democrat.

14) Brandon Van Grack, a lawyer on detail from the Justice Department's National Security Division

He donated $286.77 to Obama's campaign in 2008.

Voter registration: Democrat.

15) Andrew Weissmann, a lawyer who headed the Criminal Division's Fraud Section. He has served as general counsel at the FBI and as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York

Weissmann donated $2,300 to the Obama Victory Fund in 2008, $2,000 to the DNC in 2006 and $2,300 to the Clinton campaign in 2007.

Voter registration: Democrat.

16) Aaron Zebley, a former partner at WilmerHale who has previously served with Mueller at the FBI and as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia.

No donations.

Voter registration: No affiliation.

17) Aaron Zelinsky, a lawyer on detail from the District of Maryland.

No donations.

Voter registration: Democrat.

---

The Washington Post's Julie Tate and Alice Crites contributed to this report.Residents and business owners in Olmos Park are scratching their heads over an unusual and vague proposal to turn the 2,400-resident enclave into a gated community.

Olmos Park City Council members were set to discuss possibly making the City of Olmos Park a gated community at their Thursday meeting, according to an agenda posted on the citys website. The city later posted an amended agenda without the gated community item.

Olmos Park officials havent given a public explanation for why they considered discussing such a measure or why it was removed from the agenda. Olmos Park Mayor Ronald Hornberger and Councilwoman Juliana Dusek did not return emails requesting comment.

RELATED: Single-family homes just listed for sale in San Antonio

City Manager Celia DeLeon declined to comment to the Express-News in an email but told The Rivard Report that the unnamed City Council member who suggested the idea feels that weve been bombarded by the media and (it) is not a good time to discuss it.

The problem is the citys central location. Surrounded by San Antonio and located off U.S. 281, its bordered by Hildebrand to the south, McCullough to the west and the Olmos Basin to the north and east.

Saturday, busines owners and nearby residents tried to wrap their heads around what such a policy would look like if enacted.

Would Olmos Park set up manned gates at each end of the 1-mile stretch of McCullough Avenue that runs through the city?

Would guards staff the gates 24 hours a day, seven days a week to control the flow of people?

Would city officials build a fence around the nearly 400-acre enclave?

A wall?

The idea of turning Olmos Park into some kind of gated community comes up every few years in response to crime incidents spilling over from adjacent neighborhoods but officials typically balk at the potential cost and logistics and back off, former Olmos Park Councilman Jeff Judson said.

The way the city is laid out its virtually impossible to do that, Judson said. We have 15 streets that intersect with the outside world. Youd either have to build a wall around all of those where every street would be a dead end. There are cul-de-sacs so thered be no way to turn around if you went up one of the streets. Theyre not designed to be that way.

Its really kind of a silly suggestion, Judson said.

Michael Villa, an attorney who has lived in Olmos Park for 11 years, said he hasnt noticed an uptick in crime incidents or traffic in the area that could potentially build support for such a measure. Walling or gating off the entire city doesnt sound like a good policy idea, Villa said, but the lack of a concrete proposal made it difficult for him to opine.

I dont think it would pass muster with my neighbors, Villa said. It doesnt make much sense.

Another question: would Olmos Park somehow exempt businesses from being gated off? Officials could theoretically limit the gating mechanism to the citys residential areas, said Erin Eaton, co-owner of Olmos Perk Coffee Bar. But a citywide gate or wall would be very limiting on my business, Eaton said.

Rachel Holcomb, property manager of The Yard Shopping Center, said restaurants and stores at the center including Olmos Perk and Yaya's Thai Restaurant have a strong customer base among Olmos Park residents but also attract customers from other parts of the city. Gating the city would deter nonresidents from traveling through the city and spending money at the businesses, Holcomb said.

I dont know who came up with that harebrained idea, Holcomb said.Six of the 12 incumbent Texas district attorneys challenged in their party primary this month lost their bids to run for re-election.

Among them is Bexar County District Attorney Nico LaHood, who was trying for a second term, making him him the first Bexar County district attorney to lose his partys nomination in a primary election. He remains in the office for eight months.

We hope LaHood and the other district attorneys who did not survive election night do not act entirely as lame ducks. Yes, they should not initiate major changes that a successor is likely to make short-lived, but they should examine what they got right in their terms and build on them.

RELATED: Controversial moments from Nico LaHood's tenure as Bexar County district attorney

They might consider what legacy they want to leave.

There are many victims and families whose hopes for justice are riding on fledgling programs, initiatives and the prosecutions these elected officials took a special interest in and initiated.

The defeat of an incumbent does not change the status of an indictment or mean the automatic cancellation of a project, but it can result in a change in priorities and perhaps waning enthusiasm for prosecution.

Changes in some personnel generally follow the departure of an incumbent. We hope skilled prosecutors elect to stay. Criminal and civil prosecutor positions are not for the fainthearted, or necessarily for the novice.

There are a few items LaHood should rightly be proud of and seek to strengthen in his remaining time. They are:

Bexar Countys Conviction Integrity Unit.

The recently launched cite-and-release program for those facing minor drug charges.

And the prosecution of Genene Jones, a notorious child killer facing mandatory parole this spring.

All of these deserve the full attention of LaHood and his successor.

These issues are not partisan; they are about justice. They merit a continued focus regardless of which way the political winds blow.

RELATED: Nico LaHood admits defeat in District Attorney's race against Gonzales

The Conviction Integrity Unit was established by LaHood shortly after he was elected and has worked on reviewing hundreds of post-conviction cases.

Texas has a bad history when it comes to wrongful convictions, and this has given rise to serious questions about the integrity of the criminal justice system.

The Conviction Integrity Unit is a much-needed tool in a system that long has lacked the proper checks and balances to ensure innocent people didnt get convicted.

Late last year, as he was gearing up for his re-election campaign, LaHood announced a pilot program that would allow those suspected of low-level, nonviolent crimes to receive a citation and go before a judge at a later date, avoiding an immediate trip to jail.

The Express-News has since learned the district attorney left city officials, who had been working on a diversion plan as well, out of the loop. City officials learned of the countys plans from a LaHood press conference.

Consequently, the pilot program only involves the Bexar County Sheriffs Office.

Police Chief Bill McManus unwisely was left out of the loop. The program has great potential and should include the largest law enforcement agency in the county to be successful.

The case of Jones also deserves special attention. Families of the dozens of children who died under Jones care in San Antonio and the Hill Country have sought justice for decades. Many had all but given up hope until LaHoods office brought five new indictments against her last year.

Dubbed the Angel of Death, Jones was convicted of murder and injury to a child in two unrelated cases and sentenced to two 60-year terms in prison in the mid-1980s. She was serving the sentences concurrently and was due for release this month under mandatory parole guidelines.

In 2013, members of a closed Facebook group called Victims of Genene Anne Jones began to fight her release on parole. More than one-third joined the group after her latest indictment.

The futures of the high-profile Jones case, the Conviction Integrity Unit and the cite-and-release program should not depend on who is in office.

They are worthy of continuation no matter who won at the polls.It was the iconic poet Geffrey Chaucer who coined the phrase: All good things must come to an end.

A cliche it may be, it's one which could be used to sum up the overriding sense of emotion and nostalgia in Granard at the weekend as the shutters on Longfords oldest business came down for the last time.

Pettits, a dainty, uncomplicated grocers stationed in the heart of Granards main shopping thoroughfare has been its ever present mainstay since 1708.

To put it in context, thats 310 years ago, at a time when Ireland was ruled by King George III of Britain and beset by economic oppression.

Fast forward more than three centuries stands John Joe Pettit, the stores last proprietor of a seventh generation family steeped in local tradition and narratives.

The Leader caught up with him last Saturday morning for a chat. For the past fifty or so years, it was like the start to every other weekend as shoppers drifted in and out for a pint of milk and butter or for their first read of the newspapers.

This, though, wasnt your run of the mill Saturday as John prepared to close the doors on the family run business for good.

As we entered the store, we were greeted by a tall, amicable looking figure who immediately threw out his hand.

You're from the Leader, came the instantaneous greeting.

You're very welcome.

It was a reception which made us feel at ease straight away and one which was very much indicative of how this family-orientated business has survived famines, recessions, wars and still lived to tell the tale.

It's been in the family since then, said John, when asked about the shops lineage.

I'd say it is the longest running in the county.

The shop was called Small's at that time but I think that was to do with the French or something because it would have been contentious to have the name Pettit on a business.

An unfortunate coincidence it may have been at the time to carry such a surname over your door, by the early 20th century none of that figured as Ireland battled for its rights to independence with the might of the British Empire.

Pettits, like so many other establishments of its ilk came under attack from a Black and Tan onslaught, the results of which had near devastating consequences.

Every second or third building was set alight as they thought they were going to burn the whole town, said John Joe as he recalled the so-called Burning of Granard.

The business, at the time, boasted a downstairs cellar which provided candles to various clients and local churches.

As a consequence of the British aggression, its entire contents went up in flames, leaving the business to effectively smoulder for two years.

It didn't succeed and thank God they didn't as it would have been some mess, John Joe added.

My father, Joe had it (shop) at the time. He was only 17 or 18. His father had died quite young and his mother was running the business along with some of the family and they carried on the business from the yard.

That perseverance and tenacity was something which clearly rubbed off on the young John Joe when the time came for his father to hand over the reins of the family firm.

The internal fabric of the store was much different back then. A bar straddled across the rear of the premises where its deli counter now stands.

I remember, as a kid, the counter was different, interjected John Joe, while pointing to how bar stools occupied much of where the stores till and confectionary stand had more recently been positioned.

You got out your docket book and you started writing and people might be in once a fortnight whereas now you might see them three times a day looking for a pound of tea, four of sugar, two of butter and flour and the like.

Nearly before a person opened their mouth you knew what the first eight items were going to be.

I remember there were 19 lines in the docket books back then and if you got onto the second page you were doing rightly.

How times change. The times of scribbling orders on ledgers has long gone. The modern age has forced society and business at large to adapt, challenges which John Joe has taken on and embraced.

One facet of the business he has not altered, however, is the proud name of Pettit, which towers proudly over its front curtilage.

Over the years, many groups would come to you like Spa and we were with Mace for a little time but I since decided that all these groups, all they were out for was their own good and I said: 'No, I will do it the way my father did it' and I've enjoyed every minute of it. I have had a brilliant, brilliant life. You know the old saying: 'You find a job you like doing and you will never work again'. That's the way it's been for me.

It was humbling to hear such contentment with not a morsel of regret come from a man who has spent the vast bulk of his life serving a community he has grown up in.

For others, the term customer would mean just that. For John Joe, it means so much more.

Everyone that came in was your friend, he said, revealing that it was his loyal clientele were showing more emotion than he was in the weeks leading up to his final day behind the counter.

I thought I would be caught but it's actually the customers who are breaking down. It does take it out of you and you do feel it but its the part of it I love.

That said, John Joe was keen to exemplify the unrelenting challenges facing seasoned businesses like his own.

Tighter balance sheets, he asserted, have come largely as a result of increased competition from larger supermarket chains, threats which have been exacerbated by mounting overhead costs and even more trivial dilemmas such as Granards ceaseless parking dilemma.

With no sons or daughters to pass the shop down to, you would think John Joes decision to call time would be made that bit easier.

Its not about that, he replied, folding his arms in quiet humility.

I would need 800 or 900 a week before I would even make a penny and the weeks go very quickly, believe me.

I absolutely loved it, but financially you couldn't survive. I would nearly say 'I'd spend my last penny to keep it open' but you can't be stupid either.

Now, and as the affable wildlife enthusiast looks forward to his next chapter, there's an unmistakeable satisfaction in John Joe's voice as he offers his hand to yet another customer who files through the door.

The way I see it and have seen it for some time is, you only live for so long and when you get to a certain age you say to yourself: 'Listen, there are things I have wanted to do all my life and I want to do them when I am able to'.

After close to half a century manning an institution with more than 300 years of history attached to it, who could blame him?

Read next:

Longford Lives: A stroke of luckLeinster counties look set for 'significant' snow, Met Eireann warned on Saturday and Sunday night.

AA Roadwatch has tonight warned Longford motorists to slow down and take care as snow is falling.

Snowy conditions have been reported on routes in several counties including Carlow, Kildare, Longford, Monaghan, Wicklow and Waterford. Slow down and take care in poor conditions. 



See https://t.co/PSzIBsvOzE for the latest updates during the Bank Holiday Weekend pic.twitter.com/IyN1349rX1 March 17, 2018

In its latest tweet issued at 10pm on Saturday the forecaster warned of 'significant accumulations' of snow on Saturday night into Sunday morning.

Cold & windy overnight with snow showers in the east continuing to spread across the country. Significant accumulations of snow are likely through Leinster & east-Ulster but snow-showers will be well scattered elsewhere. Lows -1 to -4C with severe frosts. Blustery Easterly winds pic.twitter.com/uTNMwa1dWs March 17, 2018

Snow is expected in Dublin and other Leinster coastal counties but appears to spread to Laois and Kildare. It is likely to become 'widespread' during daylight hours on Sunday.

Status Orange & Yellow weather warnings for snow and ice are place. The forecaster says it will be a cold and windy overnight with snow showers in the east continuing to spread across the country.

Weather Warning: ORANGE LEVEL



Dublin, Kildare, Louth, Wexford, Wicklow, Meath &

Waterford.



Scattered heavy snow showers o/night & Sunday with

accumulations in places & drifting



Please be aware of local conditions#SonOfTheBeast pic.twitter.com/BukC9icxes  An Garda Siochana (@GardaTraffic) March 17, 2018

"Significant accumulations of snow are likely through Leinster and east-Ulster but snow-showers will be well scattered elsewhere," says the forecaster.

Temperatures will dip to -1 to -4C with severe frosts with blustery easterly winds continuing.

In her forecast on RTE Met Eireann forecaster Jean Byrne warned that the snow would be be followed by bitterly cold weather through Bank Holiday Monday.

She said the snow would spread inland and become widespread on Sunday but not to the west of Ireland. It is unlikely to clear until evening.

Also Read: Strong chance of snow in Longford this weekendLongfords Dr Laura Noonan is determined to recover and fight back after she underwent chemotherapy and stem cell transplantation in Moscow recently and she is currently in Dublins Mater hospital under the care of her haematology team.

Dr Laura wrote on the Lauras Russian Lifeline Facebook page last night: Finally, I am posting some good news. Whats seldom really is wonderful.



She revealed that a new combination of medication had been agreed and this made her very hopeful.

So, after late night discussions between Dublin and Moscow it was decided to try a new combination of medication and after some initial issues we seem to have overcome the main challenges, and now I am HOPEFUL, that we have got this from every angle. I will beat this together with my A team. It has not been easy but then nothing in life worth having or achieving ever is easy. No fear. No going back. We can do this. Laura Xxx

On Friday, March 16, Lauras husband Archie OConnor had written that more significant medical issues have arisen which the team are actively trying to treat but we seem to be meeting new obstacles every day.

He explained that Laura needed specific treatment and she needed it urgently, so we really hope the doctors here can sort this treatment out here for her.

He concluded by thanking everyone for continuing to support us all, particularly Laura, it means a lot to her.

A week earlier, Laura, outlined that she ran into many difficulties over the course of her Russian treatment, adding, although we knew it was going to be hard it was much more difficult than we anticipated.

My mother and Archie had many anxious nights outside the isolation doors awaiting updates. There were no exceptions made and they were not allowed in to even offer comfort in a terrifying situation. Most people know how scary hospital can be but imagine an emergency situation with staff running around the ward talking in a language I couldnt understand.



As they administered the anaesthetic last week I genuinely worried that I might never wake up. At that time I could feel the support and prayers and strength from home and I am certain they carried me through.



Laura managed to complete the entire treatment course as scheduled in Moscow and said it was great to be back on Irish soil and she thanked all the people involved, including the wonderful Aer Lingus staff who brought them from Heathrow to Dublin.

She wrote: I am eternally grateful to the team in Moscow who provided treatment not available to me here. Without them who knows what the future would have held for me and my little family.

Laura expressed the wish to get home to her own bed in the not too distant future.

This journey is far from over but we have the biggest giant steps taken already now all thats left is baby steps to get the best possible outcome.

I would love to be home in Edgeworthstown but right now the only safe place for me is here in the Mater under the care of my excellent haematology team. Thank you all. I will keep you updated on our progress and I hope to get home to my own bed in the not too distant future.A north Longford garda chief who was one of the lead investigators into the killers of Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe in Dundalk in 2013 has publically commended the efforts of his former colleagues after a man was formally charged with his murder.

Aaron Brady (27) from New Road, Crossmaglen, Co Armagh, is to face trial on indictment accused of murdering Det Garda Donohoe at Lordship Credit Union, Belurglan, Co Louth on January 25 2013.



The married father of two had been in the process of escorting a cash escort with colleagues when he was fatally shot during a botched robbery in the credit unions car park.



Mr Brady has since appeared twice in court over the incident, the latter of which involved the Armagh man appearing via video-link at Cloverhill District Court.



At that sitting, it was revealed the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had directed that Mr Brady be sent forward for trial on indictment to the Central Criminal Court.



At last weeks Joint Policing Committee (JPC) meeting last week, Supt Brian Mohan said he was thrilled to learn there had been a breakthrough in the case.



Supt Mohan, who was Inspector and one of the lead detectives in the hunt for those behind the murder said: I would like to place on record the developments with regard to the charging of a person over the murder of Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe yesterday evening and to extend my heartfelt congratulations to the investigation team for their work over the last five years.



It's great to see that someone has been charged and it goes to prove that no matter where people go in the world it's a very small place.

A man in his sixties, who was arrested in Dundalk two weeks ago as part of the investigation into the the murder of Det Garda Donohoe, has since been released without charge.The victim of a criminal damage episode in south Longford has said he would have used a pitchfork in retaliation against the perpetrators had he managed to catch up with them.

John Mannion made the admission after seeing a window of his house in Legan being smashed by the former partner of one of his daughters.

Dylan Languish of Newport, Legan, Co Longford pleaded not guilty to a charge of criminal damage at 11 Smithfield Crescent, Lenamore, Co Longford on September 19 2015.

Mr Mannion said he was at home watching an episode of Winning Streak on the evening of the incident when he was disturbed by a racket brought about by the sound of breaking glass.

As he went to investigate, Mr Mannion said he noticed the window had been broken just as a jeep suddenly took off at speed.

In the midst of the unfolding situation, Mr Mannion and his 21-year-old daughter Emma gave chase in their own vehicle.

After a brief pursuit, the pair managed to catch up with the jeep after it broke down near Ballynacargy.

As there appeared to be no attempt made by either the driver or passenger to exit the jeep, Mr Mannion said he decided to approach the vehicle while turning his own headlights on full beam.

He said after identifying the driver, he also observed Mr Languish sitting in the front passenger seat before telling him: I have you now Dylan.

The two got out of the jeep and I said to Emma: Get the fork out of the van.

Mr Mannion said at that stage the pair made a sudden dart past his daughter and made their escape by jumping a gate and into an adjoining field.

Asked by Judge Seamus Hughes what he would have done with the implement if given the opportunity, Mr Mannion replied: I would have used it, would you not use it?

Mr Mannion, though, was eager to stress he would have stopped short of inflicting serious harm on Mr Languish, saying: I would have given him the handle across the forehead. I wouldnt have killed him because Id be gone (to prison) then.

He also told of how he had to personally fork out over 100 to fix the window, despite revealing he was a local authority housing tenant.

Defence solicitor Brid Mimnagh, in her cross examination of Mr Mannion, suggested there was more to the case than just the accusation of her client breaking a window.

She said there was bad blood between both parties and suggested Mr Mannions insistence on taking the matter further had resulted in the case reaching court.

Dylan tried to run me off the road, responded an aggrieved sounding Mr Mannion.

He cant leave us alone, he is down in Legan the whole time.

I used to get on fierce well with Dylan.

The inference Mr Languishs parting of the ways with another of Mr Mannions daughters might have fuelled ill feeling between the pair was also put to him.

The thing is, every time he meets you, you are making complaints about him, Ms Mimnagh put it to Mr Mannion.

Evidence was also heard by two of Mr Mannions daughters, both of whom were at the scene on the night.

One of them included Emma Mannion, who travelled with her father in pursuit of the jeep which had been seen speeding off from the area.

She also told the court of being able to positively identify Mr Languish as one of the two occupants found sitting in the jeep when she and her father caught up with them.

Sgt Beatty said he arrested Mr Languish at 10pm that evening after a search of the area had been conducted for the two people seen abandoning the jeep in the roadway.

He said during questioning Mr Languish admitted being in the jeep which had been stolen in Mullingar sometime previously but denied any involvement in breaking the window of the Mannions house.

Mr Languish, for his part, said he had been out drinking in a pub when another man came in and asked him for a spin.

The father of two said the man told him the jeep was stolen, causing him to exit the vehicle and return home.

Judge Seamus Hughes, presiding, said he simply did not believe Mr Languishs version of events, preferring instead to rely on the sworn testimonies of Mr Mannion and his two daughters.

In mitigation, Ms Mimnagh said her client was a father to two children and came to court with a previously unblemished record.

Judge Hughes dismissed that submission, insisting: Hes going to prison.

Unless I see the colour of 1,000, hes going to prison.

With that Mr Mannion could be seen exiting the courtroom before shouting up at the bench: Good man your Honour, thanks.

As it later transpired, Mr Languish returned after lunch with the required 1,000.

Judge Hughes consequently set aside 120 of that total for compensation to Mr Mannion with the remaining 880 handed into court as a fine payable forthwith.All that anybody really wants is happiness. We may spend every waking hour working hard at achieving the goals that we hope will make us happy. But does it really have the effect that we hope it will?

Share on Pinterest Does your pursuit of happiness make you happy?

Im pretty certain weve all been there: you go to college to get a degree, thinking that a diploma will make you happy, and then you graduate and happiness still seems far off.

And then you think, O.K., if I manage to get this amazing job, that will make me happy for sure.

So, you work really hard, invest time and resources, and land your dream job, but then you start wondering if it was really worth all that hassle. And so on, for years.

Pursuing happiness as a goal, despite the fact that happiness is such an abstract, fluid  and even fickle  concept, has become something of an epidemic. A quick Google Trends search will reveal that global interest in the question of how to be happy has remained pretty steady over the past 5 years.

The top related query is how to be happy or at least less sad, and the countries that seem to have expressed the most interest in this question are the United States and the United Kingdom.

But what is this relentless quest for happiness actually doing to us? It may not come as a surprise that, apparently, dedicating so much energy to finding happiness is likely leaving us bitter and dissatisfied.

People generally like to feel happy, try to feel happy, and want to be happier, write the authors of a paper recently published in the Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, even if they are already fairly happy.

Aekyoung Kim, from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ, and Sam Maglio, from the University of Toronto Scarborough in Canada, have been intrigued by the effects that making a goal out of happiness could have on the psyche.

So, in order to see what happens when we actively decide to try and make ourselves happy at whatever cost, the research duo devised four related studies, mainly looking at one specific outcome: how the pursuit of happiness impacts our perception of time.Advertisement

Fang and his colleagues at Mount Sinai used the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database to conduct a nationwide retrospective cohort study of patients admitted to acute care hospitals in the United States with stable coronary artery disease in 2014.Of the 1,262,943 patients admitted with stable coronary artery disease that year, about 3,000 (0.24 percent) had an episode of hypoglycemia during their inpatient stay. Compared to patients without hypoglycemia, those with hypoglycemia were more likely to be female (39 percent vs 47 percent, respectively), live in poverty (29 percent vs 34 percent), and have certain features of renal failure (27percent vs 32 percent) and heart failure (20 percent vs 27 percent). But they were less likely to have diabetes (10 percent vs 32 percent).Compared to patients without hypoglycemia, those with hypoglycemia had higher inpatient mortality (OR 4.48), longer hospital stays (mean 5.3 vs 7.0 days), and higher healthcare costs (US $57,275 vs $70,957).After adjustments for age, sex, race, income and clinical factors including diabetes, heart failure and kidney failure, the associations for mortality, length of stay and healthcare costs remained significant.Source: EurekalertAdvertisement

The RNMs killed bacteria (Escherichia coli and Listeria innocua) at over 99 per cent efficiency under 30-and 60-minute daylight irradiation and killed viruses (T7 phage) just as efficiently at a faster rate, in only about five minutes under daylight.Moreover, because of its rechargeable feature, the RNM continued to kill the pathogens in the dark, disrupting bacteria within 120 minutes and viruses within 30 minutes.Current light-responsive biocidal materials, on the other hand, typically need around five to 10 hours to reach the level of bacteria-killing efficiency.Source: IANSWhether you agree with me or not, but even today, any party is incomplete if the DJ does not play Sukhbir's 'Ishq Tera Tadpave'. And one cannot be considered a certified DJ in India (not really), if they don't stop at the 'Oh ho ho ho' part.

Well, such was the craze of 90s music and while we are talking about the 90s music scene, how can we forget Daler Mehndi, the man whose music has ruled our hearts and house parties for almost two decades. Even today, we can't help but dance crazily on the tunes of 'Tunak Tunak Tun', and scream 'Aha Chiknak Chiknak' while dancing to his numbers.

BCCL

However, Friday brought a massive blow for both the pop star and his ardent fans, when Mehndi was charged with a human trafficking case from 2003. Reportedly, Daler Mehndi and his brother Shamsher Singh were sentenced to jail for 2 years for smuggling people into the United States while on a tour.

While, some were recuperating from this news, and some others thought that they can quickly go and run some errands in 2 minutes and then catch up on the rest of the news, tables had already turned. Within minutes of his jail verdict, the pop star was already out on bail and as expected Twitter exploded into hilarious memes and jokes on the pop star. From calling him 'Dealer Mehndi' to changing his song's lyrics to 'Ho gayi teri bail bail', Twitter had all sorts of jokes to make on him. Can't help but think in our minds that Vijay Mallya must be patting Daler Mehndi's back on listening to his 2-minute bail stint!

BCCL

So, while Twitter was busy doing what it's good at, we decided to take you all to a nostalgic trip down the memory lane and listen to some of his classics that probably played longer that his 'Jail and Bail' stint.

Bolo Ta Ra Ra (1993)

Ho Jayegi Balle Balle (1999)

Tunak Tunak Tun (1998)

Dardi Rab Rab Kardi (1996)

Na Na Na Re (1997)

Kudiya Sheher Diyan (1999)

Saade Dil Te Chhuriyan Chaliyan (1999)

Bhootni Ke (2008)

Dangal (2016)

Jiyo Re Baahubali (2017)Norway is blessed with some of the most stunning locations in the world. With the beautiful Northern Lights adorning its clear night sky and snowy peaks, the place could very well be a secret fantasy land from our childhood stories. With cliffs overlooking crystal clear blue waters set against a starry sky, Norway is home to a variety of natural wonders. Its untouched landscapes covered with greens and whites are enough to take our breath away. Scenes so naturally perfect you'd fear spoiling it with your human touch.

Here are a few pictures of the stunning Norwegian night sky that will make you yearn to visit the place right away.

1. The fishing village of Reine is one of the most beautiful places in Norway

 Thinkstock Photos_Nitrogliserin_Reine

2. Leaving on my snowmobile to chill under the Northern Lights in the sleepy town of Longyearbyen.

 Thinkstock Photos_BublikPolina

3. As dusk sets over the glitter of the day. Location: Mount Floyen in Bergen

 Wikimedia Commons Mount Floyen - Bergen

4. One of the best roads to drive on in the world, the Atlantic Ocean Road looks like a passage straight to heaven

 Thinkstock Photos_Lukas Bischoff

5. Miles to go before I sleep

 Twitter_trendtenreviews

6. The moonlight, the snowy silence, a wooden cabin and a lover's warm touch  could there be anything better?

 Thinkstock Photos_francescadani

7. Could live here forever.

 Pexels_Stefan Stefancik

8. Another breathtaking view of a city's glittery lights against the backdrop of a calm ocean. This is the beautiful port town of Aalesund.

 Wikimedia Commons_Aalesund

9. Come let's sail away, and catch the wind again.

 Thinkstock Photos_RainbowJoe_Fjords

10. Fifteen feet of pure white

 norwegian wintermoon Reddit

11. "I'm leaving on a jet plane"

 Thinkstock Photos_Hallestrandsfoto_Alesund

12. If we could ever build a house somewhere, this would be it.

 Reine Youtube_MrBangthamai

13. Have you seen the moon today?

 Thinkstock Photos_nightman1965_Stavenger

14. "I'll see you on the dark side of the moon"

 Pixabay

If only I could have a wooden cabin in the country. What's your dream destination? Tell us in the comments section below!If you are almost 25 and still think saving and investing is not your cup of tea/coffee, or feel it's too early to think about retirement plans, then you let us tell you that you are going pretty wrong. Time is one of the biggest advantage young people have when it comes to investing, as you get plenty of time to learn from your mistakes. This is the time when you can afford to take calculated risks rather than later regretting living a mediocre life. If you want to become rich, start investing as there is no better way to make money. Don't believe me? Then do some research yourself about how rich people make money and why no becomes a billionaire working his whole life for someone else.

 Thinkstock/Getty Images

1. Never invest money that you might need soon

Professionals suggest that you should not invest the money if you will need it back in the next five years. This is suggested because if the market goes down during this period you won't be left with enough time to recover those funds.

2. You don't need to do it yourself

You don't need to become an expert in investing or mug up the whole Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham before you start investing. There are financial planners, wealth advisors and consultancies who can help you.

3. Starting early gives you an edge over those who start late

 AZ Quotes

Time is the biggest factor that plays a pivotal role while making money. The sooner you start investing, the more time you can give your money to take the advantage of the compound interest. Also, the sooner you investing, you give yourself more chances to get better with your strategies.

4. Your long-term strategy must not be disturbed by every morning news

Stocks are very volatile in nature so most of the market experts never advise any investor to alter their investment as per the news on the TV. Why? Statistics show that buying and selling stock so frequently does not work for most of the people.

5. Many a times you will fail

 PictureQuotes

We have all heard of the line that 'investments are subject to market risk.' And that is true and pretty fair as well. Stocks depend on many factors other than how the company itself is performing. No one gets rich without taking some calculated risk. In reality, you will fail sometimes as well. The thing is to learn from your mistakes and learn to play better.

6. You may have to pay taxes on your investments

The money you make with the help of your investment is not spared without being taxed by the government and you'll owe what's called capital gains taxes. Though there are other ways as well as retirement plan investments which may not need to pay tax to the government.

7. Most of the times you will be charged fees

If you are taking the help of an investment professional then you will probably have to pay him or her a flat fee or a percent share of your portfolio. If you are taking the help of a consultancy then also the same rule applies.

8. Bonds are loans you make

 MumbaiTrader Blog

For an instance, when you purchase a bond you are actually loaning a sum of money to the government. Now, after some time that entity has to pay you back the amount with added interest on the money.

Buying and selling bonds aren't that feasible in India as we don't have a marketplace like the US for bonds. You can do so by investing in Mutual Funds which deal in such instruments.

9. Stocks are equity in any company

When you buy a stock, suppose in a private company, you are actually buying a tiny part, in fact, a share of that company. You do not get ownership unless you hold a huge share in the company. Remember that stock is more often more volatile than bonds, and thus, they also yield high gains or steep losses.

10. You can track performance at the stock market

Unlike bonds you can actually track the performance of the stocks of the company you have invested your money in. These are the companies which have made their Initial Public Offering(IPO) and are eligible to be traded on the stock exchange. In India, stocks are majorly traded on National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) or the Bombay Stock Exchange(BSE).Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Kotzias will be in Brussels on Monday, 19 March, to participate in a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council (FAC).



The meeting will focus on the latest developments in Ukraine and Iran, and there will also be a discussion of the current situation in Syria, with the UN Special Envoy, Staffan de Mistura, in attendance. Following a relevant proposal from the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs, there will also be a working luncheon with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of South Korea, Kang Kyung-wha, on recent developments in the Korean peninsula.Top brass is shying away from recent reports that tension is building between the U.S. and Turkey, which may lead to a noticeable shift in operations for U.S. warplanes at Incirlik Air Base.

The U.S. has a significant footprint at Incirlik. The military presence at the base, roughly 850 miles away from Russia, serves both as a deterrent and a transition point for Air Force aircraft moving to and from Iraq and Syria for missions against the Islamic State.

Officials this week told The Wall Street Journal the U.S. is scaling back combat operations over strained relations with Turkey, related to political obstacles in Syria. But the Air Force maintains its relationship with Turkish counterparts and its operations at the base remain consistent.

On a military-to-military basis, the relationship is firm, according to Gen. Tod Wolters, commander of U.S. Air Forces Europe-Africa Command.

"Certainly in the air domain with us and Turkey remains very, very strong," he told reporters during a phone call Thursday.

Related content:

"[Turkey is] a strong NATO partner, our aviation relationship is incredibly powerful, and I would characterize at the end of the day, all the activities that are ongoing in the air domain between us and Turkey to remain incredibly strong," Wolters said.

Turkey has grown agitated with the United States alliance with the Syrian Democratic Forces, a militia unit fighting ISIS that is predominantly made up of the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units, or YPG. Turkey considers the YPG a terrorist organization. The SDF has, Turkey claims, also encroached too close to Turkey's borders.

Officials told the Journal that a recent removal of A-10 Thunderbolt II close-air-support planes signaled a change-up for U.S. operations at the NATO base, which could alter future missions there.

In January, a squadron of A-10Cs, first based at Incirlik, arrived at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, in support of the bolstered air campaign against the Taliban and other extremist forces.

U.S. European Command officials, meanwhile, say a new squadron of the ground-attack aircraft will likely be on its way to Turkey in the near future.

"The expeditionary squadron of A-10s that were deployed at Incirlik in support of Operation Inherent Resolve have returned back to Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, and another squadron has not yet been deployed to this location," EuCom officials told Military.com on Thursday.

"As the expeditionary units are not permanently assigned here, the aircraft located at Incirlik are always subject to change," officials said in an email. "There are no aircraft from Incirlik that have been relocated permanently at other USAFE bases.

"Depending on operational needs, a new squadron or mission may, or may not, deploy to Incirlik," EuCom officials said.

The move to Afghanistan did not happen on a whim, CentCom officials said.

"The decision to move A-10s to Kandahar was made in the fall of 2017, and the decision was one based on needed capabilities in Afghanistan," Capt. AnnMarie Annicelli said Wednesday in an email. "We needed air-to-ground capabilities, and the A-10 offered that."

The U.S. currently has KC-135 Stratotankers, MQ-9 Reaper drones and UH-60 Black Hawks at Incirlik.

During the 2016 coup attempt in Turkey, U.S. operations halted and the airspace shut down, forcing CentCom to adjust its operations in the air war against ISIS.

The Air Force also had 12 F-15 Strike Eagles from the 48th Fighter Wing at the base in 2015, but the fighters were withdrawn less than two months later.

While EuCom on Thursday stressed that there have been "no significant impacts" to ongoing operations in Europe or global missions, how the U.S. chooses to proceed with the SDF situation remains to be seen.

Pentagon officials in recent weeks have argued the concerns over the SDF have created a distraction, and the two countries must return to their primary mission to defeat ISIS.

"We're going to continue to support the SDF in the fight against ISIS," Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said last month.

EuCom officials added, "Incirlik still serves as forward location that enables operational capabilities and provides the U.S. and NATO the strategic and operational breadth needed to conduct operations and assure our allies and partners."

-- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214.What Is ISIS-K? Two Experts on the Group Behind the Kabul Airport Attack and its Rivalry with the Taliban

By 2018, the group had become one of the top four deadliest terrorist organizations in the world.About Me Scott Because prophetic scriptures are found throughout the bible, it is obvious that a comprehensive, systematic approach would be useful, if not necessary, for the understanding of prophecy. Past prophecies have been fulfilled in a literal manner, as confirmed by the dating of these writings and historical records of confirmation. These past prophecies also serve as a model of how to interpret future prophecies. A literal view of prophecy clearly indicates a certain sequence of events will occur within a single generation, concluding with the Tribulation and Second Advent and these events will be obvious. The prophetic signs appear to be present in this generation and we believe these signs are revealed in the news from around the world. View my complete profileEven as the nearly Rs 13,000-crore scam involving diamond trader Nirav Modi has led to public lenders to curtail their overseas presence, Axis Bank announced a new representative office in Sharjah on Sunday.

The third largest private sector lender said the representative office in Sharjah, its third in the UAE, will focus on remittances business.

Axis Bank has disclosed indirect exposure, passed on because of the scam that originated at Punjab National Bank. Following the discovery of the scam, the Government asked a slew of state-run lenders to consolidate their foreign presence starting with 35 locations.

In a statement, Axis Bank said the representative office can be used by the diaspora in the northern emirates.

There are over 3 million NRIs in the UAE which makes it an interesting business proposition, it said.

The bank has 20 percent market share in the USD 12 billion dollar-a-year inward remittances market from the UAE.

"Personal banking transactions, including remittances...have been growing continuously. The opening of the representative office in Sharjah will further extend our presence in the UAE," the bank's executive director Rajiv Anand said.

The bank has branches at the Dubai International Financial Centre, Singapore, Hong Kong and Colombo, a subsidiary in London and a representative office in Dhaka.Welcome Guest! You Are Here:live bse live

nse live Volume Todays L/H More 

Automotive component supplier Sandhar Technologies will open its initial public offering for subscription on March 19.

Equity shares are proposed to be listed on BSE and NSE. The book running lead managers to the offer are ICICI Securities and Axis Capital.

Here are 10 things you should know before investing:

Company Profile

New Delhi-based Sandhar Technologies is a customer centric component supplier primarily catering to automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and largely focused on safety and security systems of vehicles with a pan India presence and a growing international footprint.

Incorporated in October 1987, it commenced operations as a supplier to Hero (formerly Hero Honda Motors Limited) for sheet metal components. It is promoted by a first-generation entrepreneur Jayant Davar, Co-Chairman and Managing Director.

The company is the leader in the two-wheeler locking systems market, and the commercial vehicle rear view market in India, and one of the two largest companies catering to the commercial vehicle locking systems market, and the two-wheeler rear view market in India.

The company is also one of the two largest manufacturers of operator cabins in India, along with being the largest player in the excavator cabins market, according to CRISIL report.

The companys customer portfolio consists of 79 Indian and global OEMs across various segments.

It manufactures products from 31 manufacturing facilities across eight states in India, two manufacturing facilities in Spain, and one in Mexico. Further, it is in the process of commissioning five manufacturing facilities in India.

It has entered into six joint venture agreements.

It operates through a number of subsidiaries and joint ventures, as depicted below:

Some of the competitors within the key product categories in which it operate are:

About the Issue

The public issue consists of a fresh issue aggregating up to Rs 300 crore and an offer for sale of up to 64 lakh equity shares by GTI Capital Beta.

The company has fixed a price band at Rs 327-332 per share for the issue that will close on March 21.

Bids can be made for a minimum lot of 45 equity shares and in multiples of 45 equity shares thereafter.

Amount to raise from the Issue

Sandhar Technologies is aimed to raise Rs 509.28 crore and Rs 512.48 crore at lower and higher end of price band, respectively.

Out of which, the automotive component supplier already raised Rs 153.74 crore from anchor investors on Friday, a day before the issue opens.

It has decided to allot 46,30,842 equity shares to 15 anchor investors at a price of Rs 332 per share.

Objects of the Issue

The company proposes to utilise the net proceeds from the fresh issue (worth Rs 300 crore) towards repayment in full, or in part of certain loans and general corporate purposes.

On the other hand, it will not receive any proceeds from the offer for sale.

Strengths

Sandhar believes that it is well-positioned to capture market opportunities, and benefit from the expected growth in the automobiles segment in India through competitive strengths, which include:

> Long-standing, and growing relationships with major OEMs;

> Diversified product portfolio;

> Production facilities close to customers;

> Vertical and horizontal integration of operations from product designing to supply solutions;

> In-house research and development, design capability and technical collaborations;

> Experienced and strong management team backed by good governance standards.

Financials

Promoter

The promoter of company is Jayant Davar. As of March 7, 2018, he directly holds 3,13,06,426 equity shares (inclusive of the 90,909 equity shares held by him in his capacity as sole proprietor of Sandhar Enterprises), representing 61.20 percent of the pre-offer issued, subscribed, and paid-up capital.

Jayant Davar is the Co-chairman and Managing Director of the company. He has three decades of experience in the auto components sector.

Dharmendar Nath Davar is the Chairman and Non-Executive, Non-Independent Director of the company. He has over five decades of experience in the fields of finance, banking, corporate laws, and management.

Shareholding

Top 10 shareholders of the company as of March 7, 2018:

Promoter group's shareholding is likely to reduce to around 70 percent from 83 percent currently post issue.

Management

Management Organisation Chart

Risks & Concerns

Here are some risks and concerns highlighted by brokerage houses:-

> Sandhar's performance is largely dependent on the automotive space and any slowdown in the space could directly impact its performance;

> The changes in regulatory/industry requirement or in competitive technologies may render few of its product obsolete or less attractive;

> STL has higher customer concentration risk, which could impact its financial performance. As of FY17, OEM sales accounted for 75.1 percent of its revenue while revenue from its top five customers constituted 67.2 percent;

> While the loss of around Rs 35 crore incurred in FY17 has significantly reduced and 9 of the 13 loss making units have turned positive, the company is commissioning another 5 units in the coming fiscal which may again face ramp up issues impacting margins;

> If STL is unable to manage its raw material procurement (price, availability & quality) it may impact its production and business. It is highly depended on zinc, sheet metal parts and aluminium that account for 41.5 percent of its revenue. It sources its glass requirement from one of its major suppliers, which accounts for 90 percent of its glass requirement;

> STLs consolidated results of operations are in rupee while its subsidiaries report their financial results in their respective local currencies of France, Spain, Mexico and others. Hence, there could be an impact on consolidation of its financials primarily due to currency movement;

> STL has a substantial amount of indebtedness, which requires significant cash flows to service such debts, and will continue to have substantial indebtedness and debt service obligations following the offer. As of September 2017, and December 2017, STLs had total secured borrowings (long term and short term) of Rs 279.45 crore and Rs 324.1 crore, respectively, and total unsecured borrowings (long term and short term) of Rs 193.75 crore and Rs 191.73 crore, respectively on a consolidated basis.

> If STL experiences insufficient cash flows to fund working capital requirements or to service working capital loans, there may be an adverse effect on business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects;

> STL has undertaken and may continue to undertake strategic investments, joint ventures, and alliances, acquisitions and mergers in the future, which may be difficult to integrate and manage;

> STL also depends heavily on its promoter Jayant Davar and any change in services rendered by him may significantly impact the business;The Association of Power Producers has accused the RBI of over-ruling the Parliamentary standing panel on power and key ministries with its February 12 circular that ended all the existing loan restructuring mechanisms and voted for insolvency code to resolve stressed assets.

The association has also sought a special dispensation from the Reserve Bank saying their defaults are caused mostly by non-payment/delayed payments by state discoms and regulatory delays coupled with poor coal supplies by Coal India.

The association claims that regulatory delays have resulted in pending payments worth Rs 7,800 crore, while pending receivables from state discoms stand at Rs 8,300 crore. Also state-run Coal India is meeting only around 60 per cent of its committed supplies.

In a March 12 letter to the RBI- exactly a month after the February 12 RBI circular extinguishing all the existing bad loan management mechanisms like the 5/25, SDR, S-4A, CDR etc forthwith- the association has requested Governor Urjit Patel to intervene and exclude the power sector from the purview of the new NPA resolution rules.

Indirectly accusing the central bank of over-ruling the House panel on energy and the views of the Union power and coal ministries, association director general Ashok Khurana says, "The issue of stressed assets was discussed in depth with developers, bankers, regulators, and officials of power and coal ministries by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Energy.

"After hearing all the stakeholders, they've recommended that the revival schemes of the RBI or government should be realistic and not symbolic," Khurana says in the letter.

"Every effort should be made to see that the projects with huge investment do not become NPAs for want of marginal financial infusion or adjustment in the way of making working capital available for passing on the interest variable to the stressed asset," the letter further says quoting the House panel report.

The letter also notes that already there are over 75,000 MW assets- either under operation or under construction- severely stressed due to various reasons-- lower coal availability, lack of long-term/medium-term PPAs, divergence between policy and regulations on pass through of incontestable changes in law (pending regulatory receivables of Rs 7,800 crore), huge delays in regulatory orders, and pending receivables from discoms with pending bills at Rs 8,300 crore.

The letter lists three main factors for the stress in the private sector power sector.

"Three-four months of average delay in payment from discoms has resulted in around Rs 8,300 crore of receivables currently.

"Over two years of delay in receiving orders from regulators to pass on the increase in cost of coal due to various taxes and duties which are to be treated as 'change in law' and around Rs 7,800 crore are stuck due to this," the latter says and further notes that as against this, power developers pay in advance for coal, transportation and transmission.

Stating that 'a one-jacket-fits-all guidelines' of RBI will not work, the letter seeks sector-specific guidelines for different infrastructure sectors like energy, telecom, and steel as they have vastly different issues to be resolved.

"The system has to be tolerant of genuine difficulties, while coming down heavily on mismanagement and fraud," the letter said.

"We request you to issue special dispensation for power sector by relaxing the default clause from one-day delay in debt servicing and classify the asset as NPA only after the completion of 180-day period and submission of resolution plan should be initiated only after the 180-day period."

That apart, resolution plan must note the regulatory/ government delays and so should be exempted from counting as defaulting period. Finally for those case already gone to IBC resolution, RBI must allow grandfathering/a 12-18 month grace period so that resolution and standstill benefit may be allowed to be continued till such period.The logo of Hyundai Motor is seen on a steering wheel at its dealership in Seoul, South Korea, December 15, 2016. Picture taken December 15, 2016. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji - RTX2WG9E

The United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened an investigation into a series of deadly crashes in which airbags in Hyundai and Kia cars failed to inflate.

The administration's Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) "is currently aware of six crashes with significant collision related damage events involving Hyundai and Kia models where air bags failed to deploy in frontal crashes," which killed four people and injured six, it said in document on its website.

The "failure of the air bag control unit (ACU) may prevent the frontal air bags from deploying in the event of a crash," it said.

Hyundai filed a report on the issue at the end of last month that led to a recall, but "has not identified a remedy."

The ODI investigation, which was opened Friday, will evaluate the scope of the Hyundai recall, determine if Kia and other manufactures are using the same or similar air bag control unit as Hyundai, and review factors that may be causing the failures, it said.

An estimated 425,000 cars may be affected by the issue.Answer: Nostrum (File imagDivis Laboratories share price performance in FY18: Up 75 percent | FY19: Up 56 percent | FY20: Up 17 percent.e)

Earlier this week K Sujatha Rao, former Union Health Secretary narrated an experience about her sister who was hospitalised in an upmarket corporate hospital in Hyderabad diagnosed with sleep apnea and suspected pulmonary hypertension.

"My sisters 3 day hospital bill in a little known corporate hospital shows Over billing by 100%. 1 thyroxin tablet that costs Re 1 has been billed as Rs 120! CT Scan is 20,000!," Rao tweeted.

Rao questioned in the same tweet on why "govt.refuses to enforce the CEA (Clinical Establishment Act) and wants to partner with such unethical partners."

Telangana is yet to implement Central government's Clinical Establishment Act, and Hyderabad is one of India's largest hub of private healthcare .

Just last month Indian drug price regulator  the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Agency (NPPA) has reviewed the bills of four major private hospitals in Delhi, followed by several cases of overpricing of medical bills, and found hospitals have been making profits up to 1737 percent on drugs, consumables, medical devices and diagnostics.

One of the bill they studied was related to Fortis hospital which was earlier embroiled in a controversy in December last year over the high prices they charged the family of a seven-year-old girl who was suffering from dengue.

Fortis has billed the family nearly Rs 16 lakh. The child finally succumbed to the disease.

Incidentally Delhi and Haryana that forms the bulk of National Capital Region too haven't implemented Clinical Establishment Act. Delhi has the highest number of registered clinical establishments for any city in the country.

Only 10 states and six Union territories have implemented the Central Clinical Establishment Act.

The states that have implemented included Sikkim, Mizoram, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Assam, Jharkhand, and Rajasthan, while UTs comprised Puducherry, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The list excludes some of the large states such Maharashtra, West Bengal, Gujarat and all South Indian states where large chunk of country's healthcare infrastructure is located.

To be sure - states which are not part of the Central's Clinical Establishment Act have there own state specific Clinical Establishment Acts like for example West Bengal, Telangana and Karnataka, among others. Some like Maharastra are in the process of formulating their own clinical establishment act.

Also let's not assume that everything is fair and transparent in states that have implemented the Act.

So what is Clinical Establishment Act and why is it important?

The Central government enacted the Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act in 2010 with an aim to ensure the delivery of a minimum standard of services by clinical establishments across India.

Under this all types of clinical establishments that include hospitals, clincs, and diagnostic centres, with exception of those run by the armed forces, fall within the ambit of this Act.

The need for such a legislative act was sparked off by wide variation in healthcare delivery across providers, resulting not only in compromised patient safety but also concerns about transparency and accountability in healthcare costs.

The Act seeks to ensure that the operative functioning of healthcare delivery systems in states is in compliance with prescribed, transparent guidelines and keep any form of regulatory malpractices in check be it related to drug pricing, licensing provisions or procurement, for instance.

In case of any discrepancy, the law allows patients or their kin to lodge complaints upon which action will be taken against the establishment.

The penalty for contravention ranges from Rs 10,000 for the first offence, which goes up for every subsequent offence, to a maximum of Rs 5 lakh. Willful disobedience or withholding of information can attract a fine of a maximum of Rs 5 lakh. The provisions apply to government departments too.

The Act also talks about maintaining data or electronic medical records related to patients.

The Centre has been urging all the states and union territories to adopt and implement the Clinical Establishment Act that aims to bring a uniform regulation across the country, against a bunch of conflicting state specific regulations.

Why most states are unwilling to adopt Centre Clinical Establishment Act

Though most states accept in principle about adopting Clinical Establishment Act but they drag feet when it comes to implementing it for several reasons.

One - healthcare is a state subject and states are not ready to give up their authority on framing laws and second - the pressure from private healthcare providers - who deliver the bulk of the healthcare and are politically influential .

The push back from private healthcare is so enormous that Karnataka government has to pass a watered down changes to Karnataka Private Medical Establishments Act, 2007 that aims to regulate private sector health practice. Karnataka government removed its original proposal to include jail terms of upto three years for establishments and doctors for medical negligence.

What are thorny issues for private healthcare providers about Clinical Establishment Act?

As part of Clinical Establishment Act - most of the states will have prescribe rates of procedures and services. But healthcare economists say - the "one size fits all" pricing approach not be as simple as it sounds.

"There is no reference point that defines a fair price," said Rao in an opinion published on Scroll.

"Comparison with government hospitals is problematic as several cost components are subsidised, such as land or building. In the absence of a price range based on acceptable methodology, the cost of, say, a CT scan can vary from hospital to hospital and be dependent on factors like utilisation levels, source of financing such as an interest bearing loan as opposed to a donation, and so on. Likewise, how does one price a specialists consultation in an imperfect market?," Rao questions.

Rao urges governments to urgently pay attention on bringing in reforms, protocols and systems for price fixation.The government said on Sunday that 50 nations will engage in free and frank discussions on global trade this week in New Delhi to explore the options for resolving various issues and re-invigorating the WTO.

Representatives from 50 countries will be gathering in New Delhi on 19-20 March for an informal World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial meeting. "The informal meeting of ministers will provide an opportunity to engage in free and frank discussions with the hope that it will lead to political guidance on some major issues," the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement.

It will look at the issues both at the negotiating table and also in other areas.

Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia had said recently that the meeting would be more of an "ice-breaker" as it is being held after the collapse of talks at the Buenos Aires WTO Ministerial in December.

When asked if there would be a statement by the Chair at the end of the meeting, she had said it would be for the mini-ministerial to decide.

The ministry's statement further said: "In the absence of ministerial guidance at the Eleventh Ministerial Conference (MC 11) that took place from 10 to 13 December 2017 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, it is hoped that the New Delhi meeting will provide an opportunity for ministers to explore in greater detail the options on different issues for re-invigorating the WTO.Asserting that the welfare schemes for farmers are being implemented on a mission mode, Union Ministry Radha Mohan Singh said new methodology of good governance, new ideas and an improvement-oriented vision will pave the way for modernisation of farming.

The Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare said that the Centre was working with speed towards doubling farmers' income by 2022.

"To improve the financial status of farmers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has kept a goal before the country of doubling farmers' income by 2020. This is the first time that the Prime Minister has put a concrete goal of the welfare of farmers," Singh said.

Under the leadership of Modi, the Agriculture Ministry is determined to accomplish this goal by 2022 and is working with full commitment to achieve this goal, he added.

The minister was speaking at the Valedictory function of the Krishi Unnati Mela 2018.Recalling the two warring sides of the epic Mahabharat, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said the BJP, like the Kauravas, fought for power, while his party, on the lines of the Pandavas, battled for truth.

Taking the ruling BJP on, Gandhi said the party sought to divert people's attention from issues such as unemployment and farm distress with "fancy events".

"Instead of acknowledging the challenges facing the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi diverts our attention from our problems. We are being told that our problems only exist in our imagination," he said.

The BJP-RSS's goal was power, Gandhi stressed at the Congress party's plenary session here.

"Like the Kauravas, the BJP and RSS fight for power. Like the Pandavas, the Congress fights for truth," he said.

Gandhi held that his party spoke on behalf of the country.

"The BJP is the voice of an organisation, Congress is the voice of a nation," he said.

The Congress leader added that the corrupt and powerful today "control conversation" in the country and the "name Modi symbolises the collusion between crony capitalists and the prime minister".

Gandhi voiced the hope that India would in the next decade play an all-important role on the global stage.

"There are two visions in the world -- of US and China. In 10 years, I want to see India's vision there," he said.

In his address, he assured party workers that he would break walls between them and leaders and vowed to fill the Congress stage with "talented youngsters".

He stressed the need for discipline, and said, "Let us put all differences aside and work together to ensure victory for the party".Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launched an all-out attack on the Modi Government, saying that while it had "messed up" the economy, it was spouting "jumla" (rhetoric) with pipe dreams about generating 2 crore jobs and doubling farm incomes.

Addressing the 84th Congress plenary session, he also accused the BJP-led government of having "mismanaged" the dispute in Jammu and Kashmir and said the government's talk of fighting two and a half wars was yet another hollow promise.

From foreign policy and defence to the economy, the former prime minister spoke on a range of issues and was accorded a thunderous applause and a standing ovation by party leaders.

Singh lamented that only about 1.6 percent of the country's GDP was spent on defence expenditure, which, he said, could not meet the challenges that the security apparatus posed.

He also alleged that there were many issues on the foreign policy front that had been poorly handled by the Modi government.

We also must recognise that the Modi government has mismanaged the Jammu and Kashmir problem as never before," he said.

He said the two wings of the government in the state were working against each other and the atmosphere was deteriorating day in and day out.

That is obvious from the fact that our borders are not secure, whether it is cross-border terrorism or internal terrorism, internal insurgency. There are today issues which are a source of great worry to all our citizens," he said.

The Modi government, he said, possibly feels that these issues will get sorted out on their own.

"That's not going to happen, he added.

Noting that Jammu and Kashmir was an integral part of India, he said the country needed to recognise the state's special problems and we must deal with those problems with all seriousness.

Highlighting issues that had come up between India and its neighbours under the Modi dispensation, the former prime minister said it was the task of the country to create pathways for an "environment of support, friendship and moving ahead together".

The Congress moved in that direction, he said, whether it was with Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka, or countries such as China.

"These problems are to be sorted out peacefully and not in an atmosphere of hostility and shouting at each other, he said.

On Pakistan, Singh said India must recognise it as a neighbour but expressed concern over Islamabad's support to cross-border terrorism.

That certainly is not acceptable to us. We must, therefore, warn Pakistan that this is a path which is mutually destructive of peace and prosperity in the sub-continent," he said.

"It is as much in the interest of Pakistan as in the interest of India that our two countries must sort out all problems sitting together peacefully and give up this path of support of terrorist elements emanating from across the border, he noted.

On the economy, which he claimed grew by 7.8 percent under the UPA regime led by him, Singh rued that at a time the world economy had grown from 2.8 percent to 3.8 percent from 2014 to 2018, the Indian economy had "decoupled itself" from the world economy.

Quoting the Economic Survey, the former prime minister said it brings out the inadequacies of the BJP government's approach to solving social and economic problems.

Those were the challenges that the Congress had to take up again, he stressed.

The BJP government has messed up the economy. When Modi ji was campaigning he made lots of tall promises. Those promises have not been fulfilled, he said.

Singh said the BJP claimed in 2014 that if it came to power it would provide 2 crore jobs.

"But we have not seen even two lakh jobs," he said.

The ill-thought and ill-conceived demonetisation and hastily put forward legislation for GST had destroyed many jobs and created problems for the small and medium industry and the informal sector, both in terms of production and providing jobs, he said.

He also pointed out that Modi had talked of doubling farmers' incomes in six years.

If you have to double farmers' incomes in six years' time, you need a growth rate of 12 percent per annum as the minimum. And that is unthinkable," he said.

Therefore, it is one of those statements ... merely a jumla-type statement, which is not likely to be achieved," he said.

"Modi ji himself recognises that these are tall promises. Two crore jobs per annum are one of those promises which is again a pipe dream mooted by the Modi government, he said.

Recollecting the history of the Congress, the former prime minister said it was the party that "made India what it is today, that led the freedom struggle and which guided India in the path of development after it became free".

At a time when the Congress is seeking to get back to power and to create alliances with like-minded parties to oust the BJP in 2019, the former prime minister said the Congress party was once again being "invited and challenged to play a similar role".

He also exuded confidence that the party would play the same historic role in the years to come under Congress president Rahul Gandhi's leadership and former party chief Sonia Gandhi's guidance, to carry forward the "process of sustained growth, development and social justice of the people of India".Abdulla Yameen

Seeking to minimise the damage caused by a senior Maldivian minister's remarks on Kashmir, the country's ambassador here Ahmed Mohamed has said it was a bilateral issue that should be "resolved amicably" between India and Pakistan, as he pitched for enhanced engagement between New Delhi and Male.

Admitting that there was an "environment of mistrust" between India and Maldives caused by a host of issues in recent years, the envoy said, "lack of engagement" was responsible for the current state of affairs, but asserted that the two countries should let "bygones be bygones".

In an interview to PTI, Mohamed also maintained that while there has been a steady stream of high-level visits from the island nation, the same was not reciprocated, an issue which many in Male feel is one of the factors for the drifting away in the relations.

Asked about the recent comments of a senior Maldivian minister bracketing the Kashmir situation with the current state of affairs in Maldives, the ambassador said, "It was a remark to emphasise the stand that the Maldives has been taking continuously and consistently since the 1970s. We have always maintained the position that it is a bilateral issue that needs to be resolved amicably between the two countries."

He further said, "We have always maintained the position that there needs no intervention by a third country. Hence, a reiteration of our position and an example from the local context to state that the existing crisis in Maldives is an internal issue which needs no foreign intervention."

Mohamed Shainee, a senior minister in President Abdulla Yameen's government, had reportedly told a group of visiting Indian reporters, "Why haven't we gone into the Kashmir issue...and asked to be (an) intermediary? Because they are internal matters...India should stay away from our issue.

"We are independent and capable of dealing with the situation. If we need help, we will let India know."

Reacting sharply, Indian officials had termed the remarks as "unfortunate".

Asserting that the two situations were not comparable, a senior official had said, "While the situation in Kashmir is due to state(Pakistan)-sponsored terrorism, the other is due to subversion of democracy."

Currently, India and Maldives have a strained relationship that has been caused by a number of issues, including the signing of an FTA between Maldives and China amidst increasing proximity between Male and Beijing, and an imposition of emergency by the Yameen government.

On why there was an "environment of mistrust" between India and Maldives, two neighbours that were once very close, the envoy said that though there was an understanding that there were issues which need to be resolved, but lack of engagement was responsible for current state of affairs.

"The need now is to start with a clean slate and let bygones be bygones," the envoy stressed while making a strong pitch for a high-level visit from India. "It will make a lot of difference."

The Maldivian President has visited India twice apart from visits by other leaders, including the Maldivian foreign minster, he noted.

Mohamed also described India's strong statement on the emergency situation in Maldives as "disappointing".

While the initial reaction, including the travel advisory, was expected, but the fourth statement from New Delhi was not expected and Maldives' "displeasure" was conveyed to the Indian side, he said.

The Ministry of External Affairs, in a statement, had said, "We are deeply dismayed that the Government of Maldives has extended the State of Emergency for a further 30 days. The manner in which the extension of the State of Emergency was approved by the Majlis in contravention of the Constitution of Maldives is also a matter of concern.Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba will begin a five-day visit to the US on March 19, during which he will hold extensive talks with the top military brass of the Trump administration to consolidate bilateral naval cooperation, including in the Indo-Pacific region.

Admiral Lanba will hold discussions with Defence Secretary James Mattis, Secretary of the US Navy Richard V Spencer, Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph F Dunford Jr, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John M Richardson and Commander of Pacific Command Admiral Harry Harris, a senior Navy official said.

The Navy chief will also meet Commander of Pacific Fleet Admiral Scott Swift and Commander of Naval Sea Systems Command Vice Admiral Thomas J Moore.

"The visit aims to consolidate cooperation between the Armed Forces of both India and USA and also to explore new avenues of defence cooperation," the defence ministry said.

Sources said China's growing military presence in the South China Sea and its rising assertiveness in that region may figure in the talks that Admiral Lanba will have with top US military officials.

The US has been pushing for a broader role for India in the strategically important Indo-Pacific region.

In November last year, India, the US, Australia and Japan gave shape to the long-pending Quad to develop a new strategy to keep the critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free from Chinese influence.

India, the US and several other nations have been calling for freedom of navigation in the disputed South China Sea. The US has been periodically sending naval ships and planes to assert freedom of navigation to the critical sea lanes, much to the chagrin of China.

In addition to holding bilateral discussions, Admiral Lanba will also visit the Pacific Command Headquarters at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, the Naval Surface Warfare Centre (NSWC) in Dahlgren, the Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery in Washington DC.

The defence and security ties between India and the US have been on an upswing in the last few years as both the countries have concluded a number of major agreements to further bolster strategic ties.

The pacts include the Defence Framework Agreement, signed in 2015, which lays a blueprint for collaboration between the defence establishments of both countries, and the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) signed in 2016. The LEMOA provides for facilitating reciprocal logistics support between the armed forces of the two countries.

In addition, India was accorded Major Defence Partner status by the US in 2016, bringing New Delhi on par with Washington's closest allies for defence-related trade and technology transfer.

The Indian Navy cooperates with the US Navy on several fronts which include operational interactions such as the Malabar naval exercise and exchange of white shipping information. Warships from both navies have also been regularly visiting each other's ports.08:49 PM IST

India issues 13th Note Verbale to Pak on harassment of its HC staff

India today gave yet another Note Verbale to Pakistan through its high commission in Islamabad protesting the "intimidation and harassment" of mission officials, the 13th such diplomatic note in less than three months.

Official sources said that in the communication to the Pakistan foreign ministry, the Indian high commission specifically highlighted three cases of harassment, including one in which the second secretary at the mission was aggressively followed today by unidentified people in a car in close proximity in an intimidating manner while he was going to a restaurant.

Videos were made using a mobile phone, sources said.A day after the Catholic Church in Kerala hit out against the re-opening of the closed liquor bars, the government clarified that no new liquor outlets, beer and wine parlours would be opened in the state.

Reports that new outlets would be opened in the light of the Supreme Court verdict was baseless", Excise Minister T P Ramakrishnan, told reporters at Kozhikode.

On the basis of the apex court verdict relating to the matter, the government had issued the order allowing re-opening of liquor outlets, bars, beer and wine parlours to re-open in panchayats with a population of 10,000 from April two.

"No new liquor outlets and bars will be opened following the supreme court verdict, the minister said, adding, "the Left Democratic government's policy is abstinence and not prohibition", he said.

The Government has launched 'Vimukthi' (Kerala state mission for deaddiction) to conduct awareness campaigns against alcoholism and drug abuse and that was showing results, he said.

On the basis of the apex court order, 171 beer and wine parlours, six retail outlets, three defence canteens and 499 toddy shops will be opened, he said. The Catholic Church in the state had taken strong objection to the government decision, saying it was "anti-people".

Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy of Thamarassery, Mar Remigiose Inchananiyil, had said yesterday that the government decision was another 'Ockhi disaster' in the making.

The bishop had said the coming Chengannur assembly byelection would be a referendum of the LDF government's decision on the new liquor policy and the move was a violation of poll promises given by the front during the assembly polls in 2016.

The opposition Congress-led UDF and BJP had also criticised the government for its decision to re-open closed liquor outlets.The transport wing of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena has called for a strike of drivers of cab aggregators Uber and Ola starting midnight.

The strike has been called by the Maharashtra Navnirman Vahtuk Sena which has claimed that several drivers are not being able to cover costs due to falling business.

"Ola and Uber had given big assurances to the drivers, but today they are unable to cover their costs. They have invested Rs 5-7 lakh and were expecting to make Rs 1.5 lakh a month. But drivers are unable to make even half of this because of the mismanagement by these companies," Sanjay Naik of Maharashtra Navnirman Vahatuk Sena told PTI.

Naik further alleged that these taxi-hailing companies were giving first priority to company-owned cars rather than driver-owned vehicles, causing a slump in their business.

If their demands were not met they would be going ahead with the strike as expected, he indicated.

Other taxi unions, including the Mumbai Taximens Union, have extended support.

Meanwhile, police has issued notices to leaders of the union under section 149 of CrPC relating to unlawful assembly.

"Notices of section 149 of CrPC have been issued to Sanjay Naik, president, Arif Shaikh and Nitin Nandgaokar of the Maharashtra Navnirman Vahatuk Sena as preventive action. If they violate any orders, they are liable to be prosecuted," said Pandit Thorat, senior inspector of the Andheri police station.

In Mumbai alone, there are over 45,000 such cabs but a slump in business has seen a drop of about 20 percent in their numbers.

The cab-hailing companies have so far stayed away from interfering in the matter. "We have been informed by the Mumbai Police that they have proactively taken all the necessary steps to ensure safety of commuters during the cab rides in the city," an Ola spokesperson said.

Union leaders said that drivers in other cities like New Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune among others would also be participating in the strike.Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah called upon India and Pakistan to uphold the ceasefire on the Line of Control (LoC), saying innocent lives were being lost to border skirmishes.

Ceasefire was the best gift India and Pakistan gave to the areas near the border and the LoC, but since the last few years, we are continuously seeing that it has remained confined to paper only. It is not being implemented. I request both New Delhi as well as Islamabad to please follow the ceasefire as part of the CBMs (confidence building measures)," Abdullah said.

Innocent lives are being lost, he said and referred to the killing of five members of a family in Pakistani shelling today. The former J&K chief minister added that two girls were in the hospital.

"This is too much. We want there should be peace on the border and the LoC, Abdullah said.

The National Conference (NC) working president was speaking to reporters after a party convention at Damhal Hanjipora in south Kashmir's Kulgam district on the occasion of the 23rd death anniversary of NC leader and former speaker Wali Muhammad Itoo.

Taking a dig at Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, Abdullah asked what happened to her announcement of an inquiry into the allegations of nepotism in the recruitment in Khadi Village and Industrial Board (KVIB).

The chief minister, three weeks before, had assured the youth of the state that an inquiry will be conducted into back-door appointments in KVIB. But, even as three weeks have passed, we have not got a copy of the order from the secretariat. Are her directions not be implemented or has she befooled the youth? he said attacking the ruling party.

The former chief minister said the chief minister stood relegated by her allies as erstwhile exclusive jurisdictions of the chief minister and the state government had been effectively shifted to the central government and the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.

Mehbooba Mufti has summarily surrendered her power to make decisions and has precious little to offer to the people beyond photo-ops and press statements, he alleged.

Just yesterday Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh exposed the duplicity and disingenuous modus operandi of the chief minister and her party when he revealed that the idea to offer amnesty to stone-pelters came from the Central Government and not the state government, he said.

This initiative till now was marketed by the PDP as Mehbooba' an initiative but it turns out she had nothing to do with the decision. Similarly, recently the chief minister tried to tell us how magnanimous and reconciliatory she was in seeking relief for a detained photojournalist who had been arrested by the NIA. The NIA came out at rubbished all such claims and said they would continue to oppose bail to the individual and had received no such instructions from the government or the Union Home Minister. Fortunately for the family of the young photojournalist, the honourable courts granted him bail despite opposition from the prosecution, he said.

He claimed the PDPs Faustian bargain with the BJP was not an electoral compulsion as the chief minister would like us to believe today.

It was a pre-determined, pre-planned tactical and strategic coming together of the PDP and the BJP to reap dividends of a simultaneously divisive, insular and deceitful politics in both regions of the state, he alleged.

Omar said his party, after the election results of 2014, offered unconditional support to the PDP to form the Government with an intention to keep BJP at bay as their divisive campaign rhetoric and inherent politics of polarization did not augur well for the state's stability and welfare.

He claimed that J&K had been pushed into the throes of renewed militancy, turmoil and division. While the situation in Kashmir is volatile and unstable, Jammu is on the brink due to BJPs politics of polarization, he alleged.

The situation was especially volatile in south Kashmir where the youth stand alienated and disenchanted because of PDP's complete U-turn after 2014. In 2014 mainstream activities in Shopian, Pulwama, Kulgam and Anantnag could be conducted freely without any apprehensions. Today, the situation is such that the very idea of the mainstream stands questioned because of PDPs deceitful preference to power over ideology," he alleged.

The same young men who were exploited by the PDP in 2014 through its stentorian rhetoric are now being pushed towards militancy as all promises stand broken, he said continuing his attack.

Abdullah said parents in south Kashmir were wary about the future of their young children as the law and order situation deteriorates further in the complete absence of constructive, reconciliatory and sincere politics.Aadhaar Card

The Rajasthan Police is exploring the possibility of using Aadhaar data for verifying the identity of criminals, suspects, complainants and missing persons in the state.

For this, the State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB) has requested the state Information Technology Department to procure biometric machines to be kept in police stations and would start process to seek the access of Aadhaar data from agencies concerned, a senior police official said.

We have recently sent the requisition to the department of IT for 1,000 biometric machines which would be installed in police stations across the state and other offices of the state police. The machines would be used to fetch the Aadhaar details of suspects or criminals through finger prints, SCRB Superintendent of Police Pankaj Chaudhary told PTI.

He said the department would now seek access to Aadhaar data so that the details of the suspects/criminals having Aadhaar number could be fetched through their finger prints.

Chaudhary also informed that Aadhaar details of all such suspect or criminal would be maintained at the police stations.

Police catch many suspects and criminals but sometimes they manage to mislead them about their identity. The move will help police in authenticating the identity of such persons, he said.

More than that, the SP said, this will help the police in identifying such children who go missing and are found or rescued in the state but they lack proper identification details.

There have been cases where kids were abducted from a railway station or while playing or from any other location in the country and were forced into illegal trades.

When they are rescued by police, ascertaining their identity becomes a challenge. The use of biometric data can help track their roots through authentic details, provided they have Aadhaar number, he said.

And since majority of the people now have Aadhaar number, it will be easier for the police to execute this plan, the officer said, adding, this can also be used for verifying the identity of any complainant.

There are 859 police stations under 10 police range in the state.K Chandrashekhar Rao In Delhi

As part of his move to form a non-BJP and non-Congress alternative, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao is all set to meet his West Bengal counterpart and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata on Monday.

Rao, president of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), will be accompanied by TRS Parliamentary Party leader and party's Secretary-General K Keshava Rao during his visit, party sources told PTI.

After Rao recently proposed formation of a non-Congress and non-BJP front at the national level, ahead of the next years Lok Sabha polls, Banerjee had spoken to him over phone, extending her support.

"The discussions will focus on creating some kind of regional formation for setting up a political front with like-minded parties and for creating an agenda for the country's growth," they said.

Nizamabad MP K Kavitha, Rao's daughter, is also likely to take part in the discussions. Sources in the Telangana Chief Minister's Office had said last night that Rao would meet and hold discussions with Mamata Banerjee on March 19 in the backdrop of him calling for a qualitative change in politics.

Rao would meet Banerjee, (who had recently extended her support over his remarks) in Kolkata at around 4 PM, they said. However, the Telangana BJP unit today said the proposed meeting clearly highlighted his 'desperate attempts' to make himself relevant in national politics.

Mooting the alternative,Rao had called for a "qualitative change" in politics and had also announced that he was ready to take on the mantle of leading a political front.

On March 4, Banerjee spoke to Rao over phone and conveyed her complete support on his statement that he was keen to participate in national politics to bring about "qualitative changes" in governance.

"Ham aap se ek-mat hain. Aap ke saath rahenge" (I am in agreement with you. I will work with you)," Banerjee had told Rao. Alleging that successive governments ruled by both the Congress and BJP at the Centre have miserably failed to ensure development of the country, Rao had earlier said he will talk with all like-minded parties and leaders for creating an agenda for the country's growth.

The Chief Minister's Office had also earlier said Rao is chalking out a programme to hold series of meetings at all India level with various organisations, associations and individuals shortly. Telangana BJP spokesperson Krishna Saagar Rao alleged that Rao's travel to Kolkata to meet the West Bengal Chief Minister also 'exposes the lies' planted by his office a few weeks ago that Mamata Banerjee called him in support of his plan for forming the new front.

"KCR is seriously suffering from trust deficit with other regional parties in India. No one trusts his style of politics, as we see he will end up with Congress-led UPA.He is only trying to increase his bargaining capacity with Congress party by manufacturing the 'national front' idea, the BJP leader claimed.Piyush Goyal, Minister of Railways

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Saturay claimed that as many as 450 Indian railway projects were incomplete across the country when the NDA government came to power in 2014.

"When Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government took charge, we found that 450 railway projects were incomplete and some of them were facing budget constraints," Goyal said, speaking to reporters here.

He also alleged that the UPA government did a gross injustice to Madhya Pradesh in awarding railway projects.

Today projects worth Rs 63,000 crore are underway in the state, Goyal said.

Between 2009-2014, only Rs 3,200 crore were allocated for railway projects in the state, while during the Modi government's tenure, the investment in railway projects in Madhya Pradesh has increased seven-fold at Rs 21,000 crore, he said.

For 2018-19, a provision of Rs 6,300 crore will be made for projects in the state, the railway minister said.

Goyal earlier attended various programmes including foundation laying for doubling of Indore-Dewas-Ujjain rail section.

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, Union Minister for Social Justice Thawar Chand Gehlot and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan were present on the occasion.

During a programme at Indore railway station, Mahajan, who is also a local MP, expressed strong displeasure over slow pace of gauge conversion work on Indore-Khandwa section and the Indore-Dahod rail line project.

"I wish to see both these projects getting completed during my lifetime," Mahajan said in Goyal's presence.

Later, Goyal said his ministry was committed to complete these projects as soon as possible.Amit Shah

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah on Saturday took stock of the political situation in Andhra Pradesh with party leaders from there, after its long time ally TDP's decision to exit the ruling NDA over the issue of Special Category Status (SCS) for the state.

BJP general secretary Ram Madhav told reporters that the Centre had done a lot for the state and was willing to do more than the special category status, asserting that his party will explain its position to its people.

Besides Madhav, Andhra Pradesh BJP chief K Hari Babu was among the leaders who held deliberations with Shah.

The saffron party finds itself in a tight corner in the state as its two main parties, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the YSR Congress, have sought to corner it following the Centre's refusal to grant the SCS to Andhra Pradesh.

Both the regional parties have also moved a no-confidence motion against the Modi government in the Lok Sabha.

The state sends 25 MPs to the Lok Sabha and is scheduled to go to Assembly polls simultaneously with the parliamentary elections next year.

The BJP had won two Lok Sabha seats in 2014 in alliance with the TDP, which won 15 seats.

BJP leaders have said that the TDP's decision to sever ties them has provided their party an opportunity to expand its footprints in the state ahead of the next Lok Sabha polls.The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) is yet to take a decision on whether to support the no-confidence motion moved by TDP against the Narendra Modi-led Central government, a party leader said on Saturday.

"The party has not yet decided on the matter (no- confidence motion). Now, President Ram Nath Kovind is on a tour to the state. The chief minister (Naveen Patnaik) will take a decision once the president ends his tour," BJD spokesman and Rajya Sabha MP, P K Deb told reporters here.

The Naveen Patnaik-led party has 20 members in the Lok Sabha and eight MPs in the Rajya Sabha.

"The regional parties will play key role in the no-confidence motion against the Modi government," BJD's Puri MP Pinaki Mishra said.

Meanwhile, Union minister Jual Oram expressed confidence that there was no threat to the Central government in wake of the motion issued by the TDP.

"Our government will remain unaffected. As the concept of Third Front has failed, the no-confidence motion will have no impact on the NDA government," Oram said.Former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday exuded confidence that the Congress will retain power in the state, even as he asserted that "none can stop" party chief Rahul Gandhi from becoming the next prime minister of the country.

Addressing the Congress' plenary session here, he said the upcoming state polls will work as a "big boost" and a "stepping stone" for the party ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

"No one can stop Rahul Gandhi (Congress president) from becoming the country's prime minister after the next general polls," Siddaramaiah said.

"It is going to be a secularism versus communalism contest (in Karnataka). The Congress is confident that under Rahul ji's leadership, we will come back to power with a thumping majority in the southern state, he said.

The greater part of Siddaramaiah's speech was on the welfare programmes undertaken in Karnataka.

Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, who also hails from the state, also exuded confidence in the party's electoral prospects.

Referring to the UPA's decision to waive farmers' loan, Kharge asked how much debt of peasants was written off by BJP-led governments.

He said the people have answered this question in Gorakhpur, where the ruling BJP in Uttar Pradesh lost to SP recently. Gorakhpur is Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's home turf.

And he (Adityanath) comes for campaigning in Karnataka, Kharge said while taking a dig at the priest-turned-politician.

The high-octane campaign for the Karnataka polls is underway with the heavyweights of both Congress and BJP canvassing in the state. The HD Deve Gowda-led JD(S) is the other major party in the fray.MK Stalin, DMK president

Mounting pressure on the AIADMK over the Cauvery issue, DMK today said that Chief Minister K Palaniswami should extend support to the no-trust motion moved by TDP in the Lok Sabha if he was "truly interested" in the constitution of Cauvery Management Board.

"If Palaniswami is truly interested in the constitution of the CMB within six weeks, he should courageously decide to support the no-trust motion," DMK leader M K Stalin said.

Days after the Tamil Nadu Assembly adopted a resolution urging the Centre to set up the CMB, the DMK leader, who has been targeting the ruling regime on the Cauvery issue, said this was "an opportune moment" to establish Tamil Nadu's rights over the Cauvery.

Stalin, who is also leader of the opposition in the Assembly, said the AIADMK regime should not let such an opportunity go by. If his party had representation in the Lok Sabha, DMK would have immediately supported the move, said.

Speaking to reporters here, he said constitution of CMB remained a question mark.It was under such circumstances and to exert pressure on the Union government that his party had mooted en masse resignation of all MLAs and MPs of Tamil Nadu.

"The State government, led by the AIADMK, should come forward to take such a step and when it does that, we in the opposition will follow suit," he said.

Ending its four-year-old alliance with BJP, the Telugu Desam Party yesterday pulled out of the NDA over the Centre's refusal to grant Special Category Status to Andhra Pradesh and simultaneously moved a no-trust motion in Parliament.

Blaming the BJP-led Centre for its "big brother attitude," the DMK leader said his party was duty-bound to welcome TDP's decision as an organisation committed to states' autonomy.

On his reported demand for "Dravida Nadu," (conceptually it means a separate union of five southern states and the Union Territory of Puducherry), Stalin blamed the media,saying they had made it appear as if he had asked for it.

"I was posed a question by reporters yesterday at Erode. My view was sought on something that seemed to give an impression as though southern states were giving a push for Dravida Nadu ideology...I replied that we will support it if such a situation emerged," he said.

However, "the media is doing propaganda for their own publicity, making it seem as if I had demanded Dravida Nadu and as though we were voicing support for it."

DMK founder leader and former Chief Minister CN Annadurai had given up in 1962 his party's once well-known secessionist demand for a separate Dravida Nadu comprising southern Indian States.

Quoting Annadurai, he said the reasons, however, for making such a demand remained the same. Stalin said "we are now seeing how the southern States are being ignored by the BJP-regime at the Centre."Several Asian leaders among many heads of state and government on Sunday congratulated Xi Jinping on his re-election as China's president for life.

Xi was unanimously elected by the rubber stamp parliament National People's Congress (NPC) on Saturday, days after it ratified a proposal to remove the two-term limit for president paving the way for him to remain in power lifelong.

In his message of congratulations, Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain said Xi's election as Chinese president reflects the Chinese people's confidence in his leadership.

Hussain said China has made remarkable achievements in the past five years, which has not only enhanced its international status and image but also brought great changes in people's lives, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

He added that he believes China will continue to move forward and achieve the goal of national rejuvenation.

Pakistan and China are all-weather strategic partners, and the two countries will continue to commit themselves to comprehensively strengthening bilateral relations and benefiting the two peoples, Hussain said.

In his message, Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen said Xi's election is a full recognition of the great achievements China has made under his leadership in the past five years and reflects the people's firm confidence in him to lead China in realising the Chinese dream.

Yameen said he is confident that under Xi's leadership, China will make greater achievements and create more opportunities for other countries to achieve common development.

Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid said under Xi's leadership, China has made huge achievements in the great cause of building a community with a shared future for mankind adding that Bangladesh-China relations will be consolidated and deepened. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also praised Xi's "wise and far-sighted leadership".

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said he wishes that under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) with Xi at the core, the Chinese people will make greater achievements in the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era.

He said he believes North Korea-China relations will develop toward the direction that conforms to the common interests of the two peoples.

Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang said he believes that Xi, as the core of the CPC Central Committee, president of China and chairman of the CMC, will lead the Chinese people to realize the goal of building a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful.

Japanese Emperor Akihito wished Xi good health and China prosperity.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said this year marks the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and China, as well as the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up policy.

During the past 40 years, China has made remarkable progress, and the two countries have developed extensive cooperation, Abe said.

He hoped to take this year as an opportunity to improve the Japan-China relationship, taking it to a new level of development.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said he hoped under Xi's leadership, China realises the Chinese dream as soon as possible and makes greater contribution to peace and development in Northeast Asia and the world at large.

With this year marking the 10th anniversary of the establishment of South Korea-China strategic cooperative partnership, Moon said he would like to make efforts with Xi to steer bilateral relations toward maturity and into a new era.Entertainment

MUMBAI: Winning the titles and keep that entity alive for a longer period is not a cakewalk for anyone, but our beauty Urvashi Rautela is a complete compilation of Hardwork and dedication as she has made sure to keep her the title arise in the minds of the audience

Urvashi Rautel becomes the most followed Indian Woman in the history of the Miss UniversePat and Laura Sellers of Jacksonville will celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary on Monday.

They exchanged vows on March 19, 1983, at Our Saviour Parish in Jacksonville. Father Leo Enlow officiated.

They are the proud parents of three children, LeAnn (Ryan) Bequette and Derek (Christina) Sellers, both of Collinsville, and Brent Sellers of Jacksonville. They also have one grandson, Chandler Bequette.

Pat is employed by IRC Inc. Laura is employed by Passavant Area Hospital.

They will celebrate their anniversary with a trip to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, with friends.A man was arrested shortly after undercover deputies from Marin County learned of his drug operation while chatting in a hotel hot tub, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

The aforementioned events were described in a search warrant affidavit obtained by the newspaper last week. According to the affidavit, the initial encounter played out as follows: A women and two men were relaxing in a hot tub at a Courtyard by Marriott in San Diego. They struck up a conversation with a fellow hotel guest, Andrew James Harris. When Harris asked the reason for their stay, one jokingly replied their crack lab had blown up. But Harris apparently didn't get the jest; he admitted that he, too, was in the drug business.GAZIANTEP, Turkey - Turkish forces and their rebel allies wrested a key stronghold from Kurdish militants in northern Syria on Sunday, military and government officials said, marking the potential end of a weeks-long battle in which scores of civilians were killed.

Gun-toting rebels backed by Turkish troops and tanks swept through the city of Afrin early Sunday morning, with the fighters posting photos and videos from outside municipal buildings and in public squares. The Kurdish YPG militia, which controlled Afrin, had withdrawn from the area just hours before amid fierce air and artillery strikes.

Turkey says the Syrian Kurdish militants are linked with Kurdish guerrillas attacking Turkish troops at home and has portrayed its offensive - Operation Olive Branch - as critical to its national security.

"In Afrin's center, it is no longer the rags of the terror organization that are waving but rather the symbols of peace and security," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a speech Sunday.

Erdogan said Turkish troops and rebel fighters had gained "total control" of the city.

"Many of the terrorists had turned tail and run away already," he said.

The offensive, however, underscored the extent to which foreign powers have come to dominate the Syrian battlefield, using proxies to wage local conflicts and gain leverage on the international stage.

The battle for Afrin comes as part of a wider struggle between Turkey and Kurdish separatists in the region. It has also ripped through the U.S.-Turkish alliance, which has frayed since U.S. troops began allying with Syrian Kurds to fight the Islamic State militant group.

The apparent victory for Turkey on Sunday was a stunning blow to the YPG, which has sought to consolidate control over Kurdish areas of Syria in the hopes of forging an autonomous state.

Amid Syria's descent into civil war, Kurds in the country have seized territory and formed their own militias and administration. The YPG - or People's Protection Units - has controlled majority-Kurdish Afrin since 2012. The group also holds swaths of territory in northern and eastern Syria, much of which was captured in the fight against the Islamic State.

A senior Kurdish official from Afrin, Hevi Mustafa, said Sunday that Kurds there "face catastrophic challenges."

In a telephone interview from outside the city, she said the YPG withdrew "to begin a new stage of resistance."

"Our military forces will continue to fight," she said. "But there are large numbers of civilians in need of urgent help."

Another Kurdish official, Othman Sheikh Issa, said Kurdish fighters would resort to guerrilla warfare to target Turkish troops and their proxies.

Tens of thousands of civilians had either fled Afrin or were displaced inside the enclave in recent weeks, the United Nations said. The world body also said local authorities had prevented many residents from leaving, even as a blitz of airstrikes forced civilians into basements in the city.

It was unclear Sunday how many civilians remained - or whether the thousands who had fled would be able to return.

Mohammad Atarib, a fighter with the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army, said he encountered residents when he entered Afrin on Sunday.

"At first they were scared," he said. "But then they gave us water and food."

FSA forces were widely criticized after footage emerged that appeared to show the fighters abusing and executing civilians during the operation.

In a statement Sunday, Turkey's military said its forces and allied fighters were sweeping the city for mines and homemade bombs. The military also posted footage of a soldier holding a Turkish flag over a local government building. Another image showed a soldier raising and saluting a Turkish flag over the city.

"We are urging the Turkish army and FSA to have no military presence in the city" as locals seek to rebuild, a Kurdish official from the Syrian city of Hasakah said in an interview Sunday.

Abdel Aziz Timo, who heads a Syrian-Kurdish coalition opposed to the YPG, said Turkey should rein in abuses by the FSA.

"There are some members who want to take revenge against the YPG," he said in an interview in Gaziantep. "The first thing they need to do is bring security and stability."WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump fired a barrage of angry statements Sunday railing against the Justice Department special counsel's Russia investigation and attacking the integrity of former FBI Director James Comey and his former Deputy Andrew McCabe, charging that their notes from conversations with him are "Fake Memos."

For the second straight day, Trump was unrestrained in his commentary about Robert Mueller's expanding investigation, which is looking not only into Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential race and possible links to the Trump campaign, but also whether the president has sought to obstruct justice.

After Trump's personal attorney, John Dowd, called Saturday for an end to the Mueller inquiry, both Republican and Democratic lawmakers on Sunday urged the president and his legal team to cooperate fully with the investigation and warned of serious ramifications if they did not.

In one of his tweets, Trump protested, "Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans? Another Dem recently added . . . does anyone think this is fair? And yet, there is NO COLLUSION!"

The tweet overstates the partisan makeup of the special counsel's team and falsely asserts that no Republicans are on it.

Mueller is a longtime Republican. He was nominated as FBI director in 2001 by a Republican president, George W. Bush, and was appointed special counsel by Rod Rosenstein, the Republican whom Trump picked to be deputy attorney general.

Publicly available voter registration information shows that 13 of the 17 members of Mueller's team have previously registered as Democrats, while four had no affiliation or their affiliation could not be found. Nine of the 17 made political donations to Democrats, and their contributions totaled more than $57,000. The majority came from one person, who also contributed to Republicans. Six gave to Hillary Clinton, Trump's 2016 opponent.

Under instruction from his attorneys, Trump has in the past been careful not to publicly criticize Mueller by name or otherwise directly antagonize the special counsel, but rather to make more general criticisms. On Saturday night, in an apparent change of strategy, Trump for the first time tweeted the name of the special counsel.

"The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime," Trump wrote. "It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC, and improperly used in FISA COURT for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT!"

The president's attack came after Dowd called for an end to the Mueller investigation. He initially told the Daily Beast that he was speaking on behalf of the president, though he later backtracked and told The Washington Post that he was speaking only for himself.

Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., a member of the House Intelligence Committee, warned Trump that any interference in the Mueller probe would result in "a very, very long, bad 2018."

"If you have an innocent client, Mr. Dowd, act like it," Gowdy said on "Fox News Sunday." "Russia attacked our country. Let Special Counsel Mueller figure that out."

Later, as if directly addressing the president, Gowdy said, "If you've done nothing wrong, you should want the investigation to be as fulsome and thorough as possible."

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, R, an informal adviser to Trump, said it would be inappropriate for the president to try to fire Mueller.

The special counsel has "conducted this investigation so far with great integrity, without leaking and by showing results, and I don't think the president's going to fire somebody like that," Christie said on ABC's "This Week."

White House lawyer Ty Cobb issued a statement Sunday night that said: "In response to media speculation and related questions being posed to the Administration, the White House yet again confirms that the President is not considering or discussing the firing of the Special Counsel, Robert Mueller."

Still, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., warned that a move by Trump to order the firing of Mueller would be a step too far for lawmakers. "If he tried to do that, that would be the beginning of the end of his presidency because we're a rule-of-law nation," Graham said on CNN's "State of the Union."

Sen. Dick Durbin, Ill., the chamber's second-ranking Democrat, said he is concerned about "a constitutional crisis in this country."

"This president is engaged in desperate and reckless conduct to intimidate the law enforcement agencies in this country and to try and stop the special counsel," Durbin said on "Fox News Sunday." "That is unacceptable in a democracy."

More for you Vanessa Trump files for divorce from Donald Trump Jr.

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said the threats to Mueller from Trump and Dowd were "a huge mistake for the president" and "very dangerous for the country."

"Robert Mueller is as straight an arrow as there is in America," King said on CBS' "Face the Nation." "The president keeps saying there's no story here, they didn't do anything wrong. If they didn't do anything wrong, why are they going to such extreme lengths to undermine this investigation, which is being carried out in a very responsible way?"

But legislation that could protect Mueller from any moves the president makes to fire him has stalled in Congress for months, as Republicans have raised constitutional concerns and argued that there was no pressing risk that the president would actually seek to get rid of the special counsel.

There has been no pressure from Republican congressional leadership to bring measures to protect Mueller to a vote. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., have not backed the efforts. When asked Sunday if the president's tweets would prompt Congress to take up such legislation, Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong said, "As the speaker has always said, Mr. Mueller and his team should be able to do their job."

In a separate pair of tweets on Sunday, Trump also attacked Comey and McCabe, both regular foils to the president. Trump sent his Sunday tweets from the White House. He departed the residence shortly before 10 a.m., heading to the Trump National Golf Club in northern Virginia. Aides would not say who the president's golfing partners might be.

McCabe, who was fired from the FBI late Friday night just hours before he was set to retire with full benefits, has kept contemporaneous notes of his interactions with Trump, according to two people familiar with his records. McCabe's memos could prove useful to Mueller's investigators in their obstruction probe.

Trump tweeted, "Spent very little time with Andrew McCabe, but he never took notes when he was with me. I don't believe he made memos except to help his own agenda, probably at a later date. Same with lying James Comey. Can we call them Fake Memos?"

Michael Bromwich, McCabe's lawyer, wrote Sunday on Twitter: "We will not be responding to each childish, defamatory, disgusting & false tweet by the President. The whole truth will come out in due course. But the tweets confirm that he has corrupted the entire process that led to Mr. McCabe's termination and has rendered it illegitimate."

In an Oval Office meeting in May, Trump asked McCabe whom he had voted for in the 2016 presidential election, several current and former U.S. officials have told The Post, and he complained about the political donations McCabe's wife received for her failed 2015 Virginia state Senate campaign.

Comey also took contemporaneous notes of his interactions with Trump and confided in McCabe about those private conversations, including when Trump asked him for his loyalty.

Comey is publishing a memoir next month that is expected to detail his interactions with Trump and investigation of Russian interference, among other topics.

In a Sunday morning tweet, Trump accused Comey of lying in testimony to Congress when he was questioned by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.

The president wrote: "Wow, watch Comey lie under oath to Senator G when asked 'have you ever been an anonymous source . . . or known someone else to be an anonymous source. . .?' He said strongly 'never, no.' He lied as shown clearly on @foxandfriends."

Trump in the past has masqueraded as a fake publicist by the name of "John Miller" or "John Barron" to leak flattering or boastful details about himself to tabloid reporters.

Both Graham and Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., a frequent Trump critic, said on CNN that the Senate Judiciary Committee should hold a hearing on McCabe's firing and give Attorney General Jeff Sessions and McCabe opportunities to explain their actions.

The handling of McCabe's firing - he was ousted just hours before his 50th birthday on Sunday, at which point he would have been able to retire with full benefits - drew bipartisan disagreement.

"I don't like the way it went down," Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "I would have certainly done it differently."

Rubio added, "He should have been allowed to finish through the weekend."

---

The Washington Post's Alice Crites, Paige Winfield Cunningham, Karoun Demirjian, Carol D. Leonnig, Julie Tate and Matt Zapotosky contributed to this report.Two drivers were hospitalized early Sunday after a wrong-way wreck on Beltway 8 in southwest Harris County left both vehicles mangled.

The driver of a pickup truck somehow got on Sam Houston Parkway headed eastbound in the westbound lanes around 2:30 a.m., according to authorities.A San Antonio woman and her 11-year-old daughter were killed at their far Northwest Side home early Saturday, and a man police believe was her boyfriend is in custody on capital murder charges.

Casey Marshall, 50, is in Bexar County Jail on two counts of capital murder.

Neighbors identified the child and her 48-year-old mother, who is shown as the owner of the red-brick home in the 9100 block of Beaudine Avenue in the Bexar County Appraisal District records. But their names have not been released pending notification of next of kin.

Residents in the quiet suburban neighborhood recalled the Brauchle Elementary School student fondly.

She seemed like a happy girl, wise for her years, Kevin Washington, 57, said of the 11-year-old who lived only two houses away.

For that to happen to such a sweet little girl  Im shocked, Washington said. Id see her every day, when Id pick the kids up from school. She would come by and wave at the truck.

At the scene Saturday morning, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said officers responded to a call at 5:29 a.m. from the womans house, where two people in the residence were down.

A San Antonio Police Department news release later reported that Marshall was the one who called 911 dispatchers to report the deaths. When police arrived, they found the woman and her daughter had suffered lacerations and blunt force trauma. Both were declared dead at the scene.

McManus said it appeared Marshall was the womans boyfriend.

It was unclear Saturday how long Marshall had been staying at the home on Beaudine Avenue, but neighbors said it had only been a few months.

Bess Ramirez, 53, recalled the joy her neighbor had with her daughter and how things changed when Marshall came.

It was different after he moved in, Ramirez said. It just wasnt the same.

McManus said there was no history of police calls to the residence before Saturday.Unfortunately, the growing divide between the military and U.S. society was apparent recently when a teachers inaccurate and misinformed statements about the quality of Americas armed forces made national headlines.

As a U.S. Army officer for more than 30 years, I can tell you our nations military services are among the most respected organizations in the world, and the individuals who choose to serve deserve the support of our nations people.

About 50 percent of young Americans today admit they know little to nothing about our military. As a nation, we are failing them, and we are failing ourselves.

College graduates are averaging around $30,000 in student loan debt. I wish they had known they could have graduated debt-free while contributing to something bigger than themselves. Having a skilled and educated force truly is a priority.

The Army alone spent $162 million on tuition assistance last year so soldiers could earn degrees. The U.S. Army Reserve Officers Training Corps offers approximately $300 million in scholarships each year for students at about 1,000 universities ranging from Harvard and Princeton to Berkley and Ohio State. The U.S. Army is the largest single provider of college scholarships in the nation.

In the health care field, the Army offers full scholarships for accredited medical, dental, veterinary, nurse practitioner and optometry programs.

Our nation is filled with underemployed workers who paid for degrees but cant get jobs because they dont have the necessary experience. I wish they had known they could choose from 150 different careers, gain technical experience and certifications, and get a degree in the U.S. Army.

As I travel the country, I find most people I meet believe the U.S. Army is only about combat. Its true our role is to fight and win our nations wars, but it takes a team to support our fighters. I wish our country knew almost every professional job in the private sector is also a job in the military.

The problem I see everywhere I visit is this  they dont know. They dont know because we havent told them.

We need the young people in our country to have the opportunity to make an informed decision about their future. I am not interested in forcing anyone to enlist; however, youth deserve to understand what military service entails.

We need our educators to welcome military recruiters into schools. Our service members represent our country and should not have to recruit in the shadows.

We need parents and community influencers to encourage students who are considering military service. We need our veterans to help educate communities about how serving has positively impacted their lives.

Success is not always a four-year degree. Its finding the best path to gaining the knowledge, skills and abilities needed for a desired occupation.

The U.S. Army is filled with technologically advanced equipment, but that means nothing without the talented soldiers who operate the equipment and make strategic decisions on its use. People are our greatest asset.

In reality, only 29 percent of youth today actually meet the qualifications to join. Our service members are highly trained, highly skilled and highly educated.

Veterans are more likely to vote, volunteer and be involved in their communities. Student veterans using the Post-9/11 GI Bill are more likely to graduate, have a higher GPA, and earn academically rigorous degrees than their nonveteran counterparts.

Its time we see military service for what it truly is  a competitive advantage in the workplace.

I am not asking for young Americans to be forced into choosing military service. I am asking for the opportunity to educate our nation. I want to ensure Americas young people understand all of their options before they make a final decision about their future.

If it ever gets to the point when people stop wanting to raise their right hand to serve, its not only a challenge for the military, but its also a national security issue for the nation.

A societal paradigm shift is needed to protect the future of those who volunteer to protect us. Yes, Uncle Sam still needs us  all of us.Most people in the U.S. are aware of the atrocities happening in Syria and against the Rohingya in Burma, but did you know that the worlds worst humanitarian crisis is currently happening in Yemen  and that it is being actively facilitated by the U.S. government?

For four years, Yemen has been embroiled in a brutal civil war pitting the Sunni government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi against a Shiite insurgency group called the Houthis. President Hadis government, backed by a Saudi Arabia-led coalition including several Arab states and supported by the U.S., U.K., Canada, France and others, has attempted to take back the government of Yemen.

More than 10,000 people have been killed and 40,000 injured, with the majority of these deaths attributed to the Saudi-led coalition.

The Saudi coalition is indiscriminately targeting civilians by bombing schools, hospitals, funerals and weddings. Roughly 75 percent of the Yemeni population are now completely dependent on aid for survival, but the Saudi-led coalition is blockading ports of entry, limiting humanitarian aid deliveries. The blockades have also affected oil delivery, meaning hospitals cannot keep their generators on to refrigerate medicine and other needed services. As a result, more than 1 million people have contracted cholera in the worst outbreak ever recorded and more than 2,000 have died from it  all completely preventable deaths.

How is the U.S. complicit in these atrocities? Since 2015, the U.S. has provided military support to Saudi Arabia for this war, such as targeting assistance, intelligence sharing, midair refueling of warplanes and sales of dangerous weaponry, including cluster munitions, which are specifically designed to maximize casualties.

Today, we have a rare opportunity to end U.S. support for these atrocities. On Feb. 28, Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, and Chris Murphy D-Conn.  a bipartisan group  introduced Senate Joint Resolution 54, invoking the 1973 War Powers Resolution to end the U.S. military involvement in Yemen and restore Congress congressional mandate as the only branch of government able to declare war. Even if the measure falters, its goals deserve accomplishing.

San Antonio is a military city. Texas has the second largest military active-duty and reserve population of any state. We should all be disturbed that the U.S. is providing unauthorized military support to Saudi Arabia to fight this war in Yemen, especially because so many civilians are at risk.

Involvement in Vietnam began in largely the same way  through sending military advisers and weaponry to the country. This open-ended engagement then escalated to full-fledged conflict. Ending U.S. military support would limit Saudi Arabias ability to cause such rampant and unchecked destruction in the country, help restore U.S. legitimacy in Yemen, and help even the playing field in Yemen enough that the parties could credibly meet at the negotiating table.

The United States has blood on its hands. Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn should back Senate Joint Resolution 54 or otherwise end U.S. involvement in Yemen. The lives of Yemeni civilians  and perhaps our own service members  depend on it.THE Media Institute of Southern Africa Zimbabwe (MISA Zimbabwe) has reported President Emmerson Mnangagwas government to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) asking the regional body to push Harare to reform the state media before this years elections.

In a petition handed to SADCs executive secretary, Dr Stergomena Lawrence Tax, at his Botswana offices last Monday, MISA said there wont be free and fair elections if the new government did not reform the public media which has, since independence, been biased towards Zanu PF.

Before and after the 2013 general elections, concerns were raised about the public broadcasters highly partisan coverage of the ruling party to the exclusion of opposition political parties and other dissenting voices and views, said the petition.

MISA said most of the reforms Harare continued to ignore were also raised by the African Union Election Observation Mission (AUEOM) after the 2013 harmonized elections.

Five years later, the Zimbabwean government is still to implement the envisaged media reforms. This indeed is cause for great concern, especially in light of the fact that Zimbabwe is expected to hold general elections sometime this year, said MISA.

MISA-Zimbabwe respectfully submits that Zimbabwes government has the obligation and responsibility to implement the reforms in question without any further delays. This obligation arises from the countrys Constitution as well as regional instruments such as the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections and the African Charter on Democracy Elections and Governance, said the regional media watchdog.

Opposition political parties have since formed an alliance called the National Electoral Reform Agenda through which they are lobbying government to institute a cocktail of electoral reforms which among them include equal access to the public media.

MISA also said journalists should not be subjected to double accreditation as mandated by statutory bodies like the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission during elections.

The requirement that a journalist who is already accredited with the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC), needs further accreditation by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), for election-related coverage, is unnecessarily cumbersome, bureaucratic and an unnecessary drain on the fiscus.

The media cannot cover elections properly when it cannot access relevant events and places by virtue of not being accredited by ZEC. The purpose of laws or regulations on media and elections  and the function of a regulatory body  is to create an environment in which the media conducts their business freely.

Elections are not state secrets to be investigated by dedicated investigative journalists. Instead they should be conducted openly and freely. The fundamental guiding principle here being that, journalists as duly and constitutionally accredited by the ZMC, should be given unfettered access to all election- related events, said MISA.

Meanwhile, the MDC-Ts top executive also pressed the Sadc Electoral Advisory Council to pile pressure on President Emmerson Mnangagwas government to implement all electoral reforms demanded by the opposition, ahead of this years general elections.

The team met MDC-T president Nelson Chamisa, his deputy Elias Mudzuri, Douglas Mwonzora (secretary general) Theresa Makone (treasurer), Murisi Zvizvai (elections

director), Lynette Karenyi-Kore (womens assembly) and Happymore Chidziva (youth assembly) to gather their views on the countrys preparedness for the elections.

The meeting went on very well and we talked about our displeasure over a number of issues, Mwonzora said.

 NewZimbabwe

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Related Zimbabwe Latest NewsPresident Muhammadu Buhari and his wife, Aisha on Saturday, March 17, attended the wedding reception between Damilola Osinbajo, daughter of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and Oluseun Bakare in Abuja.

The white wedding of Damilola Osinbajo to Seun Bakare, son of billionaire businesswoman, Bola Shagaya was said to have taken place at the National Christian Centre, Abuja.

Prof Osinbajo had on Wednesday, February 14, confirmed his daughter's wedding as he shared a picture of the lovebirds with the caption: "With joy and praise to the Lord, Dolly and I announce the betrothal of our daughter Oludamilola Osinbajo to Oluseun Bakare."

READ ALSO: Photos from the traditional wedding of former Catholic priest, Patrick Henry Edet

Many people had first thought the groom-to-be was a Muslim by faith but that wrong perception was set right when it was revealed that he is actually a worker in the Redeemed Christian Church of God, the same church in which Oluwadamilola and her family worships.

See photos below:

President Buhari and his wife joined by parents of the groom and bride in a group photo with the newly wed couple. Photo credit: Facebook, Femi Adesina

Daughter of the vice president, Damilola osinbajo and her husband, Oluseun Bakare exchange greetings with President MUhammadu Buhari. Photo credit: Facebook, Femi Adesina

The general overseer of House on the Rock, Pastor Paul Adefarasin and Mike Okonkwo, the Presiding Bishop of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM). Photo credit: Facebook, Femi Adesina

President Buhari exchanging greetings with governors at the wedding reception of Damilola Osinbajo and Seun Bakara. Photo credit: Facebook, Femi Adesina

In a previous report by Legit.ng, the much talked-about traditional wedding ceremony of Damilola, the daughter of Nigerias vice president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, reportedly held at the old banquet hall of the Presidential Villa, Aso Rock, Abuja with guests filling the venue to capacity on Thursday, March 15.

Vanguard reports that the colourful high class traditional wedding had in attendance top Nigerians and leaders in various field of endeavours.

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 new app

The report said the event began with a traditional marriage at the vice presidents Aguda official residence at the villa.

How long should it take between a proposal and the actual wedding? - on Legit.ng TV.

Source: Legit- Shehu Sani said the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) must get its house in order for it to confront various challenges bedevilling the nation

- The senator representing Kaduna Central, said the party has been enmeshed in various crises at different levels since 2015

- The APC lawmaker urged Nigerians to demand to know the running cost of the presidency and the judiciary

Senator Shehu Sani (APC-Kaduna) says the All Progressives Congress(APC) must put its house in order to emerge victorious in the 2019 elections.

He disclosed this while speaking on Saturday, March 17, at the 5th Olalekan Olomide Platform for Development held at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Press Centre, Iyanganku in Ibadan.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Sani is the Chairman, Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts.

READ ALSO: Senator Ali Wakili is dead

He said the ruling party had been enmeshed in various crises at different levels since 2015, and such cracks need to be addressed for the party to emerge victorious in the 2019 election.

I believe that the reconciliatory committee led by the APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has started a good job and I believe it can achieve a lot.

Some of the critical areas that need to be seriously addressed are the crises between senators and governors and the gap between the party and National Assembly (NASS).

There is also the seeming cold war between NASS and the executive, Sani said.

He said the APC must get its house in order for it to confront various challenges bedevilling the nation.

Sani said the APC-led administration in the country had achieved some successes, particularly in the area of insurgency and the image of the country which is presently on the positive side.

On the economy, there is drastic reduction in corruption, but the mindless killing in some parts of the country is mind-boggling; this is a serious threat to the peace of our nation, he said.

According to him, the killing is unacceptable and the president must stand up firmly against it.

The lawmaker described the South West region as the heartbeat of the APC, saying when the party suffers a stroke in the region it would lead to devastation.

Sani categorically opposed the call for creation of state police.

Our crisis in Kaduna is an APC affair; the crisis got to this stage because our party failed to resolve it till it got to the stage of demolishing partys secretariat.

Imagine, if such a governor is now given the right to create state police, what will be the fate of those who disagree with him?

The lawmaker said his recent revelation on the salaries of lawmakers was to save the dignity and integrity of the National Assembly that had been stained.

He urged Nigerians to brace up and demand to know the running cost of the presidency and the judiciary for accountability.

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 new app

According to an earlier report by Legit.ng, Senator Shehu Sani, representing Kaduna Central senatorial district, said the plans by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to implement restructuring is just a mere form of campaign for the forthcoming 2019 elections.

In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the senator claimed that Governor El-Rufai of Kaduna state came up with the idea of restructuring just to gain political relevance. He said: Governor El-Rufai is the chief architect of that committee because he wants political relevance.

How can an APC that promised restructuring only think of restructuring when it is a year to an election? Document of that committee is more or less a campaign document for 2018. There will be no restructuring, you can quote me.

APC official tells why his party could be voted out in 2019 - on Legit.ng TV.

Source: LegitThe Joint UN Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) has appointed Nigerias first lady, Hajiya Aisha Buhari, as UNAIDS Special Ambassador for the Elimination of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV and Promotion of Treatment for Children living with HIV in Nigeria.

Charles-Martin Jjuuko, Communications and Global Outreach Officer, UNAIDS Nigeria made this known in a statement issued on Saturday, March 17, in Abuja, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

According to him, Executive Director and Under Secretary General of the United Nations, Michel Sidibe, is to issue the official appointment to Aisha Buhari on Monday, March 19 in Abuja.

READ ALSO: Breaking: Senator Ali Wakili is dead

He said the appointment to Mrs Buhari was in recognition of her passion in the advocacy for the rights of vulnerable women and girls in the country.

Jjuuko noted that in her new role, Aisha Buhari will advocate for increased access to antenatal care services, HIV testing for all pregnant women and their linkage to adequate care.

Legit.ng previously reported that the wife of the president urged Nigerians to make the abduction of girls in parts of the country the focal point of the recently observed 2018 International Womens Day.

In a message posted on her Facebook page, the presidents wife described this years celebration as one with a difference.

This is as she noted that the day was being marked not long after the abduction of the Dapchi schoolgirls.

Mrs Buhari announced that as a strong call for the end of such abductions, she had developed a local theme, Leave Our Daughters Alone.

Will Buhari bring back the Dapchi girls ? - on Legit.ng TV:

Source: Legit- Armed militia in Bauchi attacked soldiers on Operation Lafiya Dole

- The army responded with superior gunfire

- 4 militia members were killed while 9 were arrested

Soldiers on Operation Lafiya Dole encountered an armed militia in Bauchi state resulting in an exchange of fire between the two groups.

In a statement by Brigadier General Texas Chukwu who is the director, army public relations, the encounter happened on Saturday, March 17 at Burra Junction in Ningi Local Government Area.

It was reported that the group opened fire on the soldiers who bravely retaliated killing four of them.

READ ALSO: 2019: Obasanjo meets Kwankwaso, Oyinlola in Lagos; details of meeting revealed

Nine Militia men were reportedly arrested while troops recovered their weapons.

Read the statement below::

Troops of 33 Artillery Brigade, in the on going OPERATION LAFIYA DOLE on fighting patrol, on 17 March 18 at about 12:30pm encountered members of militia group massing up at Burra Junction in Ningi Local Government Area of Bauchi State. The militia men on sighting own troops opened fire on them. Troops reacted immediately by engaging the militia men. At the end of the encounter, 4 militias were killed. Troops recovered 5 Dane guns, 38 motorcycles and 9 bicycles. 9 Militia men were also arrested while a soldier who sustained gun shot wounds is stable, having been evacuated to the hospital and receiving treatment. Troops are closely in pursuit of the fleeing militias with the view of apprehending more of them.

Meanwhile, Governor Yahaya Bello is expected to visit Ogane-Nigu and nearby communities in the Eastern Senatorial Zone of Kogi State following an attack carried out by armed bandits suspected to be herdsmen.

This was contained in a statement issued on Friday, March 16.

The state government said the attack was brought under control and that peace has been restored in the area. Governor Bello is expected to carry out a security assessment of the situation in the area.

List President Buhari's achievements in two years - on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit- Chief Olusegun Obasanjo met with top politicians in Lagos

- Among those in attendance was Rabiu Kwankwaso

- The group is working towards wrestling power from APC in 2019

Former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has met with former governor of Kano State, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso and other political bigwigs to forge a path to wrestling power from the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2019.

The Punch reports that the former president convened the meeting with 35 political parties in a hotel in Lagos under the umbrella of Coalition for New Nigeria.

READ ALSO: Soldiers engage militia group in gunfight in Bauchi, 4 killed

Those at the meeting included co-chairmen of the Nigerian Intervention Movement, Mr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), Dr. Jhalil Tafawa-Balewa, one of the children of Nigerias post-independence first Prime Minister, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, a former governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke; a former governor Osun state, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola; and a former special adviser to Obasanjo, Mr. Akin Osuntokun.

Some of the political parties represented at the meeting included the Social Democratic Party, Labour Party, Alliance for Democracy, Democratic Peoples Congress, Action Alliance, Progressives Peoples Alliance, Democratic Alternative and National Conscience Party.

Others, who attended the Lagos meeting, were Mr. Kenneth Udete, who represented Action Alliance Party; and Mr. Okey Chukwuendu, who represented the All Grand Alliance Party.

The Punch quoted a source as saying the meeting was convened to work out how to win power in 2019.

The source said: The meeting was summoned by Obasanjo. He noted that both the APC and the Peoples Democratic Party have failed Nigeria and there is a need to come together. He said his association, Coalition for Nigeria Movement, and the NIM should form a merger.

Asked why Kwankwaso who is a member of the ruling APC was invited to the meeting, the source said: Have you forgotten that Kwankwaso was appointed the Minister of Defence by President Obasanjo in 2003? The former governor was not invited because of his ties with the APC but because he also has a huge movement known as the Kwankwasiya in Kano and its environs. Kano is a very strategic state.

The meeting is not just a political one but an attempt to come up with a unified ideology and strategy for 2019.

The source said Obasanjo emphasized the need for them to show how they were different from both the PDP and APC.

Agbakoba also confirmed the meeting and said it would continue to hold.

He said: What I can say is yes, that is true. We are exploring the option of working together and those conversations are still ongoing and we have a mutually-agreed agenda that we will have to make an impact in 2019.

And that we will not be supporting the APC or the PDP. We have agreed on that but we have not agreed on who the candidate would be and other minute details.

I can confirm that Kwankwaso was there and Oyinlola was there, but for us, our concern is that Nigerians need to see a new political plan and we told them in clear terms that if we are to work together, it would present a challenge if the Nigerian voting population see the same old people and then there would be no change. So, thats where we are.

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It will be difficult in my view for us to be supporting the same old people who left the PDP and went to the APC to come and join us. It will be very difficult.

Meanwhile, a report by Daily Independent suggests that Obasanjo is leading the move to bring top chieftains of the APC) to join the SDP, otherwise known as the Third Force movement.

Among those reportedly approached by Obasanjo are Senate president Bukola Saraki; speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara, and Governors Samuel Ortom and Aminu Tambuwal of Benue and Sokoto states respectively.

APC chieftain give reasons why his party could be voted out in 2019 on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit- Soldiers on Patrol arrested herdsmen destroying farmlands

- The suspects were handed over to the police

- Soldiers also recovered motorcycle used by some herdsmen

Troops of 707 Special Forces Brigade during their routine patrol apprehended six herdsmen who were caught destroying a farmland in Kwata Sule.

In a statement by Brigadier General Texas Chukwu who is the director, army public relations, the herdsmen were apprehended on Saturday, March 17.

READ ALSO: 2019: Obasanjo meets Kwankwaso, Oyinlola in Lagos; details of meeting revealed

The suspects were handed over to the police for further action.

Herdsmen arrested for destroying farmlands. Credit: Nigerian Army

Read statement below

Troops of 707 Special Forces Brigade have arrested 6 herdsmen, caught in the act of farmland destruction. Troops while on patrol in the general area of Kwata Sule on 17 March encountered the herdsmen in the act prompting their arrest. After initial interrogation, the suspects were handed over to the police for further action.

Similarly, troops on patrol in the general area of Chembe, Tse-Gundu, Tse-Iordye and Sbaor settlements sighted two herdsmen on motorcycle along Kwata Shaor river bank. The Herdsmen abandoned their motorcycle and fled.

On search of the general area, one round of 7.62mm special was discovered. Troops continue to dominate the general area with patrols.

Legit.ng had earlier reported that soldiers on Operation Lafiya Dole encountered an armed militia in Bauchi state resulting in an exchange of fire between the two groups.

In a statement by Brigadier General Texas Chukwu who is the director, army public relations, the encounter happened on Saturday, March 17 at Burra Junction in Ningi Local Government Area.

It was reported that the group opened fire on the soldiers who bravely retaliated killing four of them.

List President Buhari's achievements in two years - on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit.ng- Over 2,000 Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) personnel have been deployed to provide physical security to schools in the northeast

- The NSCDC Commandant-General, Muhammadu Gana said the deployment was in compliance with the directives of President Muhammadu Buhari

- Gana decried the level of infrastructure in some of the schools

Muhammadu Gana, the Commandant-General, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), says over 2,000 personnel have so far been deployed to provide physical security to schools in the northeast.

Gana made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Sunday, March 18, in Yola.

Gana said the deployment was in compliance with the directives of the President, through the Minister of Interior, following the abduction of some school girls by insurgents in Dapchi village of Yobe.

READ ALSO: Troops arrests 6 herdsmen destroying farmlands (photos)

Gana who had toured some schools in recovered areas of Adamawa to assess the security situation, said 250 personnel were deployed in Adamawa.

I came in from Taraba yesterday on a similar mission. Last week we were in Borno and Yobe states, where we went round schools on security survey and had deployed our men to provide physical security.

We had interactions with principals and students and I assured them that this government is a listening government; what happened in Dapchi will never happened again, Gana said.

However, he decried the level of infrastructure in some of the schools, adding that the observation would be communicated to relevant authorities for action.

What I found in some institution is not encouraging at all. We intend to report on the need for some infrastructure to be put in place to ensure children are safe and well secured, Gana said.

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According to an earlier report by Legit.ng, an opposition lawmaker in the House of Representatives Oladipupo Adebutu has said that the abduction of the 110 girls from a college in Dapchi, Yobe state could have been avoided if the first abduction in Chibok was properly addressed almost four years ago.

According to Adebutu, who is the chairman of House Committee on Rural Development, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) politicized the matter just to get his People Democratic Party (PDP) out of power.

Nigerians react as Boko Haram terrorists kidnap over 100 girls in Dapchi, Yobe on Legit.ng TV.

Source: LegitThe Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sent a letter to the United Nations Security Council to declare killer herdsmen as terrorists.

Vanguard reports that the group called on the UN to Urgently hold a special session on Nigeria and to visit the country to press the authorities to end continuing killings and destruction of property by suspected herdsmen across Nigeria, particularly in the North-Central of the country.

READ ALSO: Troops arrests 6 herdsmen destroying farmlands (photos)

In the letter dated Friday, March 16, SERAP called on the UN to treat the atrocities by herdsmen as terrorist acts, in line with the UN Security Council resolution 2349 (2017), which addresses Boko Harams presence in the Lake Chad Basin and calls on all states to combat all forms and manifestations of terrorism. Declaring attacks by herdsmen as terrorist acts would help make up the authorities to seriously address the threats posed by herdsmen and combat the crimes against humanity being committed against Nigerians.

The group expressed serious concern that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari is failing to uphold its responsibility to protect the citizens from increasing atrocities by the herdsmen, which if not urgently addressed would pose serious threat to regional peace and security, and by extension, international peace and security. The Security Council must act now to protect Nigerians, including women and children, if the Council is not to be accused of failing the people of Nigeria.

The attacks by herdsmen have uprooted families, destroyed communities socio-economic activities, and taken away their livelihoods and common heritage. These attacks undermine the very purposes and principles of the UN Charter. If not urgently combatted, such attacks may rise to the level of threat to international peace and security. 

Part of the statement read: SERAP urges the Security Council and its members to publicly condemn these terrorist attacks, express concern about the protection of Nigerians and communities affected by the violations of international humanitarian and human rights law and press the authorities to put in place special mechanisms for bringing those suspected to be responsible to justice, and victims to receive redress, including adequate compensation and guarantee of non-repetition.

The Security Council and its members should reaffirm that terrorism of all forms and manifestations, such as the growing attacks by herdsmen in Nigeria, are criminal and unjustifiable regardless of their motivations. They should also recognize that security, development and human rights are interlinked and mutually reinforcing and are vital to an effective and comprehensive approach to countering all forms of terrorism in Nigeria.

The Security Council and its members should adopt a resolution to: Characterise killings by herdsmen as terrorist acts and mobilize international support for Nigeria to combat these attacks, including for the authorities to adopt and implement measures to tackle the causes and consequences of these attacks and end all forms of terrorism in the country.

The resolution should also call on the UN Secretary-General to carry out a joint visit to Nigeria with the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, and the African Union Peace and Security Council to investigate allegations of killings by herdsmen and to better understand the root causes of these killings and put pressure on the Nigerian authorities to end them.

The resolution should express concern that unabated killings by herdsmen may ultimately contribute to undermining the ability of the Nigerian authorities to provide security, good governance, social and economic development in the country. It should affirm the international communitys solidarity and full support for the victims of killings by herdsmen and the communities affected, including those displaced because of the attacks.

The Security Council and its members should support collaboration with the African Union Peace and Security Council to combat the threats posed by herdsmen and enable both institutions to support stability and development in Nigeria. We believe that a UN Security Council resolution would help to put pressure on the Nigerian authorities to take urgent and concrete measures to end the killings and secure the safety of all Nigerians. We urge you to act urgently as recommended, and we would be pleased to discuss these issues further.

SERAP notes that hundreds of people including women and children, have been killed apparently by herdsmen, and several more have been displaced and others forced to flee their homes and communities. The past weeks alone have seen some of the worst attacks against innocent citizens, including unlawful killings, destruction and pillage of property by herdsmen across the country. The attacks have been fuelled by impunity that has plagued the authorities response to the problem.

According reports, at least seven people have been killed and property worth millions of naira destroyed following series of attacks on Takum and Ussa local government areas of Taraba State by herdsmen. In Plateau State of Nigeria, a man identified as Joseph Alli, 23, was killed and beheaded by herdsmen during a fresh attack on Rotsu village, Miango District in Bassa Local Government Area of the State.

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His killers reportedly ate the food that he was about to eat, burnt the kitchen and food barn in the house and left. Three houses around the area were also burnt. In Kogi State, at least 50 people have been killed, with several still missing following an attack on Oganenigwu in Dekina Local Government Area of the State by herdsmen.

Meanwhile, some communities in Uwheru, Ughelli north local government area of Delta state have complained that herdsmen now demand money from farmers before being allowed access to their farm.

Their complaints were made known by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa on Friday, March 16, when speaking with the Assistant Inspector General (AIG) in charge of Zone 5, Rasheed Akintunde.

Nigerian herdsmen vs Nigerian farmers on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit.ng- The defence headquarters of the Nigerian Army said that troops are on the alert to arrest herdsmen

- The director of defence information, John Agim, reported that the herdsmen shot dead two soldiers during a gun battle at Rafiki village in Plateau

- Agim said that other services deployed in Exercise Ayem Akpatuma, also known as Cat Race will do their utmost to ensure that the killings are curbed

The defence headquarters, on Saturday, March 17, assured Nigerians that the troops of the Nigerian Army and other services deployed in Exercise Ayem Akpatuma, also known as Cat Race, were on the alert to arrest the killer herdsmen ravaging Plateau, Kogi and other surrounding states.

The director of defence information, John Agim, said this in a message to the Punch while answering a question on whether new deployments had been made to deal with fresh herdsmens violence in the north-central and middle belt states, the Punch reports.

READ ALSO: Northern Muslim elite have used religion to hold on to power - Kukah

The herdsmen recently attacked the Miango and Mararaba Dare communities near Jos, Plateau state, killing at least 25 persons. The army had said the herdsmen also shot dead two soldiers during a gun battle at Rafiki village.

Moreover, on Thursday, March 15, the herdsmen attacked Oganenigwu community in the Dekina local government area of Kogi state, killing at least 32 residents.

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Agim said on Saturday, March 17, that the troops were on top of the situation. Agim stated: Exercise Cat Race will, by the grace of God, contain the herdsmens killings in these states.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) had sent a letter to the United Nations security council to declare killer herdsmen as terrorists.

Legit.ng gathered that the group called on the UN to Urgently hold a special session on Nigeria and to visit the country to press the authorities to end continuing killings and destruction of property by suspected herdsmen across Nigeria, particularly in the North-Central of the country.

Nigerian herdsmen vs Nigerian farmers - On Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit- A Romanian man has been declared dead by a court despite being alive

- He had reportedly traveled to Turkey and eventually lost contact with his family for over a decade

- His wife later obtained a death certificate for him 4 years after not hearing from him

In what looks like a story from a movie script, Constantin Reliu may be in shock for a long time to come over his current status. The 63-year-old was legally declared dead by the court despite an overwhelming evidence contradicting that fact.

According to The Guardian, Constatin had traveled to Turkey in the year 1992 in search of work. He last returned to the country in 1999 and ever since then, made no contact with his family. Not hearing from him for years, Relius wife obtained a backdated death certificate for him in 2003.

Constantin Reliu revealed that he was unaware of the death certificate until Turkish authorities arrested and deported him back to Romania due to expired papers. Reliu had planned to renew his passport in Romania and return to Turkey, but on arrival, he was detained by immigration officers who informed him he had died in 2003

READ ALSO: Mother cries out to authorities over her missing daughter who never returned home from school

Constantin Reliu Source: The Guardian

READ ALSO: Help us find our child! Parents cry out after their 3-year-old son goes missing

After more than a decade in Turkey during which time he made no contact with his family, he discovered he was declared dead in his homeland. Appealing the case in court, he was told it was too late, and would have to remain officially deceased.

His wife argued in court that having heard nothing from her husband since 1999, she had assumed he died in an earthquake while in Turkey.

I am officially dead, although Im alive, I have no income and because I am listed dead, I cant do anything. a shocked and bemused Constantin said during an interview with a local media outlet.

Reliu said he wants to return to Turkey and has set up a small company there, but is now faced with a confusing legal battle to regain his identity and obtain a passport.

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Should a 'homeless' man move into a house built by his wife? on Legit.ng TV:

Source: Legit- Former governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa state says urgent steps must be taken to resolve the crises in the APC

- Nyako says his party must learn from the downfall of the PDP if it must exist

- The former governor says retaining the National Executive Council (NEC) of the party is detrimental

A former governor of Adamawa state and chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Murtala Nyako, has reportedly warned that the partys decision to extend the tenure of its National Executive Committees is detrimental to its future.

Nyako warned that the party was destroying itself adding that the APC has lost the moral ground to speak on due process, rule of law, enforcement of democratic norms and culture.

READ ALSO: Nigerias youngest House Of Assembly Speaker snubs ladys handshake

Premium Times reports that Nyako, spoke in Yola on Saturday, March 18 while addressing a group of APC supporters at his residence shortly after he condoled with the family of a former governor of the state, Saleh Michika, who died recently.

The former governor said the party is headed for destruction except its leaders take urgent actions to address alleged illegalities and impunity going on in the party.

According to him, the only solution to the problem is for the APC to hold a national convention.

Even if a mechanic takes APC to court today over the unconstitutional and undemocratic tenure extension of party officials, it is very clear that the court can lock the national secretariat of the party.

If there is no convention in APC before the general elections, the party may become a spectator instead of a participant, he reportedly warned while emphasizing fairness, legality, justice and rule of law can sustain the APC ahead of the 2019 general elections.

He warned the party to learn from the tragedy that befell the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) prior to 2015.

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The quality of remarks made on some important national issues does not reflect reasonable sense.

Some of our political leaders seem to take ogogoro before taking action or making public statements on important issues, because some of their statements do not reflect or contain any reasonable sense, he said while taking a swipe at politicians.

Legit.ng earlier reported that Kayode Fayemi, the mines and steel development minister, has urged Nigerian youths and beneficiaries of N-Power programme of the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led federal government to re-elect President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019 presidential election.

Fayemi made the appeal in Ado-Ekiti in Ekiti during the scheme's first anniversary. He said the youths empowerment was a priority to APC government.

What should the FG do to tackle herdsmen's attacks in the country? - on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit NigeriaBy Jerri-Lynn Scofield, who has worked as a securities lawyer and a derivatives trader. She now spends much of her time in Asia and is currently working on a book about textile artisans.

Last week, on 15th March, a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit struck down the Department of Labors (DoL) fiduciary rule in a split 2-1 decision.

The rule had been enacted in 2016, during the previous administration. On the campaign trail and as President, Trump had singled out the measure for criticism. In February 2017, he issued a Presidential Memorandum on Fiduciary Duty Rule, in which he directed the DoL to conduct an examination of the rule that was due to come into effect in April (as I wrote in Fourth Federal District Court Looks Likely to Uphold Fiduciary Rule). The Trump memo was mere bluster and had no legal effect, but in June 2017, the DoL delayed full implementation of the new rule, as well as enforcement, as it considered its next steps.

Meanwhile, a coalition of business interests including the Financial Services Institute, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce had brought a lawsuit challenging the rule. Their arguments were rejected by a federal district court sitting in Dallas that upheld the original DOL rule.

As MarketWatch noted on 17th March in Is the fiduciary rule dead or alive? What its fate means to you:

The Obama administration, which proposed the rule, claimed it would save Americans $17 billion a year from conflicted advice. The U.S. rule was weaker than what other countries have in place to protect investors, such as in the U.K., where commissions are banned and advisers must pass harder tests, said Betsey Stevenson, a former member of the Presidents Council of Economic Advisers who worked on the fiduciary rule, and currently a public policy and economics professor at the University of Michigan. With the court undoing that, it means you have to ask really hard questions if youre going to a financial adviser, she said.

Now what?

Its unclear what the Department of Labor the ostensible loser in this lawsuit will do next.

The department could ask for review by the entire Fifth Circuit, which could affirm or overturn the panel decision. Alternatively, the department could ask the United States Supreme Court to consider the case, and since a split in the appellate circuits is developing a factor the Court often weighs heavily in deciding whether to hear a case the Court may very well decide to grant certiorari. As reported by Investment News:

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the rule Tuesday, although on a much narrower question than the broader suit in the Fifth Circuit, which is based in New Orleans. A hearing on another suit against the rule is pending in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The department could also opt not to contest the Fifth Circuit panels decision, thus allowing it to stand, and cease supporting, implementing, or enforcing the rule.

The SEC Mulls New Standard

Separately and independently, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is mulling its own version of a new standard to apply to brokers who service retail investors. Whereas Labors fiduciary rule covered only retirement accounts (e.g. 401 Ks and IRAs), the SEC rule would apply more broadly to non-retirement accounts as well, as reported by the Wall Street Journal on 15th March in Brokers Will Have to Reveal More to Investors Under Coming SEC Rule:

Critics of the SECs current standard for brokers say the regulations are too loose and need to be upgraded to protect unsophisticated investors from biased investment advice. Brokers are required to provide advice that is suitable, meaning it fits a clients goals and risk tolerance. Brokers are typically paid on sales commissions, which can skew their recommendations toward products that pay them more. The SECs proposed rule is likely to require brokers to provide advice that puts the clients interest before their own financial incentives. Wall Street is eager to see how the SEC describes that duty in its proposal, because it will affect the range of products that brokers can recommend and potentially expose them to greater liability.

The industry has favoured adoption of a best interest standard that would apply to both retirement and non-retirement accounts, as reported by the Wall Street Journal in February 2017 in Amid Threat to Fiduciary Rule, an Opening for a Uniform Standard? The SECs failure thus far to develop standard is part of the unfinished agenda set forth in the 2010 Dodd-Frank legislation. The failure to complete necessary rule-makings quickly and efficiently is a major failing of the leadership of previous SEC chairs Mary Shapiro and Mary Jo White.

As further reported in the 15th March Journal piece cited above:

SEC Chairman Jay Clayton has said brokers and investors should face a common set of regulations regardless of the type of account they have. The SECs rule proposal is also likely to restrict the ability of brokers to use titles such as financial adviser, Mr. Clayton has said. Some investor advocates say the name misleads clients into thinking that brokers have the same legal duties as money managers, who under law must put their clients best interest first. Money managers, also known as investment advisers, have to comply with different regulatory standards than brokers do, even though they sometimes provide similar services to investors. Investment advisers have complained for years that the rules for brokers are too permissive and that, by using titles such as financial adviser, they confuse clients who dont understand the difference between the two professions. The SEC hopes to vote to propose its rule by the end of the second quarter of 2018, according to people familiar with the matter. [SEC Commissioner Hester] Peirce said in an interview Thursday that she believes the five-member commission will vote on the proposal relatively soon. A period of public comment would follow before the agency could vote to adopt the measure as a final rule.

Several states have weighed in and asked the SEC to enact a firm standard, as reported in the 17th March MarketWatch piece cited above:

Treasurers from 11 states have written to the SEC asking for a more stringent fiduciary rule, saying in a March 8 letter that any standard less robust than [the DOLs rule] does not provide adequate protection for investors. Those states are Pennsylvania, Oregon, Iowa, Maryland, Rhode Island, Illinois, Washington, South Carolina, Vermont, Utah and Wyoming. This implementation delay, and the accompanying non-enforcement agreement, represent a step back in terms of protecting the interests of retirement savers and investors, they wrote.

Wall Streets Stance?

Where does Wall Street stand on these measures? This is not as clear as one might think. As I wrote in an August 2017 post, Fiduciary Rule: Helps Not Hurts Wall Street, So Full Rescission Unlikely, quoting from reporting done by the Wall Street Journal:

The Wall Street Journal reported last week in Who Is Winning With the Fiduciary Rule? Wall Street that the fiercely-resisted fiduciary rule has proven to be a boon thus far to Wall Street contrary to the idea that its implementation would spell the end of Western civilisation as we know it: The brokerage business fiercely fought the new retirement advice rule. But so far for Wall Street, it has been a gift. The rule requires brokers to act in the best interests of retirement savers, rather than sell products that are merely suitable but could make brokers more money. Financial firms decried the restriction, which began to take effect in June, as limiting consumer choice while raising their compliance costs and potential liability. But adherence is proving a positive. Firms are pushing customers toward accounts that charge an annual fee on their assets, rather than commissions which can violate the rule, and such fee-based accounts have long been more lucrative for the industry. In earnings calls, executives are citing the Department of Labor rule, known varyingly as the DOL or fiduciary rule, as a boon. Now, taking my tongue out of my cheek for a moment. As Ive written before, its no surprise that implementation of the fiduciary rule had more or less proceeded as planned despite Trumpian sturm und drang to the contrary given that Wall Street firms had taken steps necessary to comply given the rules planned implementation date before Trump was elected as President (as I wrote in this February post, Fourth Federal District Court Looks Likely to Uphold Fiduciary Rule). Notwithstanding Trumps February memorandum directing the Department of Labour to revisit the rule especially given the dubious legal significance of that action firms were not going to roll back these arrangements.

Given that many firms have already undertaken the transition to the rule for retirement accounts and have found their operations to be profitable it is by no means certain theyd like to see a full rollback to the status quo ante. A 16th March MarketWatch opinion piece, Opinion: Court ruling cant stop market forces pushing for the fiduciary rule, makes a similar point:

This may indeed be the case. But not every firm has necessarily made such changes. Those that have may have applied them to retirement accounts only. And absent effective regulation and enforcement, firms could opt to change their policies and practices at any time. In the wake of the Fifth Circuit decision, the focus shifts to what the SEC will do in this area.

Jay Claytons SEC has thus far not pursued an aggressive deregulatory agenda as have other Trump appointees such as Scott Pruitt at the Environmental Protection Agency. Clayton merely follows in the inadequate policy pathways blazed by predecessors Mary Schapiro and MaryJo White, as I wrote in

Trump SEC Fails to Pursue Aggressive Deregulatory Agenda (Albeit from Previous Pathetic Baseline). So I will remain open-minded until I see what the full SEC finally decides what to do about this issue.

I should reiterate, however, that as I also mentioned in that piece, the SECs recent enforcement record is worse than that of his predecessors, and continues to plumb new lows, as Yves discussed at greater length last week in her piece on Theranos, Jay Claytons SEC Lets Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes Get Away With Brazen Fraud.This RNN interview discusses oil funding of state measures to criminalize peaceful pipeline protest as eco-terrorism. Penalties up to 25 years in jail and $100 k in fines.

SHARMINI PERIES: Its The Real News Network. Im Sharmini Peries coming to you from Baltimore.

In Minnesota, Louisiana, Wyoming, Iowa, and Ohio have all introduced bills that seek to criminalize pipeline protesters as eco terrorists. They have all introduced similar bills at the state legislature. The bills push for criminal punishment for up to 25 years in prison and a hundred thousand dollars in fines.

Our next guest says that Wyomings bill and these states bills are all a copy and paste version of the template legislation produced by the conservative corporate funded American Legislative Exchange Council, also known as ALEC. It is predominantly funded by oil billionaire brothers David Koch and Charles Koch. The Kochs are infamous for meddling in American politics, throwing millions of dollars at candidates who support their pro fossil fuel agenda. We have outlined this claim in a TRNN feature documentary titled Trump, the Koch Brothers, and Their War on Climate Science. The Kochs have supported the candidates of Vice President Mike Pence, head of the EPA Scott Pruitt, and the proposed new Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, all climate change deniers who disavow the connection between burning of fossil fuels and human caused climate change.

With us to discuss these beliefs and the criminalization of dissent, and ALECs hand in disrupting our democracies is Steve Horn. Hes the former research fellow with deSmogBlog. Steve has taken up a new post as an investigative journalist for the online publication and magazines titled Criminal Legal News and Prison Legal News. Steve, good to have you with us.

STEVE HORN: Good to be back on, thanks for having me.

SHARMINI PERIES: All right Steve, lets take up this bill. How do we know that this bill and versions of the bill introduced in different state legislatures come from ALEC?

STEVE HORN: Well, we know for a couple of, you know, maybe a few reasons. The first reason is the timing of the model bill, the Critical Infrastructure Act that passed in ALEC that dealt with these issues was in December. And so during that same month a similar type of model bill, what they call suggested state legislation and the Council of State Governments also passed, so these same bills passed in these sort of bill mill organizations. CSG, as its known, is more bipartisan. ALEC is of course most predominantly Republican Party members of state legislatures. So that bill passed through its environmental energy and agriculture task force in December. And then starting in January these bills started going through state legislatures. So first in Iowa and then in Ohio and then Wyoming, and now as of this week a couple more. Minnesota as well as Louisiana.

And the origin story of the ALEC bill is that often ALEC bills are kind of originals, they are talked about by lobbyists who attend ALECs annual meetings are funded by corporations. These are also corporate lobbyists for companies ranging the gamut of ExxonMobil, Koch Industries, Chevron. It depends on the meeting, but lots of corporate lobbyists who get in the room with these state legislatures.

And so at that particular meeting that bill passed but did, you know, sometimes they are originals that pass there. At this meeting it was actually inspired by a bill that already passed in Oklahoma. They liked the idea of it. It passed in Oklahoma in the spring of 2017. And so ALEC, and then of course CSG as I mentioned, both took it up as their model bills. From there, of course, now its moved in multiple state Houses.

I think whats important to point out is that in a lot of these cases its of course mostly Republican Party members pushing it, but it has gotten some Democratic Party support in all of these state Houses to some degree. And so I think thats why its important to mention the Council of State Governments, which is more bipartisan than ALEC, as an organization.

SHARMINI PERIES: Now Steve, I understand that this bill was designed in response to the massive and long lasting protests at Standing Rock over the Dakota Access Pipeline owned by Energy Transfer Partners. And we saw very aggressive police tactics in dealing with these protesters. A number of people arrested, including journalists, journalists that work with TRNN as well. Now talk about the events that triggered these bills.

STEVE HORN: Right. So Oklahoma is a really good example of sort of looking back at the origins of this and looking back to Standing Rock in the to access the Energy Transfer Partners. So Oklahoma is a huge oil and gas state. Its the headquarters of the major company Continental Resources, which is owned by Harold Hamm. He was a top energy adviser for Donald Trump during his presidential campaign. And he has a lot of his oil flowing through the Dakota Access pipeline because most of the oil drilling that he does the United States through Continental Resources happens in the Bakken Shale, which is starting point of the Access Pipeline.

So all of that said, Oklahoma was sort of a friendly state for them to get a bill like this through, super friendly for oil and gas in their state legislature. Of course they have an oil rig in front of their state capitol, infamously to some people, famously to others. But all of that said, it passed pretty easily. There was some debate over it but it did pass through. Two different bills actually, which is important to point out. Theres a bill that gives civil liability for doing protests on critical land that contains critical infrastructure, so things like refineries, pipelines, LNG, terminals, etc. Theres civil liability. One of those in Oklahoma was that. Another one was criminal liability. Both of those passed Oklahoma. And then looking forward that the actual ALEC model bill combines those two bills into one. So the model bills that are passing in other states you dont have to pass two bills in these states. They contain provisions both about civil liabilities and criminal liabilities.

And another thing to mention, I dont think this was in the Oklahoma bill but its a newer thing thats been added to all these other bills, is conspiracy. So say youre an environmental organization, or maybe you are a Native American tribe. If you funded activists or in some way gave funding for them, raised money, whatever, for the people that end up ended up committing this crime, protesting on the critical infrastructure. You also can be held liable for tens of thousands of dollars. And thats a provision that was in the Wyoming bill. Its in this new bill in Minnesota. And its , more broadly were looking back at the origin of this, Energy Transfer Partners. They filed a major lawsuit against Greenpeace against the Indigenous Environmental Network, against Earth First, and others for the same exact thing. Conspiracy under RICO, or the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. And so theres an ongoing lawsuit in federal court. Theyre saying that the actions that happened at Standing Rock cost Energy Transfer Partners hundreds of millions of dollars and therefore they should be held liable for that under RICO.

So this is of course an act that originally started because of the activity of the mob and organized crime. So all of that said, the same sort of, the spirit of that is now found in these bills that are moving through state Houses. And the last thing Ill say is that in Wyoming this is so controversial that it was actually vetoed by its Republican governor Matt Mead, and it was, kind of came under some criticism actually, from even some industry attorneys in the state who were members of Republican Party who thought it was just a bridge too far in terms of potential overreach and abuse of freedom of assembly and free speech.

SHARMINI PERIES: All right, Steve. Finally, whats the likelihood of this passing in other states? Good thing that the Wyoming governor had vetoed it. But what are the chances that itll pass in other states given that this violates First Amendment rights in the U.S. Constitution, which of course protects freedom of speech and freedom of assembly? And as you said if they include conspired to then of course even meeting to organize protests would be criminalized.

STEVE HORN: Yeah, well, so for example in the state of Iowa its passed in the Senate already. Its being considered now in the amendment process in the House of Representatives. Unclear what the governor would do there. Louisiana has an interesting one that just unrolled this week in terms of an introduction. Thats another key Energy Transfer Partners state. Theres a pipeline that connects to that access pipeline there called the Bayou Bridge Pipeline, which has been hotly contested by indigenous people and by people on the ground in Louisiana.

So I think that in a state like Louisiana thats very oil and gas friendly a bill like that would have potentially a better chance of passage, say, than in a state like Minnesota. But yeah, I think its important to just look at this trend. Minnesota is a state that has protests over the line. Three pipeline owned by Enbridge. And has been a battleground for indigenous peoples over pipelines and infrastructure. So its no accident that these bills are being introduced in these states. Whether or not they would eventually be signed by a governor remains to be seen. But I think that its interesting. One would think in Wyoming something like that would sail through, would be signed by the governor and became state law. But even in that state it came under fire by some conservatives, enough so that it was vetoed by the governor. So its one of those things that if theres enough sunlight and pressure by various stakeholders that maybe they wont go through. But at the same time this has already passed in the state of Oklahoma and is state law. It almost became state law in Wyoming. So these are very contentious battles to watch for in the weeks and months ahead.

SHARMINI PERIES: All right, Steve. I thank you so much for joining us, and please do join us again for another segment were going to do with Steve on the hidden hand of the oil industry, who are now more than ever entrenched in the presidential administration of President Trump. Thank you so much for joining us, Steve. Please join us for segment two.

STEVE HORN: Thank you. SHARMINI PERIES: And thank you for joining us here on the Real News Network.Tipperary students were among the 1,000 who attended this year's Mid West Limerick for Engineering Showcase.

Primary and secondary school students from all parts of county Tipperary were among the one thousand who attended Mid West Limerick for Engineering Showcase 2018 at Shannon Airport.

The event which had been postponed one week due to Storm Emma, also attracted parents of school going children, teachers, career guidance councillors and those curious about the ever developing world of engineering.

In its fourth year, this free showcase is the brainchild of the Limerick for Engineering consortium - an industry led collaboration between 30 leading companies in the mid west and the regions education providers.

During the three hour event, students engaged with the companies (indigenous and multi national); viewed the most cutting edge technologies, witnessed demonstrations by full time engineers, and learnt first hand about the multiple career opportunities available in the Mid West to young people with an interest in engineering.

Staff and students from Limerick Institute of Technology, the University of Limerick, the Limerick, Clare ETB and Griffith College were on hand to outline the various courses and routes that are available to students wishing to pursue a career in the engineering field.

Paschal Meehan, Dean, Work Based Learning, Vice President of International Engagement and Chairperson of Limerick for Engineering described this years showcase as exceptional, attracting the largest ever number of attendees.

Limerick for Engineering is a unique collaboration between industry and education which informs the next generation of engineers. The industry displays at this years showcase were interactive and informative and generated great interest among those who attended. It was also clear from the technology on display that engineering is an interesting and rewarding career which is open to everyone. The showcase gave young and old, male and female, the opportunity to see first hand what working as an engineer in the best companies here in the Mid West is all about, said Mr Meehan.

Barry Lowe, Engineering Manager at Lufthansa Technik Turbine Shannon and Chairman of the Thomond Region of Engineers Ireland was impressed with the interest of the young people who attended the event.

The huge turn out and the engagement of the young people during Limerick for Engineering was extremely encouraging, and the future as well as the present, is indeed very bright for engineering in the Mid West.

Barry OSullivan, General Manager, Johnson & Johnson Vision & President of the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland said the Mid West Limerick for Engineering Showcase demonstrated the various interesting and exciting careers in engineering available throughout the region.

The key contributor to the success of established companies in the region has been the availability of engineering graduates from the regional education and training institutions including the Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT), University of Limerick (UL), and the Limerick Clare Education and Training Board (LCETB).

Additionally, a strong collaboration between industry and academia has facilitated the development of new courses to meet the future skills demand, he added.

The recent significant success in delivering jobs to the region means that never before has there been such a wide range of new and exciting careers available in engineering. These careers are in different disciplines and at many different levels and specialisms such as apprenticeships, technician roles, engineering, as well as research and development, added Mr OSullivan.

Following on the success of the this years event the fifth Mid West Limerick for Engineering Showcase 2018 will return to Shannon Airport in 2019.The Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, General Petr Pavel visited Serbia on 15 and 16 March 2018, where he met with Minister of Defence, Mr. Aleksandar Vulin and Chief of Defence, General Ljubisa Dikovic and other high level political and defence officials. While in Belgrade, General Pavel visited the Ministry of Defence, the General Staff Building, the NATO Military Liaison Office and the Serbian Simulation Training Centre at the Training and Doctrine Department of the General Staff. The Chairman also took some time to engage with the students of the Advance Security and Defence Studies.

Upon arrival in Belgrade, the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, General Petr Pavel met with Minister of Defence, Mr. Aleksandar Vulin to discuss NATO and Serbias partnership. General Pavel added that Serbia and NATO work together on common areas of interest, such as defence, training, disposal of ammunitions and innovative solutions to common security problems as delineated in the 2015 Individual Partnership Action Plan. Our practical cooperation has come a long way and is progressing well. NATO makes sure to respect Serbias neutrality in all ongoing cooperation.

General Pavel then visited the NATO Military Liaison Office (MLO) and thanked Brigadier General Marinelli for his leadership and for the important role the MLO has been playing as a conduit between NATO and Serbia since its establishment in December 2006.

After a short welcome ceremony, General Pavel and General Ljubisa Dikovic, Chief of Defence of Serbia, discussed the productive mil-to-mil cooperation and the ongoing Serbian defence reforms. General Pavel welcomed the progress made so far and highlighted that at Serbias request, NATO will continue working with the Armed Forces and Ministry of Defence to assist them in their reforms and transformation. The Chairman and General Ljubisa also stressed the mutual benefit of the NATO - Serbia partnership. Speaking about the Kosovo Force (KFOR), General Pavel reaffirmed no changes are foreseen in KFORs force posture. This has always been a conditions-based process.

The Chairman also engaged the students of the Advance Security and Defence Studies highlighting the challenges NATO and the Balkans are currently facing. We live in a changed security environment, facing re-emerging challenges and new challenges but we will only be able to overcome these if we work together, stressed General Pavel.

While visiting the Simulation Training Centre at the Training and Doctrine Department of the Serbian General Staff, General Pavel was briefed on two upcoming exercises being held in Serbia, this years Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre (EARDCC) exercise jointly organised by NATO and Serbia, and REGEX 18. General Pavel acknowledged the importance of exercises, exercises help NATO and Partners build interoperability, making us more efficient, more deployable and more flexible.

General Pavel concluded his visit by meeting with Assistant Minister for Sector of Security Policy, Mr. Branimir Filipovic. Both men agreed that the NATO Serbia partnership should focus on the future and the work that can be done on common challenges.(Natural News) How many avocados have you eaten in the past week? How about blueberries or kale? When certain foods suddenly get a lot of attention for their nutritional content, its not unusual for demand to rise. The question is: Can producers keep up?

According to the World Fruit Map 2018 from Rabobank, the avocado trade has risen by more than 12 percent per year. This would be good news for producers were it not for the fact that production has grown less than 5 percent per year, leaving a lot of demand unmet. Blueberry demand has risen 11 percent per year over the last decade, and the demand for all frozen fruit has risen 5 percent in the same time period.

Superfood fads have a big impact on the global fruit trade, but their influence is not always lasting. Remember the hype surrounding goji berries a few years ago? They were once extremely difficult to find, but the madness has largely died down since then. Do superfood trends fizzle out just as quickly as they rise?

Avocados are now enjoying their day in the sun, thanks largely to the influx of photos of avocado toast on social media. Avocados are full of healthy omega 3 fatty acids and antioxidants. They help support your immune and circulatory system as well as the skin, liver and lungs. In addition to their health benefits, one thing that has made them especially popular is their versatility. They work equally well in salads, sandwiches, Mexican dishes, and smoothies. It is this flexibility that has caused the avocados star to rise higher than some of the less-adaptable superfoods.

Catering to this particular food fad can be difficult because planting the trees requires a big investment. However, experts believe their global demand is unlikely to collapse once the hype winds down as theyve always been popular in places like Mexico and the United States. In China, however, their popularity is skyrocketing. More than 30 million kilos of avocados were imported in 2017; this is a huge rise over the 1.5 million kilos imported in 2013.

The environmental impact of superfood fads

One aspect of food fads that tends to be overlooked is their environmental impact. Producing avocados requires a lot of water, and it is typically dependent on agro-chemicals. It has been linked to deforestation, and on top of that, these easily-damaged fruits are often packaged in plastic for protection.

There are also social effects. When quinoa took off a few years ago in the West, its prices went through the roof, pricing out those in local populations where it is a staple crop.

Meanwhile, fresh blueberries are now being flown from South American countries like Chile to big cities like Shanghai, London and Paris to keep up with the demand for people who want smoothies every day of the year. As a low-calorie and tasty fruit that contains flavonoids and antioxidants, its the second most consumed berry in the U.S. and its popularity is surging worldwide. However, the carbon footprint of feeding this demand is significant.

Environmentally conscious consumers already know that eating local and in-season is ideal, and this is becoming easier as farmers adapt their crops to keep up with demand. Its not always feasible, whether its a question of soil and weather conditions or economics, but some French and British farmers are already growing quinoa, for example.

Experts like RaboResearch Food and Agribusinesss Cindy van Rijswick believe that the superfruit phenomenon isnt going to fade any time soon. Therefore, more innovation will be needed if producers want to keep up with the growing demand for these foods.

Sources for this article include:

NutraIngredients.com

NutraIngredients.com

Naturalpedia.com

Naturalpedia.com(Natural News) The Chinese governments recent crackdown on air pollution from coal-fired sources has borne fruit as Beijing residents enjoy the sight of cerulean skies for a record amount of time. However, some people are worried that the polluters are just migrating to other cities, The Guardian recently reported.

According to state-operated media, Beijing enjoyed a record 226 days of good air quality in 2017. Only 23 days saw heavy pollution, compared with 58 days back in 2013.

Responses ranged from disbelieving to laudatory.

How did Beijing become one of Chinas top cities for air quality? asked the headline of The South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong-based newspaper.

Isnt it good to have a ruling party that can honor its promise? tweeted Hu Xijin, the editor of the party-controlled Global Times, as he posted a photograph of Beijings CCTV headquarters with clear skies in the background.

During previous winters, Beijing burned more coal to keep its millions of residents from freezing. This resulted in smog filling the skies.

In 2017, the Chinese government embarked on a massive campaign to reduce air pollution levels in the capital city. To this end, it sent thousands of environmental inspectors into Beijings industrial zone with orders to curb the use of coal.

The inspectors also went after construction sites, factories, and vehicles.

In the past, we made money first and could only talk about the environment later, said visual artist Wu Di, whose haunting artwork was inspired by Western athletes wearing face masks when they arrived for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

But its clear the government has changed its mind. We can see everything is starting to move in the right direction, he approved. (Related: Air pollution inside the home: Popular air fresheners and fabric cleaners are full of chemicals, could be causing your asthma, allergies.)

Beijing and China have a long way to go

According to Greenpeace campaigner Lauri Myllyvirta, the cleaner skies over Beijing could be mostly attributed to the decisive action taken by Chinese leaders to reduce air pollution levels.

There is clear evidence the measures worked, he said, citing a 40 percent reduction in overall levels of PM2.5 (atmospheric particulate matter) in Beijing today compared to the 2012-2013 period.

He also warned that the citys average PM2.5 levels were still 65 percent higher than the rest of China and more than five times the safe levels set by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2017.

Furthermore, the crackdown may have just forced polluting industries to head elsewhere. Residents of important cities like Shanghai have reported increasing smog levels.

The war on pollution is far from over Few people harbor illusions, said Myllyrvirta before he ended on a positive note.

But there is also no reason for cynicism as theres clear evidence the measures worked.

Change might be coming too fast?

In an effort to speed up the conversion to natural gas or electric heating systems, environmental inspectors smashed coal-fired heaters. This has caused problems for some Beijing residents.

Its only four degrees in here I can hardly work, Wu complained while wearing a thick coat inside his unheated studio.

He supported the governments drive for a cleaner environment, but he also wished the measures were gentler.

I can cope with the low temperature, but what about the elderly? Wu asked. What about children?

He heard about a primary school near his studio whose radiators broke down. Several students reportedly suffered frostbite while others tried to stay warm by studying outdoors under the sun.

Like Myllyrvirta, Wu is also concerned about environmental damage in areas far from Beijings much publicized skies. Overall, though, hes pleased with the progress his country has made.

You can find more articles about the fight against pollution at Pollution.news.

Sources include:

TheGuardian.com

Reuters.comSan Francisco firefighters battled a four-alarm fire in the North Beach neighborhood Saturday night.

Officials said there were no reported civilian injuries but as many as 15 people were at one time displaced after firefighters evacuated the entire block of Union Street since the fire was first reported around 7:24 p.m. One firefighter still working at the scene on Sunday was injured, but he is said to be stable, according to fire officials.

San Francisco firefighters are battling a three-alarm fire in the North Beach neighborhood Saturday night.

The fire, which sparked at 659 Union Street, affected a vacant second-floor residential area and five ground floor commercial businesses.

Firefighters quickly arrived at the scene within two minutes and had water on the fire within six minutes, according to San Francisco Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White.

It was then reported to be a two-alarm fire, which quickly changed from three to four-alarms shortly after 8 p.m. The fire was pronounced under control just after 1 a.m. on Sunday.

According to fire officials, the battle quickly changed from "offensive mode" to "defensive mode" after officials found no life safety concerns.

San Francisco firefighters are battling a four-alarm fire in the North Beach neighborhood Saturday night.

The cause of the fire is still unknown and according to Hayes-White, officials won't know until Sunday when the fire has cleared and they obtain more evidence.

As of Sunday morning, eight people were still displaced as a result of the blaze. For those displaced, officials said the evacuation center is located at the Salvation Army building at 1450 Powell St. and is operated by the Red Cross.

San Francisco firefighters battled a four-alarm fire in the North Beach neighborhood Saturday night leaving many witnesses in the area stunnned. Roz Plater reports.

Due to the number of people making it difficult for officials to do their work, Columbus at Broadway was shut down.

Officials asked residents to avoid the area.

No further details were immediately available.Towering flames shot out of a multi-unit building in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood Saturday night, pumping thick, black smoke into the air visible from miles away.

Despite the chaotic scene on the night of St. Patrick's Day festivities in the city by the bay, no civilians were hurt after the four-alarm blaze erupted at 659 Union St., fire officials said. One firefighter still on the scene Sunday morning was injured after falling off a firetruck, but he is said to be stable.

"You can feel the heat," witness Alex Sejic said as crews fought the inferno. "We were just here standing across the street. You can feel the heat on your face. It was really bad."

San Francisco firefighters are battling a three-alarm fire in the North Beach neighborhood Saturday night.

On Sunday afternoon, the Department of Building Inspection said the fire caused structural damage rendering the building unsafe and uninhabitable, and the building has been red-tagged.

The building contains five commercial units on the ground level with vacant residences above. As of Sunday morning, eight people from a nearby building were still displaced as a result of the fire, according to fire officials and the Associated Press.

Fire crews arrived at the site of the blaze within two minutes and started dousing the flames within six minutes, San Francisco Fire Department Chief Joanne Hayes-White said. After implementing a four-alarm response, fire officials declared the blaze under control at 1:11 a.m. on Sunday.

"The fire got pretty big pretty fast," witness Nathan Lederer said. "It took them awhile to get it out, of course."

As crews attacked the fire, roaring flames lit up the pre-night sky. Black smoke billowing into the air was photographed from as far away as the East Bay.

"Eyes are burning and air is hard to breathe," Jenn Davis wrote on Twitter as she captured footage of the blaze.

San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who says he was having dinner nearby and was at the scene of the fire within minutes of it starting, said the fire department was painfully slow in responding. Now, hes calling for San Francisco Fire Department Chief Joanne Hayes-White to resign. Sergio Quintana reports.

A half-dozen businesses remained closed Sunday as firefighters investigated the fire.

Shadi Zaghayar, who runs Coit Liquors, said it closed for six months after a fire in the building in 2014. Its been a family business for 10 years.

"Four years ago, I dealt with the same situation," said Zaghayar, who plans to reopen again. "We just need support for the neighborhood; this is a great neighborhood. What makes me stand on my feet is these people who live here."

Salvatore Cantara, owner of Michaelangelo Cafe, said his establishment was packed when customers evacuated. Food was still on the table Sunday. Cantara is worried about the future.

"Smells likes smoke," he said, fighting back tears. "There is water on the ceiling. Twelve years, three jobs to open this business."

San Francisco firefighters are battling a four-alarm fire in the North Beach neighborhood Saturday night.

San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who was having dinner nearby and was at the scene of the fire within minutes of it starting, said the fire department was slow in its response. He then called for Hayes-White's resignation.

"It starts at the top," Peskin said. "I called her during this event repeatedly. Her voicemail is full. But even her high-ranking staff that got here realized that they were not on the job. There is no excuse for it, not whatsoever."

Hayes-White said that firefighters put water on the flames from inside the building first before pulling out and battling the inferno from the outside.

Interim Mayor Mark Farrell and San Francisco Board of Supervisors President London Breed stood behind the efforts of the fire department and the chief.

"Any talk like that during a time like this I think is inappropriate," Farrell said while speaking at the scene.

Breed stated that the most important thing to consider at the time was the fact there were no injuries and that firefighters were still trying to fully gain control of the blaze.

[BAY BW]Blaze Engulfs Building in San Francisco's North Beach Neighborhood

Peskin plans to launch an investigation into the fire department's response, but a specific timetable was not immediately known.

"This has nothing to do with politics," he said. "This has to do with an abject failure by the fire department."

An investigation into the cause and origin of the North Beach blaze is still under investigation.

NBC Bay Area's Christie Smith contributed to this report.An Allentown teen who went missing two weeks ago with a 45-year-old man returned safely to Pennsylvania early Sunday morning, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials confirmed to NBC10.

The 16-year-old landed at Philadelphia International Airport and is being evaluated at a local hospital, family confirmed to NBC10.

"She doesn't want to see me," the girl's mother said.

Officials found the teen and Kevin Esterly late Saturday morning in the beachside resort town of Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico.

Esterly is in custody in Miami and has been charged with custodial interference, according to investigators.

"Thank you, God," the girl's mother said of her safe return.

Officials believe the 16-year-old willingly disappeared with Esterly, a father of four daughters. His eldest child is 14 years old and youngest is 2 years old.

The two apparently had a secret relationship for months, and investigators said the teen may even have gone on family vacations with Esterly.

John Waldron, the attorney representing Esterly's wife, Stacie, told NBC10 the couple has been arguing for months over his relationship with the Allentown teen, who went missing on March 5.

Ten days later, an Amber Alert was issued in Mexico after it was discovered Esterly bought one-way tickets to Dallas and then to Cancun.

According to a warrant issued after they disappeared, Esterly signed the girl out of school 10 times between Nov. 13 and Feb. 9 without her parents' permission.

Police said the girl's mother called Feb. 9 to report Esterly had signed her child out of Lehigh Valley Academy earlier that day. On Feb. 15, records show police told Esterly to stay away from the teen's home.

Investigators said it now appears that the girl may have added Esterly to her school emergency contact list as a stepfather. That, they said, would have allowed him to remove the girl from school.

It's not clear when Esterly will be returned to Pennsylvania. Allentown police are awaiting his extradition. He and his wife have not had contact since he was taken into custody.

"He is calling her from a jail in Florida but she is not accepting his calls," Waldron, her attorney, said.

Editor's Note: NBC10 is no longer naming the girl, now that she has been found safe and could be the victim of a crime.



Legislation has been filed on Beacon Hill that would require the state's pension fund to divest from any companies that manufacture guns and ammunition.

Democratic state Treasurer Deb Goldberg, whose office oversees the pension fund, proposed the bill along with two Democratic lawmakers, Senate Majority Leader Cynthia Creem of Newton and Rep. Lori Ehrlich of Marblehead, in the aftermath of the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida.

It's not clear how much the pension fund is currently invested in companies that manufacture guns or ammunition, but the amount is believed to be very small.

But Goldberg says the bill if passed would send a "clear message" that Massachusetts stands with victims of gun violence.

Several other states including Connecticut and New Jersey are weighing similar measures.Four people were killed and at least 12 others have been wounded in shootings across Chicago since Friday afternoon.

In the most recent fatal shooting, a man was killed and another was grazed by a bullet Saturday night as they were driving in the Back of the Yards neighborhood on the South Side, according to Chicago Police. The men, ages 27 and 32, were traveling south in a Chevrolet Equinox at 10:33 p.m. in the 4900 block of South Ashland when two other males got out of a dark-colored SUV and opened fire. The older man suffered multiple gunshot wounds to his body, while the younger man was grazed in the right hand.

Emergency crews responded after the men drove themselves to the 7th District Chicago Police Department at 1438 W. 63rd St., police said. They were both taken to Stroger Hospital, where the older man was pronounced dead and the younger mans condition stabilized. The Cook County Medical Examiners Office didnt immediately confirm the death.

Early Saturday, a 17-year-old boy was gunned down while getting onto the Eisenhower Expressway on the Near West Side. Jayton Jones, of the Lawndale neighborhood, was driving a Pontiac Grand Prix at 1:19 a.m. in 1700 block of West Van Buren when someone in a black sedan fired shots that struck him multiple times in the body, according to police and the medical examiners office. The Grand Prix then rolled down the entrance ramp to Interstate 290 and struck a wall. The boy was pronounced dead at the scene.

About 9:30 p.m. Friday, a 39-year-old man was found shot to death in the South Side Hyde Park neighborhood. Jeraun A. McRae was found on a sidewalk in the 5400 block of South Cornell with gunshot wounds to his head, chest and leg, police and the medical examiners office said. He was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital and pronounced dead at 10:06 p.m.

About 5 hours earlier, another man was fatally shot in the West Pullman neighborhood on the Far South Side. Darius Moorman, 21, was sitting in a parked car at 4:27 p.m. in the 12400 block of South Lowe when another male walked up and fired shots, striking him in the chest, authorities said. Moorman then drove off and crashed into several parked cars. He was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead at 5:26 p.m.

At least 11 others were wounded in shootings over the weekend.

Last weekend, four people were killed and 16 others were wounded in shootings across Chicago.Get ready to go green Chicago! Well, for St, Patrick's Day, that is.

For the past 65 years, the city has kicked off the St. Patricks Day Parade celebration by dyeing the Chicago River green -- and this year, it's no different. Except for one thing.

Organizers are extending the river dyeing one block west to State Street so that hundreds of more spectators are able to watch the tradition take place Saturday, according to parade committee spokesperson Sally Daly.

Starting at 9 a.m., members of the Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Local Union 130 will dump about 40 pounds of environmentally friendly vegetable dye to color the water, Daly said.

The powders formula has remained a secret ever since its origin because the Plumbers Local 130 believe nobody dyes the river better than they do, she said.

What we do know is that the powder is actually not green; its original color is a deep-reddish one, which Daly claims resembles that of Paprika ground spice. That red powder then turns emerald green after it hits the water.

Although the color only lasts around five hours, Daly says the temporary look is one that hundreds of thousands of people look forward to seeing each year.

You feel the excitement in the air as it signals the start of the celebration, she said.

At noon, the Downtown Chicago Parade will commence and about 122 entries are expected to take part.

Daly said tourists specifically come to Chicago this holiday season because the Windy City is home to one of the largest St. Patricks holiday celebrations in the nation.A woman was killed and a man was injured following in a shooting at a Southern California shopping mall Saturday afternoon.

The victim was identified as a 30-year-old woman from Thousand Oaks and the suspect was identified as a 33-year-old man from Los Angeles. The victim and the suspect are a divorced couple with children in common, according to Garo Kuredjian of the Ventura County Sheriffs Office.

Around 2:15 p.m., the sheriffs department received a call of shots fired inside the Paper Source store at the Oaks Shopping Center. The victim  who was an employee of the Paper Source store  was "targeted," the sheriffs department said.

It was not an active shooter incident. The shooting is being described as an attempted murder-suicide.

Deputies found the woman dead inside the store and the suspect "gravely injured" from a gunshot wound. He was taken to a nearby hospital and a gun was recovered at the scene.

An update on the suspect's condition was not immediately available.

Here's a video outside cheesecake factory. Cops have it surrounded with huge guns. pic.twitter.com/6Pn4pVD4DC  Anthony  Angelini (@LosAngelini) March 17, 2018

"The situation is contained and there is no threat to the public," the Thousand Oaks Station tweeted around 3:15 p.m.

There are no outstanding suspects, authorities said.

Shoppers ran for safety after hearing the gunshots at the mall. A man who was in the Vans store next door to the Paper Source told NBC4 he heard the shots, ran into the back room and the employees locked the doors.

"It sounded like balloons or firecrackers  we didnt know what was going on," Dan Beaton said.

Amid the chaos, shoppers were advised they could seek safety at the VCFD Fire station 30 across the street.

The indoor portion of the Oaks Mall reopened shortly after 4 p.m. The open air portion of the mall remains closed during the investigation.A North Branford elementary school was damaged by a fire over the weekend, but firefighters and repair crews worked quickly to ensure school was in session Monday.

Fire broke out at the Totoket Valley Elementary School on Middletown Avenue around 10 p.m. Saturday. No injuries were reported, but the fire damaged the schools roof and boiler room.

North Branford Superintendent Scott Schoonmaker told NBC Connecticut on Saturday that officials hoped to have school Monday, and were waiting to see how repairs went. He praised the fire department for the way they handled the call.

Im amazed at how quickly they were able to cut the roof away, get in, extinguish the fire and then make it safe so that we could start repairs today," he said.

Schoonmaker said they believe the fire was caused by an overheated exhaust fan in the boiler room. The necessary repairs to the roof were made and the heat was working properly in time for class on Monday.St. Patricks Day celebrations meant a busy day for bars and restaurants in Connecticut, and also for police patrolling the roads.

On St. Patricks Day 2018, a lively crowd packed McLaddens in West Hartford for bangers and mash, corned beef, and of course Guinness.

The drinks are great. The food is great. Its all about Irish, Carrie Ladden of Hamden, Massachusetts, said.

For this pub, it takes weeks of work and all of the staff to pull off this nearly day-long celebration.

Biggest day! We get crazy. We get totally packed by this afternoon, Priscilla Polci, McLaddens manager, said.

According to the National Retail Federation, the day is most popular with adults age 18 to 24. And of those who plan to celebrate, about a quarter plan to go to a bar or restaurant. With so many people headed to parties across the state, state police are launching enhanced patrols.

Today is normally one of the busier days of the year, Trooper Aaron Pelletier, State Police, said.

Pelletier was looking for drivers who are drunk, distracted behind the wheel or involved in other unsafe moves or violations. Troopers had a message for those who celebrate a little too much.

You can call Uber, Lyft. You can definitely try to find a ride home. I mean there are safer routes than getting behind a wheel and driving and endanger everybody else on the highway, Pelletier said.Firefighters from the Frisco and Flower Mound Fire Departments are now in Wichita Falls, prepared to help fight any large wildfires that may break out in the Texas Panhandle.

Forecasters warned Friday that the intensifying drought has resulted in critical fire danger and some winter wheat crops being reduced to stubble across several states.

Due to the dry conditions, the National Weather Service issued fire warnings Friday for most of Oklahoma, the Texas Panhandle, southern Kansas, northeastern New Mexico, southeastern Colorado and southeastern Missouri.

The lack of rain combined with above-normal temperatures across parts of New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas have left livestock watering tanks dry, agricultural fields wind-blown and rangeland charred.

Four firefighters and one Type III engine from the Frisco Fire Department and two firefighters and a brush truck from the Flower Mound Fire Department all left North Texas Saturday afternoon.

The crews are part of the Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System. Fire crews can be deployed for up to seven days.

Once in Wichita Falls, the crews will receive further instructions.

It took months to prepare for the demolition of a Fort Worth high rise, but only took 10 seconds to see the building fall to pieces.



A Dallas Demolition crew in a parking lot about 100 feet away from Fort Worths Westchester Plaza pushed the button at 8 a.m. Sunday to set off nearly 300 pounds of dynamite installed throughout the skeleton frame.

A loud rumble echoed through the streets, which were lined by some onlookers.

I was shocked at the sound. You think of the blast going off, but you could feel it it was louder than fireworks to me, said Bob Haslam, a Fort Worth resident.

The building collapsed into its own footprint turning the 12-story structure into 17,000 tons of rubble.

I didnt expect it to be a process like it was.. it was so loud, said Anna Leone, a Fort Worth resident.

The clean-up was fast as street sweepers and leaf blowers took to the streets immediately to clear the dust.



Its an experience unlike any other, especially in person. Think of thunder going off and feeling it in your chest, said Sunny Lohden with Dallas Demolition.

The streets were reopened within two hours, but the debris will take about six weeks to remove.

On Saturday, in the hours leading up to the moment months in the making, many stopped by to see Westchester intact one last time.

It was the place to be, because you see a high rise and there were very few high rises around here so it was the place to live for sure, said Bill Jensen.

But even several decades back when Jensens soon-to-be bride was scouting it out as a place to call home, Jensen said the once luxurious apartments felt tired.

Not long after, the property was converted into assisted living facility.

LaTonne Stouts program for the deaf moved in to occupy a floor during September of 1989.

All of the many, many lives of the deaf and deaf blind that have lived in that building. I can just think of the most wonderful stories, said Stout.

But as the building aged, so did its reputation. While Stout shed tears thinking about the end of Westchester, Sheila Worthey said she was glad to see it go.

Its kind of bittersweet really. To see it come down. There are a lot of memories here, but its time for it to go, said Worthey.

Wortheys son, who called Westchester Plaza home for 17 years, will sit in a nearby parking lot with her Sunday morning to watch the building come down where they say too many people were treated poorly.

Those who do turn out Sunday morning will be kept at a distance.

Lohden says several nearby buildings have been draped with fabric or had windows covered with plastic or foam out of an abundance of caution. He said no other property should be disturbed including several nearby historic homes.

Weve had engineers out here during the studies monitoring seismic activity and its at a minimum, said Lohden.After former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe was fired by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, in a move that President Donald Trump lauded as a "good day" but McCabe slammed as part of the administration's "war on the FBI," it was revealed that McCabe kept memos on his interactions with the president and handed the notes over to the special counsel.

The dismissal Friday was made on the recommendation of FBI disciplinary officials. An upcoming inspector general's report is expected to conclude that McCabe authorized the release of information to the media and was not forthcoming with the watchdog office as it examined the bureau's handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation.

"The FBI expects every employee to adhere to the highest standards of honesty, integrity, and accountability," Sessions said in a statement.

McCabe said his credibility had been attacked as "part of a larger effort not just to slander me personally" but also the FBI and law enforcement.

Many top positions in President Donald Trumps Cabinet and the West Wing have been in flux.

"It is part of this administration's ongoing war on the FBI and the efforts of the special counsel investigation, which continue to this day," he added, referring to Robert Mueller's probe into potential coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign. "Their persistence in this campaign only highlights the importance of the special counsel's work."

McCabe asserted he was singled out because of the "role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of James Comey," whom Trump fired as FBI director last May.

And McCabe's attorney, Michael Bromwich, railed against the administration and Trump's "offensive, drive-by Twitter attacks" on his client. "It should make all federal government employees, who continue to work in an Administration that insults, debases, and abuses them, shudder in the knowledge that they could be next," Bromwich said in a statement.

Mueller is investigating whether Trump's actions, including Comey's ouster, constitute obstruction of justice. McCabe, a Comey confidant, could be an important witness.

McCabe said the release of the findings against him was accelerated after he told congressional officials that he could corroborate Comey's accounts of Comey's conversations with the president.

And on Saturday, NBC News reported that McCabe too kept personal memos regarding President Donald Trump and turned them over to Mueller's team. NBC News tweeted that, according to a source familiar with the situation, McCabe turned them over some time ago."

According to the AP, McCabe's memos include details of his own interactions with the president and recount different conversations he had with Comey. Though the precise contents are unknown, the memos possibly could help substantiate McCabe's assertion that he was unfairly maligned by the White House. They almost certainly contain, as Comey's memos did, previously undisclosed details about encounters between the Trump administration and FBI that could be of interest to Mueller.

JUST IN: Fired Deputy FBI Director McCabe took notes on his interactions with President Trump and turned them over to special counsel Muellers team some time ago, a source familiar with the situation tells @NBCNews. - @PeteWilliamsNBC  NBC News (@NBCNews) March 17, 2018

McCabe spent more than 20 years as a career FBI official and played key roles in some of the bureau's most recent significant investigations. Trump repeatedly condemned him over the past year as emblematic of an FBI leadership he contends is biased against his administration.

In a tweet early Saturday, Trump said it was "a great day for Democracy" and "a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI." He asserted without elaboration that McCabe "knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI."

In subsequent tweets, he continued to assert there was "no collusion" and slam the FBI, State Department and Justice Department for the "tremendous leaking, lying and corruption at the highest levels."

He added: "The Fake News is beside themselves that McCabe was caught, called out and fired. How many hundreds of thousands of dollars was given to wifes campaign by Crooked H friend, Terry M, who was also under investigation? How many lies? How many leaks? Comey knew it all, and much more!"

Comey responded to Trump in a Saturday tweet, writing, "Mr. President, the American people will hear my story very soon. And they can judge for themselves who is honorable and who is not."

The president's tweets also sent former CIA Director John Brennan, an outspoken Trump critic, into a Twitter tizzy: "When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history. You may scapegoat Andy McCabe, but you will not destroy America...America will triumph over you."

Sarah Huckabee Sanders told the press Friday that no more staff changes were coming, and that the Chief of Staff told staffers they "shouldn't be concerned."

McCabe had been on leave from the FBI since January, when he abruptly left the deputy director position. He had planned to retire on Sunday, and the dismissal probably jeopardizes his ability to collect his full pension benefits. His removal could add to the turmoil that has enveloped the FBI since Comey's firing and as the FBI continues its Trump campaign investigation that the White House has dismissed as a hoax.

The firing arises from an inspector general review into how the FBI handled the Clinton email investigation. That inquiry focused not only on specific decisions made by FBI leadership but also on news media leaks.

McCabe came under scrutiny over an October 2016 news report that revealed differing approaches within the FBI and Justice Department over how aggressively the Clinton Foundation should be investigated. The watchdog office has concluded that McCabe authorized FBI officials to speak to a Wall Street Journal reporter for that story and that McCabe had not been forthcoming with investigators. McCabe denies it.

In his statement, McCabe said he had the authority to share information with journalists through the public affairs office, a practice he said was common and continued under the current FBI director, Christopher Wray. McCabe said he honestly answered questions about whom he had spoken to and when, and that when he thought his answers were misunderstood, he contacted investigators to correct them.

The media outreach came at a time when McCabe said he was facing public accusations of partisanship and followed reports that his wife, during a run for the state Senate in Virginia, had received campaign contributions from a Clinton ally. McCabe suggested in his statement that he was trying to "set the record straight" about the FBI's independence against the background of those allegations.

[[414127913, C]]

Despite his defense, officials at the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility recommended the firing, leaving Justice Department leaders in a difficult situation. Sessions, whose job status has for months appeared shaky under his own blistering criticism from Trump, risked inflaming the White House if he decided against firing McCabe. But a decision to dismiss McCabe days before his retirement nonetheless carried the risk of angering his rank-and-file supporters at the FBI.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte applauded McCabe's firing and the timing of the decision, saying in a statement that his "actions have tarnished the reputation of the FBI, Americas premier law enforcement agency."

McCabe enjoyed a rapid career ascent in the bureau after joining in 1996. Before being named FBI deputy director last year, he led the bureau's national security branch and also the Washington field office, one of the its largest.

But he became entangled in presidential politics in 2016 when it was revealed that his wife, during her unsuccessful legislative run, received campaign contributions from the political action committee of then-Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a longtime Clinton friend. The FBI has said McCabe received the necessary ethics approval about his wife's candidacy and was not supervising the Clinton investigation at the time.

He became acting director following the firing last May of Comey, and immediately assumed direct oversight of the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign.

He quickly found himself at odds with the Trump administration.

As a congressional hearing days after Comey's dismissal, McCabe contradicted White House assertions that the Trump campaign investigation was one of the "smallest things" on the FBI's plate. He also strongly disputed the administration's suggestion that Comey had lost the support of the bureau's workforce.

"I can tell you that the majority, the vast majority of FBI employees, enjoyed a deep and positive connection to Director Comey," McCabe said.More than 100 undocumented immigrants were detained by deportation agents during a three-day sting spanning both San Diego and Imperial counties, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials said Friday.

ICE said the sweep that ended Thursday resulted in the arrest of 115 people who were violating federal immigration laws. Of those, 108 were arrested in San Diego County.

About half of the people arrested were convicted felons, according to ICE, while at least seven were arrested for re-entering the United States after being deported on a judges orders.

ICE said the sweep was meant to target public safety threats, people who received final orders from a judge to leave the United States and those who re-entered the country after being removed, but they will not exempt immigrants who are subject to removal.

It was not clear where in San Diego County all of the arrests occurred, but NBC 7 has learned that some occurred in Escondido, Oceanside and in the city of San Diego, including the City Heights neighborhood.

NBC 7 spoke to a man who said he was detained in Escondido while he was driving his kids to school. When immigration officials placed him in custody, his wife had to be called to come pick up their children.

The 40-year-old man said he was pulled over by an unmarked car as he drove down El Norte Parkway near Ash Street.

Officers asked for his license and told him there was a warrant out for his arrest, and before he knew it he was in handcuffs and put in the back of a car.

His oldest son called his mother crying and she drove to their location as quickly as she could.

The mother asked the officers for proof of the warrant and they only showed her a piece of paper with his name written in ink.

"I said that's not a warrant, I need the real warrant," she said.

She demanded to see the warrant once more and the officer showed her an AB 60 driver's license, requires the DMV to issue an original driver license to an applicant who is unable to submit satisfactory proof of legal presence in the country.

The father of four said he was booked into the Otay Mesa Detention Facility and released on the condition that he wears a GPS monitor on his ankle, similar to what someone under house arrest would wear.

Immigration authorities told him that he wouldn't be able to work while being monitored because he didn't have a legal work permit.

At least two more arrests were made in Oceanside, including the arrest of a 43-year-old gang member from Mexico who had been deported four times, and a 55-year-old Kazakhstan citizen wanted by his country for tax evasion.

Detainees who re-entered the U.S. after deportation, or who had outstanding orders of removal will be immediately deported. Others will remain in ICE custody awaiting a hearing before an immigration judge, ICE said.

Four of the individuals arrested will face federal criminal prosecution.

In a statement released Thursday, ICE criticized Californias "sanctuary state" status and said the designation increases the amount of "collateral arrests."

"State laws in California force ICE to focus additional resources to conduct at-large arrest in the community, putting officers, the general public and aliens at greater risk and increase the incidents of collateral arrests," the statement said.

A lawsuit filed by Attorney General Jeff Session against the state of California makes the same claim.

California Gov. Jerry Brown signed sanctuary state legislation last October that barred police from asking people about their immigration status or participating in federal immigration enforcement activities.

The California laws were passed in response to Trump's promises to sharply ramp up the deportation of people living in the U.S. illegally and went into effect on Jan. 1.

"These are uncertain times for undocumented Californians and their families, and this bill strikes a balance that will protect public safety, while bringing a measure of comfort to those families who are now living in fear every day," Brown said in a statement.

The declaration has been heavily criticized by the Trump Administration. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has said it will increase its presence in California, and Sessions wants to cut off funding to jurisdictions that won't cooperate.Gun enthusiasts were met by protesters in Del Mar Saturday, who called the Crossroads of the West Gun Show disrespectful to those affected by a recent mass shooting in Parkland, Florida.

Members of the North County community have been protesting the gun show at the Del Mar Fairgrounds for decades, but after 17 people, mostly students, were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last month, the group said, "enough is enough." The group is calling on the fairground's board of directors to stop hosting gun shows.

"Theyre basically selling killing machines and we need to protect our children," said Valerie Joy, a protester who joined dozens of others to chant, "love not hate thats what makes America great" in a designated free speech zone outside the show.

But Bob Templeton, owner of the Crossroads of the West Gun Show, says it's not the types of guns his show is selling that prompt mass shootings like the one in Florida. Templeton said doing more to address mental health would be more beneficial as a preemptive measure.

"People who shouldn't have firearms who have mental problems or who have a criminal history, those are the people who need to be precluded, prohibited from owning and buying firearms," Templeton said.

Saturday's protest was sponsored by Never Again, a grassroots organization that calls on legislators to reform gun laws.

"Everybody is on edge now," said Never Again member, Rose Ann Sharp. "They say how easy it is for this violence to occur."

Gun owners counter that California already has some of the strictest gun laws and many here are equally concerned about their right to own a firearm.

"Theres absolutely no correlation between what happened at the ... high school in Parkland, Florida, and what happens here at the gun show," Templeton said. "So those who would close the gun show or who would argue that it's insensitive really are attempting to run over other persons' second amendment rights."

Templeton said that the gun show's attendance has spiked this year. He expects a crowd of 10,000 people.What to Know Two more cars were removed from the rubble near FIU on Saturday.

Five of the victims have been identified by officials.

Officials are working to extract six remaining cars at the scene.

Authorities identified the sixth and final victim of the collapsed bridge near Florida International University on Sunday.

Police said Rolando Fraga-Hernandez, Oswald Gonzalez, Alberto Arias and Navarro Brown were killed when a 950-ton pedestrian bridge collapsed near FIU on March 15. NBC 6 independently confirmed FIU student Alexa Duran was killed in the incident on Friday.

On Sunday, a sixth victim in the deadly collapse was identified as Brandon Brownfield by Miami-Dade Police.

"I want to thank you all for your continuous love and support and prayers over the last 3 days," Chelsea Brownfield wrote. "The coming days are going to be excruciating, as we dig deep to find the strength we need to heal."

A GoFundMe page has been set up for Brownfield, who was described as being a "genuine, stand-up family guy." Brownfield has three daughters and worked in the crane industry, according to the page.

In a video message posted on Twitter, FIU president Mark Rosenberg acknowledged the victims, adding that a moment of silence will be held at 1:47 p.m. at the University on Monday to honor the lives lost.

"Please join us, wherever you are, and keep the victims and their families in your thoughts," he said.

Duran, an FIU freshman and political science major, was identified by authorities as a victim on Saturday. Her uncle said his grief has turned to anger and he is demanding answers from those involved.

Its too late for my niece. Its too late for the other familys children who were lost in there. I want people to step up and say 'Hey, I was the one responsible,' he said. "Come out of the shadows. Where are you people? This was a colossal failure of the system and this was complete incompetence from the top down."

Duran was driving under the bridge when the bridge came crashing down on her Toyota SUV. Her passenger survived the wreckage.

Others were distraught as they waited at the family reunification center on Saturday.

Police said Arias, 53, was the driver of a white Chevy truck pulled from the wreckage on Saturday.

He went out of his way to help anybody. He was a business owner and he just took a lot of pride in his work and family, said Ismael Segovia, his cousin.

Relatives say Arias was helping his mother move. His friend and passenger, Oswald Gonzalez, also died.

Brown, 37, was working on site when the bridge collapsed.

FragaHernandez's gold Jeep Cherokee was pinned underneath the weight of the concrete.

Chaplains were on site trying to console families during those tough times.

I think people are in shock and some of them are in shock, some want to cry, some are too emotional to even cry," said Thomas Hanlon, a chaplain. "Its pent up in there because of the unknown about where that family member may be.Actors John Goodman and Fred Armisen made surprise appearances in Saturday Night Lives cold open with host Bill Hader and Alex Moffat as CNNs Anderson Cooper.

The cold open began as a segment from CNNs Anderson Cooper 360 show covering President Donald Trumps firing of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, played by Goodman.

Armisen played author and columnist Michael Wolff, who wrote the book" Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," while Hader brought back his impersonation of Anthony Scaramucci, who had a short-lived career as a White House communications director.

A popular Hader character Stefon also returned to Weekend Update as the ultra-hipster who offered tips on New York hot spots for St. Patricks Day.

Other topics on Weekend Update included Kate McKinnons portrayal of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who received criticism for her CBS 60 Minutes interview.

I think the problem was the words that were coming out of my mouth were bad. That is because they came from my brain, McKinnons DeVos said. I may not be very good on camera but behind the scenes my ideas are much worse.

The band Arcade Fire joined the show for their fourth appearance as musical guest.What to Know Eighteen animals, mostly dogs, died while being transported on United planes last year, according to federal data

Alaska Airlines carried 17 percent fewer animals last year but had just two deaths

Reports filed with the government indicate that in most cases of animal death or injury last year, United took no corrective action

Animal activists held a "dog-in" at LaGuardia Airport on Sunday to protest the death of a puppy who was stowed in an overhead bin on a United Airlines flight.

A 10-month-old French bulldog named Kokito died on the 4-hour, 25-minute flight from Houston to LaGuardia Airport on March 12. A flight attendant insisted the family put Kokito's carrier in an overhead bin, despite the family's insistence that a dog was inside it.

The airline said the flight attendant either didn't hear or understand them.

The family attended the protest along with state Sen. Marisol Alcantara (D-Manhattan), animal activists and their pets.

Make no bones about it, United is in the doghouse and we will not tolerate their cruelty towards animals," Alcantara said.



Alcantara also unveiled new legislation to create a pet passenger bill of rights. It would explicitly ban placing pets in overhead bins and ensure reasonable access to food and water, among other measures.

"Im an animal lover and I know what traumatizes them, and I also know what kills them," Pattie Jirakll said at the protest. "It wasnt just the tightness of the compartment, the animal was probably terrified from the noise of the plane, and the poor little thing probably didnt know what was going on."



The dog's death has gained national attention and United Airlines immediately took responsibility. The airline said it refunded the airline fares for the family, which included an 11-year-old girl and an infant, as well as the $200 fee for Kokito to fly.

The airline added that by April, it will begin issuing bright-colored bag tags to travelers flying with pets.

If your pet must travel, experts have several recommendations:What to Know Four New York Air National Guard members were among the seven service members killed in a U.S. chopper crash in Iraq

The four men were stationed at F.S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base in Westhampton Beach

The crash in western Iraq did not appear to be the result of enemy activity and is under investigation

A Sept. 11 memorial group donated $100,000 to help pay the mortgage of a firefighter who died in a helicopter crash in Iraq.

The Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation announced the donation on Sunday and encouraged the community to follow suit to pay off the rest of the mortgage for Christopher Raguso' family.

Those who wish to donate were asked to go to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation website.

Raguso was one of seven armed service members killed when their helicopter crashed near the city of Al-Qa'im in western Iraq on Thursday afternoon, according to the Pentagon.

Raguso was also a 13-year veteran of the FDNY who received six citations for bravery and life-saving actions as an individual firefighter or as part of a unit. He also served as a lieutenant in the volunteer fire department in Commack.

He is survived by his wife and two daughters, ages 5 and 6.

"I know it's a very sad day for the fire department," said Frank Siller, chairman and CEO of the foundation. "But it's such a proud day to know that you had people like this that served your department and served their country at the same time."

Raguso was an HH-60G special missions aviation flight engineer who had previously deployed once to Iraq, twice to Afghanistan, once to the Horn of Africa, and to Texas and the Caribbean for hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

The Tunnel to Towers Foundation was established by the family of Stephen Siller after his death on Sept. 11, 2001.

Four of the victims in the helicopter crash were from New York.What to Know Four New York Air National Guard members were among the seven service members killed in a U.S. chopper crash in Iraq

The four men were stationed at F.S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base in Westhampton Beach

The crash in western Iraq did not appear to be the result of enemy activity and is under investigation

The Department of Defense identified on Saturday the seven airmen who died on March 15 when their helicopter crashed in western Iraq.

The men ranged in age from 29 to 39 and hailed from Texas, Florida and New York.

Captain Mark K. Weber, 29, of Bartonville, Texas, was assigned to the 38th Rescue Squadron at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia.

The two men from Florida were identified as Master Sergeant William R. Posch, 36, of Indialantic, and Staff Sergeant Carl P. Enis, 31, of Tallahassee. Both were assigned to the 308th Rescue Squadron, Air Force Reserve, at Patrick Air Force Base.

The four men from New York were Captain Andreas B. O'Keeffe, 37, of Center Moriches; Captain Christopher T. Zanetis, 37, of Long Island City; Master Sergeant Christopher J. Raguso, 39, of Commack; and Staff Sergeant Dashan J. Briggs, 30, of Port Jefferson Station.

All four were assigned to the 106th Rescue Wing at the Francis S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base, New York.

The seven men, who were supporting Operation Inherent Resolve, died when their HH-60 Pave Hawk crashed near the city of Al-Qa'im in western Iraq, according to the Pentagon.

"This tragedy reminds us of the risks our men and women face every day in service of our nations. We are thinking of the loved ones of these service members today," U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Jonathan P. Braga, director of operations in the fight against IS in Iraq and Syria, said in a statement.

The crash did not appear to be the result of enemy activity and is under investigation, the Pentagon said.

President Donald Trump offered his thoughts and prayers on Twitter Friday for the families of service members killed, saying he was thinking of the "brave troops," and adding that "their sacrifice in service to our country will never be forgotten."What to Know Crews worked through the night at the site of Thursdays tragic collapse innovative pedestrian bridge being built near the campus of FIU.

Miami-Dade Police Det. Alvaro Zabaleta said that six people have been killed as a result of the collapse.

The 950-ton bridge was put to a "stress adjustment" before it collapsed over traffic before 2 p.m. on Thursday.

Authorities recovered the final two victims from the bridge collapse near Florida International University on Saturday, after two days of arduous work.

"It has been a laborious, tedious process," Miami-Dade's Police Chief Juan Perez said at a press conference Saturday night, describing the efforts required to locate and extract victims beneath 950 tons of concrete.

The only time rescuers paused during their days-long search-and-rescue efforts, Perez said, was when officials prayed over victims before escorting them the medical examiner's office.

Five people died when the pedestrian bridge came crashing down on March 15. A sixth victim died at a hospital from injuries sustained in the collapse. Perez said that although he was "pretty confident" all victims were now accounted for, offiicals would do a final sweep to be sure.

By Saturday night five victims had been identified: Alexa Duran, an 18-year-old FIU student; Alberto Arias and his passenger Oswald Gonzalez; Rolando Fraga-Hernandez and Navarro Brown.

NBC News reported that Duran was driving home from a doctor's appointment when the bridge collapsed on top of her car. Her best friend, Richard Humble, was in the passenger seat when it happened. He told the "Today" show that he and Duran had been at a red light when they heard a creak above them, just seconds before the bridge crushed their car.

Relatives of Arias, said he had been helping his mother move when the bridge collapsed on his white Chevy truck. His friend and passenger, Gonzalez, also died from the impact.

Brown, 37, was working on site at the time of the collapse.

Experts from the National Transportation Safety Board and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration joined police in taking over command of the scene Friday from first responders, who had spent hours racing to find survivors in the rubble of the 175-foot span using high-tech listening devices, trained sniffing dogs and search cameras.

Ten people were transported to Kendall Regional Medical Center from the site of the collapse near Southwest 8th Street and 109th Avenue. Two were listed in critical condition when they arrived and one person died at the hospital. Officials have not confirmed if the deceased was one of the 10 taken there or if it was someone who was brought in themselves.

The bridge was reportedly put to a "stress adjustment" before it collapsed over traffic before 2 p.m. on Thursday. Two workers were on top when it pancaked on top of vehicles waiting at a stoplight.

Perez and Miami-Dade County deputy mayor Maurice Kemp would not confirm if that test did take place.

And on Tuesday, an engineer of the company that designed the bridge warned the Florida Department of Transportation of cracks to the structure in a voicemail, but said the company was "not concerned" from a "safety perspective."

Denney Pate from the FIGG Bridge Group left the voicemail, and FDOT employees did not listen to the voicemail until Friday  the day after the bridge collapsed.

Sgt. Jenna Mendez of the Sweetwater Police Department was one of the first responders on the scene. The collapse happened while she was driving to work and she said she only missed becoming a victim herself because she had been running late and was stopped at a red light when the disaster struck.

I really wasnt believing what I had seen, she told NBC's "Today" show on Friday.

Mendez said that after realizing what had happened she jumped on top of the bridge to help construction workers who were "severely injured."

"I was just in that rescue mode," she said. Fire rescue officials had to yell at her not to put her safety at risk by going under the debris.

The Florida Highway Patrol is urging students to carpool on Monday as they return to school. Since roads will continue to be closed well into next week, they anticipate heavy delays as students return to school.

FHP also recommends students to plan for heavy traffic delays as they head to class. Details about detours and road closures can be found here.Thousands of people dressed in green swarmed the streets of Boston on Sunday to see the 117th annual St. Patrick's Day parade.

The parade route was shortened this year due to last week's nor'easter, but the snow did not diminish the turnout or dim the enthusiasm of the paradegoers as they also faced temperatures in the low 30s.

A man from a local radio station held a giant cutout of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady as people in the crowd cheered wildly. Children plugged their ears as muskets fired.

South Boston resident Marcella Sliney, whose parents originally are from Ireland, said she felt a special sense of pride while watching the festivities and supporting her LGBTQ veteran friends.

Sliney, 50, said she was happy to see the gay veterans group OutVets once again marching in this year's parade.

"This is why I am so passionate about respecting the rights of others and making sure that we respect diversity and love of all,'' she said.

OutVets began marching four years ago, but was enmeshed in controversy anew in 2017 when parade organizers denied it access because of a rainbow in its logo. A public backlash prompted the organizing group to reverse that decision.

The parade was hosted by the South Boston Allied War Veterans Council, and draws between 600,000 and 1 million people each year.

Democratic Mayor Marty Walsh marched after speaking at the city's annual St. Patrick's Day breakfast.

More than a dozen Massachusetts politicians turned out at the Ironworkers Local 7 Union Hall in South Boston for the breakfast  co-hosted by Congressman Stephen Lynch and Boston City Councilor Michael Flaherty.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker joked about his 70 percent approval rating saying that his wife Lauren said in their house, 70 percent is only a "C." Baker added that during a recent charity event with New England Patriot's Tom Brady, he felt invisible next to the famous quarterback.

"It's like being invisible. Sitting next to the sun," Baker joked.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren didn't waste time poking fun at President Donald Trump during the breakfast and revealed many posters of fellow politicians with Trump's famous hairstyle.

Sen. Ed Markey also got a laugh from the audience while poking fun at the Trump administration.

"Today is evacuation day in Boston but in the White House every day is evacuation day," joked Markey.Two students at a Massachusetts elementary school had a special surprise this week when their mother, a Navy officer, showed up at an assembly for a welcome home ceremony after her deployment.

In a video released by Plymouth Public Schools, South Elementary School students Emma and Cameron ran up to their mother, Chief Petty Officer Katherine Ayer, as she walked into the gym after coming home from her deployment.

Soon, the entire room stood up and clapped during the reunion, as Cameron and Emma hugged their mother.

A faculty member speaking to students said they were thanking Chief Petty Officer Ayers for her service.A Massachusetts State Police trooper was placed on administrative leave Sunday for allegedly being drunk during his shift, according to a police spokesman.

Trooper Jonathan Brown, who works at the Devens barracks, was in the middle of working an 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift when he was relieved of duty around 2 a.m. Sunday, State Police spokesman Dave Procopio said.

"The reason for that action was observations made relative to temporary fitness for duty," said Procopio.

Brown was allegedly intoxicated when he arrived for work and was slurring his speech on the radio. It's not believed Brown was drinking while on the job.

When NBC10 Boston knocked at Brown's door, he answered but didn't have much to say.

"No comment," Brown replied when asked about the allegations against him.

Troopers assigned to the Devens barracks are not given take-home cruisers, unlike some other barracks, so it would appear Brown drove his own personal vehicle to the barracks at the start of his shift on St. Patrick's Day.

State Police say Brown has been placed on administrative leave pending a duty status hearing that will be held during the upcoming week.

Officials are looking to see if Brown responded to any calls while working the shift in question.

The incident remains under investigation.

No other information was immediately available.

Norfolk woman Annes story is beyond belief

Anne Murrins autobiographical book, Beyond Belief, is a tale of triumph over adversity for the retired business woman from Blofield who has defied pain, despair and destitution with Gods help and guidance. Jenny Seal reports.

Annes life has not been easy. In her 71 years, the retired Norfolk entrepreneur has faced real difficulties, including TB as a teenager, bringing up three children alone and the threat of paralysis from a chronic back condition. However, when Anne recounts her life and business successes, it is a life-affirming story.



Published in October 2017, Anne began writing Beyond Belief for her family as a record of her Broadland-based property management company. She soon realised that the story of her self-made enterprise couldnt be told without wider reflection on the factors that birthed and motivated it  her sustaining faith, her health problems, a failed marriage, a privileged childhood at a private school in a Staffordshire convent and her many close friendships.



Because all my children live away, Anne said, I dont think they were fully aware of everything that was involved and I thought it would be a good record to write the history of the business. I also thought it might provide inspiration and encouragement to future generations. As I got into it I thought more and more that I needed to explain why I had to run the business. And as it progressed, I realised more and more the power of God behind me.



Driven by high standards of customer service and a proactive attitude, the author established and ran her business, Heron Property Management (formerly Heron Homecare) for 20 years before selling it for a sizeable sum. At the time it wasnt customary for businesses to be run by women and Anne had to deal with some patriarchal attitudes. To add to this she was a single mother of three, after divorce from a difficult marriage.



In her 30s, Anne had found herself with no prospects, and whilst bringing up her children on benefits, she took the courageous step to become a mature student and achieved a degree at the University of East Anglia. Just as life seemed to be back on track, and as her new business started to succeed, her father died while on holiday abroad.



Her painful and debilitating spinal condition that she began suffering from at age 15 began worsening around this time, and a final diagnosis with the possibility of future paralysis, led to episodes of depression and the need for a wheelchair.



Incredibly, Anne tells the story of the ups and downs with humour, Godly wisdom, insight and, despite everything, optimism. As you read the book, the author becomes someone you would love to know.



Meeting Anne in her home, Heron House, named after her former business, is not a disappointment. On a cold winters day her personality matches the bright sunlight streaming into her comfortable living room, through her large windows and glass doors. Anne, with her back carefully supported by cushions, talks about difficult subjects with a smile on her face and a chuckle punctuating her sentences.



It is this affability and positivity that seems to have opened up and allowed her to capitalise on many opportunities in her life. But in the darkest times when these have failed her, it has been her strong faith in God that has brought strength.



When Anne was 17 she got Tuberculosis and was ordered to bed rest for six months in isolation. During this frustrating period she experienced a powerful faith encounter out of nowhere. Gods most holy presence completely engulfed me, she writes. It filled my being with such joy and feeling of closeness to Him  I was enraptured. It was a very real experience of His Mystical Being. I was on Cloud Nine.



Despite later experiencing years of feeling anger towards God and distant from him, this episode remained a source of strength. Looking back, even in the hardest moments, she can see Gods leading and nudging both in inexplicable answers to prayer and in ordinary but unexpected moments.



I think, having an experience like that, you almost cant not believe, she said. Even though I went through times when I thought, why is God allowing all this to happen? I couldnt not believe because of that experience.



Although her belief was certain, Anne didnt get involved in church life until her mid-40s. For years, I felt very much in the wilderness with my faith, she said. It wasnt until Anne came to a crisis point with her spinal condition that she found herself in a church seeking sanctuary and was invited to the weekly prayer group which has become a big part of her life.



Now an involved member of St Georges Catholic Church in Norwich and Our Lady Mother of God church in Thorpe St Andrew, Anne was also recently elected the Formation Minister for the Secular Franciscans in Norwich.



A grandmother to seven, Anne lives an active life despite the devastating prognoses and diagnoses she received 25 years ago for her back problems. With the help of remedial massage, complementary supplements and aqua therapy Annes spinal condition has greatly improved and she can now walk unaided.



Ive had enormous healing, she said. I was almost wheelchair-bound at one point and was told that I could become completely paralysed. You dont see too many complete miracles these days  but certainly I never ever dreamt Id be doing all the things Im doing now. Never dreamt at all! God was truly on my side.



Beyond Belief: Through Trials to Triumph, The Miracle of a Broadland Business by Anne Murrin. 249pp. Self-published in October 2017 through Witley Press. 9.95. Available from Amazon and other bookshops.



Pictured above is Anne Murrin at her Blofield home with her new book Beyond Belief.

Plans to turn part of the area into a pizza takeaway are dividing opinion

PLANS to convert part of Lambourns Universal Stores into a fast-food takeaway have started to generate a public debate.

Since the proposals were published, two formal letters of objection have been registered with planners as this newspaper went to press.

But many villagers have praised the idea on social media.

The owner wants to turn an area into a pizza bar and grill, while retaining part of the premises for retail use.

For more on the full story, see this week's Newbury Weekly News.News18 Rising India Summit  the two-day marquee thought leadership initiative  came to a close on Saturday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, UP CM Yogi Adityanath and actors Ranveer Singh, Kangana Ranaut were among those who participated in the mega event.

Here are the top 10 moments from the Summit:

How PM Narendra Modi Looks East to Truly Make India Rise

The Prime Minister talked about how for him Rising India means the rise of every citizen's self-respect. He further talked about how the eastern part of the country had for long been left behind in the race for development and needed the region to go from "isolation to integration". He further said that his government took decisions that were proposed decades ago but kept in files. "We implemented old laws that had been passed decades ago," said the leader. PM Modi touched upon all the major sectors and what his administration plans to do for them. His basic mantra, he said, was to break silos to derive solutions for growth.

Ranveer Singh's Infectious Energy

The infectious energy that the actor brings was on full display at the Summit as he made his entry on the song 'Khalibali' from his film Padmaavat and talked about how the fringe groups had desecrated his temple  the film set. "It was a very frustrating process because none of this was in my control. I was furious, livid. It was absolutely wrong. I couldnt do anything and was asked not to do anything. Don't make our lives complicated. There's so much money put it. So, I decided to just stay away from it," he said. Going into detail, the actor said, "When Padmaavat sets were vandalised, my shock turned into rage. I couldnt believe that were living in 2017. I had to be physically restrained. The equipment they broke provides livelihood to thousands. I value the sanctity of the set. It's my place of worship. You don't go to my place of worship and do this."

Yogi Adityanath's Definition of Secularism

The Uttar Pradesh chief minister said that if secularism meant not taking sides, then there was "nobody more secular" than the nation's Hindu majority. "There is a difference between secular and irreligious. We should make that distinction. A government must be secular, not irreligious. If secularism means not taking sides, there is nobody more secular than Hindus. Today's secularists have turned secularism to mean abusing India's traditions," said Yogi. The chief minister asserted that there haven't been any riots during his time as the state's leader over the last one year. However, when questioned on how he would explain the recent Kasganj riots, the CM said, "Kasganj was not a riot, it was an incident. There was no curfew. No riots have happened in the last one year. Holi fell on a Friday this year. On my appeal, Muslim clerics extended the time for Friday prayers."

Smriti Irani Reveals Govt's Plan to Counter Trolls

The Information and Broadcasting minister may not check her Twitter account every morning, but she is well aware of the hatred on social media. She says she has been a victim of it as well. So, she, along with the government, has big plans on how to bring about regulations on social media. The government is working to become a troll monitor. The news is now filled with views, Irani said. We cannot ignore the capacity of fake news to demean. We cannot ignore the technology engineered to deteriorate, she added.

Nirmala Sitharaman Concerns For Armed Forces

India's first full-time woman defence minister called war preparedness and lack of modern equipment with the armed forces, a cause of concern. Responding to Punjab CM Amarinder Singh, she said, "I haven't heard his comments so I may not be able to respond to the specifics, but I agree with him that there is no doubt that (modernisation of equipment for armed forces) is a big challenge for us," she said. The minister also quashed the Oppositions allegations of a scam in the Rafale fighter jet deal and asserted that there was no need for a probe. When quizzed if the ministry would be open to probe in the wake of the allegations, Sitharaman said that there was absolutely no necessity. Probe?! What probe? You can look into the deal as much as you want, you will not find anything. There is no scam, she said.

Rajnath Singh's Warning to Pakistan

The Home Minister fired a warning shot to Pakistan saying that the Indian Army was ready to not only protect the country from within but can also "cross the border if needed". He further went on to say that India's growth was not just because of the BJP but the current government did accelerate the process. Not daunted by the UP bypolls loss, Singh said the BJP realises that loss is also a possibility in the election. "Ho gaya, aage nahin hoga. Humein pata chala ki aisa bhi ho sakta hain (What happened in Gorakhpur will not happen again because we know that this result is also a possibility)," the minister said. Talking about Kashmir, the Home Minister said he had personally asked Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to ignore cases against first-time stone pelters.

Amarinder Singh Lamenting the Obsolete Weapons that Army Personnel Carry

The Punjab chief minister lamented the sorry state of weapons with the defence forces and claimed that the soldiers in Kashmir were swapping weapons with the ones they seize from terrorists. The soldiers of the regiment I served with are now posted in Kashmir and they are swapping their weapons with the ones they seize from terrorists because they like them better. If a soldier doesn't have confidence in his weapon, how can he fight?" said Singh. He also took a jibe at Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal for apologising to former Akali Minister Bikram Singh Majithia and said that maybe the Delhi CM was trying to "reduce his load". Singh further added that AAP MLAs are not happy and were now looking for an alternative.

Kangana Ranaut Open to the Idea of Joining Politics

Apart from being a cinematic tour de force, Kangana Ranaut has the spotlight trained on her off-screen as well, for her candidness and outspokenness over a variety of issues, not least her personal life. She also went on to say that she would not mind entering politics if she is allowed to keep her fashion sense. "Personally, I feel politics is a wonderful field, though it is often misunderstood. But what I dont like is the fashion sense of politicians. Because of the way I dress and speak, I don't think any party will take me. But personally, I don't mind entering politics if they don't change my fashion sense, and let me say what I want to," said Ranaut.

When Farooq Abdullah Complained to Piyush Goyal About Pillows in Trains

The Railways minister took a dig at Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu quitting the NDA and moving a no-confidence motion against the Centre by saying, "Naidu has failed to do anything. We gave them funds but if you go to Amravati nothing has happened on the ground. Now suddenly Naidu is blaming us. They have failed to implement anything." There was a light moment in the session as National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah complained to the minister about pillows in trains. The condition of the pillows are so bad that if you were not sick before boarding the train, you end up falling sick by the time you reach your destination, said Abdullah. To this, Goyal told Abdullah that he must not have travelled on a train recently and his experience must be old. Saying that he values customer feedback, Goyal acknowledged that people in past had faced this problem which had been noted and rectified.

Why Ruchir Sharma Won't Advise PM Modi On Indian Economy

Morgan Stanleys chief global strategist spoke about his time in Russia when he faced Vladimir Putin. In Putins presence, Sharma took to the stage to make his own presentation about the Russian economy. He first pointed out that Putin has been a 'reformer' when he first came to power, but things changed for the worse after that. It was in stark contrast to who Putin was initially, Sharma said. While Sharma continued his criticism, the Russian President didnt bat an eyelid. "He, in fact, took notes, said Sharma. When it was Putins turn to speak, he spoke about the issues raised by Sharma. The next morning, Sharma was woken up by a number of phone calls. He was asked to check the newspapers. All the Russian newspapers had the same headline Who is this man advising Putin? The newspapers were quite disappointed with Sharmas guts and advised him to leave the country. "I left Russia and never returned," said Sharma. In a classic case of once bitten, twice shy Sharma said he may have a lot of ideas for the growth of the Indian economy, but hes not willing to advise Prime Minister Narendra Modi on it. I would rather observe, than advise, he said, adding that no one quite listens to his suggestions.New Delhi: The government said on Sunday that 50 nations will engage in free and frank discussions on global trade here this week to explore the options for resolving various issues and re-invigorating the WTO.

Representatives from 50 countries will be gathering in New Delhi on 19-20 March for an informal World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial meeting. "The informal meeting of ministers will provide an opportunity to engage in free and frank discussions with the hope that it will lead to political guidance on some major issues," the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement.

It will look at the issues both at the negotiating table and also in other areas.

Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia had said recently that the meeting would be more of an "ice-breaker" as it is being held after the collapse of talks at the Buenos Aires WTO Ministerial in December.

When asked if there would be a statement by the Chair at the end of the meeting, she had said it would be for the mini-ministerial to decide.

The ministry's statement further said: "In the absence of ministerial guidance at the Eleventh Ministerial Conference (MC 11) that took place from 10 to 13 December 2017 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, it is hoped that the New Delhi meeting will provide an opportunity for ministers to explore in greater detail the options on different issues for re-invigorating the WTO."

It further said that safeguarding and strengthening the multilateral trading system was never as important as it is today, and the WTO is also facing systemic challenges, particularly its dispute settlement arm.Neemuch, Madhya Pradesh: While female foeticide due to preference for boys is an issue that is plaguing India, there is a community in Madhya Pradesh that actually celebrates the birth of a girl child, albeit for not so positive reason.

Members of Banchhada community, who operate family-based prostitution for livelihood, consider the birth of a girl auspicious as it means another breadwinner for the family.

For the community, which is mainly settled in Ratlam, Mandsaur and Neemuch districts of Madhya Pradesh, prostitution is a way of life, passed down generations and young girls are groomed to become prostitutes as male members mostly live off their earnings.

"This belt- Ratlam, Mandsaur and Neemuch- although notorious for opium cultivation, is also known for Banchhada community, in which prostitution has been given a societal approval," Akash Chouhan, coordinator of Nai Abha Samajik Chetna Samiti, an NGO that works for the uplift of this

community, told PTI.

"As the members of the community are dependent on the women of the family for livelihood, they always celebrate the birth of a girl child with pomp, unlike others. For earning their bread, the male members allow their women to indulge in prostitution, although it is illegal in the eyes of law," he

added.

Citing a census report, Chouhan said, "The total population of Banchhada community, which is spread over 75 villages in the three districts, is about 23,000, of which at least 65 per cent are women."

A survey conducted by the Madhya Pradesh Women Empowerment Department in 2015 in 38 villages in Mandsaur, showed that their population in the district was 3,435, with 2,243 women and 1,192 men. "It means as compared to men, the population of women is almost the double," Chouhan said.

A similar exercise conducted in 2012 in Neemuch's 24 Banchhada-dominated villages also showed that the number of women is more than the men-- 3,595 women and 2,770 men.

"All this shows that they give importance to women, but for the wrong reasons," Chouhan said.

Prostitution has led to the menace of human trafficking in the community.

In order to improve the financial condition of the family, Banchhada members buy girls from different parts of the state or country.

"They indulge in human trafficking by purchasing newborn girls from different areas. Once the girls grow up, they are pushed into prostitution," Chouhan said.

Lawyer Amit Sharma, who is also an RTI activist, said,

"This is a serious issue as the rise in the number of women in the community is mainly because they purchase girls from different parts of the state."

He said that during a raid in Neemuch district in July 2014, a 6-year-old girl was found in the house of a Banchhada family.

"The woman of the family later revealed that they had purchased the girl in 2009 from Nagda (In Ujjain district) and the deal was sealed on Rs 500 stamp paper," he said.

The woman was later booked for human trafficking and arrested, Sharma added.

"The entire process of purchasing and selling a girl in Banchhada community is done in a very organised manner, with the help of middlemen. Unfortunately, the community looks at it as an investment," he said.

He claimed that the members of the family, who purchase the girls, do not take proper care of them.

"They think they have bought the girl by paying money, which is generally in the range of Rs 2000 to Rs 10,000," he said.

Police say that although measures were being taken by them to curb the prostitution and human trafficking in the community, social awareness was required to eliminate these malpractices.

"All the steps that police take on the issue prove insufficient as in order to end these evils from the

community, there is a need for awareness," Neemuch District Superintendent of Police (SP), T K Vidyarthi, said, "We have initiated steps in this direction by conducting a survey of the community and ensuring that their children go to school. They have started getting jobs and our officials also take their classes, especially of the educated kids, to prepare them for competitive exams," the SP said.Mar 18, 2018 15:23 (IST)

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today launched a scathing attack on the NDA government, accusing it of having "messed up" the economy and mismanaging the dispute in Jammu and Kashmir. At the 84th plenary session of the Congress, Singh described the government's demonetisation move as "ill-considered" and GST as "hastily implemented". "The BJP-led government messed up the Indian economy. The ill-considered demonetisation and hastily implemented GST have destroyed small-scale enterprises," he said. "The government mismanaged the Jammu and Kashmir dispute like never before. The atmosphere in the state has been deteriorating day by day," he said. Singh also dismissed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's comment about farmers' incomes being doubled. "Modi said farmers' income will be doubled in six years. It is a 'jumla'-type (rhetorical) statement unlikely to be achieved," he said addressing the session. Asserting that the UPA government achieved a "lot" under then Congress president Sonia Gandhi's guidance, Singh exuded confidence that the plenary session would chalk out the future path for the country and the party would play a "historic" roleKarwar, Karnataka: Those who run from pillar to post to get their Voter Identity Card may not believe this. Getting that all important card is not an easy job in many parts of India.

In election-bound Karnataka, the district administration in Uttara Kannada is diving into deep sea water to give out Voter Identity Cards.

Yes, that is correct. The Deputy Commissioner, who is also the district returning officer, is diving into the Arabian Sea to distribute voter ID cards to "millennial voters".

Those who were born on the first day of the millennium (January 1, 2000) are called millennials". Uttara Kannada district has 13 such first time voters.

Deputy Commissioner SS Nakul dived under 15 feet water into the deep blue sea with Zilla Panchayat CEO L Chandrashekhara Naik and scuba diving instructor Ranjith Poonja at Devabhag beach to distribute the voter ID cards.

Nakul handed over voter ID cards to Deeksha and Prithvi from Mudeshwar in Bhatkal taluk under the sea. The event lasted for 15 minutes.

Nakul, a Karnataka cadre IAS officer, has taken the enrolment and distribution of voter cards seriously and is visiting all parts of the vast Uttara Kannada district to make sure that all eligible voters get to vote in the Assembly elections to be held in May.Jammu: Five members of a family were killed on Sunday in Pakistan shelling along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district.

"The Pakistan Army resorted to indiscriminate shelling in Balakote sector of the LoC. A shell fell on a house killing five members of the same family," the police said.

Army PRO Lt Col Devender Anand said the ceasefire violation by Pakistan in Bimber Gali started around 0745 hours.

They are specifically targeting civilian areas," he said.

Director General of Police S P Vaid in a tweet said, "Due to shelling from across (LoC) in Balakote sector of Poonch, 5 civilians of a family died & 2 are injured who are being shifted to the hospital".

Due to shelling from across in Balakote sector of Poonch 5 civilians of a family died & 2 are injured who are being shifted to hospital. Shesh Paul Vaid (@spvaid) March 18, 2018

The civilian casualties occurred in the forward village of Devta Dhar when a shell hit the house of Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan, a police official said.

The dead include the house owner, a woman, a boy and a minor girl, he said.

The police official said heavy shelling was going on from both the sides.

Army troops retaliated strongly and effectively to silence Pakistani guns, he said.New Delhi: Information and broadcasting minister Smriti Irani may not check her Twitter account every morning, but she is well aware of the hatred on social media. She says she has been a victim of it as well. So, she, along with the government, has big plans on how to bring about regulations on social media.

The government is working to become a troll monitor. The news is now filled with views, Irani said at the News18 Rising India Summit. We cannot ignore the capacity of fake news to demean. We cannot ignore the technology engineered to deteriorate, she added.

The problem for Irani, as she said, is that everyone has a stage now.

However, Irani didnt ignore the positive part either. She said that governance is personalised through social media. Often social media has been helpful too, she said. I see a burst of creativity aided by technology but also challenged by it, she said. She also said that Twitter and Facebook help in personalising governance. Now when policies are made, citizens are involved, she said.

Irani said that she is aware of her responsibilities on social media. Every citizen on social media should be aware of their rights, she added.

Irani was sharing the stage with Prasoon Joshi, the CBFC chief. As the conversation moved to censorship, Padmaavat and Pahlaj Nihalanai, Irani quoted Osho, saying, Creativity stems from rebellion.

Talking about the word sanskar, Irani said that it sounds like a slur now. But the word ethics seems more acceptable, she said. The minister suggested that creativity cannot exist without ethics in it.

When Prasoon Joshi said that the media spread fake news when they reported that there were 400 cuts in Padmaavat, Irani joined in. The fake news that there were 400 cuts made headlines but the fact that Sanjay Leela Bhansali came out and said that the movie was released uncut never made news, she said.

While the minister started the conversation in English, she had moved to Hindi within a couple of minutes following Joshi. Look, Mr Joshi is speaking in our national language, our mother tongue Hindi at an event organised by an English channel. This is freedom, she said.Shimla: In a major relief to veteran Bollywood actor Jeetendra, the Himachal Pradesh High Court on Sunday stayed further proceedings against him in the sexual assault case registered by his cousin.

The police had registered a case against him on February 16 on the complaint of his cousin, who alleged that she was sexually assaulted by him in a hotel here in January 1971.

The high court listed the matter for hearing on May 23.

Jeetendra challenged the FIR registered against him and sought quashing of the FIR.

The actor had claimed that the police had registered the FIR without any preliminary investigation or evidence.

Jeetendra was neither questioned by the police nor he was provided a copy of the FIR, his counsel said, adding that the allegations were false and a conspiracy was being hatched to malign the image of the actor.

While issuing a notice to the respondent in the matter, Justice Mohan Goel directed the complainant to file a reply within four weeks.

Meanwhile, further proceedings in the FIR registered at Women Police Station, Shimla, under Section 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of IPC, have been stayed.

The woman had claimed that Jeetendra, who is her aunt's son, had arranged for her to join him from New Delhi to Shimla on the sets of a film he was shooting for.

She alleged in the complaint that after reaching Shimla at night, the inebriated actor went to her room, joined two twin beds and sexually assaulted her.New Delhi: The Supreme Court may have paved the way for passive euthanasia in terminal cases by allowing living wills, but in a country where religious ramifications hang heavy on an individuals daily life, can the question of when and how to die be exempt?

A living will is a legal document in which a person states in clear terms what medical treatment should be given or withdrawn if they ever become incapacitated to speak for themselves. A living will kicks in only when the designator is terminally ill or has lost consciousness with no hope of recovery. The condition often has to be examined by a medical board. Doctors would be exempt from any liability should they pull the plug to end the patients suffering.

But most of the major religions in India oppose passive euthanasia, viewing it akin to suicide.

According to, Moran Mor (Cardinal) Baselios Cleemis, who is the current Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, Taking ones life by their own will cannot be justified by explanation and goes contrary to Biblical teachings.

The church believes in the value of life and it is the will of God. This is given by God alone. It cannot be revoked, cannot be blocked or taken away permanently by any other force other than God. End of life is only by natural death. How can you terminate life on any account? You say euthanasia is like mercy killing. But how can it be? How do you know that this life will not be able to bear the test it has been put through? Cardinal Cleemis told News18.

The Archbishop also said that the concept of living will or passive euthanasia was reflection of human nature which shows that as soon as something is not useful for us, we seek to throw away that thing, irrespective of whether it is living or non-living.

What happens to soldiers who are fighting for us at the borders? When someone thinks that they are no more useful or injured, then can they be killed, or be thought of as a burden? It is not an act of mercy. The whole Biblical aspect is that after Jesus has come, one will have life in abundance. Jesus has come to bring the fruits of life and not the end of it. Scientific research is meant for survival of life and not termination, Cardinal Cleemis said.

The Bible, however, is not explicit about euthanasia or living will, but does have its share of examples.

According to the holy book, when King Hezekiah was not keeping well, and was at the point of death, God had sent Prophet Isaiah to him with a message which said, Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover (Isaiah 38:1). At this point, the king started preparing for his death, but followers often interpret the advance directives favourably.

In Islam, death is the termination of worldly life and the beginning of afterlife; a continuation of life in another form. Death is seen as a painful experience in Islam.

According to a statement of the Islamic Fiqh (Law) Council belonging to the Muslim World League, in the case of a patient whose body has been hooked to life support, it is permissible to remove it if all his brain functions have ceased completely, and a committee of three specialist, experienced doctors have determined that this cessation of function is irreversible, even if the heart and breathing are still working mechanically with the help of the machine. But he cannot be ruled dead according to Shareeah until his breathing and heart stop completely, after the machine is removed.

This precisely means that even if a Muslim drafts a living will, it would not take effect until a team of doctors declare the person brain-dead, which is in line with the Supreme Court verdicts mandated medical board.

However, confusion creeps in when one speaks of passive euthanasia.

Shia scholar Maulana Saif Abbas told News18 that any such concept of living will or passive euthanasia is strictly prohibited in Islam.

According to Islam, we are mandated to save lives. We have been instructed that even if we are offering namaz and we see somebody dying in front of us, we can leave our prayers and save the person. This is the duty of even someone observing roza. This living will or euthanasia is more like suicide and that is not permissible under Islam. Muslims have committed suicide, but that is different than Islam, said Maulana Abbas.

According to Islamic rulings, mercy killing also stands prohibited in the religion. One of the major arguments in the Aruna Shanbaug case was that an individuals suffering would be put to an end if passive euthanasia was resorted to. But, mercy killing is referred to as haram killing under Islamic law as Islam believes that life is protected by shareeah so long as he is still alive.

This belief is in stark contrast to Hinduism.

Though the act of suicide is considered maha paap (major sin) and is strictly prohibited, but it is the concept of having served all purpose that gains validity under the religion.

Swami Nirvisheshananda, an alumni of IIT Kharagpur, who is known for his talks and discourses on Vedanta, Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads and Srimad Bhagavatam, told News18 that Hinduism is replete with examples which show that taking ones own life for not being a burden on someone or having served the purpose of life was a common trait in the religion.

Vivekananda had written about Pavbhari Baba and he lived only on air. He got his nutrition only from the air. Finally, when he died, villagers saw fire in his cave, and they discovered that the Baba had lit his own funeral pyre and was lying over it. This was done so that the villagers are not bothered about disposing of his dead body too, said the religious leader.

Swami Nirvisheshananda, while stating how a call of wisdom to end ones life is appreciated in the religion, said that Ichhamaran (euthanasia) was extremely common among Hindus for thousands of years.

It is very much allowed in Hinduism. Even now when the sadhus in Rishikesh and Haridwar, who stay alone, discover that they are becoming a burden on society and have no purpose in life, they tie a stone around their neck and walk into the river. This is called Jal Samadhi, said Swami.

Swami also touched upon how an elderly couple in Hinduism decided to end their life. In Ramayana, too, when Dashrath had released the Shabdaved Baan by which Rishi Putra died, the latters blind father and mother went into samadhi. These examples show that passive euthanasia or a living will gains sanctions from the religion, said Swami Nirvisheshananda.

He, however, cautioned that suicide out of frustration and depression is a sin and not allowed. But if people take a call out of wisdom, then it is allowed, especially in cases of terminally ill patients.Washington: The India-US two-plus-two meeting has been postponed as of now due to uncertainty over confirmation of nomination of Mike Pompeo, as the new Secretary of State, according to officials.

The first two-plus-two meeting between India and the US was tentatively scheduled for April 18-19.

The launch of two-plus-two dialogue was announced last summer when Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a successful meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House.

However, there was no official announcement of the high-level dialogue involving the foreign and defence ministers from the two countries.

India's foreign and defence secretaries were here early this week for preparatory talks with their American counterparts. The Indian delegation landed in Washington DC amidst the firing of Rex Tillerson as the Secretary of State by Trump. The delegation continued with their meetings both at the State Department and the Pentagon as scheduled, during which it was decided to hold the two-plus-two dialogue at a later date, which is unlikely to be held before the summer.

The two-plus-two dialogue was seen as a vehicle to elevate the strategic relationship between the two countries.

After June last year, the two countries have tried at several other dates for this dialogue including sometime in November and December.

Officials also checked for a time in January this year, but both sides were having a tough time in finding a day when all the four leaders - External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman from India and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and the fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, were available.

It was finally in February this year that two-days in mid-April was zeroed in for the talks. However, the plans had to be scuttled as on March 13, Trump announced that Tillerson has been fired and he nominated Pompeo, who is currently the CIA director, to replace him as the Secretary of State.

Pompeo needs to be confirmed by the Senate. Spring recess of the Congress begins on March 22 and lawmakers would resume their legislative business on April 2. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which hold the confirmation hearing, has not scheduled it on its calendar yet.

Once Pompeo's nomination process breezes through this committee then it would go to the Senate floor for a vote.Burdwan: India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's statue with its face blackened was found in Katwa town of West Bengal on Saturday.

The Congress has blamed the BJP for the incident, but the saffron party denied any involvement in it.

The statue at Telephone Maidan at Katwa town in East Burdwan district with its face blackened was found on Saturday by the locals, who then informed the police about it.

Following this, Congress workers held a demonstration in front of the police station demanding immediate arrest of those responsible for the act.

A complaint was lodged by them, the police said, adding an investigation into the incident was underway.

Chairman of the Trinamool Congress-run Katwa municipality Rabindranath Chattopadhyay condemned the blackening of Nehru's statue and said it was cleaned by the civic body later in the day.

Katwa Town Congress secretary Subhashish Samanta has alleged that BJP workers were behind the incident, while the saffron party's rural district secretary Sandip Nandy has said the party had no role in it.

A bust of Jan Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee was vandalised on March 7 in Kolkata by seven persons, including a woman.

Statues of communist leader Vladimir Lenin, social reformer Ramasamy Periyar and that of Bhimrao Ambedkar were vandalised in Tripura, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh respectively in recent daysKannur/Thiruvananthapuram: Police have stepped up security for CPI(M) Kannur district Secretary P Jayarajan following an intelligence input about a threat to his life.

The Kannur district police chief has sent a circular to all police stations in the city to increase the CPI(M) leader's security in the light of this intelligence input, police sources said.

According to the circular, which was sent on Saturday, a 'quotation gang' led by Pranub, a murder case accused who is absconding, had been given money and a vehicle for this.

Jayarajan, who arrived in the state capital this morning to attend the party's state committee meeting, however, refused to react when media personnel asked him about the death threat.

Police sources said Jayarajan had been receiving such threats for some time.

Meanwhile, BJP alleged that the "death threat script has been written by CPI(M) and police in an attempt to glorify' Jayarajan and to create tension in Kannur".

BJP National council member and former state President V Muralidharan told reporters at Kozhikode that this was an attempt by the CPI(M), which had lost its face following the murder of Youth Congress worker Shuhaib, by its party workers last month, to regain its lost glory.

Kannur, the politically volatile northern district, has witnessed frequent clashes between the CPI(M) and BJP/RSS workers.

The Marxist leader had escaped an attempt on his life in 1999 while he was at home.New Delhi: The Kerala government will very soon contribute Rs 2 lakh for the juvenile justice schemes. But the twist in the tale is that this contribution may not be a sign of magnanimity of the Pinarayi Vijayan-government at all.

The benefaction for the social welfare cause has come by virtue of the Supreme Court orders, slapping penalty of Rs 2 lakh on the Kerala government.

A bench, headed by Justice Madan B Lokur, has imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh each in two separate orders on the state government, and ordered that the money should be used for juvenile justice schemes.

The court said that the state should deposit the money with the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee. "The aforesaid amount shall be utilised for juvenile justice issues," stated the similarly-worded orders.

In the first case, the cost was imposed on the state government after it challenged an order of the Kerala High Court relating to grant of pay scale and pension benefits to college the teachers.

The bench noted that at least two similar cases on the same issue had already been dismissed by the court, but nonetheless the state filed yet another appeal.

Questioning the manner in which the cases were being filed in the Supreme Court, the bench said: "The State of Kerala should have a re-look at its litigation policy, if any."

The second case in which the state government was hauled up related to grant of no objection certificates to private schools in the state.

Kerala government had filed its appeal against the High Court order in 2012 whereby relief was granted to the private schools.

The notices in the case were issued in 2013 and the state government was supposed to filed its response affidavit. However, more than a year elapsed, but Kerala government did not do so.

When the case came up recently, the bench was irate over the lackadaisical attitude.

The bench then passed the order: "No affidavit has been filed by the State of Kerala for the last one year and only adjournments have been sought. We grant the adjournment subject to payment of cost of Rs 1 lakh only to be deposited with the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee within one week. The aforesaid amount shall be utilised for juvenile justice issues."Bengaluru: The issue of a separate religion for Lingayats has put the Siddaramaiah government in a bind. With over 50 Lingayat seers, led by the Mathe Mahadevi, meeting the Chief Minister to press for an early decision, the pressure is mounting on the state government to recommend a separate religion status for Lingayats to the Centre.

This comes just three days after another group of seers of the Veerashaiva community met the CM, to demand that Lingayats should not be considered a separate religion as Veerashaivas and Lingayats are two sects with the same beliefs.

Sunday's meeting though wanted the CM to act immediately on the report of the government-appointed committee, headed by a retired judge, which felt there was enough credible evidence to look at Lingayats as a separate religious entity along the lines of Buddhism or Islam.

The state cabinet is to decide on the issue at its meeting on Monday afternoon.

While the Lingayat community says they are the true followers of saint Basaveshwara, who advocated a casteless society, and distance themselves from Hinduism, and want to be treated as minorities on a par with Jains and Buddhists; the Veerashaiva seers, on the other hand, have told the CM that both communities are one and the same, and they both worship Lord Shiva.

The Veerashaiva say if their memorandum is not considered, they would launch a protest against the Congress party in the coming days. It further said that people from all walks of life would participate in the protest.

The Lingayat seers, who came from all across Karnataka and held a satyagraha ahead of their meeting with the CM, said they too will decide on their future course of action if the Cabinet does not respond with a "positive decision on being considered a separate entity" on Monday. They even held a padayatra from the CM's house shouting slogans in support of their demands, and said their collective leadership will decide the way forward.

"The Veerashaiva swamis are 'hijack swamis.' The government committee report in fact makes a distinction between the Veerashaivas and the Lingayats very beautifully. Islam may have two sects -- the Sunnis, the Shia, both of whom hold the Quran as holy. Jains may have Swethambaras and Digambaras, both of who go by the same preachings and guru. But Lingayats go by the Vachanas as our holy scriptures, we believe in a totally non-discriminatory society without caste and gender biases; this is not true of Veerashaivas, they are different," said Dr Shivamurthy Muruga swami of the Muruga mutt. They need the government to give a final shape to their identity, he added.

Mathe Mahadevi, who spoke to the media right after the meeting with the CM, also said that certain fears that recommending for a separate religion status may lead to violence or rioting were unfounded, and the government should not yield to such reports.

"He has said he is yet to consult the Advocate General, thats the only thing left," she said. She is the first female 'Jagadguru' or spiritual leader of the community.

The seers have put the government in a dilemma. Until now, Lingayats, who form a significant votebank in Karnataka, have been perceived as supporters of the BJP as it is headed by a Lingayat, BS Yeddyurappa. Under the circumstances, the Congress government had thought division within the community on this issue could yield them electoral gains.

However, with demands from religious leaders on both sides, this is turning out to be an issue that could boomerang on the Siddaramaiah government, which is why the government has been putting off a decision on it for many weeks now.Lucknow: A large number of Muslim women staged a silent protest in Lucknow against the Triple Talaq Bill and requested Narendra Modi Government to reconsider it.

The protest was organised by the women wing of All India Muslim Personal Law Board.

The IT cell of women wing of AIMPLB also stated that they will be waging a war against the Triple Talaq Bill on social networking platforms as well.

Muslim women from Lucknow and adjoining areas gathered at Teele Wali Masjid with placards with messages like We Demand Take Back Triple Talaq Bill, Triple Talaq Bill Suppresses Women and Honourable President Sharia Doesnt Enslave or Chain Muslim Women. Take Back Your Statement.

Heading the protest, Asma Zehra, executive committee members of AIMPLB, said that Triple Talaq Bill, which recommends three years of imprisonment for husbands giving triple talaq, is interfering with Sharia Law and that is not acceptable to the Muslim women in India.

Zehra told News18, All the Muslim women have firm belief in Sharia Law and they do not need any bill on triple talaq. It all started with gender justice and womens right but later on this was politicized.

Hence, the bill was not in favour of the real cause, right now there is an attempt to interfere with the Muslim personal laws and nothing else, she added.

If the government is really serious about us then they should focus more on eve teasing, rape, girls education and women safety. This bill will put Muslim women in a deeper trouble as the man will go to jail and at the same time there is no provision for any kind of maintenance money. In such a case, we strongly condemn the Triple Talaq Bill and request the government to reconsider it and take it back, Zehra said.

After the protest, a memorandum against the bill was also handed over to the district administration for the President of India.

On the occasion, Maulana Khalid Rasheed Farangi Mahali, Maulana Ateeq Bastavi, advocate Zafaryab Jilani and other renowned Muslim activists and scholars were present at the site of the protest.New Delhi: Speaking at News18 Rising India Summit, actress Kangana Ranaut on Saturday said that she would not mind entering politics if she is allowed to keep her fashion sense.

"Personally, I feel politics is a wonderful field, though it is often misunderstood. But what I dont like is the fashion sense of politicians, Ranaut said.

Because of the way I dress and speak, I don't think any party will take me. But personally, I don't mind entering politics if they don't change my fashion sense, and let me say what I want to, she added.

The actress also professed that she was a fan of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "I am a big Modi fan because of his success story. As a young woman I do believe that we need to have right role models. I mean the graph and the ambition of an ordinary man and whenever we have a PM who is a chaiwala, then I always say that it is not his victory but it is the victory of our democracy, she said.

She is also said is a nationalist and felt that her own progress as an individual is linked to the country's growth. The "Simran" actor said she does not believe in religion and has come to the conclusion that her only identity is that she is an Indian.

"As a youth, I want to see growth in my life. I have come to this conclusion that if India does not grow then I won't grow. I am an Indian and born an Indian. I have no other identity," she said.

"I said in some interview that I am a nationalist. People said 'oh you are that type of a person'. I was like 'what do you mean by that kind?' I personally feel that there is a confusion between these words.

"Before all of this, I hadn't even heard of the term nationalism. The good thing is that at least the word has got out. That there is a word like nationalism. You can have a choice whether you want to believe in it or not," she added.

Ranaut also weighed on about the controversy surrounding the Pakistani artists working in India, and said artistic world is different from physical world.

"Artistic realm is different from physical realm. When you are talking about physical boundaries and you are talking about borders, why be esoteric. You should know about a place where people are losing lives.

"At the time of ban on Pakistani artists, the country is vulnerable where people are struggling and trying to cope with emotions. The common sentiment is 'Humko kya lena dena, hum toh artist hai'. This is not going to work. Above everything, you are Indians as well, and when you are talking about boundaries, you can't go into esoteric world and say 'I am an artist'," she said.New Delhi: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Saturday lamented the sorry state of weapons with the defence forces and claimed that the soldiers in Kashmir were swapping weapons with the ones they seize from terrorists.

The soldiers of the regiment I served with are now posted in Kashmir and they are swapping their weapons with the ones they seize from terrorists because they like them better. If a soldier doesn't have confidence in his weapon, how can he fight? said Amarinder Singh at News18 Rising India Summit.

It was this very week when the Vice Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Sarath Chand, said that the defence budget had dashed our hopes.

Chand said this may end in the foreclosure of 25 Make in India Defence projects that are currently in the pipeline.

Allocation of Rs 21,388 crore for modernisation is insufficient even to cater for committed payments of Rs 29.033 crore for 125 ongoing schemes, emergency procurement and other requirements, Chand told the parliamentary panel.

He said Armed Forces has hardly any funds for modernization in 2019, with 68 percent of the Armys equipment of vintage category and only 8 percent in the state of the art category.

Amarinder Singh did concede that even during UPA time they didnt make big defence purchases.

Even in our time (UPA) we didn't make any big defence purchases. The Air Force has been asking for new aircraft, the Navy has been asking for upgrades. You don't have missiles, you don't have ammunition, you are using practise ammunition. This is absurd," said Amarinder.New Delhi: A day after Sonia Gandhi termed Prime Minister Narendra Modis promises as dramebaazi at the Congress plenary, former PM Manmohan Singh too on Sunday found fault with the "tall promises" made by Modi. In particular, he questioned the two crore jobs that were promised to youth during the 2014 election.

When Modi ji was campaigning he made lots of tall promises, those promises have not been fulfilled. He said we will provide 2 crore jobs, we have not seen even 2 lakh jobs, said Manmohan Singh, reminding the PM about the promise.

In 2014, the BJP came to power promising 10 million jobs a year. But there has been little on the ground.

At the 84th plenary session of the Congress, Singh described the government's demonetisation move as "ill-considered" and GST as "hastily implemented".

"The BJP-led government messed up the Indian economy. The ill-considered demonetisation and hastily implemented GST have destroyed small scale enterprises," he said.

Singh also dismissed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's comment about farmers' incomes being doubled.

"Modi said farmers' income will be doubled in six years. It is a 'jumla'-type (rhetorical) statement unlikely to be achieved," he said addressing the session.

In its three-year action plan released in August 2017, Niti Aayog highlighted under-employment as a major concern. It noted that not unemployment, but severe under-employment is the main problem facing the country and that what is needed is the creation of high-productivity, high-wage jobs.

Recently, in a television interview, PM Modi said even selling pakodas is a form of employment as the person earns Rs 200 at the end of the day.

The opposition was quick to denounce this suggestion. Senior Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram slammed the government for its wild claims on job creation, and said that if selling pakodas counts as job, begging should also be considered a job.

Make in India, envisaged as the flagship programme to increase the contribution of manufacturing sector from 16% to 25 % of GDP, was expected to generate quality employment in private sector and defence sector. But as government moves into the last financial year, the Make-in-India programme has failed to take off as planned. There are hardly any major defence manufacturing projects that have kicked off.

On Saturday, Sonia Gandhi said the use of slogans like sabka saath, sabka vikas by PM Modi was just a trick to grab power.

"The slogans of 'sab ka saath, sab ka vikas' and 'na khaoonga, na khaane doonga' are only and only dramebazi (drama) and a trick to grab power," she said, referring to Modi's promises of inclusive development and corruption-free governance.

Asserting that the UPA government achieved a "lot" under then Congress president Sonia Gandhi's guidance, Singh exuded confidence that the plenary session would chalk out the future path for the country and the party would play an important role.

"India stands at the crossroads. We have opportunities, but we also have challenges. The Congress party will provide a new pathway to chalk out the future of our country," said Manmohan Singh.New Delhi: A 60-year-old man was today beaten to death allegedly over filling water from a tank in northwest Delhi's Wazirpur, police on Sunday.

Police claimed that they have arrested three people and apprehended a juvenile in the case.

The deceased was identified as Lal Bahadur who lived with his family in SS Nagar in Wazirpur Industrial area.

The incident was reported around 3.30 PM on Sunday when a water tanker had arrived in the colony and all the residents reached there for filling water. Lal Bahadur's son Rohit and the accused were also at the spot, Deputy Commissioner of Police (norhwest) Aslam Khan said.

Soon an argument started between Rohit and the accused over filling the water first which soon turned into a scuffle, Khan said.

The victim, after hearing the shouts, reached the spot and tried to stop the fight between his son and the accused.

He wanted to pacify the fight but the accused attacked him with fist and thrashed mercilessly. He soon became unconscious. He was rushed to the hospital where he was declared brought dead," the police said.

The two accused were nabbed from the spot and during raid a police team were able to catch the remaining two.The makers of Varun Dhawan-starrer October have decided to release the theme song of the film on public demand.

Co-produced by Ronnie Lahiri and Sheel Kumar, October is directed by Shoojit Sircar. The film celebrates love, nature and the autumn season.

Varun plays a housekeeper at a hotel, in love with the idea of love. The girl whom he follows into the ICU of a hospital barely acknowledges him at their workplace. Yet he clings to the idea of love.

The melody is called "The Theme Of October", takes one through all the ups and downs that goes on in the lives of lead pair Dan and Shiuli.

"Yes, many fans specially reached out to us via social media as well as to Varun, appreciating the background score and asking for the end melody to be released, so we thought why not share the music with them as soon as we could! Hence the idea of just releasing the tune for fans came to us," Lahiri said in a statement.

The theme will be launched digitally on Monday.

The film also stars Banita Sandhu, and is slated to release on April 13.One of the new default assumptions in Indian politics appears to be that of a contemporary rural-urban divide between the major parties. The argument essentially runs like this: the Congress Party has been skilful in exploiting rural distress to increase its vote base in the countryside, but the BJP remains rock solid in the cities. This was borne out, it is suggested, in the recent Gujarat assembly polls, where a significant rural wave for the Congress was only overcome by the BJP holding on to their base in the towns.

The corollary of this argument is that the Congress faces a historic new challenge. Thanks to agrarian failures and rural economic stagnation, it can be more successful in rural areas than in 2014, since many rural voters feel the BJP government has done nothing for them. But conversely, the argument runs, the Congress is clueless about how to win over the urban voter. The BJP has managed to consolidate the urban vote, where its traditional support base in the trading community has been augmented by votes from the upwardly-mobile city-dweller, the aspirational youth and the professionals (who also set the social media agenda with their tweets and WhatsApp forwards). Without these segments of the electorate, say our critics, the Congress is doomed  and we dont know how to woo them.

It is an interesting argument, and whatever its merits, as a Congressman I agree that we need to take it seriously. The urban voter used to be ours, as recently as 2009: one of our biggest challenges in the run up to 2019 would be to win her back. India is urbanising rapidly: the 2011 census proved that the level of urbanisation in India increased from 27.81% in 2001 to 31.16% a decade later, and the proportion of Indias rural population declined from 72.19% to 68.84% between 2001 and 2011. If anything, this trend is accelerating; by 2021 there is likely to be further precipitous increase in the urban population. Its clear the Congress party needs a strategy to wean these voters away from the BJP.

The partys well-wishers have another concern. The BJP governments evident failures in ministering to the needs of rural India represent an obvious political opportunity for the Congress: the mounting farmer suicides, the inadequate funding of the MNREGA, the lack of increase in Minimum Support Prices (MSPs) paid to farmers for vital crops, and the increase in distress migration in the countryside, represent easy targets for the Opposition. But as a result, many Congress well-wishers fear, the party is likely to revert to its tried and tested policies in response, promising massive loan waivers, rural aid packages, increased funding for MNREGA and higher MSPs  which in turn will alienate the urban Indian voter. In other words, the way it exploits the rural vote could cost the Congress more of the urban vote. Agricultural welfarism has always been looked at with suspicion by the urban voter. How can the Congress manage to appeal to the farmer in distress without losing the cities?

Lets start with the assumption that the BJPs urban support has become more consolidated since 2014. The principal basis for this contention is that in the Gujarat assembly elections, the BJP recorded a success rate of 82.7% in urban areas, often with huge victory margins. The BJP was long seen as a party of the trading community: these results suggest its support has gone beyond that. Its also suggested that the city is now home to the aspirational Indian, who will vote for the right-of-centre economics advocated by Mr Modi and the BJP.

I respectfully disagree. The fact is that the trading community and the small kirana shopkeeper, long considered the mainstay of the BJP, are deeply unhappy with the party. Indian businessmen have traditionally cared more about their own personal well-being than the countrys overall economy; the aspirational Indians dont vote ideologically for a rightist programme, rather they judge economic policies by how they affect them individually. The twin hammer blows of demonetisation and the botched implementation of GST have hurt the mercantile community everywhere. In Gujarat, however, they responded to the appeal of Gujarati asmita: Mr Modi was one of their own, he was the first Gujarati Prime Minister, he deserved their support despite his governments failures. That argument will not work elsewhere, outside Gujarat.

There is thus a historic opportunity for the Congress to reach out to the trading and merchant community across urban India, with the message that their businesses and economic fortunes would be safer in responsible and experienced hands. But their numbers are still modest. What about the urban poor, still the majority of urban voters?

It is true that the decline of industry across India, and the closure of many of the bigger factories and textile mills in the cities, led to the weakening of urban working-class politics and a reduction in the political bargaining power of the working class, which had historically aligned with Congress or the Left but never with the BJP. The transformation of Indias cities in the last 25 years from centres of production to consumer markets has helped the BJP. With the new urban working class largely atomised into small and micro enterprises and petty production, large-scale unionisation became impossible, weakening the Left. Fragmented and scattered workers from the majority community became prey to the BJP tactic of religious polarisation, with voters being told that their interests lay in affirming their communal identity: only the BJP represents the Hindus.

The Congress answer must lie in a two-pronged strategy. The first is to neutralise the communal appeal by pointing out that we too share Hinduism, albeit an inclusive version of the faith, rather than a bigoted one. The second is to shift the terms of the debate to the basic necessities that urban voters lack. We should speak to and lead the struggle for better public utilities like city transport, pothole-free roads, affordable housing, clean drinking water, decent education in government schools, adequate health care facilities, public parks, cleaner air and improved sanitation and effective waste management.

We should use facts and figures to point out that the BJPs performance in these basic challenges of urban governance has been woeful and that they do not deserve the votes of the urban public. I would personally go farther and call for a restructuring of urban government, promising to establish directly-elected mayors with real authority and budgetary controls to be able to make a difference to the lives of city residents.

In 2014, the BJP scored across both urban and rural India by focusing principally on governance and development, and relentlessly attacking the Congress government on corruption, economic growth, and price rise (especially of fuel and food). This formula has continued to hold it in good stead in various state elections since, to the point where analysts believe the BJP has replaced the Congress, in Yogendra Yadavs words, as the pole around which political competition is organised. That development actually suits the Congress. We can turn the tables on the BJP by making them accountable for all the economic failures on their watch  both rural and urban.

In an increasingly urbanising India, the rural-urban distinction will become less relevant, not more. Even in rural India, the percentage of non-agricultural employment is increasing. Bringing broadband connectivity to the villages will link rural India through the Internet and smartphones to the same aspirations as urban India. The revolution of rising expectations is no longer just an urban phenomenon.

Congress should ask every Indian voter the same simple question: are you better off than you were in 2014? The vast majority will respond with an emphatic NO. In that reality lies the Congress best prospect of reversing the BJPs recent dominance.

(The author is Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram. Views are personal)New Delhi: Seeking to minimise the damage caused by a senior Maldivian minister's remarks on Kashmir, the country's high commissioner here Ahmed Mohamed has said it was a bilateral issue that should be "resolved amicably" between India and Pakistan, as he pitched for enhanced engagement between New Delhi and Male.

Admitting that there was an "environment of mistrust" between India and Maldives caused by a host of issues in recent years, the envoy said, "lack of engagement" was responsible for the current state of affairs, but asserted that the two countries should let "bygones be bygones".

In an interview to PTI, the high commissioner also maintained that while there has been a steady stream of high-level visits from the island nation, the same was not reciprocated, an issue which many in Male feel is one of the factors for the drifting away in the relations.

Asked about the recent comments of a senior Maldivian minister bracketing the Kashmir situation with the current state of affairs in Maldives, the high commissioner said, "It was a remark to emphasise the stand that the Maldives has been taking continuously and consistently since the 1970s. We have always maintained the position that it is a bilateral issue that needs to be resolved amicably between the two countries."

He further said, "We have always maintained the position that there needs no intervention by a third country. Hence, reiteration of our position and an example from the local context to state that the existing crisis in Maldives is an internal issue which needs no foreign intervention."

Mohamed Shainee, a senior minister in President Abdulla Yameen's government, had reportedly told a group of visiting Indian reporters, "Why haven't we gone into the Kashmir issue... and asked to be (an) intermediary? Because they are internal matters... India should stay away from our issue. We are independent and capable of dealing with the situation. If we need help, we will let India know."

Reacting sharply, Indian officials had termed the remarks as "unfortunate". Asserting that the two situations were not comparable, a senior official had said, "While the situation in Kashmir is due to state(Pakistan)-sponsored terrorism, the other is due to subversion of democracy."

Currently, India and Maldives have a strained relationship that has been caused by number of issues, including the signing of an FTA between Maldives and China amidst increasing proximity between Male and Beijing, and imposition of emergency by the Yameen government.

On why there was an "environment of mistrust" between India and Maldives, two neighbours that were once very close, the envoy said that though there was an understanding that there were issues which need to be resolved, but lack of engagement was responsible for current state of affairs.

"The need now is to start with a clean slate and let bygones be bygones," the envoy stressed while making a strong pitch for a high-level visit from India. "It will make a lot of difference."

The Maldivian President has visited India twice apart from visits by other leaders, including the Maldivian foreign minister, he noted.

Mohamed also described India's strong statement on emergency situation in Maldives as "disappointing". While the initial reaction, including the travel advisory, was expected, but the fourth statement from New Delhi was not expected and Maldives' "displeasure" was conveyed to the Indian side, he said.

The Ministry of External Affairs, in a statement, had said, "We are deeply dismayed that the Government of Maldives has extended the State of Emergency for a further 30 days. The manner in which the extension of the State of Emergency was approved by the Majlis in contravention of the Constitution of Maldives is also a matter of concern."

India has also been asserting that it was important to ensure that all democratic institutions in Maldives are allowed to function in a fair and transparent manner in accordance with the Constitution.New Delhi: Behind the craftily managed and organised plenary session of the Congress, which showcased Rahul Gandhi in a rare form, is the hidden hand of Priyanka Vadra all the way. From choosing the venue to the look, the feel and even managing the mosquito problem, Priyanka Vadra was hands-on at this two-day mega show.

A top party source said, She pulled us up for some of the empty chairs and she ordered us to get more people for the second day.

Not just this, when many delegates, including Sonia Gandhi, complained about the mosquitoes at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, Priyanka came down late night and stayed for over two hours to supervise the fumigation process.

Priyanka also decided on the list of speakers and order of speeches. It was again her idea that Rahul Gandhi be the sole speaker on stage and the Congress logo is all that should be seen behind him. This two-day plenary session sent out a powerful message by doing away with the traditional 'gaddas' (mattresses), which has been the seating style for the Congress leaders at this event for over the years.

Change is Now is the slogan of the plenary and in keeping with this, all delegates were made to sit below the stage.

Priyanka has always denied any political ambitions and when asked, she made it clear that its her brother and not her, who will be the face of the party. But Priyankas role in party affairs is an open secret. It was Priyanka who played a key role in forging the alliance with Akhilesh Yadavs Samajwadi Party for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. She even monitored the Gujarat Assembly election campaign.

On the contrary, Congress leader Navjot Singh Sindhu was the only one to openly admit to her active role in the party when he said that he had met her once and decided to join the Congress.

As the battle for the 2019 General Elections heats up, Priyanka's hidden hand is sure to become more obvious.Bengaluru: The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) has issued a show cause notice to former Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily's son Harsha Moily over a tweet about "money in politics" in selection of candidates for the Assembly polls in Karnataka.

A copy of the show cause notice asking for explanation from Harsha Moily for his controversial tweet in a week's time was posted in the official WhatsApp group created for media in Bengaluru by the KPCC.

The tweet, which was also tagged to Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, was posted on Harsha's Moily's Twitter handle.

"INC need (sic) to solve money in politics. We can't afford to have contractors and their nexus with the state PWD minister determine how candidates are selected for the upcoming Assembly elections," said the tweet posted on Harsha Moily's unverified Twitter handle.

The same tweet was first posted on Harsha Moily's unverified Twitter handle and was later deleted.

Harsha Moily had denied posting the tweet, which had created a ripple among political circles, with state BJP President B S Yeddyurappa justifying Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remark (at a recent public rally in Karnataka) that Siddaramaiah's rule is a "'10 per cent commission government".

Clarifying with PTI earlier, Harsha Moily had said, "It was a mistake (committed) by somebody else. That Twitter (handle) is not in my control. Its not (an) appropriate (tweet). I am withdrawing (it).

The tweet was allegedly targeted at PWD Minister H C Mahadevappa, a trusted aide of Siddaramaiah.

The tweet row has erupted amid reports that Veerappa Moily, a former chief minister, was unhappy over certain remarks allegedly made by Mahadevappa during a screening panel meeting about giving party ticket to Harsha Moily to contest the Assembly polls from Karkala.

Reacting to the controversy, Mahadevappa had said he did not have any information about it.Patna: Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Sunday asked the NDA leaders to desist from making off-the-cuff remarks and be "more tactful" during elections, in the wake of the party's poor showing in the recent bypolls in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

He expressed concern over some leaders of the ruling NDA at the Centre occasionally making remarks that created an impression of the alliance being against certain sections of the society.

Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) is an important ally of the BJP in the NDA.

While campaigning for BJP during the Araria bypoll on March 9, Bihar party unit president Nityanand Rai had allegedly said that if the RJD candidate won the election, Araria would become a safe haven for the ISIS.

An FIR was lodged against Rai for violating election code.

Similarly, Union minister Giriraj Singh's utterance a day after the party's loss in the bypoll that Araria would become a "hub of terrorism" also drew sharp criticism.

Paswan said social arithmetic is known to be a solid poll plank in states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar than talking about development, adding that was the reason behind the BJP's "shocking" defeat in the bypoll in its traditional stronghold of Gorakhpur.

The bypoll results in Bihar were not at all surprising. One Lok Sabha and two assembly constituencies had fallen vacant upon the death of the incumbents whose close family members retained the seats for the respective parties. The respective tallies of the RJD and the BJP remained unaltered, Paswan told reporters here.

But, it is in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh where we received shock. The party lost both the seats despite running popular governments at the Centre and in the state, he said.

It was in this backdrop that LJP parliamentary board chief Chirag Paswan spoke about the need for a course correction. There was no anti-incumbency against the BJP in UP, yet it lost because arch rivals BSP and SP joined hands, Paswan said.

The food minister was referring to a recent tweet by Chirag Paswan, his son and the MP from Jamui Lok Sabha seat in Bihar.

"We ought to look carefully at how Congress remained in power in the country for so long, enjoying the support of Dalits, Brahmins and Muslims without actually doing anything for them," Paswan said.

The BJP-led NDA governments, headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee or Narendra Modi, have made tireless efforts to improve the condition of these communities, he added.

That the NDA works for the progress of all is a fact. This fact needs to be coupled with a bit of tact. Leaders ought to be more tactful and avoid blunders like speaking against reservations during assembly elections," he said.

He was referring to a comment by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on reservation in jobs during the Bihar assembly polls in 2015, which is widely believed to have queered the pitch for the BJP-led alliance.

About TDP in Andhra Pradesh walking out of the NDA and moving a no-confidence motion against the Narendra Modi government, Paswan remarked, The party (TDP) has acted keeping its prospects in the next assembly polls in the state, due next year, in mind. Their demand for special status is, however, not possible for any government to fulfil.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who is our ally, has been raising the demand for granting special status to the state for so long. Bihar would have been thrown into turmoil upon grant of special status to Andhra Pradesh. Moreover, the new system of special packages has done away with the need for grant of special status as it involves a lot of ifs and buts in providing central assistance to needy states, he said.

About former Bihar chief minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha founder Jitan Ram Manjhi also quitting the NDA and joining the RJD-Congress combine, the Union minister said, The NDA is like an ocean to which a few drops do not matter".

"Moreover, Manjhi is a Mahadalit and his exit from the NDA coincided with former state Congress president Ashok Chowdhury who belongs to the same social group joining the coalition along with three other MLCs of his party," he pointed out.

Paswan also dismissed claims by RJD leaders that Rashtriya Lok Samata Party chief and Union minister Upendra Kushwaha was feeling uneasy in the NDA and may quit the alliance soon.

"He (Kushwaha) has himself categorically denied the same. He is firmly with the NDA. The RJD-Congress combine is going overboard," the LJP leader added.New Delhi: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat called Rahul Gandhi a "jumla" and said that the Congress president was not taken seriously in the country.

"Although he is 47, Rahul Gandhi has a lot to learn politically. He is not taken seriously, people consider him an entertainer. He blames our jumlas but he himself is a jumla," said Rawat at the News18 Rising India Summit.

Terming the BJP's loss in Gorakhpur and Phulpur bypolls as 'gath jod (political manoeuvring)', Rawat said, "Our focus is on economically backward states. We won in Tripura because of PM Narendra Modi's focus in smaller states. However, we lost in Gorakhpur because of gath jod. They could not fight us alone and they know it," said Rawat.

He further added, "If UP is destroyed right now, it's because of Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party. Akhilesh has played the politics of caste and he has turned the state into one. There is a running joke in UP that when a Yadav takes birth he is destined to be a Superintendent of police. Such is the caste card played in the state that government jobs were being distributed in the name of caste."

The leader, when asked about unemployment, claimed that it was something that all states had to face and that government jobs were not the answer.

"Every government's biggest challenge is unemployment. In a country where 87% of the population is young, employment generation is a necessity and a challenge. There are only so many government jobs available, hence we need to work towards self-employment. Startup India needs to be pushed. For example, the demand for organic products is increasing, and that can be a source of employment," he said.

Talking about the issue of rural to urban migration in his state, Rawat said that his government was working towards solving it by connecting urban amenities to the rural population.

"Education, Health and Jobs are the demands of a hill state. We have employed more than 1100 doctors and have got more than 900 nurses. 36 hospitals in the states are linked to telemedicine. Respected doctorsHyderabad: The CPI has said that the realignment of political forces in the country is possible in the run-up to the general election next year, in the backdrop of BJP's defeat in the recent Lok Sabha bypolls in Uttar Pradesh.

The results of the by-elections in UP, Bihar and Rajasthan have indicated that BJP's stock was decreasing and the people were disillusioned with the lead party of the NDA, party General Secretary S Sudhakar Reddy said.

"There is a possibility of realignment. This realignment is the policy which the CPI has been talking about from the beginning. There should be a one-to-one contest, if not an all India understanding between all the parties," the party General Secretary S Sudhakar Reddy told PTI in Hyderabad.

"So, I hope in most of the (LS) seats, it takes place. We now believe after the bypoll results in Uttar Pradesh, it is the beginning of the end of the BJP rule in the country," he said.

The votes of Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have increased marginally, but the BJP's vote share has come down considerably, he said.

"It is very interesting to note that the vote share of the SP and BSP showed little increase, only five to six per cent, whereas the votes of BJP have dropped from five lakh to three lakh in the Gorakhpur constituency. In Phulpur also, a substantial number of votes of BJP have been lost," he said.

The BJP last week lost the Lok Sabha bypolls in Gorakhpur and Phulpur constituencies in Uttar Pradesh and Araria in Bihar.

The Gorakhpur seat was won by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in 2014. He later resigned when the BJP came to power in the state.

The Telugu Desam Party and former Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's party pulling out of NDA government at the Centre would also impact the course of developments, he said.New Delhi: Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday rushed to the defence of BJP within minutes of Congress President Rahul Gandhis speech at the 84th plenary session attacking the party, PM Narendra Modi and Amit Shah and said that his speech was "devoid of substance".

Sitharaman said, "The entire speech of the Congress president sounds like the rhetoric of a loser."

A party that is solely responsible for the anti-Sikh riots and Indira Gandhi for Operation Bluestar speaks about right and wrong and the Kauravas and Pandavas. This is a party that was thrown out because of years of corruption, said Sitharaman while addressing the media after Gandhi's speech.

Sitharaman further attacked Gandhi saying he has made a mockery of Hindus and Hindu rituals.

She said, "A party that questions the existence of Lord Ram, wants to be identified with the Pandavas. Rahul never loses a chance to make a mockery of Hindu rituals and beliefs. Congress leaders are mocking the Hindus because it doesnt matter to them as they just want to appease a certain section and not the Hindus."

"I have never heard of a Congress' priest and a BJP' priest, but Rahul Gandhi has narrated a whole story on that, just a way to mock Hindus and Hinduism," she said.

She also replied to senior Congress leader P Chidambaram's jibe on RBI that it should learn to count money from Hundi collectors in Tirupati. Sitharaman said, "RBI should hire Congress for counting black money, as they are familiar with counting it".

Earlier in the day, Gandhi had narrated a story about his meeting and conversation with priests during his visit to a temple. Rahul Gandhi, while speaking at the 84th plenary session of the Congress on Sunday said that he goes to the temple, the church and the mosque.

Sitharaman spoke for several minutes on Gandhis scathing attack on the ruling BJP and its top leadership. She expressed shock at Gandhis calling BJP president Amit Shah a murder accused.

It is astonishing that the Congress President chose to name BJP president Amit Shah and said that he is a murder accused. He has been cleared by a court. This is a fake and falsely motivated campaign by someone who himself is out on bail in a criminal conspiracy case, said Sitharaman.

The Defence Minister added with a smile that not just this, Gandhis final icing on the cake was when he said that the BJP was losing one election after the other causing a worry for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

She said, The final icing was when he said Modiji is scared because BJP is losing one election after other. How do you react to such a factually incorrect statement? Congress lost their deposit money in Gorakhpur and Phulpur. Where did you win one election after another?

Rahul Gandhi made a series of personal attacks on both the prime minister and the BJP president apart from the central government and its policies while speaking at the 84th plenary session of the party in New Delhi on Sunday.Mumbai: Hinting at a possible alliance with Congress and Nationalist Congress Party in the upcoming polls, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Sunday called for a 'Modi-mukt Bharat'.

Talking at the partys customary Gudhi Padwa rally at Shivaji Park in Mumbai, he alleged that the single-point agenda for the BJP is to start riots over Ram Mandir issue so that they can win the 2019 General Elections. The rally is particularly significant in the current backdrop of many political developments in Maharashtra as well as at the national level. Also, it looks like the party is desperate to seek some power amid dwindling political fortunes. It has been 12 years since Raj Thackeray had formed the MNS.

In 2014, we all believed in Narendra Modis call for a Congress-mukt Bharat. But now, after seeing what he has done to the country, I believe it is time for a Modi-mukt Bharat. You all too should be alert towards the developments in the country. Modi government is not good for the nation's interest, Raj Thackeray said on Sunday night.

He called for all political parties to open a front against the BJP government.

Look at the way the voices of the media and judiciary are being muzzled. Is this not an emergency? If you study the techniques being used by this government, you will see that all these techniques have been written in Adolf Hitlers books, he said.

He expressed fear that the country might be pushed into riots by the BJP for political gains in the coming elections. The single-point agenda for BJP is to start riots in the country over Ram Mandir issue. I have heard that certain Muslim organisations have already been approached to spark riots soon after the issue is resolved. Do we want a Ram Mandir? Of course we do. But it can wait for another year. Let Ram Mandir issue be resolved after a year when the elections have already taken place, he said.

Accusing the Modi government of duping people, he claimed that demonetisation was the biggest scam since Independence.

Thackeray claimed that the BJP government has feigned ignorance about the Rafale deal despite knowing everything. Ambani was given land in Nagpur for defence production. CM Devendra Fadnavis and Nitin Gadkari were themselves present during the 'bhoomipoojan' and the Defence Minister is still claiming that she doesnt know who Rafales India partners are, he said.

He further claimed that the bullet train project, which will connect Mumbai and Ahmedabad, is a ploy to divide Mumbai from Maharashtra. He also questioned Narendra Modis frequent foreign visits. If selling pakodas is employment, did Modi go globe-trotting to buy atta for the pakodas? he asked. He also claimed that the BJP hates Maharashtra.

Taking a dig at Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar for acting in a video on Save Rivers, he likened the CM to an unpopular class monitor, and Mungantiwar to Samba of Sholay fame.

Thackeray, however, did not mention the Shiv Sena or his cousin Uddhav Thackeray anywhere in his speech.

The rally is important in context of the political developments that have been taking place in Maharashtra as well as at the national level. At a time when the Congress and NCP have opened a front to bring together all parties against the BJP, the growing concern in Maharashtra is whether BJP-Shiv Sena will fight the coming elections together. The proximity between Raj Thackeray and Sharad Pawar also seems to be growing. Raj Thackeray has been showing a liking for Rahul Gandhi too, through his cartoons.New Delhi: Former finance minister and Congress leader P Chidambaram on Sunday took a swipe at the Reserve Bank of India officials for not being able to count the demonetisation money as yet. He then took the opportunity to advise them.

"I would like to tell the RBI officials why don't you go to Hundi collectors in Tirupati? They count money faster than you," said Chidambaram at the Congress plenary session in Delhi.

In October, in reply to an RTI query, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said that the notes are still being "processed in all earnest" through a sophisticated currency verification system.

Replying to a question on providing the deadline for completing the counting exercise, it said, "The verification of notes withdrawn from the circulation is an ongoing process".

The RBI said at least 66 Sophisticated Currency Verification and Processing (CVPS) machines were being used for counting of junked Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes that were deposited with various banks post demonetisation.

The government had on November 8 last year banned the use of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes and allowed the holders of these currency bills to deposit them with banks or use them at certain notified utilities.

The notes deposited or collected are being verified by the central bank at its offices to establish the total number of currency bills returned and to weed out those that are fake.New Delhi: Taking the stage amid a roaring applause, Congress president Rahul Gandhi started off his speech at the 84th plenary session of the Congress party by comparing the BJP-RSS to the Kauravas while likening the Congress party with the "humble" Pandavas.

At the party event on Sunday, Rahul Gandhi was in a mood to spare none. From calling BJP president Amit Shah a "murder accused" to attacking PM Modi for diverting attention from issues such as unemployment and farmer suicides, Gandhi sounded the poll bugle for the 2019 General Elections and said that it is a "fight between two ideologies".

He said, PM Modi diverts attention from real issues by organising 'fancy events'. There is no employment, farmers are dying and the PM says let us do Yoga in front of the India Gate.

Rahul Gandhi launched a personal attack on Amit Shah and said, "People will accept a man accused of murder as the president of the party but they will never ever accept the same in the Congress party because they hold Congress in the highest regard."

The party president was also in mood for some self-criticism when he hinted at an organisational restructuring and even observed that some of the Congress leaders might not like his words. He said, "There is a wall that stands between the Congress party leaders and party workers. It is seen when a man drops down from a parachute and bags an election ticket while a hardworking party worker is told that you don't have the money to get a party ticket.

"But when we gave tickets to the Congress workers in Gujarat, it showed results. Modiji was seen flying away in a seaplane. When we truly empower Congress workers in future, PM Modi will be seen in a submarine.

The Congress president likened the BJP to the "arrogant" Kauravas in the Mahabharata and said his party, like the Pandavas, is designed to fight for the truth while BJP is designed to fight for power. Rahul also called BJP the voice of an organisation whereas Congress is the voice of the nation.

Gandhi also said that people will accept that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is drunk with power "because they know what it is designed for".

"So what does Modi actually mean? It symbolises the collusion between India's biggest crony capitalists and the PM," Gandhi said. Referring to the diamantaire Nirav Modi and the PNB fraud, along with Lalit Modi, Gandhi said that they share the same surname as the prime minister, which is a very significant thing to observe.

Lashing out at BJPs parent organization, the RSS, he said, "Ideas of the RSS were reflected when youths of the minority community in Una were being beaten up. They say to Muslims, you don't belong here. They ask the Tamils to change their beautiful language. They tell the people from the Northeast, 'We do not like you're food'. They told Gauri Lankesh and Kalburgi to shut up or they will be killed. They tell women to wear the right clothes or they will be thrashed.

He also blamed the RSS for the rift in the Supreme Court by referring to the four seniormost judges' unprecedented press conference earlier this year. For the first time, we saw that four judges were running to the common man to seek justice. The RSS is to blame for it. They only want one institution, which is the RSS, Rahul Gandhi said on Sunday.

In an evident outreach to the youth, he outlined the Congress poll plank of jobless growth in the country. Earlier in the day former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh also said that Prime Minister Modi had promised to create 2 crore jobs and hardly 2 lakh jobs had been created.

Senior party leader P Chidambaram also took on the Modi government over its growth claims and demonetisation. On Saturday, former party chief Sonia Gandhi had addressed party workers, calling Modis pre-poll promises dramebaazi.Berlin: German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed overcapacity in world steel markets and agreed on Saturday to work on solutions within the framework of the G20 group of industrialised nations, Merkel's spokesman said.

In a telephone discussion, the two newly reelected leaders emphasised close ties between the two countries, both facing planned U.S. steel and aluminium tariffs, and agreed to deepen their strategic partnership, Steffen Seibert said in a statement.

They also underscored the importance of multilateral cooperation on global trade, a pointed response to an accelerating shift away from multilateral action and institutions by the United States under President Donald Trump.

Chinese state news agency Xinhua said Xi told Merkel that the two countries should "become advocates for new-type international relations" and become cooperation partners despite their ideological differences, with cooperation to be pushed forward within the framework of the Belt and Road initiative.

"China-Germany relations will steadily proceed far as long as they adhere to equality and mutual respect, understand and care for each other's core interests and major concerns, and properly control and handle their differences," Xinhua said, attributing the comments to Xi.

U.S. officials have said they will seek to work with "like-minded" countries at the Group of 20 finance leaders meeting early next week in Argentina to push back against China's state subsidies and investment policies.

The Merkel-Xi call came amid tensions between the United States, Europe and China over U.S. tariffs, and China's rejection of U.S. legislation encouraging an exchange of officials between the United States and Taiwan.

China considers self-ruled and democratic Taiwan a wayward province ineligible for state-to-state relations.

Merkel and Xi "discussed the problem of global overcapacities in the steel market and backed continued efforts to work toward solutions in the framework of the G20 Global Forum (on Steel Excess Capacity)," Seibert said, referring to a body initiated at the G20 summit in Hangzhou, China, in 2016.

"In this regard, they emphasised the importance of close multilateral cooperation on trade," he said.

Trump has criticised both Germany and China for their trade surpluses with the United States since taking office in 2017.

Merkel on Saturday said Germany's trade surpluses were narrowing due to rising domestic demand, and the government would continue to try to support that trend.

German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier will visit Washington this week to press for an exemption from U.S. steel and aluminium tariffs as part of a broad push by the European Union to reverse the U.S. sanctions.

German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz will discuss the issue at the G20 meeting in Argentina with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

Merkel said on Friday the planned U.S. tariffs violated the principles of the World Trade Organization and the dispute should be resolved via talks if possible.

Seibert said Merkel invited the Chinese government to visit Berlin for official government consultations, and Xi also extended an invitation for Merkel to visit China.Sydney: Australia's attorney general said that Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has diplomatic immunity, rejecting a bid by activist lawyers to prosecute her for crimes against humanity over the country's treatment of minority Rohingya Muslims.

Nearly 700,000 Rohingya fled Buddhist-majority Myanmar to Bangladesh after militant attacks on Aug. 25 last year sparked a crackdown led by security forces in the western state of Rakhine that the United Nations and United States have said constituted ethnic cleansing.

Myanmar denies the charge. It has asked for "clear evidence" of abuses by security forces. After repeated attempts, neither Suu Kyi's spokesman nor the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was available for comment.

Australian Attorney General Christian Porter said he would not allow the prosecution of Suu Kyi, who arrived in Sydney on Saturday for regional talks, because heads of state cannot be arrested, detained or served with court proceedings.

"Aung San Suu Kyi has complete immunity, including from being served with court documents, because under customary international law, heads of state, heads of government and ministers of foreign affairs are immune from foreign criminal proceedings and are inviolable," Porter told Reuters by email.

The legal action in Australia coincided with the start of Association of Southeast Asian Nations meetings.

Australia is hosting the meetings, despite not being a member of the 10-nation bloc, as it seeks to tighten political and trade ties in the region amid China's rising influence.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi's invitation has sparked protests, which included about 100 activists gathering in Sydney's Hyde Park where they chanted "Aung San Suu Kyi, shame on you".

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Friday he would raise the issue of human rights abuses with Suu Kyi during her three-day visit.Dhaka: A court in Bangladesh sentenced seven terrorists to death on Sunday after finding them guilty of killing a shrine worker in 2015, court officials said.

Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority country of 160 million people, is facing what appears to be a growing threat of terrorist violence and has seen a string of incidents in recent years.

Shrine caretaker, Rahamat Ali, 60, was hacked to death in November 2015 in the northern district of Rangpur. Six others accused of the attack were acquitted by the court.

The convicted men were members of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh group, public prosecutor Rathish Chandra Bhowmik told reporters.

Police believe the same group, which has pledged allegiance to Islamic State, was responsible for the most recent serious attack, when gunmen stormed a restaurant in the diplomatic quarter of Dhaka in July 2016, killing 22 people, most of them foreigners.

Islamic State and al Qaeda have claimed a series of killings of liberals and members of religious minorities in Bangladesh in the past years.

Authorities have consistently ruled out the presence of such groups, blaming domestic militants instead. However, security experts say the scale and sophistication of the restaurant attack suggested links to a wider network.Washington: Donald Trump will host Saudi Arabia's crown prince in Washington on Tuesday, giving the president a receptive audience to denounce rival Iran and a chance to take stock of significant changes the prince is engineering in the kingdom.

Ten months after the last face-to-face meeting between Trump and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in Riyadh, the 71-year-old president and the 32-year-old strongman prince are expected to deepen an already warm and congenial relationship.

But they are also expected to take up major developments for Saudi Arabia, both internally and externally: the end of a ban on Saudi women driving, the unprecedented detention of dozens of people that was billed as a high-level anti-corruption purge, Saudi involvement in the war in Yemen, and the crisis with the Gulf state of Qatar.

"It's jaw-dropping how many policy changes the Saudis have pursued at home and in the region since that last meeting," said Lori Plotkin Boghardt, a former CIA analyst now with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "Many of these changes have touched US security interests."

One example is the summit that the administration had hoped to host this year with the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which could be difficult to arrange given the continuing crisis with Qatar.

In June, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) began an air and sea boycott against Qatar, which they accuse of financing terrorism and being overly friendly with Iran.

Prince Mohammed, known by his initials MBS, was named crown prince that month by his father, King Salman.

Early on, the prince announced an ambitious "Vision 2030" initiative to build an economy less dependent on oil, while luring more foreign investment.

Toward that end, Riyadh wants to greatly accelerate the pace of its civilian nuclear energy program. The goal: to build 16 reactors over the next 20 years, at a cost of some 80 billion euros ($98 billion), according to officials and analysts.

As the Saudis pursue the technology needed to undertake the ambitious project, they are expected to play potential rivals against one another, reminding their American counterparts that China, Russia and France are also capable of filling their needs.

"It would be virtually impossible for the Saudi government to accept terms that are less than what Obama gave the Iranians -- the possibility of future enrichment, a source close to the Saudi government told AFP, referring to the nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers that was completed when Barack Obama was still president.

Bloody war in Yemen

The United States and Saudi Arabia are historic allies. Ever since Franklin Delano Roosevelt met with King Abdul Aziz ibn Saud on a US naval ship in the Suez Canal in 1945, every American president has carefully nurtured relations with the Saudi royal family.

But the unstinting support Trump offered when he chose Riyadh as the destination of his first overseas trip as president brought the relationship to a new level.

While Barack Obama said in 2015 that it was important "not to perpetuate any long-term confrontation with Iran, or to even marginalize Iran," Trump, who has repeatedly threatened to withdraw from the nuclear deal reached that year with Tehran, has chosen a very different path.

"Everywhere we go in the Middle East it's Iran, Iran, Iran," he said a few days ago. "Every problem is Iran."

Even before setting foot on American soil, Prince Mohammed struck a scathing tone toward Iran in an interview with CBS, comparing the territorial ambitions of that country's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to those of Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany.

And he warned that if Iran were to develop a nuclear bomb, Saudi Arabia would do the same "as soon as possible."

But critics are cautioning the White House not to blindly embrace every stance taken by the Saudi prince, particularly as concerns its role in the bloody civil war in Yemen.

Fighting between the Huthi movement, supported by Iran, and Yemeni government forces, backed by the Saudis and the UAE, has claimed nearly 10,000 lives and left the country on the verge of a disastrous famine.

In an opinion column early this month in the New York Times, Thomas Friedman, writing in the form of an open letter to Trump, urged the president not to give in to Prince Mohammed's "bad impulses" as he seeks to modernize Saudi Arabia's "economy and religious/social structure."

He then adds: "If you think you can just applaud his anti-Iran stance and religious reforms and all will work out fine, you're wrong."Los Angeles: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has reportedly deployed "secret police" led by Indian-American Sonya Ahuja to catch and punish those leaking information about the social media giant in press, a media report has said.

Zuckerberg hosts weekly meetings where he shares details of unreleased new products and strategies in front of thousands of employees, The Guardian reported.

During one of his weekly meetings in 2015, the usually affable CEO warned employees: "We're going to find the leaker, and we're going to fire them".

A week later, Zuckerberg revealed the culprit had been caught and fired.

The media report, citing an unnamed former employee at Facebook, said that he was called into a meeting last year under the guise of a promotion where the investigative team interrogated him.

The interrogation by the "rat-catching" team, led by the company's head of investigations Ahuja, was a technicality; they already knew he was guilty of leaking some innocuous information to the press, the report said.

They had records of a screenshot he'd taken, links he had clicked or hovered over, and they strongly indicated they had accessed chats between him and the journalist, dating back to before he joined the company, it said.

"It's horrifying how much they know. You go into Facebook and it has this warm, fuzzy feeling of 'we're changing the world' and 'we care about things'. But you get on their bad side and all of a sudden you are face to face with Mark Zuckerberg's secret police," he told The Guardian

.

When asked about the report, a Facebook spokeswoman Bertie Thomson said: "Companies routinely use business records in workplace investigations, and we are no exception".Washington: Facebook says it has suspended the account of Cambridge Analytica, the data analysis firm hired by Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, after reports it harvested the profile information of millions of US voters without their permission.

According to the New York Times and Britain's Observer, the company stole information from 50 million Facebook users' profiles in the tech giant's biggest-ever data breach, to help them design software to predict and influence voters' choices at the ballot box.

Also suspended were the accounts of its parent organization, Strategic Communication Laboratories, as well as those of University of

Cambridge psychologist Aleksandr Kogan and Christopher Wylie, who runs a firm called Eunoia Technologies.

Cambridge Analytica was bankrolled to the tune of USD 15 million by US hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer, a major Republican donor. The Observer said it was headed at the time by Steve Bannon, a top Trump adviser until he was fired last summer.

"In 2015, we learned that ... Kogan lied to us and violated our Platform Policies by passing data from an app that was using Facebook Login to SCL/Cambridge Analytica, a firm that does political, government and military work around the globe," Facebook said in a posting late

Friday by its vice president and deputy general counsel Paul Grewal.

Kogan also improperly shared the data with Wylie, it said.

Kogan's app, thisisyourdigitallife, offered a personality prediction test, describing itself on Facebook as "a research app used by psychologists."

Some 270,000 people downloaded the app, allowing Kogan to access information such as the city listed on their profile, or content they had liked.

"However, the app also collected the information of the test-takers' Facebook friends, leading to the accumulation of a data pool tens of millions-strong," the Observer reported.

Wylie, who later became a whistleblower, told the newspaper: "We exploited Facebook to harvest millions of people's profiles. And built models to exploit what we knew about them and target their inner demons. That was the basis that the entire company was built on."

Kogan legitimately obtained the information but "violated platform policies" by passing information to SCL/Cambridge Analytica and Wylie, Facebook said.

Facebook, which did not say how the data was used or misused, said it removed the app in 2015 when it learned of the violation, and was told by Kogan and everyone who received the data that it had since been destroyed.

"Several days ago, we received reports that, contrary to the certifications we were given, not all data was deleted," Grewal wrote.

"We are moving aggressively to determine the accuracy of these claims. If true, this is another unacceptable violation of trust and the commitments they made.

"We are suspending SCL/Cambridge Analytica, Wylie and Kogan from Facebook, pending further information."Berlin: Top German government officials on Sunday issued strong warnings to the United States about the dangers of pursuing protectionist policies but said they would continue efforts to avert planned US steel and aluminium tariffs.

Economy Minister Peter Altmaier told the Handelsblatt newspaper that Washington could not drive a wedge between Germany and the rest of Europe with import tariffs, and said a global trade war would harm both producers and consumers.

Altmaier, who is due to arrive in Washington on Monday, said he had prepared for his meetings with US officials in close coordination with EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom.

"We are a customs union and act jointly. It cannot be in the interest of the US government to divide Europe, and it also would not succeed," Altmaier, one of Chancellor Angela Merkel's closest conservative allies, told the paper.

New finance minister Olaf Scholz, a member of the Social Democrats, junior partner in Merkel's coalition government, warned that protectionism could harm the future growth prospects of the world economy.

Scholz told reporters en route to his first meeting of G20 finance ministers in Argentina that he would share Germany's opposition to the planned US tariffs when he meets with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Monday.

German and other EU officials are pushing back hard against US President Donald Trump's plans to impose duties on incoming steel and aluminium, and levy a tax on European cars unless the EU removes tariffs and trade barriers on a range of goods.

Merkel and Chinese President Xi Jinping also underscored the importance of multilateral cooperation in a telephone call, vowing to work out solutions to excess capacity in the world steel market within the framework of the G20.

Altmaier told the newspaper the EU was open to discussing specific areas where the United States or other countries felt disadvantaged. "Free trade clearly isn't perfect," he said.

He said he would also discuss threatened tolls on German cars during his meetings in Washington.

"German cars are so successful in all global markets because they're so good. Higher duties are the wrong answer to that."Manila: A fire at a hotel in the Philippine capital killed three people on Sunday and injured nearly two dozen, police and rescue officials said, with two people listed as missing.

The fire broke out at the Manila Pavilion Hotel where about 20 people earlier listed as trapped had been evacuated safely, Johnny Yu, chief of the Manila Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office, said. The death toll had been reduced from four to three, he said.

Two employees of a casino at the hotel were missing and rescue operations were ongoing, Manila Police District spokesman Erwin Margarejo told Reuters.

It was not immediately clear how the fire started. The hotel is owned by Waterfront Philippines Inc.Male: Police in Maldives arrested at least 139 opposition protesters, its spokesman said on Saturday, as they attempted to defy orders under the state of emergency and march into the high security zone in capital Male.

Maldives President Abdulla Yameen has extended the state of emergency for 30 days through March 22 after declaring it on Feb. 5 following an order by the Supreme Court for nine opposition leaders to be released.

The protesters are calling for the arrest of Yameen and for the Supreme Court ruling, which the president has defied, to be enforced.

Police spokesman Ahmed Shifan told Reuters that 141 people were arrested in protests late on Friday, though two men were subsequently released.

Witnesses said masked special operations policemen arrested several protesters, while riot police charged with shields and used pepper spray and tear gas to break up the protests.

The arrest came after authorities warned last week that the protests would not be allowed, saying that police had received word that there was an attempt to violently overthrow the government and create unrest.

Rights group Amnesty International said, Maldivian authorities are using the state of emergency as a licence for heightened repression and the 139 people have been detained "solely for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly".

"They must be released immediately and unconditionally, Omar Waraich, Amnesty's deputy South Asia director said in a statement.

Police accused a protester of fracturing an officers arm in a tweet and said: "A policemen is injured after being attacked by a protester. The policemen has a fracture in his hand."

The government has said that there were no plans to extend the state of emergency after it expires on March 22.Stockholm: North Korean officials wrapped up three days of talks with Swedish counterparts with no indication their efforts cleared the way for a mooted nuclear summit between US President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, as a senior Pyongyang diplomat headed to Finland on Sunday for further meetings.

The North's state KCNA news agency said on Sunday the Stockholm talks had discussed "bilateral relations and other issues of mutual concern", without providing further detail.

The meetings in Sweden came a week after Trump agreed to a summit proposal relayed by South Korean envoys who met Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang.

His response triggered a race to set a credible agenda for what would be historic talks between the two leaders.

But no specific time or venue has been set and North Korea has yet to confirm it even made the offer to meet.

Choe Kang Il, deputy director for North American affairs at Pyongyang's foreign ministry, was seen at Beijing airport Sunday departing for Finland, where he is expected to hold talks with former US ambassador to Seoul Kathleen Stephens, multiple media reports said.

Earlier reports had listed Choe among the North's delegation to Sweden.

Choe, experienced in negotiations with the US, is expected to meet the retired US diplomat as well as other retired South Korean diplomats, the South's Yonhap news agency said, citing an unnamed diplomatic source.

"But no current US or South Korean officials will be there," Yonhap quoted the source in Seoul as saying.

Summit 'facilitator'

In Stockholm, the Swedes were seeking to pave the way for talks which could end a threat of nuclear war, using the leverage of their longstanding ties with Pyongyang, where its diplomatic mission opened in 1975, the first Western embassy to be established in the hermit country.

The embassy today represents US, Canadian and Australian diplomatic interests, giving Sweden a key liaison role and facilitating the talks in Stockholm between Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom and counterpart Ri Yong Ho.

http://anycast-iris-p-sco-http.afp.com/components/9b2b47fa7598893f03d0f11123c65683410680e5Ri also met with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, who Friday said Sweden hoped to be a summit "facilitator".

A senior US administration official told AFP on Friday no US government staff would be meeting with the North Koreans in Sweden, where Ri was stationed as a diplomat for three years in the mid 1980s.

Wallstrom had earlier said the talks extended into Saturday given the "constructive atmosphere" of the first two days.

No concrete announcements emerged Saturday, as the Swedish foreign ministry stated that "the talks focused primarily on the security situation on the Korean peninsula, which is high on the UN Security Council agenda."

Noting Sweden's "consular responsibilities as a protecting power" for the United States, Canada and Australia, the statement indicated the "foreign ministers discussed opportunities and challenges associated with continued diplomatic efforts to reach a peaceful solution to the conflict."

The ministry added that "Sweden underlined the need for North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons and missile programmes in accordance with Security Council resolutions."

It also stated that "other discussions centred on the humanitarian situation in North Korea, sanctions, and regional cooperation and security issues for countries including South Korea, Japan, Russia, China and the United States."

In line with previous sessions of talks, Ri made no comments to the media.

The Swedes added Ri also visited the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute global security think tank for "off the record" talks with chairman Jan Eliasson and other senior officials on the situation in the Korean peninsula.London: Qatar has asked US regulators to investigate the US subsidiary of the largest bank in the United Arab Emirates, accusing it of "bogus" foreign exchange deals designed to harm its economy as part of a blockade by Gulf neighbours.

The Central Bank of Qatar's law firm has written a letter to the US Treasury asking it to investigate NBAD Americas, the US subsidiary of First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), which is majority state-owned.

In a second letter, the lawyers - Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison - asked the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to investigate possible manipulation of Qatar's currency, the riyal.

The request for an investigation deepens the diplomatic crisis that erupted in June when Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain imposed an economic boycott on Qatar, accusing it of supporting Islamist militants and Iran.

"We believe NBAD has participated in an extraordinary and unlawful scheme to wage financial warfare against Qatar, including through the manipulation of Qatari currency and securities markets," said the letter to the U.S. Treasury dated Feb. 26, which has been seen by Reuters.

"These actions should be halted immediately, and we ask that you investigate whether NBAD has directly or indirectly supported the manipulation of Qatar's markets, including through NBAD America's dollar-clearing or correspondent banking services in the United States," the letter said.

FAB, which was created from the merger of First Gulf Bank and National Bank of Abu Dhabi last year, did not respond to questions about details of the allegations.

"As the UAE's largest bank and one of the world's largest and safest financial institutions, First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) works closely with all of its regulators in the markets in which it operates, to sustain and uphold the high standards of governance and regulatory compliance across the group," it said.

The UAE government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A Qatari government spokesman confirmed the letters had been sent to U.S. regulators but declined to comment on their content. New York-based law firm Paul, Weiss declined to comment.

The U.S. Treasury and CFTC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.London: Britain's banks, energy and water companies are all said to be on high alert against the threat of a possible Russian cyber-attack amid an escalating diplomatic row between the two countries over the poisoning of a former Russian double agent on British soil.

Fears that Moscow could target Britain's critical national infrastructure came as Russia's ambassador to the European Union (EU) suggested a UK research laboratory could be the source of the deadly nerve agent used in the attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

When you have a nerve agent or whatever, you check it against certain samples that you retain in your laboratories. And Porton Down, as we now all know, is the largest military facility in the United Kingdom that has been dealing with chemical weapons research. And it's actually only eight miles from Salisbury," Vladimir Chizhov told the BBC.

He stressed that Russia had nothing to do with the poisoning and that it did not stockpile the poison. Chizhov's comments came as a Russian foreign ministry spokesperson also tried to lay the blame on Britain, saying the UK was one of the most likely sources of the nerve agent, along with the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Sweden or possibly the US.

Meanwhile, officers from Britain's Special Branch of intelligence and security services are investigating death threats against another Russian dissident living in the UK, who has received a series of threatening emails linking his fate to Skripal.

Valery Morozov, 63, who claimed political asylum in the UK after blowing the whistle on Kremlin corruption, received a series of emails last week, warning: They came for Sergei, they will come for you.

According to The Sunday Times', Morozov received threats from an anonymous encrypted email address and immediately reported them to Surrey police. When he did not reply, Morozov received a second email, warning: Do you not care what will happen to you? Waiting for your confirmation.

Scotland Yard has issued a renewed appeal for information from anyone who may have seen a burgundy red BMW owned by 66-year-old Skripal, the former Russian spy who was found unconscious on March 4 in Salisbury along with his daughter, Yulia. The pair remain critical but stable in hospital.

British Prime Minister Theresa May informed Parliament earlier this week that the poison has been identified as being part of a group of military-grade nerve agents known as Novichok developed by the former Soviet Union.

Soon after she announced the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats identified as undeclared intelligence officers, the Kremlin expelled the same number based in Russia and also announced the closure of the British Consulate-General in St Petersburg as well as the British Council in Moscow.

Today, the UK government said that independent investigators from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will arrive in Britain tomorrow to kick off their investigation into the nerve agent used in the attempted assassinations of the Skripals.

The team from The Hague will meet with officials from the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory in Porton Down and the police to discuss the process for collecting samples, including environmental ones.

The Foreign Secretary (Boris Johnson) revealed this morning that we have information indicating that within the last decade, Russia has investigated ways of delivering nerve agents likely for assassination.

"And part of this programme has involved producing and stockpiling quantities of Novichok. This is a violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, a Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) statement said.

The results of the OPCW investigation are expected to take a minimum of two weeks.

Meanwhile, Johnson is set to meet his EU counterparts and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg for talks in Brussels tomorrow to deliberate on joint action against Russia.London: A UK parliamentary committee examining the issue of disinformation and fake news has accused Facebook of misleading MPs by downplaying the risk of users' data being shared without their consent and said it wanted Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg to explain allegations.

Damian Collins, chair of the House of Commons' Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) committee, said Zuckerberg or a senior executive from the social media company must provide answers to the committee after a newspaper investigation claimed that Cambridge Analytica, a British political campaigns firm, acquired and kept information about users without consent.

"Someone has to take responsibility for this. It's time for Mark Zuckerberg to stop hiding behind his Facebook page, the Conservative MP said in a statement.

"Data has been taken from Facebook users without their consent, and was then processed by a third party and used to support their campaigns. I will be writing to Mark Zuckerberg asking that either he, or another senior executive from the company, appear to give evidence in front of the committee as part our inquiry," he noted.

A joint investigation by the Observer' and The New York Times' used information provided by a whistleblower to reveal that 50 million, mostly American, profiles were harvested in one of Facebook's biggest data breaches.

Last month, both Facebook and Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix had told the DCMS inquiry that the company did not have or use private Facebook data, or any data from data collection firm Global Science Research (GSR). Collins said Nix had "deliberately mislead" the DCMS committee by denying his company had received information from GSR.

GSR, which is owned by Cambridge University academic Aleksandr Kogan, collected information on up to 50 million people through a personality-testing app. Thousands gave permission for their data to be collected for academic use by the app, but it also collected information about their Facebook friends, reports found.

The UK Information Commissioner's Officer has also said that it would investigate the potential breach after former Cambridge Analytica employee

Christopher Wylie revealed Cambridge Analytica had used personal information to build a system that profiled US voters to target them with political ads. Earlier this week, Facebook suspended the company, which worked for Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, after it emerged it had not deleted information about Facebook users.

In a blog post, the social network said Kogan had violated its rules by passing on user data to a third party, and that both he and Cambridge Analytica had failed to delete the information despite providing assurances they had done so.

Cambridge Analytica responded to the newspaper expose on Twitter: We refute(s) these mis-characterisations and false allegations.

Reality Check: Cambridge Analytica uses client and commercially and publicly available data; we don't use or hold any Facebook data. When we learned GSR sold us Facebook data that it shouldn't have done, we deleted it all system wide audit to verify.

The ongoing parliamentary inquiry into fake news, which has been hearing oral evidence this month, said it has repeatedly asked Facebook about how companies acquire and hold on to user data from their site, and in particular whether data had been taken from people without their consent. The committee said the answers that have been given so far have consistently understated the risk.Washington: Republican senators warned President Donald Trump on Sunday not to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and said the president must let federal investigators looking into Russian meddling in the US election do their jobs.

The Republican president has renewed his Twitter attacks on both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Mueller's probe since the firing on Friday of the bureau's former deputy director, Andrew McCabe, two days before he was eligible to retire with a full pension.

Republican Senator Jeff Flake, who has criticized Trump harshly, said the president's latest comments appeared to be aimed at the firing of Mueller.

Senator Lindsey Graham, another Republican, said if Trump were to dismiss Mueller it would mark "the beginning of the end of his presidency."

The comments underscored the risks for Trump if moves too far to thwart the federal probe.

"I don't know what the designs are on Mueller, but it seems to be building toward that, and I just hope it doesn't go there, because it can't. We can't in Congress accept that," Flake told CNN's "State of the Union."

"So I would expect to see considerable pushback in the next couple of days urging the president not to go there."

In a series of tweets over the weekend, Trump accused the FBI leadership of lies, corruption and leaking information. He called the Russia probe a politically motivated witch hunt.

"The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime," Trump said on Saturday. On Sunday, he attacked former FBI Director James Comey and McCabe, top officials who were involved in the Russia probe and subsequently fired.

The U.S. intelligence community has concluded that Moscow conducted an influence campaign aimed at swaying the 2016 presidential election to Trump over Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Mueller is investigating the Russian meddling and any possible collusion with the Trump campaign.

On Saturday, Trump's personal lawyer John Dowd urged the Justice Department official overseeing Mueller, Rod Rosenstein, to "bring an end to alleged Russia Collusion investigation manufactured by McCabe's boss James Comey."

Republican US Representative Trey Gowdy criticized Dowd in an interview with "Fox News Sunday."

"I think the presidents attorney, frankly, does him a disservice when he says that and when he frames the investigation that way," Gowdy said. "If you have an innocent client, Mr. Dowd, act like it."

TRUMP FRUSTRATED

White House legislative affairs director Marc Short said the Trump team was fully cooperating in the Mueller investigation and that the president was expressing his growing frustration with how long the probe has lasted.

Graham, a co-author of legislation that would make it harder for a president to fire a special counsel, said it was very important that Mueller be allowed to proceed without interference and that many Republicans share this view.

"The only reason Mr. Mueller could ever be dismissed is for cause. I see no cause when it comes to Mr. Mueller," Graham said on CNN.

Another Republican, Senator James Lankford, said he does not believe Trump would fire Mueller.

Trump also drew criticism from fellow Republicans on Sunday over the firing of McCabe, who said he believed he was targeted because he corroborated Comey's claims that Trump tried to pressure Comey into killing the Russia probe.

"I don't like the way it happened. He should've been allowed to finish through the weekend," Senator Marco Rubio said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Rubio, who supports the special counsel probe, said the decision to fire McCabe was made before the release of the Justice Department inspector general's report that Attorney General Jeff Sessions cited in his dismissal.

Flake said the Senate Judiciary Committee would look at the report, which Sessions said concluded McCabe leaked information to reporters and misled investigators about his actions.

"Im just puzzled by why the White House is going so hard at this, other than that theyre very afraid of what might come out," Flake said on CNN.DANBURY  The citys longtime mayor and gubernatorial candidate Mark Boughton made his first public appearance Saturday at a flag raising after he was hospitalized earlier in the week for dehydration.

Boughton campaign gets a boost from the storm

Boughton was present for the raising of the Irish flag at Danbury City Hall on Saturday afternoon and even gave a brief speech. The mayor, currently serving his ninth consecutive term, said Friday he plans to rest on Sunday and return to work on Monday.

On Thursday, Boughton, 54, collapsed during a GOP meet-and-greet event in Avon in a room of roughly 200 people, including fellow Republican gubernatorial candidates. He was taken by ambulance to University of Connecticut Medical Center in Farmington.

Though witnesses described a dramatic scene Thursday night  some saying Boughton appeared to suffer a seizure  Boughton and hospital officials said he was treated for dehydration.

Boughton said he had skipped dinner Thursday night and that the room was extremely hot. He emphasized that his collapse was not related to his brain surgery last August in Pennsylvania.

I talked with the surgical team in Pittsburgh and they said it had nothing to do with the brain tumor, Boughton told Hearst Connecticut Media on Friday.

In Aug. 2017, Boughton underwent a surgery to remove a benign tumor from his brain. The tumor, behind his left ear, was causing the mayor to have headaches and experience dizzy spells.

The seven-hour surgery in August was successful, and Boughton returned to his political duties roughly two weeks later.

Boughton is in his third run for governor and said Friday that Thursdays incident will not slow him down  hell just be drinking more water and cutting back on soda./ Contributed photo

DANBURY  State Reps. Michael Ferguson, R-Danbury, and Will Duff, R-Bethel, visited Henry Abbott Technical High School last week to learn about the schools programs and promote bills that support manufacturing jobs.

The school, which serves more than 600 students from 18 towns, recently received a major renovation to create new, state-of-the-art shop facilities, computer labs and classrooms.United Airlines had an in-flight incident involving a dog.

No, not that one.

Or that other one.

Another one.

A United flight from Newark, New Jersey, to St. Louis was diverted Thursday after the airline learned it had an unauthorized passenger onboard: a dog. The pet was bound for Akron, Ohio, but was mistakenly loaded onto the St. Louis flight, company spokeswoman Natalie Noonan told The Washington Post on Saturday.

And so the plane followed the dog's itinerary. Flight 3996 banked toward northeast Ohio after the airline "chose the fastest option to reunite the dog with his family," Noonan said.

Passengers were provided compensation for the delay, Noonan said, but she declined to describe the compensation or confirm how many passengers were onboard. CNN reported 33.

Ian Petchenic, a spokesman for the flight-data company Flightradar24, told The Post that the flight averages about two hours. This was a four-hour journey, with roughly an hour and a half spent on the ground in Akron after diverting near Columbus, he said.

The incident was United's third dog-related mishap just this week; fortunately this time, it led to a happier conclusion than the first. On Monday, a French bulldog puppy named Kokito suffocated to death in an overhead bin, after a flight attendant insisted the owner stow the dog there for a three-hour flight from Houston to New York.

"This little guy fought hard for his life, filling our flight with his cries until he finally ran out of breath," passenger June Lara wrote on Facebook after the incident. "United Airlines does not care about the safety of their furry travelers. This poor family paid $125 for their pet to be murdered in front of them."

United said it would take full responsibility for the "tragic accident that should never have occurred" and that pets should never be placed in the overhead bins. The Transportation Department is investigating the incident.

Then on Tuesday, another case of mistaken canine identity occurred on a United flight, sending a dog owner into a frenzy when she discovered a Great Dane in the place of her German Shepard, Irgo, in a facility at the Kansas City airport.

Kara Swindle paid to ship Irgo as cargo on a flight from Oregon to Kansas, but instead the German Shepard was put on a flight to Japan. The mix-up occurred during connecting flights in Denver. The airline vowed to return both dogs to their respective owners, and on Thursday, Irgo's journey of thousands of miles entered in a happy, tail-wagging reunion.

Noonan declined to say if the company is creating or modifying regulations after the row of dog-related mishaps.

The company appears especially challenged by pet incidents. Last year, the airline, one of the largest in the world, carried about a quarter of the total number of animals transported by air in the United States, but it was responsible for 18 of the 25, or more than 70 percent, of flight-related pet deaths last year, according to Transportation Department data.Terrestrial Energy is developing a 190 megawatt small modular molten salt reactor that will cost less than $1 billion to build. This will result in kilowatt-per-hour costs of less than 5 cents, a price competitive with power from natural gas.

Terrestrial Energy of Canada has signed a contract for technical services with the European Commissions Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Karlsruhe, Germany. JRC will perform confirmatory studies of the fuel and primary coolant salt mixture for Terrestrials Integrated Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR).

The IMSR uses a fundamentally different reactor technology  a liquid fuel, a molten salt, rather than the solid fuel used exclusively in conventional reactors. This provides a fluid medium to carry a nuclear fuel, a uranium fluoride salt. Molten salts are thermally stable and are excellent heat-transfer fluids, ideal for capturing and dissipating heat from the fission process.

The IMSR uses simple, safe and natural mechanisms to dissipate heat from the fission process, and this results in a far superior design to reactors that use conventional technology. The use of a molten salt is at the heart of many virtues of the IMSR and directly leads to IMSRs key commercial advantages  a cost-competitive and walk-away safe nuclear power plant.

An IMSR power plant generates 400 megawatts of thermal energy (190 MW electric) with a thermal-spectrum, graphite-moderated, molten-fluoride-salt reactor system. It uses standard-assay low-enriched uranium (less than 5 percent 235U) fuel. It incorporates many aspects of Molten Salt Reactor operation researched, demonstrated and proven by test reactors at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Last November, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) completed the initial phase of a vendor design review of Terrestrials 400 MWt IMSR, known as IMSR400. The design is the first advanced reactor to complete the first of three phases of the CNSCs regulatory pre-licensing review.

The vendor design review provides an opportunity for CNSC staff to assess a design prior to any licensing activities, enabling the vendor to identify potential issues that would require resolution. Phase 1 of the review determines whether the vendor is demonstrating intent to be compliant with CNSC requirements in its design processes and outcomes.

In June 2017, Terrestrial began a feasibility study for the siting of the first commercial IMSR at Canadian Nuclear Laboratories Chalk River site. It has also said it intends to submit an application to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a design certification or construction permit in late 2019.

Terrestrial plans to bring IMSR power plants to market in the 2020s.With Connecticut children testing positive for lead at consistently high numbers, and millions of dollars thrown at the problem with tepid results, lawmakers may finally be stepping up to seek an effective solution.

The Banking Committee is considering a bill that would create a task force to study better ways to finance the removal of the toxin from thousands of homes around the state. The task force would also investigate how to enforce abatement measures, including rental property inspections, and look into increasing workforce training in the specialized process needed to remove lead.

State Department of Public Health numbers from 2015, the latest available, show more than 72,000 children under the age of 6 testing positive for some level of lead in their blood. More than 900 children were at levels two to four times the baseline at which a child is considered poisoned. Significant gaps in screening across the state mean those numbers could be even higher. The health disparities for lead poisoning among races and between Hispanic and non-Hispanic ethnicities remain, according to DPH.

Banking committee co-chairman and the bills author, Rep. Matthew L. Lesser, D-Middletown, said in an email, My hope is that we can bring stakeholders together to identify financing models to help landlords and homeowners upgrade our existing housing units and tackle this health crisis systematically.

Dr. Mark A. Mitchell, an environmental health physician and founder of the Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice, said in public hearing testimony on the bill that exposure to lead causes damage to a childs brain and nervous system, slowing growth and development.

These effects are permanent and lead to hearing and speech problems, lower IQ, decreased ability to pay attention, learning disabilities and underperformance in school, he said. [L]ead poisoning has long-term costs on health care, lifetime earnings, tax revenues and future criminal activity, Mitchell said.

In just the past five years, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has funneled nearly $40 million to Connecticut for lead abatement and related activities. That includes $12.6 million this year. Since 2003, the nonprofit Connecticut Childrens Healthy Homes Program, which is based at Connecticut Childrens Medical Center in Hartford and focuses on 15 towns, has received more than $31 million in federal money to remediate more than 2,200 homes.

In addition to state agencies and Healthy Homes, money goes directly to municipalities. New Haven, for example, received more than $3 million in a multiyear grant in 2015. Bridgeport, the states largest city, however, has received nothing from Washington since its $2.5 million allocation ran out in October 2016, said the lead programs director, Audrey Gaines, although it received $2.5 million in HUDs latest round of funding and will restart lead abatement work May 1.

Lead-based paint was not outlawed until 1978. The National Center for Healthy Housing shows 61 percent of Connecticut housing, or tens of thousands of homes and housing units, was built before then.

Mitchell told the banking committee that in just the past few years, scientists have come to understand that much lower levels of lead than previously thought are harmful to children.

Helen Li, a fellow at Connecticut Legal Services in New Haven, said Connecticut is behind other states, and the science, in its legal trigger for official action. Health officials in Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire, for example, must investigate if a childs blood test shows 5 micrograms per deciliter of lead or more. This corresponds with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventions definition of lead poisoning.

Li noted that Connecticut law doesnt require an investigation unless a blood test shows 20 micrograms of lead or more, or if two separate tests taken at least three months apart show 15 to 20 micrograms of the toxin.

In New Haven, Mayor Toni Harp and the city Health Department maintain a rigorous lead poisoning awareness, inspection, and abatement program in part because some of New Havens older housing stock still has lead paint on the walls, and because experts say there is no safe level at which people can be exposed to lead, city spokesman Laurence Grotheer said in an email.

As children are particularly susceptible to lead poisoning and consequences of the condition are both serious and irreversibe, Harps mantra is: its easier to prevent sickness than to treat it, Grotheer said. Nowhere is that more true than with lead poisoning, which prompts the mayors continuing commitment to fight it.

Lead most frequently endangers young children, whose exposure risk coincides with their peak period of brain development.

Babies and toddlers are unstoppable movers and explorers. Through frequent hand-to-mouth activity, they may ingest lead through peeling lead paint chips, which taste sweet, and lead dust, created as doors and windows in older housing open and close over the years, grinding down the paint.

Its immediate impact can be subtle or even imperceptible, since the symptoms of lead poisoning are not uncommon: loss of appetite, fatigue, abdominal pain, constipation or diarrhea, irritability.

This story was reported under a partnership with the Connecticut Health I-Team (c-hit.org).BRANFORD  If not for the breast milk pump Akimi Nelken received when her daughter, Margaret, was born last July, Nelken might have had to give up on breastfeeding.

We had a lot of issues at the beginning with breastfeeding, Nelken said. She had trouble latching on at the beginning.

The pain caused by Margarets latch, which was too shallow, brought on post-partum depression and lack of sleep for her mother. Nelken used her pump to keep Margaret fed and to keep up her milk supply.

If I hadnt been able to take that break, I probably would have quit, said Nelken, an English teacher at Wilbur Cross High School in New Haven. Her husband, Ben Nelken, teaches English at Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School.

Its more the case that breastfeeding is difficult for women at first than that it is easy and natural, Nelken said. Now back at work, she pumps four to five times a day.

Breast milk pumps, and other breastfeeding supports, have been a no-cost health benefit since the Affordable Care Act  Obamacare  was passed in 2010.

But mothers such as Nelken and breastfeeding advocates are concerned a cut in the rate Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield Connecticut will pay for breast pumps will mean mothers will receive lower-quality equipment.

As of April 1, Anthem will reduce its reimbursement rate for breast milk pumps by 44 percent, from $169.15 to $95, according to the Connecticut Breastfeeding Coalition.

Sarah Yeager, an Anthem spokeswoman, said the company does not disclose the rates it pays for medications or medical equipment, but the reduction is in the negotiated rate the insurer pays the durable medical equipment companies that supply the pumps.

However, Yeager said the quality of pumps Anthem offers will not decline. It doesnt impact the member  Its with our contracted medical supplier, Yeager said.

Anthem issued a statement saying, Anthem recognizes the positive health benefits that breastfeeding can have on mothers and their newborns. The company said the brands it offers include Ameda Finesse, Evenflo Advanced, Lansinoh Signature Pro, Spectra S2 Plus and Medela Pump In Style.

The pumps that are listed  are considered the Cadillac of breastfeeding pumps, Yeager said.

Nelken said she uses the Medela Pump In Style Advanced. Kate Schraml, a spokeswoman for Medela, said the only difference between the breast pumps sold on the insurance market and at retail was the number of bottles included.

The technology in the product is exactly the same. Schraml said the technology used in both pumps, called 2-Phase Expression technology, more closely mimics a nursing baby and was patented by Medela.

Yeager said mothers need to get a prescription from their doctor and order the pump through Anthem-contracted companies. If bought retail, Anthem will only reimburse $95. Pump In Style Advanced retails for $299.99 and up, according to Medelas website.

Meredith Young, a physician assistant and lactation consultant at Yale New Haven Childrens Hospital, said, I would be super happy if that is true  I just dont know any of the DMEs (durable medical equipment companies) that actually do that.

Young said she hopes Medela and other companies will maintain the same quality in the pumps they manufacture but past experience makes her wary. When Obamacare first went into effect and insurance was going to pay for pumps, thats when Medela made the single-phase model that was offered through insurance plans. Schraml said the single-phase pump was already available when Obamacare was passed. Medela discontinued the single-phase pump in 2015, Schraml said.

Young said she is concerned by cutting the reimbursement rates, that limits the pumps that are available to new moms and were worried that it will reduce the quality of pumps. It can affect their whole breastfeeding journey. In the past, there have been some companies that limit the type of pump a mom can get. Once one insurer cuts its rate, others will try to follow, she said.

Young said using a more efficient pump is important because the more milk you get out, then the more milk you make.

Breast pumps are important for women who have trouble nursing naturally or who work and must leave their babies for hours at a time, Young said. Its not just that breastfeeding is great; its a public health concern, she said, reducing ear, respiratory and gastrointestinal infections, allergic reactions and sudden infant death syndrome.

The really scary ones that I think about are obesity, which decreases 15 percent to 30 percent when a baby is breastfed, and diabetes. It even reduces the chance of childhood leukemia and lymphoma by 20 percent, Young said.

A serious threat for formula-fed babies is necrotizing enterocolitis, an infection in which part of the intestine dies. For those babies, the breast milk is medicine, really, she said.

Another important reason to have high-quality pumps available is for premature babies or others who start out in the neonatal intensive-care unit and cant breastfeed as often as needed or at all.

For mothers, breastfeeding appears to protect against ovarian and breast cancer, as well as high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol, which lead to heart disease.

Why would you cut something that in the end the insurance companies are going to have to pay more (for)? Young said.

Nelken said she hopes to nurse Margaret at least through her first year, possibly until age 2, and she plans to place her daughter in day care in August. I know Ill want to continue breastfeeding when she goes to day care because there will be a lot more germs, she said.

Nelken said of her baby, Shes never been to the pediatrician except on well visits. She has my entire immune system working for her. Since I havent been sick, she hasnt been sick.

Contact Ed Stannard at edward.stannard@hearstmediact.com or 203-680-9382. This story was edited to correct the spelling of Kate Schramls name and to clarify the difference between the In Style Advanced pump sold on the insurance market and on the retail market.When I started breast-feeding my son in 2016, I had a lot to overcome. I had flat nipples, a baby who would not latch for an entire month and no black role models. Of course, my husband saw the value in my determination, but aside from him, very few people understood what I was going for. Black women often lack community support for breast-feeding endeavors because so few black mothers breast-feed. Experts attribute the lack of support and scarcity of breast-feeding among black women to history, limited workplace policies and a dearth of information. La Leche League, a breast-feeding advocacy group, provided advice, but it lacked knowledge of the cultural factors that discouraged me. I was also surrounded by negative messages. The reactions I got when breast-feeding in public made me feel as if I was doing something wrong, and each time I was directed to a restroom to nurse, a piece of me broke.

I was consistently exposed to positive images of motherhood in media. But there was no reflection of young breast-feeding women who looked like me. A recent Gap ad that features a breast-feeding mother is the image I wish I had had two years ago. New black moms and women of all ethnic backgrounds who are looking for a media image now have something I did not. To understand the importance of this, we can look to the most-discussed ads from 2017.

Lately, marketing campaigns have been on a losing streak regarding cultural sensitivity. Last year alone companies such as Shea Moisture, Dove and Pepsi made headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Through the decades, the advertising industry has shown a preference for catering to a white audience. When people of color are shown, they are racially ambiguous or have a light complexion and loose hair. This, along with the trend of cultural insensitivity, is not shocking. Like most industries, the upper echelons of advertising are heavily populated by white men. Blacks, Asians and Hispanics combined compose barely 21 percent of the 582,000 individuals employed in advertising and communications. Without the cultural diversity to predict what campaigns are going to trigger a wave of offenses, it is not surprising to see the same mistakes made over and over.

When H&M was under scrutiny for releasing an image of a black boy wearing a hoodie that read "Coolest monkey in the jungle" it seemed as if 2018 was going to follow in 2017's footsteps as a marketing Dumpster fire. Thankfully, though, the recent Gap ad is not only gaining widespread support, it is also testing boundaries and combating cultural stigmas.

The Love by Gap body apparel line ad features a natural-haired black mother breast-feeding her toddler. It is epic for a multitude of reasons: She a dark-skinned black woman, she is a black woman with a wedding ring, and she is breast-feeding a toddler!

At first glance, this ad may seem like nothing important, but in a society that stereotypes black women, criticizes breast-feeding and idolizes whiteness as a beauty standard, this image speaks volumes.

Historically, studies like the "Doll Test" illuminated the effects of racism and segregation on black children. They also served as a reminder that children are affected by the images we put in front of them. This ad provides representation that was not there when I was a young black mother struggling to find her place in a world that showed only white women breast-feeding. It provides comfort for the women who choose to practice extended breast-feeding and face the "When are you going to stop nursing and feed him regular food?" comments.

When I decided to breast-feed my son, I did not find any images of black moms breast-feeding, much less community support - and it hurt. My experience is not unique. Lack of support is one of the biggest reasons black mothers have such low success rates with breast-feeding. We are often given the message that breast-feeding is something we just do not do. Rates of initiation and length of success are so low among black women that Black Breast-feeding Week was created to address the obstacles black women face with breast-feeding initiation.

According to an August 2016 study published in Pediatrics, black women's breast-feeding rates lag far behind other groups. Sixty-one percent of black mothers initiate breast-feeding, compared with 90 percent of English-speaking Latinas, 91 percent of Spanish-speaking Latinas and 78 percent of white women. When initiation is successful, white and Latina women lasted about 17 weeks, but black women average about 6.4 weeks. By six months postpartum, 35.3 percent of black women are still breast-feeding while almost 56 percent of white mothers and 51 percent of Latinas are still going strong.

Many factors contribute to these low rates, including the painful history of black women being unable to breast-feed their own children because they were serving as wet nurses to white mothers during and shortly after slavery. Another roadblock is a wage and wealth gap that prevents black mothers from having the time or finances required to establish and maintain a healthy milk supply. Research has indicated black mothers are at least nine times more likely to be offered formula in hospitals than white Americans.

Thankfully, though, black women, including birth workers Kiddada Green, Kimberly Seals Allers and Anayah Sangodele-Ayoka who founded Black Breastfeeding Week, are doing a great deal to normalize breast-feeding within their community. Black birth workers are developing more initiatives to educate communities and increase cultural competency in the birth industry to close the breast-feeding gap.

Gap likely has created something more meaningful than they intended. The ad provides an image of the value of black motherhood. It is one of the few mainstream public displays of a loving relationship between a black mother and a child. The crown of curls and coils atop both the mother and child's head symbolize multicultural beauty and is a simple yet powerful reflection of the black family. Before this image we had very few models of unfiltered black motherhood. Although the woman does not have a partner present in the picture, the ring on her finger is enough to shut down many stereotypes and assumptions about the marital status of black women.

My breast-feeding journey is over, but I did not miss the power of this ad. It is empowering and validating to feel represented for the first time, as a long-term, black, breast-feeding mother. It reassures me I was never alone.

Young mothers of all backgrounds need images that help normalize breast-feeding. For once, an ad might be leading the way.

- - -

Rochaun Meadows-Fernandez is a writer and speaker who has a passion for diversity.SHELTON-Its called the Riverfront Music Revival.

And its hoping to pick up where Soupstock is and where the Gathering of the Vibes was.

Derek Signor, publisher of Sound Magazine and Nicole Heriot are promoting this new two-day music and arts festival in the Veterans Memorial Park on June 9 and 10.

Weve got 20 bands from all genres, two stages and a lot of family fun, said Heriot, who with Signor promote Soupstock, which was their annual summer event here.

But theyve determined Junes heat isnt conducive to hot soup or a chili cook-off so they moved Soupstock IX to Sept. 29 and 30 at the same site.

Soupstock is more of a jam band festival, Signore said. We wanted to do something different for the summer.

For Riverfront theyve lined up Creamery Station as the opening act on noon June 9 and Ripe to close it. On June 10 Fattie Roots, a reggae tribute band will start the day and Brother Joscephus and the Love Revolution willl close it with the New Orleans style beat.

In addition to the bands there will be a family fun area with a moon bounce and drum circle; a wellness tent offering massages, chiropractic care and essential oils; an arts and crafts area and nearly a dozen food trucks. There also will be Piece of Mind Tent with poetry reading, writing workshops and more.

Signore and Heriot also promote the Blues Views and BBQ Festival in Westport during the Labor Day weekend and the Connecticut Folk Festival and Green Expo on Edgerton Park in New Haven. And they are working on a Newtown festival to benefit the Sandy Hook Foundation.

Why Shelton?

Theres two stages there and a beautiful view overlooking the city, he said. Its very centralized. We have parking downtown and just across the bridge in Derby and a scenic field. I just fell in love with the property.

Additionally he commended city hall and Mayor Mark Lauretti for being so supportive.

But unlike the Vibes, Riverfront will have no overnight camping..

Additionally beverages, coolers, tents, canopies, glass bottles, illegal drugs and weapons are a no. The promoters reserve the right to check bags.

One band that is no stranger to Shelton, Alpaca Gnomes will take the stage probably late afternoon on June 9.

We love playing Shelton, said Benny Mikula, whose band has performed at Soupstock as well as the summer Downtown Sounds and the Huntington Green concerts. We have a nice following here

Sheltons Joe Ballaro replaces Martin Van Buren Amidon, IX, on bass. Amidon was killed last April in a Newtown motorcycle crash.

We have a new album coming out in late spring entitled IX, said Mikula, who plays acoustic guitar and sings. Its a tribute to Marty. Actually every performance we do is a tribute to Marty.

Mikula said theyll be performing their new songs including Together We Can, which has a reggae beat to it as well as old favorites and cover songs.

As for the 20-band lineup, he said it presents a good mixture from different genres.

Youll see people coming to hear their favorite bands and others coming with an open mind to hear all the bands, Mikula said.

Tickets are $20 for both days if purchased before April 1, after that its $15 a day if purchased in advance. Prices will be higher at the gate.

But if the price matters Ansonia, Derby, Shelton and Huntington usually offer free summer concerts with one performer one night a week in their downtown. The Hamden Arts Commission fills Town Center Park on Dixwell Avenue with four headline acts each July Friday.

And on July 28, Joe Shapiro, a Sheltonite and owner of Bankos in Ansonia is conducting the first Rock the Summer for Music Education at Nolan Field beginning at 5 p.m. The free concert will offer three performers.

All this is good for the Valley, said Rich DiCarlo, president of the Valley Arts Council. Each event draws its own audience.

He said the weekly downtown free concerts bring out a mostly older crowd who likes their country, polkas, rhythm and blues and Italian and Sinatra classics. The latter is often sung by Ansonias Mark Lanzieri.

DiCarlo believes the two-day festivals try to draw on the 20-year run of the Gathering of the Vibes at Bridgeports Seaside Park which folded that tent in 2015.

These are all valiant efforts trying to recapture the glory days...some work real good, some dont, DiCarlo said. Often the weather plays an important role...I do hope this works out.

The Riverfront lineup also includes Big Takeover, Gangsta-Grass, Haunting Titans and Kat Wright. Also, James Darling & the Nuclear Heartbreak, Jay Russell & the Split Coils, Jay and Ray Kids Hour, Jen Durkin and the Business and Joon. Also Laini & the Wildfire, Mates of State, Nardy Boy, One Time Weekend, Pat Stone and the Dirty boots and Southern Belles.

The lineup is so unique, said Heron, who is co-promoting Riverfront.

Some of the proceeds will benefit End Hunger Connecticut.

Partnering on events like the Riverfront Music Revival not only brings much needed support to further our impact, but also increases awareness about hunger while engaging more people in this critical fight, said Shannon Yearwood, End Hunger Connecticuts executive director.

And Signore doesnt expect people to be rushing home after each days concert.

Once the festivals over theyll frequent the local restaurants, he said.Seattle detectives seek the public's help nabbing suspects in an Aurora Avenue attack in which a band of motorcyclists assaulted and pointed a gun at a pickup truck driver in the middle of traffic.

A 39-year-old driver stopped his pickup truck at a red light about 5:30 p.m. Aug. 26 in the 7300 block of Aurora Avenue North, reports say. He was then surrounded by a "large" group of motorcyclists.NEW HAVEN  Jacob Correia can trace his love of trains back to the first time he ever saw one on the railroad.

My parents gave me train simulators and DVDs. It started piquing my interest and Ive stuck with it ever since, he said.

Correia knew he wanted to have a career on the railroad after he graduated from high school, but he didnt want to bypass something he sees as important: a degree.

After shopping around, he stumbled upon his ideal program: Gateway Community Colleges Railroad Engineering Technology program. There was only one problem: Correia, a resident of Massachusetts, needed to relocate, a major financial strain for a recent high school graduate without access to college dormitory housing.

But about two weeks before the start of the Fall 2017 semester, Correia received good news: Southern Connecticut State University was able to pilot a residential program for him, using empty dormitory space to give him an affordable place to live in New Haven.

SCSU Director of Residence Life Robert DeMezzo said this was possible because the universitys residence halls have enrolled below full capacity in the last two years.

Theres always a handful of spaces we can make available, he said. Rather than just leave those spaces empty, we can give them to students who can take advantage of it.

The SCSU residence life department has not yet determined a quota, he said, but the university is in the early stages of negotiating a similar project with Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport as well.

Rich Halkyard, director of the Railroad Engineering Technology program, said it is unique to the Northeast, and he has encountered multiple students in the past who found the commute or the cost of living locally to be prohibitive.

Halkyard said he believes the RET program is the only of its type in the region because it specializes in something that many programs do not.

Our program is a blue collar, hands-on training program, he said.

The other two programs of a similar nature, he said, are located in Georgia and Kansas.

Railroad jobs can be thought of in terms of three tiers of skilled labor, he said: locomotive engineers, ushers and customer service jobs; electricians, machinists, mechanics and closed circuit television technicians; and electrical engineers and railroad designers. The program at GCC trains for that middle tier, he said, where employees must have some skills and knowledge of electricity, physics and math, but does not extend to things such as planning.

Halkyard said a national need for better infrastructure should make railroad jobs more appealing, but what is more important is a retirement problem in the local industry.

Railroad workers around the country are retiring now at a rapid rate, and these railroads cant find people to replace them, he said.

Halkyard said railroads also require a different sort of labor now than in past decades.

Railroads today want a different skill set in their workers. Its very computerized, with high frequency radios and that sort of thing. These are all innovations in railroading that require a different worker and thats where a lot of this came from, he said. Its not your fathers railroad anymore.

Fred Gill, a talent acquisition manager for Metro North who collaborates with the Gateway program, said the company often hires for the specific skills in mechanical or electrical engineering, but the Gateway program teaches those skills specifically for the rails.

You need a more technical force, and Gateway provides that training, he said.

Colleen Comito, also a talent acquisition manager for Metro North, said many of the engineers who have been with the company for the majority of the time it has operated are beginning to retire.

We have had a large turnover with the workforce aging out, she said. Its an industry-wide concern, she said. Were looking for specific skills and we compete against each other for them.

She said in the past she has hired a conductor out of the Gateway program.

If they learn enough about the program and how it operates, we can relay that to other positions we fill, she said.

Gill agreed, calling the Gateway program broad.

The Gateway program was designed to address the whole rail industry, he said.NEW HAVEN  The epidemic of opioids, with increased sharing of syringes, has been accompanied by a spike in cases of hepatitis C, which can lead to liver failure and death.

Meanwhile, the lack of an effective test for the viral disease before 1992 and the high rate of injected-drug abuse in the 1970s has led the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to call for all adults born between 1945 and 1965 to be tested for the contagious blood-borne disease.

We are seeing more cases of recently acquired hepatitis C infection, primarily through young individuals, said Dr. Joseph Lim, director of the Yale Viral Hepatitis Program.

This is of great importance  because we have believed that hepatitis C is a curable disease that has been on the decline for the past 20 years, Lim said. But very recently, between 2010 and 2015, new hepatitis C infections have tripled in the United States and there is concern in young people between 20 and 29, according to the CDC.

The CDC reports more than 3.5 million people living with hepatitis C nationally.

The problem is serious enough that in 2014, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed into law a mandate for hepatitis C screening for all baby boomers, Lim said. Three-fourths of all patients with hepatitis C are born in those years 1945-1965, he said.

The baby boomer peak in 1955 coincides with the peak of drug injection in the late 60s and early to mid-70s, said Robert Heimer, professor of epidemiology and director of the Yale School of Public Healths Emerging Infections Program.

Hep C is a very indolent, slow-progressing viral infection, Heimer said. It actually doesnt kill the infected cells. Instead, the bodys immune system attacks the infected cells, he said. And, while the liver does regenerate, pockets of cell death called necrosis develop.

The problem with the disease is that in many cases symptoms dont occur until years after infection. According to hepchope.com, one in 30 baby boomers is infected and most arent aware of it, which is why the CDC is recommending that they be tested. Also, there remains a stigma between hepatitis C and drug use, Lim said.

Many of our patients are individuals who used drugs once or twice but never abused drugs  but now unknowingly have the disease, he said. Up to half of all individuals with hepatitis C in the United States remain unaware of infection.

According to Dr. Richard Martinello, medical director for hospital epidemiology and infection control at Yale New Haven Hospital, 25 percent of those infected with hepatitis C will recover without treatment. The rest, however, develop a chronic infection, he said. They have the virus in their liver; they have the virus in the blood.

People who have chronic hepatitis C infections often have no symptoms at all. Others may feel tired, fatigued, but often theyre not aware of any problems, Martinello said.

He said the rate of hepatitis C is rising directly due to the opioid crisis and one of the most common ways hepatitis is transmitted is through the use of shared needles, shooting up heroin or methamphetamine.

Its a major problem, Martinello said. A proportion of persons who have hepatitis C will go on to develop liver failure and thats a fatal complication  especially if they have other diseases or theyre a drinker. Cirrhosis is another danger, as is liver cancer.

Besides contaminated syringes, hepatitis C can be spread, at a much lower rate, through blood transfusions and sexual contact. Sexual transmission of hepatitis C is thought to be very inefficient, Martinello said. The rate of the noninfected person becoming infected is pretty low.

More effective treatment

The most positive development has come in treatment, which is less onerous and more effective than in the past. Hepatitis C wasnt described until the 1980s and a test for hepatitis C wasnt developed until the late 1980s.  There was no way to screen for it, Martinello said.

Previously, interferon and ribavirin were given over a 12-month period. It was a treatment that made you miserable and depressed, Martinello said. It was very expensive and it didnt work.

This combination was only marginally effective, Heimer said, and included side effects such as anemia, pain and flu-like symptoms for months at a time. There seemed to be little point in pushing the treatment.

Martinello called the new drugs coming onto the market amazing.

Many of our patients  can be on oral-only regimens, a few tablets once a day and you take it for eight to 12 weeks, he said. In large part, the patients tolerate it extraordinarily well and we see cure rates in the 95 percent range.

For the rest, there are alternatives that can be tried.

The only drawback is these drugs are expensive, Martinello said. It could be as much as $100,000 retail for the 12 weeks. But Medicaid and many insurers will cover the treatment, and its cheaper than paying for cancer down the line or liver failure.

Martinello said the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has spent $1 billion to get more than 180,000 infected veterans from the Vietnam era tested.

For many years, its been a real focus for the Department of Veterans Affairs to engage those vets with hepatitis C, getting them into treatment and curing them, Martinello said. About 80,000 have been cured so far, he said.

Dr. Frederick Altice, director of the Yale School of Medicines HIV in Prisons Program and its Community Health Care Van, among other roles, treats patients suffering from addiction and those who have infectious diseases.

We are actually diagnosing a lot of new cases clinically, he said. Were starting to get younger injectors who were screening, so were testing them for hepatitis C  people who are new and entering addiction treatment.

We are making some dent but certainly not a sufficient dent without a major outreach in testing. Every addiction treatment in the country in my mind should be testing people for hepatitis C.

He said another way the virus can be transmitted is by snorting cocaine through a straw. Thats very efficient, he said.

Ive been taking care of the prisoners on the methadone program at the Whalley Avenue jail and just recently three new cases were detected, Altice said. Were also trying to improve the way we provide treatment. Were trying to transform [treatment]  so that the classical HIV clinics will also provide hepatitis C treatment.

Its important that treatment for both viruses be started together because referring an HIV-positive patient to a different clinic for hepatitis treatment is incredibly inefficient.  Patients just dont go. About 20 percent do, but most dont.

He said a weak link in locating hepatitis-positive patients is in rural and suburban areas.

We need to find more effective ways of identifying people, including using social media, Altice said. Once you step outside the urban centers, theres almost no treatment.

Lim agreed that the hardest-hit area appear to be rural areas of Appalachia, the Midwest and New England. In Massachusetts and Maine they have twice the [national] average for new hepatitis C cases, he said.

At the Yale Viral Hepatitis Program, the protocol includes an initial assessment, an educational class where patients learn in detail about the disease  pharmacy check for drug interactions and partnering with mental health and substance abuse programs to address psychiatric and drug use disorders.

Among the programs Lim works with are the Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center and the Fair Haven Community Health Center.

Heimer agreed that over the last six years or so we have seen an absolute revolution in hepatitis treatment.

Now, he said, I think the easiest thing to do is get the test, settle it, youre done.  We have other screening tests whose accuracy rates are much lower, including prostate tests and mammograms, which are not particularly effective.

The hep C test detects antibodies to the virus, which are evidence of current or previous infection. Even for the people who test positive, 30 percent will have cleared the virus already and wont need the treatment, Heimer said.

The hepatitis C test is a pretty frank yes or no. Its a one-time yes or no, so just do it, he said.Connecticut is the Constitution State. The General Assembly adopted it as the official motto in 1959. Unofficially, the motto goes back to the beginning of the last century. Debate swirled about how best to highlight the states achievements at the 1904 St. Louis Worlds Fair. The commissioners, appointed by the governor, deemed the older designation of Connecticut as the Nutmeg State inappropriate. Thus, for fairgoers, Connecticut was the Constitution State.

Important in the emergence of Connecticut as the Constitution State was John Fiskes 1887 work, The Beginnings of New England. Fiske argued that the1639 Fundamental Orders was the first written constitution known to history and that government of the United States to-day is a lineal descendant. Fiske also recounted the story of the Charter Oak where in 1687 Joseph Wadsworth hid Connecticuts 1662 Royal Charter and how the Connecticut Compromise was instrumental in the drafting of the U.S. Constitution. Connecticut, a small state in an America that was now a continental nation and imperial power, could take pride in playing a central role at the creation.Troxel vs Granville Supreme Court case decision year 2000 denied good, decent, honorable grandparents of visitation of their grandchildren. This decision was based on the 5th and 14th Amendments the U.S. Constitution due process clause which is a safeguard from arbitrary denial of the life, liberty, or property by the government but the court deferred to the legislatures power to revise the law but did not redefine the scope of a parents due process right to control the non-intact parent visitation. Therefore, non-intact grandparent laws are not unconstitutional.

Now, there is no reason at this 2018 short session of the Connecticut legislature that elected officials should deny us grandparents of the proposed bill HB5212 for non-intact parent families (the broken family) Grandparents Rights to Visitation ( identical to 2017 HB7244 bill) .Roseburg, OR (97470)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun. High 79F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A few passing clouds. Low 52F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph.One of the nations leading AIDS researchers and an expert in the treatment of heroin addiction is the leading candidate to oversee the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A formal announcement about the candidate, Dr. Robert R. Redfield, could come as early as Tuesday, once the vetting has been finished, said an administration official with knowledge of the appointment, who was not authorized to speak publicly.

The review process is likely to be thorough. President Trumps first C.D.C. director, Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, resigned in January after about six months amid reports that she held investments in tobacco and health care companies that posed potential conflicts of interest.

A professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Dr. Redfield founded the Institute of Human Virology along with Dr. Robert C. Gallo, who developed the blood test for the human immunodeficiency virus.STUNG TRANG, Cambodia  As the sun rose over the murk of the Mekong River, the man who has ruled Cambodia for more than three decades, Prime Minister Hun Sen, clasped hands with the Chinese ambassador and beamed.

The Chinese leaders respect me highly and treat me as an equal, Mr. Hun Sen said last month during the groundbreaking of a $57 million Chinese-funded bridge in the district of Stung Trang.

Let me ask those of you who have accused me of being too close to China, he added. What have you offered me besides cursing and disciplining me and threatening to put sanctions on me?

For a quarter-century, the West helped rebuild Cambodia while it was still reeling from the genocidal Khmer Rouge. The United States and Europe tied billions of dollars in aid to an effort to transform Cambodia into a liberal democracy.Grant Woods American Gothic painting (and all of its parodies) may be legendary, but most people dont realize that the little white farmhouse in the background is real  that its located in Eldon, Iowa (pop. 900), that its owned by the State Historical Society, and that, until recently, it was a private residence. There are only a handful of people who can say theyve lived inside his masterpiece painting.

I am one of them. And it was a wild ride.

In 1930, Grant Wood traveled to Eldon, not far from the Missouri border, with his artist friend, John Sharp, who was from the tiny rural burg  a busy railroad hub at that time. They drove past a small farmhouse on the edge of town. It was a humble cottage in the Carpenter Gothic style, typical for that era with one exception: beneath the steeply pitched roof was a pointed-arch window normally found adorning churches. Wood was amused by what he deemed a pretentious detail and asked his friend to stop so he could sketch. It was this house  more precisely, this window  that inspired what has become one of the most famous works of art in the world.

Wood drew his sketch on an envelope and returned to his art studio in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he imagined what the occupants of the house might look like. Using his sister, Nan, and his dentist, Dr. Byron McKeeby, as the models, he created a pair of Midwestern characters  some would say caricatures  with stern, bordering on sour, expressions. He painted the man, the woman and the house individually, on separate occasions, and titled his work American Gothic.A bomb threat in Austin, Tex., led to an arrest and the cancellation of a Roots concert at the South by Southwest festival.

On Saturday afternoon, a representative of the event promotion company Live Nation Music called the police to report that a bomb threat had been sent via email. The police scoured the area around the Fair Market venue, where a Bud Light x The Roots & Friends Jam showcase was scheduled for that evening, and found no threat. But Bud Light opted to cancel the event.

Your safety and the safety of all fans at SXSW is our most important priority, the company wrote on Twitter on Saturday.As you would expect for an episode of Saturday Night Live hosted by Bill Hader, the former S.N.L. cast member, this one had everything: new installments of long-running sketches like The Californians; cameos from Fred Armisen and John Goodman; and an appearance by Haders eccentric night-life correspondent, Stefon, who helpfully explained what Farrah-chauns are. (Those are leprechauns that look like Farrah Fawcett, obviously.)

This weeks broadcast (which featured the musical guest Arcade Fire) didnt have a lot of topical sketches, but the opening skit addressed what has felt like round-the-clock firings in the Trump administration.

Playing the CNN host Anderson Cooper, the cast member Alex Moffat asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions, as played by Kate McKinnon, to explain the sudden dismissal on Friday of the F.B.I. deputy director Andrew G. McCabe.Alan Cumming leads a new drama on CBS. And Brooklyn Nine-Nine returns.

Whats on TV

INSTINCT 8 p.m. on CBS. Dont put Alan Cumming in a box: Hes spent his career ricocheting from theater (hes a Tony winner) to television to cabaret to owning a gay bar. And even when hes taking on more conventional roles, like this one, hes still breaking boundaries: He will play the first gay lead of an hourlong network drama. The fact that has taken so long is awful, Mr. Cumming said in an interview with The New York Times. But the characters gayness is like the fifth most interesting thing about him, and the way its handled is very non-sensational. He plays Dr. Dylan Reinhart, a former C.I.A. operative turned washed-out psychology professor who gets drawn into a murder investigation.

HAWKING (2013) 7 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). This intimate documentary tells the story of Stephen Hawkings life through his own words, as he continued to work at the University of Cambridge late in his life. The film includes archival footage; computer-generated imagery illustrating some of his discoveries; and interviews with his former wife Jane Hawking, the astronaut Buzz Aldrin, and others.China plans to name a new leader for its central bank on Monday in a move signaling that Beijing will continue an ambitious  and, some say, much needed  financial shake-up to get the countrys debt under control and keep its economy growing.

Yi Gang, an American-educated economist, is set to succeed Zhou Xiaochuan, the central banks governor for more than 15 years, two people familiar with the decision said. The choice of Mr. Yi, a protege and deputy of Mr. Zhou, almost guarantees continuity in Chinese policy.

The leadership change follows a broader pattern as President Xi Jinping consolidates power and pushes through his economic agenda. In recent months, Beijing has been more outspoken about dealing with the countrys debt problems and forcing deeply indebted private sector companies to sell assets and pay off some of their loans.

The central bank chief will play a major role, trying to ensure that just the right amount of credit flows to the economy. But Mr. Yi will not likely carry the same clout as his predecessor, an important architect of Chinas considerable yet incomplete transition from central planning to a market-oriented economy.Good morning. Its always darkest before the dawn, et cetera, but I am sick of winter and really dont want to cook any more root vegetables this week. I want to toss fiddleheads in foaming butter, roast asparagus over an open fire, mess with new radishes, plop a bunch of crunchy watercress down next to a modest steak, then go look for warblers returning north from their winter breaks down south.

No? Not yet? Something has to give. Ill fry chicken, then, buttermilk-brined fried chicken (above) at that, and serve it with waffles into which Ill drift a cup or so of grated Cheddar, pretend that summers on us just like that. (Heat some honey and butter on the stove, and shake into it a heap of red-pepper flakes. That makes a nice drizzle on both the chicken and the waffle.) To go with: Pickleback slaw and a few cold Gansetts.

Thats my Sunday plan, at any rate, though if its too much for you to consider this week, you could always downshift into Alison Romans very simple and perfectly Sundayish recipe for skillet chicken potpie, under a store-bought puff-pastry crust. Delicious.

Monday is St. Josephs Day for some, the feast of the stepfather, a Lenten celebration that called historically for Lenten meals: pasta with sardines and fennel, say, or cacio e pepe with peas and favas. Even if youre not observing, those recipes are great, and an easy way to enter the workweek dinner schedule. We dont need to eat meat every day, after all.Sharisse Edwards Kimbro and Clemont Robert Austin IV were married March 17 at Merry-Go-Round rock, an outdoor wedding venue in Sedona, Ariz. The Rev. Dr. Brenda Salter McNeil, who was ordained by the Evangelical Covenant Church, officiated.

The bride, 49, is an ethics adviser of the Boeing Company in Chicago. She also wrote Beyond The Broken (Open Book Edition, 2013). She graduated from Stanford and received a law degree from the University of Michigan.

She is the daughter of Mattie E. Kimbro of Dayton, Ohio, and Larry H. Kimbro of Yellow Springs, Ohio. The brides father is a retired budget analyst for the Air Force; he worked as a civilian at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton. Her mother is a retired physical therapist and former chairwoman of the Physical Therapist Assistant Program at Sinclair Community College, also in Dayton.

The groom, also 49, is a director in the health care practice of Navigant Consulting, a consulting firm in Chicago. He also graduated from Stanford and received an M.B.A. from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.Weijia Jiang and Travis Luther Lowe were married March 17 at Casa de Monte Vista, an events space in Palm Springs, Calif. Jim Obergefell, who became a deputy commissioner for marriage in Riverside County, Calif., for the occasion, led a ceremony incorporating a Chinese tea ceremony.

The couple met at the College of William & Mary, from which each graduated.

Ms. Jiang, 34, is a Washington correspondent for CBS News, where she covers the White House and Capitol Hill primarily for Newspath, the CBS News news service affiliate servicing about 200 stations and affiliates worldwide; she also fills in on the anchor desk for the CBS Morning News. She is on the board of the Newhouse 44 at the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse, from which she received a masters degree in broadcast journalism.

Ms. Jiang is the daughter of Liya Wei and Huade Jiang. Her parents, who are retired, owned and operated Chinatown Restaurant in Buckhannon, W.Va.

Mr. Lowe, 35, who goes by Luther, works in Washington as the global vice president for public policy at Yelp, the website and mobile application for which consumers write reviews of local businesses and services. He oversees public policy initiatives, including competition policy, consumer free speech and open data.The districts Mr. Carranza led have not attracted the national buzz of places like Washington, D.C., or even smaller school systems like Newarks, but he has been courted by big cities before. In 2015, he was in the running to lead the Los Angeles Unified School District. An article in The Los Angeles Times said his focuses in San Francisco on reducing suspensions and expanding access to technology were priorities in Los Angeles, as well. But Mr. Carranza removed himself from the competition, saying he wanted to stay on in San Francisco.

Then in 2016, he moved on to Houston. Greg Meyers, a former member of the Houston school board who was involved in hiring Mr. Carranza, said that his drive toward equity, which the board took to be heartfelt, was something that really stood out.

In Houston, Mr. Carranza took over a district four times as large as San Franciscos, one that has presented him with a long list of challenges. It faces a $115 million budget shortfall and a potential takeover by the states education agency because it failed to improve chronically low-performing schools. Hurricane Harvey wreaked havoc on school buildings and the citys neighborhoods, diminished enrollment and threatened property values, which could mean less money for the district.

Mr. Carranza also reported to a nine-member school board where each member is elected by a separate district, which meant their interests could often be at odds.

I think he really, really struggled to define where it was he wanted to take Houston, said Anna Eastman, a former president of the Houston school board who was on the board during Mr. Carranzas first year. I think its hard for anyone to serve in that role with a board that is not really united around a common vision.

The central goals Mr. Carranza articulated in Houston revolved around giving poor students a better shot. One of his major, and most controversial, plans involved making changes to the citys magnet-school programs by giving some preference to children from low-income families and eliminating many of the test-score and academic requirements. Houstons high-performing magnet schools are dominated by white middle-class families, and factions of the board are fierce defenders of the current rules.Like myriad graft cases before it, the Percoco verdict has led to calls for reforms from government watchdogs. Shortly after Tuesdays verdict, nine such groups called for a state constitutional amendment to create an independent ethics enforcement agency to fight Albanys pay-to-play culture. (Both companies accused of bribing Mr. Percoco had donated legally to Mr. Cuomos campaigns.) Republican opponents of the governor have also piled on, calling on the state attorney general and the Manhattan district attorney to investigate.

For all of that clamor, it seems that there is little legislative ardor to pass new ethics laws in Albany. A budget plan unveiled last week by the Republicans who rule the Senate, for instance, makes no mention of ethics. In the Assembly, where the Democratic majority typically has more appetite for such legislation, even the chambers speaker seemed wary of conflating Mr. Percocos behavior with others.

The overwhelming majority of people who take on the job of being in public service do the right thing, said Carl E. Heastie, a Bronx Democrat who is the Assemblys speaker. He questioned what state laws might be drafted to prevent corruption.

Whats the legislative remedy for something that a jury has decided is against the law? he said.

Mr. Cuomo said on Wednesday that he believed the Legislature was to blame for not banning outside income for lawmakers, a thorny and much-debated issue that was not part of the Percoco trial. Thats the reform that Ive been pushing and Im going to continue to push, he said, adding he would make it a campaign issue in the fall. (Republicans in the State Senate, whom Mr. Cuomo has worked with in the past, have opposed such limits on income.)

While Mr. Cuomo dismissed the actions of Mr. Percoco as a total aberration, editorial boards around the state have said that more must be done, including the governors response.



Gov. Andrew Cuomo takes personal credit for every action of state government, projecting an image of a man in charge and burnishing his credentials to be president, The Post-Standard of Syracuse wrote. He ought to take personal responsibility for the corruption in his own executive chamber.In many instances, the motive for lying was readily apparent: to skirt constitutional restrictions against unreasonable searches and stops. In other cases, the falsehoods appear aimed at convicting people  who may or may not have committed a crime  with trumped-up evidence.

In still others, the motive is not easy to discern. In October 2016, for example, a plainclothes Brooklyn officer gave a grand jury a first-person account of a gun arrest. Putting herself in the center of the action, the officer, Dornezia Agard, testified that as she approached a man to confront him for littering, he suddenly crouched behind a van, pulled from his waistband a dark object  later identified as a gun  and threw it on the ground.

P.O. Agard testified that she heard a hard metal object hit the ground, according to a letter the Brooklyn district attorneys office wrote summarizing her testimony.

But prosecutors lost faith in her account in July 2017, after learning from other officers that she was not among the first officers on the scene. Officer Agard had arrived later as backup, according to the letter, which noted that the gun charges against the man were later dismissed. The prosecutors did not address why Officer Agard claimed to be a witness, or why the other officers present seem to have allowed her to process the arrest.

Police lying raises the likelihood that the innocent end up in jail  and that as juries and judges come to regard the police as less credible, or as cases are dismissed when the lies are discovered, the guilty will go free. Police falsehoods also impede judges efforts to enforce constitutional limits on police searches and seizures.

We have 36,000 officers with law enforcement power, and there are a small handful of these cases every year, said J. Peter Donald, a spokesman for the Police Department, the nations largest municipal force. That doesnt make any of these cases any less troubling. Our goal is always, always zero. One is too many, but we have taken significant steps to combat this issue.

Shrouded, but Persistent

The 25 cases identified by The Times are almost certainly only a fraction of those in which officers have come under suspicion for lying in the past three years. Thats because a vast majority of cases end in plea deals before an officer is ever required to take the witness stand in open court, meaning the possibility that an officer lied is seldom aired in public. And in the rare cases when an officer does testify in court  and a judge finds the testimony suspicious, leading to the dismissal of the case  the proceedings are often sealed afterward.KERNERSVILLE, N.C.  As soon as the first robot arrived at a FedEx shipping hub in the heart of North Carolina tobacco country early last year, talk of pink slips was in the air.

Workers had been driving the tuggers that navigated large and irregular items across the vast concrete floor of the 630,000-square-foot freight depot since it opened in 2011.

Their initial robotic colleague drew a three-dimensional digital map of the place as it tugged freight around. A few months later, three other robots  nicknamed Lucky, Dusty and Ned in a nod to the movie Three Amigos!  arrived, using the digital map to get around on their own.

By March, they were joined by two others, Jefe and El Guapo. Horns honking and warning lights flashing, the autonomous vehicles snaked through the hub, next to about 20 tuggers that still needed humans behind the wheel.Mr. Rohrsheim said that Uber had added incentives of its own last year, including paid wait time and a no thanks button that lets drivers refuse up to three rides in a row.

Uber isnt Uber without driver partners, he said, and our success depends on their success.

Olas discounted commission has helped the company sign up 7,000 drivers so far. That is nowhere near the roughly 82,000 who drive for Uber, but more than double what Taxify started with in Sydney in December. Taxify did not respond to requests for comment.

Many of the new Ola drivers help spread the word about the company. Cecilia Cornu, an Ola customer in Perth, first heard about the service when she asked an Uber driver about the two cellphones he had. One, he said, was for Ola.

Image An Uber drivers phone shows the companys surge pricing in effect one day this month. Drivers who work for Ola and Uber said the Indian companys prices made it appealing to riders when Uber is in surge mode. Credit... David Maurice Smith for The New York Times

He told me my ride would have been cheaper if I had booked it through Ola, as they were running a promotion with free rides, she said.

As soon as I got to work, she added, I downloaded the Ola app.

Ola has not explicitly marketed itself to drivers or riders of Indian origin, but the company does expect that the awareness of its brand among Indians will help. About 1.9 percent of Australias population of 24 million was born in India, according to 2016 census data; many more are the children of Indian immigrants.

The Ola app still signals that connection: India sometimes shows up as the default country when someone in Australia signs up and adds his mobile phone number.WASHINGTON  Facebook on Sunday faced a backlash about how it protects user data, as American and British lawmakers demanded that it explain how a political data firm with links to President Trumps 2016 campaign was able to harvest private information from more than 50 million Facebook profiles without the social networks alerting users.

Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, a Democratic member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, went so far as to press for Mark Zuckerberg, Facebooks chief executive, to appear before the panel to explain what the social network knew about the misuse of its data to target political advertising and manipulate voters.

The calls for greater scrutiny followed reports on Saturday in The New York Times and The Observer of London that Cambridge Analytica, a political data firm founded by Stephen K. Bannon and Robert Mercer, the wealthy Republican donor, had used the Facebook data to develop methods that it claimed could identify the personalities of individual American voters and influence their behavior. The firms so-called psychographic modeling underpinned its work for the Trump campaign in 2016, though many have questioned the effectiveness of its techniques.

But Facebook did not inform users whose data had been harvested. The lack of disclosure could violate laws in Britain and in many American states.A Florida social services agency investigated Mr. Cruz after it was alerted about the same disturbing behavior in 2016, but it determined that he was at low risk of harming himself or others. Local sheriffs deputies were repeatedly called to Mr. Cruzs residences but never found reason enough to arrest him. And the F.B.I. failed to investigate tips about Mr. Cruzs apparent interest in shooting up a school, even after a woman called to say that Mr. Cruz had weapons and was going to explode.

At the time when school officials said they would initiate Baker Act commitment proceedings against Mr. Cruz, he apparently did not own any weapon other than a pellet gun. But five months later, after being kicked out of Stoneman Douglas High, he legally purchased the semiautomatic AR-15 rifle that he used to open fire on Feb. 14 in the schools freshman building.

The mental health records, first reported by The Sun Sentinel of South Florida and The Associated Press, form part of the criminal case against Mr. Cruz, 19, who has been charged with murder and attempted murder in a 34-count indictment. Prosecutors have said they would seek the death penalty if he is convicted.

The records are from Henderson Behavioral Health, a local clinic that school officials called for help dealing with Mr. Cruz. The clinic sent a mobile assistance team to Stoneman Douglas High on Sept. 28, 2016, the records show, because Mr. Cruz had made threats and exhibited disturbing behavior following a breakup with a girlfriend. Mr. Cruz was also said to be upset that his mother, Lynda Cruz, would not let him get an identification card required to buy a gun. He wrote kill in a notebook in anger over her refusal, he told a counselor.

Mr. Cruz denied telling another student that he wanted to use a gun or that he had ingested gasoline, the documents say. He also said he would not hurt his mother.The recent crane accidents included one on Nov. 29, when the 110-foot arm of a crane made a loud pop and then fell uncontrollably to the side of the rig, according to an internal agency incident report. The crane had just been used to lift four workers between a supply ship and a drilling rig working 50 miles offshore. Before the arm came to a rest, it punched a hole in a fuel tank and caused a diesel fuel spill that left a 50-yard-wide sheen for five miles, the report said.

In another incident in mid-December, a bundle of tubing weighing hundreds of pounds fell as it was being lifted by a crane. A large pipe slipped out and dropped 120 feet, missing workers who were on a ship below, the agency said.

One worker did die in December on a drilling ship in an accident when a pipe-moving device  not a crane  crushed him when he entered an area where he was not supposed to be standing.

No one wants to face the family of a worker who dies or is severely injured because we didnt do our jobs correctly, or because we failed to recognize that the risks present on site were beyond acceptable bounds, Brian Salerno, then the head of the offshore safety agency, said in remarks to industry officials in July 2015 after the new crane safety rules were proposed.

So lets see what we can do to reverse those trends, he said.

But the problem has only worsened since then, according to Interior Department records released to The Times. The rate of lift-related offshore accidents last year increased by more than 4 percent, reaching the second-highest annual level in the past decade. On average, there was one incident for every 13.5 offshore platforms or drilling rigs, according to agency data.

Arena Offshore was among the companies that had multiple lift-related accidents. In one, a worker was severely injured when he was pinned against a handrail as crews were using a crane to lift a 10,000-pound construction tool house. The operator of the crane could not see the area where the offshore worker was standing, investigators found.

In another case, involving Energy XXI, a motor failed, making it impossible to control the crane. A basket carrying four workers swung out of control, injuring three of them, an incident report says.A Republican candidate for the Maine State House who disparaged two teenage survivors of the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., dropped out of the race after drawing heavy criticism and challengers from both political parties.

The candidate, Leslie Gibson, had been running to represent District 57 in central Maine unopposed, according to The Sun Journal, which first reported the comments he made on Twitter. Mr. Gibson called one Florida student, Emma Gonzalez, a skinhead lesbian, and another, David Hogg, a moron and a baldfaced liar.

Some state lawmakers, including at least two Republicans, were quick to condemn Mr. Gibson after his comments surfaced. Mr. Hogg issued a call on Twitter for someone to run against Mr. Gibson. By Thursday, two challengers who had been dismayed by the remarks were scrambling to complete the paperwork needed to run for the seat before the filing deadline that night.

By Friday, at least one Democrat, Eryn Gilchrist, and one Republican, Thomas H. Martin Jr., had entered the race and Mr. Gibson had withdrawn.I was just in D.C. and thats the advice everybody gives: Dont say youre for Pelosi, recalled former Representative Brad Ashford, a Nebraska Democrat trying to reclaim his seat. (He would not rule out backing Ms. Pelosi.)

Most ominous for Ms. Pelosi, it is not just centrist candidates running in red-tinged districts who are reluctant to embrace her, but also political insurgents on the left who see her as an embodiment of the Washington establishment.

I would have to see whos running, said Marie Newman, a progressive Democratic House candidate in Illinois, when asked if she would support Ms. Pelosi for speaker. Ms. Newman is vying to unseat Representative Daniel Lipinski, a conservative Chicago Democrat, in a primary there on Tuesday.

And on Capitol Hill, Ms. Pelosi, 77, must contend with colleagues from her own generation who want their turn in charge, as well as younger Democrats whod prefer to clear out the partys entire septuagenarian leadership team: beyond Ms. Pelosi, the other two ranking House Democrats, Mr. Hoyer and James E. Clyburn, are 78 and 77.

Yet at a time when women are at the forefront of the opposition to Mr. Trumps presidency  volunteering, donating and running for office in record numbers  the specter of Democrats taking back the House only to unceremoniously dump the most powerful woman in American politics strikes many in the party as outrageous.

And Ms. Pelosi herself is plainly in this camp.

Im a woman at the table, she said in the interview Friday before getting on a plane for Houston, where she was going to raise money for House Democrats at the annual rodeo there.MINNEAPOLIS  When Erin Rathke, the principal at Justice Page Middle School, is called to extract a student from class, she hears the same plea over and over again, most often, she has to admit, from black children: The teacher only sees me.

The plea weighs heavily at Justice Page, where African-American students are 338 percent more likely to be suspended than their white peers. Its painful sometimes, but I have to say, Yes, thats probably true, Ms. Rathke said.

It is a reality that district leaders here have been grappling with for years: The Minneapolis school district suspends an inordinate number of black students compared with white ones, and it is struggling to figure out why. Last year, districtwide, black students were 41 percent of the overall student population, but made up 76 percent of the suspensions.

Numbers like that prompted the Obama administration in 2014 to draft tough new policies to try to address racial disparities in school discipline across the country. Now, the Trump administration is trying to reverse those policies  in part, administration officials say, as a response to school shootings like the massacre last month at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.Late in the day, the White House tried to douse the furor. In response to media speculation and related questions being posed to the administration, the White House yet again confirms that the president is not considering or discussing the firing of the special counsel, Robert Mueller, Ty Cobb, a White House lawyer, said in a statement.

The presidents tweet followed a statement by Mr. Trumps personal lawyer, John Dowd, on Saturday calling on the Justice Department to end the special counsel investigation. Mr. Trump followed up that evening with a tweet arguing that the Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime.

The two weekend tweets were the first time Mr. Trump has used Mr. Muellers name on Twitter, not counting a message he once retweeted, and reflected what advisers called a growing impatience fueled by anger that the investigation was now looking at his business activities.

The New York Times reported last week that Mr. Mueller has subpoenaed records from the Trump Organization. Mr. Trumps lawyers met with Mr. Muellers team last week and received more details about how the special counsel is approaching the investigation, including the scope of his interest in the Trump Organization.

For months, Mr. Trump had been reassured by his lawyers that the investigation would wrap up soon  by Thanksgiving, then Christmas, then New Years. But with the expansion into Mr. Trumps business, it seems increasingly clear that Mr. Mueller is not ready to conclude his inquiry.

A top adviser to Mr. Trump said on Sunday that the White House had grown weary of the inquiry. We have cooperated in every single way, every single paper theyve asked for, every single interview, Marc Short, the presidents legislative director, said on Face the Nation on CBS. Theres a growing frustration that after a year and millions and millions of dollars spent on this, there remains no evidence of collusion with Russia.

A president cannot directly fire a special counsel but can order his attorney general to do so. Even then, a cause has to be cited, like conflict of interest. Since Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a former campaign adviser, has recused himself from the Russia investigation  to Mr. Trumps continuing irritation  the task would fall to the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein.WASHINGTON  The Trump administration is furiously trying to fend off a bipartisan effort in Congress to halt American military support to the deadly Saudi-led bombing campaign in Yemen as the kingdoms influential young crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, arrives in Washington this week for talks with President Trump.

Even as the State Department weighs approval of more than $1 billion in new arms to the Saudis, lawmakers are pushing for a resolution that they say would prevent Washington from giving the Saudis a blank check in the conflict. According to the United Nations, 10,000 civilians have been killed and 40,000 wounded in the fighting, exacerbating one of the worlds worst humanitarian crises.

Top Pentagon and State Department officials rushed to Capitol Hill last week to warn senators in a closed, classified briefing that approving the Senate measure could seriously damage relations with Saudi Arabia. The crown prince is scheduled to meet with the president and other officials on Tuesday, and a vote on the measure could come later this week.

Since 2015, the United States has provided the Saudi-led air campaign in Yemen with air-to-air refueling, intelligence assessments and other military advice. New restrictions on this limited U.S. military support could increase civilian casualties, jeopardize cooperation with our partners on counterterrorism and reduce our influence with the Saudis, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said in a letter last week to Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader.Militants who saw one student, Hafsat Lawan, 17, and her friends hurrying over the fence beckoned them to come for safety. The girls started toward the fighters but, Ms. Lawan later said, became suspicious of their turbans and sandals and their use of the local language, which is often unfamiliar to soldiers recruited from across the country. She fled.

The sad thing is some of the students ran to them  including my younger sister, said Ms. Lawan, whose 14-year-old sister is presumed to be among the hostages.

Fatima Bukar, 14, was in her dorm near to the school fence when she heard gunshots. We werent sure where it was coming from, she said. We were confused.

One girl ran toward Fatima and her friends, telling them to flee for their lives because Boko Haram had arrived. Fatima said she saw girls being led outside the school gate and into militants trucks; she recognized many friends among them.

They were saying if you run we will shoot you, she said. They were shooting into the air.

Fatima bolted over the fence and ran through the bush, thinking that because the area had no road, the militants would be less likely to chase her. She fled with about 30 girls and a teacher who led them to a farm, where the group spent the night, too terrified to fall asleep.

At his home not far from the school, Fatimas father, Auwal Bukar, was panicking. He had crouched in his house when he heard gunshots. He peeked outside later and saw trucks packed with girls. It was dark, but their sobs were unmistakable.

We could hear them crying very clearly, he said.

As the trucks headed outside town, witnesses said, some of the girls appeared to be tied up with their own clothing. They heard the screams as the vehicles sped away.SANTIAGO, Chile  Latin American leaders braced for the worst last year as they watched President Trump take office, with his vows to protect Americans from the ravages of other countries making our products, stealing our companies and destroying our jobs.

Then something remarkable happened.

Governments across the hemisphere began forging closer commercial ties with one another and paring back some of their own protectionist policies, embarking on a course reminiscent of what the United States itself had proposed in the 1990s but which failed to materialize: a free trade area reaching from Canada to Chile.

Washingtons protectionist stance comes as leaders in the region are increasingly looking to Asia, and China in particular, to expand trade, obtain loans and finance infrastructure projects.

Trump has inadvertently done more for commercial integration in Latin America than many Latin American leaders managed to accomplish, said Patricio Navia, a political scientist at New York University.CHAPARHAR, Afghanistan  There was no military curfew in the villages, but, as a precaution, the farmers still informed the local police outpost that they would be in their fields before dawn, with lanterns and shovels, to channel water to their crops.

In a chaotic war of many players on both sides and with civilians bearing the brunt, the advance notice did not save their lives.

On Saturday morning, an elite unit of the Afghan intelligence agency  possibly accompanied by advisers from the American-led NATO coalition  descended on two villages in Chaparhar district in the eastern province of Nangarhar, killing as many as eight farmers in their fields, local elders said.

It was 4 a.m. My two brothers were out to channel the water, and we had informed the security post that we would be out watering our plots, said Mohammed Israr, whose o brothers were killed in Mano, one of the villages attacked. I was upstream, and the helicopters came and fired at my brothers. They were killed, shovel in hand.SRINAGAR, Kashmir  Five members of a family were killed and two others were wounded by shelling in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir on Sunday, residents and officials said.

Over the weekend, India and Pakistan were engaged in cross-border shelling along the Line of Control, which divides Kashmir between the two countries. Indian officials said Pakistani troops had fired a mortar shell that hit the familys home.

A couple and their children were gathered for breakfast on Sunday morning when the shell tore through the roof of their home in the southern Poonch region of Kashmir.

When we heard the blasts, we ran for our lives, Ghulam Nissar Khan, a neighbor, said by telephone. After the hue and cry fizzled out, we rushed to the house and found the bodies.Seattle, San Francisco and Boston are all among the cities Army planners say they are looking at for the Futures Command. Mark T. Esper, the secretary of the Army, said that whoever is chosen to lead the command will be not a traditional person who spent all their time in combat units, but someone who understands the acquisition process, and who understands the corporate Army. Ten cities should be selected within the next two months as finalists for hosting the command.

The Army is making many of the changes in an effort to figure out how to fight multiple types of wars at the same time.

More than 16 years of counterinsurgency warfare has taught military leaders one thing: The burden of fighting jihadists in multiple places is unlikely to go away anytime soon. Even today, almost eight years after President Barack Obama announced the end of combat in Iraq and three years after he announced the end of combat in Afghanistan, American troops are deployed in both countries, not to mention Syria, Niger, Somalia, Libya and Mali.

But at the same time, the Army has been charged with getting ready for a possible war on the Korean Peninsula. President Trump may have agreed to one-on-one talks with North Koreas leader, Kim Jong-un, but the Pentagon is still trying to make sure that American forces are ready for what would probably be a completely different kind of war.

General Milley, the Army chief of staff, has repeatedly expressed concern that the Army has lost what he calls its muscle memory of how to fight big land wars. Beyond that, Army leaders  many of them students of history  say that for almost 200 years, the Army has often gotten the first battle of major wars wrong.

In particular, General Milley has cited the ill-fated Battle of Kasserine Pass during World War II, when unprepared American troops were outfoxed and pummeled by German forces. And he has mentioned Task Force Smith, the small, poorly equipped unit mauled by North Korean troops in 1950 during the Korean War.The identification of Novichok as the weapon has become the linchpin of the British case for Russias culpability in the poisoning. Though one of the scientists who developed the nerve agent, Vil Mirzayanov, published its chemical structure and now lives in the United States, it is extremely dangerous to manufacture. He said in an interview that the only laboratories known to have fine-tuned the process were in Russia and parts of the former Soviet Union.

Russian officials have strenuously argued against this point in recent days, suggesting at different times that the Skripals had not been attacked and that Britain was behind the attack.

In Moscow on Sunday, in his first extensive remarks about the poisoning, President Vladimir V. Putin called it total rubbish, drivel and nonsense to think that someone in Russia would carry out such antics so close to Russias presidential election, which was Sunday, and the World Cup soccer tournament, which begins in June in Russia.

Mr. Putin said he first learned about the poisoning, which he called a tragedy, from the news.

His initial reaction, he said, was that people would have died on the spot if it had really been a military-grade poison. He also denied that Russia had any such substance.

We destroyed all of our chemical weapons under the control of international observers, Mr. Putin said, speaking at a late-night news conference to celebrate his election victory. Moreover, we were the first to do this, unlike some of our partners who promised to do this but have yet, unfortunately, to keep their pledge.LONDON  Britain should seek to postpone its exit from the European Union if talks drag on during the next few months, an influential committee of lawmakers concluded on Sunday.

The panels recommendation split its members, some of whom disowned the document, and illustrated the growing concerns in Parliament over the pace of the negotiations.

The report came ahead of a summit meeting this week at which European Union leaders are expected to agree, in principle, on a standstill transition period of slightly less than two years to prevent Britains economy from suffering the effects of a cliff edge departure from the bloc next March, when it is formally scheduled to quit.

But even that transition would be conditional on the success of broader discussions on the withdrawal, known as Brexit. The talks are due to end in the fall, but that deadline looks very difficult to meet, particularly because of the complexity of avoiding the introduction of a hard border in Ireland.This story begins with a young group of Kurds in Syria resisting attacks by Turkish forces. It ends in flames. What happens in between gives us a rare and intimate look at how two sides fight on a modern battlefield. And it shows just how unaware one side can be to the dangers that are lurking above. Weve pieced together frontline footage to track the units movements over several days, how they targeted advancing forces, and how they may have met their end. But first, how did these fighters end up here? In January, Turkey launched an offensive into Syrias northwest. Its mostly a Kurdish area. And Turkey regards certain Kurds as terrorists. The fighters license plate is for Afrin, which is a strategic objective of Turkey. Standing in its way is the town of Jinderes, a crucial junction. This is where we located the Kurdish fighters. You can see that over time, Turkish and Allied ground forces close in on Jinderes. Theyre already overhead. This edited drone footage was released by Turkey. And along with other video, it helps us analyze the Kurds defensive of Jinderes. Theyre using an M40-series 106-millimeter recoilless rifle. Its a pre-Vietnam War weapon and relatively simple to use. Its most accurate when the guns crew can visually identify their target. But this crew seems to be firing towards targets they cant see, elevating the barrel to shoot over buildings that block their view. That kind of indiscriminate fire can risk civilian casualties. On Feb. 10, we located the Kurds position and determine their direction of fire. Theyre firing towards a town that had just been taken over by Turkish-backed forces. Two days later, the Kurdish fighters moved their position, and they shifted fire in this direction. Again, it corresponds with territory the enemy had just gained after days of heavy fighting. It seems the Kurds are keenly aware of the closing threat. The drone tracks them to a garage and identifies the target. The building is hit from above. Kurdish forces say the gun crew was killed. But theres one more thing. Remember, this drone video was released as propaganda. It shows a precise strike, no collateral damage. But that rarely happens. Civilians have been killed in other Turkish strikes. And human rights organizations say some of these may be unlawful. And the Kurds have fired at civilian areas, too. And as the Turkish offensive moves towards more urban areas, the fighting is likely to get even more complex.After a very cold St Patrick's Day with a biting wind, conditions are set to get even colder tonight with two Met Eireann Weather Warnings in place.

Met Eireann has issued a Status Orange snow-ice warning for Dublin, Kildare, Louth, Wexford, Wicklow, Meath and Waterford. The forecaster is expecting scattered heavy snow showers which will lead to accumulations in places and some drifting. The warning is valid from 3am on Sunday morning until 12pm on Sunday afternoon.

There is also a Status Yellow snow-ice warning in place for the rest of the country. The forecaster states it will be very cold this weekend with wind chill and icy patches. Snow showers also but some areas staying dry, especially the northwest. That warning is in place from 12pm on Saturday until 9am on Monday

According to the Met Eireann forecast, it will be very cold and windy this evening and tonight with clear periods and snow showers spreading westwards, but it should hold mainly dry in Atlantic coastal counties. The snow showers will be heaviest and most frequent over Leinster and east Ulster, with significant accumulations likely here, but showers will be well scattered elsewhere. Icy conditions with lowest temperatures zero to -3 degrees Celsius, and feeling colder in the fresh east to northeasterly wind.

Sunday will be a very cold day, with further sleet and snow showers mainly in Leisnter, east Munster and east Ulster. There will be some heavy falls with further snow accumulations, especially in eastern areas. Top temperatures only 1 to 4 degrees Celsius and the northeast to easterly winds will continue to bring a significant wind chill.

Sunday night will be very cold and frosty with some icy surfaces. Some dry clear spells, but scattered sleet and snow showers also. Lowest temperatures zero to -3 C., in moderate to fresh and gusty easterly winds.5 civilians killed in ceasefire violation by Pakistan, 2 children injured

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

The ceasefire violation by Pakistani troops near the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district has left five civilians dead. The heavy shelling by the Pakistani forces in the Balakote sector killed Mohammad Ramzan, his wife and three sons, said reports. Ramzan's two daughters are said to injured in Pakistan shelling.

"Due to shelling from across in Balakote sector of Poonch, 5 civilians died and 2 are injured who are being shifted to the hospital," news agency ANI quoted Jammu and Kashir DGP, SP Vaid as saying.

"In village Devta 5 people died, 2 injured. We're assessing situation. Our teams are already on spot. Helicopters sent to retrieve the injured for specialised treatment in Jammu. Firing is going on," ANI quoted SD Singh Jamwal, IGP Jammu, as saying.

On February 27, Pakistani troops had violated ceasefire in Manjakote sector of Rajouri district, Jammu and Kashmir. One army jawan was injured in ceasefire violation by the Pakistani troops in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district on February 18. The violation took place in Karmarha sector along the LoC.

In a reply in Rajya Sabha to questions relating to the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had earlier said that 209 incidents of ceasefire violations by the Pakistani army were reported along the Line of Control in January, while the number was 142 in the first 12 days of February. A total of 860 incidents of ceasefire violations took place last year.

It may be recalled that four Army personnel including a Captain were martyred on February 4 in ceasefire violation by Pakistan. On February 11, A woman was killed after Pakistan allegedly violated the ceasefire along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district.

OneIndia NewsCongress Plenary Session turning out to be 'BJP bashing' session

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

At the time when the Congress should be discussing about how to arrest its dipping popularity across the country and ways to revive itself, the main focus in the all important 84th Congress Plenary Session in Delhi still seems to be revolving around attacking the BJP.

During his speech at the event yesterday, Congress president Rahul Gandhi spoke on party's glorious past, and what it would like to do for the country. But, what seemed missing was how they would do it, especially when the grand old party failed to make an impact even in the recently held elections. In the UP by elections, Congress votes were far lesser than even the difference of votes between the winner Samajwadi Party and the runner up BJP.

On Saturday, Sonia Gandhi launched a scathing attack against the Narendra Modi-led NDA government, calling it "arrogant". Accusing the saffron party of dividing the nation along the lines of religion and caste, Rahul Gandhi said only his party can unite the country.

"They (BJP) uses anger we use love but one thing that I want to say is that this country belongs to everyone and whatever Congress will do will be for the benefit for all," Rahul Gandhi said on Saturday.

On Sunday, senior Congress leader Anand Sharma spoke at the plenary session and said Modi governmement had disrupted India's foreign policy.

"The Prime Minister is carried away by his own propaganda. Today it is a matter of concern that we have mismanaged our relations with major capitals of the world, with major strategic partners and our immediate neighborhood," Sharma said.

['PM Modi's promises are nothing but drama,' says Sonia Gandhi in plenary session]

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP aggressively pushing the idea of One Nation One Election, the political resolution of the Congress rejected it. The political resolution moved by the party on Saturday called for re-introduction of paper ballots in the elections in order to "ensure the credibility of the electoral process." In its resolution, the party said the BJP's move of simultaneous elections is "misplaced" and is "incompatible with the Constitution as also impractical".

[Paper ballots, pre-poll alliances: Congress resolutions at 84th plenary]

The main issue that the Congress should be discussing at this point in time is how to revive itself. It is time that Congress does an introspection that why people are not voting for them. Even in some elections where the BJP has failed to make an impact, it the regional parties who have gained and not the Congress.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Sunday, March 18, 2018, 12:08 [IST]Gudi Padwa: Maharashtra celebrating this festival with great fevour and enthusiasm

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Gudi Padwa, which marks the arrival of Spring, is being celebrated with great enthusiasm by Maharashtra on Sunday. This spring-time festival marks the traditional new year for Marathi Hindus. Gudi Padwa is celebrated on the first day of the Chaitra month according to the lunisolar Hindu calendar.

The 'Gudi', which means 'doll' is created by Maharashtrians, with six ingredients that symbolize new beginnings. People celebrate the festival by offering special prayers and preparing an array of culinary preparations. Puran Poli and Kheer are two such preparations which prepared in Maharashtrian families celebrating Gudi Padwa.

The word Padwa is derived from the Sanskrit word Paddava, which means the first day of the bright phase of the moon. A stick decorated with a bright cloth, neem leaves and garlands is unfurled outside a Maharashtrian household and hence, it got the name Gudi Padwa.

The devotee takes a holy oil bath followed by puja and performing rituals. Along with that eating neem leaves on the occasion is one of the rituals that are apparently strictly followed. The day also marks the beginning of Chaitra Navratri, that lead up to Ram Navami, Lord Rama's birthday to be celebrated on the ninth day.

In Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, the festival is celebrated as Ugadi. In Tamil Nadu, the lunisolar festival is known as Puthandu, in Assam as Bihu, Naba Barsha in West Bengal, Pana Sankranti in Orissa and Baisakhi in Punjab.

Several people across the nation are celebrating the start of the New Year. I convey my greetings to all those celebrating. May the year ahead be a wonderful one.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 18, 2018

            2075    ,        Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 18, 2018

Sajibu Cheiraoba greetings to the people of Manipur. May the coming year bring peace and prosperity in everyone's lives.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 18, 2018

On Gudi Padwa, greetings to my sisters and brothers of Maharashtra. I hope the coming year marks the fulfilment of all your dreams and aspirations.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 18, 2018

Happy Ugadi! I pray for a year filled with happiness and good health.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 18, 2018

It is believed that this day marks the beginning of a cycle of 60 years and each year is identified by a unique name. On this day, people celebrate by decorating their homes with rangoli and flowers signifying the onset of harvest and spring season. Gudi Padwa or Ugadi commences with the eating of a specific mixture known as Bevu-Bella that comprises neem and jaggery, which symbolises that life is a mix of both- good and bad, joy and sorrow and that we must accept both with grace.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Sunday, March 18, 2018, 11:06 [IST]'Hindus must be ready for martyrdom', says Vinay Katiyar on Ram Janmabhoomi issue

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Vinay Katiyar has made yet another controversial reamark on Sunday and said that another revolution for the Ram Janmabhoomi is needed. He said that Ram Janmabhoomi is demanding sacrifice and Hindus should be ready for it.

The decades old Ram Janmabhoomi matter is a contetious issue which is sub-judice. On December 6, 1992, a mob of Karsevaks had demolished Babri Mosque in Ayodhya claiming that it was built on the site where a Ram Temple once stood.

"I believe Ram Janmabhumi is demanding another sacrifice, and the Hindu community should get ready for this. The way Mulayam Singh Yadav fired shots on December 6, 1992 and many people were killed, another such revolution needs to be instigated and our Hindu community must be ready for martyrdom," Katiyar told news agency ANI.

Katiyar is not new to controversies. The Supreme Court is yet to give a final verdict on the matter, but that has not stopped Katiyar from frequently issuing statements regarding the building of the Ram temple at the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site

['Temple will be built where Ram Lala is resting in Ayodhya', says Vinay Katiyar]

On February 25, the controversial BJP MP had said that the Ram temple in Ayodhya will be constructed on the spot where "Ram Lala" is resting. "I will not comment on how long it will take as the issue is now being heard by the Supreme Court," Katiyar told reporters in Barabanki, UP.

Recently, the controversial Rajya Sabha MP said that "Muslims should not even be living in this country, they should go to Pakistan or Bangladesh".

Katiyar, who founded the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's (VHP) youth wing, Bajrang Dal, had also earlier said that a bill should be introduced in Parliament that frames a punishment for those "who do not respect Vande Mataram, (and) those who insult the national flag, or hoist the Pakistani flag."

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Sunday, March 18, 2018, 15:17 [IST]Why it may take 10 years to address IAFs depleting squadron strength

India

oi-Vikas SV

The Indian Air Force (IAF)'s is staring at an acute shortage of fighter aircrafts. The IAF ideally needs 42 squadrons to effectively deal with a two-front war, but at present, the air force has around 32 squadrons. IAF is now frantically working towards increasing the strength, but experts say that it would take at least a decade to meet its desired force levels.

IAF is aware of the problem is looking at various options to address this issue. Although making up this shortfall by the year 2027 poses significant challenges, the IAF is not without options. It had planned to acquire an additional five squadrons of Rafales and undoubtedly would still like to do so if permitted. To compensate for this shortfall and to cater for future replacements for aircraft such as the Jaguar and eventually the MiG-29 and Mirage 2000, India has two active plans to bolster force levels. One of these involves the procurement of new single and twin-engine fighters, with the latter taking priority. The other involves the procurement of four squadrons of the Tejas Mk.1A variant.

The IAF currently has 33 combat squadrons against a sanctioned strength of 39.5, which is sought to be raised to 42. Former Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, in a press conference days before retiring in December last year, had said the IAF needed at least 200 more fighter jets in the next 10 years.

Current squadron strength:

The Indian Air Force has an effective strength of 31 combat squadrons, although it has 34 combat squadrons in total. These include eleven squadrons of the Su-30MKI, three each of the MiG-29 and Mirage 2000 (currently undergoing an upgrade), six of the Jaguar (at the initial stage of an upgrade process) and six of the MiG-21Bison. In addition, two upgraded MiG-27 squadrons continue to serve alongside the equivalent of half a squadron with the Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment (TACDE). It is believed that three squadrons continue to operate older MiG-21s and non-upgraded MiG-27s - one each of the MiG-21bis, MiG-21M and MiG-27 - but these will be phased out in the near future, possibly by the end of 2017 or in early 2018. (Source - idsa.in)

Other related developments:

Sometime back, reports had emerged that the Indian Air Force (IAF) was showing interest in Lockheed Martin's F-35 Lightning II fighter jet. The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole fighters. The fifth-generation combat aircraft is designed to perform a ground attack and air superiority missions. But on March 1, Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa rubbished the reports and said that no such "request been made to the Americans."

A multibillion-dollar programme to develop and produce a stealth fighter with Russia appears does not seems to be materialising, with the Indian Air Force (IAF) against pursuing it as it believes that the platform lacks the desired stealth characteristics and is inferior to US-made F-35 and F-22 jets.

Problems with Tejas LCA:

It may be noted that the Air Force has not been entirely happy with the quality and capability of the Tejas fighter jet, which is yet to become combat-ready more than three decades after the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) project was given a green signal. As per the report, the present-day single-engine Tejas fighter jet has an "endurance" limit of just an hour, while its "radius of action" is limited to just 350 to 400 kilometres. Further, its weapon-carrying capacity is just three tonnes. In comparison, other existing single-engine fighter jets like the Swedish Gripen-E and the American F-16 have two times the weapon-carrying capacity of Tejas and triple the endurance, the report said further.

[HAL misses LCA Tejas' delivery target, mounting worries for IAF]

Moreover, the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has missed its delivery target of Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA) for the year's first quarter. According to a Hindustan Times report, HAL has delivered only six LCAs to the IAF, missing its target of supplying 20 aircraft by the end of the year's first quarter.

Timeline of developments regarding Tejas' induction in IAF:

In March 2005, the IAF placed an order for 20 aircraft, with a similar purchase of another 20 aircraft to follow. All 40 were to be equipped with the F404-GE-IN20 engine.

In December 2006, a 14-member "LCA Induction Team" was formed at Bangalore to prepare the Tejas for service and assist with its induction into service.

On 25 April 2007, the first Limited Series Production (LSP-1) Tejas performed its maiden flight, achieving a speed of Mach 1.1.

In December 2009, the government-sanctioned 8,000 crore to begin production of the fighter for the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy.

On 10 January 2011, IOC, allowing IAF pilots to fly the Tejas, was awarded by then Defence Minister A K Antony to Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal P V Naik.

HAL was instructed by the Indian government to strictly adhere to deadlines to ensure Initial Operational Clearance-II by the end of 2013 and Final Operational Clearance (FOC) by the end of 2014.

On 20 December 2013, the IOC-II was issued, after which the aircraft was cleared to be flown by regular IAF pilots and begin induction into squadron service.

The Final Operational Clearance (FOC) campaign began in December 2013, with three aircraft from Tejas flight-line successfully completing advanced weapon trials.

In May 2015, the Mark I aircraft was criticized by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) for not meeting IAF requirements.

In October 2015, IAF Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha confirmed that the air force had ordered 120 (six squadrons) of Tejas Mark 1A, triple the 40 aircraft it had previously committed to buying.

On 26 February 2016, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said in the Lok Sabha that the Indian Air Force will accept three to four Tejas this year and stand up a total of eight squadrons in eight years.

In November 2017, it was reported that the Indian Air Force told the government that the Tejas is inadequate for the single-engined fighter program with insufficient flight endurance, smaller payload capacity, increased maintenance hours, and higher costs for maintenance compared to other contender aircraft.

In February 2018, refuelling of Tejas with the engine running-known as "hot refuelling"-was carried out.

OneIndia NewsModi government has mismanaged J&K: Manmohan Singh

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

The relentless attack on the BJP-led Government at the Centre continued on Sunday at the 84th Congress Plenary Session in Delhi with former prime minister Manmohan Singh saying that "the Modi government has mismanaged issues in Jammu and Kashmir like never before". On the third and last day of the session, Singh, in his speech, said that the atmosphere in Kashmir is deteriorating everyday.

"The Modi goverment has mismanaged issues in Jammu and Kashmir like never before. They have installed a Govt where the two wings of the administration are working against each other. The atmosphere is deteriorating everyday..The support Pakistan gives to cross-border terrorism is certainly not acceptable to us. We should warn Pakistan that their actions are detrimental to peace and prosperity," he said.

"The defense expenditure of our country is no more than 1.6% of our GDP. This is far too inadequate to meet the challenges of our security apparatus and our needs," he added.

Speaking on the economy and the way the current government has been handling it, the former prime minister, a renowned economist himself, lashed out at the NDA government on the issue of GDP growth.

"The BJP Govt. made tall promises. PM Modi himself said that his Govt will double farmers' income. For that, a growth rate of 12% per annum is necessary which is unthinkable in the current scenario," he said.

['PM Modi's promises are nothing but drama,' says Sonia Gandhi in plenary session]

Earlier today, senior Congress leader Anand Sharma also spoke at the plenary session and said Modi governmement had disrupted India's foreign policy.

"The Prime Minister is carried away by his own propaganda. Today it is a matter of concern that we have mismanaged our relations with major capitals of the world, with major strategic partners and our immediate neighborhood," Sharma said.

Paper ballots, pre-poll alliances: Congress resolutions at 84th plenary

On Saturday, Sonia Gandhi launched a scathing attack against the Narendra Modi-led NDA government, calling it "arrogant". Accusing the saffron party of dividing the nation along the lines of religion and caste, Rahul Gandhi said only his party can unite the country.

Today is the third day of Indian National Congress 84th Plenary Session. The session, which is a first since Gandhi's elevation to the presidential post, is called 'Change is now' and is aimed at projecting young faces of the party at the forefront.

OneIndia NewsCommuters in Delhi-NCR face problems as section of Ola, Uber drivers go on strike

All you should know about Olas largest factory in the world being set up in Tamil Nadu

Bookings now open for the Ola Electric Scooter! Reserve at just Rs 499, pricing and other details here

Ola-Uber drivers strike from today: All you need to know

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

If you are having trouble finding an Uber or Ola for yourself, it is because 3,000 of their drivers have threatened indefinite strike alleging "mismanagement" by these companies.

The strike would hit operations in major metro cities including New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune among others.

Here is all you need to know

The Mumbai based Navnirman Vahatuk Sena has called for an indefinite strike from Sunday midnight against Uber and Ola.

The call for strike was made after drivers claimed that they were given big assurances but they are even unable to cover their costs.

The protestors are claiming that the taxi-hailing companies are giving first priority to company-owned cars and not driver-owned vehicles, which is causing a slump in their business.

"Ola and Uber had given big assurances to the drivers, but today they are unable to cover their costs. They have invested Rs 5-7 lakh, and were expecting to make Rs 1.5 lakh a month but are unable to even make half of this, owing to the mismanagement by these companies," Sanjay Naik of Maharashtra Navnirman Vahatuk Sena, who is organising the strike, said.

"If our demands are not met, we will go on an indefinite strike," he said. naik also claimed that they have reached out to MNS leader Raj Thackeray to intervene in the matter.

Over 45,000 cabs are attached to Ola and Uber in Mumbai alone.

Uber and Ola drivers in Bengaluru have decided not take part in the strike.

While Ola declined to comment, an Uber spokesperson said termed the strike call as a speculative.

Founded in 2011, Ola claims to have 125 million users in 110 cities across India. More than 500 million rides have been taken by people in India on Uber cabs in the four year since the ride-hailing company's debut in the country. India is Uber's largest overseas market.

OneIndia NewsParrikar 'responding positively' to treatment, likely to return in April: Goa BJP leader

India

pti-PTI

Panaji, Mar 18: A Goa BJP leader said on Sunday that Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar is "responding positively" to the medical treatment in the US and is expected to return to India in the second week of April.

Parrikar had left from Goa for Mumbai in the first week of March. He later went to USA for further treatment of a pancreatic ailment.

"Parrikar is responding positively to the treatment in the US. His all parameters are normal and he would be taking treatment for another fortnight there before coming back to India in the second week of April," the BJP Goa unit leader said.

However, he said, there is no clarity on whether the chief minister would continue with his check-up at the Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai after his return or he would come to Goa. Parrikar was initially admitted to the Lilavati Hospital after being diagnosed with mild pancreatitis last month. He was discharged after a few days and returned to Goa to present the budget on February 21.

After spending a couple of days at home, he was admitted to the Goa Medical College and Hospital near here. Later, he again went to the Lilavati Hospital on March 5 and from there he was taken to the US.

Before leaving Goa, Parrikar had formed a cabinet advisory committee to guide the state administration on governance and other issues, in his absence. The committee comprises Sudin Dhavalikar (of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party), Francis D'Souza (of the BJP) and Vijai Sardesai (of the Goa Forward Party).

The MGP and the Goa Forward Party are allies of the ruling BJP in the coastal state. The Goa BJP had yesterday said that there was no question of a change in leadership in the state due to the illness of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar. Union AYUSH minister and North Goa Member of Parliament Shripad Naik had ruled out the possibility of a leadership change in Goa.

PTISounds like rhetoric of a loser: Nirmala Sitharaman on Rahul's speech

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

Responding to Rahul Gandhi's speech at the Congress plenary meet where he compared the BJP to the Kauravas, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said it sounded like rhetoric of a loser devoid of substance."

Addressing a press conference soon after Rahul's speech at the plenary session Sitharaman said "It sounds like a rhetoric of a loser devoid of substance."

Sitharaman also accused the Congress of being "solely responsible" for the anti-Sikh riots in 1984."A party that cried over the dead bodies of terrorists," she added.

"A party which questioned the fundamental existence of 'Shree Ram' today wants to be identified with the Pandavas," mocked the minister.

"It is astonishing that the Congress president chooses to name the president of BJP and says he is a murder accused. He has been cleared by a court. The charge does not hold even though the charge was a complete conspiracy against him. It was a conspiracy based on fraud. and you continue to say this," she said.

"And this by someone who is in charge, somebody who is out on bail in the National Herald case. Congress president is sharing the name of the father of the nation and he is out on bail, she added.

On Rahul's charge on farmers issue, she said "He is talking about agrarian crisis. Its because its election time. What has Congress done for so many years. They just want votes rather than solving the crisis."

"From when on has the Congress become protector of judiciary? Do I have to remind how Indira Gandhi treat the judiciary when one verdict went against them," she said.

Earlier in the day, Rahul made a scathing attack on the Modi-led government at the Centre, invoking the Mahabharata to compare the "power-hungry" BJP and RSS to the Kauravas.

"Like the Kauravas, the BJP and the RSS are designed to fight for power. Like the Pandavas, the Congress is designed to fight for truth," Gandhi claimed.

Rahul said that the BJP was very good at dodging issues and diverting the country's attention from important issues such as farmers' crisis and unemployment.

He also alleged the BJP-RSS of trying to take over all the institutions in the country whereas his party was trying to protect it.

The PM diverts our attention and jumps from one event to another from Gabbar Singh tax to yoga in Parliament and never talks about the issues. But, the Congress cannot be stopped from seeking the truth and justice, he said adding that When it is important for the PM to speak, he goes silent.

OneIndia NewsTrust vote: Will Shiv Sena back the BJP or take a neutral stance?

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

All eyes would be on the Shiv Sena ahead of the no-confidence motion in Parliament moved against the BJP led government by the TDP and YSR Congress Party.

The Shiv Sena which is the BJP's oldest ally has been the most vocal and critical of the BJP. However, the party is expected to stand with the BJP in the trust vote to be held this week.

Meanwhile, the leaders of the Shiv Sena are likely to meet this week and hold discussions on what they would have to do. The meeting to be chaired by the Sena chief Udhav Thackeray would take a final call on the matter.

While in some Sena circles it has been indicated that the party would back the BJP, others suggest that the party could also take a neutral stance. The BJP for now would want the Shiv Sena to take a neutral stance. Maharashtra Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis would meet with Thackeray in this regard on Monday where he would make an appeal for support.

For the Shiv Sena, there are various issues that would be taken into consideration. Firstly can it afford to stay out of power in Maharashtra and secondly whether it could go in for a complete divorce ahead of the 2019 elections. In an editorial written in its mouthpiece, Saamna, it had predicted that in 2019, the BJP would lose 110 seats. The big question is whether it would back the motion in Parliament and if it does, it would have to also walk out of the government in Maharashtra.

The BJP is however confident that it would get the backing of the Sena. The Sena on its part also hinted that it may not back the motion. The party's leader Sanjay Raut said that the TDP's decision pertains to local politics and it stemmed out of the competition with the YSR Congress.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Sunday, March 18, 2018, 7:08 [IST]P Chidambaram

Chidambaram said the Prime Minister Modi-led government had inherited a strong economy, adding that the number of people below poverty line went up during the BJP rule.

"It's the biggest achievement of Dr Manmohan Singh that 14 Crore people were listed out of poverty. BJP govt pushed people into poverty. Number of people below poverty line went up. It's the greatest disservice BJP govt did to people of India," he added.

"The current phase of economic growth started in 1990s when Rajiv Gandhi sowed seeds of liberalisation. This gained momentum under Dr Manmohan Singh. Whatever the BJP, the NDA may say, records speak for itself," Chidambaram further said.

Former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh

Earlier in the plenary session, former prime minister Manmohan Singh, a renowned economist himself, lashed out at the NDA government on the issue of GDP growth.

"The BJP Govt. made tall promises. PM Modi himself said that his Govt will double farmers' income. For that, a growth rate of 12% per annum is necessary which is unthinkable in the current scenario," he said.

Anand Sharma

Congress leader Anand Sharma also spoke at the plenary session and said Modi government had disrupted India's foreign policy.

"The Prime Minister is carried away by his own propaganda. Today it is a matter of concern that we have mismanaged our relations with major capitals of the world, with major strategic partners and our immediate neighborhood," Sharma said.

84th Congress Plenary Session

On Saturday, Sonia Gandhi launched a scathing attack against the Narendra Modi-led NDA government, calling it "arrogant". Accusing the saffron party of dividing the nation along the lines of religion and caste, Rahul Gandhi said only his party can unite the country.

Today is the third day of Indian National Congress 84th Plenary Session. The session, which is a first since Gandhi's elevation to the presidential post, is called 'Change is now' and is aimed at projecting young faces of the party at the forefront.Yogi says UP bypolls not a verdict against govt policies

India

pti-PTI

Lucknow, Mar 18: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday said that the BJP's defeat in the recent Lok Sabha bypolls in Gorakhpur and Phulpur cannot be seen as a referendum on the policies and programmes of the party's government at the Centre or in Uttar Pradesh.

He, however, added that the BJP had learnt a "lesson" (from the outcome) and said he was confident the party would perform better in future polls, especially the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. I don't see the results as a referendum," he said at a media event in Lucknow.

The Uttar Pradesh chief minister said the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party (SP-BSP) combine had not made any dent in the saffron party's vote bank.

"Our vote bank is intact," he said.

Stressing that the SP-BSP understanding was not an alliance but a "political deal", he said everyone knew these two parties had "damaged" the state in the past. During the campaign for the bypolls, the results of which were announced last week, the chief minister had launched a frontal attack on the two parties, referring to them as a "snake and mole".

"Whatever I have said is right, and I still stick to it," Adityanath, who is also a mahant of the Gorakhnath Temple, said, when a media-person asked about his choice of words. The CM also described the rival parties as private limited companies.

"The SP and the BSP are private limited companies, one-man shows and undemocratic, as these are family-based organisations," he said.

To another question, he said Congress president Rahul Gandhi might ride the "elephant" (BSP's election symbol) next time after leaving the "cycle" (SP's election symbol). In the last Assembly elections, the Congress was in an alliance with the SP. Asked what led to the BJP's defeat in Phulpur and its bastion Gorakhpur in the by-elections, he said, "It was due to over-confidence and complacency in candidates, who did not toil hard thinking that they would get the seat on a platter".

Adityanath was also asked if he'd talked to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah after the BJP's defeat.

"Yes I did," he replied, but did not divulge details when asked what transpired in the talks.

"Family matters cannot be shared in public," he said. When a media representative pointed out that the entire state was his family, he smiled and said, "Don't forget that there are neighbours too."

Adityanath, who completes one year in office tomorrow as the UP chief minister, claimed he had changed the image of the state from one of anarchy and chaos to that of all-round development and security. Rejecting the charge that the crime graph had increased during his tenure, he said, "This is society, but see the difference between pre and post 2017."

"Our government has accelerated the speed of development, provided power to every nook and corner of the state and ensured security to the people," he said. Asked if he looked forward to his second year in office, with Lok Sabha polls just some months away, he said, "Our days will be superb, and I am confident that we will win all the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state."

The hallmark of this regime was the shift from a caste and communal-based agenda to development-oriented politics with a focus on farmers and the youth, he said. "There was no riot during my tenure. All religious festivals are being observed peacefully. We are laying focus on spiritual, heritage and eco-tourism," he said.

To a question on building a Ram Temple in Ayodhya, he made it clear that the government was not a party to the dispute and the matter was before the Supreme Court "and things are moving in the right direction". In his first reaction after the party's loss in the by-elections, BJP chief Amit Shah had said yesterday that the UP government was one of the best among the BJP dispensations in states. He had also said the outcome was not a referendum on the party's rule in the state and added that that the BJP had taken the bypoll results seriously and would minutely analyse them.

PTIConcerned about North Korea's 'reckless and illegal' nuclear missile programs: ASEAN

International

pti-PTI

Sydney, Mar 18: Urging the UN countries to fully implement sanctions against Pyongyang, Southeast Asian leaders and Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Sunday called on North Korea to end its nuclear program.

Leaders at the first summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to be held in Australia issued a joint statement with the host country that also called for non-militarisation and a code of conduct in the contested waters of the South China Sea, where China has become increasingly assertive.

ASEAN leaders also said they were working to provide humanitarian assistance for the continuing crisis involving Muslim Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Myanmar's leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, addressed the matter "comprehensively" in meetings today.

On North Korea, the ASEAN-Australia joint statement urged North Korea to "immediately and fully comply with its obligations under all relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions," and called on all countries to implement sanctions.

Turnbull went further at a closing news conference, saying ASEAN and Australia had affirmed their commitment to respond strongly over the "grave concerns we share about North Korea's reckless and illegal nuclear missile programs."

President Donald Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who are both planning to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un this spring, pledged last week to maintain "maximum pressure" on Kim's authoritarian regime and seek action to force him to give up his nuclear weapons. Singapore's prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, the current chair of ASEAN, said the bloc had been encouraged by negotiations for the summits and had "noted reports of North Korea's commitment to denuclearization and its pledge to refrain from further nuclear missile tests during this period."

On territorial conflicts with China, which like Australia is not a member of ASEAN, the statement said, "We emphasize the importance of non-militarization and the need to enhance mutual trust and confidence, exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities and avoid actions that may complicate the situation."

China and the five countries that have conflicting territorial claims over the South China Sea, which include four ASEAN members, plan to negotiate a code of conduct for the busy waterway aimed at reducing the risks of armed confrontations in the contested areas. Lee said this was an issue for all ASEAN countries as it was "a security and stability question" that would "affect all ASEAN countries if it goes wrong."

He also said ASEAN policy meant it was "not able to intervene and to force an outcome" over the Rohingya crisis, in which more than 700,000 refugees have fled to neighboring Bangladesh amid a Myanmar military campaign that the UN has called "ethnic cleansing."

But Lee said the matter was a cause of concern for all of ASEAN, whose members would be anxious "if there is any instability or any trouble" in fellow member countries. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said Saturday that the crisis was no longer solely a domestic issue for Myanmar, with fleeing Rohingya potential targets for terrorist radicalisation.

Turnbull said the Rohingya issue was discussed by the leaders "very constructively" Sunday. "Aung San Suu Kyi addressed the matter comprehensively at some considerable length herself," he said. The ASEAN nations are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

PTIRussia voting today, Putin set to return for historic fourth term

International

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Russia goes to vote in the presidential election Sunday to elect Vladimir Putin for the fourth term in Kremlin. Since taking power 18 years ago, Putin has stamped his total authority on the country, silencing opposition and reasserting Moscow's lost might abroad.

The polling across the country, which began at 8 am Sunday in Russia's far east regions of Chukotka and Kamchatka will go on till polls close at the westernmost point, the Kaliningrad region, 22 hours later.

Putin has sought to use the election run-up to emphasise Russia's role as a major world power, recently boasting of its "invincible" new weapons and continuing Moscow's support for the Syrian regime in a bloody civil war.Putin who has campaigned under the slogan "a strong president - a strong Russia", has declined to take part in televised debates and shot no new material for his own campaign advertisements.

Overall turnout is expected to be between 63 and 67 per cent, according to official pollsters. The run-up to Russia's last presidential election in 2012 was marked by protests across the country against Putin's return as head of state after four years as prime minister.

OneIndia New with PTI inputs

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Sunday, March 18, 2018, 8:01 [IST]The EU

Google says the EU requires a notice of cookie use (by Google) and says they have posted a notice. I don't see it. If cookies bother you, go elsewhere. If the EU bothers you, emigrate. If you live outside the EU, don't go there.I know by now the children must be crying in the land where they let the children cry, and tonight the stars'll be out, and don't you know that God is Pooh Bear? -On the Road





Everything belongs to me because Im poor. - Visions of Cody





Finding Nirvana is like locating silence. - Dharma Bums



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From The Nation

For decades, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has objected to the failure of major media outlets to cover the growth of economic inequality in America. As a presidential contender in 2016, he used every opportunity that was afforded him in the media to address poverty, plutocracy and the consolidation of wealth and power in the hands of "the billionaire class."

Now, he's doing something to tip the balance of the popular discourse away from the agendas of the super rich and toward the real life concerns of working-class Americans. Something big. On Monday, from 7 to 8:30 pm ET, he will host a live-streamed town hall meeting on "Inequality in America: The Rise of Oligarchy and Collapse of the Middle Class." With Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, filmmaker Michael Moore, economist Darrick Hamilton and others, Sanders will lead a discussion about the "growing power of corporate interests and how we can build economy that works for all Americans." Livestreamed on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube by Sanders, Warren, Moore, The Guardian, NowThis, The Young Turks and Act.tv, the initiative will reach social media sites with a combined following of close to 50 million Americans.

Sanders spoke with The Nation about what he hopes to accomplish.

The Nation: You say there are two fundamental issues with inequality. What's the first?

Sanders: The first one is that this country is moving into oligarchy. The three wealthiest people in this country own more wealth than the bottom half of American society. The top one-tenth of one percent now owns as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent. And then, politically, what we have seen since the Citizens United decision (by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2010) is billionaires like the Koch brothers and a few of their friends pouring hundreds and hundreds of dollars into the political process to elect candidates who represent the wealthy and the powerful. That is an issue of huge consequence to the future of America -- in terms of the economic life of this country and the collapse of the middle class, and a political system which is being corrupted by big money and Citizens United.

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Chinese military releases video of aircraft on smooth runs in country's mountainous southwest, suggesting advances to problem-plagued AL-31F engines, South China Morning Post has reported.

Footage of Chinese warplanes on drills in the country's mountainous southwest suggest the military has overcome engine problems plaguing the aircraft at high altitudes, sounding a warning to regional rival India.

Video of Chengdu J-10 and Shenyang J-11 jets flying low over snow-capped mountains was posted on the People's Liberation Army's official website.

The jets are part of China's fleet of third-generation lightweight multi-role fighter aircraft and are powered by Russian AL-31F engines.

Military observers said the engines had previously lost power above 3,000 meters, leading to a string of accidents.

In September 2015, a J-10 from the former Shenyang Military Region crashed on a night patrol when the plane climbed above 3,350 meters, state-run China Central Television reported. The pilot ejected to safety.

The footage also showed a Shaanxi Y-9 transport aircraft taking off and landing at a high-altitude airport. The Y-9 can carry 106 passengers or 132 troops at one time.

A Xian JH-7 fighter-bomber is also seen flying over the snow-covered terrain, filling out the combat line-up in the PLA Air Force's Western Theatre Command, which ranges from Chongqing to Tibet and Xinjiang.

Military analysts said the apparent smooth flights by the warplanes suggested the air force had overcome the engine's high-altitude problems, bolstering the PLA's defenses against India.

The apparent advances come less than a year after a protracted border stand-off between Chinese and Indian troops in the Doklam region in the Himalayas, South China Morning News said.

China in talks for sale of jet engine technology to Germany

Tellingly, China is in talks to sell Germany state-of-the-art machinery and technology critical in the manufacture of high-performance jet engines, South China Morning Post (SCMP) has reported.

The machinery produced turbine blades capable of withstanding temperatures several hundred degrees Celsius higher than the melting point of metallic alloys, SCMP quoted a Chinese scientist as saying.

Turbine blades convert heat generated by combusted fuel into the energy that propels a plane. The blades are one of the most important components in modern aircraft, both military and civilian, and their quality determines how safe, powerful and durable a jet engine will be.

The technological progress could be a very important step for made-in-China jet engines, with China now the world's largest market for commercial aircraft. Thousands of planes are on order from Airbus and Boeing, and China is also developing its own C919 passenger jet.

In recent years, tremendous leaps in blade-processing technology, combined with breakthroughs in alloy casting and aerodynamic design, have allowed China to produce a brand-new series of powerful military jet engines, according to SCMP.

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From Alon Ben-Meir Website

This is the second part in a two-part series. To view part one, click here.

The recent violation of Israel's air space by an Iranian drone and Israel's retaliation against Syrian and Iranian targets prompted many observers to suggest that the growing regional tension resulting from such incidents may precipitate a war between Israel and Iran/Hezbollah, and perhaps inadvertently with Syria as well.

I disagree with this prognosis. I maintain that none of the players involved want to engage in a war that will inflict tremendous destruction and casualties without realizing any sustainable long-term gains. This, however, does not preclude an accidental war resulting from an unintended incident or miscalculation.

Israel views Iran as the number one enemy bent on its destruction and is determined to destroy any Iranian military bases in Syria in close proximity to its borders. Israel will also continue, as it has done in the past, to attack convoys that transport sophisticated arms from Iran to Hezbollah via Syria.

Israel accuses Iran of regularly engaging in subversive activity to undermine its security and instigating the Palestinians to violently oppose the occupation of the West Bank and the blockade over Gaza. Israel believes that Iran is determined to acquire nuclear weapons once the sunset clauses of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (the Iran deal) expire, particularly the first phase, after which Iran will be allowed to gradually resume (with some restrictions) the enrichment of uranium. For this reason, Israel is making supreme efforts to convince the Trump administration, as Prime Minister Netanyahu put it, to "fix it or nix it."

Although Israel is confident that it can win any military confrontation against its surrounding enemies, it has concluded that there will be no long-term benefit by initiating preemptive attacks on Iranian, Syrian, or Hezbollah forces. To destroy Hezbollah's stockpile of nearly 150,000 short- and medium-range rockets, which are largely embedded within the civilian community, Israel will have to conduct, at least in part, carpet bombings which can result in the death of tens of thousands of civilians. Israel will preemptively strike, however, only if faced with an imminent threat.

Israel has no animosity against the Syrian regime as such and would rather see Assad remaining in power as long as he limits Iran's maneuvering room and achieves a clear understanding with Iran that he will not allow Syria to become the battleground between Israel and Iran/Hezbollah.

To prevent any misunderstanding or miscalculation, Israel should make it clear that it wants to stay away from the war in Syria. That said, Israel must strongly iterate to Iran and Hezbollah via Russia that if faced with any threats, it will retaliate with massive force disproportionate to any provocation from either party.

Israel should openly define what constitutes provocative actions, which from the Israeli perspective include violation of its air space, firing rockets, or infiltration of terrorists emanating from Lebanese or Syrian territory. Israel should make it clear that any of these violations constitutes a red line that neither Iran nor any of its surrogates can commit with impunity.

Israel should further make it unequivocally clear to Tehran through Russia that it will destroy any military installations near its borders, and if Iran were to counter-attack, Israel will not hesitate, as Netanyahu recently stated, to bomb specific targets on Iranian soil. In any case, the Israeli public is attuned psychologically to the Iranian menace and expects their government to take whatever actions necessary to inflict unacceptable damage to the enemy.

Russia is the most dominant power broker in Syria, and no solution to Syria's civil war or establishment of any new political order between the various factions can occur without Russia's consent. Russia has had a presence in Syria dating back nearly 50 years, when Moscow established its naval base at Tartus, and has always had the ambition to fill the vacuum created by the Obama administration, which opted to largely stay out of the conflict in Syria.

The Kremlin seized the opportunity to come to the aid of the Assad regime, which was on the verge of collapse, by dispatching ground troops as well as the air force to bomb many of the rebel and ISIS targets, which has significantly turned the tide of the war in his favor. Russia now uses its dominant presence in Syria as a springboard from which it can exert greater influence throughout the Middle East, a position it has been pursuing for the past 10 years.

Even Israel, who traditionally seeks a green light from the US before it undertakes any major military strikes, must now receive Russia's consent before it attacks Iran's and Assad's military installations in Syria. Although Russia and Iran joined hands to defend Assad, Russia wants to limit Iran's influence in Syria -- partly because it wants to remain the main power broker in Syria, and partly because it wants to prevent any violent confrontation between Israel and Iran to avert further destabilization of Syria, which could undermine its strategic interests.

To be sure, Putin wants to secure Russia's special position in Syria and is determined to prevent Iran, Hezbollah, Israel, and even the US from spoiling his gains and influence, and will not allow any of the antagonists to intervene without Russian cooperation.

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From The National

With a Palestinian "state" effectively restricted to Gaza, the humanitarian catastrophe there needs to be urgently addressed

Seemingly unrelated events all point to a tectonic shift in which Israel has begun preparing the ground to annex the occupied Palestinian territories.

Last week, during an address to students in New York, Israel's education minister Naftali Bennett publicly disavowed even the notion of a Palestinian state. "We are done with that," he said. "They have a Palestinian state in Gaza."

Later in Washington, Mr Bennett, who leads Israel's settler movement, said Israel would manage the fallout from annexing the West Bank, just as it had with its annexation of the Syrian Golan in 1980.

International opposition would dissipate, he said. "After two months it fades away and 20 years later and 40 years later, [the territory is] still ours."

Back home, Israel has proven such words are not hollow.

The parliament passed a law last month that brings three academic institutions, including Ariel University, all located in illegal West Bank settlements, under the authority of Israel's Higher Education Council. Until now, they were overseen by a military body.

The move marks a symbolic and legal sea change. Israel has effectively expanded its civilian sovereignty into the West Bank. It is a covert but tangible first step towards annexation.

In a sign of how the idea of annexation is now entirely mainstream, Israeli university heads mutely accepted the change, even though it exposes them both to intensified action from the growing international boycott (BDS) movement and potentially to European sanctions on scientific co-operation.

Additional bills extending Israeli law to the settlements are in the pipeline. In fact, far right justice minister Ayelet Shaked has insisted that those drafting new legislation indicate how it can also be applied in the West Bank.

According to Peace Now, she and Israeli law chiefs are devising new pretexts to seize Palestinian territory. She has called the separation between Israel and the occupied territories required by international law "an injustice that has lasted 50 years."

After the higher education law passed, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his party Israel would "act intelligently" to extend unnoticed its sovereignty into the West Bank. "This is a process with historic consequences," he said.

That accords with a vote by his Likud party's central committee in December that unanimously backed annexation.

The government is already working on legislation to bring some West Bank settlements under Jerusalem municipal control -- annexation via the back door. This month officials gave themselves additional powers to expel Palestinians from Jerusalem for "disloyalty."

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By Dartagnan

Holy sh*t.

I have been an FBI Special Agent for over 21 years. I spent half of that time investigating Russian Organized Crime as a street agent and Supervisor in New York City. I have spent the second half of my career focusing on national security issues and protecting this country from terrorism. I served in some of the most challenging, demanding investigative and leadership roles in the FBI. And I was privileged to serve as Deputy Director during a particularly tough time.

For the last year and a half, my family and I have been the targets of an unrelenting assault on our reputation and my service to this country. Articles too numerous to count have leveled every sort of false, defamatory and degrading allegation against us. The president's tweets have amplified and exacerbated it all. He called for my firing. He called for me to be stripped of my pension after more than 20 years of service. And all along we have said nothing, never wanting to distract from the mission of the FBI by addressing the lies told and repeated about it.

No more.

The investigation by the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General (OIG) has to be understood in the context of the attacks on my credibility. The investigation flows from my attempt to explain the FBI's involvement and my supervision of investigations involving Hillary Clinton. I was being portrayed in the media over and over as a political partisan, accused of closing down investigations under political pressure. The FBI was portrayed as caving under that pressure, and making decisions for political rather than law enforcement purposes. Nothing was further from the truth. In fact, this entire investigation stems from my efforts, fully authorized under FBI rules, to set the record straight on behalf of the Bureau and to make it clear that we were continuing an investigation that people in DOJ opposed.

The OIG investigation has focused on information I chose to share with a reporter through my public affairs officer and a legal counselor. As Deputy Director, I was one of only a few people who had the authority to do that. It was not a secret, it took place over several days, and others, including the Director, were aware of the interaction with the reporter. It was the same type of exchange with the media that the Deputy Director oversees several times per week. In fact it was the same type of work that I continued to do under Director Wray, at his request. The investigation subsequently focused on who I talked to, when I talked to them, and so forth. During these inquiries, I answered questions truthfully and as accurately as I could amidst the chaos that surrounded me. And when I thought my answers were misunderstood, I contacted investigators to correct them.

But looking at that in isolation completely misses the big picture. The big picture is a tale of what can happen when law enforcement is politicized, public servants are attacked, and people who are supposed to cherish and protect our institutions become instruments for damaging those institutions and people.

Here is the reality: I am being singled out and treated this way because of the role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of James Comey. The release of this report was accelerated only after my testimony to the House Intelligence Committee revealed that I would corroborate former Director Comey's accounts of his discussions with the President. The OIG's focus on me and this report became a part of an unprecedented effort by the Administration, driven by the President himself, to remove me from my position, destroy my reputation, and possibly strip me of a pension that I worked 21 years to earn. The accelerated release of the report, and the punitive actions taken in response, make sense only when viewed through this lens. Thursday's comments from the White House are just the latest example of this.

This attack on my credibility is one part of a larger effort not just to slander me personally, but to taint the FBI, law enforcement, and intelligence professionals more generally. It is part of this Administration's ongoing war on the FBI and the efforts of the Special Counsel investigation, which continue to this day. Their persistence in this campaign only highlights the importance of the Special Counsel's work.

I have always prided myself on serving my country with distinction and integrity, and I have always encouraged those around me to do the same. Just ask them. To have my career end in this way, and to be accused of lacking candor when at worst I was distracted in the midst of chaotic events, is incredibly disappointing and unfair. But it will not erase the important work I was prevailed to be a part of, the results of which will in the end be revealed for the country to see.

I have unfailing faith in the men and women of the FBI and I am confident that their efforts to seek justice will not be deterred.Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too.

From Robert Reich Blog

Trump is moving into a new and more dangerous phase.

Before, he was constrained by a few "adults" -- Rex Tillerson, Gary Cohn, H.R. McMaster, and John Kelly -- whom he appointed because he thought they had some expertise he lacked.

Now he's either fired or is in the process of removing the adults. He's replacing them with a Star Wars cantina of toadies and sycophants who will reflect back at him his own glorious view of himself, and help sell it on TV.

Narcissists are dangerous because they think only about themselves. Megalomaniacs are dangerous because they think only about their power and invincibility. A narcissistic megalomaniac who's unconstrained -- and who's also president of the United States -- is about as dangerous as they come.

The man who once said he could shoot someone dead on Fifth Avenue and still be elected president now openly boasts of lying to the Canadian Prime Minister, deciding on his own to negotiate mano a mano with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, unilaterally slapping tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, and demanding the death penalty for drug dealers.

For weeks, Trump has been pulling big policy pronouncements out of his derriere and then leaving it up to the White House to improvise explanations and implementation plans.

"Trump is increasingly flying solo," report the Associated Press' Catherine Lucey and Jonathan Lemire. "Trump has told confidants recently that he wants to be less reliant on his staff, believing they often give bad advice, and that he plans to follow his own instincts, which he credits with his stunning election."

Trump has always had faith in his instincts. "I'm speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain and I've said a lot of things," he said on the campaign trail. "I'm a very instinctual person, but my instinct turns out to be right," he told Time Magazine last year.

But instincts aren't facts, logic, or analysis. And it's one thing for a business tycoon or even a presidential candidate to rely on instincts, quite another for the leader of the free world to rely solely on his gut.

Worse yet, the new Trump believes no one can lay a glove on him. He's survived this far into his presidency despite lapses that would have done in most other presidents.

So what if he paid off a porn star to keep quiet about their affair? So what if he's raking in money off his presidency? So what if there's no evidence for his claims that three to five million fraudulent votes were cast for Hillary Clinton, or that Obama wiretapped him? There are no consequences.

The new Trump doesn't worry that his approval ratings continue to be in the cellar. By his measure, he's come out on top: His cable-TV ratings are huge. Fox News loves him. He dominates every news cycle. The pre-selected crowds at his rallies roar their approval.

He's become the Mad King who says or does anything his gut tells him to, while his courtiers genuflect.

How will this end?

Next Page 1 | 2

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).Peopleas Union for Democratic Rights

18 March 2018

PRESS STATEMENT

PUDRaS report on the Maruti case judgment on the grim anniversary of the court order sentencing workers

aA Pre-Decided Case: A Critique of the Maruti judgment of 2017a

March 2018

PUDR is presenting its report aA Pre-Decided Case: A Critique of the Maruti judgment of 2017,a to mark the grim anniversary of the passing of the deeply unjust order by the Sessions Court, Gurugram, Haryana which sentenced 31 erstwhile workers of the Maruti company, 13 of them to life imprisonment. In this order passed on 18 March 2017 (following the conviction on 10 March), Additional Sessions Judge R.P. Goyal also acquitted 117 workers about 5 years after they had been arrested, after having spent 2-4 years in jail. It is significant that the 13 given the harshest punishment were all union office bearers and active members. In the incident of violence on 18 July 2012 in which sections of the plant had been set on fire, some managers and workers injured, and one HR Manager Awanish Dev unfortunately died due to asphyxiation, 148 workers had been indicted and arrested.

The report is a critique of the judgment, based on a close reading of it and other official documents of the case. It also raises questions about the nature of investigation, trial process, and the prosecutionas version and draws attention to the grave implications of the judgment, not just for workers at Maruti, or in the automobile industry alone, but for rights and struggles of labour across the country.

Three broad aspects of the context of the Maruti case and deeply skewed judgment, and the nature of investigation and prosecution that led to it need to be understood. These cannot be understood in isolation, but only in the context of:

(a) the long term and contemporary history of capital-labour conflict and workersa struggles at Maruti, in which workers have persisted in their struggle for basic labour rights and the company has repeatedly thwarted them

(b) the dominant position and real economic power of the Maruti company in the automobile industry, its clout in Industrial Model Township (IMT) Manesar and over the institutions and machinery of the state.

(c) the changing nature of the capitalalabour conflict with Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and ease of doing business becoming enormously significant. (All three points are discussed on pages 2-10 of the present report).

The workers struggles at Maruti over the past several years have been for issues like fair wages, reduction in work pressure, and for a representative union, and the company has repeatedly aggressively thwarted them, using means like suspensions, terminations, transfers, deducting wages, enforced signing of aGood Conducta undertaking, among others (p. 6 of report). The company is able to do this because of its power that comes from multiple sources a such as its monopoly with over 50% share in the passenger car market, its dominant position in IMT Manesar (where it occupies 600 acres of land and a has a large number ancillary and vendor units) a among others. Its overarching power and command extends not just over capital, but to the institutions of the state a the Labour Department, police and judiciary. Investigation, trial and judgment of the Maruti incident is reflective of the same.

The Judgment

The major part of the report is a discussion of the narrative presented by the company through the prosecution, and the version upheld by the judgment after taking into account the lacunae and questions pointed out by the defence. A stark pattern can be seen in the way in which the judge intervened at each point.

The F.I.R lodged in the incident that occurred on 18 July 2012 at Marutias Manesar plant became the basis of the prosecutionas version.

F.I.R

The F.I.R (No. 184/2012, P.S. Manesar, Haryana) was registered on the day of the incident at 11 pm, against 55 named and 500-600 unnamed workers at Manesar PS, on the basis of a complaint filed by Deepak Anand, General Manager Vigilance, and Prosecution Witness (PW) 29. Some important anomalies emerged in the course of the defenceas questioning which the report discusses in detail. For instance, it was established that PW29 could not have actually witnessed the incident (p. 12). He could not identify any of the workers except one. It was argued that he saw the events through the CCTV cameras, which were, conveniently, not there because management claimed that they were burnt (though there was no evidence of their burning). PW29as credibility as the primary witness was further weakened as he first named the weapons allegedly used by the workers who attacked management on 18 July as abelcha, lathi, lohe ke sariye (iron rods) and dandaa in the F.I.R, but in a second statement made before the police he changed these to adoor beamsa and ashockers.a (pp 14-15) Yet, in a response reflective of the nature of judgeas intervention through the judgment, this was accepted and justified. The time lag of 5 hours between the recording of the F.I.R and its reaching the Metropolitan Magistrateas (MM) office a short distance away only by morning of 19 July, the absence of corroborative evidence etc., were all accepted without questioning by the judge.

The workersa counter complaint that the management hired bouncers to assault the manager Awanish Dev and start the fire was on the other hand dismissed.

The report discusses many aspects of the account of the incident of 18 July 2012 that were recorded in the F.I.R were exposed as doubtful and concocted in the course of the trial (pp. 12-27) Some of these were

The fire and death of Awanish Dev

The keystone of the prosecutionas narrative, and the basis of the case against the workers was that they had set the fire at the plant and attacked and killed the HR Manager Awanish Dev. None of the PWs could clearly identify who started the fire (p.16), nor was there any other evidence connecting workers to the fire. There is also no evidence to connect the death of Awanish Dev to the convicted workers. The report points to the inconsistencies in the statements of the PWs, and significant confusion regarding who and how many people supposedly attacked him (p. 15, p.17). If verbal accounts are to be the basis of conviction, as they are in this case, they need to be foolproof, and these statements made by PWs were not, the report shows. Yet the judge chose to see these major inconsistencies in the F.I.R and PWsa statements as asmall discrepanciesa (p.18) and disregarded the flawed and absent evidence to convict the workers for the fire, injuries and death despite the absence of evidence against them, following a strange line of argument a that as the workers could not prove their version (that they did not set the fire, or assault Awanish Dev, and bouncers did) then the version of prosecution, which incidentally also could not be proved, must be true.

Recoveries

The prosecutionas charge of murderous assault by workers depended on the arecoverya of weapons and other evidence from them. The manner in which these so-called arecoveriesa of crucial evidence were made (pp.19-21) exposes the nature of the police investigation on which the prosecution based its version. This version presented in the judgment, held that all 148 accused aworkersa walked out of the plant carrying the weapons after the incident to their respective homes, some located as far as 200 km away, where they hid them in obvious places, to be conveniently recovered by the police 6-7 days after the incident. The defence posed several questions that the prosecution completely failed to answer a for instance, How were these weapons transported inside the plant to the actual site of incident without anyone seeing them?; Why did the Maruti management not areporta the supposed athefta of these shockers and doorbeams by workers until Oct. 2012?; Was there any evidence that these actually belonged to the Maruti company and was any attempt made by taking fingerprints etc., to establish which particular weapon was supposedly used by which particular worker? Why were these weapons and (in the case of some workers), ablood stained uniformsa and aidentity cardsa etc. recovered from their houses, with no independent eyewitnesses to the recoveries? a (p.20).

Compelled to accept these serious lacunae in the prosecutionas version, the judge however still overlooked this absence of evidence that connected workers to the assault by implying that the absence of evidence of any connection between weapons, the assault and the accused, did not mean that such a connection was not there (p.21).

The report further shows how the medical evidence does not substantiate the prosecutionas account (pp. 21-23). The police investigation failed to show the doctors the weapons or ask them if these could have caused the injuries of the PWs, and all the doctors agreed during the trial that the injuries could have been caused also by falling on a hard or uneven surface.

The prosecutionas failure to prove the existence of a acriminal conspiracya, a plan or agreement of acommon intenta between the workers, was demonstrated by the defence and is demonstrated in the report (p. 23). Despite this, the charge of acriminal conspiracya was upheld for the 13 workers convicted for life imprisonment.

Arrests, Investigation, and Trial

The grave flaws and serious problems in the process of investigation, the manner of arrests the nature of the trial, and the way in which bail was denied and granted are also highlighted in the report (pp 10-14). These exposed the police investigationas clear bias and collusion with the extremely powerful and dominant Maruti management. They also cast doubts on the nature of the evidence and testimonies which then became the basis of the prosecution narrative, in turn upheld substantively in the judgment.

The collusion can be illustrated through one example cited in the report (p.12-13). The Assistant Manager of HR Department (PW 101), Nitin Saraswat stated, on record, that he had prepared 2 lists of workers (by retrieving the names from the Gurgaon office) at 3 am on 19 July 2012 which he gave to the SHO Manesar. One list contained 55 names, and another 89 names. The list of 55 workersa names was evidently included in the F.I.R, and this is the likely explanation for the delay in submitting the F.I.R to the MM. The list of 89 workers meanwhile was given to the labour-contractors who asubmitteda to the police team when they were called by them to the plant at 12.30 pm on 19 July. The labour-contractors supposedly identified the workers in alphabetical order (p.13), and could not identify them in court. However the police in its zeal, had already arrested these workers before 12.30 pm. This anomaly later became the basis of their eventual acquittal due to the defenceas efforts. This revelation shows the eagerness of the police to do the companyas bidding. Moreover it clearly shows that the names of workers given in the F.I.R were handpicked by the management on the basis of reasons other than their actual involvement in the incident. Yet the judgment has made this kind of manufactured statement and document the basis of inflicting extremely severe punishment on vocal, active workers and union office bearers.

Another instance of clear fabrication comes from the police account of the recoveries of weapons (discussed above). Their peculiar and unreal similarity a in each case the policemen who made the recoveries were coincidentally carrying large lengths of cloth to wrap the weapons recovered, were able to summon tailors again conveniently roaming around the sites of recovery and so on a expose their fabricated nature (p.20, Box 2).

The report highlights some other instances of the police investigationas bias towards the company. This includes the choice of the site of recording the statements of prosecution witnesses a the aJapanese Hostela leased by the Maruti company, and the non-inclusion of workers among witnesses though hundreds of them were present at the time at the site (p. 26-27).

Conclusion

The report shows how it has not been proved through the investigation and trial that any workers or in particular the 31 convicted Maruti workers were responsible for the violence or the fire at the Manesar unit on 18 July 2012. Similarly it is also not established without reasonable doubt as to who was responsible for Awanish Devas death. There is no clear evidence to link the accused to the crime. And yet these workers have been convicted and given extremely harsh punishment. The judgment seems to have served the purposes of the company in providing the alibi for criminalising and imprisoning active union members and workers.

The judgment makes a further mockery of justice when it applies different standards for different accused. Thus while acquitting 117 workers, the judge points out several shortcomings in the prosecutions case, to the extent of suggesting that the evidence could be planted. However in the same case, with the same kind of evidence, he does not apply the same standards while convicting 31 workers.

The judge did not allow all these facts, e.g., the manner of recoveries and lack of eyewitnesses, the intimidation, arrests and custodial torture of workers (p.10, p. 22) by the police, the repeated failure of prosecution witnesses to correctly identify workers they had named and accused in court (p.24-25, Box 3) ato come in the way of his decision to convict the workers. This judgment reveals a higher degree of determination to overlook and even justify the shortcomings and lacunae in the prosecutionas narrative, and multiple violations of law and procedure by the Maruti company and the police, willingness to accept of the prosecution witnessesa accounts even while accepting that their version is fabricated than has been witnessed in recent times. It reveals the completely blatant support of the judiciary for capital, giving up even a pretence of neutrality. The denial of bail to most workers for over two years (pp 10-12), and the judiciaryas upholding of the prosecutionas version despite its almost farcical nature at times (pp 30-31), show the seamlessness of the companyas control over the entire state machinery, over the wider judiciary as well as the executive. The farce then becomes a tragedy when, violating basic principles of jurisprudence, of need for evidence to link the crime to the criminal, the judgment, following a script of vengeance by capital, convicts the active and vocal workers at the behest of the company.

The danger from a pre-decided judgment such as this is that it sends out a strong message to workers throughout the country to accept the commands of capital, and gives impunity to it to violate even the legally enshrined rights of workers. Teaching a lesson to Maruti workers was particularly important because of their history of undeterred struggle ever since the establishment of the company. In earlier phases of struggle, union members and active workers at Maruti have had to face suspensions, transfer, and dismissals. This time however, they have had to pay the heaviest price for being active in the union a that of conviction and life imprisonment.

PUDR presents its report aA Pre-Decided Case: A Critique of the Maruti judgment of 2017,a March 2018, and in the light of its findings outlined above, demands:

1) The immediate release of the convicted workers and a fresh, fair, independent and just investigation and re-trial.

2) The right of workers to unionise and organize to raise their demands be recognized, respected and protected by the institutions of the state and by management.

Shashi Saxena

Shahana Bhattacharya

Secretaries, PUDR



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The progressive liberation of East Ghouta, Syria, from Western-supported terrorists highlights and confirms what we already know. We have seen this all before.

First of all, a chemical factory was discovered, indicating yet again that the terrorists use chemical weapons.

Second, the discovery of the CW plant occurred at the same time that yet another false flag terror operation has been predicted. None of these false flag "Assad gasses his own people" operations have withstood the scrutiny of independent investigations.[1] They have all been perpetrated by the West and its proxies, most notably the White Helmets, al Qaeda auxiliaries, as fake pretexts for more war.

Third, we see yet again that the mainstream media is an accomplice to Western crimes. ReporterSharmine Narwani, who visited the abandoned site, noted wryly that none of the mainstream media reporters chose to visit the "makeshift chemical lab".

Finally, we see more evidence of terrorist atrocities committed against occupied populations, as revealed by recently freed captives. A local revealed to reporters:

"We lived in fear under the militants, there were very harsh conditions. They drove up food prices, introduced a strict regime -- you could lose your head for the slightest fault, "" [2]

Here are some more testimonies:

The alternative to the popular Assad government is not an alternative at all. It is slavery and despotism. As more areas are liberated by the SAA, we will see more of the same.

*

Mark Taliano is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) and the author of Voices from Syria, Global Research Publishers, 2017.

Notes

[1] Tim Anderson, 'There is zero credible evidence that the Syrian Arab Army has used chemical weapons.' Muslim Press. 20 July, 2016.( http://www.muslimpress.com/Section-opinion-72/105186-there-is-zero-credible-evidence-that-the-syrian-arab-army-has-used-chemical-weapons ) Accessed 14, March, 2018.

[2] "First group of 50+ civilians safely leaves E. Ghouta via humanitarian corridor -- Russian MoD." RT. 11 March, 2018. (https://www.rt.com/news/420990-ghouta-civilians-leave-corridor/) Accessed 14 March, 2018.

Order Mark Taliano's Book "Voices from Syria" directly from Global Research.

Taliano talks and listens to the people of Syria. He reveals the courage and resilience of a Nation and its people in their day to day lives, after more than six years of US-NATO sponsored terrorism and three years of US "peacemaking" airstrikes.

Mark Taliano combines years of research with on-the-ground observations to present an informed and well-documented analysis that refutes the mainstream media narratives on Syria.

ISBN: 978-0-9879389-1-6

Author: Mark Taliano

Year: 2017

Pages: 128 (Expanded edition: 1 new chapter)

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The original source of this article is Global Research

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From Truthdig

Media coverage of and political reactions to Donald Trump's announcement of a summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have been based on the assumption that it cannot succeed, because Kim will reject the idea of denuclearization. But the full report by South Korean President Moon Jae-in's national security adviser on the meeting with Kim last week -- covered by South Korea's Yonhap news agency but not covered in U.S. news media -- makes it clear that Kim will present Trump with a plan for complete denuclearization linked to the normalization of relations between the U.S. and North Korea, or the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The report by Chung Eui-yong on a dinner hosted by Kim Jong Un for the 10-member South Korean delegation on March 5 said the North Korea leader had affirmed his "commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula" and that he "would have no reason to possess nuclear weapons should the safety of [his] regime be guaranteed and military threats against North Korea removed." Chung reported that Kim expressed his willingness to discuss "ways to realize the denuclearization of the peninsula and normalize [U.S.-DPRK] bilateral ties."

But in what may be the most important finding in the report, Chung added, "What we must especially pay attention to is the fact that [Kim Jong Un] has clearly stated that the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula was an instruction of his predecessor and that there has been no change to such an instruction."

The South Korean national security adviser's report directly contradicts the firmly held belief among U.S. national security and political elites that Kim Jong Un would never give up the DPRK's nuclear weapons. As Colin Kahl, former Pentagon official and adviser to Barack Obama, commented in response to the summit announcement, "It Is simply inconceivable that he will accept full denuclearization at this point."

But Kahl's dismissal of the possibility of any agreement at the summit assumes, without saying so, a continuation of the steadfast refusal of the Bush and Obama administrations for the United States to offer any incentive to North Korean in the form of a new peace treaty with North Korea and full normalization of diplomatic and economic relations.

That pattern of U.S. policy is one side of the still-unknown story of the politics of the North Korean issue. The other side of the story is North Korea's effort to use its nuclear and missile assets as bargaining chips get the United States to strike a deal that would change the U.S. stance of enmity toward North Korea.

The Cold War background of the issue is that DPRK had demanded that the United States military command in South Korea stop its annual "Team Spirit" exercises with South Korean forces, which began in 1976 and involved nuclear-capable U.S. planes. The Americans knew those exercises scared the North Koreans because, as Leon V. Sigal recalled in his authoritative account of U.S.-North Korean nuclear negotiations, "Disarming Strangers," the United States had made explicit nuclear threats against the DPRK on seven occasions.

But the end of the Cold War in 1991 presented an even more threatening situation. When the Soviet Union collapsed, and Russia disengaged from former Soviet bloc allies, North Korea suddenly suffered the equivalent of a 40 percent reduction in imports, and its industrial base imploded. The rigidly state-controlled economy was thrown into chaos.

Meanwhile, the unfavorable economic and military balance with South Korea had continued to grow in the final two decades of the Cold War. Whereas per capita GDP for the two Koreas had been virtually identical up to the mid-1970s, they had diverged dramatically by 1990, when per capita GDP in the South, which had more than twice the population of the North, was already four times greater than that of North Korea.

Furthermore, the North had been unable to invest in replacing its military technology, so had to make do with antiquated tanks, air defense systems and aircraft from the 1950s and 1960s, while South Korea had continued to receive the latest technology from the United States. And after serious economic crisis gripped the North, a large proportion of its ground forces had to be diverted to economic production tasks, including harvesting, construction and mining. Those realities made it increasingly clear to military analysts that the Korean People's Army (KPA) no longer even had the capability to carry out an operation in South Korea for longer than a few weeks.

Finally, the Kim regime now found itself in the uncomfortable situation of being far more dependent on China for economic assistance than ever before. Faced with this powerful combination of threatening developments, DPRK founder Kim Il-Sung embarked immediately after the Cold War on a radically new security strategy: to use North Korea's incipient nuclear and missile programs to draw the United States into a broader agreement that would establish a normal diplomatic relationship. The first move in that long strategic game came in January 1992, when the ruling Korean Workers' Party Secretary Kim Young Sun revealed a startling new DPRK posture toward the United States in meetings with Under Secretary of State Arnold Kanter in New York. Sun told Kanter that Kim Il Sung wanted to establish cooperative relations with Washington and was prepared to accept a long-term U.S. military presence on the Korean Peninsula as a hedge against Chinese or Russian influence.

In 1994, the DPRK negotiated the agreed framework with the Clinton administration, committing to the dismantling of its plutonium reactor in return for much more proliferation-proof light water reactors and a U.S commitment to normalize political and economic relations with Pyongyang. But neither of those commitments was to be achieved immediately, and the U.S. news media and Congress were for the most part hostile to the central trade-off in the agreement. When the North Korea's social and economic situation deteriorated even more seriously in the second half of the 1990s after being hit by serious floods and famine, the CIA issued reports suggesting the imminent collapse of the regime. So Clinton administration officials believed there was no need to move toward normalization of relations.

After Kim Il Sung's death in mid-1994, however, his son Kim Jong Il pushed his father's strategy even more energetically. He carried out the DPRK's first long-range missile test in 1998 to jolt the Clinton administration into diplomatic action on a follow-up agreement to the agreed framework. But then he made a series of dramatic diplomatic moves, beginning with the negotiation of a moratorium on long-range missile tests with the U.S. in 1998 and continuing with the dispatch of a personal envoy, Marshall Jo Myong Rok, to Washington to meet Bill Clinton himself in October 2000.

Jo arrived with a commitment to give up the DPRK's ICBM program as well as its nuclear weapons as part of a large deal with the United States. At the White House meeting, Jo handed Clinton a letter from Kim inviting him to visit Pyongyang. Then he told Clinton, "If you come to Pyongyang, Kim Jong Il will guarantee that he will satisfy all your security concerns."

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Mourning Woman at My Lai Village, Viet Nam

(Image by (photo by Ann Wright)) Details DMCA



On March 16, 2018, the same day I was with a delegation from Veterans for Peace at the 50th annual ceremonies commemorating the deaths of 504 civilians who were murdered by U.S. Army soldiers in four hours on March 16, 1968 in the hamlet of My Lai, Vietnam and surrounding villages -- President Trump nominated Gina Haspel to be the new CIA Director.

Therefore, that day became a day of remembering murder and torture committed by members of the U.S. government 50 years ago -- and much more recently in 2002.

We know what the U.S. Army soldiers did 50 years ago. In what is now called the My Lai massacre, U.S. soldiers executed 182 women including 17 pregnant women and raped of many of them before they were killed. They murdered 173 children, 68 of whom were five years old or younger and they executed 89 middle aged persons and 60 persons over the age of 60, some of whom were burned alive, tortured, gang-raped, scalped and had their tongues cut out during the rampage of the U.S. Army soldiers.

And we now know that Gina Haspel, President Trump's nominee for CIA director was the CIA senior officer in charge of a secret CIA prison in Thailand in 2002 in which prisoners were tortured -- waterboarded (one person 82 times), kept in dog cages for weeks at a time, put into coffin boxes with things they were afraid of. To cover up her crimes, she ordered the destruction of the videotapes of the torture that happened in her prison.

Fifty years ago, the U.S. Army chain of command covered up the My Lai massacre and attempted to malign those who made the massacre public. Army veteran Ron Ridenhour described what had happened in letters to the Secretary of Defense, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and others. Helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson testified before Congress that he saw U.S. Army personnel killing Vietnamese civilians and landed his helicopter near the killing fields to end the rampage. He was told by the platoon leader 1LT Calley to butt out, but instead Thompson picked up civilians running from the carnage and flew them to safety.

After several years of investigation, out of 26 men initially charged, 1LT Calley was the only person court-martialed and found guilty -- of killing 22 villagers, and given a life sentence, but served only three and a half years under house arrest at Fort Bragg, NC and never spent one day in jail. President Nixon ultimately pardoned Calley.

Forty years later, in 2007, CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou revealed to the world that the CIA was waterboarding prisoners in secret and not so secret prisons in many parts of the world.

Kiriakou was imprisoned for almost two years for revealing that the CIA was torturing persons but none of those, including CIA director nominee Gina Haspel, who made torture a policy of the CIA or actually committed the acts of torture, including waterboarding, were ever charged with a crime.

The protection of those who commit heinous crimes in the name of the US government by the government in whose name the crimes are committed provide a dangerous precedent and lead to the conclusion by many in the military and CIA that they can "get away with murder."

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From Paul Craig Roberts Website

Have Washington and its British vassal set a stage for testing whether Russia has the stomach for war?

How else do we interpret the announcement by General Sergey Rudskoy, chief of the Operational Directorate of the Russian General Staff, that "we have reliable information at our disposal that US instructors have trained a number of militant groups in the vicinity of the town of At-Tanf, to stage provocations involving chemical warfare agents in southern Syria. They are preparing a series of chemical munitions explosions. This fact will be used to blame the government forces. The components to produce chemical munitions have been already delivered to the southern de-escalation zone under the guise of humanitarian convoys of a number of NGOs. The provocations will be used as a pretext by the United States and its allies to launch strikes on military and government infrastructure in Syria."

See also here and here.

Don't expect to hear anything about this in the totally discredited Western presstitute media, which is a propaganda ministry for war.

The Russian government must be kicking itself that it again failed to finish the job in Syria and instead permitted Washington to expand its Syrian presence, arm and train its mercenaries, provide chemical weapons, and assemble its fleet to attack Syrian forces in order to prevent their reconquest of Syrian territory.

The question before us is: If the information that General Rudskoy cited is correct, what will Russia do? Will Russia use its missile defences and air superiority to shoot down the US missiles and aircraft, or will Russia accept the attack and again denounce the illegality of Washington's action and protest to the UN?

If Russia accepts the attack, Washington will push harder. Sooner or later Russia will be unable to accept another push, and war will break out.

If war breaks out, will it be a limited conventional war or will Washington use the excuse to launch nuclear ICBMs against Russia? These questions must be going through the minds of Russia's leadership. Russia faces the grave danger that Washington's Fifth Column inside Russia, the Atlanticist Integrationists, those Russians in the political and business leadership who believe Russia must be, at all costs, integrated into the Western world, will lock the government in indecision and expose Russia to a nuclear first strike.

So far Russia has continued to defeat itself by playing according to the rules of diplomacy and international law despite the obvious fact that Washington has no respect for either. During the past week, Washington's British vassal, a country of no military or political significance, demonstrated total contempt for Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin. In other words, the insult to Russia came from a mere vassal state of Washington's empire. An alleged poisoning by an alleged Russian nerve gas, the very existence of which is doubted by US and UK experts, of an inconsequential former spy and his daughter has been blamed, without a shred of evidence, on Russia by the British prime minister, defense minister, and foreign minister.

The British prime minister violated law and agreements to which Britain is partner by giving Russia 24 hours to respond to an accusation for which no evidence was provided. Law and the agreements require that the country making an accusation share the evidence with the accused country, which has 10 days to assess the evidence and reply. The British government refused to abide by the agreement to which it is a partner. Moreover, the British foreign minister Boris Johnson personally accused Russia's President Putin of ordering the attempted murder of the inconsequential spy. For more information on the former spy and his lack of consequence and the absurdity of the orchestrated event, see recent postings on my website.

Not content with the unprecedented insult to Russia and its President, the British defense minister of a country that has no capability whatsoever of defending itself against Russia, even with its liege lord's help, said in response to Russia's rejection of the unsupported-by-any-evidence charge that "Russia should shut up and go away."

This was too much for the Russian Ministry of Defense. General Igor Konashenkov replied:

"The rhetoric of an uncouth shrew demonstrated by the Head of the British Ministry of Defense makes his utter intellectual impotence perfectly evident. All this confirms not only the nullity of all accusations towards Russia we have been hearing from London for the last several years but also that the 'accusers' themselves are nonentities. "The 'Great' Britain has long turned not only into a cozy nest for defectors from all over the world but also into a hub for all sorts of fake news-producing agencies: from the British 'Syrian Observatory for Human Rights' to the created by a British intelligence officer pseudo-Syrian 'White Helmets'. "As to boorish words of the British Defense Minister regarding Russia, it seems that in the absence of the real results of professional activity, rudeness is the only weapon remaining in the arsenal of the Her Majesty's Military."

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From Wallwritings



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The Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas, the Susan D. Morgan Distinguished Professor of Religion at Goucher College in Baltimore, posed a question in an article she wrote for Sojourners:

"What values were really at stake for the 81 percent of white evangelicals who voted for a presidential candidate {in 2016} who uses crass language and admits to engaging in coarse behavior, and whose campaign was marked by vitriolic hatred of various people, particularly people of color?"

Brown Douglas served as Professor of Theology at Goucher College from 2000 through 2018. She gave up this post this month and is now the first African American woman to become Dean at an Episcopal Divinity School (EDS).

The new dean is also the author of Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God (book cover above). Her book was written in the aftermath of the racial upheaval following the Sanford, Florida murder of teen-ager Trayvon Martin, on February 26, 2012.

Alice Woodson described the Brown Douglas book for Religious Studies Review as "a thoughtful and provocative analysis of the Trayvon Martin story and subsequent deaths of other unarmed African Americans at the hands of police brutality." Woodson writes:

"Douglas, a mother of a teenage son, 'highlights a mother's perspective' throughout the book while contrasting her pain with a sociohistorical analysis of what she has named America's stand-your-ground culture."

Brown Douglas does just that in her Sojourners essay, noting that the value proposition of the Trump campaign "was made clear in the campaign's 'Make America Great Again' vision. This mantra tapped into America's defining Anglo-Saxon myth and revitalized the culture of white supremacy constructed to protect it."

She continues:

"The Anglo-Saxon myth was introduced to this country when America's Pilgrim and Puritan forebears fled England, intent on carrying forth an Anglo-Saxon legacy they believed was compromised in English church and society with the Norman Conquest in 1066. "These early Americans believed themselves descendants of an ancient Anglo-Saxon people, 'free from the taint of intermarriages,' who uniquely possessed high moral values and an 'instinctive love for freedom.' Their beliefs reflected the thought of first-century Roman philosopher Tacitus (quoted above), who touted the unique superiority of an Anglo-Saxon people from the ancient woods of Germany. "In his treatise Germania, Tacitus describes these Germanic tribes as a people for whom 'good [moral] habits' were more effectual than 'good laws' and argues that they possess a peculiar respect for individual rights and freedom."

Brown Douglas notes that Germania has been called "one of the most dangerous books ever written." His words were used, she writes, "to undergird horrific movements, such as the Nazis' monstrous program for 'racial purity.'" She continues:

"Considering themselves descendants of these mythic Anglo-Saxon people, the Puritans and Pilgrims crossed the Atlantic with a vision to build a nation that was politically and culturally -- if not demographically -- true to their 'exceptional' Anglo-Saxon heritage. "They saw this as a divine vision. They traced their Anglo-Saxon heritage through the ancient woods of Germany back to the Bible. They considered themselves the 'new Israelites,' carrying forth a godly mission. Central to this mission was building not simply an Anglo-Saxon nation but a religious nation -- one that reflected the morals and virtues of God, which in their minds were synonymous with the unsullied ways of their freedom-loving Anglo-Saxon ancestors."

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Russian President Vladimir Putins Foreign Ministry on Saturday ordered that 23 diplomats from the British foreign service be expelled from Russia. They have one week to pack their bags and leave the country.

The aggressive move by Russia was not only a reaction to British Prime Minister Theresa Mays actions against Russia earlier in the week, it was also a serious escalation of the conflict which began with the poisoning of a former Russian double agent and his daughter on British soil.

The Russian Foreign Ministry also mandated the closing of the British Consulate General in St. Petersburg as well as the British Council in Russia. These actions were far beyond the more limited measures taken by May and the British government.

The British Council promotes and sponsors artistic, language and educational programs between the U.K. and Russia. It is considered a cultural and not a diplomatic organization, so the move was a surprise.

Russian Senator Igor Morozov, a longtime member of the Russian Service of External Intelligence, asserted in a statement that they were closing the British Council because spies operated under the roof of the organization.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that its actions came in response to the provocative actions of the British side and groundless accusations against Russia over the poisoning in the English town of Salisbury.

The British side is warned that in case of further unfriendly actions against Russia, the Russian side reserves the right to take further retaliatory measures, the ministry said.

The British Council responded by saying that it was profoundly disappointed by the decision to close it down. It is our view that when political or diplomatic relations become difficult, cultural relations and educational opportunities are vital to maintain on-going dialogue between people and institutions, the Council said in a formal statement. We remain committed to the development of long-term people-to-people links with Russia as we do in over 100 other countries.

Relations between the U.K. and Russia have been going downhill very quickly ever since the British government accused Russia of complicity in the March 4 nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, who remain critically ill in a hospital.

On Wednesday British Prime Minister May took action expelling 23 Russian diplomats from the U.K. She described these diplomats as undeclared intelligence officers. She also said that Russia was culpable for the poison attack in on British soil.

Russia has denied involvement in the incident all along, despite evidence to the contrary. Its retaliation against the U.K. came just one day before Russia holds a presidential election. President Vladimir Putin is heavily favored to win a second term.

The United Kingdoms ambassador to Russia, Laurie Bristow, was told Saturday morning of Putins decision. The British Embassy has been given a list of 23 specific individuals who are to be expelled.

Bristow said the conflict has been created because of the attempted murder of two people using a chemical weapon developed in Russia and not declared by Russia. He also expressed his opinion that the U.K. must defend itself when such attacks occur.

We have no dispute with the Russian people, he said. But we will always do what is necessary to defend ourselves, our allies, and our values against an attack of this sort, which is an attack not only on the United Kingdom, but upon the international rules-based system, on which all countries, all countries including Russia, depend for their safety and security.860 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard

The Associated Press has just reported that Jared Kushners real estate business in New York City was partially built on illegally kicking out tenants from rent-controlled buildings that he bought. He was able to get away with these illegal  but very profitable  actions by falsifying the reports he filed with the city.

According to the AP, The Kushner Companies routinely filed false paperwork with the city declaring it had zero rent-regulated tenants in dozens of buildings it owned across the city when, in fact, it had hundreds.

The APs analysis of the situation shows the Kushner Companies operating in ways that are at the very least extremely unethical. If the allegations are true then much of what Kushner did was also fraudulent and in violation of city law.

Its bare-faced greed, said Aaron Carr, founder of Housing Rights Initiative, a tenants rights group. The fact that the company was falsifying all these applications with the government shows a sordid attempt to avert accountability and get a rapid return on its investment.

As an example, in 2015 Kushner bought three apartment buildings in a neighborhood in Queens where property values were thought to be increasing rapidly. In these buildings most of the current tenants were protected by laws prohibiting Kushner from raising rents.

But raise the rents is exactly what Kushners company did, so that when the buildings were sold just two years later he was able to make a profit of $30 million on the sale.

A Kushner Companies spokesperson told the Associated Press that it has renovated thousands of apartments and developments with minimal complaints over the past 30 years.

But The Housing Rights Initiative said they have evidence of at least 80 false applications filed by the Kushner Companies for construction permits from 2013 to 2016. These falsified applications were signed by an employee of Kushner, and not Jared Kushner himself, according to the AP.Stormy Daniels (a/k/a Stephanie Clifford) has a very well-publicized and ongoing legal battle with multi-billionaire President of the United States Donald J. Trump.

To represent her, Daniels has hired one of the most high-profile (and expensive) lawyers in the United States, Michael Avenatti. She has been making money from her newfound fame as a Trump accuser, but that might not be enough to pay for all of her extensive legal bills.

To defray these legal bills she is using a method to raise money that has become very popular on the internet  crowdfunding. Just a few days ago Daniels set up a page at the CrowdJustice website which as of 9:00 a.m. EDT on Sunday had over $232,000 in it.

On her fundraising page Daniels wrote the following explanation for what she is doing: I am attempting to speak honestly and openly to the American people about my relationship with now President Donald Trump and the intimidation and tactics used against me.

With respect to how this money will be used, she says it will go toward attorneys fees; out-of-pocket costs associated with the lawsuit, arbitration, and my right to speak openly; security expenses; and damages that may be awarded against me if I speak out and ultimately lose to Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen. (Michael Cohen is the attorney representing Donald Trump in his legal dispute with Daniels.)

In an interview with the Houston Chronicle, Avenatti was quoted as saying We want a forum for her to tell her story to the American people, without a threat of being sued for millions of dollars.

In his Thursday late-night show TV host Jimmy Kimmel gave a boost to Daniels fundraising goals when he said that making a donation to her legal would would be act of patriotism.

I never thought giving money to a porn star would be considered an act of patriotism, but then again I never thought a guy who got into a Twitter war with Cher would become president, Kimmel said during his show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!

And remember, every dollar you donate potentially brings us one step closer to seeing photos that will haunt our dreams forever, he added.

Daniels is suing Trump and Cohen in her attempt to get a court to declare that a nondisclosure agreement she signed is invalid. The agreement prevents her from speaking in public about her affair with the president in 2006 and 2007. Trump and Cohen on Friday filed a claim against Daniels saying she had violated the agreement and asking for $20 million in damages.Charleston, SC (29403)

Today

Partly cloudy with afternoon showers or thunderstorms. High 83F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms during the evening will give way to partly cloudy skies after midnight. Low around 65F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.Do you want this man's job? Well, get in line.

U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-Spartanburg, speaks with CBS' Face the Nation Sunday Feb. 4, 2018.Why cant THESE people drive? asked a frustrated American worker taking me through rush-hour traffic in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, last week.

His question surprised me for two reasons. First, his driving wasnt much better. He was using his American truck to block intersections, cut people off and run red lights.That just how its done here, he explained.

But secondly, he sounded a tad racist to me. I know thats strange because hes committed to helping THESE people.

Nevertheless, when we use the demonstrative adjective these or those to describe people of different cultures or socioeconomic background, our inflection can suggest something about our heart.

Of course, I really cant criticize my friend, because Im plagued with the same grammatical problem.

I suffer from it every time I visit a particular relative who took a Russian bride a few years ago. Now shes taken his money. Honestly, shes so abrasive and dishonest that I find myself muttering like my friend did, You cant trust these people. Or, I cant eat THEIR food.

There is a sociological description for what were doing. Its called Racial Essentialism and it happens every time we categorize people of a certain race by their behaviors.

We like to tell ourselves that our grammar doesnt matter, so we dismiss the concept as the gobbledygook of political correctness. We say were not racists because we think racism is limited to the 1960s when African Americans were humiliated, persecuted and even murdered because of their skin color.

But the truth is that racism isnt limited to a time or geography. It happens every day we choose to see peoples behavior not as learned or purposeful behavior, but as biologically inherited behavior (i.e., the way they drive or manage money).

In so doing, my friend can dismiss an entire people by saying, THESE Hondurans arent even capable of learning to drive. I can justify my discrimination by claiming, THOSE Russians are all dishonest!

Sign up for our new opinion newsletter Get a weekly recap of South Carolina opinion and analysis from The Post and Courier in your inbox on Monday evenings. Email

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We all do it, but I can suggest one person who used the demonstrative adjective with a clean heart. He wasnt a racist or a grammarian. He was Jesus.

In Luke 18, Jesus told a parable of a man who positioned himself in the front of the temple to voice a prayer bursting with volume and piety.

As he prayed, he singled out a nearby tax collector, the most hideous of all the Roman collaborators.

He spoke in a stage voice, hissing for all to hear. Thank you, God, that I am not like thissss man.

He was so proud of his own social standing that he failed to hear the tax collectors prayer.

The Message translation describes the tax collector as someone slumped in the shadows, his face in his hands, not daring to look up.

He whispered a simple prayer: God, give me mercy. Forgive me, a sinner.

Jesus hammered the demonstrative adjective in his closing observation by saying, THIS tax man, not the other, went home made right with God.

Jesus then said something that squelches all our racist excuses to exclude people unlike ourselves.

If you walk around with your nose in the air, he promised, youre going to end up flat on your face, but if youre content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.

Next month, we return home to the U.S. where Ill be visiting the Russian relative. Please pray that Ill be able to follow Jesus advice and avoid falling on my face and breaking by uppity nose.Assistant Columbia bureau chief

Adcox returned to The Post and Courier in October 2017 after 12 years covering the Statehouse for The Associated Press. She previously covered education for The P&C. She has also worked for The AP in Albany, N.Y., and for The Herald in Rock Hill.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.The worlds largest floating hospital departed Guam Sunday, sailing with the combined medical force of seven national militaries to several host countries in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region to provide humanitarian assistance and natural disaster preparation.

United States Naval Ship (USNS) Mercy and the USNS Brunswick docked at Naval Base Guam on Saturday, gearing up for the 13th annual Pacific Partnership mission.

The Mercy, named for the virtue of compassion, is the third ship of her class, measuring nearly 900 feet long and displacing nearly 70,000 tons. The non-commissioned Naval ship, originally an oil tanker, primarily provides medical and surgical support to deployed military members.

As part of the Pacific Partnership, the largest annual humanitarian assistance and disaster relief preparedness mission, Mercy also lends its services to other nations in need of assistance.

The U.S. Navy and its allied partners, including militaries from Canada, Australia, France, Peru, Japan and the United Kingdom, grouped in Guam over the weekend, gathering more than 800 personnel for the mission.

For the United Kingdom, it really is a great honor to be part of this mission to develop cooperation between nations, said Capt. Peter Olive, an officer in the Royal Navy and commander of the USNS Brunswick during the Pacific Partnership.

Despite the distance between the Indo-Asia-Pacific region and his home country, Olive said national militaries are committed to protecting and preserving this part of the world, considering the regions history, culture, economy and commerce.

Its your neighborhood, and clearly youve got a stake in it, but for the partners who come from other parts of the world, the Pacific region is really important, Olive said.

Its really a region that is going to define the kind of world were going to be living in this century.

The national partners will stop in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Vietnam, Yap, Palau and Thailand to improve natural disaster relief preparedness, deepen community relations and provide humanitarian assistance.

We have engagements planned from veterinary, medical, surgical, optometry, dental  a really wide range - with our goal of actually building the capacity of these host nations, so that after we leave, theyre more capable of having a quicker and better response, said Capt. Peter Roberts, commanding officer of the USNS Mercy.

The national military members also benefit from each other during the compassionate mission. They learn service and sacrifice in giving back to the world, said Capt. David Bretz, commander of Destroyer Squadron 31, which includes USNS Mercy.Disclaimer: If you have any questions regarding information in this press release please contact the company added in the press release. Please do not contact pr-inside. We will not be able to assist you. PR-inside disclaims the content included in this release.The offshore law firm whose 11.5 million leaked files led to revelations in the Panama Papers global investigation, Mossack Fonseca, will shut down operations.

The law firm says it will shut down its remaining offices by the end of the month, PREMIUM TIMES gathered.

According to a statement obtained by the the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) earlier in the week, the firm said it has suffered reputational deterioration.

The reputational deterioration, the media campaign, the financial siege and the irregular actions of some Panamanian authorities have caused irreparable damage, whose obligatory consequence is the total cessation of operations to the public, it said in its statement.

The firm said it would continue to call for justice and would cooperate with authorities to demonstrate that no crime has been committed.

Earlier in November 2017, Mossack Fonseca in a statement sent to client which seems to have foreshadowed the firms shutdown, said it had to significantly reduce its staff due to changes to the laws and an adverse business environment.

The law firms collapse comes on the heels of revelations from the Panama Papers investigation published almost two years ago.

The global investigation revealed the offshore ties of some of the worlds most powerful people.

The firms leaked internal files contained information on more than 214,000 offshore entities tied to 12 current or former heads of state, 140 politicians and others. The Panama Papers revelation also brought down the prime ministers of Iceland and Pakistan.

More than 400 journalists from 80 countries have published hundreds of stories since the first wave of revelations on April 3, 2016.

PREMIUM TIMES was the only Nigerian newspaper involved in the global investigation.

In 2016, police and investigators raided Mossack Fonseca offices in Panama and El Salvador while authorities in Venezuela arrested a local employee. By the end of that year, at least nine Mossack Fonseca offices, including one in the United States, had closed.

For 40 years Mossack Fonseca has operated beyond reproach in our home country and other jurisdictions where we have operations, a statement by the firm said at the time.

Our firm has never been accused or charged in connection with criminal wrongdoing.

But in February 2017, when police in Panama arrested Mossack Fonsecas founders, Ramon Fonseca and Jurgen Mossack, on money laundering charges as part of investigations into Brazils largest-ever bribery scandal, the argument changed.

Both men were, however, released in April.

Founded in 1986, the Panama law firm grew into an offshore empire with more than 40 offices around the world, from the British Virgin Islands to New Zealand. In 2013, it employed more than 600 people and its billings exceeded $42 million.

Revelations from the investigations have helped governments in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas recover more than $500 million.

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Senator David Mark

Nigeria has however not announced any fund recovery even though many of its political and corporate elites were mentioned in the investigation. Some of the Nigerians mentioned in the Panama Papers include Senate President Bukola Saraki and his predecessor, David Mark.ADVERTISEMENT

The Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), said it has seized broadcast contrivance worth N36.1 million in Delta.

Augustine Amodu, the NCC Director of Enforcement, made the disclosure in Warri, while speaking with journalists.

Mr. Amodu said that two suspects were also apprehended by the enforcement team and were currently detained at the facilities of the National Drug Law and Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Warri.

He said the operation was carried out between March 13 and March 16, in Ughelli and Warri.

The director said the items seized included: several decoders, splitters, senders, boosters, adding that about two trucks load of wires were also destroyed in the operation.

We conducted anti-piracy exercise in Ughelli and Warri between March 13 and 16, and we made a seizure of broadcast contrivance worth N36.1 million.

Following the zeal of the NCC Director-General, Mr Afam Ezekude on the enforcement of the Nigeria Copyright Law, we got complaints from the Multichoice DSTV.

We raided three stations in Ughelli on the 13th and seized a lot of broadcast items, but no suspect was caught.

Between 14th and 16th, we raided more than seven stations in Warri, and seized contrivances and also apprehended two suspects who are currently detained at the NDLEA facilities, he said.

Mr. Amodu said that there was need to sustain the anti-piracy operations, particularly on broadcast items in the Niger Delta region because the perpetrators quickly come back to resuscitate them as soon as the enforcement team left.

Under the leadership of the DG, Mr Ezekude, the enforcement of the Copyright Law has come to its height, today NCC has recorded 58 convictions and over 150 cases in the Federal High Courts, he said.

The director of enforcement warned perpetrators who indulged in the illegalities to desist from it and sought for a better means of livelihood before the law catches up with them.

Mr. Amodu who said that piracy was a cankerworm that had eaten deeply into the fabric of the society, noted that it was a setback on the diversification policy of the federal government because it discourages legitimate creativity.

He advised the public not to patronise the perpetrators who he said do not pay tax to the government.

If you do, it will be unfortunate that you will begin to have problem with us.

(NAN)ADVERTISEMENT

Patrick Edet, the Nigerian priest, who a year ago announced on radio his resignation from the Catholic Church, has married a lady after his heart, Iyene.

The wedding took place on Saturday in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

Mr. Edet, from Akwa Ibom, had been a Catholic priest for more than 11 years before he left to start his ministry, the Grace Family.

The reason I am doing this is that I want to be right with God first. I want to go to heaven when I die, he had said of his resignation from the Catholic Church.

He had also said that being a Catholic priest did not give him enough space to serve God.

A box is already made for you and you cannot go outside that box.

You cannot know God beyond that box. You cannot express God beyond that box. And any attempt for you to go beyond that box brings you label, he said.

Patrick Edet, the Nigerian priest, who a year ago announced on radio his resignation from the Catholic Church, has married a lady after his heart, Iyene Patrick Edet, the Nigerian priest, who a year ago announced on radio his resignation from the Catholic Church, has married a lady after his heart, Iyene Patrick Edet, the Nigerian priest, who a year ago announced on radio his resignation from the Catholic Church, has married a lady after his heart, Iyene Patrick Edet, the Nigerian priest, who a year ago announced on radio his resignation from the Catholic Church, has married a lady after his heart, IyeneADVERTISEMENT

President Muhammadu Buhari has cancelled his trip to Kigali, Rwanda scheduled for Monday.

Mr. Buhari was expected to attend an Extraordinary Summit of the African Union (AU) on Tuesday, March 21, to sign the framework agreement for establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area.

The agreement is expected to allow free trade among all countries that sign.

While the Federal Executive Council (FEC) recently approved Nigerias participation and signing of the agreement, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) had strongly warned against the move. The countrys highest labour body said the decision may affect the nations manufacturing sector and lead to loss of jobs.

The MInistry of Foreign Affairs in a statement in Sunday signed by its spokesperson, Tope Elias-Fatile, said Mr. Buhari cancelled the trip in order to allow more time for input from Nigerian stakeholders.

Sources at the presidency said the the first advanced team of the president had already travelled to Kigali on Friday but had now been asked to return home.ADVERTISEMENT

The Nigerian Army said its troops killed four armed militiamen in Ningi Local Government Council of Bauchi State.

Texas Chukwu, the Director, Army Public Relations, via a statement issued on Sunday, said that nine militiamen were also arrested.

Mr. Chukwu said that troops of 33 Artillery Brigade of Operation Lafiya Dole, on patrol on March 17, were attacked by the militia group at Burra Junction in Ningi.

He stated that the militiamen fired at the troops on patrol.

Mr. Ckukwu added that the troops, thereafter, engaged the militias, killing four of them.

He explained that the troops also recovered five dane guns, 38 motorcycles and nine bicycles.

The army spokesman said that one soldier was wounded in the attack and referred to a medical facility for treatment.

Troops of 33 Artillery Brigade, in the ongoing operation Lafia Dole, on March 17 at about 12:30 p.m. encountered members of a militia group, massing up at Burra Junction in Ningi Local Government Area of Bauchi State.

The militiamen on sighting the troops, opened fire on them while the troops reacted immediately by engaging them.

At the end of the encounter, four militias were killed, troops recovered five dane guns; 38 motorcycles, nine bicycles and nine militiamen arrested.

One soldier, who sustained gunshot wounds is stable, having been evacuated to the hospital and receiving treatment, Mr. Chukwu, a brigadier general, said.

(NAN)ADVERTISEMENT

Nigerian refugees in Cameroon, said to number about 91,000, will return home this month, following a tripartite agreement reached for their voluntary repatriation, an official has said.

The National Commission For Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI) disclosed this on Sunday.

The agreement involving Nigeria, Cameroon and the UNHCR was reached to ensure the the return of Nigerian refugees from Cameroon in line with international best practice.

The tripartite agreement was drafted by Nigeria, Cameroon and the UNHCR along with other stakeholders in June 2016 and signed on March 2, 2017 in Yaounde for the voluntary repatriation.

While fielding questions from journalists in Yola on the preparedness of Nigeria for the returnees, Lawal Hamidu, the Director, Refugees and Migrants Affairs of the commission, said measures were being taken to ensure the safe, dignified return and sustainable reintegration of the 91,000 Nigerian refugees in Cameroon.

The Commission has since directed the Technical Working Group to conclude concrete operational modalities and support measures, including setting timetable and procedures to ensure the safe, dignified, voluntary return and sustainable reintegration of Nigerian refugees from Cameroon.

We are expecting them this month, 4,000 are indigines of Adamawa ,while Borno state has the largest numbers of 87,000, so we are expecting the return of 91,000 Nigerians from Cameroon, he said.

Mr. Hamidu said the affected states of Adamawa and Borno had been directed to develop a phased-approach for organised return of the refugees based on the security situation in the North-east.

Hence the need for various bilateral and multilateral development partners to raise the necessary funds to facilitate the repatriation and restoration programme, he stressed.The United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) has enrolled about 300 children who lost either or both parents in the ongoing Boko Haram insurgency in Borno State in a private school for orphans in Maiduguri.

The children were selected from thousands of orphans on a waiting list of admission into Future Prowess Islamic Foundation School, a privately-owned school in Maiduguri that has become famous for providing education for kids orphaned by the Boko Haram insurgency.

At a brief ceremony on Sunday in Maiduguri, parents and guardians of the selected orphans gathered to watch their little kids being inducted into the school that does not only provide formal western and Islamic education but also relieves them of the task of their feeding.

Boys and girls of between four and 10 years filed out to collect school uniforms, bags, shoes and writing materials presented by the Borno State Government, which was represented at the ceremony by the states commissioner of education, Inuwa Kubo, and the Head of the UNHCR, Quang Bui.

Zannah Mustapha, the proprietor of the school, said the assistance of the UNHCR will go a long way in relieving the school management of some of the burdens, saying the childrens education at the school was completely free.

He said with new intake, the school which he started in 2007 now has about 800 pupils. He said some of the orphans that he started with about 11 years ago are currently in tertiary institutions in Borno state.

UNHCRs head of Borno office, Mr Bui, said the support to the pupil was in line with the reviewed responsibility of his organization which now goes beyond protection services to providing assistance, including education support to IDPs and persons affected by the ongoing Boko Haram insurgency.

He said the UNHCR has a budget for this year to support the feeding of the orphans in the school.

The commissioner for education, Mr. Kubo, commended the UNHCR for always taking the lead in providing support for the government and people of Borno state. He also commended the founder of the school for helping the state government to provide education to its citizenry which he said is one of the key universal declarations under the sustainable development goal.

He said there are over 50,000 orphans currently under the care of the state government. He said the government was building four mega schools to cater for the orphans so that they would not be left stranded when the IDPs return home.

Mr. Kubo said the government was considering given one of the mega schools at the final stages of completion to Future Prowess so that the school can tackle its challenge of lack of enough space for its increasing pupil population.

Zara Modu, a 38 years old mother of seven, said she was pleased that the school was assisting her to educate two of her children. She said since she lost her husband three years ago after Boko Haram sacked their town, Bama, she found it difficult fending for them from her local cap knitting business.

This is a huge relief for me, she said.

Now two of my children are here and I dont have to pay anything for their education and even their feeding. We thank Barrister Zanna for making this possible.

Another indigent mother, Yagana Yusuf, 26 years old, said one of her daughters was among the lucky 300 children admitted into the school on Sunday.

When we fled Bama after Boko Haram had abducted and locked us up for two months, we came here with nothing except our lives, she said.

We could barely feed talk more of sending the children to school. But today my joy knows no bound that at least my little daughter has a chance to get the education which I so much craved but could not get due to the poor background of my parents. I thank the Borno state government and the UN people for the assistance.

Future Prowess Head of school, Suleiman Aliyu, said there are over 200 orphans on the waiting list for admission into the school, but they had to take only a few of them at a time due to lack of accommodation space.

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The Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, has ordered the police, the State Security Service, SSS, and other security agencies in the state to fish out herdsmen who allegedly killed three persons in the state.

A statement issued on Sunday by the governors media aide, Crusoe Osagie, stated that two adults and a minor were killed over the weekend by suspected herdsmen in Ugboha, Esan South East Local Government Area.

Mr. Obaseki, who described the herdsmen as bandits, said they contravened governments directive that cattle should not move at night in the state.

The governor gave the security agencies seven days to apprehend the killers, the statement said.

He condoled with the victims families and appealed to the people to remain calm as the killers would be arrested.

Edo, like several other states in Nigeria, has been battling fatal clashes between nomadic herdsmen and local farming communities over access and control of land for grazing.If you are currently a print subscriber but don't have an online account, select this option. You will need to use your 7 digit subscriber account number (with leading zeros) and your last name (in UPPERCASE).More than 100 countries at the level of top officials and curators of blockchain technologies from states, more than 3,000 participants, more than 300 speakers, 2 days

Media Contact

WBCSummit producing by IDACB

***@idacb.com WBCSummit producing by IDACB

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-- World Blockchain and Cryptocurrency summit (hereinafter:WBCSummit (http://wbcsummit.org/))will be held in May 19-20, 2018 in Moscow.For the first time the Summit was held in Moscow on January 27, 2018 and brought together representatives of more than 30 countries of Europe, North America, Middle East, Africa and Asia, responsible for blockchain regulation. In just 1.5 months more than 20 countries joined the Summit, and by May more than 100 are expected.Leaders, ministers and members of parliaments are expected to arrive, in particular, the Prime Minister of Malta, the first blockchain president of Sierra Leone, members of the parliaments of European countries.WBCSummit has the most scale international representation:sessions of the Summit are held all over the world: in Dubai, Tashkent, Shanghai, Kishinev, Yerevan and Malta. Negotiations are underway with representatives of 9 other States, which are ready to support the WBCSummit mission at the government level and provide resources for the session in their countries, including Finland, Nigeria, Malaysia, Germany.The largest International Decentralized Association on Cryptocurrency and Blockchain IDACB ( http://www.idacb.com/ ), which includes more than 50 states, is the organizer of WBCSummit.Within the Summit the Platform Day is planned, where all the major cryptocurrency platforms will gather for the first time.Business program consists of sectors, which cover all the issues associated with the use of cryptocurrency:Education, FINTECH, Logistics, Healthcare, Smart City, Cryptocurrencies, Cryptotrading, Legal subtleties, ICO projects and the security of Cryptocurrency.The main goal of the Summit participants formulate as follows: how to ensure the safety of investments in ICO through government regulation; what legislative initiatives for cryptocurrency transactions will be strategically right for all market participants. Also the issues of support of social projects proven to the development of digital technologies are considered as important.World ICO Show ( http://wico.wbcsummit.org/ ) will take place within the WBCSummit, where the pitches of the best ICO projects in key business areas will be arranged. The total loan of investment is more than 2$ BILLION.The main goal of both WBCSummit and IDACB is to combine the experience and expertise of cryptocurrency and blockchain specialists from around the world, in particular, official representatives of the state power. In this case, it is possible to develop standards of the sector at the international level and effectively development of blockchain technologies.The Organizing Committee of WBCSummit and IDACB invites journalists to be accredited to the event: media@idacb.com (mailto:pr@idacb.com)2017 was a very successful year for the office letting market which achieved the best result by far in 10 years. The market thrived in most cities over the year, especially in the 3 largest countries, where large occupational deals boosted the market. Thanks to Germanys good economic performance, the

[]Located in popular Bayswood Estate, close to schools, shops and other amenities, an Aldinga Beach four bedroom house has been sold by mortgagees for $260,000.

The South Australian home was sold by Deb Williams from LJ Hooker in early March.

It had last sold for $85,000 in 2007.

The 12 Aquamarine Avenue home (above) features three bedrooms, ensuite, dual living areas, double garage and fully fenced rear yard.

The suburb's median house price sits on $348,000 according to CoreLogic.

There have been several other Aldinga Beach mortgagee sales in recent months.

An Aldinga Beach three-bedroom house was sold by mortgagees for $220,000.

The SA home was also sold by Deb Williams from LJ Hooker.

It had last sold at $157,500 in 2008.

The Butterworth Road home came with three bedrooms and a wide 18.5-metre frontage.

Primary schools including Aldinga Beach R-7 School and Galilee Catholic School are a short car trip away.The gangland matriarch Roberta Williams' Essendon home is set to be seized and sold off by the taxman.

It follows a ruling in the Supreme Court of Victoria.

Roberta, the widow of slain drug lord Carl Williams, had been embroiled in a legal dispute with the Australian Taxation Office over the estate of her father-in-law George Williams.

He died in 2016 owing more than $576,000 in unpaid taxes.

On 20 November 2007 the Australian Taxation Office had issued to George Williams amended assessments of income tax for the years ended 30 June 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004, together with notices of assessment and liability to pay a penalty.

The legal fight centred on who should take control of the home after George left it to his under-age granddaughter, Dhakota, in his will.

The women in his life are at loggerheads about how to carve up what he owned, with allegations flying between daughter-in-law Roberta Williams and his de facto Kathleen Bourke, who told the court she is unable to sell the property as she does not have physical possession of it.

Both are executors of the estate.

Williams retains all keys.

Bourke advised she does not have the physical ability to remove Williams from the property.

The ATO had agreed in 2013 to become the mortgagee on the Essendon property rather than force the convicted drug trafficker to sell the home to cover the debt.

The deal gave George time and resources to wage a separate lawsuit against the state government for compensation over his son's murder in prison in 2010.

But after losing that case, George reneged on the ATO agreement and refused to pay the tax debt.

Roberta continued to refuse to sell the home after George's death, claiming no tax debt existed because it was supposed to be wiped away by a 2009 deal struck with Victoria Police in return for Carl providing information about a series of murders committed during the bloody Underbelly War (1999-2006). Carl was bashed to death inside Barwon prison in 2010. Victoria Police cancelled the deal to pay George's tax debt and Roberta argued, as a result, her father-in-law was unconscionably coerced into mortgaging his house to the ATO  an argument rejected by the Supreme Court on Friday. Associate Justice Mark Derham ruled Roberta had no claim to the house and the ATO be paid their costs from the sale of the home. Williams alleged that George Williams suffered from a special disability at the time he entered into the Settlement Agreement and Mortgage consisting of chronic heart-related conditions and severe depression, and that the plaintiffs were aware or ought to have been aware of the special disability. Justice Derham ruled as "hopeless" and "vague" the assertion George had a 'special disability' at the time he entered a settlement agreement with the ATO.The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) and the Internet & Television Association (NCTA) in the US have announced a four-year extension of the award-winning Voluntary Agreement for Ongoing Improvement to the Energy Efficiency of Set-Top Boxes, initially signed in 2012.

The extended agreement is expected to save consumers $1.6 billion in energy costs and avoid 9.3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions each year, once the benefits of the agreements new commitments are fully realised. Thats the equivalent of avoiding the electricity use of every home in Chicago or the emissions of more than two million passenger cars each year.[The US Department of Energy] supports the commitment from industry to improve energy efficiency, and looks forward to the renewal of this voluntary agreement with our private sector partners, said Secretary of Energy Rick Perry. Reducing federal regulatory burdens is a priority for myself and this Administration, and voluntary industry standards such as this are an effective alternative to government regulation.An independent report by D+R International shows that the voluntary agreement has already saved consumers $2.1 billion and avoided 11.8 million metric tons of CO2 emissions over its first four years through 2016. Annual savings are expected to top $1 billion in 2017 alone due to the completed implementation of a second tier of tightened energy efficiency commitments.The new agreement includes a commitment to achieve even more rigorous third-tier energy performance levels by 2020 (nearly 20% more efficient than the second tier) that will ultimately save consumers an additional $600 million annually on top of the more than $1 billion in annual savings secured by the continuation of the existing programme. These savings will be verified by D+R in further annual reports using data from the service providers, audits and independent lab tests observed by accredited third parties.The extension of the agreement runs through a report in 2022. The signatories also agreed to continue and intensify ongoing technical studies and collaborative efforts to lay a foundation for even more rigorous energy efficiency levels in the future. These new commitments carry forward the agreements initial successes that led it to be named Project of the Year by Environmental Leader in 2016.The Voluntary Agreement is already moving toward its third generation of improved energy standards and has saved consumers billions of dollars without slowing the rollout of new services such as 4K Ultra High-Definition set-top boxes, said Neal Goldberg, NCTA general counsel. The extension of the Voluntary Agreement demonstrates our industrys commitment to approaches that assure our customers benefit from energy efficiency measures while maintaining our ability to develop new services and equipment which they demand.CTA believes that voluntary, market-driven initiatives are the most effective means of promoting and achieving significant energy efficiency gains, added Doug Johnson, vice-president of technology policy, CTA. The set-top box agreement is a successful public-private partnership that accommodates both rapid technological change and significant energy efficiency goals. Across the board, tech devices are becoming more energy efficient, and our industry remains committed to providing consumers with products, services and systems that save money and cut energy use.The new voluntary agreement will keep pace with evolving consumer TV viewing habits by requiring new reporting on the availability and use of apps that offer consumers an alternative to using set-top boxes for every screen. According to a recent CTA study, The Changing Landscape for Video and Content, consumers watch video content on devices such as laptops, tablets and smartphones (49%) as much as on televisions (51%). These new video-watching trends are expected to help deliver more energy savings.A new CTA report finds that while the number of tech devices in our homes is increasing, their share of our total energy use is steadily shrinking. Today, US households consumer tech devices consume 25% less energy than they did in 2010. Investments in lightweight materials and energy efficient technologies, as well as the convergence of multi-function devices and continuous innovation, have helped the industry reduce its impact on the environment.Agreement signatories include all major multichannel US pay TV providers (AT&T/DIRECTV, Comcast, Charter, DISH, Verizon, Cox, Cablevision, Frontier and CenturyLink), major manufacturers (ARRIS and Technicolor) and energy-efficiency advocates (NRDC and ACEEE). CableLabs also plays a leading role in researching and developing energy efficiency strategies, defining the energy efficiency tiers and supporting the ongoing implementation of the Voluntary Agreement.Republicans' efforts to tether Pennsylvania Democrat Conor Lamb to party leader Nancy Pelosi were unsuccessful in this week's special election, but they aren't abandoning the strategy.

Instead, in an election season where their own leadership is unpopular -- and an energizing force for Democrats -- Republicans see Pelosi as a critical counterweight in not only motivating their own base voters but in winning back independents who have been lost in the Trump era.

"Nancy Pelosi will not disappear in any way, shape or form; she will continue to be a central part of our messaging in 2018," said Jesse Hunt, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee. "Independent voters have as much disdain for Pelosi as Republican voters do."

Indeed, these persuadable voters are a critical constituency for the GOP this cycle. In the Pennsylvania contest, and in off-year elections such as the Virginia governor's race, Republicans met their target turnout numbers for party members, countering notions that the GOP base is depressed. But they were outperformed by increased Democratic turnout and crossover votes.

Given those data points, Republicans should be "less concerned about Republicans not showing up and more concerned about losing college-educated suburban voters by 20 points," said one House GOP strategist.

The dynamic only figures to persist, particularly as the Trump White House appears to be in a perpetual state of chaos, complicating the party's case for governing. The past week was marked by major staff shake-ups and the threat of more to come. Trump fired his secretary of state on Tuesday and has his national security adviser on the ropes, all against the backdrop of his controversial agreement to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jung Un.

The story of adult film star Stormy Daniels continues to linger. The special counsel's probe is broadening, with Robert Mueller subpoenaing records from the Trump Organization. And Rick Saccones loss to Lamb marked yet another failure by a candidate actively endorsed by Trump.

"The biggest reason Democrats are so fired up is they see Trump as temperamentally unfit for office, and a majority of independents feel the same way," said David Wasserman, House editor for The Cook Political Report. "If Republicans have any shot at keeping the House, they are not only going to need to personalize and localize the races, but they're also really going to need to scorch the earth and make the Democrat unacceptable."

Part of making the latter happen, particularly to persuadable voters, is using Pelosi as an albatross for opponents, Republicans say. In Pennsylvania, Lamb was able to define himself independently of the liberal congresswomen early in the race, even running ads saying he would not support her as leader in 2019. Though Democrats say Lamb's success shows GOP efforts to use Pelosi in this way will fail, Republicans counter that his distancing efforts proved their point. Other candidates, they say, will have to navigate primaries that wont allow them to follow suit.

For many voters, Pelosi encapsulates everything that is wrong with Democrats, and why their agenda is too liberal for the country," said the House GOP strategist. "While they may personally dislike Trump, they don't dislike the GOP agenda."

For her part, Pelosi dismissed the notion. "We won. We won the race. The 'D' next to [Lambs] name was very significant in those blue parts," she told reporters this week. This is part of the bankruptcy of the Republican Party. They cant win on the issues so they go after a person.

This explanation, however, ignores an overarching dynamic of the midterms. With Democrats making the elections a referendum on Trump, Republicans are looking to respond in kind.

Veteran GOP operatives are using the threat of Speaker Pelosi 2.0 as a way to get Republican voters to seriously consider the lessons of the Pennsylvania special election. But they are also making clear the ways in which Trump makes his own party vulnerable.

"Learning from this defeat is the key to preventing Speaker Pelosis return in 2019," said Karl Rove in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. The president, he wrote, "riles up the opposition more than he energizes his side. ... Team Trump should deploy the president to raise money and win primaries for electable candidates. But he should avoid rallies in the campaigns closing months. Mr. Trump drowns out a candidates message and makes the news all about whatever wild line he slings into the ether."

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who helped his party win back the majority in 1994, echoed similar sentiments. "It is time for Republicans nationwide to wake up to the very real threat of a Democratic-controlled House of Representatives led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, he wrote in an editorial for Fox News. "President Trump must take some serious responsibility for the recent election results. If he continues to alienate people (especially women), no amount of policy effort will offset the decline in Republican enthusiasm and voting."With the first day of spring on March 20, its the perfect time to go back over the albums released in the winter season. Whether youre lookiThe second annual Women in STEM Leadership Summit will be held in Atlanta at the Four Seasons Hotel on March 19 and 20. The event will featureContributed photo

Dallas, a 2-year-old Bulldog mix, can live in any size home, including apartments. He would love to live with kids of any age, pending an interaction. Dallas has not had much experience with cats or dogs, but he is willing to consider sharing his home with a furry friend. This boy is calm, but he has moments of energy and need to get some exercise every day. Dallas is a great dog with lots of potential. He needs a family with general dog experience. He does have some special needs but he still has lots of life to live and love to give. Ask the adoption counselor in Newington to explain. Inquiries for adoption should be made at the Connecticut Humane Society located at 701 Russell Road in Newington or call toll free: 1-800-452-0114. The Connecticut Humane Society is a private organization with adoption centers in Newington, Waterford and Westport. The Connecticut Humane Society is not affiliated with any other animal welfare organizations on the national, regional or local level.British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has accused Russia of stockpiling a nerve agent believed to have been used in an attack on a Russian double agent and his daughter in Britain.

Johnson's comments on March 18 came one day ahead of planned visit to Britain by international chemical weapons experts who will probe the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, who were left critically ill on March 4 from a nerve toxin in the southern English city of Salisbury.

Britain has said the toxin used was one of a series of nerve agents that were developed in the late Soviet era and are known by the collective name Novichok. British officials have said Russia was behind Skripal's poisoning, an allegation Moscow rejects.

"We actually have evidence within the last 10 years that Russia has not only been investigating the delivery of nerve agents for the purposes of assassination, but has also been creating and stockpiling Novichok," Johnson told the BBC on March 18.

The Russian ambassador to the European Union, Vladimir Chizhov, told the BBC a day earlier that Russia halted "production of any chemical agents back in 1992" and that a British research facility could have been the source of the toxin used in the poisoning of Skripal.

The poisoning prompted Britain to announce the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats, with Moscow saying it would reciprocate by expelling the same number of British diplomats.

Johnson told reporters on March 18 that the trail of responsibility for the poisoning leads "leads inexorably to the Kremlin."

The British Foreign Office said in a March 18 statement that investigators from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons would arrive in Britain the following day to begin their probe into the substance used in the poisoning.

Skripal is a former Russian military intelligence officer who betrayed numerous Russian agents to Britain. He and his daughter continue to fight for their lives after they were discovered collapsed on a bench in Salisbury on March 4.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, and AFPU.S. Vice President Mike Pence told Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi that his country should work more closely with the United States and do more to defeat the Taliban and other militants, the White House said.

"Vice President Pence reiterated President [Donald] Trump's request that the government of Pakistan must do more to address the continued presence of the Taliban, Haqqani Network, and other terrorist groups operating in their country," the White House said on March 17, referring to the talks conducted the night before.

"Pakistan could and should work closer with the United States," Pence said, according to the statement.

The statement did not indicate the exact time, site, or nature of the talks, but U.S. and Pakistani news media quoting official sources as saying a meeting took place at the vice presidents official residence in Washington.

The sources said Abbasi was on a private visit to the United States and that the meeting was arranged at the request of the Pakistani prime minister.

Earlier on March 16, a senior U.S. official told reporters that Pakistan is doing the "bare minimum" needed to address U.S. demands that it stop the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network from operating within its borders.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, was updating reporters with his assessment of Pakistan's efforts to counter the militants since Trump announced last year he would withhold $2 billion a year in military aid unless Islamabad takes more vigorous action.

"The Pakistanis have wanted to appear responsive," but "they have done the bare minimum to appear responsive to our requests," the official said.

"We continue to make very specific requests, and when provided with very specific information, they have responded," he said. "But we have not seen them proactively take the steps that we expect and know they are capable of."

The United States in particular is demanding that Pakistan move against Taliban leaders who support a continuation of the war in Afghanistan and oppose participating in peace talks with Kabul, the official said.

But the country's powerful security services still seems to be supporting the Afghan Taliban, the official said, most likely because it sees the Taliban as aligned with Islamabad's interest in keeping India from influencing Afghanistan.

"We are continuing to look for real action, not just words, from Pakistan on the Taliban and Haqqani sanctuaries," the official said.

"We need to sustain the pressure," he said, adding that the administration is willing to "give it more time, it deserves more time."

Pakistani media reported that Abbasi arrived in Washington on March 14 for a medical procedure and that he met with U.S. lawmakers during his visit.

With reporting by AFP, Reuters, Geo News, and Dunya NewsRussian President Vladimir Putin has said that he has no plans to change the country's constitution for the time being, and suggested he would not seek the presidency again in 2030.

Putin spoke to reporters late on March 18, as election results indicated that he easily won a new six-year term as president.

An existing limit of two straight presidential terms means that Putin would not be eligible to run again in 2024 without changing the constitution, but could do so in 2030.

The restrictions have sparked speculation that Putin, 65, could push through a change in the constitution in order to stay in the presidency after 2024 or alter the structure of Russia's government in order to retain power in a different position.

"I am not planning any constitutional reforms for now," Putin said.

Asked whether he might run in 2030, Putin said: "Listen, it seems to me that what you're saying is a little bit funny."

"Let's count. What, am I going to sit here until I'm 100 years old? No," Putin said.

With reporting by InterfaxTheir meeting took place in Sydney on March 16 (local time) within Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phucs trip to Australia to attend the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit.



For his part, Minister Anh highly values potential of the Australian market, especially New South Wales, as well as prospects and opportunities for stronger collaboration in economy, trade and investment between Vietnam and the state.

The two ministers introduced a number of leading businesses which want to seek business opportunities in their respective countries such as the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam), the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), the Vietnam National Coal-Mineral Industries Holding Corporation Limited (Vinacomin), the Vietnam National Shipping Lines, Sovico Holdings and VietJet Aviation JSC to the Vietnamese side, and Sunrise Group to the New South Wales side.

Stressing the states cooperation potential in the field of coal, Anh suggested the Australian side introduce Vinacomin to coal suppliers in New South Wales, and urged Minister Blair to lead a delegation of New South Wales businesses to visit Vietnam.

He proposed Australia use services of Vinalines to transport coal from Australia to Vietnam.

The minister called on Australia to soon approve the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) to make the deal come into force at an early date, bringing many new opportunities for cooperation in economy and trade between the two countries.

Minister Blair agreed with his Vietnamese counterparts proposals, and pledged to inform them to relevant Australian agencies in order to intensify cooperation activities between the two sides.

At the working session, the ministers also discussed cooperation opportunities in the sphere of aviation, including collaboration between VietJet Air and airports and airlines in New Castle and Brisbane cities.

VietnamnewsRussian President Vladimir Putin rejected British allegations that Moscow was behind the recent nerve-agent poisoning of a Russian ex-spy in England.

Addressing reporters on March 18 as he was headed for a landslide reelection held earlier in the day, Putin said Russia "has no such" weapon of the kind that Britain says was used in the attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the southern English city of Salisbury earlier this month.

The remarks were Putin's first on the poisoning, which has triggered a diplomatic dispute between Russia and Britain.

British officials say they have determined the toxin used was one of a series of nerve agents that were developed in the late Soviet era and are known by the collective name Novichok.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson earlier in the day told reporters that the trail of responsibility for the poisoning leads "leads inexorably to the Kremlin."

Putin told reporters that if Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, had been targeted with a military-grade nerve agent, they would have died on the spot.

The two continue to fight for their lives after they were discovered collapsed on a bench in Salisbury on March 4.

"It's complete drivel, rubbish, nonsense that somebody in Russia would allow themselves to do such a thing ahead of elections and the World Cup," Putin said, adding that "we have destroyed all chemical weapons."

Johnson told the BBC earlier on March 18 that Britain has evidence within the last 10 years that Russia has not only been investigating the delivery of nerve agents for the purposes of assassination, but has also been creating and stockpiling Novichok."



His comments came one day ahead of planned visit to Britain by investigators from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to begin their probe into the substance used in the poisoning.

The Russian ambassador to the European Union, Vladimir Chizhov, told the BBC on March 17 that Russia halted "production of any chemical agents back in 1992" and that a British research facility could have been the source of the toxin used in the poisoning of Skripal.

The poisoning prompted Britain to announce the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats, with Moscow saying it would reciprocate by expelling the same number of British diplomats.

Skripal is a former Russian military intelligence officer who betrayed numerous Russian agents to Britain.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, and AFPSo, Vladimir Putin just had another Leonid Brezhnev moment.

Last year, the current Kremlin leader surpassed the longtime Soviet ruler in longevity in power. And now, after winning a fourth term with well over 70 percent of the vote, Putin has just matched Brezhnev in the number of times he was "elected."

During Putin's rule, Russian elections may not have become quite as choreographed as those stage-managed Soviet Communist Party congresses of old.

But they have become as predictable.

The 26th Party Congress in February 1981, Brezhnev's fourth as Soviet leader and last before his death, unanimously "elected" the exact same leadership as the 25th Party Congress did five years before.

And just like those party congresses of old, Russian elections have turned into largely empty legitimization rituals in which everybody appears to be just going through the motions.

Back in 1981, Soviet television broadcast only 10 minutes of Brezhnev's nearly five-hour keynote speech -- with an announcer reading out excerpts from the studio.

Likewise, Putin's fourth campaign for president has been notable largely for his lack of campaigning.

And as the results came in showing the expected landslide victory, he made only two brief appearances: one on Manezh Square near the Kremlin to lead a crowd in chants of "Russia! Russia!" and one at his campaign headquarters.

The Russian emigre economist Sergei Aleksashenko called the March 18 vote "a standard Soviet-Russian election of the Putin era."

And Princeton University historian Stephen Kotkin called Putin's reelection preordained" and "a superfluous, if vivid, additional signal of Russias debilitating stagnation.

As rituals like Soviet party congresses and elections in Putin's Russia get tired and stale, the authorities need to conjure up new ways to make them appear fresh and exciting.

Amid food shortages and declining living standards, Soviet authorities actually named a diamond -- the largest ever discovered in the country and among the largest in the world -- after the 26th Communist Party Congress.

And in the face of voter disinterest, Putin and the Kremlin elite sought to inject excitement into this year's campaign by moving the date to coincide with the anniversary of the Russian annexation of Crimea and by allowing socialite and television personality Ksenia Sobchak to run for president.

And earlier this month, some of the most popular musicians joined up to produce the propaganda song Guiding Star to mobilize Russians to vote for Putin.

The comparisons only go so far.

2018, of course, is not 1981; today's Russia is not the Soviet Union; and Putin is not Brezhnev. Choreographing a party congress is a different task than stage-managing an imitation of an election across 11 time zones.

But like the 26th Party Congress, Russia's March 18 election needs to be examined as a ritual that offers signs and signals as to where the regime is headed.

In 1981, the Soviet regime appeared strong and the adulation for Brezhnev was effusive.

Geidar Aliyev, the Communist Party leader in Soviet Azerbaijan, managed to mention Brezhnev by name no less than 13 times in a 15-minute speech.

But the fact that Soviet television only broadcast a small portion of Brezhnev's speech was a harbinger.

Throughout the congress, the Soviet leader was listless and impassive. The New York Times reported at the time that he neither smiled nor acknowledged "in any way the kudos heaped on him."

He was clearly too ill to appear live on camera before the Soviet people for an extended period of time.

Less than two years later he would be dead -- and the Soviet Union would enter its long death throes.

At 65 years old, Putin is nearly a decade younger than Brezhnev was in 1981 and he is by most accounts healthy. He even joked about living to 100 in remarks to supporters.

But there were other signs that, like the Soviet system that Brezhnev ruled, the Putin system is also decaying.

The Kremlin's stated goal was to achieve a "70/70" result in the election -- a 70 percent turnout and a 70 percent vote for Putin.

According to exit polls and early returns, they got the latter and then some.

But according to the Kremlin-connected VTsIOM polling agency, turnout was below 65 percent.

If that figure holds, it would suggests that the regime's ability to mobilize the public is slipping.

Moreover, throughout the day there were reports of people being pressured to go to the polls and videos persistently appeared on social media showing flagrant ballot-stuffing.

Speaking on Aleksei Navalny's YouTube channel, journalist and Kremlin-watcher Arkady Ostrovsky, author of the book Inventing Russia, said that almost nobody now believes in the legitimacy of Russian elections.

But the biggest sign that the Kremlin's legitimization ritual was less than a smashing success came shortly before polls closed, when two opposition figures, Sobchak and Navalny, held an impromptu debate on Navalny's YouTube channel.

The two had been sniping throughout the campaign, with Navalny, who was not allowed on the ballot, calling for a boycott; and Sobchak, who was and who won approximately 2 percent of the vote, trying to get voters to the polls.

Navalny accused Sobchak of doing the Kremlin's work by legitimizing the election. Sobchak accused Navalny of dividing the opposition.

A presenter on Dozhd-TV described their heated exchange as "the most interesting thing that happened all day."

Ostrovsky later said it foreshadowed what is likely to become "the main debate" in Russian politics: whether change will come from the opposition working within the system or by attacking it from the outside.

So like the 26th Communist Party Congress, on the surface the Kremlin's legitimization ritual looks like a success.

But just like back in 1981, there is trouble looming beneath the facade.

The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect the views of RFE/RL.Russian nationals came to the Russian Embassy in the capital, Baku, to cast ballots in Russia's presidential election. Both Russian expatriates and tourists were among the voters. Voting was also possible in three other cities in Azerbaijan. (RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service)Members of Ukrainian nationalist groups gathered near Russia's embassy and consulate in Kyiv on March 18, having previously pledged to prevent Russians from voting in the presidential election on Ukrainian territory. Ukrainian authorities, meanwhile, announced that only Russian diplomats in Ukraine would be allowed to cast ballots at Russian diplomatic missions. (RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service)KYIV -- Supporters of opposition politician Mikheil Saakashvili demonstrated in Kyiv on March 18 to demand the resignation of President Petro Poroshenko.

Hundreds of people gathered in the Ukrainian capital in Independence Square -- Maidan Nezalezhnosti -- the epicenter of the Euromaidan protests that drove a Moscow-friendly president from power four years ago.

Activists dismantled parts of an exhibit dedicated to Russia's illegal seizure of Crimea, which protesters claim authorities recently erected in order to block their antigovernment rallies.

Security was tightened, with several buses with police parked nearby.

No incidents between police and protesters were reported, though the Ukrainian Interior Ministry said that two people had been detained in connection with the dismantling of the installation.

"In order not to escalate the situation, the police did not interfere, but recorded the actions of those who did it," the ministry's press service said in a statement posted on Facebook.

Later on March 18, several dozen protesters picketed outside Poroshenko's residence in the village of Kozin, near Kyiv. Activists said that some of the protesters were blocked by law enforcement officers.

The demonstration came weeks after police in Kyiv dismantled a protest camp set up by Saakashvili's backers near the national parliament building.

More than 100 protesters were detained and 20 wounded in that police raid on March 3.

The tent camp was set up last year by supporters of Saakashvili, a former Georgian president who later became governor of Ukraine's Odesa region.

Saakashvili later resigned from the Odesa governor's post and went into opposition against Poroshenko. He was deported from Ukraine to Poland in February.

The camp was an offshoot of a broader opposition movement that holds regular peaceful protests in Kyiv to demand the resignation of Poroshenko over stalled reforms.

With reporting by UNIANA senior U.S. senator says he believes President Donald Trump will pull out of the Iran nuclear deal in May.

The comments by Bob Corker (Republican-Tennessee), the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in a television interview broadcast March 18 came less than two months before Trump must decide whether to extend U.S. sanctions relief to Tehran under the landmark deal.

"The Iran deal will be another issue that's coming up in May, and right now it doesn't feel like it's going to be extended," Corker told the U.S. network CBS. "I think the president likely will move away from it, unless my, our European counterparts really come together on a framework."

Asked whether he believes Trump will pull out of the deal when the May 12 deadline for a White House decision on extending the accord comes, Corker said: "I do. I do."

The 2015 deal -- signed by Iran with the United States, Britain, France, Germany, China, and Russia -- put limits on Iran's nuclear program in return for the easing of economic sanctions against the country.

Reports by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have consistently shown Iran adhering to the deal in the two years since it took effect.

Trump has threatened to withdraw the United States from the accord unless European allies and the U.S. Congress agree by May 12 to fix what he called its "disastrous flaws" and impose tough new restrictions aimed at curbing Iran's ballistic-missile development and its involvement in regional conflicts.

With reporting by CBS News, Reuters, AP, and AFPU.S. President Donald Trump hailed the firing of the FBI's deputy director, but Democrats and other critics attacked it as a politically motivated, vindictive move, as partisan rancor hightened over the controversial decision.

Trump on March 17 used a Twitter posting to call the dismissal of Andrew McCabe a great day for democracy and that the FBIs No. 2 official knew "all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI!"

The presidents remarks came hours after Attorney General Jeff Sessions late on March 16 fired McCabe, who had been criticized by Trump for showing "bias" in the investigation of ties between his campaign and Russia.

Sessions said the firing was based on the recommendation of the FBI's inspector-general and Office of Professional Responsibility.

Sessions said investigators in the FBI offices "concluded that Mr. McCabe made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor -- including under oath -- on multiple occasions.

McCabe denied any wrongdoing and said his credibility had been attacked as "part of a larger effort not just to slander me personally" but also the FBI and law enforcement.

McCabe, who had served with the FBI for 21 years, was about 26 hours from his planned retirement from the bureau on his 50th birthday, meaning the dismissal likely cost him his full pension, worth an estimated $1.8 million.

Former CIA Director John Brennan, who has often publicly criticized Trump, responded on Twitter to the presidents remarks: "When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history. You may scapegoat Andy McCabe, but you will not destroy America...America will triumph over you."

Senator Kamala Harris (Democrat-California), who is on the Senate Judiciary and Intelligence committees, said Sessions should testify before Congress to determine whether the firing was made in retaliation against those investigating Russian election interference and Moscow's alleged ties to Trump's campaign.

The firing came nine months after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey over Comey's handling of the Russia investigation -- a move that alarmed Congress and led to the creation of a special counsel and the appointment of Robert Mueller to conduct the investigation.

McCabe's firing is likely to raise questions about whether McCabe received overly harsh treatment due to political pressure from Trump, who has blasted him on Twitter and called for his ouster.



John Dowd, Trump's personal lawyer, cited the "brilliant and courageous example" by Sessions and said Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein should "bring an end" to the Russia investigation "manufactured" by Comey.

Dowd first said he was speaking for Trump as his lawyer, but he later issued a statement to media outlets saying he was speaking only for himself and not for the president.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, and dpaKYIV -- Russian voters in Ukraine were blocked from casting their ballots in Russia's presidential election on March 18, as Ukrainian authorities stepped up security outside diplomatic facilitates and nationalists staged anti-Moscow protests.

Two days prior to the election, in which President Vladimir Putin was heading for a landslide win, Ukrainian authorities announced that only Russian diplomats in Ukraine would be allowed to cast ballots at Russian diplomatic missions.

The move came in retaliation for Russia's annexation of Crimea, which on March 18 voted in a presidential election for the first time since it was taken over in 2014.

Ukrainian police on March 18 guarded the Russian Embassy in Kyiv and consular offices in Odesa, Lviv, and Kharkiv, while nationalist groups protested the election at Russian diplomatic compounds.

Members of Ukrainian national groups gathered on a street near the Russian Embassy in Kyiv, having previously pledged to prevent Russians from voting in the election on Ukrainian territory.

In Kharkiv, Russian nationals came to their consulate in the eastern Ukrainian city but said they were not able to vote. Right-wing activists at the scene brought a mock coffin with an effigy of Putin inside.

One Russian voter in Kharkiv told RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service that he wanted to cast his ballot in the election but was unable to. He said he planned to travel to the Russian city of Belgorod, 80 kilometers away, to vote.

Russia accused Ukraine of violating international norms.

"It is an open interference into the purely domestic affairs of the Russian Federation, which can entail escalation of tension in the already strained bilateral relations," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement quoted by TASS on March 18.

Ukraine's National Police said that there were no major disruptions of public order in the country on March 18.

Millions of ethnic Russians live in Ukraine, but it is unclear how many are registered to vote in Russia.

Ukraine is protesting voting in Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula seized by Russia exactly four years ago in a referendum largely rejected by the international community as illegitimate. That came just a month after Moscow sent in troops without insignia to secure military bases and other key sites on the peninsula.

Kyiv is also angry with Russias support for separatists in eastern Ukraine, where more than 10,300 people have been killed in fighting since April 2014.

Russia's Central Election Commission says that 72,000 Russian citizens have registered with the Russian consulate in Ukraine, Gazeta.ru reported.

France has voiced opposition to the Russian presidential voting in Crimea.

"Challenging borders by force is contrary to international law, including commitments made by the Russian Federation," the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement on March 18.

"Four years after the illegal annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and [the city of] Sevastopol, France remains firmly attached to the full restoration of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity within internationally recognized borders," the French statement said.

With reporting by TASS, AP, AFP, and Gazeta.ruCancun spring break weather forecast clear skies, hot days

Cancun, Q.R.  For the beginning of Cancun spring break, weather forecasters are calling for mostly clear skies and hot days with a UV Index of extreme.

Civil Protection reports stable air along the Gulf of Mexico and into the eastern portion of the country along the Yucatan Peninsula that is bringing hot daytime temperatures of around 30 C (86 F) for the entire Cancun to Riviera Maya region.

Partly cloudy skies are expected with light winds of 10 to 20 km/h throughout the area. Luis Antonio Morales Ocana from the National Meteorological Service reports the weather forecast for the coastal region for the remainder of the long weekend is partially cloudy skies with a zero chance of rain an a UV Index of (11) Extreme.

Average for the region are winds at 19 kilometers per hour with maximum temperatures of 31 C (88 F) during the day and 23 C (73 F) during the night.

Cancun weather details for Sunday, March 18

Mostly clear sky. Maximum of 31 C. Winds from SSE from 15 to 25 km / h.

Night: Mostly clear skies. Low of 23 C. Winds of SSE from 10 to 15 km / h.

Playa del Carmen, Riviera Maya weather details:

Mostly clear sky. Maximum of 30 C. Winds of SSE from 15 to 25 km / h.

Night: Mostly clear skies. Low of 23 C. Winds of SSE from 10 to 15 km / h.

Local meteorologists have already warned area residents about the likeliness of an extremely hot summer with daytime temperatures of 37 C (99 F) that feel like 47 C (117 F) with humidity.

Their 2018 summer weather predictions coincide with American forecasting that also says the region is likely to experience extremely warm temperatures that will result in a hurricane season similar to that of last year.The National Electoral Institute calls on Mexicans living in the US to vote

The National Electoral Institute (INE) is calling on all Mexicans living in the United States to vote in the upcoming July 1 elections.

The call comes midst the International Day of Call for Voting from Abroad from March 16 to 18. INM notes that the American cities of Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles are among those with the largest number of Mexican nationals living in the United States.

Organizations in these cities have arranged activities to bring forward information about the upcoming Mexican elections and reiterate the importance of their vote from abroad. Mexicans living in American cities are also instructed on how they can place their vote from within the US.

In a statement, INE says there have been different events including academic meetings in an effort to promote citizen interest and participation in the upcoming elections in Mexico.

They also noted that as of March, there were more than 629,000 credential cards sent to the consulates offices and over 490,000 of them picked up by Mexicans living abroad.The signing ceremony took place in the presence of ASEAN leaders and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

The MoU is considered a historic breakthrough contributing to strengthening the two sides collaboration in ensuring regional security.

Via signed framework agreements, ASEAN and Australia agreed to enhance counter-terrorism co-operation in terrorist financing and violent extremism.

Australia committed to maintaining annual dialogues between its government, security and law enforcement agencies with ASEAN to seek practical measures to safeguard regional security.

The document features various initiatives and framework agreements covering engineering, anti-terrorism law building, regional dialogues and seminars on electronic evidence, financial intelligence and ways to tackle online radicalisation.

Hi-tech terror threat warned

Also yesterday, Australian Home Affair Minister Peter Dutton named use of encrypted messaging apps to plot terrorist attacks the greatest threat faced by intelligence agencies in modern times in his remarks at the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit that is underway in Sydney.

The use of the dark web by extremists and other criminals was increasing, Dutton noted, adding that they were using encrypted messaging apps to avoid detection by police and intelligence agencies.

He stressed that the only way to tackle the threat and the increasing use of the Internet by terrorist groups like Islamic State to radicalise and recruit new members was to do this together.

It would be a mistake to approach the problem from a national perspective as terrorism and violent extremism transcend national borders, the minister said. Countering the threat required a united and cohesive regional effort involving co-ordination between national security and law enforcement agencies, he added.

Australia has been helping Southeast Asian states deal with terrorist financing and counter violent extremism.

The two sides signed a memorandum of understanding at the summit, with an agreement to pool cyber intelligence and police resources across the region for the first time.

The ASEAN-Australia Special Summit, the first of its kind, opened in Sydney on Friday, in the presence of Turnbull and leaders of ten ASEAN nations including Vietnamese PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

ASEAN and Australia set up relations in 1974. Australia was the first nation establishing official dialogue partnership with ASEAN in all three fields of politics, economics and specialised co-operation.  VNSDisclaimer  The manufacturer (TVS Motor Company) has blacklisted Rushlane from its events/rides as a consequence of decisions based on restrictive practices. The review is a firsthand experience report from the ride/study notes of Rushlane contributor/source.

History

RTR160  The first RTR that was ever made. How did this come into existence one may ask, its fairly simple. TVS Racing took 1st gen Apache 150 and reworked on the engine, chassis, brakes and everything you can think of. What did we gain? The fastest, sportiest and sharpest motorcycle in the 150-160 cc segment. With 15.2 bhp power it was still the most powerful motorcycle in its segment until the Bajaj Pulsar NS 160 came out last year in 2017.

But guess what? It had been 10 years or more since it actually got any mechanical updates. Hats off to the engineers who designed this machine which could keep up with the competition for 10 long years, yet still it sells 25,000 units a month on an avg! Isnt that amazing? During these 10 years though, the competition did mechanically get a lot of updates. Say for example the FZ got a V2 with Fuel Injection, the Gixxer got Fuel Injection with ABS and a lot more.

Present

TVS needed to revive its Apache 160 brand to be the segment leader once again and unsurprisingly we all did know they would bring the 160 4V after the 200 4V, just that we did not know when? Comes March 2018 and TVS decides to unveil the all new RTR 160 4V. Everyone was excited as this was one of the sportiest motorcycles, and the new one obviously had to be better to keep the name up high on top. So did it? Keep reading.

Looks

Based on the Draken Concept, TVS lanched the Apache 200. And now based on the same design language, Apache 160 is launched. Compared to the Apache 200, the 160 is a little more subtle and commuter friendly. For example, 160 has a big flat seat, that is really appreciated in this segment. The front resembles the RTR 200 4V, it is only from the side that you start to realize that this is not the Apache 200.

The rear subframe is lower, however TVS claims this chassis is 27% more rigid than any of the competitors. The lower subframe means lower seat height for the pillion and what a blessing that is! The lights are the same, the cluster as well. The seat and the rear panel are changed on the 160 4v as compared to the 200 4V.

Overall, the bike looks grown up, muscular and edgy. The fat rear tyre, unlike the Pulsar NS160 gives it a macho look. That definitely gives it a big bike feel and a more upmarket look.

Engine

The RTR 160 4V has the same bore and stroke (62mm X 52.9mm) as the older RTR 160. However this time the head is a 4V unit and the compression ratio has been bumped upto 10.15:1 now. The air and fuel is fed either with the help of carburetor or a new Bosch sources Fuel injection system. The power has substantially gone up to 16.8 PS for the FI and 16.5 PS for the carb variant, however the torque remains identical on both  14.8 Nm.

Now one may think the FI unit should be quicker here, right? But thats not the case. The carb variant is actually faster to 60kmph and even to the 100kmph mark. The power delivery on the carb variant is punchy, while on the FI variant it is very linear. The refinement though is better on the FI variant. The engine also gets an oil cooler this time, which circulates and cools the engine oil. Obviously the cooler the engine runs, the better it performs. TVS claims they got all of these experiences from their racing division.

Speaking about engine refinement  The least refined engine in the segment becomes the most refined engine in the segment now. There is a slight buzz at 9500 RPM but that irons out when the engine revvs beyond that all the way until the 11500 RPM where the limiter finally comes in. The engine is the most powerful in the segment.

Braking and Handling

The RTR has the same setup of brakes carried over from the last generation 160. Same 270mm roto petal disc at the front and 200mm roto petal disc at the rear. The bite is good and so is the feedback, but then it wouldnt hurt TVS to update this setup to a bigger front disc. It does the job, so thats absolutely fine. Mind you, theres no ABS on offer even as an option.The rear disc is the same unit used on the RTR160 Dual Disc variant and theres nothing new here. It just works, nothing fancy here either.

Coming to the handling department, the RTR160 4V is the new segment benchmark. With the new single piece handlebar which is a nice departure from the low set clip on to the Showa made and tuned 33mm forks and monoshock. The handle is lower than that of the RTR200 4V and gives the bike more leverage in corners as well.

The new Showa tuned suspension is just phenomenal. The balance that it strikes is something all manufacturers should learn. The bike tips in the corner and remains really planted now, thanks to the 130 section tyres and the monoshock. The wheelbase also increased by 57mm which now stands at 1357mm. The foorpegs are set high, so they dont scrape either.

Exhaust Note

Tech Specs

Engine SI, 4 stroke, Oil cooled Capacity 159.7cc Cylinder arrangement Single, Vertical Power FI 16.8 PS @ 8000 rpm Power Carb 16.5 PS @8000 rpm Torque FI / CARB 14.8 Nm @ 6500 rpm FI Unit Bosch- Closed loop Carb Unit UCAL/ Keihin VE CT6[A] Power to Weight Ratio 0.0843 kW/kg Cooling system Oil cooler with Ram air assist Muffler Twin pipe and twin barrel design Transmission 5 Speed Front Suspension Telescopic Forks Rear Suspension Monoshock Top Speed FI 114 kmph Top Speed Carb 113 kmph 0-60 kmph FI 4.8 sec 0-60 kmph Carb 4.73 sec 0-100 kmph FI 16.6 sec 0-100 kmph Carb 15.9 sec Frame Double cradle Split Synchro STIFF Headlamp FI AHO 12V, 60/55W H4 bulb Headlamp Carb AHO 12V, 35/35W HS1 bulb Taillamp LED  1W/ 2.5 W Front Tyre 90/90-17 49P Tubeless Rear Tyre FI 130/70-17 M/C 62P Tubeless Rear Tyre Carb Drum 110/80-17 57P Tubeless Rear Tyre Carb Disc 130/70-17 M/C 62P Tubeless Front Brake 270 mm Petal Disc Rear Brake Drum (130 mm)/ Disc (200 mm Petal) L x W x H FI 2035 X 790 X 1050 mm L x W x H Carb 2050 X 790 X 1050 mm Saddle Height 800 mm Wheelbase 1357 mm Ground Clearance 180 mm Kerb Wt 147 kg Fuel Tank 12 liters

Verdict

The new Apache 160 is an evolution rather than a revolution. The motorcycle lives upto its name and also overcomes its short comings of the previous generation motorcycle. The motorcycle is refined, easy to ride and mostly amazing to look at. We think these are the ingredients which make or break a motorcycle in this segment and this has definitely ticked the right boxes.

Priced at Rs 81,490 for the base Carb with rear drum brake, Rs 84,500 for the Carb with front rear disc brake and Rs 89,990 for the FI variant with front and rear disc brake, we think it is better than some rivals, but not the best in the segment yet.

You can get detailed images in hi-res (wallpaper quality) in the below links

Link 1  https://we.tl/XqfgBAg518

Link 2  https://wetransfer.com/downloads/b14ca18ba48891d7c83b8c98d280cb7520180317063945/128628cdd51858e5e7af7b10fc021b1c20180317063945/f53adc

Link 3  https://wetransfer.com/downloads/a87ceb7ae1201bcabc4e90c154720bbf20180317065746/43448c5ce381a0c289dc043c864591fa20180317065746/17a42b

Apart from that here is the link to the Google Drive (which is still updating)  https://drive.google.com/open?id=1PgTuObO0DHkVPueJrO2KNcSSO9BGL26d

[wp-review id=266436]Thieves are always trying new ways in order to distract you and steal from you. Here is a new method they have devised, from which Meenal had a lucky escape.

Meenal says  The things that can happen to you in broad daylight in the national capital. A close encounter with the chemical spray biker gang. The drivers quick thinking saved the day for us.

Heres what happened. While on our way to Gurgaon, somewhere a little ahead of Saket, two guys on a bike ahead of us gestured to the driver that oil was leaking from our car. The driver started coughing a little and got out to see the black oily spray on the front grill.

Since he had heard about this before he asked me to quickly get out of the car with my bag etc and then he took the key out and left all doors open. By now I was coughing too. The car had acidic fumes. I called the police, though I didnt know who to report against.

What this gang does is that they spray this black oily chemical on the grill so that the fumes get in and the driver is forced to stop and get out. In the ensuing confusion they make away with any valuables in the car and sometimes even the car itself if the key is inside. The police knew all about it and told me to be careful.

Other Incidents caught on Camera

Delhis infamous Thak Thak gang has been also caught doing similar activities. The number of phones this gang has been stealing from people stuck in traffic, is increasing exponentially.

The latest attack of Thak Thak gang has been caught on camera by Siddhartha Mishra?. The incident took place earlier this week at Pandav Nagar / Samaspur Jagir in Delhi. As per Mr Mishra, this is what happened 

I am uploading a video from my car dashboard camera recorder (dashcam) showing one person in a blue shirt crossing the road and stealing a mobile phone from a passenger in a cab. This happened at Pandav Nagar / Samaspur Jagir crossing on NH24 on 15 03 2018 at around 9.37 PM. Not only are these persons stealing but also a danger to innocent drivers who might hit these people and suffer for no fault of theirs.

Watch the video below.

I am uploading a video from my car dashboard camera recorder (dashcam) showing one person in a blue shirt crossing the road and stealing a mobile phone from a passenger in a cab. This happened at Pandav Nagar / Samaspur Jagir crossing on NH24 on 15 03 2018 at around 9.37 PM. Not only are these persons stealing but also a danger to innocent drivers who might hit these people and suffer for no fault of theirs. Posted by Siddhartha Mishra on Thursday, 15 March 2018

This is not the first time the infamous Thak Thak gang has been caught on camera. Mr Awini Ambuj Shanker was driving his Porsche and this happened. He shares his story 

On the morning of August 2nd 2017 I was stuck in slow moving traffic just outside AIIMS, and the person in blue crossed my car pretending to look into his phone, but actually he was looking into cars for possible victims.

I unfortunately became one because my phone was lying on the passenger seat rather than somewhere more secure. As I started moving along with the traffic I heard a thud from the rear of the car, I thought i had accidentally hit someone, suddenly the same fellow in blue came up to my window and pretended that I had hit him with my car, as I rolled my window down to enquire what had happened, I did not see the second fellow in grey approach from the right side of the car.

He then hit the drivers side window, which made me look away for a few seconds, which was all that the first chap needed to steal my phone without me noticing it. Since I have a dash cam in my car, the act was caught on video. These videos were given to the police within hours along with my FIR# 0252 at P.S.Hauz Khas, but unfortunately they have had no luck in apprehending these criminals.

Please share and forward to your friends and others so that more people dont fall victim to the likes of these villains. Watch the video below.

This is not the first time members of the Thak Thak gang have been caught on camera. A few days ago, a Delhi businessman was robbed of INR 3.5 lakhs by the Thak-Thak Gang in north Delhis Manju Ka Tila. Pradeep Singh, a resident of Vijay Colony in Burari was returning home with a bag containing the money kept in his Duster SUV.

He had parked on the side of the road to make an urgent call when two men knocked on his car window asking if they should clean his bonnet as oil had spilled on it. Even as Singh ignored the duo, they followed him and stopped him while they attacked him with a pepper spray. While Singh got out of the vehicle in search of water, the duo fled with the bag containing the cash.

The Thak-Thak gang operates around Delhi NCR area and is noted for a similar modus operandi. Delhites have been warned of such robberies and have been told to be wary of their ways of getting drivers to lower their car windows with stories of spilled oil and offers to wipe windshields.

Earlier last month, the Thak-Thak gang also decamped with INR 2 lakhs from a Moradabad based builder near Thakurdwara flyover. The victim, Sunil Arora was in his Range Rover when he was followed by two men on a bike. They stopped him and made off with the bag containing the money.

Another Delhi couple was also a victim to the gang. Ravinder Khari and his doctor wife Renu were on their way to Nainital in their Innova when they were robbed of INR 2 lakhs in cash and jewelry at the Mohan Nagar crossing. They were made to get down from their vehicle with a warning that Mobil oil was leaking from their radiator. As soon as he stepped out of the car to inspect the same, the bag was stolen.

Below is a video shot by an alert citizen, showing the audacity of these thieves. Not scared of stealing from a car during peak hours, in the middle of the road.Official warns against using Yemen as intl conflict field [17/March/2018] br>

SANAA, March 17 (Saba)  An official at Foreign Ministry warned that known international powers are trying to use Yemen as a field for proxy wars to create an international conflict, which is not in interest of the country or the Arab peninsula and Gulf states.



In a statement to Saba, the official said the statement of US Defence Secretary, Jim Mattis, on Thursday comes within this framework.



The official explained that the US military leadership tries to put its problems with Iran in a beforehand designed international framework accuses the Islamic Republic of Iran of using Yemeni territories, waters and borders a theater for testing its ballistic missiles and marine mines as well as financing and stirring up the war tacking place in the Yemeni territories since three years.



He pointed out that the aggressive war on Yemen started with an air attack launched by the coalition powers on March 26, 2015, across Yemeni territories under a weak pretext of reinstating a false legitimacy.



Commenting on Mattis remarks that Iran is testing its weapons in Yemen, the official reminded the US official that before he joined the Trump administration Pentagon and British Defense Ministry had begun testing their international-paned and mass destruction arms in Yemen since the first hours of the aggression, one of which was a massive destruction bomb dropped on Attan area of the capital Sanaa on April 20, 2015.



He said the remarks of Mttis were flagrant and come before the visit of Saudi crown prince, the leader of aggression on Yemen, to pave the way for further arms contracts and after a series of inciting statements by the US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, along with a show for what she alleged remnants of an Iranian missile fired towards Riyadh, in addition to the statement of US central forces commander few days before.



The official confirmed that those statements disagree with what the US administration publicly adopts that the solution in Yemen should not be military and that the peaceful path and negotiations is the right way to bring peace and stability to Yemen.



The official called for the US administration to stop adding fuel to the fire in the Arab Peninsula and Gulf through the statements of its political and military officials, which called for violence and war.



It is better for them to translate their remarks on peace to a reality and to send missions from US Congress and neutral human rights organizations to investigate humanitarian conditions and violations in Yemen, said the official.



He reiterated that the Supreme Political Council and the National Salvation Government will continue to push forward toward the political settlement options and sustained peace through negotiations gathering all concerned parties without preconditions.



The official called on the international community, parliamentary institutions and non-government organizations, including American, to pressure the countries feeding the conflict in Yemen to stop supplying arms and escalating the fight, to end their finance to extremist and terrorist groups, to pursue calming approach and to support peace efforts and settlement so as to maintain security and stability of Yemen, its people and the peoples of the region.



BA



SabaPASCAGOULA, Miss. -- The family of a man who committed suicide filed a lawsuit against Singing River Health System and Emergency Room Group, Ltd., claiming both the health system and group are liable for the wrongful death of Randy Vermilyea.

Vermilyea's initial suicide attempt was unsuccessful as Jackson County deputies spent 90 minutes imploring him to step down from the ledge on the Pascagoula River Bridge on Oct. 12, 2014.

Once he did, Vermilyea was transferred to Singing River Hospital by ambulance to the emergency room. After only spending only two hours in the hospital, he was discharged barefooted and called his daughter to pick him up.

According to his daughter, Julia, the hospital did not inform her of her father's suicide attempt earlier in the day. Just minutes after his discharge, Vermilyea jumped from the high-rise bridge in Moss Point and fell to his death in the Escatawpa River.

Now, Vermilyea's wife and daughter are suing the health system, Emergency Room Group Ltd., and doctors Jennifer Thomas-Taylor, Benjamin W. Hudson, and nurse Alva Britt. Julia claims has suffered emotional distraught after watching her father commit suicide.

SRHS asked in Circuit Court that the case be dismissed on the grounds of the Vermilyeas' failure to state a claim.

Because the lawsuit alleged negligence instead of claiming the doctors and nurse's committed an intentional act that proximately caused Randy to have an "irresistible impulse", doctors argued her case should be dismissed according to law.

Circuit Court Judge Robert Krebs issued the ruling stating the family could sue for medical negligence. SRHS appealed the decision to the Mississippi Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court upheld Krebs ruling, stating if the allegations were true, SRHS and staff "negligently failed to perform an adequate suicide risk assessment and then negligently discharged Randy Vermilyea from the hospital on his own, without shoes, and without notifying any of his relatives of his suicide attempt."

According to the dissenting opinion, SRHS failed to adequately protect Randy from himself.

"Here, suicide was the very thing that his hospitalization was supposed to prevent. The hospital and its staff, by undertaking treatment of the acutely suicidal Randy Vermilyea, assumed a duty of care toward him and it was foreseeable that a breach of that duty could result in his swift death from suicide. Negligently discharging a suicidal patient and leaving him to his own devices is not materially different from failing to provide a safe environment inside the facility."

The Supreme Court recurred the case to Krebs for trial, where the Vermilyeas would have to prove medical negligence.A man caught unaware by a wave while fishing alone off the Sonoma County coast was washed out to sea, leading to his rescue by a Coast Guard helicopter on Saturday morning.

A person described as a good Samaritan contacted authorities at 8:20 a.m. to report that the man had been carried about 500 feet offshore and appeared to be having difficulty swimming, according to a Coast Guard news release. The incident occurred near Salt Point State Park, near the town of Jenner.San Francisco celebrated all things green  shamrocks, hats and kilts, but not the green thats smoked  with its 167th annual St. Patricks Day parade Saturday, drawing thousands of spectators to Market Street.

Under skies that threatened to rain, but didnt, the sun peeked out just enough to cast a brilliant sheen on balloons, pipers, marching bands and contingents of politicians and public safety officials in the largest such parade west of the Mississippi. Its 128 floats boasted more than 5,000 participants, including Grand Marshal Bill Welch, who knows where the Irish communitys secrets are buried, as owner of Duggan Welch Mortuary on 17th Street.

But Saturday, of course, was about the living, and revelers were exuberant.

We are an immigrant story, as a community here in San Francisco, and were here to celebrate our heritage, said Mayor Mark Farrell, at the parades starting point at Second and Market Streets. John Geary was our first mayor; Sam Brannan printed the first newspaper in San Francisco, Michael OShaughnessy, who built the dam that created the Hetch Hetchy water system  weve had amazing leaders in our city with Irish backgrounds. We celebrate them but we celebrate our Irish community thats here today and the incredible efforts theyre making today. As a mayor with Irish roots, theres nothing better.

The parade kicked off at 11:30 a.m., led by the Irish Pipers of San Francisco, the reedy wails of their bagpipes reverberating off the concrete towers of the Financial District. They were followed by the United Irish Society, a squad of 36 carrying flags representing the 32 counties of Ireland and its four provinces.

Other parade marchers and entrants included San Francisco Sheriff Vicki Hennessy; San Francisco Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White; Robert ODriscoll, the Irish consul general, and his wife, Caoimhe McEnhill; members of the San Francisco Police Department, with green carnations in the lapels of their uniforms; Carpenters Local 22; the Irish Immigration Pastoral Center, with one of the liveliest floats featuring 60s rock music; and a contingent of fourth- through eighth-graders enrolled in the Owl Music program playing the theme from the Pink Panther films.

The Henry Mancini score may not have had anything to do with St. Patricks Day, but it didnt matter to saxophone player Marcus Villareal, 9, who was just happy to be in the parade. Its the best song I know, he said.

As the parade wended along Market Street to Civic Center plaza, a few of the several thousand viewers found ready-made seats by perching themselves atop Ford GoBikes locked into stationary slots at the curb.

But Tom Gowin, a California Highway Patrol officer who drove in with his family from Riverbank, near Modesto, to watch the parade and celebrate his Irish heritage, settled into a portable chair hed brought. He recognized Farrell, the new mayor, walking the parade in a low-key green sweater, not from TV, but because he spoke at the Mass we attended at St. Patricks before the parade.

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 celebration included a festival at the parades endpoint at Civic Center Plaza, with music from Time Hill and Autumn Rhodes, the Jerry Hannan Band, Culanns Hounds and the Irish Newsboys (comprised of several Chronicle staffers, among others), and local arts and crafts purveyors and nonprofits from the Irish community.

Even though she had no Irish roots, Janet Koga came from Orange County to watch the parade with her husband and family. Two of their children were performing in the Beckman High School marching band, which traveled up from Irvine.

Were mixed my husband is Japanese, Im Korean, and the kids are half, she said. I think the world is growing closer. I think its great that we all mix and get along like this.March 18, 2018

Eric Dorsey, a 62-year-old engineer in Palo Alto, was watching TV Tuesday night when he started getting texts that Stephen Hawking had died. He turned on the news and saw clips of the famed physicist speaking in his iconic android voice  the voice that Dorsey had spent so much time as a young man helping to create, and then, much later, to save from destruction.

Dorsey and Hawking had first met nearly 30 years earlier to the day. In March 1988, Hawking was visiting UC Berkeley during a three-week lecture tour.

At 46, Hawking was already famous for his discoveries about quantum physics and black holes, but not as famous as he was about to be. His best-seller, A Brief History of Time, was a week away from release, and Californians were curious about this British professor from the University of Cambridge, packing the seats of his public talks, approaching him at meals. Hawking motored into buildings and onto stages in a wheelchair with a seat of maroon sheepskin, zooming around with the nudge of a joystick, grinning as he left journalists and his nurses in the dust.

When he spoke, it was in the voice of a robot, a voice that emerged from a gray box fixed to the back of his chair. The voice synthesizer, a commercial product known as the CallText 5010, was a novelty then, not yet a part of his identity; hed begun using it just three years before, after the motor neuron disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis stole his ability to speak. Hawking selected bits of text on a video screen by moving his cheek, and the CallText turned the text into speech. At the start of one lecture, Hawking joked about it: The only problem, he said, to big laughs, is that it gives me an American accent.

Dorsey was with Hawking for part of that trip, tagging along as a sort of authority on the voice, explaining its workings to journalists. He worked at the Mountain View company that manufactured the CallText 5010, a hardware board with two computer chips running custom software.

An upbeat 32-year-old, Dorsey was quiet by nature, but driven. He had joined Speech Plus as an intern, attracted by its mission to help the voiceless and the disabled; now he led a team of engineers, and at least 20,000 lines of his own code were in the CallText, the product that gave voice to the most celebrated scientist of his era.

We are getting close to answering the age-old questions, Hawking said at the close of a lecture. Why are we here? Where did we come from? Thank you for listening to me.

In an image provided by Nasa, Stephen Hawking gives a talk during Nasas 50th anniversary celebrations at George Washington University, April 21, 2008. Hawking, the physicist and best-selling author whose work exploring gravity and the properties of black holes made him an emblem of human determination and curiosity, died at home in Cambridge, England on March 14, 2018. He was 76. (Paul. E. Alers/Nasa via The New York Times) -- FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY -- less In an image provided by Nasa, Stephen Hawking gives a talk during Nasas 50th anniversary celebrations at George Washington University, April 21, 2008. Hawking, the physicist and best-selling author whose work ... more Photo: PAUL E. ALERS, NYT Photo: PAUL E. ALERS, NYT Image 1 of / 8 Caption Close Exclusive: The Silicon Valley quest to preserve Stephen Hawkings voice 1 / 8 Back to Gallery

At the end of his California tour, the physicist gave Dorsey a signed copy of his new book, his thumbprint pressed onto the inside cover.

Hawking returned to Cambridge, Dorsey to his life in California.

Twenty-six years went by before they would cross paths again.

In tech years, that is a millennium. The Internet happened. Silicon Valley boomed, busted, boomed again. Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google, Uber.

Dorsey, meanwhile, left Speech Plus, which went bankrupt and was sold to a series of other companies. He got married and had kids. He joined a Buddhist temple. He eventually left the field of speech technology altogether, becoming an engineering leader at DVR maker TiVo.

Tech, hed learned, moves so fast. Theres a new iPhone every year, Dorsey says. Everything just kind of gets buried in the dustbin of history very, very quickly.

Thats why, when an email from Cambridge University arrived out of the blue in 2014, Dorsey was surprised. It came from Hawkings technical assistant, Jonathan Wood, who was responsible for Hawkings communications systems.

Wood explained something so improbable that Dorsey had trouble understanding at first: Hawking was still using the CallText 5010 speech synthesizer, a version last upgraded in 1986. In nearly 30 years, he had never switched to newer technology. Hawking liked the voice just the way it was, and had stubbornly refused other options. But now the hardware was showing wear and tear. If it failed entirely, his distinctive voice would be lost to the ages.

The solution, Wood believed, was to replicate the decaying hardware in new software, to somehow transplant a 30-year-old voice synthesizer into a modern laptop  without changing the sound of the voice. For years, he and several colleagues in Cambridge had been exploring different approaches. What did Dorsey think?

Thirty years old? He thought. Oh, my God.

It wouldnt be easy. They might have to locate the old source code. They might have to find the original chips and the manuals for those chips. They couldnt buy them anymore, the companies dont exist. Solving the problem might mean mounting an archaeological dig through an antiquated era of technology.

But it was for Stephen Hawking.

Lets get it done, Dorsey said.

The poet Longfellow once wrote that the human voice is the organ of the soul. More than any other part of us, our voice expresses who we are, and the smallest fluctuations swing meaning in ways that are hard for computers to understand. You speak a sentence, and the intonation rises or falls depending on whther youre making a statement or asking a question. You do it without thinking, but a computer has to make a guess.

Todays synthesized voices, like Apples Siri, rely on prerecorded libraries of natural sound. Voice actors record huge libraries of words and syllables, and software chops them up and reassembles them into sentences on the fly. But 30 years ago, computers could only produce a stick-figure version of a human voice, says Patti Price, a speech recognition specialist and linguist in Palo Alto.

Back then, she worked as a postdoc in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology lab of Dennis Klatt, a tall, thin, opera-loving scientist originally from Wisconsin. Klatt is the godfather of Hawkings voice. He blasted his own throat with X-rays to measure the shape of his voice box as he articulated certain sounds, and then developed a software model of speech, the Klatt Model, based on his own voice.

Speech Plus took Klatts model, improved on it, and commercialized it in various products, including the CallText 5010. One of Dorseys contributions was to write an algorithm that controlled the intonation of the voice, the rise and fall of words and sentences. Speech Plus would sell thousands of CallText systems, though many customers complained that the voice sounded too robotic.

But Hawking liked it.

True, it was robotic, but he appreciated that it was easy to understand: noise-robust, as Price explains. The shape of its waveform was more like a series of plateaus than the steep mountain cliffs of human voices, which fall off more sharply. The flattish slope of Hawkings voice made it cut through noise in amphitheaters and lecture halls. He often began his speeches with the same line  Can you hear me?  and the audience would respond with an enthusiastic Yes!

Its got a ring to it that sticks out, Price says.

Its very intelligible, Dorsey says. You can listen to it for a long time, and its not irritating.

Hawkings only complaint was that it didnt have a British accent.

Over the years, as synthetic voices grew more natural, taking advantage of faster chips and cheap storage, Hawking had chances to upgrade. In 1996, a Massachusetts speech technology company called Nuance, which had acquired the remains of Speech Plus, upgraded the CallText with evolved software code that made the voice sound fuller and faster, less robotic, with shorter pauses between sentences  to the engineers, an obvious improvement.

They sent Hawking a sample of the new voice, thinking hed be pleased. He was not. He said the intonation wasnt right. He preferred the 1986 voice, the one modulated by Dorseys intonation algorithm. Hawking would stick with that one.

I keep it because I have not heard a voice I like better, he once said, and because I have identified with it. He could change to a smoother voice, but then he wouldnt sound like himself.

To Stephen, his equipment is like a part of his body, said Wood, his chief technical aide. To upgrade him to a new piece of software or a new piece of hardware  hes having to change a physical part of himself.

Starting around 2009, Wood and several others at Cambridge began trying to separate Hawkings voice from the failing CallText hardware. The group would include Peter Benie, a computer guru at the university; Pawe Wozniak, a local engineering student; and Mark Green, an experienced electrical engineer with Intel, which had a long relationship with Hawking.

One option they considered was tweaking a modern synthetic voice like Siri to sound more like Hawking. But Siri-type systems rely on the vast computer power of Internet clouds, and Hawking couldnt be constantly tethered to the Internet. Benie also tried a completely different approach. He wrote a software emulator for the CallText  essentially a program that would fool a modern PC into thinking it was actually the old CallText. But the samples it produced didnt sound faithful enough for Hawkings taste.

By the time Cambridge reached out to Dorsey in 2014, they were investigating a third avenue: track down the old CallText source code, now owned by Nuance, and port it to Hawkings laptop, transplanting the old voice into a fresh new body.

Was it possible? Dorsey had no idea. It depended on whether he could find the source code, or, failing that, information that would let him reverse-engineer the source code.

He started emailing colleagues he hadnt seen in 30 years, asking if they had any CallText bric-a-brac still laying around: boards, chips, manuals. One guy found an actual CallText board in his garage. Others located dusty schematics.

It had the feel of a mad scramble through an earlier era of technology. But people everywhere leaped at the chance to help. The goal is to save his voice, Dorsey said. Once you go to somebody  I need you to help save Stephen Hawkings voice  they immediately wake up.

His closest collaborator in Palo Alto soon became Price, the speech technologist who had once studied with Klatt, the godfather of Hawkings voice. She was a master at analyzing audio samples, comparing one to another and using their audio fingerprints to reverse engineer how they must have been created.

Dorseys archaeological quest for old code turned out to be a frustrating one. No one at Nuance was able to find the source code from the 1986 version of CallText. They did, however, find the code for the upgraded 1996 version of the voice, on a backup tape in an office in Belgium. After a few months of work, Nuance engineers got the code up and running and sent a series of audio samples to Hawkings team, adjusting the program to try to match the 1986 voice.

It didnt quite work. For one thing, the match was close but not perfect. Hawking flagged subtle differences others had trouble discerning. Its like recognizing your mothers voice, Price said. When you hear them over the phone, they say two syllables and you know if thats right or not.

The other issue was that Nuance owned the code, not Hawking. The famed physicist had always been intent on controlling the use of his own voice. If the team avoided using proprietary software, Hawking was likely to have more control.

At this point, they switched tacks and returned to one of their original ideas: to emulate the CallText in software, similar to how PCs can emulate old Nintendo games that arent sold anymore.

The CallText, of course, was a more intricate beast than a Nintendo, driven by two obsolete and complexly interacting chips, one made by Intel and the other by NEC. Building the emulator demanded heroic feats of programming, intuition and high-tech surgery. The chips had to be removed from a spare CallText board with tweezers and a screwdriver. An emulator for the Intel chip had to be written from scratch, by Benie. A separate emulator, for the NEC, was borrowed from an open-source Nintendo emulator called Higan.

Then all these disparate pieces had to be glued together. It was a little like doing a jigsaw puzzle in a dark room. One chip was passing a mysterious packet to the other every 10 milliseconds. Why? What was in it?

For a while, it was tough going. Some of the audio samples were so poor that no one dared play them for Hawking.

The breakthrough came just before Christmas 2017, when the emulator finally started producing sounds that resembled the familiar voice they had been chasing. It had some minor glitches, but according to Price, the voice was an acoustical match to Hawkings, the waveforms virtually identical. The only perceptible difference was a lack of analog buzz. Its like a clean and shiny scrubbed-up version of his voice, Price says.

When Benie heard it for the first time, coming out of a computer instead of Hawkings voice box, he thought it sounded more American than Hawkings voice. It was just an aural illusion. Benie realized that perhaps, whenever he saw Hawking speak, he had been mentally adding a hint of Britishness.

Over the next weeks, in Cambridge and Palo Alto, the team members continued to debug the new voice, feeding it snippets of old Hawking speeches and sample texts full of random commas, listening to the results.

On Jan. 17, the team felt ready to demonstrate the new voice for Hawking. Wood, Wozniak, and Benie went to Hawkings home in Cambridge and played him samples on a Linux laptop. To the teams relief and happiness, Hawking gave his blessing. It did sound like his voice.

They still needed to port the voice to the PC, so temporarily, Wood loaded a version of the voice onto a miniature hardware board known as a Raspberry Pi. He thought Hawking might want to evaluate the voice in everyday life, and the Pi was the quickest way to get him up and running.

On Jan. 26, Wood took the Pi along to Hawkings house and asked if hed like to try it out. Hawking raised his eyebrows, which meant yes.

The team put the Pi in a tiny black box, attached it to Hawkings chair with Velcro, and plugged it into the voice box. Then they disconnected the CallText. For the first time in 33 years, Hawking was able to speak without it.

Wood watched eagerly for Hawkings reaction.

I love it, Hawking said.

For the next few weeks in private conversations, Hawking continued to speak through the emulator and the Raspberry Pi, chatting happily with friends and colleagues. Wood said, It was a pleasure to be able to give him something like that, that so many people have worked on for so many years.

All that remained, the final step in the project, was to get the PC version, still a bit buggy, working smoothly. But after a few more code revisions, it was finally bug-free.

We had pretty much completed all the technical hurdles, Dorsey said. Everybody felt, finally, this is it, its going to work, this is done.

And that is when Hawking got sick, in February.

According to Wood, Hawking continued using the emulator until his final days. He was able to talk with his loved ones and caregivers with the new software on the Raspberry Pi. The last words he spoke while wired into his chair, whatever they were, he spoke with a version of his voice that lives only in code, potentially deathless bits and bytes.

Everyone on the project understood that Hawking might not live long enough to get much use out of the emulator. He had been sick before, but always recovered. In 2014, when Wood first contacted Dorsey, Hawking was 72. They decided, though, that his CallText boards could keel over in six months, while Hawking might live to 80.

Along with sadness at Hawkings death, Dorsey cant help feeling some disappointment. He and the team had raced for years to build a complicated thing that had worked beautifully, but now sat idle.

At the same time, the project brought him back to his younger self, the guy who wanted to use engineering to perform good deeds and help people. All those years ago, working on the intonation algorithm in the CallText, he couldnt imagine that it would end up helping define a genius of science to the world, and even to himself.

Tech changes fast. Most machines end up as dust, and when we die, our voices die with us. Hawkings voice is different. The original CallText boards have passed to his estate, to use as his family wishes. So has the new software, the CallText emulator, which can be ported to future platforms as they are invented.

Hawking was, famously, an atheist, skeptical of the afterlife; We have this one life to appreciate the grand design of this universe, he once said, and for that, I am extremely grateful. But there is no longer any physical reason his voice cant live forever.President Trump has brought the TV reality show The Apprentice to the West Wing, along with its signature phrase, Youre fired.

The latest to be ejected is Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Hes the guy who called Trump a moron last summer, so the biggest surprise is that it took this long for him to get the heave-ho via Trumps Twitter feed.

My bet is that Tillerson is already at work on a book detailing his year in the Trump administration. It will be a guaranteed best-seller and maybe even good enough for a movie  12 Months a Slave.

National security adviser H.R. McMaster is rumored to be next. My friend Dr. Ben Carson, secretary of housing and urban development, is on the bubble as well, in part for his expensive taste in furniture.

However, canning Carson will not be as easy as terminating Tillerson. Carson may be a gifted neurosurgeon, but hes lousy at picking up on anything but the most obvious message. So a simple tweet announcing his execution may not get through to him.

Im not saying Carson is thick, but the joke going around D.C is that he bought that $31,000 dining room set because he read the price as $3,100.

New shade of blue: What does the Democratic upset in last weeks special congressional election in Pennsylvania mean for us in California? Not much.

Conor Lambs slim win over Republican Rick Saccone, in a district that Donald Trump carried by 20 points in 2016, shows that a lot of voters have changed their minds about the president. That speaks well for Democrats chances of winning back the House in November, but repeating the Lamb strategy will be a challenge.

For all the talk of the rising blue wave, Lamb is a bit of a lone surfer. Unless you think Democrats trying to peel off Republican seats, including several in California, are about to adopt pro-gun, pro-tariff, anti-Nancy Pelosi positions.

On target: The childrens brigade on anti-gun advocacy is really picking up steam. The 17-minute walkout Wednesday in memory of the Florida massacre victims and in support of gun control was truly a forceful display.

The best part: There was hardly a politician in sight. These kids truly are the face of a new movement.

Im looking forward to Saturdays march on Washington and simultaneous demonstrations in cities across the country. There are moments when such mass turnouts really make a difference  think the 1963 civil rights march on Washington, the protest outside the Pentagon in 1967, the Womens Marches of January 2017. I believe this will be one of those.

On the horizon: Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is being urged to consider a run for the presidency in 2020. Hes a Democrat who helped write President Barack Obamas speeches, and he ran a smart governors office in his state for two terms. Worth checking out.

Political refugees: The political consulting firm Barnes, Mosher, Whitehurst, Lauter and Partners has abandoned its Mission Street digs for Mayor Libby Schaafs sanctuary city of Oakland.

When skyrocketing rents force high-priced political consultants out of town, you know things are getting grim.

Toll talk: State Sen. Scott Wiener has introduced legislation that could help ease our ever-increasing traffic congestion problem by allowing San Francisco to charge for driving through downtown.

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My recommendation for City Hall is to start charging ride-hailing companies now. They are a huge part of the problem.

Movie time: Gringo. David Oyelowo stars in this comedy about an ordinary guy caught up in a deadly mix of drug cartels and unscrupulous businessmen and women. Its a clever, twisted plot that justifies your $14 admission.

It wont win any awards, but it will make you laugh and it will make money.

Speaking of money: The $130,000 that porn star Stormy Daniels received to keep quiet about her roll in the hay a few years back with Donald Trump is starting to look like chump change. With all the interest shes getting, she could charge admission for a talk about her own personal night of the living dead and fill Yankee Stadium.

I have no idea how this chapter in our nations history will play out, but I did love the CNN headline on the story the other day: Storm Warning.Kewchang Lee, a psychiatrist who oversees mental health consultations at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center, is not used to being studied.

But in recent weeks, Lee signed up to be part of a first-of-its-kind experiment that is playing out in 21 VA health centers around the country, including San Francisco and Palo Alto.

For the first time since he began practicing medicine in 1992, Lee is asking a small number of his patients to take a cheek swab for a genetic test analyzing their ability to metabolize commonly prescribed antidepressants. Lee uses the information to help decide which and how much of an antidepressant to prescribe. And hes allowing other psychiatrists to observe, during the course of the two-year VA study, whether his knowledge of the genetic information will ultimately lead to better recovery and remission rates among his patients with major depressive disorder.

It is the first study in the VA health system to examine whether doctors gaining knowledge of their patients genomic composition can help shape more precise treatment plans for depression.

Different people for genetic reasons metabolize things differently, said Lee, who is also a clinical professor of psychiatry at UCSF. With fast metabolizers, I might not necessarily change the antidepressant, but might target a higher dose. If a patient is a slow metabolizer, I might consider changing the antidepressant itself depending on the side-effect profile of that drug.

Depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health disorders are prevalent among combat veterans. Up to 25 percent of returning troops experience depression  compared to 8 percent among the U.S. adult population. In one recent survey of 700 San Francisco veterans, 58 percent had probable depression, based on their answers to a health questionnaire, according to a 2017 report by the USC Center for Innovation and Research on Veterans & Military Families, part of the universitys Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work.

The recent tragedy at Yountvilles Pathway Home, where Army infantryman Albert Wong fatally shot two Pathway staff members, a VA clinical psychologist and himself, highlights the need to advance research to improve mental health treatment.

Wong had been undergoing PTSD treatment at Pathway, a treatment center for troubled veterans of the post-Sept. 11 wars, and had been asked to leave the program two weeks before the shooting.

Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

When things like this happen, we all think about ways that we can improve mental health care and access to mental health care, Lee said. It does speak to the need for funding for research and studies to improve the treatment of conditions like PTSD and depression.

The VA depression study, funded by $12 million from the Department of Veterans Affairs, seeks to enroll 2,000 pairs of doctors and veterans who have not responded well to previous treatment for depression.

Patients will take a test that analyzes 12 genes associated with the bodys and brains ability to metabolize and process 55 commonly prescribed antidepressants and mood stabilizers, including Zoloft, Prozac and Wellbutrin.

The test uses an algorithm to produce a report matching each patient with the antidepressants that are most likely to work well, moderately well and not well. The test is provided by Myriad Genetics, a Salt Lake City company, at no cost to the patient.

Lee is the first doctor to join the study at the San Francisco VA. So far, four of his patients have agreed to participate. The information gleaned from the tests so far has been potentially useful, Lee said. Its something I would consider using if it were readily available and inexpensive.

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Researchers have been making great strides over the past decade in better understanding the role genetics plays in psychiatric syndromes including depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. But the use of genetic testing in routine psychiatric care is still in the early stages of adoption. Some psychiatrists in private practice order genetic tests, some of which are covered partially or entirely by commercial insurers, but the practice is not commonplace in the VA or other public health systems.

This is in part because there are few independent, large studies that have determined whether having a patients genetic information before prescribing medication makes a difference in their treatment outcome, said Dr. Steven Batki, the studys co-principal investigator for the San Francisco VA site.

Without genetic testing ... psychiatric medication uses a little bit of guesswork, Batki said. If youre seeing 10 different people with depression, you might start them all out on Prozac but maybe only a third will respond. Up until now, psychiatrists are using their best clinical judgment without clear scientific reasons for picking one antidepressant over another, other than different side effects. Thats what this study is trying to help.

In half of the studys participants, the veterans physicians will have immediate access to their test results, and can prescribe a medication based on that information. In the other half, physicians will wait six months before seeing the test results, and in the meantime will prescribe a medication based on their own medical judgment before having seen the test results.

The VA health system is often a testing ground for new medical research because many of its medical centers are affiliated with leading research institutions, such as UCSF and Stanford in the Bay Area. But the study opens the door for future studies that could help doctors incorporates genetics in psychiatric care into health systems beyond the VA, experts said.

The VA system can take emerging data and begin to help define what personalized medicine is in psychiatric illnesses, said Matt State, chair of the Department of Psychiatry at UCSF, who is not involved in the study but oversees doctors at the San Francisco VA who treat patients for psychiatric disorders. It is a path forward to being much more personalized about understanding a patients prognosis.San Franciscans are well accustomed to waiting outside Tartine Bakery for their croissant or loaf of country bread. But the lines outside the bakerys first Seoul outpost, which opened Jan. 27, make the hometown shop look like a convenience store.

Chad Robertson, who owns Tartine with wife Elisabeth Prueitt, said that for day one his team prepared as much food as they would for their Guerrero Street shop  and sold out in just a few hours.

Tartine is not the first local bakery to open in the South Korean capital. That would be Mr. Holmes Bakehouse, Aaron Caddells Instagram-magnet Tenderloin store, which opened a branch in the stylish Apgujeong neighborhood in December 2015. Belinda Leong and Michel Suas B. Patisserie is following Tartine to Seoul, with a projected premiere of late April.

Well-traveled Korean entrepreneurs, not to mention a thriving pastry scene in Seoul, are enticing some of San Franciscos best pastry chefs to expand to Asia. South Korea, as the Winter Olympics demonstrated once again, has become an economic and cultural powerhouse, and Seoul is a megacity with 25 million inhabitants. Several Korean bakery-cafe chains have thousands of locations across the country. In the past few years, Paris Baguette, perhaps the best known, has expanded to the Bay Area and Southern California.

Its not at all unusual now to see people whove trained at the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) or Le Cordon Bleu coming home (to Korea) to set up their own shops, Jennifer Flinn, an assistant professor at Kyung Hee University in Seoul and a food writer there for more than a decade, wrote in an email. And many of them are doing wonderful, innovative things with local flavors and ingredients.

Yet San Franciscos reputation has a wide reach. Several of Tartines baking books have been translated into Korean. Doug Cho of Seouls CNH Holdings, the man responsible for bringing B. Patisserie to Seoul, explained in an email, San Francisco has been known for being cradle of numerous startups. Seoul might be very open to accept new trends.

According to B. Patisseries Leong, Cho approached her and Suas last year proposing to open a location in Seoul that combined their two Pacific Heights businesses, B. Patisserie and B on the Go.

The pair have since made several trips to Korea to set up the kitchen, and Korean bakers have traveled the opposite way to train in San Francisco. In the meantime, Leong and Suas are tweaking their recipes to accommodate Korean flour and the style of French butter sold in Asia.

The Seoul location, Leong said, is also a way to give B. Patisseries loyal bakers, some of whom have worked for her since the shop first opened, new opportunities.

Koreas really up and coming. They really appreciate, and are excited about, Western food, Leong said. Were opening at a good time. I think its great that Tartine is opening there, Mr. Holmes is there. Makes it a little less scary.

Paul Chinn / The Chronicle

San Francisco restaurants have been more likely to open restaurants in Asia than Europe  more likely, even, than elsewhere in North America  since 1998, when Jeremiah Tower sold his San Francisco blockbuster Stars and helped its new owners open Stars Singapore and Stars Manila.

For the past decade, however, Tokyo has been the primary overseas destination for Bay Area food companies: A16, Blue Bottle, Verve Coffee, Wise Sons Jewish Delicatessen and, yes, Tartine Bakery, which is also working on a Tokyo shop.

Shelley Lindgren, owner of A16, said that partnering with a Japanese restaurant group nine years ago to open a Tokyo restaurant of the same name has been great for her company, though not a huge profit-generator. She and other members of her team travel to Japan several times a year and host Japanese cooks in their kitchen. The cultural exchange has been something that is invaluable for our whole team, Lindgren said.

Licensing deals like the ones A16, Mr. Holmes and B. Patisserie have signed are almost easy bets, because the Asian partners take on all the financial risk.

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As far as construction and rent and employee costs, thats with him, Leong said. Its a way for us to expand with no financial cost, but at the same time, its our reputation. We have to make sure to keep up the quality.

Expanding in Asia instead of the United States may, paradoxically, help small San Francisco restaurateurs keep their artisan credentials at home. Even though all the American restaurateurs The Chronicle spoke to praised the talent and devotion to detail of their Korean and Japanese partners, missteps in Asia wont damage the core brand the way one in New York or Las Vegas might.

Robertson and Prueitt could have signed that kind of deal. But theyve taken on an even more ambitious task. Not only are the Tartine owners running the Seoul branch with one of their partners in the U.S. business, theyre opening a coffee-roasting facility and recruiting Korean farmers.

Since Ive embraced growing Tartine, Ive been able to develop relationships with farmers and get them to grow the grain varieties I want and mill it, Robertson said. He sees this work as part of his larger mission to build a market for sustainably grown, heirloom grains. I cant affect that too much if Im staying small.

In the meantime, Robertson is shipping tons of American wheat, milled at the San Francisco branch of Tartine Manufactory, to Seoul. The bakery has set up an exchange that has sent more than a dozen staff members to Asia so far and brought the head bakers from Seoul to San Francisco.

In Seoul, Tartine first-viewers waited so long on one below-freezing day the line drew national press, which got even more residents curious to try this reportedly amazing San Francisco bread. The demand has been so high that a second Seoul location is in the works.

Things happen quickly in Korea: Its already slated to open in July.Coming back to the Roxie is irresistible, says Elliot Lavine, the longtime programmer of noir and other classic rarities, who returns to the Mission theater to present The Dark Side of the Dream. The program running Friday, March 23, through March 26 spans the pre-Code era of the 1930s through the last gasps of noir in the mid-60s.

Its a response to the current presidents administration, Lavine says. I think its safe to say that many of the films that are in the series are a direct reflection of the problems that are not necessarily being resolved by this administration, but are being exacerbated by it.

What Lavine discovered as he was programming the series were eerie parallels between the past and present in terms of politics and social ills.

The most pointed double bill of the long weekend is the Sunday screening of A Face in the Crowd, Elia Kazans 1957 drama starring Andy Griffith as a radio and TV personality whose folksy charm hides ugly, naked ambition and cruelty. Playing with it is Meet John Doe, starring Gary Cooper as a tramp caught up in a newspaper publishers political power play.

It details the effects of what happens when a fascistic organization gains control of the public consciousness, says Lavine. Even though its coming from Frank Capra, the master of Capra-corn, this is a really cynical, pessimistic film.

Courtesy of Elliot Lavine

The 1950s Hollywood blacklist looms large in the series. Double bills revolve around director Joseph Losey, who was exiled from the United States by it, and actor John Garfield, dead at 39 in 1952  some thought the stress of his refusal to name names and that he was about to change course caused the heart attack that killed him.

Garfield could easily be the poster boy for the blacklist period, Lavine says.

The Losey films on Saturday are his 1951 remake of Fritz Langs M, with David Wayne as a hunted child killer and The Lawless (1950), with eerie parallels today in its story of a small town in which immigrant Mexican fruit pickers are held in suspicion by the white middle class.

The Garfield films that close the series on March 26 are Body and Soul (1947), blacklisted director Robert Rossens classic noir (written by blacklisted screenwriter Abraham Polonsky) about a boxer (Garfield) involved with a shady promoter, and We Were Strangers (1949), a rarely screened John Huston drama set during the 1933 Cuban revolution that led to Batistas rule.

Its a great, great radical, rebellious film, says Lavine of the latter. Its a very exciting, politically charged film. Its kind of remarkable that more people connected to it werent blacklisted.

The series gets under way with Try and Get Me!, a 1950 crime drama inspired by the 1933 Brooke Hart kidnapping and murder in San Jose. In the film, Frank Lovejoy plays a man who joins a criminals (Lloyd Bridges) reckless scheme out of desperation.

It deals with, literally, the wholesale demolition of the American dream, at least as it was perceived to be, something that we strive for, something you attain, and youre happy, and you dont bother anybody, says Lavine. The film deals with people who are on the outside of that dream.

Black Legion (1937), starring Humphrey Bogart as a factory worker who lashes out when he loses a promotion to an immigrant, shares the bill with Try and Get Me!

Being passed over opens up the floodgates to a lot of hatred and persecution, and ultimately the film becomes a condemnation of the Ku Klux Klan, says Lavine. In a 1930s melodrama coming out of a big studio, that was an extremely radical presentation of an idea.

Working girls are the subject of the Saturday pairing of Marked Woman (1937), with Bette Davis as a hostess who testifies against her mobster boss, and The Naked Kiss (1964), Samuel Fullers melodrama starring Constance Towers as a prostitute who tries to start over again as a nurse.

Both films really speak dramatically toward prostitution, both with respect to their exploitation by criminal elements, which is sad enough, but also in terms of public perception of people who choose to live their lives in a certain proscribed manner, says Lavine.

Courtesy Elliot Lavine

And lest one thinks the opioid epidemic is something new, 1933s Heroes for Sale, which plays at the Sunday matinee with the mob violence-tinged crime drama They Wont Forget (1937), disabuses that notion. Richard Barthelmess plays a World War I veteran who returns from the front addicted to morphine.

Its the oldest film (in the program), says Lavine. Its also one of the most modern films in the lineup. It just defies most peoples expectations of what an early 30s movie can look like, feel like, sound like.

Id been looking for a context for venting, he adds. People can look at these films and be entertained by them, but they need to pay attention to what the films are actually talking about.

Pam Grady is a San Francisco freelance writer.

The Dark Side of the Dream: Friday, March 23-March 26. $10-12. Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, S.F. www.roxie.com

View a video of Elliot Lavine discussing The Dark Side at http://bit.ly/ElliotlavineDear Mick: I see Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri as indulgent, with characters that are unlikable and over-the-top scenes that arent funny. Doesnt art have to risk more sentiment and a less ambiguous ending to make its point, or would that be too trite?

Andy Crockett, Alameda

Dear Andy: Its not trite to ask, but Id say the answer is no. Art doesnt have to risk sentiment or not risk sentiment. Art pretty much creates its own rules and persuades or doesnt. However, youre right  ambiguity is not good. But that ending is not ambiguous. If we think about the movie and the characters, we know whats going to happen when they get to where theyre going. The ending is subtle, but clear.

Dear Mick LaSalle: How much credit should a director get when an actor in his or her movie gets nominated for or wins an award for best acting? The four actors who won this year were in movies where none of the directors got nominated for best directing.

Paul Sheinfeld, Novato

Dear Paul Sheinfeld: The actor is always the person who deserves the credit, but directors can be essential, sometimes determinant. It depends on the actor, and it depends on the director. Some directors really work with the actors, and others less so, and still others seem to exert influence without saying much. Valeria Bruni Tedeschi told me that Claude Chabrol never said much but communicated powerfully just by sitting there.

When you watch an Ingmar Bergman movie, you have to credit Liv Ullmann, Harriet Andersson, Ingrid Thulin and Bibi Andersson for their astounding, jaw-dropping, eternal performances. But you cant help but notice that they were never better than when they worked with Bergman. Robert De Niro is great, but a lot greater when he is in Martin Scorseses films. Christoph Waltz is a remarkable actor and always grabs the audiences attention, but when he works with Quentin Tarantino, we enter the land of magic. Any performance is the actors achievement, but some directors are better than others at creating an environment in which brilliance is possible.

Dear Mick: While watching this years Oscar ceremony, I got to thinking about the ceremonies of the past, those hosted by Johnny Carson, David Niven, Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope, to mention a few. The earlier broadcasts had one element that seemed to be missing in Sundays ceremony  dignity. Whatever happened to dignity? I wonder if you agree.

Walter Jaffee, Crockett

Dear Walter: Maybe a little. But with a lot of these hosts, the memory is better than the reality. Bob Hopes Oscar monologues, which I thought were funny when I was 10, are thuddingly unfunny revisited on YouTube. Niven really wasnt a host, but part of an experiment in multiple hosts, and that was on only one occasion. Theres very little YouTube on Sinatras one hosting gig in 1963, but theres a lot on Johnny Carson, and he was the best, in my opinion. He had a sense of dignity and occasion about him, but he was also funny. Dignity can be overrated. It can be a fallback for phonies.

But its far from entirely useless. The British have always done dignity well. Americans generally dont, and its part of our national character to respond to people who can undercut and puncture decorum, whether were talking about Mark Twain and Abraham Lincoln or John Kennedy making wisecracks at a news conference or Ronald Reagan saying There you go again to a sitting president. But all these little infractions against dignity only work if there is some monolith of dignity to play off of, some understood standard of behavior being nudged and stretched, but not destroyed. Right now, were living in a fairly undignified era. I dont miss dignity at the Academy Awards, because I dont associate the movie business with dignity, even if they were better at faking it 30 years ago. But I do miss dignity in other areas of American life, because, unlike in Hollywood, in some places it used to be real.

Have a question? Ask Mick LaSalle at mlasalle@sfchronicle.com. Include your name and city for publication, and a phone number for verification.

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Get the latest movie reviews, Mick LaSalles views, critics picks and more film news each week in the San Francisco Chronicles revamped movie newsletter! Sign up here for Popcorn Picks and other Chronicle and SFGATE newsletters like the Taploid, Chronicle Commuter, and breaking news alerts.U.S. and European officials on Sunday called for Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg to explain how personal information about tens of millions of users ended up in the hands of a data analysis firm that worked for President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign - without the permission or knowledge of the vast majority of those affected.

News reports about Facebook's role in the aggressive form of data collection also have raised serious questions about whether the company violated a landmark consent decree with a federal watchdog agency designed to prevent privacy violations. Two former U.S. officials who negotiated the 2011 agreement between the Federal Trade Commission and Facebook say the company may have broken its promises, potentially triggering many millions of dollars in fines.

"I would not be surprised if at some point the FTC looks at this. I would expect them to," said David Vladeck, a former director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection. In that role, he oversaw the investigation of alleged privacy violations by Facebook and the resulting consent decree.

Vladeck said the law allows fines up to $40,000 per violation. With a reported 50 million people affected, he said, the "maximum exposure" could reach into the billions of dollars. It is more likely that, if the FTC found violations, Facebook would face far smaller but still substantial fines as well as other consequences.

Facebook has denied violating the agreement with the FTC, which did not respond to requests for comment Sunday. But the surge of political and regulatory scrutiny over the weekend again turned a harsh spotlight on a company that has been scrambling to protect its reputation since allegations emerged about Russian agents using the social media platform in an attempt to manipulate American voters during the 2016 election season and beyond.

The latest revelations concern how people working for Cambridge Analytica, which the Trump campaign paid at least $6 million to assist in its digital operations, used an app to gather research on 270,000 users in 2014 and 2015.

But the number of affected people was many more - likely in the tens of millions - because the data routinely available to app developers in that era also included information on a user's list of friends, including names, education, work histories, birthdays, likes, locations, photos, relationship statuses, and religious and political affiliations. That kind of information is extremely valuable to political campaigns for tailoring messages, ads and fundraising pitches.

Though both Facebook and Cambridge Analytica have been embroiled in investigations in Washington and London for months, some of this weekend's demands have taken on a more personal tone, focusing explicitly on Zuckerberg, who has not testified publicly on these matters in either capital.

"They say 'trust us,' but Mark Zuckerberg needs to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee about what Facebook knew about misusing data from 50 million Americans in order to target political advertising and manipulate voters," Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said in a statement.

Rep. Adam Schiff, Calif., the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, echoed the call for Zuckerberg to personally appear for questioning on Capitol Hill.

"I think it would be beneficial to have him come testify before the appropriate oversight committees, and not just Mark but the other CEOs of the other major companies that operate in this space," Schiff said in a phone interview Sunday. "There's still a lot we're learning about foreign issues on these platforms."

Similar calls for official investigation came from several other U.S. lawmakers, the European Union's justice commissioner and a British lawmaker, Damian Collins, head of a parliamentary committee that has been investigating Facebook and Cambridge Analytica.

"I will be writing to Mark Zuckerberg asking that either he or another senior executive from the company appear to give evidence in front of the committee as part our inquiry," Collins said Sunday. "It is not acceptable that they have previously sent witnesses who seek to avoid asking difficult questions by claiming not to know the answers."

At least two state attorneys general, from Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, also have announced plans to investigate.

Facebook declined to comment on the requests for Zuckerberg to testify. The company said in a statement Sunday afternoon that it was renewing efforts to investigate what happened with the data that reached Cambridge Analytica.

"We are in the process of conducting a comprehensive internal and external review as we work to determine the accuracy of the claims that the Facebook data in question still exists," Paul Grewal, Facebook's deputy general counsel, said in the statement. "That is where our focus lies as we remain committed to vigorously enforcing our policies to protect people's information."

Zuckerberg generally has kept a low profile as controversy over the political uses of the Facebook platform has intensified. He has written blog posts and spoken by video link from Facebook's headquarters in Menlo Park, California. But Zuckerberg has not yet been exposed to the rough-and-tumble of legislative questioning, designating that job to senior attorneys such as general counsel Colin Stretch.

Facebook executives throughout the weekend also resisted allegations that Cambridge Analytica's actions amounted to a "breach" of its systems because Facebook's systems were not compromised and the app developer worked within the company's terms of service, at least initially.

Facebook suspended the parent company of Cambridge Analytica and two of its former employees Friday for improperly sharing the data that was collected through the app and not destroying it at Facebook's request in 2015. Cambridge Analytica has repeatedly denied wrongdoing or improper use of Facebook data.

"We worked with Facebook over this period to ensure that they were satisfied that we had not knowingly breached any of Facebook's terms of service and also provided a signed statement to confirm that all Facebook data and their derivatives had been deleted," Cambridge Analytica said in a statement Saturday.

Facebook said it also is investigating its hiring of Joseph Chancellor, who is identified in corporate documents as an official of the parent company of Cambridge Analytica and is now at the social network, focusing on virtual reality. Facebook would not say whether it was aware of Chancellor's role at Cambridge Analytica at the time of his hiring.

While a Zuckerberg appearance on Capitol Hill could make compelling political theater, the possibility of renewed investigation by the FTC presents a more immediately serious problem.

The consent decree the agency signed with Facebook in 2011 required that users be notified and that they explicitly give their permission before data about them is shared beyond the privacy settings they have established. The developer of the app that collected data for Cambridge Analytica in 2014 sought permission from those who downloaded the app but not their Facebook friends. The app, called "thisisyourdigitallife," offered personality predictions and billed itself on Facebook as "a research app used by psychologists."

A key question now is what was allowed under Facebook's privacy settings at the time Cambridge Analytica's app was active, and whether those permissions were so broad that they allowed routine violations of the consent ecree with the FTC.

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.

In a 2014 news release announcing new restrictions to its developer policies, a Facebook executive wrote, "We've heard from people that they are often surprised when a friend shares their information with an app." That admission may indicate that Facebook users had not been given adequate understanding of how their data and their friend's data was used by third-party developers such as Cambridge.

Facebook said in a statement Saturday, "We reject any suggestion of violation of the consent decree. We respected the privacy settings that people had in place. Privacy and data protections are fundamental to every decision we make."

The view held by Vladeck, the former FTC official who is now a Georgetown law professor, is shared by another former agency official who was closely involved in the crafting of the consent decree. Jessica Rich, who was the deputy director for the Bureau of Consumer Protection and oversaw the FTC's privacy program in 2011, led the investigation into Facebook before the consent decree.

She said in an email Sunday morning that Facebook's reported action, if true, "bespeaks the same recklessness with its users' data that prompted the FTC to take action in 2011."

Rich, now vice president for advocacy at Consumer Reports, listed multiple conditions in the consent decree that Facebook may have breached, including those about seeking explicit permission from users before sharing their data.

"Depending on how all the facts shake out, Facebook's actions could violate any or all of these provisions, to the tune of many millions of dollars in penalties," Rich said. "They could also constitute violations of both US and EU laws. Facebook can look forward to multiple investigations and potentially a whole lot of liability here."

Facebook has long been the subject of intense criticism for its privacy and security practices. Consumer watchdog groups such as the Electronic Privacy Information Center often urged the FTC to investigate the company, saying that it had deceived consumers by changing the way it handled users' sensitive information with little warning.

The FTC agreed in November 2011, faulting Facebook for making some information, such as users' friends lists, viewable by the public without first obtaining those users' explicit permission. The FTC also found that Facebook shared personal information with advertisers despite promising not to do so. The agency raised other issues about apps on Facebook that regulators said had access to more information than they needed to operate.

As a result, the FTC required Facebook to obtain consumers' consent before "enacting changes that override their privacy practices," the agency said at the time. It also subjected Facebook to 20 years of independent, third-party privacy checkups to ensure that it followed the settlement.

Years later, though, the latest controversy is spurring demands for more action, with consumer advocates saying the FTC is partly to blame because it did not penalize the social media giant for other privacy mishaps.

"This is the consequence of the Federal Trade Commission's failure to enforce the 2011 consent order with Facebook," said Marc Rotenberg, president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "The United States needs a dedicated privacy agency and a comprehensive privacy law. The FTC can't do the job."

The rising clamor on Capitol Hill for answers was heavier on the Democratic side. But Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, Fla., also criticized Facebook on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"Sometimes, these companies grow so fast, and get so much good press, they get up high on themselves that they start to think perhaps they're above the rules that apply to everybody else," Rubio said.Its the time of the year when the University of Californias nine undergraduate campuses release their fall admission decisions to hundreds of thousands of anxious high school seniors. Regardless of the decision, students and parents would agree the process is extremely arduous, stressful and even costly. It begins, in fact, in the freshman year of high school or even middle school, when parents and students need to set in motion a complex set of academic and nonacademic efforts to have a chance at just meeting the admissions criteria.

As I go through this process now with my eldest daughter, and despite her having been accepted to some universities and not others, we are left with questions. What more could we or she have done in the past three years? What factors on her application did the various university admissions teams consider?

For many parents, these questions may not deserve much mindshare: Their child will probably get admitted somewhere, if not at a UC. It all works out is a common phrase of hope uttered among commiserating parents.

I am not placated by this eventuality, though. I have two more kids with whom I will soon go through this process. I am proud of the academics offered by our states universities and colleges, but I am increasingly skeptical of their administrative bodies.

We, as parents, want to believe that playing multiple sports, taking music lessons and doing well in elective classes are all adding value. Yet, it is quite likely a waste of time and resources.

What is of concern is the toll this is taking on our students.

For most of the UC campuses, fewer than 1 out of 3 applicants is admitted; for UC Berkeley and UCLA the rate approaches 1 in 6. When you factor in that the UC system takes in about 23 percent out-of-state undergraduates, your childs chances as a Californian are quite meager. In fact, for most of the UCs, a non-Californian applicant has higher odds of being accepted than a resident; conversely, California students have as high as an 80 percent acceptance rate at top public universities outside of the state.

While gaining admission to a UC campus is becoming more competitive (as the campus administrators say), the real issue is that UC is grossly misleading students on what it takes to get accepted. The reason is clear: It cannot meet the demand. For example, in 2018, UCLA (the most popular college campus in the nation) had 113,000 applicants, compared with 55,397 a decade prior and 32,792 in 1998.

Were telling very smart kids that they are just not smart enough  which is ridiculous, if you compare them across national averages or even to past graduating classes. In the 1990s, 75 percent of UCLA admissions had a 4.0 grade-point average; now it is near 90 percent, and the top 25th percentile are fast approaching the unicorn 5.0 GPA.

UC Berkeley has explanations for this on its undergraduate admissions website  just the sheer number of disclaimers and hyperlinks is daunting. For instance, you read that due to the number of applicants, UC Berkeley selection criteria exceeds the UC admissions criteria. This is followed by various linked pages to criteria, such as weighted GPA, pattern of grades over time and test scores, as well as nonacademic criteria such as sports, volunteering and work. The information is bookended by a reminder that the applicants essays (each applicant writes at least four) are also considered. You can then visit a page about Berkeleys holistic review process that purportedly factors in personal qualities of the applicant, including leadership ability, character, motivation, insight, tenacity and likely contributions to the intellectual and cultural vitality of the campus.

What UC is saying is very appealing: Were not just looking at your GPA and test scores, were looking at many other factors. But how does that actually play out? If we were to analyze the students who were admitted, we should see a nice distribution across these various factors but, in fact, we see the opposite.

I cant help but draw an analogy. About 10 years ago, I worked on a biotechnology that combines blood biomarker values to get a disease prediction more certain than produced by any single marker. For instance, while fasting blood glucose alone is a decent indicator of Type 2 diabetes, if we analyze other markers with it, we can predict your chances of getting diabetes five years earlier. Similar predictive models can help determine if a transplanted organ would be rejected or if a cancer drug would work on a specific tumor type.

It is important to know how each biomarker in the formula is weighted. For instance, if there are four markers being analyzed and A is given a weighting of 1,000, while B, C and D are each weighted as 1, then regardless of the combinations, variable A will always drive the result.

This is the problem with the UC admission criteria.

Its not clear what weighting, if any, UC gives the variables it claims to factor into the admissions decision. UCLA even seems to boast that its criteria carry no preassigned weights. Because UC publishes data showing how many applied, how many it admitted, and what the range of GPA and ACT/SAT scores were for those who get in, we can reverse-engineer the algorithm. And here is what we see: Despite all the variables UC says it considers, the vast majority of students are accepted on GPA and test scores alone. The other variables are what in the biotech world we call junk markers.

Junk markers are unethical because they drive up health care costs (along with collecting personal data for no good reason). If glucose is as good of a predictor of diabetes, then why should you pay for five other blood tests? Yet an algorithm diagnostic appears way more cutting-edge (and lucrative) than a half-century-old fasting glucose test.

Is the University of California system engaging in the same sort of marketing deception?

The UC system was founded with the intent to enable all qualified California students a higher education, yet most qualified applicants do not get in. Every year, the UC campuses move the goalposts closer together. The minimum bar for the ACT composite test score is no less than 26 at most UCs  yet the national average for high school students is just 21. At UCLA and UC Berkeley, the ACT composite score approaches a near perfect 34 (out of 36) at the 75th percentile of admitted students.

If UC was factoring all, or even just some, of the variables, you would not see a continuous rise in average GPA and test scores year after year. Yet UC continues to market a holistic admissions approach; this is as deceptive as charging a patient to test for markers that add no value to their diagnosis.

I am not saying that I regret my child participating in high school sports, music and summer internships. Those are great life experiences.

What I am saying is that if these factors do matter in UC admission, then make all the applicant data (depersonalized, of course) available for public analysis.

And if none of these other variables really matters, then stop saying they do  because as any parent of a high schooler will tell you, it would probably change the advice we give our kids when they ask if its more important they go to swim meet or study for their math quiz.The Bay Area has outgrown its regional transportation options.

Everyone who commutes in the Bay Area  whether its by car, by rail or by bus  can agree on this point. Aside from housing, the Bay Areas deteriorating transportation infrastructure is our top regional challenge, and its affecting everything from our quality of life to our economic growth.

Thats why a long list of elected officials, business groups and regional transportation organizations have come together to push Regional Measure 3. The measure, which will be on the June ballot in nine Bay Area counties, will authorize toll increases on the regions seven state-owned bridges. (The Golden Gate Bridge, with its separate authority, is excluded.)

Current tolls will increase by $1 on Jan. 1, 2019, then by another $1 in 2022 and 2025. That will bring tolls to $8 on every bridge except the Bay Bridge, where the toll will be $9 during peak commute times.

Toll increases are never easy to swallow. But its impossible to argue with the needs the measure has specifically identified for the resulting $4.45 billion in funding.

The North Bay will benefit from improvements to the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, to state Highways 29 and 37, to U.S. Highway 101 and to Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) service.

San Francisco can look forward to a downtown extension for Caltrain, upgrades to the Clipper card system and a badly needed expansion of the Muni fleet.

Weary East Bay commuters will see relief from improvements to Interstates 80, 680 and 880, as well as some of the regions more notorious snarls, where I-680 meets Highways 4 and 84.

On the Peninsula and in the South Bay, this money will go toward the second phase of the necessary BART extension to San Jose. Itll also help connect the east side of San Jose to BART via a regional connector. Road improvements include the Dumbarton corridor and the Highway 101/92 interchange.

Over the past two generations, weve barely added any capacity to regional transit, said Gabriel Metcalf, president of SPUR, an urban planning think tank. This is a very practical next step when it comes to our regional transit needs.

The project list, which was developed by staff members at regional transit organizations, leans heavily toward improving the regions mass transit options.

There are excellent reasons for this  the Bay Area cant drive its way out of traffic congestion, and mass transit remains the most efficient way to move the most people.

Mass transit is also very expensive to build and to operate. Passing this regional measure could make the Bay Area more competitive in battles for state and federal matching funds.

Most bridge commuters can afford these toll increases. (The Bay Areas toll payers tend to have higher incomes than the overall population.) For those who have lower incomes, theyll continue to receive price reductions for carpooling, and the measure includes a discount for anyone who regularly commutes over two toll bridges.

Low-income transit commuters could actually benefit from the measure. The Clipper card upgrades will allow the Bay Areas transit authorities to coordinate income-based fare discounts.

The measure doesnt currently face any organized opposition. It also enjoys the approval of a solid majority of voters in the nine counties.

Those impressive feats are testament to how deeply the Bay Area is affected by traffic congestion, and how necessary many of these projects are.

Regional Measure 3 cant and wont fix all of the Bay Areas traffic and infrastructure problems. For that, well need state and federal support.

But thats been too long in coming, and its past time for the Bay Area to make the improvements we can make on our own.

Measure 3 will result in real, measurable improvements to regional commutes, and thats more than enough reason for the voters to say yes.

This commentary is from The Chronicles editorial board. We invite you to express your views in a letter to the editor. Please submit your letter via our online form: SFChronicle.com/letters.American Indian and conservation groups have filed a lawsuit accusing the Trump administration of failing to protect humpback whale habitat in the Pacific Ocean, where the famously playful animals are in peril from ship strikes, oil spills and other environmental problems.

The Center for Biological Diversity, Turtle Island Restoration Network and the Wishtoyo Chumash Foundation said the National Marine Fisheries Service failed to designate critical habitat for a number of humpback whale populations after their designation under the Endangered Species Act was reaffirmed in 2016.

The suit, filed Thursday in federal court in San Francisco, said the administration was required to designate habitat and take measures to protect it within one year of listing the species. Instead, the Trump administration said it is considering expanding offshore oil and gas drilling up and down the East and West coasts, including California, where humpbacks migrate every year.

As cargo ships and crabbing gear slaughter West Coast humpbacks, the Trump administration wont lift a finger to save these magnificent whales, said Catherine Kilduff, an attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity. The federal government needs to protect critical humpback habitat thats prone to oil spills and dangerously dense with fishing gear and ship traffic. These whales need urgent action, not more delays.

Jim Milbury, the spokesman for the fisheries service, which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said he cannot comment on pending litigation.

In 2016, the NOAAs fisheries service delisted nine of the 14 subspecies of humpbacks that were put under the Endangered Species Act in 1973. The move was touted as an ecological success story for the blubbery giants, famous for putting on spectacular displays of leaping and splashing.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit pointed out, though, that the humpback subspecies seen along the California coast didnt fare nearly as well as their cohorts in the rest of the world.

The Central American population, which migrates twice annually along the California coast past San Francisco, remained on the endangered list after only 411 animals were counted. The Mexico population, which feeds off the West Coast and Alaska, was downgraded from endangered to threatened, even though experts determined that many of the 3,200 whales were dying from entanglements in commercial fishing gear.

Humpbacks often get tangled in fishing gear around Monterey Bay, where the migrating whales come to feed. Vessel collisions have also become a major cause of death outside the Golden Gate, where 7,300 large vessels pass every year. An estimated 22 humpbacks are killed by ships off the coasts of California, Oregon and Washington each year, according to a recent study.

Disasters such as the 2015 Refugio oil spill, which dumped 142,800 gallons of crude in the coastal waters of Santa Barbara, are also a problem for humpbacks, which were actually observed swimming through the sheen that the pipeline rupture left in the water.

Since time immemorial, Chumash people have shared our home waters of the Santa Barbara Channel with humpback whales, said Alicia Cordero, the First Nations program officer for the Wishtoyo Chumash Foundation. They have a deeply respected role in our culture (and) the Chumash people play a strong role in protecting our magnificent relatives as they face increasing threats from ship strikes, entanglement and gas and oil development.

The worldwide humpback population was nearly wiped out by commercial hunting in the 19th and 20th centuries. Before 1900, an estimated 15,000 humpbacks lived in the North Pacific. In the 20th century, their numbers dwindled to fewer than 1,000.

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 International Whaling Commissions whaling ban, imposed in 1982, played a major role in the comeback. Between 75,000 and 80,000 humpbacks now live in the worlds oceans, and many of those survivors migrate through the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary.

Over the past few springs, large numbers of humpbacks were spotted feeding off San Francisco, far more than are normally seen at that time of year. They have even been seen cavorting near Fort Point in San Francisco Bay and under the Golden Gate Bridge.

Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle

Researchers suspect the giant cetaceans have been feasting on the tiny shrimplike creatures known as krill and unusual concentrations of anchovies near shore, but those populations have been fluctuating wildly in recent years.

Humpbacks have had a special place in Bay Area hearts since Humphrey, a 40-ton humpback, caused pandemonium in 1985 when he swam through the Carquinez Strait, up the Sacramento River and into a creek near Rio Vista. The Solano County city became the focal point of a whale craze, attracting 10,000 people a day as experts tried desperately to turn around the lost animal.

Humphrey went back to sea after 25 days, but returned five years later when he got stuck on a mud flat near Candlestick Point. He was last seen in 1991 near the Farallon Islands.Firefighters hosed debris from the streets and checked for flareups Sunday after a major blaze ripped through a three-story North Beach building the night before, damaging at least 10 businesses and displacing eight people from their homes.

The fire was reported just before 7:30 p.m. Saturday at a brick building at 659 Union St., across from Washington Square Park. While the fire was contained to a single structure, smoke damaged neighboring buildings and caused at least 10 businesses to be evacuated.

Flames soared high into the sky above North Beach, and firefighters brought the blaze under control by around 1 a.m. No one was injured.

On Sunday, ash littered Columbus Avenue, Powell Street and Union Street. Windows of the building were blown out, and the top front of the structure appeared to be little more than a facade.

A firefighter was injured during the cleanup Sunday morning after slipping off his truck and striking his head on the ground. He was taken to a hospital in stable condition, said Fire Lt. Jonathan Baxter.

Fire Capt. Abdul Khadir said investigators would examine the scene to determine the cause of the blaze. The crews are here to make sure there arent any hot spots, he added.

Ray Alexander, who has lived in the area for almost 40 years, watched the fire rage Saturday night as he looked out the window of his apartment.

It looks like all the businesses down below are just gone, Alexander said Sunday morning as he checked out the damage. The neighborhoods changed a lot, and itll probably change some more.

Businesses damaged in Saturdays fire include Coit Liquors, Ferry Plaza Seafood, Tuk Tuk Thai Cafe, Rogue Ales Public House, Jackie Lee Fong Insurance, Patricias Gifts and Flowers, Il Pollaio, Caffe Spuntino and BarNua.

Salvatore Cortara, the owner of Michelangelo Cafe, which suffered smoke and water damage, said he would probably have to close his family-run Italian restaurant down for about a month.

Cortara said the fire was yet another blow to his business, which he said has been struggling over the past few years due to constant construction in the area.

He was looking forward to the foot traffic on St. Patricks Day to make up some rent money. But, instead, the 50 or so customers sitting down in his restaurant Saturday night had to suddenly run from the towering blaze  leaving behind full plates of ravioli, calamari and chicken parmesan.

Weve been having very bad business already, he said. We were waiting for St. Patricks Day to make some money. But now Im going to be closed.An Austin-based company is looking to change the homebuying market by making houses more universally accessible.

According to its website, ICON debuted the first permitted 3D printed home at South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin on March 12, 2018, built using a prototype of a mobile printer that will have the ability to produce "a single-story, 600 to 800 square foot homes in under 24 hours for less than $4,000."Among European carriers, the Lufthansa Group now has more seats flying between the Bay Area and Europe than any other carrier. Those flights include widebodies flying to Frankfurt, Munich and Zurich. TravelSkills recently caught up with Lufthansa Group executives for a wide ranging conversation about its return to Mineta San Jose International Airport this month and plans for a California expansion.

Here are some highlights of that conversation.

1. California is special to Lufthansa. And it's at the heart of the airline's expansion plans in North America. On March 25, Lufthansa will resume service from SJC to its Frankfurt, Germany hub after the flight was put on hiatus during the winter because of a pilot shortage. It will also launch a new flight from San Diego to Frankfurt the same day. Both flights will operate five times per week, on its Airbus A340-300.

2. A big role for San Jose. The airline expects its San Jose route to play a key role in its Bay Area service plan. Lufthansa plans to increase the number of Business Class seats from 18 to 30 in response to demand from corporate clients in Silicon Valley. According to Tamur Goudarzi-Pour, Lufthansa Group's Vice President Airline Sales for the Americas, the San Jose flight was profitable for the airline last year. The flight will now operate year-round.

3. Getting to India from San Jose. Lufthansa discovered many passengers flying on its San Francisco to Germany flight and continuing on to India lived in the South Bay, but few knew about its San Jose flight. When asked, most said they would opt to fly out of an airport closer to home rather than spend the time commuting to SFO.

4. More Bay Area time. The late night departure from San Francisco to Munich is extremely popular  especially with business travelers who can get a full day of work in before leaving SFO at 9:30 p.m. In late October, the SFO-MUC route will be up-gauged from an Airbus A340-600 to a much larger Airbus A380. (At the same time, the SFO-Frankfurt flight will be downgauged to an A340-600.) No word yet on how long this arrangement will last.

5. Consistency sells. None of the big three U.S. carriers can currently claim this, but Lufthansa offers the same model of seats across all of their long-haul international aircraft in every cabin, according to Goudarzi-Pour. This means that a business class passenger will find little difference in flying on the A380s or A340s serving the Bay Area.

6. Buy-on-board? Lufthansa has not followed its competitors in charging for food and drinks (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic) onboard its flights. Customers flying long-haul and short-haul are provided with something to eat and drink  free of charge. Speaking of buying on board, Lufthansa is testing a service in Frankfurt, Munich and Dusseldorf where passengers can order groceries on board, then have them delivered to their homes.

7. Is Oakland International Airport in the cards? No, Goudarzi-Pour said. British Airways, Norwegian Air and LEVEL have helped turn OAK into a gateway to Europe, but neither Lufthansa nor its other airlines (i.e. Swiss, Austrian, Eurowings) are considering service to the East Bay. [Apparently LH does not plan to compete on price...checking today summer nonstop roundtrips in economy class to Frankfurt and Munich are in the $3,000 round trip range. Hopefully that's just a temporary aberration!]

8. Yellow vs. Blue. The use of yellow in Lufthansa's color palette holds sentimental value to employees and long-time customers, but the airline is scaling back the use of the color in its new livery to reflect what it wants to be: a premium brand. "If you were going to a business meeting, would you wear a blue suit or a yellow suit?" asked Tal Muscal, Lufthansa's director of Group Communications in The Americas. It will take about seven years to repaint the entire fleet.

9. No single-aisle planes across the Atlantic. New long-range single-aisle airplanes like the Airbus A321LR and Boeing 737 MAX are being introduced for transatlantic travel, but Lufthansa is hesitant about the smaller jets. The new generation of airliners can fly greater distances, but getting between Central Europe and the U.S. East Coast can push operational limits. The airline group is, however, keeping a close eye on Boeing's New Market Airplane, unofficially called the 797.

Read all recent TravelSkills posts here

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Chris McGinnis is the founder of TravelSkills.com. The author is solely responsible for the content above, and it is used here by permission. You can reach Chris at chris@travelskills.com or on Twitter @cjmcginnis.Did you know Daredevil was a San Francisco gentrifier who dissed the Golden Gate Bridge? Or that the X-Men wrecked the SF MoMA? Or that Spider-Woman (allegedly) robbed the SF Mint? All have happened in comic books, along with cable cars being tossed around like pizzas, good vs. evil clashes at Fishermans Wharf, and Peter Parker evolving into a Silicon Valley tech mogul.

Everyone knows about Superman in Metropolis, and Batman in Gotham City, and Spider-Man in New York. But San Francisco has a worthy comic-book history of its own, from super heroes to underground legends.SALINAS, Calif.  A Salinas bus driver, employed by the largest school district in Monterey County, has been charged with rape, kidnapping and stalking after police say he sexually assaulted two special needs students who rode his bus.

Bill Harvey, 58, was employed by the Salinas Union High School District. He was arrested in Seaside on March 9.

Over the course of the last 10 years, Harvey has had an inappropriate relationship with at least two of the children who rode on his bus, the Salinas Police Department said Friday.

"This is a bus driver who works with special needs children," Cmdr. John Murray said. "We trust someone like this to take care of our kids. That trust was violated, and even worse, these victims may have been groomed for this purpose."

Harvey bought gifts and met with at least one of the victims several times outside of his regular job duties, according to police.

The victims, who are both physically and developmentally disabled, describe being touched inappropriately several times and forced to commit sexual acts against their will, police said.

Investigators say one victim was 13-years-old when the abuse began.

Harvey was formally charged with rape of a person unable to give consent, rape by force or fear, lewd act upon a child, kidnapping and stalking when he was arraigned in court on Tuesday. He pleaded not guilty.

Police say the alleged sex abuse came to light February 22, when someone reported that Harvey harassing a woman.

Salinas Union High School District is a public school district that operates 13 high schools and middle schools in Salinas.

The Salinas Union High School District said in a statement: "We are shocked to learn about the recent arrest of an employee related to multiple charges of sexual misconduct with a minor. This is a disturbing set of allegations and we are taking it seriously. We are cooperating with law enforcement as they continue their investigation. The safety and security of our students are a priority and we are working with the victim's families and school community. We placed this employee on administrative leave, and as a result, he will have no contact with any Salinas Union High School District student. We are still learning about the details related to these allegations. We must respect the rights to privacy and due process of everyone involved, and the district cannot comment on personnel matters or student information. As law enforcement moves forward we will take the appropriate disciplinary actions. We appreciate the community's understanding and support as we work through this unfortunate situation."People have put a lot of wild things on and around their faces in the name of smooth, blemish-free, youthful-looking skin: Leeches! Horse oil! Bee venom! Snail mucus! Bird poop! Animal placenta! Literal neurotoxins!

But it seems Cate Blanchett decided to one-up us all with something she referred to as a "penis facial" (not the X-rated kind).

"Sandy (Bullock) and I saw this facialist in New York, Georgia Louise, and she gives what we call the 'penis facial,'" she said in an interview with Vogue Australia when asked the most outlandish beauty treatment she'd ever received.

The lines in question were quietly removed from the article, but it was too late. A cached version lived on, and the internet's fascination was piqued.

Blanchett herself wasn't quite clear on why it was nicknamed the penis facial  maybe the smell?

"I don't know what it is, or whether it's just 'cause it smells a bit like sperm  there's some enzyme in it, so Sandy refers to it as the 'penis facial,'" she told Vogue Australia.

Would that it were so simple. Alas, the story of the penis facial does not end with the smell.

Louise, who also reportedly counts Emma Stone, Katy Perry, Alexander Wang and Karly Kloss among her clients (no word on whether any of them have gotten the penis facial, though) was happy to clarify things in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. The facial is derived from cells that are clones of baby foreskin cells.

"The foreskin is collected during circumcision and the stem cells are then harvested and extracted through a centrifuge," she told THR. "I am always very mindful to explain radical serums and potions that I carry in my back bar, so I always explain that EGF is derived from newborn baby foreskin, but cells were taken and from that, new cells are cloned from a laboratory."

It costs $650.

Filipa Ioannou is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at fioannou@sfchronicle.com and follow her on TwitterA controversial joke by Hannibal Buress led to his microphone being cut off five minutes into his set at a university Saturday night, after the comedian made a joke referencing the Catholic church's history of child molestation and sexual abuse.

Loyola University Chicago invited Buress to headline the comedy portion of a two-day show featuring music and comedy at the school.

Buress began the set with a projection of an email he alleges he received from the Jesuit Catholic school ahead of his performance, which outlined topics that the comedian was to stay away from, reported Loyola's student newspaper, the Loyola Phoenix.

Among the banned topics were rape, sexual assault, race, illegal drugs and sexual orientation/gender. (A photo of the projected email can be seen here.)

"Bitch-ass old people, I can project," Buress said, according to reports. "Y'all f--k kids, right?"

That last comment led to Buress' microphone being cut off, and the comedian attempted to continue his set without a microphone. Students told the Loyola Phoenix music began playing in an attempt to drown Buress out, and he left the stage.

After about 15 minutes Buress returned to the stage and received a standing ovation from the audience, continuing on and finishing his performance. The comedian reportedly continued to reference being cut off during the set.

When a Twitter user later asked why Buress signed up for a show and went against the guidelines outlined beforehand, Buress apparently replied, "Or take it and get paid and still do what you want. option 2 sounds more exciting. Show still went on. What's your point here?"SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.  The Giants rotation story is building more intrigue as spring training moves into its final days.

The Giants have many ways they can go with two early off days, two candidates who have minor-league options and a nonroster invitee who has loads of experience and has impressed the staff.

Saturday was not a good day for the two younger pitchers. Chris Stratton threw four shutout innings, then allowed four runs in the fifth in a 5-4 split-squad loss to the Reds in Goodyear. At Scottsdale Stadium, the A's scorched Ty Blach for seven runs (three earned) in five innings of an 8-3 Oakland victory.

The four unearned runs did not mask how hard Blach was hit. The As scored in a first inning that included doubles by Matt Joyce and Jake Smolinski and a two-run Sheldon Neuse homer.

Seven of Blachs first 18 batters had extra-base hits. He ended his day with a perfect inning.

Its good to have some of those outings now and again, as much as they suck, Blach said. Its good to be able to come back and kind of get a little gut check and make sure youre mentally able to stay locked in and focused on making pitches.

That might be true, but a pitcher who does not have a job secured is well-served not to pitch like that this late, especially when a nonroster candidate like Derek Holland is making hay.

Manager Bruce Bochy acknowledged that the results in later-spring starts can carry more weight because Opening Day is so close.

Obviously, theyre a little more important because you want them to be close to where they need to be with their command and stuff, facing hitters who are getting their timing down, too, Bochy said. Ideally, you want to peak at the right time. Sure, (later starts) could sway you one way or the other on how you could go.

Bochy said he could set his rotation before the Giants break camp Friday.

Prospect hurt: Third baseman Jacob Gonzalez, the Giants' No. 2 draft pick last year and son of former Arizona outfielderLuis Gonzalez, is on concussion watch after he was hit by a pitch on the helmet during a minor-league intrasquad game. Gonzalez also was cut above an eyebrow and will be evaluated Sunday.

Briefly: The Giants optioned third baseman Ryder Jones to Triple-A. A hamstring injury ruined his spring.  The Giants will undergo their annual mandatory domestic-violence seminar Sunday.

As 8, Giants 3

Reds 5, Giants 4

Notable: Setup man Sam Dyson struck out the side in the eighth inning of the home loss to Oakland, a welcome sight after he had allowed seven runs over his past three outings while searching for his sinker.  Hunter Pence continued to swing the bat well with two hits against Oakland that raised his average to .290 after he started 1-for-18.  Buster Posey hit his first homer of the spring off Cincinnati left-hander Cody Reed in the road game. Austin Slater also took Reed deep, his second.  Starting prospect Andrew Suarez struck out four Reds in two shutout innings.  The Giants have lost five consecutive games after winning six in a row.

Quotable: The guy laid down a perfect two-strike bunt.  Manager Bruce Bochy on As left fielder Anthony Garcia , who ducked to avoid a Julian Fernandez pitch behind him but was thrown out when the ball inadvertently hit his bat and rolled to third baseman Evan Longoria

Sundays game: Giants vs. Rockies, at Scottsdale-Salt River,

1:10 p.m. Radio: 680

 Henry SchulmanWASHINGTON  Top-level congressional talks on a $1.3 trillion catchall spending bill are reaching a critical stage as negotiators confront immigration, abortion-related issues and a battle over a huge rail project that pits President Trump against his most powerful Democratic adversary.

The bipartisan measure is loaded with political and policy victories for both sides. Republicans and Trump are winning a long-sought budget increase for the Pentagon while Democrats obtain funding for infrastructure, the opioid crisis and a wide swath of domestic programs.

The bill would implement last months big budget agreement, providing 10 percent increases for both the Pentagon and domestic agencies when compared with current levels. Coupled with last years tax cut measure, it heralds the return of trillion-dollar budget deficits as soon as the budget year starting in October.

While most of the funding issues in the enormous measure have been sorted out, fights involving a number of policy riders  so named because they catch a ride on a difficult-to-stop spending bill  continued into the weekend. Among them are GOP-led efforts to add a plan to revive federal subsidies to help the poor cover out-of-pocket costs under President Barack Obamas health law and to fix a glitch in the recent tax bill that subsidizes grain sales to cooperatives at the expense of for-profit grain companies.

Trump has privately threatened to veto the whole package if a $900 million payment is made on the Hudson River Gateway Project, a priority of top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer of New York. Trumps opposition is alarming northeastern Republicans such as Gateway supporter Peter King, R-N.Y., who has lobbied Trump.

The Gateway Project would add an $11 billion rail tunnel under the Hudson River to complement deteriorating, century-old tunnels that are at risk of closing in a few years. It enjoys bipartisan support among key Appropriations panel negotiators on the omnibus measure who want to get the expensive project on track while their coffers are flush with money.

Most House Republicans voted to kill the funding in a tally last year, however, preferring to see the money spread to a greater number of districts.

Obviously, if were doing a huge earmark ... its troubling, said Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., a leader of House conservatives. Why would we do that? Schumers pet project and we pass that under a Republican-controlled Senate, House and White House?

Theres also a continuing battle over Trumps long-promised U.S.-Mexico border wall. While Trump traveled to California on Tuesday to inspect prototypes for the wall, whats pending now is $1.6 billion for earlier designs involving sections in Texas that double as levees and 14 miles of replacement fencing in San Diego.

It appears Democrats may be willing to accept wall funding, but they are battling hard against Trumps demands for big increases for immigration agents and detention beds they fear would enable wide-scale roundups of immigrants illegally living in the U.S.Eleven members of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, including eight bikers in the Sonoma County chapter, are accused of running a racketeering enterprise that included murder, assault, maiming, robbery, extortion and witness intimidation, according to a federal indictment unsealed Monday.

Six members of the biker gang were arrested over the weekend when federal agents and local law enforcement officials stormed a gathering outside the Wagon Wheel Saloon on Mendocino Avenue in Santa Rosa, FBI officials said.

Dozens of bikers were set to take off from the small bar around noon for the Red and White Sonoma County End of Summer Run, a biker rally that had been postponed because of the Wine Country wildfires last month.

Law enforcement officials conducted raids at 15 other locations, including in San Francisco, Fresno and Boston, said Jack Bennett, special agent in charge of the FBIs San Francisco field office.

This investigation has uncovered significant criminal activity, and its not over yet, Bennett said at a news conference Monday in San Francisco. This activity was designed to instill fear in the parts of Santa Rosa that are around these motorcycle gangs. The victims have lost their lives (and) their property, and their neighbors, their sense of safety.

Agents seized more than a dozen weapons, including several firearms, at least 10 motorcycles, drugs and bloody clothes during the weekend raids, officials said.

Several of the defendants appeared before a federal judge in San Francisco on Monday morning, Assistant United States Attorney Alex Tse said.

Four of the defendants  Brian Wendt, 40, Jonathan Jon Jon Nelson, 41, Russell Rusty Ott, 64, and Christopher Rain Man Ranieri, 49  face murder conspiracy charges in connection with a July 2014 killing in Fresno. Prosecutors say Wendt killed the victim after the other three defendants lured the person to a Hells Angels clubhouse. The victims name is not in the indictment.

The other seven defendants face charges including assault, witness intimidation, maiming and weapons violations in connection with several crimes in California and beyond. They are Raymond Ray Ray Foakes, 54, Russell J.R. Lyles Jr., 36, Jeremy Greer, 37, Damien Cesena, 36, Brian Bucky Burke, 37, Jason Agro Cliff, 50, and David Diaz III, 45.

The 11 defendants were indicted Oct. 10 after a three-year investigation by the FBI that revealed crimes dating back to the summer of 2007, according to the U.S. attorneys office.

Foakes, a former president of the Hells Angels Sonoma County chapter, was arrested in November 2016 on suspicion of sexually assaulting another members wife, prosecutors said. He was not charged at the time while detectives continued to investigate the case, but he remained in custody.

Foakes did a three-year stint in federal prison for his role in a mortgage fraud scheme in which he purchased homes for marijuana grow sites.

Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffskyNorthern Californias most wanted list just got three more criminals added.

Robert Lee Randolph, Gregory Wayne Davis III and Daniel Molintas Rillera are all wanted on charges related to homicides. Rillera is wanted in connection with a 1983 killing.

Click on the slideshow above to see everybody on the Northern California Most Wanted list.

ALSO: Man found shot dead under the I-880 overpass in Oakland

The most common crime cited on the most wanted list was murder (seven cases) and failure to register as a sex offender (three cases), but there's a wide array of other crimes that include assault with a deadly weapon, sexual assault, and parental kidnapping.

Not mentioned is Russell Lyles, Jr., 36 of Windsor, an alleged Hells Angels member accused of running a racketeering operation that included murder, assault, maiming, robbery, extortion and witness intimidation. A federal indictment was issued Monday for Lyles, and a reward is being offered.

Since our last update earlier this year, three new criminals have been added and four criminals have been captured, bringing the current number down to 68 criminals on the most wanted list.

ALSO: 1 of 2 escaped South Bay inmates captured in Stockton

Anyone who has information about suspect whereabouts is urged to call 911 or submit an anonymous tip.SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

An evacuation center has been opened to serve those affected by the Saturday night fire in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood, fire officials said.

The evacuation center is at 1450 Powell St., according to the San Francisco Fire Department, which shared the information on social media. The Red Cross Bay Area and the Salvation Army are available to assist those affected by the fire.

Reports of the number of people displaced vary, but the fire department reported this morning that eight people were confirmed displaced by the Red Cross Bay Area.

The blaze at 659 Union St. between Powell Street and Columbus Avenue was reported around 7:30 p.m. and devastated the three-story building, fire officials said.

Firefighters arrived at the scene two minutes after they were dispatched, attacking the blaze form inside within six minutes, according to San Francisco Fire Department Lt. Jonathan Baxter. The fire was contained and firefighters remained on the scene to check for hot spots.

###

558-3404SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

Firefighters have called a fourth alarm at a fire in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood, the department confirmed.

There have not been any injuries reported in the blaze, according to the fire department.

San Francisco fire reported the second alarm in 659 Union Street at about 7:37 p.m. this evening on Twitter.

Shortly after 8 p.m, the third and fourth alarm were reported.

Black smoke and flames were billowing into the air soon after the fire began and the fire department was asking people to avoid the area.

Rania Abouesh, who has a home in San Francisco, was eating dinner this evening at Il Pollaio, a restaurant on 555 Columbus Avenue that shares a block with 659 Union Street.

Abouesh said the smell of smoke started permeating the restaurant, but most patrons thought it was the smell of cooking grilled chicken.

When she stepped out, she saw smoke and soon flames rising into the sky,

She walked by bars blaring with music and packed with St. Patrick's Day revelers, unaware of the fire, right before police began evacuating the area.

"It was raining burnt ashes," Abouesh said. "It happened so fast."

She could still see the flames billowing into the sky once she returned home to a residence near Russian Hill and Lombard Street.

###SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

Firefighters have contained a large, 4-alarm fire in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood tonight and will continue monitoring it overnight through tomorrow afternoon, fire officials reported.

San Francisco Fire Department Lt. Jonathan Baxter said firefighters will be extinguishing "hot spots" for a few more hours to ensure the fire doesn't flare up. Baxter said the department is maintaining a "fire watch" at the building with at least one fire engine and one fire truck.

Baxter said firefighters arrived to the scene 2 minutes after they were dispatched, attacking the blaze from inside the building within 6 minutes. The fire was at two alarms just after 7:30 p.m., but it quickly grew to a 4-alarm blaze.

Once the firefighters determined there was no one inside the building, Baxter said they switched to a "defensive operation" to extinguish the flames by pouring water on it from outside the building.

The fire department initially said 15 people would be displaced from 659 Union St., but updated that number to one after learning that 14 people worked at the address, but did not live there. The one person who is displaced owns the business and left their keys and personal belongings in the fire, Baxter said.

Firefighters kept the flames contained to one building, but Baxter said residents in the building next door, at 575 Columbus St., could be displaced due to water damage.

Fire officials are still determining how many residents will be affected, he said, but it will not be an "extended displacement". The San Francisco Department of Building Inspection is on scene to assess the building's integrity, Baxter said.

The building that went up in flames has businesses in the lower level and 27 vacant residential units in the upper levels, according to Baxter. Fire officials are working with San Francisco police to determine the cause and the origin of the fire.

Baxter said 140 firefighters were on scene to combat the blaze when it began, but several have been sent home. He emphasized that the city's day-to-day needs were met despite the large response.

Black smoke and flames were billowing into the air soon after the fire began and the fire department asked people to avoid the area.

Rania Nour, who has a home in San Francisco, was eating dinner this evening at Il Pollaio, a restaurant on 555 Columbus Avenue that shares a block with 659 Union Street. She said the smell of smoke started permeating the restaurant, but most patrons thought it was the smell of grilled chicken. When she stepped outside the restaurant, she saw smoke and flames rising into the sky. She walked by bars blaring with music and packed with St. Patrick's Day revelers, unaware of the fire, right before police began evacuating the area.

"It was raining burnt ashes," Nour said. "It happened so fast."

She could still see the flames billowing into the sky once she returned home near Russian Hill and Lombard Street.

558-3404A Seaside man has been sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to abusing his 83-year-old mother, Monterey County District Attorney Dean Flippo announced Friday.

Daniel Johnson, 56, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of elder abuse.

On Sept. 2, 2016, the Seaside Police Department responded to Johnson's mother's home after she pressed the emergency button on a medical alert device she wore.

A dispatcher from the medical company overheard the victim screaming for help and Johnson yelling at the victim, prosecutors said.

The victim told investigators Johnson grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her.

The attack partially tore her rotator cuff, prosecutors said.

###

755-5267A major blaze ripped through a three-story building in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood Saturday evening, fire officials said.

The fire was reported around 7:30 p.m. and devastated a brick building at 659 Union St. between Powell Street and Columbus Avenue, the fire department reported on social media.

San Francisco Fire Department Lt. Jonathan Baxter said firefighters arrived at the scene two minutes after they were dispatched, attacking the blaze from inside the building within six minutes.

The fire was at two alarms just after 7:30 p.m., but it quickly grew to a 4-alarm blaze. Black smoke and flames were billowing into the air soon after the fire began.

Eight people were displaced by the fire, the fire department reported on Twitter this morning. One firefighter was injured this morning because of a fall from a fire truck, but he is stable, fire officials said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, fire officials said.

Once the firefighters determined there was no one inside the building, Baxter said they switched to a "defensive operation" to extinguish the flames by pouring water on it from outside the building.

Firefighters kept the flames contained to one building, Baxter said.

The San Francisco Department of Building Inspection reported to the scene on scene to assess the building's integrity, Baxter said.

The building that went up in flames has businesses in the lower level and 27 vacant residential units in the upper levels, according to Baxter.

Baxter said 140 firefighters were initially sent to the scene to combat the blaze when it began, but several have been sent home. He said the city's day-to-day needs were met despite the large response.

Rania Nour, who has a home in San Francisco, was eating dinner Saturday evening at Il Pollaio, a restaurant on 555 Columbus Avenue that shares a block with 659 Union Street.

Nour said the smell of smoke started permeating the restaurant, but most patrons thought it was the smell of grilled chicken. When she stepped outside the restaurant, she saw smoke and flames rising into the sky. She walked by bars blaring with music and packed with St. Patrick's Day revelers, unaware of the fire, right before police began evacuating the area.

"It was raining burnt ashes," Nour said. "It happened so fast."

She said she could still see the flames billowing into the sky once she returned home near Russian Hill and Lombard Street.

Mayor Mark Farrell and Supervisor London Breed tweeted from the scene, with Farrell saying, "Thank you to all the firefighters working to control this fire and assisting displaced individuals on the scene."

All lanes of traffic on eastbound Interstate Highway 80 at Willow Avenue in Hercules have re-opened after a shooting on the freeway Saturday night forced the California Highway Patrol to close the freeway to investigate.

A Sig-alert was issued after the eastbound lanes were closed around 9:30 p.m. Saturday and was lifted at 1:45 a.m. today.

The CHP said at least one person was injured in the shooting, but no information on the victim's injuries or condition was immediately available.

Fire crews and police responded to the scene of a solo-vehicle accident in Pleasant Hill early this morning, Contra Costa County Fire Department and Pleasant Hill police dispatchers said.

The crash occurred in the vicinity of Pleasant Hill Road and Mercury Way, dispatchers confirmed around 1 a.m.

No further information was immediately available.

Three men have been arrested after an armed robbery Saturday sparked a manhunt for the suspects in East Oakland, police said.

According to Oakland police officer Lee Odom, the men are in custody on suspicion of armed robbery and will eventually be taken to Glynn Dyer Jail in Oakland.

Earlier, police said the manhunt centered around the areas of Burckhalter, Altamont and Sunnymere avenues near Hillmont Drive. Residents in the area were advised to the stay in their homes and report any suspicious people to police.

No other information was immediately available.

Concord police are asking for the public's help in locating a missing Concord man who was last seen in rural Sacramento County almost one week ago.

Police said David Kempker was last seen in the Sherman Island area during the early morning hours of Monday. His family reported him missing the next day.

Kempker's truck was located by the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday on a road off of state Highway 160, but police said after extensive efforts by search and rescue teams, Kempker wasn't found.

Police list Kempker as a white male who is six feet tall with short blond hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Concord Police Detective Kevin Giacoletto at (925) 671-3040. Those wishing to remain anonymous can call (925) 603-5836.

Two people were shot early Saturday morning in Santa Rosa, and both were taken to the hospital with wounds not considered to be life-threatening, police said.

Officers responded to the 2300 block of Corby Avenue on a report of a gunshot victim around 6 a.m., according to police. They found a woman with a gunshot wound in the leg and a man with gunshot wounds to the leg and foot, police said.

Officers found out that the two had been shot outside the apartment where they were found and fled into the apartment, police said. The people who lived in the apartment didn't know the victims.

The two victims are not cooperating with police, and the Violent Crimes Investigation Unit has taken over the case. Anyone with information is asked to contact Santa Rosa police at (707) 543-3590.

A Suisun City man was arrested on suspicion of possession of child pornography Thursday, Fairfield police said.

Anthony Smith, 26, of Suisun City, was arrested and booked into Solano County Jail after a six-week investigation, according to police.

In late January, the department's electronic crimes detective learned that someone might be downloading child pornography in the Fairfield area, police said.

After further investigation, it was determined that the suspected child pornography was allegedly being downloaded at a home in the 1000 block of Murre Way in Suisun, according to police.

In February, detectives from the police department's investigations bureau served a search warrant at the home and collected various electronics, police said.

After examining the electronics, police allegedly determined that Smith was in possession of many files of explicit material dealing with children, according to police.

Two people were detained or arrested on suspicion of fare evasion at two different BART stations Friday as BART continues its crackdown on fare evasion.

Shelton L. Dunson, 31, of Oakland, was arrested around 9:32 a.m. at the Coliseum station on suspicion of fare evasion and false identification to a peace officer after refusing to sign a notice to appear, police said.

Sterling Anderson-Crecy, 24, of Oakland, was detained around 8:48 p.m. at the West Oakland station on suspicion of fare evasion, police said.

Record checks allegedly showed that the suspect had an outstanding $15,000 arrest warrant for auto theft held by the Orange County Sheriff's Office, police said. Anderson-Crecy was arrested and booked at Glenn Dyer Jail, according to police.

Fare evasion costs BART an estimated $15 to $25 million annually. With this in mind, the transit agency has beefed up police patrols, with increased enforcement throughout the system, not at any specific stations.

BART officials are also making it harder to avoid paying a fare by installing such things as higher barriers around the paid areas.

San Jose police have arrested four men in connection with the shooting deaths of two brothers that occurred in 2016.

Peter Sanchez, 38, Christopher Ruby, 22, Richard Martinez, 29 and Carlos Hernandez, 41, all from San Jose, were arrested on Wednesday and Thursday, according to the San Jose Police Department.

The charges stem from a 2016 shooting incident that left two people dead and one person injured.

On Aug. 21, 2016, San Jose Police Department officers responded to the 900 block of S. 8th Street on a report of shots fired.

Arriving officers located Michael Ramirez, 27, and Arturo Ramirez, 36, both from San Jose, suffering from gunshot wounds. Michael Ramirez was pronounced deceased at the scene, and Arturo Ramirez died at the hospital a short time later.

Another victim was injured in the shooting, and a fourth victim was shot at but not injured.

The U.S. Coast Guard rescued a fisherman who was washed out to sea at a beach in Sonoma Count Saturday morning.

The 35-year-old man was hit by a wave while fishing in the surf in Salt Point State Park at about 8:20 a.m., according to the Coast Guard.

Someone at the beach reported the incident to the Coast Guard, saying the man was about 500 feet offshore and having trouble swimming.

The Coast Guard sent a helicopter crew and 47-foot lifeboat to find the man.

The California Highway Patrol, Sonoma County life guards, Timber Cove Fire Department and Salt Creek State Park Rangers also responded to locate the man.

The helicopter was able to retrieve the man and transfer him to emergency medical personnel who were waiting on shore, the Coast Guard said.

The agency did not release any information about the man's condition.

Cat Town, the beloved cat cafi and adoption shelter in Oakland, suffered a break-in Thursday night, but there was a silver lining: A dramatic cat rescue.

The intruder was captured on video throwing a brick through a window and entering the shelter at 1:22 a.m., said Ann Dunn, executive director of Cat Town. "He was trying to get into the cafi next door."

Cat Town is an adoption center next door to a cafi, "which is what makes us a cat cafi," Dunn said. RAWR Coffee Bar is the entry point for Cat Town, a nonprofit cat rescue organization.

Workers at the shelter found a boarded-up window when they reported to work at 7 a.m. Friday, Dunn said. She said police responded within minutes of the break-in and arranged for the window to be boarded up.

The suspect didn't get anything, but two cats escaped through the broken window, Dunn said. One cat is still missing, but a dramatic rescue restored the other cat to the adoption center.

"As soon as we found out about the break-in Thursday morning, we went next door to the construction project next door and told them we had a missing cat," Dunn said.

About two hours later, a worker from the project showed up with the mud-caked, soaking wet cat in his arms.

"He got bitten trying to rescue her, but he persisted," Dunn said. The cat, a six-month-old black and white tuxedo cat, had wedged herself into a corner, but the worker was able to get her out.

"She was so muddy, I didn't even realize what he (the worker) was carrying when he showed up," Dunn said.

Unlike the construction worker, the cat was unharmed and has happily rejoined the approximately 23 other cats at the shelter. Cat Town has about 90 cat clients at present, Dunn said; the others are with foster parents.

Another cat is missing, but that cat is fearful and it's not a good idea for members of the public to join in the search being conducted by Cat Town staffers, Dunn said.

The nonprofit now must raise money to replace the windows, which are vulnerable to another break-in, Dunn said. Donations can be made on the Cat Town website at https://www.cattownoakland.org/.JACKSON COUNTY, Miss. -- Jackson County deputies arrested a 21-year-old man on Friday after he led them on a high-speed chase in a stolen car, according to Sheriff Mike Ezell.

Deputies received a call close to 9 a.m. Friday morning regarding a suspicious vehicle on Hans Road, in the Helena community. The vehicle was located, and a traffic stop was conducted on Saracennia Road.

As the deputy began to approach the vehicle, the driver sped off attempting to elude the deputy. Additional units responded and found the vehicle, at which time the driver led the deputies in a vehicular pursuit on Greenfield's Road, Saracennia Road, Hwy 613, to Wolf Ridge Road.

The driver, Dylan Larry Wheeler, 21, stopped the car and was taken into custody by deputies. Wheeler lives in Texas but is originally from Jackson County. The vehicle was reported stolen from Pascagoula, on March 11, 2018.

A 17-year-old Escatawpa teen was Wheeler's passenger and was subsequently arrested with him.

Wheeler is charged with three felony crimes, possession of burglary tools, felony evasion, and receiving stolen property. He is being held at the Jackson County Adult Detention Center, pending an initial appearance in county court.

The teen was charged with possession of burglary tools and was transported to the Jackson County Youth Court. He was also on probation with youth court.San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin criticized Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White as a residential and commercial building in his district burned, saying that firefighters had been slow to pour water on the blaze and that he had been unable to reach the chief as the emergency unfolded.

This was an abject failure of the Fire Department, said Peskin, leader of the boards progressive faction, as smoke poured from the building across from Washington Square Park in North Beach on Saturday night. Eight residents were displaced from the building at 659 Union St., and 10 businesses were damaged. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Hayes-White was at the scene in her fire jacket and helmet and defended her departments efforts, saying firefighters were concentrating on battling flames inside the building and making sure no one was trapped before spraying water from the outside.

Fire crews arrived within two minutes of getting a call at 7:24 p.m., Hayes-White said.

Were professional firefighters, she said. We know what were doing.

But that didnt satisfy Peskin, who fumed 10 feet away. Hed rushed to the fire from a dinner at the New Asia restaurant in Chinatown, after receiving a text message at 7:30 p.m.

They didnt put water on the fire for half an hour, he said.

Peskin was also enraged that hed been unable to reach Hayes-White quickly after the fire broke out. I was calling the chief repeatedly, and her voice-mail box was full, he said.

The supervisor said he planned to call for an independent investigation of the departments response to the blaze.

Peskin has a history of clashing with city department heads, including Hayes-White. He attacked her after an April 21 fire at a Pacific Gas and Electric Co. substation in the Tenderloin knocked out power downtown and in the northern areas of the city.

Afterward, Peskin and Supervisor London Breed held a hearing to address what they saw as an ill-prepared department and a lack of communication between fire officials and the utility.

During that hearing, Peskin poked holes in Hayes-Whites assertions that the department holds regular training sessions to prepare for substation fires. He said the city should monitor the Fire Departments response times on an ongoing basis.

After three people died during a record heat wave in September, Peskin, Breed and Supervisor Jane Kim held another City Hall hearing, at which Peskin chastened the chief and other department heads for what he said was sluggish handling of a crisis.

At least one member of the city commission that oversees the Fire Department accused Peskin of crossing a line on Saturday by criticizing her while her crews fought an active fire.

Fire Commission member Joe Alioto Veronese rebutted Peskins remarks in a lengthy Facebook post.

You may read some controversial statements criticizing our members from people outside the fire services that dont understand fire science strategy and priorities, Veronese wrote.

He defended firefighters strategy of going through a building interior before spraying water on the structure, saying, Our mission is to save and protect lives, then property.

Also defending the San Francisco firefighters was Bobby Halton, a retired fire chief and current editor of Fire Engineering, a magazine dedicated to firefighting news. He said the outcome of the fire speaks for itself.

The fact that you have no injuries in a crowded bar on St. Paddys Day makes it pretty amazing, said Halton, who was the chief of operations at the Albuquerque Fire Department for about 20 years until 2004 and then led the Coppell (Texas) Fire Department for several years afterward.

Halton noted that the firefighters two-minute response time trumped the national standard for an urban area, which he said is about four to eight minutes.

Theres no standard in the American fire service of arrival time for water on the fire, because there are so many variables, Halton added. Youve gotta get folks out of those buildings first, and then you have to figure out where to put the water.

The valiant effort of the San Francisco Fire Department speaks for itself, Mayor Mark Farrell said. No lives were lost, and no civilian injuries occurred. While there is a live four-alarm fire burning, it is inappropriate for anybody to criticize how the professional firefighters of the SFFD, with decades of experience, are handling the situation. I have full confidence in Fire Chief Hayes-White, and I applaud the work of the brave men and women of SFFD.

Peskin toned down his comments Sunday morning, but didnt back off entirely.

I have great respect for the working men and women of the San Francisco Fire Department  always have, always will, he said. But some of their management I have concerns about.

Hayes-White has been chief for 14 years, and Peskin isnt the only official with whom she has had tense relations. Breed called for her resignation in September 2014 after the citys slow ambulance response times became a public concern. Two months later, Breed, who was by then contemplating a run for the board presidency, eased up on her criticism.

On Saturday night, Breed stood beside Hayes-White at the fire scene and praised the men and women of our Fire Department.

Peskins remarks put the head of the San Francisco firefighters union in an awkward position. The union has sparred for years with Hayes-White over staffing and equipment issues, and in 2014 even voted no confidence in her.

But on Sunday, union president Tom OConnor stopped short of endorsing Peskins comments.

Were caught between two worlds, OConnor said. We understand Peskins concerns about management of the Fire Department. But the actions of our men and women last night were heroic.

Chronicle staff writer Trisha Thadani contributed to this report.Tolga Akmen/Associated Press

LONDON  Britains foreign minister said Sunday that he has evidence Russia has been stockpiling a nerve agent in violation of international law very likely for the purposes of assassination.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the trail of blame for the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English city of Salisbury leads inexorably to the Kremlin. His comment came after a Russian envoy suggested the toxin used to poison the Skripals could have come from a British lab.MANILA  Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte urged other governments Sunday to abandon the International Criminal Court, saying the world tribunal  where hes facing a possible complaint for the thousands of killings of drug suspects under his crackdown  is rude.

Although the Philippine Senate has ratified the Rome Statute that established the court, Duterte said in a speech that the treaty was never valid in his country because it was not published in a government journal as required by law. As a result, Duterte said the international court can never have jurisdiction over him, not in a million years.

Last month, a tribunal prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, announced she was opening a preliminary examination into a complaint by a Filipino lawyer of suspected extrajudicial killings under Dutertes antidrug campaign, which could amount to crimes against humanity.

The move angered Duterte, who announced Wednesday that he is withdrawing the Philippine ratification of the Rome Statute effective immediately, citing a concerted effort by Bensouda and U.N. human rights officials to paint me as a ruthless and heartless violator of human rights.

You know, if its not published, there is no law, Duterte said Sunday in a speech to graduating of cadets of the Philippine Military Academy in northern Baguio city.

There was no reason to withdraw from something which is not existing, Duterte said, adding that he announced the withdrawal from the International Criminal Court treaty to draw the worlds attention to the issue he had with the tribunal.

I will convince everybody now who are under the treaty at ICC: Get out, get out, its rude, the brash-talking president said.

Dutertes action came under fire from human rights groups, who said the president is trying to evade accountability by backing out of the tribunal. Critics say Duterte cant withdraw from the court by himself and may need the approval of the Senate, which ratified the Rome Statute in 2011.

More than 120 countries have ratified the treaty that established the tribunal in 2002 in The Hague. The court can intervene only when a state is unable or unwilling to carry out an investigation and prosecute perpetrators of heinous acts like crimes against humanity, genocide and war atrocities.GAZIANTEP, Turkey  Syrian rebels backed by Turkey seized control Sunday of the city of Afrin, the target of a two-month military operation against Kurdish militias in the enclave in Syria. The takeover dealt a blow to Kurdish aspirations for self-administration there and added to Turkeys growing footprint in the country.

The Syrian rebel forces, which have served as advance troops for the Turkish operation, seemed to have entered the city without a fight, after the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units, or YPG, withdrew to the surrounding hills. But residents described chaos as fleeing civilians were trapped by artillery and Turkish air strikes.

The seizure of Afrin, a mainly Kurdish city near the Turkish border, came as other Syrian rebel groups appeared close to collapse in the besieged area of eastern Ghouta, in the suburbs of Damascus. Syrian forces have divided the region into three parts under a blistering barrage of artillery and air strikes.

On Sunday, President Bashar Assad was photographed visiting troops near the front line.

In Afrin, tens of thousands of civilians have fled in recent days, as Turkish troops encircled the city but left a corridor open to the south.

A unit of the rebel force, which comprises several groups that fight under the banner of the Free Syrian Army, posted video of its fighters strolling through the empty streets between deserted high-rises.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey announced the takeover of the city in a speech at a commemoration ceremony in Gallipoli on Sunday, hailing the Turkish and Syrian soldiers who had accomplished the takeover as heroes.

The operation was a turnabout for the Syrian fighters, who had originally taken up arms to fight their government and are now fighting Syrian Kurds who had sought a measure of autonomy in Syria. Turkey, one of the main backers of Syrian rebels, has shifted its focus to preventing the YPG, which it considers a terrorist organization, from establishing a foothold along its border. It has enlisted rebels, including some displaced from their homes by the YPG.

The events have fueled fierce controversy among Syrian opposition activists, with some saying that Syrian rebels were working for Turkey against other Syrians. But others argue that Turkish protection is the best bet for establishing areas free of government control and bombing.To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.

We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.

A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means youre helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!"Where we have made mistakes we must and will take responsibility for them, we will make things right for our customers, and not repeat the same mistakes. We will exceed our regulatory and compliance obligations, and enhance the financial wellbeing of every single customer we serve.

"Together, we will make our bank better, and one we can all continue to be proud of.

Mr Comyn also addressed the criticism from Commissioner Hayne about the faults in the bank's evidence it has provided.

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"From the outset, we said that we were absolutely determined to be co-operative and open with the commission. Unfortunately, as we heard on Tuesday, our first submissions did not meet the commissions expectations," he said.

"This was never our intention and we will resubmit our information as soon as possible and ensure we have fully met the requests of the commission. We will work to make sure this doesnt happen again."

CBA will not likely be the initial focus as the commission will turn its focus to misconduct on regards to car financing.

Motor lending practices at ANZ and its former subsidiary Esanda will be the first to be grilled over alleged inappropriate sales techniques. Westpac and St George will also be in the royal commission's spotlight for their conduct in the vehicle finance sector.

ANZ was fined $5 million earlier this year over Esanda's lending practices.

The bank announced on Friday it would suspend it asset finance business, including all car loans, to retail customers. Its asset finance business for commercial customers remains unchanged.

ANZ general manager home loans and retail products William Ranken will appear for the bank and face questioning from senior counsel assisting Rowena Orr.Traders in the global foreign exchange market are rapidly being replaced by computers that decide which currencies to buy and sell and when, execute thousands of orders a day and process them in milliseconds.

In "high frequency" trading, the only role of human beings - beyond developing the program - is to turn the computer on and off.

This is the trend that Bank of America, the second largest US bank, wants to exploit as it competes in the foreign exchange industry which turns over more than $US2 trillion a day.

What makes high frequency trading more profitable is simply its speed and volume. Even a tiny profit can turn into big money as it is multiplied many thousands of times.

Whatever profit a manual trader makes in a year, the system can potentially make in a day. Thus on the same profitable trades, the computer always beats the man - or so the argument goes.Three weeks ago, an email landed in the inboxes of some of Australias most respected start-up figures, including billionaire Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes and representatives from some of the nations top venture capital funds.

It was from Shoes of Prey CEO Michael Fox. He was seeking fresh funding from his investors.

Shoes of Prey co-founders Jodie Fox and Michael Fox. Credit:Jessica Alexander

Over the last 2 years we've made very good progress with our manufacturing capability however we've struggled to grow at the rates we'd forecast, the email read.

The unlisted, custom shoe design start-up wanted to raise $3 million in a bridge round. The funds would be used to help it shift to a new business model. And to avoid a less palatable fate.Coles will struggle to compete with arch-rival Woolworths once it has been spun-out into a separate company and has to fend for itself without the support of the retail giant Wesfarmers.

That's the view of Bank of America Merrill Lynch's veteran retail analyst, David Errington, who argues the demerger will benefit Wesfarmers more than Coles.

Wesfarmers shocked the market with its announcement on Friday that it intended to cut Coles loose, with the $18 billion supermarket to become as new top-30 ASX listed company.

Coles is set to emerge as a new company. Credit:Carla Gottgens

Coles is Wesfarmers' biggest business and accounts for 60 per cent of its tied-up capital but generates only 34 per cent of its earnings.The ABC's temerity in hosting a debate about the merits of high population growth has drawn predictable ripostes from the economic establishment. Shades of the legendary note in the margin of a politician's speech: "shout here - argument weak".

There are at least four counts against the advocates of high immigration. First, their refusal to engage with the academic environmentalists arguing that we've exceeded the "carrying capacity" of our old and fragile land. Scientists? What would they know?

A bigger population requires a bigger government, with more debt. Credit:Nick Moir

Second, they keep asserting high immigration's great economic benefits, blithely ignoring the lack of evidence. Whenever the Productivity Commission has examined the issue carefully it's found only small net effects, one way or the other. Its latest modelling found only a "negligible" overall impact.

Third, the advocates not only decline to admit the high social and economic costs that go with high rates of immigration, they decline to accept their share of the tab, doing all they can to shift it to the young, the poor and those on the geographic outer, including many of the migrants.Tim Roth in the TV series Lie to Me. He does high drama with a cheeky Cockney accent, he does melodrama with elegance and grace. He was the intellectual Guildenstern in Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, the dull goon in Peter Greenaway's The Cook the Thief His Wife and Her Lover. He played an out-of-his-depth armed robber in Pulp Fiction, an abominable monster in The Incredible Hulk, and a hateful segregationist in Selma. And here, in Tin Star, he's the lead player  the classic role of a new cop in a small town  in a dense TV drama series that throws into the pot (spoiler alert) the murder of a child, a clash between the environment and Big Oil, oleaginous baddies and the extreme psychological effects of alcoholism. "There is sometimes a fine line between a cop and a criminal," warns the very first image on screen. Roth, of course, has played both. Roth says when he read the script it "gave me a kick".

He's not quite in the league of actors who can pick and choose their jobs. "Sometimes you need to work, you've got the school fees and you've got the rent, so you deal," he says. But he didn't do Tin Star for the money. "Doing a TV series was not what I was actually looking for. I'd done one, it's really tough going. It's not like you're working down a mine  but still, you're busy, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't." But he was drawn to the script, he says.

"The story has an anarchy about it, a kind of wildness about it that I think is unusual. And just when you think you've got it figured out  you haven't." One of the biggest challenges was not the character but the environment  he's worked up in the Canadian mountains before and "I knew what was coming the altitude was the biggest problem by far for all of us. You get headaches from it, and you can see the weather systems fighting each other. It's very weird  and we're going back to do another season of this and that's the bit I'm dreading more than anything." Another challenge was his character's background of alcoholism (again, apologies for the slight spoiler, but you don't have to get far into the story to find it out). Roth says he's not a method actor. "Oh God no, the opposite. It's all pretend and then you go home."

So he had deep, long conversations with director and writer Rowan Joffe about how alcoholism should be played. "We had to have a little 'rule book' which we had to be very clear about. 'Sorry, ok, who am I now? And who remembers what?'. Because I'm playing Jekyll and Hyde, and the Hyde version remembers everything but Jekyll doesn't." There were other tips: real alcoholics "can't get drunk any more", Roth says. "It's like he's drinking a bottle of water. So  no 'drunk acting' at all. Drunk acting is one of the hardest things to do, by the way, to do right." I ask Roth who's done the best drunk acting in a movie. He picks the 1938 romantic comedy The Holiday starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. Hepburn's on-screen brother Ned (played by Lew Ayres), says Roth, is "absolutely brilliant". Despite the darkness of his role, Roth says he loved filming it.

He's had acting jobs that leave a shadow but "this one was fun". "They were very up for me inventing stuff," he says. Before and during shooting he would improvise lines, playing with his character to add warmth and realism to scenes and interactions. An entire episode was entirely improvised  the script gave them the plot but the actors provided the words. "If it was just a load of old actors wanking it would be awful, boring," Roth acknowledges. "We had to be really careful, we reined ourselves in, and a lot of what came out of it was the humour that I wanted to lace into [my character]. I found a way." Though reviews were mixed when Tin Star debuted, no-one had a bad word to say about Roth's performance.

Roth says he loves working in the US. He moved to LA three decades ago because "Thatcher and those guys were ripping the money away from the arts" and he landed in the States with a job and "it coincided with all this independent film that was brand new  with Quentin and James Gray and all that, which doesn't really exist any more". He loves the enthusiasm and exuberance of the States  "they're pretty much happy to have you I have such a laugh, we have the best time and they keep hiring me. And the schools are pretty good for the kids". Sure, right now, there's Trump. Roth would love to get offered a political role in a film right now, he says, like a Ken Loach (he's proud of being on the Cannes jury that gave the gong to The Wind that Shakes the Barley) but "I've never had a shot at one of those, really. I'd love to have a go, it would be great, but it's just never come my way. "But you never know what's around the corner." WHAT Tin Star"I'm jittery, my heart rate is up, I'm talking too fast." Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes), the brilliant but perennially unbalanced CIA agent at the centre of Homeland may be worried about her mental health, but aficionados of the show know this is a trade-off the bipolar sufferer will make again and again. The seventh (and penultimate) season of the espionage thriller continues the show's exploration of domestic American politics, and even as she's tried to focus on her young daughter, Carrie has been drawn back into the investigation of a new Presidential administration  with Elizabeth Keane (Elizabeth Marvel) as the Hillary Clinton-style possessor of the White House  still reeling from an assassination scheme in the previous season. Carrie's mentor Saul Berenson (Mandy Patinkin) is dealing with fake news broadcasters and anti-government militias, and the show's tragedies feel contemporary now. What's missing? Rupert Friend's Quinn, who was Homeland's despairing heart.

Programs like Who Do You Think You Are? and ads for ancestry research sites make it seem really exciting to discover what your heritage is, because then you can know who you really are (especially if you have a violent bushranger in the family tree!). I am a sixth generation Australian on one side and almost totally Scottish on the other. Okay, so why do I feel most at home in Oxfordshire in England and Suzdal in Russia? And why do I feel so at odds with the Scottish genius for disenchantment, and stirring up rebellions and referendums, losing, and then becoming disgruntled all over again? I should feel proud that in the 13th century William Wallace fought against the English, but I don't. I find the English far more charming. All of which makes me unlikely to love Mel Gibson's Braveheart, but I do. It distorts history and is unquestioning of its politics, but it is a ripping good yarn with an unforgettable ending.

Scott MurraySBS, 8.50pm

Some might think there were already enough films and television series on Sherlock Holmes, but in 2015 along came another. Bill Condon's Mr Holmes was promoted as being about Sherlock in old age, as portrayed by the great Ian McKellen  surely a cinematic marriage made in heaven. Instead, the film turned out to be a sombre account of old age, with Holmes largely replaceable as the lead character by anybody in their nineties. Yes, Sherlock is trying to remember his last case, but that is mostly a device, not the basis of an inventive re-interpretation of the former superstar of Baker Street, now resident in rural Sussex. This is not a criticism, just an explanation to anyone expecting a traditional Sherlock mystery. Instead, it is a harrowing account of the deprivations of severe old age, finely acted, but a little enervating and ponderous.

Scott Murray

pay Mum

BBC First, 9.35pmThe countdown has begun in earnest. In two months' time, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will marry in St George's Chapel, Windsor, in front of what is expected to be the most varied wedding party any royal nuptials have ever seen.

With everyone from the Obamas to the cast of Suits and the Spice Girls rumoured to feature on one of the three lists (the day is expected to be split into thirds, with the ceremony, morning reception, and evening reception all thought to involve different guests), we can expect to see some broad interpretations of the dress code.

So how do you pick an outfit for such an occasion? For those not among the family and friends on Harry's side, who will all be used to attending society weddings, the customs may seem alien.

Choosing an outfit for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding is a tricky business. Credit:Alamy

With every generation, the traditions relax  like many women of her time Diana, Princess of Wales chose not to promise to "obey" her husband in her vows; Zara Phillips, meanwhile, retained her maiden name when she married Mike Tindall. And Harry and Meghan are already showing signs of being an informal and thoroughly modern couple, who are happy to dispense with protocol if it means that they can just be themselves.It's a scene that has happened more than once. My daughter is playing with a friend. She's happy and excited, bouncing up and down and talking a mile a minute. Out of nowhere, the friend grabs her and pulls her into a big hug. The adults around coo, take pictures and say, "Those two are definitely getting married one day!" Meanwhile, my daughter looks visibly uncomfortable as she waits for this physical contact to end.

The conversation about consent is ongoing, with a steady stream of stories about sexual harassment and assault in Hollywood, politics and the media. The #MeToo movement continues as more stories have emerged, and nearly every industry has been affected.

Parental involvement and modelling behaviour is key. Credit:Shutterstock

When it comes to children, the emphasis has primarily been on consent between them and adults. The Girls Scouts of America recently reminded parents that it's okay for kids to refuse a hug or kiss from a family member. Conversations about consent and the right to say no to adults are important, but when the affection is coming from another child, too often it's seen as adorable, and something that should be encouraged.

If we want our children to learn about consent and hope to teach them to respect others' body autonomy, though, it's important that they know that not all affection, however well-intentioned, is welcome. We use the words good touch and bad touch, but it's easy to forget to emphasise that even a good touch can become bad if it's unwanted."The government will speak further with the event organisers to ensure future events maintain appropriate noise levels for nearby residents." She also confirmed the dance party was not government funded. According to the event's Facebook page, it was held at a "secret location" that only ticket holders were privy to. The event was scheduled for 9pm on Saturday to 7am Sunday morning. The warehouse party was a BYO event. "Wearing their darker guise of Escape Ferocity, the Art, Not Apart festival team brings another warehouse party to tell your grandkids about," the Facebook event page said.

It is understood a similar event was held in the area within recent months. Art, Not Apart festival producer and Escape Ferocity manager Dave Caffery apologised. "We regret that last night's event was audible in residential areas and sincerely apologise to anyone adversely effected," Mr Caffery said. "It seems that everyone, including us, are shocked the sound carried through Fyshwick, across the border, through Queanbeyan's industrial area and into suburbia. "We would not have conducted this event if this was a known possibility."

He said a similar event was hosted at the same time last year, but a few streets over on Townsville Street and it used the same sound systems. He said they received no sound complaints. "To respect residents, we will not host any more events until an appropriate venue can be found," he said. "People should be able to sleep while others have fun, we're sorry if you couldn't last night." Mr Caffery said two medics and one private ambulance were on site all night. "We also have a policy of saving and then banning guests who cannot control themselves. We expect mature and experienced party-goers," he said. Queanbeyan police station inspector Anthony Hill said a number of residents as far as Googong could hear the noise and thought it was within the local area. Googong is more than 12 kilometres from the site of the rave.

Inspector Hill said the complaints were made until past 5am. According to Facebook posts residents in Narrabundah also reported hearing "doof, doof music all night". Narrabundah resident Sue Moran said she was awoken at around 4am by the music. "I opened my door and couldn't figure out where it was coming from but it was awfully loud," Ms Moran said. "I suppose they think it's an industrial estate so it doesn't matter.

"They were very foolish weren't they, I mean if they'd just kept it down a bit nobody would have been any the wiser." Mr Caffery said sound measures taken to avoid impacting residents had been in place, include hosting the event in an industrial area, using a directional sound system that cancels bass to its rear, aiming the sound into Fyshwick so it would dissipate, and working with the Environmental Protection Authority to minimise impact. ACT Policing does not appear to have specific guidelines on responding to noisy events. "Each complaint of this nature and the action taken in response is assessed depending on the permissions and regulations relevant to the venue/event and the level of noise and any other offences committed," the spokeswoman said. Residents near Tharwa last month called on the ACT government to intervene in a series of music festivals that police had warned could lead to death or injury if left unchecked.Police dog Kane collapsed after chasing two men for more than three kilometres. Credit:NSW Police

A devoted police dog who tracked and chased two men through bushland for kilometres after an alleged break and enter is spending his Sunday recovering at a vet.

Two men, aged 20 and 27, allegedly attempted to climb through an elderly man's window while he was at home in Adamstown Heights, Newcastle, at 11.30pm on Saturday.

Officers established a crime scene at the home of the 84-year-old, on Stayton Street, bringing along police dog Kane for assistance.

The German shepherd and his handler tracked and chased the two men who had fled through nearby bushland for more than three kilometres.Students use the website themselves to "stymie bullying by letting others know what is going on. They are encouraged to be part of a process of getting help for someone anonymously. Once a school signs up, it receives access to the website, and assigns one or two of their senior staff as assessors of the Stymie notifications from students. Then the anonymous help begins. We dont see this information, Ms Downie said. Stymie doesnt see it. Only the school sees it.

And it can be anything from expressions of suicide ideation, images of self harm someone might post, screen shots of nasty aggressive texts, or Facebook messages. Ms Downie has been overwhelmed by inquiries for the Stymie website, which is licensed to schools for $1800 per year. Since January she says she has spoken to 23,000 students. She launches the Stymie website in New Zealand in April and the program has a hashtag "Say Something". After a school takes up the licence, the Stymie not-for-profit team, comes to the school and gives an explanatory session to students and then to the staff. It is designed for both primary school and secondary school classes and usually schools assign their deputy principals as the people who read through the information sent to them anonymously.

We also a Get Your Techno Program Back sessions, so they begin to feel empowered," Ms Downie said. Stymie reverses the cycle of traditional investigation. It does not go back to the person lodging the evidence. Instead it quietly arranges meetings with the person being bullied to frustrate the three per cent of false, or harmful, leads they receive. We turn it around. We investigate it first. The school first goes and finds the person who is experiencing the harm and speaks to them first, she said. At these quiet meetings the student is asked if they need help. If the student says no, the school is at least aware of the situation. If they say yes, the school can then take the steps it needs to stop the bullying.

Ms Downie said her experience shows it is when the bullying is unknown to the school that the worst outcomes can result. She tells of a Year Nine student who took his life at a school where she once worked. If we had known about it, we could have done something about it, she said. "If we had known. She said students themselves were the best vehicle to tackle the problem.'I love working with animals': Emma Malik, pictured with her dog, Dukdik, and stick insect, Susan, will present a rare Melbourne International Comedy Festival act with animals. Credit:Louie Douvis

Youd think performing stand-up comedy with a stick insect and a dog would be asking for trouble.

What happens if the 20-centimetre invertebrate starts crawling on your face, or the dog tries to eat the insect?

As a professional animal trainer, Emma Malik is confident she can keep her animals under a semblance of control.

Besides, if the dog pees, she can pretend its part of the routine. If the stick insect doesnt move, she'll crack some jokes about models and Botox.

Ms Malik is driving both pets down from Sydney (can you imagine the paperwork if you took a stick insect on a plane?) to co-star in her first Melbourne International Comedy Festival show.Some more on the fires from the State Control Centre.

There are four significant fires still going: Gazette (near Penshurst), Gnotuk (near Camperdown), Terang and Garvoc.

Firefighters are focussing their efforts on the Terang fire, which has already destroyed 18 homes and 42 outbuildings.

The fire has been contained but crews are on high alert for any breakouts if winds pick up.

About 270 firefighters and 50 trucks are working on the Terang blaze.

By Monday morning, Terang had burned almost 6800 hectares. The four major fires in the state's south-west have collectively burned about 15,000 hectares.

Waterbombers also worked during the night to attack the steep banks of Lake Gnotuk.

Fifty firefighters and 20 trucks are on that fire.

Across the state, there are 25 fires still burning. Thirteen are contained and 12 are still listed as going.

Statewide, 40,000 hectares have been burned over the weekend.A man is in custody after he drove a stolen car the wrong way down the Mitchell Freeway and crashed into a police car on Saturday evening.

At around 10.40pm, police officers observed a reportedly stolen Mazda CX3 driving south on Marmion Avenue near Ocean Reef.

The man failed to stop for police a number of times. Credit:Fairfax Media

It's understood the car had been stolen during a burglary in Landsdale earlier that day.

Police attempted to stop the car, but the driver sped off.A 15-year-old boy has been charged after he allegedly stabbed a woman five times and stole from her during a random attack outside a Perth train station on Saturday evening.

The woman was walking near Claisebrook train station near the CBD at around 9.20pm when she was allegedly approached by the boy.

Claisebrook train station. Credit:Hannah Barry

She was stabbed five times and had property stolen from her during the attack.

She was rushed to Royal Perth Hospital where she remains in a serious but stable condition.Halifax Crane Hire has since paid the cost order. Dispute after a $2,500 quoted job was invoiced for $32,000 The company also has an ongoing court dispute with Perth man Michael Simm who was sued in July by the crane company after he was invoiced more than $32,000 for a job Halifax Crane Hire originally quoted would cost $2,500. Mr Simm said the job involved moving two dongas off a truck and onto Mr Simms family farm in Cape Naturaliste. We had a simple job which Ive had many times before, to lift some transportables up off a truck, he said.

I usually get charged around the $2000 mark, I was charged $2500 by [Halifax] which I was happy with. [Halifax] brought the wrong-sized crane, the crane couldnt lift [the dongas]. We then had to have the dongas returned to his yard for the job to be done the next day [a Wednesday]. Mr Simm flew out on business the next day and asked a family friend, Mark Pace, to attend his property to open the gate when the crane company was next able to complete the job, pending bringing the correct crane. He said Halifax Crane Hire charged for the first unsuccessful attempt to move the dongas, cranes sitting around for two days, around seven people working the job, and trucks going back and forth to Bunbury because workers didnt have enough equipment. [Halifax] had done the job over a weekend and we basically got an astronomical bill, Mr Simm said.

I asked to meet on several occasions to discuss the bill and how it ended up so big which [Halifax] refused and refused and then threatened straight away for legal action. Mr Simm indicated he would not pay the invoice and engaged a lawyer. In an email to Mr Simms lawyer on August 15, Mr DeMarte wrote: Please be advised that I went along and did the job that you fuch [sic] client requested, we put a hell of amount of effort into that job we got soaked in the process and all we got is legal bills out of this so may I suggest you get off your pony and go down to the property and see what we had to put up with all on his trust. He gave me a contact for his fuch [sic] head mate of his that instructed us to the mms [sic] and minutes what to do and how to do it and all we are trying to do is get paid so fuch [sic] you, you smart arse little b---h.

As well as suing Mr Simm, who arranged the job with Halifax Crane Hire through his family trust, Halifax Crane Hire also sued Simmcal Pty Ltd, a company Mr Simm is a co-director of which claims it had no involvement in the job, and Mr Simms friend Mark Pace, who opened the gate for the company to transport the dongas onto Mr Simms farm while he was overseas. Mr Simm was sued by way of a minor case claim for civil matters under $10,000 as Halifax Crane Hire had issued him with multiple invoices under the threshold amount, but totalling more than $32,000. The crane company discontinued its minor case claim against Mr Simm and others in the Magistrates Court in November 2017, and in December lodged a general procedure claim, applicable for matters valued to $75,000. Mr DeMarte claimed Mr Simms job went over the original quote because he was wrongly instructed by Mr Simm to bring a crane that was too small for the lift, a claim Mr Simm denies. The equipment required was nothing like he told us and the ground was deplorable, Mr DeMarte said.

If you engage the services of a crane business and then youre not paying, is that not fraud? A long history of litigation Mr DeMarte said his company had suffered financially due to customers not paying for their services. Do you know how many jobs we do for people that dont pay their accounts?, he said. Unfortunately weve trusted a lot of people over the years - our credit system has been a pretty lacklustre affair.

Guys booking in jobs and then in a week or so we receive a letter from administration. An Australian Securities and Investments Commission search of entities sued by Halifax since 2005 showed, of the searchable companies, four were registered as being under external administration in March 2018. Mr DeMarte also provided WAtoday with a copy of evidence of another individual, not included on the litigation search for Halifax Crane Hire to August 2017, going into administration. When contacted by WAtoday about its court actions since 2005, Mr DeMarte told the journalist who called him she would not be living for long and that he would be hunting her head if a story about his company was published. He also threatened to sue Fairfax Media and suggested the journalist butt out.The Prime Minister's website quotes him as saying that: "Strong borders allow the government to maintain public trust in community safety, respect for diversity and support for our immigration and humanitarian programs."

In the face of this criticism, over the last two years, the Australian government has developed a new rationale for this extremely harsh treatment. They now claim that the measures used against boat arrivals  mandatory detention, permanent exclusion and being sent (now for five years for some) to Nauru and Manus Island - are, paradoxically, the very things that reinforce public support for immigration and multiculturalism.

There are now dozens of statements from United Nation bodies, condemning Australia's refugee policies as harsh, inhumane and detrimental to the health and safety of the refugees.

In fact, government figures have shown few reservations about wading into Pauline Hanson's territory when they have felt it is in their political interest to do so. In November 2016, Dutton claimed that Malcolm Fraser made a mistake in allowing Lebanese Muslims into the country  not fundamentally different to Hanson's call in the election that year for a total ban on Muslim immigration. In the same year he said that "illiterate and innumerate" refugees would take Australian jobs or "languish" on the dole and Medicare. Hanson's 1996 maiden speech said that "immigration must be halted in the short term so that our dole queues are not added to by, in many cases, unskilled migrants not fluent in the English language."

Citizenship Minister Alan Tudge suggested earlier this month that mulitculturalism is at risk unless tougher English-language tests are introduced for potential migrants. He argued that those from a non-English-speaking background are often concentrated "in particular suburbs with a considerable absence of English being spoken or understood." Again, Hanson, speaking then of Asian migrants, said that "they have their own culture and religion, form ghettos and do not assimilate."

Last April Dutton introduced a bill to require permanent residents to wait four years, instead of one, to apply for citizenship. He plans to reintroduce it this year. It is another signal to the electorate that we should be suspicious and fearful of new arrivals. It is a move in the direction of Cory Bernardi's Australian Conservatives, who are opposed to multiculturalism and want to extend the waiting time for permanent residents before applying for citizenship to ten years.

Both Turnbull and Dutton raced to condemn Sudanese youth gangs in Melbourne in January. Although the Federal government has no jurisdiction over the matter and despite the fact that crime in Victoria was down nearly 5 per cent in the year to last September, Dutton claimed that people were afraid to go out to restaurants. Again, fear is stoked, insecurity deepened and small, easily identifiable, non-Anglo groups blamed. In this soil, it is inevitable that broader hostility to immigration will grow  something that Tony Abbott, ever the opportunist, has noticed and taken advantage of with his call for deep cuts to immigration.

The claim that our government is staunchly defending a tolerant multiculturalism by taking necessarily harsh action against asylum seekers is difficult to sustain.The ACT Greens will move to make abortions more accessible and affordable, with a bill to make it legal for doctors to prescribe RU486 in the territory.

Abortions have been legal and regulated in the ACT since 2002, however only a registered medical practitioner can carry out the procedure in an approved facility.

Greens crossbencher Caroline Le Couteur. Credit:Jay Cronan

There's only one place in the ACT to legally access a medical or surgical termination, the Marie Stopes Clinic, and procedure costs about $500.

Greens crossbencher Caroline Le Couteur said her bill, to be introduced into the ACT Legislative Assembly this week, was prompted by the closure of Tasmania's only surgical abortion provider.Australian voters have spent years trying to get a message to the two major parties: lift your game.

Now they are sending that message to the minor players who present themselves as the outsiders who can do better than Labor and the Liberals.

The Greens had a golden opportunity on Saturday to secure a second seat in the House of Representatives but their defeat in Batman will set them back years.

In South Australia, Nick Xenophon was spoken of only weeks ago as a shock contender to be premier but he finishes with no office at all. He is out of Parliament at a state and federal level.

And Liberal defector Cory Bernardi got just 3.5 per cent of the primary vote for his Australian Conservatives party in the upper house in his home state. As Liberal pollster Mark Textor quipped: Where are all those millions of Bolt Sky News viewers?Older Australians could be spared the full burden of Bill Shortens $59 billion tax revenue grab, as the Opposition Leader seizes on an emphatic win in the Batman byelection to forge ahead with the contentious reform.

The federal victory has offset Labors defeat in the South Australian state election to embolden Mr Shorten and his colleagues to restore fairness to the federal budget by targeting tax breaks for wealthier Australians despite political fury over the new policy.

New modelling reveals the scope to adjust the Labor plan so it spares hundreds of thousands of taxpayers who stand to lose cash refunds from the Australian Taxation Office to cover the franking credits on their dividend income.

The analysis shows that 350,000 retirees would escape the revenue hike if Labor adjusted its plan to put a $1,000 cap on the cash refunds rather than cancelling them entirely.However, the Batman electorate - with its own peculiar inner-suburban characteristics - is far from a template of the rest of the country, and thus a byelection outcome should not be over-interpreted.

Bill Shorten dodged a bullet at the weekend when Labor prevailed in the Melbourne inner suburban seat of Batman thanks to a strong campaign and a credible candidate against a ragged Greens challenge.

Where the Batman results significance lies - apart from the Shorten boost - is that it provides some respite for Labor under siege in its inner-suburban heartland. It thus preserves the political status quo.

South Australias election result - which ended Labors 16-year rule in favour of the Liberal Party against Nick Xenophons "X factor" insurgency - underscored broader-based support for the mainstream.

This tendency of a solidifying of the centre was also apparent in the Queensland and Tasmanian state elections where breakaway political movements did less well than might have been anticipated.

In Queensland, Pauline Hansons One Nation fell well short of its predicted influence on the result. In Tasmania, the Greens lost a lot of ground. In the South Australian election the Greens vote was also well down.

Greens leader Richard di Natale cannot draw much comfort from a continuing slippage in the Greens position electorally.In what appeared to be a new rebuke to Donald Trumps trade wars, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong have taken a strong stance against protectionism at the end of an APEC-Australia special summit marked by growing regional tensions over human rights abuses in the region.

Mr Turnbull said at a press conference marking the end of the summit that Australia and the 10 nations of ASEAN had reaffirmed their commitment to expand trade and oppose protectionism.

As I observed in our meeting today there are no protectionists around the ASEAN-Australia summit table, he said.

Mr Lee added: We have committed to do our best to send a clear signal to ASEAN external partners and all other countries of our commitment to promote international trade [and] oppose protectionism.The Machiavellian power play behind the scenes of the Greens campaign for Batman was aptly compared to TV political drama House of Cards in The Age last week.

Many members, particularly those of us in the Darebin branch of the Greens, have been rendered speechless.

Members of this branch were instructed not to comment on allegations levelled against Greens candidate Alex Bhathal. I joined the Greens in 2016. I resigned my membership at 6pm Sunday night so I could discuss this.

Over many years and on many occasions, Bhathal has stood up to people in the Greens. She is not afraid to tell anyone what she thinks when she doesnt agree with them. In doing so, she has incurred the wrath of some people.Almost half of voters do not think NSWs multibillion-dollar investment in transport will improve their commute, a new Herald poll shows as the government revealed its 40-year transport vision.

The ReachTEL poll asked 1521 people across NSW whether they felt the governments major transport projects, which include the CBD light rail and Sydney Metro, would speed up their journey to work.

Just over 44 per cent of those polled did not believe their commute would improve, 28.3 per cent believed it would and 27.6 per cent were undecided.

The poll comes as Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Sunday released three strategies that the government says will connect regions and cities and make them more liveable.Beijing: Former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd has told the Westpoint military academy in the United States that China sees its maritime periphery as "deeply hostile" and the region as allied against it.

He urged America's future military leaders to understand how Chinese leaders think "and how the world should most productively engage with them".

"The Chinese are fundamentally fixated on the formidable array of US military assets deployed by US Pacific Command across the entire region," he said.

Former PM Kevin Rudd has urged the US Army to understand China. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

China's response was to seek to fracture the ring of US allies, which includes Australia.Ahead of a National Security Council meeting planned for early this week, British Prime Minister Theresa May was facing calls to target "regime-linked money" in London. Lord Macdonald of River Glaven, the former director of public prosecutions, said a "really aggressive financial strategy" against wealthy individuals associated with Putin would be Britain's most effective weapon.

A government source said "detailed conversations" were taking place over the "next steps" after the Kremlin's "disgraceful" order that the British Council's offices in Russia, together with the UK's St Petersburg consulate, should be shut down in the wake of Britain's response to the poisoning of a former KGB spy and his daughter.

London : British ministers are plotting new sanctions against Vladimir Putin and Kremlin-linked oligarchs after Russia expelled 23 British diplomats and launched an assault on the country's cultural ties with Britain.

Mounting evidence suggests that the former double agent, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter Yulia were attacked with nerve agent around the time they visited the graves of his wife and son in Salisbury. Detectives now suspect Skripal and Yulia drove to the cemetery after their car had been poisoned sometime on the morning of the attack.

The government source said: "There is collective agreement that we need to have a response that Putin will take seriously. The next steps will be considered and taken after detailed conversations. The government won't rush into any decision."

The UK Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, will address a meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday on Russia's actions, before also holding talks with Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato Secretary General.

Johnson will attempt to lock in the support of foreign ministers of the 27 other EU member states on the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal at the meeting in Brussels, as Britain pushes for more international support behind its tough stance against Moscow.

Other MPs led by Ian Austin, a former Labour minister, and Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the Commons foreign affairs select committee, called on Johnson to use June's meeting of G7 leaders to propose that all of the group's members introduce "Magnitsky powers" to target human rights abusers. Similar calls were made by US and Canadian politicians to President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.San Francisco: Social-media giant Facebook faces new calls for regulation from within the US Congress and has been hit with questions about personal data safeguards after reports a Trump-linked political consultant gained inappropriate access to 50 million users' data starting in 2014.

Facebook disclosed the issue in a blog post on Friday, hours before media reports that conservative-leaning Cambridge Analytica, a data company known for its work on Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, was given access to the data and may not have deleted it.

The firm had secured a $US15 million investment from Robert Mercer, the wealthy Republican donor, and wooed his political adviser, Stephen Bannon, with the promise of tools that could identify the personalities of US voters and influence their behaviour.

The scrutiny presents a new threat to Facebook's reputation, which was already under attack over Russians' alleged use of Facebook tools to sway American voters before and after the 2016 US elections.New York: Adrian Lamo, a hacker best known for breaking into the computer networks of The New York Times and other major corporations, and for reporting Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning to the authorities, has died, his father and officials said. He was 37.

Lamo was found dead in an apartment in Wichita, Kansas, on Wednesday, The Wichita Eagle reported. His father announced the death in a post on Facebook on Friday. Kate Flavin, a spokeswoman for Sedgwick County, Kansas, said Saturday that the cause of death was unknown.

Lamo was 22 when federal prosecutors accused him of breaking into The Times' computer network, creating fake user-names and running up more than $US300,000 in data research fees. Lamo also gained access to the computer networks of Yahoo, Microsoft and Cingular Wireless, prosecutors said.

The hacker and journalist Adrian Lamo was found dead in his apartment. Credit:AP

"It's like someone kicking in your front door while you're on vacation and running up a $US300,000 bill on your phone, and then telling you when you arrive home that he had performed a useful service by demonstrating that your dead bolt wasn't secure enough," James Comey, then the US attorney in Manhattan, said in 2003 of Lamo's activities.Washington: White House senior adviser Jared Kushner's real estate company routinely filed false documents as it pushed vulnerable tenants out of its apartment buildings, according to a new Associated Press report that adds to the business scandals complicating Kushner's role in his father-in-law's administration.

Kushner resigned as chief executive of Kushner Cos before joining President Donald Trump's administration last year. But he still has a stake in the family business, the AP wrote - and was in charge of the company between 2013 and 2016, when the company allegedly filed at least 80 false applications for construction permits with New York City.

White house senior adviser Jared Kushner pictured in December with his father-in-law US President Donald Trump. Credit:AP

The company stated on the paperwork that no tenants - in at least 34 buildings it owned across New York - were protected by special rules that would have prevented Kushner from raising rents or harassing residents to leave, the AP wrote.

In reality, the AP wrote, tax records showed that hundreds of tenants were protected by such rules.Addressing the Internet Of Things (IoT) and challenges in device design using a comprehensive approach

As the number of connected devices increases worldwide, the ways that they are being used, designed, and tested have also expanded. The rise of connected devices is demanding engineers to harness the power of the internet of things, which is expected to hit 28 billion by 2025. A comprehensive approach to device design is needed more than ever to address the challenges that this rapid growth will bring. Why engineers should be using IoT technology in product design The demand for devices designed to use the Internet of Things (IoT) technology is increasing as more industries are finding expanded ways to put them into use. Industries such as healthcare, automobiles, and agriculture are becoming more dependent on cloud capabilities and are therefore in need of new devices able to connect to it. Due to this rise in demand, an increasing amount of devices are delivering a multitude of benefits both to consumers and companies. However, this new wave of products has led to a growing list of challenges for engineers as they are forced to address IoT tech in regards to connectivity, regulations, longevity, and security. Ways to use IoT in the development process Engineers are facing these new challenges along with the normal pressure of deadlines and test considerations. By approaching all of these issues from a comprehensive point-of-view, the solutions become clearer and new device capabilities can be born. Lets look at the challenges individually as well as possible solutions for them. Improving connectivity IoT enables data to be transferred between infrastructure, the cloud, and devices, making the process smooth Because IoT is based around connection, its no surprise that the primary challenge for engineers to overcome is the improvement of connectivity between devices. IoT enables data to be transferred between infrastructure, the cloud, and devices, so making this process as smooth as possible is crucial. The main challenges involved with connectivity have to do with development and product testing while meeting industry standards and best practices. Additionally, many companies lack the necessary equipment and technology to develop new IoT devices, which makes it difficult to create scalable prototypes and test new products. Suggested solutions To address the issue of not having the expertise and necessary tools for testing, we suggest outsourcing the prototyping and evaluation process instead of attempting to tackle this in-house. By doing this, youre able to free up resources that would otherwise be needed for expensive equipment and qualified staff. Helping comply with regulations When working with devices that are connected across the world, there is a complex web of regulations and conformance standards that can lead to challenges for engineers. The necessity of complying with these regulations while also pushing to meet deadlines can be burdensome and lead to an increase in production time and expenses. Failure to comply with global and regional laws, as well as system and carrier requirements, can lead to fines and costly setbacks. This type of failure can destroy a companys reputation on top of causing financial losses, often leading to the loss of business. Suggested solutions By testing the IoT device design and components early, engineers can address any pre-compliance issues that may arise. During the early stages of development, we suggest using scalable and automated test systems readily available in the marketplace. Improved communication with other devices New challenges arise as new devices hit the market and existing technologies are redesigned to offer a better experience In the rapidly growing number of connected devices, new challenges will arise as new devices hit the market and existing technologies are redesigned to offer a better user experience. This rapid growth in devices will lead to congested networks leading to the necessity of devices being able to function in the midst of increased traffic and interference. Failure to do this will lead to delayed responses which could prove to be fatal. Suggested solutions The best solution for this issue is found in the evaluation process and supporting test methods that the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) published in the American National Standard for Evaluation of Wireless Coexistence (ANSI). This process addresses the interconnectivity issues present in radio frequency environments. The outlined process involves defining the environment and evaluating the wireless performance of the equipment through thorough testing. An in-depth version can be found in its entirety online. Increasing the longevity of devices IoT devices are being used in vital industries such as healthcare and automotive so battery life and power consumption are two challenges that engineers must take seriously. A failure in this area could potentially lead to loss of life or safety concerns on the road. As new firmware and software are being designed to address these factors, engineers must be implementing them into IoT devices with the ability to be continually updated. Suggested solutions Longevity should be addressed in all aspects of the design process and tested thoroughly using a wide range of currents. By doing this, an engineer can simulate consumer applications to best predict performance. Security Security and privacy are concerns with any technology, but with the use of IoT in medical devices, its paramount Security has been a controversial issue for IoT since its inception. Security and privacy are concerns with any technology, but with the widespread use of IoT in medical devices, smart home appliances, and access control and surveillance, its paramount. For example, medical devices may store information about health parameters, medications, and prescriber information. In some cases, these devices may be controlled by an app, such as a smart pacemaker, to prevent heart arrhythmias. Naturally, a security issue in these devices could be devastating. Another example of dangerous security concern is with surveillance cameras and access control, such as for home or business security systems. These intelligent door locking systems contain locks, lock access controllers, and associated devices that communicate with each other. Suspicious activities are flagged with alerts and notifications, but if a hacker gains access, it can lead to real-world, physical danger. Security design points Here are some key points for security design: Physical security: IoT devices may be in external, isolated locations that are vulnerable to attack from not only hackers but by human contact. Embedding security protection on every IoT device is expensive, but its important for general security and data safety. Security of data exchange: Data protection is also important because data gets transmitted from IoT devices to the gateway, then onto the cloud. With surveillance and access control information or sensitive medical information, and encryption is vital to protecting data from a breach. Cloud storage security: Similar to data exchange, the information stored in medical devices, surveillance and access control systems, and some smart appliances with payment features, must be protected. This includes encryption and device authentication through access control, which can police what resources can be accessed and used. Update: Security vulnerabilities will always occur, so the key to addressing them is having a plan to address errors and release patches. Customers should also have options to secure devices quickly and effectively. Suggested solutions Engineers can include security and protection into IoT devices with early and perpetual testing throughout the design process. Most security breaches occur at endpoints or during updates, giving engineers a starting point for how to address them. Creating more secure devices Ensuring the security of connected devices should be of supreme importance for engineers as these devices are vulnerable to security breaches. The ultimate security of devices goes beyond the scope of engineering as the network and enterprise levels must also be secure to protect against potential threats. However, engineers play a role in this protection as well and should consider device security in the design process. Suggested solutions On a device level, engineers can help protect IoT devices from vulnerabilities by implementing early testing and continuing it throughout the design process. Most security transgressions occur at endpoints so this continual testing can, and should, create barriers to breaches. Regulations and compliance For IoT engineers, the complex web of regulations and compliance standards present new challenges Regulations and compliance surrounding data and technology are nothing new, but for IoT engineers, the complex web of regulations and compliance standards present new challenges. Engineers are already addressing obstacles in security and connectivity, all while meeting deadlines, and working around regulations adds time and expense to the process. Unfortunately, a failure to comply with global, regional, or local laws can lead to setbacks and fines. In addition to time lost in production and possible fines, the damage to a companys reputation can lead to even more losses. Suggested solutions Compliance should be considered early and often in the design process. In the early stages of development, the IoT device or components can be tested to address and compliance issues. If possible, use a scalable and automated test system. The comprehensive solution As we stare at an uncertain future full of possibilities, its clear to see that new challenges will continue to be presented as technology evolves and new innovative devices are designed by engineers. By addressing these issues early and often, solutions can be implemented and problems prevented before they even have a chance to occur thanks to sound engineering and solid design.WASHINGTON  After President Trump told Marines in California that he believed the U.S. military should have a space force, there was confusion. Was he serious? Was it an off-the-cuff riff? And why would he endorse an idea adamantly opposed by his own Defense Department?

The president apparently was not joking.

"He is very interested in ensuring that the department is best organized and equipped to achieve our vital missions in space," Kenneth Rapuano, assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and global security, told lawmakers on Thursday. [Related: Trump Says US May Need a Military 'Space Force']

Rapuano testified at a hearing of the House Armed Services subcommittee on strategic forces on the administration's fiscal year 2019 budget request for national security space programs.

President Trump signs an executive order. (Image credit: White House)

Also at the witness table were Gen. John 'Jay' Raymond, commander of Air Force Space Command, and Betty Sapp, director of the National Reconnaissance Office.

Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), who has led a congressional push to create a space corps, was visibly giddy. "I am so excited to have the support of President Trump as we work towards this goal and look forward to making it a reality in the near future," he said.

Then Rogers pressed Rapuano to explain how the Pentagon plans to "implement the president's direction."

Rapuano said a reorganization of the military's space component is being studied, as required by legislation passed last year. He said Trump would support any option that provides an adequate solution to the problem. "The president is very focused on outcomes," he said. "He has prioritized space. He recognized the threats that have evolved, and the pace at which they evolve. He's very interested in exploring any options that can provide enhanced capabilities."

A review of how space forces might be organized is being led by Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan. "The assessment of the space corps is one of those options that is getting close attention, among others," said Rapuano. Shanahan will submit recommendation to lawmakers in August.

Rogers suggested that Trump's endorsement of a space force essentially validates what his committee has been trying to do. "This hearing could not have come at a better time," he said. "The Air Force has a lot of challenges in dealing with national security space."

The United States faces "strategic competitors" in space, said Rogers. "Like they say in Alabama: If you can't roll with the big dogs you should stay on the front porch."

Rogers approved of the Air Force's actions to increase spending on space systems and to start transitioning legacy satellites to more resilient constellations. "However, I still have concerns about the Air Force's ability to move quickly and get the space segment, ground segment, and terminals all delivered on time and on schedule. I also remain concerned about the prioritization of space programs across the DoD and within the Air Force."

But he complained that the Air Force's wish list of "unfunded priorities" includes more than $350 million in space programs. "That's really my biggest frustration. We've heard Air Force leaders talk about the increasing threats we face in space and declare that space is a priority mission. Yet, when the rubber meets the road, we see space programs given a backseat behind other Air Force programs. I didn't see a lot of air dominance programs on that unfunded list."

Given the president's remarks on Tuesday, he said, "I anticipate that the department will accelerate its plans to embrace the formation of an independent space force."

The subcommittee's ranking Democrat Rep. Jim Cooper, of Tennessee, has been in lockstep with Rogers on this issue. He has made a point in the past that the space corps enjoys bipartisan support. "Note the excellent attendance by our Democratic colleagues," he said at the hearing.

Most of the members, however, decided to save their questions for a classified session after the public hearing.

Raymond defended the Air Force's efforts to put an "increased focus on space superiority." He said the budget funded new capabilities, training and testing. "We still have the best space capabilities in the world," Raymond said. "We have competitors that are moving very quick and we have to pick up the pace to stay ahead of that threat." He noted the Air Force increased space funding by $7 billion over the next five years.

Rogers asked Raymond to submit a report explaining whether he has the resources he needs.

This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry.Updated 1:20 p.m. with comment from SpaceX.

WASHINGTON  A NASA investigation into a 2015 SpaceX launch failure concluded a design flaw, rather than a manufacturing defect, likely initiated the chain of events that destroyed the vehicle.

NASA released March 12 a public summary of the report by an independent review team convened by NASA after the June 2015 accident during the launch of a Dragon cargo spacecraft bound for the International Space Station, a mission known as CRS-7. That investigation was performed by NASA's Launch Services Program at the request of the agency's associate administrator for human exploration and operations, Bill Gerstenmaier, in parallel with SpaceX's own investigation into the failure.

In that failure, the vehicle suffered an "anomalous event" in the second stage liquid oxygen tank 139 seconds after liftoff, causing the vehicle to break apart. The investigation was a challenge, NASA noted in its report, because the accident happened so quickly, with no sign of "obviously degrading or trending conditions" prior to the event. [Related: SpaceX Falcon 9 Explodes During NASA Cargo Launch]

"In other words," the report stated, "the vehicle went from flying fine to conflagration in less than a second, or 'within a blink of an eye.'"

The NASA investigation, like the SpaceX one, tracked down the most likely cause of the failure to a composite overwrapped pressure vessel(COPV), filled with helium, that came loose in the second stage liquid oxygen tank. The COPV was able to accelerate upwards due to its buoyancy, according to the report, hitting the dome at the top of the liquid oxygen tank with "great force" and rupturing it.

The two investigations differed, though, on why the COPV came loose. SpaceX concluded the most probable cause that a bolt called a "rod end" suffered a "material defect" that caused it to break, liberating the COPV. SpaceX publicly stated that conclusion a few weeks after the accident. The company no longer uses that strut in its vehicles.

However, the NASA investigation concluded that the rod end could have also suffered manufacturing damage or been installed improperly, among other "equally credible" possibilities.

The NASA investigation also identified what it called a "design error" for the tank: the use of "industrial grade" rather than "aerospace grade" stainless steel for the rod end. That material was not properly modeled or tested for use in that application, the report noted, and did not have a 4:1 factor of safety recommended by the manufacturer.

"This design error is directly related to the Falcon 9 CRS-7 launch failure as a 'credible' cause," the NASA report concluded.

The report also identified other general issues with the use of commercial parts and other vehicle design elements, such as potential for increased latency in its telemetry system. It recommended SpaceX pay more attention to the use of commercial parts. "SpaceX should apply particular emphasis to understanding manufacturer's recommendations for using commercially sourced parts in flight critical applications," it stated.

SpaceX argued that all potential causes, including those identified by NASA, were corrected prior to the vehicle's return to flight.

"NASA Launch Services Program's independent review came to the same conclusion as SpaceX  that all credible causes for the anomaly were corrected or mitigated by SpaceX before the company returned to flight," a company spokesman said March 16. "We appreciate NASA's insight and continued partnership, and we look forward to next month's launch of a flight-proven Dragon for the company's fourteenth resupply mission to the International Space Station (CRS-14) as well as the launch of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) for NASA."

NASA didn't disclose why it was releasing the report summary, completed in late 2015, more than two and a half years after the accident. In a statement, NASA said it issued the public summary "to maintain historical data of the mishap."

That accident involved the 1.1 version of the Falcon 9, an older version of the rocket retired after the January 2016 launch of the Jason-3 Earth observation satellite for NASA. In its statement this week, NASA noted that it approved that launch after "all credible causes and technical findings identified by the independent review team were corrected and/or mitigated by SpaceX."

Some in Congress had been seeking details about that NASA investigation. Report language accompanying the Senate version of a fiscal year 2018 appropriations bill that funds the Federal Aviation Administration instructed the FAA to "provide a report on the findings regarding a June 2015 catastrophic launch failure by a commercial launch provider," a reference to the Falcon 9 accident. That launch was licensed by the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation

"The report must consolidate all relevant investigations by, or at the request of, the Federal Government that were conducted, including those completed by NASA as part of the FAA report, and must also include a summary suitable for public disclosure," the report stated. That legislation has not passed, and Congress has yet to complete an overall spending bill for fiscal year 2018.

This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry.





This weeks Blindspot was back to its usual MO, but once again there was the return of yet another familiar face. Deductions mostly focused on the tattoo, as the differences between the CIA and the FBI were further put into light, putting Tasha in a difficult position.



I have to give it to them; the continuity in this show is pretty amazing. In this episode, Cade comes back to ask for the task forces help. It took me a while to recognize him in the beginning of the episode, so when Jane mentioned said his name, I had that lightbulb moment. I guess my memory isn't as good as I would like it to be. Most times when Blindspot does the flashbacks, I think they are unnecessary. There is no point reminding us what happened last week or earlier in the episode, but this time, I was grateful for the reminder. A couple of years ago, the team had made a deal with him that he would go free if he helped them take down Sandstorm. While the FBI honored that deal, the CIA did not. They captured him and brought him to a black site while he was out shopping for diapers. Now, a year later, he just wants his family back, his life back. So, after escaping the transport, he comes knocking on Jane and Wellers door.





Raise your hand if youve ever been held and tortured in a CIA black site. There are two thoughts that keep you through: freedom and revenge. -Jane

This isnt right.  Zapata

But now I know how far youre willing to go to get what you want and you know how far I'm willing to go, for you. -Roman

Its clear that Jane would be on Cades side, his advocate; they have a history, and at one point she was just like him. She got the chance at a new life, and she wants Cade to have that same chance. Unlike the others, she can further understand him because she was once in his shoes, and without that team she would still be him. She manages to get Cade to trust them. Then, she shows him mercy when his son visits, putting her jacket on his handcuffed hands. This act only further demonstrated how much Jane believed he deserves his happy ending. There are hardly any happy ending in this show, and when Tasha lies about the deal, Cade knew he was going back, but not without a fight.I wish they would have delved deeper into the connection between Jane and Cade, on the fact that she got what he didnt. The fact that Jane was the one that had to shoot him when he threatened Tasha made Cades end even more poignant. Was she showing him mercy in the end? Death over torture.In this episode, we could see Zapata struggle to come to terms with her employers methods. They kept her in the dark and now she has to keep her friends in the dark too. Theyre harsh, and merciless, and thats not her. Despite what she says to Reade in the end, we know its not her. I dont believe that truly she believes in Keatons way.The plane in which the prisoners were transported was linked to Janes Valkyrie tattoo. The fleet of planes were manufactured by one of Crawfords subsidiaries, but from the discussion between Keaton and his boss, there is bigger picture behind Valkyrie than only this particular attack. There is no way Roman could have predicted that, or was he only highlighting one of the connections between Crawford and the CIA?In the beginning of the episode, the way Zapata asked Keaton about his undercover days makes me think she wants to go. We all know she has feelings for Reade, and we also know hes planning on marrying another woman. Despite what she told Patterson in last weeks episode, he still doesnt know how she feels. Will running away on an undercover operation be her way to deal with this? Only time will tell.In other news, Jane and Weller followed Pattersons advice to tell Avery about her father. Their relationship is slowly developing, and while its still a little awkward, its not as bad as it was in the beginning, and I feel like its evolving organically. The dinner scene was cute, as Weller stopped her from having a glass a wine, as she is under 21. It was light, and domestic, until it turned more serious and dramatic when there is mention of her adopted father, when she storms out. While Avery is reluctant in the beginning, in the end she wants to know what happened. With Averys help, they are hoping to find the connection between Crawford and Roman. Weller and Avery have something in common, something they ca bond over. Both their fathers disappointed them, both turned out to be people who they didnt really know. It looks like a lot more will be uncovered about him next week, and I hope this storyline kicks it up a notch.Crawford definitely has the makings of a great villain. Roman, as was I, really believed he had poisoned his drink. Hes a wild card, and thats whats so great about him. Roman saw right through Crawfords elaborate plan to get closer to his nemesis. Its hard to say if Roman really cares about Blake, but I would think he doesnt. He is a psychopath. Crawford on the other hand has that weakness, he really does love her. I just come to wonder if Blake was only acting, and that she was in on it with her father. She is the one that planned to go to the card game to meet Junior. Its hard to know with this show, and thats what makes it great.As a trio threaded their way Thursday through the wood furnishings floor of Bobs Unfinished Furniture and Gun Exchange to the firearms department in the back, Rich Johnson had no way of knowing their shopping list.

But though they were first-time gun buyers, Johnson sounded confident in one piece of business he believed they would not leave unfinished at the Darien store  purchasing the means to secure the weapon, as well.

With teens in southwestern Connecticut and nationally making their voices heard this month on the issue of school violence and gun safety, via high school marches and at a Greenwich roundtable hosted by U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy among other venues, a state representative has renewed a proposal for the state to offer a tax credit toward the cost of a gun safe.

It is a proposal that got no traction last year, but after the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., and the intervention of Westport police after a teens alleged threat against Staples High School, Connecticut legislators are getting a second opportunity to consider the measure.

At Bobs Unfinished Furniture and Gun Exchange, a large yellow sign is displayed prominently to passing motorists on the Post Road noting the companys stock of gun safes, with Johnson saying the store gets referrals from other gun stores in the area that do not stock safes.

Ive known people who get their permit and they get one of these before they even go buy a gun, Johnson said while showing gun safe models on display last week. Were a sample size of one for stores, but ... usually they will get the safe.

No reasonable access

In gun stores, on Amazon and through other outlets, prices range from under $100 for a small handgun safe with keypad access to $7,000 for top-of-the line safes from American Security, Browning, Fort Knox, Graffunder and other manufacturers.

In an effort to encourage purchases, Connecticut does not levy sales tax on gun safes and other safety devices like trigger locks, though a Hearst Connecticut Media investigation in 2014 found that Walmart and several other dealers were collecting taxes on qualifying products they sold at the time including gun safes.

For the second year in a row, state Rep. Rob Sampson, R-Wolcott, has proposed a tax credit of up to $150 for the purchase of a gun safe, with Sampson having opposed other laws Connecticut has passed since the Sandy Hook massacre on grounds they will not stop a shooter.

A safe could stop a shooter  at least any family members or acquaintances of a gun owner bent on killing themselves or others who cannot access the safe. Connecticuts gun laws include one imposing criminal penalties on people who store loaded firearms in a fashion where a child under the age of 16 could access guns without permission, if it results in a weapon being used to injure or kill someone.

Gun dealers are required to provide clear notice of the Connecticut law to buyers. The law does not mandate the use of an actual gun safe, simply that the weapon be stored under lock and key controlled by the gun owner.

Connecticut lawmakers could yet revisit that 16-year-old age threshold on the heels of a lockdown last month at Staples High School in Westport after a student was overheard threatening a mass shooting. Police investigators determined the student did not have reasonable access to weapons his father stored at his home. In the past month, Dicks Sporting Goods, Walmart and other retailers implemented new policies to stop selling guns to people under age 21.

The logical progression

The Westport-based holding company Compass Diversified spent $70 million in 2010 to acquire Liberty Safe, a Utah company that has been making gun safes since 1988 along with other vaults for home or business use. Liberty Safe sales were down 11 percent last year, which Compass blamed partly on the Gander Mountain outfitter bankruptcy, but also on generally softer market conditions in the words this month of Alan Offenberg, the outgoing CEO of Compass. Despite the possibility of higher steel prices from any tariff imposed by the U.S. government  a major cost consideration for safe makers  Offenberg said he expects Liberty Safe to resume sales growth this year.

Elias Sabo, who in May replaces Offenberg as CEO, told investment analysts this month it is still too early to tell whether the Parkland tragedy will affect Liberty Safe sales. In February in Connecticut, the FBI processed more than 15,600 background checks required for gun permits, in line with February 2016 but well off the number of February background checks in previous years.

Obviously when these tragic events happen, everybody is saddened and theres renewed calls for gun legislation ... and in some cases historically weve seen that propel sales as consumers get nervous about what might be coming down the pike, Sabo said. I would say after ... the 2016 election, market conditions changed pretty dramatically, because I think people were not as worried about gun legislation. But as of right now, its just too early to tell.

With smart guns emerging that use biometric sensors to prevent anyone except an owner from pulling the trigger, gun safes have long been on the market that require a fingerprint ID.

Innovation is not constrained to security  another Utah manufacturer called The Gunbox sells a gun safe that masquerades as a working Bluetooth stereo speaker that can be positioned in a room for ready access, springing open with the wave of a wireless key fob.

Libertys newest safety feature is a SafElert sensor that can be placed inside a vault, sending a text alert to a gun owner if someone opens the safe door or otherwise moves it. It is an innovation that, according to Johnson, some gun owners jury rigged on their own in the past by installing motion-detection cameras inside safes that pinged them if anyone accessed the safe.

The advancements in technology in the industry, in terms of safes, are pretty far ahead, Johnson said. (Alerts) are the logical progression from fingerprints, where weve made it harder to get into it. Now we need to see who is trying to get into it.STAMFORD  Fire Chief Trevor Roach can still recall the mothers shrieks to rescue her family at the 2011 Shippan blaze that killed three little girls and their grandparents on Christmas morning.

The call came in at about 4 a.m., and when I got there, the mother was out in the front yard screaming to save her little girls, Roach said.

He can still see the looks of frustration and defeat on the faces of some 70 firefighters who responded that day, having made valiant attempts to enter the engulfed house to no avail.

My people are trained not to fail, and the feeling coming out of that fire was that we didnt succeed, he said. It was a difficult event for everyone to cope with.

For firefighters, these are the types of calls that stay with them for the rest of their lives. In his 31 years as a firefighter, Roach has a long list of calls that haunt him.

Its a difficult job, he said. When theres sadness and sorrow, our people are there and its our job to absorb some of that sadness. What we see on a day-to-day basis is not normal. What we experience is not normal. And we try our best to deal with it and not take it home with us, but of course, we do take it home.

According to a 2016 study published by the National Emergency Training Center, repeated exposure to traumatic events can lead to increased mental health struggles for firefighters, who may suffer from irritability and flashbacks and become desensitized cynics.

As a result, Firefighters are 25 percent more likely to commit suicide than the general population, said Dr. Michael Crouch, a clinician with the Fairfield County Trauma Recovery Network who works closely with first responders. Their life expectancy is shorter due to the stress they carry. Firefighters have a higher rate of heart disease, diabetes and some types of cancer, and higher incidence of domestic violence and divorce.

We all like to think of ourselves as superheroes, but were not, Stamford Fire Lt. Ted Stanek said. We are human beings and we are subject to the same feelings and emotions and vulnerabilities that all people are.

Suck it up

For Stanek, the Shippan fire marked a shift in the conversation around mental health and first responders.

(It) made us look at how we deal with stresses on our job and ask how can we make things different, so we are better prepared to provide the appropriate resources, he said.

After the Shippan fire, Stanek said it was clear the department lacked the resources to handle a call of that magnitude. Through the wife of one of the departments members, trained trauma clinicians were brought in to work with the firefighters who responded that day. They talked to the department about trauma, mental health and the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Out of that interaction, the Fairfield County Trauma Recovery Network (FCTRN) was born.

The volunteer network is comprised of clinicians who specialize in the way trauma affects the brain and body. Dr. Karen Alter-Reid, a co-coordinator of the FCTRN, said the groups staffers understand the culture of first responders, who live every day with stressful schedules and pressure to suck it up under emotionally trying circumstances.

I was greatly affected by the Shippan fire, and for three and a half years, I didnt even know it, Stanek said. I exhibited behaviors that I explained away, that I rationalized, and those reasons seemed to make a lot of sense. When the Fairfield County Trauma Network came in and worked with some of us guys who were affected by that fire  that was when I realized that I needed help dealing with this.

The Stamford Fire Department has also formed a peer support team, comprised of 18 city firefighters who received training to provide emotional help to their fellows. If a firefighter needs help that goes beyond peer support, Stanek said the team can refer that person to an FCTRN clinician.

Stanek, who is the director of the peer support team, said he cant change the outcomes of the calls that have upset him, but treatment has helped how he copes with tough situations.

I had a call last New Years morning (2017), he said. It was a car accident that involved a young kid, and something about the accident, the way it presented, I realized it could jam me up and I was in front of a therapist within three days so that I could talk about it.

Changing the culture

One of the biggest obstacles to getting first responders help is not a lack of resources, its the culture embedded within these organizations.

The culture of first responders is different than that of civilians, said Dr. Crouch, who also serves as a member of the FCTRN. By definition, first responders are expected to be tough, theyre supposed to have thick skin. And because of that, they dont want others to see that theyre struggling  they feel like theres something wrong with them.

We have a very difficult culture to crack, Stanek said. To a large extent, as a para-military organization, it came from those vets who had seen far worse in World War II, in Vietnam or in Korea. It was easy for them to say dont worry about it kid, youll get over it, do your job. So, there wasnt a culture where people felt comfortable or even safe to be vulnerable.

That culture, Stanek said, is something the fire department is trying to change. The process he said is gradual and still in its infancy.

Mental health is something that no one wants to talk about, he said. It can be a very unconformable topic for people. But these programs, these conversations, are long overdue.

Stanek said he cant force his fellow firefighters to get help when theyre struggling, but he can let them know theyre not alone.

Sometimes a conversation over a cup of coffee around a kitchen table can be all thats needed, he said. The power of a conversation is immense  just being able to talk about it, and let them know theyre not alone and that what theyre feeling is a normal reaction to an abnormal situation, can make a huge difference.

Roach said the department has made steady progress in addressing the needs of its firefighters, but many obstacles still remain.

Firemen are very good at helping others, but the one thing were not very good at is helping ourselves or asking for help, Roach said. Most of us see that as a shameful thing, asking for help, and thats what we want to change.St. Francis Episcopal Church, at 2810 Long Ridge Road, will host its annual Easter egg event from 10 a.m. to noon on March 31.

The event will feature activities for children of all ages, including Easter egg and cupcake decorating, face-painting and other crafts.W hen is Easter again?

It's an age-old question. Unlike Christmas and New Year, Valentine's Day and Halloween, there is no fixed date for the spring celebration.

Do you know how it's worked out each year? Of course! Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon following (or on) the spring equinox. Obviously.

Do you know why that is though? No? Read on...

According to the New Testament, the crucifixion and subsequent resurrection of Christ happened around the time of the Jewish feast of Passover. Back then, as stipulated by the Bible, Passover was celebrated on the first full moon following the spring equinox (the day when both day and night are of approximate equal duration, which happens twice a year, in spring and autumn). Hence, Easter would also occur after the first full moon following the equinox, and since the day of the full moon was subject to change, Easter became a moveable feast.

However, whilst some Christians came to celebrate it on the day of Passover itself, others opted to celebrate Easter afterwards, on the Sunday following.

In 325 AD, the First Council of Nicea (a gathering of Christian bishops) met to agree on a unified date for Easter. Although no specific details on how the date would be mathematically calculated were stipulated, thereafter Easter took place on the Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox.

So Easter was settled then. Actually, not quite...

Whilst some Christian denominations (including Protestants and Roman Catholics) go by the Gregorian calendar, established by Pope Gregory XIII in the 16th century, other Orthodox churches still use the Julian calendar (established by Julius Caesar) to calculate Easter. The difference between the two calendars is between how they calculate the length of a tropical year (how long it takes for the earth to move around the sun). Currently the Julian calendar is roughly 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. Which means that not all Christians celebrate Easter on the same day.

Confused? Have some chocolate.

Why do we eat chocolate eggs at Easter?

Eggs have long been a symbol of the resurrection for Christians, with the empty shell representing the empty tomb of Christ.

Whilst it is not known when the first chocolate egg came into existence, we do know they were being produced in Germany and France at the beginning of the 19th century.

The first chocolate Easter Egg created in Britain is believed to have been made by JS Fry & Sons in Bristol in 1873.

When are the Easter Holidays 2018?A man has been found stabbed to death near the River Lea in a week of bloodshed in London.

Scotland Yard launched its fifth murder probe this week after a man was found with fatal stab wounds in Towpath Walk, Hackney, on Sunday morning.

The victim, 42, suffered multiple stab wounds in the attack. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 8.45am.

A man, 30, has been arrested on suspicion of murder in connection to the fatal stabbing.

Murder investigations: Police at the scene of a fatal shooting in Enfield on Saturday / @lustak1

It comes after detectives launched a separate murder investigation on the same day when a man was found dead at a house in Hounslow shortly after 11am.

And a young man died after being shot and stabbed in the street in another incident in Enfield on Saturday. Another man is in serious condition in hospital following the attack.

Shooting: the scene of an attack in Seven Sisters, north London / Twitter/@999London

And on Wednesday night an 18-year-old man was stabbed in Chadwell Heath, becoming the seventh teen stabbed to death in the capital this year.

On the same evening, but in a separate incident, a 20-year-old man was shot dead in Walthamstow.

A police cordon remained in place in Hackney as officers continued to investigate the stabbing near the River Lea on Sunday.

Police are in the process of informing his next of kin.

Scotland Yard in statement said: A 30-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder and taken to a north London police station for questioning.

Enquiries continue. A crime scene remains in place.

The Homicide and Major Crime Command are leading the investigation.A murder probe has been launched after a man was found dead at a house in west London.

Police rushed to the scene in Haslemere Avenue in Hounslow just before 11am on Sunday.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene at 11.20am and detectives have since launched an investigation.

It is the fourth murder probe to be launched in the capital this week.

A man, 24, has been arrested on suspicion of murder after the body was discovered at the residential address.

And a 19-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender in connection to the investigation.

No further details about the man or how he died have yet been released by police.

Officers said he was discovered at a multi-occupancy residential address.

In statement, Scotland Yard said: A post-mortem examination will be held in due course.

Detectives from the Homicide and Major Crime Command are investigating.

It comes after a young man had died and another is in a serious condition in hospital after they were shot and stabbed in the street in another incident in Enfield on Saturday.

And on Wednesday night an 18-year-old man was chased down and stabbed in Chadwell Heath, becoming the seventh teen stabbed to death in the capital this year.

On the same evening, but in a separate incident, a 20-year-old man was shot dead in Walthamstow.B itter divisions in an powerful Commons committee have erupted after Leave supporters refused to back a report that recommends extending the Brexit transition period.

Tory and DUP MPs forced the Exiting the EU Committee to publish rival recommendations within the official text that was backed by the majority of members.

Prominent Conservative Jacob Rees-Mogg attacked the "high priests of Remain" for pushing through a "partisan" report.

Labour chairman of the Exiting the EU Committee Hilary Benn said the divisions showed achieving an agreement on Brexit "is far from easy".

Prominent Conservative Jacob Rees-Mogg attacked the "high priests of Remain" for pushing through a "partisan" report / PA Wire

The committee called for a provision in withdrawal arrangements to allow the transition period to be extended "if necessary".

Mr Benn said: "We are now at a critical stage in the negotiations, with just seven months left to reach agreement on a whole host of highly complex issues.

"While the committee welcomes the progress that has been made in some areas, the Government faces a huge task when the phase two talks actually begin.

"The Government must now come forward with credible, detailed proposals as to how it can operate a 'frictionless border' between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland because at the moment, the committee is not persuaded that this can be done at the same time as the UK is leaving the single market and the customs union.

"We know of no international border, other than the internal borders of the EU, that operates without checks and physical infrastructure. This is deeply concerning."

Brexit Secretary David Davis has said he can "live with" a transition period of under two years if it helps to secure an early deal.

Farage laughs as Juncker claims UK will 'regret' Brexit

Mr Benn said: "But even this time could prove to be too short to conclude a comprehensive agreement. Given the modelling we have seen, a 'no deal' scenario is a significant danger to the UK."

The committee split on a series of votes over the content of its report on the progress of withdrawal negotiations.

Mr Rees-Mogg and fellow Conservatives Sir Christopher Chope, Andrea Jenkyns, Craig Mackinlay, and John Whittingdale, along with the DUP's Sammy Wilson refused to sign off the final version.

They used parliamentary procedures to ensure a "minority" report was included in the publication of the main text, a move rarely used.

Key Brexit Players - In pictures 1 /6 Key Brexit Players - In pictures David Davis Reuters Michel Barnier AP Tim Barrow AFP/Getty Images Oliver Robbins Sabine Weyand Didier Seeuws AFP/Getty Images

Committee member Mr Rees-Mogg, chairman of the Brexit-supporting Tory European Research Group, said: "The committee's majority report is the prospectus for the vassal state. It is a future not worthy of us as a country, and I am sure that Theresa May will rightly reject a report by the High Priests of Remain.

"The majority report would keep us in the customs union and the single market which is an attempt to keep us in he EU by sleight of hand. Those of us who respect the instructions the people gave us in the referendum could not support so partisan a text.

"The majority report relies upon discredited economic models and makes no acknowledgement of past analytical failures. It appears to have been written in the slough of despond, despairing and defeatist."

The report said 21 months is "ample" time and warned a prolonged transition period "would be difficult for the UK and would not respect the referendum result".

It says the UK would still be bound by EU rules and would have to hand over cash with no say on how it is spent if the implementation arrangements are extended.

Mr Whittingdale, vice chairman of the committee, said: "I am very disappointed that the committee was unable to produce a unanimous report and instead divided along the same lines as in the referendum campaign.

"For a number of us the chairman's report was far too negative and we do not believe that its conclusions are borne out by the evidence we heard. The report's recommendations essentially ignore the wishes of the people and would delay Brexit by an indefinite period.

"This disrespects the referendum result, and it ignores the manifesto commitments of the parties pledged to honouring it, who between them got more than 80% of the popular vote."

Jacob Rees Mogg says he would like the 'Brexit dividend' to be spent on the NHS

The Department for Exiting the European Union insisted a "great deal of progress" had been made since the negotiations began last year, including securing citizens' rights, agreeing a financial settlement and setting out the approach to the Northern Ireland border.

"Importantly, the UK and the EU are equally committed to ensuring that our departure does not lead to a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland," a spokesman added.

"We are currently discussing the terms of an implementation period and are confident we can reach an agreement by the European Council next week. Doing so will provide businesses and citizens with the certainty they need as we prepare for exit.R ussia has been developing the nerve agent used to poison a former spy and his daughter in Salisbury for 10 years, Boris Johnson said.

The Foreign Secretary told BBC Ones Andrew Marr Show that the UK has evidence of the Kremlins decade-long production and stockpiling of Novichok.

It is believed the agent was used to poison 66-year-old Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury on March 4.

The pair remain in a critical condition in hospital.

Russian spy poisoning: Military forces work on a van in Winterslow / AP

Mr Johnson told Marr: "We actually have evidence within the last ten years that Russia has not only been investigating the delivery of nerve agents for the purposes of assassination but has also been creating and stockpiling Novichok."

He repeated his condemnation of Russia over the attack and said: "We gave the Russians an opportunity to come up with an alternative hypothesis and they havent. Their response has been a sort of smug sarcasm and denial.

He went on to say that international experts would test evidence from the scene of the poisoning in a bid to ascertain its source.

But, also speaking to Marr, Russia's ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, suggested the nerve agent may have come from the Porton Down laboratory, which is about eight miles from Salisbury.

Russia's ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, suggests nerve agent may have come from the Porton Down laboratory

He said: "When you have a nerve agent or whatever, you check it against certain samples that you retain in your laboratories.

"Porton Down, as we now all know, is the largest military facility in the United Kingdom that has been dealing with chemical weapons research.

Russian Spy Sergei Skripal: Salisbury Nerve Agent Incident 1 /14 Russian Spy Sergei Skripal: Salisbury Nerve Agent Incident Investigators in protective gear pursue the probe into the nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal Getty Russian spy 'poisoning': Sergei Skripal and Yulia Skripal are fighting for life in hospital PA Personnel in hazmat suits work to secure a tent covering a bench in the Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury, where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found critically ill by exposure to a nerve agent Andrew Matthews/PA ilitary personnel are deployed to help remove vehicles from the scene after former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter were found critically ill after exposure to a nerve agent in Salisbury Getty Images Military in protective clothing remove vehicles from a car park in Salisbury EPA Police cordon: Military personnel in Salisbury PA Traces of the nerve agent used to poison Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found at Zizzi in Salisbury PA Amber Rudd: she visited the scene where Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found after having been poisoned by a nerve agent REUTERS Personnel are helped from their hazmat suits (right), after securing a tent covering a bench in the Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury, where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found critically ill by exposure to a nerve agent Andrew Matthews/PA Personnel in hazmat suits walk away after securing a tent covering a bench in the Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury, where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found critically ill by exposure to a nerve agent Andrew Matthews/PA Police put a red bag inside a police evidence bag immediately after the nerve agent attack on a Russian spy. Officers previously issued CCTV of a woman clutching a red bag Solent news Snap Fitness 24/7 Police activity in the cul-de-sac in Salisbury that contains the home of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal who was poisoned along with daughter Yulia with a nerve agent PA Sergei Skripal shops at Bargain Stop in a CCTV image from five days before his apparent poisoning

"It's actually only eight miles from Salisbury."

Asked whether Porton Down was "responsible" for the attack, Mr Chizhov said: "I don't know. I don't have any evidence of anything having been used."

Salisbury MP John Glen, responded to the suggestion by tweeting: "Russia's EU Ambassador's outrageous attempt to smear Porton Down scientists - many of whom are Salisbury residents - is so ludicrous it would be laughable if it wasn't for the dire consequences of his regime's nerve agents."

The comments came as the Russian Embassy in the UK joked that Agatha Christies fictional Inspector Poirot should be called in to investigate the incident in Salisbury.

It said in a tweet alongside a picture of the character: In absence of evidence, we definitely need Poirot in Salisbury!

Mr Skripal and his daughter remain in a critical condition following the attack.V ladimir Putin won a landslide re-election victory and extended his rule over the worlds largest country for another six years, according to exit polls.

The Russian leader will extend his total time in office to almost a quarter of a century, until 2040, as he promises to use his new term to bolster the countrys defences against the west.

In result that was widely expected, exit poll by pollster VTsIOM showed that Mr Putin had won by a massive 73.9 per cent of the vote.

A state exit poll put the turnout at 63.7 per cent, down on 2012.

Reacting to the exit poll, his campaign team said it was an "incredible victory".

Backed by state TV, the ruling party, and credited with an approval rating around 80 percent, he faced no credible threat from field of seven challengers.

His nearest rival, Communist Party candidate Pavel Grudinin, won 11.8 percent, according to near final results, while nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky got 5.6 percent. His most vocal opponent, anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny, was barred from running.



A spokesman for Putin's campaign told Russia's Interfax: "The percentage that we have just seen speaks for itself. It's a mandate which Putin needs for future decisions, and he has a lot of them to make.

The scale of Mr Putins victory was a marked increase in his share of the vote from the last election, when he won 64 per cent.

The Central Election Commission said with 21 per cent of all precincts counted, Mr Putin was leading the race with 71.9% per cent of the vote.

The exit poll showed Communist candidate Pavel Grudinin in second place with 11.2 per cent of the vote, while ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky came in third with 6.7 per cent.

The election comes amid an investigation into the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal.

Theresa May expelled 23 Russian diplomats from Britain after announcing the probe found Russia to be behind the attack.

An exiled Russian businessman was among anti-Putin protesters at the country's London embassy as voters queued to vote in the presidential election.

Yevgeny Chichvarkin, 43, a mobile phone tycoon who left Russia for the UK in 2008, said he believes the Kremlin is behind the incident in Salisbury, adding that a "change" is needed.

Mr Chichvarkin, who now runs a wine shop in the capital, said the current relationship between the UK and Russia is worse than relations during the Cold War.

The businessman led anti-Putin chants in front of the Russian Embassy in Notting Hill, and was joined by about 30 other protesters.

He said he left Russia due to "serious pressure from Russian authorities", and on the subject of whether he was afraid about being so vocal just a few metres from the embassy, he said: "I feel that I have to."

Asked if he thinks he is being watched, he said: "Of course, a lot of people who work for FSB are around, of course."F emale activists "self-identified as men" to join a male-only swimming session in protest against changes to gender law.

Amy Desir, 30, and another woman who wished to remain anonymous took part in the all-male evening at Dulwich Leisure Centre after telling staff they self-identified as men.

Ms Desir donned a pair of swimming shorts and a pink floral swimming cap to take a dip.

She told the Standard: Most of the men didnt seem to mind. We had one elderly gentleman ask if we knew it was a men-only night.

I said, I am a man and he said, oh really. It was a very British response.

The move was in protest to planned changes to the Gender Recognition Act.

The changes would allow people to self-certify their gender without undergoing medical checks.

Ms Desir has started a petition against the changes claiming it could make it easier for predatory men to appropriate womens spaces, services and positions.

So far it has been signed by 6,000 people.

She said: We want to challenge the idea that sex and gender are interchangeable and for organisations to use the lawful exemptions in the Equality Act to protect the rights, safety, dignity and privacy of women.

Bernard Reed, a trustee of the Gender Identity Research and Education Society, told the Mail on Sunday: This case demonstrates that women may enter mens spaces, just as men may enter womens spaces.

Simplifying the current unduly onerous and degrading process of obtaining a gender recognition certificate will just make life easier for trans people.

Mark Basker, Everyone Actives Contract Manager said on behalf of Dulwich Leisure Centre that the pool currently follows guidelines provided by Swim England on engaging trans people in swimming.

He added: As such, these individuals were welcome to take part in our men-only swimming sessions at Dulwich Leisure Centre on Friday March 16.

Prior to these guidelines being published, Everyone Active had also updated its swimwear policy to allow a wider variety of garments to be worn in the pool, with the aim of making swimming a more inclusive activity.

We are currently in the process of reviewing the guidelines given by Swim England, and are in direct discussions with them to determine how we can best adapt our practices to ensure all customers feel safe and comfortable when using the centre. We welcome any recommendations that champion inclusivity and the rights of our diverse customer base.F orecasters have warned of heavy snow and travel disruption across most of the UK including London as they issued a fresh weather alert for the Easter weekend.

Those heading out of the capital for the Bank Holiday weekend have been told they may face delays and cancellations to their flight and rail journeys due to severe conditions on the way.

The Met Office today warned of the risk of snowfall on Monday as they issued a yellow weather alert for London and the south east, as well as most of northern England.

It comes after Londoners were already told they can expect a washout with downpours forecast for almost all parts of Britain in the coming days, with overnight temperatures predicted to drop below freezing.

The additional yellow warning, which will be triggered just after midnight on Monday, comes after the same alert was issued only for Scotland for tonight and Friday.

Snow hits the UK - March 17 2018 1 /25 Snow hits the UK - March 17 2018 Men look at a car trapped after snow fall in Coalville REUTERS A man digs a Landrover out of a snow drift in Coalville REUTERS Gardner Chris Orton tends to the Crocus garden at Wallington Hall in Northumberland PA Scottie Dog Douglas in the snow in Glasgow PA Men dig a Landrover out of a snow drift in Coalville REUTERS Cars in snow on Blackstone Edge near Littleborough in Greater Manchester PA Horses are covered in snow on the hills surrounding Merthyr Tydfil in Wales PA A stranded coach on Blackstone Edge near Littleborough in Greater Manchester PA Horses are covered in snow on the hills surrounding Merthyr Tydfil in Wales PA Horses are covered in snow on the hills surrounding Merthyr Tydfil in Wales PA A woman cleans snow off a car in Bristol PA A woman cleans snow off a car in Bristol PA People taking part in the Grindleford Gallop, a 21-mile fell race, on Curbar Edge in the Peak District PA A snow storm in Car Colston, Nottinghamshire. PA A jogger braves the snow near Hyde Park, central London Getty Images A woman battles icy winds in Kesington Gardens Getty Images Snow blankets Brockwell Park in Herne Hill Dylan the dog enjoys the snow in Grovelands Park, north London Spring flowers brighten up wintery scenes in Kensington Gardens Getty Images An Egyptian goose looks less than impressed by the weather Getty Images Londoners shelter from the snow under umbrellas outside Kensington Palace Getty Images Fresh snow covers the pitch after a flurry ahead of the English Premier League football match between Stoke City and Everton at the Bet365 Stadium in Stoke-on-Trent AFP/Getty Images A woman braves plunging temperatures in west London Getty Images Snow flurries settled in Beckenham, south east London A woman feeds the birds as temperatures plunge Getty Images

Issuing the fresh alert, the Met Office in statement said: Rain will turn to snow over higher hills during Thursday daytime and then to some lower levels during Thursday night.

Loading....

A few centimetres of snow may affect higher routes before a slow improvement follows during Friday daytime.

At lower levels, snow will probably struggle to settle on tarmac and concrete surfaces. Some icy patches are also possible.

How to drive in the snow

Ahead of the snowfall expected on Monday, persistent rain is expected in the south on Friday before the showers sweep northwards.D riving with snow on a car in the UK can lead to a fine or points on your licence.

The UK was hit with a fresh dump of the white stuff on Saturday and Sunday after a blast of Siberian air hit the country for the second time in March.

Dubbed the "Mini Beast from the East", the cold snap sparked treacherous conditions on the roads with cars becoming stranded in some areas overnight.

Highways England has urged drivers to brush the snow off their cars before setting out so that it does not blow into vehicles following behind.

It said in a statement on Twitter: "If you plan of travelling in the bad weather, please ensure you clear the snow from the top of your vehicle before travelling, this can become dislodged and obscure visibility.

"Please make sure you are fully prepared with food, water and warm clothes. Only travel if necessary."

Five tips for driving in the snow

Drivers must "remove all snow that might fall into the path of other road users", according to section 229 of the Highway Code.

This includes windows, mirrors and the roof of the vehicle, the AA said.

Technically, there is no road law that says it is illegal to drive with snow on your car but the Highway Code stipulates that if you're driving in adverse weather conditions you must, by law, be able to see out of every glass panel in your vehicle. Section 41D of the Road Traffic Act also states that it is a legal requirement to have a clear view of the road before setting off.

Snow hits the UK - March 17 2018 1 /25 Snow hits the UK - March 17 2018 Men look at a car trapped after snow fall in Coalville REUTERS A man digs a Landrover out of a snow drift in Coalville REUTERS Gardner Chris Orton tends to the Crocus garden at Wallington Hall in Northumberland PA Scottie Dog Douglas in the snow in Glasgow PA Men dig a Landrover out of a snow drift in Coalville REUTERS Cars in snow on Blackstone Edge near Littleborough in Greater Manchester PA Horses are covered in snow on the hills surrounding Merthyr Tydfil in Wales PA A stranded coach on Blackstone Edge near Littleborough in Greater Manchester PA Horses are covered in snow on the hills surrounding Merthyr Tydfil in Wales PA Horses are covered in snow on the hills surrounding Merthyr Tydfil in Wales PA A woman cleans snow off a car in Bristol PA A woman cleans snow off a car in Bristol PA People taking part in the Grindleford Gallop, a 21-mile fell race, on Curbar Edge in the Peak District PA A snow storm in Car Colston, Nottinghamshire. PA A jogger braves the snow near Hyde Park, central London Getty Images A woman battles icy winds in Kesington Gardens Getty Images Snow blankets Brockwell Park in Herne Hill Dylan the dog enjoys the snow in Grovelands Park, north London Spring flowers brighten up wintery scenes in Kensington Gardens Getty Images An Egyptian goose looks less than impressed by the weather Getty Images Londoners shelter from the snow under umbrellas outside Kensington Palace Getty Images Fresh snow covers the pitch after a flurry ahead of the English Premier League football match between Stoke City and Everton at the Bet365 Stadium in Stoke-on-Trent AFP/Getty Images A woman braves plunging temperatures in west London Getty Images Snow flurries settled in Beckenham, south east London A woman feeds the birds as temperatures plunge Getty Images

If you are caught with snow on your car, you could be given a 60 fine and have three points added to your licence.

Offences like "driving without due consideration" or "careless driving" can be applied if you were driving with snow on your roof or elsewhere on your car and it blew off onto another vehicle and caused an accident.

Luke Bosdet, a spokesman for the AA said that the consequences of a snowy roof could be much worse if it causes an accident.

If you are in an accident and it is the contributing factor then in terms of punishment the skys the limit, he said.

'Mini beast from the east' grips the UK

If a driver is charged with careless driving the fine could be as high as 5000.

The spokesman warned that it was very dangerous to leave snow on the roof of your car.

He said: You are driving along and you become one big car blizzard.

If the snow is frozen and comes off in chunks it could be very dangerous for cyclists and other cars.

The Met Office has put an amber warning for snow in place until 3am on Monday for parts of south-west England, while yellow warnings for snow and ice cover nearly the whole of the UK until midnight.S acked former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe has handed personal memos detailing meetings with Donald Trump to the special counsels office.

The notes, echoing those submitted by fired FBI chief James Comey, could be used as part of Robert Muellers investigation into Trumps ties with Russia during his 2016 election campaign.

Mr McCabe's memos include details of his own interactions with the president, according to officials.

They also recount different conversations he had with Mr Comey, who kept notes on meetings with Trump that unnerved him.

Sacked: Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe / EPA

Despite precise details of the memos being unknown they could be used to back up Mr McCabes claims that he was unfairly maligned by the White House.

The disclosure on Saturday came hours after Mr Trump called Mr McCabe's firing by Attorney General Jeff Sessions "a great day for Democracy.

The president suggested Mr McCabe knew "all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels off the FBI!"

Ousted FBI director James Comey is sworn in during a hearing before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence / AFP

Mr Sessions said he acted on the recommendation of FBI disciplinary officials who said Mr McCabe had not been candid with a watchdog office investigation.

Mr McCabe was fired two days before his retirement date on Sunday.

An upcoming inspector general's report is expected to conclude that Mr McCabe, who spent more than 20 years with the FBI, had authorised the release of information to the media.

Donald Trump sacks Secretary of State Rex Tillerson

It is also likely to say he had not been open with the watchdog office as it examined the bureau's handling of an investigation into Hillary Clintons emails, US media suggested.

Mr McCabe has disputed the allegations.

He said: "It is part of this administration's ongoing war on the FBI and the efforts of the special counsel investigation, which continue to this day.

"Their persistence in this campaign only highlights the importance of the special counsel's work."

Mr Trump's personal lawyer, John Dowd, praised the "brilliant and courageous example" by Mr Sessions and the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility.

He said Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein should "bring an end" to the Russia investigation "manufactured" by Mr Comey.

Mr Mueller is investigating whether Trump's actions, including sacking Mr Comey's are classed as an obstruction of justice.T here is no denying it  we are a nation of soap lovers. No, not the cleaning kind, although thats popular as well, but us Brits want nothing more than to settle down and catch up on Coronation Street, check in on the residents of Emmerdale and drop into EastEnders.

Soap operas can be powerful, whether the producers realise it or not, and there have been numerous examples over the years of continuing drama helping people to improve their own lives or to face something that has long been bothering them.

In scenes aired on Friday, Corries David Platt  played by Jack P Shepherd  went out for the night with his supposed-friend Josh Tucker. Over the next episodes, he wakes up in Josh's bed and realises he has been raped, after being spiked on their night out and sexually assaulted.

This isnt the first time male rape has been the subject of a soap plot, indeed Hollyoaks tackled the subject many years ago with Gary Lucys character Luke Morgan facing a similar ordeal.

Here are six of the most hard-hitting and heart-wrenching soap opera moments

EastEnders: Shabnam Masood gives birth to her stillborn son

In 2015, Shabnam found out she was pregnant by Kush Kazemi and the two prepared to become parents, initially concerned but soon over-the-moon excited. But all was not meant to be as actress Rakhee Thakrar confirmed at the beginning of August that year that Shabnam would deliver a stillborn baby boy later that month, marking a powerful neonatal death storyline.

Commencing the last week of the month, Shabnam became alarmed she could no longer feel her baby moving and was rushed to hospital where her worst fears were confirmed. What followed next were some of the most beautifully acted yet heartbreaking scenes the soap had seen in a long while, as Shabnam laboured and the family greeted their newborn, Zaair, who had already passed away.

EastEnders: Whitney Deans grooming ordeal and sexual exploitation

When Shona McGartys character first rocked up in Albert Square in 2008, the 15-year-old was hiding a secret that would go on to become the central point on a key storyline. Whitney was sleeping with Biancas boyfriend Tony King for several years and believed that the two were in love but all came crashing down with Whitneys big reveal on her 16th birthday ending with her stepmum calling the police.

Some years later, a troubled Whitneys vulnerability saw her in the midst of another grooming storyline as she was exploited for the financial gain of Rob Grayson (Jody Latham) and forced into being with other men. The plot culminated in a dark but powerful Red Nose Day 2011 mini-episode to raise awareness.

Coronation Street: Bethany Platts sex ring ordeal

Coronation Street: Bethany Platt was manipulated by her evil boyfriend Nathan / ITV

Similar to Whitneys experience in Walford, Bethany Platts fiance Nathan Curtis cast a dark cloud over the Cobbles when he picked the upset and struggling teen  played by Lucy Fallon  off the floor and indoctrinated her, claiming he loved her and wanted to be with her. Millions watched what happened next as evil Nathan began to introduce Bethany to his friends and tell her she had to sleep with them.

After becoming aware he was trying to sell her, Bethany begged strangers for help in a service shop cafe and Nathan was arrested with his horrible arrangements and crimes unravelling. He, thankfully, ended up behind bars.

Coronation Street: Tyrone Dobbs is domestically abused by Kirsty Soames

Kirsty and Tyrone seemed like a perfect match when they first locked eyes in a bar in 2011 but things quickly turned sour as Kirstys nasty streak was revealed. Over the months she was on screen, an increasingly erratic Kirsty attacked Tyrone physically multiple times as well as subjected him to emotional abuse.

The powerful storyline played with the emotions of the audience, pulling on heartstrings, and even sparked an upsurge in domestic abuse against men, especially, being reported and spoken about.

Hollyoaks: Jason Costellos gender dysphoria

Jasmine Costello arrived in the Chester town in 2010 and it soon transpired that the student was weighed down by a secret which set the soap embarking on a hard-hitting GID storyline.

Over the next months, Jasmine began to live openly as Jason as viewers were given an insight into how being trapped in the opposite sexes body impacts the mind.

The storyline was widely praised, especially because it was based on real-life experiences of teens who had gone through similar gender identity disorders.

Emmerdale: Ross Bartons acid attack

Emmerdale: Ross Barton was left with life-changing scars after an acid attack / ITV

Earlier this year, Ross was splashed with acid leaving him with severe burns after drug-dealer Simon mistook him for Joe Tate, the original target of Debbie Dingles ordered hit.Rand PAUL

Since President Trump took office, our country finally seems to be heading in the right direction. In just the past year, the American people have seen enormous tax cuts, more judges appointed who take the Constitution seriously, relief from the massive regulatory state, and an economy rapidly gaining strength and offering greater opportunities for those seeking to turn their dreams into reality.

But when it comes to our place on the world stage, we are at a crossroads. We can continue to build on our recent successes by reaffirming Americas role as a trusted, powerful nation guided by principle. Or we can throw it all away by allowing neocon interventionists to infiltrate our leadership and make America the purveyor of destruction.

For decades, we have failed to bring about real peace thanks to a foreign policy guided by the idea that war and intervention are the answers. Blow up and rebuild has been the battle cry of those determined to keep us perpetually in conflict.

It was the battle cry of Hillary Clinton, who supported military intervention in Iraq, Syria, and Libya. I supported President Trump during his campaign because he advocated for less military intervention. He opposed the Iraq War. He acknowledged that nation-building doesnt work. He understood the damage previous foreign policy missteps have caused, including helping to strengthen ISIS.

I want to continue making America great again. That wont happen if we give power-hungry neocons the reins to our nations foreign policy.

People already distrust the CIA. So why on earth has this administration picked someone to run the Agency who was instrumental in running a place where people were tortured and then covered it up afterwards?

Multiple undisputed accounts have detailed how Gina Haspel not only ran a CIA black site in Thailand but also destroyed video evidence of torture.

The retraction of one anecdote from a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter doesnt absolve her of wrongdoing and certainly doesnt negate the rest of the facts, which remain the same. Those actions alone should preclude her from ever running the CIA.

Unfortunately, Haspel is just one of many potential neoconservatives being considered to serve in our countrys top leadership roles. The current CIA director and the presidents pick to become the next secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has defended torture in the past.

Further, hes been a stalwart defender of the National Security Agencys (NSA) unconstitutional spying programs and has even written in support of expanding the information government can collect.

I could not support appointing him as CIA director in 2017, and for those same reasons, I will oppose his nomination to be our chief diplomat now.

Just as troublesome are recent news reports that John Bolton is being considered for a senior administration position. Just recently, Bolton advocated for a preemptive strike against North Korea. If he had his way, our nation would be embroiled in dozens of armed conflicts in every corner of the world.

I want to be clear. This issue is much bigger than a simple disagreement over policyand far more consequential. These are dangerous appointments.

Allowing the failed foreign policies of the past to have a place in this administration, and sanctioning the infiltration of our government by those who eagerly await the next opportunity for war, not only says we dont learn from our mistakes, it will result in a world with far more enemies than opportunities for stability and peace.

If we are to avoid a future that is war-torn and mired in endless conflicts, we must do better than appointing these flawed nominees. I find them unacceptable, and I wont support them. I hope the president will reconsider, too.

theamericanconservative.comOn March 12, US Permanent Representative to the UN, Nikki Haley, announced at a Security Council meeting that the US will take action on its own if that organization fails to establish a cease-fire and end the chemical attacks and suffering of civilians as it pushes for a new 30-day truce in Syrias Eastern Ghouta. She forces the circulation of a new draft resolution, in view of the failure of the previous one. In a nutshell, the US has adopted a do what I tell you or else approach. Sounds sound like an ultimatum! The UK expressed its readiness to join the US. So did France.

Washington blames Russia, Syria, and Iran for ignoring a 30-day cease-fire mandated by the UN last month. Defense Secretary James Mattis declared that the US is concerned over the reports of chlorine-gas use by Syrias government. CIA director Mike Pompeo, who has been nominated for secretary of state, stated that President Donald Trump will not turn a blind eye to chemical attacks.

It should be noted that Syrian rebels have used chemical weapons (CW) before. This fact has been established by UN investigators. In 2017, the use of toxic agents by rebels was acknowledged by the US State Department. But the US is denying any possibility that the rebels might have staged a provocation in Eastern Ghouta, just as the Russian General Staff had warned. Just a few days ago the Syrian army found a CW lab in that area.

Nikki Haileys statement prompted a warning from Moscow that it will take measures to protect the lives of its servicemen and strike back if need be. On March 13, the Chief of Russias General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, alleged that the militants were preparing a provocation in Syria that would use chemical agents, intended to justify a massive US strike on Syrias military sites and troops.

So, the US is adopting a Jaccuse tone, threatening the use of force with no evidence to support its CW accusations while pointing its finger at Syrias government, blaming it for firing on the fighters of Al-Nusra, the group excluded from the cease-fire agreements. But its Russia, not the US, who enforced five-hour daily breaks in the fighting to enable the evacuation of civilians and the injured from the embattled areas, allowing some deliveries of humanitarian aid.

Now  about the US concern over civilians suffering from chemical attacks. Here we go again: the pot calling the kettle black.

Exactly one year ago, US officials had to confirm that they had used depleted uranium (DU) on the battlefield in Iraq and Syria. DU is a bit of a gray area, as no international agreement explicitly bans it. In 2012, the UN General Assembly tried to adopt a resolution restricting its use. The move was supported by 155 states. Twenty-seven states abstained, and only four voted against it. Of course, the US was among those four, not the 155. In 2014, the UN International Atomic Energy Agency issued a report on depleted-uranium munitions. The paper concluded that direct contact with DU could result in exposures of radiological significance.

The US-led coalition used white phosphorus, a potentially lethal substance, in populated areas during its operations in Iraq and Syria. One of those places was Mosul  the second largest Iraqi city. This fact was confirmed by high-ranking commanders on the field amidst rising criticism. The substance was used during the operation to push the Islamic State (IS) out of the Syrian city of Raqqa  the unofficial IS capital. American cluster bombs have been used in Yemen. The US Defense Department says it wont give up cluster munitions because they have a legitimate use in military operations. Field commanders are authorized to use them at their discretion. While America is concerned over chemical attacks in Eastern Ghouta, the world is concerned over Americas use of deadly substances in Iraq and Syria that have resulted in civilian casualties.

The US-led coalition wants the rebels to stay in the embattled area  the only springboard from which to strike Damascus. It also wants to demonstrate to the Arab countries its own allegiance to the principle of responsibility to protect, while painting those who are backing Syria, such as Russia, as evildoers. Its part of the current campaign to make Russia look like a rogue state. The clamor over its support of Syrias offensive in Eastern Ghouta has been timed to coincide with the British accusations of Moscows complicity in the spy poisoning scandal. These are links in one and the same chain.If you havent heard of the Cuban Brothers, theres a few things you should know about them  such as the time Elton John flew them to Paris in a private jet.

Not A-list enough? How about the night Robbie Williams pulled them in for an end-of-tour party, when Damien Hirst hired them for a Christmas bash, or the time Vernon Kaye and Tess Daly booked them for a wedding gig.

Make no mistake - The Cuban Brothers are a classy act.

And when the unstoppable and infectious Edinburgh-based group arent doing the celeb thing, theyre globe-trotting with their special brand of unrivalled funk, blending sexy, soulful music with jaw dropping breakdancing and riotous comedy.

Los Hermanos Cubanos have been dropping by New Zealand regularly since the early 2000s, and theyre coming back to Totara Street in Mount Maunganui on Thursday, March 22, at 8pm.

Crowds around the world love their well-chiseled Cuban accents, catchy originals, cleverly re-imagined funk, hip-hop and soul classics and their notoriously kitsch costumes.

Even the Cubans love the Cuban brothers  the group has played Havana several times without being run out of town.US Has Had 498 Shootings and 14,516 Fatalities So Far in 2021New York, March 18, 2018 (SPS) - The United National Envoy for Western Sahara Horst Kohler on Wednesday will present to the Security Council the first conclusions of his mediation which started in last October, a first briefing closely scrutinized in New York shortly before the next report on the Western Sahara conflict.

During the meeting to take place in camera, Kohler will be accompanied by the new Head of the MINURSO (United Nations Mission for Referendum in Western Sahara) Colin Stewart, appointed in December.

Previously scheduled for February, the briefing will take place in accordance with resolution 2351 in 2017, which asked the UN SG to present a report on the situation in Western Sahara after six months of the appointment of the new UN Personal Envoy.

The resolution also invites the SG to inform the Security Council about the progress made by Kohler to find a mutually acceptable political solution allowing the Sahrawi people to exercise the right to self-determination.

Guterres held a series of consultations with the two parties to conflict, namely the Polisario Front and Morocco, and the two observer countries Algeria and Mauritania. (SPS)

062/SPS/APSChina plans to name a new leader for its central bank chief on Monday in a move signalling that Beijing will continue an ambitious  and, some say, much needed  financial shake-up to get the country's debt under control and keep its economy growing.

Yi Gang, a US-educated economist, was set to succeed Zhou Xiaochuan, the central bank's governor for more than 15 years, two people familiar with the decision said. The choice of Yi, a protege and deputy of Zhou, almost guarantees continuity in Chinese policy.

Zhou Xiaochuan has been the central bank's governor for more than 15 years. Credit:Bloomberg

The leadership change follows a broader pattern as President Xi Jinping consolidates power and pushes through his economic agenda. In recent months, Beijing has been more outspoken about dealing with the country's debt problems and forcing deeply indebted private sector companies to sell assets and pay off some of their loans.

The central bank chief will pay a major role, trying to ensure that just the right amount of credit flows to the economy. But Yi will not likely carry the same clout as his predecessor, an important architect of China's considerable yet incomplete transition from central planning to a market-oriented economy.Dubai: For Eddie Woo, there's a direct link between the trouble many adults have with maths and the election of Donald Trump, Brexit and climate change denial.

Mr Woo, the Cherrybrook Technology High School maths head teacher who has become known around the world for his maths YouTube videos, said the inability of many people to understand data and statistics has become a major social problem.

Cherrybrook Technology High School maths teacher Eddie Woo says the way maths is taught in Australia and around the world needs to be changed radically. Credit:Janie Barrett

"We've just had major election results that stem directly from mathematical illiteracy, because people don't have the mathematical wherewithal to understand the statistics they're being fed," Mr Woo said.

"They look at them and say, 'Well OK, sure, I don't know any better.' The fact that climate change denial can survive has a direct causal relationship with mathematical illiteracy."DANCE

MURPHY 

The Australian Ballet, Graeme Murphy

State Theatre, Arts Centre, until March 26



With a career spanning five decades, a track record that includes running the Sydney Dance Company and major choreographic commissions from every artistic director of the Australian Ballet since the company was founded, Graeme Murphy is certainly a creative living treasure.

Artists of the Australian Ballet in Grand. Credit:Jeff Busby

With Murphy, the company pays tribute to the choreographer and his creative associate, Janet Vernon, with a series of excerpts.

We see Murphy the romantic, the optimist and the comedian, all expressed through dance. While some moments are simply breathtaking, others seem strangely uninspired  and maybe did not need to be dusted off and reconstructed.Extreme winds on Sunday led to an ominous dust cloud over the ACT and prompted more than 80 calls for assistance related to fallen trees on roads and properties.

Five thousand homes throughout Canberra were affected by power outages caused by gusts of up to 82 kilometres per hour.

Canberra, viewed from Mount Ainslie, grapples with a dust cloud. Credit:Dion Georgopoulos

But it was a cloud of dust hovering over the capital that drew the attention of many. Bureau of Meteorology severe weather forecaster Jordan Notara said strong winds paired with few recent rainy days had dragged the dust into Canberra from the west of the ACT/NSW border.

"We aren't defining it as a dust storm due to the fact that the visibility is being reported isn't low enough for that category. At the moment raised dust is what we would call it," Mr Notara said.It's the issue that has gripped Melbourne since The Age's Henrietta Cook broke the story last Friday. More than 400,000 page views and counting. Channel Seven helicopters circling over the scene. Mass protests. Emergency meetings. Threats and counter-threats.

Should Browny have got the chop for trimming a student's hair before the Trinity Grammar school photos? That simple act has uncovered myriad simmering tensions at one of Melbourne's most prestigious schools.

These are issues that are not peculiar to Trinity, encompassing as they do a backlash against the corporatisation of schools, and the belief that ATAR scores are being prioritised over students' wellbeing and development. It's a battle of old versus new, of the schools wealthy and powerful alumni versus the current powerbrokers.

The story also highlights how difficult it is for schools to implement change when their wider community is not on board.

The haircut will seem much a(hair)do about nothing to some, but the sacking of a beloved old-school teacher by a less popular progressive principal means battle lines have been drawn.Today is St Patricks Day, and to celebrate all things Irish we are exploring medieval Irish charms in the British Library's collections. The use of protective charms in Ireland can be traced back to the early medieval period, and possibly to St Patricks own lifetime.

St Patrick asleep, with a figure holding a book, France, 2nd quarter of the 13th century: Royal MS 20 D VI, f. 213v





Text page of the lorica of St Patrick, 15th century: Egerton MS 93, f. 19r

A lorica is a medieval Christian charm or prayer that will grant Divine protection when invoked. In classical Latin, the word lorica refers to a protective breastplate worn as armour by Roman soldiers. The lorica of St Patrick, or St Patricks Breastplate, was supposedly composed by the saint himself to celebrate the victory of the Irish Church over paganism. The British Library houses one of only three surviving medieval copies of this charm, in a 15th-century manuscript containing an account in Middle Irish of St Patricks life (now Egerton MS 93). The lorica is also composed in Middle Irish, and is formed of seven verses beginning Attoruig indiu nert triun togairm trinoite (I arise today through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity). A preface accompanies the lorica in an 11th-century manuscript known as the Liber hymnorum (Trinity College Dublin MS 1441), which states that the prayer was written to safeguard St Patrick and his monks against deadly enemies and would protect anyone who read it from devils and sudden death.

Text page of the lorica of St Fursey: Add MS 30512, f. 35v

Another notable protective charm is attributed to St Fursey (d. c. 650), an Irish monk from modern day Co. Galway and the first recorded Irish missionary to Anglo-Saxon England in c. 630. The only known copy of St Furseys lorica survives in a Middle Irish collection of theological works composed in the 15th and 16th centuries, known as the Leabhar Ui Maolconaire (Add MS 30512). Like the lorica of St Patrick, St Furseys prayer invokes the power of the Holy Trinity to protect one against evil. The text begins Robe mainrechta De forsind [f]ormnassa (The arms of God be around my shoulders).

Head, shoulders, knees and bones: the opening of the lorica of Laidcenn to protect the body, late 8th or early 9th century: Harley MS 2965, f. 38r

Protective Irish charms also survive in medieval English manuscripts, such the Book of Nunnaminster (Harley MS 2965), produced in Mercia in the late 8th or early 9th century. This manuscript contains the earliest known copy of the lorica of Laidcenn (d. c. 660), a monk and scholar at the monastery of Clonfert-Mulloe in modern day Co. Laois. The text was copied in Latin, and invokes the protection of individual limbs and body parts from demons, including the eyes:

Deliver all the limbs of me a mortal

with your protective shield guarding every member,

lest the foul demons hurl their shafts

into my sides, as is their wont.

Deliver my skull, head with hair and eyes.

mouth, tongue, teeth and nostrils,

neck, breast, side and limbs,

joints, fat and two hands.

In the same manuscript, Laidcenns lorica is accompanied by a prayer against poison. These many surviving protective charms give new meaning to the saying, the luck of the Irish!

A charm against poison: Harley MS 2965, f. 37r

Alison Ray

Follow us on Twitter @BLMedieval

Sources:

Edition and translation of the preface and lorica of St Patrick: Whitley Stokes & John Strachan (eds.), Thesaurus palaeohibernicus (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1903), vol. 2, pp. 35458.

Translation of the lorica of St Fursey: John O Riordain, The Music of What Happens (Dublin: The Columba Press, 1996) pp. 4647.

Edition and translation of the lorica of Laidcenn: Michael W. Herren, The Hisperica famina (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 1987), vol. 2, pp. 7689.On Friday (March 16), Courtney Blodgett took Edit, a 10-year-old trotting gelding, to the Trumbull Career and Technical Center in Warren, Ohio, to do a program on harness racing to teach the high school students about the sport and industry.

Blodgett currently trains Edit, who is owned by Ingrid Gresek.

The students in the program are juniors and seniors who come to the school from various high schools throughout Trumbull County. In the program, the students are learning about different breeds, horse health, and basic horse knowledge.

The teacher of the program, Lisa Street, said, It is very nice to have the ability to bring in a racehorse that allows the students to learn from.

Blodgett made a presentation for the students that showed information about the Standardbred and basic facts about harness racing. She also used Edit to teach the students about harnessing a racehorse and what the different types of equipment are used by Standardbreds while racing.

The students also got to hear from different guest speakers as well, such as Amy Hollar, Wendy Ross and Michael Carter. Blodgett is extremely thankful to them for talking to the students as well.

Street said, My goal when my students graduate from the program is that they are able to find a job within the equine industry. This presentation made my students realize how many jobs there are within the harness racing industry."

The students really enjoyed the program and had fun while learning more about harness racing. Blodgett had a lot of fun planning the event, and she found it was really rewarding to see all of her hard work prove a positive result.

Most of the students didn't really know what a Standardbred was. Blodgett graduated from the program in 2014 and loved being able to give back to the program and promote something that she absolutely loves, which is harness racing.

The students really enjoyed being able to be that up close to a racehorse. Many of them took selfies with Edit and he really enjoyed doing it.

(With files from Courtney Blodgett)The state government will invest more than $100 million in savings to fast-track upgrades on Victorias busiest freeway which will total to more than $1 billion.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews on Sunday said the $400 million first stage of the Monash Freeway upgrade came in $111 million under budget  money which would be used to begin early works on the second-stage upgrade.

The government had previously slated $600 million for stage-two works, which would rise to $711 million with the savings.

The Monash Freeway Credit:Joe Armao

"This is a massive upgrade for one of our most important freeways, its all about getting people home faster, getting our freight task to port, to markets quicker and a safer freeway as well," Mr Andrews said.Police have been kept busy overnight, with dozens of back-up officers required to break up two out-of-control parties on Saturday evening.

Police were first called to a party on Brighton Road in Scarborough at around 10pm after receiving reports from concerned neighbours about people fighting in the street.

The riot squad was called to a home in Scarborough overnight. Credit:Hannah Barry

On attendance officers were met with a crowd in excess of 50 people, and neighbours said a number of young men and women appeared to be fighting with each other.

A total of 18 police cars were called to help break up the party, and it took about an hour and a half for police to restore order.Greens leader Richard Di Natale is arranging a "purge" of dissident members as the fallout continues from the crunch Batman byelection in Melbourne on the weekend.

Party officials are already acting on Senator Di Natale's pledge to hunt down and expel those responsible for the damaging leaks that dogged Greens candidate Alex Bhathal throughout her campaign.

In a message to members sent on Monday, and promptly leaked, state co-convenors Rose Read and Colin Jacobs said whoever was behind the sabotage to Bhathal's campaign must be rooted out.

"Such behaviour undermines the work of elected officialsLabor is optimistic about its prospects of fighting off the Greens in the inner city at the next Victorian state election after recording a surprising victory in the Batman federal byelection on Saturday.

The triumph in Batman, where Labor's Ged Kearney looked to have a 4.63 per cent lead over Greens candidate Alex Bhathal, based on Sunday's tally, has given hope to the Daniel Andrews government that it can hold off an assault from the left on its traditional heartland on November 24 this year.

The Greens are eyeing off a series of inner-city seats, which the party is threatening to take off Labor at the November poll, including Brunswick, Richmond and Albert Park.

The Greens already hold Melbourne and Prahran, as well as the recent addition of Northcote, which was won at a byelection in November with a dramatic swing of over 11 per cent.Washington: Republican senators warned US President Donald Trump on Sunday against firing Special Counsel Robert Mueller and said he must let federal investigators looking into Russian meddling in the US election do their jobs.

The Republican President renewed his Twitter attacks on both the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Mueller's probe since the firing on Friday of the bureau's deputy director, Andrew McCabe, days before he was eligible to retire with a full pension.

In an apparent change of strategy, US President Donald Trump is now openly attacking Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Credit:AP

Republican Senator Jeff Flake said it appeared the President's latest comments were aimed at the firing of Mueller.

"I don't know what the designs are on Mueller, but it seems to be building toward that, and I just hope it doesn't go there, because it can't. We cant in Congress accept that," Flake told CNN's State of the Union.Standardbred horseman Lenard Moe Milburn, 71, of Lebanon, Ohio, passed away on Friday morning (March 16) at Hospice of Butler & Warren counties.

Milburn was a horse owner, trainer and driver and amassed just under $1 million in combined earnings since the U.S. Trotting Association began maintaining such records.

His wife, Mary, preceded him in death. He leaves behind Jacob, who was like a son, sister Shelia, nieces Cindy & Amanda (Justin), nephew Brandon, greatnephew Ryan, brother-in-laws Robert (Sharon) and John.

A memorial service will be held Tuesday (March 20) at 6 p.m. at the Warren County Fairgrounds. Instead of flowers, donations toward his cremation would be gladly appreciated.

Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the family and friends of Moe Milburn.

(Amy Hollar)Photo: Pete Marovich/Getty Images

The Supreme Court has just started to hear a case that could have major implications for the future of abortion rights. National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra, better known as NIFLA v. Becerra, concerns the legality of a California law that requires faith-based, anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers inform clients about abortion services.

Almost immediately after California passed the Reproductive Fact Act in October 2015, multiple anti-abortion centers and organizations sued the state, claiming the law violates their their First Amendment rights to free speech and free exercise of religion. In November 2017, the Supreme Court agreed to hear one of the cases, and on March 20, oral arguments commence.

Below, heres what to know about the upcoming case.

Very quickly: What are crisis pregnancy centers?

In short, theyre faith-based centers that pose as abortion-providing health-care clinics. In 2013, it was estimated that about 2,500 centers exist around the country.

How exactly do they threaten abortion clinics?

Those behind CPCs tend to deliberately open centers close to abortion-providing clinics and market themselves as womens health centers to confuse patients. Outside the clinics themselves, CPC employees  many of whom dont have medical experience  will attempt to lure women seeking an abortion into their center instead. An example: In Jackson, Mississippi, Center for Pregnancy Choices, a CPC, opened just 100 yards from Jackson Womens Health Organization  the states only abortion clinic.

So what is Californias law regarding them?

In October 2015, California  which has more than 300 CPCs  passed the Reproductive Fact Act, which requires CPCs to provide comprehensive information on reproductive choices, including abortion. Just days after the law passed, multiple clinics began to sue then-California Attorney General Kamala Harris, claiming that the law violated their First Amendment rights.

And who exactly are Becerra and NIFLA?

Xavier Becerra is the current California attorney general who is defending the law. NIFLA, which filed its first legal challenge in 2016, is a public interest law firm that counsels CPCs around the country.

What could this case mean for the future of abortion rights?

Courts have invalidated similar laws in Texas, Maryland, and New York, and if NIFLA wins the case, California will no longer be able to enforce the law. However, if NIFLA loses, other states could pass similar laws in the future. There could be an upside to a NIFLA win, though. If the court rules that the government cannot dictate what health centers are required to tell patients, some pro-choice advocates wonder if they could use such a ruling to challenge the numerous state laws that require abortion providers to deliver unscientific messages about alleged abortion risks and complications.

So when is ruling expected?

No later than this summer.Katy Perry. Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images

One of the nuns embroiled in the years-long legal battle with first-kiss-ruiner Katy Perry says the nasty dispute over the Los Angeles property has completely bankrupted her.

In 2015, five nuns connected to a convent located on an eight-acre estate in Los Feliz found themselves in the battle when Perry tried to buy the property. The nuns instead wanted to sell it to restaurateur-hotelier Dana Hollister but Perry ended up winning the legal dispute. Just last week, the case took a particularly tragic turn when one of the sisters died in the courtroom.

While the conflict has not yet killed 80-year-old Sister Rita Callanan, the nun says that the past few years have left her completely broke. She claims that Los Angeles Archbishop Jose H. Gomez, who finalized the property sale with Perry, sent the nuns to retirement homes and closed their bank accounts.

I have health issues, I have diabetes and breast cancer, she told the Mail. According to her account, Gomez has been paying for her monthly convent rent but has neglected to make her health insurance payments on time.

All we are asking is to sell our own property, keep our own money so we can take care of ourselves until the last person dies, then the money and property can go to the archbishop, she said. Theres not many more years, give me a break.Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull gestures to ASEAN leaders Laos' Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith, Indonesia's President Joko Widodo, Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen, Brunei's Sultan and Prime Minister Sultan Bokliah, Thailand's Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Philippines' Secretary of Foreign Affairs Alan Peter Cayetano, Burma's State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak to leave the stage after posing for the Leaders Welcome and Family Photo at the one-off summit of 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Sydney, Australia, March 17, 2018. (Reuters/David Gray)

Australia, Southeast Asia to Share Intelligence to Combat Terrorism

SYDNEYAustralia signed an agreement on Saturday with Southeast Asian nations including Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines promising to share intelligence to combat terrorism.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced the signing of the memorandum of understanding in which Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed to share intelligence, co-operate on lawmaking and counter extremism on social media.

Australia is hosting ASEAN meetings this weekend, despite not being a member of the 10-nation bloc, as it seeks to tighten political and trade ties in the region amid the Chinese Communist states rising influence.

Turnbull said in a televised address to ASEAN that ISISs influence was growing in Southeast Asia after the militants had lost their caliphate in the Middle East.

Theyll return battle-hardened and trained, so its vital for Australia and our ASEAN partners to collaborate across borders, he said.

Turnbull said non-conventional tools such as digital currencies, stored value cards and crowd-funding platforms were making it harder to detect terror financing.

As regional partners, we all play a crucial role in combating these disturbing and dangerous phenomena, he said.

Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said the government would introduce a new law to crack encryption online.

The new law would force companies providing communications services and devices in Australia to help agencies in investigations, he said in a press release.

Malaysian President Najib Razak said ISISs online propaganda could reach more than 300 million Muslims in Southeast Asia.

What is also very important is promoting a culture in which radical ideologies find it hard to take root, he said.

By Alison Bevege

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The Origins of AntifaWind Turbine on the way to Tesla Powerpack Launch Event at Hornsdale Wind Farm on Sept. 29, 2017 in Adelaide, Australia. (Mark Brake/Getty Images)

Australias Liberals Win State Election in Blow for Renewables Lobby

SYDNEYAustralias governing Liberal party has won the state election in South Australia, a victory that could deal a blow to the nations current renewable energy plans.

Saturdays poll pitted the center-right Liberals against the states ruling center-left Labor party, while independent Nick Xenophons new party SA Best failed to win the balance-of-power and have the final say over which major party governs.

Incoming Liberal premier Steven Marshall gave his televised victory speech just after 10 p.m. local time.

It is a tough job, but I tell you what, Im really looking forward to it  Its a new dawn for South Australia.

With 63 percent of votes counted, it was expected the Liberals had won 24 of the 47 lower house seats, giving it a majority to form government in what may have national implications for renewable energy policy.

The vote was seen as a choice between solar and wind energy, pushed by Labor, and coal, backed by Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbulls centre-right government.

South Australia, the countrys fifth most populous state, has the most wind and solar power but the highest electricity prices in the country.

Its 1.7 million citizens suffered repeated blackouts over the last two years when intermittent wind power was insufficient and back-up power from coal and gas was unavailable.

Outgoing Labor premier Jay Weatherill had announced a plan in February to create a network of 50,000 home solar systems backed by Tesla Powerwall batteries.

Turnbull mocked the states renewables policy as a reckless energy experiment that created the highest electricity prices in the developed world.

The federal government wants to introduce a national energy policy that has no renewable energy target but sets requirements for emissions cuts and reliability. South Australias Labor government had refused to go along with it.

Energy policy specialist David Blowers at the Grattan Institute think-tank told Reuters last week that if the Liberals were to win in South Australia, the federal government could be expected to get the approval it needs to proceed.

The official result of the final vote tally may not be known for several days.

By Alison Bevege

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Spectacular Lightning Storm Flashes Above Surfers ParadiseAn illustration of a BlackBerry smartphone. (Reuters/Bobby Yip/File Photo) / Policemen frisk a man in Medellin, Colombia, on October 3, 2017. Medellin's neighborhoods have been increasingly suffering from drug-related violence from gang and paramilitary groups, some of whom may be benefiting from modified BlackBerry smartphones to evade law enforcement. (Joaqin Sarmiento/AFP/Getty Images)

Canadian CEO Charged With Conspiring to Sell Unhackable Phones to Criminals

TORONTOThe United States has arrested and charged the chief executive of cybersecurity firm Phantom Secure, alleging the Vancouver-area businessman has conspired to provide drug traffickers with modified BlackBerry smartphones to evade law enforcement.

Vincent Ramos of Richmond, B.C., was arrested March 7 in Bellingham, Wash., near Seattle, and faces criminal charges filed with a U.S. district court in San Diego, Calif. Those records are sealed.

The U.S. Justice Department announced the charges Thursday following a years-long undercover operation that included several American, Australian, and Canadian agencies including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Authorities continue to seek four other suspects from various countries.

They allege that Phantom Secure, which bills itself as the worlds most trusted communication service, advertised its products as impervious to decryption and guaranteed that evidence on a device could be destroyed remotely if it was compromised.

The Department of Justice said the case is the first time the U.S. government has targeted a company and its principals for knowingly and intentionally conspiring with criminal organizations by providing them with the technological tools to evade law enforcement and obstruct justice while committing transnational drug trafficking.

The Canadian Press hasnt been able to contact Ramos or his lawyer for comment. None of the charges against Ramos have yet been proven in court.

However, the Phantom Secure website has a notice that says its a law-abiding company that was founded to provide businesses and people the opportunity to communicate in private in this modern technological age.

Ramos faces charges of racketeering conspiracy, also known as RICO conspiracy, and conspiracy to aid the distribution of narcotics. Both carry a maximum penalty of life in prison.

A partially blacked-out affidavit by an FBI special agent and attached to the warrant to arrest Ramos, alleges that Phantom Secure devices and services were specifically designed to prevent law enforcement from intercepting and monitoring communication and its corporate structure was set up to obstruct, impede, and evade law enforcement.

It alleges that the companys marketing material promotes Phantom Secures technical team modifying BlackBerry handsets by removing the microphone, GPS navigation, camera, internet and messenger service, and then installs encryption software on an email program routed to servers in countries such as Panama.

According to law enforcement sources in Australia, Canada, and the United States, Phantom Secure devices are used by the upper echelon members of various transnational criminal organizations to communicate with their criminal compatriots and conduct the illegal activities of the organization, the affidavit said.

The affidavit also includes a transcript of an exchange between an undercover RCMP agent posing as a drug trafficker and an unidentified Phantom Secure employee who wiped supposedly incriminating data from a modified BlackBerry.Ex-Boyfriend Flees US After Murdering Nursing Student

The 22-year-old former boyfriend and classmate of murdered nursing student Haley Anderson has been charged with second-degree murder, the Broome County District Attorneys Office announced in a press conference on Saturday, March 17.

Orlando Tercero is accused of killing 22-year-old Anderson after her body was found at Terceros home located at 23 Oak Street in Binghamton, New York, on Friday, March 9.

PHOTOS: We're getting our first look at Orlando Tercero, the suspect in the killing of 22-year-old Binghamton University student Haley Anderson.https://t.co/vQSwwv6NDN pic.twitter.com/aJdtawXu2A  WBNG 12 News (@WBNG12News) March 14, 2018

Authorities said Tercero and Anderson were both nursing students at Binghamton University in New York state and had previously been in a relationship.

Anderson was found by her roommates who went to Terceros home to look for her. They found Anderson unresponsive and quickly notified emergency services.

When police arrived, they found Anderson was dead and they immediately began an investigation into what appeared to be suspicious circumstances surrounding the death.

Broome County District Attorney Steve Cornwell announced during the press conference that Andersons cause of death was strangulation.

Cornwell said shortly after Andersons death that Tercero had fled the United States for Nicaragua on Friday. He was arrested on Tuesday afternoon, March 13, by the Nicaragua National Police force.

Heres the warrant for Terceros arrest. pic.twitter.com/LbFidUpxb3  Josh Martin (@JoshMartinTV12) March 17, 2018

He was taken to a hospital in Nicaragua where he was treated for self-inflicted injuries, reported WBNG, citing Nicaragua National Police.

Nicaragua National Police Commissioner Francisco Diaz said on Tuesday that Tercero was being handed over to judicial authorities, reported the news station.

Now that Tercero has been charged, the process to secure the 22-year-old, who is still in Nicaragua, back into the United States has begun. The District Attorney Office said they will call on the United States State Department to reach an agreement with the Nicaraguan Government so that Tercero can be extradited back to the United States.

Were going to do everything we can to make sure that he returns, Cornwell said.

Tercero reportedly holds dual citizenship for Nicaragua and the United States, which makes it more difficult to extradite the 22-year-old back to the country even though the United States has an extradition treaty with Nicaragua, reported ABC News, citing Binghampton Police Chief Joseph Zikuski.

Theres a chance they may not extradite him, he told ABC News.

Anderson had previously been suspicious of Tercero for damage to her property. In September 2017, Anderson reported to police that she believed Tercero may have had slashed her car tires, reported WBNG, citing a police report.

The report stated that Tercero was upset with Anderson for dating her boyfriend and started shouting at her at a party.

Haley stated that she believed but wasnt sure that a male named Orlando Tercero may have been involved with the damage of her vehicle, the report states.

Haley stated that she and Orlando dated for a short time, and that she had gone to a party at his house, 23 Oak St, on 09/15/17. She stated that Orlando had confronted her about dating his friend, her now boyfriend, and that he got very upset and was shouting at her, the report stated.

She stated that Orlando then tried to smooth everything over with her by pouring shots for her and her friends, but that he had too many drinks himself and began throwing up. Haley stated that she tried to help Orlando by getting him into bed so he could rest, and then left his apartment.

The next morning Anderson found her car tires had been slashed.

Terceros indictment will remain sealed until he returns to the United States and is formally arraigned on the murder charge, reported WBNG.

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Father Who Lost Child Tells Trump: I remember the hug you gave meFather Charged After 5-Month-Old Girl Was Left Fighting for Life in Coma

A father from Indiana has been charged after he allegedly shook his 5-month-old daughter and left her fighting for her life in a coma, according to police.

Dakota Moran, 21, was charged with level three felony battery resulting in serious bodily injury after his daughter Caroline Ann Moran was rushed to the hospital in a critical condition and placed in an induced coma on Wednesday, March 14, reported WANE.

Fort Wayne police responded to a call at a home in the 2300 block of South Calhoun Street, just before 12 p.m. on March 14. When they arrived, police found the infant not breathing and overheard Moran say, I shook her but after she stopped breathing, reported the news station, citing the probable cause affidavit. They said Moran was acting strange at the time.

Caroline was in her fathers care at the time of the incident. Moran told police that the babys mother had left for work around 8:30 a.m. that morning and that the baby was healthy and acting normal. Around 11 a.m., Caroline woke up and started crying like she was in pain. He noticed she was having trouble breathing. Her legs were locked and she went stiff before she started to shake, according to the probable cause affidavit, reported the news station.

Moran told police he tried to bounce his daughter back and forth to get her to breathe. He then asked a friend, who was visiting at the time, to call emergency services. He added that he was pressing the babys belly and chest to help her to breathe.

I didnt hurt my daughter intentionally if that is what you guys are thinking, Moran said in the affidavit, reported the news station.

Yall are gonna have to kill me if your gonna take me to jail for something I didnt do because I didnt mean to [expletive] do it. Yall are going to have to kill me if my daughter dies. I didnt mean to do anything to her. I just tried to help her out, he added.

Eventually, during police questioning, Moran admitted that he did shake the baby that day  approximately 30 to 60 minutes prior to the baby waking up in medical distress, according to the probable cause affidavit.

I did shake her, but not hard, the affidavit read, reported WANE.

I didnt shake her hard at all. I just dont want to get in trouble. I love my daughter. I didnt meant to hurt her. I didnt think I hurt her, but I didnt think I shook her that hard either. I didnt shake her any harder than I would shake my kitten because you can hurt kittens the same way.

Moran added that he didnt mean to do it and said he didnt know his own strength, police said.

He also told police that it was hard being a father and he was not used to being one. He added that a few days prior, he had opened the bathroom door so hard that a mirror broke because he had heard his daughter crying, reported the news station, citing the affidavit.

Doctors said the childs brain was bleeding as a result of trauma and they also found another brain bleed that was 2 to 3 weeks old.

Little Carolines grandmother Jamie Lucas said she was devastated that her granddaughter is in a critical condition, reported WPTA.

They had to remove part of her skull to relieve blood on her brain, she had multiple bleeds on her brain, she cant breathe on her own. Shes on a ventilator, shes got a neck brace, she told the news station.

Lucas said she had feared something would happen to her granddaughter and tried notifying Child Protective Services about her concerns.

Knew this was going to happen. I reported it, CPS did nothing about it and if hes beating on her, its only a matter of time before he started beating on my granddaughter. And theres the proof right there.

Lucas said she does not know whether Caroline would be able to recover.

Do they think that she will recover? Its up to her at this point. They cant give me any word on that. They dont know if shes going to have brain damage. They dont know, she added.

Fort Wayne Police Officer Michael Joyner said it was not easy when dealing with abused children.

When youre dealing with defenseless individuals, it just hits home for us because we have children, too, he told the news station.

Moran appeared in court on Friday, March 16. No further details have been released by police.

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A Mother Shares the Story of Her Sons Heroin OverdoseU.S. Army Private First Class Bradley/Chelsea Manning is escorted by military police as he leaves his military trial after he was found guilty of 20 out of 21 charges on July 30, 2013, in Fort George G. Meade, Maryland. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Hacker Who Helped Convict Chelsea Manning Found Dead

Hacker Adrian Lamo was found dead in Kansas at the age of 37. He gained fame for turning Chelsea Manning in to the authorities.

Lamo was contacted by Chelsea, then Bradley Manning in 2010, according to The Guardian. She sought his help in her quest to release classified military documents. He eventually testified against her in court, leading to her conviction for releasing classified military documents via WikiLeaks.

Theres nothing suspicious about his death, said Wichita police officer Charley Davidson, though no further information or cause of death has been given, The Wichita Eagle reported.

The Guardian was not given any more information when staff contacted the coroners office about the cause of death.

Lamo was arrested in 2004 for hacking into The New York Times and Microsoft, according to the Eagle. He told a court that Manning contacted him because of his notoriety in the hacking community.

With great sadness and a broken heart I have to let know all of Adrians friends and acquittances that he is dead. A bright mind and compassionate soul is gone, he was my beloved son wrote Lamos father, Mario Lamo, via Facebook.

His was a kind and principled man. He stood alone in the face of extreme difficulties that few of us can imagine; all to do what he knew to be right, wrote Tommy Chan, commenting on the post. The world would solemnly find another of his unique combination of intellect & character.

Chelsea Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison for leaking the largest trove of government secrets in the history of the United States  over 700,000 documents  according to ABC News. His sentence was commuted by former President Obama. He ended up only serving seven years, according to Fox News.

Ungrateful TRAITOR Chelsea Manning, who should never have been released from prison, is now calling President Obama a weak leader. Terrible!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 26, 2017

According to an interview with ABC, some of the classified information Manning made public ended up in the hands of Saddam Hussein. Manning responded by saying that Its not black and white, its complicated.

Tweets on her Twitter page advocate abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, defunding and disarming police departments, as well as tweets expressing anti-military and overall anti-U.S. sentiments.

they dont protect anyone's country anymore, we need to dismantle the bloated intel/police/military state before it destroys everyone ??? https://t.co/QNkFDP4Ugl  Chelsea E. Manning (@xychelsea) July 26, 2017

Manning has also recently filed to run for the U.S. Senate in the state of Maryland, according to Fox News.

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Father Who Lost Child Tells Trump: I remember the hug you gave meThree young children were pricked by a syringe near their home in Ridgewood, Perth while playing outside. (Screenshot via Google Maps)

Parents Mortified After Three Kids Pricked by Used Syringe While Playing

Two families are anxiously waiting to have their children tested for disease after the children punctured themselves with used needles that were found while they were playing near their home in Perths north.

Daniel Lekis and his wife panicked when they were told by a neighbour that their two boys  aged six and seven  and the neighbours son had found two syringes on the footpath at a vacant block behind their house on Corinda Way, Ridgewood, just before dinner time on Friday, March 16, reported 7News.

Their neighbour Jodi Timms overheard the three boys talking about what happened and she questioned them about it.

I went over there and said, you know, what are you guys talking about? Timms explained to 7 News Perth.

They got a bit sheepish and one of the boys pulled out a syringe from his pocket.

The mother-of-three was horrified and immediately told their parents who rushed their boys to Joondalup Health Campus.

Lekis two boys and their 5-year-old friend were all pricked by the needles, reported the news station.

Its not something I really want my kids to go through  or anyones children, Lekis said.

If the kids do catch something, their lives will change.

Im grateful that she was there and actually did pick up on it, he added.

Now the children will need to wait for six weeks before they can be tested for Hepatitis B, C, and HIV. They will then need to be tested again six weeks after that.

Doctors told the parents that the wounds are shallow and it is unlikely that the boys caught anything, reported the news station.

Lekis said the children will not be playing in that area again.

The Australian Department of Health has advised that anyone who has found a syringe has a number of options for disposal.

The preferred option for disposal is to contact the Needle Clean Up Hotline or local council in your area, the department said.

The department has also provided some instructions on how to dispose of a syringe if you want to do it yourself:

 Take a hard plastic container with a screw top and place it on the ground beside the needle and syringe.

 Keeping away from the sharp end of the needle, carefully pick up the syringe by the barrel.

 Needle point first, put the syringe into the container and seal it tightly.

 Place the container in a needle and syringe disposal bin if there is one nearby or contact the Needle Clean Up Hotline or local council in your area.

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Spectacular Lightning Storm Flashes Above Surfers ParadisePennsylvania Teen and 45-Year-Old Man Found in Mexico, 12 Days After Going Missing

A 16-year-old Pennsylvania girl and a 45-year-old man were found Mexico on Saturday, March 17, after the pair allegedly ran off together almost two weeks ago, authorities said. The man has been arrested.

Authorities found Amy Yu and Kevin Esterly in Playa del Carmen, a resort town in the Mexican state of Quintana, said the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, reported The Morning Call.

According to CNN, Yu was found unharmed and in good health, said Allentown police, and has been brought back home to Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Esterly is currently being held in Miami pending extradition to Pennsylvania, where he is expected to face the charge of interference with the custody of a child, said The Morning Call.

PHOTO of the Mexico arrest of Kevin Esterly, the 45-year-old man who has been missing since March 5 with a 16-year-old girl from Pennsylvania. LATEST UPDATES: https://t.co/UyJjMKjvzK pic.twitter.com/nyXYJoAjZF  NBC10 Philadelphia (@NBCPhiladelphia) March 18, 2018

The arrest came two days after Mexican authorities issued an Amber Alert for Yu, which stated that she could in danger.

Yus mother reported her daughter missing on March 5, reported The Morning Call. Esterlys wife told police officers that she saw him that morning for the last time. He withdrew $4,000 from her bank account before vanishing.

The pair disappeared after being seen last that day at 15th and Allen streets, shortly after Yus mother, Miu Luu, dropped her off at a bus stop.

For two weeks, Ive had trouble sleeping and eating, Luu told The Morning Call. She said she cried from relief upon hearing the news that her daughter was found.

According to police, Yu willingly left town with Esterly. Later that day, they took a one-way flight from Pennsylvania to Mexico, said the Morning Call.

Yu is friends with one of Esterlys four daughters, with Amys family saying the pair met initially at church years ago.

Where is Amy YuWho is Amy Yu? Tonight at 10, we sit down with her former youth pastor, who tells us the reason he thinks Amy went with 45yo Kevin Esterly in the first place, and why he believes the teen will WANT to come home soon. @69News #AmyYu #Allentown pic.twitter.com/3dLR6piF6w  Joy Howe (@Joy_Howe) March 15, 2018

Authorities said the pair struck up a romantic relationship at one point but 16 is the age of consent in Pennsylvania.

School records showed that Yu was signed out of school by Esterly, who was listed as her stepfather, 10 times between Nov. 13 and Feb. 9.

Esterlys wife, Stacey Esterly, speaking through her attorney, John Waldron, told the Morning Call that she had become suspicious of Esterlys relationship with the teen last summer, and for the past eight months the couple had been fighting every day over Amy.

Kevin indicated that he was attempting to be her dad, a father figure to Amy, Waldron said. Stacey did not believe it to be merely a father-daughter relationship and thats why there were fights.

According to Waldron, Esterly lost his job over his obsession with Yu and had been unemployed for a month. He also rented an apartment about four blocks from Yus family home.

In her [Stacey Esterlys] opinion, Kevin is not in a mentally stable state. Amy is going to need counseling and their daughters are going to need counseling. This has been an ordeal for this family, Waldron said.

Waldron said Stacey was glad the pair were found.

Shes very happy and relieved. She wants Amy home with her mom, that is what she has always wanted. She is glad that Amy is safe and that Kevin is with authorities.

From NTD.tv

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Father Who Lost Child Tells Trump: I remember the hug you gave meProtesters block a gate outside Kinder Morgan before RCMP officers moved in and arrested them for defying a court order, in Burnaby, B.C., on March 17, 2018. (The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck)

RCMP Move to Arrest Pipeline Protesters at Entrance to Trans Mountain Work Site

Authorities in British Columbia arrested anti-pipeline protesters Saturday on Burnaby Mountain, a first in a string of actions demonstrators said they have planned for the coming week.

Amina Moustaqim-Barrette, who spoke on behalf of a coalition of demonstrators under the banner Protect the Inlet, said each protester was ready to be arrested to send a clear message against Kinder Morgans Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project.

The community isnt going to lay down and just accept that this pipeline is going to be built, she said. Theyre going to show their opposition very loudly and very purposefully.

Twenty-eight demonstrators began blocking the entrance to Kinder Morgans work site at about 10 a.m. PT Saturday. Four hours later, some of the protesters tied themselves to the gate using zip ties, Moustaqim-Barrette said.

Burnaby RCMP moved in soon after, reading out a B.C. Supreme Court injunction granted Thursday to Kinder Morgan, she said. The injunction restricts protesters from entering within five metres of two terminal work sites.

Moustaqim-Barrette said all 28 demonstrators had been arrested by Saturday evening after what she described as a very peaceful demonstration.

Everyone was very aware of the situation, of the possibility of arrest. And everyone was given the chance at any time during the day to leave that zone and not be arrested, said Moustaqim-Barrette, who is also communications co-ordinator for environmental organization 350.org.

She said there are similar actions planned for each day starting Monday, which will involve Indigenous leaders, politicians, celebrities and grassroots volunteers.

Officials with Burnaby RCMP were not available for comment Saturday, but the police service said Friday they wanted to remind the public that they are not an interested party in the pipeline debate and are there to ensure everyones safety.

Canadas natural resources minister Jim Carr said Thursday that Ottawa is determined to see the Trans Mountain pipeline expanded, despite an interprovincial dispute on whether the project should go ahead.

Jason Kenney, leader of Albertas United Conservative Party opposition party, weighed in on Saturdays protest via Twitter.

They have a right to protest, but should not be allowed to block access to the worksites. The rule of law must be upheld, Kenney said. Radical activists cannot be allowed to delay the approved Trans Mountain pipeline to death.

Alberta and B.C. have been locked in a battle over the future of Kinder Morgan Canadas $7.4-billion plan to triple capacity of the Trans Mountain pipeline, which runs from Edmonton to Burnaby.

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How Doctors in China Turn into MurderersNORWALK  Norwalk-area residents and commuters are invited to weigh in on transportation issues during a forum hosted by several local state lawmakers at City Hall on Wednesday evening.

This is your opportunity to present your suggestions and voice your concerns about Norwalk area transportation issues, said state Rep. Fred Wilms, R-Norwalk, in a statement inviting people to the forum, which Connecticut Department of Transportation Commissioner James Redeker will attend. Commissioner Redeker and your legislators want to hear your input.

The forum, which is being hosted by Wilms, state Rep. Terrie Wood, R-Darien, and state Rep. Gail Lavielle, R-Wilton, is scheduled for 7-9 p.m. on March 28, in the Common Council chambers of City Hall, 125 East Ave.

The event comes as Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and state lawmakers wrestle with how to maintain and upgrade Connecticuts rails, roads and bridges amid dwindling dollars in the states Special Transportation Fund.

In February 2015, Malloy laid out Lets Go CT, a 30-year, $100 billion transportation plan to address the states aging transportation infrastructure.

But this January, he and Redeker put $4.3 billion worth of transportation projects on hold indefinitely until new revenue is appropriated for transportation fund. Since then, the governor and lawmakers have put forward various proposals, including one for electronic tolls, on the table as a means to shore up the fund.

Lavielle said Redeker will give a short presentation at Wednesday evenings transportation forum before opening the floor for people to share their thoughts and concerns. She anticipates the DOTs upcoming replacement of the Walk Bridge over the Norwalk River will come up.

Theres also the Walk Bridge, which is one example of a project thats costing a great deal of money, Lavielle said. Is it certain that other, more cost-effective alternatives have seriously been considered?

The DOT plans to begin replacing the 122-year-old rail bridge next year at a total cost of $1 billion after including preliminary track-and-signal upgrade work.LISBON, Conn. - John McGuire was inside his house with 81 guns when five state troopers were dispatched to investigate a threat he had reportedly made. They drove past a series of frozen lakes and up an unplowed driveway to a house set back in the Connecticut woods. The shades were drawn. A tattered mattress wasted away on the front porch, and boxes of medical equipment cluttered the entryway.

McGuire, 76, came to the door wearing a stained sweatshirt and uncombed gray hair. He hadn't dealt with police in the two decades since he retired from the force himself, but he still knew the legal statutes and understood his rights. He asked the police if he was under arrest, and the officers said he was not. He asked if he had broken any laws, and they said he hadn't. They told him he wasn't being charged, or investigated, or even accused of any crime. Instead, they had come to search his house this winter evening based on a controversial type of warrant, one that represents the United States' latest piecemeal attempt to prevent gun violence.

"Person Posing Risk to Self or Others," read the bold lettering on top of the warrant.

Probable cause: "McGuire stated to a medical technician that . . . he was going to kill himself by burning his house down and blowing his head off with a revolver."

Number of registered firearms: "38 or more."

Purpose of search: "Take any and all firearms to prevent imminent personal injury."

In the polarizing gun debate, here was the latest attempt at a solution: civil seizures that allow police to temporarily take guns from at-risk owners without consent after a credible threat is reported. Gun-control advocates say it is a common-sense way to prevent suicides, murders and mass shootings. The National Rifle Association says it is the manifestation of a gun owner's greatest fear, in which the government confiscates legal guns from the homes of law-abiding citizens. Five states have passed versions of the law. Eighteen more and the District of Columbia are considering doing so.

Nowhere is the approach used more than in Connecticut, which instituted the country's first "red flag" law in 1999 and where each year about 200 cases tell the story of a nation always on the precipice of the next shooting. An opioid addict threatened to show his "favorite semi-automatic" to a nurse who refused to provide more pills. A fired parking attendant told his co-workers that he would "give a whole new meaning to going postal." A mother discovered her 19-year-old son in his bedroom writing a suicide note. "Three guns to choose from. Which does the job?"

Each time a threat is reported, police can seize a person's guns for up to two weeks before a court decides if and when those firearms will be returned. Case by case, judges weigh questions at the heart of the United States' complicated relationship with guns. When does the right to public safety eclipse the right to bear arms? Out of the country's estimated 95 million gun owners, which tiny fraction might be dangerous?

In the case of McGuire, the gun owner was a recent widower who had been diagnosed with melanoma. He let the officers into his house, walked them to his bedroom and began handing them guns stacked in his closet, guns lying under his bed and a gun sitting beside his nightstand. There were antique rifles, semiautomatics and miniature pistols still unopened in their boxes. "My babies," was what McGuire sometimes called his guns, which he had been collecting for five decades since he joined the Army.

"Will I get them back?" he asked as the officers carried guns out by the armful, and an officer said there would be a court hearing in a few weeks. McGuire tried to explain that his threat was actually a misunderstanding - a heated comment made after a series of horrible events. First his daughter had died in 2015, and then his wife had died two days earlier while in hospice care in their living room. A medical technician had come to take away her hospital bed early the next day, and McGuire told the man he wanted to burn down his house and shoot himself. "What else do I have to lose?" he remembered saying.

A few officers continued to search his house while another drove McGuire to the hospital for a voluntary mental-health evaluation. His blood pressure was dangerously high. He was agitated and tearful. A doctor handed him an intake form, and for the first time McGuire began to consider the questions that would determine so much about the next few weeks.

"How often are you angry?"

"Do you ever have feelings of losing control?"

- - -

He returned home from the hospital that night with a prescription for antidepressants, a booklet labeled "Tips for Self Care" and a three-page printout of the guns no longer in his house. The list included Winchesters, Remingtons, Rugers, Berettas, Colts and Glocks - a high-end collection that McGuire considered one of his biggest investments.

"Obviously there's the sentimental value, but this is also a major part of my savings," McGuire said later that week to a lawyer who had agreed to represent him in the case. The lawyer, Chuck Norris, was an old friend from the police force, and he explained to McGuire that to get his guns back at the upcoming hearing they would need to prove he was neither a threat to others nor a risk to himself.

"They see 81 guns, and alarm bells are going off," Norris said. "We need to show that you're responsible and that you're someone who only uses these guns the right way."

In truth, McGuire could barely remember the last time he fired one of his guns. Had it been three years? Or maybe five? He'd long ago dropped his membership to the small shooting gallery near his house. He'd never discharged his weapon during 17 years on the police force, and his only shots in the Army had come during occasional training exercises. On his last hunting trip, he'd somehow managed to stalk and kill a beautiful moose in Maine, and the guilt that followed made him give much of the meat away to a local food bank. What he said he loved most about guns was not the hunting, or the culture, or even the thrill of pulling a trigger. It was the way that holding a weapon in his hand could make him feel in control when so many other aspects of his life did not.

He'd begun collecting guns in the late 1970s, not long after his only child was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma, a rare cancer. His wife, Bridie, started spending her evenings in a Catholic church, but McGuire wasn't ready to pray to a God who'd given his 11-year-old daughter a degenerative cancer. He started lifting weights to deal with his anger, and soon he was dead-lifting 580 pounds.

All three of them coped with the disease in part by starting their own collections. His daughter bought refrigerator magnets to commemorate each place she visited, from Ireland to Dollywood to Nova Scotia, a reminder of life beyond the disease. His wife stockpiled Hummel figurines, because she liked seeing hundreds of idyllic porcelain children all over the house. And McGuire bought guns, because he said they made him feel as if he was protecting his family, even as his daughter's cancer rendered him powerless. His daughter started chemotherapy, and he bought four revolvers from the Norwich police department. She started radiation, and he purchased a combat rifle from a dealer in Florida. Doctors removed a kidney, and he bought a .44 magnum. They took out part of her intestines, and he bought a pistol that looked like one made famous by James Bond. His collection grew over three decades of his daughter's health emergencies - through 11 surgeries and dozens of infections, until the one that killed her at age 46 in the spring of 2015.

His wife had never seen the point of owning so many guns, especially when the only intruders on their property were raccoons and deer. She wanted him to get rid of them, McGuire said, but in the months after their daughter died, he was increasingly grief-stricken and angry, and he felt convinced that much about the United States was coming dangerously undone. He watched TV each night as the news cycled through stories about opioids, illegal immigration and the shrinking white middle class. "It could reach the point where there's another civil war," he told Bridie, so he bought more ammunition and promised to protect her.

By then she had started to forget little things, sometimes leaving the stove on after she cooked or making wrong turns on the way home from the grocery store. She blamed her lapses on the fog of grief, but before long doctors had diagnosed her with advanced dementia. Within a few months she entered hospice care, spending every moment in a hospital bed in their living room as McGuire taught himself to become a caretaker. He spoon-fed her three meals each day, applied her makeup because it made her feel better about herself, and changed her sheets and diapers each night. He slept next to her in a recliner facing the door with a pistol near his side, just in case. The gun couldn't protect her from rapid memory loss. It couldn't protect her from the nightmares that sometimes left her shouting and grasping in the night at imaginary objects in front of her head. She said she was scared. She said she didn't want to die by herself. She said she wanted McGuire to come with her. And then he was alone with a medical technician who came to clean and prepare the body, using a string to slide a wedding ring of 53 years off his wife's swollen finger, and McGuire's thoughts had gone back to the one thing that gave him a sense of control. A gun. He was ready to end it.

"She wanted me to go with her," he remembered telling the technician that day, and then hours later the police were at his door.

Now empty gun boxes left over from their search were strewn around his house, and a holster dangled on the bedroom doorknob. He hadn't washed dishes or done laundry in a week. The kitchen table was cluttered with 19 prescription bottles of his wife's medications, and McGuire wondered why the police hadn't taken those, too. "Pills, knives, ropes, belts, cars - there are so many other ways, if I really wanted to do it," he said.

His daughter's travel magnets were still on the refrigerator. His wife's Hummel figurines remained on their shelves. On the table in front of him was the self-care booklet, which suggested that one way to take back control was to begin by asking for support.

He reached for his cellphone and called a friend.

"Can you come get me?" he asked. "I probably need to get out of here."

- - -

A few hours later a pickup truck pulled into McGuire's driveway, and Rich DeLorge rolled down his window and leaned hard against his horn. "Hurry up!" he shouted, and eventually McGuire walked outside holding both of his middle fingers high in the air.

"What the hell took you so long?" DeLorge asked as McGuire climbed into the passenger seat.

"Screw you," he said.

"Are we angry and depressed again?"

"What do you think?"

"Well, you're still breathing, so at least you haven't gone off and done it yet."

"You're an asshole," McGuire said, but then they both started to laugh. DeLorge was McGuire's oldest friend - one of the few people who had regularly come to visit during Bridie's final weeks - and seeing him usually improved McGuire's outlook more than the antidepressants or the bereavement group he'd tried joining at the hospital. He had no energy for making small talk with strangers, which was one of the reasons he had decided against holding a wake for Bridie. He didn't want to hear people tell him that they understood when in fact they didn't or that things would get better when he felt certain they never would. He had no patience left for pretending. He wanted to be honest - which often meant being sulky, angry, bitter or mean - and for that he had DeLorge.

They had met 30 years earlier, when McGuire was investigating a tip about a fight involving DeLorge's motorcycle club. McGuire had interviewed DeLorge and found him to be honest, funny and apologetic, so instead of arresting him, McGuire had let him off with a warning. That was how he liked to police - paying less attention to the letter of the law than to the nuances of each situation. Sometimes the drunk at the bar just needed to take a walk, or the driver had a good reason for speeding.

"You only bring in the courts if it's the absolute last resort," he said now in the car, thinking again about his guns. "If it had been me on the other side of that door, no way would I have started seizing property. I would have sat the guy down, bought him a cup of coffee, maybe asked about his family, checked up on how he was doing."

"It's not about people anymore," DeLorge said. "It's all about rules and regulations."

"Maybe I was just blowing off steam," McGuire said. "Maybe I'd been through hell for the last two years. They ever stop and think about that?"

"So you collect guns. What's the big deal?" DeLorge said, because even if he thought McGuire was depressed, he didn't consider him dangerous or suicidal.

"I don't bother anybody," McGuire said. "I don't break the law. I don't even drink. And then they come and do this to me at the worst possible time."

They didn't have any place in particular to go, so DeLorge drove for more than an hour to the far northern corner of the state, and then he stopped at an abandoned gas station where people had gathered for a small auction. There were 30 folding chairs set up around a small space heater. The room smelled of marijuana, and a food vendor sold expired bags of chips for 25 cents. People rotated to the front of the room to take turns selling off their items. "Who will give me three bucks for this nice candle, guys?" the first auctioneer began. "Warm vanilla. Two bucks? A dollar? Anyone for a dollar?" Next it was miniature teddy bears, camouflaged umbrellas, Second Amendment T-shirts and coffee mugs with handles shaped like guns. There were six auctioneers and nine potential customers, at least one of whom wasn't bidding.

"Congratulations on finding the one place even more depressing than my house," McGuire told DeLorge, and a few minutes later they were headed home.

They drove back across the railroad tracks and past a row of decaying textile mills. "This state's going to hell for the working class," McGuire said. They passed through a tiny town called Canterbury, where McGuire said there had been an armed robbery two nights before. "Heroin addicts everywhere," he said. "Everyone out for themselves, just no regard for human life." They drove by a 19th-century mansion that had fallen into disrepair and been subdivided into multifamily homes. "Probably all immigrants now," he said. "Probably on welfare." They drove through Jewett City, where an atheist had filed a noise complaint against the Baptist church on Main Street for ringing its hourly electronic bell. "Goddamn nanny state," he said. "They just passed a law that says I can't take a piss in my own yard. Can't burn your trash. Can't keep my own damned guns."

"All right, sunshine. Take it easy," DeLorge said.

"This whole country's going to hell," McGuire said, and now there were tears in his eyes, and he was thinking about the thing that had been troubling him most during the past few days. His wife was a loyal Catholic who knew exactly where she was going after death, and lately McGuire thought he knew where he might be going, too.

"I have so much hate in my heart," he said.

"Yeah, you're a real asshole," DeLorge said, laughing, but this time McGuire didn't laugh. They pulled into his driveway, and he opened the passenger door to get out.

"You OK?" DeLorge asked.

"Terrific," he said.

"Hey. I'm being serious," DeLorge said, but McGuire was already out the door and walking up the driveway toward his house.

- - -

Was he OK?

That was the question again one morning later that month at the small courthouse in downtown Norwich. Norris, McGuire's attorney, had pushed back the hearing by a few weeks to better prepare his case, and when the court date finally arrived McGuire decided not to attend. It was a civil case, so he had no legal obligation to appear. He knew almost everyone at the courthouse from his time as a police officer and a marshal, and he didn't want to run into dozens of former colleagues on his way to a risk warrant hearing.

"I'm still not ready to deal with condolences and questions from all those people," he said, so instead he hoped Norris would relay a message to the court: that it was being without his guns that made him feel "stressed, vulnerable and at risk," he said, and that he was sorry for "saying something dumb."

"Tell them I got caught up in the heat of the moment," McGuire told Norris, and then he stayed alone in his house and waited near the phone as the hearing began.

"This is a good man who's gone through an incredibly difficult time," Norris told the court.

"There is compelling evidence here that Mr. McGuire's threat was likely situational," the prosecutor agreed, because he knew and trusted McGuire's attorney, and also because he had been provided with a doctor's report that said McGuire was "healthy" and "grieving."

And then it was up to the judge. She thought McGuire's circumstances seemed potentially volatile. She also said she empathized with him. Connecticut had ruled in hundreds of risk warrant cases during the past decade, with an average of seven guns seized each time. In most cases, judges ordered that the guns would remain in police storage for a year. Ten percent of the time, the guns were returned to owners immediately. In 14 percent, the guns were taken away permanently and then sold or destroyed.

The judge looked again at McGuire's file. He had no history of violence. He had admitted making a threat, but now he said the threat had passed.

"The guns are to be returned immediately to John McGuire," the court ruled, and a few minutes later Norris called McGuire to tell him. He said it was the best news of his year. He said he would once again feel whole and safe. "I can finally calm down and breathe," he said, and a few days later he was carrying 81 guns back up the long driveway and into his house.NORWALK  Roton Middle School was one of 18 schools across the nation that was recently recognized for its innovative student-centered initiatives.

This recognition speaks to Rotons whole child approach and student-centered schooling. The honor also validates all of the hard work that was put forth in implementing the schools three-year redesign plan, said Roton Middle School principal Joseph Vellucci.

It is really exciting because I feel very happy for the students and the staff because they are able to celebrate all the hard work that theyve been doing, Vellucci said.

The redesign plan formed out of the strategic plan Superintendent of Schools Steven Adamowski created for the district to improve student performance, Vellucci said.

The first year of the Rotons redesign plan involved moving the school to a block schedule in 2016-17. This increased instructional time for subjects from one class period to 84-minute blocks. Plus, the school rolled out an enrichment program (Encore) that allows students to choose an elective every Friday that and started providing interventions for those who are not proficient at reading or math that year.

Roton is now in its second year of implementation and has transitioned from a team structure among all three grade levels to a house model. Remaining objectives are to have student-led conferences in sixth grade at the end of the year and to complete staff training for an advisory program that will start next school year.

One of the goals for the third year is to introduce the school to round-table assessments, which tests students on their creativity, team work and grade-level skills.

People were very positive about changes and you know when you have people that are positive and happy, theyre going to perform better and that includes the students, Vellucci said. So therefore all the hard work we saw in the increased student performance in reading and math.

Shannon Mariconda, a language arts teacher and house leader at the school, said she also noticed positive relationships between students and teachers among all three grade levels as a result of the consistency in a house model.

Through the redesign plan, Mariconda feels like the school is doing a better job of meeting the needs of the students  by providing them with more instructional time, social emotional support and an intervention system introduced last year.

Providing these types of support is especially important for students who are struggling, receiving special education, have gaps in early elementary education, or do not speak English as their native language, she said.

Ive seen a really big shift in the culture in the kids and seeing how kids want to be more motivated to learn, Mariconda said. They feel more successful.

The recognition is given by Association for Curriculum and Supervision Development, a membership-based nonprofit that supports educators, in partnership with the Center for Secondary Schools Redesign, a leading provider of technical assistance to support policy and culture change in schools.

Roton Middle Schools assistant principal and house leaders will give a presentation at the Spotlight conference in Boston on March 23.Currently Reading

SEEN: St. Patrick's Day party at Tigin in Stamford 2018Acacia Mining plc, together with its subsidiaries, mines, processes, and sells gold in Africa. The company has three gold mines in north-west Tanzania, including Bulyanhulu, Buzwagi, and North Mara; and a portfolio of exploration projects at various stages of development in Tanzania, Kenya, Burkina Faso, and Mali. It also produces co-products, such as copper and silver. The company was formerly known as African Barrick Gold plc and changed its name to Acacia Mining plc in November 2014. The company was incorporated in 2010 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom. Acacia Mining plc is a subsidiary of Barrick Gold Corporation.

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S.A., PSA Renting Italia S.p.A., PagoFX Europe S.A., PagoFX HoldCo S.L., PagoFX UK Ltd, PagoNxt Merchant Solutions S.L., PagoNxt S.L., Parasant SA, Patagon.com, Pereda Gestion S.A., Pingham International S.A., Popular Spain Holding de Inversiones S.L.U., Portal Universia Argentina S.A., Portal Universia Portugal Prestacao de Servicos de Informatica S.A., Prime 16  Fundo de Investimentos Imobiliario, Punta Lima LLC, Punta Lima Wind Farm LLC, Retop S.A., Return Capital Servicos de Recuperacao de Creditos S.A., Return Gestao de Recursos S.A., Riobank International (Uruguay) SAIFE (b), Rojo Entretenimento S.A., SAM Asset Management S.A. de C.V. Sociedad Operadora de Fondos de Inversion, SAM Investment Holdings S.L., SAM UK Investment Holdings Limited (b), SANB Promotora de Vendas e Cobranca Ltda., SCF Eastside Locks GP Limited, SDMX Superdigital S.A. de C.V., SMPS Merchant Platform Solutions Mexico S.A de C.V, Sancap Investimentos e Participacoes S.A., Santander (CF Trustee Property Nominee) Limited, Santander (UK) Group Pension Schemes Trustees Limited, Santander Ahorro Inmobiliario 1 S.A., Santander Ahorro Inmobiliario 2 S.A., Santander Alternatives SICAV RAIF, Santander Asesorias Financieras Limitada, Santander Asset Finance (December) Limited, Santander Asset Finance plc, Santander Asset Management - S.G.O.I.C. S.A., Santander Asset Management Chile S.A., Santander Asset Management LLC, Santander Asset Management Luxembourg S.A., Santander Asset Management S.A. Administradora General de Fondos, Santander Asset Management S.A. S.G.I.I.C., Santander Asset Management UK Holdings Limited, Santander Asset Management UK Limited, Santander Back-Offices Globales Mayoristas S.A., Santander Banca de Inversion Colombia S.A.S., Santander Bank & Trust Ltd., Santander Bank National Association, Santander Bank Polska S.A., Santander Brasil Administradora de Consorcio Ltda., Santander Brasil Gestao de Recursos Ltda., Santander Brasil Tecnologia S.A., Santander Capital Desarrollo SGEIC S.A. Unipersonal, Santander Capital Structuring S.A. de C.V., Santander Capitalizacao S.A., Santander Cards Ireland Limited, Santander Cards Limited, Santander Cards UK Limited, Santander Chile Holding S.A., Santander Consulting (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Santander Consumer (UK) plc, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2013-B2 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2013-B3 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2018-L1 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2018-L3 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2018-L4 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2018-L5 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2019-B1 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2019-L2 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2019-L3 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2020-B1 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2020-L1 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2020-L2 LLC, Santander Consumer Bank AG, Santander Consumer Bank AS, Santander Consumer Bank GmbH, Santander Consumer Bank S.A., Santander Consumer Bank S.p.A., Santander Consumer Banque S.A., Santander Consumer Credit Services Limited, Santander Consumer Finance Benelux B.V., Santander Consumer Finance Global Services S.L., Santander Consumer Finance Oy, Santander Consumer Finance S.A., Santander Consumer Finance Schweiz AG, Santander Consumer Financial Solutions Sp. z o.o., Santander Consumer Finanse Sp. z o.o. (b), Santander Consumer Holding Austria GmbH, Santander Consumer Holding GmbH, Santander Consumer International Puerto Rico LLC, Santander Consumer Leasing GmbH, Santander Consumer Mediacion Operador de Banca-Seguros Vinculado S.L., Santander Consumer Multirent Sp. z o.o., Santander Consumer Operations Services GmbH, Santander Consumer Receivables 10 LLC, Santander Consumer Receivables 11 LLC, Santander Consumer Receivables 3 LLC, Santander Consumer Receivables 7 LLC, Santander Consumer Receivables Funding LLC, Santander Consumer Renting S.L., Santander Consumer S.A., Santander Consumer S.A.S., Santander Consumer Services GmbH, Santander Consumer Services S.A., Santander Consumer Technology Services GmbH, Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc., Santander Consumer USA Inc., Santander Consumo S.A. de C.V. S.O.F.O.M. E.R. Grupo Financiero Santander Mexico, Santander Corredora de Seguros Limitada, Santander Corredores de Bolsa Limitada, Santander Corretora de Cambio e Valores Mobiliarios S.A., Santander Corretora de Seguros Investimentos e Servicos S.A., Santander Customer Voice S.A., Santander Digital Assets S.L., Santander Drive Auto Receivables LLC, Santander Equity Investments Limited, Santander Espana Merchant Services Entidad de Pago S.L. Unipersonal, Santander Espana Servicios Legales y de Cumplimiento S.L., Santander Estates Limited, Santander F24 S.A., Santander Facility Management Espana S.L., Santander Factoring S.A., Santander Factoring Sp. z o.o., Santander Factoring y Confirming S.A. 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Grupo Financiero Santander Mexico, Santander Insurance Agency U.S. LLC, Santander Insurance Services UK Limited, Santander Intermediacion Correduria de Seguros S.A., Santander International Products Plc. (d), Santander Inversiones S.A., Santander Investment Bank Limited, Santander Investment Chile Limitada, Santander Investment I S.A., Santander Investment S.A., Santander Investment Securities Inc., Santander Investments GP 1 S.a.r.l., Santander Inwestycje Sp. z o.o., Santander Lease S.A. E.F.C., Santander Leasing LLC, Santander Leasing S.A., Santander Leasing S.A. Arrendamento Mercantil, Santander Lending Limited, Santander Mediacion Operador de Banca-Seguros Vinculado S.A., Santander Merchant Platform Operations S.A. de C.V., Santander Merchant Platform Services S.A. de C.V., Santander Merchant Platform Solutions Mexico S.A. de C.V., Santander Merchant Platform Solutions S.A., Santander Merchant Platform Solutions Uruguay S.A., Santander Merchant Platform SolucoesTecnologicas Brasil Ltda., Santander Merchant S.A., Santander Mortgage Holdings Limited, Santander Paraty Qif PLC, Santander Pensiones S.A. E.G.F.P., Santander Pensoes - Sociedade Gestora de Fundos de Pensoes S.A., Santander Private Banking Gestion S.A. S.G.I.I.C., Santander Private Banking UK Limited, Santander Private Banking s.p.a. in Liquidazione (b), Santander Private Real Estate Advisory & Management S.A., Santander Private Real Estate Advisory S.A., Santander Real Estate S.A., Santander Retail Auto Lease Funding LLC, Santander Rio Asset Management Gerente de Fondos Comunes de Inversion S.A., Santander Rio Trust S.A., Santander Rio Valores S.A., Santander S.A. Sociedad Securitizadora, Santander Secretariat Services Limited, Santander Securities LLC, Santander Seguros y Reaseguros Compania Aseguradora S.A., Santander Servicios Corporativos S.A. de C.V., Santander Servicios Especializados S.A. de C.V., Santander Technology USA LLC, Santander Tecnologia e Inovacao Ltda., Santander Tecnologia Argentina S.A., Santander Tecnologia Espana S.L.U., Santander Tecnologia Mexico S.A. de C.V., Santander Totta SGPS S.A., Santander Totta Seguros Companhia de Seguros de Vida S.A., Santander Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych S.A., Santander Trade Services Limited, Santander UK Group Holdings plc, Santander UK Investments, Santander UK Operations Limited, Santander UK Plc, Santander UK Technology Limited, Santander Wealth Management International SA, Santander de Titulizacion S.G.F.T. S.A., Santusa Holding S.L., Services and Promotions Delaware Corp., Services and Promotions Miami LLC, Servicio de Alarmas Controladas por Ordenador S.A., Servicios de Cobranza Recuperacion y Seguimiento S.A. De C.V., Sheppards Moneybrokers Limited, Shiloh III Wind Project LLC, Sociedad Integral de Valoraciones Automatizadas S.A., Sociedad Operadora de Tarjetas de Pago Santander Getnet Chile S.A., Socur S.A., Sol Orchard Imperial 1 LLC, Solarlaser Limited, Sovereign Community Development Company, Sovereign Delaware Investment Corporation, Sovereign Lease Holdings LLC, Sovereign REIT Holdings Inc., Sovereign Spirit Limited (f), Sterrebeeck B.V., Suleyado 2003 S.L. Unipersonal, Summer Empreendimentos Ltda., Super Pagamentos e Administracao de Meios Eletronicos S.A., Superdigital Argentina S.A.U., Superdigital Colombia S.A.S., Superdigital Holding Company S.L., Superdigital Peru S.A.C., Suzuki Servicios Financieros S.L., Swesant SA, TIMFin S.p.A., TOPSAM S.A de C.V., Taxagest Sociedade Gestora de Participacoes Sociais S.A., Teatinos Siglo XXI Inversiones S.A., The Alliance & Leicester Corporation Limited, The Best Specialty Coffee S.L. Unipersonal, Time Retail Finance Limited (b), Tonopah Solar I LLC, Toque Fale Servicos de Telemarketing Ltda., Tornquist Asesores de Seguros S.A. (b), Totta (Ireland) PLC, Totta Urbe - Empresa de Administracao e Construcoes S.A., Trabajando.com Mexico S.A. de C.V. en liquidacion (b), Trabajando.com Peru S.A.C., Trans Rotor Limited (b), Transolver Finance EFC S.A., Tresmares Growth Fund Santander SCR S.A., Tresmares Santander Direct Lending SICC S.A., Tuttle and Son Limited, Universia Brasil S.A., Universia Chile S.A., Universia Colombia S.A.S., Universia Espana Red de Universidades S.A., Universia Holding S.L., Universia Mexico S.A. de C.V., Universia Peru S.A., Universia Uruguay S.A., Uro Property Holdings SOCIMI S.A., WIM Servicios Corporativos S.A. de C.V., WTW Shipping Designated Activity Company, Wallcesa S.A., Wave Holdco S.L., Waypoint Insurance Group Inc., and Wirecard (Technological Assets).Staying Hot: Watertown High School boys golf team rolls to title in home invitational

Kaden Rylance and Jake Olson finished first and second and led Watertown High Schools boys golf team to victory in the Watertown Invitational on Tuesday at Cattail Crossing Golf Course.This is in celebration of what they are calling Israel Apartheid Week. Last year, the group went around campus goose-stepping and performing mock Nazi salutes in front of Jewish students.

Via Jerusalem Post.

Jewish students at Wits University in Johannesburg have reacted with shock and disdain after posters and flyers depicting world-renown Holocaust victim Anne Frank dressed in a Palestinian scarf circulated around the campus, as part of an Israel-Apartheid Week campaign taking place this week.

According to one of the flyers, the picture was designed as part of the Palestinian Solidarity Committees #Flyers50Campaign. An explanation written on the pamphlet said: This is a flyer that depicts Anne Frank wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh. It draws attention to the fact that the same racism, hardship and oppression that was faced by Jews during the Nazi times is repeated in modern times, alleging that Israels occupation is as bad as the Holocaust.

The flyers were stuck on the walls of well-known public areas at the campus.

The shock went beyond Wits, with students and members of the Jewish community reacting on social media. One student said that such action is an insult to Anne Franks memory; another called the Palestinian Solidarity Committee barbarians. Others accused the group of distorting history to fit their own political agenda, adding that using Anne Frank, a Jewish Holocaust victim, to promote a blatantly antisemitic agenda is as low as it gets.

The South African Union of Jewish Students issued a statement saying that it had noted with disgust that the Wits PSC [Palestinian Solidarity Committee] are circulating flyers depicting Anne Frank in a Palestinian scarf. Their aim in doing so is clearly both to draw attention to their Israel Apartheid Week (IAW) propaganda campaign against Israel while at the same time causing maximum offense to Wits Jewish students..Canadian comedian and actor Mike MacDonald died Saturday at the age of 63.

MacDonald suffered from various ailments in recent years. In 2012, the Ottawa comic announced he needed help getting a liver transplant as a result of hepatitis C, which he was diagnosed with about a year prior. MacDonald eventually got the transplant and after an outpouring of support, likened himself to Jimmy Stewart in Its A Wonderful Life.

MacDonald also spoke about his private life, including a history of drug use and struggles with bipolar disorder.

MacDonald started his comedy career when he moved to Toronto in the late 1970s, eventually writing and starring in Mr. Nice Guy, a 1987 mafia-themed comedy film. He appeared on Just for Laughs, Late Night with David Letterman, The Arsenio Hall Show and Comedy Club All-Star Show. He also worked for events like Stand Up for Mental Health.

The comedian was also an accomplished drummer.

A multitude of organizations and other Canadian talent spoke out on social media in reaction to MacDonalds death.

Saddened to hear of the passing of our dear friend and Canadian comedy legend Mike MacDonald. Over the years he has graced our stages more than any other comic and will be greatly missed. #RIPMike, tweeted Just For Laughs.

Canadian standup comic Tom Green posted on Instagram that he dedicated his show on Saturday to MacDonald.

I was inspired by Mike when I was a teenager watching him perform at@yukyuksottawa the club where I started doing stand up over thirty years ago, he wrote. Rest in peace Mike. Say hello to Carlin and Pryor up there I am sure you are making them laugh.

With files from Bruce DeMaraThe Conservative defence critic is questioning the Trudeau governments decision to send peacekeeping troops to the troubled West African nation of Mali.

A senior government source, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed late Friday night that Canada will dispatch an aviation task force to Mali as part of a United Nations peacekeeping mission, in a move defence critic James Bezan said raises more questions than answers.

Why did it take them so long to make this announcement, and is this in Canadas national interest or is this in the Liberals interest? Bezan said. Are they making this announcement because of all the criticism theyve received for breaking the promise of deploying 600 troops and 150 police officers on UN missions, when were at the lowest levels in history?

The government source said the task force will be in Mali for up to 12 months and an official announcement on the deployment will be made Monday.

In terms of troop numbers, Canada is currently at a historic low for participation in peacekeeping missions. Canada had a total of 43 peacekeepers deployed around the world at the end of December, the most recent UN numbers indicate, down from 62 in November.

The decline, largely the result of a reduction in the number of Canadian police officers deployed to Haiti, means Canada has fewer peacekeepers in the field than at any point since the 1950s.

Bezan, the MP for Selkirk-Interlake-Eastman, said the Conservatives want to see Canada involved in more peacekeeping, including in Ukraine. But he said it must be in the national interest, and in some cases it may be preferable to fight under Canadian instead of UN command.

We know that this is incredibly dangerous, Bezan said. We support our troops and know they are completely capable of doing it. But we are hesitant about putting our troops in harms way under UN command.

He said peacekeeping decisions should not be made based on nostalgia about blue helmets.

There is concern about how we are going to keep the peace when we have insurgencies, terrorism, failed states and multiple different missions going at the same time, and no answers of how this is in Canadas national interest, he said.

Read more:

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Mali has been in turmoil since a 2012 uprising prompted soldiers to overthrow the countrys president. The power vacuum that was created led to an Islamic insurgency and a French-led war that ousted the jihadists from power in 2013.

However, insurgents remain active and the UN has seen its multinational peacekeeping force in the region suffer more than 150 fatalities since its mission began in 2013.

Francois Audet, who studies Canadian humanitarian policy and international relations at the Universite du Quebec a Montreal, said there are four million people in need of aid in the country, many of whom are inaccessible to civilian aid workers because the areas theyre in are too dangerous.

The role of peacekeeping operations is to develop secure zones to permit civilians to reach those populations, he said.

Audet said the country has become more dangerous with the arrival of armed factions in the years since the toppling of the Libyan regime in 2011.

Its a dangerous country for civilians and especially for western interests, Audet said in a French-language interview. So if youre a development or aid organization, your access outside of the big cities like Bamako is extremely difficult, if not impossible.

Canadas entry into the conflict is not too late, but its very late, Audet said.

And since (the Liberals took power), our allies have exhausted themselves, so we need a system of change where each country needs to take their part of the responsibilities.

In November, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged during a peacekeeping summit in Vancouver to offer six helicopters and two transport aircraft, plus their associated pilots and support personnel, as well as a 200-strong quick reaction force to the UN.

Read more about:Nana Agyemang will probably do what millennials do and snap a democraselfie when she votes in June, continuing the Twitter trend from 2015  when the election day selfie, and the youth vote, went viral.

It shows for the first time she is actually excited to cast a ballot.

Before, I never cared for it, Agyemang said.

Like many millennials, the 24-year-old Humber College student seems to have preferred expressing her political voice in forms of engagement other than voting.

Agyemang volunteers with a citizen empowerment project that ran a get-out-the-vote drive in 2015 in the Jane and Finch neighbourhood where she grew up, which had a lower turnout than other spots in the GTA.

Share your thoughts

If you want your voice to be heard and you feel like (its possible) to do something positive in your community, it is right for you to vote, she said.

Her experience isnt unique among millennials. A 2015 report from democracy advocacy group Samara Canada suggests people under 30 participate in non-voting civic and political activities just as much or more than their parents or grandparents do by marching in the streets, volunteering, joining parties, attending speeches, signing petitions, boycotting and talking politics online.

So its a mistake when older generations shake their fists at kids these days and dismiss them as lazy or ignorant or apathetic about politics, civic engagement advocates say.

But that engagement hasnt carried over to the ballot box: the youngest generations are the least likely to cast ballots.

Turnout has dropped over generations. In federal elections in the 1960s, about two-thirds of the youngest electors were showing up on polling day; by the mid-1980s, that dwindled to just over half of first-time voters. By 2004, slightly more than a third of youth were voting, said Andre Blais, a political science professor at the University of Montreal and a Canada Research Chair in electoral studies.

The trend has followed a decline in turnout for all ages, from about 70 per cent in 1993 to 64 per cent in 2000 and an all-time low of nearly 59 per cent in 2008. It ticked up slightly in 2011 to 61 per cent before jumping to 68 per cent in the last vote.

Read more:

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But the decline over the past three decades seems to be levelling off, Blais said.

Since 2004 young voter turnout has hovered around 40 per cent. More recently there has been an uptick.

The 2015 vote saw the highest overall turnout in more than two decades at 68 per cent, driven mainly by the youngest citizens. Turnout among young voters shot up 18 percentage points, to 57 per cent from 39. That was the largest increase among all age groups, but it was still the lowest.

In the last Ontario election there was a 10-percentage point jump among the youngest electors  turnout rose to 34 per cent in 2014 from 24 per cent in 2011, but was still far lower than the overall average of 51 per cent.

Blais said younger generations dont feel like they have as much of a civic responsibility to vote compared to older generations: In general feelings of duty are weaker.

Young people wont feel obligated to vote if they arent engaging in between elections, says Kasey Dunn, one of the founders of A Strong 6ix, a non-partisan, progressive-leaning group trying to make politics more accessible.

Its not voter apathy or disinterest or laziness that keeps young people from engaging in politics but its actually the way politics is framed ... that really leaves a lot of people out and tells a lot of people this isnt for you, dont even bother paying attention, youre not really wanted here, Dunn said.

The group operates mostly on social media and puts out meme-worthy clips about political goings-on and how-to guides for participating in government, like making a deputation at city hall.

Jamil Jivani, a Osgoode law school professor and founder of the citizen engagement project Agyemang volunteers with, said he encountered mostly youth, newcomers and low-income families that felt the political machine wasnt looking after their interests during his get-out-the-vote drive in Jane and Finch in 2015.

Some younger folks had just finished school and were having trouble landing a job, he said.

That year, turnout in the riding jumped to 59 per cent from 48 per cent  four percentage points higher than the national increase.

We use (voter turnout) as a way of showing the impact that we had, but to me its more of a proxy for faith in the democratic process, Jivani said. Voting winds up being an action we hope people take because they have faith.

According to a 2006 World Values Survey, conducted by a network of social scientists around the world, young Canadians dont think democracy is as important as their parents or grandparents  45 per cent of people under the age of 30 ranked democracy absolutely important compared to 50 per cent of 30- to 49-year-olds and 64 per cent of people over 50. More recent data from the U.S. paints a bleaker picture  about 30 per cent of millennials there think living in a democracy is essential.

Its hard to feel like voting matters if you dont interact much with the system in normal times. Voter turnout is commensurate with age because older people are more likely to own a home, have a family and make more money, said political science professor Nelson Wiseman.

If youve got parties fighting over the level of taxation, somebody who isnt making that much money thinks whats the difference if my taxes are cut or not, he said. That also explains why younger people are more radical than older people.

They have less at stake in the system, Wiseman said.

Blais said that as people age they are more likely to develop the habit of voting, but that is becoming less pronounced over time.

Carolyn Loutfi, executive director at Apathy Is Boring, an organization aimed at increasing youth civic engagement, said millennials get especially turned off electoral politics if they perceive politicians giving off a tokenistic or transactional vibe.

That includes breaking campaign promises or not making an effort to engage with them when its not an election campaign, Loutfi said. How many MPs do the hard work of being on school campuses in the middle of (a non-election) year?

Apathy Is Boring asked Canadian millennials in 2017 what keeps them away from the ballot box. Fifteen per cent of respondents said they didnt vote in the last federal election because they didnt like or trust the candidate, 11 per cent said they had no interest, nine per cent said they were uninformed, eight per cent thought their vote wouldnt matter, and 17 per cent said they didnt have time. The rest said they were either out of town, sick, didnt get a voter information card, couldnt get a ride, couldnt make up their mind, or just forgot.

In the same survey, 52 per cent of respondents said they are very or somewhat interested in politics.

Politicos could also do more to rope young people into the process, said Jane Hilderman, executive director at Samara Canada.

Running a campaign isnt cheap and parties focus on wooing those most likely to join their camp, and to actually go out and vote, she said. That creates a cycle  if young people are the least likely to vote, parties might think its not worth the effort to reach out.

Theres no silver bullet to engage youth but the federal Liberals strategic use of social media won over many millennials in 2015, said David Coletto of Abacus Data. Parties are now honing their social media strategies, not least because data-driven campaigning allows parties to zero in on supporters directly.

How parties and political leaders and government communicate took some time to catch up, he said.

Coletto says young people could make or break the Ontario Liberals in the June 7 election because theyve already introduced youth-friendly goodies such as free tuition for certain post-secondary students, free prescription drugs until your 25th birthday, and the $15 minimum wage, to name a few.

My sense is ... they dont think they can win unless young people turn out in large numbers, Coletto said.

But itll take more than a few attractive promises to rally young voters. Coletto says young people helped carry the federal Liberals to power for reasons other than legalized weed, even if thats what some pundits boil it down to.

Agyemang hasnt made up her mind yet. Shes only voted once before, right after she turned 18 and only because her mom pulled rank and brought her along to the booth. But she doesnt remember if the election was local or federal, who was on the ticket, or what issues were important to her at the time.

For the Ontario election, Agyemang feels a responsibility to make an informed decision. She isnt entirely up to speed on the issues or platform promises yet  she likes free tuition but didnt immediately connect it to the Liberal government thats seeking re-election  but she realizes thats the best way to have a say in public policy that impacts the community shes trying to improve.

I know that me, voting, can make a difference. So I just wont vote for anybody, I have to really take my time and see who I feel will benefit me and who I feel will be a good opportunity for the community, she said.What was the nature of Walt Disney Co.s dealings with disgraced Miramax executive Harvey Weinstein?

That question could be central to a $14-million Toronto lawsuit filed by an actress and model  known in court as Jane Doe  who alleges Weinstein sexually assaulted her in 2000. Her lawsuit claims that the family-friendly brand, which at the time owned Weinsteins Miramax film company, should be held partly responsible for two separate alleged assaults. The lawsuits allegations have not yet been tested in court.

On Monday, Disney will ask a Toronto court to seal details of its employment relationship with Weinstein. If court agrees with Disneys motion, these arrangements would be shrouded from public view.

Does lawyers say this move is a step toward Disney trying to be removed entirely from the lawsuit  which also names Miramax, which Disney no longer owns, and Barbara Schneeweiss, Weinsteins assistant at the time.

At the time of the assaults Disney knew, should have known or was wilfully blind to the fact that Weinstein regularly sexually harassed and sexually assaulted women, Does statement of claim reads. Although Disney could have done so, Disney did not take steps to overrule Miramaxs business decision to accommodate and facilitate Weinsteins serial sexual assaults on young women in the workplace.

Disney has denied liability in the case, saying Does claim has no legal basis. The company has said it had no knowledge of any complaints, lawsuits or settlements against Weinstein, and that the executive, who was co-chairman of Miramax at the time, had virtual autonomy to manage his business.

Doe alleges that Weinstein sexually assaulted her at what she believed to be a business meeting at the Sutton Place hotel in Toronto in 2000. During the meeting, her claim alleges that Weinstein took out his penis, gestured to it and said, the best thing you could do for your career, before holding her down and performing oral sex on her against her will.

Later that same day, Doe alleges that Weinstein stuck his tongue down her throat, after she returned for what she believed would be an apology.

Powerful men continue to be accused of sexual harassment and assaults, and have been responding by accepting, hedging or dodging the allegations. (The New York Times)

Weinstein has yet to file a statement of defence in the Toronto case.

Through a spokesperson, he has addressed broader allegations against him, admitting that his behaviour may have caused a lot of pain. But he has also said many allegations against him are patently false, and that any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied.

Read more:

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Disney has requested a publication ban for the Monday proceedings.

It is troubling that having endured conduct that was shrouded in secrecy and shame, Ms. Doe now faces an attempt to silence her yet again, Does lawyers, Marie Henein and Alex Smith, wrote in response to Disneys sealing motion. While it is understandable that Disney might wish to avoid being publicly associated with Mr. Weinstein given the events of the past several months  embarrassment is not grounds for a sealing order.

Disney purchased Miramax for $60 million (U.S.) in 1993. In 2010, it sold the company to an investment firm for $663 million.

Smith and Henein will argue that disclosing the documents will not put Disney at risk of revealing proprietary or commercially sensitive information.

These agreements are the core of Disneys arguments that it has zero responsibility for the consequences of Mr. Weinsteins sexually predatory behaviour that he mastered under Disneys ownership of Miramax, they wrote.

Disneys lawyer, David Reiter, declined to comment on the sealing request.

According to the statement of claim, Doe was in her early 20s at the time of the alleged incidents, working on her first movie. Weinstein was then well known for producing Oscar-winning films such as The English Patient, Shakespeare in Love and Good Will Hunting.

Weinstein was dismissed from his company in October 2017 over a series of high-profile sexual abuse allegations dating to the 1970s. The allegations against him have help fuel the ongoing #MeToo movement that is shining a light on sexual assault and harassment in the workplace.

In February, a judge tackled another hurdle in the Toronto case, deciding not to dismiss any parts of the lawsuit against Weinsteins assistant, Schneeweiss.

Schneeweiss and her lawyer had filed a motion to dismiss claims in the lawsuit that she had facilitated the two alleged sexual assaults by Weinstein while working as his assistant.

Schneeweisss lawyer had argued that parts of Does claim were frivolous, vexatious and irrelevant, and that some of her claims should be barred under the 2002 Limitations Act.

In my view, there is no ambiguity in the Claim, Judge Patrick Monahan wrote in his decision. With respect to the demand for particulars, in my view Doe has pleaded sufficient material facts to permit Schneeweiss to know the case she needs to meet.Id like you to think of something that you worry about often, says Alex Temple-McCune, a baby-faced PhD student with the air of a much older, kindly doctor.

Oh, thats easy. My son running into the road outside my house, I reply. Alex stares at me, impassive. Hes 5, I add, by way of explanation. Its a very busy road.

He nods, slowly. OK, I am going to leave the room for five minutes, and Id like you to worry about that for the whole time I am gone. Think about it in as much detail as you can, and try not to think about anything else.

Oh God.

This is going to be horrible! I plead, feeling my eyes widen as Alex gets up to leave. He hesitates at the door but goes out anyway, leaving me alone in a sparse, white, windowless room to think, in horrifying detail, about the worst thing that could happen in my life.

I am here at Oxford University to take part in a study into the cognitive basis of worrying, in the lab of Professor Elaine Fox. Ive taken all the necessary screening tests to confirm that I am, indeed, a frequent worrier  and over the next two weeks the plan is to try and rectify that with a training course, designed to change the way the brain deals with stress.

It seems to be one of the areas where there is pretty good evidence that you can, with a bit of effort, make real changes to your brain. There has been a good 15 years worth of work in this area because worrying too much is not only bad for sustaining focus, but it is also seriously bad for your health.

Heres a statistic that worriers everywhere will enjoy: persistent worrying  even low-level fretting that doesnt qualify as a proper anxiety disorder  makes you 29 per cent more likely to die of a heart attack and 41 per cent more likely to die of cancer. In fact, according to the study of 8,000 people that generated these figures, worrying a lot makes you more likely to die of anything, and the bigger the daily dose of stress, the greater the risk.

I cant help thinking that if my friend Jolyon hadnt spent his 20s and 30s enjoying a totally debauched lifestyle, hed probably live forever. Because Jolyon never, ever, worries. While I have been getting my knickers in a twist over various incarnations of this book, he has formed a company, launched two successful brands, and made several million pounds. He named the company Gusto for good reason  this is a man who never does anything by halves and couldnt care less what anyone thinks about him while hes doing it.

You could say that he doesnt even worry when he probably should: he launched Gusto while his partner was pregnant with their first child, giving up a highly paid, steady job that he was very good at, and putting all of their financial security on the line to do so. If it failed, as he cheerfully told me most businesses do, they would find themselves broke, with a newborn and nowhere to live. It was touch and go during the first few months, but he never really believed that it wouldnt work.

Its the same story you hear over and over again about plucky overachievers: they dont get bogged down by what could go wrong or what just did go wrong; they just dig in and get on with it. It must be a really nice way to live.

Then there is the fact that anxiety is really bad for pretty much any kind of thinking. It not only narrows focus, but it reduces impulse control and robs the brain of processing power that could better be used for other things. Over time, it has been found to shrink the hippocampus, a crucial brain area for memory. There has been some evidence unearthed recently that having an anxious temperament has some benefits, such as making a person more empathic and quicker to respond in a crisis  but overall its not a great state to be in if you want to get the best out of your brain.

Some scientists  including Elaine Fox and her team at Oxford  think that differences between the likes of Jolyon and the likes of me come down to basic differences in the way our brains process information about the world around us. In her research, and in her 2012 book Rainy Brain, Sunny Brain, Fox argues that it all comes down to the balance between two of the most ancient and powerful circuits in the brain  one responsible for seeking out danger and the other for spotting potential rewards  and how well connected they are to the newer, thinking, bits of the brain.

A skew to one way or the other is known as a cognitive bias  in other words, an assumption we dont know we are making. The direction and strength of these cognitive biases, Fox says, make us who we are  whether that is a driven and confident risk-taker like Jolyon, or more of a reticent worrier like me.

So again it all seems to come down to what we do with our limited budget of attention. This is an automatic kind of attention that operates within milliseconds, directing your focus to whichever parts of your surroundings seem particularly important. Crucially, all of this happens before we are consciously aware of noticing anything, and that means that, although we dont realize it, our conscious mind is constantly being fed a fundamentally skewed view of the world. This makes it particularly challenging to control. How can you change something that youre not even aware you are doing?

A negative cognitive bias might not be very good for you, but it undoubtedly evolved for good reason: it came in handy in the days when we were at the mercy of large, toothy predators and men with clubs because it drastically cuts down processing time in the brain when we need to move fast. The downside is that the unconscious nature of these biases means that we live under the illusion that our own impression of the world  whether it is fundamentally safe or to be fretted about at every opportunity  is a totally accurate window on reality, when it is actually anything but. And that means that if you want to change your outlook on life  say, if you dont like the idea of hurtling, grey-haired and haggard, to an early grave  it isnt an easy thing to do.

On the plus side, the laws of neuroplasticity arent swayed by a little thing like the border between unconscious and conscious processing, and Fox and others are working on finding ways to nudge troublesome cognitive biases back in a more positive direction. It sounds like something that is definitely worth a try, especially because some research suggests that all you need to do to retrain your cognitive bias toward a rosy view of life is to play a computer game for a few minutes every day.

Its a controversial area of research, and not everyone is convinced that it works, but it resonates with me partly because it treats an anxious temperament not as a fundamental part of who you are but as a kind of system error in the brain. And I get that because if Im really honest about it, my main problem with all this worrying is that it really isnt me. Outwardly, Im quite a risk-taker and most people would probably describe me as mostly upbeat.

The other day, another mother at the school gate described me as a super mum, and I dont even think she was being sarcastic. So clearly I give off the impression that I have things pretty much under control. Only I know about all of the negative chuntering, worrying and general unease that goes on under the surface, and that, frankly, gets on my nerves.

Earlier, I found out that I score highly on a measure of trait anxiety (also known as neuroticism), and research has shown that people like me, who score high on this measure, tend to have a negative cognitive bias, which we use to subconsciously scan the environment for threats at all times. We are also more likely to get stuck in threat-obsessing mode, assessing and reassessing a situation in pessimistic terms and getting progressively more worried. And yes, I do both of these things.

The first of them, threat readiness, is pretty understandable, I think. When I was 19, my father was killed in a car accident. In the 20-odd years since then, I have perfected a kind of 360-degree, all-seeing eye for danger  especially the randomly occurring kind that could take a loved one away from me at any moment.

My age when my father died might explain why this harsh life lesson stuck fast in my brain. It has long been suspected that the adolescent brain is particularly plastic. This, after all, is a time when growing independence relies on being able to learn from your mistakes. Research has shown that the adolescent brain not only stores memories more vividly than adults, but it is also particularly sensitive to stress, taking longer to recover from emotional setbacks. These two factors together explain perfectly why unpredictable danger would have been writ large in my brain from there on in, but even in my most angst-ridden moments I know that the panic I feel is wildly out of proportion to any real threat 

Of course, it was possible that my neurotic tendencies would have nothing to do with a wonky cognitive bias, so while I was waiting for her to reply, I headed to Elaine Foxs website where there are two tests  one for cognitive bias and a questionnaire to measure a tendency toward optimism or pessimism. Just for fun, I asked Jolyon to do it too.

Psychologists measure cognitive biases using a computer-based puzzle called a dot-probe task. First, a cross appears in the centre of the screen, to give you something to look at. Then, two images flash up for 500 milliseconds, followed swiftly by a target (which can be anything  an arrow, a dot, whatever). Your job is to press a button on the left or right, depending on where the target has shown up. Research has shown not only that a) people with an anxious temperament are quicker to spot targets that appear on the same side as the angry face (a negative bias) but also that b) people with a negative bias are more prone to anxiety disorders and depression.

A little bit of background research later and I have the proof: Jolyon is as strange as I am. According to surveys of large numbers of people, an average score on the optimism/pessimism test is 15 out of 24, meaning that the average person is generally slightly optimistic. Jolyon and I are each six points away from the average but in opposite directions. He is unusually positive (hence the risky financial deals) while I am an almost perfect-scoring pessimist.

Which ties in nicely with the direction of our unconscious cognitive biases. A score of 31 means that I press a button 31 milliseconds faster when it follows an angry face than when it follows a smiley one. Jolyon, on the other hand, is 51 milliseconds faster to spot the target when it comes after a happy face. His brain automatically seeks out the good side of life  which probably explains his unusually high levels of optimism.

If all it takes to put things right is a quick bit of computer-based training, then it shouldnt matter how we got to be so different  but I must admit Im curious. A glance around my close relatives makes me suspect that at least some of my neurotic tendencies might be inherited. On one side of my family its considered unusual if youre not anxious, prone to depression, or emotionally a bit volatile. A quick head count of my aunts, uncles, and cousins on that side of the family reveals that while the average number of people with emotional issues in the United Kingdom is one in every four, our family has roughly twice as many.

Elaine says shed be happy to put me into her next study on the genetics of worry, but they probably wont be ready to do the tests for at least another year. As a backup, she puts me in touch with the lab that does the analysis for her studies. She warns me that itll be expensive, but it might be possible as a one-off. Its my only hope because while some medical insurance companies in the United States will do the test under certain circumstances, commercial gene-testing companies like 23andMe  which offer off-the-shelf tests for risk genes, for everything from Alzheimers to male pattern baldness  dont offer it, at least not yet.

As it happens, when I contact the lab, they are happy to help and can even chuck a few more samples in for me at no extra cost. I get a testing kit sent to Jolyon, and then we swab our cheeks, pop them in the post to the lab, and wait with bated breath to see what comes back. After several weeks of back and forth between Jolyon and the lab, where he manages to avoid getting any DNA on his first set of swabs and the second batch gets lost in the mail  and I start to wonder how he runs a successful business at all  we finally get the results. And the verdict is . . . not at all what I expected.

Excerpted from My Plastic Brain; One Woman's Yearlong Journey to Discover If Science Can Improve Her Mind by Caroline Williams (Prometheus Books, 2018). Reprinted with permission from the publisher.NEW YORKThe news organization ProPublica issued a detailed correction of a story about Gina Haspel, U.S. President Donald Trumps choice for the next CIA director, and the waterboarding of a detainee the year after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

It wasnt alone: Other organizations, including The Associated Press, have issued their own corrections this week, illustrating the murkiness of reporting on the behaviour of official actions by public servants whose work, by its very nature, remains in the shadows.

Read more: Senators want CIA to lift veil on nominees black site past

The retraction and apology on Thursday by ProPublica, an organization of independent investigative journalists founded in 2007, was unusual in the amount of detail it offered about its reporting process. ProPublica concluded it was wrong last year in reporting that Gina Haspel was chief of a secret CIA black site in Thailand where suspected Al Qaeda detainee Abu Zubaydah was interrogated with waterboarding, a measure that is regarded by the UN as torture. That claim became relevant again this week with Trumps proposed promotion of the longtime CIA official.

ProPublica also apologized for incorrectly saying that Haspel mocked Zubaydahs suffering. The organization said it is now clear that Haspel was not in charge of the base until after Zubaydahs interrogation was finished.

We at ProPublica hold government officials responsible for their missteps, and we must be equally accountable, wrote the sites editor-in-chief, Stephen Engelberg. This error was particularly unfortunate because it muddied an important national debate about Haspel and the CIAs recent history.

ProPublica said it was told by three former government officials, when Haspel became the No. 2 person at the CIA last year, that she had been head of the Thailand base at the time of Zubaydahs waterboarding. The New York Times also reported that same detail last year.

But that was called into question this week, ProPublica said, when two of Haspels former colleagues said that she did not arrive in Thailand until after Zubaydahs interrogation. The site said its original story also relied on a book by James Mitchell, a CIA contractor who helped direct the waterboarding, and a faulty assumption made by the news site.

In his book, Mitchell at different times referred to the bases chief as he or she. ProPublica said it assumed this was an attempt to conceal Haspels identity. But Mitchell told Fox News this week this wasnt the case, and that he had been referring to an official other than Haspel when he wrote about Zubaydahs treatment.

Engelberg wrote that the CIA declined to answer specific questions about Haspel before the story was written, although the agency said nearly every piece of reporting that you are seeking comment on is incorrect in whole or in part. ProPublica went ahead with the story, including that comment.

The awkward communications between officials barred from disclosing classified information and reporters trying to reveal secrets in which there is legitimate public interest can sometimes end in miscommunication, Engelberg wrote. In this instance, we failed to understand the message the CIAs press office was trying to convey in its statement.

Other organizations similarly corrected the assertion that Haspel had been involved in Zubaydahs interrogation. Some cited ProPublicas reporting, others appeared to rely on their own.

The New York Times, for example, appended corrections both to a news story about Haspel and an editorial printed on Thursday, Having a Torturer Lead the CIA. The Times said it had relied on its own reporting, and said in its correction that a former senior CIA official had confirmed that Haspel had arrived after the interrogation was complete.

The AP on Friday issued a correction to its own stories from Tuesday and Wednesday about Haspel. The AP said that it suggested she oversaw the Thailand prison at the time Zubaydah was waterboarded, but that the CIA now would not confirm any details about Haspels role in his treatment. The AP also wrongly reported that Hansel oversaw the prison between the years 2003 and 2005.

The AP had relied on its past reporting when it said Haspel ran the prison, but in looking at declassified material, mistakenly conflated the years involved, spokeswoman Lauren Easton said. The AP investigated its own work after being contacted by a CIA official about the existence of ProPublicas correction.

NBC corrected a Tuesday article on its website to say that Haspel was not present at Zubaydahs interrogation. The network wouldnt say what triggered its move, but the timing of the correction  on Wednesday, before the ProPublica piece moved  suggested it relied on its own reporting.

National Public Radio on Friday added an editors note to a story about how Haspels nomination was reopening debate on torture. NPR said that according to several media reports, including from ProPublica, she was chief of the Thailand base starting in 2002. The note mentioned ProPublicas retraction and assertion that she was not at the site.

The Atlantic magazine cited ProPublicas correction in updating its post, written by Ali Soufan, a former FBI official who said he participated in interrogation of Zubaydah without using any techniques regarded as torture. Soufan makes the argument that these enhanced techniques are not useful, and Haspels opinions should be an important part of her confirmation hearings. His original story stated Haspel was in charge of a prison where two detainees were tortured; it was corrected to say it was only one.

Read more about:LONDONAs the upstart voter-profiling company Cambridge Analytica prepared to wade into the 2014 U.S. midterm elections, it had a problem.

The firm had secured a $15 million (U.S.) investment from Robert Mercer, the wealthy Republican donor, and wooed his political adviser, Stephen K. Bannon, with the promise of tools that could identify the personalities of U.S. voters and influence their behaviour. But it did not have the data to make its new products work.

So the firm harvested private information from the Facebook profiles of more than 50 million users without their permission, according to former Cambridge employees, associates and documents, making it one of the largest data leaks in the social networks history. The breach allowed the company to exploit the private social-media activity of a huge swath of the U.S. electorate, developing techniques that underpinned its work on U.S. President Donald Trumps campaign in 2016.

An examination by The New York Times and The Observer of London reveals how Cambridge Analyticas drive to bring to market a potentially powerful new weapon put the firm  and wealthy conservative investors seeking to reshape politics  under scrutiny from investigators and lawmakers on both sides of the Atlantic.

Christopher Wylie, who helped found Cambridge and worked there until late 2014, said of its leaders: Rules dont matter for them. For them, this is a war, and its all fair.

They want to fight a culture war in America, he added. Cambridge Analytica was supposed to be the arsenal of weapons to fight that culture war.

Details of Cambridges acquisition and use of Facebook data have surfaced in several accounts since the business began working on the 2016 campaign, setting off a furious debate about the merits of the firms psychographic modelling techniques.

But the full scale of the data leak involving Americans has not been previously disclosed  and Facebook, until now, has not acknowledged it. Interviews with half a dozen former employees and contractors, and a review of the firms emails and documents, have revealed that Cambridge not only relied on the private Facebook data but also still possesses most or all of the trove.

Cambridge paid to acquire the personal information through an outside researcher who, Facebook says, claimed to be collecting it for academic purposes.

During a week of inquiries from The Times, Facebook downplayed the scope of the leak and questioned whether any of the data still remained out of its control. But Friday, the company posted a statement expressing alarm and promising to take action.

This was a scam  and a fraud, Paul Grewal, a vice president and deputy general counsel at the social network, said in a statement to The Times earlier Friday. He added that the company was suspending Cambridge Analytica, Wylie and the researcher, Aleksandr Kogan, a Russian-American academic, from Facebook. We will take whatever steps are required to see that the data in question is deleted once and for all  and take action against all offending parties, Grewal said.

Alexander Nix, the chief executive of Cambridge Analytica, and other officials had repeatedly denied obtaining or using Facebook data, most recently during a parliamentary hearing last month. But in a statement to The Times, the company acknowledged that it had acquired the data, though it blamed Kogan for violating Facebooks rules and said it had deleted the information as soon as it learned of the problem two years ago.

In Britain, Cambridge Analytica is facing intertwined investigations by Parliament and government regulators, who are scrutinizing possible data privacy violations and allegations that it performed illegal work on the Brexit campaign. In the United States, Mercers daughter, Rebekah, a board member, Bannon and Nix received warnings from their lawyer that it was illegal to employ foreigners in political campaigns, according to company documents and former employees.

Congressional investigators have questioned Nix about the companys role in the Trump campaign. And the Justice Departments special counsel, Robert Mueller, has demanded the emails of Cambridge Analytica employees who worked for the Trump team as part of his investigation into Russian interference in the election.

In late 2013, Nix, a brash salesman, led the small elections division at SCL Group, a political and defence contractor. He had spent much of the year trying to break into the lucrative new world of political data, recruiting Wylie, then a 24-year-old political operative interested in using inherent psychological traits to affect voters behaviour. Wylie had assembled a team of psychologists and data scientists, some of them affiliated with Cambridge University.

Nix and his colleagues courted Mercer, who believed a sophisticated data company could make him a kingmaker in Republican politics, and his daughter, who shared his conservative views. Bannon was intrigued by the possibility of using personality profiling to shift Americas culture and rewire its politics, Wylie recalled. Through a spokeswoman, Bannon declined to comment.

Building psychographic profiles on a national scale required data the company could not gather without huge expense. Traditional analytics firms used voting records and consumer purchase histories to try to predict voting behaviour.

But those kinds of records were useless for figuring out whether a particular voter was, say, a neurotic introvert, a religious extrovert, a fair-minded liberal or a fan of the occult. Those were among the psychological traits the firm claimed would provide a uniquely powerful means of designing political messages.

Wylie found a solution at Cambridge Universitys Psychometrics Centre. Researchers there had developed a technique to map personality traits based on what people had liked on Facebook. The researchers paid users small sums to take a personality quiz and download an app, which would scrape some private information from their profiles and those of their friends, activity that Facebook permitted at the time.

When the c declined to work with the firm, Wylie found someone who would: Kogan, who was a psychology professor at the university. Kogan built his own app and in June 2014 began harvesting data for Cambridge Analytica. The business covered the costs  more than $800,000  and allowed him to keep a copy for his own research, according to company emails and financial records.

All he divulged to Facebook, and to users in fine print, was that he was collecting information for academic purposes, the social network said. It did not verify his claim. Kogan declined to provide details of what happened, though he maintained that his program was a very standard vanilla Facebook app.

He ultimately provided more than 50 million raw profiles to the firm, Wylie said. Of those, roughly 30 million contained enough information, including places of residence, that the company could match users to other records and build psychographic profiles.

Just as Kogans efforts were getting underway, Mercer agreed to invest $15 million in a joint venture with SCLs elections division. The partners devised a convoluted corporate structure, forming a new U.S. company, owned almost entirely by Mercer, with a licence to the psychographics platform developed by Wylies team, according to company documents. Bannon, who became a board member, chose the name: Cambridge Analytica.

The firm was effectively a shell. According to the documents and former employees, any contracts won by Cambridge, incorporated in Delaware, would be serviced by London-based SCL and overseen by Nix, a British citizen. Most SCL employees and contractors were Canadian, like Wylie, or European.

In summer and fall 2014, Cambridge Analytica dove into the U.S. midterm elections. Few Americans were involved in the work, which included polling, focus groups and message development for the John Bolton super PAC, conservative groups in Colorado and the campaign of North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis.

Cambridge Analytica, in its statement to The Times, said that all personnel in strategic roles were U.S. nationals or green card holders. Nix never had any strategic or operational role in a U.S. election campaign, the company said.

Today, as Cambridge Analytica seeks to expand its business, Nix has mentioned some questionable practices. This January, in undercover footage filmed by Channel 4 News in Britain, he boasted of employing front companies and former spies on behalf of political clients around the world and even suggested ways to entrap politicians in compromising situations.

All of the scrutiny appears to have affected business. No U.S. campaigns or super PACs have yet reported paying the company for work in the 2018 mid-terms, and it is unclear whether Cambridge will be asked to join Trumps re-election campaign.

Read more about:HANGA ROA, EASTER ISLANDThe human bones lay baking in the sun. It wasnt the first time Hetereki Huke had stumbled upon an open grave like this one.

For years, the swelling waves had broken open platform after platform containing ancient remains. Inside the tombs were old obsidian spearheads, pieces of cremated bone and, sometimes, parts of the haunting statues that have made this island famous.

But this time was different for Huke. The crumbling site was where generations of his own ancestors had been buried.

Those bones were related to my family, said Huke, an architect, recalling that day last year.

Centuries ago, Easter Islands civilization collapsed, but the statues left behind here are a reminder of how powerful it must have been. And now, many of the remains of that civilization may be erased, the United Nations warns, by the rising sea levels rapidly eroding Easter Islands coasts.

Many of the moai statues and nearly all of the ahu, the platforms that in many cases also serve as tombs for the dead, ring the island. With some climate models predicting that sea levels will rise by 1.5 to 1.8 metres by 2100, residents and scientists fear that storms and waves now pose a threat like never before.

You feel an impotency in this, to not be able to protect the bones of your own ancestors, said Camilo Rapu, the head of Mau Henua, the Indigenous organization that controls Rapa Nui National Park, which covers most of the island, and its archeological sites. It hurts immensely.

Similar fates are faced by islanders throughout the Pacific Ocean and along its margins, in places like the tiny Marshall Islands that are disappearing under the sea and in the sinking megacity of Jakarta, Indonesia, where streets become rivers after storms hit. Kiribati, a republic of coral atolls north of Fiji, may be uninhabitable in a generation. Residents may become refugees.

On Rapa Nui, the Polynesian name of Easter Island, much of which has been recognized as a UNESCO world heritage site, both the future and the past are threatened.

Read more:

What killed Easter Islanders? Archeologists offer new view

Easter Island resort highlights ecotourism

The islands economy hangs in the balance. The archeological sites are the backbone of the main industry: tourism. Last year, this island with only 6,000 residents attracted more than 100,000 visitors. Easter Islands hotels, restaurants and tour businesses take in more than $70 million (U.S.) every year.

Tourists usually begin their days in Tongariki, where they gather to watch the sunrise from behind a line of monoliths facing inland. Groups split off to Anakena, the islands one sandy beach, or to the ancient platforms at Akahanga, a sprawling site of former villages on the shore where, tradition holds, the islands mythical founder, Hotu Matua, is buried in a stone grave.

Yet all three sites now stand to be eroded by rising waters, scientists say.

We dont want people seeing these places through old photos, Rapu said.

The highway circuit that runs through much of the triangular island shows a landscape that is changing.

The damage has been swift on Ovahe Beach, near where Huke came across bones in the sun. For generations, there had been a sandy beach that was popular with tourists and locals. Nearby, a number of unmarked burial sites were covered with stones.

Now the waves have carried off almost all of the sand, leaving jagged volcanic stone. The burial sites have been damaged and its not clear how long they will survive the waves.

I once swam in Ovahe and the sand seemed to go on for miles, said Pedro Pablo Edmunds, the Hanga Roa mayor, in his office as he flipped through a coffee table book with images of the beach. Now, its all stone.

Two years ago, officials buried a time capsule, to be opened by islanders in 2066, near the town hall. Among the items inside were pictures of Ovahe Beach before it lost all its sand.

They will dig it up in 50 years and see us standing there, where there is no beach, Edmunds said.

At a site called Ura Uranga Te Mahina on the islands southern coast, park officials were alarmed last year when blocks of a stone wall perched about three metres above a rocky coast collapsed after being battered by waves.

Now, all of this will fall next, said Rafael Rapu Rapu, the chief archeologist of Mau Henua, pointing to a map showing the platforms behind the collapsed wall.

Rapu has used a nearby site, called Runga Vae, to experiment with measures to mitigate the damage. Using part of a $400,000 grant from the Japanese government, officials built a seawall for protection against the waves. But it remains unclear whether the wall will be enough to stop the erosion, or if the island leaders will have to consider moving platforms and statues away from the coast in order to save them.

Park officials say they are exploring the possibility of anchoring stone carvings onto more stable bases, or even moving them into a museum.

Can we take them somewhere else? said Rapu, the archeologist. Yes, but you lose their context, you lose their history when doing that.

Rapu, who grew up on the island, said he regretted the environmental changes that had befallen the area. Few birds nest on Motu Nui anymore, he said, a consequence of what he suspects is changing weather patterns. He looked over the water and recalled his fathers stories of big migrations that used to arrive at the island regularly.

He would tell me you could see dark clouds of them and you could hear the birds everywhere, he said, walking back from the crater.

Sebastian Paoa, the head of planning at Mau Henua, said he was sure that ultimately the islands inhabitants would find their way through the challenge of the rising sea levels, just as they had survived the collapse in ancient times.

They knew their environment was coming apart, but that didnt stop them from persisting here, he said. Its the same with climate change today.

Huke, the architect, feels the same way.

Finding the bones of his ancestors on the beach wasnt cause for despair, he said, but a call to action. In recent months, hes been gathering information for a climate change assessment to be presented to officials, tallying everything from erosion to the groundwater supply.

Islands like us are always the first to face climate change, he said. We have been here 1,000 years. We have gotten through things like this. The world isnt ending. And believe me, weve suffered through an ecological disaster before.

Read more about:British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking schmoozed with popes during his lifetime, even though he was an avowed atheist. The famous scientist, who died Wednesday in England at 76, was often asked to explain his views on faith and God. During interviews, he explained his belief that there was no need for a creator.

He said during an interview with El Mundo in 2014: Before we understand science, it is natural to believe that God created the universe. But now science offers a more convincing explanation. What I meant by we would know the mind of God is, we would know everything that God would know, if there were a God, which there isnt. Im an atheist.

Read more:

Stephen Hawking rose to rival Einstein as the worlds most famous scientist

Stephen Hawking helped elevate Canada's science profile

Physicist Stephen Hawking dies at age 76

That followed comments made to Reuters in 2007 in which Hawking, who had lived with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as Lou Gehrigs disease or ALS) since 1963, described himself as not religious in the normal sense.

I believe the universe is governed by the laws of science, he said. The laws may have been decreed by God, but God does not intervene to break the laws.

Because of his involvement in the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, which fosters interaction between faith and reason and encouraging dialogue between science and spiritual, cultural, philosophical and religious values, he visited the Vatican over the years. Hawking gave a talk on The Origin of the Universe during the groups 2016 conference at the Vatican.

During those visits, he met with religious leaders, including Pope Francis and Pope Benedict XVI. In his comments to the academy in 2010, Benedict seemed to refer to Hawking, saying, Scientists do not create the world; they learn about it and attempt to imitate it.

Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking died early Wednesday, a University of Cambridge spokesman said. Hawking was known for writing about the mysteries of space, time and black holes. He was 76 years old. (The Associated Press)

In Hawkings writings about the universes origin, he and co-author Leonard Mlodinow posited in the 2010 book, The Grand Design, that the big bang was inevitable.

Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing, the book states. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist. It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going.

In discussing the book, he told ABC News: One cant prove that God doesnt exist. But science makes God unnecessary.  The laws of physics can explain the universe without the need for a creator.

Hawkings earlier best-selling cosmology book, A Brief History of Time, also discussed black holes and the big bang. The 1988 book offered his theory of everything that understanding the universe offers a glimpse of the mind of God.

He also explained throughout his life his thoughts on a possible afterlife, saying, I believe the simplest explanation is, there is no God. No one created the universe and no one directs our fate. This leads me to a profound realization that there probably is no heaven and no afterlife either. We have this one life to appreciate the grand design of the universe and for that, I am extremely grateful.

In 2011, his comments to the Guardian explained his stance further: There is no heaven or afterlife for broken-down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.

Hawking, who was born Jan. 8, 1942, and lived with his disease for much longer than expected, also said during the interview: Im not afraid of death, but Im in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first.

Read more about:Lawmakers in the United States and Britain are calling on Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg to explain how the names, preferences and other information from tens of millions of users ended up in the hands of a data analysis firm connected with U.S. President Donald Trumps 2016 campaign.

The demands came in response to news reports Saturday about how the firm, Cambridge Analytica, used a feature once available to Facebook app developers to collect information on 270,000 people and, in the process, gain access to data on tens of millions of their Facebook friends  few, if any, of whom had given explicit permission for this sharing.

Though both companies have been embroiled in investigations in Washington and London for months, this weekends demands have taken on a more personal tone, focusing explicitly on Zuckerberg, who has not testified publicly on these matters in either nation.

Read more:

How Trump consultants got banned by Facebook for exploiting millions of users data

Facebook suspends data company that helped Trump get elected

They say trust us, but Mark Zuckerberg needs to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee about what Facebook knew about misusing data from 50 million Americans in order to target political advertising and manipulate voters, Sen. Amy Klobuchar said Saturday night.

On Sunday morning, British lawmaker Damian Collins, who has been leading an investigation into political influence in which officials from Cambridge Analytica and Facebook have testified, suggested that neither company has been sufficiently forthcoming.

I will be writing to Mark Zuckerberg asking that either he, or another senior executive from the company, appear to give evidence in front of the Committee as part our inquiry, Collins said in his statement. It is not acceptable that they have previously sent witnesses who seek to avoid asking difficult questions by claiming not to know the answers. This also creates a false reassurance that Facebooks stated policies are always robust and effectively policed.

Facebook did not immediately respond to requests for comment to the requests for Zuckerberg to testify. It has said previously that the company has made changes to privacy policies to prevent similar data loss without explicit consent from users.

Zuckerberg has kept a low profile as controversy over the political uses of the Facebook platform  especially by a Russian disinformation campaign during the 2016 presidential race  have intensified. He has authored blog posts and spoken by video link from Facebooks headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. But Zuckerberg has not yet been exposed to the rough-and-tumble of legislative questioning, designating that job to senior attorneys such as General Counsel Colin Stretch.

And on Sunday, the tech giant faced fresh criticism for its failure to be forthcoming with lawmakers investigating the matter.

Sometimes, these companies grow so fast, and get so much good press, they get up high on themselves, that they start to think perhaps theyre above the rules that apply to everybody else, Sen. Marco Rubio said on NBCs Meet the Press.

The new controversy stems from the actions in 2014 and 2015 of a Russian American professor, Aleksandr Kogan, working for Cambridge Analytica. His app, called Thisisyourdigitallife, offered personality predictions and billed itself on Facebook as a research app used by psychologists.

It gave Kogan access to demographic information about Facebook users  including the names of users, their likes, friend lists and other data. Once obtained by Cambridge Analytica, political campaigns could use those profiles to target users with highly tailored messages, ads or fundraising requests.

Facebook suspended Kogan, the parent company of Cambridge Analytica and one other former employee from the social media platform on Friday, hours ahead of news reports on the extent of the data grab. Cambridge Analytica has repeatedly denied wrongdoing or improper use of Facebook data.

We worked with Facebook over this period to ensure that they were satisfied that we had not knowingly breached any of Facebooks terms of service and also provided a signed statement to confirm that all Facebook data and their derivatives had been deleted, Cambridge Analytica said in a statement Saturday.

Facebook has acknowledged that its user data was collected on a vast scale, but it has declined to confirm or deny reports in the New York Times and the Observer of London that information from 50 million users was accessed. Facebook has said that changes it implemented in 2014 and 2015 sharply restricted the ability of app developers to collect data in this way.

The company also has worked hard in recent days to cast the data collection by people affiliated with Cambridge Analytica as not a breach because Facebooks systems were not compromised and the app developer worked within the companys terms of service, at least initially. Facebook has said Cambridge Analytica later violated terms by improperly sharing and then failing to destroy the data, despite assurances that it would do so.

But the idea of a breach seems have taken root in the public debate and in some news reports. Klobuchars statement refers to a major breach.

Among the thorny issues facing Facebook is its 2011 consent decree with the Federal Trade Commission. That agreement specified that Facebook must give consumers clear and prominent notice and obtain their express consent before their information is shared beyond the privacy settings they have established.

In a statement Saturday, Facebook said, We reject any suggestion of violation of the consent decree. We respected the privacy settings that people had in place. Privacy and data protections are fundamental to every decision we make.

U.S. lawmakers last fall questioned Facebook and fellow tech giants Google and Twitter over the ways in which Russian agents used major social networking platforms to spread disinformation during the 2016 election.

The hearings emboldened many lawmakers, including Klobuchar and Sen. Mark R. Warner to call for new regulation of political advertisements that appear on those sites. Their bill has not yet advanced amid sharp partisan divisions over Russias role in the election.

In February, British legislators visited Washington to question Facebook, Google and Twitter about fake news and the extent of Russian disinformation online, particularly in the wake of Britains vote to exit the European Union. Members of the House of Commons repeatedly criticized Facebook for failing to answer questions, at times threatening regulation.

One member of Parliament, Jo Stevens, said Facebooks relationship with its users personal data reminds me of an abusive relationship where there is coercive control going on. At another point in the hearing, fellow lawmaker Rebecca Pow questioned whether Facebook was a massive surveillance operation.

In December, the Wall Street Journal reported that special counsel Robert Mueller III had requested documents from Cambridge Analytica, including copies of emails of any company employees who worked on the Trump campaign. On Saturday, a day after Facebook banned Cambridge Analytica, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, a Democrat, said she was opening a probe into Facebook in response to news reports about Cambridge Analytica.

Read more about:In Canada, a woman is killed every six days as a result of intimate partner violence. On average in Ontario, a woman is murdered by her current/former spouse or another family member approximately every 13 days. Shocking as these statistics are, by March 14 Ontario surpassed both of them. Since Jan. 1 of this year, 15 murders of women, their children and family members have been reported by media.

Holly Hamilton, 29, Hamilton; Baljit Thandi, 32, Brampton; Avtar Kaur, 60, Brampton; Elaine Bellevue, 61, Mississauga; Jan Singh, 70, Oakville; Barbara Kovic, 76, Etobicoke; Raya Turunen, 88, Ryerson Township; Ulla Theoret, 55, Ryerson Township; Paul Theoret, 28, Ryerson Township; Safaa Marina, 53, Nepean; Brenda Richardson, 77, Kenora; Alicia Lewandowski, 25, Mississauga; Krassimira Pejcinovski, 39, Ajax; Roy Pejcinovski, 15, Ajax; Venallia Pejcinovski, 13, Ajax.

Those charged with killing them: husbands, ex- or would-be boyfriends, and other men known to them.

Since 1990, the Ontario Association of Interval & Transition Houses has collected media reports of 712 (to Nov. 24, 2017) women murdered by their husband/ex-husband, boyfriend/ex-boyfriend or other male identified person known to them.

The acts of femicide in Ontario in just the first 11 weeks of 2018 extend beyond women to their family members including Baljit Thandis mother, Avtar Kaur; Ulla Theorets mother, Raya Turunen and her adult son Paul; and Krassimira Pejcinovskis young children Roy and Venallia.

Gender-based violence remains a pervasive issue for too many women and their children. Indigenous women, trans women, older women, newcomer women and women living with disabilities are at increased risk of experiencing violence because of systemic barriers and system failures. This is a public issue, requiring a public response.

The damage done goes well beyond those killed to those who remain behind. And, as Renfrew County learned in 2015 when Basil Borutski killed three women with whom he had been involved, the entire community is affected.

The communitys victim impact statement read at Borutskis sentencing hearing said in part: [Our community] doesnt feel safe any more for many of us. We struggle as a community to know whether safety from mens violence against women is really possible.

As families and communities are left with the devastating impact of loss and trauma from womens lives taken since 1990, there is much more work to do. Changing this reality requires action and engagement with all levels of government.

Read more:

Domestic violence prevention should start with communities, experts say

Triple slaying in Ajax the latest in a string of GTA domestic homicides this year

Ontario Liberals gender violence strategy gets $242 million boost

We know these murders are preventable and a future without this violence is possible. We also know that violence is an issue for at least one in three women in their intimate relationships, women who never make the headlines. This spring we can vote for candidates who are committed to ending gender-based violence.

Lets do it.

A 39-year-old woman and her 15-year-old son were found dead in an Ajax home Wednesday. Her 13-year-old daughter was also found in the home with life-threatening injuries. She later died in hospital.

Pamela Cross is legal director of Lukes Place Support and Resource Centre. Marlene Ham is executive director of the Ontario Association of Interval & Transition Houses. Farrah Khan is the Consent Comes First coordinator at Ryerson University.

Read more about:Singh evades questions on political violence, March 16

I must commend reporter Alex Ballingall for a well-balanced article on federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh.

I am a Canadian citizen of Hindu faith originally from the state of Punjab, India, where Sikhs are in a majority. I visit India at least two or three times a year and see no evidence over there of discrimination or unfair treatment of Sikhs. As a matter of fact, they are represented disproportionately in politics, business and armed forces, due to their well-deserved efforts and abilities.

The Khalistani separatist movement is driven primarily by the politics and power seekers within the Sikh diaspora in the UK, Canada and U.S., and is encouraged by a neighbouring country to sow discord in India.

Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale was a confirmed terrorist who preached violence and encouraged Sikhs to kill Hindus. When a minority within a minority acts violently, the actions of the majority can be harsh. This way, the minority can then justify their own actions.

Regardless, there is no justification for violence from either side. Singhs constituency consists of a vast number of Canadians of diverse backgrounds. He has to come clean as to where he stands with respect to violence and terrorism.

Adarsh Lakhanpal, Oakville

Jagmeet Singh speaks out of both sides of his mouth. He condemns terrorism to advance the cause of any one group, but does not unambiguously denounce political violence by militant Sikhs seeking an independent Sikh homeland.

He says that, in the Sikh context, the situation is complex and he wants to educate the Canadian public about Sikh history.

Can Singh, an apparently orthodox Sikh who attends and addresses pro-Sikh independence events, and who has trouble denouncing violence by Sikh extremists, be trusted to offer an unbiased history lesson to Canadians?

Pamela Mulligan, Grimsby, Ont.

Jagmeet Singhs involvement in foreign political affairs raises several troubling questions.

Who paid his way to speak at or participate in Sikh nationalist conferences? His then-MPP travel budget? The Ontario NDP? A third party and, if so, who?

In light of Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus recent experience in India, how would Mr. Singh, should be become prime minister, be welcomed in that country and how would his apparent support for Sikh independence affect Canada-India relations?

Ron Freedman, Toronto

Read more about:In 2000, the president of the United States was chosen not by voters, not by the Electoral College, but by the Supreme Court. It was the controversial end to a bitter and divisive electoral outcome defined by the ludicrous process of adjudicating whether there was a hanging chad on any ballot.

These tiny pop outs still clinging to a paper ballot were used to determine whether a ballot was to be counted, and in whose favour. Tight TV close-ups of lawyers and scrutineers, heads inches apart, peering intently, at a debatable chad made the ridiculousness to which American democracy had descended even more painful.

Read more:

Opinion | Watt: Unfiltered Ford is the best chance for a PC victory in Ontario

Progressive Conservatives driving towards majority government, poll suggests

Opinion | Collenette: Premier Doug Ford? Not quite so fast.

Worse, the count of Florida ballots was frozen with tens of thousands of ballots unchecked, by Republican politicians and an imprudent  at best  Supreme Court. The sight of GOP operatives, sharp and slippery lawyers and a partisan court, cheating Al Gore of his presidency, feeds the anger and disillusionment of many Americans for whom it remains a deep scar to this day. Fair election counts matter and predictable and transparent counting processes matter most.

Around the same time, young political activists in each Canadian political party became convinced that delegated conventions gave too much power to party elites, were undemocratic and subject to manipulation. Like dominoes each party establishment fell to the one member, one vote agitation.

In a banquet hall in suburban Toronto last week we saw how demonstrably unequal, untransparent and simply undemocratic such systems can be. Yes, party bosses so determined, can manipulate election outcomes, or when exhausted and under pressure make dumb decisions, in any electoral system.

There was a whiff of mischief in the Alberta conservative leadership and at the end of the recent B.C. Liberal leadership campaign of similar type: party phone lines blocked, pin numbers not sent, IDs disappearing, questionable payments, etc.

The moral of the story, whether it is hanging chads, dubious delegates, or one person, one vote schemes, is that the systems guardians and the rules they enforce must be clear, with no potential for late night tweaks. One may not be seen as a credible steward of party democracy if through incompetence or design you disenfranchise thousands of voters, or leave open to choice which riding they live in  on election night!

Its past time to think again about party nomination and leadership processes.

We seem to have replaced the sleazy operative flipping bills off a roll of tens, with sneaky digital geeks manipulating identities, electronic payments, and access to the digital ballot box.

The election process must be seen to be fair and open: no ridiculously high financial deposits or nominating names thresholds, for example. The process must be overseen by guardians who are beyond reproach and have the experience, reputation and strength to stand their ground in the face of partisan bellowing. Voters need to have guaranteed access, throughout, to party decision-makers and referees about missing credentials, ballots or any other obstacle.

Rules about how the predictable variety of conflicts in a counting process will be resolved need to be public, and widely pronounced at the beginning of a contest, not after a bitter election night battle.

Here are two personal preferences: election decisions should be made by groups as close to the voters themselves as possible. Centrally run electronic ballot issuing and counting systems, are understandably seen as remote and insensitive, run by party bureaucrats whom you have never met. Far better, surely, to have riding-level decision-making about who gets to vote, who is a real party member, and how problems are to be solved.

Secondly, voters should be allowed to change their minds between ballots. Performance matters in politics, and leadership conventions are about candidate performance, as well as leadership selection. A powerful recent example is that Kathleen Wynne became premier significantly on the strength of her convention performance.

Processes that saw Doug Fords election, damaged the reputation of all parties and faith in democracy itself.

Robin V. Sears, a principal at Earnscliffe Strategy Group, was an NDP strategist for 20 years.

Read more about:If you believe recent polls, the June 7 provincial Ontario election may already be decided. Eric Grenier, the CBCs polling analyst, currently projects that the Conservatives could win 78 to 98 seats, placing them in majority government territory. The NDP are second with 15 to 28 seats and the Liberals in third place with up to 25 seats.

Considering the dysfunctional weeks leading up to the chaotic Conservative leadership vote, electors nevertheless appear ready to hand the levers of government and governance to a party described by its interim leader as full of rot  a party that will now be led by an inexperienced Doug Ford. He has never held a seat in the legislature.

Read more:

Opinion | Watt: Unfiltered Ford is the best chance for a PC victory in Ontario

Progressive Conservatives driving towards majority government, poll suggests

Editorial | Doug Ford: Lets hope that past isnt prologue

Other pollsters are tracking the same trend toward the Conservatives but also note there is hesitation regarding the Ford name. The latest study from the Angus Reid Institute, showed that 48 per cent of voters who said they were willing to consider supporting the Tories say Ford would make them less likely to vote for the party.

If voters are angry with Kathleen Wynne, they are equally unsure about Doug Fords economic and social plans, his character and his values.

As of this date, Ford has 81 days to build his own narrative, demonstrate a depth in policy matters and a grasp on the machinery of provincial government. It is a tall order.

First, he must deal with party matters.

He will try to win Etobicoke North (currently held by long term Liberal MPP Shafiq Qaadri) but he must also find winnable ridings for Christine Elliott and Tanya Granic Allen, the social conservative candidate whose supporters gravitated to Ford on the second ballot. Will they be parachuted into ridings or expected to fight bruising nomination battles?

Next, he needs to accept that journalists have questions.

Ford made the media rounds immediately following the convention but became slightly testy in one interview. Can he maintain his composure for the next 81 days given intrusive questions by reporters (whom he is said to dislike) and tough debates with Kathleen Wynne, who is legendary for her stamina, energy and competitive spirit.

Some of the questions may be about his business and his ethics.

Doug Ford visited the Ontario legislature on March 12 for the first time since becoming leader of the provinces Progressive Conservatives. Ford says he plans to be out on the road as much as possible before the June 7 election. (The Canadian Press)

He likes to refer to his business experience with Deco Labels, a company co-founded by his father. The company is private but has offices in both Toronto and Chicago.

Ford has said he will put his business operations in a blind trust, which is a good first step, but can voters be assured that Fords family business interest will not conflict with official duties? In 2016, when he was on Toronto council, he was found to have broken two articles in the Code of Conduct for Member of Council by setting up meetings with city officials on behalf of at least two business clients.

It is also disconcerting for a potential premier of Ontario to employ 58 people in Chicago. He may argue that having the jobs in the U.S. helps to produce Canadian jobs, but nevertheless, the optics are odd.

Finally, while election debates about economic issues are important, values are also crucial.

Where does Ford stand on reconciliation, one of the most important themes in the country today? How would he deal with Indigenous issues?

How does he envision Ontarios place in Confederation? Does he support bilingualism? Does he recognize Ontarios strong Franco-Ontarian culture?

How will he deal with powerful groups whose values he may not share? The empowered LGBTQ2 network is strong and active as are millennials and young voters.

Women, too, have found renewed authority in their shared stories with the #MeToo movement. Blind partisan loyalty is not always the answer for many of these complex social issues.

This particular election could lead to unusual partnerships and shifts in voting patterns not yet discerned by pollsters. Any move to regressive policies or any hint of back to the 50s in terms of values, would not sit well with these activist voters, no matter what the polls may currently say.

Make no mistake, this election may feature Doug Ford, but it is really a battle for the soul of Ontario. Careful what you wish for.

Penny Collenette is an adjunct professor of law at the University of Ottawa and was a senior director of the Prime Ministers Office for Jean Chretien.

Read more about:EDWARDSVILLE  Southern Illinois University Edwardsville nontraditional student Danielle Smith is gaining invaluable research experience as an undergraduate in the College of Arts and Sciences.

She has received $500 from the Illinois Groundwater Association (IGA) in support of her important work studying the groundwater, waste water treatment plants and soil in and around Madison and St. Clair Counties.

The Collinsville native is pursuing a bachelors in chemistry with a specialization in forensic chemistry and is a participant in SIUEs Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities (URCA) program. As an URCA assistant she works closely with faculty mentor Kevin Tucker, PhD, assistant professor of chemistry.

We have been testing to determine how much of certain antibiotics are present in these areas, Smith explained. This research is close to home. The presence of antibiotics in the ecosystem directly impacts antibiotic resistance in bacteria in our area.

The funding she received from IGA supported the purchase of necessary disposable items used for collecting and processing samples within the research laboratory.

I was ecstatic when I learned that Danielle received this award, said Tucker. It is a valuable learning opportunity and a recognition of success for an undergraduate to write research proposals and receive funding for their work.

I greatly appreciate Dr. Tucker, as he has supported my educational aspirations and provided advice on how to pursue a successful career, Smith said.

For more information on SIUEs unique and innovative URCA program, visit siue.edu/urca.3 1 of 3 John Badman | The Telegraph Show More Show Less 2 of 3 John Badman | The Telegraph Show More Show Less 3 of 3





ALTON  A commercial building was the site of a morning fire Sunday, calling the Illinois State Fire Marshal to the scene for what could be a third suspicious Alton fire in roughly a week.

The block-long building at 5th and Piasa was the former Lenhardt Tool & Die Company building. A commercial box alarm was apparently struck for the fire, bringing ladder trucks from East Alton and Wood River, to battle the blaze with Alton firefighters.The district administration in Poonch has ordered the closure of schools and offices after five civilians, including four of a family, were killed in Pakistan shelling in Balakote sector on Sudnay morning.

''Schools will remain shut for two days in Balakote sector,'' deputy commissioner of Poonch Tariq Ahmed Zarger told The Week. ''There has been no migration from the area as the people have stayed put.''

Zarger said people of the area don't migrate during tense times.

According to Army spokesman Lt Col Devender Anand, Pakistan started shelling the area in Balakote close to the Line of Control (LoC) at 7.45 am and one of the mortar shells exploded near the veranda of the house of Muhammad Ramzan at Devta Sargloon village at Mendhar tehsil.

Two of his daughtersNasreen Kousar (11) and Mehreen Kousar (5)were injured in the incident. They were airlifted to the government hospital in Jammu.

The five who were killed in the shelling include Ramzan (35), his wife Malika Bi (32), his three sons Abdul Rehman (14), Mohammad Rizwan (12) and Razaq Ramzan (7).

According to the Army spokesperson, the shelling continued till 11.30 am.

Pakistan continues in its cowardly design of targeting innocent civilians, their homes, and livestock in villages close to the Line of Control. The deliberate provocation has resulted in the loss of five precious and innocent civilian lives, Anand said.

He said the Army effectively retaliated to the ceasefire violations to silence the 'enemy' guns.

The shelling has created fear in Balakote and areas close to the LoC in the sector.

The administration has mobilised staff and kept ambulances and medical teams ready for an emergency.

Anguished to hear of that five people lost their lives in the crossfire along the LoC in the Balakote sector of Poonch. My deepest condolences to their family tweeted Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.RJD supremo Lalu Prasad was admitted to the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) on Saturday after he fell ill at the Birsa Munda Jail in Ranchi, hospital sources said.

The 69-year-old former Bihar chief minister is serving a prison sentence in a fodder scam case.

Prasad has been admitted to RIMS and is under observation of doctors at the cardiology ward, the sources said.

He has been in Birsa Munda jail at Ranchi since December 23 last year, after being convicted in the second case pertaining to illegal withdrawal of money from Deogarh treasury.

Earlier in the day, a special CBI court deferred till March 19 the judgement against Prasad and former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra in the fourth fodder scam case pertaining to alleged withdrawal of Rs 3.13 crore from the Dumka treasury over two decades ago.If anything happens to me, please tell my story. This was...The long journey to find peace for Rohingya refugee Kobir Ahmed can be told through the different birth countries of his eight childrenMyanmar, Malaysia and Australiaalthough they remain citizens of no nation.

He now helps run a grocery store in suburban Australia where he lives in a small community of Rohingya, the persecuted Muslim minority who have fled army-led violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state in their hundreds of thousands.

"They are not like other militaries of the world. Killing people is nothing for them," the 44-year-old told AFP of the army's hardline tactics against his people.

Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi was in Sydney today for a special Australia-ASEAN summit, with her presence seen as a crushing reminder of lost hope.

She is among nine leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations holding talks, including Cambodian strongman Hun Sen and Vietnam's Nguyen Xuan Phuc -- both accused of oppression.

Their attendance sparked human rights protests, with thousands making their feelings known, particularly about Aung San Suu Kyi's perceived inaction to halt what the UN says bears "the hallmarks of genocide".

"The situation in Burma wasn't this bad before Aung Sung Suu Kyi came in power," said Ahmed, who arrived in Australia on a rickety boat crammed with more than 100 people in 2013.

"Before, we were tortured, we weren't allowed to work or move independentlywe were under a lot of scrutinybut we could at least live there. But after she emerged, we were all forced to leave the country."

A bid by Australian lawyers to prosecute Suu Kyi for "crimes against humanity" was rejected Sunday after the country's attorney general said she had immunity from prosecution.

Nearly 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh since Myanmar launched a crackdown on insurgents six months ago, with many describing arson, murder and rape at the hands of soldiers and vigilante mobs in the majority Buddhist country.

Myanmar has vehemently denied allegations of ethnic cleansing, insisting it was responding to attacks by Muslim militants in late August.

The Rohingya in Australia number in the thousands, with many arriving over the years by boat seeking some form of citizenship status they were denied in Myanmar and could not attain in transit countries.

Their struggle for "status" remains uncertain under Canberra's tough immigration policies.

For most citizenship is disallowed, advocates say, under strict conditions that sees the Rohingya applying for bridging visas every few years in the hope that Australia relaxes its hardline stance on asylum-seekers designed to discourage boatpeople.

Many who attempted the dangerous journey after Canberra further tightened its borders languish in Pacific island camps, where those trying to enter Australia by boat are now sent.

"We are very much happy to obey the rules and the law... just give us a chance to prove that we are a good citizens," Shawfikul Islam, from the Australian Burmese Rohingya Organisation, told AFP.

Despite the uncertainty, many Rohingya are resilient and the community tight-knit. They often lack formal education, with the opportunity of schooling for their children one of their biggest hopes.

"For myself, my chance is over as I didn't go to school and when I grew up in Myanmar I lost all my rights," refugee Jumabi, who arrived via boat with her family six years ago, told AFP. "But here, these children have a great chance, and a future."

'Crimes against humanity'

Under Myanmar's complex political system the military maintain control of the security forces, but Aung San Suu Kyi has been at the centre of worldwide condemnation for failing to use her influence to change attitudes among the majority-Buddhist Bamar.

Australia, which was elected to the UN Human Rights Council last year, has been under pressure to take a stronger stand on Myanmar.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull vowed to address human rights issues at the Sydney summit, although that will likely be behind closed doors and not in public.

Amnesty International has accused ASEAN leaders of being "shamefully silent" on Myanmar.

"Myanmar's regional neighbours including Australia and ASEAN must send a signal that crimes against humanity are unacceptable and will not go unpunished," said Amnesty's director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific James Gomez.

For Australia's Rohingya community, there is little belief that Aung San Suu Kyi will change.Turkish forces and their Syrian rebel allies swept into the northwestern Syrian town of Afrin on Sunday, raising their flags in the town centre and declaring full control after an eight-week campaign to drive out Kurdish YPG forces.

A spokesman for the rebel fighters said they entered Afrin before dawn, meeting no resistance. A war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said pockets of YPG fighters were defying orders to withdraw, but Turkish forces were in control.

The fight for Afrin, a once stable pocket of northwest Syria, has opened a new front in Syrias multi-sided civil war and highlighted the ever greater role of foreign powers in the seven-year-old conflict.

Ankara says Syrian Kurdish YPG fighters are an extension of a militant group waging an insurgency inside Turkey, and vowed to crush what it described as a terror corridor of YPG-controlled territory along Turkeys southern border with Syria.

It launched its campaign eight weeks ago and threatened to extend the offensive to another Kurdish-controlled region further east where US forces are stationed alongside the YPG, Washingtons ally against Islamic State in Syria.

Afrin city centre is under control as of 8:30 this morning, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told a rally commemorating the World War One Gallipoli campaign, adding that Turkish and Free Syrian Army flags had been raised in the town centre.

Most of the terrorists have already fled with tails between their legs. Our special forces and members of the Free Syrian Army are cleaning the remains and the traps they left behind, Erdogan said. In the centre of Afrin, symbols of trust and stability are waving instead of rags of terrorists.

Statue pulled down

A Whatsapp group run by the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces said Turkish and Syrian rebel troops tore down a statue in Afrin, in what it called a blatant violation of Kurdish peoples culture and history.

Turkeys armed forces said in a statement that troops were combing the streets for mines and improvised explosive devices. The army posted video it said was filmed in the centre of Afrin, showing a tank stationed under a balcony draped in the Turkish flag, with an FSA banner being waved.

Free Syrian Army spokesman Mohammad al-Hamadeen said the fighters entered the town from the north, east and west. Maybe it will be cleared by the end of the day  its empty of (YPG) fighters, they cleared out.

Turkeys government spokesman Bekir Bozdag said the military campaign would continue to secure areas around Afrin and make sure food and medicine were available.

We have more to do. But the project of building a terrorism corridor and building a terrorist state is over, he said.

More than 150,000 people fled Afrin in recent days, the Syrian Observatory said, as Turkey pressed on with its campaign despite a UN Security Council call for a 30-day ceasefire across Syria.The following companies are subsidiares of Yum China: AIR BP-PBF DEL PERU SAC, BELFAST STORAGE LTD, CANADIAN ULTRAMAR COMPANY, COLONNADE TEXAS INSURANCE COMPANY LLC, COLONNADE VERMONT INSURANCE COMPANY, DIAMOND ALTERNATIVE ENERGY LLC, DIAMOND ALTERNATIVE ENERGY OF CANADA INC., DIAMOND GREEN DIESEL HOLDINGS LLC, DIAMOND GREEN DIESEL LLC, DIAMOND K RANCH LLC, DIAMOND OMEGA COMPANY L.L.C., DIAMOND SHAMROCK REFINING COMPANY L.P., DIAMOND UNIT INVESTMENTS L.L.C., DSRM NATIONAL BANK, ENTERPRISE CLAIMS MANAGEMENT INC., GCP LOGISTICS COMPANY LLC, GOLDEN EAGLE ASSURANCE LIMITED, HAMMOND MAINLINE PIPELINE LLC, HUNTWAY REFINING COMPANY, MAINLINE PIPELINES LIMITED, MAPLE ETHANOL LTD., MICHIGAN REDEVELOPMENT GP LLC, MICHIGAN REDEVELOPMENT L.P., MRP PROPERTIES COMPANY LLC, NECHES RIVER HOLDING CORP., NORCO METHANOL LLC, OCEANIC TANKERS AGENCY LIMITED, PARKWAY PIPELINE LLC, PENTA TANKS TERMINALS S.A., PI DOCK FACILITIES LLC, PICKARD PLACE CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, PORT ARTHUR COKER COMPANY L.P., PREMCOR USA INC., PROPERTY RESTORATION L.P., PURE BIOFUELS DEL PERU S.A.C., PURE BIOFUELS HOLDINGS L.P., Parkway Pipeline, Premcor, Pure Biofuels Del Peru, SABINE RIVER HOLDING CORP., SABINE RIVER LLC, SAINT BERNARD PROPERTIES COMPANY LLC, SUNBELT REFINING COMPANY L.P., THE PREMCOR PIPELINE CO., THE PREMCOR REFINING GROUP INC., THE SHAMROCK PIPE LINE CORPORATION, TRANSPORT MARITIME ST. 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Its surface and royalty ownership allow revenue generation through the entire value chain of oil and gas development, including through fixed fee payments for use of the firm's land, revenue for sales of materials used in the construction of infrastructure, providing sourced water and treated produced water, revenue from its oil and gas royalty interests, and revenues related to saltwater disposal on land. The company also generates revenue from pipeline, power line and utility easements, commercial leases, material sales and seismic and temporary permits related to a variety of land uses including midstream infrastructure projects and hydrocarbon processing facilities. The company operates through following segment: Land and Resource Management and Water Services and Operations. The Land and Resource Management segment focuses on managing oil and gas royalty interest and surface. The Water Services and Operations segment offers operators an unparalleled breadth of service across the majority of the Permian Basin. The company was founded in April 2020 and is headquartered in Dallas, TX.

Read MoreEDUCATION

UNIVERSITY AT ALBANY

David Holtgrave, a nationally recognized HIV researcher with a focus on addressing public health challenges and ensuring care and stable housing for people living with HIV, joined as dean of the School of Public Health. Holtgrave is the former chair of the Department of Health, Behavior and Society at Johns Hopkins University.

FINANCIAL

HUDSON RIVER COMMUNITY CREDIT UNION

William Peterson joined the executive management team as vice president of risk management and chief information security officer. Peterson has more than two decades of experience researching and implementing banking security practices and guiding financial institutions through digital transformations.

BENDER LANE ADVISORY LLC

Yue Wang joined as a financial planner.

Rebecca Kwalik joined as vice president of investment management.

HEALTH CARE

WHITNEY YOUNG HEALTH

Carolyn Jordan joined as nursing supervisor at the Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Treatment Center. Jordan will provide direction and supervision to the behavioral health nursing staff.

Heather Chase joined as an addictions counselor in the methadone maintenance treatment program. Chase will provide screenings, evaluations and assessments as well as develop individualized treatment plans.

Kristin Fralick joined as RN care coordinator. Fralick will provide a professional nursing practice to help patients manage their health through chronic disease management, wellness promotion and early detection.

NONPROFITS

CATHOLIC CHARITIES DISABILITIES SERVICES

Kristine Knowlton, Samantha Mantegna and Jamae Powell joined as community supports professionals.

Micheline Heath, Jeannette Kayitesi, Sandrine Mombo and Yolanda Singletary joined as direct support professionals.

Shirley Banks and Katarina Lassiter joined as service coordinators.

PROFESSIONS

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BOND SCHOENECK & KING

Jennifer M. Boll was named to the management committee. The eight-member committee monitors the firm's performance and provides overall long-range planning and strategy.

GOLDBERG SEGALLA

Bradley J. Stevens joined as an associate in the general liability practice group, practicing in Albany and Buffalo. Stevens, who defends insured businesses, municipalities and individuals in a variety of complex liability matters in state and federal courts, previously worked at Lemire, Johnson & Higgins LLC.

IANNIELLO ANDERSON PC

Sarah J. Burger joined as chair of the new labor and employment law practice. Burger, who will work out of the Saratoga Springs office, was previously in private practice for several years and served as the first female city attorney of Saratoga Springs.

BARTON & LOGUIDICE

Lauren Paulsen joined the water/wastewater group as an engineer I in the Albany office. Paulsen, who worked over the summer as an intern, previously served as a transportation construction inspector for the New York state Department of Transportation.

 Jennifer PattersonAlbany

A top official at the state Division of Criminal Justice Services who was found to have threatened female employees with physical violence and engaged in years of sexual harassment, racism and ageism was not disciplined by the agency. Instead, DCJS punished two women who provided testimony about the case to the state inspector general's office.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott were both notified in writing about the treatment of the female DCJS employees in late January  three weeks after the governor declared in his annual State of the State address that the nation "is taking a long look in the mirror as to how we treat women, and we are disgusted with what we see. And we should be."

But the governor's office did not take steps to intervene in the plight of the DCJS employees. The inaction occurred despite the findings of the inspector general's investigation  which have not been made public  that sustained the harassment allegations and recommended DCJS "take action as you deem appropriate" against three top officials at the agency, including a human resources director and a first deputy commissioner.

Both the governor's office and the inspector general's office declined comment for this story.

The target of the investigation, Brian J. Gestring, is a former New York Police Department scientist who was appointed director of DCJS's Office of Forensic Science in 2012. Gestring, 48, is also a member of the state's Commission on Forensic Science, which oversees crime laboratories across New York.

State records, interviews with multiple people familiar with the case, and a copy of the inspector general's confidential findings all raise questions about whether DCJS, the sprawling agency tasked with overseeing the state's criminal justice system, was allowed to bury an extreme case of workplace misconduct and sexual harassment by one of its top directors.

The case also revealed that the inspector general's office turned over to top officials at DCJS the testimony of state employees who were interviewed during the investigation. In at least one instance, DCJS Executive Deputy Commissioner Michael C. Green, who heads the agency, used the testimony in December to interrogate a female attorney who had cooperated with the investigation.

Green terminated the attorney almost immediately after the interrogation.

The examination of Gestring's alleged workplace misconduct began last May when investigators with the inspector general's office stumbled onto the charges during an unrelated probe of negligence by a DCJS employee involving DNA evidence in a Suffolk County criminal case.

The investigation of Gestring revealed a history of offensive and inappropriate behavior that began shortly after he began working for DCJS in July 2012. Records indicate that about four months after Gestring was hired, he received two counseling memos for using the phrase "splitting a pubic hair" in staff meetings, and telling employees, including women, they needed to "hump more" and "think in the shower."

The first memo cited Gestring's inappropriate comments to employees, which Gestring claimed he could not recall. The second counseling memo scolded Gestring for making disparaging remarks about the agency's policies and practices to his colleagues and others outside the agency, as well as refusing directives from executive staff members. When Gestring signed the memos to certify he had read them, he added handwritten notes claiming he disagreed with the findings, had been forced to sign them, and that staff at DCJS had "agendas," according to details of the inspector general's investigation shared with the Times Union.

"Significantly, no action was taken to address this defiant response and mitigate further misconduct in the future," the inspector general's office concluded in a confidential summary of their investigation.

Not long after Gestring received the counseling memos, the investigation found, he was accused of telling a female manager "I could hurt you right now if I wanted to" during a private meeting in his office. The female employee complained about the incident, and roughly three weeks later a human resources official and the agency's first deputy commissioner instructed her to ''act professionally'' and never mention the incident again, records indicate.

People familiar with the forensic office headed by Gestring, who oversees roughly 20 employees, said he also has allegedly treated older employees harshly, including women, and replaced many departing workers with young and attractive female staff members. It's unclear whether any of the staff members that Gestring hired have accused him of misconduct.

The state investigation uncovered other alleged inappropriate behavior by Gestring. On Halloween in 2016, when employees brought their children to work in costumes to trick-or-treat, he allegedly told staff members the children could get curry on an upper floor where the agency's information technology workers, many of whom are of Indian descent, have offices.

On a business trip to New York City several years ago, the investigation found, Gestring suggested that a curling iron sticking out of a longtime female colleague's suitcase was a sexual device. In another incident, Gestring, who is very tall with a large build, allegedly told two employees he wanted to throw them out the window of his eighth-floor office as the human resources director, Karen Davis, stood by and chuckled, according to the state investigation.

Investigators, who obtained sworn testimony from multiple DCJS employees, said they were also told that Gestring had once encouraged a female manager to file fraudulent sexual harassment charges against a male colleague in an apparent effort to have him terminated. The female employee refused.

The inspector general's investigation also found that Gestring had improperly sought reimbursement for travel and meals.

In late October, Leahy Scott and her deputy inspector general, Spencer Freedman, met with DCJS's top legal counsel, John Czajka, and Executive Deputy Commissioner Green to informally outline the findings of the inspector general's investigation. After that meeting, Czajka and Green asked the inspector general's office for copies of the testimony  including tape-recorded sworn interviews  that had been obtained during the investigation. The inspector general's office turned over testimony from roughly seven witnesses, except for two unidentified female employees who they said feared retaliation from DCJS.

Leahy Scott, who was appointed inspector general by Cuomo in 2013, followed up the October meeting with a five-page letter to DCJS on Dec. 6 outlining the findings of her office's investigation.

The letter, addressed to Green, said investigators had also uncovered information that Gestring boasted to DCJS co-workers that while employed with the NYPD "he and others would plant evidence in the desks of people they did not like as a way to have them removed from their position," according to a copy of the inspector general's findings obtained by the Times Union.

Leahy Scott's letter recommended the agency take action against Gestring and two other officials accused of mishandling the allegations: First Deputy Commissioner Mark Bonacquist and Davis, the human resources director.

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But the agency did not take any action against those employees.

Bonacquist and Gestring declined to be interviewed for this story. A DCJS spokeswoman on Friday issued a statement saying the agency takes "any allegations of misconduct, harassment and bullying seriously."

"When these allegations were brought to our attention, the Equal Employment Officer immediately commenced a months-long investigation where every member of this unit was interviewed," said the statement by Janine Kava, a DCJS spokeswoman. "The claims were found to be unsubstantiated, but out of abundance of caution steps were taken to separate the employees to help resolve any interpersonal issues. Our findings have been forwarded to the Inspector General's office and (the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics)."

DCJS did not say when their findings were forwarded to those offices, or why they conducted an independent investigation that contradicted the inspector general's findings.

The inspector general's Dec. 6 letter had instructed DCJS to provide an update on its actions in the case within 45 days, which lapsed in mid-January. Leahy Scott's December letter also apparently arrived a day after top officials at DCJS had already taken action against two female employees, who were among roughly 10 employees who provided testimony for the investigation. One of the women was terminated and the other was transferred to a new department against her wishes.

The employee who was terminated, Gina L. Bianchi, is an attorney who has worked at DCJS for nearly 24 years. According to the inspector general's report and her attorney John W. Bailey, Bianchi had a spotless and accomplished employment history with the agency.

Bianchi's career achievements with the agency began to crumble around noon on Dec. 5, when the 52-year-old was summoned to Green's office and interrogated for more than two hours. Green, a former Monroe County district attorney, played excerpts of Bianchi's recorded testimony last year with the inspector general's investigators as he pressed her with questions challenging her sworn statements, including her testimony describing Gestring's treatment of women, according to Bianchi's attorney.

Later that afternoon, Green  who declined to be interviewed for this story  told Bianchi that she was being terminated from her special counsel position. But under state employment policies, Bianchi was allowed to return to a fallback position as a staff-level attorney. The change, however, resulted in a $40,000-a-year pay cut and a sharp reduction in her responsibilities.

On Friday  a day after the Times Union posed questions about the case to DCJS  Czajka, the agency's top counsel, notified Bianchi that she was being moved into a smaller office, according to her attorney, who added that a less-experienced male attorney was being given Bianchi's office.

Kimberly Schiavone, a manager in the Forensic Services Office who had reported directly to Gestring since 2012, was also notified on Dec. 5 by three DCJS officials  Green, Bonacquist and Davis  that she was being transferred to a different department because of their concern that she would not be able to work with Gestring anymore. A notice of claim filed recently against the state by Schiavone said the transfer may have been retaliation for her complaints about Gestring and her cooperation with the inspector general's investigation.

Bianchi also filed a notice of claim against the state. She and Schiavone, also 52, both allege the agency retaliated against them as a result of their cooperation with the inspector general's office. Schiavone's claim states that she had filed a workplace violence complaint against Gestring last August, but the agency took no action.

On Jan. 24, Bailey  the attorney for both Bianchi and Schiavone  wrote letters to Leahy Scott and to Cuomo's chief counsel, Alphonso David, alerting them to the "retaliatory action" by DCJS officials in their handling of the case.

"I am sure that you will agree that now, more than ever in history, those who testify in matters concerning sexual harassment and workplace violence should not be punished for doing so  especially in instances where such testimony is provided to an independent investigatory body charged with investigating such allegations," Bailey wrote in his letter to the governor's office. "Undeniably, permitting such retaliatory action has a chilling effect on the entire state workforce and society in general, thus stifling current and future victims and witnesses from reporting misconduct."

Bailey, who also wrote a letter to Green, the top official at DCJS, outlining his concerns, said last week that none of the state officials have responded.

blyons@timesunion.com  518-454-5547  @brendan_lyonstuSARATOGA SPRINGS  The Republican candidate who wants to challenge the Saratoga County District Attorney in a primary filed for bankruptcy 20 years ago.

Gerard Amedio, a Saratoga Springs criminal defense attorney, filed for Chapter 7 liquidation in 1997 and a then followed it up with a Chapter 13 in 1998, which allowed him to work out a payment plan for $4,000 in back payments to Internal Revenue Service.

At the time, Amedio was a Rensselaer City police officer, attending law school and going through a divorce.

"The Chapter 7 was a way for my wife and daughter to stay the house," said Amedio, who is running against Karen Heggen in a September primary. "She's still in the house. I was a police officer who was struggling. It was hard."

Court papers from the Chapter 7 show that Amedio owed $63,242, which included $33,570 for a BMW lease. The $4,000 owed to the IRS was also included in the total.

The Chapter 7 allowed him to keep his leased BMW at a payment of $464 per month. He was also ordered to pay $400 in alimony on his monthly income of $2,066.

The Chapter 13, filed with his wife Jane, worked out a 36-month payment plan for the back taxes.



"Mr. Amedio's Chapter 7 bankruptcy followed .... by his Chapter 13 bankruptcy casts a doubt on his judgment, and raises questions on his ability to plan and handle his own budget," Heggen's campaign spokesman, Nick Wilock, said. "This raises the issue whether Mr. Amedio has the capability or discipline to oversee the $4 million budget of the District Attorney's office."



Amedio, who has the backing of the Saratoga Springs GOP, said that running against Heggen has been an "unfortunate rude awakening" when it comes to the nastiness of local politics.

He also said it was important to run because he believes that Heggen's leadership is ineffective.



"When my opponent was named district attorney in 2015, there was a mass exodus of attorneys and clerks," Amedio said. "Her leadership is ineffective and it has had a negative impact on the office. It's causing problems in the justice dispensed here. Attorneys in her office feel pressured to go for the maximum sentence. I would have a positive impact on the office."

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Amedio also said that Heggen abused her powers when the public defenders office was raided by the Saratoga County Sheriff's Office in September 2015. Deputies were searching for evidence against Arthur Gannon, accused of possessing child pornography, in his public defender's office.



Heggen has the backing of the county Republicans as well as several town GOP committees. Wilock defended her, saying her leadership is effective and that is why Saratoga County Judge James Murphy III appointed her to succeed him.



"Karen Heggen has the same felony conviction rate in County Court as Jim Murphy because of her leadership," Wilock said.

Correction: In a previous version of this article, Amedio mischaracterized the nature of President Donald Trump's history with the bankruptcy court. Several of Trump's companies have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, but Trump has never declared personal bankruptcy.London

As the upstart voter-profiling company Cambridge Analytica prepared to wade into the 2014 U.S. midterm elections, it had a problem.

The firm had secured a $15 million investment from Robert Mercer, the wealthy Republican donor, and wooed his political adviser, Stephen K. Bannon, with the promise of tools that could identify the personalities of U.S. voters and influence their behavior. But it did not have the data to make its new products work.

So the firm harvested private information from the Facebook profiles of more than 50 million users without their permission, according to former Cambridge employees, associates and documents, making it one of the largest data leaks in the social network's history. The breach allowed the company to exploit the private social media activity of a huge swath of the U.S. electorate, developing techniques that underpinned its work on President Donald Trump's campaign in 2016.

An examination by The New York Times and The Observer of London reveals how Cambridge Analytica's drive to bring to market a potentially powerful new weapon put the firm  and wealthy conservative investors seeking to reshape politics  under scrutiny from investigators and lawmakers on both sides of the Atlantic.

Christopher Wylie, who helped found Cambridge and worked there until late 2014, said of its leaders: "Rules don't matter for them. For them, this is a war, and it's all fair."

"They want to fight a culture war in America," he added. "Cambridge Analytica was supposed to be the arsenal of weapons to fight that culture war."

Details of Cambridge's acquisition and use of Facebook data have surfaced in several accounts since the business began working on the 2016 campaign, setting off a furious debate about the merits of the firm's psychographic modeling techniques.

But the full scale of the data leak involving Americans has not been previously disclosed  and Facebook, until now, has not acknowledged it. Interviews with a half-dozen former employees and contractors, and a review of the firm's emails and documents, have revealed that Cambridge not only relied on the private Facebook data but also still possesses most or all of the trove.

Cambridge paid to acquire the personal information through an outside researcher who, Facebook says, claimed to be collecting it for academic purposes.

During a week of inquiries from The Times, Facebook downplayed the scope of the leak and questioned whether any of the data still remained out of its control. But Friday, the company posted a statement expressing alarm and promising to take action.

"This was a scam  and a fraud," Paul Grewal, a vice president and deputy general counsel at the social network, said in a statement to The Times earlier Friday. He added that the company was suspending Cambridge Analytica, Wylie and the researcher, Aleksandr Kogan, a Russian-American academic, from Facebook. "We will take whatever steps are required to see that the data in question is deleted once and for all  and take action against all offending parties," Grewal said.

Alexander Nix, chief executive of Cambridge Analytica, and other officials had repeatedly denied obtaining or using Facebook data, most recently during a parliamentary hearing last month. But in a statement to The Times, the company acknowledged that it had acquired the data, though it blamed Kogan for violating Facebook's rules and said it had deleted the information as soon as it learned of the problem two years ago.

In Britain, Cambridge Analytica is facing intertwined investigations by Parliament and government regulators into allegations that it performed illegal work on the Brexit campaign. The country has strict privacy laws, and its information commissioner announced Saturday that she was looking into whether the Facebook data was "illegally acquired and used."

In the United States, Mercer's daughter, Rebekah, a board member, Bannon and Nix received warnings from their lawyer that it was illegal to employ foreigners in political campaigns, according to company documents and former employees.

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Congressional investigators have questioned Nix about the company's role in the Trump campaign. And the Justice Department's special counsel, Robert Mueller, has demanded the emails of Cambridge Analytica employees who worked for the Trump team as part of his investigation into Russian interference in the election.

While the substance of Mueller's interest is a closely guarded secret, documents viewed by The Times indicate that the firm's British affiliate claims to have worked in Russia and Ukraine. And the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, disclosed in October that Nix had reached out to him during the campaign in hopes of obtaining private emails belonging to Trump's Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.

The documents also raise new questions about Facebook, which is already grappling with intense criticism over the spread of Russian propaganda and fake news. The data Cambridge collected from profiles, a portion of which was viewed by The Times, included details on users' identities, friend networks and "likes." Only a tiny fraction of the users had agreed to release their information to a third party.

"Protecting people's information is at the heart of everything we do," Grewal said. "No systems were infiltrated, and no passwords or sensitive pieces of information were stolen or hacked."

Still, he added, "it's a serious abuse of our rules."

Today, as Cambridge Analytica seeks to expand its business in the United States and overseas, Nix has mentioned some questionable practices. This January, in undercover footage filmed by Channel 4 News in Britain and viewed by The Times, he boasted of employing front companies and former spies on behalf of political clients around the world and even suggested ways to entrap politicians in compromising situations.

All the scrutiny appears to have damaged Cambridge Analytica's political business. No U.S. campaigns or super PACs have yet reported paying the company for work in the 2018 midterms, and it is unclear whether Cambridge will be asked to join Trump's re-election campaign.

In the meantime, Nix is seeking to take psychographics to the commercial advertising market. He has repositioned himself as a guru for the digital ad age  a "Math Man," he puts it. In the United States last year, a former employee said, Cambridge pitched Mercedes-Benz, MetLife and the brewer AB InBev but has not signed them on.Miami

Two vehicles containing three bodies were removed from the wreckage of a collapsed Miami bridge Saturday as authorities continued to remove debris in attempt to extract at least four cars still trapped since the span fell two days earlier.

The recovery came after police used cameras to locate five bodies in the rubble of a pedestrian bridge under construction at Florida International University. Authorities were carefully trying to get to remaining victims. At least six people were killed when the structure fell onto a busy highway Thursday.

Miami-Dade Police Director Juan Perez said DNA evidence, fingerprints and family photos might be needed to identify the victims.

Meanwhile authorities are continuing to investigate the collapse and whether cracking that was reported just before the span fell contributed to the bridge failure.

An engineer left a voicemail two days before the collapse to say some cracking had been found at one end of the concrete span, but the voicemail wasn't picked up until after the collapse, Florida Department of Transportation officials said Friday.

The voicemail left on a landline wasn't heard by a state DOT employee until Friday because the employee was out of the office on an assignment, the agency said in an email.

In a transcript released Friday night, Denney Pate with FIGG Bridge Group says the cracking would need repairs "but from a safety perspective we don't see that there's any issue there so we're not concerned about it from that perspective."

On Saturday, FIU released a statement saying representatives from the university and DOT met with a FIGG engineer for two hours Thursday morning to discuss the cracking and determined there wasn't a safety issue. The bridge fell soon afterward.

"The FIGG engineer of record delivered a technical presentation regarding the crack and concluded that there were no safety concerns and the crack did not compromise the structural integrity of the bridge," FIU said.

At a news conference Friday night, officials from the National Transportation Safety Board said they have just begun their investigation, and cannot yet say whether any cracking contributed to the collapse. They also said workers were trying to strengthen a diagonal member on the bridge when it collapsed.

Robert Accetta, investigator-in-charge for the NTSB, said crews were applying post-tensioning force, but investigators aren't sure if that's what caused the bridge to fall.

Late Friday, FIGG Bridge Engineers said it "continues to work diligently" to determine the cause of the collapse, and is examining the steps its team has taken. It added, "The evaluation was based on the best available information at that time and indicated that there were no safety issues." It also asked for time to accurately determine what led to the accident.

A college student who narrowly escaped from a car that got smashed in the collapse said he watched helplessly as the structure tumbled down atop the vehicle and killed his friend Alexa Duran, who was sitting next to him in the driver's seat.

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Richie Humble, who studies at FIU, was riding in a car under the pedestrian bridge when he heard a long creaking noise coming from the structure that spanned a busy Miami-area highway. It sounded different from anything he had ever heard before.

"I looked up, and in an instant, the bridge was collapsing on us completely. It was too quick to do anything about it," Humble said Friday in a phone interview with The Associated Press.

Once Humble realized he was alive, he also realized that he could not get to Duran. He called to her but got no response. A group of men outside the car started yelling at him to try crawling through the rear window.

He couldn't squeeze through because the window was crushed. The men outside grabbed a wooden plank and pried open the rear door to pull him free, he said.

"I was trying to get people to realize my friend was still in there," he said.

He suffered cuts to his leg from glass and a slight fracture to a vertebra, but he was able to walk away from the scene.

While families waited for word on their loved ones, investigators sought to understand why the 950-ton bridge gave way during construction. The cables supporting the span were being tightened following a "stress test" when it collapsed, authorities said.

The Florida DOT said in its Friday release that it had not been notified of any stress test.New York

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar joined along as Manhattan's Fifth Avenue came alive with the sound of bagpipes, trumpets and lots of green Saturday at the 257th running of New York City's St. Patrick's Day parade.

Several bagpipe bands led a parade made up of over 100 marching bands after Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo spoke briefly, calling it a "day of inclusion" and adding: "We're all immigrants."

Mayor Bill de Blasio, also a Democrat, marched with police Commissioner James O'Neill under sunny skies as some spectators sipped coffee to stay warm several days before the start of spring.

Varadkar watched the parade at St. Patrick's Cathedral before joining the march himself.

The parade, which began at 11 a.m., typically lasts nearly six hours. An estimated 150,000 marchers were to make the 1.4-mile trek past Central Park, the Cathedral and Trump Tower.

A big event since the mid-1800s, the parade has been a celebration of Irish culture and of Irish immigrants, who once faced nativist calls for their exclusion from the workforce  and from the country  when they began arriving in the city in huge numbers during the Irish Famine.

In the 1990s, the parade's organizers were involved in annual fights over whether to exclude openly gay groups from the march.

Those battles are now history. This year, at least two groups in the parade have banners identifying marchers as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.

For the 167th time, the lead group marching in the parade was 800 members of the 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry Regiment, of the New York Army National Guard. The regiment, once predominantly made up of Irish immigrants, first led the parade in 1851 as a deterrent to anti-immigrant violence.

Judy Hughes, whose father used to march with the 69th Infantry Regiment, also known as the "Fighting Irish," said she's been attending the parade "since I was a little girl."

Her husband, Bill Hughes, a retired police officer who marched in the parade for 10 years, looked on as a band marched by.

"It's better being on the other side," he said.

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This year's grand marshal is Loretta Brennan Glucksman, chairman of The American Ireland Fund, a group that has raised millions of dollars for philanthropic projects in Ireland.

She was riding along the parade route in a Central Park horse carriage, driven by a family friend.

The parade is a familiar occasion for Matthew McCrosson, 68, who has marched in the New York event many times in the past 50 years.

"The parade truly signifies the Irish investment over 250 years in the greater New York area," McCrosson said. "The parade represents not only Irish, but people from all nationalities."

Danny and Carol Manley, an Irish New Jersey couple, watched the parade with their son, Dan Jr.

"We like to come back, get together, see the bagpipers and see how the generations have grown up," Danny Manley said.Thanks to all who supported our Table Quiz on Saturday night last  those who gave us spot prizes and sponsored tables, also to Murphys pub and staff, and last but not least Myles and Helen the Quiz masters. With only a few days left for the big event, all is going according to plan and were hoping now that the weather will be kind on the day.

Please remember that the Blessing of the Shamrock will be held in Templemore Arms Hotel on Friday night 16th at 8pm. This occasion is open to everyone to attend and you are invited to join in for some lovely music in the front bar afterwards.

The Parade on Saturday will start at 12.30 sharp as many people taking part in the parade will be travelling on to further parades in nearby towns. It will follow the usual route of down Richmond, through Patrick Street, on to Main Street and past the Reviewing Stand at the Town Hall.

Play Group and Toddlers Group only to meet at Templemore College- Everybody else should gather at the starting point on the Thurles Road. We would ask that all children be kept safe and stay with their teacher / parents.

The theme for this years parade is Irish Tradition and Culture in keeping with the fact that Fleadh Cheoil Thiobrad Arann 2018 will be held in Templemore in May of this year.

There is 2000 to be shared in Prizemoney on the day  so If youre not in, you cant win. The committee works extremely long hours to organise the parade each year and would be delighted to get the help of volunteers on the morning of the 17th around 9.30am to help get the square ready and also to clear up after the parade.

If you have a query, contact any of the following committee members: Myles McMorrow, Mary OShea, Paul Walsh, Michael OBrien or Bridget Jones. Please note there is also a prize for the Best Dressed Window. We would ask the public to please keep safe on the day of the parade and please work with the stewards on duty.Sony India today introduced the A7 III (model ILCE-7M3), a versatile camera for all types of creators  from wedding photography professionals to enthusiasts. Sonys unmatched innovation within the image sensor space is at the forefront of the new A7 III, as it features a brand new 24.2MP1 back-illuminated Exmor R CMOS image sensor with increased sensitivity, outstanding resolution and an impressive 15 stops of dynamic range at low sensitivities. . By combining this sensor with a variety of impressive features including extreme AF coverage of 93%, fast shooting at up to 10 fps. with either mechanical shutter or silent shooting and diverse 4K. video capabilities. Sony has created a new tool that gives all types of creators  from enthusiast to professional  the ability to capture content in new and different ways than they ever have before.

Newly Developed Full-frame 24.2MP Back-Illuminated Exmor R CMOS Image Sensor with Evolved Image Processing

The newly developed 24.2MP1 back-illuminated Exmor R CMOS image sensor is paired with a front-end LSI that effectively doubles the readout speed of the image sensor. The updated BIONZ X processing-engine that boosts processing speed by approximately 1.8 times compared to the A7 II. These powerful components work together to allow the camera to shoot at faster speed.

World Class AF system featuring 693 phase-detection AF points covering 93% of image area, 425 contrast AF points and fast and reliable Eye AF

The innovative new A7 III full-frame mirrorless camera features a level of AF performance that has been largely improved over the A7 II, including the addition of 4D FOCUS capabilities and features a level of AF performance that has been largely improved over the A7 II. The new camera has 425 contrast AF points that work with a 693-point focal-plane phase-detection AF system inherited from the acclaimed A9 model. This innovative AF system covers approximately 93% of the frame, ensuring reliable focusing and tracking for even the most difficult to capture subjects.

AF response and tracking has also been greatly improved in the new camera, with almost 2x the focusing speed in low-light condition and 29 the tracking speed compared to the previous model as a result of the faster image sensor readout. This allows complex and unpredictable motion to be captured with far greater precision and accuracy.

The acclaimed Eye AF feature is also available in the new camera, even in AF-C mode, which is extremely useful for situations where the subject is turning around, looking down or otherwise obstructed. It also works when the A7 III is being used with Sonys A-mount lenses with an optional LA-EA3 adaptor. Additional improvements in focusing flexibility include the addition of a multi-selector or joystick for moving focusing points quickly, the addition of touch focusing capability, AF availability in Focus Magnifier mode, an AF On button and much more

5-axis optical in-body image stabilisation with a 5.0 step shutter speed advantage

The A7 III packs the latest high-precision stabilization that uses stabilization unit, gyro sensors and algorithms to achieve a 5.0-step shutter speed advantage in a system that compensates five types of camera shake with a wide range of lenses, and delivers excellent performance.

Continuous Shooting at up to 10 fps with either Mechanical Shutter or Silent Shooting and full Auto Focus/Auto Exposure tracking

The new A7 III is equipped with an updated image processing system that allows it to shoot full resolution images at up to 10 fps with continuous, accurate AF/AE tracking for up to 177 Standard JPEG images, 89 compressed RAW images or 40 uncompressed RAW images. This high speed mode is available with either a mechanical shutter or a completely silent shooting, adding to the immense flexibility of the camera. The camera can also shoot continuously at up to 8 fps3 in live view mode with minimal lag in the viewfinder or LCD screen.

For added convenience, while large groups of burst images are being written to the memory card, many of the cameras key functions are operable, including access to the Fn (Function) and Menu buttons, image playback and several other menus and parameters including image rating and other functions that facilitate on-location image sorting.

Additionally, if there is fluorescent or artificial lighting present in a shooting environment, users can activate the Anti-flicker function to allow the A7 III to automatically detect frequency of the lighting and time the shutter to minimise its effect on images being captured. This minimises any exposure or colour anomalies that can sometimes occur at the top and bottom of images shot at high shutter speeds

Wide ISO range of 100  51200 (expandable to ISO 50  204800 for still images) and 15-Stop Dynamic Range at low sensitivities

With an impressive ISO range of 100  51200 (expandable to ISO 50  204800 for still images) and an overall 1.5-stop improvement in image quality. The camera also features a massive 15-stop2 dynamic range at low sensitivity settings, ensuring outstanding overall performance at all settings and in all shooting conditions, with significant advancements in accurate colour reproductions of skin tones and the vibrant colours of nature.

This new full-frame model can also output 14 bit RAW format even in silent and continuous shooting modes, and is equipped with a 5-axis optical image stabilisation system that results in a 5.0 step5 shutter speed advantage. Approx. 15-stop dynamic range at low-sensitivity settings can be achieved with the new A7 III , thanks to a revamped CMOS sensor and image processor that provide for smooth gradation from shadow to highlight. This gives you greater freedom of creative imaging

High Resolution 4K Movie Shooting with full pixel readout and no pixel binning across full-width of full-frame sensor

The new A7 III is an outstanding video camera as well, offering 4K (38402160 pixels) video recording across the full width of the full-frame image sensor. In video mode, the camera uses full pixel readout without pixel binning to collect about 2.4x the amount of data required for 4K movies, and then oversamples it to produce high quality 4K footage with exceptional detail and depth

An HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma) picture profile is available on the A7 III as well, which supports an Instant HDR workflow, allowing HDR (HLG) compatible TVs to playback beautiful, true-to-life 4K HDR imagery. Further, both S-Log2 and S-Log3 are available for increased colour grading flexibility, as well as Zebra functionality, Gamma Display assist and proxy recording. The camera can also record Full HD at 120 fps at up to 100 Mbps, allowing footage to be reviewed and eventually edited into 4x or 5x slow motion video files in Full HD resolution with AF tracking.

The longest rated battery life of any Mirrorless camera at 710 shots per charge

Sonys newest full-frame camera is equipped with a variety of enhanced capabilities that were first implemented in the A9 and then again in the A7R III. These include dual media slots, with support in one slot for UHS-II type SD memory cards. These include dual media slots, with support in one slot for UHS-II type SD memory cards. Users have a variety of options for storing their content in each of the cards, including separate JPEG / RAW recording, separate still image / movie recording, relay recording and more. Battery life has been greatly extended as well  with a CIPA measurement of up to 710 shots per charge8, it offers the worlds longest7 battery life of any Mirrorless camera, as the new camera utilises Sonys Z series battery NP-FZ100 that offers approximately 2.2 times the capacity of the W series battery NP-FW50 utilised in the A7 II.

The new camera features My Menu functionality which allows up to 30 menu items to be registered for instant recall when needed. Users can also apply star ratings to their still images through the camera controls for easier image playback and review, and edit the first three characters of all still image files. Additionally, there is a total of 81 functions that are assignable to 11 custom buttons, and the camera is both dust and moisture resistant.

The A7 III features high-resolution, high-contrast, fast-start XGA OLED Tru-Finder with approximately 2.3 million dots for extremely accurate, true-to-life detail reproduction. Standard or High display quality settings are also available for both the viewfinder and monitor as well. It is also capable of seamlessly transferring files to a smartphone, tablet, computer or FTP server via Wi-Fi, while also offering a SuperSpeed USB (USB 3.1 Gen 1) USB Type-C Terminal for increased flexibility in power supply and faster image transfer speed during tethered shooting.

The A7 III model also comes with Sonys new software suite Imaging Edge, which extends the creative capabilities of the entire shooting process  from pre-processing to post-processing. Imaging Edge provides three PC applications called Remote, Viewer and Edit, available for free download, which support live-view PC remote shooting and RAW development. In the latest Version 1.1, several improvements have been implemented including about 10% faster data transfer speed for remote shooting from PC (PC tether shooting) and approximately 65% improvement in the response speed for RAW image editing.

Price and availability:

The new A7 III will be available across all Sony Center, Alpha Flagship Stores and Sony authorized dealers and major electronic stores across India.

Model MRP Availability A7 III Rs. 1,64,990/- 26th March, 2018

Bundle offers:

The new A7 III is available in exciting bundle offers with purchase of Sony lenses:

There is special discount on purchase of 24-105G lens along with A7 III camera. This offer can be availed at the shop-front. Customers can also purchase A73K kit that bundlesA7 III (body)along with 28-70 lens at a special discount price:

Bundle Kit Price Availability A7M3K (A7 III body + 28-70 lens) Rs. 1,79,990/- 26th March, 2018

@Technuter.com News ServiceThe world is crazy over SUVs, so automakers are rushing to fill every possible little niche they can to secure their piece of the pie. Over in Europe, Volkswagen has done just that by introducing the T-Roc as a model that slots below the Tiguan. But, the U.S. and the rest of the world needs a compact SUV as well, and thats why Volkswagen has teased what its calling the Volks-SUV or Peoples SUV. It will slot below the Tiguan in in most other markets outside of Europe, including the United States. It will hit dealers in China first and will eventually be imported from Mexico into the U.S.

The Volks-SUV is basically the same size as the T-Roc with some small modifications like a different front fascia and different rear quarter glass.

Volkswagen Brand CEO, Herbert Diess, told Automotive News Europe that the plan is to sell some 400,000 examples of the Volks-SUV globally. It will be built in Mexico, Russia, and Argentina, with the U.S. getting its supply from Mexico. Its said to be just a bit more compact than the Tiguan and will also help the company comply with CO2 Emissions targets. So, dont expect it to be powerful at all, either. It will be based on VWs MQB platform and will likely be front-wheel-drive only.

In the end, its hard to make a business case for this SUV. The Volks-SUV is basically the same size as the T-Roc with some small modifications like a different front fascia and different rear quarter glass. It would certainly just make more sense to have the T-Roc as a global model, but then the brand couldnt boast quite so many models in its lineup, right? For now, theres no word as to when the Volks-SUV will hit the U.S. market, but you can expect it to come after 2020 as thats when its production footprint will extend from China to the Russia, Argentina, and Mexico.

With that in mind, well probably see the Volks-SUV hit the market in 2021, so theres still a while to wait if youre really wanted a small VW SUV.

With that in mind, well probably see the Volks-SUV hit the market in 2021, so theres still a while to wait if youre really wanted a small VW SUV. What do you think? Will this model stand out enough to be successful on the global market? Would VW have been better off to spread the T-Roc love across the globe? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

References

Read our full review on the 2018 Volkswagen T-Roc.

Read more Volkswagen news.The African Union, in collaboration with Government of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is organizing the First Ordinary Session of the STC Sub-Committee on Energy of the STC on Transport, Intercontinental and Interregional Infrastructure, Energy and Tourism (STC-TTIET), from 21-23 March, 2018 in Nouakchott, Mauritania.

The overall objective of the STC-TTIIET Sub-Committee on Energy meeting is to take stock of the outcomes of the July 2017 summit and the approved Action Plans on energy. The STC-TTIIET Sub-Committee on Energy will deliberate on a Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) System to follow-up on the implementation of the Action Plans on energy.

The Meeting is composed of a 2-day meeting of experts and a Ministerial Session on the last day. The STC-TTIIET Sub-Committee Meeting on Energy will be attended by (1) Ministers of Energy from Member States; (2) Continental and Regional Organizations; (3) Energy Experts; (4) Development Partners; (5) academia and Civil Society organisations.

Background

The First Ordinary Session of the AU Specialized Technical Committee on Transport, Transcontinental and Interregional Infrastructure, Energy and Tourism (STC-TTIIET) was held in March 2017 in Lome, Togo. The STC-TTIIET in accordance with its rules of proceedings, adopted the creation of three sub-committees including: (a) Sub-Committee on Energy, (b) Sub-Committee on Transport and (c) the Sub-Committee on Tourism. The STC-TTIIET also adopted Plans of Actions for the various sub-sectors.

The outcomes of the Lome STC-TTIIET were considered by the AU Summit in July 2017, with recommendation for the AUC to implement the recommendations of Lome STC-TTIIET. In this context, the Bureau of the STC-TTIIET held its first meeting in Addis Ababa on 25-26 July 2017 and as an outcome, recommended the operationalization of the sub-committees of the STC-TTIIET.

The Energy sector Plans of Action covers key areas including energy technologies, policies, regulations and infrastructure development. There are several on-going projects at the continental and regional levels including the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), the AfDB New Deal on Energy, the Africa Clean Energy Corridor, the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative (AREI), the Geothermal Risk Mitigation Facility, the Programme Harmonisation of Regulatory Frameworks in the African Energy Sector, the Programme on Africa Bioenergy Policy Framework and Guidelines, among others.

The major role of the STC Sub-Committee on Energy is to monitor and evaluate the implementation of these vital continental and regional projects including ensuring availability of adequate financial and human resources for implementation.

The main decisions of the Lome STC-TTIET on energy technologies include the operationalization of the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative (AREI) and the AfDB New Deal on Energy. The main decisions on energy policies and regulations include the continued implementation of the programme on Harmonised Regulatory Frameworks in the Energy Sector and the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) in Africa Initiative.

The full set of conference papers is available here.

AFREC Technical Paper on African Energy Information System and Database

Energy is essential for human development and reliable energy information is imperative for formulating sound energy policies and designing strategic development and investment plans. However, the quality and depth of energy information and statistical databanks available in Africa are either absent or fall below the required level of international standards.

Therefore, one of the prime responsibilities of the African Energy Commission (AFREC) is to create and manage a comprehensive energy database and Information System for Africa through the establishment of the African Energy Information System and Database (AEIS) and make it available for use by the end-users in the African Member States and world energy communities. AFREC has to demonstrate this task in most effective manner in order to be recognized and supported by the highest levels of African governments and specialized institutions.

It is evident from the daily practices that reliable information is fundamental to decision making process associated with all energy activities. No policies can be developed without careful analysis of the situation under consideration and that requires information and perfect data. The implication though is that data and information must be collected and prepared in a usable format, continually updated and disseminated through various channels to the end users. AFREC has to undertake such a task through a framework of networking and partnership with various African and international partners and stakeholders.

On the other hand, while data and information is but one piece of the larger range of energy development process, provision of adequate training and capacity building to energy experts and energy statisticians in the African Member States remains essential to the overall development practices.

It is within this context that AFREC has taken all measures to establish and manage the AEIS and to provide training on data collection and energy balances to its Focal Points and energy statisticians in the African ministries in charge of energy. The information and inter-linkages with good training in data energy collection, refinement and delivery to a central databank at the AFRECs Headquarters represent a central issue in the establishment of the energy databank upon which the Information System will be structured around.

Implementation of the AEIS

The objective of the creation of an African Energy Information System and Database (AEIS) as instructed by the AFRECs Convention is to Design, create and update an energy continental data base and facilitate rapid dissemination of information and exchange of information among Member States, as well as among the Regional Economic Communities (RECs). Since the creation of such system will be the first ever in Africa AFREC collaborated with the International Energy Agency (IEA), which is famous globally in the operation of energy statistics database to support AFREC with technical knowledge, know-how and training of its National Focal Points in the Member States. AFREC also collaborated with the Ministers in-Charge of Energy in Africa to establish a network of National Focal Points in the ministries in-charge of energy around the continent to collect the energy data of their countries and assist in the creation of the system. While AFREC adopted the creation of a series of energy databases it started in 2012 with the creation the African Energy Statistics Database and since then it published annual editions for 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. In 2014, AFREC started creation of additional African energy databases including the following 8: African Energy Infrastructure Database

African Energy-related Socioeconomic Database

African Energy Efficiency Indicators Database

African Solar Energy Radiation Database

African Wind Energy Resources Database

African Hydropower Resources Database

African Geothermal Energy Resources Database

African Bioenergy Resources Database In addition to the above databases AFREC also planned to create the following databases: African Hydrocarbons Resources Database (Oil, Gas, Oil / Gas-Shale, Refineries, Pipelines / Interconnections)

African Coal Resources Database (consumption rates, total reserves, power plants)

African Electricity Sector Database

African Energy Prices Database (Crude Oil, Oil Products, Electricity, Gas, Coal, Wood fuel, Charcoal)

African Energy-related Environmental Database (Carbon Emission, Climate Change)

African Nuclear Energy Database (power plants, prospects, uranium deposits) In order to undertake this program AFREC in collaboration of the Energy Ministers established National Focal Points for collecting national data on energy statistics in most Member States and there is process for establishing another group of National Focal Points for collecting national data of energy efficiency indicators of which 18 countries have already nominated their experts. The African Development Bank (AfDB) established a data Portal to AFREC free in its system which is also managed by its technical experts. The cost of such a system is US$100,000. AFREC in collaboration with the IEA provided the National Focal Points with continuing regional and continental training and capacity building session in energy statistics and database. AFREC/IEA provided training to 474 energy statistics experts in the Member States

Africa Clean Energy Corridor / West Africa Clean Energy Corridor

The Africa Clean Energy Corridor (ACEC) is a regional initiative that seeks to secure the accelerated development of renewable energy potential and cross-border trade of renewable power within the Eastern Africa Power Pool (EAPP) and Southern African Power Pool (SAPP). The initiative builds upon the strong political commitment of African leaders to strengthen regional institutions and transmission infrastructure, forming large competitive markets and lowering costs across production sectors. By creating a larger regional electricity market, the ACEC could attract investments to meet 40-50% of power needs in the EAPP and SAPP regions by 2030. Combined efforts will also diversify resource availability, improve energy security and foster investment opportunities and job growth.

Scaling up renewable energy also offers a comprehensive opportunity to avoid lock-ins with carbon-intensive infrastructure and leapfrog towards a low-carbon future. Such region-wide renewable energy deployment could cut the annual CO2 emission level in 2030 by 310 Mega tonnes (Mt), translating into 2,500 Mt savings of cumulative CO2 emissions between 2010 and 2030 while increasing electricity supply by 2.5 times.

Development of the ACEC is guided by a Communique endorsed by Ministers and heads of delegations from the EAPP and SAPP countries in January 2014. Since then, support for the initiative has expanded exponentially, with the additional engagement of more than 30 governments, regional organizations, development partners and financial institutions.

The Communique called for an Action Agenda with five main pillars of (i) Zoning and Resource Assessment to identify sites for renewable power generation in areas with high resource potential and suitable transmission routes; (ii) National and Regional Planning to fully consider cost-effective renewable power options; (iii) Enabling Frameworks for Investment to open markets and reduce financing costs; (iv) Capacity Building to plan, operate, maintain and govern power grids and markets with higher shares of renewable electricity generation; and (v) Public Information and Awareness Raising on how the corridor can provide secure, sustainable and affordable energy.

In response to the high interest from other African sub-regions and benefitting from the experiences gained during the initiation and development of ACEC, IRENA initiated the process in 2015 to expand the initiative to West Africa through the West Africa Clean Energy Corridor (WACEC). WACEC aims to support the regions ongoing efforts to address the key energy challenges, including, increasing power demand-supply imbalance, high cost of power generation, and poor access to energy in coordination and collaboration with all relevant stakeholders.

The African Union Bioenergy Development in Africa Programme

The African Union Commission (AU) in partnership with the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA) initiated a Programme to modernize the bioenergy sector in Africa, through a consultative process spanning several years and involving a cross section of stakeholders and African member States. This culminated in the development of the African Bioenergy Framework and Policy Guidelines in 2013. The purpose of the Framework is to (a) build consensus on shared framework that inspires and provides guidance to individual countries and regions in developing bioenergy policies and regulations; and (b) enhances awareness among African policymakers and the civil society about the need for environmentally friendly and socially acceptable bioenergy development policies.

There are a number of outputs and generated by the Programme since 2011. These programmes were systematically implemented to build capacity and also expose some of the best practices on the African continent. The ultimate expected accomplishment was threefold:

To ensure that that bioenergy energy development is at the center of the policy development and that countries and regions put priority in modernizing the bioenergy energy sector. Capacity is built across African stakeholders, particularly policy makers, civil society, local private sector, academia and community-based organizations To deliver demonstration projects that are centered on improving bioenergy for the household and transport sectors.

Lessons learned in the implementation

While the projects achieved several important milestones, there were notable drawbacks that could influence its impacts at national and regional level. The first budget limitations at the Institutional level. There were noted financial limitations at the AUC and partners level in reaching out to a wider range of stakeholders including project developers; rural areas, civil society, women and youth. As identified above the greatest setback was limited expertise in project development and packaging, as well as how to finance such capacity. Project developers, both public and private identified limited capacity to design and implement bioenergy programmes, and as such, their proposed projects were very small and difficult to finance.

Secondly, and related to the above, bioenergy projects are generally difficult to be attract normal financing or investment. The challenge is therefore how to mobilize required financing for projects, as well as attracting private sector participation. Lastly, there general lack of awareness at all levels about new and modern bioenergy projects. This prevents these projects getting full attention of the public and policy makers, like other renewable energy solutions such as solar and wind projects.

Technical paper on Grand Inga hydropower project which is one of the Agenda 2063 Flagship Projects

One of the Agenda 2063 Flagship Projects is the Grand Inga Hydropower Project in D.R. Congo. It is under preparation following an overall scheme which should reach by stage a total capacity over 42,000 MW and designed to contribute to electricity supply to the entire continent.

Its first phase named Inga 3 will be equipped for 4,800 MW with low head dam, with an option of 7,800 MW with high head dam. Other five phases, Inga 4 up to Inga 8, are also envisaged. It is worth recalling that Inga 1 is under operation since 1972 with a capacity of 342 MW and Inga 2 since 1982 with 1424 MW.

Given the today very low electricity access rate of 15% only, the DRC government is committed to enhance hydropower generation, on the identified many big and/or medium size sites, to cover the increased national demand, expand the access up to 30% by 2025 and also export electricity to neighboring countries in order to support socio-economic development of the country.

Therefore, to meet these objectives, the Government has embarked on following policy and programmes: liberalization of the electricity sector, enhancing Public Private Partnerships (PPP), rehabilitation of existing power plants such as Inga1 and Inga2, improving and expanding transport and distribution network, undertaking new power plants construction, being big like Inga Dam or medium size projects, as well as enhancing regional cooperation in the energy sector.My wife and I are travelling to the Netherlands late spring, our first time to the Netherlands. We are spending 3 days in Utrecht, while there we are planning to travel one day to Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery by way of NS Train from Utrecht Central to Nijmegen. What would the best way to get from Nijmegen to Groesbeek or even better yet, to the War Cemetery be?

After 3 days in Utrecht we are off to Den Haag for 3 days. In 1952 my mother along with her parents and 11 brothers and sisters left Den Haag and immigrated to Canada. I have areas and addresses I want to visit, places family had lived, went to school, church etc. I also have family I want to visit in Zoetermeer. Would you suggest the HTM 3 days Travel Card?

Our last 3 days will be spent in Amsterdam, we staying in the Jordaan area of the city. Again would GVB 3 day Public Transit pass be the way to go?

OR would we be better off getting a OV-Chipkaart (Non-personalized rechargeable cards) for the entire time in The Netherlands?

One final question, I have a unlocked iphone I will have along, I want to purchase a Sim Card to use in the phone in The Netherlands, would you suggest .....Lycamobile or Vodafone ? and where is the best place to purchase one of these? or can I purchase on line ahead of time?

Any help would be appreciated.My immediate thought too was the GOR is not suitable for a toddler.

I also think you e got far too much on in day 1 in Sydney. Taronga Zoo can be a whole day but minimum is going to be several hours. I cant see you having enough time left in tat day to do everything else. Hour second day is pretty full on. Its a long time since I did things with a young child but from what I do remember, you need to allow more time, e flexible and allow some time for them to run around at a park or beach or something.

So to answer your last question on what you should add, some free time to the Dydney and Melbourne parts and nothing else. If anything you need to be losing some attractions or adding more days to your trip.

Edited: 3 years agoDay 1: Ho Chi Minh City

Day 2: Can Tho, Vietnam

...

Day 10: Bangkok

===

Day 1: Arrive in Saigon after a long flight, spend some time going through immigration, customs, baggage claim, check in to hotel. May be get some sleep to recover. Go out for a drink and dinner. Back to the hotel for some more sleep. Get up early the next day for the bus.

Day 2: Spend a few hours on the bus to Can Tho, have a lunch, then get on the bus again to depart to another location.

...

Day 10: Arrive in Bangkok, spend a chunk of time in the long immigration line. Collect your baggage, get into the city, spend another chunk of time in Bangkok's traffic. Check in to your hotel. Riding around on the MRT a little bit. Check out of hotel, head back to the airport.

Edited: 3 years ago-:- 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.You can pick the most convenient mode for your travel - that's the basic rule.

If you are departing from Central Osaka or Central Kyoto and intend to arrive in Central Tokyo - the advantage of Shinkansen is clear, as the stations are within the city, and no checking in and luggage inspection/collection is necessary. Plus, the seats and the rides are more comfortable with larger space and less vibration. No need for seat belts, either.

Osaka is served by two airports - KIX, which is notoriously away from Central Osaka, and ITA, which is near (but because of its proximity, there are tougher regulations and thus less flights). Tokyo is served by two airports - HND, which is convenient, but still requires airport access from Central Tokyo, and NRT, which is far away.

Which means that when travel time and convenience is considered from city-center to city-center, the Shinkansen is the clear winner; the Shinkansen scores around 86 versus 14 against flight between Osaka and Tokyo, and somewhere around 96 versus 4 against flight between Kyoto and Tokyo.

Actually, according to international statistics, within the 4 hours range, high speed rail wins the share over flight no matter what.

Tokyo-Hiroshima is 4 hours by the Nozomi service, which has a 59:41 share; although the Shinkansen costs quite a lot more than a flight, it is helped by the fact that Hiroshima Airport is quite far away from the city.

Edited: 3 years agoThis is a piece I did some time ago in 2016 and the idea of the piece is to help you get your head around some of the more frequently visited locations.

"Like a lot of things ########### holidaying in Fiji is a very personal thing. So, it is about you finding your piece of paradise. First thing I would do today is go out and buy the Sunday Herald Sun and have a look in the travel section. Some Fiji resorts advertise specials so see if anything floats your boat. Variables include budget, ages of kids, what you are looking at doing and time (How long you want to spend in Fiji)

My wife and I prefer May because the Cyclone season is over but there is still more warmth in the water but it is a personal thing. Have been in January, August and October and all were good. Now there are lots of places to visit in Fiji with over 300 islands but there are 4 area's that get talked about the most.

Coral Coast - is situated on the south coast of the main island of Viti Levu. Beaches can be hit and miss. Have been to Naviti 3 times with the kids, which no matter what you read is only 3 - 3.5 stars but we found the staff terrific but the beach is not good and the coral reef has seen better days. Have a look at The Warwick, Intercontinental, Shangri La and Hideaway to start with.

Denarau - this is where I upset most people because it leaves me cold but they have a lot of the major chain resorts and hotels like the Hilton, Radisson and Westin etc. Much like South Bank in Melbourne with a choice of eateries etc. Built on a reclaimed mangrove swamp and has a fairly sizeable marina there as well.

Mamanuca Islands - This is where my wife and I spend most of our time coz we are in a rut! I personally prefer the islands over the main land but that is my choice. Remember it is about you. I would start my research with Malolo, Castaway, Musket Cove and Treasure Island. Beaches can be tidal but there are some wonderful spots.

Yasawa Islands - Of the 4 locations this area takes the longest to get to. Start your research with Blue Lagoon Beach Resort.

Now with the numbers you are talking about I would definitely pop in and see a travel agent and don't forget that once you're booked you will need travel insurance

If I think of anything else I'll add another post.

Other regulars should jump in and give their idea's. We all have our own spots.

As I have said repeatedly it is about you and I hope you have a great time

Baz"

Enjoy!Marriott at Momi Bay and Doubletree resorts are a formula thing around the world.

If you like those hotel groups then you like those resorts. I personally do not recommend Denarau as it is built on reclaimed Mangrove Swamp, the water is murky and there is no beach to speak of. Not my idea of Fiji.

The suggestion about the Coral Coast is a good one or you could look at an island. The thing with the Coral Coast is that are able to do all the main island things. Personally I prefer the islands. However it is about you and your family.

Can I suggest that you have a serious look at Castaway Island Resort and Malolo Island Resort and see how you go with those. I also like Musket Cove Resort on Malolo Lai Lai (Little Malolo) but that does not have a kids club! I do not recommend Plantation Island Resort.

Out of all those Castaway is the priciest but they are all in a sublime location: The Mamanuca Island Chain which is just off Nadi.

If you wish to look further afield check out Blue Lagoon Beach Resort. This resort is up in the Yasawa's and does add a fair bit to your travelling time.

If you are there for 9 days I would stick to one spot. Why do I say that. Well for a start your travelling with youngish kiddies and going to the further areas will mean that they will be well and truly over travelling. For example you wish to stay at the Warwick on the Coral Coast and Musket Cove Resort on Malolo Lai Lai. Now we are talking hypothetical here. So your transfer to the Warwick takes two hours and your there for three days so after three days you travel the two hours back to Denarau and then you have to wait for the Malolo Cat and then travel 45 mins to an hour to get to Musket Cove so essentially you have lost 4 hours out of your day just in transfers which is out of you 9 days. Doesn't make sense to me.

Anyway up to you guys. I can assure you that you will have a hoot.

BazHow do I get from the airport (JFK, LGA, or EWR) to Manhattan?

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Trip Reports: Families of Adults - Add yours!- City Lawyer Donald Kipkorir has taken a swipe at Machakos County Governor , Alfred Mutua for taking credits on the repairing of Athi River bridge

- According to the governor, it is his engineers who undertook the responsibility of fixing the bridge after floods washed away a section of it

- Kenya Highways Authority however came out claiming it was them who did the fixing and not the governors engineers as he had claimed

City Lawyer Donald Kipkorir on Saturday, March, 17 condemned Machakos County Governor Alfred Mutua for crediting himself for fixing Athi River Bridge after it was over-topped due to flooding.

Kipkorir accused the vibrant governor of falsely claiming his engineers fixed the bridge until the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) came out to confirm it was them who fixed the bridge.

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"When Athi river bridge collapsed, Gov. Alfred Mutua went full blast on all his social media channels claiming his engineers are fixing the Bridge till KeNHA said its not true, " said Kipkorir

READ ALSO: Wanafunzi wawili wa kike wakamatwa wakivuta bangi na kushiriki ngono na wanaume 5, Nairobi (picha)

Alfred Mutua is a chalartant with no respect for the truth - Lawyer Donald Kipkorir. Photo: Alfred Mutua/Facebook

READ ALSO: Confusion as James Orengo leaves funeral with Kipchumba Murkomen's mobile phone

In a tweet seen by TUKO.co.ke Kipkorir claimed Mutua did not have regards for truth rather a person who falsely claimed to have a special knowledge or skill.

"KeNHA fixed it .Have said many times that Mutua is a charlatan .He has no regard for the truth," he added.

Kipkorir's arguments came after the Machakos governor issued a warning on his social media page on the closure of Mombas- Nairobi highway at Stoney Athi River after floods over-topped a section of the bridge.

"Alert: the Joska - Kamulu bridge has just been washed off by the River Athi, cutting off Kangundo road. Those trying to use the road for Nairobi or Machakos should turn back. Our engineers on Mombasa road are busy repairing the Mto ya Mawe bridge so that we can open the road," wrote Mutua.

READ ALSO: Tension high as graduate Kenya Police officers receive negative salaries

According to him, it was his engineers who were in the process of fixing the bridge and not KeNHA.

"UPDATE: Mombasa road is now open after the repair of the bridge. Kangundo road is also now open for traffic," he kept updating his followers."

"The Machakos Emergency team has worked overnight to save lives and no one is stranded. We are sad after retrieving three male bodies on the Kamulu bridge on Kangundo road," Mutua added.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news

ALSO WATCH: Nairobi floods: Heavy rains rock Nairobi city (Kenya News) on TUKO tv

Source: Tuko- The Gatundu South MP has made yet another prediction on the country's leadership and future

- The vocal legislator revealed Kenya with be a one party democracy by December 2018

- Moses Kuria's latest prophecy comes barely days after he accurately predicted NASA leader Raila Odinga would work with Jubilee government before 2022

- True to his prediction, President Uhuru Kenyattta and Raila met at the president's office at Harambee House, Nairobi on Friday, March 9 2018

- The two leaders unanimously announced they had buried the hatchet and agreed to work together for the unity of the country

Controversial Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria has now claimed Kenya will be a one party country very soon.

Taking to Facebook on Saturday, March 17 2018, the Jubilee legislator stated Kenya will be a "de-facto" one party democracy by the end of this year.

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''Kenya will be a de-defacto one party democracy by December 2018'' he wrote.

READ ALSO: Day Moses Kuria predicted Raila, Uhuru's surprise meeting

Moses Kuria makes yet another prophecy, says Kenya will by a one party state by December 2018. Photo: Moses Kuria/Facebook

READ ALSO: Controversial Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria angers NASA supporters after claiming that TJ Kajwang swore him in before Raila

Kuria made the prediction at the backdrop of a surprising peace truce between President Uhuru Kenyatta and NASA co-principal Raial Odinga.

The MP's post attracted mixed reactions from Kenyans with quite a number of them supporting him, especially after another of his recent 'prophecy' came to pass.

As earlier reported by TUKO.co.ke, Kuria on Thursday, February 22 2018 accurately predicted that Raila would work with Jubilee government before 2022.

''Keep this post for future reference. On a balance of probabilities the chances of Raila Odinga working with Jubilee between now and 2022 are much higher than those of Kalonzo, Wetangula and Musalia combined," he said in a Facebook post seen and shared by TUKO.co.ke.

READ ALSO: Moses Kuria summoned again over hate speech remarks

Moses Kuria makes yet another prophecy, says Kenya will by a one party state by December 2018. Photo: Moses Kuria/Facebook

READ ALSO: Kenyans viciously attack Moses Kuria after his manhunt remarks

True to his prophecy, Uhuru and Raila met at the president's office at Harambee House, Nairobi on Friday, March 9 2018.

The two leaders, who just a few weeks ago could not see eye to eye, announced that they had buried the hatchet and agreed to work together for the unity of the country.

Well, following Kuria's correct prediction on the unity between the two leaders, it is only safe to say time will tell.

TUKO.co.ke will be following this closely to bring you all the happenings as they unfold.

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ALSO WATCH : Heavy rains rock Nairobi city | On TUKO TV

Source: Tuko.co.ke- A group of politicians drawn from the Opposition have agreed to support Deputy President William Ruto for the presidency in 2022

- The leaders led by MP Aisha Jumwa and Governor Granton Samboja promised to back Ruto for the country's top office saying he was well able to led the nation

- This comes days after President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga put aside their differences and promised to work together for the sake of the country

A section of Coast leaders allied to the Opposition have vowed to back Deputy President William Ruto for the countrys top seat come 2022.

The leaders who included Governor Granton Samboja (Taita Taveta), MPs Aisha Jumwa (Malindi), Ali Mbogo (Kisauni), Lydia Haika (Women Rep, Taita Taveta), Jones Mlolwa (Voi) and Danson Mwashako (Wundanyi) said the DP was well placed to take over the leadership of the country from President Uhuru Kenyatta when his term comes to an end.

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READ ALSO: "Slay queen" akatazwa kupanda matatu kwa kuvalia mavazi yasio ya kiheshima, Nairobi (picha)

Speaking at St Barnabas ACK, Voi, where Ruto had attended a church service, Jumwa said as Coast MPs, they would rally their supporters behind the leadership of the DP saying he has what it takes to lead the country.

Opposition MPs in Coast promise to back Rutos 2022 presidency. Photo: William Ruto/Twitter

Who could imagine that I could meet and work with William Ruto after being on the other side of the Opposition? What happened is now water under the bridge. Its now a point of no return, said Jumwa.

Samboja (Wiper) said he was optimistic Ruto would take over the leadership of the country "through prayers".

Tomorrow's journey is planned today. William Ruto will be our president come 2022, not through witches but through our prayers, he added.

READ ALSO: Kenya to be a one party democracy by December 2018 following Raila, Uhuru deal - Moses Kuria

Opposition MPs in Coast promise to back Rutos 2022 presidency. Photo: William Ruto/Twitter

Jumwa also praised the unity pact between Uhuru and Raila saying other leaders should follow suit.

As I commend Ruto for bringing all of us together as leaders, I also want to say he has a better chance of succeeding President Kenyatta come 2022, said Jumwa.

She said nothing would stop her from campaigning for the election of the DP as the countrys president.

The leaders praised the unity pact between Uhuru and Raila saying there was no permanent enmity in politics.

READ ALSO: Kakamega senator on the run after failing to pay KSh 20,000 for suit and shirt

Opposition MPs in Coast promise to back Rutos 2022 presidency. Photo: William Ruto/Twitter

Mwashako said Coast voters would make informed choices come 2022 so as not to be in Opposition.

We know you have plan to contest for the top seat come 2022 and we will make informed choices before then. We will not afford to be in the Opposition again, said the MP.

Mlolwa said it was time leaders shook hands and embraced teamwork in addressing challenges facing the country.

As leaders from Coast region, we have now resolved to shake hands and work together in ensuring the success of the implementation of the Governments Big Four agenda, said the MP.

The leaders spoke a day after more than 20 MPs allied to ODM accompanied the Deputy President during his three-day visit of the Coast region.

Opposition MPs in Coast promise to back Rutos 2022 presidency. Photo: William Ruto/Twitter

READ ALSO: Govt restores section of Nairobi-Narok road destroyed at Mai Mahiu in record time

Others leaders who were with Ruto at Voi when he was endorsed by the opposition leaders included MPs Mpuri Aburi (EALA), Nixon Korir (Langata), Oscar Sudi (Kapseret), Moses Kuria (Gatundu South), George Kariuki (Ndia) and Emmanuel Wangwe (Navakholo).

Aburi and Kuria said leaders from Mt Kenya region would rally their support for Ruto.

Ruto stood by President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2013 and in 2017. We will not, we will never abandon him come 2022. Take it from me and believe in me, said Aburi.

The Deputy President who wound up his three-day tour of the Coastal region assured Kenyans the government would not relent in its efforts of unifying the country.

He told leaders to borrow a leaf from Uhuru and Raila and work together for the sake of unity and development.

Opposition MPs in Coast promise to back Rutos 2022 presidency. Photo: William Ruto/Twitter

It is now our turn as leaders to unite and build bridges of friendship and brotherhood for the benefit of our people as demonstrated by President Uhuru Kenyatta and our brother Raila Odinga, said Ruto.

Ruto said leaders should use the countrys diversity for the national good instead of abusing it for their personal gains.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

ALSO WATCH: Kenyan Domestic worker explains her plight in Saudi Arabia | Faces of Kenya

Source: Tuko.co.keUkraine informed Russia about its protest against the Russian elections in Crimea in February.

Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that illegal voting in Russian-occupied Crimea questions the legitimacy of the results of the Russian presidential elections on March 18.

"Illegal voting in the occupied Crimea will distort [the presidential] election results in Russia in general and raises serious doubts about their legitimacy," spokesperson for the ministry Mariana Betsa wrote on Twitter on the day of the elections.

"The results of the illegal voting in Crimea are null and void; they will not be recognized either by Ukraine or by the international community," she said.

"As for the elections themselves, we notified the Russian side in February, firstly, about our protest against the presidential elections by Russia in the occupied Crimea. Secondly, we warned them against attempts to organize elections in Donbas. Thirdly, we said there could not be any elections in diplomatic institutions without fulfilling preconditions," Betsa said in a comment to UNIAN.

"Of course, Russia has ignored all these demands," she said. And only now the Russian side "starts to worry and send us dozens of notes," she added.

Read alsoUkrainian police do not let Russian citizens in Russia's Kyiv embassy for voting (Photo, video)

"We proceed from the fact that these elections are absolutely illegal, illegitimate, violate international law, resolutions of the UN General Assembly. They are null and void from a legal point of view," the ministry's spokesperson said.

Pending the election day in Russia, Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement saying that it strongly condemns the decision of the Russian occupation administration to hold the elections of the President of the Russian Federation on the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol on March 18, 2018.

Organizing and holding the illegal voting on the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol represents another step forward by the Kremlin in its strategy to legitimize the consequences of its aggression against Ukraine. "It is a blatant violation of the fundamental norms and principles of the international law, Russia's obligations under the international agreements between Ukraine and Russia, Ukrainian national legislation, as well as against the UN Charter, UN General Assembly resolutions A/RES/68/262 'Territorial Integrity of Ukraine' of March 27, 2014, A/RES/71/205 'Situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (Ukraine)' of December 19, 2016, and A/RES/72/190 'Situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (Ukraine)' of December 19, 2017, and the Helsinki Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe of August 1, 1975," it said.

The ministry said that the election results would be null and void, have no legal consequences, and would not be recognized by either Ukraine, or the international community. "All persons involved in the organization and holding of the illegal election in the temporarily occupied Crimea will bear responsibility according to the legislation of Ukraine," it said.

The ministry also said Ukraine welcomed the decision of the OSCE/ODIHR and other international partners not to participate in the observation of the illegal elections on the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol.

"We expect the final report by the international observation mission at the election of the President of Russia to clearly state the illegality of the elections on the occupied territory of Crimea," the ministry said.Police are investigating the case as homicide.

Vladyslav Voloshyn, 29, a Ukrainian pilot who fought in the Donbas war and was granted an Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) Hero award, has reportedly shot himself dead in the south Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv.

The incident happened in his apartment in Mykolaiv on Sunday, March 18, the media liaison office of Mykolaiv region's National Police Department has said.

Read alsoUkraine official reports on number of suicides among troops in Donbas

The man is reported to have shot himself from a combat pistol. His family members were at home at the moment of the incident. His wife heard the shot from the room.

Investigators and forensic experts from the local police station arrived at the scene.

The victim was urgently hospitalized, but died from injuries in hospital.

According to preliminary information, the shot was fired from a Makarov semi-automatic pistol, which had no license number. The pistol was seized and sent for examination.

The relatives claimed the victim had looked depressed and felt suicidal prior to the incident.

However, the police opened criminal proceedings under Part 1 of Article 115 of the Criminal Code (homicide). The investigation is under way.

According to local media outlets, Voloshyn had been working as acting director of municipally owned Mykolaiv International Airport for several months prior to the death.No casualties have been reported.

Russia's hybrid military forces used grenade launchers to attack Ukrainian positions near the village of Opytne in Donetsk sector in the past day.

Read alsoDonbas militants fire at OSCE observers' UAV

There have been no casualties, the press center of the headquarters of Ukraine's military operations reported on Facebook on Sunday morning.

In the Luhansk sector, the sides observed the ceasefire.

Thus, one enemy attack was reported over the period under review, the Ukrainian military HQ said.

As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukrainian armed forces' positions in the area of Troyitske came under enemy fire. "In the Luhansk direction, the enemy employed large-caliber machine guns and weapons of BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicle against our positions near the village of Troyitske," the HQ said in a previous update.But while he was helping turn Facebook profiles into a political tool he was also an associate professor at St Petersburg State University, taking Russian government grants to fund other research into social media.

Aleksandr Kogan, the Cambridge University academic who orchestrated the harvesting of Facebook data, had previously unreported links to a Russian university, including a teaching position and grants for research into the social media network, the Observer has discovered.

Cambridge Analytica, the data firm he worked with  which funded the project to turn tens of millions of Facebook profiles into a unique political weapon  also attracted interest from a key Russian firm with links to the Kremlin, The Guardian wrote.

Read alsoRevealed: 50 million Facebook profiles harvested for Cambridge Analytica in major data breach

Energy firm Lukoil, which is now on the U.S. sanctions list and has been used as a vehicle of government influence, saw a presentation on the firm's work in 2014. It began with a focus on voter suppression in Nigeria, and Cambridge Analytica also discussed "micro-targeting" individuals on social media during elections.

The revelations come at a time of intense U.S. scrutiny of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, with 13 Russians criminally charged last month with interfering to help Donald Trump.

In Britain, concerns about Russian propaganda have been mounting, with the prime minister, Theresa May, recently attacking Russia for spreading fake news, accusing Moscow of attempts to "weaponise information" and influence polls.

Lukoil, Russia's second-largest oil company, discussed with Cambridge Analytica the data company's powerful social media marketing system, which was already being deployed for Republican Ted Cruz in the U.S. presidential primaries and was later used to back Brexit and Trump.

Alexander Nix, chief executive of Cambridge Analytica, emailed colleagues after initial contacts to say that Lukoil wanted a clearer explanation of "how our services are going to apply to the petroleum business."

"They understand behavioural micro-targeting in the context of elections (as per your excellent document/white paper) but they are failing to make the connection between voters and their consumers," he wrote in an email seen by the Observer.

A slide presentation prepared for the Lukoil pitch focuses first on election disruption strategies used by Cambridge Analytica's parent company, SCL, in Nigeria. They are presented under the heading "Election: Inoculation," a military term used in "psychological operations" and disinformation campaigns. Other SCL documents show that the material shared with Lukoil included posters and videos apparently aimed at alarming or demoralising voters, including warnings of violence and fraud.

Discussion of services offered by Cambridge Analytica was apparently going right to the top of Lukoil, even though its retail operations in America are a very minor corner of the oil and gas giant's empire. Asking for a detailed presentation of Cambridge Analytica's work in July 2014, Nix told his colleague the document would be "shared with the CEO of the business."

The chief executive of Lukoil, Vagit Alekperov, is a former Soviet oil minister who has said the strategic aims of Lukoil are closely aligned with those of Russia. "I have only one task connected with politics, to help the country and the company. I'm not close to Mr Putin, but I treat him with great respect," he told the New York Times.

Cambridge Analytica said an affiliate company had talked to Lukoil Turkey about a loyalty card scheme and proposed a pilot study with a small number of petrol stations there, but the project had not gone ahead. "[The talks] were about potential commercial work in Turkey and did not involve any discussion of political work," a spokesman said. "Cambridge Analytica and its affiliate companies have not worked in Russia and have not worked for a Russian company or organisation."

Last month Nix told MPs: "We have never worked with a Russian organisation in Russia or any other company. We do no have any relationship with Russia or Russian individuals."

That appears to contradict the company documents seen by the Observer, that list Russia as one of the countries where Cambridge Analytica and affiliate companies have clients.

Lukoil did not respond to requests for comments.

Kogan, a lecturer who worked with Cambridge Analytica on building up the database of U.S. voters then at the heart of the company's plans, said he had not had any connection to the Lukoil pitch.

But while he was helping turn Facebook profiles into a political tool he was also an associate professor at St Petersburg State University, taking Russian government grants to fund other research into social media. "Stress, health, and psychological wellbeing in social networks: cross-cultural investigation" was the title of one piece of research. Online posts showed Kogan lecturing in Russian. One talk was called: "New methods of communication as an effective political instrument."RAWALPINDI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 18th Mar, 2018 ) :Chaklala and Rawalpindi cantonment boards and Municipal Corporation Rawalpindi have launched anti-encroachment operations to clear their respective areas confiscating some 27 truckload goods from different markets.

Additional Cantonment Executive Officer of Chaklala Cantonment board Naveed Nawaz told APP Sunday that the operation had been launched on the directives of Station Commander Rawalpindi Brig Tanveer and CEO Chaklala Malik Ishaq to clear roads.

Some 13 truckload goods, including 100 handcarts, were confiscated from Chungi Number 22 during the operation, he added. He said enforcement teams of both the boards jointly conducted the operation under his supervision in the presence of a police party headed by Superintendent of Police Potohar Division Syed Ali.

Naveed Nawaz said the handcarts and encroachments were removed to ensure smooth flow of traffic and avoid security threats. He said similar operations would be conducted in other CCB areas. According to Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) spokesman Qaiser Mahmood, the anti-encroachment teams conducted operations in Saadi Road, Kashmir Road, Saddar and other areas and confiscated eight truckload goods, including counters, tables and handcarts.

Illegal banners and posters were also removed from different areas, he added. Meanwhile, Municipal Corporation Rawal Town authorities, on the directive of MayorSardar Muhammad Naseem Khan, conducted the anti-encroachment operation in Liaquat Road, Iqbal Road, Bohar Bazar, Talwaran Bazar, Liaquat Market, Raja Bazar and other areas and confiscated six truckload goods of encroachers.(@rukhshanmir)

RAWALPINDI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 18th Mar, 2018 ) :City Traffic Police (CTP) Rawalpindi has finalized all the arrangements under a comprehensive traffic plan for full-dress rehearsal on Monday in connection with the Pakistan Day parade According to Chief Traffic Officer (CTO) Rawalpindi Yousaf Ali Shahid, traffic from Faizabad to Rawalpindi and Islamabad would remain closed during the rehearsal.

He said all the traffic on Murree Road headed towards Islamabad would be directed to use diversion point of Double Road Chowk and 9th Avenue, whereas traffic coming from Koral Chowk would use Khanna Pull Service Road to enter Islamabad, after passing through Shamsabad via Double Road and 9th Avenue.

Heavy vehicles, including buses, trucks and trailers, would not be allowed to enter the city, he added. Public transport vehicles coming from Murree, he said, would not be allowed to move towards the capital city from Lower Topa, Double Motorway Turn, Dana Mor, and Satra Mill toll plaza.(@rukhshanmir)

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 18th Mar, 2018 ) :Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and Punjab School Education Department (PSED) have signed an agreement to establish a cadet college in Fort Munro area of Dera Ghazi Khan.

The signing ceremony was attended by Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, Federal Minister for Energy Sardar Awais Khan Laghari, Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman and other officials, according to a handout issued here Sunday.

PSED Secretary Dr Allah Bakhash Malik and Deputy Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Shahid Akhtar Alvi signed the agreement. Under the agreement, the Punjab government would provide 100 acres of land for the Cadet College and Welfare City in Fort Munro besides a grant of Rs one billion.

Addressing the signing ceremony, the chief minister said the establishment of cadet college in Fort Munro was a cheerful moment for him, and the agreement between the Punjab government and the PAF in this regard was a welcoming step.

Shehbaz Sharif said cadet college in Fort Munro would facilitate inhabitants of Dera Ghazi Khan as well as whole Pakistan. "We have full confidence in the professional capabilities of the PAF which has an ability to defeat enemies and its services for the well-being of society are appreciable," he said and asserted that this project of special education centre with the cooperation of the PAF and the Punjab government would be a role model.

He said the services of Air Chief Marshall Sohail Aman related to defence were undeniably imperative, however, his valuable services in the field of education to improve living standard of common man could not be ignored.

He added that Sohail Aman had multiplied glory of the PAF by four times and his efforts to ensure security of air boundaries of the motherland were commendable. On this occasion, Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman said providing education and other facilities to public was a joyful and gratifying honour for him.

Not only a cadet college or public school but Fort Munro would look like a great city, he assured. The PAF, he mentioned, was pride of the nation as it was now self-sufficient for making modern appliances also its aircraft and other instruments were self-exemplary.

On the establishment of educational institutions, he said, "We are grateful to the Punjab government for their cooperation as we have to rely on education and technology if we want to change destiny of our country and nation." He added that the Punjab chief minister had made a great contribution in the mission of public service and assured that the PAF would meet the expectations of the nation.

The function was also attended by Provincial Ministers Dr Aisha Ghaus Pasha and Rana Mashood Ahmed Khan, MPA Sardar Jamal Khan Laghari, Air Marshal (R) Qazi Javed, Air Marshal (R) Jamshed, Air Vice Marshal Amir Masood, Air Vice Marshal (R) Hamid Khawaja, chief secretary, officials of the PAF and provincial secretaries. APP/maa/asmSARGODHA, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 18th Mar, 2018 ) :Police on Sunday arrested 29 accused and recovered narcotics and illegal weapons from them. Police spokesman said that during continued drive against drug-paddlers and criminals, teams of different police stations conducted raids, arrested the accused, and recovered four kilograms of hashish, 890 bottles of liquor, 11 pistols of 30-bore, a Kalashnikov, a rifle of 444-bore, a rifle 12 bore and bullets from them.

The accused were identified as Amanullah, Mazhar Abbas, Shakeel Ahmed, Tanveer Ahmed, Liaqat Ali, Adnan, Sibtain, Bilal, Ansar Abbas, Pervez, Shahbaz and others. Police have registered separate cases and started investigation. APP/cah/rsdISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 18th Mar, 2018 ) :Pakistan and Afghanistan have reiterated their commitment to peace and stability of each other and agreed to work in a cooperative framework for a brighter future and expressed resolve to work together and enhance cooperation to improve bilateral relations. "It's time to build bridges.

We have a shared history and shared future. That is what our ancestors left for us and we have to leave for our children. We should work for our shared interests in all fields including political, economic and security.

We must protect our relationship and advance it further," said Haneef Atmar National Security Adviser (NSA) Afghanistan. The commitment was made during the visit of National Security Adviser Lt.General (R) Nasser Khan Janjua during his visit to Afghanistan on Saturday on a special invitation from National Security Adviser (NSA) Afghanistan Haneef Atmar.

His visit was acknowledged by Afghanistan as a great gesture of Pakistan, particularly after the peace offer made by President Ashraf Ghani, said a news release. During hisvisit, the NSA had elaborate and successful meetings with President Ashraf Ghani, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, his counterpart Haneef Atmar, Minister of Defense and NDS Chief.

Meetings were held in a very congenial, warm and cordial environment. President Ashraf Ghani associated strong hopes with Pakistan and said, "We have made a sincere and serious offer of peace and together we have to make the best of it by rising beyond past.

Let's not remain prisoners of past and lets secure our future with the aim, not to win the war but to end it for which Pakistan should help". He also expressed strong support for regional connectivity with Central Asian Republics (cars) to reap the benefits of ideal geo-strategic locations of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

" Without each other we are not complete," he added. He desired for a roadmap to be prepared for a comprehensive engagement with Pakistan to carry the relationship further with a leap of faith. Availing the opportunity, he also handed over the letter of invitation to NSA for the Prime Minister of Pakistan and expected him to visit as soon as possible.

The NSA thanked the President for extending an invitation to Prime Minister of Pakistan and also acknowledged the warmth, displayed for him and Pakistan and appreciated the peace offer made by the President.

He termed the peace offer as a light on the other side of the tunnel in a war which had become rather perpetual. Seeking the closure of conflict instead of winning it is a righteous approach, he added.

He expressed deep sympathies with people of Afghanistan who have seen nothing but war since last 40 years. He also expressed complete support for the peace offer which was long awaited. "Use of force only injures people, wars are however virtually won politically" he added.

Assuring of Pakistan's full support for the vision of peace, he, however, highlighted that isolated, blamed and coerced Pakistan is of lesser use to Afghanistan. "The world has started to look at and undermine Pakistan through the prism of Afghanistan which is not correct.

We need to commit to each other and invest in bilateral relationship and Afghanistan needs to stand with Pakistan and both need to win peace together. Our peace is mutual, let's seek it together" he said.

The same sentiments were acknowledged and reciprocated by the Afghan Government. They also agreed to seize this moment collectively and to improve bilateral relations in pursuit of the common objectives.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 18th Mar, 2018 ) :A rich tribute was paid to revolutionary poet Habib Jalib here at literary session "Muzakra" organized by National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage (Lok Virsa).

Poet Iftikhar Arif, while speaking to participants, said Jalib's poetry became popular during the martial law imposed by Gen Ayub Khan, and he would recite his poetry during Fatima Jinnah's public meetings in the 1960s and 70s.

"However, Jalib never discussed his own problems and always talked about the issues of the people," he said, adding that Jalib was in prison when his son died but never stopped speaking the truth.

"It is a fact that it was only Jalib who wrote and recited poetry about the darkest era of Pakistani history. He spent a simple life, although he had an opportunity to get benefits from governments," Mr Arif said.

Jalib's daughter Tahira Jalib recited some of his poems, including the famous Dastoor. She said at the event that a road or hospital in the country should be named after her father. Habib Jalib was a big name in the urdu poetry.

His work besides affecting the modern poetry of the language also had a very positive and construction impact on the poetry of other languages. He was a progressive writer and soon started to grab the audience with his enthusiastic recitation of poetry.

The poetry of Habib Jalib can be divided into two parts first comprises ghazals composed during the period when Jalib had chosen to keep a somewhat low profile. He died on March 12, 1993 at the age of 65 years. Many prominent writers, poets and intellectuals were also participated in the event.(@rukhshanmir)

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 18th Mar, 2018 ) :Federal Minister for Interior, Planning Development & Reforms Prof Ahsan Iqbal has inaugurated University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences's Narowal Sub-Campus "Khan Bahadur Chaudhry Mushtaq Ahmad Para-Veterinary School Narowal".

The school has been named after Ahsan Iqbal's grand father Khan Bahadur Chaudhry Mushtaq Ahmad in recognition of his meritorious services for the promotion of veterinary profession. Vice Chancellor Prof.Dr Talat Naseer Pasha, UVAS Syndicate Member & Ex-President Lahore Chamber of Commerce Mr Abdul Basit, Chairman Pakistan Poultry Association Dr Arshad Hanif Chouhdary, Narowal District Chairman Ahmad Iqbal, School Principle Prof DrRana Muhammad Younus, Manager Regulatory Affairs Engro Food Dr Muhammad Nasir and a large number of public from civil society, UVAS faculty members, farmers and livestock officials attended the ceremony.

Speaking on the occasion, Ahsan Iqbal said the para-veterinary school in Narowal would bring revolution in the area through education. He said the livestock sector had been neglected in past, therefore it was direly needed to develop our livestock system by producing trained young agrarians and veterinarians in the country.

He said agriculture was the backbone of the country's economy and livestock was its integral part, so livestock sector development was the key to revival of crisis-hit agriculture sector. He said the government was willing to give more assistance for the promotion of veterinary profession and producing trained veterinary human resource in Narowal, adding very soon the para-veterinary school would be upgraded to a university.

He said the young veterinarians to be produced by the school would resolve all issues facing livestock, poultry and dairy industries of Pakistan. He said our young veterinarians would also play a vital role in the development of national economy by enhancing milk and meat production through innovative research and latest methodologies.

He said it was direly needed that every person performs his duty with full dedication for national development. He said Narowal city would be recognized as one of the best livestock city of Pakistan in future.

The minister said the government was focusing on development of infrastructure, human resource, agricultures and livestock for which collective efforts were needed. He said: "We should give up leg pulling and not be a part of any kind of political conspiracies which hamper progress of our country".

He praised UVAS leadership for the completion of Para Veterinary School project successfully in a short period of 15 months. He said there were ample opportunities in livestock/agriculture in the Pak-China Economic Corridor (CPEC) and we should get maximum benefit from them.

He called for enhancing the agriculture productivity through application of innovative knowledge, technology and methodologies. For the promotion of education and research in the area, he said, different universities sub campuses are being set up at Narowal under Vision 2025.

He hoped that Pakistan would soon become an Asian tiger. Prof.Dr Talat Naseer Pasha said three professional programmes/courses including Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM), Livestock Assistant Diploma and six-month short course of Artificial Insemination of NAVTTC had been started November 2017 in Narowal Campus.

He praised Khan Bahadur Chaudhary Mushtaq Ahmad's unforgettable efforts for the uplift of veterinary profession. He thanked Federal Minister Ahsan Iqbal for providing assistance in developing the school project.

Dr Pasha said the school had cost Rs.195.280 million and it had been completed in 15 months. The school was equipped with state of the art facilities while four of its faculty members are PhD, he added.

The school was comprised of spacious classrooms, a dispensary, animal shed, administration offices, state-of-the-art laboratories and student hostel, he said. The Vice-Chancellor said UVAS had been ranked not only among top Asian Universities but also among world universities in Times Higher Education World University Ranking and QS World Top University Ranking.

He said Narowal disease diagnosis system had been made functional for the benefit of poor livestock farming community. Dr Arshad Hanif Chouhdary and Dr Muhammad Nasir also spoke on the occasion and recommended starting a school meal programme to curb the malnutrition issues especially in school going children by serving them a glass of milk and egg regularly in class rooms.

PPA and Engro food representatives were willing to provide their full support to government for healthy nutrition school meal programme, they said. Earlier, Federal Minister Ahsan Iqbal along with Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Pasha visited different laboratories including microbiology lab, biochemistry lab, nutrition lab, anatomy, histology, physiology and computer labs, library, student hostels, classrooms and conference room, etc, of the school.

APP/mnb/zhr(@ChaudhryMAli88)

CHONGQING, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 18th Mar, 2018 ) :The China-Europe freight train service has started to extend to southeast Asia, as a returned train made a brief stop on Friday in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality before continuing toward Vietnam.

The train stopped in Chongqing to load cargo, including mechanical equipment and industrial materials, before heading to Vietnam's Hanoi, crossing the border via Pingxiang Customs in southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The return train is expected to carry Vietnamese produce, including tropical fruit, rice, coffee and aquatics as well as electric commodities produced by factories set up by global manufacturers in Vietnam.

The first China-Europe line was launched in 2011 between southwest Chongqing and Duisburg in Germany. Since then, more than 50 train routes have been opened for the China-Europe freight service.

The Chongqing municipal commission of economy and information said in the future, more China-Europe lines would be connected to southeast Asian countries through linking up with the Pan-Asia Railway to reach Thailand, Laos and Singapore.(@rukhshanmir)

Yaound, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 18th Mar, 2018 ) :Suspected separatists abducted a top civil servant Saturday in an English-speaking region of Cameroon while security sources said four people were hurt in an attack on a ministerial convoy, adding to months of recent unrest.

Ivo Leke Tambo, recently-appointed chairman of Cameroon's anglophone educational board, GCE, was abducted just outside the southwestern town of Lewo. A video was later circulated by sources close to the secessionists showing a partially clothed Leke Tambo sat on the ground in the bush.

Authorities did not immediately confirm the abduction of Leke Tambo, the latest in a slew of abductions in recent weeks. Last month saw an official from the ministry of social affairs likewise kidnapped in the northwestern city of Batibo.

Tension has soared in anglophone parts of Cameroon, accounting for about a fifth of the population, since separatists on October 1 declared the self-proclaimed republic of "Ambazonia". The government was also silent on an attack reported Saturday by security sources in the southwestern English-speaking village of Alou by unidentified assailants on a convoy accompanying Economy Minister Paul Tasong.

Elsewhere, social media footage showed an attack on a bus carrying some 30 people by armed members of the self-declared Ambazonia Defence Forces. The latest unrest came a day after newly-appointed Interior Minister Paul Atanga Nji embarked on a 48-hour "peace mission" to the anglophone northeast of the country.

Speaking in regional capital Bamenda on Friday he appealed for "violent separatists" to desist. Long-ruling President Paul Biya called a rare cabinet meeting on Thursday at which he vowed to push ahead with a military crackdown on the separatists.

The west African country has had a tortuous colonial history that saw it pass from German rule to French and British hands and the anglophone minority complain of having long been marginalised by the French-speaking elite.

The past year has seen regular unrest which was ramped up further in January when 47 separatists, including their leader Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, were extradited from Nigeria.VI-RADS 1: SC CE and DW category 1 (muscle invasion is highly unlikely)

VI-RADS 2: SC, CE and DW category 2; both CE and DW category 2 with SC category 3 (muscle invasion is unlikely to be present)

VI-RADS 3: SC, CE, and DW category 3; SC category 3, CE or DW category 3, and the remaining sequence category 2 (the presence of muscle invasion is equivocal)

VI-RADS 4: At least SC and/or DW and CE category 4; the remaining category 3 or 4 SC category 3 plus DW and/or CE category 4; SC category 5 plus DW and/or CE category 4 (muscle invasion is likely)

VI-RADS 5: at least SC plus DW and/or CE category 5; the remaining category 4 or 5 (invasion of muscle and beyond the bladder is very likely)

Copenhagen, Denmark (UroToday.com) Dr. Valeria Panebianco from Italy presented their collaborative groups development of the mpMRI VI-RADS 1.0 for bladder cancer. As Dr. Panebianco notes, there are clinical questions and imaging answers when it comes to staging bladder cancer and that a multimodal approach reduces the risk of error from one particular test, but may present a dilemma when results conflict. As clinicians that treat prostate cancer, we are all familiar with the PI-RADS system for mpMRI of the prostate, however there are other disease sites that also use a RADS format, including breast (BI-RADS) and liver (LI-RADS).Certainly, the prognosis and management of bladder cancer mostly reflects tumor stage, and the most critical step in bladder cancer staging is to differentiate muscle invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) from non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). Clinical staging, based on cystoscopy and TURBT, is associated with 23-50% diagnostic inaccuracy. According to Dr. Panebianco, mpMRI offers an opportunity to reduce staging errors by better anatomical visualization, with the additional value of DWI and DCE.The rationale and aim of VI-RADS 1.0 was to define a standardized approach to imaging and reporting mpMRI for bladder cancer, defining the risk of muscle invasion. Furthermore, VI-RADS 1.0 was created through a consensus using existing literature. The scoring is applicable to untreated patients and to treated patients having only received a diagnostic TURBT, but prior to re-TURBT. mpMRI is best performed before or at least 2 weeks after TURBT, bladder biopsy or intravesical treatment. Administration of an intramuscular antispasmodic agent is recommended, in addition to adequate bladder distention. MRI does not necessarily have the ability to visualize all of the histological bladder wall layers, however it is able to assess size, location, multiplicity, and morphology. A 5-point VI-RADS score is generated using the individual T2W, DWI, and DCE MRI categories and suggests the probability of muscle invasion. The dominant sequences for risk estimates are DWI (first) and DCE (second, especially if DWI is sub-optimal). The T2 sequence (structural category) is helpful as a first pass guide.The VI-RADS 1.0 scoring is as follows:The score is firstly based on structural category (T2W) for the morphology (high spatial resolution), and the presence of definitive muscular invasion is decided by DWI and DCE. If there is any discordance between T2W and DCE sequences (a deviation of two categories between T2W and DCE MRI). DWI improves the accuracy when the image quality of DWI sequence is optimal.Dr. Panebianco summarized her talk with the following points: (i) VI-RADS 1.0 can be a user friendly method to simplify reporting and communication, (ii) VI-RADS 1.0 will be tested, validated, and refined where necessary, and (iii) the next step will be to create a foundation for mpMRI in bladder cancer staging in treated patients.Presented by: Valeria Panebianco, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, ItalyWritten by: Zachary Klaassen, MD, Urologic Oncology Fellow, University of Toronto, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, twitter: @zklaassen_md at the 2018 European Association of Urology Meeting EAU18, 16-20 March, 2018 Copenhagen, DenmarkComorbidities, frailty, nutrition deficiencies, and sarcopenia do have a significant impact on postoperative outcomes

Preoperative assessment of these factors is crucial but complex

A single test will not work and multidisciplinary/geriatric assessment would be optimal

A pragmatic approach is to assess long-term prognosis with CCI or ACE 27, and perioperative risk with ASA score

Copenhagen, Denmark (UroToday.com) Dr. Niegisch discussed the importance of a pre-operative assessment in elderly patients with bladder cancer. He started by highlighting that in the elderly oncologic and surgical outcomes are worse, and complications are more frequent. However, more than half of patients will be cured by radical cystectomy alone and that most of the patients (>90%) will not die during the perioperative period. These are important considerations as Dr. Niegisch notes that individuals that live until 80 years of age can be expected to live for an additional 9 (females) and 7 (males) years.Dr. Niegisch says that it is important to weigh age-related mortality to cancer related morbidity and mortality, as well as to identify patients having high risk of perioperative complications. The Charlson Comorbidity index (CCI) has been used for decades and predicts 10-year overall survival. A patient with 0 points has a 98% 10-year survival, while on the other extreme, patients with 7 points has a 0% 10-year survival. However, using CCI Dr. Niegisch cautions that age may overrule the impact of comorbidities and may not be the best tool. The Adult Comorbidity Evaluation (ACE) 27 score evaluates 9 organ systems, presence of malignancy, substance abuse and obesity, grading these conditions as none (0), mild (1), moderate (2), or severe (3) and assigns a final score. The benefit of ACE is that it is independent of age but is much more complex than CCI. Given that elderly patients with bladder cancer will have high comorbidity scores, these metrics are not great for the radical cystectomy population.When assessing perioperative outcomes and the impact of comorbidities, both the ASA score, Elixhauser index and ECOG performance status all outperform CCI. Specifically, ASA score independently predicts post-operative complications and mortality (ASA 3  5x higher than ASA 1). However, most elderly patients are ASA 3 thereby already have a much higher risk according to Dr. Niegisch. Frailty has recently been touted as an appropriate measure for these elderly at-risk patients. Frailty is a common clinical syndrome in older adults that carries an increased risk of poor health outcomes including falls, incident disability, hospitalization and mortality. In a recent study, a modified frailty index (mFI) was defined in prior studies with 11 variables based on mapping the Canadian Study of Health and Aging Frailty Index to the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program comorbidities and activities of daily livings [1]. Among 2,679 cystectomy patients identified, 843 (31%) of patients had an mFI of 0, 1176 (44%) had an mFI of 1, 555 (21%) had an mFI of 2, and 105 (4%) had an mFI3. When stratified at a cutoff of mFI2, the overall complication rate was not different (61.7% vs. 58.3%, p = 0.1), but the mFI2 or greater group had a significantly higher rate of Clavien grade 4 or 5 complications (14.6% vs. 8.3%, p<0.001) and overall mortality rate (3.5% vs. 1.8%, P = 0.01) in the 30-day postoperative period. Thus, frailty impacts perioperative outcomes independent of comorbidities.Nutritional deficiency has also been associated with perioperative mortality and overall survival in the bladder cancer population. Similarly, sarcopenia is predictive of OS and CSS for patients undergoing radical cystectomy, in addition to predicting postoperative complications.Although the role of prehabilitation is unclear, there are many factors to consider when deciding on the appropriate elderly patient to subject to a radical cystectomy:Dr. Niegisch concluded with several take home points:Presented by: Guenter Niegisch, Heinrich-Heine-University, Dusseldorf, GermanyReferences:1. Chappidi MR, Kates, M, Patel HD, et al. Frailty as a marker of adverse outcomes in patients with bladder cancer undergoing radical cystectomy. Urol Oncol 2016;34(6):256.e1-6. Written by: Zachary Klaassen, MD, Urologic Oncology Fellow, University of Toronto, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, twitter: @zklaassen_md at the 2018 European Association of Urology Meeting EAU18, 16-20 March, 2018 Copenhagen, DenmarkCopenhagen, Denmark (UroToday.com) In this abstract, the authors propose updating the current TNM staging to account for pathologic upstaging. Specifically, they focus on patients identified on final pathology to represent pT3a disease (Tumor extends into the renal vein or its segmental branches, or invades the pelvicalyceal system, or invades perirenal and/or renal sinus fat but not beyond Gerotas fascia). They correctly note that there is heterogeneity in outcomes in this patient population.Interestingly, they propose stratifying patients based on initial clinical stage. They feel that patients upstaged to pT3a from cT1 or cT2 fare better than those who were cT3 to begin with.In this multi-center retrospective analysis of patients with renal cell carcinoma (cT1-3aN0M0) from 1987-2016, they first compared outcomes of patients found to be pT1, pT2 and pT3a. They then went on to further assess patients within the pT3a category based on presenting clinical stage. Comparison was drawn between pT1, pT2 and the subdivided pT3a group (cT1  pT3a, cT2 pT3a, and cT3a  pT3a). Primary outcome was recurrence free survival (RFS). Secondary outcomes was OS.A total of 2573 patients were analyzed (1267 cT1a, 858 cT1b, 314 cT2a, 134 cT2b, with a mean follow up 68.4 months (5.5 years). The rate of incidental T3a upstaging from cT1-2 was 13.9%. Patients who were upstaged were more likely to have larger tumors (6.7 vs. 4.6 cm), be older, male, higher BMI, diabetic, and have higher RENAL scores (8.7 vs. 7.7).As can be expected and consistent with prior studies, compared to pT1-2 disease, patients with incidental pT3a upstaging had higher rate of recurrence (7.6% vs. 29.6%, p<0.001) and all-cause mortality at last follow up (15.7% vs. 26.9%, p<0.001). This was primarily driven by cancer-specific mortality  18.7% vs. 4.5%!With regards to RFS, when pT3a was subdivided based on presenting clinical stage, they noted a significant difference in RFS. Compared to 5-year RFS of pT1 patients (94.4%), cT1  pT3a aligned with pT2 (76.6% and 81.2%, p=0.346) while cT2  pT3a aligned with cT3a  pT3a 47.4% and 44.0%, p=0.815). With regards to OS, a similar alignment was noted for 5 year OS after subdivision, where pT1 was 89.9%, while cT1  pT3a correlated with pT2 (79.8% and 83.1%, p=0.640) and cT2  pT3a correlated with cT3a  pT3a 67.0% and 64.2%; p=0.893).As such, they propose re-assigning patients who are found to be upstaged from cT1  pT3a as pT2 disease, and patients upstaged from cT2  pT3a to be kept as pT3 disease.It is a bit unusual to account for clinical stage in final pathologic staging, but intuitively it makes sense. However, from a practical standpoint, it may complicate the situation.As this is a retrospective study from 1987-2016, perhaps many of the upstaged patients were from an earlier era, where the pre-operative imaging was insufficient to capture cT3 disease? A prospective study may help better delineate this.Patients with low (58), intermediate (911) and high (1214) scores had 32.8%, 5.2% and 0% frequency of BNGN pathology. Patients with low, intermediate and high scores had 7.7%, 18.6% and 34.9% frequency of HG pathology. ROC analysis revealed an area under the curve of 0.767 for the index score.The authors report this as an initial scoring system to potentially help risk stratify patients. However, it is a surgically treated series and needs to be validated in an AS cohort and in external cohorts.Speaker: Zach HamiltonCo-Author(s): Capitanio U, Pruthi D., Liss M., Bindayi A., Larcher A., Ryan S., Reddy M., Yim K., Bloch A., Field C., Berquist S., Ballon-Landa E., Montorsi F., Derweesh I.Written by: Thenappan Chandrasekar, MD, Clinical Fellow, University of Toronto, Twitter: @tchandra_uromd at the 2018 European Association of Urology Meeting EAU18, 16-20 March, 2018 Copenhagen, DenmarkMcLaren Lapeer Region names new CEO LAPEER  Tim Vargas has been named the new president and CEO at McLaren Lapeer Region, effective Sept. 25. He replaces Chris Candela, who was...

If you need help, reach out LAPEER  Lapeers Rowden Park was the site of remembrance and awareness on Saturday as the Lapeer County Suicide Prevention Network hosted its annual Into...

LakeVille hosts Veterans Appreciation Night OTISVILLE  High school football is back for another season, and with it, a LakeVille event that has become a yearly tradition. Fridays home matchup...Copenhagen, Denmark (UroToday.com) Cytoreductive nephrectomy (CN) prior to systemic therapy for metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is recommended in patients with a surgically resectable primary tumor. This is based on data from the IL-2 / IFN era but is continued to be recommended in the current guidelines. Many centers prioritize CN if the bulk of the cancer volume is still in the primary tumor.In this study, rather than focusing on the utility of CN prior to systemic therapy, the authors of this study assess the modality of CN. They sought to compare the trends and morbidity of laparoscopic, robotic, and open CN for patients with metastatic RCC. However, it should be noted that patients with metastatic RCC often have bulky primary disease, lending to open approach. As MIS technology and experience increases, this may be changing.They used the Premier Hospital Database (Premier, Inc., Charlotte, NC), through which they identified 24,145 patients who underwent elective radical nephrectomy for metastatic RCC in the United States between 2003 and 2015. They compared the 3 modalities (laparoscopic, robotic, and open CN) using propensity weighting on rates of 90-day complications, blood transfusion, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, prolonged length of stay (LOS), discharge destination, 90-day readmission, operative time, and direct hospital costs.In terms of demographics, the patients in each of the arms was pretty evenly matched based on propensity weighting.Looking at the rates of each type of nephrectomy: open CN decreased from 76.7% to 66.4%, laparoscopic CN decreased from 22.3% to 11.4%, and robotic CN increased from 0.6% to 22.1%. Robotic surgery continues to make gains within the field of urology.Compared to open CN, the laparoscopic approach was associated with a 30% decreased odds of 90-day major complications (OR 0.70, 95% CI 0.50 - 0.97, p<0.05)  but robotic surgery was not found to have the same benefit. Compared to open CN, both laparoscopic and robotic approaches were associated with significantly decreased odds of blood transfusion (OR 0.46 and 0.38, respectively), ICU admission (OR 0.57 and 0.48, respectively), and LOS (OR 0.50 and 0.35, respectively).Direct costs were lowest for laparoscopic CN. This is an important fact, as healthcare costs have come under scrutiny. Indeed, if a nephrectomy can be done safely in an MIS approach, laparoscopy may be the more cost-effect approach. Robotic surgery may be overkill.Presented by: D. ZlatevCo-Authors: Mossanen M., Pucheril D., Ozambela M., Wang Y., Ingham M., Chung B., Chang S.Written by: Thenappan Chandrasekar, MD Clinical Fellow, University of Toronto, twitter: @tchandra_uromd at the 2018 European Association of Urology Meeting EAU18, 16-20 March, 2018 Copenhagen, DenmarkCopenhagen, Denmark (UroToday.com) With greater focus on improving clinical outcomes, many recent studies have demonstrated superior cancer outcomes with higher clinical volume. Hence, centers of excellence for individual disease processes have begun to arise, allowing centralization of healthcare.Along the same lines, in this study from the UK, the authors assess the impact of hospital nephrectomy volume on intermediate to long-term survival in patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Prior studies have focused on impact on short-term 30-day outcomes, but their particular focus is longer term clinical outcomes.They identified 12,912 patients RCC patients treated with radical or partial nephrectomy between 2000 and 2010 from the English Hospital Episode Statistics and National Cancer Data Repository. Survival time was calculated from date of surgery until date of death from any cause or until end of 2015. Median follow-up was 8.1 years.They defined hospital volume according to the annual number of nephrectomies completed in each hospital per year: <20, 20-39 and 40. They specifically assessed 1-year survival conditional to 30-day survival, 3-year survival conditional to 1-year survival, and 5-year survival conditional to 3-year survival.They had 4,468 patients, 5,309 patients, and 3,135 patients treated at low-volume, medium-volume and high-volume centers, respectively. Interestingly, patients treated at high-volume centers were more likely to be white/Caucasian, receive a minimally invasive approach, but less like to undergo radical nephrectomy and had lower 1-year, 3-year and 5-year mortality.They found that patients treated in the highest volume category hospitals (40 per year) had higher 1-year survival compared with those treated in the lowest volume category (HR 0.72, 95% CI 0.58-0.90, p<0.01). Interestingly, no significant association between hospital volume and survival was observed beyond the first year.In subgroup analyses based on clinical stage, T1 and T2 patients treated in hospitals performing 40 nephrectomies per annum had higher 1-year survival (T1: HR 0.59, 95% CI 0.35-0.98, p=0.04; T2: HR 0.47, 95% CI 0.24-0.91, p=0.03). No significant association was noted in patients with T3 or T4 disease or beyond the first year of follow up.It is unclear why this association is there, and the authors dont provide much rationale. Typically, higher clinical stage disease (T3-4) benefits from centralization of care, but in this study, the benefit was for lower stage disease (T1-2). Perhaps this is due to poor patient selection for nephrectomy, improper decision to complete partial vs. radical nephrectomy, etc. This is somewhat highlighted in the initial demographic differences.However, it is unclear if this is cancer-specific survival or overall survival. Worse 1-year CSS for stage T1-2 disease seems difficult to believe, as these patients, even with local recurrence, are unlikely to die of disease within the first year.Further data and explanation is needed to confirm their findings.tratification model to design a surveillance protocol after five years post-surgery, as the recurrence risk is the same across risk categories.Speaker: R.C.J. HsuCo-Author(s): Barclay M., Lyratzopoulos G., Gnanapragasam V., Armitage J.Written by: Thenappan Chandrasekar, MD, Clinical Fellow, University of Toronto, Twitter: @tchandra_uromd at the 2018 European Association of Urology Meeting EAU18, 16-20 March, 2018 Copenhagen, DenmarkCopenhagen, Denmark (UroToday.com) Evidence from a variety of settings indicate that patients with higher socioeconomic status have better prostate cancer-specific outcomes. This has also been shown for several cancers in Sweden, a country with a tax-financed health care system aiming to provide care on equal terms to all residents. Dr. Ventimiglia and colleagues presented results of their nationwide population-based study examining the association between socioeconomic status and patterns of care and mortality in men with prostate cancer.For this study, the association between income, educational level, marital status and diagnostics and treatment, and prostate and all-cause mortality was assessed in 74,643 men diagnosed with prostate cancer in Sweden between 2007 and 2014. Logistic regression models were applied to data from the National Prostate Cancer Register and a number of other health care registries and demographic databases in the Prostate Cancer Data Base Sweden (PCBaSe).The authors found that on multivariable analysis, men with highest income had the highest probability of a screen-detected prostate cancer [top vs bottom quartile of income, OR 1.60 (95%CI 1.45-1.77)] and shorter waiting time to prostatectomy [waiting time more than 3 months, OR 0.77 (0.69-0.86)]. High incomes patients also had a higher probability of receipt of curative treatment for intermediate or high-risk cancer [OR 1.77, 95%CI 1.61-1.95) and lower risk of positive surgical margins at prostatectomy [OR 0.80 95%CI 0.71-0.90]. A similar, but weaker pattern was observed for educational level. There were very small differences in prostate cancer mortality according to income, however all-cause mortality was more than twice as high in men 65 years and older in the bottom vs top quartile of income (30% vs 12% p<0.001).Dr. Ventimiglia concluded that men with high socioeconomic status received modestly, but statistically significantly better prostate cancer care in Sweden despite an equal access tax-financed health care system. Even in universal health care systems, disparities exist and deserve attention for future research endeavors.Presented by: Eugenio Ventimiglia, URI-Urological Research Institute, IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele, Universita Vita-Salute, San Raffaele, Milan, ItalyCo-Authors: Tomic K, David R, Lambe M, Stattin PWritten by: Zachary Klaassen, MD, Urologic Oncology Fellow, University of Toronto, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, twitter: @zklaassen_md at the 2018 European Association of Urology Meeting EAU18, 16-20 March, 2018 Copenhagen, DenmarkI Agree

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Privacy PolicyCopenhagen, Denmark (UroToday.com) Dr. Evans gave an overview of possible complications in robotic assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (RALRP). He began discussing the complications of patient positioning. The weight of the patients leg should be transmitted through the heel and foot. There should be minimal pressure on the lateral aspect of the calves and thighs. The hips should be extended to minimize the risk of femoral nerve injury. It is important to secure the patient well prior to draping. Use of high density padding with a high coefficient of friction is recommended.Dr. Evans continued to discuss the issue of port placement and insufflation. The Hasson open technique may be preferable over the Veress needle in men with a history of prior abdominal surgery. Abnormal high intra-abdominal pressure indicates improper access. Surgeons should be aware of small penetrating injuries due to needle insertion. Injuries associated with trocars are more severe and usually require laparoscopic or open repair.Subcutaneous and scrotal emphysema is not uncommon. It is related to the extent of CO2 leakage into the extraperitoneal space. Exacerbating factors include prolonged surgical time, use of high insufflation pressures, and insufflant leak around the fascial opening. When it is associated with high blood CO2 levels, delayed extubation may be required to allow the partial pressures of CO2 and of oxygen to normalize.Gas embolism is less common when one uses CO2 compared with other gases. Classic signs include abrupt increase in end-tidal CO2 accompanied by a sudden decline in oxygen saturation and a subsequent decrease in end tidal CO2. Management includes immediate cessation of insufflation and repositioning of the patient in the left lateral decubitus position. In addition, the patient should be ventilated with 100% oxygen and in extreme circumstances, aspiration of the air embolism may be required.Retroperitoneal vascular injuries are quite rare  0.3% of laparoscopic cases. Most commonly injured vascular structures include the aorta and common iliac vessels, epigastric vessels, and mesenteric vessels. Injury is often immediately apparent: hypotension with compensatory tachycardia. If the trocar has not been withdrawn or manipulated, a blunt trocar should be replaced through the lumen. The trocar should be left in place while preparations are made for open laparotomy and vascular repair.Bladder injury occurs in less than 2% of laparoscopic prostatectomy. Risk factors for this injury include pelvic surgery, hernia mash, or entry into the incorrect plane, too close to the detrusor muscle. The risk of injury to the bladder also exists during insufflation of the perivesical space for an extraperitoneal prostatectomy. Management includes two-layer closure and bladder decompression.Bowel injury to the small bowel, colon or rectum can occur at various points during the surgery. In handling the bowel, blunt retraction, or during robotic/assistant movement outside the visual field. Cautery injury is common and more difficult to identify. Arc injuries occur when cautery is transmitted to adjacent structures from a monopolar instrument. Rectal injury occurs at an incidence of 0.2-1% during RALRP. It usually occurs during the dissection of the pre-rectal space or mobilization of the seminal vesicle. Risk factors include history of prior TURP, pelvic radiation, or with peri-prostatic inflammation. It is advisable to consider mechanical bowel preparation prior to surgery for high risk patients, as this can occur in these patients during an attempt for wider margins. Management includes direct two-layer repair by robotic approach for most small injuries of the rectum < 2 cm in size. It is important to test the air tight nature of the repair with instillation of air into the rectum with a piston syringe after filling the pelvis with water. Broad spectrum antibiotics are required, and following repair interposition of tissue between the repair and the vesicourethral anastomosis is desirable. In case of large or irregular rectal injuries, devitalized rectal wall, previous radiation, or excessive fecal soiling, it is recommended to consult with general surgery regarding proximal diversion by loop colostomy at the time of the repair.Ureteral injuries are rare with an incidence between 0.046%-0.3%. Risk factors include history of a previous abdominal surgery, prostatitis, and pelvic radiation, or during an extensive lymph node dissection. Inadvertent thermal injury can also occur during seminal vesical dissection. The ureter courses lateral and deep to the tip of the seminal vesicle as it enters the trigone. Ureteral injury most commonly occurs however, at the level of the orifice during bladder neck division. Risk factors include large median lobe, infiltration of cancer at the bladder neck, requiring wide excision. Similarly, excessive traction following division can tear the posterior bladder neck, bringing the orifices very close to the cut edge. Extravesical ureteral injury is generally treated by reimplantation of the ureter to the bladder dome. In cases in which the ureteral orifice or distal intramural ureter is transected, or the cut edges of the bladder neck lies close to the orifice  a double J stent needs to be placed, followed by incision of the intramural ureter to mobilize the orifice cranially.Several potential sources for bleeding exist, including the dorsal venous plexus, neurovascular bundles, epigastric vessels, and iliac vessels during PLND. The pneumatic pressure provided by insufflation reduces bleeding. A common cause of delayed bleeding is de-sufflation with ensuing bleeding from uncontrolled small vessels controlled by pneumatic pressure during the procedure. Inspection of the field under reduced insufflation pressure of 5-8 mm HG is advised after completion of the procedure. Early bleeding occurs immediately following surgery. Delayed bleeding occurs 3-4 days after surgery.Anastomotic urine leak occurs usually after surgery, with risk decreasing substantially with time until about 3 weeks after surgery. Usually there is no need for continuing the indwelling catheter after 3 weeks. Controlled or contained leaks, regardless of the size will general close with a catheter.Lymphocele occurs in >=10.3% of patients undergoing extended pelvic lymph node dissection (PLND). Minor subclinical lymphoceles are more common. For prevention, meticulous PLND coupled with the use of bipolar cautery with careful placement of hemostatic clips is sufficient. Percutaneous drain placement usually alleviates symptoms of pain, drain any infected fluid, and may decrease the incidence of late deep vein thrombosis. Drains with high output should remain in place until the output decreases.Post site hernia has an incidence of 1%. Most surgeons advocate closure for port sites > 10 mm, located below the arcuate line.In conclusion, surgeons who are at the beginning of their learning curve have longer operative times and higher complication rates. For surgeons experienced with open prostatectomy, the robotic learning curve requires approximately 250 cases. [1]Presented by: C.P. Evans, Sacramento, CA, USAWritten by: Hanan Goldberg, MD, Urologic Oncology Fellow (SUO), University of Toronto, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, twitter: @GoldbergHanan at the 2018 European Association of Urology Meeting EAU18, 16-20 March, 2018 Copenhagen, Denmark References:[1] Herrel SD et al. Urology 2005; 66 (5 suppl.): 105-107

Friday afternoon, March 2018 Playboy cover model Jenny Watwood hosted the launch of Playboy Fridays at TAO Beach in The Venetian Las Vegas. The dayclub turned into the World of Playboy as cocktail staff donned their best bunny attire and at DJ Bella Fiasco manned the decks (Photo credit: Tony Tran Photography).

Photo credit: Tony Tran Photography

At Marquee Nightclub in The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, French Montana took over the party with a blowout performance for club-goers. Taking to the stage, the rapper performed his top hits and ended his set with the single Unforgettable. Taking in the performance from a VIP table was rapper Lil Uzi Vert.Albanian police arrested 39 people on Saturday, including four police officers, on charges of having smuggled 1,000 Albanians to Britain, the United

States and Canada, and they were looking for a dozen others, including two Bulgarians.

Since Albania embraced democracy in 1990, many Albanians have chosen to migrate for a better life, even paying hefty sums to smugglers. Now they can travel freely in and out of the European Union's Schengen zone, but still need visas for Britain and North America.

National police chief Ardi Veliu said seven criminal groups operating in Albania, Bulgaria, Spain, France, the Dominican Republic, Italy, Britain, Ireland, the United States and Canada had smuggled 1,000 people to Britain, the U.S. and Canada.

"Every person paid at least 7,000 pounds ($9,764) to get to the United Kingdom and from $24,000 to $30,000 to reach the U.S. and Canada," Veliu told reporters.

He said the group had forged passports for those traveling and had helped them reach their destinations by traveling via other European countries, or through the Dominican Republic or other countries in South America.

Veliu said Albanian police had worked with U.S. colleagues and European agencies as well as with Interpol and EUROPOL.

In a drive to convince the European Union to agree to start accession negotiations this June, Albania has stepped up its fight against crime and has lately seized 613 kilos of cocaine and busted a large cannabis smuggling group.In a series of blistering tweets, President Donald Trump falsely asserted that the House Intelligence Committee has concluded there was no collusion between his presidential campaign and Russia.

Trump in his Saturday tweets lashed out at his perceived foes tied to the Russia investigation and exulted in the firing of FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, once a leader of the bureaus investigation into Hillary Clintons email practices. The FBIs decision not to pursue criminal charges against Clinton infuriated Trump at the time, and still does.

TRUMP: As the House Intelligence Committee has concluded, there was no collusion between Russia and the Trump Campaign. As many are now finding out, however, there was tremendous leaking, lying and corruption at the highest levels of the FBI, Justice & State.  Trump tweet.



THE FACTS: Hes wrong. That conclusion came from Republicans on the committee; it was not a committee finding. Democrats on the committee sharply dispute the Republican conclusions and will issue their own.



Whatever the findings of the committee, special counsel Robert Mueller is leading the key investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and Russian contacts with the Trump campaign. The probe has produced a number of charges and convictions, none to date alleging criminal collusion. But Mueller continues to explore whether collusion occurred and whether Trump or others may have obstructed justice.



Trump did not specify what he meant in accusing the agencies of corruption. McCabe was fired in advance of an inspector generals report thats expected to conclude he was not forthcoming about matters related to the FBI investigation of Clintons emails.

TRUMP: The Fake News is beside themselves that McCabe was caught, called out and fired. How many hundreds of thousands of dollars was given to wifes campaign by Crooked H friend, Terry M, who was also under investigation? How many lies? How many leaks? Comey knew it all, and much more!  Trump tweet.



THE FACTS: Some context is missing here. This is true: McCabes wife, Jill McCabe, ran as a Democrat for the Virginia state Senate in 2015, and the political action committee of Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe gave her campaign $500,000 during her race. McAuliffe is a longtime associate of Hillary Clinton, branded Crooked H by Trump. Jill McCabe lost the race.



Trumps complaint, as he spelled it out in the past, is that Clinton-linked money went to the wife of the FBI agent who was in charge of her investigation. But that timeline is wrong. Andrew McCabe was elevated to deputy FBI director and didnt become involved in the Clinton email probe until after his wifes bid for office was over. The FBI said McCabes promotion and supervisory position in the email investigation happened three months after the campaign.

The bureau also said in a statement at the time that McCabe sought guidance from agency ethics officers and recused himself from all FBI investigative matters involving Virginia politics throughout his wifes campaign.Armed separatists in Cameroon have abducted 40 people, including a government official. The abductions occurred as President Paul Biya dispatched a minister to the troubled English speaking regions on a peace building mission.

Cameroon businessman Angelbert Etoga has returned to his home town, Yaounde, 24 hours after he was abducted and released by armed separatist groups.

He says he and about 36 others were on a bus traveling to Lebialem in southwestern Cameroon to attend a political rally when armed men attacked and seized the vehicle.

Etoga says they were detained for several hours and some were asked to leave after being told they had to respect the territorial integrity of the English speaking regions of Cameroon, which the kidnappers said was now a state called Ambazonia.

Etoga says it is very possible there is some cooperation among some of the population, traditional rulers, and separatist groups. He says he is very certain that many people are adhering to separatist ideologies.

Etoga says he does not know how many people were freed or held back, but he found his way out of the bush and returned to Yaounde.

The most senior government official in Lebialem, Zachary Ugitoh, says Professor Ivo Leke Tambo, a former secretary general of Cameroon's Secondary Education Ministry and now chair of the Cameroon General Certificate of Education Board, was also abducted.

"I call first and foremost the population of Lewo, the traditional rulers of Lewo to, in fact, put in place whatever means to ensure that Professor Leke Tambo is safe," he said. "They should go out and look for him, he is a venerated elite of that village and if they open their hands together, I think we can be able to get those who have taken him hostage. In the meantime, security here is not going to sleep while waiting for reinforcement from hierarchy."

Ugitoh called for the traditional rulers of Lewo to ensure Professor Tambo's safety and work to ensure his release. He said security measures would be increased in the meantime.

In a video circulated by suspected armed separatists on social media Tambo is seen stripped almost naked in the presence of disguised gunmen.

Two other government officials were abducted last month and have not been found.

The abductions took place the day the first English speaking Cameroonian to be appointed minister of territorial administration, Paul Atanga Nji, was visiting English speaking towns in northwestern Cameroon in an effort to find solutions to the separatist crisis.

Nji says President Biya is committed to win the war he declared against armed anglophone separatists.

"The head-of-state his excellency Paul Biya, commander-in-chief of armed forces told me to tell all the forces of law and order that they can count on him. That he will give them all the resources which will permit them to accomplish their mission," he said.

The crisis in the English speaking regions of Cameroon began in late 2016 with English teachers and lawyers protesting what they called the overbearing use of French in the English speaking zones of the bilingual country and degenerated with separatists calls for independence.

The government says hundreds of people including 30 policemen and soldiers have died in violence since January, when Nigeria detained and then extradited separatist leader Ayuk Tabe Julius and 46 other alleged separatists to Cameroon.

The separatist groups are demanding the 47 detainees, who have not been seen in public, be released.Bush and grass fires sweeping across Australias southeast destroyed homes, killed cattle and forced hundreds to flee Sunday as dry, hot winds fanned the flames.

No deaths or serious injuries were reported as of Sunday afternoon.

The fires, believed to have been sparked by lightning Saturday, were raging out of control across the state of Victorias rural southwest.

Dry landscape

Weve been watching the weather now for a while. Weve been 30 or 40 days without rain, so we knew we had a dry landscape ... we were ready in Victoria for what was a hot, dry and windy event, said Emergency Management Commissioner Craig Lapsley.

About 280 firefighters were battling the blazes while 22,000 homes were without power after the high winds brought down trees, Lapsley said. About a dozen homes were destroyed.

In the northern city of Darwin, about 25,000 homes were also without power after a tropical cyclone felled trees. No deaths were reported.

Some roads in Victoria were closed Sunday with residents told to stay in their homes because it was too dangerous to risk being caught by the flames in the open or to navigate the roads in the thick smoke.

The winds were expected to ease Sunday evening, Bureau of Meteorology Victoria senior forecaster Peter Newham told Reuters.

Fire warnings, high heat

The bureau issued fire weather warnings for Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and the eastern state of New South Wales, which sweltered in temperatures of up to 41 C (105.8 F) Sunday.

Bushfires are a common and deadly threat in Australias hot, dry summers, fueled by highly flammable eucalyptus.

In January, hundreds of holidaymakers had to be rescued in a boat evacuation from the beaches of the Royal National Park south of Sydney, when they became trapped by bushfires.

The 2009 Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria killed 173 people and injured more than 400.First India-US two-plus-two dialogue postponed after Trump fires Tillerson

First India-US two-plus-two dialogue postponed after Trump fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

PTI, Washington :

The first two-plus-two dialogue between India and the United States has been postponed for now due to uncertainty over the confirmation of Mike Pompeo as President Donald Trump's new Secretary of State, according to an official.

The two-day dialogue, announced last summer when Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a successful meeting with President Trump at the White House, was tentatively scheduled for April 18-19. "It has been postponed for now," an informed US official said.

The official wishing anonymity, however, quickly pointed out that it would have no impact on the bilateral relationship as the meetings this week by the foreign and defence secretaries decided to continue with their agenda. There was no official announcement of the high-level dialogue involving the foreign and defence ministers from the two countries. India's foreign and defence secretaries were in Washington early this week for preparatory talks with their American counterparts. The Indian delegation landed in Washington DC amidst the firing of Rex Tillerson as the Secretary of State by Donald Trump.

The delegation continued with their meetings both at the State Department and at the Pentagon as scheduled, during which it was decided to hold the dialogue at a later date, which appears unlikely before the summer.

The dialogue was seen as a vehicle to elevate the strategic relationship between the two countries. After June last year, the two countries have tried at several other dates for the dialogue to take place, including sometime in November and December.

Officials also checked for a time in January this year, but both sides were having a tough time in finding a day when all the four leaders - External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman from India and Defence Secretary Jim Mattis and the fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, would be available.

It was finally in February this year that two days in mid-April was zeroed in for the talks.

However, the plans had to be scuttled as on March 13 Donald Trump announced that Rex Tillerson had been fired and nominated Mike Pompeo, who is currently the CIA director, to replace him as the Secretary of State.

Mr Pompeo needs to be confirmed by the Senate. Spring recess of the Congress begins on March 22 and lawmakers would resume their legislative business on April 2. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which hold the confirmation hearing, has not scheduled it on its calendar yet.

Once Mr Pompeo's nomination process breezes through this committee, then it would go to the Senate floor for a vote.



Regulation of cryptocurrencies must be considered, Bundesbank vice president Claudia Buch told Reuters, even though she does not believe they pose a threat to financial stability.

Buch said that speculation on volatile virtual tokens does not pose a systemic threat because it is not financed through credit, but she said that regulators should look at introducing rules to protect consumers, given that such speculation could prove costly for investors.

"The role of crypto tokens in money laundering and criminal activity must also be closely examined," Buch said.

"I don't see a threat for financial stability at the moment as the speculations are generally not financed with loans and the relevant markets are rather small."

The issue of how to regulate cryptocurrencies is likely to be high on the agenda at a March 19-20 meeting of Group of 20 finance leaders in Argentina.

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christi ne Lagarde has urged governments and central banks to develop regulations for such assets to prevent them from becoming a newvehicle for money laundering and terrorist financing.

Japan has also urged its G20 partners to act on preventing cryptocurrencies from becoming a vehicle to finance criminal activities.Hundreds of Cambodian and Chinese soldiers began a 15-day joint military exercise in central Cambodia this week, involving live-fire rocket launches from helicopters, mock tank battles, and anti-terrorism and emergency relief training. China will reportedly also donate tanks and armored personnel carriers on the occasion.

The unprecedented show of military cooperation, dubbed Golden Dragon, is the latest sign that the long-ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) is relying on Beijing to further shore up its control of the country through growing diplomatic, economic and military support, according to analysts.

They say increased Chinese military support will also aid the Cambodian armys balance of power with its neighbors. But some warn that Cambodias suspension of planned joint exercises with the U.S. military last year signals Phnom Penhs growing divide with Washington and its regional allies, as well as other Asian countries that seek to counter Chinas aspirations for regional primacy.

Last year, Cambodia suspended a planned joint military exercise with the U.S. Army, called Angkor Sentinel, that was to have been held for the eighth year straight. Also canceled was a long-running U.S. Navy program that provided humanitarian assistance in the country. Cambodia said its forces were too busy to join the annual exercise.

Guaranteeing internal security

Cambodias decision to bandwagon with China is aimed at insulating itself from Western pressures to maintain a liberal, multiparty democracy and to respect human rights. Cambodia knows that if it hews to Chinas line, there will be little or no interference in its domestic political affairs, said Carlyle Thayer, a Southeast Asia expert at the Australian Defense Force Academy.

China provides the training and material assistance to the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces necessary for it to defend Cambodias borders and, if called upon, to guarantee internal security, Thayer said.

He added that Prime Minister Hun Sen, a one-time Khmer Rouge commander, likely considers a Cambodian officer corps trained by China to be more loyal to him than U.S.-trained officers.

In 2015, the CPP made about 80 senior army and police commanders members of the partys Central Committee to ensure loyalty of the security forces ahead of the general elections in July, according to Human Rights Watch, and some commanders have openly threatened violence against the opposition. Hun Sens two sons, both trained by the U.S. military, have also been placed in top positions in the army.

Last year, the CPP ended Cambodias two-decadelong experiment with multiparty democracy supported by Western donors. In November, the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) was dissolved and its leader jailed on treason charges. It also launched a harsh crackdown on independent media and civil society.

Critics say the CPP appears eager to avoid a repeat of the 2013 elections, when it narrowly beat the CNRP in a disputed vote, which prompted opposition protests that were crushed by security forces.

Balancing military power with neighbors

First conducted in 2016, the Cambodian-Chinese joint exercises are being held this year in Kompong Speu province with the largest number of soldiers yet: 280 Cambodian and 190 Chinese. Up to 100 Chinese tanks and armored personnel carriers used in the drills will be presented to Cambodia afterward, the CPP-affiliated newspaper The Khmer Times reported.

Cambodias defense and internal security expense makes up about 16 percent of the national budget, at close to $973 million, and has risen with an annual 15 percent in the past three years, according to the Finance Ministry figures. In recent years, China has been the main source of arms, through sales or donations, while also training and funding the Cambodian military.

The continued provision of Chinese military support is likely to make Cambodias army feel more secure in its dealings with its much more powerful neighbors Thailand and Vietnam, said Chheang Vannarith, a research associate with the Singapore-based ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. He also has advised Cambodias Ministry of Defense in the past.

Though neighborly relations are generally cordial, violent border disputes have erupted with Thailand over the border-hugging Preah Vihear Temple in 2008-2011. Vietnam has a complicated relationship with Cambodia, having invaded to oust the China-backed, Maoist Khmer Rouge regime in 1979 and to install a new communist party elite that continues to rule until today as the CPP.

Complicating Cambodias regional relations

Experts said Cambodias tightening embrace with China, expanded with growing military cooperation, effectively puts it on the side of Beijing on contentious regional political issues. This could have repercussions for its international relations, but that is a price Phnom Penh appears willing to pay.

In Cambodias view, Chinas militarization of the South China Sea demonstrates that China will soon be the dominant military power in the region and all other countries will have to acknowledge this fact, Southeast Asia expert Thayer said.

Vietnam and several regional countries, including the Philippines and Malaysia, seek to counter Chinas territorial claims in the South China Sea. The U.S. and its close allies, such as Japan, are also attempting to contain Beijings ambitions at greater regional control.

In Cambodias calculation, it is accruing favor in Beijing because of its support (in the South China Sea dispute). And Cambodia might one day have to call in a favor from China in the event of conflict with another country, either regional or extraregional, Thayer said.

He added, however, that Chinas expanding military diplomacy was not limited to Cambodia, as China has military ties with all ASEAN members that vary in scope and depth.

Chheang Vannarith said Vietnam wants to maintain its close historical ties with the Cambodian leadership and is likely concerned by Chinas growing influence on the CPP government.

Both countries, he said, seek dominance in Cambodia, adding that, in Cambodias foreign policy under the current ruling regime, there cant be any exclusion of either Vietnam or China.

Gen. Chhum Socheat, spokesman of the Cambodias Defense Ministry, denied that Chinese military support further consolidates Beijings influence in Cambodia and affects its foreign policy.

The military aid from the Peoples Republic of China to the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces comes with no strings attached and no conditions. They assist us sincerely to strengthen and train the RCAF forces to higher capabilities in the tasks of national defense, Socheat told VOA.

The Chinese Embassy in Phnom Penh did not reply to VOAs request for comment on the joint exercises by time of publication.

During a visit to Cambodia by Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang in January, a joint communique highlighted Chinas willingness to provide necessary assistance to Cambodia in maintaining stability, realizing development and improving peoples livelihood.

US military relations sour

Relations with the U.S. Army, meanwhile, have soured as the Hun Sen government increasingly relies on Beijings support and after dissolving all democratic opposition.

Following Cambodias wave of repression last year, Washington responded by ending several programs benefiting the government and the army.

The U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh said in February that military-to-military support was being reduced as senior leaders within the Cambodian military have made troubling statements about using violence in relation to elections. It added, however, that cooperation continues between the two countries for emergency relief preparedness, officer training and U.N. peacekeeping training.

An annual U.S. government report released this month, called the Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community, warned that Southeast Asian countries will struggle to preserve foreign policy autonomy in the face of Chinese economic and diplomatic coercion.

Pointing to the recent crackdown in Cambodia, the report said, Having alienated Western partners, Hun Sen will rely on Beijings political and financial support, drawing Cambodia closer to China as a result.

Former CNRP leader Sam Rainsy claimed in an interview with The Australian newspaper last month that the U.S. and other countries seeking to contain Chinas aspirations at regional dominance should be worried by developments in Cambodia.

China is securing more and more facilities, including military bases in Cambodia, said Rainsy, who is in self-imposed exile as he faces charges in Cambodia. This will strategically affect Japan, Vietnam, Australia and India. Australia should feel concerned because this could disrupt the balance of power in the whole region.

Asked by VOA about these claims, Chum Socheat denied that China was securing military bases in Cambodia, saying, Our constitution does not permit it.Chinas largely rubber-stamp parliament Sunday appointed a senior graft-buster as head of the countrys controversial new anti-corruption body, though real power will remain with the ruling Communist Party.

President Xi Jinping has waged war on deep-rooted corruption since assuming office more than five years ago, locking up dozens of senior officials, including the fearsome domestic security chief, Zhou Yongkang.

Supervision Minister Yang Xiaodu, who is also a deputy head of the partys graft-fighting Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), was elected head of the National Supervision Commission.

Zhao Leji, a member of the partys elite seven-man Standing Committee, remains head of the CCDI. That body will remain and will share many of its functions with the new commission.

Among other votes announced by parliament Sunday were the widely expected re-elections of Li Keqiang as premier and Zhou Qiang as chief justice.

Minister of Justice Zhang Jun was elected head of the state prosecutor.

New commission

On Tuesday, parliament will formally pass the law that will give the new commission its legal framework, the state constitution having been amended last weekend to accommodate the new body.

Some legal scholars have criticized provisions for the new body for failing to protect the rights of suspects during investigations.

Rights groups say the new supervision law will give detentions the veneer of legality, while still risking torture and rights abuses that they say plagued the old system.

A senior official said last week China will revise its criminal law to make way for the new anti-graft commission.

The current supervision law draft fails, for example, to ensure suspects have access to a lawyer during investigations.

The inclusion of such provisions to criminal law in 2012 was seen as making modest progress to combat long-standing issues such as miscarriages of justice and forced confessions.

Xis anti-graft campaign has made use of a secretive and controversial system of residential detention, which is outside the scope of Chinas criminal procedure law. Xi has pledged to reform the detention system as part of the establishment of the new supervision commission.Top-level congressional talks on a $1.3 trillion catchall spending bill are reaching a critical stage as negotiators confront immigration, abortion-related issues and a battle over a massive rail project that pits President Donald Trump against his most powerful Democratic adversary.

The bipartisan measure is loaded with political and policy victories for both sides. Republicans and Trump are winning a long-sought budget increase for the Pentagon while Democrats obtain funding for infrastructure, the opioid crisis and a wide swath of domestic programs.

The bill would implement last months big budget agreement, providing 10 percent increases for both the Pentagon and domestic agencies when compared with current levels. Coupled with last years tax cut measure, it heralds the return of trillion-dollar budget deficits as soon as the budget year starting in October.

Sorting out 'riders'

While most of the funding issues in the enormous measure have been sorted out, fights involving a number of policy riders  so named because they catch a ride on a difficult-to-stop spending bill  continued into the weekend. Among them are GOP-led efforts to add a plan to revive federal subsidies to help the poor cover out-of-pocket costs under President Barack Obamas health law and to fix a glitch in the recent tax bill that subsidizes grain sales to cooperatives at the expense of for-profit grain companies.

Trump has privately threatened to veto the whole package if a $900 million payment is made on the Hudson River Gateway Project, a priority of top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer of New York. Trumps opposition is alarming northeastern Republicans such as Gateway supporter Peter King, R-N.Y., who lobbied Trump on the project at a St. Patricks luncheon in the Capitol on Thursday.

The Gateway Project would add an $11 billion rail tunnel under the Hudson River to complement deteriorating, century-old tunnels that are at risk of closing in a few years. It enjoys bipartisan support among key Appropriations panel negotiators on the omnibus measure who want to get the expensive project on track while their coffers are flush with money.

Most House Republicans voted to kill the funding in a tally last year, however, preferring to see the money spread to a greater number of districts.

Obviously, if were doing a huge earmark ... its troubling, said Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., a leader of House conservatives. Why would we do that? Schumers pet project and we pass that under a Republican-controlled Senate, House and White House?

Schumer has kept a low profile, avoiding stoking a battle with the unpredictable Trump.

Border wall

Theres also a continuing battle over Trumps long-promised U.S.-Mexico border wall. While Trump traveled to California on Tuesday to inspect prototypes for the wall, whats pending now is $1.6 billion for earlier designs involving sections in Texas that double as levees and 14 miles (23 kilometers) of replacement fencing in San Diego.

It appears Democrats may be willing to accept wall funding, but they are battling hard against Trumps demands for big increases for immigration agents and detention beds they fear would enable wide-scale roundups of immigrants illegally living in the U.S.

Meanwhile, a White House trial balloon to trade additional years of wall funding for a temporary reprieve for immigrants brought to the country illegally as children  commonly called Dreamers  landed with a thud last week.

Abortion, Planned Parenthood

Republicans are holding firm against a provision by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., designed to make sure that Planned Parenthood, intensely disliked by anti-abortion Republicans, receives a lions share of federal family planning grants.

But another abortion-related provision, backed by House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., that would strengthen conscience protection for health care providers who refuse to provide abortions remained unresolved heading into the final round of talks, though Democrats opposing it have prevailed in the past.

Chances for an effort to attach legislation to permit states to require out-of-state online retailers to collect sales taxes appear to be fading.

Campaign finance

And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., faces strong opposition from Democrats on a change to campaign finance laws to give party committees like the National Republican Senate Committee the freedom to work more closely with their candidates and ease limits to permit them to funnel more money to the most competitive races.

One item that appears likely to catch a ride on the must-pass measure is a package of telecommunications bills, including a measure to free up airwaves for wireless users in anticipation of new 5G technology.One of Russia's most famous citizens, French film star Gerard Depardieu, joined the millions who cast ballots in Sunday's presidential election.

Depardieu, a friend of President Vladimir Putin who presented him with a Russian passport in 2013 during a tax row between the actor and French authorities, voted at the Russian Embassy in Paris.

The embassy tweeted a picture of the 69-year-old, wearing a coat with fur trim and sunglasses perched on his head, popping his ballot in the box.

"Gerard Depardieu voted in the Russian presidential election at a polling station at the Russian embassy in France. Come!," it tweeted, urging other Russians in France to follow suit.

A video of the moment, tweeted by a reporter from Russian broadcaster RT, was widely circulated on French news sites, where it triggered a tide of mostly contemptuous responses.

"I don't like insults but for me this man is a sellout," one person tweeted in French. Another posted a GIF of a man vomiting.

Depardieu caused an uproar in 2012 when he declared he would hand back his French passport and move to Belgium to avoid a tax hike by the then Socialist government.

His popularity slumped further after he accepted a Russian passport  and a bear hug  from Putin.

The larger-than-life star of "Cyrano de Bergerac" and the Asterix & Obelix franchise, who is still a French citizen, has since become a staunch defender of the Kremlin's policies, including its annexation of Crimea.

"I'm a citizen of the world," he told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera in 2016. "France is likely to become a Disneyland for foreigners, populated by imbeciles making wine and stinky cheese for tourists."The assailants attacked under cover of darkness, slaughtering Nguli Nzafi 's wife and three children with machetes and arrows.



The 71-year-old, who also lost all 40 of his cattle in the violence, was forced to flee on foot some 90 kilometers (56 miles) to safety in the town of Bunia.



"I have lost everything because I no longer have my wife nor my children," he says. "I cannot eat nor sleep. I'm afraid that this fighting is as bad as the war in 1996-2002."



Violence between Nzafi's Hema community and the Lendu ethnic group in Congo's northeast has now killed at least 150 people and has forced more than 32,000 people to flee to Bunia, where humanitarian assistance is strained and the suffering are eager for improved conditions.



Another 28,000 have also fled into Uganda, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.



There is a long history of tensions between the Lendu and Hema groups, whose ongoing battles since 1999 already have killed thousands and led the U.N. to deploy a peacekeeping force in the area. Much of it is rooted in economic tensions over land, as the Lendu historically have been farmers on stationery plots of land while the Hema have raised animals and moved throughout the year to good grazing areas.



Once those disputes erupted into violence, the cycle of tit-for-tat attacks caused a mounting death toll.



The instability here in Ituri province presents yet another challenge for the Congolese military and U.N. peacekeeping force who are already grappling with the threats posed by rebel groups, and with ongoing unrest in the Kasai provinces.



The latest round of fighting began in December, Djugu deputy administrator Willy Maese told The Associated Press.



"The Lendu had asked the Hema to give them part of their crops. Following their refusals, the Lendu launched attacks directly on the Hemas," he said.

Despite a reprieve when authorities came, fighting intensified in February leading to a wave of displacements, he said.



Kpadyu Londri, a 26-year-old from Djugu, said the Lendu came to steal cows and ravage fields. They killed his five brothers and a woman, he said.



He has found safety in Bunia, 75 kilometers (47 miles) from his home village, but he said conditions are bad.



"There are no tents so the rain falls on us, no beds, blankets ... we have already lost seven displaced [people], who have died as a result of starvation and dirty hands disease," he said, referring to outbreaks of cholera.



Beatrice Ngave, 23, lost her daughter to malaria. She called on international organizations to build more latrines and accommodations to prevent the spread of cholera and other diseases. Right now, she said, the camp has only two latrines.



Last week, youths in Bunia invaded the office of the governor of the Ituri province, with sticks and machetes, demanding the government to take action, said youth leader Joseph Tibasima.



Celestin Tawara Angaika, the president of the Lendu community in Bunia, last week asked the Congolese government for the protection of its members.



Congo's Deputy Prime Minister of Interior Security Henri Mova Sakanyi has promised "to strengthen the presence of the Congolese army and the police" in the Djugu and Blukwa villages.In a Russian presidential campaign season in which Kremlin officials have insisted that candidates abide by federal election laws, numerous news outlets have reported President Vladimir Putins exception to the rule.

Barred from leveraging so-called administrative resources  the bureaucratic machinery of various state-backed media, security and educational institutions  to promote their respective candidacies, presidential hopefuls, such as Grigory Yavlinsky of the liberal Yabloko Party, rely instead on the Kremlin-orchestrated circus of reality TV-style debates defined by water-throwing, name-calling and threats of physical violence.

Only the incumbent himself remains above the fray, exempted from debates in exchange for fawning 90-minute documentaries by Rosiya-1 state television, police patrols that guard only his campaign billboards against vandalism, and university auditorium lectures on why his re-election is the correct choice for the state.

Russians go to the polls Sunday for an election that is certain to allow Putin to retain his grip on power. He is expected to bring in more than 50 percent of the vote, but his election team is hoping for 70 percent.

While exploitation of state resources to bolster the candidacy of an established leader is a time-tested feature of Russian politics, this year it is completely different  and exactly the same  says Maria Lipman, editor of the Moscow-based Kontrapunkt (Counterpoint), an open-access Russian-language journal of politics and society published by George Washington University.

During previous presidential elections, Lipman said, Putin either used administrative resources himself or allocated them to his hand-picked, temporary successor, former President Dmitry Medvedev.

The notion that Putin is a leader beyond competition was created at the very beginning of his presidency, she told VOA. Even in 2008, it was clear that whichever candidate Putin proposed to his fellow citizens as a successor would be accepted, supported and voted for by the nation simply because Putin recommended him.

An evolving strategy

That strategy, Lipman added, is part of what Russian experts sometimes call the super-majority approach to maintaining political power in Russia.

In such a system, public administration and power are concentrated virtually in the hands of one person, she said. This person should be beyond competition. He should not simply be one of the candidates, but a super candidate elected by super majority. It is necessary to demonstrate such an overwhelming superiority that no one has the slightest doubt that this is the right order of things in Russia.

But ensuring Putins sustained super majority rule in Russia  where the 65-year-old leader enjoys substantial popular support, especially outside of major cities  requires a constant updating of strategies, which have evolved over time.

In 2008, legitimization was achieved due to revenue growth: oil prices increased and Russias economic growth was quite substantial, which led to a significant decrease in the number of poor people in Russia, Lipman said. But today legitimization is achieved by promoting a besieged fortress image of a nation economically beset by myriad Western sanctions.

This particular way of legitimization was even apparent in 2012, when Putins colossal advantage over political competitors was less obvious, and his rating fell to little more than 60 percent, she said. We remember the protests that accompanied his return to the presidency in 2012, so, this time, the super majority is critical to restoring his political legitimacy.

Privileged coverage, safe candidates

One distinct feature of the super majority turnout strategy for 2018, says Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of the independent election monitor Golos, is deployment of federal media resources at home and abroad.

Alternative forces proposing different approaches to the countrys development cannot get on federal TV channels or work with the population, he told VOA. As soon as a politician gains some momentum, he or she is immediately forced to interact with the courts and law enforcement agencies.

A case in point: the one-time candidacy of anti-corruption crusader Alexei Navalny, who in December was disqualified from the race because of a conviction for embezzlement, which the European Court of Human Rights dismissed as politically motivated.

He was attracting volunteers for a whole year, created campaign headquarters, and began to score points, and now we see what they did to him, Melkonyants said, referring to the Russian courts upholding the conviction, giving Navalny a suspended five-year sentence.

Others watch this and understand that if they overplay their hand or attempt to sit atop the pedestal occupied by [Putin], there will be problems, Melkonyants said. Therefore, the candidates remaining in the race are safe ones.

The image of Putin as the leading candidate is formed by the federal media and then picked up by regional media, the Golos official said.

Our media monitoring initiative has not recorded a single negative mention of Putin, although one can always find grounds for criticism of a leader who has been in power for so many years, Melkonyants said. The whole campaign looks like this: a giant facing down scores of political dwarves.

Even abroad, in the territorially disputed Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, outlets such as The Washington Post have reported on Russian state broadcasters calling themselves informational warriors.

Political technologists

Lilia Shibanova of Russias Presidential Human Rights Council says the most distinct feature of the 2018 strategy to secure the super majority turnout is that state media actually run Putins campaign.

The candidate himself solely acts as the president, Shibanova said, calling footage of Putin campaigning among average Russian voters virtually nonexistent.

Media here operate as political technologists, she said, explaining that news media analysis shows opposition candidates cast in a negative light, whereas Putin is portrayed as infallible.

Any comments about other candidates serve a very specific purpose, she said.

This story originated in VOAs Russian Service. Translated from Russian by Sasha Milentey.More than a thousand people marched from a shanty town to downtown in Rio de Janeiro Sunday to protest the apparent assassination of black lawmaker and human rights activist Marielle Franco.



March organizers used megaphones to shout that her "voice will not be silenced," as the protest made its way down the city's main street.



Some politicians who joined the march said if Franco's killing was meant to make people afraid to speak out, the opposite will would happen, and that "courage will spread through Brazil."



Franco and her driver were gunned down last Wednesday as they left an event in support of black women.



Franco was a member of the Rio city council and an outspoken advocate of minority rights, often speaking out against alleged police brutality in the city's slums.



Brazilian President Michel Temer put the army in charge of security in Rio because of complaints by human rights groups of extreme and sometimes deadly police violence.



Critics say the military presence appears to have had little effect.Lawmakers and former federal officials weighed in Saturday on the firing of former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe late Friday by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who served under former President Barack Obama, tweeted this is dangerous when referring to McCabes ouster.

Analyze McCabe firing on two levels: the substance and the timing. We dont know enough about the substance yet. The timing appears cruel and a cave [capitulation] that compromised DOJ [Department of Justice] independence, to please an increasingly erratic President who shouldve played no role here, Holder said on Twitter Saturday.

Former CIA Director John Brennan, who also served under Obama and has been a frequent critic of the Trump administration, aimed his Twitter remarks directly at President Donald Trump: When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history, he said. America will triumph over you.

A former FBI agent who worked closely with McCabe before his own retirement two years ago, Frank Montoya Jr., told Business Insider: This is a political assassination on a good man and public servant. It is also a savage broadside on the institution he served.

Montoya also questioned the timing of McCabes firing.

One does not get fired one day before one is eligible for retirement, he said. Ive never heard of that happening before in 26 years of service.

Critics applaud

Republican Congressman Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, however, issued a statement Saturday that said McCabes actions had tarnished the FBIs reputation.

I applaud Attorney General Jeff Sessions for taking action and firing former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe prior to his scheduled retirement, said Goodlatte, head of the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee.

Former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker, who retired in 2006, said in a commentary for Fox News that McCabes firing was justified because the FBI has a [sic] zero tolerance for lying under oath.

In fact, he said, there are many examples of the rank and file in the FBI losing their jobs and retirement benefits for violating these high standards.Police in Maldives arrested at least 139 protesters, an opposition spokesman said Saturday, as they attempted to defy orders under the state of emergency

and march into the high-security zone in the capital, Male.

Maldives President Abdulla Yameen has extended the state of emergency for 30 days through March 22 after declaring it on February 5 following an order by the Supreme Court for nine opposition leaders to be released.

The protesters are calling for the arrest of Yameen and for the Supreme Court ruling, which the president has defied, to be enforced.

Police spokesman Ahmed Shifan told Reuters that 141 people were arrested in protests late Friday, though two men were subsequently released.

Witnesses said masked special operations policemen arrested several protesters, while riot police charged with shields and used pepper spray and tear gas to break up the protests.

The arrests came after authorities warned last week that the protests would not be allowed, saying that police had received word that there was an attempt to violently overthrow the government and create unrest.

Rights group Amnesty International said Maldivian authorities are using the state of emergency as a license for heightened repression and the 139 people have been detained 0"solely for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly."

"They must be released immediately and unconditionally," Omar Waraich, Amnesty's deputy South Asia director, said in a statement.

Police, in a tweet, accused a protester of injuring an officer: "A policemen is injured after being attacked by a protester. The policemen has a fracture in his hand."

The government has said that there were no plans to extend the state of emergency after it expires on March 22.No news on Trump-Kim summit as N Korea wrap-up Sweden talks

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho (L) leaves the Swedish goverment building Rosenbad in central Stockholm on Saturday.

AFP, Stockholm :

North Korean officials wrapped up a third day of talks Saturday with Swedish counterparts with no indication their efforts had cleared the way for a mooted nuclear summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong Un.

From Washington on Friday, Trump had called his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in, whose government last week passed an apparent summit invitation to Trump from Kim, which the US president accepted.

His response triggered a race to set a credible agenda for what would be historic talks between the two leaders. Before a date or a venue for the summit can be set, North Korea will publicly have to confirm that it sent the invitation and intends to honour it, by attending a meeting to discuss giving up its nuclear arsenal. In Stockholm, the Swedes were seeking to pave the way for talks which could end a threat of nuclear war, using the leverage of their longstanding ties with Pyongyang, where its diplomatic mission opened in 1975, the first Western embassy to be established in the hermit country.

The embassy today represents US, Canadian and Australian diplomatic interests, giving Sweden a key liaison role and facilitating the talks in Stockholm between Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom and counterpart Ri Yong Ho. - Summit 'facilitator' -

Ri also met with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, who Friday said Sweden hoped to be a summit "facilitator".

Ri's delegation included Choe Kang Il, deputy director general of the foreign ministry's North America section-though a senior US administration official told AFP Friday: "No US government staff are meeting with the North Koreans in Sweden," where Ri was stationed as a diplamat for three years in the mid 1980s. Wallstrom had earlier said the talks extended into Saturday given the "constructive atmosphere" of the first two days.

No concrete announcements emerged Saturday, as the Swedish foreign ministry stated that "the talks focused primarily on the security situation on the Korean peninsula, which is high on the UN Security Council agenda." Noting Sweden's "consular responsibilities as a protecting power" for the United States, Canada and Australia, the statement indicated the "foreign ministers discussed opportunities and challenges associated with continued diplomatic efforts to reach a peaceful solution to the conflict."

The ministry added that "Sweden underlined the need for North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons and missile programmes in accordance with Security Council resolutions."

It also stated that "other discussions centred on the humanitarian situation in North Korea, sanctions, and regional cooperation and security issues for countries including South Korea, Japan, Russia, China and the United States."

In line with previous sessions of talks, Ri made no comments to the media.

The Swedes added Ri also visited the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute global security think tank for "off the record" talks with chairman Jan Eliasson and other senior officials on the situation in the Korean peninsula.



Two vaccination workers were killed and two were seriously wounded, officials said

Militants ambushed a polio vaccination team in a remote tribal region in Pakistan, killing two of the medical workers and seriously wounding another two, officials said Sunday.

The gunmen also attacked tribal police and the paramilitary Frontier Corps when they responded to the attack late Saturday, killing one paramilitary and wounding another.

Polio workers have come under attack on several occasions since it was revealed that the CIA used a polio vaccination campaign as a ruse to get information on Osama bin Laden, who was killed by U.S. commandos in Pakistan in 2011.Those revelations fed into claims by Islamic extremists that the vaccinations are part of a Western plot against Muslims.

Pakistan is one of the few countries in the world where polio is still endemic, along with Afghanistan and Nigeria.



An official in Pakistans restive Mohmand Agency, Younus Khan, said two workers from the seven-member polio vaccination team went missing after the attack but later returned unharmed. He says security forces are still searching for the attackers.



Jamaatul Ahrar, a faction of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed the attack.



Khan said the bodies of the polio workers were handed over to relatives and their funeral will take place later in the day.



Provincial Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra condemned the attack, calling the polio workers heroes.Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari will not attend the African Union summit in Rwanda this week, an official statement said Sunday, in a blow to plans to launch a major free trade treaty across 54 countries.

The meeting in Kigali is intended to formally launch the African Continental Free Trade Area Treaty, which Nigeria's cabinet endorsed last Wednesday.



Buhari was scheduled to leave Abuja on Monday ahead of Wednesday's launch but pulled out to allow for more consultations.



"Mr. President will no longer be traveling to Kigali for the event because certain key stakeholders in Nigeria indicated that they had not been consulted, for which reasons they had some concerns on the provisions of the treaty," the statement said.

"Consequently, Mr. President's decision is to allow time for broader consultations on the issue."



The organized labor union, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), urged Buhari not to sign the deal.



"We at the Nigeria Labour Congress are shocked by the sheer impunity or blatant lack of consultation in the process that has led to this," said NLC President Ayuba Wabba.



"We have no doubt this policy initiative will spell the death knell of the Nigerian economy."



The AU decided to go ahead with the treaty in 2012 aiming to establish a single liberalized market for trade in goods and services.



The agreement sets up a negotiated rules-based system in order to expand intra-African trade from its very low base of 14 percent, the Nigerian presidency said.



Nigeria, Africa's biggest oil producer and with a population of 190 million, is a massive market.



But the fall in the price of oil sparked recession and Buhari has resorted to a protectionist economic policy with a long list of products banned from importation.Pakistan has conveyed to the leadership in Afghanistan its opinion that the Taliban are left with no excuse or justification for continuing war following Kabuls offer of unconditional peace talks.

Islamabads National Security Adviser, Nasser Janjua, delivered the message during a daylong official visit Saturday, where he assured Afghan leaders of Pakistans complete support" for the long awaited peace offer made by President Ashraf Ghani.

He termed the peace offer as a light on the other side of the tunnel in a war which had become rather perpetual, a post-visit statement issued Sunday quoted Janjua as telling Ghani.

The Taliban has not yet publicly responded to the offer, however, prompting expectations the insurgents are weighing whether or not to come to the negotiating table, Pakistan and U.S. officials said.

Ghani in his meeting with the Pakistani delegation emphasized the need for the two countries to work together to improve bilateral relations under a comprehensive engagement and sought Islamabads support for bringing an end to the Afghan conflict, the statement said.

Seeking the closure of [the Afghan] conflict instead of winning it is a righteous approachOur peace is mutual, lets seek it together, Janjua told the Afghan president.

The Pakistani adviser underscored the need for the two sides to desist from indulging in a blame game and called for both the countries to commit to each other and invest in the bilateral relationship.

The Afghan president handed over a letter of invitation to Janjua for Pakistan's prime minister, and expected him to visit as soon as possible, according to Sundays statement.

Janjua also held separate meetings with Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, Afghan National Security Adviser Haneef Atmar and the head of the Afghan spy agency.

Afghan and American officials have long accused Pakistani security institutions of harboring Taliban sanctuaries and covertly supporting its allied Haqqani network of militants, charges Islamabad rejects.

Pakistani military and civilian leaders speak of a renewed effort they are making to use whatever influence Islamabad has over Afghan insurgents to push them to the negotiating table.

They credit Pakistans sincere push to help jump-start an Afghan peace and reconciliation process for a recent improvement in the usually mistrust-marred relations with Kabul and Washington.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence Friday hosted Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in Washington and underlined the need for the two countries to work closely for regional stability and in fighting terrorism.

Vice President Pence reiterated President Trump's request that the Government of Pakistan must do more to address the continued presence of the Taliban, Haqqani Network, and other terrorist groups operating in their country, said a White House statement issued after the 30-minute meeting.Since their reinstatement in 2015, military courts in Pakistan have sentenced 186 convicts to death and issued verdicts for more than 300 terrorism-related cases, the countrys Ministry of Defense said last week.

The figures were released by the ministry in response to an inquiry by Pakistans Lower House of Parliament about the status of concluded, pending and ongoing cases in the military courts.

Military courts have proved to be controversial between the military and civilian establishments of Pakistan. The civilian courts have questioned reinstating military courts since the country has a functioning judiciary system.

The last time the country relied on military courts was in the late 1970s, during the rule of Zia-ul-Haq, the countrys former army chief-turned-president. Since then, the countrys constitution had prevented civilians from being tried in military courts.

That changed in 2015, however, after a terror attack on a military-run school in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, killed more than 130 people, a majority of them children.

Following the attack, the country adopted a 20-point National Action Plan (NAP) to address the growing threat of terrorism and militancy in the country.

One of the proposals in the plan was to reinstate the military courts, as civilian courts either could not provide faster trials for suspected militants or were reluctant to do so, fearing retaliation from militant groups operating in the country.

The countrys parliament amended the constitution and allowed military courts to handle terrorism-related cases for two years. In January 2017, parliament extended the military courts authority for another two years, until 2019.

Lawmakers also passed new amendments, such as allowing suspects to have a defense attorney of their choice, requiring suspects to make an appearance in court within 24 hours, and implementing the rules of evidence in court proceedings.

11 military courts

There are several military courts operating in the country, including three in Punjab, two in Sindh, three in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one in Balochistan province, according to local media.

The Daily Express Tribune, a Pakistan-based daily English-language newspaper, released statistics on military court convictions.

In the past three years, the courts have acquitted one person, convicted and given life sentences to 79 people, and sentenced more than 70 others to jail time ranging from seven to 20 years, the paper said.

Defense officials told the parliament that the military courts are currently hearing 101 cases, and 52 other cases have been dropped because of a lack of evidence.

Some observers were pleased by the defense ministrys response to parliament, seeing it as a step toward accountability and transparency. They criticized, however, the seemingly ambiguous and secret nature of these military courts, which do not release such information.

Since the time of its inception, the nation has had concerns regarding the secret ways these military courts work. The defense ministrys response is to answer a few of those questions, but the ambiguity is largely still there, Hasan Askari Rizvi, a Lahore-based security and military analyst, told VOA.

Considering its hard to question the army in the country, the defense ministrys response to the parliament will set a good precedent as parliament is above all institutions, Rizvi added.

Lawmakers also were told that 151 so-called mercy petitions filed at the military courts were sent to the Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, and he rejected them.

Parallel judiciary

Some legal experts and rights activists have voiced concerns about the existence of parallel court systems in the country and question the military courts procedures, fairness and legality under the constitution.

In 2015, the whole nation was in a shock after the school massacre and politicians felt compelled to pass the amendment to allow military tribunals to work, Shama Junejo, a rights activist, told VOA.

The nation needs to be taken into confidence [about] whats happening there. Who are the people that are being tried in these courts? These are legitimate concerns that still need answers even after three years of [the military courts'] inception, Junejo added.

Some of the concerns are that the military courts conduct trials in secrecy. Media outlets and the public are not allowed to follow or attend the hearings. The defendants until last year were not even allowed to choose a defense lawyer of their choice.

Some experts even question the military court justices, arguing they lack the required legal qualifications to serve as judges and issue verdicts.

But others like Ikram Chaudhry, a senior Supreme Court advocate, defend the military courts.

The civil court system has its own challenges and needs reforms badly. It is an outdated system, and hundreds of thousands of cases remain pending for years, sometimes even for generations, Chaudhry told VOA.

Also, the civil court judges are threatened by terror elements ... making it harder for them to convict militants, Chaudhry added.International Paralympic Committee (IPC) president Andrew Parsons on Sunday declared the Pyeongchang Winter Paralympics closed, and paid tribute to late British physicist Stephen Hawking as an "inspiration."

At a spectacular ceremony that featured dancing, music and light shows, the curtain was officially brought down on nine days of sporting action.



"The time has come for me to declare the Pyeongchang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games closed," Parsons said.



Hawking, who died last week aged 76, is fondly remembered by Paralympians as he opened the 2012 London Paralympics.



Parsons paid tribute to the scientist as "a genius of a man, a pioneer and inspiration to us all."



"While Hawking tested the limits of his imagination, Paralympians, you have once again pushed the boundaries of human endeavor," he told the audience.



Towards the end of the ceremony, the Paralympic flag was handed over to the mayor of Beijing -- which will host the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.Russians turned up at polling stations Sunday in an election few voters had any doubts about who would emerge the winner.

Soon after the polls closed in the enclave of Kaliningrad, preliminary results indicated incumbent President Vladimir Putin had secured victory in an election critics say was stage-managed.

According to Russia's election commission, Putin was heading to secure 71.9 percent of the vote, but it was unclear whether voter turnout had reached 70 percent, a Kremlin goal. But Kremlin aides insisted the final result would show it had.

There were reports of hundreds of ballot violations at polling stations across the country, which Russian election officials downplayed but said they were investigating.

Communist candidate Pavel Grudinin was Putin's nearest rival, securing a likely 15.9 percent, according to preliminary results.

Facing weak candidates  some likely encouraged to run by a Kremlin eager to give the election a veneer of competitiveness  Putin, who has held power since succeeding Boris Yeltsin in 1999, had always been guaranteed victory in an election timed to coincide with the fourth anniversary of the Russian annexation of Crimea.

Putin's only credible challenger, blogger and activist Boris Navalny, was barred from running because of a fraud conviction he said was designed to exclude him from electoral politics. Navalny and his supporters said Sunday voters had been bussed in across Russia to the polls.

The deputy chairman of Russia's Central Election Commission dismissed allegations of irregularities, tweeting: "There is not a single other country in the world that has the level of transparency that we are demonstrating today."

Nonetheless, activists posted videos online showing blatant violations. In a polling station in the republic of Sakha, an official is seen stuffing the ballot box, as genuine voters waited patiently in line to cast their votes. In Dagestan, an observer was beaten after refusing to stop filming ineligible voters. In another video, a young woman is seen stuffing a box while observers are distracted.

The big question as Russians headed to polling stations was: What percentage of the population would turn out to vote?

Kremlin officials clearly had been determined to produce an outsized vote for Putin as a demonstration of his legitimacy  and by lunchtime, seven hours before the polls closed, election officials projected the turnout would be 70 percent.

Kremlin insiders said before polling day the desired outcome would be 70/70  70 percent of the vote for Putin from a 70 percent turnout.

At 5 p.m. Moscow time, the Central Election Commission declared over half of all Russian adults had already voted, with authorities reporting a higher turnout than the last election in 2012.

Some analysts said the March 4 nerve-agent poisoning on British soil of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, which the British blame on Russia, was timed to engineer a confrontation with the West and boost a patriotic turnout for Putin.

That suggestion was vehemently denied in the run-up to the polls by Putin aides, who said Russia was not involved in the nerve-agent attack. Some officials allege the British made up the incident.

Some voters had the rupture in Anglo-Russian relations on their minds. At a polling station at Moscow's School 1520, private business owner Alexei said, "I think the British government has made all of the allegations up. I think that no one has poisoned Skripal. Our country hasn't poisoned anyone."

Across from the school, police milled around to deter any flash protests, which had been promised in the capital but did not materialize. They stood outside the Barbershop School of Moscow with its marketing slogan, "Ideal Place for an Ideal Man."

Most voters encountered by VOA in Moscow said Putin was the ideal candidate. Some voters said they backed him because he had restored Russian strength, transforming the country from being a regional power to a global one.

Putin emphasized in the run-up to the polls that Russia's power had been restored, notably in his annual state of the nation address in which he said the world was now forced to listen to Russia.

Other voters were focused on domestic issues, saying things had improved since the 1990s under Putin's leadership.

"Foreign policy is hard for me to understand, and I don't want to go into that," said Galiaya, a mother of two and a businesswoman at School 2123.

"We have voted for Putin," she said, including her 13-year-old daughter who stood smiling by her side. "At the moment, it seems he represents stability without anarchy. I am more afraid of anarchy, instability and war. I don't want either. I think he will stabilize the situation in the country, improve the economy and politics."

But not all voters were as enthusiastic at School 2123. Some who voted for Putin said they did so reluctantly because there was no real alternative.

"Of course, I voted for Sobchak," said a pensioner who declined to give his name. He was referring to 37-year-old Ksenia Sobchak, a former socialite and broadcaster, once famous for a raunchy reality television show. She was one of Putin's seven electoral challengers.

"Let the young people start running the country. We don't want another war, and with Sobchak, there won't be a war," he said.

The pensioner said he didn't like the way some Russians referred to Putin as "father."

"I have never in my life pronounced the word father.' I was born in 1938, and my father was killed in 1942. I was three years old. I have never had a father."

He said he hoped Sobchak, who some Putin critics suspect was encouraged by the Russian president to run, would form a new party after the election.

Elsewhere, the independent monitoring group Golos said there had been reports of voters being pressured to vote. Several villages in Kamchatka and Chukotka reported turnout of 100 percent. The group said it received more than 2,000 alleged violations, including claims ballot boxes had been positioned out of sight of observation cameras.

Sunday's election spanned 11 time zones, starting with the Far East, and ending with the Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad, where Friday police arrested several people for trying to organize election boycott rallies. There were other arrests reported in St. Petersburg and Sochi.

Nearly 109 million people were registered to cast ballots. State-owned polling company VCIOM projected a turnout of 71 percent. But the Russian nongovernmental research organization, Levada Center, conducted a survey in December that indicated 58 percent of voters planned to boycott the elections.

Casting his ballot in Moscow Sunday, Putin said "any" result that allowed him to continue as president would be a "success."

"I am sure the program I am offering is the right one," he told reporters.

Putin has been in power either as president or prime minister for more than 18 years. He switched between the two roles once to circumvent a law banning him from serving more than two consecutive terms as president.

Now, the question is: What will happen when his new term expires in six years? Will someone else take the helm, or will he change the constitution?

Some analysts say the uncertainty could trigger power struggles within the Kremlin, as possible successors jockey and maneuver against each other in case Putin decides to name a successor.Early results and exit polls in Russia say President Vladimir Putin has won a fourth term in office, winning more than 75 percent of the vote.

Opinion polls showed he had far more support than any of his rivals, who ran the gamut from far-right populist to far-left communist.

Putin has been in a position of leadership in Russia for 18 years.

Early results and exit polls in Russia say President Vladimir Putin has won a fourth term in office, winning more than 75 percent of the vote.

Opinion polls showed he had far more support than any of his rivals, who ran the gamut from far-right populist to far-left communist.

Putin has been in a position of leadership in Russia for 18 years.

He addressed thousands on the Manezhnaya Square near the Kremlin late Sunday. He hailed those who voted for him as a "big national team,'' adding that "we are bound for success.''

Asked if he would seek the presidency again in 2030, the 65-year-old Russian leader snapped, "It's ridiculous. Do you think I will sit here until I turn 100?''

Putin faced seven challengers but no real threats from any of the contenders. Each of the other candidates  a reality television star and an ultranationalist among them  was expected to draw very few ballots.

Sunday's election spanned 11 time zones, starting with the Far East and ending with the Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad. Nearly 109 million people were registered to cast ballots. State-owned polling company VCIOM projected a 71 percent turnout.

Yet, the Russian nongovernmental research organization, Levada Center, conducted a survey in December that indicated 58 percent of voters planned to boycott the elections.

Putin's closest rival was opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was disqualified from running in the election when he was convicted for embezzlement in December. Given a five-year suspended sentence, Navalny said the conviction was politically motivated, to keep him out of the race.

Navalny led the boycott effort, while Russian election organizers hoped for a high voter turnout to legitimize an election long seen to have been a foregone conclusion.

In Crimea, the territory Russia said it annexed from Ukraine, a few European politicians who are friendly with Putin acted as election observers. The European Union and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe refused to send election monitors to Crimea, fearing it would be seen to legitimize the Russian occupation.Opposition leader Navalny told VOA's Russian service on Thursday that Putin's observers in Crimea were political cronies, not objective observers. Among them are Andreas Mauere of the German far-left party Die Linke, and Hendrik Weber, founder of a Norwegian public organization called People Diplomacy Norway.

"All those so-called "European observers -- they are as much observers as other candidates in these elections are 'rivals' to Putin," Navalny told VOA. "Of course, this is an absolute fake. It's ridiculous and unpleasant to look at how Putin corrupted and turned into his puppets a significant part of the European establishment."

Putin has been in power as either president or prime minister since 1999. He has switched back and forth between the two roles to circumvent a Russian law banning him from serving more than two consecutive terms as president.

VOA Russian service and Fern Robinson contributed to this report.Vladimir Putin will lead Russia for another six years, after securing an expected victory in the presidential election. With 40% of the vote counted he had 74.8% of the vote, the central election commission said.The main opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, was barred from the race. Addressing a rally in Moscow after the early results were declared, Mr Putin said voters had "recognised the achievements of the last few years". VOA's Jamie Dettmer has more from MoscowTwo U.S. Republican senators sparred Sunday over President Donald Trump's nomination of Mike Pompeo, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, as his new secretary of state, and deputy CIA chief Gina Haspel to take over at the intelligence agency.

If confirmed, Haspel would be the first female director in the CIA's 70-year history.

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina predicted on CNN that both Pompeo and Haspel would be confirmed by the Senate. He dismissed one opponent of the nominations, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, as "an outlier" among Republican lawmakers.

Paul, also on CNN, argued against Pompeo, saying Pompeo supports U.S.-sanctioned regime change in some foreign countries. Rand said Haspel was linked to CIA torture of terrorism suspects at clandestine sites overseas.

Paul said he would "do whatever it takes" to derail the two nominations in the Senate, where Republicans hold a narrow 51-49 majority. Paul said that if need be, he would filibuster the nominations, in an attempt to block them from winning approval.

Graham described Haspel as "highly qualified," while acknowledging her past support of "enhanced interrogation" techniques  including waterboarding, which simulates drowning  against terrorism suspects in the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. The CIA no longer permits enhanced interrogation.

"I'm looking forward for her to acknowledge this policy is no longer allowed," Graham said.

Paul said he does not think Pompeo, a former Kansas congressman before Trump named him CIA director, would be a "good fit" as the nation's top diplomat to succeed Rex Tillerson, who was fired last week by Trump after a year on the job.

"I don't think our policy ought to be for regime change," Paul said.

As for Haspel, Paul said, "What America stands for is not torture. Torture is the hallmark of totalitarianism."

Paul cited Haspel's reported oversight of a CIA "black site" in Thailand and her subsequent role in an order to destroy video evidence of the interrogations.

"It's just inconsistent with who we are as a people to have someone run our spy agency that has all this enormous power, who is intimately involved with torture, and from everything we're reading, was supportive of the policy," Paul said.South Korean media said Sunday a senior North Korean diplomat is headed to Finland to meet with former U.S. diplomats, this after a North Korean delegation wrapped up three days of talks with Swedish diplomats that could lead to a possible meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Yonhap news agency reports Choe Kang Il, North Koreas deputy director-general for North American affairs, was seen at Beijing Capital International Airport before boarding a flight to Finland.

Diplomatic sources say former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Kathleen Stephens will be among the former U.S. diplomats who will meet with Choe. The North Korean official is also expected to talk with security experts from Seoul.

Yonhap says the diplomats at the Finnish talks will exchange opinions onthe denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and an inter-Korean summit slated for late April and a U.S.-North Korea summit expected in May.

Talks in Sweden

On Friday, Swedish U.N. Ambassador Olof Skoog said his country was trying to help de-escalate tensions on the Korean Peninsula by hosting talks. Sweden is one of the few Western powers to have an embassy in Pyongyang. There, it provides diplomatic services for not only Swedes, but also U.S., Canadian and Australian citizens.

The security situation on the peninsula is one of the most pressing issues on the world agenda right now, and if Sweden can play a part in de-escalation there, this is what were trying to do, Skoog told reporters in New York.

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho and Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven met briefly in Stockholm Friday, but Skoog and Lofvens spokesman would not disclose what the two officials discussed.

Skoog added, however, the talks in Stockholm would hopefully help create a good environment for such a meeting and declined to comment when asked if Sweden would host a meeting of the U.S. and North Korean leaders.

We just want to be helpful in pursuing a de-escalation on the peninsula, he said.

Emphasis on denuclearization

The majority of Ris time was spent with Swedish foreign minister Margot Wallstrom. At the conclusion of the talks, Swedens foreign ministry released a statement saying Wallstrom emphasized to the North Korean official the need for North Korea to dismantle its nuclear arms and missiles program in line with several [U.N.] Security Council resolutions.

The statement also said the two officials discussed opportunities and challenges for continued diplomatic efforts.

U.S. President Donald Trump reaffirmed his plan to meet by the end of May with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to negotiate Pyongyangs nuclear program, the White House said Friday. In a phone call with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Trump expressed cautious optimism over recent developments regarding North Korea.

The White House said the two leaders discussed preparations for their upcoming negotiations with North Korea and agreed concrete actions, not words were key to any denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. North Korea, however, has not officially confirmed the meeting and no specific time or venue has been set.

South Koreas senior press secretary Yoon Young-chan said Moon pledged to create an atmosphere for the successful opening of the U.S.-North Korean summit when he meets with the North Korean leader in April.

South Korea said Moon also talked by phone Friday with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who expressed the possibility of having a North Korea-Japan dialogue. A South Korean spokesman said the two leaders agreed to strengthen their cooperation to work together and with the United States to bring about the denuclearization of North Korea.

Earlier, Im Jong-seok, Moons chief of staff, said South Korea is seeking high-level talks this month with North Korea to prepare for the inter-Korea summit in April. He also said Moon could meet with Trump after the inter-Korea summit, but before Trump holds his planned meeting with the North Korean leader in May.Russia hopes for greater effectiveness of economic cooperation with Japan

Tass, Moscow :

Russia expects more significant results from economic interaction with Japan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with the media of Vietnam and Japan ahead of his visits to those countries.

"The trade, economic and investment cooperation (of Russia and Japan - TASS) is based on the documents that are aimed at implementing the agreement between the Russian President and the Japanese Prime Minister on establishing joint economic activities in the southern Kuril Islands. But broadly speaking there are documents with a list of priority projects that was made by Russia, there is a well known eight points plan set by Japan: they already form the basis of our movement to develop our economic interaction. Most of these initiatives already have good results, we would definitely want them to be more significant," Lavrov said.

The Minister expressed hope that this also meets the interests of his Japanese colleagues.

"At least, the trade turnover is growing quite confidently. The nearest contacts between ministries and departments, and my visit are aimed at seeing what proposals we can make at the next summit of the Russian president and the Japanese prime minister," he added.

Lavrov also noted that Russia pays special attention to joint economic activities in the Kuril Islands "as part of the general strategy for expanding economic cooperation with Japan."Southeast Asian leaders and Australias prime minister Sunday called on North Korea to end its nuclear program and urged United Nations countries to fully implement sanctions.

Leaders at the first summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, known as ASEAN, to be held in Australia issued a joint statement with Australia that also called for non-militarization and a code of conduct in the contested waters of the South China Sea, where China has become increasingly assertive.

ASEAN leaders also said they were working to provide humanitarian assistance for the continuing crisis involving Muslim Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar, with Australias Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull saying the countrys leader Aang San Suu Kyi addressed the matter comprehensively in meetings Sunday.

North Korea statement

On North Korea, the ASEAN-Australia joint statement said: We reiterate our support for the complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner as well as initiatives toward establishing peace in the Korean Peninsula.



The statement urged North Korea to immediately and fully comply with its obligations under all relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions and called on all countries to implement sanctions.



President Donald Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who are both planning to meet North Koreas leader Kim Jong Un this spring, last week pledged to maintain maximum pressure on his authoritarian regime and seek action on giving up his nuclear weapons.



Singapores Prime Minister Lee Hsien Long, the current chair of ASEAN, said the bloc had been encouraged by negotiations for the spring summit and had noted reports of North Koreas commitment to denuclearization and its pledge to refrain from further nuclear missile tests during this period.

On South China Sea

On territorial conflicts with China, which like Australia is not a member of ASEAN, the statement said: We reaffirm the importance of maintaining and promoting peace, stability, maritime safety and security, freedom of navigation and overflight in the region.



We emphasize the importance of non-militarization and the need to enhance mutual trust and confidence, exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities and avoid actions that may complicate the situation, the statement said.



China and the five countries that have conflicting territorial claims over the South China Sea, which include four ASEAN countries, plan to negotiate a code of conduct for one of the worlds busiest waterways aimed at reducing the risks of armed confrontations in the contested territories.



Lee said this was an issue for all ASEAN countries as it was a security and stability question that would affect all ASEAN countries if it goes wrong.



This is an issue which we can manage which we can help to prevent from escalating, but its not an issue which can, in a definitive way, be solved in any short period of time, Lee said, adding ASEAN was encouraged that code of conduct negotiations would begin this year.

Rohingya crisis

Lee said ASEAN policy meant it was not able to intervene and to force an outcome over the Rohingya crisis, in which more than 600,000 refugees have fled to neighboring Bangladesh amid a Myanmar military campaign the UN has called ethnic cleansing.



But Lee said the matter was a cause of concern for all of ASEAN as all members would be anxious if there is any instability or any trouble in fellow member countries.



Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Saturday that the crisis was no longer solely a domestic issue for Myanmar, as fleeing Rohingya could be targets for terrorist radicalization.



Turnbull said the Rohingya issue was discussed by the leaders very constructively Sunday.



Aung Sun Suu Kyi addressed the matter comprehensively at some considerable length herself, he said.



Its a complex problem. She seeks support from ASEAN and other nations to provide help from a humanitarian and capacity-building point of view. Everyone seeks to end the suffering that has been occasioned by the events, the conflict, the dislocation, the displacement of persons.



The ASEAN nations are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.The Afghan Taliban say they are deeply skeptical that a proposed three-nation conference in Indonesia will be a step toward peace.



Jakarta is preparing to host a trilateral conference where religious scholars from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Indonesia would seek ways to bring peace to war-torn Afghanistan.



But the Afghan Taliban urged scholars, to boycott the conference.In a note to journalists, the Afghan Taliban said the conference was purely intended to "legitimize the illegitimate government of Afghanistan and the presence of infidel invaders in the country".



The Afghan religious council, a body leading the Afghan side in the conference, denies the claim and says the conference will feature discussions among religious scholars, searching for a path to peace and security, and the end of terrorism.



The head of media and strategic relations of the High Peace Council said: "We will facilitate their presence should the Afghan Taliban intend to participate in the conference." Sayed Ehsanullah Tahiri also told VOA his group would ask Indonesian officials to invite the Taliban to the conference.



Indonesia's religious council said the Taliban's doubts about the conference will not derail the effort.



"Maybe the Taliban is not well-informed and received the wrong information about the conference," Muhyiddin Junaidi of Indonesia's religious council told Arab News.



"We just want to listen to them and share our experience in resolving conflicts. We also want to synchronize our procedures on issuing a fatwa [to bring peace in Afghanistan]," Junaidi added.



Pakistani religious scholars' council sees the Indonesian trilateral conference as an opportunity for peace.



Hafiz Tahir Ashrafi, chairman Pakistan Religious Council told VOA Urdu: "This is the first time we have heard that Indonesia is hosting such a conference. We think only dialogue can bring peace to the Afghan conflict."



No date is set for the conference yet. Afghan and Indonesian officials say, however, it will be held later this month in Jakarta.



Peace Offer



Afghan President Ashraf Ghani offered unconditional talks to the Taliban and said to recognize the group as a political party. The president also offered to provide passports to Taliban members and their families, along with an office in Kabul.



The Afghan government insists the Taliban will never achieve victory on the battlefield. That is why the commander of US-led NATO forces in Afghanistan, General John Nicholson, says insurgent group would be wise to accept the peace offer.



"So this really is probably their best time to attempt a negotiation, because it's only going to get worse for them," he added.

While the Taliban might still mull whether to accept or reject the offer, a former member of the insurgent group claims the Taliban does not trust the peace negotiation offered by the Afghan president.



"The doors of negotiations were closed when Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour [Taliban leader] got killed. Now the Taliban will not negotiate because it would cement the narrative of being forced to negotiate and they do not want to display weakness," Waheed Muzhda, a former Taliban member told VOA.



"Taliban have said that the negotiation is a conspiracy to weaken and divide us," he added.



The insurgent group previously offered to hold talks on a possible peace agreement, not with Afghanistan government, but directly with the United States.



The offer was declined earlier by U.S. officials, and U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis: "We want the Afghans to lead and provide the substance to the reconciliation effort," Mattis told reporters.



International Reaction



While the Afghan Taliban has not accepted the peace process, leaders of the international community joined the Afghan government urging the Taliban to take advantage of the offer.



Last Thursday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg reaffirmed NATO's support of an Afghan-led peace deal.



"I commend President Ghani for his courageous leadership. His offer to the Taliban is the clearest invitation to peace yet. So I call on the Taliban to come to the negotiating table. There is an opportunity now to end the conflict", he added.



Members of the UN Security Council also welcomed the Afghan government's offer, commending theiecommitment to developing a practical plan for reconciliation.



Last Thursday, the UN Security Council urged the insurgent group to "accept this offer without any preconditions and without the threat of violence, with the aim of an ultimate political settlement that leads to sustainable peace for the people of Afghanistan."



Similarly, China and the European Union believe the Taliban should seize the opportunity and accept the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's offer to recognize the movement as a legitimate political group.



"China and the EU believe that this is an offer that is meaningful. It is an offer that presents an opportunity and a window that should be seized by all parties across the conflict lines," Ambassador Roland Kobia, EU's special envoy to Afghanistan said last Wednesday in Beijing, according to Reuters.



While the peace offer is still on the table, the Afghan government and its international allies continue to target the Taliban as the insurgents carry out attacks all over the country.

U.S. President Donald Trump is assailing special counsel Robert Mueller, accusing him of political bias in his investigation of Trump's 2016 election campaign links to Russia and whether the president obstructed justice in trying to thwart the probe.



"Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans? Another Dem recently added ... does anyone think this is fair? And yet, there is NO COLLUSION!" Trump said in one of a string of Twitter remarks over the weekend recalling his defeat of Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton and his negative view of the investigations in the year and a half since then.



Trump ignored noting that at least at one point Mueller was a registered Trump ignored noting that at least at one point Mueller was a registered Republican voter and is generally viewed in Washington as an apolitical prosecutor, whose investigation of the Trump campaign is supported by Democrats and key Republicans who voiced their support on Sunday news shows for Mueller's handling of the probe.

The U.S. leader also attacked two former ousted FBI officials, former director James Comey, fired by Trump last May, and former deputy director Andrew McCabe, dismissed at Trump's urging late Friday by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, 26 hours before McCabe was set to retire and collect his full pension. Trump contended that Comey's and McCabe's personal written recollections of their conversations he had with them are fabricated.



Trump said he "spent very little time with Andrew McCabe, but he never took notes when he was with me. I don't believe he made memos except to help his own agenda, probably at a later date. Same with lying James Comey. Can we call them Fake Memos?" In another tweet, Trump referred to the one-time FBI chief as "Sanctimonious James Comey" and said he made McCabe "look like a choirboy."



Sessions dismissed McCabe after concurring with an internal Justice Department investigation that McCabe "had made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor, including under oath, on multiple occasions," a news leak McCabe said Comey knew about while they served together at the Federal Bureau of Investigation.



Trump tweeted about a segment he watched on his favorite morning news show, Fox and Friends, "Wow, watch Comey lie under oath" at a Senate hearing, "when asked "have you ever been an anonymous source ... or known someone else to be an anonymous source ...?" He said strongly "never, no." He lied as shown clearly ..."



Trump said, "the Fake News," Trump's epithet for the national news media, "is beside themselves that McCabe was caught, called out and fired ... How many lies? How many leaks? Comey knew it all, and much more!"



The president contended "The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime. It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary" and the Democratic National Committee, "and improperly used" by the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court "for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT!"



John Dowd, Trump's personal lawyer, praised Sessions on Saturday for firing McCabe, and then suggested that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees the special counsel, "bring an end" to Mueller's investigation.



Shortly after McCabe was fired, the president praised the decision on Twitter, calling it a "great day for Democracy."



On Sunday, Senator Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a key Trump supporter, told CNN that Mueller "needs to be able to do his job without interference." Graham said that if Trump were to attempt to fire Mueller it would be "the beginning of the end of his presidency."



Congressman Trey Gowdy, another South Carolina Republican, told Fox News, "I think the president's lawyer does a disservice when he says that and frames the investigation that way ... Russia attacked our country, let special counsel Mueller figure that out."



Gowdy was part of the Republican majority on the House Intelligence Committee that concluded a week ago that there was no collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign, but said in the television interview, "You should want Special Counsel Mueller to take all the time and have all the independence he needs to do his job."



Trump said, "As the House Intelligence Committee has concluded, there was no collusion between Russia and the Trump Campaign. As many are now finding out, however, there was tremendous leaking, lying and corruption at the highest levels of the FBI, Justice & State. Drain The Swamp."



McCabe, in a statement after his firing, called his ouster "retribution," saying, "I am being singled out and treated this way because of the role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of [former FBI Director] James Comey." U.S. news accounts said he had written contemporaneous accounts of his conversations with Trump.



His firing, barely a day ahead of his 50th birthday on Sunday, could cost McCabe thousands of dollars in retirement benefits.U.S. President Donald Trump is assailing special counsel Robert Mueller, accusing him of political bias in his investigation of Trump's 2016 election campaign links to Russia and whether the president obstructed justice in trying to thwart the probe.

"Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans? Another Dem recently added ... does anyone think this is fair? And yet, there is NO COLLUSION!" Trump said in one of a string of Twitter remarks over the weekend recalling his defeat of Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton and his negative view of the investigations in the year and a half since then.



Trump failed to note that at least at one point Mueller was a registered Republican voter and is generally viewed in Washington as an apolitical prosecutor, whose investigation of the Trump campaign is supported by Democrats and key Republicans who voiced their support on Sunday news shows for Mueller's handling of the probe.

On Saturday, Trump's personal lawyer John Dowd suggested that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees the special counsel, "bring an end" to Mueller's investigation, resulting in media speculation about Trump's next move regarding the probe.

Late Sunday, White House Lawyer Ty Cobb released the following statement:

"In response to media speculation and related questions being posed to the administration, the White House yet again confirms that the president is not considering or discussing the firing of the Special Counsel, Robert Mueller."

WATCH: Trump Russia probe

Trump also attacked two former ousted FBI officials, former director James Comey, fired by Trump last May, and former deputy director Andrew McCabe, dismissed at Trump's urging late Friday by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, 26 hours before McCabe was set to retire and collect his full pension. Trump contended that Comey's and McCabe's personal written recollections of their conversations he had with them are fabricated.

Trump said he "spent very little time with Andrew McCabe, but he never took notes when he was with me. I don't believe he made memos except to help his own agenda, probably at a later date. Same with lying James Comey. Can we call them Fake Memos?" In another tweet, Trump referred to the one-time FBI chief as "Sanctimonious James Comey" and said he made McCabe "look like a choirboy."

Sessions dismissed McCabe after concurring with an internal Justice Department investigation that McCabe "had made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor, including under oath, on multiple occasions," a news leak McCabe said Comey knew about while they served together at the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Trump tweeted about a segment he watched on his favorite morning news show, Fox and Friends, "Wow, watch Comey lie under oath" at a Senate hearing, "when asked have you ever been an anonymous source ... or known someone else to be an anonymous source ...? He said strongly never, no. He lied as shown clearly ..."



Trump said, "the Fake News," Trump's epithet for the national news media, "is beside themselves that McCabe was caught, called out and fired ... How many lies? How many leaks? Comey knew it all, and much more!"

The president contended "The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime. It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary" and the Democratic National Committee, "and improperly used" by the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court "for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT!"

On Sunday, Senator Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a key Trump supporter, told CNN that Mueller "needs to be able to do his job without interference." Graham said that if Trump were to attempt to fire Mueller it would be "the beginning of the end of his presidency."

Congressman Trey Gowdy, another South Carolina Republican, told Fox News, "I think the president's lawyer does a disservice when he says that and frames the investigation that way ... Russia attacked our country, let special counsel Mueller figure that out."

Gowdy was part of the Republican majority on the House Intelligence Committee that concluded a week ago that there was no collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign, but said in the television interview, "You should want Special Counsel Mueller to take all the time and have all the independence he needs to do his job."

Trump said, "As the House Intelligence Committee has concluded, there was no collusion between Russia and the Trump Campaign. As many are now finding out, however, there was tremendous leaking, lying and corruption at the highest levels of the FBI, Justice & State. Drain The Swamp."





McCabe, in a statement after his firing, called his ouster "retribution," saying, "I am being singled out and treated this way because of the role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of [former FBI Director] James Comey." U.S. news accounts said he had written contemporaneous accounts of his conversations with Trump.

His firing, barely a day ahead of his 50th birthday on Sunday, could cost McCabe thousands of dollars in retirement benefits.The United States and European powers are negotiating over a possible "supplemental" agreement to the Iran nuclear deal that would address Iran's ballistic-missile development and involvement in Middle East conflicts, a U.S. diplomat said.

U.S. envoy Brian Hook said the allies had "very good" talks about a "supplemental" accord in Vienna on Friday as Reuters reported that Britain, France, and Germany have proposed new European Union sanctions against Iran over its ballistic-missile program and its role in the Syrian civil war.

Hook said U.S. President Donald Trump wants to reach a side agreement with the three European signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal to address the missile program and Iran's interventions in conflicts in Syria and Yemen.

Trump also wants the side deal to correct what he has called "disastrous flaws" in the nuclear agreement, in particular its limits on inspections of potential Iranian nuclear sites by a U.N. watchdog, and the scheduled expiration of some of the key curbs on Iranian nuclear activities such as uranium enrichment after 10 years under the deal.

'Good discussions'

"In order for the United States to remain in the deal, the United States and Europe must come to an agreement to address sunsets, inspections, and long-range ballistic missiles," Hook said.

"We are taking things one week at a time. We are having very good discussions" he said. "There is a lot we agree on, and where we disagree we are working to bridge our differences."

Hook said Trump has asked the negotiators to come up with an agreement by May 12, when the president must decide whether to once again extend U.S. sanctions relief to Iran as required under the nuclear deal in exchange for the curbs on Iran's nuclear activities.

Hook said the U.S. goal in pushing for curbs on Tehran's involvement in regional conflicts is "to bring about a change in the behavior of the Iranian regime."

Iran objects to changes

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqhchi, who attended a separate meeting of signatories to the nuclear deal in Vienna on March 16, said that Tehran strongly objects to the changes sought by Trump.

"We made clear that in our eyes, the blocking and constant ultimatums by the U.S. are a clear violation of the deal," he said.

Araqhchi said Iran will not agree to renegotiate the nuclear provisions of the treaty, but he indicated that Tehran may be willing to hold discussions about missiles and regional conflicts if it feels that the nuclear pact is being fully implemented.

A Russian diplomat at the Vienna meeting on Friday on the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, said no "supplemental" accord is needed, but Moscow would not object if U.S. and European powers reach a side agreement that has no impact on the 2015 deal.

"The way I see it, Western countries are alarmed by the Iranian missile program, and they are seeking to push it into the framework they would find suitable," Russian envoy Mikhail Ulyanov was quoted as saying by state-run TASS news agency.

"If all the parties concerned suddenly develop a wish to make some additional agreements, which would not be immediately linked to the plan of action and would not be detrimental to it, this will be a matter of their political will and preparedness. But still we think there's no need for whatever supplementary agreements today," he said.

Satisfying Trump

European powers are negotiating with Washington over a possible side deal in an effort to address concerns raised by Trump and prevent him from making good on his threats to withdraw from the nuclear deal.

Meanwhile, Reuters on Friday reported that new EU sanctions proposed by Britain, Germany, and France are also aimed at satisfying Trump's demands and keeping him committed to the nuclear deal.

Reuters, citing two people familiar with the matter, said a document outlining the proposal was sent to EU capitals on Friday to measure the level of support for fresh sanctions. According to EU rules, all 28 members must agree to any such sanctions.



The document said the new sanctions would be targeted against individuals and organizations involved with Tehran's ballistic-missile development and its role in supporting Syria's government in a seven-year civil war with Sunni rebels.

Reuters said the document mentions that Britain, France, and Germany are involved in "intensive talks" with the Trump administration to "achieve a clear and lasting reaffirmation of U.S. support for the [nuclear] agreement beyond May 12."

The document suggested the new sanctions would "target militias and commanders" and build on the blocs existing sanctions related to Syria, which include travel bans, asset freezes, and a ban on conducting business with public or private companies.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.ICMAB Ctg Unit elects new office bearers

Chittagong Bureau :

The election of the Chittagong Branch council of Institute of Cost and Management of Bangladesh was held on March 9 last for the session of 2018. Quazi Merazuddin Arif FCMA and Saiful Islam FCMA have been elected as Chairman and Secretary respectively.

The council also elected Moazem Haider FCMA and Mr.Kanchan Chandra Shom as vice chairman and treasurer respectively. Noted that Quazi Merazuddin Arif now working as senior finance Executive of Chittagong Port Authority and Saiful Islam working as deputy general manager(accounts) of PHP Family. Meanwhile Moazzem Haider working as Managing Director of A4B Garments Ltd and Mr. Kanchon Chandra Shom working as Asstt. General Manager (accounts) in Padma Oil Ltd, sources said.

Youth held for raping minor : Police on Saturday arrested a young man for allegedly raping a five-year-old girl from Kolsi Dighirpar area of the port city. The arrestee was identified as Al Mamum, 28.

Sub-inspector of Port Police Station Aminul Islam said the victim along with her father, who was a local rickshaw puller and her garment worker mother, lived at a house, close to that of Mamun.

On Thursday afternoon Mamun took the girl into his room luring her to give chocolate when her parents were out for work.Later on Friday, the parents of the victim came to know about the matter and informed police.



I think you appreciate the chicken fingers but also just like, the power of food on a college campus, said Ramadan, who works for Georgetowns auxiliary business services, which oversees campus dining. Youre 17 to 22 years old. Youre away from home. Youre living on your own. Food kind of provides people with the ability to sit down and just kind of establish and form that community.Planners have cited teleworking as a key strategy for reducing congestion in a region where traffic jams are commonplace. Even as the region has embraced new ways for moving people to get cars off the roads  Bikeshare, ride-hailing, car-sharing and high-occupancy toll lanes  traffic remains an issue. Last year, a study dubbed a stretch of Interstate 95 in Northern Virginia the worst traffic hot spot in the nation with 23 traffic jams a day. Now, with Amazon eyeing several sites in the region for its second headquarters  a move that could come with 50,000 jobs  proving that area leaders can tackle traffic congestion will become even more critical. (Amazon founder and chief executive Jeffrey P. Bezos owns The Washington Post)Thousands of Rohingyas fleeing from unprotected camps

A Correspondent :

The lakhs of Rohingyas who fled away from Myanmar to escape persecution there have been living in unsecured condition.

They took shelter at 13 temporary Rohingya camps in Ukhia and Teknaf Upazilas of the district. The camps were built by cutting forests on 5,000 acres of land.

According to passport department, at least 10.75 lakh Rohingyas have already been registered.

After a recent spot visit, it was found that thousands of Rohingyas are fleeing every day from the unsecured camps as there is no demarcation wall. They are going to different places of the country through roads of Kutupalang, Madhurchhara, Dailpara, Machkaria, Shilerchhara, Patabari, Lombaghona, Dargahbil, Hangarghona, Ajukhaiya, Tulatoli and Koribonia Villages.

Locals said Rohingyas have been entering Ramu Upazila of the district by CNG-run auto-rickshaws and tomtoms (locally-made vehicles) every day since March 1. They are going to different districts and divisional towns including Dhaka, Chittagong, Feni and Comilla by long-route transport.

The Myanmar army threatened the Rohingyas by deploying additional forces, stocking heavy weaponry and building bunkers at Zero Point. After that the Rohingyas who took shelter at Kutupalang, Balukhali and Thaingkhali have been moving to other places every day.

There is allegation that numerous Rohingyas took shelter in Ukhia and Teknaf after August 25 of 2017. Along with different socio-political organisations, the affluent people of the country came forward to supply food and other necessary materials to the Rohingyas from humanitarian ground.

When the news spread that the Rohingyas are getting adequate relief, more Rohingyas came to Bangladesh rapidly. A group of fundamentalist started to distribute money instead of relief, turning the situation worst. The local administration had to give hard effort to control the situation. So the armed forces took over the charge to look after the Rohingyas. The armed forces brought the situation under control within a week.

Though the Rohingyas have been living in 13 camps, they have no discipline. They are going to other places coming out from the camp.

Concerned authority said over 1 lakh Rohingyas fled away in the last six months. They think that the armed forces should count the number of Rohingyas according to the registration otherwise they may occurr any untoward incident inside the country. The people of Ukhia and Teknaf demanded rehabilitation of the Rohingyas at Thengarchar of Noakhali District.

President of Rohingya Prattyabashan Sangram Committee Principal Hamidul Haque Chowdhury said, "The Rohingyas are fleeing every day. It is hard to control them. I think that the repatriation may be halted if they stay in Ukhia for long. If they are not shifted to other places, the people of Ukhia and Teknaf will fall in trouble."A Pennsylvania nurse described the unsatisfying response she got after reporting that a colleague had pressed his pelvis against her and flipped through her phone for naked pictures. A supervisor to whom she reported the conduct, she charged, expressed exasperation, saying, I cant deal with this and What do you want? After her request to be transferred to another location was denied, the nurse, who said she suffered from severe anxiety as a result of the encounter, quit her job.As Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt point out in their book, How Democracies Die, modern authoritarian leaders do not consolidate power by coming after wholly innocent people: They exploit the fact that almost every person with a long public career  those who could be a check on the leaders power  has done something wrong, or something that can be cast as wrong, if scrutinized in a certain way. Former FBI director James B. Comey  fired for refusing to bend to Trumps will  made substantial and hugely consequential mistakes in handling the 2016 investigation of Hillary Clinton. Rex Tillerson  fired just hours after being the first senior U.S. official to join Britain in sharply criticizing Russia  probably was the worst secretary of state in modern history. The list goes on.I havent been able to lay hands on the final agreement, but I do have a copy of a draft, and it is a doozy. It would expose violators to penalties of $10 million, payable to the federal government, for each and any unauthorized revelation of confidential information, defined as all nonpublic information I learn of or gain access to in the course of my official duties in the service of the United States Government on White House staff, including communications . . . with members of the press and with employees of federal, state, and local governments. The $10 million figure, I suspect, was watered down in the final version, because the people to whom I have spoken do not remember that jaw-dropping sum.Awami League Presidium Member and former Food Minister Abdur Razzaque met with former Indian prime minister Monmohan Singh in New Delhi on Saturday.Rakhinization to put the last nail to Rohingyas fate

MEDIA reports on Saturday said the Myanmar government has started a Rakhinization programme in areas mostly cleared by its Rohingya Muslim residents. It appears they have started the rehabilitation programme with Buddhist Rakhine migrants, picking from the poor segment of the population from around 600 km in the south or squatters of state capital Sittwe. It looks like part of a plan to bring total change to the demography of the region following Myanmar military's ethnic cleansing. Myanmar is apparently moving at the second phase of its plan of the region with massive rehabilitation scheme funded by the government, army or privately funded development programme.



A committee for Rehabilitation of Rakhine National Territory is offering jobs and homes to new arrivals to create a Muslim free buffer zone running nearly 100 km from state capital Sittwe to Maungdaw in the northeast closer to Bangladesh as the world witnesses it. All these areas were previously Muslim dominated, now almost the entire Rohingya population had fled vacating the region for resettlement by Buddhist population.



Earlier media reports had said Myanmar is also militarizing the Rakhine State bulldozing abandoned villages and building new roads, helipads, soldiers camps and other military infrastructure to permanently seal the region from Rohingya Muslims in the event they want to return home. What is surprising is that the Myanmar government is engaging Bangladesh in deceitful talks to take back refugees -- now over one million in the country -- to reduce international diplomatic pressure to end the crisis, But evident suggests, they are taking quick action at the same time to create a new situation in which meaningful repatriation will lose any perspective following the change of demography in the region. Rohingyas will feel more insecure and they will have no land to resettle.



It is almost clear Myanmar is openly playing foul not only with Bangladesh and the international community with support from China, Russia, India and such other regional Buddhist nations, they are also out to set up a purely Buddhist nation state destroying its Muslim population. It is shame that the international community and the UNO in particular; which is only giving lip services to the cause of Rohingyas is doing nothing to help the Rohingyas when Myanmar is destroying the last vestige of their presence in their ancestral land.



We witness a helpless Bangladesh with its poor leadership is no match to Myanmar's outmaneuvering using political support of some big powers and its Buddhist neighbours. We call upon the international community once again to stand by the helpless Rohingyas to get them back to their land.





AL team meets Rahul, Sonia

UNB, Dhaka :

A three-member delegation of Bangladesh Awami League (AL) attended the plenary session of the Indian Congress in New Delhi on Saturday.

The delegation members



were AL presidium member and former food minister Abdur Razzaque, former foreign minister Dr Dipu Moni and AL assistant office secretary Biplob Barua.

They also met Congress President Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi on the sidelines of the plenary session at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium.

The meeting began at 12:00 noon and was attended among others by former Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh and senior Congress leader Anand Sharma, a source in New Delhi said.



Manitoba Liberal Party leader Dougald Lamont capped off his partys annual general meeting this weekend by positioning the Liberals as the progressive alternative to the incumbent Progressive Conservatives and the opposition New Democratic Party in the coming 2020 provincial election.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 18/3/2018 (1284 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba Liberal Party leader Dougald Lamont capped off his partys annual general meeting this weekend by positioning the Liberals as the progressive alternative to the incumbent Progressive Conservatives and the opposition New Democratic Party in the coming 2020 provincial election.

"On issue after issue, Brian Pallister and the PCs, theyre taking Manitoba in the wrong direction and they dont even seem to be listening," Lamont told a crowd of about 75 people at the Radisson Hotel in downtown Winnipeg on Saturday night.

During recent travels across Manitoba, Lamont said, "Weve been hearing that the problems that are getting worse under the PCs were festering for a long time under the NDP."

"And part of that, I think, is because the NDPs brand is as a party of the left. But the reality is, they havent been progressive in a generation."

Lamont, who was elected leader of the Manitoba Liberals in October, delivered his ten-minute speech mostly in English, with some brief French interludes.

'Our goal is to build a progressive party, and a progressive government, that rejects the kinds of policies that Brian Pallister has been pushing for 30 or 40 years'  Manitoba Liberal leader Dougald Lamont

"Our goal is to build a progressive party, and a progressive government, that rejects the kinds of policies that Brian Pallister has been pushing for 30 or 40 years," he said.

"We cant cut our way out of debt," said Lamont. "We need to work our way out of it. And that means we have to bring a stronger private sector, as well as provide quality healthcare and justice."

Lamonts speech "set a clear direction in terms of a very progressive party, a party which is going to be concerned not just with a segment of the population, but saying very clearly that everyone matters," said Liberal MLA Jon Gerrard, who said he plans to run in the next election.

Gerrard was the only Liberal MLA who attended Lamonts speech Saturday. Liberal MLA Judy Klassen was visiting her riding of Kewatinook, said Lamont, and the logistical difficulties of travelling to and from that large, remote area prevented her from attending. Liberal MLA Cindy Lamoreaux had a prior obligation related to her graduate studies, Lamont said.

At the meeting, party delegates voted on a series of policy resolutions that included a plan to put Manitoba Hydro on "a more independent and sound financial footing" in light of coming rate increases, as well as a goal of "making Manitoba a carbon net negative province."

"If you could actually make Manitoba bank more carbon and greenhouse gases, we could probably justify asking the federal government to pay us to do that," said Lamont in an interview with the Free Press earlier in the day.

Lamont also took Premier Brian Pallister to task for "completely ignoring" Manitobas ongoing methamphetamine crisis.

"Electing a Liberal is a good opportunity to send a message to Brian Pallister that he needs to listen," he said.

Lamont said he sees "a path to victory" for his party in the 2020 provincial election, but acknowledged the Liberals face a "colossal amount of work between now and then."

"Its showing that we are a true alternative to both the PCs and the NDP, and that were the party that people need to vote for in order to get rid of Brian Pallister," said Lamont. "Because I dont think the NDP can do it, for a variety of reasons."

The first step to victory, he said, would be achieving official party status. That would require the Manitoba Liberals to earn a fourth seat in the Legislative Assembly  presumably for Lamont himself, who doesnt currently hold a seat.

The coming byelection for the St. Boniface seat recently vacated by former NDP premier Greg Selinger would be one such opportunity. Selinger defeated Lamont in that riding in the 2003 provincial election.

"Ive been looking at St. Boniface, considering it very seriously," said Lamont. "I was door knocking, I think its winnable, people from there are asking me to run. Im not ready to make an announcement yet, but Im looking at that very seriously."

Lamont said he also wants the Liberals to add "as many seats as possible" before the next election.

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"We have to prove ourselves to people," he said.

"And thats it, we have to earn it. Theres no magic trick to it or whatever, its about going out and talking to people and building trust with them."

Voters are "justifiably disappointed with politicians and political parties," added Lamont.

"They keep promising the moon and then they dont follow through. So our goal is to figure out what kind of ideas can we come up with that are ambitious and doable, and how do we do them?"

solomon.israel@freepress.mb.ca

@sol_israelWELLINGTON, New Zealand  New Zealanders call their seat of power the Beehive, a sparkle of Kiwi humour for a spiralling concrete building that looks exactly as it sounds. On the ninth floor, the countrys leader greets visitors in an unassuming office with posters of women in wartime and a view of the Wellington harbour.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 18/3/2018 (1284 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand  New Zealanders call their seat of power the Beehive, a sparkle of Kiwi humour for a spiralling concrete building that looks exactly as it sounds. On the ninth floor, the countrys leader greets visitors in an unassuming office with posters of women in wartime and a view of the Wellington harbour.

"Im Jacinda," she says, extending her hand.

The calm belies a movie-worthy first 100 days for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who in October, at 37, became the worlds youngest female leader.

Ardern took control after jumping into the race seven weeks before the vote. She formed a coalition government of rivals, akin to Bernie Sanders sharing power with Ted Cruz. Then, in January, Ardern announced her pregnancy  which means this year, shell become the only elected world leader besides the late Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto to give birth in office.

She rose to power on a platform of positivity and optimism, more in line with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau than U.S. President Donald Trump. Its not just her age or pregnancy that has sparked the rush of adulation known as "Jacindamania." Its her message. Ardern offers a vision of hope for liberal democracy in a region where those values face a resurgent threat and Americas role is shrinking.

"Its about us ultimately being responsive," she told the Los Angeles Times. "Seeing what change is bringing and acknowledging the needs there are and doing something about it."

Ardern begins her tenure at a precarious time for the Asia-Pacific region, and the world. China  New Zealands largest trading partner  just announced it would abolish term limits, setting up President Xi Jinping to stay in power indefinitely and wield greater control. Strongman leaders in the Philippines and Cambodia threaten to unravel fledgling democracies. Trump has pulled the U.S. out of a global climate-change agreement and the massive trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

When Trump met Ardern at a summit in Vietnam in November, he noted that her surprise win caused "a lot of upset in her country."

'I certainly didn't set out to necessarily do any of these things in this order. But I'm determined that people see that the trade-offs that women have been asked to make in the past don't have to be'  New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern

She chuckled and replied: "No one marched when I was elected."

Ardern has helped craft a new version of the trade deal. She trumpets the need to combat climate change and is reinforcing the countrys commitment to reduce nuclear weapons internationally.

"We feel quite proud that she is leading us, in comparison to the rest of the world," said Ruby Topzand, 22, a communications student at Massey Universitys Wellington campus. "Shes the rebellion."

Ardern wasnt even supposed to be in the election  at least not this one.

Last March, she took over as deputy leader of the Labour Party. By July, its head, Andrew Little, announced his resignation amid record-low poll ratings. That left Ardern to dive in mid-race and duke out a victory for Labour against the conservative, longtime incumbent National Party. Arderns slogan sprang from one of her social media sign-offs: "Lets do this."

Neither side won enough seats for a majority government, so the decision about the countrys future came down to the grouchy, anti-immigration leader of the New Zealand First party, Winston Peters. (He became deputy prime minister and foreign minister as part of the deal.) Ardern told reporters she celebrated her win by heading back to her Wellington studio apartment and eating a "pot of noodles."

Ardern, whose partner is fishing show host Clarke Gayford, discovered she was pregnant six days before learning she would become New Zealands third female prime minister.

"I certainly didnt set out to necessarily do any of these things in this order," said Ardern, flashing one of her wide, trademark smiles. "But Im determined that people see that the trade-offs that women have been asked to make in the past dont have to be."

Her new role has drawn global attention to this former British colony: a congratulatory letter from Hillary Clinton, a Vogue photo shoot, an Australian interviewer who wanted to discuss her babys conception.

"In one way, Im lucky because I didnt have a choice," Ardern told the Times. "We didnt sit at home and say, Who is going to quit their job?"

Ardern announced her condition on Twitter, saying Gayford would be "the first man of fishing & stay at home dad."

Ardern is a scotch lover, used to have a nose piercing and occasionally DJs. She won fans worldwide when, during the campaign, a radio show host asked whether she planned on having children. Ardern said she could respond, but pointed a finger at him. "For other women, it is totally unacceptable in 2017 to say that women should have to answer that question in the workplace," she said.

People started crafting tote bags and internet memes. Jacindamania had begun.

"Shes captured the imagination of a lot of women out there who might have political ambitions," said Jennifer Curtin, a University of Auckland professor who researches women in politics. "I wouldnt like to say Trump and Brexit gave her a halo, but her relentless positivity was able to give her more traction."

New Zealand, with a population less than five million and incredible natural beauty, is often cast as paradise at the bottom of the world. The post office conducts a national Secret Santa gift exchange. Airport signs tell travellers to relax. Even the sheep look happy.

Ardern, however, faces a less serene reality. Housing prices rank among the highest in the world. Homelessness is the worst among developed countries. Signs on farmhouses warn against child abuse.

Ardern named inequality and child poverty as priorities for her administration. Last month, she became the countrys first prime minister to march in a gay pride parade. She must also find common ground with a coalition diametrically opposed to her on many issues. As one of her first deal-making moves, Ardern outlined a plan to ban foreign homebuyers.

She said it followed through on a promise to lower soaring property prices and equalize opportunity.

Not all embrace her progressive politics  even in Morrinsville, the northern dairy town where Ardern spent much of her childhood. Its main street is filled with cow sculptures and old-timey shops such as the Golden Kiwi, a fish-and-chips takeaway where Ardern worked as a teenager.

"Some people have asked me if Im a radical," Ardern said in her 2008 introductory speech to parliament. "My answer to that is simple. Im from Morrinsville."

Arderns father worked as a police officer, her mother as a school cafeteria employee. She grew up in the Mormon Church, although, vexed by its conservative beliefs on sexuality and feminism, she left it in her early 20s.

She was "very socially aware of the plight of many New Zealanders and also people around the world," said John Inger, the principal of Arderns high school. She still visits.

Ardern founded an Amnesty International group there, he said, and led a successful campaign to allow women to wear pants instead of skirts. In 1998, her high school classmates voted her most likely to become prime minister.

She studied politics and public relations at a nearby college and spent a semester at Arizona State University, where she watched America grapple with the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.

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Her path to politics went through New York; she volunteered for a workers rights campaign and assisted in a soup kitchen. She served as a researcher for former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark and a policy adviser for former British prime minister Tony Blair before entering the New Zealand parliament in 2008. She was 28.

"My passion for social justice came from what I saw," she said in her introductory speech. "My love of politics came when I realized that it was key to changing what I saw."

Conservatives label her allure stardust. Ardern, to some, is not a refreshing breath of sincerity and openness, but an untested, dangerously naive social democrat driven by idealism.

She ignores them.

"Its just for us to do our bit, regardless of what anyone else is doing," she said, before returning to her desk and the day that awaited. "I hope all the international community finds the path to make its contribution. That doesnt change our duty."

 Los Angeles TimesRoyal Bank of Canada operates as a diversified financial service company worldwide. The company's Personal & Commercial Banking segment offers checking and savings accounts, home equity financing, personal lending, private banking, indirect lending, mutual funds and self-directed brokerage accounts, guaranteed investment certificates, credit cards, and payment products and solutions; and lending, leasing, deposit, investment, foreign exchange, cash management, auto dealer financing, trade products, and services to small and medium-sized commercial businesses. This segment offers financial products and services through branches, automated teller machines, and mobile sales network. Its Wealth Management segment provides a suite of advice-based solutions and strategies to high net worth and ultra-high net worth individuals, and institutional clients. The company's Insurance segment offers life, health, home, auto, travel, wealth, annuities, and reinsurance advice and solutions; and creditor and business insurance services to individual, business, and group clients through its field sales force, advice centers, and online, as well as through independent insurance advisors and affinity relationships. Its Investor & Treasury Services segment provides asset, cash management, transaction banking, and treasury services to institutional clients; correspondent banking and trade finance services for financial institutions; and short-term funding and liquidity management services. The company's Capital Markets segment offers corporate and investment banking, as well as equity and debt origination, distribution, sale, and trading services for corporations, institutional investors, asset managers, governments, and central banks. Royal Bank of Canada has a strategic partnership with Royal College Of Physicians & Surgeons Of Canada to support the needs of Canada's medical specialists. The company was founded in 1864 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

Read More5 illegal jar water cos fined

About 4200 plastic water jars being destroyed, collected from 5 illegal factories, sealed two and realises Taka four lakh for marketing contaminated waters in city. Nine persons also sent to jail on different terms. This photo was taken from Shilpakala Ac

Staff Reporter :

Five jar water companies have been fined Tk 4 lakh by a mobilefor selling unsafe water in Paltan and Topkhana areas in the city on Sunday.

A mobile court conducted by Rapid Action Battalion (RAB-3) also crushed 200 jars.

Executive Magistrate Sarwar Alam led the mobile court. The Magistrate told a group of journalists that they found filling unsafe water into jars in 'Dighi drinking water' in Topkhana Road. The court fined the officials of the company Aminur Rahman and Tamanna Afrin Tk one lakh as fine.

The mobile court also fined Tk 2 lakh to Mojammel Haque, the owner of 'Winner drinking water' in the same road for the same crime.

It also fined Tk 1 lakh to Fajlul Haque, the owner of 'Aqua Blue' in culvert road for the same cause.

The mobile court also sentenced for three months jail to each Md. Selim, Tauhid Ahmed, Delwar Hossain, Rezaul and Nazmul Hossain, officials from 'Limuka drinking water' for preparing unsafe water in jar to sell.

It also sealed 'Masafee drinking water' in Purana paltan for selling unsafe jar water. It gave one months jail to Ibrahim Mollah, Md. Shamim, Md. Mahbub and Tasrul Islam, officials of the firm.

Recently, a research work revealed that most of the jar water is unsafe and full of hazardous for human health.

The administration warned the firms not to sell unsafe water. But, the dishonest businessmen are yet to shun the path.

In these circumstances, the mobile court is frequently conducting such operations to stop selling of hazardous water.

The following companies are subsidiares of Laboratory Co. of America: 1957285 Ontario Inc. dba Quality Underwriting Services, 2089729 Ontario Inc., 2248848 Ontario Inc., 3065619 Nova Scotia Company, 3257959 Nova Scotia Company, 896988 Ontario Limited, 9279-3280 Quebec Inc., Accupath Diagnostic Laboratories Inc., Alpha Medical Laboratory LLC, Assets of Pathology Inc, Beacon LBS IPA Inc., Beacon Laboratory Benefit Solutions Inc., CannAmm GP Inc., CannAmm Limited Partnership, Center for Disease Detection International, Center for Disease Detection LLC, Centrex Clinical Laboratories Inc., Clearstone Central Laboratories (U.S.) Inc., Clearstone Holdings (International) Ltd., Clipper Holdings Inc., Colorado Coagulation Consultants Inc., Colorado Laboratory Services LLC, Correlagen Diagnostics Inc., Covance Inc., Curalab Inc., Cytometry Associates Inc., Czura Thornton (Hong Kong) Limited, DCL Acquisition Inc., DCL Medical Laboratories LLC (DE), DCL Medical Laboratories LLC (FL), DCL Sub LLC, DIANON Systems Inc., DL Holdings Limited Partnership, Decision Diagnostics L.L.C. (aka DaVinici/Medicorp LLC), Diagnostic Services Inc., DynaLifeDX, Dynacare - Gamma Laboratory Partnership, Dynacare Company, Dynacare G.P. Inc., Dynacare Holdco LLC, Dynacare Laboratories Inc., Dynacare Laboratories Limited Partnership, Dynacare Northwest Inc., Dynacare Realty Inc., DynalifeDX Infrastructure Inc., Endocrine Sciences Inc., Esoterix Genetic Counseling LLC, Esoterix Genetic Laboratories LLC, Esoterix Inc., Execmed Health Services Inc., FirstSource Laboratory Solutions Inc., GDML Medical Laboratories Inc, Gamma Dynacare Central Medical Laboratories GP Inc., Gamma Dynacare Central Medical Laboratory Limited Partnership, HHLA Lab-In-An-Envelope LLC, Health Trans Services Inc., Home Healthcare Laboratory of America LLC, IDX Pathology Inc., Impact Genetics Corp, Impact Genetics Inc., Kaleida LabCorp LLC, Lab Delivery Service of New York City Inc., LabCorp BVBA, LabCorp Belgium Holdings Inc., LabCorp Central Laboratories (Canada) Inc., LabCorp Central Laboratories (China) Inc., LabCorp Central Laboratories (Singapore) Pte., LabCorp Development Company, LabCorp Employer Services Inc., LabCorp Health System Diagnostics LLC, LabCorp Indiana Inc., LabCorp Japan G.K., LabCorp Limited, LabCorp Michigan Inc., LabCorp Nebraska Inc., LabCorp Neon Ltd., LabCorp Neon Switzerland S.a.r.l., LabCorp Specialty Testing Billing Service Inc., LabCorp Specialty Testing Group Inc., LabCorp Staffing Solutions Inc., LabCorp Tennessee LLC, LabCorp UK Holdings Ltd., LabWest Inc., Laboratoire Bio-Medic Inc., Laboratory Corporation of America, Lifecodes Corporation, LipoScience Inc., Litholink Corporation, MEDTOX Scientific Inc., Medical Neurogenitics LLC, Medtox Diagnostics Inc., Medtox Laboratories Inc., Monogram Biosciences Inc., Monogram Biosciences UK Limited, NWT Inc., National Genetics Institute, New Brighton Business Center LLC, New Imaging Diagnostics LLC, New Molecular Diagnostics Ventures LLC, Orchid Cellmark Ltd., Orchid Cellmark ULC, PA Labs Inc., Path Lab Incorporated, Pathology Associates Medical Lab LLC, Pee Dee Pathology Associates Inc., Persys Technology Inc., Pixel by LabCorp, Princeton Diagnostic Laboratories of America Inc., Protedyne Corporation, ReliaGene Technologies Inc., SW/DL LLC, Saint Josephs-PAML LLC, Sequenom Biosciences (India) Pvt. Ltd., Sequenom Center for Molecular Medicine LLC, Sequenom Inc, Sequenom Inc., Southern Idaho Regional Laboratory, Tandem Labs Inc., The LabCorp Charitable Foundation, Tri-Cities Laboratory LLC, Viro-Med Laboratories Inc., and Yakima Medical Arts Inc..Everest Re Group Ltd. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of reinsurance and insurance services. It operates through the following segments: U.S. Reinsurance, International, Bermuda, and Insurance. The U.S. Reinsurance segment writes property and casualty reinsurance and specialty lines of business, including marine, aviation, surety, and accident and health business, on both a treaty and facultative basis, through reinsurance brokers, as well as directly with ceding companies primarily within the U.S. The International segment offers foreign property and casualty reinsurance through Everest Re's branches in Canada and Singapore and through offices in Brazil, Miami, and New Jersey. The Bermuda segment comprises reinsurance and insurance to worldwide property and casualty markets through brokers and directly with ceding companies from its Bermuda office and reinsurance to the United Kingdom and European markets through its UK branch and Ireland Re. The Insurance segment writes property and casualty insurance directly and through brokers, surplus lines brokers, and general agents within the U.S., Canada, and Europe. The company was founded in 1999 and is headquartere

Read MoreBNP awaiting permission for today's rally in city

Staff Reporter :

The BNP on Sunday said it was still waiting for permission to hold a rally at Suhrawardy Uddyan of the city today.

"We are still waiting for police permission to hold a rally at Suhrawardy Uddyan," BNP Senior Joint-Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said this in a press briefing at the party's Nayapaltan central office.

BNP for the third time announced to hold the rally at Suhrawardy Uddyan for 'unconditional' release of the party Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia from jail, as the police refused to give permission before-hand.

Rizvi said, Public Works Department has no objection for allowing BNP to use Suhrawardy Uddyan subjected to permission from Dhaka Metropolitan Police.

The party has taken all preparations for the rally. Once police permission is available, they would start to make stage.

BNP first announced to hold the rally either at Suhrawardy Uddyan or Nayapaltan in front of the party central office on February 22.

As DMP did not give permission, the party announced black flag demonstration in Dhaka City on February 24.

Later it again wanted to hold the rally at Suhrawardy Uddyan on March 12.

This time also the police refused to give permission.

On March 12, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir announced afresh for the public meeting at the same venue and for the same demand for March 19.The following companies are subsidiares of Caterpillar: Advanced Tri-Gen Power Systems LLC, Anchor Coupling Inc., Asia Power Systems (Tianjin) Ltd., AsiaTrak (Tianjin) Ltd., Banco Caterpillar S.A., Berg Propulsion International Pte Ltd., Bucyrus, Bucyrus Australia Surface Pty. Ltd., Bucyrus Europe Holdings Ltd., Bucyrus Europe Limited, Bucyrus International (Chile) Limitada, Bucyrus International (Peru) S.A., Bucyrus Mining Australia Pty. Ltd., Bucyrus Mining China LLC, Bucyrus UK Limited, Cat Rental Kyushu LLC, Caterpillar (Africa) (Proprietary) Limited, Caterpillar (China) Financial Leasing Co. Ltd., Caterpillar (China) Investment Co. Ltd., Caterpillar (China) Machinery Components Co. Ltd., Caterpillar (HK) Limited, Caterpillar (Huainan) Machinery Service Co. Ltd., Caterpillar (Langfang) Mining Equipment Co. Ltd., Caterpillar (Luxembourg) Investment Co. S.a r.l., Caterpillar (NI) Limited, Caterpillar (Newberry) LLC, Caterpillar (Qingzhou) Ltd., Caterpillar (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd., Caterpillar (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Caterpillar (Suzhou) Logistics Co. Ltd., Caterpillar (Thailand) Limited, Caterpillar (U.K.) Limited, Caterpillar (Wujiang) Ltd., Caterpillar (Xuzhou) Ltd., Caterpillar (Zhengzhou) Ltd., Caterpillar Acquisition Holding Corp., Caterpillar Americas C.V., Caterpillar Americas Co., Caterpillar Americas Funding Inc., Caterpillar Americas Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Caterpillar Asia Limited, Caterpillar Asia Pacific L.P., Caterpillar Asia Pte. Ltd., Caterpillar Asset Intelligence LLC, Caterpillar Belgium S.A., Caterpillar Brasil Comercio de Maquinas e Pecas Ltda., Caterpillar Brasil Ltda., Caterpillar Brazil LLC, Caterpillar Castings Kiel GmbH, Caterpillar Centro de Formacion S.L., Caterpillar China Limited, Caterpillar Commercial Australia Pty. Ltd., Caterpillar Commercial LLC, Caterpillar Commercial Northern Europe Limited, Caterpillar Commercial S.A., Caterpillar Commercial S.A.R.L., Caterpillar Commercial Services S.A.R.L., Caterpillar Communications LLC, Caterpillar Corporativo Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Caterpillar Cote DIvoire, Caterpillar Credito S.A. de C.V. SOFOM E.N.R., Caterpillar DC Pension Trust Limited, Caterpillar Digital Services & Solutions SARL, Caterpillar Distribution International LLC, Caterpillar Distribution Services Europe B.V.B.A., Caterpillar East Real Estate Holding Ltd., Caterpillar Emissions Solutions Inc., Caterpillar Energy Solutions Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Caterpillar Energy Solutions GmbH, Caterpillar Energy Solutions Inc., Caterpillar Energy Solutions S.A., Caterpillar Energy System Technology (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Caterpillar Engine Systems Inc., Caterpillar Equipos Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Caterpillar Eurasia LLC, Caterpillar FS (QFC) LLC, Caterpillar Finance France S.A., Caterpillar Finance Kabushiki Kaisha, Caterpillar Financial Acquisition Funding LLC, Caterpillar Financial Aftermarket Solutions Corporation, Caterpillar Financial Australia Leasing Pty Limited, Caterpillar Financial Australia Limited, Caterpillar Financial Commercial Account Corporation, Caterpillar Financial Corporacion Financiera S.A. E.F.C., Caterpillar Financial Dealer Funding LLC, Caterpillar Financial Funding Corporation, Caterpillar Financial Kazakhstan Limited Liability Partnership, Caterpillar Financial Leasing (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Caterpillar Financial New Zealand Limited, Caterpillar Financial Nordic Services AB, Caterpillar Financial Nova Scotia Corporation, Caterpillar Financial OOO, Caterpillar Financial Receivables Corporation, Caterpillar Financial Renting S.A., Caterpillar Financial SARL, Caterpillar Financial Services (Dubai) Limited, Caterpillar Financial Services (Ireland) plc, Caterpillar Financial Services (UK) Limited, Caterpillar Financial Services Argentina S.A., Caterpillar Financial Services Asia Pte. Ltd., Caterpillar Financial Services Belgium S.P.R.L., Caterpillar Financial Services CR s.r.o., Caterpillar Financial Services Corporation, Caterpillar Financial Services GmbH, Caterpillar Financial Services India Private Limited, Caterpillar Financial Services Leasing ULC, Caterpillar Financial Services Limited Les Services Financiers Caterpillar Limitee, Caterpillar Financial Services Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Caterpillar Financial Services Netherlands B.V., Caterpillar Financial Services Norway AS, Caterpillar Financial Services Philippines Inc., Caterpillar Financial Services Poland Sp. z o.o., Caterpillar Financial Services South Africa (Pty) Limited, Caterpillar Financial UK Acquisition Funding Partners, Caterpillar Financial Ukraine LLC, Caterpillar Fluid Systems S.r.l., Caterpillar Fomento Comercial Ltda., Caterpillar Forest Products Inc., Caterpillar France S.A.S., Caterpillar GB L.L.C., Caterpillar Global Investments S.a r.l., Caterpillar Global Mining America LLC, Caterpillar Global Mining Equipamentos De Mineracao do Brasil Ltda., Caterpillar Global Mining Equipment LLC, Caterpillar Global Mining Europe GmbH, Caterpillar Global Mining Expanded Products Pty Ltd, Caterpillar Global Mining Germany Holdings GmbH, Caterpillar Global Mining HMS GmbH, Caterpillar Global Mining Holdings GmbH, Caterpillar Global Mining Hong Kong AFC Manufacturing Holding Co. Limited, Caterpillar Global Mining Hong Kong Limited, Caterpillar Global Mining LLC, Caterpillar Global Mining Mexico LLC, Caterpillar Global Mining Pty. Ltd., Caterpillar Global Mining SARL, Caterpillar Global Mining U.S. Parts LLC, Caterpillar Global Services LLC, Caterpillar Group Services S.A., Caterpillar Holding (France) S.A.S., Caterpillar Holding Germany GmbH, Caterpillar Holdings Australia Pty. Ltd., Caterpillar Hungary Components Manufacturing Ltd., Caterpillar Hydraulics Italia S.r.l., Caterpillar IPX LLC, Caterpillar IRB LLC, Caterpillar Impact Products Limited, Caterpillar India Private Limited, Caterpillar Industrial Inc., Caterpillar Industrias Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Caterpillar Industries (Pty) Ltd, Caterpillar Insurance Co. Ltd., Caterpillar Insurance Company, Caterpillar Insurance Holdings Inc., Caterpillar Insurance Services Corporation, Caterpillar International Finance Designated Activity Company, Caterpillar International Finance Luxembourg Holding S. a r.l., Caterpillar International Finance Luxembourg S. a r.l., Caterpillar International Holding S. a r.l., Caterpillar International Luxembourg I S. a r.l., Caterpillar International Luxembourg II S. a r.l., Caterpillar International Product SARL, Caterpillar International Services Corporation, Caterpillar International Services del Peru S.A., Caterpillar Investment Limited, Caterpillar Investment One SARL, Caterpillar Investment Two SARL, Caterpillar Investments, Caterpillar Japan LLC, Caterpillar Latin America Services S.R.L., Caterpillar Latin America Services de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Caterpillar Latin America Services de Panama S. de R.L., Caterpillar Latin America Servicios de Chile Limitada, Caterpillar Latin America Support Services S. DE R.L., Caterpillar Leasing (Thailand) Limited, Caterpillar Leasing Chile S.A., Caterpillar Leasing GmbH (Leipzig), Caterpillar Leasing Operativo Limitada, Caterpillar Life Insurance Company, Caterpillar Logistics (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Caterpillar Logistics (UK) Limited, Caterpillar Logistics Inc., Caterpillar Logistics ML Services France S.A.S., Caterpillar Logistics Services China Limited, Caterpillar Luxembourg Group S.ar.l., Caterpillar Luxembourg LLC, Caterpillar Luxembourg S.a r.l., Caterpillar Machinery Nantong Co. Ltd., Caterpillar Marine Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Caterpillar Marine Asset Intelligence, Caterpillar Marine Power UK Limited, Caterpillar Marine Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Caterpillar Maroc SARL, Caterpillar Materiels Routiers SAS, Caterpillar Mexico LLC, Caterpillar Mexico S.A. de C.V., Caterpillar Mining Canada ULC, Caterpillar Mining Chile Servicios Limitada, Caterpillar Motoren (Guangdong) Co. Ltd., Caterpillar Motoren GmbH & Co. KG, Caterpillar Motoren Henstedt-Ulzburg GmbH, Caterpillar Motoren Rostock GmbH, Caterpillar Motoren Verwaltungs-GmbH, Caterpillar Netherlands Holding B.V., Caterpillar North America C.V., Caterpillar Operator Training Ltd., Caterpillar Overseas Credit Corporation SARL, Caterpillar Overseas Investment Holding SARL, Caterpillar Overseas Limited, Caterpillar Overseas SARL, Caterpillar Panama Services S.A., Caterpillar Paving Products Inc., Caterpillar Paving Products Xuzhou Ltd., Caterpillar Pension Trust Limited, Caterpillar Poland Sp. z o.o., Caterpillar Power Generation Systems (Bangladesh) Limited, Caterpillar Power Generation Systems L.L.C., Caterpillar Power Systems Inc., Caterpillar Power Ventures International Ltd., Caterpillar Precision Seals Korea, Caterpillar Prodotti Stradali S.r.l., Caterpillar Product Services Corporation, Caterpillar Propulsion AB, Caterpillar Propulsion International Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Caterpillar Propulsion Italy S.R.L., Caterpillar Propulsion Namibia (Proprietary) Limited, Caterpillar Propulsion Production AB, Caterpillar Propulsion Pte. Ltd., Caterpillar Propulsion Singapore Pte. Ltd., Caterpillar R&D Center (China) Co. Ltd., Caterpillar Ramos Arizpe LLC, Caterpillar Ramos Arizpe S. de R.L. de C.V., Caterpillar Ramos Arizpe Servicios S.A. de C.V., Caterpillar Reman Powertrain Indiana LLC, Caterpillar Remanufacturing Drivetrain LLC, Caterpillar Remanufacturing Services (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Caterpillar Renting France S.A.S., Caterpillar Reynosa S.A. de C.V., Caterpillar SARL, Caterpillar Services Germany GmbH, Caterpillar Servicios Limitada, Caterpillar Servicios Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Caterpillar Servizi Italia Srl, Caterpillar Shrewsbury Limited, Caterpillar Skinningrove Limited, Caterpillar Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd., Caterpillar Special Services Belgium S.P.R.L., Caterpillar Switchgear Americas LLC, Caterpillar Switchgear Holding Inc., Caterpillar Tianjin Ltd., Caterpillar Torreon S. de R.L. de C.V., Caterpillar Tosno L.L.C., Caterpillar Transmissions France S.A.R.L., Caterpillar Tunneling Canada Holdings Ltd., Caterpillar Tunnelling Canada Corporation, Caterpillar Tunnelling Europe Limited, Caterpillar UK Employee Trust Limited, Caterpillar UK Engines Company Limited, Caterpillar UK Group Limited, Caterpillar UK Holdings Limited, Caterpillar Undercarriage (Xuzhou) Co. Ltd., Caterpillar Underground Mining Pty. Ltd., Caterpillar Used Equipment Services Inc., Caterpillar Venture Capital Inc., Caterpillar Work Tools B.V., Caterpillar Work Tools Inc., Caterpillar World Trading Corporation, Caterpillar Xuzhou, Caterpillar of Australia Pty. Ltd., Caterpillar of Canada Corporation, Caterpillar of Delaware Inc., Centre de Distribution de Wallonie SPRL, CleanAir Systems, Downer Freight Rail, ECM Railway Evolution Romania s.r.l., ECM S.p.A., EDC European Excavator Design Center GmbH, EMC Holding Corp., EMD International Holdings Inc., ERA Information & Entertainment (BVI) Limited, ERA Mining Machinery Limited, Electro-Motive Diesel Limited, Electro-Motive Locomotive Technologies LLC, Electro-Motive Technical Consulting Co. (Beijing) Ltd., Energy Services International Limited, Equipos de Acuna S.A. de C.V., Eurenov S.A.S., F. G. Wilson (Proprietary) Limited, F. Perkins Limited, FG Wilson (Engineering) Limited, GB Holdco (China) Inc., GFCM Comercial Mexico S.A. de C.V. SOFOM E.N.R., GFCM Servicios S.A. de C.V., Gremada Industries - Assets, Hong Kong Siwei Holdings Limited, Inmobiliaria Conek S.A. de C.V., JCS Co., Kemper Valve & Fittings Corp., Leo Inc., Locomotive Demand Power Pty Ltd., Locomotoras Progress Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Lovat, M2M Data Corporation, MGE Equipamentos & Servicos Ferroviarios, MWM, MWM Austria GmbH, MWM Benelux B.V., MWM Energy Australia Pty Ltd, MWM France S.A.S, MWM Real Estate GmbH, MaK Americas Inc., MaK Americas Inc. (Canada), Magnum Power Products LLC, Marble, Maschinenbau Kiel GmbH, Mec-Track S.r.l., Metalmark Financial Services Limited, Motoren Steffens GmbH, Nippon Caterpillar LLC, P. T. Solar Services Indonesia, PT Caterpillar Finance Indonesia, PT. Bucyrus Indonesia, PT. Caterpillar Indonesia, PT. Caterpillar Indonesia Batam, PT. Caterpillar Remanufacturing Indonesia, Perkins Engines, Perkins Engines (Asia Pacific) Pte Ltd, Perkins Engines Group Limited, Perkins Engines Inc., Perkins Group Limited, Perkins Holdings Limited LLC, Perkins India Private Limited, Perkins International Inc., Perkins Japan LLC, Perkins Limited, Perkins Machinery (Changshu) Co. Ltd., Perkins Motores do Brasil Ltda., Perkins Power Systems Technology (Wuxi) Co. Ltd., Perkins Small Engines (Wuxi) Co. Ltd., Perkins Small Engines LLC, Perkins Small Engines Limited, Perkins Technology Inc., Progress Metal Reclamation Company, Progress Rail Arabia Limited Company, Progress Rail Australia Pty Ltd, Progress Rail Canada Corporation, Progress Rail Equipamentos e Servicos Ferroviarios do Brasil Ltda., Progress Rail Equipment Leasing Corporation, Progress Rail Holdings Inc., Progress Rail Innovations Private Limited, Progress Rail Inspection & Information Systems GmbH, Progress Rail Inspection & Information Systems S.r.l., Progress Rail International Corp., Progress Rail Leasing Canada Corporation, Progress Rail Leasing Corporation, Progress Rail Leasing de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Progress Rail Locomotivas (do Brasil) Ltda., Progress Rail Locomotive Canada Co., Progress Rail Locomotive Chile SpA, Progress Rail Locomotive Inc., Progress Rail Maintenance de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Progress Rail Manufacturing Corporation, Progress Rail Raceland Corporation, Progress Rail Rocklin Corporation, Progress Rail SA Proprietary Limited, Progress Rail Services Corporation, Progress Rail Services Holdings Corp., Progress Rail Services LLC, Progress Rail Services UK Limited, Progress Rail Switching Services LLC, Progress Rail Transcanada Corporation, Progress Rail Welding Corporation, Progress Rail Wildwood LLC, Progress Rail de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Pyroban Group, Pyroban Group, Pyrrha Investments B.V., Pyrrha Investments Limited, S&L Railroad LLC, SCM Singapore Holdings Pte. Ltd., SPL Software Alliance LLC, Sabre Engines, Servicios de Turbinas Solar S. de R.L. de C.V., Shandong SEM Machinery Co. Ltd., Solar Turbines, Solar Turbines, Solar Turbines (Beijing) Trading Services Co. Ltd., Solar Turbines (Thailand) Ltd., Solar Turbines CIS Limited Liability Company, Solar Turbines Canada Ltd./Ltee., Solar Turbines Central Asia Limited Liability Partnership, Solar Turbines EAME s.r.o., Solar Turbines Egypt Limited Liability Company, Solar Turbines Europe S.A., Solar Turbines India Private Limited, Solar Turbines International Company, Solar Turbines Italy S.R.L., Solar Turbines Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Solar Turbines Middle East Limited, Solar Turbines New Zealand Limited, Solar Turbines Saudi Arabia Limited, Solar Turbines Services Company, Solar Turbines Services Nigeria Limited, Solar Turbines Services of Argentina S.R.L., Solar Turbines Switzerland Sagl, Solar Turbines Trinidad & Tobago Limited, Solar Turbines West-Africa SARL, Tangshan DBT Machinery Co. Ltd., Tecnologia Modificada S.A. de C.V., Towmotor Corporation, Traction & Mining Motor Repairs Pty Ltd, Turbinas Solar S.A. de C.V., Turbinas Solar de Colombia S.A., Turbinas Solar de Venezuela C.A., Turbo Tecnologia de Reparaciones S.A. de C.V., Turbomach, Turbomach Endustriyel Gaz Turbinleri Sanayi Ve Ticaret Limited, Turbomach France SARL, Turbomach GmbH, Turbomach Netherlands B.V., Turbomach Pakistan (Private) Limited, Turbomach S.A. Unipersonal, Turbomach Sp. Z o.o., Turner Powertrain Systems Limited, UK Hose Assembly Limited, Underground Imaging Technologies Inc, United Industries LLC, VALA Inc., Vasky Energy Ltd., Wealdstone Engineering, Weir - Oil & Gas Division, West Virginia Auto Shredding Inc., Western Gear Machinery LLC, Wetland Sustainability Fund I LLC, Williams Technologies, Yard Club, Zhengzhou Siwei Mechanical and Electrical Equipment Sales Co. Ltd., and okyo Rental Ltd..Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. is an early-stage contract research company, which provides essential products and services to help pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, government agencies and academic institutions. It operates through the following segments: Research Models & Services, Discovery & Safety Assessment and Manufacturing Support. The Research Models & Services segment comprises of the production and sale of research models, and also offers services designed to support its client's use of research models in screening non-clinical drug candidates. The Discovery & Safety Assessment segment offers discovery and safety assessment services, both regulated and non-regulated, in which it include both in vivo and in vitro studies, supporting laboratory services, and strategic preclinical consulting and program management to support product development. The Manufacturing Support segment provides endotoxin and microbial detection, avian vaccine and biologics testing solutions. The company was founded by Henry L. Foster in 1947 and is headquartered in Wilmington, MA.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of CVS Health: @Credentials Inc., ACS ACQCO CORP., ADMINCO Inc., AE Fourteen Incorporated, AHP Holdings Inc., AMC - Tennessee LLC, APS Acquisition LLC, ASCO HealthCare LLC, ASI Wings LLC, AUSHC Holdings Inc., Accendo Insurance Company, Accordant Health Services L.L.C., Active Health Management Inc., Administrative Enterprises Inc., AdvancePCS SpecialtyRx LLC, AdvanceRx.com L.L.C., Advanced Care Scripts Inc., Aetna, Aetna (Beijing) Enterprise Management Services Co. Ltd., Aetna (Shanghai) Enterprise Services Co. Ltd., Aetna ACO Holdings Inc., Aetna Asset Advisors LLC, Aetna Behavioral Health LLC, Aetna Better Health Inc., Aetna Better Health Inc., Aetna Better Health of California Inc., Aetna Better Health of Florida Inc., Aetna Better Health of Kansas Inc., Aetna Better Health of Michigan Inc., Aetna Better Health of Missouri LLC, Aetna Better Health of Nevada Inc., Aetna Better Health of North Carolina Inc., Aetna Better Health of Oklahoma Inc., Aetna Better Health of Texas Inc., Aetna Better Health of Washington Inc., Aetna Capital Management LLC, Aetna Card Solutions LLC, Aetna Corporate Services LLC, Aetna Dental Inc., Aetna Dental of California Inc., Aetna Financial Holdings LLC, Aetna Florida Inc., Aetna Global Benefits (Asia Pacific) Limited, Aetna Global Benefits (Bahamas) Limited, Aetna Global Benefits (Bermuda) Limited, Aetna Global Benefits (Europe) Limited, Aetna Global Benefits (Middle East) LLC, Aetna Global Benefits (Singapore) PTE. LTD., Aetna Global Benefits (UK) Limited, Aetna Global Benefits Limited (DIFC UAE), Aetna Global Holdings Limited, Aetna Health Holdings LLC, Aetna Health Inc., Aetna Health Insurance (Thailand) Public Company Limited, Aetna Health Insurance Company, Aetna Health Insurance Company of Europe DAC, Aetna Health Management LLC, Aetna Health and Life Insurance Company, Aetna Health of California Inc., Aetna Health of Iowa Inc., Aetna Health of Michigan Inc., Aetna Health of Ohio Inc., Aetna Health of Utah Inc., Aetna HealthAssurance Pennsylvania Inc., Aetna Holdco (UK) Limited, Aetna Holdings (Thailand) Limited, Aetna Inc., Aetna Insurance (Hong Kong) Limite, Aetna Insurance (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Aetna Insurance Company Limited, Aetna Integrated Informatics Inc., Aetna International Inc., Aetna Ireland Inc., Aetna Korea Ltd., Aetna Life & Casualty (Bermuda) Ltd., Aetna Life Assignment Company, Aetna Life Insurance Company, Aetna Medicaid Administrators LLC, Aetna Multi-Strategy 1099 Fund LLC, Aetna Network Services LLC, Aetna Partners Diversified Fund LLC, Aetna Pharmacy Management Services LLC, Aetna Resources LLC, Aetna Risk Assurance Company of Connecticut Inc., Aetna Rx Home Delivery LLC, Aetna Services (Thailand) Limited, Aetna Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Aetna Student Health Agency Inc., Aetna Ventures LLC, Aetna Workers Comp Access LLC, Alabama CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Alaska CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Allina Health and Aetna Insurance Company, Allina Health and Aetna Insurance Holding Company LLC, American Continental Insurance Company, American Drug Stores Delaware L.L.C., American Health Holding Inc., Arbor Drugs, Arizona CVS Stores L.L.C., Arkansas CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Badger Acquisition LLC, Badger Acquisition of Kentucky LLC, Badger Acquisition of Minnesota LLC, Badger Acquisition of Ohio LLC, Banner Health and Aetna Health Insurance Company, Banner Health and Aetna Health Insurance Holding Company LLC, Banner Health and Aetna Health Plan Inc., Beauty Holdings L.L.C., Best Care LTC Acquisition Company LLC, Busse CVS L.L.C., CCI Foreign S.a R.L. (R.C.S. 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(Oh, NCS Healthcare of Montana LLC, NCS Healthcare of New Mexico LLC, NCS Healthcare of Ohio LLC, NCS Healthcare of South Carolina LLC, NCS Healthcare of Tennessee LLC, NCS Healthcare of Wisconsin LLC, NIV Acquisition LLC, Navarro Discount Pharmacy, Nebraska CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., NeighborCare Holdings Inc., NeighborCare Inc., NeighborCare Pharmacy Services Inc., NeighborCare Services Corporation, NeighborCare of Indiana LLC, NeighborCare of Virginia LLC, New Jersey CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Niagara Re Inc., North Carolina CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., North Shore Pharmacy Services LLC, NovoLogix LLC, OCR Services LLC, Ocean Acquisition Sub L.L.C., Ohio CVS Stores L.L.C., Oklahoma CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Omnicare, Omnicare Holding Company, Omnicare Inc., Omnicare Indiana Partnership Holding Company LLC, Omnicare Pharmacies of Pennsylvania East LLC, Omnicare Pharmacies of Pennsylvania West LLC, Omnicare Pharmacies of the Great Plains Holding LLC, Omnicare Pharmacy and Supply Services LLC, Omnicare Pharmacy of Tennessee LLC, Omnicare Pharmacy of the Midwest LLC, Omnicare Property Management LLC, Omnicare of Nebraska LLC, Omnicare of Nevada LLC, Omnicare of New York LLC, Oregon CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., PE Holdings LLC, PHPSNE Parent Corporation, PP Acquisition Company LLC, PRN Pharmaceutical Services LP, PT Aetna Management Consulting, Pamplona Saude e Beleza LTDA, Part D Holding Company L.L.C., PayFlex Holdings Inc., PayFlex Systems USA Inc., Pennsylvania CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Performax Inc., Pharmacy Associates of Glenn Falls LLC, Pharmacy Consultants LLC, Phoenix Data Solutions LLC, Precision Benefit Services Inc., Prime Net Inc., ProCare Pharmacy Direct L.L.C., ProCare Pharmacy L.L.C., Prodigy Health Group Inc., Professional Risk Management Inc., Pt. Aetna Global Benefits Indonesia, Puerto Rico CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Red Oak Sourcing LLC, Resources for Living LLC, Rhode Island CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Roeschens Healthcare LLC, RxAmerica, Schaller Anderson Medical Administrators Incorporated, Scrip World LLC, Sheffield Avenue CVS L.L.C., Shore Pharmaceutical Providers LLC, Silverscript Insurance Company, Soma Intimates, South Carolina CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., South Wabash CVS L.L.C., Specialized Pharmacy Services LLC, Spinnaker Bidco Limited, Spinnaker Topco Limited, Stadtlander Drug Company, Stadtlander Pharmacy, Sterling Healthcare Services LLC, Superior Care Pharmacy LLC, Sutter Health and Aetna Administrative Services LLC, Sutter Health and Aetna Insurance Company, Sutter Health and Aetna Insurance Holding Company LLC, T2 Medical Inc., TCPI Acquisition LLC, TargetPharmacy, Tennessee CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Texas Health + Aetna Health Insurance Company, Texas Health + Aetna Health Insurance Holding Company LLC, Texas Health + Aetna Health Plan Inc., The Vasquez Group Inc., Thomas Phoenix CVS L.L.C., Three Forks Apothecary LLC, U.S Healthcare Holdings LLC, U.S. Healthcare Properties Inc., UAC Holding Inc., UC Acquisition LLC, UNI-Care Health Services of Maine LLC, Universal American - Medicare Part D Business, Utah CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., VAPS Acquisition Company LLC, Value Health Care Services LLC, Vermont CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Virginia CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Virtual Home Healthcare L.L.C., Warm Springs Road CVS L.L.C., Washington CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Washington Lamb CVS L.L.C., Weber Medical Systems LLC, Wellpartner LLC, West Virginia CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Westhaven Services Co LLC, Williamson Drug Company LLC, Wisconsin CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Woodward Detroit CVS L.L.C., Work and Family Benefits Inc., ZS Acquisition Company LLC, Zinc Health Services LLC, Zinc Health Ventures LLC, bSwift LLC, and iTriage LLC.ASEAN leaders vow to tackle Rohingya crisis

Australia and its ASEAN neighbours vowed to boost defence ties while stressing the importance of non-militarisation in the disputed South China Sea Sunday at a summit where the "complex" Rohingya crisis took centre stage.

Leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, at the three-day meeting in Sydney, also agreed to work more closely to tackle the growing menace of violent extremism and radicalisation.

But while a final communique noted a resolve to "protect the human rights of our peoples", it failed to condemn member state Myanmar's treatment of the Muslim-minority Rohingya.

Nearly 700,000 Rohingya have fled the troubled Rakhine state for Bangladesh since authorities launched a brutal crackdown six months ago that the UN has called "ethnic cleansing".

Myanmar, whose de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi was in Sydney, has vehemently denied the allegations.

"We discussed the situation in Rakhine state at considerable length today," Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said at a closing press conference. "Aung San Suu Kyi addressed the matter comprehensively, at some considerable length herself," he said.

"It's a very complex problem ... Everyone seeks to end the suffering that has been occasioned by the events, the conflict." Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, said the crisis was "a concern for all ASEAN countries, and yet ASEAN is not able to intervene to force an outcome". Tensions in the South China Sea remain a big worry for regional leaders, as Beijing continues to build artificial islands capable of hosting military installations-much to the chagrin of other claimants to the area.

Vietnam remains the most vocal in the dispute with the Philippines backing off under China-friendly President Rodrigo Duterte. Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei also have claims.

Canberra and ASEAN reaffirmed "the importance of maintaining and promoting peace, stability, maritime safety and security, freedom of navigation and overflight in the region", without naming Beijing.

The leaders added they wanted to see an "early conclusion of an effective code of conduct in the South China Sea". "We will uphold our commitment to the rules-based order and international law in the region, including the South China Sea," stressed Turnbull.

With China flexing its muscle, they also committed to enhancing "the scope and sophistication of defence cooperation", while expressing "grave concern" about escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula.

Day two of the summit on Saturday was devoted to counter-terrorism, with an agreement to work together to tackle extremism amid growing concern about the use of the "dark web", or encrypted messaging apps, by terrorists to plan attacks. Fears have been heightened by jihadists now being forced out of Syria and Iraq with the Islamic State caliphate mostly crushed, and into other countries. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak cited the flow of the displaced Rohingya as a potential new security threat, with desperate people more susceptible to radicalisation. Human rights issues were a key focus of protests during the summit, with thousands denouncing Aung San Suu Kyi, Cambodian strongman Hun Sen and Vietnam's Nguyen Xuan Phuc, who are accused of oppression.



DTE Energy Co. operates as a diversified energy company, which engages in the provision of electricity and natural gas sales, distribution and storage services. It operates through the following segments: Electric, Gas, Non-Utility Operations, and Corporate & Other. The Electric segment engages in the generation, purchase, distribution and sale of electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers in south-eastern Michigan. The Gas segment engages in the purchase, storage, transportation, distribution and sale of natural gas to residential, commercial and industrial customers throughout Michigan and the sale of storage and transportation capacity. The Non-Utility Operations segment engages in gas storage and pipelines, power and industrial projects, and energy trading. The Corporate & Other includes various holding company activities, holds certain non-utility debt, and holds energy-related investments. The company was founded in January 1995 and is headquartered in Detroit, MI.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of Ingersoll Rand: 211 E. Russell Road LLC, Air-Relief, Belliss & Morcom Brasil, Belliss and Morcom, Boardwalk Enterprises, Charm Merger Sub Inc., CompAir, CompAir (Hankook) Korea Co. Ltd., CompAir Acquisition (No. 2) Ltd., CompAir Acquisition Ltd., CompAir BroomWade Ltd., CompAir Canada, CompAir Finance Ltd., CompAir GmbH, CompAir Holdings Limited, CompAir Holman Ltd, CompAir International Trading (Shanghai) Co Ltd, CompAir Korea Ltd, CompAir South Africa (SA) (Pty) Ltd., CompAir UK Ltd, CompAir USA, Consolidated Distribution Holdings Ltd., DV Systems Inc., Emco Wheaton, Emco Wheaton GmbH Branch, Emco Wheaton Gmbh, Emco Wheaton UK, Emco Wheaton USA Inc, Enza Air Propriety Limited (South Africa), GD Aria Holdings #2 Limited, GD Aria Holdings Limited, GD Aria Investments Limited, GD First UK Ltd, GD German Holdings GmbH, GD German Holdings I Gmbh, GD German Holdings II GmbH, GD German Investments GmbH, GD Global Holdings, GD Global Holdings II, GD Global Holdings UK II Ltd., GD Global Ventures I B.V., GD Global Ventures II B.V., GD Global Ventures III B.V., GD Industrial Products Malaysia SDN. BHD., GD Investment KY, GD UK Finance Ltd., Gardner Denver (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Gardner Denver Austria GmbH, Gardner Denver Bad Neustadt Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver Belgium NV, Gardner Denver Brasil Industria E Comercio de Maquinas Ltda., Gardner Denver CZ + SK sro, Gardner Denver Canada Corp, Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments II Ltd., Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments II Ltd. - US Branch, Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments Ltd., Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments Ltd. - US Branch, Gardner Denver Deutschland GmbH, Gardner Denver Engineered Products India Private Limited, Gardner Denver FZE, Gardner Denver Finance II LLC, Gardner Denver Finance Inc & Co KG, Gardner Denver France SA, Gardner Denver France SAS, Gardner Denver Group Services Ltd, Gardner Denver Group Svcs Ltd, Gardner Denver Hoffman, Gardner Denver Holdings, Gardner Denver Holdings Limited, Gardner Denver Hong Kong Investments Limited, Gardner Denver Hong Kong Ltd, Gardner Denver Iberica, Gardner Denver Industries Ltd., Gardner Denver Industries Pty Ltd., Gardner Denver Industries Pty Ltd. Branch, Gardner Denver International, Gardner Denver International Ltd., Gardner Denver Intl Ltd Middle East Regional Rep Office, Gardner Denver Investments, Gardner Denver Italy Holdings S.r.L., Gardner Denver Japan, Gardner Denver Kirchhain Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver Korea, Gardner Denver Korea Ltd, Gardner Denver Ltd, Gardner Denver Ltd South Africa, Gardner Denver Ltd., Gardner Denver Ltd. Branch (Ireland), Gardner Denver Machinery (Shanghai) Co, Gardner Denver Machinery (Shanghai) Co., Gardner Denver Nash Brasil Industria E Comercio De Bombas Ltda, Gardner Denver Nash Deutschland GmbH, Gardner Denver Nash LLC, Gardner Denver Nash Machinery Ltd, Gardner Denver Nash Machinery Ltd., Gardner Denver Nederland BV, Gardner Denver Nederland Investments B.V., Gardner Denver Oberdorfer Pumps, Gardner Denver Oy, Gardner Denver Petroleum Pumps, Gardner Denver Polska Sp z.o.o., Gardner Denver Pte Ltd., Gardner Denver S.r.l., Gardner Denver Schopfheim GmbH, Gardner Denver Schopfheim Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver Schweiz AG, Gardner Denver Slovakia, Gardner Denver SudAmerica S.r.l., Gardner Denver Sweden AB, Gardner Denver Taiwan Ltd., Gardner Denver Thomas, Gardner Denver Thomas GmbH, Gardner Denver Thomas Pneumatic Systems (Wuxi) Co., Gardner Denver Thomas Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver UK, Gardner Denver Water Jetting Systems, Garo Dott. Ing. Roberto Gabbioneta S.r.l., Hamworthy Belliss & Morcom, ILMVAC (UK) Ltd., ILS Innovative Labor Systeme, ILS Inovative Laborsysteme GmbH, Indonesia Foreign Trade Representative Office, LeROI, LeRoi International Inc, MP Pumps Inc., Mako Compressors, Nash, Nash Elmo, Oina VV, Oina VV Aktiebolag, Robuschi, Rotary Compression Technologies, Runtech Systems, Runtech Systems (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Runtech Systems Inc., Runtech Systems OY, Shanghai CompAir Compressors Co Ltd, Shanghai Compressors & Blowers Ltd., Syltone, TCM Investments, TIWR Real Estate GmbH & Co. KG, TODO AB, Tamrotor Marine Compressors AS, Thomas Industries, Thomas Industries Inc., Tri-Continent Scientific, Welch Vacuum Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Zinsser Analytic, Zinsser Analytik GmbH, and Zinsser NA.7 JMB men to die in Rangpur

UNB, Rangpur :

A court here on Sunday sentenced seven members of banned militant outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh(JMB) to death in a case filed over the killing a Khadem (caretaker) of a shrine in Kaunia Upazila in 2015.

The condemned convicts are- JMB Rangpur region commander Masud Rana, members Isahq Ali, Liton Mia alias Rafiq, Sarwar Hossain alias Sabu, Bijoy alias Ali, Shakhawat Hossain and Chandu Mia. Of them, Chandu Mia was tried in absentia. The court also fined them Tk 20,000 each. The court also acquitted six JMB members-Abu Sayed, Towfiqul Islam, Sadat alias Ratan, Jahangir Hossain alias Rajib, Babul Akhter and Najibul Islam as allegations brought against them could not be proved.

Earlier, on March 5, a court here fixed March 18 for delivering the verdict in the case. According to the prosecution, miscreants hacked and slaughtered Rahmat Ali, khadem of a shrine, to death at Chaitarmore of Tepamadhupur union in the Kaunia Upazila while he was returning home from a local bazar on November 10, 2015.

Victim's son Advocate Shafiqul Islam filed a murder case with the Kaunia police station. After investigation, police pressed charges against 15 JMB members. The court, on August 16 in 2017, dropped two accused-Nazrul Islam alias Bike Hasan, of Panchagarh and Saddam Hossain of Kurigram, from the chargesheet as they were killed in a gunfight with the law enforcers and framed charge against 12 accused.





HC rejects writ on Article 70 of the Constitution

Staff Reporter :

The High Court (HC) on Sunday rejected a writ petition that challenged legality of Article 70 of the Constitution, which deals with the cancellation of membership of a lawmaker for voting against own political party in the Parliament.

The HC bench of Justice Abu Taher Md Saifur Rahman passed the order saying that the court cannot interfere in the Article 70 of the Constitution as this provision has been incorporated in the original constitution of 1972. The Parliament members are elected from the political parties under their political manifesto and people elect them as per their political manifesto. So, the members of the Parliament cannot vote against their political parties, the court observed.

The court also said, the writ petition is not acceptable as there are no substances in the petition.

According to Article 70, a lawmaker has to vacate his or her seat if he or she votes in the Parliament against his/her own party.

"A person elected as a Member of Parliament at an election in which he was nominated as a candidate by a political party shall vacate his seat if he- (a) resigns from that party; or (b) votes in Parliament against that party; but shall not thereby be disqualified for subsequent election as a Member of Parliament," said the Article 70.

On January 15, a two-judge HC bench gave a split order on the same petition.

On that day, Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury, Senior Judge of the two-member HC bench, issued a rule on the government, asking as to why the article should not be declared unconstitutional, while Justice Md Ashraful Kamal, the other judge, summarily rejected the petition.

As per rule, after passing the split order, the HC judges send the petition to the Chief Justice for a decision. Then the Chief Justice assigns another HC bench for its hearing and disposal.

On April 17, 2018, Advocate Eunus Ali Akond, a Supreme Court lawyer, submitted the writ petition with the HC, challenging the legality of Article 70, saying that it is against democracy and contradicts Articles 7, 19, 26, 27, 44, 31 and 119 of the Constitution.

On August 8, 2017, the High Court started hearing on the writ petition.

Varian Medical Systems, Inc. designs, manufactures, sells, and services medical devices and software products for treating cancer and other medical conditions worldwide. It operates through Oncology Systems and Proton Solutions segments. The Oncology Systems segment offers hardware and software products for treating cancer with radiotherapy, fixed field intensity-modulated radiation therapy, image-guided radiation therapy, volumetric modulated arc therapy, stereotactic radiosurgery, stereotactic body radiotherapy, artificial intelligence based adaptive radiotherapy, and brachytherapy, as well as quality assurance equipment. Its products include linear accelerators, brachytherapy afterloaders, treatment accessories, and quality assurance software; and information management, treatment planning, image processing, clinical knowledge exchange, patient care management, decision-making support, and practice management software. This segment serves university research and community hospitals, private and governmental institutions, healthcare agencies, physicians' offices, medical oncology practices, radiotherapy centers, and cancer care clinics. The Proton Solutions segment designs, develops, manufactures, sells, and services products and systems for delivering proton therapy for the treatment of cancer. The company has a strategic agreement with McKesson Corp. to supply treatment delivery systems and planning, services, and radiotherapy information system solutions to its U.S. Oncology Network and Vantage Oncology affiliated sites of care; and a strategic partnership with Siemens AG to represent Siemens diagnostic imaging products to radiation oncology clinics in the United States and other select markets. Varian Medical Systems, Inc. was formerly known as Varian Associates, Inc. and changed its name to Varian Medical Systems, Inc. in April 1999. The company was founded in 1948 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.

Read MoreIOM for $182m to help Rohingyas

UNB, Cox's Bazar :

IOM, the UN Migration Agency, is appealing for $ 182.1 million to assist 900,000 Rohingya refugees and local community members in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.

IOM's appeal is part of a broader $ 951 million UN Joint Response Plan for the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis covering the same March - December 2018 period.

On August 25, 2017, a mass exodus of Rohingya refugees began from northern Rakhine State, Myanmar, to Cox's Bazar.

Fleeing an upsurge of targeted violence, nearly one million Rohingya refugees are now sheltering in Cox's Bazar, including thousands who arrived during previous influxes.

The local rural community, which has long been in need of support, has found itself in the middle of the fastest-growing refugee crisis in the world.

IOM on Sunday said it is providing livelihood, environmental improvement and health support to both refugees and locals to mitigate the impact of soaring food prices and overloaded infrastructure.

"As the monsoon season approaches, we are at a vital point where we have to increase

our support for people affected by the crisis - both Rohingya refugees and local Bangladeshis," said IOM Director General William Lacy Swing, reflecting on monsoon preparedness efforts underway in Cox's Bazar.

IOM has relocated 236 families living in areas at risk of landslide and floods to safer areas.

A further 9,675 families have been trained by IOM in how to strengthen their shelters against wind and rain, and reduce the dangers associated with living on unstable, muddy hillsides.

IOM is also working to reduce the environmental impact of the refugee by providing alternative sources of fuel.

The refugees are currently dependent on wood for cooking, which has led to massive deforestation in the area.

"I look after 80 families, who settled down on top of this hill," said Abu Ahammad, one of the block leaders in the refugee settlements.

"It's sandy here and people didn't get much land, so they've built their houses over the whole hillside with only bamboo and tarpaulins. The sandy soil will collapse when it rains and people will die as the houses fall down on top of each other. There are also latrines over there, which will be destroyed," he added.

As those fleeing Myanmar arrived with little or nothing, providing them with basic shelter has been vital.

Over the past six months, IOM has distributed 120,000 kits, which now house some 600,000 people.

Most refugees who lived in Cox's Bazar before August 2017 live in very poor conditions.

Some 40,000 of these people have benefitted from IOM help to upgrade their shelters.

Others who have arrived since the crisis in August are now also in urgent need of shelter upgrades, which IOM will continue to provide.

IOM is leading site management and site improvement work in Cox's Bazar, while also directly managing some of the settlement sites as well.

Since August 2017, it has built over seven kilometres of road, 220 bamboo bridges, seven kilometres of pedestrian pathways, five and a half kilometres of pedestrian steps with handrails and five kilometres of drainage.

Improving infrastructure is particularly important for people with disabilities, elderly people and single female-headed households to assess services in the settlements.The Bank of New York Mellon pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and currently has a dividend yield of 2.74%. The Bank of New York Mellon does not yet have a strong track record of dividend growth. The dividend payout ratio of The Bank of New York Mellon is 33.92%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%. Based on earnings estimates, The Bank of New York Mellon will have a dividend payout ratio of 29.44% next year. This indicates that The Bank of New York Mellon will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

View The Bank of New York Mellon's dividend history.The Bank of Nova Scotia provides various banking products and services in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Colombia, the Caribbean and Central America, and internationally. It operates through Canadian Banking, International Banking, Global Banking and Markets, and Global Wealth Management segments. The company offers financial advice and solutions, and day-to-day banking products, including debit and credit cards, chequing and saving accounts, investments, mortgages, loans, and insurance to individuals; and business banking solutions comprising lending, deposit, cash management, and trade finance solutions to small businesses and commercial customers, including automotive financing solutions to dealers and their customers. It also provides wealth management advice and solutions, including online brokerage, mobile investment, full-service brokerage, trust, private banking, and private investment counsel services; and retail mutual funds, exchange traded funds, liquid alternative funds, and institutional funds. In addition, the company offers international banking services for retail, corporate, and commercial customers; and lending and transaction, investment banking advisory, and capital markets access services to corporate customers. Further, it provides Internet, mobile, and telephone banking services. The company operates a network of 952 branches and approximately 3,540 automated banking machines in Canada; and approximately 1,400 branches, 5,200 ATMs, and 22 contact centers internationally. The Bank of Nova Scotia was founded in 1832 and is headquartered in Halifax, Canada.

Read More1588 prisoners suffering from various diseases: IG Prison

Staff Reporter :

The total holding capacity in the country's 68 jails is 36,614 where 77,124 prisoners are now living till March 15.

IG Prison Brigadier General Syed Iftekhar Uddin informed this at a press conference organized on the occasion of 'Prisons Week-2018' at the Department of Jail in the city on Sunday.

"The capacity for women prisoners in the jails is 1,674 but there are 2748 prisoners. Male prisoners capacity is 34,940 but there are 74,376 prisoners. Among them, 14,043 are convicted accused. There are 577 militants in captivity and 296 children in the jail with their captive mothers," he said.

Brig. Gen Iftekhar Uddin said the number of prisoners is much higher than of the prisons' capacity. So, despite will, it is not possible to provide the right service, he said.

Among the prisoners, 1,588 convicts in different cases have been suffering from various diseases. Some are suffering from old-aged complications. Though there are arrangements for medical treatment according to the Jail Code, they also fall sick for most of the time, he said.

Referring to 35 per cent of the prisoners as drug addicts, the IG Prisons said, "We have some unscrupulous people. We are not all angels. But with whom such complaints are being received, we are taking immediate action against them. We are handing over them to police. In this case, 20 people already have been suspended."

Responding to a question, Brig Gen Iftekhar Uddin said, "Correcting the prisoners is a complex process. According to the international rules three things are done to correct the prisoners. Firstly, discipline, secondly characteristic correction, and thirdly to increase the skills of the prisoners' livelihood to make them confident."

He said, "Because of the shortage of manpower, we can do only third number job while other two cannot."

Refuting the jail code law, the IG Prison said, "The reform of the jail term of the British Act has begun to formulate new jail code legislation."

Spirax-Sarco Engineering plc provides engineered solutions for the users of industrial and commercial steam systems, electrical heating and temperature management systems, and pumps and fluid path technologies. It offers industrial and commercial steam systems, including condensate management, controls, and thermal energy management products and solutions for heating and curing, cleaning and sterilizing, hot water generation, space heating, and humidification; electrical process heating and temperature management solutions, such as industrial heaters and systems, heat tracing, and various component technologies for industrial processes, heaters, and systems; and peristaltic and niche pumps and associated fluid path technologies, including pumps, tubing, and specialty filling systems and products for single-use applications. The company serves food, beverage, pharmaceutical and biotechnology, oil, gas, chemical, healthcare, power generation, buildings, mining and precious metal processing, water and wastewater, and pulp and paper, as well as original equipment manufacturers. The company sells its products directly, as well as through distributors. It operates in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa; the Asia Pacific; and the Americas. Spirax-Sarco Engineering plc was founded in 1888 and is headquartered in Cheltenham, the United Kingdom.

Read MoreTailored Brands, Inc. (NYSE:TLRD) issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March, 18th. The company reported ($0.46) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Zacks' consensus estimate of ($0.54) by $0.08. The business earned $690.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $708.46 million. Tailored Brands had a negative trailing twelve-month return on equity of 138.49% and a negative net margin of 14.39%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.28) EPS.

View Tailored Brands' earnings history.The following companies are subsidiares of The Western Union: Banco Western Union do Brasil S.A., Coins, Custom House, Custom House (Online) Ltd., Custom House Currency Exchange (Australia) Pty. Limited, Custom House Currency Exchange (Singapore) Pte. Limited, Custom House Financial (UK) Limited, Custom House Financial Ltd., Custom House Holdings (USA) Ltd., Custom House ULC, E Commerce Group Products Inc., First Financial Management Corporation, Global Collection Services S.A., Global Corporate Real Estate Advisors LLC, Grupo Dinamico Empresarial S.A. de C.V., MT (Bermuda) 1 Ltd, MT (Bermuda) 2 Ltd, MT Caribbean Holdings SRL, MT Financial Holdings Ltd., MT Global Holdings Ltd., MT Group Investment Holdings Ltd., MT Group Ltd., MT Holdings (Bermuda) Ltd., MT Holdings Limited, MT Holdings Switzerland GmbH, MT International Holdings Ltd., MT International Operations Partnership, MT International Operations SRL, MT Network Holdings Ltd., MT Payment Services Ltd., MT Payment Services Operations EU/EEA Limited, MT Worldwide Holdings Ltd., Money Transfer Financial Services Limited, Operaciones Internacionales OV S.A. de C.V., Opus Software Technologies Private Limited, PT Western Union Indonesia, Paymap Inc., RII Holdings Inc., Red Global S.A., Ruesch Holding LLC, Ruesch International (Delaware) LLC, Ruesch International L.L.C., Servicio Electronico de Pago S.A., Servicio Integral de Envios S. de R.L. de C.V., Servicios de Apoyo GDE S.A. de C.V., SpeedPay Inc., Speedpay, The Western Union Real Estate Holdings LLC, Transfer Express de Panama S.A., Travelex, Union del Oeste de Costa Rica SRL, Vigo Remittance Canada Company, Vigo Remittance Corp., WU BP Peru S.R.L., WU Technology Engineering Services Private Limited, WUBS Financial Services (Singapore) Pte Limited, WUBS Payments Limited, Western Union (Bermuda) Holding Finance Ltd., Western Union (Hellas) International Holdings S.A., Western Union Acquisition Partnership, Western Union Benelux MT Ltd., Western Union Business Solutions (Australia) Pty Limited, Western Union Business Solutions (Hong Kong) Limited, Western Union Business Solutions (Malta) Limited, Western Union Business Solutions (SA) Limited, Western Union Business Solutions (Singapore) Pte Limited, Western Union Business Solutions (UK) Limited, Western Union Business Solutions (USA) LLC, Western Union Business Solutions Japan KK, Western Union Chile Limitada, Western Union Communications Inc., Western Union Consulting Services (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Western Union Corretora de Cambio S.A., Western Union Financial Holdings L.L.C., Western Union Financial Services (Australia) PTY Ltd., Western Union Financial Services (Canada), Western Union Financial Services (Hong Kong) Limited, Western Union Financial Services (Korea) Inc., Western Union Financial Services (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l., Western Union Financial Services Argentina S.R.L., Western Union Financial Services Eastern Europe LLC, Western Union Financial Services GmbH, Western Union Financial Services Inc., Western Union Financial Services International (France) SARL, Western Union GB Limited, Western Union Global Network Pte. Ltd, Western Union Holdings Inc., Western Union International Bank GmbH, Western Union International Holdings LLC, Western Union International Limited, Western Union International Services LLC, Western Union Ireland Holdings Limited, Western Union Ireland Partnership, Western Union Japan K.K., Western Union LLC, Western Union Luxembourg Holdings 1 S.a.r.l., Western Union Luxembourg Holdings 2 S.a.r.l., Western Union Luxembourg Holdings 3 S.a.r.l., Western Union MT (Australia) Pty. Ltd., Western Union MT East Ltd., Western Union Malta Holdings Limited, Western Union Malta Limited, Western Union Morocco SARL, Western Union Network (Canada) Company, Western Union Network (France) SAS, Western Union Network (Ireland) Limited, Western Union Network Belgium SPRL, Western Union Northern Europe GmbH, Western Union Online Limited, Western Union Overseas Limited, Western Union Payment Services (India) Private Limited, Western Union Payment Services GB Limited, Western Union Payment Services Ireland Limited, Western Union Payment Services Network (Canada) ULC, Western Union Payment Services Network EU/EEA Limited, Western Union Payment Services UK Limited, Western Union Payments (Malaysia) SDN. BHD., Western Union Peru S.A., Western Union Processing Limited, Western Union Processing Lithuania UAB, Western Union Processing Services Inc., Western Union Regional Panama S.A., Western Union Retail Services Belgium, Western Union Retail Services GB Limited, Western Union Retail Services Ireland Limited, Western Union Retail Services Italy S.r.l., Western Union Retail Services Norway AS, Western Union Retail Services RO SRL, Western Union Retail Services Spain S.A., Western Union Retail Services Sweden AB, Western Union Services (Philippines) Inc., Western Union Services (Spain) S.L., Western Union Services India Private Limited, Western Union Services S.L., Western Union Services Singapore Private Limited, Western Union Singapore Limited, Western Union South Africa (PTY) Limited, Western Union Support Services (Nigeria) Limited, Western Union Support Services Cote dlvoire, Western Union Turkey Odeme Hizmetleri Anonim Sirketi, Western Union do Brasil Participacoes Limitada, and Western Union do Brasil Servicos e Participacoes Ltda..Decision on Khaleda`s bail order today

Staff Reporter :

The Supreme Court (SC) on Sunday concluded the hearing on the leave to appeal petitions filed against a High Court (HC) order that granted bail for four months to BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia in Zia Orphanage Trust case.

The court also fixed today (Monday) to pass order on the appeal petitions.

A four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain passed the order after concluding hearing on two separate appeal petitions filed by the government and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

The government and the Anti-Corruption Commission on Thursday filed the two appeal petitions seeking stay on the HC order.

The Supreme Court premise was under siege by huge deployment of police yesterday. Huge number of police heavily armed with helmets and riot gears were inside the main court building approaching the Appellate Division and at its front door were as a show of police power.

Surprised by such armed police presence in the court buildings and outside, some disappointed lawyers were heard complaining the inconveniences caused to them to enter the court premises. Entry points were restricted. The lawyers had to prove their own identity and cars were checked for maintaining security. The occasion was hearing of the bail matter of Begum Khaleda Zia by the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.

They could not see any justification for such unusual and frightful police presence to hold peace among lawyers when decision was expected in the bail matter of Begum Khaleda Zia. The lawyers could not have created any such violent situation calling for the fearful sight of armed police presence in the court premises of law and justice. One was not sure if such unbecoming massive police presence was arranged with the knowledge of the Chief Justice.

The court started its functions at 9.40 am yesterday. At first ACC lawyer Khurshed Alam Khan submitted his statement. He told the court, "Khaleda Zia's lawyers did not submit any medical documents in support of their claim that she is sick."

The lawyer complained to the court that Khaleda Zia had abused the bail before. Then he read the order of the trial court and said, "Khaleda Zia went abroad without the permission of the court. What else can be the abuse of bail?"

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam also submitted his statement contradicting the bail. He said, "Khaleda Zia cannot get mercy again and again considering her age and sickness. The trial court gave her shorter sentence considering her age and social status. How many time she will get mercy considering same thing? The trial court showed mercy to her."

"State money will be embezzled, and the main person of the state will be involved with it, she cannot get mercy anymore," the Attorney General also said.

"High Court ordered to prepare paper-book of this case within four months. You (Appellate Division) can reduce this time to two months. Paper-books of BDR carnage case were also prepared within a short time," he added.

The Attorney General also said contradicting the bail, "The situation was different when the trial proceedings were continuing. Now she is a convicted person. The trial court sentenced her shorter considering her age and physical condition. Her sentence will end, and her appeal hearing will not end, that cannot happened. This is absurd. Of course, there will be a hearing."

At this stage, The Attorney General read some portions of the trial court's judgement. Then he told the court, "Khaleda Zia sprayed time before on various pretext. She also abused bail. She did not care the court and did misconduct."

Then Khaleda Zia's lawyers A J Mohammad Ali and Khandker Mahbub Hossain submitted their statements.

Advocate A J Mohammad Ali said, "Khaleda Zia has been involved in this case by making fake documents. She is not involved in any way. She has no signature anywhere. The case has been filed entirely by creating fake documents."

Advocate Khandker Mahbub Hossain said, "The government and the ACC are opposing the bail order so much because the accused person in this case is Khaleda Zia. They would not oppose so much if the accused person was not Khaleda Zia."

Advocate Zainul Abedin, another lawyer for Khaleda Zia, told after the hearing, "We hope, Appellate Division will keep the High Court order continue."

On March 14, the same Supreme Court bench stayed the High Court order that granted bail to BNP Chairperson till next Sunday after hearing two petitions filed by the government and the ACC.

The SC also directed both the parties to file leave to appeal petitions by this time. Following this order the government and the Anti-Corruption Commission on Thursday filed the two appeal petitions. On Sunday, the SC held hearing on the petitions.

On March 12, the High Court bench comprising Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Shahidul Karim granted bail to BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia for four months in the case.

On February 8, Khaleeda Zia was jailed for five years on February 8 in connections with Zia Orphanage case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission in 2008.

Judge of the Special Court-5 of Dhaka 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.William Lyon Homes (NYSE:WLH) issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November, 6th. The construction company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the Zacks' consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.07. The construction company had revenue of $466.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $487.15 million. William Lyon Homes had a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 6.98% and a net margin of 3.04%. The firm's revenue was down 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.68 earnings per share.

View William Lyon Homes' earnings history.The Independent Workers Inquiry Committee (IWIC) will hold a meeting at Colombo Public Library auditorium on April 1 at 2 p.m. to release the findings of its investigation into last years garbage disaster at Meethotamulla. The huge garbage dump, which is located on the outskirts of Colombo, collapsed on April 14, killing at least 32 people, partially or completely destroying 146 houses, and affecting more almost 200 poor families.

The IWIC was established last May on the initiative of the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) to investigate the causes of this social crime. The garbage heap in Meethotamulla began about a decade ago when waste, mainly from the Colombo municipal region, began being dumped in the area.

Local residents opposed and protested against the dump from the outset, warning about the health risks and other dangers posed. Successive Sri Lankan governments not only ignored these appeals, but mobilised the police to attack protesting residents.

Following last years tragedy, President Maithripala Sirisena, in an attempt to dissipate widespread popular outrage, appointed a special commission to investigate the disaster. The commission report was presented to Sirisena last month but its findings have not been publicised.

The government is more concerned about covering up its criminal negligence. The media and commission report experts have largely ignored the fundamental social and political reasons for the disaster.

The Meethotamulla tragedy is one of the many social crimes against working people internationally.

Last March a garbage mountain collapsed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, killing 115 people, with another 80 people still missing.

Last June a fire ignited flammable cladding on the outside of Grenfell flats in London killed at least 79 lives. The use of the dangerous cladding was a cost-cutting measure by the local council.

Likewise in Flint, Michigan in the United States, city authorities have compromised the health of tens of thousands of residents by using polluted river water in domestic water supplies.

Cost-cutting and indifference to the fate of working people and the poor produced these tragedies. Protests and appeals to governments will not change this situation.

The IWIC has conducted a thoroughgoing investigation into the Meethotamulla disaster. Its work has included gathering detailed information from survivors of the tragedy; examining reports on garbage in Colombo, as well as other environmental and health issues and related international developments; the responses of successive Sri Lanka governments; and why the ruling class is incapable of solving these basic problems.

The IWICs April 1 meeting will involve a detailed presentation of its investigations and findings. This will be followed by an extended question and answer session. We invite workers, youth, students and all those concerned to attend the meeting and participate in this important discussion.

Venue: Colombo Public Library auditorium

Date: April 1, 2018

Time: 2.00 p.m.Bodies of 17 BD nat`ls back home today

Staff Reporter :

The bodies of 17 Bangladesh nationals killed in the US-Bangla Airlines plane crash on March 12 will be brought back home today (Monday).

First Secretary and Head of Chancery Embassy of Bangladesh in Nepal, Mohammad Al Alamul Emam, said the bodies would be brought back by a special flight of Bangladesh Air Force.

"The government has taken all the preparations to bring back the bodies. The Nepalese government is likely to give approval on Sunday night," he said.

The relatives of the 17 deceased will also arrive by a chartered plane of US-Bangla Airlines, he said.

The bodies will be first taken to Bangladesh Mission in Kathmandu, Nepal, where their first Namaj-e-Janaza will be held. Then they will be flown home at 6am.

On March 12, at least 51 people marched to deaths when a aircraft of the US-Bangla Airlines crashed at the Kathmandu airport in Nepal.

A total of 28 Bangladeshis, 22 Nepalese, and one Chinese citizen were killed in the deadly crash.

Seventeen Bangladeshi victims had been identified and a list containing the names was released by the Bangladesh Embassy on Saturday.

More bodies were identified on Sunday, but the embassy has not received confirmation as to whether any of them was Bangladeshi national.

Five of the 10 Bangladeshi survivors have returned to Bangladesh, two have been sent to Singapore and returned to Dhaka on Sunday.

Survivor Shahin Bepari, who received treatment in a Kathmandu hospital, has boarded a Biman Bangladesh flight for home, said Emam. Survivor Kabir Hossain will return home on Monday.

Embassy officials say they are trying to transfer Eakub Ali, who is currently admitted to Norvic International Hospital, to New Delhi for treatment.

Survivor Emrana Kabir Hashi, who was admitted to a Kathmandu hospital, was sent to Singapore. Survivor Rizwanul Haque has also been at a Singapore hospital since Wednesday.

Survivors Shahreen Ahmed, Mehedi Hassan, Saiyda Kamrunnahar Swarna, Almun Nahar Annie and Sheikh Rashed Rubayat have returned to Bangladesh and are currently at Dhaka Medical College Hospital's Burns and Plastic Surgery Unit.

BNP stages demo protesting Milon's death in custody

UNB, Dhaka :

Leaders and activists BNP's Dhaka city units staged demonstrations at different thanas of the capital on Sunday protesting for what the party said the killing of TejgaonthanaJatiyatabadiChhatra Dal leader ZakirHossainMilon through 'torture in police remand'.

As part of the party's countrywide programme, both the Dhaka city north and south units observed the programme bringing out processions at different thanas. In Dhaka north city, leaders and followers of BNP and its associate bodies brought out processions at Badda, Pallabi,Tejgaon, Mohammadpur, Airport, Rupnagar, Banani, Darussalam, Uttarkhan,Dakkhinkhan, Shah Ali, Kafrul, Rampura, Khilkhet, Bhashantek, Uttara and Sher-e-Bangla Nagar registering their protest against Milon's death. In Dhaka south city,

the BNP men took out processions at Shahbagh, Paltan, Khilgaon, Motijheel, Ramna, Kalabgan, Chawkbazar, Jatrabari, Kamrangirchar, Shyampur, Kadamtali, Gandaria, Sutrapur, Wari, Demra and Bangshalraising slogans against Milon 'murder'. Eelier on Thursday, BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi announced the protest programme at a press conference at its Nayapaltan central office. Plainclothes police arrested Milon, also the acting president of Tejgaonthana unit of JCD, on March 6 in front of the Jatiya Press Club on his way back home after attending a human chain programme of the party. He was taken on a three-day remand on March 8 and sent to jail on March 11. Milon was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital on March 12morning where doctors declared him dead. BNP alleged that he died due to 'brutal torture on him during the remand.Burglars loot 'Tk 72 lakh' from Unilever distributor's office

UNB, Dhaka :

Burglars have reportedly taken away around Tk 72 lakh from the Khilgaon Chowdhurypara office of Asma Ltd, a distributor of multi-national company Unilever, in the city.

Officer-in-charge of Rampura Police Station Proloy Kumar Saha told UNB that employees of Asma Ltd left its office on the 3rd floor of 425/B Khilgaon Chowdhurypara around 11:30 pm on Saturday keeping around Tk 72 lakh in a locker.

When the employees came to the office on

Sunday morning, they found its main entrance locked from inside. They entered the office breaking open the lock only to find the locker broken and the money missing, he said quoting the employees.

Burglars might have looted the money sometime between 11:30 pm and 5 am, the OC said, adding that company manager SK Farid Ahmed filed a case in connection with the incident.





CBS News has set a tentative date for Anderson Coopers 60 Minutes interview with adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who has become the center of a political storm over her accusations of an affair with President Donald Trump and a payment she said she received to try to silence her.

The network has tentatively set the report to air on the March 25 episode, a senior CBS employee familiar with the matter told TheWrap.

Though the interview with correspondent Anderson Cooper was filmed last week, there was some confusion about when or even if the final footage would ever make airtime.

Also Read: Stormy Daniels Was 'Threatened With Physical Harm' to Keep Quiet About Trump Affair, Lawyer Says (Video)

Speaking at INTV conference in Jerusalem last week, CBS News chief David Rhodes smacked down suggestions that the interview was being delayed by pending litigation and said the delay was because additional reporting was needed.

The only reason it hasnt run is that there is still a lot of journalism left to do, he told Israeli TV anchor Yonit Levi.

Daniels attorney Michael Avenatti has been engaged in a media blitz in recent days hyping the interview. On Morning Joe Friday, he dropped a new nugget, revealing on set that his client has been physically threatened thought he declined to get into any further specifics and directed the shows stunned co-hosts to watch the upcoming interview.

The news about the Stormy Daniels air date was first reported by the Washington Post.

Related stories from TheWrap:

Stormy Daniels Was 'Threatened With Physical Harm' to Keep Quiet About Trump Affair, Lawyer Says (Video)

Stormy Daniels' Lawyer: Other Women Want to Bring Cases Against Trump

Porn Industry Beams With Pride Over Stormy Daniels Coup: 'We've Never Had Anything Like This'

CBS News Chief Says Stormy Daniels '60 Minutes' Interview Will Still AirBill Haders return as host of Saturday Night Live, where he was a cast member for eight seasons, saw him show off a range of different accents and characters as well as a fan favorite, Stefon. One sketch that went directly up Hollywoods alley was a spoof imagining a fictitious #MeToo figure named Thomas Logan, who is dubbed the Canadian Harvey Weinstein.

The bit leans heavily on stereotypes about the Great White North  but hey, whats sketch comedy for? Unlike many show business figures caught up in scandal, notably Weinstein, Logan doesnt deflect or issue denials. No, the producer of such made-up masterpieces as YDont Say and It Happened At Tim Hortons is polite, direct and contrite.

Like all of the other characters in the sketch, Haders Tom Logan draws out the vowel sound in the word sorry in a heightened, super-Canadian way. Ive heard all these accusations and Im here to say its all true, he says. I abused my power and Im sorry. Ya. The CBC report describes such grievous sins as Logan asking his assistant what brand of sunglasses she is wearing and complimenting her choice of sweater. Immediately owning his behavior, Logan recalls how he summoned HR and the apology spree began. Eventually even the nights musical guest, the band Arcade Fire, most of whose members are Canadian, winds up apologizing profusely.

Although Hader confessed during his opening monologue to being nervous, as he was while a cast member, Hader had a smooth turn overall. The cast seemed to rally in teaming up with one of their own.

Nodding to the 25th anniversary of the original Jurassic Park, the show featured a wide range of impressions by the cast in a sketch auditioning as various celebrities.

The early-1990s parade of would-be-Jurassic stars includes Ellen DeGeneres, Hugh Grant, Drew Barrymore and Sinbad. (Hader as Al Pacino: Which dinosaur do I buy the cocaine from?) And, of course, Hader reprised his Weekend Update character, Stefon, who returned to offer tips to tourists who were in town to check out New York on St. Patricks Day. Hader barely kept from cracking up  not that anyone was complaining  repeatedly riffing on Roman J. Israel, Esq. and urging Colin Jost to please, call me by your name. Blink and you may miss a cameo from John Mulaney, a former SNL writer who went on to do stand-up.

Story continues

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liIXpVIgh2k&w=605&h=340]

Related stories

Time's Up Calls For Investigation Into NY District Attorney In Harvey Weinstein Case

'Saturday Night Live' Ratings Rise With Host Bill Hader

'SNL': Anderson Cooper Addresses White House Firings; John Goodman & Fred Armisen Make Surprise VisitsA little boy who inspired millions with his strength after a tree limb crushed his skull and left him paralyzed almost six years ago died on Thursday. He was 7.

Tripp Hughes Halsteads life was chronicled faithfully by his parents, Bill and Stacy Halstead, on a Facebook page called Tripp Halstead Updates. On Thursday night, the Georgia couple broke the news to their followers that their son had died after battling an infection.

There are no words to express how Bill and I are feeling at this moment. We are beyond devastated and honestly I believe I am in shock, Stacy wrote on Facebook. Our amazing, perfect, miracle of a son, Tripp Hughes Halstead passed away at 5:47 p.m. today. He was our whole world.

Tripp Hughes Halstead

While Stacy had frequently posted photos and health updates on her son, she revealed in her grief that she had no idea when I will post again.

Im still processing everything, she wrote. But Bill and I were in the room when he passed at the hospital. His little body was just done fighting this last infection. His little heart gave out.

This winter was brutal for him, Stacy continued. Im just so thankful he had the best summer ever. Jet skis, Disney World, the list is endless and thats when we got those amazing huge smiles.

Tripp Halstead was hospitalized on Thursday after his mother, Stacy, noted that he was struggling to breath

For her familys followers, she thanked them for being the most loyal and outstanding people who kept along with her family for 5  years.

You let us into your lives and you were there when we needed you most, she wrote.

Tripp, who was affectionately called Trippadoo by his parents, suffered a brain injury that left him paralyzed and unable to talk after a tree branch fell on him in October 2012 when he was 2, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

He spent 10 months in the hospital before his parents were able to bring him home, and his fight for life inspired many and got nationwide covereage.

Tripp Halstead

On Thursday morning, Stacy shared that Tripp was having trouble breathing despite having his oxygen tank on. She described that when she tried to move him Tripp started whining and then had crazy diarrhea which led her to call his pediatrician.

Story continues

As I was driving to the pediatricians office, I could tell Tripp was getting worse and I wasnt sure I had enough oxygen in the tank I brought to make it to Atlanta especially in heavy traffic so we took a detour to Athens ER, Stacy wrote.

Bill and Tripp Halstead

She explained that her sons oxygen levels were low and that he had blood work, X-Rays and an IV. Stacy said doctors washed his lungs to clear his airways.

The Halsteads struggle to conceive their son for two years until they sought help from a fertility specialist, according to the Associated Press in November 2017. Stacy told the wire, It was a terrible pregnancy, but I was so happy, after trying for two years and being devastated every month, that I didnt care.

While Tripp underwent several different kinds of therapy, Stacey said his progress was inconsistent.

He really has no motor skills. No reaching, no kicking. But his personality definitely came back, she said. He smiles, laughs and giggles. But he pouts, cries and gets upset. Hes still in a diaper and has a feeding tube. We physically take care of his needs. But the fact that he can show emotion is all we ever prayed for.Photo credit: AP

From Cosmopolitan

Facebook suspended Cambridge Analytica, a data-analysis firm that worked for President Donald Trumps 2016 campaign, over allegations that it held onto improperly obtained user data after telling Facebook it had deleted the information.

The social network issued a blog post explaining its decision, although the tale is convoluted. Years ago, Facebook said, Cambridge Analytica received user data from a Facebook app that purported to be a psychological research tool, though the firm wasnt authorized to have that information. Roughly 270,000 people downloaded the app and shared their personal details with it, Facebook said. The New York Times reports that the firm harvested private information from the Facebook profiles of more than 50 million users without their permission, making it one of the largest data leaks in the social networks history.

Cambridge Analytica later certified in 2015 that it had destroyed the information that it received, according to Facebook, although the social network said it received reports several days ago that not all the data was deleted.

While it investigates the matter, Facebook has also suspended the access of Cambridge Analyticas parent company, Strategic Communication Laboratories; the academic who created the app in question, a University of Cambridge psychology professor named Aleksandr Kogan; and another individual, Christopher Wylie of Eunoia Technologies, who also allegedly received the user data from the app.

Exactly why the handling of this data warranted both suspension and Facebooks unusual public explanation of the move wasnt clear. The blog post, written by Facebook deputy general counsel Paul Grewal, cited the public prominence of Cambridge Analytica, called the alleged data retention an unacceptable violation of trust and said the social network will take legal action if necessary to hold all parties responsible and accountable for any unlawful behavior.

Story continues

In a statement, a Cambridge Analytica spokesman denied any wrongdoing. He said the parent companys SCL Elections unit hired Kogan to undertake a large scale research project in the U.S., but later learned that he had obtained data in violation of Facebook policies, and subsequently deleted all data it received from Kogans company. For the avoidance of doubt, the spokesman said, none of Kogans data was used in Cambridge Analyticas 2016 election work.

Kogan did not immediately reply to an emailed request for comment. Wylie could not immediately be located.

Cambridge Analytica is probably best known for its political work in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. The company claims to build psychological profiles based on personal details from millions of Americans that can categorize individual voters. It worked for both the primary campaign of Texas senator Ted Cruz and the Trump general-election campaign .

The firm is backed by the family of billionaire donor Robert Mercer, a hedge fund manager who also supported the Trump campaign and other conservative candidates and causes. Trump campaign officials have downplayed Cambridge Analyticas role, saying they briefly used the company for television advertising and paid some of its most skilled data employees.

But the company has also surfaced a few times during the probes into Russian interference in the 2016 election. For instance, Trumps former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who is now cooperating with special counsel Robert Muellers investigation after pleading guilty to a felony charge , disclosed an advisory role with Cambridge Analytica last August. SCL later said that position never materialized.

Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix also disclosed last November that the company reached out to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange during the campaign to request emails related to the Hillary Clinton campaign. Nix said Assange said no. Clinton campaign emails stolen by Russian agents are one focus of the election-interference probes. Nix has denied any involvement in Russian election meddling.

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From Cosmopolitan

Former FBI director James Comey fired back at President Trump on Saturday after the Commander-in-chief sent out a particularly unhinged tweet.

Donald Trump tweeted out a series of somewhat connected thoughts, mainly referring to the firing of FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe on Friday night. Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe almost 48 hours before his retirement benefits would've kicked in after 21 years of FBI service.

Referencing that, Trump wrote, "The Fake News is beside themselves that McCabe was caught, called out and fired. How many hundreds of thousands of dollars was given to wifes campaign by Crooked H friend, Terry M, who was also under investigation? How many lies? How many leaks? Comey knew it all, and much more!"

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Comey, whose book, A Higher Loyalty, is expected to be published in April, jumped right in and tweeted back minutes later, "Mr. President, the American people will hear my story very soon. And they can judge for themselves who is honorable and who is not."

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

To refresh your memory (because so much has happened in this administration that it's impossible to keep track!), Trump fired Comey last May. He originally said it was because of Comey's probe into Hillary Clinton's emails, but then later admitted to NBC's Lester Holt that it was because of "this Russia thing."

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I have finally salvaged my pre-Blogger TDR archives and added them into Blogger. They are almost totally in the form of one giant post for each month. And the formatting strayed from the originals. Sorry. But historians everywhere can rejoice that this treasure trove of my thoughts is restored to the world.Photo credit: Allentown Police Department

From Cosmopolitan

Pennsylvania authorities had been looking for a missing teen whom they believed was in a "secretive relationship" with the 45-year-old married man. Now, the teen and the man have been turned up in Mexico.

According to SF Gate, 16-year-old Amy Yu and her 45-year-old "secret boyfriend," Kevin Esterly surfaced in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico earlier this week. They were found after an Amber alert and an international search intensified, and the pair has since returned to the United States.

According to the paper, Yu and Esterly met when she was only 8 years old. He was a father of four in his late 30s when he met Amy and her family at their church in Allentown, Pennsylvania. In the ensuing years, Yu spent a good amount of time with Esterly and his family; accompanying them on beach and camping trips.

Between Nov 13, 2017, and Feb 9, 2018, Esterly allegedly signed Yu out of the school (without her parents' permission) 10 times. Yu's mother, Miu Luu, called the police after she found out about the Feb 9 event. On Feb 15, Luu called the police again when she arrived home and Esterly and his wife were at her house with Yu.

Since the pair's return, Yu has been reunited with her family. Esterly remains in federal custody, charged with felony interference of the custody of a minor.

You Might Also LikeA Marine and friend shopping at a farmers market. (Photo: Getty Images)

Members of the military, veterans, and their family members will be able to scoop up deals at a private early opening Saturday, March 24, at more than 100 Costco stores nationwide, and you dont have to be a store member.

The normally membership-only stores are honoring those who have served with an exclusive shopping Military Hour event that will include a private early opening, food samples, and freebies. The first 100 people at each store will receive a special goodie bag, according to a release.

Although vets and service members do not have to be a Costco member to attend, a membership is required to purchase anything from the store. A special military membership is also being offered online.

The store announced the event on its Facebook page and is answering further questions as well as getting some nice compliments from vets and families for hosting the event.



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People who wish to attend the event must RSVP online and show their military ID before entering the store.

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.It is a world of victims. I think some people did very well out of meeting with Harvey and others didnt.

Since The New York Times and The New Yorker published explosive reports about Harvey Weinstein last fall, over 80 women have come forward to allege that Weinstein sexually harassed or assaulted them. The avalanche of allegations ended Weinsteins reign of terror in Hollywood, and re-cast the producer from Academy Awards rainmaker to Arizona pariah. (He has denied all claims of nonconsensual sex.)

Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lawrence verbally eviscerated their former collaborator. Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers pummeled him at the award shows over which he once presided. The New York Police Department is reportedly closing in on him. But on Friday, one former Weinstein collaborator, filmmaker Terry Gilliam, spoke up to criticize the #MeToo movement and allege that Weinsteins grim casting-couch methods did, on some occasions, benefit savvy women.

Harvey opened the door for a few people, a night with Harveythats the price you pay, Gilliam said in an interview with AFP on Friday, during which he acknowledged that the producer is a monster.

It is a world of victims. I think some people did very well out of meeting with Harvey and others didnt, continued Gilliam. The ones who did, knew what they were doing. These are adults; we are talking about adults with a lot of ambition.

According to Variety, Gilliam also claimed that some of the women didnt actually suffer, but used Weinstein to further their careers, and that he knew women who walked out of meetings with the mogul before getting sexually abused.

Gilliam also likened the #MeToo movement to mob rule, saying, the mob is out there, they are carrying their torches and they are going to burn down Frankensteins castle. He pointed out Matt Damon, who apologized after a backlash erupted about his own statements on the current reckoning, as being a victim of Hollywoods simplistic and silly mob mentality.

I feel sorry for someone like Matt Damon, who is a decent human being, Gilliam said. He came out and said all men are not rapists, and he got beaten to death. Come on, this is crazy!Earlier this week, I attended a dinner party hosted by the Edge Foundation, an association that fosters conversation between science and tech intellectuals, in which I found myself seated among a group of physicists, astrologists, historians, philosophers, technologists, and futurists of various varieties and pedigrees. Given the august and diverse group, I decided to ask a provocative question that seemed likely to bridge their manifold disciplines, and possibly elicit some tragicomic debate, too. In short, would artificial intelligence lead to the end of the human race? This was not an idle query. Over the last decade, weve given over our lives to computer networks and smart devices. Every aspect of human civilization, from our phones to farms, electric grids and stock markets, cars and missile-guidance systems, have been intertwined with lines of code. The great infrastructure of our existence has never been so vulnerable to manipulation by outside forcesor, one day soon, perhaps, to manipulating itself.

I was stunned by two aspects of their response. First, no one at the table appeared taken aback, surprised, or flummoxed by the question. Second, they all answered immediately, and in unison, yes, as if singing the same low note in a choir. This synoptic answer was followed by a moment of self-reflective silence around the table, as if the inevitable had already happened and we were now paying cerebral tribute to those who had perished during the end of civilization. I wasnt sure how to respond, myself, so I asked someone to explain further. Are we really going to be killed by technology, I wondered? And I then launched into a number of frenzied follow ups: How? When? A historian and philosopher sitting to my left, while scooping fried Brussels sprouts onto his plate, offered a pithy affirmation as the discussion turned to the possibility that a future A.I. could go rogue and wipe us out. Yes, he said, passing the sprouts my way.

Story continues

As of this moment, its still unclear precisely how we might destroy ourselves. Nevertheless, it is something that the countrys smartest minds are correctly consumed with. And many, it appears, are pessimistic about the possible outcomes. We are not far from the day when we could build armies of sophisticated robotsor drones, or nanorobotsthat could be unleashed on the world. Nor is it a leap to imagine how these robots could intentionally be designed to destroy, or how seemingly good A.I. (programs designed to help humans) could be turned bad by rogue hackers who might, say, instruct swarms of UPS-delivery drones or robotic dog-walkers or fleets of driverless taxis to mercilessly punish us. (These are among the nightmares that haunt Elon Musk, Silicon Valleys leading A.I. doomsayer, who in 2015 co-founded the nonprofit OpenAI to help research safeguards as the technology progresses. With artificial intelligence, we are summoning the demon, Musk told Vanity Fair last year. You know all those stories where theres the guy with the pentagram and the holy water and hes like, yeah, hes sure he can control the demon? Doesnt work out.)

One common fear among technologists is what could happen if Vladimir Putin or Kim Jong Il used software to shut off our power grid, decimating our food supply, heat, and logistical network. Its hardly a hypothetical concern: In December, the White House said that North Korea had been behind a ransomeware infection that temporarily brought the British health system to its knees. On Thursday, the Trump administration accused Russia of having infiltrated American nuclear power plants and water and electric systems, giving hackers the ability to shut them down at will. A congressional report in 2008 predicted that if the power were to go out, 90 percent of the population would die within a year, at best (or worst depending how you see it) two years, unable to survive off the land, without running water and electricity.

Or, on a seemingly more prosaic level, what if an adversarial foreign government made the fake news that infected the 2016 cycle seem quaint by comparison. One day, after all, technology will possibly allow a hostile nation to create fake content that perfectly depicts, perhaps, a CNN or Fox News telecast (down to the anchors facial tics) instructing American citizens that a revolution is happening in the streets, and that we need to join it or die, overthrow our own government and learn Russian in order to survive. The possibilities are limitless, as we witnessed last year in Hawaii, when a false ballistic-missile alert, pushed to every smartphone on the island, sent thousands of people rushing for their basements. As the scientist puts it in Contact, the film adaptation of the Carl Sagan novel, when passing the cyanide pill to Jodie Foster, There are 1,000 reasons we can think of to have this with you, but mostly its for the reasons I cant think of.

There are even scarier prophecies. As Jeff Orlowski, the Oscar short-listed filmmaker told me on the Inside the Hive podcast recently, we are very likely in the midst of the sixth extinction, (also known as the Holocene extinction), an event that could lead to a biological annihilation of wildlife on Earth, including the extinction of the entire human race, along with most other life on this planet. Not to worry though, given that Earth has been through five mass extinctions before. We might not survive, but the pale blue dot on which were screaming through space probably will. (Previous extinctions have killed off almost 90 percent of life on the planet, only to see new species form millions of years later.) Some people suggest a meteor could hit Earth; others think were going to be killed off by inhabitants of other planets, whose technology and manifest destiny outpaces our own.

Whats more terrifying than all these possible outcomes, however, is how close we may be to the fatal misstep or misfortune that brings the whole messy experiment to an end. William Poundstone, the well-known skeptic and author of more than a dozen books, including a biography of Sagan, is currently writing a new book about this very topic based on mathematical equations, and he had a rather epigrammatic answer about how its all going to go down. Poundstone recently told me that there are currently two theories in the scientific community about the extent to which our civilization will last, based on how quickly we manage to get our act together. In short, we either have 20 years, or a million. But, in his opinion, the most accurate prediction is that we have about 730 years of humans left on Earth. In other words, between six and eight generations. So your great, great, great, great, great grandchildren could end up being the last living humans in the universe. Gulp.

How did Poundstone come to that number? He cited the work of the physicist J. Richard Gott III, who created a famous mathematical equation that is a variation of the Copernican Principle, called Gotts Principle, which you can use to predict the length of something by determining where in its lifetime we are currently. So far, Gotts Principal has accurately been used to predict when the Berlin Wall would fall, the duration of dozens of Broadway shows (with 95 percent accuracy), the lifetime of corporations, and now, how long we will survive as a species.

Shortly before his death in 1955, Albert Einstein wrote about the growing destructive possibilities of war, specifically those surrounding atomic weapons, and the need to eradicate militarism and nationalism on Earth if our species hoped to survive. As long as there are sovereign nations possessing great power, war is inevitable, Einstein wrote, and aptly predicted that, with technology, the potential for destruction only grows more powerful. That is not an attempt to say when it will come, but only that it is sure to come. That was true before the atomic bomb was made. What has changed is the destructiveness of war. Stephen Hawking, who passed away this week, echoed something similar about artificial intelligence. A.I. could be the worst invention of the history of our civilization, that brings dangers like powerful autonomous weapons or new ways for the few to oppress the many, Hawking said last year. A.I. could develop a will of its own, a will that is in conflict with ours and which could destroy us. In short, the rise of powerful A.I. will be either the best or the worst thing ever to happen to humanity. If the smartest minds in the world keep saying this, maybe its something we should be listening to?

Kevin Kelly, a scientist, artist, and author, joined me on this weeks Inside the Hive podcast to try to ease my concerns about my progeny being wiped out by a few lines of code. His theory is that Hollywood tropes of the end of the world have colored our thinking about what could go wrong, and in reality, none of that will ever come to fruition. I think there are plenty of things to worry about with A.I., but they are all very close. [Its] not this far-away thing of them taking over and killing us all, he said. Should we be worried about the things Elon Musk says we should be worried about? Yes, there are some people who should worry about it. But, not everyone should sit there rocking back-and-forth stressing about a robot knocking down their front door. Kelly likened the threat level to that of an asteroid hitting earth: while its possible, and it could happen, its mathematically unlikely. I would say the same thing about robots taking over. There is a chance greater than zero that it could happen, and therefore, we should have some people thinking about this, but its so unlikely that we dont really need to have national policy or even corporate policy or even research policy based on that now. Lets hope hes right. I guess we have about 730 years to find out.Daniel R. DePetris

Security, Asia

Yes, it could happen. Here's how.

5 Ways Trump Could Stumble into a War with North Korea

Notwithstanding Donald Trumps immediate acceptance of Kim Jong-uns invitation to meet this May, the Korean Peninsula is still one of the more volatile areas of the world. The inter-Korean summit set to take place this April at Panmunjom and the Trump-Kim sit-down a month later will no doubt cools the temperature briefly. Its easy to look at all of the smiles, handshakes, and positivity surrounding the Winter Olympic Games in South Korea and imagine for a moment that Pyongyang and Seoul are on the cusp of a new sunshine policy.

But reality has a tendency to snap us out of our self-induced happiness coma. The prospect of an armed confrontation between the United States with its Northeast Asian allies against a nuclear North Korea remains. We are talking about North Korea after all; nothing is simple and there is plenty that can still go wrong.

Here are five ways a war on the Korean Peninsula could get that much closer.

1. John Bolton Gets Appointed National Security Adviser

According to a March 16 article in the Washington Post, President Trump has made the decision to fire Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster as national security adviser. Former State Department nonproliferation official, U.S. ambassador, and uber-hawk John Bolton is apparently in the running to be McMasters replacement. McMaster is definitely no dove on North Korea, having insistedwithout evidencethat Kim Jong-un is too nuts to be deterred. But he is no Bolton either, whose version of compassionate diplomacy is dropping two 500-pound guided bombs on a target rather than four.

Recommended: 5 Places World War III Could Start in 2018

Recommended: How North Korea Could Start a War

Recommended: This Is What Happens if America Nuked North Korea

Were Bolton to have access to Trump in the Oval Office and chair weekly meetings of the National Security Council, the preventive use of U.S. military force to disarm North Koreas nuclear weapons programthe same disastrous policy he advocated against Saddam Hussein earlier in the centurywould not just be one option among many in the drawer. It would be one of the only options he offers to the president.

Story continues

Bolton has been relishing conflict with the North Koreans since Bill Clintons tenure, and he has not changed his stripes in the two decades since. In one of his more bizarre columns in the Wall Street Journal last month, he used an nineteenth-century steamboat analogy to make the case of a preemptive American attack on Pyongyang. The only problem, of course, is that steamboats dont have the power to kill millions of people in retaliation.

It is perfectly legitimate, Bolton writes, for the United States to respond to the current necessity posed by North Koreas nuclear weapons by striking first. Right now, this recommendation is just the harmless ranting of a former official who likes to hear himself talk on TVand doesnt recognize how frightening he sounds to most Americans. But if he were in the Oval Office giving that same advice, the rantings wouldn't be so harmless anymore.

2. Trump Leaves the Kim Summit Angry

President Trump desperately wants to be the guy who makes history and succeeds where every other president has failed: resolve the North Korea nuclear issue permanently. He was ecstatic when the South Korean delegation came to the White House and delivered a message of peace from Kim Jong-un, and he has been quite confident since then of his ability to go into the summit and leave with a full denuclearization of Kims regime. Pressed by a reporter on whether he believed Kim was actually interested in trading away his nuclear arsenal, Trump said that he thought the North Koreans were sincere in their offer.

Trump has set a high bar for himself going into his discussions with the North Korean leader. When those expectations arent metwhen the infamous peace summit Trump is harping on turns out to be a meet-and-greet photo opportunity with an hour of small talk rather than the diplomatic triumph he was hoping forthe president could fly back to Washington livid that Kim refused to grant concessions. He will blame Kim Jong-uns defiance and stubbornness instead of his own misplaced expectations. See, he may ask, I was right. Talking with the North Koreans is a waste of time that will get is nowhere. They are stringing us along. Its time to stop treating them so nicely. General Mattis, give me some war plans.

3. Pyongyang Breaks Its Missile Testing Moratorium

The Kim regime has committed to a nuclear and missile testing freeze before the May summit as long as diplomatic talks show progress. This is a concession the Trump administration deserves credit for, even if this freeze still permits Pyongyangs scientists to continue producing nuclear warheads, researching missile re-entry technology, operating their plutonium reactors and enriching uranium.

But its not like the Kim family has not dangled this carrot before. Kim Jong-il committed to a suspension of long-range missile launches in 1998, only to break it in 2006 when the Six Party talks were at a stalemate. Kim Jong-un agreed to a similar concession during the 2012 Leap Day Agreement, only to send a satellite into space a few weeks laterusing the very same ballistic missile technology he promised to park. President Trump does not seem like the kind of person who would be as understanding about broken promises from the North Koreans. In fact, because the president internalizes everything, he would probably view such a violation as an affront to him personally. No one is saying Trump would order B1-B bombers into North Korean airspace as a reprisal, but no one can say with absolute assurance that he wouldnt either.

4. Talks Collapse and Kim Rejects Trump's Ultimatum

If the Trump-Kim summit ends in disaster or the administration concludes that the North Koreans arent serious and walks away from the table, Trump could give Pyongyang one last chance to comply with UN Security Council resolutions. Much like Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush demanded Saddam Husseins unconditional cooperation with the UNs nuclear inspectors to avoid U.S. military action, Trump could hold a theatrical prime time news conference and deliver Kim Jong-un an ultimatum: re-admit IAEA inspectors into your country and begin the process of verifiable denuclearization, or face the consequences.

Were Pyongyang to let that deadline pass, Trump would be put into a box of his own making. He can either stand down and experience his own red line fiasco for weeks on end, or he could distinguish himself from Barack Obama and carry out his threat. The former would be s political embarrassment. The latter would spark a conflict more costly than any war since World War II.

5. A Deal Is Reached, and Kim Is Caught Cheating

When the Clinton administration signed the Agreed Framework with Pyongyang in 1994, it was touted by the president himself as a landmark accord that would help lead to a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula and the phased normalization of relations between the United States and North Korea. Clintons predictions obviously didnt come to pass; confronted with evidence of a secret uranium enrichment program, Pyongyang admitted it was working on a covert pathway to a bomb and the Agreed Framework died.

The North Koreans are experts in wiggling their way out of agreements when it suits their needs. They did in 2002. They did in 2008, when they slow rolled the Bush administrations attempt to settle on a verification plan. And they did it in 2012 when a satellite was launched weeks after Pyongyang agreed on a launching moratorium. Assuming a denuclearization deal does get done, precedent tells us that the regime would cheat again or at least try to exploit any loopholes that may exist in a prospective deal. And when the CIA discovers that the North is backtracking on its commitments and provides a report to Trump that his buddy Kim has been playing him for a fool, the presidents response may very well be ugly, forceful and uncompromising.

Daniel R. DePetris is a world affairs columnist for Reuters, a frequent contributor to the American Conservative and the National Interest, and a foreign-policy analyst based in New York, NY.

Image: Flickr

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Read full article[caption id="attachment_9732" align="alignleft" width="620"]

U.S. Courthouse for the Southern District of Georgia, Savannah

U.S. Courthouse for the Southern District of Georgia, Savannah (Photo: John Disney/ALM)[/caption] The American Civil Liberties Union sued the city of Savannah on Friday over its plans to ban signs and posters from an area where Vice President Mike Pence plans to participate in a sprawling St. Patrick's Day parade. City officials immediately backed off what they had previously said would be a complete prohibition of signs on the leg of the parade route being secured for Pence's visit Saturday. Savannah city spokeswoman Michelle Gavin told The Associated Press she misspoke at a news conference earlier this week. "We are allowing signs," Gavin said. "I guess I put out misinformation." Saying a prohibition on signs would violate free speech rights, the ACLU asked a federal judge for an injunction barring authorities from carrying out the ban, said Sean Young, legal director for the ACLU of Georgia. He said the group sued in U.S. District Court in Savannah on behalf of four people seeking to protest during Pence's visit. "We think Savannah should spend more time protecting the rights of its citizens than protecting the feelings of the vice president," Young said. Pence is expected to join 500,000 or more people celebrating St. Patrick's Day in one of the South's biggest street parties after Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Security plans for Pence include requiring parade goers to pass through metal detectors in an area covering a dozen square blocks in the heart of Savannah's downtown historic district. People entering the secure zone won't be allowed to bring coolers, folding chairs or backpacks. Posters and signs were also included on a list of 29 prohibited items distributed by city officials at a news conference Wednesday. Gavin told reporters Wednesday the list of banned items was based on security limitations imposed by the Secret Service at similar high-profile events such as the presidential inauguration. Gavin said Friday that authorities were still trying to determine whether to place any restrictions on signssuch as barring signs mounted on sticks that could be used as weapons. The area being secured for Pence's visit includes only a small portion of the 2.25-mile parade route that winds through downtown Savannah. But it's a popular area with spectators that includes City Hall and two of the city's oak-shaded public squares. Parade spectators on St. Patrick's Day typically watch from the sidewalks or gather in the parklike squares along the routeall of which are public property. Authorities planned to begin letting people into the secured zone at 7 a.m. Saturday. Gavin told reporters security restrictions should be lifted by 1 p.m. after Pence leaves Savannah.Adrian Lamo told the US army about his online chats with then Bradley Manning - Reuters

Adrian Lamo, the computer hacker who passed on information that led to the arrest of Chelsea Manning, has died aged 37.

His father Mario broke the news of his son's death on Facebook.

With great sadness and a broken heart I have to let know all of Adrians friends and acquaintances that he is dead. A bright mind and compassionate soul is gone, he was my beloved son, Mario Lamo wrote in a post to the 2600: The Hacker Quarterly Facebook Group.

The cause of Lamos death, confirmed to the BBC by the Sedgwick County coroner in Kansas, is not yet known.

Lamo was considered one of the most famous hackers in the world.

He was dubbed "the homeless hacker" for his habit of using public places such as coffee shops and internet cafes to carry out his cyber activities.

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Most of his illicit behaviour involved breaking into computer networks and then reporting on their vulnerabilities to the companies that owned them.

One of Lamo's biggest claim to fame came when he broke into the intranet of the New York Times and added his name to their database of experts.

He also used the paper's LexisNexis account to gain access to the confidential details of high-profile subjects. He was sentenced to two years probation and ordered to pay $65,000.

The hacker hit the headlines again for reporting conversations he had with Chelsea Manning, then Bradley Manning, to the US Army.

Manning is said to have reached out to Mr Lamo, whose high-profile raids on the networks of corporate America made him a hero in some circles, and told him of his struggles as a gay soldier serving in Iraq in 2010.

Mr Lamo, who had been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, told the young soldier, who went by the handle bradass87, to treat their talks "as a confession or an interview (never to be published)".

Profile | Chelsea Manning

In their discussions, bradass87 talked about stealing 260,000 diplomatic cables and releasing them to WikiLeaks in the hope of sparking "worldwide discussion, debates, and reforms".

Story continues

The online chat began on May 21, 2010 but within four days the hacker became worried about the scale of what he was being told and reported the conversation to authorities. Hours later, Manning was arrested by military police near Baghdad.

Manning was released from military prison last year after Barack Obama commuted her 35-year sentence. She is now trying to become the Senator for home state of Maryland.

Lamo, who was called a "traitor" and the worlds most hated hacker by some at the time, had expressed regret for what happened to Manning.

He told the Guardian in 2011 that he thought of Manning every day and that "the decision was not one I decided to make, but was thrust upon me.

He added: Had I done nothing, I would always have been left wondering whether the hundreds of thousands of documents that had been leaked to unknown third parties would end up costing lives, either directly or indirectly."

Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, tweeted on Friday that Mr Lamo was a petty conman and betrayer of basic human decency.Yes, the decision belongs on the local level

No, no one should be able to dictate whether people wear masks

Vote

View ResultsAdrian Lamo, a former computer hacker who informed authorities about Army Private First Class Bradley Manning, has died: REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

Adrian Lamo, a computer hacker best known for giving up information that lead to Chelsea Manning's arrest, has died at the age of 37.

Mr Lamo, occasionally known as the homeless hacker because of his penchant for roaming the US on Greyhound buses, died in Sedgwick County, Kansas on Friday, according to multiple reports. His cause of death has not been confirmed.

An account appearing to belong to his father, Mario Lamo, posted a tribute in a Facebook group called 2600 | The Hacker Quarterly.

With great sadness and a broken heart I have to let know all of Adrian's friends and acquittances[sic] that he is dead, he wrote. A bright mind and compassionate soul is gone, he was my beloved son

Mr Lamo gained notoriety in the early 2000s for hacking into high-profile companies like Microsoft, AOL, and Excite@Home. Perhaps his best-known hack was of the New York Times, when he gained access to a newspaper database and accessed personal information for more than 3,000 contributors to the Times' op-ed page, according to the FBI.

Usually, Mr Lamo would not take any money from the companies he hacked, and would instead give them advice on how to improve their security systems.

His exploits still occasionally got him in trouble with the law, however: He evaded arrest for five days in 2003 while FBI agents staked out his home in California, according to CNET. He eventually turned himself in and was sentenced to six months home detention.

Mr Lamo gained worldwide notoriety in 2010, when he gave military investigators evidence that Ms Manning  then an intelligence analyst for a US Army unit in Iraq  had turned over confidential military information to WikiLeaks.

Ms Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison in 2013. Her sentence was later commuted by President Barack Obama.

Looking back on his decision to turn in Ms Manning in 2017, Mr Lamo told US News and World Report it was not [his] most honorable moment.

But he added that he had learned much from the experience, including that you cant really know a person or their motives unless youve sat where they sat and seen the situation through their eyes, no matter how much you believe you do.

So many people think they know why I did what I did or what I was thinking or why I made my choice, he added. And almost without exception theyre wrong.Adrian Lamo, the computer hacker who reported Chelsea Manning to authorities for sharing classified documents with WikiLeaks, was found dead in an apartment in Wichita, Kansas, last week, according to local reports.

Lamo, whose cause of death has yet to be reported but has been deemed unsuspicious by police, was 37, the Wichita Eagle reported.

With great sadness and a broken heart I have to let know all of Adrians friends and [acquaintances] that he is dead, his father, Mario Lamo, posted on Facebook on Friday. A bright mind and compassionate soul is gone, he was my beloved son.

Adrian Lamo, a former computer hacker who reported Chelsea Manning to authorities, is seen in 2011. (Photo: Joshua Roberts / Reuters)

Lamo was known for hacking organizations including The New York Times, Microsoft, and Yahoo.

Manning, a transgender woman who was then known as Bradly Manning, an Army private, reached out to Lamo online in early 2010 after hearing about his work.

During their chats, Manning revealed that she had provided WikiLeaks with classified information, including a video of a helicopter attack in Baghdad that left 12 people dead, including two Reuters employees.

Chelsea Manning appeared last week at the annual conference in Austin, Texas. (Photo: Ismael Quintanilla via Getty Images)

Lamo reported Mannings admissions to the FBI, leading to her arrest later in 2010. In 2013, she was sentenced to 35 years in prison, but President Barack Obama granted her a commutation and she was released from jail in May 2017.

Lorraine Murphy, who identified herself as a friend of Lamo to the Wichita Eagle, said he went on to amass many friends as well as enemies who would send him death threats for what he had done.

Murphy said Lamo had been living in Wichita for more than a year, though she didnt know why. She said he was frequently moving around.

He was a believer in the Geographic Cure. Whatever goes wrong in your life, moving will make it better. And he knew people all over the country, she told the paper.

Related...

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Story continues

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Actor Burt Reynolds, one of the biggest movie stars of the 1970s, died on September 6, 2018 at the age of 82.

John McCain

Arizona Sen. John McCain (R), a naval bomber pilot, prisoner of war, conservative maverick, giant of the Senate, twice-defeated presidential candidate and an abrasive American hero, died on August 25, 2018 at 81.

Robin Leach

Robin Leach, who chronicled the conspicuous consumption of the 1980s on his syndicated show Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, died on August 24, 2018. He was 76.

Ed King

Ed King, a former guitarist for the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd and a co-writer of several of the groups hits  including Sweet Home Alabama"  died on August 22, 2018 at 68.

Kofi Annan

Kofi Annan, a Ghanaian diplomat and former United Nations secretary-general, died at the age of 80 on August 18, 2018.

Aretha Franklin

Aretha Franklin, the undisputed Queen of Soul whose powerhouse vocal cords revolutionized American music and made her one of the top-selling female musicians of all time, died on August 16, 2018. She was 76.

V.S. Naipaul

V.S. Naipaul, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2001 for documenting the migrations of peoples and the unraveling of the British Empire, died on August 11, 2018. He was 85.

Joel Robuchon

French celebrity chef Joel Robuchon, who was credited with winning the most Michelin stars in the world, died on Aug. 6, 2018 at 73.

Charlotte Rae

Actress Charlotte Rae, who was best known as the wise and lovable house mother Mrs. Garrett on "Diffrent Strokes" and "The Facts of Life," died on August 5, 2018. She was 92.

Jonathan Gold

Jonathan Gold, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Los Angeles Times restaurant critic who chronicled the citys vast culinary landscape and made its food understandable and approachable, died on July 21, 2018. He was 57.

Harlan Ellison

Harlan Ellison, a major figure in the New Wave of science fiction writers of the 1960s who became a legend in science fiction and fantasy circles for his award-winning stories and notoriously outspoken and combative persona, died on June 27, 2018. He was 84.

Joe Jackson

Joe Jackson, father to Michael and Janet Jackson and the no-nonsense manager of the Jackson 5, died on June 27, 2018 at 89.

Richard Harrison

Richard Harrison, who starred on the popular History Channel reality show Pawn Stars, died on June 25, 2018. He was 77.

Donald Hall

Donald Hall, a former poet laureate of the United States, died on June 23, 2018. He was 89.

Charles Krauthammer

Charles Krauthammer, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post columnist and intellectual provocateur, died June 21, 2018 at 68.

Anthony Bourdain

Anthony Bourdain, the chef, restaurateur and author who hosted CNNs Parts Unknown, died on June 8, 2018 at the age of 61.

Kate Spade

Designer Kate Spade, seen here with her handbags in 1999, died at age 55 on June 5, 2018.

Dwight Clark

Dwight Clark, a receiver who made one of the most memorable plays in NFL history and jump-started the San Francisco 49ers dynasty, died on June 4, 2018. He was 61.

Donald H. Peterson Sr.

Donald H. Peterson Sr., an astronaut who served on the maiden voyage of the space shuttle Challenger, died on May 27, 2018. He was 84.

Alan Bean

Astronaut Alan Bean, a member of the Apollo 12 mission and the fourth human to walk on the moon, died on May 26, 2018 at the age of 86.

Philip Roth

Author Philip Roth, who was both hailed and derided for laying bare the neuroses and obsessions that haunted the modern Jewish-American experience, died on May 22, 2018 at the age of 85.

Tom Wolfe

Tom Wolfe, the innovative writer who chronicled the early days of the U.S. space program and the rise of 1960s counterculture before becoming a novelist with his classic "Bonfire of the Vanities," died on May 14, 2018 at the age of 88.

Margot Kidder

Actress Margot Kidder, who brought Lois Lane to life in the hit 1978 film Superman and three sequels, died on May 13, 2018 at 69.

Larry Harvey

Larry Harvey, who co-founded what evolved into the nations most outlandish anti-establishment art, music and exhibitionist extravaganza  the Burning Man festival  died on April 28, 2018. He was 70.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.Lamo testified about Mannings release of documents to WikiLeaks



Cause of death was not immediately known



Adrian Lamo, picture in Long Island, met Manning online in 2010 and eventually reported her to authorities. Photograph: The Washington Post/Washington Post/Getty Images

Adrian Lamo, the computer hacker who turned in whistleblower Chelsea Manning to law enforcement, has died at the age of 37, according to authorities in Kansas.

Lamo, who testified about Mannings release of documents to WikiLeaks, was confirmed dead on Friday by authorities in Sedgwick County. The coroners office has not responded to inquiries about the cause of his death.

Manning, a former soldier whose leaks exposed the nature of warfare in Afghanistan and Iraq, was released from military prison last year after Barack Obama commuted her 35-year sentence.

Lamo had met Manning online in 2010 and eventually reported her to the authorities. Manning had reached out to Lamo after reading an article about the hacker, who was convicted in 2004 of breaking into computers at the New York Times, Yahoo and Microsoft.

Lamos father, Mario, confirmed the death in a Facebook post on Friday that said: With great sadness and a broken heart I have to let know all of Adrians friends and acquittances [sic] that he is dead. A bright mind and compassionate soul is gone, he was my beloved son.

In a 2011 interview with the Guardian, Lamo had expressed some regret about a possible lengthy prison sentence for Manning. He said he thought of Manning every day, adding: The decision was not one I decided to make, but was thrust upon me.

Called the worlds most hated hacker by some at the time, Lamo also said: Had I done nothing, I would always have been left wondering whether the hundreds of thousands of documents that had been leaked to unknown third parties would end up costing lives, either directly or indirectly.



Lamo also spoke to the Guardian in 2013 about Mannings harsh treatment behind bars, saying: I came to terms and continued my life some time ago.

Manning, who was one of the most severely punished leakers in US history, announced earlier this year that she is running for US Senate. She came out as a transgender woman while incarcerated and has been an advocate for trans rights since.Here is something that, even on its own, is astonishing: The president of the United States demanded the firing of the former FBI deputy director, a career civil servant, after tormenting him both publicly and privatelyand it worked.

The American public still doesnt know in any detail what Andrew McCabe, who was dismissed late Friday night, is supposed to have done. But citizens can see exactly what Donald Trump did to McCabe. And the presidents actions are corroding the independence that a healthy constitutional democracy needs in its law enforcement and intelligence apparatus.

McCabes firing is part of a pattern. It follows the summary removal of the previous FBI director and comes amid Trumps repeated threats to fire the attorney general, the deputy attorney, and the special counsel who is investigating him and his associates. McCabes ouster unfolded against a chaotic political backdrop which includes Trumps repeated calls for investigations of his political opponents, demands of loyalty from senior law enforcement officials, and declarations that the job of those officials is to protect him from investigation.

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All of which has led many observers to wonder: Are we in the midst of a constitutional crisis? And if so, would we even know?

A quick search on Google Trends shows that public interest in constitutional crises has scaled up impressively in the time since Trumps election, with spikes in interest appearing at particularly fraught moments: the first travel ban, James Comeys firing, and several points at which Trump appeared to be on the brink of dismissing Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Now, with the firing of McCabe, the specter of constitutional crisis has reappeared.

The term constitutional crisis gets thrown around a lot, but it actually has no fixed meaning. Its not a legal term of art, though lawyers and law professorsas well as political scientists and journalistssometimes use is as though it were. Saying that something is a constitutional crisis is a little like saying that someone is going through a nervous breakdowna term which does not map neatly onto any specific clinical condition, but is evocative of a certain constellation of mental health emergencies. Its hard to define a constitutional crisis, but you know one when you see it. Or do you?

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There have been various attempts to define the term over the years. Writing in the wake of the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, and the turmoil of the 2000 election, the political scientist Keith Whittington noted the speed with which commentators had rushed to declare the country on the brink of a constitutional crisiseven though, as he pointed out, the republic appears to have survived these events relatively unscathed.

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Whittington instead proposed thinking about constitutional crises as circumstances in which the constitutional order itself is failing. In his view, such a crisis could take two forms. There are operational crises, in which constitutional rules dont tell us how to resolve a political dispute; and there are crises of fidelity, in which the rules do tell us what to do but arent being followed. The latter is probably closest to the common understanding of constitutional crisissomething along the lines of President Andrew Jacksons famous (if apocryphal) rejoinder to the Supreme Court, [Justice] John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it. Or, to point to an example proposed recently by Whittington himself, such a crisis would result if congressional Republicans failed to hold Trump accountable for firing Mueller.

The constitutional scholars Sanford Levinson and Jack Balkin more or less agree with Whittingtons typology, but add a third category of crisis: situations in which the Constitution fails to constrain political disputes within the realm of normalcy. In these cases, each party involved argues that they are acting constitutionally, while their opponent is not. If examples of the crises described by Whittington are relatively far and few betweenif they exist at allLevinson and Balkin view crises of interpretation as comparatively common. One notable example: the battle over secession that began the Civil War.

These three categorizations help show what a constitutional crisis could look like, but its not entirely clear how they apply to the situation at hand. Whittington, Levinson and Balkin all agree that the notion of a constitutional crisis implies some acute episodea clear tipping point that tests the legal and constitutional order. But how do we know this presidency isnt just an example of the voters picking a terrible leader who then leads terribly? At what point does a bad president doing bad things become a problem of constitutional magnitude, let alone a crisis of constitutional magnitude? Indeed, its hard to see a crisis when the sun is still rising every day on schedule, when nobody appears to be defying court orders or challenging the authority of the countrys rule-of-law institutions, and when a regularly scheduled midterm electionin which the presidents party is widely expected to perform badlyis scheduled for a few months from now. What exactly is the crisis here?

Another problem with thinking about Americas current woes as a constitutional crisis involves the question of what comes next. That is, assume for a moment we are in some kind of constitutional crisis. So what? What exactly flows from that conclusion? Normally, constitutional conclusions imply certain prescribed outcomes. When a president is impeached, for example, the Senate must hold a trial to determine whether he or she should be removed from office. When serving a second term, a president is not allowed to run for a third term. But if one concludes that we are going through a constitutional crisis, what happens next? The label doesnt carry any obvious implication, let alone an action item. If it has value, its value is descriptive. It carries cultural and emotional weight but not much else.

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Still another problem with the term is that the duration of the crisis is not clear. Does a constitutional crisis take place over days, weeks, or longer? Must it threaten in the immediate term to blow things up if it doesnt blow over or get resolved through some other process? (Think of the Cuban Missile Crisis, only in domestic constitutional terms.) Or can a constitutional crisis also take place in slow motion?

Theres a better term for what is taking place in America at this moment: constitutional rot.

Constitutional rot is what happens, the constitutional scholar John Finn argues, when faith in the key commitments of the Constitution gradually erode, even when the legal structures remain in place. Constitutional rot is what happens when decision-makers abide by the empty text of the Constitution without fidelity to its underlying principles. Its also what happens when all this takes place and the public either doesnt realizeor doesnt care.

Balkin used the same phrase immediately after the firing of James Comey to describe what he saw as a degradation of constitutional norms that may operate over long periods of time. Comeys firing was startling, he argued, but not a constitutional crisis in and of itself. The real constitutional change lay in the slow corruption of public trust in government that had brought Americans to this point.

Rot, in Finns words, is quiet, insidious, and subtle. It hollows out the system without citizens or officials even noticing. And, as Balkin notes, though constitutional rot is distinct from constitutional crisis, the former can lead to the latter. Slowly rotting floorboards can suddenly give way to the hidden pit beneath. (Balkin uses a similar metaphor of a rotten tree branch.)

There are clearly elements of rot in our current situation. The evidence is everywhere. Ongoing violations, or attempted violations, of our democratic norms and expectations, have become routine. The overt demands for the politicization of law enforcement have intensified. A highly-politicized media disseminates presidential propaganda. Congress tolerates it all. This is consistent with constitutional rot.

But constitutional rot also has its limits as a way of describing Trumpism. Rot, after all, is a one-way streeta process that can be stemmed and slowed but cannot be reversed. Wood does not regenerate. Rotten meat does not heal itself and become fresh again.

Yet in different ways, both Balkin and Finn imagine constitutional rot as potentially reversible. Balkins solution is, essentially, that we must elect different and better leaders in the futurepresumably before its too late to replace the floorboards. Finn takes a different view, making the case that rot can be combated through the development of an engaged and energized citizenry, one that cares about preserving and maintaining constitutional values.

Even amid the constitutional degradation of this moment, both of these rejuvenating mechanisms are very much in evidence. On a daily basis, features of our democratic culture look more like antibodies fighting off an illness than like the rot before an inevitable collapse.

Journalists have been relentless and ferocious and effective in unmasking and reporting the truthand news institutions have developed more committed readership as a result. A broad democratic coalition of citizens is mobilizing against Trumpismmost recently in a Pennsylvania congressional district believed to be so solidly Republican that Democrats let the incumbent run unopposed in recent elections. Other institutions, including the very FBI that Trump is assaulting, are knuckling down and doing their jobs in the face of pressure. This is not the stuff of a rotting democracy.

Trump can whine and he can fire senior FBI officials, but he has been singularly ineffective either in getting the bureau to investigate his political opponents (they have not yet locked her up) or in dropping the Russia investigation, which continues to his apparent endless frustration. If this is constitutional rot, it's inspiring a surge of public commitment to underlying democratic idealsincluding the independence of law enforcement.

What we are seeing, in other words, is a little more dynamic than rot, a phrase that assumes we know the outcome. Its more like constitutional infection or injury. The wound may indeed lead to a crisis; it may become gangrenous. But to describe the United States today as facing a constitutional crisis misses the frenetic pre-crisis activity of the antibodies fighting the bacteria, alongside the antibiotics the patient is taking.

We are definitely in a period of sustained constitutional infection. The question is whether we can collectively bring that infection under control before we face an acute crisis.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.Andrew McCabe listens during a news conference to announce significant law enforcement actions: Getty

The former deputy director of the FBI who was sacked two days before his retirement has reportedly handed memos about conversations he had with Donald Trump to the Special Counsel investigating allegations of Russian collusion in the 2016 US presidential election campaign.

After he was fired Andrew McCabe said he had had four encounters with the US President while he was acting FBI director.

He has now handed notes he took about the content of those meetings to Robert Mueller, a source told CNN.

In a separate interview with the American broadcaster Mr McCabe said he had met with Mr Trump three times in person and spoken to him once on the phone.

He said the President had criticised him about his wife Jills failed attempt to win a seat in the Virginia state legislature in 2015.

After his predecessor James Comey was fired last May, McCabe said he had had his own interactions with the President who had brought up his wife every time he spoke with him.

He added: Of course, I disagreed with him.

He spoke out after he was sacked about 26 hours before his expected retirement and after more than 20 years at the bureau.

US Attorney General Jeff Sessions said an internal review found he leaked information and misled investigators.

He said Mr McCabe had made an unauthorised disclosure to the news media and lacked candour  including under oath  on multiple occasions.

Mr McCabe denied the claims and said he was being targeted because of his involvement in the inquiry into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

In a lengthy statement, he claimed he had followed FBI rules and always acted in the interest of setting the record straight on behalf of the Bureau.

He said: I was being portrayed in the media over and over as a political partisan, accused of closing down investigations under political pressure. The FBI was portrayed as caving under that pressure, and making decisions for political rather than law enforcement purposes. Nothing was further from the truth.

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It is not yet clear what the memos will contain, however some US media reports have claimed they detail what former FBI Director James Comey said to him about Mr Trump.

If this is the case, it would allow Mr Muellers team to corroborate Mr Comeys testimony in the Russian probe.

Mr Trump has repeatedly criticised Mr McCabe  who has worked with the FBI since 1996  and accused him of being biased in favour of Ms Clinton.

The firing came just in time for his 50th birthday. The abrupt dismissal could jeopardise his ability to collect early retirement benefits.(Adds final statement from MPLA)

By Stephen Eisenhammer

LUANDA, March 16 (Reuters) - Angola's ruling MPLA party said on Friday it would discuss next month when to appoint a new leader, potentially undermining party chief and former president Jose Eduardo dos Santos who hours earlier said he might stay on until next year.

Dos Santos handpicked Angola's new president, Joao Lourenco, to succeed him when he stepped down last September after ruling for 38 years, but held onto his position as head of the party, creating two centres of power in the oil-producing nation.

Since then dos Santos has been under increasing pressure to give up the presidency of the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) that has governed Angola continuously since independence from Portugal in 1975.

State radio said many in the MPLA leadership had taken issue with dos Santos' intervention at Friday's meeting of the central committee when, in a rare public statement, he told the party it should wait until December or April 2019 to replace him.

Consensus is building within the inner circle of the MPLA that a new party leader should be appointed as early as June, the radio reported.

In a statement published at the end of the meeting, the MPLA said the decision to discuss the issue in April had as "its only goal the strengthening of the MPLA and the reinforcement of its internal cohesion".

Lourenco has moved against some of dos Santos' old allies and has removed family members from key positions, including his daughter Isabel from the chair of state oil company Sonangol and Jose Filomeno from the sovereign wealth fund.

Party stalwarts have also come out to say they intended to ensure dos Santos sticks to previous assurances that he would leave "active political life" in 2018.

After a flurry of rumours on social media suggesting Friday's central committee meeting could see a date for his removal forced upon him, dos Santos moved pre-emptively to set his own timeline.

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"I recommend that it would be most prudent that the party's extraordinary congress which will resolve the question of the leadership of the MPLA be in December 2018 or April 2019," he told the central committee at the opening of the meeting.

As head of the party, dos Santos, 75, remains hugely powerful, with influence over the way lawmakers vote in parliament and on party policy proposals, but relations with Lourenco have broken down.

"I understand that the relationship... has deteriorated since late 2017 and that they are no longer in communication with each other," said Alex Vines, head of the Africa Programme at London's Chatham House.

"A transition of power after almost 38 years was never going to be simple or smooth, and the tug-of-war over the MPLA presidency is a reminder that this transition is still in its infancy," Vines said. (Reporting by Stephen Eisenhammer Editing by James Macharia and Gareth Jones)In an effort to curb crime in Michigan, a candidate for U.S. Senate has proposed arming the local homeless population with shotguns.

Brian Ellison, a libertarian, told The Guardian in an interview that the ideal weapon would be "a pistol," but that that the permitting difficulties would likely prevent that plan from coming to fruition. Instead, arming the state's indigent population with "pump-action shotguns" would be "a suitable alternative."

Ellison cautioned that, if elected, he would arrange a system to "pre-qualify" homeless people to ensure that they would be suitable owners. His plan would also be an opt-in program, he said, noting that no one would be forced to carry around the weapon. Newsweek has reached out to the candidate for comment.

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The first thing that were gonna do is ask them if they think this is something that would benefit them, he said, adding that he didn't think it was dangerous. "Were certainly not trying to force anything on anybody.

The plan is meant to combat the very real problem of violence against homeless people. At least 1,650 homeless people were violently attacked between 1999 and 2015, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless. The organization cautions that the number is an extremely conservative estimate. In order for there to be documentation of a crime, the homeless person typically has to report it to authorities, a step that indigent people may choose to forgo in the many territories where homelessness itself is criminalized. The most common perpetrators are often teenage boys and men under 30, the organization's annual report said.

Don't miss: Give Teachers Guns, And More Black Children Will Die

In Michigan, more than 56,000 people are homeless. Ellison remarked that the population is "constantly victims of violent crime" in his state.

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The Army veteran, who is running against Democratic incumbent Debbie Stabenow, also has some other controversial policies embedded within in his campaign platform. He would like to abolish the Transportation Security Administration, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Department of Education. His page also includes about half a dozen political memes and a call to donate. He self-reported raising just over $7,500 for his campaign by the end of 2017.

"In order to move forward in these beliefs we must remember that while our ideology is our core, we must also be practical and reasonable in their implementation," he says on his website. "We as a nation have a long way to go before realizing the benefits of Libertarian ideals."

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekBy Colin Packham and Alison Bevege

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's attorney general said that Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has diplomatic immunity, rejecting a bid by activist lawyers to prosecute her for crimes against humanity over the country's treatment of minority Rohingya Muslims.

Nearly 700,000 Rohingya fled Buddhist-majority Myanmar to Bangladesh after militant attacks on Aug. 25 last year sparked a crackdown led by security forces in the western state of Rakhine that the United Nations and United States have said constituted ethnic cleansing.

Myanmar denies the charge. It has asked for "clear evidence" of abuses by security forces. After repeated attempts, neither Suu Kyi's spokesman nor the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was available for comment.

Australian Attorney General Christian Porter said he would not allow the prosecution of Suu Kyi, who arrived in Sydney on Saturday for regional talks, because heads of state cannot be arrested, detained or served with court proceedings.

"Aung San Suu Kyi has complete immunity, including from being served with court documents, because under customary international law, heads of state, heads of government and ministers of foreign affairs are immune from foreign criminal proceedings and are inviolable," Porter told Reuters by email.

The legal action in Australia coincided with the start of Association of Southeast Asian Nations meetings.

Australia is hosting the meetings, despite not being a member of the 10-nation bloc, as it seeks to tighten political and trade ties in the region amid China's rising influence.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi's invitation has sparked protests, which included about 100 activists gathering in Sydney's Hyde Park where they chanted "Aung San Suu Kyi, shame on you".

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Friday he would raise the issue of human rights abuses with Suu Kyi during her three-day visit.

(Additional reporting by James Redmayne, David Gray and Simon Lewis; Editing by Nick Macfie)Bike of the Week: Hazan Motorworks Musket II Bobber

Max Hazan raises the stakes on his second crack at the Musket

Despite being on the scene for just a handful of years, Max Hazan has made a name for himself as one of the worlds top builders. He's done so by churning out exquisitely detailed, one-off motorcycles built from dozens of individually designed and machined components. Aside from the engine and parts of the wheels, every single part on a Hazan Motorworks build is a bespoke handmade piece. For this reason, each one of the elite customs that come out of Hazans small Los Angeles studio is wildly unique and expertly crafted. Hazan's ability to blend form with function is simply astounding, and the award-winning builders most recent two-wheeled masterpiece, The Musket II is no exception.

Screen Shot 2018-03-03 at 7.18.07 PM

More Hazan Motorworks Bike of the Week: Blown Ducati 860

While until now Hazan has never produced more than one of any bike, a request from a customer lead to him building a second Musket. Luckily for us, Hazan was kind enough to invite RideApart to his studio while he was working on this build, giving us a firsthand look at exactly what goes into building a Hazan Motorworks machine.

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Hazans process is very organic. He starts by placing an engine on a cinder block in between a set of wheels. From there he draws out the frame and tank until the design comes together, working at a one-to-one scale. A corner of his shop is occupied by various metal rods and cylinders, such as the .125 chromoly steel used to create the builds one-off chassis. Hazan turns that collection of metals into the bespoke pieces that make up his machines. Because so many individual knickknacks are designed and made by hand, every inch of his bikes have to be thoroughly calculated and considered.

IMG_6186

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The ex-contractorwho has won three Bike of the Year awards from PipeBurnis constantly looking for new ways of doing things. On the Musket II, Hazan opted have the builds brakes controlled via side-by-side foot-pedals on the right side of the bike - with the inner pedal operating the front brake and the outer engaging the rear. While the entire bike is absolutely gorgeous, one of my favorite features was the left foot peg. Hazan ingeniously created a system that allows the left foot peg to pivot 180-degrees, enabling it to be used as the bikes stand. So cool.

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IMG_6163

Like the foot-peg/stand, many of Hazans ideas are done in an effort to minimize clutter and keep each build as clean as possible. The dual handmade aluminum gas tanks consist of one dummy unit which houses the bikes battery, coils, and regulator, while the other boasts a cutout on the bottom, making room for a protruding carb. Custom exhaust pipes were crafted for the build before being fitted to the 55hp 1,000cc Musket V-twinwhich is essentially a pair of 500cc Royal Enfield Bullet singles married together and bolted to a Bullet transmission. The use of copper tubing in the place of traditional lines pairs well with the rest of the builds top-shelf design language.

Screen Shot 2018-03-03 at 7.17.28 PM

A jockey-shifter was also added, sprucing up the bike and giving it a little more distinct character. Because the left foot-peg doubled as a kick-stand, Hazan needed to find somewhere else to put the foot clutch, which is how he landed on the jockey-shift-lever. Another noteworthy highlight on Hazans second Musket build is the rear drum brake linkage. Because he was unable to work out a design for a solid linkage that met his ridiculously high standards, Hazan opted to use a cable setup that came out really clean. The seat itself is another one of my favorite aspects of the Musket II. The handmade unit is made up of several pieces that fit together in a puzzle-like manner. Despite the thin saddle being asymmetrical, the offset design looks fantastic - and allows everything to fit.

IMG_6160

More Hazan: Max Hazan sits down with Anthony Bourdain

The entire front-end of the Musket II is pretty ridiculous too. There is so much going on, and though it sounds contradictory, a lot of work was done to make it look like no work has been done. The throttle assembly was internally routed through the fixed handlebar which is welded to a handmade headlight unit as well as the triple tree. Below the headlamp is a Hazan-designed fork which uses large brass bushings and exposed springs. Being the perfectionist that he isyou kinda have to be when your bikes sell for six-figures apieceHazan experimented with dozens of designs before landing on the setup you now see.

IMG_6168

The same goes for the builds wheels. The rear wheel went through a number of versions before Hazan settled on the solid hot rod wheel Hazan sourced from Summit Racing. Before wrapping the wide wheel in Excelsior rubber, a one-off drum was machined in house from bars of 6061 aluminum to house the two right-side bearings and the five studs that run through the wheel in a five-stud car-like layout. The front wheel is a 19-inch 40-spoke rim (also wrapped in Excelsior rubber) fitted with what was once a rear-hub off a Honda, prior to being reworked by Hazan to fit the front wheel. A wide rear-fender was also crafted that now closely hugs the rear car tire, tying together the bobber aesthetic.

Screen Shot 2018-03-03 at 7.17.17 PM

With the success of his prior builds, there is a lot of pressure on Hazan to constantly outdo himself. Despite always setting the bar ridiculously high, Hazan has nonetheless been able to deliver time and time again. It was also really cool to see the project in person in its earlier state, as well as in its current completed form. As great as Hazan's work looks in photos, seeing it up close allows one to appreciate it that much more. With so many bobbers being built today, you really have to do something special to stand out. Fortunately for Hazan, thats exactly what hes got here with the Musket II.

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Hazans acute attention to detail, combined with his expert execution makes for some truly exceptional one-off motorcycles. His old-school methods are incredibly time-consuming, but cutting corners wouldn't allow for the same level of results. With each of his builds components requiring hundreds of hours of machining over the course of the roughly six-months it takes Hazan to complete a single project, its probably not hard to see why the Musket II has earned its place as this weeks Bike of the Week, and then some.

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Got a bike you think deserves to be RideAparts next Bike of the Week? Drop us a line at info@rideapart.com.

Special thanks to Max Hazan.

Shop photos by Tim Huber, professional photos by Shaik Ridzwan of the The Mighty MotorFlorida International Universitys bridge design team met hours before the schools deadly bridge collapse to discuss a crack in the structure, but an engineer present concluded that there were no safety hazards, the university revealed on Saturday.

At 9 a.m. on Thursday, FIUs bridge design team, including employees from the university, Munilla Construction Company and FIGG Bridge Engineers, had a two-hour meeting in a trailer at the construction site about cracking in the structure.

Less than five hours later, the bridge collapsed over Southwest Eighth Street. in Miami, killing at least six people and hospitalizing at least nine others.

During the meeting, an engineer for FIGG, the firm which designed the bridge, gave a presentation on the crack, according to the university.

The FIGG engineer of record delivered a technical presentation regarding the crack and concluded that there were no safety concerns and the crack did not compromise the structural integrity of the bridge, the university said.

Representatives for the Florida Department of Transportation were also at the meeting.

News of the Thursday morning meeting comes one day after FDOT revealed that FIGG engineer Denney Pate called the transportation department to alert its officials of cracking on the bridge on Tuesday, two days before the collapse.

Pate left a voicemail for the state employee saying that he observed some cracking that would need repairs, but he added that it didnt appear to pose any urgent safety issues.

The employee didnt hear the message until Friday because he was on an assignment out of the office, according to the transportation department.

An evaluation of the bridge based on the best available information at that time and conducted before the collapse indicated that there were no safety issues, Cheryl Stopnick, a spokeswoman for FIGG Bridge, told HuffPost on Friday.

Stopnick declined to answer questions about what type of cracks Pate observed and whether the cracks contributed to the collapse.

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Responding to questions about the bridges crack, Robert Accetta of the National Transportation Safety Board said at a Friday night press conference that a crack in the bridge does not necessarily mean its unsafe.

Accetta is an investigator working with the board to find out what caused the collapse and how to prevent it from happening in the future.

Florida International University spearheaded the 950-ton bridge project to provide its students with safe passage to campus over a multi-lane road.

The university hired FIGG Bridge Engineers to design the bridge and Munilla Construction to build it. The design team contracted Barnhart Crane and Rigging to move the bridge into place last weekend.

Workers created the bridge using the accelerated bridge construction method, an expedited technique that involves a majority of the structure being built off-site before being moved into place. Some experts say this method reduces traffic closures and on-site construction time while improving safety conditions for the public.

On Friday, FDOT appeared to place some blame on FIU design team, saying it was their responsibility to identify and address life-safety issues related to the bridge and communicate them to the state.

After the deadly accident, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez confirmed that construction workers were conducting a stress test on the bridge some time before it collapsed on Thursday. FDOT said in their Friday statement that it was unaware that FIUs bridge team had planned to do any tests on the bridge after it was erected last weekend.

The states department of transportation also noted that FIUs team never made a request to close the entire road for work or testing.

FIGG and the FIU design build team never alerted FDOT of any life-safety issue regarding the FIU pedestrian bridge prior to collapse, the department said.

The National Transportation Safety Board, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Miami-Dade Police Departments homicide bureau and Munilla Construction Management are all leading separate investigations into the deadly accident.

Related...

At Least 6 Dead After New Pedestrian Bridge Collapses Over Cars In Miami

Engineer's Voicemail Warned State Of Bridge Cracks 2 Days Before Collapse

Also on HuffPost

Florida State Troopers walk from their hotel to the University of Florida Campus before a speaking event by Richard Spencer on Thursday, October 19, 2017 in Gainesville.

A University of Florida Police vehicle sits in front of a banner listing prohibited items on Hall Road near the entrance to University of Florida in Gainesville on Thursday October, 19 2017.

A list of prohibited items is listed near the University of Florida in Gainesville.

A banner listing prohibited items hangs above Hall Road near the entrance to University of Florida in Gainesville on Thursday, October 19 2017.

Police in riot gear secure a perimeter near the University of Florida.

People protest near the Hull Road entrance to University of Florida.

Mushrat Nuri, a student at University of Florida in Gainesville, marches down 34th Street.

People march down 34th street to the entrance of the University of Florida.

People march down 34th street to the entrance of the University of Florida.

People march down 34th street to the entrance of the University of Florida.

A man leaving the Richard Spencer event is accosted by people waiting outside.

A man leaving the Richard Spencer event is accosted by people waiting outside.

People chant at a man who left the Richard Spencer event at the University of Florida.

The man argued with protesters before being escorted away by police.

Police escorted him off campus in handcuffs.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.LONDON (Reuters) - British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Friday that it was overwhelmingly likely that Russian President Vladimir Putin himself made the decision to use a military-grade nerve toxin to strike down a former Russian agent on English soil. "We have nothing against the Russians themselves. There is to be no Russophobia as a result of what is happening," Johnson told reporters at the Battle of Britain bunker from which World War Two fighter operations were controlled. "Our quarrel is with Putin's Kremlin, and with his decision  and we think it overwhelmingly likely that it was his decision  to direct the use of a nerve agent on the streets of the UK, on the streets of Europe for the first time since the Second World War," Johnson said. Prime Minister Theresa May said on Wednesday that the Russian state was culpable for the attempted murder of Sergei Skripal, a former double agent who betrayed dozens of spies of Britain's MI6 foreign intelligence service, and his daughter. May said that it was tragic that Putin, who is likely to coast to a fourth term in a Sunday presidential election, had chosen to act in such a way. Soon after Johnson's comments were reported, the Kremlin said accusations that President Putin was involved in the nerve agent attack were shocking, TASS news agency reported. "Any reference or mention of our president in this regard is a shocking and unforgivable breach of diplomatic rules of decent behavior," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the agency. Russia has denied any involvement, cast Britain as a post-colonial power unsettled by Brexit, and even suggested London fabricated the attack in an attempt to whip up anti-Russian hysteria. Relations between Britain and Russia have been strained since the murder of ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko with radioactive polonium-210 in London in 2006, a killing which a British inquiry said was probably approved by Putin. The Kremlin has repeatedly denied any involvement in the killing. (Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and David Milliken; editing by Kate Holton and Michael Holden)London (AFP) - The British Council, whose activities in Russia were suspended by the Kremlin on Saturday, is a registered charity that uses education and culture to spread British soft power internationally.

The group said Saturday it was "profoundly disappointed" by the decision, taken amid escalating tensions over the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in England.

The British Council is a network of cultural and linguistic institutes, with 179 branches in 107 countries, according to its 2017 annual report.

Over 65 million people directly used the service last year, with 731 million people also engaging with it online through broadcasts and publications.

It was founded in 1934 as "extreme ideologies were gaining influence, with the rise of Communism in Russia, and Fascism in Germany, Italy and Spain," according to its website.

The council was granted a Royal Charter in 1940, which set out its mission as "promoting a wider knowledge of the UK and the English language abroad and developing closer cultural relations between the UK and other countries."

It develops joint programmes in the fields of education, science and culture and had a budget of 1.1 billion ($1.53 billion, 1.24 billion euros) for 2016/17.

The council receives most of its income from teaching and examination activities, offering face-to-face classes in 80 teaching centres in more than 50 countries.

This netted 650 million in 2016/17 and it also received a 158 million grant from the British government.

A 2014 report prepared by Britain's Foreign Affairs Committee called the council "a vital institution supporting UK influence globally" and "a key element of the UK's approach to international relations."

The group led Britain's "UK-Russia Year of Language and Literature" in 2016, championing the "deeply held respect for each other's culture and literature."

Story continues

The programme included a massive open online course based on Shakespeare's works while cinemas in 40 Russian cities hosted live screenings of performances at Britain's Royal National Theatre and the Globe Theatre.

In return, portraits of some of Russia's greatest cultural figures, including Tolstoy, Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky went on display at London's National Portrait Gallery.

It has had previous run-ins with the Kremlin, and was ordered to close its offices outside Moscow in 2007 after being accused of violating tax regulations

British officials claimed it was retaliation over the British expulsion of Russian diplomats allegedly involved with the fatal poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko in London.

It boasts headquarters off Trafalgar Square in central London and its current CEO is Irish former cancer charity boss Ciaran Devane.A lawsuit accuses the Vallejo Police Department of mishandling the case: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

A California city has settled for $2.5 million (1.8 million) with a couple who sued after officials called their account of a kidnapping a hoax.

Denise Huskins and Aaron Quinn filed a defamation lawsuit against the city of Vallejo after officials there dismissed Mr Quinns description of a home intruder kidnapping and raping Ms Huskins as a fabrication that had wasted police resources.

Vindicating the couple, a man named Matthew Muller was later convicted of kidnapping Ms Quinn and sentenced to 40 years in prison after he was arrested and had his home searched during an unrelated investigation. Prosecutors said they found video of Muller sexually assaulting Ms Huskins while she was blindfolded.

Their lawsuit accused Vallejo police officers of a vicious and shocking attack that unfairly destroyed their reputations through an outrageous and wholly unfounded campaign of disparagement.

It alleges police officers reacted to Mr Quinn reporting the crime by treating him as if he had already been convicted of murdering Ms Huskins.

The case attracted ample media coverage and was referred to by some outlets Gone Girl case, referencing a film in which a character fakes her own kidnapping.

The lawsuit accuses the Vallejo Police Department of stoking that salacious and absurd narrative, turning a local disappearance into a worldwide media frenzy proliferating the departments public smearing.

A district court judge last year denied Vallejos motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

A representative of Vallejo did not respond to the Independents request for comment.SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China plans to begin offering recoverable satellites to commercial users between 2019 and 2020, the official state news agency Xinhua reported. The country has successfully brought back more than 20 satellites from space since 1975 and is confident its technology is highly reliable, said Zhang Hongtai, president of the China Academy of Space Technology, a satellite and spacecraft maker. "We plan to upgrade this technology in order to satisfy the needs of commercial users," he was quoted as saying. The satellites allow scientists to send experiments into space on unmanned missions and recover the results. China has used these satellites in the past to send seeds into space, developing new types of plants from seeds that have been exposed to zero gravity and cosmic radiation. Chinese President Xi Jinping has been keen to advance China's space program which lags its counterparts in the United States and Russia, saying it is needed to enhance national security and defense. (Reporting by Brenda Goh; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)BEIJING (Reuters) - China's Foreign Ministry on Saturday expressed its "resolute opposition" after U.S. President Donald Trump signed legislation that encourages the United States to send senior officials to Taiwan to meet Taiwanese counterparts and vice versa.

The bill, which is non-binding, would have gone into effect on Saturday morning, even if Trump had not signed it.

The move adds to strains between the two countries over trade, as Trump has enacted tariffs and called for China to reduce its huge trade imbalance with the United States, even while Washington has leaned on Beijing to help resolve tensions with North Korea.

In a statement, China's Foreign Ministry said it had lodged "stern representations" with the United States, saying the law sent a "seriously wrong signal" to the forces of Taiwan independence.

"We urge the U.S. side to correct its mistake, stop official exchanges between U.S. and Taiwan officials and substantively raising relations, and prudently and appropriately handle the Taiwan issue to avoid causing serious harm to Sino-U.S. ties and peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait region."

China considers self-ruled and democratic Taiwan to be a wayward province ineligible for state-to-state relations.

China's hostility towards Taiwan has risen since the election of President Tsai Ing-wen, of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, in 2016.

It suspects Tsai wants to push for formal independence, which would cross a red line for Communist Party leaders in Beijing, though Tsai has said she wants to maintain the status quo and is committed to ensuring peace.

Taiwan's government has welcomed the new U.S. legislation, saying it looks forward to continuing to deepen its relationship with Washington.

Taiwan's presidential office said in a statement earlier on Saturday that the United States was Taiwan's most important ally and thanked the country for its steadfast support.

Story continues

The United States does not have formal ties with Taiwan but is required by law to help it with self-defence and is the island's primary source of weapons.

Defeated Nationalist forces fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing the Chinese civil war to the Communists.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Fabian Hamacher in TAIPEI; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Hugh Lawson)Former FBI Director James Comey appeared to send a warning to Donald Trump on Saturday, suggesting that he would tell his own story about the Presidents battles with that law enforcement agency very soon.

Mr. President, the American people will hear my story very soon, Comey tweeted on Saturday. And they can judge for themselves who is honorable and who is not."

RTX39OVK

Aaron Bernstein/Reuters

Trending: Republican Congressman Tells Trump, If You're Innocent, Act Like It

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Comeys tweet appeared to be issued in response to a series of statements the president made on the same social network earlier Saturday.

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As the House Intelligence Committee has concluded, there was no collusion between Russia and the Trump Campaign. As many are now finding out, however, there was tremendous leaking, lying and corruption at the highest levels of the FBI, Justice & State. #DrainTheSwamp, Trump wrote in the first tweet.

Don't miss: If Trump Fires Mueller, It's the Beginning of the End, Senator Lindsey Graham Warns

He followed that tweet with another one that mentioned Comey by name.

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The Fake News is beside themselves that McCabe was caught, called out and fired. How many hundreds of thousands of dollars was given to wifes campaign by Crooked H friend, Terry M, who was also under investigation? Twump wrote. How many lies? How many leaks? Comey knew it all, and much more!

The statements issued by the two men follow Attorney General Jeff Sessions firing Andrew McCabe, who served as deputy director of the FBI, and took over on an interim basis after Comey was dismissed by Trump in 2017. McCabe was fired shortly before he was scheduled to receive his pension.

Most popular: Kremlin Buses Russians to Polling Booths, Lays on Feasts and Festivities to Spare Putin Low Turnout Embarrassment

Story continues

McCabe told ABC News that he believed his firing was part of an assault on the FBI and the Mueller investigation into Trumps alleged collusion with Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign. I firmly believe whats happening to me right now  is just a piece of an ongoing assault, McCabe said.

Trump and Sessions have both received backlash over the firing of McCabe. Former CIA Director John Brennan also responded to Trump on Twitter, calling the President "a disgraced demagogue."

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When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history, Brennan wrote. You may scapegoat Andy McCabe, but you will not destroy America...America will triumph over you.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekSafety meeting discussed the crack but concluded the bridge, which later collapsed leaving six dead, was not compromised

Hours before a pedestrian bridge at Florida International University collapsed on Thursday, killing six people, engineers met the construction manager, state transportation officials and university representatives to discuss a crack on the structure.



The Miami-based university detailed the two-hour meeting in a statement released early on Saturday.

It said the session included a technical presentation by Figg Bridge Engineers that concluded there were no safety concerns and the crack did not compromise the structural integrity of the bridge.

The meeting ended at 11am. Three hours later, the bridge fell.



The Florida department of transportation (FDot) announced late on Friday that an engineer hired by the university left a voicemail message with the state agency two days before the collapse, seeking to draw attention to the crack.

In the call, which was not picked up until after collapse and has been released to the public, engineer W Denney Pate mentioned some cracking thats been observed on the north end of the bridge but said he did not think it was a safety issue.

The state transportation department also said one of its consultants attended a meeting with the FIU bridge team hours before the collapse. It did not say the crack in the bridge had been discussed.

The National Transportation Safety Board chief investigator, Robert Accetta, said on Friday it was too soon to tell if cracks played a role in the bridge collapse.

I would have to say that a crack in the bridge does not necessarily mean its unsafe, he said.

University officials have said engineers had performed stress tests to determine the resiliency of the concrete in the bridge.

Late on Saturday police said that they believed they had recovered all the bodies of the victims of the collapse. Juan Perez, Miami-Dade police chief, told news media that they had recovered all five bodies of people in vehicles crushed under the bridge. A sixth person died at the hospital.

Story continues

While police believed all victims had been accounted for, they nevertheless said the search and rescue was continuing.





One victims uncle raged against what he called the complete incompetence and colossal failure that allowed people to drive on the six-lane highway beneath the unfinished concrete span.

Why they had to build this monstrosity in the first place to get children across the street? said Joe Smitha, whose niece, Alexa Duran, was crushed. Then they decided to stress test this bridge while traffic was running underneath it?

Authorities have not released Durans name, but her family has said she died. The FIU freshman was studying political science.



In an emailed statement on Saturday night, the Florida International University president, Mark Rosenberg, said it would hold a moments silence for the victims at 1:47pm on Monday  the same time that the bridge went down.The Daily Beast

YouTubeThe last text Gabby Petito sent before she went missing while road-tripping across the U.S. with her fiance set off alarm bells for her mother, who became fearful for the 22-year-olds safety after receiving the odd message.Thats according to a newly-unsealed search warrant giving North Port, Florida, police permission to search a hard drive investigators found in Petitos white van, which she and Brian Laundrie, 23, had been using to tour the countrys national parks.The text messageSydney (AFP) - The long journey to find peace for Rohingya refugee Kobir Ahmed can be told through the different birth countries of his eight children -- Myanmar, Malaysia and Australia -- although they remain citizens of no nation.

He now helps run a grocery store in suburban Australia where he lives in a small community of Rohingya, the persecuted Muslim minority who have fled army-led violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state in their hundreds of thousands.

"They are not like other militaries of the world. Killing people is nothing for them," the 44-year-old told AFP of the army's hardline tactics against his people.

Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi was in Sydney Sunday for a special Australia-ASEAN summit, with her presence seen as a crushing reminder of lost hope.

She is among nine leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations holding talks, including Cambodian strongman Hun Sen and Vietnam's Nguyen Xuan Phuc -- both accused of oppression.

Their attendance sparked human rights protests, with thousands making their feelings known, particularly about Aung San Suu Kyi's perceived inaction to halt what the UN says bears "the hallmarks of genocide".

"The situation in Burma wasn't this bad before Aung Sung Suu Kyi came in power," said Ahmed, who arrived in Australia on a rickety boat crammed with more than 100 people in 2013.

"Before, we were tortured, we weren't allowed to work or move independently -- we were under a lot of scrutiny -- but we could at least live there. But after she emerged, we were all forced to leave the country."

A bid by Australian lawyers to prosecute Suu Kyi for "crimes against humanity" was rejected Sunday after the country's attorney general said she had immunity from prosecution.

- Community pulling together -

Nearly 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh since Myanmar launched a crackdown on insurgents six months ago, with many describing arson, murder and rape at the hands of soldiers and vigilante mobs in the majority Buddhist country.

Story continues

Myanmar has vehemently denied allegations of ethnic cleansing, insisting it was responding to attacks by Muslim militants in late August.

The Rohingya in Australia number in the thousands, with many arriving over the years by boat seeking some form of citizenship status they were denied in Myanmar and could not attain in transit countries.

Their struggle for "status" remains uncertain under Canberra's tough immigration policies.

For most citizenship is disallowed, advocates say, under strict conditions that sees the Rohingya applying for bridging visas every few years in the hope that Australia relaxes its hardline stance on asylum-seekers designed to discourage boatpeople.

Many who attempted the dangerous journey after Canberra further tightened its borders languish in Pacific island camps, where those trying to enter Australia by boat are now sent.

"We are very much happy to obey the rules and the law... just give us a chance to prove that we are a good citizens," Shawfikul Islam, from the Australian Burmese Rohingya Organisation, told AFP.

Despite the uncertainty, many Rohingya are resilient and the community tight-knit. They often lack formal education, with the opportunity of schooling for their children one of their biggest hopes.

"For myself, my chance is over as I didn't go to school and when I grew up in Myanmar I lost all my rights," refugee Jumabi, who arrived via boat with her family six years ago, told AFP. "But here, these children have a great chance, and a future."

- 'Crimes against humanity' -

Under Myanmar's complex political system the military maintain control of the security forces, but Aung San Suu Kyi has been at the centre of worldwide condemnation for failing to use her influence to change attitudes among the majority-Buddhist Bamar.

Australia, which was elected to the UN Human Rights Council last year, has been under pressure to take a stronger stand on Myanmar.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull vowed to address human rights issues at the Sydney summit, although that will likely be behind closed doors and not in public.

Amnesty International has accused ASEAN leaders of being "shamefully silent" on Myanmar.

"Myanmar's regional neighbours - including Australia and ASEAN -- must send a signal that crimes against humanity are unacceptable and will not go unpunished," said Amnesty's director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific James Gomez.

For Australia's Rohingya community, there is little belief that Aung San Suu Kyi will change.

"We thought she was very good when we were young," said 25-year-old Mohamed Younis, who arrived in Australia by boat five years ago.

"As soon she came into power, she is doing nothing for our people -- it is like she is blind."PRAGUE (Reuters) - Czech Foreign Minister Martin Stropnicky on Saturday denied Moscow's accusation that the nerve toxin used against a former Russian double agent and his daughter in southern England came from the Czech Republic.

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the Rossiya 24 TV channel on Saturday that the most likely source of the Novichok nerve agent was Britain itself or the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Sweden or the United States.

Russia expelled 23 British diplomats on Saturday in a retaliatory move against London, which has accused the Kremlin of orchestrating the nerve toxin attack and has ordered the expulsion of the same number of Russian diplomats.

"We object to these claims about the origin of (the toxin), which are not substantiated," Stropnicky said on his official Twitter feed.

"This is a standard way of manipulating information in the public space through a highly speculative message being introduced which can not be proven."

Czech Defense Minister Karla Slechtova, on her twitter feed, described the suggestion that the toxin could have come from the Czech Republic as "absurd".

(Reporting by Michael Kahn, Editing by)Democratic lawmakers have stepped in to offer sacked former deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe a job so he can collect his pension.

In a tweet Saturday, Wisconsin Representative Mark Pocan asked for McCabe to call me.

01_24_McCabe

Aaron P. Bernstein/Reuters

Trending: Democrats Are 'Moving On' from Hillary Clinton, Senator Dick Durbin Says

"I could use a good two-day report on the biggest crime families in Washington, D.C.," Pocan tweeted.

He later said that an earnest offer was on the table for McCabe to "work on election security."

"He deserves the full retirement that he has been promised, not to have it taken away as a result of the President's political games," Pocan added.

Alleging Republican gerrymandering to secure votes in Pennsylvania, he added: "Our electoral systems are under attack. We must take serious steps to not only secure our elections from foreign actors like Russia, but also ensure that the American people have faith that their votes matter."

Don't miss: Powerball: Winning Ticket Worth $456 Million Is One of The Largest in U.S. Lottery History

McCabe was sacked by Attorney General Jeff Sessions Friday, after being accused by President Donald Trump for months of allowing pro-liberal bias to contaminate the the FBI's work. He had played a key role in the FBI's investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of her private email server as secretary of state, and the probe into allegations of collusion between Trump aides and Russia.

The sacking came two days before McCabe's 50th birthday, when he was expected to retire with full pension benefits.

A justice department internal watchdog report found that McCabe had violated rules by giving FBI employees authorisation to speak to a Wall Street Journal reporter about allegations the agencys 2016 investigation into the Clinton Foundation has been deliberately stalled.

Story continues

McCabe has denied allegations of wrongdoing.

Most popular: Al Gore And Tony Blair Throw Support Behind Florida Shooting Survivors

Trump hailed the sacking as a "great day for democracy" in a tweet late Friday.

Massachusetts Representative Seth Moulton also stepped in with a job offer for McCabe.

He tweeted he was "happy to consider" offering McCabe a job, but did not elaborate on the employment being offered.

"The Sixth District of MA would benefit from the wisdom and talent of such an experienced public servant," Moulton tweeted.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekPresident Donald Trumps personal lawyer Jon Dowd has called for an end to Special Counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation after the firing of former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.

Mr McCabe, a 21-year veteran of the FBI, has found himself in the middle of Mr Trumps narrative that deep state holdovers from the Obama administration are seeking to undermine his presidency. That particularly applies to the bureaus investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and potential ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, and Hillary Clintons use of a private email server when Secretary of State.

Mr Trump called Mr McCabes firing - which came late on Friday night slightly more than 24 hours before Mr McCabe was due to retire and collect a government pension - a great day for democracy. He followed that up later on Saturday with a number of tweets claiming, that it proved tremendous leaking, lying and corruption at the highest levels of the FBI, Justice [Department] and State [Department].

Mr McCabe had stepped down in January, but Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired him after the Justice Departments internal watchdog said in a report  the contents of which has not yet been made public  that he leaked information to reporters and misled investigators about his actions. Mr McCabe denies doing so and says his firing is part of the Trump administration's "war" on the FBI.

The president's lawyer Mr Dowd said in an initial statement provided to the Daily Beast that he pray[ed] that Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general who oversees Mr Muellers investigation into Russian election meddling and possible ties between Russia and the Trump campaign, will follow the brilliant and courageous example of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility and Attorney General Jeff Sessions and bring an end to alleged Russia collusion investigation manufactured by McCabes boss [former FBI Director] James Comey based upon a fraudulent and corrupt dossier. He told the news website that he was speaking on behalf of President Trump.

Story continues

In a later statement, Mr Dowd said that he was merely speaking for himself and that in regards to the Mueller investigation it should be ended in light of recent revelations. Mr Trump and the White House have denied there has been any collusion between his campaign and Russia.

Democrats in Congress reacted with anger to the request, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer saying that if Mr Trump sought to curtail the investigation, there would be "severe consequences."

Mr Dowd's comments are yet another indication that the first instinct of the President and his legal team is not to cooperate with special counsel Mueller, but to undermine him at every turn, the New York Democrat said in a statement.

The President, the administration, and his legal team must not take any steps to curtail, interfere with, or end the special counsel's investigation or there will be severe consequences from both Democrats and Republicans.

Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat of the Senate Intelligence Committee, also called for defending the Russia probe. Every member of Congress, Republican and Democrat, needs to speak up in defence of the Special Counsel. Now, he said.

John Brennan, who led the CIA under President Barack Obama between 2013 and 2017, made his feelings clear about the reasons for Mr McCabes firing by tweeting about Mr Trump: When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history.

The investigation into election meddling was originally led by former FBI Director James Comey before he himself was fired by Mr Trump in May last year.

Mr Comey later testified to a congressional panel that he had had conversations with Mr Trump where the president had asked him to think about dropping an investigation into the conduct of Mr Trumps then-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. The White House have denied such conversations taking place, although it is believed that Mr Mueller and his team are looking into whether Mr Comeys firing could amount to obstruction of justice. Mr Flynn has since pleaded guilty to one count lying to the FBI, having been indicted by Mr Mueller.

In a statement, Mr McCabe alleged that the report used as the basis for his firing was sped up only after his testimony suggested that he would corroborate Mr Comeys accounts of his conversations with Mr Trump. A source told the Associated Press that Mr McCabe had kept personal memos regarding interactions with the president. They are said to be similar to the ones maintained by Mr Comey, and it is believed they have been passed to Mr Muellers team.

Mr McCabe briefly served as director of the FBI between the firing of Mr Comey and the swearing-in of current director Christopher Wray. He played a crucial role in the bureaus investigation into of Hillary Clintons use of a personal email server while she was Secretary of State, as well the Clinton Foundation.

Mr McCabe came under scrutiny over an October 2016 news report about clashes between the FBI and the Department of Justice about about how aggressively the Clinton Foundation should be investigated. The watchdog office concluded that Mr McCabe authorised FBI officials to speak to a Wall Street Journal reporter for that story and had kept back information about it.

In his statement, Mr McCabe said he had the authority to share information with journalists through the public affairs office and that he had honestly answered questions about whom he had spoken to and when, and that when he thought his answers were misunderstood, he contacted investigators to correct them.

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At the time, Mr McCabe was faced questions of partisanship, and both then and since he has been repeatedly been criticised by Mr Trump for being biased in favour of Hillary Clinton and because his wife Jill ran as a Democratic candidate for the Virginia State Senate. Ms McCabe had received campaign contributions from the political action committee of then-Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, a longtime Clinton friend, during her unsuccessful run. The FBI has said Mr McCabe received the necessary ethics approval about his wifes candidacy and was not supervising the Clinton investigation at the time.

Mr Trump referenced the race in one of his tweets on Saturday afternoon: The Fake News is beside themselves that McCabe was caught, called out and fired. How many hundreds of thousands of dollars was given to wifes campaign by Crooked H friend, Terry M How many lies? How many leaks? Comey knew it all, and much more!.

Mr McCabe suggested in his statement that he was trying to set the record straight about the FBIs independence against the background of those allegations.By David Ingram and Peter Henderson

(Reuters) - Data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica harvested private information from more than 50 million Facebook users in developing techniques to support President Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign, the New York Times and London's Observer reported on Saturday.

The Massachusetts attorney general said her office was launching an investigation after the news reports.

"Massachusetts residents deserve answers immediately from Facebook and Cambridge Analytica," Maura Healey said on Twitter in a post that linked to a Times report.

The United Kingdom's Information Commission also announced on Saturday they are conducting an investigation of Cambridge Analytica, which also had clients in the country.

"Any criminal and civil enforcement actions arising from the investigation will be pursued vigorously," said Elizabeth Denham, Information Commissioner.

Facebook on Friday said it was suspending Cambridge Analytica after finding data privacy policies had been violated.

The move means Cambridge Analytica and its parent group Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL) cannot buy ads or administer pages belonging to clients.

The newspapers, which cited former Cambridge Analytica employees, associates and documents, said the data breach was one of the largest in the history of Facebook Inc.

The Observer said Cambridge Analytica used the data, taken without authorization in early 2014, to build a software program to predict and influence choices at the ballot box.

It quoted whistleblower Christopher Wylie, who helped set up Cambridge Analytica and worked with an academic at Cambridge University to obtain the data, as saying the system could profile individual voters to target them with personalized political advertisements.

The more than 50 million profiles represented about a third of active North American Facebook users, and nearly a quarter of potential U.S. voters, at the time, the Observer said.

Story continues

"We exploited Facebook to harvest millions of peoples profiles. And built models to exploit what we knew about them and target their inner demons. That was the basis that the entire company was built on, Wylie told the Observer.

The New York Times said interviews with a half-dozen former Cambridge Analytica employees and contractors, and a review of the firms emails and documents, revealed it not only relied on the private Facebook data but still possesses most or all of it.

The Observer said the data was collected through an app called thisisyourdigitallife, built by academic Aleksandr Kogan, separately from his work at Cambridge University.

Through Kogan's company Global Science Research (GSR), in collaboration with Cambridge Analytica, hundreds of thousands of users were paid to take a personality test and agreed to have their data collected for academic use, the Observer said.

However, the app also collected the information of the test-takers Facebook friends, leading to the accumulation of a data pool tens of millions-strong, the Observer said. It said Facebooks platform policy allowed only collection of friends data to improve user experience in the app and barred it from being sold on or used for advertising.

Facebook said it acted against Cambridge Analytica and SCL after receiving reports they did not delete information about Facebook users that had been inappropriately shared. http://bit.ly/2FZU1Ir

A Cambridge Analytica spokesman said GSR "was contractually committed by us to only obtain data in accordance with the UK Data Protection Act and to seek the informed consent of each respondent."

"When it subsequently became clear that the data had not been obtained by GSR in line with Facebooks terms of service, Cambridge Analytica deleted all data received from GSR," he said.

"We worked with Facebook over this period to ensure that they were satisfied that we had not knowingly breached any of Facebooks terms of service and also provided a signed statement to confirm that all Facebook data and their derivatives had been deleted," the spokesman said.

He said "no data from GSR was used by Cambridge Analytica as part of the services it provided to the Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign."

$6.2 MILLION FROM TRUMP CAMPAIGN

Trumps campaign hired Cambridge Analytica in June 2016 and paid it more than $6.2 million, according to Federal Election Commission records.

A Trump campaign official said the campaign used the Republican National Committee for its voter data in 2016, not Cambridge Analytica.

"Any claims that voter data were used from another source to support the victory in 2016 are false, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

In past interviews with Reuters, Brad Parscale, who ran Trump's digital ad operation in 2016 and is his 2020 re-election campaign manager, has said Cambridge Analytica played a minor role as a contractor in the 2016 campaign.

He said the campaign used voter data from a Republican-affiliated organization rather than Cambridge Analytica. He declined to comment on Friday.

On its website, Cambridge Analytica says it "provided the Donald J. Trump for President campaign with the expertise and insights that helped win the White House."

Facebook did not mention the Trump campaign or any other campaigns in its statement.

"We will take legal action if necessary to hold them responsible and accountable for any unlawful behavior," Facebook said, adding that it was continuing to investigate the claims.

In a Twitter post, Facebook Chief Security Officer Alex Stamos called the news reports "important and powerful" but said it was "incorrect to call this a 'breach' under any reasonable definition of the term."

"We can condemn this behavior while being accurate in our description of it," he said.

Acknowledging an episode as a data breach can carry legal significance, as companies face a patchwork of state and federal requirements to notify customers and regulators when they detect that information has been compromised.

Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, said the case was "more evidence that the online political advertising market is essentially the Wild West" and showed the need for Congress to pass legislation to bring transparency and accountability to online political advertisements.

A source close to the congressional investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign said the Trump campaign likely will need to address whether it was aware of Cambridge Analyticas methods for obtaining its data or if the data was leveraged during the election.

Cambridge Analytica says it uses "behavioral microtargeting," or combining analysis of peoples personalities with demographics, to predict and influence mass behavior. It says it has data on 220 million Americans, two-thirds of the U.S. population.

It has worked on other campaigns in the United States and other countries, and is funded by Robert Mercer, a prominent supporter of politically conservative groups.

Facebook in its statement described a rocky relationship with Cambridge Analytica, Kogan and Wylie going back to 2015.

That year, Facebook said, it learned that Kogan lied to the company and violated its policies by sharing data he acquired with a so-called "research app" that used Facebook's login system.

Kogan was not immediately available for comment.

The thisisyourdigitallife app was downloaded by about 270,000 people. Facebook said Kogan gained access to profile and other information "in a legitimate way" but "did not subsequently abide by our rules" when he passed the data to SCL/Cambridge Analytica and Wylie.

Facebook said it cut ties to Kogan's app when it learned of the violation, and asked for certification from Kogan and all parties he had given data to that the information had been destroyed.

Although all certified they had destroyed the data, Facebook said it received reports in the past several days that "not all data was deleted."

(Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom, Dustin Volz, Ginger Gibson and Chris Sanders in Washington and Ismail Shakil in Bengaluru; Editing by Paul Simao, Bill Trott and Chris Reese)Washington (AFP) - Facebook says it has suspended the account of Cambridge Analytica, the data analysis firm hired by Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, amid reports it harvested the profile information of millions of US voters without their permission.

According to the New York Times and Britain's Observer, the company stole information from 50 million Facebook users' profiles in the tech giant's biggest-ever data breach, to help them design software to predict and influence voters' choices at the ballot box.

Also suspended were the accounts of its parent organization, Strategic Communication Laboratories, as well as those of University of Cambridge psychologist Aleksandr Kogan and Christopher Wylie, a Canadian data analytics expert who worked with Kogan.

Cambridge Analytica was bankrolled to the tune of $15 million by US hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer, a major Republican donor. The Observer said it was headed at the time by Steve Bannon, a top Trump adviser until he was fired last summer.

"In 2015, we learned that ... Kogan lied to us and violated our Platform Policies by passing data from an app that was using Facebook Login to SCL/Cambridge Analytica, a firm that does political, government and military work around the globe," Facebook said in a posting late Friday by its vice president and deputy general counsel Paul Grewal.

Kogan also improperly shared the data with Wylie, it said.

Kogan's app, thisisyourdigitallife, offered a personality prediction test, describing itself on Facebook as "a research app used by psychologists."

Some 270,000 people downloaded the app, allowing Kogan to access information such as the city listed on their profile, or content they had "liked."

"However, the app also collected the information of the test-takers' Facebook friends, leading to the accumulation of a data pool tens of millions-strong," the Observer reported.

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Facebook later pushed back against the claim of a data breach, issuing a fresh statement on Saturday that suggested the misused data was limited to those who voluntarily took the test.

"People knowingly provided their information, no systems were infiltrated, and no passwords or sensitive pieces of information were stolen or hacked," Grewal said.

Cambridge Analytica meanwhile said it was in touch with Facebook "in order to resolve this matter as quickly as possible."

It blamed the misuse of data on Kogan and said it has since deleted all the data it received from a company he founded, Global Science Research (GSR).

"No data from GSR was used by Cambridge Analytica as part of the services it provided to the Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign," it said.

- 'Targeting their inner demons' -

But Wylie, who later became a whistleblower, told the Observer: "We exploited Facebook to harvest millions of people's profiles. And built models to exploit what we knew about them and target their inner demons. That was the basis that the entire company was built on."

Kogan legitimately obtained the information but "violated platform policies" by passing information to SCL/Cambridge Analytica and Wylie, according to Facebook.

Facebook said it removed the app in 2015 when it learned of the violation, and was told by Kogan and everyone who received the data that it had since been destroyed.

"Several days ago, we received reports that, contrary to the certifications we were given, not all data was deleted," Grewal wrote.

"We are moving aggressively to determine the accuracy of these claims. If true, this is another unacceptable violation of trust and the commitments they made.

"We are suspending SCL/Cambridge Analytica, Wylie and Kogan from Facebook, pending further information."

- British investigation -

Cambridge Analytica, the US unit of British behavioral marketing firm SCL, rose to prominence as the firm that the pro-Brexit group Leave.EU hired for data-gathering and audience-targeting.

The company is facing an investigation by Britain's parliament and regulators over its handling of information.

On Saturday, Britain's information commissioner Elizabeth Denham said: "We are investigating the circumstances in which Facebook data may have been illegally acquired and used.

"It's part of our ongoing investigation into the use of data analytics for political purposes which was launched to consider how political parties and campaigns, data analytics companies and social media platforms in the UK are using and analyzing people's personal information to micro-target voters."

The New York Times meanwhile reported that copies of the data harvested for Cambridge Analytica were still online and that its team had viewed some of the raw data.Following an around-the-clock rescue effort at the site of a collapsed footbridge in Miami, Florida, authorities said late Saturday that the final victim had been recovered from the debris  more than two days after the sudden collapse of the 950-ton structure.

Juan Perez, director of the Miami-Dade Police Department, said at a press conference that the remains of five people had been pulled from the rubble on Saturday. A sixth victim had died at a hospital.

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Perez said rescuers would be scouring the wreckage again to ensure that no other victims are buried, but added that he was confident that no ones left.

Video captured Saturday at the site of the collapsed bridge, located near the campus of Florida International University, showed rescue workers removing slabs of concrete and other materials to reach the vehicles and victims trapped below.

At least eight cars were partially or completely crushed by the bridge when it suddenly crumpled on Thursday. Footage captured by a Miami Herald reporter showed unrecognizable vehicles being pulled from the rubble.

They didnt stop, Perez said of rescue crews, who have worked tirelessly since the bridge collapsed. The only pause from the rescuers was when we asked them to pause so that we could pray over every victim.

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Police have identified four victims: Oswald Gonzalez, 57; Alberto Arias, 53; Rolando Fraga Hernandez; and Navarro Brown, who had been working on the bridge at the time of the collapse.

Alexa Duran, an 18-year-old FIU student, was identified by her family as one of the victims.

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Investigations are underway into the cause of the bridge collapse.

In the days before the accident, a crack in the structure had been noticed and reported to state officials by a lead engineer for FIGG Bridge Group, the company that designed the walkway. The engineer said at the time, however, that safety was not a concern.

In the hours before the bridge collapse, members of the bridge design team, including employees from FIU, FIGG and the Munilla Construction Company, held a meeting to discuss the crack  but concluded there were no safety hazards.

Story continues

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.Andrew McCabe's memos are similar to the notes compiled by dismissed FBI chief James Comey - REUTERS

Andrew McCabe, the recently dismissed FBI deputy director, has reportedly handed personal memos detailing interactions with the president to the special counsel's office - a claim dismissed by President Donald Trump.

The memos, which are similar to the notes compiled by dismissed FBI chief James Comey, could factor into special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation as his team examines Trump campaign ties to Russia and possible obstruction of justice.

Mr McCabe's memos include details of his own interactions with the president, a person with direct knowledge of the situation told the Associated Press. They also recount different conversations he had with Mr Comey, who kept notes on meetings with the president that unnerved him.

Though the precise contents are unknown, the memos possibly could help substantiate Mr McCabe's assertion that he was unfairly maligned by a White House he says had declared "war" on the FBI and Mr Mueller's investigation. They almost certainly contain, as Mr Comey's memos did, previously undisclosed details about encounters between the Trump administration and FBI that could be of interest to Mr Mueller.

Did the Trump campaign collude with Russia in 2016? | The four investigations

However, Mr Trump on Sunday poured scorn on the idea, saying that he never saw Mr McCabe taking notes during their meetings.

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The initial disclosure on Saturday came hours after Mr Trump called Mr McCabe's firing by Attorney General Jeff Sessions "a great day for Democracy" and asserted without elaboration that Mr McCabe knew "all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels off the FBI!" In the last year, Mr Trump has repeatedly condemned Mr McCabe as emblematic of an FBI that he insists is biased against his administration.

The president stepped up his attack on the Mueller probe on Saturday, calling it a "witch hunt".

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The tweets triggered a fierce response from former CIA Director John Brennan, an outspoken Trump critic. "When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history," he tweeted. "You may scapegoat Andy McCabe, but you will not destroy America...America will triumph over you."

Mr Sessions said on Friday he acted on the recommendation of FBI disciplinary officials who said Mr McCabe, who was due to retire on Sunday, had not been candid with a watchdog office investigation.

The dismissal likely jeopardises his ability to collect his full pension benefits and, more broadly, could add to the turmoil that has enveloped the FBI since Mr Comey's firing and as the bureau moves ahead with an investigation the White House has dismissed as a hoax.

Donald Trump and Russian espionage

An upcoming inspector general's report is expected to conclude that Mr McCabe, who spent more than 20 years with the FBI, had authorised the release of information to the media and was not forthcoming with the watchdog office as it examined the bureau's handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation. Mr McCabe has vigorously disputed the allegations and said his credibility had been attacked as "part of a larger effort not just to slander me personally" but also the FBI and law enforcement.

"It is part of this administration's ongoing war on the FBI and the efforts of the special counsel investigation, which continue to this day," he added. "Their persistence in this campaign only highlights the importance of the special counsel's work."

The firing set off dueling tweets between Mr Trump, who called the termination a "great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI," and Mr Comey, the director he fired 10 months ago.

Mr Trump called Mr Comey "sanctimonious" and said he made Mr McCabe "look like a choirboy." Mr Comey, referencing his highly anticipated book that comes out next month, responded with his own tweet:

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Also on Saturday, Mr Trump's personal lawyer, John Dowd, cited the "brilliant and courageous example" by Mr Sessions and the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility and said Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein should "bring an end" to the Russia investigation "manufactured" by Mr Comey.

Mr Dowd told the AP that he neither was calling on Mr Rosenstein, who oversees Mr Mueller's inquiry, to fire the special counsel immediately nor had discussed with Mr Rosenstein the idea of dismissing Mr Mueller or ending the probe.

Mr Mueller is investigating whether Mr Trump's actions, including Mr Comey's ouster, constitute obstruction of justice. Mr McCabe could be an important witness, and his memos could be used by investigators as they look into whether Mr Trump sought to thwart the FBI probe. Mr Comey's own memos, including one in which he says Mr Trump encouraged him to end an investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn, have been provided to Mueller and are part of his investigation.

In a statement defending himself, Mr McCabe asserted he was singled out by the administration because of the "role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath" of Mr Comey's firing last May.

He became acting director after that but clashed with the Trump administration, including when he publicly rejected White House assertions that Comey had lost the support of the rank-and-file. He abruptly left the deputy director position in January and went on leave.(WASHINGTON)  Attorney General Jeff Sessions says he has fired Andrew McCabe, a former FBI deputy director who was a regular target of President Donald Trumps anger and criticism, just two days before McCabes scheduled retirement date. McCabe suggested the move was part of the Trump administrations war on the FBI.

The dismissal Friday was made on the recommendation of FBI disciplinary officials. An upcoming inspector generals report is expected to conclude that McCabe authorized the release of information to the media and was not forthcoming with the watchdog office as it examined the bureaus handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation.

The FBI expects every employee to adhere to the highest standards of honesty, integrity, and accountability, Sessions said in a statement.

McCabe said his credibility had been attacked as part of a larger effort not just to slander me personally but also the FBI and law enforcement.

It is part of this administrations ongoing war on the FBI and the efforts of the special counsel investigation, which continue to this day, he added, referring to Robert Muellers probe into potential coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign. Their persistence in this campaign only highlights the importance of the special counsels work.

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McCabe asserted he was singled out because of the role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of James Comey, whom Trump fired as FBI director last May.

Mueller is investigating whether Trumps actions, including Comeys ouster, constitute obstruction of justice. McCabe, a Comey confidant, could be an important witness.

McCabe said the release of the findings against him was accelerated after he told congressional officials that he could corroborate Comeys accounts of Comeys conversations with the president.

McCabe spent more than 20 years as a career FBI official and played key roles in some of the bureaus most recent significant investigations. Trump repeatedly condemned him over the past year as emblematic of an FBI leadership he contends is biased against his administration.

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In a tweet early Saturday, Trump said it was a great day for Democracy and a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI. He asserted without elaboration that McCabe knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI.

McCabe had been on leave from the FBI since January, when he abruptly left the deputy director position. He had planned to retire on Sunday, and the dismissal probably jeopardizes his ability to collect his full pension benefits. His removal could add to the turmoil that has enveloped the FBI since Comeys firing and as the FBI continues its Trump campaign investigation that the White House has dismissed as a hoax.

The firing arises from an inspector general review into how the FBI handled the Clinton email investigation. That inquiry focused not only on specific decisions made by FBI leadership but also on news media leaks.

McCabe came under scrutiny over an October 2016 news report that revealed differing approaches within the FBI and Justice Department over how aggressively the Clinton Foundation should be investigated. The watchdog office has concluded that McCabe authorized FBI officials to speak to a Wall Street Journal reporter for that story and that McCabe had not been forthcoming with investigators. McCabe denies it.

In his statement, McCabe said he had the authority to share information with journalists through the public affairs office, a practice he said was common and continued under the current FBI director, Christopher Wray. McCabe said he honestly answered questions about whom he had spoken to and when, and that when he thought his answers were misunderstood, he contacted investigators to correct them.

The media outreach came at a time when McCabe said he was facing public accusations of partisanship and followed reports that his wife, during a run for the state Senate in Virginia, had received campaign contributions from a Clinton ally. McCabe suggested in his statement that he was trying to set the record straight about the FBIs independence against the background of those allegations.

Despite his defense, officials at the FBIs Office of Professional Responsibility recommended the firing, leaving Justice Department leaders in a difficult situation. Sessions, whose job status has for months appeared shaky under his own blistering criticism from Trump, risked inflaming the White House if he decided against firing McCabe. But a decision to dismiss McCabe days before his retirement nonetheless carried the risk of angering his rank-and-file supporters at the FBI.

McCabe enjoyed a rapid career ascent in the bureau after joining in 1996. Before being named FBI deputy director last year, he led the bureaus national security branch and also the Washington field office, one of the its largest.

But he became entangled in presidential politics in 2016 when it was revealed that his wife, during her unsuccessful legislative run, received campaign contributions from the political action committee of then-Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a longtime Clinton friend. The FBI has said McCabe received the necessary ethics approval about his wifes candidacy and was not supervising the Clinton investigation at the time.

He became acting director following the firing last May of Comey, and immediately assumed direct oversight of the FBIs investigation into the Trump campaign.

He quickly found himself at odds with the Trump administration.

As a congressional hearing days after Comeys dismissal, McCabe contradicted White House assertions that the Trump campaign investigation was one of the smallest things on the FBIs plate. He also strongly disputed the administrations suggestion that Comey had lost the support of the bureaus workforce.

I can tell you that the majority, the vast majority of FBI employees, enjoyed a deep and positive connection to Director Comey, McCabe said.By Greg Roumeliotis (Reuters) - Former Qualcomm Inc Chairman Paul Jacobs has informed its board of directors that he will seek to partner with investment firms to make an offer for the U.S. semiconductor company, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday. Jacobs' attempt to put together an offer comes just a few days after Qualcomm fended off a $117 billion hostile bid from Singapore-based rival Broadcom Ltd thanks to an order by U.S. President Donald Trump prohibiting the deal due to national security concerns. Qualcomm does not view Jacobs' attempt to put together a buyout bid as credible, the sources said. Jacobs has held talks with several investment firms, including SoftBank Group Corp's <9984.T> Vision Fund, but has so far been unable to secure the necessary financing, the three sources added. Jacobs is attempting to put together the largest leveraged buyout of all time, three times as large as the $45 billion buyout of Texas power utility Energy Future Holdings, which ended in bankruptcy. Even if SoftBank, a Japanese telecommunications group with technology investments around the world, wanted to join Jacobs' bid, it could face conflicts given its ownership of British chip designer ARM Holdings Plc, the sources said. Adding to the potential conflicts, Qualcomm is an investor in the Vision Fund. SoftBank's deals are also subject to review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), the U.S. national security panel that also objected to Broadcom's bid for Qualcomm. The sources asked not to be identified because the deliberations are confidential. Qualcomm declined to comment, while Jacobs and SoftBank could not be immediately reached for comment. The Financial Times first reported on Jacob's buyout efforts earlier on Thursday. Jacobs, who still sits on Qualcomm's board, was stripped of his title of executive chairman earlier this month when Jeffrey Henderson, another Qualcomm director, was named non-executive chairman. While Jacobs shared the view of Qualcomm's board that Broadcom's bid undervalued the company and was fraught with regulatory risks, many on Qualcomm's board blamed him for the dissatisfaction of some Qualcomm's shareholders with the company's handling of Broadcom's bid, according to the sources. Jacobs, whose father Irwin co-founded Qualcomm, is up for re-election as board director, alongside other Qualcomm nominees, at the company's shareholder meeting on March 23. Proxy advisory firm ISS on Wednesday recommended to Qualcomm shareholders that they vote for Broadcom's four nominees on Qualcomm's 11-person board, even though their nominations have been withdrawn, as a form of protest. Given that Qualcomm's board director slate faces no competition, the re-election of Qualcomm's board directors is assured. However, limited support for Qualcomm's nominees could put pressure on Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf, who was criticized by some investors for inviting CFIUS to review Broadcom's bid, to make changes to the company's strategy. (Reporting by Greg Roumeliotis in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)MANILA (Reuters) - A fire at a hotel in the Philippine capital killed three people on Sunday and injured nearly two dozen, police and rescue officials said, with two people listed as missing. The fire broke out at the Manila Pavilion Hotel where about 20 people earlier listed as trapped had been evacuated safely, Johnny Yu, chief of the Manila Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office, said. The death toll had been reduced from four to three, he said. Two employees of a casino at the hotel were missing and rescue operations were ongoing, Manila Police District spokesman Erwin Margarejo told Reuters. It was not immediately clear how the fire started. The hotel is owned by Waterfront Philippines Inc. (Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales, Peter Blaza, Romeo Ranoco and Manuel Mogato; Writing by Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by Nick Macfie)(Adds quotes, context)

PARIS, March 16 (Reuters) - France and Germany's finance ministers agreed to draw up a roadmap for euro zone reform before June on Friday, meeting for the first time since Chancellor Angela Merkel formed a new coalition government.

Berlin and Paris both talk up the need for European renewal but Merkel is at odds with French President Emmanuel Macron over the pace and scope of reforms to the euro zone project that they both cherish.

"We must agree by June a Franco-German roadmap for the whole euro zone. It'll be very tough work," French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said, adding that talks would focus on the bloc's joint rules and institutions making up its banking union and convergence in the way corporate tax is calculated.

France and Germany had originally hoped to offer a joint vision for deeper integration within the single currency bloc by this month, but Merkel's difficulties forming a coalition delayed achieving this.

Now that the German government is in place, the French leader is itching to press ahead with reforms, aware that the window of opportunity is narrow ahead of European elections next year and Britain's looming departure from the European Union.

Macron has championed a euro zone finance minister and an independent budget for the single currency bloc, but members of Merkel's conservative bloc are wary of deeper integration and shudder at the thought of pooling risks and debt with less financially stable member states.

"We have put a certain number of very concrete divergences with serious consequences on the table. I can guarantee you that we are going to resolve them," Le Maire said at a joint news conference with his new German counterpart Olaf Scholz.

The German minister said that progress needed to be made on completing banking union in the euro zone and consensus needed to be found on further integration steps.

Scholz, a 59-year-old Social Democrat, is likely to stick to Germany's fiscal conservatism but may adopt a more conciliatory tone toward poorer euro zone countries such as Greece than his predecessor Wolfgang Schaeuble.

When Scholz was asked if he wanted to be a force for further euro zone integration in Merkel's cabinet, he replied simply: "yes". (Reporting by Leigh Thomas; writing by Richard Lough Editing by Ingrid Melander)Students at a different high school in Washington take part in a protest against gun violence: AP Photo/Manuel Valdes

A Pennsylvania high school has said it will discipline students who walked out of class to protest gun violence in the wake of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida last month.

Pennridge High School said it would give a day of detention to the more than 200 students who walked out of class as part of the nationwide protest on Wednesday, according to local news outlets.

The walkout was organised after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where a lone gunman shot and killed 17 students and staff members on Valentines Day. Tens of thousands of students participated in the nationwide walkout on the one-month anniversary of the shooting  including approximately 225 students from Pennridge.

The school organised an assembly for the same day, where students were to sit in silence for 17 minutes and watch a slide show honouring the victims. Approximately 800 students attended that assembly, according to Pennridge school district superintendent Jacqueline Rattigan.

We are proud of the way our students conducted themselves during todays silent Remembrance Assembly, Ms Rattigan said in a statement. ...It was a moving experience for those who participated.

The superintendent added that students who walked out of the school during the assembly would face consequences, which she said were outlined in advance.

District public relations coordinator Joe Ferry told the Allentown Morning Call that the consequences would be one Saturday detention for a first offence and two for a second offence. Five students who went to Dunkin Donuts during the walkout will face an additional detention.

The protest grew out of the student uprising after the Parkland shooting, when students from the Florida high school and others began lobbying their lawmakers to strengthen gun control laws. Parkland students have met with Florida state lawmakers, participated in a town hall with US senators, and attended a listening session with President Donald Trump. They have also helped organise another walkout in April, and a March for Our Lives later this month.

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Some schools gave students a free pass to leave the building for the protest on Wednesday. Others, like Pennridge, were not as lenient.

Approximately 150 students who participated in the protest at Park Hill High school in Missouri were given detention or ordered to attend an administrative conference, according to local news outlets. Lindenhurst High School in New York suspended more than two dozen students who participated, but later decreased the punishment to detention.Terry Gilliam said Matt Damon had

Terry Gilliam, the Monty Python star and Hollywood director, is facing a backlash after he defended Matt Damon against the "mob rule" of the #MeToo movement, claiming that while some women suffered, others used Harvey Weinstein to further their careers.

The 77-year-old American-born animator said Weinstein "is a monster" and that there were "plenty of monsters out there... There are other people (still) behaving like Harvey" in the film industry, abusing their power for sex.

Weinstein was exposed because he "is an a**hole and he made so many enemies," he told AFP.

But Gilliam stirred controversy by saying the reaction against the wave of sexual abuse and harassment revelations had become ugly and "simplistic... people are frightened to say things, to think things.

"It is a world of victims. I think some people did very well out of meeting with Harvey and others didn't. The ones who did knew what they were doing. These are adults, we are talking about adults with a lot of ambition.

"Harvey opened the door for a few people, a night with Harvey - that's the price you pay," said the maker of Brazil and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

"Some people paid the price, other people suffered from it."

Gilliam, who is in Paris to direct an opera, Benvenuto Cellini, said the atmosphere around #MeToo had "got silly, people are being described in ridiculous terms as if there is no real humanity left anymore.

"I feel sorry for someone like Matt Damon who is a decent human being. He came out and said all men are not rapists, and he got beaten to death. Come on, this is crazy!"

"I know enough girls who were in Harvey's suites who were not victims and walked out.

"It's crazy how simplified things are becoming. There is no intelligence anymore and people seem to be frightened to say what they really think. Now I am told even by my wife to keep my head a bit low," Gilliam said.

Story continues

About | Times Up movement

"It's like when mob rule takes over, the mob is out there they are carrying their torches and they are going to burn down Frankenstein's castle."

Gilliam's comments were criticised on social media, with actress Patricia Arquette calling him an "ignorant privileged successful white man".

"Cry me a river," she added.

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Gilliam went on to say the truth was that abuse of power has "always happened. I don't think Hollywood will change, power always takes advantage, it always does and always has.

"It's how you deal with power -- people have got to take responsibility for their own selves."

Human beings, he said, "are physical creatures. There is touching and there is grabbing, that is the problem. I find it funny that (while this is going on) a self-confessed pussy-grabber is the president of the US and is just walking around.

"I find it incredible," he said, calling Mr Trump a "conman".

Gilliam, who is now a British citizen, also took a swipe at Python colleague John Cleese, saying that "he is an idiot" to support Brexit.

33 Hollywood stars who have spoken out about Harvey Weinstein

"Look at America under Trump, look at England under the Conservatives - it is just a joke and it is costing fortunes. Britain is part of Europe and to think it can be Great Britain again is utterly foolish.

"It makes me feel like I've gotten very old and I am living through a nightmare world at the moment," he added.

Gilliam said the biggest failure of the 1960s generation was not delivering true equality for women.

"The only thing that we did not do well is get women paid the same money as men are paid for the same job, that's the one big failure of our time."Paris (AFP) - French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday they would come up with a roadmap for a major shake-up of the European Union by June, despite resistance to Macron's ambitious reform agenda from smaller members of the bloc.

Macron has called for a major drive to reinvigorate the EU and deepen cooperation at a time of rising populism, with proposals that include a common eurozone finance minister and budget.

Merkel has given a cautious welcome to his ideas, but had been hamstrung by nearly six months of tortuous talks to form a coalition government, the longest in Germany's post-war history.

Heading into talks Friday at the Elysee Palace with the newly-reinstated chancellor, Macron sought to accelerate the pace.

Citing Brexit and the gains made by populists in Italian elections as cause for urgent action, he said France and Germany would "propose a clear, ambitious roadmap" on the eurozone, migration policy, defence, trade, research and education by June.

Merkel, who has been weakened by her conservative CDU/CSU party's election losses, backed the deadline, telling a joint press conference: "We have to achieve results by June."

While France and Germany did "not always have the same opinions at first", she said they would attempt to find "common paths".

But even if he manages to win Merkel over, Macron's plans could founder on resistance from smaller northern European countries wary of being railroaded into sweeping reforms.

- Northern Europe sceptics -

Merkel's visit to Paris drew a sharp response from Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who told Berlin and Paris not to ignore the concerns of other EU states.

"Of course the German government can meet the French government without us being there," Rutte told Germany's Spiegel magazine.

"But that doesn't mean that we and other EU countries agree with everything the Germans and French agree on. We won't just nod along to everything."

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Finance ministers from countries including Denmark, Ireland, Sweden and the Netherlands had already called last week for more modest goals, such as completing the eurozone banking union, instead of "far-reaching proposals" for change.

For Macron, however, who made overhauling European institutions a key campaign promise last year, Merkel's return to the helm of EU heavyweight Germany comes not a moment too soon.

Congratulating Merkel on her new Conservative-Social Democrat coalition, he said: "I have to tell you that the joy was all ours when it ended well."

While Merkel was tied up in negotiations, he said, France -- seen for years as a weak link in western Europe -- had been knuckling down on its own reforms.

"For years Germany waited for France to carry out reforms: France has done so in the past few months, with determination, and will continue to do so," he said, referring to changes to the labour code, taxation and spending aimed at currying credibility with EU partners.

- 'Good signal for Europe' -

Macron's proposals for a post-Brexit overhaul include a eurozone budget to help cushion economic shocks and a European "rapid reaction force" to work with national armies.

"We are ready to reach some agreements" on EU reforms, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Friday after meeting his new German counterpart Olaf Scholz to prepare for a eurozone summit next week.

"We're here and we are going to get to work to meet the challenges we face," Scholz said, calling Macron's proposals "a very good signal for Europe".

But finding common ground between France and Germany -- let alone the other EU members -- is likely to prove elusive on several key issues.

Merkel had already reiterated this week that Berlin remains opposed to any mutualisation of debt in Europe, in which the debt loads of individual countries would be spread across the bloc.

And on Friday, she said that although Germany is willing to pay more into the EU budget to fill the gap once Britain leaves the bloc, it wouldn't be giving a blank check.

"We said in our coalition agreement that we would be prepared to pay a bit more into the budget," she said after meeting Sweden's Prime Minister Stefan Lofven.

"Of course that doesn't mean that any and all wishes will be fulfilled."

Among the issues where France and Germany could reach a shared position is on the response to the brazen assassination attempt on a Russian former double agent in Britain, for which London, Paris, Berlin and Washington have all pointed a finger at Moscow.

"We condemn this Russian interference as everything leads us to believe that it was indeed Russia" that was behind the nerve agent attack, Macron repeated.This one is going to be tough, a woman said on Wednesday evening, with her phone clutched to her heart like a missionary holding a Bible.

She was at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, and there was a stunning bouquet of flowers ten feet away. But in order to photograph them, she first had to get through a crowd of other museum-goers all jostling for elbow room to do the same thing. Some people couldnt move in the crowded gallery. Others bumped into fellow patrons with bags and arms as they angled for a shot. You cant even see anything, one museum-goer at the back of the pack complained.

The cause of this frenzy was Bouquets to Art, an exhibition that has become one of the de Youngs most popular annual events. For the 34th year, florists have been asked to create bouquets that respond to particular pieces of art on display, ranging from ancient carvings to contemporary sculptures. A tower of babys breath imitates a frothy waterfall in a nearby painting by Gustav Grunewald. Red flamingo flowers and neon-blue sticks echo a surreal portrait of a woman by Salvador Dali. Its entrancing and also extremely Instagrammable, to the point that it has become a problem.

As some people have started to document their every experience with smartphones, other people have started to accuse them of ruining things. This includes weddings, concerts and sidewalks, as well as Bouquets to Art. In recent years, the de Young received more than a thousand complaints from people who had flocked to the annual floral takeover, saying that the rabid photo-taking, and general cell phone usage, had tainted their experience.

Its an issue that institutions of fine art around the world are facing, as the desire to take photographs becomes a huge draw for museums as well as something that upsets some of their patrons. And so the de Young has responded with a kind of compromise: carving out photo free hours during the exhibitions six-day span from March 13 to March 18 (a short run due to flowers perishable nature).

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Some people want to maintain that reverence in a museum, and we need to be respectful of that, said Linda Butler, the de Youngs head of marketing, communications and visitor experience.

On Wednesday, these hours were not in effect, and its easy to rag on the behavior that ensued (even though most smartphone users find themselves guilty of the same sins at times, this author included). As thousands of people squeezed into galleries to see the flowers at their freshest, bottlenecks were common. Many visitors essentially waited in disorganized lines to snap pics of pretty pairings. People in wheelchairs had to wait for breaks in the hubbub to get a glimpse at all. The rare patron even got distracted enough to accidentally lean into the artwork on the walls.

Why do you need photos of everything in the show? Are you even going to look at them? Is it just like an addiction? said Judy Sweet, a longtime fan of the exhibit who stopped coming because of the mania and only returned after the museum first started experimenting with photo-free hours in 2016. In the ongoing debates about whether Instagram is killing our museum culture  and the worth of exhibits that seem to be set up with selfies in mind  this is a common complaint: People seem to be missing out on experiences because they are so busy getting evidence of them on their photo rolls. An oft-cited study suggests there is some truth to this; it found that people who took photos of an exhibit rather than simply observing it had a harder time remembering what they saw.

But this issue is more complicated than kvetching, especially for professionals who are running museums and trying to appeal to diverse audiences. Butler acknowledges that not everyone wants to open a door to a museum and find a selfie playland. Yet a lot of people do, and her take is that the de Young is in no position to assert that one motivation for buying a $28 ticket is more valid than another  whether theyre sketching for an hour in front of a painting or taking five seconds to put a picture on social media and moving on  especially when the desire to showcase our experiences is such a widespread one in the culture. If we removed social media, photography, we would risk becoming irrelevant, she said. At the end of the day we would become dinosaurs and become obsolete.

This year, for the first time, the museum set up an area especially for people to take photos of themselves in the main foyer. Happy, multi-generational groups gathered in front of a selfie wall ringed with flowers and decorated with a #bouquetstoart hashtag, which both helped minimize the amount that this was happening in cramped galleries and also advertised the event. Every museum is toying with how do you integrate [smartphones] and when, to what degree? And then when do you omit [them]? Butler said. She explained that curatorial decisions about what to exhibit are not shaped by this question, but decisions about how to execute those exhibits certainly are. In her view, the holy grail is to find ways for technology to add to the visit without taking away from the physical experience.

Anyone who has ever enjoyed an audio tour can understand that technology has the potential to make the museum experience better and more accessible, even if it rankles purists who want to contemplate brushstrokes in silence. A startup called Cuseum, for example, is piloting an augmented reality app: swing your phone around a gallery and bubbles pop up on your screen showing the name of the artwork and the artist. Tap on them to hear context that is too robust to be displayed on a label. Crucially, founder Brendan Ciecko explains, this can be programmed to happen in any language that a visitor happens to speak, which raises an interesting question: If you learn more about a piece of art by allowing your screen to mediate the experience, is there a net gain?

Meccas of fine art have historically had audiences that skew old, rich and white and Ciecko sees criticisms of smartphone usage as kind of being elitist or having your nose to the sky with anything that is breaking tradition. If technology somehow draws people into these places, the world can only benefit from that, he said. Consider a related question: If peoples desire to get likes on social media essentially funds the purchase of new artwork, has the museum had a net gain? Or is that just wishful thinking to justify whats happening regardless?

If this is a battle, signs would seem to indicate that the pro-smartphone crowd has already won. On Wednesday evening, the majority of people seemed to treat the photo bonanza as the new normal. Many politely waited their turn and got out of other peoples shots. Everyone is being so respectful of everyone else taking pictures, marveled Morgan Holzer, a millennial who was not very interested in taking photos. When she approached bouquets to read the accompanying labels, which identify the florist and specify which piece of art the bouquet was inspired by, she found herself holding up the process. But rather than expressing frustration about this awkwardness, she said she felt guilty, as if she was the one defying convention. I felt bad blocking everyones photo, she said.

Another case in point is the fact that the de Young set aside a mere 150 minutes on Friday morning to be photo-free, rather than the other way around. The experience was wildly calm compared to Wednesday evening. Part of this was no doubt because it was the middle of a workday but peoples behavior was also different. Visitors quietly flowed from one pairing to another, uninterrupted by the constant stop-and-shoots. Guards wore badges clearly indicating that photography was not allowed and intervened when people whipped out their phones. Like-minded visitors, such as Judy Sweet, purposefully made the trip to the de Young so they could freely take in the exhibit.

Not everyone was happy. Butler said that every year, the photo-free hours have themselves yielded complaints. People come here and they dont know about them and theyre expecting to take photos and theyre very disappointed, she said. You can never appease everyone. Thats part of the reason that these hours remain experimental. Perhaps theyll be extended to other exhibitions; perhaps not. Those decisions will be informed by research the de Young is doing about what motivates people to come to the museum in the first place and how they use their smartphones when theyre there.

Everyone who walks through the door is looking, from their perspective, to gain a certain type of experience, Butler said. Places like the de Young can be a place of solitude and contemplation for individuals who look at the museum as a cathedral. Other times its very much a social engagement  [Some people] want to capture it and share it with the world around them.

It would be wrong to dismiss everyone taking photos as being superficial or absent. It can be a creative exercise or an emotional, memorial one. It can also be productive. Take Melissa Wortman, a theater designer who visited the exhibition on Friday and was tortured to accidentally find herself at Bouquets to Art during a time when she could not make a record. I want to be able to take them with me, she said of the artfully arranged ranunculus and roses that she uses for inspiration in her own work each year.

Wortman said she will never delete the photos she has taken of previous exhibitions because she gets a bigger experience and sees something new each time she scrolls back through them. She sometimes goes back to compares years, expressing fascination at the way the same painting of a powerful waterfall can inspire a florist to create something brutal one year and gentle the next. There are more than 120 pairings, from as many florists, in all. Its just so much, she said, to take in at one time.BEIRUT (Reuters) - A senior Iranian security official has called for dialogue between factions in Yemen to end the conflict there, Iranian state media reported on Saturday. Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Irans Supreme National Security Council, made the comment during a meeting with Omans foreign minister, Yusuf bin Alawi, in Tehran. "The shared view of Iran and Oman about the Yemen crisis is that the war must end quickly with the beginning of a ceasefire, the ending of the siege, sending humanitarian help and the beginning of Yemeni-Yemeni dialogue for the development of new political structures based on the vote and desires of the people of Yemen," Shamkhani said. Saudi Arabia and its adversaries in Yemens armed Houthi movement are holding secret talks to try to end a three-year-old war that has unleashed a major humanitarian crisis, diplomats and Yemeni political sources have said. A Saudi-led coalition is fighting to counter the influence of Riyadhs arch-foe Iran, an ally of the Houthis, who deny any help from Tehran and say they are fighting a revolution against corrupt politicians and Gulf powers in thrall to the West. Separately, Shamkhani said Irans missile program was not up for negotiation and that the Islamic Republic would respond to any American action against a 2015 nuclear deal. Iran agreed to curbs on its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of a number of sanctions under the deal. Britain, France and Germany have proposed fresh EU sanctions on Iran over its ballistic missiles and its role in the war in Syria in a bid to persuade Washington to preserve the deal with Tehran, Reuters reported on Friday. (Reporting By Babak Dehghanpisheh; Editing by Andrew Bolton)Former FBI Director James Comey isnt done talking about his dealings with President Donald Trump, according to a tweet posted Saturday.

Trump on Saturday morning suggested that Comey was aware of unsavory or illegal activity within the FBI. He first tweeted that, As the House Intelligence Committee has concluded, there was no collusion between Russia and the Trump Campaign. As many are now finding out, however, there was tremendous leaking, lying and corruption at the highest levels of the FBI, Justice & State, before adding in a second tweet that, Comey knew it all, and much more!

Comey responded in a separate tweet just a few minutes later. Mr. President, the American people will hear my story very soon, he wrote. And they can judge for themselves who is honorable and who is not.

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The spat comes after the dismissal of former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who on Friday was fired by attorney general Jeff Sessions two days shy of of his retirement. McCabe, who was allegedly fired for authorizing leaks about the FBIs investigation into Hillary Clintons emails and misleading internal investigators, has long been criticized by Trump for his handling of the investigation and for his personal ties to Clinton. Trump called his firing a great day for Democracy.Before he was a top adviser in Donald Trump's White House, Jared Kushner's real estate company filed false paperwork in New York City claiming it had zero rent-regulated tenants in buildings that in fact had many, which led to the company being able to sell the properties quickly for millions in profit, reported the Associated Press Sunday.

In one case, Kushner's company sold three buildings in Astoriaa neighborhood in the Queens borough of New York Cityfor $60 million just two years after it had bought the properties for much less. The incidents occurred while Kushner was the CEO of the Kushner Cos., but the paperwork did not have his signature, the AP reported, while noting it does show the business had questionable ethics.

A watchdog group called the Housing Rights Initiative, which shared paperwork it compiled with the AP, found that Kushner's company filed at least 80 false construction permit applications from 2013-16 that claimed there were no rent-regulated tenants when that wasn't the case. In the case of the buildings in Astoria, for instance, there were 94 rent-regulated units, according to the AP.

Trending: Twitter Cryptocurrency Ad Ban: Bitcoin Price Plunges as Speculation Swirls

kushner

Mark Wilson/Getty Images

The Kushner Cos. told the AP in its exclusive report that it would not deny tenants their due-process rights while also saying such documents are outsourced to a third party and reviewed by independent counsel.

"It's bare-faced greed," Aaron Carr, founder of Housing Rights Initiative, told the AP. "The fact that the company was falsifying all these applications with the government shows a sordid attempt to avert accountability and get a rapid return on its investment."

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Don't miss: Trump Wanted White House Staff to Sign Non-Disclosure Agreements in His War on Leaks

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Kushner, the son-in-law of President Trump, has had an especially embattled tenure in the White House. His security clearance was downgraded last month and he was unable to ever obtain a full security clearance, in part, because he was a central figure in the investigation headed up by special counsel Robert Mueller, CNN reported. Most recently, a report this month from NBC News alleged that Qatari officials had damaging information about the United Arab Emirates' influence on Kushner but chose not to hand it over to Mueller in fear of hurting the nation's relationship with the White House. Both Kushner and Ivanka Trump, his wife, were even the subject of firing rumors this month despite being related to the president.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekU.S. lawmakers reacted to the ousting of former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, shortly after President Donald Trump attacked the fired FBI official again on Twitter.

As Trump railed against claims that McCabe kept personal memos detailing his interactions with the president, some representatives speaking on Sunday morning talk shows called for further examination into the firing of the onetime deputy director.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe Friday, two days before his retirement date. Sessions said he acted on the FBIs recommendation to fire McCabe. An upcoming report from the inspector general is expected to say that McCabe was not forthcoming with information to the watchdog office as it looked into the FBIs handling of its investigation into Hillary Clintons emails.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said he didnt like the way it went down, when asked about McCabes firing on NBCs Meet the Press.

He should have been allowed to finish through the weekend, the Republican senator said. If that report wouldve indicated wrongdoing or something that was actionable, there are things that couldve been done after the fact. But, you know, 48 hours to go before retirement, I wouldve certainly done it differently given the fact theres still this report out there that hasnt come in.

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham called for an investigation into McCabes firing on CNNs State of the Union.

I think we owe it to the average American to have a hearing in the judiciary committee where Attorney General Sessions comes forward with whatever documentation he has about the firing, and give Mr. McCabe the chance to defend himself, Graham, who sits on the panel, said. We need as much transparency as possible to make sure it wasnt politically motivated.

California Rep. Adam Schiff said the firing of McCabe fits into Trumps pattern of dismissing those who can corroborate former FBI director James Comey on potential obstruction of justice charges in the Russia investigation.

The presidents badgering of the attorney general, his urging that he be fired before his pension could vest, and the fact that McCabe and every other of the James Comey associates  his general counsel Baker, his Chief of Staff Rybicki, who corroborate James Comey on the issue of potential obstruction of justice  every one of them has been targeted by the administration, by the Republicans in congress, Schiff, a Democrat, said on ABCs This Week. And is this because they corroborate James Comey? Thats a question we also have to answer.Every week the Senate has been in session since April 2012, one lonely Democratic senator from Rhode Island, Sheldon Whitehouse, has taken to the Senate floor to speak about global warming. On March 13, Senator Whitehouse gave his 200th Its Time to Wake Up speech on climate change.

The speech was atypical for Whitehouse, who has grown accustomed to the unsettling feeling of standing virtually alone on the Senate floor while speaking about a topic that he believes is of the utmost importance.

SEE ALSO: Rex Tillerson's replacement is a nightmare for anyone who cares about climate change

Its a very hollow feeling. If you believe that this is a matter of such consequence and that its going to hit your home state so hard that you are going to put in this kind of an effort, then to have it be in an empty chamber, its a little disconcerting, he said in an interview, regarding most of his climate speeches.

This time, though, to mark the anniversary, 19 of his Democratic colleagues joined him to discuss the issue.

U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse takes part at a climate march in Washington, D.C. on April 29, 2017.

Image: NurPhoto via Getty Images

Whitehouses speech was the culmination of years of research and determination on his part, focused on a combination of disturbing new scientific results as well as what he described in an interview as the creepy mold growth of dark money groups spending millions to stop climate action and convince the American public that climate science is uncertain.

The fact that stands out for me, here at number 200, is the persistent failure of Congress to even take up the issue of climate change, Whitehouse said. One party wont even talk about it! One party is gagging Americas scientists and civil servants, and striking even the term climate change off government websites.

In the real world, in actual reality, we are long past any question as to the reality of climate change, Whitehouse said. The fact of that forces us to confront the question: What stymies Congress from legislating, or even having hearings, about climate change? What impels certain executive agencies to forbid even the words?

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Sheldon Whitehouse is the closest the current Senate has to former senator and vice president Al Gore. Hes bookish to the point of being a geek, is obsessed with environmental issues, and is not content to just scratch the surface of a problem  he delves deep, traveling the country in order to understand the science and politics of global warming. Hes also a bit quirky.

For example, at the start of the interview in his office, I commented that the senator comes from a beautiful state, mentioning Rhode Islands beaches and coastal vistas. What followed was unexpected, and revealing. It made me realize the senator might not be the person youd want to sit next to on a long distance flight, but he is definitely someone you want fighting for you in the Senate or in court, given his experience as the U.S. attorney for Rhode Island and subsequently as the state's attorney general.

Were kind of just emerging from the least beautiful season, Whitehouse said in response to my comment. And then, yeah, well be through that, and well get into the spring and spirits rise, and then summer comes and tourists come and money flows and people are happy, and then you hit September and October which are the golden months, when its just beyond gorgeous everywhere. And then you slide back into the darkness of winter again.

Whitehouse began his weekly speeches soon after the Obama White House gave up on pushing a climate bill through Congress, despite one having already passed the House in 2009.

I think it has been an often lonely undertaking but it started at a particularly bleak period when we Democrats had walked away from the climate change issue after the House had passed Cap and Trade, he said, referring to a bill that would have put a limit on greenhouse gas emissions and allowed companies trade emissions allowances to ensure they met their obligations under the new law.

Democrats in the House had put their careers on the line to pass that bill, and the Senate and the White House completely collapsed after that. Just fell apart, he said.

You couldnt get the Obama White House to use the words climate and change in the same paragraph, and it just seemed really, really bleak, Whitehouse said. So, I figured, lets start talking about this on a regular basis.

In some ways, the senator provides a good lesson in sticking to a routine, considering he put a climate speech on his schedule every week to prevent some other issue of the moment from crowding it out.

He also has the benefit of having a sharp legal mind, which will help amplify his voice as the wave of climate-related litigation builds during the next few years. Whitehouse contributed to disqualifying President Donald Trump's first nominee to lead the White House Council on Environmental Quality, Kathleen Hartnett White. His questions showed that she didn't just hold views about climate science that were outside the mainstream, but that she had no idea what her own views were.

Whitehouse says hes learned a lot about the science preparing for these speeches, and also has come to investigate why the politics of this issue are so intractable. This has turned his gaze squarely on the Supreme Courts 2010 decision in Citizens United v. FEC, which allowed for unlimited corporate money and so-called dark money to flow into politics.

Climate failure and dark money are two sides of the same coin, Whitehouse said. Dark money is flowing to groups that promote the view that climate change is not real, and also punish Republicans that contemplate acting to reduce the severity of the problem.

Despite these well-funded interest groups, though, Whitehouse is hopeful that the tide is turning on this issue. First of all, he thinks the public understands the reality of the science, which is born out in polling, though far fewer Republicans think there is a scientific consensus on global warming compared to Democrats.

Second, he says the economics increasingly favor renewable energy sources, as more and more coal plants are shutting down simply because its cheaper to use either cleaner natural gas or carbon-free renewable sources such as solar and wind power.

Lastly, he said the combination of shareholder pressure and legal pressure is going to bring the fossil fuel industry to the table faster than many others think. He described oil companies as spooked by the reality of having to present evidence of what they knew, and when they knew it, in a courtroom, as they may have to do in several pending cases nationwide.

... Courts over and over again in our history have been places where big ideas have been thought through because the political system was incapable of dealing with them, Whitehouse said, mentioning the case in Oregon in which 21 young Americans are suing the federal government for depriving them of the right to a stable climate.

Clearly, 200 speeches have not resulted in climate action at the federal level, at least not yet. But Whitehouse says his work has been successful in other ways. He compares his efforts to serving as the pilot light of an oven, keeping it ready to turn on as soon as the conditions align and it comes time to start cooking.

He said he has very intentionally wanted to be the witness on the ground to tell future generations exactly why Congress has not acted. In his view, its not because of partisanship or the failure of the Democratic system, but rather special interest money flowing unfettered into campaigns, squelching any potential bipartsian compromises on climate legislation.

Theres a story that needs to be told, because when some coastal farmer in Malaysia or Madagascar or Sri Lanka has lost their farm and their village has had to go and theres fighting for resources, all the things the Defense Department talks about at the policy level, all that stuff happens to somebody, to some kid, to some tribe, to some village, that stuff happens, and theyre mad and they want answers, Whitehouse said.

And here we are sitting on a hill, with our lamp up to the world, and right now we are providing a disgusting example of corruption of government by a huge special interest. And weve got to be able to fix that.

Whitehouse has no plans to stop the lecture series, which you can watch online via Youtube. He may lack the star power of Gore, but hes every bit as serious, knowledgeable, and determined to make a difference.

So stay tuned for speech 201. Oh and also 202, 203, 204...ATHENS (Reuters) - A threatening letter containing a bullet has been sent to the Greek foreign minister, who is engaged in talks with Macedonia on a long-running name dispute, police said.

Nikos Kotzias has received other threatening letters and calls in recent months.

"The new envelope ... contained a bullet and a letter with references to his efforts on the Macedonian issue," a police official told Reuters on Saturday.

A letter addressed to Kotzias in February said there were "three bullets" for him.

Greece, which has its own region called Macedonia, has objected to its neighbour's name since it broke away from Yugoslavia in 1991.

Kotzias is expected to travel to Skopje in the coming days to continue discussions on the issue.

The small ex-Yugoslav republic and Greece have agreed to step up negotiations this year to resolve the dispute, which has frustrated Skopje's ambitions to join NATO and the European Union.

(Reporting by Lefteris Papadimas; Editing by Andrew Bolton)Photo credit: Magna

From Road & Track

The melding of Silicon Valley and the traditional automotive industry continues. Ride-hailing service Lyft and Magna International, one of the largest automotive suppliers in the world, said theyre embarking on a long-term collaboration to build self-driving systems capable of operating without any input or oversight from human drivers.

Magna will invest $200 million in Lyft as part of the arrangement. Lyfts engineers will lead the joint development of the system at the self-driving research-and-development center the company formed last summer in Palo Alto, California. Drawing on its six-decade history as a supplier, Magna will lead manufacturing efforts and potentially offer the automated technology to its customers around the globe.

They can plug in our system into cars across the world, Lyft co-founder Logan Green said Wednesday. They can deploy self-driving systems to all the OEMs they work with. From Lyfts perspective, we dont want just one or two companies to have access to self-driving technology. We want every single OEM to make self-driving vehicles, and for those vehicles to operate on the Lyft network.

Despite much hype, ride-sharing networks like Lyft and Uber account for less than 1 percent of all vehicle miles traveled in the United States. But a proliferation of self-driving vehicles could accelerate Lyfts vision of shifting the transportation landscapeaway from one based on personal ownership of cars and toward one that favors subscription services. Just as consumers now subscribe to Spotify to listen to music, Green advocates for a system in which they subscribe to access for cars. He posited Wednesday that such a service might cost $200 per month for 1000 miles in a Lyft vehicle.

Whatever the specifics on a final price point, self-driving technology is what makes such a service, along with its low price, theoretically possible. Which is why Lyft opened its own research center last summer, now staffed with 100 employees, and has worked to place itself as the center in a constellation of partnerships with the likes of Ford, General Motors, Jaguar Land Rover, Aptiv, NuTonomy, and Waymo.



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With the exception of its partnership with GM, which involves an investment of at least $500 million, the Magna relationship appears to be a closer-knit pairing than most others for Lyft, with the ride-hailing service receiving a substantial investment and entrusting Magna with the manufacturing of these systems, once theyre developed. Both companies will share jointly created intellectual property and utilize Lyft data to improve their systems. Employees of the two companies have already been working together in Palo Alto for several months.

The progress is really impressive, said Magna chief technology officer Swamy Kotagiri. Lyft brings ride-sharing leadership and the opportunity to bring the self-driving systems to a large network. This is a great intersection, in my mind, of two companies coming together, one with automotive experience and one with transportation-network experience.

Photo credit: Lyft

This is hardly Magnas first go-around with automated vehicles. Based in Ontario, the company has been among the market leaders in producing advanced driver-assist systems and has already worked as part of an ongoing collaboration with BMW, Intel, and Mobileye on autonomous technology.

Theres no timetable on when Lyft and Magna intend to have the system ready for deployment. In a written statement, both said it will be available for the market over the next few years. They intend to build a system that encompasses all the necessary components for self-driving vehicles-whats known as a full-stack solution.

At the onset, the system is expected to be capable of Level 4 autonomy-fully driverless vehicles that require no monitoring from humans-although these cars may be restricted in operations to certain geofenced locations or constrained by weather conditions. Eventually, Lyft officials said Wednesday, it would build toward Level 5 operations, in which fully self-driving cars can go anywhere at any time. But Green acknowledged there remains a long road ahead before Level 5 operations are feasible.

Magna produces materials for the auto industry in 335 factories located in 28 countries around the world. Its products run the gamut from exterior body systems to plastics to all-wheel-drive systems to advanced driver-assist features that can handle driving during traffic jams. One of the differentiators between Magna and many competitors is that the company is capable of assembling complete vehicles at its plant in Graz, Austria.

A Magna spokesperson says thats not part of this particular agreement, but its at least conceivable that someday Magna could produce its own vehicles that are deployed on the Lyft network.

Whether its the concrete plans to co-develop self-driving systems and sell them to automakers or perhaps one day installing the technology in its own vehicles, this latest deal entrenches Magna as an important supplier to both traditional auto-manufacturing and tech companies alike. For Lyft, it bolsters the companys position as a potential hub for self-driving rides that could help turn Greens big vision for future transportation into a reality.

You Might Also LikeSydney (AFP) - Malaysia's prime minister Saturday warned his Southeast Asian neighbours that the Rohingya refugee crisis in Myanmar could become a serious security threat for the region.

Hundreds of thousands of the Muslim-minority Rohingya have fled Myanmar's troubled Rakhine state after authorities launched a brutal crackdown on insurgents six months ago that the UN has called "ethnic cleansing".

Myanmar has vehemently denied the allegations, insisting it was responding to attacks by Rohingya militants in late August.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak raised fears that so many desperate and displaced people could fall prey to extremist groups like Islamic State.

With Myanmar's de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi sitting just metres away at a special Australia-ASEAN summit in Sydney, Najib said it was no longer a domestic issue.

"Because of the suffering of Rohingya people and that of displacement around the region, the situation in Rakhine state and Myanmar can no longer be considered to be a purely domestic matter," he said.

"In addition, the problem should not be looked at through the humanitarian prism only because it has the potential of developing into a serious security threat to the region.

"Rakhine with thousands of despairing ... people who see no hope in the future will be a fertile ground for radicalisation and recruitment by Daesh and affiliated groups."

Daesh is an alternative name given to Islamic State.

The United Nations on Friday launched an appeal for nearly US$1 billion to care for Rohingya refugees, who have mostly fled to Bangladesh.

Najib said Malaysia was ready to assist in finding "a just and durable solution", while urging Southeast Asian nations to work closely to deter any extremist threats.

"We must be vigilant and increase our collaboration, because the collapse of Daesh territories in Iraq and Syria has forced it to go underground and re-emerge elsewhere, especially in crisis zones where it can grow and operate."

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He pointed to pro-Islamic State militants seizing the southern Philippine city of Marawi last year as a warning of what can happen.

"We must draw lessons from Marawi and be extremely concerned that at least 10 militant groups in the Mindanao region (of the Philippines) have declared their affiliation to Daesh," he said.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, with Australia a dialogue partner since 1974.

All leaders are attending the summit in Sydney except the Philippines' Rodrigo Duterte, who cited more pressing developments at home.By Mohamed Junayd

MALE (Reuters) - Police in Maldives arrested at least 139 opposition protesters, its spokesman said on Saturday, as they attempted to defy orders under the state of emergency and march into the high security zone in capital Male.

Maldives President Abdulla Yameen has extended the state of emergency for 30 days through March 22 after declaring it on Feb. 5 following an order by the Supreme Court for nine opposition leaders to be released.

The protesters are calling for the arrest of Yameen and for the Supreme Court ruling, which the president has defied, to be enforced.

Police spokesman Ahmed Shifan told Reuters that 141 people were arrested in protests late on Friday, though two men were subsequently released.

Witnesses said masked special operations policemen arrested several protesters, while riot police charged with shields and used pepper spray and tear gas to break up the protests.

The arrest came after authorities warned last week that the protests would not be allowed, saying that police had received word that there was an attempt to violently overthrow the government and create unrest.

Rights group Amnesty International said, Maldivian authorities are using the state of emergency as a licence for heightened repression and the 139 people have been detained "solely for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly".

"They must be released immediately and unconditionally, Omar Waraich, Amnesty's deputy South Asia director said in a statement.

Police accused a protester of fracturing an officers arm in a tweet and said: "A policemen is injured after being attacked by a protester. The policemen has a fracture in his hand."

The government has said that there were no plans to extend the state of emergency after it expires on March 22.

(Writing by Shihar Aneez; Editing by Richard Balmforth)The NRA held its annual convention in Louisville, Kentucky, in May 2016, which included big names in gun manufacturing, like Smith & Wesson and Remington. Those same gun companies are now facing pressure from state and municipal pension funds, such as in Massachusetts, California, Connecticut, Florida, New Jersey and New York City, which have threatened to pull investments from gun manufacturers (Photo: NurPhoto via Getty Images)

In response to the Parkland, Florida, school shooting last month that left 17 people dead, two Massachusetts state legislators filed a bill Thursday that could force the state pension fund board to pull investments from any company that profits off firearms and ammunition manufacturing.

We take public safety seriously, therefore I felt we should not be investing public dollars in the companies that enable the violence we are trying to prevent, state Rep. Lori Ehrlich (D), one of the bills authors, told HuffPost in an email. We should not be protecting the state with one hand and enabling manufacturers with the other. Its both inconsistent and counterproductive.

The bill, backed by Ehrlich and state Sen. Cynthia Creem (D), charges the Massachusetts pension board, PRIM, with selling its shares in companies that make more than 15 percent of their revenue from manufacturing civilian firearms, gun accessories and ammunition. PRIM is responsible for investing $71 billion held in the Massachusetts state workers pension fund. As of January, the fund held equity in six gun or ammunition companies, a total investment of just over $5 million.

The proposal is the latest effort by public officials to disentangle themselves from a variety of financial products that invest in large, publicly traded gun companies like Sturm, Ruger & Co., Vista Outdoors, a corporation that owns a number of firearms and ammunition manufacturers, and American Outdoor Brands Corp., the corporate holding company of Smith & Wesson.

Other states and municipal pension funds, such as in California, Connecticut, Florida, New Jersey and New York City, have already re-examined their investments in firearms manufacturers. But the Massachusetts bill is particularly symbolic, given that the state is home to Smith & Wesson, the nations most prolific firearms manufacturer in 2016.

The new bill comes on the heels of a letter Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) sent in February to nine of the biggest shareholders in major gun companies, asking them to divest to pressure firearms manufacturers to take responsibility for the harm that arises as a result of their industry.

Story continues

Your company is in a powerful position, Warren wrote. You have reaped significant benefits from your investment in gun manufacturers, but have done little to reduce the violence and murders caused by their products.

I encourage you take action to ensure that the gun companies in which you invest are taking steps to reduce gun violence.

But despite Warrens assertion that divesting from gun companies could leverage investors financial power to prod manufacturers like Smith & Wesson into being more responsible corporate citizens, its not clear that the threat of a state pension fund pulling its holdings would provide enough financial motivation to force gun companies to change course.

Although Ehrlichs bill would open the door for divestment, it is boards like PRIM  not politicians  that ultimately make decisions about how pension holdings are invested. And their role legally obligates them to make investments that are in the best financial interest of the funds beneficiaries. The behavior of the companies the fund invests in, even if some deem them to be unethical, are outside the scope of the boards assessment.

Should the new bill pass, the board will consult investment experts on whether it can replace gun stocks in the funds portfolio without increasing the funds risk or sacrificing its return. If the answer is no, the board wont divest.

Ian Lanoff, a partner at the Groom Law Group who advises on several state pension funds and was involved in the Massachusetts fund before it was folded into PRIM, said divesting from gun stocks might not be such a straightforward decision.

Lanoff pointed to his experience representing funds in the 1980s, when groups were trying to divest from tobacco. Replacing tobacco stocks seemed easy enough, but barely any investment experts would recommend divesting at the time. In the end, Lanoff explained, the funds that divested lost money, although its unclear if the losses were because they couldnt adequately replace tobacco stocks or because they made poor replacement investments.

Gun companies only make up a tiny sliver of the total stock market, which means a pension fund should be able to divest without hurting beneficiaries, argued Dean Baker, a senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

The idea that the pension funds would suffer in any major way from not being able to invest in [gun companies] is ridiculous on its face, Baker said, noting that fossil fuels, a similarly controversial investment, make up a far bigger share of the market.

If Massachusetts does ultimately choose to divest from gun companies, it may not end up damaging Smith & Wessons bottom line enough to get the company to change in any meaningful way. But even without outside political and financial pressure, the Massachusetts gun giant  as well as other firearms manufacturers  are already facing a steep stock slump. Smith & Wessons value has fallen by 30 percent since President Donald Trump was elected in November 2016, and North Carolina-based Remington, which cut its workforce by one-quarter last year, is expected to file for bankruptcy as soon as March 18.

And while Ehrlich stressed that the proposed bill isnt intended to target Smith & Wesson specifically, she hopes it will send a signal to the gun industry at large.

Their time is up to change their business model, she said.

Related Coverage

You May Be Funding The Gun Lobby Without Even Knowing It

A City Struggling With Gun Violence Confronts The Firearms Manufacturer In Its Midst

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.This is the latest in a series of profiles of immigrants who have made important contributions to the fields of architecture and design.

Endless curiosity drew me out of Germany, says Matthias Hollwich, a partner in the Manhattan firm Hollwich Kushner, a founder of the web platform Architizer, and a writer and teacher with a particular interest in how architecture can serve aging populations. The firm became widely known in New York in 2012 for its playful MoMA P.S.1 installation Wendy, and has since created a number of notable buildings, including the Pennovation Center, a tech incubator affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania. Asked what hes proudest of, Hollwich mentions not the buildings themselves but the reactions of the people using the buildingsthe laughter and smiles that Mark [Kushner] and I experienced when Wendy opened, and which we saw at Pennovation when people started working there.

Michael Moran / OTTO

Hollwich was born in Munich and studied architecture at the University of Applied Science. In his early 20s, he left Germany planning to work in New York and Rotterdam, each for one year, before returning home. Instead, he also went on to work in Zurich, Amsterdam, and Hong Kong, and found himself returning to New York rather than to Munich. Every time I left New York I felt like I hadnt experienced everything here, he says. Its still true now.

In 200,5 he met Marc Kushner through their friend Jurgen Mayer H., the German architect; a few years later they entered a competition together. The happy collaboration led them to formalize their partnership, and Hollwich Kushner has since been responsible for a number of residential and commercial buildings.

Hollwich is focused on creating new kinds of communities for seniors. In Germany, he recalls, I shared a house with my parents and sister and also my grandmother. She needed a lot of care for the last three years of her life; we all pitched in. The experience educated me and also took away the fear of aging and the fear of dying.

Story continues

As he approached 40, Hollwich began thinking about aging more intently, and teaching about architecture for aging at the University of Pennsylvania: My experience in Europe is that aging is much more socially integrated into society. I have tried to inject a European way of thinking into the discourse. The firm has designed two senior centers, but, just as important, he says, we take what weve learned about aging and build it into every one of our projects. His book New Aging: Live Smarter Now to Live Better Forever was published by Penguin in 2016.

Overall, Hollwich says, as an immigrant, you realize that the ideas you grew up with arent the only right ideas. That makes you a little more humble.

A longtime observer of the built environment, Fred Bernstein was struck by the number of American architects and designers who were born in other countries. To suggest immigrant architects or designers for future profiles, email fredabernstein@gmail.com.Ousted FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe allegedly kept memos detailing his interactions with President Donald Trump and the White House, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. The memos were apparently turned over to special counsel Robert Mueller, who is carrying out an ongoing probe into Russian interference during the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

The memos also contained information on what former FBI Director James Comey told McCabe about his own dealings with Trump, the publication cited a person familiar with the matter. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Friday he had terminated McCabes tenurejust 48 hours before his formal retirement. Sessionss decision could cost McCabe his federal pension after 21 years of service.

CNNs Shimon Prokupecz confirmed the allegations via Twitter: Andrew McCabes memos are now in the hands of Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Mueller has McCabes memos from his own personal interactions with President Trump and from what Comey told McCabe about his interactions with Trump, the crime and justice reporter said.

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Prokupecz later tweeted what McCabe told the news channel about his conversations with the president. In May, when Director Comey was fired and I had my own interactions with the President, he brought up my wife every time I ever spoke to him," McCabe told CNN. "Of course, I disagreed with him."

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McCabes claims are an apparent reference to an interaction he had with the president in May of 2017. After firing Comey, Trump angrily called the then-deputy director the next day asking why the former FBI director was allowed to fly on a FBI plane from Los Angeles back to Washington, D.C. McCabe told Trump that he was not asked to authorize Comeys flight, but he would have approved it if anyone had such request, according to sources cited by NBC News. In response, the president then lashed out at McCabe, urging he ask his wife how it feels to be a loser. The remark referred to a failed campaign for state office in Virginia McCabes wife ran in 2015, the news outlet reported.

Story continues

This attack on my credibility is one part of a larger effort not just to slander me personally, but to taint the FBI, law enforcement, and intelligence professionals more generally, McCabe said in a statement last night. It is part of an ongoing war on the FBI and the efforts of the Special Counsel investigation, which continue to this day. 

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In the wake of McCabes dismissal, Trump tweeted: Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI - A great day for Democracy. Sanctimonious James Comey was his boss and made McCabe look like a choirboy. He knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI!

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The White House move sparked harsh criticism from former officials. When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history, former CIA Director John Brennan wrote via Twitter. You may scapegoat Andy McCabe, but you will not destroy America...America will triumph over you.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekDaniel R. DePetris

Security, North America

And North Korea might just top the list.

Mike Pompeo: The 5 Biggest Challenges Ahead of Him as Secretary of State

Rex Tillerson never really got into his groove. He was hated with a passion by many of his employees who felt their work wasnt being appreciated. He had a toxic personal and professional relationship with the man who mattered, President Donald Trump. And he had few diplomatic successes to speak for; Tillersons most significant case of shuttle diplomacy was a four-day stay in the Persian Gulf, where he jetted to Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait hoping to push through a Gulf reconciliation. He flew back to Washington empty handed.

For good or ill, Tillerson is out and Mike Pompeo is in. The three-term congressman from Kansas and CIA director is clearly a politically astute, intelligent and capable man. The State Department is in such squalid condition that the former West Pointer will need all of the help he can get to turn the place around.

Here are the first five action items on Pompeos desk:

1. Make the State Department Relevant Again

The State Department has a long and proud history of serving the U.S. foreign policy interests with dedication and distinction. But the building is a shell of what it used to be. Senior foreign service officers are choosing retirement over new assignments, the president of the American Foreign Service Association has rung alarm bells about a staff that has been depleted at a dizzying speed, and anonymous employees speak of the department as if its a jail and they are captives of an administration with an anti-diplomacy mind-set. As difficult as it will be, Pompeo must bring the State Department back in from the cold. The buildings position needs to be reasserted into the policymaking process and re-elevated as the preeminent organization in charge with executing Americas foreign policy.

Recommended: 5 Places World War III Could Start in 2018

Story continues

Recommended: How North Korea Could Start a War

Recommended: This Is What Happens if America Nuked North Korea 

2. Repair Foggy Bottom's Relationship with the President

By the time Trump fired Rex Tillerson via tweet, the two men were not the best of friends. Trump saw in Tillerson an establishmentarian who was lukewarm to the America First agenda, and Tillerson saw Trump as a man who ran on impulse with a questionable command of the facts. If it weren't for the valuable assistance of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis during the inter-agency debate, Tillersons would have lost a lot more policy battles.

Mike Pompeo cant afford to carry on with that same frostiness towards the commander-in-chief. Given Trumps obsessive focus on loyalty, its not a stretch to assume that the presidents favorability of the State Department depends on his favorability of the individual running it. If Pompeo is able to maintain his positive personal rapport with the president, the likelihood Foggy Bottoms recommendations will be seriously considered increases.

3. Don't Be Afraid to Disagree with the President

Pompeo is reportedly one of Trumps favorite cabinet officers. The two speak to one another multiple times a week, and Pompeo briefed the president personally on the intelligence during his CIA directorship. Loyalty is one of the very reasons Pompeo was likely nominated to be Americas top diplomat in the first place.

It would be a massive error in judgment, however, if Pompeo were to prize loyalty over sound foreign policy advice. He could get away with skirting the tough policy questions of the day when he was the CIA director, but he wont be able to do so in his new role. His past position was all about delivering the hard facts to the president and his advisers as best as Americas intelligence community saw them. CIA directors analyze and report. What they dont do is recommend policy. Not so when youre a Secretary of State. Pompeo will be expected to counsel Trump on what he believes is the most effective policy for Americas interests. And he will be expected to do so even when his advice may be contrary to Trumps instincts.

4. Bring The "Deep State" Careerists Back into the Fold

One of the frequent complaints of Tillersons tenure was that he separated himself from the State Department staff and was barricaded in the executive suite on the seventh floor. The rank-and-file were upset that they couldnt get access to the secretary when they needed too, and that when access was granted, it was too late. Instead of utilizing the career staff in the building to the fullest, Tillerson would often delegate to Policy Planning chief Brian Hook; one Foreign Service Officer with twenty-five years of experience commented to the New York Times Magazine that Hook was overworked trying to do the job of 30 people.

Tillersons replacement will need to hire a demolition team to break the walls keeping the inner sanctum around the secretary and the careerists in the department apart. These are the people, after all, who possess an encyclopedic knowledge of the country or region they cover, know how the building works, can tell you which foreign leader is a pushover at the negotiating table, and which foreign minister fulfills his or her promises. As Shamila N. Chaudhary, a former State Department senior official during Hillary Clintons tenure, wrote in Politico, the State Department is not resistant to change but rather . . . opposes being excluded from conversations about its own future. Everybody in Foggy Bottom ought to be part of the team.

5. Prepare Trump for His Summit with Kim Jong-Un

While we dont yet know whether a meeting between Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un will actually happenor if it happens, whenSecretary Pompeos first order of diplomatic business will be to brief his boss on what to anticipate, what to say and what to withhold. Due to his experience briefing Trump countless times in the past, Pompeo already has the skills and patience to perform the task successfully.

On the upcoming summit with Kim, however, Pompeo has one more goal: manage Trumps expectations about what he can achieve while drilling a message of skepticism in the presidents head. Preventing Trump from leaving the meeting disappointed or angry due to a lack of groundbreaking results is as valuable as preparing briefing materials on North Koreas negotiating style and rehearsing an unambiguous set of talking points.

Daniel R. DePetris is a world affairs columnist for Reuters, a frequent contributor to the American Conservative and the National Interest, and a foreign-policy analyst based in New York, NY.

Image: Reuters

Read full articleA 16-year-old who disappeared with a 45-year-old family friend has been found in Mexico, and the man has been arrested, police said.

Police said Amy Yu, who has been missing since March 5, was "unharmed and in good health."

An Amber Alert had been issued for the teen in Mexico after police discovered Yu and Kevin Esterly had taken one-way flights from Philadelphia to Cancun with a layover in Dallas.

Yu will be reunited with her mother in Allentown, and an extradition process will begin once Esterly arrives in Miami, reports said.

Yu reportedly knew Esterly, who is married, because the family attended the same church and Yu was friends with Esterlys daughter.

Esterly had signed Yu out of school without her parents permission 10 times between November and February, according to court documents obtained by The Morning Call.

Yu reportedly had altered her student records to list Esterly as her stepfather, police said.

On Feb. 9, Yus mother, Miu Luu, went to the school to pick up her daughter and was told that she left her with "stepfather," reports said.

Yus mother then told the school that she's a single mother and school workers called police.

The school then prohibited Esterly from school grounds, CNN reported.

Police said Esterly and Amy exchanged hundreds of text messages and her mother later said it sounded like her daughter was texting a boyfriend.

On March 5, Yus mother reported the teen as a runaway after she had dropped her at the bus stop with her younger brother that morning. Her brother reportedly said she took off.

Yus mother said money, jewelry and her daughter's personal documents were missing, reports said.

Esterly's wife also said $4,000 along with his personal documents were missing after the pair disappeared.

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Where is Amy Yu? Police Say 16-Year-Old May Have Flown to Cancun With 45-Year-Old Man

Where is Amy Yu? Missing 16-Year-Old Listed Man as 'Stepfather' So He Could Pick Her Up From School

Story continues

Where Is Amy Yu? Teen and Man, 45, Allegedly in 'Secretive Relationship' Vanish

Related Articles:Beirut (AFP) - More than 200,000 civilians have fled the city of Afrin in northern Syria in less than three days to escape a Turkish-led military offensive against a Kurdish militia, a war monitor said Saturday.

"There was fierce fighting throughout the night on the northern outskirts of the city as the Turkish forces and their Syrian allies tried to break into the city," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The exodus continued on Saturday with at least 50,000 civilians fleeing the city since the early hours of the morning, according to the Britain-based monitoring group, which relies on sources inside Syria for its information.

"The situation is terrifying," said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.

Turkey and its Syrian Arab rebel allies have waged a nearly two-month offensive on the Afrin enclave, which is held by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG).

Earlier this week, they largely surrounded the enclave's sole city, which was home to some 350,000 people, including people displaced from other parts of the enclave already overrun.

A single escape route remains open to the south to territory still held by the YPG or controlled by the Damascus government.

"Civilians are fleeing through the southern corridor," Abdel Rahman said.

The YPG has been a vital partner for a US-backed coalition against the Islamic State jihadist group.

But it is seen by Ankara as a "terrorist" offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been waging an insurgency inside Turkey since 1984.

Afrin has come under heavy air and artillery bombardment by the Turkish army.

On Friday evening, a Turkish bombing raid struck the city's main hospital, killing 16 civilians, a monitor said.

Turkey's military denied hitting the hospital, saying that its operation in Afrin "is carried out in such a way as to not cause any harm to civilians".

Hospital director Jiwan Mohammed told state news agency SANA that the strikes had severely damaged the facility and put it out of service.

Serwan Bery, co-chair of the Kurdish Red Crescent, said earlier it had been the city's only functioning hospital.Theresa May has warned the Kremlin that Britain will not be cowed by its decision to expel 23 British diplomats in an escalation of the dispute following the Salisbury attack.

Responding to President Putin's decision to escalate diplomatic tensions, Mrs May told a gathering of Conservative Party members that his antics would not distract from the fact that Russia was "in flagrant breach of international law."

Speaking at the Conservative Spring Forum in London, Mrs May said Russia's response, which includes shutting down the British Council, did not "change the facts of the matter".

After being updated by the British Ambassador in Moscow, Mrs May said: In light of their previous behaviour, we anticipated a response of this kind and we will consider our next steps in the coming days, alongside our allies and partners.

"But Russias response doesnt change the facts of the matter - the attempted assassination of two people on British soil, for which there is no alternative conclusion other than that the Russian State was culpable.

"It is Russia that is in flagrant breach of international law and the Chemical Weapons Convention."

Timeline Sergei Skripal How events have unfolded

Following a week that has seen the city of Salisbury descend into the scene of a major international crime scene, Mrs May also paid tribute to the "bravery" of the emergency services, doctors and investigators who responded to the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

Russia's tit-for-tat expulsion was widely expected. But the shuttering of the UK consulate in St Petersburg and the British Council cultural organisation went beyond Theresa May's measures against Russia, escalating the diplomatic spat.

London may now come under pressure to retaliate more forcefully to Russia.

Undeterred by the Russia's withering response, Mrs May reiterated her intentions to "dismantle" the Russian spy network operating out of the UK and to suspend all planned contact between the UK and the Kremlin.

Story continues

"We will never tolerate a threat to the life of British citizens and others on British soil from the Russian Government."

Sergei Skripal with his daughter Yulia

The Russian response

The Russian foreign ministry said the move was a response to the provocative actions of the British side and baseless accusations of the Russian Federation relating to the Salisbury incident. It warned the UK against "further actions of an unfriendly nature".

The statement cited the disparity in the consulate facilities of the two countries: While the UK has consulates in St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg, Russia only has a consulate in Edinburgh.

The move was nonetheless unprecedented. Even when Moscow expelled 755 American diplomatic staff last year in response to US sanctions over election meddling, it did not directly close any of the US consulates in Russia.

Britain and Russia | A history of diplomatic expulsions

The US embassy and three consulates have continued operations on a smaller scale.

We have no dispute with the Russian people and a very large part of the work of my embassy here in Russia has been, is, to promote those links, those mutually productive links, between Russia and the United Kingdom, but we will always do what is necessary to defend ourselves, our allies and our values against an attack of this sort, Mr Bristow told journalists in front of the imposing foreign ministry building in Moscow.

The British consulate in St Petersburg covers Russia's second largest city as well as 10 nearby regions. It began operating in 1992 and was officially opened by the Prince of Wales in 1994 during the first visit by a member of the Royal family since the 1917 Bolshevik revolution.

Prince Charles also opened a St Petersburg branch of the British Council during the trip.

Russian spy poisoning | Read more

Why the British Council?

The cultural organisation had come under pressure in recent years following a diplomatic row over the poisoning of another former Russian spy in the UK.

After the UK expelled Russian diplomats over the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, Russia closed the British Council's branches in St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg in 2008.

The group has remained active in Russia despite diplomatic tensions, holding events for a UK-Russia year of culture in 2014 and for the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare's death in 2016. It has several musical events planned this month and has been holding a design competition for a Shakespeare monument in Moscow.

Fears of a second Moscow attack

On Friday, Scotland Yard launched a murder investigation after announcing that a Russian businessman who was found dead at his south London home, had been strangled, sparking fears of a second Moscow sponsored attack on British soil.

Nikolai Glushkov, 68, who was a fierce critic of Vladimir Putin, was granted asylum in the UK after fleeing Russia in 2006.

A former right-hand man of deceased oligarch, Boris Berezovsky, his death came just over a week after Russian spy, Skripal, and his daughter, Yulia, were poisoned by a nerve agent in Salisbury.

He was found dead on Monday by his daughter after failing to turn up to a hearing in the commercial courts in London.

The former boss of the state airline, Aeroflot, Mr Glushkov had told friends he feared he was on a Kremlin hit-list.

A Downing Street spokesman stressed that Mr Glushkov's death was a police matter and that no direct link had been made with the Salisbury poisoning case.

Nikolay Glushkov

However, news of this latest murder investigation is stoking fears that critics or enemies of Russia and its leader, are no longer safe on British soil.

But Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader, said the murder of Mr Glushkov appeared to fit into a pattern of violent deaths of enemies of Mr Putin.

He said: "If there is a link between Mr Glushkov's death and the Kremlin it will be further proof that we are dealing with essentially a rogue state which refuses to abide by international rules and has violated UN laws.

"What has been going on is a deliberate attempt to settle Russian scores in the UK.

A former bodyguard, who worked for Mr Berezovsky, and knew Mr Glushkov well, said his death had all the hallmarks of a state-sponsored assassination.

The France based security expert, who asked to be identified only by his initials, RG, said: Im not at all surprised [that a murder investigation has been opened].

12 uk deaths with suspected Russian involvement

You can easily choke someone in 10 seconds so that they fall into a comatose state and you can then continue strangling them without leaving any other marks on the body. Its a technique they [the Russians] know well.

Mr Berezovsky was found hanged in the bathroom of his Surrey home in 2013, with the cause of death being put down to suicide.

But suspicion has always surrounded the circumstances of his death, with many believing he was one of a number of Putin critics who were deliberately silenced.

Britain and Russia: War of words

It came as Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, escalated the war of words with Russia, when he accused Vladimir Putin of personally ordering the nerve agent attack.

Speaking during a visit to the Battle of Britain Bunker museum in Uxbridge on Friday, Mr Johnson said: "Our quarrel is with Putin's Kremlin, and with his decision - and we think it overwhelmingly likely that it was his decision - to direct the use of a nerve agent on the streets of the UK, on the streets of Europe, for the first time since the Second World War."

He said it was "overwhelmingly likely" that the Russian President was behind the attempted murder, a claim described as unpardonable by Mr Putins spokesman.

Russia's ambassador to London, Alexander Yakovenko, suggested the Government was using the incident to divert attention from Brexit.

He said that Britain had put its weight behind an "anti-Russian campaign" as it tried to establish a new place for itself within Western society after EU withdrawal.A Libyan rebel stands guard near the entrance of Ras Lanuf August 27, 2011. REUTERS/Esam Al-Fetori (LIBYA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY CONFLICT)

Edward P. Joseph

Politics, Middle East

Why make a new constitution and risk the failure of elections when the old constitution provides a solid, proven framework?

Libya Needs Its Old Constitution If It Wants to Survive

Alarmed by Libya's continued instability and fed up with its fractiousness, Western powers are pressing the country to hold new elections. Last month, French President Francois Macron brought four Libyan leaders together to Paris, and with the backing of the United Nations, the European Union, and twenty observing countries, got them to accept an eight-point declaration. That declaration plans a target date of December 10, 2018, as the date for the national poll.

Unfortunately, even if these four figures spoke for all Libyansand clearly they do notand even if the daunting security risks could be surmounted, Libya faces another over-arching impediment to elections. The fact remains that there are no ground rules either for the election or the aftermath when elected officials attempt to take office and govern. Without an agreed and viable constitutional mechanism, holding elections in Libya could reignite conflict and potentially seal the countrys division. Instead of trying to cobble together an agreement on a new draft, the way forward is to go back to Libyas original, successful constitution, first drafted in 1951.

The impulse to hold elections in Libya is understandable. The country is beset with three rival governments, two parliaments, one loosely-organized army, and a multitude of militias. A massive legitimacy deficit hangs over these institutions and the officials who lead them. Furthermore, Libyan national institutions are essentially defunct, and functioning civil institutions exist mainly at the municipal and local levels.

Underneath the institutional paralysis lies a mass of divisionsbetween Tripoli and the East, between areas that have oil and gas and those that dont, between more Islamist-leaning and more secular-leaning tendencies, and between tribes and between personalities. And much of the country is insecure, parts are in outright conflict, and extremists including ISIS are present. With a deadly suicide attack last month on Libyas election commission, ISIS made clear its intention to sabotage elections. Furthermore, other key embassies and delegations from the United States and the European Union have decamped from Tripoli to neighboring Tunisia.

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Meanwhile, fighting rages in the nearby Eastern city of Derna between forces loyal to General Khalifa Haftar, commander of the loosely-organized Libyan National Army, and various Islamist groups including several Salafist extremists. Taking advantage of the LNAs preoccupation in Derna, a militia commander launched an attack on two of Libyas main exporting terminals, inflicting damage that, with lost exports, will run into the tens of billions of dollars and take years to repair.

The relatively quiet urban core of BenghaziLibyas second city that was the notorious site of the fatal attack on the American diplomatic compound in 2012is a heap of destruction.

Haftar, one of the four figures invited to Paris, stands in opposition to the UN-recognized government in Tripoli. Haftar derives political legitimacy through the support of the elected parliament in the East, and military effectiveness in part through the support of Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, both of which have participated in the aerial bombing of targets in Derna and other locations.

In short, the very reasons that make it imperative to hold an election in Libya are the same as those that make it challenging, foolhardy even, to go forward unprepared. These are violence and insecurity, bitter regional and personal divisions, the collapse of governance, the presence of extremists and the involvement of outsiders, and the tussle over resources. Indeed, it was the absence of agreed ground rules that helped turn the elections of 2014 into the spark for the countrys civil war.

A constitutional Assembly elected earlier that year in a paltry turnout was to have submitted a draft for a national referendum before elections were held. But no draft or referendum was forthcoming. Despite this, the international community pushed for elections in June 2014 even though disillusioned and frightened voters stayed home. Candidates from Islamist-leaning factions that lost power challenged the results and the Supreme Court, acting without an accepted constitutional mandate, invalidated the election.

In response, the newly-elected, more secular-leaning Parliamentarians fled Tripoli and set up their assembly in the East of the country, reviving the historic cleavage between the Eastern region of Cyrenaica, and Gaddafis chosen power center of Tripolitania. Tensions between Tripoli and the East mounted as several hundred prominent leaders, political activists, members of the security forces and others in the Eastern cities of Benghazi and Derna were assassinated by Islamic extremists prompting General Haftar to launch his military campaign, dubbed Operation Dignity.

Given this bitter history, it is critical this time to get a broad-based agreement on the constitutional basis for elections, as well as the rules for governance after elected officials take office. Without a framework for power-sharing and power-wielding, spoilers will remain outside the process, setting the stage for more chaos and instability in the run-up or aftermath of the poll in December.

The current, disputed draft constitution, meant to be adopted by September under the Paris plan, requires a constitutional referendum by two-thirds of voters. Aside from imposing additional security and logistical burdens, the referendum is unlikely to generate much public support given the minimal consultation conducted by the woefully unrepresentative Drafting Assembly. Moreover, even if the draft could survive a poll, parliament would then have to pass a new electoral law.

The situation is optimal for current leaderssatisfied with the status quo and wishing to remain in officeto string out their disputes. Corruption and thefts by benefactors of the status quo are swallowing Libyan Central Bank reserves and putting the otherwise wealthy country on the verge of bankruptcy. Efforts by the head of the UN mission in Libya, Ghassan Salame, to break the political impasse so far have failed.

History offers a better solution. Modern Libyas first constitution, originally drafted in 1951 and amended in 1963, was the product of a successful, evolutionary process in which Libyas three traditional regions voluntarily ceded power to form a highly Federalized state under a monarch. The 1951 constitutions preamble captures the consensual nature of the endeavor: We the Representatives of the people of Libya from Cyrenaica, Tripolitania and Fezzan  agree to form a union. Libyas first elections, with British police on-hand to assist with security, were held successfully the next year.

The constitution served Libya well until the 1969 coup led by then-Colonel Gaddafi which revoked the letter and cooperative spirit of the document. In place of the balanced, regional construct, Gaddafi introduced highly centralized rule from Tripoli, leaving a legacy of suspicion in Benghazi and the East about domination from the western part of the country. The events since 2014 have only accentuated these anxieties.

A strong legal argument can be made that, in the wake of the 2011 revolution, it is the 1963 constitution that Gaddafi inactivated that is still in force. The primary technical challenge to restoring the constitution is supplanting the role of the king with a modern, interim variant. Pre-Gaddafi Libyan law provides for a ready solutiona "Sovereign Council" designed to replace the king under emergency conditions. Using this device, Libya's 1951/1963 constitution could set the basis for the election of a new Sovereign Council to perform the duties of the King.

The Council would inherit the powers to decide who among elected parliamentarians should form a government, when parliament should be dissolved, and would make key appointments in the security and financial sectors. The interim Sovereign Council would, temporarily, supplant the need for a President, thereby removing the most contentious power squabble from the landscape. In time, as stability returns and interim institutions mature, a new constitution could be drafted and put to public referendum, followed by elections for a new parliament and President orif Libyans so chosea king.

Of course, it is up to Libyansnot outsidersto decide on whether and how to revive their historical constitution. Given the specter of illegitimacy that hangs over most Libyan institutions (including the Constitution Drafting Assembly), the UN could turn to the officials who actually provide the bulk of services to their citizensthe country's mayors. These leaders, along with heads of tribes, could meet in a National Convention and agree to revive the dormant-but-legitimate constitution.

Unlike the alien and opaque process that produced the current draft constitution, returning to Libya's democratic-monarchical roots would be an authentic step that rekindles a sense of ownership in the political process. By reviving the original constitution, the National Convention would be reminding Libyans of their obligation to change governments by a constitution, and not by coups d'etats. It would also serve as a reminder of the country's capacity to overcome differences and forge functioning and unifying institutions according to law.

Libya and its international backers face an array of formidable challenges in organizing elections this year. The best way, perhaps the only way, to overcome them is to re-engage Libyans in the process of setting the rules for the poll. Given the bleak alternatives available, reaching back to Libyas successful origins would provide the best chance for the country to elect its way out of the current crisis.

Edward P. Joseph is a foreign-policy specialist, writer/lecturer, and field practitioner who has served in some of the toughest locations in the world. Edward spent over a dozen years in the Balkans, including the war years in Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, and Macedonia, as well as shorter stints in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and Haiti. In April 2012, as Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, he negotiated an eleventh-hour breakthrough on Serbian elections that averted a brewing crisis between Serbia and Kosovo. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued written acknowledgment of Edward's standout contribution.

Image: A Libyan rebel stands guard near the entrance of Ras Lanuf August 27, 2011. REUTERS/Esam Al-Fetori (LIBYA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY CONFLICT)

Read full articlePakistan is doing the "bare minimum" to squeeze the Taliban and terror groups, a senior US administration official said Friday, despite Washington's threat to freeze two billion dollars' worth of aid.

The official's comments also come as Pakistan is trying to avoid being put on a global watch list over terrorism financing that could hamper its ability to receive foreign investment.

"The Pakistanis have wanted to appear responsive" the official said on condition of anonymity, sketching out the need for increased pressure.

"They have done the bare minimum to appear responsive to our requests," the official added, citing the need to prod the Taliban toward the negotiating table and round-up militants.

"We continue to make very specific requests, and when provided with very specific information they have responded, but we have not seen them pro-actively take the steps that we expect and know they are capable of."

It is more than 200 days since President Donald Trump announced America's latest strategy to win the long war in Afghanistan, focusing on pushing the Taliban to the negotiating table.

The plan demanded Pakistan move against Taliban leaders who support a continuation of the war, under the threat of cutting US military assistance and Afghanistan coalition funding to Islamabad.

So far, the strategy has borne only limited fruit, limiting the Taliban's march on the battlefield.

But, according to Washington, there is little sign that Islamabad has made a decision to end its support for group which the country's powerful security services see as safeguarding its interests and against bulwark against Indian influence in Kabul.

"We didn't think this would be easy," the official said. "We need to sustain the pressure."

"I don't think that we can just the efficacy of the strategy right now. We should give it more time, it deserves more time," the official added, suggesting an August anniversary of Trump's strategy speech may be a good time to reflect.

Members of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an anti money-laundering watchdog based Paris, voted last month to place Pakistan on its grey list of nations which are not doing enough to combat terror financing in June, reportedly under US pressure.

That gives Pakistan three months to make enough changes to avoid the listing.Jerusalem (AFP) - A Palestinian stabbed an Israeli security guard to death in Jerusalem's Old City on Sunday before being shot dead by a police officer, Israeli officials said.

The stabbing came with concerns over the potential for an upsurge in unrest in the coming weeks as the United States prepares to move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

The security guard was taken to hospital in serious condition suffering a stab wound to his torso, medics said.

The hospital later announced he had died from his wounds. Israeli media reported that he was in his 30s, with some reports saying he was off-duty at the time.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld confirmed the assailant had been shot dead.

Israel's Shin Bet domestic security service identified the assailant as Abdul Rahmani Faddal, 28, and a father of two from Aqraba near Nablus in the north of the occupied West Bank.

The attack comes after a Friday car ramming by a Palestinian near Jenin in the northern West Bank that the army said killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded two others.

Tensions were high after Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas called for a day of rage on Friday to mark 100 days since US President Donald Trump's controversial recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Palestinians also see the city as their capital and Trump's recognition broke with decades of US policy that Jerusalem's status would be negotiated between the parties.

Palestinian leaders have boycotted Trump's administration over the declaration, though the White House says it still plans to push ahead with its efforts to restart peace talks.

At least 32 Palestinians and four Israelis have been killed since Trump's announcement, which set off major protests.

The United States is planning to open its new embassy in Jerusalem in May to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israel's founding.

Palestinians commemorate May 15 as the Nakba, or "catastrophe," marking when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians either fled or were expelled in the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation.

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- Gaza tensions -

There have also been tensions along the border between Gaza and Israel in recent days.

Israel's military said Sunday it had carried out an air raid overnight against an underground Hamas facility in the Gaza Strip and destroyed a separate tunnel under construction that could be used for attacks.

No casualties were reported in either operation, which came after an explosive device was detonated near the Gaza border with Israel, the latest in a string of such incidents.

Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, called Israel's actions an attempt "to scare the people" and head off planned protests along the border beginning later this month.

Israel "bears all the consequences of the escalation," Hamas spokesman Fawzy Barhoum said.

Beginning on March 30, Gazans are planning to erect hundreds of tents near the Israeli border in a six-week show of support for Palestinian refugees.

Two explosive devices were detonated Thursday along the border, which had already provoked Israeli attacks on Hamas positions.

Also on February 17, four Israeli soldiers were wounded by an improvised explosive device on the border, sparking intense military retaliation.

It was not clear who was behind the blasts, but Israel held Hamas responsible as the de facto power in the Palestinian enclave.

Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza have fought three wars since 2008. The strip has been under an Israeli blockade for around a decade.The Philippines has given official notice to the United Nations that it will exit the treaty underpinning the International Criminal Court, which is looking into President Rodrigo Duterte's deadly drug war, the government said Friday.

The move comes two days after Duterte announced his nation would quit the court over its preliminary inquiry launched last month into allegations his bloody crackdown on narcotics amounts to crimes against humanity.

Philippine police say they have killed roughly 4,000 suspects who fought back during arrest, but rights groups allege the actual number is three times higher and accuse the authorities of murder.

On Thursday the Philippines said in a letter to the UN, which oversaw negotiations to found the court, that it was pulling out of the Rome Statute.

"The decision to withdraw is the Philippines' principled stand against those who would politicise and weaponise human rights," the letter said.

Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, speaking from Manila, said the Philippines was quitting due to "the well-orchestrated campaign to mislead the international community, to crucify President Duterte... by distorting the human rights situation in the country".

Officially quitting the court requires a year's notice and experts say pulling out does not preclude an investigation of the killings, which have drawn international concern.

- 'Impunity for atrocity crimes' -

"A withdrawal would have no impact on ongoing proceedings or any matter which was already under consideration by the court prior to the date on which the withdrawal became effective," the ICC said Friday, its first comment since Duterte's announcement.

"The court encourages the Philippines to not follow through with the reported/stated intention to withdraw, as it is... an integral part of the international criminal justice system," it added.

Should the Philippines fully withdraw from the court it would not be the first to do so, as Burundi became the first ever nation to leave in October 2017.

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The Philippines said in its letter that it "affirms its commitment to fight against impunity for atrocity crimes", despite its withdrawal.

Opened in 2002, the ICC is the world's only permanent war crimes court and aims to prosecute the worst abuses when national courts are unable or unwilling.

The Philippines, under previous President Benigno Aquino, ratified in 2011 the Rome Statute which underpins the ICC, giving the tribunal authority to investigate crimes on its soil.

Duterte, who is buoyed by high popularity ratings at home, has fiercely defended the drug war as a battle to bring safety to the nation's 100 million people.

He has frequently urged authorities to kill drug suspects while promising to protect police from legal sanction.Authorities have released the names of five of the six people who died when a newly installed pedestrian bridge collapsed at Florida International University in Miami.

The bodies of Rolando Fraga Hernandez, Oswald Gonzalez and Alberto Arias were found late Saturday after crews removed two cars from the rubble of the fallen bridge, Miami-Dade police said.

"We're pretty confident that no one's left," Miami-Dade Police Director Juan Perez said Saturday night.

A fourth victim, Navaro Brown, died at the hospital after the 950-ton span collapsed on at least eight cars Thursday afternoon.

Alexa Duran, 18, a student at Florida International University, was identified as a fifth person killed in the collapse.

Brandon Brownfield, a father of three, was the sixth victim to have died in the collapse, according to his family, ABC News reported.

The coming days are going to be excruciating, as we dig deep to find the strength we need to heal," Chelsea Brownfield, his wife, said in a Facebook post. "Please keep us in your prayers, as I now have to find the words and the answers to tell my girls that their daddy is not coming home."

Eight people are still being treated at Kendall Regional Medical Center after being pulled from the rubble.

Florida International University revealed that engineers talked about the structural integrity of the span hours before its collapse on Thursday and deemed it safe, CNN reported.

The $11.4 million bridge, which extends across 8th Street between the Miami university's main campus and off-campus housing, was meant to connect the school to the city of Sweetwater. It is part of a $124 million expansion of the campus.

The bridge was designed to give students a safe route across a busy roadway. It was touted as an innovative "instant" bridge because of how quickly it could be constructed, the Miami Herald reported.

It was not scheduled to open to foot traffic until 2019.

Story continues

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Related Articles:President Donald Trumps personal lawyer said Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein should shut down the investigation into alleged collusion between Russia and Trumps campaign.

Just end it on the merits in light of recent revelations, Dowd said in an emailed statement on Saturday, referring to the investigation led by Special Counsel Bob Mueller.

Dowd said Rosenstein should follow in the footsteps of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who fired former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe late Friday based on internal assessments that McCabe lacked candor on multiple occasions.

I pray that Acting Attorney General Rosenstein will follow the brilliant and courageous example of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility and Attorney General Jeff Sessions and bring an end to alleged Russia Collusion investigation manufactured by McCabes boss James Comey based upon a fraudulent and corrupt Dossier, Dowd wrote.

Rosenstein, who is overseeing Muellers probe, has previously said he sees no reason to fire Mueller or curtail the investigation. Trump praised the firing of McCabe in an overnight tweet, and has repeatedly called the Russia probe a witch hunt.

In a follow-up email, Dowd said he was speaking for himself, and not on behalf of the president.

President Trump later tweeted, As the House Intelligence Committee has concluded, there was no collusion between Russia and the Trump Campaign, but said there was tremendous leaking, lying and corruption at the highest levels of the FBI, Justice & State.

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Clear Link

Dowds statement was reported earlier by the Daily Beast, which said that Dowd indicated that he was speaking on behalf of Trump in his capacity as the presidents personal lawyer.

The statement represents a shift from Trumps legal teams previous commitment to fully cooperate with Mueller. Trumps lawyers have asserted that the presidents campaign didnt collude with the Russian government, and previously predicted that the probe would be complete by now.

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And while Sessions has recused himself from the Russia investigation, Dowds statement draws a clear link between the decision by Sessions to fire McCabe and the probe by Mueller. McCabe, who was fired just hours before he was set to retire, said his dismissal was a result of Trumps effort to to interfere with Muellers probe.

Republicans and Democrats in Congress have warned Trump of stark repercussions if he moves to dismiss Mueller.

Senator Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia, said on Twitter in response to Dowds statement, Every member of Congress, Republican and Democrat, needs to speak up in defense of the Special Counsel. Now.Hundreds of Cambodian-Australians gathered in Sydney Friday to protest the visit of Cambodian leader Hun Sen who is accused of overseeing widespread human rights violations in the Southeast Asian nation.

The strongman ruler -- who is in Sydney for a special Australia-ASEAN summit -- is travelling at time when his government has intensified an anti-democratic crackdown on the press, civil society and its opponents.

The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) was disbanded following a court ruling last November not long after its leader was arrested on treason charges.

"We want the whole world to know that things are not what they seem in Cambodia," Cambodian-Australian Victoria state parliamentarian Hong Lim told AFP.

"We want the world to stand by us and help send this powerful message to Hun Sen that you cannot get away with murder, you cannot carry on like this, the whole world is watching."

Hun Sen had reportedly threatened to "beat" protestors and warned he would "shame" Australia and block the release of a joint communique if he was embarrassed in any way.

Demonstrators held banners calling for an end to the rein of one of Asia's longest serving leaders.

"Hun Sen Must step down. Hun Sen is a disgrace," the banners read.

It is believed that Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull confronted Hun Sen about mounting oppression in Cambodia in a bilateral meeting with the leader on Friday.

Rights groups have been pressuring Canberra to do more at the summit, with Human Rights Watch warning that the government should not "dance with dictators".

"Basically, Hun Sen is engaging in this crackdown because of the absence of a coordinated international response," Elaine Pearson from Human Rights Watch told AFP.

"There needs to be targeted financial sanctions against senior members of the leadership," she added.Beirut (AFP) - Syria's regime retook two more towns in Eastern Ghouta on Saturday, a war monitor said, pressing an offensive to capture the rebel enclave on the doorstep of Damascus.

Government forces seized Kafr Batna and Sabqa in the south of the enclave, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, as thousands of civilians fled into regime-held territory.

Russia-backed regime forces have retaken more than 80 percent of the last opposition bastion outside the capital since launching a blistering air and ground offensive on February 18, the Observatory says.

The assault has split opposition-held areas into three shrinking pockets each held by different rebels.

The southern pocket is held by the Faylaq al-Rahman rebel group, which the Observatory says counts some 8,000 fighters in its ranks.

After Saturday's advance, the group now controls just a handful of areas, the monitor says: Arbin -- the largest -- as well as Zamalka, Hazeh, Ain Tarma and parts of the Damascus neighbourhood of Jobar.

Thousands of civilians streaming out of the enclave into regime-held areas on Saturday came mostly from this southern sector, it said.

On Friday, the enclave's main rebel groups -- Faylaq al-Rahman, Jaish al-Islam and Ahrar al-Sham -- said they would be willing to hold direct UN-sponsored talks with regime backer Russia on a ceasefire.

More than 1,400 civilians have been killed since the regime offensive began, the Observatory says, while tens of thousands more have fled.

Jaish al-Islam controls an area around the main town of Douma in the north of the former enclave, while Ahrar al-Sham holds influence in the area of the town of Harasta to the west.Rep. Louise Slaughter, a Democratic lawmaker considered a trailblazer for women in politics, died on Friday. She was 88.

Slaughter, who most recently represented New Yorks 25th District, suffered a fall near her D.C. home last week and was hospitalized at George Washington University Hospital.

Regarded as a "giant" in the political world, Slaughter was the first female chair of the House Rules Committee and one of the longest-serving Democrats in Congress.

"She was a relentless fighter for families in Monroe County and across the nation," her office said in a statement.

Among her many accomplishments, Slaughter authored the landmark Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), protecting individuals from genetic discrimination in health insurance and employment, and the Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, which was designed to combat insider trading.

Slaughter also served as the dean of the New York congressional delegation, serving her 16th term in Congress.

To have met Louise Slaughter is to have known a force of nature, Liam Fitzsimmons, Slaughters chief of staff, said in a statement. She was a relentless advocate for Western New York whose visionary leadership brought infrastructure upgrades, technology and research investments, and two federal manufacturing institutes to Rochester that will transform the local economy for generations to come."

Slaughter was born in Harlan County, Ky., and graduated from the University of Kentucky with a Bachelor of Science degree in microbiology and a Master of Science degree in public health.

After graduate school, she and her husband, Robert Bob Slaughter, moved to the village of Fairport, N.Y. Together they had three daughters, seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

They were married for 57 years, until Bob Slaughters death in 2014.

She was elected to Congress in 1986 after having served in the New York State Assembly for four years and the Monroe County Legislature for three years before that.

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While holding elected office, she was regional coordinator to Gov. Mario Cuomo from 1976 to 1978 while he served as secretary of state and from 1979 to 1982 while he served as lieutenant governor, her office said.

As the news of her passing broke, countless elected officials on both sides of the political aisle took to social media to offer their condolences and praise of Slaughter.

It was my great privilege to serve with Rep. @LouiseSlaughter and to benefit from her friendship and wise counsel for 30 years, Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi tweeted. Her loss will be deeply felt. May it be a comfort to her family to know that so many around the country mourn with them."

.@LouiseSlaughter was tough, unfailingly gracious, and unrelenting in fighting for her ideas. She was simply great, Speaker Paul Ryan tweeted.

In her memory, Ryan ordered the flags above the capitol be lowered to half-staff.

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Related Articles:Ohio State Representative Niraji Antani (R-Miamisburg) said students over the age of 18 should be allowed to protect themselves with firearms inside schools.

The Ohio Republican lawmaker contends that both teachers and students have a legal right to carry guns inside high school and college classrooms. The controversial point was made on Twitter Wednesday while arguing with the Democratic opponent Zach Dickerson.

Antani said hes not proactively recommending that students should arm themselves, but they are legally allowed to carry long guns under current laws. Antani blamed a cultural difference between urban and rural communities for why some Americans are vehemently opposed to guns in public, while others simply see it as a part of daily life.

Trending: Who Is Adrian Lamo? Former Hacker Who Turned in Chelsea Manning Dies

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You go out to Valley View, in my district, you go shooting against a rock in your backyard  its part of the culture there, its not a big deal, Antani explained in a Thursday interview with the Dayton Daily News. Of course, in inner-city Dayton Public it would be a big deal, but there is a cultural difference  In rural America, there is a culture of carrying firearms safely."

Urban areas such as Dayton have "a lot of gang violence, and firearms are used improperly," he added.

[I]ts unfortunately a part of culture- gang violence proliferates throughout urban areas. Its something we need to work on, but no one wants to discuss, Antani tweeted Thursday.

Don't miss: 500-Million-Year-Old Brains of Ancient Sea Monster Found By Scientists

When pressed on Twitter about treating urban and rural schools with different rules, Antani pushed back.

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Antani and Dickerson both said they own guns and have concealed carry licenses, but Dickerson said Antani is pushing an irresponsible free-for-all firearm policy. Antani maintains that students and teachers who are over 18 and have gone through the proper legal requirements to purchase a firearm should have the option to carry on high school and college campuses.

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The more people who carry, the safer we will all be, Antani tweeted Wednesday.

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Antani argued that Ohioans should be allowed to carry guns in all public spaces, including schools, because gun-free zones dont work. The only restrictions that should be enforced are on private property, he said.

Despite telling the Associated Press Thursday that hes not introducing a bill, he is one of several co-sponsors on House Bill 233, which would allow a concealed handgun licensee or member of the military to carry a deadly weapon into public gun-free zones. The bill stipulates that an armed individual could avoid punishment as long as they leave the premises upon request and dont return with a firearm within 30 days. Antani maintains that anyone over the age of 21 can have a handgun and anybody over 18 can have a long gun, as the law stands today.

Dickerson said Antani has taken on a firmly cemented laissez faire position on firearms that leaves no room for any form of sensible gun control measures.

I think that is irresponsible, and I think a vast majority of both parents, students and school officials would agree with me, Dickerson told the Dayton Daily News. I support gun ownership, but I think theres a balance to be struck between public safety and the Second Amendment.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekGOP lawmakers offered a muted response on Sunday to the prospect of President Donald Trump pushing for the removal of special counsel Robert Mueller as head of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

The questions came on the heels of Attorney General Jeff Sessions firing of FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe on Friday, less than two days before McCabe was set to retire with full benefits. Most Republicans have opted not to weigh in on McCabes firing.

Trumps attorney, John Dowd, on Saturday followed up on the move by urging the Justice Department to immediately end the special counsel probe, leading many to speculate that Muellers job could be the next one in peril.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) didnt appear to share those concerns during a Sunday interview on NBCs Meet the Press. Rubio offered cursory support for Mueller, while advising him against expanding the probe too widely.

Rubio expressed hope that the investigation is going to arrive at the truth and is not going to go down rabbit holes that are not places that we need to be going.

Some Republicans have cried foul at news that Muellers investigation has begun to look into Trumps personal business ties to Russia, a move that has included a subpoena of the Trump Organization.

Mueller has also requested documents pertaining to the Trump campaigns correspondence with data firm Cambridge Analytica, which ran the data operations for his White House bid and reportedly violated policies protecting the privacy of Facebook users.

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Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) similarly downplayed the alarm over Muellers potential sacking, calling Dowds statement not different than what an attorney does typically.

In an interview on ABCs This Week, the senator maintained that Trump would not have Mueller fired because the White House wants him to be able to finish the investigation.

But he also echoed Trumps criticism of the composition of Muellers team, calling it odd that the former FBI chief had selected a number of Democrats.

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Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), appearing on CNNs State of the Union program, seemed even less perturbed by the prospect of Muellers firing.

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On the same show, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) offered a markedly different response, suggesting that if Trump pushed to remove Mueller, it would spur impeachment proceedings.

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Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), a persistent Trump critic, shared Grahams view. He said on State of the Union that some of his Republican colleagues had told him theyd treat Muellers firing as a massive red line that cant be crossed.

Democrats warned that any move to undercut the special counsel probe would serve as a threat to democracy.

This would undoubtedly result in a constitutional crisis, and I think Democrats and Republicans need to speak out about this right now, Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said on This Week. Members need to speak out now, dont wait for the crisis.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) issued a similar statement, accusing Trump of floating trial balloons about derailing the Mueller investigation,

Our Republican colleagues, particularly the leadership, have an obligation to our country to stand up now and make it clear that firing Mueller is a red line for our democracy that cannot be crossed, Schumer said.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.Questlove cited a severe emergency in a since-deleted tweet. (Photo: Pitchfork)

The Roots Jam is always one of the biggest and most anticipated concerts of Austin, Texass South By Southwest festival, but on Saturday night this years all-star event was abruptly canceled due to a bomb threat.

The Roots drummer and co-bandleader, Questlove, announced the cancelation around 8:30 p.m.  as thousands of fans queued outside the Fair Market venue in Austins East Side neighborhood  citing a severe emergency. He tweeted, Uh, welp cant say much but for those in Austin waiting in line to see us tonight. Tonights show has been canceled. Theyll make official announcement but Id rather save yall the trouble of waiting in line. Questlove also posted an Instagram story with the caption, Welp. Its 2018. Show canceled. These are the times we now live in. Both social media posts were later deleted.

Later in the evening, the Austin Police Department released an official statement confirming it had been contacted Saturday afternoon by a Live Nation representative who had received a bomb threat via email. Police checked the venue and area and found nothing suspicious, but Bud Light, the sponsor of the Roots Jam, decided to shut down the event as a precaution. The APD later identified 26-year-old Trevor Weldon Ingram as the suspect tied to the email; Ingram was arrested Saturday night on charges of Terroristic Threat, 3rd Degree Felony, an offense punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The APDs full statement is below.

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The APD noted there were no indications of any broader security concern for any activities relating to this incident, so the Fair Market scare does not appear to be connected to the residential package bombings that occurred in Austin earlier in the month; those explosions killed two people and seriously injured a third.

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Bud Light released the following statement Saturday: Due to a security concern, we have made the difficult decision to cancel tonights Bud Light x The Roots SXSW Jam. After working proactively with SXSW, the Austin Police Department, and other authorities, Bud Light believes this is the best course of action to ensure the safety of our guests, staff, and artists, and appreciate your understanding. We are truly sorry to have to cancel the event, but we felt it was necessary to take all safety precautions.

This years Roots Jam was set to feature Ludacris, DMC of Run-DMC, Rapsody, SWV, Nathaniel Rateliff, Moon Taxi, Tank and the Bangas, and many more.Russia is becoming more "unpredictable and more aggressive" but to avoid war Western European allies must show force while continuing to neutralize the threat by other means, the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said. The concern is that Russia will continue to build up its nuclear weapons and invent in its military capabilities, he added.

Stoltenberg, who leads the military alliance between the U.S. and Western Europe, pointed to mounting evidence that Russia may have been involved in a nerve agent attack against former Russian spy, Sergei V. Skripal, and his daughter, Yulia Skripal. They were found March 4 unconscious on a public bench in the southwestern town Salisbury in England. British Prime Minister Theresa May has said novichok was used in the attack. The nerve agent was developed by Soviet scientists to use against NATO troops.

Stoltenberg also pointed to Russias 2014 annexation of Crimea, ongoing military presence in Moldova and Georgia and its active role in the war in Syria. Russia has denied playing a role in the Salisbury killings and has accused NATO of challenging peaceful relations in Europe.

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We can always do more and must reflect on that now. Salisbury follows, by all appearances, a pattern weve observed for some years  Russia is becoming more unpredictable and more aggressive, he said in an interview in the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag published on Sunday.

Russia must not miscalculate, Stoltenberg added, according to the Guardian. We are always ready to respond when an ally is attacked militarily. We want credible deterrence. We dont want any war. Our goal is de-escalation."

The British government has announced it was expelling 23 Russian intelligence officers working in London because of the Salisbury incident, while Russian President Vladimir V. Putin said Saturday Moscow would in turn expel 23 British agents.

Story continues

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A Russia diplomat said Saturday that Russia no longer produced nerve agents after the Soviet Union collapsed. There has never been any program under the group name novichok in the Russian Federation, said Alexander Shulgin, Russias ambassador to the Netherlands and representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Back to 1992, Russia stopped all the activities in the area of military chemistry. Last year, we completed the destruction of all chemical arsenals and the completion of this program was duly certified by the O.P.C.W.

He added: Ive never heard about this program, about this nerve agent. That is very bellicose rhetoric.

RTS1HK0X

REUTERS/Ints Kalnins

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekInterior Secretary Ryan during a Capitol Hill appearance last week. (Photo: Win McNamee via Getty Images)

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke defended his konnichiwa response to a House member of Japanese descent when she asked him about funding to preserve World War II internment camps.

How could ever saying Good morning be bad? Zinke said to reporters on Saturday following a tour of the U.S.-Mexico border, according to The Arizona Republic.

Zinke made the comment  which means good afternoon or good day in Japanese  last week during a congressional hearing after Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (D-Hawaii) recounted that her grandfathers were among those imprisoned by the U.S. government for their Japanese heritage. The camps, she argued during the hearing, ought to be preserved to mark the memory of that ugly chapter in American history.

Several lawmakers and Asian-American civil rights groups criticized Zinkes ill-timed greeting.

Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) slammed the secretary for what she called his flippant and juvenile comment. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) addressed the story by tweeting that racism is not ok. Hanabusa accused Zinke of perpetuating racial stereotypes.

The exchange between Hanabusa and Zinke occurred as she urged the Trump administration to maintain funding for the Japanese American Confinement Sites (JACS) grant program, which provides financial assistance to organizations working to preserve the internment camps. The administration 2019 budget proposal would eliminate this funding.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.Where Bill Hader goes, Stefon is sure to follow. Sure enough, Saturday Night Lives hottest Weekend Update guest made his triumphant return to Studio 8H for the first time since 2015 during his alter egos second hosting gig. Brought on to provide some tips for those revelers looking to party hearty at St. Patricks Day festivities in the Big Apple, our guide threw out some typically offbeat suggestions, name-checking clubs that offered everything from key fobs and sexy asbestos to repeat appearances by Roman J. Israel, Esq., and leprechauns that resemble Farrah Fawcett. Theres a reason why Stefon remains on Haders personal Mount Rushmore of SNL characters: its that thing where hes just so darn funny.

Sadly, the eternally youthful club kid didnt bring his husband, Seth Meyers  or their children  along for his return. (Those tykes would get along famously with Kyle and Leslies kid, Little Lorne, during his visits home from college.) But we did meet his dad for the first time  after a fashion. Midway through his Update appearance, while striving to define what exactly constitutes a human squatty potty, Stefon called over his personal lawyer (and conceptual piss) artist, Chi, for an on-air consultation. And who should walk over but John Mulaney, the former SNL writer turned poster child for millennial comedians that co-fathered Stefon with Hader a decade ago on a 2008 episode hosted by Ben Affleck.

That first sketch was an embryonic version of the character, though; it took another two years for Stefon to flower into the Weekend Update guest that reduces everyone to helpless puddles of laughter, up to and including Hader himself. Until now, Mulaney has had to remain in the shadows, rewriting cue cards at the last minute with new jokes that make Hader repeatedly break on air. So putting him on camera (even if he didnt get any lines) was a nice way to acknowledge his parental role in nurturing Stefon all these years. And its not like Seth and Stefon are splitsville or anything. In fact, theyre still finding ways to keep their marriage interesting. Introducing his hubbys signature Late Night segment, A Closer Look, Stefon revealed that the key to their relationship is versatility  as in, Some nights I do it and hes under the desk.

Story continues

Trump check: Anderson Cooper 360

No Alec Baldwin tonight, but Alex Moffats Anderson Cooper used the cold open to comment on Donald Trumps latest round of firings. First, we checked back in with Kate McKinnons delightfully daffy Jeff Sessions, who threw up his hands when asked why he fired FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe two days before his official retirement. I cant even dance around it  Trump made me do it! Im just a simple man who wanted to make things bad for immigrants, and here I am taking away the pension of a Christian white. It aint right! Then we said hello and goodbye to John Goodmans Rex Tillerson, whose real-life counterpart was jettisoned from the State Department at the start of Trumps very busy week of departures. At least Goodman got to call Trump a moron one more time before he headed out the door. (We imagine Tillerson did the same.) For his cold open cameo, Hader bypassed playing the weeks other fresh firee, John McEntee, and instead spoofed Anthony Scaramucci, who lost his job way back in July  practically a century ago on Trump time. Although, if you ask us, Hader seemed a lot more eager to revive Vinny Vedecci, rather than Scaramucci.

Lamest return: The Californians

For this Hader cut short his monologue? While it was great to spend more time with Stefon, we didnt need a reunion with Devon, Stuart, and the rest of the Californians clan. Especially since Vanessa Bayer didnt get to come back.

Getting lucky: Irish Dating Show

The setup for this St. Patricks Day dating show sketch didnt seem promising, especially when Cecily Strongs romance seeker confessed to being the cousin of Haders eligible bachelor. But the writers lucked out by leaning on the idea of kissin cousins being an ordinary thing in the Irish reality show world, and allowing the always-hilarious Aidy Bryant to be the lone voice of reason crying in the wilderness.

Death by 90s nostalgia: Jurassic Park Auditions

Haders impressions of Alan Alda and Al Pacino are timeless classics. Too bad that the rest of the celebrity impressions  including Sinbad and Poison Ivy-era Drew Barrymore  in this 90s time capsule of a sketch feel entirely fossilized to modern audiences.

Most welcome schooling of a public official: Betsy DeVos

Americas education secretary may have escaped Trumps axe (for now), but her 60 Minutes appearance last Sunday didnt do her career any favors. Kate McKinnon had the perfect explanation for DeVoss epic face plant: I think the problem is that the words coming out of my mouth were bad, and I think thats because they were coming from my brain. Makes sense to us.

Sorry, not sorry: CBC Report

Poking fun at Canadians is one thing: poking fun at Canadians and sexual harassment in the same sketch is a tougher line to walk. When it comes to the #MeToo movement, SNL has run hot and cold all season long, with some sketches nailing it, while others struggle to find the punch line. There are just enough chuckles here to keep the writers from having to issue a formal apology to our neighbors to the north, but lets agree to try a little harder next time, eh?

Episode MVP: Haders Wheelchair

Youd think that living in L.A. full-time would make Hader a better driver, but the host had major trouble steering his mechanized ride as an old geezer crashing his much younger wifes game night. Repeatedly banging into furniture, as well as his co-stars, Hader kept interrupting the flow of the sketch. Heres the thing: those interruptions also made the skit much funnier.

Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:Former president Jacob Zuma (Rex)

South Africas former president Jacob Zuma is to stand trial for corruption.

Zuma, who was forced to stand down only last month, will face 16 charges of graft including counts of fraud, racketeering and money laundering.

Chief Prosecutor Shaun Abrahams said he believed there were reasonable prospects of a successful prosecution.

He added he was looking for a court trial.

In total, he faces one charge of racketeering, two charges of corruption, one charge of money laundering and 12 of fraud.

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The charges stem from a 1.7bn government arms purchase in the 1999, when Zuma was deputy president.

He was elected president in 2009, before finally being forced out by his ruling African National Congress Party in February as he was facing his ninth no-confidence vote.

Allegations of corruption have long been made against Zuma.

He even went on trial in 2006 but the case against him collapsed when the prosecution said it was not ready to proceed.

Protesters calling for Zumas dismissal last year (Rex)

In 2016 it was ruled that he had violated the South African constitution by failing to repay government money spent on his home.

An anti-corruption body found he had spent some 15m on refurbishments including a swimming pool and an amphitheatre.

Zuma disputes all the allegations against him.SYDNEY (Reuters) - Southeast Asian countries and Australia said on Sunday they held "grave concerns" about escalating tension caused by North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes and urged "irreversible" denuclearisation.

North Korea is pursuing its weapons programmes in defiance of U.N. Security Council sanctions and has boasted of its plans to develop a missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland.

It defends the programmes as a necessary deterrent against perceived plans by the United States, which stations 28,500 troops in South Korea, for invasion - a plan the United States denies.

"We strongly urge the DPRK to immediately and fully comply with its obligations under all relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions," the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Australia said in a joint declaration, using the initials for North Korea's official name.

The country's nuclear and ballistic missile development "threaten regional and global security" the declaration added, calling for the "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation" of the nation.

Tensions have eased in recent weeks, coinciding with North Korea's participation in the Winter Olympics held in the South last month.

U.S. President Donald Trump also announced surprise plans to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un before May, after Kim "committed to denuclearisation", according to South Korea's National Security Office.

"We are cautiously encouraged by these developments," Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsein Loong told reporters in Sydney after the publication of the ASEAN declaration.

"The situation on the Korean peninsula is a complicated problem which will take time to resolve, and we hope these recent steps will contribute to lasting peace and stability."

Australia hosted ASEAN meetings this weekend, despite not being a member of the 10-nation bloc, as it seeks to tighten political and trade ties in the region amid China's rising influence.

The summit focused on fostering closer economic and security ties among ASEAN and Australia, with the nations also railing against protectionist sentiment and calling for "self-restraint" in the disputed South China Sea, a regional flashpoint.

(Reporting by Tom Westbrook; editing by Nick Macfie)Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin tweeted a photo with Apple CEO Tim Cook on Friday.

Just days earlier, Cook made the rounds on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin tweeted a photo with Apple AAPL CEO Tim Cook on Friday, emphasizing Apple's recent jobs announcement.

The photo depicts the two smiling at Apple's new headquarters in Cupertino, California, and comes just days after Cook's visit to Washington D.C.

"Glad to visit Apple HQ with Tim Cook. Thank you for your commitment to invest 350B in USA! #TaxCutsJobsAct," he wrote on the social media platform.

@stevenmnuchin1 tweet

Apple in January made a series of pledges to invest in the U.S. economy , due in part to incentives reaped from the "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act." The company said it would open a new campus, create 20,000 jobs and repatriate most of its overseas cash, which comes to well over $250 billion. In total, Apple said its economic contributions over the next five years tally to about $350 billion.

The Treasury Department did not immediately return CNBC's requests for comment. Apple declined to comment.

Earlier this week, Cook made the rounds on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., as he does from time to time, but did not testify before any major committee. Apple didn't specify why the CEO visited on Tuesday, but NBC News did confirm he had a lunch meeting with Senator Mark Warner, a staunch advocate of privacy and cybersecurity.





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STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom rejected Russian claims on Saturday that the country could be the source of a nerve toxin used against a former Russian double agent and his daughter in Britain, calling them "unacceptable and unfounded". A Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman told the Rossiya 24 TV channel earlier on Saturday that the most likely source of the Novichok nerve agent was Britain itself or the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the United States or Sweden. "Forcefully reject unacceptable and unfounded allegation by Russian MFA spokesperson that nerve agent used in Salisbury might originate in Sweden," Wallstrom said in a tweet. "Russia should answer UK questions instead." (Reporting by Niklas Pollard; Editing by Hugh Lawson)Tariffs, tech and taxes will strain finance ministers from G20 countries at a meeting in Argentina next week overshadowed by the gathering clouds of a trade war.

The two-day meeting in Buenos Aires, which starts Monday, comes at a particularly tense moment just two days before the United States is set to begin imposing tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

US President Donald Trump has pledged to impose 25 percent duties on imported steel and 10 percent on aluminum. Only neighbors Canada and Mexico were exempted.

"Up to now, finance ministers were reticent to tackle the subject of trade, considering that it was not their area of competence," a source close to the negotiations said.

"But the situation is such today that they will not be able to not speak about it. The question is how far we can go."

Meanwhile, the US treasury wants to use the meeting to win consensus on how to combat China's trade practices, particularly its cheap steel exports.

Except that Trump, far from being reserved when it comes to Beijing, also regularly attacks Europe.

"It's a funny strategy which consists of targeting China by threatening US allies," said a European source.

The meeting in Buenos Aires, which also involve G20 central bank chiefs, will be a test of European cohesion ahead of a meeting next week between the US and EU officials on steel and aluminum taxes.

"The important thing is that the European position is coordinated and united," France's finance ministry said in the run-up to the talks, arguing that Europe "should be exempted" from US tariffs.

The G20 discussed the question of Chinese overcapacity during its 2016 meeting and asked the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to monitor efforts to curb supply, but to little avail.

- No progress on GAFA -

The OECD, which often serves as the operational arm of the G20, is struggling on another thorny issue -- the taxation of the world's tech giants, the so-called GAFA.

Story continues

The acronym refers to the four behemoths of the digital industry: Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple, whose tax optimization practices are regularly a source of friction between the US and its allies.

The United States said Friday it "firmly opposes" any new tax on big tech, and the Paris-based OECD warned there were "divergent views about how the issue should be approached."

Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain -- the EU's five G20 members -- are pushing first for a European solution that can set an example for the rest of the world.

The European Union wants "big tech" to be taxed on overall revenue in the EU and not just on profits, somewhere between two percent and five percent according to a draft proposal obtained by AFP.

In Buenos Aires, ministers and central bank chiefs will also discuss the question of imposing greater oversight on cryptocurrencies.

The draft of the final communique mentions the usual pledge on devaluations and exchange rates: "We will refrain from competitive devaluations, and will not target our exchange rates for competitive purposes."

But the word protectionism is conspicuous by its absence from the text, replaced by a warning to countries not to "retreat to inward looking policies".Nearly 75% of teachers oppose the idea of being trained to carry guns in schools, a new survey finds.

According to an online Gallup survey released Friday, 63% surveyed strongly opposed the idea of arming teachers, with 10% somewhat opposing the measure. Only 11% strongly favored the idea, and 7% were neutral. Yet just 18% of the teachers surveyed said they would go through training to carry a gun if their district or administrators provided it.

Meanwhile, six in 10 teachers think schools would become less safe if educators armed themselves, though seven in 10 think it would in effective in stopping the next mass shooting.

The Gallup survey polled 497 school teachers from March 5 through 12. The margin of error for the survey is 7 percentage points.

Since the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which killed 17 people, President Trump has said that arming teachers should be a part of gun policy. An attack has lasted, on average, about three minutes. It takes 5 to 8 minutes for responders, for police to come in. If you had a teacher who is adept at firearms, they could very well end the attack very quickly, Trump said at a listening session with survivors and family members of school shootings last month after Parkland. The Presidents support for the proposal echoes that of the National Rifle Association.Bangkok (AFP) - Bangkok graffiti artists painted a mural on Friday of panthers seated at a "Last Supper" table, the latest subversive depiction of an animal that has come to symbolise injustice after a tycoon was accused of poaching the wild cat.

Construction magnate Premchai Karnasuta, one of Thailand's wealthiest moguls, was arrested in a wildlife sanctuary in February with guns and animal carcasses, including that of a black leopard.

The brazen violation of park rules unleashed a wave of anguish from environmental and political activists fed-up with the impunity enjoyed by the kingdom's elites.

With public protests still banned under a junta that grabbed power in 2014, the anger has taken the form of sly street art focused around the image of the panther.

But the movement has turned into a cat-and-mouse game with authorities suspected of quickly painting over the panther art cropping up in public spaces around the nation.

An animal rights group recently stepped in to pair street artists with private businesses willing to offer up their walls.

That's how ten graffitists found themselves free to decorate the side of a Bangkok veterinary clinic on Friday.

The group spent the afternoon spraying large black cats seated behind a table in a nod to Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper", which depicts Jesus' final meal with his apostles before his crucifixion.

"There are (panthers) from each artist at the same table having dinner for the last time," explained a 28-year-old graffiti artist who goes by "Panda Dew".

Phureerut Ratanavanich, who co-owns the veterinarian clinic, told AFP he hoped the mural would keep the panther story from falling off the front pages.

"This is our silent statement to the world," he said.

"(The artists) want to show their feelings but they don't have a platform. We have the platform but we don't know how to represent it in such an effective way," he added.

Story continues

The accused tycoon Premchai, who is CEO of Italian-Thai Development, has been charged with a slew of offences for alleged poaching in the protected Thai forest.

This week he was read additional charges of attempted bribery of an official and illegal possession of ivory and guns found during a search of his home.

He has denied wrongdoing and been granted bail while the case proceeds.President Donald Trumps approval rating on how hes handling North Korea has grown since he announced he plans to meet with Kim Jong Un, but even that remains below 50 percent and hasnt helped boost his overall popularity.

Related: Trump Is the Worst President, Expert Ranking Survey Reveals on Presidents Day

Among Americans interviewed over several days after Trumps announcement, 42 percent said they approved of the way Trump is handling the situation with North Korea, while 50 percent disapproved, according to a CBS News Poll released on Tuesday. Its an improvement from January, when 34 percent approved and 59 percent disapproved.

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The day before the March 9-11 poll began, Trump sent an optimistic tweet about North Korea. Great progress being made but sanctions will remain until an agreement is reached, Trump tweeted on March 8. Meeting being planned! Some of Trumps prior statements, in contrast, had been antagonistic towards North Korea.

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Despite his higher North Korea approval rating, Trumps overall job approval stayed low. In the latest poll, 38 percent of Americans approved of Trumps handling of his job as president, up only one percent from January.

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The president's approval rating around North Korea was even lower in a weekly POLITICO/Morning Consult poll, with 24 percent of Americans saying they have a lot of trust in him, 21 percent having some confidence, 16 percent saying they dont have much confidence and 31 percent having no confidence at all.

Trumps approval rating around North Korea in the CBS News Poll was the highest among all categories it addressed except for the economy, in which Trump received 46 percent approval. The president got only a 31 percent approval rating on how he is handling investigations of his campaign possibly colluding with Russia in the 2016 election, and a 37 percent approval rating on how he is dealing with gun policy.

Story continues

In a HuffPost/YouGov survey published Tuesday centering around his alleged affair with porn star Stormy Daniels, only 8 percent of Americans said the phrase "moral leader" described Trump "extremely well," 13 percent said "very well," 17 percent said "somewhat well," and a whooping 49 percent said "not at all well." The remaining 13 percent were "not sure."

The CBS News Poll randomly sampled 1,223 adults across the U.S. and had a margin of error of 3 to 4 percentage points. The POLITICO/Morning Consult poll, conducted from March 8-12, surveyed 1,997 registered voters and had a margin of error of 2 percentage points. The HuffPost/YouGov survey questioned 1,000 American adults from March 9-12 and had a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekPresident Donald Trump once again attempted to dismantle the credibility of former FBI deputy director Andrew G. McCabe and former FBI director James B. Comey in several tweets on Sunday that also questioned the work of special counsel Robert Mueller.

In a post taking aim at McCabe, who was abruptly fired on Friday for allegedly making an unauthorized disclosure to the news media, the president questioned the legitimacy of memos that the former FBI official reportedly wrote right after he would have conversations with Trump and Comey.

President Donald Trump is continuing to attack the credibility of special counsel Robert Mueller's team of investigators. (Photo: Leah Millis / Reuters)

Trump reasoned that he personally never saw McCabe write anything down when they met, so he expressed skepticism about the memos.

Spent very little time with Andrew McCabe, but he never took notes when he was with me. I dont believe he made memos except to help his own agenda, probably at a later date, Trump tweeted.

Mentioning Comey, who has also said that he kept memos before being fired by Trump in May, the president said, Can we call them Fake Memos?

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Michael Bromwich, an attorney representing McCabe following his dismissal, hit back at Trumps tweets on Sunday, calling them defamatory, disgusting and false.

The whole truth will come out in due course. But the tweets confirm that [Trump] has corrupted the entire process that led to Mr. McCabes termination and has rendered it illegitimate, tweeted Bromwich, a former Justice Department inspector general.

Trump also accused Comey of having lied under oath when questioned by a Senate committee in June about his knowledge of anonymous sources allegedly disclosing information to the media.

Wow, watch Comey lie under oath to [a senator] when asked have you ever been an anonymous source...or known someone else to be an anonymous source...? Trump tweeted.

Comey responded to a similar attack by Trump of his credibility on Saturday, telling the president on Twitter: The American people will hear my story very soon ... They can judge for themselves who is honorable and who is not.

Story continues

Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, seen last June, was abruptly fired on Friday. Sources have since said that he kept contemporaneous memos that detailed his conversations with Trump and former FBI director James Comey. (Photo: Pete Marovich via Getty Images)

Trump on Sunday also renewed his attack on Muellers investigation into Russian election meddling and possible ties between the Trump campaign and Moscow. He accused members of Muellers team of being politically biased and favoring his 2016 presidential opponent, Hillary Clinton.

Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans? he wrote. Another Dem recently added ... does anyone think this is fair? And yet, there is NO COLLUSION!

Some members of Muellers team in the past donated to Democrats, including to former President Barack Obama.

Trump has repeatedly claimed that Muellers investigation is tainted because, in the presidents view, it has been driven by a dossier containing unverified accusations against him that was partially funded by Clintons campaign and the Democratic National Committee. And Trump has made it no secret that he wants the Mueller probe ended.

The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime, he tweeted on Saturday night. It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC, and improperly used in FISA COURT for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT!

This story has been updated with comment from McCabes attorney, Michael Bromwich.

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Related...

Donald Trump Hails Andrew McCabe's Firing As 'A Great Day For Democracy'

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.President Trump accused Robert Muellers team investigating Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections of Democratic bias. (Photos: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images-Xinhua, Ting Shen via Getty Images)

President Trump continued his attack on the intelligence community Sunday morning  accusing former FBI director Robert Muellers team of bias toward the Democrats.

After spending Saturday alleging leaks, lying and corruption at the highest levels of the FBI, Trump returned to his Twitter account Sunday morning to claim the team investigating Russias interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible collusion between Moscow and his campaign is comprised of 13 hardened Democrats.

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While some members of special counsel Muellers team have donated to Democrats, its certainly not true of them all. Mueller, the bureaus longest-serving director since J. Edgar Hoover, for instance, is a Republican and was appointed by former President George W. Bush.

The commander-in-chief has repeatedly dismissed the investigation as a witch hunt and insists there was no collusion, but, heeding legal counsel, he has largely refrained from denigrating Mueller or his team directly  until this weekend. Trumps personal attorney, John Dowd, released a statement on Saturday beseeching the Justice Department to call off the Russia investigation. This marks a shift toward a more antagonistic relationship with Muellers team.

Also Sunday morning, Trump accused former FBI Director James Comey of lying under oath to Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, about whether he had ever been an anonymous source or known someone to be an anonymous source. Trump fired Comey last May, accusing him of being unable to effectively lead the bureau.

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Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe on Friday night  just two days before his scheduled retirement. Sessionss decision was based on an internal assessment, which has not yet been released publicly, about McCabes honesty with investigators over information he shared with the media on the FBIs handling of the Hillary Clinton email probe. McCabe disputed the allegations, arguing they were part of the Trump administrations efforts to discredit him as well as a larger war on the FBI.

Story continues

Just like Comey, McCabe reportedly kept personal notes about his interactions with Trump, which have been turned over to Muellers office. Trump claimed during his Sunday morning Twitter session to have spent very little time with McCabe. He suggested that any notes of their time together must have been made up after the fact.

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Read more from Yahoo News:Senator Lindsey Graham had a stark warning for President Donald Trump on Sunday: Fire special counsel Robert Mueller and your time in the White House might just come to a close.

Appearing on CNN's State of the Union, the Republican lawmaker from South Carolina was asked about the potential firing of Mueller by host Jake Tapper. Graham did not go easy on his fellow member of the GOP.

"The only reason Mr. Mueller could ever be dismissed is for cause," he said. "I see no cause when it comes to Mr. Mueller. He needs to be able to do his job independent of any political influence. I pledge to the American people as a Republican to make sure that Mr. Mueller can continue to do his job without any interference. I think he's doing a good job."

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Tapper then brought up tweets from Trump that seemed to suggest he was preparing to fire the special counsel. "Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans?" the president posted Sunday morning. "Another Dem recently added...does anyone think this is fair? And yet, there is NO COLLUSION!"

Asked if the tweets made him concerned for Mueller's job safety, Graham said the president would fire the special counsel at his own peril.

"As Ive said before, if he tried to do that it would be the beginning of the end of his presidency because we're a rule of law nation," he said on CNN.

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lindsey graham

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Amid Attorney General Jeff Sessions firing former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, Trump's own lawyer called for Mueller to be fired this week. "I pray that Acting Attorney General Rosenstein will follow the brilliant and courageous example of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility and Attorney General Jeff Sessions and bring an end to alleged Russia Collusion investigation manufactured by McCabes boss James Comey based upon a fraudulent and corrupt Dossier," John Dowd said in a statement to NBC News.

Story continues

McCabe, meanwhile, reportedly kept memos on his interactions with Trump and turned them over to Mueller.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekTurkey wrested control of the the Kurdish-majority Syrian city of Afrin on Sunday after two months of heavy fighting and the displacement of an estimated 200,000 people.

Syrian rebel fighters backed by Ankara raised Turkish and Syrian rebel flags in the centre of Afrin after Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters moved in Sunday morning following the retreat of Kurdish militias.

It marked a win for Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said in a speech that many of the terrorists had turned tail and run away already.

It also marked something of a defeat for his foe, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, after government-allied Shiite forces joined the Kurds in battle in late February.

The battle for Afrin was part of what Turkey code-named Operation Olive Branch, a deadly ground-and-air offensive to dislodge Kurdish YPG and YPJ militias from the Turkish border.

Turkish-backed Syrian Arab fighters celebrate after seizing control of the northwestern Syrian city of Afrin Credit: BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images

Turkey considers the groups to be related to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which has waged a bloody, decades-long insurgency inside Turkey.

Since the offensive's launch in January, some 1,500 Kurdish fighters have been killed, observers said Sunday.

According to figures released by the Turkish army, 46 Turkish soldiers have been killed since the start of the Afrin offensive.

Scores of civilians were also killed, particularly in recent days as Turkish warplanes homed in on Afrins centre.

On Saturday, Turkeys military denied responsibility for a strike on a hospital that killed 16, including two pregnant women.

Monitors and YPG sources claimed some pockets of resistance remained inside the city, but with Syrian rebel fighters combing the streets since Sunday morning, it was unclear how long any resistance might last.

Syrian Kurdish officials claimed Sunday that their near-complete ousting from Afrin marked not a defeat but a new phase of guerrilla warfare.

Turkish-backed Syrian Arab fighters allegedly looted shops in Afrin Credit: BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images

"Our troops will turn into a continuous nightmare for them," said Othman Sheikh Issa, an official from Afrin.

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Mr Issa said the war against "the Turkish occupation" would change from a direct confrontation to "hit and run tactics," until the liberation of Afrin from Turkish troops.

He warned that the Kurdish militia remained present in the district and would target the Turkish military and its allied Syrian troops at every chance.

Operation Olive Branch has brought Mr Erdogan into an awkward position, turning his countrys considerable firepower on militias backed by the US, his Nato ally with the only Nato army larger than Turkeys.

Many of the FSA militias fighting alongside Turkish forces had once received backing from the US, further muddying the waters in northeastern Syria.

As Mr Erdogan claimed victory in Afrin, Syrian President Assad signalled the same with a high-profile visit to Eastern Ghouta, where his own forces are operating with Russian backing to obliterate resistance to his rule.

Turkish soldiers stand in crescent form in Afrin town centre Credit: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

A blistering aerial campaign and fierce ground fighting has made for a deeply asymmetrical battle between Russian, Syrian and Iran-backed fighters and the vastly outgunned anti-Assad militias who have claimed this stretch since 2012.

Eastern Ghouta, a 40 square mile agricultural belt to the east of Damascus, is one of a diminishing number of opposition strongholds in Syria.

Syrian government forces launched a major offensive in Eastern Ghouta on 18 February. In the past week, they have chewed through resistance and broken the rebels territory into three under a seemingly unending barrage of airstrikes, barrel bombs, artillery and suspected chemical weapons.

Mr Assad now controls 80 percent of the region, which was likely a factor in his appearance Sunday afternoon, chatting with troops on the front lines of newly captured areas.

Syrian state-run television broadcast still imagines of Mr Assad standing near a tank, surrounded by soldiers. Earlier, state media said Syrian troops had entered Saqba, a town in a southern pocket of Eastern Ghouta.

It was the latest town to be captured by Syria and allied militia in a swift advance over the last few days.

Sunday saw a minor lull in fighting in some parts of Eastern Ghouta as the Syrian army gave rebels a mid-afternoon deadline to leave Harasta, the smallest of the three rebel-controlled parcels of land.

The outcome of this ultimatum was not clear on Sunday evening.

According to Russian monitors, more than 25,000 people left Eastern Ghouta on Sunday through humanitarian corridors.

Syria - Operation Olive Branch

According to the UN, at least 20,000 left the area between 11 and 17 March.

Syrias war, now in its eighth year, has been marked by international unwillingness or inability to enforce the laws of war and protect civilians.

The fighting in Eastern Ghouta and Afrin has blazed on despite a UN resolution calling for ceasefire in February.

According to activists inside Eastern Ghouta, 1,172 people have been killed since the ceasefire, and another 4,938 wounded.

The same office, the Central Department of Statistics counts 2,924 civilians killed since fighting escalated on 19 February.ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A Turkish penal court ordered the release of a journalist jailed over alleged ties to a failed coup, the private broadcaster CNN Turk reported on Friday. Sahin Alpay, a journalist in the now defunct Zaman daily, is to be released under judicial control and confinement to his house, CNN Turk said. Turkey's Constitutional Court had ruled earlier on Friday for a second time that the rights of Alpay had been violated while in custody and had requested his release. Alpay, who has been in jail for more than a year, was accused of links to terrorist groups and attempting to overthrow the government in a July 2016 coup that killed more than 240 people. He denies the charges. Authorities have shut about 130 media outlets since the failed coup. The Turkish Journalists' Association says about 160 journalists are in jail, most held since the putsch. In January, Turkish penal courts decided to keep two jailed journalists including Alpay in detention hours after the constitutional court had requested they be released because their rights had been violated while in custody. (Reporting by Ezgi Erkoyun, Editing by William Maclean)Afrin (Syria) (AFP) - Turkey's flag was flying over Afrin on Sunday after its troops and Ankara-backed rebels chased out Kurdish militia forces to seize control of the Syrian city.

In a major victory for Ankara's two-month operation against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria, Turkish-led forces pushed into Afrin apparently unopposed, taking up positions across the city.

The advance came as Syria's civil war entered its eighth year this week with heavy fighting on two fronts -- around Afrin and in the rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta near Damascus.

Hundreds have been killed and thousands forced from their homes by the ferocious assault in Ghouta, where President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday visited troops battling to retake the last rebel enclave close to the capital.

In Afrin, AFP correspondents saw Turkish forces and their Syrian allies in all neighbourhoods of the city after they made a lightning advance inside on Sunday.

Rebels fanned out across the city, giving victory signs and taking pictures with Turkish tanks parked outside official buildings.

But celebration soon appeared to turn to retribution and looting as pro-Ankara rebels began pillaging goods and a statue of a Kurdish hero was torn down.

Fighters were seen breaking into shops, restaurants and houses, before hauling off foodstuff, electronic equipment, blankets and other goods in trucks.

- 'Tails between their legs' -

As Turkey and its allies forces arrived to cement control over Afrin, civilians continued to flee the city.

Around 250,000 civilians left in recent days after pro-Ankara fighters took the surrounding region and all but encircled the city, fleeing southwards to territory still held by the YPG or controlled by the Syrian regime.

On Sunday 13 pro-Turk fighters were killed by landmines during search operations in Afrin, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that Turkish-backed fighters had taken control of the city centre and said a "large number" of Kurdish fighters had "fled with their tails between their legs".

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The Turkish leader has said the operation could move on to other Kurdish-controlled areas of northern Syria.

"Our work is not finished.... but terrorism is finished in Afrin," Turkish government spokesman Bekir Bozdag said.

Residents said it appeared that YPG units had withdrawn from the city without a fight.

But Kurdish authorities vowed to retake Afrin, one of three semi-autonomous Kurdish "cantons" in northern Syria.

"Resistance... will continue until every inch of Afrin is liberated," authorities representing the Afrin canton said in a statement.

"In all of Afrin's sectors, our forces will become a permanent nightmare" for pro-Ankara fighters, the statement said, promising "a switch from direct confrontation to hit-and-run attacks."

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, says more than 280 civilians have been killed since the campaign began on January 20.

Ankara has denied the reports and said it takes the "utmost care" to avoid civilian casualties.

The Observatory said Sunday that more than 1,500 Kurdish fighters had been killed since the start of the offensive, most of them in air strikes and artillery fire.

More than 400 pro-Ankara rebels have also been killed, it said. The Turkish military says 46 Turkish soldiers have died.

Turkey sees the YPG as a "terrorist" offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state.

But the Kurdish militia has also formed the backbone of a US-backed alliance that successfully expelled the Islamic State jihadist group from large parts of Syria.

- Rebel evacuation deal? -

On another front near Damascus, thousands of civilians continued to stream out of Eastern Ghouta for a fourth day as the regime's Russian-backed air and ground assault appeared to have eased up.

Regime fighters have retaken more than 80 percent of the former rebel bastion since the offensive was launched on February 18, the Observatory says, slicing what remains into three pockets each held by different rebel groups.

More than 1,400 civilians have been killed in the offensive, including 274 children, and at least 65,000 civilians are reported to have fled the area in recent days.

On Sunday, bombing of the rebel areas of Eastern Ghouta killed six people, according to the Observatory.

Earlier Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP that "the area is awaiting the announcement of a deal between Faylaq al-Rahman and Russia on an evacuation of rebels to northern Syria."

Buoyant Assad on Sunday paid a first visit in years to battered East Ghouta to congratulate his troops for the gruelling assault to oust rebels from near Damascus.

Syrian state television broadcast photos of the president dressed in a shirt and jacket surrounded by soldiers, some perched on a tank behind him.

"The inhabitants of Damascus are more than grateful and they will maybe tell their children in the coming decades how you saved the capital," he said.

Syria's conflict broke out in 2011 with protests against Assad.

He has maintained his grip on power despite global calls to step down and outrage at the brutal offensives he has waged to retake towns and cities from rebel fighters.

burs-mm/del/bocLONDON (Reuters) - British police said on Friday they had launched a murder investigation following the death this week of a Russian associate of late tycoon Boris Berezovsky.

"A murder investigation has been launched following the results of a post mortem into the death of 68-year-old Russian businessman Nikolai Glushkov," London's Metropolitan Police said, adding the cause of death was "compression to the neck".

The police said in a statement that at this stage there was nothing to suggest a link to the attempted murders of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter on March 4 or that poison was involved.

Earlier on Friday Russia's Investigative Committee said it had opened a criminal investigation into both the attempted murder of Yulia Skripal and what it said was the murder of Glushkov. It also said it was ready to cooperate with British authorities on the two cases.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Friday it was "overwhelmingly likely" that Russian President Vladimir Putin himself had made the decision to use a military-grade nerve toxin to strike down Sergei Skripal.

Russia has denied any involvement and has accused Britain of whipping up Russophobia

London police said specialist counter-terrorism officers continued to lead the investigation into Glushkov's death as a precaution due to the associations he was believed to have had.

"GODFATHER OF THE KREMLIN"

British interior minister Amber Rudd instructed police and intelligence services earlier this week to look at 14 deaths over recent years which were not originally treated as suspicious by police but where media allegations of Russian state involvement had been made.

Glushkov had worked for Russian airline Aeroflot and at Berezovksy's LogoVAZ car company.

Berezovsky was found dead in March 2013 with a scarf tied around his neck in the bathroom of a luxury mansion west of London.

The 67-year-old tycoon had been one of Russia's most powerful figures in the years after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Berezovsky was known as the "godfather of the Kremlin" before fleeing to London after a row with Putin in 2000, the year the former KGB officer became Russia's president.

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Britain granted Berezovsky political asylum three years later on the grounds that his life would be in danger if he went back home.

His family feared he might have been murdered by enemies in Russia, but British police and forensic experts concluded that Berezovsky had committed suicide.

A British judge in 2014 reached an open verdict on Berezovsky's death, saying he could not be sure if the Russian killed himself at his former wife's British home or was the victim of foul play.

(Reporting by William Schomberg and David Milliken; Editing by Gareth Jones)New York (AFP) - Five Manhattan doctors have been indicted for accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from a pharmaceutical company in exchange for prescribing a powerful synthetic opioid, a prosecutor said Friday.

The indictments come as the United States grapples with an opioid abuse epidemic that kills scores of people every day, and has been declared a national health emergency by President Donald Trump.

Two employees of Arizona-based drug maker Insys pleaded guilty and participated in the investigation that led to the arrest of the doctors.

The doctors "engaged in a malignant scheme to prescribe fentanyl, a dangerous and potentially fatal narcotic 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, in exchange for bribes in the form of speaker fees," US Attorney Geoffrey Berman said in a statement.

"This scheme to use their patients as an instrument for profit has resulted in the indictment of five physicians," he said.

The doctors were paid "fees" for allegedly conducting educational programs about a fentanyl-based pain relief spray, the statement said.

But "in reality, many of the speaker programs led by the defendants were predominantly social affairs where no educational presentation about the fentanyl spray occurred," it said.

In exchange for the payments, the doctors prescribed "millions of dollars' worth" of the spray.

Charges against the doctors include honest services fraud conspiracy, which carries a maximum of 20 years in prison.

Insys agreed last year to pay a $4.5 million fine after being accused of deceptive marketing to promote its "Subsys" fentanyl spray.

In 2016, more than 63,500 people died of drug overdoses in the United States, nearly two thirds of them involving prescription opioids.A billboard image, evidently manipulated, used by Brian Ellison to promote his 'Arm the Homeless

A US Senate candidate is campaigning to arm victimised homeless people with pump-action shotguns so they can defend themselves against violent crime.

Brian Ellison, a Libertarian Party candidate in Michigan hoping to run in Novembers midterm election, believes the proposed initiative would help reduce violent offences against the homeless.

The former US Army veteran, who served in Iraq from 2003-04, believes Americas homeless population is one of the most marginalised and victimised groups in society and are significantly more likely to be victims of a crime compared to the general public.

Not only are they constantly under threat from would-be criminals, but they are also under threat from governments at various levels that criminalise activities that homeless people rely on for survival, says Mr Ellison.

I believe it is time we take a stand against the injustice and victimisation of the homeless.

Brian Ellison, a Michigan candidate for the US Senate, has proposed arming homeless people with pump-action shotguns Credit: Brian Ellison / Facebook

The father-of-two has started a crowdfunding campaign to raise $10,000 (7,000) to purchase 20 pump-style shotguns for Michigans homeless population.

All recipients would be required to pass a background check, be of legal age to own a firearm, and receive training on safety and operation of the firearm.

Mr Ellison added he has been extremely disheartened by criticism of the campaign and the complete lack of respect and dignity shown towards the states rough sleepers.

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Aside from the name calling, many people seem to think that if given a means to protect themselves, these people would instantly become violent criminals, he wrote on Facebook.

If your immediate reaction to this initiative was shock and horror, please take a moment to think about why. Is it because you see the homeless as unworthy of protection? Is it because you see the homeless as less than human?

Vulnerable people need to be afforded the same opportunity to protect themselves as people who live in gated communities or have private (or public) security forces.

Story continues

About | US gun laws

Mr Ellison told The Guardian that the ideal weapon would be a pistol, however a registered address is needed under US gun laws, while no permit is required to openly carry a rifle or shotgun.

Critics say that safely storing the guns would be one major issue with the scheme, while performing background checks on those with ID could also be a stumbling block.Victorious Vladimir Putin lashed out at accusations Russia was responsible for poisoning Sergei Skripal, a former double agent, as he celebrated winning a fourth presidential term on Sunday night.

Mr Putin, who thanked his supporters outside the Kremlin for his victory, dismissed British allegations that Russia was responsible for the attack by saying it was "total nonsense" that someone would have allowed such an attack before the election.

He said: "Russia does not possess such agents. We have destroyed all our chemical arsenals under control of international observers."

Despite a campaign troubled by lack of interest and an opposition boycott, Mr Putin had collected 76 per cent of votes with four fifths of the ballots counted, according to the central electoral commission.

Although his victory was never in doubt, a poorer showing than the 64 per cent he got in the 2012 presidential election could have called into question the continuation of his 18-year rule.

Another six-year term will allow Mr Putin, 65, to rival Joseph Stalin as the country's longest-serving leader.

Vladimir Putin speaks to supporters outside the Kremlin on Sunday evening Credit: Grigory Dukor/Reuters

On Sunday evening, Mr Putin thanked supporters outside the Kremlin for his victory.

I see in this an acknowledgement of what was done in recent years in very difficult conditions, I see in this the trust and hope of our people that we will work just as intensely, just as responsibly and even more successfully, he said.

Opposition leader Alexei Navalny, 41, who was barred from running due to a politicised embezzlement conviction, called a voter boycott and recruited 26,000 electoral observers to catch any attempts to inflate turnout.

Presidential candidate Ksenia Sobchak arrives at opposition leader Alexei Navalny's office before an impromptu YouTube debate on Sunday evening Credit: Maxim Zmeyev/AFP/Getty Images

The WCIOM exit poll placed turnout at 63.7 per cent, just below the 65 per cent the Kremlin was reportedly seeking to match the 2012 results.

At a school polling station in Odintsovo, an industrial city of 140,000 in the Moscow region, electoral commission member Sergei Nekhayonok described pressure from the authorities to raise turnout.

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The state-owned factory where he works had been sending him and other employees door-to-door for the past two weeks to encourage people to vote, he told The Telegraph.

Each district administration gets out the vote, he said. I don't know if this is normal or not.

Members of an ice-swimming club cast their votes at a polling station in Barnaul in Siberia Credit: Andrei Kasprishin/Reuters

Mr Putin's campaign spokesman Andrei Kondrashov offered a tongue-in-cheek thank-you to Britain for the diplomatic row over Mr Skripal's poisoning, which he said had created a turnout we couldn't have dreamt of ourselves.

When Russia indiscriminately and without evidence is accused of something, all that the Russian people do is come together around a centre of power. The centre of power today is Putin, he said.

The defence ministry said that 98 per cent of Russian military personnel had voted Credit: Denis Tyrin/AP

While communist candidate Pavel Grudinin placed a distant second, his reported 11.2 per cent marked an improvement over his poll numbers. Perennial nationalist candidate Vladimir Zhirinovsky received 6.7 per cent.

Among those who voted was Gerard Depardieu, 69, the ever controversial French film star who was awarded Russian citizenship by Mr Putin in 2013. He cast his ballot at the Russian embassy in Paris.

Russians in Ukraine were blocked from voting by police and protesters as annexed Crimea held its first-ever Russian presidential vote.

Gerard Depardieu votes at the Russian embassy in Paris Credit: Dominique Boutin/TASS via Getty Images

Reports of falsifications threatened to tarnish Mr Putin's resounding victory, however. Mr Navalny said the officially reported turnout exceeded what his network of electoral observers had counted by 25 per cent in the Altai republic, 18 per cent in the Perm region and 12 per cent in the Kemerovo region.

Online polling station cameras captured many blatant violations. In Chechnya, where Mr Putin won 99 per cent of the vote in 2012, a man was seen casually stuffing ballots as he greeted acquaintances. In the Primorsk region, a woman tried to surreptitiously shove a pile of ballots into an urn.

 , . .  ,  ,   326. pic.twitter.com/PJlStzW23B  Alexey Navalny (@navalny) March 18, 2018

The regional electoral commission nullified the results at a polling station in the Moscow suburb of Lyubertsy after ballot stuffing was caught on camera.

Meanwhile, at a polling place in Kemerovo, which is known for suspiciously high turnouts, a woman obscured the camera's view with balloons as electoral workers began pouring ballots out on a table for counting.

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Student Gleb Matveyev, 20, one of about 50 Navalny volunteers who observed the vote in Chechnya, said the polling station he was monitoring in Grozny reported 69 per cent turnout with only 100 extra votes.

We smashed to dust the theory that there is 99 per cent turnout in Chechnya, he said.

A man in Chechnya casts his ballot as part of home voting, which is often ripe for abuse far from observers' gaze Credit: Yelena Afonina/TASS via Getty Images

But involuntary voting likely had the greatest effect on results. Independent electoral monitor Golos received complaints that state employees had been forced to the polls under threat of firing and voters had been bussed to polling stations en masse.

As voting came to a close in Moscow, Ksenia Sobchak, a former reality TV star who ran for president in what some saw as a Kremlin ploy, came Mr Navalny's headquarters and asked him on a live YouTube stream to join with her to form a new opposition party. She reportedly received less than 2 per cent of the vote.

Mr Navalny refused, accusing her of taking money to run for president and calling her part of the lying, falsifying scheme that didn't let me into the election.

Russian election - share of the vote

He also accused her of withdrawing permission for his observers to work in her name in the Kemerovo region, which Ms Sobchak said was caused by a mix-up with RFERL journalists.

Despite a stagnant economy, average incomes are far higher now than when Mr Putin first took office. His approval rating has not dipped below 80 per cent since the annexation of Crimea in 2014.

I'm for Putin, I love him, he's a strong president, said pensioner Nina Guseva, 70, as patriotic songs played at the entrance to the Odintsovo polling station. There's no war, there's food in the stores. Now if they would just raise our pensions a little 

Russian election turnout

Some voters supported Mr Putin against what they called unfair accusations by the West, including over the Skripal case.

"If a person is confident in the Russian state, then what other countries do won't change his confidence," Odintsovo electoral worker Alexadner Alyoshkin said.

"If you are a patriot you will go vote," said Yury Afanasiyev, 47, when asked why he had bothered to vote for Mr Putin in such a one-sided election.

But many others appeared apathetic, especially young voters.

There's no point in voting because the result is already clear, said student Alexei Kursky, 19, as he waited for a suburban train.

Many of the tens of thousands of volunteer electoral observers held vigil late into the night as the ballots were counted and the results reported to the district electoral commission.

"There were violations in all previous elections," said Yury Gorokhov in Odintsovo, "so you don't know if it will be clean."

Additional reporting by David Chazan in ParisIn secret, behind locked gates, our Nation's Oldest City dumped a landfill in a lake (Old City Reservoir), while emitting sewage in our rivers and salt marsh. Organized citizens exposed and defeated pollution, racism and cronyism. We elected a new Mayor. We're transforming our City -- advanced citizenship. Ask questions. Make disclosures. Demand answers. Be involved. Expect democracy. Report and expose corruption. Smile! Help enact a St. Augustine National Park and Seashore. We shall overcome!US Vice President Mike Pence told Pakistan's Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi that his country "must do more" against the Taliban and other militants, the White House said on Saturday.

"Vice President Pence reiterated President (Donald) Trump's request that the Government of Pakistan must do more to address the continued presence of the Taliban, Haqqani Network, and other terrorist groups operating in their country," the White House said in a statement on the Friday call.

"Pakistan could and should work closer with the United States," Pence said.

According to Washington, there is little sign that Islamabad has made a decision to end its support for the Taliban, which the country's powerful security services see as safeguarding its interests and as a bulwark against Indian influence in Kabul.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani last month proposed peace talks with the Taliban, which could eventually be recognized as a political party if it observes a ceasefire and officially recognizes the Afghan government and constitution.

The Taliban has stopped short of rejecting the proposal, but its response has been muted.Recent dismissals shows the president is gaining confidence in his foreign policy instincts, and surrounding himself with allies

Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office. This week he fired his secretary of state, Rex Tillerson. Photograph: Carlos Barria/Reuters

The end, when it comes to a job in the Trump administration, can be messy and brutal. The secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, was fired while returning from a gruelling Africa tour not long after the death of his father.



When he complained through an aide about the summary manner of his dismissal, the White House stuck the boot in, telling journalists the 66 year-old former Texan oil executive had been fired by telephone while sitting on the toilet, suffering from a stomach bug, according to the Daily Beast.

On Friday, the deputy FBI director, Andrew McCabe, was fired two days before he would have qualified for a full pension. The official reason was that he had talked to the press and then not been forthcoming about it. McCabe said he was targeted because he is a potential witness in the special counsel investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump election campaign and the Kremlin.

Donald Trump celebrated McCabes firing on Twitter, calling it a great day for the hardworking men and women of the FBI.

Tillerson and McCabe had to endure months of public speculation about their job security, fuelled by unattributable White House briefings. The same is happening now to the national security adviser, HR McMaster, widely reported to be the next on the chopping block.

The constant speculation and uncertainty is all part of the Trump circus, a reminder that although his property business resulted in repeated bankruptcies, he was successful as a reality show host. There are, however, distinctions between Trump as ringmaster on The Apprentice and President Trump.

I think we are entering a phase where [Trump] is becoming more confident about his foreign policy views Julianne Smith, Centre for a New American Security

One of them is that in real life, he never fires his subordinates in person but has the news delivered by an aide, preferably when the recipient is a long way from Washington.

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More importantly, the carnival is no longer contained within a showbusiness bubble. It ripples across the world, with very real and far-reaching consequences.

Trump has claimed the constant churn has a purpose, to create an administration in his own image. He told reporters this past week he was finally close to having the cabinet and other things that I want.

Trump is replacing top officials who were hired because of their private sector reputations with people who have less stature but are more loyal and more attuned to the presidents gut instincts.

Thus Gary Cohn, a former president of Goldman Sachs who left after Trump announced steel tariffs, is being supplanted by a television commentator, Larry Kudlow, who is more enthusiastic about America First protectionism.

In foreign policy, the new era looks to be more confrontational. At the state department, Tillersons job is being taken by the CIA director, Mike Pompeo, who is considerably more hawkish that his predecessor on Iran and North Korea.

Mike Pompeo, seen during the FDD National Security Summit in Washington in October. Photograph: Yuri Gripas/Reuters

Pompeo, a former hyper-partisan Republican congressman, is adept at echoing the presidents thinking and delivering morning Oval Office intelligence briefings in a lively enough manner, and with sufficiently clear graphics, to keep the presidents attention.

One of the candidates to replace McMaster is John Bolton, a Bush-era hawk who has insistently advocated bombing North Korea and wielding military might elsewhere in the world to further US interests rather than get bogged down in multilateral agreements.

The chill of the new era was immediately felt in Europe. On Thursday, two days after Tillersons dismissal, senior diplomats from the US, Europe, Russia, China and Iran gathered in Vienna for a discussion on the future of the nuclear deal they signed in 2015.

Three years ago, the deal was a cause for celebration, heralded by all of its signatories as a major diplomatic achievement that had tightly circumscribed Irans nuclear programme in return for the lifting of sanctions. In the group picture on Thursday, all the participants looked grim.

Trump has made no secret that he wants to kill the deal, in part because Obama saw it as his signature achievement. Tillerson had been a critic of the agreement but had argued for its retention, mostly because its collapse would trigger a slide back to nuclear confrontation in the Middle East. Trump cited differences over the Iran nuclear as one of the motives for getting rid of Tillerson.

John Bolton listens to George W Bush at the White House in 2005. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

I wanted to either break it or do something and he felt a little bit differently, the president said. So we were not really thinking the same. With Mike, Mike Pompeo, we have a very similar thought process.

James Carafano, vice-president of the Heritage Foundation, said: Tillerson wanted to preserve the deal but the instructions were Fix it in the way I want or we walk away from the deal, and Pompeo will do that.

Carafano said Tillersons firing demonstrated Trumps increased confidence in his own instincts in foreign policy. Tillerson and other top aides told Trump his decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem would spark an eruption of unrest across the Middle East in December. The actual response was muted.

The one thing that Trump may have figured, he does a lot of this stuff, and there are bad outcomes and they are not necessarily apocalyptic outcomes, said Daniel Drezner, an international politics professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

Similarly, the president was warned that his bellicose rhetoric on North Korea risked triggering a violent backlash from the Pyongyang regime. Instead Kim Jong-un has invited him to talks.

He likes Bolton but Trump doesnt want to bomb North Korea Friend of John Bolton

I think we are entering a phase where [Trump] is becoming more confident about his foreign policy views, said Julianne Smith, a former senior national security council official now at the Centre for a New American Security. Its clear he is proud of what he views as a victory of securing a meeting with the North Koreans. He thinks that is because of his own aggressive posture.

A Trump-Kim summit offers the potential of a dramatic breakthrough but carries a high risk of failure, if it turns out the North Korean leader is not cowed by threats and sanctions but emboldened by the development of a nuclear arsenal.

A failure to reach agreement could lead both leaders to feel slighted and goaded into raising the stakes. And where Tillerson was a voice of restraint, Pompeo, an advocate of regime change in Pyongyang, is more likely to encourage brinkmanship.

Ultimately Trump will have to decide whether he is ready to use the weapons he has been brandishing, with all the implications that would have for his America First aspirations at home.

Some Washington conservatives believe Trump would ultimately balk at starting a new conflict, and for the same reason may ultimately not choose Bolton as national security adviser.

He likes Bolton but Trump doesnt want to bomb North Korea, said a friend of Bolton familiar with some of the negotiations inside the White House.

Johns an offensive realist  and thats not Trump. Trump is a defensive realist, the friend said, adding: John likes to get his way and will argue to the death to get his way. The president is not going to stand for that.

Trumps honeymoon with Pompeo may also not last long. It is hard to find hawks in Washington who make an exception for Russia, and the incoming secretary of state has a long record of taking a firm stance towards Moscow.

Whatever the reasons for Trumps soft spot for Vladimir Putin, it is something which he can only trust his family to put into practice. Relatives are the only real constant in the Trump entourage, with an increasing grip on foreign policy.

His son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has sway over decisions in the Middle East and beyond. And when the South Korean foreign minister, Kang Kyung-wha, discovered this week she would not be meeting Tillerson as planned in an upcoming Washington visit, she was told she would be sitting down instead with a key adviser: Ivanka Trump.Some 150 south Tel Aviv residents demonstrated Saturday evening outside the home of Supreme Court Chief Justice Esther Hayut in Tel Aviv's Tzahala neighborhood in protest of the injunction issued by the court this week blocking the plan to expel asylum seekers.

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About 25 residents of south Tel Aviv participated in a counter-protest voicing support for the High Court's decision and objection to the expulsion. Some minor clashes between the two groups were noted, with protesters against the expulsion claiming two females and one male activists were physically assaulted.

South Tel Aviv Liberation Front leader Sheffi Paz said the High Court must stop strengthening 'foreign occupation of south Tel Aviv' (Photo: Yair Cohen)

The pro-expulsion rally was spearheaded by the "South Tel Aviv Liberation Front" group led by Sheffi Paz, in conjunction with the right-wing Im Tirzu movement and other supporters from across the country, calling to "change the court's discriminatory policy against south Tel Aviv residents."

After initially protesting for several months outside the homes of former chief justice Miriam Naor in Jerusalem and then her successor Hayut in Tel Aviv, south Tel Aviv residents halted protests for several weeks, only to renew the protest Saturday.

Some 150 south Tel Aviv residents protested the High Court's ruling Saturday (Photo: Yair Cohen)

Protesters called out slogans such as, "The High Court against the people, the people against the High Court," "We shall prevail," "The Knesset legislates and the kingdom of the High Court strikes down" and "Jews also have human rights."

Sheffi Paz spoke during the protest, saying, "While three High Court justicesnone of whom were elected by usgive us all the finger, it's time to say enough is enough. For ten years the High Court has been abusing us under the pretext of human rights, while thwarting the elected government's immigration policy, caring for infiltrators' every need and strengthening the foreign occupation of south Tel Aviv."

Chairman of the Im Tirzu movement Matan Peleg said, "Once again we see how the High Court places itself above elected officials and acts as a sages' council ordering everyone to fall into line with its whims, just like in Iran. It's time to put a clear stop to the High Court's extremist caprices."

A counter-protest of 25 residents took place nearby (Photo: Yair Cohen)

Activists from "South Tel Aviv against the expulsion" protested nearby, led by Shula Keshet. Protesters called, "We, the residents of south Tel Aviv, support the court's decision and demand to stop the expulsion.

"We demand an orderly plan to disperse asylum seekers in established communities across Israel, halting the evacuation of long-standing residents and a true rehabilitation of south Tel Aviv neighborhoods."Abed al-Karim Adel Assi, the terrorist who murdered Rabbi Itamar Ben Gal, was caught in Nablus early Sunday along with several other suspects who helped him hide.

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Rabbi Itamar Ben Gal, 29, was murdered in a stabbing attack near the entrance to the settlement of Ariel early last month. He is survived by his wife, Miriam, and their four children.

Security forces arrest terrorist in Nablus (:  ")

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Al-Karim, 19, an Israeli-Arab resident of Jaffa, arrived at the Ariel Junction bus stop on February 5 and, with no apparent hesitation, stabbed Ben Gal from behind.

After he was stabbed, Ben Gal ran to a bus that stopped at a station nearby while al-Karim gave chase. Reaching the bus, the rabbi knocked on its door for help before immediately collapsing.

Abed al-Karim Adel Assi arrested (Photo: IDF Spokesman's Office)

The terrorist then fled the scene. An off duty IDF officer who witnessed the attack then chased the assailant in his car and rammed him.

Despite being hit, al-Karim was able to escape with the help of an unidentified driver who picked him up near the scene of the incident.

Troops operating in Nablus overnight (Photo: IDF Spokesman's Office)

Al-Karim was arrested in a joint operation by forces from the Shin Bet, the Israel Police's counterterrorism unit Yamam, and the IDF's Samaria Territorial Brigade, which was launched immediately after the attack.

Over the past month, raids were carried out to arrest accomplices, while at the same time the Shin Bet and IDF continued their intelligence effort to track the terrorist.

"The IDF and the security forces will continue working to protect the security of the residents and will work to thwart terror attacks against the citizens of Israel," the IDF Spokesman's Office said following the arrest.

Troops operating in Nablus overnight (Photo: IDF Spokesman's Office)

Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman expressed satisfaction of the terrorist's capture, saying, "We've come full circle. Let every murderous terrorist know we will get to him and settle the score with him. I congratulate the security forces for a successful intelligence operation."

Troops operating in Nablus overnight (Photo: IDF Spokesman's Office)

Miriam Ben Gal, the rabbi's widow, said following the terrorist's capture that, "Truthfully, I don't feel anything. It won't bring (Itamar) back home. And it won't prevent another terrorist from rising and murdering again and destroying another family."

She called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to approve the construction of 800 housing units in Har Brakha, where she lives, saying it would be "the real answer to Itamar's murder."

Forces from the IDF's Menashe Territorial Brigade continued operating in the Barta'a village area in the wake of the car-ramming terror attack near the village of Ya'bad, which claimed the lives of two IDF soldiersLieutenant Ziv Daus, 21, of Azur, and Sergeant Netanel Kahalani, 20, of Elyakim.

Troops operating in Nablus overnight (Photo: IDF Spokesman's Office)

The troops searched for illegal weapons in several locations in the village, where terrorist Alaa Kabha is from, and found gun parts and a makeshift air gun.

In Beit Sahour, troops from the Etzion Territorial Brigade seized thousands of shekels of terror funds.

Also overnight Saturday, security forces arrested eight wanted Palestinians who are suspected of involvement in terror activity and violent rioting against Israeli citizens and security forces. The suspects were taken in for questioning.The Israel Air Force attacked Hamas terror targets in the center of the Gaza Strip overnight Saturday in retaliation for several IEDs that have been planted along the strip's border.

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Palestinian sources reported the targets included farmland east of the Zaytun Quarter in Gaza City and two Hamas military posts. There have been no reports of injuries or damage in Gaza.

"The IDF will continue acting to ensure the security of Israel's citizens with all means at its disposal. The Hamas terror organization is responsible for everything that happens inside the Gaza Strip and coming out of it," the IDF Spokesman's Office said after the strike.

IDF attacks Hamas targets in Gaza overnight

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"The continued Israeli escalation against the Gaza Strip and the targeting of resistance targets are unprecedented steps meant to shuffle the cards, scare us and sabotage the big March of Return. It will never succeed," Hamas said in response to the airstrikes. "It would only push our people to continue resisting and demanding their rights, first and foremost the right of return and the lifting of the siege over Gaza. If the enemy thinks this escalation would help it achieve its goals, it is dreaming and doesn't know the character of this people. Israel is the one who bears the responsibility for the escalation and the harm to people's lives."

An improvised explosive device (IED) blew up near the Gaza fence on the northern part of the strip's border on Saturday afternoon. No one was hurt.

This is the same area in which two explosive devices detonated Thursday morning. Saturday's incident marked the fifth time in three months a device was detonated near the Gaza fence.

Palestinian sources reported on Saturday that a short time after the IED went off, the IDF fired several tank shells at a target east of Shuja'iyya, which may have been an observation postconjecture later corroborated in an official IDF statement.

The IDF released a statement saying, "An explosive device detonated near the border fence in the northern Gaza Strip. No forces were in the vicinity at the time of the explosion. No damage or casualties were caused to our forces."

File photo: IDF attacks in Gaza on Thursday following IED incident

Several explosives detonated near the Gaza border fence in the northern strip Thursday, intended to target security forces. No Israeli forces were harmed. In retaliation, the IDF used tank and aircraft fire to target Hamas terror targets east of Jabalia.

According to Palestinian sources, two other observation posts and an outpost in the northern strip were hit, and no Palestinian casualties were reported.

Between three and four charges were detonated in close proximity to an IDF force patrolling the region, which was nevertheless some distance away from the explosion. The military's vehicles were not damaged.

The incident occurred near a point in the border where hundreds of Palestinians demonstrate every weekend, between the Gaza neighborhood of Shuja'iyya and the Nahal Oz kibbutz.

The area near the fence was declared a close military zone to expedite the dismantling of the devices, with the IDF now inspecting whether charges were once again placed under the cover of weekly protests.The profile of Alaa Kabha , the terrorist who killed two soldiers and wounded two others in a ramming attack Friday, isnt unusual among young Palestinians: His beliefs, his feelings, and especially his hatred and desire to take revenge against Israel in general and against the occupation in particular, are no different from those of many young Palestinians in Bethlehem, Nablus, Hebron or Gaza.

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In the reality of the territories, he too is disheartened, frustrated, hopeless. So he needed no orders from Hamas, Islamic Jihad or Fatah to murder soldiers, nor did he need the protests marking 100 days since US President Donald Trumps Jerusalem announcement or the raging incitement on Palestinian social media.

Scene of Fridays ramming attack (Photo: Ido Erez)

The toolbox of the Palestinian diplomatic struggle is empty: They have no Arab or European support, and the United Nations, as they see it, has become a center of useless verbal wrangling. Trumps US, since the decision to relocate the embassy, has become a real enemy, and Vladimir Putins Russia isnt really interested in them.

Furthermore, they have lost all hope of making any diplomatic progress with Israel, especially since the Rights rise to power. Instead, they see a reality of a binational state of animosity and alienation taking shape before their eyesa recipe for an escalation of the conflict and an acceleration of terror.

The only thing the Palestinians are left with, as far as theyre concerned, is the toolbox of terror. While the Shin Bet, the IDF and the Palestinian Authority have been making successful efforts to thwart and prevent organized terror, they are incapable of thwarting the sporadic lone-wolf attacks, which have become a common pattern of action in recent years.

Alaa Kabha, like many terrorists operating on their own, needed neither planning nor weapons or partners. He likely made the decision to kill as soon as he spotted the soldiers. According to Shin Bet reports, there have been about 400 attempts to carry out terror attacks in Judea and Samaria and in Jerusalem in the past three months, and they have all been defined as lone-wolf acts.

Lone-wolf terrorism, which has become the leading pattern in recent years, is gaining popularity among the Palestinians in light of the support it receives from the Palestinian public and leadership. Shortly after Fridays attack, the terrorist already entered the dubious list of Palestinian heroes: A poster was distributed in his honor and the murder he committed was praised and glorified.

Terrorist Alaa Kabha is about to join several thousand jailed Palestinian terrorists and a list of more than 600,000 Palestinians who have passed through Israeli prison gates since 1967

After he is likely sentenced him to several life terms by the military court, he will join several thousand jailed Palestinian terrorists and a list of more than 600,000 Palestinians who have passed through Israeli prison gates since 1967. The PA, for its part, will follow its own rules and grant him and his family members a salary and an allowance.

Let there be no illusions: The Israeli punitive measures, as harsh as they may befor example, proposals to destroy Hamas or dissolve the PA and impose economic sanctionswont reduce the amount of hatred towards Israel or the level of motivation to keep carrying terror attacks. Lone-wolf terrorism is taking place while the fragile Palestinian society goes through far-reaching changes: The governance in the PA territories is weak, the refugee camps are flooded with weapons and nearing anarchy, and Hamas is taking over the civil centers of power (especially in the universities and professional associations).

Add that to the economic trouble, the soaring unemployment rate among educated young Palestinians, the rift with the settlers and the ongoing Israeli annexation policy, and youve got a series of processes that are shortening the fuse leading to a renewed outburst of the powder keg in the territories.More than 20,000 people have left Syria's Eastern Ghouta via the town of Hammouriyeh so far on Sunday, the Interfax news agency reported, citing the Centre for Reconciliation in Syria, a body run by Russia's defence ministry.

Since humanitarian corridors were set up in the area, more than 68,000 people have left the Eastern Ghouta, the centre said.Russians voted in a presidential election on Sunday set to give Vladimir Putin a runaway victory, the only possible blemish for the Kremlin being if large numbers of voters do not bother taking part because the result is so predictable.

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Opinion polls give Putin, the incumbent, support of around 70 percent, or nearly 10 times the backing of his nearest challenger. Another term will take him to nearly a quarter century in powera longevity among Kremlin leaders second only to Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

Putin's opponents alleged officials were trying to inflate the turnout.

Russian President Putin (Photo: AP)

Many voters credit Putin, a 65-year-old former KGB spy, with standing up for Russia's interests in a hostile outside world, even though the cost is confrontation with the West.

row with Britain over allegations the Kremlin used a nerve toxin to poison a Russian double agent in a sleepy English towndenied by Moscowhas not dented his standing.

The majority of voters see no viable alternative to Putin: he has total dominance of the political scene and the state-run television, where most people get their news, gives lavish coverage of Putin and little airtime to his rivals.

Galina Zhukova, a pensioner, came to polling station number 1512 in Zelenodolsk, about 800 km (500 miles) east of Moscow, with her husband, Alexei. They arrived soon after the doors opened.

"We voted for Putin. Things are all right for us," said Alexei. "And there's no one else to vote for," said Galina.

Polling station in Russia

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A day of voting across Russia's 11 time zones began at 8am on Saturday on Russia's eastern edge, in the Pacific coast city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

There, voters were handed small plastic flags with the slogan: "I love Kamchatka. We are the first."

Voting will run until polls close at the westernmost point of Russia, the Kaliningrad region on the Baltic Sea, at 8pm on Sunday.

Shoo-in contest

A March 9 survey by state-run pollster VTsIOM gave Putin, who was first elected president in 2000, support of 69 percent. His nearest rival Pavel Grudinin, the Communist Party's candidate, is on just 7 percent.

The first politician in years to challenge the Kremlin's grip on power, Alexei Navalny, is barred from the race because of a corruption conviction he says was fabricated by the Kremlin.

He is calling for a boycott of the election, saying it is an undemocratic farce, and deploying supporters to collect evidence of anyone rigging the ballot to inflate turnout and support for Putin. The Kremlin and election officials say any fraud will be stamped out.

The eight presidential candidates were barred from campaigning Saturday, but the message to voters was clear from billboards celebrating Russian greatnessa big theme of Putin's leadershipand Kremlin-friendly media coverage.

The candidates in the Russian elections (Photo: AFP)

Putin urged Russians on Friday to "use their right to choose the future for the great Russia that we all love."

While Putin has seven challengers, none is a real threat. The last time he faced voters in 2012, he faced a serious opposition movement, but since then he has boosted his popularity thanks to Russian actions in Ukraine and Syria.

A low turnout would diminish Putin's authority in his next term, which, under the constitution, has to be his last.

"There is no intrigue. I do not see any point for me in going to the election," said Alexei Khvorostov, a resident of Krasnodar, in southern Russia.

Putin campaign sign in Stavropol (Photo: Reuters)

Yevgeny Roizman, a Kremlin opponent who is mayor of the industrial city of Yekaterinburg, said officials have all received orders "from higher up" to make sure the presidential vote turnout is over 60 percent, and are using bribes and inducements to persuade people to vote.

"They're herding the whole country to the polling stations," Roizman, a rare example of an elected official opposed to the Kremlin, said in a video blog. "It's degrading... We're not sheep."

More than 1,500 international observers are joining thousands of Russian observers to watch the vote. The government wants to ensure that this election is clean after ballot stuffing and fraud marred the last Russian presidential election in 2012.

A Russian election monitoring group said Saturday it has registered an "alarming" rise in recent days in complaints that employers are forcing or pressuring workers to vote.

Discounted food and school performances to lure voters

Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of the independent Golos center, told the AP on Saturday the group has also recorded smaller complaints, such as gimmicks like discounted potatoes for people who vote, or schools holding special performances on Election Day to lure parents to an onsite voting station.

He said his own group has come under increasing pressure as the election approached, and warned that independent observers may be targeted by some kind of "attack" on voting day. He didn't elaborate.

Voting in Kamchatka (Photo: AP)

In the Khabarovsk region, on Russia's Pacific coast, officials delivered supplies of eggs, tinned peas and frozen pike to polling stations. It will be sold to voters at a discount of between 10 and 30 percent compared to prices in local shops.

"By doing this we hope to attract voters to the polling stations and we think we can increase turnout," said Nikolai Kretsu, chairman of the consumer market committee in the regional administration.

"The second objective is to strengthen allegiance towards the authorities."

Turnout-boosting efforts have been the most visible feature of the campaignand all come from taxpayers' pockets. In Moscow alone, authorities are spending 50 million rubles ($870,000) on balloons and festive decorations at polling stations.

In Moscow, first-time voters will be given free tickets for pop concerts featuring some of Russia's most popular artists who have campaigned for Putin. For older voters, Moscow health authorities will be offering free cancer screenings at selected polling stations.

In the southern city of Tambov, the state-sponsored Youth Parliament has backed an Instagram competition. Voters who take selfies at polling stations and post them under the designated hashtag will be able to enter a raffle for high-end electronics, including an iPhoneX.

Voting in Kamchatka (Photo: AP)

Election observers and local media have reported threats and coercion of voters to re-register at their place of work and report later that they have voted.

Ella Pamfilova, chairwoman of the Central Election Commission who was appointed to clean up Russia's electoral system, vowed to respond to complaints about being coerced to vote.

"No manager has the right to tell them where to vote," she said recently.

Voters in Russia's Perm region said they were coming under pressure from their employers to vote Sunday -- and to prove it. Messages were sent Friday to regional employees, warning that information about their voting habits would be submitted to management.

A doctor at one of the city's hospitals told The Associated Press how one kind of voting pressure works.

The doctor, who gave her name only as Yekaterina because of fears about repercussions, said she and her co-workers were told to fill out forms detailing not only where they would cast their ballots, but giving the names and details of two "allies" whom they promise to persuade to go vote.

"It's not something you can argue about," she said at a cafe Saturday. "People were indignant at first, said 'They're violating our rights' ... but what can you do?"

Yekaterina said she isn't sure what she'll do with her ballot, musing that "maybe I'll just write 'Putin is a moron.'" But she clearly understands that not showing up at the polling place Sunday will not only endanger her job but will reflect badly on her boss, whom she likes.

The Russian doctor said she wouldn't go to vote if she wasn't forced to.

"What's the point? We already know the outcome. This is just a circus show," she said.

Voting in Kamchatka (Photo: AP)

Putin has traveled across Russia, pledging to raise wages, pour more funds into the country's crumbling health care and education and to modernize dilapidated infrastructure.

The presidential vote is set on the anniversary of Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. Polls show that most Russians continue to see the takeover of that Black Sea peninsula as a major achievement despite subsequent Western sanctions.

Among Putin's challengers is Ksenia Sobchak, a 36-year-old TV host who has campaigned on a liberal platform and criticized Putin's policies. Some see Sobchak, the daughter of Putin's one-time patron, as a Kremlin project intended to add a democratic veneer to the vote and help split the ranks of Kremlin critics.The IDF destroyed for the second time on Sunday a terror tunnel initially demolished during Operation Protective Edge, which Hamas has tried to put back into operations.

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The tunnel, which runs from Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip to the Eshkol Regional Council inside Israel, was flooded with materials rendering the whole network unusable.

"We did not use explosives. It (the tunnel) was filled with a certain material, with a certain compound," said the IDF's English-language spokesperson Lt.-Col. Jonathan Conricus, who added troops did not enter Gaza to destroy the tunnel, which reached several meters from the Israeli border but did not cross it.

IDF floods tunnel Hamas tried to rebuild (:  ")

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The tunnel, which was partially destroyed in the summer of 2014, appears to be the first case of Hamas trying to "recycle" part of its devastated network by digging a new tunnel to connect with what was left of the old one, Conricus said.

"Overnight, IDF forces operated against underground infrastructure in the Rafah area," a statement by the IDF Spokesman's Office said.

"For several weeks now, we've been identifying Hamas activity, as they have been trying to rebuild underground infrastructure that was active during Protective Edge. We've been following this activity and decided to take this action to thwart it before Hamas could reconnect the tunnel to the old infrastructure and before the tunnel crossed into our territory. It did not pose a threat," the IDF continued.

A spokesman for Hamas said the IDF was "marketing fake achievements" to boost the morale of soldiers and Israelis living near the enclave.

(:  ")

Another Hamas tunnel was bombed by the Israel Air Force overnight Saturday in the central Gaza Strip. The IAF also attacked other Hamas targets in retaliation for several IEDs that have been planted along the strip's border.

Palestinian sources reported the targets included farmland east of the Zaytun Quarter in Gaza City and two Hamas military posts. There have been no reports of injuries or damage in Gaza.

"The IDF will continue acting to ensure the security of Israel's citizens with all means at its disposal. The Hamas terror organization is responsible for everything that happens inside the Gaza Strip and coming out of it," the IDF Spokesman's Office said after the strike.

(Photo: IDF Spokesman's Office)



The Military Police closed off some areas of the Eshkol Regional Council as IDF forces were working to neutralize the tunnel. The Palestinians reported IDF engineering forces were operating on the southern Gaza border.

"There's no developing security incident on the Gaza border and the roadblocks are just part of routine activity," the IDF Spokesman's Office said.

"The continued Israeli escalation against the Gaza Strip and the targeting of resistance targets are unprecedented steps meant to shuffle the cards, scare us and sabotage the big March of Return. It will never succeed," Hamas said in response to the airstrikes. "It would only push our people to continue resisting and demanding their rights, first and foremost the right of return and the lifting of the siege over Gaza. If the enemy thinks this escalation would help it achieve its goals, it is dreaming and doesn't know the character of this people. Israel is the one who bears the responsibility for the escalation and the harm to people's lives."

Over the past six months, the IDF has exposed and neutralized three border-crossing terror tunnels in Israeli territorytwo in the Kissufim and Ein HaShlosha area and another under the Kerem Shalom border crossing, which also branched out into Egypt. The tunnels were uncovered thanks to new technology to detect underground activity.

(Photo: IDF Spokesman's Office)

Also over the past six months, the IAF attacked two terror tunnels inside the Gaza Strip, one of them a month ago in the Zaytun Quarter in response to an explosive that went off on the border near Khan Yunis, leaving four IDF soldiers wounded.

"We've been operating in recent months using an ability that to our understanding will not allow re-using old tunnels dealt with during Protective Edge," the IDF said. "Hamas is trying to use what it has to repurpose old tunnels by trying to reconnect what's left of the tunnel tunnels. Hamas is once again investing its money in the underground project that is going down the drain thanks to our operations. We have a pretty good knowledge of the locations where it is possible to repurpose tunnels."

Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman recommended to Hamas "to invest the money in the welfare of the Gaza residents, because by the end of the year its tunnel project will be eliminated."

"Systematically, based on quality intelligence and groundbreaking technology, Israel is destroying Hamas's tunnels one by one. Those who think they can hurt us from below ground will come across an iron wall," Lieberman added.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed that "Our policy is to take determined action against any attempt to attack us and to systematically eliminate the infrastructure of terrorist tunnels and thus we will continue. The time has come for the international community to realize that the assistance funds to Gaza are being buried underground."





Former prime minister Ehud Olmert stressed on Sunday that he has no plans to return politics after being released from prison last year, where he served 16 months for corruption.

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In a special interview with Ynet, Olmert dismissed the question of whether he considered a return to public life, saying "it's not on the agenda."

In a veiled criticism of his successor Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Olmert claimed that "I've never waged a battle against law enforcement authorities as part of my job, and I never preached about morals. I bore my punishment not with love, but with respect."

Former PM Ehud Olmert (Photo: Avi Mualem)

The difference between him and Netanyahu, he claimed, was that "I didn't do such a thing as prime minister. As prime minister, I never attacked anyone I say what I'm saying today as a private citizen, who is not in office."

"The person you're talking about is taking advantage of his status as prime minister to threaten people that he could fire them and that he could disrupt their work. And he's doing that to people he appointed, apparently in some cases while rolling his eyes when talking about the jobs they're expected to have in the future. I did not conduct a public campaign against any of the people who worked against me and investigated me," Olmert insisted.

Olmert and Netanyahu (Photo: Gil Yohanan, Alex Kolomoisky)

His advice to Netanyahu is "Bibi, go home fast and in an elegant manner," he said, referring to the prime minister by his nickname. "The faster he does that, the more he would be remembered for the good things he has done, and he has done some good things... if he continues in his conduct, these things would be forgotten."

"I don't wish him my way of suffering, regardless of what he did or didn't do and what his family did or didn't do. I wish us that he would disappear from our lives," he added.

Olmert also criticized former prime minister Ehud Barak, saying he was responsible for the collapse of a deal to return IDF soldier Gilad Shalit in March 2008. "The deal was on the verge of completion, but it collapsed when Hamas saw Barak visiting the Shalit family's (protest) tent. They said 'If Barak is going there, it means we can pressure them more.' He caused serious damage as a result of arrogance and seeking cheap popularity."

'Completely acquitted' in Holyland trial

Olmert claimed he was "completely acquitted" in the Holyland affair, a major property deal that led to the construction of the hilltop Holyland apartment towers.

But while a five-member Supreme Court panel said it had not been proven beyond reasonable doubt that Olmert had solicited NIS 500,000 from a real estate developer to help his brother Yossi Olmert get out of debt, it upheld his conviction on accepting the smaller amount.

Olmert insisted the NIS 60,000 he was convicted of accepting "were given to cover political debts... nothing went into my pocket."

While in prison, the former prime minister wrote an autobiographical book, which created some controversy.

Olmert at the Ynet studio with his new autobiography (Photo: Avi Mualem)

"These 900 pages encompass my entire life story," he said. "There are very few people who were witness to the things I was witness to over the past 40 years. This book doesn't go easy on anyone, including myself and my family."

"I talk about my errors and emphasize them. I said very clear things about my errors," Olmert continued. "I regret the fact I sealed by ears and shut my eyes from seeing things that were happening around me, and I didn't know. For example, things that happened with my former aide (Shula Zaken) who took bribes. She's the one who led to my conviction. (But) the fact it happened around me is my failure."

He stressed that "had I known, I would have undoubtedly drawn conclusions. The fact it happened with a senior aide of mine, in the way that it happened, does not release me of responsibility."

In an unprecedented ruling that made him the first Israeli former prime minister to receive jail time, Olmert was sentenced to six years in prison, but his sentence was later reduced to 19 months. He was granted early release by the Parole Board after spending 16.5 months in prison.

Zaken was convicted for her role in the "Holyland" land development case, which found that both she and then-Jerusalem mayor Ehud Olmert had accepted bribes from property developers to overlook building codes and other restrictions for specific projects.

Olmert with Shula Zaken (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

In 2014, Zaken struck a plea bargain and turned against Olmert to reduce her own sentence. She served only 11 months in prison, and in return provided recordings and new evidence against Olmert.

"The judge said about (Zaken) that she's a 'major criminal,' and she received gifts from state's witness (Shmuel) Dachner worth hundreds of thousands of shekels, and she went to the prosecution and offered 'Make a deal with me, so I don't have to sit in prison,'" Olmert said of his former right-hand woman.

'Lador committed serious criminal offenses'

In his book, Olmert wrote about many figures in the legal system, including former attorney general and current Supreme Court justice Menachem Mazuz, former state comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss, former state attorney Moshe Lador, the prosecutor in his trial Uri Korev, former head of the police's investigations unit Yoav Segalovich, former Supreme Court justice Dalia Dorner, and former Supreme Court chief justice Dorit Beinisch.

Despite this, he says that "I don't even say a single bad word about some decision by judge Beinisch, for example."

Meni Mazuz (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

Olmert then went on to quote Supreme Court Justice Mazuz, who was the attorney general who recommended to indict him. "In the first week of his term (as attorney general), I believe, in response to a recommendation made by then-state attorney Edna Arbel, he said: 'The Attorney General's Office is marking targets.' This wasn't said by Olmert, it was said by Mazuz. So the possibility there is over-eagerness that leads the prosecution to make inappropriate decisions definitely exists, and it was definitely there in my case," he claimed.

He then went on to attack Lador, the state attorney at the time of his investigations. Olmert said that after the first time he was questioned in May 2008, Lador "demanded the court to order a sitting prime minister, after only an hour of questioning, to sit in the dock during the preliminary hearing. This means that in the mind of the state attorney, after an hour of question, I was already a defendant that needed to sit in the dock, rather than a suspect who is given the presumption of innocence. Lador committed serious criminal offenses."Thousands accompanied Lieutenant Ziv Daus, 21, who was murdered in the car-ramming terror attack over the weekend, on his final journey on Sunday as he was laid to rest at the military plot of the Holon cemetery.

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"Why do we deserve this? You are etched into our soul," Ziv's father, Ronen, said weeping.

"Shema Yisrael! Why? What did we do?" his grandfather Shalom Daus cried out.

Lieutenant Ziv Daus laid to rest (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

Among the many attendees were Ministers Yoav Galant (Kulanu) and Ofir Akunis (Likud), MK Moti Yogev (Bayit Yehudi) and Daus's friends from the Home Front Command's search and rescue unit.

Lieutenant Ziv Daus laid to rest (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

"A two-legged animal murdered Lieutenant Ziv Daus and Sergeant Netanel Kahalani in the spring of their live. Whoever takes another's life should know his life will be taken in returnit is time to give the death punishment to terrorists," said Minister Akunis.

Lieutenant Ziv Daus laid to rest (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

Ziv's father Ronen lamented the fact he had to say the Jewish prayer of mourning for his son. "I have to say Kaddish for him? He needs to say Kaddish for me. This is against nature," he said.

"God will protect you from above. He took an angel from me. God takes all of the angels and all of the good ones. God preserve us," Ronen continued.

Lieutenant Ziv Daus laid to rest (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

The IDF's representative, the Commander of Kedem Battalion, Lt. Col. Sharon Itach, said the battalion "is a family first and foremost... on this day, we're one big family. You are part of the Kerem Battalion forever."

Lieutenant Ziv Daus laid to rest (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

"You did everything to become a combat soldier. You did it with excellence and went to commanders' course, where you stood out and were ranked among the first in your class," Itach continued. "The soldiers under your command followed you blindly... you were prepared for any mission and set a personal example to your soldiers... your soldiers described your smile as one that charms all."

Lieutenant Ziv Daus laid to rest (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

Yoni Daus, Ziv's uncle, urged "Don't tell me about him in past tense; don't say 'he's gone never to return.' Ziv will be with us forever. His memory will not leave us."

"Your quiet demeanor, your shy smile... you left a great void that would be hard to fill," the uncle continued. "We will continue building, creating, nurturing and loving the country you loved so much and for which you fought."

Lieutenant Ziv Daus laid to rest (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

Yuval, Ziv's cousin, said it was "hard for me to talk about you in past tense. You've always been a true leader, you led and aspired to be an excellent officer. There's a reason you were the first officer in the family."

"Your calm demeanor, your smile and your desire to protect the security of Israel were the unique things about you. My dear cousin, a hero of Israel, watch over us from above," Yuval continued.

Lieutenant Ziv Daus laid to rest (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

After the funeral had ended, Ziv's family members kissed his grave and wept. His mother cried over the fresh grave, asking, "Who is now going to tell me, 'Mom, thank God everything is okay'?"

'You will always be in my heart'

Sergeant Netanel Kahalani, 20, who was also killed in the attack, was laid to rest overnight Saturday.

Netanel's father Danny spoke about his son, "You were kind and you helped people, made sure your brothers were doing good, you were loved and smiled a lot."

Sergeant Netanel Kahalani laid to rest (Photo: Roi Rubinstein)

"I can't comprehend this yet and I don't know if I could move on. I love you. I already miss you, so what's going to happen in the future? I've loved you very much, and lost you in a second," the father continued.

"Twenty years is nothing, but thank you for them. Watch over us from above, I hope you're in heaven," he concluded.

Netanel's father Danny (Photo: Roi Rubinstein)

"My Netanel, my beloved," his mother Naomi eulogized. "My dear child, how am I going to say goodbye to you today? I always knew we would separate, but I never imagined it would be this soon. You were a wonderful child, you loved living, you were full of life. My good boy with the heart of gold, thank you for 20 years of grace, love and friendship. We will never separate, you will always be in my heart. I love you very much, and I wish we would one day meet in eternity."

Sergeant Netanel Kahalani laid to rest (Photo: Roi Rubinstein)

Kahalani's brother, Yehonatan, also eulogized him. "I love you. You were the best person I have known, better than me. We all loved you. And it's simply cruel of a person to see living people and turn the wheel against them. I've never understood this cruelty, and I never will," he said.

To his brother, Yehonatan added, "wherever you are, I hope you're happy. We only have pictures left, and I'm devastated."

Netanel's brother (Photo: Roi Rubinstein)

Netanel's older brother David added, "Oh how I miss you, little brother, I love you. Look how many people came to pay their respects to you. You were an incredible person and you will always remain with us. Keep your smile, and watch over us from above."

His brother Avishai called Netanal "my hero, my brother, my angel," adding "You were someone to be admired. The world will be different without your big smile, which charmed everyone. The happiness you gave me was the biggest happiness. I'm glad for the relationship we had recently, you were always there to help me... all of the dreams we wanted to realize will probably not come true anymore."

Col. Sharon Eltit, the commander of the Menashe Territorial Brigade where Kahalani served, said of Netanel, "You came to us driven by motivation to contribute and to serve, you've managed to do so much and get into all of our hearts by helping your friends at any time. We promise to help and give strength to the family."

Minister Ayoob Kara (Likud), who attended the funeral on behalf of the Israeli government, laid a wreath on Kahalani's grave.

Both Daus and Kahalani were promoted in rank posthumously. Two other soldiers who were wounded in the attack remain hospitalized at the Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva. One is in serious condition, while another was in moderate condition.

The terrorist, Alaa Kabha, initially insisted the attack was merely an accident, but he later confessed under interrogation to having acted under nationalistic motives.

Kabha's brother remains in custody and the degree of his potential involvement in the attack is still being investigated. Shin Bet added that no other persons involved in the attack or aware of Kabha's intentions were known at present, meaning he was a "lone wolf" terrorist acting without the guidance of a terror group.The Hamas terror organization claimed Sunday that the terror tunnel Israel has rendered unusable earlier in the day "is an old tunnel that is not being used."

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The tunnel, a spokesman of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades claimed, "was damaged after Hamas's military wing used it to blow up an IDF post east of Rafah," during Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014.

IDF activity on the border (Photo: Herzl Yosef)

"The announcement of the discovery of the tunnel is a new attempt to mislead and market an illusion of strength and false victories to the Israeli public and the international community," the Hamas spokesman added.



However, the spokesman made no mentioned of the second tunnel the IAF bombed overnight in the central Gaza Strip.

IDF works to destroy terror tunnel (:  ")

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Meanwhile, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, mocked Hamas, joking that "With all of the cement, iron, electricity and resources the terror organization Hamas is investing in the tunnels that the IDF effectively eliminates time after timethey could've built a pyramid, a world wonder. However, Hamas's terror tunnels are a world wonder in stupidity."

The tunnel, which was partially destroyed in the summer of 2014, appears to be the first case of Hamas trying to "recycle" part of its devastated network by digging a new tunnel to connect with what was left of the old one, Conricus said.

IDF activity on the border (Photo: Herzl Yosef)

Running from Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip to the Eshkol Regional Council inside Israel, the tunnel was flooded with materials rendering the whole network unusable.

"We did not use explosives. It (the tunnel) was filled with a certain material, with a certain compound," said the IDF's English-language spokesperson Lt.-Col. Jonathan Conricus, who added troops did not enter Gaza to destroy the tunnel, which reached several meters from the Israeli border but did not cross it.

IDF activity on the border (Photo: Herzl Yosef)

Another Hamas tunnel was bombed by the Israel Air Force overnight Saturday in the central Gaza Strip. The IAF also attacked other Hamas targets in retaliation for several IEDs that have been planted along the strip's border.

Palestinian sources reported the targets included farmland east of the Zaytun Quarter in Gaza City and two Hamas military posts. There have been no reports of injuries or damage in Gaza.LONDON - Britain's foreign minister said Sunday that he has evidence Russia has been stockpiling a nerve agent in violation of international law, after a Russian envoy suggested the toxin used to poison a former spy in England could have come from a UK lab.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the trail of blame for the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia "leads inexorably to the Kremlin."

Johnson told the BBC that "we actually have evidence within the last 10 years that Russia has not only been investigating the delivery of nerve agents for the purposes of assassination but has also been creating and stockpiling Novichok" -- the type of nerve agent Britain says was used in the attack.

Johnson said he will brief European Union foreign ministers on the case Monday before meeting NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.New footage from the scene of the car-ramming terror attack on Friday, which claimed the lives of two IDF soldiers , Palestinians are seen offering help to the soldiers and trying to save their lives.

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"Did anyone call for help, soldier?" one of the Palestinian eye witnesses asks in a video filmed by another eye witness seconds after the attack. He is later heard asking one of the soldiers treating the wounded "Can I help?"

The footage was filmed before IDF reinforcement and Magen David Adom medics arrived at the scene.

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One of the Palestinians is heard telling his friends in Arabic, "Go back," so as to not interrupt the rescue efforts.

Terrorist Alaa Kabha rammed into a patrol of IDF soldiers with his car on Friday afternoon on route 585 between the settlements of Mevo Dotan and Hermesh, killing two of the soldiersan officer and a conscriptand wounding two others.

An initial investigation into the incident found that when they were spotted by the terrorist, the troops were standing near a pillbox post located between the village of Ya'bad and nearby olive plantations. The two slain soldiers were standing at the front of their jeep, while the other two stood on the vehicle's other side, near the road.

Wounded evacuated from scene of the attack (Photo: Yair Sagi)

Upon spotting the soldiers, the terrorist veered from the road, sped up, and hit the officer and the soldier who was standing with him first. The two were killed instantly.

Then, the terrorist sped towards the two other troops, wounding one very seriously and the other moderately. At some point, the terrorist also hit the barbed-wire fence that surrounded the pillbox post.

The IDF's assessment is that only seconds passed between the time the terrorist hit the first two soldiers to when he hit the other two, leaving the troops no time to respond and fire at him.

The terrorist's Hyundai jeep has been completely destroyed in the attack, with vehicle parts scattered to considerable distances from the spot of the attack, which is a testament to the force with which he rammed into the soldiers.

The terrorist's car at the scene of the attack

Kabha, a former security prisoner who was released from prison in April 2017, initially insisted the attack was merely an accident, but he later confessed under interrogation to having acted under nationalistic motives.

The Shin Bet said that no other persons involved in the attack or aware of Kabha's intentions were known at present, meaning he was a "lone wolf" terrorist acting without the guidance of a terror group.The attack on two Hamas tunnels Saturday night and Sunday morning is another manifestation of the fundamental change in the IDFs strategy towards Hamas military wing in the Gaza Strip.

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Up until a few months ago, the IDF would settle for responding to rocket fire and explosive devices from the strip with the purpose of deterring, punishing and prompting Hamas to restrain the rebel organizations. Now, the IDF has adopted a new strategy aimed at using every event and incident on the Gaza border to destroy Hamas most important military abilities, primarily the tunnels.

IDF engineering forces work to neutralize a tunnel in the Rafah area, Sunday morning (:  ")

These are no longer acts of retaliation, punishment and deterrence, but real warfare against Hamas, which will make it easier for the IDF to manage the next round of fighting in the strip and protect the Israeli communities in the Gaza vicinity.

This is a new type of war between wars. Whereas the war between wars in the north is aimed at preventing the delivery of high-quality, precision-guided weapons to Hezbollah and the Iranian entrenchment in Syria, the new southern war between wars is aimed at thwarting Hamas and Islamic Jihads ability both to infiltrate Israel through underground tunnels and to fight IDF forces within the strip by transferring fighters, weapons and rockets through tunnels excavated in Gaza.

(Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

In IDF terms, all the attack tunnels and some of the combat tunnels Hamas is digging within the strip, in preparation for battle once an IDF force enters Gaza, are going to be neutralized in a bid to destroy the military power of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian organizations.

This is a dramatic change, no less, in the military rationale that has been guiding the IDFs responses to rocket fire and explosive devices activated against the army from the strip, as well as the nature of the military action.

A military bulldozer near the Gaza border fence

This has all been made possible thanks to the quick development and use of new technologies in two areas:

1. The discovery, detection and location of tunnels both in the area close to the Israel-Gaza border and deep within the strip.

2. The development of modern technologies for close and remote neutralization of tunnels, both from the air and from the ground.

These abilities are developing and include several types of technologies, making it possible to match the suitable technology to each and every incident in which Hamas uses the underground measure.

(Photo: IDF Spokesman's Office)

Furthermore, these technological abilities, whose nature has been kept strictly confidential, make it possible to destroy tunnels and target Hamas and Islamic Jihads most important military assets without killing Islamic Jihad or Hamas members, in light of the estimate that these organizations wont lead to a major escalation if none of their members have been killed. They wont sacrifice people and put Gazas residents at risk of another Israeli operation because of a tunnel that is no longer usable, but they might do so if organization activists are killed, especially senior commanders.

Holes created in the ground as a result of the IDF strike in Gaza on Saturday night (Photo: AFP)

The IDF is trying, therefore, to target Hamas and Islamic Jihads military infrastructures without killing their members, and the two operations carried out Saturday night and Sunday morning are an example of that effort.

Hamas will no longer be able to use the attack tunnel it tried to rebuild after part of it was destroyed in Operation Protective Edge, and it likely wont be able to use the combat tunnel in the Zeitoun neighborhood if an IDF force enters the strip. This doesnt guarantee that there wont be an escalation in the strip, but it definitely increases the IDFs deterrence and reduces Hamas and Islamic Jihads motivation to resume full-scale fighting.

Hamas tunnel digging unit. Every attack weakens the organization

Most of the terror attacks from the strip, the activation of explosive devices and the rocket fire are carried out by rebel organizations. As far as the IDF is concerned, however, it makes no difference. The damage to Hamas underground assets achieves two goals:

1. It prompts Hamas to fight the rebel organizations more intensely and prevent them from firing rockets at Israel and planting explosive devices on the fence.

2. It gives the IDF a very legitimate reason to do what it would have liked to do in any eventin other words, to weaken Hamas and its military wing without getting involved in a full-scale war.A 32-year-old Israeli who was stabbed in Jerusalem's Old City multiple times in a terror attack succumbed to his wounds Sunday evening.

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The victim was evacuated to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem where he was said to be fighting for his life. Doctors battled for hours to stabilize what was described as an "extremely seriously" condition and despite being operated on, the hospital had no choice but to pronounce his death.

Scene of incident/TPS (: TPS)

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The victim was identified as Adiel Kolman, a father of four from the settlement of Kokhav HaShahar in the West Bank, who was born in the Keshet community in the Golan Heights.

Adiel Kolman (Photo: Courtesy of the family)

The 28-year-old terrorist, Abd al-Rahman Bani Fadel, who was later confirmed to be a Palestinian from the village of Aqraba near Nablus, was shot dead by a police officer at the scene on HaGai Street, where he carried out his attack.

IDF forces raiding the terrorist's home (:  ")

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Fadel, a father of two, had a temporary permit for a week that allowed him to enter Israel to search for employment. He had already received such permits in the past, as there was no indication of his terrorist intentions.

HaGai Street in the Old City

Speaking about Kolman's condition upon arrival at the hospital, one MDA paramedic said He was fully conscious and didnt answer any questions when we got to him. He had suffered from serious wounds to his chest and stomach.

Commander of the area, David Shmueli later said that security forces were still trying to figure out how the terrorist managed to carry out the attack. We are still looking into how he got here and where he entered from. We are assessing all the possibilities in order to understand what happened here after a long period of comparative quiet in Jerusalem, he said.

Abd al-Rahman Bani Fadel

Shmueli also added that in light of a number of warnings of future attacks, police were preparing for a beefed-up deployment ahead of, and during, the upcoming festival of Passover.

We are taking everything into account. There are multiple alerts unfortunately and we are obviously augmenting the forces accordingly.

Knife used by the terrorist (Photo: Police)

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat issued a statement shortly after the attack, wishing the victim a speedy recovery, and blaming the stabbing on incitement by the Palestinian Authority.

We all wish and are praying for a speedy recovery by the victim and we thank that policeman who responded with the speed that is required, killing the terrorist and preventing further attacks. Barkat said.

Israels enemies are constantly trying to harm soldiers, policemen, security guards and civilians which is due to the serious incitement that they are exposed to by the Palestinian Authority, he continued.

HaGai Street: File photo (Photo: AP)

The only answer to it is a determined and uncompromising struggle against terror and against those who incite to terror and the continued development and building of the united Jerusalem. I ask all residents to continue their regular lives, to be alert and to inform security forces if necessary in order to thwart further attempted terror attacks.

On Friday, a Palestinian terrorist rammed into a patrol of IDF soldiers with his car on route 585 between the settlements of Mevo Dotan and Hermesh, killing two of the soldiersan officer and a conscriptand moderately-to-seriously wounding two others.

Scene of incident (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg)

The two soldiers were later identified as Lieutenant Ziv Daus, 21, of Azur, and Sergeant Netanel Kahalani, 20.

The terrorist, Alaa Kabha, 26, was later arrested when IDF forces from the Menashe Territorial Brigade carried out extensive operations overnight Friday in the village where he lived.

HaGai Street has witnessed terror attacks in the past. In October 2015, at the beginning of what became known as the wave of terror, Rabbi Nehemia Lavi and Aaron Bennett were killed in an attack.

IDF soldiers near scene of stabbing (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg)

A week later, a 36-year-old Israeli was also murdered after a female 18-year-old Palestinian attacked him with a knife. A month later, an Israel border policeman was wounded by a Palestinian assailant, who was shot dead.The police detained 3 people, among them a senior official of the Israel Shipyards company, on suspicion of bribing a foreign representative to allow defense export deals with an African country worth tens of millions of dollars.

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They are also suspected of money laundering, falsifying corporate documents, obtaining by fraud, violating the Defense Export Control Law and tax offenses.

Israel Shipyards has yet to respond to the allegations.

Israel Shipyards port in Haifa (Photo: Shamir Elbaz)

The case is being investigated by the National Fraud Investigation Unit at Lahav 433, in cooperation with the Israel Tax Authority and international law enforcement agencies.

Considered to be one of the largest shipbuilding and repair facilities in the eastern Mediterranean, Israel Shipyards provides both military and civilian services.

It was established by the state in 1959. However, in 1995, after years of underperformance and continued losses under its ownership, the company was privatized and sold. It has since been returned to profitability.

The company is now owned by the Shlomo Group, an Israeli conglomerate and holding group whose chairman is also the chairman of Israel Shipyards' board of directors.A Bayit Yehudi MK accused the High Court of Justice (HCJ) Sunday of being responsible for reducing the IDFs deterrence capabilities by prohibiting the demolition of terrorists houses, adding that its actions will make it partially culpable for the next terror attack on soldiers.

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The High Court of Justice is party to reducing the deterrence powers of IDF soldiers and the State of Israel in the next murdernot usbecause it doesnt allow home demolitions, MK Moti Yogev said.

The controversial comments were made during a radio interview and came against a background of his request to demolish the homes of terrorists, especially that belonging to Alaa Kabha who on Friday rammed into a patrol of IDF soldiers with his car on route 585 between the settlements of Mevo Dotan and Hermesh, killing two of the soldiersan officer and a conscriptand moderately-to-seriously wounding two others.

MK Moti Yogev (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

We cant rely on the excuses that the HCJ doesnt allow (home demolition). We need to put the court to the side for 72 hours and not to consider its castrating opinion, Yogev said.

Seventy-two hours is a long enough period of time to clarify whether there is any connection whatsoever between the family, the parents, brothers and sisters, he added before mocking the court itself.

The High Court is a kind of La La Land which doesnt live in Israel. The judges that it contains, including (Supreme Court Chief Justice Esther Hayut), need to know their place. The HCJ has to do some serious repentance, to fix itself and not interfere with security and policy decisions. It isnt its place. It isnt within its authority and the Israeli government needs to take the steering wheel into its hands.

Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid was quick to criticize Yogev for his comments, taking to Twitter to call for his ouster from a Knesset committee.

Bayit Yehudi must immediately suspend Moti Yogev from the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee for his comments about the HCJ. This is incitement against the rule of law which cannot be overlooked in silence, he wrote.

MK Karin Elharar, also from Yesh Atid, joined her party leader in slamming Yogev. Its a shame that MK Yogev is exploiting this painful incident for the Israeli people in order to incite against the courts and the rule of law, she said.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Esther Hayut (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

Even if Yogev wants to criticize the decisions of the court, it would be appropriate for him to express it with respect. I trust the Supreme Court and its president which took the decision with the appropriate consideration and which will carry out justice where it is required.

MK Revital Swid, from the Zionist Union, described Yogev as an irresponsible populist who doesnt hesitate for a second to incite without thinking that our soldiers are being given the false message that the HCJ is abandoning their lives.

MK Yair Lapid (Photo: Hillel Meir/TPS)

She also went on to condemn Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett for failing to speak up on the matter.

Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennetts silence, and that of Justice Minister Ayelet Shakedwho stands at the helm of the judicial systemwho didnt condemn the remarks, is terrible. They cannot ignore them in silence.

Its not the first time that Yogev has voiced his contempt for the courts rulings. In 2015, he advocated turning a D9 tractor on the HCJ itself after it unanimously rejected an appeal that called for the prevention of the demolition of a disputed area in Beit El in the West Bank.

We as a legislative system will see to it that the judicial system and this tail wagging the dog in the state is restrained, he said at the time.Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman will leave for Africa on Wednesday.

This is the first official visit by an Israeli defense minister to the continent in decades.

Lieberman will visit Rwanda, Tanzania and Zambia and hold a series of diplomatic meetings with heads of state and their defense ministers.

During his absence, Lieberman will be temporarily replaced by Minister of Jerusalem Affairs and Minister of Environmental Protection Ze'ev Elkin.Ex-cabinet minister, human rights activist, author and outgoing Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky won the 2018 Israel Prize for his lifetime achievement and exceptional contribution to the State of Israel in the field of Aliyah and ingathering of the exiles, it was announced Sunday by Education Minister Naftali Bennett.

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Bennett congratulated the former refusnik (a term used for people who were refused permission to emigrate to Israel from the Soviet Union), saying he "symbolizes the fulfillment of the Zionist dream, from the darkness of a Soviet prison to the light of freedom as the leader of the Jewish Agency."





Natan Sharansky (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

In a statement issued following the announcement, Sharansky called the award "a great honor and a great responsibility."

"When it comes to kibbutz galuyot, ingathering the exiles, this prize also goes to (my wife) Avital and to all the Aliyah activists and Prisoners of Zion in the Soviet Union who fought valiantly for the right to immigrate to Israel. It also goes to the entire Jewish people, which supported the refuseniks struggle for freedom," he wrote.

The ingathering of the exiles continuesAliyah today is an Aliyah of free choice: Israel is the best place for self-actualization as a Jew and for impacting the future of the Jewish people. We must do everything to ensure that Israel remains a home to every Jew in the world.

In its reasoning for awarding the prize to Sharansky, the Israel Prize committee wrote, "Mr. Sharansky's activity is an activity for the Jewish people and the State of Israel and constitutes an absolute engrossment that has even led to a violation of his freedom.

"The story of his life is a sign and a symbol of the struggle for the right of the Jews to immigrate to the Land of Israel, to settle there and to be absorbed in it with dignity."

Sharansky with the late Shimon Peres

Lawmakers from across the political spectrum congratulated Sharansky on the award.

In a Twitter post directly addressing him, President Reuven Rivlin said Sharansky has "traveled a long and moving journey, from Prisoner of Zion, a symbol of the struggle for freedom, then MK & senior minister, now chairman of the Jewish Agency," adding that Israel is "blessed to have you."

From the gulag to the Knesset

Born in 1948 in the former Soviet Union as Anatoly Borisovich Shcharansky, Sharansky was denied permission to immigrate to Israel by the government in 1973 for alleged information he was given which was vital to Soviet national security.

He then became a human rights activist, working as a spokesperson for the Moscow Helsinki Group, one of Russia's leading human rights organizations, and a leader for the rights of refuseniks.

In 1977, Sharansky was arrested on multiple fabricated charges including high treason for spying for the Americans and sentenced the following year to 13 years of forced labor.

When given his sentencing, Sharansky famously stated that "to the court I have nothing to sayto my wife and the Jewish people I say 'Next Year in Jerusalem.'"

He spent nine years in a Siberian prison. Half of that was spent in solitary confinement, where his health deteriorated to the point of endangering his life. Sharansky, a chess prodigy, later said that he managed to keep himself sane by playing chess with himself, in his head.

After nine years in prison, thanks to considerable international pressure and a campaign led by his wife, Avital Sharansky, Mr. Sharansky was released on February 11, 1986. That same day, he immigrated to Israel and arrived in Jerusalem, where he continued to fight for the rights of refuseniks.

Three former Prisoners of Zion. L-R: Rabbi Yosef Mendelevitch, Yoel Edelstein and Natan Sharansky (:  )

In 1995 Sharansky and Speaker of the Knesset and fellow Prisoner of Zion Yoel Edelstein founded the Yisrael BaAliyah party (a play of words, since "aliya" also means "rise," thus the party name means "People of Israel are immigrating to the State of Israel" as well as "Israel on the rise").

From 1996 to 2000 he served as Minister of Industry and Trade and then as Minister of Internal Affairs, leaving the government when it was suggested that former Prime Minister Ehud Barak's negotiations with the Palestinians would result in a division of Jerusalem.

Sharansky remained the chairman of the party, which was later merged into the Likud. He later served in the government in 20012003 as Deputy Prime Minister and Ministry of Construction and Housing, and in 20032005 as Minister of Jerusalem Affairs.

In 2009, Sharansky was elected Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, remaining in the position until 2018. Both former US President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended his farewell gala , thanking him for his service.

L-R: Avital Sharansky, fmr. US President Bush, Natan Sharansky, Sara and Prime Minister Netanyahu

For his activism, Sharansky was awarded the two highest civilian awards in the United States, the Congressional Gold Medal and the Presidential Medal of Freedom , in 1986 and 2006 respectively, and the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award in 2008.

He continued to lead human rights initiatives both through his writings and through his public activism. His memoir, "Fear No Evil," was published in the United States in 1988 and translated into nine languages. His best-seller, "The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror," which starred in the New York Times best-seller list, attracted considerable attention for its prescience.

Sharansky, along with other laureates of the award, will be officially awarded the Israel Prize during this years 70th Independence Day celebrations, set to take place on April 19.A mere 3.85% of property investment experts believe Sydney offers solid prospects this year, a major drop from 11% in 2017, according to the Property Investment Professionals of Australias (PIPA) 2018 Member Survey.

Nearly half (46.15%) of respondents said Brisbane offered the best investment prospects for 2018. The Queensland capital was also the top pick by property investment professionals last year, with 44% of respondents selecting the city.

Melbourne was picked as the second best location for property investment this year (19.23%), down from 29% in 2017.

The third pick was Perth, which has shown signs of recovery over the most recent quarters. About 15.38% of respondents said the WA capital offered the best property investment prospects for 2018, a significant increase from 3.7% in 2017.

According to Peter Koulizos, chairman of PIPA, Sydneys strong price growth over the past five years has resulted in its property investment metrics no longer adding up for sophisticated investors.

Its sky-high property prices means that rental yields are constrained and smart investors arent prepared to make up the difference in cash flow from their back pockets, Koulizos said.

He added that Brisbanes affordability was one of the reasons why it was once again selected as the capital city with the best property investment prospects.

The huge difference in terms of affordability between Sydney and Brisbane was helping fuel interstate migration into the Sunshine State.

When the numbers are literally two for the price of one, it's no surprise that owner-occupiers and first-home buyers are opting to head north to southeast Queensland to take advantage of its more affordable property prices, Koulizos said.

Related Stories:- Former President Rawlings has denied allegations of corruption levelled against him by NPP MP Kennedy Agyapong.

- Mr Agyapong had claimed the former President was shielding a businessman over a 'dubious' contract

- But Mr Rawlings has said the allegation was just to tarnish the names of good people

Barely 24 hours after being accused of corruption by Assin Central MP, Kennedy Agyapong, former President Jerry John Rawlings has come out to defend himself.

According to Mr Rawlings, contrary to the Assin Central MP's claim, he [Rawlings]and his wife, Nana Konadu Agyeman had no interest in the business.

READ ALSO: These 15 Ewe names are tongue-twisting but you'd love them if you knew their meanings

Mr Agyapong had alleged that Mr Rawlings and his wife were shielding a dubious business interest of Mr Marwan, the CEO and Chairman of Air Cargo Company at the Kotoka International Airport.

J.J. Rawlings

Speaking on his Oman FM, the five-term MP had claimed that the Rawlingses were influencing attempts to review the contract of Marwan's company, signed in July 2012, and which the outspoken MP believed was being abused.

READ ALSO: VIDEO: Counsellor Lutterodt calls Yvonne Nelson 'ashawo' on live TV

He [Traboulsi Marwan] doesnt even allow National Security to enter his compound . And we [NPP government] are also allowing it to continue because he is Ex-President Rawlings close friend, he said on Oman FM Thursday.

But speaking at a Town Hall meeting of cadres and NDC activists at the Arts Centre in Accra on Saturday, Mr Rawlings denied the allegation describing Mr Marwan as 'brilliant' and 'efficient'.

I will defend him any day as one of the most efficient and brilliant minds that I have come across. He was one of the first to go into large-scale farming and the export of pineapples during the revolution. Others did the same but his operations were so efficient that he was doing much better than some of the others. He later secured an aircraft that not only exported his produce but that of other farmers," the former President said.

READ ALSO: 11 sad photos from the burial of Ebony's friend Franky Kuri that will break your heart today

He explained the circumstances under which Mr Marwan came into cargo handling and how efficient he has been pointing out that there was an attempt to spoil his good name.

Traboulsi left farming and diversified into cargo handling where his efficiency won him a bid to manage cargo handling at the airport.

His efficiency level was so high we could beat South Africa by 30 minutes in cargo handling operations. Today some want to spoil the names of good people just like we do in our party, Mr Rawlings said in an obvious reply to Ken Agyapong's allegations.

Star Gist on YEN brings you an exclusive interview with upcoming music star Kobla Jnr:

We are looking for unique stories and photos about developments happening in your area.

Get in touch with YEN on Facebook or Instagram.

Source: YenIf you are looking for the new Immoral Minority posts, you should know that they can be found here at our new home Please stop by to get caught up on politics, join the conversations, or simply check out the new digs.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."He was able to gain a benefit from killing those pups".

Haines, a postdoctoral fellow at the U of A, was working with red squirrels in the Yukon in 2014 when she made the discovery.

Haines, a University of Alberta researcher, had witnessed a murder.

The work was part of a long-term study called the Kluane Red Squirrel Project, which has been running for more than 30 years in a white-spruce forest located off the Alaska Highway about two hours west of Whitehorse.

"I heard a commotion quite close to me and I walked quickly over, and that's when I saw the infanticide", she recalled. The animals were only metres away from her and easy to recognize because of the coloured tags that scientists had put in their ears for quick identification. Based on the tags, Dr. Haines knew that the male was intruding into the female's territory.

"I was excited, on the one hand, but also kind of horrified and fascinated to be seeing this all at once", Haines said.

"They live in these prides and when a male lion comes in and takes over the pride, he will typically come in and kill all of the young offspring that were sired by the previous male who lived in that group".

Later, Dr. Haines found the body of another baby squirrel from the same litter.

A typical female squirrel will have one litter per year, but in a mast year, she will have two and the second litter can be larger (females can average anywhere between one and four pups per litter).

Haines was the first to observe and document the behaviour in red squirrels.

"This is the first time it's been documented in red squirrels", Jessica Haines said. A lynx, for instance, will leave just the tail, while birds tend to pluck the squirrel before they eat it, Haines said. Each female may mate with a number of males, so that the litters that are born about a month later can have multiple fathers.

Females breed in spring and cones mature in fall, so the squirrels predict future cone availability when they have the second litter, Haines said.

But when food is bountiful, even late-bloomers can survive. "It's when a male kills another male's offspring to increase the chances that he'll be able to father pups of his own when the female breeds again".

Red squirrels are likely to commit what's called "sexually selected infanticide" in years when food is abundant, according to new research out of the University of Alberta.

"When infanticide happens in the mast year, it gives the males a second chance at fatherhood", she said.

Squirrel infanticide only happens during mast years - when spruce trees produce more cones more than usual.

Numerous pups had injuries that were consistent with bite marks she saw on the dead pup, Haines said.

"We think this infanticide happens more often during these mast years because that is when the females are likely to produce a second litter", she said.

Dr. Hrdy also praised the Canadian study for capturing the phenomenon so convincingly among the red squirrels.

Haines said this discovery tells her there's much more to lean about infanticide in different species.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 19)  Catriona Gray is Miss Universe Philippines 2018.

The 24-year-old stunner was crowned Monday past midnight at the Binibining Pilipinas 2018 coronation night held at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City.

Gray, a crowd favorite, bested 39 other candidates to win the coveted title.

Aside from winning Miss Universe Philippines, Gray also won Best in Swimsuit, Best in Long Gown, Best in National Costume, JAG Denim Queen, and Miss Ever Bilena.

She will represent the Philippines in the 67th Miss Universe pageant.

Here's the list of other winners:

Bb. Pilipinas International 2018 - Ma. Ahtiza Manalo

Bb. Pilipinas Globe 2018 - Michele Gumabao

Bb. Pilipinas Intercontinental 2018 - Karen Galman

Bb. Pilipinas Grand International 2018 - Eva Patalinjug

Bb. Pilipinas Supranational 2018 - Jehza Huelar

First runner-up: Vickie Marie Rushton

Second runner-up: Samantha Bernardo

The following also won special awards at the event:

Miss Creamsilk  Michele Gumabao

Miss Philippine Airlines  Muriel Orais

The face of Binibini - Eva Psychee Patalinjug

Miss Talent - Shane Tormes

Miss Friendship - Shane Tormes

Manila Bulletin Readers Choice Award - Samantha Bernardo

Binibining Pilipinas 2018 marks the pageants 55th iteration since its inception in 1964.

In 2017, the Philippines collected podium finishes in various international pageants, including Miss Earth winner Karen Ibasco, Miss Reina Hispanoamericana winner Winwyn Marquez, Miss Globe First Runner-up Nelda Ibe, and Miss Grand International Second Runner-up Elizabeth Clenci.

CNN Philippines' Makoi Popioco contributed to this story.Total exports of US hardwood lumber and veneer to the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region including Pakistan reached $96.74 million during 2017, according to a statement issued by the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC), the leading international trade association for the American hardwood industry.



The statistics, which have been compiled from the latest data released from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), reveal a 7 per cent overall increase over 2016 figures.



The announcement was made on March 12, at the opening of the Dubai WoodShow, which is due to run until March 14 at the Dubai International Exhibition and Convention Center.



According to the data released, exports of American hardwood lumber reached a value of $75.46 million and a volume of 92,273 cu m, marking an increase of 20 per cent and 17 per cent respectively over 2016.



A closer look at the numbers also revealed that direct shipments of US hardwood veneers to the Mena region during 2017 reached a total value of $21.13 million, falling by 23 per cent over the previous year.



However, American hardwood veneers are also shipped to the region from European countries and China, while veneers are also produced in the region - notably in Turkey - from imported American hardwood logs.



The UAE was the region's strongest performer last year, with exports of US hardwood lumber to the market rising by 86 per cent in both volume and value to 24,597 cu m and $21.05 million, as compared to the previous year.



This means that over a quarter of all US hardwood lumber shipped to the Mena region was destined for the UAE last year. However, a large percentage of what goes to the UAE is for re-export to neighbouring Gulf markets, as well as to markets further afield.



Nonetheless, a very buoyant construction sector in the UAE ahead of Dubai's World Expo 2020, is expected to keep demand for American hardwoods at a high level through this year and beyond.



Among the other major destinations for American hardwoods in the Mena region, increases were also seen in exports to Saudi Arabia (up by 10 per cent in volume to 6,539 cu m), and Jordan (up by 12 per cent in volume to 4,395 cu m).



One Mena market that showed remarkable growth in demand for US hardwood lumber last year was Lebanon, to which exports grew by 70 per cent in volume and 61 per cent in value as compared to 2016.



In addition, American hardwood veneer exports to Lebanon also increased by 27 per cent to reach a value of $3.317 million in 2017.



At the same time, exports of US hardwood lumber to the region's two other major markets - Pakistan and Turkey - remained almost unchanged from the previous year.



Positive of increased growth across the region, AHEC is participating at the annual Dubai WoodShow. During the three-day show, AHEC is hosting a pavilion with individual booths occupied by 14 US hardwood exporting companies along with the Hardwood States Export Group (HSEG) - a coalition of major eastern US hardwood exporting states.



Confirmed exhibitors include MacDonald & Owen Lumber Company; Hartzell Hardwoods; Atlantic Veneer Corporation; Baillie Lumber; Midwest Hardwood Corporation; Hermitage Hardwood Lumber Sales; Oaks Unlimited; American Lumber; Nina Company; Wood'n Slabs; Northland Corporation; Missouri Walnut; Thompson Hardwoods; and Wheeland Lumber Company.



Roderick Wiles, AHEC regional director, said: Tactile, warm, unique, natural and sustainable are just some of the adjectives ascribed to American hardwoods by architects and designers in the Middle East.



Whether it is for a one-off furniture piece or a large-scale interior fit out, hardwoods from the United States are increasingly being specified, as they become better known and more widely appreciated, he said.



As a result, the US is the number one supplier of temperate hardwoods to the Middle East. Timber is certainly experiencing a global renaissance as a preferred material and as architects and designers seek out natural material alternatives across a variety of applications, we expect to see American hardwoods becoming increasingly widely-specified in the region, he concluded.  TradeArabia News ServiceAl Fahid Island Development, a high-end mixed-use waterfront development in Abu Dhabi, UAE, has awarded its first construction package to Bright Accord General Contracting.

The local contractor has been awarded the nine-month reclamation package and construction work has now begun on site.

The contract was announced by Faithful+Gould, which last year was engaged by the developer Al Fahid Property Development to provide cost management services at the design, tender and construction stages on the high-end mixed-use waterfront development.

Faithful+Gould is a member of the SNC-Lavalin Group and an integrated project and programme management consultancy. Its cost management services cover the reclamation, marine works, site-wide infrastructure and landscaping, residential and leisure components.

Steven Batchelor, regional director for commercial services in Faithful+Gould business, said: We played a key role awarding the first construction contract for this breathtaking development and are excited start to see the development take its formative shape. The client has masterplanned a truly exceptional luxury development that will transform the E12 landscape over the coming years and be unrivalled in terms of both the communities quality of design and lifestyle offered.

Located between Abu Dhabis Saadiyat and Yas Islands, Al Fahid Island will host a variety of residential offerings including beachfront villas, luxury townhouses and medium-rise apartment blocks situated around a spectacular marina, a beach club, retail and food and beverage (F&B) outlets, schools, community facilities and landscaped community parks.

The masterplan will be delivered in five phases, with Phase One having a plot area of about 21 million sq m. The family-friendly community will consist of 301 luxury four- to seven-bedroom villas, 652 one- to four-bedroom apartments with breathtaking views across the marina extending into the Arabian Gulf, 15 exclusive three-bedroom townhouses in waterfront and park settings.  TradeArabia News ServiceGeneral Electric (GE) has begun flight trials of the worlds largest jet engine, the GE9XTM. The engine lifted off on March 13 under wing of GE Aviations 747 flying testbed in Victorville, California, US, for its first flight test.



GE Aviation, an operating unit of GE, is a world-leading provider of jet and turboprop engines, components, integrated digital, avionics, electrical power and mechanical systems for commercial, military, business and general aviation aircraft.



The engine that will power Boeings new 777X aircraft flew for more than four hours on its first flight, said a statement.



During the flight, the aircraft and engine completed the entire test card and validated key operational and functional characteristics enabling the test campaign to progress in subsequent flights, it said.



Ted Ingling, general manager of the GE9X programme at GE Aviation, said: The GE9X and Victorville teams have spent months preparing for flight testing of the engine, and their efforts paid off today with a picture-perfect first flight.



Todays flight starts the beginning of the GE9X flight test campaign that will last for several months, allowing us to accumulate data on how the engine performs at altitude and during various phases of flight, he said.



Certification testing of the GE9X engine began in May 2017. Beyond flight testing, the engine recently completed icing tests at GE Aviations facility in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and continues crosswind testing at the Peebles Test Operation in Ohio. Engine certification is expected in 2019.



With almost 700 GE9X engines on order, the GE9X engine will be in the 100,000 pound thrust class and will have the largest front fan at 134 inches in diameter with a composite fan case and 16 fourth generation carbon fiber composite fan blades. Other key features include: a next-generation 27:1 pressure-ratio 11-stage high-pressure compressor; a third-generation TAPS III combustor for high efficiency and low emissions; and CMC material in the combustor and turbine.



IHI Corporation, Safran Aircraft Engines, Safran Aero Boosters and MTU Aero Engines AG are participants in the GE9X engine programme.



GE Aviation has a global service network to support these offerings and is part of the worlds Digital Industrial Company with software-defined machines and solutions that are connected, responsive and predictive.  TradeArabia News ServiceInfiniti has launched the 2018 edition of its highly successful Infiniti Engineering Academy, its fifth consecutive year recruiting the best engineers worldwide to work both with Infiniti Motor Company and Renault Sport Formula One Team.



This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is aimed at highly driven students looking to venture into the vehicle engineering industry, where they will brush shoulders with some of the most experienced engineers within automotive and Formula 1, said a statement.



This new edition of the Infiniti Engineering Academy will also benefit from unprecedented access to Formula 1 circuits during Grand Prix weeks, with six of the seven academy finals being held trackside (Canada, Silverstone for the Europe Final, Singapore for the Asia and Oceania Final, US, Mexico, and Abu Dhabi for the Middle East Final), it said.



As a result, the Infiniti Engineering Academy finalists (10 per participating region) will be granted access to the Renault Sport Formula One Teams pit lane, garage and motorhome areas on the Thursday before their local Formula 1 Grand Prix, where they will carry out several challenges under the watchful eye of Bob Bell, Nico Hulkenberg, Carlos Sainz, and other members of Renault Sport Formula One Team, it added.



Tommaso Volpe, director motorsport and performance projects, Infiniti Global, said: Thanks to our technical partnership with Renault Sport Formula One Team, our company is now an established active player in F1.



The academy is one of our most successful projects and we are very proud of the impressive growth of this programme year after year, both in terms of student applications and awareness. In 2018 we will offer again a once in a lifetime opportunity to seven young engineers from all over the world, confirming our commitment to talent and diversity, he said.



Furthermore, were incredibly pleased that this year the winners of the Infiniti Engineering Academy will be selected trackside during Grand Prix weeks - the perfect setting for engineers to compete for a place in this unique programme, he said.



For the 2018 edition of the academy, Infiniti has also partnered with Harvard University Professor Dr Julia Minson, who specialises in decision science.



Dr Minson will work with the academy to conduct ground-breaking research into decision making in engineering, and how the very best engineers perform under pressure to make decisions when faced with vast amounts of complex data. The learnings from the research will then be incorporated by both the Infiniti engineering and motorsport teams to optimise their decision-making processes, said a statement.



Dr Minson and her team will also support Infiniti during the engineering academy recruitment process and assist the judges during the Finals to ensure that the best winners are selected. With increasing registration numbers year-on-year (the 2017 edition attracted over 12,000 registrations from 41 different countries - a near-threefold increase on the previous edition), competition to secure one of the seven places available globally is fiercer and the calibre of the candidates higher than ever.



Cyril Abiteboul, managing director, Renault Sport Racing, said: Attracting top new talent is crucial for success in Formula One, and the Infiniti Engineering Academy helps us do that.



Its a fantastic initiative that takes recruitment in F1 to a whole new level, and brings new and diverse talent to the sport, which is crucial to its future development, he said.



The academy engineers that we have working with us at Enstone are a big asset to us as we continue to strengthen our technical resource. We look forward to recruiting the seven 2018 winners and expect the same great levels of talent we have seen in the previous ones, added Abiteboul.



With Formula 1 more relevant to the automotive industry than ever, Infiniti reaffirms its pledge to creating a cross-functional automotive-F1 platform for young engineers, who can boost their careers through this unique opportunity within the largest automotive corporation in the world, the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, concluded Volpe.  TradeArabia News ServiceDrydocks World, a DP World company, a leading provider of maritime and offshore services to the shipping, oil, gas and energy sectors has received the Dubai Chamber Corporate Social Responsibility Label for the fourth year in a row.



The company received the honour in recognition of its efforts and contributions to excellence in various areas of social responsibility, said a statement.



The Dubai Chamber Social Corporate Responsibility Label is designed to provide a diagnostic practice that enables the chamber to scrutinise and examine the activities of companies both internally and externally, it said.



This helps companies assess their current contributions to CSR and determine how to further improve their leadership position in the area of social responsibility within industry, it added.



Drydocks World Corporate Social Responsibility Committee is always working on identifying all the objectives of the employee's involvement in awareness and volunteering programs for various charitable activities in order to enhance volunteering opportunities in cooperation with charitable organisations such as Al Noor Training Centre for Persons with Disabilities and the Emirates Red Crescent to participate in external activities.



Drydocks Worlds medical team has initiated two blood donation initiatives in 2017, where it managed to collect 147 blood units to donate to people throughout the country.



Drydocks World participated in "Earth Hour 2017," a global event held annually advocating turning off power for one hour.



The initiative aims to raise awareness on the dangers of climate change and to spread a message of conserving electricity and reducing gas emissions. Drydocks World participated and recorded savings in electrical energy reaching 3,596 KW-Hour, it stated.  TradeArabia News ServiceA bespoke interior finishing company, Covering Concepts has announced the launch of its design studio at Dubai Design District with the aim of capturing a share of the growing GCC interior fit-out market, valued at approximately $18 billion.



Covering Concepts will offer a wide range of premium flooring and wall design solution for both residential and commercial projects. The company has partnered with several well-known European brands, such as Havwoods, Wineo, Shinnoki, Querkus, Ravaioli Legnami, Paviflex and Softcare  bringing their artistic and eco-friendly products to the region. In addition, Covering Concepts will work with talented local and international designers to offer an end-to-end solution for their customers.



Jay Vasu, director, Covering Concepts said: Flooring and wall designs play a dominant feature in the interior decor that enhances the ambience of a room significantly. With the environment and sustainability being a key focus; all our products are fully accredited as per green building standards. Our partnership with well-known European manufacturers enables us to offer our customers a wide range of quality products with the most elegant and modern designs.



Raj Nair, director of Covering Concepts said, Dubai Design District is a hub for design, art and creativity, which makes it the right fit to launch our design studio here. With our wide collection of product in different textures, patterns and colours, interior designers and enthusiasts have an opportunity to customise their designs to the smallest detail.



Covering Concepts will showcase its range of flooring and wall claddings and highlight seasonal trends at the upcoming Surface Design 2018 exhibition (Hall 6C Stand No: 251), taking place from March 26 - 29 at Dubai World Trade. - TradeArabia News Service

The Japan External Trade Organization (Jetro) and Middle East Intellectual Property Group (ME-IPG) have reaffirmed their commitment to curb the trade of counterfeit Japanese products in the UAE and the wider Middle East region.



With counterfeit goods worth hundreds of millions being seized in the UAE every year, consumers have also been put on high alert on the dangers of using such illicit products.



Speaking at a recent intellectual property event in Dubai, Jetro spokesperson expressed deep concerns of how the proliferation of counterfeit goods in the region is negatively affecting genuine businesses.



According to Masami Ando, Jetros managing director, counterfeits inflows into the UAE, in particular Dubai, are a big concern for Japanese brands and businesses operating in the region. This, he said, is a worrying and dangerous trend which, if not tamed, could scuttle the regions economic gains as well as expose consumers to risks associated with the purchase and use of fake goods.



In 2017, fake goods worth over $76 million were seized after a sting operation by the law enforcement authorities in the city. Similar inter-agency operations conducted in 2014 and 2016 netted goods worth over $67 million and $37 million, respectively.



Ando said: The counterfeits trade is adversely affecting genuine brands and businesses. Counterfeits and trademark violation is now the number one concern for Japanese businesses that are looking to expand into the UAE market. If this illicit trade is not addressed, the region could eventually become less attractive to investors.



Ando was, however, optimistic that through stakeholder forums such as Spot the Difference: The Real Japanese Brand vs The Fake activation, the war against counterfeits could be won. This IP exhibit was held with the support of the related government authorities such as Dubai Police, Dubai Economy, Dubai Customs and EIPA.



The real vs fake goods exhibition brought together six Japanese companies who took part in educating participants on how to spot fake goods.



Participants from all over the region were also sensitised on the dangers in terms of health and security as well as the long-term costs associated with the purchase and use counterfeit products.



The Japanese entrepreneurs are now collectively calling on all stakeholders to strengthen the fight against Intellectual Property crimes both offline and online in a bid to protect their brands as well as maintain Dubais healthy and competitive business environment.



With online marketplaces having increasingly become key distribution channels for fake goods, counterfeit traders are now boldly showcasing their products on social media preying on unsuspecting buyers.



In 2017, the DED shut down more than 6,800 Instagram accounts for allegedly promoting and selling pirated goods. Over 3,600 accounts were previously shut down during the same period in 2016.



Some of the products that are mostly counterfeited include designer bags, home electronic appliances, mobile phones and accessories, watches and fashion items, fragrances, motor vehicle spare parts among others, it stated.  TradeArabia News ServiceAluminium Bahrain (Alba), the Bahrain-based aluminium smelter, as part of its commitment to safety, recently launched its plant-wide safety, health and environment (SHE) campaign Safety ABC.



The campaign highlights key aspects of the 2018 CEO Expectation Safety Selfie  the Arrival of Safety Selfie, Success is where Preparation & Opportunity Meet, Going Back to Basics, and Change Starts with Belief, said a statement from the company.



Albas chief executive officer Tim Murray said: Staying safe is the choice we make at our company. This campaign focusses on every employee being an ambassador of safety with the ability to influence and educate one another.



By being more self-aware about safety, we can boost our resilience and be well-prepared for the challenges ahead with the rise of Line 6 and as we approach the hot summer, he added.



The Safety ABC SHE Campaign will conclude on March 22, and comprise safety visits by Albas officials to various areas in the plant, it added.  TradeArabia News Service

The Dubai Design and Fashion Council (DDFC) has signed an agreement with the DIFC Dispute Resolution Authority (DRA) including DIFC Courts, for wider adoption of the English language in international law courts system by Dubais fast-developing design and fashion sector.



As design entrepreneurs start up and compete across the region and beyond, they are reliant on key partnerships for talent, funding and materials, reported Emirates news agency Wam.



These need to be protected to enable businesses to trade securely and grow. By opting in to DIFC Courts Small Claims Tribunal, SCT, using a standard contract clause, enterprises will benefit from its proven capacity to resolve disputes amicably and fast in English, with 85 percent of cases settled within four weeks.



Through the award-winning smart SCT, firms with claims can access a virtual courtroom online from anywhere in the world. With the option of serving notice via instant messaging and social media, business owners can now solve legal problems using their smartphones or laptops with minimal interruption even as they travel.



Amna Al Owais, deputy chief executive at the DRA, said: "As Dubai is transformed into an international design and fashion hub, new enterprises need protection to innovate and trade securely as well as to safeguard the intellectual property that is their lifeblood. Adopting DIFC Courts as a jurisdiction of choice will give them the ability to draw up English language contracts that can be understood, negotiated and enforced in every corner of the globe."



Jazia Al Dhanhani, DDFC chief executive officer, said: "Most designers go into business with a dream and a vision. Sadly, some then go on to struggle with disputes that are too difficult or expensive to resolve. Through our cooperation agreement we can give our design community a rapid and cost-effective way of protecting their brands, creations and livelihoods. At Dubai Design and Fashion Council we want to enable them to focus on what they do best  building successful creative businesses."



The agreement expands access for DDFC members to the regions first pro bono programme, operated by the DIFC Academy of Law. Eligible businesses and individuals, such as design start-ups on extremely limited funding, will have the opportunity to benefit from free legal advice.



Thinking ahead for businesses of the future, DIFC Courts and DDFC will work together to understand the industries needs from a legislative perspective for IP law.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 17)  Although the fight for gender equality may sometimes be difficult, there are many ways to empower women at home and in the workplace.

At CNN Philippines' Leading Women to #PressforProgress, the company's first women's summit held Saturday, CNN International anchor and correspondent Kristie Lu Stout enumerated the ways one person could make a difference.

Her talk,"Here's to the Sisterhood," highlighted the network of support that it takes to boost a woman. This network, she explained, could be found at home, among friends, or in the office.

"If 2017 was about the 'Me Too' movement... 2018 and the years after are about getting the job done," she said.

Lu Stout hosts the daily news program, "News Stream," the monthly show, "On China," and the feature program, "Art of Movement." She also regularly contributes to CNN's "Leading Women" series.

Citing the Global Gender Gap Report of 2017, Lu Stout pointed out that achieving gender equality could take as long as 161 years in the East Asia and the Pacific.

"I don't want to wait 161 years before we achieve gender equality. Do you?" said Lu Stout.

Here are some of her tips.

Boost a female colleague

Raise your voice for female colleagues in conferences, networking events, and at work -- even if it's through social media or an e-mail, said Lu Stout.

She said her colleague, CNN digital correspondent and editor-at-large Kelly Walace, started a weekly internal e-mail newsletter at CNN called "Women's Watch."

"It's designed to showcase our work and to celebrate the amazing work of the women of CNN. So perhaps you can start one at your organization," she suggested.

Say no to 'manels'

Lu Stout said we should steer clear of "manels," or all-male panels.

"Let's not organize or take part in any panel discussions unless one or more participants is a woman," she said.

She added her work pushes her to go out of the way to find and interview female voices of authority, leaders, academics, and analysts.

"Men are also sick of listening to 'manels' as well. So let's hear from a broader array of people," said Lu Stout.

Make your partner 'lean in'

The award-winning journalist advised women to make their partner "lean in," or split the household work. She emphasized that the partner should "also have an equal voice in what happens in the home."

"It's not just the right thing to do, it's the smart thing to do, because families with equally involved parents are happier families," she added.

Volunteer to be a role model

"Be a mentor. Speak to young women and girls so they can see, hear, and be with a woman at work," said the CNN anchor.

She also observed the "tragedy" of girls tending to undermine themselves. Lu Stout advised them to avoid "upspeak," which happens when women talk like they are asking a question when they are actually making a statement.

"We've done it before, even myself back in the day. Sometimes we use phrases like you know, sorta, maybe," she said.

She noted studies showed a confidence gap between boys and girls, and how girls tended to lose their self-esteem between elementary and high school.

"So as women who work, we've got to show our success and set a positive example to encourage girls to speak with confidence," said Lu Stout.

Use your platform

Finally, Lu Stout said women in positions of power must use their platform to help others.

"If you happen to be a journalist, a journalist of CNN Philippines or elsewhere, use that powerful platform to lift up women's voices," she said.

Watch Lu Stout's complete talk, and talks from other guests at #PressForProgress, here.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 18)  The House Committee on Justice is set to vote on the articles of impeachment against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on Monday.

The panel wants to impeach Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno for violations in her Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN), on top of six other grounds.

The voting comes after six months of hearings. It was originally scheduled on March 14, but was deferred because the committee's draft report with the articles of impeachment was not yet ready.

Speaking to CNN Philippines on Friday, Justice Panel Chairperson Reynaldo Umali revealed some of the seven articles against the Chief Justice include issues on her SALN, supposed abuse of power as ex-officio Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) Chairperson, and alleged disregard for the separation of powers among the three branches of government.

READ: Ousting Sereno: House justice panel chair reveals 3 of 7 articles of impeachment

The draft report listing the articles of impeachment was made by the committees five chairpersons. Once it is approved by the committee, it will be submitted to the House plenary

If at least one-third of the members of the House of Representatives vote to impeach Sereno, the complaint will go to trial at the Senate, where a conviction in just one article will be enough to oust the Chief Justice.

Umali said issues in Serenos SALN were the strongest charges against the Chief Justice. Sereno had supposedly failed to submit SALNs for several years when she was teaching at the University of the Philippines (UP), in addition to allegations she excluded two properties from her SALN.

Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, convicted Serenos predecessor, the late Chief Justice Renato Corona in 2012 for omissions in his SALN.

Serenos spokesperson, Jojo Lacanilao, however, claims the alleged non-filing of the SALN is not relevant to the impeachment case. He said the non-filing was allegedly committed when Sereno was a professor, and not an impeachable official.

Aside from Serenos SALNs, Umali said the draft resolution cites Serenos supposed hand in excluding Court of Appeals (CA) Associate Justice Fernanda Lampas-Peralta from the shortlist of nominees for the position of CA presiding justice.

Umali also said the Justice panel noted Sereno disrespected impeachment proceedings when she refused to attend them.

Lacanilao, however, said the JBC only implemented its rules in its shortlist of nominees. He also countered, it was lawmakers who rejected Sereno's request to allow her lawyers to examine witnesses on her behalf.

Sereno is accused of violating the Constitution, corruption, betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes. She has repeatedly denied the allegations and asked for the complaint to be dismissed.

The Chief Justice has said she would answer allegations once her case reaches Senate for trial, as she did not want to preempt her defense.

Speaking to CNN Philippines on March 8, Sereno said she ready to face the Senate impeachment court. The embattled Chief Justice also said the issue of her impeachment is larger than her and is tied with judicial independence.

READ: Sereno on impeachment defense: We're 'ready to go'

Aside from the impeachment case, Solicitor General Jose Calida has also filed a quo warranto petition questioning Sereno's appointment as Chief Justice.

READ: SolGen questions Sereno's qualifications as chief justice

CNN Philippines Eimor Santos contributed to this storyMetro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 18)  The Dela Rosa family goes to mass together with their relatives every Sunday. They live near each other in Barangay Lumang Bayan in Plaridel, Bulacan.

But this week, their Sunday took on a tragic turn. In place of their usual weekend gathering, five white wooden caskets were lined up in the chapel of the Holy Cross instead.

Five members of the Dela Rosa family died Saturday, when a plane crashed into their home.

Rissa, the mother, was having lunch with her children, 17-year-old John Noel, 10-year-old Timothy Noel, and seven-year-old Krissa when the plane plummeted from the sky. The grandmother, Luisa Santos, 75, also died from the incident.

READ: 10 dead after plane crashes into house in Plaridel, Bulacan

Plaridel police said Saturday they had retrieved 10 bodies from the site of the crash-- five from the family, and five others onboard the crashed plane.

Now, all that's left onsite are the plane's burnt parts and the victims' clothes.

Just a day after the tragedy, grieving relatives try to cope with the sudden death of their loved ones.

Leo Dela Rosa, Rissa's eldest son, was still in shock when CNN Philippines talked to him. He was riding a tricycle on his way home from class when he heard the news.

"Tinanong po kasi ako kung saan bababa. Sabi ko po eh doon pa po. Sabi (niya), hindi kita mahahatid (doon) kasi nasusunog... Tinanong ko po kung saan may nasusunog eh, tapos doon daw po sa may bahay namin... Eh yun na po bumaba na po ako tapos pumunta na po ako," he said.

[Translation: The tricycle driver asked me where I'd go down. I told him there, but he said he couldn't bring me there cause there was a fire I asked where there was a fire and he said it was at our house I got off the tricycle and went there.]

His father, Noel, still couldn't explain what happened. He mourns not just the loss of his wife, but his three children too.

Meanwhile, Fe Pagaduan is the aunt and guardian of pilot Maria Vera Pagaduan, who was a passenger on the plane.

Fe, who raised Maria Vera, said she never wanted her daughter to become a pilot, but let the latter follow her dreams.

She shared her last conversation with her beloved daughter through text.

"Ang sabi ko, 'Good a.m. anak kamusta ka na diyan? Mag-iingat ka lagi ha?' Nagtext siya sa akin ng 8:32 a.m., 'Okay naman po, Ma, palipad na po kami, text ko na lang po kayo pag sa Basco na po kami agad...ingat din po kayo, Mama.'" she read.

[Translation:I said 'Good morning, daughter. How are you? Always take care, okay?' She texted me at 8:32 a.m., 'I'm okay ma, we're almost taking off. I'll text you when we're in Basco. Take care, mom.]

Fe wants the company, Lite Air express, to face them. She said if they continue to be silent, she will not hesitate to file a case against them.

The company has yet to issue a statement.

Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) spokesperson Eric Apolonio told CNN Philippines on Saturday the aircraft underwent a safety check and the airport is functioning well. However, residents told the police they heard strange noises coming from the plane.

The six-seater Piper PA-23 Apache aircraft operated by Lite Air Express was bound for Laoag, Ilocos Norte.

The CAAP said all aircraft operated by Lite Air Express are grounded, pending the result of the investigation.Baguio City (CNN Philippines, March 18)  The valedictorian of the Philippine Military Academy's "Alab Tala" Class of 2018 not only graduated with honors, but also got a house and lot.

It was announced during the PMA's graduation rites Sunday that Cadet First Class Jaywardene Hontoria will receive a house and lot in Iloilo City.

This is the first time a PMA graduate is getting a real estate property for topping the class.

The house and lot is a fitting gift for the 25-year-old Hontoria, who will marry his girlfriend inside the PMA right after the graduation rites.

Hontoria, who hails from Iloilo, graduated with a nursing degree from the West Visayas State University before entering the PMA.

He will serve in the navy after graduation.

Aside from the house and lot, Hontoria received the Presidential Saber from President Rodrigo Duterte, as well as 10 other awards.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 18)  Vice President Leni Robredo said turning alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles into a state witness is a "mockery of the justice system."

"Alam naman natin na iyong puwede lang maging state witness iyong least guilty. Alam natin na si (Napoles) iyong namuno para gawin ding mockery iyong mga batas natin," Robredo said in an interview at the Pakasaritaan 2018 Conference in Baguio City Saturday.

(Translation: We know that people who appear to be least guilty are the ones eligible to be a state witness. We know Napoles led the way to make a mockery of our laws.)

Napoles faces several plunder and graft charges before Sandiganbayan divisions for alleged involvement in a 10-billion pork barrel scam.

She has been provisionally placed under the Justice Department (DOJ)'s witness protection program (WPP), the DOJ said Friday.

On Monday, the Sandiganbayan will decide on her request to be under DOJ custody. Her lawyers have said Napoles will reveal big personalities involved in the scam once she turns state witness.

In the charges against her, Napoles allegedly conspired with 12 former lawmakers to divert public funds to fake nongovernmental organizations. Apart from Estrada, former senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Bong Revilla were also allegedly involved in the scam.

The WPP seeks to encourage a person who has witnessed or has knowledge of the commission of a crime to testify before a court or an investigating authority, by protecting the person from revenge and from economic dislocation.

READ: Pork barrel scam prime suspect Janet Lim Napoles now under witness protection

Robredo said Napoles' case may send a detrimental message to the people on the country's justice system.

"Parang galing pa lang tayo sa isang blow noong pinawalang-sala si Peter Lim saka si Espinosa, tapos ang kasunod ito. Parang talaga bang gusto nating sabihin sa tao na hindi na siya... hindi na tayo dapat tumiwala sa sarili nating justice system?" Robredo added.

(Translation: We just came from the blow on the dismissal of drug charges against Peter Lim and Kerwin Espinosa, and then this. It's like we are sending the message they should not trust our justice system.)

In July 2016, President Rodrigo Duterte named Lim as one of the country's topmost drug lords. Meanwhile, self-confessed drug dealer Espinosa said he paid millions to generals and police officials to protect his illegal drug business.

Espinosa also implicated detained senator and former Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, who allegedly received P8 million from Espinosa to fund her senatorial bid.Iraqi Assyrian Politics Just As Divided and Messy As The Rest

Assyrian church service in Baghdad. ( ??????????? ???????? ?????????) Last week a doctor, his wife and their mother were killed in Baghdad (AINA 2018-03-10). Four men apparently broke into the Christian family's home, robbed them and then stabbed them. The authorities say it was most likely a criminal act, with robbery being the main motivation, but many Christians in Iraq see it as just the latest crime against them, with a sectarian motivation.

AAssyrian Christian youth group in Baghdad.

A number of Christian groups and churches condemned the act and called on the Iraqi government to better protect those of their faith in Iraq. In many ways, it is just another sign of how much things have changed for Iraqi Christians in their homeland over the past few years. Those changes are also reflected in politics. There are five seats in the Iraqi parliament set aside for Iraqi Christian politicians, to represent their minority. In the past, Christian political parties all used to unite during the elections, but this year will be different. There are eight competing electoral alliances contesting for votes. Although various actors, including the country's own church leaders, have tried to get the parties to unite, their attempts have proven unsuccessful. "The presence of eight different Christian alliances is not going to benefit Christians in Iraq," says Sarkoun Khoshaba, a Christian civil society activist who lives in the northern province of Ninawa. "The parties themselves are only acting in their own interests, so that they can get one more of those five seats than the others." The parties do have different ideas about how to administrate Christian-majority areas and how best to protect Christians in Iraq, Khoshaba notes. But the biggest reason the divisions between the parties have arisen is because some of them are closer to the parties run by Iraq's Kurdish politicians and others are closer to Sunni Muslim or Shiite Muslim-majority parties, Khoshaba explains. All of these want to get the Christian politicians onto their side, he suggests. During the past decade, Christian church leaders have usually abstained from supporting any particular party. But this election, the head of Iraq's Chaldean Catholic Church and one of Iraq's best known Christian leaders, Louis Raphael Sako, has thrown his lot in with the Chaldean alliance.There have been a number of disputes between the different political parties inside parliament over the past few years too. The last parliament had the Rafidain coalition in the seats for Baghdad and Kirkuk while the Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council had the two seats for Dohuk and Ninawa. Another group called Warka had the seat for Erbil. Sako has been involved in this, criticizing the head of the Warka list and also implying that the Rafidain coalition had not managed to fulfil promises it made. In return the church leader has come in for a drubbing from the political parties, who say he should not be getting involved in politics. And other Christian politicians are, perhaps justifiably, upset about Sako's new support for the Chaldean alliance. They say it will start a kind of sectarian conflict between Iraq's three Christian sects: the Chaldeans, Syriacs and Assyrians. For example, the Rafidain coalition, led by one of the country's long-serving, prominent Christian MPs, Yonadam Kanna, has remained close to the Shiite Muslim political parties. The Rafidain coalition believes that their alliance with the more powerful Shiite parties means they will be able to better represent their constituents' interests by making deals with the more powerful. If they want to pass laws in favour of Iraq's Christians, they won't be able to do it by themselves, goes the reasoning. Meanwhile the Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council is much closer to the Iraqi Kurdish and has often supported Iraqi Kurdish MPs in parliament; the Council has particularly good relations with the Kurdish Democratic Party, or KDP. In June 2017, Christian parties and leaders held a conference to discuss the future for the country's Christians after the extremist group known as the Islamic State had been pushed out. But the different parties fell out over the fact that the attendees at the conference were planning to call for the formation of an independent Iraqi-Christian region in Ninawa, one of the areas where Iraq's Christians have traditionally lived. The Rafidain coalition and Sako both withdrew from the conference. Three months after the conference the country's Kurds held their ill-fated referendum on independence, in the face of much opposition, including the Iraqi government's. The political parties belonging to the Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council declared their support of it though. "Two things really reinforced the conflicts between the Christian forces in Iraq," says Yacoub Korkise, a member of the Assyrian Democratic Party. "The first was the boycott of the conference and the second was the different ways in which parties reacted to the Kurdish independence referendum." The changed map of Christian alliances also reflects reality on the ground for the country's Christians, many of whom have immigrated, or who have suffered from prejudice and sectarianism as well as the reality for those Christians who were displaced from the Ninawa area and who have not yet returned, Korkise continues. And there is a further complication for Christian politicians in Iraq. For the first time in the modern history of Iraq, Christian fighters formed their own militias after 2014, when they were faced with the threat of the Islamic State group. One of these is the Babylon Brigade, headed by Rayan al-Kildani, and it was created with the support of the Shiite Muslim militias who are closer to Iran. Some would even say it was formed specifically to compete with another Christian militia, the Ninawa Plain Protection Units who are associated with the Rafidain movement and its leader, Yonadam Kanna, and who are considered closer to the Kurds in northern Iraq. The relationship between the Babylon Brigades and the Ninawa Plain Protection Units is not warm. In fact, it has deteriorated to armed clashes more than once in 2017, most spectacularly during fighting in the town of Qaraqosh in July 2017.Baguio City (CNN Philippines, March 18)  President Rodrigo Duterte has urged other countries to get out of the International Criminal Court (ICC) days after the Philippines withdrew from the tribunal.

Speaking to graduates of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Alab Tala Class of 2018 in Baguio City Sunday, Duterte said the Rome Statute which created the ICC was a document sponsored by the European Union (EU).

He described the Rome Statute as "all bull****," and that the EU allegedly created it so the organization could atone for the sins it committed against other countries.

Duterte insisted the ICC has no jurisdiction over him because the Rome Statute was not published in the Official Gazette, as laws should be.

The Philippines ratified the treaty in 2011, becoming its 117th State Party. The ICC has 123 members.

Immediate withdrawal

On March 14, Duterte said the Philippines would withdraw from the ICC "effective immediately."

In an unsigned statement, the President said attacks against him and his administration which were "engineered by the officials of the United Nations," as well as the attempt by the ICC special prosecutor to put him under jurisdiction, prompted him to pull the country out from the international tribunal.

READ: Duterte: PH to withdraw from ICC 'effective immediately'

The President slammed efforts to use the ICC "as a political tool against the Philippines."

The ICC is looking into the drug war after Jude Sabio filed a communication in April 2017. Sabio is the lawyer of self-confessed hitman Edgar Matobato, who said he killed people in Davao City upon the orders of then-Mayor Duterte.

Sabio said the move to pull out from the international tribunal just speeds up the case.

He said Duterte's "open hostility" toward the United Nations (UN) and the ICC means the principle of complementarity will work on the case.

The ICC is an intergovernmental organization that investigates cases of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes of aggression.

It was meant to be a court of last resort when local courts of its state parties are incapable or unwilling to act on such matters.

The ICC earlier announced it would begin preliminary examination on the administration's controversial war on drugs. It will then decide if it needs to proceed with an investigation.

On Saturday, the ICC in a statement to CNN Philippines said its examination will proceed despite the withdrawal.

READ: ICC review to proceed despite PH withdrawal

CNN Philippines digital producer Ver Marcelo contributed to this report.Last month, Ali Akbar Velayati, adviser of Iran's supreme leader on international affairs, said that the US want to "split" Syria and have already taken preliminary steps to create and recognize a state on the eastern bank of the Euphrates, in territories where mostly Kurds live. Russian experts confirm that creation of a Kurdish state in the territory of Syria, Iraq and Turkey isn't beneficial to anyone other than the United States.

Meanwhile, the conflict between Baghdad and Iraqi Kurdistan has escalated this autumn. Escalation happened after September 25 of last year, when Kurds held a referendum on independence, not recognized by Iraq. In mid-October, Iraqi security forces launched an operation to restore control over the country's territories, occupied by Kurdish armed units. After a month, on January 20, the General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces announced the beginning of the Olive Branch operation against Kurdish formations in Syria's Afrin.

Similar positions on the Kurdish issue were voiced at last year's meeting between Iranian Defense Minister Amir Khatami and Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of Turkey, General Hulusi Akar. At that time Khatami stressed Iran's principled policy of maintaining territorial integrity of all countries of the region, saying that the cooperation between Iran, Turkey and Iraq could contribute to strengthening regional stability and security as well as combating separatist actions. In turn, Hulusi Akar stressed common position of Iran, Iraq and Turkey regarding Iraqi Kurdistan: "We have reached political and military agreements on this issue, and Iraqi Kurdistan will face serious economic, political and military sanctions if the current situation continues."

As Breitbart writes in an article "Top Iraqi Kurdistan Leader Urges China to Intensify Role in Middle East", the chancellor of northern Iraqs semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has reportedly called on U.S. rival China to play a greater role in bringing stability to the Middle East. Chancellor [Masoud] Barzani expressed his hope that China would play a greater role to help address deep-rooted problems and deliver more stability in the Middle East, declared the press office of the Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC). Barzanis remarks came while he was meeting with a delegation led by the Chinese Ambassador to Iraq, Chen Weiqing, in Iraqi Kurdistans capital of Erbil.

China is already seeking deeper cooperation with anti-KRG independence Iran as part of Beijings efforts to enhance its military posture in the Middle East, U.S. Gen. Joseph Votel, the top American commander in the region, recently cautioned lawmakers. In late February, Gen. Votel told a House panel: Both China and Russia seek to fill in perceived gaps in U.S. interest by increasing defense cooperation and sales of their equipment to our regional partners. They both are also cultivating multidimensional ties to Iran  China also seeks to increase its economic and diplomatic cooperation with Iran.

As Kurdistan 24 reports: At the meeting, [the Chinese delegation and the KRG chancellor] discussed recent developments and measures to advance bilateral ties between Erbil and Beijing. Weiqing recognized the importance of the Kurdistan Region in ongoing stability and counter-terrorism efforts in the Middle East, according to the KRSC account of the discussion.  They also expressed their commitment to expanding cooperation between the two sides, including economic and trade relations.

According to Breitbart, China erected its Consulate General in the KRG back in December 2014.The 6th Global Baku Forum was in Baku with the support of the Azerbaijani State Committee for Work with the Diaspora and organization of the Nizami Ganjavi International Center. Many guests, including former presidents and heads of governments, well-known public and political figures who are the members of the Nizami Ganjavi International Center, participated in the forum. One of the participants is Gennady Burbulis, former Secretary of State of the RSFSR, who at one time participated in preparation of the Belovezhsky Agreement that formalized the collapse of the USSR. He signed it together with then-President Boris Yeltsin. He discussed the United Nations' role in solving world problems, the Karabakh conflict and about cooperation between Russia and Azerbaijan in an interview with Vestnik Kavkaza.

- Why do you think the 6th Global Forum is so important?

- Atmosphere of this forum, serious preparation for it, the fact that you can immerse yourself in a specific problem without losing sight of overall situation makes me enjoy it. Its intellectual and professional inspiration. During the meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev we spoke about cooperation between the Baku forum and the Baltic-Black Sea Forum. The latter was organized by 15 heads of states of the Baltic-Black Sea regions, who led their countries in different years. The beauty of our initiative is that it's like a council of elders, a council of wise men. We're people that take initiative, voluntarily and responsibly share responsibility for current situation. We conduct research, and our main task is to create prerequisites for timely and effective consensus. Now we will cooperate with the Baku forum.

- In your opinion, does the UN, which is an organization created to maintain and strengthen international peace and security, develop cooperation between states, need to reform right now?

- Of course. The need for reformation, transformation of the UN has already been voiced before. Today it's one of the priority tasks. Perhaps it's necessary to form an initiative committee that includes representatives of the UN countries so that they can discuss all existing problems and overcome inefficiency of the UN when it comes to key issues.

- The UN resolutions are not always observed. A great example of that are resolutions on Nagorno-Karabakh. What do you think about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement?

- This example demonstrates a lot of things. It's necessary to stop practice when the UN resolutions are not observed for many years, when there is no effective mechanism. It's necessary for these resolutions to be implemented. Each resolution should be implemented in time. Right now we need to monitor decisions of the UN, including decisions regarding frozen conflicts. It's necessary to understand individual specifics, unique reasons. We must overcome historical primitivism of political thinking, including in the UN structures, and start to learn from each, become wiser in order to prevent so many disasters and threats.

- What do you think about relations between Russia and Azerbaijan?

- I'm really glad that we appreciated and respected Azerbaijan as a partner during presidency of Boris Nikolaevich Yeltsin. Fortunately, today heavy wound of Nagorno-Karabakh has not escalated into confrontation. But, unfortunately, it prevents fruitful and meaningful development. At the same time, Presidents Putin and Aliyev have good relations; The Russian Federation and Azerbaijan cooperate in many areas - scientific, cultural, business. However, the Karabakh tragedy can't be forgotten. Countries must combine efforts to resolve this conflict.The Russian Central Election Commissions website was hit by a DDoS attack from IP addresses from 15 countries on the election day, CEC head Ella Pamfilova told reporters.

"On March 18, we repelled a DDoS attack [A Distributed Denial of Service] against the website between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. The peak of the attack was at 02.20 a.m. Moscow Time. The sources were located in 15 countries," Pamfilova said.

The organizations information center was also targeted by the attack, CEC Secretary Maya Grishina said, TASS reports.Turkish Armed Forces and Free Syrian Army (FSA) on Sunday took complete control of northwestern Syria's Afrin town center, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Sunday, Anadolu Agency reports.

"Afrin town center was completely taken control of at 8.30 a.m.," Erdogan said during his address at the ceremony of 103rd anniversary of Gallipoli Campaign.

"We will have to take necessary steps to rebuild Afrin, raise infrastructure and wipe out traces of terrorists," he said, adding: "Turkish, Free Syrian Armys flags are hoisted in Afrin town center."

"We are not there to occupy but to wipe out terror groups and to achieve peace in Afrin," Erdogan added.A remote school in the mountains has a special way of bringing things to life.

Students at the Huong Phung Primary School do not need to rely only on textbooks.

They can also see displays of important things at their school.

Among them are an old guerrilla war tunnel and a traditional stilted house.

by Luong Thu Huong

Students of the Huong Phung Primary School learn about history and culture not only in their textbooks but also through lively replicas installed in the school premises.

Entering the mountainous school, located in a remote area in the central province of Quang Tri, is like stepping into a mini museum.

There are eight impressive replicas on the 1,000sq.m premises, which help students visualise both national and local culture and history. The replicas include the sovereignty landmark on the Truong Sa Island in the central province of Khanh Hoa, Gac Ma Island, Viet Nams map, a picture of Saint Giong, the Vinh Moc guerrilla warfare tunnels, President Ho Chi Minhs stilt house and a traditional stilt house of the Pa Ko-Van Kieu ethnic minority.

The idea for the models originated from the fact that a majority of the students belong to the Van Kieu community, who lack the opportunity to travel to learn new things. They encounter many difficulties in their studies and in gaining knowledge, says Nguyen Mai Trong, the schools principle.

Supplementing the knowledge in the textbooks, the visual models are expected to deepen the students understanding, in addition to nurturing their love and respect for the history and culture of their hometown as well as nation, Trong says, adding such models also help improve students interest in studies.

Besides educational purposes, the models have also beautified the area of the Huong Phung School, which consists of 33 classes with more than 650 students.

Awareness about national sovereignty

According to the principal, as a school located near the Viet Nam-Laos border, the highlight of its education is to impart knowledge to the students about national sovereignty of the land and islands. Therefore, the first replica to be installed was Viet Nams sovereignty landmark on the Truong Sa Island.

The idea for the replica was proposed in April 2015 by Trong and it was completed five months later, with contributions from benefactors who heard about the idea on social networking sites. Every Monday, when students attend the flag salutation ceremony, the sovereignty landmark is expected to make them aware of national sovereignty.

Following the positive response of the students to the first replica, the school authorities next decided to install a picture of Viet Nams map. This was created from pebbles and flowers.

For weeks, both teachers and students voluntarily went to the nearby Chenh Venh Stream on their off days to collect pebbles, and they together created the map. While small pebbles were used to form the mainland, two big stones were used to represent the Truong Sa (Spratly) and Hoang Sa (Paracel) Islands, and purple flowers were planted around the borders of the map.

Since its installation, the map has been the favourite spot for students to visit during breaks or extra-curricular activities.

We gather here at every break. Sometimes we play a game of questioning each other about the locations of various provinces and islands, which increases our understanding of the country, says Ho Van Hung, a fifth grade student.

The most sophisticated replicas are those of the Vinh Moc Tunnel System, which has been recognised as a national special heritage site, and the traditional stilt house of the Van Kieu-Pa Ko ethnic groups.

The uneven terrain on which the school is located gave teachers the idea to build a replica of the tunnels.

The tunnels served as a strategic location on the border of the North and South Viet Nam during the American War. It was built to protect people from the intense bombings in Son Trung and Son Ha communes in Vinh Linh District of Quang Tri Province in the Demilitarised Zone.

In the replica, the teachers have duplicated the original living conditions of the families who used to seek shelter in the tunnels by displaying authentic household items donated by the local people of Vinh Linh District.

It is also another way of study, Trong says. It does not require much explanation. The teachers only need to introduce briefly, and then by walking up and down the tunnel everyday, students will be reminded of a significant historical phase in the Demilitarised Zone.

Preserving cultural identities

Another central point of the education system of the Huong Phung School is 70 per cent of whose students belong to the Van Kieu-Pa Ko ethnic community, is contributing to the preservation of local cultural identities.

That is why the schools managing board mobilised for the construction of the Van Kieu-Pa Ko stilt house as one of the eight replicas. Notably, over 40 household items had been donated by the local people to be displayed in the house.

Trong says the preservation of the replicas has encountered quite a few difficulties due to natural factors such as rain, sunshine, weed, moss or wood-eaters, but the students and teachers have always taken good care of the exhibits to preserve them for a long-term use.

He revealed that the next replica would be the wooden statue of national hero Tran Quoc Tuan, which is expected to arouse feelings of patriotism among the students.

It would be a grand replica of history, culture, education and spirit that has taken up significant amount of time and expenses, Trong says, adding the construction of the statue has received the support of several benefactors and is expected to be completed before the start of the new academic year. VNS





GLOSSARY

Students of the Huong Phung Primary School learn about history and culture not only in their textbooks but also through lively replicas installed in the school premises.

Textbooks are printed books that are used to follow an academic course.

A replica of something is a copy of that thing.

A premises is a property.

There are eight impressive replicas on the 1,000sq.m premises, which help students visualise both national and local culture and history.

To visualise means to imagine.

The replicas include the sovereignty landmark on the Truong Sa Island in the central province of Khanh Hoa, Gac Ma Island, Viet Nams map, a picture of Saint Giong, the Vinh Moc guerrilla warfare tunnels, President Ho Chi Minhs stilt house and a traditional stilt house of the Pa Ko-Van Kieu ethnic minority.

Sovereignty means the authority to rule ones own land.

Guerrilla warfare is warfare that involves fighting in small groups, usually against a bigger army.

A stilt house is a house built way above the ground, on poles called stilts.

Supplementing the knowledge in the textbooks, the visual models are expected to deepen the students understanding, in addition to nurturing their love and respect for the history and culture of their hometown as well as nation, Trong says, adding such models also help improve students interest in studies.

Supplementing means adding to.

Nurturing means caring and protecting.

According to the principal, as a school located near the Viet Nam-Laos border, the highlight of its education is to impart knowledge to the students about national sovereignty of the land and islands.

The principal of a school is the head teacher of the school.

To impart knowledge means to share knowledge.

The idea for the replica was proposed in April 2015 by Trong and it was completed five months later, with contributions from benefactors who heard about the idea on social networking sites.

To propose something means to put it forward as an idea.

Contributions are things people give.

Benefactors are people whose lives become better because of receiving contributions.

Every Monday, when students attend the flag salutation ceremony, the sovereignty landmark is expected to make them aware of national sovereignty.

Salutations means greeting with respect.

This was created from pebbles and flowers.

Pebbles are little stones.

For weeks, both teachers and students voluntarily went to the nearby Chenh Venh Stream on their off days to collect pebbles, and they together created the map.

To do something voluntarily means to do it without expecting any pay.

Since its installation, the map has been the favourite spot for students to visit during breaks or extra-curricular activities.

Extra-curricular means not part of the course that is being studied but possibly nonetheless useful.

We gather here at every break. Sometimes we play a game of questioning each other about the locations of various provinces and islands, which increases our understanding of the country, says Ho Van Hung, a fifth grade student.

To gather, in this case, means to come together.

The most sophisticated replicas are those of the Vinh Moc Tunnel System, which has been recognised as a national special heritage site, and the traditional stilt house of the Van Kieu-Pa Ko ethnic groups.

Sophisticated means smart.

The uneven terrain on which the school is located gave teachers the idea to build a replica of the tunnels.

Uneven terrain is uneven ground.

It was built to protect people from the intense bombings in Son Trung and Son Ha communes in Vinh Linh District of Quang Tri Province in the Demilitarised Zone.

Intense bombing would involve many bombs dropping over a small area in a short time.

In the replica, the teachers have duplicated the original living conditions of the families who used to seek shelter in the tunnels by displaying authentic household items donated by the local people of Vinh Linh District.

Authentic means real.

Donated means given.

Another central point of the education system of the Huong Phung School is 70 per cent of whose students belong to the Van Kieu-Pa Ko ethnic community, is contributing to the preservation of local cultural identities.

Preservation is about keeping things going.

That is why the schools managing board mobilised for the construction of the Van Kieu-Pa Ko stilt house as one of the eight replicas.

To mobilise means to get things ready to go into action.

Trong says the preservation of the replicas has encountered quite a few difficulties due to natural factors such as rain, sunshine, weed, moss or wood-eaters, but the students and teachers have always taken good care of the exhibits to preserve them for a long-term use.

Exhibits are displays.

He revealed that the next replica would be the wooden statue of national hero Tran Quoc Tuan, which is expected to arouse feelings of patriotism among the students.

Reveal means to give out information that not many people know about.

Patriotism is a sense of being loyal to your country.

WORKSHEET

State whether the following sentences are true, or false:

Huong Phung Primary School is near the border with Laos. President Ho Chi Minh once lived in a stilt house. The Truong Sa Islands are also known as the Paracel Islands. The Hoang Sa Islands are also known as the Spratley Islands. Most students in the Huong Phung Primary School belong to the Van Kieu-Pa Ko ethnic community.

ANSWERS:

 Duncan Guy/Learn the News/ Viet Nam News 2018

1. True; 2. True; 3. False; 4. False; 5. True.by Thomas Eugene Wilber

On March 19, a special exhibition commemorating an important element of the US movement against the American war in Viet Nam will open in Ho Chi Minh City. It is called Waging Peace: US Soldiers and Veterans Who Opposed Americas War in Viet Nam. The exhibit will feature details that have been missing in action from public memory about antiwar activities that arose within the military itself.

A special section of the display will recall the voices raised against the war by American POWs held in Ha Noi. The exhibit will have special meaning to me because my father, Walter Eugene Wilbers voice was one of those.

On June 16, 1968, flying off the aircraft carrier AMERICA on his twenty-first mission over North Viet Nam, Dad parachuted from the spent hulk of his burning F-4J, which had been hit by a missile. He landed on the bank of a rice paddy in Nghe An Province. A week later, he was in Ha Noi, beginning his 56 months of internment, the first 20 months living in solitary confinement at Hoa Lo Prison. He was 38 years old.

My father was born in rural Bradford County in north central Pennsylvania. The son of sharecroppers, he joined the Navy in 1948 hoping he would be trained to fly. In his early twenties he made two deployments to Korea and continued to fly and deploy over the years. Always eager to do his job, Dad was confident in the Navys system of accountability for mission assignments and target choices, the chain of command that rose to the civilian leadership level of the President as Commander-in-Chief. I was fighting for peace, he would later remember.

However, in the mid 1960s things began to change for him.

By the time my father deployed to Southeast Asia, he was well aware of the questions and criticisms mounting among American citizens and the calls to end the war. He listened to the critical words of Martin Luther King, Jr, in 1967. In succession, he saw Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara inexplicably depart his post, and he watched his Commander-in-Chief, Lyndon Johnson, quit.

Imprisoned in Ha Noi, Dad had time to listen to his conscience. He thought through the things that he knew and examined them word by word: passages from the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, his King James Bible, and the words of the commissioning oath he took to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. He wanted to make sure he was fulfilling the obligations inherent in those words.

The religious, conservative, right-leaning, career military officer that he was, Dad worked through his own thoughts and concluded that the war was wrong: it was not declared through international or national protocols; it was being directed and sustained by a succession of executive orders, not by legal declaration of Congress.

To support and defend the Constitution of the United States as best he could from his room in Ha Noi, he decided to speak out. Through letters, taped broadcasts, and interviews, he called on Congress to stop the war, urged US citizens to voice their opinions, and exhorted all who might hear him to work for peace. On my 15th birthday in 1970, his taped voice, broadcast over Radio Ha Noi, told me that I was old enough now to work for peace.

On February 12, 1973, my father left Ha Noi with 115 other newly freed captives. Four days later my family and I greeted him at the Philadelphia Naval Hospital. Over the next few weeks and months, the state of our family would remain strong. However, Dads story had challenged the official story of the POW experience. While other prisoners who had spoken out against the war accepted an amnesty when they recanted before they returned, Dad did not recant; moreover, he announced publicly that the statements he made while in captivity were voluntary.

That is when the real controversy began. A fellow returnee initiated formal charges for collaboration with the enemy against my father and one other returnee. The charges were later dropped, although Dad was prepared for the trial. He remained steadfast; certain that we never should have gone to Viet Nam and that speaking out against the war had been the right thing to do. He remained steadfast in his personal values as well: religious, conservative, and always believing in the higher principles that our country stood for. At 85, Dad died three years ago in Bradford County, Pennsylvania.

Now 50 years from the tumult of 1968 and 45 years from the signing of the Paris Peace Accords, we need to remember the dominating presence that the war in Viet Nam had over peoples lives, and the courage that it took to speak out for peace. The voices of conscience that came out of Hoa Lo Prison have a special place in that story. The Waging Peace exhibit in Ho Chi Minh City will help restore those voices to our memory of the war years.

Following the exhibit opening, American and Vietnamese veterans of the war will gather at a meeting to share experiences. I will attend both events. Our next generations need to know the sacrifices that active duty servicemen were willing to make to help end the war, as we seek to wage peace today.

Tom Wilber researches documentation regarding US prisoners held in the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam from 1964 until 1973. His career includes 20 years of naval service. He has made dozens of trips to Viet Nam, locating sites and conducting interviews. Wilber is a visiting lecturer at Ha Noi University in the undergraduate course on American Foreign Policy. He assists Hoa Lo Prison Museum with exhibits on POWs, and he has facilitated the return of memorabilia from former prisoners to Hoa Los permanent collection for use in future displays.(CNN)  Russia's Foreign Ministry ordered the expulsion of 23 British diplomats from Russia on Saturday in a tit-for-tat response to Britain's decision to expel Russian envoys in connection with the poisoning of a former Russian double agent and his daughter on British soil.

The ministry also declared it was closing the British Consulate General in St. Petersburg and the British Council in Russia, in a step beyond the measures taken by Britain. The British Council is a cultural institute with artistic, language and educational programs.

The UK diplomats have a week to leave, the Russian Foreign Ministry said, adding that its actions came "in response to the provocative actions of the British side and groundless accusations" against Russia over the Salisbury attack.

"The British side is warned that in case of further unfriendly actions against Russia, the Russian side reserves the right to take further retaliatory measures," the ministry said.

Russian Senator Igor Morozov, a veteran of the Russian Service of External Intelligence, claimed that the British Council was shut down because UK intelligence operated under the cover of the organization, state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported.

The British Council said it was "profoundly disappointed" by Moscow's decision to order its closure.

"It is our view that when political or diplomatic relations become difficult, cultural relations and educational opportunities are vital to maintain on-going dialogue between people and institutions," it said in a statement.

"We remain committed to the development of long-term people-to-people links with Russia as we do in over 100 other countries."

Retaliation comes swiftly

Relations between the two nations have deteriorated rapidly since the March 4 nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, in the English city of Salisbury. The pair remain critically ill in the hospital.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday gave the 23 Russian diplomats -- whom she described as undeclared intelligence officers -- a week to leave, as she accused the Russian state of being "culpable" for the attack in Salisbury.

Russia, which denies any involvement in the incident, condemned May's decision as unacceptable and vowed a swift response.

Its retaliatory move came a day before Russians go to the polls for a presidential election in which President Vladimir Putin is expected to win a second consecutive term.

The United Kingdom's ambassador to Moscow, Laurie Bristow, was summoned to the Russian ministry on Saturday to be told of Moscow's decision. The British Embassy in Moscow told CNN it had been given a list of 23 specific individuals that were to be expelled from Russia.

In comments to reporters after he left the Foreign Ministry, Bristow said the crisis had arisen because of "the attempted murder of two people using a chemical weapon developed in Russia and not declared by Russia." He said Britain must defend itself.

"We have no dispute with the Russian people," he said. "But we will always do what is necessary to defend ourselves, our allies, and our values against an attack of this sort, which is an attack not only on the United Kingdom, but upon the international rules-based system, on which all countries, all countries including Russia, depend for their safety and security."

The UK Foreign Office said its priority was looking after its staff in Russia and helping those who will return to Britain.

UK: Russia in 'flagrant breach' of law

Addressing members of her Conservative Party on Saturday, May said the Russian move had been "anticipated" and that Britain would consider its next steps in the coming days, when the National Security Council is due to meet.

Russia's response does not change the fact that Moscow was in "flagrant breach of international law" and the Chemical Weapons Convention, she said.

The UK government was backed this week by allies France, Germany and the United States in its assessment that there was "no plausible alternative explanation" than that Russia was responsible for the Salisbury attack. UK officials believe the Skripals were exposed to a nerve agent known as Novichok that was developed in Russia.

UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson upped the stakes Friday when he said it was "overwhelmingly likely" that Putin personally gave the order to use the nerve agent against the Skripals.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, speaking to CNN, slammed that remark.

"We have said on different levels and occasions that Russia has nothing to do with this story," he said. "Any reference or mentioning of our President is nothing else but shocking and unpardonable diplomatic misconduct."

Russia has insisted it is ready to cooperate in investigating the attack in Salisbury if Britain reciprocates by sharing the evidence it holds.

UK police renewed their appeal Saturday for people who may have seen Sergei Skripal's burgundy BMW car on the morning of Sunday, March 4, to share what they know.

About 400 witnesses have already come forward in what is "extremely challenging and complex investigation," Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu of London's Metropolitan Police said. Officers also are trawling through some 4,000 hours of CCTV footage, he said.

Glushkov murder investigation

In a dramatic twist Friday, the Metropolitan Police said that the death of Russian businessman Nikolai Glushkov, who was found dead Monday in his London home, was now being treated as murder.

A post-mortem exam on the Russian exile, who had links to compatriots who died in mysterious circumstances in the UK, "gave the cause of death as compression to the neck," a police statement said. There's no evidence at this stage that his death and the attack on the Skripals are linked, it said.

Russia's Investigative Committee said it had launched its own criminal proceedings in connection with the "attempted murder of a Russian citizen, Yulia Skripal" in Salisbury and the "murder" of Glushkov in London.

UK-Russia relations have been fractious ever since the assassination of another former Russian spy, Alexander Litvinenko, in 2006.

A UK inquiry found that two Russian agents poisoned Litvinenko at a London hotel bar in 2006 by spiking his tea with highly radioactive polonium-210, and that Putin "probably approved" Litvinenko's killing. The Kremlin has always denied the accusation.

Sergei Skripal was sentenced to 13 years in prison in 2006 for spying for Britain, according to Russian state media accounts of the closed hearing.

Russian court officials at the time said he'd received at least $100,000 for his work for MI6, the British intelligence service. He was granted refuge in the UK after a high-profile spy exchange between the United States and Russia in 2010.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Russia expels 23 UK diplomats as fallout over nerve agent attack grows."Pricey piece: The gong indicates the wealth of a family. There was a time when the cost of a gong was equivalent to that of two elephants or 20 buffaloes.  Photo vietnam.vnanet.vn

Viet Nam News Hong Van & Du Toan The gong, a musical instrument native to the Central Highlands, is popular in the five provinces of Kon Tum, Gia Lai, ak Lak, ak Nong, and Lam ong. Realising that the key force in preserving this national heritage are young people, Gia Lai cultural authority has attached great importance to engaging children and teenagers in gong sessions, as well as traditional folk singing and dancing classes. Theo, a 12-year-old from ak oa District, said she learnt about the traditional art forms of her ethnic group when she was little. She joined a xoang dance class and was selected to perform in the Gong, Folk Singing and Folk Music Instrument Festival for young people in 2017. Initially, I joined a traditional dance class conducted by veteran artistes of my village, and then learned to sing. I feel it is the responsibility of the youngsters to preserve the traditional art and culture of our ethnic group, Theo said. Next generation: Realising the key force to preserving traditional art forms are young people, Gia Lai province has attached great importance to engaging children and teenagers in gong sessions, as well as traditional folk singing and dancing classes.  VNA/VNS Photo Hoai Nam The Culture and Information Department of ak oa District has been offering free classes to teach the gong and the traditional xoang dance to students from 8 to 18 years since 2012. Each xoang class attracts up to 50 students, while the gong class has 25 male students, as only the men play the gong in ak oa, where most of the population is of the ethnic Ba Na and Jrai origin. inh Thi Lan from the Culture and Information Department said, Teachers who conduct these classes are artistes from the district itself, as the gong culture varies in various districts. We have invited the most experienced and dedicated artistes from each gong troupe in the villages to teach the younger generation about the instrument. The annual culture and sport contest is also an opportunity for the locals to compete in traditional folk games and perform the gong, as well as learn and acquire skills from each other, Lan told Viet Nam News. Kbang District, where nearly half of the population is Ba Na, has more than 100 gong troupes, of which, seven are made up of teenagers. Gong has been recognised as the Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2005. It is an indispensable element in almost every ritual and cultural event of the community.

Playing together: The 2017 Gong, Folk Singing and Folk Music Instrument Festival for the youth attracted more than 500 artistes, most of whom are teenagers from 16 art troupes across the province.  VNA/VNS Photo Du Toan

Gong is also closely linked to the daily life of the ethnic people. It is believed that it can produce a language that can help connect humans to the supernatural world. People also believe a deity resides in each gong, who becomes more powerful as the gong becomes older.

Gong also indicates the wealth of a family.

A family may own a fancy house and a car, but if it does not have a gong, it is not considered wealthy, said Y Thim, an E e native, who owns 20 such gongs. There was a time when the cost of a gong was equivalent to that of two elephants or 20 buffaloes.

Gongs can be used separately or in a set of two to up to 20 units. With more than 100 villages, there are some 130 sets of gongs preserved by the locals in ak oa. Gia Lai has a total of some 6,000 gongs.

In the olden days, residents would exchange some buffaloes for a gong; therefore, it is hard to identify the age of the gongs, but some have been preserved for at least four generations, said Lan.

Besides the gong classes, the villages, districts and provinces also hold annual or biannual festivals and cultural events featuring the gong, and folk singing and folk music instrument performances for young people.

The 2017 Gong, Folk Singing and Folk Music Instrument Festival for the youth, which is held every two years, attracted more than 500 artistes, most of whom are teenagers from 16 art troupes across the province. Each troupe contributed with three types of performances: gong, folk dance and folk music instrument performances. The youngest member was only seven and the oldest was 61.

The head of the organising board of the festival said, The festival aims to protect and continue the distinctive cultural tradition of playing the gong, thus contributing to the efforts to preserve the cultural space of the gong. We hope the event also helps ignite a love for the ethnic heritage and encourage the establishment of a teenage art troupe.

inh Jram, a 61-year-old artist from Kbang District, who performed in the festival in 2017, said, As long as I am healthy, I will continue to dance, sing, play the gong and pass down the knowledge and skills among the younger generation.

The people of Central Highlands believe that every thing has a soul, and only the sound of the gong can connect the various souls; therefore, the gong is played on special occasions, such as to celebrate a new crop, buffalo sacrifice, or during a ceremony to wish the newborn health and good luck, as well as during elephant races.

A festival in the Central Highlands conjures up images of the locals in their traditional costume, holding their hands and dancing around the camp fire, as the sound of the gongs echo in the deep forest during a tranquil night. VNSBy Lan Quy

The beach was strewn with rocks that looked like a herd of elephants jostling each other to wade into the sea. Old oi and Song were sitting on the highest peak, looking into the distance. Angry waves surged, threatening to sweep the rocks away. The rocks wavered as if like they might sink, but it was just an illusion. Heres your tobacco, master! Song said.

Song had rolled up a cigarette in no time. With the ocean winds battering his face, old oi pointed down the peak, signaling to Song. Song jumped down, hid behind a slit, and flicked a lighter. The tobacco flared up in front of the old mans nose. But no sooner was the milky smoke discharged than the tobacco was pulled out and thrown away toward the sandy beach.

Four eyes squinted and looked over the sea. Sunset was tinting the horizon pink. Waves were still jumping onto the rocks.

Theres a ship returning, master, said Song.

Where?

I can see her painted eyes blinking.

The old man rubbed his eyes and looked in the direction of the boys finger. There was indeed a ship returning. The waves were violent, the prow of the ship bobbing up and down. The two painted eyes up front, one red, the other white, were looking down at the sea.

Please God, let my father be onboard, said Song. Old oi morosely glanced at the 15-year-old boys anxious face. The boy looked exactly like his father, a 47-year-old fisherman. Song stepped onto the peak, crossing his arms across his chest. His legs had grown, gaining muscle. In just two years Song too would go out to sea.

The painted eyes on the ships prow showed up more clearly, revealing the red yellow paint surrounding their whites, their irises peering into the depth of the sea, searching. The little ship crashed into shore. It was Hien - Thus No. 704. Women who had been lying in wait suddenly darted out of nowhere, babbling on and on. Song also left the old man standing on the peak and ran toward the ship. I dont see my father, master!

Song returned, sighing heavily. The month before, Haus fishing boat was rocked by a storm in the middle of the night near Hon Che Island. Songs father and nine others were onboard. Though the ship had a pair of pale white water monster eyes beaming into the sea, the sea monsters werent afraid. They drove waves up to rooftop height then dumped them down onto the ship.

Bien - Songs father  was swept into the sea while trying to protect the nets on the deck. Only in the morning did the fishermen discover he was missing. They hoped that as a superb swimmer, Bien would drift onto Hon Che, waiting for lifeguards. Helmsmen were dispatched straight to Hon Che, but they drove around the small island twice without finding Bien.

Old oi and Song walked back to the village, reeling.

My mother has been crying her eyes out for a whole month. Master, please dont go to the city yet. Stay and build a wind tomb for my father, beseeched Song.

Wont you wait for him anymore?

He must be dead! No swimmer could have stayed afloat for a whole month.

Go and discuss with your mother. If youre determined to build a wind tomb then Ill prepare for the ritual.

Yes!

One more thing. Since you can ride, please go to the bus station and change my ticket for me. Ill go to the city next Sunday instead.

After making a clay corpse and building a wind tomb for Songs father, old oi would still go to the city with his daughter.

At the fishing village, people respectfully called him master for carrying on a family profession for more than forty years. His father was an excellent Confucian scholar and an expert in physiognomy. When he used clay to make figures to stand in for the missing bodies of those who had died at sea, he could capture their countenance, style and look, so that their wives and children could recognise them right away. Old oi had been taught by his father, from how to make clay figures to worshipping formalities. He had made scores of wind tombs ever since and was so skilled at it that even with his eyes closed, he could imagine every detail.

Gai - Songs mother - stood up upon her two shaking legs. Her pretty oval face had turned black and gaunt. She hastily took off her necklace, the most valuable remembrance that her husband had bought for her during a sea trip, and offered it up to old oi in two hands. Master, do us a favour, please Old oi waved his hand, saying, Please put the gold away! Let me handle this!

The sadness in old ois heart suddenly disappeared. He felt an airy intoxication similar to an ecstasy pill, which was often felt by human beings who had a clear purpose. Old oi started feeling this way when he first built a wind tomb 49 years ago. That year his father passed away at the age of 80 and in the village six young men lost their lives to a storm at sea.

Unable to refuse the villagers entreaties, the 23-year-old man had to make six clay figures and six wind tombs within a week all by himself. At first he was anxious and fearful. After touching the soft clay though, an airy, ecstatic sensation arose in him and young oi was bewitched.

The names of all the villagers who were killed at sea and offered wind tombs by old oi were written down in an old yellow notebook. Full names, ages, missing dates, tomb construction dates were all noted down carefully. The villagers often commemorated the days their loved ones left for sea as their death anniversaries. In 42 years, 69 people in total had died at sea, including 67 old and young men in the village and two visitors who went on a sea research trip. The families of the two visitors also came to the fishing village and asked the old man to make clay figures, lay them down in coffins and take them back to their home province on the northern coast for burial. Northerners didnt make wind tombs.

For six years and seven months, no one died at sea. The villagers didnt seem to take note, but the master felt glad. He wanted every hardy lad who went to sea to return home. Many upheavals also befell the fishing village, threatening its survival. For instance, one ship was destroyed by a pirate ship, all the crew members were captured and everything valuable was taken.

Nevertheless, after some time life returned to normal, the crew members returned, a new ship was built, more nets were bought and luckily nobody died. Fishermen in the village faced big storms twice, twelve people fell into the sea and drifted about for several days. Yet they were blessed, being rescued by a foreign ship eventually.

Old oi thought he could quit his profession for good now. He was about to escape the haunting reality of making male figures made of clay and listening to women and children crying. Old oi and his wife didnt have a son. Their four daughters were married to men from other regions, the youngest was married to one in the city.

They might have had sons-in-law with dark brown skin, vigorous health and various talents in the fishing village. Yet the old man was afraid one day he would have to make clay figures for his sons-in-law. His sons-in-law werent involved in fishing at all.

For the past two years, after his wife passed away, he had been living by himself in a house at the end of the village, near the coast. His youngest daughter begged him to live in the city with her, but he hesitated. At the beginning of the month when he heard his granddaughter had fallen off a motorbike and broken her leg, the old man decided to visit his daughter. He wanted to see whether the noisy, vibrant city could make him forget the wind tombs. The ticket had been booked, he would set off in two days, but Song and his mother pleaded with him to wait for news from Bien.

His wrinkled hands tremulously took down the notebook. The old man had wrapped it up carefully and hidden it in a tin box on an old altar, intending to bid farewell to his profession, and yet He started a new line with a wild, veering handwriting. Full name: Le Van Bien, age: 47, went to sea: 21st of July in the Year of the Dragon.

Song drove his rickety motorbike to pick up the old man. My mother has finished cooking the chicken, master.

Yeah! Wait a minute, Ill change into my tunic.

As they passed Bens store, the old man told Song to stop to buy votive paper, betel and liquor. If Songs family hadnt been poor, they might have cooked a pot of sweetened porridge and a pigs head as well.

A faded nylon mattress with curled corners was spread out on the sand. The master was wearing a tunic. It was an old orange piece of garment with a few tiny holes. The worshipping ritual started. The master turned his head toward the mountain, holding up three incense sticks with two hands. Two candles flickered in the wind.

Please Gods of the sky, the land and the seas, let me make a figure to stand in for the fisherman Le Van Bien, the old man prayed. Please guide his soul back to his body.

Song stood in wait with a hoe and an empty paint bucket, his eyes turning red. The master flicked his hand to signal to the boy to follow him, straight toward the foot of the mountain. The clay hole was as wide as the mouth of a coracle, and was knee-deep. The hole hadnt been dug up for a long time, and its brim had been corroded into a perfect smoothness by rainwater. Fill up two-thirds of the bucket! the master ordered. Song hung the bucket on the hoes handle, put the hoe on his shoulder, and carried it home. While Im praying to the Holy Midwives, you go and ask a friend to come here to help!

The rickety bike stuttered to a noisy start, gushing smoke, bringing tears to the eyes. Arranging sticky rice, sweetened porridge and plain water on a banana leaf in front of the clay, the master prayed to the twelve Holy Midwives to come and witness the figure-making ritual for the dead. Old oi prayed, Holy Midwives, please let all the three souls and seven spirits* of Le Van Bien enter his new body, so he can return to his grave and bless his wife and kid.

A wooden mortar and pestle were washed clean. Sprinkle some water to soften the clay, then put it into the mortar, old oi requested. A pounding sound ensued, mingling with the breathing of two people. Nobody said a word. The master scooped up every handful of cotton and put it into the mortar. The pestle battered down, gradually turning the white mixture into brown, flexible and soft like flesh. The old man had prepared a bundle of mulberry stalks. They were used to make seven ribs, eight hand and foot bones, as well as all finger and toe bones. A chicken egg was used to stand for the heart, and green and red threads represented the blood vessels. Old oi said, Remove all the clay carefully for me. Dont leave out even just one bit! Take a bite of the sweetened porridge, then go home. In the afternoon, Song and your mother come here to pick up the figure!

Making clay figures was the most tedious part of the profession, because no one was allowed to come near him. The master focused on the powdered clay and the different expressions of the dead. Now he was intently sitting by himself under a canvas top, trying to imagine the face of Songs father. He was able to capture the spirit of the dead. Sunshine beamed, illuminating the red tunic. He sweated profusely, swaying like he was possessed.

Bien had a hot temper, bushy dark eyebrows, squinting eyes and a contemptuous sneer. He had a bad tongue but a heart of gold, easily lost his temper yet generously pampered his wife and kid and helped any friend in need. Thus his eyebrows looked fierce but his square face gentle. Bien showed up in the old mans mind, helping carry a coracle to shore, his muscles curling up powerfully under the lever.

Then there were a pair of slanting eyes, a disdainful smile that appeared on Biens face when he talked with the fish wholesaler who always drove a hard bargain with the fishermen, and two big hands that closed tightly into fists but opened up on second thought. The look of the dead gradually emerged under the hands of the master. The head and face came to life, followed by the wide, well-developed chest, and a pair of brawny arms and big rough feet with toes spreading and clinging hard to the side of the boat.

*

The sun set, tinging the horizon above the sea a pinkish purple. Coracles drifted to shore. Some fishermen stood onboard, rowing nimbly, turning their eyes toward the high top of the coconut trees, reading clouds to predict the weather the following day. Song and his mother took four people along. The two daughters came home from school, their bags still hanging on the handle-bars of their bicycle. They all lined up in dead silence. oi lifted up the white cloth covering the clay figure, and the mother and the three children cried out loud: Oh dear! Oh father!

The figure looked exactly like Bien. Gai looked desolate, yet a gleam of hope flickered in her eyes. Well start the worshipping ritual at 3am tomorrow! The master declared, then asked Gai to prepare a baked fish, a crab, a plate of raw shark meat and vegetables, a bowl of rice and a bowl of salt. Gai had sold the gold necklace and bought a good coffin for her husband. With little money left, she would prepare some food and drink to invite the villagers to come and pay their respects.

With a three-beat drumming and resounding gong, the funeral woke up the little fishing village. There were no tears, only the suppressed hiccups of Gai and her children. Song walked behind the master and held his fathers picture in two hands with dry eyes. A fisherman was taking shape in him, following his ancestors footsteps.

The light coffin carried on the shoulders of ten men sometimes felt overloaded as if the soul of the dead had entered the body. The village hadnt witnessed a wind tomb funeral for a long time. The villagers woke up, remembering the debt of the sea. The procession with the flags slowly walked on the path between two budding corn fields, the lipstick red coffin floating along. The grave was very deep, revealing spotted yellow-and-brown sandy soil. It was the 70th wind tomb in the graveyard.

*

The city was more bustling and noisier than old oi imagined. His granddaughter rested at home and was cared for by a housekeeper. His daughter and son-in-law worked past noon, and only came home at dusk. He was bored to tears watching TV all day, and could only speak a few sentences to his granddaughter because she kept looking down at her iPad which looked foreign to him. He went out for coffee twice and was terrified. The sounds of vehicles and people, the smoke, the dizzy speed all made him feel like he was about to be pulled into a hurricane. He wanted to phone home but didnt have anyones number. How stupid I was! When I left I gave Song my daughters number but forgot to ask for his.

Twenty days dragged by heavily. Rice and soup, meat and fish all tasted bitter to him. Old oi only drank cold water. One morning he woke up and found his body burning with a fever, completely worn out, ready to drop dead. The housekeeper had gone to market, and his children had gone to work. He staggered into his granddaughters room. She was resting her dazzling white leg which was cast in plaster on a side rail of the bed, still clutching her iPad. The phone rang shrilly. The phone is ringing, grandchild!

The girl didnt look up but spoke loudly, Grandpa please pick it up for me! Hearing what sounded like sea waves, old oi lit up. Hello! Whos that? My children have both gone to work. A man replied, Oh master! Its me, Song! Foreign ships are making trouble again. A ship from our village has sunk at sea. Two people are missing, and weve been searching for them in vain. Please return master!

No matter how hard his daughter and son-in-law insisted, old oi refused to stay. I must return. I must return quickly! I cant abandon the fishing village.

Sitting aboard a night bus, the old man anxiously looked ahead with searching eyes, even though he was still more than 200 kilometres from home. In his head he heard the sea roaring, and human beings calling out to each other in the dark. God! Wind tombs seemed to rustle in the wind, haunting him, calling him back.

Translated by Thuy Linh

*In Vietnamese folk beliefs, a man has three souls and seven spirits, and a woman, three souls and nine spirits.(CNN)  The U.S. government has accused Russia of remotely targeting the U.S. power grid, as part of its newly unveiled sanctions on the country.

The Department of Homeland Security released details Thursday of what it called a multi-stage effort by Russia to target specific government entities and critical infrastructure.

The Trump administration announced extensive sanctions against Russia on Thursday morning, which included sanctions on the Internet Research Agency, a Russian troll farm that produced divisive political posts on American social media platforms during the 2016 presidential election.

According to the DHS, Russia accessed U.S. government networks by initially targeting with malware small commercial third-party networks that were less secure.

Russia has attempted to attack targets that include "energy, nuclear, commercial facilities, water, aviation, and critical manufacturing sectors" since March 2016, DHS said.

Gaining access to the networks that are tied to various aspects of U.S. infrastructure is extremely difficult, said Vikram Thakur, of Symantec Security Response. Thakur, a technical director at Symantec, added that cyberattacks like the one DHS described Thursday have the potential to cause significant damage, unlike those in which the attacker is solely looking for information.

"The only thing that holds an attacker back is political motivation," Thakur said, noting the potential for retaliation by the country that gets hit.

"Usually the bar for flipping the switch is extremely high" for the attacker, he later added in a phone interview.

Past encounters

In 2015 Ukraine experienced an unprecedented cyberattack on its electric grid that led to widespread power outages, which it said was caused by Russia. The attack raised concerns about vulnerabilities in the U.S. system that could make it a victim of similar attacks.

Energy Secretary Rick Perry released a response to the DHS announcement Thursday, saying the Department of Energy has "worked closely with government partners and energy sector asset owners to help ensure attempts failed or were stopped."

"This event demonstrates exactly why I am creating an Office of Cyber Security and Emergency Response (CESER)," Perry's statement said. "It is crucial for the DOE to consolidate and strengthen our efforts to combat the growing nefarious cyber threats we face."

Although Russia is "on the right path" they "still have awhile to go," said Robert Lee, the CEO of Dragos, a cybersecurity firm that specializes in protecting the nation's power grid and critical infrastructure. "They are absolutely going after the systems they would need to for causing disruption, but it doesn't put them close to that object."

The U.S. intelligence community also has concluded that Russia attempted to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. House Republicans ended their probe into the Russian election meddling this week and said they had found no evidence of collusion with President Donald Trump's campaign. However, there are still multiple investigations looking into any ties between Trump's campaign associates and Russians during 2016.

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29 (1) Oct 01 (1) Jul 29 (1) May 11 (1) Jul 11 (1)(CNN)  China's government is about to be massively restructured to fit President Xi Jinping's agenda.

From a powerful new financial regulator to a super ministry to deal with the environment, wide-reaching changes to the way China is governed were passed by the National People's Congress, the country's rubber-stamp parliament, on Saturday.

Experts said the sweeping reforms were some of the largest since the end of the Mao Zedong era in the 1970s.

"Clearly Xi is shoring up his power, but I would suggest what China also wants to do more than anything else is define a mode of government which is not liberal and at the same time ... is predictable, reliable, which is safe for businesses to invest in," Rana Mitter, director of the University China Center at Oxford, told CNN.

It comes just a week after the term limits on the Chinese presidency were removed by the National People's Congress as part of a power grab by Xi which effectively allows him govern for life if he chooses. He was confirmed for a second, five-year term in office on Saturday.

According to state media, under the new plan the number of ministerial-level bodies will be reduced by eight to make the government "better-structured (and) more efficient."

However, Mitter said the entire Chinese power structure has effectively been reshaped around Xi's priorities, including cracking down on corruption, shoring up the economy and environmental protection.

Here are five of the most significant changes and what they mean for China.

China is planning to formalize the rules for its new anti-corruption agency, the National Supervisory Commission or NSC.

It's the latest stage of Xi's ruthless campaign against corruption in China, which forced out multiple high-level party leaders and sent thousands of other officials to jail.

The new commission has long been teased in official media and its powers are expected to extend outside the Communist Party and the military to the rest of the government.

What does it mean?

In a December report examining the framework of the new commission, Amnesty International said it was concerned the body's "far-reaching powers" could significantly infringe on Chinese citizens' human rights.

It is expected to run parallel to China's judiciary, effectively putting it alongside, if not above, courts and prosecutors. A Brookings Institute analysis of the new laws said citizens accused of corruption would have "little or no legal recourse" to challenge the body.

Jiangnan Zhu, associate professor at the University of Hong Kong's politics department, said the new commission would have agencies at national, provincial, prefectural and county levels, giving it countrywide reach.

"It will be the highest state organ of supervision ... It will help solidify the Chinese Communist Party's hold of the Chinese government and discipline a wider array of people who engage in public sectors," she said.

China is creating an environmental protection super ministry to tackle the growing problem of pollution in its fast-growing economy, the government announced Tuesday.

Air pollution killed more than 1.1 million people in China in 2015, the most in the world, according to a study published by the US-based Health Effects Institute.

Replacing the Ministry for Environmental Protection, the Ministry of Ecological Environment will set China's future environmental policies as well as ensuring they are properly enforced.

New evidence from a University of Chicago study found China was making progress in its "war on pollution," improving air quality by as much as 42% in parts of the country.

What does it mean?

Pollution control was one of "three battles" identified by Xi in 2017 as a focus for his second term as China's President, the other two being defusing financial risks and eradicating poverty.

Ma Jun, one of China's best known environmentalists, told CNN the new ministry would help to strengthen pollution controls and build a "beautiful China."

"Taking water pollution as an example, the original duties of groundwater, watershed management and agricultural pollution control fall under various ministries and commissions ... resulting in responsibility overlaps and buck-passing," he said.

"After the integration of these responsibilities, the long-term situation of the 'Nine dragons governing the water collectively' will end," he said, using a Chinese saying.

With the reorganization, China's government will also take concrete steps to address the second of Xi's three battles -- growing concerns around financial risk and bad debt endangering the Chinese economy.

In May 2017, China's credit rating was downgraded by Moody's amid concerns over their debt levels, which rose to about 170% of GDP in the previous year. Seven months later, insurance giant Anbang was seized by the government, ostensibly due to concerns over its billion-dollar spending sprees outside China.

A new Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission will be created by combining two former regulators, while the People's Bank of China -- the country's central bank -- will be given additional regulatory powers.

According to party mouthpiece People's Daily, the changes are designed to supervise China's growing financial industries to avoid "financial risks" and protect consumer rights.

What does it mean?

The Chinese government and Xi himself have placed a huge emphasis on shoring up the country's economy to avoid collapse or recession.

Shi Dalong, researcher with Suning Financial Services, said in a report the past supervision of Chinese banks and financial services hadn't been smooth.

But there could be a risks going forward as the new commission and Xi ally Liu He work to tighten regulations, Tan Kong Yam, Economics professor at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, told CNN.

"(In the past) there have been periods where they tighten credit and it lead to slower growth, so they had to relax somewhat. It's a very fine balance between disciplining the system ... and overliberalizing it," he said.

Tan said there were also likely to be complaints from state-owned enterprises and banks as they found it increasingly difficult to get easy credit and loans to expand.

A new international development cooperation agency will be set up to help coordinate China's aid across the world, according to state broadcaster Xinhua.

It will report directly to the State Council, China's cabinet headed by Premier Li Keqiang. The aim is to enhance China's international credentials as a "major country," according to state media.

Previously China had no dedicated agency devoted to foreign aid, despite giving tens of billions of dollars in overseas assistance since 2000. There is little transparency over how China's aid is spent, however, or how much is investment and loans compared to actual assistance.

What does it mean?

China has an increasingly ambitious foreign policy, including its ], and is shaking up its foreign ministry as US global influence wanes under President Donald Trump.

Bob Carr, former Australian foreign minister and director of the Australia-China Relations Institute, told CNN previously Beijing had provided aid in a "heavy-handed manner."

"I think they will shift to a profile in overseas development that will resemble that of OECD countries," he said.

"They've been studying it for some time and I think (the new agency) means aid will be more directly related to the social and economic needs of the state. Fewer big political or vanity projects and fewer examples of a Chinese-built road to a Chinese port to a Chinese mine."

It was the agency that implemented China's infamous one-child policy with an iron fist from its creation in 1981 until government control was relaxed in 2015.

Now the Chinese government has announced the Family Planning Commission will be dismantled as the administration moves away from population control.

What does it mean?

China's birth rate dropped in 2017, down 630,000 compared to the previous year, despite the government announcing two years ago Chinese couples were officially allowed to have a second child.

The removal of the Family Planning Commission was both "important and symbolic," Yi Fuxian, scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of "A Big Country in an Empty Nest" told CNN.

"With the enforcer of family planning population policy retiring from the historical stage, China has completed a u-turn in the national population policy," he said.

"I believe it's the end of an old era and start of a new era for population policy -- respect for life, protection of human rights, regard population as wealth rather than waste, and treat people as human beings rather than trash."

This story was first published on CNN.com, Xi Jinping is making sweeping changes to how China is run."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.Pankaj Mishra in The Guardian:

On the evening of 30 January 1948, five months after the independence and partition of India, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was walking to a prayer meeting at his temporary home in New Delhi when he was shot three times, at point-blank range. He collapsed and died instantly. His assassin, originally feared to be Muslim, turned out to be Nathuram Godse, a Hindu Brahmin from western India. Godse, who made no attempt to escape, said in court that he felt compelled to kill Gandhi since the leader with his womanly politics was emasculating the Hindu nation  in particular, with his generosity to Muslims. Godse is a hero today in an India utterly transformed by Hindu chauvinists  an India in which Mein Kampf is a bestseller, a political movement inspired by European fascists dominates politics and culture, and Narendra Modi, a Hindu supremacist accused of mass murder, is prime minister. For all his talk of Hindu genius, Godse flagrantly plagiarised the fictions of European ethnic-racial chauvinists and imperialists. For the first years of his life he was raised as a girl, with a nose ring, and later tried to gain a hard-edged masculine identity through Hindu supremacism. Yet for many struggling young Indians today Godse represents, along with Adolf Hitler, a triumphantly realised individual and national manhood.

The moral prestige of Gandhis murderer is only one sign among many of what seems to be a global crisis of masculinity. Luridly retro ideas of what it means to be a strong man have gone mainstream even in so-called advanced nations. In January Jordan B Peterson, a Canadian self-help writer who laments that the west has lost faith in masculinity and denounces the murderous equity doctrine espoused by women, was hailed in the New York Times as the most influential public intellectual in the western world right now.

More here.Students across the United States are serving detention or in-school suspension as discipline for walking out of class Wednesday to protest gun violence.

But a student at Greenbrier High in Arkansas says he was punished a different way.

Wylie Greer told CNN that only he and two other students walked out, and while they were sitting outside the school building, the principal approached and asked if they knew "there would be consequences" for their action.

They said yes, Greer said, and returned to class. The 17-year-old senior discovered he had a choice of discipline: two days of in-school suspension or two swats with a wooden paddle.

Those choices surprised him, Greer said, but he picked the paddle with the support of his parents. Greer said taking the paddling "was the noble and right thing to do in this scenario."

"In my mind, the in-school suspension was essentially conceding to sitting down and shutting up, which is what the admin and school wanted to happen, to keep it quiet almost," Greer said. "I felt if I stood up and took the punishment in an honorable way, that it was better than doing what they wanted me to do which is shut up and go on with our lives. I don't think that they expected me to take the corporal punishment."

The dean of students emphasized that Greer was being disciplined for cutting class, not because of his opinion, Greer said. The school district did not return CNN's calls for comment.

Greenbrier Schools Superintendent Scott Spainhour did not identify affected students, but told CNN affiliate KARK they were disciplined for walking out of class, which violates policy.

Students who broke the rules chose between in school suspension or a swat with a paddle, he said, according to the affiliate. It said paddling in public schools is legal in Arkansas.

"He lightly gave me two swats and told me to go about my day," Greer said. "He also explained that not all corporal punishment sessions ended like that. It was implied that he didn't hit me as hard as he could have."

'Strait-laced place'

Greenbrier is a town of about 5,000 people about 45 miles north of Little Rock.

"Greenbrier prides itself on being a clean, straight-laced place," he said. "Nobody kneels during the National Anthem here."

Greer's mother, Jerusalem Greer, praised her son for taking a stand. His father signed papers to allow the punishment to be administered, the student said.

"Wylie's father and I are so proud of his courage, his conviction, and his honesty," she said to CNN. "He could have sensationalized his experience, but he didn't. We believe that it is important to empower our kids, in mature and developmentally appropriate ways, to be their own persons. Corporal Punishment of students should not be legal in any form."

Wylie Greer said he's not angry at the administrators.

"They were merely doing their job as the school board and school policy dictated," he said. "The 'swats' were not painful or injuring. It was nothing more than a temporary sting on my thighs."

Still, he hopes paddling will be done away with.

"I believe that corporal punishment has no place in schools, even if it wasn't painful to me," he said in the statement. "The idea that violence should be used against someone who was protesting violence as a means to discipline them is appalling."

He also hopes the school system is not criticized.

"I would encourage people not to harass anybody about what happened, especially not the administration," Greer said. "Protest, vote, but don't attack people verbally or physically over this. I was walking out against violence or hatred and I don't want to see that brought upon anybody."Here are the stories our DC insiders are talking about in this week's "Inside Politics" forecast, where you get a glimpse of tomorrow's headlines today.

1. North Korea talks postponed?

President Trump is considering new wave of tariffs against China Rifts are emerging in the Senate Intelligence Committee's Russia investigation

It's been 10 days since President Trump accepted an invitation to hold talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on that nation's nuclear program.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny points out that although the administration initially said the meeting would happen by May, they're now saying it might not take place until the end of May.

"The question here is, is the President going to be embarrassed if this meeting does not happen?" said Zeleny. "The White House says, absolutely not, because he's trying something. But keep an eye on that date. It may keep slipping here."

2. The impact of more tariffs

Get ready for another outcry over trade as the White House considers imposing broad tariffs on Chinese imports. The Associated Press' Julie Pace reports that both the Republican party and business groups are concerned about new tariffs aimed at everything from electronics to apparel.

"The scope of what the White House is considering is still under debate right now," said Pace. "But the Chamber of Commerce last week put out a pretty extraordinary statement that said that this kind of tariff could end up hitting the US with $60 billion that would be passed down to consumers. They say that would just be devastating for the US economy."

3. A rift on the Senate Intelligence Committee

Could the Senate Intelligence Committee be heading for the same breakdown that we saw on the House side just last week?

CNN's Manu Raju spoke last week with both Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the committee, and Sen. Richard Burr, the committee chairman, and got very different answers.

"Burr told me that he has not seen collusion (between the Trump campaign and Russia) yet in this investigation," said Raju. "He also said that the intelligence community's assessment also, at this point, cannot be substantiated."

Warner, on the other hand, told CNN that there are signs of possible collusion, and said there's no reason to doubt the intelligence community's January 2017 assessment. The chairman and the ranking member were also at odds over whether to bring back some Trump associates for further interviews.

"So while the Senate Committee will do something on a bipartisan basis as soon as this week to try to shore up election security, those big questions about collusion and whether Russia tried to help Donald Trump win the presidency -- they're not on the same page yet," said Raju.

4. Trump's funding standoff

President Trump is taking on members of his own party over another major issue: government funding, which is set to run out this Friday.

Politico's Rachael Bade reports that a major point of contention is Trump's demand for border wall funding in exchange for a short-term DACA deal.

"The President in recent days has been calling Speaker Paul Ryan and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to say he wants his wall money in there and is willing to do a short-term DACA deal," said Bade. "The Republicans are telling him, there's no way Democrats are going to agree to this right now, just drop it. But he's not listening at this point."

Another sticking point? It's the Gateway tunnel, an infrastructure project favored by New York and New Jersey Republicans that Trump initially said he would support before taking it off the table as a shot at Democratic Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer. So for now, the New York and New Jersey faction of the party are nos until they get that money.

5. Early 2020 rumblings in New Hampshire

It is only March 2018, but New Hampshire Republicans are already experiencing a little 2020 buzz.

President Trump is due in the Granite State on Monday to push his plan for dealing with the opioid epidemic. There is an anti-Trump protest there in the works, too.

That comes on the heels of a Friday visit to New Hampshire by GOP Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, a fierce Trump critic who is considering a possible 2020 primary challenge.

"It has not been in my plan to run for President, but I have not ruled it out," Flake said during his stop. "I hope that someone does run in the Republican primary - somebody to challenge the President."

Ohio Gov. John Kasich is not far behind. Kasich is due in New Hampshire for two days in early April. Like Flake, Kasich says it is way too soon to discuss 2020 with any certainty. But like Flake, he also is certainly keeping his options open.

Kasich has the advantage of an established New Hampshire network, and a good slice of his 2016 campaign team remains supportive. Flake is new to the state, though a seasoned GOP operative said his Friday speech generated "good media and good chatter" among the state's ever chatty politicos.

New Hampshire, of course, takes its first-in-the nation primary status quite seriously. It can be an important testing ground for incumbent presidents seeking re-election. Pat Buchanan, for example, bruised President George H.W. Bush by winning 40% support in the 1992 GOP primary there.

Whether President Trump can be beaten is a constant source of watercooler talk among New Hampshire GOPers. There is a strong anti-Trump GOP faction in the state, but there also is a vocal pro-Trump core.

The early chatter among those Republicans who do not back Trump is that a field of one or two challengers might get interesting. But a more crowded field, they argue, would play to the President's favor as it did in the 2016 primaries.

"Trump's strength last time was premised on opposition splintering," said one veteran GOP player in the state.

To succeed, the challenger would have to attract considerable support from non-affiliated, or independent, voters who are allowed to pick a presidential primary ballot. There also will be an open Democratic race, so the 2020 New Hampshire competition for independents will be fierce.

In the short term, New Hampshire GOPers who want a Trump challenge are keeping a watchful eye on the conservative Union Leader newspaper, a key bullhorn for the Buchanan challenge a generation ago.

Times have changed, and the Union Leader may not have the same clout it had with conservatives back then. But it remains an influential voice in the state, and its publisher is no fan of the President.

So while waiting for candidates to emerge, many New Hampshire Republicans say a more immediate test of the 2020 climate might be the degree to which the Union Leader is willing to stir the pot.

"My sense is the UL will be especially vocal in opposition (to Trump) -- much stronger than last time," the longtime GOP operative said. "Folks are watching them now for signals. "https://www.aish.com/jw/id/Terror-and-Faith-in-Har-Nof-A-Review-and-Excerpt.html

After 11 months in a coma, Chaim Rotman succumbed to his wounds sustained in the horrific terror attack that killed 4 other worshippers and a policeman.

On the morning of November 18, 2014, two terrorists attacked worshippers during morning prayers in the Kehillas Bnei Torah Synagogue in Jerusalems Har Nof neighborhood. Four of the worshippers and a police officer who responded to the attack were killed. News reports that morning also said the most seriously wounded person was from Canada.

When I heard this, I thought of the only Canadian I knew in Har Nof, Chaim Rotman. Later that morning, a friend called to tell me the wounded Canadian was Chaim.

I met Chaim in Israel in the early 1980s. At that time he was Howie. He was helping a rabbi at the Western Wall set up students and other visitors for Shabbat meals. We were both from Canada. In 1986, he married Risa and they made aliyah to Israel.

Chaim and Risa at their wedding

Chaim was one of the kindest people I knew. He didnt wait for people to ask for his help. He looked for people to help. When we drove between Jerusalem and the Har Nof neighborhood and he saw someone walking he would pull over and offer them a ride.

After the attack, he was in a coma for 11 months. Terror and Emunah in Har Nof, written by his widow Risa, is a moving and inspiring memoir of those eleven months when their struggle became a focus of the Jewish world.

The Talmud teaches that all Israel are responsible for one another. Risa writes that the terrorists attacked Chaim with a knife to his head because he was a Jew, therefore the Jewish people had to take special care of him. Family, friends, neighbors, rabbis, social workers, Chaims colleagues at the Israeli State Comptroller and complete strangers were all part of what Risa describes as a fierce tidal wave of kindness.

There were fundraising campaigns in the United States and Canada. In Har Nof, people would knock on her door, hand her an envelope and say their community raised this money and is praying for Chaim.

Risas journey begins at the ICU at Hadassah Ein Kerem where she spent hours on a bench in between visits with Chaim. Their teenage daughter Yaffa became the familys media spokesperson for reporters who came to the hospital. Risa made shiva visits to the families of the victims who were killed and when they asked how Chaim was, she replied, He is alive.

From Hadassah, Chaim was transferred Beit Levenstein in Raanana, for rehabilitation. He stayed there for six months. She describes a hopeful stage when they were sure Chaim was squeezing their hands when they would hold his good hand  but ultimately there was no proof if this was a conscious act or just reflexes.

Chaim was then moved to Herzog Hospital in Jerusalem which enabled people to visit him constantly. A neighbor from Har Nof wanted to organize a Tehillim rally to have one million people say Tehillim on Chaims behalf but his rabbi told him he could only do it if Chaims recovery was not dependent on a miracle. The idea ended when Risa told him it would take a miracle.

As Chaims condition deteriorated he was transferred to Shaarei Zedek Hospital. On October 23, 2015, people commented that he was looking well when suddenly the blood pressure machine went off. Risa and the other family members said prayers. He lost consciousness and passed away.

After the attack a woman said Risas life is in limbo. Risa responded that her life was not in limbo and that no Jew is ever in limbo. This is the place where I am meant to be, at this time, to serve God, and that is true for all Jews at any time or place in their journey.

Read Terror and Emunah in Har Nof and be moved and inspired.

* * *

First Day: An Excerpt from Terror and Emunah in Har Nof

By Risa Rotman

Tuesday, November 18, 2014, the 25th day of Cheshvan 5775. I got up at 6:15 a.m., my usual wake-up time, allowing myself to daven before taking care of my kids. I felt the tension in my shoulders release at the thought of a more relaxed day. By nature I am something of a homebody, but the last several months had required a lot of activity out of the house and many extra responsibilities. At the beginning of Elul my son Shloimi had gotten married after a brief engagement, and then Erev Yom Kippur my daughter had a baby girl, our first grandchild. These events, in combination with the chagim, plus the new addition in my routine of bringing one of my children for a certain therapy outside the neighborhood twice a week, and of course my regular social/parenting obligations, made life feel rather frantic at times. So I was really enjoying the idea of an entire day at home, just to do my work (I was working online at the time) and take care of my family and home.

At about 7:01 that morning, I heard several ambulance sirens. I remember thinking, What a nuisance. Why do they insist on driving with their sirens so early in the morning? It took about two weeks for me to get my head around the idea that my husband had been in one of those ambulances. At about 7:10 a.m., Andy, a good friend, called in hysterics. Risa, I heard there is shooting in the shul. Is Chaim okay? I have to admit I dont like worrying, so I told her, I am sure he managed to take care of himself. He is so quick and agile, and besides it is probably nothing. There had been such scares in the past so I wasnt buying into the idea that something earthshaking was happening. I continued to go about my routine: getting the kids ready for school, tidying up, and still enjoying the thought of a quiet day at home.

A few minutes later, my newly married son, Shloimi, the third child out of 11, called in a panic, Mommy, is Abba all right? The police wouldnt let me down the street. Something is going on at the shul. I tried calling Abba but he didnt answer.

I told my son not to worry. I was still not interested in anything upsetting my quiet day and therefore I wouldnt allow my sons concerns to get in my way. Again I reflected on crazy rumors in the past that had always turned out to be relatively harmless events. After all, I told my son reassuringly, Abba would never answer the phone in shul, and besides, there isnt reception there anyway.

A short time afterward Shloimi came into the house. I tried calling Chaim myself at this point and when I didnt get an answer I grabbed my daughters cell phone and ran out to Rechov Agassi. Someone had put up a barrier, blocking off the shul. Everywhere, there was pandemonium; no, pandemonium is an understatement. Members of Zaka and various medics were racing around. People were screaming.

I saw a few men I knew on the other side of the barrier and asked them if they had seen Chaim. They shook their heads. The cell phone rang.

The hospital called... one of the kids said.

Which hospital?

We dont know. Either Shaarei Zedek or Hadassah Ein Kerem.

I turned back toward my building when I saw my friend and neighbor Mrs. Goldberg standing at her buildings entrance, worry written across her face. I gave her a hug and said, I just got called that my husband was taken to the hospital. I couldnt even imagine that something worse could have happened to anyone. I ran back to my apartment to set things in motion.

My kids were taken to my upstairs neighbor. They were a tangled mess, half dressed, scared, and trying to absorb the impossible. We were trying to think logically. How could the hospital contact us? Thankfully, our cordless reached to the neighbors apartment, while I took my daughters cell phone with me to the hospital.

Knowing that Chaim was wounded, but absolutely in the dark as to the extent of his injuries, or even which hospital he was in, my son, his new wife, and I ran down to the street where my daughter-in-laws parents lived. They kindly offered to drive us to the hospital. Just as I was about to leave the house, a neighbor called to say that Yaakova Kupinsky was worried about her husband. She didnt know which shul her husband had davened in that morning. I called Yaakova and told her, Look, I got called by a hospital, so if you didnt get a call, it must mean he is okay. After that I checked my voice messages and heard a bizarre computer-generated voice message from Chaims cell phone saying he would be in touch later. To this day, we do not know how this call was made. With that I flew out of the house.

As we were driving along, still unsure as to where Chaim had been taken, the kids at home called to say that Abba was at Hadassah Ein Kerem. At that point I started to cry. As a general rule, the more serious cases are taken to this hospital and I was really beginning to worry. Could this be life and death, really? Could I manage to take care of my family alone? I let the thought hang over me as I heaved with sobs. My son gently patted me, to show he was there for me. I appreciated the gesture, particularly since he doesnt tend to show his feelings easily.

Once we got to Hadassah Ein Kerem, we were greeted by a team of social workers and were put in a large windowless room with a faded red carpet, together with the other families of the injured. I knew them all. The Mulwami family had a few daughters who learned together with my girls. The Goldsteins: I was friendly with Miri Goldstein, who lived further down on Agassi; in fact, my son-in-law had learned in her husbands class. But even more so, I had a close personal relationship with Rebbetzin Heller, Miris mother, for many years. Here in this small room I recognized many members of the extended Heller family, all hovering over their books of Tehillim. All we knew now was that each man had endured cuts by a knife or meat cleaver to his head and body.

Later, I would absorb the true nature of their experiences and wounds. Rabbi Shmuel Goldsteins son had been in shul with his father and had managed to crawl his way out as the terrorists burst into the sanctuary. The father saw an opportunity to stop some of the carnage when one of the terrorists weapons jammed. Rabbi Goldstein jumped to grab the weapon. The second terrorist, infuriated, cut deeply into Rav Goldsteins scalp near the ear. In his rage, the terrorist then threw Rabbi Goldstein out of the shul. Just at that moment, a young man, a student at one of the local yeshivos, was riding by on his bike. At the sight of the bleeding man, he ripped off his shirt and wrapped it around Rav Goldsteins head, effectively saving his life and also bringing attention to the terrifying carnage going on inside.

Rav Mulwami usually davened at the Sephardi shul two buildings over, but that fateful morning he woke up late and joined the 6:30 minyan with the Ashkenazim. He too had received severe cuts to the head and his hand was almost completely severed. When the paramedics found him, he, like Chaim, barely had a pulse.

Solemnly, the personnel in Ein Kerem apprised us of Chaims injuries. He had been slashed twice through the head with a meat cleaver, with cuts through the eye and through the jaw. He was also slashed through the arm. I just could not take it all in and did not stop crying. The refrain I repeated was, How could they slash a man through the head in tallis and tefillin? I cried on Rebbetzin Hellers arms and she simply said, It is so awful! I also kept repeating, If we are not safe in a shul, then where are we safe?

We waited, hardly daring to breathe, as time ticked by. I sat at our familys round table, a siddur in my hand. Was I concentrating? I can hardly rememberEach of the families huddled in their pain, waiting to hear the outcome of their loved ones surgeries

Slowly details of Chaims condition started coming in and the picture became clearer. When the neighborhood paramedics found him, his pulse was very weak. I was told, though this was not confirmed, that the bulk of the blood scraped from the shul floor was Chaims. I was informed by the staff that upon arrival at the hospital, he had no pulse. He immediately received 12 units of blood and in surgery a transfusion of still another 8 units

We waited endlessly to see Chaim but by the very end of the day, we were told that we would only see him for mere seconds as the situation was so precarious. His head was completely draped over and hardly anything of his face was visible.

Looking back, I realize that with my deep desire for a calm day amid the super pressure of taking care of a large family while also helping financially, at first I simply couldnt acknowledge that something absolutely horrendous had occurred. Yet once the reality hit me smack in the face, I accepted this new situation and the role I was to play in it. I think of it as a baseline Emunah (faith in God), spontaneous and unconscious. This baseline emunah is what is implanted into every Jews heart: a belief that there is a Creator and everything is under His domain. Unfortunately, once we start to think or become conscious of our circumstances, our acceptance of the situation sometimes changes, and thats when questions, anger, or frustration can seep in.

In addition, each one of us builds up our storehouse of emunah with the events and challenges that mold us. In my case, the tragic loss of my eldest son strengthened me for the unimaginable events to come.

Click here to order Terror and Emunah in Har Nof.A fatal hit-and-run accident that occurred in Colbert County on Saturday will be submitted to the next available grand jury, Alabama State Troopers reported.

Jimmy Oneal Waldrep, 75, of Leighton, died after he was hit by a vehicle at 8:30 p.m. at the intersection of Alabama Highway 157 and Duncan Lane. Troopers said the driver, David Lee Borden, left the scene without reporting the accident.

After talking to family members about his involvement in the accident, Borden called troopers at 11:30 p.m. Borden told authorities he didn't see Waldrep until the last second because Waldrep was wearing dark colored clothing and was unable to avoid hitting him. Borden said he did turn around and returned to the scene. When Borden saw several people gathering where Waldrep was laying, Borden said he panicked and left.

Troopers consulted the Colbert County District Attorney's Office before deciding to submit the case to a grand jury.A Saturday-night shooting in southwest Birmingham left two people injured.

Birmingham police officers from the West Precinct were dispatched shortly before 7 p.m. to the 2000 block of Northland Avenue. Once on the scene, police found two people shot inside a vehicle.

Lt. Pete Williston said a black female was shot multiple times and has life-threatening injuries. A black male was shot once but he is expected to be OK. Both victims were taken to UAB Hospital.

No suspects are in custody.A bill that would allow approved teachers to carry or keep guns in schools could spark an intense debate Tuesday in the Alabama House of Representatives.

A public hearing on the bill last week revealed a sharp divide between those who say it would add a last line of defense in some schools and those who say it would be a risky and poor alternative to putting police officers in schools.

House Speaker Mac McCutcheon, who spent a career in law enforcement, has questioned the idea of arming teachers, noting the possibilities of what can go wrong in a crisis involving gunfire. But McCutcheon said Thursday that it could be one component in a broader approach to school safety.

The speaker, a Republican from Madison County, said he has heard from districts that can't afford to put a police officer in every school and districts with rural schools that would take precious minutes for law enforcement to reach in an emergency.

"This is not a fix-all for all of our school safety issues," McCutcheon said. "It's just one piece of that puzzle that I've talked about with many issues out there. We're going to put it on the floor and have a debate on it and see how the bill does."

Rep. Will Ainsworth, a Republican from Guntersville, proposed the bill after the Feb. 14 shooting at a Florida high school that left 14 students and three adults dead.

Ainsworth concedes his bill is not a comprehensive solution but says it could help in certain districts, including those that can't afford school resource officers. He stressed that local authorities decide whether to allow armed teachers and would have to sign off on every teacher or administrator who had a gun in school.

"We have people already in a lot of these schools that don't have school resource officers that are perfectly capable." Ainsworth said. "Some serve in law enforcement. Some serve in the National Guard. And they're perfectly capable of doing the role as a school resource officer."

The House Public Safety Committee approved the bill Thursday on a 5-4 vote, making it eligible for consideration by the full House.

Other bills have been proposed since the Parkland, Fla., shooting, including raising to 21 the minimum age to buy semiautomatic rifles. The Legislature is restarting a task force that issued a report on school safety in 2016.

But Ainsworth's bill has gotten the most attention.

Gov. Kay Ivey formed a council to study school safety and directed it to issue a report by April 30. That would be too late to lead to proposals for this legislative session, which is expected to wrap up this month.

That also leaves limited time for Ainsworth's bill to pass.

Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, R-Anniston, said it's too soon to assess the chances of a bill that hasn't even reached the Senate. Marsh has said his preference would be to wait on the report from Ivey's council. He and McCutcheon have both said they don't want to see school safety legislation rushed.

"It's my intent to assign it to a committee and just see where it goes from there," Marsh said Thursday when asked about Ainsworth's bill.

Opponents of Ainsworth's bill at a public hearing gave multiple reasons why they thought it was a bad idea. They said teachers already have responsibilities that need their full attention. They said teachers with guns would complicate the response for police entering a school during a crisis. They said more guns on campuses would increase risks and that some could end up in students' hands.

Lissa Tucker, a lobbyist for the Alabama Association of School Boards, told the House Public Safety Committee that the Columbine High School shooting in 1999 focused the State House's attention on school safety much like the Florida shooting has. Tucker said a key problem identified then -- that some school systems can't afford to put resource officers in schools -- remains unsolved.

Tucker urged lawmakers to consider how to help schools with basic needs like secure entrances to keep out dangerous intruders.

"I think we've spent a lot of time talking about the last line of defense and a lot more has to be talked about the first line of defense because we're not there yet," Tucker said.

Ainsworth modified his bill after the public hearing and said he incorporated some elements from a bill by Rep. Allen Farley, R-McCalla, that would have allowed schools to have volunteer emergency security teams under the supervision of the sheriff. Farley asked the Public Safety Committee to set aside his bill last week.

Ainsworth's bill spells out how local districts would decide which teachers or administrators could have guns.

To be approved, they would have to complete at least 40 hours of annual training in firearms safety, crisis management and active shooter training. They would need a recommendation from the principal, superintendent and sheriff or police chief and approval by the school board.

Also, the school would need a detailed crisis response plan approved by the school board and sheriff or police chief.

Parents and the public would not be told which schools have teachers with guns. The school board approvals would take place in closed sessions.

Ainsworth said he thinks the policy could deter some would-be intruders.

"We think it's a deterrent just in the fact that there could be potentially be armed educators personnel in the school system as well as school resource officers," Ainsworth said. "We don't want a gunman or the public to know who's carrying and who's not."

McCutcheon said information he has heard from across the state makes it clear there is no "one-size-fits-all" answer.

He said one key need is for more counseling and intervention with troubled students. The Department of Mental Health has an initiative to provide more school-based mental health care and some money was added to the state budget for that.

McCutcheon said school systems are vastly different in what they can afford to do to keep their schools safe.

"I can show you some schools that's got cameras everywhere," McCutcheon said. "They've got plenty of SRO officers. They've got keylocks on their doors. It's just like a dream school. You wish you could have every school like that.

"But then I've got places where it takes an hour to get to an elementary school in one of our counties in south Alabama and the sheriff's department is more than 30 minutes to an hour away on response time. Well, what do you do for those kids to provide them a safe environment?"This story is a part of Ask Alabama, where you ask the questions, you vote to decide which questions we answer, and then we investigate.

This week we're answering a question submitted by a reader from just outside Dothan who asked:

How much tax money does Alabama lose to neighboring states due to the higher prices of alcohol here?



It's true, Alabama does have far higher taxes on alcohol than in neighboring states, meaning that alcohol is likely more expensive too.



Our question asker, who wanted to remain anonymous, told Ask Alabama that the whisky he regularly buys is 55 to 40 percent cheaper in Florida and he knows of private companies and government agencies that go to different states to buy large amounts of cheaper booze for various events.



"The ABC Board presented an argument a few years ago showing comparative prices for different liquor brands that were very close to what Alabama charges," said the question asker in a conversation with Ask Alabama. "The only problem was the brands they provided for price comparison no one had heard of them and they didn't even sell them in their stores."

"They know they charge way more than most other states."

But working out how much Alabama loses in tax revenue to neighboring states is almost impossible to calculate without knowing how many people are actually crossing state lines to do it and what they are buying.

One insight into what Alabama makes is its overall tax revenues from alcohol sales.

Alabama ranks in the top five of states in terms of tax raised per gallon of alcohol sold, according to a 2014 Tax Foundation report. Alabama raised roughly $18.23 per gallon compared with Louisiana at $2.50 per gallon, which ranks 43 in the country. At the same time the Yellowhammer state ranks in the bottom 10 for alcohol consumption, according to a study by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).

If Alabama lowered it taxes, which in turn made alcohol cheaper, that would possibly keep people buying alcohol in state, but there would less tax revenue collected per gallon. So, in the end, the total amount of money raised might turn out quite similar. However, it's hard to say without actually trying it.

But given that less alcohol is apparently being consumed in state, that's good news for Alabama's conservative and religious right, which likes the idea of big tax revenues and lower consumption.

"The idea is that if you look at the data, Alabama ranks among the highest in revenue from the sale of spirits, hard liquor," said Joe Godfrey, Chief Executive of the Alabama Citizen's Action Program, an interdenominational ministry group based in Birmingham, who spoke to Ask Alabama about a similar issue back in June 2017. "But that's not my biggest concern; it also ranks among the lowest in consumption - that's what I care about."

But that low consumption rate, which seems hard to believe if you've been out in Mobile on a weekend, might be because people are actually buying a lot of their alcohol in neighboring states, making it harder to keep track of whose drinking what. But again, that is anecdotal and difficult to quantify.

"Even if the state did lower the prices and we bought more, those ABC stores are overstaffed," said the question asker. "What are we losing there, what are we losing on renting those ABC stores?"

Those questions relate to the ongoing battle between those in Montgomery who would like to see the State move out of the alcohol business and those that want it to stay in.

"I think that we would see a decrease in revenues to start with for a couple of years but in time that would absolutely increase and go above current levels," said Senator Dick Brewbaker during an interview with AL.com.

However, the status quo is being kept in place by an almighty and unlikely alliance.

"We're still in the liquor selling business because of a coalition between the ABC and the religious right And the religious right believes very firmly that if it was privatized there would be more liquor sold and they think that's bad," Brewbaker added.

Alabama recently approved a new 5 percent tax hike on alcohol that will see the state bring in an additional $8.2 million in revenue during the next budget year. The money will go toward state district attorneys and the state's court system, which has seen funds reduced in recent years. Representatives of the district attorneys and the court system say the distribution is fair given that both entities spend most time dealing with alcohol related crimes.

So the answer is that we don't really know for sure how much Alabama is losing to neighboring states, but it can't be too bad given the amount the state raises in tax revenue from liquor sales.

What question should we answer next? Submit your own and vote on the next round using the tools below.

_

Vote hereAs national pundits reveled or puzzled over Roy Moore's stunning defeat in December, the Rev. James Henderson went to work to rally the evangelical flock.

Two months later, at the Alabama Republican Party's Feb. 24 winter meeting, Henderson was pushing three resolutions that were likely to sit well with reliably red voters:

Encourage Alabama lawmakers to pass legislation banning abortions of babies diagnosed with Down Syndrome.

Express unhappiness about new U.S. Sen. Doug Jones'

Strengthen anti-illegal immigration enforcement in Alabama, and adhere to the provisions of the state's 2011 law that have not been "specifically banned by a liberal judge."

"The core of Alabama Christian voters still believes the things that Roy Moore believes in," said Henderson, executive director emeritus of the Christian Coalition of Alabama, who also served as Moore's campaign manager during his 2010 gubernatorial run.

And looking ahead to the state's 2018 elections, Henderson said, "So as far as Christians and turning out to vote, there won't be much change in what we've seen." In short, they'll vote solidly Republican, he said, and, in the June 5 party primary, they'll incline toward "the most conservative candidates in the race."

Henderson and others on the Christian right feel confident that their voters will make themselves known in 2018, and loudly so.

If that turns out to be true, Alabama could experience the opposite the "blue wave" predicted elsewhere in the U.S. In many states, this year's elections are being labeled as a referendum on the first two years of the Donald Trump administration. Political commentators are already talking of Democrats winning on many fronts, potentially taking control of Congress.

Alabama voters had a taste of that blue wave on Dec. 12, when Jones became the first Alabama Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate in a quarter-century. Heading into the 2018 campaigns, Republicans hold six of seven U.S. House seats, enjoy super-majority status in the Legislature, and occupy all of the state's executive offices.

"I see people who are angry about the election in December, and I believe more and more of the Republican Party, including Christian conservatives, will be out there on June 5 and again in November," said Rich Hobson, Moore's campaign chairman during last year's election who is now seeking the U.S. House seat held by Republican Rep. Martha Roby.

"I do think there will be a strong desire among conservatives in Alabama to make a resurgence and reclaim their sort of kingmaker place in Alabama politics," said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, and a longtime observer of Southern politics. "I would expect them to be energized."

'Disqualifying issue'

When it comes to Bible-believing, Alabama always stands near the top among states. Here, 86 percent of people profess to be Christians, according to surveys, and nearly half identify as evangelical Protestants. And white evangelicals have been a loyal Republican voting bloc, akin to a dominant special interest

But exactly who will these evangelicals be backing when they enter the voting booth this year? Less than three months from the GOP primary, there are no clear-cut favorites and no endorsements of any note have surfaced.

But one thing appears certain: No Democrat is getting the nod anytime soon.

"I don't think you'll see many evangelical conservatives looking at the Democratic candidates," said John Killian, director of missions with the Fayette County Baptist Association and a past president of the Alabama Baptist State Convention. "There is a negative feeling toward the Democratic Party right now. It used to be said that it was a 'conservative vs. liberal' difference, but now we are saying, 'conservative vs. Democrat.' To win the Democratic nomination, the Democratic candidates will have to win the support of the people who are too far to the left."

The longtime wedge issue is abortion, which generates deep passion among many right-wing Christian voters 45 years after Roe v. Wade.

"It's a disqualifying issue," said Killian. "Someone who is not pro-life, you won't get our vote."

But another issue that's emerged to flame hard feelings is Common Core. Evangelicals want the federal learning standards scraped, aligning with a longtime tea party demand for more local and state control of classrooms and curricula.

Said Henderson: "I truly believe that Common Core has set education back in the ways they are trying to teach math and social studies. The whole concept of globalism and global politics has failed our country economically and otherwise." Moreover, he said, Common Core "betrays" Christian values, instilling instead a "Common Core paradigm with common values."

Henderson said he's been disappointed to see Republican candidates, over the years, deliver lots of talk about educational standards but relatively little tangible action.

But Joe Godrey, the executive director of the Alabama Citizen's Action Program -- a leading interdenominational ministry and lobbying group that routinely battles gambling and alcohol interests -- cautioned that evangelicals do not march in lockstep and will disagree about which issues are more important.

And he does worry that Democrat in Alabama have fire in the belly this year -- more Democratic women are running for elected office this year than in recent memory, if ever. "The Democratic Party will be very energized after the senatorial election and will be getting their votes out," said Godfrey. "If conservative voters sit home and are not energized, it could change the outcomes."

'On my sleeve'

The most high-profile content this year is the gubernatorial race. On the GOP side, Gov. Kay Ivey is running a well-financed campaign against three challengers: Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle, state Sen. Bill Hightower of Mobile and Birmingham youth minister Scott Dawson.

Henderson and Killian are both hesitant to predict whom evangelicals will favor. But the candidates are certainly angling to woo those voters. Hightower, for instance, is highlighting his background with Outback America, a Christian organization that holds family camps in Mobile and elsewhere. Battle's campaign website boasts him as the "Conservative for Alabama," while Ivey's campaign dubs her the "Trusted Conservative Fighter."

Dawson is backed by popular conservative radio celebrity Rick Burgess, and on Monday will be endorsed publicly by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee during a rally in Pelham.

Dawson said Huckabee, a Christian minister who ran for president in 2008 and 2016, is a longtime acquaintance, counselor and adviser. "He was the first person I sat down with for advice on what to expect, not only on the campaign, but putting forth a plan," Dawson said.

Dawson also enjoys support from David Green, CEO of the Hobby Lobby chain of arts and craft stores, who is a well-known philanthropist and supporter of evangelical ministries. The largest contribution to Dawson's campaign, $100,000, came from Green.

Although Dawson is a pastor, he said he wants to be simply called "Scott" on the campaign trail. He said he's not going to wear "religion on my sleeve."

Said Dawson: "Christ has changed my life, but the people of Alabama aren't electing a minister. They are electing a governor. They want someone competent who can drive our state forward."

Wayne Flynt, a well-respected Alabama historian, has noted the lack of fiery Christian speeches, thus far, on the campaign trail. He said the GOP is looking this year for a "little more soft Republican who is on the right side on the abortion question."

According to Flynt, the GOP contenders have no interest in being a headline-maker like Roy Moore, who became a controversial global celebrity during last year's U.S. Senate race. Such a course, Flynt said, "might be viewed as the death rattle."

'Irrelevant'

In many respects, the recent death of Billy Graham, and the glowing national tributes, have returned a positive light to the evangelical movement. It's a particular reversal Alabama, where the image of "evangelical Christian" in the political arena has been tarnished by scandal. Notably:

Roy Moore, according to a Washington Post story in November and subsequent accounts since, sexually pursued teenage girls in the 1970s, when he was a Gadsden lawyer in his 30s.

Robert Bentley, a deacon at his Tuscaloosa Baptist church, won election to the Governor's Mansion riding a wave of evangelical support in 2010 and again in 2014.

And then there is President Trump, a thrice-married chief executive who isn't shy of using vulgarities and who has been linked to an affair with a porn star. Among Trump's most devoted supporters are evangelical leaders, such as Billy Graham's son, Franklin. The president also enjoys his strongest approval ratings in deep-red states like Alabama.

Trump was a sought-after endorsement during last year's Senate race. Former Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange, who finished second to Moore in the GOP primary, repeatedly praised Trump while on the campaign trail. The president spoke on behalf of Strange during a rally in Huntsville last year.

But Trump's two endorsements of Strange, ahead of the Sept. 26 runoff, and of Moore, before Dec. 12, resulted in losses. And, thus far, campaign messages invoking Trump's name have been limited.

Henderson said that even among evangelical voters, views about the president are not monolithic. "I got some heat from fellow Christian conservatives when I supported Trump for president," recalled Henderson, who said he personally met with the president and spoke with him for about 10 minutes ahead of Trump's 2016 rally in Madison in the Huntsville area.

"There are people who make an issue about some of these allegations of President Trump's personal life," said Henderson. "To me, that is irrelevant when it comes to his value as president to take on the problems he's willing to."

Michael Altman, a religious studies professor at the University of Alabama, said that Christian evangelicals appear to be unfazed by criticism about being aligned with Moore or Trump, especially from media outlets that conservatives view with suspicion.

"I don't think most white evangelicals in the pews of Alabama churches feel like their reputation has been damaged at all," said Altman. "They think they have been doing the right thing. Whatever small gap may have emerged between more moderate and suburban evangelicals and the more rural Moore supporters last year is slowly closing and I expect we'll see the usual 80 percent or so support the Republican Party by white evangelicals in the fall."

He added, "The lesson of the past two years is that self-described white evangelical or 'born again' Protestants are a reliable Republican voting bloc regardless of the candidate."

This story was updated at 9:51 a.m. to clarify that former Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley was a deacon at his Tuscaloosa Baptist church.Given their talents and interests, sisters Lorrie Chambers and Karen Jones could have chosen any profession they wanted. But it's hard to argue they could have done anything that would have made as many people happy -- and better honored their family legacy -- than opening up The Little Cake Shop on the Eastern Shore.

And it's a calling they both perform as naturally as talking. As a matter of fact, in the span of the interview for this story, Jones cut out and decorated at least three dozen Easter cookies while Chambers iced a wedding cake and scooped out Mexican wedding cookies. All the while, they were chatting about times long past.

Although separated by almost a decade, the sisters both grew up in the various locales of the Mobile bakery that their parents had owned since 1965. Wyley and Sybil Burnett raised five kids in the venerable Pastry Shop bakeries, but it wasn't their daughters' destiny to own those same sweet spots.

'Cake is my thing'

Instead, according to Chambers and Jones, their destiny took them -- along with the family recipes -- to Spanish Fort, to a property near the corner of U.S. 31 and Alabama 181.

Painted sunshine yellow, their bakery oasis across from Rockwell Elementary School was opened by Chambers in 1996. She said she chose the name because she wanted to keep it simple and start something all her own.

Chambers said that her future projections for The Little Cake Shop were rooted in optimism and an understanding of three basic facts: "There aren't many people over here who do what we do; people have to eat; and what we do fundamentally makes people happy."

She said, "It's not like owning a funeral home. And the things we do, you can't go get at Walmart or Publix or anywhere else. We knew people were going to like what we did."

The two sisters marketed The Little Cake Shop the only way they knew how, by taking each day's leftover cupcakes and cookies to fire and police stations, banks and offices, with their business cards sitting right on top.

Success came fairly quickly. For Chambers, the challenge was in keeping her books straight and managing the business side of baking.

"Math is not my thing, cake is my thing," she said. "But you have to figure that stuff out, too."

So the sisters found a bookkeeper in Fairhope and kept putting roller to dough like they'd always done. Their wheelhouse was cakes, cookies and assorted pastries.

Said Jones, "They say it takes usually three years for a new business to make a profit, but it didn't take us three years."

The sisters credit their parents' mantra that "you have to do what you have to do" for being able to weather the lean times of the last recession.

"We had to gear back and watch every penny," Chambers said. "All I can say is that we survived, but there were many places that were closing down around us."

"But," said Jones, "you don't sit around and complain. You just figure it out."

'Here to bake'

Jones has a favorite picture on her phone: It's of her newest grandchild, laying in the bakery scale. All of their grandchildren have been weighed there, she said, indicating a tradition that's lasted the years.

They even have a daybed hidden away for when the little ones come to visit and need to nap. Which sparks memories of when Jones and Chambers were young and rambling across the floors of The Pastry Shop.

Several years ago, the sisters needed to hire another baker, and chose a woman named Jessica whom they now describe as their "right hand."

She came aboard and became the shop's mixologist, making doughs and other recipes on the giant mixer, along with learning how to design cakes and work with fondant -- one of the newer trends in cake decorating.

Eventually, Jones' son started coming by to see his mom and aunt, and he and Jessica formed a bond and eventually got married.

"I was the maid of honor at their wedding," Jones said.

These days, the calendar in the back room is filled with hand-written names denoting upcoming cakes. This is the busiest season -- March through May -- and some weekends as many as five sets of brides and grooms will toast their futures in front of a signature cake from The Little Cake Shop.

The last couple of years have been slow when it comes to weddings, but things are bouncing back in a big way. Now, a lot of their orders come from folks in their 30s and 40s getting married, not twentysomethings.

And with a relaxation of marriage laws statewide, some of their newer customers are same-sex couples.

"We're not put here to judge," Jones said. "We're here to bake."

Looking at three months worth of weddings, graduations, birthdays and first communions, the sisters admitted they're tired, and would like to retire someday. Chambers held out two hands full of crooked fingers and Jones mused about a passion for writing that hasn't ebbed in 30 years.

But for now, the future resides on that calendar, and in the iPad and iPhone photo albums they peruse with floury fingers and smiles.

In this 1970s-era photograph, Pastry Shop owner Wyley Burnett is seen with America's Junior Miss contestants beside a cake he baked of the United States. Each state was a separate cake that the contestants took home with them.

Nearby, in a wooden frame, is a photograph of their father from the 1970s. In it, Wyley Burnett is smiling and surrounded by dozens of America's Junior Miss contestants, all posed in front of a giant cake that he made of the United States. It's an image that his daughters look at with pride.

"I'm doing what I'm meant to be doing," Jones said.

Chambers added: "Where else can you work doing nothing but making people happy?"

The Little Cake Shop is open Monday through Friday and can be found on Facebook and by phone at 251-621-9097.Updates:

6:30 p.m. Sunday: Officer Ben Tobias, a GPD spokesperson, said negotiators convinced the suspect to come outside of his apartment, where he was arrested. He is being taken to the Alachua County Jail where he will processed for possible charges including attempted homicide and aggravated battery.

6 p.m. Sunday: Gainesville Police has arrested the suspect, whose name will be released later.

Gainesville Police officers are talking to an armed person inside a Windsor Terrace apartment and have blocked off Southwest 20th Avenue.

The road was blocked between Southwest 34th Street and Southwest 38th Terrace by police patrol cars after police responded to reports of shots being fired at about 1:30 p.m. Sunday, according to GPD press release.

Officer Ben Tobias, a GPD spokesperson, said the shooter got into an argument with a victim. Tobias said the victim and the shooter knew each other. When the argument escalated, the suspect pulled out a gun and fired at the victim multiple times, according to the press release.

Windsor Terrace apartments

The victim was not hit by the gunfire, according to the press release. Police said the suspect retreated into his apartment after the shooting.

When officers arrived, the suspect left the apartment, and police used less lethal weapons in an attempt to stop the suspect, Tobias said. Tobias could not confirm what the weapons police used were. The suspect then went back into the apartment, where he has had phone conversations with police negotiators.

Alachua County Sheriff's Office SWAT team vehicles, including an armed hummer and a machine to take down a door, are parked at the Campus USA bank parking lot.

Southwest 20th Avenue is closed as police negotiate with shooter inside Windsor Terrace apartments.

Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe NowA beautiful piece of clothing you love to wear.

Imagine slipping on a dress that you created with just the right fabric and the perfect fit.Three pupils at Greenbrier Public School in Arkansas who partook of national school walkout day on March 14, 2018  part of a protest against gun violence after the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where 17 people were murdered  were reprimanded in the old fashioned way: two swipes of a paddle across the buttocks.

A mother of of the of the spanked students did as she must and took to twitter. @JerusalemGreer tweeted:

This generation got off lightly. Two spanks is not six of the best. When British children walked out of school in 1972 , Prime Minister Edward Heath mobilised MI5 and Special Branch to monitor the schoolchildren revolutionaries. Mr Heath asked Margaret Thatcher, then the Education Secretary, to compile a report which warned: Some boys and girls are already beginning to develop political attitudes in an immature way

My kid and two other students walked out of their rural, very conservative, public school for 17 minutes today. They were given two punishment options. They chose corporal punishment. This generation is not playing around. #walkout

Walking out of class at ten on Monday morning was not an easy thing. Many students were vocally insulting and degrading to the idea of the walk-out and anyone who would participate. At 10:00, I walked out of my classroom to a few gaped mouths and more than a few scowls. I exited the building, sat on the bench, and was alone for a few seconds. I was more than a little concerned that I would be the only one to walk out. I was joined by two others eventually, two of the smartest students at the school. We sat outside the front of the building and were approached first by the principal, who asked us if he could help us and if we understood that there would be consequences. After we answered affirmatively, he went back inside. A few minutes passed and the dean-of-students approached us. He asked what we were doing, we told him that we were protesting gun violence. He told us to go inside. We refused.

After the 17 minutes had passed, we re-entered the building and went to our classes. Over the next two hours, all three of us were called individually to talk with the dean-of-students. He offered us two choices of punishment, both of which had to be approved by our parents. We would either suffer two swats from a paddle or two days of in-school suspension. All three of us chose the paddling, with the support of our parents.

I received my punishment during 6th period. The dean-of-students carried it out while the assistant principal witnessed. The punishment was not dealt with malice or cruelty, in fact, I have the utmost respect for all the adults involved. They were merely doing their job as the school board and school policy dictated. The swats were not painful or injuring. It was nothing more than a temporary sting on my thighs. The dean-of-students did stress however that not all punishments like this ended this way.

I believe that corporal punishment has no place in schools, even if it wasnt painful to me. The idea that violence should be used against someone who was protesting violence as a means to discipline them is appalling. I hope that this is changed, in Greenbrier, and across the country.

Wylie A. Greer

Class of 2018

Greenbrier High School, ArkansasEllen Barkin gets a lift to Terry Gilliams Harvey Weinstein apology

When not teaching us how make Monty Python-style stop animation, Terry Gilliam is opining about Harvey Weinstein. The killer line comes: Harvey opened the door for a few people, a night with Harvey  thats the price you pay.

No word from the disgraced movie mogul, last seen nipping into The Meadows in Arizona for treatment to whatever syndrome his behaviour can be filed under. The Meadows exists to heal your trauma, oozes the reassuringly expensive clinic, where Weinstein has been housed since last October. We wish him well with his morbid attraction to actors and plant pots.

And here to help Harvey get well is Gilliam, who tells AFP:

It is a world of victims. I think some people did very well out of meeting with Harvey and others didnt. The ones who did, knew what they were doing. These are adults; we are talking about adults with a lot of ambition.

Variety adds:

Gilliam also claimed that some of the women didnt actually suffer, but used Weinstein to further their careers, and that he knew women who walked out of meetings with the mogul before getting sexually abused.

Meanwhile on twitter, Ellen Barkin  who starred in Gilliams 1998 film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas  tweeted:

My hard won advice: never get into an elevator alone with terry gilliam  Ellen Barkin (@EllenBarkin) March 17, 2018

Whatever can she mean?

Paul Sorene

Posted: 18th, March 2018 | In: Celebrities, News Comment | TrackBack | PermalinkEgyptAir has denied a news release that has been posted by several news websites stating finding a cobra snake aboard its flight to Kuwait today.

The Egyptian national carrier said it "denounces attempts of some news sites trying to defame its leading status by reposting false and old stories that date back to the year 2012."

In an official statement the Cairo airline said it urges the media to coordinate with its media centre to "assure the robustness and accuracy of evidentiary news for maintaining transparency and credibility before public opinion."

Egypts flag carrier also added it would be taking all legal actions to ensure its rights against any entity aiming to defame its status.

Also not the real thing - the fictituous 2006 Hollywood movie Snakes on a Plane starring Samuel L JacksonRepresentatives from 50 countries will be gathering in New Delhi on March 19-20 for an informal WTO ministerial meeting.

New Delhi: The government on Sunday said that 50 nations will engage in free and frank discussions on trade here this week to explore the options for resolving various issues and re-invigorating the WTO.

Representatives from 50 countries will be gathering in New Delhi on March 19-20 for an informal WTO ministerial meeting. The informal meeting of ministers will provide an opportunity to engage in free and frank discussions with the hope that it will lead to political guidance on some major issues, the commerce ministry said.

It will look at the issues both at the negotiating table and also in other areas. Commerce secretary Rita Teaotia had said recently that the meeting would be more of an ice-breaker as it is being held after the collapse of talks at the meeting in December.

When asked if there would be a statement by the chair, she had said it would be for the mini-ministerial to decide.

The ministrys further said: In the absence of ministerial guidance at the 11th Ministerial Conference that took place from 10 to 13 December 2017 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, it is hoped that the New Delhi meeting will provide an opportunity for ministers to explore in greater detail the options on different issues for re-invigorating the WTO.

It further said that safeguarding and strengthening the system was never as important as it is today particularly its dispute settlement arm.The superstar's latest Twitter post brought back memories of a film, which played a huge role in his career.

Mumbai: Twenty five years ago, Shah Rukh Khan played an obsessive stalker to Juhi Chawla in Yash Chopras Darr.

Be it writing Juhis character name Kiran in blood on his chest by piercing it with a knife or confessing his love for her repeatedly on her large photo he screened on the house wall, Shah Rukh gives us the chills even today.

The superstar brought back the films memories recently, but here there was no fictional person named Kiran, but a real woman and familiar face Katrina Kaif.

There was no blood here, but there was a photograph of Katrina on a wall and love for her sans the obsession.

Shah Rukh posted a lovely picture on Twitter on Saturday where he is seen offering Katrinas picture on the wall an ice-cream because she doesnt eat in real and how she has worked hard on their film Zero.

The pose reminded him of Darr and he signed off with his iconic dialogue, only replacing 'KKK... Kiran' with 'KKK Katrina.

Cos she doesnt eat ice cream in real, Cos she has worked so hard & cos this reminds me of Darr...on @aanandlrai #Zero the film...I lov u kkkKatrina.. pic.twitter.com/YWZYClrcOQ  Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) March 17, 2018

This picture just proves the camaraderie between the two actors, especially on the sets of the film, which has been extremely evident in their recent pictures.

Katrina had posted several pictures and a video of Shah Rukh on Instagram and even the latter had posted a lovely picture calling her media manager in one with Aanand L Rai.

Wed surely like to see more of this chemistry when Zero hits the theatres on December 21.Kangana further shared that for her, love was not just about having a physical experience.

On Saturday, as Kangana Ranaut stepped on the Rising India Summit stage, the bold actress decided to pick up the microphone herself and start talking even before the anchor, Anuradha Sengupta, could kick-start the session. And when the latter finally got the chance to do her bit, Anuradha stated that Kangana likes to be in charge all the time.

The actress, who will next be seen in historical film Manikarnika, missed Smriti Iranis speech at the summit but made it a point to watch Prime Minister Narendra Modis address. She also warmly met minister of defence, Nirmala Sitharaman at the venue.

During her session, professing her love for the PM, the Queen actress said: I am a big Modi fan. Unfortunately, I am not politically aware or I do not read the newspapers, which is not a good thing to do. For a success story and as a young woman, I believe that we need to have the right role models. We have a Prime Minister who is a chaiwala. It is not his victory, it is a victory of democracy. I feel he is the right role model.

Calling herself a nationalist who doesnt believe in any religion, she stated, I had never heard the word nationalism before. The good news is that someone is using this word now! I, as a youth, want to see growth in my life. If India does not grow, I dont grow. I am an Indian, I was born as an Indian and I do not have any other identity in my life. If the national anthem is played, I will stand up.

On the subject of the nepotism debate that was sparked following her appearance on Karan Johars chat show, Kangana clarified instantly, Honestly, I did not think that it will become a national topic when I spoke about it. We grew up hearing this stuff. My own parents or relatives tell me woh file pe sign karva dena (get those official documents signed somehow). For me, it was just an observation. Everyone was subconsciously observing it. And it became a catalyst when I said it on that popular show. Karan is so popular that it became a national debate.

Talking about being let down in the alleged Hrithik Roshan affair, the 30-year-old said, At every point you feel that you will be let down and you will never love again. I have been feeling like that since I was 16. I have had so many affairs; Ive always felt that life has taken everything away from me and that I cannot fall in love again. Even after this thing (the Hrithik affair) fell apart, another man came into my life and I felt I couldnt handle it anymore. But everything changed in two to three months and I felt that I was ready, and how!

Kangana further shared that for her, love was not just about having a physical experience. It has to be something beyond that and has to be an exceptional spiritual experience. But just when you feel you are so high in love, that person says, Oh, you are psycho! and that person also left. You burst into tears every time you kiss and you are called a psycho, she added.

The actress also dynamically spoke her mind on Indian politics. Politics has been misunderstood. If we dont have a government or politics, we cant govern this country. What I dont like about politicians is their dress sense. I will not wear those clothes if I get into politics and I dont think they are going to be okay with that. And the way I speak, I dont think any party will be interested in hiring me, she said.

But having set the agenda and putting her rules on the table, we wont be surprised if some party approaches her in the near future.

Post the session, several influencers took to Twitter to applaud Kangana for her candidness.

Nirmala Sitharaman? @nsitharaman: Above everything, we are Indian. Well said Kangana!

Sonam Mahajan @AsYouNotWish: Candid, honest, interesting, funny, patriot, Kangana Ranaut was everything that it takes to keep you asking for more. Loved how she slammed those who maintain convenient silence over Pakistani artists. Watch out, KJo, our girl never forgets.

Monica @TrulyMonica: India is rising. What is India rising? Is it the economy, the culture? No. It is the self respect of the Indian people that needs an upgrade. BEST definition of rising India so far #KanganaRanaut

Nirupama Menon Rao @NMenonRao: Listening to Kangana Ranaut.Brave, vulnerable, speaking eyes, soulful and sensiti ve. Iconoclast and not afraid to say it. Honest to a fault. Chapeau.

 Sanskriti MediaAhmed Mohamed also sought enhanced engagement between New Delhi and Male.

Indian Ocean archipelago's High Commissioner to India Ahmed Mohamed said, that while there has been a steady stream of high-level visits from the island nation to India, the same was not reciprocated -- an issue which many in Male feel is one of the factors for ties going south. (Photo: Twitter/@ahmedMDV)

New Delhi: Seeking to minimise the damage caused by a senior Maldivian minister's remarks on Jammu and Kashmir, Indian Ocean archipelago's High Commissioner to India Ahmed Mohamed has said the Kashmir issue was a bilateral matter that should be "resolved amicably" between India and Pakistan.

Mohamed also sought enhanced engagement between New Delhi and Male.

Admitting that there was an "environment of mistrust" between India and Maldives caused by a host of issues in recent years, the envoy said, "lack of engagement" was responsible for the current state of affairs, but asserted that the two countries should let "bygones be bygones".

The high commissioner said that while there has been a steady stream of high-level visits from the island nation to India, the same was not reciprocated -- an issue which many in Male feel is one of the factors for ties going south.

Asked about the recent comments of a senior Maldivian minister bracketing the Kashmir situation with the current state of affairs in the Maldives, the high commissioner said, "It was a remark to emphasise the stand that the Maldives has been taking continuously and consistently since the 1970s. We have always maintained the position that it is a bilateral issue that needs to be resolved amicably between the two countries."

"We have always maintained the position that there needs no intervention by a third country. Hence, reiteration of our position and an example from the local context to state that the existing crisis in Maldives is an internal issue which needs no foreign intervention," Mohamed said.

Mohamed Shainee, a senior minister in President Abdulla Yameen's government, had reportedly told a group of visiting Indian reporters, "Why haven't we gone into the Kashmir issue... and asked to be (an) intermediary? Because they are internal matters... India should stay away from our issue. We are independent and capable of dealing with the situation. If we need help, we will let India know."

Reacting sharply, Indian officials had termed the remarks as "unfortunate". Asserting that the two situations were not comparable, a senior official had said, "While the situation in Kashmir is due to state-sponsored terrorism, the other is due to subversion of democracy."

Currently, India and Maldives have a strained relationship that has been caused by a number of issues, including the signing of a free-trade agreement between the Maldives and China amid increasing proximity between Male and Beijing, and imposition of emergency by the Yameen government.

"The need now is to start with a clean slate and let bygones be bygones," the envoy stressed, while making a strong pitch for a high-level visit from India. "It will make a lot of difference."

Also Read: Our envoy planned to visit India first, proposed dates declined: 'Hurt' Maldives

The Maldivian president has visited India twice apart from visits by other leaders, including the Maldivian foreign minister, he noted.The Army pointed out that the assault rifle failed trials while deliberating that no one can meet its requirement in future.

The Army's concerns came after the OFB sounded its preparedness to start the assault rifles' production which is likely at Rifle Factory Ishapore in North 24 Parganas. (Photo: File | Representational)

Kolkata: Close on the heels of the Modi government's clearance to procure around 7.40 lakhs assault rifles of 7.62 mm calibre which will replace the 5.56 mm calibre INSAS for the Indian Army, the Army has raised serious questions on the quality of the weapon being developed by the Kolkata headquartered state defence manufacturer Ordnance Factory Board (OFB).

Vowing not to compromise with the qualitative requirements (QR) for its weapons, the Army also pointed out that the assault rifle failed trials while deliberating that no one can meet its requirement in future.

The Army's concerns came after the OFB sounded its preparedness to start the assault rifles' production which is likely at Rifle Factory Ishapore in North 24 Parganas with the defence ministry assuming that it would take around three years to place the first order for procurement.

According to a Standing Committee on Defence report submitted to both the Houses of the parliament on March 13, defence production secretary Ajay Kumar told the parliamentary panel on the assault rifles, "Sir, I would like to tell that now in S.C. 7.6 mm best technology, 7.5 lakh assault rifles have been approved which will be made in the country. Whatever is the requirement of the Army, in that work of making about 7.5 lakh assault rifles will be done in the country. The OFB and Industries will build it together.

On the status and time frame for the assault rifles' production he told the parliamentary panel, "In S.D.A.C. approval, it has been stated that the first order will be given in 2020-21."

Replying to the question of the assault rifles' order and production OFB Chairman Sunil Kumar Chourasia, who is also the Director General Ordnance Factories, told the panel, "I am ready for production. (Assault rifle is being developed in-house by this R&D in Rifle Factory, Ishapore. PMT has formed in it, in which Army is the representative of user quality, all are working together on this)."

The Army however explained why orders were yet to be placed even after the weapon was finalised. Its director general (Weapons & Equipment) Lieutenant General Sanjiv Verma told the panel, "Sir, this problem has been known for long years. The assault rifle or the carbine, which this Service is wanted, we have not been able to get. I just explain that. For the past few years, whatever trials have gone for the assault rifles and carbines, we were not satisfied with them. So, we have not been able to get the weapons...."

Lt Gen Verma elaborated, "Recently, in the Defence Acquisition Council, a very deliberate decision at the highest level has been taken on how to proceed with the eight lakh plus rifles and carbines which we wanted. In that, we have gone for certain quantity for the fast track procedure from import. But for the balance, that is, seven lakh plus, out of that, the Ordnance Factory Board is also going to participate. But, yes, Sir, like what you are pointing out, nobody is in a position to meet our requirement tomorrow. Sir, it is not up to my requirement. How can I give order?"

When the panel wanted to know about the QR and Ordnance Factories waiting for orders, Lt Gen Verma informed it that the Army has tried but the assault rifles failed in trials.

He said, "Sir, QRs have been given to them. It was tried and tested a number of times. But, unfortunately, it did not meet our QR. Sir, your point is very valid. For a rifle, I cannot have a diluted QR to be used on the frontline. So, what we are doing is that we are importing a certain quantity and for the rest, the work is in progress. Various prototypes of weapons have come to us for trials and they are being tested. It is not that we have not tested them."

Describing the QR as 'very stringent', defence secretary Sanjay Mitra later assured the panel that the OFB would acquire technology to 'make it up to the standards of Army's satisfaction.'A group of students from BHU approached police demanding a sedition case after a video clip of the performance went viral on social media.

The complainants also reported to the university authorities, after which the university had formed a committee to investigate the issue. (Photo: YouTube Screengrab)

Varanasi: The Banaras Hindu University (BHU) did not allow a play glorifying Nathuram Godse to be staged at its annual cultural festival, a probe committee has found.

Trouble had erupted on the BHU campus in February, when a group of students claimed that a play which showed Mahatma Gandhi in a poor light and celebrated his killer, Godse, had been staged at the festival.

They had approached the police demanding a sedition case be filed after a video clip of the performance went viral on social media.

They had also complained to the university authorities, after which the university had formed a committee to investigate the issue.

The committee in its recent report said the BHU authorities had disqualified a participant who performed a mono-act on Godse when cultural performances were being screened for the university festival.

"During the screening process meant for selection of participants for the annual cultural festival, the participants presented performances based on the topic of their choice for a maximum of five minutes," it said.

The organisers or judges did not have prior information on the topic chosen by the participant, the report said.

"During the screening, a participant performed a five-minute long mono-act on Godse and was disqualified for selection for the festival by judges," it added.

The probe panel reiterated that the performance was "merely found to be a part of screening procedure and the organisers and judges had no prior information on the subject".

The BHU, one of the 43 central universities in the country, has been at the centre of controversy since 2017, when students, including women, and two journalists were injured in a baton-charge by the police after a protest against an alleged sexual harassment incident turned violent.Cong urged that the EC revert to the old practice of paper ballots in future elections instead of EVMs.

The Congress and other political parties have been alleging that EVMs were tampered during polls. (Photo: Representational | File)

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday said that it can consider using paper ballots instead of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in future elections if every party thinks that it should be done.

"I would like to remind Congress that the decision to shift from paper ballots to EVMs was taken because of a larger consensus. Now today, if every party think that we should return to paper ballots again, after due discussion, we can consider," BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav said.

The statement came hours after the Congress on Saturday urged that the Election Commission (EC) revert to the old practice of paper ballots in future elections instead of EVMs.

This is necessary as there are misgivings on "misuse" of EVMs to "manipulate the outcome contrary to popular verdict", the party said during its 84th plenary session.

The Congress and other political parties have been alleging that EVMs were tampered during polls and demanding reintroduction of the ballot paper system of voting.

The party called for reverting to the old practice of paper ballots citing it was adopted by other major democracies to help restore the credibility of the electoral process.

A resolution was also moved in this regard in the plenary session.

In its resolution, the party said the BJP's move of simultaneous elections is "misplaced" and is "incompatible with the Constitution as also impractical".

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been pressing upon the idea of holding simultaneous elections to Parliament and state assemblies, contending that it will save money and time.The Prime Ministers comments came in the context of continuous farmers protests since June last year.

New Delhi: With the Opposition parties targeting the government over farmers unrest, Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi on Saturday hit out saying critics were trying to confuse and demotivate farmers on the new MSP policy. He tried to assure rural India that the government will calculate costs in a way which will include expenses on hired and family labour, irrigation, inputs, interest on working capital, land revenue paid by farmers to state governments, and rent on machinery and leased land.

Addressing a Krishi Unnati Mela, an annual event of the Agriculture Ministry, Mr Modi said that doubling of farmers income is one of the key focus areas of the government.

The Prime Ministers comments came in the context of continuous farmers protests since June last year. Farmers across the country are demanding remunerative prices and loan waiver after consecutive years of record harvest led to a sharp fall in commodity prices which hit farm revenues and incomes.

Reforming agriculture markets is a focus area and the government is trying to connect farmers from local to global markets, Mr Modi said.

He added that the Centre is trying to ensure that farmers receive better prices for their crops mentioned about the budgetary provision under which MSP will be determined in a way which will ensure 50 per cent returns over costs borne by the farmer.

In the Union Budget 2018-19, the government took a decision to ensure right prices to farmers for their produce, he said.

Despite the challenges in farming, the Centre has set a goal to double farm incomes by 2022 and the government is making progress through steps like providing soil health card and mandating 100% neem coating of urea to raise production and cut costs, the Prime Minister said.

Modi in his speech also mentioned schemes like crop insurance and irrigation that are making a difference to farmers lives, and new ones like operation greens focusing on the horticulture sector.After the UP Assembly elections, former chief minister and BSP supremo Mayawati had also raised doubts on the EVMs.

New Delhi: The Congress on Friday joined anti-EVM chorus and urged the Election Commission to revert to the old practice of paper ballots. In its political resolution, the party said, The Election Commission has the constitutional mandate to ensure free and fair elections. Both the voting and counting process must remain transparent to retain peoples faith in the integrity of the electoral system.

There are apprehensions among the political parties and the people over the misuse of EVMs to manipulate the outcome contrary to the popular verdict. To ensure the credibility of the electoral process, the Election Commission should revert to the old practice of paper ballot, as most major democracies have done, it added.

The idea of simultaneous elections was also rejected by the Congress. In its resolution, the party said the BJPs move of simultaneous elections is misplaced and is incompatible with the Constitution. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been pressing upon the idea of holding simultaneous elections to Parliament and state Assemblies, contending that it will save money and time.

After the UP Assembly elections, former chief minister and BSP supremo Mayawati had also raised doubts on the EVMs. A delegation of the Opposition parties had met the Election Commission over the issue, while the Aam Aadmi Party government, in the Delhi Assembly, had given a demonstration about the ways in which the EVMs could be hacked into, resulting in just one outcome.The Note Verbale to Pakistan foreign ministry comes two days after Islamabad called its High Commissioner home.

New Delhi: India on Saturday gave a Note Verbale to Pakistan through its high commission in Islamabad protesting the "intimidation and harassment" of its staff there, the 12th such diplomatic note in less than three months.

Official sources said that in its communication to the Pakistan foreign ministry, the Indian high commission specifically mentioned two incidents of harassment -- one today and the other on March 15.

"Another Note Verbale was sent today by our High Commission in Islamabad to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan protesting against the intimidation and harassment of Indian High Commission officials," a source said.

"This was the 12th Note Verbale this year on the subject," the source said.

In the Note Verbale, two incidents were highlighted. In Saturday's incident, the source said, some officials of the Indian mission, who had gone for shopping to the Blue Area in Islamabad, were harassed with two persons aggressively following them and hurling abuses.

In the March 15 incident, another official of the mission and his family was aggressively followed by two men on motorbike when he was going to a restaurant.

"We have asked the Pakistan Government to investigate these incidents," the source said.

The Note Verbale to Pakistan foreign ministry comes two days after Islamabad called its High Commissioner home for consultations, which was termed by India as "routine" and "normal".

Pakistan had said it called home its envoy in India Sohail Mahmood for consultations after repeated incidents of "harassment" of its diplomatic staff in New Delhi.

Pakistan had also accused the Indian officials of intimidating the children of a senior diplomat while they were on their way to school.

It said the counsellor's car with his children onboard was hit from behind by another car occupied by Indian authorities.

External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar had said that the Indian High Commission in Islamabad was also facing a "litany of issues" which has not been resolved for several months by that country.

Pakistan Foreign Office earlier on Saturday informed that Pakistan's High Commissioner to India Sohail Mahmood is unlikely to return to New Delhi any time soon. The official told the daily that the high commissioner would stay back for an indefinite period.The injured were shifted to the hospital, Jammu and Kashmir DGP SP Vaid said.

Srinagar: Five members of a family were killed and two others injured in Pakistani shelling along Line of Control (LoC) on Sunday in Balakote sector of Poonch district, Jammu and Kashmir police said.

Mohammad Ramzan, his wife and three sons were killed as shells hit their house in the Balakote sector. His two daughters are injured, report said.

The injured were shifted to the hospital, Jammu and Kashmir DGP SP Vaid said.

The ceasefire violation comes amidst heightened tensions in diplomatic ties between India and Pakistan.

Pakistan had earlier this week, called home its envoy in India Sohail Mahmood for consultations after repeated incidents of "harassment" of its diplomatic staff in New Delhi.

However, the Ministry of External Affairs had downplayed Pakistan's move as "routine". It said that the Indian High Commission in Islamabad was also facing a "litany of issues" which have not been resolved for several months by that country.

India on Saturday, gave a Note Verbale to Pakistan through its high commission in Islamabad protesting the "intimidation and harassment" of its staff there, the 12th such diplomatic note in less than three months.Juanita Broaddrick, who now runs a nursing-home business in Arkansas, told the Wall Street Journal that Mr Clinton raped her in the Camelot Hotel in Little Rock in 1978, when he was the state attorney-general.



The newspaper reports that Mr Clinton persuaded Mrs Broaddrick to have coffee with him in her hotel room during a conference of nursing home administrators in 1978. She alleges that he then forced her on to the bed, where he held her down, bit her lips and raped her.



When it was over, Mrs Broaddrick claims, Mr Clinton told her that she should not worry because he was sterile due to a bout of childhood mumps.







Mrs Broaddrick is not directly quoted in the Journal's account of the alleged rape but in response to Mr Clinton's sterility claim she said: "As though that was the thing on my mind - I wasn't thinking about pregnancy or about anything. I felt paralysed and was starting to cry."



She added: "This is the part that always stays in my mind - the way he put on his sunglasses. Then he looked at me and said 'You better put some ice on that'. Then he left."





Norma Rogers, a friend of Mrs Broaddrick, told the Journal that she found the alleged victim in a state of shock. In reported speech, she is said to have alleged that Mrs Broaddrick's lips were discoloured and swollen to twice their normal size and the crotch of her tights was torn.The land is among the properties attached by the Enforcement Directorate as a part of its probe against Modi who has fled the country.

Farmers in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra claimed that fugitive jeweller Nirav Modi had acquired their lands at less than prevailing rates. (Photo: File)

Mumbai: Farmers in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra on Saturday claimed that fugitive jeweller Nirav Modi, prime accused in the alleged Rs 11,400 crore Punjab National Bank fraud, had acquired their lands at less than prevailing rates.

A group of over 200 farmers, who arrived in bullock carts at the tract of land at Khandala in Karjat tehsil, ploughed a part of it using a tractor as a symbolic reclaiming of possession.

They will start cultivation on the full 125 acres of the acquired land soon, farmers said.

Saturdays protest was meant to show that farmers have reclaimed their land, which was acquired on behalf of Nirav Modis Firestar company some years ago, they said.

The land is among the properties attached by the Enforcement Directorate as a part of its probe against Modi who has fled the country, said a farmer activist.

Protesting farmers also carried the tricolour and portraits of King Shivaji and Dr BR Ambedkar. They carried the banner of Kaali Aai Mukti Sangram, a local farmers organisation.

The land was acquired from farmers at around Rs 15,000 per acre, whereas the government rate for land compensation in the area is around Rs 20 lakh per acre now, lawyer and activist Karbhari Gawli, who was part of Sundays protest, told PTI over phone from Ahmednagar.

A police official from the Karjat police station said no untoward incident was reported from Khandala village on Saturday.Cong is holding a 3-day plenary session in Delhi, wherein AICC members have gathered to ratify Gandhi's appointment as their chief.

Union Minister of Textiles and Information and Broadcasting Smriti Irani on Sunday lashed out at Congress president Rahul Gandhi for terming Goods and Services Tax (GST) the second highest in the world and one of the most complex taxes. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: Union Minister of Textiles and Information and Broadcasting Smriti Irani on Sunday lashed out at Congress president Rahul Gandhi for terming Goods and Services Tax (GST) the second highest in the world and one of the most complex taxes.

Tweeting the link of an article, the Union minister asked the Congress chief to read it when he gets "free from the world's longest coronation exercise".

Congress is holding a three-day plenary session in New Delhi, wherein All India Congress Committee members and workers have gathered to ratify Gandhi's appointment as their chief and select members for party's working committee.

Earlier, Gandhi had attached a Mint article and tweeted, "Modiji, the terror of Gabbar Singh Tax is now globally acclaimed. The World Bank says it's the 2nd HIGHEST in the WORLD and one of the MOST complex."

Modi ji, the terror of Gabbar Singh Tax is now globally acclaimed.



The World Bank says its the 2nd HIGHEST in the WORLD and one of the MOST complex. #ModiTalksNoCanDohttps://t.co/mUBv3EdEBK  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) March 18, 2018

According to the article citing a World Bank report, the GST implemented from July 1, in 2017, is one of the most complex with the second highest tax rate in the world among a sample of 115 countries which have a similar indirect tax system.

Rubbishing the report, Irani cited the other article and said, "Aadarniya @RahulGandhiji, if you are free from the world's longest coronation exercise, I request you to read this article and enlighten yourself."

Aadarniya @RahulGandhi ji, if you are free from the worlds longest coronation exercise, I request you to read this article and enlighten yourself. https://t.co/amMxPIDSV9  Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) March 18, 2018

She also said Gandhi's hatred for India was astonishing as he rubbished the World Bank report that hailed India's rise in Ease of Doing Business ranking. "Now selectively quotes WB report to berate India's progress," she said.Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad also slammed Rahul Gandhi and said his remarks on the judiciary were irresponsible.

'A party which questioned the fundamental existence of 'Shree (lord) Ram' today wants to be identified with the 'pandavas'. It is the party which chooses to mock Hindus and Hindu rituals,' BJP leader and Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman said. (Photo: Twitter | ANI)

New Delhi: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday hit back at Congress president Rahul Gandhi, maintaining that his speech at the 84th Congress Plenary Session is the "rhetoric of a loser".

"It sounds like a rhetoric of a loser, devoid of substance. A party which questioned the fundamental existence of 'Shree (lord) Ram' today wants to be identified with the 'pandavas'. It is the party which chooses to mock Hindus and Hindu rituals," she said in a press conference in New Delhi.

Earlier on Sunday, Gandhi compared the BJP to the Kauravas.

Also Read: Modi govt bungled J&K issue like never before: Manmohan Singh

"Centuries ago, there was a huge battle on the field of Kurukshetra. The Kauravas were powerful and arrogant. The Pandavas were humble and fought for the truth. Like the Kauravas, BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) are designed to fight for power. Like the Pandavas, Congress is designed to fight for the truth," Gandhi said on the last day of the plenary session.

Meanwhile, Union Minister for Law and Justice, Ravi Shankar Prasad, too, slammed Rahul Gandhi and said his remarks on the judiciary were irresponsible.

"Rahul Gandhi's rant was shameful. The way he spoke of the judiciary was irresponsible," Prasad told news agency ANI.

Rahul Gandhi said the BJP and the RSS wanted to damage the pillars of democracy.

"BJP has spread fear. People from the press are scared. For the first time, we saw four Supreme Court judges running to the public for justice. There is a difference between RSS and Congress, we respect the country's institutions whereas they want to finish them. They only want one institution and that is RSS," Gandhi had said.Addressing the 84th Congress Plenary Session, Rahul Gandhi also criticised PM Narendra Modi over his silence on real issues.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi said, 'The PM diverts our attention and jumps from one event to another from Gabbar Singh tax to yoga in Parliament and never talks about the issues.' (Photo: Twitter | ANI)

New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday called for bringing a change in the Congress party and emphasised on breaking barriers between partys senior leaders and workers.

Addressing the 84th Congress Plenary Session in New Delhi, Rahul said, We have to change Congress. There is a wall between our leaders and workers. My first task will be to break that wall. I will consult senior leaders to destroy that wall with love.

Congress president also came down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and compared the Bharatiya Janata Party to Kauravas.

He said, "Centuries ago, there was a huge battle on the field of Kurukshetra. The Kauravas were powerful and arrogant. The Pandavas were humble and fought for the truth. Like the Kauravas, BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) are designed to fight for power. Like the Pandavas, Congress is designed to fight for the truth."

Further denouncing the BJP, Rahul said, They (people) will accept a man accused of murder as the president of the BJP, but they will never ever accept the same in the Congress Party because they hold Congress in the highest regard.

Congress president further said that in the present day scenario, the corrupt are the powerful and are thriving.

"Today the corrupt and powerful control the conversation in our country. Will India live a lie or will India have the courage to face the truth," he asked.

Lashing out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his silence on real issues, Rahul said, "The PM diverts our attention and jumps from one event to another from Gabbar Singh tax to yoga in Parliament but never talks about the issues. But, the Congress cannot be stopped from seeking the truth and justice."

Also Read: 'Dramebaaz' Modi government uses schemes to fetch votes: Sonia Gandhi

Congress president also slammed the BJP-led NDA government over recent scams like PNB fraud and said, What does Modi actually mean? The name Modi symbolises the collusion between India's biggest crony capitalists and the prime minister of India.

You can steal Rs 33,000 crore from the banks and the BJP government will protect you. Finance Minister will go silent because he and his daughter work for crony capitalists, he added.

However, Rahul also admitted of disappointing the masses, the last time the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was in power.

"I don't say it with happiness but the last government we formed did not stand up to the expectations of the people. The people of the country were let down by us," he said.

Hitting out at the Prime Minister over demonetisation, Congress chief said, If we make mistakes, we accept. Prime Minister decided to demonetise Rs 500, Rs 1000 notes. But he did not accept that it was a mistake. If we would have done that mistake, we would have accepted and rectified. Modi ji thinks he is not human but an incarnation of God.

While taking a jibe at the RSS, he said, "They tell Muslims of India who never went to Pakistan and supported this great nation that you don't belong here. They tell the Tamils change your beautiful language. They tell people of northeast we don't like what you eat. They told Gauri Lankesh and Kalburgi to shut up or you'll be killed. They tell women to wear the right clothes or' you'll be thrashed'."

The Congress Party's plenary session is being held in New Delhi from March 17-18.The neighbours informed police after a foul smell emanated from the house, located on Sasibhusan Dey Street.

The son, aged around 30, was found to be emaciated and not in a position to speak, a police officer of Muchipara police station said, adding, he was later taken to a state-run hospital. (Photo: File | Representational)

Kolkata: The decomposed body of a 70-year-old woman was recovered on Sunday with her son sitting by the side at Bowbazar area in Kolkata, police said.

The son, aged around 30, was found to be emaciated and not in a position to speak, a police officer of Muchipara police station said, adding, he was later taken to a state-run hospital.

The neighbours informed police after a foul smell emanated from the house, located on Sasibhusan Dey Street.

Police broke open the door of the house that was bolted from inside and found the woman's decomposed body lying on the bed, the officer said.

"While the body was taken for postmortem, the son was rushed to hospital as he appeared unwell and without food for days," he said.

According to the neighbours, the woman had been suffering from age-related ailments for some time, police said.The Congress president kept his inaugural address short, but assured the gathering that his concluding speech on Sunday will be more exhaustive.

UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and party chief Rahul Gandhi talk as former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh looks on during the 84th Plenary Session of Indian National Congress in New Delhi. (Photo: Sondeep Shankar)

New Delhi: At the Congress 84th Plenary Session, which kicked off in Delhi on Saturday, party president Rahul Gandhi tried to thwart speculation that the Congress new look under him meant a younger party, with seniors put out to pasture.

Hitting out at the BJP for marginalising its patriarchs by putting them in cold storage and calling it Margdarshak Mandal, Mr Gandhi reached out to veterans in the party and tried to assuage the fear that he would be getting rid of the old guard.

The Congress under him, he said, would take seniors and the youth together as the tradition of the party was to embrace change without forgetting its past and its legacy. Party veterans, he said, will be assigned important roles in the organisation.

If the youth have to take the Congress forward, it cannot be done without the experience of the party veterans. My task is to be take them together, he said.

In his brief inaugural address, Mr Gandhi acknowledged the role seniors have played in building and guiding the party, and spoke of the challenge before them to rebuild the party.

At a time when investigating agencies are breathing down the necks of former finance minister P. Chidambaram and his family, the Congress chief specifically mentioned Mr Chidambaram and spoke of how he has been guiding the party.

Meira Kumar, former Lok Sabha Speaker, senior dalit leader and daughter of late dalit icon Babu Jagjivan Ram, was the first to speak after Mr Gandhi. She emphasised the importance of elders in the new look Congress.

The Congress president kept his inaugural address short, but assured the gathering that his concluding speech on Sunday will be more exhaustive.

Launching a scathing attack on the BJP government for spreading hatred and anger, and failing to create jobs and address farm distress, Mr Gandhi said that crores of youths in the country looking up to Modi are not finding anything as there are no jobs. The country is tired of what is happening under the current government. Only the Congress Party can show the way and heal divisions in the nation, he said.

Attacking the government for playing divisive politics, Mr Modi pledged the Congress commitment to unity and said, Come what may, this country belongs to everyone, every religion, every caste and every person and the Congress Party is for everyone and we will not leave anyone behind.Shah said that UP government was one of the best among the BJP dispensations in the states.

On the SP-BSP understanding in UP, Shah said that the BJP was confident that it would be able to get more than 50 per cent votes in the the state in the Lok Sabha elections next year. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: Rooting for the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh, BJP chief Amit Shah on Saturday said the bypoll results were not a referendum on the party's dispensation in the state.

In his first reaction after the party lost the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha by-elections, Shah said that UP government was one of the best among the BJP dispensations in the states.

"The party has taken it (the bypoll outcome) seriously and will minutely analyse the results of these polls," Shah said in an interview to Zee News.

He said there could be many reasons for the BJP's defeat in the bypolls. The voting percentage was low and at the same time, the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) came together, he said.

On the SP-BSP understanding in UP, Shah said that the BJP was confident that it would be able to get more than 50 per cent votes in the the state in the Lok Sabha elections next year.

He said the understanding between the SP and the BSP was for their survival and it proved that the BJP is and will remain the only dominant political force in the state.

Shah said his party is ready to take on a SP-BSP alliance if it happens in 2019.

"Yogi's government is doing a wonderful job in the state. It is one of the best BJP governments we have. I don't think the by-election results are a referendum on Yogi's government," Shah said.

Mocking the Congress over celebrating the bypoll results, Shah said it was hilarious that the party, whose candidates lost deposit on both the seats, was in a jubilant mood.

Earlier this week, the BJP lost both Phulpur and Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seats, to SP candidates backed by the BSP.

Chief Minister Adityanath and Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya had won the Gorakhpur and Phulpur seats respectively in 2014, but later resigned after the BJP won the state Assembly elections.

Shah also lashed out at the opposition parties for supporting the YSR Congress and the TDP, who are pushing for a no-confidence motion against the Modi government in Parliament, and said that the BJP was willing to discuss the matter only if the House was in order.

"We are willing to take up discussion on the issue but the House is not in order. The opposition is not allowing the House to function. It clearly shows that the opposition knows it cannot win," Shah said.

Taking a dig at the attempts of the Congress to put together an alliance of all like-minded parties against the BJP, he welcomed the move, saying it was a "good signal" for the party.

"If it happens it will be a good signal for us. It shows that all parties have to come together to take on the Modi government," the BJP chief said.

He also said that the NDA was growing everyday and because of the pro-people policies of the Modi government, the party would come back to power in 2019 with more seats than it had won in 2014.The police has nabbed allthe four accused, including one CCL, immediately, said a senior police official.

New Delhi: The Delhi police on Saturday said that it has arrested three accused and apprehended one CCL (child in conflict with law) in connection with the murder of a 60-year-old man over water distribution dispute in Wazirpur industrial area.

The deceased was identified as Lal Bahadur (60), a resident of Wazirpur industrial area. According to DCP (Northwest) Aslam Khan, the three accused have been identified as Sunil, Akash, and Arvind. While the former two are drivers, the latter is a labour. One CCL has also been apprehended in this regard.

According to the police, a PCR call was received regarding the death of a person around 3.30 pm on Saturday.

During inquiry, it was revealed that a verbal spat took place between Rohit, the son of deceased Lal Bahadur, and Sunny alias Gagan over the issue of distribution of water from water tanker.

The deceased tried to pacify the quarrel between his neighbours and his family but the four accused beat him, showering him repeatedly with fists and blows. Lal Bahadur collapsed owing to his injuries and was rushed to the hospital, where he was declared brought dead.

The police has nabbed allthe four accused, including one CCL, immediately, said a senior police official.A programme to provide free drugs for Hepatitis B would be developed soon, said Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda.

New Delhi: A programme to provide free drugs for Hepatitis B would be developed soon, said Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda.

He also said that free vaccination against Hepatitis B for all health care workers would be available across India.

A full programme on Hepatitis-B will be soon developed with availability of free drugs against this deadly virus, he said.

The minister made this announcement on Friday while speaking at the 27th Annual Conference of the Asian-Pacific Asso-ciation for the Study of the Liver (APASL).

The five-day event, which began on March 14, was organised by the Asia Pacific Association for Study of Liver and Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS).

Mr Nadda spoke about the implementation of the Hepatitis-C programme, and said availability of free drugs against the disease has been finalised and would be launched very soon across the country, according to a ILBS statement.

He also said liver diseases should be given greater significance and will be included in the non-communicable diseases programme in the near future. One of the major highlights of the conference included treatment options for liver cancer, the second commonest cause of cancer deaths worldwide. It is also one of the fastest growing cancers and the only viable treatment is liver transplantation, a statement said. Over 3,000 delegates are attending the event.The 35-year-old arrested Nigerian national, Osaretin alias Ogbuku, came to India in 2010.

According to DCP (South) Romil Baaniya, a fight had broken out between two groups of African nationals after consuming alcohol. Upon investigation, Osaretin appeared as the prime suspect in the case.(Representational image)

New Delhi: A Delhi police team has cracked the murder case of a Nigerian national, who was stabbed to death in Mehrauli a week ago after a scuffle had broken out between two groups.

The 35-year-old arrested Nigerian national, Osaretin alias Ogbuku, came to India in 2010. After murdering a fellow Nigerian, identified as Hillary, Osaretin had planned to sneak away to Nepal and then leave for Nigeria. However, he ran out of luck after the police team received a tip-off and nabbed him from Kishanganj in Bihar.

During probe, Osaretin disclosed that on March 9, people of his group had a fight with another group and that the other group had beaten a member, Kaubw, of his group.

According to DCP (South) Romil Baaniya, a fight had broken out between two groups of African nationals after consuming alcohol. Upon investigation, Osaretin appeared as the prime suspect in the case.

A police team raided his house in Faridabad but he was missing. It was learnt that he had hired a cab and left for Assam. The team started verifying all the cabs and their hard work paid rich dividend when they found out the cab hired by him and its location was traced near Faizabad. The information was immediately shared with senior officers, who sounded the local police to place a check post on the route taken by the accused, said Mr Baaniya.These protest for kids of school are "too complete" to be organized by the kids..........



I hope the organizer of this is found soon......

I watched the other day as politicians were involved during the protest, acting like children better than children being children...........



THE FOX IS IN THE HEN HOUSE....Fine will vary from Rs 200 to Rs 5,000 depending on violators business.

Mumbai: Following the state governments decision to ban plastic in the state, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is all set to implement the ban in the city. While the action plan will be prepared soon for this, the civic body is also planning to fine offenders for using plastic carry bags on the basis of their business.

The civic body presently levies a uniform fine of Rs 5,000 on all offenders for the use of plastic carry bags. However, according to the new proposal, the fine will vary from Rs 200 to Rs 5,000 depending on their business.

Errant street hawkers or small vendors will be fined less, whereas the big offenders like shops, hotels or stockists will be charged more.

We found that a uniform fine of Rs 5,000 is not affordable to all offenders, especially hawkers and vendors. Hence, in a bid to evade the fine, malpractices take place, defeating the purpose of the ban. To avoid this, we have decided to levy a penalty on offenders as per their business, said a senior civic official.

According to civic officials, small hawkers and vendors will be fined Rs 200, whereas big establishments like shops, hotels, stockists will be charged between Rs 2,000 and Rs 5,000.

The proposal of levying various penalties for the use of banned plastic bags has been sanctioned by the municipal commissioner and sent to the civic law committee for approval, said Sunita Joshi, chief inspector, shops and establishments department.

Under the Maharashtra Non-biodegradable Garbage Control (MNBGC) Act, the use of banned plastic carry bags invite a penalty of Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 for the first and second offence. Following offences will be liable for the punishment of Rs 25,000 fine and imprisonment of three months.The accused Bangladeshis were Yasin Shaikh (20), Babloo Gazi (34), Mutiyar Sardar (38) ,Mohammad Shaikh (22), and Jamil Hussain Shaikh (35).

The officials also found that the faction had procured forged identity documents like Pan and Aadhaar cards to substantiate their Indian identities.

Mumbai: The Pune unit of the state Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) arrested three illegal Bangladeshi migrants, who are allegedly associated with the banned terror outfit called the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), also known as Ansar Bangla, which is allegedly a faction of terror organisation Al Qaeda. The arrests were carried out on Friday from Wanvadi and Akurdi localities in Pune, following information on their presence from another group of illegal immigrants apprehended from Panvel in Navi Mumbai.

The ATS officials learnt that several illegal Bangladeshi nationals were living in and around Pune and had clear links to the ABT, a Bangladesh-based banned terror outfit. Several teams of the anti-terror wing raided Wanvadi and Akurdi areas in Pune on Friday. The accused are all residents of Satani Pushkali in Khulna district and from Birajikundi in Shariyatpur districts of Bangladesh.

The officials also found that the faction had procured forged identity documents like Pan and Aadhaar cards to substantiate their Indian identities. One of the accused had been staying and working near a sensitive establishment near Pune.

We have learnt that the apprehended accused had been staying in Pune for a few years and have been helping members of ABT by giving them shelter during their stay in Pune. They would act as logistic operators for the visiting ABT affiliates, said an ATS officer.

The ATS has registered a case against them as per the provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), the Indian Penal Code, Passport (Entry Into India) Rules and the Foreigners Act.

On Tuesday, the Navi Mumbai unit of the ATS had busted a sleeper cell affiliated with the ABT from Jui Gaon near Panvel and apprehended five illegal Bangladeshi nationals.

Their interrogation led the ATS to the facilitator from Kharghar in Navi Mumbai,who helped the illegal Bangladeshis to procure Indian identity documents like PAN and Aadhar cards. The officials have seized stock of such documents from him and he has been remanded to ATS custody till March 21.

The accused Bangladeshis were Yasin Shaikh (20), Babloo Gazi (34), Mutiyar Sardar (38) ,Mohammad Shaikh (22), and Jamil Hussain Shaikh (35).No-trust motion: BJP expects vote in support from ally.

Mumbai: The Shiv Sena is likely to remain neutral on the no-confidence motion moved by the YSR Congress against the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre.

Though the Sena has been slamming the Modi government on many issues, it will however, remain with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Sena sources told The Asian Age. Sena MP Chan-drakant Khaire has also confirmed that the party would adopt a neutral stand on the issue.

After the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) decided to quit the NDA, there was speculation regarding the Senas stand on supporting the Modi government. If there is a vote on the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha, the BJP will expect the Sena to vote in support of the government as it is a part of the government and the NDA, even though it has only one minister, Anant Geete.

Meanwhile, the Sena is said to be monitoring the political developments. Sena MP Anil Desai said that party chief Uddhav Thackeray would take a final call on the issue.

The Senas decision to remain neutral during the time of voting could create problems for the BJP. Hence, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis is expected to talk to Mr Thackeray soon. If the party does not vote for the BJP on the no-confidence motion and remains neutral, it will be treated as an anti-BJP stand. So Mr Fadnavis and BJP leaders from Delhi are likely to appeal to Mr Thackeray for support, said sources.The MNS chief also alleged that a conspiracy was being hatched against Marathi people by the Modi government.

Mumbai: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Sunday appealed to all opposition parties to come together, hinting that he was ready to join hands with the anti-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) front, Mr Thackeray lambasted Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not keeping a single promise that he had made to the people and admitted his own mistake of supporting the latter during the Lok Sabha polls in 2014. He called for a Modi Mukta Bharat. The MNS chief also alleged that a conspiracy was being hatched against Marathi people by the Modi government.

Modi said Congress mukta Bharat, but I would say this is a time to make Modi mukta Bharat. All the opposition parties should come together for that. You will have to finish this disease (Modi) for the country. You will have to prepare for the fight. In 1947 we got our first independence, in 1977 second independence, and a third independence is awaited in 2019/ It would be Modi mukta Bharat, Thackeray said in his one and half hour long speech at Shivaji Park on the occasion of Gudi Padva. He also said that the media has been restricted to speak on any anti-government issue and the judiciary has been pressurised to give judgements in the favour of the government.

Terming Rafael deal as the bigger scam than Bofors, the MNS leader said no one was talking about it.

The Rafael agreement was made with the French government for Rs 1600 crore. But the actual price was Rs 550 crore. So we are paying Rs 900 crore extra. The inexperienced Anil Ambani-led Reliance company has been made the partner of the French government. However, the government did not clarify the issue and PM did not even utter a word about it in Parliament, he said.

The MNS chief called demonetisation the biggest scam after independence. If the government changes and inquiry is initiated against the demonetisations, then it would emerge as the biggest scam since independence, he added. Raj did not spare the Modi government over Nirav Modi fraud as well. The Sridevi issue was deliberately brought to sideline the Nirav Modi fraud. Also, why was Sridevi given state honour when the cause of her death turned out to be consumption of liquor, he added.

On the conspiracy against Mumbai, Mr Thackeray said the bullet train, shifting international financial centre to Gujarat, moving Air India headquarters to Delhi was all part of it.The two-plus-two dialogue was seen as a vehicle to elevate the strategic relationship between the two countries.

The first two-plus-two meeting between India and the US was tentatively scheduled for April 18-19. (Photo: AP)

Washington: The India-US two-plus-two meeting has been postponed as of now due to uncertainty over confirmation of nomination of Mike Pompeo, as the new Secretary of State, according to officials.

The first two-plus-two meeting between India and the US was tentatively scheduled for April 18-19. The launch of two-plus-two dialogue was announced last summer when Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a successful meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House.

However, there was no official announcement of the high-level dialogue involving the foreign and defence ministers from the two countries.

Indias foreign and defence secretaries were in Washington early this week for preparatory talks with their American counterparts. The Indian delegation landed in Washington DC amidst the firing of Rex Tillerson as the Secretary of State by Trump. The delegation continued with their meetings both at the State Department and the Pentagon as scheduled, during which it was decided to hold the two-plus-two dialogue at a later date, which is unlikely to be held before the summer.

The two-plus-two dialogue was seen as a vehicle to elevate the strategic relationship between the two countries.

After June 2017, the two countries have tried at several other dates for this dialogue including sometime in November and December.

Officials also checked for a time in January 2018, but both sides were having a tough time in finding a day when all the four leaders - external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman from India and defense secretary Jim Mattis and the fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, were available.

It was finally in February 2018 that two-days in mid-April were zeroed in for the talks. However, the plans had to be scuttled as on March 13, Trump announced that Tillerson has been fired and he nominated Pompeo, who is currently the CIA director, to replace him as the Secretary of State.

Pompeo needs to be confirmed by the Senate. Spring recess of the Congress begins on March 22 and lawmakers would resume their legislative business on April 2. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which holds the confirmation hearing, has not scheduled it on its calendar yet.

Once Pompeos nomination process breezes through this committee then it would go to the Senate floor for a vote.

Given the sharp differences between the Republicans and the Democrats in the Senate, officials decided not to take any chance by going ahead with the mid-April date for the two-plus-two talks.

Thus, it has been postponed for now, an informed US official said. The official quickly pointed that this would have no impact on the bilateral relationship as the meetings this week by the foreign and defence secretaries decided to continue with their agenda.

The new dates will now be determined after Pompeo occupies the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department and settles down as the top American diplomat.The president's lawyer Yousuf Mohamed told local Radio Plus that she had decided to resign to prevent a constitutional crisis.

The president of Mauritius, Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, resigned from the ceremonial position on Saturday, her lawyer said, amid accusations of financial impropriety that triggered a dispute between her and the prime minister. (Photo: AP)

Port Louis: The president of Mauritius, Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, resigned from the ceremonial position on Saturday, her lawyer said, amid accusations of financial impropriety that triggered a dispute between her and the prime minister.

The president's lawyer Yousuf Mohamed told local Radio Plus that she had decided to resign "to prevent a constitutional crisis".

"She doesn't want the country ... to suffer. In the country's best interests she has decided to leave," the lawyer said.

On Wednesday the president - who denies wrongdoing - rejected calls to resign, saying she was ready to provide evidence in court to debunk the accusations, prompting a rebuke from the prime minister.

Gurib-Fakim's resignation letter had been sent to the speaker of parliament and she will leave office on March 23, Mohamed added.

The president has been facing growing pressure, including from Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth, after a local paper, L'Express, said she had used a credit card issued by an international non-governmental organization to buy clothes and jewellery in Italy and Dubai.

The Indian Ocean archipelago markets itself as a bridge between Africa and Asia. Its economy relies on sugar, textiles and tourism but it is trying to develop new sectors like offshore banking, business outsourcing and luxury real estate.The next general election would decide the fate of youth in Pakistan.

Imran Khan claimed that people will be given the party tickets on the basis of merit and popularity in their respective constituencies. (Photo: File)

Islamabad: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf's (PTI) leader Imran Khan on Saturday claimed that he is ready to take on "Sharif Mafia".

While addressing his party's social media team here Khan said,  am impatiently waiting for the 'big match', the general election 2018 as told by the Dawn.

He asked his social media team to expand and bring a change by introducing new ideas to develop public opinion against "Sharif Mafia" while alleging that ousted Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had looted the national wealth and stashed it abroad.

Also Read: Didnt sell secrets to India: Imran fumes after Pak media trolls him for 3rd marriage

He further said, "The PTI volunteers and their passion must defeat the paid (social media) mafia of the Sharifs' PML-N," he said adding the next general election would decide the fate of youth in Pakistan.

Khan claimed that people will be given the party tickets on the basis of merit and popularity in their respective constituencies. In case of multiple candidates from the same constituencies, a survey shall be conducted.

He also accused the ruling PML-N government of looting money in the name of projects.

On Saturday former Muttahida Qaumi Movement lawmaker Aamir Liaquat Hussain also decided to join the PTI.

Also Read: Squarely on chest: Shoe hurled at Imran Khan lands on PTI leader

Earlier on March 12, Imran Khan had promised to transform Pakistan into a nation, Pakistani leaders Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Muhammad Iqbal had envisaged.

He had also announced to contest the next general elections from Karachi constituency."In the image of Jesus crucified the mystery of the death of the Son of God is revealed as the supreme act of love, the source of life and salvation for humanity of all times". Being, like Jesus, the grain of wheat "means thinking less about oneself, about personal interests, and knowing how to" see "and meet the needs of our neighbors, especially the least among us".

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - The crucifix "is not an ornamental object or a fashion accessory - which is often abused! - but a religious sign to contemplate and understand", warned Pope Francis ahead of praying the midday Angelus, when he recalled that the cross has in itself "the mystery of the death of the Son of God as the supreme act of love, the source of life and salvation of humanity. For all times".

To the 20 thousand people present in St. Peter's Square, Francis said that "today's Gospel (cf. Jn 12: 20-33) tells of an episode that took place in the last days of Jesus' life. The scene takes place in Jerusalem, where he finds himself for the Jewish Passover festival. Some Greeks also arrived for this ritual celebration; these are men animated by religious sentiments, attracted by the faith of the Jewish people and who, having heard of this great prophet, approached Philip, one of the twelve apostles, and said to him: "We want to see Jesus" (v. 21) . John emphasizes this phrase, centered on the verb to see, that in the vocabulary of the evangelist means going beyond appearances to grasp the mystery of a person ". The verb that uses, to see, is to reach the heart, to the innner most self of the person ".

"Jesus' reaction is surprising. He does not answer with a 'yes' or a 'no', but he says: "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified (v.23). These words, which at first sight seem to ignore the question of those Greeks, actually give the true answer, because those who want to know Jesus must look to the Cross, where his glory is revealed. Look within the Cross. Today's Gospel invites us to turn our gaze to the Crucifix, which is not an ornamental object or a fashion accessory - sometimes abused! - but a religious sign to be contemplated and understood. The image of Jesus crucified reveals the mystery of the death of the Son of God as the supreme act of love, the source of life and salvation for humanity of all times ". "In his wounds we have been healed. We should think of how we look at the crucifix: Do I look at it like a work of art or do I look to see the mystery, do I look within, until I see the mystery. There is this beautiful devotion to pray the Our Father for each of his wounds".

"To explain the meaning of his death and resurrection, Jesus uses an image and says:" If the grain of wheat, fallen on the ground, does not die, it remains alone; if instead it dies, it produces abundant fruit "(v.24). He wants to make it clear that his extreme event - death and resurrection - is an act of fruitfulness, which will bear fruit for many. His wounds have healed us. Thus he compares himself to the grain of wheat that rotting in the earth generates new life. With the Incarnation, Jesus came to earth; but this is not enough: He must also die, to redeem men from the slavery of sin and give them a new life reconciled in love ". I said to redeem men, but to redeem you, me, all of us ".

"This dynamism of the grain of wheat, which took place in Jesus, must also be realized in us his disciples: we are called to make ours this Easter law of losing our life to receive it anew and eternal. What does it mean to lose your life? What does being the grain of wheat mean? It means thinking less about oneself, about personal interests, and knowing how to 'see' and meet the needs of our neighbor, especially the least among us. It is the necessary foundation for our communities to grow in fraternity and in mutual acceptance ". With joyful works of love for those who suffer in the body and in the spirit is the most authentic way of living the Gospel". "I want to see Jesus, but to see him from within. Enter his wounds ".

After the Angelus the Pope gave thanks for the welcome he received yesterday on his pilgrimage to Pietrelcina and San Giovanni Rotondo, "which I will not forget".Hi All,



I've been on a 457 for the past 4 years (just renewed for another two... 'last' two these days).



I've also just been made redundant.



I was planning to apply for PR anyway, but I'm looking on DIBP site and it looks like the skilled migration requirements may have changed with this latest round of general visa updates.



I believe that I'd have to use the skilled visa, #189. I hope that is not my *only* option, as I believe a requirement is that you can't be over 45 years of age? I'm 48, soon 49.



Hopefully someone has some good news. But if not, would appreciate it if you could confirm that my understanding is correct.



Thanks to all.



ErichContact The Californians Robert Price at 661-395-7399, rprice@bakersfield.com or on Twitter: @stubblebuzz. His column appears on Sundays, Wednesdays and Saturdays; the views expressed are his own.Candice Shepard was just 23 years old when she jumped out of a two-story San Jose hotel window. Carrying the few items she owned in a grocery Joseph Luiz can be reached at 395-7368 or by email at jluiz@bakersfield.com. You can also follow him on Twitter @JLuiz_TBC.Haines City investigators are looking for a shooting suspect they consider armed and dangerous.

Police search for Haines City murder suspect

Maclovio Salas, 38, is accused of shooting, killing woman

Children were home at the time of the shooting

According to a news release, officers responded to 321 North 18 Street just before 1 a.m. March 17 in reference to a shooting.

We received a 911 from a frantic child indicating their mom was hurt, Haines City Police Chief Jim Elensky said.

Elensky said officers arrived and found Rocio Mozqueda, 37, outside the home with a gunshot wound. She was taken to the hospital where she later died.

The suspect was identified as 38-year-old Maclovio Salas. Elensky said Salas and Mozqueda had three children together and were in an on-and-off relationship.

The children were inside the home when the shooting happened.

As if this isnt already horrific enough, the children were exposed to the scene with massive amounts of blood, said Elensky. They watched their mother die in cold blood.

Elensky believes the suspect was drunk at the time, and arguing with the victim before the shooting.

Investigators believe Salas is possibly driving a black Toyota Camry with the Florida license plate number 1075VU, which is registered to his sister. Salas is considered armed and dangerous.

Please call 911 if you see the vehicle.

Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of the suspect is encouraged to contact the Haines City Police Department at 863 421-3636.

Crime Stoppers is offering a cash reward and is accepting tips from people who wish to remain anonymous. Call 1-800 226-TIPS."Cultural Week of Qom" will be a great starting point for exchange between Qom in Lebanon.



According to Ahlul Bayt World Assemblys news agency  ABNA  in an effort in line with Resistant Economy and Development of non-oil export, the "Cultural Week of Qom" will be held in Lebanon.



This important event will be held on April 14th to 21st in the city of Nabtieh by the aid of Provincial Government of Qom and cultural and economical institutions in Qom.



Deputy governor of qom in the meeting of the staff explained in detail about the measures taken to hold this event.



Unes Alipoor stated that in order to hold this event there have been many negotiations and meetings with authorities and prominent figures. He then added, everything has gone swimingly so far and we hope to harvest great results from this event.



The former president of Organization of Industry, Mine and Trade of Qom stressed on total coordination between the organizations responsible for holding this event, and said, the Lebanese party is compeletly ready for the event and they have mustered all their strength to hold this event perfectly.

He also mentioned the city of Nabtieh as the location of the event and said, this area in Lebanon is outstanding in all aspects and included all the fascilities we need to hold the event as expcted.



Organizations in Qom must use this opportunity to present their capabilities and capacities in regards with culture and economy. This event is a great starting point for exchange between Qom in Lebanon, Alipoor Added.



The active presense of economic and cultural sectors and producers in this event will lead to job creation and will prevent the closure of the production units.



Considering its cultural and media capabilities, Ahlul Bayt World Assembly (A) will also cooperate with Qom governerate in holding this event.







/257, 276Coordinating meeting of "Cultural Week of Qom" in Lebanon was held in Qom at the hall of meetings of the Cultural Deputy of AhlulBayt World Assembly in Qom.

According to Ahlul Bayt World Assembly (A)  ABNA  in line with Resistant Economy and Development of non-oil export, the event Cultural Week of Qom will be held in Lebanon.



Through the Irans cultural advisorss efforts in Beirut, this event will be held on April 14th to 21st in the city of Nabtieh by the aid of Provincial Government of Qom and cultural and economical institutions in Qom.



The active presense of economic and cultural sectors and producers in this event will lead to job creation and will prevent the closure of the production units.

Considering its cultural and media capabilities, Ahlul Bayt World Assembly (A) will also cooperate with Qom governerate in holding this event.



Thus, the meeting for media coordination was held on Wednesday, March 14th in the office of Deputy of cultural affairs in Ahlul Bayt World Assembly (A) in Qom.



*Media needs to support this important cultural and economical event



In this meeting Deputy Governor pointed out the necessity of enriching the Muslims around the world economically and said, Ahlul Bayt World Assembly which has connections with the Shiite all around the world can take special measures to improve the economic state of the followers of the Ahlul Bayt (A).



Today, there are great cultural and economical capacities in Qom and if these capacities be linked with the target audience abroad, it will benefit both parties, Unes Alipoor continued.

Stressing on the medias role in the success of this event, he said, given that ABNA is a multi-lingual news agency, we have decided that ABNA be the media medium for this event.



He also announced that the governerate will have many meetings with media, papers, and different TV channel directors before the event so that the would support this important event.



*The Media can be the drive to investment and economical activities



In this meeting, the coordinator of cultural affairs for pilgrims in Qom province presented a report of the preliminary actions taken in order to hold this event and spoke about the different committees which have been formed.



Pointing out at the efoorts made by Islamic Republics counseling office in Beirut and cooperation of different institutions with this event, Hadi Salehi Aref said, after the meeting with Ayatollah Akhtari, the Ahlul Bayt World Assemblys Secretary-General, it was determined that the media responsibilities be given to ahlul Bayt News Agency  ABNA. Lebanese media will also take part in the event and we will use their best capacities.



Salehi Aref then stressed on the necessity of using the media grounds in Qom in order to cover this week and said, by the aid of Irans cultural advisor in Beirut and the municipality of Nabtieh, we have already started sending our equipment and a team is already deployed to Lebanon.



He then pointed out at the Western countries activities in Lebanon and considered investment in this country a major benefit for Iranian manufacturers and said that the media can be a medium by which investors can be encouraged to take economic actions.

In the end, salehi said, in the exhibition for this event, there will be a section allocated for publications and many cultural products and books will be introduced there.



*There is ground for economic development in all Middle-Eastern countries



Hujjat al-Islam Sayyed Alireza Hussaini Aref appreciated the Governerates actions and said, legitimate wealth-producing efforts have been strongly adviced by our religion.



He then quoted the Holy Prophet and said, if people cannot meet their financial needs and struggle in poverty, one cannot expect them to be firm believers.



President of ABNA News Agency announced that ABNA is fully prepared for all types of cooperation, and the suggested, its better if the news agencies start their activities before the event so that all related news will be covered perfectly.



He then said, two of ABNAs staff will be sent to Lebanon as reporters and photographers. The provided news by these dear colleagues will be translated both into Arabic and English.

ABNA chief editor then spoke about the necessity of investment in economical projects and said, Lebanon, just like most countries in the region, needs our products, and in case of investment by investors from Qom, Lebanese will definitely welcome them and their products.



Aref then added, today, the youth in Iran suffer from unemployment. One solution to this problem is by reaching for markets abroad.



* The Assemblys products introduce Shia Islam in different languages



Following Hujjat al-Islam Arefs remarks, Mohammad Javad Khorsandi said, besides ABNA, the Assembly will have a booth in the exhibition for this week-long event and the its publications in several languages will be presented there.



so far, some books have been sent to Lebanon and many other books will be sent to the exhibition through the Assemblys office in Lebanon, he added.

Ahlul Bayt World Assemblys Cultural Affairs director also stated, we have to try to both introduce Qom and the Shia Islam in this week-long event.



He also announced that Saghalien Sattelite Channel is ready to help in media affairs during the event.

Click here to see more pictures of this meeting.



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End/ 257, 276Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday: "The Islamic Republic of Iran is determined to develop relations and cooperation with Oman in all fields".



(AhlulBayt News Agency) - President had a meeting with Oman's Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi, and expressed the friendly, brotherly and growing relations and cooperation between the two countries and emphasised the need for efforts to develop and strengthen the relations between Tehran and Muscat.



Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday: "The Islamic Republic of Iran is determined to develop relations and cooperation with Oman in all fields".



Emphasising the need for deepening banking ties and facilitating merchants' visit to the two countries, the President said: "Today, there are many capacities and abilities of investment in different sectors, such as petrochemical, energy, steel, aluminium, railways and ports development, in which Omani investors can participate".



The president emphasised that the development of Chabahar and Jask ports and the Chabahar railway to Zahedan will have good effects on the development of economic relations between the countries of the region.



Dr Rouhani pointed out that today Iran and Oman have a heavy responsibility in solving regional issues and should use their experiences to promote peace and stability in the region, adding: "The more insecure the region is, the more countries of the region will suffer".



The president described the humanitarian situation in Yemen as extremely critical and stressed the need to send medical and food aid to the Yemeni people and to end the bombing and killing of people, expressing hope that cooperation between Iran and Oman could help the Yemeni people and establish peace in this country.



The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Oman Yusuf bin Alawi said in the meeting: "Oman has always called for establishment of comprehensive and maximal relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran".



He added: "We are working hard to take new steps in the direction of deepening commercial and cultural cooperation between Tehran and Muscat".



"Merchants and businesspeople of the two countries must be encouraged to engage in closer cooperation and joint ventures," he said.



Bin Alawi also described development of the North-South Corridor and Chabahar Port effective in international trade and called for the development of relations between the two countries in various sectors, including energy, transit, port and commercial and economic relations.



"The conflicts in Yemen have nothing but misery and disaster for the region, and we must strive to put an end to the killing of people in the area as soon as possible," said Omani foreign minister, thanking the Islamic Republic of Iran for its commitment and firmness to strengthen peace and stability of the region.







/257The broadcaster cited a classified cable by Israels Ambassador to Prague Daniel Meron, saying that Israeli pressures following decisions from the US and Guatemala to move their embassies have made the Czech Republic more open to following suit.



(AhlulBayt News Agency) - The Czech Republic is under pressure from Israel to follow in US steps and move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem al-Quds, Israels Channel 10 has reported.



The broadcaster cited a classified cable by Israels Ambassador to Prague Daniel Meron, saying that Israeli pressures following decisions from the US and Guatemala to move their embassies have made the Czech Republic more open to following suit.



Prague has begun a quiet internal staff evaluation to examine the possibilities and risks regarding the transfer of its embassy, the cable written to the Israeli foreign ministry last week said.



The decision will ultimately be made by Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, who is seen as particularly risk averse, Channel 10 said.



US President Donald Trump recognized Israels claim to Jerusalem al-Quds as its so-called capital last December, and set in motion a frozen plan to relocate the American embassy there.



The announcement triggered an international storm and later that month, more than 120 countries voted at the UN General Assembly in favor of a resolution calling for the United States to drop the recognition.



Czech President Milos Zeman has strongly backed Trumps decision and drawn praise from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which wields considerable influence in Washingtons policies.



According to the Lidove noviny newspaper, Zeman who in December announced his intention to relocate the embassy from Tel Aviv now wants to speed up the process.



The Czech Foreign Ministry, however, has objected to the relocation following consultations with its European counterparts, the report said.



Palestinians want East Jerusalem al-Quds as the capital of their future state. Trump's decision prompted Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas to announce that he would no longer regard Washington as a party to Middle East peace talks.







/257Even with $62 million in its kitty, Grofers, one of the few e-grocers that managed to survive the two-year-long crisis in the sector, is planning to stick to the strategy that helped it wade through tough times. The company, which just closed a fresh funding round led by SoftBank Group, is not planning to expand to new cities.

Instead, it will utilise the funds for doubling its warehousing space as well as fresh hiring and increasing the number of private labels. The company is also planning to scrap its offline plans. We are looking more towards the supply chain and private label ...Where does real estate delivery stand in India compared to international standards? I think the market has become good at designing schemes, more sophisticated and better on delivering on time, but the two huge opportunities for service are between the first deposit and the delivery of the flat, and afterward for developers and for us; furnishing, finance, management, legal work and tax planning.

The market in London is arguably the most mature in the world but even there, we are embarking in April to completely re-engineer our services because we feel it is below what it should be. Rich ...Secretary General of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Sitaram Yechury, answers some searching questions on his partys defeat in Tripura in an interview with Karan Thapar for thewire.in. Excerpts: How does the Communist Party of India (Marxist) see its shattering defeat in Tripura and the future for the party? You ruled the state for an unbroken spell from 1978 with the exception of the period between 1988 and 1993.

Would you accept that this is not just a humbling verdict but a huge blow to your party, the CPI (M)? Well, it is a defeat. Weve accepted it. The ...To put a stop to increasing unauthorised constructions in the national capital, the Delhi High Court has suggested to the AAP government to "stop regularising" illegally-built buildings and to not allow them to exist after paying a "compounding" fees.

The advice by a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar came during the hearing on a PIL moved by the residents welfare association (RWA) of a south Delhi colony against unauthorised constructions and encroachment in some nearby areas.

"Stop compounding and stop regularising," the court said to the Delhi government while issuing notice to it, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation, the police, the civic body and Delhi Jal Board, seeking their reply to the petition before the next date of hearing on July 24.

A direction was also issued to the petitioner RWA to file an affidavit listing its members and indicating that their properties are not illegally constructed.

The RWA of Chattarpur Extension colony in south Delhi has in its plea said that illegal constructions and encroachments were being carried out nearby under a high tension power line.

It has said that before approaching the high court, it had made several complaints to the authorities, but no action had been taken on their representations till date.The government said on Sunday that 50 nations will engage in free and frank discussions on global trade in New Delhi this week to explore the options for resolving various issues and re-invigorating the WTO.

Representatives from 50 countries will be gathering in New Delhi on 19-20 March for an informal World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial meeting.

"The informal meeting of ministers will provide an opportunity to engage in free and frank discussions with the hope that it will lead to political guidance on some major issues," the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement.

It will look at the issues both at the negotiating table and also in other areas.

Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia had said recently that the meeting would be more of an "ice-breaker" as it is being held after the collapse of talks at the Buenos Aires WTO Ministerial in December.

When asked if there would be a statement by the Chair at the end of the meeting, she had said it would be for the mini-ministerial to decide.

The ministry's statement further said: "In the absence of ministerial guidance at the Eleventh Ministerial Conference (MC 11) that took place from 10 to 13 December 2017 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, it is hoped that the New Delhi meeting will provide an opportunity for ministers to explore in greater detail the options on different issues for re-invigorating the WTO."



It further said that safeguarding and strengthening the multilateral trading system was never as important as it is today, and the WTO is also facing systemic challenges, particularly its dispute settlement arm.China has called on the United States to "correct its mistake" after President Donald Trump approved new rules allowing top-level US officials to travel to Taiwan to meet with their Taipei counterparts.

US representatives can already travel to democratic Taiwan and Taiwanese officials occasionally visit the White House, but meetings are usually low profile to avoid offending China.

The "Taiwan Travel Act", which Trump signed on Friday following its passage in the US Congress, encourages visits between US and Taiwanese officials "at all levels".

Washington cut formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1979 in favour of Beijing under the "one China" policy. But it maintains trade relations with the island and sells it weapons, angering China.

China sees Taiwan as a renegade province and has long stated its desire for reunification.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said the bill's clauses, while not legally binding, "severely violate" the one China principle and send "very wrong signals to the 'pro-independence' separatist forces in Taiwan."



"China is strongly opposed to that," Lu said in a statement issued yesterday.

"We urge the US side to correct its mistake, stop pursuing any official ties with Taiwan or improving its current relations with Taiwan in any substantive way," he said.

The new US law describes Taiwan as "a beacon of democracy" in Asia, and states that "Taiwan's democratic achievements inspire many countries and people in the region."



Trump's signature, announced late on Friday -- when the White House usually tries to bury news -- comes amid increasing tensions between the mainland and the self-ruled island.

Beijing has cut off official communications with Taipei because President Tsai Ing-wen refuses to acknowledge the democratic island as part of "one China".

The travel act also comes amid trade tensions between the United States and China as Trump mulls fresh measures that have raised fears of a tit-for-tat trade war.Three doctors from Delhi's AIIMS Hospital were killed, while three were injured in an accident on Yamuna Expressway near Mathura, in the early hours of Sunday.

The doctors were travelling from Delhi to Agra when their car rammed into a truck while trying to overtake it at Mathura's Surir Kotwali police station area.

Police rushed to the site and have sent the bodies of the deceased for a post-mortem, while the injured have been admitted to AIIMS, Delhi.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)At least 37 IS militants were killed on Saturday in US airstrikes conducted at Jowzjan province in Afghanistan.

Mohammad Reza Ghafoori, the spokesperson of provincial governor confirmed the airstrikes and said the US forces also detained 10 IS militants including a key local commander for the group, as reported by the Tolo News.

The strikes were conducted at Sar Dara and Moghol villages of Darzab district and Chawma Choqor village of Qushtapa district.

Further, three IS militant bases were also destroyed.

In an earlier incident today, at least six terrorists belonging to the Islamic State (IS) group were killed in the latest drone strike in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan.

On Saturday, Afghanistan's defence ministry said, 33 militants were killed in military airstrikes in the last 24 hours.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Burmese politician and diplomat, Aung San Suu Kyi, has reportedly sought help with the ongoing Rohingya crisis, from Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) nations and Australia, in a closed-door meeting.

At a meeting of leaders at the Australia-ASEAN summit in Sydney on Sunday, Suu Kyi addressed the issue "comprehensively [and] at some considerable length," The Guardian quoted the Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull as saying.

"Aung San Suu Kyi ... seeks support from ASEAN and other nations to provide help from a humanitarian and capacity-building point-of-view. Everyone seeks to end the suffering," Turnbull said.

Over 650,000 of the Rohingya ethnic and religious minority have fled Myanmar for Bangladesh since August, escaping systemic violence from the country's military, including murder, rape and the deliberate torching of villages.

Suu Kyi has spoken little publicly about the conflict and pointedly refused to use the word Rohingya, which is not a minority recognised by the Myanmar government.

"It is not the intention of the Myanmar government to apportion blame or to abnegate responsibility. We condemn all human rights violations and unlawful violence," she had said earlier.

ASEAN had a declared policy of non-interference in the affairs of member states but the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has said the ongoing persecution of Rohingya was of international concern.

"Because of the suffering of Rohingya people and that of displacement around the region, the situation in Rakhine state and Myanmar can no longer be considered to be a purely domestic matter . because it has the potential of developing into a serious security threat to the region," The Guardian quoted Razak as saying.

Further, the ASEAN chairman, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said instability in one ASEAN state held ramifications for all.

"All of us in the region, we will be anxious if there is any instability, if there is trouble in any of our member countries. We are also concerned as human beings if there's a humanitarian situation which has developed and people's welfare and lives and safety are at stake. And we do our best to help the governments to re-establish stability and tranquility in the situation," he said.

He, however, said he was not aware of specific security threats posed by the ongoing displacement of Rohingya from Myanmar.

Malcolm Turnbull said the issue of the Rohingya crisis was "discussed constructively" and that Australia and ASEAN member states were ready to assist.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Former finance minister P. Chidambaram on Sunday said the number of people below poverty line has increased over the last four years, while adding that it is the Congress party which could revive the nation out of the current economic crisis.

On the final day of the two-day Congress Plenary Session, Chidambaram, who presented the economic proposal, said, "Only Congress party can take the country out of the economic crisis. I'm saying this not because of arrogance, but because we have done it before and can do it again. It's the biggest achievement of Dr Manmohan Singh that 14 crore people were listed out of poverty. BJP government pushed people into poverty. Number of people below poverty line went up. It's the greatest disservice BJP government did to people of India."

The senior Congress leader further said that the current phase of economic growth started in 1990s when Rajiv Gandhi sowed the seeds of liberalization, and it gained momentum under former prime minister Manmohan Singh, who was the finance minister from 1991 to 1993.

Commenting on the present economic situation, Chidambaram not only criticised demonetisation, but also slammed the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), "There can't be a greater lie than demonetisation. Why has RBI not been able to complete the counting of currency returned? I would like to tell the RBI officials why don't you go to Hundi collectors in Tirupati? They count money faster than you."

"The Modi Government inherited a strong economy. The task of development has to be continued by future generations. However, today, the Indian economy is decoupled from the world economy which is growing," he added.

The 84th Congress Plenary Session is being held at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, here.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader P. Jayarajan is facing death threat from Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Kerala Police has said.

A Kerala Police internal communication circular, issued by the Kannur district police chief on Friday, stated that Jayarajan's life is under threat.

The circular read that a 'hit team' has been formed under BJP/RSS activist Pranoob Babu, who is also an absconding accused in the murder case of former CPI-M activist Valankichal Mohan, to target Jayarajan.

The circular brands Babu a 'seasoned criminal', who is allegedly involved in numerous crime cases.

It also added that the move to harm Jayarajan is aimed to avenge the murders of close acquaintances Babu Manoj and Ramith.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Days after Pakistan's Punjab government locked 2008 Mumbai blasts mastermind Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat ud-Dawa (JuD) offices, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government on Saturday sealed the offices, seminaries, and mosques related to the terrorist's newly formed political party and its humanitarian wing Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF).

Peshawar's district administration, police, and other law enforcement agencies sealed the JuD's offices and took over the party's operational matters after receiving directions from the federal government, Dawn News reported.

"We have sealed the offices of the foundation, three religious schools, and two mosques and handed over the seized properties to the Auqaf department to look after operational matters," a senior official said.

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has sanctioned and listed Al-Qaeda, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, JuD, FiF and other organisations as terror sponsors.

The move comes after the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) in a notification asked Pakistani citizens not to donate to the UNSC proscribed organisations.

Malik Nadeem Awan, a JuD leader, said after the Punjab government, the KP government had sealed and seized the offices and ambulances of FiF in different districts.

"A health facility in Balakot and office in Abbottabad has been sealed and ambulances have been seized and parked in police stations," he said.

Saeed, who in November last year was set free from a 300-day-long house arrest, has been declared a global terrorist by the US and UN and blamed for many terror-related incidents in India, including the 2008 attacks in the Indian financial capital that left 166 people dead.A woman student of the Hyderabad University was allegedly assaulted by three unidentified persons on the campus on Friday night.

The unidentified persons are believed to be the construction workers.

At the time of the incident, the victim was accompanied by a male friend.

However, the duo somehow managed to escape and inform the concerned authorities.

A case has been registered and a probe is underway.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)While India's annual trade deficit touches about USD 150 billion, a significantly higher level of imports than exports would not provide the country with a chance to retaliate in a possible escalation of a worldwide trade war, the ASSOCHAM said on Sunday.

In this regard, the chamber further noted that India may end the current fiscal with an import bill of USD 450 billion against exports of about USD 300 billion, almost one-fourth of which would be only on account of crude and other related items, apart from essential imports of plastics and fertilisers, for which the country does not have an immediate domestic capacity.

"However, even before the break out of the trade war, India has seen a huge jump of 21 percent annualised rise in steel imports at USD 1.15 billion in February 2018 and non-ferrous metals by 33 percent at USD 1 billion. Yes, India should be watchful about a sudden jump in steel imports since we have enough domestic capacity available. Similar is the position with coal and related products for which domestic output can be and should be ramped up, '' the ASSOCHAM said.

Earlier, United States President Donald Trump signed a notification slapping import tariff of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminium. He also claimed that more items could be brought under high import tariff, triggering fears of retaliation from Europe, Japan and China. However, the ASSOCHAM said that in the case of India, import tariffs cannot be hiked to this extent, as the imported products are essential.

"We cannot flex too much of our importing muscle, even if our exports face consequences of a trade war and are subjected to tariff barriers," the chamber said.

The industry body, therefore, suggested that India be constantly engaged with major trading partners, without aligning too much into a single bloc.

"Wherever, our exports are affected, we must engage bilaterally and use the channel of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in a rule-based manner. However, the WTO route could be time-consuming. So, the best course would be to stay bilaterally engaged," the ASSOCHAM opined.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)



He made the statement during a meeting with the Vietnamese entrepreneurs on March 17th in Sydney, Australia, which formed part of his visit to the country and his participation in the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit.

The Vietnamese Government, ministries and localities always create favourable conditions for the Vietnamese expats, he said, hoping that they will educate the younger generations there to turn their hearts to the homeland.

He said that the Australian leaders all committed to facilitating conditions for the Vietnamese people there to have a stable life and business.

VBAA President Tran Ba Phuc, for his part, said that the Vietnamese businesses have proactively popularised Vietnamese agricultural products in Australia.

He showed his delights over the strategic partnership between Vietnam and Australia as it means the Vietnamese community will grasp more interest and support from the Australian Government.

He affirmed that the Vietnamese people in Australia will continue efforts to develop the homeland.

The same day, PM Phuc met with representatives from the club of Vietnamese scientists living in Australias Queensland state, in which he noted that the club establishment has crucial roles in bolstering cooperation between the two countries.

He wished that the intellectuals will bring home the latest knowledge and technology to contribute to the national construction./.The Indian High Commission in Pakistan again sent a note verbale to the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) after its officials in Islamabad were harassed and intimidated for the second consecutive day here on Sunday.

In the 13th note verbale this year on the subject and the second one in as many days sent to MOFA, the Indian High Commission highlighted three incidents and asked the Pakistan government to investigate and ensure that such incidents do not recur, according to sources.

The incidents included the aggressive following and intimidation of Second Secretary at the High Commission by unidentified people in a car while going to Chhaye Khana restaurant here.

According to the High Commission, the followers also used mobile phones to make videos of the Second Secretary.

The office also notified a similar incident of the following of four Indian High Commission officials while going to Aabpara market. The officials were on Sunday followed by two unknown persons on motorbikes in an intimidating manner.

The note also said the website of the High Commission continued to be intermittently blocked causing inconvenience and affecting the normal functioning of the Mission.

The High Commission also requested the country's government to share the investigation result with them.

The Commission had on Saturday lodged a protest and sent a 12th diplomatic note to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan after some of its officials were harassed in Islamabad.

The Saturday's note also highlighted a similar incident on March 15, wherein an official of the commission and his family were followed by two men on a motorbike while going to a restaurant.

The incidents come as Pakistan called back its High Commission to India Sohail Mahmood for "consultation" over reports of harassment.

For over a week, both India and Pakistan have been complaining about alleged harassment of their respective diplomats in the two countries.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on Sunday accused the Narendra Modi-led Democratic Alliance (NDA) of mismanaging the Jammu and Kashmir problem.

"They have installed a government, where the two wings of the government are working against each other. The atmosphere in Jammu and Kashmir is deteriorating day in and day out," Dr. Singh said at the 84th Congress Plenary Session here.

Underpinning his point, the senior Congress leaders said, "our borders are not secure, whether it is the cross-border terrorism or internal terrorism, internal insurgency. There are issues today, which are the source of great worry to all our citizens and the Modi government has not found ways and means of tackling with this problem."

Dr. Manmohan Singh also said the need of the hour was to recognise the problems of the restive state.

"Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and we all must recognise that and we do recognise, but we also must recognise that our country needs to recognise the special problems of Jammu and Kashmir and we must deal with those problems with all seriousness," he added.

While speaking on the same subject, Dr. Singh also advocated for strong relations with the neighbouring countries.

"The Congress party worked in that direction, whether it is Bangladesh, whether it is Pakistan, whether it is Nepal, whether it is Sri Lanka, whether it is other countries including China. We have problems but these problems are to be sorted out peacefully and not in an atmosphere of hostility and shouting at each other," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Congress on Sunday launched an all-out attack at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi government over its foreign policy and said that the policy has been converted into a divisive issue by the ruling dispensation.

On the final day of the two-day Congress Plenary Session, senior leader Anand Sharma, who moved the foreign affairs resolution, said, "I am saddened to note here that that consensus built (on foreign policy) over decades has been unravelled. The continuity of India's foreign policy has been disrupted by the BJP and Modi-led government. They have made foreign policy a divisive issue in the last four years."

The Congress leader evoked India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's approach to international relations, saying the latter ensured that the country's foreign policy was sovereign and independent and that the country did not lean on one side or the other.

"Foreign policy that India pursued had a blend of pragmatism, idealism, and a deep print of the vision of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru," Sharma said, adding that under the Congress-led UPA government, there was a strong consensus on India's foreign policy.

Sharma further commented that India's foreign policy has now taken a back seat due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's propagandist pursuits.

"The present government and the prime minister have pursued foreign policy in a cavalier manner, which is non-serious. The Prime Minister is carried away by his own propaganda. Today it is a matter of concern that we have mismanaged our relations with major capitals of the world, with major strategic partners and our immediate neighbourhood," he added

The 84th Congress Plenary Session is being held at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, here.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)United States President Donald Trump, in a series of tweets, said that special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia should never have been opened in the first place.

"The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime. It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC, and improperly used in FISA COURT for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT!" Trump wrote on Twitter.

The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime. It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC, and improperly used in FISA COURT for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2018

"The Fake News is beside themselves that McCabe was caught, called out and fired. How many hundreds of thousands of dollars was given to wife's campaign by Crooked H friend, Terry M, who was also under investigation? How many lies? How many leaks? Comey knew it all, and much more!" Trump tweeted.

The Fake News is beside themselves that McCabe was caught, called out and fired. How many hundreds of thousands of dollars was given to wife's campaign by Crooked H friend, Terry M, who was also under investigation? How many lies? How many leaks? Comey knew it all, and much more!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2018

The tweet came hours after President Trump's lawyer, John Dowd, released a statement calling on Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees Mueller's investigation, to shut down the probe.

Earlier on Saturday, Former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director James Comey hit back at Trump, saying that Americans can judge for themselves who is honourable in the government.

Hours after FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was sacked, Comey tweeted, "Mr. President, the American people will hear my story very soon. And they can judge for themselves who is honorable and who is not," Comey tweeted on Saturday."

Earlier on Saturday, the US Justice Department dismissed McCabe on the grounds of lying to the investigators, reviewing the probe of former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's email server case.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)India won the toss and chose to field first in the final of the Nidahas Trophy tri-nation T20 series at the R Premadasa Stadium here on Sunday.

After the toss, stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma described the wicket as dry and said teams have won chasing down here.

Meanwhile, he announced a change in the playing XI from the one fielded against Bangladesh in the semi-final of the series. Jaydev Unadkat has replaced Mohammed Siraj.

Bangladesh will play the same team which won them the semi-final against Sri Lanka.

After losing to Sri Lanka in the opener, India are favourites to lift the title as they have registered three consecutive wins here, including two against their final's opponent.

Bangladesh, on the other hand, reached the final with a thrilling win over the hosts.

While Bangladesh have relied on their senior batsmen to make it to the finals, India have banked on youth in the absence of their key players.

Captain Sharma has hit form with the bat while Washington Sundar has been doing damages with the ball.

For the Men in Green, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah have shepherded successful chases against Sri Lanka.

The culminating match of the series will be the eighth T20 face-off between the two teams. The Men in Blue have emerged victorious in all the previous seven occasions. Also, India have won nine of their 11 games at the R Premadasa Stadium.

India Playing XI: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Vijay Shankar, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shardul Thakur, Mohammad Siraj.

.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Enforcement Directorate, on Sunday, seized Nirav Modi's Solar Power Plant in Ahmednagar and 134 acres of land as liquefiable assets in connection with the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud scam.

The ED had earlier provisionally attached 21 immovable properties worth Rs. 5.24 billion, belonging to the absconding jeweller and companies controlled by him.

According to the sources in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the passports of Gitanjali Gems Chairman and Managing Director Mehul Choksi and Nirav Modi, his nephew, have been revoked, as they have failed to respond to the MEA's show cause notice.

Modi and Choksi, who had acquired letters of undertaking (LoUs) to avail credit from various sources, are wanted in India for their alleged involvement in siphoning off money from the PNB to the tune of more than US $ 1.8 billion.

The scam, allegedly started in 2011, was unearthed last month, after which the PNB officials reported it to the concerned agencies.

(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.)Moon Jae In and Kim Jong-un the Presidents of South Korea and North Korea respectively on Saturday congratulated their Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on his re-election as the President.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said he wishes that under Jinping's leadership, China makes a greater contribution to peace and development in Northeast Asia and the at large, Xinhua News Agency quoted Moon as saying.

Jinping was unanimously elected as the President at the ongoing session of the 13th National People's Congress making way for his second term in the office. He was also elected as the chairman of the Central Military Commission.

Further, the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un said he wishes that under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) with Xi at the core, the Chinese people will make greater achievements in the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era.

Earlier on March 11, the National People's Congress passed a constitutional amendment to remove any term limits enabling Xi Jinping to hold presidential office well beyond 2023.

The Chinese legislature gave a near-unanimous approval to the sweeping changes, with 2,958 votes in favour, and only two votes in against.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)As the beginning of the Hindu New Year is being celebrated with great zeal across the nation, President Ram Nath Kovind on Sunday extended his greetings.

"Greetings and good wishes to fellow citizens on the occasion of Chaitra Sukladi, Ugadi, Gudi Padava, Cheti Chand, Navreh and Sajibu Cheiraoba. May these festivals bring happiness and strengthen the bonds of fraternity among people in various regions of our country," he tweeted.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also took to the micro-blogging site to extend his best wishes to the nation.

"Several people across the nation are celebrating the start of the New Year. I convey my greetings to all those celebrating. May the year ahead be a wonderful one," he tweeted.

Furthermore, in a series of tweets, Prime Minister Modi also extended his greetings to the people of Manipur on Sajibu Cheiraoba, Maharashtra on Gudi Padwa and Southern India (Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana) on Ugadi.

A number of festivals are being celebrated today, as the day marks the beginning of a new year in the Hindu calendar.

-Ugadi, also known as Kannada and Telugu New Year, is celebrated primarily by the Hindus of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and parts of Maharashtra on the first day of the Hindu lunisolar calendar month of Chaitra.

The day is observed by drawing colourful patterns on the floor (Rangoli), hanging mango leaf decorations on doors, buying and giving gifts, and preparing and sharing a special dish called 'pachadi', which combines all flavours - sweet, sour, salty, bitter. It is believed that in the Telugu and Kannada Hindu traditions, the dish is a symbolic reminder that one must expect all flavours of experiences in the coming new year.

-Gudi Padwa is a spring-time festival that marks the traditional new year for Hindus in Maharashtra and is celebrated on the first day of the Chaitra month of the lunisolar Hindu calendar. Similar to Ugadi, the festival is observed with colourful floor decorations, a special Gudhi flag garlanded with flowers, mango and neem leaves, and topped with upturned silver or copper vessel, street processions, dancing and festive foods.

-Sajibu Cheiraoba is the lunar new year festival of the people who follow the Sanamahism religion of Manipur. While festive food, offerings and prayers are a part of the festivities for the day, it is believed that the feast for the occasion is usually prepared by the men in the family, while women assist them in chopping and washing the ingredients.

Today also marks the beginning of the Chaitra Navratri and the transition of the spring season to summer.

As in case of Sharad Navratri which is celebrated in September-October, celebrations for Chaitra Navratri also involve worship of Goddess Durga and her nine forms. Over the next nine days, devotees offer their prayers to Goddess Durga and observe fasts.

While the tenth day of Sharad Navratri is celebrated as Dussehra or Vijayadashami, the ninth day of Chaitra Navratri is celebrated as Ram Navami or Hindu Lord Rama's birthday.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)President Ram Nath Kovind has called on the law professionals to be responsible towards the society.

Addressing the third foundation day ceremony of Law University at Cuttack yesterday, the President said, "The scope of legal service has been expanded with multidimensional fields and it has now extended to international trade and commerce including international diplomacy."

The President also said that lawyers should cooperate with the deprived and voiceless people of the society as they are unable to meet the legal expenses.

Speaking on the occasion, Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra called on the students to work for justice and equality for crores of people of the country.

First lady Savita Kovind, State Governor Dr. S.C. Jamir, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Chief Justice of Odisha High Court, Vineet Saran, were also present at the event.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Vinay Katiyar has stoked controversy by saying that "Ram Janmabhumi" needs another sacrifice from the Hindu community.

"I believe Ram Janmabhumi is demanding another sacrifice, and the Hindu community should get ready for this. The way Mulayam Singh Yadav fired shots on December 6, 1992 and many people were killed, another such revolution needs to be instigated and our Hindu community must be ready for martyrdom," Katiyar told ANI.

Katiyar was referring to the Babri Masjid demolition incident that took place on December 6, 1992, when former Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav ordered firing on the Hindu karsevaks resulting in several deaths.

Thousands of Hindu karsevaks had demolished the mosque and around 2,000 people were killed in the riots that followed.

Ram Janambhoomi- Babri Masjid dispute is a century old point of a tussle between Hindus and Muslims.

The matter is pending in the Supreme Court, which began hearing the final arguments in the case on February 8.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Themed Enhancing Regional Security and Prosperity, the event is an important platform for ASEAN and Australian leaders to discuss orientations to enhance the strategic partnership between the two sides set up in 2014.

In his speech, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull welcomed the presence of the ASEAN leaders at this event, organised for the first time in Australia under his initiative.

Later the day, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and other ASEAN leaders and the Australian PM participated in numerous activities such as a meeting with former scholarship recipients of the new Colombo Programme in Southeast Asian countries and witnessed the signing of the ASEAN-Australia Memorandum of Understanding on counter-terrorism cooperation.

PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc attends ASEAN-Australia Special Summit. (Photo: VNA)



The MoU is considered a historic breakthrough contributing to strengthening the two sides collaboration in ensuring regional security. Via signed framework agreements, ASEAN and Australia agreed to enhance counter-terrorism cooperation in terrorist financing and violent extremism.

The document features various initiatives and framework agreements covering engineering, anti-terrorism law building, regional dialogues and seminars on electronic evidence, financial intelligence and ways to tackle online radicalisation.

The same day, PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc and other ASEAN leaders attended a reception hosted by PM Turnbull.

The Summits plenary session and a retreat meeting are scheduled to take place on March 18th.

The International Counter-Terrorism Conference and the ASEAN-Australia Business Summit were held ahead of the Summit with the participation of officials, experts and representatives of leading businesses in the region.

ASEAN and Australia set up relations in 1974. Australia was the first nation establishing the official dialogue partnership with ASEAN in all three fields of politics, economics and specialised cooperation./.Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday hit back at Congress president Rahul Gandhi, maintaining that his speech at the 84th Congress Plenary Session is the "rhetoric of a loser".

"It sounds like a rhetoric of a loser, devoid of substance. A party which questioned the fundamental existence of 'Shree (lord) Ram' today wants to be identified with the 'pandavas'. It is the party which chooses to mock Hindus and Hindu rituals," she said in a press conference here.

Earlier today, Gandhi compared the BJP to the Kauravas.

"Centuries ago, there was a huge battle on the field of Kurukshetra. The Kauravas were powerful and arrogant. The Pandavas were humble and fought for the truth. Like the Kauravas, BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) are designed to fight for power. Like the Pandavas, Congress is designed to fight for the truth," Gandhi said on the last day of the plenary session.

Meanwhile, Union Minister for Law and Justice, Ravi Shankar Prasad, too, slammed Rahul Gandhi and said his remarks on the judiciary were irresponsible.

"Rahul Gandhi's rant was shameful. The way he spoke of the judiciary was irresponsible," Prasad told ANI.

Rahul Gandhi said the BJP and the RSS wanted to damage the pillars of democracy.

"BJP has spread fear. People from the press are scared, for the first time, we saw four Supreme Court judges running to the public for justice. There is a difference between RSS and Congress, we respect the country's institutions whereas they want to finish them. They only want one institution that is RSS," Gandhi had said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)World number one Roger Federer edged past Croatia's Borna Coric to reach the finals of the BNP Paribas Open.

The Swiss outplayed 49th-ranked Coric 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 to surpass his 16-match winning streak.

The twenty-time grand slam champion will next face Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro, who defeated Canada's Milos Raonic 6-2, 6-3.

The two have met four times last year. Federer claimed three of those matches, while Del Potro got the better of him in US Open quarter-finals.

"Yeah, we have had a lot of close matches. Big matches, close matches," the 36-year-old recalled of his rivalry with Del Potro.

"I think we have an interesting matchup. We both know what the other is trying to do, and we try to stop the other person from doing it. But it's hard when [one of us] is in full flight. It's basically an arm wrestle the whole time, and I think we enjoy that," he added.

It will be their 25th meeting overall at the BNP Paribas Open, where Federer will be searching for a record sixth title at Indian Wells.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Citing disparity in the number of consulates of the two countries, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that 23 British diplomats have been declared personae non-gratae and will be expelled within a week.

TASS quoted Russian Foreign Ministry as saying in a statement, "On March 17, British Ambassador to Moscow Laurie Bristow was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry where he was handed a note saying that in response to provocative actions of the British side and evidence-free accusations against the Russian Federation over the incident in the city of Salisbury on March 4 this year, the Russian side has taken the following retaliatory measures."

This comes after British Prime Minister Theresa May expelled 23 Russian diplomats over spy poisoning.

The Foreign Ministry further said that there was a disparity in the number of consulates of the two countries and Russia withdrew permission to open the British Consulate General in St. Petersburg.

"Due to the unregulated status of the British Council in the Russian Federation, its activities are terminated," the statement said

"The British side has been warned that if more unfriendly actions against Russia follow, the Russian side reserves the right of taking other retaliation measures," the ministry added.

Yesterday, Russian Ambassador in London Alexander Yakovenko said that the Russian diplomats expelled from the United Kingdom (UK) over the spy poisoning will leave that country along with their families on March 20.

The British Prime Minister had given a week's time to the diplomats for leaving the country.

May had also said that Britain will also cancel high-level contacts with Russia.

Retired military intelligence officer Skripal, 66, and his daughter, Yulia, 33, were found slumped on a bench in Salisbury city centre on March 4.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The results of the presidential elections in Russia conducted today will be announced tomorrow.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is seeking a fourth term in the elections for which the voting began early on Sunday.

As per a CNN report, it is going to be a one-sided election which shall pave the way for Putin to hold the office for the next six years.

In the 2018 Presidential elections, Putin's fiercest political opponent Alexei Navalny had been barred from competing in the elections further cementing the chances for Putin to emerge as a clear winner.

This election is riding high on anti-West sentiments in the country as Russia is dealing with the diplomatic crisis with the United States and the United Kingdom.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)UP Shia Waqf Board chairperson Waseem Rizvi on Sunday reacted to Congress president Rahul Gandhi's plenary session speech that he should work in tandem with the government to let communal harmony prevail.

"Rahul Gandhi should prove the love for his country and love for God and the Congress should support the Indian government to build the temple of Lord Ram at his birthplace (said to be in Ayodhya) and Masjid-e-Aman be constructed in Lucknow," said Rizvi in a statement released today.

Rizvi was responding to Gandhi's speech in New Delhi where he took a jibe at Prime Minister Modi and accused him of diverting attention to trivial things instead of the matter at hand.

"The PM diverts our attention and jumps from one event to another from Gabbar Singh tax to yoga in Parliament but never talks about the issues. But, the Congress cannot be stopped from seeking the truth and justice," said Congress President Rahul Gandhi earlier today.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The YSR Congress on Sunday gave a notice to the Lok Sabha General-Secretary seeking to move a no-confidence motion in the Lower House on March 19 against the Centre for its refusal to grant special category status to Andhra Pradesh.

"Under Rule 198(B) of chapter XVII of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of business in Lok Sabha, I hereby give notice to move the following motion in the House on 19.03.2018," party leader YV Subba Reddy said in a letter.

"This House expressed No confidence in the Council of Ministers," read the Motion stated therein.

The Opposition party in Andhra Pradesh has been protesting in the Parliament over the issue of granting "Special Category Status" to the state.

The ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) too reached a deadlock with its ally BJP over this issue and ultimately quit the Democratic Alliance (NDA) coalition at the Centre on Friday.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena on Sunday lifted the nationwide state of emergency, which was imposed on March 6, after clashes erupted between the Buddhist and Muslim community.

"Upon assessing the public safety situation, I instructed to revoke the State of Emergency from midnight yesterday," Sirisena wrote on Twitter.

The state of emergency was declared due to violent and criminal activities, which had taken place in certain parts of the country earlier in March.

It had led to the loss of lives and damaged property.

Further, the violence in Sri Lankan town Kandy had caused tension and discord among ethnic and religious groups, leading to attacks on religious places, property, and transport facilities.

More than two dozen arrests were made, following the violence against the minority Muslim community in Kandy district, which also claimed two lives.

Members of the Buddhist community held protests outside a police station in Kandy demanding the release of its people who were arrested in the riots.

The police had deployed the country's Special Task Force (STF) to maintain peace.

The Sri Lankan government on March 6 had imposed a state of emergency for 10 days to control law and order in the country.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The government of Telangana has sanctioned grant-in-aid for the mosques that need renovations.

Deputy Minister Mohammed Mehmood Ali, Home Minister Nayani Narasimha Reddy, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Kishan Reddy, District Collector, Deputy Mayor Baba Fasiuddin were part of this cheque-distribution ceremony.

The district collector of Hyderabad has accorded grant-in-aid for 196 mosques. The distribution of cheques to the masjid (mosque) managing committees was done yesterday here in the city.

Speaking at the event, state Home Minister Nayani Narasimha Reddy said, "Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao is only the one who is concerned about Muslims. He sanctioned minority residential schools in the state and gave a scholarship to minority students. He even encouraged the minority girls for overseas education and is giving scholarships for their education over there."

Deputy Chief Minister Mahmood Mehmood Ali thanked the Chief Minister for keeping the welfare of Muslims in mind.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The United Nations hailed the Zimbabwean government for its preparations of first presidential and parliamentary elections, which will take place in July.

The local media reports quoted United Nations Development Programme Administrator and UN Development Group Vice-Chair Achim Steiner as saying that the government put in place the appropriate foundation to deliver on President Emmerson Mnangagwa's pledge of free, fair and credible elections.

The UN also pledged continued support to Zimbabwe.

"I wanted to get a sense of whether the preparatory steps that have been taken so far are progressing and are also in line with the President's call for a high litmus test, a high test (election) that not only (and) must be seen by the public and also the international community as free, fair and credible election," said Steiner.

"I want to thank His Excellency, the President of Zimbabwe. I have now completed two days of very intense meetings with leaders in Government and civil society, commissions that have been set up by the Constitution," he added.

On Saturday, President Mnangagwa announced that the polls would be held in July.

The elections will be the first major test of the new leader, who took power in November after a de facto military coup forced the 94-year-old Robert Mugabe to resign.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Two wanted criminals, carrying a bounty of Rs 50,000 each, were arrested in Uttar Pradesh's Shamli.

Both the criminals, who have been identified as Sanjay Bhati and Anil Bhati, were arrested yesterday by the Uttar Pradesh Police and are accused of killing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Shiv Kumar Yadav.

The BJP leader was killed along with his security guard and driver, when a group of gunmen opened indiscriminate fire on their car in Greater Noida on November 16 last year.

Three accused had already been arrested in connection with the case.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)It was according to Andy Yun, Secretary General of Singapore Manufacturing Federation representing more than 3,000 members operating in automation, biology, construction, heavy industry and more, during the second Vietnam  Singapore business exchange held in the island state on March 17th.

Yun described Vietnam as a major market in the region with potential of agriculture and food industry. Meanwhile, Singaporean enterprises are strong in technology, supply chain and logistics  a supplementary factor to bilateral partnership.

Illustration for photo. (Source: Blommberg)

Nguyen Van Than, Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, led a delegation of over 100 Vietnamese firms, many of them are start-ups, to the event.





He said many Singaporean enterprises actively connected with Vietnamese ones at the event, proving that bilateral cooperation potential is huge.

Accounting for over 97 percent of the total, Vietnamese SMEs contribute nearly 40 percent of the gross domestic product, 33 percent of industrial production value, 30 percent of export value and attract more than half of the workforce, he said.

Minister at the Vietnamese Embassy in Singapore Dinh Hoang Linh said the exchange is part of celebrations of the 45th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties and the fifth anniversary of strategic partnership.

Statistics showed that Singapore is now the sixth largest trade partner of Vietnam in the world and the second largest in ASEAN. Vietnam is also the 12th largest trade partner of Singapore.

Two-way trade has grown 12-15 percent annually over the past years.

In 2017 alone, two-way trade between Vietnam and Singapore neared 16 billion USD. Singapore ranks third among 126 countries and territories investing in Vietnam with a total capital of roughly USD43 billion./.African ambassadors to the African Union (AU) have stressed on the importance of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to intra-African trade on the sidelines of an ongoing AU extraordinary summit.

During the the AU's extraordinary summit on the AfCFTA, which kicked off on Saturday in Rwanda's capital Kigali, many of them also said their countries are ready to embrace the AfCFTA, Xinhua news agency reported.

African leaders are expected to sign an agreement to launch the AfCFTA on March 21, the last day of the summit, according to the AU.

"Africa has a great business potential to offer to millions of its citizens, but the continent has not been able to unlock its business potential due to limited trading opportunities existing among African economies," said Evariste Koffi Yapi, Permanent Representative of Cote d'Ivoire to the AU.

Creating a single continental market for goods and services with free movement of businessmen and investments will thus boost intra-African trade and the prosperity of Africa, Yapi told Xinhua.

He added that the AfCFTA will significantly contribute to sustainable economic growth, poverty reduction, employment generation and better integration of the continent.

"My country was ready to make it possible for the AfCFTA agenda to be successful for the better future of Africa," said Yapi.

According to Gairy M. Saddigh, Permanent Representative of Libya to the AU, the AfCFTA will contribute immensely to opening up trading opportunities among African economies, which will significantly increase exports and imports through intra-regional trade.

"We all know the opportunities trade can offer for development and growth. Creation of a single African market will enhance competitiveness of African local industries and enterprise level through exploiting opportunities for scale production and better reallocation of resources," he told Xinhua.

The AfCFTA will create huge market potential for African goods and services, which would help Africa boost industrial development, promote economic transformation and create prosperity, said Ndumiso Ntshinga, South African Permanent Representative to the AU.

"The South African government is ready to implement the process and utilize opportunities accruing from the African single market," he said.

--IANS

pgh/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Standing atop a wall, 37-year-old Sabu Vijayan, an Alappuzha municipality sanitation worker, was singing as he used a long metal pipe to break a thick layer of waste floating on the two-metre-wide canal below him.

The greenish-black water of the canal was hidden beneath the layer of plastic bottles and plastic bags filled with waste -- a small green plant with three leaves had grown over it.

"It (canal) smells like human excreta," said Saviamma, 65, pointing to the YMCA branch canal flowing in front of her house.

The United Nations had three months back selected Alappuzha, a coastal town in central Kerala, as one of five cities in the world whose waste management efforts were commendable.

The UN report which selected the city read: "A few years ago, roadsides and canals (were) filled with stinking garbage... exposing residents and visitors alike to clouds of flies and disease-spreading mosquitoes. Since then, the city in the eastern state of Kerala... has addressed the problem by introducing a decentralised waste management system."

As Vijayan broke the layer of waste on top of the water to unclog the canal, swamps of mosquitoes flew up before settling down again in Shadamani canal -- one of the 104 branch canals -- in Alappuzha, also known as Venice of the East.

Vijayan and others came to unclog the canal after frantic phone calls by residents.

"Snuggies (diapers) are a problem. They get soaked in water and become heavy and difficult to remove," Vijayan said about the canals. "Even sewerage from toilets falls into the canals."

Canals in six different locations in the city this reporter visited had a similar story to tell. They are filled with garbage or weeds, becoming breeding grounds for mosquitoes. In two cases there was no water, only waste and silt.

While residents accused the authorities of not cleaning the canals, officials complained of meagre funds and people's habit of dumping garbage into the canals for their sorry state.

Alappuzha was selected as one of the five cities in a report titled "Solid Approach to Waste: How 5 Cities are Beating Pollution" and it was put up on UN Environment's website, under the "News and Stories" category.

When asked about finding the state of canals different from its report, United Nations Programme (UNEP) India Head, Atul Bagai, told IANS that the UN did not select Alappuzha as one of the five best cities globally for waste management, but the list was "just a selection of five cities following good practices around the world".

He said the UN does "not validate information and only highlights best practices", adding that the information was from "reliable sources".

Asked whether UNEP visited Alappuzha before making the selection, Bagai said that he was "not sure", explaining that "we generally do not work on the ground". The organisation, he said, did advocacy work and sensitises people.

In a written response, the UNEP office said: "In the case of Alappuzha, it was recognised in 2016 by the Centre for Science and with an award for being among the country's cleanest cities. The information in our article is a summary of the basis on which the CSE award was given."

The Chairman of the Alappuzha Municipality Standing Committee for Health, B. Mehboob, told IANS that crores of rupees were needed to clean the canals properly and the currently available funds were nowhere close to what is required. "Only temporary works can be done with this money," he said.

"All waste from beneath has to be taken out for proper flow of the canals and this requires huge sums of money. With meagre funds, it's not possible," Mehboob said.

The municipality, in its latest budget, says a "mini excavator" to clean the branch canals -- as well as machines that can cut and remove wooden obstacles -- would be purchased. This is still at the tendering stage.

R. Rekha, Executive Engineer of the state government's Irrigation Department, under whose ambit maintenance of canals falls, said that the department had not cleaned branch canals at least in the past 10 years.

"In 2014 work was started on cleaning canals, but it got stuck in a court case. Even that project did not include the 104 branch canals. It was only for the bigger canals," Rekha told IANS.

Meanwhile, people continue to suffer for official apathy. Satheeshan's tea shop is next to the YMCA branch canal. "My shop was flooded during the last monsoon after the canal overflowed as it was clogged," Satheeshan said. It had not been cleaned for the past one year.

"Ten years back we could see the sand at the bottom of the canal and children used to fish in it," the 56-year-old said, adding: "Not any more."

(Nikhil M. Babu can be reached at nikhil.b@ians.in)

--IANS

nkh/hs/sac

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Congress leader and former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Sunday described demonetization as the "greatest lie" and accused the BJP-led government of virtually destroying the economy.

"There cannot be a greater lie than demonetization," Chidambaram said after presenting the party's economic policy at the Congress plenary here.

He slammed the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for not telling the nation the total amount of demonetized currency it got back after Prime Minister Nadrendra Modi declared Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency illegal in November 2016.

"Demonetization was a big lie. The RBI is still counting and won't tell us how much money has come back."

Slamming the government over its failure to generate jobs, the Congress leader said that during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) stint (2004-14) "we created jobs".

"We didn't create enough jobs but we created jobs. People found jobs, educated people found jobs, others got jobs in service industry.

"But in four years of the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) government they have not created jobs. They have destroyed jobs, demonetization destroyed jobs, a flawed GST destroyed jobs."

Chidambaram said that only the Congress can bring the country out of the present "crisis".

"Spread the word that a new young dynamic leadership has taken over the Congress. We will come back to power with friends and allies," he added, referring to Rahul Gandhi who took over the reigns of the grand old party in December.

He said in 2014 there were 766 stalled project. In 2015 the number went up to 816 and further to 893 in 2016. "More projects are stalled today. Projects are not revived, projects are not started, projects are stopped."

He targeted the Modi government for the slow economy growth.

"The Modi government inherited a strong economy. The task of development has to be continued by future generations. However, today, the Indian economy is decoupled from the world economy which is growing."

Chidambaram said when Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister, the biggest achievement was that 14 crore people were lifted out of poverty.

"But the BJP government has pushed people into poverty. The number of people below poverty line went up.

"Demonitization pushed thousands into poverty. Hundreds lost their lives standing in queues. GST destroyed jobs. GST pushed people into poverty, agrarian distress has pushed farmers into poverty, even daily workers have been pushed into poverty," he said.

--IANS

ps-aks/mr/ahm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)In an effort to connect National Waterways 1 (NW-I) with the northeastern states, a proposed high-level meeting on Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade (PIWTT) between India and Bangladesh is expected next month.

Two countries had initiated a process to improve the navigability of inland water transit protocol route between the neighbouring countries so that India can connect NW-1 on the river Ganga (from Varanashi to Haldia) with the northeastern states.

The two countries had agreed on the extension of the PIWTT, which was signed in 1972, and the trade using the route would get boosted once the PIWTT Standard Operating Procedures (SoP) were in place.

"A meeting is expected next month. There are no hurdles as such. A standard operating procedure has to be finalised and the meeting will try to complete that," Inland Waterways Authority of India Vice-Chairman Pravir Pandey said.

With the opening up of the route, Bangladesh trade through Haldia would be easier and it also help the neighbouring country to overcome congestion at the Chittagong port.

According to IWAI officials, in the protocol route, there should not be any problem up to Dhaka but at the up streams of the river Brahmaputra, dredging would be required for improving its navigability.

In the protocol route, Rs 3,500 crore dredging project has been undertaken and the cost would be shared at 80:20 between India and Bangladesh.

Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority's Director (Marine safety and Traffic Management) Md. Shafiqul Haque had said the dredging would be required mainly in some stretches under Sirajganj to Doikhawa route on Brahmaputra-Jamuna river in Bangladesh and also under Ashuganj to Karimganj to improve the navigability.

The Narendra Modi-led government is developing the NW-1 under the Jal Marg Vikas Project, with assistance from The World Bank.

The estimated project cost has been revised upward to Rs 5,369 crore from the initial estimation of Rs 4,200 crore.

--IANS

bdc/ksk/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)After suspending Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL), along with its political data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica, for violating its policies and commitments, has denied any data breach as claimed by some media reports.

"The claim that this is a data breach is completely false," Paul Grewal, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at said on Saturday.

On the same day, the Guardian reported that in one of the tech giant's biggest ever data breaches, the data analytics firm that worked with Donald Trump's election team harvested millions of profiles of US voters and used them to build a powerful software programme to predict and influence choices at the ballot box.

Owned by the hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer, Cambridge Analytica was headed at the time by Trump's key adviser Steve Bannon.

A whistleblower revealed to the Observer how the firm used personal information taken without authorisation in early 2014 to build a system that could profile individual US voters, in order to target them with personalised political advertisements.

"We exploited Facebook to harvest millions of people's profiles. And built models to exploit what we knew about them and target their inner demons. That was the basis the entire company was built on," Christopher Wylie, who worked with a Cambridge University academic to obtain the data, told the Observer.

Explaining why it suspended Cambridge Analytica and SCL Group from Facebook, Grewal on Friday said, "In 2015, we learned that a psychology professor at the University of Cambridge, Aleksandr Kogan, lied to us and violated our platform policies by passing data from an app that was using Facebook Login to SCL/Cambridge Analytica."

"He also passed that data to Christopher Wylie of Eunoia Technologies, Inc.," Grewal added.

But it did not amount to data breach, according to Facebook.

"Aleksandr Kogan requested and gained access to information from users who chose to sign up to his app, and everyone involved gave their consent," Grewal said in an upate.

"People knowingly provided their information, no systems were infiltrated, and no passwords or sensitive pieces of information were stolen or hacked," he added.

Like all app developers, Kogan requested and gained access to information from people after they chose to download his app.

His app, "thisisyourdigitallife," offered a personality prediction, and billed itself on Facebook as "a research app used by psychologists".

Approximately 270,000 people downloaded the app.

"In so doing, they gave their consent for Kogan to access information such as the city they set on their profile, or content they had liked, as well as more limited information about friends who had their privacy settings set to allow it," Grewal said in late on Friday.

"By passing information on to a third party, including SCL/Cambridge Analytica and Christopher Wylie of Eunoia Technologies, he violated our platform policies," Facebook said.

When Facebook learned of this violation in 2015, it removed the app.

"Cambridge Analytica, Kogan and Wylie all certified to us that they destroyed the data. But not all data was deleted," said the social networking giant, adding that it is suspending SCL/Cambridge Analytica, Wylie and Kogan from Facebook, pending further information.

"We are committed to vigorously enforcing our policies to protect people's information. We will take whatever steps are required to see that this happens.

"We will take legal action if necessary to hold them responsible and accountable for any unlawful behaviour," Facebook said.

--IANS

gb/vmCongress leader and former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Sunday described demonetization as the "greatest lie" and said it ended up destroying jobs.

The Congress leader also accused the Centre of pushing people into poverty by implementing a flawed Goods and Services Tax (GST).

"There cannot be a greater lie than demonetization," Chidambaram said after presenting the party's economic policy at the Congress plenary here.

He slammed the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for not telling the nation the total amount of demonetized currency it received back.

"Demonetization was a big lie. The RBI is still counting and won't tell us how much money has come back," he said.

--IANS

ps-aks/mr

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Turkish troops and allied Syrian rebels have taken Afrin city centre under control following two-month's of fighting, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday.

The Free Syrian Army, backed by the Turkish army, completely took over Afrin's city centre on Sunday, Erdogan said at a ceremony marking the 103rd anniversary of the Gallipoli campaign in Canakkale in northwestern Turkey, Xinhua reported.

"At this moment Turkish flag is flapping there, the Free Syrian Army flag is flapping," he said.

Turkey started the campaign against the Afrin district in northwestern Syria on January 20, with a view to driving out Kurdish militants, who are seen by Ankara as terrorists.

Erdogan pledged to take all the steps needed to make the entire region livable, improving both its infrastructure and superstructure.

"We will take all necessary steps to bring the people of the region back to their homes as soon as possible," he added.

Erdogan has repeatedly threatened to move on eastward to take over Manbij, a town which is also held by Kurdish militia known as the People's Protection Units (YPG) but has a US military presence.

Turkey and the United States, with a relationship strained over an array of issues including Washington's continued arming of the YPG, have agreed to resolve their differences over Manbij through talks.

The presidents of Russia, Turkey and Iran are scheduled to meet on April 4 in Istanbul, with war-torn Syria on top of their agenda.

In the view of Abdullah Agar, a security analyst, the Afrin operation has progressed more rapidly than expected. "Currently, the work to secure the stabilisation is continuing," he said.

--IANS

ahm/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Five members of a family were killed and two others critically injured on Sunday in Pakistan shelling on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district, police said.

According to the police, the Pakistan Army resorted to indiscriminate shelling and firing on the civilian areas in Mendhar sector.

"Pakistan firing and shelling started at 7.40 a.m. The house of a civilian identified as Muhammad Ramzan Chowdhary was hit by a shell.

"Chowdhary, his wife Malka Bi and three sons were killed. His two daughters were critically injured," the police said.

The Indian troops were retaliating appropriately and effectively in the ongoing gunfire.

District administration has started shifting the civilians living close to the LoC to safer places, sources said.

--IANS

sq/qd/ksk

(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.)Five civilians were killed and seven others, including five soldiers, injured on Sunday in indiscriminate shelling by Pakistan army on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district, officials said.

Police said a shell fired by Pakistan army hit the house of a civilian identified as Muhammad Ramzan Chowdhary in Devta village of Balakote sector of Poonch district in the morning, killing him, his wife Malka Bi and their three sons were killed.

"Two of his daughters were critically injured. They have been airlifted to the super specialty government medical college hospital in Jammu city.

"Five soldiers were also injured in Pakistan firing and shelling in the area," police said adding that civilians living in the area have been shifted to safer places after shelling and firing exchanges intensified following retaliation by the Indian Army.

Defence Ministry spokesman, Lt Col Devender Anand said: "Pakistan Army initiated unprovoked and indiscriminate firing from 7.45 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. along the LoC in Balakote sector using small arms, 81mm and 120mm mortars.

Noting Pakistan continues "in its cowardly design of targeting innocent civilians, their homes and livestock in villages close to the LoC," he said that was of serious concern as it was attacking "localities much deep inside Indian territory, almost three to four km, from the LoC, where there is no army deployment or any related installation and even no equipment".

"The deliberate provocation has resulted in loss of five precious and innocent civilian lives," he said, adding that Indian troops "retaliated strongly, effectively and proportionately to the dastardly act".

Anand also said that the two injured girls of the family were evacuated to Jammu by helicopter.

"The crew of the helicopter belonging to 132 Forward area control flight, Flight Lt Mittal and Flying Officer Akash, quickly swung into action and landed at Rajouri at 12 noon. They were airborne with Maureen, aged 7 years, and Nourin, aged 10 years, within the next two minutes."

--IANS

sq/vd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Former West Bengal minister Pratim Chatterjee, who held the Fire Services portfolio for 15 years till 2011 during the Left Front regime, passed away on Sunday following a cardiac arrest, family sources said.

Chatterjee, 79, a widower, is survived by daughter Kuheli Ghosh.

The end came at a private hospital in Salt Lake at around 10 a.m.

The former minister, also State Secretary of Forward Bloc-Marxist, represented Tarakeswar Assembly seat for a long time. He was, however, defeated in the 2011 Assembly polls.

Besides his political activity, the culturally-oriented Chatterjee acted in a number of plays and films.

He was also an internationally known diamond appraiser.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has condoled the death of the Left leader.

"Saddened at the passing of former Minister of Bengal, Pratim Chattopadhyay. Condolences to his family and well wishers," she tweeted.

--IANS

mgr/ssp/vd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)